I know you probably thought I had fell of the face of the planet, but I am still around but mostly spending every waking minute at the baseball fields so my crafting time has been extremely scarce!  This week is no exception either with 2 games tonight, 3 tomorrow, and 2 on Thursday- I'm pooped already!!!

Well how about a couple challenges to start the week off with a bang?  I decided to combine challenges to create one fun project!  Craft Your Passion challenge this week is all about "texture" and we are sponsored by The Cutting Cafe and The Robin's Nest.  The end of the month over at Lollipop Crafts brings another "anything goes" challenge.

That adorable image is from "rain rain go way set" from The Cutting Cafe.  I added texture to my card by distressing all the edges of my papers as well as using textured cardstock.  It's hard to tell but when you distress the black cardstock, there is a lovely blue color that shows. A few clear bling on the centers of the flowers on those cute boots, some faux stitching, and black bling to finish the card off!

Lollipop Crafts #75: Anything Goes Easter

I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter weekend full of family, some wonderful memories, and maybe even a few chocolate treats!  We had a busy weekend as my oldest son turned 16, where does the time go? It's hard to believe that 16 years ago he made his appearance just 13 minutes before Easter was over, he was mad that his birthday fell the day before Easter this year with the leap year.

Once again it's Monday so that's mean another challenge at Lollipop Crafts and this week's theme is all about Easter.  We want to see all those projects you created for Easter, the skies the limit on this challenge as anything goes!  No sponsor this week, but there is lots of yummy eye candy from the design team so stop on by and check out our projects!

Craft Your Passion #105: Shaped cards

Batter up!  I just loved this image from Kenny K with 2 baseball players in my home, so I knew it was perfect for my project this week at Craft Your Passion.  This week is all about shaped cards and so I decided to try my hand at creating my base to look like home plate. Well after many attempts I finally settled for this one, not quite right but close enough. I dug into my scraps for the all-star paper which I picked up at Hobby Lobby when on sale!  Of course now became the task of how to color the image, since I have one boy wearing black and gold (Tigers) and one wearing blue/black/white (Dirtbags) how would I ever decide.  Well in the end my little guy won out, since he chose to help!  I kept this one nice and simple with no sentiment that way I could use as needed for a coaches gift or birthday card for one of players in future!

Make sure to check out the blog as our design team has "hit it out of the park" this week with their shaped cards!

Lollipop Crafts Spotlight: Meljen's Designs

We are changing things up a little at Lollipop Crafts, our sponsor spotlights will now be on Wednesdays instead of Thursdays.  So remember to check us out on Mondays for new challenges and Wednesdays for more about the AMAZING sponsors we have each week!!!

Vroooom, vroooom!!!!  Isn't this image perfect for all those rough and tumble, dirt covered boys in our lives? Our challenge # 74 this week is all about keeping things simple- NO embellishments allowed, I know it's hard not to add some ribbon or bling to our projects but sometimes less is more. 

This image is courtesy of one of my favorite sponsors this week at Lollipop Crafts, Meljen's Designs.  The image is called "Flaming Monster Truck" which I have colored with my copics and then fussy cut out.  Now the way I wanted to put it on my card required me changing things up a little with the flag, so I cut out my flag and then drew the antenna back on.  After I computer generated my sentiment, I popped up my truck on my card at an angle making it look like it had just finished jumping it.  I am going to give this to my lil' man as he is working hard on his sight words and math at school!

Our prize this week is 4 images from their store. Make sure you check out the Lollipop Crafts blog as we have some new faces as well as some seasoned gals!

Here's a little more about Meljen's:

 Meljen's Designs is a lovely stamp company owned and illustrated by Melissa Jenkins. She illustrates whimsical rubber and digital images inspired by her kids and family. Meljen's Designs has new releases along with a new challenge every Thursday, a Guest Designer each month at the Meljen's Designs Blog, and freebies and promos now and then on our facebook FAN PAGE!  Please visit the Meljen's Designs line of stamps at our store HERE to browse through all of Melissa's lovely designs! You can also see Melissa's rubber stamps at her corner of Whimsy Stamps, too!

Craft Your Passion #104: Dots and/or Stripes

 (Sorry for crappy photo, using a back-up camera)

Craft Your Passion Challenges has a great challenge this week, we want to see stripes and/or spots on your projects.  We have 3 wonderful sponsors this week, so make sure you join us to win one of the fabulous prize packages.  I got to work with images from Scrapper's Delight and the "tears from a clown 3" set.  I chose to do something a little different and not work with the main clown image, but combine the balloon image along with the sentiment using Paint.net to create my fun and simple card!  I added some fun scraps of polka dot ribbon and faux stitching to make my project complete!

Lollipop Crafts #73: Anything Goes

If you are looking for Craft Your Passion post, please scroll down to view!

As March is winding down, that means it's time for our "Anything Goes" challenge at Lollipop Crafts. I grabbed some scraps and this super sweet set of images from Unity called "sweet as a bowl of cherries."
Once again I decided to go with a super simple design to let my images be the stars of my card.

The Lollipop girls have joined together this week to showcase their "anything goes" projects, so make sure to head over to the LC blogs to see the girls in action! 

Craft Your Passion #103 : Monochromatic

Monochromatic is our theme this week at Craft Your Passion Challenges and we are sponsored by 

Delicious Doodles. I feel in love with this "Panda Love"so black and white immediately was my color pallet! 

I decided to only add a small pop of color to the cheeks and left the rest of image alone to shine!

Monochromatic is one of those things alot of people find difficult, but if you want to get some ideas then head over to CYP blog and see what our talented design team has come up with this week!

Challenges, Challenges, & More Challenges

Hope everyone had a beautiful weekend, I know we did as temps were in the high 70's and that means the start of another baseball season!  This is an exciting time in our house as both of my boys are die-hards when it comes to baseball, I am not kidding dueing this time of year they literally eat, sleep, and breathe the game!  We are so proud of Micah as he found out last week that he made the Varisty Baseball Team, one of only three sophomores- he worked so hard in the off season, even giving up basketball to foucs and prepare for baseball.  I loved it when he told me some of the kids asked him "Why didn't you play basketball this year" and he repsonded "This is why, making the varisty squad was my goal."  I do not think I have seen him with a bigger grin on his face, reminded me of when he was a little-oh what a moment!

Well enough of that today brings a busy Monday full of lots of challenges that you need to check out!  First up we have Craft Your Passion Challenges, where this week is all about the sentiment!  That's right we want to see you focus on your sentiments, now I went with a simple design as I have been a little under the weather so my MOJO has left the building for a bit.  We are sponsored this week by Simon Says Stamps and one lucky winner will win a $20 gift certificate to their store!

Now it's not often this happens, but the challenge this week at Lollipop Crafts is "Sentimentally Yours"- use your sentiment as your focus.  How about that you can kill 2 birds with one stone and enter both of these challenges!  This week the sponsor is The Stamping Boutique and someone will win 3 digis of their choice from one of my fave stores!

Both of my cards are done using stamps from Unity, I hope I have shown you a few different ways that you can make your sentiment the star of your cards!  Come play along with us for your chancce to win some fabulous prizes and see what both DT's have created to inspires!

Lollipop Crafts #71: White + Splash of Color

White + splash of color is our challenge this week over at Lollipop Crafts, so I grabbed this super cute stamp set from Unity called "Love You Most."  I created another CAS card using my most FAVE color red for my pop of color.  This week we are excited to have a brand new sponsor, The Greeting Farm- so make sure to check back on Thursday as we spotlight images from them!

Craft Your Passion 100: Anything Goes

If you are looking for Lollipop Crafts post, please scroll down!

We are celebrating a BIG challenge this week at Craft Your Passion, this week marks our 100th challenge!!!  We have lots of great goodies and prizes up for grabs this week, so make sure to play along.  This week's challenge is "Anything Goes" so show us what you got! 

I got to work with this fun image from Stamp Fairy called "garden goblin" which I have colored with Copics.  My papers are from Doodle Bug Designs 6 x 6 Sweet Cakes stack for the dots and trees is from Echo Park 6 x 6 Country Drive stack.  The sentiment is from Unity's Apple Cheddar Soup stamp set.

Come play along and check out what the rest of the CYP team has created this week HERE.

Little Havens Blog Hop with Jellypark

 

Are you ready for a FANTASTIC filled hop full of inspiration and for a great cause?  Well come hop along this weekend with myself and the rest of the Jellypark team as we support the Little Havens charity.

Little Havens is the 2012 charity recipient for Jellypark. All proceeds from the sale of select digi images will go toward helping making life a bit more comfortable for the children who call Little Havens home. Claire has also set up a special page at justgiving.com for donations.

If you came here from the Jellypark Challenge blog, then you are on the right track and if not CLICK HERE to start at the beginning of hop!

