Sampler sketch challenge

On the 20th of every month, The Sampler DT shares with you work using the current kit and a sketch. Here is my sketch page for this month. There is a fabulous little prize for one winner from those that play along with the sketch.


Remember my manly card set from last Saturday? This page is where I referenced using the rest of that fabulous green wood grain paper from the kit.


It's a pretty good sketch, so you'll wanna swing by to play along this month. HERE'S THE LINK TO PLAY ALONG WITH US!

Rain or shine... (and a winner!)

It's another Sketch Tuesday challenge at Skipping Stones Design. I'm still loving my spot as one of the guest designers for SSD for April. I will be so sad when my term ends next week. Of course, I'll still be playing along for sure!

For this card, I used the new Uplifting stamp set. I just love how easy it is to use paper piercing with the larger hot air balloon stamp. And I used the kissing technique on the smaller balloon so that the red ink would have texture and not just be flat on the background paper.


The background paper is American Crafts and the turtle, sentiment and balloon are Nikki Sivils, in case you were wondering. :)

I also have a winner to announce today! If you left a comment on last Tuesday's post or played along with last week's SSD challenge and let me know that you played along, you were eligible for the Margarita Birthday set. The winner is ... Crafty Math Chick!


Congrats!! Send an e-mail with your shipping address to me at dianadesigns [at] rochester.rr.com and I'll get that set on its way to you this week. Enjoy!!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! :) Hope your week is going fabulously so far.

Cupcake sweetness

Hello! Happy Monday. I'm sharing with you another card I made using the fabulous stamps from Skipping Stones Design. I used the Cupcake Cutie set here.


Just wanted to remind you that you have until tonight to comment on THIS POST HERE for your chance to win the Margarita Birthday set that I am giving away. And if you played along with the weekly sketch, remember to let me know on that post, too for another chance.


See you back here tomorrow for the winner and the next sketch challenge at the Skipping Stones blog.

Card sets for *gulp* guys

My dear friend, Theresa, often needs thank you cards. I happily make them for her to send to her clients. Some of these cards she requests are also for clients who are (gulp...) men.

More often than not, cards for men seem to be the card maker's toughest card to make. At least for a lot of us. Some of you seem to make the best cards for guys, but I am not one of those that sits down and makes them with ease.


I was inspired to make this set by the Card Sets Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. And have already sent these cards off with Theresa as she has left to travel on another business trip to see these fabulous male clients. Sure hope they like these!


I also used my April kit from The Sampler. This month's kit had this fabulous green woodgrain from American Crafts. And I have stretched it as far as I could, having used it on these 3 cards as well as a layout you'll see next week. Such a great color green, isn't it?!

The Crate border stickers in the kit were perfect for this card set as well.

I hope I've inspired you to take on making a set of cards for the guys in your life. Father's Day is right around the corner...

Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading my blog today!

My favorite fave (and a chance to win)

As I alluded to on Wednesday, I have a giveaway and a coupon code for you today. These Are a Few of My Favorite Things has a unique twist on your favorite challenge blog today. We want you to choose from the past "Favorites" list and make any page you want.

I thought that was a pretty nifty idea, so I chose Favorite Fall LO/Favorite Season. This page is digital and 99% of the digital goodness here came from JessicaSprague.com's vast digital library.

The other cool thing about this particular challenge at TAAFOMFT—I'm the sponsor! I have been creating new items for my Etsy shop and want to celebrate that with you. If you play along with the challenge, you have a chance to win a $10 shop credit and a goodie bag handpicked by me to match your shop selections.



And, to celebrate further, I'm offering up a coupon code to my shop through the end of April. Use the code FAVES0411 for 20% off your purchase.

Hope to see your favorite pages over the next two weeks. And can't wait to see who wins the lovelies from the shop!!

Sneak attack!

Sketchy Thursdays is up to its old tricks again with a double-page layout. As I always say, you don't have to make a double, so don't let that scare you off. Stop by and play for a fabulous prize from Sweet Peach Crop Shop.

I made this page with mostly Bella Blvd goodies. I so love how fun and playful their papers and stickers are. Perfect for the topic of this page—"Sneak Attack!"


I instantly knew what I would do once I made this week's sketch for ST. I have a progression of photos with Nate getting kissed on the cheek by his little friend, Madison. We were eating lunch at the museum when she slyly stalked over to him, got up on a chair and planted a big ol' kiss on my clueless son.


He has a mouth full of Oreos in the big picture, which just shows how surprised he was. Madison was so proud of herself and was grinning from ear to ear. And in that last picture, Nate was using a wipee to get the "girl germs" off his face. Too funny!

Madison's mom, Renee, and I are quite pleased with this little scenario. We can't wait for the wedding! :)

Thanks for stopping to see my son's embarrassing moment and my page documenting it. We hope to see you at Sketchy Thursdays this week. And don't forget you have another week to play along with Heidi's sketch and the GDT challenge for a chance at the $25 gift card to Addicted to Scrapbooking. You know you want a chance at that!!

Arriving soon...

I'm at it again! A little more creative love for my Etsy shop. Starting this week, I'll be adding in new items, revisions of past items, and new little kits to scoop up as well. These are just sneak peeks at the dozens of lovelies I've been busy creating.





Hopefully something here speaks to your style. I've been working with vintage pearl buttons, vintage maps and sheet music, as well as felt, doilies and brads. This is always so fun for me to create these by hand for you all to use on your pages and projects.

Join me on Friday as I give you an opportunity to win some shop credit as well as a coupon code to the store. Thanks for joining me for this new release!

Skipping Stones blog hop (and a prize)

Welcome to the Skipping Stones Design Blog Hop to celebrate the release of Uplifting!

If you've just happened upon my blog today, make sure to start from the beginning at Skipping Stones Design. You should have arrived here from Ann's blog.



Combined with the blog hop today, it's also Skipping Stones Sketch Tuesday which means we're showcasing another great creation from our Guest Sketch Artist this month, Laurie Schmidlin. We'd love for you to play along with the sketch and link your card at the Skipping Stones Blog.

A free stamp set is up for grabs to a lucky winner that joins our sketch challenge at the SSD blog!

Here is the hop list for your hopping pleasure!

Laurie Schmidlin
Jennifer Ingle
Tammie Beaton
Gladys Chia
Mona Pendleton
Amy Tsuruta
Ann Kranitz
Diana Fisher
Barb Turpin
Wendy Jordan
Brenda Weaver
Kandi Phillips

And, because there is no better time than during a hop to have a prize, I am giving away a SSD set, too!


I have an extra set of the Margarita Birthday. You can win this here at my blog! Just leave a comment for your first chance to win. Play along with the Tuesday sketch challenge this week and get a second chance (just leave a second comment here that you linked up at SSD with your entry). And why not... if you blog about this or Tweet or FB this at all, let me know that for another chance.

You have until Monday night next week to leave these comments and I'll announce a winner next Tuesday.

Thanks for hopping with us, and thanks so much for stopping by my blog!

*********

PS: If you're really into the hot air balloon trend, too, check out the My Beautiful Balloon Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. I am so all about hot air balloons. I love how whimsical it can make a card or project. Play along with, Cath, too!

For a special little boy

My husband's cousin and his wife, who live in Fla., had their third boy about a week and a half ago. When I heard that they were decorating his room in a Curious George theme, I knew immediately that it was time to use this image of George that I had cut out of one of Nate's story book that he'd destroyed when he was an infant.

Giving an infant a paper book is rarely a good idea—hence, board books. I had saved this and stashed it away from a page that had be ripped out. I'm so excited to mail this doorknob hanger off to them!


The background paper is Lily Bee, letters are AC Thickers and the felt clouds are die cut from the Papertrey Ink cloud dies. The buttons are also Papertrey Ink.


And what's a baby gift without a card!? I made this with inspiration from Card Patterns sketch #110. Gotta love that site! Great jumping off point for me every week.


I used the same Lily Bee paper as the background and kept the jungle animal theme so that the gift will match a bit. Hope Mike, Mandy and new baby Hudson love this! :)

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. And thanks to everyone who did the No Housework hop this past weekend. I loved seeing all of the inspiration, and I appreciate all of you who stopped to leave a comment or signed up to follow my little blog. THANKS!!!