Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hi everyone! Well tomorrow is Valentine's Day which means that all of our cards should have arrived to their destinations and I can now share them with you! :) But first, an apology.

I am sorry I haven't been online much recently. This is actually the first time I've been able to sit down for more than ten minutes all week! First JR got the stomach bug (again) on the day of my very first blog hop (poor little guy :( thank goodness it was only a 24 hour thing). We had company over for the superbowl on Sunday. Then my husband woke up completely deaf in his left ear Monday morning! Needless to say, a very, very scary thing for him. 

After a trip to an E.N.T. specialist, blood work, and a prescription for steroids we are nowhere closer to an explanation as to what caused it, or knowing if his hearing will be restored. Luckily he has some ringing and humming in his ear now which is a good sign that at least some of his hearing will be restored.

Also while at that doctors office he found out that he's got a Basel cell lesion on his neck that needs to be cut out. I know this may sound kind of morbid, but if you're going to get cancer that's the kind you want. There's a 98% cure rate, and luckily this inexplicable hearing loss, or what I like to call an intervention from God, allowed us to find it early.

Oh yeah, and in the midst of all of that, our offer on the house got accepted! So we are getting ready for the whole inspection process to begin. Hopefully everything will go smoothley and the house will pass. We did go this past Saturday with my father in law who's basically our own private inspector. He built houses most of his life and knows the major things to look for, so since he gave us the thumbs up we're hopeful for a positive outcome.

Now on to the fun stuff! :) I am really happy with how these turned out. I decided to make multiples of a few different designs, and here they are :)

I've been wanting to make something with this super cute little puppy since I first saw him, and I finally got to :) He's from the Sweethearts cartridge.

 "Have a terr-ruff-ic Valentine's Day!"

 Here are two of the smitten kittens, also from the Sweethearts cart. :)

 I typed up and printed most of the sentiments on my computer.

I especially love this next one because I used the left over "two hearts" silver charms from our wedding to help embellish it :) The paper is from a $1 stack I got at Target.

 close ups

 I love love love how these "tweet" birdy cards came out! The bird is from the Create-A-Critter cartrdge and the birdhouse is from Cindy Loo, cut at 5 1/4 inches :) 

 I found the "Happy Valentine's Day" stamp in Michaels dollar stamp bin, and those little tiny hearts are the phrase/shift option of the alligator on Create-A-Critter cut at 1"

 the "love bug" phrase is from Simply Charmed, cut at 1"

 and these "dino mite" dino's are my "boy" Valentine's Day cards (made after my husband told me my puppy dog ones still looked a little "girly"). I especially like these because I finally got to use some of my googley eyes, and because my son is completely obsessed with dinosaurs right now :)

All of the Critters, Cupids, and the Simply Charmed bug cutouts were done at 3 inches.

The flourished heart that I used on the Cupid cards is also from Cindy Loo, cut at 3 3/4 inches.

All of the scalloped hearts with shadows are from the Sweethearts cartridge, cut at 4 1/4 inches, and 1 3/4 inches (for the "your tweet" sentiments).

I think that covers the most of it, but if you have any questions on anything please feel free to ask :) And thank you so very much for taking the time to stop by and visit :) 

And the winner is!!!

Hi everybody!!! WOW!! I am so, so touched by all of your kind words!! :) This was my very first hop and I am truly shocked at the incredibly awesome response I got!! :)  I have read every single comment and smiled :) Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! :)

And a huge welcome to all of my new followers!! Holy cow, was that a surprise?!! I never thought I'd see the 100 mark! It means so much to me and I am looking forward to visiting all of your blogs!! :)

Now on to the winners!! :)

Congratulations to Kathy from Kathy's Kreative Spot!! Random.org chose you for the "your choice cartridge!" :)  I'll have your Pagoda cartridge in the mail to you just as soon as I get your address. Kathy said:

"Love your family banner. I am a follower and if I happen to be selected as your winner I would pick Pagoda as my 1st choice followed by Paisley then Pooh's Friends"

Did you all catch that up there? That's right, I said winnerS! After the shocking realization that I was up to 100 followers I decided to draw a second winner for a *surprise blog candy prize* :) And for that random.org chose Nicole from  croppinmommadesigns!  She said:

"Your sign is absolutely adorable. I am going to have to make one. I think that I would like the Paisley cart the most if I was lucky enough to win. TFS your project with us!"

