Dancing Lanterns

Happy Saturday, friends! I created a card with three purposes today. First, it's my sweet friend Rebecca's birthday! Happy birthday, Rebecca!! :) Also, I created this card with two challenges in mind. The Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger (Dancing Lanterns) and the Card Positioning Systems Sketch 177. I loved this sketch, and I was inspired by the lanterns (obviously!) and bright colors in the Trigger!

For my card, I started with a vellum cardstock base and adhered a piece of Crookneck Zucchini paper (from the Jillibean Soup Summer Squash Collection) to the inside base of the card. This gave a soft, paper-lantern look to the card! I added on a white panel stamped with the lantern from a past Unity store kit (Have you SEEN the new Unity yet, by the way?!?). The sentiment came from the Papertrey Up, Up, and Away set. Ink colors are True Black and Simply Chartreuse. I punched a Martha Stewart butterfly using the patterned paper. I accented with a few Hot Pink Rhinestones. I just love pink. Makes me happy. :)

Okay, I am really excited about the mat for my white cardstock piece. See the fun bright pink mat? I made that using a couple of edge pieces of Fuchsia Net Ribbon! This stuff is great for cutting and using HOWEVER! I'll post another card this week showing the versatility of this fabulous stuff!

Have a GREAT Saturday! We have a busy day of planning some shopping we will need to do for our upcoming move! We are moving in just a few weeks, and we have lots on the to-do list! ;) It'll get done; I know it!

The Master Key

Hi, everyone! So glad to see you! :) I have missed you this week... :) VBS is over now. It was a fantastic week, and God was honored. I have neglected the blog (so sorry!), but all orders have continued to ship quickly this week. How about a special for you blog readers who place an order this weekend? Enter BLOG in the Comments section of your order Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and you will receive a special goody in your package! Maybe stamps, maybe paper, maybe glitter or ribbons! We'll find ya something good!!! ;)

This is a simple card with a fun black-and-turquoise color combo. I used the keys and a sentiment from this month's Unity store kit, Key to Joy & The Right Words. I used True Black and Hawaiian Shores ink. I added on some Black String, Petite Turquoise Trim, and a Hawaiian Shores button to finish it off. Very CAS and FUN, I think!!

See ya soon....promise. ;)

P.S. You guys LOVE the new Unity Itty Bitty stamps!! We are sold out of a couple, but more are coming, and new images are coming, too! Thanks for your patronage and patience! There are new Unity stamp sets available as well that I know you will adore, too!

Friendship Discovered

Hi, everyone! I am heading out to another GREAT night of Vacation Bible School, but I didn't want to leave you hanging for more paper goodness! I used the July Unity store kit, Key to Joy & The Right Words, for this card. I am so happy with this stamp set, personally! Lots of possibilities. And it has KEYS... Love keys. :)

This card started as a Lemon Tart base, and I added some bright, sunny DeLovely paper to the bottom. The sentiment, from the Unity store kit, was stamped in Raspberry Fizz. I wrapped some Tink Pink tulle around the card and embellished with a Hot Pink Rhinestone. I added a couple of Hambly Screen Prints clear butterfly stickers, which I also jazzed up with the rhinestones.

Have a wonderful night! Don't forget that this Unity kit is on sale for only $25! Get yours TODAY, and it'll go out within 24 hours!!

Sketch 52 WINNER!

Hi guys! Popping in late (VBS is this week for us...what a whirlwind, great as it is!!) to share the winner of this week's sketch challenge! TERESA, send me your address so I can get your rhinestones out your way! Here is Teresa's adorable card!!


And, as always, here are a few of my picks for this week!

Remember Emily's son Joel, who created a fabulous card for the last sketch?? Her 11-year-old daughter got in on the action this week! She created this beauty:


Giovana:


Maureen:


Lisa V:

SKETCH 52: RHINESTONES!

Happy Thursday!! I'm popping in with another Sketch and Product Challenge for you! And I am so excited that we are working with rhinestones and gems this week! It really is a challenge for me not to add rhinestones to whatever I am working on! And I LOVE these soft pink colored rhinestones I'm featuring today. Pink is ALWAYS a good thing. :)

My card base is kraft, but it is completely covered by various papers from my Sugar Rush paper pad. These papers just make me happy. :) I added the "stitching" by stamping the stitch from this month's Unity Stampin' Store Kit, Key to Joy & The Right Words (DON'T MISS OUT! It's only $25 at Limelight right now!). I cut the white circle out and used a funky flower stamp from the April Unity kit, Super Sweet & Stuck on You in Sweet Blush and Simply Chartreuse inks. I used a rub-on from the Basic Grey Greetings rub-ons for my sentiments. This is seriously the BEST set of sentiments! So fun and versatile! :) And...of course...I used lots of Soft Pink Rhinestones!!

What will YOU come up with??

The Deets:
**Use the sketch above and try to incorporate some RHINESTONES or GEMS!!
**Keyword for SCS upload is LLPC052.
**Post a comment with a link to your card right here on the challenge post by Sunday, July 25, at midnight (or really just before winner is drawn Monday!).
**PRIZE ~ One lucky random winner will receive three packages of Kaisercraft Rhinestones!!

From here, your next stop on the Blog Hop is JenMarie! I know you will LOVE what she has whipped up for you! :)

And be sure to check out some great deals at Limelight! In addition to our FABULOUS CLEARANCE SECTION, here are this week's sales:
*All 2010 Unity Stampin' Store Kits ONLY $25

*All 2009 Unity Stampin' Store Kits ONLY $20!

* Unity Stamps 30% (or more!) off! (New releases on the way not included.)

*Basic Grey Capella and Max& Whiskers 40% off!

*Stampendous Stamp Cleaning Spray $2 and Rubber Scrubber $3.50!

Shabby Chic Butterfly

I rarely do shabby chic. I have a hard time with it, honestly. But I LOVE the results, so I try to make something in this style every now and then. Some products are SO easy to use and provide GORGEOUS results. Webster's Pages is certainly this way, and I always love projects I create with their products! At Archivers last week, I picked up a sheet of The Girls' Paperie in Paper Girl, and this is DEFINITELY an easy to use paper! So much fun to use this quilt-like patterns!

I created this card for the Card Positioning Systems sketch 176. It looked like a challenge (to me!), so I decided to take it on! I really am happy with the way it turned out. :) Hope you like it! Let me know if you play along, too...I'd love to see what you create!

I am entering this in the Moxie Fab Shabby and Vintage Challenge! :)

Have a wonderful day!!

Paper: Pink Pirouette (SU), Paper Girl (The Girls' Paperie). Ink: Chamomile Vintage Touch Dea Dye, Dark Chocolate (PTI). Stamps: Fillable Frames 4 (PTI). Accessories: Beautiful Butterflies Die (SU), Soft Pink Rhinestones, Cream Seam Binding.

Atlanta Trip

Well, I have been quiet on the blog for the last week, but I had quite a fun mini-vacation to Atlanta! I would like to share some of the highlights with you here today! I have plenty of cards to share with you this week, including a SKETCH CHALLENGE on Thursday, so be sure to check back! :) If you aren't interested in personal pictures, I apologize in advance that I don't have anything else today!

The first picture at the top was CERTAINLY a hightlight for me! I had the pleasure of meeting some lovely, fun, TALENTED ladies for lunch and a trip to Archiver's. From left to right, pictured are me, JenMarie, Tami Grandi, and Nina Brackett. Seriously, what a JOY and a PRIVILEGE!!

Friday night we enjoyed dinner at a GREAT place that Drew discovered browsing online. It's called Urban Pl8, and if you are in Atlanta, I suggest that you try it! It is a restaurant that makes delicious dishes using local and sustainable foods.

I ordered a Lime Agave Sparkling Water. YUM. So refreshing!

