Dueling Darlings .. One for the guys!

Hi all! 

Here's my first attempt at posting from the iPad!

*Crossing my fingers!*

The Dueling Darlings hostesses this month, Tami and Darlene, 

asked us to create a card with the theme: masculine.

Our hostess, Tami, sent us this a kit with a beautiful tag, paper and embellishments and a challenge

with an extra twist: stamp of your choice on the tag!

I used my Crumb Cake and Cranberry Crisp cardstock

that I had on hand to accentuate the scrumptious colors of the dsp :)

For my challenge stamp, I inked up the "hello" stamp from the new

'spell-check' from The Alley Way Stamps.

For my card, I followed the sketch at Retro Sketches.

Sadly, the challenge ended by the time this posted,

but stop on by - they are quite inspirational!

They also asked us to share a funny story

regarding the men in our lives.

One of the best memories I can remember

from growing up was my dad

'being in charge of' the turkey.

As in mom bought it, prepared it, cooked it,

but dad was in charge of carving it.

Which was fine, except the one year he left it on the table.

And our Basset Hounds got up on the chairs, 

sniffing after what was quite possibly the best trail

their noses had ever encountered and found ....

yep, an unmanned turkey!

For the taking!

Oh it was such a NOT pretty scene!

Mom was madder than a wet hen,

dad was in the dog house,

we kids were hungry

but the dogs were happy as can be!

Now, be sure to pop on over to the rest of the Darlings

with Team Darlene and Team Tami in the lead

to see what they created with the guys in mind!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

One word ....

One kind word can change someone's entire day :)

I just loved this stamp from Riley and Company's

new stamp release when I first saw it.

  There is something so profoundly wonderful in sharing a kind word,

 offering a smile, 

 blessing someone's day.

Much to my daughter's dismay, I'm the mom 

that talks to everyone.

My dad used to joke that if there wasn't anyone around,

I'd talk to a tree stump!

I can't recall talking to any trees, seriously :)

But I'm of the mindset that if I'm going to stand in front of you 

at the grocery line, or sit next to you at the dr's office,

I'll say hello and ask you how are.

It's kind of funny how at the end of a exchange of any sort

... be it at the bank, the store, the movies, etc ...

I say thank you and have a blessed day!

8 out of 10 times, the reaction is a nice one :)

I always tell my children that you they need to carry enough 

faith and grace to not just last through-out their day,

but to share with others as well.

The new Riley and Company Challenge is up and this week,

it's brought to us by Joy. 

Her challenge is to use sentiments on your cards.

Here is mine, using One Kind Word ...

I used the sketch from Mojo Monday #139 and
I'll enter this to their challenge.

If you upload your card/project to SCS, 

please include the keyword Riley2313.

And be sure to stop by the Riley and Co DT to see
what they made for this challenge - you can find them in my sidebar :)

I hope someone shared a kind word, smile and blessing

with you today!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly


card deets:  PTI cardstock White: 
SU Cardstock: Rich Razzleberry, Lucky Limeade, Chocolate Chip;  
Stamp:  Riley and Company; DSP = Crate Paper 'Acorn Avenue'; 
Cuttlebug, nesties; scissor bees; Tombo, 3d dots

Card also entered into:  
Make it Monday Challenge #166 , Artistic Inspirations #67
and Tuesday Throwdown - Gratitude.

Thankful for you :)

Happy Veteran's Day!  

Just a quick post today as I had to be in about 4 places at the

 same time today and my internet was not behaving earlier to post :)

I'm getting a jump start on my Thanksgiving cards that I'll

be needing for sweet ladies at church and my son's school ...

and lots and lots of friends!

I was excited to see the new color scheme at Color Q #214
and the TAWS inspiration photo.  
I used my Falling for You stamp set (love this!)
to create my card today.

The TAWS inspiration challenge photo #41

I'll enter this card into the Colour Q Challenge#214
 and the TAWS Be Inspired Challenge #41.

