Bee-utiful Friend!

Just buzzing in today to show you a fun little wall hanging I made using my March Monthly Mix (Lucky You) from Lizzie Anne Designs.

Have a BEE-utiful Weekend!

OCL Sketch Challenge #4

Happy TGIF my friends! Since it's Friday, that means that it's once again time for the weekly sketch challenge on the OCL Blog ~ woohooo! I love sketch challenges.


The original card by Pam Hooten is simply AMAZING!!! Mine ... well, it doesn't live up to Pam's, but it will do. I used the Ei Ei Hello set along with some sentiments from Sunshine Cheer. I also added some 24 K Gold and Coffee Bean Brown Sparkly fluff to some of the flowers.


I almost did something rather amusing. When I was making this card yesterday, I had the sentiment "Wishing You..." on the front and was planning to put the rest inside the card. However, when I looked at it, it looked like it said, "wishing you... MILK", so I decided to put the entire sentiment on the front. LOL!

Make sure you play along and leave your link over on the OCL Blog.

Supplies from i{heart}papers: Stamps ~ Our Craft Lounge (Ei Ei Hello & Sunshine Cheer); Sparkly Fluff ~ Our Craft Lounge Coffee Bean Brown; Nestabilities ~ Labels 8; Copic Markers ~ N0, N3, C1, R14, R27, Y21, YR23, YG03, G94, E17; Ink ~ Palette; Pattern paper ~ Cosmo Cricket (Material Girl).

Easter Inspiration...

Today I shared this simple Easter card over on the Lizzie Anne Blog. I'm sure you're wondering why in the world I think this is an Easter card since it doesn't look springy at all. However, the card was inspired by an Easter Folktale called The Three Trees. I have this book in my library at church and wanted to share it with you today ~ you can see the folktale below.

I used the pretty Easter sentiment from Lizzie Anne Designs called Him in Our Heart along with the In the Treetop set and they worked perfectly for my inspiration piece.

Below is a version of the Folktale that I found on the internet ~

The Three Trees ~ An Easter Folktale

Once upon a mountain top, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up. The first little tree looked up at the stars and said: " I want to hold treasure. I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. I'll be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!" The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on it's way to the ocean. " I want to be traveling mighty waters and carrying powerful kings. I'll be the strongest ship in the world! The third little tree looked down into the valley below where busy men and women worked in a busy town. I don't want to leave the mountain top at all. I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me they'll raise their eyes to heaven and think of God. I will be the tallest tree in the world.

Years, passed. The rain came, the sun shone and the little trees grew tall. One day three wood cutters climbed the mountain. The first wood cutter looked at the first tree and said, "This tree is beautiful. It is perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining ax, the first tree fell. "Now I shall make a beautiful chest, I shall hold wonderful treasure!" the first tree said.

The second wood cutter looked at the second tree and said, "This tree is strong. It's perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining ax, the second tree fell. "Now I shall sail mighty waters!" thought the second tree. " I shall be a strong ship for mighty kings!"

The third tree felt her heart sink when the last wood cutter looked her way. She stood straight and tall and pointed bravely to heaven. But the wood cutter never even looked up. "Any kind of tree will do for me." He muttered. With a swoop of his shining ax, the third tree fell.

The first tree rejoiced when the wood cutter brought her to a carpenter's shop. But the carpenter fashioned the tree into a feed box for animals. The once beautiful tree was not covered with gold, or treasure. She was coated with saw dust and filled with hay for hungry farm animals.

The second tree smiled when the wood cutter took her to a shipyard, but no mighty sailing ship was made that day. Instead the once strong tree was hammered and awed into a simple fishing boat. She was too small and too weak to sail to an ocean, or even a river, instead she was taken to a little lake.

The third tree was confused when the wood cutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard. "What happened?" The once tall tree wondered. " All I ever wanted was to stay on the mountain top and point to God..."

Many days and nights passed. The three trees nearly forgot their dreams. But one night, golden starlight poured over the first tree as a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feed box. "I wish I could make a cradle for him." Her husband whispered. The mother squeezed his hand and smiled as the starlight shone on the smooth and sturdy wood. " This manger is beautiful." She said. And suddenly the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world.

