Crafters of Faith - Exodus 20:12

Blessings, friends!  

Today is the wonderful day that

 the Crafters of Faith blogging group post our cards with a chosen theme.

This month, our hostess extraordinaire is Barb and she chose a beautiful scripture and theme honoring fathers and mothers.  

This is what she shared with us to create a card around:

Memories of Mom and Dad! Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Even though my parents have been gone for close to 20 years, I still have wonderful memories of both of them. Some of you may have one or both of your parents still an active part of your lives and for others, the memories are what we hold close. So--what can you create on your card that reminds you of you mom or dad or both of them? A site from a family vacation? A hobby--music, gardening, literature, art, etc.? A favorite food? Your mom cooking? Your dad spending time with cars? Or vice versa . Create a card that shines of the memories that honor your father and mother. Enjoy this trip back in time--or maybe it is just a few steps back of a recent memory. Tell us in your blog post about your card, the memory it unlocks and a bit about your parents if you want to share. I cannot wait to see all of the wonderful memories you create and post on August 31st. Have Fun getting inky--Barb

For my card,  I chose to create a card for my MUM!  My mom is from England, born and raised. My dad passed away 7 years ago so rather than focus on parents, I wanted to make a special card for my mom.  

And I love London!!

 I've been very fortunate to have lived there myself as a child for a couple of years and visit twice in the past few years with my own children.  I would LOVE to live in London again ~ what a fabulous city :)  

So in honor of my mom, I created this card and I'll pop this in the mail as a surprise ~ it's from the Sparkle stamps called London Charlotte, which I was lucky to win in their last new stamp release blog hop - thank you SCRS!

And since I was using London Charlotte, I hopped on over to the SCRS blog

and played along with their challenge. I colored my card pulling from those colors, hence the hues of green and blue and pop of orange!

Here is the front of my card:

And the inside, sentiment also from the London Charlotte set.

  

And here is the inspiration photo:

I wish you many blessings this long Labor Day weekend ~

be it a restful one or fun times ahead - blessings!

Be sure to stop in and see my fellow sisters in Christ

and what they've created for the COF challenge!

Thank you, Barb, for the wonderful challenge and scripture this month!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

I'll enter this card into:  Word Art Wednesday - AG , Paper Playtime - pearls

and LEJ Designs #68 - Travel, Holidays

*Let it Snow!*

Let it snow in Miami?  

A girl can dream! That would be SNOW wonderful! :)

Hello friends! Long time no blog :{

Life (with 4 active school kids) has taken over full force,

but in a good way! And I've kicked my exercise up a notch

 and have added on 2 evenings so my oldest daughter can run with me

 on her college nights off :)  

Lucky me, I got my card done in time for the Calendar Girls monthly

card posting ~ this month, it was hostessed by Sweet P!

She gave us this theme to work with:

For the usually HOT and HUMID month of AUGUST, I would rather do something to get cooled off ...but what?

mmmm..I got it! We could make some SNOWballs....or even SNOWangels in the middle of summer, but how? ♥

Here's what I suggest :

Your challenge for this month is to create something with anything that begins with the word SNOW.

However, here's the catch: Your card should NOT reflect Christmas at all...

...but rather just images AND sentiment ( s ) that start with *SNOW*. 

Once you blog your card, please also make sure to add what was your word choice 

that your card reflects, and also WHY you selected THAT particular word...

Thank You and happy stamping .....Have FUN 'chilling out' on a hot summer day....♥

Paola 

aka Miss August ♥ 

And here's the front of my card:

 And the inside:

 I used the ever adorable Snowball Riley who is having just way too much fun without me!  I want to romp in the snow! :)

I colored Riley with the same colors pulled from the papers.

And you know I love me some buttons and ric-rac,
 it's hard to create anything without either :) 

The dsp is from a Christmas collection from K & Co which I scored at Marshalls for $1.99 this summer - a 12 x 12 pad of wonderful holiday paper!

And then the inside ... another one of my fave things to do ~

I added a matching Funny Bones Riley and Company sentiment - hee hee!

And the word I chose to use .......... SNOWBALL!!

