CCEE ~ Happiness shared is a flower ...

Happiness held is the seed; happiness shared is the flower." ~ John Harrigan

 

Hi friends!

It's that time of the week where the CCEE Stampers create a card 

using the theme from our August hostess, Frances, who said:

 ↓

It's Frances here once again to bring you the last challenge for August.

In my part of the world (Australia), Saturday is the first day of Spring .... 

Flowers are beautiful at any time of the year so for our challenge

 this week we are to add some flowers to our card.

 

 

Such a pretty theme!

I have been seeing a lot of fall themed cards popping up on blogs and card galleries

so a burst of fresh, colorful flowers is so inviting!

 

My card features a sunflower stamp + sentiment from Unity Stamp Company

from the Kit of the Month selections.

I was so blessed to receive this for being a Growing In Unity girl back in January ~

so very kind and generous of Unity - thank you! ♥

 

                                              Truthfully, it's been a bad week.

I've been really sick, everything else has been going wrong

and I'm just out of energy, mojo, creativity.

 

Creating this card - this sentiment - has really put it in perspective.

Not all days are going to be our best,

but not all days are going to be our worst.

I have to cherish the in between, too :)

 

You can see the blossoming garden of flowers for this challenge 

over at the CCEE blog here

as well as a link to add your own cards should you chose to play along!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

WELCOME to the funny farm!

Ooops!

 I mean greetings from the funny farm!

Today is the day that the Challenge Your Stash (CYS) card group

creates a card with a chosen theme.

This month, our hostess is Vickie and she chose "Down on the Farm!"

Isn't that a-moo-sing?! :)

I have quite a few farm stamps and it's always fun to ink up the stamps

 that haven't gotten to play!

Here is my take on the farm ~
a barnyard full of happy, smiling farm friends!

I created this card with Sunny Studio Stamps "Barnyard Buddies", 

stamped in Momento Tuxedo and colored with a combination of 

prismacolor markers and promarkers.

In order to create the little farm scene,

I used the Sunny Studio Stamps gingham jewel tones patterned paper 

and layered the barn and fence in the background.

The animals in the front are popped up on 3d foam.

 The inside of my card is pretty simple ...

The possibilities of using this stamp set in a card are endless!

  I already see a 3 cards-1 stamp project :)

 And I can't wait to see what the rest of the CYS did with their farms ...

Yeeeeehaw!

 Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

 ~Kelly

What's black and white and ........

 

 black and white and black and white?!
Two penguins rolling down a hill! :)

Hiya friends!

I know it's Monday and typically I have a card from The Project Bin,

but Denise is on vacation and gave us the week off!

Thank you, Denise!

Now - aside from my witty cheesy penguin joke,

there's something(s) interesting about my card!

The interesting things about my card today:

1.  It's black and white!

Like. just. black. and. white! 

  Gasp!

That's a color combination you will next to never see me make ~

not just for my LOVE of colors and pops of rich vibrancy ♥

But as a migraine sufferer, it's a guarantee to trigger an attack

so I just don't use it .... ever ... unless it's for a card challenge

(and even then, I silently cringe and behave like a good crafter should!)

 

2.  It's my CASE card for the Galaxy Gazers card group,

in which we pick a card from the Splitcoaststampers gallery and CASE it!

As it so happens, the card I added to my favorites earlier last week 

was chosen at the Featured Stamper :)

Her name is Mandy and this is her adorable glittery penguin card: 

And here's my CASE of her card, keeping similiar to the overall pattern

and the color combination, addition of 'snow' and using a penguin.

 What I made a little different is I changed the snowfall from puffy

to using the die-namic from MFT called "snow fall - horizontal"

(a wonderful score at their summer retirement sale!)

I used the penguins from Your Next Stamp because of all my penguins,

I really thought they were the cutest and most mischevious :)

My Avery Elle-ment wonky cloud die looked like the best scallop shape to use,

and the sentiment is from an MFT stamp set, 

completed by using Ranger white embossing powder and versamark.

I know it's a bit odd, chosing a b/w card if they give me an instant migraine!

There were a few other cards in her gallery that I could have chosen 

for the August CASE, but her card really spoke to me as if it were the one.

And it was worth at least giving it a good 'ol college try!

This will be a busy week on my blog so I hope you get to peek in

and see all the crafty stuff I've been up to! :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

You are MER-MAZING!

 Hi friends!

   Happy Fri-YAY!   

 And here's your reminder that YES!!

You are MER-mazing!

 

 

This little cutie is Mermaid Samantha and she is a stamp set

from the Ink Road Stamps.

I was smitten with IRS (and Lara's humor!) when they debuted on Instagram 

and my friend Von Marie enabled me tempted me to take a closer look!

Mermaids need WATER-color paper (heehee!) and SEA-quins (okay, I'll stop!)

so that's what I envisioned when putting my card together.

