Hello my coffee loving crafty peeps! Today is National Coffee Day and we're celebrating with a Blog Hop featuring projects inspired by our collective love of...

COFFEE! 

{of course}

Please take a moment to head over to the Host's of today's Hop, 

Chaitali Narla

http://cutscropscreativity.com/

and 

Amy Tsuruta

http://tsurutadesigns.blogspot.com

Here's the stamp I chose to create with for today's fabulous hop

Shared Coffee stamp by Stampendous

 I have a group of friends I love sharing coffee with every week. This stamp was perfect for how I feel about our weekly coffee date. 

I made this card with our weekly hostess in mind. Karena opens up her home and makes SEVERAL cups of delicious coffee for all of us to enjoy before getting a sip of her own.

Now here's a fun little Q&A:

1. When did you start drinking coffee? Officially when I had my daughter in 2007. 

2. What is favorite brand (you can name up to three).  I love my Keurig and my husband and I both love the Hawaiian blend from Costco for the value. I'm a Hazelnut lover and then I like the Caramel Macchiato.

3. What is the most amazing coffee that you had? Kona coffee in Kauai on our honeymoon.
4. If I don't drink my needed coffee, I will... probably string up my children by their ankles....no just kidding.

5. True fact: I can drink coffee before bed and sleep just fine. 

6. I'm a self proclaimed coffee snob since I only indulge if I have my favorite Coffeemate creamer on hand. My favorite is Coconut creme or Hazelnut. 

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit today.

My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge 194

Oh yes here I am getting my card linked just in time. I've been super duper busy working on projects I can't share just yet but they are taking up all of my creative time. Not to mention school is in full swing and Soccer Saturdays have begun again. I seriously link my card at the last minute before the link closed for this week!

So here's the sketch

I ordered some of the new release items and was happy they arrived in time to ink up for this week's challenge. I fell in love with this Pure Innocence I really love the fast shipping I get from MFT.

Supplies: MFT PI Peanut Butter & Jelly plus matching die, AC Spring 6x6 stack, Assorted Copic Markes. Button: Punky Sprouts Lil Seeds, Queen and Co Goosebump heart.

One of the reason's I love stamping with PI stamps is that i get to dress up the little girls like I did with my paper dolls when I was a kid. It's fun to look at a cardstock stack and choose the patterns.

I slipped this card into my daughter's lunchbox today. I know she'll love it.

Have a creative day!

Unity Thursday

Hello friends! Thanks for joining the fun today. It's been so fun seeing what everyone is creating with the awesome products that we were sent by Faber Castell for today's promotional hop. 

I hope you brought your coffee because I have not one..but 3 projects to share with you today!

First let's take a look at today's specials and new releases!

and 

AND

How cool is that!!!

Alrighty....so I got a nice box of fun product to create with and checked out some YouTube videos to learn more about what I could do with them.

First I saw a great video on using the Gelatos on embossed cardstock. I decided I wanted to create an embossed, gradient background for one of the new Angie Girls Unity images releasing today.

I used Ranger Water color paper for the background so the Metallic Melon Gelatto would blend well when I added water. I used Juli's Garden embossing folder from Cuttlebug to emboss the cardstock first. Then I added the Gelato to the top generously and worked the color down with my fingers to create the gradient look.

I sprayed Perfect Pearls over the cardstock, let it dry and then adhered it to the cardstock. 

Next I used my craft sheet to smear the Gelatos I was sent and mist them with a mini mister to blend them so I could color the image with my water pen. This was really easy to do.

Next I say a technique using molding paste and Gelatos so I gave that a try with a Mosiac heart stencil I recently purchased from Simon Says Stamp.

Here's all the supplies I used to create this project. I splattered the gelatto colors on some watercolor paper and then used molding paste with the stencil. Then I let it dry and used my paint brush to paint it.

For my final project I decided to give the adding color to my molding paste technique a try.

I cut a chunk of the gelato,  ground it into a scoop of molding paste on my craft mat and kept blending it until the color was well blended. Then I smoothed it over the stencil onto my 100 lb weight cardstock, pulled the stencil up and voila!

I let it air dry and it turned out perfectly. Now I have never created with these products from Faber Castell before. Let me just say that they were extremely fun to work with.

Here's a closer look. I really can't believe how easy this technique was to do.

I had so much fun creating with all of these amazing products. I am totally addicted now!

Please head onto Rachel's blog by clicking her image below.

Don't forget to leave a comment on each blog because the prize this week is AMAZING!!!

Have a creative day friends!

Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge

Hello friends! Hope your day is going well so far. Today I am sharing a card I made for the Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge. You can see all the challenge cards in the gallery by clicking here.

Here's challenge photo inspiration.

I used grey, black and orange for my color scheme and a cute stamp from Simon Says Stamp.

Here's my card.

I call him Boo Kitty. I ordered this set {Trick or Treat} because my daughter loves kittys and I stamp images for her to color. We have a few of these kitty themed images from Simon Says Stamp. 

I just love those little spiders don't you? 

Have a creative day!

{S}

Cutting it close

Whew! I had a busy weekend and have been working on some fun assignments for the past few weeks so my just for me crafting time has been limited. I barely finished this week's My Favorite Things Weekly Sketch Challenge in time to link up this morning.

 Here's a look at this week's sketch.

Here's my card

Supplies: My Favorite Things Geek is Chic glasses die, My Favorite Things Geek is Chic stamp set. Patterned paper Fancy Pants Be Different collection from my May 2014 SSS Card Kit. Punky Sprouts Lil seed button.

You too can Get Sketchy each week, with a new challenge posted each Wednesday and win a $20 GC to the MFT store as a prize! 

Click here for details.

Have a creative day!

{S}

Stamp of the Week Sunday

Hello friends! It's time for a new Unity Stamp of the Week Sunday reveal!

{Thankful & Grateful Oak}

Here's my sample with this week's image.

For more creative inspiration make sure you visit Unity's Stamp of the Week Pin Board over at Unity's Pinterest page.  

Now remember, you only have one week to claim this cuteness for your own.  

Find out how to sign up here.

Have a creative day!

{S}

Simon Says Stamp Sept Card kit creations

Hello friends. Today I have a few cards to share that I made with the September Simon Says Stamp Monthly Card kit.

Here's a peek at the September kit

Here's a few cards I made using the kit. 

I loved that cat on the October Afternoon paper so he was my focus for this card.

My one layer shelf attempt. It could use a little work but I gave it a try...lol. I don't think I have ever stamped a card with that many different colors of ink. 

 For some reason my Yellow ink was calling my name for this sentiment.

I love my Simon Says Stamp monthly kits. It's a little box of happy!

Have a creative day!

{S}

Saturday Stamping on Monday

Hello friends. We had a busy weekend with Soccer Saturday kicking off for Lily. Our little soccer player is ready for a fun season. 

Here she is going after the ball during her first game.

I got a chance to fit in some crafting Saturday for this week's My Favorite Things Weekly Sketch Challenge but wasn't able to photograph my card til this morning.

Here's this week's Sketch

Here's my card

I had fun with this card. I stamped the image in Colorbox Ocean Pigment ink and then Stamped the same image over it in black and embossed it. I like how the shadow effect turned out.

There is still time to create and upload your take on this week's challenge.

Have a creative day!

{S}

Stamp of the Week Sunday

Hello friends! It's time for a new Unity Stamp of the Week Sunday reveal!

{Struggle is Part of it}

Here's my sample with this week's image.

For more creative inspiration make sure you visit Unity's Stamp of the Week Pin Board over at Unity's Pinterest page.  

Now remember, you only have one week to claim this cuteness for your own.  

Find out how to sign up here.

Have a creative day!

{S}

The ones that didn't make the cut

Hello friends. I was cleaning my photo files and came across some cards I has submitted for publication that didn't get picked up. I thought they deserve to at least be seen since I spent so much time creating them...

The first was for the Ampersand call with some We R Memory Keepers Hip Hip Hooray!

The sentiments are from Simon Says Stamp's Handwritten Borders.

Next up is my take on one of the sketches

I used a die cut from Basic Grey's Hipster collection popped over some patterned paper and other embellies from the Simon Says Stamp June 2013 card kit.

These went into my cards for friends and family bin.

Do you keep your rejected cards or do you give them away to friends and family?

Thanks for stopping by today!

Have a creative day

{S}

Unity Thursday

Hello and thanks for stopping by for another Unity Thursday! Today Unity Stamp Company has some fun new releases and sales! Here's a look at the what's happening at Unity today.

And some lovely new releases from Tracey Malnofski

Here's what I created

Supplies: My Mind's Eye patterned paper, Copic Markers and  iamroses.com
FYI: made my sample before the sentiment was corrected to "are to"

We have TWO amazing Unity filled prize packages to giveaway.  Leave a comment on EACH blog in the hop (including the Unity blog) for your chance to win.  The winners will be announced Saturday night on the Unity blog.

Here's all our participants for today's inspiration

Have a creative day

{S}

For a special little girl

Hello friends. I wanted to share a sweet card I made for a special little girl's 3rd Birthday. She had a Mermaid tea party and this fun stamp from Stampendous was perfect to create her a very special card.

Mermaid Kiddo

I have the wood block option but it comes in cling too! Here's how I used it.

I stamped and embossed the image and then colored it with Copic Markers. I added Crystal stickles and pearl bling to the image. I die cut the base of the card to create a window and used border punches and distress inks on the waves. I finished the card with Eyelet Outlet bling strips in green and a Happy Birthday sentiment from Paper Smooches.

The Birthday girl loved her card. I could tell by her expression when she opened it and that made me so happy. 

There is nothing better than giving hand made gifts friends.

Nothing!

Have a creative day

{S}