DCWV September Stack-a-Holic Sketch Challenge!

Hello! Well, I finally got my DCWV September challenge entry done today- the last day! I knew as soon as I saw the sketch what I wanted to do. I've been waiting for the perfect sketch to use this goofy single picture of my oldest son wearing a fake mustache at our county fair last year! I used the "Guy" paper stack from DCWV.
For the title, circle and the mustache cuts, I used the Billionaire Lite Cricut cartridge & Cricut Essentials on my E2.


Thanks for stopping! Stop back soon, there may be a giveaway coming up shortly! :)

Hugs- Kelly

Doodle Monster!

For the TTT Blog Hop CLICK HERE!


Hello! Well, I finally found the perfect match for my little monster's Halloween costume from 2008! Doodlebug's new Monster Mania collection- C*U*T*E!!!

Everything is from Doodlebug, including all the papers, stickers, rhinestones, button, twine (fab!) and that adorable 3 dimentional blue monster with the google eyes!

Thanks for stopping!

Hugs- Kelly

Triplicate Trials Tuesday Blog Hop!!!

Hello! Welcome to the Triplicate Trials Tuesday blog hop! You should have arrived here from Rochelle's blog.

When I first saw this challenge, I instantly thought of doing something "groovy"! :) I decided to use it as inspiration for a tag for my oldest son's back to school treat for when he comes home after the first day (today!). He's 14 and he always jokes that I raised him as a hippie! Perfect!

I first cut the circle images with my Cricut from the Groovy Times cartridge. I made a base from just white cardstock, stamped with the music notes & rounded the corners. The guitar die, banner die & stamps are all from Papertrey Ink.

I wanted to do a guitar in the three challenge colors, so I just used 3 teardrop ink pads to ink up the stamp, starting at the top with the lightest color & working down to red. I love the way it turned out & I know my guitar playing son will think it's pretty cool, too!

I used my project as a "topper" for a tube full of M&M's. Each of the kids will get their own when they get home today from school!

Thanks for stoppin & keep on hoppin!

Your next stop is: Janice!

Here is the Blog Hop list:

Tiffany Call owner of: http://www.bkfastattiffanys.blogspot.com/

Marie Otake owner of: http://www.ethansimprints.blogspot.com

Alberta Futch owner of: http://www.albertascloset.com/

Natasha owner of: http://www.craftingwithnatasha.blogspot.com

Caryn Kidwell owner of: http://www.thescorpiancrafter.blogspot.com/

Kate Blue owner of: http://www.kateblue.blogspot.com

Debby McGrath owner of: http://www.debblesdabbles.blogspot.com/

Lisa Foust owner of: http://www.islandhoppingfoustcrafts.blogspot.com

Rochelle Washington owner of: http://www.twotearsinmybucket.blogspot.com/

Kelly Braund owner of: http://www.kellystamps.blogspot.com YOU ARE HERE

Janice Coble owner of: http://www.twin2u2-scrapaddict.blogspot.com

PRIZES: Comment on all participating blogs AND create a project to win our GRAND PRIZE of TWO WILSON DESIGNS STAMP SETS of your choice! There will be ONE lucky grand prize winner. As an added bonus some of the Triple T Team will be offering blog candy on their blogs! Yaaay!

DCWV August Stack-a-holic Sketch

This is the August DCWV Stack-a-holic sketch challenge! Great sketch and so fun & easy when you have a big stack that all goes together! All of the papers I used are from the DCWV Linen Closet stack & matching cardstock stack. Love that! I just pulled out all the papers I thought I might use from each stack, than went to work! A few added elements from some light colored stamping, circle punches, branch punch, a few buttons, die cutting my title (from the same stack paper) and wala! I'm just gonna finish it up with some hand written journaling on the stamped journal lines and it's goin in the book!



Thanks for stopping!
Hugs- Kelly

PageMaps Basic Grey & Flourishes Challenge

Hello! I just saw this challenge on the PageMaps blog the other day using a sketch for a card. Well, when I saw Basic Grey on it, of course, I had to jump in!
I stretched out the sketch a bit to make room for my larger main image panel, but besides that it's pretty much by the sketch. I used all Basic Grey products from the Pyrus line.


