"Love Is In The Air" Whimsical Wednesday Challenge

Hello Whimsical Crafters! This week we are challenging you (#39) to put some love in the air in your homes, and create a love themed home decor project. This is not limited to Valentine Themed home decor, it can be anything to do with love. An example would be an altered picture frame that you would put a photo in. I did go with a Valentine Day project for this week. My little one was so sad to take down all the Christmas decorations this year, so to alleviate that I promised her that we would be sure to decorate for every holiday from now on:) Here is our first decoration:

All of the cuts are from the Silhouette Store, and cut with my Cameo. This was suppose to be a tool box, I thought it was really cute, and decided to turn it into something girly and fun.....a candy treat holder for the table.  The papers are K and Company, Smitten (from last year), and Stampin' Up. I punched around the top with a Martha Stewart punch, and added trim all around the bottom edges. I layered and pop-dotted all the hearts. 

I put Viva Decor Glitter Liner on all of the hearts to make them sparkle. The pearls are Prima, Say It With Pearls. The sentiment "Happy Valentines Day" is from the With Love stamp set.

and here is the Design Team reveal (all of the ladies also used the With Love stamp set):

GiGi 

Wow, this hand woven basket is gorgeous. I love how GiGi paired up the little owls with the "Love is all we need" sentiment. I  can't wait to hop over to GiGi's blog to get all the details on how this basket was created!

Nanne 

Nanne created a gorgeous rosette, with lots of layers!  Nanne did some creative altering to the sentiment "you are My happily ever after" to create that beautiful design.

Karen 

Karen created such a sweet wall hanging, that is sure to add plenty of love to any home. She even added a little surprise, that you will get to see over at her blog. The bow and the little rose is a gorgeous accent to the "Love is all we need" sentiment.

Shelly

Shelly altered a vase with beautiful flowers, hearts, and beads. She layered the "Happy Valentine's Day" sentiment on the heart to add a pretty accent. Shelly has another treat for you over at her blog, that you won't want to miss! 

Sabrina

Sabrina created an adorable frame! Little Miss. Lady bug is the star of the show, and is perfectly paired with the "Love Bug" sentiment.

To get all the details on these amazing projects, and to leave the designers a little love, be sure to visit their blogs.

Winners (Let's Get Sketchy Challenge):

The random winner of the $10.00 gift certificate for The Stamp Fairy is #4 Heather P. Congrats Heather. Please contact me so that I can get you your gift certificate. 

All of the entries for our first sketch challenge were so beautiful, and it was difficult picking a top three:

#7-Debbie

#1 Rhonda

#3 Deonna

Congrats to our winners this week. Please contact me, using the contact button above, so that I get your top three badge. 

This week one random winner will get this yummy spool of twine (160 yards).

This is 160 yards of Valentine's Baker Twine-Strawberry Cupcake, from Timeless Twine

Here are the guidelines for the challenge:
1. Create a "love Themed" home decor project
2. When uploading your project please be sure that it is a direct link to your actual post, and not just you blog
3. Only one project per challenge  
4. Please put in your post that you entered your project into this challenge with a link to this blog. I do not ask that you make a project just for my challenge. I know that there are lots of fun challenge blogs out there and I encourage you to play along in as many as you want:) So go ahead and enter your project where ever you like.
5. In order to become eligible for the prizes you must enter the challenge, become a follower of this blog, and leave a comment under our post's
6. NO back linking
7. Link your project to InLinkz by February 8 at 12:01am EST
8. I reserve the right to delete any entries that do not follow the guidelines

Remember that we have a brand new challenge every week, but each challenge stays opened for two weeks. Have fun creating! 

 

Jessica's Blend Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to Jessica's Blends blog hop. You should have arrived here from the umber talented Nataliya. If you just stopped in to say hello, or got lost you can start the blog hop back at Jessica's blog.  Jessica has invited her nearest and dearest blends (blog+friends) to celebrate her one year blogaversary. Thank you for the invite to your special day:) There are lots of great projects, and prizes. You won't want to miss a stop.

