Share Handmade Kindess Week 1

Hi friends!  I hope that you are well!  We are ok.  We had a busy day of errands.  I had to go to two different grocery stores and I'm off to a crop in a little bit.  I'm hoping to get some projects done that I can post here.

Today, I wanted to share a card I made for a challenge.  Ohhhhh, a challenge!  Remember when I used to do those all the time??  Yeah, me either.  My sweet friend Jennifer McGuire started a month long challenge called Share Handmade Kindness.  I love this premise!  And I love that since Jennifer has such a big reach so many people are getting involved!  It really only take a tiny ripple to start change.

I made this card for Share Handmade Kindness Week 1 and the challenge was to make something for a friend or family member.  Obviously, this is the easiest way to go since you can just hand a card or project or baked item or ANYTHING handmade to a friend and family member and show them how much you care.  I made this card for a friend of mine who is also my son's teacher.  I'm so glad that I've gotten to know her!  Beyond being my son's teacher, she has other children who are friends with my kids.  She invites my kids to their birthday parties.  She encouraged her son to play with my son when we first started at this school and didn't know anyone.  Most recently, she gave my son a ride home after music lessons when Dustin had to go to the doctor.  Obviously, she's a great candidate to receive a little handmade item.

I used some My Mind's Eye Jubilee papers and a Lawn Fawn stamp set for this card.  This paper has a lovely watercolor effect on it.  I stamped the butterflies 3 times on the same paper and cut them out and got this beautiful gradient effect.  I added some purple Stickles to the butterflies for my sparkle.  Purple and butterflies are a couple of my friend's favorite things.  I am also entering this card in the current Lawnscaping Challenge which is Thinking of You.  

Have a great day, friends!  Go Share Handmade Kindness and enter to WIN a prize on Jennifer's blog!

*Affiliate links used in this post.

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.  :)      

Happy Good Friday!

Hi friends! I hope you're having a wonderful day! We went to the Children' Museum today and the kids had a blast! I'm a bit tired right now but nothing too bad.

I wanted to share a couple more challenge cards with you today. I always feel the need to blog challenge cards right away because there have been so many times I didn't blog them on time and the challenge ended.

First up, I made this card for the Some Odd Girl April Challenge (color challenge) as well as the Oozak Challenge #1 (anything goes.) I used Nutsy Kaylee for my card with a sentiment from Tiny Baker Tia. Can you believe how much I like those SOGies to color for them all the time? The ribbon is May Arts, washi tape is Love My Tapes, bling is Kaisercraft, the paper is Pink Paislee, and I used Copics to color.

My next card is another one for the Lawnscaping #31 challenge (to color) and Card Positioning Systems sketch #259. The stamps and paper are from Lawn Fawn, I colored with Copics, accented with Stickles, and added a Zva bling flourish.

Have a great day, friends!

While the Kids are Away...

Hi friends! I hope you are having a great week! My kids are at my in laws's house so I've been resting and stamping a bit. Well, a lot. I should probably be sleeping more but I don't feel that tired. Probably since I rested well last night. You never fully "turn off" when you're a mommy. Every bump and noise at night makes me wake up but I didn't do that last night because I knew my kids weren't here.

Let's get into the cards, shall we? First up, another one for the Paper Smooches Sparks current challenge as well as the Easter challenge on the Create Blog. The bunny is from Paper Smooches A Little Lovin. The sentiment is My Thoughts Exactly Easter Greetings. The paper is from American Crafts Dear Lizzy Neapolitan.

The next card is for the Retro Sketches #5. I used Amy Tangerine's Sketchbook papers for this and the stamp is from the first Amy Tangerine line.

The last card is for Card Patterns Sketch 159, Lawnscaping Challenge 31: coloring, and iCopic #76: for a child. I used Lawn Fawn stamps and paper for this. I used May Arts ribbon, Martha Stewart punch, Spellbinders Nestie, MFT cloud die, and Kaisercraft bling.

Have a great day, friends!

Lawnscaping Challenge 19 and a SAD Goodbye

Hi friends! I hope you had a great weekend! We had a fun one! There's a giant pumpkin festival every year in our town and we attend each year. It was just as great (if not better) this year and the kids had a great time!

