Riley Sneak #5 ~ Friends!

Hi friends!  I have another sneak peek for you today using a new Funny Bones sentiment "God Made Us Friends", which is being released TONIGHT at the Riley and Company July release Blog Hop. 

For today's card, I used the Funny Bones stamped sentiment which will be released tonight.  I can think of one of my wonderful friends that this reminds me of, lol!  Together we are quite a pair!  I've added the sentiment to my card and I pulled from this gorgeous summer palette from 

Crafty Catz challenge.  

Here's my card:

                                                   Here's the inspiration photo:

I'll also enter this card into the Paper Pretties Challenge #267: "tongue tied ~ use a sentiment as a focal point" 

and to The House that Stamps Built Challenge: Use Humor!

Thanks for stopping by today!

 Be sure to stop back later and see all the DT card reveals ... lots of fun ahead!   The reveal hop starts at 10 PM, EST ~ 

hope to see you again tonight :)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Riley Sneaks: Day #4!

Hi friends!  Aren't the new Riley and Company Funny Bones stamps absolutely hilarious!  Oh how they have me chuckling ~ each one is so hysterical and there is a huge batch of them about to be released ... 35 in total!  

Isn't that awesome!

For today's card, I paired up the new Funny Bones stamp sentiment "I feel sorry for people who don't have dogs ...."  with Dog Walker Riley clear set.  I tell you, I laughed so hard when I first saw this stamp sentiment.  As mommy to two fur babies, there are those days where I drop something on the floor and think I'm just too exhausted to pick that up ... either the doggies, always under my feet, scamper for it with glee or I'll kick it under the fridge and say I never saw it, LOL!!  (kidding on the fridge, btw!) *smile!*

Puppies can be funny, too - just ask our Buster!  A few weeks ago, he pulled his dew claw nearly off while chasing a toy ~ ouchie!!  He had to have it cut down, bandaged and since he wouldn't stop chewing at it, had to sport this absolutely funny looking collar, bless his heart!  
Don't we love our puppies!

Just a quick reminder that our Blog Hop begins this Thursday, July 18th at 10 PM EST!

Be sure to stop by the Riley and Co DT blogs to see what sneak peeks they have up for you to see.

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Entered into:  Tuesday Throwdown- Anything Goes
Challenges4everybody - Anything Goes
613AvenueCreate - Anything Goes
InspiremeFridays - Anything Goes

Riley Sneak #3 ~ I'm SUPER lazy!

And the sneaks continue! :)

Hi there!  Welcome to day 3 of the Riley and Co sneak peeks!

I hope you have been getting as much of a chuckle out of the Funny Bones

stamps as I have!  They are an absolute riot!

There will be 35 *brand new* Funny Bones stamps released this Thursday,

so be sure to come on by every day for the sneak peeks AND for the wonderful blog hop - 10 PM, EST, Thursday: July 18th!

For today's card, I used the FB sentiment super lazy and paired it with Riley Batmoose!

 Short post today as my daughter is still recovering 

and mama likes to be nearby! :)

 Be sure to stop on by the other DT blogs and see what wonders

they have created with the Funny Bones stamps from

Riley and Company!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Double card day = Riley and the DDD :)

Hi friends!  I have two cards to share with you today - my 2nd Riley and Co sneak peek and the Dueling Darlings so if you are stopping by for either, you are in the right place :)

First up, the sneak peeks continue at Riley and Company where 35 fabulous new Funny Bones stamps are about to hit the store!  Exciting!  For my card today, I used the new Funny Bones stamp "Seeing a spider" and paired it with Miss Muppet Sophie ~ eek is what I'd say!  Luckily, this little spider is as cute as can be!

Please be sure to stop by the rest of the Riley and Co DT to see what sneaks they have for you today!

And in case you wanted to play along, you still have time to enter your cards in the biweekly Riley and Company Challenge at the blog. The challenge this week is to use Sophie on your card, keyword 1413.

Also, just as a reminder, the Riley and Company blog hop will be at 10 PM EST on Thursday, July 18th!  Hope to see you there!!