Jessica asked us to pick one of her past projects, to inspire our our new project for you today. Such a fun idea! I was browsing around and came across this post. The stamp on Jess's card immediately reminded me of my Tim Holtz Heart Wings Alteration Die. So I pulled out my die and started creating.....

I made a tag to put into one of my pages in my Smash Book. I won't go into all of the details because I know you want to move along, just the basics. I used the emboss-resist technique for the background of the tag, painted the die with folk art acrylic paint, and added some trim and fibers.

The sentiment "Love Struck" is from my With Love Stamp set. I stamped it and glued it to a fragment charm, along with a key and heart charm. It looks pretty simple, but it took me hours to get it done... I think it was worth it because I really love the way it came out. So, it just goes to show you how we all inspire each other. If I would not have seen Jess's project, who knows when I would have pulled out this die.

The Sponsors for this hop are

1. Julie from 3 Girls Jam. Julie has donated a bundle of her beautiful Valentines Shabby Crinkle Ribbon Bundle for one lucky random winner

2. Stephanie-that would be me! One random winner will win all four stamp sets in my first stamp release

I am also giving away a little blog candy today. I thought it would be fun to give away the die I used on my project to one random winner.

 Jess also has some other super fun prizes that she is giving away, be sure to get all the details on how to qualify for the prizes over at her blog. You will have until Wednesday at noon to leave a comment on all of the blogs.

All you have to do now is hop back over to Jess's blog and leave her a comment. Thank you for hopping along today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

 Just a reminder:
 "Whimsical Designs" Design Team Call!!!
Yes! I am having a design team call. The term is coming to an end, and it is time to bring brand new designers aboard. I encourage all levels of crafters to apply. If you are interested please e-mail me using the contact button at the top of my blog.

Featured Fridays

"Whimsical Designs" Design Team Call!!!
Yes! I am having a design team call. The term is coming to an end, and it is time to bring brand new designers aboard. I encourage all levels of crafters to apply. If you are interested please e-mail me using the contact button at the top of my blog.

This week's Whimsical Wednesday Challenge is Anything Goes! Click here to link up;) 

Hello Whimsical Crafters! Are you all ready for the weekend? We are suppose to get a little bit of a snow storm tonight. We will see how much it really amounts to. So I have decided to go with "Featured Fridays" for the new series on my blog...thank you to my sweet friend Robin, for the suggestion. I am way late getting my post up today. Last week I sliced my hand opened with a pair of Cutter Bee Scissors (I know which one of my wonderful crafty friends are laughing their you know whats off..and I say shut up! lol) Well anyway, I wound up with 8 stitches. It has been so hard to craft, type..or do just about anything. Takes me forever! Sorry about that. First I would like to share a card I made featuring Natalee PK-210,  from Peachy Keen Stamps. 

I think she is so happy, and sure to put a smile on anyone's face. Don't you agree? I colored her with my Prisma Colored Pencils, and added some Viva Decor Glitter Pen, and Diamond Glaze. I added some twine, and crocheted flowers for embellishments. I think this the sentiment "Thought you might need a pick me up" goes perfect with Natalee.

That sentiment comes from my Everyday Sentiments stamp set.

This set and the other in my first release can be found in my shop.


For today's Featured Friday I am going to tell you about a product that I used on my card today, Diamond Glaze. If you look at the red flowers, and the center of the biggest flower you can see it (a little hard in the photo, but really pops in person!)

Before I get started I just wanted to mention that if I am doing a product review or a tip and it is replacing something that I used to use, I am not going to mention that "old" product. I don't ever want to be negative about anything, and the next person may love that product, or have a wonderful experience with it. It is all just a matter of preference. This is just my experience, and it may help other crafters out there that are having the same problem, or this may be a completely new idea for them.

