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
 

For my Mother

For The Play Date Cafe Color Challenge
CLICK HERE

Welcome back to The Open Window !

You know I love being the DT Coordinator over at

and today, we are continuing our

'No Release' Celebration with terrific projects

by our team.  That's right !  We typically have a new release

at this time of the month, but TCM is gearing up for an

amazing new release in May, so we are sharing projects

with various themes this week and along with that,

you can SAVE LOTS OF MONEY because

every stamp set is 21% off !!!

Just enter the code

April21

at checkout to get your discount !

Today's theme is 'Mothers' and with every second I spent

on this card, I thought of my mom.

Just a few short weeks ago, she was diagnosed with lung cancer

and it's been a sad, but hopeful time.

The feature set I've used from TCM is called 'Hope Blooms'

How inspired . . .

The sentiment set is called 'Cherished'

Again ... so inspired . . .

I sure hope you will join us this week for lots of inspiration

and of course, you can save 21% on your order.

You have until Sunday, April 21st to use this very RARE DISCOUNT !

Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to hearing from you.

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: Hootenanny by My Mind's Eye
Stamps: Hope Blooms & Cherished by The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: gems from Recollections

Zva Creative March Design Team Blog Hop

Zva Creative and my fellow Design Team members welcome you to our March blog hop! We are excited about month's hop and look forward to sharing our new work with you!

Today's Blog Hop begins at Zva Creative's blog! Be sure head on over to check it out! You will also find a complete list of all the participating blogs there (in case there is a glitch along the way). 

As you know, Zva offers many beautiful color groupings for pearls, flowers and crystals.  If you like what you see along the hop you can find a list of stores and online retailers that sell Zva HERE.

I've had my eyes on these fabby Martha Stewart

chipboard stickers for quite some time and

was thrilled to find them on sale recently.

I built my card around this die cut using MME's

'Love Me' for my wallpaper.  I simply wrapped

seam binding with a double bow for my

'chair rail' and placed my beautiful Zva gem

flourish over the ribbon.

The beautiful sentiment is from The Craft's Meow.

 

If you would like to play along with our design team, just follow along the blog path.  I am linking to one of the Zva designers and that designer is linking to the next and so on. Be prepared to be inspired along the way!

The Blog Hop starts today, March 25^th and runs through midnight US Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, March 26^th 

***Prizes***

Hidden on FIVE of the designer's blogs is a 

Zva Creative prize package! 

Winners will be randomly chosen after the hop is over. All you need to do is leave a comment on this Blog Hop post... you do not need to leave a comment on each and every designer's blog post to qualify. 

However, the more times you comment along the blog hop path, 

the more chances you will have to win.

The 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, March 27^th 

on Zva Creative's blog.  

We will do our best to notify each winner, but it's best if you can pop in to Zva's blog on Wednesday to see if you are a winner!

We also thought it would be more fun to add even more chances to win our blog hop prize!  To increase your chances of winning:

* Comment to let us know that you posted on your Facebook page about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)

* Comment to let us know that you "tweeted" about our hop 

(link to any of the blog hop posts)

* Comment to let us know that you asked your local store to carry Zva creative products.  If they already do, that's fantastic, maybe you can suggest other products that they don't carry.

*Hop over to Zva's facebook page and "like" our page or leave a comment there to tell us that you stopped by if you already like follow us there!

Mark your calendar to join us again on 

April 29^th for our next Zva blog hop!

 The blog hop begins at the Zva Creative blog

Your next stop is Jolanda Meurs blog 

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: Love Me by My Mind's Eye
Stamps: Hope Blooms by The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: pink gems flourish {CR-03CA-113}

from Zva Creative
die cut chipboard stickers from Martha Stewart, seam binding by Hug Snug

   

Happy Easter with The Craft's Meow

I'm so happy you stopped by today because it's time

for a little inspiration for Spring.

It's our TCM March Blog Hop!

If you've already been hopping with us, then you

should be swinging by from my dear friend & teammate

Jessica Fick's blog

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

The Craft's Meow blog

and hop along with us.

Each designer has worked hard to bring you a

fabulous creation for Easter Encouragement.

Ever since TCM released the 'Easter Blessings' set

I've been in love.  The little critters in this set are so sweet.

I grabbed this Sizzix circle frame EF & embellished it with

a little ink & Liquid Pearls.