This might seem backwards but I'm gonna start with my goodbye. It's with a VERY heavy heart that I'm stepping down from the Lawnscaping Design Team. If you've been a follower for a while, you know that I've been having some health issues and I need to take some time to work on that. I've really tried to stay on all my teams but I haven't been able to give everyone my best. I'm SO sad to be leaving the AMAZING Lawnscaping team. Each of these women is so kind, talented, loving, and caring. I, honestly, could not have asked for a better support system. They are all now my friends and I'm so lucky to have them! And I have to extend a HUGE thank you to Laurel and Lynnette for asking me to be on this team when it began and believing in my talent every step of the way.

Ok, enough about me! On to the Lawnscaping Challenge! The theme for this challenge is to ADD Dimension to your project! You can use foam adhesives or embellishments to add dimension. The sponsor is Simon Says Stamp which is just an AMAZING store! The winner of the challenge will receive a $25 gift certificate!

Here's my first card for the challenge where I managed to accidentally GLUE my tree layers down instead of popping them. (Proof that I might need a little break.) Though the embossed and glossy papers on this card do give it dimension. I used Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Forest for this card along with some Imaginisce paper.

And now for the card I did right! ;) I used some foam tape to pop all these bandaids to give this card lift! This card uses Lawn Fawn On the Mend and some Basic Grey Lauderdale paper. I am also linking this up to the Link Up for Pink linking party where they are hosting an amazing event for breast cancer!

Check out the DT:

Laurel

Lynnette

Britta

Christiana

Ayana

Vera

Our guest designer for this month: Laurie Wilson

And the winner of our guest designer contest: Cathy Fong

Link up: Lawnscaping Challenge 19

Lawnscaping Challenge 18

Hi friends! I hope you had a great weekend! We had a very low key weekend and I'm hoping that I got enough relaxation to last me through the week.

Are you all ready for a new Lawnscaping challenge? This challenge is Getting Texty: using newsprint or text on your project. Isn't that a fun one? I had to put on my thinking cap for this one but it's such a fun challenge!

This challenge sponsor is Lawn Fawn Stamps. You know how we LOVE love love Lawn Fawn stamps! The prize for this challenge is one stamp set of the winner's choice! How's that for awesome?!

Here's my card for this week. I used Just My Type from Lawn Fawn and some Basic Grey Out of Print paper. This card is based on Sketchy Thursday 147.

Check out the DT:

Laurel

Lynnette

Britta

Christiana

Ayana

Vera

Our guest designer for this month: Nichol Magouirk

And the winner of our guest designer contest: Amy Tsuruta

Our ULTRA special guest designer: Kelly Marie Alvarez

Link up: Lawnscaping Challenge 18

Lawnscaping Holiday Blog Hop

Hi friends!! Welcome to the FIRST EVER Lawnscaping and friends blog hop! Some of the Lawnscaping DT and our fabulous players are having a blog hop today using our Lawn Fawn stamps! And guess what?! THERE'S TONS OF PRIZES!!!

You should be coming here from Donna's Blog. If not, please head about to the Lawnscaping Blog to start this super fun Holiday Themed blog hop!

Prize details! (There is TONS of candy hidden all throughout the blog. Leave comments EVERYWHERE for your chance to win!)

~(4) Lawn Fawn Stamp sets from Lawn Fawn

~(1) $25 gift certificate to Mold Muse

~several MYSTERY prize packs

Here's my card for this challenge. I decided to go with a Christmas card. I was tired so it's kind of silly. Teehee! I used the cat from Critters in the 'Burbs and the santa hat from Hats Off to You. The paper is Echo Park's Wintertime. I spelled out the sentiment with some Cosmo Cricket letters. I used this week's Card Patterns sketch for this card, sketch #131.

Next up is COREY!!

Lawnscaping Challenge 17

***If you are looking for Jo's Birthday Blog Hop, scroll down or click HERE***

Hi friends! Sorry this post is SO late! We've been on wedding mode around here. My SIL got married this past Saturday and so did my friend Summer. I had things to do for both weddings and relatives coming in to stay with us. It was HECTIC!

