Happy 5th Birthday Blog Hop!!!! Fred, She Said Celebrates~

Welcome to the Fred, She Said 5th Birthday Blog Hop!  We've been up and running 5 wonderful years!  The theme for this hop is Fred's FAVES  FLORAL and/or PURPLE!

If you have arrived from Nancy's blog, you are right on track.  Didn't she have the most fabulous creation?  If you are just happening by, you will want to start on the FSS Blog.

Collect a secret word on each blog along the way, leave us some love on our posts and follow the directions at the end of the hop for your chance to win this FABULOUS PRIZE!

One winner will receive ALL of this:

$25 Gift Certificate to the Fred She Said Store
$25 USD equivalent Gift Certificate to any online papercrafting store of winner's choice :)

The image I wanted to work with is one of Tracey's (aka Fred) newest digitals called Dogwood Branch and I've been anxious to make a Piano card, like I've been seeing on Pinterest!  I used the pre-colored flowers and the neat thing is that one of the sheets you get with that digital has two different sized branches.  That makes it so easy to layer!  On the inside, I used musical note paper with an additional Dogwood Branch.  I was so happy that I was able to do both the Floral AND the Purple!

Your secret word on my blog is TO

Your next stop on the hop is Crystal's blog.  I'm sure she will have a great design for you!

Winners will be selected on June 8th 2013 at 12:01 EST.

Fred She Said is also having a sale!
Have Fun & Good Luck!

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Here is the BLOG HOP LIST  

Michelle  http://www.inspirationblooms.blogspot.com/  

Nancy  http://inspiredbystamps.blogspot.com/     

Carolyn  http://luvmycards.blogspot.com/      

Crystal   http://craftingwithcrystal.blogspot.com/     

Janet Kay  http://janetkbailey.wordpress.com/  

Judy   http://insearchofmycreativeside.blogspot.com/    

Karen   http://busybusyhoneybee.wordpress.com/    

Linda   http://scrappingheaven.blogspot.com/  

Patty   http://www.patriciachalasstudio.blogspot.com/    

Zehra   http://www.rosebestcards.com/  

Stitching challenge at Sassy Cheryl Alger's Blog--teaming up with Squigglefly

 The neatest thing about the Squigglefly Shop is that one of their featured artists is Cheryl Alger.  Friends that visit my blog know I Love her images!  So when Sassy Cheryl's Challenge Blog had their current challenge posted, I RAN to my Squigglefly digis and pulled out Signs of Spring.  I decided to make the Stitching or faux stitching for her challenge be the path of the ladybug! And then I decided that I could make her blowing air OR whistling to the ladybug.  I like the bright Spring colors and the embossed green cardstock mixed in with the bright pink mats!  If you look close, the cs has little imprinted daisies on it~
Check out her challenge cause you could win 2 of her wonderful digis FREE!

And a Round and a Round we go at Squigglefly-Challenge of the week!

Our Theme this week at Squigglefly is to "Just Round the Corner--Make a card that uses Rounded Corners, many options out there, not just rounding the card corners but rounding the individual papers too!

I'm using a cutie image called Patch Bunny by Dawn Collins  colored with copics and I definitely had to take advantage of the carrot that he's holding to come up with the sentiment!  I wish I had one of those corner "chompers" but as I don't I had to come up with some alternatives for the theme:  round die cut for the bunny, rounded corners on the mat, rounded sentiment, and circle mats for the Round buttons.  So I think I've got it covered!  This image is one of several that Dawn debuted the first week in May-I'm not sure where May actually went because the first week in June is fast approaching and there will be some more new images on that Saturday!


Go grab a freebie image from Squigglefly and come up with a card for this challenge--the prize is an image from the shop and they have got some really neat ones!!

Whoopsidaisy is Sponsoring the latest challenge at Seems A Little Sketchy-What fun!!

