Thinking Summer With Some New Rubbah

Fresh Brewed Designs has just released some new beach themed rubber stamps, and I am thrilled to be able to show you one of them!!! This is Cordelia in Sand and your can find her HERE. I made this card for the Beach Party Fresh Brewed Designs hosted over at The Latte Lounge. The challenge called for Bright Yellow and Hot Pink. I used the Cosmo Cricket paper pack of the DeLovely line because those colors were right in there! The May prize challenge is already posted at The Latte Lounge and it is a sketch challenge...so of course I had to play!!! I plan on submitting more cause it's a wonderful sketch. Head on over and check it out!!!

A Little B-Ball

Fresh Brewed Designs is sponsoring the Inspirational Card Sketches this week. The winner will receive 3 free digi images from FBD! I've been struggling with my knee, getting frustrated that I'm not movin' and grovin' like I think I should be! After all, it was a whole week ago today that I had surgery on it!!!!!!!! I'm impatient, I know! My evenings are spent on the couch with it elevated and iced instead of in my room stamping. It felt good to get something done today.

And here is my something. I used a FBD image, Tommy Basketball. I did his uniform in our high school colors, sorta!!!! And I have had these basketball brads for quite some time now and couldn't wait to put them to use. The DP is Basic Grey's Granola - trying to use up my stash so I can buy new!!!!!!! Like I need an excuse to buy more paper!!!! Enjoy your day!

I Hear Wedding Bells

With the Royal Wedding on everyone's mind, we decided to have a Wedding Themed challenge this week at Freshly Brewed Challenges. Now I must have been under the influence of my pain pills when I made this card...that flower has got to go!!!!!!!!!! That dark brown thing is so heavy!!!!! Well close your eyes and image something softer and prettier!!! Well the image is a winner, as are all the wedding images at Fresh Brewed Designs. You can find them all HERE.

Crabby Cathy on a Sweet Wednesday

Yes, it's another Sweet Sketch Wednesday, and would you look at this fabulous sketch!! Love it!!! Now what's Crabby Cathy got to do with it? Why she is a character found at Bugaboo Stamps, our sponsor this week.

You have to check out Bugaboo Stamps, you will find so many fun and fabulous images!! The prize this week for our winner is an amazing 7 free digis, but I know you will have a hard time narrowing it down to 7!!!

And here is Crabby Cathy!!! You can find the whole collection of Crabby Cathy HERE. I've gotta say, I can appreciate Cathy's sarcasm!!! This one made me chuckle. I paired it with Basic Grey's Hopscotch line of designer paper, a 6 x 6 pad that I've hoarded until I decided it was time to put it to use!!! Now I hope you can join us this week for our 99th sketch. Next week is our 100th and we'll be celebrating big with a blog hop!! Can't wait!!

Picture Perfect Father's Day

Happy Monday to you! Hope you had a wonderful Easter, celebrating with family and friends. We stayed at home and ordered out for our Easter dinner!! I'm getting along well, still having pain in my leg though, so I didn't feel like cooking all day.
Since it's Monday, that means a new challenge over at Picture Perfect Creations. Some fabulous colors to play with: Baja breeze, Pear pizazz, Very vanilla and Not quite navy. I immediately thought of a masculine card with these colors!

I used a stamp set from Clear Dollar Stamps called Father's Day. I stamped the shirts several times, first for the shirt part itself, again to cut out the tie from scrap dsp, and even again for the collar. Love the subtle added dimension those layers all give. Now please check out the rest of the DT creations, you will find their blog links along my right sidebar. You will definitely be inspired. Then show us what you can do with these colors!

Hello everyone! I am doing well since my knee surgery on Thursday. Thanks sent to all who sent up prayers!!

A fun thing we got to do when chosen for the Picture Perfect Creations DT was pick our favorite past color combo and create something with it. Since I love blues and browns, I knew this was my combo!

And I went with simple for my design. No doubt this is an old layout from Clean & Simple Stamping, just not sure which one!!! The Bashful blue is the dsp layer and flower base. The rest of the flower is white felt and a fun green button.

Now head on over to Picture Perfect Creations to see pics, bios, and other cards from the rest of new DT. Also wishing you all a blessed Easter.

