National Crayon Day!

Hi friends!  

You may remember that last year, I started fun facts posts on my blog :)

It's always fun to seek out what

 obscure holidays there were and what fun (unusual!) events 

people like to observe and celebrate.   Well ...

Color.  Me.  Happy!

Today is National Crayon Day!

I am no spring chicken 29 again (a-hem!) and still love to color with crayons!

There's something absolutely joyous about opening that brand new box 

of crayons, and not even gonna fib, I love the smell!

 Crayola brand is STILL my very favorite ♥

 Now, as an adult, I still buy them during school clearances

 or back to school sales because, yes!

I still color with crayons! 

And my daughter is a teacher - there's ALWAYS a need.

Here are some fun Crayon Facts!

• The smell of crayons is the 18th most recognizable scent for adults in the U.S.
• Crayola makes 3 billion crayons a year
• The favorite crayon color of most Americans is blue
• The 100-billionth crayon was made by Fred Rogers of Mister Roger’s Neighborhood in 1996.
• In 1962, Crayola changed the name of the color “flesh” to “peach”

I've had this little Lawn Fawn crayon stamp/die set for a little while now,

and I bought it late last year just to use for National Crayon Day.

I adore it!

I have been using my distress oxides lately for backgrounds,

 so I used one of those for the colorful backdrop for the crayons.

I colored, die cut them in varied colors

and a couple of them are popped up on 3d foam for added dimension.

So what is your favorite crayola color - 

do you have one?

Mine is granny smith apple!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wishing you a colorful start to your day ♥

Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly

Birthday Giveaway!! ♥

Good Morning, friends

and a blessed Good Friday to you all! ♥

My birthday was this week and it's been WONDERFUL!

Since at most parties there's a little thank you goodie bag,

 I thought why not host a giveaway!

I live in gorgeous South Florida with beautiful beaches and the ocean close by,

so Lawn Fawn's "Life is Good" stamp and die set came to mind when 

thinking of a gift for the goodie bag :)

Random.org will chose one lucky winner 

from my Instagram, YouTube or blog to win

this stamp and die set from Lawn Fawn featuring ... of course ...

Sandcastles!  

(Shells not included -

those were a treasured gift from my son who

 found those for me at his beach retreat!)

This is my year of #kindness ~ I'm passing it on!

Wishing you a weekend of beautiful things!

Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly

 

The **Nitty Gritty** per regulations:

*This is not a sponsored ad or giveaway,

merely products I love and purchased on my own accord

for the sole purpose of this giveaway.

*Winner could be chosen from any of the 3 sources -

the more entries, the higher the chance!
*Giveaway ends 4/7 EST 12 am -

 *Winner will be announced 4/8.
*This contest is open worldwide.

Good luck!

Peek-a-boo Easter Porthole card ♥

Hi friends!  

Today I have a fun-fold card for the CCEE Stampers challenge.

But first, it's that bittersweet time to say goodbye to the Drive By Crafts

Design Team as my 3 month term has come to an end.

It was been wonderful being part of such talent

and I know I'll continue to be a customer ~ I hope you will be, too!

My card today is a pretty Peek-a-boo surprise inside Porthole card!

I love all things with a storybook character look,

so for my last DBC card submission, I inked up

the adorable Cottontail Cuties stamps and dies from Neat and Tangled. 

Since Easter is going to be here soon, I thought it would be fun

to make a few more cards!

I first stamped the Cottontail cutie girl onto the cardstock,

and then masked that off to stamp the bunnies

 as if they were peeking from the sides of her.

After stamping, die cutting and coloring the rest of the images,
I set those aside to make the card base and port hole,

created from a circular punch or you can easily use your circular dies, too.

 

I added various designer paper to create a sky/grass and 

adhered that to the inside of my card to create my little spring scene - 

another favorite thing I like to do with card making ♥

One the images were adhered into place,

I stamped the sentiment to the front panel and onto the dsp on the inside.

 I think this might just be one of my favorite types of fun fold cards 

and certainly one of my favorite spring stamp sets :)

You can find the products I used here in the online store

or more details about Drive By Crafts on the blog.

And don't forget to sign up for the newsletter so you don't miss 

out on upcoming sales, new arrivals AND awesome discounts!

The clearance section is amazaing!

Now head on over to the CCEE Stampers blog and see

what super fun folds the girls made this week!

Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

DBC ~ You Make My Heart Melt!

 Hi friends!

I'm on the Drive By Crafts blog today with this card ~ You Make My Heart Melt ♥

I think this is probably one of my favorite cards of this year :)

I absolutely adore it ~ 

from the distress ink blending to the shimmery snow to the cute little kitties ...

it's just so cheerful :)

{and we can always use cheer and happiness} :)

Here's how I made this card from Products at Drive By Crafts online store:

I used the You Make My Heart Melt stamp from the My Favorite Things stamp selections and stamped those out with Brutus Monroe Raven ink.

Oh I love this ink!  So crisp and clean and spot on!

Then, I ran the images through the Cuttlebug with the matching die-namics ~

but remember, you don't need the dies - just fussy cut your images!

I colored the images and then set them aside to work on my background.

 

Since this card is going to a sweet friend,

I knew I wanted pinks and purples as a background.

The exact shades I wanted were Ranger Tim Holtz Picked Raspberry Distress Ink

and Ranger Archival Ink is Magestic Violet.

Using my mini blending tool, I blended both the raspberry and violet inks outward 

until the entire A2 size cardstock was covered and put it aside to set.

For the lake, I wanted to simulate the sparkle of the sun on the ice,

so I added clear Wink of Stella to the image - instant ice skating shimmer!

*A little tip!  I'm a little (okay - a lot!) heavy handed when it comes to blending,

so I hold a scrap piece of paper over the area as I've blended ...

keeps the ink off my fingers AND smudges off your paper! :)

For the frame, this part took a bit of creativity

 and thinking outside the box ... or outside the frame!

I used my My Favorite Things die-namic frame but discarded the actual die cut,

and used the outer area that looked like a window box frame.

So I basically kept the part you toss and tossed saved the part you keep!

I added Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam to the under side of the white A2 size frame and inverted it and attached that to background to frame it out.
I repeated this with the kitties and the owl - popped up on 3d foam for dimension.

And lastly, I used my white embossing powder and heat gun to 

embossed the sentiment to the card and popped that up, 

too.

To create the water color movement in the ink,

I took a medium size paintbrush with plain water and flicked it onto the ink

background.  It breaks up the monotony of the background color.

 And that's my card .. I hope you enjoyed my rambling today :)

You can stop by the DBC blog and see more inspiration,

as well as take a little drive through the DBC store here or the blog here.

 

My time is almost up being on the Drive By Crafts Design Team ~

it's been a fun ride! 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

3M: Snow buddies!

Hello - twice! :) 

 

  I'm playing catch up on my blog today! 

 I'm due to have several cards posted

but circumstances of late = and life = have kept me from my regular routine ...

the routine of being home for a whole hour in the day, LOL!

But! 

 Where there is snow, there is FUN! 

At least for me :)

 

 And the 3M this month was hostessed by Jeanette and

she must agree that it's SNOW MUCH FUN because she sent

this absolutely DARLING Unity stamps called 3 Snow Buddies.

 

I tried and tried to make a pretty card ~ I really did.

 This was such a cute image,

but I failed ....

alas, I have to post and that's just how it it sometimes ...

However, you will be dazzled by Barb's card and Jeanette's card!

And Barb is up next month and already sent the image

(she's speedy for sure!  Just like me!  *snort!*)

 

Thanks for your visit!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Walking down memory lane ...

 Good Morning, friends!

It's Monday and that means it is the day I post a card for The Project Bin.

Denise has been hard at work behind the scenes creating some truly wonderful new stamp sets, like these for a quick view!

 

For today's card, I'm using Kinda Sorta

and WOW!  Do I ever love this font!

Such a pretty saying,

made even more beautiful with how lovely these scrolled letters are ♥

 

Here's another look at the satamps!

Thanks for stopping by today!
Big hugs, Bigger blessings ♥

Kelly

Drive By Crafts ~ Winter Woodland Wonders ♥

Good Morning - again! 

I have 2 blogs posts today!
For a dose of yummy coffee goodness

from Honey Bee Stamps, please check this post :)

I'm up on the blog today over at Drive By Crafts 
bringing you a card with one of my absolute favorites:  Storybook characters ♥
I love LOVE the look of classic children's storybook illustrations ~
add in some winter/snow and I'm just smitten!

