I know most of you want to strangle me since I haven't gotten back in a timely manner and I don't blame you. So, I will let the suspense cease! The winner of the 3 sentiment sets from Starving Artistamps is...........
Lucky # 21!!
Dawn Mercedes!!!
Congrats Dawn! Shoot me an email and I will get your addy to Tracey over at SA to send your goodies out!
Thanks everyone for playing along!!
Well hello everyone! Long time no see! First off, I just want to say how much I missed all of you and missed posting this past month or so. However, my family needed it, and I think I did too.
Joe took some vacation time and ended up working it to get 18 days straight off. The first week we did yard work and re-did our chicken pen. The rest of the time we went to his mom and dad's camper at a lake about n hour away. We all fished and swam and ate out. It was nice. However, I was ready to come home.
Once we came home it was time for Joe to go back to work (for 3 days), and he did. Then he decided he wanted to take the rest of his vacation he had left and we ended up turning around and going back to the camper again. We fished, swam, and tried not to eat out. It was nice. We got home the day before yesterday and I am so glad to be back. The only internet we could get was on our phones and that tiny screen just doesn't fill in for the real thing!
So, in celebration of me being back to 'real life' I am offering up some yummy blog candy!!!
3 Sets of Starving Artistamps Sentiments!!
If you win, you will get the Boopie, Tropics #2, and Faith sentiment sets.
All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me why you love Doodle Factory! That's not so hard, huh? I will draw a random name on Monday morning (the 28th) and announce the winner.
Now I will leave you with some samples I made using the Tropics #2 sentiment set and the Tropics image set.
Hey all! Today will be the last smARTworks Tea Party for the summer. It seems like everything is harder to keep up with when you just wanna be outside or are going on vacation. So, for our last party Trish told us to make a card using brown, white, and one other color. Oh yeah, and some sparkle too! I decided to add in pink. Here is my finished product...
I want to say that I am so giddy right now! Tracey from Starving Artistamps just uploaded several new sets of sentiments onto the website.......and I helped create some!! Those of us on the Design Team kept asking for more sentiments so when she offered for us to make our own up I jumped at the chance! I racked my brain for about a month thinking of all of the phrases and words I'd like to be able to use and ended up spending about 6-8 hours on the phone with Tracey going over everything and choosing the fonts and editing the sheets. It was a long process but she is wonderful to work with (and for) and she has made me soooo happy!
I brainstormed all of the following sets and some words or phrases scattered about too!
Faith Sentiments
Urban Set #2
Most of Trick or Treat
Some of Holiday Greetings
Most of Casual Holiday Greetings
All About Easter
St. Patty's
4th of July
Some of All About Love
Most of Fairytale
Most of Country
Some of Bird Words
A couple of the Fresh and Funky Farm
Quirky {my fave set because it works perfectly with the Doodle Factory Creatures!}
Please just go take a peek if just to thrill me for a minute! If you decide you like anything then don't forget that you can use my code: heidis to get 10% off your whole order!!
Now, to share a few more of my Doodle Factory cards! This first one is one I made with the Fairytale set. I stamped the carriage and then masked it so I could have Princess Winifred riding along with her horse Favius. I brayered the BG with blue and purple to give it a sunset look. I also used my Copic Spica glitter marker on Favius' saddle and the accents on the carriage. I wanted to make it a 'thinking of you' card but didn't want to put a big sentiment across the top so I just cut out a thought bubble and had her thinking of 'you'!
Hello! Hello! Hello!!!!! I hope everyone is having a good summer so far! Anyone ready to send their kids back to school yet? {giggle} We have been soaking up the sun and taking care of business around here. We (and by we I mean me, lol) got our pool set up and the kids have been swimming in it just about every day since. It's just one of those vinyl ones that is about 4 ft tall and 16 ft across. It suits our needs! Anyway, I have also been purging lots of the stuff in our house. I just broke down our dining room table and reclining chair the day before yesterday and it's sitting in the back of Joe's truck ready to take in to the incinerator. Before that I took in one of our desks, our old grill, our old trash can, and Franklin's (may he rest in peace) cage. I also send a big load of yard sale stuff with my sister this past weekend when she came up with my mom. I told her just to keep the money made from it because all of it would be going to the Salvation Army anyway and she could really use it being a single mom of 3! We went to the Strawberry festival this past Saturday and we had a nice time. There weren't too many people there (normally you can't even squeeze through the crowds!) because we went immediately after we got a big storm. It was a little muddy but I'd way prefer having dirty feet then huge crowds!