I first took two labels (the one with the birds & the layer behind) and stamped the sentiment (also from the Pyrus line stamp set) into the birds "bubble", than layered that onto the brown shaped label.
Across the top is some beautiful doily tape (great stuff!). Basically, all the papers are just cut with my trimmer and put on in the pattern of the sketch. I also added those great stitched flower embellishments & 3 brads along the bottom left to balance it out.
Thanks for stopping!
Hugs- Kelly

*All products used Basic Grey (Pyrus)
patterned papers 12x12
Paper tapes
Labels
Pyrus stamps
brads
Flower embellishments

Make It Monday #29 & Lawnscaping #16

For this card I used the Papertrey Ink Make it Monday challenge for this week of freestyle copic coloring as well as the Lawnscaping one-layer challenge.

I used Heart Prints and several colors of pink/red across the heart.
Hugs- Kelly

Lawnscaping Challenge #2

Here's my 2nd card for the Lawnscaping one layer challenge:

I love using kraft cardstock in general, but I think with one layer cards it's especially great because it adds a kind of weight and depth.
Hugs- Kelly

Lawnscaping Challenge #16

Hello! I just found the Lawn Fawn Landscaping Challenge blog today and decided to play along! Here is the first of 3 cards I did for their single layer challenge.
Not a great picture :) but I had to hold it closed so you could get the effect of seeing the other ghosts through the vellum card.
I love their stamps, but don't have any yet :( I'm sure after seeing everyone's adorable projects for their challenges i'll be getting some very soon!
Hugs- Kelly

CAS-ual Fridays #16

This weeks CAS-ual Fridays challenge was embossing- any kind. I decided to use the cute candy Cuttlebug embossing folder (from the Mini Monsters companion set) on some Coredinations paper and sand it lightly for the background. Than I stamped Frankie there and colored with pencils and gamisol, cut and pop-dotted on above a cut banner with my sentiment.

I just love Halloween so when I got this new stamp set from Paper Smooches today I couldn't resist using it!

Thanks for stopping!

Hugs- Kelly

SSD #89

As soon as I saw this sketch from Skipping Stones Design this week I thought of a Polaroid picture. I decided to use these fun stamps from the Tropical Birthday stamp set to look kind of like a "wish you were here" vacation photo! The inside has the "may your coconuts never hang lower than your grass skirt" sentiment!
First I die cut the "polaroid" frame which is a quickutz die, to use as a frame for my scene.
I tore strips from Core'dinates cardstocks (2 tan, 2 aqua) to use as the sand & water. For the water, I ran them through my Cuttlebug with 2 different embossing folders.
I stamped & colored the tree & hula girl with gamisol, cut out and attached. The last touch was adding gems for her coconut bikini top!


Thanks for stopping!
Hugs- Kelly

Beachy Photo Albums

Hello! Wanted to share a project I made for 2 of my nieces as a little gift for their end of the summer pool party. I wanted to decorate some small photo albums so they could each put in photos of their favorite summer memories. I found the 2 4x6 albums at Michael's for $3.99 ea.
I used my Cricut E2 to cut the crab, sand castle, beach umbrella and shells. For the sand, I simply tore two shades of Core'dinates cardstocks and layered. Since they are little girls after all, I had to add some stickles to everything for a little bling!

Since the photo albums are fabric covered, I used craft glue to attach everything to the fronts.
I took a cue from this months Cricut Circle challenge to "create a scene".
Thanks for stopping!
Hugs- Kelly

August Sparks!

Hello! This month's Sparks challenge at Paper Smooches is an inspirational photo challenge of a beautiful handmade headband with different fabrics laying on a bark background. Beautiful! Lots of inspiration from this! This is my first project taking inspiration from it in using fabric on my card. I used a die cut border from felt, using floss to sew on red buttons in each of the circles before adhering to my acetate card.
I colored the images with pencils/gamisol, cut and adhered with pop dots.
The half circle with the sentiment is adhered on the inside.