Lawnscaping issued a new challenge today called "Embossing Extravaganza." You can use either heat or dry embossing on your project. This is a fun challenge for me. I haven't dry embossed in quite some time and I have tons of embossing folders that I just love! I've forgotten to use them so this was a great reminder!

The lovely folks at Simon Says Stamp are sponsoring again this week! Love this store! They have so many wonderful things! They are offering a $25 gift certificate to one lucky winner!

Here's my card for this challenge using Lawn Fawn's On the Mend. The embossing folder is from Lifestyle Crafts (Quikcutz) and the paper is My Mind's Eye. I recycled a glassine envelope for the tissue on this. The twine is Oyster Divine Twine.

Check out the DT:

Laurel

Lynnette

Britta

Christiana

Ayana

Vera

Our guest designer for this month: Nichol Magouirk

And the winner of our guest designer contest: Ivy Wong

Link up: Lawnscaping Challenge 17

Have a great evening everyone!

Lawnscaping Hearts Kelly

Happy Friday friends! I hope you had a great week! I've been busy busy busy this week. My SIL is getting married on Saturday and I'm making projects for a friend who is also getting married on Saturday.

Today, the Lawnscaping team wanted to do a blog hop for Kelly Marie Alvarez (aka Mrs Lawn Fawn) for all the love and support she shows to the Lawnscaping team! We are a fan based challenge and she has gone above and beyond to support our little challenge. Also, she makes some of the best stamps around!

For my card, I decided to use this week's Card Positioning Systems sketch #233. I used a bird from Fly Free and a sentiment from Critters in the Forest. The paper is from My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy. The die here is Spellbinders.

Next up on the hop is CHRISTY! If you are just popping in, go back to Laurel's blog to start the hop.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Guess Who?

Hi friends! I hope you had a great weekend! Brady's school has a teacher inservice day today so he doesn't have school. The kids have a play date though so that will be fun. Ohh and Brady went to his first party of someone in his class this weekend. I didn't go, but Dustin did. I'm very excited that he's making friends!

Guess what?? Lawnscaping has a super fun game for you today! Since this month has five weeks, we have a special game for you today! How awesome is that?! There's a game over on the Lawnscaping Blog where you can win a prize for guessing which team member made which card. Go over there and have fun! Good luck!

Lawnscaping Challenge 16

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you all had a great weekend. I think Brady has a cold, at the very least he has a bad cough so he might not be going to school today. Let's hope that doesn't set us back! ACK!

Ok, today is the third Monday of August and that means it's time for a new Lawnscaping Challenge. This time, the theme is One Layer Magic. (HANGS HEAD IN SHAME) I cheated on my card. :( I thought we were restricted to one layer of card stock and could use patterned paper but now that I'm reading the badge, it says one layer of paper. Sorry friends! Please forgive me!

Our sponsor for this challenge is JBS Mercantile, you know by Jenni Bowlin. I LOVE JBS! The products are all so fabulous! The winner for this challenge will win a JBS Mercantile prize pack of goodies. I'm rather jealous! :)

Here's my (CHEATING) card for this challenge. I used Lawn Fawn's Judy's Blooms and Sophie's Sentiments. I used Jenni Bowlin for Ranger ink in Malted Milk. The paper I used is Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden. I finished with some Liquid Pearls.

Check out the DT:

Laurel

Lynnette

Britta

Christiana

Ayana

Vera
And our special guest: Jenny Suchin

Lawnscaping Challenge 15

Hi friends! Happy Monday! I hope that you all are doing well! Today will be Brady's first day of preschool so I'll let you know how it goes. Hopefully, it will go well and that I will be able to get some good pictures to show you as well. Keep your fingers and toes crossed. I'm guessing that there will mostly be crying pictures.

Ok, it's the first Monday of the month and that means that we have a new Lawnscaping Challenge for you all! This challenge is Distressing Mania! You can use ink, crinkling, or sanding the edges on your creation. This was kind of a hard one for me but I worked it out so you can too!