Clear Dollar Stamps Blog Hop Winners

Please scroll down for my Fresh Brewed Designs and Sweet Sketch Wednesday posts.

Thank you to everyone who left comments on our monthly blog hop at Clear Dollar Stamps. Today we announce our two winners!! Each will receive a $10 gift certificate for clear or digital stamps from the CDS store. Both the winners and the DT member blogs where they commented were chosen randomly...so it's a surprise to everyone!

Drum roll please...

From Lisa's blog, Lisa's Life Lines - the winner is Patti J., and her blog Cherish Each Precious Day.

From Stacy's blog, Twinshappy - the winner is Donna, and her blog Indiana Inking.


Congratulations ladies!! Please email Lori (lori@cleardollarstamps.com) to claim your prize.

Sweet Sketch Wednesday

Wow, we are gearing up for Arlana's 100th sketch on May 4th!!!!!! And what better way to celebrate than with a blog hop!!!!! Hope to see you there!!

This week we are featuring this beauty, sketch #98 at Sweet Sketch Wednesday. As I've said before, I love all the layers! Oh and how I love our generous monthly sponsor too...Dig Stamp Boutique.

The grand prize winner will receive 6 free digis of their choice from Digi Stamp Boutique. Please be sure and comment on the SSW blog to be eligible for this mighty fine prize!! Thanks Sally Ann.

I always have a hard time deciding on an image from Digi Stamp Boutique because they are all so sweet!!! I finally decided on Poppy and Handbag. And what's so funny about this is just yesterday I bought myself a new bright pink purse!! Time to put the leopard print purse away for a while! I do love purses!! And so does Poppy!!!!! If it's possible, I used my least favorite Basic Grey line here, Two Scoops. Why don't you like it you ask...I really don't know why is how I have to answer!!! I dressed it up a little bit with some new Hero Arts lace I just bought, ribbon, button, pearls and some sewing. I really hope you can find a few minutes to create this week and join us at Sweet Sketch Wednesday.

Freshly Brewed Sparkly Challenge

Sparkles and glitter are not my thing, so a challenge this was, and we at Freshly Brewed Challenges dare you to join us for the Lots of Sparkle challenge. My Fresh Brewed Design digi image is called So Happy Together. After coloring them up with copic markers, I came back with coordinating colors of Stickles...lots and lots of Stickles. Nothing on these mugs is free from sparkle!!!! Even though I am not a huge glitter fan, I've gotta admit, I like the way these mugs look!! Who knew!

Fresh Brewed Designs is heating up for another new rubber release, and we're takin' it to the beach!! Ahhhh, I can feel the ocean breezes right now! Stay tuned for more details about our blog hop and night of fun at the Latte Lounge.

Picture Perfect Easter Creation

Happy Monday!! So glad you stopped by. Today at Picture Perfect Creations, we have a specialty challenge...create something using an Easter theme. A little while ago I had been stalking the There She Goes clear stamps impatiently waiting for this adorable set, Buckets of Love, to get back into stock. I even emailed Jessica, the owner, as to her best guess when it would be in. Do you know that sweetheart emailed me personally when it did!!!! Now that is customer service! Anyway, I colored everything in with my copic markers, even stamped the eggs a second time so I could cut them out and pop them up. Yep, once again I pulled out strips of scrap paper off the stack that is forever growing on my paper cutter! So that's why I keep those strips, for times like this!!!! Be sure and check out all the Picture Perfect Creations' DT members' blogs for some Easter inspiration. Join us, we'd love to see what you create!

Inspirational CDS Blog Hop

Blessed Sunday everyone, and welcome to our monthly Blog Hop at Clear Dollar Stamps. You should have come here from Trudy's blog. If not, start our hop from the beginning at Lori's blog. Our challenge this month was to find inspiration for a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, "The Earth Laughs in Flowers." It is always amazing watching the awakening of the perennials after a long cold winter. Everyday my one lilac bush gets greener and greener! Today I went with a simple card, using the April Flower of the Month stamp set. I love daisies, but so do the deer, so I quit planting them. I only embossed part of the white panel, leaving clean space for my sentiment, from Bless My Bloomers. Minimal bling of a few black rhinestones and Stickles, and off this goes into the mail for a friend's birthday. I'm really cuttin' it close on this one!!!

