H{ippity} Hop Monday!

H{ippity} Hop Monday is here & in the US it's Memorial Day. Please click HERE to look at my OWH Blog hop post in honor of today. I also have some, as my daughter would say, delisioso blog candy to give away! (too much Dora in our house. LOL)

For my 1st card today, I wanted to make one more card in honor of Memorial Day & all our troops serving in the military. I kept it simple, just stamping a background in red & blue with 2 of the flower stamps available in the Now & Always set. Then I stamped the sentiment with gold & heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. I think it makes it pop. It says "May you never forget what is worth remembering" I love that.

I just couldn't stop at one card today - these stamps are so fabulous, I just want to keep on stamping! LOL For my 2nd card, I used the sentiment set Delightful Little Things. This set is awesome with so many different sentiments/word art as focal pieces. At least that's how I like to use them. I used this week's sketch at Taylored Expressions. The paper is October Afternoon & I will include a 4x6 sample of each sheet in every order I get today. I also used this great tutorial on ribbon pleating you can find on the Tickled Pink Stamps Blog. Don't you love it? And it's SO simple!

Today is my last day for FREE shipping on all orders. Beginning tomorrow I will be charging $3.00 to ship orders up to $35, $5.00 for $36-$60 & then FREE shipping for any orders over $60. Of course, all local orders placed will be delivered personally by me so I will refund any shipping charges.

Enjoy the rest of the hop!

Operation Write Home - Memorial Day Weekend Blog Hop!!!

Hi everyone! Thank you for stopping by today as we share our craft, prizes and tutorials in honor of all the men AND women that are serving our country. If you just arrived from Virgina at Scrappin' Along then you're in the right place! The official hop begins at 10am EST & you can find a list of all the blogs HERE, but feel free to jump in right here and keep on going with the rest of the hop.

If you haven't heard of Operation Write Home, you aren't alone - I just became aware of this amazing organization about a month ago as I was talking to a friend online. She mentioned one of my cards would be great to make and send to OWH and I was like, huh, what is OWH? And thus the seed was planted....then a few weeks later another person mentioned OWH in a forum and I knew I had to check it out. Enter google and I found out what a wonderful cause this organization is and that there was a blog hop coming up that I knew I HAD to participate in! I love blog hops. It's great to see fresh, new designs and different styles of this papercraft I love so much. I have a long post today, but be sure to get ALL the way to the bottom for a very special blog candy. :)

Today's hop is in honor of Memorial Day. Do you know what Memorial Day really is?! I've always felt kind of weird when people would say "Happy Memorial Day!" Like, really? I mean, sure it's a national holiday, most people get the day off from work, a lot of people use it as the official kick off to summer & brush off their grills for some yummy barbeques. But to me, it's always held this sort of reserve for me....like I want to tell people to stop a moment, just take a quick quiet moment and think about what the holiday is really for...to REMEMBER all the men and women who have died while in the military. Serving our country and giving the ultimate sacrifice while doing so. So, I ask you this, just take a moment to reflect on this fact. We ARE in a time of war even tho it is miles and miles away. We DO have men and women risking their lives every day & MANY die each day doing so. Let's never forget that.

Okay, So in that regard, I have been busy making my FIRST of many cards to send to OWH. I hope you will like them and perhaps find inspiration to make your own cards to send to our military. They really do love receiving these cards to send to their loved ones. It is so much more than just a piece of paper or a store bought card.

For my first card, I followed this weeks OWH Start & Stripes Sketch Challenge! I used Soldier Ian from The Greeting Farm. I colored him using copics. The blue & white star paper is also from The Greeting Farm - Dirty Rodeo Paper Pack. The sentiment is from Stampin Up!

For my 2nd card, I used my fancy frame cuttlebug folder to make a clean & simple card showing appreciation for our troops. The sentiment is Stamping Up! & I embellished with some red, white & blue skittles. I wanted to make the words pop, so I highlighted them with red & blue copics.

For my 3rd card, I used a brand new {ippity} set - The Simple Things. I stamped the butterfly flower with Pure Poppy on kraft cardstock and also created a little shadow with versamark but that doesn't show up well on the photo. I also added some bling & the ribbon to complete this CAS card. I love the sentiment and wanted to keep it simple.

