11.29.2009

What a difference a button makes!

Well, as many of you know...I love buttons! There are so many great styles and colors out there and they always seem to add a nice touch to a card. So, I decided to take my clean and simple card that I shared yesterday and turn it into a fun and fabulous card with some great Papertrey Ink buttons!


And lucky for me, the CARDS blog challenge to use 5 buttons or more has been extended to next Friday, so I was able to enter this card into that challenge!

So, what do you think? Clean and simple or full of buttons...which is your favorite?

Well, it has been a great long weekend. I am not ready to have my first grader start back to school tomorrow. I would love to just have the whole month of December off to spend time with family and enjoy every little bit of the holiday season!

11.27.2009

Etsy Inspired Challenge #64

Did you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving? Anyone enjoy those black Friday sales? I have been enjoying the weekend with family and friends who I am all so very thankful for. I always love Saturdays...quality time spent hanging out at home with my boys...it doesn't get much better than that.

Saturdays are also Etsy Inspired days and we have another great shop for you to be inspired by... Barefoot Weaver. I love the beautiful colors in this shop and the great scarves and cuffs.


Here is the gorgeous piece I was inspired by:

Of course I chose a blue and green one, right?! Definitely my colors! :)



Here is the card I created:



This card was super quick and easy to create (5 min.) and I still really like how it turned out. I just took some Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses paper for the background, a strip of ivory paper, punched out the adorable scarf wearing snowman from some MME paper from last Christmas, and then stamped the PTI sentiment. The snowman is popped up on foam dots to give a little dimension to the card.

Okay, now it's your turn!
Go to the Barefoot Weaver shop and pick any item to be inspired by. Make any creation that you'd like and post a link to your creation on the EtsyInspired #64 post on the EtsyInspired blog. Please link your creations by next Friday Dec 4, noon Pacific time to be entered in a random drawing to win. If you upload to SCS or PCP, please use keyword EIC64.

Want to know what you could win? Of course you do! We have a fabulous sponsor this week, 7 Kids College Fund, who is giving one lucky winner a High Hopes stamp and some Green Apple Memory Box Notecards. And Barefoot Weaver is also giving away a beautiful prize...check out the Etsy Inspired blog to see the details and pictures!

And be sure to give my fabulous Design Team buddies a little love too! :)

11.25.2009

Happy Thanksgiving! Plus a Limelight Challenge!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful day planned with family and friends! I love this time of year. It always makes me take extra time to reflect on all the things I am thankful for...and there is so much! Family, friends, good health, reaching goals...the list of course goes on and on!

This month I have been fortunate enough to be a guest designer for Limelight Papercrafts and today it is time for another Limelight sketch and product challenge.

Today's sketch comes from the ever so talented Dawn McVey.

The product focus for this week is patterned paper so I decided to play around a little with my Cosmo Cricket Earth Love paper and this is what I came up with:

I like the dimension the folded patterned paper added to the card and I just love those little birdies! I also added some Kaisercraft Chocolate Pearls...I just love Kaisercraft pearls and rhinestones and Limelight has them for great prices!

Speaking of great prices...Mandy has a Fabulous Thanksgiving weekend sale for you all! Just pop on over to Limelight Papercrafts and fill your cart up with crafting goodies and then enter TURKEY in the promotional code box at checkout to receive 15% off your entire order. Plus every order will receive a surprise goody from Limelight too!

Okay, now for the details on how you can participate in the challenge for your chance to win some gorgeous patterned paper...the 6x6 Basic Grey Wisteria paper pad!

- Create a project based off the sketch with a focus on patterned paper
- Upload to your blog or online gallery (SCS keyword: LLPC035)
- Post a comment with a link to your card on Mandy's blog post by Sunday, November 29th at midnight

Go see what the rest of the team has come up with too!
Limelight Papercrafts Blog ~ Mandy
Altered Ambitions ~ Christi
Caffinated Cropper ~ Amy
dahlhouse designs ~ Lisa
My Little Creative Escape ~ Lisa
RyannMarin Designs ~ Ryann
Taylor~Made by... ~ JenMarie
Dawn McVey

Wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving! And to all of you hitting those Friday deals...have fun! I wish I could go this year but with hubby working it just doesn't seem right to drag my kids out at 5 in the morning to hit the sales! :)

11.20.2009

Etsy Inspired Challenge #63

Well, I have been out of mojo this week...I think mainly because I haven't had any 'me' time lately and I just haven't had the energy to create at 9 o'clock at night. However, one of the nice things about being on a Design Team is that it pushes me to find at least a little time each week to be creative.

