I wanted to say I am sorry for being so quiet. We have one more Christmas event this weekend and then we should get back into the swing of things. I have been so very spoiled this year! I can hardly believe it. I have so many people that love me and I couldn't be happier. I am currently having fun with my newest toy from my hubby. A MacBook! That's right! It was such a surprise and I have wanted one for so long! WooHoo! It's hard to stop playing with it! I even got a pink case for it! My, how he knows me! :)

Have a wonderful evening and I will get some cards posted soon. With all of the festivities, I haven't been able to find my creative mojo. So hopefully it will come running back to me soon! Don't forget to stop back tomorrow for a wonderful lady!

Meet Maria Colosimo!

This is a sweet little Bella I made with one of my more recent bellas. I love the way this one looks in red. It's such a good color on her. :) I used another card from the DCDW card pack I had and added some card stock behind her and mounted it at an angle. Then I used my scallop punch and attached a white circle with a flower and sentiment on them. I added glitter to bella and to the red dots on the card. Enjoy!

I made this card for my college roommate and her husband who are expecting their first baby in June. I am so excited for them! I love this image from Stamping Bella and I am sure I will get it one day. For now, I don't know that many people having kids, so getting a friend to send me an image when I need it is fine...As long as she is willing! :) There's nothing too fancy about this card, but I think it turned out great. This was made when I was still in the card making groove! :) Have a great day. Enjoy!

This is an adorable card I got from my friend Colleen. I just love the way it looks. It's very simple and so very pretty! The colors are great and I love the "celebrate" stamp! Thank you so much, Colleen!

I made this card for a friend of mine. She has an orange cat just like we do. :) I had been sent a few of these images around my birthday and I thought they were so funny! So now I am getting around to using them. I just may have to get this one. It's prefect for birthdays. I also figured you were tired of seeing bella cards. But if you aren't...don't fear, I have many more to show you! :) I just got the word window punch for Christmas and I love the little bit of added "punch" (hehe) it gives to the card. I have a feeling I will be using it this way more than to put words on, but you never know! :) Enjoy!

I think Bubblebella is one of my very favorite Bellas. She's so cute and so fun to color! I made the purple one for my best friend who just had her second baby. And the green one went to a friend who needs to remember to take some time for herself for a sanity break. :) They both loved their cards. And I had so much fun making them. I think I like bubblebella because you can load o the glitter in the tub! And we all know how I love glitter! I also used some clear baubles on the purple card. I think they are so fun! Just apply with glue-dot and voila! I hope you are all getting a chance to relax a little after the holidays. Have a great day!

These are a few thank you cards I made a while back. My favorite thing about this card is the ribbon. It's so much fun! I wasn't to happy with the rest of the card, I thought it was too plain, but the ribbon did the trick! Enjoy!

This is one of my favorite bella images and one I bought first. I just love her crazy hair and how adorable she looks in every color. She is the perfect bella for thank you cards. I loved this paper, too. It was the inspiration for the card. I didn't want to cover up any more of it than I had to. I also added a couple green baubles. Enjoy!

Don't forget that tomorrow is Featured Crafter Friday! You aren't going to want to miss her!

Meet Nicole Cooke!

Maria was a featured crafter recently and I just got the best gift from her!! She sent me this lovely stamp set of hers! Thank you so much Maria! I hope to get some time to stamp and use these lovely stamps!

I have a new hobby. And yes, it is something other than stamping. I can hardly believe that! I have starting turning wood. This is where you take a piece of wood and it spins and you shape it. You can make pens, bowls, all sorts of fun things. My hubby's step mom does it and that's where I saw it. Then his dad got me the tools for Christmas. We made a little wood shop for me in the basement. It's just wonderful. This picture is of some pen tubes I turned. These were the first ones I did and they turned out great. I am quite impressed. I have just watched people and videos and this was my first go at! I am sure you will be seeing more of these in the future. Enjoy!

The other day I was lucky enough to meet my online friend, Sandie in person. We went to lunch and got some time to chat. It was so very nice. She gave me this adorable Bella card she had made. I really need to get her a website so she can share all of her wonderful creations with the rest of the world! Thank you, Sandie!

Here's a cute kitty card I made. I just love this image and I really wish I had more images of this cat. If anyone has any images they would be willing to send me, I would be more than happy to stamp some images of something I have for you. There's nothing too fancy for this one. Just simple and sweet! Enjoy!

This is "fixafella" from Stamping Bella. Don't you just love him!? If you have a hubby at home that likes to build things like my hubby...this is a must have! I think he's just adorable and so very fitting for my hubby! And I need to get more of these fellas. They make great guy cards. Of course, I had to be sure I didn't add to much glitz to it! That is a hard thing....no glitter, no ribbons. But I love the stripe paper and I think it looks great! Enjoy!

I just love how this card turned out. Stamping Bella has to have the BEST stamps ever! I love the colors and the tiny flowers. It was just so much fun to make. This stitched ribbon is hard to get to knot correctly, but it looks nice when it came together. I love the stamp saying as well. This is just a very happy card. Now if I had a reason to send one out to someone! :) Enjoy!

This is a great stamp set from Stampin' Up! and I just love it. I definitely have to get this set out and make more cards with this! This is from the same set as one of the stamps I used for Christmas cards. This was the first card I made with my cuttlebug and crop-a-dile. So I was just having a little fun playing with my new toys! I love these colors together! Enjoy!

Also, don't forget to come back tomorrow for Featured Crafter Friday. You are NOT going to want to miss her!

Meet Amy Rysavy!

This is a picture of the first pen I turned. I am so proud of myself and so happy with how it turned out! These are two pictures of the same pen, just on different sides. I couldn't decide which picture I liked better of it! Enjoy!

This first card was a RAK I got from Sonya in one of my yahoo groups. It's so lovely and so very sweet of her! Thank you, Sonya. Also, Sonya....if you have a website, please let me know so I can include a link.

This is another RAK I got from Katie. She also sent me some huggybellas images. She used pink fun flock on the robe in the card. It's so fun...and soft! Thanks, Katie!

This is a card my friend Sandie made. (Please note that I finally got her to start a blog! You'll love her work!) This card is so hilarious! Her mind was on a drink when she made this one! She cut out a worm from another bella image and put it in the glass! It's so cute! She is so very clever. :)

This is a goodie package I got in the mail the other day from Sandie! Isn't she the best pal ever!? She sent me a bella stamp (glideabella...she's an ice skater), some chalks, some glitter (because she knows how much I love it) and some blank cards and envelopes! Thank you, Sandie! You're the best!

I got the most wonderful gift as a thank you from Becky. She got me my VERY first set of PaperTrey Ink stamps. This has been my favorite set since I first came across PaperTrey. I was so excited! Of course I jumped right in and used them! I had to get a card made to send to Becky using them of course! So here's one of the cards I made using my new Butterfly Kisses set. There is so much glitter on the butterfly. It looks so pretty in person! The sentiment is from the Kitchen Sink Stamps thank you set I got from Maria. I am sure I will be using this set a lot! Enjoy!

I signed up to do a bella card swap. I signed up for the green and pink groups. These were the cards I made for them. I think they turned out so cute and I can't wait to get the others in the group in the mail! I'll be sure to post a picture of them when I do! I used Gardenbella on the green cards and Bubblebella on the pink cards. The best part about these cards are the shiny paper I used. It looks so pretty! Enjoy!

This is Winobella. I just love her. She is so much fun. And she looks great with both red and white wine in her glasses. I tried a couple new things on this card. I put the pattern paper through my cuttlebug to add a little dimension and I love the way it looks. The paper is from Close To My Heart and I got it from Sandie. I also did the black border around bella by hand. I did them both a little differently and I just love how it turned out. I will certainly be doing this one again! I added a bunch of glitter all over the card and then added some crystal effects to the wine bottle and the glasses. Enjoy!

This is an adorable card I got in the mail from Nicole who was a featured crafter on my site recently. It was so sweet of her to send me this card. And it is so gorgeous in person! Thank you, Nicole!

And don't forget to stop by tomorrow for Featured Crafter Friday!

Meet Emily Giovanni!

Say hello again to Grumpabella. I just love her. She is so sassy...in a "leave me alone" sort of way. :) This was the first time I tried the angle paper. It turned out all right for my first try. :) But I think anything would look great with Grumpabella! Enjoy!

I love these stamps. It's hard to get enough of them. Bellas have to be the most fun stamps I can think of! You can make them match anything and there are so many occasions they are perfect for. I cut the green and black paper to the sizes I wanted them and then I put them in the cuttlebug. It looks so cool! I can't believe I don't use the cuttlebug on ALL of my cards! I added some glitter and this bella was complete! Enjoy!

This is Cakeabella and she looks so sweet. She even baked a cake for you! It would make me happy, too! The paper is from Close To My Heart and I got it from Sandie. I put the paper through the cuttlebug but I put it in the wrong way, so the swirls are recessed instead of raised. I am actually pretty happy with how it looks, though. So it was a good mistake! :) The sentiment is from the Stampin' Up! set "Warm Words". And man, this set is so useful! I added a couple baubles from Stamping Bella and that was about it. Enjoy!

These are Huggybellas. They are so fun and perfect for friends. This was a card fold I saw on SplitCoastStampers and it works out perfectly for bellas. The bellas really stand out with this card fold and I know I will use it again for these stamps! This paper is also from Close To My Heart given to me by Sandie. I added a prima and a sticky felt flower attached with a brad. I then stamped the sentiment and added some glitter! Enjoy!

Don't we all wish we looked this cute when we were sitting at our computers? I know I do. I know a couple people that would love this green computer, too!. I used a couple cards from a DCDW card pack. I added a prima and a sticky felt flower with a brad. Then I made some photo corners and added dots of glitter to them. I added the sentiment from Kitchen Sink Stamps. Enjoy!

I am a bit funny when it comes to wood. Most people want to find the most perfect piece...not me. I want to find the strangest piece of wood with the most imperfections. I think they have so much more character. I like the knots and the strange colors in wood. So this second pen was perfect! I was so pleased with the colors in it! I also took a picture of the two pens together. I am quite happy with how they turned out and I am making more things all the time! Enjoy!

I am on vacation in Mexico. So there won't be a featured crafter this week. See you next week!

This reminds me so much of me! We used to have a grey cat, but now we just have an orange one. I would definitely wear this outfit, too! I added a little glitter in a couple places and poked holes at the bottom of the red paper. I did the black border around the image by hand and that was it! Simple, yet still looks adorable! :) Enjoy!

We returned from our trip to Mexico late last night. We had a wonderful time and wonderful weather! It was in the 80s and we didn't have any rain. It couldn't have been better! It was so relaxing. When we got back home to Minnesota, of course it was a bit cooler...about 20 outside (but not as cold as the -20 that it was last year when we returned). So I thought a little Glideabella might be fitting.

I got this as a gift from Sandie. She is such a wonderful and giving friend! We have started to exchange cards with a theme....I was to pick the layout and she picked the stamp. She loves green, so of course, I made her a green card. I tried something I haven't done before...I outlined the image. I think it actually turned out ok. I might try it again sometime! :) I'll show you the card Sandie gave me tomorrow! There's also a ton of glitter on the card! Enjoy!

I got all of these wonderful gifts from Sandie. How very lucky am I?! She gave me the most adorable binder for my bellas and I didn't waste any time filling it with what I have. She gave me a bunch of ribbon, oodles of bella images, a card her son made for me and the glideabella card I wrote about yesterday. Isn't just the most adorable card? I love the colors! She does such stunning work! Thank you so much, Sandie! Enjoy!

*Edit* I added a picture of some of my bellas in the binder. I thought you might like to see how they fit in there.

When I got back from our trip, I was so excited to see all of these goodies in my mail box!

This first one is from one of my best friends and my SU demo. She just had her second baby, Hannah, in December and this was a thank you she sent out.

This was a sweet little card from Colleen along with a package of white card stock. I have been sending her and her daughter bella images to play with and she felt she owed me for all the images! :) Thanks, Colleen. You do know that you'll just be getting more now! :)

This was a card from Corie. She sent cards out to people who subscribed to her blog. What a sweet gesture!

This adorable card is from Charmaine as a thank you for featuring her on my site. She makes such stunning cards. I feel like I should send her a thank you for such a pretty card! Thanks, Charmaine!

This was a card from Pat from a RAK group I am in. Thank you so much, Pat! It's just gorgeous!

And last, but certainly not least, is this adorable bella card from Marnie. We exchanged some bella images and this was the card I got along with the images. Thank you, Marnie! I can't wait to play with them!

I wanted to share a little more of my wood working hobby with you. I hope you enjoy it. These are key rings. I loved this black and white wood. I had hoped to make a pen from it, but the other half didn't work out so well. So I made it a key ring and I like how it turned out.

This one is one I made for my hubby. He chose the walnut wood to use and wanted me to try making it higher in the middle. This was my first attempt at it and it didn't turn out too badly. I think it's slightly off center, but it still looks nice! And he liked it! Which is what really matters.

This is the two of them together. These were fun and pretty simple to make. They would make nice gifts! Enjoy!

Here's a little tent topper card I made with my Butterfly Kisses set from PaperTrey Ink. I just love this set! I could play with these images all day long. This has to be my favorite set by them! But they have so many new sets releasing this month that there is a good chance one of these new ones will be my new favorite! Sorry for the dark pictures. I have been lazy with my photos, but I will get back to using my photo box! Enjoy!

Oh! And don't forget to come back tomorrow for Featured Crafter Friday. Have a great day!

Meet Tammy Hershberger!

This was a Bubblebella card I made for a contest a while back. I didn't win, but I was very happy with the way the card turned out! I sent one of these to the host of this challenge and the other to the winner. I used a prima flower, then a punched black scallop where I cut down each petal and then I added a sticky felt flower with a brad. I also added a couple baubles to the bath. I used my corner rounder to make the scallops on the bottom and then poked holes in the center. Then I went around them with a white gel pen. And of course...loads of glitter! Enjoy!

This isn't my favorite card, but I hadn't posted a card with her yet. I made this for a friend's daughter and her daughter just loved it! I sent along some Bella images for her to play with as well! I used some puffy snow stuff for the popcorn. It adds a lot of texture. I took out the Cuttlebug for this one. I also used the word window punch for the teal pieces. I love that little bit of punch that they add. The stamp in the corner says "happy place".I like colors, but I still felt something was missing. Oh well. Too late now! :) Enjoy!

These are all the pink cards from the Bella swap I was in. Mine is in the center. I shared it with you in this post. This was the first card swap I have ever done and it was a lot of fun! I will share the green set with you tomorrow! Enjoy!

These are all the green cards from the Bella swap I was in. Mine is in the center. I shared it with you in this post. Enjoy!

Here are a couple cards I got in the mail recently. The first one is from Colleen. She always sends me such gorgeous cards. I haven't had any time to make Valentine's Day cards, so no one will be getting one this year. :( Thanks, Colleen!

This card is an adorable Bella card from Lori. She is the one that won the contest I entered the red bubblebella card to, so I sent her one of them! The colors in this card she sent are just gorgeous! Thanks for thinking of me, Lori!

Well, sort of! They were pink and since I haven't made any cards recently, I thought these would be nice to share on Valentine's Day! These were two pens I made for myself. I like pink, so these have pink in them. I also prefer silver over gold, so I had to get some that were silver for myself! :) Here is a picture of the two of them together.

This one has a lighter wood and some darker pink swirls in it. I tried making it more raised in the middle. I am going to need a bit more work on this, but it looks cool and gives the pen a fun shape. Here is a picture of this one alone as well as a close up of the pattern on the wood.

This one is definitely my favorite! It's thinner on the ends and thicker in the middle. It's really nice looking. It's such a rich, deep pink color. This is dyed Boxelder wood and it has some really cool holes in the wood. You can kind of see that in the close up picture. These are so much fun. I have more in the making! Enjoy!

Meet Melanie Muenchinger!

This is a tinkerbella card I made. I just love this little image. She's so cute and fun. I added a ton of glitter and some dots in the upper part of the card with VersaMark. Enjoy!

This was a little card I made with my very first My Favorite Things stamp set called "Serenity Now". I just love this set! It's so fun to use! I have some more cards I will share with you soon that I made with the other images in the set.

Sandie loves this set, too, so I sent her some images along with this card. It was the first time I tried punching circles and attaching them with a brad and I really like how they turned out! I added glitter to the body of the lady and did a some hand-made decorating around the image. Enjoy!

This is a very bright birthday card I made a while back. I loved the colors in the pattern paper. I have this huge "happy birthday" stamp that I used. I think it was in a long row when I bought it, but I cut it into two pieces so it was easier to use! I went over the words in crystal effects to make it look embossed. I then added a crystal gem to the "i". I used these felt sticky flowers from the $1 bin at Target and attached a gem in the center of them. I think it's really fun and colorful even though it's a very simple card. The paper is the main attraction! Enjoy!

Difficulty:
(3/5)

Here's a little tutorial for paper piecing. This adds a whole lot of dimension to your cards and really ties in the image and the pattern paper you may be using.

››› Click here to see the rest of this project ‹‹‹

This is the same layout as the blue card from yesterday. Just in pink! And it's my favorite! I love how this one turned out. It was actually the first one of these I did. I have one more in another color to show you tomorrow. Enjoy!

And don't don't forget to stop by for Featured Crafter Friday.

This is the green version of this card. I think this paper is a lot of fun. I usually think of this pattern as a manly type, but it looks so feminine with this stamp set! Enjoy!

Meet Lori Tecler!

This is Daintybella. I think she is so adorable. I wanted to make a fairly simple thank you card. My stash of thank you cards was running low. I love stripes, so this paper was just calling out to me! I think the one thing I wish I did differently would be to have colored her dress with marker instead of colored pencil. I think it would have given it a more cohesive look. So I will probably give that a try next time. :) Enjoy!

I got the inspiration for this card from THIS card by Lori. It's not exactly the same by any means, but I really love how her turned out. I think mine turned out ok. It was a bit different than the cards I usually do, but it was a fun challenge for me! Enjoy!

Meet Beerafella. This is just a fun little image for male cards. There just aren't enough out there. Too bad guys don't appreciate cards like we do! :) I saw how to do the sunburst things on someone's site a long time ago. I may have to do a little tutorial on them if you might be interested. They are so easy and make a fun impact! Enjoy!

Isn't this adorable paper? I just love it. They are great colors! I wasn't sure what I was going to do as far as embellishments after I got the bella attached. I think the punched flowers added just the right amount. I was also pleased that the sentiment fit on the space next to the image. I wasn't sure it would. I maybe should have checked that out before I attached the bella, but I just don't work that way! :) Enjoy!

