So, that's why!!!

So, I've noticed that there have been visitors to my blog and I am sure that you all are wondering if I've given up my crafting or if I've simply dropped off the face of the earth.  Well, neither actually.  Our city (Tuscaloosa, AL) and our home were destroyed by the tornado outbreak on April 27, 2011.  Now, 3 months later, we are still surviving in an RV.

We have about 6-8 more weeks until our home repairs are complete and we can move back into our home.  I am very excited about the changes that we've been able to make to our home, especially the addition of our art room that will house all of my families crafts.  It has been an experience to say the least, but we are so very blessed and grateful to our friends and family who have been an invaluable support since the storm.
I have been lurking on the blogs for a couple of weeks now....getting inspired to create though my supplies are packed in a box somewhere in a storage room!!!  I've picked up a few things so I hope to get to put some things together soon.
For those of you who continue to stop by and check my blog....thanks for hanging around!  It means a lot!

Scrappy Love,
Rene'

Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturday - CAS

Happy Saturday people!  It is a lovely morning here in Alabama and I am gearing up for a busy day.  But, before I hit the ground running, I want to share this weeks Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Challenge!

This week at Stamp, Scrap and Doodle the challenge is Clean and Simple (CAS)!  We have a great prize up for grabs from Glitz Designs!  We'd love to have you join in the fun!

For my CAS creation, I created a little envelope goodie bag. 

To create this little goodie bag, I started with a regular A2 envelope.  I embossed the envelope with my Cuttlebug and used my Treading Water border punch on one side.  I tied it with ribbon and created the little handle with coordinating ribbon.  The image is a stamp in front of a scallop circle I cut using Spellbinders die.  I added a little paper grass and DONE!  If you'd like to see a tutorial of how to create this goodie bag, click HERE.

Come on over and create something with us this week at Stamp, Scrap, and Doodle!  We'd love to see what you create!

Thanks for stopping by!

Scrappy Love,
Rene'

Stamp, Scrap, & Doodle Saturday -Glitter, Sparkle, Shine

Happy Saturday everyone!  I am so glad the weekend is finally here!  It has been a busy two weeks at school filled with high stakes testing that brings lots of stress and tension among teachers and kids.  I look forward to the day when schools, and more importantly children, aren't judged by their ability to perform on any one test on any one day!  I seriously doubt that will ever happen in my lifetime....but a teacher can dream can't she?!?!

This week at Stamp, Scrap, and Doodle Saturday, the design team challenges you to get your BLING on!  That's right, all things that glitter, sparkle, and shine are welcome!  You should definitely check out what the design team came up with ~ some amazing creations!


Here's my card for this week's challenge.

 I started out with brown cardstock and some beautiful, glittery patterned paper from the Paper Studio.  I used my scallop circle die to make my butterfly really pop.  I used my Slice to cut the butterfly out of DCWV glitter paper and then accented it with lots of bling!  The sentiment is a stamp ~ I don't know where it came from!

We'd love to see what you come up with, so get your BLING on and link up!

I'm also entering this card into the following challenges:
Incy Wincy - Lots of Sparkle and Shine
Sparkles Forum - Springtime
Tip Top Tuesday - Nature Inspired
Cute and Girly - Cute and Girly
Paper Pretties - Bring on the Bling
Charisma Cardz - Bling and Sparkle
Paper Romance - Bling
Frosted Designs - Bling
Prairie Fairy - Oh So Spring
Thanks for stopping by!

Scrappy Love,
Rene'

Stamp, Scrap, & Doodle Saturday - Photo Inspiration Challenge

Happy Saturday everyone!  Do you ever feel like there are just not enough hours in the day.....all week!?!?!  I have definitely felt that way this week.  There were so many things that I've wanted to accomplish and I am sad to say that my to-do list is not to-done. 

Anyway, I was able to spend a very small amount of time crafting this week to create my DT card for this week's challenge at Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Saturday.  This week we are challenging you to use this photo as inspiration.

What is it about this picture that inspires you?  Is it the peach, pink and purply colors?  Is it the butterfly?  Is it the tea pot?  The fabulous rose?

