Blogoversary Blog Candy offered until April 5

This will remain on the top until April 5! Please scroll down for my creations.


Woo hoo!! A few months ago was my one year blogoversary and I am so late in posting my candy. I hope it was worth the wait though because I have awesome blog candy for you!! I so appreciate you all my blogging friends!! God has blessed me with good health, a loving husband, 2 beautiful and sweet daughters, wonderful parents and siblings, and a bunch of awesome friends (including you my blogging friends). Blogging has become such a part of my life as has my dt sisters and teams that I wanted to celebrate my blogoversary..... but most of all to thank you my followers !! I have so enjoyed your visits, comments, and your inspiring blogs!!! I am not giving blog candy out to only one but two of my followers!!!

I have put a lot of thought into what I have chosen and chose a lot of my faves!! Hope you like it!!

The value of Blog Candy 1 is over $250 for the first candy !!

Here is a list of what is included:
1 Cropodile Big Bite
1 Fleur De Lis Spellbinders Die set
1 Fancy Labels Spellbinders Die setEK Success Moracco Lace Punch
1 Our Daily Bread Designs Nest Stamp set
1 Wags n Whiskers Best Friends Forever Stamp (generously donated by Lacey from Stamp and Create)
1 Wags n Whiskers Love you Sis stamp (Thanks again Lacey for this donation!)
1 Whimsy Splashy Sabrina stamp
1 basic Grey Sugar Rush (6x6 pad) (available at ODBD)
1 Basic Grey June Bug (6x6 pad) (available at ODBD)
1 Die Cuts with a View- Sweet stack (6x6 pad)
1 Making Memories Cheeky Collection (6x6 pad)ZVA Creative pearl flourishes-pink (available at ODBD)
ZVA Creative pearl flourishes-blue (available at ODBD)
ZVA Creative pearl flourishes-green (available at ODBD)
May Arts satin ribbon (1 yards each-pink, green and blue)
May arts green ruffled ribbon
May Arts Lace Ribbon (1 1/2 yards each pink and ivory)Silver and gold stickles
Flourish Bazill Chips
Soft Pink Flower Soft
Delphinium Blue Flower Soft
Soft Green Flower SoftFlower Soft Glue
Recollections Fleur De Lis Brads
Recollections Blue brad assortment
Recollections Pink brad assortmentRecollections Red brad assortment
Recollections Green brad assortment
The Painter's Pyramid
Small assortment of Prima petite roses in:
bluelavender
white
ZVA Creative Blooms in yellow

Blog Candy 2-Worth $75

Blog candy 2 contents:
1 Magnolia stamp
1 Inky Impressions stamp (THIS WILL BE DIFFERENT THAN PICTURED SINCE I WOULD LIKE TO SEND ONE OF THE NEW RELEASES THAT WILL BE RELEASED NEXT WEEK)
1 Impressions Obsession Stamp
1 Penny Black Stamp
Pink Stickles
Diamond Stickles
2 packages Best Occasions rhinestones
Nursery Collection Prima Flowers
In Stitch'z Flourishes template by Bazzill
2 packages Pearl Flourishes from ZVA Creative


What do you have to to enter to win:
1. You must be a Follower since this is candy to Thank my followers.
2.Leave a link to this post and photo of this candy on your sidebar.
3.Leave a link on Mr. Linky here and a comment here on this post before 9 p.m. EST (I want both just in case Mr. Linky goes down) If you do not have a blog please make sure there is an email or something left with a way to contact you.

Anyone can enter!!!

Remember blog candy ends on April 5 at 9 p.m. EST. Good Luck! The winners will be announced on April 7!

Best Wishes!!

blessings,
Chris

Inky Impressions Blog Hop!!

Good Morning!! If you came here for the Inky Impressions Hop, you are in the right place. If you came here for the Wags n Whiskers Sneak Peak or Flutter by Challenge, please scroll down to the next post.

Happy Hump Day Everyone!! I am so excited today as it is our New Release Blog Hop for Inky Impressions. The team has lots of fun creations to share with you. If you came here from Kim Y.'s Blog, you are in the right place, if not, you may want to start at the beginning because there is a prize along the way and you must leave comments for all the dt in order to qualify.

