Breaking News! This just in!!

Head over to the Cuttlebug Challenge blog to get the scoop on the biggest news from Provo Craft regarding the Cuttlebug and embossing folders.

It's soooo exciting!!! What? You're still here?

GO HERE NOW!!!

You can always come back later and we can squeal together!! LOL!!!

ETA: Link Corrected. Thanks for the heads up!

Cuttlebug Challenge Countdown to CHA

Good morning girls!!

The Cuttlebug Challenge team is on a one week hiatus! We're are preparing for a MONTH long event over at the blog, counting down the days to CHA! Provo Craft is releasing a dozen new embossing folders for the Cuttlebug and we want to inspire you all month long with awesome new creations!

You can win some of the NEW FOLDERS before you can buy them! Just click the ad above to get all the details over at the Cuttlebug Challenge blog!

See you next week with our first Countdown projects!!

Twinkling Tuesday: Bling-a-ling Bee

Tuesdays are Twinkling around here! In case you are just stopping by for the first time, Madelynn is a creative 9 year old and every Tuesday she gives us a challenge. Usually they are sketch challenges -- and oh, she's very, very good at coming up with them! What a fun challenge Madelynn had for us this week! No sketch this week - instead she wanted to see the BLING! Right up my alley!!

I used one of the bees from the Party Bees set available at 2RedBananas! She is colored with prismas/baby oil and her wings have been covered in sparkly glitter! I also added more bling with some gems in the corners and the crystal words. The sketch I used is actually a layout sketch that I found in the Paper Popsicles forum. I think it looks great on a card too!

My little man also wanted to color with me and here's his bee!

Thanks for coming by today! I love being able to share my creations with you and it means so much that you swing by for a visit!

Be sure to visit the rest of the Twinklettes and see how they used bling today!

Christi ♥ Darla ♥ Debbie ♥ Heather
Heather R. ♥ Jacquie ♥ Janna
Jessica ♥ Kim ♥ Kimmie
Lisa ♥ Rebecca ♥ Sandra

Butterfly Flight

Today 2RedBananas is sponsoring the House Mouse Challenge. It's a sketch challenge this week and it's a great one in my opinion!!

I don't own any House Mouse stamps. I like the images and certainly have loved every card I've ever seen made with them. But the coloring always intimidated me. I used to own a stamp for some wacky reason; I don't remember buying it but I bet I picked it up at a big discount when our local stamp store closed many years ago. Jeannette was kind enough to stamp me a few images and send them my way to use for the challenge. I have to say, it wasn't near as hard to color that mouse as I thought it would be! I colored and blended with my Prismacolor pencils on this one. I used a blender pencil as well along the edges.

Thanks for stopping by today! Be sure to visit the House Mouse Challenge blog to see the sketch and their design team creations. And I hope you'll take a moment to see what the rest of the Banana Bunch did for this challenge.

Jeanette Fincher ♥ Deb Felts ♥ Jami Bova
Teresa Grau ♥ Wendy Kastner ♥

Denise Marzec, Guest DT ♥ Silke Ledlow, Guest DT

You can find several House Mouse stamps and sentiments in the 2RedBananas store. Jeannette carries the Stamp of the Month and the cutie for July is calling my name! I swear that is me some days in the Texas Heat! Have a beautiful day girls!!

Introducing Kyah!

Kyah is the daughter of one of my good stamping friends Jacquie, you know, the JavaBluStamper!
Today Kyah launched her very own blog to share her creations. She loves to create with her mom and I know that it's a special time for them. I actually happen to own a Kyah Original. I know I shouldn't brag, but I couldn't resist!

I love it when kids like to be creative and use the creative, artistic part of their brain!

Head over to Kyah's blog and see her very first post --- she also has a giveaway to celebrate her launch!

Then visit her mom's blog as she has a giveaway too. Jacquie is one of the most sharing people I know!!

Fairy in Thought

Good morning girls! Or afternoon rather! Today I have a card that uses the newest sketch over at Inspirational Card Sketches.

The fairy is from 2RedBananas and was illustrated by Jami Bova. I've actually been very intimidated by this stamp. Not really sure why as she's very sweet and wasn't that hard to color after all.

I used some Opal Shimmerz on her wings and her dress is Roseate Shimmer It! Copics for the rest of the image. (Jeannette carries lots of colors of Shimmerz, by the way.)

Isn't that sparkle wonderful!?! I can just imagine her sitting on the edge of the pool, cooling her toes and daydreaming!

The challenge this week at 2RedBananas is to be inspired by summer. Be sure to check out the blog and see what the rest of the team came up with! They are wonderful!!!!

Jeanette Fincher ♥ Cassie Larson ♥ Deb Felts
Jami Bova ♥ Teresa Grau ♥ Wendy Kastner
Denise Marzec, Guest DT ♥ Silke Ledlow, Guest DT

Have a beautiful day!!

Friday Find!

Hi girls!! Hope your Friday is going terrific. Yesterday felt like Friday to me. As I was cleaning up and organizing some files on my computer, I found this card I made that I never shared with you. Ack! The Horror!! I didn't mean to hold out on you!!! Seriously!!

This uses one of the cute flamingo sets from 2RedBananas. It's a wedding theme and the sentiment cracked me up! I thought it would be fun to create a card that you could use to invite someone to be your bridesmaid.

Isn't that the BIG job that a bridesmaid has? Be sure to check out the ribbon. The green scallop satin I picked up in one of those ribbon buys that Jody Morrow does. It's wonderful!!! Ribbon, satin and scallops --- 3 wonderful things all in one product!! And the pink ---- makes me want to SQUEAL - seriously!!! WHY? Because it's VELVET!!!! I got it at 2RedBananas.

Now, Jeanette is absolutely one of the greatest persons in the world!! I mentioned once that I wish I could find velvet ribbon. And she got some in the store in like 2 weeks! Now THAT'S Service!! It also comes in a rich brown and a pretty gray. So, yeah, I'm a fan of Jeanette for our shared ribbon love but also because she is truly, TRULY, a wonderful, sweet caring lady. I knew it but I've seen it in action several times this week. So stop by her blog, by the 2RB blog and by The Store to see what I mean.

2RB: I Scream, You Scream

We all Scream for Ice Cream!

Do kids even still say that these days? The other night hubby and I were eating dinner outside and could hear an ice cream truck in the neighbor. He commented that it didn't sound like it ever stopped or slowed down --- did kids even stop the ice cream truck anymore? I told him I wasn't sure; the few times I've seen it in the neighborhood, it's going so fast I don't know how a kid could possibly find money and make it back out in time to stop him!

I love Ice Cream! If I could eat it for breakfast, I probably would! You can ask Jacquie --- she'll tell you that I'm not fibbing at all. When I saw the June Journaling set by 2RedBananas this month I was sooo excited!! It's a perfect set to capture the heat of June and the beginning of summer! In addition to the ice cream cone there is a popsicle, 3 sentiments and an accent stamp (and only $8 -- what a bargain -- seriously, I just saw the price when I grabbed the link).

If you are not familiar with 2RedBananas stamps, they are made from great rubber, etched DEEP and come mounted on that EZMount stuff. You will have to trim them yourself so make sure you have some of those super scissors to make it quick and effortless!

I decided to create a clear card using the ice cream cone for this set. The base is already polka dotted (Creative Cafe) so gotta love that!

I stamped the cone several times on various papers:
*once completely on white (for the inside message)
*4 times on cream for the bases. They were all trimmed out. The front was embossed and inked.
*3 times on white leaving out the journaling lines for the front, inside front and back.

I used some buttons that Jacquie sent me for my sprinkles. The crisp white-ness of my ice cream is making me think of Dairy Queen ice cream. SOOOO creamy and delicious!! Perhaps we'll have to go grab a cone tonight --- crossing my fingers hubby says yes!!

I hand-wrote my message inside. I can think of several people in my life that are the sprinkles in my life. I certainly hope that I'm sprinkles for someone too!

That's it for me today! I've got some work to do; some cleaning to do, some laundry to fold, errands to run, wow - busy day! I definitely think I'll be screaming for ice cream!! Have a beautiful day girls!!

Cuttlebug Be Inspired Challenge 35: Father's Day Card/Gift

Hi! So good to see you again! If this is your first visit today, be sure to scroll down and see my Flutter By card for this week.

This week at Cuttlebug Challenge the theme was Father's Day. This is an extra-special Father's Day for my brother-in-law: it's his birthday AND his FIRST Father's Day.

One of the new sets being released by 2RedBananas this month is an adorable baby set designed by Jami Bova. I created a quasi-card to send to my BIL. What's a quasi-card? It's part card, part layout, part home decor.

I stamped the large star from the set in Creamy Caramel on my Kraft base (5.5 x 10). The pictures were cropped and sized and then mounted on white mats. All my white pieces have been embossed with the Swiss Dots embossing folder.

Two squares were embellished as accents. The top square used the same star and one of the sentiments from the set was stamped inside. I wanted to capture that feeling of how as a parent you add a whole new facet to your personality when you have a baby join your family....and so added to the sentiment in my own handwriting.

The buggy is just one of the larger images from this set. Since it's for my BIL, I wanted to keep it fairly clean and simple. I left room over to the right so we could add a personal message before we send this off. The sketch is an older one from (sketches by tamara).

And to make sure that this card could be enjoyed for a long time, I constructed an easel from some chipboard and adhered it to the back. I hope that my BIL will enjoy it and display it on his desk at work or somewhere in their home as a reminder of those first days.

