Sew Many Cards New Release & Blog Hop

Can you believe it is time for new releases already? Hopefully you arrived  here from Jeanette but if you didn't you can start  HERE where you will find the entire blog hop information.  I don't know where February has gone but....I sure had fun playing with this cute image of Morty fishing.  Isn't he adorable?  I stamped the cloud background with a Hero Arts background stamp and colored Morty with copics.  I used SU Bermuda Bay cardstock for my base and then some aqua ribbon I had on hand to make my "waves".  I saw this card that Heather made here and just thought it was adorable so I knew as soon as I saw this image what I wanted to do with him!  Be sure and look around her blog as she has some really cute stuff!!!  I got lost over there for quite a while.  To make my waves I just laid down some scor tape and just pleated my ribbon as I went - I wanted a messy wave look.  As we do each month each DT member will be drawing a comment from their new release post who will win the image they are showcasing so.....be sure to leave me some love and get a chance to win this fabulous image!  If you don't win, no worries you can purchase it here.

We are so proud to have two sponsors this month.  They are Simon Says and Soft Pencil.   Simon Says Stamps is generously sponsoring us again this month and they are donating a $10 gift certificate to one lucky blog hopper!  Simon Says Stamps has a wonderful selection of stamps and various crafting supplies at wonderful prices.  Soft Pencil is a new sponsor for Sew Many Cards and the very talented owner, Elizabeth Pujalka, has some AMAZING images in her store here.  She has graciously donated a $25 voucher to the Soft Pencil Shop.  Here is a little bit about her:

"Hello everyone! My name is Elizabeth Pujalka and I'm the illustrator and designer behind Softpencil Digital Stamps, home of Michu and his lovely friends, where you can find cute illustrations for your crafting needs.  My illustrations are a homage to Nature and their creatures, where a sweet child, a simple flower or a fagile animal become protagonists.  I invite you to know my whimsical world, plenty of gorgeous characters and to enjoy creating with them!"

Be sure to check my blog often but especially on March 5th as I have had the honor of playing with one of Elizabeth's adorable designs and I'll be showcasing my project then. 

This card was made using Angela's cute Butterfly image which, lucky you, is the Freebie Friday this week.  Be sure to hurry on over and pick it up here as it will only be available for one week.  I decided to make a long card that will fit in a "regular letter" envelope (9 1/2 x 4 approx).  I love Basic Grey and used that beautiful butterfly as my background and again used my copics to color in my butterflies and then sponged some ink around the edges.  That cute ribbon I just picked up at Walmart the other day - LOVE it! 

That's about it for me today....be sure to hop along with us as there are some fabulous prizes!!!  Next up is

Gloria

 and I'm sure she has something awesome to show us - she always does!  I'm headed there myself!

The Pink Elephant Challenge Top 15

I'm so excited - this card with Angela's Sewn Together gumball heart image got picked in The Pink Elephant Challenge's Top 15 for sketch challenge #50!!!  I so enjoy making these cards but it is so awesome when someone leaves a nice comment or you get picked for something like this!!!  I feel very honored as there is some awesome talent playing along over there!!!

Sew Many Cards - Sketch Challenge!

This week's challenge over at Sew Many Challenges is a sketch one.  To see the original sketch head on over here.  IRL Oliver looks much brighter....I had a hard time getting a picture and this was the best I was able to capture.  I had fun with this sketch...Oliver is such a cutie!  I used some Jillibean patterned paper and some left over ribbon.  I cut the Hooray with my cricut and then just used my white gel pen to help it stand out a little better, added some skittles and I was done.  This week's sponsor is Joni from Inktegrity Designs and she has graciously donated a $10 gift certificate to her store for this week's challenge winner!  Here is a little bit about Joni:

Hello fellow crafters!  My name is Joni Wilson and I am the owner of Inktegrity.  As a mother of 6, I wanted to create images that every age could enjoy working with.  This past summer I debuted my line of digital images and have enjoyed every minute of it.  I am inspired by personal experiences, suggestions from friends, and the everday goodness in life.  Please visit our blog at Inktegrity.blogspot.com for wonderful ideas and inspiration.  I am so happy to sponsor this fun site, thank you to this wonderful team for letting me be a part of Sew Many Cards!

If you haven't been over to Inktegrity Designs - be sure to check her site out as she has tons of really cute fun images! 

This cute image is this week's Friday Freebie!  I had so much fun working with this one as it is such a sweet fresh image.  I wanted to do a monochromatic card and I thought this was the perfect image for just that type of card.  I dry embossed a layer of the same cardstock as my base and then layered my image on a checked pattern of the same color with a little larger image in the same base cardstock.  I have always admired this look when I see others do it but this is my first and I have to say I will be using this technique again!  I love how it just enhances the image but just lets the image shine! Be sure to head on over and pick up this image as it will only be available until this time next week.  And....be sure to check out the sketch as not only will the winner receive 5 of Angela's adorable images but also a $10 gift certificate to Inktegrity Designs.  Be sure to stop by and check out my son Ryan's blog here - he took Oliver and colored him digitally - I think he did a really good job!

Totally Papercrafts Challenge!!

Sew Many Cards is sponsoring the challenge over at Totally Papercrafts this week so I wanted to play along and I've been itching to use this little Irish Duncan!!!  The challenge is "lots of spots" and you have probably noticed that I love polka dots!!!  So....this was way fun for me!!!  I had some green/white polka dot paper in my stash and then I made the white/green polka dot layer with my new Papertrey Ink polka dot stamps (love them)! I cut my shamrock with my circut then embossed.  I then printed my sentiment and cut it out with my SU jewelry tag punch, added ribbon and a button and I was done.  This was a really easy card to make and Duncan is so much fun to color!!!  Hope you will join in the fun!

I'm also entering this in the Pink Elephant Challenge as it is a recipe challenge this week and the only ingredient is ribbon (how perfect for me as it is very rare for me to have ribbon at least somewhere on my card)!.

Blog Candy Winner

Congratulations Sandie Grise!  You are my blog candy winner!!!  Just drop me an email with your address and I'll get your package right out to you!!!

Gone Fishing!

I made this fun layout of Ryan's first fishing trip.  Granted this was back in 2000 while we were stationed in Germany and had come back to visit the grandparents.

On this same trip we visited the Newport News Aquarium and both of the boys loved that!

And, of course, we had to visit Chuck E. Cheese (the boys were amazed by this place).  Just thought I'd share a few more layouts as I'm trying to get organized and get everything in the proper albums. Hope you like them.  Don't forget to check out my blog candy as it ends Sunday night at midnight Hawaii time (just a couple of posts down).

Sew Many Challenges - Red/Pink/White Challenge & Lexi's Creations Challenge!

This week's challenge over at Sew Many Challenges is to use red/pink/white on your project.  I love this combo.....plus how great for Valentine's!  The cardstock on this card is papertrey ink and I embossed, however, the embossing doesn't show up very well in the picture.  I used my new love struck cartridge to cut out some hearts on my cricut and then I added some tulle which IRL looks pretty cute but again my photography skills just didn't capture it.  The lighter patterned paper is Basic Grey and I don't remember the other one as they are scraps I had left over.  The ribbon is papertrey ink and I colored Miki with copics and added a little glitter to his wings and the bow.  Our sponsor this week is Terry from Tellen's Place Designs and she has graciously donated a $10 gift certificate to Tellen's Designs!  Yeah!!!  Here is a little information about Terry and her store:

Tellen's Place Designs is the home of Tellen Design images.  These images are drawn by the owner, Terry's, son.  Terry thought it would be fun for her son to continue these images for her as he had done in 1999, when she first began selling her crafts at various venues.  With the digital world becoming such an excited and explosive place with thousands of images to delight everyone's fancy, it seemed natural to add to that universe.  Tellen's Place Designs became home to these images for a wide variety of reasons.  Having a home to call their own, this opened the door to creativity on so many levels; especially for beginners.  Adding card and mini album kits answered many calls to those who wanted to dabble in the scrap world but did not have the time or space to house all of the goods needed to "scrap a world fantastic."  Tellen's Place is the beginning, where it all started.  It is a place where Tellen Design images come to life through the weekly challenges.  We are delighted to share the digital world with others and even more delighted to sponsor Sew Many Challenges, another wonderful place to be.  We invite you to visit us at your next opportunity.

