2014 ~ *Year in Review!*

Hi friends! 

We're home from our incredible vacation in the mountains ~

filled with a White Christmas and snowy adventures!

It was an absolute gorgeous end to the year,

one I am so grateful to have shared with my beautiful family ♥
 

And ...

 I can't believe 2014 is at it's end!

It's been a wonderful, whirlwind year filled with many blessings,

a few surprises and some challenges as well

but that is exactly the journey that life always holds for us :)

 

This is the time that I always post my favorite cards from last year,

one for each month!

Looking back at the year, I realize my crafting style didn't morph that much -

I will ALWAYS love and use buttons most of all as they are my very, very

favorite embellishment,

followed by lots of layers of designer paper!

 

So here we go :)

 

January

 

 

February

 

 

March

 

April

 

 

May

 

 

June

 

 

July

 

 

August

 

 

September

 

 

October

 

 

November

 

 

December

 

On a personal note, this was definitely my most challenging year
as a crafter  ~ with a lesser amount of cards getting blogged
than the previous years.

I do so love this craft!
I enjoy putting ink to paper and seeing what comes up ♥
I hope 2015 allows me to stay in the game, so to speak -
it's getting harder to do so with so many other priorities
and changes ahead, but I'm hopeful that my Cabana will still leave the light on
for the moments I'm able to stop in and get inky!

Thanks for peeking at my year in review!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Riley and Company *New Stamp* Blog Hop!

 

Good Evening! 

 It's time, it's time!

Riley and Company has been 'sneaking' the new

stamps all week and it's time to hop, hop, hop ~

just in time for Christmas to shop, shop, shop!

If you are hopping along, you should have arrived from Kerin's creative blog.
I have two cards to share with you showcasing two of the new
Funny Bones  ~

Here's a close up ........

Next up, another new stamped called "Life is Art" ~

I went with an eclectic look to this card design,
using up scraps of dsp in my bin in various shapes and sizes :)

Here are a few specials for this release!

Special #1: Buy the entire unmounted set of 39 new Funnybones for only $99! (Save $96!) (Offer not available to wholesale customers.) Limit one per customer. Offer ends December 31st.

Special #2: You can also get a set of 3 FREE Funnybones stamps (our choice) AND a limited edition logo stamp during this release by simply placing an order of $30 or more (before tax) in the first 24 hours of the release! (One per customer please.)

Special #3: But wait - there's more! As an added bonus, we are giving EVERYONE FREE SHIPPING from Thursday night at 9 pm CST until Sunday night at midnight CST! Just enter FREESHIPin the coupon code section!

 Thanks for hopping along with us!

From here, you'll hop on over to Monica's marvelous blog!

 

Enjoy and have a fabulous weekend ♥

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

 

Riley and Company ~ Sneak peeks continue!

 

 

Happy Wednesday! 

 One more day 'til the big Riley and Company *new stamp release!* 
 

 Oh la lah!
 

  There is truly something for everyone in this new release -

from the heartwarming, thought provoking to the downright hilarious!

 

 
 

Today's card is simple, using one of my very favorite card designs,

my 'go to' card design of sorts!

Paired with this sensational new Funny Bone stamp -

it's a wonderful message!

I hope today brings you kindness

and warmth and all things wonderful ♥

 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Riley Sneaks - Day 3 and 3 Musketeers!

Hi all! 

 I have two card to share with you today -- if you are looking for the 3rd

 Riley and Company sneak peek, scroll down :)

And we're back! 

The 3 Musketeers - a group created and founded by Jeanette -

post our cards today based on the image that is sent out by the hostess.

This month, it was Barb's turn!

She sent us this adorably FUN image from Northwoods stamps called Snowman Snow Angel -

Ohhhhhhhhh I sure hope this is me in about 3 weeks!!! :)

 

Be sure to stop in and see what Jeanette and  Barb have done

with this identical image - you won't want to miss it! :)

 

 

NEXT UP!!

 

Another sneak peek from the Riley and Company stamp new stamp release

happening this week!

It's also time for a new Riley and Company Challenge and our hostess, Joy,

asked us to create a card using a sentiment.

Mine is from the new release and I just laughed when I saw this stamp!

Many of us on Pinterest can probably agree :)

 

Here's some information on our upcoming hop!

 

 

Release Date: Thursday 11th December 2014

• Sneak Peek week starts on the Sunday 7th December
• Blog Hop and stamps are available for sale at 10PM EST on the 11th December
• Blog Candy Winner will win a $20 Gift Certificate to the Riley & Co online store!
• 33 new Funny bones sentiments and 6 new Funny bone images to be released!

