Clearly Inspired Challenge #31 - Dying to Punch it Out!

Die cuts, cut outs, and punches!!! Oh yeah!!! What a fantabulous challenge for me. I find it difficult these days to craft without using my Cricut. The Clearly Inspired Challenge for today is to incorporate die cuts, punches, or cut outs into your project.


The project I'm sharing with you today was actually started MONTHS ago ... yep, months. At that time, I was aiming for a pink, black, and white project. I had a lot of it done, but just couldn't find what I wanted for the center of the flower and couldn't finish off the project.

This challenge was perfect for this! :)


This easel card and the layers involved were cut using the Cricut and SCAL, but the center of the flower - with the little spidey on it - was cut using the Blooming Bouquet Dies from Clear Dollar Stamps. It finished this card off perfectly.


Card Recipe :
Stamps - Spider Greetings
Paper - Bubble Gum, white, black
Ink - white, black
Copics - RV04, RV06, C3
Accessories - Cricut, SCAL, Cuttlebug, folder, Blooming Bouquet dies, oval punches, ribbons, pop dots



Here are the details of our challenges....

-Challenges are now going to be on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of each month, and you'll have 2 weeks to finish each challenge.

-Challenges can use any stamps or digis from any company

-Only one entry per person per challenge

-Prizes will be given away after both challenges for the month. The number of prizes is determined by the number of participants for the month. For every 20 entries there will be a $10 gift certificate for stamps or digis up for grabs. (For example if over the entire month there were a total of 60 participants in both challenges, there will be 3 $10 gift certificates and 3 of the featured digital images to give away.)

-We will also be giving away the featured digi image....one for every 20 entries!


Head right on over to Lori's blog and the Clearly Inspired Challenge to join the challenge and to see what the other design team members have created to inspire you! Punch it ... die it .... cut it .... put it all together and show it off! Can't wait to see what you create.


Hope you're having an amazing Friday and that you have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!


~*Shell*~

Winners! Winners!!

Our winners for the June Blog Hop contest are ...... (insert drum roll ...)

From Kathy's blog, Dunn it Again Designs, our first winner is basslady from Lady Bass Creations.

Our second winner, from Sarah's blog, Aunt Bee's Pickles, is Heather of Wire Wrapture.

Congratulations to each of you!

Clear Dollar Stamps June Blog Hop!!!!

Woohoo!!!! Welcome to the June Edition of the Clear Dollar Stamps' Monthly Blog Hop!!!! You should have come here via Laurie's amazing blog, but if not, no worries! Just head over to Lori's blog to start the hop and comment along the way for your chance to win.

"Sugar and spice and everything nice,
that's what little girls are made of."

That's our theme for this month's hop ... little girls! What do you think of when you think of little girls? Ribbons and lace? Dolls and tea parties? I think of those, too, but in my world, we have to throw in a little mud, dirt, worms, holes in the jeans, and John Deere. I have ... if it's possible ... a very girly-girl tomboy. Hahaha! My 'little girl' inspiration is 5 years old, FULL of energy (24/7), and a total delight. We have often said that she is proof that God has a sense of humor. :) Please keep in mind that she came along when my boys were 15 and 10 ...... yeah ..... VERY funny ...... Ha. Seriously, she's a delight, and there is nothing that I would take for her. She's so precious.


So, my mojo went with a little rough-n-tumble, girly-girl card kind of card. Ok ... cardS. I ended up making 2.
This is the first one I made. I can't (still) decide if I like it or not. What do you think?? There's lots of shimmer and sparkle, some lace, and flowers, but I roughed up the edges a bit like a pair of old, comfy jeans. That's my little girl, beautiful and sparkly - with a little rough and tumble around the edges. :)

Card Recipe -
Stamps : Blooming Bouquet, Rooster Sunrise (sentiment), Spring Critters
Paper: saffron, dp
Ink: black, rose, white pen
Copics: none
Accessories: Blooming Bouquet dies, Cuttlebug, pearls, ribbon, oval punch, Sheer Shimmer, pop dots, sanding block



This is a much more CAS card.... clean and simple. I love the Thankful Pockets set, but it was a Stamp of the Month and probably not available any longer. That pocket with the flowers is so perfect for the little girl in my life. The pink hearts on the background are from the Baby Bundle set (released in January of this year).


Card Recipe -
Stamps : Baby Bundle (Jan. 2011 release), Thankful Pockets (Nov. 2010 Stamp of the Month)
Paper: white, lavender
Ink: rose, blue
Copics: BV11 - flowers in corner
Accessories: watercolor crayons, pearls, ribbon, flowers, pop dots, water




So .. which one do you like the best? Which one do you think represents a rough-n-tumble girly girl? Hahaha!

How about some details about the blog hop?

PRIZES: 2 lucky winners will each receive a $10 gift certificate for the CDS store for purchase of clear or digital stamps ONLY.

WINNERS: Winners will be randomly chosen from comments received on two DT member blogs. Winners will be announced on the CDS blog and on here Thursday, June 23rd.

It's your job to comment on as many of the posts in the blog hop as you can. Comment, comment, comment for your chance to win!!


From here, you need to ramble right on over to Christi's super duper blog after commenting here. Remember to go back and start back at Lori's if you just happened by here today.



I know you'll find tons of fun and inspiration on the hop today. Perhaps, you'll also find yourself to be a winner, as well! :)

Cherish your dad today if you still have him here on this earth with you. I miss my daddy terribly. Have a fantastic Father's Day (Happy Father's Day to all the special dad's out there!!!) and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.


~*Shell*~

Clearly Inspired Challenge #30 - Sketch Challenge!

I know. I know!! It's been forever since I've posted. I'm truly very sorry. With VBS going on, I just couldn't get it together to get anything on here. I even missed doing the last Clearly Inspired Challenge .... and I HATE that!! So, what's our challenge today?! It's a SKETCH challenge!!!


So ... what's the sketch look like?? Here ya go ...



Isn't that just gorgeous?! I LOVED playing with this one.



Here's my creation.

This is such an odd color combo for me. Not anything like I normally pick, so when I look at it, I don't realize, at first, that I did it. Hahaha.

The circle layer is distressed on the edges, and VersaMark ink was applied to the distressing. I think this added just a touch more texture and a little 'wild' feel to the card.

Card Recipe :
stamps - Scriptures of Hope
paper - pink, dp, yellow, white
ink - pink, VersaMark
Copics - N/A
Accessories - Bold Butterflies Dies, Cuttlebug, folder, distresser, ribbon, pop dots


Let's see what you can do! I know you have fantabulous ideas, and I want to see them!!

Here are the details of our challenges....

-Challenges are now going to be on the 1st and 3rd Fridays of each month, and you'll have 2 weeks to finish each challenge.

-Challenges can use any stamps or digis from any company

-Only one entry per person per challenge

-Prizes will be given away after both challenges for the month. The number of prizes is determined by the number of participants for the month. For every 20 entries there will be a $10 gift certificate for stamps or digis up for grabs. (For example if over the entire month there were a total of 60 participants in both challenges, there will be 3 $10 gift certificates and 3 of the featured digital images to give away.)

-We will also be giving away the featured digi image....one for every 20 entries!


Head right on over to Lori's blog and the Clearly Inspired Challenge to join the challenge and to see what others on the design team have created.



Don't forget to join us this Sunday (June 19th) for our monthly Blog Hop!!! This one is going to be wonderful, and I know you'll love it!


Have a fabulous Friday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!

*~Shell~*

Mother/Daughter Tea

On May 7, our church hosted a Mother/Daughter Tea in celebration of the Mother's Day holiday. What a wonderful, fun event!!

About 19 ladies signed up to host a table. We had to decorate the table (in our choice of theme), serve our tablemates, make sure the guest felt welcome, set up the food on our table, and clean up. For weeks, I thought about our theme. I wasn't sure which direction I wanted to go. I'm not a very 'serious' or 'fru-fru' kind of person, so I knew the theme would be something fun. In the beginning, I thought that I would go with Cinderella. Then, I found out that our plates would be green ...... Yeah, NO. That would not work with Cinderella's signature blue.

Next thought???? The Princess and the Frog! YES!!! I could go with a fun theme that would not clash with the provided plates, tea cups, and glassware. :) I was happy. Hopefully, my guests would be, too.



This is the final look for our table. There is a 3-tier stand in the middle of the 'lily pad.'


Our Princess and her frog. :) This shows the middle of the table without the 3-tiered stand. The sign tells the name of our table and explains the meaning of F.R.O.G. (Fully Rely On God).


Each guest at our table received a tiara (because we're ALL princesses) and a goody bag. The goody bag was adorned with a frog magnet and held a small frog finger puppet and frog lollipop.


The place mats for each place setting was round to be similar to a lily pad. :) The napkins were cloth and a very pretty green that went very well with the darker green plates and place mats.




Gotta have a napkin ring, right? :) I added the yellow/gold crown on the purple ring to add a little spice and color to the green theme.


I used my Cricut (obviously) and SCAL a LOT in this project. It was SO much fun to put together and even more fun to share with our tablemates. Now ... I need to get some cards done to thank them for joining me! :) More frogs to cut out. Monday .... I can do it all on Monday ... :)




Have a wonderful Sunday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!