Hop Art Designs Hoedown and Your Chance to Win!

Wowzer! Lookie at who is part of Hambo Stamps! Asela Hopkins! We are so excited to announce Hop Art Designs available in the Hambo Digi Shop that you will surely love! Not only is it exciting that she is designing some fun digi stamps, but it is also for a great cause. A part of the proceeds of Asela's digi line will go to benefit Operation Write Home! If you are not familiar with what awesome work this organization does for our troops, please be sure to check it out and if possible, contribute your fabulous creation(s) to them so that a soldier can write home on a beautiful card! With this celebration of Hop Art Designs, you have a chance to win a free digi! Keep reading for the details...

My card is made using Trena with Heart. To color this image, I chose to use my colored pencils and Gamsol to create a softer look. I used do from Paper Studio and cut my panel with my Nesties which I sponged around with my Distress Inks. I cut out Trena and popped her up on the panel. I then made a banner cut for the middle panel where I placed the sentiment along with some metal dots. I then finished the card with some crocheted trim.
How would you like to win a free digi? Here is what image you can win:

All you have to do is comment and tell me where you would most like to vacation this summer and why! You have until Tuesday April 3 at midnight CST. Winners will be announced on the Hoedown Blog on Thursday April 5! That's it! Good luck!
Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out the new line of digis at Hambo Stamps! Don't forget to check out what the other Bacon Bits created using Hop Art Designs at the Hoedown! Have a great Wednesday!

Sun And Water Anyone?

I just wanted to share two shots from yesterday of my kids. The boys are having such a good time enjoying the sun, sand, surf, and the pool! The end of week will be more excitement for them! Hope you all are having a great Monday so far!

My Award Nomination and SPRING BREAK!

First off, I want to say... SPRING BREAK! Woot! DH and I are grabbing the kids early from school and heading out! We are looking forward to spending some time in the sun, sand, and water. Among other things for the boys we have planned. With that said, my postings will be a little scarce, but I will post pictures as we travel and I do have some creations to share! Everyone should at least get to enjoy some of the views I will have! :)

I also wanted to share and thank Angel for nominating me for the Liebster Award. What is it? Allow me to share...






Liebster is German for Dearest, but can also mean Beloved or Favourite.

Apparently to receive this award there are a few 'rules'... so here goes!

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog ... check!
2. Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you ... check!
3. Copy and paste the blog award on your blog ... check!
4. Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed ... check
5. Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog ... will of course do this!

My nominations for this are:

-Paula Hey Hey Paula

-Beverly Beestamper

-Lee Mae Boxes of Dogs

-Crafty Girl CraftyGirl Cards and Crafts

-Carolyn Luv my Cards


Now, head over to these fine ladies' blogs and leave them some love! Thanks for checking it out and have a great weekend!

You Quack Me Up! And a little detour in my day...

Hi all!

A quick card I made using Verve Stamps of Lucky Ducky. I just love making these kinds of cards. Limited layers and CAS.




For this card, I stamped my image and colored him in with Copics. I then cut him out and took a half oval punch out cut in half with my decorative scissors to mimic an egg and placed him behind it. I did cut two slits so that he can rest over the egg as pictured. I popped him up, stamped the sentiment and added a scallop border and stitching all around. I finished it off with a small flower sticker that I had from Papyrus. Cute and easy!

I'm am trying to pack and gear up for our Spring Break trip, but as I sit here typing, I am monitoring my child who gets weekly allergy shots and today he decided to have a reaction on the way back to school! Poor guy! He had a reaction in January that required medication and an Epi pen, but this time he is responding well to just medication and no Epi pen had to be administered. He is such a trooper. Allergies are nothing to laugh at. When they are as bad as my son has it and needs these shots, any reaction requires a DR and sometimes ER visit like us who had already left the clinic. We are just happy it was a bit milder than the last time. As my son says, "oh! I feel SO much better!" LOL! I would too... Now he gets to go back to school! :)

Thanks so stopping by and taking a looksie! Have a great day!

A Bunny Parade at the Hoedown!

Happy Hambo Humpday Hoedown! How about a little parade to get your day started? This week at the Hoedown we are featuring a darling image called Bunny Parade spotlighted on an easel card using some Spring colors of at least three: lavender, pink, blue, yellow, or green.