        *******************************************************

Next up, it's the 15th of the month and that means the Dueling Darlings post our cards created from the kit sent to us by the monthly hostess.  This month, our hostess is the fabulous Barb!  Her kit was absolutely delicious and she was so generous with the gorgeous supplies ... I can easily make another 2 cards with her kit!  

Using the image she sent to us, I colored it up with my prismacolor markers and used the brightest, boldest and most fabulous papers of the kit ~ love these fun, summery colors!  She sent us the Whipper Snapper Ice Cream bear image to color along with a plethora of ribbons and embellishements, it was really hard to chose!  I used a scrap of one of the front papers to add a little to the inside of the card.  I supplied the cardstock for this kit and used the In colors:  Primrose Petals and Summer Starfruit ... exactly what color is Summer Starfruit? I love it!  I can't tell if it's a yellow or a green or a little bit of both! 

I hope you get the chance to stop by the rest of the Dueling Darlings blogs and see what they made with this card kit!  

You can find them in my sidebar :)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Home Sweet Home! :)

Hi friends!

We are home again from this summer trip and had a wonderful, blessed trip. We ate more foods than we should have, walked a bazillion miles rode and rode and .... rode more rides! :)  We have an definitely passed on our adventurous spirit to our kids.  We missed our oldest, college daughter terribly ... with her full schedule, she simply could not take the week off but it's fabulous to all be together now!

And guess what today is ... Sneak Peeks for the new Riley and Company new stamp release - woohoo!  I absolutely LOVE this new stamp

from the new, soon to be released Funny Bones stamps!  There will be 35 new stamps released!  

For today's card, I'm using the sketch from CTS #36 and the color scheme from Dynamic Duos #61!

Remember to check the Riley and Company DT blogs for more sneak peeks every day! 

Our Blog Hop begins this Thursday, July  18th, at 10 PM EST and will begin on the Riley and Company blog.

The new stamps will be available in the company store from Thursday,

July 18th, 10 PM EST

Thanks for stopping by - I'll be by to visit you soon!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Riley's new Challenge ... Sophie!

Hi friends!  By the time this blog post is up and running, we'll have packed the car and be on our way to Orlando - wooohooo!  The kids are beyond excited to be at the Disney theme parks again.  It's a blessing to live close enough to visit and truthfully, dh and I are just as bad as the kids when we know we're heading there *smile!*  We've been making the trip to the parks for over 30+ years ... and each trip is still magical and amazing.  And it's a good thing we are seasoned Floridians who know how to navigate the parks + keep hydrated and walk 5,000 miles in a day in the summertime! ;)

The new Riley and Company theme this week is brought to us by Michelle and her challenge is: Use Sophie on your card or project.  I knew instantly that I would use Cinderella Sophie and happily inked her up!  I added the matching Fairy Tale sentiment to the inside of the card.  You can see the entire collection here in the shop :)

Thanks for stopping by today! I look forward to seeing your blog creations as soon as I'm back near the computer again! :)

To enter your cards, please stop by the Riley and Co Blog.
Be sure to stop by the DT blogs to see their creations this week!
And if you'd like to upload your Sophie cards to a gallery, please
use the keyword 1413 - we'd love to see what you created.

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

A flower a day keeps the ...... snow away!

Hi there!  This has been a productive and crafty weekend for me - rare but exciting none-the-less :)  It's so hot here, even with the beach and pool visits we have been making, it's soooo much nicer to stay in and ink and color! :*)

I thought I'd share the card I made for the SOTC (card group on SCS) ~ our hostess this month is Maryann.  Bless her heart, Maryann has had her share of snow and more snow -  and asked us to create a card with flowers to bring out the sunshine!   I actually created one, totally CAS, and then read her requirements to include at least one embellishments, so in order to keep the CAS look, I added a dallop of ric-rac and some tiny pearls in pale yellow.

      

Here was the original: just a subtle difference, right?