All you have to do for a chance to win the candy is leave a comment on each blog along the way and leave a comment on the Inky Impressions blog letting us know you completed the hop before Tuesday, April 6 at Midnight EST.

Today I have the honor of sharing Nikki's Birdie with you....If you loved Shy Little Nikki as I do, you will adore this one.

I colored my image with water colors, cut her out and popped her up on dimensionals on a dry embossed background framed by my new Spellbinders Lotus die. The dp is Basic Grey Lily Kate. The flowers are prima dandies that I added crystal affects and glitter to, ZVA Creative flourishes and some purple mini roses from ZVa Creative. Isn't the bird charm darling, these are some new charms that Nicole will be carrying in her store!! I just love this bird!!

I just want to keep this short and sweet so you can get on with the hop. You next stop will be the ever so talented and sweet Jackie.

Oh...and for some more awesome news... Nicole is offering a 15% discount from now until midnight eastern time on Friday, April 2 on all orders!! Just mention Blog Hop Discount in your comments at checkout. This is an incredible deal and you don't want to miss out!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and for your sweet comments!!

blessings,

Chris

Flutter By Wednesday and Wags n Whiskers Sneak Peak

Happy Wednesday everyone!! Today is a busy day here in blog land with lots of fun to be had. Since it is Wednesday it is time for another Flutter By Wednesday challenge. This week's challenge is a color challenge, to use blue green and white on your card or project and a fairy, butterfly or angel.

Since it also the day that Wags n Whiskers is doing their sneak peaks, I combined the sneak peak with Flutter by Wednesday's challenge. This months releases are super fun and are of a sports theme.We are so excited about our new release on Friday and at last today we can share the images with you ! The images are illustrated by the super talented Cris De Lara! For my creation, I used the adorable Tiny Dancer image that is to be released on Friday (when we have our fun blog hop!!!). Isn't she precious!!

My layout uses the Friday Sketch. I colored her with water colors and popped her up on dimensionals. The dp is some yummy paper I just bought from Michael's called Anna Griffin Isabelle collection. The green pearls on the corners are from Basic Grey and are on sale for 25% off in Lacey's Stamp and create store this week (Lacey extended her 25 % off sale on all buttons, brads, and bling through Sunday April 4! You don't want to miss that!!)

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Sneak peak of Wags n Whiskers Tiny Dancer

Paper: Anna Griffin-Isabelle, Taken with Teal, white

Accessories: Lace, white silk ribbon, bow easy, ZVA Creative blue pearl flourishes, Stick pin given to me in a RAK from my dear friend Sabrina!!, Spellbinders Lotus die

Challenges:

busy little hands: cut it my hand

Cute Card Thurday: dimensions

Charisma cardz: Spring has sprung

crafty calendar: flower power

Flutter by Wednesdays: blue green and white with butterflies, angels or fairies

hand full of stamps: sweet one- this tiny dancer is too sweet... I think

If you join in the Flutter By Wednesday challenge this week, please leave a direct link here. We can't wait to see your creations. Be sure to hop on over to the Flutter By Wednesday blog to see the rest of the team's creations.

For more sneak peaks at the fab new releases for Wags n Whiskers this coming Friday, please click on the links to these talented ladies! Each of the different images are being shown today!!

• Lacey Stephens
  
• Nikki Fairbairn
  
• Jeanette Comerford
  
• Karen Goguen
  
• Michele Roos
  
• Tina
  
• Sharon Caudle
• Debbie
  
• Christa Gnegt-gdt
• Bree Tetz- gdt

So how would you like to win the Whole Wags n Whiskers Release!
Yes! one lucky person will win the whole release! All you have to do is pop over to the Wags 'N Whiskers blog...grab the release banner & display it on your own blog with a link back to Wags 'n Whiskers!

Thanks for stopping by!! I will be back with the Inky Impressions hop in a few hours!! Have a great day!! Thanks for all your sweet comments!!

hugs,
Chris

Perfect Presentations New Release-Tux for Father's Day

Hello! Sorry for my lack of posts the last couple of days or visits to your blogs...I now have the horrible flu my husband and daughters have been struggling with for the last two plus weeks and am down and out with a fever etc. I have so much to share with you this week and I am so glad I worked ahead and did not procrastinate or I would have been in big trouble for sure!! I have posts and blog hop posts scheduled for each day this week.
I am so excited about this Perfect Presentations template from Leigh Ann Baird!!! She has outdone herself once again, and produced a totally awesome and flawless design which I think is awesome for Father's Day!! It is called the Top Notch box!
To me it was perfect for making a tux for a gift for Father's Day. I used black glitter paper and red ribbon for the tie. The sentiment is a sneak peak of one of the awesome sentiments from Our Daily Bread Designs - Happy Father's Day (to be release on April 1). I just love the font....I framed it with the Fancy Tags die from Spellbinders. I am packing with my husband Scott's favorite chocolate....Lindt.
For more examples on the Top Notch Box, please visit my talented dt sisters at Perfect Presentations:

* Leigh Ann~Owner
* Alyssa
* Harriet
* Kerri * Rebecca

Thanks for stopping by...for my first post for the day which displays this card:

using Whimsy's Splashy Sabrina and the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge, please scroll down to the next post. The Priscillastyle's 6 X 6 envelope template was used for it.

I also have blog candy that I am offering my followers as a way of saying thank you. If you have not yet signed up for it, you can click here.

Thanks for stopping by and for your much appreciated comments! Have a great day!

blessings,
Chris

MMSC47 Splashy Sabrina

Good Morning Everyone!! This post is prescheduled since I am down with the flu and not able to be on the computer at this time. Hopefully I am able to sleep when this goes live. I was so hoping I would escape this illness that my family has had but I guess that was not meant to be....

Anywho...today is Tuesday and that means it is time for another Midnight Madness Sketch!!
This week's sponsor is Priscilla herself with her Priscilla- styles Store.

Priscilla carries awesome templates for dimensional envelopes. Each one of the dt members was blessed with one of her templates to use for this month's challenges!! And I think....one person will be lucky to win one as a bonus prize this week. Check here to find out what this week's prize is.Here is this week's sketch:Here is my take on this week's Sketch:

For my card I used the Whimsy image: Splashy Sabrina (which is part of my blog candy here). I colored her with water colors, cut her out and popped her up on dimensionals on a background dry embossed with the Provocraft Bubbles folder. I thought the fun fur was perfect for this image and so fun. The dp is from my scrap bin and from Stampin Up's Flock Together dp. I used the the Martha Stewart shell border punch for the edges.

The 6 x 6 envelopes templates from Priscillastyles store make it look like such a gift.
I tried to show photos of all angles on the envelope. The envelope is 3/4 thick so it holds cards with a lot of dimension. I sewed the edges of the envelope and embossed flourishes from Stampin Ups Priceless stamp set. The flowers are punched out using a SU punch and the name escapes me at the moment (Sorry). To close the envelope I have added a velcro closure.

I hope you can join us for the MMSC47 sketch. We can't wait to see your creations. If you do create a card or project, please leave a direct on Mr. Linky here. For more inspiration for this challenge, please visit my talented dt sisters:

Carol-Chocolate, Crafts, & Bears!
Carolyn - Creative Card Corner
Charlotte- Designs from Within
Denise - kc242 Designs by Denise
Jane - The Paper Affair
Jeni - Jeni's Custom Cards
Linda - Craft Central!!
Michelle - Daydreams by Michelle
Phyllis - SparklePlenty1000
Priscilla - "priscillastyles"
Sue - McMahon Five Designs
Sue Drees - Rubber Stamping Adventures

This week we bid good bye to two dear friends and dt sisters who I will always hold close to my heart: Sue from McMahon Designs and Jane from the Paper Affair whose lives just have become so busy and they needed to step down at this time. I wish you girls the best!!! Big hugs! We will see you in blogland!! Thanks also to Sue Drees who was an awesome guest this month!! You will all be missed.

Thanks to all for stopping by and for your sweet comments. I hope I am up and feeling better soon so I can leave you all comments. I also have another post scheduled with a new release template from Perfect Presentations later on this a.m.

blessings,
Chris

Sat. Spotlight/Happy Easter ODBD

Happy Saturday!! I hope you are all having a great start to your weekend!! Spring is upon us and soon it will be Easter. I am looking forward to the warmer days and time outdoors!!

Today I would like to share two creations with you....One for Saturday Spotlight and the other for Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge.
This week the Challenge team at Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light Challenge is challenging you to create an Easter Card or project.
To make the challenge even more fun, we will be giving out a prize, a $15 gift certificate to be used toward stamps at the Our Daily Bread Designs store!! Entries for the prize must be submitted by Thursday, April 1 at 8 p.m.. to Mr. Linky here. One random winner will be chosen and announced next Saturday. While it is not required to use Our Daily Bread Designs images and sentiments on your creations, we would love to see them if you have them.

Here is my take on the challenge:

For my creation, I used a sneak peak of the Mom set to be released on April 1 and the sentiment from He Is Risen!! I just had to play with the new designer paper I received this week too. I am loving the Green at Heart Paper from Basic Grey. It matches perfectly with my pink satin ribbon. The flourishes on each side of my image are created with the Fancy Labels dies from Spellbinders.

Card Recipe:

Stamps: Our DailyBread Designs: Mom and He is Risen

Paper: White and pink CS, Basic Grey Green At Heart
Accessories: May Arts pink satin ribbon, MS flower vine punch, Swiss dots embossing folder, Fancy tags Spellbinders die, gold baubles

I also incorporated:

* the Stampin Sisters in Christ challenge-to make it clean and simple
* CCEE Inspiration Challenge- inspired by the colors in this photo chosen by Tosh

*Going Grey with ScrapCreations- Think Spring
* Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge- pink, green and flowers
* Crafty Catz- White and one other color (pink)
*Paper Garden Projects- Embossing
*Incy Wincy- Think Spring or Easter
* Jacksonbelle- Easter or spring
* Simon Says Stamp- Easter or spring and some glimmer

For more inspiration for this challenge, please visit my dt sisters:

• America Kuhn
• Christine Okken
• Francie Gumprecht
• Natalie Dever
• Patter Cross
• Sabrina Jackson

We hope you can join us for this challenge!! We look forward to seeing your creations!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now on to the Saturday Spotlight Challenge!!!


For this week's challenge.....

The Spotlight Divas would like to challenge you to create something with COFFEE in mind! You don't HAVE to use coffee images for this challenge, you can take inspiration from the colors you think of in coffee like rich browns, blacks, tan/creamy colors, etc. And to help you out a bit further, we wanted to provide you with this inspirational photo:

So please take the inspiration from the photo or from the colors you think of with coffee and have fun with it!! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!!

For our special Spotlight sponsor this week we have...

Here is a little bit of info about the company:
The Cutting Cafe' offers affordable Printable/Digital Stamps and Cutting Files. The Cutting Files which are basically just like templates are files that you Print out using your home printer, Cut, Assemble and then Embellish.....Very Easy.....

**Regina is generously providing the prize winner this week THREE sets of choice from her store!!** We would also like to thank The Cutting Cafe' for providing some images for us, the design team, to work with on their creations for this week!!

Here is my take on the challenge:

I created a box of cookies to go with this coffee and mug to make a gift set for a friend. I used this gift to go template from Leigh Ann Baird.

Stamps: Digitals from The Cutting Cafe
Paper: Tim Coffey from K&Co. and Bitter Chocolate
Accessories: Labels 13 Spellbinders die, satin ribbon, textile embossing folder from Provocraft
Template: Gift to Go from Leigh Ann Baird at Perfect Presentations

For more inspiration for this challenge, please visit my dt sisters:


*Vicki (creator/coordinator)
Boni
Crystal
Darlene
Erin
Jessica
Maria
Jodi

REMINDERS For The Saturday Spotlight:
Be sure to place the DIRECT link to your creation in Mister Linky in order to qualify to win the prize from our sponsors or voting for the top 3 creations before Friday at 3 p.m.

If you upload your creation to an on-line gallery, please be sure to label it with the keywords SSHP24

Thanks for stopping by today!! I hope you enjoyed all my creations. I sure enjoyed creating them!! I hope you are having a great weekend!


