Etsy Inspired Challenge #47 - Bring a Friend!

It's bring a friend (or two) week! This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge is extra special because for each friend you get to play in the challenge, you will have a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to Paper Makeup Stamps!

So, for this extra special week we have a beautiful shop for you to be inspired by, Julie's Jewels. Her shop is filled with gorgeous earrings, necklaces, and bracelets. And she is generously giving the challenge winner a $20 gift certificate to her store!

All you have to do is check out Julie-Ann's shop, find a piece of jewelry that inspires you (maybe you will be inspired by the colors, shape, or stones/beads), and then go create a wonderful project of your own...a card, a necklace, a painting...any project you want as long as it is based off of your inspiration from Julie's Jewels. Post your project on your blog and link it up to Ashley's post for your chance to win the $20 gift certificate to Julie's Jewels. Get a friend to play too for a chance at the $25 gift certificate to Paper Makeup Stamps.

Here is the bracelet that inspired me:


I really like this green and purple combination...so pretty!


Here is my card:

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful weekend planned!

On your way out, make sure to visit the rest of the Design team to see what they have created this week!

• Ashley (Link your projects up here)
  
• De
• Emily
• Heather
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kristen (Give her some extra love today...tomorrow is her birthday!)
  
• Lee
• Shannon
• Sherry (August Guest Designer)
• Tiffany
• Tonya

Top Three Tuesday!

Hi all! I am excited to announce my new weekly blog feature...Top 3 Tuesday. Since opening my Etsy shop I have become more active in the Etsy community and I find myself discovering new items/shops almost every day that are absolutely amazing. I thought you all might enjoy discovering some new shops too! :) So, starting today I will be featuring either 3 items or 3 Etsy shops every Tuesday that are at the top of my list for the week.

This week I fell completely in love with this first necklace which inspired my jewelry theme for this week's top three.

Isn't this absolutely gorgeous?! I must have looked at this Turquoise Madeleine Necklace by Madrin Designs at least 20 times this weekend. I soooo wanted to buy it...she was even have a special deal over the weekend. The only thing that (barely) stopped me from buying it is that I actually pretty much never wear jewelry. But every time I look at this necklace I think, 'Maybe if I had this piece I would wear it all the time!' It is definitely my color and style.


Next up is this beautiful cuff by Truly Enchanted Jewelry. First of all can I just say what a great shop name! :) And this cuff is from her RAIN collection which I just love...maybe being a born and raised Washingtonian has something to do with it or maybe it is just the absolute delicate beauty of this piece that puts it at the top of my list!

Last but certainly not least is this fun and funky Tree bottle cap pendant by Somewhat Hip. While I don't know if I am 'hip' enough for this pendant, the colors and tree image totally speak to me plus I love the fact that it is a recycled bottlecap. Somewhat Hip has some great designs...I included THIS pendant in a treasury I created recently and I thought THIS one was super fun too.

I hope you all have enjoyed my first Top 3! I'd love to hear which one you like best or any particular themes or items you would like to see for an upcoming Top 3 Tuesday.

Enjoy your day! I am going to be working on a custom order today as well as some Design Team work for my local scrapbook store. I'll post again later this week!

Happy Monday and a little WooHoo!

I hope everyone is having a good start to their week! I woke up this morning to find that my Etsy shop received enough votes to put me in the top 20 of the fresh, new shops which means I am now featured in the Member's Choice Gift Guide! Woohoo! Last night my travel mini album set sold so now this gift bag is the one that is featured in the gift guide.

The stamp is from Unity, paper and ribbon are Stampin' Up and the buttons are Creative Cafe. I just love this blue color!

Thank you to everyone who voted for my shop, it is greatly appreciated!!! I'll be back tomorrow!

Sunday Sale and a New Card

Happy Sunday everyone!

Today is the last day of my BOGO weekend deal for my Etsy shop. For the rest of today (7/26) I will include two matchbook notepads free with each item you purchase!

Here is my newest card:


Short and sweet today for me...I am off to spend time with my family! But check back on Tuesday...I am going to be starting a new feature on my blog that I hope you all will enjoy!

