EtsyInspired #83 ~ Mouse Market

This week's EtsyInspired shop is Mouse Market. Oh my gosh, is this shop super cute or what? They make dollhouse miniatures of things like food and flowers. I wish I had a little girl so I could get a dollhouse and have all these sweet little things in there! I love all the different stuff that's in this shop like sushi, pizza, hamburgers along with all the more conventional things like cakes, pies, and cookies. They have turned these adorable creations into jewelry and hair things too! So, you can show them off everywhere you go not just in your dollhouse! :)

Here's this week's sponsor info.

Paper Maniac - The Place for Passionate Papercrafters!
Come see our complete line of Tim Holtz products and Copic markers, and mark your calendars for our upcoming online garage sale starting May 19!

Prize Pack:
Challenge Prize -Three x Three for Spring!
Paper Packs: Cosmo Cricket - Joy Ride, Sassafras Lass - Cherry Delicious, Pink Paislee - Queen Bee
Stamps: Unity - Girl of the Moment, Serendipity – Crocus, Whimsy Stamps – Lamb
Accessories: Crafty Secrets – Friends, Spellbinders – Tulip Impressabilities, American Crafts – Blue Skies Rub-ons

WOW! I wish I could win!

To play:

1. Pick an item from Mouse Market to be inspired by and make your creation.

2. Post your creation to a blog or gallery (if gallery please use keyword EIC83) and then post a link to it on the EtsyInspired #83 post on the EtsyInspired blog by Friday April 16 noon Pacific time

3. Enter as many times as you like! :)

Here's my creation based on the picture above. The sushi and sentiment are rub ons are EAD Designs from Torendi. The paper is DCWV. And I used a sketch that my friend Kim Kesti made up for the Go To Sketches magazine. :)

Check out the DT:

Ashley (you are here)

De
Emily

Heather
Jackie
Joy
Kerry

Lori (April Guest)

Savannah (April Guest)

Shannon

Challenges Make My Mojo GO!

Woohoo! I've finally found some mojo! It's the most awful feeling when you don't have any, isn't it? Wanna know where I found mine? On Allison Fillo's blog. Everyday, she posts a bunch of sketch challenges that she's found on her blog. It's the best thing EVER!

This first card, I made for the All That Scraps challenge. Lots of layers are actually really hard for me but I love ATS so I went with it. Isn't this bear so cute? He's from C.C. Designs, you can find him HERE. The designer paper is Sassafrass Sunshine and Lollipops. I distressed the edges to give a little definition to the layers without having to mat them all since that would make the card SOOOO heavy. The rhinestones are Studio 18.

This next card was make for Annabelle Stamps challenge 4. This company is new to me. I don't have any of their stamps, but they sure are cute. You are allowed to play along with any supplies you have. The designer paper and chipboard are Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly. The Cuttlebug folder is Snowflakes. The stamp is Gina K. Warm Winter Wishes. And the bling is Darice.

So, if you can't find your mojo, I suggest you go try some challenges. They helped me find mine. In fact, I know TWO challenges that you could try. ;)

EtsyInspired 64

Whimsical Ink Saturday Challenge

Friday! HHH Day!

I feel like I was barely at Hip Hop yesterday. I suppose that's ok. I mean, I am a bit busy with being pregnant and having Brady and all. I miss my friends though. Love those girls! Unity has some amazing fans! Angela is having some huge deals this week! Check out the Unity site for details!

I'm sharing a couple Unity cards I made this week. The first one is for last Sunday's featured stamper, Mercy Kerin. You can see the card I CASEd HERE. I simplified this a bit. I left off layers and embellishments. I changed the stamp set and of course the paper. I put some Stickles on the bee (the black stripes and the wings) and added some little dew drops. This card uses Unity's Everyday Adorable set which I just love. Two of my friends (Lindsay and Tanis) created this set. It's just super cute and I love it!

My next card is for Dustin's birthday. It's from Brady. :) I don't know how I'm gonna make a card from Parker, but we'll see. I am in LOVE with this Unity set! It's called Little Me. I just think it's ADORABLE! There are mommy/girl images too but this one just steals my heart. Something about a little boy and his daddy. The words are from Unity too, I got them out of a grab bag so I'm not sure what set they are from. I hand wrote the B behind the sentiment.