The paper is from Authentique.

The lacey flower was cut from a 6x6 pad by My Mind's Eye.

I cut it out & embellished it with a fun button & baker's twine from The Twinery.

A few tiny pearls and done.

Here is the adorable stamp set I used...

 

The next stop on the hop today is the very creative

Lin Brandyberry's blog

Thanks so much for stopping by.

I'd love to hear from you !

Project Recipe:

 Patterned Paper: Faith by Authentique

& Love Me by My Mind's Eye
Stamps: Easter Blessings by The Craft's Meow
Tools: Circle Frame EF by Sizzix, Big Shot
Embellishments: baker's twine in Strawberry by The Twinery

Liquid Pearls in Buttercup by Ranger

pearls by Recollections

 

All {about} Babies ~ The Craft's Meow Preview #1

Hello and welcome in to The Open Window.

It's a great day to join me as we begin the
New Release Previews for

We are very happy to have the uber-talented
Lynn Mangan joining us as our February Guest too !

The first set in the preview is called
'Baby Shelf'
designed by Nina B Designs

To say this set is ' adorable ' is an understatement.
I only used 3 stamps from the set and I can assure you,
there are so many more sweet designs included.

I used My Mind's Eye 'Move Me' paper for the base
of my card.  The theme of my card is 'love' and the paper
itself was a great fit.  It's not easy to see in the photo, but
just under the bible verse, I stamped the very iconic 'LOVE'.
 { you can see it much better in the photo below }
It was all placed on a frame cut from a Sizzix die.
The heart frame was created using the Martha Stewart
heart corner/border punch.

I colored the sweet teddy & gave him a
baker's twine bow from The Twinery.

I was inspired to use the colors from the current
challenge over at

How would you like a chance to win this set ?

All you have to do is stop by the TCM blog and leave a note

to say you stopped by for a visit.

Each day of the previews will bring another set up for grabs.

You have until 8pm PST, February 18th to comment to be eligible.

I'll be back tomorrow with another fabby preview.

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: Love Me by My Mind's Eye
Stamps: Baby Shelf by The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: pearls from Colorbok
baker's twine in Blossom & Maraschino from The Twinery

 

{warm} wishes

I'm baaack !

It's time for another challenge over at

These colors begin to take me to Spring, but leave me

lingering in the cool of winter.

We still have plenty of snow on the ground here and since

it's still only February, I just have to be patient.

I thought it would be fun to create using these sweet coffee mugs

from Paper Smooches called 'Hot Concoctions'.

The 'wallpaper' was created using My Mind's Eye 'Honeycake'.

I divided it using The Twinery's Platinum Shimmer & Flax baker's twine.

You know I'm a Zva Creative girl and just love the variegated colors

in these flourishes and couldn't resist using them as the

steam for my coffee.

I really hope you will join us this week.

We have a VERY special guest designer

and

one of our favorite sponsors with us . . .

Thanks so much for making a visit !

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: Honeycake by My Mind's Eye

Stamps: Hot Concoctions by Paper Smooches

Embellishments: gem flourish CRW-05CB-144, CR-05CA-125

all from Zva Creative
baker's twine in Flax & Platinum Shimmer from The Twinery

 

 

Celebrating the Day!

Gosh...it's been waaaay too long!

Last week, I was a welcome overnight 'guest' in one of our

hospitals and I've found it difficult to be on the computer much.

I am happy to say that after many, many tests related to my heart

(including an induced stress test which was simply 'unpleasant' at best)

my heart was declared in "perfect" condition.

It turns out that I have some torn ligaments in the chest wall

near that area and did you know . . .

it's pretty darned painful and can totally fool ya !

Of course you KNOW I now have very few excuses for not

adding a little exercise to my life.

But it's a very content feeling knowing I can do it with confidence.

Anyway . . . I am back at it and glad to be able to share a couple

of projects with you today featuring beautiful bling from

I really enjoyed making this card.

The colors, the bling, the stamps . . .

it all made me happy !

The colors are perfect for the current challenge over at

 

I simply created my wallpaper with these beautiful papers

and then determined where each element should go.

The bling is beautiful jet black crystal flourishes from Zva

and they really do stand out on this card.

The die frame is Spellbinders Labels 18 and the stamped sentiment

is from Avery Elle.

