12 favorites of 2019 :)

Hi friends!

It's almost time to celebrate a brand new year ~ 2020!

  I love symmetry and I love even numbers 

and find them somewhat good luck-ish! 

It's always fun to look back at my favorite cards of the past year ...

and some that were my absolute favorites.

These cards are probably the ones that made my heart smile the most

and I am proud to call them mine ♥

 

January 

(Mama Elephant)

February

 (The Project Bin)

March

(Honey Bee Stamps)

April

(Stamping Bella)

May

 (Picket Fence Studios)

June

 (lawn fawn)

July

 (The Project Bin)

August

 (lawn fawn)

September

 (Lawn fawn)

October

 (The Project Bin)

November

(Lawn Fawn)

December 

(MFT Stamps)

 

Did you also have a favorites post for this year?

I know it's often hard to pick a 'favorite', 

and sometimes we just pick the ones that speak to our hearts.

I can't wait to share the new year with you all!

Here's to 2020!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Happy BIrthday, Denise blog hop!

Hi sweet friends!

I'm actually on vacation,

and hopefully this blog post will appear without a hitch!

Today's post is a birthday blog hop for Denise at The Project Bin!

We, the Design Team of The Project Bin stamps,

 are celebrating a most beautiful lady, Denise!

She is the owner and creative genius behind this amazing stamp line ♥

She's one of the kindnest souls I know 

and her beauty shines through and through on the inside as well as out!

Denise always has a kind and uplifting word

and just blesses us with her smile always!

Thank you, Denise, for all you do and for who you are ♥

 Her stamps are zany and funny

and there are stamps and sentiments for all occasions ....

 from the ones that make you split your sides laughing

 to ones that make you sentimental and all warm and fuzzy!

I've been on her design team since the onset 

and it's been absolutely awesome-sauce seeing 

The Project Bin take off in wonderful directions!

I'm the start of the hop and for today's card,

I've used the stamp set:  Love Your Shelfie

and the matching die set.

The adorable turtle is having so much fun at the birthday party,

her hat popped up in all the excitement!

There is a sentiment and message - on the inside - 

but I can't show that just yet ♥

Here's the stamps and dies that I used:

 

 The next stop on the hop is the Dawn's darling blog here!

If you want to hop along with us and see all the birthday creations,

here is the full hop list:

Kelly Santi

Dawn Mercedes Barrett

Stasia Sloma

Tamie Camp

Jeanette Cloyd

Joanne Travis

Barb Deichl

Tracie Clary

Thanks for stopping by today

and the biggest and bestest happy birthday wishes to Denise! :)

Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly

Merry Christmas, everyone! ♥

Hi friends!

Just stopping by to wish you all

a very Merry Christmas!

I'm taking some time off to be with my family,

enjoy the festivities and the joys of the holidays!

Today's card is a stamp using Rubber Stampede's Santa Collage,

one of my treasured Santa stamps!

This is probably the second time I've inked it up

but here he is ♥

Wishing you the happiest of holidays!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Santa's Day Off!!

 Hi friends!

If you ever wondered what Santa does in his free time,

I'm pretty sure it's this!

Karaoke!

 

Tee hee!

I just love this card :)

I love making cards just for the fun of it - 

being inspired just by being silly!

 

Santa is from Jingle all the way from MFT Stamps

and probably one of my favorite Santa stamps.

For this card, I used my Ranger distress oxide ink in black soot,

masked off a section to leave unmarked to resemble a spotlight

and blended and blended until it was finished.

For the sentiment, I heat embossed WOW white embossing powder

on red cardstock and created the funny song he's singing,

popped him up on foam for dimension and that's it!

Super fun, super cute!
He was actually part of a series I had planned to make ...
but like most of my best laid plans, I never have the time!
You may - or may not - see another one or four before Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

RSG: Wonder Woman!

Hello friends!

Today is the day that the Ready, Set GO! card group post our cards 

with a theme that's a little unorthodox.

The idea behind Ready, Set, Go challenges is to create a card
 with a theme that is more extreme and way outside of the box! 

This month, Barb gave us a theme based on Wonder Woman!

She said ....

In 1976, on December 18^th, ABC debuted a new series called 

Wonder Woman.  Each of us are Wonder Women— 

in our own individual and unique ways.  

The challenge is to make a card or project that you feel depicts how you see one of the other of our trio is a Wonder Woman.  

