I Love the Way You......

Hello Friends!  If you still get my feed.  I know I haven't been around very much as of late. Life seems to have taken over and changed directions on me.  Not in a bad way, I've just not been making many cards lately.  I have tons of ideas that never seem to come together.  The card above is one I did just make for my husband to celebrate the day that he asked me to marry him 19 years ago.  :)  Love him still!  I used a digi that I'd stashed away in my printed out file.  I believe it's from Clear Dollar Stamps.  Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I've been spending lots of time with my kids and also making some things from scratch just for fun. :) Below is some homemade cough candies. The kids love them which is good since we've had some coughing going on this winter.  Here's a link to the youtube tutorial if you want to try it yourself.  HERE!

I put lots of icing sugar on them so they didn't stick together.  Mine didn't turn out very pretty, but they still work great!

Some more butter making going on.  I took a pic of the finished product today just to show how much butter I get from one litre/quart of whipping cream.  The leftover buttermilk is delicious in biscuits.  How I'd love to have a cow of my own so that I could make fresh butter more often!  And cheese...I'd love to learn how to do that!  But for now I am thankful the Lord has provided what he has for us.

I've been also taking more time to look at the world around me.  This past week I was out waiting for my smokies to cook on the BBQ...yes you heard that right it was actually warm enough to BBQ this past week.  We even made it up to 13C which is 55.5F.  Anyhow, below is what I seen up in the sky and thought it was worthy of a picture.  God is so good and I'm surrounded by his creation.  As of late with all the warmth, the squirrels have emerged en mass! Wow, I just can't believe how many there are and how energetic to!  We've been watching them chasing each other around the property from morning till night. LOL  Quite the distraction when there's other things to be done.

Thanks for dropping by and letting me share a bit of my life with you.
Praying you have a beautiful day!

You Brighten My Life!

Hello! Today I have a card to share with you that uses this wonderful image by Designed 2 Delight called Balloon Bouquet.  Right now over at the Designed 2 Delight blog, there is a freebie challenge going on, do pop over HERE to check it out!  It's a progressive challenge and if you continue to play along, you get more of Faith's incredible images for free! Gotta love that!
For my card I've chosen this wonderful sentiment from Clear Dollar Stamps -sheltering light set to go along with this delightful bouquet of balloons.  I've chosen this combo because it's for you all of my followers! I am so blessed to be able to share my creations with you and it just "brighten's my heart".
So with some fun K &Company papers and yellow pearls from Hero Arts it's finished.
I pray you are all having a great week! Thanks for popping by!

A Card and A Good-bye

Hi There! Glad you could come by! I have a card to share with you that I've made for my kids to give to my husband on Father's Day.  I knew the instant that I saw this set that it was for him! It's called Classic Cars and can be found in the Clear Dollar Stamps store HERE!

This is the last card that I'm sharing as part of the design team for Clear Dollar Stamps.  Time has gone so quickly and as I mentioned to a couple of team mates- I know all good things must come to an end, but I'm sad that this is one of them.  I have truly loved being on this team and working with the incredible images they put forward! So for now I must say good-bye.
One other pic from an angle, since my husband when taking pics of trucks gets every angle imaginable! LOL
I used some dark blue textured cardstock for the base and underlay for all the panels, blue patterned is from K&Company and the ribbon is from Portafolia.  Simple card, just how he like things!
Thank you from dropping by! Take Care.

Born to Garden!

I love to garden! How about you?  Today I have a card to share with you that I made with the Clear Dollar Stamps set Bless My Bloomers. I have been getting my hands dirty in my garden in between caring for my sick family.  I love to see things grow and the smell of freshness from new plants is wonderful! I do have to remember to go out tonight and cover them up just incase it frosts.  We are supposed to go down to +3 tonight.  Wooo chilly!
Well on to the card. I used this wonderful set and added it to some great cardstock from the Dollar Store.  The ribbon is from Portafolia and the charm from my collection.  The digi paper is from my collection, but I can't for the life of me find out where I got it from?  For a final touch I added the word kind and the flourish stamps from Fiscars with Stampology blue ink.
I'm going to be linking this up with Just Keep on Creating - anything goes & Little Miss Muffet - Anything Goes.

Your a Winner!

Hello, just a quick post today to share with you the winner of the Clear Dollar Stamps blog hop.
Are you ready?.........it's Natalie from Delightful Details chosen from my blog!


Thanks so much for commenting and joining in our wonderful hop! Do hop on over to Clearly iStamp to grab your prize!

