A challenge to create a gift bag. Wow ... I have given a lot of gift bags, but really, I don't usually decorate them. I mean, every now and then, I stamp a few things on a white one just because I don't want it to be so plain, but not much more than that. This week, though, the challenge on Just Us Girls was to create a gift bag - decorate it ... make it purdy!


I started with a plain green - lime juice green - gift bag.

I had a pink and green theme going on with several of my projects. I guess I'm thinking back to my preppy days in high school .... oh, wait! I was never a prep in high school. Hmmmm .... :)

The little card in the middle with the pink on it is a great place to put a little note to the recipient. The cake and balloon on there pop up, too, to give more dimension to the decoration.

My daughter loved the whole thing. Perhaps, I will use it for her birthday in September!


Recipe :
stamps - Celebrate, Birthday Cake Swirls, Birthday Party
paper - Bubble Gum, Lime Juice, white
ink - black
copics - R81, B21, 0, YR61, RV06, Y11, YG06
accessories - Cricut, SCAL, Birthday Party svg file, ribbon (bubble gum, lime juice), crystals, flowers



I know that there will be many beautiful and extravagant bags made for this challenge. I can't wait to see them!!


Have a great Tuesday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!


~*Shell*~

A background challenge, a sketch challenge, and a color challenge ... wrap them all into one, and get .... well, my project. :)

I'm submitting to th
Stampin' Sisters In Christ challenged us to do a black and white card.

365 Cards challenged us to do a background challenge - 1/2 polka dots, 1/2 solid color

Critter Sketch Challenge had the sketch for today's project.



So ... here it is. :)


The polka dot folder was inked before I ran it through the Cuttlebug, making the polka dot background here. I distressed that layer, as well, to give a little more texture to the card. Black and white certainly is striking, isn't it?? I loved working with this sketch, too. Such fun!!

Card Recipe :
stamps - Seasonal Swags
paper - bubble gum, lime juice, white
ink - black
copics - 100, 0, G85, G99, G00, R85
accessories - Cricut, SCAL, Seasonal Swags svg file, glassy glaze, pop dots, crystals
technique - CAS


Tomorrow, another challenge card! Can't wait to share it with you.


Have a great, big, beautiful tomorrow.


~*Shell*~

Blog Hop Winners!!! :)

Do ya wanna hear who won the prizes from Sunday's blog hop???


Well ..... here we go!

Our winners are ....From Lori's blog, Clearly iStamp - Kelly from Scrapbooking, Card Making, Altering Items and Having Fun!

From Jerusha's blog, I Love Paper Crafting - Nikki from Graphix and Designs.



Congratulations to both of you!!!

Summertime - July Blog Hop

Summertime, summertime, sum, sum, summertime .... :) You just have to smile when you think about it, don't you? The blog hop for July features this theme, and it was so fun to work with. I know you'll find amazing inspiration from the design team.

Speaking of the blog hop - you should have come here right from Lori's amazing blog. And, after you've commented here, you should head over to the blog of the greatly talented Jan! :)



When I think of summer, I think of many, many things.... sun, water, swimming, ice cream, late nights, fireflies .... yeah, MANY things. The tie that binds them all, though, is friends. Without friends, none of those things are very important.

My daughter has a friend whose family is from the Philippines. Recently, her friend (6 years old) left the US to move back to the Philippines to live with her daddy for a while. My daughter is devastated. To help her adjust and to help her friend remember us, I made a special scrapping page and framed it. The Numbers 6:24-26 verses/stamp was perfect for this situation. May the Lord bless these children in all they do.

Project Recipe:
stamps- Numbers 6:24-26, Blooming Bouquet
paper-pink, dark pink, brown, white
ink- black, white, versamark, pink
accessories - Cricut, SCAL, flowers, pearls, crystal heart, Sheer Shimmer, ribbon, pop dots, photos
Technique - scrapbook page 8 1/2x11


Remember - the more you comment, the more chances you have to win!!

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 Wednesday, July 20th.



Ok ... now, go directly to Jan's blog and comment over there for another chance to win a prize!



I am out of town this week (at the beach as one of the adult leaders with our church youth group - pray for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), but I will be back next week with fun challenges and samples for you!


Have a beautiful (and blog hopping) Sunday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!!


~*Shell*~

Clearly Inspired Challenge #32 - A Color Challenge

Woohoo!! Clearly Inspired Challenge #32 is here for you today! Don't you just love being challenged? I find that it helps kick my mojo into gear. What do you like about challenges? What kind of challenges to you like to be a part of? Well, today, we've got a Color Challenge for you. Super fun stuff, I'm telling you.




What can you create with these wonderful colors? I'll tell you, they were a challenge (just what they were suppose to be, right?!) for me. I don't think I would have ever put these together on my own.


So, what did I do with them??


I used Rooster Sunrise from Clear Dollar Stamps. The rooster, actually, has a layer of glassy glaze-type stuff on him. It gives a very interesting effect to this guy. The buttons I used were perfect for the color challenge. LOVE the turquoise in them, and they have that vintage feel to them.

Card Recipe :
stamps- Rooster Sunrise
paper- Lime Juice, Mud Pie, Wild Ginger, Tempting Turquoise
ink- black, brown
accessories - Glassy Glaze, Cuttlebug, folder, ribbon, buttons, pop dots, sewing machine

Now, how can you play in this fabulous challenge?? Well, head over to the Clearly iStamp blog for all the details and to add your project to the linky!
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Basically, though, here are the details ....

-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 and please no back posting

-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. . .that's a total of 6 winners in that example.)

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

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So, get moving ... get creating .... use those colors ... and post!! Can't wait to see what you come up with!!!

Don't forget that we will be having our Monthly Blog Hop TOMORROW - July 17th!! You do NOT want to miss that!!!

Have a fantastic Saturday and a great, big, beautiful tomorrow!!

~*Shell*~