Project Tuesday - Tea Bag Holder

I don't like tea. I figured I should say that up front. So when it came to making this cute little tea bag holder for Project Tuesday, I had to come up with something else to go in it because once again - I don't like tea! So I said to myself "Self, what do you like?" The answer - CHOCOLATE! So I figured I should tell you that Ghiradelli chocolate squares fit very nicely into this tea bag holder. It's a little "stuffed" but definitely worth it! I suppose you could adjust the size slightly if you don't want it to look stuffed, but I did not.






Now normally I don't combine my Design Team work with other challenges, but this week I did. So....here are the details!

• Project Tuesday - obviously! Very cute and it's VERY EASY so give it a try!
  
• Use It! - pink, scallops and a tag. Which is why I combined this week - it was perfect for the Project Tuesday challenge!
• Caardvarks asked for a 3-D item this week. I am thinking this qualifies as 3-D!
  

The stamps on the front tag from Stamps & Smiles and all the papers came from an Apron Strings Design kit I had in my stash. You should check both of them out too!!

Happy Anniversary!

Okay - it's not my anniversary! I had a challenge to create an anniversary or engagement card and this is what I came up with!



Here's the information that coordinates with it:

• The first challenge is from Limelight - they provided the sketch, and also requested patterned paper ~ and it's so appropriate because they are about to celebrate their First Anniversary!!!!
  
• 365 Cards asked for an anniversary card (on Monday or Tuesday)
• Danni's Flutterby challenge was to use a butterfly & brads

All the papers and cardstock on this card came from an Apron Strings Designs card kit! I don't get them very often, but I have a couple in my stash!! They're as GREAT as the Scrapbooking Kits! You should go check them out!!!

Anyway, you might see something else from me today, if not - definitely tomorrow!

More purple...

I don't usually grab for purple (although I do like the color) and this is the second card in a week that is "focally" purple.

Here are the challenges that go with it:

• The sketch is the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Friday Sketch (I think that's the right title.....click the link! LOL)
• 365 Cards asked for a card from ONE manufacturer. This one is all Close to My Heart. The only thing that isn't CTMH was the adhesive! LOL But please don't drool on the papers - they were a special offering and are no longer available - sorry!
• Flourishes Timless Tuesday asked for a SQUARE card. This one is 5.5" x 5.5"
• Last, but certainly not least, we had a Do-It-Yourself Scrapbooking Weekend over at Apron Strings Designs this weekend and we were asked for Cut-Outs. The flower was cut out of patterned paper. Now, I always boast about the ASD Scrapbooking kits, but did you know they also have Card Kits? You should go check them out!
• *ETA* - I am going to throw this one (not pun intended) into the Color Throwdown as well! Their challenge, which is Lavender Lace, Old Olive and Elegant Eggplant, probably came out 6 hours after I completed this card and I am not sure I will get to do this color challenge again and it happens to be the PERFECT colors - I must have been clairvoyant on this one!

And that will do it for this card...might have one more before the end of the night!

Treasure Hunt!

There's a TREASURE HUNT going on over at the Apron Strings Blog - as well as a lot of other fun activities!! We are having a SCRAPBOOKING WEEKEND, so there are BUNCHES of challenges!! Go on over and have yourself some fun!!

If you're here for the Unity Stamp Blog Hop - CLICK HERE
If you're here for the Apron Strings Blog Hop - CLICK HERE

APRON STRINGS BLOG HOP!

Apron Strings Designs now has a BLOG!! This is the blog kick off weekend and if you happened by here, please go back to the ASD BLOG and start from the beginning!! You don't want to miss any of it!

All the pictures you see on this post are from the MAY Smaller than a Bread Box kit! This should show you how packed they are! You can see more of my May kit creations in a post below (Please scroll...normally I would like, but I don't want to throw you off the blog hop path with extra links!)



Here is the phrase you want to collect in order to be eligible for the prize!! (And Lori at Apron Strings gives out really good prizes!!! My phrase for you is:

no time commitment

And a few more layouts made with my MAY STABB kit!




And a card made from scraps!! AS is big on the belief of when you finish scrapping, make cards with the scraps right away! Makes some really cute cards and uses those scraps up quickly.




Next - be sure to hop over to TAMMI BENNETT!! She has more Apron Strings Designs eye candy to show you!! Happy Hopping!!

