EtsyInspired #124 - TooCuteKawaii

Hey everyone! Ready to be EtsyInspired?? This is our last shop for January and it is a doozy! If you like cute, then you are in for a treat! TooCuteKawaii is where we're headed and OH. MY. GOODNESS!!! Did I say cute? I meant...

holy-cow-that's-freakin-CA-UTE!!!!

Seriously, peeps. Check out these items currently in the shop and tell me I'm wrong.We've got a new sponsor this week - Meljen Designs! Talk about a match made in heaven!! Meljen's Designs digital stamps are utterly darling!!I had a tough time deciding not only which digi-stamp to use, but which item in the shop to use as my inspiration. That is, until inspiration hit with a vengeance! The entire TooCuteKawaii shop was my inspiration, in hand with Meljen's adorable images.
Once again, the photo is courtesy of my daughters. Meg and Hannah chose the location and the styling, using a margarita glass to hang the shrink plastic earrings. All of the images I used can be found on the Meljen's Designs Challenge Blog.

Thanks for stopping by today! I love the feedback I get from everyone!!! Check out the rest of the DT (below) for some amazing inspiration! Hop on over to TooCuteKawaii, find an item or items to be inspired by, and create! For full deets, and to link up your project, visit the EtsyInspired blog! Have a fantstic weekend!!!

Angi
Ashley
De
Emily B.
Jackie
Joy
Kerry
Rachel Hope (January Guest DT!)
Ruby
Savannah
Sherry
Virginia
EtsyInspired Blog (LINK YOUR PROJECTS HERE!)

FWF - Jan 28, 2011

Morning! Ever have one of those days when you have a card in your head and you can't quite seem to get it to come out right? Yeah...that's the card I've been working on. You'd laugh at me if you'd seen how many times I stamped the main image until I got the green I wanted. I honestly lost count. What finally worked? An old Colorbox cat's eye.

I'm just glad to be stamping and blogging again, after nearly a week's hiatus. Sometimes my back sure makes life difficult!! I'm still using stamps from the January 2009 KOTM, Love, Etc. I still have a few more stamps from this kit that I haven't yet used, but I'm getting a lot closer to using the entire kit. Thanks for the push, Rachel!!

I made an easel card for All Things Unity Challenge #23. You have until Saturday, February 5, to play along. For full challenge deets, check out this post on the ATU blog.

Okay, that's enough from me. Make sure you head over to the Unity blog to see who's participating in FWF today. Back tomorrow with some EtsyInspired fabulosity!

EIC #123 - Nanny's Room

Welcome back to another EtsyInspired Saturday! This week, we're visiting a gorgeous shop called Nanny's Room. Jeanne Forsyth grew up in Arizona, and her original artwork is inspired by the Southwest. Let me tell you, that artwork is just stunning!! Her use of colour is breathtakingly vibrant.

One player this week will win his or her choice of necklace. Aren't these some gorgeous examples?? Not only that, but just for EIC shoppers, Jeanne is offering 10% off any purchase through January 31! Just use the code "etsy10" at checkout.

I chose this set of 3x4 notecards as my inspiration this week.

Instead of going Southwest, I made little Valentine/lovenotes. From left to right, the stamps are Memory Box (Dandelion Ball Combo), Karen Lockhart (IB Chintz Heart), Taylored Expressions (Kid at Heart), and GinaK (Hopeful Hearts). The photo is courtesy of my daughter, Meagan.
Our sponsor this week is The Twinery, home of gorgeous bakers twine!! Alas, I did not get my twine sample in time to tie my cards similarly to my inspiration photo. A second player this week will win a Trio pack of twine in the winners choice of any 3 colours!! Before you even ask, YES, I'm jealous!!

So go create something, because you know you want to win at least as much as I wish I could!! Remember, you do not have to make a card. You don't even have to papercraft. Just create something inspired by the Modern Bird Etsy shop. Be as creative as you want to be and post a link to your creation on the EIC blog no later than 12 noon Pacific time on January 28, 2011.

Head on over and see what the rest of the DT has to share today. I'll be back tomorrow with a new challenge from All Things Unity!

Ashley
Angi
De
Emily B
Jackie
Joy
Kerry
Rachel - January guest DT
Ruby
Savannah
Sherry
Virginia

FWF - Jan. 21

Hi guys. Another short post from me. Classes started this week, and although things changed greatly from what I'd originally planned, it's been a long week and I'm beat!

All the Friends With Flair deets are on the Unity Blog, along with a full list of participants.

I'm trying to follow along with Rachel's quest to use every stamp from one kit. This one is the January '09 KOTM, Love, Etc. The only one I know for sure that I've used before is the peacock, which I adore. Today I've used the Happy Valentine's Day circle here and another stamp on the All Things Unity blog.
I used Sketch #98 from Card Patterns.

Hope to see everyone tonight on Splitcoaststampers for the VSN mini. It starts at 6pm Eastern!

Stamping with Holly & Hannah

For Christmas, I picked up the Kid's Holiday Card Kit from Taylored Expressions. On Monday, Holly asked if we could work on some cards. She made her first card for my mom. I helped her only in that I showed her how to mount the stamps onto the handles, how to clean the stamps and how to use clear embossing powder, since she decided at the last minute that she wanted to emboss the entire thing.
The next morning, she made this one for me. All on her own, while I was still in bed. She even embossed the image! The colouring is done with prismacolors.
Yesterday, Hannah decided to get into the act. She made a birthday card for one of her friends. She used Cuppie from the Holiday kit and the Happy Birthday sentiment from the Unity/Samantha Walker kit, Encompassed Grace. She used scraps from some of my projects.

Hannah made 2 more cards this evening with the Kids Valentine Card Kit. I'll share those with you next week.

Taylored Expressions - January Blast From the Past

Hey everyone! I am so excited about today's blog hop! It is my 8th
Taylored Expressions Blast From the Past hop!! I went back in my blog archives and checked it out. I have an entry for every month, excluding December, when there was no hop, going back to May of last year. This month, the theme is Love.

I used Sankari's sketch and my new CreativiTEA set to make my card. The paper is from Basic Grey's Green at Heart.

Enjoy the hop everyone!!

My card is also for the following challenges:
Ooh La La Creations Challenge #71: Bling it On - bling across the bottom
Pile it On #3: Anything Goes
Basic Grey #35: Dots & Spots - my die-cut strip makes a line of dots and all dp is Basic Grey
Craft Your Days Away #11: Anything Goes
Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge #38: hearts - there is one on the end of the tea bag
Really Reasonable Ribbon #16: hearts & ribbon - tea bag has a heart
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #117: With Love
Stamp Something: Anything Goes
Some Odd Girl: Embossing - the die cuts are embossed and both the sentiment and the tea pot are heat embossed
Stampin' B's #93 : Use a die cut - 2 Nestabilities circles and a Taylored Expressions small scalloped border die
Gingersnap Creations GC85: Chestnut Theme Challenge - Hot Beverages (tea)

Tra-la-la H{ippity} Hop

Hey peeps. Just a quicky for me today. On one of the hops I did recently, I saw a neat bookmark. If it was your blog and you see this, please let me know so I can give proper credit!

I made this using the Week Two colour challenge, red, white & blue, from the {ippity} blog. Today, along with all the hoppin' peeps, the Week Three Challenge has been posted. Be sure to check it out!

This is also for these challenges:
Dare to Be Sassy Thursday #55: Use something in your stash that is over a year old - the red gingham paper is some Creative Memories paper that I've had for over 8 years.
Pile it On #3: Anything Goes
Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #16: Heart theme (heart + ribbon) - The sentiment says "song in my heart." I asked and Bonnie said it was okay.

EtsyInspired #122 - Modern Bird

Good morning! It's time to be EtsyInspired by the neatest shop! Modern Bird handcrafts silver jewelry! Now, I've done a lot of different arts and/or crafts in my time, but metalsmithing has never been one of them. That is something I leave to those who know what they're doing. Laura Flavin knows what she's doing. Her jewelry reflects themes of love, nature, peace and growth.

Here are the three pieces I chose as my inspiration this week. Yes, I couldn't choose just one!

I chose to stamp the flower trio from Our Craft Lounge's Spring Garden in Barn Door Distress Ink to give a watermark look on the card base, but it doesn't show very well in the photo. The colours are from Color Dare #92. The sketch is a new challenge (Sketchy Sundays) from Tiffany Johnson, who used to be an EIC team member! Hi Tiff!!

This week the EtsyInspired Challenge is being sponsored by Kutz. That means one challenge player will win a Silhouette cutout from the Kutz Etsy shop.

Another participant will be winning this super sweet little birdie necklace from Modern Bird, our challenge shop. Doesn't that make you want to play along?
Remember, you do not have to make a card. You don't even have to papercraft. Just create something inspired by the Modern Bird Etsy shop. Be as creative as you want to be and post a link to your creation on the EIC blog no later than 12 noon Pacific time on January 21, 2011.

Head on over and see what the rest of the DT has to share today. You know it'll be awesome!!

Ashley
Angi
De
Emily B
Jackie
Joy
Kerry
Rachel - January guest DT
Ruby
Savannah
Sherry
Virginia

P.S. I'll be back into the swing of things (aka blog comments, working on organizing this disaster I call a desk...) this weekend. My back is feeling much improved today. I know better than to overdo it, but I sure am glad to be off the sofa!

My First Flourishes

Yes, I know this isn't Tuesday, but today is the day Flourishes has set for everyone to upload their projects. The hop lasts from today (Friday) through Monday night at 6pm (Eastern, I think?)

Flourishes 100th Challenge is All About Favourites. I used a few of my favourite things in this card. First off, I used a sketch challenge! This one is Get Sketchy #70. I adore sketch challenges!! I used Kraft cardstock for one of my layers. It's all AJ's fault that I am now addicted to Kraft. I love to use metal dies, so I used two to make the rolled flowers. The patterned paper is Basic Grey, which the flowers are also made out of. The Smooch Spritz went on heavier than I'd intended, so you can't see the two different patterns I used for them, but Basic Grey was my first favourite paper company and Wassail is still one of my very favourite lines. Lastly, I used a stamp from my favourite Flourishes stamp set. Okay, so it's my only Flourishes stamp set...but it will not be the last! Oh! And I used my favourite technique on the sentiment. Heat embossing!
Speaking of this set, Our Gift to You was the one I got from Flourishes for winning the Spellbinders Holiday Hoppin' Blog Hop, so I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly thank the lovely people at Flourishes for their generosity.

Enjoy the hop! At last count, there were 40 participants, and I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has made!

Other challenges this card is for are:
ABC Christmas: A for Anything Christmas
Basic Grey #35: Spots & Dots - the rolled rose dp is dotted (from Wassail) and there are holly dots on the dp that shows
Gingersnap Creations: GC#84 - colour challenge: snow, pine & mahogany

FWF Goes 3x3

Morning! Thank you to all for the kind words about my back. I'm feeling better, courtesy of rest, anti-inflamatories and muscle relaxants. I did get a shot of Toradol on Monday, which helped, though not as much as usual, but then again, I hadn't had anything spasm quite like that before either. It isn't an experience I care to repeat!
Did you guys see all the amazing goodies Unity added to their site yesterday?? ZOMG!! If only it were not the week before classes start back up again. Fortunately, the boys can share books for one class, so that's helping the textbook bill a bit, but mine alone are....you're sitting down, right?

Are you sure you're ready? I mean, I'm only taking two classes.

Getting one book off Amazon, as it's almost half the price (new!) of a used book via the college and the others through the school, my bill will be $489.13.

Did you choke as much as I did?

Okay, back to the more fun world of stamping. In my quest to use stash and unloved stamps (thanks Rachel!!), I pulled out 2 of my first Kits of the Month. This fits in perfectly with OWH's Unused/Unloved Supplies challenge! The little flower pots are from October 2008 and the sentiment is from August '08. Both kits retired last month, but you can still become a KOTM member and get in on the fun - there is a new kit each and every month. Deets are here. I've used other stamps from both kits before, but not either of these.










I took the sketch from Get Sketchy #69, the colours from the Play Date Cafe #64, Meljen's Designs #41 (challenge to make a square or oval card), and mixed them in with ATU's mini card challenge and this is what I came up with.

Hop on over to the Unity blog to see who is participating today. I wonder who's got the blinkie?? I know I'll be on the hunt for it!

See you tomorrow with something new and EtsyInspired! Have a fantastic day!!

A Very Boxy H{ippity} Hop

Hi. It's me. I'm back. Yup, four days in a row. I'm on a roll, peeps! What's really amazing about that, is I can barely walk. Thank goodness for my kids, who have been extremely helpful in playing step & fetch. I've got an appointment at 10:30, so here's hoping the doc can do something other than say "here, take some more narcotics." No worries. My back does this periodically. I'll be fine in a few more days.

This is my first H{ippity} Hop since December 6th! I am so happy to get back to it!

I made a batch of 3x3 notecards this weekend, with Just Wanted to Say, for All Things Unity, so I wanted to make a little box to hold them in. I used the tutorial on SCS for the measurements. One quick warning - there is a slight goof on there currently. For patterned paper A, you really want that to be 5 1/4". If you go by the measurements she gives in the video, I think, everything works out properly, but if you go by the typed measurements, 5 1/8" will cause headaches and much gnashing of teeth. Trust me on this one.
In keeping with Cute Card Thursday's challenge, Out With the Old, there is not a single thing new used in the creation of this box. Everything came from stash that is at least 6 months old, if not older. By the way, that's one of my resolutions this year - use my stuff. If I'm not using it, I don't need to have it. Right?

Other challenges this little box is for are Flourishes (FTTC99 - flowers) and Let's Ink it Up (anything goes so long as it's rubber, not digi).

That's all from me today. If you haven't been there yet, hop on over to the {ippity} blog and see who's hopping today. The DT will have a new twist on the monthly challenge to go with last week's sketch and don't forget there's a comment prize. It could be hidden on any blog, DT or hopper.

Hope you all have a great day!

Honey, We Shrunk ATU

Yup, we shrunk All Things Unity this week and made 3x3 - or smaller!! - cards.I went super crazy and made a set of 9 notecards! I just couldn't stop!! All of them use {ippity}'s Just Wanted to Say (available via my {ippity} blog) and I think they're perfect for when you want to add just that little extra touch without going overboard.
I used the same layout and the same basic papers for each card, just varying the ribbons and switching off between 3 sentiments, so that the person who will be receiving the set will have a few options.

We've had a few rule changes for the All Things Unity challenge. They're not really serious changes - more like clarifications.

• First of all, have fun!!
• Second, please create something new for the challenge.
  
• Please use only Unity or {ippity} stamps on your creations.
• Link back to All Things Unity and use our challenge photo (when one is provided).
• When uploading to online gallery, please use ATU##. (This week is ATU22)
• Please link to your specific post--not your entire blog.
• OPTIONAL - Please display our NEW ATU badge on your sidebar and in your posts. You don't have to, but it'd make us really, really happy if you did!!

Eligibility for MONTHLY prize::
All entries must be linked before 11:59pm EST the Saturday completing our 2 week challenge. You can link as many creations as you want (the more you link/create--the more chances to win). On the first of every month, we will post a winner of the prize package.

If you do not follow the above rules and guidelines, your creation will be ineligible and thus deleted.

NEW CHALLENGES are posted at 12:01am EST every 2 weeks on Sunday.

Eligibility for Challenge Blinkie::
One or two players will be featured on the Wednesday following the challenge end. The playersʼ creations, along with a link to their blogs, will be included in this post. These players will get to display this blinkie on their blog.

**NOTE** :: Receiving this blinkie does not mean you won the monthly prize.

There, now that all of that is out of the way, check out what the rest of the team has made - and when you're done, hit All Things Unity to enter your own new Unity or {ippity} creation!

Cathy
Lynn
Sara (on hiatus)
Savannah

EtsyInspired #121 - La Pomme

Sometimes typos can be funny. I tried to make this EtsyInspired #1221. I haven't done the math, but it'll be a lot of weeks before we get that far! I wonder which shop we'll be highlighting and what year it will be...

In any case, our second shop for 2011 is La Pomme. My, oh my, but there are some gor-gee-ous items in this shop!

I love this lamp - and I'm thinking my mom would, too.

And then there's this fabulous sheet music. Le sigh!But neither of those were my inspiration this week. I used a combination of two items, the children's books and the kitty cup,

to make a kitty bookmark.

Deets:
Stamps: Stamp Fairy Kasi, MFT Well Read WTG
Colour Challenge: InStyle Stamps - purple, silver, white + sparkle
Etc: TE Scalloped Eyelet Border, Silver detail EP

Our sponsor for the week is StampFairy. She is giving away 3 digistamps of the winners choice!! Her stamps are super cute, too! The kitty cat on my bookmark is one of hers.

The prize from La Pommea pack containing vintage music sheets, vintage tin box, and a plush fruits. Sure wish I could win that one!! For full deets, check out the EIC blog.

Hop on over to see what the rest of the DT has to show today. Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you tomorrow for All Things Unity!!

Ashley
Angi
De
Emily B
Jackie
Joy
Kerry
Rachel - January guest DT
Ruby
Savannah
Sherry
Virginia

By the way, I did the math. It'll be 21 years, 8 weeks.

New Year, New FWF

I'm starting off the new year right...with Friends With Flair!! I'm going to make a commitment to post every week this year - all 52 weeks of FWF. Who's with me?

Unity is featuring their Kit of the Month club this week. I've been a member since I first found Unity in 2008. Until this week, I was missing only one kit - which came in the mail yesterday. Believe me, it is a fantastic bargain. Only $26 plus shipping for a full sheet of deeply etched red rubber - and you get a code for 25% purchases through the Unity website *and* a free kit up to $29 retail value, so long as your order reaches $35. You cannot beat that with a stick!!

Today I've used some "unloved" rubber. I've had Tree-mendous Love since it was released, but just hadn't used it yet. This card, using Mojo Monday's sketch #172, seemed like the perfect fit.

Supplies:
Stamps: Unity Tree-mendous Love
Cardstock: GinaK Pure Luxury (black), Neenah Classic Crest (cream)
Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934
Ink: Distress Ink Black Soot
Etc: ribbon, chipboard hearts & rhinestones from Caffinated Cropper kit; clear embossing powder, Smooch Spritz Cherry Ice, square Nestabilities

Head on over to the Unity blog for a full list of participating peeps! Someone will be hiding the blinkie...wouldn't it be great to start off the year with some free stamps from Unity?

Back tomorrow with some new EtsyInspired goodness. See you then!

Pics From Our NC Trip

I thought I'd post a few of the photos from our trip down to my mom's for Christmas.

Here's my step-dad, Jerry, with his stocking. Today is his birthday. Happy birthday, Jerry!!

Taylor couldn't figure out why Santa left shampoo in his stocking.Hannah said she wanted a cowboy hat. We obliged. Sort of. Here she is reading the note that says the pink hat is her token to exchange for a real cowboy hat that actually fits and is in the style and colour of her choosing.Meg with her absolute most favourite gift. Well, that is until she opened her "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock" t-shirt, but that picture seems to have been accidentally deleted, along with those of the boys opening their geeky t-shirts. Taylor's been wearing his almost daily, but he's in bed, so I'll have to get a pic of him in a day or two. Cody, well...when I get a pic of him in his, you will all understand. As it stands, this is the only photo I have from the trip where you can actually see his face.

This shot with four of them is the best photo of Holly. She was wearing a set of my mom's pajamas.
Sometimes my mom is silly. She was posing with some scrubby mitts. Lila, the demon dog, was in her lap, as far away from the kids as she could get and still keep an eye on them.

Lila is actually really, really cute. She's just terrified of everyone other than Mom & Jerry, and sometimes me. It usually takes her a day or two to warm up to me. She does a lot better when the kids aren't around. She can handle it if it's only Hannah, but if it's all 5 kids, she just has no idea what to do with herself. They move too fast and make too much noise and she isn't used to it. She's wormed her way into my heart, though, darn her. With a face like this, how could she not?I'd be amiss if I didn't share the only photo of myself that was taken Christmas morning. The spousal unit pulled a big one on me and, as you can see, it made me cry.
He actually bought me an iPad.

The last photo I want to share is of Hannah and one of Mom's cats, Murphy. Hannah was really missing Jerry's sister, our Aunt Liz. She'd been alone in the kitchen for a while when I went to check on her. This was what I found.I hope you've enjoyed the photos of my family. I'm pretty proud of them all, even when they drive me crazy.