Since I started crafting I had been using another product to add glossy dimension to my projects. However, I did not have any luck with it. It ALWAYS clogged, and when I applied it, it always muted or sometimes would even change the color of whatever I was applying it to. I was shopping around in my favorite online store Susana's Custom Art and Card Design, and came across the Diamond Glaze. I love it! Never clogs, no color distortion! You can even add water to it, if you prefer more dimension than what it gives you straight out of the bottle. If you are interested you can click on the link and it will take you directly to the product. Hope this has helped you a little.


Please join me on Sunday, January 22 for a blog hop to celebrate Jessica's, of  Jessicas Craft Shaque, one year blogaversary. Great line up of talented ladies who are sure to inspire you, and plenty of blog candy too! Mark your calendars, and get hopping with us this Sunday.

 Thank you for stopping by today. Have a great weekend! 

I am entering my card into the following challenges:
1. Cardmadfairy's Digi Days Challenge: Ribbon and Bows 
2. Paper Crafting Journey: Floral 
3. 4 Crafty Chicks: Summer In January 
4. Stampin' For The Weekend: Out With The Old -Natalee and Flowers
5. Card Makin Mamas: Something Old -Natalee and Flowers
6. Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog: Whats New Pussycat -Designer paper, My Mind's Eye-Jack and Jill-Quite Conrary
 

"Anything Goes" Whimsical Wednesday Challenge, Design Team Call

 "Whimsical Designs" Design Team Call!!!

Yes! I am having a design team call. The term is coming to an end, and it is time to bring brand new designers aboard. I encourage all levels of crafters to apply. If you are interested please e-mail me using the contact button at the top of my blog.

Happy Wednesday Whimsical Crafters. I hope everyone is having a happy week so far:) Our challenge for today is "Anything Goes."

There is a fairly new digital artist in town! Megan Suarez is the oh so talented artist behind my stamp today, "Heart Snowman!" I just love this snowman,  and all of the images in her brand new Dilli Beans Stamp Store. You won't want to miss out, so head on over and check out all the digis. I colored her with my Prisma Colored Pencils, Copics, and even used a gel pen (for parts of the scarf). For the white parts I used Sparkly Fluff. She is cut her out with a  Nesties Labels Twenty-Three die. The snowflakes are cut from Christmas-a free cartridge download with the Gypsy. They are all glittered with Glamour Dust. I added some shabby crinkle ribbon from the Prairie Bird Boutique, and added some twine from the Kraft Outlet, and added a heart and key charm.

The sentiment "I <3 You" was stamped with  TH Iced Spruced Distressed ink, and cut out with a Stampin' Up oval punch. The sentiment is from my "With Love" stamp set.

This set is so much fun, and is versatile enough to be used all year round. It will really come in handy with Valentines Day right around the corner. You can find this set and the others in my first release in my  Shop. 

 Here is the Whimsical Designers projects:

Margie

Margie used "Sealed With a KISS" from my With Love set for her loved themed candy jar.

GiGi

GiGi used the sentiment, "hugs and kisses," along with the accent heart from the With Love stamp set, for her super fun card.

Nanne

 Nanne chose the "Be Unique, Be Unforgettable, Be you" sentiment from the Whimsical Fun Vol 1 Stamp set to finish off this gorgeous card. 

Shelly 

 For Shelly's adorable card and matching little candy box she used the "Be Mine" sentiment from the With Love stamp set

Karen 

Karen also chose the "Be Mine" sentiment from the With Love stamp set, for this sweet card!

Sabrina 

There seems to be a trend here with the "Be Mine" sentiment! It is a perfect choice for Sabrina's card. 

To get all the details about the designer's projects just click on their names to hop on over to their blogs. 

The winner of the "On The Edge" challenge, Doily Punch, is #19, Tracy. Please contact me via the button on the top of the blog with your addy. Congrats Tracy. Thanks to everyone who played along.

This week one random winner will receive the Flower Shoppe Cricut Cartridge:

Along with a random winner for the prize each week, I will also have a "Top Three" project winners. All of the winners will receive this badge to display on their blogs.

Please keep the guidelines in mind when you are entering the Challenge. No back linking, and you can only enter once.

Please join me on Sunday, January 22 for a blog hop to celebrate Jessica of  Jessicas Craft Shaque, one year blogaversary. Great line up of talented ladies who are sure to inspire you, and plenty of blog candy too! Mark your calendars, and get hopping with us the Sunday.


Here are the guidelines for the challenge:
1. Anything Goes
2. When uploading your project please be sure that it is a direct link to your actual post, and not just you blog
3. Only one project per challenge  
4. Please put in your post that you entered your project into this challenge with a link to this blog. I do not ask that you make a project just for my challenge. I know that there are lots of fun challenge blogs out there and I encourage you to play along in as many as you want:) So go ahead and enter your project where ever you like.
5. In order to become eligible for the prizes you must enter the challenge, become a follower of this blog, and leave a comment under our post's
6. NO back linking
7. Link your project to InLinkz by February 1 at 12:01am EST
8. I reserve the right to delete any entries that do not follow the guidelines

We have a brand new challenge every week, but each challenge stays opened for two weeks. Have fun creating! 

 

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

1. The Sisterhood Of Crafters: Winter Theme

2. Dilly Beans Designers and Friday Challenges: Frosty

3. Stuck On You Sketches: Winter Fun

4. One Stitch At A Time: Anything Goes

5. Little Scrap Pieces: Anything Goes

6. The Kraft Journal: Make It Monday With Kraft Outlet: Make It Pretty

7. Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog: Snow Fun

Rock On!

Yipee! it's Friday. This week seemed to drag...as wrote that I realized, oh yeah it's January, and the days and weeks will all drag until the spring:( Oh well. Today I have a requested project to share with you. After I posted this back in September, I received an e-mail asking if I could make a special one for her using the same cart, and the same musical paper. She is 61 years old, I think years young is more appropriate, and just started playing the drums! I hope she loves what I came up with for her:

So of course it was only fitting that I would chose the drummer from the Rock Princess Cart. It measures 5X7, and Diane is planning on matting it, and putting it into a frame. The face is stamped with  PK-660 Laughy Taffy Face Assortment, and color added with my Stampin' Up Chalks. Her hair is pink (colored with copics) because that is Diana's favorite color. The drummer girl blended in way too much with the musical note paper, which is by Studio Company-Girls Live To Rock, so I pop dotted her on a mat, that is distressed, and embossed with Tim Holtz-Checker Board Embossing folder. I chose the "Live Out Loud" sentiment from my Whimsical Designs, Whimsical Fun-Vol. 1 Stamp Set.  I stamped it with versa mark, and heat embossed it with Stampendous, Detail Black (opaque) embossing powder. Here is all the sentiment in the Whimsical Fun stamp set

You find this set, and the rest of my first release by clicking the shop tab on top of my blog. 

I am starting a new series here at Whimsical Designs, that will be on Fridays. I will be sharing tutorials, crafty tips, product information, and any good sales I may find. I had planned on starting the series off today with a video tutorial, but decided to change that to next Friday. For today I am going to share a little product information. I have been getting a lot of questions about what I use to get this puffy look on my projects.

The product that I have been using, up until now, is only available online, it is a bit pricey, and you don't get a lot. Don't get me wrong, it works great, but I wanted to find something a little more accessible, and save some money at the same time! So I did some product testing, and scored:

This is called Tulip Puffy Dimensional Fabric Paint. Make sure you are careful when picking this stuff out. First off, Tulip sell all kinds of different products and they all look the same, second not all fabric paints puff on when heated (I discovered this when I was testing products). I am totally sold on this stuff, and it will replace what I was previously purchasing. Why? It is available at your local crafts stores, comes in every color you can think of, its cheaper, and you get like triple the amount!!! That is my share for today, I hope it was helpful:)

If you have not checked out this weeks Whimsical Challenge you can click here. This week the DT got sketchy. I had so much fun with this challenge, and hope you will all join us.

Before you take off, I would love it if you would leave a comment and tell me what you would like to see here on Fridays. I also need to find a name for the series, so leave me any suggestions:)

Thank you for stopping by today, and taking the time to check out my crafty work! It is much appreciated, and I enjoy reading all your comments. Have a wonderful weekend!

"Let's Get Sketchy" Whimsical Wednesday Challenge #38

Hello Whimsical Crafters. Hope you are all having a great week so far, the weekend will be here before we know it. Let's get right down to business. This week we had the pleasure of working with a sketch that our DT sister, Nanne, created just for this challenge. Here is the sketch for the challenge this week:

Super fun! This week the theme is all up to you, just follow the sketch. Here is my take:

This week  the designers got to work with the super adorable digital images from The Stamp Fairy. My teddy bear couple, Donna and Donny Love was so much fun to color, and I think they are so cute! I cut them out with my Nesties, Scalloped Oval, and colored them with my Prisma Colored Pencils. I inked the edge and added some glitter. The bottom layer has some Ranger Enamel Accents added to the outer edge. The hearts were cut from Doodle Charms at three different sizes, and coated in glitter. The paper is from the Bo Bunny "Crush" Collection. For my sentiment, "Everything is better by with you by me side," I stamped it with versa mark and then embossed it using Red Dragon Stampendous Embossing Power. I love it because it is a glitter powder. The sentiment is from the Whimsical Designs "With Love" stamp set. Here is the rest of the set:

This is just one of the sets in my new release. You can find the others in my shop by clicking on the shop button on the top of my blog header.

Now for the Whimsical designers "Sketchy" projects:

Shelly

I love the papers Shelly chose for her card, and the bear. She stamped the  "I <3" sentiment from the Whimsical Designs "With Love" set, and stamped it on twill tape, so creative.

Karen

Karen added such beautiful texture, and details to her card. I love the way she curved the "Let's Celebrate" sentiment from Whimsical Designs Everyday Sentiments stamp set.

GiGi

Gigi did an amazing job with her evergreen tree, so much dimension. I like the little banner she created for the "Baby It's Cold Outside" sentiment from Whimsical Designs, Snow Much Fun stamp set.

Margie 

You can not help but laugh when you see this card, it so playful and fun. Margie picked the perfect sentiment "You're my person" from the Whimsical Designs, Whimsical Fun Vol. 1 stamp set, to pair up with this little monster.

Nanne

Up until now, Nanne, for the most part, has been a scrapbooker and is new to making cards. She is doing an amazing job, and this card is no exception. The sentiment "Today, Tomorrow, Always...." from the Whimsical Designs, With Love, stamp set is the perfect finishing touch to this elegant card.

Sabrina 

Sabrina's winter card is so much fun, and has so many pretty embellishments:) It is only fitting that she paired up her snowman with the "all my friends are Flakes" sentiment from the Whimsical Designs Snow Much Fun, stamp set.

This week we have two guest joining us from the Stamp Fairy DesignTeam:

Gerda -Stamp Fairy owner and Artist

Jackie-Design Team Member

Jackie and Gerda used two of my favorite colors for winter, pink and blue:) They both did a great job with the sketch.

A big thanks to all the designers for doing another fabulous job this week. All of your cards are so beautiful!! You continue to inspire with ever one of your crafty creations:) Please be sure to click on the designer's names to visit each of their blogs, you can get all the details on there projects, and say hi at the same time:)

The random winner for the "Happy New Year" or "Favorite Project of 2011" is # 15 Chelsea. Please use the contact button above to e-mail me your address so I can mail you your Pink Cutter Bees:) Thank you to everyone that played along.

Our sponsor for this week is the Stamp Fairy. One random winner that enters this week's challenge will have a chance to win a $10.00 gift certificate to their store.

Thank you for your sponsorship this week, and for giving us all the opportunity to work with your digital images.


Here are the guidelines for the challenge:
1.Create a card  and follow the sketch provided
2. When uploading your project please be sure that it is a direct link to your actual post, and not just you blog
3. Only one project per challenge  
4. Please put in your post that you entered your project into this challenge with a link to this blog. I do not ask that you make a project just for my challenge. I know that there are lots of fun challenge blogs out there and I encourage you to play along in as many as you want:) So go ahead and enter your project where ever you like.
5. In order to become eligible for the prizes you must enter the challenge, become a follower of this blog, and leave a comment under our post's
6. NO back linking
7. Link your project to InLinkz by January 25 at 12:01am EST
8. I reserve the right to delete any entries that do not follow the guidelines

We have a brand new challenge every week, but each challenge stays opened for two weeks. Can't wait to see all your takes on the sketch. Have fun with it:) !

 

I am also entering my card into the following challenges:

1. The Pink Elephant: Must have hearts somewhere on your project

2. Bearly Mine Challenges: Anything Goes

3. Shopping Our Stash: Use anything that has shine, sparkle, gleam, glitter

4. Sweet Stamps Blog: Hearts

5. Karen Doodles Challenge Blog: Valentines/love

"It's A Wonderful Life"

Hello Whimsical Crafters. Hope that you all enjoyed your weekend. I am excited because I did nothing but create, create, create. I have been struggling with my  Mojo since before Christmas, and it is finally back. Yippee. I am starting the week off with a card that I made with one specific challenge in mind: Bitten By The Bug 2. This week the talented design team picked the skates from the Winter Woodland cartridge to work with.

I am crediting their design team, and the challenge for kicking my Mojo back in gear. All of their projects were so inspiring. I started off by choosing my card base, which just happens to be the tag on the same page as the skates. It measures 4.5 inches and the layer is 4.25. Then I  brought in the skates and sized them to fit on the card. Gotta love that Gypsy, no guess work! I used Folk Art Extreme Glitter Acrylic Paint to paint the bottom layer of the skates. I wanted it to have lots of shine and shimmer. I embossed the top layer with the Hound Stooth Cuttlebug folder, and then inked with Color Box Fluid Chalks. Those top layers still needed some work, so I used a Viva Decor Pearl Pen to create the "eyelets,"  added some twine, and lightly sprayed Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist-Coffee Shop. To add dimension they are pop dotted on. The base of the card is Kraft cardstock from The Kraft Outlet, and the top layer is from  the Bo-Bunny "SnowFall" collection. The Sentiment "It's A Wonderful Life" is from my "Snow Much Fun" stamp set.     

I used Tim Holtz Iced Spruce Distress Ink to stamp it and then embossed it with Ranger Silver Embossing Powder. The snowflake is a handmade embellishment. I am starting a new series on my blog, and will kick it off this Friday with a tutorial on how I made it:) Here is the stamp set I used for my card today:

You can see the rest of the stamp sets in my first release here or by clicking on the shop tab at the top of my blog.

Thank you for stopping by my blog today. The Whimsical Design Team will be back here on Wednesday with a brand new challenge. In the meantime, the "Happy New Year" or "Favorite Project " challenge and the "On The Edge" challenge is opened.

I am entering my card in the following challenges:
1. Bitten By The Bug 2: "Winter Woodland: Ice Skates"
2. The Kraft Journal: "Favorite Colors"
3. CES Challenges: "Anything Goes"
4. Our Creative Corner: "Show Us Your Shapes"
5. Quick Quotes:  "Frame It"
6. One Stitch At A Time: "Use Embellishments"
must use three, mine are: Brad, Twine, Ribbon
7. Little Scrap Pieces: "Winter"