Ahoy, Mateys! It’s June’s Flavor of the Month

Ahoy, Mateys! Pirates & Mermaids Be on Ye' Horizon! Scrapping for Less has partnered with Lawn Fawn and Neat&Tangled to bring you a treasure trove of fantastic stamp sets! In this month's kit only! Two full-size stamps are Lawn Fawn's "Ahoy Matey" "Mermaid for You", plus "So Jelly" shall be your booty! Shiver me Timbers there's more. If you purchase the Banana Split level Neat&Tangled joins the crew with the sentiment stamp "Hope Anchors" But wait...we discovered so many fantastic items we couldn't bare to make them walk the plank so we put them in kits that can be purchased, A LA Carte! Along with some other treasure to be had if 'ye wish. 'Tis no mirage but alas a booty only comes along once in a Mermoon so grab it while 'ye can! 

Now hop on along and see what the team has fished up with the kit so 'ye can be inspired.

Ahoy there! I am so excited to FINALLY be able to let you all in on this card kit! Sometimes the hardest part of being on a design team is having the knowledge that something so wonderful is coming up and having to keep it under wraps when you want to tell everyone all about it! I followed the sketches in order with the collections and used the Single Scoop level. Thanks so much for hopping with us today and make sure you get over to scrappingforless.com and grab a card kit for yourself and then let your friends know about it too! (I know I'm a stinker! ) ;) 

Blog Hop Lineup:
Scrapping For Less
Handmade by Renuka
Fresh and Renewed
Sunshine, Smiles, and Cards
Crafting on Caffeine
Scrapbook Blessings Club
Stampin' and Craftin'

Cards and Coffee Time
Craft-A-Holic Momma
Jess Crafts

And don't forget to head back to the Scrapping for Less Blog and enter that there Rafflecopter so 'ye can be entered for a prize! AAARGH! I promise 'ye won't be sorry! 

Scrapping For Less Proudly Introduces "My Favorite Things"

Have you ever wanted something so very bad that you could taste it? Well, that is how I was with wanting to carry My Favorite Things products on the Scrapping for Less website. I am so extremely excited to announce that we are focusing on "MFT" products for the month of April! This is a fabulous company and one that is very near and dear to my heart! (In more ways than one! I live in FL and have been to their store). So, join me along with the DT in providing some inspiration for this wonderful company with a wide variety of projects!

 Hi, hi, hi! What a better way to kick off a Friday than to celebrate with a blog hop! I am so excited to be featuring My Favorite Things!!! I was contemplating what my favorite item is from My Favorite Things and I could NOT pick just one. Stamps, Die-namics (what a clever name, right?), stencils, inks, and paper pads MFT has got you covered! And now Scrapping For Less can be your one stop shop for all things MFT! So, so, so exciting!!! 

"Space Explorer" Stamp, "Space Explorer" Die-namics, "Stars/Sky-Vertical" Die-namics

Let's get hopping! 

Scrapping For Less 

Teresa: Fresh and Renewed

Yvonne: Adventures of the Creative Mind 

Sandy: Scrapbook Blessings Club

Jessica: Stampin'and Craftin'  

Tanya: Crafting on Caffeine

Stacy: Craft-A-Holic Momma  

Kim: Sunshine, Smiles and Cards (You are here!) 

Get your Gina Marie Dies!

Hello our Crafty Friends,  Lots is happening and going on this month over at Scrapping for Less! We debuted ALTENEW last weekend! Didn't you just love all the creations? I sure am one blessed woman to have such a talented design team. I absolutely loved everyone's projects. There are lots of Altenew items you can purchase...ranging from some holiday (Christmas) sets to florals to line images! Head on over and check them out!

Not only are we showcasing Altenew...we are also showcasing Gina Marie Designs dies...love, love her dies! So all month you will be seeing these types of items. I also challenged my Design Team to try and use Christmas pattern papers in a non-holiday way so they will be sharing those along with their projects as well. So, today we thought we would have another hop and share some projects with you...don't forget to leave a comment on each blog. Each DT member will have a Gina Marie die to give away and then enter the Rafflecopter on the SFL blog because there will be a larger prize for one of you. Thanks so much for joining us today!

Die that I'm giving away for this hop!

Hi! 

Thanks so much for stopping by! Here is a birthday card that I created using my Gina Marie Designs dies, I love her dies, they are a great price, gorgeous and so easy to use.  So here is what I used for making this card: 

• Flower Trio Burst Background Plate die by Gina Marie Designs
• Happy Birthday Blessing Wishes die by Gina Marie Designs
• Butterfly Profile die by Gina Marie Designs
• Spectrum Noir Sparkle Markers
• cardstock from my stash

So after I cut out the background die I glued it down with Tombow Mono liquid glue and used my clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle Marker to color in the flower portions of the die cuts. After I cut out the words and the butterfly I used Spectrum Noir Markers to add color and sparkle and then glued them down with my Zig glue pen. I love how it turned it out it is so sparkly! I look forward to giving it to my friend for their birthday.

Thanks so much for stopping by! You're next stop is Stacy at Craft-A-holic Momma.
Happy hopping! :)

Here is the line-up for you:

Scrapping for Less

Yvonne: Adventure of the Creative Mind

Sandy: Scrapbook Blessings Club

Teresa: Fresh and Renewed

Kimberly: Sunshine, Smiles, and Cards

Stacy: Craft-A-holic Momma

Scrapbook Blessings Club Monthly Challenge: April

Hi! Today I am entering a challenge from Scrapbook Blessings Club for April. This type of challenge is a great way to give your creativity a direction especially if you find yourself a little stumped for what to do next. The challenges I have been participating in have truly made an impact on how often I am creating. Sometimes with too many choices I get overwhelmed and then don't do anything but with the help of the challenges I have some direction. I love that the challenge for this month is to make a card or a layout with a BIRTHDAY THEME, you can never have too many birthday cards!

Supplies:

• image is C.C. Designs "Birthday Twila"
• the background paper is Birthday Extravaganza with Glitter from The Paper Studio
• sequins are from my stash
• ribbon is from my stash (which I have had for over three years now-gasp!)
• colored image with Copic Sketch markers
• used Wink of Stella in clear to add some sparkle
• used Glossy Accents on her shoes
• used Signo White Pen to create the polka dots on her bows and dress

This challenge has a bit of a twist as they aren't asking you to link it up to their blog but add it to their FaceBook group which I think is a great idea and a fun way to let friends and family possibly see your creation as well if you choose to share it with them. The challenge doesn't end until the end of the month so you have plenty of time to play along, so go get your creativity on!!! You can click on Scrapbook Blessings Club and you will be taken to their FaceBook group to enter.

Thank you so much for joining me today and I invite you to come back whenever you can!

Wishing you sunshine and smiles,
Kim :)

Birthday Series 2016 #3

Hi everybody!

I hope you are all having a fabulous day! The card I am showing you today was a bit of a challenge to me. I truly love the technique of masking an image and stamping on top of it so that when you remove the mask you have created an entirely new image. I also very much enjoy masking an image and using distress inks to create a background around said image and find peeling off the mask to reveal the unblemished stamped image highly satisfying!

All that being said...I get the steps backwards. Every. Time. I don't understand the disconnect with my brain or why I pretty much have to make a few trial runs before I get it right because I do this technique rather frequently. I tell you all this to give you hope and help you to not give up even if you do waste a little paper along the way.

I discovered Newton's Nook a few years ago but this is the first purchase I have made from Newton's Nook. I am smitten with this kitty cat!!! Newton's Nook had a great sale on Black Friday or Cyber Monday (I can't remember) so I jumped at the chance to grab some of the stamp sets I have been drooling over.

Let's get into it...I stamped the image of the cat clinging to the balloon and then went to add the party hat...that was the first time.

The hat looks like it is floating about the cat's head

I started again and that was the second attempt...