I colored Samantha with my prismacolor markers 

in the same palette as the watercolors

so it would all come together nicely in a warm under the sea feel.

 

I hope whatever your plans are for today - for the weekend  -

you get to have fun!

 

And never be afraid to make waves :)

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

~Kelly

CCEE: Ride the Wind!

Hi friends!

It's almost the weekend ....

so close, I can reach out and kinda sorta feel it :)

Thank you SO MUCH for the get well wishes ~ I have felt them!

I went from a bad flu to worst and just take it day by day, hour by hour!

I'm supposed to be resting, says the dr, but reality is, I can't.

I'm needed in too many other places so I sleep on an off when I can ♥

Frances is our hostess at the CCEE blog today 

and this was her challenge for us to create a card:

Today (23rd August) is Ride the Wind Day, this day was created to celebrate the anniversary of the first man powered flight. There are so many things that rely on wind for them to work, so let's include something that needs wind on our cards today. Some examples include kite flying, windsurfing, Hang Gliding; Sailing Boats, Birds Flying, Hot Air Balloons, Balloons, Paper Planes etc.

I love this!

Such a unique and fun day that's new to me ~ so thank you, Frances :)

 This was such fun to make ♥

From water-coloring the panel to the sweet floating friends and hot air balloon,

it reflects the sweeter side of Ride the Wind ~ friendship!

 

 For this card, I"ve used W Plus 9 Going Place stamps and dies.

I used a previously watercolor back panel as it resembled a sunset sky.

The images were stamped in Momento Tuxedo Black ink,

then die cut with the Cuttlebug and finally, colored.

I placed them so the friends would be waving as they ride the wind

and float around!

The 'Carnival' dew drops are from Honey Bee Stamps.

To see all the Ride the Wind cards today, you can see them here.

There is also a linky to add your card should you decide to play along!

Thanks for stopping by today :)

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

 

BOO!

Did I scare you?

(honestly ~ sometimes I plain 'o scare myself! 

 LOL!)

Hello and happy Monday!

It's the 1st day of school here for my son and

the girls are back in college today as well AND

I'm just getting in from 6 days of vacation.

Except I brought home a little something extra ~ the flu! 

 At least the trip was absolutely wonderful 

and it was just the long ride home that was a little hard! :)

Exciting news at The Project Bin stamps!

Denise - owner and creative inspiration behind TPB stamps,

has been busy creating beautiful new stamp/die sets - just in time for fall ♥

Today's card is showcasing one of the new stamp/die sets ...

Cool Ghoul!

For this card, I stamped out the 'ghouls' and used the coordinating dies

to pop them up onto a whimsical halloween card.

 

The paper, at first glance, looks funny - almost like maybe it's upside down!

But it's not - it's from Doodlebug and has that every which way wording ;)

   

 And here's a look at the festive inside ↓

I carried over the same whimsical halloween paper and stamped

the ghouls directly onto the cardstock paper

and added another sentiment.

And just in case you didn't know, only 71 more days until Halloween!

Plenty of time to get your costumes and ideas going,

even more time to get your candy,

but now's a perfect time to plan ahead for shopping for stamps/dies

from The Project Bin!

This is a perfect addition for making cards, scrapbook layouts and more :)

Here it is in entirety:

 

You can find it here in the shop,

as well as a product catalog with samples from each stamp set.

And, as always, the inspiration blog with week day posts from the Design Team.

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

World Elephant Day!

Hi friends!

The universe is celebrating World Elephant Day ♥

Oh, how absolutely gorgeous these magnificent creatures are!

In honor of World Elephant Day,

I knew I wanted to make a card ♥

 

 

I have quite a few elephant stamps,

so choosing one .....

just one!

... was quite hard :)

I finally settled on this sweet Ellie and friends

becauase it has it's named Mama Elephant -

it was a 'have to' moment!

This sweetie just steals my heart ~ she's so cute!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Think positive thoughts for the elephants in the world :)

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Christmas bells are ringing!

Hi friends!

Christmas in August?  

Yes, please!

There is officially 133 more days until Christmas!

Just in case you didn't know :)

  

On Mondays, I have the joy of posting a card at The Project Bin's blog,

always filled with wonderful card inspiration ♥

Today's card is part of challenge ...

I looked at it, loved it, and said sure, why not!

While I can't say a lot about it until after August 15th, 

I can show you!

This technique is called finger smudging or finger "painting",

using oil pastels or pan pastels and just smooshing around.

In this case, since I used a warm palette,

I wanted to create a forest of trees ... without using trees!

With the warm colors of the setting sun as a backdrop,

twinkling snow in the forefront,

I decided to create a unique and non-traditional card ♥

In order to create the 'trees', I smooshed upwards :)

After using curvy dies to make the snow drifts,

I stamped a sentiment from Joyful Song right onto the paper. 

I must mention ...

 this. was. lots. of. FUN!!

