Happy Easter Chicky!

Well, today is April Fools Day and we woke up to SNOW!!!! And that's no joke. It's actually snowing here in PA. So, for those of you that are also getting snow, I hope this card warms your heart a little!!!

There is so much talk lately about making our own paper flowers and I have to tell you, it is addicting. I'll never look at my punches the same way again. My three flowers in the upper right hand corner were made using a 5 petal punch. I topped them off with Glitz Glitter Gel from CTMH just for that extra sparkle.

The design inspiration for this card came from The Pixie Cottage Sketch Challenge. This challenge has two parts. The sketch and stitching. Right up my alley since I stitch most of my cards anyway.

The papers are from the Mayberry Paper Pack from Close to my Heart. The Happy Easter is also from CTMH and is called Say It In Style.
The Chick and egg image is from Fred She Said and is called Easter Chicky. This fabulous image comes as a Digi or pre-colored images in 8 different colors. They also come with or without flowers. You can use these for Spring, Easter or Baby cards or layouts. I used yellow crystals in the center of each of the small flowers for a little extra bling. They started out as clear crystals but I colored them with my Copic Markers.

I usually hand stitch around the entire card, but this card was so busy that I only stitched the righte side with matching Embroidery Floss.

Other Challenge Blogs for this card:
2 Sisters - Make your own embellishment
My Sheri - Spring
Sugar Creek Hallow - Stitching
Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge - Wet & Dry Embossing & part of the image popped up.
Totally Gorjuss - Spring Has Sprung
Wee Memories - Anything Goes
Crafty Cardmakers - Decoupage
There's Magic in the Air - Pink, Yellow, & Green
Anything Goes - Make your own Embellishments
Lady Bug Crafts Ink - Handmade Flowers
Party Time Tuesday - Anything goes + A Handmade Flower
The Stamping Boutique - Handmade Flowers
Tuesday Throwdown - Flowers
ABC Challenge - Roses
Creative Belli Challenge - Sewing
Cooking it up with Katie - Sparkle, Shine & Shimmer
Creative Craft World -  Easter
AI Factory - Bright Colors
Craft Us Crazy - Easter or Spring
Delightful Challenges - Flowers
Dutch Dare - Distressing

Parrot Tulips - Fred She Said Blog Hop

Good Morning and Happy Spring. The snow we got yesterday and last night has melted and my tulips are already 6" tall. Can't wait for them to look just like my card.

My card today was made for the Fred She Said Blog Hop. If you came here from Danielle's Blog, you are on the right trrack. However, if you just happened upon my blog, you will want to start at the beginning with Tracey-Lynn's blog. This is important because you will be collecting a word along the way from each of our blogs to make a sentence.  You will then follow the direction given at the last blog stop. There will be a random drawing of all correct sentences on Saturday April 2nd. So you have until Midnight EDT on April 1st to play along.

The prize will go to ONE winner of $25 FSS GC, $25 CropStop GC and 2 Digi Paper Sets from Bearly Mine Designs.

Your second stop along the hop is Donna from Bearly Mine Designs, who is our co-sponser. You'll definately want to check out her shop where she has the most gorgeous Digi papers.
I used four of her papers on the background of my card today.

The Parrot Tulip images are a new release from Fred She Said. You have a choice of a digi image or a whole set of 12 pre-colored tulips. They are just so GORGEOUS!!!

The inspiration for this card layout came from a Cards & Things Sketch Challenge.

The Sentiment was stamped using a Clear Stamp Set from Close to my Heart called Card Chatter - Birthday.

The Hand Stitching was done with matching Embroidery Floss.

Now, hop on over to Anne's Blog, and see what neautiful creation she has to share with you.
BUT, before you go, my word is "At".

Other Challenges thisa card was made for:
Birthday Sundae - Anything Goes
The Crafty Pad - Use a Digi
Gingerloft - Die Cuts or Punches
Cutie Sunday - Spring colors/images
Inspiration Avenue - Hello Spring
Mami Doodles - Celebrate Spring
Aly's - Happy Spring
I Did It! - Welcome Spring
Let's Ink it Up - Die Cuts/Punches
My Grafico - Anything Goes
Order of the Opus Gluei - Spring
Stamptacular Sunday - Sentiment as main focus
Sentimental Sunday - Sentiment as main focus
Digi's by Phooka - Flower Power
Happileigh Scrappin' - Spring Has Sprung
Hand Stamped Sentiments - Blooming Blossoms
Everybody Art - Happy Birthday
Little Miss Muffet - Brads, gems or pearls
For Fun Challenges - Flowers and sentiment focus

Mother's Day Tulips

There are several Challenges this week to make a Mother's Day Card. Evidently, It's soon Mother's Day in the UK. Or, maybe it was this weekend, not sure.
Anyway, I had this great Tulip Bouque Digi from Fred She Said and thought I'd play along with some of the Mother's Day challenges. The tulips have some Glitz Glitter Gel on them and the picture with the glitter looks a little wierd. But the tulips are very pretty in real life.

There's a lot of dimension to this card that you really can't see. The whole image was stamped three times, colored with Copic Markers, cut out and layered with foam tape.

The inspiration for the design of this card came from A Spoonful Of Sugar Challenge Blog.