Go through all of our blog hop and leave your comments, because two winners will be drawn randomly from two DT members' blogs. The prize for each of the winners is a $10 gift certificate for clear stamps or digis. The winners will be announced on Lori's blog at 11am eastern time Wednesday, April 20th.

Now head on over to Laurie's blog and enjoy the rest of the hop!!

Sweet Birthday Blog Hop for Heather

You can find the CDS digi release post HERE.

And you can find the Clearly Inspired Challenge post HERE.

Welcome to Heather's *Sweet* Birthday Blog Hop! We are so excited to celebrate Heather's birthday today! Heather is owner and designer for Fresh Brewed Designs! We are very excited to share this special day with you all, too! Today is a celebration blog hop to honor one of the most sweetest and faith-filled gals we have been blessed to meet! It's Heather's birthday and that means YOU are in for a treat with the cards and creations on this hop!

AND there is a little "Goodie Bag" treat for one lucky random.org winner! {TBA: Sunday, 4/17, midnight}

I am the first stop for our suprise blog hop celebration. So take a seat, have a cup of coffee nearby, and get ready to be inspired!

I used the adorable digi Squeeker. He looks like he's running off somewhere very fast to deliver a lovely birthday gift of cheese!! Just wanted something fun that I could use even funner bright happy papers!!

Now just in case you get lost, here is the full list of birthday hoppers:

Linda - you are here.

Lorie

Stacie

Kadie

Stacy

Jeanette

Carolyn

Kelly

Be sure to leave a comment at the hoppers along the way to be eligible for the "Goodie Bag" Birthday candy! Thanks bunches for hopping along with us and sharing this most blessed birthday today! And stop by Heather's blog to wish her a very Happy, Sweet Birthday!

xoxoxo Blessings!

Now hop on over to Lorie's blog. Enjoy the hop!!

Clearly Inspired Challenge - Bling it On!!!

If you're looking for my CDS digi release post, please check it out HERE. Today is our Clearly Inspired Challenge, and today we're asking you to Bling It!!! Use as much or as little as you want. For my card, I used the stamp set Circle Chit Chat. I love that bee. I used black rhinestones for his loopy trail, Stickles on his wings, silver brads, and ribbon with a button. That might be pushing it a bit for the bling, but it sure was a fun card to make. Now create one of your own and post it to our challenge.

Digital Release at Clear Dollar Stamps

This is my first of three posts for today. I know I'm early too, but I have to try to get all three timed right...and it's currently 1:20am and I'm not thinking too clearly. Today is the 15th, time for a new digital release at Clear Dollar Stamps. Now just when I think they have created the cutest sets ever, they go and out do themselves! Like check out this delicious apple and digi paper from the new set Sentimental Fruit. Inside is where I put the sentiment, You're the Apple of my Eye. The digital team has been busy creating so be sure and visit them all to see their inspiration.

Post #2 is Cute and Sweet!

I heard you say ahhhhh when you saw Hanna Belle. She is a sweetie, and even more so holding that adorable little chick!! This week at Freshly Brewed Challenges, the theme is cute and sweet. Interpret that as you may, but show us something that is out of this world adorable. If you have any Fresh Brewed Designs we would love to see you use them. Don't forget our month long challenge, Flowers...check it out HERE. A busy day is on tap for me...first the fun part...getting together with friends to make Christmas cards!! Yep, you heard me right, we are getting started on a Christmas card stash! Then Phillip's track meet from yesterday was rained out and rescheduled for today...and I can go!!!!! He then has a college fair to attend at school. We'll hit somewhere good for dinner on the way home, if he doesn't have too much homework. Hope your day has nothing but fun things in it!

Sweet Stamps and a Sweet Sketch

Good morning and Happy Wednesday. It is late, late, late as I'm typing so please excuse any and all mistakes. Like I tell my kids, listen to what I mean not what I say!!!! LOL!!! Anyway, it's Wednesday so that means a new Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge. I am so happy with our new sketch this week, it will go together so fast for you, I guarantee it! Now here's where I get to tell you about our sponsor...and I couldn't be more thrilled because our sponsor is Lori from Clear Dollar Stamps!!! And what is the prize you ask for our grand prize winner? Insert drum roll here.................................. The prize is a $25 gift certificate for the digi section of the store!!!!! Yep, you heard me right!!! And CDS's digi stamps are soooooo reasonably priced, you will get A LOT of stamps!!!

