Last Etsy Inspired Challenge

Hello all!  Today marks the beginning of the end of the Etsy Inspired Challenge.  This will be the last challenge so be sure to play along this week for your chance to win one last great prize!  I have so enjoyed being on the Design Team these past two years...thanks Ashley for choosing me to be a part of this great team!  Even when my mojo was lacking, I could always count on our featured Etsy shop to inspire me to create and lovely comments from all of you to make me smile! :)

This week's featured Etsy shop is Homes & Weddings which offers metal table number/card holders and lovely jewelry too!  I was actually inspired by all the table numbers to create this special Dad's Day card.

I'm not sure yet if I'll be giving this card to my husband or my own dad but they both deserve the title!  I love this paper from My Mind's Eye and great glitter letters by American Crafts.

This week we don't have an official sponsor but don't worry...De has put together a wonderful mystery prize that includes items from some of our previous sponsors! 

We would really love to have you all join us for this last challenge! 
- Visit Homes & Weddings and find something that inspires you
- Create a project of your own and post it to your blog or online gallery
- Link your creation up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday, July 1st at noon for your chance to win!

And be sure to leave some extra love for the Design Team this week too!

Angi

Ashley

Carole

De

Emily B

Jackie

Joy

Ruby

Savannah

Sherry

Virginia
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  Happy Father's Day!

Happy Birthday - Etsy Inspired Challenge #140

Welcome to another Etsy Inspired Challenge!  This week we have a great card shop for you to be inspired by!  Peaden Scott Designs offers fun pop up cards...I was inspired by THIS Happy Birthday card.

Our sponsor this week is Through the Craft Room Door and one lucky winner is going to receive a free one year online subscription!

Ready to play along?!
- Visit Peaden Scott Designs  and find an item that inspires you.
- Create a project of your own and post it to an online gallery or blog.
- Link your project up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday, June 17th at noon for your chance to win a fun prize from our sponsor or featured Etsy shop!

Be sure to visit the design team for more inspiration!

Angi

Ashley

Carole

De

Emily B

Jackie

Joy

Ruby

Savannah

Sherry

Virginia


I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  We are expecting great weather so I'm sure we'll be outside a lot along with swim lessons and a trip to the library! 

Etsy Inspired Challenge #139

Hello all!  It's time for another Etsy Inspired Challenge!  This week we have a cool home decor shop for you to be inspired by... Paula Art.    I really like her industrial and recycled items, especially this candle holder. 

I was inspired by the colors and simplicity of the photo/item to create this layout.

 This layout is one of my One Little Word assignments to write a letter to myself about my life right now.  It was a wonderful process and one that I will do again, along with writing a letter about where I see myself in another year.

Our sponsor this week is a great digi shop that specializes in digital papers...Shery K Designs.  Personally, I love her fun polka dot banners and scalloped borders.

The Etsy Inspired Challenge is now bi-weekly so you have more time to create a project for your chance to win great prizes!

- Visit  Paula Art  and find an item that inspires you.
- Create a project of your own and post it to an online gallery or blog.
- Link your project up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday, June 3rd at noon for your chance to win a fun prize from our sponsor or featured Etsy shop!

Visit the design team for more inspiration!

Angi

Ashley

Carole

De

Ellie (May Guest DT)

Emily B

Jackie

Joy

Kerry

Ruby

Savannah

Sherry

Virginia

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend planned!  I am busy working on a special mini album for my mom for her birthday!

For My Mom - Etsy Inspired Challenge #138

Hello friends!  So I have to admit that lately I have not done much crafting.  I've really been focusing on my photography (see post below) and I'm loving it!  But with Mother's Day coming up and a lovely shop to be inspired by, I made sure to get out my supplies to create a card this week. 

Are you needing a little inspiration too?   Look no further than our featured Etsy shop, Bear Creek Design & Felting, which has some of the sweetest looking animals and they even have kits so you can create your own needle felting project!  I was inspired by this pretty flower.

So, I know this is not my best work...I think I'm a little rusty! :)  But my mom of course will love it and I do love this Stella & Rose paper by My Mind's Eye.

I also took this sweet picture of my boys in our front yard...I love that the flowers are finally starting to bloom!

Our sponsor this week is Claudia & Company,  a great online shop that carries tons of crafting goodies, including all the 'big names'.  I have my eye on the new Lime Twist collection by My Mind's Eye...can anyone tell me if the patterned papers are thick like the Stella & Rose collection or thinner like the Alphabet Soup collection?

Are you ready to play along?  Guess what?!  The Etsy Inspired Challenge is now going to be bi-weekly, which means you have more time to create a project for your chance to win great prizes! 

- Visit  Bear Creek Design & Felting  and find an item that inspires you.
- Create a project of your own and post it to an online gallery or blog.
- Link your project up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday, May 20th, at noon for your chance to win a fun prize from our sponsor or featured Etsy shop!
Visit the design team for more inspiration!

Angi

Ashley

De

Ellie (May Guest DT)

Emily B

Jackie

Joy

Kerry

Savannah

Virginia

Wishing you all a wonderful Mother's Day!

Etsy Inspired Challenge #137 - Imagine Studio

Welcome to another Etsy Inspired Challenge!  This week's featured shop, Imagine Studio, had me actually putting away my crafting supplies and focusing on my photography.  I love all the wonderful colors and textures that Lyse creates with her photographs, so I decided to play around with one of my floral pictures in Photoshop and see what I could come up with.  I didn't go quite as dramatic with my colors but had fun experimenting with Photoshop since I am still a newbie. 

In my original photograph these flowers were purple.  So I changed the color, blurred them a bit, and gave the whole photo a canvas texture which I really think gives it a more artsy feel.

I'm sure most of you have heard of our wonderful sponsor this week, EAD Designs.  From fabulous wall art to fun stickerz for card making and scrapbooking, you are sure to find some designs that you'll love.

Ready to play along?!
- Visit  Imagine Studio  and find an item that inspires you.
- Create a project of your own and post it to an online gallery or blog.
- Link your project up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon for your chance to win a fun prize from our sponsor or featured Etsy shop!

And go see what these talented gals have created for you this week!

Angi

Ashley

De

Emily B

Jackie

Joy

Kimme (April Guest DT)

Ruby

Savannah

Sherry

Virginia

Monster Hugs - Etsy Inspired Challenge #136

The sun is shining, it's Easter weekend, spending time with family...what could be better?!  How about a little crafty challenge!  This week we have a fun Etsy shop for you to be inspired by.  Bearly Art features a variety of cute, pretty, and modern hand painted clocks.  And what's even better is that they reuse old records for the clock base...yeah for recycling!  My personal favorite is this adorable crab clock. 

I was inspired by all the adorable kid clocks to create this fun card using My Mind's Eye Alphabet Soup playing cards for boys.  I just love this little monster.

I also used My Mind's Eye paper from the Fine and Dandy collection, American Crafts thickers, and The Twinery's twine.

Our sponsor this week is Sassy Cheryl's which has tons of whimsical images that are wonderfully detailed.

Ready to play along?!
- Visit  Bearly Art  and find an item that inspires you.
- Create a project of your own and post it to an online gallery or blog.
- Link your project up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon for your chance to win a fun prize from our sponsor or featured Etsy shop!

For extra inspiration be sure to visit these talented ladies!

Angi

Ashley

Carole

De

Emily B

Jackie

Joy

Kimme (April Guest DT)

Ruby

Savannah

Sherry

Virginia

You Inspire - Etsy Inspired Challenge #135

 Welcome to another Etsy Inspired Challenge!  This week's shop, Creating is Fun, is full of lovely lace, buttons, and more to inspire you to get crafting!  I created a card that I thought would be nice for a great teacher.

I was inspired by these pretty stone buttons...their sparkle and color combination are just gorgeous.  I used BoBunny's Peacock Lane collection for my card along with some sparkly American Crafts thickers.

Our sponsor this week is Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps.  If you love digital images you are definitely going to want to check out her shop this week as everything is 30% off! 

Ready to play along?!
- Visit  Creating is Fun and find an item that inspires you.
- Create a project of your own and post it to an online gallery or blog.
- Link your project up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon for your chance to win a fun prize from our sponsor or featured Etsy shop!

 For extra inspiration be sure to visit these talented ladies!

• Angi
• Ashley
• Carole
• De
• Emily B
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kimme (April Guest DT)
• Ruby
• Savannah
• Sherry
• Virginia

Have a wonderful weekend!