I'm still trying my hand at creating new things this year.  You may remember from this post, it's my LINY year!  I absolutely fell in love with this card and wanted to CASE it, however, as you can see, that idea fell way through!  I'm not really happy with how this turned out, but I had good intentions :/ 

 I'm trying to embrace the crisp, CAS look of cards and have these wonderful ideas - then put them 'on paper' and it just falls flat ... no pun intended! :)  I thought Bridget's card was stunning in blue, but really wanted to use yellow - to represent sunshine and to make it cheery.  I also had fun playing with one of my old stamp sets again as per my crafting goals, like this one from SNSS from their February flower of the month (Iris) collection.  

The color combo at Dynamic Duos this week is to use green and yellow, so I'll go ahead and enter this card there ...  

and Cas-ual Fridays Challenge #108 asks for a CAS card with a swatch of any material - I used ric-rac on the card so I'll go ahead and enter this card to their challenge as well :)

Thanks for stopping by today ~ have a great rest of the weekend!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Summer is here! :)

Happy Saturday!

I had a little time to get crafty today - Yay!  My son is so cute - he loves to stop in my craft Cabana and ask if there is something he can color, if there are any paper combinations or embellies he can pick out - like these buttons!

He picked out 4 random buttons and said "here, mommy - these are for your card!"  Oh, a challenge - create a card around 4 random buttons ... I'm in! :)

I adore Mo Manning images and this one called Nesto just makes me smile every time I color it up!  The challenge on the blog this week is "F is for ..." and I chose fUn!  After all, wearing a beach bucket on your head and being at the beach surely is FUN! :) I pulled some Sundrifter papers from Studio Calico - oh this is so luscious, I am already awaiting my next card with this pack!  I chose these papers to match the colors of his bathing suit.

 I found this awesome sketch from Sketch Saturday 

and love it.  I kept it the same sans the star image (I used a cluster of buttons) and switched sides with the sentiment ~ or arrow in this case :)

I'll enter this card into Mo Manning's challenge #192 "For is for ..."

and Sketch Saturday #266.

 

 That's it for me for today! 

 I'm a little banged up from a kitchen accident and about to head to the bedroom to snuggle up with a wonderful book I'm reading and some quiet time while dh juggles the kids, movie night and lots of popcorn (and to their delight, soda and candy - woot, woot!)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Stamp Addicts: Washi Challenge!

Hi there, friends! 

 I hope you had a fabulous weekend!  And wow -- where did June go?!  
Oh me oh my, it's July!  We had some rain this weekend - and then some more rain - and then some more!  That's our lovely South Florida summers - lots of rain, appearing out of nowhere and gone just as quick :)

I'm blessed to belong to a super group on SCS called the Stamp Addicts,
 lead by our fearless leader, Lynn :) 
The challenge this month was to use washi tape.
How I love washi tape!  It's such a fun embellishment and a great way to accentuate cards.  For today's card, I really wanted to use the washi as the focal point and purposely did not use any designer paper ::: say what! :::
I inked up the dragonfly from the TGF summer stamp set from ions ago, coloring it and then giving it a light dusting of glimmer glitter, added twine and buttons.  I followed the ColorQ's challenge #195 color palette for my card colors and wouldn't have thought to put these colors together - love that inspiration piece!  I'll enter this into their challenge :)

I had quite a time trying to get the colors photographed, but they blend together so well IRL.  I went with Pool Party, Summer Starfruit, Lovely Lilac and inked up the dragonfly in grey.  I hope I passed the Stamp Addicts 
Washi test! :)

Now, where did I put my umbrella?! ;)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Crafters of Faith: Down on the Farm!