She went alphabetically:

Barb will make a card/project that highlights Jeanette,
 Jeanette will make a card/project that showcases Kelly,
 Kelly will make a card/project that portrays Barb.

Ready? Set? Go!

 

 This is by far one of the easiest RSG challenges we've had because there are so many good things to say about Barb!
From her kind heart to her traveling feet, I just adore this sweet friend ♥

We met  ..... wow .... well over 10+ years ago at Splitcoaststampers
when I joined one of my very first swaps.
Right away, I noticed that she was kind and friendly and helpful.
She made me feel instantly like a friend
and that it was okay to be a novice and not have a clue
 what the stamping world or card swaps were all about.

It was always on my bucket list to meet her in real life, 
and I finally got that dream come true!
I had the most wonderful pleasure of flying up to her home
and staying with her to attend a super fun crafty retreat.
She had so many surprises in store!
She's an amazing hostess, energetic and a terrific 'tour guide'
taking us to a couple of crafty 'hot spots'.
AND not to mention, she can make a mean latte!

Her kindness and empathy and wonderful compassion for EVERYONE
is simply unmatched.
We text often like school friends
and if there is every a prayer request, need to talk and share,
she follows up each. and. every. time.

Did I mention Barb doesn't stay home? 
LOL!
She is one of the most traveling friends I know!
She has friends and conferences in wonderful places 
and jet sets or drives to places I hope to one day see,
filling her life and world with sights and sounds and adventures!

Barb is a retired Activities Director and knows a lot about sports
(unlike me, unless it's European soccer or ice skating)
and also works closely with the Humane Society (thank you!!!!!!)
She loves cool outings like golfing, hiking, tandem biking and snow-shoeing!
There were so many things to represent this WONDER-ful WOMAN 
and in the end, I had an a-hah moment ...

Whipper Snapper!

She is the QUEEN of Whipper Snapper/Penny Black stamps!
Oh. My. Word!
 If I had to say one stamp company that I instantly say "that's Barb!"
Whipper Snapper immediately comes to mind.
Her craft room has a whole shelf full 
of so many wonderful Whipper Snapper stamps.
 It's like a store!

So, for that reason - I ended up choosing All Tangled Up
because it's fun and makes me smile (like she does!)
I've been in a bind before (tangled up)
and her motto is always the same:  Don't sweat the small stuff :)
The sentiment is from MFT Stamps "Cooler with you."

Here's the wooden stamp from Whipper Snapper:

Barb has seen me at my lowest point,
and she's shared and celebrated through some of the highest,
and has been there for me through it all.
I'm truly TRULY blessed to have met Barb
and to call her my friend is humbling and an honor.
Love you bunches!

{Pssst! Although I had Barb as my wonder woman,
Jeanette is equally awesome!}

 Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥
~Kelly

Hot Mess Success #5 ~ Magic of the season!

Hi friends and YES!
It's Monday!

But only 8 more days until Christmas!

I'm super excited this year for many reasons,

including having a 1 year old granddaughter, Alice, who is loving it all!

And I love that every time I go into my formal living room,

it is transformed into a Christmas cabin and it makes my heart smile ♥

 

Today I'm sharing with you the 5th card in the Hot Mess Success card group ~

usually posted on the 12th of every month.

This is a challenge where we make MESSY cards ~

any technique that requires a messier product like watercolors,

paint splatters, alcohol inks, etc!

This month, I'm the hostess and in the spirit of the holidays,

I chose a theme of use some sparkle, silver or gold, or glitter.

I chose gold. 

I used gold foil DCWV background cardstock

and Gina K. Designs gold foil in my alcohol inks Christmas trees.

Now .... my card.

I have to say, I do love it - it came out just as I hoped,

but ....

how on earth do you photograph gold foil?!

I tried and tried and tried and tried 

to get a great picture of it but it's a process! :)

I started with a base of Yupo paper and used a variety of Tim Holtz Ranger Ink

alcohol inks and let them do their magic!

Right before it was completely dry, I added the gold foil and pulled it up

for a random look.
Once it was dry, I ran the tree die through my Gemini Jr and
glued it to the gold cardstock - painstakingly slow but worth it!
The I stamped out the sentiment and popped it onto the card front.

It's funny (now) - I threw a few of these away 

before I realized I had the gold foil UPSIDE DOWN 

*grin!*

You can see Barb's card here,

Jeanette's card here,

and Terry's card here!