On another note, I got my hair done last week and am now a semi-blonde instead of redhead. I like changing my hair every year or so because I get bored with it. It's still long but I'll probably chop it all off in the fall. Who knows! I am getting really tan too from working outside a lot with the garden and chickens. I mowed the grass today so that should help out too.
Okay, I think I've bored you enough with my silly details! Family does read this so I try to keep them a little up to date with the family stuff!
The following cards are all Queen Kat Designs! This past month I got to work with the Harlequin stamp set. Love It! It's now available for purchase and you can find it here. I also love the new sets that have been released this month! Be sure to check them out! I really loved the samples I made this month! Here they are.....
Alright so apparently I am on a roll of being late this week. I was all set to do my post for the smARTworks Tea Party yesterday but after the awful (and I mean awful) storms we had the night before last and yesterday morning, it left me without a dial tone on my phone which meant no internet too. So, even though I wanted to be here yesterday, I had to sit back and go an entire day without surfing anything! I'm surprised I'm alive today! {grin} Anyway, here I am!
It was my turn to do the challenge this time and I chose these colors for inspiration:
Here is my final take. The colors are a little bit brighter in my card but I think it's pretty cool.
Can't be a day late and a dollar short if you don't have any dollars right? lol Maybe I have some change in my purse. Anyway, yesterday was the QKD challenge and I had my project done and I was all ready to go until Blogger was acting wonky and wouldn't even load. I had lots to do yesterday and didn't get done with everything till late last night. Painting a chicken coup is not as easy as I thought it might be. So, here I am right now with yesterday's challenge. We were challenged to make something that wasn't a card! I stamped the skull from Happy Skullz set 5 times onto white shrink plastic, cut them out, colored the heart eyes (each one is a different color), and used my heat gun to shrink. I attached them to one of her bracelets with jump rings. The whole thing only took me about 25 minutes to do. She loves it too!
These past few weeks have been the most physically challenging ones I've had in a loooong time! But, they are almost over! Whew! My body hurts though and I have a serious sun burn from planting my watermelons, cantaloupe, and pumpkins. Everything is planted though so that is a relief. Now we just have to finish the chicken coup. Yes, we got chickens! Thirty 3 week old chicks and two 3 week old roosters. We are building a movable coup they won't make a big dirt pile where they will eat the grass. Every day or every other day we will be able to move it (it will be on wheels) so they can have fresh grass and we aren't left with any bare spots! It's like a big triangle and at the top will be there nests and roosts and at the bottom will be a fenced area that is directly on top of the grass. Once they get big enough to free range we will just let them out during the day and put them back in their coup at night to keep them away from predators. So far and quite surprisingly, the boys are my favorite. They actually let me pet them and hold them without freaking out. And before I tell you their names please take no offense as my kids helped name them. Little Bill and Pecker. I said Pecker to Joe jokingly and the kids loved it. It's so nice how kids can be so untainted by the world! Anyway, I will have a few pictures to share later this week, just haven't had time to edit them. We will have to thin our group down by about 20 by the time late fall gets here. Hopefully the kids get attached to the ones we are keeping!
Moving on to crafting now, I wanted to share a few more Doodle Factory cards I got done last week. Drumroll please....
I wanted to keep this one simple and obvious...
Today is another day for our smARTworks Tea Party! The big boss herself Susan gave us a sketch to try today....
This is my take on it. I know I extended the circles a little farther than the sketch but that's the beauty of a 'guideline' right?
STAMPS- Sunny Smiles, Combo Sentiments (smARTworks)
PAPER- The Slab
INK- Brilliance black ink
OTHER- Copic markers, buttons, pop dots
Be sure to check out the other Smart Cookies throughout the day!
In the Works.....smARTworks
Mama Dini's Stamperia
Tah Dah!
Well, as much as I'd love to stay and chat, I have to finish planting our sugar snap peas, green beans, carrots, and onions!! Oh, and did I mention we are thinking of getting chickens???? I think I'm gonna lose my mind! {grin}
Give me a second to check my pulse...... Yep, I'm still here. Not going into too great detail, I have been very busy with lots of different things lately. We have been starting a garden which means we had to dig it, till it, fertilize it, and today I have to plant everything. By the way, the tiller must hate me because my arms and hands are so sore! The kids and I have been doing more homeschool subjects too which has added to the lack of time during the day. We are getting rid of our extra couch, chair, end table, dining room table, chairs, and a few other stands so I have been trying to take those things apart and get them ready to go to the incinerator. All of the things we are getting rid of are older and not so sturdy anyway. The only thing we do at the dining room table is school anyway. And we are also building me a super cool desk that I designed! I am so excited about it! Hopefully it actually gets done and in a timely manner! It's got everything I need on it! Anyway, the girls started gymnastics too (which they love) so I'm stuck trying to get everything I need to do done on the day of their class since gas is so high!