Hello there and Happy SONday! :)

Today the Crafters of Faith - a group of christian sisters from SCS - share the cards we've made with a chosen theme by our hostess of the month.  This month, our hostess is Barb - who graciously stepped up when we found ourselves without a hostess ~ Thank you, Barb!!   Barb's theme is so much fun this month ~ I had a ton of ideas swirling in my head and had a few stamp sets in mind to use.  Literally at the last minute, I went through my digi stamps and was eager to ink up this adorable little piggie from Bugaboo - that's farm related, right?!! :)

Here's what Barb's amazing theme is:

June is Dairy Month in Wisconsin. I remember when I was growing up there were dairy breakfasts at farms in our area and my 4-H club had a pie and ice cream social every June. Now--I am not sure that everyone has a dairy themed image. But--if you have something farm related--cow, chickens, ducks, barns, fields, etc. or dairy products related--ice cream, cheese, milk, eggs, cream puffs (the Wisconsin State Fair favorite!), or use your own imagination to honor the dairy farmer. Do you have some farm related DSP or an embossing folder? Chicken wire, barbed wire, farm animals, etc.--please be sure to use that.

I hope everyone enjoys creating a card or scrapbook page with a Dairy Farm Theme! Do you have a farm related story from your childhood to also share when you post your card? We would love to read about a favorite memory.

Have Fun--Enjoy the Challenge!

Oinkers, that's a fun challenge!  So here's what I came up with :) I used one of my digi stamps from Bugaboo called Bobblehead Farm Pig ~ isn't he cute!

I printed it out on DSP and cut it to size, then propped up his nose on alternating dsp for contrast.  As a second thought, I included the hooves in matching colors and the rest is pretty simple and let me tell you, I am LOVING the new Strawberry Slush!  I'll be ordering this again super soon!

And here is the inside of my card - sending hogs! :)

Barb also asked us to share any farm stories and I don't have many!  We were a very transient military family and station in England, once.  They didn't even have a base at that time for military and we lived clustered in the midst of a English town - how my heart was joyful to live there as a child!  We would walk/skateboard/bike down steep hills to a neighboring town that had a vast lands and farm animals roaming about.  One particular elderly couple used to wave to us and invite my brother and I onto their farm and visit with the animals, give us milk from the cow and homemade breads and pastries :)
Such is the gift of hospitality given to us by strangers that became friends :)

And that's my COF card for today! 

 Please be sure to stop in and see what the rest of the girls have made this month with our Farm theme - you can find their links in my sidebar!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Calendar Girls ~ Summer dreams :)

Good Morning, friends!

It's the 28th of the month and that's when the Calendar Girls blogging group 

get together + create a card around the challenge given to us by our hostess.  

Last month, I was running on 3 hours of sleep a day and 

read June's challenge for May ..  boy, was my face red! :)

But lucky for me, the wonderful Cally Girls said switch months - 

make June May and make May June ... o-kay!  Works for me!

So the May now June challenge ... for me ... is as follows:

MAY 2013 CHALLENGE 

Miss May: April

My theme is easy I would like you each to make a card representing one thing you hope to accomplish over the summer. It could be a garden, a vacation, a weight loss, whatever, BUT you do have to tell us what you are hoping to accomplish!

Summer for me is a time of 

pure bliss ~  I love having the *babies* home!

With 4 kids, going 180 mph all day, every day during the year, 

the summer is the time of year when we unwind, relax, rejuvenate

 in the glory of all God's gifts around us. 

  I'm blessed to have them so near during this short time and we make the best of the time we spent in the summer - together!

Yes, we'll have those gorgeously lazy mornings, the long bike rides in the sunshine, catching waves at the beach, and hopefully me putting a dent in my long list of best-sellers that have my name on them :)  But most of all,  my wish for them - for us - is to do all the things that make them smile, bring happiness to their lives and to keep the dreams they dream soaring.

For my card, I inked up my Tweet Spots from The Alley Way Stamps - 

love, love this whimsical set!  I stamped the image and then re-stamped it onto the dsp to paper piece the birdhouse.  I LOVE gingham so I really wanted a bit of that in the card :) The fence is propped up on 3d foam dots for extra dimension.  I'm so happy with how this card turned out :)

I'll be entering this into TAWS Challenge 31 using this inspiring photo:

Thanks for stopping by today!

Be sure to stop by the Calendar Girl blogs to see what they created this month ... you can find them in my sidebar.

