Donkey Smiles for Michelle

Many of you have probably seen the sad news about Michelle Oatman's accident. Many people in the card making community are coming together to show their support for Michelle. There is a "Kickin It for Michelle"card drive until July 27th at A Spoon Full of Sugar.
Here is some information from the Stampavie blog:On Wednesday evening, June 23, Michelle Oatman had an accident while tending her beloved donkeys which left her blind in her right eye. She has shared the news of her accident in her blog post here (http://donkeysmiles.blogspot.com/2010/06/i-will-be-out-for-awhile-i-have-had.html) Michelle is an amazing stamper and is eager to be able to start crafting again. But she also has a lot of healing that needs to occur and she needs our support.

There are some wonderful donkey digi images popping up in blogland. I used one designed by Tina Wenke for Stampavie. You can pick up one too, by making a paypal donation for Michelle's fund of at least $3 (more is always welcomed!) to info@stampavie.com.
Also there is a great freebie from Karen's Doodles. We would just love to flood Michelle's mailbox with thoughtful handmade cards. It is really nice to inspire someone that has inspired so many of us, with a thoughtful gesture.

Now, onto my card!


I usually have a bit of a time making aperture cards because I like to make 6 x 6 cards, and if I try to put my cardstock through my cuttlebug, it doesn't quite fit, and crunches my sides. Well, problem solved! Today, I used my new circle cutter by Kreaxions. What a great tool this is! You can adjust it to cut any size circle up to 10 inches. Here is a link to a video for it. If you order one, be sure to say that I sent you for some "extra" special attention!


I wanted to show you some of the details of my card. I of course used copics to color this sweet little donkey, but I really wanted to add some texture, so I hand-stitched with angora thread his mane and tail. I love how this turned out! Also, I made another flower with my Cuttlebug quilling dies. The leaves are ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon.




Here is the inside. The sentiment stamp is from CTMH.



Challenges:
Pixie Cottage: sketch/aperture
Cuttlebug Spot - use a 2x2 embossing folder (I used the butterfly medallion)
One Stitch at a Time - lace, ribbons, bows
Practical Scrapers - digi
Stamptacular Sunday - aperture
Alota - Inside out
Crafty Angels - circles and squares
Shabby Tea Room - embossing
Think Ink - sewing
Spoon Full of Sugar - Donkey Smiles
Cuttlebug Challenge - doilies and lace
Craftilicious - cute
Stamp and Create - stitching
Bunny Zoe - Nice and Girly
Stampavie - Dotty

Embossing with the Beary Scrap

I love embossing and am completely addicted to all forms of it. So, I have been thrilled this week to see all of the great inspiration from the Beary Scrappy Gals. Remember, you will want to join in on the fun and enter your embossed project for a chance to win a great prize! You have until July 14th to get your entry posted.

I used the lovely Cappella papers and Bloomers from Basic Grey for my card. My embossing was done with one of the new Cuttlebug Embossing Plus folders. I highlighted by embossing with some Distress Ink in Tattered Rose. This really made the design pop.

We hope you will visit with us again next week!

Challenges:
Mojo Monday: sketch
Shabby Tea Room: embossing
Pile it On - Your favorite things (embossing, ribbons, pearls)
Creative Card Crew - Diecuts
Clearly Delightful - Pearls, bling and button things

Flower Soft meets Spellbinders!

If you were looking for this post earlier - please accept my apologies - I had my blogger set for pm instead of am!


At Flower Soft, we have all been very excited about our new release of downloadable toppers that match perfectly with Spellbinders! How cool is that? This is just the beginning - Flower Soft plans on adding many more designs.

For my card, I used Lavender and Lace Classic Scalloped Heart. This collection also is available in the Classic Scalloped Circle, the Classic Scalloped Oval and the Labels 7 - so if you don't have all of the Spellbinders, you can pick the set to go with what you do have. I may have used a little too much Flower Soft on the front of my card, but by the time that I finished the inside, I realized I just needed a tiny bit of the Lilac Flower Soft to add my dimension.

And you know, we are not going to show you something fabulous like this, and not give you a chance to win some! For the contest details, please visit our blog and enter.

Challenges:
Sketch Saturday - sketch
Alota - Inside Out
Clearly I Stamp- Thank you
One Stitch at a Time - Lace, Ribbons, Bows
Practical Scrappers - Digi
Lexi's Creations - layers
Shabby Tea Room - embossing

Going Rustic with Really Reasonable Ribbons!

I have a lovely project to share with you today using a really cool ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbons. Often times, I think of ribbons as being formal or cute - but not usually rustic. This new jute ribbon comes in different widths and colors, and is just perfect to use with a country type image such as this one from Stampavie.

To keep the ribbon from unraveling, I wrapped Scor-tape to the back of my cardstock, and placed the ribbon down before cutting it. It works perfectly!

I colored my cutie girl with copics, but then used some ultra fine Flower Soft in toffee to ground the image. The edges were highly distressed with distress inks in Frayed Burlap.

