House of Cards Photo Inspiration & Blog Hop!

Hi friends!  Can you believe we've come to the end of our third term at House of Cards?!  We are saying a fond farewell to some of our DT members and feel so grateful to those staying on.  To say goodbye and thank you, we're celebrating with a blog hop!

This hop will run FROM DECEMBER 1ST AT 6:00 AM CST THROUGH DECEMBER 15TH AT NOON CST,  ANY CARD STYLE is welcome and we've got a gorgeous photo inspiration for your crafting enjoyment! 

Here's our photo inspiration~

You should have arrived here from ANITA'S blog.  If you haven't, and you'd like to hop with us, please make sure you start there and continue through the whole hop for the most chances to win!  Speaking of winning, we have some amazing sponsors!

Here are all of our fabulous sponsors.

Our team will be using a variety of products

from these amazing companies!

Daydream Designs
Prize: $20 to their digital store

Deedee's Digis
Prize: Gift Card to the online store.

Eclectic Anthology
Prize: $50 gift voucher to the shop.

Great Impressions
Prize: Prize Package with 5 Stamps

Paper Sweeties
Prize: $20 gift voucher to the shop.

Stitchy Bear
Prize: $10 gift voucher to the shop.

Aren't those great sponsors & prizes? Be sure to leave some comment love at every stop!

Now on to my creative goodies! These projects use gorgeous papers from Eclectic Anthology: 

Eclectic Vintage Printable Papers - Aged Aqua

Eclectic Vintage Printable Papers - Coffee Bean

and images from Daydream Designs: Christmas Deer Outlines - PERFECT for our photo inspiration!

And, finally, a card using the Jolly Snowman from Great Impressions...

Now get to hoppin'!  Your next stop is JUDY'S blog!  Don't forget to link up a project with us after completing the hop for an extra chance to win a mystery prize from one of our fabulous sponsors, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Inky hugs,
Angi

Happy Birthday, Calypso!

Calypso is having a birthday today!

We are so excited to share with you a Surprise Birthday Blog Hop!!!
Every stop along the hop has a surprise birthday card or project for Calypso created by members of two Design Teams... 

Sentimental Sundays and Scribbles Designs.

Calypso keeps all of us so organized. She is such an inspiration to all of us and is always right there with unfailing support, compassion and patience for any of the team members.  

Her talents abound and we adore her!

Please join us in this

(surprise!)

* Birthday Hop for Calypso * 

Be sure to stop by her blog at the end to wish her the Happiest of Birthdays!

Here's my card (making it's way across the country!):

Who doesn't love a birthday celebration...especially when it includes fun people, washi tape, stars, buttons, twine and embossing enamel?!

(not to mention a fabulous blog hop!)

I enjoyed making this card for Calypso and sent it on its way full of hugs, joy and laughter!

Don't want to keep you too long, so head on over to 

Doreen's blog for the next project!

Be sure to comment on the Birthday Hop post on one or both blogs 

Sentimental Sundays and Scribbles Designs.... 

One person will be randomly chosen (on October 8th) from all comments collected from both blogs to receive a prize in the mail.  

The prize will be sent to you and we welcome you from

* anywhere in the world! *   

And just in case you get lost, here's the lineup:

Angi of Sentimental Sundays....

Doreen of Sentimental Sundays...

Vicky  of Scribbles Designs...

Jennifer  of Scribbles Designs...

Archana of Sentimental Sundays & Scribbles Designs...

Deanne of Scribbles Designs...

Sharla  of Scribbles Designs...

Julie of Sentimental Sundays...

Karolina of Sentimental Sundays...

Lisa of Scribbles Designs...

Cely of Scribbles Designs...

Sam of Scribbles Designs...

Tracey of Sentimental Sundays...

Nick of Scribbles Designs...

Sandy of Sentimental Sundays & Scribbles Designs...

(Your last stop is CALYPSO, so you can wish her a Happy Birthday!)

Calypso 

Inky hugs,
Angi

Great Impressions Bunny Hop

It snowed a couple of inches yesterday, so I don't know about you, but I could use a few Spring ideas to keep me warm!

Happy Tuesday and welcome to

The Great Impressions Stamps Bunny Hop!

I'm your first destination! If you get lost along the way, you can come back here and find your place in the list at the end of this post. Be sure to leave comments at every blog along your way for the chance to win some fabulous prizes!

I know you've got a few stops to make, so I'll keep this short and sweet!

