You are one of a kind :)

Good Morning!

 I hope your weekend has been long and relaxing :)

 I had some crafty time again yesterday and made a few cards for the week ahead, which from my calendar looks to be quite a busy one!

And look! It's me - on a Monday morning! :)

Hee hee!

Actually, it's the adorable Yeti!

 I wanted to play along with the new TAWS BIC

challenge - oh, how I love this ~

 the color combo this week is so soft and lovely. 

 Here is the BIC inspiration photo:

I searched high and low for a Abominable Snowman stamp set

last year for our Animal Kingdom - WDW scrapbook pages and was

delighted to find the Deep Into the Woods set at TAWS.

It was time for him to see some ink!

And my card:

and the inside of my card :)

I'll enter this into the TAWS Challenge.

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

DDD: *Feel the Love!*

 

 

Hi friends! 

 I hope your Valentine's Day was the LOVEliest of days ♥

It's the 15th of the month which means the Dueling Darling group posts our

cards with a chosen theme. This month, our hostess for mailing out card kits was Barb and Deb - and as an added treat, both groups rec'd  the same sentiment to work with this round.  Thanks, Deb!  However, Barb sent us the card kits and oh me, oh my!  This kit was stuffed full of wonderment!  She included so many things in the kit,  I can easily make 3-4 more cards.  Thank you, Barb, for your generosity and for giving us so many things to play with. 

And Barb, btw,

So let me jump on in ... this is the first card I've made in a week!  It's been 'that kind of week!'  I love, love, LOVE being so involved in my kid's lives and being so active in volunteering at their schools.  Even though the hours add up, the meetings go long, the books to reshelf are stacked high (and so on and so forth!), I hold fast to my Year of Endurance!  I don't mind, really! They are little but just once ... the time flies by and before I know it, they'll be off!  So I absorb them, adore them, enjoy them! ♥  

My completed card with 4 dsp sheets, ribbon and buttons!

 



and the inside of my card - you know I couldn't forget that :)

 

For my card, I went with the dark pinks and tan dsp from Crate Paper - they jumped out at me the most.  I paired the striped pink paper with the lacey tans ~ and since Deb gave us this sentiment in several shades of ink, I chose the red to play off the colors of the dsp.  Some ribbon and a few buttons and voila!

The inside of my card is a continuation of the dsp, my border punch and minimal embellishment. 

Barb asked us to share where our card would be going and 'share the love' this month.  I am not quite sure where this one is going just yet, but have a pretty good idea ;)

 

Please be sure to stop by and see the other DDD girls and what they've created this month!   Thanks for your visit today!

 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

This card is entered into: LadyBug Crafts - Be Mine

LEJ Designs - Valentines/Love

One Crazy Stamper - Anything Goes

Natalie and Amy - Love is all around

Tok Bobok - Hearts

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from me to you!

I'm so blessed by each of you and send great big hugs and kisses ♥  Truly this is one of the sweetest days to celebrate ♥

This card is one of my very faves that I've made, another one I made past weekend.
And boy, am I glad!  I've had ZERO craft time this week and this one was  my son's Valentine's card this year :)   I know, I know ... it's pink!

That's okay :)  He's truly very down to earth and doesn't mind "the little things" {Not to mention he picked pink as his braces color this month at the ortho!}

I picked Snoopy for several reasons.   I just adore Peanuts!  One of the things we do together is wait for the Charlie Brown specials to come on during the Fall, from the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown to the Easter Beagle, we just adore Snoopy!  I have since I was a little girl and passed that love on to my children. 

Most importantly, I wanted to make a Snoopy card for my son for his utmost thoughtfulness.  In his class store (which I run on Friday mornings!), he saved up enough of his 'class dollars' to buy me a Snoopy Halloween pen he saw me admiring.   Let me tell you, I couldn't help but beam with joy and love!  I cherish it greatly and love how he thought of me before himself.  He's truly a Godly boy :)

So, my card is simple.   But it's lovely to my heart and the meaning of why it was made. 
And those truly are the best reasons, right? :)

Big hugs to you, Bigger Blessings and
lots of love to you on this special day!
~Kelly


I'll enter this card into:  CraftyHazelnuts - Patterned papers!
Imagination Crafts - Love is in the Air
Just for Fun Challenge - Love is in the Air
Mema's Challenge - Who Makes you smile? (my son!)
One Sweet Challenge - Love
Paper Crafting Challenge - Spring Colors

Just dropping you a line ;)

         Hi friends!

