Blog Candy Giveaway

Thanks to everyone who participated in my blog candy give away and I apologize that I didn't pull it last night, but I was out celebrating my 13th anniversary with hubby. We went out for a nice (quiet) dinner and a great movie (The Proposal). I love Sandra Bullock and she did not disappoint.

So I plugged in the numbers of all those who commented and became new subscribers and ran it through random.org and this was the result

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 8

<<Kristine B. said...This is absolutely Gorgeous!! Wow, and what a great sketch it is too :) I will gladly post this in my "candy jar">>

Kristine, please e-mail me at khhoward at bellsouth period net with your address and your choice of a Clear & Simple Stamp set and I will get everything shipped out to you.

Thanks to everyone for following me along my stamping journey!

Blog Candy

BLOG CANDY DETAILS

If you visit my blog often you will remember this frame I posted last week. I'm in love with this frame and as much as it pains me to give it away, I must. It needs a good home and I decided that I also loved this frame which I'm selfishly keeping.

So I will be giving away this frame and your choice of a stamp set from Clear & Simple Stamps ($15 value) along with some other goodies to go with the frame. Sound good?

I will use the random generator to pick a winner on Monday, June 29th (my 13th wedding anniversary)

Here's how you can win, you can do each one and be entered for each one completed, so you have 4 chances of winning this blog candy:

1. Create a card using the sketch above and post a direct link to your card on my blog.
2. Spread the word, post to your blog about my blog candy or if you don't have a blog, send an e-mail to your friends and cc me on it (khhoward @ bellsouth . net)
3. Visit a participant of the blogger's challenge (pick one from the list here) and leave a comment, we all love feedback on our creations! Post a link to the person you commented on.
4. Sign up as a follower on my blog (left hand side under follow me)

I will keep this post at the top of the blog and will close the blog candy at 12 noon EST on Monday, June 29th, 2009.

Technostampers Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge

I'm officially LOSING IT!! I came down to do my Technostamper's sketch last night only to realize that I am a week off...not only that but my sketch for last week was wrong! UGH!!!

Okay, so I didn't get my sketch done, yet. I hope to still get to it, but for now I'll share the card I made for #75 which is pretty simple.

It's my 13th anniversary today. My husband & I met in high school 19 years ago, dated for 5 years and then got married with 3 wonderful children. Our life hasn't always been easy, we've definitely had our ups & downs but hopefully it's only made our marriage stronger. He's my best friend and I can't imagine what life would be like without him in it. DON'T FORGET TODAY IS THE LAST DAY FOR MY ANNIVERSARY BLOG CANDY HERE.

So with that in mind, here's the cute little card I made for him which I think it so appropriate ;-)

Card details:
Stamp Set: Hearts & Flowers by The Cat's Pajamas
Cardstock: K & Co. Lifes Journey Patterned Striped Embossed paper, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and Baja Breeze
Inks: Basic Brown, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla
Accessories: Paper Piercer, Aquapainter, Crystal Effects, Copic R20

Weiman Wranglers

Have you seen these adorable cowboy/cowgirl created by Pink Cat Studio for an awesome cause? If you haven't, run to check them out. You can read more about it here.

I had to get these cuties and it worked perfectly for a birthday card I sent with my daughter for her friend today.

I printed my Cowboy Ethan on Whisper White cardstock (my printer doesn't seem to like any other) and colored him in with my copics.

This patterned paper is from CTMH I believe, it's been in my stash a long time. I coordinated it with some Bravo Burgundy and Night of Navy cardstock and used my nestabilities to give him a little shape. The little Happy Birthday sentiment from The Cat's Pajamas.

Join in the fun, there are some great prizes going on for participating in this great cause!

Have a great weekend! Blog candy is closing 6/29, join in the fun for some goodies!

Itty Bitty Frames-Paying it Forward

I created some little 4 x 4 frames for the Pay It Forward Challenge I had back in October, long overdue, but it did say I had up to a year to make them ;-)

I hope that all the recipients have received them and like them as much as I liked making them. I tried to do them all a bit different based on what I knew about them and the colors they told me they liked.