Etsy Inspired Challenge #46

Who loves Etsy?! Me! Ever since I discovered Etsy through Ashley's Etsy Inspired Challenges I have been so inspired by all the talent on Etsy. And now as a part of the Design Team for the EIC and having my own shop, I am totally in love with it! I think I might do just about all my Christmas shopping on Etsy this year! :)

So are you ready to be inspired by a new shop?! Artistic Flair has fun, funky, and beautiful fused glass art pieces and jewelry! Her shop definitely has something for everyone! I love her Seattle at Night piece...yes I am a proud Washingtonian! :)

However, I was inspired by this piece:

As soon as I saw the cherry I knew I would be using my Unity Mix Up of Cuteness set...I just can't seem to put that set down lately! :)


So here is what I came up with:

Don't you just love the cherries and all the polka dots?! It's a little hard to tell in the picture but I used crystal effects on the cherries so up close they have a nice 3D shiny glass look to them.

So, in case you haven't heard yet...this week's prize is a fused glass guitar pendant from Artistic Flair AND the Unity stamp set Love in the Air! A big thank you to Artistic Flair and Unity for offering up these fabulous prizes...and keep your eyes peeled for more Unity goodies in the future! :)

If you have never played in an Etsy Inspired challenge before, it is really easy and fun to do...check out THIS POST for all the details.

Now, since this post is getting a little long I am going to link you to Ashley's blog HERE so you can check out all the details about our upcoming EIC BOGO event next Saturday, August 1st. But basically for each new friend you get to play in the challenge next week, you will receive an entry for a chance to win a fabulous prize from Paper Makeup Stamps!

Okay, so if you have made it this far...thank you!!! I would love, love, love it if you could pop on over to Etsy and give my shop a little boost in the VOTER as it has been nominated this week as one of the fresh, new shops!

And don't forget to check out my wonderful teammates...I am sure their projects will knock your socks off!

• Ashley (Link your projects up here)
  
• De
• Emily
• Heather
• Jackie
• Jacquie (July Guest Designer)
• Joy
• Kristen
• Lee
• Shannon
• Tiffany
• Tonya
• Vickilyn (July Guest Designer)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Back to School - Unity Style!

Although it is only the middle of summer, Etsy has been showcasing a lot of back to school gear/items these past few weeks and so I thought I better get myself in gear too! :) I have two cards to share with you today that would be great for teachers.

First up is one I created based on the SCS sketch challenge this week.

A is for apple, B is for bird, and C is for cupcake...cute, right?! Although great for a teacher, I thought this card would also be fun to give to a child in preschool or kindergarten, either for a 'Yeah your starting school' sort of card or a graduation card. I used stamps from these Unity kits: School Rock Star, Mix up of Cuteness, and Giggle Grove.

Next is a clean and simple card that I created for Jeanne's stamp and go challenge yesterday.

For this card I used the adorable apple stamp from Unity's Mix up of Cuteness set and the thanks sentiment is from the Flirty Flowers set. I used to teach preschool and know that teachers can never have too many thank you cards! :) Teachers are such important people in our children's lives and we often give them gifts to show them our appreciation. So, teachers need lots of cards that they can give to parents and kids to show their appreciation too! I thought this card was so cute that I made a set of them for my Etsy shop!

Thanks for visiting today! Be sure to check out Angela's blog for a list of all the other talented ladies posting Unity projects on their blogs today!

And if you haven't heard my exciting news yet, you can check it out HERE!

Happy Thursday Friend!

Hi there! I hope you are having a wonderful Thursday! I have enjoyed time at home with my boys today and am taking a little time while they are resting to share one of my latest projects with you.

Last night I worked on a card using Kazan's sketch this week over on 2 Sketches 4 You. I have been working on some teacher/back to school projects lately so at first I was thinking of using the fun letters from Cosmo Cricket's Girl Friday line to create a cute ABCD card but as I was working with the sketch and products, I came up with a much better idea! :)


I really love how this card turned out! Not my usually clean and simple style...a little more shabby chic don't you think?!

I will be back tomorrow to share the teacher cards I have been working on! Enjoy the rest of your day!

Woohoo! Exciting News!

Hello everyone! Have you ever seen the voter posts on Etsy's blog? Well I have been nominated to be in the Voter this week as one of Etsy's fresh shops! How exciting is that?!

