Hoppy Birthday!

This week House Mouse and Friends is celebrating their 3rd birthday! Hooray!  To celebrate, they are having a birthday blog hop featuring all of the members on their design team old and new.  Their creations are truly spectacular!  And the DT member are giving away loads of delicious candy!! If you haven't seen it you should check it out. House mouse stamps were some of my first rubber stamps when I started crafting a few years ago and they are still some of my favorite stamps, so I am happy to join in the celebration. I decided to use "Party Hoppers" for my card--after all, what's a birthday celebration without party hats? (when I first showed the stamp to my husband he said it should be called "Party Poopers" because the bunny on the left looks annoyed about being forced to wear a hat. I think my husband is bit of a party pooper--now I can't look at the stamp the same way! Oh well, there's one at every party, isn't there?)

The papers and ribbon are all from my stash.  I went with really bright colors--I may have over done it a bit, but birthdays are a time of indulgence, right?  I used stickles and dollar store glitter glue on the hats and the sentiment.  The picture doesn't quite capture how sparkly they are.

This one doesn't either.  But it does give you a little peek at the inside.  (And perhaps the rabbit on the left looks a little more cheerful from this angle?)

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
House Mouse and Friends--"Birthday Celebration"
Papertake Weekly--"Creature Comforts"
Truly Scrumptious--"Clean and Simple" (The colors are a bit bright, but the layout is simple and uncomplicated.)

Planting Some Love

Over on SCS, there is a fabulous challenge for Sugar Nellie Fans.  I hope they continue doing this challenge.  It's fun to have a challenge that is technique-based. I really enjoyed trying something new.  This week the challenge is to make a diagonal double pocket card.  I was pleased to discover that this intimidating-looking fold was actually quite easy and a lot of fun.  I'll definitely be using this fold again.  The only catch is that the fold needs double sided paper.  Now, I have a love/hate relationship with double sided paper.  I love it because it makes coordinating colors and patterns simple.  But, it feels like a waste, doesn't it?  I just hate gluing down one side of the paper--no one will ever see it!   Consequently, I don't have a lot of double sided paper in my stash.   Luckily, I had this bright and cheery sheet of 12X12 green polka dots that I recently snagged from my mother. It was perfect for this bright and happy feel of the card.

I used the stamp "planting some love" from Sugar Nellie.  This is one of my all time favorite stamps.  It's just so sweet!  I paper pieced her hat, shirt, gloves, and back pocket, and then I covered the flowers on her hat with diamond stickles.   It's super sparkly in real life.  I also added white stitching to her jeans.  Here's a close-up of the image. 

I'm entering the card into the following challenges:
Sugar Nellie Challenge #3 over at SCS: Diagonal Double Pocket Fold
Create4Fun: Circles
ABC Challenge Blog: "S" for Sparkle
Papertake Weekly: Cutie Pie

Thanks for looking!  Have a great day!

Love Blooms

 A few months ago, I picked up some of these Pure Innocence Digis from Heather Ellis.  These cuties have been  poping up all over blog land, so I had to have a couple of my own.  They're so simple and sweet. 

I'm entering this card in the challenge over at Papertake Weekly.  The theme this week is Cutie Pie.  I think this counts.  After all, she's pretty darn adorable in her polka dot wellies.  hee hee. 

Thanks for looking!