Happy Birthday .... to me! ♥

Hi there!

 

Yes, today is the 'big day' and I'm 29 - again! 
 It's so much fun how that happens ........ like every year! 
 I know, right?! :)

 

By the time this posts, I will have already been in the Florida Keys,
one of my very favorite places to be :) 

Sandy beaches, blues skies, lounge chair, a mojito (or 3 or 4!)

We hoped my son would finally recover enough to keep the trip -

and he did!  We have canoeing, lots of seafood eating, snorkeling

and more on the itinerary of fun lined up ♥

Back to my card!

I am in a group on SCS, founded by Jeanette, where for one month,
 we are showered with card kits from all the other members.
The next month, we shower the next person and so on and so forth.

This month, March, I'm up - yay! :)
I'm starting out with Terry's kit first since it's a *beary special* kit
and fitting for the occasion today ~ thanks, Terry! 

 

 

I followed the current Deconstructing Jen sketch,

letting this adorable bear be the focal point,
and then added a few buttons here and there, as is my custom :)
I also decorated the inside of the card as I like to do
but I couldn't find the photo of that -
must be birthday brain!
hee hee!

Have a wonderfully fabulous weekend!
Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Monday morning 'brews' .......

Hee hee!

 

I've got the Monday morning brews - I mean, blues!

It's Spring Break here and ours started out with the flu!

Our son came home Friday with a fever & flu like symptoms,

just to go downhill from there and struggling with this whopper of a flu -

going on day 3 :(

Poor little boy is positively miserable and

we're praying we don't start dropping like dominos,

especially our daughter who is immune compromised :(

 

Needless to say,

I've been barely sleeping and being nurse to this poor little one,

lots of TLC for him,

lots of coffee for me!
Our oldest daughter has driven to Starbucks twice this weekend

just for me - she absolutely can't stand the smell/taste of coffee

so the fact that she did that, for lil 'ol me, well it just means the world to me ♥

 

 

How 'bout this fun image !

I wish I had a S'bux the size of this cup!
Ohhhh I'd be so happy ♥

It's actually my card submission for the Mystery Image swap by Imke

on SCS ~ Jo was our hostess this month! I found these super fun

papers in my stash pile and just built a card around them.

I also decorated the inside of the card panel with this

sentiment ~ such true words!

 

 

I hope your weekend was wonderful

and Spring/sunshine has started to show it's lovely self,

wherever you may be in the world!

 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

We're Glamorous! ♥

 

Oh la la!

Isn't this lady glamorous! 

 

I sure hope this is me when it's my birthday,

dancing around in my party dress and feather boa :)

 

 

                        It's a new mystery reveal from the Mystery Image swap,

and this one is the adorable Magda from the Stampingbella line.

 Carol is our hostess this round and sent us this cute image

and we had to create a card to go around it ~

and this is my take :)

 

 

Carol loves blue so I went with a blue hues

and she also loves her bling and glitter,

so I added some rhinestones to sparkle up the party girl.

I've had this SU! Urban Oasis dsp for forever and a day
so it was time to use it!

And, how fun to finally get inky and play in my Cabana ♥

 

 I decorated the inside of my card as well as I usually strive to do,

adding the sentiment that came with Madga

to the inside of the card.

 

Thank you for stopping by today!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend ♥

 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly



Challenges:   Jo's Scrap Shack - Birthdays!
Polkadoodles - Birthdays
Seize the Birthday:  Use a sentiment
Crafting with an attitude:  AG
 

What's your brew?!!

Hi sweet friends!

I'm a bit late for the tea party :)

 

 It's the time that we Dueling Darlings post our cards using

the fun theme of "What's your Brew - coffee or tea?"

It's no secret I'm a huge Starbucks fan!

In fact, I'm pretty sure I have financed the college of one barista's kid

and should probably have my own "Parking for Kelly" sign outside our local store!

I love, love, LOVE me some Starbucks ♥

But I love a good cup of tea as well,
especially being that my mum is English :)

 

So ... for today's brew, my card is using a MFT "You're my cup of tea" image

rather than the coffee image that was sent by Kadie

inside this absolutely scrumptious card kit! 

From the gorgeous papers to the wonderful embellishments,

there was so much to play with with.  My eyes kept drawing towards
the softer, homespun colors and the gorgeous teacup paper.

 I colored the image to match and framed it.
It felt a little busy so I added some enamel dots,
paper pieced the tea cup and left it at that.
The Dazzlers, with team Paola, have a different coffee/tea image
so our duel is officially on!   You can find them all in my sidebar
to see the fabulous cards of the Divas and the Dazzlers.

No matter what the 'brew',
it's nice to have a cuppa with a friends!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

 

 

Irish you Luck! ♥

Happy March!