This is a sketch from the Stampin Out Alzheimer's event as well. There's some amazing inspiration over there! And some awesome giveaways! Hope you all are over there checking it out!

More VSN and Happy Birthday Unity!

I have a couple more cards that I made at VSN to share today.  Remember, you have until 10pm tonight to make cards for VSN mini and get entered to win a prize!  Woohoo!  How awesome is that?

This first one is for Carole's challenge.  The challenge was to be inspired by one of the Beatle's songs from the show LOVE.  You can find the challenge HERE.  I was inspired by the song I Want To Hold Your Hand.  I used an image for Unity's April KOTM.  I really wanted to use pink since Carole loves pink!  And of course, I love pink and brown.  The DP is SU, the ribbon is American Crafts, and I added Primas, a brad, and some Stickles.

The next card was made for Jen's strip challenge.  She challenged us to use strips to paper on our card.  You can find her challenge HERE.  This was quite the challenge for me since I don't like to measure and make sure everything is straight and tidy.  I know, from a CAS card maker, isn't that shocking??  

I made this card with Unity's Bouncy Blue which the AMAZING Lynn Warner sent to me for winning a RAK on her blog.  She's the sweetest!  She sent me a bunch of stuff!  On this card, I made the strips and used the same paper to paper piece the stroller.  I just stamped the sentiment directly on the card base and added some Stickles.  Super easy peasy!

And speaking of Unity, (I used ALL Unity on these cards) they are celebrating their first birthday this week!  Woohoo!  It's so fun!  Check out the Unity Blog for all the amazing details!  There's gonna be challenges, games, and prizes galore!  

One Layout, Three Challenges

My girl Kristen just started a challenge on her blog.  It's a scrap book challenge that's also being inspired by an Etsy shop but it's not connect to our current EtsyInspired challenge, you can check it out HERE.  THIS is the piece I was inspired by.  

I'm also using this for this week's Cafe Mojo challenge, to think spring.  For me, spring always reminds me of Easter and new beginnings.  So, this is Brady's first Easter.  How cute is he in his little bunny ears?  I love it!  And his shirt says "Chick Dig Me."  So true!  

And last but not least, for the 2 Red Bananas challenge to make anything but a card.  I don't really make many other things, but I do the occasional layout.  All my stamps are from Unity Stamp Co.  Speaking on Unity, hop on over to the Unity forum today for Hip Hop Thursday!  It should be fun!

Flutter By Wednesday #52

Ok, so this isn't the best picture in the world but I was extremely busy and it's taken at night.  Once again, Wednesday means Flutter By Challenge on Danni's blog.  YAY!  This week was a free week, we could just do anything we wanted.  Also, Danni said you can now make your cards using fairies since they flutter too!  YAY!

This is also using this week's color challenge over at SCS.  For once, I had all the real colors we were supposed to use, thanks to WishRAK!  Woohoo!  I went with a really clean and simple card.  My mojo is all over the place these days.  This butterfly is from Unity's September KOTM, which is my favorite by the way.  A little Cuttlebug embossing, a little corner rounding, a little dew drop use and I'm done.  :)  Easy!

Check out the rest of the Flutter By team's creations too, they are in my sidebar.  Also, stop by Danni's blog where you'll see our featured stamper of the week and this week's special guest Lynn Put.  We'd love to have you play along too!  If you upload to SCS or PCP just use keyword FBW so we can find you!  

Viva Las VSN

So, after last week and the mini album I made, I'm kind of tapped on mojo.  But I really wanted to play along with some VSN challenges for the mini yesterday.  If you didn't get a chance to play along, you still have until tomorrow (Monday) to submit your creations!  

My first card is for Jenn Buck's challenge.  The challenge was so be inspired by the beautiful flowers on the Bellagio Casino ceiling.  And to use a transparency on your card.  This is the ONLY transparency I have.  You might remember it from last time I had to do a clear card challenge.  I just stamped a sentiment from Unity's Aug KOTM, added some bling, and a flower with a brad.  Super simple but like I said, I don't have a lot left in me after last week.