If you have not signed up for my blog candy please click here. This is my way of saying thank you to all my blogging friends and followers.


blessings,
Chris

Puppy love wall hanging-WNW sketch this week

It's Friday, so it's time for another Wags 'n Whiskers Challenge!! But before we get to this week's challenge...guess what will happen NEXT Friday?!

How about a new release and Blog Hop?! Wait until you see the new stamps to be released!!!

The sneak peeks will begin on the DT blogs starting on Wednesday, March 31st. They will continue on Thursday, April 1st. Then at midnight EST/5am GMT on Friday morning, we will host another blog hop!

At 7am EST/Midday GMT Friday, April 2nd the stamps will go live on the blog and in the stores!!

Now it's time for this week's challenge...

The ever so talented and sweet Tina is our hostess this week and she gave us a wonderful sketch to follow...

Remember that one participant will win a stamp of your choice!! Yes, that will include one of the new release stamps, too if you would like!! But you MUST use a Wags 'n Whiskers stamp to be entered into the drawing for the prize. If you don't any, then it is time to go shopping....

Click here if you would like to purchase any Wags 'n Whiskers stamps.

This challenge will go on for 2 weeks since next week we will have a release instead of a new challenge. Therefore, you have until April 8th to enter this challenge.

Here is my take on the sketch:I made this wall hanging using the Puppy Love image from Wags n Whiskers for my daughter to hang in her room. She loves dogs and loves this image. The dp I just scapped up from Michael's. I never have seen them carry Anna Griffin paper!! Woo hoo!! So I picked up this Anna Griffin Isabelle Collection paper. I just love the bright cheery colors and patterns in it!! I colored my image with prisma color pencils and gamsol. I just love the yummy lace I surrounded the wallhanging with . Isn't it gorgeous?! The large trellis rose flower is another fave of mine which I will for sure be ordering more of!!

Just a reminder too....

Remember all Buttons, Brads, and Bling is on sale for 25% at Stamp and Create!! And Lacey is extending this sale for another week (ending monday morning, April 5th). The Basic Grey single green pearls and the snow Kaiser Craft Pearls on this project are part of that sale!!

I hope you enjoy this project as much as I enjoyed creating it. It was especially fun to watch my daughters face as she watched me and oohed and ahhed over the result. It felt great to see a smile on her face while she has been so sick this week!!

Be sure to check out the Wags N' Whiskers Blog as the other talented Diva's have some gorgeous creations to share with you or visit these blogs: Christa, Karen, Lacey, Michelle, Nikki, Sharon, Tina, Jeanette

I hope you will have time to play along with us this week....and to be eligible for your chance to win you must use a WnW's image on your card.

Have a fabulous day and Thanks so much for stopping by...


oh....Thanks for stopping by today and for all your sweet comments!! If you have not signed up for my candy, please look at this post. It is a way of saying thanks to my many blogging friends and followers.

Blessings,
Chris

Creative Belli Sketch/ ODBD Sneak Peak

Happy Thursday Everyone!! Well today my dear hubby went in to work for a few hours....boy has this flu ever whipped him. I have never seen him so sick and for so long. Thankfully he is showing some improvement...No fever after 10 days! My daughters are still struggling but I truly believe kids bounce back more quickly. My main worry has been my daughter Nicki's asthma since this is a respiratory virus. So far we have been blessed to keep her asthma under control with her many medications. Praise God!

Anywho....on to share some cards with you again today....I was so honored to have been asked to be a guest at Creative Belli Challenge this week. Each of the designers were given a sketch to use and for an added challenge, they had to include a clip.

Here is the sketch:
Here is my take on the sketch:
I had so much fun watercoloring "Say a Prayer" from Wags n Whiskers. I also created this card for the Stamp and Create Product focus Buttons, Brads and Bling this week over at the Stamp & Create blog. The DT is showcasing some of these gorgeous embellishments and of course, because they are the spotlight, they are reduced by 25% this week! Isn't that awesome!!

In addition to using the Basic Grey Buttons and Kaiser Craft Snow pearls, that are on sale this week, I used Basic Grey Sugar Rush, Basic Grey Bitter Sweet dp, lace and Say a Prayer image available at Stamp and Create as well!!
I just love pink and purple and it just reminds me so much of spring!! I just had to add the glitter to the wings. What is an angel with out some sparkle, right?