So, other than a few things I left out, you can tell how busy I have been the last few weeks. However, I have gotten a lot of DT cards done in the process! Mother's Day cards too! I'm gonna share a card from each company today that I have been working on.....
STAMPS- Blip of Doodle Factory Urban, Lil' Squares BG (Starving Artistamps)
Good morning all! I hope everyone is enjoying their Friday morning and looking forward to the weekend! I know I am! I will be visiting my momma and sisters tomorrow! My mom is making my favorite food......macaroni in a tomato/bacon/onion sauce. It's poor people food, but I grew up with it and I will eat it until I feel sick! I am sooooo looking forward to eating that tomorrow! Then on Sunday the kids and I are going to Ruby Tuesday's (I am in love with their garlic mashed potatoes!!!!!) and his mom is going to come and take them to their camper (more like a second home!) for the night so Joe and I can have an evening at home (he works 12 hours on the weekend) together. THEN! On Monday I am hoping to get in to the salon to get a facial and a hair trim. It will be a most wonderful Mother's Day weekend! Yahoo!
Now, moving on to the card. This is one of my favorite cards using the Queen Kat Designs 'Sweets' set (which is now available in the store). I wanted to keep it really simple with the kraft paper and the ice cream, although it is hard to see, is shimmer paper. I attached a button for the cherry and viola! 
![[image]](http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b339/ckat7/maynegs.jpg)
I am a little sore this morning. Yesterday was a non-stop day. We started at 9am and didn't stop till around 8pm. We had to do a lot of regular things (grocery and such) and then we had to get Jolee's hair cut (she looks so grown up!), I went to Big Lots hoping I could find some thick CD cases because my stamps are overflowing and I need some more to store them in. Nope! So now I guess I am going to have to order online which is what I was trying to avoid. Anyway, we had to pick up the rest of our veggie seeds and plants for our garden too. After that the girls had their first gymnastics class. They loved it and it was fun to watch them through the plexi-glass. After that was home and unload everything. Then the fun part came.....digging up more of our garden! Yee-haw! We bought a tiller a few days ago but you still need to work the ground a little to make the tiller easier to use. We did that will about 8:30 and then I had to put the groceries away. I was super tired by the end of the day! We are planting all kinds of stuff for our garden so I am really excited!! Corn, tomatoes, all kinds of peppers, cucumber, lettuce, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, watermelon, strawberries, pumpkins, and I'm sure I'm missing a few. Now we just get to play the waiting game!!
This morning is another smARTworks Tea Party! We all got our new batches of rubber so I think all of us were excited for this challenge. Well, another reason could be that Dina challenged us to make a card with NO ADHESIVE OR GLUE. It's so funny how there are so many little things you don't think of! When I was done with the card I almost glued on some baubles not even thinking! I caught myself though! Here is my card and I challenge all of you to make a no glue card too!
Hey guys! Glad to be back today! My allergies have really done me in this week. I feel better but still woke up stuffed up this morning. Anyway! I got my new Doodle Factory stamps yesterday and finished this one this morning! I just absolutely love it! I really went out of my creative boundaries for this card. I did masking, brayer on glossy CS, crayon resist, and I tried layering the same color Copic markers. It's rare for me to even do a 'technique', let alone 4 one one! Hope you like it! And hope it makes you wanna buy this set! Then we can swap ideas! You can use my 10% discount code on my sidebar too!
Good morning everyone! Sorry I have been absent the past few days, my allergies have been getting the better of me.....and still are. My eyes are bloodshot, my nose is stuffed up and red, I can't stop sneezing, and now my muscles hurt from the sneezes and such. I can't taste my food and sleep has been quite a challenge since I can't breathe through my nose. Okay, there, I'm done complaining. I'm gonna switch to my happy face now.
Last week, I promised the kids I would take them fishing on the first warm day this week (unfortunately something I wish I didn't promise) which just so happens to be today. After lunch they are going to dig in the yard for worms for us to fish with and then out we'll go. I'm sure my nose and throat will just love that! Okay, so I lied about being done complaining. Now I'm really done. I'm taking my camera so hopefully I get a few good pics. The wind is pretty bad here now so hopefully it dies down by this afternoon so they can see what they are doing.