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Card deets: CS = Chocolate Chip, PTI White, Dusty Durango, So Saffron,
Bashful Blue:  Sentiment and Image:  The Alley Way Stamps "It's Fall About You"
Colored with Prismacolor markers; nestie, cuttlebug, ric-rac die, misc BG button,
white twine, 3d dots, Tombo

It's a Friday Funny! :)

TGIF indeed! 

  Growing up in the military, this holiday always stands out special in my heart.  My dad retired after 25 years of active duty service and my brother is still serving :)  I spend quiet moments thanking all of our soldiers for their galiant and brave services to our country, and I'll be spending a sad moment visiting the military cemetery where dad is buried.  

To all the soldiers and families in the military, I salute you!

Now back to enjoying Friday, how about a Friday Funny!

I just love Stella from Bugaboo - she is so sassy!

Barb, who is mentioned on my blog often ::: Hi Barb! :::

is the hostess this month of the SOTC {that's the 

Sistehood of the Traveling Cards} card group, created over at SCS.

She just celebrated her bday in October + gave us this wickedly funny theme:

For September and October--due on Halloween, October 31st--we are not making Halloween or Fall Cards this year--but birthday cards! YUP--my birthday is in October and it is a pretty big one this year. So--I am asking everyone to make a humorous birthday card for the swap. It can have some of those comical "older images" or a funny saying-image or you can use some hilarious background paper--you get the idea. Funny, sarcastic, witty, anything that makes you laugh out loud when you see it! 
We all have friends and/or relatives who appreciate a card that makes them belly laugh when they see the card or read what is inside. Bring on the laughs and maybe tears if laughing too hard--let's Celebrate With Laughter!
I grabbed my Stella birthday image and got to work!

 Inside of the card sentiment!  LOL!  It's from Bugaboo w/ this image :)

I went with a red, white and blue theme in honor of Veteran's Day and Barb's

annual Red, white and blue swap that she holds - woot!

The inside is plainer than I would have liked but I was already 

behind in getting this in the mail and didn't have time to get fussy

with it - hopefully the swappers will forgive me this time - eeek!

Thanks for stopping by today ~ I wish you well!

I'll enter this into Bugaboo's Anything Goes,  Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes Bday!, Scrapping4fun Challenge #6 - Anything Goes and Patti's Creations - Birthdays 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Card deets:
  Image and sentiment from Bugaboo Stamps:  Stella Birthday:
Cardstock:  PTI Red and white: and SU Not quite Navy:  DSP from SU!
Colored with prismacolor markers,
Cuttlebug and nestie, Fiskars paper trimmer, Tombo, red Kaiser pearls

SEAson's Greetings!

Hello from Miami,
 land of the forever sunshine and bright blue oceans!

Today's card is one that I'm just tickled to have made ~
using the Newton's Nook stamps which are so whimsical and fun.
I first spied this stamp company while blurfing one day
and saw this absolutely charming card and tracked down where 
it came from - isn't it cute!  
I loved their sketch this week on their challenge blog,
and decided to give it a try!  Since we celebrate a rather Tropical Christmas here in South Florida, I thought this stamp set was just the CUTEST!
For the challenge, I inked up  SEAson's Greetings stamp set,
 which I was blessed to win at their new
release blog hop - thank you, Newton's Nook!

Btw, if you haven't met Newton .. take a peek! 
What a sweet fur baby and a most wonderful assistance, I imagine :)

Here is my card, using my VERY favorite color combo ever!

And the sketch:


And you know me, I have to decorate the inside of my cards, too!
 I left this one blank for now as this Christmas card 
still has to travel :)

I'll enter this card into the Newton's Nook Challenge #4, sketch,
 the Loves Rubberstamps Challenge - Anything Goes and 
the RibbonCarousel Challenge - holiday w/ a spoiled item (I used twine!)

Thanks for stopping by and I "shell" "sea" you soon!
Hee hee!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Wild Thing!

Happy SONday!! I hope your day is filled with wonderment! 