 It's interesting how this Hot Mess Success challenge group

is really showing me what techniques I like,

and the ones that I don't :)

This was a success, I'd say ~

and I'd definitely use this technique again.

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

~Kelly

You're SNOW unique!

 Hi again!

Today is a day where I have two challenges over at Splitcoaststampers - 

it's a busy Saturday! :)

In addition to the Inspiration Saturday challenge,

I'm one of the hostesses for the VSN -

that's the Virtual Stamp Night

and the theme is Snow Globe!

 For my challenge for the Snow Globe VSN,

I chose "Snow Unique!"

Here's my challenge for those playing along!

 

  Snowflakes are a beautiful way to showcase winter and holiday cards. 

They say that in the molecular forming of a snowflake, 

no two snowflakes are alike and each one is unique! 

 So, for this challenge, we'll make cards that are 'snow unique'

 by showcasing a snowflake - a single one - on your card

 or project as a focal point!

 No other specifics for the challenge - any colors, added sentiments are all okay - so let's get the winter wonderland started 

 with a unique, single SNOWFLAKE card! 

 

For my card, I decided to break out some MFT stamps dienamics 

that I have had for a long time and never used -

a gorgeous set of snowflakes.

I paired it with a newer die - the striped horizontal dienamic.

I cut the cardstock panel and then ran in through my Gemini Jr

to create the spaces, 

and simply lined the underneath with a gorgeous, silver glittery dsp.

Simple yet so striking! 

For those playing along,

 You have until December 23 at 11:00 pm (EST) 

to do the challenges. It's not required to complete each one

but they sure are fun 

and I'd, of course, be delighted if you create a SNOW unique card!

Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly

Inspiration Saturday - Sweet Gifts!

Hi friends!

Today is double duty - I'm hosting TWO challenges 

at Splitcoaststampers that just happened to land on the same day :)

Later today, I have a challenge in the Snow Globe VSN

but first ...... it's Inspiration Saturday!

It is a great honor to be the co-host with the amazingly talented Angela Bode!

The chosen site is LTD Commodities and it has a little something for everyone.

In a nutshell, the idea is you look through the site, 

find a page/item that inspires you and create a card based on that photo.

I love this site in the forum as it's a wonderful springboard

for many of my cards that I come up with over the weekend :)

 

What did I chose?

Peppermint candy!

 I was inspired by my recent haul of House Mouse stamps 

and spotted this peppermint  jar in the catalog. 

  I remembered this stamp in my haul:  Carrying Mints 

and put the card together after coloring it with my copics.

The sentiment is from another stamp set ;)

 

If you'd like to stop by and play along,

head on over to the SCS forum!

10 more days until Happy Christmas!

Big hugs, bigger blessings!

~Kelly

 

CCEE: Santa through the window ...

 

Hi friends!

 Today's card is for the newest challenge at the CCEE Stampers and Lynn is continuing on as our hostess this month.

 

This is what she said for this week's challenge:

Lynn McAuley, December CCEE hostess here with the final challenge of 2019. 

After today the CCEE Stampers will be on holiday until January 2 enjoying the season with their families and friends. We thank you for another wonderful year of shared stamping and wish you and yours the very best during this season of joy. Please join us in the new year for more shared stamping fun!
For our last challenge, I am asking that you create a card which has a window. 

It will then be your choice on whether you want to be peeking IN on Santa

 or peeking OUT at Santa.

 I can't wait to look through your window to spy on Santa. Have fun!!
Please share your design using Mr. Linky below. Should you post your card to an online gallery, please include keyword CCEE2050.

Such a fun and creative holiday card idea!

I have used one of my oldest stamps - Elzybells!

This stamp is LONG retired (though I sure wish it wasn't!)

and I went with the peeking out at Santa, although this little cutie

fell asleep and couldn't wait up :)

 Good thing she's on the nice list!

 Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

 

 

TPB: Believe in magic!

 Hi friends!

I'm sloshing through the snow today 

with an adorable scene card with stamps from The Project Bin!

 To create this card, I started with a base die from Lawn Fawn

and added a small polka dot dsp to resemble a whimsically snow!

I've used 3 different stamp sets to create this winter wonderland:

Merriest Christmas,  North Pole, and New Leaf!

Here are the stamp sets from The Project Bin that I used:

 

I hope your day is wonderful and fun

and you're ready for the holidays!

Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly