The 100 Days Project

Hi friends!  I hope that you are well.  I'm still dealing with my shoulder injury but it seems to be getting better.  I'm sure it will be fine in a few days.

A gal I follow on Instagram, Natalie Elphinstone, has been doing this challenge of sorts called The 100 Days Project.  Basically, you do a creative task everyday for 100 days and you record your efforts.  She was doing hers with pocket scrapbooking cards and I just LOVE that idea!  I also loved reading her captions about what she was trying, why she made what she did, and what she was learning about her her style.  I haven't been crafting regularly and I need it.  I can feel that I'm not centered.

I made this 3x4 card today.  I don't love it but I think that's part of the process, to figure out what your style is and to experiment with techniques and products.  I used papers from Dear Lizzy Fine and Dandy.  The enamel dots are from My Mind's Eye, the doily is from Recollections, and I used Whisker Graphics Gold Metallic Divine Twine.  

I have a small group of friends who will be attempting this challenge with me.  We have a Facebook group to support each other and share our creations.  We are starting on August 1.  If you'd like to join, please message me on Facebook or drop me an email.  Have a wonderful day, friends!  

7 for 7: Whisker Graphics

Hi friends!  I hope you had an excellent Saturday!  We are just hanging out today with no real plans.  I hope you are enjoying all the giveaways!  Please look through the first few posts on my blog for 10 more giveaways!  That's a lot of chance to win free stuff!

Giveaway Rules: Join me each day this week for a TWO new giveaways.  (There *might* be some bonus giveaways too.)  To enter the giveaways, you'll need to use the Rafflecopter that I post at the bottom of each blog post.  Each giveaway will be open for 14 days from the day it starts since it's a holiday week and I want to give people a chance to enter.  All readers are welcome, US or international, unless a giveaway specifies.  Winners will be announced on my blog and my Heart Hugs Designs Facebook Page.  Winners will have 72 hours to contact me or a new winner will be drawn.  Good luck to everyone!

Tonight's giveaway is brought to us by my friends at Whisker Graphics!  They are offering up a fabulous Holiday Kit and Kaboodle for you to make your own awesome crafts!  Whisker Graphics makes Divine Twine, Bitty Bags, Petite Stickys, and much more.  You can get the items to do your holiday wrapping and some crafts!  I worked for Whisker Graphics for a very long time and I promise you they have amazing quality items.  They are also some of the nicest people in the craft industry.

I made a sample of what you could do if you won a Kit and Kaboodle.  I did add two kinds of extra Divine Twine but other than that, everything else comes with the kit.  I braided Cherry, Green Apple, and Holiday Divine Twine into handles for my bag.  I punched holes in the bag that I reinforced with Petite Stickys.  I added a Little Bitty Bag and a Colored Tag so you could write the person's name on the tag and include a small card and greeting inside the Little Bitty Bag.  This is a cute and extra special way to present a gift.  

Enter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ready to Pop Baby Shower

Hi friends!  I hope you're doing well!  We are ok.  This last week was super busy.  I'm hoping not to have a week like that for a while.  I just overcommitted and that's ok.  Live and learn.

One of the events I had last week was a baby shower for my friend who is due to have her baby next month.  Today, I'm going to share the projects that I made for the shower.  I'm really getting into making things for parties.  (I actually still need to blog the boys's birthday party.  Who knows when that will happen.)

This is the invite that Dustin pretty much made on his own.  I gave him an idea of what I wanted and he makes it happen.  

This is the sign I made for the front door.  

Here are all the elements of the party favors.  I made a sign, decorated some favor bags, and had 3 different kinds of popcorn.  The favor bags are Whisker Graphics White Horizontal Stripe Middy Bitty Bags with Scrolly Square Sweet Sticky Labels in Pink on top.

Here are the drinks and some little "POP" themed treats.

And here's the banner I made with some Spellbinders rectangles and circles.  The letters were cut for me by my friend Elly on her Silhouette.  The onesies are a die from Taylored Expressions.  I added a few little rhinestones to the onesies to dress them up.  The banner was strung together by my friend Cynthia using Cotton Candy Divine Twine and Purple Plum Divine Twine to match the party colors.

We also had balloons and streamers for decorations and some great games!  It was such a fun shower and I'm so glad that people seemed to have a really great time.  Have a great day, friends!

Remember, You are First Place

Hi friends!  I hope you are doing well!  We are ok.  We are wrapping up Brady's school year this week.  Wish me luck with having him home for the next three months.  Parker has another month of preschool to go then we'll have some time to hang out and do fun stuff.

Today, I'm sharing a card I made for a magazine call that wasn't picked up.  It's a shame because I LOVE this card.  I still do.  I made this with some Crate Paper Maggie Holmes Styleboard paper and die cuts.  I added some Gold Metallic Divine Twine to this.  I also used a little washi tape, some wood Studio Calico veneer hearts that I colored with Copics and coated with glitter glue, and some inking around some of the edges with gold ink.  The stamp is Studio Calico/Hero Arts from a Studio Calico kit.  

Have a great day, friends!  

Virginia's View Challenge #3

Hi friends!  I hope you are doing well.  I'm so-so.  I've had a headache for the last 4 or so days and it's starting to get a bit annoying.  I had a CT scan today and I should have more info tomorrow.  Other than that, we are doing pretty good.  It's still very hot.

Today, I'm posting a card for my friend Virginia's challenge.  I "met" Virginia online a loooooong time ago when she was on my EtsyInspired design team.  She is a wonderful lady and I adore her!  I've been meaning to play along with her challenge for a while but I don't get a ton of crafty time these days.  I'm trying to make more time for it.  You can find the challenge HERE.

This month's challenge is stitching.  Let's be honest, I don't stitch a lot.  Like maybe once a year.  I even having a little sewing machine that never gets used.  A while back, I bought the stitch templates from Amy Tangerine but I've never used them so I busted them out and used Gold Metallic Divine Twine to stitch with.  Stitching with bakers twine is kind of hard because it's very thick.  I would advise you to take your paper piercer and make your holes larger before you start stitching.  I used My Mind's Eye paper and a Studio Calico heart.

Have a great day, friends!  

9th Wedding Anniversary

Hi friends!  I hope you are doing well!  Today is my 9th wedding anniversary.  I can't believe it's been 9 years since my wedding.  In a way, it feels like just yesterday but at the same time it feels like a million years ago.  Do you know what I mean?  Do you ever get that feeling?

Here's the card I made for Dustin for our anniversary.  I used my friend Laura's Poppy Sketch 2 for this and it came with some colors as well.  I'm not great with color challenges but I try my best.  I got these Mama Elephant stamps for my anniversary gift.  Yeah, I'm super romantic.  I told Dustin "I'd like to order these stamps, they can be an anniversary gift!"  The set is call Pandamonium and it's SO cute!  The paper is Pebbles Love Notes.  I added a Studio Calico wood veneer heart that I colored with Copic and put some Wink of Stella over.  You can't really see the details on the heart but it's quite pretty.  I finished with some Whisker Graphics Teal Divine Twine.

Have a great day, friends!  

Hoppy Easter with Solid Divine Twine Banners

Hi friends!  I hope you are doing well!  We are enjoying spring break over here.  We are hanging out around town with our friends.  I've gotten a little bit of crafting done.  I'm not going to lie, it feels good!  I'm hoping that it keeps up.  

Today, I'm sharing a card I made for this week's Paper Smooches Spark's Picture Perfect Challenge.  I love playing along with their challenges!  Paper Smooches Stamps are some of my favorites.  This week's inspiration photo has lots of banners on it.  I decided to try to make my own banners with Solid Divine Twine.  I was really inspired by the banner with the fabric looped through.  That's the first one I made then I decided I needed more.  I made one with bows and one with knots that I pulled apart.  I used A Little Lovin and Alphadots on this card.  I really love being able to spell out my own matching sentiments.  I sometimes use words from sentiment sets and then add onto them especially to make puns.  The paper is Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm.

Have a wonderful day, everyone!  

Paper Issues Tip-toe Through the Tulips Challenge

Hi friends!  I hope you are doing well!  I'm feeling MUCH better today!  I hope that we are at the end of cold and flu season.  I'm sick of someone in the house being sick!  Other than that, we are fine.  It's been a little rainy so the kids are a little stir crazy.  It will let up soon, probably.

Today, I'm sharing a card I made for the Paper Issues Tip-toe Through the Tulips challenge.  I love that they are allowing us to interpret this challenge in so many ways!  I went the easy route with using lots of flowers on my creation.  Also, there's people with feet and therefor toes on this... ok, that's a stretch.  I used the new Date Night line from Chickaniddy for this.  You can find the Chickaniddy Enamel Hearts in the Paper Issues Shop.  I used a bunch of elements from the 6x6 paper pad and no stamps on this one.  Isn't this image super cute?  The guy in the glasses reminds me of Dustin.  I used my Tiny Attacher to add a couple small staples.  I used some Stickles on the moon (I know, I'm old school.)  And I finished with a little bit of Silver Metallic Divine Twine from Whisker Graphics.

I just placed a order with Paper Issues for some new CHA stuff and I can't wait to get it.  Here's a TIP (also allowed on their challenge) always check the Paper Issues Blog or Paper Issues Facebook Page for coupon codes!  I never pay full price when ordering!  Have a great day, friends!  

So So So So Loved

Hi friends!  I hope you're having an amazing day!  We had a wonderful Valentine's Day!  We had lunch with my sister in law and my 8 month old nephew.  Avery was so super cute with her cousin!  They adore each other, it was cuteness overload.  After the boys came home from school, we had our traditional heart shaped pizza for dinner, played games, and ended the night with a little family dance party in the living room.  It was a very nice day and I really needed a nice end to this awful week!

Today, I'm sharing the Valentine's Day card I made for Avery.  Last year, I just bought cards for the kids because I was just so tired from having a newborn.  This year, I just fell in love with the new Paper Smooches Spectrum set.  It has a unicorn and a rainbow.  I try to live in a life of unicorns and rainbows.  My life has been really really dark and I need to keep my head turned towards the positive things in life so this stamp set really spoke to me.  Of course I needed to use this special stamp set for my special princess.  Mostly because I don't think the boys enjoy 

I also tried to keep this week's Paper Smooches Sparks challenge in mind.  It's a lovely picture of a heart that is dark pink, light pink, and gold.  I wanted to use the colors in the photo and I wanted to use a lot of hearts.  I used the same Pebbles paper from yesterday along with some of their skinny washi tape.  I decided to make a pink heart unicorn because there's nothing better than a pink unicorn with hearts, glittery hair, and a gold glittery horn.  I think this card is the epitome of who I am.  I added some Peppermint Divine Twine and some enamel hearts from Chickaniddy.  I also used a little bit of Copics on this card.  I'm also entering this into the Cute and Fun Challenge on the Paper Smooches Blog.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  

January Poppy Sketch

Hi friends!   I hope you're all doing well!  We are doing pretty good.  Avery is still teething but I think she's starting to feel better about it.  The boys are good.  We are gearing up to celebrate Lunar New Year here.

Today, I'm sharing a card I made with my friend Laura's sketch for January.  She's been away from creating and blogging a year and a half.  She's staging a comeback much like myself.  I'm finding hers much more successful because she's been posting everyday since she started her comeback.  I have not.  Of course when I saw her sketch, I had to play along.  I used to do her sketches all the time over at 2 Sketches 4 You.  For this card, I used some Dear Lizzy Polka Dot Party paper.  I also used a stamp, a sequin heart, and engraved cork shape from the January Oh Deer Me Kit.  (More on this kit later!)  I finished with Silver Metallic Divine Twine.  Laura is going to have a new sketch on Feb 1 so you should check that out!

Have a great day, friends!

Happy Birthday, Dude!

Hi friends!  I hope you're having a great day!  I'm blogging twice in one day because I'm apparently some sort of blogging machine.  Actually, I wanted to enter this card into a couple of things and didn't want to miss the deadline.  Since I never know when the baby is going to let me get things done, I figured I would blog at night while she sleeps.

Today, I'm blogging a card I made for Brady's friend's birthday.  Brady actually picked out the images and the sentiment.  He was SO cute!  He pointed to the "hey dude" and thought it was so funny!  Then he looked for another set with a birthday sentiment.  Then he ran off to play.  ;)  The monster and hey dude are from Paper Smooches Little Fella and the party hat and birthday sentiment are from Paper Smooches Party Posse.  The paper is Echo Park's A Boy's Life.  I added some Whisker Graphics Oyster Divine Twine and I colored the eyes with Copics then put glaze pen over the top.  I'm entering this in the Paper Smooches Jan 19-25 Anything Goes Challenge and the Ribbon Carousel Challenge Love, Birthdays, and Chicken Soup.

Have a great day, friends!  