I hope you have a chance to create a card with the sketch and clip too for the Creative Belli Challenge !! Here is what you need to do...1. Anyone Can Play! Spread the Word! :)
2. Make a completed project/card with anything with a CLIP AND THE SKETCH... Grab something you have had lying around for ages! It could be ANY kind of CLIP! just Grab it and create!
3. Share the link here in the comments linking to Mr. Linky - CBC87. When you post to Splitcoaststampers or to your blog, be sure and put CBC87 as the KEYWORD and mention of the challenge - with a link!

other challenges:

The Creative Cottage - sparkle

Totally Gorjuss - ribbon
Simon says stamp- spring and/or glimmer

I hope you enjoyed my take!! Thanks again Creative Belli for the opportunity to be a guest and work beside you talented ladies!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I can hardly believe that in less than a week it is April. Where does the time go?!!! With a new month comes a new release at Our Daily Bread Designs!! These sets are perfect for Mother's day and Father's Day!!!
Today I would like to share a sneak peak using one of the stunning sentiments from the Our Daily Bread Designs set Mom to be available at ODBD on April 1. I incorporated the Stampin Sisters in Christ Challenge.

SCRIPTURE

Psalm 51:7-10 "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness, let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

CHALLENGE

Make a clean and simple card/layout/project.


Here is my take on the challenge using my sneak peak:

What was most challenging about this card was not the clean and simple layout but the fact that I did it in the dark by candle light without electric a couple of days ago. I guess you would call me a die hard when it comes to stitching since I turned the wheel by hand on my sewing machine since we had no electric. Silly huh?

Card Recipe:
Stamps: Our Daily Bread Designs: Mom (sneak peak, available on April 1)
Paper: Basic Grey Green at Heart, white cs and pink pirouette cs
Emellishments: Gold Baubles, pink grosgrain, Basic grey button
Tools: MS Floral Vine punch, scorer, scalloped and standard oval dies from Spellbinders

Thanks for stopping by today and for all your sweet comments!! If you have not signed up for my candy, please look at this post. It is a way of saying thanks to my many blogging friends and followers.

Blessings,
Chris

FBW Flower Lili in Spring

Hi Everyone!! Happy Hump Day!! I hope all are well and having a great week so far!!! Today is Wednesday so it is time for.....another Flutter By Wednesday Challenge!! Woo hoo! This week is an open challenge so all you have to do is make a card or project with a butterfly, fairy or angel on it. Leave a direct link to your creation in Mister Linky. If you upload to SCS or PCP, please use the keyword, FBW. We can't wait to see what YOU create!
For my creation, I used Flower Girl Lili from Inky Impressions and the Friday Sketchers challenge for my layout. The dp is new from DCWV Flower Stack. Isn't it so springy?!!!!! I used
some flourish stamps from SU for my edges. The gorgeous prima rose is from Stamp and Create. I so need to order more of them. I love the colors and the beauty of those primas!! I created the border with a butterfly punch from MS.

card recipe:
Stamps: Inky Impressions Flower Lili
paper: DCWV Flower Stack
Accessories: MS Butterfly punch, butterfly charm,
ribbon from my stash that I have had for a long time!!, BG buttons, ZVA Creative rose buds, petite prima roses


Challenges:
Friday Sketchers- sketch
Flutter by Wednesdays- butterfly, fairy or angel-OPEN
Creative Cottage- Flowers
Crafty creations - Spots & dots
Creative card crew - Going dotty
Hand Full Of Stamps: something old (dp I have had for years)
Crafty Catz - Spring
Frosted Designs - Think Spring
Paper Garden - Spring
Crazy 4 Challenges - Spring
Challenge Up Your Life - Spring Flowers
Jacksonbelle - Spring
Fab N Funky - Favorite technique- stitching
Incy Wincy- Easter or Spring
Practical Scrappers- use something you have had for a year of more (ribbon)
Allsorts - Spring is in The Air
Secret Crafter - Spring has Sprung
Bee Crafty - Spring

For more inspiration for the Flutter by Wednesdays challenge as well as more information, please visit the Flutter By Wednesday's blog or the links on my sidebar.

