Sunshine Monday - Farewell

Good Morning! I hope you all had a great weekend. I did enjoy mine, I took my kids Christmas shopping. It was interesting to say the least, taking Hollyanne and Levi at the same time when they were shopping for each other.

Well, it is with a saddened heart that today is my last posting for Sunshine & Giggles. I have enjoyed being on Janice's team these last 6 months and working with some very talented stampers. Janice is such a sweetheart. So I want to take this time to tell Janice, Jennifer, Nicole, Tenia (original DT member) and Joni THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for this experience. I am certain that the next team will be wonderful and I know that there are some great things coming in the future for Sunshine & Giggles.


There is nothing more charming than seeing a child sitting on Santa's lap conveying all his gifty desires - whether it's your children or memories of yourself as a child. Do you remember this image? I used it on an altered bottle filled with m&ms. Well, the kids got the m&ms and I was left with this image. So, it needed a more permanent place - it became the focal image of this card. The card went together in just minutes, which is what I need to get my own Christmas cards done!

I hope you continue to follow Janice and Sunshine & Giggles. Be sure to stop by Joni, Jennifer and Nicole's blogs, too. I'm sure they have something wonderful to share with you.

Thanks for stopping by!

15 Days of Christmas Cards - Day 11

Good Morning! Welcome to Day 11, thanks for stopping by. I so appreciate the visit. This is also Sunshine Monday. As my term for being a Design Team member of Sunshine & Giggles comes to an end this month, it's only fitting that my very favorite image from the Winter/Christmas collection be a part of my Christmas Cards series.


I am so pleased with how this card turned out. It reminds me of a really pretty Christmas dress. This is Poinsettia. I used black card stock for my base and then layered dp from the DCWV Christmas mat stack over that. I also used the same paper in the burgundy and another in green to paper piece her dress. And I was excited to start using my new MS border punch. The hearts fit in so well, even though this is a Christmas card. I colored her with Copics and then finished it off with some gold ribbon.

Be sure to visit Janice and the rest of the team (linked in my sidebar) to see what treats they have waiting for you. I just learned that Janice isn't posting today, she and her son are a bit under the weather. See you tomorrow for day 12.

15 Days of Christmas Cards - Day 5

Good Morning!

This is actually the "missing" Sunshine Monday post. Not missing, just relocated to Tuesday because Sunshine & Giggles is our super sponsor over at Tuesday Morning Sketches. And I also said that my DT obligations would fit somehow into my Christmas Cards.

This isn't very Christmas-y, but I think would be fun to send to your favorite student to wish them a Happy Christmas Break! This one is going to my friend Robyn.


This is using one of my favorite images from Sunshine & Giggles. It sort of reminds me of Robyn and her brother. I also just had to play with my new Snowflakes from Spellbinders. Cute!! I colored the image with Copics and Stickles. The sentiment is from All That Scraps.

Whoo-hoo! And my card fits the challenge from Digital Tuesday, too. My image is a digital image and (please click the photo to enlarge) my snow and snowflakes sparkle!

I hope to see you over at the TMS blog for this week's challenge and back here tomorrow for another card! Thanks for stopping by!

Sunshine Monday

Good Morning everyone! Happy Monday - should be a short week for some with the Holiday this week. Can you believe it's already Thanksgiving? Ugh!

My card for today's Sunshine Monday installment is featuring an adorable stamp in the Christmas collection. It's called A Visit from Santa. This sweet little baby is snuggled in bed and just outside the window Santa is stealing away in the night, off to make his next visit.


I used a sketch from a site that's new to me. Great sketch and a challenge blog I hope to visit more often. It's called The Crafty Pad. They also have a store of some really adorable images, I'd never heard of this stamp company before, but they are definitely worth exploring!

I colored the image with Copics and Prismacolor markers. The sentiment is computer generated that I strategically placed in my word document so that it printed where I could easily trim the entire piece to layer over the base. My daughter was upset me with that I cropped the dog out.
You can find the new home for Sunshine & Giggles here. Don't forget to visit Janice and the rest of team to see what they have to share with you. And there's still time to apply for the Design Team, too.

Thanks for visiting!

Sunshine Monday

Good Morning! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Oh my goodness, yesterday was GORGEOUS!! The sun was shining, it was warm outside - we were able to open the windows to air out the house and listen to the kids play outside. Love it! So not the weather that my sisters were experiencing in Denver. When hubby was checking the Weather Channel at 9:00 this morning or so - Denver already had 7" of snow.

