A New Day at Joyful Creations

As I promised yesterday, my blog has had face-lift.  If you are viewing this in a blog reader - be sure to bring up my actual blog and see the changes.  I am absolutely thrilled.  The wonderfully talented Jackie Rockwell, who is taking a break from her personal blog, is still offering graphic design services and I decided to treat myself.  Don't you love her design??

Jackie is great to work with too.  You can be as involved in selecting themes, colors, fonts, etc. as you want.  Personally, the only thing that I really had a big part in is the colors.  She directed me to a great website - {design seeds} and I paged through until I found something exciting.

I also requested the butterfly.  If you have been with me a long time, you know that this blog started because of a church card ministry that my mother started and named "Joyful Creations".  I've always loved the symbolism of a butterfly - death and resurrection - and wanted to include a butterfly as long as it wasn't cutesy.  I love what Jackie came up with.

I did want to re-open my blog with a few cards - using my new blog colors and butterflies!!  The first is a send out to Jackie - you are amazing!


Then I have a bright and cheerful birthday card for Seize the Birthday!  I got the Small Circle Burst from Memory Box and haven't had a chance to use it - it seemed perfect for this sketch challenge!

Then I did one more card to represent my Christian cardmaking roots.  This card uses the current sketch at retrosketches.

Thank you so much for checking out my blog!!   I am so over the moon excited by my new look, if you are even thinking about getting a new look for your blog - be sure to check out Jackie's services!
You Are Amazing

• Stamps: Verve Amazing Wishes
• Paper: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, More Mustard, Bermuda Bay, Sahara Sand
• Ink: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand
• Accessories: Memory Box Tessatina Border, MFT Fishtail dies, Stampin' Up Butterfly Punch and white Taffeta Ribbon

Enjoy Your Special Day

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Beautiful Butterflies
• Paper: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, More Mustard dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade
• Accessories: Papertrey Butterfly Signature Series die, Love Lives Here die, and Hawaiian Shores button, The Twinery Caribbean twine, Memory Box Small Circle Burst die

God is Our Refuge

• Stamps: Verve single - Psalm 46:1
• Paper: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand, Poppy Parade
• Ink: black
• Accessories: Stampin' Up embossing folder (retiring this month!), Paperrey Love Lives Here die, The Twinery Caribbean, Divine Twine Cheery, My Mind's Eye Twine Ginger

My Last Week with retrosketches

Sad face...it's my last week as a guest at retrosketches.  What a thrill it has been!!  You should have seen the grin on my face all last week as I saw the sketch that was created from my card popping up on your blogs!!

This week is week #52 at retrosketches - an entire year!!  I play along regularly and I was even there on week 1 with this card.  I am thrilled to be here one year later!  In celebration of one year, the sketch this week is to play along with any of the past sketches.  They are all gathered together on the side bar of their blog.  Not surprisingly, I had a tough time narrowing it down, but finally did it just be flipping through my box of stamps/dies that had not yet been used and then finding a sketch that worked!

I used sketch #4.

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Heart-2-Heart #6, Framed Out #1 (sentiment)
• Paper: Simple Stories dsp, misc coordinating cardstock
• Ink: Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay, Versamark
• Accessories: The Twinery Caribbean twine, white embossing powder

Retrosketches - It's Mine!

I have made it in the world of cardmaking - this week's sketch at retrosketches comes from a card of mine!!!  The good ladies at retrosketches took this card of mine (details here) and turned it into a sketch for everybody to try!

I am absolutely thrilled!!

But I also had to create another card based on the sketch.  I discovered that's hard to do because I felt like I had to live up to the first one!! What do you think?

(It's hard to go wrong with that happy little guy!)I am REALLY looking forward to seeing what you each create with this sketch - hope you have fun!

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Spring Has Sprung
• Paper: Simple Stories dsp
• Ink: Memento Black and Copics
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink button, misc white grosgrain, 

Retrosketches with some Papertrey Love

This is my second post today!

A number of challenges came together for me this week (I love it when that happens!!).  There is a new sketch at retrosketches.

I didn't really want to use a heart because I am pretty much done with Valentine's Day.  In digging through my die stash, I found the notched flower dies from Papertrey Ink.  This made me think about the fact that there is a lot going on at PTI this month with their sixth anniversary.  One of the things going on is CASing their design team and the prize is the first $300 of stuff on your wishlist.  Wouldn't that be nice?  Of course, they have hundreds and hundreds of entrants, but you can't win if you don't try!!

I have always liked this card from Maile Belles.  I've actually totally CASed it already - but I wanted to focus on what I like best - the neutral, soft gray background and the pop of vibrant color.

At the point that I was picking the sentiment - I remembered another challenge at A Passion for Papertrey: Love Is In the Air.  So after my attempt to avoid a heart - I still ended up with a love card!!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Signature Greetings, Turning a New Leaf
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Soft Stone, Raspberry Fizz, Simply Chartreuse, Summer Sunrise dp and Vellum Cardstock
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Soft Chartreuse, Memento black
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Notched Flower die, Turning a New Leaf die, Summer Sunrise button, Impression Plate, misc twine, Spellbinder rectangle die

Headlining at RETROsketches!!!

I have the amazing honor and privilege of headlining at RETROsketches!!  They have an amazing team of designers.  Each sketch is so unique and creative and come from cards that the team had made in the past.  Later in the month, there will be a sketch based on one of my past cards - I am thrilled!!!!

This week's sketch comes from a card by Kasia Curry.  (It will be interesting to see what her new take on her card will be as she has a brand new baby boy and is likely a little sleep deprived!  Congrats Kasia!!)

I need a card for my teenage son.  He studied more than I have ever seen him study for two tests this past week and I want to be prepared when the results come out.  (Fingers crossed!).  The "deserve it" part of the sentiment doesn't come from the idea that he's a nice guy and deserves good results - I want to emphasize to him that he worked hard and that's what it takes!!


I obviously did not focus on the four individual heart elements, but I was inspired by the vertical "stripes" formed by the row of hearts.  I wanted to keep my card as minimal as possible since it is destined for a teenage boy.

• Stamps: Verve Treasured Words
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Real Red
• Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa
• Accessories: Memory Box Piestra Tile Die, My Favorite Things Fishtail dies, A Flair for Buttons (etsy), misc star punch, Timeless Twine, Crazy for Kraft, Martha Stewart Fine Crystal Glitter (on the star)

Puppies, Kitties and Love with TAWS!

It's blog hop and new release time at The Alley Way Stamps (TAWS)!

Last week, I gave you a sneak peek of a cute kitty set - see it here!  Exciting news - there is a puppy set also!!!

I love this little guy and I'm not even a small dog person.  But never fear, the set also includes a mid-size and big burly dog!!  I love the newspaper, because I can add any type of sentiment inside and the card will work!!

Besides the kittens and puppies, it's also the time of year that cardmakers start thinking about Valentines.  TAWS has a darling new Valentine's set.  (Hopefully you are hopping through the entire blog to see the variety of stamps and sentiments in this set!)

Next on your hop is Melissa.  Have fun!
Here's the official blog hop verbiage - AND BE SURE TO KEEP SCROLLING FOR ANOTHER GREAT PRIZE DEAL!!

One person will win ALL 3 NEW SETS!! YEP!! So if you want that person to be you.. 
all you have to do is comment on the hop! 
Here are ways you can win.. You can pick and choose which ones you want to do.. 
but the more you comment, the more chances you have to win.. 

1-Comment on The Alley Way Stamps Blog

2-Comment on the DT girls blogs (below)

3-Post about it on facebook or your blog

4-Like us on Facebook
(leave a seperate comment for each that you do)

 You have until tonight, December 31st by 10:30 PM TAWS time to leave comments.

Here are the DT Blogs to visit

But this isn't the only way to win great prizes this month with TAWS!  Because TAWS is celebrating its first birthday!!

We will be having a 13 day GIVEAWAY Birthday Celebration.. TAWS is turning 1!!! eek... we hope you join us. For a chance to win a random stamp set, place this banner on your blog and/ or share on FB  or PIN it.. make sure to link it back to TAWS. Then head to the TAWS page yourself and add your name to MR. Linky or add a comment. That's 2 chances to win..

NEWSPAPER PUPPY:

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps The Gane
• Paper: Echo Park Woof Words dsp, Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip
• Ink: Memento Espresso Truffle, Copics
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Curry ribbon, Bella Blvd Dog Flags

LOVE IS IN THE AIR:

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Lighter Than Air
• Paper: Imaginisce dsp, Stampin' Up Basic Gray, Cherry Cobbler
• Ink: Memento black, Copics
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler twine, Fiskars squeeze cloud punch, Papertrey Ink Aida Impression Plate
• Challenge: retrosketches

Fa-La-La to You!!