 I spent a few hours in the craft Cabana last night and it was an absolute 

joy to get inky just because :) 

This stamp set from TAWS is so cute, 

I decided to make a card for my sweet hubby ♥

  He's such a good man and is rarely the recipient of one of my

 homemade cards, so I thought it was about time :)  

We have a private joke about Wild Thing and call each other that 

as a jest now and again ~ having everything to do with our disastrous first camping trip when we were first married.  He thought it would be great fun to take me out into the vast wilderness of the Everglades to go camping, tempting me with visions of canoeing (my fave!), lazy days of fishing and campfire fun.  Well .... let's just say the second it got dark, and all these eyes peered out at us from the forest from , I ran for the car and refused to come out.  We watched a family of raccoons rip a hole in our brand new tent,

steal all our food one item at a time, including opening up the cooler and carting off cans and bottles!  It wasn't until I spotted a panther

sleeking around in the bushes that I screamed at my husband to take me home, except were were 300 miles from home and 50 miles from the nearest hotel!  

So .... we left!

He was not impressed with my camping skills, needless to say 0~0

Hi, my name is Kelly and I don't like rustic camping!

Give me a cabin, or an RV, and we're good :)

In my defense, I had no idea at the time I was 5 weeks pregnant 

with our first baby, our oldest daughter ♥

See, it was my maternal instinct kicking in!!

Yeah.  That's my story, and I'm sticking to it :)

And here's my Wild Thing card!

Here's the inspiration photo:

 I went absolutely bananas when I first saw this stamp set because I had looked for it for a long time!  The second I saw it, I had to buy it!  You'll soon be seeing why - a card/post later on this month will explain :)  In the meantime, I inked up another part of the set to create this little cutie.

I used a sketch that I found on Pinterest - I can't remember

for the life of me who posted the sketch so I can't give credit.

If it's yours, thank you!  I adore it!

Using Halloween colors to follow the challenge going on at TAWS,

I kept it with the orange and black colors and wow,

I had a blast making a CAS card!

Have a wonderful rest of your day!

Hubby and I are about to head 'into the wild' - our backyard!

We have some overdue gardening, a true adventure into the wilds ..

stay tuned!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

I'll enter this card into the TAWS Challenge, the Pile it On Challenge for "Animals with Character"

and the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge.

Crafters of Faith: Inspired by Song! :)

 Hi friends and a Happy Halloween

                              to all of those that are celebrating!

It's also the 31st of the month, and that means the Crafters of Faith

post our monthly cards with a chosen theme.

This month, our sister in Christ, Liz, gave us a joyous theme of song!

I absolutely love music and have loved christian, gospel music every since I was a little girl.  I used to drive my mom batty running around singing 

"I've Got the Joy In My Heart" over and over at the top of my lungs :)

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart!

Where?

Down in my heart!

Where?

Down in my heart!

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart ..

Down in my heart to stay!

Okay, you can unplug your ears now!  LOL! 

Sweet Liz gave us this scripture this month for our challenge:

The scripture for my challenge is:

"But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good, salvation comes from the Lord." Jonah 2:9

And here is her challenge theme:

I love music and a "song of thanksgiving" surely pleases the Lord. Never does He speak that the songs of our hearts need to be perfectly performed to be a joyful sound to Him. So, think of some ways you can make a joyful sound to the Lord your God. The challenge this month will be to use a musical instrument image, musical score paper, musical note brads, etc. Whatever you have in your stash that is of the musical nature!

And my card!

My 3 daughters were/are at a High School for Performing Arts

and were/are part of a vocal choir.  

My dd16 auditions for many plays and Operas and God has blessed her 

with a truly angelic voice :)  I had her in mind when creating a card,

which finally came together after 3 attempts, lots of cardstock and dsp in the trash and a few images later!

close up of the sentiment :)

I went with a wonderful dancing girl stamp, sent free in the mail from

Inkadinkado in their giveaway a couple of years ago.  They were so generously giving away thousands of stamps - all you had to do is send in an email,

and they sent 3 wooden stamps to you, completely free!