Their winter blizzard is where my card fits... Today for Sunshine & Giggles I'm featuring a stamp I've already shown you before, but I just love it! And it also fit the wonderful sketch and recipe challenge from Crafts 4 Eternity (sketch, snowman and cotton wool).


I wasn't really sure what cotton wool was, but I liked this puffy ball on the my card - looked like a real snowball. The sentiment is from the Winter Kit from All That Scraps. I'm sure my sister's aren't exactly singing 'let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.'

I also have a very exciting announcement to share. Not only does Janice have a bright and shiny brand new blog and now the entire Winter/Christmas line is available in digi-stamp format!! Whoo-hooo!!! Prices are ranging from $2 to $3 for the digi's and you'll receive an email with a link to download your purchase. Awesome!! Also, Janice has a monthly special on her adorable football image from her original collection. And don't forget about the design team call. Janice is wonderful to design for, she's so sweet.

Thanks for stopping by today - I do so love your visits.

Sunshine Monday

Good Morning Everyone! Happy Monday to you. I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Today is Sunshine Monday and let me tell you - I had a hard time getting my project done because I kept having to slap hands away from it!


Everyone wanted to steal the m&ms! I dressed up a frappucino bottle and filled it with mint chocolate m&ms. I used All I Want for Christmas is... stamp - my intention was to leave this altered bottle for Santa instead of the usual milk and cookies. It's not going to last past tonight! I colored the image with copics, then layered on a Garden Green mat to match the boy's coat.


Here's a close-up of the top of the bottle. I created my own paper bow and then just added a little collar around the neck of the bottle. I chose this paper because it tied in the brown color around the lid so this made it a very quick and easy project.

I also have a couple of announcements. First of all, Sunshine & Giggles has a new home! Janice has been hard at work setting up a new blog that has some great new features! Be sure to check it out. Follow the blog and sign up for the newsletter so you stay up on everything that Janice is doing. Another announcement to share, sadly, December is approaching very quickly and the end of December marks the end of the current Design Team's term. So Janice is on the look-out for some really awesome designers for the next term. So if you're interested, be sure to check out the blog for all the details on how to apply. Janice is the sweetest lady and I will miss designing for her.

Thanks for stopping by. Now go visit Janice and the rest of the team to see what great ideas they have waiting to share with you.

Sunshine Monday

Good Morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I am too happy to put Halloween behind me now. On to the next one, Thanksgiving. Ugh! Still not my favorite holiday, but this one comes with great news. After being unemployed for 9 months, my sister Karin got a job that she really wanted and they are still going to let her come out here for Thanksgiving. Whoo-hoo!!!


For this card I used Sunshine & Giggles Snow Day stamp. This is honor of my other sister's students who will hopefully have a snow day today as Denver got something like 13" of snow! I used the sketch/recipe challenge from Crafts4Eternity. I found this super paper in my stash and when the sun is out again, I'll get a better photo. Seems I'm having to do this every Monday lately!

I hope you enjoy my card and don't forget to visit Janice and the rest of team (linked in my sidebar) to see what they did to share with you! Thanks for stopping by.

Sunshine Monday

OK - My Monday isn't starting off very sunshiny. Hollyanne is home today with a sore throat today... I wasn't able to work on my Sunshine Monday card until after the boys left for school (which is good because I'm able to participate in a couple of Monday challenges)... and I finish my card pretty quickly but the camera battery just died! So... here's a scan of my card and I will take and post a better picture when it's all charged up.

Ugh! This looks awful. I don't like scans! Sorry about that friends. I promise I will post a better picture as quickly as possible.

Edit to add photo. Hmmm... not sure it looks any better.

I did use the new Skier stamp from Sunshine & Giggles new winter line. I'm not a skier, although a native Coloradan where the skiing is some of the best around, but this little guy looks like he's having no difficulty at all. He probably doesn't even have to do the bunny trails.

The challenges I participated in are: TechnoStamper (the sketch) and The Pink Elephant (black, hardware & distressed). It really is very cute and very masculine - I'm not linking up until I have a better photo.

Thank you for stopping by! Have a Sunshiney Monday with lots of giggles! (corny - heehee) Don't forget to stop by Janice's blog and the rest of the team. They are all linked in my sidebar.

Sunshine Monday

Good Morning All! It's the beginning of a new week. Levi gets his cast off later this morning and he's very excited about that! The parade went well, the girls were very brave to dance in the cold and rain and my feet are still sore.

