Baby Blog Hop for Lesley

Who doesn't love a sweet new baby?  My friend Lesley, the creator of Freshly Made Sketches, is expecting a little girl very soon.  Some of her friends and fellow crafters are having a fun blog hop today to celebrate!  You can find them all over at Lori's blog.  I'm forever grateful to Lesley for giving me the chance to be on a team like Freshly Made Sketches.  It has really stretched my creativity, but more importantly, given me some amazing friends.  

I love this sweet image.  I don't know if it's for baby cards, but I think it fits. I know most people used pink, but as usual, I'm the odd ball.  

Congrats, Lesley and Corey! I know this was a big dream of  yours and Lesley, I know how hard you worked to make it happen.  Best of wishes to you guys and baby girl. 

Watercolor Blog Hop

One of two posts this evening!  There are two fun blog hops going on today and you don't want to miss those!  I made this one for the Watercolor Blog Hop hosted by Pretty Pink Posh.   I am not the best at watercoloring, but I had fun making my background with some distress inks and a stencil.   I kept the rest simple with a sentiment from Altenew and some sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.  :)



There are lots of great sponsors and amazing examples, so be sure to go check it out!

Two Paper Divas Lucky Me

Happy St. Paddy's Day!   I hope you are wearing your green!  :)   Two Paper Divas is still celebrating, so I have another card for you using the Lucky Me set.  Don't forget to visit everyone and comment for your chance to win the set!   It's a good one!

1) Tracie Clary

2)  Rita Wright  (me!)

3)  Elina Pereira

4)  Jenny Ewing

5) Two Paper Divas

My card is pretty simple, but I love the bright pops of green.   I am enjoying using gray and green together lately.  Maybe it's all these top hats in this set?  lol  

Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow with a masculine card for Freshly Made Sketches.

Two Paper Divas Lucky Me

Today at Two Paper Divas we are celebrating St. Patrick's Day with a blog hop!  We are featuring the Lucky Me set and one lucky person who comments on the hop will win the set for themselves.  Super fun, right?!  Yay!  Will you be the lucky one?!  There's also a free template for a top hat over on the TPD blog, so you need to swing by and pick that up too!

Check out all the other inspiration:

1) Tracie Clary

2)  Rita Wright  (me!)

3)  Elina Pereira

4)  Jenny Ewing

5) Two Paper Divas

Good luck and gave a lucky day tomorrow! Don't forget to wear your green so you don't get pinched.  Ha!

Prickley Pear Blog Hop Day 3

It's the last day of the Prickley Pear new release blog hop!  I hope you've enjoyed all the inspiration.  Remember to hop through all three days and comment on the blogs for a chance to win this great prize!

I used the new Circle Pendant die for my card today and it's just lovely!   It cut so easily and looks fabulous on the card.  I also used the Circles Set - Sentiments stamp set that you see pictured.  It pairs great with the die.  

I used the inlaid die cut technique here and I'll be back this week with a tutorial on how I did that.  Super easy, but gives a great look.   I did pop up the circle on some dimensionals to give it a bit of depth.  

I hope you enjoyed my card today.  Now hop on over and see what Heidi has made to inspire you! 

Prickley Pear Spring Blog Hop

It's an exciting time at Prickley Pear!  There are lots of new releases for the spring in the shop!   We are having a three day blog hop to show off all the wonderful new stamps.  Today is day two, so if you missed day one, be sure to check that out.   We will be giving away a prize to someone who visits and comments on all the blogs all three days.  The winner will be announced on February 23rd.   Here's what you can win:

Isn't that a cool prize?  I love that die!   Now...on to my card! :)

Isn't this just the sweetest image?  I love it so much!  He was a blast to color, too.  I kept the card simple because I wanted the image to be the focus.   Another fabulous thing is that there's a smaller version of him as well.  I love that so many of the images come in two sizes.  

Stamps:  HH0173 Boy with Airplane, CLR013E Circles Set - Sentiments

Now be sure to hop on over to Angie's blog to continue on with all the fabulous inspiration!  If you get lost or mixed up, you can always start over at the Prickley Pear blog. 

Coffee Lovers Bloghop 2

The blog hop is going so well!   There are already 165 entries and 12 more hours to go!  I guess a lot of us papercrafts love our coffee and coffee stamps!  lol  I actually made two cards for the hop, so I thought I'd share my second one around the halfway point.

For this one, I used the new card kit from Simon Says Stamp!  I was so excited about it being coffee this month.  :)     It came with this adorable little cup die and I am already totally in love with how cute that is!  I used a Bo Bunny set for the splatters on the side.    

We now have a box big enough to ship a toddler.  Thanks, Amazon!   It was a battle of cats and toddler for the rights to the delivery yesterday, but Laila finally won out.  She's already asked me to get it back out and put the bag of balls we have in it.   Cheap entertainment for the evening.  Ha!

Coffee Lovers Bloghop!

Today is National Coffee Day!    It could be my new favorite day of the year!  lol   Chaitali is hosting a fun coffee-themed blog hop on her blog and I just had to join in!   If you have time, you can whip up a coffee card and go join in as well!   The linky is open until midnight and there are prizes to be won!

I used a new Lawn Fawn set for my card.  I love all the little cups and mugs that come with that set!  So, so cute.  They gave me a great opportunity to get some practice with my Copics.  I used the current sketch at The Paper Players for my layout. I also want to enter it in the MarkerPOP Anything Goes challenge.

    

As part of the hop, we were asked to answer a few questions, so here goes:

1.  When did you start drinking coffee?  For me, it was back in college.   I worked almost full-time and took a full classload, so I needed all the help I could get staying awake.  It really started to be an addiction when I got my first real job and had to wake up before 6am! 

2. What is your favorite brand?  I'm a huge Starbucks fan and love their Vanilla Macchiato, Pumpkin Spice Latte, Peppermint Mocha, and White Mocha.   For home coffee, I love Green Mountain brands in my Keurig. 

3.  What is the most amazing coffee that you had?  Remember when and where?  Strangely enough, at a friend's house!  Her husband is VERY into coffee and they have their own espresso machine.   He buys the beans at peak time and grinds them fresh for each cup.   I love going to visit, but even more so if they offer up a cup of that deliciousness!  

5. If I don't drink my needed coffee, I will....     Kill someone?  lol  Just kidding...kinda.   With a toddler in the house, I need it to wake up and keep up with her.  If I don't have it, I will be fighting a headache and fall over of exhaustion (probably before 9am).   

Speaking of the toddler, I love this shot from our zoo trip!   It's always fun to look through and find that one really awesome picture that you managed to snap.  :)

Oh, and before I forget, I made a new Facebook page for my cards.  I'd love for you to come by and say hi!

Celebrating Grandmothers

I'm so thrilled to have had time to participate in this blog hop for my sweet friend Linda!    I am so excited for her and her grandbaby-to-be.   I met Linda almost a year ago at the Stampin' Up! Convention in Utah and I feel like we've been buddies ever since.   Being on the Freshly Made Sketches design team together has been awesome and I hope we both survive these new babies to stamp together again this fall.  :)

The inspiration for our hop is the beautiful quote above along with our relationship with our own grandmother.   I admit that this was a difficult card for me to make.  My paternal grandmother passed away on my birthday last year and being pregnant and sick, I was not able to travel home to say goodbye.    She was truly an amazing woman who was more like a second mom to me and I hope this card honors both her memory and celebrates my happiness for Linda.    

There's so much inspiration from my grandmother (or Mamaw as we called her) in this card.   She passed on her love of quilts to me, so I chose to make a Top-Note quilt card.   One of my cherished possessions is a handmade quilt that she and my Papaw were given for their 50th wedding anniversary.   I am thankful that she gave it to me while I was still able to say thank you.    Another element is the flower stamp; growing up she always had a beautiful flower garden that we "helped" with each year.   She grew Marigolds and we would help her dry the flowers and save the seeds for next year's planting.   Finally, the button...    Mamaw always had this tin of buttons in her cabinet and as a child, they were my favorite thing to play with.   A few Christmases ago I was gifted a jar of buttons from that tin.   The button featured on here is one of them.  There's such a variety in my jar, so I hope to use them on special cards like this now and then.   

So that's my card and my inspiration.   I hope Linda will like this card...and I hope I can find time to put it in the mail!  She inspired a piece on it, the "turkey platter".   One of her posts called the embossed oval a turkey platter and it makes me laugh each time I use it!    I just had to put it on my card. :)    Congratulations, Linda!  I'm so excited for you and your family.   

Be sure to hop on over to the other blogs if you haven't been there already!   Also stop by Linda's blog and offer up some congratulations and any grandmotherly advice you might have to share!   

Lesley Croghan

Mary Fish

Cindy Hall

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

Nance Leedy

Jen Mitchell

Tui Nathan

LeAnne Pugliese

Ann Schach

Jennifer Timko

Rita Wright (you are here!)

Happy Birthday, Lesley!

Happy Birthday, Lesley!    I feel so honored to be a part of this awesome blog hop celebrating the birthday of such a sweet lady.   I love your positive attitude and of course your amazing stampin' skills.   You always find some kind words to say about even the worst of my projects and for that, I absolutely adore you.  :)   I hope you have a wonderful day!    

For my card, I wanted something cheery and fun because that's what birthdays should be!  I used the inspiration picture from this week's Play Date Cafe challenge to come up with my colors and I love them together!   Be sure to hop on over to the rest of the blogs to see more fun birthday ideas and of course go by Lesley's blog and wish her a very happy birthday.   

Stamps:  Upsy Daisy, Delicate Doilies

Ink:   Lucky Limeade, Poppy Parade, Calypso Coral

Paper:  Lucky Limeade, Poppy Parade, Calypso Coral, Whisper White, In Color Hostess Stack (retired)

Accessories:  Basic Rhinestones, Lucky Limeade ruffled ribbon, homemade shimmer mist

Tools:  Scallop Trim border punch

Here's the list of blog hop participants:

Ann Marie Hile:  Stampin' Anne
Carrie Gaskin:  Artistic Avenger
Cindy Beach:  Stamps, Paper, and Ink
Jaydee:  Stampin! with Jaydee
Jen Mitchell:  I Create
Joan Jeffery:  J J Creations
Lauri Ingram:  Paperville
Laurie:  Hiding in my Craft Room
LeAnne Pugliese:  wee inklings
Nance Leedy:  Canopy Crafts
Cards by Rita:   You are here!  
Sandra Azzopardi:  Sandra's Stamping Spot
Tui Nathan:  Stampin' Time