TGF Release Day Blog Hop!

Hello everyone!

November is here and we are bringing you a cozy "Release Day" Blog Hop today with The Greeting Farm!

Whether you're snuggled up with your honey in your favorite sweater by a fireplace, set out for your favorite coffee shop to visit with Beanie Anya, or snowboarding with Toby Cub, the theme is COZY and RELAXED this month...or , perhaps you're preparing something 'cheeky" under the tree for your honey? It's never too early to start that shopping, right? ;)

Today, however, we want you to sit back, grab a cuppa tea or hot cocoa and enjoy our little DT hop! Let's get started, shall we?

Today I used the adorable Snowboard Toby. He's totally my favorite of the new release. I made my card layout simple to help the image stand out more. I added some Liquid Glass to his snowboarding goggles to make them look realistic.

Well, I hope you enjoyed it, as it's just one of THREE rubber releases and THREE new digis from the Critter Crew! Everything is available now in the TGF Store and we can't wait to see what YOU create with these comfy, cozy cuties!

Now it's time to visit the next stop on the hop! If you're just arriving now to my blog, be sure to start on the TGF Blog, and enjoy the rest of the order today:

FARMERS:
Melyssa Connolly
Mercy Kerin
Randi Wall
Tammy Maxvill
Emma Eads-November Guest Farmer

CRITTER CREW:
Heather Schlatter
Jacqueline Nordaune
Jennifer Royal
Kristine Reynolds
Margie Cortina
Sammi Betbeder
Shaela Odd
Tangii Crain

TEAM ANYA:
Anna Maria Nilsson
Carisa Zglobicki-Nov. Team Anya GD
Kristy Young
Jen Shults
Amber Hight
Jessica Diedrich
Club Anya & Friends

Enjoy each and every stop along the way and WAIT! There's more! After all, it wouldn't be a blog hop without PRIZES, right? ONE lucky winner will receive the ENTIRE NOVEMBER RELEASE, including the THREE digis, just for completing each stop along the blog hop and leaving a comment at the end-on the Club Anya & Friends blog! Winner will be announced Tuesday morning-so you have until 11:59pm CST to enter! GOOD LUCK!


See you soon, Farm Friends! Stay warm and cozy and enjoy the November release!

Materials

Stamps: TGF Snowboarding Toby digi, CTMH Thoughful Seasons

Paper: CTMH L2pp

Other: Copics, foam tape, Stickles, CTMH ink, Liquid Glass, paper piercer, edge distresser, and ribbon

Free Friday

Materials

Stamps: SCRS Sledding Chloe, sentiment is Savvy Stamps

Paper: BG Eskimo Kisses dp, A Muse kraft, PTI cs

Other: Copics, foam tape, EK punches, CB folder, rhinestones, Stickles, misc. button

The Critter Crew gets the day off from this week's Farm Fresh Friday, but be sure to check out TGF's blog for some serious release therapy!

I'm taking advantage of my free Friday to post this card I made for the SCRSC #17. It's an inspiration challenge. You're supposed to use the image below to spark your creativity. Well I already had this Chloe image colored up to match my Eskimo Kisses and was too tired from my cold to color something new. The red sled works though. When it came down to making a card I just kinda did my own thing. I knew I wanted to use craft paper to play of the brown wood and a snowflake or two, but I didn't really have anything specific in mind. So this is what I came up with.

Here's the inpiration photo:

Now here is the rest of my "new store" story from my post on Monday.....
I work for Safeway as a Dairy Dept. Manager and just had my 15 year anniversary. I've been at the same store the INTIRE time. Always loved the store and the people (and the 8-minute commute!)

About a month ago I was asked to be the Dairy Manager at a *new* Safeway opening on Nov. 11th. The District Manager and new Store Manager recuited me to come! This was a big deal for them to want me to help Grand Open and run a new Dairy department! I've been a little tired of my now-old-store for awhile (less hours and more work since it's a slow store) and decided that "change is good".

And boy! is it ever! It's so cool to see how a new store comes to life. All this week we've been stocking the new non-perishable product---and WOW! that's a lot when you're filling EVERYTHING!--and putting up ALL the price tags. We started hanging tags in my department, and all the shelving is starting to arrive. Even some of my "old" co-workers came with me so I'm not so alone, and I get to work with people I haven't worked with in a long time. And the commute into North Seattle isn't as bad as I thought; only 15 minutes! I'm super excited to have this experience and I'm sure I'm going to love my new store as much as my old one.

