Seeds *sneak peek*

Hello! This is my last project to share with you as March's Limelight Designer over at Flourishes! I can't believe how fast the month has flown by! My kids are off-track from school so my days are filled with swimming lessons and just plain being a Mom. I love having them home, though. We are also working on our bathroom/laundry room in the basement so things have been a little crazy with workmen going in and out. My husband has started painting which means I need to stay away since I am pregnant. It is right next to my craft area, so I don't know how much I will be sharing next week! Thanks for fluttering by!

Fancy Buttons

I know that I am feeling good when I sit down and stamp just for fun and for no particular reason! I wanted to use my "Button Boutique" stamp set, so I just used the paper that was already on my desk from my last creation and got to work. I chose to use the "fancy buttons" header for my button card, so I had fun looking through my button stash for some "fancy" buttons. I really like the green one with the gold around the center. I don't own the die cut for the button card, so I just punched a hole at the top to mimic the "off the rack" look. I also found that if you pair a small hole punch with the slot punch from SU! you can also get the same look as the die cut.

I actually threaded all of the buttons onto the card, just as you would find them at the sewing store. I found it easier to do it that way rather than sit and tie thread around each button and then glueing them down. If I recieved this card, I don't know if I would have the heart to actually take all of the buttons of and use them, but I hope that whomever recieves this card will use them, if they are crafty!

In the end, I added the " cute as a button" sentiment and decided to add it to my baby stash. There are a rash of babies due in the neighborhood really soon, so it will nice to be prepared. I am working on a quilt that this particular card could actually work with. I have been working on it slowly, but surely, but mostly slowly! LOL! I was making an effort to sew one row each day, but I haven't worked on it for a few weeks now. It is on my "craft to-do list", though! I actually crossed three things off last week! Yay me! I won't tell you how many are still left, though. Oh well....Thanks for fluttering by!

P.S. I had a comment from someone saying that my blog is hard to read with the current format. This isn't the first time I have heard this, so I am going to work on getting it a little bit easier to read. I have also missed adding my banners to the title, so stay tuned for a change!

Flowers feed the soul *sneak peek*

You can check out my third post as March's Limelight Designer here! I can't believe how fast the month is flying by! I had a lot of fun with this card! Enjoy! Thanks for fluttering by!

ETA: I had a question about what paper I used; All of the papers are from the Sweet Nectar collection from K & Co. I have a 6 by 6 slab that I picked up at Michael's.



P.S. I salvaged all of the little St. Patty's day boxes for my daughter's dance class and the girls loved them. I am glad I took the time to fix them!

Pack 572 says "Thanks"

I needed to make a card for the Cub Master for my son's Cub Scout pack to say thanks for all he has done. For all of you "Scouting" families, this card will probably make a little more sense. I knew that I wanted to incorporate a Bear, a Wolf, a Bobcat and a Fleur de Lis to honor the Webelos. I think that the "bobcat" image I chose to use, is really a fox! LOL! We don't have the Tiger Cub den around here, so I didn't include that. Our pack number is #572, hence the big red numbers to mimic the red patches on the uniform.

I was lucky enough to get this stamp set from SU! before it retired and I didn't realize how handy it would become. I thought that it would serve mainly for masculine birthdays and father's day, but scouting....no. I am glad it has worked so well. I have been wanting the coveted scouting set from SU!, but I have never found anyone who would part with it. So...this is a shout out to anyone who is willing to let it go! I would be willing to pay nicely for it! LOL!

I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch to get started. I was in a hurry since I still needed to bake cookies and get a little thank you for all of the den leaders as well. Like I have mentioned before, I have really come to love sketches!