So this week I was inspired by our sponsor's products...
Torendi has some really unique and fun stamps and embellishments!



I was also inspired by this cute heart magnet from our featured Etsy shop this week, Sleepless Imagination.





For this card I used the Bam Pop Die Cut frame and adorable Hellobot stamp from Torendi.

Check out the Etsy Inspired Blog to see how to play along in the challenge and what fabulous prizes you could win this week!

And be sure to visit the rest of the Design Team too!
Have a wonderful weekend!

11.17.2009

For the one you Love...

I've been searching Etsy for great gift items recently and had the chance today to make a treasury including some of my findings. These would make some special gifts for the one you love. I'm thinking about getting my hubby that engraved guitar pick! Click HERE to see my treasury up close and the links to all these great items.


Hope you're having a wonderful day!

11.15.2009

For Cecilia

As I was browsing around some blogs and scrapbooking sites the other day I came across another family who could use some help right now. And the generous scrapbooking community has donated some fabulous products to help encourage people to help.

A sweet little girl, Cecilia, recently lost her father and uncle due to a drunk driver. A fund has been set up for Cecilia. If you are interested in helping, there are three ways you can do so.

1- Send a check to:
Capital One Bank
P.O Box 1419
Mattituck, NY 11952


Checks can also be brought into any Capital One Bank and must be written out to Cecilia Occhiogrosso.


2- If you would like to support the family and have a chance to win the scrapbooking products that have been donated, check out this blog: http://forceciliaocchiogrosso.blogspot.com/ They are selling raffle tickets for $1 each. Or if you purchase $5 worth you get two extra tickets.
If you purchase tickets and mention my name, Kerry Angeles, in the message to seller as the one who referred you, I will also get an additional ticket.

3- I know it is a hard time of year for most financially, so if you don't feel you can contribute a few dollars, then maybe you could blog or twitter about it to help spread the word to more people.

Make sure to hug those precious kiddos of yours today! Thanks for taking the time to read this post and help this little girl out.

11.13.2009

Etsy Inspired Challenge #62

It's time for another Etsy Inspired Challenge and we have another fabulous shop and sponsor for your this week! Our sponsor is one you should all know...they have some of the best ribbon around...that's right, May Arts is sponsoring this week's challenge! And one of you lucky ducks could win some ribbon from them...take a peek HERE. I absolutely love May Arts ribbon! Some of my favorites are their satin ribbon, burlap cord, and their ruffle edge ribbon.

Okay, now that you know what you could win let's take a look at where you can find some inspiration this week and trust me there is plenty to choose from in Allisa Jacob's shop, Quiltish. Alissa uses fabulous fabrics to create cute baby bibs and burp cloths, nice wash cloths, pretty zipper pouches, and more. Her style and quality are top notch and her items make great gifts (think Christmas)! :)

My first bit of inspiration came from this great little bag. I just love that flower and the simple beauty of the bag.


So I decided to try making a cute ribbon flower of my own with some fabulous May Arts ribbon and this is what I came up with.



I was going to attach it to a card but I think I made it a little too big. It is much more suited for a scrapbook page or to be used as a pin for attaching to a jacket or bag.


I was also inspired by this adorable baby bib and burp cloth set.
I love the large spots and colors...so perfect for a baby boy!


So I created a Congratulations card for new parents expecting a precious little boy.


That great ric rac is from May Arts too!

Now it's your turn! Find some inspiration from Quiltish, come up with a creation of your own, and link it up to the Etsy Inspired Blog for your chance to win!

