Surprise, It's Not a Snowman

Hello and welcome to another challenge with Bugaboo Stamps and Catch the Bug. Today's theme is "Make a Splash" so I used this cutie Garden Cat making a little mischief:

Want to play along with Bugaboo this week? Make a card that makes a splash and link it up over at Catch the Bug. You could win lots of Bugaboo images!

One Last Snowman

I'm not ready to give up on the Christmas in July theme of this month but since it is almost the end of the month, I have to face that fact that it is coming to an end. Not that I'm going to stop making Christmas cards...no way! But for the July theme, this is my last snowy/Christmasy card:

Jodie has so many awesome snowman/winter/Christmas images in the new store. You really should go check them out and get started or keep going on your Christmas cards! You won't be sorry!

Etsy Shop Now Open

Okay, I've done it. After months of people telling me I should sell my cards, I've finally taken the leap and opened and Etsy Shop. I've listed a few cards for sale and will add more over the next couple of days.
I'd love to hear your Etsy experiences. Do you have success selling your cards? Do you have any tips or advice? Let me know in the comments section. Thanks!

Christmas in July Blog Hop Winner

Thanks to everyone who hopped along in our blog hop and played along in all of our mini challenges this week. Please go check out the Catch the Bug blog to see if you were a winner. There are too many winners for me to list them all here so I have to send you over there. :)
I do have ONE winner to announce from all the lovely people who left comments on my blog hop card. I used random.org and it chose #56 which is
KLM
Congrats! You win the snowman image I used on my blog hop card. Please email me and I'll send it to you right away.
Thanks again to everyone who played along.

An Easy One for Friday

Okay, you know you're pretty proud of yourself. You've played along all week in the Bugaboo Christmas in July festivities and you've gotten a good start on your Christmas cards this year. You'll be SO glad in November and December when you don't have to hurry to get your cards done and you don't have to crank out 40 or 50 of the same cookie cutter card because you're pressed for time. :) To make things easy on you, since you've played along all week, we have an ANYTHING GOES challenge for today. Anything Christmasy and you're in the running for prizes. How can you NOT play along?
Today I used one of Jodie's cutie kids:

Alright, it's your turn!
Challenges:
Kaboodle Doodles: Embossing
Creative Belli Blog: Christmas in July
Moving Along with the Times:Cute and Cuddly w/punch

Deacon Christmas

You know I love Deacon and you also know I love Christmas and Christmas themed images so what's better than the new images that Jodie is releasing today Ava and Deacon Christmas??! Woo Hoo!

You can get this one for free and if you like him, check out the rest of the set at the store.
I'm entering this in the All Sorts "Anything Goes" challenge.

Keeping the Christmas Theme Going...

It is Christmas in July week at Bugaboo Stamps so you know I had to pull out a Christmas image for my weekly Oldie But Goodie post, right? I love these snowmen so it's probably not much of a surprise to you that I chose one of them for this post:

It just so happens that today's mini challenge is SNOW BUSINESS. Make something featuring snow or snowmen. I hope you've been playing along with our Christmas theme this week so you can get a start or keep chugging along on your Christmas cards for this year. You'll be glad you did and you can win lots of prizes this week just for playing along so it's a win-win! Head over to Catch the Bug for all the details.
Challenges:
Sparkle Creations: Christmas in July
The Crazy Challenge: Christmas in July
Papertake Weekly: Cute
Digi Doodles Shop: Clean and Simple

Sketch Challenge

Are you enjoying the Bugaboo Christmas in July festivities? I know I am! Today's mini challenge is a sketch. Make a Christmas project with the sketch below:


I used one of my favorite snowmen:

I hope you'll play along for your chance to win great prizes. Good luck!
Challenges:
Simply Create: Christmas
CES: Christmas
Secret Crafter: holiday
Paper Sundaes: Christmas

Non-Traditional Christmas Colors

Have you hopped along in our Christmas in July Blog Hop yet? I hope so because you can win lots of prizes and I know you wouldn't want to miss out on prizes! The hop is open all week so you still have time to make your way through it. Start back at the Catch the Bug Blog.
In addition to the hop, there are mini challenges going on all week too for MORE chances to win. Today's mini challenge is to make a card with non-traditional Christmas colors so I chose this Santa and brown:

