Etsy Inspired #41 - Potato Patch

Hello and happy Saturday! I'm on week three of my month as a guest on the Etsy Inspired team. I am so loving this! This week, the shop is Potato Patch. The stay-at-home mom who own this darling shop takes potatoes and carves them into stamps, which she then uses on shirts, onesies and a few other baby items like bibs, to create prints with fabric paint. They are really cute! Once again I find myself wishing my children were smaller.

I really did try, honest, but I just couldn't stay away from the ladybugs for another week. I managed it last week, in part because I didn't want everyone to think that I was only about the ladybugs, but after seeing this sweet little girl in the ladybug onesie, how on earth could I resist?

Since I was having fun with this week's sketch challenge, SC233, I decided to go ahead and use it again. Once I got going on it, it turned into my own card for YSHLUA#5. Yes, there really are three patterned papers in there. The dark reddish-pink I've used in two places actually has polka dots. To be perfectly honest, the onesie was the inspiration for that challenge in the first place, so it's rather fitting.

Deets:
Card Stock: pink - Bazzil
Green Galore - SU!, GinaK Luxury White
Patterned paper - Basic Grey, Pink Paislee
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Stamps: from Unity Little Buggers
Etc: Nestabilities, Copic markers, atyou Spica marker,
clear detail embossing powder

Now it's your turn! Find an item from the Potato Patch Etsy shop that inspires you in some way and create something. It could be a card, a layout, an ATC, a cake, a poem - anything at all! - and link it to Ashley's blog post by noon on June 26. Someone will win this week's prize. All the deets are on Ashley's blog.

Before you get to work, please head over to see what the rest of the Design Team has to show. These are some talented chicas and they deserve some LOVE!!!

• Kerry Angeles
• Shannon Bracken
• Jackie Bowman
• Jenn Coker (June Guest)
• Kristen Dyer
• Tonya Hopkins
• Tiffany Johnson
• Lee Murphy
• Emily Niehaus
• Heather Schlatter
• Joy Stagg
• De Swanick

Don't forget, if you upload your project to either Splitcoast Stampers or Papercraft Planet, please use the keyword EIC41.

Thanks so much for reading today. Now go be EtsyInspired!

HHH - June 19

Good morning, everyone! It's still morning, right? I have fallen prey to Twilight and its denizens. Yes, I finally got suckered in. We finally got Breaking Dawn and it took me a total of about 9 hours to of actual reading time. Yes, I actually slept in between bits and I finished this morning. I need a new book to obsess over now. I guess it's time to finally read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows. I will likely start over with the first book and read them all straight through. Yes, I know. But that's how I roll.

Before I forget, everything is 30% off at Unity all weekend long. That's everything, folks. If you've had your eye on something, now's the time to get it. If this is your first order and you mention my name (Carole or FibreJunky will do) and my email address (FibreJunkyREMOVE@CAPSgmailDOTcom) and the words "I am new" in the comment section, we both will receive a coupon for 40% off to be used between July 6 and July 13! How's that for a deal? Plus new customers with orders of $25 get to choose a free single from a list on the homepage.

Okay, so, now that that's out of the way, for my card this week, I'm using 2 Splitcoaststampers challenges, Sketch Challenge 233 and Color Combination Challenge 223, Breezy Ruby Whispers, which is to use Baja Breeze, Red Ruby and Whisper White together. Okey-dokey. I should do colour combo challenges more often. They're kind of fun.
The sentiment is on the inside of the card, but the photo of it is horrible, so I'm not going to post it. If I can get a better one, I'll put it up later. The image is the top half of the same stamp, which is from Unity's May Kit of the Month ...another sweet day.

That's all from me for now. I'll be back tomorrow with Etsy Inspired Challenge #41! See you then!

Etsy Inspired #40 - Naturally Felt

Hello everyone! It's Etsy Inspired time again and Ashley's chosen another fabulous Etsy shop for inspiration. This week the shop is Naturally Felt, which sells handmade lunch sacks, reusable sandwich bags and felted slippers. Before anyone gets on to me about terminology, yes, they're actually knit and fulled, but let's not nit-pick, shall we?

Naturally Felt is definitely a company that can help you go green in a more stylish manner. As soon as I saw this little tote, I knew I had to use it for my inspiration. Aren't these the cutest little dinosaurs? If my boys were still little, I'd be buying one for each of them. They were definitely into dinosaurs big time when they were in grade school. Now, at 17 and nearly 19, they're more into plain solids, if I can even talk them into carrying their lunch. Taylor would far rather eat pizza from the high school lunch line. Cody is out of high school now, so it's really a rather moot point until he gets a job.