On a sad note, I really messed up yesterday. Once I was finished with all of the St. Patty's day boxes for Emma's dance class, I set them at the bottom of the stairs in a basket so that I would remember to take them with us to class. My husband keeps joking that he stepped on them. Well....yesterday I was carrying Rowan down the stairs and with my ever-growing pregnant belly, I didn't see them and forgot they were there. You guessed it...I completely stepped on top of the basket, which attached to my foot and I had to walk on it the rest of the way down the stairs with the basket shattering everywhere, boxes smashing and candies going EVERYWHERE!!!!! I was sooooo upset. All of that work ruined! I am sure it was quite comical to watch had anyone other than Rowan and I been there. I was just lucky that I didn't fall risking everyone's safety! Lesson learned: Don't set things on the stairs that can either kill you or you can ruin! When Emma saw them, she said, " Oh MOM, they don't look that bad. They're just smashed and bent a bit! She is cute! I am going to see what I can salvage, however! Thanks for letting me vent and thanks for fluttering by!

Little Cutie *SFYTT*

In honor of making it half way through my pregnancy, I decided to post this on my 20 week mark! Yay! I am not goint to let the fact that it is the "Ides of March" get in the way of my celebration! LOL!

It seems like I am always in need of a baby card! I love babies, though! Baby cards are some of my absolute favorites! You know me; I really like to make the card to match the gift. In this case, I bought an adorable Nautica outfit in khaki, navy and yellow, of course! This month's sketch was perfect for my card. I love Jen's sketches so much because I end up making cards that I normall never would have come up with. They really are the perfect springboard for creativity and thinking outside of yourself.

Since the outfit was "nautical" I chose to use the little sailboat from SU's "Nursery Necessities". It is one of my absolute favorite baby sets! I stamped the sailboat image three times; once in each color. I cut each piece out and popped it up using dimensionals.

After it was all said and done, I realized that I used a few design elements that I used on my first card using this sketch. OH well.....


I hope you have all had a chance to play along! If not, you still have time! Remember, this month's sketch is sponsored by Amber Ink and here is this month's sketch!

Sweet Violets Sneak Peek

It's time again for another flourishes sneak peek as this month's Limelight designer! You can check out the entire project here! I had so much fun working on it! Thanks for fluttering by!

Lucky to Count you as a Friend

I made ten of these little boxes/buckets for Emma's dance class. Her dance teacher also teaches Irish step dancing so she loves all things Irish. Her studio is decked out in shamrocks right now, but usually has one or two out year round. Even though Emma's class doesn't do the Irish dancing, I still thought it would be fun to take a "Lucky" treat! I have some more "St. Patty's day" projects I want to get done as well.

I kept things quite simple, but added some fun details to pull it all together. I made the standard 2-4-6-8 box and added a little handle attached with gold brads. These were really fast to make since you can get two from one piece of 8 1/2 by 11 inch cardstock. I do all of the scoring while it is still in one piece and then just slice it down the middle. On a side note, I don't think my Glorious Green ink pad or cardstock have ever seen this much attention! LOL! It is one of my most neglected colors.

The circle image was stamped using white ink onto the green cardstock and then punched out with a circle punch. I stamped the image again, this time onto white cardstock using Versamark ink. I then sprinkled heat and stick powder, heated it, and then dumped the green glitter over the top. I heat set it again to make sure the glitter stayed and then punched out the center bit using a smaller circle punch. I wanted to give it a little sparkle.

The sentiment is from the same PTI set as well as the little shamrock image next to "Lucky". I used "Limitless Labels" to make the shamrock labels to wrap around the nuggets. The finishing touch was a satin bow as well as a few gold coins on top for luck! I hope the girls like their little treat! Tomorrow I will be sharing my second project for Flourishes! Thanks for fluttering by!

All Star Coach

Last Saturday was my son's last basketball of the season so of course that means coaches gifts! My husband was the assistant coach so I really only needed one. In "Kelly" fashion, I was running a bit behind so I had to make something quick! I always do the same thing for my son's coaches. I go to the dollar store and get the large plastic popcorn bucket and fill it with microwave popcorn, candy, etc. I always include a Blockbuster gift card to continue with the theme. Well....I didn't end up by getting the gift card; apparantely Blockbuster is up for bid and so they can't sell any giftcards so they know where their assets are. ughhh!