I am bouncing off the walls over here! :) I was a little surprised by the item they chose to put in the voter, my travel mini album set, as I am not sure it is the best representation of my shop but it is a great summer item and hopefully people will take a peek at my whole shop before voting.

I would really love all your support! Just click HERE to vote! And look for my travel mini album set! :) It would be so amazing if I was chosen as the freshest shop! And even if I'm not...this is still wonderful exposure for my shop!

Here is my travel mini album set...perfect for taking along on a trip to help capture your memories along the way! A special wallet type case holds the mini album along with a little paper pad for you to jot down special thoughts or memories about your trip. Also there are several pockets for you to keep little mementos from your trip.



I hope you all are having a wonderful day already too!

Etsy Inspired Challenge #45

Happy Saturday everyone! This week's featured Etsy shop is The Daily Pincushion and although I don't do any sewing, her pincushions are so pretty that I want to buy one! :) I need to find someone who sews so I can give one as a gift!

I was inspired by this lovely little pincushion.


Such gorgeous details and colors!




Here is the card I created:

I thought this would make for a nice wedding or birthday card and it is now available for purchase in my Etsy shop! :)

If you have never participated in an Etsy Inspired challenge before but would like to this week, check out THIS post for extra details and make sure to link your project up to Ashley's blog post for your chance to win this week's prize!

Now be sure to visit the rest of the Design Team for more inspiration...they always have such great projects! :)

• Ashley (link your projects up here)
  
• De
• Emily
• Heather
• Jackie
• Jacquie (July Guest Designer)
• Joy
• Kristen
• Lee
• Shannon
• Tiffany
• Tonya
• Vickilyn (July Guest Designer)

Have a great weekend everyone! I am off to take my kiddos to two birthday parties today and am hoping to meet some fellow Etsians from WA tomorrow!

Beautiful Blues

Blue has always been one of my favorite colors and this morning I created a treasury on Etsy filled with gorgeous blue items from some wonderfully talented Etsians. You can check it out HERE.

And here is one of my newest blue creations:

I have a set of 4 of these tags for sale in my Etsy shop. I thought they would be great for scrapbooking or even to use as gift tags for birthday gifts. Hope you all are having a great Friday! I will be back tomorrow with my Etsy Inspired card.

Stamps used on the tag are from UNITY.

As one door closes, another one opens...

This is my last month as a Design Team member for Deanne Burton's sketch blog Just My Sketches. I have greatly enjoyed creating cards using her sketches and being a part of her team. Here is my card based off of her July sketch.

I gave this card to my hubby for Father's Day. I really love all the blues in this card and how the bamboo stamp compliments the patterned paper.

Now as the title suggests, new doors are opening for me and I am so excited to share with you all that I am now a Design Team member for my local scrapbook store, Lasting Memories! I am so excited and honored to be a part of their team! I have committed to at least a year on the team so you will be seeing many more layouts, altered projects, and fun mini albums from me in the upcoming year! Thank you to all of you for your kind words and support as I was going through the submission and interview process!

If you are looking for some fun do it yourself projects for yourself or your kids this summer, you should check out THIS blog post by Amy at Sew Artsy. Amy is featuring my card making kit for kids along with 11 other fun diy kits she discovered on Etsy. You can also check out her cute shop HERE.

AND, I have been Indie Spotted again! My baby boy gift set is one of the latest finds on Indie Spotting today! :) What a great way to start the day!

I am off to my boot camp workout this morning...wish me luck! :)

Scrapbooking Embellishments

I am working on creating some more scrapbooking embellishments for my Etsy shop and thought I would share two of them with you today.

First up is an adorable cupcake embellishment...perfect for birthday layouts or these could even be used to make gift tags and cards as well. I just love the coarse glitter from Martha Stewart...I really think it makes this cupcake shine! :)


Next is a tag that could be used for journaling or just as an accent to a layout.