How about some more bling ??!!

This time, I added a BIG punch with Zva's beautiful bold flower.

This card does have a lot going on.

An embossed panel on the bottom with a panel created

using Martha Stewart's Deep Edge Geometric Medallion punch.

Then I layered the beautiful pink/lavender flourish just under the flower.

The stamped sentiment is from The Craft's Meow.

I am so very glad you stopped by today and hope that you found

a little inspiration along the way.

I'd love to hear from you, so please let me know you came by.

I always appreciate your visits !

Happy Valentine's Day Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: Rosarian by Prima
Stamps: Lots of Love by Avery Elle

Embellishments: black crystal flourish CR-04CA-125

from Zva Creative
seam binding from Sugar Lump Studios on Etsy & Hug Snug

Tools: Labels 18 by Spellbinders, Big Shot

So Grateful Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: So Sophie by My Mind's Eye
Stamps: Many Thanks by The Craft's Meow

Embellishments: pearl flourish CRB-05CA-122

white flower all from Zva Creative
Tools: Geometric Medallion Deep Edge punch 

by Martha Stewart

large swiss dot EF by Cuttlebug, Big Shot

 

It's a Beautiful 'Blingy' Day with Zva Creative

Happy Monday and welcome to The Open Window.

It's one of my favorite times *shiniest* times of each month

as it's our team blog hop over at

Happy New Year to you! Zva Creative and our talented 2013 Design Team 
welcome you to our January blog hop! 
We are very excited about month's hop and are excited to share our new work with you!

The Blog Hop begins at Zva Creative's blog!
*Be sure head on over to check it out! Leave a comment there for a chance
  to win an extra prize package just for visiting the blog and telling us
  that you stopped by!  You will also find a complete list of all the
  participating blogs there (in case there is a glitch along the way).

As you know, Zva offers many beautiful color groupings for pearls, flowers
and crystals. If you like what you see along the hop you can find a list
  of stores and online retailers that sell Zva HERE

One of the things I love about creating with the beautiful
bling from Zva is it takes me 'off the page' to create cards with
lots of dimension.  I love doing that anyway, but the bling designs
really inspire me.
I used a combination of purple pearl flourishes, a gem flower flourish
and tiny taupe pearls all from Zva.
The card was created using papers from My Mind's Eye and a
stamped sentiment from Avery Elle.
The leafy die cut was made using a Sizzix Branch w/Leaves
and the border was punched using one of my fave Martha borders.

Here's a close-up of the dimension . . .

If you would like to play along with our design team, just follow along the blog path.  I am linking to one of the Zva designers and that designer is linking to the next and so on. Be prepared to be inspired along the way!

The Blog Hop starts today, January 28th and runs through midnight US Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, January 29th.

Prizes

Hidden on FIVE of the designer's blogs is a Zva Creative prize package! Winners will be randomly chosen after the hop is over. All you need to do is leave a comment on this Blog Hop post... you do not need to leave a comment on each and every designer's blog post to qualify. However, the more times you comment along the blog hop path, the more chances you will have to win.

The 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, January 30th on Zva Creative's blog. We will do our best to notify each winner, but it's best if you can pop in to Zva's blog on Wednesday to see if you are a winner!

We also thought it would be more fun to add even more chances to win our blog hop prize!   

To increase your chances of winning:

* Comment to let us know that you posted on your Facebook page about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)

* Comment to let us know that you "tweeted" about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)

* Comment to let us know that you asked your local store to carry Zva creative products.  If they already do, that's fantastic, maybe you can suggest other products that they don't carry.

*Hop over to Zva's facebook page and "like" our page or leave a comment there to tell us that you stopped by.

Your next stop is Evgenia Petzer

Thanks so much for coming by ...

I always appreciate your visits!

OH !  one more thing  . . .

Mark your calendar to join us again on February 25th^th for our next Zva blog hop! It will be a very special one where our team will be debuting all of Zva's new CHA releases that will be hitting stores soon!

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: So Sophie
Stamps: Lots of Love by Avery Elle

Embellishments: 

taupe pearls {CRW-04CB-139}

flower gem flourish{CRB-04CA-112}

gem/pearl flourish {CRS-05CA-108} 

all from Zva Creative

Tools: branch w/leaves die by Sizzix

heart border punch by Martha Stewart