IG HOP with *PRIZES!*

 

Hi friends!

Just popping by to share a Sneak Peek 

that there is an Instagram Hop starting today.

 

This collaboration is with Whimsy Stamps and Ranger Ink

with some amazing giveaway prizes :)

 You can find all the information and link here!

Happy hopping and good luck to all!

Thanks for stopping by :)

~Kelly

Let's hit the beach!

Hi friends!

Today is a fun day ~

It's a beach day!

This card is for Week 5 of the Summer Inspired card hop

organized by The Kellys!  

(That would be my sweet friend Kelly on Instagram and moi!)

How it works: 

Each week, we have a summer theme where you chose

1 or the other OR combine both if you'd like.

For Week 5, Kelly (the other one!) has chosen BBQs or favorite activity.

 

One of my favorite things is a trip to the beach!

I could be there all day every day if i could! :)

There's something so incredibly relaxing about a lounge chair 

under the shade of an umbrella watching the waves.

Add in a good book and it's absolute bliss!

This random photo I took outside while photographing cards

shows our gorgeous Florida weather!

The sky's are crystal blue and everything here is so green.

HOT HOT HOT but that's typical here :)

Wishing you a day filled with all of your favorites!

Lots of love,

Kelly

Guest Designer - Tutorial: Wall Tile Background!

 

Hi everyone!

Today I have the privilege of being a Tutorial Guest Designer

at Splitcoaststampers with a technique that I call

Wall Tile Background!

I literally stumbled upon this idea by accident playing around

with my removeable wall tile decor.

I looked at all the hills and valleys and thought hmmmm...

that looks like a fun faux embossing folder!

The tile lended itself to be a beautiful background once 

mixed with paper, water and ink!

You can see the video here on YouTube at the 

Splitcoaststampers channel!

https://youtu.be/l5aPejTatZs

Here is the finished  look if you want to skip ahead 

to the final card :)

I started with these supplies:

This was actually quite easy and not quite as messy as it may seem,

although you know I love my messy art :)

 

Why this technique?

1. It was fun!  WAY fun!

2. It's cost effective - it was one whole dollar :)  Yep ... $1!

3. It's an alternative to an embossing folder ... 

4. did I mention fun?

5. You never get the same look twice!

Each and every background, every time, will be unique!

Head on over to Splitcoaststampers 

Tutorial section for more step by step instructions,

photos and the video!

Thanks for stopping by!
~Kelly

Miss you *beary* much ...

 

Hi friends!

I saw a poem the other day that resonated with me ~

and I read it just at the time I needed it the most :)

"A bear teaches us that if the heart is true, 

it doesn't matter much if an ear drops off." 

~Helen Exley

So very true!

My friend's dad recently passed away and I was so sad for her

as that's a heartbreak I'm familiar with.

But rather than create sympathy cards, she had a card drive 

and asked for cards with a bear somewhere on it for him.

What a sweet idea to remember the fond memories and

 celebrate his love of bears <3

My card is using Lawn Fawn's Smooth Sailing and Life is Good.

To create this, I used heavy #120 Accent Opaque cardstock

and made a 'porthole' for the sky and waves.

I cut/colored all the pieces and layered them to my card

to create an ocean/beachy vibe.

I'm sure she will receive cards from all over the globe

and I wanted this one to say "Miami!"

And that's my card :)

Thanks for stopping by!

I'll enter this to:  Lawn Fawnatics challenge 94 ~ What's the weather (sunny here!!)

Simon Says Stamp Monday - Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes

CCEE2104 ~ Warm and Cozy!

Hi friends!

Welcome to another CCEE Stampers challenge for this week.

I feel like I blinked and it's already Thursday!

Lynn has our final CCEE Challenge for January and she says:

Many of us are experiencing very cold days during late January in our part of the world. Feature on your design something that makes you feel warm and cozy even on the coldest of winter days!

Here in Miami, Florida we have 4 seasons ~

summer, summer, summer and last but not least, summer!

This is a wonderful theme, Lynn!

My card is very simple - being outdoors!

Since we are blessed with year round wonderful weather,

we spend as much as we can outside!

We have a Mr. Linky at the CCEE Stampers blog 

that you can play along and share your creations, too.

Should you post to an online gallery other than your own blog,

please add keyword CCEE2104.

Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Christmas!

 Hello beautiful friends!

Wishing you the Merriest Christmas, from my home and heart to yours!

I am SO VERY blessed to know so many of you through blogging

and wish you all the wonderful things for 2021!

Christmas has a fun, whimsical tone in our house.

We chose a theme each year and 2020 was "The North Pole,"

so naturally my card for a special guy in my life was a fun one!

I fell IN LOVE with this gnome in a truck stamp set

from Simon Says Stamp and just knew when I saw it - that's the one!

I colored it with prismacolor markers and added it to a fun background.

I wasn't able to get the dies so there was a hole lot of fussy cutting!

Stay safe out there friends while

visiting with your loved ones and sharing this holiday together.

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly

card entered to: SSS Wednesday Challenge

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

RSG: Hello Suns{hi}ine!

Hello friends!  

Today's post is the card-that-almost-wasn't!

I'm in such a cardmaking funk and coming up empty 

everytime I sit down to make a card - or half cards!

I finally sat down today ~ watching the rain falling outside -

so calming and serene and oh. so. green!

I stared out that window for the longest time ..

half daydreaming, half hoping to come up with a card idea :)

Once a month, the Ready-Set-Go! card group has a theme

and we create a card.

It all started here and we call it challenges that are 'outside the box.'

This month, I was the hostess and mailed out a chipboard WORD 

 and said "make a card!"

We all have a different word:  Happy, Hello and Love.

They were added to an envelope without me seeing,

closed up and I mailed it to the other 2 ladies ... sight unseen.

My word: Hello!

I love the word Hello ~ and had NO idea where I was going to go with it.

I just grabbed a ton of stencils and some Distress Oxide Inks,

blender brushes and some paper! And got to thinking ....

  Hello - Blue Skies!

    Hello - Sunny Days!

                                              Hello - Pool Time!

I decided to go with the sunburst Ray of Light stencil from My Favorite Things.

Because I didn't really have a direction of where I was going, I dug through my stamps until I found something 'sunshiney' and found this sentiment from my Paper Smooches stamp set:  Spectrum.   I love that it says {hi} in the middle!

I never even noticed until photographing this card that it's holographic!

It looked silver .... and twist and turn it a littl bit ... and it's rainbow!

Groovy!

You can see Barb's card and Jeanette's card on their blogs.

Oh!

And if you have seen my mojo,

please sent it back my way! :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings 

~Kelly

Card entered to:  Word Art Wednesday #452-3

Little Red Wagon - Use a Stencil

CCEE2030 ~ National Zookeepers Week!

Hi friends!

It's a ZOO out there!

And on the CCEE Stampers blog this week, 

quite literally :)

Lois is our July hostess and has asked us

 to create a card with at least one zoo animal on it.

Today's card is a slimline card, 

a card style quite popular in the crafting community!

I can't say I've 'caught the bug' fad just yet 

but I'm loving the inspiration I'm seeing everywhere.

This slimline die set is from Lawn Fawn and I've paired it 

with the super fun Zoo stamp set from Gerda Steiner.

To create the sky, I used the MFT Cloud stencil and
Ranger Ink Distress oxides in Tumbled Glass and Broken China.
For the hills, I used a stitched die
and added it like a puzzle piece to layer it.
Finally, I stamped the sentiment 'It's your birthday ..."
and on the inside "Go WILD!"

I'll be making a video of this very soon 
and you'll be able to see it on my YouTube channel ~
which was my happy news to share before I ended up sick.

I even have a wee giveaway right now that ends August 1st -
head on over if you'd like to peek!
I'm really new, really novice but excited to start this new venture
and I'd love to have you subscribe!

Here's a final look at my zoo card:

Be sure to stop over at the CCEE Stampers blog
and link up your zoo cards, too.

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

You lift me up! :)

Hi friends!

Flying by with a quick hello

with the sweetest puppy!

I can't resist a puppy stamp 

and the moment I saw the Gus and Gertie set, it was 'gotcha day!'

For today's card,  I knew I wanted to make a whimsical flying card

so I thought why not make a sky background :)

I knew I'd use this set many many times so on release day over at Taylored Expressions, I purchased the limited time special for the stamp and die

and I'm so glad I did!

To create the sky background,

 I used the new Speckled Egg distress ink from Tim Holtz/Ranger Ink. 

 It's such a unique and lovely shade of blue!  

It's like a cross between Stormy Sky and Tumbled Glass, if I had to pick :)

I added the sentiment and popped it up 

just as I did for the image to give the card some dimension.

I just realized Gertie didn't make it onto the card ~

but it sure won't be my last!

Thanks for stopping by today!

I hope everything is okay where you are ~ 

the world sure needs a great big hug right now.

Sending mine to you!

Big hugs, bigger blessings!

~Kelly

Shaded Stencils ~ Day 5!

Hi friends!

I hope you are all doing well ♥

Spring card camp is still going strong - and fast!

This camp is kicking my cardmaking up a few (hundred) notches!

It moves quick and it's easy to fall behind 

so I created these two cards while throwing a little shade.

As in ... Stencil Shading!

It was taught by Lydia (from SCS) and

here's. where. it. gets. funny!

After camp #1, I placed some orders for new toys and they've all arrived ...

except for one, which has the flower stencils in it.

But no biggie ~ we are in a quarantine and safety first!

I figure if that is the worst of it then I'm good!

I have quite a few stencils, but no florals so I had to improvise ...

so I used a notebook ~ an older one from my stash from The Dollar Tree.

The plastic covers are cut through and they look like a stencil

so why not!

When in Rome, amiright?

I went from this ↑

 And got this! ↓

I used Ranger Ink distress inks and Picket Fence Studio Life Changing Brushes

(the tiny ones for nooks and crannies)

and lightly blended through the stencil (notebook) area.

In order to keep the colors from blending together, 

I blocked it off as I blended to keep the colors separate.

The THANK YOU sentiment is from Concord and 9th

and I popped it up on 3D foam and added a few sequins.

I love that these are made from things I had right here at home :)

Shelter in and shop your stash!

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly