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

2nd Annual SHARK WEEK - Giveaway!

 

                                     Hi FIN-tastic friends!

Swimming by today with a JAWSOME card inspired

 by my 2nd Annaul SHARK WEEK card hop over Instagram :)

There is a BIG giveaway for one lucky hopper

so be sure to SEA what it is!

(I do have 2 posts today - my 3M card is here)

Here's a sneak peek!

Head on over to my Instagram here to start the hop!

Good luck! :)

~Kelly

Bonjour!

Bonjour mes amis! 

Today's card share is from a recent Instagram card hop

hosted by my friend, Dalis!

The theme that week was vacations or ice tea 

and I chose the first one 

so I could finally ink up a forgotten stamp set :)

I created the card design based on our vacation to Europe

 with our kids and they absolutely LOVED Paris!

It isn't my favorite city but I loved seeing it again through their eyes :)

I modeled the house after the ones you typically see

along the French Riviera <3

This stamp and die set are from Waffle Flower Crafts called ~ Bonjour!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Kelly

Some big big BIG news!

Oh friends, I have some really REALLY big news to share!!

I'm still pinching myself to make sure it's really REALLY real ♥

When I first started this stamping/card making hobby about 12 years ago,

I could have only dreamed of a few moments ...

like this ...

and wished

and hoped

and prayed

that one day it could be real .....

and now it is!

... and never, ever imagined it would be me!I am feeling like the luckiest girl in the whole world ♥

.

If you are familiar with Splitcoaststampers,

and are familiar with the Dirty Dozen,

a group of ladies chosen to represent Splitcoaststampers,

I am the newest 'Dirty Girl!"

I am OVER THE MOON EXCITED!!!

.

I am so grateful to each of you that follow me,
leave me warm and kind and inspiring messages here on my blog!
It means the world to me and I'm truly grateful for you all ♥


As a small way of saying thank you,
I'm going to have a giveaway!

I will actually have one on my blog here
and one will be over on my Instagram
(yes, two different giveaways!)
 

Stay tuned for details!

Big big BIG squishy hugs!
Blessings,
Kelly

National Pencil Day + Giveaway!

Hi friends! 

 

 I'm getting a late start to the day's posting ~ 

but, hopefully, with good reason.
I've been in bed for 3 days with the flu :(

I'm in 'take it one day, one hour at a time mode!

And the saddest part ..

today is my birthday! 

Oh this one is a year to remember ~

and praying I'm well enough to enjoy some of it this weekend, too!

 

Onward to my tardy card ...

 this is my last post as the March hostess for the CCEE Stampers.

Tomorrow is National Pencil Day.

The DT have created cards featuring a pencil image

or colored the image with colored pencils ~ or both!

I've used an interesting frame from Hello Bluebird that is slightly larger
than the A2 card size.
The card, when standing, looks similiar to an easle style - pretty neat!
This is the inside,
which is the finished statement to the sentiment on the front. 

Before you go, 

You know what they say about birthdays - celebrate!

I am celebrating my birthday with a big giveaway

of stamps, matching dies, and other crafty goodies on my Instagram

(winner will be chosen only on Instagram, so hop on over!)

 You can find me HERE if you'd like to take a look! 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Day 4: It's pretty SIMPLE!

Hi friends!

Here we are - Day 4 of my weekly series ~ 

The Alphabet Game! 

Since it's time for a new challenge at the CCEE,
I had to combine my card for the challenge as well as my series
and, as it turns out,
it's pretty simple! :)

Lynn asked us to create a card based on this challenge:
"July 12 has been declared National Simplicity Day in honor of Henry David Thoreau 
who was a devoted advocate of living a life of simplicity. 
So on this lazy day of summer it's time to simplify. 
My challenge to you is to create a clean and simple one layer card!"

 Thanks, Lynn!
How I adore Thoreau! ♥

 This was a perfect opportunity to ink up my new stamps that just
arrived from Kraftin' Kimmie
therefore, making today letter K! 
(I didn't get to chose a random letter as I randomly drew F and then J ...
and didn't have a single stamp company in those letters.)

So what's a girl to do?
Improvise!

 I was able to scoop up many of the stamps that I have wanted 
for FOREVER during their mega Canada Day sale last week ~ eh!
This stamp set called Adventure Time was at the top of my wish list!
{They are in stock but no longer on sale}
It reminds me SO MUCH of my son and his camping and adventures
AND all the indoor blanket tents we've made ♥

And this stamp set has an actual Thoreau quote! ♥
I used it for the inside of my card ↓
I really love the font, too - it reminds me of Winnie-the-Pooh and Christopher Robin in the Hundred Acre Wood :)

If you'd like to play along this week, please include keyword CCEE1828
or if you post your card to an online gallery/photo hosting site.

And you can see what the CCEE DT made by heading over the blog.

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

Day 3: You are Sublime ...

Happy Wednesday!

It's day #3 in my summer series "5 days of ..."

and I'm swimming along with

The Alphabet Game!

I could not have been more excited to see today's :
the letter "L"!

I knew right away which company I would pick when I saw "L"
and I knew exactly the stamp set, too :)

My husband and I celebrated our 25th year of marriage
a couple of months ago (but together for 34!)
and I am absolutely, unequivocally as deeply in love with him
today as I was all those years ago.
He's truly the other half of what makes me whole ~
as a wife, a mom, as me ♥

And he EELY likes my cards!
LOL!
He's super supportive and encouraging and truly my biggest fan ♥
When I make him a card,
he keeps every. last. one!

I colored my Lawn Fawn  You are Sublime and die cut them 
to create an underwater scene. 
The background piece was created by using a simple sheet of white
cardstock and blending and blending and resting my elbows and blending 
with a couple of distress oxide inks.
After adding a frame and the sentiment,
I popped up almost all of the cut-outs on 3d foam, added sequins
and some wink of stella in the submarine windows and the coral.

I had a sweet friend as me the other day if I still do the inside of my cards :)
The answer is:  yes!
I usually just don't show them anymore as I'm switching up 
the way I do a few things on my blog ...  AND ....
because each card is specifically made for someone or
I give them away as part of my #yearofkindess,
I try to let that part be a surprise!

I tailored his card to fit the Lawn Fawnatics challenge this week
so I'll enter my card there!

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

Additional challenge:  CraftaholicsRUs - Turquoise
Little Red Wagon - movie/Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea 
The Male Room Challenge 89 - Fish/Fishing

Day #2! Beach Day!

Hi friends!

It's day #2 in my summer

"5 days of ..."

and I'm continuing on with 

The Alphabet Game!

So let's jump right in!

 

Before making this card, 

random integer selected another letter for me and it's letter M!

Wow, I have a lot of stamps from companies that start with the letter M!

To narrow it down, I selected the stamps that haven't seen ink
(as per the intention of this series)

like this one from My Favorite Things called Beach day (now ret'd)
It features the Pure Innocence little girl ready for the beach!

After coloring, die cutting this image, I popped it up
on 3d foam for depth.  
It's also already in the mail,
 heading off as happy mail from the sunshine state!

Thanks for your visit today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

 

New blog series: 5 days of ... (Day 1)

Hi friends!

Today's the day!  Today's the day!

It's Day 1 of my summer blog series kick-off and I'm really excited ♥
For the next 3 weeks, Monday-Friday, 
I'll be sharing a summer series of cards that I call  "5 days of ..."
Each week, the theme will be a surprise until each Monday's reveal, like today :)

 

So in addition to creating 5 new cards a week,

I hope this will be a chance to get to see more in depth views of 

my crafting style and creating in the spirit of inspiration and sharing!
From different techniques to tried 'n true, 
from my had-to-have-it to the what-was-I-thinking,
I hope to cover a little bit of something that will be fun!

And!
 For hanging out with me during this (hot!) summer series,

I have a coordinating giveaway!

Yay!

(*see details below)

This week's summer cards series theme is: 

The Alphabet Game!

It's as easy as 1, 2, 3 - A, B, C to make a card with just one letter!

I used random.org letter generator and the letter W 

was the lucky letter for my first card.

Ohhhh!  I have a couple of stamps/sets that start with W.

Since the purpose of the series is for me to do something differently,

it had to be a stamp/set that I hadn't used before!

 My sweet little Wplus9 stamp/die set called the Get Well Gang

 was the perfect choice since I needed to make a card for the Crafters of Faith.

I saw it, bought it, and poor thing hasn't made it out of the box .. until now!

I chose this particular stamp set because our cards were based on

a scripture of Psalm 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart"

I was inspired to create a card of healing and faith pulling me

through my husband's recent emergency surgery and hospitalization.
Indeed I felt His presence and love during a time of trial and trusting in His will

has to be automatic ♥

It was also hard to resist those cute little critters

and the darling doctor and patient, mice and get well cheese!

Day 1 - check!

W = get WELL with Wplus9!

It's a good thing random.org is exactly that ~

After W is X and I'd be scratching my head trying to figure that out, LOL!

I hope to see you tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

*The Nitty Gritty ...
This giveaway is in no way sponsored by any official party and prizes
were purchased by me for the sole purpose of a blog giveaway.
Prize awarded is a random draw from comments on blogger.

RAQ:

*I've won before - can I win again? ~ Yes!  It's completely random
*I live outside the USA - am I eligible? ~  Absolutely! I mail worldwide.
Winner/winners will be announced at the end of the 3rd series.

Good luck!

CCEE1821 ~ N.E.W.S!

Hello friends!

It's time for a new challenge at the CCEE Stampers 

and Anne has a new challenge for us.