The next card I made is for my good pal Sherry Campbell's challenge.  She asked us to be inspired by the colors of the Venetian Hotel.  Now, the Venetian is one of my favorites since it has a gondola ride that runs through it and the whole thing looks like Italy.  It's a very pretty hotel.  The colors Sherry had us use are burgundy, gold/yellow, blue, and white/cream.  Again, tapped for mojo, I went super simple.  This is Unity's Gratitude = Joy stamp set.  I just layered paper.  

Anyhow, the next VSN mini will take place in April.  I hope you will join us.  It's just a fun day of chatting on the SCS forums, lots of challenges, making new friends, and you can even get chances to win prizes.  I LOVE VSN!

Toddler Free Saturday = Challenge Cards!

***Please Scroll Down for EtsyInspired!!***
Brady is still at my mom's so I had a fun day to myself!  I baked, watched some TV that didn't have cartoons on it, napped, chatted with some friends, and made some cards.  Yay me!

On the Greeting Farm blog, Marie issued a challenge to case a card.  You can see the challenge HERE.  I knew I wanted to make an Ian card.  I borrowed Joni's idea of having Anya in her underoos (Dress Me set from The Greeting Farm) actually be Anya in her bathing suit.  I applied this to Ian.  I also used Joni's clever trick about stamping them on tan paper instead of white so you don't have to color all the skin.  So, that's my lounging in the pool Ian card.  Maybe I should call him Swimming Ian.  Oh how I wish it was warm enough to swim!

My second card is for the sketch over at 2RedBananas.  They are going to start having a challenge every Sunday to play along with.  Isn't that fun?  This is my second try at this sketch.  I wasn't happy with how the first one turned out.  Here, I used Unity's Butterfly Beauty.  I painted Shimmerz which I got from 2RedBananas on my Primas and added some brads.  I did  little bit of doodling with some markers and this is what I ended up with.  This is also for SCS's Limited Supplies Challenge if you count each different kind of paper as a layer.

Hip Hop Hangover, I'm Psychic!

Happy Hip Hop Hangover Day aka Friday!  We had a wonky hip hop yesterday since SCS decided to be crazy.  But we still had fun!  I have a couple cards to share with you today.

This first card is for Wednesday's SCS sketch challenge.  I used Tanis's house from the Unity January Kit of the Month, which I got by trading with my pal Jacquie.  Seriously, how cute is this little house??  I thought it should be yellow and after much deliberation and chatting with some friend, the trim should be pink.  I love pink!  The pink card stock is Cuttlebugged with Swiss Dots.  The designer paper is from Target (I love that $1 bin!)  I actually matted the house on some DP too, it's a subtle green patterned paper.  And I added some crystal effects to the windows and dew drops the corner of the card.  I really like how this turned out!  

My next card fits a whole bunch of challenges which is one of the reasons that I'm so psychic.  ;)  Okay, really I'm psychic because I made this card yesterday and a bunch of the Unity DT members used this same set on their cards.  It's Gratitude = Joy.  I love this set!  This card is for the Unity Addicts challenge to use green as a focus, the Limited Supplies challenge to make a card in under 30 minutes, and the Ways to Use challenge to make a card that's green.  Way to multitask huh?  

Happy Friday everyone!  Come back tomorrow for our EtsyInspired challenge with our first ever stamp company sponsor!  I'm so excited!

It's Thursday! Hip Hop Day!

Yay! It's Hip Hop day! I love Unity's Hip Hop! Have you ever been? It's a day full of chatting, games, fun, and prizes. Just go into the Unity forum and look for the Hip Hop thread!

So, I'm here to share a couple Unity cards I made this week. This first card I made for this week's SCS Inspiration challenge. I used THIS piece from Spunky Sprout. I just love this adorable deer from one of Unity's past KOTM, my good pal Sara Henton sent it to me since she's such a dear (pun totally intended.) For the leaves and sentiment, I used Unity's Gratitude = Joy. And I used a Cuttlebug folder for the background, it's called Forest Branches. This is a no designer paper card and I didn't even do that on purpose. :)

My next card is for SCS's fairly new Clean and Simple challenge. I really like this challenge since I'm going towards a more clean and simple style. And it's nice to be able to make a card without all the fuss. This is just a super simple card. The tree is paper pieced, it's Unity's Giggle Grove. The Cuttlebug folder is Swiss Dots. And I just added a little ribbon from Target's $1 bins to finish it.

Come join us on the Unity forum! It'll be fun!

Flutter By Wednesday #48 and a PMS Challenge

First up, it's my Flutter By Wednesday card for Danni's Flutter By Challenge.  This week's challenge was to use flowers.  That's pretty easy for me.  I actually don't know what this image is, I got it in a swap.  It's embossed so it was AWESOME to color, I need to emboss more.  But since I never emboss, I should say I should emboss period.  If you want to play along and upload please use keyword FBW.  And please check out the rest of the DT, they are in my sidebar.

This card is also for the Pink Elephant challenge this week.  The challenge was to use pink, brown, and green.  I love this color combo so I combined it in with my card.  Last but not least, this is also using Madelynn's Twinkling Tuesday sketch.  This week's sketch was from 6 year old Jack, Madelynn's brother.  And since their mommy said that Jack loves paper piecing, I went ahead and added that to my card.

Since I used butterflies on this card too, I decided to show it together with my Flutter By card.  This is my card for the Paper Makeup Stamps challenge this week.  The challenge was to use two different types of bling.  I'm not sure you can really see my bling, I'm not happy with this picture.  I covered the paper the quote is on with Gold Glimmer Shimmerz Blingz.  I painted the butterflies with Diamond Stickles and added a rhinestone to the big one.  The rhinestones in the corners have an AB finish so they pick up the light really nicely.  The stamp is Paper Makeup and the butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch.  

Not So Lazy Sunday

I made a couple cards last night that I'm pretty happy with.  I was waiting for the Girls Next Door to come on.  I admit it, I love JUNKY TV!  What can I say?  Everyone has their quirks and this is one of mine.

This first card I made for Cafe Mojo.  The challenge was to make a card based on your addiction.  Well, since I'm pregnant I'm pretty much OBSESSED with things I can't have.  Here's one example, SUSHI!  Oh sushi, how I miss you!  I can't wait until June so I can have some spicy tuna!  

Anyhow, back to the card.  This is my FIRST Two Scoops of Rice card.  I got my order on Saturday and I'm in love!  These stamps are so yummy, it was hard not to eat them!  Ok, super simple card.  I colored the Maki Single, added some Black Diamond Stickles to the edges, Diamond Stickles to the cheeks.  I matted it and did a little faux stitch.  And finished with a handwritten sentiment and bling.  

The second card is for Sunday's Feature Stamper which was Judith Rozema.  I CASED this card HERE.  I changed the stamps used, the ribbon, and simplified it a bit (ie less layers, less embellishments.)  This card uses Unity's Mix Up of Cuteness.  I really love how Judy used the same embossing folder in two different colors, so that's why I picked this card.  There are some Stickles on my whale but that's pretty much it.  

Happy Monday everyone!  

Feb 28: Save the Date and Blog Candy!

****STICKY POST: Please scroll down for new posts****

On February 28th from 9am-6pm Pacific Time, we will be doing an event called Hop with the EtsyInspired Eight.  Each member of the design team (including myself and our Feb guest designer Sara, so really there's 10) will have a challenge on their blog on Feb 28 at a different time.  In between challenges there we will be chatting on our group on Paper Craft Planet.  

What's in it for you?  

Well, my friends other than spending time with some fabulous ladies and getting to do fun challenges, there will be PRIZES!!  We have some amazing sponsors who I will be doing spotlight blog features on in the days to come.  These awesome prizes will blow your socks off!  Here's the list:

The Greeting Farm

Limelight Papercrafts

Lovely Supplies on Etsy

Odd Bird Planet (Just Johanna)

Paper Makeup

Rubber Romance on Etsy

ShortCuts

Timeless Paper Arts 

Two Scoops of Rice Designs

Unity Stamp Co

How do you get the blog candy?

All you have to do is post about our event on Feb 28th and a link to this post on your blog.  Don't have a blog?  Email your stamping friends about this event and CC me a copy of the email and you can still be entered.  Simply posting a comment on this post WILL NOT enter you to win.  Also, I check everyone's link so I'll be sure to leave you some love.  Entries will close at 6pm on Feb 28.