I'm gonna share a very simple Thank You card I made for our landlord. She is just the sweetest person to us and always makes sure we have everything we need out here. We get all the annual check ups and even get our driveway re-graveled in the spring because of the snowplows that go up our lane to make sure we can get out in bad weather if need be. In my opinion she goes above and beyond. So, I wanted to offer a small token of thanks to her. I took a few flower and sewed the button in the middle and adhered to the card with heavy duty tape. Of course I stamped the swirl and thank you first, then outlining with a gray Copic marker. I really think that gives it depth. Then I sponged the edges and a little of the flower.
Afternoon all! Hope everyone had a great weekend!!
Today is another Queen Kat Designs challenge! Nancy hosted this time and asked us to make a spinner card. I think I have made one other spinner card before years ago, and that's it. So, this really was a challenge for me! I still feel like something is missing or it's lacking something. Plus, it was hard to take a picture of!
Hello! What's shakin' with you peeps today?? I don't have much on my list other than to:
A. Watch online episodes of the new Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy that I missed last night.
B. Take a visit with the Grams.
C. Finish up a few cards.
So, without wasting too much time, I'm gonna share my smARTworks cards with you all today!
Good morning! I got my new Basic Grey paper pads yesterday along with my new Sassafras Lass Olivia and Pals set! And just so you know, I had these on hold a long while back (before my spending freeze!). I got the Archaic, Sultry, and Cupcake pads. They rock! I was so excited to get them yesterday that I HAD to make a card with them this morning. Here is my first one! I stamped Olivia onto the green paper, stamped her on a scrap piece, cut her out and popped her up onto the first piece.
I'm so sorry that I didn't get back last night guys! We ended up playing outside till dark and then the kids had to get a bath. Yadda, yadda, yadda. So, without further ado, the winner of the Rummage Bin 'Great Canadian Stamp Set' is..........{drumroll}..............
Comment #13
COLLEEN!
"Well, how much fun is this?! So many things I love about living here, but probably the most important would be the social welfare system that provides universal medical and education. And the scenery isn't too bad either - beach on one side and mountains on the other for us BCers!
Love your card!
Cheers,
Colleen"
Thanks so much everyone for entering to win! I enjoyed reading all of your responses and although I haven't been to Canada yet, hubby has been several times and vows he will take me there soon! Hope you guys have a great day!
Hi all! I am running a little later than usual today but I have plenty for reasons for that! So, I am just going to make this post quick and move on to more chores around the house!
Dina challenged us to do a circle card this time around for the smARTworks Tea Party and I knew I wanted to keep it really simple. Here is my design!
Good morning!! Today is going to be another beautiful day! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to mow the grass yesterday {insert pouty face} due to a dead battery from sitting over winter. I juiced it up though so I should be good to go today. When I mentioned the smell of fresh cut grass yesterday I got a few similar responses. So, since we were talking about smells we like, I thought I'd mention a few more that woo me!
1. Stazon black ink pads. I don't know if all of the colors smell that way, but I love it!
2. The rubber matt that you can buy to emboss the Nestabilities. It has such a strong smell but I even find myself picking it up just to smell it!
3. Lilacs! Need I say more?! My favorite flower in the world! Too bad they don't last too long off the bush!
4. Coffee grounds. I'm not too much of a coffee drinker but when Joe and I were first together I bought a can of coffee just to smell it every few days. I guess it reminded me of home.
Well, I guess that's it for me for the smells. And since I made a goof of myself, please don't hesitate to do the same!
Here is a card I made last night when everyone was asleep! It just came to me. All of the colors and layout and everything. It came together surprisingly smooth!
Hello all! Hope everyone is having a good morning so far! Once it warms up a little more I get to go mow grass. Woo-Hoo! Okay, there was a little bit of sarcasm there but I really am looking forward to the smell of that fresh cut grass! That's one of my favorite smells in the world!!! Ahhh, I can smell it now! Anyway! I have been organizing my stuff and the kids' bookshelf/homeschool shelf this weekend. I went to a local library book sale on Friday morning and walked out with LOTS of books! The great thing? I spent less than $20! We got a lot of books to supplement with homeschooling too! I have come to the conclusion lately that I love buying books. None for myself really, but for the kids and for us as a family. I get a thrill of knowing that we will all be learning together or planning little trips. Joe and I picked up 3 new Ohio books about 3 weeks ago. They are awesome and are all about places you can go and day trips you can take. They're cool because they tell you about the history of the place before you even go to it! There is a lot of underground railroad stuff in one and of course the Indian mounds that we have quite a few of. Really cool things like that.
