{Little Star}

Hello friends! Well, we survived Christmas and as much as I love creating Christmas cards I have to admit I am ready to take a from making them.  So, to start off the new year (almost) I a here with a baby card I created for a sweet friend. I have so many friends expecting babies in the spring and summer I know I am going to need to build up my stash of baby cards! I recently ordered some adorable stamps from Unity. I knew I had to have the Itty Bitty set "Twinkle Twinkle" .Oh my gosh total cuteness overload. I used the Cornish Heritage Farms backgrounder "Ticking" that I stamped in A Muse Studio Shell pigment ink. Next I stamped the sentiment in SU Early Espresso ink. I stamped the hanging stars on a scrap piece of yellow bazzil textured card stock and cut out the stars. I stamped the stars again on my ticking background and added the yellow stars. I added a machine stitched border and finished off the card with a button tied with thread. I love this cute card and I hope you do to! Thank you for visiting my blog today!

Today I am playing along with the following challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks Challenge # 70 - Something new

City Crafter Challenge # 89 - Make the cut

Sweet Stamps Challenge # 47 - Celebrate

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes

{Warm Winter Wishes}

Christmas is almost here! Whew, what a  crazy month. We moved into a new house Dec 1st and in between everything involved with getting settled, and Christmas preparations this month has flown by! Anyways, today I am showing you a card I created as this months Guest Designer at Your Next Stamp featuring the "Fancy Frame Stamp set and Die". The patterned paper I used is from the Echo Park Seasons Greetings collection.  The polka dot label was stamped in SU Cherry Cobbler ink. Such a pretty shade of red! The gold doiley is from Wilton. Today I am also playing along with the newest challenge at Play Date Cafe - Here is the inspiration picture:

So pretty!

I hope you have a wonderful day, and thank you for visiting my blog today!

{Moxie Fab World Part 2}

  Hello back again with another card for a different challenge over at the Moxie Fab World. I created this card for the "Get Inspired Week"  Get Inspired By Fashion Challenge.  Here is our inspiration picture:

As you can see I took my inspiration from the houndstooth pattern, and the warm vanilla tones of the card. Seriously, I could use vanilla card stock for every card I make! The patterned paper I used on my card is from October Afternoon. I decided to make a Holiday card using PTI's Holiday Photo Finishers stamps, and matching die set. I think I captured the vintage feel of the picture by using actual antique embroidered lace that I picked up at an estate sale last year.  I finished off my card with a wooden button tied with twine. I am very happy with my little card, and I hope you like it to! Thank you for visiting my blog today and have a wonderful week!


                                                          

{Moxie Fab World Part 1}

  I just have to start out by saying I LOVE THIS CARD! I usually try not to gush (out in the open) about my cards too much, but this card turned out better than I could have hoped. Today I am posting a card that I created for the Moxie Fab World "Get Inspired Week" Pot Pourri Challenge. I used an "Itty Bitty" stamp set from Unity Stamp Company called "Brave Girl Boots". Here is the inspiration picture:

   Now how you ask did this picture inspire me to create my boot kickin',  lacey, velvet ribbon inspired card? Well, the chairs in the picture are so pretty, but to me the stamped boots capture the same lines, and designs as the chairs. I used vanilla satin ribbon from Offray, and beautiful patterned paper from Sassafras Las.  The font of my sentiment also matches the monogram "R" in the picture! I used PTI's Mat Stack #4 that I stamped the CHF Lace backgrounder stamp on using A Muse Studio Latte pigment ink. So subtle, yet so pretty. The punched border was created with the EK Success "Swirl" edger punch. (A punch I received in my PC magazine World Card Making Day prize package!) I hope you like my card as much as I do, and always, thank you for visiting my blog today!

                                                                     

{Happy Holidays}

Hello friends, wow, what a week! We are getting nice and settled after our move.  I have been busy putting my craft room back together and I promise to post pics to show my progress.  Today I am excited to post a card I created for this weeks ColorQ Challenge. Here is the color inspiration picture for this weeks challenge:

Such bright festive colors aren't they!?

    To create my card I used PTI's Christmas Poinsettia,Holiday Photo Finishers, and Retro Background Basics. The beautiful shimmery damask card stock is from A Muse Studio.  It feels great to be "back". I hope you have a wonderful week and thank you for visiting my blog today! 

ps- If you have received the current Paper Crafts Magazine issue I have TWO cards in the issue. Yippie!