I have quickly fallen for Avery Elle stamps
and Drive By Crafts has quite a few to chose from.
Today, I'm working with the winter woodland wonders {nice alliteration!}
 stamps and dies and this set is everything I hoped it would be and more!
Absolutely adorable little woodland friends,
playfully peeking out from the birch trees to say hi on a winter day.

So here's how I made my card:
 I stamped out the birch tree, birdie, rabbit and deer using Momento black ink 
and ran those though my die cut machine with the coordinating dies from the set. These are so nice to use and line up with such precision!
 Once those were all die cut, I colored each of those using soft and subtle colors for that beauty you see in children's illustrated books.
 Once that was done, I simply added Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam to each of the cut outs so the card would have a lot of dimension. 
The 3d foam difference really makes your cards pop when it comes to little animals ~ it gives them great definition!
 Lastly, I added a sentiment (from Avery Elle 'More Stories') 
and popped that up on 3d foam and sequins 'snowflakes'. 

Close up of the woodland cuties!
As you know I'm a big fan of dressing up the inside of my cards,
but for busy/dimension cards with a sentiment, 
I usually just let that be the focal point.

 Such a fun and easy card to make with the supplies from Drive By Crafts!
And shhhhh - little confession ........
I'm keeping this card for me :)
It reminds me of my time visiting wonderful friends this January ...
lifelong friendship, beautiful hearts, lots of smiles!

Quick links to the products I used ....

Avery Elle Winter Woodland Wonders

Avery Elle Winter Woodland Wonders dies

Scrapbook Adhesive 3d foam - assorted

Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥
~Kelly

I'll enter this to 2CraftyCritterCrazies - critters
Crafty animals - animals
Southern Girls - Pop it up!

CCEE: Thinking GREEN!

Hi friends! 

I have two posts today ~
for my Drive By Crafts Winter Wonderland card, click here!

 I'm super excited that I was able to get a little inky this afternoon 

while chatting with my daughters and planning, planning!

We have a BUSY next 2 weeks so card making is precious to me ♥

Since the CCEE Stampers challenge this week is GREEN,
I had an idea of where I wanted to go with my card :)

I fell instantly in love with the Honey Bee Stamps 
 coffee break stamp set (of course!) when I saw it ♥

This week, they have a fun challenge to show off your green inspired cards

so I had a lot of fun stamping and embossing to highlight 

both the stamps AND the green!

WHICH is my very, very, VERY favorite color :)

 Some fun facts:

* Green eyes are something special ~  2% of the world's population has green eyes, making it the rarest eye color in the world!

* "It's not easy being green!" says our favorite green Muppet, Kermit!  Did you know he wasn't initially intended to be a frog?  His species was undetermined until Johnny Carson identified him as a frog nearly 10 years after his creation!

* Green is the symbol often associated with fertilty and in the 1400's, it was the preferred choice of color for wedding dresses.   

To make this card, I started with a green cardstock base, die cut to give

it a scalloped shape.

I ran my embossing buddy across the cardstock to prep it for inking

with VersaMark, and then embossed with Recollections white embossing powder.

I stamped out the cups and donut and smaller images 

in a random pattern but kept the coffee cup on a saucer as the main image,

focal point in the center.

I didn't want it to lay flat against the card do it's propped up with 

a low layer of 3D foam.

I repeated the stamping/embossing for the sentiment 

and that cute saying is from the Blah Blah Blah set which remains 

one of my favorites!  The sentiment stamps are hilarious!

And that's my card!

I absolutely LOVE how this one turned out ♥

I'm envisioning a stack of these to give to my son's teacher

with a variety of different sayings ...

woohoo!

Extra credit for mom!

LOL!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Big hugs, bigger blessings!

~Kelly 

I'll enter this to: Die Cut Divas - monochrome 
 Monochrome Magic - monochrome

Exciting news at The Project Bin!

Oh friends ~ super exciting news for Denise,

 owner and designer at The Project Bin stamps!

She is the Featured Stamper of the week at Splitcoaststampers! 

I had the honor of being the Featured Stamper almost a year ago

and it's truly heart-warming.
And to celebrate, Denise is sharing a sweet treat for you!

You can take 20% off the entire store this week!
Such a great time to scoop up those stamps you've been eyeing!
Denise ships lightening fast and SUPER economical, too!

