And the OWH Winners Are...

You're eyes aren't playing tricks on you as you read the post title. I'm thrilled to announce that there are winners plural! I honestly have never met anyone more amazing and generous than Carolyn and Heather! Have any of you seen the "Love" movies on Hallmark Channel? They are adaptations of Janette Oke's wonderful books. There's a line in Love's Long Journey that comes to mind when I think of Carolyn and Heather. One of the ranch hands says to another something along the lines of, "Maybe believing what they do, makes them how they are." He's speaking about the ranch owner and his wife, and about their faith. I never cease to be blown away by Carolyn and Heather, who have the biggest hearts. But really, I shouldn't be surprised, considering all that God has done in my life, and how my heart has been transformed by the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, I think we need to celebrate the good things and good people in our lives, and Carolyn and Heather are definitely blessings in mine.

Case in point, Heather has made this image from her Fresh Brewed Designs stamp line available for free. Please take it and use it to make an Any Hero card or a card to donate to Operation Write Home.

Today, I'm honored to announce THREE Winners from the Operation Write Home Veterans Day Blog Hop. Thank you all for participating and sharing our love and gratitude for everything our Heroes do to keep us safe and free!

The first prize of a free Busy Beauties of her choice goes to JPScraps!
The second prize of a free Fresh Brewed Designs image of her choice goes to Carla!
And the GRAND Prize of her choice of two free images from Busy Beauties AND one free image from Fresh Brewed Designs goes to Cindy!!!

Congratulations, ladies! Please email Carolyn &/or Heather with your prize selections, and be sure to note that you won on my blog.

God Bless America and God Bless Our Heroes!

Operation Write Home Blog Hop

Thanks for visiting today! If you've just joined us, we're hop, hop, hopping with Operation Write Home (fka Cards For Heroes) in honor of Veterans Day. To start at beginning of the hop, please go to the Operation Write Home Blog. **If you are following the SNR Friends of Faith Blog Hop, please scroll down to the next post.**

My card features the Lolita image from Busy Beauties. BB creator Carolyn suggested that Lolita could be made into a female version of Uncle Sam: Aunt Sammi. Isn't that the cutest? After hearing that, I couldn't resist coloring her up in Red, White & Blue. I made two of these and they will be going in care packages for Carolyn's brother and Janis's son, both currently deployed in the Middle East.

I'll be working on another card (and hopefully posting it Monday) that will be donated to Operation Write Home. They are currently collecting Valentine's Day cards, and this will be one the OWH sends to a Hero so that he/she can send it to a special loved one back home. Cards are always needed, so please stop by the Operation Write Home website for more information on how you can help.

I hope you'll continue hopping for our Heroes - the Brave Men & Women serving our Great Nation and keeping all of us safe and free! God Bless All of Our Heroes and God Bless America!

Your next stop on the hop is Anna.

But before you go, please leave a comment. If you do, your name will go into a special Hero Hoppers drawing, where one winner will be selected at random. The prize is your choice of Two Free Images from Busy Beauties Boutique! (Special thanks & love to Carolyn for her generous donation of this fabulous prize.) Comments posted by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Nov. 15 are eligible. I'll select & announce a winner on Monday, Nov. 16, 2009.

Thanks for hopping!


Image: "Lolita" by Busy Beauties
Pattern Papers: Basic Grey and Creative Imaginations
Cardstock: local source
Embellishments: Bazzill paper flowers, DCWV ribbon, K&Co "USA" metal button, Making Memories brads
Colored with Copics
Layout: Splitcoast SC254

Friends of Faith - SNR Blog Hop

Welcome to Scrapbook News and Review Magazine's A Faith Perspective Thankful for Friends Faith Blog Hop! Today, we're out in force on the internet -- showing our faith and giving the glory to God. United, we stand as Christian paper crafters and blog owners to make a presence on the internet for all to see. We're celebrating the theme of friends and we're happy to share our projects with you based on the verse:

"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. " Ecc4:9-10a

If you've arrived from Angela's amazingly wonderful blog, you are hopping right along. If you're just joining in on the fun, you can find the start of the train here. First, we would like to take a moment to thank our generous co-sponsors: Layers of Color Stamps, Gina K Designs Stamps and Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps. Together with Scrapbook News and Review Magazine, these companies have donated some wonderful prizes for today’s blog hop.

There will be three lucky grand prize winners for today’s event. To enter, simply hop to the blogs of all of the participating staff members of Scrapbook News and Review Magazine, take note of the staff member’s name, and leave a comment on their posts. Then send us an email at games@scrapbooknewsandreview.com listing each of the staff members who participated in today’s hop. It’s that easy. All entries must be received by Monday, November 16, 2009 at 12 noon, EST and three winners will be randomly chosen to win.

What are the prizes?
*One $100 gift certificate from Layers of Color Stamps AND a 6 month subscription to Scrapbook News and Review Magazine.
*One basket of goodies -- four stamp sets from Gina K Designs and a 6 month subscription to Scrapbook News and Review Magazine.
*One set of digital stamps from Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps and a 3 month subscription to Scrapbook News and Review Magazine.
**In addition, every participating staff member of Scrapbook News and Review Magazine will offer a free one-month subscription to the magazine to one of their lucky visitors by simply leaving a comment on their blog. That's a lot of chances to win, so let’s get to the Hop! **

The card I'm sharing today is all about friendship and fellowship. Over the past 2 years, I've realized that God places specific people in our lives at specific times according to His purpose. It may start by sharing a cup of coffee and opening our hearts to one another, or through papercrafting. Through these friendships, He teaches us and draws us ever closer to Him. Before long, we discover that friendship has become fellowship, and where there is fellowship, there is God. What a blessing! Thank you, Lord!

The next stop on this blog hop is: Angella and you will not be dissapointed with the work of art she has to share with you.

Thanks for hopping and God Bless!

Main image: Joyce and Marcy-In Style Stamps
Sentiment: Sweet Serendipity-Stampin' Up!
Pattern Paper: Girly Gab-SEI Retrospect Groovy Gal collection
Sparkle Card Stock: DCWV Solid Glitter Silver
Card Stock: Bazzill-Fussy, Chablis, Petty Cash, Guacamole; MFT Perfect Panels
Embellies: Kaiser self-adnesive rhinestones ; satin ribbon
Sketch: Splitcoast SC185 (modified slightly)
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics, Sakura pens (gold and silver), white gel pen, Stardust GellyRoll pen

Happy Veterans Day

Have you hugged a Veteran today? Or at least said "Thank You!" for all they have done for you?
I just gave my Dad this card. I was so happy and so proud of myself for remembering this year. And then God did a funny thing. He knocked me back down to size. I had to fight back tears as my Dad said, "Wow. Thanks. No one's ever given me a Veterans Day card before." While I can't go back and change all the years that I forgot to recognize his service (and really, how hard is it? I was born on a Navy base!), I can make sure that starting this year, my Dad knows just how proud I am of him and how grateful I am for his service to this magnificent country of ours. Red, white & blue cupcakes help, too. :D

Please come back for a visit on Saturday for more on recognizing our Heroes!

TFL and Happy Veterans Day!


Image and sentiment: Amuse
Pattern Papers: Creative Imaginations
White Cardstock: Perfect Panels from My Favorite Things
Metal Buttons: K&Co
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black and VersaMagic Ocean Depth; Copics

October Kit Cats

Ugh! So close, and yet officially (even with the assist from turning the clocks back), still a day late.

This little cutie is one of the Manga girls from Sugar Nellie - all dolled up for Christmas. Michelle was our hostess this month, and we all got to pick a holiday. But as you'll see, most of us opted from Christmas. I decided that in combination with the snowflake die cuts, Cuttlebug embossed snowflake cardstock, and yummy pattern paper Miche provided, my Manga girl was feeling elfish. So I colored her up with my trusty Copics and laid her out using SC211 from SCS. At the last I remembered that I might have a few mini jingle bells (that actually jingle) left in my stash. As luck would have it, there were exactly two left, one for each boot. The ribbon is attached so that the recipient will untie the ribbon to open the card, just like you would unwrap a present on Christmas morning. :D

If you haven't already, I hope you'll join me in hopping over to visit all of the Kit Cat blogs (Kelly, Michelle, Susan, Lorie and Jeanette) to enjoy their creations. Next month it's my turn to play hostess...