** Please note that the stamps will go on sale as soon as the blog hop starts

 

We have sneaks all week long up until the hop -

be sure to stop in daily to see what we're creating!

 

Big Hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Card #1 - City Crafters - Snowflakes!
LovesRubberStamps - Winter
Creative Colors - Color Scheme
Eureka Stamps - Let is Snow
Monday Morning - Anything Christmas

Riley Sneak Peeks - Day 2!

 

Hi friends!

I hope your weekend was splendid! 

 

Back again with a super quick post to show you another fun

 Riley and Company stamps Funny Bones sentiment - Coasters!

 

I've paired this one with Doris, one of our Retro Folk stamps already available in the store :) 

 

 

 

Here's a close up :)

 

Be sure to see what the rest of the DT will be 'sneaking' all week ~

you can find their blogs on the Riley and Co blog

or in my sidebar!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Riley and Company *New Stamp Release* - Day 1 ♥

 

 

Hi friends! 

 

It's time!  It's time!  Riley and Company has a brand new stamp release - 33 new Funny Bones sentiments and 6 new Funny Bones Retro Folks ♥

 

Today I have the first of the upcoming sneak peek cards to

share with you - one of my personal favorites of this release!

This is SO me! :)

I'm a big kid at heart, much to the delight of my kids ~

there isn't much I won't do, or try, or jump into ...

well, at least once ♥

 

I have a CAS card to share with you today

using Bouncy Ball Riley and the new Old Enough To Know Better stamp ~

they went spectacular together, I thought!

Here's some information on our upcoming hop!

 

 

Release Date: Thursday 11th December 2014

• Sneak Peek week starts on the Sunday 7th December
• Blog Hop and stamps are available for sale at 10PM EST on the 11th December
• Blog Candy Winner will win a $20 Gift Certificate to the Riley & Co online store!
• 33 new Funny bones sentiments and 6 new Funny bone images to be released!

** Please note that the stamps will go on sale as soon as the blog hop starts

 

We have sneaks all week long up until the hop -

be sure to stop in daily to see what we're creating!

 

Big Hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Card entered into: 613 Avenue:  AG
OSAAT - AG
The Ribbon Girls - Use Ribbon
One Crazy Stamper - AG
AllSorts - Animal Magic
Crafty Calendar - White on White

 

Golden Christmas cards ♥

 Happy Friday!

Oh my, what a week this has been -

and our weekend is jam packed full, too!

 

The Just For Fun Design Team has some exciting news!

We have a cross promotion this month with Altered Pages -

a wonderful company filled with

arts and craft supplies for all your card making needs.

They sent us, the DT, a wonderful package filled with all sorts of goodies

to create with - from tags to gorgeous collage pages, ink,

borders, mat stack pages and more.

Thank you, Altered Pages!

 

I have to cards to share today as it's my turn on the JFF Inspiration blog ♥

First up, I've created a golden holiday card with shimmery cardstock,

an image from the Altered Pages' Cardstock Pages ~ Mid Century Cmas.

Now, I'm going to show it to you - twice!

How on earth do you photograph Gold Shimmery cardstock!!??

 

The gold was very hard to photograph and I wanted to show off the colors

and unique, fun image from Altered Pages so here is the first look:

 

Then again with the gold highlighted :)

 

 

Next up, this is my hybrid card using both the White Christmas stamp from Just For Fun Rubber Stamps and supplies from Altered Pages ~ the burlap, Bazzill half edge strips, white , the gorgeous vintage book pages in which I've made this scalloped flower and the beautiful mat stack background paper.

 

 For this second card, I've embossed the entire stamp in gold embossing powder to highlight the stamp and added accent papers/pieces around.

 

Here is a close up of the beautiful White Christmas image,

which is available in the store and in many options:  Wood, UM, or as a mounted stamp.

 

 

And a flower made with the vintage pages into a scalloped flower ♥

 

Thanks for stopping by to peek at my golden holiday cards!

I wish you a most wonderful weekend ♥

 

 

You can check out Just for Fun Rubber Stamps here -

and if you are lucky enough to be in Florida, there is a free trunk

show going on this weekend!  Woohoo!

And, of course, stop in to Altered Pages and see all the crafting goodies

they have to offer!  It's fabulous!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Cornish Heritage Farms - Holiday cards w/out Red + Green!

 

 

Hi friends!

I am channeling my inner Elvis with this card - LOL!

🎶  I'll have a Blue Christmas without you ... 🎶

 

 

We have a new challenge at Cornish Heritage Farms

brought to us by Amber:

Create a non-traditional holiday card w/out red or green.