We have a fabulous sponsor this week! Simon Says Stamp is returning as our sponsor. I love this store, they have so much fabulous stuff including Lawn Fawn Stamps! They are offering up a $25 gift certificate.

Here's my card for this week. I used Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Forest and Sophie's Sentiments for this. The paper is Cosmo Cricket's Odds and Ends.

Check out the DT:

Laurel

Lynnette

Britta

Christiana

Ayana

Vera
And our special guest: Jenny Suchin

Submit your project: Lawnscaping Challenge 15

Lawnscaping Challenge 13

Hi friends! I hope you all are having a great weekend. Happy 4th of July to my US friends! I hope you all have a great day! We have a block party later on tonight. It will be our first with our kids so I'm hoping that it will be fun. I think they will enjoy it!

Today is the first Monday of July and that means it's time for another Lawnscaping Challenge! This time our theme is "Don't Forget the Inside!" Just to let you know, this was a HUGE challenge for me. I NEVER do the insides of my cards and I had the hardest time with this challenge! It took me FOREVER to make this and figure it out!

The sponsor for this challenge is Karen Burniston who designs for Sizzix! They have all sorts of awesome products! The winner will get the 3-D scalloped circle pop up die!

Here's my card from this week. The Lawnscaping team got to work with some die cuts of the die the winner will be receiving. The outside of this card is based on PWCO sketch 87. I used Lawn Fawn's Swimsuit Season and Echo Park's Splash.

Check out the DT:

Laurel

Lynnette

Britta

Christiana

Ayana
And our special guest: Niki Estes

Submit your project: Lawnscaping Challenge 13

Lawnscaping Challenge 12

Hi friends! Hope you had a great weekend! We've been busy here with all the birthdays and holidays and I'm ready for a BREAK! I'm hoping this week is a relaxing one. We don't really have any plans so it's looking good.

It's now the third Monday of June and that means it's time for a Lawnscaping challenge! This time, we have a fun sketch from Jennifer Rzasa who will be playing along with us! I love sketches so this one is a super fun challenge for me! Hop on over to the Lawnscaping Challenge Blog to check out all the details on the challenge, the rules, and to link up your creation.

For this challenge, our sponsor is Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker which is a wonderful company that makes paper with coordinating stamps and embellishments. Nikki will be giving away a prize pack to a winner AND the winner gets to guest design for Lawnscaping Challenges!

Here's my card for this challenge. I got to use Nikki Sivils We Are Family paper. I paired it with Lawn Fawn's Just My Type.

Check out the DT:

Laurel

Lynnette

Britta

Christiana

Ayana
And our special guest: Vera

Lawnscaping Challenge 11

Hi friends! I hope you all had a good weekend! It didn't last nearly long enough for me! I'm sure you all feel the same way too!

It's the first Monday of the month so we are kicking off a brand new challenge over at the Lawnscaping Challenge blog! The theme of this challenge is "Clean and Simple." That's right up my alley! And it's super easy to do with adorable Lawn Fawn stamps! Be sure to go to the Lawnscaping blog to check out all the DT samples and to link up your creation! You have until Wednesday, June 15th to enter your creations.

This week's sponsor is Simon Says Stamp! This shop is filled to the brim with WONDERFUL products including Lawn Fawn stamps! For this challenge, they offered up a $25 gift card! WOW!

Here's my card for this challenge! I decided to combine my card with the CAS-ual Friday challenge for this week which was a sketch, details HERE. I used Lawn Fawn's Critters in the Sea and some Echo Park Splash paper.

Check out the DT:

Laurel

Lynnette

Britta

Christiana

Ayana
And our special guest: Vera

Lawnscaping Challenge 10

Hi friends! Let's kick off this week with another FABULOUS Lawnscaping Challenge! We are so thrilled at the amazing entries to this challenge! Everyone is making such beautiful creations!

This challenge's theme is POLKA DOTS! Woohoo! I love polka dots! I really am a fun and cute card maker at heart. :) All you have to do to play along is making a creation featuring polka dots. If you have Lawn Fawn Stamps, we'd love to see them but you can play along with any stamps you have on hand. Just go over to the Lawnscaping Blog and link up your creation!