For my 4th and final card, I just had to ink up another new {ippity} set: Now & Always. This set has {4} big beautiful flowers perfect for stamping on pretty patterned papers & layering like I did on this card using the fabulous October Afternoon papers. The sentiment is also from this set. I stamped the swirls from the same set as a background. This is pretty out of the norm for me as I almost always use DP as my first layer! I love the simple effect though. And that Gothic Cute image is from Tiddly Inks - Always The Flower Girl. I love this line of digi stamps - they are so funky & cute at the same time! I colored her using copics.

All {ippity} sets used on my cards today are available for purchase on my {ippity} sales blog. This is the last weekend I will have FREE Shipping (in the continental US). I will also ship internationally, just send me an email to quote that before you order. I am also including a **free** 4x6 sample of the new October Afternoon paper pack with each order.

I hope you liked all the cards and have lasted this long on my post! I am now offering up some blog candy for you!!! I love blog candy and am sure you do too!! What is in it, you ask? Well, let's see, a little sampling from each of my cards that happen to be a few of my favorite things.....

1. {ippity} set Where You Should Be

2. {ippity} 6x6 Spring Collection October Road Paper (6 double sided sheets)

3. The Greeting Farm 6x6 Dirty Rodeo Collection (6 sheets)

4. The Greeting Farm Soldier Ian Single (not pictured)

5. Red, White & Blue Skittles

6. Courage Stamp set by Stampin Up!

7. $10 Voucher to Tiddly Inks Digital Stamps

To be entered to win this fabulous blog candy I have challenge for you:

Leave me a link to a card or cards you made to send to OWH below. You can find all the information on how to get your card to your OWH volunteer HERE. You don't need to have a blog to do this, if you just upload your card to your online gallery, you can put that link in your comment. You will get an extra entry for each card you make! Please NO OLD posts, these must be new cards. ;) Have fun today! ****PLUS, IF YOU PLACE AN {ippity} ORDER WITH ME, YOU'LL GET 2 EXTRA ENTRIES FOR EVERY $10 SPENT!!!**** Check out my {ippity} sales blog to see all the fabulous stamps!! Just mention this blog post when you place your order!

This candy will close on June 6th @ 11:59pm MST. I will announce the winner on Wed, June 9th.

Thanks for stopping by - Now it's time for your next stop on the hop: Karen!!!

Special frog RAK for Jayme

If you haven't heard about this sweet & sad story, click here. A sister's love is beautiful, isn't it? I don't have a sister myself, but when I gave birth to my 2nd daughter I cried tears of joy knowing my girls will have that special bond. I hope they will always love eachother and count on eachother as they grow up. I hope you will be as moved as I was from this story and create you own frog cards to shower her with love. This card will be making it's way to her today!

For my special card for Jayme, I used TGF's TT - Princess Ava. I think she's adorable & looks so sweet and innocent kissing that frog! LOL I colored her using copics, trying out a new blond hair color -- still need to work on it, didn't come out exactly as planned.

The paper is K&Co from their valentine paper pack. I love this paper - it's so cute! I also "loosely" followed last weeks Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge. I spelled out smooch with some thickers stickers I had in my stash that I covered with TH Distress Crackle Paint & rubbed over with distress inks in brick red.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tickled Pink Stamps Monthly Challenge!

I made my card using this months TPS sketch challenge. I LOVE it. The possibilities are endless with this great sketch - I've put it in my sketch book for future use! Also, do you see this adorable little magnolia stamp?! She's my first tilda. I won her awhile back in another challenge. I've always been intimidated to color these cuties...but I loved it! Plus, look how adorable she is! I colored her using Copics - and my new favorite hair color combo for strawberry blond (e50, e53, e97.)

There is still time to get this challenge completed! All you have to do is use an image from that Tickled Pink Stamps carry - you don't necessarily have had to purchase it there, but you should take a look at their new exclusive Lil Lolita line! They are SUPER cute! In fact, there is one making her way to me as I type this. I can't wait!!! You can check them all out HERE and the best part?! The prize for this challenge is winning ALL five that were just released! Believe me, you're going to want ALL of them!

And OF COURSE, I used some {ippity} on my card! Those adorable sentiments come from the brand new set Fall For You - available for sale on my {sales blog}!! I have 2 of these sets arriving next week so purchase today and they will be on their way shortly! Hurry, my free shipping special ends May 31!!