I have another new stamp to share with you from Sunshine & Giggles. I am NOT admitting the snow is coming but I guess it's the inevitable. I also used a FABULOUS sketch from Friday Sketchers to create my card. I'm pretty happy with it.


I had received these great snowflakes from a winter swap and I love them!! I couldn't get the swirly motion, but I like them anyway. The stamp is called Hang On! and you can find it and the rest of the winter release here. I colored them with Copics and then added "snow" with a white gel pen on the trees. Then did a final touch with dazzling diamonds glitter to create my favorite kind of snow - the kind that really looks like dazzling diamonds. I hope you enjoy my card.

Thanks for stopping and enjoy your day!

Sunshine Monday

Good Morning. Happy Columbus Day. My kids are still asleep so I'm enjoying the quiet of the morning.

I have another new stamp from Sunshine & Giggles to share with you. Another image that is technically a Christmas image, but with the wonderful choices of colors it's a birthday image...


Isn't he cute?! I think this image is so sweet and they are love at first sight... a boy and his new puppy. This image is called New Best Friends and is part of the new winter collection. There is still a few more days to get him and the other 9 stamps in the collection at half off. It's a great opportunity to save some money and help out a family, too.

I did happen to play along with challenge, too. I used Sketch Saturday's sketch and it is a great one! So easy to use.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day! Be sure to visit Janice and the rest of the design team to see what they have to share with you. All are linked in my sidebar.

Sunshine Monday's Are Back!

Good Morning! How are you today? I hope you all had a super weekend, I did. Saturday was a blast with all the WCMD festivities and you do still have time to join in my challenge that you can find here. You have until 11:59 pm (EST) to create a card and tell me about it.

Let's see, I have a couple of announcements. I had told you that there will be some changes with the MyGrafico Challenge blog. The Design Team has been split up into two groups for two chances to win. Team A is featured on Mondays with a Color/Recipe challenge and Team B is featured on Wednesdays with a Sketch Challenge. I purposely chose Wednesdays so that I wasn't doing double duty on Mondays and this way everyone gets their spotlight. So with that said... onto Sunshine Monday.


This little darling is actually called Poinsettia from Sunshine & Giggles new winter line. The stamp does feature this sweet little girl hold a bunch of Poinsettias but since I am so not ready for winter and Christmas, so I didn't ink up the flowers much, colored some of the petals to be leaves and then added primas. The sentiment is from Unity. The card layout is loosely based on the sketch from The Sweet Stop.

Just a reminder that there is still time to purchase the entire winter collection at 50% off and help out a family that's in need.

Thanks for stopping - enjoy your day.

World Card Making Day - Part 1

Hi All -

Happy Saturday! Thanks for joining me in my small part to World Card Making Day. I know there are tons and tons of parties going on... Sweet n Sassy has a special sale... Inktegrity has an adorable new digi-stamp for free... Splitcoast Stampers started partying at 10:00 am (EST) in the Members Forum and I'm sure there is much, much more.

I decided to do a little party today, too. So here's the challenge: create a card using this sketch. You may flip it, turn it, add to it, subtract an element (only one) and then come back here and leave me comment with a link to your project. You have until Tuesday, October 6th to participate and enter. I have a little prize package for the random drawn winner.

I think it's a fun sketch! Lots going on - but it really could be a Clean and Simple card, too. Here's what I made and this card features one of the brand new, just in stock, stamps from Sunshine & Giggles.


This is Guardian Angel and is one of 10 new stamps in the winter collection. You can find this stamp and all the others here. There is still time to get the sale price of $40.00 for all 10 stamps, that's a $40 savings!!

Alright, your turn. Go make lots of cards and if you take me up on my challenge... GROOVY! I can't wait to see what you make. And I'll see you over at PaperCraft Planet, I'll be partying with MyGrafico at 7pm (EST).

Sweet Sketch Color Throwdown

Good Morning Everyone,

Well, Levi survived his first day with the soft cast. He did stay home with me yesterday but he's back to school today and I'm sure he's soaking up the attention!

I have a card to share with you that I made with the newest Sweet Pixie from CC Designs. Her name is Pippi and she's such a pumpkin! This card is using the sweet sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday and the colors from Color Throwdown and I am loving these results.


So as I said, the image is from CC Designs - I buy the digi's because of their cost effectiveness but more because I can download instantly! Got to love that. I colored her with my Koh-i-noor pencils and OMS, then aged just a bit with a touch of brown around her edges. I love that effect. The Color Throwdown challenge was to use Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red and Close to Cocoa. I'm out of Close to Cocoa card stock so I added Chocolate Chip and then used a Close to Cocoa (equivalent) grosgrain ribbon. I love how the dark brown behind it really makes that ribbon stand out. The decorative paper I used is from a paper pack from Papertrey Ink. The sentiment is also from CC Designs.