I love non-traditional cards ~ 

They are fun, out of the box, and exciting to create :)

 

 

 I went with blues and grey and white

with this snowman inspired shaker card.

I used the sweet digi skiing snowman

and last year's dsp splurge (finally opened - this year!)

 

 

Want to play along????

 

If you would like to play along with us of course we would love to have you!

To play create a card using CHF images. You can use either CHF digi or rubber stamps to create a card or project.... anything you like as long as the stamps are Cornish Heritage Farms. (Yes, they can be older stamps.) 

 
Once you've created your card/project, link it up here on the challenge blog. 

If you upload your card/project to SCS don't forget to include the keyword CHF67.  We can't wait to see what you create!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, Bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Calendar Girls -- Shop 'til you drop!

 

 Happy post-Thanksgiving!

 

 

Did you brave the stores and head out for shopping?

This year, I did not ~

I'm not a big fan of the crowds, long lines, or parking woes!

I'd rather be comfortably in my home, jammies and coffee pot on ♥

 

 

Today is our Calendar Girls posting day

and the theme is Black Friday shopping.

Jeanette and Barb decided together a theme of shopping to commemorate.

My card is using one of my favorite stamp companies - Bugaboo!

I went with the funny JJ Shopping digi and the matching sentiment

I added to the inside of the card ♥

Be sure to visit the other CG posts and see what they've made

with this fun theme ~

you can find them in my sidebar!

 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

 

 

Riley and Company: 3-1-3 Recipe Challenge!

Wow ~

 only a few more days and it will be Thanksgiving ♥

Our kids are already salivating and waiting on the scrumptious dinner,
telling me daily, almost hourly,

that they can't wait for the big Thanksgiving meal.

As a mom, that makes my heart happy and I know we are so blessed ~

definitely rich in love and faith above all things.

My heart aches for those that won't have a table to sit at,
or missing loved ones that are seated at the table of Our Father.
Indeed we have much to be grateful for.

 Today's card is for the new Riley and Company challenge:

a Recipe challenge with 3-1-3 ....
3 designer papers, 1 ribbon and 3 of one kind of embellishment.
That's my kind of challenge!
I love layers, using designer paper and embellishments
and naturally chose .......... buttons! ♥

 

 

For my card here, I used the Funnybones sentiment
"Coffee Keeps me Busy"
paired with paper I had in a leftover mat stack.
I didn't want to use tons of paper on my card so I used the "3" papers
as smaller squares (and continued it to the inside as well)
The "1" ribbon is a jute type ribbon from A/C and I swirled it under the image
where I added "3" buttons ...
completing the 3-1-3 recipe :)

If you'd like to play along using a Riley and Company image,
please link up your cards here to the challenge blog.
If you use a gallery, please use the keyword Riley2414.

Thanks for stopping by
and have a blessed, wonderful Thanksgiving!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Tip Top Tuesdays - Buttons or Bows
Inspiration Destination:
Sweet Stamps:  Bordered Sentiments

Cornish Heritage Farms: Grateful ♥

 

Good Morning!

 

It's time for a new challenge at Cornish Heritage Farms

 and I'm the hostess of this week's challenge choice :) 

With Thanksgiving is right around the corner,

I challenged the team to create a card with theme of Gratitude

and a bonus to use the color brown.

 

Thanksgiving is a pretty big deal in our home ♥

It's my husband's very favorite holiday

and we are the hosts each year, a tradition I

inherited after my mom tossed in her apron saying she'd paid her dues, LOL!

I love the prepping and baking and cooking and watching the Macy's day parade and all that comes with our special day.

But I confess I also crack up at the memory of being HUGELY pregnant

with our 3 daughters,

all born in December, 2 years apart :)

Every time I look back at those pictures,

 I was ginormous and so very, very pregnant

and looked like I was as stuffed as the poor birds were!

At least our son cut me some slack and was born in September ♥

 

But I digress! 

 For my card, I used the adorable digi

turkey in the pumpkin patch to create the card front ...

 used miminal dsp and kept the card design fairly simple.

I continued the same pattern/style to the inside of the card

with another digi, Happy Thanksgiving.

Brown is a beautiful color, especially at this time of year,

so for the bonus, I chose that as my cardstock base.

Both of these digis are available in the CHF store and

are immediate downloads.

 

Want to play along in our challenge this week?

Of course, we'd love if you did!

You can link up your cards using a Cornish Heritage Farms image,

either stamp or digi, to the CHF Challenge blog.

If you chose a gallery, like Splitcoast, please use the keyword CHF66.

And stop in and see what inspirations the DT has created as well!

 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Dueling Darlings - Saying Thanks!

Hi friends!

  

It's time for a brand new duel between the Dueling Darlings

Divas and the Dazzlers!

Our hostesses this month are Kadie and April
 and they have the perfect theme for this month's duel:  Thank you!
Our challenge this month is to create a thank you card with no image,

just a sentiment .... I love that!

Sometimes just saying thank you is enough ♥

and the inside of the card:

This kit was elegant and fun wrapped into one ~
but my eye went straight for the greys and, unsual for me,
I based my card around the striped grey paper!
We had a couple of color choices for the stamped Thank You
sentiment and I chose the blue one since it seemed to match.
My card seems fairly plain, but it was so busy from all the
different patterns that I just let the image be the main focal point.

Thank you Kadie and April for a wonderful theme
to create a card with this month!
Be sure to stop in and see what the rest of the Divas and Dazzlers
have created -
you can find them in my sidebar!

Thanks for stopping by ~
Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly



So thankful ♥

Hi friends :)

It's time for another Riley and Company Challenge brought to us

by DT member, Heather ~ "Be Thankful" ♥

It's perfectly timed for the beauty of this month,

Thanksgiving soon upon us. 

 

I have a humble card to offer this challenge ~

using the Thanksgiving Funnybones stamp.

My card is using mostly circular shapes all cut from Fall colored

cardstock and dsp that I had in my scrap basket ~

and the stamp is the focal point

with a few scattered buttons :)

If you would like to play along with us,

 of course we would love to have you! 

Please create a card using Riley and Company images

and link it up to the challenge blog here.

If you upload your card/project to SCS, please include the keyword Riley2314.

We can't wait to see what you create! 

Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

 

I'll enter this into:  CraftingByDesigns - Give Thanks

Sisterhood of Crafters - Thank-ful

Stamping Royalty - Thanks!

Colorq #267 - colors



I'm a 3 Musketeer! ♥

Hi friends! 

Hopefully blogger will behave and launch while I'm

away either canoeing, doing archery, hiking and much more!

 

I'm excited to announce that I'm a 3 Musketeer!

 

I'm delighted to have been invited by Jeanette,

creator of a new mystery group,

 to be part of her 3 Musketeers image swap group.

How fun is that!

Thank you, Jeanette :)

 

Barb, our other Musketeer, had a fun

idea to put our heads on this image as funny bobbleheads

so my daughter got to work on one and this is what we got!

So you'll see off to the right hand screen a new blog badge - hee hee!

Hilarious!
 

The 3 M's - Jeanette, Barb and me! :)
 

What's this group all about?

Once a month we'll share a 'mystery' image and create a card due

on the 9th of the month to post our vision w/ that image.

Easy breazy lemon squeezy!

 

Jeanette is our first hostess as creator/founder of this group

and she chose a delightful Autumn image from Sugar Pea Designs

called Bountiful blessings.

 

Here's my card, inside and out:

 

Be sure to stop in and see what the other two Musketeers

created with this gorgeous image ~
Thank you Jeanette for your image this month!

 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

 

 

We're going camping!

 

It's finally here ~

 the weekend of camping with my brand new Cub Scout! ♥ 

My son just joined up this school year with and has been SO EXCITED

 for the past month, cheerfully marking down the days on his wall calendar - lovingly called 'C-Day' ♥

 

Now we've camped before, and did the Girl Scout thing as well,

but that was a bit cushier - nice cabins, bedding, amenities!

While we aren't going full on rustic, it's pretty close -

 out in the Florida Everglades!

Bugs!  Snakes!  Wildnerness!  Rickety tents + cookin' outdoors over the fire!

No cellphones, laptops, ipods or electronics ~
we are unplugging and connecting to nature!

 

Oh. Me. Oh. My.

 

My son is one of the sweetest little boys with a gentle soul,

a constant smile and shares goodness everywhere he goes.

How could I not be excited to go along, after all :)

(I just hope the weekend goes by swiftly and safely, LOL!)

Other than my son, I won't know a soul on this campout
and hope to make new friends, great memories and home in one piece!

 

 

I've used an image I purchased for a swap and it's from Sassy Cheryls

and I followed the wonderful sketch from Poppy Sketch #16

and use the Pop of Pattern - Chevron

so I'll enter my card there to the challenge :)

 

 

I have a card to commemorate my trip to the wilderness to share :)

I have another post scheduled for Sunday

and I'm praying it launches without a hitch ~

just like our camping trip!

 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

 

 card entered into:  Poppy Sketch 16