Spring Break has come and gone ...

... but with fun sentiments from The Project Bin

 and incredible brads from Eyelet Outlet, 

it can stay forever!

 

Spring Break is over for us :(

My son is back in school, my daughter is back in college,

but the memories of us having a wonderful last few days of 

the wonderful ocean and outdoors will linger ♥

From the beach to canoeing, we enjoyed the gorgeous Florida sun and surf!

This card was created with that in mind

with the polka dot sunshine to the billowy ocean waves

and, of course,

the Eyelet Outlet brads that bring it to life!

The waves were created using different colors of cardstock

and a hillside die and Bella Blvd speckled paper for the sun-inspired backdrop.

I've used Summer Fun from The Project Bin and stamped it right on the paper.

There are sweet little stars that adorn this particular stamp in the set

but I masked them off to use just the wording!

I've also used 3 different sets of brads from Eyelet Outlet:

Sea Shore Brads (underwater)

Palm trees (on the shore) 

Seagulls (in the sky and in the waves with his little legs tucked under the water!)

 Here's the stamp set in its entirety:

And that's my card for today!

I hope you are having some crafty fun today, too!

Before you go,

I'm excited to share the brand new stamp set from TPB:

Love Your Shelfie!

Denise, creative mind behind The Project Bin, 

has done it again with this absolutely adorable 17 piece stamp set,

complete with this sweet turtle and party hat and so. many. sentiments!

Now THAT'S something to shell-a-brate! ♥

 

Thanks for stopping by!
Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Hope you're doing JAW-SOME!

Happy Friday, friends!

Thank you for the sweet birthday wishes!

You are all so sweet and special to my heart ♥

I hope you are having a jaw-some weekend!

I've created a sweet shark card for the inspiration challenge on SCS

and used this bedding as a springboard for my card.

This is an older Avery Elle shark stamp and die set but still a favorite!

My son loved loved LOVED sharks as a younger boy

and we had shark everything :)

This card was fun to make because it involved some paper,

dies, distress ink, markers and some elbow grease!

I wanted to create waves so I reversed my cloud die from CC Designs

and turned it into waves.

I used my distress oxide inks in Salty Ocean and Faded Jeans

and blended them with my blending tool.

Once that was finished, I stamped the sentiment right onto the card,

and added the shark and surfboard on popped up foam and 

added a quick border.

Easy Peasy!

 

 Tomorrow, we'll be at my last birthday excursion

and although it's a surprise, I'm told it involves water!

Hopefully, we won't bump into any of these ocean friends ;)

  Thanks for your visit today!

     Big hugs,  

~Kelly

National Pencil Day + Giveaway!

Hi friends! 

 

 I'm getting a late start to the day's posting ~ 

but, hopefully, with good reason.
I've been in bed for 3 days with the flu :(

I'm in 'take it one day, one hour at a time mode!

And the saddest part ..

today is my birthday! 

Oh this one is a year to remember ~

and praying I'm well enough to enjoy some of it this weekend, too!

 

Onward to my tardy card ...

 this is my last post as the March hostess for the CCEE Stampers.

Tomorrow is National Pencil Day.

The DT have created cards featuring a pencil image

or colored the image with colored pencils ~ or both!

I've used an interesting frame from Hello Bluebird that is slightly larger
than the A2 card size.
The card, when standing, looks similiar to an easle style - pretty neat!
This is the inside,
which is the finished statement to the sentiment on the front. 

Before you go, 

You know what they say about birthdays - celebrate!

I am celebrating my birthday with a big giveaway

of stamps, matching dies, and other crafty goodies on my Instagram

(winner will be chosen only on Instagram, so hop on over!)

 You can find me HERE if you'd like to take a look! 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

You're my best BUD!

Hi friends!

I have a Technique Tuesday card on a Tuesday! :)

I love love LOVE flower images!

They are such ethereal beauties ~

adorning the ground with sprinkles of colors that delight the senses!

My birth month is March 

(my birthday is this week - already?! I'm still 29, I hope! Tee hee!)

and my flower is the daffodil!

 

 I fell in love with Technique Tuesday's birthday stamps

and added them to my collection some time ago.

I've spotted several of the Fresh Peonies cards on Facebook

in the Technique Tuesday group so I took a closer look!

AND!!!!!

Decided to join the Greenhouse Society's monthly flower subscription.

At the beginning of each month, TT releases a brand new flower stamp

 (and matching die, should you chose it)

so it's like a surprise each month in your mailbox!

It was this line in the description that totally sold me ...

"Using these flower stamps and matching dies, you can create a garden of beautiful, handmade cards!"