The hat STILL doesn't look the way I want it

At this point in time as I am working on this card I begin to ask myself "should I just let this go? Maybe masking isn't for me..." and then immediately think "No, I am not giving up I really love this technique!" I kept working at it and finally got the masking down in the right order. In the past when watching other card makers doing this technique I remember someone saying "always work back to front" as in reference to what you want to see of the scene you are creating. I hate that even though I knew that helpful hint it still took me FIVE attempts to get it right. It was totally worth it!

FINALLY! SUCCESS! I was so happy and proud and couldn't wait to tell the world that I had figured out how to mask! (Seriously it is super easy, I don't know why I make it so difficult, I think it just means I need to use this technique more frequently.)

Here are the steps:

1. stamp the image you want to see in it's entirety first
2. mask off the first image you stamped
3. stamp the next image, for this scene I was only working with two images so it really simple
4. now mask off both images 
5. add your background colors, I used distress inks to create the sky and the grass colors
6. peel off masking and color your image!

Ingredients for this card:

• Newton's Birthday Bash stamp set
• MFT Hybrid Ink Black Licorice stamp pad
• Distress Ink Minis- grass: Mowed Lawn, Shabby Shutters  sky: Tumbled Glass, Broken China
• Tim Holtz Distress Markers used to color image

This technique is perfect for a card that you know you need to mail since it's quite easy to make it a single layer card. Thank you so much for dropping by and I sure do hope that you give this technique a try.

Wishing you sunshine and smiles,
Kim :)

Birthday Card Series 2016 #2

Hey Everybody! 

This MFT stamp set is full of sweetness! The only images from the stamp set I used on this card were the little girl and the presents, there are so many more images to be used! This paper set is so adorable and I am happy to be using it and at the same time sad to be using it up. Do any of y'all ever experience this? I have been working really hard to not allow myself to horde any of my supplies anymore (the struggle may seem silly but it's real!) 

Ingredients:

• patterned paper is from Bo Bunny The Avenues Collection
• My Favorite Things stamp set Sweet Birthday Wishes
• I used a brush tipped black marker to line the outer edges to give the images a more finished look
• took a Wink of Stella brush pen and colored in the bows on the gifts and the bow in her hair as well as her shoes

• used sequins and pearls from Bo Bunny The Avenues Collection Jewels

All the supplies I used to make this card I purchased from Scrapping For Less. 
 This is possibly the best of both worlds because it is super sweet with no regret involved!!!

Wishing you sunshine and smiles,
Kim :)

Birthday Card Series 2016 #1

Happy Birthday!

Well it's bound to be someone's birthday today so that's for them. For the rest of you I hope you are also having a fine day!

The Birthday Card is probably the type of card I make most often barring Christmas cards and I always seem to either be making them after the recipient's actual birthday or cutting it super close.

So this year I am on a mission to not only send out the cards I make for the birthday guys and gals in my life but to also make more than I need so that I can have a collection to pull from. This first card in the series had to have a little card surgery...turns out that I did not like the way the sentiment looked when I stamped it and I wasn't sure what to do about it. It wasn't horrible and I certainly could have left it as it was but it just kept bothering me! So I finally thought to take my purple Wink of Stella pen and go over the sentiment. I was so happy when it seemed to fix whatever it was about the sentiment that I didn't like.

I was halfway through fixing the sentiment when it hit me I should take a before picture or no one would have a clue what I was talking about...

The picture doesn't quite do it justice because you are not able to see the sparkle that the Wink of Stella pen added, also since it is a darker purple it is much easier to read.

I tell you all this as a friendly suggestion that if you find yourself pretty much finished with your card but still not happy with it try to fix it. Some of the cutest cards I've made were results of me trying to fix a mistake. Also I have found that if there is something about a card that just isn't working for me I for some reason cannot bring myself to give it away. I know I'm not being judged or critiqued for the cards I give to my friends and family but for some reason if it doesn't look right to me I just can't leave it alone.

Thankfully, it's just card making and not life and death worse case scenario you scrap it and start over! (Yeah I know that's the absolute worse case scenario, right?)

Wishing you sunshine and smiles,
Kim :)