I used an oldie Basic Grey's dp of Lilly Kate. I found this to be a perfect collection to spotlight these colors. I used mostly lavender, green, yellow, and blue. There is a hint of pink in my coloring. :) I zig zag stitched around and used part of the digi image as my main image which I colored in with Copics.



Open the easel and you will find the full image also colored in with Copics. To soften the white cs, I used my distress inks to sponge around it. My MS border punch was used for the border and coordinating dp for the layer. Here is a side view:




Easel cards are easy to make and are a fun alternative to the "normal" card we make. For an easy tutorial, click Here.

We hope you play along at the Hoedown for your chance to receive free digis! Also be sure to stop by and see what the other Bacon Bits created and leave them a little love! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Felt Easter Holder- (and a little shameless plug!)

Hi! Busy morning already, but worth it as my boys received their Honor Roll certificate today! They have worked so hard this year that dh and I couldn't be more proud especially with what we have struggled with the last 2 years! I will show you a shameless plug photo of that at the end... : )

Anyway, I made a fairly simple felt Easter holder using felt (obviously! LOL!), some dies, and a sewing machine.

I used felt from MFT and The Cats Pajamas and used a template that I drew on paper for the shape of the egg.  I then used some of the orange felt and the chain link die from MFT to make the handles.  I sewed the ribbon on both "egg" pieces and glues some mini flowers to the top.  I then adhered the handles with brads because I thought it would add a nice feature.  I found that it is better to sew it or sew around the brad for some extra sturdiess.  I then made the tag:

I used The Cats Pajamas new set and colored it in with Copics.  I decided to add a little grass to the bottom by using the MFT grass die-namic and MFT felt.  I finished it off by adding some mini paper flowers.  I cut the image out and popped it up on top of some ovals cut with my nesties.  I hung it with some twine from The Twinery and filled the holder with some Easter grass, chocolate ducks, chocolate eggs, and finally, some butterfliess cut outs.  The butterflies are from TCP as well that I used some wire and stickles for sparkle for a little springy touch!

OK! So here is my proud parents photo of our boys....

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking it all out!! Have a great Tuesday!!

Just Flying By...

Monday, Monday... (nah nah... nah nah nah nah....) This of course to the tunes from the Mammas and The Papas.... :)

I hope you all had a great weekend!! It was rather quiet here letting the kids enjoy the beautiful weather we had and putting together a basketball hoop for the boys.  All in all.. great weekend!!

Today I just wanted to show you a card I made with my new Lawn Fawn set that I just had to have when I saw it at CHA.  It just reminds me of my boys who LOVE making different paper airplanes and I know I will have good use for this set when leaving them notes.  However, for this card, I had this in my mind to make...

I used my sewing machine to create the wind trail even though the set has a stamp for it.  I stamped the paper airplane and cut it out to be popped up.  The clouds are from The Cats Pajamas Cloud Border die that I am loving!! This card is so simple and so me! I just {heart}  clean and simple cards!

Thanks so much for stopping by!! Have a great day!

St. Pattys Day Teacher gift and SFYTT March

TGIF!!

Today I want to show you a quick St. Patty's Day gift I made for the boys teachers and my card I made for Marchs' A Sketch for you to Try.  First up, the gifty...

For this, I basically took a black votive holder and some glitter pencils  to create the rainbow and pot.  For the gold, I used Rolo candies and it really wouldn't be complete without some grass.  I used SU! Big Die for the topper folded in half and used The Cats Pajamas cloud border for the clouds and the sentiment from A beary good year.  Super quick and easy... and what teacher doesn't always need a few extra pencils? :)

I played along this months A Sketch for you to Try... super cute sketch and I couldn't resist pulling out my MFT Pure Innocence set for St. Patricks day.

I used Basic Greys Origins papers for this card. I stamped the image and colord it in using Copics.  I then made a little flower out of the button using some Lawn Fawn natural twine just by twisting and using glue dots.  I added a little trim I had left over from another project and popped up everything.  For the circle, I decided to make a rosette by using some dp cut at 3/4" x 6".  I finished that off by stamping only a word from the sentiment in the set and placing that on top of the rosette.  Here is the finished inside...

That is about it for me today!! I am off for some more crafting deadlines to meet as I need to get it all done before the end of next week when Spring Break begins and we are off for some sun, sand, and water!! Woot!  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

Pin-terested?