It's still a chilly winter out there ~ but it's February!
It feels more like Christmas ... yet it's Valentines!
It's like having a little bit of both .. together!

This is such a fun time of year for crafting cards of love for everyone ♥

I thought I'd try something different this weekend...

I made a card using a digital stamp by From the Heart.

This image is actually a holiday stamp -

 but I saw the little heart letter and my mind went right to Valentine's Day.

I didn't get a chance to use it during the busy holiday time

so I looked at it again this weekend and had a vision!

It's still very cold out there for most of the country, lots of snow

and people bundling up but it's still Valentine's Day this weekend.

So I combined the two and created a festive card with

bright, vivid colors and a group of feathered friends wishing lots of love! 

Happy Wintery Day of Love!  

 My friend, Imke, whom you read about on yesterday's blog post,

is on the DT of From the Heart Stamps - you should stop by 

and see all the cute thing they have in the store!

It's a fun place to shop!

Here's on last look at my card ....

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Birthday Greetings!

Zum Geburtstag!

Yes, this card is in German! :)

I have known my dear friend, Imke, for a few years now and

she is truly one of the sweetest, most generous ladies I've met online.

My husband and I took our kids traveling on vacation to Europe for the summer a few years ago and I was literally a few hours from her house!

That would have been a most joyous meeting,

but I am still hopeful for one day! :)

Imke hosts a monthly image swap with her group and I was

very blessed and grateful to be able to join in!

They started in January so I'm playing a bit of catch up.

I was lucky to have a very similar image in my files

so I thought I'd create a card for Imke and get this in the mail.

Zum Geburtstag is a very friendly birthgday greeting to wish

mostly a ... "For your Birthday"

Here is a side view ....

Und a close up of Zum Geburtstag!

{For your Birthday}

I'm still trying to figure out this new laptop.

It truly is outsmarting ME!

From the photo editing features to the keyboard,

it may as well be in a foreign language like my card ;)

I like to say that's what I have 3 teenagers for *smile!*

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

This is my 39/100th card.

 



Crafters of Faith - February Blog Hop "Colossians 3:23"

Hello, dear blogging friends! 

 I'm so thrilled to post again for the Carriers of Faith, 
a blogging group sharing our faith through inspiration, photography,
christian fellowship and more WITHOUT posting a card or paper creation :)
The ideal is to communicate our 'vision' and minister through a single photograph!

If you are hoping along with all the COF girls, 
you will have arrived from April's amazing blog.
  I'm the last stop on the hop but the fun starts at Barb's beautiful
blog if you wanted to visit the hop from the starting place.
Here is Barb's theme for this month:

February Challenge Colossians 3:23 --Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
The Living Bible version-- --Work hard and cheerfully at all you do, just as though you were working for the Lord and not merely for your masters

I think we all work hard at many things in life--so I want to challenge you to think of what you might work hard at, but cheerfully. You can take this a few ways:

~Perhaps--you can take a picture of what you would do as a career, if you could "be anything you want to be" when "you grow up". The sky is the limit--no restrictions at all. What is a job you would love to have?

~Or--look around and see what you love to do in life. It could be cooking, or crafting, or gardening, or reading, or whatever....... What do you do that always puts a smile on your face or gets you in a good mood?
  
Ohhh this is a hard one ~  I have many loves :)
 From the Jesus, my Savior most High,
to my beautiful husband and family,
a wonderful church, friends, crazy doggies ...
to fun hobbies, reading, biking, the beach ...
so many things!

 As I was scrolling through the pictures I've taken recently,
I came across this one and knew it was 'the one'.
  God said in Genesis 1:20, "Let the water swarm with living creatures, 
and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky."