Happy Birthday Princess Taylor Jones! (3rd post for today)

Ok, so three posts in one day might be overkill but what can I do?  I really wanted to tell you all about this awesome blog candy opportunity.  Chelsea (one of the Unity Scrapbook DT members) is having a card drive for the sweet Taylor Jones, can you read about it HERE.  All you have to do is make a card and send it to Taylor to be entered to win!  Taylor's birthday is coming up too, so it's just icing on the cake to be entered to win something.

I used Madelynn's Twinkling Tuesday challenge to make this card.  Madelynn decided to do an inspiration challenge this week (a girl after my own heart.)  I had to play along since I love inspiration challenges!  Plus, what better way to make a card for a sweet little girl than to be inspired by another sweet little girl.  I used the color and the shape of the foam as my inspiration for this card.  

So, make a card and send it to Taylor.  Even if you don't win, you'll feel great about yourself and isn't that what it's all about?

Some Makeup Blogging

Can I just say how much I love having the internet back?  Oh my goodness, I've missed it so much!  And though I've been borrowing some internet, it's not the same as having it right here on my desktop where all my pictures are.  YAY!  

Here are a couple cards I made with my new order from Paper Makeup Stamps.  This first card is for the PMS color challenge on the PMS blog.  The challenge was to use pink and grey.  Easy peasy.  I love pink and grey.  My card uses the Swirlie Tree.  Isn't it awesome, I love the swirls and the size of this stamp!

My second card uses Panda Hugs.  Katie actually contacted me before she made this set because she wanted to make a "You hug my heart" sentiment.  Of course, I was over the moon for the thought!  I mean, that's my favorite saying and now I have it on a stamp!  YAY!  And how sweet is this little panda??  

Alright, I'm off for a bit.  The kid wants to eat.

Hungover!

Oh my goodness!  I stayed up so late chatting with my friends at Hip Hop yesterday!  I am definitely Hip Hop Hungover today.  

I made this card for one of the Unity challenges, to have your main image be tilted.  I used Hey Chick, one of my favorite Unity sets.  I tried to color the bird according to the paper but I really need more markers.  I covered her with Stickles too since I love Stickles so much!  I also used this card for the SCS Ways to Use challenge that was to pile on embellishments.  I put a brad, two Primas, and ribbon on my pile.  Then topped the brad with more Stickles.

I will be back later on today with EtsyInspired news.  

EtsyInspired #22 ~ Little Snuggle Bunny

This week's super sweet shop is Little Snuggle Bunny. Shelly makes these amazing, luxurious blankets by hand. I'm in love with her sophisticated fabric choices, definitely something for a chic mommy. I've found that this is a trend lately. More and more moms are looking for items in fashionable fabrics and prints. I know, personally, that this appeals to me. As much as I like a very "baby-like" item ON my child, if I have to carry it around I like for it to be something that appeals to me too. And Shelly has that covered. From her soft cuddly minky blankets to her funky fleece blankets, there's just something for everyone. The best thing about her though is that she puts so much love into each blanket like she is "making it for my own son."

This week's prize is AMAZING!! Shelly is offering up the gorgeous pink and brown blanket. It's so pretty! I love it! It's retail value is $65! Holy smokes, that's so generous! (I really do have the BEST giveaways!) All you have to do is go to the Little Snuggle Bunny Shop, find any item to be inspired by, and make a creation (any creation you want.) Post a link to your creation right here on this post and you'll be entered in a Random.Brady drawing to win this amazing blanket!

Here is my card for this week. It is based on the Little Jungle Baby blanket. I just love it! Brady's nursery was done in a jungle theme and we're bringing back the stuff for our new baby boy! Of course, I had to make a baby boy card to celebrate my big announcement yesterday.

Here is Joy's darling monkey card. I love the glitter and of course the color combo.

Lee's gorgeous snowflake card. I love the pink embossing and all those fabulous snowflakes!

Here's Tiff's super fun card. I love all the textures and dimension!