Delightful Little CAS-Tastic card!!!

For this delightful little card I used one of the new 2010 {ippity} spring release sets called Delightful Little Things. This is a set of EIGHT beautiful sentiments/wordart perfect alone or paired with images. I made mine clean & simple following a sketch from Papercrafts Go-To Sketches. I saw the sketch & when I finally got my hands on the new October Afternoon papers that I got as a thank you gift to my customers when they place their first orders, I knew it would be perfect for a little snippet of each all on one card. I also used the technique shown HERE on the {ippity} blog for two tone stamping. I love highlighting certain words when showcasing a sentiment like this. For a little bling, I added bella baubles to the flowers! I lovey them.

I'm also entering this into this week's {ippity} challenge on SCS to include something faux which on mine is the faux stitching. It also works for this week's CAS-tastic challenge - A Touch of Green.

Thanks for stopping by. Here is a look at the stamps included in the set I used for my card today which is available for purchase on my sales blog. I do have one in stock so it will ship immediately!!

Sunshine is Overrated!

If you haven't heard, Paper Makeup Stamps is having a DT call - you can get all the deets here!! I used the lovely PMS fairy Emma for my card that I submitted. I think she's so cute dancing in the rain & that sentiment is really perfect for the image. I thought it would be fun to pair her up with some bright colorful paper & found this fabulous TGF sample paper I got from Marie sometime back. I hoarded it for too long, what good is pretty papers if it just sits on a shelf? I'm trying to make it a point to use all the fun things I pick up, like the buttons, I've had forever! I colored Emma using copics and I love her hair color. I was trying out a strawberry blond color combo Katie posted on her blog. I can't find the post now, it's saved on my favorites on my computer, but I'm using my laptop right now.

Thanks for stopping by!

H{ippity} Hop Monday!!!

Gosh, I love Mondays because I know it's going to be full of {ippity} inspiration & eye candy!!! My card this week uses last week's color inspiration challenge from Maria. I had so much fun with it, I don't think I've created a more bright & colorful card ever! LOL I never would have paired all these colors & different papers together, but it just kind of works.

This set uses two different sets: Because of You & Just Wanted to Say. Both are available for purchase on my {ippity} sales blog.

Thanks for stopping by & have fun on the rest of the hop!

CAS-tastic one layer card

I got this awesome new cuttlebug folder and knew it would be awesome to use with my {ippity} stamps! When I saw the CAS-tastic challenge to make a one layer card, it all fell together pretty quickly! I love the green & purple color combo and decided to off stamp my flower & layer the sentiment on top. Then I colored the i love you with my purple spica pen. Of course adding the purple bella baubles at the bottom for a touch of bling & my one layer!!

Thanks for looking!

{ippity} set used Because of You available for purchase on my sale blog!

1 card for 3 challenges!

I love when that happens! I've had this adorable super anya colored for months!!! But she never made it onto a card at the time I colored her. When I was digging thru my craft stash for something else, I came across this paper & thought it would be perfect for her. Since I colored her in black & white she fits this week's Copic Creations challenge to create in monotone. I used this weeks FFF Sketch challenge at The Greeting Farm & since the DP has stars, it fits this weeks OWH stash challenge! I am going to start donating my cards to OWH - if you haven't heard of it, check it out. I can't think of a better organinzation to send my cards to. Everyone has said to sell my cards but I seem to lose my mojo when I try to sell stuff. LOL But thinking of the amazing men & women serving our country and wanting to send something nice back home to their loved ones, doesn't dilute my mojo one bit!!!

I also couldn't wait to try out the new photo tent I bought on ebay!!! I am LOVING it. Takes such better pics of my cards. I still think I need a new camera tho.....not sure how to talk my hubby into that one tho. LOL Any tips would be appreciated!! My lil' sony is over 7 yrs old. Seriously, I need a new one! haha

Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #113

I made this card using this week's TESC113. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to play with my new nesties again. I used the biggest tag from fancy tags and cut it in half to create the embellished squares along the bottom. For the circle, I used a stamp from Life's Little Moments by {ippity} available for purchase HERE. I love this set b/c it's so versatile - it's one of the more taylored scrapbooking sets, but as you can see, the stamps can be used for cards as well. I figure when I decide when/who to give this to, I'll highlight the month & day of their birthday on the stamp to personalize it!!

