CCEE: Cards of Encouragement

 Hello friends!

Because we've been preparing, shopping, stocking up,

I have a quick post for today.

 

Please keep South Florida in your thoughts ~

we've got a hurricane barreling towards us!

We've got all our supplies and will 'batten down the hatches'

and hope for the very, very best this weekend.

Storms are always so scary and with our baby granddaughter, Alice,

it just makes everything that much more nerve wracking :(

My post!

The CCEE Stampers theme this week:

create a card of encouragement and SEND IT!

 Today's card is for my daughter ♥

We have 3 young adult daughters and a teenage son,

and our middle daughter is a jet setter and amateur photographer.

She just returned from a week in Montreal, Canada and the Caribbean the month before that and her photographs are just stunning!
Lucky for me, she lives at home so I'll walk this card down the hall!

 

You might remember from this post that I fell absolutely IN LOVE 

with this stamp set from Unity Stamp Company

when I was a Unity gal last year.

One of the perks of being a Unity girl for a week

is at the end, you can pick a stamp - or stamp set - as a reward.

I chose Moments Between Moments last year because it spoke to my heart

and the girl with the camera is just sensational.

For this card, I tried something new - Canon watercolor paper.

I used my Zig clean markers to colors and they were super!

 

The encouragement is on the inside of the card:

This sentiment is one of the one in the same stamp set. 

You can see what the design team has created this week

 by heading to the CCEE Stampers blog.

There is also a link up where you can add your cards, too!

I'll try to hop on as long as the electricity stays on!

We have a generator and plenty of gas, just in case.

We have a full house - everyone heading here to weather the hurricane.

I'll have to go get my mom from her house and she'll stay with us, too. 

I jonkingly told my husband, while he is entertaining by candlelight

and cooking by sterno, I'll be making lots of cardmaking by lantern :)

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

CYS: I BEE-lieve In You!

 Hi friends!

I'm buzzzzzzing by today with a fun card for the 

Challenge Your Stash (CYS) card group.

I'm the hostess for August and many of us are back to school

 (or about to be!)

so I chose a very simple theme:

Stencils!

At the time of choosing a challenge, I picked something that would be easy.

But I had NO IDEA how many stencils I own!

I started going through them to decide on a card design

and kept finding one after another :)

  

We crafters are funny that way!

Sometimes I surprise myself - shopping in my own stash, ROFL!

 I decided on today's stencil:  Burlap by Stamp Anniething.

I actually purchased this stencil for an upcoming project.

I tried it out - liked the results -

 so it became the stenciled background for this card :)

Don't you just love my worn out blending tools!

I'll let you in on a secret ....

I. Love. Them! 

They are so smooth and effortless and glide across the paper when I blend!

I just replace the little circle dauber thingies as/if needed.

The market seems to have many companies coming out with their own,

and I have some fancy blending brushes

but these are my absolute favorites.

  

Using distress oxide inks (tumbled glass, scattered straw),

I used a light blend to get a mixture of both colors.

I added the stamped/die cut bees and hive from MFT Meant to Bee

including a matching sentiment.

Overall, it's a very clean and simple look

but I'm Ha-BEE with it! :)

 Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings! ♥

~Kelly

TPB: Ghostly Greetings!

Boo!

Did I scare you?!

Aw, shucks - I tried! :)

Hi friends!

I'm up on the blog at The Project Bin today

and am using an oldie but goodie stamp set:  Cool Ghoul!

 I'm seeing lots and lots of Halloween cards lately ~

it's hard to believe October is just 2 months away!

This is one of the fun cards I created with another alcohol background,

a forest die, cut with black card stock, and some cute ghosts.

I glued the forest frame die cuts onto the alcohol panel to create the scene.

I heat embossed the sentiment in white for some contrast.

  

Here's what it looks like:

There are 2 new stamps sets in the The Project Bin shop:

Pumpkin Spice and Keepsake.

Mine are still en route, 

so I wasn't able to play with the new stamps yet,

but they are already available for purchase and just in time for fall! ♥

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Kraft-tastic inspiration!

Happy Sunday, friends!

It's been a slow morning for us as we've unwound from a very busy week,

 my husband is back from his work conference

 and our daughters are back from spending a fun 5 days

 at the theme parks in Orlando.

  I've a FULL meal planned for tonight similiar to crab boil 

and the house is smellin' DELICOUS!

 Today's card is one my daughter requested to mimic her wedding theme:

country rustic chic!

My first reaction?

  I LOVE the look of kraft, especially paired with a bold color like black,

and have used it previously on Christmas cards ♥

I just don't think *I* know how to make it very well!