This card is made with this weeks Friday FREEBIE!  Well, one of them - Angela has a little something extra over there this week so be sure to stop in!  Anyway, I made this card with this weeks Lexi's Creations challenge in mind as it is "spotted or striped".  I love polka dots but I decided to go stripes on this one.  I like how it almost looks like wallpaper. 

So....not only will the winner of this week's red/white/pink challenge win Angela's Sew Many Cards images but also a $10 gift certificate to Tellen's Place Designs.   So come on and join us...who knows you might just be the next Sew Many Challenge's winner!!!  Plus....if you are stopping by before Sunday at midnight scroll down and enter my blog candy!

Blog Candy

I mentioned some blog candy several posts back when I noticed by chance that I had made 100 posts so here it is!!!  This is open to anyone with a US address.  All you have to do is leave me a comment here on this post telling me what you love about scrapbooking and/or why you scrapbook.  This will be open until Sunday evening midnight Hawaii time.  I'll draw a winner on Monday, Feb. 15.

Family II

Here is another LO I did of the kids with family that they didn't and still don't get to see very often.  We were living in Germany at the time these were taken though so this was a really big trip!  Most of these papers are from the DCWV green stack (I forgot the actual name of it but I love it!).   Hope you like it!

Family

Isn't this LO sketch adorable?  I know I saw this in a magazine or something as it stuck in my head.  I love the big notepaper circle as a background.  As you can see my style is usually very CAS.  I usually add things and then take them away as I really like my photos to be center stage (not that I'm a photographer by any means).  Those birds are vinyl rubons - love those!!!! I picked these up at a craft yard sale but....why I never thought to cut things out in vinyl with my cricut and use them as embellies for scrapbook pages is beyond me. Now I know......so look for more of that sort of thing from me.  Again these pictures were taken back in 2000 and I'm just now scrapping them.  Having a little one in the house again has made me more of a home body so I use nap time and quiet evening time to catch up on my crafting.  Whereas before I got so involved in volunteering with PTA and OSC, etc. that I found myself running all day long.  It has been nice to slow down and go back and revisit these pictures and scrap them!  Hope you like it!

Ryan turning "4"

I do love to scrapbook but somehow I just don't seem to post many of my layouts.  So....as I'm working today organizing the boy's albums I thought I would share some scrapbook pages over the next few days.  This is one I just completed not very long ago actually, even though that 4 year old is now 13!!!  How did that happen???  I honestly don't remember but I am pretty sure I used a sketch for this one but I didn't make a note of who or where I picked up a sketch like this so....I apologize.  I have looked at so many blogs and scrapbooking magazines and have thought "OH - that looks so cute I need to do that" that sometimes I wonder if I have an original creative thought in my head KWIM?  I have several layouts like this that have been on my desk because I still need to do more journaling!!  Shame on me....they are started to get crinkled and messed up so in the albums they are going!

Papertrey Ink Anniversary Celebration Continues!!!

Papertrey Ink is having a FABULOUS anniversary celebration and today there is a challenge to make a project using the sketch at CPS as Papertrey Ink is sponsoring them this week (wait until you see what the prize is!).  They have had so many wonderful announcements over the past week that I just can't wait to see what is in store for this week!

The Cutting Cafe Freebies and a Contest!

