Graduation Time with Kitty Bee Designs

Yesterday my niece in Guam texted it was her last day of her senior year!  Where did the time go?!  How did I get old enough to have a niece graduating from high school?!?  We are so proud of the woman she has become...smart, loving and with a kind spirit.  This is how I still see her...

These are my adorable nieces and nephews almost 10 years ago at my wedding!  Amber on the far left is the first of these kiddos to graduate.  This is how she has grown...

I can't really say that she's grown, as in height... I don't think she even makes 5 feet (LOL) but it's so hard to believe she's moving on to another chapter in her life.

So with this in mind I made a graduation card using the little mouse from Kitty Bee Designs.  I chose the mouse because of how little my niece is and of course its cuteness...just like her!

I used Doodlebug Design Cap and Gown pattern paper and the Doodlebug Design sequins. Then white heat embossed the Stamps of Life sentiment from the tv2stamp set.  The star die cut is Lawn Fawn's Star Stackables die.

I was inspired by the latest Retro Sketches

I appreciate you stopping by to check out my creation!  Stay tuned for more!!

Picking Up the Pieces Vol. 22: Dress It Up!

Hello again!  Today we're having a bake sale at my office to raise funds for our annual Arthritis Foundation Walk.  I do love a good bake sale and asked my hubby to make some banana muffins with his secret (I say secret cause he doesn't have a recipe) streusel topping...YUM!  Take a look...

If you could only smell this!
So as good as they look now I needed to "dress it up" for the bake sale.  We have a price tag requirement and because I didn't want to bag up each muffin (read as: forgot to find some bags) I decided to make these sweet little toppers!

Fun right?!  The set is from Lawn Fawn's #awesome with matching dies.  The mini stars are from the Stitched Journaling Die set.  I'm gonna enter this in the Lawnscaping Challenge cause I thought they were "mini" enough

My husband made 3 dozen of these banana muffins.  I was going strong with the stamping, coloring and die cutting until I realized the container I was putting them in (you know those stacking muffin trays) wasn't tall enough.  So I only made enough for the top tray and made some of these...

Using the Lawn Fawn Puffy Star Stackables and DCWV glitter paper.  I think they'll sell pretty quickly...what do ya think?
(disclaimer: the price tag was pre-made by a co-worker that thinks highly of my husband's baked goods...her words "it's for a good cause")
Okey dokey...that's it for me...mahalo for stopping by!!!

Storybook Birthday

Hi there!  I made some time to make another card using the latest Avery Elle release!  This time I used the Storybook set with matching dies (I'm a sucker for stamps and matching dies!) and can I just say there are soooo many sweet possibilities.

Here's what I came up with...

using the latest AEIHeartUChallenge as inspiration

So a few techniques on this card...I first die cut the circle and white heat embossed the grass and duck.  I colored in the little beak and feet with a copic and then used a Versamark pen to color it in to add clear embossing powder and then heat set.  I did this in order to keep my duck white and be able to color my background with distress inks.  I wanted my balloons to stick out and white heat embossed, die cut and added glossy accents to them.  They were foam taped on.  I wanted them to appear more raised which is why I ended up making the duck more a part of the background scene and allowing the balloons to shine...literally...hehe

The sentiment was cut using the die from the Custom Panels die set and stamping the sentiment from Handwritten Notes (it has a cool font).  Added some twine and there ya have it!

I'm gonna slip this one into the next Simon Says Wednesday Challenge as well.

Mahalo for stopping by!

Mini Tags using Lawn Fawn Goodies

I was scrambling around the craft room last night trying to make some tags for my son's preschool Easter party today.  I think the teacher's know us parents really well and decided to hold the party after Easter to give us a little extra time to make goody bags.

My mom knitted these cute little chickadees that hold a plastic egg in it's belly.  I thought it was the cutest thing and of course she made me one in my favorite TEAL color...with sparkles!

She offered to make 43 of 'em for both her grandkids to pass out at school.  Of course I waited til the last minute to make some tags, but thought they were totally worth the fussy cutting!

See the little plastic egg all nestled in the chickadee?!  Cute right!  I wanted them all protected so the hubby helped with packaging them by adding grass and a few chocolates.

I thought I'd enter this in the next Lawnscaping Challenge...

...since I made a bunch of mini tags using My Silly Valentine for the paper pieced bunny and the Tag, You're It dies.  The bunny's tail was colored in with a snow marker and heat set to create a fluffy texture and the heart colored in with a distress marker.  Just added some foam tape and a reinforcer out of the same pattern paper from Hello Sunshine paper pad.  The Birthday Tags set has a fabulous "to" and "from" and I added that to the back.  Then tied on some Lawn Trimmings in coral and voila...sweet little tags!

Mahalo for stopping by and I'll be back again soon!

Picking Up the Pieces Monday Vol. 21: A Shaker Card

It's Monday and back to the daily grind.  Hope you all had a festive Easter weekend!  I love family time and my kiddos were wiped out after all the eating and Easter egg hunting.

Today I decided to finally make a shaker card.  I have a bunch of sequins that I've been hoarding, and I'm in love with my Doodlebug Designs sequins.  They come in these cute little containers and come in varying shades in each color!

Pretty right?!

So here's what I made inspired by the latest Fusion Card Challenge

Lawn Fawn Daphne's Closet and Pink Lemonade pattern paper, Lawn Fawn Blue Skies and dies, 

Lawn Trimmings Coral, Doodlebug Designs Sequins, Hero Arts India Ink Black, Sizzix Oval stacking dies

using the sketch from the challenge

I kinda let the pattern paper do all the talking since I spent waaaay too much time assembling the shaker part...lol.  That's it for me!  Mahalo for stopping by!!

