Life is Good!

I have to tell you, I am feeling pretty good today! I have been given some super awesome blog honors lately! I was asked to be the November Make My Monday Guest Design Team Member, I was awarded the Versatile Blogger Award, AND the Butterfly Award! Thank you to all of you who have chosen to care for me and my blog--you totally rock my world!

SOOOOOO....in honor of all these honors (is that redundant?!), I have created a card to show off my feelings! :) There will be lots of bling. Because when I'm in a good mood, I get out the bling! Oh, and lots of glitter. Yes...I had a GRI.

Okay, I am gonna show you the card...in a bit! First, I want to tell you what fabulous challenges I will be posting to! :)

My colors are completely the doing of CR84FN!
Look at this gorgeous inspiration~

The other challenge I'd like to post to is Wee Memories: Brads, Buttons, or Bows~

Both are simply fabulous challenge blogs--look them up and come play along with us!!!

Okay, now my card~

Did you notice all that bling?!~

And the sentiment?~

So, whadya think?! I have to say, I love it! My DH said it was one of his favorites, which always brings a smile to my face! Thank you--all of you--for stopping by! I really appreciate the time you've taken to stop by my little blog! I hope you've been inspired to create today! LIFE IS GOOD!!! Embrace it! Happy creating!!!

Gratitude Challenge...Expanded

For those of you who follow me, you know that I recently joined the Gratitude Challenge--basically that means that this holiday season we make thank you cards and send them out! Because gratitude is so incredibly important. I have a few thank you's I'd like to say here on my blog. I will share a card as well, but this post is mainly about my gratitude for the blogging community and some very special bloggers who have helped me...and they might not know it because I've never really told some of them!

But first, the card. :) I made this extremely quickly--it took a little less than 5 minutes. And I love the way it turned out!

Here it is~

This is why it was so easy--I used patterned paper for the main images! Yep. It's just patterned paper on top of a cardstock base! Then I stamped my sentiment, punched it out and backed it with more punches, colored it with a clear glitter pen and attached it to the card. Then I added a bit of bling.

Here's a close up of the sentiment~

And the bling~

And now onto the more important part of this post--the thanking! I was recently awarded the Butterfly Award and the Versatile Blogger award by Susan at Cricut & Grasshopper. Thank you, Susan! You made my October! :)

With the Butterfly Award there are no rules attached but with the Versatile Blogger award there are a few rules:

1.) Thank the person who awarded you.
2.) Tell 7 things about yourself that your readers may not know.
3.) Award 7 other bloggers this award.

Here are 7 things that you may not know about me (and may wish you never knew...DUN DUN DUN!):

1) I was born on Mother's Day. And I sang in Carnegie Hall in college. (Yeah, that's two...oh, well!)
2) I LOVE tomatoes and tomato based foods, but they do NOT love me--they give me horrible heartburn! And yet, I can't stop eating them...
3) I am an avid (understatement) reader. I own almost all of Agatha Christie's mysteries...yep. Almost all 80-something of them!
4) I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I feel blessed to be sealed to my dearest husband and best friend not just for this life, but for all eternity! :)
5) I am the November Guest Design Team Member for Make My Monday! (Please join us--it's so fun!)
6) I do not have any children due to infertility issues--we're working on it, but it is totally stressful! This issue makes me feel terribly alone sometimes...but I love that my blog friends lift me up!
7) I LOVE McRib sandwiches from McDonald's (just like Susan, who nominated me). Don't judge! ;D They rock!

Some of those things actually play a part in who I would like to honor with these awards. You'll see how in just a bit (if you don't stop reading...I know this is terribly long!) If you are honored, please feel free to take these buttons and add them to your blog (please follow the rules if you choose to take the Versatile Blogger award).


In alphabetical order, I would like to honor:

1) Aunt Peaches for always making me smile! She is totally hilarious and has some seriously unique craft projects!
2) Deborah's Gems for always leaving me comments--you make my day quite a bit! I consider you one of my best blogging friends! :)
3) Deezine's Art for honoring my with the November Guest Design Team Member spot at Make My Monday for November--you seriously helped me to continue blogging! I was about to quit...
4) Shoregirl's Creations for all her sweet comments when nobody else bothered with my little unknown blog...and for all of her FABULOUS craft ideas and delicious recipes!
5) Simplicity by Lateblossom for helping me discover CAS style, the Gratitude Challenge and her other wonderful blogs--Questioning my Intelligence and Questioning Autism.
6) Thoughts on Infertility for sharing her personal experiences to help lift me when I need it and for researching options for those of us struggling with infertility.
7) Two Shades of Pink for taking the time to post her WHOLE infertility struggle story--you will never know how much it helped me stay strong and keep my hope and faith for a baby.

Ladies, you all rock! You all make my day in different ways--you're versatile! THANK YOU for all you do! You make a difference in MY world!!! :)

I hope that you are inspired to say thank you to someone today--it's so important and it makes you feel happier! Happy thanksgiving! :)

CAS-ual Blue & Green Winter

Welcome back, sweet bloggin' pals! I hope you had a fabulous weekend and a wonderful Halloween! Tonight for your viewing pleasure, I have a submission for this week's CAS-ual Friday challenge.

The challenge is to make a card with this sketch~

I love it! It's super simple and super inspirational! Don't ya think? Well, I knew that I needed to use a stamp set that I haven't used for a while...and Christmas is around the corner...so I needed to make a Christmas card. I'm so incredibly behind in my Christmas card making.

Anywho. For anyone who knows me well enough, they know that I am an incredibly humongous fan of non-traditional colors for holiday cards. So, I used blue and green.

