3M ~ You're a treasure!

 

Hi friends!

Happy Friday!

Today's card is for the 3 Musketeers ~

a card group started by my friend, Jeanette!

The idea:  

We take turns hostessing a month, 

chose just one image and mail it to the other 2!

We all create a card with that same image 

and the suprise of what it will be is always fun!

This month, I'm the hostess and chose this crazy fun image

 from Taylored Expressions: Treasure Map Background.

I picked this up at a destash a bit ago and added it to my collection -

and then it sat until now!

I know it's intended for a background,

but I've created two cards, two ways

and let the background actually be the focal point!

If you have known me for some time, 

you'll know I love love LOVE bright colors!

I wanted to make the first one really POP and used cheerful colors!

My first card!

And my second card:

I was able to get a super good impression with this really large stamp

by using the MISTI.

I'm so SO lucky to have won the new MISTI at Splitcoasttstampers

for the September card challenge with My Sweet Petunia!

All the card submissions were so amazing

 and I'm very humbled to have been chosen :)

For both of my cards, I colores them with prismacolor markers stamped with Momento ink and recollections cardstocks kraft and black and the white cardstock is Accent Opaque white #120.

You can see Barb's card here and Jeanette's card here and we'll be back on the 9th of November with Barb's stamp choice. I'm excited to see what it will be :)  I will be playing catch up on some cards this weekend as I finally have some time carved out to clean up my stamp bins, organize my stamps back in the right order, as they are a disaster from the recent week long partying and being packed away.  Eeek!            That's a NO NO!  LOL!

Here's a final look:

                                         Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)
~Kelly

CCEE2041 ~ World Octopus Day!

 

Hi friends!  

It's looking like ocean week on my blog!

Today is actually the next challenge at the CCEE Stampers

and we're celebrating World Octopus Day :)

Frances continues as our hostess for the month of October

and she's chosen to celebrate World Octopus Day. 

I've used a stamp and die set from Taylored Expressions

that I picked up at their summer clearance :)

It's called Oceans of Fun and I popped up the fish and octopus

with a background that I blended with oxides.

You can see the full line up of cards here on the blog

as well as link up yours!

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly

Crafters of Faith ~ Isaiah 34:2

Hi friends!

Today is the first day back to High School for my son and

 it was definitely like the longest summer in history!

It's also the 7th of the month which means the Crafters of Faith card group

also posts our cards with a chosen theme and scripture.

This month, the hostess is me!

One of my very favorite places to be is at the ocean - 

the smell of the salt in the air, the sound of the crashing waves,

 collecting sea shells and, of course, making sandcastles :)

My scripture challenge is:  

 Isaiah 34:2  ~ When you go through deep waters, I will be with you

The card challenge: 

  Create a card that shows your DEEP BLUE - the ocean, the sea, using blue as a predominant color, and something you'd see on/under the ocean.

And here's the card I made:

I created my card using a variety of products,

including Smooth Sailing stamps and dies from Lawn Fawn.

Once I had those stamped, cut, and colored, I set them aside.

I used my Altenew watercolor brushmarkers on a panel of Canson #140 paper

and once dry, flicked water droplets on it to create an ocean.

I learned a little tip and trick watching one of Lawn Fawn videos ~

make clouds into waves!

I simply turned the card upside down once they were die cut and tada - waves!

The rest is simplier - added the images and fun sentiment to finish.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly

Leaf hunting!

 

Hi friends!

Today is party day in our home!

Alice's birthday party is today

since her actual birthday is the middle of the work week :)

We've transformed the house into an ocean paradise from the movie, Moana!

One of the cards I've made recently was actually inspired by her

and a nature walk that we took around our neighborhood.

Leaf printing!

We collected several leaves as I was also looking for one to create for this card.

I used the mini MISTI to hold the leaf in place, 

stamped it with Versamark and and pressed it into the cardstock.

Once it was pressed down, I used gold embossing powder and heat set it.

The sentiment from my desk and I also added enamel dots

but took this photo before I did - so this is the non-dot version!

Here's Alice, flushed from our walk, with her finished masterpiece 

that we glued down and surprised her mommy!

I have to say ~ hers is definitely the showstopper!

We've got seeds, leaves, flowers and tree bark ....

Thank goodness, she didnt' want to glue the snail we found - yikes!

He went to live in the backyard tree :)

*whew!*

Oh!

I do have a giveaway!

In honor of her 2nd Birthday, I'm giving away 2 Gift Certificates

only over on my Instagram for one lucky person AND the friend

  they tag!  So if you'd like, you can check that out :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly

CCEE2040 ~ Mad Hatter Day!

 

Hi Crafty Friends,

It's a brand new month and our CCEE Stampers challenge hostess this month is Frances.

and as you may remember last week in my CCEE post, we are welcoming

Hazel from Handcrafted Expressions and Manal Habib from Miniscraft to our Design Team.

