Kissing frogs and a Congrats!

Hello all! We've been on vacation for the past week and away from Internet service (relaxing in the northwoods - so very needed to distress before the holidays!) so I haven't had a chance to congratulate the winner of the Our Craft Lounge blog hop! Our fearless Design Team leader, Kendra was kind enough to contact the winner for me. Congratulations Cindy, you won the Hang it up Cupid set!

On to the card - this is one of my favorite creations from the OCL new release. It's the little frog from Fairy Dust is a Must!


I hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving! My list of things to be thankful for was very long, and one of those items was YOU! Thank you for stopping by and all the wonderful comments. I truly appreciate it very much.
HB

Girls RULE!

The girls at Our Craft Lounge have done it again! It's New Release Day and holy MOLY are you gonna love these new sets! (I have a few *extras notes* at the end of the post, so be sure and hang around!)

I am featuring *Hang it up Cupid*! Perfect for that single friend who hates Valentine's Day! lol

Here's the whole set. Are the ideas just running through your mind?!?!

The girls have made some gorgeous creations using all the new sets that are just waiting to be drooled over! Hop over to The Lounge blog for all the links.

Oh... and that *extra* I mentioned above? Yup! We are all giving away a new set! One per blog! (ooo' I love free stuff!). Just leave a comment on any of the sneak peeks shown Wednesday, Thursday or Today on our blogs and we'll each be drawing a winner! The drawing will be tonight at 11pm CT. Please be sure and leave your email addy so we can contact you!

Oh ya... where can you get Our Craft Lounge sets? There is a list of retailers on OCL blog (The Lounge) but my very favorite place to shop... Eclectic Paperie! (those girls RULE!)

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in the excitement!

HB

a Happy Hi!

It's day 2 of Our Craft Lounge sneak peeks - and here comes one of my favorite new sets!

I know, I know... we haven't even seen snow yet and here comes Spring flowers! But hey, a girl's gotta be prepared for spreading some sunshine on those dreary winter days, right!?!?

Be sure and check out The Lounge blog for the list of girls who are sharing sneak peaks! We'd love to hear what you think of the sets! And be sure to leave and email address! ;0)

I'm so SO excited for tomorrow... it's Release Day! woooHOOOO Be sure and stop back!
HB

Double Peeks!

I have not one... but TWO treats for you today! It's Our Craft Lounge new release week!

From a dainty "little girl" card:


To a Wild West Valentine!

So, what do you think? I'd love to know - and who knows what surprises are in store for sharing your thoughts!!!

You can find a list of all the girls who are sharing sneak peeks this week on The Lounge blog and I KNOW you will want to check them out.

AND... don't forget all the Birthday Challenges!

Oh, this is such a HAPPY week!

HB

Ho Ho Ho

Yup... here comes Santa Claus! Isn't he just jolly! He's from the "Dear Santa" collection (Plum Purdy Designs).


Santa is colored with Copic markers and the puff on his hat and his beard are coated with Fun Flock. (You can click on the pics for a closer look)

The papers are My Minds Eye, and the tag is cut from a Ribbon Tags Trio die (Spellbinders).

On a side note... have you checked out the Birthday Party Challenges over at The Lounge! Fun stuff!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

HB

Happy HOLLYdays

Each year we have a holiday lunch for our teams at work. Since I joined the department I've made a "little something" for a table favor. This year it's the adorable little matchbook candy holder that was featured on SCS.

I used Holiday Button Bits (Papertrey Ink). However, since I was making 40 of them, I opted to not use buttons (sewing 120 buttons was a bit mutch. lol)

Instead I used 3 glue dots covered with red glitter. Soooo much easier! :o)

I stamped the holly leaves on cream cardstock and then trimmed it down (using a square template) so that the edges of the leaves hung over the edges.

The inside will hold a Ghiradelli chocolate and a computer generated note from the management team.

Did you play in the Our Craft Lounge scavenger hunt? There are awesome prizes and I can't wait to hear who won!

HB

It's a Birthday Party!

Our Craft Lounge is celebrating it's FIRST BIRTHDAY this month and I figure that's a great reason to play with one of my favorite snowman sets - Tweet Winter Wishes! (like I ever need a reason! lol)



They are celebrating with a Scavenger Hunt and fabulous prizes! If you stopped by here first... head on over to The Lounge blog and check out the fun! ps... you'll want to remember what set I used for this card! ;o)

Speaking of the card - Nichole Heady had a fun idea on one of her cards recently to use double sided tape as a border around an image, and then cover it with glitter. OMGOSH it's even cooler in real life! (you can click on the pics for a closer look).

The *snow* is Sugar Sparkly Fluff and the sparkle is Cosmo Crystal Crafty Sparkles (both from OCL). The papers are last years winter line by October Afternoon and the image is colored with Copic markers.

