Etsy Inspired Challenge #100 - Let's Celebrate!

Welcome friends and new visitors! I'm glad you've stopped by to celebrate the 100th Etsy Inspired Challenge with me. I so enjoy being a part of this team and sharing my Etsy Inspired projects with you all every week. Since this week marks the 100th challenge we have all sorts of inspiration and prizes for you to enjoy! With sponsors like Unity Stamp Company, Lawn Fawn, May Arts, Limelight Papercrafts, Soft Pencil Designs, and Charleston Scrapbooking you are going to want to be sure to visit each of the Design Team members' blogs and check out the Etsy Inspired blog for all the details on how to play along in the challenge this week.

First things first...our featured Etsy shop this week, Cathy Walters, is sure to have a pendant that will inspire you. I love that her pendants are double sided so that you can use whichever side fits your mood or outfit better. :) And if you play along in the challenge this week, you could win the pendant of your choice! One of my personal favorites is the Make a Wish pendant. Wouldn't this make a great birthday gift?!



And here is my birthday project...feel free to click on the layout for a closer look.

This layout documents my oldest son's 7th birthday celebration. I love the fun patterned paper and cupcake stickers from Creative Imaginations Studio 101 birthday line. And of course I used some American Crafts thickers for the title and wish sentiment.

In addition to a pendant from Cathy Walter's shop, another person who plays along in the challenge this week could win a fabulous grand prize filled with all sorts of crafting goodies. So be sure to take some time this week to visit Cathy Walters, find an item that inspires you, create an Etsy Inspired project of your own and link it up to the Etsy Inspired blog by Friday at noon PST for your chance to win.

Now, you can also increase your chances of winning a prize by visiting each Design Team members blog and leaving a comment. We each have a great item from one of our sponsors to give away. Want to know what you could win by leaving a comment here?! :) How about Unity's fabulous Donna Downey Inspired stamp! Let me know what inspires you! I will announce the winner here on my blog Satuday, August 14th.

After you leave your comment here, head on over to these lovely ladies for more prizes and inspiration. Have fun!

• Ashley
• De
• Emily B
• Emily N
• Joy
• Julie (August Guest Designer)
• Kerry
• Savannah
• Stephanie
• Virginia

Disneyland!!!

Well, I haven't been to Disneyland since I was in High School but when I was applying to be on the Design Team for my local scrapbook store they gave me a packet full of Disney themed paper and embellishments and challenged me to make a mini album. I gladly took on the challenge and was really happy with how my album turned out, even though it is currently without photos. With the closing of the store, I just recently got my album back and thought I would share a few of my favorite pages with you all!

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For this album I used fun papers and embellishments from Creative Imaginations Magic Disney collection. I really love the transparency overlay with all the words on it and the glitter yellow cardstock that I used for the front of the mini album. This line really captures the magic of Disneyland, don't you think?! So if your headed for a trip to see Mickey this summer make sure to take some great pictures and consider creating a mini album to capture all your memories!

I hope you're having a great day! I am heading to the zoo on Thursday with my son's first grade class...should be fun! This afternoon we are enjoying a bit of sunshine after a wet and rainy morning.

Everlasting Cupcake - Etsy Inspired Challenge #91

It's Saturday!!! I have lots to do today to get ready for tomorrow...my parents are going to watch the boys so that hubby and I can get some painting and major yard work done. I am thinking that I might feel like staying in our house once we get it in tip top selling shape! :)

Okay, onto this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge! I am so excited to share my project this week! And I'm sure you are going to be excited about the prizes you might win if you play along! :) I know I have been drooling over our sponsor's shop this week. Pretty Tape carries tons of fabulous decorative masking tapes and they will be giving one of our winners this week a $35 gift certificate...LUCKY!!! :) And I'm sure you will easily find something to be inspired by from our featured Etsy shop, How Beadyful, because there are plenty of great fabric covered buttons to choose from as well as a few other handmade goodies too. And How Beadyful is also generously giving a pretty set of fabric covered buttons to one winner this week.

Now, for my project...



I loved these colorful and fun Gears fabric covered buttons from How Beadyful's shop. I was inspired by the colors and all the circles. I am really proud of my cupcake! I think I have seen something similar before...maybe a fabulous CHA project someone created. But I came up with the design for mine all on my own...no template or anything, just a bit of imagination and trial & error. :)

For those interested in creating an everlasting cupcake of their own, here are the details:
1. punch out lots of circles from a great patterned paper (like the Creative Imaginations Studio 101 birthday paper I chose)
2. create a cupcake liner with a die cut or the hard way like me :) - take a strip of paper (or two) and fan fold it, then tightly wrap it around a styrofoam ball and attach it with adhesive or some straight pins
3. use straight pins to attach the circles (icing) to the top of the styrofoam ball, overlapping the circles to hid the pins and cover the ball fully
4. wrap ribbon around the cupcake liner and add a little tag for extra detail
5. create a little hole up top for the birthday candle...the final touch!

To participate in the Etsy Inspired Challenge all you need to do is visit How Beadyful's shop, find an item that inspires you, and create a new project of your own! Then link it up to the Etsy Inspired blog for your chance to win!

And for more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the Design Team!

• Alex (June Guest Designer)
• Ashley
• De
• Emily
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kerry
• Shannon

Have a wonderful weekend!

Relaxed, Refreshed, Renewed!

So, yesterday I had a whole day to craft and hang out with friends...kid-free! It was a much needed and much overdue break for me and I am feeling so great today! I completed several scrapbook pages yesterday, enjoyed chatting with friends, and had a lovely dinner out too. I am feeling rested and full of energy, patience, and joy today...yeah! It is just what I needed and it made me realize that I really do need to be better about taking time for myself because it's good for me which in turn is good for my kiddos too! :)

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend too! I thought I would share the birthday card that I made for my friend who had the party yesterday.

I really love the fun colors in this Creative Imaginations Studio 101 birthday line and the cute cupcake 3d stickers too! Did you notice my ruffled ribbon? I actually created that myself using some seam binding and my sewing machine! :)

I also thought I would share my new treasury which was inspired by Cath's new Moxie Fab challenge using the ever so trendy...chair. Yep, who knew furniture images would be so trendy?! I don't know that I will create any chair projects myself but I sure had fun finding some great chair items on Etsy...take a peek!

Click HERE to see the treasury up close along with links to some great shops! I would love to have those light blue chairs in my dream house! :)

Enjoy the rest of your day! I'm off to play with my boys...I missed not getting to hang out with them yesterday! :) I mean, really, how could you not want to spend every waking moment with these two adorable kids!

Happy Birthday!

This week I'm working on some Design Team projects for my LSS, Lasting Memories. I am using the colorful and glittery Studio Basics Birthday line from Creative Imaginations to create a double page layout but I took a moment today to use some of the papers to create a fun (and simple) birthday card.

Using the sketch from Card Patterns, here is what I came up with:


Aren't these papers fun?! I love all the glitter on these papers and those great cupcakes!

Okay, off to work on my layout...have a nice evening!