Be sure to visit the rest of the Design Team too!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend! We are celebrating my hubby's birthday and hoping to take a look at a potential new house too! :)

11.11.2009

Limelight Sketch and Product Challenge

Every other Thursday Mandy hosts a Limelight Sketch and Product Challenge and if you try out the sketch yourself you just might win some great Limelight product! This week's product focus is chipboard.

Now I know the Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg line is designed to be more of a fall collection but this adorable bunny chipboard piece just screamed Easter to me...what do you think?

If you love this collection like I do, you really have to get these chipboard letters too...especially since they are just $3.00! I already used these letters for my thankful blocks and even with this Easter card I still have plenty of words I could put together with my leftover letters.

The white twill ribbon and green Prima Obssessions flower that I used are also available at Limelight Papercrafts.

I am still debating if I want to actually use this as a card or just frame it for an Easter home decor item.

Here is the sketch...notice I did need to move my circle (flower) up to the top so it didn't interfere with my sentiment but otherwise I kept pretty close to the sketch.


Now it's your turn!
**Use the sketch above and try to incorporate
your favorite CHIPBOARD!!
**Post your project on your blog or online gallery
(Key word for SCS: LLPC034)
**Post a comment with a link to your card on the
challenge post on Mandy's blog by Sunday,
November 15 at midnight
**PRIZE ~ One lucky winner will get to choose any
one chipboard item in the Limelight Papercrafts
store!
Be sure to check out the other fabulous Limelight team members' projects too!

Mandy
JenMarie
Christi
Lisa A.
Lisa H.
Ryann
Amy

11.10.2009

Special Veteran's Day Sale at Limelight!

On Wednesday, November 11th, Limelight Papercrafts is having a sale! Just enter VETERAN as your promotional code at checkout and you will receive 11% off your entire order!

Limelight carries lots of fabulous products like May Arts ribbon, OBP stamps, Unity, and Cosmo Cricket to name a few. Limelight has the new Pink Paislee Mistletoe & Co. line in stock as well as the Unity Store Kits. Happy shopping!

And be sure to join the Limelight Team on Thursday for the new sketch and product challenge. You can play along for your chance to win a great prize!

11.06.2009

Etsy Inspired Challenge #61

* If you are looking for my Limelight project please scroll down or click HERE. *

It's Saturday! My hubby is actually not working all weekend so we are going to be enjoying lots of great family time...I can't wait!

It's also time for another Etsy Inspired Challenge! Our featured shop this week is Jared in Kansas, fine art photography...and of course his photos are truly inspiring!

Just look at this amazing Dandelion at Sunset picture!

While this is one of my favorite photos in Jared's shop, I was actually inspired by this photo:

Something about the gorgeous pink flowers with the stormy gray background spoke to me. However, I quickly realized that I don't have enough pink papers/embellishments/etc! :) So, here is what I came up with...I know it is missing something...more layers maybe or some fabulous lace. But hopefully you will still enjoy what I created! :)

In addition to having a great Etsy shop this week, we also have another wonderful sponsor! This week Whimsie Doodles will be letting the winner choose either 2 single stamps or 1 stamp set from their shop. Whimsie Doodles has a ton of adorable images and some great sentiment sets too! They were generous enough to let the team play with a few of their images. I think I am starting to get the hang of this digi stamp thing and I really like that you can customize the size of your stamp.

So here is a little holiday card I whipped up last night:
Super cute image, right?! You can purchase it HERE.

The colors in this photo from Jared in Kansas inspired me for this card...I just love the bright green!

Now it's your turn! Find some inspiration from Jared's shop, come up with a creation of your own, and link it up to the Etsy Inspired Blog for your chance to win!

Here are the links to the rest of the Etsy Inspired Team...you know they have some great projects waiting for you too! :)
Have a wonderful weekend!

11.05.2009

In the Limelight - A Time to be Thankful

Each month the Limelight Papercrafts Design Team creates a big themed project. I am excited to be joining the team for this month's theme: Thankful. I love Thanksgiving time...great fall weather, family gatherings, a time to be thankful for our many blessings.

I really wanted to showcase the Thankful theme so I decided to try something new! I had my Dad cut up some wood blocks for me (thanks Dad!), covered them in some Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg paper and added some Nutmeg Chipboard letters to create this fun home decor item.

