OCL Tree-ific Trees X 2

Today I have 2 cards to share with you using the same stamp set, but getting completely different looks.
I used Our Craft Lounge's Tree-ific Trees set.

CSAYL Anything Goes

This week on CSAYL the theme is Anything Goes. Here is another flat card I created with a snowman image I believe I got at Hobby Lobby. The plaid background is SU!

Come play along with us this week and have a chance to be Guest Designer for a Week in JULY.

The challenge ends on Thursday, May 3th and
the winner will be announced on Friday!

Tombow + Sweet Shop

This week on Tombow we are blog hopping with the Sweet Stamp Shop. We received sample stamps and one I rec'd was this mini bubblegum machine. I had seen some candy dispenser templates online and found one on the MTC forum that I used for today's project.

I stamped the image in black and then hand drew in the bubblegum with a permanent pen (the image came with an empty gum machine image). Then I colored the image to match my bubblegum. I was fortunate to even find paper in my stash that matched!

I used Tombow's Mono adhesive to attache the patterned paper pieces and Power Bond Adhesive to put the box together.

Inky Blue & Green

I have a couple more cards to share with you using the same papers, but different Inky Antics images.

All Sporty

Today I have some sports related cards to share with you using Inky Antics images.
All are colored with colored pencils and blended with Gamsol.

OCL The Barnyard

Quick and easy gift idea using Our Craft Lounge's The Barnyard. Cover a coaster with paper and add stamped image and sticky notepad. Add magnet to the back to hang on the refrigerator.

Inky's Clearly Fun Blog Hop

Welcome to Inky’s “Clearly Fun” Blog Hop! You’ve come from Trudy’s blog. I used Inky's Clear Cardstock along with Bumper 4005C drawn by artist vicki Schreiner which you can find on this page: http://www.inkyantics.com/april2012hop.htm.

I created a 2-4-6-8 Box and then embossed with my dotted swiss embossing folder. I then stamped "Bumper" on clear cardstock in white. I punched it out and then ran Tombow's Vellum adhesive on a punched brown piece the same size. I adhered the stamped side to the brown paper. This way the ink wouldn't smear. I adhered the box together using Power Bond Adhesive.

I then layered onto another circle then scallop circle to make a flower. Lastly, I adhered the flower to the bag, filled with raspberry kisses and used a binder clip to hold the bag closed.

The blog hop starts today and ends on Sunday, April 22^nd 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 prize pack. The winners’ names will be announced on the Inky Antics  blog next Monday, so remember to stop back and see if you’ve won.

The April Inky website special is a FREE pack of Clear Cardstock with orders of $40 or more, and the details are on this page: http://www.inkyantics.com/sale.htm

Your next stop will be Tex’s blog. I know she will have a lovely to share with you. Ü

OCL Smooth Sailing

I don't know why, but guy cards are hard for me to make. My dad likes lighthouses and this one from Our Craft Lounge called Smooth Sailing is my favorite.

I stamped the image onto watercolor paper and colored with Tombow's Dual Brush Pens. I also colored the chevron image, also OCL (Every Heart Beat) with the brush pens.

OCL Beyond the Universe

Today I have a kid card to share with you. I don't make many of these, but love Our Craft Lounge's Beyond the Universe set. Maybe it comes from raising 2 boys, having mostly nephews, 4 brothers, etc.

CSAYL Photo Challenge

This week on CSAYL we were challenged to use a photo on our cards.

This photo was taken in our side yard a few years ago. We would love to have you come and play along with us this week. There are prizes to be won! Ü

Easter Thyme

This week on Tombow the DT is featuring Power Tabs. These little tabs are amazing! I have used wood glue for my decorative wood projects and they come apart. These Power Tabs are so strong that nothing comes apart!

After painting the egg and plaque, I just added power tabs to the back of the painted egg and stuck it onto the plaque. I love that the tabs are so versatile and can be used on a number of mediums and not just paper.

Happy Easter!