This week, we say goodbye to Christine. Thank you so much Christine! We've LOVED your layouts this month, they are all fantastic! And this one is NO exception! I love the fun edging and the wonderful embellishing. Also, that picture just melts my heart. Thanks Christine for an awesome January!

A Challenge Card and an Oppsie

I'm further venturing out into the world with this My Favorite Things challenge.  It's a "Who's that Girl" challenge.  I love Who's that Girl, she's always doing such fun stuff.  This is the only set I have with her, called Here's the Scoop.  The challenge was to make a card with ONLY 2 layers.  Yikes!  And the base counted as one layer.  Quite the challenge!

I cut out my stamped image with a border around it and colored the border brown to give it the look of a mat.  I was going to stamp the base layer with a background stamp but I wanted to put the sentiment on there so I opted not to.  I added some Primas with brad and some rhinestones.  That's it.  I think I'd be happier with this if it had more layers but I did what I could.

This next card was supposed to be for the Verve sketch number 3 but my apples were a whole lot bigger than I had originally thought so it didn't work with the sketch.  That and I didn't want to cover up the cute DP with too many layers.  Well, AND the twist to this sketch was to add pink.  Basically, this card doesn't fit the challenge at all.  But I still like it.  I think it's cute.  This uses Mix Up of Cuteness from Unity.  

I'm really sick today but I am still going to try very hard to have a post for tomorrow with my Flutter By card.  Hope you all are feeling better than I am!

Stepping Out a Little More

This weekend, I went poking around the SCS forums to see what I could find.  You know, because I'm venturing out.  I headed over to the Verve member company forum and found that Amber (who I know from Unity) posted a weekly sketch challenge over there.  I don't have any Verve stamps yet, but Amber said you could play along even if you didn't have any of the stamps.  I haven't completed one of the sketches yet for this month but I will.  Actually, I tried BUT I messed it up a bit so I will try again later.

Here is my first card using a $1 stamp I got from Joann's.  The twist on this sketch was to use hardware which I hardly ever use.  I put brads on the main image.  I was going to make a monochromatic card but it was just so dull so I added some black dots and I put some Black Diamond Stickles on the vellum butterflies.

Here's another one of those sweet $1 stamps from Joann's.  I am in LOVE with this Me and My Big Ideas paper.  In love I tell ya, I need to go buy some more.  I'm usually never this drawn to paper, but I'm sure you've seen it on my blog a few times over the last week.  

And here's my first ever The Greeting Farm card.  I got this image from WishRAK but I will eventually buy it since my little sister's name is Dorothy and she likes Wizard of Oz stuff.  The twist on this sketch was to use bling.  Hello?  That's what I'm good at so here you have some rhinestones and some Stickles on the ruby slippers.

I've Got a Crush!

On VSN mini that is.  Well, that and Jonathan Rhys Myers from the Tudors but that's another post for another blog.  VSN mini however is a post for now on this blog!  :)  I had so much fun yesterday learning new techniques, finding new places for inspiration, and chatting with new friends.  Hopefully, I will see YOU at the next VSN in February.  Here are a few projects I made:

This is for the something old, new, borrowed, and blue challenge.  I made this card to look like my husband and I.  His favorite colors are orange and blue, can you tell?  I used Shimmerz for the first time on my pink coat, I really need to learn how to take better pictures of the Shimmerz, they are so much fun!  I usually take pictures in indirect light as opposed to direct sunlight since I don't want to over expose my pictures but that might be just the thing for Shimmerz.  Also, I used Crystal Effects on the puddle but you can't see that either.  I think that could be solved by the same photography trick.

This is my very first scrapling which is a smaller more narrow card.  Mine is actually 2 inches wide by 5.5 inches tall.  It's a fun way to use up scraps.  This uses Unity's August KOTM.

This card is for the "Tender Love" challenge to make a card with something soft.  My soft thing is the felt flower.  I wanted to make a kid card since I'm still trying to make cards for the Cards for Kids thing.  The image is from Pink Cat Studio.

Here's my first A2 Box and I was so worried about how it would turn out.  I don't do a lot of 3D projects but every time I do, I'm always surprised at how easy they are!  I need to get over my fear!  This uses Unity's August KOTM again.