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!

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!

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! 

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!

It's a Birthday Blog Hop for a Lollipop Girl!

It's Krista Palakiko's birthday today and a few of us are throwing her a surprise birthday blog hop.  If you've come here from Cyndi's'blog then you are on the right path, but if you just popped in you might want to hop on over to the beginning at the Lollipop Crafts blog.  Why?  Well one lucky hopper will win a SURPRISE PRIZE!  

 

All you need to do is hop along to each friend’s blog, leave some love, then head back to the Lollipop Crafts blog and let them know you completed the hop.  Who knows maybe along the way some of Kris' friends might be giving away RAKS of their own, so make sure you stop and give some love to everyone.  The winner will be announced on Sunday, March 18th.  

 

**If you get lost along the way the MASTER LIST is on the Lollipop Crafts Blog.

Now head on over to Mimi's blog to see what beauty she has created for Kris.

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!

Lollipop Crafts #70: Clean & Simple

If you are looking for Craft Your Passion post, please scroll up!

It's challenge day again at Lollipop Crafts and this week is all about those CAS cards!  What is CAS you may ask?  That means less is more, we want to see lots of white space on those cards.  This used to be a real issue for me, but I am finding that I love this style more & more!

This week we are happy to be sponsored by Meljen's Designs and come back on Thursday as we spotlight images from them. One lucky person will win some free images, but you gotta come back Thursday to see what the prize is!  Head over and join the challenge and check out what rest of my teamies created HERE.

Lollipop Crafts #69: Tag You're It!

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

"Tag You're It" is our challenge this week at Lollipop Crafts and we are sponsored by the fabulous 

Little Miss Stamps. I worked with sassy lil' gal called "Linda Lee Hatter", which I have colored and then fussy cut her out and popping her up on my tag.  I created my tag using CTMH's Lucky Journaling Spots and then adding a little ribbon.  A few pearls in opposite corners and I have the perfect tag to attach to a gift!

Make sure you check back with us Thursday as we feature our sponsor, but in the meantime head on over to the blog and check out the rest of my team's tags HERE!

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!

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.

Craft Your Passion #92+ Lollipop Crafts #62

If you are looking for Sunday Sketch & Stamp, Kaboodle Doodles or 
The Crazy Challenge please scroll up.

I did a little shopping recently thanks to a gift certificate I received (thanks Tracey) and normally I go for Copics, but this time I went for some new 6 x 6 paper packs.  Guess what? My package of goodies arrived from 2 Peas in a Bucket just in time for some weekend crafting. This was my 1st order from them, but certainly won't be last- shipping was super fast!

These gorgeous papers are from My Mind's Eye Love Me 6 x 6 stack, it comes with 24 sheets of double-sided papers.  This was perfect for the challenge this week at Lollipop Crafts, which is 

"anything goes with a twist to use something NEW- that can be a new embellishment, stamp, craft supply, technique, etc on your card/project.  

Come check out the DT projects this week, as we are all back after a short break from the 

holiday and we are feeling refreshed and ready to bring you some wonderful inspiration!

Also over at Craft Your Passion this week the challenge is "Mythical Creatures" and we are over the moon excited to have not one but 2 sponsors this week! That's means double the chance to win an AMAZING prize from either A Day For Daisies or Pizzazaplenty. I have used this sweet image called "tucking in my bugs" from A Day For Daisies. I have colored the image using Copics and then added some glitter to her wings and hair. The sentiment is computer generated.

The design team has made some absolutely fantastic projects this week, so make sure to go check them out and leave a little love!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Seems A Little Sketchy-sketch

Lollipop Crafts Spotlight : Meljen's Designs

It's spotlight time at Lollipop Crafts and this week we are sponsored by one of my faves, Meljen's Designs.  Our challenge this week is a color challenge- dark red, chocolate, and cream.  So I grabbed this adorable "Gruffy Little Gnome" for my project and colored him up with Copics.  I fussy cut him out and popped him up on this Santa list embossed using QuicKutz folder.  I inked the edges with a little Colorbox Chestnut Roan and then added my sentiment using some letter stamps from my stash.  Come over an join the 

challenge #60, we would love to see your projects!

Here is a little about 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!

The Holiday Season is upon us!

It's hard to believe the last weekend of November has passed and December is just around the corner!  I have been super busy creating gifts for the upcoming holidays and crafts for my son's Winter party, needless to say the paper has been flying and my crafting area looks like a bomb went off! LOL!!!

Monday brings challenge day over at Kaboodle Doodles where our theme this week is 

"bundle up for winter"  and we are sponsored by Stamp 'n Doodle. Make sure to come over and check out what the rest of team has been up too!

Now this week at Lollipop Crafts is all about "B is for...." so the skies the limit on what you can create. We are sponsored this week by Karber Stamps and I have used this adorable image called "Christmas Millie."

Make sure to check out what the rest of the LC team has done and come back on Thursday as we spotlight our fabulous sponsor!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Karber Challenge- anything goes

"Tis the Season" is our theme this week over at Craft Your Passion Challenge and we are sponsored by Simply Betty Stamps, since I just joined the CYP team I didn't get to work with a SBS image.  However you must go check out their store because they have some FANTASTIC images perfect for your holiday projects! I have created this CAS card using the sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping and Unity stamps.

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Get Hippity with Ippity- embossing

Last but certainly not least you must stop over by The Crazy Challenge and join this week's challenge.  It's all about "snowflakes and/or stars" and we are sponsored by Ellephantastic.  I chose to work with

"sketchy snowman" and added this fun sentiment. I wanted to make it look like he was catching snowflakes in his mitten.  Come over and see what the rest of team has created, you won't be disappointed!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Ellephantastic- weather related

Lollipop Crafts Spotlight: Just Some Lines

It's time to spotlight another wonderful sponsor over at Lollipop Crafts this week.  We are so excited to be sponsored by Just Some Lines and here is a little more about them:

Just Some Lines is a relatively new digital shop where lines bring characters to life. It has approximately 200 digital stamps which were drawn by Jehanne, the owner.  Jehanne is a self taught artist and a stay at home mum who enjoys drawing whimsical characters.

This week Jehanne has graciously offered a $15 gift certificate to the Just Some Lines store! Make sure you check out the challenge post to find out how you can win this great prize. 

As soon as I saw this cute image called "Emo Snowflake" I was in love and knew I wanted to use her on my card.  It's hard to see , but I added some sparkly fluff to pink on her hat and the snow.  The snowflakes has also been highlighted with my black Spica pen and then a little glitter!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Crimbo Crackers-make it sparkle
Moving Along With the Times-let it snow
Delightful Challenges- bingo (glitter, ribbon, add dimension-snowflake is popped up)

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree

Fall is here and Thanksgiving will be here before we know it, man this year is flying!!!  My Lil' man is enjoying these nice cool days and spent the entire day playing outside yesterday, while I got a little crafting  and cleaning done. 

Lollipop Crafts #56 has the perfect challenge this week, we want to see those "Fall/Thanksgiving" projects.  We are once again sponsored by Meljen's Designs and I have used this image called "Apple Beary Fairy."  I have done something a little different with my image, printing it on kraft paper and then coloring with copics.  I have to say I like the look!!! The sentiment is from Unity's "Apple Cheddar Soup" set.  Make sure to come on over to Lollipop Crafts and check out what rest of team has done and we are welcoming a new guest designer this week.  Ashley has created a wonderful project, check out her blog here.

Now that you have created your Fall/Thanksgiving project, head on over to Kaboodle Doodles and enter their challenge too! Kaboodle Doodles #92 is all about "Colors of Fall"- show use oranges, yellows, browns, and reds.  We are sponsored this week by Robyn's Fetish and the team has created gorgeous projects!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:

Meljen's- brads

Stamptacular Sunday- sketch
Catered Crop- recipe: I used following items from example- Fall theme & colors, Kraft paper, Copic Markers, Meljen's Stamp.  I have added brads/ribbon/SEI paper/Unity sentiment/Spica pen/Inked Edges to my card.
Creative Inspirations Paint-anything goes
Dream Valley Challenges- anything goes
OSAAT-use a digi
Sparkles Forum-Autumn
2 Sisters-ribbon
Catch the Bug-anything goes
Craft Your Days Away-Fall/Autumn
Mark's Finest Papers-Fall
Craft Your Passion- anything goes+brown
Creative Stamp Friends- orange & brown
Heart Song Inspirations- anything goes
Inspire Me Fridays-anything goes

Marvelous Monday...Check out these 3 challenges!!!

 Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, we had a very relaxing weekend! We started things off with cheering on our St. Louis Cardinals in their World Series victory and I got lots of crafting done so I will have lots to share over next week!  Saturday was a beautiful day which Lucas spent whole day playing outside on his scooter and then to a friend's house for some board game fun! Today was all the last minute Halloween preparations, including creating several party goodies/games so stayed tune as I will share those later too!

Up first today is this fun challenge at The Crazy Challenge, which is sponsored this week by JLJ Designs and we have an inspiration challenge.  Check out this great photo, the possibilities are endless in your projects!

I chose to use some of the fantastic colors to inspire my project, so I grabbed some scraps on CTMH Creme Brulee, black, and this great patterned paper from Cosmo Cricket: Earth Love 6x6 deck. The image is called piggy, which I colored with copics and added a little black spica pen to eyelashes and flowers. I used the sketch at Clean & Simple and rotated it, finishing my card off is that wooden button I grabbed in $1 section at Michael's and a computer generated sentiment.  Come on over and check out rest of team's creations here!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Wee Memories- Buttons, Brads, or Bows

We are "feeling sassy" this week at Kaboodle Doodles and who better to have as a sponsor than  

Sassy Studios. I worked with the image called "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" so of course I did a little research using google. I think I got pretty close to how Miss Marilyn looked in the movie, I added a little sparkle to her bling & shoes with some Ranger embossing powders. I found this perfect scrap of patterned paper to compliment this image and used a computer generated sentiment again!  

With it being the end of the month, that means another "Anything Goes" challenge at Lollipop Crafts.  Oh I love these challenges, because you really get to see the Lollipop girls creativity as they have free reign on their projects!  Also this means we have to bid farewell to out guest designer Linda, but you can still follow her on her blog here. You will not want to miss her project this week as it's another pretty one!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Crafty Purple Frog-Sparkle
For Your Inspiration-photo (I picked out that pink color)
Wags 'n Whiskers- black + pearl or ribbon
Our Craft Lounge- pink for BCA
Fairy Fun Fridays- wet embossing (hard to tell but jewelry and shoes are heat embossed)
Mark's Finest Papers- use your scraps
Just Us Girls- wild card 
Sassy Studios- Sassy Girls (fave movie)

Lollipop Crafts Spoltlight: Robyn's Fetish

If you are looking for my 4 Crafty Chicks guest designer post, please scroll down below this post. 

This week our spotlight is on our wonderful sponsor  Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More. I worked with this cute bear all ready to go trick or treating called "bearly a pumpkin."
Don't forget about our challenge #53 this week which is "no sentiment"- that's right let your image be the star!!! Check out what the rest of the Lollipop gals have created for today's spotlight here.




Here's a little bit about our sponsor:

Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More, a division of I Did It Creations, was created and is
is owned by Robyn Weinrib.  Robyn offers a wonderful variety of digital stamps and digital papers, designed to meet the needs of all digital paper crafting addicts for every occasion.

PRIZE FOR WINNER:  Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps And More is happy to offer the winner of this challenge 5 digital stamps or 4 digital stamps and 1 digital paper set of their choice. Now that's a great prize!!!

Fall/Halloween Cards

Up for a fun sketch this week to get you started, well that is the challenge this week at

 The Crazy Challenge. Fall/Autumn colors are an optional twist. we are happy to be sponsored by Di's Digis once again and I chose to work with this adorable "mummy bear" image. We would love to have you play along with us, the DT has some great samples at inspiration posted here!

I am also entering this card in the Charisma Cardz "orange & black" challenge this week! Over at Forever Friends the challenge is to "use a sentiment with an animal image."

 It's all about "critters" this week at Lollipop Crafts and we are sponsored this week by

Little Miss Muffet Stamps.  I was really excited to work with this fun image called "monster love" as this was my first from this company. I grabbed these halloween scraps and inked the edges with CTMH bamboo ink.  I loved the sketch this week at The Crazy Challenge so I used it on this card as well. Come join us and check out the rest of design team's AWESOME projects here!  Linda is joining us as a guest designer this week and so make sure to check out here blog here and leave her some love!

I am also entering this in the Little Miss Muffet challenge to use "animals or monsters."

Fall is in the air and the leaves are starting to turn those lovely shades of reds, yelllows, oranges and browns which provides the perfect inspiration for this week's challenge at Kaboodle Doodles. That's right "Show Us The Leaves" is the theme of challenge and we are sponsored by the wonderful

Meljen's Designs. When I saw this image called "fall wreath" I knew I wanted to work with it! I have colored it with copics and then ditressed the edges of my image and layers using my Tonic tool. This fun fall paper is from Creative Memories.  Stop by here and check out the DT samples this week and play along with us this week for your chance to win 4 images from Meljen's store!

I am also entering this card in the "distressing" challenge at Digi Doodle Shop. Also the Moving Along With the Times challenge is to use "autumn leaves" and Paper Play would like to see "autumn colors."

Lollipop Spotlight: Meljen's Designs- Cute Lil' Vampire

It's time to spotlight our fabulous sponsor Meljen's Designs this week at Lollipop Crafts! I have created this fun Halloween card using the adorable "Lil Vampire" image, which I have colored with copics and paired with papers from Fancy Pants Designs Oct 31st stack and CTMH papers. This card is perfect for this week's challenge #51 at Lollipop Crafts, which is to create a Halloween project.  Up for grabs is a prize of 4 digis from their store. Come join us this week and share those spooky & spectacular projects!

Here's a little about 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!

Card recipe:

Image: Meljen's Designs Lil Vampire

Sketch: Sketch and Stash

Paper: Fancy Pants Designs Oct 31st & CTMH Mistletoe

Sentiment: Stampendous Costume Kids 

Medium: Copics

Challenges:

Sketch & Stash- sketch+ option of 3 pp or 3 embellies (did both- new/papers & image, neglected-buttons)
Meljen's Designs- halloween
Crafty Ribbons-halloween projects
Delightful Challenges- make it dimensional (sentiment is popped up)