Oh, please don't go.....I'll eat you up I love you so!

Do you know where that quote is from?  I'll give you a hint, it is from a children's book published in 1963.  Still stumped?  This classic is by the author Maurice Sendak that is still read today.  I know you know it even if you don't recognize the quote of any of these hints.  It is Where the Wild Things Are.  :)

I recently saw this digi image over at Tiddly Inks and it totally reminded me of Max, the King of Wild Things, from the book and the idea was borne.  TI's intention may have been to spark this likeness with their "King of Wild Ones," but their image is actually a boy in a dragon/lizzard outfit. I just cut off the spikes and made it work to for my purposes.  :)   So I made it into a fun valentine that would be perfect for some sweet (or not so sweet- wink!) little boy out there.  I used my SU! watercolor wonder crayons (neutrals) for coloring his outfit, colored pencils for the face and a gel pen for the gold accents.  It worked perfectly with this tag I had lying around, and the Teresa Collins You are My Happy paper pad.  I finished it with this lovely twine from the new to me company Knot and Bow and some enamel dots (also TC).

"And now" called Max, "let the wild rumpus start!"  I think I shall Max, I think I shall....  it will entail crafting, some girlfriends, and perhaps brunch and a mimosa!  For today's Question of the Day, I want to know what would your wild rumpus include?

Entering into:
CAS-ual Friday's 127-  Over the Edge
Tiddly Inks #126- Love is in the Air

Cut It Up Challenge- Love Beyond Measure

Howdy Ho!  Welcome to another week of Cut-it-Up Challenge!  I can't even believe some of the entries we've seen lately, so fantabulous!  Congrats to the winners and honorable mentions from the last

round, so fun!  

This round we have some fun in store for you for sure since we are going with the Valentines Day theme!  So make some Valentines for your loved ones while you play with us and maybe win some goodies ta-boot!  The fabulous As Cute as a Button is sponsoring us again, they have been soooo generous.  The winner of this round will get a $20 gift certificate. 

OK, now that you have the details, let's move onto the inspiration.  I am sure you have visited the CIU blog as well as all my teamies.  Those are some rockin' creations right?!  They are all lovely and frilly and fun.  Now I went with a different tact this round, perhaps I over did it with the pink lately...not sure, but I went for masculine and scrappy. Here's what I've got for you.

I kept it simple with minimal amounts of stuff and some good "dude-ish" colors.  The main focus is the journal card from Simple Stories which I cut out with my Lawn Fawn Journal die (I love that faux stitching!).  I used this fun Washi from Freckled Fawn  mainly because it matched, but also b/c I wanted my blog title to read Love Beyond Measure.  LOL!   Anyway,  I used the banner part of the die with cork for that fun little accent and the yellow enamel dots.  The sentiment and the ampersand finish it of to say, "you are loved and..." leaving you the ability to write whatever you want inside.  :)  

So....won't you come and play with us?  You have until February 19th at noon to enter.  You can check out the rules on the CIU blog. I can't wait to see what lovely creations you make (pun intended)!

For most of the people I know, V-day is typically for the ladies, but not all.  Since we've been talking Valentines for the dudes, my Question of the Day is- what do you give the man/men (dads, brothers, hubbys, etc.) in your life for Valentines Day, if anything? 

Entering my card into:

CAS-ology Challenge- And

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge- Have a Heart

Lawnscaping Challenge- Dots and Hearts

 Thanks for stopping friends!

Top Dog Dies DT Blog Hop!

Hello friends!  Welcome to the Top Dog Dies DT Blog Hop!  So excited to kick off this DT with a hop.  All the fabulous products and creations my teamies made! :)  You should have  come here from Karen Letchworth's blog.

Here is my project for the hop.  It was inspired by a few things: first was this wrapping paper with the gold hearts, LOVE!  Second, was a Donna Mikasa creation and third was the Heart Doily Die from Top Dog Dies.  Love this die and have been using it non-stop recently, I simply can't get enough of it!  The gold glitter paper takes it to a whole new level.  I finished it off with a a Christmas sentiment from CAS-ual Friday Stamps and a gold arrow from Freckled Fawn.

Now onto the prizes!  One random person will win the Top Dog Dies Heart Mini Album and Heart Mini Album Finishers Set (Valued at $42)!  Um, can I win this?! ;)  Whoever gets this will have the perfect set up for a post-valentine album to capture their memories.   To be eligible to win you have to comment on the TDD post and sign up via rafflecopter.  You should also be sure to leave the DT some love along the hop.   

Without further adeau, the next stop is at Nicole Picadura.  Below is the whole list just in case you need it.   Thank you so much for stopping!  I hope you enjoy the hop!

Amy Tsuruta
Amy Wanford
Giovana Smith
Karen Letchworth
Katie Brooks  <<>>
Nicole Picadura  
Renee Robbins
Stacey Schafer
Wendy Sue Anderson

EAD Designs Blog Hop

Today is going to be fun!   There is a group of us that are EAD Designs fans and we decided to inspire one another to use our goodies.  If you don't remember EAD made vinyl stickers and rub-ons.  The products were super fun, but the shop closed over a year ago. 

So today we have a little hop for you using EAD Goodies and our challenge is- Love & Valentine's! 

