Riley Sneak #1 ~ Ridiculously Amazing!

Hi all!  Can you believe it's time for another new Riley and Company stamp release?  This month, there will be 36 new Funny Bones sayings that are absolutely hilarious and 13 brand new retro style men and women!  That's right - Riley and Company stamps are heading a new direction this month! 

For today's card, I'm using retro girl #2 and the new funny bones sentiment  "Make today ridiculously amazing" and indeed, I hope you do :)

We will have sneak peeks for you all week with a new stamp release blog hop on Thursday, January 24th!  For more DT inspiration and sneaks at other stamps released, please visit the Riley and Company DT listed in my sidebar.

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

The Circus came to town!

My son has a bucket list.  And he’s only 8 :)

A little young, I know!  But he’s a product of a mommy that loves to write and journal,  fits ‘scriptures’ into everything, dabbles with poetry and ….  make lists :)  Yup, I’m a list maker.

A few things on his bucket list?

1. "To become a pastor.  Or a doctor."   He says the jury is still out, but either way, he’ll be helping people. Gosh, I love this boy!

2. To go back to Tennessee.  We only visited twice for vacation but it placed a hand on his heart.

3. Go to the circus!

Around the holidays, I noticed ads going up around town for Ringling Bros. and Barnum + Bailey.   I promise I won't go into a soapbox of why I struggle with the circus but take to heart that instead my son's dreams came true this day!

He wasn't able to sleep the night before and was up at 5:30 am on a Saturday morning - ouch!  We had such a blessed and most wonderful time! 

 He did not stop smiling all day ~ from meeting the clowns, visiting the circus animals in the pre-show, having popcorn and snow-cone and cotton candy (I have a belly ache just typing that!) and, of course, the show itself.

His favorite part?  

The 8 motorcyles in the Ball of Steel ... he's such a boy :)

  I just had to make a card for him ~ he LOVES mommy's hand-made cards. For this card, I used Stilts Riley from the Riley goes to the Circus collection. The colors were so bright and matched the dsp, which I carefully chose so I could use the word patterned paper to reflect the best day ever! :)

The circus was completely worth attending :)

  I learned so much on how much animal conservation and how RBBB is an ambassador to endangered animals.  We both pledged to wear our 'awareness bands' that they gave to us to remind everyone to learn more and bring awareness to the most magnificent creatures in trouble.

I leave you today with:

God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ~ Genesis 1:25 Big hugs, Bigger Blessings! ~Kelly Entered into:  SOS 85: Suits me to a T - Teal, TopHat

I can read in Pickle Color! :)

 Hi there!  If you've ever visited my blog before, you'll probably already know that I am a voracious reader!  Books are one of my greatest loves :)

And I just think this world was made so much brighter thanks to Dr. Suess ~

 I think every day should be a little Suess-ical! 

So imagine my glee when LJ's (our hostess this month!) Dueling Darling kit arrived in my mailbox with the wonderful theme: 

January is "Book Blitz Month".....use a stamp with books and/or reading as a theme.  We would also like to then add in your post who your favorite author is, or your favorite book and why. 

:::: Squeal! ::::

I just love this kit so much! Thank you, LJ!  The Dueling Darlings are back again!  The Divas received this wonderful image & papers and I tried to use as much of the dsp that you sent, along with a small card which reminded me of the library cards of the past :)  *Raise your hand if you remember the library card catalog file drawers!* I chose the stamped image in rich cocoa to keep the colors uniform and added the leftover smaller pieces to the inside, keeping it blank.  I adore this image + old fashioned look to it :)

card front!

card inside - left blank for future use!

Answering who my favorite author is a little bit tricky for me ;) 

 That's like asking which of my 4 is my favorite child, LOL!! (I jest!) 

Being an English Lit minor in under-grad college, I adore authors like

Charlotte Brontë and Jane Austen ... 

I secretly grew up wanting to marry Mr. Darcy :) *swoon*

A few from my list of favorite authors:  

I love books that make me cry (Nicholas Sparks, Kristin Hannah),

 books that I can't put down: (Suzanne Collins, John Green, John Hart) 

books that make a statement:  (Jodi Picoult, Mitch Albom, Lauren Oliver)

books with a foreign theme: (Lisa See, Adriana Trigiana) 

I could go on and on!

