HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!

At least to all of you who are in the USA.  I have several family members who have served in the armed forces and they define the word courage as do all those who have served.  Thank you!

I hope you all are having fun chatting over at The Greeting Farm group at Paper Craft Planet.
If you haven't been over, please check it out, there are challenges, prizes and just plain ole chatty fun!
There will be two challenges for the party, Retro and Shabby Chic and you will have until TOMORROW at 2pm CST to play along.

I went a little retro with my card because CHEEKY MATE (available from TGF at 12:00pm CST tonight) reminded me of those vintage WWII posters I have seen in antique stores.  While her sweetheart is off in a far away land she is keeping the home fires burning, waiting patiently for his safe return.  
TGF
Cindy Haffner
Kadie Ensley
Kim Nath YOU'RE HERE!
Mary Giles
Melyssa Connolly
Mercy Kerin
Randi Wall
Amy Young
Kelly Booth
Kim Costello
Pam Varnell
Tasha Beasley-our June Team Anya Guest Designer
Traci Porter
Jessica Diedrich

Aren't the new Cheekys adorable? Oh yeah! Happy Stamping!

PICK A POCKET DAY TRIP

School is almost out for the summer and we will soon be making our annual day trips to our favorite local destinations. Though we visit the same places every year my kids can never agree on which one to visit on a particular day. Sometimes I think they disagree not because they actually want different things but simply to be the opposite of each other. Drives me crazy, so I created today's project.

The PICK A POCKET PIECE set from ARTFUL INKABLES was used to make a little container that will hold the names of some of the places we like to visit. My kids will be able to take turns picking one whenever we have some free time for an outing.

A little box made from card stock attached to the back of the stamped pocket.

A small magnet was attached to the other side of the box so that it can be kept on the fridge - no peeking allowed;).

With the various pocket pieces, I made strips containing the names of the places we like to visit such as the zoo, science center and aviary.

Now, they won't be able to fight over where we are going.....of course they will argue over who gets to pick first.
Check out the current THINK INK CHALLENGE too, just make some type of pocket card and you could win a grab bag of stamps! You don't even have to use AI stamps but you will get 2 chances to win if you do.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

FARM FRESH HAPPENINGS!

Hello Everyone!
What a VERY CHEEKY CHALLENGE we have for you for today's FFF...and even more? The Farmers and our sister DT, Team Anya have joined forces again to bring you a BRILLIANT 2nd installment of the Cheeky Cherry Line from The Greeting Farm! We are also excited to welcome our JUNE Club Anya Guest Designer to previews today-many of you know and love her already-congrats to Tasha Beasley! Tasha will be joining us for the month of June and is super excited, just like us, to be starting with these AMAZING new stamps!

That's right! We are proud to unveil THREE new Cheeky Cherry stamps, all of whom will be available on June 1st: Cheeky Nurse, Cheeky Sailor, and Cheeky Beauty Queen! These three sassy new SPROUTS are ALL being previewed today by our awesome DT-and it just so happens that ALL THREE will be given away today on the Club Anya & Friends BLOG at the end of this HOP!

Today's FFF Challenge is an inspiration challenge based on one of Jess's favorite makeup secrets ;)

I used the colors as inspiration for my card.  It is a mish mash of pink, yellow, green and black. The letters are from a digital kit, which I enlarged and mounted onto black card stock.

CHEEKY BEAUTY  says " what little (or big) princess doesn't want a day that is all about her"? I totally agree! I know a few people who don't really celebrate birthdays (gasp) but I think everyone should have AT LEAST one day a year to feel like it is all about them!

Hope you like it! And now, all you need to do? Just come, hop with us! It all starts on the TGF Blog and ends with you leaving a comment on the CA&F Blog. ONE lucky winner will be announced tomorrow w/out Saturday sketch, another new preview by Team Anya, and the icing on the cake?

WE ARE BRINGING BACK our LIVE RELEASE party!!! You guys have asked, and TGF loves to listen! Please join us for our June Release Soiree:

What: Our TGF June Release Party and Challenge VSN
Where: PCP Page
When: Monday, May 31st at 7pm CST-10pm CST

Don't worry, if you can't participate in the release party, the CHALLENGES will remain open until Tuesday, June 1st at 11:59 CST. Winner will be announced on the TgF Blog on Wednesday, June 2nd, so ALL will have time to play!
We really hope you'll come and join us, but for now, it's time to get a bit CHEEKY:
TGF
Cindy Haffner
Kadie Ensley
Kim Nath YOU'RE HERE!
Mary Giles
Melyssa Connolly
Mercy Kerin
Randi Wall
Amy Young
Kelly Booth
Kim Costello
Pam Varnell
Tasha Beasley-our June Team Anya Guest Designer
Traci Porter
Jessica Diedrich
Club Anya & Friends Blog
Thanks for joining us today and GOOD LUCK as you have a Cheeky ol' time hopping with TGF, Club Anya & Friends, and as you enter to WIN one of these cutie pies! We'll see you tomorrow on the CA&F Blog for the winner, and in the mean time, don't forget to mark your calendars for MONDAY! SEE YOU THEN!