The dinosaur lunch tote immediately brought to mind Terry the Pterodactyl from Paper Makeup Stamps. This is the first time I've inked him up. Isn't he adorable?? The sentiment is from Unity's Love is in the Air, which I chose because the card is for baby Parker. We're all anxiously awaiting news of his arrival, which could be any time now. I used the sketch from Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge #232.

For more Etsy Inspired projects, check out the full team:

• Kerry Angeles
• Shannon Bracken
• Jackie Bowman
• Kristen Dyer
• Tonya Hopkins
• Tiffany Johnson
• Lee Murphy
• Emily Niehaus
• Heather Schlatter
• Joy Stagg
• De Swanick
• Jenn Coker (June Guest)

If you want to play along - and we'd all really love that! - link up your projects here by noon Pacific on Friday, June 19, and you'll have a chance to win! This week's prize is a set of reusable snack/sandwich bags from Naturally Felt!

One more pic, just because I think it's really cute and because you guys know just how much I love the ladybugs. Thanks again to Ashley for letting me join the team for the month of June!

Hangover for Shemaine

Hi guys. I was going to post my YSHLUA card, but I decided to make something for the request Shemaine sent out a few days ago. She has a friend whose cousin is in need of a liver transplant at the ripe old age of 29. I just can't imagine how frightened he must be. Shemaine requested that we make our challenge cards to include a positive message or quote. Well, I didn't do any of the challenges yesterday, but I looked at what was out there this morning and found CAS18, which was to use Kraft, pinks or corals, and one other coordinating colour. Since this card was for a guy, I made the pink more of an accent and chose Kiwi Kiss as my coordinating colour. I really like this particular sentiment, too.
The pink accent on the flowers is Copic atyou spica marker. I'm going to go back and adjust that bow so that it lies flat even when standing. It flopped just as I took the photo, darn it! I hope the card isn't too overtly feminine.

This card will be winging its way to Benjamin Welch tomorrow.

Etsy Inspired #39 - Chicy Creations

Good morning everybody! I am super-duper excited. Today is my first day as a guest member of the Etsy Inspired Challenge team! I want to thank Ashley for giving me this opportunity.

This week the shop is Chicy Creations. They have the absolute cutest hair bows and tutus. It almost makes me wish I were having another baby girl. Almost. My girls are a little too "grown up" for some of the creations, but the 12yo is enamoured of the flowers. Those of you who know me will not be surprised in the least to find that my favourite is this little ladybug clip. I think it's adorable!

Since I cannot resist ladybugs, and I find ATCs so much fun, I went with a ladybug ATC. I used one of Karen Lockhart's Itty Bitty stamps. The text was done in Photoshop. All cardstock is Stampin' Up!Now it's your turn! Find an item from the Chicy Creations shop that inspires you in some way and create something. It could be a card, a layout, an ATC, a cake, a poem - anything at all! - and link it to Ashley's blog post here by noon on June 12. Someone will win this week's prize. All the deets are on Ashley's blog.

While you're cooking up your project, please head over to see what the rest of the Design Team has got to show.

• Kerry Angeles
• Shannon Bracken
• Jackie Bowman
• Jenn Coker (June Guest)
• Kristen Dyer
• Tonya Hopkins
• Tiffany Johnson
• Lee Murphy
• Emily Niehaus
• Heather Schlatter
• Joy Stagg
• De Swanick

If you upload your project to either Splitcoast Stampers or Papercraft Planet, please use the keyword EIC39. Now go be EtsyInspired!

Etsy Inspired #38 - Bacon Square Farm

Guess what! Two posts in one day!! I know, it's a shocker, but there you go. I finished a little ATC for this week's Etsy Inspired Challenge. The store for this week is Bacon Square Farm. This shop does home deco and some of the cutest little birdhouses!

Since I'm trying very hard to branch out and not do All-Unity-All-the-time, I did not go the way I normally would have. Instead, I went with this flower box as my inspiration. I think it's sweet and I love the bright, cheery colours.

I pulled out this Geranium stamp from My Favorite Things and made a little ATC.
Don't forget to check out Ashley's blog to see what everyone else has come up with for this challenge - and I'll be back tomorrow with my first official Etsy Guest DT post! I can hardly wait!!

Hip Hop Hangover/mojo?

Hi everyone. I haven't been posting much the past couple months. My mojo took an extended vacation. I don't deal well with loss. I have abandonment issues. I admit that. And even though I know, intellectually, that the people who have died did not do it intentionally, it brings up emotions that I am ill-equipped to handle. My creativity has taken a hit, along with pretty much everything else.

