Welcome, Lily Pad!

Hello, friends! I hope you hopped here from Vicky's fabulous blog, because I am the second stop in the inaugural Lily Pad Blog Hop! Starting today, seven blogs will be featured daily and will culminate on Friday, April 1st with the Grand Opening of Lily Pad Cards.

Lily Pad Cards is a brand new challenge blog featuring challenges, interviews, articles, videos and great prizes from some awesome sponsors. And although it doesn't officially launch until April 1, 2011, you'll see a sneak peek every day until then.

Please stop by the different blogs and be sure to comment each day, because there are three prize packages with a total retail value of $800, including a $100 gift certificate to a very popular online store! Go here for specific prize details and contest rules.

The hop's theme is "Welcome" because we're welcoming Lily Pad Cards, and welcoming all of you to come and join the fun! Here's my card.

I used Poppystamps' Bobby Bird, paired with some Brioche papers from Memory Box. To make the banner, I punched out circles from the same Brioche paper and cut them in half, then stamped HELLO, using Lawn Fawn's Harold's ABCs. (The twine was recycled from a Lawn Fawn stamp order. Thanks, Kelly Marie!)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Your next stop on the hop is Amy's awesome blog. I can't wait to see what she has in store for us! If you hit a bad link, you can always go to Lily Pad Cards and click on the next link in the hop. Please report any bad links to webmaster@inklinkz.com.

Happy Hopping! See you at the Lily Pad Grand Opening on April 1st!

Stamps: Poppystamps Bobby Bird, Lawn Fawn Harold's ABCs
Cardstock: Hero Arts kraft
Paper: Memory Box Brioche
Other: Copics, Nestabilities, Martha Stewart hydrangea border punch, 
circle punch, Liquid Pearls, pop dots, twine

Magnolias for Japan

Hi there! Just popping in to share a sneak peek of a new digital image set by Tiffany Doodles which will go on sale tomorrow, March 23rd, in the Tiffany Doodles store.

Tiffany came up with a new series of images called "Granny's Yard" because they were inspired by photographs that she took at her grandmother's. Her very first set are some gorgeous Japanese magnolias and she's offering two versions--one in black & white and a set that's fully colored.

Tiffany wants all proceeds from the sale of the pre colored set donated to Japan's Red Cross to aid the earthquake/tsunami victims. Here's my card using the colored set.

I chose the flowers that I wanted and lined them up and flipped them so they faced different directions. After printing them out, I stamped the sentiment and mounted it on a kraft card base. The card background was stamped with Hero Arts' Envelope Pattern. Some purple seam binding and a pearl finishes off the card. Easy peasy at its best!

This is the first time I've used pre colored images and it made for a quick and simple card. Now that I have the images saved, I can print them out whenever I need a card and simply change the sentiment for a thank you, sympathy, or friendship theme.

If you've never tried using a pre colored digital stamp before, here's your chance to do so. And you'll be helping a great cause at the same time.

* * * * *

Thanks so much for stopping by and for your earlier good wishes for our daughter's wedding. It's counting down to 10 days--yikes!--and since it's an outdoor wedding, we're just hoping for sunny skies on that day.


I'll be back on the 28th for an exciting blog hop, and don't forget you have until March 30th to enter my giveaway here. Bye for now!

Countdown to a big day--and a giveaway!

Hello, bloggers! It's pure madness in our household with our daughter's wedding just a few weeks away. There's much to do, especially since she's thousands of miles away and we're all trying to help as much as we can to make this a memorable day for her and her fiancé.

Here's a shot of the favors that we finished a few days ago. Organza bag, two ribbon roses and inside, some yummy shortbread cookies, a specialty from Hilo.

Blogging will have to take a backseat since I have major cleaning to do, which means packing up my stamp supplies and putting them in hibernation for a while.

And while I was cleaning, I came upon goodies that I'd love to give away as a "thank you" to my faithful friends and followers for your timely visits to my blog and your kind comments, too.

Fiskars threading water border punch, American Crafts Thickers, Sassafras stitchery stamp set, Lawn Fawn Lunar Lights, Lawn Fawn Winter Bunny, Greeting Farm Yoga Anya, American Crafts ribbon and ric rac, Making Memories 8x8" specialty paper packs, K&Company heart shaped gemstones, Prima white roses

Simply become a follower of my blog, if you're not already, and leave me a comment. And I'll ship internationally, too! I'll leave this giveaway open until midnight March 30th HST and random.org will help me choose a winner. I hope it's YOU! Good luck!

* * * 

Regarding the recent earthquake generated tsunami, I want to thank those of you who emailed and FB'd me with your concern. I live on higher ground, and only if there was a monstrous wall of water were we in any danger.

Some islands did receive damage--a house was swept into the ocean--but I believe there was no actual loss of life. Let's continue to pray for Japan and anyone else who was affected, and hope that they restore and rebuild their country and their lives. ♥

TD10 -- Photo Inspiration and a Digi winner!

Hello, and Happy Monday to you!

Since today's the 7th, that means it's time for a Tiffany Doodles challenge! This month, the challenge is a photo inspiration.

Here's the lovely photo that Tiffany found from a Pottery Barn ad.

Here's my take on the photo--an almost exact interpretation! I used the Forsythia and Pussywillow digital stamp and flipped one of the images for a different look. All the images were colored with Copics.

I probably created a new type of flower by adding some punched out hydrangea flowers for a bit of dimension. The background and sentiment are by Hero Arts, and I finished off the card by adding a bit of self dyed rayon seam binding.

Visit the rest of the design team to see their takes on the photo:

Tiffany Doodles
Tiffany Richards
Cammy Wall
Collette Landwer
Jill Foster
Jodi Ann Lee
Joy Taylor
Karen Baker
Kim Schofield
Lindsay Amrhein
Pattie Goldman
Shannon Neparko
Simone Naoum
Sue McRae
Willemien Katerberg

You have two weeks to enter the challenge and win up to 7 digis of your choice. Remember you don't have to use a Tiffany Doodles digital stamp, so we hope you'll join us!

And according to random.org, the winner of the Cheery Birds digi from the 3 day blog hop, is mitch1066. Congratulations! I will email you and send the digi off to you.

Thanks again to all of you who hopped along with us. Have a great week!

Jane's Bakery Blog Hop!

Note: Please click here for Tiffany Doodles Spring blog hop! Thank you!

Woo hoo! I've never done back-to-back blog hops before but couldn't pass up the chance to join Jane's Bakery blog hop and I'm so honored that I was invited to be a part of it. Thank you, Jane!

Jane Beljo is incredibly talented and she's starting to turn some of her digital stamps into clear rubber! Her Bakery set is the first to be rubberized and can be found in her Etsy shop here and at Jay Gee's Nook.

I used the cute layered cake and dotty border on my card, along with this sketch that was featured in the latest Paper Crafts magazine.

I colored the cake with Copics and applied Glossy Accents to the icing and the cake stand. The label is from Papertrey Ink, and the sentiment is an oldie from Hero Arts.

I tied a bit of dyed seam binding on the card and attached one of Jane's super popular Fimo buttons. Click on the flashing button blinkie on my sidebar to be taken directly to her Etsy store. But you have to be quick (and lucky!) because they sell out as fast as Jane can make 'em.

Here are the list of participants in today's hop:

Jane
Jennifer McGuire
Kelly R.
Lucy
Donna -- that's me!
Joy
Alice
Kelly B.
Mariana


Both Jane and Jennifer will be giving away a Bakery clear stamp set so make sure you visit them and leave a comment to win your very own set!

Thanks so much for hopping along with me the past two days. Now head over to Joy's fabulous blog for more Janey inspiration! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Stamps: Jane's Bakery set, Hero Arts sentiment
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream, Colorbox Chestnut Roan
Paper: from my scrap stash
Other: Copics, Glossy Accents, Papertrey Ink label die, Memories marker, dyed seam binding, 
Fimo button by Jane, pop dots, teardrop gemstone

Tiffany Doodles Spring Blog Hop!

Welcome to a 3 day blog hop from Tiffany Doodles! Between March 4th through the 6th, visit our design team and see their cards featuring lots of new digis by Tiffany.

Each blog is having a Tiffany Doodles digital stamp giveaway, so make sure you visit all the blogs and leave a comment, for more chances to win! And there's also a grand prize being offered at Tiffany Doodles! Check it out here!

I made a simple circle card with my Nestabilities and the Cheery Birds digital stamp set. The cloud background is by Hero Arts, and the grass and sky were ink distressed with Ranger distress inks and splotched with water. The sentiment and flowers are also from Hero Arts.

This set contains four adorable images, plus a sentiment, too. Simply leave a comment here for your chance to win this cute
set--perfect for spring!

And for the month of March, you can choose your discount while shopping in the Tiffany Doodles store.

You'll receive a 10% discount off of 5 items in the store, or 20% off any 10 items in the store. You can mix and match any stamps and digital papers, too.



Here's the list of design team members. You have 3 days to hop and comment on all the blogs to be eligible for the prizes. I'll announce the winner of Cheery Birds on March 7th, the date of the next Tiffany Doodles challenge!

• Tiffany Doodles
• Tiffany Richards
• Cammy Wall
• Collette Landwer
• Jill Foster
• Jodi Ann Lee
• Joy Taylor
• Karen Baker
• Kim Schofield
• Lindsay Amrhein
• Lisa Summerhays
• Pattie Goldman
• Shannon Neparko
• Simone Naoum
• Sue McRae
• Willemien Katerberg

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Please join me here tomorrow for another blog hop....Enjoy your weekend!

Playing with doilies

When I saw all the doily goodness that my uber creative friend Virginia shared here, I wanted to give doilies a try, so I pulled out my Lawn Fawn Sew Lovely and Lunar Lights stamp sets.

The dress form was stamped on some (old!) Cosmo Cricket papers, and the lanterns were stamped on some (very old!) Studio Calico papers. The background stripes are Hero Arts' Large Canvas Stripes, stamped with Antique Linen distress ink, which has become one of my fave backgrounds.

I pleated one fourth of the edge of a paper doily and that became the skirt. A few pink pearls along the waist and here's a "best dressed" dress form! Thanks for the inspiration, Virginia!

Stamps: Lawn Fawn, Hero Arts background
Cardstock: Paper Accents
Paper: Cosmo Cricket, Studio Calico
Ink: Versafine, Ranger distress ink
Other: doily, pearls, pop dots, gemstones
Finished card size is 4.25" square

And here's a heads up that Tiffany Doodles will have a blog hop from March 4th through the 6th, with a new challenge presented on the 7th. Every blog will offer prizes--me too!--so be sure to mark your calendars and hop along!