I used a variety of papers and stamps but if you have any questions about them, please let me know.

Does anyone know how to line pictures up in blogger? I'm so frustrated by it!!!

Technostampers Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge #75, Better Late than Never

Bear with me and my long post if you will. I'm overdue and wanted to get this posted after I completed it Monday night but never got the cards photographed. So, here it is Tuesday and I've already posted once today but really wanted to get this posted today so you get a bonus blog post today! Not only that, but I did 2 cards using Mary Jo's sketch this week. You need to make sure to play along and post your link to her blog as she's having some blog candy for playing!

I had fun with this sketch, it's easy as can be and you can use the sketch with so many different images!!!

I also had some fun playing with my Clear & Simple Stamp set Flight of the Bee and another favorite Stampin' Up! set Tart & Tangy. I'm thinking I need the sentiments to this set now after playing with it again.

On top of getting these cards done last night I also decided to play a little with a challenge from Lisa Spangler on sharpening images. I'm learning a lot from her tutorials which works hand in hand with doing some digital scrapbooking so I'm excited to absorb as much info as I can. I love that she also gives the tutorials easy to read using the free program GIMP which I have on one of my computers and my other one has Photoshop. They go hand in hand for me. So I will be showing my before and after shots here as well.
*before is to the left, after below; I don't know why the orientation is not right, sorry*



Make sure to join me for Mary Jo's challenge! Don't forget my BLOG CANDY here either!


Card #1 Details:
Stamp Set: Tart & Tangy by SU!
Cardstock: Real Red, Whisper White, Summer Picnic DSP
Inks: Real Red, Always Artichoke, Versamark
Accessories: Twine colored with Artichoke marker, Bold Brights Buttons, Clear Embossing powder

Card #2 Details:
Stamp Set: Flight of the Bee by Clear & Simple Stamps
Cardstock: Mustard unknown, Basic Black, Papertreyink White
Inks: Copic YR21, Memento Tuxedo Black, Craft White
Accessories: Spring Flower Punch, Mega Curved Rectangle Nestabilities, Rhinestones, Stickles

Party Invites

Hopefully you all aren't sick of my Bravery Gent samples. I just got a ton of ideas when I received this set & had to sit down and get them all out of my system.

My husband & I used to have friends over all the time, but now that we have kids we don't seem to do that as much. I talked him in to having a BBQ with some friends & family and doing it outside so everyone can run around. Our kids & family love to play the Wii so we'll rearrange our garage to put our big screen/Wii out there for everyone to play and we'll set up shop in the driveway for our BBQ. I'm excited about it and know we'll have a great time.

Of course I had to send out some invitations, can't just call and invite everyone. I bought some of this Creative Imaginations paper this weekend and it had several different patterned strips on one side of the paper and the other side was a whole sheet of patterned paper. I thought the strips would work perfect with the invitations.

Again, I went with a very simple invitation, just adding my strip in the middle. The little circles I punched out where one of the patterned strips, there were different images so I just had to punch them out and mount them on to my scalloped circle. I stamped my sentiment, one on the top and bottom. I added some paper piercing below the patterned strip and highlighted the star again with some Crystal Ice Stickles.

I printed out my invitations on Very Vanilla cardstock using the SU CSS Hand Font. I made every invitation different by asking each person to bring a different dish (side dish, dessert, appetizer) so I changed that wording. I stamped the fireworks stamp inside and added some more stickles. I love that effect with the fireworks stamp!

Hope you like the invites! Make sure you check out my blog candy giveaway here.

Weekend Sketch Challenge 85

I haven't participated in one of the weekend sketch challenges in a long time and this week Sharon Harnist was the host. If you haven't checked out Sharon's blog before, don't walk, RUN to check it out.

I won this wonderful blog candy from Laura Leonard last week and couldn't wait to get these stamps inked up. It's the Ocean Commotion set from Storage Units Inks and More. Denise has great sets and their storage units are a must in my book!

