Mother's Day ...

That special holiday for Mom is coming up this Sunday & I just realized I haven't put my cards in the mail ~ YIKES! I sure hope my cards arrive on time.  My mother passed away almost 8 years ago; however, I always pop cards in the mail for my sister, sister-in-law, my Dad's wife & my mother-in-law.  I have THE BEST mother-in-law in the world ~ I just couldn't ask for a better one.  She is my mom and I lover her dearly ~ I can't wait to see her in June when we go on vacation.  

So here is the pretty card I made for her this year...

I used the Garden Inspiration & Fanciful Flourishes sets by Gourmet Rubber Stamps along with the new Mother's Day sentiment in the Mother Knows Best Appetizer set.   I stamped the flourishes on cork in vanilla pigment ink & then stamped the flowers on pattern paper from My Minds Eye ~ I love how it turned out.

OK ~ off to get this in the mail...hoping it get's to North Dakota before Sunday!

i {heart} CUPCAKES!

Happy Tuesday!  Whew...what a weekend!  I was so busy that I never even got a blog post done for Monday ~ oh well...here are a few new cards I made yesterday.

I haven't had a {real} cupcake for a very long time!  HOWEVER, I'm lovin' the new cupcake in the Cupcakes and Candles Appetizer stamp set by Gourmet Rubber Stamps because it's super cute and calorie free!  Gotta LOVE that!!!

The papers and sentiment stickers are from the Bo Bunny Ad Lib collection which I've had laying around for quite some time.  While I was making these cards, I just felt like doing something a little off the wall.  I think I accomplished my objective ~ LOL!

See you tomorrow!

OCL Challenge #116...National Scrapbook Day!

Welcome back to the OCL Challenge for this week.  Today I'm excited to share another scrapbook layout for the challenge.  Tomorrow is National Scrapbook Day, so it's only appropriate that we do a scrapbooking {or at least a photo} challenge.

So for my page this week, I did something that I NEVER do ~ I did a page about me!  As the family historian, so to speak, I rarely include layouts that are only about me.  Sometimes I grab a photo that includes me, but I'm not usually the main subject of the page.  HOWEVER, this time it's a little different because at the beginning of this year, I decided to make 2012 a year of change of me.  A year of improving myself ~ physically, spiritually, and professionally.  Well I've made some drastic changes in my life {for me anyway}to improve my physical health and they include, eating healthy, giving up soda, exercise.  As a result of the hard work I've put in the last 4 months, I've lost a total of 32 lbs, I've totally given up soda, and I exercise 7 days a week for at least 30 minutes.  I'm so excited to see these results and I feel fabulous!!!

So the other day, I took a new picture of myself with my camera timer {which, BTW turned out to be a rather funny photo session with the help of the dogs and cat}.  Anyway, I finally got a good shot & changed my blog and Facebook profile pictures.  I couldn't believe all the comments I got ~ who knew?  So since the picture turned out pretty good, I thought I'd document my journey on a scrapbook page ...

I used several flowers from the Build-A-Bouquet set with VersaMark ink on the top of the page and then stamped the chevron pattern from the Every Heartbeat stamp tone-on-tone on the blue pattern paper.  I also used the Simple Stories Fabulous collection for the pattern paper and stickers.

Here's a close up of the punched flowers.  You can see the VersaMark flowers and the chevron border in the background.

Here is the journaling block on the page.

And some of the stickers from the Fabulous paper pack to add some texture to the page.

Are you a scrapbooker?  We no worries if you aren't ~ make a project with a photo included & enter your challenge link to the OCL Blog for your chance to win a gift certificate!

SALE ALERT!!!

Our Craft Lounge is having a sale for National Scrapbooking Day!!!  

$10 off order $30 or more {in stock items only/no backorders}.  This sale will run today & tomorrow {Friday/Saturday ~ May 4th & 5th}.  Coupon Code required: NSD2012

Alaska Project ... more photo layouts

Well the week is just clicking along and I decided that I'm going to show you a few more pages from my Alaska Project. This week I finished up the land portion of our trip and now I'll begin the cruise portion next!  I still have some AMAZING photos to share with you!