But instead, how about you see what my team Divas created using this identical image and paper!  You can find them in my sidebar as well as the girls of team Dazzlers!  You won't be disappointed!

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Card Deets:  Stamps: ABC Primer Collection // Graphic 45. Image  stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa ink on PTI White. All DP & smaller tag piece :This & That Charming Collection // Echo Park.  Accessories: 

 brown Gingham Ribbon (American Crafts).  Brads - Basic Grey, Buttons (PTI and Amuse)

Be Inspired :)

Hi friends!

"Orange" you glad it's the weekend?  I am! *smile!* 

 I'm so inspired this new year and really love hanging out in my craftin' Cabana ~ just being in there brings me such joy and peace :)

One of the fun challenges I spied was this one The Alley Way Stamps 
and couldn't wait to create a card. The picture is splendid ~ isn't it cute!

I printed the steamin' hot coffee digi from the freebie of the month 
and pulled from the colors of the photo inspiration #19.
After coloring my image and layering it onto my card, I had a inkling (hee hee!  No pun intended!) to paper-piece it instead and I'm so glad I did!
Somehow it makes the card a little more charming :)
I added the matching sentiment to the inside of the card.
I love the vivid, contrasting colors of the picture and absolutely adore non-traditional type cards ... wouldn't this make a FUN Valentine's card!

And here's my card:

And the inside :)

 And that's it from me today!  Lots still to finish before Monday
gets here :)  Hope today is a crafty one for you!

Big hugs,
Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Card entered into:  TAWS Challenge #19

2013 - Word of the Year :}

Hello, dear friends!

Today's post is one that speaks from the heart :)  As I watched my 8 year old son riding his bike at the park, shouting "YAHOOOOOO!" every time he passed me, I smiled at the realization that this is truly what life is all about. 

 The simple moments. 

When we stop long enough to cherish the small things and 

 when a hug and a smile and an "I love you" are simply enough :) 

At the beginning of each new year, I chose a 'word' to guide me through rather than make any resolutions.  My word of 2012 was "Grace" which was the mantra I used to simply give me the courage to face the new year ahead. I tried hard to incorporate that in all the things that I did last year ... fellow-shipping with friends, bible studies and adventuring into areas that made me really uncomfortable but did them anyway (God is my sun and shield!)

This year?  I am refocused, recommitted, re-energized and ready to live a year of Simplicity. 

Simplicity?  According to Websters, that has a meaning of being simple, plain, freedom from hardships.

And yes, that's true! 

 But more-so ... beyond that ... I want to slow down more and share this world God intended us to be with them on a more deliberate level.  I've always been a stop and smell the flowers kind of gal.

And the sandcastle builder, the nature walker, the cloud watcher, the rock skipper, the one who watches two butterflies dance in flight and think "Thank you GOD for that beautiful moment!"

But there is so much I know I'm missing.  This is the year I plan to recapture it back again :)  Simplicity.

My dear husband jokes: "Simple?  Like we're going to make our own homemade toothpaste and grow turnip greens?"
Fun-ny!

A couple years back, I bought and devoured Ann Voskamp's "One thousand Gifts" book.  I was so inspired, I started a list of my own WITH photographs to memoralize in my smash/scrap books.  

 And I got to Feburary! 

 For real. 

 I just looked at my Grace-i-tude List 2012 (that would be the year of Grace and gratitude list combo!)  and seriously ... I got up to #161.  And a goofy ending to a very short list that was ... here, I'll share:

161.  My “This isn’t a souvenir, it’s a proof of survival!” t-shirt from zip-lining.  

Alrighty, then.

God, I hear you.  I know there is a lot that I am missing.

But I am thankful for much. My children know and worship an awesome God.

They put him first in all things - thoughts, prayers, actions towards others.
And for me?  I can learn to let go of any and all things that do not bring me closer to him!  Simplicity.

So the next time we are on those bikes?
We'll take time to get off and skip a few of those rocks.
Because the rocks aren't there to block our path. 
 They are there for us to pick them up and skip the across the water of life. 