The 6th of October is Mad Hatter Day and the challenge this week ~ 

create a card inspired by the theme … hats, Alice In Wonderland, Mad Hatter. 

So let me tell you ....  I LOVE this week's theme!

OH. SO. MUCH!

My granddaughter, Alice, was named after Alice in Wonderland 

the second my daughter found out it was a girl :) 

Her mommy (my daughter) is a HUGE AIW fan ...

AND ... 

as if that wasn't crazy enough, Alice's birthday is October 6th ... Mad Hatter Day.

It was meant to be!

Okay, enough gushing ....

My card!

I've used a super old stamp from Kraftin' Kimmie called Gabrielle   

and I've had this stamp 10 years :/

The background was created by using another old school product - 

a Cuttlebug embossing folder in Argyle pattern.

I ran it thought a die cut first, and then the EB, and then watercolored it.

The sentiment is a computer generated one as the stamp doesn't have one

and I set is aside wonky, as with the entire card, because not much

makes sense in Alice in Wonderland!

 Be sure to stop by the CCEE Stampers blog today 

and see all the Mad Hatter cards

and link up yours, too, if you have one in the theme!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly

Not so SCARY-crow!

  

  

Hi friends!

It's fall!

I love love LOVE this time of year!

Miami stays pretty hot year round and we don't see a 'traditional' fall, but we still go through all the events with fall festivals, scents and cooking :)

As kids, my brother and I would often roam the fields and countryside having grandadventures, including in the farmers fields where we'd see scarecrows.

He would even make them for him and I and we'd run around playing with them. I found out years later after seeing childhood photos that they were just apples picked from the trees and skewered onto a stick!

I used a free, quick download image off the internet from Dearie Dolls and this one is the b/w printable. There's also a colorized version if that's your jam!

    

I colored it with Copic Ciao markers and added a piece of patchwork dsp as the backdrop - coloring the scarecrow with similiar colors as the paper.

I'd say, he's not such a scary SCAREcrow!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly

Whooooooo loves you?

Hi friends!

I will OWL-ways love you! :)

I'm up on the blog at The Project Bin blog 

where you will see inspirational cards posted during the week!

And if you have been around my blog long enough,

these cuties will look familiar as they are among my faves!

My card today is TREE-mendous ...

 a slimline tree filled with autumn splendor :)

To create this card, I used these stamp sets from The Project Bin:

The pumpkin is from Eat Pie, the owls and branch stamps are from New Leaf and the sentiment (top part masked off) from Pumpkin Spice!

All of those together created this beautiful tree card!

To create the background (inside) I used a watercolor panel

that I created using my Altenew watercolor brushmarkers in sunkissed, paper bag and fresh lemon.

Once it was dry, I stamped the sentiment with Lawn Fawn Walnut ink

and assembled my card.

I already have a second one in the works that I'm super excited about ~

you'll see that one on October 12th!

You can find all these stamp sets in the shop here

and I've also included a few photos for a quick glance.

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly

Be the coffee!

 Hi friends!

Happy Weekend!

Today's card is for the Inspiration Station at Splitcoaststampers

and this week, we're heading to reshot and it's FULL of inspiration!

Here is the photo I found 

and I loved the cuppa as a focal point and the red background 

reminded me of the holidays :)

I used Honey Bee Stamp Coffee Break,

which has been in my stash for forever!  

I've paired it with a funny coffee sentiment from Simon Says Stamp

and anyone who knows me, knows I take my coffee seriously!

Very. Seriously.  

:)

And the photo inspiration quick view:

I kept looking at the photo and my card seems so simple and plain.

But sometimes less is more - though I forget who's quote this is :)

The inside of my card makes me smile!

I used a sentiment from Choose Happy by SSS and here's the inside:

And that's from me today!

 Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

Kelly

CCEE2039 ~ Mushroom Month!

 Hello friends!

I have 'mushroom' in my heart for you!

First, join me in welcoming Hazel and Manal to our Design Team!

We look forward to working with you and seeing your cards!

And there's a new challenge at the CCEE Stampers this week 

and Frances continues as our September hostess with a FUN(gi) theme!

Her theme is:

According to the Days of the Year Calendar, September is Mushroom Month. 

So for our challenge this week, include one or more mushroom either stamped or die cut on your creation.

And here is my card this week!

It's true ...

I. Love. Bright. Colors!

I adore vivid, bright colors - including neon!

So I was super happy to find the Karin markers in Neon Colors

and have used them on a couple of cards already.

In going through my stash, I realized I have QUITE a few mushroom stamps

and *gasp!*

I didn't even know, LOL!

But most of them are with gnomes - and that's NOT a bad thing!

I chose to go with this adorable one from Clearly Besotted

and my card is super simple because it's being sent to a young child.

I paired it with this sweet sentiment from My Favorite Things

and done!