Hee hee... I don't know why that title makes me laugh but it did! This has nothing to do with Pinterest, unless you want to pin my project, but I am going to show you a pin cushion I made with a left over spice jar from Ikea I had when I was putting my craft room together.

I bought some quarter fabric and flat filling to create this topper.  I measured out the width of my top and used a coordinating Nestie die size to cut out about 10 circles for the cushion.  From there, I cut out my fabric to cover over the filling and hand sewed all around to secure it.  I then cut out a piece of scrap chipboard and liquid stitched it to the back of my cushion.  For the sideds, I cut out the right size in order for it to wrap around times two because I was folding that in half.  I then cut my fabric in order to wrap around that and used my sewing machine to stitch down the middle where my sides met and along the edges.  Fold it in half and stitch a few areas to keep it together.  I used some of MFT felt and decorative scissors to cut a scalloped edge to be hand stitched along the fold. I then used both E6000 and Liquid Stitch for the following: I used E6000 to secure the cushion to the top and liquid stitch to the  sides.  I let that set for a while and then hand stitched everything together to secure.  I finished it off with more MFT felt and die-namics for the flower to cover my seams.  This is perfect to hold your pins or corsage pins in!


I also got some new goodies in the mail the other day and thought I would play around with them.   One of the items I got was a book of vintage ATC size images of vintage Spring by Leisure Arts.  One of the images was this really cute St. Patricks Day image.

I made the card with my Fleur de Leis Spellbinders nestie and layered it with some creme cardstock.  I really didn't want to take away from the image so I only added some satin ribbon and self adhesive pearls to.  I used my corner rounder for the corners. Easy peasy!!

That's about it for me today!! I hope you have a great day and thank you for taking a peek!

Bailey Hug- Hambo Hoedown

Who needs a hug? Bailey is here and ready with paws open!





It's time to Hoedown with Hambo Stamps!




This week we are featuring Bailey Hug and showing him off with stripes! For my card, I made it to be a 4x4 so it can be used to tuck into a lunchbox or backpack of my kids for a little pick me up. I colored Bailey in with my Copics and used my colorless blender to give his fur a little texture. The paper is from my scrap stash but is believe it is from DCWV. I popped him up and finished off the card with some coordinating brads and ribbon.

Thanks so much for taking a peek and don't forget to check out the Hoedown blog to see what other great creations the Bacon Bits have done!

Recycled Mojo

Hey everyone!

Just a quick card using Mojo Monday's sketch and a new Verve stamp I got.  I just love this saying because I find myself saying it often! : )

The dp on this card is recycled from some media I got at CHA.  Heidi Swapp had some beautiful inserts in her media packet that I couldn't just throw it away.  I cut it up and used some of it on this card! I used SU! VV as my base with some scrap black for the matting.  I stamped the image with Momento black and sponged the edges with Tim Holtz's Distress ink in Antique Linen.  I finished off the card with some sheer ribbon and rhinestones.  Super easy and this sketch made it so!! :)

Thanks so much for peeking!! Have a great day!

Sweet Friend -SRM Stickers

It's Monday... Which seems so far from Friday, doesn't it? :)

Well, let's start the week off sweetly! This is a fun tube from SRM Stickers which make for some cute projects or favors at parties.




I used both We've Got Your Border - Birthday and Sweet Friend. I filled the tube with strawberry Mentos and broke up the sentiment of You are the sweetest into separate words to place on the tube. I used the border stickers on the bottom, around the cap,and again, broke up the dots to individually place them between the words in the sentiment.




I used my Nesties for the scallop circle which I placed the strawberry sticker over and then took 'Hello friend' from the same set and placed that over the strawberry. I used some bakers twine and natural hemp string from Lawn Fawn to string the around the cap. A fun a simple project that is perfect to hand to my sweet friend! :)

Hambo Stamps has some new rubbah! Click the link to see the new styles of rubber that were taken from the digi images offered. The digi's are still available, but Hambo wanted to offer these images in rubber for you rubbah lovahs! And while you are there, check out the SALE page for some great deals up to 33%!

Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a looksie! Have a great day!

Pot o' Shamrocks

Hi everyone!

