Friendship's Garden Blog Hop Giveaway!

(click on image for closer view)

Hello Friends! Welcome to challenge NINE (9) and our second quarterly blog hop sponsored by Designs on Cloud Nine! We're calling it the ...

blog hop!  You should have just came from Jamie's blog. To start at the beginning, please go to the Friendship's Garden Challenge blog.

For this week's challenge, love is the theme, and the project must have at least 3 embellishments (Buttons, ribbon, lace, trim, bling, brads, die cuts, chipboard, etc.) !

Now for the blog hop info ... Michelle at Designs on Cloud 9 was very generous and gave each of us Garden Girls a free file for us to work with, and if you win this blog hop, you could buy it for your very own with the $20 gift certificate to the Designs on Cloud 9 online shop!!!

To be eligible to win, check out the rules posted over at Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog.

There are a total of five (5) chances to win the gift certificate from Designs on Cloud 9!!!

For this week's challenge, I immediately knew which paper I wanted to use. I had some of my favorite Imaginesce papers in my stash that I knew would be perfect for this bee-themed project. Thank goodness I bought so many of it! LOL!  


I cut the boy bee image using the Make-the-Cut program. I also used it to split the "bee mine" sentiment. I deleted the original shadow layer and then created my own for each word.   I pop-dotted the words so they would stand out more against the busy background. At least, I think it helps when I do that! :)


I inked the bee's wings and embossed them. I used white gel pen to accent his shoes and socks. For the eyes, I decided to use Googly eyes. I like the look of them. They seem to make a card a little more fun! I also added a bling flourish to mimic the bee flight pattern on the paper.

I added some fun, brown, polka-dot ribbon along with twine and a button.  The pink heart was cut with a Sizzix Sizzlit from felt.  I added the same twine and ribbon to the heart for added dimension.  


Now, I did add more embellishments than needed for the challenge, but I guess I just couldn't help myself!  LOL!  Well, thanks for stopping by!  Please sure to hop on over to Ciska's blog next and don't forget about our blog candy! 

Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog: CAS

Hello, Bloggers!  How is your new year going so far?  I've been TRYING to declutter and take on some new projects this year, but the process has been slow!  It seems that my days just fly by, and all I do is chase my 16-month old around the house.  She is a little monkey!  She loves climbing everything!  I don't know where she gets all of that energy!  But, she is such a joy and a blessing to have in our lives.  *BIG SMILE*

This week's challenge over at Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog is a CAS project showcasing a sentiment.  "CAS" stands for "Clean and Simple".  It's a great way to get a card done quickly!  Another great way to get a card done fast is to follow a sketch.  I LOVE sketches!  I'm one of those people who takes a realllllllyyyyy long time figuring out a design for a project.  I just can't make up my mind!  LOL  To make things easier and less stressful on myself, I like to make use of sketches.

For this card, I followed this sketch HERE.  I decided to go with a Valentine's Day theme and use some of the leftover paper from my banner project in this post.  I just love this polka dot paper!  The FOREVER sentiment is from a Studio G stamp set I picked up this weekend.  I love that font and the swirls around the sentiment.  Somehow, it just has a romantic feel to it.  I just wish this card photographed better.  I tried scanning it, but that didn't help at all.  *sigh*

Anywho, I hand-cut the sentiment after stamping.  I then decided the card needed just a little something else.  So, I added a little bling and decided to adhere to the sentiment to the card with pop dots to add some dimension.  Voila!  All done!   =)

Well, I hope I have inspired you to check out some sketches if you are not familiar with them.  They are such a great resource!  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog: Vintage Children's ATC (and HAPPY NEW YEAR!)

Hello, all !!!  First of all, I'd like to wish all of my readers a very happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!  I hope you enjoyed the holidays and that Santa was good to you! LOL!

I've been on a little break, trying to enjoy the holidays and get geared up for 2012.  One momentous occasion that happened since I last posted was my FORTIETH birthday!  YIKES!!!  Yep, it's finally here:  my forties! LOL!  But, you know, forty isn't as bad as some people make it out to be.  I, for one, am looking forward to this new chapter in my life.  I've learned a lot in my first forty years of life, and I know I still have much to learn.  But, I was so ready to say goodbye to my thirties and move forward and upwards!  Things will only get better!  So, here's to FORTY !!!  HIP! HIP! HOORAY!!!  =)

(This was my bday cake.  It was one of those cake bites from Baskin & Robbins.  We used a candle that was supposed to be used at Maddie's party.  LOL)

Now, on to my first project of 2012!  This week's bonus challenge over at Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog is an ATC with a vintage children's theme.  I haven't made an ATC in a while.  An ATC is an artist trading card which usually measures 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches.  The base is often just quality cardstock, but I like to use chipboard for mine so that the ATC is a lot sturdier.  I get my ATC chipboard from Etsy.

