Limelight May Guest Designer: Jennie Harper!

We are so excited to introduce the talented Jennie Harper to the Limelight Design Team for the month of May!! Jennie is a wonderful card designer (she has been a Guest Designer for GinaK Designs, a Moxie Trigger Tuesday Top 5 Pick, and has had other design team experience. OH, and a recent nod in Paper Crafts magazine, too! :) ). She's also one of the sweetest gals around! Be sure to check out Jennie's blog and tell her hello!

A Bit About Jennie:
I was first introduced to stamping about 10 years ago and will admit I was a bit of a
scoffer. I thought some people may enjoy this, but I would *never* make my own cards!
Well, fast forward 5 years and I was officially bitten by the paper crafting bug. I had
no idea how much you could do with stamps, paper, ink and embellishments. Now a day
isn't complete unless I get at least a little creative...so much for saying "never!"
I am thrilled to be a part of Limelight Papercrafts for the month of May and am looking
forward to sharing my Limelight Papercrafts projects. Thank you Mandy for this wonderful
opportunity!

Here are a few of Jennie's recent fabulous creations:

Notice how Jennie inked the White Crochet Ribbon to create a pink match for her card here:

Stars & Smooches

Just a quick card today. :) I loosely used a sketch from the Paper Crafts magazine Go-To Sketches issue... love that! The circles are punched from my Webster's Pages Lullaby Lane/ Life's Portrait paper pad. The star is from MemrieMare's Etsy shop. Some May Arts Ivory Silk Ribbon is tied around the length of the card. The sentiment is from the Unity set Mix Up of Cuteness, and it was stamped in PTI True Black. The card base is actually Vintage Cream, although it looks brighter in the picture!

Have a great day! Don't forget to play along with our Limelight Sketch and Product Challenge this week! And don't forget to check out the FABULOUS sales at Limelight this week!

*Webster's Pages Seaside Fabric Fancies and Glitter Sparklers - $3.99 each!
*Turquoise Dot Sparklers $1.50!
*Glitzers Pink Bling Stickers only $3.50!
*Sparkle Fibers 25% off!
*Glitz Roller Doodles stamps only $2! That's HALF OFF!!

Sketch 46: SPARKLE!

We're glitzin' it up this week for the Limelight Sketch and Product Challenge! I love ANY chance to use glitter and sparkle, so I am on Cloud 9 today! ;)

My card starts with a Smokey Shadow base. I added on a piece of gorgeous patterned paper from my Webster's Pages Lullaby Lane/Life's Portrait 6x6 Paper Pad (PSST! We have more in stock! Plus BLOOMERS! Which you guys apparently LOOOOOVVVEEE, so I'll be reordering more, too. There are still a few in stock!). Love that aqua color...and how it looks like I added that soft white aged edging. Yeah, it just comes like that! The ribbon is our new Crochet Trim in Natural from May Arts. Pretty, huh? It's soft, too... Trust me. ;) I layered on a glittered star from MemrieMare's Etsy Shop. These are pretty, and they are made from recycled cardboard boxes. Bonus points for being green. ;) Anyway, the rose was created using the spiral rose technique that I talked about here. Onto my rose, this time, I added some Mono Aqua Glue using the wide application tip. I sprinkled on some Ultrafine Silver glitter from Stampendous to create a SPARKLY rose to fit the theme! This card was created to be a monogram card for my friend Missy, so I used another sparkly accent...an "m" from my Pink Paislee Glitter Alphas in Licorice.

Okay....now it's YOUR TURN to play! :)

The Deets:

**Use the sketch above and try to incorporate your favorite SPARKLE!!

**Key word for SCS upload is LLPC046.

**Post a comment with a link to your card right here on the challenge post by Sunday, May 2, at midnight (or before winner is drawn Monday).

**PRIZE ~ One lucky winner will receive a SPARKLE PACKAGE including a container of glitter, a bottle of Stickles glitter glue, and a package of Sparkle Fibers!!

**Don't forget Limelight is also sponsoring the Card Patterns sketch this week! Play along there, too! :)

CP Sketch with FLAIR!

My thoughtful friend Elizabeth picked up a few packages of American Crafts FLAIR for me recently. These are the embellishments that are just like those fun little button pins, but these have a pop-up dot on the back instead. ;) She challenged me to create another card using the Card Patterns sketch AND to use both ribbon and a piece of the new Flair on a card. Easy enough! All of those are FABULOUS elements to work with... ;)

I created my card with a New Leaf base. I added on a strip of Jillibean Soup Old World Cabbage Stew - Caraway Seeds paper. You might remember this paper from this card, but I used the reverse side here. I messy-pleated on some Brown Twill ribbon. I added another one of my new
Jillibean Soup Canvas Flowers, and added my Flair onto that.

I also thought I'd share a few pictures of something we built in our backyard this weekend. Mother's Day came early for me, as Drew decided he wanted to plant me a garden. Those who know me well know that healthy eating, sustainable growing practices, and responsible living are quite important in my life. We have a mostly organic garden we've grown here, and I am THRILLED! I have never grown ANYTHING, so we'll see how this goes... ;)

Here are Cameron and Katy, after showing me their favorite plants. ;) Cameron likes the grape tomato plant; Katy likes the basil.


Going counter-clockwise, starting from the plant on the top, we have basil, grape tomatoes, green bell peppers, and asparagus. We also have roma tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots (Cam cannot WAIT!). Not much of each. The garden is small right now! We wanted to get a variety of things to learn with...and it seems like SOMETHING has to grow with all of that planted! LOL!


Katy wanted to model by the garden. This was right after naptime, so no pants. Haha.

Spiral Flowers :)

I simply *had* to create another card using the Card Patterns sketch for this week! And hope you love this sketch, cuz you'll be seeing it again! LOL! My friend Elizabeth has issued a challenge for us using this sketch again, and I'll be taking her up on it!

This card makes use of some FABULOUS new spiral flowers I learned how to make from THIS VIDEO TUTORIAL on Rae Barthel's blog. You will be seeing more of these, too. ;) For this card, I started with a Dark Chocolate base and added on a strip of NEW Jillibean Soup Old World Cabbage Stew - Caraway Seeds paper...this paper is so super-sweet and pretty! The edge was punched using the SU Decorative Scallop Border Punch. I wrapped some Aqua Mist (PTI) Satin ribbon around the card and tied a bow. The same patterned paper was used for a tiny spiral flower, which was added to the center of the bow. :) The "Thinking of You" sentiment is from the Unity Bevy of Butterflies stamp set.

Hope you enjoyed this card, and hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!!

Card Patterns Sketch 61 - Sponsored By LIMELIGHT!

Happy Saturday, friends! Today I have a special card for you that I made using the Card Patterns Sketch for this week! Limelight Papercrafts is proud to be sponsoring this week's CPS, and I know you are going to find this sketch to be a DREAM to work with! I cannot wait to see what everyone comes up with!

I am super-happy with my card, and I have been anxious to share it with you! I started with a Dark Chocolate Base, then matted on a piece of **NEW** Jillibean Soup kraft patterned paper. This paper, certainly one of my favorites, is New England Chowder - Fresh Thyme. I stamped the "cute as a BUTTON" sentiment (which is, in fact, cute as a button!) onto another strip of Dark Chocolate in Vintage Cream. The sentiment is from the April Unity Store Kit, Super Sweet and Stuck on You. (We have plenty of these in stock now and ready to ship!) The Scalloped Border was punched from Lemon Tart.

Now...did you SEE that adorable canvas flower?!? It's new from Jillibean Soup, too! This is the Brown Letters Canvas Flower... You may not be able to tell from the picture, but these are not too thin, not too thick, but SUPER STURDY! Love it! I added a button and some Natural Burlap String to the middle. Done! Great sketch, isn't it?



Of course you know Limelight is offering up a fantastic prize to one lucky winner of this sketch (visit the Card Patterns blog to link up your card for a chance to win!)... How about a package of Basic Grey 12x12 Designer Cardstock in Optimistic AND a Basic Grey Pretty Bird Stamp Set? Fun stuff! Enjoy, friends, and have a happy weekend!

Sketch 45 WINNER!

The winner of this week's sketch and product challenge is the lovely Emily Keaton!!! Emily, send me an email with your address and your alpha stickers choice, and we'll get your prize right out to you! :)

Here's Emily's gorgeous card:


And a few other beauties as well!

Maggie:


Ashley Newell:


Cathy:


Hope to be back tomorrow with something crafty to share! :)

Baby Boy

I created another card using this week's Limelight Sketch!! I am in need of a congratulations card for an old friend who is about to have a sweet little baby boy (who is also going to be named Cameron, by the way...like my little boy!) this month. This sketch is perfect and simple enough for a sweet boy card. :)

I love this paper from the Lullaby Lane collection from Webster's Pages... It has ALPHABETS all over it! And we are focusing on alphabets with our Sketch and Product Challenge! Hooray! :) The "boy" lettering was done, again, with the Licorice Glitter Alphabets from Pink Paislee. I wrapped some Ivory Burlap String around the card, three times to be precise. Hee hee. To the middle of the bow, I added a custom brad featuring more Lullaby Lane paper. It was made using SU's Build a Brad set in Pewter. The row of dots on the bottom was actually created using Sky Blue Droplets (like Page Pebbles) from Kaisercraft. The card base is Aqua Mist.

Hope you have a fabulous day...and I hope you will play along with this week's sketch! (Yesterday's post!)

SKETCH 45: ALPHABETS!

Graphic cards and alphabets are all the rage, so it is only fitting that we devote a sketch challenge to using ALPHABETS! Use stamps, stickers, die cuts, whatever you like! While making my card for this challenge, I couldn't help but sing Alpha Pig's ABC song (from Super Why...I have toddlers, keep in mind!). LOL!

My card started with a Sweet Blush base. The patterned paper for the large rectangular part of the sketch is, of course, Webster's Lullaby Lane/Life's Portrait. I love the flowers and butterflies on this paper, and I tried to help the gorgeous paper stand out by distressing the edges a bit with some Pitch Black ink. For my alphabets, I applied some Pink Paislee Licorice Glitter Alphabet stickers. These are wonderfully sparkly, sturdy chipboard letters. I spelled "friend" because I intend to give this card to a dear friend of mine! ;) for my ribbon, I wrapped a length of black Raven Tulle and created a bit of a starburst/puff with the fabric. So easy and so much fun! I added a large pink Webster's Glitter Sparkler to the center of the tulle. I also added five small sparklers to the bottom to create the dotted row in the sketch.

I cannot wait to see what YOU come up with!

The Deets:

**Use the sketch above and try to incorporate your favorite ALPHABETS!!

**Key word for SCS upload is LLPC045.

**Post a comment with a link to your card right here on the challenge post by Sunday, April 18, at midnight (or before winner is drawn Monday).

**PRIZE ~ One lucky winner will receive a sheet of alphabet stickers of their choice!!

Always Love You!

I made a simple card to leave for my husband. I've had this idea in my head for a while, since my friend Elizabeth gave me these great Scrapworks heart brads from JoAnn's at Valentine's Day. I started with an Aqua Mist (PTI) base. Then I simply pierced an even row of holes, inserted these cute brads, and stamped my sentiment (from the January Unity Store Kit) in black ink. I did use my SU Watercolor Crayons (Real Red) to watercolor the heart in the sentiment.

Hope you enjoy this sweet, simple card! Have a wonderful Wednesday evening, and I'll see you back here tomorrow (12:00 midnight, SHARP!) For Limelight Sketch and Product Challenge #45!

Wings A-Flutter

I don't know about you, but I often find myself in need of lots of little quick cards to have on hand. We received the new Unity April store kit, Super Sweet and Stuck on You, yesterday (yay!). I knew that I would have to ink mine up right away, even though I literally only had a few minutes! I whipped up several of these quick cards to add to my stash. I used black or kraft cardstock for the card bases. I stamped this butterfly, which says, "Fly With Wings A Flutter" in white craft ink, and I accented with various Kaisercraft Rhinestones.

We are technically out of the April Unity store kits, but more are on the way! Amazingly enough, we sold EXACTLY the number of kits that were on our first order! So if you ordered your kit already, it is on its way to you NOW! :) If you would still like the full kit, we are extending the $29.99 price since we still do not have any kits physically available in the store.

Don't want the full kit? No worries... We have the half kits available as well, and those ARE stocked in the store!

Click here to view Sew Cute!

Click here to view Total Cuteness!

Hope you have a fabulous day! I will leave you with this joke I read on a Laffy Taffy wrapper today... ;)

What do you call a cow with a twitch?

BEEF JERKY!!

Shabby Chic, Take One

Well, with the induction of Webster's Pages into the Limelight repertoire, I was anxious to try my hand a more of a shabby-chic look. I see lots of places for additions (ink, at least!), but I played around with this yesterday and came up with this card. What fun it was! And I must say that EVERY SINGLE paper in my Webster's paper pad was dripping with gorgeous sweetness! I will be diving back into that pad later today!

Hope you enjoy this card. And, YES, the messy stitching job on top? I MEANT to do that. Really. ;) Did you notice the center of the focal hydrangea? That is a GLITTER SPARKLER! That's the single product I was most excited about in the Webster's order... just love these little sparkly gems! You get 20 in a package (various sizes) for $4.99, so they are quite a steal! In lieu of ribbon on this card, I made the top piece of patterned paper a little longer than it needed to be and slightly distressed and curled it. Then I added a healthy coating of Crystal Stickles for dimension and sparkle.

Papers: Webster's Pages Lullaby Lane/Life's Portrait paper pad, Cream (PTI). Accessories: Life's Fabric Fancies, Glitter Sparklers, Black Rhinestones, Crystal Stickles, Prima Hydrangeas, Sewing.

WEBSTER'S WINNER!

We have a winner!!! The winner of the Webster's Pages product of their choice is STAMPINCATHY!!! Cathy, e-mail me with your address and product choice, and it'll go right out to you! :)

What was StampinCathy's favorite thing about Spring??
My favorite part about Spring is everything coming back to life. The trees, flowers, grass, and of course the nice warm weather. The bugs could stay away! LOL Thanks for a chance.

Happiness Always

My husband came home the other day with a handheld sewing machine for me! I got this one from Target, and I'm finding it VERY easy to use. I am NOT a seamstress by any means! LOL! But the $15 price tag was the biggest draw...

Anyway, I made SEVERAL of these yesterday to be included with orders. If you ordered from Limelight yesterday, chances are THIS is the card you received in your order! :) I will be back in a bit to post a winner of the Webster's product of your choice! If you haven't entered in the drawing yet, GO ENTER NOW! :)

Stamps: Whimsical Words (SU). Paper: Kraft, Hawaiian Shores (PTI). Ink: Pitch Black Adirondack. Accessories: White thread, Green at Heart Bloomers.

Webster's Pages - PRIZE!

It's a great day to SHOP!!!! Not only do we have fabulous deals going on right now.....

The BIG Buy 2, Get 1 FREE Sale! (through 4/11):

*Open Stock 12x12 Patterned Paper

*Ribbon by the Yard (Ribbon Packs and Burlap String not included)

*Rub-ons

*Stickles Glitter Glue

*Individual Rubber Stamps

AND....
PREORDER your April Unity Store Kit NOW! Only $29.99 before they arrive! Half Kits available, too!

BUT NOW WE HAVE WEBSTER'S PAGES, TOO!!
Yep! We have all of these lovelies in the store...




On this first order with WP, we stocked up on the new paper pads (note that you get 2 collections in the Lullaby Lane/Life's Portrait paper pad, and you get 3 collections in the Garden Gala, Seaside Retreat, Nature's Storybook paper pad!), all of the coordinating Fabric Fancies, and the Sparklers!

I am personally in *LOVE* with the glitter sparklers! How pretty are those!!

So... WANNA WIN A WEBSTER'S PRIZE??? ;)

Leave me a comment here on this post by midnight tonight (well, before I pick a winner Friday morning, at least!) telling me what your favorite thing about Spring is! The winner will receive their choice of their favorite (one :)) Webster's Pages product at Limelight! So what's your favorite thing about Spring?? Mine? Summer's comin'... ;)

Love and Laughter

I just love this picture. :) Cuz I took it on the beach this past weekend. Hee hee! I am just loving my copy of Paper Crafts Magazine's Go To Sketches. I just ADORE using and creating sketches, and so this was a no-brainer for me that I'd *need* this issue! LOL!

This card is based on a sketch from Jessica Witty. I love the circles...So many possibilities for dressing this up OR keeping it simple. I simply used a white cardstock base (slightly smaller than standard), six various PTI buttons (the Hawaiian shores "button" is actually two buttons...one inside the other!). The sentiment, stamped in Adirondack Pitch Black, is from the March Unity Store Kit, Adventures in Happiness. **PSST!! There are only a FEW left...and you NEED this set!** :)

Simple, happy card. Love that. ;) Have a wonderful day!

P.S.... Did you see that you could become a follower on my blog? ---------->

Fabulous FABRIC!

Good morning, and happy 6th of the month! It's a beautiful day... Warm weather, birds singing, DUKE WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP! ;) And we have some GORGEOUS fabric-themed projects to share with you today for our monthly DT challenge!

As you probably know if you read my blog, I LOVE having a plan for an easy project or two for when those birthdays and gift-giving occasions sneak up on me! I have made fabric brad rings before (the easiest thing in the book!), but since the beautiful new BG Green at Heart collection is at hand (pun intended!), I decided to whip up a few of these rings again. I'll be using them for some teenage girl birthdays coming up.... Oh, and I *might* keep one for myself too. Hee hee! See the bling:


Hmm. I shoulda polished my nails or something for you all!

I simply cut the brad prongs off of the back of my Green at Heart Stitched brads, applied some E600 glue, and finally popped it onto a silver ring blank (I buy mine on Etsy from Bunnysundries). It's really THAT easy! My only suggestion is to really let these dry for at least a good 30 minutes to an hour. I think the E600 glue says 15 minutes, but I find that you really want to leave it alone a bit longer in order to let it set.

Now, of course you'll need a cute box for a handmade gift like this, and we have just the thing at Limelight... White takeout boxes! (Betcha didn't know we had these...although they're on clearance, so get 'em fast if you like 'em!) I creased and assembled the box (it comes flat and prescored). I glued on a heart punched from the Green at Heart patterned paper, then layered on a Green at Heart Bloomer! Bloomers are the coolest thing...they are thick (but not too thick that you can't mail them), layered fabric flowers. They're embellished with buttons and thread stitching! So pretty!!! I threaded a length (about half of a yard) of Purple/pink Textured Ribbon. This style of ribbon is one of our best-sellers, and it really goes with so much! We carry it in several colors. The edges of the box are inked in Orchid ColorBox ink.

Please be sure to check out the wonderful creations from the entire team, including our Guest DT Member, Savannah!

Jennifer Taylor - Fabric Hairbow

Lynn Miller - Eyeglasses Case

Lisa Arana - Hostess Gift Bag

Lisa Henke - Vintage Fabric Embellies

Christi Snow - Camera Strap Cover

Savannah O'Gwynn - Sewn Aprons

Also, be sure to do some spring SHOPPING! Limelight has a great Buy 2, Get 1 Free Sale going on! It's really as good as it sounds! Mix and match, everything listed here is buy 2, get 1 FREE! Enter your choices of free items in the Comments section at checkout, please. :)

The BIG Buy 2, Get 1 FREE Sale! (through 4/11):

*Open Stock 12x12 Patterned Paper

*Ribbon by the Yard (Ribbon Packs and Burlap String not included)

*Rub-ons

*Stickles Glitter Glue

*Individual Rubber Stamps

Sketch 44 WINNER!

Happy Monday! I hope you are enjoying weather as wonderful as ours is today! :) 85 degrees right now! :)

The lovely winner of this week's sketch and product challenge is NANCY! Nancy, e-mail me your address, and I'll zip out three packages of rhinestones your way. :) Here's Nancy's GORGEOUS card:

And here are a few of the wonderful submissions we saw for this sketch! :)

Janice M:

Tami:


Janice (Scrapaddict):

Paper Pad WINNER!

The winner of their choice of 6x6 paper pad, chosen from posts on Christi's paper piecing tutorial, is Basement Stamper!!

Basement Stamper, please email me with your choice of paper pad and your address! Congrats!

SKETCH 44: RHINESTONES!

It's Thursday again, and we have a very special Sketch and Product Challenge for you! This is a sketch that really works well for Easter cards, so if you have any last-minute Easter cards to make, here you go! I often like to use an entire sheet of cardstock in one sitting, so I created two cards using many of the same materials using this sketch.

I used the new Basic Grey Green at Heart papers for these cards. These colors are so fresh, and the patterns are so fun! This is surely a favorite of mine. :) The card base is PTI's Berry Sorbet, and the trim at the bottom is Spring Moss. The Spring Moss is punched using the SU Scallop Border punch.

For the first card, I used my Egg Die to achieve the intended egg shape on this sketch. I stamped a flower spray from the Unity Bevy of Butterflies set. The butterfly, attached with a pop-up dot, is from the same set. I stamped the "friendship" sentiment, from the March Unity Store Kit, Adventures in Happiness, using an SU label punch (can't remember what this one is called!). The card is embellished with a little Lavender glitter and SPLIT PEA RHINESTONES! (Our focus!)

The second card features a large butterfly from the same Bevy of Butterflies stamp set, also glittered in lavender. I stamped part of a sentiment from the PTI Egg Hunt set so that this card can be used for ANYTHING!! The rhinestones featured on the sketch are Wine in color, and did you notice the Split Pea RHINESTONE ANTENNAE?!?!? I am so very proud of that! Love the detail that adds! :) (Yep, patting myself on the back!)

All right! Now it's your turn, and I cannot wait to see what you come up with!

The Deets:

**Use the sketch above and try to incorporate your favorite RHINESTONES!!

**Key word for SCS upload is LLPC044.

**Post a comment with a link to your card right here on the challenge post by Sunday, April 4, at midnight (or before winner is drawn Monday).

**PRIZE ~ One lucky winner will receive three packages of rhinestones!!