May you be so richly blessed this year.
May God speak to your heart and guide you!

Big hugs,
Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly


*I'd like to leave you with a few of my favorite quotes from my journaling :)

*Voluntary simplicity is not a grim cutting back, it's discovering and filling the genuine human need to do work that you love. --Cecile Andrews 

*When you realize you have enough, then you are truly rich. --Tao Teh Ching

 *Live simply that others may simply live. --Gandhi 

My verse of the Year: 2013

 Pray about everything; tell God your needs...

If you do this, you will experience God’s peace,

which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand.

Philippians 4:6, 7 

Great big special thanks to Melanie at Only a Breath for taking the time to make the blog buttons as a wonderful reminder for all of us to remember the reason for the journey!  I'm humbled to receive this and am grateful to your generosity and creativity!  

Linking this post to:

Only a Breath: Link up to Word of the Year
My one Word:  Community Link up

and the FaithBarista:  

Colorful, Sparkly Riley!

Hi blogging friends! 

 It's Riley and Company challenge time and this week, we want to see it sparkle! :}  The theme for the week is brought to us by DT member, Michele and she challenges us to "Make it Sparkle!"   Before I get to my card, I thought I show you Buddy, our sweetie pie Jack Russell 'helping' put up the tree last month :}

For my Riley card today,  I used Sweetheart Riley and added glitter to the rose and Valentine's card.  Wouldn't this be a sweet card to give - or receive!  Riley is a charmer!  I was excited to stumble upon yet another challenge blog and loved the bright, vivid colors of their challenge and used that as my base for creativity.  And it also matches Buddy's lights, don't you think?  LOL!

 I carried the glitz to the inside of the card by adding on a glitter die-cut and some matching buttons - all from my stash :}

For more DT inspiration, please visit their blogs on my right hand side-bar.

If you upload your card to a gallery, please use the keyword Riley0113 - we'd love to see your sparkly creations!  You can link up your cards HERE at the Challenge blog :)

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Deets:  SU! Tempting Turquoise, Crushed Curry, PTI White ~ dsp from MME and Cosmo Criket;

colored with prismacolor markers; Martha Stewart glitter; Border punch SU!, twinery twine, Fancy Pants buttons; eksuccess flowers;  misc felt border ribbon.

Entered into:  Comeandgetit Challenge - Colors

Exciting news to share! :)

I love Bugaboo!

   I do!  I do!  

I have loved them for so long and was so excited to see a little before the holidays that I had won a Gift Certificate for participating in their 12 days of Christmas :)  Thank you, Bugaboo!  And what's more - the win came with a Guest DT spot for February and March - can you spell H-A-P-P-Y!! 

This week, I was chompin' at the bit to play along with their challenge and it's  Anything Goes!  I colored up one of the birthday digis which is just absolutely adorable ~ wee ones cupcake tower :)  I adore challenges that take me out of my comfort zone and am striving to find as many as I can this year to play along with.  One of my favorites are color challenges!  I was happy to stumble upon the CAS blog and was intrigued by this week's color combination, one I certainly wouldn't have thought up on my own!  So with these three colors, WO cupcake and a birthday theme in mind, here's what I came up with.

And I'm so happy with the results!  The papers are a combination of SU and PTI, MME and buttons - lots of buttons!  Oh how they make me :-)

I left the inside blank for future use but kept the paper theme through-out.

Front of the card

Inside of the card!

 And that's about it from me today!

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Card entered into:  Catch the Bug - Anything Goes

CAS - Challenge #6 Colours
Party Time Tuesday - Celebrations

Deets:  SU and PTI cardstocks; all DSP from MME paper packs; 

bugaboo digital image: Weeones Cupcake Tower; prismacolor markers;

prima flowers; buttons from my stash; ric-rac dies (small & large) from MFT;

twine from Twinery; aleenes; tombo

2012: A Year in Review!

Every year, I say I'll post my year in review on January 1st and somehow it's March before I know it, ROFL! :p  

 With my recent blog hiccup, I thought it would be fun to revisit some of my cards from the past year!  I have to manually add them all back one by one from my pc hard-drive (eek!) so in at least I will have 10 of them in one place! *smile!*

January

Operation Write Home card donation :)

February

For my husband :) 

March

Crafters of Faith: Spring

April 

Whipper Snapper swap card :)

May

My special Raggedy Ann doll card ~ Buggaboo digi :)

June

My son made his black belt in TaeKwanDo at the age 7!

