Etsy Inspired # 51 Red Crow Arts

Today's Etsy Inspired Challenge is brought to you by Red Crow Arts. This shop is filled with so many amazing items from pendants to beautiful Mosaic mirrors, jewelery boxes and more. This stuff is gorgeous! A random winner from challenge participants will receive a Raku Fired Tree of Life Pendant. What a great prize! Also, Unity Stamp Co. is sponsoring this week's challenge and one lucky person will receive Unity's stamp set Time for Travel. This is one of the few sets that I do NOT own and I will be totally jealous of the winner. LOL
What do you have to do to win one of these fabulous prizes? It's easy! Stamp a creation using any item in the Red Crow Arts Store as your inspiration then link it to Heart Hugs Designs blog. Random winners will be chosen next Friday, September 4th.

Here is the item I chose as my inspiration:
As soon as I saw this piece I knew I had to use my Unity August Kit of the Month, Following My Heart. I hadn't inked it up yet, so this was the perfect opportunity. Here is my card:
Be sure to check out the rest of the Design Team's blogs for inspiration:

De Swanick
Emily Nehaus
Heather Schlatter
Jackie Bowman
Kerry Angeles
Kristen Dyer
Joy Stagg
Lee Murphy
Shannon Bracken
Tiffany Johnson
Tonya Hopkins

Next week is the One year Anniversary of the Etsy Inspired Challenge and Ashley has a big PARTY planned. Be sure to check it out, it will be a huge celebration.
Today is my last day as the Guest Designer for the Etsy Inspired Challenge. I have had a lot of fun creating for you and I hope I have inspired you. Thanks for stopping by today- now go get Etsy Inspired and create something!

Friday Fun # 46- Wearing Me Out!

I don't know about you, but I am sooooo glad it is FRIDAY!! It has been quite the week and I am ready for some rest, relaxation and FUN! This week's Friday Fun challenge really is all about fun. Sara challenged us to create something you can WEAR. Think of all the possibilities- you can stamp on a canvas bag, you can make jewelry, head bands, baby onesies...this list goes on for a mile. I decided to make a bracelet using brads, jump rings, and a jewelry clasp.

I cannot believe how easy this bracelet was to make. You just open the brads up all the way and have the prongs lay flat. Then you add the jump rings and close the brad around them tightly.

The large pebble brads are from Making Memories. I purchased the silver jump rings in the jewelry area of Michael's. So I didn't feel like I was cheating I wanted to add a stamped element to the bracelet. Both images are from Rubber Romance and are attached to metal-rimmed tags.
Here is a photo where you can see how I attached the silver jump rings to the brads.
We would love for you to play along. Just use keyword FFC46 when uploading to SCS. Be sure to check out the other Friday Fun Girls' blogs for more ideas and inspiration- I am positive you will love what you see!

Jimmi
Kim
Kimme
Sara

Thursday Happiness.....

Happy Thursday! I hope your week has been going great and that you are ready for the weekend. As you read this, I am heading down to Cape Hatteras, NC with my Dad. We used to vacation there when I was growing up and he wanted to make sure he made it there before he goes home to Arizona. It is one of my favorite places in the whole world so I am glad to go- I just wish we could stay more than one day.
Today I have a recipe box to show you. I originally bought two recipe boxes planning to eventually alter them to hold Cuttlebug Embossing Folders. When I saw this stamp in the new release from Artful Inkables Fun and Friendly I knew I had to pair that stamp with one of my recipe boxes. I mean, how much more perfect could it be? This would make the perfect gift for someone who has a lot of recipes to file.

Stamps: Artful Inkables Fun and Friendly
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: SU Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red; Unknown Designer Paper (I used all but one sliver up and I honestly cannot remember who it is by- SORRY!)
Accessories: Nestabilites, Chipboard Letters by K&Company, Ribbon, Recipe Box from Dollar Spot at Target

Thanks for visiting my blog today- I always appreciate it!

Rubber Romance Sketch Challenge # 1

Did you know that Rubber Romance has a sketch challenge on their blog? Did you also know that by playing along, you can win some FREE stamps? If not, you need to check out the Rubber Romance Blog to get all the details. Your chance to win some stamps ends on August 27th.

I have been wanting to use this sketch since it posted last week, but I went out of town over the weekend and then back to work on Monday. Phew! I was tired and stressed today so I made a point to get to my stamping table to make a quick card. My card uses Ellie the Elephant from the Cutie Pie line. Isn't she cute? I combined the image with my new Graphic 45 paper. The balls reminded me of circus which reminded me of elephants...so that is my thought process for this card.

Thanks for stopping by today- I always appreciate it!

Etsy Inspired # 50

Happy Saturday! It's time for another Etsy Inspired Challenge. This week's Shop is Mrs. Kitty's Cottage. She has a lot of cute items including bags, tags, and other miscellaneous items. I chose this bag as my inspiration piece. I LOVE coffee and I just got some cute coffee stamps so this bag gave me the chance to use them.
Here is my card:
The stamp set is from Artful Inkables called Warm Drinks for Cold Days. It's definitely NOT cold outside (it's in the mid-nineties outside...) but I love coffee any day and every day. YUM! I used the Weekend Sketch Challenge # 94 (keyword WSC94) for the layout. It is adjusted slightly since I kept my card an A2 side.
Here is the prize Mrs. Kitty is offering for our Etsy Inspired winner. Isn't this a cute notebook and clip holder? Love it!

Be sure to check out the other creations by the design team:

De Swanick
Emily Nehaus
Heather Schlatter
Jackie Bowman
Kerry Angeles
Kristen Dyer
Joy Stagg
Lee Murphy
Shannon Bracken
Tiffany Johnson
Tonya Hopkins

There is also a bonus prize this week fro IldiCO3 on Etsy. They are offering 3 digi stamps of the winner's choice AND a coupon for 10% off for your next order. Pretty cool!

Thanks for stopping by today- now go get Etsy Inspired and create something! :)

Friday Fun # 45- Make a Window

TGIF!! I hope you are ready for the weekend because it's almost here! This week's challenge from Sara is to make a card with a window. I was going to try the Recessed Window technique from SCS but there was too much measuring and cutting with the craft knife involved and not enough coffee. ;) Instead I pulled out my trusty Nestabilities and Dimensionals. I did have to do some fine-turning with my knife but it wasn't too bad.
We would love for you to play along- just use keyword FFC45 when uploading to Splitcoast. Be sure to check out the other Friday Fun girls for more inspiration:
Jimmi
Kim
Kimme
Sara

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Everyday Button Bits
Ink: Taken with Teal; Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper: PTI Summer Sunrise; SU Soft Sky; Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Paper
Accessoriess: Nestabilities, all buttons and ribbon from PTI

Also, I wanted to tell you about the sketch challenge on the Rubber Romance Blog! This is a great chance for you to win some FREE Rubber Romance Stamps and you have until August 27th to play along!

Thanks for stopping by- now go have some Friday Fun!

It's All Black and White.....with some Red

Happy Thursday! Today I have a project for the current Artful Inkables Challenge. In case you didn't know, every other Tuesday a Design Team member will issue a new challenge. The best part is- you have a chance to win some stamps for participating!

The current challenge runs through August 31st Midnight Pacific time and all you need to do is to make a card or project using the colors Red, Black and White. Once your project is posted in an online gallery or on your blog link it to this post HERE to for a chance to win a Grab Bag of Artful Inkables stamps!

I decided to make a Post-It Note Holder for the challenge. I used the new release South of the Border which is one of my favorite sets! It's so versatile and you get a lot of stamps for the price.

The holder is made using two chipboard coasters and covering them with paper. I used my Crop-a-dile to punch the holes and set the jumbo eyelets. I then threaded the ribbon through the holes and tied them. I left a little bit of slack in the ribbon to make opening the holder easier. Next, I took my stamped image and added it to the front. I have a confession....I did use a tiny bit of green on the peppers. I just had to. ssshhhh!!

Once the Post It note holder was decorated I just took some Post-its and put them inside. To make sure they stayed put, I used a tiny bit of glue on the back piece of paper.

I added my finishing touches including Stickles and a popped up Chili Pepper that I stamped and cut out. Voila! I now have the perfect little gift to give someone that I happen to think is "Hot Stuff".

Stamps: Artful Inkables South of the Border
Paper: Making Memories PP, PTI White and Pure Poppy
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and asst. markers
Accessories: Pewter Jumbo Eyelets, Chipboard Coasters, Nestabilities, Stickles, PTI Pure Poppy ribbon

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you play along with us. Good luck!!

Sweet Memories

I wanted to share a card I made today for a very sad occasion. I just found out yesterday that my upstairs neighbor lost her brother in a car accident. She loves music and plays the piano (and I know because my stamp table is right underneath her piano) beautifully. That's why I chose this image for the card. I love the piano from Artful Inkables Music a la Carte . I left the image uncolored to keep the card simple. The sentiment is from the set Fun and Friendly. I don't have many Sympathy sentiments but I thought this sentiment fit. After all, when we lose someone we love we want to remember the good times we shared with them.

Stamps: Artful Inkables
Paper: PTI White; SU Basic Black; Patterned Paper by Making Memories
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Black pearls by Mark Richards, Satin Ribbon, Nestabilities

Thanks for stopping by today!

Think Ink Tuesday!

Artful Inkables has a new challenge out today! Check out Joy's Blog for the challenge and more information on how you can play along.

Artful Inkables New Release Blog Hop!

** This is the 2nd post today. For the Etsy Inspired Challenge Please Scroll Down.

Welcome to the Artful Inkables Blog Hop! You should be joining me from Emily's blog. If not, please start at the Artful Inkables Blog and follow the links. You will not want to miss all the fun stuff the design team has in store for you today!
My card today features the new Release South of the Border. This stamp set is sooo cute! This little guy in the margarita glass grabbed my attention right away and I knew I had to ink him up first. If you are not familiar with Artful Inkables stamps they are unmounted red rubber and they come in clear packaging you can use to store them.

If you have followed all the links today you have seen a lot of inspiration and have reached the end of the hop. Make sure you leave a comment on my blog for a chance to win..................ALL THREE NEW RELEASES!! Can you believe it? One lucky person is going to get these fabulous sets!
Make sure to leave your comment no later than Wednesday, August 19th Midnight PST. A random winner will be chosen on Thursday the 20th.

Thanks for joining us today- I hope you had as much fun hopping as we did stamping for you!

EIC # 49

It's time for another Etsy Inspired Challenge! This week's Etsy Shop is melissakate. She has beautiful and inspiring prints and cards. I chose this print as my inspiration- I just think it is so gorgeous and would love to have it to hang in my stamp room. This is the card I created based on the above print. I used the special edition stamp set from Papertrey Ink called Floral Fusion. All cardstock, ink and buttons are also from Papertrey Ink.

You can win a prize from melissakate's shop by choosing something from her store and creating something inspired by that item. Just link it back up to this post on Ashleys's blog HERE for a chance to win. We also have another sponsor who is offering up a prize so be sure to check her blog out!

You can check out the other Etsy Inspired Design Team creations on the blogs below:

De Swanick
Emily Nehaus
Heather Schlatter
Jackie Bowman
Kerry Angeles
Kristen Dyer
Joy Stagg
Lee Murphy
Shannon Bracken
Tiffany Johnson
Tonya Hopkins

Thanks for stopping by today- I hope you were inspired!

Friday Fun #44 -It's A Balloon- Really!