DRY ERASE DOOR HANGER

Happy humpday! I have a tutorial on how I made this dry erase door hanger over at the HYBRID CHIC BLOG.

It's so easy to make and a fun project to do with your kids this summer.
Have a good one!

PICK A POCKET!

Hey y'all! I got to choose this week's THINK INK CHALLENGE and I picked pockets! Yep, the challenge this time is to make something with a pocket on it. You can create your own pocket (there are tons of different types of pocket cards out there) or use a stamp of a pocket like I did.

I used the new set PICK A POCKET PIECE from ARTFUL INKABLES. It has this cool pocket and all kinds of things to decorate it.

I embossed the butterflies with gold EP and colored them with Gelly Roll Glaze pens.

Head on over to the ARTFUL INKABLES BLOG for all the challenge details, this is a fun one so I hope you will play along!

HEXAGON CARD PDF

Just a quickie to give you the PDF link of the HEXAGON CARD.

SOMETHING'S BUGGING ME!

It was a rainy Saturday so I spent most of the day cleaning my son's closet. It is a walk-in that contains both his clothes and toys. For every 3 toys (ones he hasn't played with in years) I wanted to donate or toss, he wanted to keep 2. Very frustrating, but I did manage to sneak in some crafting to maintain my sanity.

This is a card made with the supremely versatile BUG AND BLOSSOM MANDALAS SET from ARTFUL INKABLES. The Mandalas are great for layering and they work well if you are trying to do the cloisonne look.
I made a small card (about 4X4in) in the hexagon shape of the design. I made a PDF of the card shape but didn't have time to scan it.  I will post it tomorrow. 
I embossed the image with gold EP on white Gina K Pure Luxury card stock.   I was using my Gelly Roll Glaze pens and the GK paper is super smooth and a bit waxy which allowed the ink to remain on the surface without absorbing into the paper.  This gave it a really nice jewel look, it is much prettier IRL.

Once the image was colored, a kraft knife was used to carefully cut it down the middle.

I made an extra layer of the center portion of the image.

And placed dimensionals on the back as shown.

The space allowed the ribbon to be threaded though the two dots.

The center of the same image was cut out for the inside of the card. This could also be masked out but I liked the added dimension.

You still have time to get in on the current THINK INK CHALLENGE, check out the details HERE!
Have a great day!

GRANDPA ROCKS!

Happy Friday! Thankfully, it has finally warmed up around here.  We went through a mini cold spell and wouldn't you know it, the building where I work was having maintenance done and the heat was shut off.  BRrrrrrrr! Since we have to keep our froggies warm we had heaters in our lab but boy was it cold going to the bathroom, LOL!

This week's FARM FRESH FRIDAY CHALLENGE is to use Mary Giles' mmmmmarvelous sketch.

I not only love the sketch but I thought her paper and color choices were pretty great too. I used the grandpa from the GRAMMIE AND GRAMPS SET to make a card for my kids to give my FIL on Father's day.

Did you know there is a national grandparents day in the US? It is celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor day which is September 12th this year. This would be the perfect set to celebrate!

Have a great weekend!

ARTFUL INKABLE'S ECLIPSE BLOG HOP!

OK Twilight fans, do I have a blog hop for U!

To celebrate the June 30 release of Eclipse, we're having a Twilight themed Blog Hop for the DT and our beloved customers! We loved it so much for the New Moon release last year, we wanted to do it again!

You can use any of our fantastic Twilight Themed Stamp sets....

Epic Tales

Fictionally Inspired

Into the Moonlight

Vampire/Romance Themed Charms

or you can use ANY Artful INKables stamp set to create a Twilight themed card/project.

Check out the AI BLOG for all the details!

PINWHEEL CARD BASE TEMPLATE

I had a request for the base of the pin wheel card from THIS POST. If you are interested just CLICK HERE for the pdf file. It was made from an 8.5 X 11 inch sheet of cardstock so the template should just fit lengthwise on a piece. If you have any problems or questions just let me know.