And the stir-fry brown rice and vegetables with hanger steak. Wow. It was so good!!

Cameron and Katy stared at the candlelight....

And enjoyed some after-dinner dancing. :) Haha.

We had a GREAT time at the zoo! These otters were a favorite...they just grouped together all of a sudden and started staring at things. TOGETHER! Freaky. But so funny!

At our snack break, Katy started dipping each piece of popcorn in water first. Eww!

We went to the first Chick-fil-A! Its was so funny to see BURGERS on the menu! But it was originally the Dwarf House restaurant, so there were all kinds of things. :)

Chick-fil-A/Dwarf House had this tiny door on the front wall, and Cameron and Katy LOVED going in and out of that door!

Congrats Daisies

Hi there, friends! I hope you are all having a wonderful week. I am SO excited because I am on a little mini-vacation. This has been a very busy week! Our house was on the market for almost six months, and it is now under contract!! We had the inspection done on it this morning. In addition, we have had a few bumps in the proverbial road this past weekend as well. But WHEW! We are making it through... God is good, and He proves time and time again that He is in control and that He works ALL things for the good of those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:28).

So, yeah. I'm on a trip. And you're gonna be JEALOUS!! I am in Atlanta...and I'm gonna meet up with JenMarie, Nina Brackett, and Tami Grandi on Friday!! :) Hooray!

On to my card for the day! I loved this cute paper when I found it. It's glittery and colorful and flowery on one side, and it has a great coordinating dotted side, too. I love when you REALLY CAN use both sides of a paper on one card. :) The paper is Happy Day - Confetti by SEI. I used a Hawaiian Shores card base to bring out the blue and layered on the two sides of the SEI paper with pop dots. I wrapped some Melon Berry (I think!) satin ribbon around the patterned paper and tied a pretty bow. I tied on a button using Black Burlap String and left the tails of the string visible. I layered some Webster's Pages Turquoise Embroidered Trim above the melon ribbon. The sentiment is a Basic Grey Basics Greetings rub-on. I really adore this rub-on set, and I've seen it featured in Paper Crafts publications lately!! :)

Be sure to check out the CLEARANCE section at Limelight...and keep in mind that I'll throw in a FREE Unity single stamp to each order received while we are away (through Saturday). :) Just a little something for the wait. And who doesn't love free stamps??

How 'bout a couple of cute pics of Katy to say goodbye with? :) Little Miss Diva had her hair cut for the first time yesterday, and I snapped a couple of pictures...The first picture is right after her haircut (with her lollipop in hand).

This second picture was taken in the car this morning right before we left for Atlanta. Notice that, in addition to her Ariel sunglasses and pink purse (oh, and her signature amber necklace), she has three...count 'em, THREE...hair clips in her hair! LOL!

SKETCH 51 WINNER!

Congrats to EMILY, our winner this week! Emily, e-mail me with your choice of any single Stampendous stamp in our store! :) Take a peek at Emily's fabulous card:



And did you know that Emily's seven-year-old son is a stamper, too? :) Check out Joel's wonderful lemonade card:


And now for more of my picks this week... ;)

Cassie:

Could those tanks and sentiment BE any cuter?!?

Rose:

I absolutely love the colors, shapes, patterns...everything about this card!

Jennie:

This card is so sweet and calming!

Karen B:

I love a well pulled-off YELLOW card, and LOOK at the fabulous background Karen stamped!! :)

Sherry:

I just love the butterflies, colors, and the sentiment panel...they all work so well together for this CAS card!

SKETCH 51: BACKGROUND STAMPING

Good morning, and welcome to Limelight Papercrafts' 51st Sketch and Product Challenge! Today we are excited to focus on BACKGROUND STAMPING, and we hope you'll join in the fun with us! :) One lucky winner will receive a Stampendous single stamp of their choice, after all!!