Time to pick it apart...

I love this layout!! Better yet - so does my daughter - she keeps looking at it and saying "I Love It". Now - that makes it all worth it!! I personally am liking all that white space!

Over at If the Shoe Fits...there's a challenge. (You're surprised I know! LOL) You had to take the five favorite layouts of the design team, take an element from each one, and create you own. This is my version of that. I apologize for the glare on the photo.

So - here's how it works out:

• From Tracey - "Beautiful"
• From Tanisha - the butterflies
• From Lesley - the glitter letters
• From Kristy - the general layout
• From Dawn - the black and white
  

Head on over there and look at their layouts and give this challenge a try!

GOOF!

Look at these goofy kids!!!



My children tried to surprise me for Mother's Day. They wanted to go have pictures done at a studio, only there was a slight bank problem, and they were unable to have the pictures done. Well, they were all dressed and ready to go, so I took a BUNCH of pictures in my front yard and we had a lot of fun and got a few nice pictures out of it and plenty of FUN ones too!!




This layout and the two cards below were made with the MAY Apron Strings Designs Smaller Than a BreadBox kit. With these kits you get three sets of papers/embellishments to work with! I absolutely LOVE them. I have probably been subscribing to this kit for 2-3 years now and I LOVE them.

The ASD thought process is to scrap and then make cards, small projects, etc out of your leftovers. These two cards came from my "leftovers". They are both small and were quick to make. And the scraps may have gone unused otherwise.

I love this snail!! Those little squares (both on this card and the layout above) are actually the back of one of the printed papers - I LOVE double sided papers - don't like one side or it doesn't go with your project - use the other side!! Anyway - they were punched using my 1/4" square punch and the HI and GOOF were both made from my QuicKutz Aquarius alphabet. So absolutely everything you see here was made from the kit - and I still have another layout to show you using this same set!! Remember, this is only ONE set of THREE paper sets you get in this kit!

WHY?

I need to start this post with WHY???? WHY???? WHY???? In this layout is my daughter (the butt) and her boyfriend (the stomach). Now, they both know I scrapbook and know if they pose and I have a camera in my hand, it's probably going to end up someplace they don't want it to - like in the scrapbook and on my blog for anybody to see! LOL

So here they are - in all their glory! And please note the title...WHY?



Anyway - what you are looking at is the Apron Strings Designs Smaller than a Breadbox Kit for May! You can go sign up for Auto Delivery in order to be the proud owner of this GREAT kit!! You will be seeing more of this kit in the next few days.

Next, it is this week's layout challenge over at If The Shoe Fits... I am loving that site!! They have several challenges each week. Today is color challenge day! You should head over to THIS POST to check it out!! If you scroll down, you will see my card for their card challenge this week - which was lots of Negative/White space and my color challenge for last week - I made a card - in PURPLE & GREEN.

Well, that's it for this post!! See ya soon....

Stamps & Smiles Release - Day #2

Back again!! Quick post tonight though - got a few more things I really HAVE TO accomplish before I head off to Dream-Land!

This is my Stamps & Smiles card for the Day #2 Sketch Challenge for their release week. You can see the sketch HERE.

I made this card from my August '07 Apron Strings Designs kit. I love those kits - it's great to be able to just grab the bag and know it's all going to match and I don't need to search for it! The only thing I added not in the kit were the rhinestones. The flip flops were made with a BossKutz die from CropStop.com. Flowers are Prima. And I just ADORE that Doodlebug token!!

Well that's all for me tonight. I will be back tomorrow...hopefully with my Project Tuesday!

Stamps & Smiles Release Week

Over at Stamps & Smiles, they are having a full week of challenges leading up to their release and Blog Hop on Friday!

Today's challenge was a sketch that you can see HERE. I opted to use my lace cardstock again - now that I have cut into it, I guess I want to make sure it doesn't go to waste! And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the effect it gives!

The owl is actually a Fancy Pants transparency that I purchased from Apron Strings Designs. (They have FANTABULOUS kits over there!) The sentiment is from a Kim Hughes sets (I forget the name, but it's all owls). The ovals (that I changed from the circles in the sketch) are cut out with my Nestibilities. What you can't really see in the photo is that I "sparkle-ized" (yes that is a word! It is now anyway....LOL) the small open stars and the sentiment with my Stardust pen. There is also a "border" around the white oval in the same gold Stardust pen.