To me, this just looked unfinished, missing something, undone.

I'm not quite sure what was bugging me so much about it. 

So I did the next best thing when in a bind ~

I asked the stamping community for help!

I was overwhelmed with the amazing suggestions

(I'll list them next!)

that really helped me realize kraft-ing crafting

outside our comfort zone could just be all in our heads :)

Some of the lovely suggestions were:

1. Use glitter or wink of stella in the centers

2.  Use the embossing and bleaching technique to 'color' the flowers.

3.  Add a few pearls or black dots 

4. A pop of color, like the sentiment in red 

(for this particular card, she wanted no colors)

5.  Vintage distress the edges

6.  Add a pop of gold to the centers 

7.  Rough up the edges

8.  Cut out another image and pop it to the top of it for a 3D look!

Aren't those all amazing!

A few of them are definitely on my 'to try' list as this turned out to be quite fun!

In the end, my daughter loved the card and 

off she went with it, so no changes were made to this one :)

Have a fabulous rest of the weekend

and thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

RSG: One of these things!!

One of these things ...
is not like the other!

Growing up, that was a common saying in my house!

My mum used to say that to my brother and I.

He's just a little over a year older than me 

and we could not have been more opposite!

She's laugh and say "One of these is NOT like the other!" 

Hello there friends! 


I'm in a little card group with 2 friends called Ready, Set, Go
where, once a month, we create a card that's a little more challenging.
It's a group I made up one night when I probably should have been sleeping!
Since I'm the hostess this month,
the challenge is "Opposites attrach ~ switch it up
 and add 2 things that don't necessarily belong on a card."

For my card, I'm combining one of my FAV-O-RITE things - critters! ♥
I've used, of course, another favorite - My Favorite Things stamps.
I can't resist anything Birdie Brown :)

The direction I was going in my card went WAY off course,
so this card is completely as planned an improvisation!
I have a winter scene of the Alaskan arctic with snowy mountains

and cute polar bears with the aurora borealis

and ....... omgostrich, it's an ostrish!
In the arctic?

 My background panel is one that mimics the aurora borealis  ♥
The polar bear cuties are ones I colored during The Daily Marker
and I hope to add all the images colored to cards eventually!
At least I'm one card down now ~ woot!
 The stamps sets I've used are My Favorite Things
Polar Bear Pals and Oh My Gostrich

You can see Barb's card here

and Jeanette's card here.

 Here's another funny photo I found with this theme ...

I thought this photo of 'one of these things is not like the other' was so funny!
I actually had to look twice before I saw it!

Thanks for stopping by today!

School started this week and wore me out

and tonight is a feet up, jammies on kind of night.

Monday will be here again in a blink ;)

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

TPB: I'm here to decorate!

Hi friends!

School has officially started here!  

My son, and our youngest child, is officially a high schooler!

He had an amazing first day!

He found a lot of friends and has them in his classes.

Me?

Not the best start to the new school year!

I just got my Expedition back from the mechanic this weekend,

and not even 24 hours later,

this was me.

 Broken down, tow truck called.

My daughter said ...
 "Yes, but look at that blue sky!

That grass so green!"

LOL!!

Yes - there's that! :)

 

Back to my card!

I'm using an older set from The Project Bin today

because fall is right around the corner!

Time to start thinking about the autumn cards, fall and Halloween!

This adorable set is one of my oldest and favorites: Creepy Halloween!

This sentiment and spider crack me up.

 To create this card,

I used white card stock and a scalloped die.

You all know by know these are my absolute favorite dies ~

My Favorite Things!

I stamped the spider and the sentiment on the top and die cut it to fit.  

I used Brutus Monroe Raven ink ~ it stamps so crisp and clear!

The die I used the scalloped basic edge 

and some really fun paper from Pink and Main.

I saw the orange stripes and it reminded me of fall!

 Here is the set in it's entirety:

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly 

Love you this much! ♥

Hi friends and happy weekend!

I love Unity stamps!

Unity stamp company is one of the stamps I found

 when I first started stamping -

and they just make me smile ♥

For today, I made a quick card that I slipped into my daughter's luggage.

She's on her way from Miami to Montreal (Canada!) 

 Her job sends flies her all around the world

and she's very blessed to LOVE what she does ~

and she's only 22!

I keep telling her I'm SURE she needs a chaperone - hee hee! 

  

For today's card,

I've used the adorable Otter from Otter love this much

from Unity Stamp Company   

and colored it with promarkers.

I used my MFT stitched mod Dienamics and ran that through my Gemini Jr.

I stamped out my Altenew half-tone circles and stamped it in varied inks

from Ranger Ink Distress inks.