The dp and happy birthday embellishment are from my stash. I love the bright blue and brown contrast. Ever since I had my son, I've been drawn to more blues than ever. LOL

I hope you like!!! If you do, please VOTE for me by stopping by Taylored Expression blog HERE and clicking on my thumbnail to vote for my card. You can vote for your top 3 & voting will start tomorrow at 8am CST!!! I would LOVE to get in the top 5!!! Thanks. :)

H{ippity} Hop Monday!

I am really rusty at making scrapbooking pages...I will put that disclaimer forth first! LOL But I had this empty 4x4 photo cube on my desk screaming for some pics and I decided to use my fabulous {ippity} stamps and my beautiful son to complete a project! All stamps are from {ippity} & available for purchase on my sales blog. The DP is Autumn Leaves & CS Bazzill. I used my circle nesties again! LOVE them!!! I'm probably over using them. haha I tend to do that when I get new things... Thanks for stopping & have fun on the rest of the hop!

The sets used in the above project are Life's Little Moments & Just Wanted to Say.

My very FIRST circle card!

I got new crafty goodies today! I finally made myself purchase a full set of circle nesties with my $$ I had been saving & I also bought the fancy tags. I couldn't wait to get home, get the kiddos into bed & whip up a card. I think I might've purchased the wrong set of circles because the biggest circle was still quite small for a card. :( I'm pretty bummed about that unless most of the circle cards I've seen are smaller than what I imagined....

I had been thinking about what to create for this week's {ippity} Challenge to use lace as well. In fact, I stopped by Joanne's on the way home from coffee with a good friend to pick some up specificially for the challenge! I must've been the only cardmaker that didn't have some laying around. LOL There is still time to play along - you have until Sunday night. They have fabulous prizes & if you don't have any {ippity} to use, change that right away! I'm placing an order tomorrow so take a look at my {ippity} blog for all the sets available.

I used the sweet thoughts of you sentiment from the Sweet Thoughts of Spring set available for purchase on my {ippity} blog. I do have one in stock so there is NO waiting if you want to get your hands on this fabulous set! I just love it. Look at those gorgeous scallop stamps & the adorable bunny!

Because I said so, Mom!

I think TGF/CA&F come up with some of the BEST challenges! When I saw their challenge on mother's day to make a card using ONLY elements that your kiddos picked out, I knew we had to jump on it. We finally got to it today and both girls helped pick out the different colors, Teagan's favorite color was green and since she picked out the image, I colored her green. Then Tolla picked out the green & pink papers & the purple flowers. LOL Tolla said she looked sassy and I thought perfect, I'll use that sentiment! It was fun and the girls always love it when they get to craft along side me.

We barely got it posted in time before the deadline but somehow managed to slip it in! I'm keeping my fingers crossed b/c if we win, I'm going to let them each pick out the winning stamps. They will LOVE that as the love it when I come home with new TGF stamps.

{ippity} release challenge fun!

If you missed the {ippity} 2010 Spring Collection release party yesterday, you won't want to miss the next one!!! I had SO much fun chatting it up with other {ippity} chicks and customers in the SCS forums. There were games, giveaways & challenges. I am so excited because I actually WON two stamps sets! whoohoo!!

My two cards today come from the challenges I participated in:

The first card was a S.P.R.I.N.G. challenge, ie. Scallops-Piercing-Ribbon-Ink-(something)New-Green. I loved this challenge & I love making CAS cards with my {ippity}. Isn't it just gorgeous! I colored in the word with Copics using the feathering technique to blend two completely different colors. I just love green and purple together!! The set I used for this card is Sweet Thoughts of Spring from the 2010 Winter Collection. I have it available for purchase on my sales blog. I do have one in stock so if you purchase it, it will ship immediately.

My 2nd card is from a sketch challenge hosted by the talented {ippity} DT member, Maria Gurnsey. I absolutely adore Maria and her style of stamping. Her sketch was totally her and it really took me some time to put together! I love the end result though and think it's so pretty. The set I used for this card is Just Wanted To Say & it is also available for purchase! This one I do have to order so it wouldn't ship immediately, but it's definately worth the wait! I love the sentiments in this one and the frames that fit them. Perfect for any occasion!

I've been messing around with Photoshop lately - I used to use PSE a LOT and was really good at making siggies, etc. but after not having it for almost a year, I'm pretty rusty. I was trying to figure out how to make blog banners as you can see above, but it's not centering quite right and I really can't figure out why! LOL If anyone has any tips, pointers, etc. I would LOVE it if you left me a comment! Being a full time stay at home mommy right now, I'm trying to channel my creative energy not only into an outlet for myself, but also for a way to possibly generate a little bit of income to help support my family. It's not easy being a single income household! I'd rather work with my passion than be forced to go back to a boring 'ole office job!!! Besides....I need to figure out SOME way to fund my Copic/Stamps/Nesties obsession, er, hobby, right?!

{ippity} 2010 Spring Collection has been RELEASED!!!!

The moment you've been waiting for has arrived - the 2010 Spring Collection by {ippity} is now released in its entirety and I am YOUR {ippity} chick to order them from!! Why?! Because order in May and you'll get FREE, yes, I said FREE shipping!!! Doesn't matter how large or small your order is. And I'll even throw in a sample of the new October Road Spring Collection papers just for placing your first order with me.

I am really excited to start selling {ippity}. It's such a fabulous, quality etched rubber - you won't be disappointed. I have had so much fun playing with the sets I have so far. I'm sharing with you a card I made last week using the 2010 Winter Collection - Where You Should Be. I think you'll agree that their sentiments are fabulous all on their own. There are so many possibilties with the new releases and with 2 mini sets and a background stamp for only $6.00 you can try them out without making a huge $$ committment. I hope you will!! I absolutely adore the mini kit Books a' Flutter - perfect for those end of the year teacher cards & gift card holders!!!

I don't keep an inventory just yet - I am a stay at home mom who really just loves stamping just trying this venture out - so I hope you will understand that when you place your order, I will be ordering the stamps so the time it takes to get you might be a little bit longer than if I did keep them in stock. If things go good though with this release - keep in mind that this extra time it takes to ship won't always be the case!!

Thanks for your support and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask! Now, take a look at my {ippity} sales blog for a look at the stamps up close! You can place your orders easily with the pay pal buttons located on the side bar.

One Birthday Card = 2 Challenges!!

I made this adorable birthday card for my neice. She's turning 8 *i think* this year and is such a cat lover, I knew I had to use Tiddly Inks Catgirl for her! I just LOVED coloring her up using my Copics of course.

This week's Tiddly Inks Challenge is a color combo and it's to use Orange, Yellow & Turquoise. That was a bit out of my comfort level as you can probably tell! This also fits this week's CAS-Tastic Challenge which is to use circles - as you can hopefully tell, the DP are circles under the border. I would have loved to cut out catgirl in a circle as well, but my new nesties are not here yet - I finally broke down and got a standard circle shape set - well a full set of four with the scallops! I'm SOOO excited to get them, I can't stand it!!

I hope you likey! Oh, and be sure to stop by my {ippity} blog tomorrow as ALL TEN new releases will be available for order. You are NOT going to want to miss them. As you can see, on my card above, I did use an {ippity} sentiment from the Just Wanted to Say Set. This set is a definate MUST HAVE in my opinion - it has perfect sentiments for any occasion and for $15 you can't beat the price for that many stamps!! It's available NOW on my {ippity} sales blog for purchase.

CAS-tastic Challenge & some {ippity} sneak peeks!!!

First, I want to share my card for the first CAS-Tastic Challenge Blog. I LOVE the look of CAS cards and really love being able to knock out a card quickly especially since time is short in my house. LOL Also, I find my {ippity} stamps are my GO-TO stamps for any CAS card I want to make since there is limited coloring (coloring will make a card take TWICE as long, LOL). I made this birthday card using {ippity} and some scraps from previous cards I had made during the week. It's going to be perfect to add on top of a prezzie at some point!

And now for some exciting news! If you haven't heard already - the ALL NEW {ippity} Spring 2010 collection is going to be released on Thurs!!! Here are a couple snippets of the new sets. You can take a look at what the DT has put together by checking out the {ippity} blog. Believe me, you are going to want to get your hands on these!!! I love them and can't wait to start sharing some new creations using them as well. They will be available for order on my blog HERE starting Thurs. :) Who knows, I might even have a super special deal for you ;)