You will notice that I didn't use any images of children on my ATC.  I did want to, but I just couldn't fit any into my design.  Also, the challenge did not REQUIRE that I use an image of children.  

For me, when I think of "vintage children" as a theme, I often think of children at school.  I pictured a little red school house.  So, I took some red and brown cardstock and embossed them to give them a woodgrain texture.  I then did a simple paper piecing to create the school house for my ATC.

The background paper is actually some digital paper that I scaled down and printed.  If you are interested in the kit, I can look it up for you.  Just leave a comment here with your email address.  It's hard to tell in the picture, but I used TH Distress Ink in Walnut Stain on the edges of the ATC and TH Distress Ink in Vintage Photo on the face of the background paper.

The blue tag base is a really thick chipboard tag that I had in my stash.  The composition book, pencil, ribbon, and little blackboard were all stickers that I found in my supplies.  Gotta love it when I can put something together without having to buy anything new!

If you're wondering what someone might do with a finished ATC -- well, they are meant to be traded.  However, I normally just use mine on cards or tags.  

Finally, I'd like to make a few announcements.  

I've been accepted as a DT member over at Forever Night Challenges, where creepy meets creative!  Think Halloween all year long!  I don't know about you, but I LOVE Halloween as much as I love Christmas!  My term runs the first half of 2012, and I am really excited about this new gig.  Now, don't be spooked.  It's not as scary as it might sound!  =)  I will be posting my very first project for FNC in a few days.  =)

Last, please keep an eye out for some upcoming blog hops I am hosting in February and March.  I will be posting the blog hop buttons in my sidebar.

Come check out some sweet Valentine's Day cards and recipes for decadent desserts that you can make for the loved ones in your life! =)

This blog hop is SPONSORED BY Kenny K. Downloads!  The participants in this hop will all be using some of the sexier images from Kenny K. Downloads for their projects.  One lucky commenter will win FIVE Kenny K. digi's of their choice!

I am super excited about this last blog hop I'm hosting for the first quarter of 2012.  Think Oprah's Favorite Things show where the audience members receive an array of fabulous gifts !  Now, this hop won't be that extravagant, but commenters will have a chance to win blog candy AT EACH stop on the hop!  I will be given away at least ONE DOZEN prizes on my blog!!!!  So, mark your calendars and be sure to stop by that weekend!  And, don't worry.  I WILL post a reminder on my blog before the time comes in case anyone forgets.  =)

Well, I know that was a lot to process.  Thanks for sticking with me through this long post.  Have a great Wednesday!  ALOHA!

Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog: Anything Goes Christmas or New Year Theme Challenge!

(click on image to enlarge)

This week's challenge over at Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog is:  Anything Goes with a Christmas, New Year, or Winter theme!  For this challenge, I made a 6 x 6 card using patterned paper from Bo Bunny's Blitzen line.  I love the vintage-y feel of this paper.  I decided to try something different and incorporate blue and green in this card, using the patterned paper as inspiration.  Often, when I buy patterned paper, I try to find the exact match in cardstock while I'm in the store.  It's just so much easier to do it that way, even if I don't plan to use the patterned paper on a project right away.  I just store the cardstock with the patterned paper for later use.

I knew that I wanted a large vintage Santa image to use on this card, one that was more of a bust or headshot.  I found the perfect one HERE.  There were a variety of Santa images to choose from.  I added ribbon, twine, and a charm I got from Etsy.  The final touches were the sentiments.  The North Pole ticket sentiment came from an awesome site I recently discovered.  She has a lot of awesome free printable sets, including ticket sets!  Check out the site HERE.  I used the North Pole ticket from one of the Christmas ticket sets.  I also took one that said "Merry Christmas", but cut out just the words instead of using the entire ticket image.

As you can see, you can put a card together using printables for the image and sentiments -- and without paying for any of them!  Hope you enjoyed your visit today.  Don't forget to check out Challenge 6 over at Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog.  Have a great day!

Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog: Pinterest Inspiration

Hello, bloggers!  How do you like the new look here?  LOL!  I finally changed the template and decided to go with a Christmas theme.  I have to say that I really like it!  It's so cute and festive!  Well, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday.  As usual, I ate way too much.  OINK!  I did all the baking and cooking, so I was pretty exhausted after.  No venturing out to the mall on Black Friday for me, BUT my boyfriend did buy me an early Christmas present online.  I'm getting a Silhouette Cameo!!! WOO-HOO!!!!  It won't ship until early or mid-December, so that means it will be a few weeks before I can play with my new toy.  BOO HOO!  I can't wait! *pout*

Well, enough pouting and on to the latest challenge at Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog..  This time, it's a color inspiration challenge from a Pinterest post.  Here are the colors :

I made a quick card using a diecut I had in my stash as the focal point.  I added some seam binding and a vintage stick pin from SU!  I finished off the card with a few flat pearls.

I'm going to be posting more projects in the next few weeks, so please be sure to stop by again.  I'm sponsoring a blog hop this weekend called "Christmas Cards and Cookies".  There will be 15+ talented ladies sharing Christmas cards and tags along with recipes for yummy Christmas goodies.  So, if you're looking for some ideas for goodies you can bake for your friends and family, be sure to stop by.

Last, I want to share that the turkey card I posted a few weeks ago was selected as one to be showcased over at Die Cuttin Divas.  I was so flattered that they chose my card!

Well, thanks for stopping by.  Don't forget to stop by and enter the latest challenge over at Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog.

Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog: Thanksgiving Recipe

Hello, Bloggers!  There is a new challenge posted over at Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog.  It's a recipe challenge with a Thanksgiving theme.  The recipe calls for:

3 trims

2 patterned papers

1 diecut

Being that I live in Hawaii where we don't have a true "fall" season, it is REALLY difficult to find autumn/fall themed paper!  I went to an LSS and got the very last sheet of this cute patterned paper.  The great thing is that it is two-sided, so I really only needed one sheet of paper to get two different patterns.  

For the diecut, I turned to my trusty Cricut E and the Create a Critter cartridge for this cute turkey.  I love using Googly eyes for a whimsical touch to diecuts.  I also dressed up the turkey's hat with some mandarin twine from The Twinery and some bling.  Orange tulle and and brown ribbon were the second and third trims used on my card.  

I knew that I wanted to do something fun with this card, so I used a computer-generated sentiment.  If the font looks somewhat familiar, it's because it's the one associated with a game that is all the rage (no pun intended) right now:  Angry Birds.  LOL!  I printed the sentiment on brown cardstock and then embossed with a Cuttlebug folder I recently bought.  I was so excited to be able to use it!  It's hard to see, but I did ink the sign with Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  I also pop-dotted the top part of the sign.

Here is another view of the turkey to show how I pop-dotted the turkey.  I love dimension on my cards!

I really had fun with this card.  So far, it's my favorite DT project for FGCB.  Please be sure to check out the challenge and try your hand at our Thanksgiving recipe.

Challenges:


The Pink Elephant :  embossing
Die Cuttin Divas :  Turkey Time

Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog: 15-Minute Card Challenge

For this week's challenge, the DT was asked to create a card in 15 minutes or less.  To be fair, I thought it best that I include the time I spent designing my card -- not just assembling it.  After all, what takes the longest -- for me, at least -- is the time I spend figuring out what the heck I'm gonna do!  I really wish I was one of those people that could design something in ten minutes.  Unfortunately, I am not one of those people.  *SIGH*

As you can see, I kept things simple.  I used some cute strawberry paper by Doodlebug and then matted it with white cardstock which I then adhered to my base cardstock. I think matting alone makes a huge difference in how a card looks.  It really doesn't take much time either.

I then selected this cute sticker from a sticker set that goes with the paper.  When I'm in a hurry, I find that the easiest thing to do is to use paper and elements that come from the same set.

Now, rather than ending up with a card with just a sticker on it, I added a few more elements.  I took a strip of white cardstock and fancied it up by embossing it with a Cuttlebug folder.  I then tied some pretty pink ribbon over it and added pink bling to the corner of the card.  Those were all simple touches that help to dress up any card.

I decided not to add a sentiment for two reasons:  1)  I was almost out of time and 2)  I had no plans to send this card to anyone in particular yet, so I figured I'd add either a thank you, birthday, or hello sentiment when the situation arises.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Please be sure to scroll down and see my other posts for today!  ALOHA!