ARTFUL INKABLES BLOG HOP!

Welcome to the Artful INKables new release Blog Hop! If you haven't come here from
MICHELLES BLOG, then you will want to start at the Artful Inkables Blog so you don't miss anything along the way. You are going to love this release, we are releasing 3 full size stamp sets and a new mini this month, there is something for everyone! Be sure to follow us all the way to the end and make sure to leave a comment on everyone's blog, you never know which blog we'll be choosing a winner from! You will have until Thursday, May 20th at midnight Eastern Standard Time to comment on all the design team blogs for a chance at the blog hop goodies!

Today, I'm showing you a luminaria made with the BUG & BLOSSOM MANDALAS SET.

I used a tutorial I found on SCS but made it a bit bigger to accommodate the size of the stamp. My kids aren't quite ready for marriage but I think this would make a pretty centerpiece for wedding reception tables.

I put one of the battery operated tea lites inside, love those little things.

The next stop on the hop is JACKIE, have fun bloppin!

And here is the entire list just in case you need it.
Kristin
Dawn
Ann
Alicia
Marti
Michelle
Kim - Your HERE
Jackie
Joy
Sammi
Tanya
Patti
Cheryl


Have a great week!

ANY BIRDY HOME?

For some reason I am into birdhouses lately. I have been trying to convert my home into the shabby chic style, slow going since I am so busy all the time, but I have seen so many cute SC birdhouses and I want to start collecting some for our decor.

When I saw this adorable set, ANY BIRDY HOME from ARTFUL INKABLES I just had to have it! There are 3 different birdhouses and the cute flowers you see on my project.

This week's THINK INK CHALLENGE is to follow this recipe:
3 buttons
2 pieces of ribbon
1 circle

I decided to make a post-it note holder for my desk at work. I found the wooden fence at the craft store and painted it with crackle paint. The bird house was attached to a thin dowel and was inserted into the base of the fence. I used my handy dandy Dremmel tool to drill a hole for the dowel. I followed the recipe up to the circle, I considered the circles in the flowers as part of it even though there are quite a few. I so love how this turned out, now I just have to clear some space on my desk for it.

If you would like to participate in the challenge just hop on over to the ARTFUL INKABLES BLOG and link up your project by Tuesday, May 25, 2010 to win a GRAB BAG of AI STAMPS!

Make sure to stop back tomorrow for our NEW RELEASE BLOG HOP!

I'VE GOT THE MUSIC IN ME!

Actually, I don't.  Not that I don't enjoy music, I just can't carry a tune in a bucket as the saying goes, but my kids are another story.  My daughter plays the flute, the violin, and the drums.  This winter she picked up drums for the very first time and participated in her school's drumline, she had never had a lesson in her life. I am so proud of and amazed by her. My son just started piano lessons and is deciding what he wants to learn to play in the school band next year.

I am therefor completely enchanted by the new musical CHIBIS from THE GREETING FARM, they will be available on Saturday. If you have anyone in your life that plays an instrument, they will be perfect for them!
This week's FARM FRESH FRIDAY CHALLENGE is to use this pretty color scheme as inspiration.

I used the lighter pinks and added in some neutral grey/black. Hope you can play along, the challenges are always fun and there is always a great prize! Make sure you check out the other DT members blogs to see all the other jammin chibis!


Here is a very blurry pic (they were moving too fast and I didn't have my camera on the right setting) of my daughter during a performance. I think her drum weighs more than she does LOL!

And last but certainly not least I want to say welcome to the newest members of the
Critter Crew, three very talented ladies...
AMBER HIGHT
JEN SHULTS
SHAELA ODD

Have a noteworthy weekend!

ROLL CALL BLOG HOP!

Are you all present and accounted for? Great, so glad you could stop by and welcome to the Roll Call Blog Hop!

This is SUMMER, she is part of the new ROLL CALL set. The fabulous set along with NEW digis by artist Jessica Hymas and Marina Neira will be available May 15th from THE GREETING FARM!

Summer reminded me of warm summer breezes and wildly spinning pin wheels so I combined them on a card.
I found the template for the pin wheels HERE at SCS. I think I made them just a wee bit too big but at least the card still stands up LOL! And they really do spin. As I am typing this I see I spelled mwah wrong,  he he that's what I get when I rush. I'll fix it before I send it.