However, as I mentioned week before last, I have some truly amazing friends. With their help, and a bit of time, I'm getting back to normal. I've even gotten a few things made. I'll be sharing one for this post, as it is a Unity project. Having a challenge is always a little push for me. I'm very fond of sketch challenges, so I went looking for one I liked. It happened to be SC218 on Splitcoast Stampers. That meant it was eligible for challenge prizes for Hip Hop. I didn't win anything, but that wasn't really the point. The point was to make a card. The side benefit? It's already been favourited twice! Let me know what you think.

The colours in the close-up photo are much truer. Unfortunately, you can't see the way the flower centres sparkle in either photo, but I used Copic atyou Spica markers to add a touch of glimmer. The coneflower stamp is from Unity's May Kit of the Month ...another sweet day!

Tomorrow I will start my guest spot on the Etsy Inspired Design Team. I am SUPER excited about that! I'll have all the details bright and early tomorrow morning. The shop is super cute and somebody is going to win a prize for playing along. Could it be you?

HHH - Way late!

I'm so sorry this is way late. I had an appointment at the clinic this morning and they ended up doing a bunch of x-rays on my knees in addition to the ones on my ankle. I haven't got the results yet. My guess is that it's just a fibromyalgia flare, but my doctor wanted to make sure there wasn't anything else going on.

First, let me point you to the Unity blog, where Angela is showing sneak previews of the June Kit of the Month. It's going to be another stunner. If you really want crazy, check out the Unity forum on Splitcoast Stampers. Each Monday, Wednesday and Friday through June 25, there will be a choice of 3 images from which to vote. Once all 20 images are chosen (today is the 7th round of 3), a kit will be released containing those images. We, the customers, are in charge of this one! How awesome is that??

For this week's sales, go here. All unmounted kits are reduced through Sunday.

Today's card came from a combination of places. I really like the Clean & Simple challenges on Splitcoast Stampers. This one is CAS #15, which was to use white, black and only one from Stampin' Up!'s Bright Bold's colour line. I chose Glorious Green, which isn't one I tend to use often, but it just so happens that Kristen put up the latest YSHLUA challenge, which was to use white, black and green - and no embellishments. How fitting!
Both the sentiment and the image are from the April Kit of the Month, Fresh Beginnings.

I'll be back later with an Etsy Inspired card. Ta for now!

Heroes - Hip Hop Hangover

Yesterday the Unity DT talked a lot about heroes. Heroes come in many forms. My original intent was to make this post about my mother. She really is a hero to me for many reason, not the least of which being that she raised me on her own, often without hearing a word from my dad for years at a time - and she never said a bad word about him. I know now that she could have, but she didn't want to tarnish him in my eyes. I truly admire her for that, as I know just how difficult that was for her.

However, I've been going through a seriously rough patch lately and this is for my friends. You guys right now are my heroes. Some of you have known me for many years, but those of you whom I've met through Unity, have known me for only a few months - and yet you have held me up and are continuing to do so as I work through the struggles with two Asperger's teenagers, several deaths among friends and family, the potential deployment of my husband and the added stress of failing a class in the middle of it all. Ky (who has plenty to worry about but won't let any of us worry about her), Shannon (our stressed-out idol), Ashley (who is heavily pregnant and dealing with way too much stress), Kristen (who needs a job and a house of her own), Val (who is dealing with the deployment of her own husband), Jacquie (who's just been diagnosed with Grave's Disease), Tonya (I don't even know where to start), Sherry (who recently lost her mom), Jimmi, Jen B, Christi (another who's DH has deployed), Linsey (who always writes the sweetest, most supportive comments), Lee (whose smileys bring joy and laughter to everyone) and the rest from Unity - because I know I'm leaving out more than I can keep up with; my dear friend Jenny (who is always by my side even if she's physically in England), Donna (who is my sister in every way but blood and who has been through more deployments than I can count - not to mention cancer and a bunch of other stuff she'd shoot me for mentioning - but she'd darned well better know I love her to pieces!), Shel, Opal, all of the Sept96 Moms - I do not know what I would do without you guys.

And also to Angela, Eryn, Brooke, Christian, Gus, Bro-man, Tommy T and the Unity gang for bringing us all together and for everything you do.

This card is for all of you.

Deets:
Stamps: Unity Tree (Growing in Unity)
Friends for Life (August KOTM - Remember Happiness)
Cardstock: SU! Kraft & Baja Breeze
Ink: Ranger Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Etc: Cropodile, eyelets

Thank you all for being the best friends a girl could have. Even with all that each of you struggle with, you are still there for me.
That's why you are my heroes.