{Your Next Stamp YNSC57 Challenge and Blog Hop}

Hello friends and welcome to YNSC57 . The challenge this week is to create a winter/holiday card using YNS. This is my first challenge as a Guest Designer and I am so darn excited to be here! Today YNS is sponsoring a blog hop filled with great prizes, 3 $10 gift certificates to the YNS store. Sweet! You should have arrived to my blog from Kerri's blog. Today I am posting a card I created with the adorable "Ellie Loves to Knit" stamp. I colored her with copics and promarkers. The patterned paper I used is from My Minds Eye. I added a fun foam glitter snowflake and a pretty blue rhinestone. Both the polka dot ribbon and white ruffled ribbon are from Hobby Lobby. I hope you like my card! I hope that you play along with our challenge and be sure to hop along and visit all of the DT blogs so that you'll have a chance to win 1 of 3 $10 gift certificates! Your next stop on the hop is the super talented Jen R. 

Thank you for visiting my blog and have a great day!

                                                                                       

{YNS - Your Next Stamp December Guest Designer}

  Hello friends! Whew, I'm back after spending the last 4 days moving! We only moved 12 miles so it wasn't too bad, but still a lot of work! I'm working on getting my craft space put back together. I am thrilled to have a room more than double the size of the room in our last house, and I have SO much beautiful natural light. I am so excited! Anyways, today I am here to share some exciting, ok, thrilling news! I am the December Guest Designer for YNS - Your Next Stamp!! Yay! I've been a  fan of their adorable images for quite awhile and being asked to be a guest designer was awesome! The adorable card above was created with an adorable set designed by the amazingly talented Jenny Suchin for YNS that will be released this month. I used the Simple Stories "Baby Steps" collection. Is it not the cutest paper ever!? It matches that cute lil elephant so well.
    Be sure to check back tomorrow for the YNS Monthly Challenge and new release blog hop! There wil be  LOTS of wonderful prizes and tons of inspiration so be sure and join us for the fun!

                                    

{Good Tidings}

Hello friends. I am sorry that it has been so long since my last post, we are in the middle of moving 12 miles away and things are pretty hectic around here. I've packed a lot of my craft room but still have enough that has not been packed to make a card or two. hehe.  Today I am playing along with the current CAS-ual Fridays Challenge which features this sketch:

I really enjoyed this sketch! To create my card I used the A Muse Studio background set "Mad For Plaids", and the Papertrey Ink set "In the Meadow". I cut out the beautiful felt poinsettia with the PTI Christmas Poinsettias metal die set. I don't talk about it a lot but I used my Perfect Layers tool to achieve the perfect mats on all of my layers. Recently I was chosen by Perfect Layers to be on their "Brand Ambassadors Team" and because I seriously use my PL tool ALL the time I thought it would be fun to spread the love on one of my most favorite tools. And believe me if I wasn't behind this item 100% I would not be mentioning it on my blog at all. I use this tool practically every time I add layers to a card. If you would like a set of your own, I have a fun discount code for 5% off, (not a huge discount but hey, it might cover taxes.)   *wink*

vzalis5%

 To finish off my card I added 3 little jingle bells to finish off my card. I hope that you like my card! Tomorrow I have some exciting news and I can't wait to share it with you!  As always thank you for visiting my blog and have a wonderful week!
 
 
 

{Papertrey Ink November Blog Hop}

I know I'm a little late getting my card posted but I still wanted to play along with the November Papertrey Ink Blog Hop . Here is our beautiful inspiration picture:

To create my card I used the PTI sets In The Meadow, and Holiday Photo Finishers and matching dies. The pretty background is the "Picotage Print" backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms. I used my brand new EK Success Large edger punch called Patterned Circles (thank you Paper Crafts Magazine!) to create the pretty lace borders on my card. I finished off my card with buttons, twine, and a couple jingle bells.  I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, ours was spent packing and getting our house ready for move in but all is well, my next craft room is HUGE and I am so excited to get everything set up! Have a great weekend and thank you for visiting my blog today!

                                                                 
                                                               

{Thinking of You and a Winner!}

  Hello friends, today I am posting a card I created using the PTI set "Life". It is an oldie, but I still think it is such a pretty set. To create my card I stamped the flowers stems several times in two shades of purple from Martha Stewart crafts, and latte pigment ink by A Muse Studio. I added little dots of white acrylic paint using the berries stamp from Holiday Photo Finishers by PTI. The sentiment is from the Essential Sentiments set by A Muse Studio. I think it is a pretty card, and I apologize for the not so great picture, today is cloudy and dark, not great for picture taking!  Now to announce the winner of my Fresh Pigment ink pad giveaway! TRG picked commenter #18

True Random Number Generator




Min:

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Result:

18

       AubreyLaine you are the lucky winner! Please email me at alwaysctr at yahoo dot com to claim your prize!  If your name wasn't picked don't worry, you will have another chance to win some Fresh ink pads for yourself, I have more to giveaway soon.  I hope you all have a great week, and thank you for visiting my blog and have a great day!