Regina over at The Cutting Cafe is giving away 2 different image packages and they are in different COLORS - yeah!!!  For those who are not technology inclined, like myself, Regina has already given us for FREE (yes I said FREE but only until Monday, the 8th) two different digital image sets in several different colors and the one I'm using above is the dots in brown.  There is another set that I can't wait to use with flowers!!!   Plus....after you have downloaded your freebies, if you make a project with one and/or both you can enter a contest for 4 of her sets (your choice).  So...I had already started this card for my hubby for Valentine's Day and was wishing I had a cute background so when I saw this on Regina's blog I knew what I wanted to use it for.  Here is my finished project...hope you like it!

Sew Many Cards Color Challenge!

This week's Sew Many Cards Challenge is to use red/black/silver on a Valentine project!  I chose to use this bubblegum machine again as I just adore it!  You'll never guess what that silver background on my card is?????  Give up?????  It is good ole aluminum foil!  Gina K on Stamp TV did a tutorial once on embossing foil and I love love love the look.  I have embossed the craft metal sheets you can get at your craft store and I do think that is easier to work with as you can see in my picture that I sort of smooshed some of my design by fiddling with my card too much as the aluminum foil is just very soft but it is a beautiful look.  Our sponsor this week is Regina Easter from The Cutting Cafe and if you haven't checked out her images you really need to head on over there.  So...this week's winner will not only receive Sew Many Cards images but Regina has also graciously donated 3 stamps sets or individual stamps of your choice from The Cutting Cafe.  Lots of you already know the uber talented Regina but for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting her or checking out one of her many wonderful blogs here is a little information that Regina shared with us:

Hello my name is Regina Easter.  I have 4 wonderful children and an awesome supportive husband.  I have for as long as I can remember loved all the aspects of creating things with paper and drawing.  So it was only fitting that I decided to open up The Cutting Cafe and I am loving every bit of this new venture.  The Cutting Cafe offers affordable Printable 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....The Cutting Files also come in the format where you can cut out the files using some of the latest machine cutters like the Pazzles Inspiration, Bosskut Gazell and Cricut (with Scal software).  The Printable Stamps are just that, images that are sent to you through email that you print out using your home printer.  After the images are printed out, you can just color them in like you would any other stamped image...One great thing about Printable Stamps and Cutting Files is that you no longer have to worry about finding space to store all of your stamps....You can keep them all in a folder in your computer and use them over and over again. 

The heart background paper on this sweet little card is from Regina's Cutting Cafe.  Isn't it adorable?  You can't just go buy paper like that, especially, when you have something specific you are looking for.  You might find the pattern you want but not in the color you want or vice versa, etc. etc.  With these type of images you can work with them to make them "fit" what you have envisioned. (Thank you Jeri for doing some color changes for me and Regina for the wonderful instructions for this behind the times gal here.)  The actual image comes with black hearts and I wanted red so lo and behold not only can you change sizes but you can also change the colors of these solid images.  Those beautiful flowers are this week's Friday Freebie over at Sew Many Challenges!!!  Can you believe it?  Yes, I said FREE!!!  The image you will get is actually a single flower and I just used Word to copy three of them and then size them as I wanted - note the one in the middle is a little larger....just the beauty of digital stamps.  You can make them as large or small as you need for the project at hand.  So....head on over and check out Regina's Cutting Cafe and be sure to play along with Sew Many Challenges and don't forget to pick up your Friday Freebie while you are there!!!  I almost forgot.....Congratulations to Trish from Chloe's Cards....you are the image winner from last week's blog hop!!!  Jeri is so on the ball....you probably have already received your cute Duncan image....enjoy!!!!

2nd Papertrey Ink Birthday Card!!

Here is my 2nd card for the party!  Hope you like it!

Papertrey Ink Party!!!

Nichole Heady, owner of Papertey Ink and her awesome design team are celebrating their 3 year anniversary!  Every day there is something new and fun to do!  Today's challenge is to make a birthday card with one or more of the many free digital images you can download as you hop along the design team's blogs.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Papertrey Ink's coordinating cardstock, buttons, ink, ribbon - it is wonderful quality and it all matches beautifully.  Their stamps are awesome also and so versatile and fun to use!  Be sure and hop on over as there are wonderful prizes to be won and.....there are some new releases to be shown soon.