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

entered into:  TAWS Challenge

Our Daily Bread Challenges - Red, White and Blue
Paper Playtime -  Red, White and Blue
ChocolateCoffeeCards - 4th of July
WordArtWednesday - Anything Goes

Riley is seeing STARS! :)

Hi blogging friends! 

I'm looking out the window at the lightly falling rain, and my sweet doggie cuddled into my lap wondering if it's going to stop raining soon ..

and I'm thinking - when it rains, let's have an indoor play date!

Scooters, skates and bouncy balls up and down the hall!  

Wooooooooohoooooo! :)

And, of course, this week is the new Riley and Company Challenge, 

 brought to us by DT member, Jovita.  She's asked us to use Stars.

I was really star-struck by this stamp ... hee hee!

Adding some fun star paper, flipped to the uber cute words on the other side, too.  I cut the paper in smaller strips and arranged them in a

non-traditional, wonky way with a matching star punch + button + washi tape!

We'd love for you to join in!

To play create a card using Riley and Company images. 

Once you have created your card/project, come back here and place a comment with a link to your card/project to this post so we can see what you have created. If you upload your card/project to Splitcoast Stampers please include the keyword Riley1313. 

We can't wait to see what you create!

And be sure to stop in and see what the rest of the Riley and Co

DT have created - you can find their blogs in my sidebar.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, 

Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Entered into:  The Paper Nest Dolls Challenge - Animal Love!
Sweet Stampin' - Cute and Cuddly
House of Gilli #53 - Bright Colors
Heart2Heart Challenge - Colors that make you happy

Dueling Darlings ~ Sunshine and Flip-Flops!

Hiya friends! 

 It's the 15th of the month and that means the Dueling Darlings 

post their cards, created from a kit sent by a hostess with a chosen theme.  This month our hostess is the lovely Carol (who, btw, is having a birthday today!  Happy Birthday, dear friend - so blessed by your friendship and wish you many wonderful things the whole year through!)  Carol for the Divas (us!) and Melina for the Dazzlers came up with the theme this month:  

Sunshine and Flip-flops ~ 

which is a theme right up my alley! :)

Carol's kit was bursting with fun-ness for the sun-ness!

Lots of yummy papers, cute sunglasses and flip-flops ...

and two images for us to chose from:  feisty Ethel or sweet little Anya.

I chose the Anya as it reminds me of my girls when they were younger,

always ready for the beach and summer fun ~ such fond memories we have :)

  Thank you, Carol, for your deliciously Summer card kit!

Be sure to stop by and see all the Dueling Darling cards ...

you can find their links in my sidebar :)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

entered into:  
eclitic ellapu - celebrate summer sunshine
creatalicious challenge - all about summer
whimsical designs - Summertime Fun Challenge
Ribbon Carousel - Fun in the Sun
The Paper Nest Dolls - Summer Lovin'

Inspired by Dahlias!

Hi friends!

Are you just drooling over the new SU! catty?  

Ohhhh, my wishlist is so very long!

Today I had a chance to get crafty again and have been so anxious 

to create a card based on one I saw in the new catalog on page 90 :)

I'll have to wait before I'm able to order currently being on a budget 

so I did the next best thing and created the card using what I had on hand!

Using the dahlia digi set, I gave this base white cardstock a quick spritz with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Trunk Bay.

I'd normally jump through hoops trying so hard not to get any splootches

on the paper, but I actually spritzed and shook the bottle on purpose to get the drippings like in the catalog picture.

Small strip of dsp, some fun washi tape and a button/twine - Voilà!

 So how'd I do!? :)  Tee hee!

 I really love how this turned out ~ normally CAS is very hard for me to do

but this was tons of fun!

Coloring this image was a bit time consuming, but since I know 

that I could probably use this over and over, 

I'm SO ordering this set the first chance I get!  

 Tomorrow night I'm taking our baby girl to the concert of her dreams

 to see ...

 One Direction!

  That should be wild fun!  Maybe I can sneak in some 

markers and images and color a bit while everyone else is 

bringing down the house - hee hee!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

entered into:   Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes
CASology - use yellow

Riley's Challenge ~ Use your dies and scraps

Good Morning! 