OUT FOR PUBLICATION! :)

I really love how this turned out and it was pretty easy too. I might make these up for every holiday! :) It makes for a great table centerpiece or perfect for the mantle. It would be a wonderful gift to give to your Thanksgiving Day hostess too...so I also made up a card to go along with it.

For this card I used some more of my
Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg paper,
Unity's Simply Said stamp set,
OBP Noel's Cross Stitch stamp,
Kaisercraft Chocolate Pearls,
Prima Obsessions flower,
Jillibean Soup bean seeds harvest felt flower, and a
Kaisercraft Orange Rhinestone...
ALL available at Limelight Papercrafts!

However, I will probably just give this card to someone as a thank you note because I don't think I am going to part with my thankful blocks! :)

Click on the links below to see the fabulous thankful projects the rest of the Limelight Team has created!


And if you are a Unity stamp lover like me, you will want to be sure to take a look at Limelight's sales. Mandy has both the September and October kits at a great price and she also has the brand new November store kit in stock and it is a must have! :) Have a wonderful day!

11.04.2009

Celebrate Today...

because sometimes today is all we have. It saddens my heart to write this post...a beautiful boy has gone to heaven and his family is in mourning.
Sarah Anderson's 3 year old son Henry passed away.
Little Henry was unable to overcome a virus that
made him ill last week.

Lorie Ames has organized a way to donate for a
memorial for Henry. Henry loved his local zoo and
visited it almost every day in the summer. As a
memorial, trees will be planted there in his honor.
Melissa at Pink Cat Studio has created a digital
stamp to help raise funds for a tree for Henry.
All proceeds from the sale of the digi stamp,
minus Paypal costs, will go towards the tree. If
you would like to donate towards the tree, please
visit this webpage to purchase the digi stamp:
http://www.pinkcatstudio.com/Digital/DigiStamps/Animals/Zoo/GiraffeAndMonkey
.htm

What a wonderful way to support this family...I hope you will consider purchasing this adorable digi stamp.
Another way to donate to the memorial is to print
out this form and mail in your donation directly:
http://www.ci.oshkosh.wi.us/Parks/PDF/MemorialTreePamphlet.pdf

Please write on the form that the donation is for
Sarah Anderson's son Henry. Once all of the money
is collected, a tree and location will be selected.
If you have questions about the form please contact Lorie
Ames. Lorie will be in contact with Sarah along this
memorial journey to ensure that her wishes are followed.
To contact Lorie, please visit her blog at
http://www.live-love-laugh-create.blogspot.com/

If you don't know Sarah and would like to learn
more about her, please visit her blog:
http://scrampinmama.blogspot.com/

Thank you for your help to raise money for
a tree for Henry.




11.03.2009

Looking for a versatile and easy project or a great SALE?!

I have both to share with you today!!! First up...Limelight's current SALES!

The entire Basic Grey Eerie line is 40% off!
The entire Pink Paislee Twilight line is 25% off!
The Unity September and October Store Kits are on sale for only $28! There are a lot of great stamps in these sets!
And Unity's Build a Turkey stamp set is $18
Now, how fun would it be to have this stamp set out on Thanksgiving for all the kids to decorate their own placemat, make a card, or make a Thanksgiving picture along with writing what they are thankful for! All you need is this stamp set and something for them to color with! :)

Click HERE to see all the items Limelight has on sale!

Now for the project! You know how decorating the test tubes are all the rage? Well, have you ever considered altering spice jars? You can find them at Dollar Stores and Storables for just one dollar or recycle your jars when you use up all the spices.

Then you can decorate the jar and the lid and fill with candy, hot cocoa mix, or anything else you can think of that would make a nice little gift.

For this spice jar I used Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg paper and some great ribbon from Jillibean Soup.

You can also toss the lid and use the decorated jar to hold pens, pencils, paintbrushes, etc.

Or make up a few of these decorated spice jars and fill them with sticks, leaves, flowers, or even cinnamon sticks for a nice home decor item. Wouldn't a few of these together look nice on the mantle or even the table for Thanksgiving?!

Hope I've inspired you to clean out your spice cabinet and create a quick and easy new project! :)