My card uses the digi set called Triple Chicks. I used the pre-colored single chick, digi paper which is also included in the set, and the "Just Hatched" sentiment. This will be perfect for friends who just found out they are having a little boy. Now join us for our 97th sketch...the 100th sketch is coming up and you won't want to miss that one!

Christmas...in April?!

Of course, why not Christmas in April!!!! Actually this is Flourishes' Christmas Spirit Challenge, a gorgeous sketch. Check out all the details HERE.

I used the beautiful stamp set Christmas Classics. How funny, it was the cardinal that stood out as a fave in this set, yet I didn't use it here!!!! Maybe next month!! I heat embossed on water color paper then colored with my Tombow markers and blender pen. Colors of card stock include Handsome hunter, Certainly celery, Riding hood red, and White. The dsp is from my scrap bin...HOORAY! So do you notice the itsy bitsy mistake I make here?? According to the sketch, the ribbon was only to go around the smaller inside panel. Well, I went ahead and sewed mine down to the celery layer so I was stuck. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone!! LOL!!

How Wonderful!!!!!

Not only do I want to share with you this awesome color combo for this week's challenge at Picture Perfect Creations, but I also want to share my wonderful news!!!! I am now a member of the Design Team at Picture Perfect Creations!!!!! I couldn't be more thrilled!!! I've enjoyed playing along with their challenges each week, now I get to do it as a DT member! What an honor!!!

With so much going on last week, I decided to create a little more simple than usual. I went with the PTI set Star Prints. I cut the top note die out twice, once in white and once in a So saffron designer paper I had. What took me the longest on this card -- finding my star punch!!! Yeah, I know, I could have cut the stars out by hand, but I was determined to find that punch!!!!

Now do me a favor and head over to the Picture Perfect Creations blog to see the other ladies that made it on the DT. We are all so excited!!!! You'll also want to see what everyone created with these colors. AND, we'd like to see what you create too so play along with us, I guarantee you'll have fun!

Bunnies, Weddings and Flowers...Oh My!

How have you been enjoying seeing all of the products that you can purchase from Clear Dollar Stamps? Well today is our last day. First let me show you one gorgeous set called Wedding Cake. Truly a beautiful set. I don't have many wedding stamps, so this one will definitely see lots of ink. I gold embossed the cake then added a little mustardy yellow shadowing to it. I really wanted to keep a lot of the golden yellows in this card, but did add a touch of Mellow moss and Ruby red. I could have used this card last year for my in-laws' 50th Anniversary!

Sweet, sweet, sweet, that's what this set is. It's called Bunny Kids. My thought behind this was for a friend of mine to give it to her hubby from their infant son for Father's Day. He gets all gooshy when he talks about his little man, so he might get a kick out of this.

Here is another single sentiment stamp, Thanks for helping me bloom. I know we all have an over abundance of flowery stamps, so here's another fabulous sentiment to go with them. I paired it up with Scripture Children. I love the bright colors of the designer papers, making me think spring is right around the corner! Fingers are crossed.

It's a Manly Day at our Product Parade

If you're looking for the "Jesus is the Reason" blog hop post, you can find it HERE. This is day #3 of our Product Parade at Clear Dollar Stamps where we are showing off projects of the newly released stamp sets for this quarter. Here is a set called Father's Day. I simply HAD to use the grill, bringing back memories of my Dad grilling up the burgers and dogs. Now he's the supervisor while my hubby does the cookin'!

This card makes use of the set For Our Men, and I combined it with the set Flying By. That airplane makes me think of our summer vacations in North Carolina and visiting the Wright Brothers Memorial. I knew I wanted to make a card for my brother's birthday the moment I saw the For Our Men set.

Here is the newly released single sentiment stamp Wheely Great Dad. Talk about a versatile stamp!!! I paired it with the Volkswagen Bug single stamp. I'm getting a little nostalgic here, my very first car was a Volkswagen bug...so much fun to drive...until the heater went out in the dead of winter!!!