This first card is one I got from Joan. She offered to swap cards with me a while back. Thank you, Joan for this wonderful card!

This next card is from Sandie. She sent this adorable card along to me with some bella images I asked her for. Thank you, Sandie!

One of my best friends and I exchanged Christmas....yes Christmas....gifts last night! This is the FABULOUS gift she got me! It is just FULL of goodies and toys! I just wanted to share this. She got it at Sam's Club. So maybe some of you are on your way there now! :)

Don't forget to stop back tomorrow for Featured Crafter Friday!

Meet Carol Sheetz!

I won this set at my friend's Stamp-A-Stack. I couldn't decide which ribbon I liked better so I did one of each. I did like how the card turned out. I used some pattern paper I had made a while back and then used my corner rounder to make the scallop edge. I stuck on a ton of yellow gems in the middle of each scallop. I colored and cut out the flower and attached it with a huge eyelet. Of course, I also had to add a ton of glitter to the flower. It's a very spring-looking card. Enjoy!

I thought I had already posted this card, but I guess I was wrong. :) Unless you tell me otherwise! This is Cosmobella from Stamping Bella I think she's so cute and I love the way the ribbon looks. Of course, her shirt is loaded with glitter! Enjoy!

These are a few of the pens I have done recently. They are (from darkest to lightest) are Yew, Mesquite, Walnut and Ebony. I am also learning some other materials, like plastics, to make into pens. I will get some pictures taken of those when I get them done. Enjoy!

A friend of mine wanted me to make her some cards. She has a dog walking business (Happy Paws), has a couple Yorkies of her own and loves animals in general. (Oh, and I made her site.) She wanted me to use the layout from this card. I don't have this stamp, (which is Walkabella) but Sandie was nice enough to send me what I needed. I made two of each of these cards.

This adorable card is from Melanie who was the featured crafter a couple weeks ago. This is the frog from one of her sets! Isn't it so cute! I love the paper piecing and the way it turned out! Thank you, Melanie!

Meet Lydia Fiedler!

This is a Clickabella card I made for my friend who gave me the huge tote full of craft things that I posted a few days ago. I used some of the flowers from the tote. I think it turned out really cute! But then again, how can a bella card NOT be cute?! Enjoy!

And I am sorry for the crappy picture! I had to take it quickly. :)

This is a Kittycattabella card that I made for a friend who had to put her kitty to sleep. :( I am not sure I like the way things turned out on the pink paper, but I know she will like it. I just started putting things on the card without thinking about the layout! :) Anyone else ever done that? Enjoy!

These are some baby cards we made at my friend's Stampin' Up! Stamp-A-Stack she had a couple weeks ago. I thin they turned out really cute. I just don't know anyone to give them to! Anyone out there having a baby? Enjoy!

These are some birthday cards from the Stamp-A-Stack. I can't believe I forgot to show these. I have another day of them tomorrow! This is the layout I liked and used for this card. Enjoy!

This was the last set of cards we did at the Stamp-A-Stack. I just couldn't get the images to stamp clearly. I think it would have worked better if I was on a harder surface. I was stamping on a card table and I just couldn't get the images as crisp as I would have liked. But I do think the cards turned out really cute! I showed you a close up of each of the sets (dinosaurs and zoo animals). Each of the cards have a different pattern paper on them, but I like stripes, so those are the ones you get to see up close! :) Enjoy!

This is a cd rack that my hubby had sitting around the house. It wasn't being used, so I took it and used it for my stamps. I also took a bunch of time and put all my clear stamps into the cd cases that are on the bottom shelf. I had a bunch of $1 stamps that I didn't use because they weren't convenient to get to. The SU stamps were in totes and I would always surprise myself with the stamps on the bottom...Oh yeah, I had that set! So I am very excited that all these stamps are going to be out and in a more usable place!

See you tomorrow for Featured Crafter Friday!

Meet Maria Levine!

Are you ready for this?? These are all the goodies I got from my buddy Sandie. I knew she had a couple things for me, but I was not prepared for the magnitude of the gifts!

I'll try to list everything: pattern paper, SU stamps, Beachabella (from Stamping Bella), "life's a beach" (from Stamping Bella), baubles in TONS of colors (from Stamping Bella), mini mail boxes, a basket and two mugs that say "baby it's cold outside", body butter in various scents, oodles of SU ink pads (her MIL had them but didn't use them), decorated tic-tacs, bella images, some white card stock and envelopes, and a couple little kits she put together when she was an SU demo!

Phew! That was a lot. Now imagine me saying that in one breath! :) Thank you SOOOOO much Sandie!

This is beachabella. This is the stamp I got from Sandie. The sentiment is from her as well. Along with all the baubles and the paper! :) I just love this image! I can't wait for the warm weather so I can wear my bikini! Enjoy!

This is Savvyshopabella. I think she is so cute. I got a bunch of images in the goodie pack I got a couple days ago and I was dying to try her out. I definitely need to put her on my wish list! I love how it sparkles...I had to add the glitter! And I love the pastel colors in this one. Maybe I should have saved this card to post on Easter! :) Enjoy!

This is Cuppacakeabella. I am going to have to work on my coloring or just not use markers next time. I didn't like how that turned out. But the pink and brown make a good combo! I added loads of glitter with icicle stickles. I thought it would look cool with the large pieces of sparkle! Enjoy!

These are a couple pens I did. It's been a while since I posted one. I also haven't been whipping them out as fast as I would like. :) The lighter one on top is Bird's Eye Maple. I also put a couple of burn lines in the top half of the pen. It gives it a little bit of added detail.

The second pen is a bit different. This is made out of multi-colored acrylic. It has golds, browns, and black in it. This is a fun medium to work with. It's a bit more time consuming, but the results are very nice! Enjoy!

This is a goodluckabella card. I made it for my aunt, Patty, who had her birthday on St. Patrick's Day. I really should have posted this then, but I forgot. I don't have this stamp, but Lorie was kind enough to send me some images! Thanks, Lorie!

This card is so pretty in person. The green is such a soft green and I love how it contrasts with the black. I actually printed this paper and it was found at Shabby Princess. They have a ton of stuff to download there. Enjoy!

And don't forget to stop by tomorrow for Featured Crafter Friday!

Meet Lisa Burton!

First I want to note that this is my 300th post! How cool! I just realized that and wanted to share with everyone. Thanks for stopping by to read my 300 posts!

These are a couple fella cards I made for a couple of my husband's friends who just had their birthdays.

The first uses "beerafella" and the sentiment says "celebrate!" The second used "golfafella" and says "fore your birthday" which I had wrote. I also recently got the photo corner punch from SU, so I wanted to give it a try!

Looking back at the cards now, I think I would have put the pattern paper on the top and put the sentiments on the solid cardstock rather than the pattern paper. I think the sentiment is a little hard to read and almost looks too busy...something to think about for next time! :) Enjoy!

Difficulty:
(1/5)

Happy Easter everyone. These are the Easter cards I sent out to a few people this year. I made my own pattern paper for this...and I'll show you how!

››› Click here to see the rest of this project ‹‹‹

Last week my mom came over because she wanted to make some cards. She picked out the bellas and the paper and colored them. I just helped her put them all together. I have to say that I am quite proud of her!

The first one is daintybella. She is just a sweet image. We added some ribbon with lots of other colored ribbon tied inside the white ribbon

The second one is cosmobella. I think this turned out really cute. We added the flowers after we thought we were done and really liked them. They have red glitter in the center of them.

This is flowahbella and the layout was my attempt to cover up the paper I didn't like. It was perfect for the person my mom planned to give the card to, but it isn't my taste. So we made a good compromise with the scallop circle. I cut between each scallop to the white circle. It looks like a big flower!

This is tinkerbella. I love how the paper matches the flowers in her skirt. I think it's really cute!

This last one is bubblebella and our favorite. My mom colored the bubbles in different colors and it's really cute! I was a bit skeptical at first. Then there is coordinating glitter on top of the bubbles. Then we weren't sure where to put the sentiment and my mom suggested on the tub. So I put some clear letters on a block so I could line them up and I think it turned out really cute! I will definitely do this again! Enjoy!

I found these markers at Dick Blick. They were only $20 and I am quite happy with them. I get lots of colors and they have a nice sharp tip, but if you turn them on the side, they can color a large area. I also bought a good skin color and a light gray for outlining bellas. Those are both from Tombow. I can get the numbers on them if anyone wants them. Now keep in mind...these aren't Copic quality, but I am just too cheap to buy the Copics! :) I also wanted to try out coloring with them and the images turned out pretty cute. I will probably throw these on cards at some point, but I just wanted to play with the markers. :) Enjoy!

This is a blingabella card. I threw it together for my hubby's cousin who just got engaged. I don't have this image, but I swapped some images with someone. I added a couple baubles to the flowers. It's kind of hard to make this "busy" paper work, but I think the card turned out pretty cute! Enjoy!

This is a dryabella card. I knew I wanted this image, but wasn't sure what I was going to use her for. Then I saw THIS and knew exactly what I was going to do! I paper pieced the robe and the used a cuttlebug folder on the bottom half of the card. I really love this card and I hope you do, too! Enjoy!

And don't forget to stop back tomorrow for Featured Crafter Friday!