Okay, so I am really rambling this morning! I just wanted to share a picture with you of how I am storing my loose ribbon. I love the ideas of the clipping organizers but didn't really wanna pay for stuff like that when I could find some other way to spend my money (gee, how hard that would be!). So, this is what I came up with!
I picked up the clips at Office Max for around $2.50 (it doesn't day on the box but I'm guessing about 100 clips) and the rings I found at Walmart a while back. I don't remember how much they were but I believe it was around $2 for a 10 or 8 pack. Either way, you can't really go wrong with $5 for a ribbon organizer! If you decide to give this a try, let me know how it works for you! Hope everyone has a fantastic day! Enjoy the sunshine!
I will leave you with a pic I took this morning.
Good Morning Canadians!!!!! And non Canadians too! I have some goodies for you guys today!
A while back I entered to win blog candy from Cornish Heritage Farms for their new Rummage Bin releases. Well, one of the ones I signed up for (and didn't even realize this was the set I was entering for) was The Great Canadian Stamp Set. I felt that I jipped some cool Canadian out there out of a great set so I decided to pass it along, although I really love the seasons stamps and that stinkin' Moose! Ah well! So, here it is! And here are the rules:
1. You must currently live in Canada!
2. You must leave a comment saying what your favorite thing about living there is!
3. You must leave your comment by Wednesday, April 23rd.
Please pass the word around!!! I'll pick a random number and announce the winner on Thursday morning! Good Luck!
Oh, and before I go, I wanted to share a card I did this morning. The tree branch is going to be awesome for some spooky Halloween cards, but I thought it would be a cool card for a dad too! 
Good afternoon all!! I hope everyone will be outside enjoying this beautiful day today! Unless that is, you won't be having 72 degree weather. And if that's the case, I'm sorry and I hope better weather gets to you soon!!!! After I post this, we will eat some lunch and then head over to the park! The kids are practically foaming at the mouth!!
I had the pleasure of grabbing a slot in Group 3 of Tracy Durcan's ATC swap last month and for the first time ever, I made an ATC! They were really fun to make and I have a feeling that I will be making more in the near future! I ended up using stamps from 3 different companies! I haven't done that in a loooong time! I love them though! I think they are very 'me' and what I'm all about! Whadda ya think?
Oh My Gosh! I am just soooo excited to show you guys the next release from Starving Artistamps! It's Doodle Factory (created from the fantastic brain of Irene) Fairytale! It has all of the characters you would ever need for a prince or princess card along with dragons and even a wizard!! As much as I love the other DF images, this set has to be my new favorite! And guess what?! You guys have the chance to win it!! Tracey over at the Starving Artistamps blog is giving away the whole sheet!! All you have to do is leave a comment telling her who your favorite DF character is! Easy peasy lemon squeezey!!!! So run!
Hello there! Hope everyone is having a good day so far! It has warmed up pretty quickly here in Ohio so I can't complain. It's only supposed to get warmer this week too!
I made this card a few days ago and at first I thought it was way too 'frilly' for me. Then I started to like it. Now, days later, I really like it! I clear embossed the dandelion and sponged over it with Versamagic Pixie Dust and then stippled just a little of the Pearl Orchid around the embossed part. I added 4 eyelets and tied the ribbon through. 
Good morning everyone! I hope you all had a pleasant weekend! We hung around here, cleaned a little, and then went to a birthday party that the girls (and myself) had a great time at! Today though we need to get some more things done around the house so the rest of the week will be laid back other than school (which is pretty laid back anyway) and a trip to the grocery and library so we can play outside. The temps are supposed to get back up to the 60's and 70's this week. Woo-Hoo!
I was so excited to play with my new stamps from Queen Kat Designs this weekend!!! The set is called Sweets and I will be giving sneak peeks of it all month until it is released on May 1st! I know that it stinks that you'll have to wait till then cause it's so darn cute, but that's life, right?
Before I show the first one I just wanted to point out that the rub on from Cosmo Cricket (which I love!) is spelled wrong. LOL When I first pulled it out I went "That's spelled wrong", and then of course I thought maybe I was crazy. Surely a large company wouldn't produce rub ons that are misspelled, right? I guess they do because after I was questioning myself the rest of the night, I looked it up. Sparkle is spelled 'le' not 'el'. Well, at least I know I'm not crazy! 