It's my day to post over at The Alley Way Stamps (TAWS) blog and it's Christmas Eve day, but there is nothing overtly Christmas-y in the newest release at TAWS.  Never fear - Doodle Frames can be used for anything - and it's PERFECT for chalkboard art!!


I used this week's sketch from retrosketches.

Fa-la-la to you!  I hope you are through with the hustle and bustle (or at least by the time stores close today!!) and are able to settle in for festive and peaceful and holy times with family and friends!

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Doodle Frames, Jolly Holiday (one of the ornaments) and Fa-La-La (an ornament, the sentiment and the teeny tiny snowflake)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black, MME Winter Wonderland Stripes
• Ink: Colorbox Frost White
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Top Note die, Kiwi Kiss ribbon, misc gems colored with Copics

RE-Inspired with Freebies

It is the second week of the BE-Inspired Challenge over at The Alley Way Stamps (TAWS) and it is a CUTE picture...

So I get to RE-inspired you to play along.  And as an added thrill today, the stamps that I have used on my card have just been announced on the TAWS blog as a freebie with $40 purchase through the month of December!

I love the colors and I was particularly drawn to the stockings - I liked the random splashes of color.


You need a close-up to see that the card really does sparkle!!

A big thank you to two challenges that helped me with this card...
retrosketches

colourq - Although I am very sad to announce that I am officially out of my first ever Stampin' Up color.  I have ink and paper back to Mint Melody and Mauve Mist (anybody remember those?)  But I pulled out my Glorious Green pad to make this - it was dry - so I rummaged through my ink refills and then rummaged again and again...it's gone.  I am officially out of Glorious Green.  There is nothing quite like Glorious Green - I used Garden Green on this card.

A Retro Fab Friday

This is my second post today.

CAS(E) this Sketch is just a post away!

The current Fab Friday is a wonderfully rich color combo.

It certainly feels like fall, doesn't it?  But, for unknown reasons (as I am typically a very traditional color person) I didn't make a fall card!  I made a Christmas card...

I also really love this week's sketch at retrosketches so definitely had to put the two together!

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Ornamental Christmas, Petite Pairs
• Paper: Stampin' Up Midnight Muse, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Crumb Cake, Champagne Glimmer
• Ink: Stampin' Up Midnight Muse, Cajun Craze
• Accessories: Stampin' Up Scallop Border Punch, ornament dies, copper cording, misc sheer ribbon, Copper Stickles (on ornaments)

CASology: Reindeer in White

OK - I JUST posted an all white card.  But I had this cute little reindeer punch and I had all the white paper and snowflake folders on my desk - so I had to do another one!

This is for CASology:

And retrosketches:

I am also going to submit to the Simon Says...Emboss It challenge.

• Stamps: Memory Box
• Paper: white and glitter white
• Ink: Stampin' Up Going Gray
• Accessories: Cuttleubug snowflake border (done around each edge) and snow folder, Quickutz tree die (very old!), Fiskars reindeer punch (brand new!), Spellbinders flag die

An Autumn Anniversary

My brother and his wife have an anniversary coming up soon.  As soon as I saw this week's CAS-ual Friday challenge, I knew it would be perfect for their card.

The black and white is perfect for them.  They have family photos and photos from their travels on their walls - all in black and white.  It's a wonderful look.  They had their wedding in the autumn and used fall colors so I wanted to honor that with a little orange.  

The three panels on this week's retrosketch were perfect for Papertrey Ink's Take Three die.  I have all of the seasonal sets that go with the die - and, funny enough, I used the winter stamps for this fall card!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Take Three: Winter, Tag-Its 5 (sentiment)
• Paper: black, Black Market Paper Ebony and Alabaster
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Canyon Clay
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Canyon Clay satin ribbon and button, misc twine, Cuttlebug dot embossing folder

Home Is With You

I was playing at that same friend's house yesterday.  The friend that I mention often with her VERY large stash of Stampin' Up supplies!!  I do wish she blogged her Stampin' Up cards - they are truly amazing, but her real passion is vintage/collage ATCs.  She does have two blogs if you are interested: Nostalgic Collage and A Nostalgic Halloween.  She finds a lot of vintage images - particularly for Halloween - and it can be great fun to download those images for your cards.  This card from last year uses one of the images on her blog.