Thanks for listening to me ramble!

Sneaky Peeky!

Hello everyone! The Critter Crew and I have some cool sneak peeks for you today! There will be 3 new Critters being released on Nov. 1st, and they are super cute!

As the holiday season draws near, Marina supplied us with some adorable wintry friends to help celebrate. Today I'm showcasing the Chipmunk Candy Cane digi. Doesn't he look so happy gnawing on his candy cane?! It's like that's the only Christmas present he needs! I paired him up with some of my new BG Jovial dp, and used the metal "happy holidays" charm to accent. Too bad the sentiment didn't show up in the photo. I also used this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch #90.
So check out the other fun creations from the Critter Crew, and be sure to come back on the first for TGF's November release blog hop where there are sure to be prizes!! Linda will be unable to join us the next couple weeks while she moves, but we're soooo glad Heather is back!

The Critter Crew:
Shaela Odd
Heather Schlatter *back from maternity leave!*
Jacquie Nordaune
Jenn Royal (you're here!)
Kristine Reynolds
Linda Muhr *out for the week*
Tangii Crain
Margie Cortina
Sammi Betbeder

Materials
Stamps: TGF Chipmunk Candy Cane digi
Paper: BG Jovial dp, A Muse kraft, CTMH cs
Other: Copics, CTMH brads, hemp, and paper piercer, EK punck, misc. ribbon and button

Happy Birthday TPS!!

It's a very special month over at Tickled Pink Stamps. The store turns ONE! And in honor of this achievement, Lil' Lolita Boutique is having a birthday challenge. Create a birthday creation to help us celebrate one of the coolest online companies out there! Your card must use a Lil' Lolita stamp or digi. You can hop on over to the LLB for some great inspiration from the DT, and to TPS to buy some of these awesome Lolitas.

I decided to use Lylah and her present here that's she's ready to give to Kellie and the crew for such an awesome first year. Of course I had to color her dress pink for the occasion and use a pink ribbon. I also used Mercy's sketch # 97 from this week.

Well, this is my last post as the Guest Designer for LLB this month. It has been LOADS of fun, and I really enjoyed sharing my love for the Lolitas! I've really enjoyed working along side Kellie and the Design Team. They have been very nice and supportive. And most of all, I have loved seeing all of your creations and participation in the weekly challenges! You are all very talented out there and should be proud of yourselves!

Thanks again, and enjoy the challenge this week!

Materials
Stamps: TPS Lylah, CTMH Thoughtful Seasons
Paper: Sassafras Lass Sunshine Lollipops dp, A Muse kraft, PTI cs
Other: Copics, foam tape, Nestie Label, CTMH inks, Stickles, misc. ribbon, stitching

I'm still alive.....barely

Hi everyone. Sorry I only posted my DT work last week. Still have a cold. It has now migrated to my throat and has taken my voice. Should make for an interesting first day at my new store. (which I'll touch on more later since I gotta leave soon)

For today's card, I decided to show my Sept. Unity KOTM some love. I need to bulk up my winter cards for the shop, so this cute postage style stamp worked great. I just sponged in some color and used my Copic for some more detail. Nice and simple layout, and I was done!

Materials
Stamps: Unity Sept. KOTM
Paper: BG Eskimo Kisses dp, CTMH cs, A Muse kraft
Other: Copics, CTMH inks, rhinestones, foam tape, misc. ribbon, EK punch

"Enveloped in Farm Fresh Friday"

Hello everyone! Welcome to another Farm Fresh Friday! This week, Kim Nath had a great idea to incorporate envelopes into the challenge. You can create a card using a pocket or envelope template, decorate your envelope, anything goes as long as there is some sort of envelope.

Since I've been sick for a week now, I wasn't too creative with my envelope. I just glued matching paper to the inside and stamped and sponged the outside.

Here's a close up of the card. Isn't this latest Marlene image so cute?! She's one of my favorite Critters for sure! Since I put the sentiment on the outside of the envelope, I didn't want it to be redundant and put another on the card. I really wanted to print out the "double, bubble, toil and trouble" quote onto the envelope, but my brain was too mush to fight with the computer and printer.

And then here's a close up of my stamped envelope. Love this new Captured Moments from CTMH. I decided it needed a little "umph", so I sponged it in orange and added some glitter with my Spica pen. I didn't think until just now, that the orange makes the scene look like it's on fire! Yikes! Haha!

Well, head on over to the TGF blog for all the challenge details and some great Design Team inspiration! We hope to see you "Enveloped in Farm Fresh Friday" soon!