 

For my creation today, I decided I wanted to make my image the star of my card. I grabbed this sweet image called "rabbit and balloon" and colored it up with Copics.  Now to create my cloudy background, I started by punching out a scalloped circle. I then place it on my panel and sponged on CTMH Heavenly Blue ink, I finished by added a little more ink around edge of panel to make those clouds pop.  I found the perfect sentiment on a set of CTMH stamps called "Love Quotes."  I love how such a simple design can make such a big statement!

Now if you would like to purchase any of our fundraiser images to help support our great charity, just click HERE for all the details.  If you would like to learn more about Little Havens, please visit the Jellypark Store and our 2012 Charity tab.

Oh did I mention that I have some BLOG CANDY available for one lucky commenter? I will randomly select one lucky person to win 3 Jellypark images of their choice courtesy of me- how cool is that!

So leave me a little love and then head on over to Diane's blog to continue the hop and see what AMAZING project she has waiting for you!  Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

Craft Your Passion #99: Paper Piecing

It's time to start off another week with a bang, so how about another great challenge at 

Craft Your Passion Challenges. This week's challenge is about a technique that I hardly ever do, but it great to use your scraps or totally change the look of an image- paper piecing.  We are luck to be sponsored this week by AI Factory and Bunny Zoe, so that means 2 great prizes up for grabs!!!

Come join us this week HERE and see what our talented ladies have created using paper piecing!

Jellypark New Release Day

It's Friday and I am ready for the weekend, do you have big plans this weekend?  Here in my home it's the weekend before high school baseball tryouts, so it will be full of lots of preparation to get ready for the big day on Monday!!!  I cannot wait for baseball season to start and watch both my boys put on their unifroms and hit that dirt.

Today brings us a anothee "NEW RELEASE DAY" at Jellypark and there are two wonderful new images that have been added to the store HERE! Since our challenge this week is all about the Oscars, the new release images are perfect to plat along with.  Want to join our challenge?  Just click HERE to play along and see what the team has created.

I created another CAS card using "all dressed up" and I have paper pieced her dress, purse, and shoes. I added a little faux stitching around the edge, which at first I wasn't crazy about but now love it and will be trying more often. My sentiment is from a CTMH stamp set and to complete it the inside says:  live live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.~Lucille Ball

Want to see what rest of team has done with new release images?  Come visit us HERE to be inspired!!!

Lollipop Crafts: Anything Goes

 Don't forget about our challenge this week at Lollipop Crafts, it's the end of the month and that means "anything goes" is the theme. We love seeing your wonderful projects from week to week, so please come share them with us.  Check out our FABULOUS design team's projects this week, lots of inspiration as usual HERE!

Craft Your Passion #98: Patriotic Colors

Craft Your Passion is celebrating President's Day with a color challenge of red/white/blue this week.  We are excited to be sponsored by 2 wonderful companies this week: Mami Doodles and The Robin's Nest.  I got the pleasure of working with "Nick with Skateboard" on my card.  My checklist is courtesy of CTMH and comes with several different descriptive words that are interchangeable making this stamp so versatile. My fun paper is from Echo Park's 6 x 6 stack called "A Boy's Life."

The CYP team have created loads of AMAZING projects this week that you won't want to miss, so come over and check them out HERE.

Shades of Love+ New Release

Woo Hoo it's Friday finally and we have a busy weekend, basketball comes to an end for my lil' man Saturday and baseball season starts Sunday.  However the highlight will be the Mom Prom tonight and I have the cutest date in the world!  I will share pics later, just hope I don't get ditched this year for the same cute little blond-lol!!!

Well Friday means challenge day at Jellypark and this week is all about the "Shades of Love" to get you ready for Valentine's Day.  We want to see projects using reds, pinks, and purples. I grabbed this sweet image from the Jellypark store called "cute rabbit with a balloon"- what is great is this image comes with 2 sentiments to choose from to use on your projects! I have paired my image with paper from
Echo Park Yours Truly 6 x 6 stack. Head over and check out rest of team's projects HERE!

Wait though not only is it challenge day, but it's NEW RELEASE DAY too!!!  We have 2 adorable new images for you this week and you can check them out HERE! This super sweet guy is called "rabbit costume" and I have paired him with paper from MME Love Me 6 x 6 stack and cardstocks from CTMH.  Want to see more, CLICK HERE to see what other fab projects the team has created showcasing these *NEW* images!