Be sure to stop on over and see what the other CG girls made using

the fun snow theme - you can find them in my sidebar!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

I'll enter this card into:  Moxie Fab World's Christmas Card challenge
The Hobby House - Christmas

In the *spotlight!*

Hi, peeps! :)

Today's card is one I made just for fun ~ a spotlight card! 

I'm blessed to belong to a crafty group called the Stamp Addicts and asked our sweet leader, Lynn, if I could toss a challenge out this month :)

 I have been wanting to make a spotlight card for awhile - 

safety in numbers, right? :)

Yup! I'm that far behind in the crafting world! 

While everyone has moved on to Craquelure and Gesso, 

I'm still taking baby steps through techniques 

I meant to try and never did ;)

 Here's a better side view of the spotlighted area - this card has 8 layers!

                                                               ... and the inside of the card :)

 This card is heading to a special friend and I couldn't think of anything 'owl' related to say at the time ;)

The owl stamp is from Unity Stamp Co "Hoot of a Day"

  and I stamped out a tree branch for the owl to rest on ... the tree is

from Taylored Expressions stamp set called "Branching Out" ~

a set that I love dearly!  When I first bought it upon it's release,

part of the proceeds of the sales went towards a tree charity called

the Eden project - isn't that wonderful!  

Now, I bought this set in 2009 but you can read about it here - 

still warms my heart :)

I added a strip of burlap ribbon, used some yummy papers from 

Cosmo Cricket called S'more Love - oh. my. word!

This is the yummiest paper on the planet!!  I've used this 3 times already for cards and a swap and I keep peeking to make sure I have at least one sheet left of each one :)

In addition to getting my jog in, I have a PTA meeting (already!)

this morning and a quick meeting with the bible study ladies - school pick ups and drop offs, Tae Kwan Do across town after school for little man

and if I'm lucky, the library! :)

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

I'll enter this card into:  Little Red Wagon - Lots of Layers

 LEJDesigns - Inspired by Nature and

Try it on Tuesday's Create a Scene...  lots of fun this week! :)

Riley's having "S'more" fun!

Good morning!

Busy day here - busy week! - hoping yours is going equally well :)

There is a new challenge at the Riley and Company blog today - Vacations!

For my challenge card, I'm using Campfire Riley.

 I'm a self-confessed outdoors girls (during the day!) ...

I love a night 'round the fire (when I'm in my own backyard!)

but throw in some S'mores and I'm pretty sure I could give vacationing

outdoors and camping a second try ;)

 Link up your Riley/Sophie vacation themed cards here!

If you upload your card/project to a gallery or SCS, please include the

keyword Riley1713.

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

With Sympathy ....

Good evening, friends! 

 What a whirlwind weekend here - I don't think we stopped much and my achy body is proof of that, LOL!  It's still unbearably hot here and I'm so wishing for cooler weather, though that's pretty rare here in Miami :)

Today's card is one that I mailed to a friend who recently lost a loved one.

These cards remain the very hardest for me to make.

I just can't seem to make sympathy cards.  In looking for a stamp to ink up, I saw this image it reminded me that somehow, in the smallest of ways, it might bring some comfort. 

 I colored the image before assembling the card or chosing the papers, 

which I next to never do!  I always plan the papers and plan my card design first, then color the image to match ~ so this ended up a little different

than I originally planned.  For the wings of this gorjuss girl and her teddy friend, I added ice stickles and then a  slight dusting of super fine snow glitter from Martha Stewart.  

I hope your weekend was equally wonderful :)

My middle two girls return back to High School tomorrow so the school

 shuffle gets a little more entertaining in the morning!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly


Entered into:  Stamping Royalty - Photo (Flowers)
StampingSensations:  Wings

Fall-Kickoff with my favorite MVP!

Good morning! 

 Today is that fun day - the 15th of the month - when the Dueling Darlings card groups posts their cards with a chosen themed kit from a hostess ....

 and we *scrored* a wonderful card kit from LJ this month. 

LJ is our group's huge sport's enthusiast!

She loves her Badgers and sports galore, often traveling to games and spending her vacations at stadiums near+ far - the ultimate fan!

So Terry (for the Dazzlers) and LJ (for us, the Divas) gave us 

"Fall-kickoff" for our theme this month.

W/out further adieu, here in the my card using MFT's Pure Innocence

(Football player).

I used a few of the papers from the kit, and propped up the 
embellishments/touchdown onto 3D dots for dimension.

 And the inside of my card, left blank so I can write a little note later ;)

As a bonus, we were asked to share our favorite fall memories.
For me, I ADORE Fall - the smells, the slight crisp to the air, the wonderful holidays that are heading our way!  My favorite fall memories are the ones with my own kids ~ visiting the pumpkin patches and find 'the' one pumpkin to bring home and carve, remembering them standing up on stools wearing their little aprons making batches of pumpkin bread and pumpkin bars and hoping they don't drop in more egg shells than egg, hayrides at the local farms, and creating our own scarecrows with a pair of daddy's old jeans and a raggedy shirt - blissful, happy, family moments!
And the return of the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte's, of course!!!! :) :)

Thank you, LJ, for an uber fun, sporty kit this month!
Please stop by and see what the rest of the Divas and Dazzlers have made -
you can find them right over there in my sidebar!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Wishing you Loads of Love :)

Hi, everyone! 

School started here and it's hard getting back into the routine,

Not to mention getting up at "dark thirty", as my dad use to say ;)

Here's a card I made for a card group I'm in, the SOTC.

Our hostess, April, asked us to make Anniversary cards in honor

of her upcoming anniversary and this was my take!

I have been striving this year to "use every stamp"

and finally inked up my "Loads of Love" stamp set.

I also used two different embossing folders, hearts (finally made it out of the package after 2.5 years! Gasp!) and my fave, Swiss dots!

Pretty simple overall but made with lots of love :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

I'll enter this card into:  FrostedDesigns - Embossing

TipTop Tuesday - Embossing

Cuttlebugmania - Embossing

Have I *TOAD* you lately?

Good morning, blogging peeps! :)

Today's card is one of those cards I made just for fun as summer

 winds down to a close here in South Florida.   I channeled my son 

when I was creating this card, who will soon have a birthday!  

I pulled out one of my High Hopes stamps in order to play along with their current challenge, use your favorite embellishment!

And I absolutely ADORE buttons!

I don't have many HH stamps now but I cherish the ones that I do, like this one ~ "Froggy Gift"

I used the coordinating sentiment to the inside of the card.

The funny thing is, my son is terrified of frogs,  

but I'm sure he will be delighted with this one :) 

To create my card layout, I used the great sketch from

 Freshly Made Sketches #98! {see below}

  

  

Wishing you a wonderful weekend ahead!
I'll enter this card into:  High Hopes Challenge - Fave Embellie
FreshlyMadeSketches #98
Word Play Saturday - Childhood

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings! 

~Kelly

I love Coffee!

Oh how I love, love, LOVE a cup of coffee!

And to think I didn't *discover* that until under-grad college! 

  Pushing a full-time schedule of honor's classes, juggling a full-time job, a boyfriend (now my hubby - muah!) and planning our wedding, no sleep and no time to eat - coffee became my best friend!

I adore coffee stamps, coffee images, coffee swaps ~ and even have a collection of Starbucks mugs from the places we have traveled and the ones gifted from friends who live in far away towns - so grateful I am!

I have cut back on my trips to Starbucks -- my daughter and I made a pact last year for me to cut back severely and tithe the money instead.

  Yes, I miss it :)

Yes, I indulge once in a while *wink!*

Driving past S'Bux and not stopping twice a day ...

 eh, I've had better moments!

So what's a girl to do?

Craft, create, and enjoy the splendors of coffee in paper form! :)

TAWS has a new challenge out with a FAB-U-LOUS photo inspiration.

I do believe I actually *squealed* when I saw it!

I try to play along with their challenges as often as I can - 

they are a fun, whimsical style of stamps and even offer up freebies if you want to take a peek.

Like this one!  This was one offered awhile ago and remains one of

my favorites :)

It's back to school night tonight at my son's school.

Part of me is incredibly sad, and part of me knows how much he adores being in a wonderful christian environment to learn, absorb, pray :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Entered into:  TAWS#34 ~ photo inspiration

Riley's New Challenge - Spot, Dots 'n Circles!

Good afternoon!  

Late start here on my blog post - it's the last week of summer 

for my son and then it's back to school next week :(  

 Uniforms are ready = Check!

School supplies are purchased = Check!

New backpack hanging on a peg in his room = Check!

but mommy is soooo not ready for him to return to school :(

This summer truly flew by but he is excited and ready to jump into 3rd grade!

Speaking of going around in circles *smile!*, it's time for a new

Riley and Company challenge brought to us by DT member, Joy ~

Create a card using spots, dots or circles.

Well, my card is what I like to call a hot mess!

I inked up my Sunflower Riley, one of my very favorites! 

I have seen these circular type cards all over Pinterest and 

went through my stash of scrap papers, whipped out the Cuttlebug

and created the circles/scallops.  Then the card sorta went south!

In hindsight, I probably should have dressed it up with some buttons,

a banner ...... perhaps I'll revisit this card again another time and

try the things that I see now in my head! :)

For now ....... here's Riley, inside and out!

 This is the card front:

 This is the inside:

I guess this card is a bit reversed to my usual card style,

and it's inside out :)

I'm learning to embrace the white as a backdrop,

love it's crispness against bright pops of color.

A new technique for me - so this would be another LINY card!

Please be sure to see what the Riley and Co. DT have

created this week for the challenge!

You can find them in my sidebar right over there!

And of course, we hope you play along - if you use a gallery,

please include the keyword Riley1613.

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Entering my card into:  City Crafters - Polka Dots
Crafty Sentiments - Animals
LovesRubberStamps - Anything Goes

Crafters of Faith: John 7:38!

Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water

 will flow from within them."

 ~ John 7:38

Hello, blogging friends! 

It's the 31st of the month and that means the Crafters of Faith group post our cards! The Crafters of Faith is a group near and dear to my heart - founded by me!  - after soul-searching and longing to get closer to christian women whom have united in faith and creative crafting :) 

 They are such sweet, sweet ladies!

This month, our hostess has taken some time off and so I took her place as hostess.  This is my challenge: Water!

Hi Faith sisters! This month’s Crafter’s of Faith challenge theme is inspired this verse and your theme is: Water ! It’s summer and many of us are enjoying the splendors of the outdoors – boating, swimming, walking along the lakes and rivers. Summer rains, as heavy and burdening as they can sometimes be, bring us new growth all around ~ trees, green grass and gorgeous flowers blooming. Even spiritually, many people accept Jesus into their hearts and become baptized in water and have beach baptisms. Water is a beautiful, healing, essential! This month, I want you to use WATER as your theme on your cards: Be as creative as you like - think boats, oceans, the beach, tilted watering cans, bird baths, falling rain, etc! Let water be the focus of your card and extra brownie points for using the color BLUE !! Blessings! 

For my card, I stamped up the ever so lovely "The Mighty Sea"

and used the coordinating sentiment.  I stamped this image

soooo many times!  I colored it, and colored it some more :)

In the end, I stamped it in Crumb Cake for a softer look

and paired it with some fresher/beachy colors in peach, brown, blue and sand.  Some ribbon, buttons, twine and brads and this card was finished in a snap :)

Here's the front of my card:

And the inside:

Please stop by and see my crafty Sisters in Christ,

all in my sidebar and see how they did with this month's challenge!

Smiles to you this day!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings 

~Kelly




I'll enter this card into these challenges:
TheSquirrelandtheFox - Nautical, Sea Life
AnimalFriends - Water
Word Art Wednesday #91 - Anything Goes
Our Daily Bread Designs - Fluttering, Birds (there are seagulls above the sea!)

Calendar Girls - Cute 'n Cuddly ;)

Good Morning, blogging friends :)

  Today is the day that the Calendar Girls post our monthly cards,

 created with a theme that the hostess gives to us. This month, our hostess is Linda and her theme is "Cute and Cuddly."  Love her theme muchly :)

I have soooo many stamps that are cute and cuddly, and probably tops the list of what I own in stamps!

