Birthday Boy

Found this in the archives that I hadn't shared on my blog. Inky Antics image.

CSAYL & Limited Runs Digis

Welcome to week 2 for Christmas Stampin' All Year Long's Challenge. This week's challenge is hosted by Limited Runs Digis.

We got to pick an image from their wonderful digis and I chose this yummy looking Snowman on a Cupcake. They have so many wonderful images it was hard to pick just one. Ü

Come and play along with us on Christmas Stampin' All Year Long and be entered for a chance to win 3 Limited Run Digis of your choice.

Hippity Hoppity Bunny Bag

For today's project I created a cute Easter Bag using the bunny from Hippity Hoppity. I love the images in this stamp set!

More gorgeous May Arts ribbon was used for the handle. Here is a side view so you can see how the bag looks.

Tombow's thin Fastener Tabs help close the flap.

Now for some blog candy! May Arts sent us lots of YUMMY ribbon to share with all of you! You have lots of ways to enter EVERY SINGLE DAY this week + one BONUS entry!
Daily leave 1 comment on each…
1. the OCL Blog (please leave contact info),
2. each designer’s blog playing along that day, and
3. our Facebook page.
BONUS ENTRY: If you “LIKE” OCL on Facebook, you’ll get a bonus entry (as long as you tell us you did it) ~ if you've already "liked" us, let us know that too!
There will be 5 prize packages that will include an OCL Stamp set and a ribbon sampler package from May Arts. People can leave comments on your blog, the OCL Blog and Facebook each day until Friday, March16th at 9pm PT (midnight ET). Random winners will be selected from all the comments and will be posted on the OCL Blog.
SALE TIME AT OCL!!!!! That's right!!! You can save 20% off on anything in the store this week at OCL for orders over $20 (before shipping/tax). You must use the coupon code SPRING20 to get the discount.

Hoppy Easter

I love this bunny-wannabe frog from Our Craft Lounge's Hippity Hoppity stamp set. I stamped the image on watercolor paper and colored with Tombow's Dual Brush pens. The paper is from My Mind's Eye and that gorgeous ribbon is by May Arts. It matched the MME paper perfectly!

Now for some blog candy! May Arts sent us lots of YUMMY ribbon to share with all of you! You have lots of ways to enter EVERY SINGLE DAY this week + one BONUS entry!
Daily leave 1 comment on each…
1. the OCL Blog (please leave contact info),
2. each designer’s blog playing along that day, and
3. our Facebook page.
BONUS ENTRY: If you “LIKE” OCL on Facebook, you’ll get a bonus entry (as long as you tell us you did it) ~ if you've already "liked" us, let us know that too!
There will be 5 prize packages that will include an OCL Stamp set and a ribbon sampler package from May Arts. People can leave comments on your blog, the OCL Blog and Facebook each day until Friday, March16th at 9pm PT (midnight ET). Random winners will be selected from all the comments and will be posted on the OCL Blog.
SALE TIME AT OCL!!!!! That's right!!! You can save 20% off on anything in the store this week at OCL for orders over $20 (before shipping/tax). You must use the coupon code SPRING20 to get the discount.

OCL Teams up with May Arts

I LOVE May Arts ribbon and it was so fun to see it in real life at CHA! This week Our Craft Lounge is teaming up with May Arts and the Design Team has lots of lovelies to share with you today through Friday. May Arts spoiled us big time, so I have lots to share with you using their gorgeous ribbons and trims.

Today I am sharing a fun card from The Barnyard and sentiment: Barnyard Banter. I used May Arts yummy soft pink ribbon along with some tiny black velvet ribbon.

The sketch layout just "happened". I had the scraps and was just arranging them on my card and this is how it came to be. Ü

Now for some blog candy! May Arts sent us lots of YUMMY ribbon to share with all of you! You have lots of ways to enter EVERY SINGLE DAY this week + one BONUS entry!

Daily leave 1 comment on each…
1. the OCL Blog (please leave contact info),
2. each designer’s blog playing along that day, and
3. our Facebook page.

BONUS ENTRY: If you “LIKE” OCL on Facebook, you’ll get a bonus entry (as long as you tell us you did it) ~ if you've already "liked" us, let us know that too!

There will be 5 prize packages that will include an OCL Stamp set and a ribbon sampler package from May Arts. People can leave comments on your blog, the OCL Blog and Facebook each day until Friday, March16th at 9pm PT (midnight ET). Random winners will be selected from all the comments and will be posted on the OCL Blog.  

Irish Cheer

Happy St. Patrick's Week! This week the Tombow DT is sharing their Luck of the Irish themed projects. Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day (this coming Saturday) in any way? I try to do something fun each year for the boys. One year when my youngest was 6 or 7 I was sick and wasn't able to do anything. He said "this is the worst St. Patrick's Day of my life!" I had to laugh and told himwe were probably the only ones that even celebrated it! LOL!!

So this year, we will again have green eggs and ham (and since it's on Saturday, I plan to make some green pancakes as well) and green milk. (minus the green for me cuz it just looks gross Ü). I will also be making some fun rainbow food and have some goodies bought that my youngest (17) will enjoy. I've already sent a pkg to my son and his girlfriend filled with fun green and white and rainbow treats.

Okay, so now on to my card. Green is my favorite color, so St. Pat's just has to be celebrated right? LOL! This card is created with a fun image from Designed2Delight. I love their digi images and this is one of my many favorites of Faith's that she has designed.

I colored the image with Dual Brush Pens 098, 076, 992, 977, N75, and blender pen. I used Tombow's Mono Adhesive Dots to adhere the layers of cardstock.

OCL108 Happy Birthday Debbie C!

Happy Birthday to Our Craft Lounge stamp illustrator Debbie Corbari. You can go here to see all of the images that Debbie has designed. I chose to use Out For A Spin. We have been having spring weather here and it just seemed like the perfect image for a cheery birthday card.

Play along with us this week and be entered to WIN! That’s right! More important than bragging rights, (although who doesn’t love bragging rights?!) you are entered to WIN a $20 gift certificate from Our Craft Lounge. You have until 11:59pm Thursday, March 15th to enter. Participate as many times as you like! A random winner will be selected and posted on the OCL blog at the beginning of next month.

CSAYL & Cutting Cafe

This is the first week for Christmas Stampin' All Year Long's challenge and it is sponsored by Cutting Cafe, one of my favorite cutting template blogs! I love all of Regina's images and this week the DT will be making a 8 x 5.5 Divider Box or shaped card using images from her Christmas Basic Shapes Files set. I chose to use the former along with her Circle Shaped Card file to make my first Christmas card for 2012.

I used some fun glitter paper for the trees, brown for the stem and tore paper for the snow. The sentiment is Stampin' Up.

Be sure to click on the CSAYL link above and come and play along with us for a chance to win 3 prizes!

One winner will be chosen this week to receive THREE FREE SET of Cutting files of their choice!

You have until 12:00AM (E.S.T) on Wednesday to upload your creation and the winner will be announced on Thursday on the CSAYL blog. So come on over and check out the DT's creations this week.

Consider Yourself Hugged

The theme this week for Tombow is Hugs. The fun thing about this challenge is that you can make a card/project for any occasion or the best occasion...."just because". Can't we all use a hug?

Cutting Cafe has a Hershey Kiss shaped box that I thought would be perfect for my project this week. I cut the box with watercolor paper and made raspberry stripes with Dual Brush Pen #837 Wine Red.

**Tip: to sponge edges to match ink color; color on plastic with Dual Brush Pen and pick up with a sponge, then sponge the edges. 

I used Mono Multi glue on the tabs to glue the box together. I stamped 0031D Consider Yourself from Inky Antic's and adhered it with Mono Adhesive Permanent to the box.

Then just filled cello bag with Hershey Raspberry Hugs and tied off with a bow. Wouldn't this just brighten your day...."just because"?