 

I can't believe how much time flies by in between posts ~

life is just full throttle here and doesn't slow down long enough

 for me to enjoy the Cabana and stamping time ...

until today!

 

 It's the 9th of the month and we 3 Musketeers are once again

stamping away with ink and paper and cute little images.

 

This month, Barb is our hostess and sent us Whipper Snapper's

"Irish Luck" images to create a card with.

I knew when I saw it what papers/color palette I wanted to use

but then it came to a screeching halt!

 

 

My card is really what needs the luck ~

It's a hot mess!

I started out with an old Deconstructed Jen sketch in mind

and it went way (way!) off course ~ so I just tossed

a few elements in the color palette that were on my desk

onto the card and just let it marinate a bit - LOL!

 

Time crunch = it is what it is! :)

 

Be sure to stop in and see what both girls made with

this same image and how different our cards all are!

Fabulous talent from Barb's blog and Jeanette's blog!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly


Card entered to: Craft it up - Linky Party (Green)
Crafty Secrets - Linky Party (Go Green)
Craft Hoarders Anonymous - Green/hoarded item (dsp!)
Great Impressions - Go Green
Simply Create, too - St. Patrick's Day




 

Hey, You!

 

  Yes ... you!  

 How are ya?!

 

:)

 

That's actually the name of the Basic Grey mat stack that I used

 to create today's card - "Hey You!"

It's also new card challenge time at Riley and Company stamps ...

this week, our hostess is Heather and she's asked us to paper piece!

My very, very favorite technique in crafting ♥

 

 

Today's card is sunny, cheerful, SIMPLE!

 I've used Sunflower Riley for today's card,

paper-piecing the flower :)

It's not quite the card I was aiming for or the design I saw in my head *smile!*

but I was thrilled to use up so many of the paper scraps in my bin.

 

 

We'd love for you to play along, of course!

You can link up your Riley and Company cards using any of

the stamps carried in the store to the challenge blog here!

 If you use a gallery, please use the keyword Riley0415  ~

we'll stop by and leave some love ♥

 

I hope you have a great day &

thanks so much for stopping by!

 

Big Hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

When it rains ........ we have the DDD! ♥

"When it rains, I share my umbrella ...

If I have no umbrella, I share my rain."

Isn't that the sweetest!

I hope you all had a beautiful Valentine's Day with your loved ones ♥

 

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

post our cards that we've made with the chosen theme from our hostesses:

LJ and Darlene are up this month.

And their theme ...

Our theme this month is Umbrellas!

Believe it or not, National Umbrella Day is February 10th.

Darlene and LJ thought it would be fun to think Spring,

since we've seen too much white stuff this winter.

 

 Even though I have a love of snow and winter and all that white stuff,

this was one super cute theme!

Here is my contribution using some of the gorgeous papers sent from LJ

as well as ribbons, lovely clouds and BUTTONS!!!!

I cut out a small circular pattern in the paper to let the sun/sky/cloud

paper peek through.

The image is Sophie from Whipper Snapper Designs ♥

 

 

Be sure to stop in and see what the rest of the DDD have created

with our umbrella cards this month ~

you can find them in my sidebar.

Thanks LJ and Darlene for your gorgeous and fun kits this month!

 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

I'll enter my card to: Open Minded Crafting Fun: In the air!
  Sweet Stampin' - Song "Singing in the Rain!"
Crafts for Eternity: Twos!  two buttons, two clouds, two ribbons)

It's Funny Friday!

Happy, happy Friday!

 

It's almost Valentines, and Yolanda here certainly has the right idea -

chocolate in both hands! ♥

 

 

I just adore these Art Impression stamps!

I'm blessed to be in a mystery stamp group over on SCS

lead by my beautiful German friend, Imke :)

She was the hostess for the month of January

and sent us this terrific image to create a card with.

This card is busy!

Some paper piecing, fruit loop colored papers, sequins!

Whew!

 

 

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day so I send lots of love to you all

and hope your day is filled with all things fabulous!

 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Entered:  Red Rubber Designs:  So Sentimental!

Here Ye, Here Ye - Big News!

 

 

Hi friends ♥

 

It's been awhile since I've been able to post and visit :(

 Our youngest daughter has been gravely ill,

in and out of countless doctor's offices and the hospital several times.

She's finally showing improvement

and we pray that she's on the uphill side of the battle.

I can't thank you enough for the words of encouragement and prayer!

 

Onward to my card!

It's good to be back in the Cabana!

Had to 'dust off' a few things out there and look to see where

everything wandered off to, including today's

3 Musketeer Mystery image - whew!

 

 

Jeanette was the hostess this month, with an image from a company

I'm not familiar with, Kenny K digital/stamps.

What a unique image, one I confess I had no idea what to do with!

So this is my humble card offering with the image,

and you can see what Jeanette and Barb have made with it, too!

 

 

Since the News Kid image was all about the arrival of snow,

I added the prismacolor marker colored image

 to a card base of winter/snow dsp - Crate Paper's

'Bundled Up' stack, a seriously YUMMY paper pad!

You may notice the fire hydrant is propped up 3D

because I made a total mess under with a blob of marker

because it looks really cool that way!

  Hee hee!! *wink!*

Thank you, Jeanette, for providing this fun image this month!

 

Big Hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

 

 

Winter Fun with Riley!

"Oh ... the weather outside is frightful ..."

 

Well, not here in South Florida! :) 

 But I can pretend through stamps and ink! 

There's a new Riley and Company challenge up this week - Winter Activity.

One of my very, very favorite things in the whole world is snow and winter ♥

 

We were blessed enough to spend a week in this Christmas season

 and we did it all!
Skiing, sledding, making snowmen and laying in the snow

and just enjoying the splendor of all the beauty of it ♥

 

My card today is using Sledding Riley and his joyful ride in the snow.

I used an old DCJ sketch to get my card going,

and added a mish-mash of papers in snowflake, winter colors

from the Pink Paislee "Merry and Bright" paper pad,

a gift from my daughter in my stocking :)

 

 

Be sure to stop on over to the blog and add your Riley cards with Winter fun!

If you would like to play along with us,

create a card using Riley and Company images.

 If you upload your card/project to SCS, please include the keyword Riley0215.

We can't wait to see what you create! 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

DDD ~ Birthdays in the new Year! :)

What a fun day today is! 

 First, it's Friday AND it's the first duel of the year for the Dueling Darlings!

 

The Dueling Darlings is a crafting group that I dreamed up over 4 years ago

 in the wee hours of the night (true story!)

In a nutshell, two opposing teams 'duel' each month with a card kit

sent out from the two team hostesses that have chosen a theme.

I'm super blessed and over the moon happy that 4+ years later,

we're still going strong - how awesome is that ♥ 

 

 Judy is the hostess for the Divas this month -

Deb is the hostess for the Dazzlers

and their amazing theme is:  Birth of a New Year (birthdays!)

The card kit that Judy sent to us was absolutely scrumptious! 

 There is sooo much in her kit that I could make cards for days!

She even sent us a few choices of images to work with.

I went with the ever hilarious Art Impressions Girlfriends - love 'em!

My eyes zeroed right in on the buttons that came in the kit!!

Of course, I had to use those! :)

 

 

 

The challenge also asked us to share a special birthday memory.

Each one that I share with dh and the babies are all really wonderful!

But one that stands out the most is my 40th Birthday ♥

We had spent the entire day at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World

and stood front and center at the castle for the evening fireworks.

I was holding my son (just a little boy at the time)

and he had been so excited about my birthday, telling everyone ALL DAY!
The girls, dh and I had just watched the parade and were admiring the fireworks and my son clapped his hands in glee,

pointing and saying "Mommy, that was for YOU!"

Oh my baby!!

In his mind, they certainly were :)

 

Thank you Judy for your amazing kit we were given to work with!

Do please visit the other Divas and Dazzlers to see what they

did with their cards this month ~ it's bound to be wonderful!

                                       Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!

~Kelly

 Card entered into Java Love:  Art Impressions Challenge Blog
Addicted to Stamps - Coloring
 

Going for a bike ride! :)

Good Morning and Happy Friday!

It's been a wild ride getting back into the swing of things

after the holiday break but the kids are settled back into

theirs schools and routines - woohoo!

Today's the day that the 3 Musketeers group posts our cards.

This is a group created by Jeanette, who graciously invited me

to craft along side her and Barb.  The idea is a mystery image

will be sent out and we create a card based on that ~

and this month was my month!

Now the even wilder part is that when we returned home

after a holiday trip, *Santa* had a brand new bike waiting for me!

What a surprise!

I'd oogled one in the store - once - oohing and ahhing over it -

and my sneaky littlest daughter was paying attention,

snapped a picture and sent it off to my dh Santa

who bought it, delivered it, hid it, and then staged it for when we walked in.

They are just the BEST!

It's even green - my favorite color!

Love, love them ♥

So unbeknownst to me, a bicycle image is what I chose for January ~

a new year, new beginnings, new opportunity for change :)

I bought this stamp for a swap a long (long!) time ago

and it just sat, and sat, and sat.

Every time I stamped it out, I just could not make it work,

so part of the challenge was to see what we could do with

a stamp that had me skidding to a halt ♥

I went with the spotlight technique to highlight the beautiful

basket of flowers and propped it up on 3D foam dots

to give this a bit of dimension.

