Life's Simple Pleasures

A cup of hot coffee...and the time to sit and drink it are two of life's simple pleasures! I'm on the third reheating of my morning coffee...and it's after noon!!! It's been one of those days. Anyway, my card features a newly released Fresh Brewed Designs digi called Sally. I kept the layout simple and the colors summery.

I had to share one of Phillip's track pictures (he's the second one from the left). A last meet of the year tradition is the relay race made up of teams of field athletes and coaches. This group of guys are jumpers (Phillip does long, triple and high). You're looking at the team that won the race!!!! It was such a blast watching them all run, and the guys get to pick on the coaches for beating 'em! So fun!

It's All About Trees

That is our theme this week for the Clean and Simple challenge over at The Outlawz. We're celebrating Arbor Day, a holiday in which individuals are encouraged to plant and care for trees. I used a PaperTrey Ink set called Trendy Tree Tops. I'm seeing a lot of cards using browns and reds which I love, so I went with that color scheme here. And imagine my delight when I discovered this woodgrain embossing folder in my collection! Surprise, surprise!! I hope you can join us for our CAS challenge all about trees. 

Sweet Sketch and Bugaboo

Welcome to Sweet Sketch Wednesday and our latest challenge. We're visiting a sketch from the past -- so fun.

Our sponsor this week is Bugaboo Digi Stamps. They are a huge favorite of mine so be sure and check 'em out.

Everything That You Ever Wanted to Know About Bugaboo Stamps: As if raising five children in the frozen land of the North was not enough of a challenge, Jodie Mackrell decided to dip her cold little Canadian toes into the world of papercrafting by opening an online store full of her illustrations. That was two years ago. Today Bugaboo Stamps is one of the leading companies in digital images, and we're still growing! From seriously snarky to sugary sweet to sublimely soulful all the way over to the other side of the super sexy spectrum, you're bound to find all that you need and more to create your paper projects. Jodie works very hard to provide New Releases and Freebies every week!

If your taste runs to rubber (and you know who you are), you can find Bugaboo Stamps stamps at Totally Stampalicious. And finally, join the Bugaboo Stamps DT for weekly challenges at Catch the Bug. 

The prize for our winner this week is 7 free digi images!!

Here's my card using Margaret Calendar Month - April. Around here, she needs to be carrying a snow shovel instead of an umbrella!!! Saturday was the last of the snow here...I hope! Looking forward to your creations with us at Sweet Sketch Wednesday.   

You are the Best Part of my Day!

How true is that, coffee is the best part of anyone's day!!!! I am leaving in two minutes to meet a friend at Starbucks for my skinny caramel latte...YUM! Then it's off to some stores, one of which is the dreaded grocery store! I think I have finally trained two out of the three men in the house to write down what they want/need from the grocery store instead of simply telling me. Do they think I have super powers of memory?!! Anyway, my card was a fun one to make. The image is from Fresh Brewed Designs called Flower Mug and can be found HERE. I used a die to cut out the squares as well as the word "you." The sentiment is from a newly purchased stamp set by Simon Says Stamp.

Enjoy your day. The sun is shining here...HOORAY!!!

A Happy Hello

Even for a Monday I'm shouting out a happy hello! Here's my card for the latest Stella Says Sketch at Catch the Bug. I used the adorable Bugaboo image Flower Ladybug and some paper scraps. Doesn't that sweet bug simply make you smile?! Fingers are crossed that we're over the hump and moving into warmer weather. I woke up to frost on the ground yesterday! Yes, I said frost. And yes, I guess it's better than snow!!! Enjoy your today, mine is slated to be another busy one.

Warm and Sunny CDS Blog Hop

Welcome to this month's blog hop for Clear Dollar Stamps. You should have arrived here from Kathy's blog. If not, be sure to go back to the CDS blog to start the hop from the beginning.

 This month our theme is "Yellow Like the Sun"  - use yellow on our card. Let me tell you, I am so ready for spring to arrive...and stay!! Last week we had gorgeous warm days then boom, yesterday I drove to work with snow coming down! CRAZY! For my card, I used the digital stamp set Bugs & Blooms. Of course I used the color version of one of the images. They sure are sweet!!!

Would you like to win this digital stamp set for yourself? All you need to do is leave a comment on my blog along with an email address and you might be chosen randomly as the winner!!! As a matter of fact, be sure and comment on ALL of the design team's blogs because they are all offering up a prize to one lucky winner the digi set they used on their cards. How fun! Winners will be announced on Thursday.