Unity Kit of the Month Blog Hop!

If you got here from The Bunny Nest then you're in the right spot! Isn't Ky fantastic? She's not only creative and wise (see her post from May 4), but a wonderful friend to boot. If you didn't come from Ky's blog, click on the banner at the top of this post to go to the Unity blog and start at the beginning. You won't want to miss any of the fabulous projects from the 100 peeps who are participating this weekend.

To be honest, I haven't had a lot of mojo lately. I did, however, have enough to create this ATC and I used 2 different Kits of the Month. The butterflies and the Celebrate sentiment came from April's Fresh Beginnings and "splendor" is half of Autumn splendor from September's kit Friendship. Love. Miracles.
The butterfy flowers are individually inked with Brilliance dew drops. The stems are a Colorbox catseye pigment ink. Using the pointed ends of the pads enabled me to get different colours into the little spaces. I then embossed them with clear detail powder. The sentiments are embossed with Judikins Galaxy and the background is Plum Blossom Twinkling H2O's.

Word to the wise - don't try to emboss something when your Twinkling H2O's aren't quite dry.

Now head on over to see Vickilyn and see what goodies she has to share this weekend!

Etsy Inspired #35 - Bealoo

Hi all. I decided to push the mojo a little and make an attempt at Etsy Inspired #35. This week the shop is the totally adorable Bealoo. This is a collective of moms making the cutest artwork. The colours are bright and fun.

For my colours, I was inspired by Bella Butterfly. Isn't she just darling? I also chose to play off the garden theme that runs throughout several other pieces on the Bealoo site.Bella Butterfly

This is the card I came up with. Both the snail and the sentiment are from Queen Kat Designs.

Deets: All stamps QKD
Cardstock - Lovely Lilac, Yoyo Yellow, Neenah Solar White
DP - Basic Grey Ferver (Euphoria collection)
Ink - Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue, Memento Rich Cocoa
Etc - Copic Markers, Sky Blue atyou Spica, Nestabilities

Blog Candy at Victoria Case

Victoria Case is offering some adorable blog candy. Don't go, cuz I want it! Or go, but if you win, at least send me some images of the stamps, because they are ca-ute!! How have I missed these before?
I'll be back later, I hope, with an Etsy Inspired card. The mojo is in short supply this week. At least the orthodontist thing went fairly well. Meg looks adorable with her turquoise bands. Lucky girl is having either 4 or 6 teeth pulled on the 28th, depending on whether or not the oral surgeon can do her bottom wisdom teeth at the same time. She'll get her bottom braces put on after that. Taylor will get his braces started next month and Hannah will follow shortly thereafter. Can we say "broke"? I knew that you could. Holly still has a dental appointment to reschedule, as she had some kind of middle school orientation/tour today. Good times.

Stressy HHH

Hi guys. Can I just say that I hate dentists? I'm sorry if you're a dentist. I don't hate them personally, but shudder! And that's where we're going this morning. This time we're just going to discuss finances and options for the children and orthodontia. Times 4.

Unity is scrapbooking this week. I wish I had a scrapbook page to share, but I have not been on the ball this week. Colour me stressed out. There are a bunch of scrapping stamps and kits on sale here and with the code SCRAP, you can get an extra 10% off all orders over $15.

I made these cute little pins for my friends at Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival last weekend. They're from the Love Ewe stamp, but I masked out the baby sheep. Two of them are on translucent polyshrink. I bought some white after I made them and really like the way the white sheep looks. I made them into pins using pin backs I picked up at Michael's.

Hope you like them as much as I do. Catch you guys later.

Congrats Ashley!!!

I just have to post because I am so proud of my friend!

Unity had their One Year birthday this past week and they hosted a week full of challenges. One of them was the Unity Celebration Inspiration Challenge, hosted by Maren. It was to create something inspired by one of the cakes from this flickr set.

My sweet friend, Ashley, of HeartHugs Designs, won!!!

This is her project. She actually made a card-cake. It's amazing, truly, and I am SOOO happy that she won!

If you go her blog, she tells how she created it. The cutie on top is her son, aka Sponge-Brady No-pants.

Ashley, you rock!

New Sorority in Town

I know I don't post much about other stamp companies. I love Unity so much that sometimes I start to feel like I'm cheating on Angela when I use other companies' stamps! However, this is something I do intend to remedy and tonight is a great time to add to the variety.