The sentiment is from the same Otter stamp set and how I feel about her!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly  

DDD: You're the bees knees!

 Hello friends!

You're the bees knees!

Today is the day the Dueling Darlings card group post our cards

with a chosen theme by the hostesses:

which is Jeanette and I.

We chose a theme of Humorous!

 I had to ad-lib a little on the humor part

and this is more PUN-NY than FUNNY :)

The DDD Card group is 2 teams:  The Divas and The Dazzlers.

We chose the theme and I created card kits for the Divas 

and Jeanette created kits for the Dazzlers.

And on the 15th, we reveal our card kits and see what each of us has made!

 For my card today, I used Newton's Nook Winston's Honeybees.
i chose this one as it had several different punny sentiments

and would make a cute card!
I paired it with papers from Pebbles 'Family Ties'

and just dies/a frame to create the backdrop for Winston.

And that's it for this month's round of the Dueling Darlings!
You can see the other team mates cards by

stopping in to the thread at Splitcoaststampers under Dueling Darlings :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

CCEE ~ Vacation Destination!

Hi friends!

Summer is winding down and in a few more days,

school starts up!

My son is very excited to start high school (gulp!)

and while I'm normally not excited that summer is over,

 I'm loving, and living, the excitement through his eyes!

So how fun that the new theme at the CCEE Stampers this week is ...

vacation destination!
Anne is our hostess this month and asked to also add a 3D element.

  I'm heading to Paris ....

want to come along?!

My card is using the My Favorite Things stamp In Paris (ret'd)

and Oh La La, I'd love to be here again!

I've been blessed to see France (and Paris) twice

and loved seeing the Eiffel Tower at night so that's what I went with!

You may have noticed I have a slight obsession going on 

with my distress oxides and making backgrounds!

From making galaxies to underwater, I just can't. stop. using. them!

The frame was creating using the MFT gift box die for the 'window'

and the girl is from another set "Adventure is Calling."

I colored her with a combo of copic markers and prismacolor markers.

 For the last piece, I heat embossed Bonjour with versamark and WOW white embossing powder and a heat gun. 
 The 3D element is the popped up traveler!

 You can see where the rest of the DT has headed off to vacation!

The blog shows all their wonderful cards

as well as a link up (very bottom of the post) for you to link your cards.

Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

I'll enter this to: Rainbow Card Challenge ~ Purple!

Introducing - a Hot Mess!

Hi friends!

Today I'm making a mess!

As in a Hot Mess :)

My friends Barb, Jeanette and Terry had a crazy idea.

They said 'Let's create a card group! And make messes!

 And call it a Hot Mess ~ Success!

crafting?

getting messy?

oh yes ... what time?!! :)

For this first card, I went with something messy yet familiar :)

I used my Ranger alcohol inks and Yupo and blending solution.

And that was it for the background ~

easy peasy and yes, messy!

 The idea is to create a card using any of the 'messier' techniques to cardmaking ... water colors, paints, inks, shaving cream, etc.

Once a month, we'll create a card that requires us to make a mess 

- and be successful!

 Back to my card base ......... I let the alcohol inks basically do their magic!

I made several background pieces and

after the colors blended together, I noticed that one piece 

looked like an underwater scene with a cave.

Not really sure where I got that from ~

we did recently watch The Goonies! :)

 

So underwater cave it is!

I went through my huge container of colored images from The Daily Marker

and remembered the Lawn Fawn sublime stamps and die cuts.

They were already colored and ready to go ~

all I did was move them around on the paper until I was happy with their placement and pop them up on foam for dimension.

I've lived in Florida for most of my adult life and this scene,

although just ink and paper, stands out from a trip to Peacock Springs

where adventure trails, camping and cave diving are the highlights!

Barb, Terry and Jeanette have also made messy cards today

and if you want to see their cards, each name is their blog.

We plan to make cards once a month, every 2nd Monday,

and I'm sure it will be quite a mess success! 

Before you go, if you made it this far - thank you!

I have some pretty important tests today with a specialist.

I pray I'm able to find answers to my painful journey of the past few months.

I haven't been able to walk right and hobble around on a cane most days :(

If you could think some good thoughts or say a prayer, I'd be so grateful ♥

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Happy News!

Hi friends!

I'm so excited to have see this! ♥

My Butterfly Kisses card was chosen by Lawn Fawn

in their Fawny Friday feature :)

It was one of my favorite cards

and such a delight to see it among the other amazing, talented cardmakers!

                        ↑  This is me!

I do love critters so so much ~

they are my favorite types of cards to create

and the most types of stamps that I have are cute animals!

What are your favorite types of cards to make?

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Thanks