I hope you'll play along and if you do...GOOD LUCK!
Challenges:
Stamp Something: Christmas in July

Christmas in July Blog Hop

Hooray, it's blog hop time and this time around it's a Christmas in July theme. WOO HOO! Hopefully you found your way here from JULIE's blog. If not, go back to the beginning at the Catch the Bug blog and start there...you don't want to miss out on your chances to win prizes.
Today I used an image from one of my favorite collections at Bugaboo, Snowmen! This one is called Snowman Snowballs and I hope you like him because you can WIN HIM right here. Just by leaving a comment. I'll choose a random winner from everyone who leaves a comment here during the hop and I'll send him to you so you can get started, or keep going, on your Christmas cards.


Your next stop on the hop is MELISSA
Enjoy the hop and GOOD LUCK in the prize drawings!

Tag! You're It.

We're gearing up for our Christmas in July blog hop which starts tomorrow. But today, as a preview for the festivities, Jodie is giving away this adorable Christmas Tag:

If you like this, you can see the rest of the set at the Bugaboo Store. Believe me, you won't be disappointed.

Oldie But Goodie Day

It's mid July so what better time to check on your Christmas card progress. How are you doing? Hopefully you've kept up making a Christmas card here or there so you have an easier time when November and December roll around.
I can make Christmas/winter themed cards all year long. I love snowmen and snowy scenes so today I'm showing you this adorable image:

Head over to the Catch the Bug blog to see the rest of the OBGs today. Who knows, you might find something fabulous you didn't know you needed!
Challenges:
Speedy the Cat:Die Cuts as background
All Sorts: anything goes
Lollipop:anything goes
Digital Tuesday Challenge: Spellbound...use diecuts
Pollycraft: Great Outdoors
Paperplay:Things with wings
Cute Cards Thursday: Circles

Knobby Knees

Did you see Jodie's newest characters, the Knobby Knees? She debuted them last month and is adding to the set already with some Christmas themed images:

Head over to the Bugaboo Store to see the rest of the set being released today. One is cuter than the next!
Challenges:
Speedy the Cat:Die Cuts as background
All Sorts: anything goes
Lollipop:anything goes
Digital Tuesday Challenge: Spellbound...use diecuts

Challenge Time

WOW...we had a huge response to last week's Anything Goes challenge. It was great to see all of your wonderful creations so thank you so much for playing along. It's already time for a new challenge and this time it's to make a Clean and Simple card. I know for some people this is a real challenge...trying to lay off the fancy folds and all the embellies. You can do it! Make something C&S and post it over at the Catch the Bug Blog to be in the running for the prizes!

This is just one of MANY cutie pie images you can get from Bugaboo. Head over to the NEW store and pick her up HERE and then enter the challenge. I can't wait to see what you create!

Freebie Friday

Can you believe it's Friday already? With the Monday holiday here in the US this week just flew by. Even though it's July and we've been having record heat here in Missouri, Jodie is up in Canada thinking about Christmas. Today she is giving away this Christmas word art:

If you like this, head over to the store to pick one up for yourself HERE
Challenges:
The Paper Variety-Christmas
Little Red Wagon-Christmas
Moving Along with the Times-Christmas
Tuesday Throwdown-Christmas

Happy Birthday Dad!

Tomorrow is my dad's birthday! As I've mentioned before he plays softball and golf regularly so Jodie's golfer images are perfect for him. This one is from the AKV line:

Challenges:
Crafty Cardmakers: spots and stripes
Sketch and Stash: sketch (striped paper I've had for 2 years!)
Pollycraft: celebrations, optional stars and stripes
Lollipop Crafts: anything goes
Kaboodle Doodles: celebrations

Celebrate With Style

Hello and happy Thursday. Got here quickly this week with the Monday holiday. Since Thursday is here you know that means it's Oldie but Goodie day at Bugaboo Stamps. Head over to the Catch the Bug Blog to see what the rest of the DT wants to show you today and then go to the NEW and IMPROVED Bugaboo Store to pick up your new favorites.
Today I chose this Scarlette image:

Isn't she great? There's a whole line of Scarlettes just waiting to be colored up by YOU so go grab some now! This one is called Scarlette Cape Dress.
Challenges:
Papertake Weekly-Anything Goes