Did you notice that gorgeous corner punch that I used to frame my stamp? It is a 4-in-1 punch from Kreaxions. You will hear me talking about these punches alot! Not just because I am on their DT, but because these are very versatile punches that have plates that you slide in to change the punch. They are so cool! If you want to see them in action, check out this video.

Speaking of videos, last week I posted a video on Really Reasonable Ribbon Ramblings on how to use the Bow Easy. I never ended up posting it on my blog (duh!), so here it is now!



Challenges:

Create4Fun - sketch
Crafty Pad - Animal Fun
Quirky Crafts - ribbon
Design Dollies Color Challenge - orange, green, yellow, white
Design Dollies Element challenge - inspired by song - Wide Open Spaces by the Dixie Chicks
Incy Wincy - punches
Think Ink - Sewing
Wild Flower Wednesday - grunge

July Release at Digital Delights!

It is finally time for the big reveal for July's new images from Digital Delights! I am so happy to share with you today my card featuring Ouch Lili along with Skunk Sentiments. Even though this poor little skunk has had a run of bad luck, she still looks very cheerful!


I also got to use one of my new 4-in-1 punches from Just Imagine/Kreaxions. I love how versatile these punches are!

Challenges:
Create4Fun- sketch
Craftilicious - cute
Colour Create - baby pink, peach, black

Thank You Card

I realized if was was going to get my entry in for this week's JustRite challenge, I better get busy! So, here is a quick post for you. I used two different sets of JustRite Stamps - Autumn Blessings and the new Baroque Nested Frames.

Challenges:
JUGS- sketch
JustRite Stampers - Inside Out
Color Throwdown -regal rose, certainly celery, real red, baja breeze
Alota - Inside and Outside
Clearly I Stamp- Thank You

Flower Soft and The {Stamps} of Life Blog Hop

The {Stamps} of Life and Flower Soft Design Teams are playing together for a very fun hop! If you have been following the hop, you should have arrived here from Debbie Seyer's blog. If you just stumbled across this blog hop, you will want to go back to the Flower Soft Blog to start.

As you make your way through the hop make sure you comment on each and every post. There will be 6 prize winners chosen randomly among the blogs…..

3 prize packages from Flower Soft and 3 stamps sets from The {Stamps} of Life!!!

The prize winners will be announced on the Flower Soft blog and The {Stamps} of Life blog on Wednesday July 14^th. Good luck!

For my card, I used the clouds and sentiment from Kites2Fly stamp set. I stamped the clouds and cut them out and added my Polar White Flower Soft for some very fluffy clouds. My flower was made using one of the Cuttlebug quilling sets, and if you look, you can see that I added Citrus Crush Ultrafine for the center of my flower.

Want even more inspiration? Do you like video tutorials? Make sure and check out both The {Stamps} of Life and Flower Soft TV for weekly videos, specials and product news!!!

****You have one more stop on the hop - Stephanie Barnard (The {Stamps} of Life Blog)

Challenges:

Paper Crafts Planet - Sketch

Simon Says - Checks, plaid, gingham

Oh Alice- Red, white, blue

Show us your bling!

I guess all of us Americans were so inspired by the fireworks of the 4th of July, we decided that we would like to challenge you to use some bling - this time on your Karen's Doodles cards.

To show a little sparkle, I thought what better image than Tango ? I used all kinds of sparkle on this card. The cardstock is from MME Laundry Line, so it is beautiful and glittery. Then I sprayed my rose with Glimmer Mist and added some Prima bling. I was so thrilled to find this new embossing plus Cuttlebug folder- Lace Door. Isn't it yummy?

I used the sketch from Tickled Pink, and for that challenge they also wanted to see a matching bookmark. I cut another center panel from the Lace Door folder and added some accent paper and ribbons - and it's a perfect match.

I hope that you will come play along with us at Karen's Doodles-USA challenge and that you have been inspired to share a little bling-bling with us this week. I would love for you to win some of Karen's adorable images!

Challenges:
Tickled Pink - sketch
Design Dollies- use at least 2 ribbons
Spoon Full of Sugar - Animal Crackers
S2G - sparkle
Crazy4Challenges - at least 2 ribbons

Glitter and Pearls

I hope you had a wonderful 4th of July if you are here in the States and a great weekend for my friends elsewhere.

How girly is this theme - glitter and pearls? And of course so many of the Belles N Whistles stamps are perfect for this challenge! I used one of the newest stamps, Fairy Play, from the Forever Young collection. I highlighted her fairy dress with Copic Spica pens and added stickles around my border and on parts of the DP. I used a pearl swirl and single pearl accents to further enhance the card.

We would love to see you join us for this challenge. One lucky winner will get to chose the BnW stamp of their choice!

Challenges:
Quixotic - sketch
C.R.A.F.T. - purple and green with gems
Basic Grey - photo inspiration
Dutch Dare - photo inspiration
Paper Play - card for a child