Shabby and Distressed Gift Bag... but don't despair!

Happy Monday friends, hope you had a great weekend! Did my title throw you? It sounds like I was gettin ready to show you a pretty sad little gift bag, haha. But really, I was in a vintage-type mood today anyway so when I saw the  The Outlawz Monday Greetings Challenge--do not stress, distress! I was inspired and decided to make a shabby-chic style gift bag w/ coordinating tissue paper and a perfect sized vanilla candle to fit inside. Distressing takes away any need for perfection and I love it! I stamped this toile background stamp from Unity Stamp Co in Blush Blossom on the white gift bag (12 for $1 at Dollar Tree) and tissue paper, then embellished with Prima roses (I get my Prima flowers at Scrapbooking.com because they seem to be the cheapest!),  ivory lace trim from Fancy Pants and a white heart pin from my friend Lee :)

 Vintage image and sentiment from Crafty Secrets stamp set called Sweet Kids and they are so sweet!

I will be entering my gift bag into the following challenges:

Sweet Stampin Challenge Blog- Girly But No Pink

(I hope this qualifies!...even though I used peach, I did not use any pink)

ABC Challenge Blog- N is for Neutral

Simon Says Stamp and Show Vintage Challenge Blog- Anything Goes

Thank you so very much for stopping by, it means a lot to me! Hugs and happy crafting!

Cooking with Cricut Challenge #80- EASTER!

Happy Wednesday friends! Well the countdown is on and only 4 days til Easter Sunday so what better theme for this week's Cooking with Cricut challenge #80! I hope you will pull out your Cricut machine and join us for our Easter challenge! I used my Sweet Treats cartridge to make a cute little treat basket and matching card along with my Swiss Dots embossing folder for a bit of dimension.

stickers from Crafty Secrets, lace trim from Fancy Pants Lilac House collection

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you will visit Cooking With Cricut blog today and see all the wonderful designers Easter inspiration--it's fabulousity!!! Then join in our challenge for your chance to be A Cooking with Cricut TOP CHEF! xoxo

Winter Blues and Sundae Bar

Hi, here's a card I made for 2 blog challenges that are new to me and I want to share the info in the hopes that you might play along too because I just had so much fun

Paper Sundaes challenge #107

"This week we have opened the "Sundae Bar".  Our toppings include the colour cream, blue, distressing,

and pearls.  To play along you just need to use at least two of the four toppings!  If you prefer, you can use three or even all four!"

The Paper Shelter Challenge Blog challenge #51 "Winter Blues"

"We want you to use one of The Paper Shelter's images on your card and if you do you will  receive the whole amount of $20. But even if you dont you will still receive 3 digi images of your own choice!"

Since I don't yet own any TPS digi images, I decided to ink up one of my very favorite images from the Sweet Kids stamp set by Crafty Secrets. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and win my first TPS images, hehe! I have to give a shout to one of my dearest blogging friends Stacy (aka: Twinshappy) for sending me that lovely ice blue satin ribbon, which I cherish so much, I rarely use it lol! I think it's so pretty and perfect for this wintery card. Luv you Stacy! I cuttled the blue base with divine swirls embossing folder, dp is Basic Grey, diamond stickles, Jolee's snowflakes and pearl accents for my "sundae" toppings. Images base sponged in SU! bashful blue.  Thanks so much for visiting me, hope you have a wonderful and creative day!

The Sweetest BOO!

Hey y'all, this is my tag for this weeks Crafty Secrets challenge over at SplitCoast--to make a TAG. I inked up this sweet little witch from CS Halloween Fun set. The tag itself was cut with my Cricut and Happy Hauntings cartridge at 5". Anybody can play in Crafty Secrets weekly challenges, I hope to see your terrific tags too! Have a creative day!

Snow One Like You!

Hello and happy Thursday, friends! I've been so busy with the hustle and bustle of holiday excitement. Between Christmas shopping and baking, holiday get togethers and church functions and preparing to travel to my family's next Tuesday, I have managed to do some creating on the side--unfortunately, I've neglected posting my work and visiting my ever-so-talented crafting friends, for which I apologize. Today I'm playing a bit of catch-up, however, and I plan to spend some time this evening blog hopping and being inspired!
First up, a simply decorated gift box using a vintage holiday image from Crafty Secrets and some festive designer paper and ribbon scraps. The gift tag was created with the wonderful little stamp set from Clear Dollar Stamps, Gift Labels.