Oh. the. vision!  

So I went back and ordered from the beginning of this year, 2019

and I'll post them in order.

This is the January flower ~ the daffodil or Beautiful Narcissus.

Special thank you to Shelley who patiently and sweetly answered all my emails :)

Here is my CAS card (or Clean and Simple) ↓

My mum was born and raised near London, England 

and has the most amazing green thumb!

I can remember every year, she grew amazing gardens

and knew exactly just what to plant, when and how.

We moved so often, but as soon as we did - I'd find the library,

and she'd start a'plantin!

 I remember throwing open our upstairs bedroom windows

and the smell wafing up from the fresh flowers planted below ~

a memory etched forever in my mind ♥

One year - she *thought* it would be a good idea to get some fresh

     uh ...

manure from the local farmers. 

Except ........ she didn't tell us!

Not the best of times to throw the windows open!

LOL!!

 At least on our cards, we can color pretty flowers 

and they'll be perfect - and odorless *wink!*

Lastly, here's a fun fact for you about my beautiful birth month flower:
*This popular and easy to grow flower salutes spring with a burst

 of possible colors – white, cream, soft yellow or bright yellow as well 

as orange, pink and even lime-green.

I think the lime green would be one gorgeous flower!

 Thanks for stopping by today on this terrific Tuesday!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

Behold! Christ is Risen!

 Hello friends!

It's Spring Break here in Miami, Florida 
and I'm SO HAPPY that little man is out of school!
We have a fun week planned with many activities
(and it's my birthday week!)

Spring Break also means Easter is near!
What a wonderful time to start on sending out your Easter/Spring cards,
and I'm getting a good start with Spring Zen from The Project Bin.

I love this versatile set - 
so perfect for lovers of coloring and zentangling!
It has a beautiful 'doodle' look to the images which makes coloring so easy,
especially tailoring the colors to each individual receipient!

My card today is bright and bold ~ representing the sunset 

which was made with my new ray of light stencil

and MFT orange zest ink and Catherine Pooler Coral Cabana and Ranger's Squeezed Lemonade.

I colored the cross in coordinating colors with my prismacolor markers

and stamped the sentiment on top of the sponged ink with Momento Black.

For the month of March, I planned a birthday card 

but ended up posting two last week.

I'm happy to have met my personal goal 

AND

2 of the cards were given out on a birthday - oh the smiles it made!

My heart was happy! 

And Easter is just 26 days away - so head on over to The Project Bin,

and take a peek.

Oh! Shipping is FAST!

Here's a look at the set:

 

  Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

 

Celebrating Smoke and Mirrors Day!

Hi friends!

I'm the hostess for the month of March 
with the CCEE Stampers card group and found a new-to-me 'holiday' to celebrate!

Next week is National Smoke and Mirrors Day.

The celebration is based on magicians' illusions, 

where magicians make objects appear or disappear with retracting mirrors

and confusing bursts of smoke.

My challenge?

Wave your magic wand and create a card with a surprise element!

I made my very first ever pivot pop-up card!
I am always so craft-imidated by a lot of the interactive dies 
that I see on social media but decided to give it this one a try ...
it was great fun!

I used the amazing Lawn Fawn pivot die which is so. very. special ♥
It's not just a die that does wonderful things ~
it was a gift to me from one of my besties, Barb!
I hoped to use it for my daughter's baby shower invitations
but she had another idea of what cards she wanted ~
so here we are!

♥

The stamp set I used for this card is from Lawn Fawn ~
it's called Oh Gnome ~  I adore these little cuties!
 
Here is the front of the card ↓

Inside ↓

Oh these gnomes have stolen my heart!

Here's a short clip of how it looks when it pivots, or twists, open ...

You can find this challenge and play along by clicking the linky 
and also see what the Design Team has created today!
Each card is super adorable and has a fun surprise element :)

You can find the link up on the challenge blog here
as well as see the DT cards or on their individual blogs:

Anne Harmon

Joanne Grzelak

Liz Williams

Lois Bak

Lynn McAuley

Maryann Einam

Vicky Gould

Kelly McKown-Santi

Thanks for stopping by!
There's truly GNOME one else like all of you!
 
Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥
~Kelly

It's the first day of spring!

Hi friends!

It's official - spring has arrived :)

Here in Miami, it's perpetually summer

 (except for those .... like .... 3 days of 75° "winter" we get!)

But everywhere else?

Spring has sprung!

Today's post is a fun one!

That's because it's time for a new challenge at Ready, Set, Go!

