Hello, friends!

Today’s challenge is brought to us by Jessie!!  She has challenged us to make a card or project using at least THREE embellishments, with a birthday theme of COURSE!!

Here is my first card in months!  My embellishments are ribbon, embossing and twine.

It’s such a pleasure to ink up my There She Goes’ babies again!  I had so much fun making this card today

I’ve been a part of the There She Goes team since inception and I can honestly say that it has been such a pleasure to work with Jessica, her designers, and the design team!   Love you,all!

Hugs,

Holly

Hello, Friends…

Contrary to popular belief, I have NOT fallen off the face of the earth.   I have, however, been on a “walk-about” of sorts.

Over the last few months, many of you have been privy to my battles.   I hesitate to say the battles have been completely fought and won.   I’m still working on some areas and am keeping a positive outlook.   Our God is greater than any burden I bare.

The downtime is something I’ve fought tooth and nail.   My creative brain starts to power down if I’m not using it on a regular basis.   Well, I haven’t made a thing in over four weeks.   I am being given the chance  to learn the virtue of patience.

I’ve also had a chance to interact in amazing ways with my sons.  My oldest turned 29 yesterday.  I favor Josh in many ways as being the oldest of four brothers, he’s had to be a brother and sometimes a father.   I am so proud of him for moving towards his future, as he started college last year and hopes to be a chemist.

My second son, Zeke, just procured a new job.  He’s now working for Constant Contact.   He helps people with websites, e-mailers, HTML and such.   I’m hoping college calls his name soon as well.   He has way too much to offer to stop before he reaches his potential.

Noah continues to amaze me with his wit.   He reminds me of my Uncle Ben so so much.   He’s the tender hearted funny guy.  He is slow to learn some lessons, but he’s getting there.   Oh and he sings like an angel!

My baby is going to be 18 in a few months.   He started his first job (paying) a couple weeks ago.   He’s been have a difficult year in some ways, but he is a strong, smart boy and he’ll be fine.   I love that he is so close to his dad and I.  That’s not easy to find in a young man these days.

The boys and I were discussing our years of struggle as a family.   While we are in the fire, we don’t see the water, but it’s there.   For every toy I denied my kids, for every chore I made them do, and for every “no” I said out of love… they are better for it now.  They are compassionate, strong willed and resourceful men.    I guess I’m actually a little melancholy about that as it means my boys are starting to reach the point where they no longer need mama to tell them what she would do.

Meanwhile, their father and I are feeling pretty blessed.   So no complaining about my aches and pains and no whining that I can’t stamp just yet.   I’ll bare this cross with a smile.

I see an Orthopedic Surgeon on Aug 1st.   I see a neurologist on Aug 9th.   After that, I’ll have more answers to guide me.   I so appreciate all the message of support and offer of prayer.   Prayer is always welcome!!

Now, I have NOT been asked by anyone on my Design Teams to do this, but I want to do this in a thank you to Jessica Knutsen, Korin Sutherland and Sharon Jackson, owners of the teams I design for.

If you love what I post here and want to find where I get my stash… check out these online stores:

Stamp Simply Ribbon Store

Sweet N’ Sassy Stamps

There She Goes Clear Stamps (and dies!)

You, ladies, are what friends are all about.

Hope to be back soon!

Hugs,

Holly

Hello, friends!

It’s Saturday, so you know what that means!!  This week we’re focusing on Prima products.  If you’ve arrived here from  Barb Schram’s blog, then you’re in the right spot!   I suggest you start back on Sharon Johnson’s blog in order to find out how you can be eligible for today’s blog prize (see picture above!).  It is a mystery blog candy, meaning that the winner can be chosen from any of the blogs involved.

First, I would like to apologize for my absence over the last couple of weeks.   I can’t really go into a lot of details, but I will just say that a my health has taken yet another hit which will keep me from doing what I love most (stamping/creating!) on a regular basis.

I *Had* to play along with this week’s product focus as I love me some Prima products!

Here’s my simple offering:

Here are some details:

Stamps:  Our Daily Bread Designs’ Scriptures 1 set

Papers: GP White, Basic Black, Prima Almanac collection dp

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Blush Blossom

Accessories: 1.25″ black silk ribbon, Kaisercraft black 1/2 pearls, Prima Wood clocks, Prima Avon Rose – North Country, Oval Nesties, Spellbinders Die for JustRite – Nested Oval Medallion Labels Die, tacky glue, dimensionals, liquid pearls.

You can view all of Stamp Simply Ribbon Store’s Prima products HERE.

*****  Items highlighted are provided by Stamp Simply Ribbon Store *****

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Sharon Johnson - The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store

Deb Saaranen

Barb Schram

Holly McMillen <you are here>

Linda Duke

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Now head on over to Linda Duke‘s blog to see what eye candy she has to share .  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hugs!