The Sophia Papers, bling, ribbon, glitz glitter gel, Say it in Style Stamp set, & button are all from Close to my Heart.

The Hand Stitching was done with matching Embroidery Floss.

Other Challenge Blogs I submitted my card:
Bearly-Mine - Mother's Day
Clear It Out - Buttons
Creative Card Crew - Show us some green
Anything Goes - Die Cuts
Crafty Creations - Mother's Day
Creative Cottage - Spring Has Sprung
Freshly Brewed - Spots & Dots
Charisma Cardz - To Die For
DelightfulChallenges - Show some green
Digi Doodles - Anything Goes
Paper Play - Embossing
Terrifically Thrilling Thursday - Anything Goes
Crafty Catz - Mother's Day
Paper Cutz - Anything Goes
catered-Crop - Spring  Recipe(used to many to list here)
Res-Q Challenge - Be a Surgeon -  Stitching and Ribbon
Stampin' For The Weekend - Mother's Day
One Stop Craft Challenge - Diamonds are.....
Totally Gorjuss - Button it
Aly's Sunday Challenge - Spring
Card Cupids - Spring
The Crafty Pad - Use a Digi
Linda's Creativity - Die Cuts and Punches
Die Cut Dreams - Mother's Day

Purple Crocus & Butterflies

We had such a beautiful Spring like day today that it inspired me to make this card. I went outside to switch over the pond heater to the water fall and saw my crocus blooming. So, I finally got to use some new stamps I got a long long time ago and never got around to using. I'm also using pearls from my huge stash.

The design of the card was inspired from a sketch at sketch n' Stash. Actually, I started with two Flourishes Challenges and found a sketch that worked with it. The first challenge is called "The Cut Above the Rest", where we were punch a decorative edge on our card. The second Flourishes challenge was the Timeless Tuesday Challenge where we were to use butterflies.

So, all of my stamps are Flourishes. The Crocus is from "A Year of Flowers 1". The Butterflies are from "Gerbera Daisies". And the sentiment is from "Timeless Quotes".  They were all colored with Copic Markers

The papers, Glitter Gel and pearls are from Close to my Heaert.

The Hand Stitching was done with matchihng Embroidery Floss.

Other Challenges this card was made for:
Anything Goes - Die Cuts
Creative Card Crew - Show us some Green
Papertake Weekly - Trio Tastic
Scrap Creations - Anything Goes
Creative Cottage - Spring Has Sprung
House of Gilli - Pastel colors & Bling
Happileigh - recipe
Lexi's Creations - Easter
Paper Scissors, & Rocks - Use more then one Die Cut
Stamping, Scrapping Challenge - Pastels
Sweet Pea Stampers - Scallops
The Pink Elephant - Spring
Wild Orchid - Die Cuts or Punches
Woodware USA - Spring is Coming
Wags 'n Whiskers - Spring Creations
Paper Crafting Journey - Up in the Air
Charisma Cardz - To Die For
Digi Doodle Shop's Best - Anything Goes
Terrifically Thrilling Thursday - Anything Goes

Spring Chicky - Sneak Peak

What a wonderful day!!!  It's my Birthday and I am so grateful to be able to celebrate another one. I've had so many wonderful Birthday wishes from friends and family and it just makes me feel Warm & Fuzzy inside.

My card today is a sneak peek at a new Digi Image from Fred She Said that will be released soon. Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen!!! 
Many of the cards I make I leave without a sentiment to leave my options open as to its use and this was one of them. I initially intended this to be an Easter Card but when it was finished, I thought it would make the cutest Baby Card. 

The inspiration for the design of the card came from a Sketch Challenge at Mojo Monday. I wanted to have this card done days ago, but I had surgery on my big toes on Thursday and had to have it elevated since then. This was really hard for me since I'm usually all over my craft room while I create. But, I met the deadline and that's all that matters.

I used Copic Markers to color the image and give my die cut leaves and flower more dimension. 

The papers are from a new paper pack from Close to my Heart called Mayberry .

The Hand Stitching was done with matching Embroidery Floss.

Purple Peonies in a Jar - SC323

I finally got around to creating again. Sometimes you just have to take care of family and cleaning the house first. When I get into the creating mood, which I was last month, some things like cleaning only get half done. *Ü*

My card today was inspired by the Wednesday sketch from Splitcoast Stampers. Then I printed out some of the pre-colored Peonies from Peony in a Jar, from Fred She Said.  I varied the sizes so I could combine them to look like the little buds that open on the same stem. I pulled colores from the image for my Cardstock, which I used my cuttlebug folders on. The Cardstocks are from Close to my Heart and are Heavenly Blue, Juniper and Pansy Purple.

I did lots of Fussy Cutting on all the flowers and layered with foam tape for lots of dimension.

The Hand Stitching was done with Matching Juniper Embroidery Floss.

Other Challenges with this card:
Fab & Funky - Make it Girly
Bunny Zoe's - Spring Flowers
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes
Die Cut Dreams - Spring GArden
Paper Playtime - Anything Digi
The Pink Elephant - Spring Time
Wild Orchid - Anything Goes
Anything Goes - Die Cuts
Flourishes - Sewing on Card
Tuesday Throwdown - Use Scraps
Clear It Out - Anything Goes
Ladybug Crafts - Spring Colors