I used some of the Basic Grey Eva paper I bought a few weeks ago for this. I thought of my friend Kerry when I used this set as she loves purple so any shade of purple I think of her. I love the subtle colors of the fish and the lips are my favorite part of this set, they are too funny!!! I put Crystal Effects all over my fish to make it glossy.

Hope you like my first creation with the Ocean Commotion!

Make sure to check out my blog candy here, only 7 more days to participate!

BC104: Manly Cards

This week our Blogger's Challenge was to create a manly card. I needed to make hubby a Father's Day card and although this froggy Ketto from Stamping Bella is kind of feminine looking I think that it works well for a Father's Day card. Hoping my husband doesn't sneak a peek of this before Sunday.

I was flipping through my CTMH catalog from awhile ago and found a card layout I liked and went with that and Dawn's color challenge for last week. I really like these colors together but it was soooooo hard NOT to add another color to it.

Make sure to check out all the other blogger's challenge cards here.

Also, don't forget about my blog candy here.

Bravery Gent Place Setting

I created a few more things with the Bravery Gent set from Clear & Simple Stamps. This first creation was done using some cloth napkins I've had in my closet forever. I used my nestabilitie circle and pinking circles to make a black/red combination and simply tied my napkin with a pretty elegant black ribbon. I adhered the circles with a dimensional. You can't tell real well from the photos but I highlighted the fireworks with some silver stickles.

I paired my napkin with a cute little name card for seating at the table. I used some cool new paper I found this weekend: Glitter Fireworks by Creative Imaginations. My husband actually picked it out for me. I stamped some of the stars from the Bravery Gent with my Brilliance Starlite Silver. I also highlighted the star at the bottom with silver stickles.

I made them very simple and handwrote the name on a round tab punch.
Don't forget my blog candy here.

Mystery Image Swap: Kristen Catalano

For one of the yahoo groups I belong to we do a mystery swap where the hostess sends everyone the same image and we swap with a partner. This month our hostess with the mostess was Kristen. I know she's a HUGE High Hopes fan so I figured we'd be getting some type of HH image and I was dead on, just thought it would be something so much different than Luigi.

I had this image colored to match this paper but the first layout I was aiming for didn't work too well. This layout is loosely based on Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #20. My image is a bit bigger than show on the layout but I think it works.

As I was staring at Luigi and trying to think of the perfect sentiment to go with him, I remembered my Lockhart stamp ....hot stuff... and thought "hmmm, that would fit perfectly on the chef's hat" so that's where it went. What do you think?

Hope my partner likes it and hope she has received it by now since it was travelling to CA.

Card details:
Stamps: Luigi from High Hopes, Lochart #10041, Canvas BG by Stampin' Up
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise, Chatterbox patterned paper
Inks: Copic markers
Accessories: Ribbon Punch, silk ribbon unknown

Don't forget I have blog candy to offer here.

Happy 4th of July

I was bouncing with ideas when I received this set from Clear & Simple Stamps called Bravery Gent. I'll be sharing a few more of my creations over the next week from this set.

I love this soldier in the set. Reminds me of my brother-in-law who was in the Navy and I know I didn't get the uniforms exactly right but was trying to go along with the FTL46 Sketch used on both the cards from Clean & Simple and keep them "simple".

Hope you enjoy the cards and don't forget about my blog candy here.


Card details #1:
Stamps: Bravery Gent by Clear & Simple Stamps
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink White
Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Creamy Caramel, Night of Navy Reinkers, E00 Copic
Accessories: ruler, aquapainter, Stampin' Write marker

Card details #2:
Stamps: Bravery Gent by Clear & Simple Stamps
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink White
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers #R29, B29, E00, B39, 0
Accessories: ruler

Clear & Simple Stamps At Home Release

Wow, there are so many new great releases from the At Home Collection from Clear & Simple Stamps. I hope you will run over there and check them all out. I've listed the links below for you to check out.

NEW RELEASE LINKS:

Real Estate Darling

Delivery Gent

Home

We've Moved

House Notes

Live Life

Freedom

Also, I received some awesome news last week which I've been bursting at the seams to tell everyone and where the idea for my blog candy was contrived. I was asked to be part of the Clear & Simple Stamps Design Team. I have been having such a great time being a guest designer and so thrilled that they asked me to continue designing for them!!! They are an awesome company and am looking forward to the next 6 months with them.

If you have time, please check out the other Design Team members blogs as there are some talented ladies joining the team!

DT MEMBERS:

Erin Bigler

http://www.paperamblings.blogspot.com/

Robyn Weatherspoon

http://herebygrace.typepad.com/here_by_grace/

Jen Tapler

http://jentapler.blogspot.com/

Neva McMullen

http://scrappinbelle.blogspot.com/

Kim Howard

http://basementstamper.blogspot.com/

Sue Berker

http://berkerblog.blogspot.com/

*************************************************************

Lori Tecler

http://inkingaloud.blogspot.com/

Beth Matson

http://nevertoooldtocolor.blogspot.com/

Nancy Beauchamp

http://creationsbynancyj.blogspot.com/

Nicole Ritts

http://nicoleatscrappychicdesigns.blogspot.com/

Maria Levine

http://riacreations.blogspot.com/

Go CM Raiders!

My son's baseball season is coming to a close this weekend with a tournament in Tennessee. Unfortunately his season came to an end almost 4 weeks ago when he broke his arm, he still wanted to go to TN to cheer on his team. I made these little goody bags for all the kids filled with sunflower seeds, gum and a Kool Aid packet.

I used Batter Ian from The Greeting Farm as the focal image and used my Just Rite Stamper to create the team name on the tags. I created the baseball using one of my circle punches by taking a scrap I punched a little piece out of each side as my template to trace the seams.

I wrote all the kids names on the tags and colored all the Ian's to match the kids hair on the team. The bag is a template I followed off SCS which can be found here.

I love baseball season and we have really missed watching ours play lately!!! I know he misses playing as well so hoping he's having a good time with his friends this weekend.

Don't forget I have blog candy to offer here.

Fore You

I created this project to submit for the Clear & Simple Stamps design team. It took me forever to figure out how to do but loved the outcome of it. We have a lot of golfers in my family (both my parents, my hubby, brother, son) so these golf sets are right up my alley.

This tee holder has a spot for 4 tees inside. The little orange belly band slides off to allow for opening although it also has a slot to close it as well.

Tee Holder details:
Stamp Sets: Golf Darling by Clear & Simple Stamps
Accessories: Circle punch embossed with Swiss Dots folder, Yellow prima, ribbon and paper unknown

June 15th is the new releases for Clear & Simple Stamps, make sure to check them out!

Don't forget I have blog candy to offer here.

Bloggers Challenge 103: Sketch Challenge & Blog Candy

This weeks blogger challenge was a sketch challenge, and a challenge it was. I had just gotten my Flight of the Bee set this week from Clear and Simple Stamps and knew I wanted to use this. Why I waited so long to get this set, I have NO idea!!! I LOVE it!

Anyway, I had the idea in my head but of course when I start stamping away it's not looking as good as I imagined it would. Once it all came together I was happy and at the last minute decided to add a little something to it, some Flower Soft. My friend Pam sent me a few little baggies of this a few months ago...yes, a few months ago. Sadly the first few times I used it were frustrating and they didn't look good. I think this time turned out darn cute and I didn't even use it on flowers!

Make sure to check out all the awesome creations from the other bloggers by clicking here. Hope you will join us today in trying the sketch, and I have an extra bonus today...some BLOG CANDY!!!! I had been thinking of doing this for a week or two and finally decided it was about time. See below for the details.

Card details:
Stamp Set: Flight of the Bee by Clear and Simple Stamps
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black & Versafine Onyx Black
Cardstock: Core'dinations Yellow, Basic Black, Papertreyink White
Accessories: Circle punches, Nestabilities, Ribbon unknown, Flower Soft

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BLOG CANDY DETAILS

If you visit my blog often you will remember this frame I posted last week. I'm in love with this frame and as much as it pains me to give it away, I must. It needs a good home and I decided that I also loved this frame which I'm selfishly keeping.

So I will be giving away this frame and your choice of a stamp set from Clear & Simple Stamps ($15 value) along with some other goodies to go with the frame. Sound good?

I will use the random generator to pick a winner on Monday, June 29th (my 13th wedding anniversary)

Here's how you can win, you can do each one and be entered for each one completed, so you have 4 chances of winning this blog candy:

1. Create a card using the sketch above and post a direct link to your card on my blog.
2. Spread the word, post to your blog about my blog candy or if you don't have a blog, send an e-mail to your friends and cc me on it (khhoward @ bellsouth . net)
3. Visit a participant of the blogger's challenge (pick one from the list here) and leave a comment, we all love feedback on our creations! Post a link to the person you commented on.
4. Sign up as a follower on my blog (left hand side under follow me)

I will keep this post at the top of the blog and will close the blog candy at 12 noon EST on Monday, June 29th, 2009.

We've Moved Sneak Peek

I told you the other day how much I love this set and the little house from the We've Moved set being released by Clear and Simple Stamps on June 15th!! This was by far one of my most favorite projects of them all. Don't you hate when you think about giving something away and then can't bear to? I thought about it for about 2 seconds but it looks so wonderful hanging on my office wall I can't seem to give it up. I mean, really, doesn't it look great up against my wall?

I got these little 4 x 4 frames from the Target $1 section. I think there were 3 of them for $2.50 and I'm wishing now I would have gotten more of them. I've used them all and will be sharing a few more next week as soon as the recipients have them in their hands.

I pulled out an old CTMH scrapbook kit that I had (I love their kits) . For some reason I'm drawn to the brown, green, blue color combo, its the colors of my office as well. I brought in some yellow on the house as that's one of the accent colors in my office as well (where I spend most every day).

I mounted the house on a few of the coordinating papers on a labels nestabilitie. I covered some a chipboard flower and added another chipboard ribbon piece to it.

I stamped the sentiment on this cute little tag I found in my stash and added some eyelets which I don't hardly use anymore.

I'm pleased with how it turned out and think it would make another cute little housewarming gift!

For more We've Moved samples check out Beth's blog and the Clear & Simple Stamps blog.








Frame details:
Stamp Set: Welcome Home
Inks: Basic Brown, copics
Cardstock: Cameo Coral, Bashful Blue, Papertrey Ink White, Patterned paper CTMH
Accessories: Target frame, Nestabilities, Chipboard, Chocolate Chip Ribbon

Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge & Use It Challenge

I had a few minutes the other day to try these challenges. I knew right away I wanted to do Karen's challenge as I really liked the square background with the main focus on the one image.

I haven't had a chance to play the Use It Challenge lately and really want to get back in to the challenges I've enjoyed so much.

The Use It Challenge #13 and the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge #21 can be found by clicking on the links.

Stamp Sets: You Say It's Your Birthday-The Cat's Pajamas
Cardstock: Real Red, Bashful Blue, Tangerine Plaid (and other) patterned paper by Chatterbox
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics
Accessories: Hero Arts Gemstones, Crystal effects, nestabilities, Stickles

Sneak Peek: We've Moved

I absolutely love this set from Clear & Simple Stamps! I love the little house and the possibilities it presents in terms of coloring it. I hope some day in the future to use it for my "We've Moved" notices.

This was also for a challenge awhile ago on Paper Craft Planet called "It's in the Bag" and I used a template from Kelleigh Ratzlaff from The Digi Chick.

I filled up this little goodie bag with some Hershey's nuggets with almonds (which didn't last long). It would make a great little treat to bring to a new neighbor.

Make sure to keep your eyes open for my favorite project I created using the We've Moved set later this week. These sets will be released on June 15th.



Bag details:
Stamp Set: We've Moved by Clear and Simple Stamps
Cardstock: Old Olive, Papertreyink White, Baja Breeze, Basic Grey patterned paper
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics
Accessories: Prima, Button, Twine and Funky Bag #2 from The Digi Chick

Monday's Lunchtime Sketch Challenge #73

I created this card with this weeks sketch for Monday's Lunchtime Sketch Challenge. It is such an easy and fun sketch, similar to this frame I created (with the same type layout). This was also for a Monday Mailer group I signed up for which last week I was tardy for. This week I'm more prepared.

Unfortunately, it's a Stampin' Up! group to use all SU! materials. Going through my stamp sets I realized I have very little current sets left. I don't think I ordered more than 5 sets last year from the catalog. I'm looking forward to seeing the new catalog in a few weeks.

This card uses the Priceless stamp set. I decided to just leave it open and not put a sentiment at all. I *love* this Parisian Breeze paper and am sad to see it retiring. I used Soft Sky, Kraft and now am embarrassed as it looks like I grabbed a retired blue (Blue Bayou). I hope my partner won't care too much. I added some gold brads along with some gold stickles

Hope you join us in Mary Jo's challenge this week, can't wait to see what you create. Make sure you come back as I'm thinking I'll have some blog candy to give away and some more sneaks to share with you.

Blog Hop: Crop for the Cure

If this is your first stop on the Clear and Simple Stamps Blog Hop, please go to Clear and Simple Stamps and start your hop from the beginning. If you have hopped to my page from Maria Levine's page than you are in the right spot.

Your next stop on this blog tour will be to Lori's blog.

Make sure to complete the blog hop, the DT each have some blog candy to give away and there is a grand prize opportunity as well.

To win my blog candy you must create an ATC, Tag or Card Candy using the For the Cure Digi paper. Please make sure to provide a link of your creation (blog or gallery) in the comment section of my blog. You can use other stamp sets to go along with the papers, but the main focus should be on how creatively you can showcase the Digi Papers. The papers will be 4x4 in size and include 4 different patterns. Post by June 7th at 9 p.m.

What is my blog candy? Well, it is 3 limited edition sets specially designed for the participants of the Crop for a Cure event which I will be highlighting today on my blog. These are 3 limited edition sets that are 2 x 2 in size and will NOT be available for sale.




___________________________________________________________________

If you want a chance to win the new Awareness Darling stamp set and a surprise pack of embellishments, you can upload your creations to Splitcoast or Paper Craft Planet by 9 PM Sunday June 7th using tag: CSSFTC09. CSS will select their favorite design to win this cool set.

This was my first creation with the limited edition "For the Cure" set and love how it turned out. I donated all my creations to my friend Deena who is walking the 3-Day in Tampa this year (if you would like to make a donation to her, she would greatly appreciate the support) and was putting together a chocolate raffle basket. I colored some Avery address labels with one of my pink Copic markers and then created a block of stamped words to stamp on the labels. I kept the front of the nugget box pretty simple as I really wanted to focus on the important words of this set.

Here is the 2nd creation I made with the set "Ribbon". I decided to make a handful of cute little ATC cards with some patterned paper. This is a picture of the ATC card with the basket of chocolate goodies Deena was raffling off.


Lastly I created a scrapbook page of some photos Deena sent to me of her walking the 3-day last year in Atlanta. She is amazing as this is her 4th year (I think) and she's also volunteered to work the event the 2 years she didn't walk. What an amazing experience!

I used an old CTMH scrapbooking kit I had and really put the focus of the page on this tag, trying not to take too much away from the pictures as I think they tell a story in themselves.

Hope you have enjoyed my creations and please take a look at the DT work to see what they have created. Can't wait to see what you create using the digital papers!

Please make sure to jump to Lori's blog for your next stop!