Hope you have fun *hunting*!

HB

Sending Warm Wishes

This card must makes me smile. You cannot look at the face on this little gingerbread man and not! He's from the Gingerbread Fun set (Our Craft Lounge).

I stamped him on cream cardstock (Neenah), colored him with Copic markers and cut him out. I did the same with his little outfit. Wanting to give his tie a little texture, I covered it with Distress Crackle Paint - Clear Rock Candy (this stuff is sooo cool!) After his outfit was attached with glue (so much easier to use glue for this because you can move the pieces around a bit to position them perfectly - can't do that with tape), I attached him to a cream panel that I cut out with a Labels One die (Nestabilities) that is matted in green (hand trimmed). As a final touch, I sprayed it with Glimmer Mist for a little shimmer.

The stamp for the tag is from Tweet Winter Wishes (OCL). The stamp actually states "Sending warm winter wishes", but I masked off the word winter so it just says "Sending warm wishes". Get it.... gingerbread = warm, yummy, goodness? lol

The papers are all from the Graphic 45 Christmas Past Collection. It's not really a red, more like a rusty red and matches perfectly with Dusty Durango (SU!). Spring Moss (PTI) cardstock is used for matting the center panel along with his collar and tie. The ribbon is also Spring Moss (PTI).

The sun is shining beautifully in MN today! I hope it's shining on you too!

HB

Glittery Mittens

Life is so crazy lately that I don't often have time to play in some of the fabulous sketch challenges out in blog-world. But.. when I saw the sketch on the MojoMonday blog this week I just had to play.

I used Snowfall and Snowfall Additions (Papertrey Ink) and lots and lots of glitter! :0)

(you can click on the pic for a closer look)

I stamped the mittens on green cardstock with matching green ink and then, before cutting them out, I ran each through my little Zyron sticker machine. THEN I cut them out, leaving the sticker paper intact. (yes, I tell you this because I completed the trial and error of doing it other ways first. Not successfully I might add. lol) After cutting them out, I pulled back just the top of the paper and covered the mitten band in red glitter. Then I pulled the paper off and *dipped* the rest of the mitten in my glitter container. ooooo' so sparklie!



The snowflakes are stamped in blue on white cardstock and cut out. Because I was covering them with blue stickles and glitter, I wasn't too concerned about perfection when cutting them out.

The papers are from the Polar Expressions collection (Imaginisce) and the ribbon is from Michaels.

I hope you're having a sparklie day!

HB

Happy Birthday Cupcake!

Well, considering that I made this card for my manager, I sure didn't put that sentiment inside! LOL!

I forgot his birthday, so I needed a quick GUY card. sheesh. Two difficult things for me (quick and guy cards).
I grabbed the Summer Sweets set (OCL) because the cupcake is so perfect for paperpiecing. Some *manly* My Minds Eye papers and I did it! Quick and easy! woooHOOO!

Don't you love it when a summer, 4th of July set can work for birthdays too!?!?

Thanks for stopping by!
HB

brrrrrr...

It's a chilly one here in MN today! I can only imagine how this little cardinal's butt must feel sitting on that branch! lol

I tried to capture the shimmer and sparkle on this card, but the lighting or the camera (or a combo) just wasn't doing it, so you'll have to take my word for it. lol (you can click on the pics for a closer look)

The image is from Mr. Willie & Friends set (Plum Purdy Designs) and is colored with Copic markers. The snow is covered in a light coating of Cotton Ball White Fun Flock. To get the sparkle on the snow I touched the Fun Flock ever-so-lightly with the tip of my glue pen and sprinkled on the glitter.

Once everything was colored, flocked and sparkled I sprayed the entire image with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels) and set it with my heat tool. (have you tried the Ranger Heat It yet? OMGosh it's fabulous! All heat and no air to blow your embossing powder all over the table!)

The sentiment is from Snowfall (PTI) and I used SC249 for my sketch. Fancy Pants papers (love love those papers!) and a snowflake CB embossing folder finished it all off.

Keep warm today!

HB

Happy November!

I love fall... the colors, the crisp air!

This weekend I finally had a chance to use the October sketch challenge (yup, I'm a little behind. lol), over on the Our Craft Lounge forum {OCL07}. It was perfect to pair with Autumn Garden (OCL).

The image is colored with Copic markers and the papers are My Minds Eye. (You can click on the picture for a closer look)

Be sure and check out the OCL forum for all the monthly sketches! The November sketch is awesome!

Oh... and hop over to The Lounge blog... Autumn Blessings is the spotlight set this week and the team will be posting some gorgeous creations!

On a side note... I cleaned my space on Saturday - put Halloween away, re-organized my stuff and do you know my table is actually white? LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!
HB