{tessa's birthday} bloghop

**You have until midnight tonight (EST) to leave a comment to be in the running for a $5 gift cerificate for Tessa's Precocious Paper ETSY shop**

Welcome to Tessa's 30th Birthday Blog Hop!  I'm so excited to be a part of it!  The blog hop is being sponsored by Tessa's fabulous ETSY shop, Precocious Paper.  Tessa will be giving away over $100 worth of her beautiful creations over the next 2 days!  There are 20 designers who will be sharing their wonderful projects designed with goodies from Precocious Paper.   You can join us in the fun by starting at Tessa's blog.  If you have already started hopping, you should have come from Heidi's blog.

I'd love to share my projects that I made with Tessa's products!  I found this simple cloche at Target. It is black felt with a black bow.  It was screaming for something pretty to be added to it!  :)

I layered one of Tessa's lovely rolled satin flowers on a felt & fabric layered flower and added some hand stitching to make the bow pop.

Here is a close-up of the beautiful flower:

Here is my lovely sister-in-law, Stephanie modeling it for me:

I also made 2 cards!

Thanks So Much

 

Thanks

After seeing all the designers' projects, I'm sure you are going to want some Precocious Paper goodies for your very own, right?  :)  All you have to do is complete the entire hop, leaving a comment at each of the designer's blogs!  You will then be entered into a drawing for the grand prize-the September, October, November and December Samplers from Precocious Paper!  That is a $54 value and tons of  fabulous hand-crafted scrapbooking/card-making embellishments!  Follow Tessa's blog to be entered to win a $20 credit to the shop and if you follow Precocious Paper on Facebook, you could win another $20 credit!  Tessa will be giving away surprise credits to blog hop participants so be sure to leave a comment on each of the designer's blog posts! 

As part of the celebration, Tessa has added a bunch of new lovelies to her shop, be sure to stop by and take a peek!  If you use this code during check out, JANBBHFREE you will get free shipping and a thank you gift!  (minimum order for international only is $5)  I will also be picking a winner for a $5 gift certificate for Tessa's store! 

Your next stop will be the fabulous Suzy!  Enjoy the hop and good luck!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TESSA!

{inspired by virginia}

I was inspired by the very talented and unbelievably sweet Virgina, who in turn was inspired by the very talented Alexandra.  This wonderful sketch by Alexandra started the whole thing.

 

Alexandra made this beautiful card:

and Virgina made this fabulous card:

and here is the card I made:

I put my own little spin on the sketch with the different shapes, but its all there.  :)  I just realized that these cards are from 3 countries, I am in the US, Virginia is in Canada and Alexandra is in France!  How cool is that?

What about you?  Are you inspired?  If you are and happen to make a card, please leave me a comment so I can visit your blog!  Would love to see what all my talented friends come up with.

Happy Sunday!

{happy dance}

I'm doing the happy dance today!  Lucy asked me to continue on as a Card Designer for My Sketch World! Congrats to the rest of the card team and the layout team too!  A warm welcome to the new gals!  I adore Lucy's sketches and all the lovely ladies that frequent the message board at My Sketch World.   If you are looking for a no-drama, very friendly scrapping community, MSW is the place to be!  There are 8 girls each on the card and layout teams so there will be plenty of challenges to keep you busy over the next few months!  

I managed a little crafty time today and made 2 very simple cards. 

Life is Good

(Im finally getting a card done in time for the current challenge at The Paper Variety which is to use threads on your project!)

Celebrate Life

I made the second card for the challenge over at The Paper Variety, but again my procrastination got the best of me and I didn't get it in on time.  Oh well, I was excited to have finally gotten to use that little lemon slice-it makes me very happy!

I hope happy has found you today, thanks for stopping by!

{thoughts & prayers}

I made this card for Helen of Card and a Half blog.  She recently lost her husband in a tragic accident.  If anyone could use a prayer it is Helen and her 2 boys. 

 

Thoughts & Prayers

I punched a scalloped circle of the pattern paper and popped it up:

I used this sketch from Card and a Half:

If you have a minute, say a prayer or think a positive thought for Helen & her boys.  Thank you.



{card and a half}

I've come across a new Card Challenge blog thanks to a visit to Liz's blog!  Liz makes beautiful cards.  Beautiful flowers, wonderful shapes with some lovely touches of bling and pearls.  We share a mutual admiration for SRM Stickers too.  :)   Because I'm a link follower (if you give a mouse a cookie...) I went to the Card and a Half challenge blog.  They have a monthly sketch challenge with an extra challenge thrown in for fun!  I did the extra challenge which is to create a card with flowers on it.

 

{mr. & mrs.}

Here is a close up of the bow:

I used a mix of old and new on this card.  I started with an older sketch from Lucy  (that I cant get to show up here for some reason). The striped pink paper is old Making Memories and the striped ribbon is older SEI.  The white flowers I bought yesterday.  I pulled out their center and replaced it with the pink roses.  To finish it off, a new We've Got Your Sticker Sticker Sentiment from SRM!

Happy Friday, friends!  I hope happy finds you today!

{challenges galore}

I love nothing more than a good challenge!  I happened to have made a card today that fits the criteria for 3 really good ones!  A "threefer" if you will.  ;)

 

 

 Birthday Wishes

The love affair with MME Stella & Rose continues.  I love the new Fancy Sticker Sentiments by SRM!  They are beautiful.  I used this sketch from PageMaps for their blog challenge this month.

I flipped the sketch just for an added challenge.  Ha.  :)  The Paper Variety challenge that ends today is all about circles and there are lots of those in all the patterned paper I used!  Paige at the CREATE blog challenged us to make a birthday card.  That's it, a threefer, might be my first ever.

 

(this is the second week in a row my procrastination has made me miss The Paper Variety challenge-that will teach me! Will have to get to making something for next week pronto!)

Happy Tuesday, friends!

{wishing you well}

My friend and fellow DT member at MSW, Nicole has a Get Well Card Challenge going on this month.  I have very few of these kinds of cards made, so it was a good challenge for me to do!  I used some of my favorite colors and products and a beautiful handmade flower from one of my favorite creative friends to make it.  :)   Scraps from MME Stella & Rose, a leaf embellishment from LYB and an SRM sticker to go with the beautiful flower Kayla surprised me with make for a simple card to send to a friend who might need a little pick me up. 

Wishing You Well

I hope you can find the time to check out both the card and layout challenges at MSW this month!  There is a DT call for both teams that ends on the 15th of this month!

Happy Sunday, friends!  I hope happiness had found you today!



{block party}

I'm having a block party over at My Sketch World this month!  My card challenge is to use a blocking technique!  Blocking is an awesome design element and can be done in so many ways.  I chose to use 3 different pieces of pattern paper, each a little bigger than the other.   I added some machine stitching and embellished it with a new SRM sticker sentiment and some lovely Prima flowers.  I hope you will join me this month!  There is also a DT Call going on now through the 15th of August.  Lucy is a crazy talented sketch artist and the board is the nicest on the net!  :)

Thank You

Happy Tuesday, friends!  Thanks for stopping by!

{road trip and a sketch}

We just arrived back from a fun road trip to the west coast of Michigan!  We spent a couple days in Mears on Silver Lake.  We took the Mac Woods Dune Tour-what fun!  We also managed a round of putt-putt, go kart rides and a couple hours on the beach!

Then we spent a couple nights in Muskegon.  We spent a day at Michigan Adventures.  I didn't take my camera in because I knew we would be away from it wondering around the water park.  We spent the following day at Grand Haven, enjoying the awesome beach, a walk on the pier, a trolley tour of the area and more putt-putt!  :) 

We had a grand time and I rather enjoyed the break from the computer.  Now it is time to get back into the swing of things.  It's a new month (seriously? It's August already?) and that means Lucy has created a wonderful sketch for the My Sketch World DT to play with!

Remember These Moments

I flipped the sketch, only because I thought the flowers worked better that way.  Join us over at MSW this month for some fun card and layout challenges! 

Happy Monday, friends!  Hope happy finds you today.