I've used 4 stamps on this card! On both vanilla panels I stamped the darker image first and then added the second image in a lighter ink.

Here are the stamps I used, just in case you like them!

Flower Flourish (K87)

A Flower (G455)

Patience (D445)

Flower Vase (G224)

The glitter splatters were a lot of fun!

And I couldn't forget about the inside of the card...

I hope you found a little something today. Your next visit of inspiration is CHERYL. I'm sure you'll find springtime loveliness on her blog - don't forget to leave a comment at each stop!

Inky Hugs,
Angi

Angi (you are here)

Cheryl

Erin

Jenny

Joan

Mary

Patti

Shanna

Sue

Great Impressions Stamps Blog

Great Impressions & Ribbon Carousel Blog Hop

Happy, happy Wednesday! Today the Great Impressions Stamps Design Team and the Ribbon Carousel Crew are getting together for a fabulous blog hop.

Gorgeous stamps and luscious ribbons make for inspiration worth stopping for!

My happy mail from the Ribbon Carousel was a lovely mix of greens and browns, crushed and wired ribbon among them...

...perfect to go along with my Great Impressions Stamp:

Pointsettias & Berries (K40)

These flowers were colored up using Distress Markers and a waterbrush. The berries were colored with a white Signo gel pen and topped off with clear glitter.

The sentiment is Magic in the Air... (B218).

I cut apart the words and inked up the edges with Vintage Photo. After I adhered the words I used a glue pen to outline the word pieces with a heavy glue line and then added more clear glitter.

Thanks so much for visiting today! Your next stop on the hop is ELS. (Use the Links below to visit each of the designers.) Enjoy!

Inky hugs,
Angi

And the winners are...

Happy Tuesday! Hello, to my new followers!

Thank you so much for the lovely comments and tweets you wrote for the Echo Park & Great Impressions Stamps Blog Hop! It was so much fun to hop along, read the comments & tweets and visit YOUR blogs, too.

I'm pleased to announce my Echo Park & Great Impressions Stamps Blog Hop winners!


The winner of her choice of (one) Echo Park Collection Kit...

♥   #91 - Carla said "adorable bags! I love the design and of course, the papers!"

The winner of a set of Great Impressions holiday Stamps...

♥   #97 - Andrea said "Very cute bags, love the toppers with twine."

Congratulations! I've contacted the winners (check your email!) with instructions.

For a complete list of winners (and more crafty inspiration!) visit the Great Impressions Stamps blog!

Inky hugs,

Angi

Great Impressions Stamps & Echo Park Hop

Welcome to the Great Impressions Stamps and Echo Park Paper Design Team Blog Hop!

Today the Echo Park Paper Design Team and Great Impressions Stamps Design Team are showcasing projects from our latest collections. You should have arrived here from Lowri's blog...if you did you're right on track! If not, be sure to follow the blog hop list at the end of this post as you hop from one blog to the next, so you don't miss anything! ONE winner will be selected from EACH blog to receive an Echo Park Paper collection kit of their choosing, and a set of two stickable stamps from Great Impressions Stamps. To qualify for the drawing for the Echo Park kit and Great Impressions Stamps, comments will be due by midnight EST, Sunday, October 21st. The winner will be announced on each blog Monday, October 22nd, so be sure to check back to see if you've won! With Halloween just around the corner, the holiday season is about to be in full swing. It's not too early to start thinking and making Christmas projects! This project started out as an advent calendar. I love counting down to something fun! As I started making up the bags, I realized these little decorated bags would also be great for giving gift cards, candy...anything that doesn't require a full gift bag, but needs some dressing up! I used the Echo Park Very Merry line for these cute bags! (These brown paper bags are smaller than regular lunch sacks. I picked these up at Costco awhile back.) I'm not usually one for stickers, but these EP cardstock stickers were perfect to layer over the patterned papers.! These Great Impressions Christmas Stamps topped off the gift bags with a bit of color and glitter!  Magical Deer (H220) Jingle Reindeer (G438) Jolly Snowman (H215) a Rafflecopter giveaway Thanks so much for stopping by! Your next stop on the hop is Mary! The Design Teams List * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Echo Park Paper Kandis Erin  Wendy Sue Jenny Susan Sue K. Lowri Angela - You are here. ♥ Mary Linda Shanna Tamara Jennifer Great Impressions Stamps Enjoy the hop! Inky hugs, Angi

Get Hopping with Great Impressions Stamps and the Ronald McDonald House!