 Here is Linda's challenge this month: 

JULY 2013 CHALLENGE

Miss July: Linda

I would like it to be "Cute and Cuddly". The cuddly being a huggable moose, or a raccoon, or a bear, etc. I really enjoy the Riley stamps and Penny Black hedgehogs, but I'm asking you to pick your favorite furry creature stamp and make a card with any sentiment. I happen to be a hoarder of cute stamps, maybe because my kids share in my stamping addiction. It's always fun to see those little critters come to life on a card.
Can't wait to see what you come up with.
Linda

Oh which stamp to use!  I was sorting through my stamps and files
and finally saw this one and knew it was the one :) 

And cows are cute and cuddly, right? *smile!*

Some of my fondest memories are being on my grandparents orchards
in California and the neighboring farms - vast, vast farmlands!
For me, it just evokes such incredible happiness.
So my 'cute and cuddly' became very clear to me ~
"Cow'nt Your Blessings!"

  And the inside of my card:

For my card, I used a digi from Bugaboo stamps.

It was super easy to color, actually very little to color ~ so

I created the card base, paper choice and layout based on the image.

I went with the pink/red/black and in the end, it looks a 

little like a Valentine's card, right?!

I hope your day is *udderly Moo-velous!*

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

Card entered into:  SouthernGirls Challenge - Animal Antics

Daring Cardmakers - Creature Comforts

Digi Haven - Animals

LEJ Designs 63 - Cute!

Chocolate, Coffee, Cards - Animals

IDIC #170 - Friendship card with sentiment

*HoPpY hOLiDaYs!*

I'm so glad I didn't frog-get to post this card! :) 

  I have SO loved seeing so many Christmas in July cards on blogs, in the shops, and challenges aplenty.  Even though Miami is sweltering with heat and humidity, it's always fun to think of Christmas all year long! 

I've had this Penny Black "Xmas in pond" stamp for ages and as part of my LINY card year, inked it up!  I completely got into my *Christmas mode* with the stickle hats, holiday inspired paper, and one of my FAVORITE Christmas color combos:  Old Olive, pink and red!

Here's my card:

Penny Black Saturday Challenge blog has a Christmas in July challenge going on right now so I'll go ahead and enter this card there, along with Penny Black at all sorts Challenges :)  
Also, I love Pro markers has a Christmas in July challenge so I'll play along!

Thanks for stopping by and HOPPY Holidays!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings,

~Kelly

Card entered into:  PennyBlackSaturdayChallenge - Christmas in July
PennyBlackatallsorts - Punches and Dies
IloveProMarkers#178 - Christmas in July
FairyTale - Christmas in July

Happy Summer!

Sunny days are here!  What gorgeous skies I see outside after week(s!!) 
of rain and more rain - the sun is out, the kids are jumping in and out of the pool while I sit in my lounge chair nearby .... glorious!

Today a new Riley and Company Challenge begins ~ 

hostessed by me!

I'm thrilled to bring you this challenge this week and the theme I chose:

Summer!  For a bonus, we'd love for to use the color yellow somewhere on your card - easy peasy!

I inked up Hammock Riley, colored with prismacolor markers and used some papers that I had left over from recent card making.  In the inside, I added one of my favorite Riley stamps - "You can never have too much Happy!" 

Here's a peek:

We'd love for you to play along! To play, create a card using a Riley and Company images.  If you upload your card to a gallery, please use the keyword Riley1513.   To see what the rest of the DT created today, please check out their blogs for more yummy Riley and Company creations, and of course, link up your cards to the challenge blog!

Frances Byrne

Jovita Torres

Joy Stagg

Kelly Santi (you're here!)

Laurie Clout

Michele L

Sending big hugs and hope your day is filled with sunshine and cheer! 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Card entered into: Stamping with a Dragon: On the Beach
 Tuesday Throwdown - Toes in the sand
C is for Challenge - Summer!
Inky Chicks:  Summer Colors