Mark your calendars for the weekend of March 2, 3, & 4 because it is going to be BIG BIG BIG fun at Jellypark! Some of our former DT and Guest members will be returning to join us in a first ever Little Havens Charity Fundraiser Blog Hop! Some stops will have blog candy, but EVERY stop will bring you papercraft inspiration using some of Claire's adorable fundraiser images, designed especially for Little Havens Hospice Center. Even the Jellypark Juniors are playing along! :)

Little Havens is the 2012 chairy recipient for Jellypark. All proceeds from the sale of select digi images will go toward helping making life a bit more comfortable for the children who call Little Havens home.

Claire has also set up a special page at justgiving.com for donations.

Won't you please plan to join us?

Lollipop Crafts Spotlight: Meljen's Designs

Lollipop, lollipop, oh lolly-lolly-lolly lollipop!!!  That's right it's spotlight day at Lollipop Crafts and it's for one of my favorite sponsors Meljen's Designs.

Meljen's Designs is a lovely stamp company owned and illustrated by Melissa Jenkins. She illustrates whimsical digital images inspired by her kids and family. The Meljen's Designs store officially launched on April 1 and is steadily growing! Meljen's Designs has new releases along with a new challenge every Thursday, freebies every Monday and a Guest Designer each month at the Meljen's Designs Blog. Please visit the Meljen's Designs line of stamps at the WHIMSY STAMPS STORE to browse and enjoy Melissa's wonderful images!

Our winner this week will be lucky enough to win 4 images of their choice from Meljen's great collection! 

Our "T team" is showcasing images this week from our sponsor and you can check out their projects HERE.  For my project I wanted to work with this fun image called "candy land dreams" just in time for 

Valentine's Day!  I colored my image with Copics and then outlined everything with my black Spica pen to add a little glitz.   The poofy white cloud, I have covered in white sparkly fluff. I was inspired by the photo at There's Magic in the Air, my pp is from CTMH.

Don't forget to join our challenge this week HERE for your chance to win the AWESOME prize from Meljen's Designs.

Happy Heart

Lollipop Crafts is getting you ready for that special day, so our challenge #66 this week is all about showing us those Valentine cards.  We are over the moon to bring you Meljen's as our sponsor this week and one lucky person will win 4 images!  

I have used images from the Unity stamp set "Loads of Love" by my dear friend, Tracey Malnofski. I have paired it with scraps from the CTMH Roxie paper set.  

Come on over and check out rest of Lollipop Girls projects and we will spotlight our sponsor this Thursday- you won't want to miss the other 1/2 of team's projects that day!

Won't You Be Mine?

Do you have your Valentine cards ready for all your sweethearts?  I am building my stash and couldn't resist using this image called "Tommy Valentine Toad" from our fantastic sponsor Robyn's Fetish.  

Our sketch # 92 this week at Sunday Sketch and Stamp is courtesy of fellow DT member Emma.

I used some cardstock from my scrap pile and added a little embossing, everything is inked in black.  My image is colored with Copics and the sentiment is from Stampendous Changito Valentines set.  My patterned paper is from another one of my new 6 x6 stacks "Love Story: by Fancy Pants Designs."

Dutch Dare #150-Photo Inspiration

Are you ready for some photo inspiration this week at Dutch Dare Card Challenges? The possibilities are endless for your projects using this fabulous photo from Simply Hue. As soon as I saw it I went for the middle square as I knew I had some paper similar to those polka dots in my stash, now the task was to find it-lol!!!

We have a brand new sponsor this week In 2 Stamps and we super excited!  

 

Here is a little bit about them:

In2stamps is a Belgian rubber stamp company owned by Wendy and started back in late 2009.

We gladly invite you to discover our complete range at the In2stamps online store http://www.in2stamps.com

We ship to crafters all over the world and you can check our store locator to see if there's a retail store near you selling our stamps.

And if you are looking for inspirational ideas, then our inspirational blog http://in2stamps.blogspot.com/ is the place to be.

 

They have kindly donated a 10,00 euro voucher for one lucky participant.

Now I have quickly fallen in love with CAS cards and so once I had my inspiration from photo above and found my scrap of paper, I hopped over to Clean & Simple Stamping to follow the sketch. My flower images are from the Unity September KOM, which I have stamped in CTMH Juniper ink and then punched with my Stampin' Up scalloped square.  The sentiment is also from CTMH.

Now come on over an join us this week, the team has made some AMAZING projects that you will want to check out HERE.