This challenge has an AWESOME sponsor! Mold Muse! Oh my goodness! I love these molds SO much! They have such beautiful designs! I have other molds from another company and they don't even come close in quality! The Lawnscaping team got a chance to work with these fabulous molds (I actually already had some.) For this challenge, Mold Muse is offering up a $25 gift certificate to the shop! That's AWESOME! I wish I could win!

In addition, the winner of the challenge will also have the opportunity to be a guest designer for Lawnscaping!

Here's my card for the challenge. I used Lawn Fawn's Plus One set. Super cute! The papers are from Echo Park. For this card, I used this rose mold. I also used the Card Positioning Systems sketch #218 for this.

Check out the DT:

Laurel

Lynnette

Britta

Christiana

Ayana
And our special guest: Winter!

Lawnscaping Challenge 9

Hi friends! I hope you all had a great weekend! We are kicking off this week and month with a fun new Lawnscaping challenge! Woohoo!

The theme for challenge #9 is Let's Party! YAY! Who doesn't love a good party? You can make anything that's party related ie showers, birthdays, graduations, housewarmings, etc... And you aren't limited to cards either! You could make party favors, layouts, invitations, etc... Have fun! And don't forget to link up your project at the Lawnscaping Blog.

We have a GREAT sponsor this time as well! Simon Say Stamp is sponsoring us again! This shop has so much awesome stuff! I love shopping there! The prize is a $25 gift certificate to their store!

Here's my card for this challenge. I decided to create a little scene using Critters in the Burbs and Hats off to You. The stamped part of the sentiment is from Just My Type, Too. The paper is Echo Park Summertime.

Check out the DT:

Laurel

Lynnette

Britta

Christiana

Ayana
And our special guest: Winter!

Lawnscaping Challenge 8

Hi friends! Hope you had a great weekend! We had a good time, just relaxing at home and going out to eat. The kids had a great time with their grandparents so it was good all around. This week is a little funny for us with hubby's work schedule so wish us luck! ;)

Today, we are kicking off a new Lawnscaping challenge! This time, this challenge is Calling All Critters! You can use any critters you want for your project. How fun is that?! In case you didn't already know, I love critters! I know, shocking, right? This challenge is right up my alley! And it's perfect for Lawn Fawn being that they have the cutest critters around!

The sponsor for this challenge is Lawn Fawn! How cool is that? The winner will get to pick one stamp set of their choice for a prize! Not only that but they will get the chance to design along size the team in an upcoming challenge!

Here's my card for the challenge. I decided to go with Critters in the Sea. I made up this fairly clean and simple card then added some Divine Twine to it. I LOVE clear stamps because you can curve the sentiment to suit your card!

Check out the DT:

Laurel

Lynnette

Britta

Christiana

Ayana
And our special guest: Kelly Marie Alvarez (Mrs Lawn Fawn herself!)

Lawnscaping Challenge 7

Hi friends! Hope you had a great weekend! We had a fun one over here! Gardening and a birthday party. :D

It's the first Monday of the month and that means it's time for another Lawnscaping challenge! Hooray! This challenge was a VERY hard one for me, Make Your Own Patterned Paper with Stamps! Ack! You might have noticed that I'm not really a "stamper" as much as I'm a "paper crafter." The precision it takes to make patterned paper isn't really in me and I actually never think mine turns out that great. However, I gave it a try and that's what matters RIGHT??

Super fabulous prize this challenge so even if it's not your cup of tea, you HAVE to give it a try! :D The prize is a $25 gift card to Simon Says Stamp! They have EVERYTHING! Love that store! So, don't forget to play along and link up your creation to the Lawnscaping Blog to get your entry in for this amazing prize!

Here's my card. Like I said, I'm not great at patterned paper with stamps but if I can do it, so can you! The background is make from Partly Cloudy. The tree and swing are from Critters in the Burbs, the bird is from Fly Free and the sentiment is from Just My Type, Too. I don't create a lot of scenes either so this card is WAY out of my element.

Check out the DT:

Laurel

Lynnette

Britta

Christiana

Ayana
And our special guest: Kelly Marie Alvarez (Mrs Lawn Fawn herself!)