I was inspired by both the colors and that fabulous rose!  I thought it was a perfect opportunity to create a ribbon rose for my card! I began with a deep plum cardstock (CM) and gorgeous patterned paper from My Mind's Eye.  I used my Spellbinders scallop die for the background of my ribbon rose.  A stamp set from Martha came in handy for the leaves which I stamped then cut out.  The sentiment is a rub-on from Kaiser. I was really happy with the way this turned out and am looking forward to using this patterned paper and ribbon rose again on a page layout (if I get some crafty time in!).

Regina has an Autumn Leaves stamp set up for grabs for the winner of this week's challenge.  So, get inspired and CREATE!  We'd love to see how the photo inspires you so hop on over and join us this week at SSDS!

Thanks for stopping by!
Scrappy Love,
Rene'

Stamp, Scrap, & Doodle Saturday!

Happy Saturday everyone!  I have really enjoyed the past week ~ it's Spring Break here for us!  I didn't get at much crafting done as I thought I might but I did get to spend oodles of fun times with my DD, and I even got a little spring cleaning done (keyword ~ little)! 

We just loved to see all the participation last week with our "Spring Has Sprung" challenge!  Over 100 entries of beautiful spring goodness!  We do hope that you will join us again this week.  This week's challenge at SSDS is to use numbers, any way any how!

I decided to try this tri-fold card that I saw a video for on Youtube from SCS.  It was super easy and I can definitely tell you that I will be making many more of these!

I started with the polka dot paper that was in my stash....I have no idea where it came from....it's pretty old.  I used Royal Blue cardstock (CM) for the base and square scallop.  The sentiment and cupcake stamp are both $1 stamps from Micheal's.  I colored the cupcake with copics and added a tag for the number.  I used a CM sticker for the number and popped it up with dimensionals and attached it to the card with a brad.  I love the way it turned out....cute and simple...perfect for a child's birthday.  The inside has a place to put a little note, some money or a gift card. 

We do love looking at all of your wonderful creations, so be sure to join us this week at SSDS!

Thanks for stopping by!
Scrappy Love,
Rene'

Stamp, Scrap, & Doodle Saturday!

Happy Saturday everyone!  We are so excited about all the new DT members that have joined us at SSDS!  You are just going to love their amazing work!  Stop by their blogs and check 'em out!

Siobhan Kline 

Karen Rogers  

Suzy Eisenhauer

Suzanne Tarburton  

Tracey Clark 

Tammy Leighton  

Satu (Sande) Kukkonen

 

Returning DT Members

Linda Lapotka  

Regina Jones

Veronica Baker

This week we've got a sketch to share with you.  I don't know about you but I find sketch challenges to be the easiest ones!  And an easy idea makes for more cards in my box when I need 'em!  Here's the sketch:

 

Pretty easy right?!?!  Here's what I was able to come up with!

I used scraps leftover from an 8X8 layout with the same color combo.  Easy peasy!  We do hope you will join us this week at SSDS!  Have a great week!

CCM#5

Happy Monday everyone!  I wanted to post my layout that I created for this weeks challenge on my CM blog, CCM#5.  Each challenge is an inspiration challenge taken from the CM Project Center.  Find out all about it here.  I haven't printed my pics yet...sorry.  But, I do know which ones are going on the page!  That's a step in the right direction, right!  Anyway, here's my layout!

I'd love for you to come and play along!  Thanks for stopping by!

Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturday

Happy Saturday everyone!  Boy, it really has been tough getting back into the swing of things around here.  Besides the regular after-the-holidays lull, we've been sick at my house AND you know the Southeast had a snow/ice storm last week.  Well, here's to hoping things are finally settling down and getting back to "normal."

This week at SSDS we're all about helping you get back in the swing of things with an easy challenge....ANYTHING GOES....whatever your heart desires....whatever you get done!  We have a great sponsor this week ~ 2 Cute Rubber Stamps.  The winner of this weeks challenge will win 2 digi images PLUS a rubber stamp!  Yeah!

So, for my project, I decided to keep it simple.  I was inspired by this weeks color combo over at The Playdate Cafe.  The card came together pretty quickly which was good cause I needed some instant gratification this week!  LOL!  I do love how paper crafting can really calm my spirit! 

We hope you'll join us this week at SSDS!  We'd love to see what you're working on!

Supplies;
Silver Cardstock - Creative Memories
Patterned Paper - MME
Sentiment Stamp - unknown
Ribbon

Challenges:
SSDS - Anything Goes
The Play Date Cafe - PDCC64

Thanks for stopping by!