What a day! Major thunderstorms rolling through here all day and it also happens to be the day I am flying out! I am on my way to attend the intermediate Copic certification class which I am super excited to attend. The fabulous Debbie Olsen is teaching this one, so it should be wonderful! I am bummed my partner in crime may not make it, but she needs to take care of more important things!

Today, I made a quick card using an oldie Gina K stamp that I really forgot I had! I paired that with a $1 Studio G stamp I had of an Irish blessing. (which is stamped on the inside) Sorry for the terrible picture, but I had no sun to play with.

I used some DCWV mat stacks for the panels and some scrap lace ribbon I had.  I cut out the main image with my Spellbinders labels die and popped it up.  The image was colored in with Copics.  

Super quick and green for today! I'm off to finish packing and head out to the airport.  I hope you have a fabulous and dry day!!

Sole mates - Hambo Hoedown

Happy Wednesday everyone! It's that time again to hoedown with Hambo Stamps!








This weeks digi is Solemates and the challenge is Tic Tac Toe! You pick any three and use those items and/or colors. I couldn't get the diagram loaded on here but you can see it at the Hoedown blog! blog! I chose diagonally across of orange, blue, and buttons. I colored in the image with my Copics and used Authentique dp. I finished off the card with a ribbon and doubled my buttons using some thin twine to thread it together!





Don't forget that through tomorrow you can get FREE SHIPPING with a $10 minimum at Hambo Stampsin honor of their 10 Year anniversary! Check it out and have a good laugh!

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek! Be sure to see what the other Bacon Bits created at the Hoedown!

A Hambo Stamps Special of FREE SHIPPING!

Hi all!

I want to spread the news that Hambo Stamps is having a first time ever special today! With just a $10 minimum, you can have FREE SHIPPING! Never have they done free shipping so head on over there for this great opportunity!

In honor of this special, I have made a card using Watering Cans by Hambo Stamps and the sentiment of Happy Spring!


I used Webster's Pages for the dp and colored in the image with my Copics. I used MFT's Die-namics mini roses for the roses and finished it off with a self adhesive pearl. I added some sheer ribbon, stamped the sentiment directly on the dp, and added a few more pearls on the side. I didn't want to waste the pretty dp that I used what was left on the inside of the card....


Thanks so much for stopping by and don't forget to head over to Hambo Stamps for this great shipping special!


Have a great day!,

Leather + Dies = Bracelet

Happy Monday everyone!

Today I wold like to share a bracelet I made using leather.  My thought for this bracelet orginally was to use my dies to create the shapes for the bracelet.  So, I bought the leather pieces and realized that even though the dies work, I wanted color!! You can find the basics - black, brown, and natural.  But I wanted something "springy."  I ended up finding some leather flower cut outs in nice spring colors that I used.

I used two leather bracelets to create the width I wanted.  By doing so, I had to do a little changing to the clasps in order to make one.  I used some larger square snaps to secure the two bracelets together in three spots. (The ends and center)

I  used my mini hole puncher to create to holes for the snaps to fit through the leather.  The snaps are from EK Success that have been in my stash for eternity.  I placed the snaps through the flower and the hole in the bracelet to make for a fairly snug fit.  I then used my Crop-a-dile to close the snaps.

Do that throughout the whole bracelet until you achieve the look you want.  Being able to cut leather with your dies makes for endless possibilities in creating some one of kind pieces that are fun and unique.  I have the Vagabond machine which cuts pretty much into anything! It really ROCKS!  If you are using something other than that, you may have to run it through a few times or use a shim to get it to cut through.

I know I will be playing around more with something like this, as it is a great way to use some embellishments you have!! LOL!! Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek!! Have a great day!

Home is where your story begins

Happy Thursday everyone!

I hope your week has been good so far! I think it has gone by fast but I'm happy about that!  I am looking forward to a little sleeping in on Saturday! : )

Today I have a card to share made for a friend who moved and bought a home.  I used a new Market Street Stamp, which by the way, if you haven't already checked them out, do so!! Super cute stamps!

I used Nikki Silvils dp, Momento Cocoa ink, and finished it off with some ribbon and Kaiser pearls.  I colored in the hearts using my neglected Smooches paint.  Just needed a quick card to send out!  I have another new set from them that I can't wait to ink up, so stay tuned! Another thing to stay tuned for is that I have been playing with some leather in making a jewelry creation. So far, it has turned out beautifully and I can't wait to share!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous day!!