July

Crafters of Faith:  End to Summer!

August

TAT card - mirror image (Try A new Technique!)

September

Olympics card: I chose Archery as my theme (dd16 is an archer!)

October

Zombie card for my dd17, who LOVES The Walking Dead!

   November

Crafters of Faith: Christmas Carols

December

Ye old Merry Christmas from Riley and Company!

And that's just a quick 2013 Year In cards Review! :)

I know some are slightly out of order but with my blog crash,

I'm fining files all over the place!

Btw, the update on my blog hiccup!  A month or so ago, my phone hard-drive crashed and with it went my contacts, information and photos.  Apparently, at some point unbeknownest to me, the phone was connected to my blog - hence, anything stored on my phone when it crashed took the blog with it!

Although I have everything back up in our pc hard-drive (thousands upon thousands of pictures!) it will take a process of loading them ONE BY ONE,

each and every post.  The task is somewhat daunting, so I will reload them little by little in the next year.  So just a head's up - careful where your pictures are connected! I didn't even know my blog was on my phone!

Lesson learned the hard way :P

Winter Wonderland :-)

Happy New Year's Eve!!  

Wishing you an abundance of blessings for the New Year - 2013 is just hours away and I pray that the year ahead brings you many good things!

I have a two-fold card today - both the Calendar Girls and the Crafters of Faith cards were 'snow much fun' winter wonderland cards so I managed to fit both challenges into one card!  Yay me!

I found this gorgeous picture on the web and wish this was my backyard! 

 I asked the Calendar Girls to use this photo as their muse this month:

 and my card:

 and the inside of the card:

 and since the Crafters of Faith are to make a card using snow and glitter/glitz to bring in the New Year, I added lots of white shimmery glitter to the snow!

I used the SU! set Sleigh Bells Ring and kept the blue color through-out the card theme including with the ink (love that Marina Mist!) Of course I had to decorate my card inside and use some buttons to finish it up! :)

Please be sure to visit the Crafters of Faith AND the Calendar Girls and you can find them on my side-bar - they have been quite crafty this month and have "snow much" to share with you! 

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings and

Happy New Year!

~Kelly

Merriest of Holidays from Riley and Company!

Happy Holidays from our house to yours!

  I hope your Christmas day was all things blessed and wonderful!

I've been bed-bound and slowly recoverying from one of the worst cases of the flu ever starting on the 22nd.  I missed 3 crucial days of shopping, cooking and entertaining and dragged myself out of bed for the Christmas morn gift openings and watching the *babies* definitely has it's own healing qualities.  Whew, definitely a Christmas for the record books!

Not to mention I came back to see my blog has been basically wiped clean! :(  Every picture, every post and sidebar details are all gone and I have tried everything I know to retrieve it.  I spent over an hour rebuilding back the past week's posts and to do that for the past YEARS worth?  I'm out of energy, time, and strength to even give that another thought - so it looks like I know what one of my 2013 projects will be! :P

The new Riley and Company bi-weekly card challenge is up and running!

The challenge this week is Anything Goes.  Easy peasy!  

I ended up making a holiday card using non-traditional colors {love doing that!}

I used Riley and Percy Snow Dancing and the matching Winter Words Sentiment on the inside.  The papers are bright and festive and remind me of the colors of Miami, even in "Winter" :)

To add your card to a gallery, please use the keyword Riley2612 and of course,  play along with us at the Riley blog, too!  Please stop by the DT blogs to see what inspiration the Riley DT has for you to see this week.

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Book Review and GIVE-AWAY!!

Hi there!!  Oh friends, forgive my lack of visits/blogging/crafting - 'tis the  Season to be unbelievably busy!  But I have some exciting news!  In addition to a book review, I wanted to give you a chance to be able to get this for yourself! The author of "On a Quest For Christ" has sent me an additional copy of her book - SIGNED - as a give-away!  How wonderful is that!

