Not so SCARY-crow!

  

  

Hi friends!

It's fall!

I love love LOVE this time of year!

Miami stays pretty hot year round and we don't see a 'traditional' fall, but we still go through all the events with fall festivals, scents and cooking :)

As kids, my brother and I would often roam the fields and countryside having grandadventures, including in the farmers fields where we'd see scarecrows.

He would even make them for him and I and we'd run around playing with them. I found out years later after seeing childhood photos that they were just apples picked from the trees and skewered onto a stick!

I used a free, quick download image off the internet from Dearie Dolls and this one is the b/w printable. There's also a colorized version if that's your jam!

    

I colored it with Copic Ciao markers and added a piece of patchwork dsp as the backdrop - coloring the scarecrow with similiar colors as the paper.

I'd say, he's not such a scary SCAREcrow!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly

Whooooooo loves you?

Hi friends!

I will OWL-ways love you! :)

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

where you will see inspirational cards posted during the week!

And if you have been around my blog long enough,

these cuties will look familiar as they are among my faves!

My card today is TREE-mendous ...

 a slimline tree filled with autumn splendor :)

To create this card, I used these stamp sets from The Project Bin:

The pumpkin is from Eat Pie, the owls and branch stamps are from New Leaf and the sentiment (top part masked off) from Pumpkin Spice!

All of those together created this beautiful tree card!

To create the background (inside) I used a watercolor panel

that I created using my Altenew watercolor brushmarkers in sunkissed, paper bag and fresh lemon.

Once it was dry, I stamped the sentiment with Lawn Fawn Walnut ink

and assembled my card.

I already have a second one in the works that I'm super excited about ~

you'll see that one on October 12th!

You can find all these stamp sets in the shop here

and I've also included a few photos for a quick glance.

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly

Be the coffee!

 Hi friends!

Happy Weekend!

Today's card is for the Inspiration Station at Splitcoaststampers

and this week, we're heading to reshot and it's FULL of inspiration!

Here is the photo I found 

and I loved the cuppa as a focal point and the red background 

reminded me of the holidays :)

I used Honey Bee Stamp Coffee Break,

which has been in my stash for forever!  

I've paired it with a funny coffee sentiment from Simon Says Stamp

and anyone who knows me, knows I take my coffee seriously!

Very. Seriously.  

:)

And the photo inspiration quick view:

I kept looking at the photo and my card seems so simple and plain.

But sometimes less is more - though I forget who's quote this is :)

The inside of my card makes me smile!

I used a sentiment from Choose Happy by SSS and here's the inside:

And that's from me today!

 Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

Kelly

CCEE2039 ~ Mushroom Month!

 Hello friends!

I have 'mushroom' in my heart for you!

First, join me in welcoming Hazel and Manal to our Design Team!

We look forward to working with you and seeing your cards!

And there's a new challenge at the CCEE Stampers this week 

and Frances continues as our September hostess with a FUN(gi) theme!

Her theme is:

According to the Days of the Year Calendar, September is Mushroom Month. 

So for our challenge this week, include one or more mushroom either stamped or die cut on your creation.

And here is my card this week!

It's true ...

I. Love. Bright. Colors!

I adore vivid, bright colors - including neon!

So I was super happy to find the Karin markers in Neon Colors

and have used them on a couple of cards already.

In going through my stash, I realized I have QUITE a few mushroom stamps

and *gasp!*

I didn't even know, LOL!

But most of them are with gnomes - and that's NOT a bad thing!

I chose to go with this adorable one from Clearly Besotted

and my card is super simple because it's being sent to a young child.

I paired it with this sweet sentiment from My Favorite Things

and done!

Stop on over to the CCEE Stampers blog to see all the Design Team cards

and if you'd like to link up yours, there's a linky at the bottom of each post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly

I'll enter my card for consideration to:  Word Art Wednesday!

Bountiful Birthday!

Hi friends!

Happy Fall!

I love this time of year 

with all the wonderful colors and scents and freshness to the season!

It's all still VERY green here as it will be all year

but a girl can dream!

My card is for Splitcoaststampers Watercolor Wednesday 

and we're up to the 17 in the series!

This week's theme is watercolor imprints

and this is easy to do with a stencil.

For my card's background, 

I've used the randomness stencil from Picket Fence Studios.

I started with Canson #140 watercolor paper and my Kuretake Gansai pans.

The flora is die cut papers using Honey Cuts from Honey Bee Stamps

and I added a sentiment from one of my My Favorite Things stamp sets.

After watercoloring the stencil, I set it onto the watercolor paper 

and put a book on top to press the color into the paper.

After about 30 minutes or so, I let it dry  naturally the rest of the way

and then put the card together pretty easily!

For the final touch, I used some gold watercolor paint and

used my paintbrush to splatter bright pops of gold color onto the background.

And that's it from me!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly

Card entered for consideration to:

  The Rainbow Card Challenge - autumn

Funkie Junkie - Create your own background

The Card Concept - inspiration photo (leaves!)

Mod Squad Challenge - Autumn Foliage

Mission Possible ~ 3rd Mission!

 

Hi friends!

I hope you had a great weekend and here we are!

Monday again!

You may remember from this post of mine that I mentioned

 the very talented artist Dina Kowal and the cloud edger stencil. 

I decided for today's card to use the cloud edger again 

since Dina was the inspiration for why I first purchased it :)

Now, onto the rest of my card!

Today's card is for the Mission Possible card group,

 started by my friend Jeanette who sends a mystery item quarterly.

The idea behind her group is:

Jeanette finds/buys 3 of 'something' quarterly 

and sends that item to Barb, myself and she keeps one for herself.

This time, she sent a Taylored Expressions Walking on Sunshine embossing folder!

To make my card base, I first created a rainbow cloud using the cloud edger

and alternated colors of distress inks in (almost) ROYGBIV order

 and I used my TE Blender Brushes. 

After each blend, I cleaned the stencil for the next color ...

this was quite laborious but worth the time it took :)

I created 2 panels - this one with the cleaner lines and less cloud blending

and a sentiment from Concord and 9th called Brighter Days.  

Finally, I placed the final rainbow background into the embossing folder 

- the Mission Possible item -

and created the background sunburst design in the cardstock.

You can see Barb's card here and Jeanette's card here 

and the Mission Possible will be back again in 3 months!

I still have one more card to show you with this cloud edger

and it's quite different than this one and I really like it :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly

Stamp What?! - Haunting We Will Go!

 

       

Hello friends

and Happy Friday!

This week(end), I'm playing catch up on all the cards I've missed earlier this 

month, including this super fun Halloween card for Stamp What?!

Stamp What?! was a challenge created by my sweet son when we chatted once 

about my "Old Dusties" - Wooden Stampin' Up! stamps from the way back days!

You can read how it started here :)

As always, I love to ask him how he chose a stamp and he said:

"this one looked fun and let's be honest, 

this is the only Trick Or Treating we'll see this year."

He's probably not wrong!

September's choice is A Haunting We Will Go and it's circa 1998!

My card is a continuation of Sept-paper and I'm going back to basics

and using up as much dsp from the 6 x 6 mat pads as I can.

I've updated it by using die cuts from recent release and updated papers.

Here's a look at the inside:

Barb and Jeanette have joined me this year on this journey

and you can see their cards on their blogs!

Here's a final look ....

I'm excited to see what my son pulls for next month!

But it will have to wait ...

I'm currently working on my granddaughter's birthday invitations.

I can't believe Alice is about to turn 2!

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)
~Kelly

I'll enter my card for consideration to:  Cut It Up!

Craft Rocket Challenge - Kids!

Moving along with the times - Create a Scene

CCEE2038 ~ Shake Month!

 

Hi friends!

The CCEE Stampers are shaking things up this week!! 

Frances continues as our hostess this month and her challenge is:

Apparently September is "Shake Month" which is a day to celebrate all things Milkshakes! 

If a milkshake is involved, you won't have to tell me twice!  Hee hee!

Here's my card, which is a CASE of my OWN card :)

I absolutely LOVED the shaker cards that I made for Spring Card camp

and for this one, added chunky silver glitter.

I'll be back later to get a better photograph of this!

I finished it so late, it was already super dark.

Meanwhile, head to the CCEE Stampers blog to see all the DT cards

and find the Mr. Linky to add your shake or shaker cards, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly

RSG: Working Parents Day!

Hi friends :)

I'm back with another Ready, Set, Go challenge card

 which are once-a-month card challenges with my friends, Barb and Jeanette.

The challenges are designed to be a little harder than most

and a bit more extreme!

This month it's pretty easy:  Celebrate Working Parents Day.

As the hostess this month, Barb said:

Our September posting date is September 16 and that day is holiday called 

“Working Parents Day”!  We have honored our parents in the past in a few different challenges and I want to do it again.  Think of your parents and the work that they did in their lives.  You can honor your mom or dad or both--your choice.

  It can be an actual “job” that they had or showcase them working in another fashion.

  Please make a card that highlights your working parents!  Ready?  Set. Go!

I am chosing to honor my Father and his career in the military :)

My dad was in the Air Force and retired after 28 years.

I had the best childhood, moving from country to country

and having one adventure after another at each new Air Force base!

My image is from Mo's Digital Pencil and one of few digital stamps I've purchased.

I have a photograph just like this with him and I somewhere at my mom's house.

I colored the soldier to resemble BDUs, 

which I saw my dad in many times and it brings back wonderful memories!

I added the Miss You sentiment from Simon Says Stamp

because although he's passed away, he's always with me :)

You can see Barb's card here and Jeanette's card here.

And here's a final look ~ not the best photography but I do love my card :)

I'm about 3 cards behind in our card groups

so I'll have to double time it to get things done.

I've been on the struggle bus for a couple of weeks now

but trying (hard) to stay in the game nonetheless.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)
~Kelly

DDD: The Roaring 20's!

 

Hello again!

This is my 2nd post for today -  and I'm up on the blog at The Project Bin today.  To see my card, please go here :)

Todays is the day we post our cards for the Dueling Darlings ~

the very same group that just celebrated 10 years of cardmaking together!

How it works:  2 hostesses come up with ONE theme

and the 2 teams get TWO different card kits!

 Our hostesses this month are the fabulous Canadian duo: Beth and Heather

and they have a terrific theme of The Roaring 20's!

I LOVE THIS THEME!

My daughter is a HUGE fan of the 20's and was in the production of Chicago and my son was cast as Nicely Nicely Johnson in Guys and Dolls in Middle School :)

 In my kit, I had a choice of several images (thanks, Heather!)

and will use ALL of them in the future!

Our kit also included this beautiful dsp and images from CC Designs

and my card today was colored with prismacolor markers.  And as part of my

Sept-paper, I used a couple sheets of the DSP to highlight the flapper girl and chose teals and blue based on the pretty ribbon!

Here is my card front: 

And a quick peek at the inside:

Thank you, Heather and Beth for the fun kit and theme!

To see the rest of the card created by the group,

I invited you to head to Splitcoaststampers and see the Dueling Darlings!

I'm behind in about 3 more cards so you'll be seeing those - soon!

Life is full throttle here and papercrafting has had to take second fiddle ...

imagine that?!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly

The Project Bin: I love Fall!

 Hi friends!

I have 2 posts today ~ This one for The Project Bin

and next up, The Dueling Darlings Diva card.

For today's post at The Project Bin blog, I've created 2 cards using super fun

fall themed paper as part of my Sept-paper installment!

I have tons and tons of designer paper although last year,

 I purged/donated 3/4 of it.

And yet, I still have many MANY 6 x 6 mat stacks to use!

So ... September became Sept-paper!

I love the look of different layers of fun papers 

and did some angle layering here. 

On this card, the image is from New Leaf, 

and if you look through the gallery at TPB, you'll see I've used this many times :)

I stamped the images in Lawn Fawn walnut ink

and popped some enamel dots on them, using all ends of the sheets of dsp.

For the next card, I used the small trims off the sides to create a second

quick thank you card.

The 'thanks' stamp (also in Lawn Fawn walnut ink) is from Autumn's Calling,

another favorite of mine!

Here are both together:

You can find both stamp sets in the shop!

These are both available for purchase here!

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)
~Kelly

CCEE2037: Slimline ~ Happy Birthday to my son!

 

Hi friends!

Today is my son's 16th Birthday!

I am just in awe of this most amazing kid ~

 growing up to be such an amazing young man.

He just embraces goodness and kindess in the world

and is always laughing and smiling :)

I'm So So SO blessed to be his mama!

The CCEE Stampers challenge this week is the ever-so-popular slim line cards!

Frances is our September hostess and she's chosen this week's challenge.

This is one of the cards I made for my son's birthday

using the collaboration stamp of Lawn Fawn and Ellen Hutson.

It was perfect since he's a Boy Scout and camping is his jam!

This was SO MUCH fun to create. 

I've created a YouTube Video where you can see this card put together :)

My channel: 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNWwjD_YMf0&t=16s

And here's one last look:

You can link up your cards and see all of the DT slimline cards

here on the CCEE Stampers blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)
~Kelly

Card entered to:  Word Art Wednesday #456

3M: Here for you, rain or shine!

 

Hi friends!

Today I'm sharing a card for the 3M card group ~ 

3M = mystery image sent each month and we never know what it will be!

We take turns sending an image to each other

and this month is Umbrella Swissie by CC Designs from Jeanette.

I actually colored this little cutie to look like my granddaughter, Alice!

She's almost 2 years old and LOVES to splash in the puddles :)

For my card, I wanted to try something a little out of the box.

After seeing my card, I think I should have left it IN the box - LOL!

I watched the VERY talented Lydia on Facebook who does countless

wonderful techniques and card making tips and tricks.

She created clouds last week in her online class that have me like *heart eyes!*

(Here is the link to this technique on her YouTube)

First, here is my finished card: 

For this card's background, I created a card with a Nouveau Retiform,

which is basically masking off portions of the cardstock for inking

 and then stamping over the top area.

It's a bit of a labor of love and needing the right tools!

Since I didn't have the right stencil for the job,  and I was eager to try this,

I did the next best thing:  I created it!

Using an insert of cardboard, I layered rectangle dies in a pattern,

die cut them out, and made a stencil to use for ink blending.

Once that was done, I stamped onto the ink blocks

using a sentiment quote from John Keats)

This was pretty messy and a fun technique to try 

and I'll definitely revisit it with some proper tools and planning!

I am sure Barb and Jeanete will have made much much pretty cards

using the sweet CC Designs umbrella girl!  

I'm sorry this post was soooooo long!

I hope you enjoyed it somehow in the process of making and creating :)

Thanks for stopping by ~ I appreciate it!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly