EtsyInspired #136 - Bearly Art

Hey peeps. Pain is kicking my hind end today (Friday) so this is uber short. Super cool shop with all kinds of neat painted clocks this week. There is truly something for every taste, including my daughter, Hannah's. I cannot show her Bearly Art, because she will beg for the horse clock. I actually like this lemon painted rolling pin holder. It's really cute and would add such a bit of cheer to any kitchen. Some lucky winner will get to choose any in-stock clock just for playing along this week!

Photo will be attached in the morning, when I can get my fingers to behave....

Our sponsor this week is Sassy Cheryl's, a shop with some super cute digi-stamps that are really a lot of fun and would be utterly fabulous for anyone who is a colouring freak. Either Copics or Prismacolors with gamsol would just be marvelous with any of her images and one of our weekly winners will receive a $5 Sassy Cheryl's gift certificate.

So now, you know the drill. For full deets and to link up your project for this week, head on over to the EtsyInspired Blog. You've got until Friday, April 29, at noon, Pacific time. Before you go, though, check out the rest of the EIC team...

Angi - sitting out this week
Ashley
De
Emily B.
Jackie
Joy
Kerry
Kimme - April Guest Extraordinaire!!
Ruby
Savannah
Sherry
Virginia

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Luvlee Birthday!!

Surprise!!! It's a mini-hop to wish a very, very

to my sweet friend, Lee - she of the many amazing smilies!!

When I heard about this, I was excited to take part. Lee has been so supportive of me during the two and a half years that I have known her. Even when I've fallen down on the job, she's been there to help pick me back up and dust me off. So Lee, this one's for you! I hope you have a truly fantastic birthday!!

Of course, since this card is for Lee, it had to have pink and it had to sparkle. It wouldn't be a Lee card without either of those things, would it girls? I may have gone a tad overboard with the stickles, but I just couldn't help myself. (I'll redo the pic once the stickles are dry...and yes, there's a story behind that. Somebody remind me that I really do love my son?)
Here's a list of the rest of the the birthday bloggers...and of course, don't forget to stop by and wish Lee herself a happy birthday!

Allison
Christi
Crafty Math Chick
Joanne
Lori
Lydia
Misti
Nancy
Paula

And one more time, Lee...

Wooly Blast From the Past April Hop

Good morning everyone! I just love Taylored Expressions' Blast from the Past Blog Hops! This month, Sankari's sketch is right up my alley, too! I am such a CAS girl.

When I first saw this stamp set back in December, I knew I had to have it. I learned to knit when I was pregnant with my eldest daughter, who turned 17 on the 7th. Six months later, I started spinning my own yarn. It's where my online nick came from and I still love it! Plus, I think the Knit Wit sheep is just way too cute!I'll keep it short since there are so many blogs to visit. I hope you enjoy the hop!

EtsyInspired #135 - Creatingisfun

Happy Saturday! I'm starting to feel almost human again, but I'm going to keep it short and sweet. This week our shop belongs to a friend of most of us here at the EtsyInspired Challenge. Creatingisfun is Martha's shop and she sells various buttons and trims, and the occasional hand-created, vintage-inspired project. I particularly love her buttons. I've been dithering between two sets for a few weeks now and can't decide which ones I want. I think I'm going to have to order both - assuming nobody buys them first. As I was writing this post, I was told that there is a 50% off sale that she is continuing through the rest of today (that's Saturday.) The code is FRI50.

When I saw this suede ribbon, I remembered some that I had that was kind of similar...just with an added ruffle on the edge. It's almost the same shade of brown! My whole card started with that ribbon. I needed an extra birthday card that isn't for OWH, but is for a woman with Fuch's Corneal Dystrophy.

Deets:
Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps - Fancy Phrases
Ink: Distress Ink Vintage Photo
Cardstock: Memory Box
Etc: suede ruffle ribbon, CB embossing folder

Fuch's is an inherited disorder that both my mother and aunt suffer from. I have a 50% chance of having it, too. So far, they've been unable to tell whether I do or do not, but if I do, then each of my children will have a 50% chance of inheriting it. My aunt has already had one corneal transplant. My mother's is slow-developing, so, although she is the elder sister, she is not in need of a transplant any time soon. My aunt needs her other eye done as soon as her first eye is healed enough.

The woman to whom I am sending this card has other health issues and, because of these, is unable to have a transplant. Her Fuch's is so severe that she must sit in the dark. Because of this, I wanted to add texture to the card, so I thought the embossing folder would be a good idea. This way she can feel the letters. The suede ribbon should also feel nice.

Now it's your turn. For full deets about this week's sponsor, all prize information,and to link up your project, head on over to the EtsyInspired Blog. You've got until Friday, April 22, at noon, Pacific time. Before you go, check out the rest of the EIC team...

Angi
Ashley
De
Emily B.
Jackie
Joy
Kerry
Kimme - April Guest Extraordinaire!!
Ruby
Savannah
Sherry
Virginia

Thanks for stopping by!

GIU Makeup Day 4ish

Hey guys. That fibro flare has me good and hard still, but I will finish out last week to give everyone their full opportunities to comment and win.

Today was my first day on the Creative Inspirations Paint blog, and since typing hurts, I'm going to cut/paste most of what I wrote over there.

This past week has been birthday central around my house, so I made a birthday card using a few Unity stamps. I thought I'd try painting directly onto my stamps and stamping with them, since I'd never used my paints that way before. As you can see, it worked out really well! It's definitely a different look, but I think it came out really cool, plus the shimmer is fantastic!

Deets:
Stamps: Unity - retired vine
Unity/Bella Blvd: Bella Trees & Sweet Celebration Birthday
Paint: Creative Inspirations Paints - Emerald, Evergreen
Cardstock: Memory Box, Neenah Classic Crest
Etc: embossing folder Swiss Dots

I especially love the look of the vine stamp down the left side of the card. I'm definitely going to be using this technique more often! I did learn that it works a lot better with a stamp that has more solid areas, rather than just outlines, such as the sentiment, but that did still work. I can hardly wait to try it with multiple colours!

Paper Maniac has all of their Unity stamps on sale for 40% off throughout the month of April. That's a fantastic steal! Great time to pick up one of the new Websters Pages kits or some Melody Ross....

EtsyInspired #134

Hi everyone. Long, bad week. Fibromyalgia struck with a vengeance and I'm still in some pretty good pain. I think it was the weather change that did it. It happens that way sometimes and about all I can do is wait for it to pass. Look for a couple posts from me in the next day or so.

Today, however, it is time to be EtsyInspired and we've got an extra special shop and an EXTRA special guest!! This week, we're featureing none other than Kim Kesti!! She and Jeri Smith (to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure which one of them is the mother, and which is the daughter!) have a shop called think fast designs where they make and sell darling aprons, gorgeous quilts and several other vintage-inspired items. For EtsyInspired folks, there is a disount coupon this weekend. Just type in "THINKFASTPLEASE" to get 10% off your order! One lucky player is going to win his or her choice of Vintage Pendant Necklaces!! (I like this one...)

When I saw this particular quilt, for some reason, it reminded me of Cosmo Cricket's Nutmeg dp. I think maybe it's the light green and maybe the rotated plaid - which, of course, I ended up not using. Then I saw this new-to-me challenge - Peachy Keen Sketch Challenge #49, and it was just perfect to use for a quilt-inspired card, so I went for it. The sentiment and border dots are from Fancy Phrases by Waltzingmouse Stamps.Our sponsor this week is Nikki Sivils! We are just busting out with awesomeness all over the place this week! Some other lucky player is going to win a Nikki Sivils collection pack, complete with paper and embellies!

Okay now, you know the drill. For full deets and to link up your project for this week, head on over to the EtsyInspired Blog. You've got until Friday, April 15, at noon, Pacific time. Before you go, though, check out the rest of the EIC team...

Angi
Ashley
De
Emily B.
Jackie
Joy
Kerry
Kim Kesti - Special Guest
Kimme - April Guest Extraordinaire!!
Ruby
Savannah
Sherry
Virginia

Thanks for stopping by!

CASEing Myself for Growing in Unity

It's day 3 of Growing in Unity and I was a little stumped. Ashley pointed me to the monochromatic challenge at Claudia & Company, and looking at Piali's card reminded me of a couple cards I made way back in April 2009. I'd actually forgotten that I'd originally CASE'd someone else when I made the first two way back then! The link to the original-original (made by LynniePoo) is in my SCS gallery description.

