Spark Your Creativity Now Challenge

I'm so excited to have been picked as a new design team for Spark Your Creativity Now! Challenge blog.  This "anything goes" once a month challenge is a super easy and super fun way to just let your imagination run wild and CREATE anything your heart desires!

Today is the mid-May inspiration post and my FIRST design team creation will be up!  Here it is:

The paper used here is from the Amy Tangerine Sketchbook collection.  The image is one of my faves from Unity Stamp Company (ok, I have a LOT of favorites from Unity!!)  Be sure to stop by the Spark Your Creativity Now! Challenge and link up YOUR creation by May 31!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Chemistry Set

Over at Friday Mash-up, they have a challenge that just screamed to me this week. First, they posted a sketch, and I do love sketch challenges. Their challenge is as follows:

1. Create a project using "the sketch".
2. Create a "set of cards".
3. Or Mash it Up and create a "set of cards using the sketch".

Well, I mashed it up.  I created a set of cards that I'll be sending to Operation Write Home using the Chemistry set from There She Goes Stamps. 

Here's what I came up with:

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Happy Mom's Day

Twenty years ago today, a wonderful thing happened - I became a mom! Another thing happened, like a tidal wave, the realization dawned that my mother is the smartest person in the world.  My mom tells me now that I'm a good mom.  Well, if I am, it's because of you, Mom. My mom also became a grandma 20 years ago today....and she's a GREAT grandma!

Timeless Twine has brought back their challenges!  Yippee!  Their challenge this month is to create something with a mother's day theme.  Easy peezy.  I used Timeless Twine in Raspberry Lemonade and the newest Unity Stamp of the Week to create this card. I'm also entering this card into Little Scrap Pieces challenge to create something for mom!

It's hard to see in the photo, but I used liquid pearls to create a shimmery background for the image and stickles to make the flowers glittery.  Held up to the sun, check it out!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Blimey, You're 20!

Today, my oldest son turns 20!  Hard to believe!  He went from a 9 lb; 8 oz; 21 inch bundle of joy to a 6 foot 3 inch tall wonderful, strong, sweet and handsome man in a blink of an eye!  He works as a care-giver at a local elder care facility for Alzheimers and dementia patients.  He loves his old people....even when they do things that try his patience.  So proud of my son!

I made his birthday card from my new Shiver-Me-Timbers stampset from There She Goes!  The map is paper pieced together, distressed and run through an embossing folder to give it a little "old dimension," so I'm entering it into the There She Goes Clear Stamps challenge to paper piece!

Blimey, Erik, you're 20!  Momma loves you!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Unity FWF - Oodles of Unity

I created these cards for some of the Crop Chocolate NSD Challenges and loved them so much that I'm sharing them here for Friday Friends with Flair at Unity Stamp Company.  Love Fridays!  The weekend is coming, and I load up on inspiration from all you lovely crafty peeps!

Here are mine for the week.  Love this happy Chickee card!

This is one of my favorite Unity stamps to ink (ok, I have many favorites!).  It makes for one HOPPY birthday!

 

On this, I tried playing with my TH distress inks and some embossing.  I like how it turned out!

The final card I made this week using Unity is my blinged up Angie Girl card....  I stickled all of the hearts!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Art Journal - Blog Candy Winner

Thank you to everyone who hopped along with the Mixed Up Media Chix last week.  I loved all the fun journal pages and reading all the lovely comments.  The winner of my blog candy is JPScraps.  Please email me at karey2005 at sbcglobal dot net so I can get this prize in the mail to you!

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Mixed Up Media Chix Blog Hop

Welcome to my stop on the Mixed Up Media Chix - Art Journal Girlz blog hop!  I was inspired to begin expanding my crafting world into art journals by the fabulous Maria!  This is my first attempt, and I really enjoyed the free feeling of just getting crazy inky!  If you've stumbled upon the hop, start at Maria's blog HERE!

It features several Unity Stamps, so I'm also entering this into Unity FWF!  Recently, one of my favorite crafty online retailers (Crop Chocolate) decided to close its doors.  It's more than a retailer - it's become a family.  I've been on the Design Team since January, so one piece of this journal is dedicated to my DT sisters as they always choose to shine!

One final pic to share is a tag that I made as a "try-out" for art journaling:

Always believe in something absurd!

Before you go, I've got some candy to share

It includes a bling ring, some ribbon, some twine and a HUGE flower stamp set that would be great for art journalists.  All you have to do to be entered is follow my blog and leave me some love <3.  I'll announce the winner on Monday afternoon, so be sure to check back!

Now onto your next stop on the hop - the fabulous Lisa!  I can't wait to see what she has in store for us!

Check out Lisa's blog --->www.lisahetrickdesign.com/in_the_studio

Craftily yours,

Karen (karey2005)

Crop Chocolate National Scrapbook Day

As many of you have heard, one of my favorite places to shop has decided to close their retail doors.  *Sadface*  The good news is that Crop Chocolate's social doors are going to remain open, and the owner is trying to work with his customers to make things work in some way.  The online friends that I've met through Crop Chocolate mean so much to me, so I'm happy that it will continue in some way.

To celebrate National Scrapbooking Day, Crop Chocolate is hosting a whole series of challenges.  Check them out under the contest tabs at CropChocolate.com!  Here are the challenges I've completed so far:

Challenge #2:  Tic Tac Toe - Using the tic tac toe board, pick one line in any direction and include those three items on your project (card or layout). Please make sure you let us know which 3 you used!

I did the row down the middle - a stamp, patterned paper and a ribbon.  I'm also submitting this to 3 Girl Jam Challenge - Anything Goes!  The ribbon is one of their fabulous crinkly ribbons that I just LOVE!

Challenge #3:  Buttons and Bows - Create a project using at least one button AND at least one bow. As far as the rules: for the bow(s)…you can use ribbon, twine, paper, a stamped image or even a hand drawn bow. And since we are so easy ;) same goes for the button(s)… you can use an actual button, a stamped image, chipboard piece, paper or hand drawn image. The sky is the limit! Use your imagination, go crazy!! We are celebrating today!! Have fun and show us what you GOT!!

Challenge #4:  Bugs - Spring is upon us and many things are coming out of their winter sleep . . . . . bugs being one of them. So our challenge to you is to do a project out of your comfort zone and use bugs in/on it.

You can check out the instructions for this card on my Instructagram - here!

Challenge #5:  Make a card or layout using 2 kinds of glitter, gems, Stickles or some other bling.

Bling on the corner and all the hearts are Stickles!

Challenge #6: Create a project, card, scrapbook page or altered item that contains a window.

Challenge #8:  Use Karen's sketch to create something AMAZING! Only catch?? Aside from using the sketch, you must use something new, and you must use something from your scrap pile.

I will be giving away two prizes.  One is blog candy drawn from a name of someone who enters a project into Challenge #8. It includes some liquid pearls, some rub-ons, a CTMH stamp set, some ribbons and a TH embossing folder.  To be entered into the drawing for this candy, submit a project to Challenge #8 and follow my blog.

I will also be giving away a $15 Amazon gift card to a crafty contestant who follows my blog and enters a different project into each of the 8 challenges!


Craftily yours, 

Karen (karey2005)