I wish I could say I'm happy with the result,

but this card just bugged me to no end.

I know we  can't always be happy with the outcome, just the process! ♥

Please be sure to stop on over at Barb's and Jeanette's place to

see what they've done with this image.

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly


Entered into: Alphabet Challenge, spotlight technique 

How do you take your coffee?! :)

Good Morning! 

 I know how I take my coffee - from Starbucks!  :) 

 Oh! I do love me my S'Bux -- it's absolute bliss when hold that

little cup of heaven in my hands ♥ 

 

There's a new challenge at the Riley and Company blog -

 first one of the year!

The challenge calls for food or drinks so on today's card

I've used Coffee Riley which has both 

 because ........ well .......... YOLO! :)
 

 

 

Riley's big comfy chair is paper-pieced, my favorite technique -

and he's colored up with prismacolor markers.

For the inside of my card, I've used the new FunnyBones stamp, too!

We hope you play along, of course!

So many of the Riley and Sophie and FunnyBones stamp would

be perfect for this challenge ~

Check them all out in the store and in your stamp bins :)

 To play create a card using Riley and Company images.
Once you have created your card/project, link it to the challenge blog here.

If you upload your card/project to SCS please include the keyword Riley0115. We can't wait to see what you create!
Thanks for stopping by!
Big Hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly 

2014 ~ *Year in Review!*

Hi friends! 

We're home from our incredible vacation in the mountains ~

filled with a White Christmas and snowy adventures!

It was an absolute gorgeous end to the year,

one I am so grateful to have shared with my beautiful family ♥
 

And ...

 I can't believe 2014 is at it's end!

It's been a wonderful, whirlwind year filled with many blessings,

a few surprises and some challenges as well

but that is exactly the journey that life always holds for us :)

 

This is the time that I always post my favorite cards from last year,

one for each month!

Looking back at the year, I realize my crafting style didn't morph that much -

I will ALWAYS love and use buttons most of all as they are my very, very

favorite embellishment,

followed by lots of layers of designer paper!

 

So here we go :)

 

January

 

 

February

 

 

March

 

April

 

 

May

 

 

June

 

 

July

 

 

August

 

 

September

 

 

October

 

 

November

 

 

December

 

On a personal note, this was definitely my most challenging year
as a crafter  ~ with a lesser amount of cards getting blogged
than the previous years.

I do so love this craft!
I enjoy putting ink to paper and seeing what comes up ♥
I hope 2015 allows me to stay in the game, so to speak -
it's getting harder to do so with so many other priorities
and changes ahead, but I'm hopeful that my Cabana will still leave the light on
for the moments I'm able to stop in and get inky!

Thanks for peeking at my year in review!

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

Riley and Company *New Stamp* Blog Hop!

 

Good Evening! 

 It's time, it's time!

Riley and Company has been 'sneaking' the new

stamps all week and it's time to hop, hop, hop ~

just in time for Christmas to shop, shop, shop!

If you are hopping along, you should have arrived from Kerin's creative blog.
I have two cards to share with you showcasing two of the new
Funny Bones  ~

Here's a close up ........

Next up, another new stamped called "Life is Art" ~

I went with an eclectic look to this card design,
using up scraps of dsp in my bin in various shapes and sizes :)

Here are a few specials for this release!

Special #1: Buy the entire unmounted set of 39 new Funnybones for only $99! (Save $96!) (Offer not available to wholesale customers.) Limit one per customer. Offer ends December 31st.

Special #2: You can also get a set of 3 FREE Funnybones stamps (our choice) AND a limited edition logo stamp during this release by simply placing an order of $30 or more (before tax) in the first 24 hours of the release! (One per customer please.)

Special #3: But wait - there's more! As an added bonus, we are giving EVERYONE FREE SHIPPING from Thursday night at 9 pm CST until Sunday night at midnight CST! Just enter FREESHIPin the coupon code section!

 Thanks for hopping along with us!

From here, you'll hop on over to Monica's marvelous blog!

 

Enjoy and have a fabulous weekend ♥

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly

 

Riley and Company ~ Sneak peeks continue!

 

 

Happy Wednesday! 

 One more day 'til the big Riley and Company *new stamp release!* 
 

 Oh la lah!
 

  There is truly something for everyone in this new release -

from the heartwarming, thought provoking to the downright hilarious!

 

 
 

Today's card is simple, using one of my very favorite card designs,

my 'go to' card design of sorts!

Paired with this sensational new Funny Bone stamp -

it's a wonderful message!

I hope today brings you kindness

and warmth and all things wonderful ♥

 

Big hugs, Bigger Blessings!
~Kelly