I die cut another border out of red paper and adhered to the inside of card so I could use that to write my greeting/signature. When the card is folded tight, you can only see the felt border and the red is hidden behind it.
This is also going for the Fabulous Felt Challenge in the Moxie Fab World!
Thanks for stopping!
Kelly

Autism Speaks Walk

Hello! I just wanted to quick share some info here. For those who don't know, we have a 6 year old son, Lucas, with Autism. He is the light of my life :) He is the reason I choose to work with kids with special needs. He is beautiful, loving & hilarious. He is our youngest child.

Autism is a tricky thing. A lot of people don't understand it, most don't know how truly different it can be from child to child. There are many degrees of Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD from very mild to extremely severe.

Lucas and I will be participating in the Walk for Autism Speaks at the Mall of America at the end of September. We would appreciate donations of any amount, which you can make online right HERE or by clicking the Autism Speaks Walk pic to the right/top, both will take you directly to our donation page where your tax-deductible donation will go straight to Autism Speaks!

If you are unable to donate, please visit Autism Speaks anyway and just learn something new so you can better understand people with ASD. There is tons of information for anyone on their site as well as info on how their donations are used.

Thanks so much!
Hugs-Kelly

Christmas in July- I mean August :)

Hello! I just received a new die w/face stamps from Peachy Keen- the adorable Cottage Cutz penguins die with 2 Peachy Keen faces, sooo cute!
I wanted to make an entry for both the Peachy Keen Tuesday sketch as well as the CottageBLOG Christmas theme challenge, so I combined them both along with The Paper Variety challenge to use more than 4 circles. Whew! :)

The Peachy Keen challenge was the sketch I used as well as the color combo, now looking at it I mabey should have turned the penguins a bit because you can't see the green circles that are behind both their heads, but oh well! :) I stamped the plaid background paper on top using the 3 challenge colors as well and used a Cuttlebug folder to emboss the bottom blue paper. I just hand cut the small white border at the bottom for snow.
The small blue circles are stamped in white with a small snowflake from PTI- the sentiment is from the same set.
The CottageBLOG challenge was a Christmas card, so I couldn't wait to use my new penguins to fit right in with the theme! I used the same challenge colors for their feet/bowtie/buttons/mittens to go with the paper I made.
The Paper Variety challenge to use more than 4 circles just fit right in here because the PK sketch already had a row of circles!

Thanks for stoppin!
Hugs- Kelly

MojoMonday #202 Scrapbook Page!

Hello! I was inspired after seeing a scrapbook school page by Heather Nichoels this week and after looking at the MojoMonday sketch- it was a sign! :) I had to use it to get one of my kids class picture pages done. I used my daughter's from 2nd grade.I used my Cricut for the penant cuts and all the stamps are from PTI.
Thanks for lookin'!

Hugs- Kelly

Paper Smooches July Sparks Challenge! Take 2!

Please CLICK HERE for my Skateboard challenge card, thanks!

Ok, so I didn't get to do ALL the sketches (Paper Smooches) like I would have liked. Had to help my daughter make her teacher a card for the last day of summer school tomarrow, which kept me busy for some time (but sooo worth it!), than while finishing my 3rd challenge card, my husband had the nerve to want to do what??? Go to bed! :) The nerve! :)

My studio is at one side of our loft-like bedroom, so I can't have my lights on while he goes to sleep. Bummer.

Well, I did finish one more card that I'm just in love with using another of the sketches.

That gnome is one of my favorite images from Kim! Sooo stinkin cute! I just had to give him some plaid pants and matching hat! And of course his little birdie friend needed one, too. My oldest son has his hair long in the front, so he's constantly moving it out of his eyes, so I thought it would be funny if the birdie had a low-rise hat, too! :)

Well, thanks for stopping! I had so much fun playing along with Paper Smooches July challenge and now that I know where it is, I can guarantee from now on I'll get started on them a lot sooner!

Hugs- Kelly

Paper Smooches July Sparks Challenge!

Hello! I just happened to stumble upon the Paper Smooches blog the other day and I can't believe I hadn't found it already! I've been a HUGE fan of Kim's stamps for a long time and have most of them from CHF and love them! I'm so excited that now I've got all new goodies from her to oogle and buy one by one! :)

Anyhow- they have a great Sparks Challenge going on that ends tonight! There are 10 different sketches along with a bunch of color combos-you can use either or both and do as many as you want. I'm trying to do as many as I can before time's up! Six hours and counting :)

Here are my first two based on some of the sketches. Since I don't have any of Kim's new stamps (YET!), all stamps used are from Kim's collection at CHF.