Picking Up the Pieces Vol. 20: Watercoloring with Avery Elle

Happy Monday!  This is the first time...in a long time...I'm super happy the weekend is over!  Work has been crazy and being the oncall nurse has been even crazier.  I do love my job, but after several long days of not having a lunch, I'm beat!

Now on to my happy card...

Avery Elle Write It, Avery Elle Custom Panels Die, Tim Holtz Splatters Stencil, Clear Embossing powder, 

Distress Markers, Distress Ink Weathered Wood,Hero Arts India Ink Black

I was in love with the latest Avery Elle release...have you seen it!?  I placed my orders on release day (to make sure they didn't run out) and received it in the mail in 2 days!  Talk about speedy service!!  

The scripty font and the fabulous Custom Panels Dies were a MUST HAVE...of course among a few other sets that I hope to play with soon!

So I just traced over the words with distress markers and went over them with a water pen to bleed the colors. Then used the Tim Holtz Splatters stencil to create the background and die cut that funky panel.  I loved the look of the fountain pen so I just stamped a bunch of them and clear embossed to give it a slicker look.

I was inspired by the next Retro Sketches

I'll also be entering again in Virginia's View Challenge: Stencils.  If you haven't checked out her challenge...you must!  She has fabulous tips and inspiration every month and it truly motivates you to give it a try.

Mahalo for stopping by!

Caught a Cold

I've been overwhelmed by so many of your kind comments and still absorbing the news of being chosen for the Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking: Stamping Royalty Honorable Mention!  Again many thanks to all of you!!  I hope you'll look out for my card in the July issue and would love your vote!

So now on to my card to play along with Paper Crafts Connection Gallery Challenge.  

Lawn Fawn Summertime Charm, Lawn Fawn On the Mend, Lawn Fawn Yeti Set Go

Lawn Fawn Ornate Christmas, Lawn Fawn Let It Snow, Lawn Ornaments 

I was going to finally attempt a shaker card (inspired by the latest True Stamp '14 class) but then got nervous about using supplies that may have been wasted if I didn't get it right (i.e. my precious sequins from Lawn Fawn...lol)

For my new techinque for the next Lawnscaping Challenge:

I decided to make a little pocket to hold some Emergen-C instead(love that stuff when I feel a cold coming on).  This is my first time ever using washi tape and vellum to make a little pocket which I thought came out pretty cool!  I copic colored the white snowflake sequin to match the other stamped snowflakes.  Then used 2 different LF sentiments to emphasize the "cold" caught in the jar.

Mahalo for stopping by and have a great rest of the week!

Special Thanks!

I'm screaming from Hawaii...can you hear me!?

I could not believe it when I received 

the most amazing e-mail 

from thee Holly Anderson of Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking 

magazine!

I've been chosen as an honorable mention for the 10th annual Stamping Royalty

amongst some INCREDIBLE paper crafters.

Me?!?

So my card will be published in the July edition of Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking and I'm hoping it'll get your attention enough to vote!

I would sure appreciate it!

I want to thank all the lovely people that visit my blog and the amazing comments you all leave me!

It is because of you all that I had the courage to take the chance and submit. 

The card below is to show my sincerest gratitude...

Hero Arts Bubble Confetti stencil, Simon Says Stamps Thanks Word Die,

 Distress Inks in Mowed Lawn, Squeezed Lemonade and Peacock Feathers

white embossing powder, black cardstock and Wink of Stella clear glitter pen

This was a fun one to do!  I used the stencil and a sponge dauber inked with Versamark to create the panel and cover in white embossing powder then heat set. 

I took the different distress inks and created the emboss resist distress background.

Then I placed the panel onto the card base along with the stencil to match the pattern.  Taking the same distress ink colors to match the area, sponge daubered inside the stencil to create the surrounding card panel.

Fun and easy!

Have you checked out the 2nd challenge for Virginia's View? It's all about stencils and I'll be entering this card in it.  Also entering A Blog Named Hero: Build a Background....

As always MAHALO for stopping by and I hope you'll check out my Honorable Mention Card in Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking Magazine in July and vote!!!

Kitty Bee Design- Aloha Friday Challenge #20

It's Friday!  That means I'm up on the mid-inspiration Aloha Friday Challenge.  

Our sponsor this week is 

You definitely have to take a look because the images are just DARLING!

The image below was perfect for our Play Pretend Challenge 

as well as a birthday card for my sweet Jubilee 

who turns 8 today!

I think it's so fun that my 8 year old is into the same things that I was into 

waaaay back when...hehe

Her birthday theme this year is rainbows!  

I couldn't have been more proud.

We'll be partying it up with rainbows this weekend, have a good one!!

I LOVE April!

Easter is almost here!  I can't tell you enough how much I love the month of April...birthday celebrations, spring time and EASTER!  My mom always had homemade Easter baskets that were filled with fun things from hair accessories to chocolates and even my first Bonne Bell lip gloss!  I love that stuff...even til today...hehe

So today's card is in preparation for our Easter celebration and entered in the next City Crafter Challenge...

Isn't that Kitty Bee Design image just the sweetest thing?!
I followed this week's Seize the Sketch

Here's the full card...

Kitty Bee Design Easter Egg Bunny, Basic Grey June Bug Pattern Paper, Stamps of Life tinytitles2stamp, 

copic markers, Hero Arts Soft Granite ink

I love that sweet little bunny!  I'd also like to enter the card in Creative Card Crew Challenge: Animals.

That's it for me.  Have a great day and mahalo for stopping by!!!