We recently spent the day in Key Largo, Florida,
one of my favorite places on the planet!
We are truly blessed, despite the heat and traffic problems,
to live in a gorgeous state filled not only with sandy beaches
and year-round wonderful weather, but a plethora of nature preserves,
trails and lovely animal habitats right there outside our doors.
From the Everglades to the mangroves, it is simply an awesome
reminder of God's beautiful creatures.
So, thinking back to this recent trip, and the love of the ocean I have,
the sound of the gentle lap of the waves against the shore,
taking off my flip-flops 
(I live in them year round and have a pair in every corner!) and walking in the warm sand, I remembered how much I love sharing this time with my family.
I love being out in the water as often as I can.
The kids and I take out the canoes and zip around the water ways,
spotting manatees that are common in our areas so close to shore
and have even seen a shark as it swam under the canoe
in a small inlet, bumping our boat from underneath and heading back out to 
the ocean.  They come inland to have their babies then leave
(and hopefully in the future we won't have it happen under our boat again!)

This gorgeous bird was looking for shrimp on the shoreline :]

 I chose the last of the three segments to represent
my post this month - I hope I was close to your request, Barb!
Thank you for a beautiful theme to reflect on this month!
It's a wonderful opportunity to be grateful where we are,
with what we have, and enjoy the true treasures right where we are!

Please be sure to stop by the other Carriers of Faith
and see what one picture they've posted this month!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

 

It's *New Release Day* at All Dressed Up!

  Good afternoon, friends!  

I'm delighted to share that I was asked to be the

 All Dressed Up February guest designer.

It is launch time at All Dressed Up, and we have four fantastic images for you for this month's launch.  For today's post, I'm showcasing this precious digi - Love to Dance.

I've created a card with this image and a collage-style, shabby chic bookmark!

Here is the beautiful new image:

                                                                       Love to Dance

And my two creations using this lovely image:

Would you like to see a few more!

Here is ....

would you like to see a few more new images from this release?

Purrrfect Together

Rock my world

 

Happiness

 

Don't forget our current challenge theme is love is in the air **

 (use this link for your post that will go live on 6th) 

 ** challenge theme is to follow a sketch supplied by one of the dressy girls **

 (use this link for your post on 20th) ...

.these images would be perfect for the challenge theme, plus you are in with a chance

 of winning 3 images of your choice !

Also don't forget to stop by our Facebook Group to share your All Dressed Up

 creations & chat to fellow crafters. Also keep an eye out for more inspiration

 from the rest of The Dressy Girls throughout the month. 

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings :)

~Kelly

It's a little Sketchy .... :)

 

 It's time for the new Riley and Company Challenge

and this one is brought to us by DT member, Frances.

She's given us a wonderful sketch to work with!

 

 

and here's my take :)

{ I apologize for the quality of the photos, I'll retake in the natural light!}

 

I've used Spring Flowers from Riley and Company
and paper-pieced the flowers in the matching dsp.
Hard to believe in the midst of all the snow and ice,
Spring will be here before you know it! :)

Please be sure to stop on over to the Riley and Company Challenge Blog
and play along with this challenge.
If you upload your card to a gallery, please use the keyword
Riley 0314 so we can visit you.

And be sure to stop in the DT blogs to see what they've made
with this sketch - you can find them in my sidebar right over there! >

Big Hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly


a little pick up ..........

Hi, friends! 
 I wish you the happiest of weekends ♥

I'm so glad it's Friday!

  Although 2 of my daughters have solo/ensemble choral performances all day tomorrow - @ the High School - on a Saturday! - 
I'm hoping the rest of the weekend will be peaceful :)

It's been a really stressful week but I have much to be thankful for :)

I am a HUGE fan on non-traditional Valentine color cards!

I get such a kick out of seeing blue, orange or yellow ...

colors adorning those cards of love that you normally wouldn't see :)

I had that in mind when I saw the fabulous new color combo

at SCS this week and had to play along.

This card has been done for 2 days!

I just haven't been home long/free enough to get 

a picture or blogged :)

Short and sweet today :)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

34/100th card :)

I'd like to enter this card into these challenges: ABC Challenge blog - Z is for Zesty colors

 Fairytale challenge - Use more than 2 colors

Create with Connie and Mary - Colors

 

Sharing the Love!

I'm sharing the love today ♥

One of my favorite things to do in crafting is to use up scraplings ~ 

those tiny scraps of paper left behind from a paper craft session!   