Pumpkin Faces - Etsy Inspired Challenge #134

I'm so excited about our Etsy Inspired Challenge this week!  We have the super talented Kim Kesti joining us and get to be inspired by all her fab creations in her Etsy shop, Think Fast Designs.  I was inspired by her beautiful quilts, especially this one. 

 I love the white space and the oranges and blues had me reaching for My Mind's Eye's Stella & Rose Mabel collection to create this layout.

The journaling reads:  We always have fun picking and carving pumpkins at Halloween time.  This year I thought it would be fun to take pictures of you making the same face as your pumpkins and you both were happy to oblige.  I also captured some smiles and T's face as he dug into the pumpkin guts!

We also have a great sponsor for you this week, Niki Sivils...she has such cute stuff!  And one lucky player this week will win a Niki Sivils collection!

Ready to play along?!
- Visit Think Fast Designs and find an item that inspires you.
- Create a project of your own and post it to an online gallery or blog.
- Link your project up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon for your chance to win!

Pay a visit to these talented ladies for some extra inspiration!
      * Kim Kesti

• Angi
• Ashley
• Carole
• De
• Emily B
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kerry
• Kimme (April Guest DT)
• Savannah
• Virginia

Welcome Home - Etsy Inspired Challenge #133

 Hello friends!  Hope you've had a wonderful week!  We are heading into Spring Break and plan to fill it with lots of fun times with friends and family...yeah!

 If you're looking for a little crafting inspiration this weekend, then you've come to the right place!  Our featured Etsy shop this week is XS Baggage & Co. and they have lots of great fabric laptop sleeves,  zip pouches, key fobs, and more for you to be inspired by.  I think you'll love some of the patterns and color combinations in this shop...I know I did!  I mean, really, how can you not love this adorable little wallet!  The colors and sweet design inspired me to create this card.

I adore how this mini card turned out (and was a little sad when this one didn't get picked up during my last batch of magazine submissions).  :(  The cute little home is from MME Alphabet Soup girl's playing card set.  I combined it with some BoBunny double dot paper, MME ribbon/trim, My Little Shoebox letters, Crate Paper decorative brad, and Making Memories silver brads.

Are you feeling inspired yet?!  How about a little extra incentive?  XS Baggage & Co. will be giving one winner this week a gadget keeper of their choice and our sponsor, Wax Fruit Company, will be giving another winner a gift certificate to their shop!

So...what are you waiting for?!   Head on over to XS Baggage & Co. and find an item that inspires you.  Create a project of your own (anything crafty counts) and post it to your blog or online gallery.  Link your project up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon.

And be sure to visit these lovely ladies to see what crafty goodness they came up with this week!

• Angi
• Ashley
• Carole
• De
• Emily B
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kerry
• Kimme (April Guest DT)
• Ruby
• Savannah
• Sherry
• Virginia

More Than Friends Layout - Etsy Inspired Challenge #132

 It's Saturday...time for another Etsy Inspired Challenge!   This week's featured shop is Fresh Metal Jewelry and I'm sure you'll be inspired by her pretty fabric flower necklaces...I know I was!  :)  The lovely spring colors and flowers on this piece inspired me to create this layout.

This layout was super easy to put together as I simply dug into my sticker stash and got crafting!  I mixed stickers from My Mind's Eye, Echo Park, Crate Paper, Basic Grey, and My Little Shoebox.  The two scalloped journal stickers are actually a flower and a sentiment sticker that I just put a piece of cardstock over the part I didn't want showing to allow for my journaling.

These two cute kids have known each other since they were babies and share a special bond that I just had to document.  They were born just four days apart and recently celebrated their 8th birthday together.

Are you ready to be Etsy Inspired?!  It's a great way to challenge yourself and get a project completed...plus you might just win a prize if you link up your project to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon!   Both our featured Etsy shop and our sponsor, Amber Ink, are offering up a prize this week!

All you have to do to play along is:

- Visit Fresh Metal Jewelry and find an item that inspires you

- Create a project of your own and post it to your blog or online gallery

- Link your project up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon.

Be sure to visit the rest of the Design Team for more Etsy Inspired projects!

• Angi
• Ashley
• Carole
• De
• Emily B
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kerry
• Libby (March Guest DT)
• Ruby
• Savannah
• Sherry
• Virginia

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Birthday To You - Etsy Inspired Challenge #131

Welcome to another Etsy Inspired Challenge! This week's featured Etsy shop is Doll Birdies which offers a variety of fun bags, wallets and pouches.  I was inspired by this colorful bag, the turquoise and orange flowers especially caught my eye and inspired me to create this card.