I made this card for my daughter for her first riding class in 2 weeks! LOVE it! The horse, sentiment, hat and boot are all from the same stamp set.

My oldest son is a big skateboarder, so this will definately be a note in his backpack when school starts! :) I made the background by repeatedly stamping the skateboard in red and blue, than stamped the "hey dude" sentiment- also from that set.

Hopefully i'll be able to add on more for this challenge tonight!
Hugs- Kelly

CPS #228, The Paper Variety & a new goodie!

Hello! Today I have a card for this weeks CPS sketch challenge #228 and the weekly challenge from The PaperVariety in which I also got to use a brand new goodie! A new punch from EK-a dimentional flower punch! There are several different designs to choose from, the one I used is Dahlia. It's basically a large border punch. The challenge for The Paper Variety was a tic-tac-toe challenge. I picked the row with "faux or real stitching, make a card & use pink".


I cut 2 12" borders from coordinating papers, than you glue one on top of the other, offsetting the "petals" so they aren't lined up, than just keep glueing and rolling until it's all rolled up.

You than just start from the outside in, folding down the petals. So fun! Mabey 5 minutes tops. If you fold down all the petals including the very inside, than you'll have a small hole in the middle in which to put a jewel, button or other embellishment. I used a small pink Prima flower. I just hand cut the leaves.

Papers/Sticker are from Echo Park. Ribbon from Amuse.

Thanks for stopping!

Hugs- Kelly

Happy Father's Day!!!

This adorably funny stamp set is from Skipping Stones Design and I used their sketch challenge #80 as well for the layout of this card. On the inside it says "Happy Father's Day".

Hope all the Dad's have a great day!

Hugs- Kelly

Cricut Circle May Monthly Challenge!

This month's monthly challenge is "tic-tac-toe". There's a tic tac toe board with different elements in each square and you need to pick three in a row and incorporate them into a project. I chose these three: Any patterned paper must be from Imagine, Use a bird shape, use buttons somewhere.

Here's what I came up with:

I used the Imagine Buccaneer cartridge for everything on this card except the black cardstock card base. It's a standard 4.25x5.5 card.

I used all the layers of the parrot to really make him pop out. I also pop dotted the "X marks the spot" just once and sew a button in the middle of the X. The treasure chest is cut in one layer.

For the backgrounds, I used the anchors pattern along with the top note shape on the machine. For the "sand" half circle, I used the parchment patterned paper to cut a circle (also on the machine) than just cut with my paper trimmer. Both patterns from the Buccaneers cartridge.

This cartridge is just so much fun to play with, I'm going to keep finding reasons to do "pirate" projects! :)

On the inside of this card, I used the sentiment stamp "Aye Treasure You" from Pink By Design.
Thanks for cruisin by!

Hugs- Kelly

Cricut Circle Weekly Challenge!

Hello! This is my entry for this week's Cricut Circle blog challenge to use a sketch for a page/card. Here's what I came up with for my son's patriotic kindergarten show that was today :)All the papers are patterned papers from We R Memory Keepers. I'm going to add google eyes to the little flag-waver and (of course ) add the pictures of my son, but my printer isn't printing them well, so I'll have to do that tomarrow. I'll make sure to post again with the pictures added :) I think this turned out really cute, it's a great sketch! Thanks for lookin'!

Hugs- Kelly

PTI May Blog Hop!

This month the PTI blog hop is all about flowers! I thought this was perfect to show this sweet simple card I made for my brother & sisster-in-laws anniversary! I used the new PTI 2010 Anniversay set, of course, which I just received last week (it's amazing!).



Super simple, quick card! I stamped the flower stems in VersaMark ink onto some dark chocolate CS, than the flowers and sentiment in white. So simple, but very striking with the white on chocolate.
Thanks for stoppin'!