TFL,

Belated Halloween Bride

What a weekend! Apologies that this post is later than anticipated. It has been crazy around here lately. (And I'm realizing Carolyn is a genius for incorporating "busy" into her stamp line's name!) I'm hoping that at least a few of you are holding on to the Halloween spirit, and able to enjoy this card.
Once again, I used Carolyn's fabulous "Here Comes the Bride" image from Busy Beauties Boutique. I dug through my sketches and unearthed an old SCS sketch - SC211, flipped through my beloved Basic Grey "Eerie" papers, and broke out the Copics. I modified the sketch a bit to accomodate a great sentiment from Stamp Insanity, which is "Nothing on Earth so beautiful as the final haul on Halloween Night." I laughed a little harder than I would normally when I heard one of the boys in the last group of trick-or-treaters call to his friend excitedly, "Hey! They have peanut butter cups!" only for his friend to reply, "I don't care, I can't carry any more candy!" Just like our Bride and her bountiful bag.

Sneak Peak

Hi Friends,
TGIF! Especially since I started feeling sick last night...and it's lingering a bit. Ugh.
The worst of it is that I wasn't able to finish my card featuring "Here Comes the Bride" (think Frankenstein, not wedding bells) by Busy Beauties. Many of the other DT members will be featuring this same image today and tomorrow, so please hop over (see sidebar) and enjoy all of the ghoulishly good creations! For now, all I have for you is a little sneak peak.
I love this image! It's so fun to color. I used it for the Grand Opening Blog Hop, which you can see HERE, and I was so glad to have the opportunity to use it again when it was selected for our feature this week. I hope you'll pop back tomorrow to see my completed card.

Hope you are all staying well and able to enjoy a Hauntingly Happy Halloween!

Strawberry Lolita

Happy Tuesday! As promised, here is my first rendition of Strawberry Lolita from Busy Beauties Boutique! This cutie is just dripping in yummy strawberries! I was pretty literal with the color selections this time out. Even in the throes of my autumn love fest (making apple sauce, sipping pumpkin lattes, and wishing I could just sit in the yard and soak in the beautiful fall colors), I still love the idea of fresh strawberries, and thought this scrumptious pattern paper from We R Memory Keepers' Tiffany collection was a perfect pairing for a strawberry queen.
Lolita is colored in Copics, as is the bottom layer of flowers, and since the image is so perfectly accessorized, I pulled out practically every kind of embellie I own to maintain her unique style: dew drops, flowers, ribbon and buttons (oh my!). :D I love this image because she is so spunky & funky - she's definitely marching to the beat of her own drum, and spreading joy where ever she goes!
To see more of Strawberry Lolita, please visit us at Busy Beauties on PCP for links & chit-chatting fun, or use the DT blog roll on the left.

Hugs,

Lolita Week!

Hi friends! Sorry for the lack of posts - I've been busy with stamps, but slow on actually finishing complete projects. *rolling my eyes*

A few of us were chatting away at Busy Beauties on PCP (click to join the fun!) and decided that this week should be Lolita Week - so be on the lookout for some super fun cards featuring Strawberry Lolita! I'll be back Tuesday with my first Lolita card, and hope you'll stop by to check it out.

Wishing you a blessed and happy Monday!

Hugs,

Ta-da! The Big Winner of the Busy Beauties Blog Hop is TheNeon!
Congratulations! TheNeon has won the entire current Busy Beauties line of images, and I know she is going to have a blast with them!

And because Carolyn is just the sweetest and most generous gal I know, she is also awarding a prize to one randomly chosen commenter on each blog in the hop! WOW! The winner chosen from the comments left on my blog is Adrina! Congrats!!!! You'll receive 3 digis of your choice!

Carolyn will be in touch with each of you soon, so you can start creating and enjoying your own Busy Beauties! Be sure to check back on each blog to see if you are a winner there!

Thanks to everyone for playing along and helping us celebrate! If you missed the Blog Hop, it's not too late because the Boutique is open and waiting for you! This is one of the cutest and most affordable digi lines around, so don't be shy!

Hugs & Thanks for Hopping!