Today I have more photo sleeve layouts to show you.  I used bits and pieces of journaling blocks, tags, stickers and stamped images on these pages from the Simple Stories Destination kit along with stamps by Unity, Hero Arts, and Technique Tuesday.  

These pages have the last of our stop in Girdwood, Alaska at our stay at the Alyeska Resort, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center & our last stop on the land tour ~ Seward, Alaska (where we met the ship).  Next week, I'll share photos from one of our most amazing days while in Seward and Resurrection Bay ~ just before we boarded the ship.

First up is the tram ride to the top of Mt. Alyeska ~ amazing views and our timing for the tram was just perfect because it rained like crazy the day before and it was foggy later in the afternoon.

Here are a few shots from the TOP of the WORLD!

After our lovely stay in Girdwood, we boarded our motor coach for Seward; however, we did have a great stop along the way to the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center.  We saw tons of animals close up and got some great shots.  All of the animals here were rescued and are in rehabilitation and most can't be released into the wild because of injuries they suffered.

This was a wonderful place and we enjoyed our visit very much!

A few more hours on the motor coach and we arrived at our last stop on our land tour.  We spent the evening walking around the hotel and then having dinner at the Windsong Lodge.  I added some postcards and the hotel brochure to my page.

More lovely views right outside our hotel room.

Have a great Thursday!  I'll be back tomorrow with a fun OCL Challenge to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day this Saturday!

Hey Hey Daddy-O!

 Time for a little love to all the dads out there with this cute new Appetizer set from Gourmet Rubber Stamps called Daddy-O!   I paired up these great images with the Echo Park paper kit called This and That Charming Collection ~ it's perfect for guy cards!  I just love the saying on this first card ~ LOL!

Next up is the card I made for my father-in-law ~ he just LOVES crossword puzzles!  The crossword puzzle paper is also in the This and That kit along with the letter stickers that I used to make the sentiment.

Supplies from i{heart}papers:
Stamps ~ Gourmet Rubber Stamps (Daddy-O!)
Pattern Paper ~ Echo Park (This & That Charming)
Ink ~ Palette
Copic Markers ~ top card: G21, G94, E27; second card: YR21, YR23, YR24, E00, E50, E51, G40, G20, G21
Nestabilities

New Diner's Club Set!

The new Diners Club set called Swingin' Spring from
Gourmet Rubber Stamps is now shipping &
you can also find it at i{heart}papers!

For a few samples ~ take a peek HERE on my blog & on the GRS Pinterest Board!

Birthday Wishes...

Happy Monday Y'all!

Today I thought I'd share a little birthday treat with you.  This adorable set is one of Gourmet Rubber Stamps new Appetizer Sets called Cupcakes and Candles.  It is also available now at i{heart}papers.
 

After I colored and placed the candle image, I added some Glossy Accents for a bit of a 3D effect.

Have a great Monday!


Other supplies from i{heart}papers:
Stamps ~ Gourmet Rubber Stamps (Cupcakes and Candles)
Ink ~ Palette Noir
Pattern Paper ~ My Minds Eye (Hip Hooray Boy Collection)
Copic Markers ~ YR21, 23; BG11,13; R27
Twine ~ Divine Twine (Red)
Nestabilities
Ranger ~ Glossy Accents

OCL Challenge #115...Let's Do A Little Vintage!

Welcome back to the OCL Challenge.  I know I missed last week ~ first time ever!  But here I am again with a new challenge and this week we're going VINTAGE! 

I really love how this card turned out!  I used the Years Gone By stamp set along with papers and stickers from the Note to Self collection by Echo Park ~ fun huh?

Play along and you could win a $20 gift certificate from Our Craft Lounge! 

Tiddly Inks Day!

HELLO, HELLO & welcome back for a fun day with ... Tiddly Inks!  Today I'm one of their guest designers to help them celebrate their 2nd anniversary.   I have two projects to share with you today and they both use the Digi images from Type Me Some Flowery Wishes pack.  I fell in love with the flowers in this digi pack the second I saw them!

First up is a card I made.  I enlarged the flowers and sentiment so they would take up the entire card front. Then I ran the pattern paper through my printer again and cut the flowers out to do a little paper piecing.  Love how it came out!  I added a button and some gems to the centers of the flower. 

But next up is my favorite project, a scrapbook page of my beautiful daughter using the Simple Stories Fabulous collection along with the individual flower from the Type Me Some Flowery Wishes digi pack. 

 I have a photo printer that fits12x12 cardstock, so I pulled up the individual flowers that come in the digi pack and created a page in Photoshop Elements.  After I printed them on my kraft cardstock, I printed them again on three different pattern papers & cut them out.  Then I used my sewing machine to add stems to each flower. 

Here's a close up of the journal box above the photo.

And a close up of the pattern paper flowers ~ I love them!!!!

 OK ~ so head on over to the Tiddly Inks Blog & see what they have going on.  Lots of fun projects to look at today for sure!

ETA:  The winner of my blog candy this week for the April Unity SMAK kit is........

Tracey has left a new comment on your post "Unity SMAK Blog Candy!": I love this card Kendra!! Fabulous!!

Posted by Tracey to Kendra's Card Company at April 24, 2012 6:43 AM

Send me an email Tracey (see above under my picture) with your contact information & I'll pop it in the mail.

a little birdie told me....

Hey Peeps!  It's the 25th of the month & that means that Gourmet Rubber Stamps is previewing a fabulous new Diners Club set!  This cute set is called Swingin' Spring and I have two cards to share with you today.  The first card uses the cool bird from the set along with a sentiment from the Party Animals set.  The pattern paper is by My Mind's Eye ~ On the Bright Side collection.

My second card today includes the cute little birdie on the fence image and a sentiment from the new diners club set.  Once again, I used the pattern paper from the My Mind's Eye Bright Side collection.  I also added some Sparkly Fluff to the birdie on the fence (Baby Boy Blue and Breezy Blue).

Take a peek at what the rest of the designers came up with ~ I know you'll love their creations.  You can see the full set on the GRS Blog this morning.

• Deb Felts
• Jeni Allen
• Joy Stagg
• Kendra Wietstock - You're Here
• Kelli Palmer
• Taylor Usry

We'd also like to welcome two new designers to our team ~ Jennifer Ingle &  Stepanie Lee.

BLOG CANDY ALERT! 
NOW don't forget to look at my BLOG CANDY POSTS  ~ Monday & Tuesday for all the details {or just scroll down. You still have time to enter for your chance to win & you can leave comments on ANY post on my blog.

Unity SMAK Blog Candy!

WOW ~ I thought I'd have a few more takers for this fun SMAK set, but only a few comments yesterday.  I guess people just don't want to leave comments to get free stuff any more.    Oh well...

Today I thought I'd show a card with the same Unity's April SMAK kit that I used for my scrapbook page yesterday.  I used the cool alphabet background but this time I used it two ways ~ as a background and I also punched out some letters to spell a word.  The other stamp I used from the kit is the number background on the tag.  The Don't Forget image is also from Unity, but it isn't in this kit.  The fun paper is from Echo Park's collection Note to Self.

And once again...time for Blog Candy!!! 

So, do ya want this fun set {retail value $32????}  OK...here's what ya need to do....Leave me comments on any post today through Wednesday at midnight (April 23-25th) for your chance to win the set.  You may leave as many comments as you'd like ~ it's up to you how much you want the set.

On Thursday, I will pick a random winner and will mail you the set once I have full contact information from you. 

You'll want to tune in all this week for fun ~ tomorrow I'll be showing a new set from Gourmet Rubber Stamps and on Thursday I have a special project to show you as a guest designer {but I'm not going to tell you who} ~ I can't wait!

OK...time for BLOG CANDY COMMENTS!

Unity SMAK page and BLOG CANDY!

Happy Monday Peeps!  I have a fun surprise for you today!  Not only do I have a new scrapbook page to show you, but.... I have some blog candy to share as well!  So stay tuned!