Materials

Stamps: TGF Marlene-cauldron digi, CTMH Captured Moments

Paper: BG Eerie dp, Making Memories dotted dp, CTMH cs, A Muse kraft

Other: Copics, foam tape, Nestie die, EK border punch, misc. buttons, ribbon from Target $1 bin, CTMH inks, Spica pen, Stardust pen

Lil' Lolita Boutique Challenge #20

It's another great challenge over at the Lil' Lolita Boutique! This time it's a sketch challenge! This sketch is great for you to try out the "big head" treatment to your lolita digis.

That's what I did with Miss Lylah here. It makes it really easy to do more detailed coloring, and even some paper piecing like I did here. I paper pieced Lylah's hat and dress with my CTMH Hooligans paper. I also used the opportunity to be more creative with Lylah's hair. I even added some glitter streaks with my Spica pen (if you can see it).

So hop on over to the LLB for the sketch and some great inspiration from the Design Team!

On a side note....sorry I haven't been blogging for a few days. The "crud" finally got me on Friday and still hasn't let go. Ugh! I hate being sick!

Materials
Stamps: TPS Lil' Haunts Lylah digi, CTMH October Word Puzzle and Thriller
Paper: CTMH Hooligans L2pp
Other: Copics, Spica pen, Gelly Roll pen, misc. ribbon, Stickles, CTMH inks and edge distresser

Clean & Simple Emily--SCRC #14

Happy Saturday everyone! This is an extra-special day. My good friends are getting married today!! They've been together for-eva and after him asking for like the 8th time, she finally said yes! Hee hee! She's totally the dude with commitment issues, and he's the chick that loves her sooo much and can't live with out her. I love them.

Anyways, on to the card. This was made for Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps challenge #14 which calls for "clean & simple". Sometimes that's a little hard for me. I like lots of paper and embellishments, but I was able to tone it down and let Emily be the star. Cute image right?!

Materials
Stamps: SCRS Holiday Emily, sentiment is A Muse
Paper: BG Eskimo Kisses dp, PTI cs
Other: Copics, EK border punch, MS snowflake punch, Stickles, misc. button, CTMH inks

Farm Fresh Friday--Sketch!

Hello everyone! It's another Farm Fresh Friday, and this time it's a sketch challenge! I *love* sketch challenges. This one was a little tough at first, but then the wheels started turning and I came up with this. I turned the sketch on it's side so I could use this cute Critter image.

Head on over to the TGF blog for the sketch and some great inspiration!

The Critter Crew:
Shaela Odd
Heather Schlatter
Jacquie Nordaune
Jenn Royal (you're here!)
Kristine Reynolds
Linda Muhr
Tangii Crain
Margie Cortina
Sammi Betbeder


The Farmers:
Jessica Diedrich
Melyssa Connolly
Mercy Kerin
Randi Wall
Kim Nath
Tammy Maxvill
Tanya Tahir Oct Guest
Materials
Stamps: TGF Timmy & Penny Dance digi
Paper: BG Nook & Pantry dp, CTMH cs
Other: Copics, Prima flower, CTMH ink, hemp, and rub-ons

Lil' Lolita Boutique Challenge #19

Good morning everyone! I'm bakc today with another Lil' Lolita Boutique Challenge. This week's challenge is to incorporate skulls into your project.

Well, that's an easy one using the *NEW* Frankie image. He has a skull belt-buckle! I played it up by mirroring his skull with my EK punched skull at the base of the image. I used my Copic mulit-liner to draw on the same skull "face" from his buckle onto my punch out. Then I used some more of this super cool metallic skull and crossbones ribbon I found in the Target $1 bin. I had this brilliant plan of using the skull patterned paper from the BG Eerie collection, but as you can see, Frankie covered up most of the paper so you can't really see the skulls. Oh well!

I used this week's Mojo Monday sketch for the layout. Head on over to LLB to check out the challenge details and see the rest of the Design Team's awesome creations!

Materials
Stamps: TPS Frankie Frankenstein digi
Paper: BG Eerie dp, Making Memories dotted dp, PTI cs
Other: Copics, EK punches, foam tape, $1 bin ribbon, CTMH ink, misc. screw brads

October Card Class

Good morning everyone. Just wanted to share the cards I designed for my two card classes this Wednesday and Thursday. Halloween theme. I used the new CTMH Hooligans paper pack along with some cool new stamps and embellishments. The technique this month is how to alter embellishments.
So for this first card, the layout and concept is pretty easy. I always like to start out with a simple card to get them back in the groove, and for new attendees to get a feel of how things go. So tearing paper isn't new, but it adds to the Halloween feel. We're using the new Captured Moments stamp set on this. LOVE this new set. Comes with two other scenes for fall and winter. Makes for quick and pretty cards.