I received this one among my trio and until this year, it has not seen ink

- another LINY card and USE EVERY STAMP challenge card :)

For the musical part, I added a small scrap of music paper behind the images

and the inside is stamped with a sentiment from SNSS stamps.

It is a verse from the book of Isaiah 12:5

"Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things;

 this is known in all the earth."

Be sure to stop in and see what the rest of the Crafters of Faith

created with Liz's wonderful theme!

You can find them listed in my blog sidebar.

I'm off to a field trip with my son today

and he is SUPER excited about wandering through our neighborhood

to see the spooky houses, wear his GI Joe "Snake Eyes" costume

and pass our candy to the little ones that show up to our door :)

Big Hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Entering my card into:  Word Art Wednesday!
Songbird:  Dancing Queen
DragonsDream "film of choice" - Flashdance!
Handmade Harbour - Having fun!

WOYWW #280!

Blessings, friends! 

 It's time for another fun trip around the globe on this Wednesday, 

always a fun break in the week :)  If you haven't heard of Julia and her WOYWW challenge, you can take a peek at the Stamping Ground!

I was excited to jump back into my crafting Cabana this weekend, 

even though it was just for a little while.  I looked at my desk and smiled at my sweet little "scrapbook bear", a Mother's Day gift from my children from Build-a-Bear workshop many years ago.  We named her Scrappy, and she is my muse when my creativity wanes :)

Also on my desk is a big bowl - not graced with Halloween candy - 

but the only bowl I had available when I was seperating some stamps

that are for sale as part of my daughter's Girl Scout project - stay tuned!

I just may have something you are looking for and

it's all for a great cause, all proceeds going to a Dog Rescue Ranch.

Finally, I'm happy get started on that extra huge pile of swap cards that are coming up due, birthday and thank you cards that need to get in the mail and future DT cards and hopefully play in the challenge for the wonderful new stamps I just won - super excited!!! :)

Whew ... Friday is only 2 days away!

 Well, friends - homework to be checked,

dishes to wash and put away, and lots of mommy-ness

before bedtime, so I'll wish you blessings and good night! :)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Holy Costume, Batman!

Oh boy!  From KISSing to dressing in costume,

 this is shaping up to be an exciting week! =}  Hee hee!

It's actually time for a new challenge at the Riley and Company Stamps

challenge blog - and the hostess this week is ........... ME! =}

Since it's so close to Halloween, 

I thought I'd give this challenge:

 Spook-tacular Greetings!

 Create a card/project using a spooky, haunted, H'ween theme. 

  In addition, please use ORANGE on your card somewhere in the coloring, paper, ink, etc. 

Using the stamp Riley as Batmoose, I colored him with prismacolor markers

and added him to a Halloween styled card full of bats 'n buttons. 

Did you watch the Batman episodes as a child? 

 I know we did!

My brother and I would sit around our old black and white Zenith and try to catch one of the Batman and Robin shows.

Here's a vintage clip from one of the old shows to walk you down memory lane .... Love it!  Just press the red button ... too fun!

Our kids are super excited about being able to Trick or Treat this week.

Where-ever you are, however you celebrate, be safe! 

 I hope you are blessed with extra treats (even the crafty kind!) :)

Be sure to stop in and see the rest of the Riley DT's creations. 

You can find them over on my sidebar.  Of course, I'd be delighted if you join our challenge this week ~ If you add your card to a gallery, please use the keyword Riley2213.

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Entering card into:  Going Grey Scrap Creations: Halloween

Clear it out - Halloween and Orange (old cardstock)

Deep Ocean - Button it up!

RCC 86 - spooled item (twine!)

I was KISSING this weekend! ;)

♥Smooch, Smooch!♥

Indeed there was some kissing going on in my craft room 

this weekend - with my stamps! 

  

I'm blessed to be part of a wonderful group on SCS called

 The Calendar Girls ~

Hi! I'm Miss February! *wink*!