I had to *quickly* make a card, which kindof bugged me because I wanted to be able to relax and take my time. Anyway, PTI stamps and dies to the rescue! For as much as I love banners I had to have PTI's Banner Builders stamp set and coordinating dies! I got it when it was first released and this is the first time I have used it! Shame on me!

I started off by picking the paper; I chose to use some old SU! paper, but it was perfect! The bright colors were just what I wanted. After I did that, I die cut all of the pieces and then stamped each one with a different design. The letters are from a really old PSX set that I love! They fit perfectly, all except the "H". The string image that came with the set was too small for 5 banner pieces so I just arranged them like I wanted and then used crochet thread tied in a bow and glued to each end. It worked out well. The #1 and "All Star" sentiment are from su!

P.S. I want to take this time to thank all of you who stuck by me during my many weeks of morning sickness and fatigue! I really feel like a brand new person; actually, I just feel like *me* again, which is great! I was really starting to worry whether my desire to do much of anything would ever return, but it is here... full force! Thanks again and stay posted this week for some fun St. Patty's day projects!

In the Limelight

As I mentioned yesterday in my SFYTT post, I am March's Limelight designer for Flourishes! I was honored and thrilled to be asked! I can only share a sneak peek here, but you can check out my first post as the Limelight designer here. I will be posting new projects each Sunday throughout March. I am in love with their images and have had so much fun using them!

P.S. I have a few other projects to share this week including some St. Patrick's Day ideas! Thanks for fluttering by!

Birthdays are the Best *SFYTT*

I am so glad March is here! Spring is on it's way!***FUN NEWS****Before I dive into deets about this month's sketch, I have some fun news! I am March's Limelight Designer over at Flourishes this month! You can check it out here! My first project will be shown tomorrow! Since it is the first Saturday of the month, you know what that means, a new SFYTT! I am in need of a few birthday cards, so I got to work using this month's sketch which is sponsored by Amber Ink.

Although I didn't use their images, you will definitely want to check them out. She has some really fun images!

For my card, I used PTI's "Blooming Button Bits"! This particular image is one of the main reasons I chose to buy this set, but I have never used it before! Go figure! I started the design by picking out my papers first! I chose to use some fabulous bright and cheery papers by K & Co. Once I knew what colors I would be using, I stamped the focal image using Spring Moss ink. I stamped the leaf image again, trimmed it out and adhered it using a pop-dot. I chose to use three different button colors to tie all of the papers together. Can you imagine a plant with buttons blooming all over it? I think I would plant several in my yard! LOL!

The sentiment was stamped onto a strip of paper and then added using foam squares. I decided that I needed a little bit more stamping on my card, so I used PTI's "Just the Ticket" to create a little tag to hang from the gingham bow. I stamped it directly onto a piece of pattern paper to keep it bright and cheery.

You won't want to miss the rest of the designers!Jen Del Muro and New Guest Designer
Amy Rohl
Susan Liles
Amy Sheffer
Leigh O' Brien,
Amber Hight
Megan Lock
Sony Christoph
Jodi Collins
CAROLE

Kerry Johnson

Thanks for fluttering by!

So sorry for your loss

Yesterday at my PTA meeting, I found out that one of the board members had lost her mother this week. I have helped her with the book fair every year, so I wanted to send her a sympathy card.
I have decided that I have become addicted to sketches; partly because it gives me a challenge and a new way of looking at things, but also because it takes out all of the guess work and gets me right to the fun part! I decided to check out this week's Mojo Moday sketch and really liked it. She gave you two options; square or round. As you can see, my card is neither. This did pose a problem as I got down to placing everything. I had a hard time getting it balanced.

I chose to use some older SU! papers and stamp set. I didn't want to use my traditional sympathy sets. I wanted something nice, not too bright, but not too drab, either. I thought these papers were a nice balance. It is gray and rainy here today, so my photo is ending up looking a little gray as well. The card is much more cheerful in real life.

Rowan has just woken up from his nap, so my creative time has come to an end. I haven't even showered yet, so I better get going! I have an end of season basketball coach gift to put together for Saturday as well as this month's new SFYTT. I also have some fun news to share! Thanks for fluttering by!