TLC380 ~ Either/Or, but Both is More

Welcome, friends!

It’s my turn to host this week’s Technique Lover’s Challenge.   I completely struggled with what I wanted to do.  Not that I had NO ideas, but I had too many ideas!

So, this week’s challenge is to do either a triple easel card (I’ll give more details in a moment) OR a see through image (again, more coming).   If you are REALLY adventurous, I highly recommend doing BOTH! haha!

First, let’s talk about the triple easel.   We’ve done regular easel cards, we’ve done shaped easel cards, and we’ve done twisted easel cards.   When I saw a picture of the triple easel card on Pintrest, I loved the look!

Here’s what my triple easel looks like:

First off, let me clarify that my easel is NOT connected to the pink layer it sits on.   I only put that there to show that it is approximately the same size as a regular A2 card.

It also lies flat.  How so, you say?  Well the flower/leave combo that is holding it up in front is attached with a piece of velcro.  It can be removed to facilitate flattening for mailing (of course it would have to go in a bubble envelope or clear plastic box).

Instructions for the triple tiered easel card vary from place to place.   If you know how to make an easel card, this is just an expansion.   I found that looking at the examples online pretty much made it simple.

Here is one sample from Sara Sandberg.

Here is another sample with a good side view from Sonia’s Crafty Patch

You can also download instructions for a variation here.

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Ok, now that you’ve seen the either… let’s take a look at the “or”.

Now, I’m sure there’s a fancy name for this technique, but for the purpose of our challenge, I’m calling it the See Through Image.

A couple ways of achieving this…. you can stamp your image, put a die over top that is slightly smaller than your image, so that the edges of your image touch the die… then trace the die.   From there you want to cut away the parts that are not your image.   Make sense?

OR, you can stamp your image and use a ruler to draw a box around it so that the box touches at least two sides of your image and then cut away the parts that are not your image.

Here are a couple visuals:

This technique actually makes a striking CAS card if you do this on your main panel and then put designer paper on the inside of your card.

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Now on to some other fun stuff.   This past Saturday the Stamp Simply Ribbon Store crew did a focus on Melissa Frances papers and products.   I was having a severe case of missing mojo last week, so I am making up for it now.

My triple tiered easel card is made with Melissa Frances’ Kitschy Kitchen designer papers… and I absolutely LOVE the little tags set that coordinates with the paper, so I made this cute little tag box…

Oh yes, that is definitely Dove chocolate in the box and spilling onto my desk!  YUM!!

Ok, now for some supplies:

Stamps:  JustRite Botanical Butterflies (easel card) , JustRite With Sympathy (tag box)

Papers: GP White, Baja Breeze, Pretty in Pink, Melissa Frances Kitschy Kitchen designer paper (6 x 6)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Barn Door distressing Ink, copics

Accessories: 1″ grosgrain with satin edge (Red), 3/8″ red gingham, 1/2″ wrinkled ribbon (light blue), Spellbinders Big Scallop circle dies, Spellbinders small circle dies, Melissa Frances 1/2 pearls, Kaisercraft 1/2 pearls (red), Prima Angelica rose collection, Prima Coventry Rose – Romantique collection, Prima Lady Godiva – Strawberry Ice collection, Martha Stewart butterfly punches, Star Dust Stickles, sticky tape, dimensionals, scoring blade

*****  Items highlighted are provided by Stamp Simply Ribbon Store *****

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That’s it for now!   I really hope you’ll take the time to stop over to the Technique Lover’s Challenge forums on Splitcoaststampers.com and play along!

Hugs!

Happy Memorial Day, Friends!

It’s been a busy day here already and we haven’t even fired up the grill yet.   I started my day making a big batch of pasta salad (a personal favorite) and getting chicken ready to be grilled.   I have already cleaned my kitchen twice and if you saw it right now, you wouldn’t believe me.

I did make the time to play in this week’s There She Goes Monday Challenge (TSG158-Cork It).   I actually DO have cork, but I wanted to go over this technique I developed a while back that gives you a faux cork look.

Here’s my card:

Ok, now for how I did the faux cork.

First, I took a piece of white cardstock.   Using a sponge, I smeared (yes, smeared) Tim Holtz tea bag distressing ink in an area large enough for what I needed.  Get a good coverage.

Then I took a porous sponge (actually that dense styrofoam type packing material works too) and I dabbed that in versamark.   I tapped the sponge on my distressed area randomly and then covered it in clear embossing powder.  When you tap off the excess embossing powder, look at your piece to see if there are gaps.  If you have too much coverage, take a small paint brush and tap it randomly on the piece to remove some.  Heat set the embossing powder.

Next, I took Tim Holtz antique photo distressing ink and dabbed it generously onto the piece, then rubbed it in a bit with my sponge so that some comes off the embossed area.   I then repeated that step with both close to cocoa and chocolate chip ink.

Here is a close up of the faux cork piece:

I have used this technique using blue inks, too and it looked awesome.

Here are my details:

Stamps:  There She Goes’ Hibiscus

Papers: GP White, Mellow Moss, Really Rust, Cosmo Cricket Wanted dp

Ink: Versafine Black Onyx, Versamark, Tim Holtz Tea bag and Antique Photo distressing Inks, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: 1/2″ rust twill, jute, liquid pearls, photo corner punch, Musical flourish embossing folder, oval nesties, sponges, clear embossing powder, word window punch, hole punch, dimensionals, sticky tape.

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Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you’ll pop over to the There She Goes’ team blog and play along!

Hugs!

Howdy Stampers!

It’s Saturday, so you know what that means!!  This week we’re getting our Wedding attire on.  If you’ve arrived here from  Linda Duke’s blog, then you’re in the right spot!   I suggest you start back on Sharon Johnson’s blog in order to find out how you can be eligible for today’s blog prize (a $20 gift certificate to the Stamp Simply Store!).  It is a mystery blog candy, meaning that the winner can be chosen from any of the blogs involved.

This week we are focusing on BoBunny products.  If you haven’t been to the Stamp Simply Store, you can find the BoBunny products HERE.

Sharon gave me a challenge for this week’s inspiration.   BoBunny’s Weekend Market line has a really cool chipboard album and she asked if I wanted to take that on.   Of course, I am always up for a challenge, so I said yes.

Let me tell you… I had my hands full!   I wanted to create this as a Father’s Day gift for my husband, so I mandated a photo shoot at our friend’s stables.  That alone was a challenge! Ha!

I love how my photos came out, so they worked beautifully in this cool album….

So here we go!

The “pages” of this album are all different shapes.  At first I wasn’t sure I would like that, but I really did!

It certainly helped that my photo subjects are so handsome!

Oh, and the horses are gorgeous, too! haha!

I was a little worried that I would have appropriate stamps to use for this project, but I found that the Wordsworth Poetry of the Earth set worked wonderfully.

Keep in mind that I am NOT a scrapbooker.

At first I thought these gear dies wouldn’t fit with the project.  Then I got to thinking that my hubby is the gear that got the whole gang started!

I was very proud of my boys for indulging their mother the day of the shoot.   I took almost 50 pictures and my hubby took another 30 or so on his camera.

I left a blank “page” between the 6th and 7th so that I can add the boys’ personal messages to their dad prior to us giving it to him on Father’s day.

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Now for some details!

Stamps: Wordsworth Poetry of the Earth, JustRite CS With Sympathy, JustRite Warm and Cozy

Paper: Really Rust, Buckaroo Blue, Mellow Moss, BoBunny Weekend Market 6 x 6 dp pad

Ink: Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz distressing ink (antique photo)

Accessories: BoBunny Weekend Market Mini Album, BoBunny Noteworthy Die cuts – Weekend Market, BoBunny Jewels – Weekend Market, 1/8″ suede string (ivory, brown and light blue), 5/8″ Double faced faux suede (brown and antique gold), Spellbinders Fancy Tags Two, Spellbinders Dies Label ten, Spellbinders Sprightly Sprockets, photo corner punch, floral embossing folder, paisley embossing folder, circle punch, star punches, copper embossing powder, Kaisercraft wooden keys, corner rounder, jute, Aleene’s fast grab tacky glue, Twisted burlap string (natural), dimensionals, sticky tape, cowboy hat die.

*****  Items highlighted are provided by Stamp Simply Ribbon Store *****

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A list of the blog participants today:

Sharon Johnson - The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store

Barb Schram

Linda Duke

Holly McMillen

Michelle Woerner

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Now hop on over to Michelle Woerner‘s blog and see how she gets her wedding on!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs!

***Please scroll down to HERE for the Inky Impressions Sizzling Summer Hop***

Hi Stampers!

Guess what?!  We have  a fourth day of sneak peeks again this month!   Remember, you should start back on the There She Goes’ blog to find out how YOU can win a copy of these sets.   At the bottom of this post there is an inLinkz that will give you the entire list of links of Trendsetters sharing their own creations today.

How about another set illustrated by..

Oh Crop is a 6×8 set that includes a total of 21 stamps and will sell for $24.00.

This set is a sure fire must have for the country bumpkin in you!!

Now THAT is a seriously uddorable cow!

The striped paper is home made.   Sharpies and a ruler!

Stamps:  There She Goes’ Oh Crop

Paper: GP White, Pretty in Pink, Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss

Ink: Versafine Black Onyx, copics

Accessories: 3/8″ black/white gingham, corner rounder, crocheted flower, light green 1/2 pearls, label nesties, swiss dots ef, dimensionals, sticky tape

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Be sure to join us tomorrow evening on the facebook group for the release party!  Lots of prizes to be won.

Now you can click on the inLinkz below to find the next blog in our hop!

Hugs!

Welcome, Inky Impressions Fans!

Are you ready to get Inky? Today the Inky Impressions Inkettes are sharing with you lots of fabulous Inky Impressions creations to prepare you for a Sizzling Summer!

Today not only are there projects galore to ogle over, but we are also releasing 6 BRAND NEW Rubber Stamps!

Welcome to the Inky Impressions family of pretties:

Angelica the Bride

Angelica’s New Puppy

Christopher Mowing

Gardening Lili

Independence Day Lili

Sassy Lili

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Let’s get on with the show!

Angelica is out on the town with her new little friend!

Stamps: Inky Impressions’ Angelica’s New Puppy

Paper: GP White, violet, Green galore, springy paper studio dp selection

Ink: Versafine, copics

Accessories: 3/8″ sheer violet with polka dots, love charm, corner rounder, pink rhinestones, sticky tape, dimensionals

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Next up is Independence day Lili

I’m an Americana kind of girl, so this little girl stole my heart!

Stamp: Inky Impressions Independence Day Lili

Paper: GP White, Night of Navy, Real Read, DCWV bold brights dp

Accessories: 1/2″ white/red striped grosgrain, slit punch (to create scallops), ribbon threading punch, star punches, circle punch, dimensionals, sticky tape, stickles

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Be sure to comment at each stop along the way because one lucky winner will win this amazing prize package! It includes:

Winner’s choice of 1 of the 6 New Releases- (Angelica the Bride, Angelica’s New Puppy, Christopher Mowing, Gardening Lili, Independence Day Lili OR Sassy Lili!) Nickie’s Birdie Hula LiLi 1 package of Turtle Charms 1 package of Wicker Daisy Basket Charms 1 package of Flower Heart Charms 1 package of 4mm flat back Pearls- Bubblicious 1 package of 4mm flat back Pearls- Golden Yellow 1 package of 5mm flat back Pearl Hearts- Bright White

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What more could anyone ask for? You have until Friday, June 1st to comment and add our blog hop information to your personal blog sidebar to be eligible for these fantastic prizes. You should have arrived here from Debbie’s Blog, if so you are in the right place. If not, we kicked things off at the Inky Inspirational Blog, so if you haven’t been there already be sure to head back so you don’t miss out on any of the fun!

We hope that you enjoyed this stop on the hop! Be sure to head on over to Kelli’s Blog and see what they created for today, with these stamps it’s sure to be amazing!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs!

Hello again, my friends!

This is it!  Day #3 of the There She Goes sneak peeks!!   Remember, you should start back on the There She Goes’ blog to find out how YOU can win a copy of these sets.   At the bottom of this post there is an inLinkz that will give you the entire list of links of Trendsetters sharing their own creations today.

Be prepared to be dazzled with today’s super fun set!  It is SEW cute!!

Illustrated by:

Cute As a Button is a 6×8 set that includes a total of 33 stamps and will sell for $24.00.

That’s a lot of stamps!!

Here’s my sample:

That little sewing machine reminds me of my Janome sew mini!  Love!

Here are my details:

Stamps:  There She Goes Cute As A Button

Paper: GP White, Real Red, October Afternoon Modern Homemaker dp

Ink: Versafine Black Onyx, copics, white gel pen, Riding Hood Red

Accessories: 3/8″ cream grosgrain, swiss dots ef, red and cream 1/2 pearls, label nesties, dimensionals, sticky tape

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Thanks for stopping by!  Make sure you stop back tomorrow to see another sneak peek!  Now you can click on the inLinkz below to find the next blog in our hop!

Hugs!

Hello again, my friends!

This is it!  Day #2 of the There She Goes sneak peeks!!   Remember, you should start back on the There She Goes’ blog to find out how YOU can win a copy of these sets.   At the bottom of this post there is an inLinkz that will give you the entire list of links of Trendsetters sharing their own creations today.

Today’s set is so FUN!  It’s all about the ‘stache!

A little funny story for you.   My hubby has had a mustache since I met him when I was barely 17.   Every 10-15 years he shaves it off to regrow it.   I don’t recognize him without it!  It truly freaks me out.

Here are my details:

Stamps:  There She Goes’ Flava Sava

Papers: MME Lost and Found Union Square dp

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Riding Hood Red, Creamy Caramel, Versafine Black Onyx

Accessories: 5/8″ chocolate ribbon with stitched edges, buckle, black rhinestones, sticky tape, dimensionals

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Thanks for stopping by!  Make sure you stop back tomorrow to see another sneak peek!  Now you can click on the inLinkz below to find the next blog in our hop!

Hugs!