This is from the Whimsical Ink Sorority blog:
So, you wanna become a sorority sister? Would you also like to win prizes? Then you're in the right place. We've got some special things happening this week. The Whimsical Ink Sorority was founded by Queen Kat Designs. We have elected a very awesome Chapter President Maigan Lynn to head up the art for the Sorority and we have a house filled with special sisters to take the art and turn it into cards, scrapbook pages and things!

So, since I'm already a member of Queen Kat's Royal Kit Club, you can bet I'll be joining the Sorority. Who wants to join me?

Blast From the Past

This is going to be short, but I just had to share. An old friend had been trying to catch me all weekend, but I was out at the Howard County fairgrounds (post to come), so I missed him. Well, this morning, I found out why he'd been looking for me.

His mom was cleaning out photo albums to scan and came across a very old newspaper clipping. In reading it, somehow I think that Randy's comments were paraphrased just a little. I do wonder what happened to several of these people, including Brady Mitchell, who had been my partner for the several years prior. He'd graduated from high school by 1984 and was no longer eligible for Jr League bowling.

I remember how exhilarated we were. And how tired and sore I was. Oddly, that's pretty much how I feel today, except that instead of having a sore shoulder and right thumb, my legs and back hurt from walking so much this weekend.

To Randy, wherever you are. I hope life has treated you well. And to Jimmy, thanks for the memories.

Etsy Inspired #33 - Opalescence

Hi everyone. If you're looking for the Hip Hop Hangover post, check the one below this.

This week, for Etsy Inspired #33, Ashley chose the Etsy shop of a very dear friend of mine from Hawaii, Opal. Her shop is called Opalescence. On it she sells hand-beaded stitch markers for knitting, necklaces and bracelets and some gorgeous hand-spun yarn. Now, she'll tell you that I taught her to spin. I'm not completely sure on that one, but she is definitely responsible for teaching me to bead. She isn't responsible for how long it's been since I've touched my beading tools, so don't laugh too much at my project for this week!

I chose these stitch markers to be inspired by. They reminded me immediately of one of the very first stamps I bought from Unity, from the set Love is Toxic.

I turned the stitch markers into earrings, using shrink plastic, and then made a box for them.

I showed them to Meagan and they've received the teenager stamp of approval. I think I've achieved my goal.
Don't forget to check out Ashley's blog to see what everyone else was inspired to create - and definitely go see Opal's shop. She is one talented wahine.

Hip Hop Birthday Hangover!

Before I say anything else, I want to wish Unity Stamps a VERY

Happy Birthday!!!!

Yesterday's Hip Hop was pretty amazing. The design team has been giving sneak peeks of the new May Kit of the Month, which is being released today. It is adorable!

The past week has been on the rough side for me, so I haven't gotten much done. I do want to thank everyone for being so supportive. It really means a lot to me.

I completed this first card for Viva Las VSN last Saturday. It was for the challenge I hostessed, Cirque du Soleil - Love. The idea was to be inspired by any of the songs on the soundtrack to the Love show. Let me tell you, there are some hugely talented people on Splitcoast Stampers. Just check out the gallery for the challenge. I chose to use Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds as my inspiration.

The other card I have to share today is from Unity's "1" Happy Unity challenge, which was to make a one layer birthday card. Considering how mojoless I feel, it came out far better than I expected. It's very sparkly in person. I used Copic atyou Spica markers to colour in the cupcakes.

Stamp Deets for both cards: All Unity
1, 2, 3, 4 Thousand Cupcake Calories!
Celebrate - April KOTM
Lollipop Trees - April KOTM

That's all from me for now. I'll have an Etsy-inspired project to post later today.

Aunt Jo

Mom called me yesterday. Aunt Jo died of pneumonia. I'm supposed to be glad that she isn't suffering and that she's with her brothers and sister, her son and her infant daughter. I'm sorry, but I'm just mad and sad.

I took this picture at the hotel in Batesville at breakfast, the day before Nanny's funeral. My cousin, Aaron, had some smiley face stickers. Aunt Jo stuck one on her nose. I'm really going to miss her.

Etsy Inspired #32

Hey there, peeps! I'm back.

I'm playing along with Ashley's Etsy Inspired challenge #32. This week, the shop is Angel Face Designs.

This is the item from which I took my inspiration.
Since I've been on a theme kick for the Etsy challenges, I decided to stick with my theme and do another ATC. I wanted to make the background look like sand. I used the same technique as the last two times, but a different type of card-stock, and it gave me exactly the texture I wanted. The image is from Unity's Beach Days & Sun Rays set.