It's my blogiversary!!!

I am so excited to be celebrating my 3-year blog anniversary by giving the anniversary gifts to YOU — the readers! Hop on through the Blog Hop to find prizes and inspiration along the way. 

An anniversary party on my blog wouldn't be a party without a sketch challenge! Here is the sketch for you to play along with.

And here is the layout I made. The pictures are from our trip to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in March. Can you believe it was nice enough in March to go to the zoo?! It was such a nice day.

• Plus, there's a chance to play along with us! Use the sketch I made, link your entry back here on this blog post, and you could win a $30 shop credit to Scrapbook Circle. 

• You have until April 30th to complete the hop and link up your sketch challenge entry below to be eligible for the hop prize! 

• But that's not all! If you leave a comment on this post you are eligible to win a $20 shop credit to Precious Remembrance Shop!

• If you leave another comment that you are a follower (new or old) you can win this fantastic prize from Paper Issues. It's a Crate Pretty Party! It includes one set of Accent Cuts, 3 yards of Caribbean, Blossom and Pink Sorbet twine from The Twinery, one yard of each color of Hug Snug Seam Binding in Spring Green and Yellow, trinket pins from Maya Road, a clear star, 2 green leaves and one stacked pearl. Also included are 10 mini white clothespins from Canvas Corp. Amazing, right?!

Let's start hopping!

Hop along with the lovely ladies below and have even more chances to win prizes as well as be inspired to use the sketch before April 30th.

Heather Leopard

Corrie Jones

Audrey Yeager

Antonia Krajicek

Shannon Bogan

Lisa Swift

Julie Tucker-Wolek

Jennifer Ingle

Tessa Buys

Ashley Horton

Sara Zenger

Diana Fisher ----> (YOU ARE HERE)

Thank you so much for hopping along with us for my 3rd blogiversary! I am thrilled to be in the company of these talented ladies and hope you'll find the hop fun and inspirational, as well as motivate you to play along with the sketch. 

Can't wait to see what you all make using the sketch!

Cocoa Daisy {product spotlight}

Hello! Today on the Cocoa Daisy blog, I'm sharing with you how I used Faber Castell's Textural Accents Sampler, a set of 3 small tubes with one of each of the following: Gesso, Gel Medium, Glaze. I also used the Faber Castell Mix & Match Pitt Artist Pens in the greens and blues.

I made a shallow canvas that I made for my One Little Word for 2012: Balance. Shame on me it took until nearly May to create a project for my OLW, but I do have a necklace that I wear that has a "balance" charm on it, so I wasn't completely without inspiration.

Stop by the Cocoa Daisy blog to read more about how I used the product on my project. I love how this turned out and thanks for stopping by to see it!

Precious Remembrance {card}

Hi there! For today's Precious Remembrance Shop reveal I am using the new Birthday Stamp set. For the past two weeks, I had used the Calendar set, but I have been dying to dig into the fantastic birthday set. 

On this card, I used the balloon and the sentiment. For the balloon, I stamped it onto the card, then stamped a second balloon, colored it in with Copics, and then cut it out and popped it up on top of the first stamp. 

Such a fun birthday card, don't you think?! The confetti-style paper just helps add to the festivity.

Thanks for stopping to see my card today. Don't forget to stop by the Precious Remembrance blog and see other inspiring cards from the week.

Workspace Wednesday {and some Cocoa Daisy}

It's been a crazy few weeks for me for crafting. I've had so many projects due that I was always working on something or planning my next project. And, of course, I love that!

I took a moment recently and realized that my desk has probably never been this messy. I'm the type to clean up after each project and start fresh with each one. I'm sure I'm in the minority on that one, but I do. I can't start a project on a messy desk.

I thought that this particular day warranted a photo since it was so unlike me to have my desk in such a state of disarray.

Thanks for stopping to see my workspace. And, to leave you with some inspiration as well, I realize I haven't yet shared some more of my Cocoa Daisy work using the April kit. Here is a card I made using the Sprout kit and the hexagon stamp set that is in the April stamp subscription.

I can't help but smile when I see this card. I think I may hang it up in my craft room. The green and blue colors are definitely favorites of mine. 

And to get you excited for the May Cocoa Daisy kit, Graffiti Bridge, here is a peek for you…

Don't forget about the Cocoa Daisy Crop starting April 27th through the 29th. I'll have a sketch challenge and a stamping challenge during that weekend. It's going to be a great chance to chat with other crafters, win prizes, and get your craft on. Hope to see you there!

Join me for my anniversary hop!

It's nearly my blog anniversary! 3 years ago this April, I started my blog in the hopes that I could play along with other blog challenges and maybe meet some new friends.

Wow! How far this blog has come in 3 years! I definitely made new friends — some friendships that I hope will always be in my life. As for playing along with challenges — I never dreamed Sketchy Thursdays would go so well, let alone that I would get published or be on a manufacturer design team.

To celebrate it all, I have asked nearly a dozen of my favorite people who also happen to be scrapbookers, card makers and digital scrapbookers to join me for a hop.

I'll have prizes from Scrapbook Circle, Paper Issues and Precious Remembrance Shop here on my blog. The ladies in the hop are also giving away their own hop prizes. And ... drumroll ... there will be a SKETCH! (Of course!)

Save some time on April 21 to stop by and see what we've got going on!

Imaginisce {and The Twinery}

Imaginisce and The Twinery are hoppin' along together this week! There are prizes and so much inspiration this week — I do hope you'll join us! 

Below is my layout using mostly the Hippity Hop collection from Imaginisce and lots of twine goodness from The Twinery. My layout is about the Easter egg hunt that my in-laws do each Easter for Nate. The eggs seems to get bigger and bigger each year (LOL).

Being in the egg spirit, I cut out ovals with my Big Shot and then covered them in adhesive. I wrapped the twine around the eggs using Buttercream and Caribbean for my colors. Cappuccino is the twine color wrapped around the nest.

I sure do hope you have a few extra moments to hop along with us this week. Here are the prizes that are being given away:

The Twinery is giving away the "I Dream in Twine" package
(retail $32).

Imaginisce is giving away the entire Makin' Waves collection pack (retail $37).

In order to win, you must leave comments on each participating blog on the hop throughout the week and the deadline to comment is midnight (EST), Sunday, April 22. Winners will be announced on each company blog on Monday, April 23rd.

You have arrived here from

The Twinery Blog

…and you can keep hopping on to 

Julie Ranae

(If you've yet to start at the beginning, you can go to The Twinery Blog or the Imaginisce Blog.)

Thanks so much for stopping by to see my project. I really enjoyed using the twine from The Twinery to enhance my work with Imaginisce products.

ScrapFIT {color/pic inspiration}

Hello! It's time for a new challenge at ScrapFIT. Today we are sharing my Color / Photo Inspiration challenge prompt. The colors are sand, mint and cherry and the photo is from HGTV (Pinterest). 

This is the layout that I made to go with the challenge. The photo is of my mom and step dad from our visit with them last month. I just love this picture of them!

If you are looking for a challenge to play along with, head on over to ScrapFIT to see the rest of the details about this challenge. I know the rest of the ScrapFIT girls did an amazing job with the prompt, so stop and see what they did, too.

Hope you're having a great weekend! And thanks for stopping by here.