Once a month, the RSG take turns coming up with some really wild

out-of-the-box card challenges that really makes us think.

Barb is our hostess and this is her challenge:

 

 We post on March 20^th and that is the first day of spring in 2019.

  My challenge for you is to design a card or project that shows an obscure sign of spring—not the typical rain boots, birds, umbrellas, etc. 

 It can be something that you remember from being young or something from school that you recall. Or, do some research on the web to see how spring is celebrated in other countries or any uncommon sign of spring! 

 Ready, Set, GO!

I love this challenge!

I knew right away that mine would involve springtime from my childhood:

Living in Germany ♥

For 5 years, we lived in a tiny German town and,

 like much of Europe, the winters got chilly.

Many of the German theme parks and open air events close for the winter

and when spring arrives, they open up.

I remember the year my parents piled my brother and I into the car

and drove the 3+ hours to Baden-Württemberg to the big amusement park.

Oh, the memories! 

Today, my non-traditional spring card, is visiting Germany's Europa Park :)

I've used the cutest little guys from Lawn Fawn coaster critters

to create the amusement park scene.

This set is just the dreamiest!

The background piece is a watercolor panel - I let that dry

and then stamped/die cut and colored the critters with prismacolor markers.

 

 The inside of the card has a couple of the sentiments -

 there are many cute ones in the set!

It's taken me until today to ink it up

 BUT!

 I see many possibilities with this stamp set :)

 Here's a view from the side - such a dimensional card!

It truly makes me smile :)

And that's it for this month's Ready, Set, Go challenge!

Thank you, Barb, for the wonderful trip down memory lane :)

You can see their cards here ↓

Barb

Jeanette

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings!

 ~Kelly

Kaleidoscope of birthday colors!

Good Morning, friends!

 I'm getting a late start to my crafting/blogging today

 but I'm here! :)

 

I love color ♥

The brighter, more vibrant and bold, the better! 

To me, bright colors are cheerful and happy

 and really make for a wonderful surprise in crafting

 ~ those POPS of color!

I've committed to making a birthday card every Monday in March

 with a stamp from The Project Bin!

Today, I have 2 cards to share 

and I've used the stamp set Born Yesterday.

  It's always fun to find new ways to get creative with card making.

For today's set of cards, I went on a treasure hunt through my supplies

and spotted my alcohol inks and yupo paper.

Perfect!

I created a variety of backgrounds in various colors

 and just let the inks do as they wished.

I am IN LOVE with how these came out!

It's a fun technique and with this creative process, 

you probably won't get the same look twice!

 

Here are the two completed cards using the stamped sentiments

in a creative way to showcase both the paper and the stamp. 

This is how they came out:

 

   

Card #1 

And card #2! 

 Once the background pieces are dry (I always leave mine overnight),

it's time to assemble.

I picked two backgrounds at random 

and added them to the stamped sentiments from Born Yesterday.

These are stamped with Momento Tuxedo black ink. 

These colors just make me smile!

 March is bursting with birthdays in our family - and extended family - 

so it's nice to have some on hand ...

ready to go!

You can find this stamp set that I've used in the shop

We also have an inspiration blog that you can see each week day ...

and there's a brand new stamp set about to be released that is just DARLING!

Keep watching! ♥

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings ♥

~Kelly

CCEE1911: Shoe the World!

Hi friends!

I'm the hostess for the CCEE Stampers for the month of March

and I've chosen a new challenge for this week!

 

 

 Tomorrow is National Shoe the World Day.

 Each day, over 500 million children,

 teens and adults around the world do not have a pair of shoes to wear,

 and despite the terrain and the climate, they walk barefoot.

 Let's create a card using any shoe - cowboy boots, heels, flip-flops,

to help the awareness to donate any shoes you no longer need.
You can read more on this here at this site.
Even if it's just one pair, it can make a difference!

I used a VERY old Stampin' Up! stamp set called When I Grow Up, circa 2005!
This was one of my very first stamp sets ~
and I actually slated it for donation once, then pulled it back out!
I have used it several times since then ~ 
this week included.

My card is oh. so. very. simple!
This is one of those have an idea in my head cards
but eh on the actual creation :)
But it's okay ~
 it's a day of awareness and attention to a national day of need!
I added the row of shoes to the bottom only ~ stamping it twice.
The sentiment is from a Simon Says Stamp set.

Here are the shoes my son just put together for church ~
he's outgrown all of them within months!
Growing teenage boys - what's a mom to do!

 
Be sure to stop by the CCEE Blog and see what the rest of the DT has created!
 
As always, thanks for stopping by my blog.
Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly