New Spellbinders at 7 Kids College Fund!!

Oh my goodness!! 7 Kids College Fund has the new Spellbinders available for preorder right now!!!! Can you believe with all the blogs I read, I hadn't caught a peek at these before now??? Decisions....decisions...

CLICK HERE to preorder the new Spellbinders!!!!!!

High Hopes challenge 61 ~ Valentines!

Good morning!! It's Sunday again & time for another High Hopes challenge!! This week's challenge is to make a Valentine!! Easy, right?? You all were going to make at least one anyway!!



For my card I used Love Birds. The image is colored with Copics.....lots of Stickles on the heart because the coloring didn't turn out so well, lol. I decided to use my heart shaped Nesties to make the card base & all the layers. The papers are DCWV & Basic Grey Sugar Rush. Very basic....but a pleasant Valentine all in all.




Here's a close up of the lovey dovey birds, & the botched....I mean.... glittery heart!





I stamped the Owl Always Love You sentiment on the inside.






This week's prize is Troubled Travis....so if you make a Valentine with a High Hopes image, be sure to link it up to the comments on this post for your chance to win!!

Thanks for visiting, & have a great Sunday!!

Meet Dwight!!

Hello & Happy Thursday!! This is going to be quick because I'm on my way out the door. I wanted to get this posted, though, since I haven't posted since Sunday!!

I made this card rather quickly, & in retrospect I should have added a bit more to it. I don't know why a card isn't "finished" to me until it's got lots of stuff on it!! Other people can do simple cards & they are stunning....mine just look unfinished!! But...for now...it is what it is!!




This is Dwight, one of High Hopes' new releases! You can find him (& all the other amazing new High Hopes stamps) at 7 Kids College Fund! Dwight is right HERE! He is colored with my Prismas....papers are DCWV & Basic Grey Infuse....his bubble is clear embossed...& I used my Martha branch punch & Cosmos punch for the cluster in the corner. Finished off with a big ole piece of organdy ribbon! Like I said....it needs something more....maybe a few Dew Drops or pearls....



Here's a close up so you can see his shiny bubble :)

I probably won't be back until Sunday when I'll be posting my card for this week's High Hopes challenge!! Hope you have a great rest of the week! Thanks for visiting!!

Challenge #60 ~ create a scene

Good Sunday morning to ya!! It's High Hopes challenge day, & today's hostess is one of our guest designers, Alex!! The challenge is to create a scene using 3 or more stamps. A tough one for me...I don't usually do scenes...but I guess that's what makes it a challenge!!




I chose Sitting Princess, Frog Prince, & the previously uninked Reflecting Pond. Remember that 7 Kids College Fund carries High Hopes stamps now! I don't see these particular images in the store right now, but Tab is happy to order whatever stamps you want!!

I used Prismas to color (I had done an image using distress inks......into the garbage that one went!! I should really just stick to pencils!)....Lots of Stickles on the crown & tiara....Crystal Effects & glitter on the water....the papers are SU's Old Olive, Rose Red & K&Company McKenna. I used my Martha doily lace border punch on the rose layer....my branch & flower punches for the corner cluster....& finished it with 3 half pearls.





The photos aren't the best, I had to use my lightbox since it was such a dreary day. The Stickles sure do shine in that closeup, lol!!

Be sure to check out the High Hopes blog to see the other creations...& if you play along you can be entered to win some High Hopes goodies for your very own!!!

Have a great Sunday!!

I have one of the winners!!!

***The High Hopes Blog Hop is now closed***

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us on our hop!!! Lots of fun was had by all!! And.... I was chosen to randomly pick someone from my comments.....so......using Random.Org......comment #126 is the winner!!!!

Tracy from My Crafty Corner!!!!!! You are one of the lucky winners of the hop!!!!

Please email me using the link on the sidebar! I need your address, which I will forward to Nikki in the UK....she will be mailing out your package!!

Thank you all for a fabulously successful hop!!!!

I will see you tomorrow with my card for the High Hopes challenge!! Have a great evening!!!

Piggy Valentine

TGIF!!!! We are gearing up for a long weekend since my kids got out of school early today, & they have off on Monday. Of course, they're starting their weekend with a little Wii workout...lol...

I've loved working with all the new High Hopes images this week, but today I wanted to flash back a bit. Who remembers this little piggy??



Oh I just love him!!! I showed you a picture a few weeks ago of a card I had done last year with this image, & it made me want to do another!! This is Sow Soo-eet Piggy & you can find him at 7 Kids College Fund! I stamped the image onto SU's Very Vanilla....& colored him with my Prismas & Twinkling H2O's. The papers are SU's Suede something (old In Color....I can never remember the names!), Riding Hood Red & another In Color Pink. Sorry I'm not very good with the colors that don't stick around too long (except RHR, of course, lol). The red layer is punched with my Martha heart border punch, & the pink layer is embossed with Swiss Dots. The heart in the corner is made with my new Martha heart punch......& I dressed it up Anna style! Remember how she applied glitter glass to her snowflakes? Well I'm sure I'm not the first one to do it to my heart!! And get this....I am so lame....I *just* found out there is another Martha heart punch that goes with this one, for the layer behind it. I've been freakin' hand cutting my mattes!!! Yes, that's right.....I've been spending oodles of time cutting out these hearts....no template...nothing to trace....just start cutting & hope for the best!! Now there's another punch I'll have to buy!!





This card will be going in my Etsy shop just as soon as I can finish the inside & create an envelope!! Yet another card that is too bulky for a regular envelope!!

And don't forget you can order High Hopes.....including all the brand new ones....right HERE at 7 Kids College Fund!! Thanks so much for visiting...have a great weekend!!

Cozy Tilda aka "Muffy"

Hello everyone!! Wow...Thursday already!! My kids have an early day tomorrow.....VERY early....11:35 release.....now what is the point? 3 hours....it takes us almost that much time to even get ready for school, lol! But they have off on Monday, so that will be a nice long weekend :)

Today I'm taking a wee break from all the High Hopes fun to show you a card I made with one of my new Magnolias....



She's called Cozy Tilda, but I like to call her "Muffy". You know, because she has a muff!! I received her in my last order from 7 Kids College Fund & couldn't wait to ink her up!! I used my Copics to color her....then used a Warm Gray Prisma pencil for a bit of shading. I added glitter to her hat & wings.....& Cotton Ball White Fun Flock to her muff. The papers are SU's Chocolate Chip & Cloud 9 Cocoa Mint, a 12x12 pack of paper I got at Joann for just $6 on sale!!! I didn't really need any more paper........but I just can't pass up a deal!! The "For You" sentiment is from Papertrey Ink, & itwas cut & matted with my Oval Nesties. Added a few punched flowers....some stitching....some Quickutz flourishes....& some crocheted lace. I must say Muffy looks quite adorable!!!




A few close ups of Muffy.....can ya see her fur? :)




This card is all finished on the inside so it's ready to go on Etsy!! You can see I made a matching envelo-box. I usually find that regular envelopes don't work with my big ole lumpy cards, so I often make a 1/4" thick envelo-box with my Enveloper. Greatest invention ever, & 7 Kids College Fund sells them RIGHT HERE!! A must have if you make bulky cards!




Speaking of 7 Kids & Magnolias......Tab has the new Raising the Ceiling collection available for preorder. I see a few I must have!! Also available for preorder is the next issue of Magnolia Ink. I missed out on the first issue....so I already preordered mine!!! Get yours while you can, or you'll be running around begging people to find you just one last issue that you can buy....please....I *must* have that Christmas issue......

*ahem*......so plan ahead!!!! Groveling is *not* pretty!!

Thanks for visiting & have a great night!!

They're in the store!!!!!

Yay!!!!!

7 Kids College Fund now has the High Hopes new release stamps!!!!!!!

CLICK HERE

to order the brand spankin' new FAB High Hopes stamps!!!! I know....decisions decisions......they are ALL fantabulous!!!!!!

Thank you for being patient!!!! From the emails I received I gather there are some very anxious High Hopes lovers out there!!!!!! Enjoy!!

New Release Day.....& a blog hop!

Hello everyone!! Welcome to the NEW RELEASE BLOG HOP!!!!!! You may have come from Alex's blog....if so, you are at your last stop!!!! If not, you may want to start at the beginning with Amy L's blog & hop on through all the blogs!! I'll tell ya why at the end of the post :)

So....we are celebrating our very first release with our new artist, Dustin Pike. He has a HUGE following already, so we are really excited to be working with him!!!!

You can see all the new releases on the newly updated High Hopes site.....just type "HOTP" in the search box, & all the fun new stuff will pop up!!





So I used the adorable Cherry Chip Chimp for my card today......colored with Prismas...cut out with my Labels One Nesties.....the papers are SU's Rose Red & Basic Grey Lemonade (which I also used to piece the cupcake wrapper)....lots of stitching & a flower in the corner....I kept it pretty simple since the image is definitely the star of the card!





All of these images are available for order at 7 Kids College Fund!!! Click HERE to get to the new releases (hopefully they will be listed, I am scheduling this post, lol)!!!

Would you like a chance to win some of these new High Hopes goodies??? There will 4 Diva blogs chosen to randomly pick a commenter to win one of 4 fabulous prizes. One person will win the ENTIRE SET OF NEW RELEASES......& 3 others will win separate stamp packages (I have no idea what those will be, but if they're High Hopes they've gotta be good!!!). So.....you will want to leave a comment on each Diva's blog to increase your chance of winning!!!! The winners MUST have left a comment on EVERYONE'S blog in order to be eligible!!

This will stay open until FRIDAY 7 PM Central time!! So get your comments in!!!!

So.......showed card.....CHECK!

...mentioned blog candy.....CHECK!

...7 Kids College Fund....DOUBLE CHECK!


NOW.......you can return to the High Hopes blog! I hope you've enjoyed our hop :)

Day 2 sneak peek!

Good morning all & welcome to a new week!! I forgot to write up my post last night so I'm trying to quick do it before everyone else wakes up!!

I have another High Hopes new release card to show you today......



Just look at this guy!!! I love it...this was actually the first card I made out of the new releases....I just had to use him first! This stamp is called Snow Yummy, & will be available at 7 Kids College Fund on Wednesday, the official release day!!! When I post that day I will post a direct link to the new images.

So this snowy guy is colored with Prismas...the papers are SU's Riding Hood Red & Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses....I cut the smallest circle with my Creative Memories circle template....then freehand cut the other 2 layers (hence, the distressing, lol)....I clear embossed the liquid in the cup.... & added some punched snowflakes with Stickles Frosted Lace blobs in the center....





I am taking a bit of a break tomorrow, but will be back Wednesday for the New Release blog hop!! Be sure to check out all the other Divas blogs to see what peekies they have!!!

Have a great Monday!!

High Hopes challenge 59 ~~ a spacey sneakie peek!

Good Sunday morning to you all!! I hope you are having a great weekend!! Today's High Hopes challenge is brought to us by Jeanne ~~ & the challenge is to use spacey colors ~ blue, green & purple! Today is also the first day of the sneakie peekies!!! The new release is Wednesday......be sure to check out all the Divas blogs for a glimpse at some awesome new images!!




Here is my very first card done with the new release!! I don't know the name of this stamp yet.....when I find out I will edit this post....but isn't he the cutest little 3 eyed critter you've ever seen?? I colored him with Prismas.....used SU's Garden Green, Tempting Turquoise (this used to be my favorite color long ago, but haven't touched it in probably a year!) & Elegant Eggplant. The designer paper is from the Basic Grey Junebug line....although it's not in the little 6x6 pad ....this is a 12x12 sheet I picked up at my LSS. The colors were perfect! I used my Oval Nesties (leaving a bit of the rocket "dust" outside of the oval).....lots of Stickles.....sewed around the edge of the paper twice.....& used the most obnoxious ribbon I could find in my stash. It's one of the first spools I bought....it's an iridescent purplish green...what was I thinking...but it worked well as the finishing touch for this card.





I hope you can play along!! Be sure to check out the High Hopes blog for everyone else's creations for inspiration...& as always you can enter to win a couple of High Hopes goodies of your very own!!

**ALL of the new release stamps will be available at 7 Kids College Fund starting on Wednesday, the official release day!!!!

I will be back tomorrow with another sneakie peek....hope you can visit!!!

Introducing our new artist!!!!!

Finally, the day is here!!! We are letting you all in on the big High Hopes secret......our new artist!!!!

I'm happy to announce that Dustin Pike is the new artist for High Hopes!! I have been working with his images the last few days & ohhhh.....they are SO fun!!!








The new catalog with all of his amazing images will be up on the High Hopes website on January 20th! That's one week from today!!! Just type "HOTP" into the search box on the catalog page......& you will see all of the brand spankin' new stamps!! You will love them!!!! I will have links in my post on the 20th so you can order yours right away (there is also a link taking you to all the retailers on the High Hopes blog on the sidebar )!

Stay tuned for our sneak peeks, which start this week Sunday with our challenge. They will continue Monday....Tuesday....then on Wednesday we will have a blog hop to celebrate the new release!!!

If you'd like a chance to win a whole SLEW of new release stamps ....... then check out the post on the High Hopes blog RIGHT HERE.....it will give you the steps you need to take in order to enter!!!

I'm just so giddy.....lol.....

7 Kids update....

Hi all!! I hope you're having a great week!! It's sunny here & finally warming up a bit! Heck....it's a heat wave out there....I think it's about 25 degrees right now!!


7 Kids College Fund has some GREAT new items listed...I just had to share!!! Click HERE to view everything recently added, including Shimmerz Miniz, new CC Designs & Zva Creative products. And......you HAVE to see this........

NELLIE SNELLEN FLORAL PUNCHES

Oh my gosh!!!! Are those fun, or what????? You can preorder these RIGHT HERE.......either individually or as a complete set (Tab's offering the SET for an amazing price!)....they are expected to ship to retailers this month, so you shouldn't have to wait too long to be able to play!!! I get so silly with excitement over new products....lol....


Still working on fun sneakie stuff.....can't wait to show you....but you'll have to wait a few days yet!! Patience, grasshoppers :)

High Hopes Challenge 58 ~ bows

Good Sunday morning, my blogger friends!! Can you believe I completely FORGOT about the High Hopes challenge this week?? Good grief....I was reading my email last night & the other Divas were chatting about the challenge......gasp! I forgot!! With all the talk about new releases & sneakie peekies......it just slipped my mind. I didn't think I could get one done, but it turns out....if I ignore my computer & stay focused....I *can* finish a card in a reasonable amount of time!!

So this week's challenge is Put A Bow On It....brought to us by Karen, our Wacky Diva!!! I couldn't miss out on this challenge.....easy peasy!!




I used an adorable image from last year that hadn't seen ink yet (I say that a lot, don't I?). This is Matchmakin' Maynard. He's colored with Prismas....glitter added to his wings....papers are SU's Old Olive & K&Company's Que Sera Sera....I used my Oval Nesties to cut & matte the image....Martha Stewart heart border punch...& my NEW Martha lace scallop heart punch! Don't you love it? I was just chatting with some friends & we were talking about all the new Martha punches.....& I thought this one was cute, but I said I didn't need it because I have the Heart Nesties. Well, can you believe I was at Michael's yesterday, & the bugger just fell into my cart! It wanted to come home with me! What's a girl to do? Martha....you're killing me!!




Here's a close up of Mr Maynard.....can ya see the sparkly on his wings??

I hope you can play along this week!! Go to the High Hopes blog to check out what the rest of the Divas created, & to enter to win a couple of yummy HH goodies!! Namely, Chef Pierre & the Lovin' from my Oven sentiment pictured below!! Perfect for Valentines Day....coming up quickly!!!!!






Thanks so much for visiting.....enjoy your Sunday!!

Hanglar, High Hopes & one heck of a storm!!

Wow...is it really Friday already?? It has been a busy week here.....& this post is going to be long because I have a lot to say :)

(quit rolling your eyes....I know I *always* have a lot to say!!)

First off, my Hanglar card....



It's no secret that I looooove Hanglars! It's also no secret that you can't buy them in the US!! So I rely on great friends to send me images! I'm not sure who sent me this one....but thank you!! It was actually stamped onto a textured paper.....like Bazzill....so it was a bit harder to color with my pencils (not complaining!! I will take Hanglars any way I can get them!). I do like how it turned out, NOT lovin' the green though! I knew I wanted to use Basic Grey Porcelain papers....& I had them in front of me...& some of the papers have lots of green so I colored her jacket to match. In the end I liked these papers with the image but after I was done with the card I thought "Well that looks silly.....there's hardly any green in this paper" lol...oh well, people tell me I obsess a bit too much about matching anyway!

So to keep it short...colored with Prismas....papers are SU's Chocolate Chip, DCWV (sanded the edges a bit) & the BG Porcelain.....Liquid Applique & glitter on the snow....Martha heart border punch....heart Nesties....sentiment from Hero Arts...I doodled AFTER the card was all done....it looked bare....THAT was not the time to doodle! What if I'd messed up? Yes, you can mess up doodling!!




A close up of the bunch o' hearts...I added some punched leaves around it...because it also looked bare...lol..




In High Hopes news.....many of you know a release is coming up soon!!! I have the stamps in my hot little hands & have been trying very hard to find some time to do something with them other than just stare at them. 7 Kids College Fund will be receiving their latest order of HH stamps in the next week or two (this of course does not include the new release......HH is releasing the new stamps later this month). You can find those RIGHT HERE....including the ever popular LUIGI & the PIZZA MY HEART sentiment!!!! Luigi's da man!!!! And because I've been too busy to make a new card with Luigi, I am again posting the one I made last spring....





I also wanted to post another card that I did last year.....because I think this image is also just the cutest for Valentines Day!!!!

This is Sow Soo-eet Piggy.....look at that little chubbykins!!! Looks like me when I'm scarfing down chocolate.....which these days is pretty often!!!





And last but not least......the snow. We got pummeled once again yesterday....it started sometime after midnight & didn't stop until early this morning. Not sure how much we got....does it really matter at this point?? I know you can't tell how deep it is from this picture, but I thought it was funny that half of my wrought-iron heart (you know, that summer item I never put away) was peeking through the snow. The poor thing is suffocating :(






Here's a shot of our front walkway, with part of the flag stuck in the snow...lol....




Next July when I'm complaining about the heat....remind me of these pictures, would ya????


Have a great weekend!!!

Another huge blog candy at 7 Kids!

Hi all!!! I hope you're having a great week!! We are getting yet another snowstorm.....it's been snowing for 8 hours, & they said it will continue to snow for another 12-15 hours!!! I'm done with winter now. It was pretty for Christmas.....but it can all go away now!! All done!!

I've been working every day (yay....you have no idea how happy it makes me to say that!!) so I haven't had much time to create. And what I am going to create over the next day or two.....well it's a secret. Don't you hate when bloggers say that?

So for now, I'm just going to tell you that Tab at 7 Kids College Fund is planning ANOTHER huge blog candy!! She gave away quite a stash just a couple of weeks ago, & she's planning to do it again!! See her blog post HERE for details!!!!!

And did ya see all the new Zva Creative items she has in the store?? Gorgeous stuff!!

I'll be back soon!! Stay warm!!!

New stuff at 7 Kids!

Hi all!! Hope you had a great Sunday.....I'm soooooo ready for our normal routine now.....it's been a long day, lol!!


I just wanted to let you know of a few things that have been added or are going to be added to 7 Kids College Fund!! Tab's been a busy little elf!!


HIGH HOPES stamps ~ Tab is taking special orders RIGHT NOW through Wednesday, January 6th!! You can let her know exactly what stamps you would like!! Click HERE for the instructions on how to do that!!!!!

SCOR-IT ~ You can preorder the Scor-It, Scor-It Mini, & tote bags! They are new redesigned & are expected to ship sometime this month so order yours now!!

BASIC GREY ~ New releases are here!! Nook & Pantry, Sugar Rush & Origins papers & accessories are available now right HERE, as is the gorgeous Bittersweet collection from last year (available HERE)!

BIG SHOT ~ The Hello Kitty Big Shot, that is!!!! Words can't describe how cute it is!! Go see it HERE!!

PRIMA BUTTERFLIES ~ These are new to me....& oh so pretty!! So many colors to choose from!!


Well I can see my next order is going to be a bit bigger than normal, lol!!


Tab also just added some new members to her design team.....go to her BLOG to see all the new faces!!

Thanks for visiting me again today......now back to your regularly scheduled Sunday :)

High Hopes challenges are back!!!

I am so excited that we have resumed the Sunday High Hopes challenges!!! Today's challenge is brought to us by our fearless Diva leader Nikki & it's a sketch!! You know how much I *love* sketches!!

Unfortunately, ever since I downloaded the latest version of Firefox, I can't right-click anything. I usually like to post the sketch here, but today you'll have to go HERE to see it. (You'll want to go there anyway to see everyone else's fabulous work!!)

Here is my first card using the sketch......



I used Penguin Family Fun....colored it with Copics....cut & matted it with my Circle Nesties. The papers are SU's Old Olive, Bazzill Dots, & Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses. I used my Giga Marvy snowflake punch to punch the flake from the same Bazzill Dots paper & edged it with Diamond Stickles. I finished the card with some tulle, some glittery snowflake buttons (from Joann, I believe) & 3 half pearls in the corner.






Because that card didn't exactly turn out as I had pictured it, I did another one!! Yes, can you believe it?? TWO CARDS for ONE CHALLENGE!! That never happens!! What can I say, I was feeling energetic!

Here is my second card.....




For this card I stamped Frances Owl onto SU'S Naturals White paper, colored her with Prismas & cut her out with my Blossom Nesties. I wasn't planning on cutting the image out, but something went horribly wrong when I embossed....I had a bunch of little lines & shapes everywhere, like the die shifted as it went through my Cuttlebug. It looked horrible. So I cut it out, & mounted it onto a die cut from SU'S Naturals Ivory paper.....it went better with the other papers anyway, lol!! Speaking of which.....the papers I used are SU's Old Olive (sponged with an Olive chalk ink to make the edges a bit darker) & K&Company's MCKenna. I added the Guess Who sentiment to the layer in the back......added some FUN shaggy ribbon (reminds me of carpet, lol) with a flower, & some Dew Drops to the 2 corners.





Enjoy it folks.....2 cards for one challenge will probably NEVER happen again, lol!!

Don't forget that you can order High Hopes stamps from 7 Kids College Fund now!! Even if they are not listed in the store, you can email Tab & let her know what you'd like, & she will include it with her next order from them! I will let you know when she will be ordering again!!

Don't forget to check the High Hopes blog to see everyone else's work....as always there are a couple of goodies up for grabs so if you join in please link your card over there!!!!

And if anyone has any suggestions as to how to fix my right-click dilemma, I'd love to hear it!!

Have a great Sunday.......it's FREEZING here in Wisconsin......now that the holidays are over I'm ready for spring!!!!!


EDITED.........right click problem FIXED!!!! Turns out there is a problem with the Yahoo toolbar.....so I disabled it & restarted my computer & VOILA.....right click is working again!!! Just in case you know someone who's having the same problem!!!!!!