let us be grateful...papertrey blog hop

Happy Monday! Today I have a  card for the September Papertrey Blog Hop. Here is my card:

And here is the inspiration photo:

I pulled the colors, sweater texture, and what I felt was the flower sentiment from the inspiration photo for my card. I also used this week's Retro Sketches layout with a wee bit of leeway, seen here:

Thanks for stopping by! Head over to Nichole Heady's blog to see more blog hop cards or to join in!

Operation Julie's Smile Blog Hop

Hey everyone! Welcome to the Operation Julie's Smile blog hop! I'm so excited to be a part of this. The creative blogging community is coming together this weekend to help one of our friends, Julie Ranae. You may know her as the Design Team Coordinator for many wonderful companies from bakers twine, die cuts, rubber stamps and more. What many people don’t know about Julie Ranae is that she has had some pretty major dental surgeries in her lifetime due to medication she had to take as a child. It was in her plans to think about having all of her teeth replaced at some point in the next 5 years, a decision that was pretty easy to plan out. But then it happened…she chipped her front teeth on a weekend a month ago. The dentist told her there was no way to save them & that it was his recommendation that she give in and have them all her teeth removed soon, but for that day, they needed to get her front teeth done so her gums could begin to heal. He said he would "work out payments" with her to have ALL this work done...but when she called to make her appt for the first step of impressions, they told her the amount of money that was needed and that the "payments" applied only to the two teeth that were extracted that day. Her husband Paul was with her & that too, was his understanding as well. So this is how she has found herself in this situation…Needing at least $4000 to get started and another $3000 to finish the process…a total of $7000.


Nicole Rixon, owner of Sweet Stamp Shop put together this benefit after finding out about this situation and before Julie Ranae knew it, it took flight! Because she is an event organizer by trade, she has taken on the job of organizing all of the blogs in this hop as her way of ‘working overtime’ for what she needs, the same as if she were able to work overtime at an outside job to pay for the work to be done. It is the goal of all of these generous friends & sponsors to help make this situation more do-able for our friend so that she can share a brand new smile with all of us soon.

If there is anything you can do to help with a financial donation, there is a donation button ready for you to click. Any amount is appreciated and ALL DONATIONS will be eligible for prizes from our sponsor pool. The donation button is at the top right side of my blog if you'd like to help out!


You should have come here from Debby's blog. If you didn't, you can always head over to Sweet Stamp Shop blog to see the complete list. You don't want to miss one single project! You have the entire weekend to stop in and comment to be eligible for prizes! That's right...PRIZES! There are over $2,500 worth of prizes that have been donated and will be awarded - maybe to you! Prizes will be drawn 3 ways: Paypal donations, blog comments, & blog hop hosts.

A complete list of sponsors is also available at the Sweet Stamp Shop blog.

Ok, so without further ado, here is my card:

I just love my Lil' Inker acorns and thought that they went perfectly with the pocket die from WPlus9. I mean, who doesn't love a pocketful of...acorns...yes, acorns. ;)

I hope you liked it! The next stop on the hop is the PSA Stamp Camp blog. Make sure you leave a comment here before you leave so you can increase your chances of winning a prize! Laters!

a most beautiful day..

Hey and welcome to this month's Papertrey Blog Hop!

Here is this month's inspiration photo:

I loved the colors and lines, so I went with the obvious inspiration and came up with this:

This was the first time I ever used these die...and I really liked them. They make great flowers, for sure. This was a super simple card, but I love the colors on the patterned paper and the little glittery button,too! Well, thanks for stopping in...see you on the hop!

 

Operation Julie's Smile

Hey guys! No card today. My elbow IS a lot better, but I still haven't been able to make anything. I am hoping that when I get home this everning, it will feel well enought to stamp something! Of course, when i CAN'T stamp is precisely when I have all sorts of ideas in my head TO stamp..lol.

Anyway, I am here today with a special post about an upcoming Blog Hop that I am sure you'll want to be a part of. Most of you know Julie Renae. If you've heard of The Play Date Cafe or CAS-ual Fridays, then you know who she is! She's a super DT coordinator and all around great person.



There will be a benefit blog hop called 

'Operation Julie's Smile' 

that will take place Oct 7-9.  

There are a variety of
companies and design teams who will be participating 

in this hop to help raise funds for this benefit. 

 
So far, over $2000 in prizes have been made available 
and will be awarded for both participants 
and those who donate. 

 

Click here to read more about Julie's story and why you will want to be a part of this benefit!

 

Papertrey June Blog Hop Challenge

Hello! Welcome to this month's Papertrey Blog Hop! 

I'll make it short and sweet since there are tons of blogs to see. 


This month, we were challenged to use an inspiration picture. I LOVE inspiration pictures and love to see how others interpret things, so this should be so much fun. Here is the inspiration photo from Pinterest:

When I looked at this photo, I immediately thought of little best friends playing dress up with glittery things and poofy dresses and how little best friends grow into big best friends. I thought about how those friendships sometimes never end. You meet, and for the rest of your lives, the friendship is solid. So, here is what my brain came up with as a result of that thought process:

I just love using that MS glitter. I found that it is MUCH better when used with scortape and not liquid glue..lol. Much less messy! I also used the Papertrey Wonderful Words Additions set and die. To get the rainbow effect on the diecut, I just colored the paper with Copics and then diecut it from there - super simple.


Well, as usual I am gabbing. So go...go..check out the rest of the entries this month here on Nichole's blog.


Thank you for stopping by!! Have a great weekend.

one little wish...

Hi there. Hope you're having a great week. Thanks for stopping by. Today I am sharing a card I made for this month's Papertrey Blog Hop and I'm sending it to my aunt who's celebrating a birthday this weekend. :)


Our hop this month focuses on using flowers as a part of our card.  Well, I am a total nut for flower embellishments. I really like the ones that are kinda odd flowers...not necessarily "real looking", ya know? 


Here is the card I made using my favorite kind of flower embellishment:

I decided to try my hand, also, at using the Papertrey Clearly Creative card stock.  It was fun to work with, though I found my OCD coming out every few minutes when I was using Windex to clear off my fingerprints..LOL. 


Well, there are lots of blogs to see, so get going. Thanks for stopping by!




Stamps: Big Birthday Wishes (Papertrey)
Ink: Basic Black (SU)
Card Stock: Clearly Creative, Lavender Moon, Black, Vanilla (Papertrey); Crate Paper - portrait collection
Extras: Well Worn die set from MFT; Photo Corner die from SU; Prima Flower from Two Peas in a Bucket, get it here

Birthday Blog Hop!

Happy Sunday! Thanks for stopping by! Welcome to the Birthday blog hop celebrating the fabulous Laurie Willison's birthday! Laurie is such a sweet person and an extremely talented stamper. I look at her cards in their CAS style and i'm awed each time! Happy Birthday, Friend!


Ok, so we have some extra special cards to share with you guys, so be sure and visit each blog! Here is my card {um, that JUST got into the mailbox yesterday, so it will be a *tad* late getting to Laurie..lol}

I used the new Background Basics: Chevron Stripes set from Papertrey. It was fairly easy to line up the chevrons (they do not reach fully across the card stock on the diagonal). You HAVE to love clear stamps if for no other reason than this!! I also used the "make a wish" from Think Big Favorites 1 and part of a sentiment in the Big Birthday Wishes sets. I saw the colors on this week's Color Cue and was immediately drawn to them.

Well, that's it. Don't forget to stop in and see what the other ladies have done. Just know that it is fabulous!


Here is a listing of all of the participants:


Amy
Jen
SueAnn
Eva
Barb









Have a wonderful day!!

Papertrey Blog Hop! Rockin' 13...

Hi and welcome to this month's Papertrey Blog Hop which is all about the guys!

This month's blog hop is dedicated to all the boys and men in our lives!  Now is your chance to create Father's Day projects, boy birthday cards and more to build up your stash!  Focus on masculine color schemes, fresh pattern combinations, understated embellishments and unique uses of images you may already have in your stash!




I decided to go with a teen boy birthday card! Although I know no one with a 13th birthday coming up, surely one will pop up soon at Ava's school...lol. So, here is my card using Rock On and Grunge Me both from this month's Papertrey release.

Here is my card:

I had such fun using these two sets. They really do work well together especially the "random" patterns in Grunge Me. And I just cannot get enough of that Rock On die - eek! Love it! I used Crystal Effects on the give it a little extra rock n roll feel and I just adore that skull and crossbones paper! :)


Well, there are lots of blogs to check out, so be on your way. Thanks for stopping by!



Laters!

Sarah's Birthday/ Blogaversary Hop!!!

Happy Saturday everyone!! Today, I have the great honor of helping Sarah celebrate her birthday and blog anniversary with some of the most amazing bloggers!  I sure hope you will join us! Show some love on all of the other "hoppers" and create a card using her sketch.　 There are prizes to be won - Verve prizes to be exact - and who can resist that??　

So here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

I just love the fun colors on this paper and the flower from Verve's Great Friend was just perfect here. I love those flowers! Happy Birtthday, Sarah!!!!

If you decide to play (which you should!!), you will need to link your card to Sarah's blog by April 2.　 To find out all the details head over to Sarah's blog.

Here are the hoppers! If you're not coming to me from Charmaine, then keep going and then start back until you get back here. You don't want to miss ANY of these creations! Trust me.

  

Sarah

　

Teresa

　

Wanda

　

Debbie

   

Tosha

　　  

Stephanie

Julee

Betty

   

Marisa

　 

Andrea

  

Lynda

　　　

Charmaine

Keva　 (that's me!)

Amy





Stamps: Great Friend, Big Wish (Verve)
Card Stock: Sage Shadow, Ruby Red (SU); Kraft (Papertrey); Stella & Rose 'Mabel' (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Ruby Red (SU); Vintage Cream (Papertrey)
Extras: Aqua Mist ribbon (Papertrey); Pearls (want2scrap)

Papertrey Blog Hop - January 2011

Hi everyone! Today's card is for the Papertrey Blog Hop this month. We were to use an old or uninked set. Well, one (Love Birds) is a brand new set that was released last month BUT it has never seen ink!! The other (BB: Text Style) I just got through a trade today, so it's old and new..lol. Honestly, these are the only Papertrey sets that I have that have never been inked and I use all of my sets pretty regularly, so none collect dust..lol.

Moving right along...I made this card just for my husband. He's in Germany right now and will be there until June and as soon as I saw this sentiment, I knew I had to have this set. Ok, well Laurie had a TON to do with me buying this set,too! The sentiment is so true - nothing IS the same when he is gone. Whether it is a little thing like making sure the garbage gets out in time for the collectors or big like taking care of the house and cars and making sure everything runs smoothly. It's just so different. And though he has been gone pretty much every year since 9/11, it's still very hard each time. Ahhh...ok...exhale and get on with it, Keva! :)



So, here is my card with my new favorite color scheme:

I just love this card. It has so many of my favorite things on it. The twine, the buttons, that "certain" embossing folder that I cannot get enough of, embossing, and of course circles!! :) I had such fun making this and I am sending it off this morning so that it gets to him in time for Valentine's Day!

Well, that's all I've got. Thanks for stopping by! Laters...




Stamps: Love Birds & Background Basics: Text Style (Papertrey)
Card Stock: Kraft, Early Espresso, Vanilla (su)
Ink: Real Red, Chocolate Chip (su)
Extras: Clear embossing powder, versamark (su); Buttons, twine (papertrey); Love Birds die (papertrey); Square Lattice embossing folder (su)

Papertrey Blog Hop!!

Hello all! Thanks for coming back to see me (this is assuming that you came by this morning). This post is for today's Papertrey Blog Hop! Here is Nichole's description of this months hop:

"There is always a lot of focus on Christmas in our industry this time of year, as that is what the majority of the population celebrates.  However, this month's blog hop is dedicated to those that celebrate winter holidays other than Christmas.  Create a project that celebrates Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or some other winter holiday as we embrace everyone's beliefs in a celebration of diversity through paper crafting."




Awesome, right? I decided that I would make cards for Eid, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. If I had had more time over the weekend I would have done a few more..and I still may! 




So, let's first start with Eid. Eid is a Muslim celebration. This year it falls on November 16th. I won't pretend to be an expert on anything here, so I won't go into further details about exactly what they celebrate or do..nor do I want to depend on wiki to inform me. So, i'll just show you the card and say "google" if you want to learn more! *wink*


Here is my card for Eid:

I have to be honest and say that I saw a lot of more exclusive symbols and things that I could have chosen, but when I saw a card similar to this online in celebration of eid I thought I would go with it. 1. because I loved it and 2. because I thought it would be really easy to change the sentiment and make it for some other occasion. Honestly, with so much divisiveness going on in the world, this was my way of trying to be inclusive. This could easily be a Christmas card or Kwanzaa card or whatever. Ok, enough of my "world peace" schpeil. LOL

The fluorish is from Fancy Fluorishes and the words are from Star Prints. I inked up one letter at a time to spell out "eid" and it was NOT fun..lol. The bling is from want2scrap.


My second card is for Hanukkah. I wanted to do something really simple with a little bling and this is what resulted:

Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that begins at sundown on December 1st and ends December 9th this year. Again, I won't get into specifics but i'm sure Google will..lol. To make this card, I cut two triangles out of Papertrey vellum and put them on top of each other, one upside down. I then used my 2 way glue and added some of the glitter glass. I added a pearl in the middle and instant Star of David. :) I also used my new Square Lattice folder..and i'm in love. You'll be seeing it again for sure. Maybe tomorrow..lol.

My last card is for Kwanzaa. It's a cultural, not religious, holiday that some African Americans celebrate. It starts the day after Christmas and goes for 7 days. We don't celebrate it, but I know others who do.

Here is my Kwanzaa card:

There is some emphasis on giving natural gifts of food and such during Kwanzaa, so I wanted to make sure there was some food..and then I thought my Pure Innocence little girl was a fun touch as was the "tablecloth". I also used my Square Lattice folder here. Unfortunately, there is no papertrey on this card. I'm sorry, but I just didn't have anything that fit except the cardstock! :)


Well, I hope you liked my cards and maybe got some ideas about cards that YOU can make for someone. Enjoy the rest of the hop! Thanks for dropping in.

Praying for you....

Hi all! Happy Saturday to you! As you read this, I am in Memphis visiting with my grandmother. For those of you that don't come here regularly (shame on you! lol), my grandmother had a stroke earlier in the week and is not doing well. They have called the family in and so we're there. I hope to come home tomorrow with a feeling that she will get better, not worse. God doesn't make mistakes, though, so...we'll have to wait and see what He has planned for her. :)

Anyway, so today's card is for both the Papertrey September Blog Hop:

 AND the Embellish Magazine challenge:

Let's talk about the Papertrey Blog Hop first. We were to think about fellow crafters that inspire us or who have shown us things that we now use in our crafting. Ok, well THAT is a huge request. I have learned so much from so many people. My main inspirations, though, are Laurie Willison, Julie Lacey, Julee Tillman, and Dana Seymour. Every single day I know that when I wake up and start blog hopping, those four fabulous women will have some of the best stuff out there. I also love that they spread the love - using all sorts of supplies and stamps. It's really great to see people who can take the same stamps I might have and totally rock your socks with them. People who can MAKE you purchase things JUST because you have seen them use it. These women drive me to stamp every single day in the hopes that THEY will love what I create. It's silly, I know, but they are truly the best in my mind.  They have shaped the way I stamp and the styles I love. These 4 women are my stamping inspiration and I want them (and you) to know that they are tops in my book..and they're super nice to boot! Thank you ladies. 

 As for my card today (yeah, yeah, we'll eventually get to it..lol), I used a trick I learned through a Papertrey Ink Senior Design Team group post on Nichole Heady's blog a few months back. It was the post where they showed us their favorite ways to use ribbon. On the post, Ashley Cannon Newell showed us a technique that totally changed the way I use ribbon..and i've used this technique on 32 cards since that post! Yikes!! Here is a link to her post: Ribbon Favorites. Fabulous!!

So, the Embellish challenge this week totally called my name to create something elegant and serene. I thought of my grandmother while making this card. I simply LOVE these colors together! We also had to use background stamping on the card. I used my PTI Damask Designs stamps. They just scream elegance and especially when paired up with the Papertrey Ink Vellum paper. It is SO heavy  while still being delicate and sheer...good stuff! The ribbon - well, I think you know about me and ribbon by now, right? Just love that stuff. 

Ok, so this post has gone on WAY to long and thank you SO much for sticking around to read all of this. So without further ado, here is my card:

I initially had rhinestones where you see pearls, but as soon as I snapped the picture our UPS guy drove up with my order of pearls from Stampin Up! Score!! I quickly changed out the bling and took another pic..lol. 

Ok, well this has been a super duper long post. Thanks for stopping by. If you think about it, will you please keep my grandmother in your prayers? Thank you for visiting and I hope to see you back soon! Laters!

Stamps: Damask Designs (papertrey)

Card Stock: Going Grey and striped dsp (stampin up); Lemon Tart, Vellum, Smokey Shadow, White (papertrey)

Ink: Memento Black

Extras: Lemon Tart ribbon (papertrey); Butterfly punch, pearls, and button (stampin up)

Taylored Expressions Blast from the Past Blog Hop

Hello everyone! If this is your first time here at hownowbrownkow, welcome! I hope you like what you see and come back. :)

Anyway, today's card is for the Taylored Expressions August Blog Hop.  This is my first time participating because I FINALLY got a TE stamp set. Sad, I know.

I had SO much fun making this card! It just really fell into place with the patterned papers and the layout. The layout came from Sankari Wegman and it's so cute! I hope you like it! Thanks for visiting!!! Keep hopping and check out all of the other ladies (and maybe gents, too...)







Stamps: Hangin' Out (Taylored Expressions)
Card Stock:White, Raspberry felt (papertrey); Rockabilly black dsp (stampin up), Leopard Print dsp (DCWV)
Ink: Black (stampin up)
Extras: Buttons (papertrey)

Papertrey May Blog Hop Challenge

Well, happy Tuesday to you and welcome to this month's Blog Hop! I was so excited when I saw that Felt was the challenge item. I had no felt, so I had to quickly order some and as soon as I did, I knew what I wanted to do with it:

 I love the way the felt looks AND feels on this card.  I stamped the flowers onto a piece of the felt and cut them out. The flowers just look so dreamy and they were easy to cut out because the papertrey felt is 100% wool! No stragglies! lol. I then stamped the Lily of the Valley directly onto the Barely banana because I wanted it to have a background color. I knew that I had seen folks color the background in with Copics and the airbrush thingy, but I don't have the right coor Copics or the airbrush thingy, so this was the next best thing for me. :) After I stamped the flower onto the BB cardstock, I simply used my scortape to adhere the felt flowers over the stamped ones. Voila! I also love the way the Dotti Biscotti paper looks as a background..love love love it. I'm wondering what else I can do with the felt, so I'll be hopping around to other blogs looking for great ideas! Happy Hopping and thanks for stopping by!



Stamps: Lily of the Valley and Signature Greetings  (papertrey)
Cardstock: Kraft, White, and Dotti Biscotti (papertrey); Barely Banana (stampin up)
Inks: Basic Black, Old Olive (stampin up)
Extras: Old Olive grosgrain (stampin up); Vintage Cream Felt (papertrey)