A Mother's Day 'Thank You' Gift

Welcome to a very special Sunday post here at The Open Window

I'm so glad to be able to join these fabulous ladies today

with projects to inspire you to create for Mother's Day.

You should have come by way of 

Angi Barrs' blog

If not, I'd love for you to start at the beginning at

Donna Bowman's blog

There are some pretty fabby prizes up for grabs
and ONLY TEN BLOGS in the hop

{more on that below}

My mom recently asked if I would be willing to start making 

'Thank You' cards for all of the kindess people have been showing

since she started her chemo treatments.  Of course, I am happy to.

I just thought it would be fun to have a nice place for her

to keep them stored as I add to them.

This is going to be a lengthy post, but I thought it would be

fun to show you how I created the designs on the box, so let's get started !

I recently purchased a set of stamps from HSN

and they arrived in this terrific box.

Because there was already so much bold color, I thought it would

be great to keep the box base and most of the lid the way it came.

So I grabbed a few dies, an embossing folder and stickers from

SRM Stickers and proceeded to make my own frame for the lid.

From there, it was time to choose some fun borders to place

on the edges of the lid, so I pulled out my collection of

stickers from SRM.

From there, I knew I wanted to include some fabby baker's twine from

The Twinery, so where to start . . .

I chose to use The Twinery's Mandarin, Marigold & Carribean,

which I also used on each of my cards.

Each of my cards use My Mind's Eye 'Sunny' Collection, SRM Stickers

along with a variety of embellishments such as Stickles, pearls & gems
from Zva Creative & KandCompany.

and fabric flowers (also from MME) & baker's twine from The Twinery.
I also used dies & embossing folders from Spellbinders, Sizzix
and LifeStyle Crafts.

I sure hope you enjoyed this project and find inspiration to
do something fun & colorful for the 'mom' in your life !

To be eligible for prizes from this hop, simply leave
a little love along the way on each designer's blog
and YOU could win !  To see a list of the prizes up for grabs
and a complete list of participating blogs
{ and there are only 10, so it's very do-able }
make sure you start at the beginning.

The next stop on the hop is my dearly creative friend
Jen Cuthbertson's blog

So glad you stopped by today !
Fingers crossed that one of those great prizes is yours !


Products used in this post include:
baker's twine from The Twinery
stickers from SRM Stickers
patterned paper from My Mind's Eye
dies from Spellbinders & Sizzix
embossing folder by LifeStyle Crafts
gems from Zva Creative, KandCompany, Recollections
 cardstock from Bazzill
 

Heartfelt Thanks!

I'm so glad you stopped by today.

I am happy to share a colorful card with you today

to say 'Thank You' to teachers everywhere !

Yes . . . The Twinery is sharing all kinds of crafting goodness

this week in honor of educators.  

 

Our design team will be

sharing both cards & gifts using fun & fabulous baker's twine

in hopes of inspiring you to create something for the teacher in your life.

With four grandsons ranging from 4th grade to pre-school, I have had

the pleasure of making cards for their teachers for Christmas

 and the end of the school year.

I am definitely a card maker at heart & did I have fun putting

this card together !  I created the tag first and layered from there.

Both the tag & card base have washi tape from Freckled Fawn.

These alphabets remind me so much of grade school

[which was WAY too long ago]

I love putting a whole bunch of baker's twine together for

a tag 'tassel' and for this one, I used:

Charcoal, Mandarin, Buttercream, Marigold and the brand new

Rainbow Teal Shimmer.

All of these can be found over in The Twinery Store.

I used stickers from SRM for the sentiment & fun polka dots,

a fun pencil embellishment (which I've had for years)

and the flower is from Prima.

 

I hope you will stop by The Twinery blog this week and enjoy

the projects our talented designers have to share.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by today !

 

 

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Bazzill

Embellishments: washi tape from Freckled Fawn,

pencil button by Dress it Up, stickers from SRM Stickers

flower from Prima, all baker's twine from The Twinery

It's the Little Things with SRM Stickers

Hello . . . Hello . . . HELLO ! ! !

It's so great to have you swing by The Open Window today

because there's a brand new challenge over at

and I've got a fun card to share featuring this week's sponsor

Our design team received an aMAZing package of goodies from

SRM Stickers and we ALL had a great time creating with them !

Just wait till you see what my teammates made !

I used this fun paper from Prima's 'Doodle Deux' stack

to match up the color from the challenge.