Be sure to stop by the Cuttlebug Challenge and see the rest of the cards and projects by the team as well. Several team members are moving on and I know it would mean a lot to them if you stopped and wished them well. They are alumni now and will still be stopping by from time to time! There are some exciting events coming up in the next few weeks at the Cuttlebug Challenge too so be sure to check in frequently --- the best bet is to add it to your Reader or subscribe so you won't miss anything!

Stop by the 2RedBananas blog as well and the rest of the Banana Bunch too. TODAY is the day that the June releases are available in the store. Lots of cute stamps this month. And be sure to check out the Smooch ink and the ribbon too! There is still time to join in on the challenge at CPS and the 2RB blog!

Flutter By Wednesday: One Layer Flutters

Good morning everyone! I'm happy to be back here, and can't wait to show you my Flutter By card for today. I think it might be my favorite one I've created for this challenge - so far anyway!! LOL!! I'll have my project for Cuttlebug Challenge up later this morning so I hope you'll come back to see it to! {teaser: it's a quasi-card}


I used the sketch from i{heart}tostamp this week but eliminated all the layers to keep it clean and simple. The base of my card is cream and is paired with Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip.

Stop by the rest of the Flutter By team to see their creations. Then link up your own creation using either a butterfly or a fairy over at Danni's blog! Christine is our featured stamper this week and Mary is our guest designer! I heard too that Ashley had her baby so leave her some well-wishes!!

Ann ♥ Ashley ♥ Cathy ♥ Chris
Christine ♥ Danni ♥ Harriet ♥ Heather
Jodi ♥ Kim ♥ Lelia ♥ Michelle
Nancy ♥ Nicola ♥ Stef

2RedBananas Sneak Peek: Play with STYLE!

Good morning girls!! This is my second post today so be sure to scroll down for my card using Madelynn's Twinkling Tuesday sketch.

Right now I have another sneak peek at a new Abbey Westemeyer stamp set available at 2RedBananas this week - Wednesday to be exact!!

Baseball is one of my favorite sports. I especially loved watching my brother play and think attending a game live is about as near perfect a day as it could get.

Just like yesterday's image, I wanted to use this image in a more girly way, to show that it can be very versatile.

The legs, beak and mitt were colored with pencils and blended with pencils. The body was stamped and embossed on some pink glitter cardstock. I really wanted to make her sparkle! The "play YOUR game" comes with the stamp and I hand-wrote the "with Style!" to create a custom sentiment.

Be sure to visit the 2RedBananas blog and the rest of the Bunch to see more sneak peeks. There are 4 new sets this month! Be sure to visit Deb and leave her some congratulations --- we just found out she's a Dirty Dozen member!!

Jeanette Fincher ♥ Deb Felts ♥ Jami Bova
Teresa Grau ♥ Wendy Kastner
Denise Marzec, Guest DT ♥ Silke Ledlow, Guest DT

Madelynn's Twinkling Tuesday: Kindness

Happy Twinkling Tuesday girls. Madelynn gave us another doozy of a sketch. I tell ya, that girl has an eye for what is going to work!!

If you are a new visitor, Madelynn is the 9 year old daughter of Jessica, The Whimsical Butterfly. She draws sketches each week for us.

I used a neglected Stampin Up! set for my card today. I think it's very Martha Stewart-ish with the pale floral and the bold words over-stamped. I love over-stamping and knew that technique would look terrific with this set, which is why I bought it!

The floral paper was just saffron flowers but I needed some more Rose Red in my paper so I just used a marker to trace over some of the flowers and dots.

Be sure to visit the rest of the Twinklettes to see their take on this week's sketch! Jacquie is our featured stamper too so be sure to leave her some love!

Christi Thorsen ♥ Darla ♥ Debbie Lee
Heather ♥ Heather Schlatter ♥ Jacquie Peifer
Janna Hull ♥ Jessica Diedrich ♥ Kim
Kimmie Doktor ♥ Lisa Slusser ♥ Rebecca Ednie ♥ Sandra McLean

Be sure to check out my sneak peek card for 2RedBananas too!

2RedBananas Sneak Peek: GOAL!

Hi girls!! I'm sitting outside typing my blog post as my little man blows bubbles. It's H-O-T but there's a great wind so it's actually pretty comfortable. I'm always amazed at how we go from Spring to Summer in one day.

It's Sneak Peek time again for 2RedBananas. This month there are 4 sets that will be available on June 17th! Today I used one of Abbey Westemeyer's sets. Abbey usually draws big eyelashes on her girl animals; even though I think this is a boy frog, he can easily be a she -- and so I used papers that had a more feminine feel to them!! I'm not a soccer fan or a soccer mom but I think this is a wonderful set to send to someone who has met a goal! It's great to be able to celebrate those accomplishments!