I really love how my card turned out...I don't usually use orange and blue, but I like them together. :) I started with kraft cardstock for my card base and background stamping piece. I stamped a couple of the flowers from the Lawn Fawn set Petite Florals (Are you noticing how much I love this stamp set?!?) using PTI's Tea Dye ink in Chai. I die cut my three butterflies using SU dies (Beautiful Butterflies and Beautiful Wings) out of TaDa Hoop De Doo patterned paper. The two patterns represent both sides of this patterned paper. The middle butterfly is accented with Ice Blue Rhinestones. The Pumpkin Pie panel simply features the sentiment. I stamped this sentiment, from the Unity July store kit, using Dark Chocolate ink. I accented a few random letters by stamping them onto Aqua Mist cardstock, cutting them out, and adhering them over the Pumpkin Pie letters. What a great birthday sentiment. ;)


The Deets:

**Use the sketch above and try to incorporate some BACKGROUND STAMPING!!

**Keyword for SCS upload is LLPC051.

**Post a comment with a link to your card right here on the challenge post by Sunday, July 11, at midnight (or really just before winner is drawn Monday!).

**PRIZE ~ One lucky random winner will receive a Stampendous single stamp of their choice!!

From here, your next stop on the Blog Hop is JenMarie! I know you will LOVE what she has in store for you! (Psst! We had the same idea on the butterflies! Great minds think alike!!)

Color Throwdown #100 Celebration!

Hi there! I am officially back from vacation, all rested and sun-kissed. Well, as sun-kissed as a pale individual like myself CAN be! LOL! I am so excited to help Color Throwdown celebrate their 100th challenge! What a (fun!) accomplishment! Whether you are a Throwdown regular or are only now hearing about it for the first time, this is the time to join in the fun! There is a fabulous color combination to be used and TONS of great prizes to be won!

This week's special color combination is Real Red, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, and Baja Breeze. Gorgeous!! It was so much fun to play with these colors all together, and this card really just came together on its own. Thankfully. I needed a no-thinking card! :)

I started with a white cardstock base, then layered on a rectangle with strips of the four cardstock colors. I added a die cut piece made from PTI's Fillable Frames #4. The die cut piece was stamped with the matching Fillable Frames 4 stamp in Regal Rose. The sentiment comes from the NEW July Unity Stampin' Store Kit, Key to Joy & The Right Words. I LOVE this sentiment! So useful and so cute! I added some Yellow (they look light green...) Rhinestones to the top and bottom of the frame. Two red butterflies were punched using a Martha Stewart butterfly punch, and two tiny pink string bows were added to the centers of their bodies.

Your turn! Make your card and link it to the Color Throwdown Challenge 100 for your chance to win many prizes, including this Glitz Design Digital Card Making CD:

You're Invited

Happy Sixth of the Month! What's that? You don't celebrate the sixth of every month? Well, here at Limelight, we celebrate by having our wonderfully talented design team tackle a challenge...and YOU get to reap the rewards! Today, July 6, we are bringing you invitations and party favors!

My project today features a girls' party invitation. Now, I think this invitation would be perfect for ANY little girl's (or BIG girl's!!) event...birthday, accomplishments, end of a school year, etc. I began with a Sweet Blush (PTI) base. I first added on half of a doily (got mine from Sarah Martina). I stamped "Let's Celebrate" from the March Unity store kit in Aqua Mist ink. I tucked and adhered the doily underneath a strip of Basic Grey Olivia paper. I added a strip of Olivia Ribbon Doilies across the top. These ribbon doilies are basically adhesive paper ribbon strips...pretty awesome! :) I wrapped some of my handmade wrinkle ribbon (dyed with Razzle Dazzle Berry Vibez) around the card, then wrapped some white satin ribbon and tied a bow. A Webster's Pages pink Glitter Sparkler topped off the bow. You'll notice I embellished the bottom of the doily as well. I added on one of the Olivia Small Details embellishments and some Silver Rhinestones.