The "altered" embellishment on this one are the brads I used to spell out "Boo". They're regular white CTMH brads that I simply took a Sharpie to create eyeballs and then glazed them with Liquid Glass. Pretty cool, huh?

Next is this cute little guy. He's part of the coordinating felt monsters for the Hooligans line. Now this one is one of the "less cute" ones that I used for my sample. Had to keep the cuter ones for the customers! The altered embellishment here is a clear CTMH button that I dipped in glue, and then in MS glitter.

And lastly, I made this birthday card to show the versatility of the Hooligans paper. Since most of the pack is geared toward Halloween and the cute monsters on the dp and felties, I used the more adaptable paper to create this fun birthday card. The altered items here aren't really true "embellishments", but created embellishments. The box-ruffle is just a strip of dp folded, and the banner in the top corner of the main image is actually cut from the dp. Can you see where I cut it from seeing the same dp on the bottom of the card? Neat-o! (I actually "stole" that from the CTMH Idea Book).

Enjoy your Tuesday. Glee tonight!! Plus I get to catch up on Hawaii Five-O since it's on so late on Mondays. I'll be back tomorrow with another Lil' Lolita Boutique Challenge!

Materials (all CTMH)

Stamps: Captured Moments, Thriller SOTM, Friendship small alpha, Say it in Style, For All Occasions

Paper: Hooligans L2pp, Black and White Daisy cs

Other: Inks, brads, Glitz, Liquid Glass, clear button, Opaques pearls, Hooligans felties. MS glitter

Release Day at Sparkle's!

It's release day over at Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps! You can finally get your hands on all 6 of the adorable Christmas stamps! I love all of them, but my personal favorite is Rin here with her cute snowman. So fun to color! Just one thing though.....how does she not sink into the snow with those shoes?! ;)


Head on over to SCRS blog for some great DT inspiration and to snag all these cuties! They're showcasing the sixth stamp today, Sledding Chloe, which is my second fav of the release. AND...there's a release day blog hop with PRIZES!


Materials
Stamps: SCRS Rin with Snowman, Hampton Art Holiday Circles
Paper: BG Eskimo Kisses dp, A Muse kraft, CTMH Splendor dp, PTI cs
Other: Copics, Memento ink, CTMH ink, paper piercer and glitter brad, Colorbox chalk ink, Stickles

FFF-Scrapbook Challenge!

Hello everyone! Welcome to another Farm Fresh Friday! This week we're doing a scrapbook challenge. When I learned I had to do a scrapbook page, I was like "Ugh!". I procrastinated as long as I could. I started out as a scrapbooker, but through the years have evolved into a card maker. (If you couldn't tell from my blog! Lol!)

So this week's Scrapbook Challenge is to create a "Fall Themed" layout. You can do just a one-page layout. I'm a two-page kinda person. I think a single page looks kinda weird when you put it all in a book. Thank goodness for my CTMH layout books! Imagine helped me easily create this layout in just an hour! I used the cute new Timmy Candycorn image to help add some whimsy to the page. I also random stamped the cardstock with the same leaves I used for accent images.


I really had to dig for some photos to go with a fall theme, and I came across these adorable pictures of my Little Buddy Tyler's first Halloween. Isn't he stickin' cute?! He's my bestest friend's child and he's like my pseudo-child! Hee hee! I'm his "Auntie Jenn". He's now 2 1/2 and I'm told he has a super cool costume ready for this Halloween, but I have to wait to see it. Since he loves Cars and Toy Story, I'm sure it has to do with one of those!

Head on over to the TGF blog for all the challenge details and inspiration from the Design Teams. This is a month long challenge, so you have until November 10th to upload your photos into the Gallery. Have fun! can't wait to see what you create!

Materials
Stamps: TGF Candycorn Timmy digi, CTMH Frienship Alpha large and small ss, CTMH Flourished Blessings ss, Hampton Art Journal It ss
Paper: CTMH Grace, Splendor, and Emporium L2pp and cardstock, PTI cs
Other: Copics, CTMH inks, buttons and hemp, misc. brown buttons

Suitcase Ruby--SCRS #13

Good morning all! As you're reading this, I will have already been at work for 4 hours. 2AM?! YUCK!! It's our semi-annual store inventory today, and "lucky" me, I'm a department manager that has to do inventory. Oh well. At least I have Friday off, so it will feel like I'm having two day off in a row. I'm a cup-half-full kinda person.