FROG

Hello, there is a new challenge over at For Fun challenge blog starting today that I've been asked to be a part of! Yeah! It's FROG-Fully Rely On God.
For me, I am so thankful to the Lord Jesus for His grace and mercy towards me! The knowledge that He is there for me through all things is such a comfort and strength to me.

Knowing that whatever happens in life that He will always be with me, even on into eternity, I have nothing to be afraid of! Praise God!
I hope you'll hop on over and join us! Time for some FOR FUN!
For my card I've used a scripture word art from Clear Dollar Stamps set called Value Verses.  I added a bit of inking around the edges with yellow and orange ink from Camass and then matted it to a piece of cardstock to match the card base.  Under this is a lovely paper from DCWV and I also added a corner of it over the top.  I placed this over some orange paper that I distressed and then added the flowers from Prima Marketing with some brads from Portafolia.  And that's all.
Take care and know that the Lord Jesus is always there if you need to call out to Him!
I'm also sharing this at  Word Art Wednesday  and Scripture Thursday at Little Birdie Blessings

Garden of Life

Hi, are you ready for some great inspiration? Come hop along with us!  If you've come here from the lovely Cassie's blog then your in the right place but if you've just come in now, you can hop back to Lori's at Clearly iStamp to begin.  

   

 I just want to say that I just love these super sweet images that Clear Dollar Stamps has! Today we are having a wonderful blog hop to share some of our favourite sets and specifically those with wings!  For myself, I chosen two sets, first the Garden of Life and the bees from the Bumbles set.  What great garden doesn't have a few of these sweet bees hanging around?  I couldn't decide what colour version to use so I did three and used a different bee from the Bumbles set on each.  

For each one of these cards I just did a variation using supplies from the same sources.  CDS for the images (pre-coloured Garden of Life set) and digital paper; rhinestones/pearls from Forever in Time; cardstock from the DollarStore; ink from Ink it Up-brown; Cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder and ribbon by Multicraft Imports and Kaisercraft.  I used some crystal laquer by Judikins for the eyes and some sparkle from DecoArt for the wings. 

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you join in with the rest of the hop.  You won't be disappointed, and if you comment on each of the DT blogs, you are up for a chance to win $25 wonderful dollars to the Clear Dollar Stamps store for digital images!    Your next hop is over to the talented Kris!  If you get turned around just hop back to HERE for the complete list.  

Have a marvellous day!

A Little Birdie Told Me....

A little birdie told me there is a wonderful sketch challenge going on over at the Clearly iStamp blog starting today!

I have turned this sketch and used the wonderful set called A Tweet Day from Clear Dollar Stamps found HERE!  I coloured the image and popped it up over the wonderful layers of paper from Autumn Leaves and the green ribbon from my stash.  I added the sentiment next to the two birdies who appear to be chatting happily and then for a finishing touch added the blue rhinestones from Forever In Time.  

Thank you so much for coming to see me and I encourage you to go check out the great inspiration and wonderful challenge at Clearly iStamp!
This is my second post for the day so do scroll down to see my Glitter creation.

It's Spring at Clearly iStamp!

Hello everyone!  There's a new challenge beginning over at Clearly iStamp and it's all about Spring! Here the snow is melting and my tulips and crocus are popping up out of the ground! The colour is coming back and I just love it! Today I have a card to share with you that I've created using the Butterfly Bunny precoloured set that you can find at the Clear Dollar Stamps Store HERE!

For this card I've printed out the image, sentiment and the DP from the Butterfly Bunny Set and layered them together with some green cardstock from my stash and some bright yellow ric rac.  All the edges I've inked a bit with my Windflower green ink.   I used a beautiful flower flourish by Heidi Grace (the ink is dark green) and I've added some bright yellow rhinestones to the flower centers. Just something cheerful to help welcome Spring.  We'd love to see what inspires you about Spring.....do join us for the challenge HERE!
This is my second post of today so do scroll down to see my In Stitches project.