This is the last stop on our April blog hop. So glad you could join us and good luck!

Don't Worry, Bee Happy!

I need to follow that advice and BEE happy. I would if all this undo stress would simply vanish!!! Anyway, I finally made it into my stamp room and did some creating. This card is for our latest Clean and Simple challenge over at The Outlawz. This challenge is called "Break the Plane," and we would like to see a CAS project that has an item extended off the edge of the card base. I've been having some creativity issues, so a tent card with a pre-colored digi was the best I could do. The image is from Doodle Pantry, Ant Masquerade to bee exact! Now I'm not sure if the embossed layer is chicken wire or honeycomb, but for today, I'm going with the honeycomb! Thanks for stopping by and join us for our Clean and Simple challenge at The Outlawz.  

Come back later today for my second post, our monthly blog hop at Clear Dollar Stamps. You have a chance at winning the digi set I will use!

It's a Bug's Life

A Bug's Life, that's the theme for the latest challenge over at Catch the Bug. I have plenty of buggy images by Bugaboo, so I settled on Ladybug Stack. I wanted to keep it simple and use a 4.25" square card. The papers are scraps (are you surprised?!) and the only embellishments are the brads and ribbon. Quick and easy, that's for sure.
 

Sweet Sketch Wednesday

Welcome to our latest challenge at Sweet Sketch Wednesday. I know you're going to have lots of fun with the sketch this week, so pull out those paper scraps and join us!

Our wonderful monthly sponsor, Digi Stamp Boutique, is offering our winner their choice of 6 free digis!! How fabulous is that?!!!

All images/designs are created and copyright owned by Sally-Ann Hancock. My work means the world to me - it allows my passion to draw and create, to fit with my family life too - often the inspiration for my designs. Hope you enjoy as much as I enjoy creating.

Here is my card, using the adorable Grace and Puppy. She is just so sweet!! My papers came from a Simon Says Stamp card kit as did the paper straw that I flattened and stapled into place along the left side. I hope you can find some time to join us this week at Sweet Sketch Wednesday. 

I am submitting this card to the month long customer competition at the DigiStamp Boutique blog. 

HEY!

Yes, this is my third post for today. I'm late getting this one up, but that's the story of my life anymore! Fresh Brewed Designs is sponsoring the Love to Create challenge blog, and their theme this week is "For the Guys." You have a chance to win 3 Fresh Brewed images of your choice! I used the adorable Best Buds digi, pairing it up with some fun papers by Bo Bunny - I love the bright blues, greens, yellow and oranges. I liked the simple "hey" sentiment, making this a very versatile card. The sketch I used is from 613 Avenue Create. Enjoy your today and keep on crafting.

CDS Digi Release

Today is release day also for Clear Dollar Stamps. I have two adorable sets I want to share with you. First up is Lisa Lara's Woof. I so love sets with animals and this one is the sweetest. I thought this card would be perfect for my package I have yet to send off to Operation Write Home because all those deployed service men and women are definitely missing their family and friends back home.

Here's is Deedee Anderson's set, What's Cooking. That's a question my family asks every evening! One day I have something in the oven or crock pot, the next it's leftovers!! Anyway, I used the color version (you know how I love those) and digital paper all included in this set. Figured this would make a good get well card.

Be sure and stop by the store to check out what all is new for April. I'm sure you'll find lots to fill your cart.

Mid Month Release as Doodle Pantry

The second half of our April release is here at Doodle Pantry! My card I used the set Cherry Tomatoes and of course I used the color version and digital papers. My Dad grows the best tomatoes! I always make a special trip home just to pick up some. What I can't eat up right away I end up making into juice; the whole family gets involved with it too! One pot of tomatoes I cook with some hot peppers so I have spicy juice for chili...YUM! Every year Dad claims he isn't going to plant as many tomatoes, but he gives 'em away to so many people they would be disappointed if he didn't have for them. Even with his alzheimers, he always feels at home in the garden. HUGS.

Berry Nice Mice

I made a card last night!!!! Yes, I've been going thru a dry spell lately where creativity is concerned so actually making something was kinda fun. Doodle Pantry is one of the sponsors for the Craft Your Passion challenge "Adorable Animals." I could not resist using the newly released Berry Nice Mice set. This set could be yours absolutely free if you play along in the Doodle Pantry Digital Challenge. The sketch I used for this came from the Sweet Sunday Sketch found HERE.  

Yum to Latte Love

Welcome to Fresh Brewed Designs April Rubber Stamp Release and Blog Hop! 