Then I took the 'doodles' & sentiments from SRM

to create borders & greetings for the card.

OH  . . . the glassine bag is also from SRM.

I placed the sentiments over washi tape

which I think is always a fun touch.

I love how the paper shows through and gives the card

another dimension of color.

I made a simple bookmark to fit inside the bag and

of course, I grabbed my favorite baker's twine from The Twinery

to finish it off.

 

The small dimensional flowers are die cuts I made using

Sizzix dies by Stephanie Barnard.

I sure hope you can play along with us this week because

 

is giving away a terrific prize package to our

'Cup of the Week'

Thanks oh so much for stopping by today.

I hope you'll leave a quick note to let me know you

came by.  If you have a blog, you know how fun it is to

get just a quick note from your readers.

If you are like me, it's so easy to swing by, take a quick

peek and move on.  That's because there are 1,000's of

terrific blogs out there.

I'm so aware of how many there are .... it's part of my

business as a social media coordinator, so I want you to

know that I really do appreciate the time it takes & for

making my blog one of your many choices.

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: Doodle Deux by Prima

Embellishments: We've Got Your Border stickers & glassine bag by SRM Stickers

baker's twine in Strawberry, Seaweed & Cantaloupe from The Twinery

mini brads from Zva Creative, washi tape by Recollections

Tools: Banners #2 Framelets by Sizzix, Big Shot

 

Cherish . . .

Happy Labor Day Weekend to all of my U.S. friends !

I don't typically post much on the weekends, but I have

no idea why . . . just one of those things, I guess.

I really wanted to share this card with you, though

because it's become one of my favorites.

I've been the August guest designer over at

and of course, you know I love working with the team over at

so I combined the two with a little help on

my sentiment from

and came up with . . . 

My base card is made with Pure Luxury from Gina K Designs

and Sugar & Spice paper from Doodlebug Design.

I embossed with my favorite EF from Cuttlebug and layered my papers.

The stamp image from The Craft's Meow is called 'Beautiful Spring'.

The bling of course, if all from Want2Scrap.

I'm so glad you were able to swing by today.

While I have you here, I want to remind you that

is having an aMAZing sale on stamp sets

that are going to be retired and other wonderful

accessories.  I hope you will take time to

stop by the store and check it all out.

I hope you have a terrific weekend ! ! !

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Pure Luxury Gina K Designs

Patterned Paper: Sugar & Spice by Doodlebug Design
Stamps: Beautiful Spring by The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: gems from Want2Scrap

sentiment from SRM Stickers

Tools:  Apron Lace border punch by Fiskars

Stylized Flower EF by Cuttlebug, Big Shot

I'm Nutty!

It's another terrific week with a brand new challenge at

and these colors are absolutely stunning !

My card is a bit of a departure for me but I had fun

designing it once I knew the direction I was headed.

Each of our designers were given stamps to play with from 

our sponsor this week, Gel-`a-tins.

I decided to do a play on the actual sentiment on the stamp by

re-creating it elsewhere on the card too.

The giant alpha die has been in my stash for a l.o.n.g. time,

so I have no idea where it's from.  I inked it up to match the

cherry blossom color for the challenge and heat embossed 

with clear powder.  I cut the clouds & leaves using dies from

Lil' Inker Designs.

The #4 is from SRM Stickers.

From there, I just layered . . . easy-peasy.

A big thanks to

for providing fun stamps for our team and for

sharing an aMAZing prize package this week.

I hope you will take time to play along with us

and I'll see you in The Play Date Cafe

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Pure Luxury by Gina K Designs
Stamps: Nutty 4 U by Gel-`a-tins

Embellishments: #sticker from SRM Stickers

Tools: Cloud & Acorn (leaf) die by Lil' Inker Designs, Big Shot

I'll Have a 'Splash' of Lime...Please

I'll give you one guess when it comes to the challenge

I have to share with you just now !

Yep . . . it's 'Color Splash' time over at

This time around, we are going with a simple splash of

Lime Green

This week, our designers were given a beautiful selection of

sticker images from our sponsor, SRM Stickers.

I planned everything around the beautiful sentiment and

ornate border from 'Fancy Thinking of You' stickers by SRM.

I created the medallion using Spellbinder's Moroccan Accents

and Standard Circles dies.

I want to thank a whole bunch of girls over on Facebook for

coming to my rescue when I couldn't get the papers to release

cleanly from the die because of their lovely detailing.