I wanted to play along with the FS #364 over at SCS and ended up creating two cards.   Here is Doni's original card, her beautiful blue winter wishes.

I kept the design of her card but changed the color to pink.

I added scraps of paper in Valentine hues 

and added butterflies instead of snowflakes.

The sentiment is from a TAWS stamp set.

Now the fun part was I didn't have the same cuttlebug lined folder,

so I thunk ... and thunk some more :)

I used my score-pal!

(I know ... duh!) 

 

 

 

 

 The kicker of these two cards are they are both out of my normal style

of card making and that's pretty cool.

It's fun to create different, to craft 'outside the box'.

I send you LOVE today!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Calendar Girls - "It's TOO salty!!"

  

Hi all!

Did you know that yesterday was National Bubble Wrap Day?  

and I'm sure you celebrated Squirrel Appreciation Day last week ... right!?

 I am convinced that if you want a holiday, make one up ~

 people will follow it :) 

 Seriously, there are holidays for everything!

And today, being the 28th of the month,

 means that we  - the Calendar Girls blogging group - post our cards

centered around a theme chosen by our month's hostess.

For January, Jeanette is up!

I decided to get REALLY creative and attempt the "Salt Technique" from SCS for my card today because it was the challenge from Darlene from the Stamp Addicts due .. like today!

And oh I had fun!!  Thank you, Dar!  This technique is way cool.

I gathered my sea salt, glossy cardstock, spray inks and made a beautiful

background w/ the salt technique for my card.

And set it to dry overnight.

And then I lost it.

True story.

I looked everywhere.  

E-VER-Y-Where.

Alas, I had to start all over and ended up using heavy based, matte cardstock

and the end result is really striking.  Not as nice as the glossy, but still pretty ~ up close it's so full of detail and texture. I didn't have any fading this time around but that's due to using the wrong paper :/  The cardstock held up nicely with the water and heavy inks/salt.

 I'm a March baby and the challenge states to go to our birth month,

pick a holiday the closest to our birthday and create a card with that theme.

I chose March 13th  *National Open An Umbrella Indoors Day*

Yay!

 

The technique gives such a wonderful pattern to the paper!

 

Little salty - see up there? :)

I used a SU! stamp set called Vintage Valentines

in order to continue my  'Ink Every Stamp' personal challenge

and Miss Jeanette gave us some leeway on how to use these quirky holidays.

Actually, I thought of the Morton Salt commercial from way back when

not too long back ... hee hee ... where the girl was pouring Morton Salt

over the umbrella .... remember that!?!

That's where my mind was heading when creating this Valentiney,

salty, open an umbrella indoors kinda card :)  Thank you Jeanette for a 

wonderful challenge and Darlene for suggesting this salty technique!

Be sure to stop by the Calendar Girl blogs to see 

what holiday they are obverving this month :)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

This is my 33rd card in the 100 cards challenge :)

Simple Sundays :)

Happy SONday blessings to you!

Some of my very favorite moments are is remembering the nostalgia

 of my childhood abroad.  I was blessed as a child to travel

 and see so much of the world, painted so vividly in my mind

 in a kaleidoscope of colors and scenes! 

Car trips didn't mean just getting from one country or popular attraction ~

they often meant a new scene for me to sketch, even as young as 6!

My little box of crayons, a sketch pad and I drew pictures and

stories to match :)

 

I was SO drawn to the Scenic Serenity Series of stamps from Stampendous when I first saw them a couple of years back.

Yes, years :)

  I bought a couple of the stamps in the series and they are every bit

of gorgeous as the artist intented them to be.

 This stamp deserves to be the focal point of the card,

so I kept the design pretty simple overall ~

 I'm drawn to the almost animated yet bold look they seem to have.

The artist did a wonderful job designing these ~

You can see more of Kimberly's earlier work here on this post :)
 

I wish you a beautiful day!

Although much of the country is buried in snow, 

Spring isn't too far away :)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

I'll enter this into these challenges:
 Stampendous Challenge for January(my card = find your purpose *button*)
Addicted to Stamps:  Flowers
The Squirrel and the Fox - Use Embellies (ribbon, button, pearls)
The Crafting Cafe - Anything Goes
One Crazy Stamper - Anything Goes

Card #30/100