We are so happy to have you hopping along with us this weekend!

If you are just arriving to the hop, you will want to go back to the start

at Freshly Brewed Challenges.

If you are getting here from Sarah's blog then you are good to go! 

This hop is going to be a BLAST!!!
 It's Heather's birthday weekend,
so she decided to throw in some EXTRA FUN just for you!
Not only do we have some SUPER CUTE New Rubber Stamps
to release, we also have BLOG CANDY to give away!

I will tell you more about the candy, but first,
let me share the card I created for you today!

I created my card using the new stamp Latte Love.

In real life, the blues match a little better, but that's okay. Initially I wanted to keep this simply black and white...but blue found it's way onto this card somehow. The fun sentiment is also from Fresh Brewed Designs.  And the piece of ribbon is from the assortment pack up for grabs as blog candy!!

 Get these stamps AND MORE at a special deal THIS WEEKEND ONLY!
Use the code birthday at checkout to receive 20% off your entire order!

Now, I know you remember that I mentioned candy earlier in this post.
Wait no longer! Check out what YOU can win!

To win this candy, all you have to do is HOP in full the first day
{Saturday, April 13th}.
You HAVE to leave comments at each hop stop to win!For an extra chance to win, you need to come back to the Freshly Brewed Challenges blog
on Sunday and Monday to find links to the cards posted for those days.
PLUS ~ Anyone who purchases rubber stamps during this hop will 
get two extra chances at winning the candy!
That means you have 4 chances to get your name in the draw!

Thank you so much for hopping with us!

I hope you have enjoyed your time here at my blog. 

It is time for us to say goodbye and for you to head over to my friend

Lisa's blog to check out what she has prepared for you.

Here is the full hop order :

Freshly Brewed Challenges Blog
Sarah
Linda
Lisa (guest)
Sheryl
Rhonda (guest)
Vanessa
Celeste
Barbara (guest)
Yolanda
Heather - Happy Birthday my friend!!!

Stella's Sketch

Hold on to your hats cause I got one of the challenges done over at Catch the Bug!!! It's the most recent Stella Says Sketch - I always say I'm going to play along then time gets away from me. Well this time I sat down and created something! It helped that I had already had the image colored!! I used some papers that were laying on my desk and ta-da, a card is born. The Bugaboo image is Garden Cat - Watering Can and you can find it HERE.

Hi Cutie

Wow, what a gorgeous day yesterday! Sunny and very warm...gotta love it. Calling for rain today, and that's okay, as long as it isn't snow! Here's my card for today's Fresh Brewed Blog post. As much as I love digis, I think my creative heart truly lies with getting inky. This is a recently released rubber stamp from Fresh Brewed Designs called Vanilla Cupcake Cutie. I wanted to pull out some of the papers from a card kit I subscribe to from Simon Says Stamps. I never used to be a fan of pink and yellow together, but I think it's growing on me! Enjoy your Wednesday, it will be the weekend before you know it. Hooray!!! 

Sweet Bee

Happy Day to you! Warm and sunny, and I'm lovin' every minute of it. Welcome to Sweet Sketch Wednesday and our latest challenge. We always have such fun sketches for you to try, so I hope you will this week.

Our sponsor this week is Stamp Fairy. So many fun and darling images, you really must take a moment to browse the store. And our winner this week will receive a $10 gift certificate to do just that! Here's a little bit about owner Gerda, in her own words:

 "Stamp Fairy officially launched on November 5th 2010. Gerda Burghardt, artist and owner, creates cute and whimsical digital images for the young and old, inspired by her life, love and 4 cute cats. You will find adorable teddies bears, young boys and girls, fuzzy little bunnies and whimsical critters. Stamp Fairy has new releases along with a free image in every new set published weekly on Fridays. Please visit the store and browse StampFairy’s wonderful images. We hope StampFairy’s images inspire YOUR creativity."

And here's my card using the adorable Lenny Bee. I think he's such a sweetie! I paired him up with the latest card kit from Simon Says Stamp. I love the colors and papers. Bee sure and join us this week at Sweet Sketch Wednesday and maybe you can be the winner of your very own images from Stamp Fairy.  

Happy Thoughts

It's amazing what a little bit of sunshine can do to the spirit. Beautiful warm weekend with a little bit of rain yesterday during my oldest's track meet. But it's not meant to last, back to the 40s with possible snow come Friday. CRAZY!!! So I wanted to keep the happy thoughts as long as I can so I used the lovely April from Fresh Brewed Designs to create my card for today. I had to keep it simple today as that's all the creative juices I could spare!! Some days it just doesn't click.