I decided on some stick candy wrapped together for my party favors. I found these GREAT pretty and funky sticks (pretty and funky....just like the Olivia papers!!) at IT'SUGAR candy store. It's always one of our stops when we come to the beach...what a FUN place! We go when we are at Myrtle Beach, but it's a chain, so maybe there is one near you, too. I wrapped three sticks with another doily, which I think looks kinda cute. ;) I wrapped another sheet of Olivia paper around the doily, and then I embellished with another Small Detail and some more of my wrinkle ribbon.

And...TADA! That's it! Cute, fun, and SIMPLE. Hope you enjoy this project as much as I do. Be sure to click the Design Team links in my sidebar to see what the girls have up their invitin' little sleeves. ;)

Celebrating the 4th

Happy Fourth of July to everyone! :) I hope you are spending your day with family and friends doing something relaxing and fun!! Just a quick card to share with you today... I used a white cardstock base and stamped some fireworks from the Unity March store kit, Adventures in Happiness, along with this "Let's Celebrate" sentiment. I also added a strip of the TaDa Festivus paper in Star Spangled Banner. Appropriate for today, I thought. ;) This paper has two sides, and both are VERY fun! The Festivus line is available in six different holidays, and HERE is a card I made using the reverse/mosaic/block side of the My Sweet Valentine card.

The bottom of the card features a row of Pure Poppy buttons, and parts of the fireworks are accented with Silver Rhinestones.

A Bible verse to share with you today: "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36

And a fun picture of Katy on her sand castle...err, sand island.

Cookies and Lace

Just a quick, cute, sweet card today! :) Who doesn't love COOKIES? Mmm-hmm. We all love cookies of some kind, right? I taught a week-long healthy eating and cooking class for elementary school students a couple of weeks ago, and we made THESE chocolate cookies one day. I couldn't resist the temptation to work in some card making, too! *wink*

I used a white cardstock base and layered on this yellow heart patterned paper from the SU Good Neighbors paper pad (I'm pretty sure that's what it is called...it was a SAB choice this year). Some May Arts lace ribbon (we don't have the one I used currently in stock, but we have this similar one) keeps with the homemade baking feel of the card. A wonderful PTI Lemon Tart button is placed at the end of the lace. I thought it looked elegant, yet...cookie-ish?... at the same time. :) The cookie was made by using a circle punch to cut kraft cardstock. I then colored the brown "chocolate chips" with an SU marker. I took a bite out of it by using a scalloped circle punch on only part of the cookie. The "sweet thing" sentiment comes from the Unity set Mix-up of Cuteness, and it was stamped in SU Chocolate Chip ink.

I should have another post tomorrow and Monday, but be sure to check back on Wednesday as the Limelight DT brings you some fabulous invitations and party favors!! It WILL BE the 6th of the month, after all... ;) See ya then (and hopefully before!)!

Miss You in Lavender

Most people look forward to weekends. I mean, why not? There's no work (at least not the 9-to-5 variety), and you are free to fill your days with whatever you enjoy. And a THREE-DAY WEEKEND is even better! Happy Fourth of July weekend! How are you celebrating our freedom, country, etc.?

I chose to share this "I miss you" card with you today because I am actually going out of town for the 4th. We go to the beach with Drew's family almost every Fourth of July. And I am actually typing this for you on the laptop riding in the car. :) I feel so high-tech (haha!).

I used a Lavender Moon (PTI) base and stamped the flower centers from the All About You set (also PTI) to make some polka dots. I layered on a white piece of cardstock containing the flower row from the same stamp set. I stamped in black and opted to only color the leaves with my Koh-i-noor pencils. I "colored" the centers of the flowers with Lavender Moon buttons. I stamped "I miss you" in black ink on a strip of New Leaf Bitty Dot patterned paper and attached a Lavender Moon bow to the paper strip. Can you see that I was playing with my recent PTI order? :)

Hope you have a fabulous weekend! Don't forget to shop our **CLEARANCE** section at Limelight Papercrafts!!