Happy Friday! I hope you are ready for the weekend! I know when mine started yesterday that I DEFINITELY was ready. This week's Friday Fun is hosted by Sara and she challenged us to make a card in anything but the usual shape. I thought about going the circle card route.....but that might be too boring. I don't do hearts....so I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Then yesterday I was chatting in Unity's forum for Hip Hop and we had a discussion about what the "next big thing" is going to be. We decided that Hot Air Balloons were on the top of the list. So we agreed that those of us who owned it would use Unity's Love is in the Air. That is how I came up with the idea to make my card in the shape of a hot air balloon.
Of course, I don't have any hot air balloon dies or templates (does anyone??) so I had to draw it myself. EEK! I cannot draw so I will throw that disclaimer in there right now. After drawing it, I cut it out.
All I can say is....it's definitely a different shape. LOL. It's not my favorite card but I am rolling with it today.
We would love for you to play along with us. Use Keyword FFC44 when uploading to Splitcoast. Be sure to check out the other Friday Fun Girls for some inspiration. I'm sure they did a better job with this shape theme than I did. :)
Jimmi
Kim
Kimme
Sara

I also would like to tell you (ok - shout out over the rooftops...LOL) that I have been selected to be a part of the very first Rubber Romance Design Team! To see the fabulous ladies I will be joining you can check out the announcement HERE. I am very excited to be working with this talented group!!

Thanks for stopping by today. Be sure to check out the Artful Inkables blog hop tomorrow. I am certain you will NOT be disappointed!

Etsy Inspired # 48 with a Giveaway!

It's time for another Etsy Inspired Challenge. This week's shop is Vol. 25 by Jessica Rose. Jessica's name may sound familiar because she designs stamps for several companies including Unity Stamp Co. Her images are fun and whimsical and I must say that I do think I own most or all of the stamps she has designed for Unity because I love them.
I was very excited to see that she was this week's Etsy Shop for the challenge and whoever wins the random drawing will get an 8x10 print of their choice from her shop. How cool is that? All you have to do is go to her store and choose an item for your inspiration and create. Post a link to your creation on Ashley's blog by Friday Aug 14 at noon (Pacific Time) to enter the drawing. If you upload to the Splitcoast Gallery or Papercrafts Planet use keyword EIC48.

ALSO-No one won the Paper Makeup gift certificate last week so you still have a chance to win that too! All you have to do is refer a friend that is new to the challenge. When your friend posts their creation link, just have them tell Ashley that you referred them. YOU will then be entered in a drawing to win the $25 gift certificate! Each friend you refer gets you one entry into the drawing! Now, go get your friends EtsyInspired!

Below is the print that I chose from Jessica's store as my inspiration.
Here is the card I created based on the print. All stamps are from Unity Stamp Co. and all card stock and yellow designer paper is from Papertrey Ink. The black and white designer paper is from Making Memories. The layout is from the Weekly Sketch Challenge on SCS # 240.

Check out the rest of the Etsy-Inspired Team for their creations:
Ashley Newell (link contest entries here)
De Swanick
Emily Nehaus
Heather Schlatter
Jackie Bowman
Kerry Angeles
Kristen Dyer
Joy Stagg
Lee Murphy
Shannon Bracken
Tiffany Johnson
Tonya Hopkins

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have FUN playing the challenge!

Friday Fun # 43- Bling it Up!

TGIF! I hope you are ready for a great weekend- I know I am! This week's Friday Fun challenge is hosted by Sara. Her challenge is to Bling it Up!
I decided to take this opportunity to make a baby card for my boyfriend's sister. She just gave birth recently to her second daughter, Abigail. I've only seen a few pictures since she lives in a different state, but she is a cutie! I am not very good at traditional baby cards because I don't really do "cute" that well so I went with what I think is more modern and elegant, but still a baby card. The stamp set is from Unity and it's called Tickled Pink. The card stock is from Papertrey Ink and the designer paper is from Making Memories. My bling is in the form of black rhinestones on the wheels of the buggy and Stickles on the pink cover.

We would love for you to play along. Use keyword FFC43 when uploading to your SCS gallery. For more Friday Fun Inspiration check out the following blogs:

Jimmi
Kim
Kimme
Sara

Thanks for stopping by- have a great day!!