I colored my frog with prismas/baby oil and paper pieced the uniform. I might consider taking up soccer if I got to wear cute pink polka dotted tennis shoes!

The sketch is this week's CPS sketch; 2RB is sponsoring this week and there is a terrific prize full of great 2RB stamp sets and loads of yummy-licious ribbon! To be eligible to win this prize, visit CPS and upload your project there!

We'd also love to see your work linked up over at the 2RedBananas blog as well. A winner be drawn there and will be able to pick their choice of one of the new releases from 2RedBananas this month! Isn't that cool - 2 prizes, 2 places to win --- but you only have to do 1 project!!

Flutter By Wednesday: White Butterfly

This is my second post for the day so be sure to scroll down to see my Cuttlebug Challenge card for this week!

This week Danni asked us to use any sketch in our butterfly/fairy creations this week. Oops. We got home late last night and I just didn't even think of looking to see if there was an additional challenge this week. I just created a really quick card.

Please stop by the rest of the Flutter By team and see what they came up with for this week!

Be Inspired #35: Favorite Movie

How are you on this wonderful Wednesday? I'm having a pretty wonderful day around here. We made it home last night and it was great to be home. It's cloudy and has rained softly almost all morning. Loving it!

This week at Cuttlebug Challenge, we were asked to create a card/project inspired by our favorite movie. I did take a few basics with me to my in-laws so I could get some projects done. I for some reason did not take my cuttlebug - well, I was traveling light and didn't realize that I really needed it! A quick side-trip to Michaels to see what they had I could work with.

My favorite movie is The Magic of Ordinary Days. It's a Hallmark movie that you really should see. I was thinking I would have to go with another favorite but then I spied the Thanks embossing folder. One of my favorite scenes from the movie takes place at Thanksgiving and Livy, the main character, expresses her thankfulness for the Singleton family.

A thank you card in browns, whites and creams. You may be wondering how I embossed with no machine? Well, luckily enough, Tonya, once shared with me that she uses a rolling pin to emboss! I tried it out and got pretty good results. I also went over a few sections with a book and rubber mallet. It worked, but I am ever so thankful that I actually have a machine to do it for me lickety split!

Be sure to stop by the Cuttlebug Challenge blog and see what the rest of the team came up with! Vintage Plum is the sponsor this week and one participant will win one of their monthly kits!

Twinkling Tuesday: Sweetie

Hello dear friends. It's so nice to be back; I've missed you. I've been super busy over the last week and didn't have much time for stamping. But I'm looking forward to getting back into a schedule and getting things created and sharing them here with you!

It's Twinkling Tuesday and this week Madelynn is back with another great sketch for us. I usually struggle with embellishments but I knew as soon as I saw all those circles down the side what I wanted to do!


My card uses another of the flamingo images - Sweetie - from the May Release at 2RedBananas. In addition to the "Hi Sweetie" sentiment there is another that says "Congratulations" making this a very versatile set. This little sweetie makes me think of Grease 2. I love one of the later scenes where all the girls dress up to represent the months of the year. If you've never seen this sequel, I recommend it. I personally like it much more than the original!


I didn't bring a ton of supplies with me this trip to my in-laws. Just some Close to Cocoa, Baja Breeze and white cardstock, a DCWV paper pad, a few stamps/inkpads, some ribbon, a package of gems and markers. I actually even ran out of adhesive. UGH!

The cake was paper pieced and I tied some silk ribbon around the middle layer of panels too. These gems are really cool - they are aurora borealis so they just sparkle and shine and flash all sorts of colors. I wish you could see that on the screen!

Be sure to visit all the other Twinklettes. Heather Schlatter is our featured Twinklette this week so you definitely need to leave her some love. We also are saying good-bye to Jennifer and Bonnie. They have more DT commitments in the coming months and I'll miss them so. But I'll still be viewing their creations and wish them all the best. And I want to say "hi" and "welcome" to our newest Twinklette, Lisa Slusser! Be sure to visit her blog and tell her the same! She joined last week but I didn't get to welcome her!

The Twinklettes:

Cassie Larson ♥ Christi Thorsen ♥ Darla Wilson
Debbie Lee ♥ Heather Lee-Reppen ♥ Heather Schlatter
Jacquie Peifer ♥ Janna Hull ♥ Jessica Diedrich
Kim Ross ♥ Kimmie Doktor ♥ Lisa Slusser
Rebecca Ednie ♥ Sandra McLean

Have a beautiful day girls!!

Modern Sugar Blvd: Release Party Bingo

The newest images at Modern Sugar Blvd will be available on June 11th. To kick it off there will be a BIG BINGO party at the MSB group at PCP.

You can see all the details HERE on the Modern Sugar blog. Everyone who wants to join in gets one Bingo card just for joining us!!

I hope to see you there!!