Christmas Classroom Favors

Hi friends!  I hope you're having a great day!  We are having a day, let me tell you.  Avery is getting like 6 teeth and is just miserable.  I'm trying to heal from having a cyst and a sprained oblique so we are just a mess.  Plus the boys are home for the next two weeks.  Yeah.  We WILL get in the Christmas spirit if it kills me though.  ;)

Today, I'm sharing the little gifts I made for the boys to give to their classmates.  Brady's class was supposed to bring in a small item for each of their classmates to add to their stocking craft they made.  It's a super cute way for the kids to give each other a small item but then no one gets left out.  I was making Brady's classroom favors and Parker told me he wanted some for his class too.  So, of course I had to run out and make some for him too.

First up are the ones I made for Brady's class.  I didn't plan well enough so I didn't have enough of any one color Little Bitty Bag to do the whole class.  Brady wanted the stripe bag.  I ended up using the grey, red, and green Diagonal Stripe Little Bitty Bags with the Blueberry Divine Twine and Holiday Divine Twine.  I added some glitter tapes and some glittery foam snowflake stickers.  These are for 6 year olds after all.

 Inside I taped two mini candy canes together in the shape of a heart because it's adorable and I'm slightly crazy.

Here are the ones I made for Parker's class.  He's in a 4 year old preschool class.  Again, I didn't have enough Little Bitty Bags to do a single color.  I used the Plain Kraft Little Bitty Bags and Graph Little Bitty Bags.  I used Taylored Expressions Penguin Pals stamps on these.  I added some washi tape then finished with a Polka Dot Petite Stickys.  Parker requested gold chocolate coins for the inside.

Have a great day, friends!  I'll be back before Christmas to share our Christmas card for the year.  

Lawnscaping Winter Blog Hop

Hi friends!  Today, I'm super excited to be back with my friends at Lawnscaping for the Lawnscaping Winter Blog Hop!  You should be coming here from Samantha M.'s Blog, if not hop on back to the Lawnscaping Blog to start the hop.  Don't forget to leave comments at each stop to win one of the prizes for our sponsors!  You can find info on the prizes and sponsors on the Lawnscaping Blog.  You have until Sunday Dec 15 at 11:59pm EST to leave your comments.  Winners will be drawn at random.

To be perfectly honest with you, I haven't been feeling well for the last week and I've been in and out of the doctor's office.  I was hoping to make more items but I just couldn't.  This one simple card took me forever.

On my card, I used Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Snow.  I love penguins!  I'm not sure if I've ever shared that on my blog.  They are my favorite animals (all year round.)  I also used a speech bubble from Lawn Fawn's A Birdie Told Me.  I used my brand new American Crafts Peppermint Express.  After I put my papers together, I decided that they were too busy but I didn't want to start over.  I used a technique that I've seen on my friend Marie's blog.  She sometimes puts her patterned paper inside a Whisker Graphics Glassine Bag and it mutes the pattern.  I used one of the Glassine Bags to wrap up my panel.  I finished this card with a little of the new Silver Metallic Divine Twine and some Stickles in Crystal on my igloo.

Next up on your hop is Elena J.  Don't forget to leave a comment before you go so you can be entered to win one of the prizes!  Also, in the spirit of the holidays I'm going to pick a random commenter to get a small sampling of the new Whisker Graphics Silver Metallic Divine Twine.  :)      

Whisker Graphics Winner

Here's the winner of my Whisker Graphics $15 gift certificate.  YAY Kelly!  I will be emailing you soon to set you up with your gift certificate!!

1. 
   Kelly BraundNovember 27, 2013 at 4:42 AM

   The kits look fun! Love twine, too!

   
   

   
   

Turkey Day Bitty Bags

Hi friends!  I hope you're having a fabulous day!  We are doing pretty good.  The kids are having a great Thanksgiving break!  It's been a really lovely time hanging out with our friends.  We are looking forward to having Thanksgiving dinner with our family.  It will be Avery's first Thanksgiving.

Today, I'm sharing a project I made for the boys's teachers for Thanksgiving.  I packaged up some homemade cookies.  I used the White on Kraft Polka Dot Middy Bitty Bags which are SO cute and I love the kraft look for fall.  I grabbed some Becky Higgins Grid Cards and this darling Lawn Fawn mini stamp set and made the tags for this.  I added some Orange and Lemon Divine Twine and tied it in a knot then adhered it to the card.  Then I added some Chevron Petite Stickys to help stick these to the bags.

Have a great day, everyone!  And Happy Thanksgiving!