Now come back again tomorrow for the end of our Product Parade. You can purchase all of the new quarterly release sets, dies, and SVG files by going to the Clear Dollar Stamps store. Also head on over to the CDS blog, Clearly iStamp for more inspiration.

A Godly Mother and Father

If you are looking for the "Jesus is the Reason" blog hop, you can find it HERE. Today I get to show you two stamp sets released yesterday from Clear Dollar Stamps. This set is called A Godly Mother. I used some bright pinks, grey and white, a perfect combo for a Mom! The strip of pink along the bottom is felt, something I forget I have so then forget to use it!!!

And here we have the set A Godly Father. I love stamp sets that have touching sentiments so I can highlight them only on a card! The photo doesn't do the colors justice - Chocolate chip, Really rust, Apricot appeal, Vanilla.

Now be sure to visit the CDS blog as well as all the other DT members. There is lots of inspiration for those sets you simply must have!!!!

Clear Dollar Stamps Product Parade!

If you are looking for the "Jesus is the Reason" blog hop post, please check it out HERE. Today is release day at Clear Dollar Stamps!!!! So all of the newest and greatest stamps are available in the store right now!!!! Over the next four days we will entertain you with the Product Parade, postings of our samples making use of these wonderful new stamp sets. Here I am showing you a very versatile set called Lovely Women. Of course I had to create something for a Mother's Day card. I paired this up with the June Rose, part of the Flower of the Month collection. This beautiful flower is from the set Tulip Wreath. I love tulips, and so do the deer in our neighborhood, so I can't grow them. Red tulips happen to be my favorite, so that's the color scheme here. I love pulling card stock and papers out of my scraps bin, unfortunately I don't always know the company who they belong to!! Here is a link to Lori's blog, Clearly iStamp. There you will see a slide show of all the cards and projects created with these two sets. Be sure and stop by the rest of the DT and leave 'em some love. Remember, if you like what you see, they are all available today to purchase at the Clear Dollar Stamps store.

Jesus is the Reason Blog Hop

God bless you! This is indeed a blessed time of year, as we remember Christ's sacrifice on the cross at Calvary, and celebrate his triumphant victory over death! We're so glad you've stopped by!

You should have arrived here from Paola's blog, That's Amore. If not, please start at the beginning at Heather's blog, Heather's Coffee Break for lots of inspiration.

Our purpose these 3 days is to draw the attention back to Jesus Christ, just as we did with our Christmas version of "Jesus Is The Reason" hop. In the United States especially, Easter has become about mythical bunnies, candy and hunting for colored eggs. While they amuse us, these things distract us from the real cause for celebration: the most amazing event in history - the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. When Christ was scourged, beaten, tormented, spit upon, ridiculed, mocked, nailed to the cross and forced to bear a crown of thorns (Mark 10:34; Luke 23), it was the greatest act of love (John 3:16) the world has ever known. He didn't deserve any of it - He came into this world without sin. But for our sake, because He loves us, He took on our sins and became sin (2Corinthians 5:21; 1Peter 2:22, 24). He gave Himself as the final, substitutive sacrifice, thereby paying our sin debt in full and proclaiming, "It is finished." (John 19:30) Three days later, after being buried in a tomb, He rose from the dead and walked this earth again (Luke 24; Acts 10:40) before ascending to Heaven (1Thessalonians 1:10) to sit at the Father's right hand (Hebrews 12:2). In light of the true meaning of Easter, we friends of faith have gathered together to celebrate and share the Good News.

We invite you to join us:
Heather - Heather's Coffee Break Kelly - Sandcastle Stamper Maria - Joyful Stamper
Sammi - Stuff by Sammi
Lorie - The Thinkin' Spot
Stacy - Impressions of a Ribbon Addict
Kadie - In My Minds Eye
Carolyn - Kirei na Kami
Paola - That's Amore!
Linda - The Stamper's Touch
Susan - Pink Flannel Pajamas Karen - KR B's Korner
Catherine - Paper Addict Catherine

While we cannot even begin to reciprocate the Lord's gift to us, there is "blog candy" on some of the hop stops as a token of appreciation for your comments and encouragement. We also invite you to celebrate the real "Reason for the Season" by posting your own creation celebrating Christ's Resurrection. There is a place to link on Catherine's blog, and a prize is up for grabs for one randomly selected card/project. Now I am truly blessed to be a design team member for two wonderful Christian based stamp companies, so I wanted to create two cards using their images. First is Fresh Brewed Designs. This digital image is called Be Still Easter Egg. Colors include Perfect plum, Pale plum, White and Basic Grey's Kioshi paper. The next company I want to share is Clear Dollar Stamps. And the image I used here is the pre-colored digital Floral Cross. This image is part of a set with 3 images, 3 sentiments, and 7 digital papers. Now the colors here are Certainly celery, Bliss blue, White, and Basic Grey's Euphoria line. I had gotten the green meshy ribbon at the scrap book store and finally putting it to some use.

Now God bless! Hope you enjoy the hop! Your next stop for some love and inspiration will be Susan's blog, Pink Flannel Pajamas.

2nd Post Today - Hoppy Sweet Easter

Please scroll down for my Freshly Brewed Challenges post. Stay here too and read up on our wonderful sketch and sponsor at Sweet Sketch Wednesday. I don't know if you noticed, but this is our 96th sketch! Wow, hard to believe. Of course that means a celebration of sorts will be happening when we hit our 100th!! So be sure and be here for that! Fabulous sketch, isn't it?! I can't believe how quickly my card went together! But before I show you that, let me tell you who our sponsor is... Yep, it's Heather from Digi Stamp Characters, and our prize this week is 3 free digi's from the Etsy shop. Heather's shop was one of the first places I bought digi stamps from because of the adorable Pure Innocence line. So imagine my excitement when I received this super sweet PI with flowers and Easter egg to use on my card...thanks Heather!

She is not only ready for Easter, but she is also ready for spring with those daffodils (who am I kidding, I am soooooo ready for spring too!!). I used my copics on her as well as my nesties. I found this awesome Easter egg paper that I bought not that long ago. And I knew I would eventually put these Jolee's flowers to use!!! I really like the way this card turned out, and it all started with the Pure Innocence image. Now please join us this week for your chance at some free digis!!!

April Showers...

Yes, we all know the saying, April showers bring May flowers. All this time I thought they were referring to rain showers, but all we seem to be having here is SNOW showers!!! My poor son had a track meet yesterday (gotta give a shout out, Phillip placed 3rd in long jump this time!!!!) and was rained on, snowed on, whipped up with wind gusts, and even a bit of sun! He said his feet were so cold that when it came to doing the triple jump, he didn't do very well because he couldn't feel his toes!!!!!! Sorry for the rambling...this card is actually for the month long challenge over at Freshly Brewed Challenges. You actually have an entire month to get your cards done and submitted for the April Showers bring May FLOWERS theme. And what makes the month long challenge so special??? Why it's a prize challenge!!! Please read the right side bar of the challenge blog for the rules so you are eligible to win!!! For my card I used the digital image Fresh Brewed Flowers. I love window boxes, and this one grows some WILD flowers!!!!! Now let's see your April Showers creations!!! Head on over to Fresh Brewed Designs and check out all the new spring and Easter digis Heather has added. She's always sneaking some goodies into the store so you'll need to come back often to check 'em all out!!!!!

K-9 Challenge

One advantage to going thru and attempting to organize my crafting "stuff", I find things I had forgotten about. Case in point, the stamps and charms on this card!!! And it all fits so perfectly for the K-9 Midweek Challenge over at OWH. Once again I pulled out from my scrap bin the cardstock, used these adorable dog bone charms I had totally forgotten about, realized I had some paw print stickers, and even used up a piece of twine that was on my desk. Super simple and quick to make...how perfect!! Lots happening this week on my blog, so be sure and come back...often!!!

These Colors...

Are definitely picture perfect!! Check out the Picture Perfect Creations challenge blog for some super color combos.

Here's my CAS card that came together in about 10 minutes. After all, I had to decide which house to cut out and pop up!!!!! LOL!!! I used a Hero Arts stamp called Row of Houses that has not ever seen ink, until today! How sad is that!!! The sentiment is from Clear Dollar Stamps and called Nice Neighborhood. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.