She writes:

I wake up in the morning to the NEWS.
  Make a card using each of these letters ..... N, E, W, S.

Thanks, Anne!

Here is my card feauting the news:

N = Night

E = Evening, enamel dots

W = Windows, WHAM!

S = Superhero 

To make this card, I used a night time city space idea

but creation a cityscpape with the Tim Holtz dies.

I ran it through the cuttlebug twice, once in black and once in yellow.

After popping out the small squares for windows, I let the yellow shine through like light.

Next, I popped up the tiny hero from Mama Elephant

and added some glittery silver enamel dots.

 And if you'd like to be in the running for blog candy giveaway from me

with the comicbook/Sunday comics theme,

you can read about it in the first series post here!

Be sure to stop by and see what the other CCEE Stampers
made with this theme ~ it will be fantastic!

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

Sunday Funnies - second edition!

 

Hello friends!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies,

grandmas, aunties, etc!

I hope your day was filled with beautiful blessings ♥

I'm getting a late start to the Sunday paper today ~
I had a bad accident this week and am still recovering ...

BUT, as they say, laughter is the best medicine :)

So today's card is slightly different than I had intended

for the Sunday Comics - second edition.

If you are a new reader or missed the new blog series annoucement,

you can start on Week 1 here!

Each week in Sunday, I'll have a new Sunday Comics post

AND you'll have up to 4 chances to win the giveaway :)

 This card features the new Mama Elephant stamps Boom Boom ~

it's soooo cute!

I used bright, vivid colors to compliment what you see in the Sunday paper

comics section.

This stamp and die set comes with these 3 little characters

but I have to say - the one in the middle with the thumping heart is 

what got me when I saw it!

I love it!

They are popped up on 3d foam and the sentiment, while originally was

also going to be popped up on foam, ended up being flush to the card

so I could add in some enamel dots to give the card a little more character :)

Leave a comment below it you'd like to be in the running for the 

giveaway at the end of the month!

Let's get to know each other better .....

what is your favorite color combination when crafting?

 

So glad you could stop by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

I'll enter this into:  Sweet Stampin - fantasy (monsters!) 
Lil Patch of Crafty friends - AG

New blog series: Sunday Comics #1! ♥

Hi friends! 

Squeeeeee!!

Today's the day!

 I'm super excited for today's post because it's finally launch day

 for my new blog series:  The Sunday Comics!

You may have seen this graphic I made for my Instagram page :)

Each Sunday in the month of May,

I'll be bringing some of the Sunday funnies to life through cards!

Growing up as a child, one of my favorite things to do

on Sunday after church was to read the Sunday paper with my dad.

Normally, he would pour through the pages of the news

and he would hand me the treasured comic section :)

There was something so exciting about reading the jokes,

seeing the bright pops of color amidst the black and white newspaper,

and finding my favorites to see what they were up to that week.

Flash forward, I'm absolutely giddy at the idea of remaking

the Sunday funnies (comics)

with a variety of different stamps/companies that are in my collection!

Each card will be different and one of a kind 
and based on the idea behind the Sunday comic section :)

AND the best part!!

At the end of this weekly series (last week in May),

I will randomly draw one winner for a *giveaway!*

(see details at the end of this post ↓)

First up, of course, it's Peanuts!
It's no secret that I'm a HUGE Snoopy fan 
and some of my most treasured stamps are Charlie Brown and the gang :)

 For this card, I started with a large base - 
quite possibly the longest card I've ever made!
It's 10" x 3.5" and needed to be large enough to create a storyboard.
I used 3 different Peanuts stamps and arranged them in an order
to tell a story, as the comics often do.
 

For the sentiments, I used two different stamp sets from Honey Bee Stamps:
Blah Blah Blah and Oh, Snap!

The card base was so fun to put together, pulling from the primary colors
often used in the comics.
I used scraps of red, blue, yellow and green from my scrap pile
and made jig-zaw design, layering it with some contrasting colored cardstock
 from Fun Stampers Journey called Rock Candy.
 

And that's the nostalgic journey through the Sunday comics today
 with Charlie Brown and Snoopy!
Next week's card is much smaller :)

I hope you'll be able to join me with another edition of The Sunday Comics ♥

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

*Giveaway details*

 While I won't spoil the surprise, I'll give you a hint ....

1. It will be a brand new stamp set!

2. Drop me a note in the comment section if you were a fan of the comics in the Sunday paper.  *The more The Sunday Comics posts you leave a comment for,

the more chances you have to win (total of 4 per person for all May posts)

3.  I ship giveaways anywhere in the world!

4. Winner will be chosen at random from comments on any of the blog posts and notified on 5/31/18.

As per regulations, this giveaway is a purchase by me for the sole purpose

to use as a randomly drawn prize and is not sponsored by any company.