 Ready for a new Riley and Company challenge? 

 Riley sure is!  He's wandering around London, stopping along the Thames River and checking his map to make sure he doesn't miss a thing - including Sophie, who is probably having afternoon tea near Buckingham Palace ;) 

 We had a most magnificent time taking our kids to Europe a couple of years ago, including a week long stay in London - most magnificent city!!  The highlight of the tour probably had to be our trek to Stonehenge - a place so magical, you have to be there to truly experience it ;)

I'd be back in London in a HEARTBEAT if I could be!!

This week, our hostess Laurie challenged us to:  

- Make a card using precut dies or scraps you've saved! 

Here is my card using Map Riley and some loose dsp from my bin.  

I used the cuttlebug and die cut to create the circle and colored him with prismamarkers, added some grosgrain ribbon - super simple!  I love to recycle and use up scraps - thank you, Laurie, for this awesome challenge!

To enter your cards for the challenge, click here!

If you upload your card to a gallery, please use the keyword Riley1213.

Thanks for stopping by!  I'm off to pick up my daughter from her campus sleepover college orientation and I'll probably look just like Riley on that massive campus - lost and confused, map in hand!

Happy crafting!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly


Entered into:  HIMCR101 - Super Scraps!
Country View Crafts - die cuts
My mums craft shop - dies, dies, dies!

I'd rather be stamping! ;)

Hiya!  I hope your weekend is super fabulous!  

I had a little bit of crafting time now that school is officially out for the Summer :)  This is my favorite time of year - having the babies home and the lazy days of doing whatever feels like fun :)  

In continuing with my plans of simplifying the year, my Summer goals are pretty low-key.   Aside from a couple of weeks of camp for 2 of the kids, and a few days of vacation here and there, I'll be at the beach - a lot!  And reading, getting the Cabana turned into a game room, and catching up on scrapbook pages that are years behind!

My beautiful friend Barb is hosting a swap on SCS called 

"What Women Want" and I just love Barb's swaps so much!

I have so many stamps I could have chosen for this swap and in the end, I wanted to ink up this adorable Scarlette stamper from Bugaboo ~

we do all want more time to craft in our busy schedules, right?! :)

 I used the 2011-13 In Colors which are scrumptious!  I paired it with Everyday Enchantment paper pack that I've been saving up :)

Hopefully the swappers won't mind the bright colors - they reminded me of ones I'd reach for when crafting/stamping!

Blessings on this fabulous SONday ~

big hugs!

~Kelly

Let's go for a drive :)

Good Morning!  I used to jokingly tell my daughters "You drive me crazy!" and they'd howl with laughter saying "Yeah, and everywhere else!"  ;) 

 Which is so very true! Naturally, I remembered

 our joke and had her in mind as I created this very fun-to-make card.

  She graduates High School this week and we are so proud of her decision to jump start her college entrance this Summer rather than the Fall and yes,

she'll be driving a truck to school :)

Not quite this old fashioned, lol ... but a truck none-the-less.

I literally squealed with delight when my husband received a fresh fruit delivery from a colleague as a Christmas gift from Henry and David.  I do adore my fruits and veggies, but what made me super excited

 was the designs on the sides of the box!

It was stamped with a cute image on the rounded corner - not a full truck, but enough to create this gorgeous faux stamped image.  It was even already rounded off - just as you see it!

My card is very simple today ~ I let the wonderful cardboard be the focal point and just added a little bit of dsp and sparse embellies to accentuate it in earthy toned colors.  And how I love to recycle - it was a joy to add something normally thrown away to a card! And the dsp squares were leftovers from a swap - win/win! :)

Have a beautiful day, everyone!  The sun is finally peeking out from some very grey skies so my son and I are hitting the hiking trails before the girls need to be ....... yes ........ picked up.

LOL!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Entering this card into: 

 Craft your Passion:  #165 - Haberdashery Items

Craft Room Challenge - Use your scraps