The layout works beautifully with Unity's big background stamps and it also works with the large {ippity} stamps.
The background on this one is Grandma's Apron. The sentiment comes from an older Kit of the Month (September 2008), which is now retired. Both are stamped in Faded Jeans Distress Ink.
For this card, I used {ippity}'s Gurnsey Gingham for the background and Life's Little Moments for the sentiment (both of which I do have in stock - just leave a comment or email me if you'd like either.)

That's two more for my 40 cards in 40 days for Operation Write Home. I hope some of you are joining me, even if it's just for one or two cards. See you again here tomorrow!

ACK!! Just realized I hit save last night rather than publish...so this didn't get put up at 8am like it was supposed to! I'm such a dork!

GIU - Jillibella Soup

Good morning. It's been busy already today. We had one heck of a thunderstorm at 4:00 this morning. It was loud enough to wake up several of us in the house. The wind was terrible. Then the Dell guy came and replaced the spousal unit's motherboard, soundcard and something else. We're hopeful that this will solve his blue-screen-of-death errors. We do know that 2 of the RAM slots on the old motherboard were bad, so cross fingers and all that.

Today, I've got a quick and easy birthday card, yet again for OWH. This is my go-to sketch, which is from Nina Brackett's first blogiversary. It's so multipurpose and just the easiest thing in the world.
The reason for the odd placement of the present and stars is because I accidentally droped the ink pad onto the card when I went to stamp the present a second time. Of course I already had the background attached to the base.

Oh, and my goofy title for today is because I used Jillibean Soup paper (Yellow Squash) and Sweet Celebration Birthday from Unity's Bella Blvd co-branded stamps.

Have a great day today! I'll be back again tomorrow (much earlier!)

H{ippity} Hoppity Hello, I'm Growing in Unity!

Good morning! I'm super excited to be hosting Growing in Unity this week!! It's my FIFTH time! I think I'm beginning to make a habit of this!! Of course, this is also H{ippity} Hop day, so I have an {ippity} card to share. It's very CAS, as I'm working on my personal challenge to do 40 cards to send to Operation Write Home.

For anyone who plays along, there is blog candy involved. I'm still working on what all that includes, but so far, I have a set of nesties, at least one {ippity} kit and one from Unity. You have until Easter Sunday to finish up, and they do not all have to be different, so long as there are 40 total and they've been made between Lent and Easter.
I've used OWH's Sketch Challenge #63 for the layout. The sentiment is from the {ippity} set Sweet Thoughts of Spring.

Check out the {ippity} blog for a full list of today's participants.

I'll be posting each day for the rest of this week with more Growing in Unity! Don't forget to leave a comment on each post, as I'll be drawing a name at the end of the week and someone will win some Unity goodness!

Growing in Unity Week

Hey everyone. Just wanted to let you know that I'll be hosting Growing in Unity starting tomorrow morning, so don't forget to stop by every day this week. My first post will be up at 10am Eastern. See you then!!

EtsyInspired #133 - xs baggage & co.

Hey everyone. It's gonna be short and sweet from me today as it's been a very stressful week in the Chesser household. Today it's time to be EtsyInspired. Xs baggage & co. is a super cute shop with the most darling little bags. If I didn't already have a case for my ipad, I'd be all over this one.

I'm still working on my 40 card Lenten Challenge, so I used one of the Operation Write Home sketches from Challenge 62. There are 3 this week! There is no stamping at all on my card, either - just a really cute Stickerz from EAD Designs. This adorable little cell phone bag was my inspiration. I couldn't resist the cherries!Our sponsor this week is the Wax Fruit Company. I couldn't make up my mind which of her fabulous digis I wanted to use, because they're all so pretty! I especially love her flowers!

Now it's your turn! For all the prize deets and to link up your project for this week, head on over to the EtsyInspired Blog. You've got until Friday, April 8, at noon, Pacific time. Before you go, though, check out the rest of the EIC team...

Angi
Ashley
De
Emily B.
Jackie
Joy
Kerry
Kimme - April Guest Extraordinaire!!
Ruby
Savannah
Sherry
Virginia