Here is the hop list- 

Amy  

Colleen

Julie Smith

Julie Tucker Wolek

June

Katie Brooks  (YOU ARE HERE)

Lauren Bergold  

Rose

Stephanie 

Wendi 

Here is how it inspired me.  I started with some peach paper from various vendors (SU!, Lawn Fawn and Crate Paper) and die cut my doily (Top Dog Dies) out of white.  I have a sheet of stickers from EAD with a bunch cute little critters on it, and the hamster holding the heart was an easy choice.  I stuck him in the middle of my doily and finished it off with a love you banner sticker from Crate Paper.  So easy and fun.  I think I'll likely give this one to my girly because she loves cute little critters.  :)  

Before you go, you should know that there is surprise blog candy.  The more you leave comments on the blogs that are participating, the more chances you have to win!

Commenting will be open until Saturday, February 8th at 11:59 pm pacific

winners posted on Amy's blog on Monday, February 10th

Have fun hoppin'!

Blue Friday

It is blue Friday here in Seattle, we are rallying for the Seahawks!  I have never seen so many people wear blue and green.  My daughter and I are even sporting blue and green nail polish for the occasion!  :) Normally, I don't much care who wins, but Seattle teams don't see a lot of glory, so it is nice to see this for a change.  Check out this pic of the beloved Needle.

Meanwhile, I know there are a few Bronco's fans reading this and I like them too, those of you reading AND the Broncos.  I spent a couple of college years in Colorado.  One of which the Broncos went to and won the Superbowl.  I went to Denver and saw John Elway and the team in the parade, it was pretty awesome.  So don't go away hating me you Broncos peeps!  For the record, I don't want the Broncos to win since they have been there and done that, but I like them. :)

No matter what team you cheer for, here is a Superbowl cocktail you can make.  Admittedly, it is favored to the Seahawks since Marshawn Lynch is the skittles guy and the pic is blue and green.  BUT you could make this with orange skittles just as easily and call it the "Bucking Bronco" or "Magic Manning" or something like that.  It is bound to be pretty sweet though, so don't drink too many!

So onto the creation.  Officially we haven't started our posts for the Top Dog Dies Design Team, but I wanted to share one project I've made anyway.  This is a little creation I made using their Photo Mat die and Photo Props accessories as well as the Leafy Flourishes set.  This pic is of my lovely daughter S and her cutie friend on S's 6th birthday.  They had so much fun!

I am not sure this is a card, it opens like a card, but I think of it more as a little memory frame.  You can set it up like a framed photo, but the beauty is you can open it up and see the original pic and there is info on what the pic is and when it was taken.  You could give it as a thank you card though, that would work just as well. I used a piece of transparency for the layer between the top mat and the photo to protect the picture and allow me to put the accessories on but still keep the original picture in tact.

I finished it off with a few embellishments and a sentiment stamp from Paper Smooches.  The sentiment pretty much says it all.  :)  Oh...and the colors work for Blue Friday! Thanks for stopping and happy Blue (or Orange) Friday to you!

PS- did you see the Top Dog sale on Stamp-n-storage?!  Awesome!

Dreaming of Delicata Gold

Welcome to another Fusion Challenge!  Did you see the entries last week?!  UM....FABULOUS!

This week is going to be just as fantastic, just wait until you see the challenge inspiration and all the DT creations- WOW!  Here is the fab photo and sketch we are working from.

I used the hearts from the photo and the bones of the sketch.  What I really enjoyed doing was glitzing it all up with gold.  Behind the hearts is washi, backed with CS to make it sturdy and popped up with dimensionals.  The wood chip hearts (Freckled Fawn) that go on top were squished (...very technical term) into my Delicata Gold ink from Tsukineko.  This is easily my favorite ink at the moment and I can't seem to get enough of it.  Soooooo luscious and sparkly!  And I think it works really well in contrast to the DP.

So, I hope that you will come and play with us this week!  You can find the rules and information for linking up on the Fusion Card Challenge Blog.

Question of the day- what is your favorite ink brand and color?

Entering into:
The Pink Elephant 235- Love
The Curtain Call Challenge- Love Letter
Ribbon Carousel Challenge #89- Love, Birthday's and Chicken Soup

Lotta love going on out there! :)  Thanks for stopping!

Inspired by Yainea!

I love this round of Lawnscaping Challenge!  They have so many talented designers both on their blog and FB page, so it was fun to pick one (from the blog) and create a card that payed homage to them.  The card can be inspired by one of their cards, their style or a technique you saw them use.

It was hard to pick just one, but I've admired Yainea's stuff since before she was part of Lawnscaping, so I went with her as my inspiration.  Perusing her blog, this card caught my eye, such a lovely valentine by her (see right).  There is something about the diagonal that is different, maybe just because you don't see it all the time but I love it.

Here is what I created using my inspiration from Yainea!  It was so easy to make the slant, I just traced around my ruler, using the width provided by it and wahlah!  After deciding I wanted clouds inside it was easy to finish this card up.  A little DP and cork for the balloons was perfect for paper piecing.  While we are discussing...I actually have a confession to make to go along with it....I have had this set for a long time, since it first came out....and this is the first time I inked up the balloons!!!!  I know, I can't even believe it myself, but it is true.

So thank you Yainea and all the LF, Lawnscaping blog and FB DT, you all do amazing work and continue to inspire!