I wanted to be sure you knew about our rubber release and blog hop this month - it's set for April 13th - 15th. Mark your calendar for a fun weekend.

Who Let the Frogs Out?

Who knew it was National Frog Month?!! We're celebrating these creatures over at The Outlawz for our Clean and Simple (CAS) challenge - create a clean and simple project featuring a frog. Yes, it's that simple. Here I used an older set from Close to my Heart called Fun Times. The sentiment sure does make me giggle!! I used some staples as my embellishment, something I haven't done in a long time. Sure hope you can join us for our frog-fun at The Outlawz.

Treasured Friend and Berry Sweet

We mixed things up a little bit at the Doodle Pantry. Our usual first of the month release became the 5th of April with an additional release popping up around the middle of the month. So fun!!! My first card showcases the set Old Trunk. It's a stunning set with lots of wonderful sentiments and three digital papers - all of which are on this card. Since brown is my favorite color, I knew I had to create with this set.

Every month Laurie pulls out an older set to add color to, and this month it's Pears & Raspberries.  I used used the berries along with the thank you sentiment...because I needed a thank you card!!! Clean and simple with just a touch of bling.

Don't forget about our Doodle Pantry Digital Challenge - it will go love on the Doodle Pantry Blog at 12noon eastern. Create something using a Doodle Pantry digital image and you could win some really grand images, all chosen by you!!

 

A Sweet Fat Cat

Yes, it's Wednesday, and yes, I'm all messed up because of the boys being off school for Easter break. So that means I get to welcome you to our latest challenge at Sweet Sketch Wednesday. I can't believe it's sketch #200!! WOW!! I hope you can join us for this one and the next 200!!

Our wonderful sponsor this week is The Doodle Garden. Take a moment to browse, you're gonna love what you see.

 Thanks for taking the time to get to know a little bit about the gal behind The Doodle Garden digis!

I'm Jennifer L Nilsson (but please, call me Jenn or Jenna!). And I am blessed to be able to work full-time from home as a licensed artist.

I enjoy creating bright whimsical pieces for manufacturers, but also wanted to be able to offer something to those who like to craft. So I have begun my journey with digistamp designs with my Etsy shop: The Doodle Garden.

It's fairly new, but is growing pretty fast and I am SOOO enjoying creating these little whimsies for YOU!

Jenna is offering our grand prize winner 5 single digis of their choice -- fun and fabulous!! Thanks Jenna!

 Here is my card, using the adorable Fat Cat image. I simply couldn't resist this cutie as I have two cats and they are both, well let's just say, extra fluffy and well fed!!! I used copic markers and an old card kit that I am trying to use up. Wanted to keep it simple so I thought a little stitching was in order.

Here are my two kitties, Moonstruck (on the seat) and Mojo (stretched out on the blanket). They claim they don't like each other then I find them sleeping on the same chair!! Too adorable. 

Hope you can join us this week for our 200th sketch at Sweet Sketch Wednesday. 

 

Sweet Treats

Good morning and welcome to our newest month long prize challenge at the Fresh Brewed Blog. Our theme for April is Sweet Treats. YUM!!! For me, ice cream is one of my all time favorite sweet delights. So many wonderful flavors with mint chocolate chip being the most yummiest! Because of my love for the delectable dessert, I had to create with the Fresh Brewed Designs image Ice Cream Cone and sentiment. I added glossy accents to the cherry and used Basic Grey paper from a pack that was sitting on my desk. I knew I wanted to keep it simple, so stitching seemed in order to add a bit of interest. I hope you can join us this month for our Sweet Treats challenge at the Fresh Brewed Blog.

Think Spring

Okay, I'm becoming desperate for spring now...it's snowing really hard as I'm typing! The roads are covered and so is the grass!!! What is up with that?!! Pretty soon, I'll need to head outside to shovel - after all, I NEED to make a Starbucks run!

Yesterday Heather, from Fresh Brewed Designs, released two new digis. Here is April Swings. She is so beautiful, don't you think?! I found this piece of teal designer paper in my scrap pile so my color palette was decided. If you take a look at the black ribbon, it has sparkles in it, adding that touch of glitz and glam.

Enjoy your today. I'll be bundling up to take care of my bird feeders and get ready for the grocery store. Then to Starbucks for an extra hot caramel latte -- YUM!