Butterfly Thoughts

Hello, I just have a quick post to share.  I bought this lovely butterfly paper (Botanique- American Crafts) and it was just begging to be used.  It has a gold glint to some of the wings.  I cut it out, added some gold ink to the edges then I cut out a panel with my Fiscars oval punch and inked the edges with the gold as well.  Sorry the pic doesn't show the shine.  I then layered some gold and cranberry ribbon together and tied a bow with the latter.  I used my glue gun to add a couple extra loops and the flowers that a wonderful friend gave me! Then I stamped the sentiment from Inkadinkado and added a few little EK Success butterflies whose wings I inked and added a mini pearl to.  I then added a bit larger pearls to the four corners.   It was wonderful to make this just because. I do use a lot of these cards, so it won't be long until it finds a home.
Thank you so much for dropping by! I'm sharing this at Just keep on creating.  It's an anything goes blog challenge and is open for a couple more weeks.
I'd also love to announce the winner of the Clear Dollar Stamps Blog Hop "We're not Horsin' Around". Congratulations  Paula-Kay of Creative Stamping with Paula-Kay.  Your name was chosen from Kathy's blog, DunnitAgainDesigns.  Head on over to Clearly iStamp to collect your wonderful prize!

Wonderful April Release from Clear Dollar Stamps!

Hello Everyone, Clear Dollar Stamps has another amazing release being revealed today at Clearly iStamp.  As one of their designers I have been able to use their wonderful images and I have two cards to share with you.  For my first one, I used Bless my Bloomers set.  It's a wonderful set with so many possibilities.  

Here is my sample card.  I just love watering cans so I was excited to create with this!

I coloured my image with prismas and matted it to some bright green paper from The Paper Company.  I popped this up over some wonderful DP from Stampin' Up and some orangey cardstock from  TPC as well. The ribbons have been wrapped around the orange layer and the pink I tied into a bow.  This sentiment just stuck out to me so I layered on some cardstock which I cut around with some decorative scissors.  The edges have been inked with Windflower green ink.
For my next card I used an image and sentiment from the Sheltering Light set.

I have chosen to colour my own image, although as you can see, they come amazingly coloured as well!  There are tons of sentiments, I had a hard time choosing.  This is the sample that came together.

For this card, I coloured the image with my prismas and I tried to give a bit of a foggy feel to around the lighthouse near the top.  I chose to use the black and red cardstock to highlight the boldness that I always feel from lighthouses.  I also added a panel of DP from K & Company.  The ribbon is from Portafolia.  I used decorative scissors to give the one edge some movement and inked the edges with Stampology black ink.
I hope you've enjoyed seeing these new sets, there are a ton more being showcased over at the Clearly iStamp blog so do head over and check them out.  The design team has created some incredible samples I'm sure you will enjoy seeing! All of these sets are now at the Clear Dollar Stamps Store!
Thanks for dropping by! Have a wonderful day!

We're Not Horsing Around with Clear Dollar Stamps

Hi, Today we're hopping for Charlie/Charlene Digis! Yeah, I just love these incredible images. You should have hopped over from Sarah's wonderful blog and if not, you can start the hop from here at Clearly iStamp.  This time I've used a set called Charlie Gardens.  I've made him into a girl for this with his "accessories" because I thought the green "thumb" accent to his hooves was too much like nail polish.  That's when I decided to do "his" apron pink.  We would love for you to hop along to each of the DT's blogs to see the fabulous creations with these incredible sets.

With this fun hop, one person who comments on the Design Teams blogs will win a gift certificate for $25 worth of digital stamps! WOW! So do take the time to leave comments as you hop. The winner will be announced on April 19th.
Here is a list of all the HOP's.

LORI
LISA
SARAH
JENNIFER  -me
DEONNA
LINDA
KATHY
BARB
CASSIE
JERUSHA
Thanks so much for dropping by! Enjoy all the stops along the hop! Next is Deonna's - For the love of cardmaking. Plus you can find all the wonderful images at the Clear Dollar Stamps Store!

Toadally Hoppin'

Hello everyone! I have a fun card to share with you.  Friday began another wonderful challenge over at Clearly iStamp and I'd like to encourage you to check it out! They are showcasing this wonderful set called Hoppers and I've made a sample for you.

I just love this frog and I thought he would look great sitting on his lily pad out in a little pond.  I created his pond with my Spellbinders scallop oval die and then added some darker blue inking around the edge with my Windflower blue ink pad.  The ribbon and foam flowers are from my stash and the great sentiment comes with the set.  Just click on the image below and it'll take you to the Clear Dollar Stamps store.

Thank you so much for dropping by! Do "hop" over and see what all the croaking is about!

Spring is in the Air!