So today's card uses the adorable Suitcase Ruby from Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps. When I first inked her up, I knew she'd pair perfectly with my new BG Pyrus dp. So cute! I also used the sketch for this week's SCRSC #13. I used my Stardust pen to add bling to the flowers of Ruby's scarf and bracelet, but the darn camera didn't pick it up.

Enjoy your Thursday! Yay for Bones tonight! Plus I'll have to watch Survivor and Hell's Kitchen online since I went to bed at 7pm last night.

Materials

Stamps: SCRS Suitcase Ruby, Clear Stamps sentiment

Paper: BG Pyrus and Basic Kraft dp, PTI cs

Other: Copics, CTMH ink, Memento ink, Prima flowers, Robin's Nest skittles, Gelly Roll Stardust pen

I'm a LLBC Guest Designer!

Good morning everyone! Welcome to my first creation as a Lil' Lolita Boutique Guest Designer! The time difference between me in Washington and TPS in Melbourne has gotten me a little twisted around. That whole "International Date Line" thing. It's crazy to know that they're 18 hours ahead of me! Wow! I'm still nervous that I converted wrong...

Anywhoo...
I've had this card ready for a couple of weeks and have been DYING to share it! Let me introduce you to the *NEW* "Lil' Halloween" edition, Lylah the Witch! Now I chose to print this digi bigger so I could have some fun with detail coloring, so this isn't the full image. I love everything about this new Lylah (well, minus the spider 'cause I hate spiders)!

Today's LLB challenge is a color challenge. Black, orange, and purple. Get into that Halloween spirit! I took advantage of her awesome outfit to use all three colors in the challenge. I even played up the purple in today's challenge by coloring her eyes purple! The super cool black die-cut strip is from WeRMemory Keepers. LOVE it!! It even has adhesive already on it. Found it at my LLS.

Have fun with this week's challenge! Don't forget to submit your card, using only a Lil' Lolita stamp or digi, to the LLBC blog before next Thursday for a chance to win an awesome prize! Also check out the rest of the DT's creations! They're fabulous!

Materials
Stamps: Lil Lolita Lylah the Witch digi, sentiment is A Muse
Paper: Bo Bunny dp, BG Eerie dp, PTI cs
Other: Copics, Stickles, rhinestones, Prima flowers, WRMC die cut ribbon, CTMH ink, Memento ink

Blah....

I've had a serious case of the "Blahs" lately. I've been so busy with work, volunteer work, card classes, and DT work that I've had this affinity to just sit and stare into space. Sometimes I'd wind down with a good book, and that helped a lot. (Stephen White's "Privileged Information is my current read--Love his work!)

I finally decided to sit down and color and have some "me" time with my crafts. I made this card pretty quick for this week's LLBC #17 which is a sketch challenge. Since the image took me a while to color, I went with the simple version of the sketch and didn't embellish or stray much.

Just finished one of my DT projects which was a really hard one for me. I think that's what was giving me my Blahs since I didn't really want to do it. But now it's done and it will be posted later this week. My FIRST LLBC October Guest DT card goes up Thursday! That one I'm really excited about since I love the way my card turned out!

Enough blabbing from me. I'm off to have some brunch and then maybe read some more.

Materials
Stamps: Lil' Lolita Ivy digi, CTMH Fringed Phrases
Paper: CC Material Girl dp, CTMH cs
Other: Copics, Nestie die, Prima rose, rhinestones, CTMH ink

Halloween Quickie

I've been having a lot of fun with this "Thriller" Stamp of the Month (Sept) from CTMH. I cranked out a stack of these cool Halloween cards as invitations for my friends Halloween party. The combo of orange and green is really fun, and I love the new CTMH "Pear" ink color! This color is definately Me!

Hope you are all having a GREAT weekend! I had a garage sale yesterday and sold over $200 worth of stuff! Most of it was craft items I finally purged through. Good thing, since I just got my latest purchase of Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps! I'm doing pretty good using up my paper and supplies though. Purge! Purge!

Materials

Stamps: CTMH Thriller, Clear Stamps sentiment

Paper: MM dotted dp, BG Eerie dp, CTMH cs

Other: CTMH inks, rhinestones, Stickles