Clear Dollar Stamps August Blog Hop

Good morning all! I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. Ours has been very pleasant so far.

Welcome to the August Clear Dollar Stamps Blog Hop! You should have arrived from Sarah's blog. If you didn't head back to the CDS blog to start. This month we have a theme of "My Favorite Things." I, of course, wanted clarification of what that meant and was told I could make it whatever works with the theme. Oh, boy...I like clearly defined parameters...lol!

I went lots of different ways when thinking of what I'd do...Christmas, music, movie, and finally I just went with my favorite season...fall. My birthday is in the fall and my grandma and grandpa used to come up for it each year. We'd have a bonfire and just enjoy each others company. Good memories!

I have used the digi set called Autumn Joy on my card along with some paper and embellishments that I've had around forever. I have to tell you I really enjoyed coloring this tree. I used probably about 15 different Copic marker colors.

I hope you like my little card! Now, you need to head on over to Jan's blog by clicking HERE. Have a great time on the blog hop everyone!

Clear Dollar Stamps Digital Release Day!

Good morning friends and welcome to Clear Dollar Stamps August Digi Release! This month I have two super cute samples to show you with the new release images and they couldn't be more different!

Above is a card with Praying Eyes Mantis. Isn't he just hilarious with those eyes?! The "here's Looking at you" sentiment on the background piece comes with the digi set. I just opened Word and placed the sentiments on the document several times, printed it out and made my card. It is funny because the hardest part about this card was getting those "random" pieces of colored cardstock to look "random." I think I like random to be more structured!
This second card is made with the digi set Gladiolia. I was a little nervous to work with this set as it is not within my "normal" comfort zone but they needed someone and I said yes before I really thought about it...lol! The sentiment that you see behind the main image is actually an image in the set. It talks about the Gladiolia being the flower for August and such. I just cut my green cardstock the size I wanted and ran it through the printer. It worked like a charm! The Gladiolia's are colored with Copics. The ribbon is from my stash and there is a soft pink and vanilla ribbon. For the final little embellishment I used a butterfly stick pin in the center of the bow. If you want to see it better just click on the photo and that will make it bigger.

There you have it! My cards with Clear Dollar Stamps newest Digital Release. Make sure you hop on over to the CDS Blog to see what my DT sisters have done plus I believe there is a new challenge starting soon!

In John 1:5, Jesus said, "The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it." Remember that Jesus stands beside you right in the middle of your crisis, in the middle of your darkest day. He also stand in the middle of your tomorrow, fully aware of your future. From: It's No Secret by Rachel Olsen

shell-o

Good morning friends! Well, here we sit at Thursday, our week almost done. Have you accomplished all you've wanted or is it 'one of those weeks' for ya?

Today I have used the cute Turtle Greetings set from Clear Dollar Stamps on my card. I just adore this little turtle (remember THIS card?). There is something about his smile that makes the sun come out (that is a sun not a flower on the card) and those cute lady bugs getting a ride on his shell...super cute! The patterned paper is from MME's lime twist collection called Out of the Blue.

Make sure you check out the Clear Dollar Stamp blog HERE. They clear stamp team has had some great tutorials recently!

"I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches." Psalm 119:14. What does this mean? This means that we are just as happy following what God tells us about our lives as we are gather riches. So, whether you are having an up or down week as long as we are following God we can be happy!

I hope you make today exactly what you want it to be! See you all tomorrow!

Bumblebee

It's Woohoo! My husband has been out of town all week and he gets home tonight! With Kyler having been gone too it has been very quiet in the house. God revealed many things to me this week and one of them is when he says "it is not good for man to be alone so I will make a helper"...that is us ladies. We are here to be our husband's helpmeet (definition is: a help suitable for him) and what a privilege it is for me!

Anyway, because I was on my own this week I did have lots of extra time to craft which was SO fun! Today I'm showing off a new SVG file from Clear Dollar Stamps called Mini Car. Now, my son LOVES the Transformer movies (even though he really can't watch 2 and 3) so I thought I'd try to turn this mini car into one of the stars of the movie, Bumblebee! I know...I know...it is a bug but surely you can all see the Camaro in this bug just bursting to get out?! I made this for a welcome home giftie for Kyler and to be sure that he knows it is supposed to be Bumblebee I wrote that on the license plate on the back! The car isn't perfect but I will make it again and I bet I'll be closer to "perfect" next time!

Alrighty, I think that is it for today. I have several things I'd like to get done before the DH gets home so I'm off! Have a wonderful day!

May I Get You A Lemonade?

Good morning friends! Welcome to the Clear Dollar Stamps July Blog Hop!

You should have arrived here from Linda's blog. And if you just happened on this post and would like to start the hop from the beginning just head back to the CDS blog HERE to start at the beginning.

I just had such a fun time making my card for today! I decided that what is more summer-ish then bright colors and a yummy drink? And, just who wouldn't want a super cutie turtle to bring them their drink? So... I decided to use the Turtle Greetings digital image set. Funny, though...I didn't use a greeting. Seems I'm getting away from that recently. Anyway, I used DeLovely patterned papers and then tried my best to color my image to match. After I got done coloring the sky I decided I didn't like it just plain so I grabbed out my cloud dies, cut a couple, sponged them a complimentary color, adhered them down, and then cut them with the straight edge. It really gave the card the *umph* I was looking for! My final two accents were to add Glossy Accents to the glass and a cute little bow to the bottom of the card with some baker's twine. I used the sketch from Let's Capture These Sketches for this card as well. Oh, goodness! I just realized that I left out an element of this card sketch...oops!

I hope you will hop on over to Cassie's Blog to see the fabulous project that she has for you! Have an amazing Sunday!

Jargon

Good Friday morning friends! What a busy week it has been! And it is half way through the month already! Craziness!

Today, I'm excited to share with you an image from one of Clear Dollar Stamps newest digital sets named Jargon. It is a fantastic set of three different types of jars along with sentiments that work for several different occasions and even some digi paper! This set is priced perfectly at $4.00.

Would you like to see all the wonderful digital sets that are being released today? Well, just click HERE to be taken to that page. You'll also want to check out the CDS blog. There are awesome tutorials and ideas for using all your new Clear Dollar Stamps images!

I hope you enjoy the new release from Clear Dollar Stamps! Have a wonderful Friday everyone!

Baking Bear

Good morning! Well, it is Wednesday! Only two more days 'til Friday...who's got fun plans this weekend?

Today I'd like to introduce you to a super cute bear named Baking Bear. I can almost smell the brownies (that is what he is baking...I'm sure of it!) baking when I look at this little guy! Anyway, Baking Bear is from Clear Dollar Stamps and he was just released on June 15th. (Yes, we do have a new release coming up here in 9 days! I hope you are ready!) My card layout is the Sweet Sunday Sketch for this week.

Did you see that there is a new challenge that went up on the Clear Dollar Stamps blog? Well, this challenge is to use punches, die cuts, or cut outs. CDS has a nice selection of SVG's HERE or you could try some of their dies HERE. There are LOTS of prizes for this challenge so make sure you check it out HERE!

Alright, well...you just have a super day! It is supposed to be 93 degrees here today...whew!

Grill Favor

Good morning all! Well, VBS is over and that should allow me more crafting time so expect to see more on my blog this week!

Today I'm showing you a Barbeque Grill Favor Box that I made for Todd...just 'cuz. This is an SVG from Clear Dollar Stamps. I just loved it when I first saw it but the lid looked a bit intimidating but I think this turned out great and more important I think Todd liked it!

The image to the left is with the grill open. Todd loves butterscotch discs so I got some of those for him and filled his grill up with them. This absolutely would have been a fun item to make for Father's Day. Slip a gift card and some candies in for a birthday, too. Fun stuff for sure!

Well, I guess this is going to be a super short post but be sure to be checking back this week for more posts!

Patriotic Charlie

Good sunny morning to you all! We are headed up to 88 degrees this morning with lots of sunshine. Yay!

You all know I love anything patriotic so when Clear Dollar Stamps released Patriotic Charlie on the 15th (see all of the releases HERE) I was just tickled! This fun sets comes with two fun images of Charlie, several sentiments, and some patterned paper which I used for this card. I love that the blue and red aren't bright blue and red. I found them to be, in SU! colors, Not Quite Navy and Ruby Red. I used the CPS sketch for this week and then just added some twine and little stars for some added interest. I actually think I might use this as a birthday card...we shall see!

Now...why don't you head on over to the Clear Dollar Stamps Blog to check out all the new and fun stuff going on. There are new SVG's and a blog hop for you to check out! Have fun!

Tools

Happy Saturday morning everyone! I hope you day is sunnier than ours. We have clouds and rain today. Not fun, but necessary I guess.

Today I thought I'd show you the Father's Day cards that I made for our dads. Yes, there are three...I am blessed to have three men in my life that are super dads to me!

So, these are tool boxes...can ya tell? Todd thought they looked great so I went with them. The pattern for these tool boxes are are an SVG from Clear Dollar Stamps called Chest Card. The examples on the sight include a toy box, took box, and a pirate's chest. Once I figured out how to make the first one the cuts for the other two were SO easy! Oh, and the file also has PDF's for the chest so even if you don't have the ability to cut on an electronic machine you can still make these cards!

Don't forget to check out Clearly Inspired Challenge #30 over at the Clear Dollar Stamps blog. It is a sketch and you have two weeks to complete a card. There will be lots of prizes so go check it out!

Alright, I'm off to start my busy day! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Lily of the Valley

Hello all! Welcome to Wednesday...afternoon. My goodness this day has been super busy!

And I am super late posting this card for you today and making a really exciting announcement! Last week I was asked to join the digi team for Clear Dollar Stamps. I was just shocked and so flattered! After some thought I decided that I wanted to take this wonderful opportunity so I said YES! Yay!

Today is a new digi release day at Clear Dollar Stamps so I'm showing off one of their newest digis Lily of the Valley. You guy all know how much I love Lily of the Valley so it was a natural for me to use that image. I made the rest of the card very simple to really focus on the image. It is interesting, 3 of the 4 cards that were made with this image have white, green, and black and the layouts are very similar too. Make sure you click above and check it out!

Thank you to Lori and Jerusha for your confidence in me! I will have links to the DT members blogs in my side bar soon. I hope all my blog readers will love the new creations to come made with Clear Dollar Stamps images!