And that's about all for this post.

Tomorrow there'll be a second challenge at Stamps & Smiles and I can't wait to find out what the new challenge is on Project Tuesday!!

NSD Leftovers...LOL!

Hey there!! You must scrap on National Scrapbooking Day, as well all know!! Anyway, here is a layout that I have done, and I am not 100% sure I like it - but here goes.

For Apron Strings Designs - we had Menu a La Carte. Earlier in the week, we chose our menu and weren't told what our menu items meant til yesterday. This layout is the result of that menu.

Which is this:

• Starter - cardstock - one or two
• Drink - Raspberry Lemonade - Floral Paper
• Appetizer - Shrimp Cocktail - Handwritten Journaling
• Dinner - BBQ Chicken - 2 photos
• Dessert - Cherry Pie - glitter or bling

Next came the sketch. It's from Jenn Buck. I love her CAS Sketches. She does a challenge every Sunday. This week, if you upload today, you also have a shot at a prize from Unity Stamps. I love Unity and their scrapbooking stamps are FANTABULOUS! As you can see from my layout, I did use their journaling stamp to put my handwritten journling into!! Here's a details shot of the box, journaling and my lovely bow!!

All the papers and embellishments came from my Apron Strings Design Smaller than a Breadbox kit from October, 2008. The stamp is Unity. The ribbon was the only thing not in my kit was from my stash!

I think I veered from Jenn's sketch slightly, but I am thinking I did pretty good overall sticking to it.

Thanks for visiting...this might be all for today. Hope you had a good NSD!

Triple the Sketch Anniversary

I check into Triple the Sketch often. I can't say I have done a lot of their weekly challenges, but I have copied some sketches and they're in my inspiration file. I think I still have the "old" blinkie on my blog! Anyway -- it's their First Anniversary!

I created this piece in honor of their anniversary. You can see the sketch here. They are giving away some AWESOME blog candy to a random entry!

If you visit my blog often, you know I have a couple of children. My oldest who is 17 is currently sick with abdominal pain that we do not know the cause of. She has to go for a colonoscopy and an endoscopy on Wenesday to see if we can find out exactly what is causing her all this pain. As I made this card (because it is a 5.5" x 5.5" card in a frame) I thought of this saying, which is a stamp from Unity. LIVE ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIFE. Now I am thinking that her pain is something normal and easily treatable but you know there's always a possiblity that it could be something more. I am sure she is going to live a normal healthy life and she should do what this card says anyway and LIVE All the Days of her life. I love you Manda!

And the other details in case you'd like to know them: Paper is from an Apron Strings Designs kit, the ribbon was purchase at All That Scraps, Stamp is Unity, and I made the little crocheted flower.

Thanks for stopping by! I am sure there'll be more soon...I just can't stop creating these days and it's GREAT!

Unity Hip Hop Challenge

Today's challenge over at the Unity Hip Hip was three layers and three colors - no more, you could do less. Which makes me ask - how do you truly count a layer?!?!


At most this card would be three layers - leaf, flower, flower center. This card was created with one of the new 3-D QuicKutz dies - which I am TRULY LOVING!! The stamp, of course, is Unity. It's from the March Kit of the Month which I personally just got in yesterday! I have seen SOOOO many great creations with it throughout the month that I just had to have it!

I thought the simple sentiment was perfect for my simple card!

The papers are from an Apron Strings Designs kit - the same kit actually that I used in the post below (if you can believe it). The ink is CTMH Garden Green and the base is actually a premade base from DCWV.

I made this card this morning in literally 10 minutes!! Hope you like it and as always - thanks for taking the time to vising my blog!

Welcome Back Mojo! Time for a 2-fer!!

Hey there and welcome back! If this is your first time here - welcome! You're in luck, because my Mojo is now working just fine!!

I have a new card to share this evening - it's a challenge two-fer!! First, it's this weeks (#36)color challenge from the Color Throwdown blog (pink, orange and turquoise) and it's also this week's sketch challenge for CPS! On top of that I was able to use my Clear Dollar Stamps for which I am a past guest designer for, and I also used an Apron Strings Designs kit to make it! So all in all, it was pretty productive all around! Oh - and I used my nestibilites which were purchased, as always, from CropStop.com.

It's a nice bright perky card - it's a get well card for my daughter. She's 17 and has had abdominal pain for almost a week now and unfortunately the pain isn't getting better. She actually has to go for a colonoscopy and an endoscopy. Luckily she doesn't read my blog or she'd probably kill me for putting that information into blogland for all the world to see. I won't tell her if you don't! :) LOL

Anyway - I am liking it and I hope you do too!

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully, I'll have more to show you tomorrow!!

Amy R Sketch #63

***Second Post Today - Yes - you read that right!! LOL****
Scroll Down to see my CAS challenge off Jenn Buck's blog...

Now - if you review my blog, you will find that I am not really a stamper - I am definitely a scrapper! However, I do have "my share" of stamps - and I do look through all the wonderful stamp blogs out there - as they are full of beautiful art and I can often use a card sketch for a scrapbook page. In this particular case - I did use the card sketch for a card.

This card is for my son Devin's birthday. He'll be 7 on Saturday - and I had this BRILLIANT idea (if I do say so myself) for his card - using Amy R's Sketch #63. Take a look:


The pinwheel is made using a QuicKutz 3-D die that came out in February (I think). I got it from CropStop - as I do with ALL of my QK dies. The ribbon is American Crafts, the papers is part of the Apron Strings Designs February kit and is from the Night Light line by October Afternoon and the sentiment is part of the AmyR stamp set Boutique Sentiments. Brads are Doodlebug Sugar Coated - also from CropStop.

I hope you like it - and more than that - I hope Devin likes it!!

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog. Please come back soon - I think my mojo is returning!!

BLOG HOP!

If you've gotten this far - I am impressed!! I believe I am #120, but I could be off. If you happened by here and didn't start at the beginning, click HERE, to start back at the Unity Blog.

I am to keep this short and sweet, so here are the deets:

Materials used:

Unity Stamps: Hot Air Balloon from Love Is in the Air Kit

Verve Stamps - Flourish & Phrase from Fairy Tales (this cute little box is also for the Verve Project Parade - I saw the original on somebody's blog (had a bird on it) and forgive me because I don't remember whose it was)

Papers - Apron Strings Designs - February Smaller than a Breadbox Kit

Favorite Quote: Pulling it right off the Project: Believe in your Dreams...

Your Next Stop: http://linseyrickett.blogspot.com

Happy Hopping to you!

CAS Challenge!

I love a challenge! Especially those that challenge you to be simple! Simple is not always easy...

Jenn Buck is one of my favorites for simple - her term EPLS (easy peazy lemon squeezy). You'll have to ask her where it came from! LOL I love her blog and am inspired EVERY TIME I go there -- which is often!!! Anyway - she started a new challenge and as soon as I saw it I KNEW I had to participate. So here it is....click on her name and it'll take you to her blog so you can see the challenge yourself if you'd like!

The black and orange cardstock came out of an Apron Strings Designs kit. The stamp is Unity. The ribbon from the stash; flower and lettering (QK Chickadee alphabet) are both from CropStop.com.

As always thanks for visiting - and be sure to stop by on Saturday. I am participating in the HUGE HUGE HUGE Unity Blog hop!! And THAT - you don't want to miss!

Monsters Monsters Monsters

Well, I have absolutely had NO time to create in such a long time! Today I got called out of work because my son was sick - I got him settled on the couch and then got busy on this little Kaiser Craft tag album!! All the papers are from my February Apron Strings Designs kits (they might have some left if you check!) The papers are by October Afternoon and are called Night Light - all little monsters!! I did buy the additional sheet of cardstock die cuts to go with it!

I didn't add much to the kit - I used Unity Stamps "Cuter than Most" set - which is also monsters, I added Kaiser Craft black pearls and I think that was about it! I love the way the album came out!! I might get a big ring for it instead of leaving it on the ribbon, but that's about all I would probably do to "finish" it! It's probably fine as it, but you know how it is when you get an idea in your head!! LOL

Also, CropStop is sponsoring a challenge over at Letters to Scrap By and the challenge is to use Lime Green - they're on the letter L. This little album has quite a bit of Lime Green in it - so I figure I am good to go!

So all in all, it was a pretty creative day!! And there were lots of pictures for you! Hope you like it and as always, thanks for stopping by! Hopefully it won't be another 2-3 weeks before I blog again!! (it probably won't be that long - my daughter now wants me to do one of these for HER!)