One evening a tired traveler and his friends crowded into the old fishing boat. The traveler fell asleep as the second tree quietly sailed out into the lake. Soon a thundering and a thrashing storm arose. The little tree shuddered. She new she did not have the strength to carry so many passengers safely through the wind and the rain. The tired man awoke. He stood up, stretched out his hand, and said, "Peace." The storm stopped as quickly as it had begun. And suddenly the second tree knew he was carrying the king of heaven and earth.

One Friday morning, the third tree was startled when her beams were yanked from the forgotten wood pile. She flinched as she was carried through an angry jeering crowd. She shuddered when soldiers nailed a man's hand to her. She felt ugly and harsh and cruel. But on Sunday morning, when the sun rose and the earth trembled with joy beneath her, the third tree knew that God's love had changed everything. It had made the third tree strong. And every time people thought of the third tree, they would think of God. That was better than being the tallest tree in the world.

The next time you feel down because you didn't get what you wanted, sit tight and be happy because God is thinking of something better to give you.

Just Sailing by to say... HI!

Well it's March 10th & this means that today Kate over at i{heart}papers has a new release coming out for Chicken Girl Designs . The Chicken Girl Design line is moving to digistamps which will allow her to have more frequent & seasonal releases and overall more flexibility. Although I am no longer on the Chicken Girl design team, I did get an opportunity to play with one of the images yesterday and decided to play along on the Paper Craft Planet i{heart}Copic sketch challenge while I was at it.


This month Kate is launching 9 new images and the complete collection along with downloading instructions are shown on her blog.

Supplies from i{heart}papers: Digital Images ~ Chicken Girl Designs; Pattern Paper ~ Cosmo Cricket (Joy Ride); Ink ~ Copic Markers (N3, E37, E25, E19, E31, W7, YR23, R81, YR02); Button ~ Cosmo Cricket (Joy Ride); Nestabilties ~ Square, Scallop Square.

Hippity Hoppity...

Did you know Easter Sunday is less than 4 weeks away ~ it's coming quick! I had been waiting to post Easter creations when I realized this very fact. Now I'm feeling like I should have started posting some earlier ~ ACK!

Well this is my ALL-TIME favorite Easter set! It's called Hippity Hoppity by Our Craft Lounge and this set has THE BEST Easter images EVER!

Supplies from i{heart}papers: Stamps ~ Our Craft Lounge (Hippity Hoppity); Ink ~ Palette, Copics (, R81, C1, C3, YR02, YG13, Y21, BV00, BG10, BG15); Sparkly Fluff ~ Our Craft Lounge (Cotton Candy Pink).

Wedding Samples...

I can't believe it's the start of a new week already. I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was filled with watching my daughter play volleyball & I'm happy to say that they won all of the matches they played this weekend~ woohooo!

Well on with my projects for today ~ I made a wedding invitation and a matching thank you note with my new Vintage Swirls set by Our Craft Lounge. This set has such pretty flourishes & it's the perfect touch for wedding cards.

I used a different flourish for the thank you card and paired it up with the Big Thanks set. They work great together!

Have a great Monday!

Little Peeps all in a row...

I love this sweet little baby card ~ the images are from the March Monthly Mix called Lucky You and from the Circle Sentiments set.

No chit chat today ~ it's Sunday! Have a good one.

New Digs!

Oops! I started my post last night and then went to bed without finishing.

I made today's project for the i{heart}copic! sketch challenge over on Paper Craft Planet. Have a great Saturday!

Supplies from i{heart}papers: Stamps ~ Our Craft Lounge (New Digs); Ink ~ Palette, Copics (E00, E43, E37, YR09, R27, B52); Nesties.

OCL Sketch Challenge Day!

Hello Sunshine ~ how are all my peeps today? I just love the sunshine and we have had a week with tons of it. It's not all that warm, but the sun definately improves the mood after so many weeks of gloomy, cold weather.

Well it's Friday once again and that means it's the OCL Sketch Challenge Day ~ woohooo! Today's sketch is a great layout inspired by my friend Val and I used the Sunshine Cheer set (available at i{heart}papers ).



Have you played along yet on the OCL Sketch Challenges? It's so easy! Just make a card using the sketch as a guide (but feel free to change stuff), post your card to your blog or your gallery, and then add your specific link to Mr. Linky on the OCL Blog. Easy Peasy!!! I can't wait to see what you create!

Supplies used: Stamps ~ Our Craft Lounge (Sunshine Cheer); Cardstock ~ Bazzill; Pattern Paper ~ Imaginsce (Lucy Bird); Ink ~ Palette, Copics (R85, C1, Y21, Y17); Nesties ~ Blooms, Circles; Glitter ~ Our Craft Lounge (Lemon Drop); Ribbon ~ PTI.

Time to take a break...

Have a seat and enjoy your day! Today's project features the cute set by Our Craft Lounge called Live, Laugh, Lounge. I had fun paper piecing this fun chair, pillow and lamp shade with pretty paper by Basic Grey called Nook & Pantry. I think this paper is PERFECT for paper piecing ~ especially the 6x6 pads where the designs are smaller.

Have a relaxing day!

Supplies from i{heart}papers: Stamps ~ Our Craft Lounge (Live, Laugh, Lounge); Pattern Paper ~ Basic Grey (Nook & Pantry); Nestabilities; Ink ~ Palette, Copic Markers (R81, R85, E37, E29); Sparkly Fluff by Our Craft Lounge ~ Coffee Bean Brown.

Lots of BLING!

It's the middle of the week & I think it's time for a little BLING to liven things up today! I used a few different Our Craft Lounge sets on my projects today ~ Say it Big on the first card and Fancy Fringe along with Spring Sketches on the second card. However, I did use the same technique on both cards.

My first card was inspired by a card Dawn McVey posted on her blog a few months ago. I always find lost of good layout inspiration from Dawn's blog. Like Dawn's card, I cut several strips of cardstock in different colors and attached them to my card base. Then I attached a sheet of Scor-Tape adhesive over the top and poured some Sugar ~ Crafty Sparkles over the top & shaking off the excess.



On my second card, I stamped one of the borders from Fancy Fringe in multiple colors on my card. Then I added a piece of 1/8" wide Scor-tape inside each border & added some Sugar Crafty Sparkles. I was very pleased with the effect on both of the cards.

My motto for today ~ simple is good!

Easter Blessings...

Yesterday I decided to play along on the Lizzie Anne weekly sketch and use a brand new stamp I got in the mail from Meridith (Anne) called Easter Blessings. HOWEVER, I have to admit ~ this card is way outside of my comfort zone ~ which is a good thing every now and then! I was also inspired by fellow DT member Tiffany for this card ~ she does amazing work. I thought this card would go very fast ~ boom, boom, boom. But I struggled like crazy with the design and pattern paper on it. I really wanted to use my new pattern paper by Memory Makers with this stamp because of the butterfly in the sentiment. I do like how it turned out and I can't wait to use the sentiment again on another card.

Dotted Flower

Happy March 1st!!! But I have one questions ~ where the heck did February go??? Oh well, it just means we are closer to Spring ~ green grass, flowers, blue sky, sunshine....Ahhhhh....that sounds so good.

Speaking of flowers, I think this one turned out so cool. In fact, I was so happy with it that I had to take a close up picture of it. I used five different colors of Copic markers to color the dots, but then used gems and glassy accents to add some texture and shine.

And here is the entire card. It's a little out of the box for me ~ but I really like how it turned out.

Supplies Used: Stamps ~ Lizzie Anne Designs (March Monthly Mix - Lucky You; In the Background); Cardstock & Ribbon ~ PTI; Ink ~ Palette, Copics; Gems ~ Kaiser; Glassy Accents ~ Ranger; Grass Trim ~ Doodlebug.

Pieced Flower ...

Today's cute little project uses the March Monthly Mix from Lizzie Anne Designs which is called Lucky You. I think this image is perfect with the pattern papers from Cosmo Cricket (Girl Friday & Material Girl).
While I was at it, I decorated the inside of the card too ~

Have a Super Sunday!