I love the cute little girls, both in B&W and pre-colored that we were able to use on our new Challenge at Seems A Little Sketchy this week!  This image and one with an adorable little blondie in a pink frock were part of Sheet 442 from Whoopsidaisy .  Such generous Sponsors-LOVE it!
Now, of course, I like to turn the sketches all sorts of ways.  I have used a floral in the background, then a green polkadot mat over that, then the stripe of blue down the middle with yellow paper lace on either side.  I'm using the sheer pale yellow ribbon/bow where the flower and flourish are in the sketch.  The tag at the top "So Tweet" is my label topper and I used a yellow topped mini safety pin to attach it.  The neat thing with the image is that I used 2 die cuts on top of the digi and then I elevated the center cut with foam dots to give it a dimensional look.  Thanks for stopping by and playing along with us at Seems a Little Sketchy!

Butterflys and Marigolds with Fred, She Said

We're so blessed to have such a talented designer in Tracey (aka Fred) at Fred, She Said Designs.  There are so many versatile images and they just flow when you use them.  I like using her pre-colored ones like the Marigolds & Morpho set you see here  It even comes with the window template that I used with this card.

On the front, I used an enlarged butterfly & flower so it would appear closer.  Then in the inside, I used one of the clusters that come with the set and placed it so that the BF "popped" out of the window.  I used a musical paper as the inside liner and inked the edges with Tim Holtz's Antique Linen distress ink.  I also added some diamond glaze to the butterflys and curled the edges so that they would look like they were in flight.  I've stamped this inside for a "Thinking of You" card.  

 Starting Monday Fred She Said is having a sale from the 27th until June 2nd!  20% off orders $10 and over and 40% off orders $20 and over!  A great chance to get some great images at a reasonable price!
Also check back on Friday for our End of the month BLOG HOP- There are prizes and a fun game to play along with us as you Hop!  Hope to see you there!
~Carolyn

Squigglefly wants us to "Man Up" with some Masculine Cards

Pretty soon it will be time for Father's Day cards for our loved ones~but the Men in our lives shouldn't wait until THAT special day to be appreciated!  There's always Birthday's, Thinking of You cards, Love you cards that can happen all year long.              


This week at Squigglefly, the team of Holley'sHobbyist's challenged us to come up with a manly card for any reason!  I used a new digital image from Dawn Collins called Mikey Cat and the phrase "cool cat" just came to me!  I chose to give a surprise to the recipient of this card and made the cat a WOBBLE card.  I made a spring out of floral wire and then attached it with 2 1" circles.  Kraft paper, bold blue plaid, some fish tail banners made out of deep brown "pigskin type paper topped with 2 screw head brads made up the main part of my card.  Isn't that fish bone button just the perfect accent for this crazy cat?  I keep on flicking him to make him wobble!  I did some stitching around the edges and created the sentiment online.   Be sure to find some of your Squigglefly images and place your entry to win a choice of SF digital images!!  We'd love to have you join us!

Christian Sentiments at Fred, She Said~Love it!!

One of the attractions in joining the design team at Fred, She Said was that there was access to Christian Sentiments as well as the awesome images!  Again, hope you're all not getting too tired of seeing these fantastic papers called Floral Surprise Paper Set 'cause I luv them, I found the perfect verses and paper combination for a dear friend that needed some support.  I added some paper lace, some fun felt roses that my daughter made, and these great thoughts. I just love it when a plan comes together!

The second one features a pink version with different flowers! I've had this very stylish birthday girl image I've wanted to use for a long time and I think it's very girlish!  I colored her up with copics then used a scrolled label die cut I got from my friend Virginia, threaded some Oh So Girly hot pink polka-dot .125" ribbon through it and mounted the verse that came with the digi on to it.  I added a stiff layered punched flower to the corner and it's ready to go.

I really like using this set of papers-they just breathe Springtime to me!  Tracey (aka Fred) works on so many designs for all of us to use-can't wait to start using the Dogwood branch that has come out recently!  Be sure to check it out at the Store!

Squigglefly and Cheryl Alger-what a partnership!

I love creating card designs for Squigglefly and just ONE of my favorite artists of the many that they have is Cheryl Alger.  Her designs just put a smile on my face every time.
What with Memorial Day coming up soon, I thought this image called True Friendship lended itself to the colors Red, White, and Blue perfectly.  The deep red background has the words Liberty, Independence, Freedom on it.  I used some Paper Lace and star ribbon to finish it off as well as a beautiful crocheted flower from my dear friend Linda.  
This card will be exactly what I need for those July Birthdays!


I'd like to enter this card in the following challenges:

• Sassy Cheryl's Challenge Blog #166- Lace & handmade flowers
• Joanna Sheen Challenge-Girls, Girls, Girls

Shadow Box Graduation Present~Cheryl Alger's Challenge Show Me #121

 I love paper-crafting of all types and my creative ideas were s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d to the max this week and the pressure was on.  A friend at work wanted me to make a memory shadow box for her daughter's boyfriends' graduation...well, gulp, I said I would do my best-Years ago I'd made some for my own kids.




When I make my cards, I just do what I like without any worries..the "fear" was that on a customized request it had to be very specific-Yikes!!  On her own, she went to HL and gathered things that depicted stickers, miniatures, embellishments that he knew showed off his interests.  We had Sports (f'ball & basketball), Music (plays guitar and is in a bank), very smart, and in the Drama Club.  I added my papers, chipboard, and hot glue and we were on our way.

Their school colors were orange & black, mascot the Tigers so the background paper is a very bold O&B striped Tiger paper.  I know, I know you don't see it right there in your face--that's good because I'd hate to think that that was all you saw! It's a great "base" for everything else that's going on.  I used styrofoam blocks cut down to fit hot glued on to the mounting board and covered them with some denim DP and some music paper that I had on hand.  The drama masks were from the internet and add some depth to the box (about 3" deep) because nothing is on the shelf behind them.  Some fancy cutting on these great pictures that the friend supplied and adding the distressed guitar and there we are.  An original gift made just for him and a friend who has a grin stretching from ear to ear.  I loved being able to use my supplies and crafting abilities to make this one-of-a-kind gift for them.
I believe that I will enter this gift in this Challenge:
Cheryl Alger's Show Me Thursday
She just likes to see what we're up to during the week and it's worth one of her amazing digitals if you win!

A Day for Daisies is sponsoring "Going Dotty" at Southern Girls Challenge

Southern Girls Challenge is offering their next 2 weeks challenge with the help of Images from A Day for Daisies!   If you've never been to their great site You've missed out on some fantastic digis!  The one I chose to use was "H is for Happy Birthday" and I love the whimsical characters surrounding the letter H.  I can just see this being used on SEVERAL Birthday cards in the future!

The THEME for this challenge is "Going Dotty" so bring out all your papers with dots, spots, and combinations of the circle theme and join us!  Besides the image, the thing I liked the most about this card was the Template that I pinned from Pinterest for the paper bow--I tried it for the first time on this card and I just love the look of it!  The great thing is that the paper bow will compress down in order to mail it and stay relatively fluffy when opened by the lucky recipient!

Thanks for Looking and come and play with us! Carolyn  

There's Something in My Pocket ~Squigglefly Challenge!

This week our team, Rhonda's Rowdy Rascals, has got a great challenge called "There's something in my Pocket" and we make either cards or tags, or pages with pockets SO come and join us on Squigglefly  with an entry!

For my entry, I decided to make a Get Well card-I never have enough!  And my pocket has some Kleenex in it!  I also used 2 different images from Squigglefly *one is Daisies by one of our newest artists, Pammie Lehto, and *the other one is a cluster of butterflys (green, purple and yellow) in the upper right corner.  Those are from the True Friendship digital group by Cheryl Alger.  It almost makes me feel like it could be Allergy related LOL!

I hope this card inspired you to make a card to play along with us this week!  You are always welcome to play no matter what images you use, but to be eligible for the prise, please use at least one stamp from Squigglefly.  There are many freebies in the store!