Here's the card~

Of course, what is a Christmas card without bling?! I added some...and then I decided to add more...and more...well, do you think I got carried away? I think it's pretty!

Here's a close up of the BLING~

UGH. I can never photograph the bling nicely! Tips? Rhinestones just always look black. I'm resigned to it.

Anyway, thank you so much for coming on over to take a peek! I hope you like what ya see! I also hope that you're inspired to create something fabulous for this week's challenge! Come and play along! Happy stamping! :)

OLW...or TECHNICALLY OLF ;D

Yes, One Layer Wednesday this week was really posted on Friday. Creating a funny acronym. :) It made me smile...I'm a bit weird that way!

Anyway....the challenge this week was to create one layer card using only red and white OR red and cream. I chose red and white...

I call it "Candy Cane Christmas"~

Isn't it fun? I was quite please with the way it turned out! I originally had just the ornaments, but it felt/looked unbalanced, so I balanced it with the sentiment in the opposite corner. What do you think?

I'm keeping this post short and sweet--I'm way behind on my blogging! Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek at my creation! I appreciate you! Hope you join us for OLF this week! ;D Happy stamping!

LIM: Polka Dots!!!

Well, I just have to say that the challenge over at Less Is More this week makes me so very happy!!! The challenge is to make a CAS style card featuring polka dots!!! Good gravy do polka dots make me smile! They brighten my day! I love them!

Yes. I tend to be over enthusiastic about crafting. It's NOT a problem. And I won't be working on it in the near future! ;D

So, being so close to Halloween, I figured that pumpkins were in order! And what is cuter than a polka dot pumpkin?! Now, while making these cards, I came to TRULY understand that less really IS more! You'll see what I mean in a bit...

Here's my first card~

Yeah. It's ok, but that's about all. Adding those swirly leaves kinda ruined the card in my opinion. And the sentiment just makes the bottom look kinda cluttered...

So, I decided to use the same pumpkin and try again! It worked out marvelously this time!!!

Here's the second one~
Oh, so much better! The placement is better! This card made me MUCH happier than the first! And, see! Less IS more! :) I outlined each pumpkin and the leaves with a clear glitter gel pen, but I couldn't get a very good picture of it...take it on faith, please! ;D

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek! I appreciate your continued support of my crafts! I really hope that you are inspired to play along with us at LIM! It's totally fun! Happy stamping! :)

My 200th Post & MUMS the Word! ;D

Hello my dearest blogging friends! I am so happy it's Monday! Why?! Because there is a new challenge up at Make My Monday!!! And THAT blog certainly makes MY Monday! :) This month, the theme is autumn and this week the challenge is to use black and orange...and if you feel so inclined, to add a Halloween element to your projects. I am also using these cards for this year's Gratitude Challenge. (Visit Susan's blog, Simplicity, for more info.--and stop to take a peek at her AMAZING CAS style cards!) I've made 3 cards for your viewing pleasure this evening.

So, back to my title for a second (yes, I am having an ADD type of day...), I'm so very excited because Blogger informed me that this is my 200th post!!! So why, you ask, is MUM the word? That's easy to explain--all of my cards have mums as the main images on them! I feel that mums are definitely an autumnal flower. My mother ALWAYS has mums planted and out from September through November. And I think that they are so sweet! Anyway, back to the cards...

Here is the first~Black Mums~

Isn't that a nice layout? I love it! Of course, I had to add some bling! And a sentiment!

Close up of bling~

Close up of two toned sentiment~

Okay, so I cheated a bit...I made the same card with different colors...I just love this layout so very much! Oh, and instead of ribbon, I used some black and white bakers twine--it kinda looked spider webish! :)

Here it is~ORANGE Mums~

Close up of the bling~

Close up of the two toned sentiment~

This third and last card I would also like to enter into this weeks super duper CAS-ual Friday challenge: Just Add Color.

The challenge was to use any medium to color in your image. I used blender pens...this card has a bit of a Halloween twist to the mums...

I call it CANDY CORN Mums~

You can't really see all the glimmer I added with a clear gel glitter pen...

So here's a closer look!

Isn't that just a super fun card?! I was so ecstatic about the way that it turned out!!! What do YOU think?!

Thank you so much for stopping by! You are certainly a very bright spot in my days! :) I hope that you've been inspired to create something today! Happy stamping--and hope you join us soon! :)

Alice In Wonderland

This week over at Simon Says Stamp's blog, the challenge is to be inspired by nursery rhymes and fairy tales. I hope I'm not stretchin' it too much, but I chose "Alice in Wonderland". That's fairy tale-ish, right?!

When I think of Alice in Wonderland, I think of crowns and tea parties and keys...all components to other fairy tales. With it's magical characters and imaginary lands the whole story exudes fairy tale to me! :)

Since I also have recently purchased some steampunk stamps that I would like to continue to use, but haven't had a chance to, this challenge was perfect for me! Steampunk most definitely fits with Alice in Wonderland!!!

Here's the card (I'm calling it Wonderland)~

Isn't it fun?! I love the soft colors of it with the Victorian lace trim and all the little stamps that exude the energy of Alice's adventure!

A look at the sentiments~

I like the sentiments because it makes this card multi-purposeful (yeah, I made that word up) and I can use it for anything! :) I also used them for their meanings--time flies is a reference to the fact that Alice is not wanting to grow up, but needs to; fun and play are references to SOME of the times she has in Wonderland.

Close up of some details~

Other details~

I just love how my steampunk mini stamps are eclectic enough to match the whimsy of Wonderland! It makes me happy to get them out after being away for awhile...

Thanks for stopping by and taking a quick peek at my card! :) I am so grateful for you! I hope you're inspired to come and play along with us! Happy stamping!