Can you tell I was in a polka dot kind of mood this weekend! :) And, of course all of the stamps I used are from Unity! Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Gratitude

I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all of you who visit me here on my blog. I enjoy sharing my work and a little bit about myself/my life with you all and appreciate all the sweet comments you leave for me! :)

I had some productive crafting time this weekend. I finished a mini album, made a few cards, and created some fun scrapbooking embellishments too! Here is one of the cards I made using Unity's gratitude=joy set and some American Crafts ribbon/flower embellishment.

The bird embellishment totally inspired the colors in this card and I absolutely love the combination! What do you think?

Etsy Inspired #44

Looking for some inspiration? The Etsy Inspired challenge is a great way to kick start your creativity, discover a new Etsy shop, and maybe even win a prize too!

This week we are featuring a wonderful bath and body shop, Verbena Custom Blends. She is currently on vacation, so you will have to check out her sold section to see all of her fabulous scents/items and find your own inspiration.

Here are the cute soaps that I was inspired by:

I just love the little rose detailing on these hearts and the pretty pastel colors too.

I initially thought I would create a card using all of these colors but as I was crafting my inspiration led me down a slightly different path. So here is my clean and simple, pink heart card:


If you have never participated in an Etsy Inspired Challenge, check out Ashley's blog for more details.

And I am sure the rest of the design team has some wonderful projects to share with you...so check them out and leave them a little love! :)

• Ashley (Link your projects up here)
  
• De
• Emily
• Heather
• Jackie
• Jacquie (July Guest Designer)
• Joy
• Kristen
• Lee
• Shannon
• Tiffany
• Tonya
• Vickilyn (July Guest Designer)

I hope you have a wonderful weekend! I am hoping to have a few hours today to craft my little heart out! :)

Lemonade with a splash of lime...

Hello all! Have any of you had the opportunity to create a treasury on Etsy? I have snagged a few and enjoy coming up with a theme and searching Etsy for items that would look good together. This is the treasury I created just today. You can click HERE if you would like to see it in all it's glory and be able to check out the shops of these talented Etsians. But it will expire in a few days so don't delay! :)



I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Shine Brightly!

Well, even with the sun shining, I took some time to create a few cards this week. Today I wanted to share a fun and happy little card I made using Kazan's sketch 30 from the 2Sketches4You blog and some Cosmo Cricket paper.

Doesn't this colorful paper and bright sunshine put a smile on your face?!

Thanks for visiting today! I will be back tomorrow with my Etsy Inspired Challenge card!

Feeling the Love!

When I checked my Etsy shop just now, I found out that two fellow Etsians have featured my shop/items on their sites today...I am so honored!

Kerianne from CraftedByDesign.etsy.com has featured my shop on her blog with pictures of several of my items. You can check it out HERE.

And Timothy from TimothyAdamDesigns.etsy.com chose my Button Tree Cards to be part of his Etsy Top 10. You can check it out HERE along with his other 9 picks for today.

And for those of you who visit me to see my work, here is a card for you to enjoy! :)

Card Making Kits for Kids

When I started up my Etsy shop, one of the things I knew I wanted to sell was creativity kits for kids. I did some research and there are very few being sold on Etsy so I thought it would be a unique item for my shop. I have worked with children all my life and now with two of my own, fostering their creative expression is very important to me. Art is such a wonderful medium for children! Currently I have card making kits in my shop both for girls and boys, because boys love to craft too! :)

My shop has been open a little over a month now and is doing well. I have sold three of these kits already and have gotten great feedback on them. Also, my card making kits for kids have been featured on Indie Spotting HERE and most recently on lilacpop.blogspot.com.

Here is my kit designed especially with a boy in mind:
Here is my current girl kit:
These kits are filled with plenty of ribbon, buttons, sentiments, patterned paper and more for creating 10 cards, which are also included along with the envelopes. To see detailed pictures of what I put inside these kits visit my Etsy shop and click on one of the card kit listings. Even though I share my supplies with my oldest son all the time, he is begging me to make one of these kits just for him! :) Which I definitely plan to do soon! The nice thing about these kits is that I can really customize them depending on a customer's needs. I can create a kit geared more for a pre-teen/teenager or a child as young as 5, a boy or a girl, and I can customize the colors/pattern on the tin too.

And I have even come up with a smaller travel size version too!


Thanks for stopping by to see what I have been up to! More creativity kits are in the works!

Have a wonderful day!