 This card uses Crate Paper's Snow Day collection, May Arts ribbon, and My Mind's Eye Lush rhinestones, as well as a dollar stamp from Michaels (gotta love that!).

Our sponsor this week is SRM Stickers.  They have tons of great clear stickers!  I especially like all their sentiment stickers...perfect for a quick card or layout.

Are you feeling inspired?!  Then head on over to Doll Birdies and find an item that inspires you. Create a project of your own and link it up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon for your chance to win a great prize from SRM Stickers or Doll Birdies!  (See the Etsy Inspired Blog for prize details)

And be sure to visit these talented ladies for more Etsy Inspired projects!

• Angi
• Ashley
• Carole
• De
• Emily B
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kerry
• Libby (March Guest DT)
• Ruby
• Savannah
• Sherry
• Virginia

 Have a wonderful weekend!

Joy - Etsy Inspired Challenge #130

Welcome to another Etsy Inspired Challenge! This week's featured Etsy shop is Artwork by Lori which has fun and unique prints and paintings for you to be inspired by.

I really liked these retro circle canvas paintings and they inspired me to create this card.

This card was super easy to put together. I just used a piece of Echo Park's Sweet Summertime paper and a bunch of the coordinating stickers too. I love when a project comes together so quickly and the result is still great...these colors and fun patterns just make me smile!

Our sponsor this week is the Charleston Scrapbook Company which offers a huge variety of crafting goodies. Would you like to win a $10 gift certificate to their store?! Or a print from Artwork by Lori?! Head on over to Artwork by Lori and find an item that inspires you. Then create a project of your own and link it up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon for your chance to win!

Stop by and visit the rest of the design team to see more Etsy Inspired projects!

• Angi
• Ashley
• Carole
• De
• Emily B
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kerry
• Libby (March Guest DT)
• Ruby
• Savannah
• Sherry
• Virginia

We have had a busy week and our weekend shows no sign of slowing but we will be spending a lot of time with family so I'm not complaining. For those of you who may have family or friends affected by the earthquake in Japan, my heart goes out to you...you are in my prayers.

December Traditions Layout (Etsy Inspired Challenge #129)

Happy Saturday! Last night I got to enjoy a crafty night out which was lots of fun and long overdue. I just love getting together with other creative women and crafting the night away! :) I'll share my projects from last night soon, but today I have a fun layout to share for this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge!

Our featured Etsy shop this week is Desired Things which if full of lovely, colorful jewelry and mixed media artwork. I was inspired by this gorgeous piece of art. I love the colors but the beads were actually what inspired my layout because they reminded me of all the candy decorations my boys put on our gingerbread house this year.

I used Crate Paper's Snow Day collection and a sketch from their blog to create this layout.
I am including a lot more journaling in my layouts lately, to make sure that I'm telling the stories behind the photos. Even though the photo is just of our gingerbread house, I chose to write about all our holiday traditions like making cookies, decorating the tree, and special family outings.

Now it's your turn to be Etsy Inspired!

- Visit Desired Things and find an item that inspires you

- Create a project based on that inspiration and post it to your blog or online gallery

- Link your project up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by Friday at noon for your chance to win a fabulous prize!

Our sponsor this week is Sparkle Creations and they will be giving one winner this adorable birthday stamp!

I hope you'll take some time to visit these lovely ladies too!

• Angi
• Ashley
• Carole
• De
• Emily B
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kerry
• Libby (March Guest DT)
• Ruby
• Savannah
• Sherry
• Virginia

Have a wonderful weekend!

E is for Elephant - Etsy Inspired Challenge #128 (and a few photos too!)

For this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge, we have a great photography shop for you to be inspired by...The Hidden Alphabet. With lovely black and white, architectural, and unique photographs of letters, they offer all kinds of custom pieces that make for great gifts. I was inspired to search my house for hidden letters to spell the word 'love' but I'm still looking for an 'E' so I think I will save my letter pictures for another day. :)

However, I was able to find an E in my fun playing cards by My Mind's Eye and was inspired to create this card.

Here are some of the great E's you can choose from at The Hidden Alphabet.