Hugs- Kelly

Challenge Me Monday #60

This weeks Challenge Me Monday at Fantabulous Cricut was to make a card/project using both a rectangle and triangle. Well, I had lots of great card layouts in my head to do for this, and this is my final card:

I recently got the Buccaneer Cricut Imagine Cartridge and couldn't wait to play with it! The papers and images are so great! The pirates also have lots of great layering (as you can see) so it makes them look even better!
I printed/cut the pirate with layers and popped up each layer. Same with the treasure chest. Than I printed/cut the rectangle and square (which I cut in half for the two triangles).
Before adhering the pirate, I used a scissor to snip around his hand/wrist so i could layer the treasure chest underneath.
The quote bubble is also printed with the old scroll pattern from the Buccaneer cartridge, the shape is on the Imagine machine itself, than I stamped that great birthday saying from the My Pink Stamper pirate stamp set. It's a really great stamp set! Great quality, great sizes and great price! I'm really happy with the quality of her stamps as well as the great sentiments to use with Cricut cuts!

This was one of 5 kids birthday cards I did with the Imagine on Friday/Saturday for my 4 nieces & 1 nephew's family bday party on Saturday afternoon. I snapped pics of them all quick with my phone before stuffing on sealing, so i'll share the rest later! :)

Hugs- Kelly

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #3

Last one! I finally completed my last project for all of the My Pink Stamper NSD challenges! This is challenge #3- Breast Cancer Theme. Here's the link: My Pink Stamper


I decided to do a layout for the Race for the Cure. I don't have my pics yet, but I put mats for two photos on this page.

Sorry again if the colors look off, it's very dark now :) I used this fabulous Teressa Collins line that's all pinks, blacks & greys!

Have a great night!

Hugs- Kelly

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #2

Challenge #2- Kraft cardstock. I LOVE using kraft paper both for cards and scrapbooking. I decided to use it with some "kraft" patterned paper from Basic Grey basics as well to make a simple "guy" page for my husband's hunting photo.


Here's the challenge link: My Pink Stamper.

I used the Cricut Wildlife Lite cartridge & Camp Out mainly. I can't remember which font the year was, I believe it may be the Gypsy font.

Hugs- Kelly

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #7

Challenge #7- Scrapbook page. Here's the link: My Pink Stamper and here's my page:

I did the cuts for the tree freehand with a scissor. The "apples" is the Quickutz Yogurt alphabet dies.

Hugs- Kelly

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #12

Ok, I'm gonna quick post the last 3 challenge projects I have done, I think I have one more to do if I can before times up! Challenge #12- Kid's Theme, found here: My Pink Stamper. Here's my page:

Sorry it's so dark, bad weather here so the lighting's not great :)

The title says "My favorite Monsters". Looks like a lot of work, but those cuts go together so easy it's pretty quick!

Hugs- Kelly

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #4

Challenge #4- Mother's Day! Find challenge here:My Pink Stamper.
Since it was already Mother's Day when I started these challenges, I decided to try to make a simple card with a big bang. Here's what I came up with:

I used the Florals Embellished cartridge. All the main images on this cartridge are quite intricate, but it also has lots of great "mother" phrases, including this Happy Mother's Day. To kick it up a notch, I used some matching distressed stickles and stickled the word Mother nearly to death! :)

Hugs- Kelly

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #11

Challenge #11- Pink, green & black! Well, I definately used pink & green with a tiny black thrown in! Find this challenge here: My Pink Stamper, here's my card:

This card came together in about 5 minutes! I was thinking of what to do for ths challenge and out of the corner of my eye, I saw this October Afternoon "Fly a Kite" paper pack. It included paper, a sheet of tags (including the one I used here with white polka dots) and 3 different sticker sheets. The "today" label is a sticker as well as the strawberry plant/flower in the upper right.

The only thing I added not out of the pack was to stamp "be Happy" (by PTI) and add on some ribbons!

I think for a 5 min card it's quite cute! :)

Hugs- Kelly

My Pink Stamper NSD Challenge #9

Challenge #9- Glitz, Glam & Glitter! Here's the link to this challenge: My Pink Stamper and here's my card:

I used the Damask Decor cartridge for this along with black glitter paper and black diamond stickles for the dots around the edges. The stamp is from Papertrey Ink.

Hugs- Kelly