Welcome to the Ronald McDonald House Charity Hop

sponsored by 

Great Impressions Stamps!

September 28-30

You should have arrived here from Dawn's blog. If not, you will want to start at the Great Impressions Stamps Blog  or check where you are on the list at the end of my post.  We don't want you to miss a thing!  Remember, stamping prizes are secretly hiding in several of the blogs, so be sure to leave everyone a little comment love!

Winners will be announced on the Great Impressions Stamps blog on Tuesday, October 2nd.

A little about RMH from the Great Impressions Stamps blog:

"The Ronald McDonald House provides shelter, food, and moral support to families with seriously ill children.  While these families are often overwhelmed with their current crises, they are also humbled by the outpouring of care showered on them by doctors, nurses, other families in the House, as well as, their own friends and family. Your handmade cards will provide them an opportunity to return the kindness and will leave a "great impression" on both the families giving the cards and the recipients."

We love to create, right? And what better way to share what we love to do than to share with those who could use a heartfelt lift? The types of cards that are needed : thank you, thinking of you, birthday, and sympathy.

If you have a few cards you could donate to the RMH families, please email Jenny, jjstucky@sbcglobal.net with the subject RMH Hop, and she'll get the info to you!

Yesterday, I showed you a few leaves...well, I didn't make only 3...I made a bushel! Okay, maybe not a bushel, but it was a lot of leaves! Funny thing...those leaves were perfect for my card yesterday, but I made the leaves with today's card in mind!

When I was a kid, I remember raking leaves and jumping into the soft, fragrant piles. It was always so much fun! I know you've got a few more blogs to see, so I won't keep you long...here are the Great Impressions Stamps I used on today's card:

Rudy (E765)

Dropping In (B139)

and a few more pictures...
(I'll share how I made the leaves next week! Tutorial coming!)

So glad you could join us this weekend to help support the Ronald McDonald House. You're off to a great start! Up next on the hop is Patti. I know you can't wait to see what she's made...tell her I sent ya! ;)

Inky hugs,

Angi

Played along with these challenges:

Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Sweet Stop Sketches #177

Did you get lost? Here's the list, just in case you need to get reoriented! 

  1.  Great Impressions Stamps Blog

  2.  Dawn

  3.  Angi <-- you are here!

  4.  Patti

  5.  Mary

  6.  Teresa

  7.  Mia

  8.  Jenny

  9.  Mynnette

 10.  Shanna

 11.  Ellen

 12.  Katy

 13.  Erin

 14.  Barbara

 15.  Peggy

 16.  Sue

 17.  Elizabeth

 18.  Tamra

 19.  Sue C.

 20.  Caroline

 21.  Great Impressions Stamps Blog

Where Bloggers Create 2012

Welcome, Friends to My Desert Cottage's "Where Bloggers Create" Studio hop!

(click the link to read about Karen Valentine and to see the linked list of all 2012's participants!)

I'm glad that you stopped by and hope you'll say 'hello' before you leave!

I'm so pleased to be able to participate this year! I'm on the road, so this post is picture heavy with a little commentary. I had hoped to be able to tell a little more of my story, but that'll have to wait for another post! Click the pictures for a better view.

This is the view from the entrance.

One of my favorite displays in my studio is the wire that holds cards and art from my husband (really!) and kids.

A closer view... 

I like to use vintage items to store the fun stuff.

There are 2 bars on the edge of my workbench. Custom designed and built by my DH.

(yep...I know I'm a lucky girl!)

Buttons in recycled glass containers...a few jars are jelly jars I picked up in France.

My favorite clock and my clothesline of Adirondack Color Washes.

My canvas board piece made during a Pan Pastels class with the very entertaining Donna Downey.

Artwork created by my youngest kids.

My spinner. Love how it keeps the blending tools organized.

Jars of collected vintage & found items.

Due to my procrastination, I was only able to take a few shots before we left, so I apologize for the lack of pretty photography! Something that was important to me when designing the area was to have a place for my kids to work on projects and a place to display my family's art along with mine. 

Certainly, my studio is a work in progress. I began this year to start thinking about how my studio could be more than just functional. So, not a lot of style right now, but I am working on making the storage pretty. I know that I will be inspired by stopping by the other blogs and seeing their studios and can't wait to get home to get back to making my studio a lovely place to create in!

 Thank you, Karen, for hosting this lovely online event!

Inky hugs,

Angi