ROLL CALL will be sold for $48 and includes TEN sprouts plus sentiments. The normal cost of this would be over $90-it's a HUGE deal!

ROLL CALL is a large, limited edition set that comes on a 8 1/2 x11 sheet of untrimmed rubber, similar to your regular TGF stamp sets.

For today's preview, there is a BIG prize... since we're all posting, we just decided to turn this into a fun, happy lil' hop :) ONE lucky winner will receive ROLL CALL just for hoppin' with our preview cards! Leave a comment on the CA&F blog after you've completed the hop for a chance to win-ONE random winner will be VERY happy tomorrow!

Mary Giles is next so hop on over for her amazing creation!

And this is the entire list in case you get lost.
TGF
Cindy Haffner
Kadie Ensley
Kim Nath YOU'RE HERE!
Mary Giles
Melyssa Connolly
Mercy Kerin
Randi Wall
Amy Young
Kelly Booth
Kim Costello
Pam Varnell
Rachel Schneider-May Guest Designer
Traci Porter
Jessica Diedrich
Club Anya & Friends Blog

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

To all the mothers and all those who have mothers, I hope you have a wonderful day!


When I was going through some of my old projects for the current THINK INK CHALLENGE (which is to remake an old project) at ARTFUL INKABLES, I came across this acetate box.

A couple of Christmases ago I made a bunch of these cute little acetate boxes as gifts for just about everyone. The tutorial can be found HERE AT SCS.

This is my remake using the CELESTIAL BODIES SET. I stamped on the acetate before I scored it then very carefully embossed with silver EP. The trick of embossing acetate is to keep the heat source moving in a rapid circular motion. If it is kept in one place too long the acetate starts to melt.

I left the ribbon off the top and made a little knob with a brad.
These make fun teacher's gifts and are pretty easy to make once you get the hang of it.

Have a super week!

BLOOMIN' FLOWERS!

Happy Friday!  The spring flowers have been popping up everywhere due to all our wonderfully warm weather lately. I think flowers just make life better. That's probably why I went a little overboard with this card, can't have too many flowers though can you?

 This week's FARM FRESH FRIDAY CHALLENGE is to use Cindy Haffner's uber cool sketch. 

I sent sweet little FLEUR ANYA to dance amongst the flowers in her pretty party dress.
I left the bottom open so that I can add a sentiment when I decide what it will be used for.
Have a super weekend!

FROM THE OCEAN TO THE MOON!

Hope your having a super weekend!  My daughter and I spent the whole day together yesterday while my son and husband were away at a camp out with the cub scouts. Children are often criticized for not appreciating their parents but I sometimes forget how wonderful my kids are during our day to day struggles. The day was a perfect reminder of what a great kid my daughter is.

The challenge this time at the ARTFUL INKABLES THINK INK CHALLENGE is to remake one of your older creation. Well, I couldn't get much older than this because this is a card I made just before I started blogging.

I took the ocean swirls and sent them to the moon. I used the CELESTIAL BODIES SET from ARTFUL INKABLES and embossed them with silver EP. The moon was suspended with some silver wire so that is can swing through the heavens. 

This is a fun challenge because we always have cards that we think after we have made them, gee I should have done this or added that. At least I do!

You are not required to use AI stamps, but if you have them, we'd love to see you use them! **IF YOU USE AI STAMPS, YOU GET 2 ENTRIES FOR YOUR CREATION! JUST ENTER YOUR NAME/LINK TWICE ON MR. LINKY!!!

You have until Monday, May 10, 2010, midnight Pacific Standard Time to link your creation to the ARTFUL INKABLES BLOG. A winner will be chosen Tuesday, May 11, 2010 to win a GRAB BAG of AI STAMPS!

ROCKIN' SATURDAY!

Happy Saturday! I am out scouting garage sales this morning  (wish me luck in finding some great crafting bargains) but it is Rockin' over at THE GREETING FARM!  Not only is it release day for all the new stamps but CLUB ANYA and FRIENDS is kickin' off the second ROCKIN REBEL contest.

This is one of the new releases, Cuddle Anya, isn't she suh weet? I made her carriage easy peasy by cutting out a circle and then cutting a quarter out of it.  Very easy and no template necessary. The wheels were 1-1/4 and 1 inch circle punches.  I paper pieced Anya's hat and clothes to match the carriage.
 While Anya is rockin' in her stroller why don't you all hop on over and check out CLUB ANYA and FRIENDS and all the cool rockers  the design team members have created from TGF characters. There were some incredible projects last year and this time should be even better.

Rock on rebels!