Whisker Graphics Giveaway

Hi friends!  I hope you are doing well!  I'm going to skip the small talk today and get right into the post since I know you all are here for the GIVEAWAY!  Whisker Graphics is allowing me to giveaway a $15 gift certificate to the Whisker Graphics Store.  YAY!!!  Who wouldn't want to win that?!    

For those of you who don't know, I'm the DT Coordinator and Social Media Coordinator over at Whisker Graphics.  It's an AMAZING company with a heart of gold!  I could not be any happier in my position and I love every single person I get the pleasure of working with.

So, what could you buy if you win?!  I'm going to post a couple pictures of the new Kits and Kaboodles since they have a bit of everything in them.  Sigh...  I love these so much!  Did you know that I helped create this concept?  I love it SO much!

And a couple NEW products to check out: 

Metallic Divine Twine

Chevron Petite Stickys

Enter HERE!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy Halloween!

Hi friends!  Happy Halloween!  I hope you guys all have an amazing day!  We are headed to a Trunk or Treat later tonight since our neighborhood isn't the most fun on Halloween and by that I mean almost NO ONE gives out candy here.  It's sad.  I remember when I was a kid almost every house gave out candy and there was a rare house with all the lights out.  Now, it's the opposite.

On a fun note, here are the treats I made for the boys to give to their teachers.  These were super simple to make and I think they look really cute.  I think a little cute gift wrapping really makes a gift sing.  I took Polka Dot Middy Bitty Bags and trimmed some height off.  Then I punched the edge.  I put the candy bars in and folded the bags over so the width fit then secured with a little washi tape on the back.  Then I decorated with some Halloween Divine Twine and some Doodlebug Designs paper and journalling spots.

And it's Avery's first Halloween so I'll share a pic from earlier today.  

Happy Halloween, friends!  Have a wonderful and safe day!!!

You've Been Booed!

Hi friends!  I hope you are doing well!  We are ok.  I'm just getting over mastitis which was NOT fun.  The kids are having a super fun time right now with all the harvest and Halloween festivities that are going on.  My kids LOVE Halloween!

Speaking of Halloween, a friend of mine wanted to order a few cards from me for some Halloween treats.  She wanted 3x5 inch cards which is a size I never make so it was fun to work with a smaller sized card.  Dustin made the sentiment for me on the computer.  The paper and stickers are from Doodlebug and I used some Halloween Divine Twine to add a cute little finishing touch.

Have a great day, friends!  And I'm linking this up to the Paper Issues Halloween Challenge.  

Whisker Graphics Kit and Kaboodle

Hi friends!  I hope you are doing well.  We are ok.  If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you know that Brady just had major dental surgery yesterday.  He is doing fine now but we are just in stress mode around here.  Hopefully it will lessen soon.

Today, I have a SUPER fun announcement/item to show you.  You might know that I am the DT and social media coordinator for Whisker Graphics.  Well, today is super exciting for me because it was the first time that I got to give input on a product (well, kind of a product.)  Whisker Graphics announced their new line Kit and Kaboodle which I helped with.  The Kit and Kaboodle is a crafting kit that you can customize AND you receive 20% off the retail price for buying the items bundled together!  The first kit is the Halloween Kit and Kaboodle.  Check out this awesome loveliness!  Swoon!

Part of the reason this kit is so cool is that it's customizable.  The pictures you see above are just some of the options you can pick.  There are 3 different kinds of Divine Twine to choose from, different Bitty Bags, different Petite Stickys, different tags.  While the general idea of the kit is there, you can pick which patterns best suit your taste.  And this is a straight purchase, not a subscription.  If you get this, please show me pictures of what you make!  I'm SO excited about this idea and I really hope everyone likes it as much as I do!

Have a great day friends!

Whisker Graphics Challenge #2: Anything Goes

Hi friends!  I hope you're having a great day!  We are doing good over here.  Summer is in full swing and we are taking it easy.  Eventually, we will go out and do things but right now we are kind of just hanging out at home.

I'm a little late post my project for the Whisker Graphics Challenge #2: Anything Goes.  All you have to do is use some Whisker Graphics product on your project and link it up to the post by July 31 to be entered.  If you don't have Whisker Graphics products, you can use a FREE printable found HERE.  For my project, I just gift wrapped some picture frames for a couple friends.  I used the Diagonal Stripe Bigger Bitty Bag and I sealed it with a Scrolly Square Label.  I wrote their names and added a gemstone heart to each label.  Super fast, super easy!  Anything goes, right?  

Have a great weekend, friends!