Our hostess for this month, Barb,a most generous +

and beautiful lady, gave us an interesting challenge this month.

We were to go to SCS's Technique Forum and pick a technique with the

 #0 or 1 in it and create based on that technique. 

So I picked #01 - kissing, a basic usage of several inks stamped onto one image at the same time and leaving behind a printed collage of color.

I chose a Fall related image from my stamps (unlike most of my posts,

this one has seen ink before but it's perfect for this time of year!)

I used SU! inks in Close to Cocoa, Daffodil Delight and Really Rust

and I left the image untouched to show the colors of the inks.

To keep the 'rustic' look of the image, I paired it with Fall papers

and matching buttons in Autumn colors.

And since I read - too late - that it could not be a card

{oops!  Sorry, Barb!}, I added the image to a removable

bookmark/tag!  It's held on by just a wee bit of

removable sticky tape to easily mark the pages of a favorite book :)

I used this sketch from Clean+Simple stamping #264 

and I'll enter this into their challenge.

Be sure to stop on over and see what the other Calendar Girls 

created with this wonderful technique challenge.  You can find their

blogs listed in my sidebar :)

Happy Crafting to all of you! 

It was good to be back in the Cabana again ~

I managed to make 3 cards in 1 day! 

Given that my norm is 1 card in 3 weeks, that's pretty good! :)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

So Thankful :)

Today, we're packing up the family car and heading North  :)

Being in South Florida, pretty much everywhere is "North!"  
We are taking a small vacation to celebrate little man's birthday,
albeit a month late.  Due to work, college and school schedules, we postponed it until a time when we can all be together, 
a moment I'm so thankful for :)

He and I were bike riding through the mangrove trails the other day 
and I was so moved by the wonders all around us - 
the gorgeous day we were having, the sound of the wind rustling in the
trees overhead, the feel of a slight change in the air.
We aren't blessed to have a real "Autumn" here in Miami
so it's nice to feel inspired by what's around us in nature and memories :)

I think I sprinted into the Cabana when we got home just 
to find a stamp set to create the card I envisioned!
I wanted to create a card to mail to a friend for our 
blogging group card swap and got right to work on this one.
I used my 'it's fall about you' stamp set from TAWS.  
I started with a pretty CAS card base and built up a layer
of multi-colored, fall leaves by stamping onto the dsp and layering them together.  I have been drawn to the rich colors this fall, 
like the deep plums and brilliant blues - they are fun to pair up 
with the more obvious colors of Autumn.  
And, I don't get to say it very often, but I'm really tickled 
with how this card came out :)

Wishing you an abundance of beauty this weekend :)
I'm thankful for you!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly



I'll enter this card into:  Creating with Dragonflies #13 - Leaves/Nature/Trees
HouseofGilli - AG/Thanks
OneCrazyStamper: October/Thankful
ReadyTeddyGo - Autumn

Shelly'sImages:  Photo Inspiration

Hang in there!

Hi everyone!

At the start of this new year, 

and as part of my year of Simplicity,

I made a commitment to ink up my SU! stamps that haven't seen ink :)

Like this one!

I absolutely adored this "Hang in there" stamp set,

sadly I bought it and it sat on a shelf :(

Until now .... and it was such fun to create!

I made this card for a special friend,

sent with a lot of love and prayers wrapped in it's making.

I can't wait to ink up the rest of the stamps in this set, too!

My son has been a bit under the weather today

so I'll close for the night ~

wishing you a happy day!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

                   Card entered into:  Crafting By Designs - Anything Goes
Inkspirational: Anything Goes
Sisterhood of crafters  - Anything Goes
Stamping for the Weekend:  Anything Goes

 Card deets:  PTI cardstock, Crate Paper dsp,
SU! "Hang in there" stamp set; kaiser pearls;
Cuttlebug, nesties, colored with prismacolor markers;
scallop die from MFT, gingham ribbon from Joanns;
ttrimmer, 3d dots