If you'd like to give this a try,

you can find the tutorial I used here.

You can find this wonderful stamp set in TPB shop here,

or here's a quick view:

 If you like to try fun things and new techniques in your crafting,

this is highly entertaining and you achieve so many different results!

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

~Kelly

3M ~ Friendship!

Hi franz!

(thanks, Barb, for that!)

 I've been blessed to live all over the world,

but I was born in the south ...

so I'm claiming that auto-correct text typo greeting! :)

Today is the day we 3Mer's post our cards with a mystery image.

This month, I was the hostess and sent this cah-ute!!! image

called Group of Friends from Whipper Snapper ♥

This darling stamp is one (of many) I picked up at Creative Pals 
while on the gal pal trip to Wisconsin :) 
Barb lead Carol, Shelly, Terry, herself and I into Creative Pals
and that register didn't stop Cha-chinging!
  LOL!

I also bought a few single loose sentiments

 and I thought this one was a good match ...
 friendship truly warms the heart!

 Since I added the sentiment to the front,
the inside is a little plain
but it did have a hand-written note to the person it was mailed to :)
 

You can see Barb's card here
and Jeanette's cards here ~
and we'll be back next month on the 9th with another mystery image reveal.

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

CCEE ~ World Lion Day!

Hello friends!!

It's that time again for the CCEE Stampers to create a card

with a chosen theme by the hostess, Frances!

Since tomorrow is World Lion Day,

our cards are to show a lion somewhere ♥
 

Lions are such magestic and interesting animals!

It's easy to see from their raw power and size that they are 

definitely "King of the Jungle." 

 

For me, my sweet boy and I love, love, LOVE listening to 

the christian radio station when we are out and about in the car.

One of his favorite groups is Big Daddy Weave!

Yes, that's the name, LOL!

They have a song called the Lion and the Lamb 

and we know it - and sing it - by heart!

I can hold a half way decent tune,

but between the two of us, we can belt it out when we're inspired!

The lyrics that I sing over and over, even when I'm in the shower!

I'm cooking or cleaning or singing without music :)

 Our God is the Lion, the Lion of Judah
He's roaring with power and fighting our battles
And every knee will bow before You
Our God is the Lamb, the Lamb that was slain
For the sin of the world, His blood breaks the chains
And every knee will bow before the Lion and the Lamb ...

Isn't it beautiful!

When I saw the theme for this week's card,

I knew I wanted to use the Lion from the Caring Critters stamp set and the matching SugarCut die set from Sugar Pea Designs.

It's one of my favorites ♥ 

I've paired it with a sentiment from another stamp set:  Kindness Matters.

Oh ... this stamp set! 

It speaks to my heart!

I colored the lion with prismacolor markers and added a tiny bit of 
wink of stella to his main and tail.

There is a fun sketch/inspiration picture over at the Sugar Pea Designs blog

for the mix-it-up challenge #46 so I'll enter my card there.

To see the rest of the Lion Pride,

be sure to stop over at the CCEE blog to be inspired by different lion creations!

Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

The very best birthdays ...

Hi friends!

I hope you had a marvelous weekend ~

mine flew by!

We did get to see the opening showing of Christopher Robin/Winnie-the-Pooh

and if you plan to see it, take some tissues!

Oh did we ever sniffle!

(it was the salt .. in the popcorn ... that got into our eyes ...)

♥

 

Today, I have a card to share that I made for The Project Bin.

using the wonderful stamp set "Many More".

Many More is truly a wonderful stamp set in that it covers

quite a few occasions.

 It's a set of 10 stamps that includes birthday, baby,

thank you and get well greetings, all in one stamp set.

  

 I've always been drawn to bold, vivid colors ~

gravitating to colors that POP,

like this poppy red, teal, and sunburst yellow. 

And with a sentiment this sweet,

it's bound to be a wonderful birthday!

 

You can find this amazing stamp set at The Project Bin shop,

and the inspiration blog here!

Until next time!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

How do you catch a unique parrot?

Unique up on him!

Hee hee!

Hi friends!

and happy Fri-YAY!

   

 Today's card is celebrating friendships!

One thing I adore in card making is combining stamp sets

to create a whole new look.

One night - WAY WAY late into the night! -

I was looking at these stamp sets on the desk laying side by side.

They landed there by happenstance, 

and I tilted my head to one side,

then tilted it to the other ...

and a-hah, an idea! ♥

I've used two stamp sets from Heffy Doodle:  Wingman and mewniverse.

 The white panel with the stamped images is propped up on foam,

giving it an 'off the shoulder' look.
I let that be uncolored to give a more pronounced looked

to the other side with bold, vivid colors.

A stamped sentiment and some enamel dots completes this card ♥

I hope your weekend is filled with wonderful things and crafty moments!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Card entered into: Simon Says Stamp:  Wild Things (macaw)
 ARTastic Challenge - things that fly
Sunny Day crafting - add an animal