Etsy Inspired Challenge #49

Hello everyone! I hope your weekend is off to a good start! Mine is busy, busy, busy as we get ready for a little vacation!!! :) Needless to say I have not been too motivated to craft this week but I did still get a card done for this week's challenge.

The featured shop is Melissa Kate. She has lots of great cards, paintings and photos! I really loved the simplicity and theme of this card:


Now, remember when I said that I haven't been overly motivated to create this week...well my card is basically a CASE of this great card above. Not very original, I know! :) But still a cute card, right?!


I am sure the rest of the design team has wonderfully inspiring projects for you!

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

Now, there are two great prizes up for grabs this week so be sure to go check out Melissa Kate's shop, find some inspiration, and create a project of your own for your chance to win!

Have a great week everyone! When I return from vacation I just might have a little giveaway for you all! :)

New Projects to Share!

Hello all! I have been working on a ton of projects for my local scrapbook store but keep forgetting to take pictures of them before I turn them in! ACK! However, they are featuring a few of my projects on their blog right now so you can check them out HERE. The layout is one of my favorites of my two boys, there are a few cards too, and the mini album I did was super easy but I love how it turned out. I just used some Creative Cafe Tags for the album pages, a little patterned paper, letter stickers, and the October Afternoon Cherry Hill word stickers to create a fun little album about what Happiness is to me! :)

Last night I also played around with some brand new American Crafts paper from the Blue Skies collection. I love the tree paper in this line! Here are two cards I created:


I am still debating whether to put sentiments on these cards or just leave them as note cards that can be used for any occasion. I am going to make at least two more coordinating cards so I have a nice set.

I hope you all are having a great week! I will not be around much next week...spending some quality time with the family! However, when I return I will have some special surprises for all of you so stay tuned!

Top 3 Tuesday - Fine Art Photography

Happy Tuesday everyone! Hope your week is off to a good start! Today I am sharing 3 Etsy shops that totally inspire me with their photography. I would love to be able to take pictures like these talented ladies! :)

First up is Shannon's shop, shannonpix. I love the soft quality many of her pictures have...I get a sense of peace and joy looking through her shop. Take a look at this beauty!


I always seem to be attracted to dandelion photographs. I think it reminds me of my childhood, always making wishes and believing in those dreams too...such a great quality to hold on to as we get older!

And I can't mention Shannon's shop without linking you to the photograph that attracted me to her shop in the first place. Photographs of oceans/water are another favorite of mine and the serenity of THIS piece totally drew me in.

And speaking of water photographs, check out this beautiful picture from Lilac Pop Photography.

Isn't this gorgeous?! I love it! And Janna's shop is filled with wonderful photographs...I would love to hear which one is your favorite!

The 3rd shop for this week is Tatiana Rene Photography. She has some really unique angles and items that she photographs. Here is a stunning black and white of Union Station:

And she has a great beach/ocean photograph too which you can check out HERE.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Top 3 for this week!

Do you remember those cute little owls I shared with you last week? Well one of them is on it's way to my house right now! :) You can see him HERE. Featuring all these great shops each Tuesday may not be good for my budget! :) But maybe I will get a lot of early Christmas shopping done! I am going to try to restrain myself but I really am impressed with all the wonderful talent and products on Etsy and I love discovering new shops.

I hope you are enjoying discovering these shops with me too! :)

Etsy Inspired Challenge #48

It's Saturday which means another Etsy Inspired Challenge and yet another fabulous shop! Jessica Rose just oozes talent and those of you who love Unity stamps will recognize this girl's work. Check out Jessica's shop Volume twenty five for tons of wonderful prints and inspiration. I have two projects to share today although one was not created by me. :)

Aren't these old fashioned candy jars so adorable! Since I have the Unity stamp of this image I of course had to use it for a project this week! However, as soon as I stamped the image my oldest son saw it and asked if he could color it and use it for a card. And I thought...What a great idea! :) This image is perfect for kids to color in and I think his card turned out wonderfully. He also really wanted me to share it with all of you, so here it is:

Next up is my project.

I was inspired by this piece to create a card and also play around with my photography a bit too. Check it out:





This week Jessica Rose is generously giving the challenge winner any 8x10 print in her shop. You all are soooo lucky! I wish I could win!

Be sure to check out THIS POST for all the details on how to play along with us in the Etsy Inspired challenge and if you can get a friend to join you this week you will have a chance at an extra prize too!

And of course the rest of the design team has some inspirational eye candy for you too!

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

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I am off to my first all day crop with my fellow Design Team members from my local scrapbook store, Lasting Memories. I am super excited to get to know the rest of the team, have some 'me' time, and hopefully get a ton of projects completed! My biggest goal is to create a 25 days of Christmas mini album.

Blog Feature

I hope you all have had a wonderful day! I am working on some new Design Team projects for my local scrapbook store that I will share with you all soon! But today I just wanted to mention that Megan from Studio M.M.E. has featured my shop on her blog today along with a little interview. Check it out...you just might learn something new about me or maybe you'll fall in love with some of Megan's work! :)

Also, for all you Etsy shop owners who visit my blog...if you are interested in possibly being featured on my blog for one of my Top 3 Tuesday posts (see below for this week's post) please post your shop in THIS THREAD so that I can make sure to take a peek!

Top 3 Tuesday - Amazing Felt Products

This week I discovered three fabulous new shops that totally make me want to go buy a whole bunch of felt and see what I can come up with! :)

First up is Pretty in Posies. Jenn is so talented and her shop is filled with pretty felt hair accessories and brooches.

I mean, just look at this piece...

did you even know that felt could look so beautiful!

The zinnias are definitely my personal favorite but I would love to hear which item you like best from Pretty in Posies.


Next up is an adorable little shop called Vivikas Toy Art. Her owlies are so cute! Wouldn't this little guy be great to give a child for Valentine's Day?!


I also loved this little star, which she is currently sold out of but hopefully she will be making more soon! As a previous counselor and preschool teacher, I totally would have loved one of these to use with the children!


And finally a fun and educational item from MiChiMa. I firmly believe that young children learn a lot through play and by using different senses so when I saw Anna's stuffed felt alphabet sets I knew I just had to share them with all of you!

The bright colors and soft texture are sure to engage children in the learning process. And Anna has a variety of sets to choose from depending on your child's needs. MiChiMa carries jumbo and mini sets, magnetic, learn how to spell sets (with lots of extra letters), and even Spanish and Swedish alphabets!

However, don't be fooled by my excitement over the alphabet sets...MiChiMa carries several other fabulous items as well...you'll have to go take a peek! :)

I hope you have enjoyed my Top 3 this week! I would love to hear your comments about my picks and any ideas for future Top 3 Tuesday themes.

Are you ready for Fall?

I'm not. However, I just snagged a treasury on Etsy and couldn't resist filling it with beautiful fall items and colors...take a look HERE. I do love fall...it is always so pretty here in WA when all the leaves are changing colors. And after creating that treasury I think I might just work on a few fall projects of my own! :) Hope you are inspired too!