CSAYL

I am on the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long DT! I am excited to be a part of this group again and look forward to sharing cards/projects with you throughout the year. We start this Friday, so stay tuned!

You will get a chance to play along with us. Check out the link above and come join us this weekend.

ABC Week on Tombow

**Happy Leap Year! Tombow is giving away $29 worth of goodies on their blog. Be sure to stop by!

If you have followed me at all, you will know I love making these notepads. They were also a huge hit at CHA. They are so quick and easy to make, fit into your purse and the perfect size for keeping track of things our minds so easily forget (esp. as we grow older. Ü)

I used Fancy Pants patterned papers. I love using double sided papers as it makes creating projects like this so easy. The "just a note" was created on my computer. I just made a sheet of them and then centered the sentiment with a circle punch and punched out. I used Mono Adhesive Permanent to adhere the papers to the notepad.

This is the first time I’ve made a tab closure. To give the tab more strength, I adhered Power Tabs to the end of the tab that went to the back, and then a Fastener Tab for the round end that goes to the front.

Be sure to stop by the Tombow blog this week and see what the rest of the DT has created for you. We would also love to have you comment there. You never know when there might be a surprise drawing for free product.

One Stamp, Two Looks

This is a Valentine stamp from Inky Antics (2244G Love Watering). I have made two different cards that aren't for Valentine's day. I left the sentiment off so that I could use it for any occasion that comes up. Maybe Mother's Day, birthday, or just thinking of you.

I used My Mine's Eye patterned papers for each card, the same layout and accessories. This one is more vintage and soft.

Here is the second card; bright and cheerful. This could even be used as a get well card.

BFB The Scent of Cherry Blossoms

The Scent of Cherry Blossoms by Cindy Woodsmall.

Cindy Woodsmall is one of my favorite Amish story authors. I even subscribe to her newsletter! Ü This story was unique in that it was a love story about the Old Order Amish and the Old Order Mennonites. Even though they have common beliefs, they do not intermingle, let alone date/marry.

Annie is Mennonite and her friend Aden is Amish. The odds are against them as they struggle to have a relationship beyond friendship.

The only negative about this book is that it was over too soon. Ü I am pretty sure the story will continue in another of Cindy's books and can't wait til it comes out.

**I received a copy of this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

Spring HoneyPOP Hop

Welcome to Inky’s Spring HoneyPOP Blog Hop! If you are following in order you’ve come from Jovi’s blog, if not you will want to start at the beginning here. I used a new Honey Pop set called Chocolate Rabbit (11088MC) to create my projects, which you can find on this page.

I colored the bunnies with Irojiten colored pencils and Gamsol and added a fluffy tail. Do you see my "faux" brads? I love those colorable dots by CANDI!

Here is a look at the inside. Isn't this such a fun surprise?:

I hand cut the carrots and added a folded ribbon for the tops. Of course I had to add a chocolate bunny. I have more ideas of what to do with Honeycomb bunnies so be sure to watch my blog in the next few weeks.

I purposely chose the orange and brown colors (w/ green accent) to match Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs that will be out soon to go with this card and this matching tag:

I thought the bunny needed some whiskers so just added some with embroidery floss. This gives you an idea of what you can do with the stamp sets besides using the Honeycomb papers. I will add the tag to an Easter basket filled with goodies for someone special.

Now on to the hop details.

The blog hop starts today and ends on Sunday, February 27^th at midnight Central time. Please visit each DT members’ blog to view their projects and leave a comment for each designer. The more you comment, the better your chances are to win. (Limit one comment per blog, please). Two people’s names will be drawn at random to receive a surprise Inky HoneyPOP prize pack. The winners’ names will be announced on the Inky Antics (insert link) blog next Monday, so remember to stop back and see if you’ve won.

Your next stop on the hop is Trudy’s blog.

Designer's Choice

This week on Tombow our challenge is Designer's Choice. These are my favorite challenges. Ü It gives us the creative license to really shine and show what we like to do the most.

I thought I would share one of the most popular make--takes I taught at CHA. This was the first time (of course it was only my second time at CHA and first time teaching what I had designed. LOL) that I had a line of gals waiting to take my classes.