Thanks for stopping by and for all your inspirational comments!! If you have not signed up for my candy, please look at this post. It is a way of saying thanks to my many blogging friends and followers.

Blessings,
Chris

MMSC46 Water Lily

Happy Tuesday Everyone!! I hope everyone has had a great start to their week. We the Olsen's are still recuperating and struggling with the flu. Lord willing it will disappear soon. To add to our adventurous week we lost power for the majority of the day and night yesterday! That is why my candy did not get posted yesterday. I will make sure to post it early this morning after posting this post. Sorry!

Welcome to another Midnight Madness Sketch!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONGRATULATIONS to our winners for last week's sketch!!!

Our MMSC45 Gold Star Award goes to...62. Anne Ryan
Our Remarkables Award this week goes to..
.9. Linda W
18. anne2411

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our MMSC46 weekly Bonus sponsor is.....

D'Amour Allure stamps include vintage styles to character art. Please browse the collections at their exclusive retailer, http://www.mcmahonfivedesign.com/.
Check out the awsome MMSC46 Bonus Prize!!

1- Vintage Vanities Stamp- Sadies Floral Hat

1- Pretty Little Things Stamp - Sasha

1-Exotic Wood Paper Kit

1- Kaisercraft Pkg of 50 Cream Flowers

Thank you Jeni :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our March Monthly Sponsor is....

** The "priscillastyles" Store

Click HERE to see the Awesome Prize!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This Week's Sketch

Once again, it's "YOUR PICK" Make it fancy, clean and simple, or somewhere in-between. Remember to click on the sneak peek button on the side bar for the following weeks sketch each Friday.

"YOUR CHOICE"

Enter one style or both this week.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is my take on the Sketch:

For my card, I had a great time water coloring and cutting out Water Lily from Whimsy stamps. Isn't she just so fun?!!!
The paper is from Scenic Route Sonoma which I have had in my stash forever!! I just love the soft yellow and pink together. The image was cut out and adhered with dimensionals to a background dry embossed with Swiss Dots on Very Vanilla cs. The coral pink ribbon is from American Crafts and has a sparkle glitter added to it. The stitched yellow ribbon is Dashes, Dots and Checks.

The envelope in the background is created with Priscilla's 6X6 think style envi kit found here, using some golden Bazill, Sonoma dp and a large star spacer.

Challenges:
Creative Cottage- Flowers
Crafty creations - Spots & dots
Creative card crew - Going dotty
Hand Full Of Stamps: something old (dp I have had for years)
Crafty Catz - Spring
Frosted Designs - Think Spring
Paper Garden - Spring
Crazy 4 Challenges - Spring
Challenge Up Your Life - Spring Flowers
Jacksonbelle - Spring
Fab N Funky - "Show Us Something New"
Incy Wincy- Easter or Spring
Practical Scrappers- use something you have had for a year of more (Sonoma dp)
Allsorts - Spring is in The Air
Secret Crafter - Spring has Sprung
Bee Crafty - Spring


Please visit the rest of the Design Team Divas to see their take on this week's sketch!

Carol-Chocolate, Crafts, & Bears!
Carolyn - Creative Card Corner
Charlotte- Designs from Within
Denise - kc242 Designs by Denise
Jane - The Paper Affair
Jeni - Jeni's Custom Cards
Linda - Craft Central!!
Michelle - Daydreams by Michelle
Phyllis - SparklePlenty1000
Priscilla - "priscillastyles"
Sue - McMahon Five Designs
Sue Drees - Rubber Stamping Adventures

I hope you enjoyed my creation and you too are able to participate in the sketch. If you do create a card or project using the sketch, please leave a direct link to your creation here. If you upload to PCP or SC please use the keyword MMSC46.

Thanks so much for stopping by and for all your sweet comments. Please stop by later for my blog candy!