Our sponsor this week is another Etsy shop, Paper and Roses, which offers lovely digital prints and vintage style embellishments.

Check out the Etsy Inspired Blog for all the details on how to play along in the challenge for your chance to win a great prize from The Hidden Alphabet or Paper and Roses!

And the rest of the DT has some great projects to inspire you as well!

• Angi
• Ann (February Guest DT)
• Ashley
• Carole
• De
• Emily B
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kerry
• Ruby
• Savannah
• Sherry
• Virginia

I also wanted to share with you all the progress I think I am making in my photography! I am so loving Elisha Snow's class over at Big Picture and if you are interested in improving your photography, I highly recommend her class...in fact she has a new one coming up soon. Even though it is different than the one I am currently taking I have no doubt it will be fabulous (in fact, I'm considering taking it too!) as Elisha is a great teacher and photographer!

We are just halfway through the class but I still decided to try retaking my self portrait from the pre-class assignment to compare my photos and see if I'm really figuring out this whole manual mode, aperture, ISO, shutter speed thing! :) So, here is the picture I took before the class started:
I do NOT love this picture and this was the best out of many. Prior to this class I was experimenting with non-auto mode...I even adjusted my white balance for this photo but still it absolutely does not compare to the photo I was able to take yesterday, in full manual mode!

I am so proud to say that I created this picture...positioning myself in front of a mirror with the right natural lighting and adjusting all my settings to create a nice self portrait. I still had to take several photos to get this one but just about all of them were better than my pre-class photo. I love that I was able to capture some catch light in my eyes to help make their blue/green color stand out.

I'll be sharing more of my photography soon!

(If you decide to sign up for any of the Big Picture classes, this code: 2680469F will give you (and me) 10% off a future class.)

Curious Boys Layout - Etsy Inspired Challenge #127

Hello all! Welcome to another Etsy Inspired Challenge! This week we have a lovely pottery shop for you to be inspired by, Claylicious. I love her little plates but was actually inspired by the colors in this piece and the natural/outdoor photo.

So, I got out some photos that I've been meaning to scrap for awhile, along with My Mind's Eye products, and created this layout.

I completed this layout in under 2 hours (which is good for me) and took a bold leap by writing my journaling directly on my cardstock thanks to Karen Grunberg's free class at Big Picture, Embrace Imperfection. I am learning a lot about capturing what's most important in my layouts...the story. And even though I didn't feel it was a spectacular, 'magazine worthy' layout, I still really love it and now my boys will always be able to look at this page and know the story behind the photos.

Our sponsor this week is Your Next Stamp...they have tons of fun and whimsical stamps and are offering up a $10 gift voucher for one winner this week!

So, now it's your turn to get inspired and get crafting for your chance to win a prize! Check out the Etsy Inspired Blog for all the details!

And visit the rest of the DT to see how they were inspired this week!

• Angi
• Ann (February Guest DT)
• Ashley
• Carole
• De
• Emily B
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kerry
• Ruby
• Savannah
• Sherry
• Virginia

Have a great weekend!

Dad - Etsy Inspired Challenge #126

Hello all! I hope you've been having a great week. I found out that I am going to have a card published in an upcoming CARDS magazine! And we have extended my oldest son's birthday fun to this weekend too...bowling anyone?! :)

Our featured Etsy shop this week is Glow Girl, which offers fabulous coupon organizers for all your shopping needs. And by playing along in the challenge this week, you could win one! I was inspired by the colors of THIS organizer and the graphic design of THIS one to create a card for my dad.

Even though this card was a magazine reject, it is one of my favorite masculine cards that I've ever created and at least my dad really loved it! :) All of the products are My Mind's Eye and American Crafts.

Our sponsor this week is The Stamping Boutique...you have to check out their adorable images, especially since you could win 5 digis of your choice by playing along. Personally, I think this cute bunny is a must have!

To participate in the Etsy Inspired Challenge this week:

- Visit Glow Girl and find an item that inspires you

- Create a project of your own and post it on your blog or other online gallery

- Link your project up to the Etsy Inspired Blog by noon on Friday for your chance to win!

And visit these lovely ladies for extra inspiration!

• Angi
• Ann (February Guest DT)
• Ashley
• Carole
• De
• Emily B
• Jackie
• Joy
• Kerry
• Ruby
• Savannah
• Sherry
• Virginia