These 3 cards were created with a very delightful set from Lizzie Anne Designs called Holiday Lane! Isn't that such a festive and fun sounding set! And it is too! I got it last year and only had a couple of opportunities to use it. I just adore these charming images and there is so much more in this set that I've not even touched yet! :) Last Christmas, I was lucky enough to have CatDidIt as my secret santa for a gift exchange we participated in. Amongst the wonderful goodies she sent, was also a most stunning card, which I used as my inspiration for this card design. I remember that I loved how she used the silver hardware from SU! and I've had the hodgepodge set for sometime now and had not been able to find as lovely a use for them as Cat did! She is so very inspiring and just a great lady, as many are already aware!
I really like how this design offers a lot of wow with not a lot of effort. Handstamped backgrounds, 1 piece of patterned or embossed paper, 1 stamped image/sentiment backed w/1 layer solid cardstock, 1 piece of ribbon and silver hardware frame and if desired, a bit of rhinestone accents for bling! Soo easy and not very time consuming per card. I added some glitter to the snowy grounds in each image and colored them with both Copic Ciao and Prismacolor markers.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and have a wonderful day!

"Sweet" News from Crafty Secrets!

Hi, friends! I have to tell you about something neat that happened to me this week. Ok, remember that "toaster" card I made with the piece of toast popping out? I thought it was a cute idea (although I worried you all might think it was silly) so I posted it...this is it.

Well, the owner of Crafty Secrets/Clear Art Stamps, Sandy, liked it so much she emailed me to ask if she could recreate it making it more retro and offer it to her customers--I will get credit for the original creation and I got to choose a large stamp set from her store for FREE!!! Whoo hoo! And since her store is in Blaine, WA and I am in Auburn, WA, my free stamp set called Sweet Kids is already in my hands and I had to create a card using it last night. I made this square card for the Crafty Secrets SCS challenge this week, this is it. I used some ivory lace and satin trim to make it more vintage-like and added a soft pink button with a cream heart to embellish. Those letters beads came in handy too--I am always trying to use them and usually find myself at least 1 letter short of what I need spell, lol! This designer patterned paper is, again, from Kaiser Craft (Sorbet- Lime Fizz) and I luv it! Ok, off to find a card to case for this weeks Featured Stamper over at SCS! I hope you have a wonderful and blessed Sunday! My wish is that you find time to do something you love today and are filled with joy! Hugs~

Look What Popped Up!

A toaster card! How silly, right? Well--I'm silly like that!!! I was inspired to make a 50's retro style toaster, but I'm not sure I achieved that look. I had so much fun with this though! I just took a standard white card and rounded the top corners, then secured the sides with double sided sticky tape. The toaster *lever*, if you will, was punched with my SU! designer label punch then folded in half. That little chef image is from Crafty Secrets. I lined the edges with my silver zig painty. The piece of toast was easy to draw and cut out, then I sponged around all edges with Chestnut Roan chalk ink. The sentiment on the pats of butter (at least, that's what I tried to make them look like) reads "Just popping up...to say hi!" I think this toaster card is fun--I hope you think so too! Thank you for visiting me today, friends! ~hugs and happy stamping~

Hey Good Lookin'

Hi! I used my Little Chef set from Crafty Secrets, yet again for this week's sketch challenge over a SplitCoast. Aren't those little oven mitts so cute! I generated the sentiment from my computer and dotted using a chocolate Marvy artist marker on the fine end. The blue gingham might seem wierd with this color combo, but it sort of reminds me of old fashioned apron strings, so that's the reason for that, lol! Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

~hugs and happy stamping, my friends~

Feeling Beat Up

Hi! I used my new clear stamp set from Crafty Secrets called *Little Chef* for this card. It includes the little egg, mixing bowl and the hand held beater, amongst many other acrylic goodies. That little beater inspired the sentiment, which is computer generated. I popped the beater up on dimensionals, not sure if you can see it. I colored the images with colored pensils and finished with baby oil. The dp is Imaginisce's Spring Fling collection and the striped cardboard is recycled from an old box. I even used up some ribbon scraps--u know, those tiny peices hardly big enough to tie in a knot, let alone a bow--perfect for this. tfl friends! ~hugs and happy stamping~