For this make-n-take, we altered a composition notebook. Here is a peek at the front.

We also added papers inside the front and back covers as well as covered the back. You can see where we didn't have the inside patterned paper to clear to the binding. This helps the notebook to close.

Here is a close-up of the fabric flower made using Tombow's Mono Multi and Power Tabs:

A closer view of the tabs using Mono Adhesive Permanent (put a tab on the first bage and then every 20 pages after that)

 

 I hope this inpsires you to create an altered journal. If you do, please let me know as I would love to see it.

Valentine Goodies

**for some reason this went into draft when I had it scheduled
Here is a Valentine card I made for Inky Antics. I like that it can be used for a just because card as well.

For Valentine's Day I made these goodies and sent them to my son and his girlfriend in college. I also sent them other boughten goodies but didn't take pics of them.

These Oreo Truffle balls are made with Peanut Butter Oreos. Benjamin's girlfriend loves peanut butter so I wanted to try them and see how they turned out. Oh my, they are yummy! (we had to taste test before sending you know. Ü)

In case you haven't tried these they are super simple to make!

Oreo Truffles
1 pkg cream cheese, room temp
1 pkg Oreos
Almond Bark

Crush Oreos and stir into cream cheese until completely blended together. Make into balls and freeze. Dip into melted Almond Bark and add sprinkles or leave plain.

Swingin' By

Hello! I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with love and surprises. Today I have some cards to share with you using Our Craft Lounge's Swingin' By stamp set. I used the tree on all 3 of my cards, leaving the sentiment off of two as sometimes I need a card that has the wrong sentiment on it. This way I can just add the needed sentiment inside the card.
For my first two cards I stamped the image in black on white cardstock and colored the trees by using a lighter Tombow marker and picking up a darker color and then "smooshing" the marker into the leaves to make a tear drop pattern. This leaves a little white showing, which I liked.

For the next card I stamped on watercolor paper and colored and blended with a blender pen using Tombow markers.

Sometimes it is harder to use a larger image, but I really like how these turned out esp the last one. Which one is your favorite?

Have you entered for a chance to win on Our Craft Lounge's blog and FB? If not, you have until today to comment. Comments close at midnight PST. Be sure to go HERE to get the details.

Happy V-owl-entine's Day!

How do you like my sentiment? HAHA! I even thought of that myself. This week on Tombow we are focusing on the Irojiten colored pencils. My favorite way to color is using colored pencils and Gamsol, so this is a fun challenge for me.
This is a card I created for CHA and those that took the class loved it. They had alot of fun coloring the image and using the Irojiten pencils for the first time.

**Be sure to scroll down for a chance to win goodies from Our Craft Lounge

The colored pencils I used are:
Rain Forest: D03Autumn Leaf, D02 Chestnut Brown, P06 Ice Green, V06 Peacock Blue
Woodlands: P11 Rose Pink, P18 Celeste Blue, D15 Mustard, Lg02 Cork, D12 Maroon
Seascape: DL05 Verdigris
in addition:
Saddle Brown #977 was used to create the dots and dashes around the stamped image and Mono Adhesive Permanent to adhere all the pieces together.
I found out at CHA that the image from Stampavie is no longer available, but they do have a new owl image out. Patterned papers are by Echo Park.

Happy Valentine's Day from OCL

Our Craft Lounge is going to pick some V-Day cards from the Pinterest board to post on the OCL Blog tomorrow and will  give 2 prizes away (1 stamp set, 1 jar SF & a few yards of ribbon).

One on the OCL blog and one on our FB page.  Comments will last all day Tuesday and Wednesday on both the blog and FB. so... head over to the blog and FB page.

Inky Antics at CHA

Here is the Inky Antics and Darcie's booth at CHA. Because of the death of Bruce's g'ma, this was the first time in several years that I didn't have anything at CHA. Thank you Michelle, Jovi and others for pinch hitting for me!

Now for some Darcie goodness:

I just love all the new little monsters!