I want to wish you all a very Blessed Easter Day! I hope you all can take time out of your day to remember why we really celebrate this holiday. We will be going to early church, then enjoy a breakfast afterwards and then come home and get dinner ready. Later in the day, I have a fun surprise for the kids. I hope to have that all up on my blog tomorrow.

Here are some Easter treats I made for some friends and co-workers. I still have a couple more to deliver when I go back to work. I spray painted some peat pots and then glued on some moss. Some I left plain and others I added the digital image. The handle is this cool wrapped wire I found at Hobby Lobby in the wedding section.

The wind was blowing like crazy Friday, so I went out and cut a few branches off our crap apple tree to bring into the house before the blossoms were all gone. I added a few tulips from my patch as well.

Cupcakes Anyone?

I ♥ cupcakes and these are so yummy! I also ♥ Pinterest (where I also learned how to make the ♥-alt, 3) where there is so much inspiration in anything you can imagine.

These Brownie Buckeye Cupcakes are so yummy! I even made some mini ones. The recipe made 12 regular and 12 mini. I am not a frosting person, but that peanut butter frosting is so light and yummy! I'm thinking it would make a great fruit dip.

The ganache part of the recipe was way to much, so next time I would cut that in 1/2 and still would have lots left over. I think I will just use the extra as a fruit dip for now.

Benjamin's girlfriend loves peanut butter and chocolate (she is definitely a keeper! Ü), so I made these just for her. She loved them.

The kids got home from college last night and I love it when we are all here. We are going to be having a quiet Easter this year with just us and mom & dad. I have some fun things planned for the kids and will be posting those Monday. Stop back for more yummy pictures of another cupcake I am making for Easter dinner as well as some other things I have planned.

CSAYL & Meljen's Designs

Today CSAYL's Design Team will be sharing cards with you created with Meljen's Digi Designs. I love penguins and chose Penguin's Skating Buddy to create with. They have so many lovely designs, it was hard to pick just one! I am going to have to go shopping later for more images. Ü
An added challenge for the DT is to create a card with our favorite color combo. That is hard for me, because I have so many that it just depends on the mood I am in. Ü I am loving aqua and olive lately (even using it for Easter), so I decided it would be a perfect color combo for this card as well.

I colored the image with markers and then looked for paper in my stash to match. I was excited to find this plaid & green by Basic Grey, glittered snowflake paper from a paper pad I had gotten 1/2 price at Hobby Lobby as well as the solid blue. I added a sheer blue ribbon and some Sugar Sparkly Fluff by Our Craft Lounge for the ear muffs.
Come and play along with us and you could win 4 non colored images of your choice!

Aaron

Here is a picture of Aaron and his date (just a friend) from prom.

Doesn't he clean up nice? I got teary eyed at the Grand March as it hit me for the first time that he will be graduating next year. I "know" he will be graduating, but it hadn't really hit me like that til then.

I also want to share his latest mini "movie". This kid just keeps amazing me. He had done some research and couldn't find a "movie" done with cookies and wanted to be the first. So, here it is... the first movie created with homemade cookies...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7nUkaTB7ro&context=C456039dADvjVQa1PpcFMKsaSzYGTAFWGrSDOpLS8zkaZFjL0y37w=

Another Beautiful Day

We have had the strangest winter. I hope it truly is gone and spring is here to stay. There have been record highs, record tornados in Feb! and other records set this year already.
A record here is that this gorgeous crab apple tree only blooms on May 1st then the blooms are off a couple days later. It bloomed out yesterday on April 1st a whole month earlier.

The blossoms smell soooo good! I'm going to cut a few and put into a vase to enjoy them inside as well as long as I can! (which is only a couple of days)

Our pear tree is also LOADED with blooms! This poor thing is going to be so full of pears the branches will be laying on the ground.

My tulips are even blooming and they have NEVER bloomed til May!

It was also the perfect day to wash all the bedding and blankets. I love living in the country where we can put the laundry out on the clothesline.