For Kyle

My son turned 17 last week and received several cards and gifts in the mail from various family members. Since he needed to write several thank you cards, I brought up my big box of thank yous to let him choose the cards he wanted to use. I'm guessing there are 40-50 cards in that box and can you guess how many he found "guyish" enough for him to use? Three. So he actually asked me to make some thank you cards that didn't have bears, balloons or other "little kid" things on them. So, here you go Kyle:

I used the Bugaboo image "Deacon Bugs" which you can find HERE.
Challenges:
Lexi's Creations-bugs life
Lolipop Crafts-anything goes
PPC-soft suede, orange, burgundy and blue
Eat Sleep Stamp-sketch

New Release

YAY! It's Tuesday and that means it's New Release Day at Bugaboo Stamps. It's been awhile since I have been able to show you one of Jodie's new releases...at least it feels like it's been awhile. I've been pretty inconsistent with my crafting this summer but now that we're back from vacation, I'm getting back in the swing of things. Check out this adorable Snowman Ornament:

Head over to the Bugaboo Store and check out the rest of the set.
Challenges:
Our Creative Corner-Christmas in July
Sparkle Creations: Night before Christmas

Learn Something New

I admit it, I'm a lazy cardmaker. I don't tend to try new folds very often which is too bad because I usually like the results when I DO try something new. Like this center step card:

Very easy and very cool. Hopefully you can tell from the picture. You can get instructions at Splitcoast Stampers. This is a Bugaboo image from the Winter Bird collection. Cute, huh?
Challenges:
All Sorts-anything goes
Crazy 4 Challenges- center step card
Our Creative Corner-Christmas in July
Sparkle Creations-Night before Christmas
CES-Woodland Creatures

All American Boys

Lots of challenges out there this week using the colors red, white and blue and almost as many using summer themed images so I combined a few of them with this adorable Bugaboo image depicting some all-American boys:

Challenges:
Secret Crafter-summer
Just Us Girls-sketch (I rotated it)
Tuesday Throwdown-red white and blue
Pixie Dust-red white and blue
Crafty Creations-Thank you
Little Red Wagon-Patriotic

Challenge Time

Hello! Welcome to another Saturday Challenge at Bugaboo Stamps. Since it's the first challenge of the month you know what that means, right? YEP, it's the ANYTHING GOES challenge. WOO HOO! I hope you'll join us for your chance to win Bugaboo images and remember, you don't have to use a Bugaboo image, but to be eligible for first prize (which is 7 Bugaboo images) you do need to use a Bugaboo. I chose this adorable image:

Now it's your turn. Make something fabulous and link it up over at the Catch the Bug Challenge blog to be in the running for the prizes this week. Can't wait to see what you create!
Other Challenges:
Digi Doodles: Anything Goes
Stamp Something: Digi Day
Moving Along with the Times: Summer
Crafty Anns: just because/thinking of you

Happily Ever After

I told you I got some time to craft today, right? So I also made this card for my husband's cousin who is getting married this weekend:

Challenges:
Totally Papercrafts-bingo-buttons/flowers/glitter
Kaboodle Doodles-circles
Secret crafter-embossing
Creative Belli Blog-emebllie with letter G glitter
Bugaboo Wacky Wednesday-embossing and Bugaboo image
Papertake Weekly Challenge-sketch
Speedy the Cat-sparkle
Stampin for the Weekend-your favorite things (bugaboo, buttons,polka dots and pink)

Not Too Hot for Christmas

I don't know what the weather has been like by you but here in St. Louis we had heat and humidty. So much so that they give what is called a heat index...kind of like a wind chill factor for heat...so today, the temperature was somewhere in the upper 90s but when you combine that with the humidty, it feels like 105 so we had a heat index of 105 today. BLECH! My favorite way to stay cool on days like this is to go to my craft table in my very cool basement and make cards. I was extra chilly today making this snowman card:)

I finally got my act together from vacation and made time for crafting today. I'm probably too late for some of these but these are the challenges I combined for this card:
Sparkle Creations Christmas Card-die cuts and christmas
Crazy4Challenges-sketch
ABC Christmas Challenge-monochrome christmas
Picture Perfect Creations-red white and grey
Crafty Cardmakers-spots and stripes
ABC Challenge-x for crossing ribbon