I wanted to mention another site I have linked on this page, but I am not sure many people know about it. It's andihays.net. This is another blog I post to which has more personal things on it. I chose to use this site solely for crafts and craft related things. So I feel like some of you out there that I chat with frequently might want to know me a little better. So I am showing you where you can do that. I also think that if people want to just look at crafts and not personal things, they can do that! But I wanted you to know about this one exists! :) Have a great day!

Meet Lorie Ames!

Dogwalkabella is a newer image and I have a friend with a dog walking business and I knew I needed this to make cards for her. I think this image is just adorable. I am not really a small dog person, so I love this image with the bigger dogs. I also put some clear baubles on the card and covered them with glitter! I am quite pleased with the way that turned out! I will definitely do it again! Enjoy!

I love this image! I am going to have to put her on my next order! Savvyshopabella is now going to be called SavvyButt! Why you ask? My best friend recently had her second baby and I gave her a savvyshopabella card. She loved her butt and is now hanging it on her fridge to motivate her to lose her baby weight! I also must mention I love how the coloring on this one turned out! Enjoy!

I made this card for my husband's step dad who lost his mother last week. She lived a long life and died at 98. I wanted a fairly manly card, but all I think of for sympathy cards are flowers. So I made this is some blue colors. They are punched flowers and I stamped the stems. I also used the "swiss dots" cuttlebug folder on the background. The inside says, "Some moments are worth holding in your heart forever." Enjoy!

Today is my friend, Sandie's birthday (Happy Birthday!) and I gave this pen to her this weekend when she was over at my house. People either love the way this pen looks or they hate it. I have really small hands so the larger grip end is hard for me to hold. But I do like how this particular acrylic material turned out.

I was also given this Art Award from Lorie the other day! Thank you for thinking of me Lorie! This is the Arte Y Pico award. The award is given to bloggers who share their art creations through blogging. Here are the rules...

1. You have to pick five blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and the link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4. Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

Jen
Becky
Cathy
Lydia
Tammy

Have a wonderful day everyone!

This is Ipodabella. I think she is really cute. I got a couple images of her from a swap I did. I made this card really simple. I have a number of images I colored just to try out my new markers and then I was adding them to cards. This is one of them! :) I added some glitter to the clear baubles to make them stand out a little more. I love this effect. Enjoy!

(I apologize for the crappy picture. I have been a little lazy with my picture taking recently.)

This is my bin/tin I have been using for my Bella images. I used to keep my bella stamps in here until Sandie gave me my wonderful binder for them. This first picture is a picture of the top of it. I used an image I had with all sorts of stamping girls on it and added some flowers. Then I used some crystal gems in some of the flowers and added loads of glitter.

This is the front of the tin. I wanted this to be the front so I can have more images in the bin. I used stampingbella on the front and added some ribbon and glitter as well as more gems. This way I know which way my tabs are facing. I would undoubtedly always open it backwards if I didn't have this on the front.

And this is what I have on the inside. I cut up a bunch of index cards and used the tab punch. I cut the tab in half and glued it to the index card. I also printed labels with all of the bella names on it. I only used the ones I have images of for now and when I get more, I can add to it. I also have a couple tabs in there for words and miscellaneous images. (And yes, I know they aren't in alphabetical order...I decided I didn't care after working on this for hours!)

I am so exited to have these more organized. I think it will be much more useful this way! Enjoy!

Don't forget that tomorrow is Featured Crafter Friday! You won't want to miss this special lady!

Meet Lauren Meader!

This is one of my favorite Bella images. I wish I could use it for everything, but I don't know how I would use it for a thank you card. (Which is something I need to make more of right now.) Anyone have any brilliant sentiment ideas for Grumpabella as a thank you card?

I used my photo corner punch from Stampin' Up!. I just love this punch. This was another image I had sitting around that I had colored when I first got my new markers. I also love this color combo lately. I am predominantly a black color person, but I have lately been liking things in brown. This will cause problems as I do not own brown shoes. Just black. Scary! :) Enjoy!

Eh is what I have to say about these cards. Well, this first one is ok. Nothing that I think is fabulous or anything, but not so bad. I used a large scallop circle for the flower and stuck a smaller scallop and "joy" embellishment in the center.

This one I just don't like how it turned out at all. I think the colors of the bella are too bright for the card background. Nothing came together well on this card and I wanted to show it with another one because I couldn't justify giving this card it's own post! I loaded on tons of glitter to try to cover up the colors. So I guess, it really sparkles and that is good! Enjoy...if you can! :)

This is a cute new Bella I have and she just looks so darn comfy! I colored her a while ago and made a number of cards at one time. You can probably tell from the slight resemblance to a couple of the previous cards. I love the way the photo corner punch looks behind the image. I also like the flowers in the opposite corners. This is a really simply layout, but the pattern card adds enough other action to this otherwise simple card. Bella also has glitter on all of the flowers in her jammys and on her slippers. And the pink matches in person much better than this picture showed! Enjoy!

I bet you can hardly believe it...a NON-bella card! :) I love this Changito image from Stampendous. I made a few 3x3 cards and added different sentiments on each. They say "thanks a bunch," "hang in there," "hi," and "go bananas." I had the first two sayings and the other two I put together with clear letter stamps. I added a couple baubles and put glitter on them. I have no idea what I am going to use these for, but they were fun to do! Enjoy!

I was given these cards by Sandie when she was over at my house a couple weekends ago. These were a couple cards she had on hand and thought I should have. The first is a bella card. I love how sparkly it is! She put so much glitter on the dress and the colors are great!

The next is a waterfall card. I had never seen one of these in person and it's so cute. You pull the ribbon at the bottom and it shows each of the pictures that are hidden as you pull on the string. This starts with lemons...and moves to a cocktail! How cute. Thanks, Sandie!

This is probably my favorite pen so far! I made this one for myself and I use it all the time. It's made out of acrylic and is so soft and smooth. And hot pink of course! I have made a couple other wood projects recently that I will have to get on here soon. :)

Also, don't forget to come by tomorrow for Featured Crafter Friday. This lady is quite talented. And if there is someone you would like to see me feature, let me know and I will try to get in touch with them. Or if you want to see your face and work up here....let me know! :) Have a great day.

Meet Jillian Winters!

My hubby's step mom needed some baby shower invitations made for her niece's shower coming up. I was more than happy to help her out! This is a bit of an unconventional style for shower cards, but I thought the new mom would like them. I made 15 of them for her, so I included a picture of the pile of them! I love how big piles of cards look. I attached the flowers and added glitter to the middle of them. I also attached small safety pins to the card and added glitter to those, too. They look really cute! :) The stork also has a bunch of glitter on it...I love glitter...can you tell? :) I used some Martha Stewart clear stamp letters for most of the words and I used a clear stamp from the $1 for the word "baby". I have to say that I love the clear letters. They were a pain to take apart at first, but they are so useful! Enjoy!

Yesterday I accepted a legal secretary position and I couldn't be happier about it! I have been spending some time figuring out what sort of job I would like and applying to various places. This was something I didn't want pass up. I will do my best to keep up with everything on my site. I do a lot of future posts (meaning I can set them to post anytime I want) and tend to do a week's worth at a time or so. So I shouldn't get too behind. I may have to modify the frequency of the Featured Crafters as I transition back into the working world. Some of you may know that I have been working from home for over 4 years. I am ready for this new challenge and exciting new adventure. I just wanted to let you know and thanks for your patience!

I love this image! This is Rockabella. I don't have this stamp, but I got some images from Sandie. I colored her guitar with gold stickles. Actually, I think the color of the stickles was platinum, but it looks gold (it has silver and gold in the bottle...which is more than you wanted to know I am sure)! I put the stickles on a couple clear baubles on the card, too. I love that I can make the baubles any color I want them! I used the clear letter stamps from Martha Stewart for the sentiment again. Enjoy!

I just love this image from Stampendous. I haven't used it in a while and I am definitely going to be sure to take it out more often. I really need to make some more "thank you" cards. I never seem to have enough! I think if I were to do this again, I wouldn't round the corners on the bottom of the pattern paper. I added the ribbon as a last minute addition and wished I had left those edges square. But with the ribbon over it, it's hard to tell. So I am worrying about nothing! :) The flowers have stickles in their centers, stickles are in the center of each scallop on the circle and the baubles have stickles on them, too! Enjoy!

I made this card for a guy friend of ours who recently had his birthday. I used Beerafella and wanted to make him a bit more birthday-festive. I used a tiny cupcake and hat stamps that I had from some $1 bin clear stamp sets. I cut them out and attached them to the card. I glued the cupcake right over the beer the fella is holding because I wasn't sure it was going to work. I am quite pleased, though. I haven't done anything like this before, but it was so much fun! I guess I need to do a little more thinking outside the box so I can come up with some more creative things like this one! I could have left the beer off the image or put the sentiment over it, but since this particular friend likes beer, I wanted to leave it in! Enjoy!

This is another Stampendous image in the Changito line of stamps. I love how happy these little monkeys look. There are so many sentiments you can use with this card. But I chose to use nothing! I used my cuttlebug to emboss the dots on the bottom and added a couple flowers attached to circles which are raised on mounting tape. It's just a happy little card...and kind of makes me want to dance! Enjoy!

I wanted to give a little update on work! It's so fun! I am really liking what I do. I am learning so much and I am a bit overwhelmed with it all, but I have confidence that it will all start making sense soon. This is only my 3rd day and people that have been here 10+ years are still learning something new everyday! So I am just scratching the surface! But I am still going to get a featured crafter up this week. I would like a little input on your part. I will give you a few options.

1. Would you prefer if I continued to do this every week (in which case I may solicit a little help from the crafter in picking some of their own projects to feature...it takes a long time when I am picking them out myself).
2. Do a post every other week...say first and 3rd Friday of the month.
3. Once a month...maybe the first of the month or the first Friday of the month or something.

So please give me a little input as to what you would like to see. I am open for any option, I would just like to see what the readers would like the most! Have a great day!

This is Fashionistabella. I got a couple images from Sandie and I just love this image. I am definitely going to need to get some more from her. There is a sentiment you can get that says "friends come in all shapes and sizes" that I think would go so perfectly with this stamp. I just might have to get them one day! I used another newer cuttlebug folder on this one. I can't remember the name...texture something. (I'm too lazy to look it up!) I was a little bummed that the blue on her tape measure bled when I added the glitter. But I am guessing that many of you wouldn't have noticed had I not just pointed out my mistake! :) I also mounted the image on mounting tape too make the image "pop" a bit. Enjoy!

And don't forget to come by for Featured Crafter Friday tomorrow. I have yet another amazing lady to share with you!

Meet Jen del Muro!

This is another Rockabella card. I couldn't resist. She was just so much fun to play with. I never even considered getting her until I was given some images to play around with. And since I love pink so much I had to be sure I used lots of it. I made the little circle flowers with some cutting. I may have to do a tutorial on those or something. I saw them out in "blog-world" a long time back, but I don't remember where? Anyone interested in knowing how these little flowers are made? Enjoy!

This is a card I made with Sandie in mind. I sent her this card after coloring it to look like us! She loves green, so I had to put her in a green dress. She also has blonde curly hair. I have long brown hair (although not as long as it used to be) and I would totally wear this outfit! I added all sorts of glitter; to the dots, to the ribbon on "me", to "Sandie's" dress....it's such a cute card in person! Oh, and I used the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder on the green dotted strip. Enjoy!

Have any of you ever had one of these days? I put the card together...all the finishing touches...everything. Then I go to stand up the card and CRAP! It's upside down! I felt so dumb. I actually sent this off before taking a good picture of the card close up. Since this was for my friend who went shopping for work clothes with me. So I cut off the back to the card and sent it as a postcard. Oops. I guess it was just one of those days! :)

This was a card I got from Sandie that she sent me after I got my new job! Sandie was a Legal Secretary, so she knows all about my learning curve and is a great resource for any questions I have. Thank you for this sweet card, Sandie.

This card is from Colleen which I also got for getting a new job. It's so pretty in person. Thank you so much for thinking of me, Colleen!

This is from Carol who was a Featured Crafter a while back. She sent me this great card! It's so bright and colorful. Sorry it took me so long to post this, Carol!

This was a RAK I got in the mail recently from Joan. I wasn't expecting it at all! Those are the best cards! Thank you so much, Joan! This card is just adorable!

I made this card for a friend of a friend who had a terrible tragedy in her family. I don't know her very well, but have met her a couple times. I wanted to be sure to send a card to her, though. I hope her family gets peace and closure soon. Enjoy!

I have gotten a few replies wanting a tutorial for the flowers I posted on this post, so I will try to get that done very soon! Thanks for interest! :)

My dad's birthday was last weekend and I wanted to give him a fun card. He is, by far, my best customer when it comes to buying cards. So I knew he would like whatever I made him. He likes to fish, so I knew I had to use this image. (The image is Fishafella from Stamping Bella.) I outlined the image with gray after coloring it in. I added some Crystal Effects to the fish and the worm. It's so cute in person! I also used the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder on top of some adorable lure paper. Enjoy!

And the card was a huge hit! He loved it!

I am going to skip this week of Featured Crafter Friday. I am going to have a great lady to share with you next week. I have not decided how frequently I am going to do this, but it just so happens that this one will fall at the beginning of the month. So we'll see what sort of time I get after that. But have no fear....I am not ending them all together by any means. Have a great weekend!

This is Docabella and I think it is just perfect for a get well card. My Mother-In-Law hurt her back earlier this week and I thought this would be a good time to ink this little lady up! I used a sketch layout from Beate's site. I didn't enter the contest she was having with this layout but I still wanted to give it a try. I think I will definitely try this one again. It was fun to play around with. I also love the colors...It fits well with a "get well card" because of how cheery it is! Enjoy!

This is an adorable image from Stampendous. I got this one from a friend I just love it. I think all of the Fluffle images are adorable! I used glitter paper for the green and yellow paper and used my Swiss Dots CuttleBug folder on the bottom. There is also a little glitter on the flower petals. Enjoy!

This is a new set from Hanna Stamps called "Tool Time". I just love this set! I had to have her because my Sister-In-Law, my hubby's mom and Step-Mom all are very good with tools. I am also much better with them than I used to be. So this is just so much fun! I love it and can't wait to use her more! Enjoy!

This is a recent release from My Favorite Things. I am so excited to use this for Mother's Day. Now I just have to find some time to actually make some cards! I am still really tired when I get home from work, but it's getting better every day! I put a bunch of glitter on the shirt and then stamped "Have a Spendiferous Day" on the bottom. Enjoy!

When I first saw this image from Stampendous a while back I thought it was cute. I fell in love with it when I realized the kitty had one of the leaves in its mouth. I just cracked up! I also love how guilty the kitty looks for eating the flowers! I think the card turned out really cute. I can't wait to play with this image more. Enjoy!

Sorry I don't have anything to show you today. I worked on a couple things last night, but wasn't really in the mood. So I am not very pleased with what I came up with. I am hoping to get a little more craft time in soon. And I promise I haven't forgotten about the flower tutorial. :) I am starting to be more comfortable at my job and I think things will start to be more normal soon! I just get home and am so tired...I have no creative juice right now! But I am hoping that will change soon!

I am also working on the Featured Crafter Friday post and you will definitely want to stop by for that! She's a wonderful lady and becoming a good friend, too!

I am off to watch my hubby play softball! Speaking of my hubby...he just got a new job, too. I am so excited for him! And I know this is something he really wanted! There are all sorts of changes going on at our house! Have a great rest of the day.

Meet Jen Alcivar!

Does anyone out there have this set they would either be willing to stamp some images for me or sell the set to me? It's a Stampin' Up! set that I believe has been retired. I really love this set. If not, no big deal. I just saw a card recently with it and remembered it! :)

I might be a bit slow with the posting for the next few days. I have not been feeling well. I am getting a cold and my head is really congested from it. So I am feeling pretty crummy. Have a great weekend.

I got this adorable card from Debby along with some Bella images. Thank you so much, Debby!

This card is from Lisa and I swapped images with her as well. Thanks for the adorable card, Lisa!

I just finished making my Mother's Day cards and I will take pictures of them tonight. I have a couple other cards I made recently that I will post first so people have a chance to get their cards before they see them here. So I have not dropped off the face of the earth and I will get some posts done soon! :)

This was a card I made for a friend's birthday. He's quite the "party animal" so I knew this would be fitting. I cut out the hat on the first monkey and put it on with dimensionals. Then I stamped the monkey with the banana on his head and colored it. Then stamped another and only used the banana and mounted that with dimensionals. I added a couple baubles because I thought the corner needed a little something more. The sentiment inside says, "It's your day...go bananas!" I thought it was cute and he liked it. So that's all that really matters. And even if he didn't like it, he did a good job humoring me! Oh, and the images are from Stampendous and these are a couple Changito images. Enjoy!

This was a little card I put together, but I really wasn't happy with the way it turned out. But since I haven't been sharing cards as readily as I would like, I thought I should show this one to you. I got this image from a friend and I will have another card with it tomorrow. The green and blue paper is glitter paper that I had and the dots are glitter...I can't remember what color glitter now. :) I think I just don't like the card because I wasn't in the mood to make a card this day. :) Enjoy!

Here's another little card with an image from the same set as yesterday. I wish I could buy this set, but I don't have any need to buy enough items to get this one free. I tend to want the sets you can't buy from Stampin' Up! that are hostess sets.

I am also having issues with adhesive. I think I have used been using the TomBow adhesive with the blue roller, but I swear that stuff doesn't stick. I can pull it off the next day. And yes, I have been buying the permanent tape. So I have gone to glue sticks, because at least I know that sticks. Ugh. So the moral of this is I tried to stick a different type of ribbon to the card and it fell off. Not just kind of fell off, but I went in my office and the card was standing up on my desk and the ribbon was on the desk. So I got out different ribbon and tied it on. What a waste of ribbon. Ugh.

I am also very cheap, so if you give me wildly expensive recommendations for glue I won't use them. I would rather buy cheap glue sticks and take the time to adhere them than to risk my cards not being together when they get to the recipient. Phew. So enough of that rant. I just had to get that out. Enjoy! :)

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. I hope each of you have a wonderful day! These are the cards I made and sent out to friends and family for Mother's Day. I got this My Favorite Things stamp just for Mother's Day. It was a simple layout, but I think they're really cute. I made them one night after work sitting in front of the tv. :) Enjoy!

This is a pair of earrings that I picked up a kit for a while back. I followed the instructions and I really liked how they turned out, so I got some materials to make others.