Congratulations Nicole!! :) I'll be mailing out your surprise candy as soon as I get your address as well :) 

Thank you again to every single one of you for joining us on our hop and for all of your super sweet comments!! I'm already looking forward to my next one! :)

Sweetheart Blog Hop

Hi everyone! Thank you all so much for joining us on our Sweetheart Blog Hop! :) If you've come here from  Celeste you are on the right track. If not, I've got our lineup below to help you out, starting with Georgiana  so you won't miss any of our projects :) I hope you enjoy what you see! :)

I am SO excited to share my project with you and be in my very first blog hop! (Thank you again Georgiana for inviting me!) :) I decided on a Valentine's Day sign for my house. It was a lot of work, but I really do love how it turned out, and I hope you all will too :) I used glitter cardstock in black, silver and pinkish/purple, as well as silver pearlescent finish paper for all of my cutouts. I got really lucky and found glittery ribbon in exactly the same pinkish/purple shade of the glitter cardstock used for the lettering! :)

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by :) Don't forget to leave a comment below for your chance to win my "your choice" give-away! Followers are always welcome but not required :)

 Here are some close up photos:

  I used silver glittery heart brads to connect all the pieces together, and to help cover where I punched the holes to thread the ribbon through. I also added some Stickles doodling to each scallop piece to give it a bit more sparkle :)

I used pop dots to adhere the hearts to the scallop pieces, and all of the lettering on the hearts is from the Lyrical Letters cartridge (Loop Dee Loo style).

Here are a few photos I took while I was using the Design Studio:

I welded two of the scalloped hearts from the Sweethearts cartridge (same heart used for the letters).

To make sure they'd be at the correct angle and correct size, I stretched them over "The," "Family," and "Est. 2007" then just copied and pasted onto a new sheet before cutting. I copied and pasted them again and stretched the edges out just a bit for the shadow layer.

I hope you liked my family Valentine's Day sign! :) Thanks again for stopping by!

Our Sweetheart Hop line-up:

Georgiana
Cheryl
Jen
Carri
Celeste
Libby  *that's me :)
Heather
Lisa
Tracy
Star

*Would you like a free cartridge? :) Just be sure to leave me a comment below telling me what you think of my project, and which one of the three following cartridges you'd prefer :)  

Pagoda,

Paisley,

or Pooh and Friends? :) 

*I will be drawing my winner Monday morning using random.org. Be sure to include a way for me to get in contact with you for your shipping info. *

My First Time Guest Designing!!

Hi everybody!! I am so super excited to be guest designing for the incredibly talented and awesome Jen over at purplescrapbooker.com!! This is my first time being a guest designer and I really wanted to make something other than a card. The only thing Jen asked for was that I use the color purple somewhere in it, and since my sister Veronica's (nicknamed V) favorite color is purple I decided to make something for her :) I came up with this sign that she can hang outside of her office to let her employees know whether she's available or not. 

Here are some close ups:

and here are some close ups of the rosettes :

I also made a very simple matching card to send with the gift:

please forgive the poor photo quality.

Thank you all so much for stopping by :) and a huge thanks to Jen again for inviting me to join her :) I hope you all enjoyed it :)

~Libby

Here's the recipe for anyone who's interested:

-Chipboard-

Using Storybook cartridge:

·         cut the scalloped square (accent blackout shift letter C) at 6 ½  inches and 4 ¾ inches

·         cut the scalloped rectangle (accent blackout shift letter G) at 3 ¾ inches

-Cardstock-

Using Storybook cartridge:

      ~purple base:

·         cut scalloped squares ( 2 of each) at 6 ½ inches and 4 ¾ inches

·         cut scalloped rectangles (2) at 3 ¾ inches

-glue these pieces to the front and back of the chipboard to cover it completely

      ~print paper (DCWV Assorted Splats):

·         cut scalloped squares at  5 ¾ inches (1) and 3 ¾ inches (2)

·         cut scalloped rectangle (1) at 2 ¾ inches

-center these pieces over the purple base and glue them down (remember the bottom square will have this done to both the front and back)

     ~letters (same solid purple base cardstock color):

        -Storybook cartridge (using the tall border setting):

·         cut the capital I and O at 2 ½ inches

        -Lyrical Letters cartridge (using the Loop Dee Loop setting):

·         cut the capital V at 5 inches

·         cut the lowercase i, s, n, u, and t at 2 ½ inches

-center the letters and glue them down

Use the crop-a-dile (or other eyelet setting tool) to punch holes and attach the eyelets, and about two yards of purple ribbon to tie the three pieces together, and add some stickles to make it sparkle! :)

Thanks again for taking the time to check out my project! :) Hope you all have  fantastic Friday and a wonderful weekend! :) 

Blog Hop Candy Preview

Hey everyone! I just wanted to pop in real quick and give you a look at what I will be giving away this Saturday for our

It's a Cricut cartridge!!! :) Actually, it's the winners choice of one of the following three:

Pagoda

Paisley

or

Pooh and Friends

I hope to see you all here Saturday hopping along with us!