Stop on over to the CCEE Stampers blog to see all the Design Team cards

and if you'd like to link up yours, there's a linky at the bottom of each post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly

I'll enter my card for consideration to:  Word Art Wednesday!

Bountiful Birthday!

Hi friends!

Happy Fall!

I love this time of year 

with all the wonderful colors and scents and freshness to the season!

It's all still VERY green here as it will be all year

but a girl can dream!

My card is for Splitcoaststampers Watercolor Wednesday 

and we're up to the 17 in the series!

This week's theme is watercolor imprints

and this is easy to do with a stencil.

For my card's background, 

I've used the randomness stencil from Picket Fence Studios.

I started with Canson #140 watercolor paper and my Kuretake Gansai pans.

The flora is die cut papers using Honey Cuts from Honey Bee Stamps

and I added a sentiment from one of my My Favorite Things stamp sets.

After watercoloring the stencil, I set it onto the watercolor paper 

and put a book on top to press the color into the paper.

After about 30 minutes or so, I let it dry  naturally the rest of the way

and then put the card together pretty easily!

For the final touch, I used some gold watercolor paint and

used my paintbrush to splatter bright pops of gold color onto the background.

And that's it from me!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Big hugs, bigger blessings!
~Kelly

Card entered for consideration to:

  The Rainbow Card Challenge - autumn

Funkie Junkie - Create your own background

The Card Concept - inspiration photo (leaves!)

Mod Squad Challenge - Autumn Foliage

Mission Possible ~ 3rd Mission!

 

Hi friends!

I hope you had a great weekend and here we are!

Monday again!

You may remember from this post of mine that I mentioned

 the very talented artist Dina Kowal and the cloud edger stencil. 

I decided for today's card to use the cloud edger again 

since Dina was the inspiration for why I first purchased it :)

Now, onto the rest of my card!

Today's card is for the Mission Possible card group,

 started by my friend Jeanette who sends a mystery item quarterly.

The idea behind her group is:

Jeanette finds/buys 3 of 'something' quarterly 

and sends that item to Barb, myself and she keeps one for herself.

This time, she sent a Taylored Expressions Walking on Sunshine embossing folder!

To make my card base, I first created a rainbow cloud using the cloud edger

and alternated colors of distress inks in (almost) ROYGBIV order

 and I used my TE Blender Brushes. 

After each blend, I cleaned the stencil for the next color ...

this was quite laborious but worth the time it took :)

I created 2 panels - this one with the cleaner lines and less cloud blending

and a sentiment from Concord and 9th called Brighter Days.  

Finally, I placed the final rainbow background into the embossing folder 

- the Mission Possible item -

and created the background sunburst design in the cardstock.

You can see Barb's card here and Jeanette's card here 

and the Mission Possible will be back again in 3 months!

I still have one more card to show you with this cloud edger

and it's quite different than this one and I really like it :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly

Stamp What?! - Haunting We Will Go!

 

       

Hello friends

and Happy Friday!

This week(end), I'm playing catch up on all the cards I've missed earlier this 

month, including this super fun Halloween card for Stamp What?!

Stamp What?! was a challenge created by my sweet son when we chatted once 

about my "Old Dusties" - Wooden Stampin' Up! stamps from the way back days!

You can read how it started here :)

As always, I love to ask him how he chose a stamp and he said:

"this one looked fun and let's be honest, 

this is the only Trick Or Treating we'll see this year."

He's probably not wrong!

September's choice is A Haunting We Will Go and it's circa 1998!

My card is a continuation of Sept-paper and I'm going back to basics

and using up as much dsp from the 6 x 6 mat pads as I can.

I've updated it by using die cuts from recent release and updated papers.

Here's a look at the inside:

Barb and Jeanette have joined me this year on this journey

and you can see their cards on their blogs!

Here's a final look ....

I'm excited to see what my son pulls for next month!

But it will have to wait ...

I'm currently working on my granddaughter's birthday invitations.

I can't believe Alice is about to turn 2!

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)
~Kelly

I'll enter my card for consideration to:  Cut It Up!

Craft Rocket Challenge - Kids!

Moving along with the times - Create a Scene

CCEE2038 ~ Shake Month!

 

Hi friends!

The CCEE Stampers are shaking things up this week!! 

Frances continues as our hostess this month and her challenge is:

Apparently September is "Shake Month" which is a day to celebrate all things Milkshakes! 

If a milkshake is involved, you won't have to tell me twice!  Hee hee!

Here's my card, which is a CASE of my OWN card :)

I absolutely LOVED the shaker cards that I made for Spring Card camp

and for this one, added chunky silver glitter.

I'll be back later to get a better photograph of this!

I finished it so late, it was already super dark.

Meanwhile, head to the CCEE Stampers blog to see all the DT cards

and find the Mr. Linky to add your shake or shaker cards, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Big hugs, bigger blessings :)

~Kelly