Friendship Garden's Challenge Blog : Vintage Halloween Card

(click on image to enlarge)

Happy Wednesday!  Hope your week is going well so far.  Today, I am sharing a card I made for the latest assignment for Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog.  We were asked to make a vintage Halloween card.  I chose this adorable vintage Halloween image.  It's just too adorable and reminds me of my 13-month old daughter, Madison.  I think it's the little girl's cherubic cheeks!  LOL!  

I printed the image on my home computer and then used Tim Holt Distress Ink to give the image an aged look.  I believe I used Walnut Stain ink by TH.  After inking, I applied water with my fingertips to spread the ink around.  All of the papers are from Echo Park's Apothecary Emporium set.  I actually have both a 6x6 pad and the 12x12 collection pad because I just love this paper so much!  I also inked the papers as well.  The final touch was some ribbon and a black bow.  It really was pretty simple. I enjoy using rubber stamps, digital stamps, and diecuts.  But, it's also nice to print an image that already has color.  I hope this inspires you to try it, too! Thanks for stopping by!

Friendship Garden's First Challenge: New Beginnings

YOU'RE LEAVING
BUT I'LL ALWAYS BE JUST A PHONE CALL AWAY

Happy Wednesday!  Welcome to my first post as a Garden Girl for Friendship Garden's Challenge Blog.  You should have came directly from there.  If not, please go back and start there in order to be eligible to win.   The grand prize is a $20 gift certificate to Designs on Cloud 9.  Please check out their site for some wonderful cut files and digi stamps!  There is also a $10 prize from our ongoing sponsor, Altered Angel. We are so thankful to have such wonderful sponsors!  Instructions on how to enter (earn up to FIVE entries!!!) are at the bottom of this post.  Now, on to my first Garden Girl project:

I wanted to take a somewhat different approach to the challenge.  Sometimes, my brain just looks at things differently.  LOL  I've had a lot of "new beginnings", and I know they sometimes mean separating from or leaving close friends or family.  Sometimes, it's us leaving to start a new chapter in our lives.  Other times, it's people close to us that move on.  It could be one of our kids going off to college, a co-worker moving on to a new job opportunity, or a friend moving away.  There are a number of  "new beginnings" one might experience in life.

Often, these events bring not just excitement but also a little sadness.  My goal with this card was to convey not only the emotion one feels when someone leaves us to embark on a new journey, but also the PEACE that comes with knowing that a simple phone call can bridge the distance!

The cute phone print paper is by My Mind's Eye (Call Me) and goes perfectly with the theme of my card!  Given the message of this card, I wanted to be sure to keep the colors bright and fun as I didn't want the overall mood of the card being too heavy (sad).  Having a window is one of the requirements for our first challenge, so I used Make-the-Cut to do that for me.

I also used MTC to cut out the woman symbol.  I almost always have some sort of dimensional element on my cards.  I like to sometimes cut images twice and pop-dot one on the other.  You can see that in the third picture above (side view).

I hand-cut the little heart into two pieces, symbolizing the sadness one might feel in a situation like this.  It's difficult to see in the photo, but I used one of my favorite things on the heart:  Glossy Accents.  The pink, felt hearts were cut from a Sizzix Sizzlits die.  I then tied some pretty twine from The Twinery around the hearts.  The sentiment was done with a word processing program using a typewriter style font.  I love the versatility of using my own fonts to create sentiments!

I hope you enjoyed viewing my first project as a Garden Girl for Friendship's Garden.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you take the time to enter our first challenge for a chance to win!   There are several ways to earn an entry with up to FIVE possible entries.

1)  Visit each of the DT members' blogs and then return to Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog and comment, letting us know you visited each DT member!

2)  Visit both Designs on Cloud 9 and Altered Angel .  When you comment on the Friendship's Garden blog, leave a second comment, letting us know you visited both sponsors and earn a second entry.

3)  Like our page on FACEBOOK and comment on our blog to let us know you are a new follower.  If you are already a follower, let us know you already follow us.

4)  Become a follower of the Friendship's Garden Challenge Blog.  Leave another comment telling us you are now a follower and get a fourth entry.  If you already follow our blog, just let us know you already are!

5)  For a fifth entry, submit a project in our first challenge!

As you can see, it's easy to get at least several entries to win! How easy is that?!?! YAYYY!!!  Thanks again for visiting.  Please hop on over to Ciska's blog next to see what she created for this challenge!  ALOHA!