Good morning everyone! Are you interested in some "Spring" inspiration? There's a blog hop going on with Clear Dollar Stamps on the Clearly iStamp blog! For me, one of the first signs of spring is the return of the birds! I just love to open my windows and hear them singing away happily! It lifts the spirit and brings joy to my soul! The sunshine and blue skies are so cheerful to! I have used this wonderful new set at Clear Dollar Stamps called Cheeps! The digital paper is from another CDS set called Patch Pal Lamb.  Just click on the name of the set and it'll take you to the store for a closer look! The cardstock is from the Dollar Store and the yellow floss and buttons are from my collection.
                      
Here is the list of all the wonderful ladies sharing inspriation today: Do hop through each of thier blogs and leave a comment.  There will be a comment chosen for a wonderful prize of $25 in digital stamps! The winner will be posted Thursday March 22nd.  If you came here from Cassie's blog then you're in the right place. If you get lost, just take a peek below at where you are.
Clearly iStamp - Lori
Barb
Jerusha
Lisa
Cassie
Jennifer (me)
Tameko
Deanne
Kathy
Linda
Sarah

Thank  you for dropping by!  The next stop is Tameko's Blog. Do let me know what your favourite things of spring are!

New Releases at Clear Dollar Stamps for March!

Hello everyone, I'd love to share with you some new sets being released today by Clear Dollar Stamps. First of all, who loves camping? If you do, this set's for you! Here is the card that I've created with this set.

I've chosen a prearranged scene from the set and coloured it with markers and pencil crayons.  I've layered it with some nice brown cardstock and a swatch of burlap.  The button is tied on with some Elmer's braiding cord through the burlap.  To top it off I had to add this fantastic sentiment that comes with the set.  I personally know better than to feed bears! I hope you do to.  Oh, I also added a fun new touch.  Did you notice the smore? I added some "snow" to create a puffy marshmellow filling!
Here's the set and you can now find it in their store.  It's an amazing set....lots of great ideas!
                   
Next I have a card from the new Sunny Day set.

For this card I've chosen to use the image with this wonderful sentiment.  For the Lord has made every day! I have added layers with papers from Autumn Leaves and a ribbon from Multicraft Imports.  The rhinestones are from Forever in Time.  It's simple, but I just love the bright sun and cheery flowers!
You can find this set at the Clear Dollar Store as well.
                   
For more inspiration and to see all the other amazing sets being released today please head on over to Clearly iStamp!

My Heart Flutters

My heart fluttered when I saw this and I think it's beautiful.  I have created this card for the challenge over at Stampin' Sister's In Christ Things with wings and the challenge at Sentimental Sundays words of encouragement.  I believe all friends need to be reminded that they are cherished. I sure have come to cherish  you, my online friends more than I realized that I would.  I would love to sit and have tea with all of you!
For this card I've used the Butterfly Bunny set from Clear Dollar Stamps found here .   Layered the image and sentiment (which I've inked a bit with Color Box blue) on some great cardstock from the Paper Company and Autumn Leaf.  The digital paper is also from the pre-coloured Butterfly Bunny set.  The rhinestones are from Glitterazzi and the mini ric-rac is by Wright's.  I added just a touch of distressing with this one.
May your heart flutter when friends come to mind and smiles touch your face when friends you meet!

Here's Looking at You!

Do you ever feel like someone is watching you? I have, it's often spiders or some other little creature, that's found it's way to me.  Over at the Sweet Stampin' challenge blog, it's all about nature, bugs and bees.  I saw this great pre-coloured set by Clear Dollar Stamps called Praying Eyes Mantis found Here.  This guys eyes just jumped out at me and I couldn't help myself!
When I think of someone watching me, I often remember that the Lord Jesus sees me, all the time.  He knows  my thoughts and motives to.  Knowing this spurs me on to be careful little eyes what I see/ ears what I hear/ mouth what I say and feet where I go.  I love the children's song that I often sing to my kids to remind them that everything they do is important and that the Lord Jesus is watching us all the time.  It spurs me to live right, but it is also a comfort to know that I am never alone and that He is always there for me!
For this card, I used the image and sentiment from the Clear Dollar Stamps set, layered them with some great papers from K & Company and the Dollar Store.  I used a beautiful green ribbon from Offray and some yellowy green rhinestones from Forever In Time.  The edges were inked with Windflower green ink.  Do you notice anything with the eyes? I used some Diamond Glaze by Judikins to add some dimention to them.

Thanks so much for dropping by.

Are You Ready for Charlie?

Charlie from Clear Dollar Stamps are now available in Digi form! Yeah! I just love this horse and his girl Charlene! They are having a new release party over at the Clearly iStamp blog so head on over and do some mingling! There is lots of inspiration and digi sets to see! For my part I have done a card with the Charlie -Lean on my set available HERE!

For this card, I've used Charlie and layered him with the barrels. Also I used this sentiment, the set comes with a few.  I cut him out and matted it to some dark textured cardstock.  This I popped up over a layer of mulberry paper backed by some cardstock so that I could add the ties with the wooden buttons.  Under this I have some matted patterned paper.  I chose the plaid since that comes to mind when I think of cowboys!  After I added the sentiment I inked the edges of the green card base with some chocolate brown ink from Ink it Up.  So many possibilities with this set, I know I'll be making more!

I also have a couple of other cards that I have made using Charlie sets that I'd like to share with you. First is a card using the already released set Charlie Daisy and secondly a card with the Charlie sledding set which is being released now.

For this card I've used the digi image, the sentiment the butterflies and one of the fabulous digi papers that comes with the pre-coloured set!Found HERE.  I created some panels for the lovely daisy paper and ties a white satin bow around the lower of them.  Over this I attached the panel with Charlie and his butterfly friend where I inked the edges to add some blue sky effect.  I also added three little rhinestones for sparkle.  After the sentiment was added, I placed the butterflies that I'd cut out. I love how this turned out!

For this card I used Charlie sledding.  He is so much fun in this and just makes me smile! My family loves slidding so this image will be used lots! I matted the image to some coloured paper and distressed and put over some wonderful snowflake paper that I found at the dollar store (one of my favourite places to shop!).  For the sentiment I added a bit of fun ribbon to look like a scarf, an important element when sliding!  Finally I couldn't resist adding some foam snowflakes with rhinestones for glitter.

Now for one more, I decided to do one with the wonderful Charliene.  So here is Baking with Charliene! I printed off two of her and then used one for a template to cut out her apron front and her scarf.  After she'd been pieced together, I coloured her and matted her to some great brown textured cardstock.  This I placed over some light brown cardstock and added a scalloped edge to it with some scissors to match her apron.  At that time I realized that I'd forgotten to add the cookies! In my family we adore chocolate chip ones in an extra large size! For the background I chose another digi paper from the same set that I used for the apron and it's from the Static Dreams set. I matted a swatch of this to some more light brown paper and then popped the images section over top with some Fiscars glue dots.  I then added the sweet sentiment also from the Baking with Charliene set, inked the edges as I did the image section with black ink and added a touch of scallop to it.  Lastly I added some lovely aquamarine rhinestones from Forever in Time to the corners.

Thank you so much for dropping by, I do hope you enjoyed seeing some samples of the new Charlie/ Charliene sets from Clear Dollar Stamps.  They are all available now in their store under the Digital Images Section HERE!.
Have a wonderful day and find some time for some fun!

You Make Me Happy!

Today I have created this card for the challenge over at Shelly's Images.  It's to use three of something, so for this card I used three buttons, then I thought well, I'll use three digi items (flowers, sentiment and paper).  The Flowers and Digi paper is from Clear Dollar Stamps and can be found HERE!  I used some bright orange paper from The Paper Company and some green paper from K & Company for layers and base.  I used a mini-scalloped pair of scissors to add a nice edge to the image and a bright orange ribbon and bow for accent along with the buttons from my collection.  I don't know what it is with me and orange lately, I find I'm using it a lot?
I'm also entering this card in the Cutie Pie Challenge- Flowers
Thank you for stopping by to see me! This is my second post today so please scroll down to see what else I've been up to!

Inspired By Flowers!

Today I have a card to share with you that I've made for the challenge over at Card Crafter's Circle.  They have a photo inspiration this week and it's gerbera bright!

For my card I've used Butterfly Izzy girl from Di's Digi Downloads and layered her on some beautiful digi papers from Clear Dollar Stamps (from the Patch Pal Lamb and Charlie Daisy sets).  I inked the edges of the papers and also stamped some flourish vines on the blue patterned with a stamp from See~d's.  Over this I added some bright yellow floral ribbon from Modern@Home and some fun flowers from my stash with added pearls from Hero Arts for their centers.  It needed something more so I made some butterfly friends to for Izzy's friend.  They are punched using a EK Success punch and a matching pearl on each.  I stamped the sentiment using part of a stamp from Imaginisce and tucked it in to the side.  I chose the word Joy since that is what came to mind the moment I saw her!  Hope she gives you each some joy! I would love to see you join us at the Card Crafter's Circle! There is some great inspiration from the Design Team so don't miss out!