Sassy Studio Sponsors Seems a Little Sketchy this week! #1 Mom

What with this being the day after Mother's Day (hope all of you had an opportunity to spend with your Mom's!), I'd like to share a card I made to Honor all Moms at Seems a Little Sketchy!  
I used the image from our sponsor this week, Sassy Studio Designs, called #1 Mom.  I teamed it up with our Sketch #39 challenge this week.  I think it's great to have a sketch to follow in making your cards-it goes so much faster that way! The sentiment is one that I had in my stash and is so appropriate for the day~Hope you enjoyed and that you gave your Mom a big hug and kiss for bringing you into this world.  I'm sure that she is grateful everyday for you!

So much excitement in the Air~Graduation Days are nearly here

I don't think I've ever made so many cards in one week as this one!  This scrapbook room will need SUCH a deep cleaning when all the craziness is over that's for sure!  I had many Graduation cards to make for some well deserving students so did a mass assembly-lucky I had already colored several digitals in anticipation.  I thought I'd share some on the Blog ~who knows I may inspire someone!  Of course I had to go to my Cheryl Alger Digis for several of them-as much as I enjoy them, I'm sure they will put a smile on their faces as they cross the stage and get their diplomas!
 
I'd like to enter this in the following challenge:

• Sassy Cheryl Challenge Blog: Girl's Rule 
• Show Me Thursday Challenge: what are you working on

Mother's Day is coming soon~Flowers from Fred, She Said!

 I've seen these style cards on several blogs lately and was determined to try them out!  I got carried away and ended up making 4 of them, all a little bit different.  But the greatest thing was that I was able to use the Happy Flower Set  from Fred, She Said! By using that multi-flower set, I was able to get several different looks.  I used a ready made card blank as a size pattern and then measured and cut out the Pot template. Two Terra Cotta colored pieces sandwiched together with foam dots made the perfect pocket for the slide out insert.  I mounted the flower layers on the insert and found just the perfect verse to make a Mother smile.  I wish all you Crafty Mothers out there a well deserved Day of Recognition!  Hope you spend the day basking in the Love of your Family and relaxing...cause the next day it's all back to the daily Routine!

Monotone time at the Latest Squigglefly Challenge~Join us!

 This week the challenge is to make a card using one color as your primary focus;  Pick whichever color you like.  Make a card using all blue items or how about a stunning card in all white?  make a card using all reds or even a card using all greens.....would be great if you also incorporate your image in the monotone type, but you can color your image as the one feature if you choose.  We of course always love a Squigglefly image, it's not required to play, but to be eligible for the prize, must be included.
For my "entry", I chose to use this awesome new image called Blow Me A Kiss by Lynne Stansbery...which literally Blew me away! I absolutely love all the shading she puts on her images-it just comes alive when you add color!  Some of the colors in my card seem to not pop when I took the multiple pictures--it's done in different shades of peach/pink  and a peachy beige so I hope it fits the monotone requirement of our sister team, Holley Hobbists.

You have one week to complete the challenge and it will close Sunday evening. The winner will be announced at the same time the new challenge post comes up...so be sure to check back EVERY Monday to see if you are a winner!

Lots of New Artists announced at Squigglefly~this week featuring Pammie Lehto

 This week at Squigglefly, the new images were released a tad bit early and there are super great images PLUS 2 new Artists with us, Dawn Collins and Pammie Lehto! Their work is so awesome you will be pleasantly surprised and so anxious to use it!
I just love flowers and Pammie has delivered in spades!  I used her Hollyhocks, fence and Iris digitals, wanting to create a layered effect.  So even though I ended up covering up some of the hollyhocks, they are all equally as pretty as the pink ones on the edge.  There are so many ways to use these images but I decided that they would make a great Mother's Day card.  One of the other things that Pammie does is handle the Challenge Blog for Scrap Book Place , a super great place to make friends that scrapbook and like to swap and exchange supplies.  You ought to check into joining our fun group.  Their current challenge for the next 2 weeks is "May Flowers" and that's where I'm going to enter this card.  Hope to see you there and make sure you take a trip also to Squigglefly for some neat ideas!