On a Quest for Christ: tracing the footsteps of your spiritual journey is a simple yet comforting journal book.  It opens with the refreshing statement of what a quest is: “a journey towards a worthy goal, the seeking of a noble end.”  For each of us, that quest means a different journey ~ one that may be easy or hard, laden with guilt, burdens, fear or maybe one filled with hope and wonder or anywhere in between.  With a pencil in hand and an open mind and heart, this devotional sure gives you a beautiful opportunity to find where you are at!

This book is divided into 30 mini chapters which are short and do-able.  Each chapter contains 5 great components:

1. Relevant scripture
2. Opening thoughts, 
3. Lisa Are’ Wulf’s personal shared words
4. Your Story – a reflective journaling area with questions to inspire thought
5. Closing prayer

Lisa Are’ Wulf’s devotional book is pure delight.  It’s a light and refreshing read.  I enjoyed going outside the box and applying the questions to my own walk of faith.  As we walk in the journey of faith, we always hope that we are moving forward and with each step, gain more knowledge and life experience.  And guess what?  Jesus is right there all along to help you do just that!

To learn more about the author and her vast ministry work, you can visit her website at www.onewomansanctuary.com.

Thanks for stopping by and please ad your name to the comment area to put your name in the draw :)

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book product to review.   I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.   The opinions I have expressed are my own.   I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.   I am part of The CWA Review Crew.

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Winter Travel ~ Dueling Darling style!

Peace be with you today as we sit and mourn the loss of the tiniest of victims in CT.  My heart aches for those parents and know that there are such few words to bring comfort ~ and I pray for the families of these most precious gifts of life lost in this senseless tragedy.  

Although by now I'm on the road heading to a field trip for the next 3 days, I sure hugged them all - my kids and those who call me 'mom' just because - a whole lot tighter.  Peace with you today!

Well, it's time for another friendly 'duel' between the Divas -vs- the Dazzlers! This month, our hostess with the mostess was Barb and WOW!  Did she send a kit to send us over the moon happy!  This is one of my favorite color schemes and the papers were rich in blue, brown and green! It's *snow* much fun to see all the papers, embellishments, cute image!  Starting out with a stamped image of Downhill snowman from Whipper Snapper, I colored it up with prismas and left it rather plain because I was having a blast with all the papers!  It was truly hard to chose one side over the other :)  

In addition to our cards, Barb asked us to include a story related to "Winter Travel."  When I was about 6, we had just moved to Germany and I met a bunch of new friends and we all went to the 'sledding hill' and would FLY down the hill.  At 6, I'm sure it looked like quite a mountain!  Yours truly here thought it would be cute to stand up on the sled (on ice, going downhill!)  Not only did  I fly off, writhing in pain from my broken arm, but my friends piled me back in the wagon and took me home.  As soon as it healed and the cast was to come off, I broke it weeks later - same wrist - ice skating.  Time for me to stay off the ice I reckon?  (I broke the other wrist, too .. feelin' jinxed! :)

Please be sure to stop in an see what the DT have created on this duel!  

Big hugs,
Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Riley: Say it in Song!

Good Morning!  Today a new Riley and Company challenge starts and it's brought to us by DT member, Jovita!  She has challenged us to create a Riley card using the theme: "Inspired by Song".  

For me, music is a big part of our lives and we have it playing all the time, including Christmas songs!   One of my all-time favorites is Noel ~ esp when song by Josh Groban  ::: swoon! :::  I was blessed to see him in concert a few years ago and he's a truly gifted and amazing performer.  But I digress! My card ..... I went with the song "Noel" :)  I paired up the brand new, clear stamp Carrying Tree Riley with a 4.25 x 5.5 cut-out card that I found here. I printed out the template and paper-pieced the letters with a 'top coat' of paper in country hearth tones of paper.  Our church has decorated this year using ferns and red gingham ribbons, raffia and real pine cones - such a heart and home-spun feel to it all and that's what I was channeling when dreaming up this card :)

We'd love to see what song inspired cards you come with, too!  Please link them to the Riley and Co blog and if you use a gallery, please use the keyword Riley2512.

Have a *musical* day! :)

Big hugs,

Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly