Hi friends!  I know that technically today's card says "You are llamazing," but it is actually MY birthday today! So, while you are all pretty llamazing, so am I!  Cheers, it's a fiesta!  Today I am celebrating my 21st birthday!
For the second time. . .  ; )

The base of this slimline card ( measuring 8 1/2" x 3 1/2") is made from Black Taffy cardstock.  I cut a 8 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock and adhered it directly to the black card base.  In the upper left corner I stamped the sentiment "You are llamazing" in Black Taffy sugar cube.  Using a grassy border die, I die cut the grass from Rich Cactus cardstock.  I stamped all of the images from the RG Avenue "Stick Together" stamp set in Black Taffy sugar cube and colored the images with Copic markers.  I ran the colored images through my Scan & Cut to cut them out.  Then I began adhering the images to the card using foam adhesive for added dimension.  I arranged the cacti in a rainbow pattern from red to violet.  I added a couple randomly placed rhinestones at the top of the card filling up the white space.  Lastly, I added a coat of Dazzling Pat to all the images for added sparkle. 

Thanks for sharing in my birthday celebration here with me.  Cheers to many more!

Hello readers!  Today I am hoping to help spread the word about a card drive headed up by fellow cardmaker and animal lover Ricky Burton-Romero.  I am sharing a summary of the drive here, but for all the details and the backstory please head to Ricky’s blog HERE.

Ricky is collecting cards for an organization called Live Like Roo.  Live Like Roo's founder, Sarah, started this non-profit to send care packages all across the United States to dogs and their human families that have been diagnosed with cancer. Not all cases lead to death.  Sarah and her organization also assist in medical bills, as well.  With the help of card makers all around the world, we want to do a card drive for Sarah. She sends a card with every box, and our idea is to get as many handmade cards to her so that she does not have to spend quality money on cards.

Here is what the card drive is looking for:

• The cards could animal-themed (but not necessary). The cards should say things like “I hope you get well soon,” “feel better,” or any words of encouragement for anyone going through a hard time (animal sickness). If you would like you could also send in Thank You cards as she needs those as well!
• No need to write anything on the inside. Sarah will fill in the handwritten message to make it personal for each case.
• The drive will run from November 14th to December 15th, 2019.
• Send cards to Ricky Burton-Romero – 7003 N Wolcott Ave #1, Chicago IL 60626.
• Please be sure to include your contact information with the cards so that when the prize draw happens, Ricky will know where to send emails to! (More on prizes below.)
• After December 15th, Ricky will plan to make a trip to Sarah and present her with all the cards on an Instagram live! You will be able to see the happiness you bring to her life through these cards! (Follow Ricky on instagram HERE.)

After the card drive is over, anyone that donated cards to the cause will be entered to win PRIZES! The prize list is currently growing with sponsors like Jennifer McGuire, Studio Katia and many more!

I know that many cardmakers are also animals lovers, so even if it's only one card that you are able to send, both Sarah and Ricky will be grateful as it's one less card the organization needs to spend money purchasing.

If you are interested in donating cards to other worthwhile causes, you can read my post here for more information.

Hello friends and happy BLACK Friday!  Best of luck to you brave souls who dare to venture out on this day because I want no part of it!  Those crowds are not for me!  Today, you will find me shopping local at the Butterfly Reflections, Ink in New Hampshire for my very first time!  Be sure to follow along on Instagram to see all the behind the scenes photos from the store and more.  I'm excited because it is also the shop owner, Vanessa's birthday, so I will get to wish her a happy birthday in person.  To celebrate, a large group of current and past Design Team members, along with some special guests, will be doing a blog hop on Instagram sharing cards that were inspired by some of Vanessa's favorite things:  the color fushia, cute critters (she LOVES Hello Bluebird), coffee and pumpkin spice.  Here is the card I created for her:

This slimline card ( 8 1/2" x 3 1/2") was made from Berry Burst cardstock.  The first matted layer is a  8 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock.  I die cut the mountains in Blushing Bride cardstock using the Hello Sweetums Mountains of Fun dies. I die cut the trees using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Trees dies.  I stamped all of the critters, trees and presents from the Hello Bluebird Frosty Friends stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored them using Copic markers.  I added highlights to some of the images with a Uniball White Gel pen.  I also added Lawn Fawn ultrafine glitter to the snowbanks and critters' hats.  I added many of the images to the card using 3M foam adhesive.  I stamped the sentiment at the bottom of the card in Berry Burst ink.  Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the images for added sparkle.

Here are the Copic colors I used for coloring:

Here is the Frosty Friends stamp set by Hello Bluebird (available through Butterfly Reflections, Ink) that I used to create today's card:

Be sure to follow along on Instagram to see what everyone else created for Vanessa's birthday!
Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a wonderfully creative weekend!

Hello readers!  Today I have a Thanksgiving themed card to share with you featuring the new release from RG Avenue called "Gobble Wobble."   Honestly, I could care less about the turkey, for me it's all about the fixin's! 
 I'm a sucker for those ooey-gooey candied yams and fresh pumpkin (or apple) pie.  I don't discriminate when it comes to pies.  What about you?  What makes you gobble 'til you wobble?!

The base of this A2 sized card is made from Sweet Cane sugar stock.  I cut a 4 1/4" x 3" piece of Tangy Orange cardstock and splattered it with Sweet Cane sugar drops.  I adhered this to the card base and layered a piece of Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid Chill paper over the bottom.  I cut a 3 1/2" piece of burlap ribbon and adhered it to the center of the card notching the right end.  I printed the Gobble Wobble digital image from my computer onto Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock and colored it using Copic markers.  I adhered the colored image to the card using 3M foam adhesive.  I added two gold glitter leaves to the right side of the turkey and a few randomly placed pearl jewels for added dimension.  Lastly, I put a coat of clear Wink of Stella on the turkey for extra sparkle.

Here is the Gobble Wobble stamp set from RG Avenue that I used to create today's card:

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you find the time to create something today.

Hello and happy Wednesday!  Today I am sharing this shaker card over on the Butterfly Reflections, Ink blog.  This card really brings me back to my childhood and the very cold and snowy winters we had growing up in northern Maine.  While all of my brothers wanted to have snowball fights (usually filled with ice, might I add)! I wanted to make pretty snow angels.  I only wish I had all of these adorable woodland creatures to play with back then!

The base of this A2 sized card is made from red cardstock.  I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of white cardstock and stamped the outline of the snow angels in a dark brown ink.  I placed this directly on the red card base.  Next, I created the frame from a dark brown cardstock using two rectangle dies.  I adhered a piece of Hero Arts clear acetate to the back of the frame.  I lined the frame with foam adhesive so that it would allow plenty of space for the glitter to shake around inside.  

I placed approximately two tablespoons of Avery Elle Coarse Glitter directly onto the white cardstock and adhered the shaker frame on top.  I stamped the bunny, fox and bear from the Snow Angels stamp set on white cardstock and colored the images using my Copic markers.  I die cut the animals with the coordinating Snow Angels Creative Cuts from Mama Elephant and then I adhered the animals to the outside of the shaker frame using more foam adhesive.  

I stamped the sentiment "snow much love" in Versamark ink on red cardstock and heat embossed it with Lawn Fawn white embossing powder.  I notched both ends before adhering the sentiment strip on the outside of the shaker frame.  Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the animals to give them added sparkle. 

Shaker cards are probably one of my favorite cards to make and the glitter inside this one really looks like fluffy snow! Thanks for visiting and remember to shop the AMAZING clearance sale going on right now at Butterfly Reflections, Ink!

Happy Tuesday readers!  I returned yesterday from a 3-day craft retreat in Connecticut with my mom and several friends.  Today I am sharing another one of the little treats I made for everyone.   As I mentioned last week, it's become a bit of a tradition that when we attend a retreat, we each make little gifts for everyone else attending.  It doesn't necessarily have to be paper-crafted either.  We have some knitters in our group who have knitted hats, and this year my mom made jam for everyone!  Fortunately, it is a small group of six, so it doesn't entail copious amount of work or supplies.  It's simply for the fun of it.  On the first day of the retreat I gave everyone these hot cocoa treat holders, and on Day 3 I left these these "turkey treats" filled with candy on everyone's table.

These Lawn Fawn Fancy Box dies were cut from Rich Razzleberry cardstock.  I adhered a small 3 1/4" 2 1/2" piece of acetate to the underside of the box window before adhering the entire box together with tear tape.  I stamped the sentiment in Crushed Curry ink on Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock and notched the right end.  The turkey was made using the Patchwork Turkey die by Impression Obsession.   I cut the body of the turkey from Early Espresso and Crumb Cake cardstock.  The nose, legs and hearts were cut from Pumpkin Pie cardstock.  The turkey feathers were made from miscellaneous scrap papers.  I drew on his eyes with a black Sharpie marker.  *Note, I realized AFTER I made my turkeys that the orange hearts should have been his wings!  Oops!!

Here is the Lawn Fawn Fancy Box die I used to create today's treat holders:

I have been loving the simplicity of dies to create treat holders with.  I was able to put together both the Lawn Fawn Fancy Box and Lawn Fawn Goodie Bag dies without instruction, so that shows how easy they are to assemble!

Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

Hello friends!  It's no secret that I joined the RG Avenue Design Team in October, but today is my actual debut on the RG Avenue social media accounts.  Each new DT member was given a specific day to be featured and today is my time to shine!  I have thoroughly been enjoying my time over the last month on the RG Avenue team.  RG himself has been very welcoming, supportive and so unbelievably generous with his products!  Seriously, you should have seen the TWO large DT boxes I received last month - to include ink (Sugar Cubes), cardstock, stamps and more!  Kerry, the DT Coordinator is very organized (love that!) and my fellow teammates are equally as creative and complementary.  I feel very fortunate to be afforded this opportunity. 

Today I have created a picture frame using the Safari Boho stamp set.  I chose this stamp set because it reflects my love of animals and of the color blue.  This is an 11" x 13" gold frame with an 8 1/2" x 11" mat that I found at my local Wal-Mart store for $12. 

I cut a 8 1/2" x 11" piece of kraft lattice paper to mount in the picture frame opening.  Using the Lawn Fawn Grassy Border dies, I cut the grass from Tangy Apple cardstock.  I die cut the letters "W-I-L-D" from Rich Blueberry cardstock using large letter framelit dies.  Since the Boho Safari stamp set is a digital image, I printed the image onto Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock and cut the images out using my Scan & Cut 2.   I colored each image using Copic Alcohol Ink markers and added highlights to each image using a Uniball White Gel pen.  I adhered the images to the kraft paper before inserting the entire image into the frame. 

Here is the Safari Boho stamp set I used to create today's framed image:

I would like to send a big thank you to RG, Gabby and the entire RG Avenue team in Arizona, as well as the DT coordinator, Kerry Urbatch, for selecting me to be a part of this creative family. 

I also thank each of YOU for following along on my creative journey and for taking the time out of your day to visit my website or other social media accounts. 
Your kind comments, feedback, support and encouragement keep me creating!

Many, many thanks today and always,

Happy Monday, readers!  We are counting down the last few days until Halloween this week, so I'll be sharing just a few more themed cards.  I'm happy and I'm sad, because as Halloween comes to an end, that means Christmas is even closer and these are my two favorite cardmaking holidays.  For today's card, I actually turned these owls, which are part of a lovey-dovey stamp set called "Love Birds" from RG Avenue into a Halloween card because as sweet as these birds might be, they still owl-ways make me think of Halloween!  Haha!  : )

The base of this A2 sized card is made from Black Taffy cardstock.  I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Sweet Cane cardstock and stamped the Burlap Print background on it in Black Taffy Sugar Cube.  Using the Gina Marie Scalloped Stitched Nesting Rectangle dies, I die cut the medium sized rectangle from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock.  I used a grunge stamp and stamped splattered spots of Black Taffy sugar cube on the white background.  I also stamped the sentiment in Black Taffy Sugar Cube.  The sentiment is from the RG Avenue Halloween Treat stamp set.  As the Love Birds stamp set is digital, I printed out the images on Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock and colored them using Copic markers.  I used my Scan & Cut machine to die cut the owls and adhered them to the card using 3M foam adhesive.  Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the owls for added sparkle. 

Here is the Love Birds stamp set from RG Avenue that I used to create this card:

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my website.  As always, you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest too! 

Hello crafty friends!  Today I'm posting on the Butterfly Reflections, Ink. blog.  I know that next week is Halloween, but soon enough, turkey day will be here, and it's my all-time favorite holiday to spend with "framily" (that's friends and family for those of you who haven't heard this fun term)!  Some also call it "Friendsgiving."  I have a lot to be thankful for and I count my blessings on this day filled with my four favorite "F" words - family, friends, football and food! ; )

Today I'm sharing this Thanksgiving inspired card featuring the Harvest Happiness stamp set by Sunny Studio and it's all about the best foods of Thanksgiving.  Pumpkin, turkey and pie!  Though in my opinion the only thing missing from this stamp set is some good ol' canned cranberry sauce from Ocean Spray!  YUM!

The base of this A2 sized card is made from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock.  From an earthy brown cardstock, I die cut the frame from an old My Favorite Things stitched border frame.  Here's a similar one you could use!  Behind the frame I placed a piece of orange fleur-de-lis printed paper.  I stamped all of the images on Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.  I colored the images using Copic alcohol ink markers and added highlights to each image using a white gelly pen.  In the upper right corner of the card, I stamped the sentiment in Lawn Fawn Crunchy Leaf ink.  I began to place the images on the card to create a flowing scene beginning with pie at the top, more pie and turkey legs in the center and pumpkins and pilgrims at the bottom of the card.  Once all the images were adhered to the card, I added a few extra leaves to fill the blank spots and added a coat of clear Wink of Stella on all the images for added sparkle.  

Okay, now I'm hungry!  Anyone else?!  I hope you have enjoyed this Thanksgiving feast on paper!  Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

Hello friends and happy Thursday!  Yay, it's actually my Friday because I'm taking off for a few days to visit a friend in LA and go to the Scrapbook Expo show in Ontario, California with her.  Since I've been working so many of these shows recently, I'm so excited to be attending one FOR FUN!  I'm even signed up to take two classes on watercoloring.  I'm excited to learn different ways to watercolor because it's not something I'm comfortable doing at the moment.  Be sure to follow along on my Instastories as I share a behind-the-scenes look at my weekend adventures!  

Before I leave, I'll share a few cheerful and uplifting cards with you today featuring the Very Sweet stamp set from RG Avenue.  I'll be taking a few days off while I enjoy this mini vacation and will see you back here when I return on Wednesday, October 23rd. 

The base of this A2 sized card is made from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock.  I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of blue gingham from the Sunny Studio Classic Gingham paper pack to mount directly to the card base.  Using the Gina Marie Designs Scalloped Stitched Nesting Dies, I die cut the white piece from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock.  Because this Very Sweet stamp set was a digital stamp, I printed off the images on Solar White Smooth cardstock and colored the images using Copic alcohol ink markers.  I added small highlights to the images using a white gel pen.  I splattered the white paper with Sour Pineapple Sugar Drops.  I adhered the images and sentiment to the card using 3M foam adhesive.  Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the images for added sparkle.

Here is the Very Sweet stamp set from RG Avenue that I used to create these cards:

The base of this A2 sized card is made from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock.  I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of yellow gingham from the Sunny Studio Classic Gingham paper pack to mount directly to the card base.  Using the Gina Marie Designs Scalloped Stitched Nesting Circle Dies, I die cut the white piece from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock.  Because this Very Sweet stamp set was a digital stamp, I printed off the images on Solar White Smooth cardstock and colored the images using Copic alcohol ink markers.  I added small highlights to the images using a white gel pen.  I stamped the "hello" sentiment (from the "Yay Greetings" stamp set) in Black Taffy ink.  I adhered the images and sentiment to the card using 3M foam adhesive.  Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the images for added sparkle.

Thank you for visiting and see you next week!