Sites of the week

I went trekking around the internet to find a good rainbow quote to add to this post and came across this one from the ever-so-wise Dolly Parton:

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.”

I love how matter of fact she is about life! Truth is that rainbows come after the rain. Personally, I feel that I am on the brink of a rainbow. The “rain” hasn’t been a bad thing, but rather a cumulation of enriching {hard working} experiences that have brought me to this point. Creatively, I have never felt so free and {personally} powerful…it’s a wonderful thing! I know this all sounds a bit cryptic, but I think good things are coming and when they do I will certainly shout them from the highest of mountaintops!

The whole intro in regards to rainbows is all because of this card using Lil’ Inker products…

The hearts are cut from various pattern papers with the Of the Heart die set and are paired with a sentiment from the Rainbows & Clouds stamp set. I topped each of the colorful hearts with a coordinating rhinestone…

The pennant panel is cut from white paper with one of the Flags & Tags dies and then embossed for a bit of texture and visual interest. I love the look of textured white cardstock atop plain white cardstock. I think that I may just have to give this tone on tone look to some more cards, but with COLORS…orange on orange, pink on pink, aqua on aqua, kraft on kraft…but alas, I digress. Let’s just say that hamster wheel is spinning in my brain with lots of fun ideas!

Hope your day is all sunshine and rainbows!

Sing with me!…It’s a Beautiful Morning… don’t know the rest of the words…LOL!

I’m getting my craft on today with some Easter projects, but want to share my card that I made for this week’s TCP Tuesday challenge first…

Aren’t these colors fun together? Lori, this week’s Hipster Hostess with the Mostess, put them together for the challenge…

Here’s a detail shot of my party hat that was created with one of the triangles from the Pennants CutUps dies from The Cat’s Pajamas. Yep, even the scalloped edge is from the same die set. The scalloped edge was created by cutting one scalloped triangle and then placing the die on the inside of the triangle to cut a scalloped strip {clear as mud?}. The flower atop the is cut from the Flower Buttons CutUps die set and is topped with a Recollections rhinestone…

As for the rest of the card…the sentiment is from A Girl and Her Cake and I created the Chevrons with the Big Pinking Border CutUps die. I love that it’s like having two dies in one! To create the chevron, I ran the Big Pinking Border through on my paper once and then moved it over a little to form the chevron shape. <--don't ask how many times I had to do this before I got it right. It's so super simple, but I kept placing it wrong or flipping the die or something. It was almost comical...not at the time, though!

So, wanna play along with this fun color challenge? Check out all the details and upload info on Alma’s blog. You’ll have a chance to win the entire next release. I’ve seen it, and it’s pretty awesome! So, get out those colors and play along!

Happy Monday, Friends!

So far, this has been a wonderful day! Nic did not wake up at the crack of dawn and he woke up happy {YAY!}. We had a wonderful date at the library with some friends and got a chance to boogie down to some fun songs. I stamped {and blogged} during naptime…laundry, what laundry? And, the afternoon was just plain fun as I sipped on my iced coffee and watched the kids play.

Coffee, did someone say “Coffee” {and stamping!?!}…

Doesn’t get much better than coffee and stamping! The images and sentiments on this post are from the new Market Street Stamps set, Daily Grind, a HUGE caffeine filled set!

I stamped the large coffee beans on the kraft circle panel to create my own pattern paper. I used SU!s Sahara Sand on the kraft paper so that it would appear more watermarked, rather than having dark bold images taking away from the coffee mug and sentiment…

This second card also uses an image and sentiment from Daily Grind. The photo corners were created by cutting a scalloped circle in fourths, which is an idea that I got from one of MFT’s new dies. I have tons of scallop circles, which is great so that I can use the size that works with my project…

I paper pieced the logo/circle on the cups with the same {My Mind’s Eye} pattern paper adhered to the card base to bring the aqua color together. I double matted the black flatbacks near the sentiment to make them pop a little. The base mat is kraft atop the kraft panel, making it a little more subtle of a mat.

Detail shot…

Want more caffeine? Check out the Market Street blog for a full list of those peeking this fun new set, as well as all the info on the March 29th release…including how you could win this set!

Kraftin’ Kimmie is GOING GREEN! Well, for this challenge at least. This week’s challenge on on the KK Challenge Blog is to use something recycled on your card or project.

I received some happy mail this week and I used part of the box that was headed to the trash {recycle bin} for the die cut 5 petal flowers {MFT dies}…

The center die cut flower is topped with a rolled rose to match the {new} image, Rose…

As for the bling…Yep, you guessed it…more of the Recollections line of rhinestones from Michaels. As you can see, I matted them with the same paper that the rolled rose is created with to bring the look together. That, and just can’t seem to just put a rhinestone on without a mat lately.

Have an idea about how you want to incorporate “being green” into your card/project? All challenge details and upload information can be found on the Kraftin’ Kimmie challenge blog. Happy stamping and good luck!

I hope you all have a great weekend! I am teaching 2 Copic classes today at my local store, Scrapper’s Boutique.

**Looking for my Lil’ Inker post? Scroll down, please**

It’s beginning to look a lot like…not Christmas! Maybe Christmas in Hawaii where the sun shines and the birds sing all year round. It’s looking a little Christmas-y in the craft area, though. I’m having fun playing around with the Your Next Stamp set, Jolly Good Santa…

As for my fun tip for today, I want to focus in on the fluffy part of his Santa suit…

To get the fluff with a little sparkle underneath, all you need is {what I consider} must-haves in your craft arsenal: White Flower Soft and any clear Stickles {Diamond, Crystal, etc}. White is the only color of Flower Soft that I own and I use it quite a bit with for snow or fluffy outfits {like on Santa}. Obviously, it can be used for more, but that’s about my extent of bringing it out of the box. I don’t just adhere it with regular glue; I adhere it with my clear Stickles. It gives a little added bling without the sparkly taking over. Sweet and simple!

Hope you have a great weekend!