So first comes my page....yes, you have to sit and look at it before I'll tell you about the goodies because I really like it!!  I used several stamp sets new and old from the Unity Stamp Company (listed below) along with some fun paper and stickers from the Echo Park collection called For the Record.  The big stamped border at the bottom of the page is from the April SMAK kit ~ cool huh?   And the stamped frame on the right corner of the photograph is from the March SMAK kit.  It's fun including bits and pieces of stamping in your pages.

Here are a few close-up shots from my page.  The elements below (love circle and tag) are stamps from Unity's February SMAK kit.  I also stamped a road map background behind the love circle for a little texture from the the Travel Notes stamp set.

Here are a few sticker elements from the Echo Park For the Record paper pack.



These big words {happy memories}are from a few older sets ~ Our Life Our Stories & Flirty Flowers.

And NOW...time for Blog Candy!!! 
Somehow I ended up with an extra April SMAK kit from Unity & so I'm going to share it with one of YOU!  What do ya think of that?  {it's ok...they said I could}.

So, do ya want this fun set {retail value $32????  OK...here's what ya need to do....Leave me comments on any post today through Wednesday at midnight (April 23-25th) for your chance to win the set.  You may leave as many comments as you'd like ~ it's up to you how much you want the set.

On Thursday, I will pick a random winner and will mail you the set once I have full contact information from you. 

You'll want to tune in all this week for fun ~ on Wednesday I'll be showing a new set from Gourmet Rubber Stamps and on Thursday I have a special project to show you as a guest designer {but I'm not going to tell you who} ~ I can't wait!

OK...time for BLOG CANDY COMMENTS!

Appetizers Anyone?

Whew...we made it to Friday!  Hope you had a good week and you're ready to see some fun new Appetizer sets from Gourmet Rubber Stamps.   There are two new sets today ~ Clothesline Greetings and the one I'm featuring today called Water Your Soul.  I have to say...my card today is one of my favorites that I've made in a very long time ~ I just love it!

I just used a simple pre-made Fabriano note card that is made from watercolor paper for my card base.  Then I stamped the flower pot image on a separate piece in white ink and then heat embossed it with white embossing powder.  It's really hard to see at first, but once you start coloring the image it all comes together.  I colored my image with Copic markers, trimmed it with an oval Nestability die and then popped up the image with some foam pop dots.  I added a sentiment from the Everyday Sayings set and then added the final touches with some bits of ribbon and pink button.  I love how simple but pretty the card turned out.

Here's a close up of the flower pot colored with Copics (E23, 25, 27; RV55,63,66, YG93, 95).

I know you'll want to check out the picture of the full set for Water Your Soul along with the other new Clothesline Greetings set over on the GRS Blog today.

A few of our designers will have some samples for the new sets today as well....

• Deb Felts
• Kendra Wietstock - You're Here
• Taylor Usry

{don't forget to leave a little love along the way...}

Tea for Two...

Welcome to Wednesday and it's time for a little break from everything for some tea ~ doesn't that sound nice?  Well that's the theme for this month's Diners Club set by Gourmet Rubber Stamps.  The set is called Garden Tea Time & it's just filled with all kinds of wonderful images ~ several of which you can get as singles at i{heart}papers.

My first card today uses the antique tea pot from the set and it's paired up with some great vintage papers from Crate Paper and some lovely trim from May Arts. 

My second card uses one of the sentiments from the set, which also comes as a single stamp called Hot Water.  I also used the beautiful papers, journal block and stickers from the 12x12 Echo Park paper pack called This & That Graceful Collection and then I added some pretty trim from May Arts.

And here is the inside with a little tea bag for the recipient of the card.  I used a fun little bag from Divine Twine & folded it behind so the tea bag wouldn't get lost inside.  Then I added some embellishments to the front to dress it up.

Supplies from i{heart}papers for card #2:
Stamps ~ Gourmet Rubber Stamps (Garden Tea Time singles, Hot Water)
Ink ~ Palette
Pattern Paper ~ This & That Graceful Collection
Ribbon ~ May Arts

Paper Bag ~ Divine Twine