Anyway, she and I share a passion for all things autumn - and she had out all of the autumns colors and stamps.  The stamp that I selected could be used anytime, but I thought it was a great fit for the sketch and colors...


I used the sketch from this week's retrosketches.  I had intended to cut the image panel as it is on the sketch, but I liked it too much.  So I shaved the card down about 1/4", then let the panel hang over the edge.

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Forever With You
• Paper: Stampin' Up Early Espresso, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Orchard Harvest dsp
• Ink: Stampin' Up Raspberry Ripple
• Accessories: Stampin' Up In Color Dahlias, Glimmer Brads, Naturals Buttons, Island Indigo ribbon, framelits

Blog Hopping with The Alley Way Stamps

I hope you are having fun on our blog hop for the new release at The Alley Way Stamps.  If you started at my blog, you really should start back at the beginning to see all the amazing creations - the charming little lion, the big top, the peanuts - you'll be smiling before you'e done!!


This release at The Alley Way Stamps is such a fun mix - by this point in our blog hop you have seen wonderful bright, fun and colorful cards.  Yesterday I made a cheerful little clown card.  But today I wanted to show you the soft side of TAWS - a soft and sweet baby shower card using Cover Ups.

I used this week's sketch from retrosketches.  I loved the way it let me use the wood image.  It's the perfect size to wrap the little Hershey's Treasures candy bars but I wanted to showcase it with its little heart.

The Cover Ups set is full of a variety of images - from pregnant ladies to cows (hmm...), from Halloween to Easter...such a useful set and all such cute little images.  There are a variety of fun candy wrappers too!

Next on your hop is the fabulous Lyndal!

Here's the blog hop announcement from The Alley Way Stamps (TAWS) so you can be part of the fun!

Blog hop time with TAWS..
Something NEW!! One person will win ALL 3 NEW SETS!! YEP!! 
So if you want that person to be you.. all you have to do is comment on the hop! 
Here are ways you can win.. You can pick and choose which ones you want to do.. 
but the more you comment the more chances you have to win.. 


1-Comment on The Alley Way Stamps Blog

2-Comment on the DT girls blogs (below)

3-Post about it on facebook or your blog

4-Like us on Facebook
(leave a seperate comment for each that you do)

 You have until July 31st midnight TAWS time to leave comments.

Here are the DT Blogs to visit

Alison
Arielle
Audrey
Barb
Danielle
Jingle
Kim <=You are here
Lyndal
Tracy

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Cover Ups
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake and Pretty in Pink
• Ink: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake and Pretty in Pink
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impression Plate, misc twine, Stampin' Up border punch
• Challenges: retrosketches and Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes

Thanks Much retrosketches!!

I was on a roll yesterday!  I got SO many cards done - and it was one of those glorious days that I liked every card that I made.  Unfortunately, I can't show you any of them until next week ;(  Although if you check out the Sweet 'n Sassy August Blog Hop announcement on the left column - the turkey is mine!

But...my success yesterday did inspire me to tackle what I thought was a very complicated sketch - this week's sketch from retrosketches.



This is a lot of layers for me - but I still love how it came together!!

I have two important things to share:

1. I have already announced that I was asked to be on the design team for The Alley Way Stamps (TAWS) - yeah!  (The sentiment on today's card is a TAWS stamp.)  My first official post isn't until Monday but I didn't want you to miss out on prizes.  Sneak peeks of the August release started today on their blog - and this is very important - if you comment on the post, you get a chance to win a free stamp set.  And you can comment tomorrow and Monday for another free set.  THEN - there is a chance to win the entire release on Tuesday's blog hop!

2. On a totally different note, Jennifer Timko is doing a fundraiser on her blog for a very special little girl.  On today's and yesterday's posts, she has samples of the Stampin' Up set Moving Forward that is their annual Ronald McDonald House benefit stamp.  If you order the set through Jennifer in the next week - all proceeds are going to this little girl in need of a miracle.

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Jibber Jabber
• Paper: Recollections dsp (Michaels brand), Stampin' Up Taken with Teal, Peach Parfait, Bermuda Bay, green is a scrap
• Ink: Stampin' Up Taken with Teal, Peach Parfait
• Accessories: Papertrey Tag die, Label die, Stampin' Up leaf sizzlit, Martha Stewart doily and seam binding.
• Challenges: Submitting for Anything Goes week at Simon Says Stamp