Mondays is the day I share a card at The Project Bin blog so

I decided to create my card based on two things:

the brand new 'Deer Mom' stamp set 

and Denise's stunning floral deer card ~ swoon!

Here is the inside of my card, 

using another sentiment from the Deer Mom stamp set:

This stamp set has 11 stamps in the set

and is a 4 x 6 storage sheet made of the finest photopolymer, 

for crisp, clear stamping every time.  

 

If you'd like to join us in celebrating the week-of-Denise,

just CASE a card from the gallery on SCS or the blog.

And for my friends in the UK, I know you just celebrated Mother's Day!
Happy celebration to you! ♥

Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly

Happy Easter with Cottontail Cuties!

Hello, friends!

This is such a beautiful time of year here ~ spring is in the air!

This is one of my favorite times,

the blossom of newness and the promise of a wonderful beginning.

While some of my friends are still under a blanket of snow,

I'm sure the sun will peek out soon and the earth will awaken :)

And spring means Easter!

Since I'm up on the Drive by Crafts blog today, 

I thought an Easter card would be perfect to showcase,

especially with the absolutely adorable Cottontail Cuties from Neat and Tangled!

 

Oh.  Be.  Still.  My.  Heart!

 

The moment I spied this, it reminded me so much of my daughters 

and the years of Easter egg hunts in our back yard,

including the famous golden egg!

Oh how they searched and searched for those prized eggs!!

(I would have, too, since we hid some big money inside - usually $20!)

Hmmmm,

maybe the Easter Bunny will hide one this year - for moms! LOL!

 

 

Here's how I made my Happy Easter card ...

First, I stamped the little girl and her wagon, the bunnies, and the eggs

and colored them with Prismacolor markers in colors that would match

the designer paper I'd already picked out as 'flowers + grass'.

I used the N + T nice and neat dies and my Cuttlebug to cut the images out,

and then set those aside to assemble my card base.

 

The card base is a simple A2 size card using heavy weight card stock.

The scallop insert has Doodlebug paper that I cut with a stitched die

which is actually a speech bubble!  I re-purposed it as a hill :) 

The paper was so bright and vivid against the stark white,

it just gives is such a pop!

Since I wanted the card to have some dimension,

I added 3d foam behind all of the elements to make them stand out.

And that's my Easter card ~

total cuteness overload ♥

I'll be using this set over and over ~ so many different possibilities,

and that's what usually catches my eye with a stamp/die set ..

the many ways to use it, including all year 'round if I can :)

 

You can find the supplies that I made this card with and many more

in the Drive By Crafts online store!

Take a peek and stock up on some of your must haves,

including new releases from many companies and some great deals 

in the clearance section, too!

Thanks so much for stopping by ~
your sweet words warm my heart and brighten my world, truly ♥

Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly

 

 

Happy National Pig Day!

Hi friends!
Happy March!

According to the Vicky,  hostess for the month of March in the CCEE Stampers,
  today is National Pig Day!

And since today is my day to post over at Drive By Crafts DT blog,
I thought I'd showcase the new Avery Elle Critter Crew Birthday stamp
which features, among the cute animals, a pig!!

Here are some fun facts!

* Pigs are routinely listed as some of the world's smartest animals, with cognitive abilities on par with those of chimpanzees, dogs and dolphins.

* The gestation period of a pig is easy to remember at 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days (for a total of 114 days).

* Pigs were first brought to the New World by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage in 1493, along with horses, dogs, cattle, chickens, sheep and goats.

* Pigs communicate primarily through vocalizations and can make more than 20 different sounds, including oinks, grunts and squeals.

Now my card with the cute little pig and his friends is from the new

line of Avery Elle stamps that arrived at Drive By Crafts.

I made my card using one of my favorite lines ~ doodlebug paper, 

and the fun shaker filling called Itty Bitty Shaker Fun.

After stamping out the Critter Crew onto heavy weight white cardstock

with momento tuxedo ink, I colored it with my prismacolor markers.

And here is the inside of my card ~ stamped with a matching sentiment

from the set and the image partially again.

 You can find more inspiration for cards at the Drive By Crafts blog

and of course, look around in the shop for stamping goodies!

Stop in to the CCEE Stampers blog to see how the DT 

made their cards today for National Pig Day ♥

Big hugs, bigger blessings!

~Kelly