If you're not sure how to either, then I pass on to you the idea

to place waxed paper between the die & paper or cardstock.

They release like b.u.t.t.a.h. ! ! !

The gorgeous gem flourish is from Want2Scrap and the perfect

seam binding is from Ribboncarousel.com

As I mentioned, we are really happy to have

with us as our sponsor and you will be absolutely

blown away by what are designers did with theirs !

Hope you'll play along with us this week.

Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Pure Luxury by Gina K Designs

Patterned Paper: PB&J by BasicGrey from StopandScrap.com

Embellishments: Fancy 'Thinking of You' Stickers by SRM Stickers

gemstones/flourish from Want2Scrap

seam binding from Ribboncarousel.com

Tools: Moroccan Accents & Standard Circle dies by Spellbinders

Big Shot

Giveaways . . . Inspiration . . . Giveaways !

FOR THE CRAFT'S MEOW
NEW RELEASE PREVIEW

& GIVEAWAY

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN

Here we go . . .

It's Sunday night . . .

A post you've been waiting for ! ! ! 

This one is all about GIVEAWAYS ! ! !

Along the way, I will be sharing a few favorite projects from

my blog.  I will include the link to the actual post so

you can see how the cards were created.

Click HERE to find out more about this card.

Click HERE to see what I created for my Irish Mum-in-Law
{EDIT TO ADD: some have said this link is not working, but I find it ok
on my end if you are unable to get there, I apologize}

Just in case, here is another little peek of one of my faves . . .

You should be able to read about this one by clicking HERE

The first giveaway I'd like to share is from the terrific folks over at

I know I speak a lot about my team over at The Twinery, but we

definitely enjoy playing with a variety of designers & the companies

they represent and SRM is definitely on that list.

Here is a card I recently made during a terrific team-up with SRM.

The next one has a special place in my heart because it was made

especially for my dear friend & co-creator of the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge

Michele Gross.  I loved working with her at both the PDCC & the CFC

and do all I can to stay in touch with her each week.

She is one of those people who came along in blogging and became

a fast friend and a beautiful designer.

So here is what SRM Stickers is giving away to one lucky person . . .

A big thanks to Susan & her team!

Another wonderful designer who has also become

a wonderful friend is Tami Mayberry.

She has been featured in a variety of publications & is

a stamp illustrator for GinaK Designs.

I love her work and love her !

She is offering a really fun giveaway . . .

 How about another truly fabulous giveaway ? !

My friend Julie Smith, owner of

has offered a jaw-dropping prize package . . .

Make sure you visit their website to see all the beautiful stamps

and accessories they make available.

How about another favorite project or two . . .

Click HERE to find out more about these fun holiday greetings.

This was a fun dimension project created for Little Yellow Bicycle

Click HERE for all the details

My friend Cindy Coutts is always very generous

when it comes to sponsoring The Play Date Cafe and now

she is sharing a giveaway for the party . . .

How about a very UNIQUE prize ? !

How many of you are Copic fans?

Or any coloring medium for that matter.

My friend Carissa over at 'Designed to Color' 

has offered a very unique prize . . .

and another winner will get the 

June/July 2012 printed issue!

{ a total prize value of $25}

One more for tonight!

For those who love digi images or maybe have wanted

to give them a try, here is a perfect opportunity for you

as By LORi Designs is giving away . . .

To see the designs available for LORi, make sure you visit her

website HERE.  So much cuteness in one place should be illegal.

I leave you with a couple more projects from my personal

favorites list.

Click HERE to see how this was created

Finally...you can find this one HERE and I hope you'll check it out!

OK....lots more giveaways on this post and a lot of inspiration

from projects previously posted.

Over $100 in giveaways on this post once again!

So what do you have to do to have a chance to win.

Make sure you are a follower of my blog . . .

Come  follow The Open Window on Facebook . . .

Come *LIKE* me, Julie Ranae on Facebook

and 

answer one simple question at the end of this post . . .

Of the projects I share today from my favorites list,

which was YOUR favorite ? ? ? 

Make sure you click the links to check them out in full.

You would be surprised at the details once you see the entire piece.

Later on Sunday evening, I will be sharing a very hearfelt post with

all of you. Even though I don't know all your names by heart, I know

many of you will be a part of this post.  So make sure you plan to

spend some time with me later on Sunday night.

A BIG thank you to:

SRM Stickers
Tami Mayberry Art & Design
Papers and Such

Cindy Coutts 

Designed to Color

By Lori Designs