Oh My Goodies Make Me Happy......

I finally got into my stamping area since returning home from Orlando. I must tell you that I have been dying to get my hands on some of my new goodies. What did I get at CHA, you ask? Why tons of goodies! I have several Unity sets including 2 sets not released yet (luck me, I know!), I have tons of new paper including some Prism card stock samples and some new DP I have never tried from Graphic 45. I got a free stamp set from Taylored Expressions and lots of stuff from Papertrey Ink (that unfortunately was NOT free, but that's OK because it is fabulous nonetheless.) Here is a picture of most of my goodies on my dining room table: I have enough to keep me busy for awhile, don't ya think? :) Before I could dig into my CHA treasures I needed to finish a card I started before my trip to Florida using Unity's Kit of the Month from July called a pocket full of.... This kit arrived on my doorstep days before leaving for my trip and it is so cute, I just had to finish my card. Of course since it's been weeks since I started the card, I really couldn't remember what I had planned so I improvised and created this card:

I'm not sure how close to my original idea the card came, but I do know it fits my mood. Everything in my stamping life MAKES ME HAPPY!

Thanks for stopping by today. I just re-organized my stamping area (well I had to make room for my new stuff...) so I will post pictures as soon as I get it totally done. Have a great day!

An Etsy Inspired Challenge AND an AMAZING BOGO Event!

Today is the first Etsy-Inspired Challenge for August and guess who the Guest Designer for this month is! Me!! I am very excited to join this talented team this month. I really love the whole idea of art inspiring art.

This week's featured Etsy store is Julianne's Jewels. She actually has TWO stores and you can view her original one HERE and her NEW one HERE. She sells some GORGEOUS hand made jewelry and home decor. The winner this week will receive a $20 gift certificate to her store.
Here is the piece that I chose as my inspiration:

You can find the listing HERE. I just love the color of the earrings and I thought the lantern shape was unique. I chose the lantern from Unity's May KOM Another Sweet Day and the sentiment is from April's KOM Fresh Beginnings.

Check out the rest of the Etsy-Inspired Team for their creations:

Ashley Newell (link contest entries here)
De Swanick

Emily Nehaus

Heather Schlatter
Jackie Bowman
Kerry Angeles
Kristen Dyer
Joy Stagg
Lee Murphy
Shannon Bracken
Tiffany Johnson
Tonya Hopkins

Now you want to know all about the BOGO, and honestly, who doesn't? :) Bring One (friend), Get One (entry)! All EIC players that “bring a friend” that is new to the challenge will be entered in a drawing to receive a special prize sponsored by Paper Make Up Stamps!!!! Bring one friend, get one entry; bring two friends, get two entries, and so on!!!! The more friends you “bring” the greater your chances are to win! Additionally, the EIC player and her friend(s) will be eligible for the weekly shop give away, as well!!! You could win TWO great prizes!!!

Here’s how to participate… invite a friend (or friends) that are new to the challenge to play along with you for the 1 August challenge. Have your friend(s) go to Ashley’s Heart Hugs blog, read about the shop for the week, go to the shop, be inspired and CREATE! They should than go back to Ashley’s blog and post their project from the post for EIC 47 post. In the post they should include “referred by” and your name. What YOU need to do as the referrer is post your card from Ashley’s blog, and ensure you include your BOGOs names. You’ll get one entry for the grand prize for each new person referred! The more people you invite to play, the greater your chance is to win!

On Friday 7 August, Noon PST, Random.Brady will choose the week’s challenge winner as usual. For those that referred new players, their names will be put in a “hat” and one lucky winner will be drawn to win a prize sponsored by Paper Make Up stamps! Some of you may know Katie and her shop and if you do, you KNOW it will be a GRAND prize! If you don’t go check it out and you’ll see!

Don’t miss out on the fun! Mark your calendars and go get your friends Etsy Inspired!