Have a great day!!

hugs and blessings,
Chris

Four Drawer Box Card Tutorial/Stamp and Create Product Spotlight

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a good weekend! Today, I am really excited to share with you my card spotlighting Buttons, Brads and Bling This week over at the Stamp & Create blog, the DT will showcase some of these gorgeous embellishments and of course, because they are the spotlight, they will be reduced by 25%! Isn't that awesome!!

In addition to using the American Crafts Pearl brads, Basic Grey green pearls, and Basic Grey Pearl Flourishes that are on sale this week, I used Basic Grey Sugar Rush, Basic Grey Bitter Sweet dp, lace, flower charm, Trellis Roses-Coral Rose Prima flowers and the Sarah Kay-Fanny's Cuddle by Stampavie image available at Stamp and Create as well!! I colored her with water colors, cut her out and popped her on a circle cut with my Circle Nestabilities (scalloped and standard) and embossed with Swiss dots.





A few weeks ago I promised I would put up a tutorial on how I created this four drawer box card. So here it is! I hope I have put them in step by step instructions that can be easily understood.Four Drawer Box Card Tutorial


1. Gather your materials.
For my drawer card I used the Sizzix Matchbox die available at Stampin Up. You could run it through the Big Kick or through the Cuttlebug. For the purposes of this tuturial, I used the cuttlebug. (The die is sandwiched between the B and C plate without the bigger plate that comes with the Cuttlebug.)
-four pieces of 6 1/2 inch by 6 inch pieces of lavender cardstock and four pieces of 7 inch by 3 1/2 inch pieces of pink cardstock (to create a two toned box, you can use one color if you would like)-four brads-Scoretape (double sided adhesive)-one completed card measuring 5 1/4 by 5 1/4
-a base cut out of lavender or color of your choice measuring 5 1/4 by 5 1/4
-cuttlebug or Big Kick (Wizard can also be used)-cropodile2. Create matchbox.

2.

a. Using 1 lavender piece measuring 6/12 by 6 inches, cut out box with Sizzix die. Fold on score lines and use Scoretape to adhere. Fold on score lines over the scoretape.When finished...the bottom will look like this:

b. Then create top of box with pink 7 by 3 inch pieces. Fold on score lines and apply scoretape on edge to adhere together.

3. Use cropodile and pierce hole centered in front of box (bottom panel).

4. insert brad for pull so it looks like this:



5. Create entire box by sliding top pink slide over your base. Repeat steps 2-4 until you have a total of four matchboxes.
6. Take bottom 5 1/4 by 5 1/4 inch panel and center matchboxes about a 1/4 inch from the sides like this.
7. Apply Scoretape to bottom of matchbox

8. Apply glue of scoretape to top of base and adhere boxes.


This is what it should look like after the boxes are adhered.


9. Put adhesive on back of card.




10. Center card on matchboxes and base panel so they match. And Ta da...the finished product.








I want to end this post by apologizing for not hopping to blogs over the past week. Our family has been hit very hard with illness. I have had to care for my husband who has been severely ill with the flu and zapped without any energy to get up and do the normal things he needs to do. This past weekend we even had to call 911 due to an adverse reaction to his medication and some very scary happenings. The day was spent in the ER and trying to care for my dear hubby. It hurts to see him so weak and uncapable of doing so many things. Scott has always been real healthy and I have never in my life seen him this ill. He is now on his second week off from work and is showing little improvement in regards to his health. Hopefully the meds he is on will improve his condition rapidly now!!

My youngest, Meghan, also had this flu for 5 days but has snapped back so much more quickly at the age of 7. She is now just suffering a cold that resulted from this flu.

My husband and I prayed that this flu would not affect our oldest daughter, Nicki, 10, who suffers with Asthma. Flu's usually are a trigger for her. This prayer was answered until last night. She now is having real difficulties with her asthma and I need to keep a close eye on her as well. This a.m. she even had a severe nosebleed as a side affect to some of her asthma medications. This always scares me since she has been also admitted to the hospital for nosebleeds that we could not stop.

I hope to take some breathers here and visit you but I do need to put my family first. I will have posts up, Lord willing for cards and projects I have already completed in the next few days.

oh...I will also be posting blog candy later on today that I have already photographed. This is big candy to thank all my followers. Hope you can stop by later!!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by. Your visits and inspirational comments are greatly appreciated.