I have been thinking about making these other two for quite some time and just recently got around to doing so.

For these, I made my own chain using some metal circles. I opened them and made them as long as I wanted them to be. Then I added all the little beads and tried to make them look similar to the way the pink ones did in the kit. I used all the same sized beads for these whereas the pink set used different sized beads. They were a little tedious to make, but I like how they turned out. The nice thing about making your own jewelry is that you can always change it if you don't like it! Enjoy!

(And I wanted to mention that they are really cute on and in person. I noticed that the pictures didn't make them look all that fabulous!)

I have a few things to show you, but I am having a little pictures getting my pictures uploaded. So I will share some things with you as soon as I get it working again. I hope everyone had a great weekend.

This is a new image from Stamping Bella and I had to have this one. This reminds me of Chuck when he's all dressed up for interviews and for work. So I made this card for him and put it in his suitcase for him. (He left yesterday for some orientation in Washington for a week...his new job is with Microsoft.) So I am so very proud of him and excited for his new adventure. Have a good night!

(And Jen, my photo issue wasn't a major issue...just one I didn't know how to fix without Chuck's help!)

I know many of you have made oodles of these little purses, but I haven't made one before. We were celebrating a late Mother's Day with Chuck's mom and I wanted a little something to put together for her. So I made this little bag to carry some cards in it. I put I think 6 cards in there (I could have fit more) and they were all cat cards because she loves cats so much. I have posted a couple of the cards I added to the bag (here, here, and here) and I will show the others to you over the next couple days. I used the same paper on the bag as I did in the card I gave her for Mother's Day. Enjoy!

This is another fairly new image from Stamping Bella called "Attitudy Cats". I think it's really cute. I have just recently started getting a couple bella stamps that aren't "bellas" and are other images. I love cats, too, so I knew I wanted this one. This was another one of the cat cards that I put into the purse for Chuck's mom. Enjoy!

Here's a cute little Stampendous image from the Fluffles collection. I got this one as a gift from Sandie and I am finally getting around to using it! I thought this paper was adorable to go with this image and I love how the image really stands out when it is raised on dimensional tape. I also added a bit of glitter here and there to make the card sparkle! This was another card that went into the purse I made the other day. Enjoy!

I am so pleased with how this card turned out. I think it's so adorable. I added this card to the set I made for the purse. I love the paper and the colors of the card. Then to top it off, the cats are covered in Fun Flock so they are fuzzy. I love that element of being able to touch and feel something unusual like that on a card. People don't expect the cats to be fuzzy, but are so excited when they are. I have to use Fun Flock more often! :) Enjoy!

Here are a couple cards I have received recently from my good friend, Colleen. She sent me some images I had been wanting and then another card just for fun. :) Thank you so much, Colleen! They are gorgeous!

I know a couple people have inquired about my whereabouts. I am still alive. :) I haven't made many cards recently, but I have a couple to show you either later today or tomorrow. I just haven't felt like doing much of anything computer-related once I get home from work, therefore, CraftsOnAWhim suffers. :) So I will try to get a few pictures up of some of the things I have done recently. Have a good day!

Here's a little card I made with a new stamp I got from Stamping Bella. It's such a fun stamp and could be used for some many occasions. I don't even feel obligated to color everything the correct colors and it still looks cute. I just wanted to focus on the image for this card, so I didn't do anything too fancy. Enjoy!

This is my most recent placemat purse. I am not sure that I have posted any of these on here, but I have made a ton of them in various colors both for myself and for friends and family as gifts. They are a great size and really durable. Since I have recently broadened my horizons and started to wear brown, I HAD to have a brown purse, too. So I whipped this up one day. The pattern material in the front is a pocket. There is one on the other side as well. The cream ribbons are to tie the bag shut. The purse is also lined with the same material as the pocket. I would be more than happy to show more of these that I have made if people are interested, so let me know. Have a great day! Enjoy!

At least for some of you. I have to admit that I have not even contacted someone about being a Featured Crafter for this week. I know I said I was going to do it the first Friday of the month, but I didn't get to it. So I am sorry. I will get back into it. I will have some one for July for sure. I may also have to consider changing the name of "Featured Crafter Friday" if I am not going to do it every Friday. So that is still to be determined. But I wanted to send my apologies to those of you who may have been eagerly waiting. Have a good day.

I love Spring. I love seeing all the flowers that are blooming and I get so exited when mine bloom for the year! I love how colorful they make the yard!

These flowers are no exception. I wanted to make a card with this Stamping Bella image using bright, Spring colors. I think I succeeded. I used this paper that a friend had when I was at her house a couple weeks ago and it was perfect for this image. After coloring the flowers, I added glitter to each of them. I think it's so cute. I do see that I will have to stamp the image straighter or possibly cut straighter! But I still think it's cute. And I am happy to have a couple more cards to use for a variety of occasions. Enjoy!

This is an adorable card from Colleen. Isn't she great!? I sent her a couple of these images along with the Funky Flowers image that I posted the other day. She sent back this gorgeous card and a bunch of images that I don't have. She's so very sweet! Thanks Colleen!

If I might...I would like to post a little rant. Being that it is my site, I am going to even if you protest a little. :) With the upcoming PaperTrey Ink monthly release coming up, it comes with a bit of a disappointment on my part.

I have been hoping for one of their sets called Out On A Limb set. (Note that this link may not work after their Re-Design). This Re-Design is what I am bummed about. They are splitting the set into two sets. Now I am on a craft budget and don't have the means to buy sets as often as I might like. So I try to buy in stages. I was going to order this set along with one for a friend for her birthday. Well, that is how I found out it wasn't available to buy right now. I was bummed. Ok, I thought. They are just doing minor changes. Nope! They are splitting the set. So now you can't get the set for $24, you have to buy two sets for $24 to get virtually the same thing. Yes, they added a couple new stamps and a few new sentiments, but now I can't get them. I guess I wish I was more on the ball and bought them before. (Maybe there is someone out there who is buying both and wants to sell me theirs for cheap!) But I don't want/need it badly enough to spend $48 on it, but I really wanted it for $24.

Since I do own my own business, I understand that this is better for them. If it were me, I would probably do it, too. I am just bummed from my perspective because I won't get it now. I am sure you are thinking...just get one this month and one next month. Yes, I have thought of that. But really, I probably won't. I'll just find something else to get that is similar to it and hold a grudge. I just wish the $24 for one set was still an option. (Maybe they have over-stock I could buy from them...hmm.)

So, if you read all the way down to here, i commend your strength! And thank you for letting me get that out. I just wanted to be selfish for a minute! :)

Since I am not going to get the PaperTrey Ink set I talked about yesterday, I want to find something else to replace it with. Since my best friend, Katie is an SU demo, I thought I would help her out and get something from her! So the two sets I am thinking about are "Artfully Asian" and "Embrace Life". (*Note* You can browse the galleries for these two by clicking the title above the image.)

I thought you could give me some input as to which one of these I should choose. They both have branches which I could use for something more masculine if I wanted to (although "Artfully Asian" seems to have some suspicious looking leaves in the set). But they both seem very versatile. I have been looking at the galleries for both sets on SplitCoast Stampers and still haven't made my choice. So if you have strong feelings either way, let me know! :)

This is a card I made a long time ago. I was looking through photos and saw that I hadn't posted this one. I used a really simple layout and focused on the images. This vase was from a clear stamp set I have and I stamped it three times and colored it with different colors. I added a little Crystal Effects to the vase and glitter to the flowers. Enjoy!

I have four different cards to show you for Father's Day. They are mostly the same, but I thought it might be fun to do a countdown to it with the four different cards. So I will start that on Thursday and show a different card each day. I am going to be making a few more cards tonight, so I will hopefully get some pictures taken to show you! :)

Here is another option for a tree set to get. This one is from Inkadinkado and can be purchased through Target.com. Let me know what you think about this one!

*NOTE* I did order this set. I thought it did exactly what I wanted "Out on a Limb" by PaperTrey Ink to do and maybe even more! I loved all the options and the versatility of this set. I will be sure to show you some creations with it as soon as I get it!

This is the purse I use almost everyday. It's much bigger than I need for everyday use, but I love it. I was so excited when I found black placemats. It's something you don't see everyday. Now I wish I would have bought more of them to make more purses...I might still have one set stashed away somewhere. I should really make a pink one! :) Enjoy!

Here is the first of the Father's Day cards I made. The layout isn't very crazy, but I think simple is better when it comes to guy cards. They don't care as much about the details as they do the thought. So I tried to keep that in mind. All of the cards used the set "Father Knows Best from PaperTrey Ink. I don't have this set, but Katie does and I was at her house for some stamping fun and made these! I stamped a sentiment from the set inside, but I can't remember what it says off the top of my head. So I will check before I seal them up and post it with tomorrow's card. (I am writing this a day ahead of time so I am not THAT behind in sending them off...just a little behind!) Enjoy!

Happy Friday the 13th! :) I'm not a superstitious person, so this is just any other Friday for me. May your day be uneventful if you are superstitious!

Here is another set of the cards. I found out what I put on the inside..."any man can be a father, it takes someone special to be a dad. Happy Father's Day!" And the sentiment was from the same set as the tree. Also, notice that the bottom of the card is embossed. Each set of cards uses a different embossing folder. I know it's a little hard to see in the picture, so I wanted to point it out. Enjoy!

Here's another. I really like this tree and the way the leaves look. I decided to just use the leaf outline for this one and color some of the leaves in with glitter. I think it looks really pretty. I can't decide if I like this set of cards or the ones I am showing you tomorrow best! Enjoy!

This is the last of the Father's Day cards. I am sure you are getting tired of seeing the same card over and over...but oh well! I love the colors in this one and I love all the squares. I love abstract things in general. Then add in some funky colors and I am in love! I did make a couple new things not too long ago that I have pictures of to show you next. Have a great Father's Day!

This is a little goodie bag I put together for Katie. She's such a great friend, I had to be sure I gave her something worthy! She has been reading more these days, so I made her some more bookmarks (bellas of course), some earrings she requested (which are similar to the ones I made myself in THIS post), a purple pen (which I will show closer pictures of tomorrow), and I made the bag as well. She loved it and I was happy to give her some fun things! Enjoy!

This is the pen I gave to my friend. I had this purple piece of wood sitting around and it screamed "Katie" when I saw it. So I made this pen for her. I think it turned out really nice. She has informed me that she's going to use it as her new "purse pen" and is confident she'll get many compliments! I am hoping to make a couple more wood things soon for some other gifts. So maybe you'll get to see some more soon! Enjoy!

I got a few clear stamps from a $1 bin at JoAnn's and they were just hilarious. They were by Inkadinkado and HERE is a link with some of the stamps on it. You will crack up.

So, I have made a few recently that I gave to my mom for a late Mother's Day gift. So for the next few days I'll show them to you! At least I have some cards to show you (although I warn that they are fairly basic because I was limited on time).

This is probably my least favorite of the cards I made, so I thought I would get it out of the way and show you this one first. I think the image is cute, but I just wasn't real happy with it. I should have stopped after stamping the sentiment once...I think the three look silly on here. But my mom thought it was cute. I also stamped a little cactus that came in the set on the inside of the card. (I think the cactus was my favorite part!) Enjoy! There will be another one tomorrow!

I think this image is so cute! I love the paper in the background. I think this card turned out pretty well! The sentiment says: "Friends are the chocolate chips in the cookies of life." I just love the little bear (I think that's what he is) in this image. I also like the look of the brown baubles to tie it together. In hindsight, if I had more time, I would have made him fuzzy with some Fun Flock. Maybe next time! Enjoy!

HAHA! How funny is this image? It really cracks me up! I could see my grandma doing something like this. I don't think she would have actually gone surfing, but she would have posed with one and said something like this! The sentiment inside says: "You're only a kid once, but you can be young for a lifetime!" I think we should all live by this mantra! Enjoy!

This is such a sweet little image and sentiment. The sentiment says: "Today I caught myself smiling. Then I realized...I was thinking of you." I think this could be used for so many occasions. Who wouldn't want to get this little bunny!? If you say you wouldn't...I know you are only fooling yourself! The pattern paper really sparkles and I added a bunch of glitter to the bunny's shirt and the corners of the scallop square. Enjoy!

I like this card. I think I like it mostly for the saying. This sentiment says: "A wise man once said...Follow your dreams, except for the one where you're at work in your underwear." How funny! I laughed when I read it and so did my mom. This was in the set of cards that I gave her. I think this one got the most laughs! I also like how the two colors of baubles look on the card. They go well with the adorable dot paper and add a little "oompf" to the card! :) Enjoy!

This little fish card is so fun. I really love the pastel colors in this one. The sentiment says: "Just dropping you a line..." and the "g" is a hook. So I tried to make it look like someone was fishing for this cute little guy! I also stamped the bubbles from the set in a few places, added glitter to them and a few clear baubles for dimension. There is some glitter on the fish's body, too. Enjoy!

After all of those cards I have been showing you, I thought I should show you what the whole set looks like that I gave to my mom. I also made the little bag for it. (My, how I love making those little things! They are great holders for a set of cards for someone! I like to put about 6 in there.) So there you have it! Enjoy!

This was a card I made for my cousin who just graduated. I got the idea from a couple cards I saw online. I added glitter to the hats and to the word "future". I also used the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder in the background. I think it turned out really cute. I think I might even make another one for our neighbor who has his grad part this weekend...but I will probably eliminate the ribbon for him and not add glitter! :)

This is the birthday card that I made for my brother's girlfriend. She loves green and it was her 21st! So I had to do something related to drinking. I gave Bella a green shirt and brown hair to look just like Katie. Then I made the cocktail pink like the girls from Sex and the City would drink! :) (And amusingly...Katie ordered a cosmo!) There's also glitter on the white flowers to add a little more "bling"! Enjoy!

These cards were made with the clear stamp set I got from Target that I mentioned not too long ago. There are so many possibilities with this set. And I love that it's clear so I know where I am placing things. I think I will need a bit more practice getting it to look the way I want, but I was quite happy overall with the turnout of these cards. I also used a white strip of paper which was embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder to add a little dimension. Of course, I had to add glitter as well, so there are a bunch of little green dots mixed in with the leaves. I think next time I will make them red or something to look like buds or berries! Enjoy!

This stamp cracked me up! I made this silly card for my brother for his birthday. He got a good laugh out of it! I didn't do anything real special on this card. I wanted to stick with red, orange and yellow because I thought it would look nice with the birds. And I am pleased with how turned out! I think they are fun for a birthday ad also worked well for a guy card. My brother also mentioned that he liked the eyelets! I guess guys do appreciate the hardware decorations we add! That's always good to know! Enjoy!

This is the most recent placemat purse I have made. This one was for a gift. And I was given the instructions of these colors! (The recipient asked me to make her one!) I thought the colors looked really good together and and I was so pleased with how it turned out. Enjoy!

Happy 4th of July! I haven't made anything that is very patriotic lately, so I just thought I would wish everyone a happy and safe 4th! I am extremely excited to have a 3 day weekend! Too bad fireworks aren't legal here! They are so much fun! I guess I'll just have to go watch some tonight and "ooh" and "ahh" over them! :)

This was a little card I threw together for the mere fact that I hadn't used this image yet. I don't have this stamp and I don't drink coffee, so I probably won't ever get the stamp, but I think it's cute for a friend. I really just colored this image and attached it to the card and added a ribbon. Then I added Crystal Effects to all of the dots on the card back ground. It looks so cool in person because they each shine a bit. There is also some Crystal Effects on the flower in the middle of the table and glitter on the white shirt. Enjoy!

This image is from A*Muse and I thought it was such a cute image. I colored them in and added glitter over the top of them. I also put a brad at the end of each side of the string. This made it look like it was holding them on and I thought it was so cute! I made a scallop edge along the green paper and added a dot of glitter in the center and then tied on a little ribbon. And this layout was inspired by a card Jen sent me that I will try to remember to show you tomorrow!

I also tried stamping two next to each other to see how they would look, and they look like a chain of lanterns. Just like I had hoped they would look. So I will have to try doing that sometime! Enjoy!

This is a lovely card from my online buddy, Jen. She does such amazing work and if you haven't checked out her stuff yet, you must! She is great! And Jen is such a sweet person on top of it all! Jen sent me this card as a congratulations on my new job. And I just love what she did with the card. And like I mentioned yesterday, she inspired a couple cards of mine! Thank you so much, Jen, for this thoughtful and beautiful card!

This is another graduation card I made recently. I made one with the same colors for the other one which was for my cousin. This one was for a neighbor and no, they don't go to the same school. :) I also tried to make this one a little more fitting for a guy (since our neighbor is a guy). This means I did without glitter and ribbon! I did add some eyelets and mounted the hats on dimensional tape. I think it turned out quite well! Enjoy!

Here's a little bella card I made. This is the first time I had used this image, but thought I would give it a try. I used a bunch of Crystal Effects on this card, too. It's on all the dots again (because I loved how it looked) and on her top, skirt and cape so they look kind of like shiny super hero material! Then I added gold glitter to her boots and some gold ribbon. I also added a few black eyelets for a little something more. I think it turned out really cute!

I also have to tell you that I haven't made anything crafty in quite some time. I just haven't felt up for it. I know that is shocking, but now that I have a job, there are other things I want to do when I get home. I craft when I need to make something not because I don't have anything else to do. So my priorities are different now. Therefore, the entries here will probably be a bit inconsistent. But I will continue to post things as I make them and I am sure I will have days where I just can't stop making stuff! So for now, check back or add me to a list that tells you when I post something. Have a great day!

This is a key chain that I made for my step mom's birthday. She loved it! It was a little hard giving it away because I liked it so much, but since I made it, I figured I could always make another one! :) Enjoy!

This is a very simple and gorgeous card I got from my friend Katie after her birthday. (She's the one that got all the purple stuff.) I was cleaning off my desk and had forgotten I needed to take a picture of this beauty to share. Enjoy!

This is a key ring I made out of Buckeye Burl wood. This one I gave to my brother for his birthday. I thought it turned out perfectly to give to a guy. This is the same wood I used on a pen I made for Chuck. After looking through my site, I realize that I haven't shared a picture of that yet. So I will do that soon. Enjoy!

This is the pen I promised to show you that I made for my hubby. He picked out the style pen he wanted and I picked out the wood (which is the same as the key ring I posted recently). It is a rollerball pen which writes really well and it's much heavier than I thought it would be. You take the cap off this one and it can be put on the top. This is different than the other pens I have done which are twist pens. I think it turned out great, and most importantly, so does Chuck!

Be proud! I made a card! It's been quite some time. I have a couple more things I need to make cards for so you might be seeing a couple more...shocking, I know!

This is a baby card I made for someone at work. We had a baby shower for her at work and I wanted to make a card to go with all the cute stuff my friend and I bought for her. I like how the three ribbons with different colors mixed in look. And I love how tiny the sentiment is. It just offsets everything else. Enjoy!

This is a pen I made for my brother's girlfriend. She picked out the wood for the pen and then watched me turn it so it would be the thickness she wanted. She picked a great green. Sometimes colored wood doesn't always turn out the way you expect. At least not the way I expect it to look! I think it turned out lovely and I know my brother's girlfriend loved it! Enjoy!

I made this as an Anniversary card for my Mother-in-law and her hubby. Like us, they got married on her birthday. So she gets double the celebration. I think it turned out nicely. I like the way the three ribbons look. I will definitely do that again! I used sparkly silver paper in the card I am very pleased with they way it gives the card a little more dimension. And we all know how much I like sparkle! Enjoy!

We have officially decided to put our house on the market and see what happens. :) This means I am not going to be updating this very often since I have already packed all of my craft supplies! I have a couple cards to show you and I am going to a friend's house to make cards on Saturday, so I will have some to share after that...but I won't be making much of anything new in the line of crafting.

If you want to know more about it, you can feel free to visit my other blog since I will be updating that more.

I hope everyone keeps in touch...I'll need something to pass the time when I can't touch anything in my house! :)

Here are a couple of the last cards I made before I packed away all of my craft stuff. They aren't incredibly fancy, but I had to do them quickly! I have since given them both away. The second one has a crappy picture because I forgot to take a picture before I gave it to someone, so I did it quickly! But you get the idea. They were also made from the same piece of paper, so it's amusing to see them as different shades of purple! (And you get a nice close-up of my counters!)

These were modeled after a couple cards I made at one of Katie's SU parties. I thought I had a picture of it, but I can't seem to find one. I will try to remember to put that on my long list of to dos!

I know it has been a while, but I do have a couple other things to show you, but I will space them out! I made a pen before I packed all of my wood turning things away and I went to another SU party at Katie's, so I will get some pictures taken of those. And they won't be stellar quality since my photo box is also packed away!

Have a great long weekend! We're heading to Lake Superior to spend the weekend with friends and family on my hubby's dad's boat! I'll have to post a picture! It's massive! :)

This is a pen I made for a friend's birthday. I had intended to make her a key ring to go with it, but didn't get the time with all the moving. I made the top a bit larger and then didn't put the clip on the top because I didn't think it looked right. Turns out, my friend hates them and usually works them off. So yay that she liked it! This is made out of acrylic and has browns, blues and a touch of purple in it! It was the perfect piece to make something for my friend since she loves these colors!

I didn't like this picture when I first took it because I thought it washed out the image. When I saw it larger (on something other than the camera screen) I thought it looked pretty cool. Enjoy!

Meet Julie Edmonds!

If you didn't know this about me already, I love snowmen! I think snowmen are so adorable and I just can't get enough of them (although my hubby would tend to disagree and say I have PLENTY of them!). So when I saw this new set from Paper Trey Ink, I was giddy with joy! The little dilemma is that I will probably never get them because I am too cheap! :) So I am going to live vicariously through other people that have it! :) I just thought it was a cute set, so I thought I would share. (And I don't have much else to write about today. :)

I made these at Katie's Stamp a Stack a while back. I am just now getting around to posting them. I have a few others that I will be slowly posting as well.

I thought these turned out really cute. This isn't a style of card that I do very often, so it was fun to step out of my comfort zone. We did a lot of punching on the card. I could have stamped the dots, but I thought it looked more fun to take the time and punch all the holes. I also like how we attached the colored circle part way over the edge and then cut it off. It adds a lot of character and added dimension. Katie did a great job coming up with great cards to make for varying levels of card-making-skill! Enjoy!

It seemed fitting to show some fall cards since we are having wonderful fall weather (at least here in Minnesota we are)! These are a few of the fall cards I made at Katie's last Stamp-A-Stack. I put different sayings on each of the cards and made the image in the center different on each of them. I gave the last one to my mom for her birthday and she loved it! Enjoy!

Here are some more cards from the Stamp-A-Stack at Katie's. I tried changing them all slightly, but still trying to keep them similar...and simple. I think I succeeded! I just love the color combination of these cards. It's so cheerful!

On another note, our house is still for sale, which means all of my craft stuff is still packed up. Most of the time I am ok with it, but there are a few times I really wish I could dive in and make some cards. (Also, my card stash is getting depleted quickly and I am going to have to have a card day at a friend's house just to get more on hand!....oh Katie!!! This means you!) So hopefully, we'll get our house sold and then I can unpack and go nuts again. :)

These are some of the stamp sets I really want from Stampin' Up!. I want so many stamps right now and hopefully I will get them for my birthday or Christmas or I am going to have to buy them myself. The only problem is that I have a hard time justifying buying anything right now when the house is packed up and it will all go to storage! :)

These are just the image sets I want. I will show you the word sets I want soon!

Season of Friendship

Pocket Silhouettes

Flight of the Butterfly

(*NOTE* I accidentally deleted the original post for this and I didn't remember what it said. So it may be slightly different. I didn't want anyone to think they were crazy and read something, didn't see it, then imagined it! That would be something I would do!)

These are some of the word sets I really want from Stampin' Up!. I have an obsession with word stamps. I feel like I can never have enough. I would love to have these for things to put on the inside of cards. I feel like that is something I never have enough of. And I feel like I am always saying the same thing every time on the inside of cards. These sets might help alleviate that. :)

Heard From The Heart

Full Of Life

Curvy Verses

I promised I would share, so here you go. To those few readers I still have out there....enjoy! :)

These are the last of the cards that I made at Katie's Stamp-A-Stack. I am finally getting around to posting them. I thought it would be fun to show them after I posted the word stamp sets I want since some of the words were used in these cards.

There's another Stamp-A-Stack coming up next weekend and I am excited to get my fill of card making for a little while. This also means I will have more cards to show! Yay!

I am so excited that it's my birthday AND my anniversary! I am 28 today and I have been married to the best hubby in the world for 4 years! I hope everyone has close to as wonderful a day as me today! :)

A while back I posted a picture of a stamp set I wanted...Made of Snow by PaperTrey Ink. Well, I got it from my friend Katie for my birthday and I am going to her house on Saturday to make my Christmas cards. I think I am going to use these colors: Red Riding Hood, Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze. You can look at the colors on this website.

What I am hoping to get from you are ideas for a layout and possibly examples using this color combo. I am going to do a white card base and stamp with black ink. I will most likely use a sentiment from the set on the inside of the card along with "Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas" or something. I also like the sentiment in this stamp set. So please let me know if you have any suggestions for me. I have been out of the crafting loop for so long that this project is starting to overwhelm me a bit! :)

If you have any suggestions, post them in the comments or send me an email at info@craftsonawhim.com. Thanks in advance for your help!

I am quite behind on posting cards. Both cards that I have made and those that I have been given. So I am going to gradually get them posted for my loyal readers now that I have pictures taken!

This is one of the many cards you are going to see from my friend Colleen. She is so good about sending me cards. I really need to get a big "Thank You" out to her for always thinking of me. Enjoy!

I got this card for my birthday from Michele. I love the color combination and the glitter on the butterflies. I took a close-up picture of them. This card also has a gorgeous stamped image in the background, too that you can see better in the second picture. Thank you so much, Michele!

This is another sweet birthday card I received from Debbie. I love the colors and this was a stamp set I always thought was cute. Thank you so much for thinking of my on my birthday and I am sorry it has taken so long to post this!

Have a great weekend everyone! We're getting tons of snow here in Minnesota today. And my hubby is off to play hockey! Yay for winter!

Merry Christmas! May you have a wonderful holiday season spent with family and loved ones. This is my Christmas card that I sent out this year.

The first picture is one of the cards up close. My color combination was inspired by some napkins at Caribou Coffee. I loved the colors and knew that was what I wanted to do this year. Once I decided that, things came together pretty easily. There were things I knew I wanted to use for this card, but I wasn't sure how to put them all together at first.

I spent a day at my friend Katie's house and she let me use a bunch of her craft stuff while all of mine was packed. She also helped out a lot! (Thanks Katie!) So this is what we put together.

This is what I used on the inside. This was a stamp Katie had from Stampin' Up!. I think it was a good stamp to use. I like putting a stamp on the inside since it saves time writing in them! And I am all about making things go quickly!

Here are a few of them together. We punched snowflakes and I used different ones on each of them. I really just grabbed a black and white snowflake and put them on the card. I wasn't very particular about which ones went together...and that is not like me at all! And in true Andi style, I used a bunch of glitter. The white snowflakes have star dust stickles on it as well as the body of the snowman. I used silver stickles on the hat, gloves and scarf. It really added a nice touch to the cards.

I did use the "Made of Snow" stamp set from Paper Trey Ink. The only downfall about using that set, is that not many people realize all the work that went into making it and that I had to stamp each part of the snowman individually and it wasn't just a snowman stamp. Even though I made this card more work than it needed to be, I am so happy with how they turned out! Enjoy!