Thanks for stopping by today. I look forward to another visit another day.




Oh! One more thing I've been meaning to mention. I know that I told you for each pre-order purchase you make on the winter line at Sunshine & Giggles a $2 donation will be made to help Paige Welch's parents with their medical expense. But Janice announced that you can also purchase the entire winter line for $40. That's a savings of 50%!! Holy Moly!! Also for every purchase of the entire line $20 will be donated to the Welch Family. What a deal. 10 great stamps for half the price and you're still helping this family who is in real need.

Sunshine Monday

Good Morning! Thanks for scrolling down to join me for Sunshine Monday. I have a super easy card to share with you. I love this technique - I'm sure you're all familiar with spotlighting. I think this is a great encouragement card for your beloved basketball player.

With this technique, there is hardly any coloring involved - only what you want to stand out. It's really lovely with scenery type stamps, too. Please check out what Janice and the rest of the design team made to share with you, as always, they're linked in my sidebar. And be sure to go shopping at Sunshine & Giggles. Janice needs to sell the current stamps to make room for the releases coming soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, Monday

I know - you're all singing the Mama's and the Papa's song. You just can't help it.

I had a fabulous Saturday! What a wonderful birthday. I went to a Copics class with my friend. That was a lot of fun, I learned a lot, too. I'll be posting what I made later in the week as I finish them and hopefully will be able to play along with some challenges. Anyway, after browsing this beautiful stamp store, my friend treated me to lunch which was quite yummy. After that we took our time getting home, which was pretty easy since this place we went to was an hour and a half away anyway. We stopped so she can buy her family some soft shelled crab. Anyway, then came back here to enjoy dinner with my family.

Sunday on the other hand wasn't so fun. I woke up will a horrible stomachache! I answered a couple of email and then went back to bed and didn't get up until Noon!

First off - its time for another MyGrafico challenge. This week's challenge is to get a bit prehistoric.

I love this brontosaurus - he is so adorable! He's from a great set that can be found here. I created the sun with a QuicKutz dies and I also made up my own sentiment. Be sure to visit the MyGrafico Challenge Blog for all the details and check out what the rest of the design team did.

Next up is my card for Sunshine & Giggles Sunshine Monday card.


Even though Wal-Mart, Target and every other known store imaginable says it's time for back-to-school, me and this boy are hanging on to summer!! I used a great sketch from Sweet Sketch Sunday. Yep, even feeling horrible I had to squeeze in a little stamping time.

I hope you enjoyed both my cards and I hope to see you join in the challenges! Thank you for stopping by, I always look so forward to your visit.

Sunshine Monday on Tuesday Morning Sketches

Good Morning Everyone!

Yes, I purposely didn't post yesterday because Sunshine Monday was moved to play along with Tuesday Morning Sketches. I am thrilled that Janice is sponsoring my challenge blog this week, but am more excited that she and the DT are going to play along, too!


I used the adorable HOOPS stamp and since I'm a Denver girl I decided to do a bit of research on how the Denver Nuggets look these days. They change their uniforms as often at they trade players. Their colors this year sky blue, yellow and white. I colored his uniform in the away colors. I also created "tickets" by getting their logo off the internet.

I hope you join us over at Tuesday Morning Sketches and please visit Janice and the rest of the team to see what they've made. Thanks for stopping by!

And don't forget, Nicole's Sunshine & Giggles blog candy is still up for grabs - ends 7/31!

Sunshine and Giggles Monday

Good Morning! Happy Monday. I hope your week is off to a great start! I had a pretty good weekend and this week will be busy getting hubby ready to travel. He's getting so excited about his big trip. And guess what! I didn't do hardly any stamping over the weekend. *GASP!!*

But last night I did make a card knowing I had to get something together for Sunshine Monday. I decided to use the sketch from Crafts 4 Eternity and it was a challenging sketch for me. Not the sketch itself, but how I wanted to pull off what was going on in my head. Here's what I came up with.



I'm sorry the photo is on the gray side, it's overcast outside so I'm not getting very good lighting even though I took it outside. Someday I'm going to build me a photo studio in a box. The box part isn't hard, its the lighting I have to get on a tight budget.

Anyway, back to the card. I used Sunshine and Giggles precious little girl that is collecting flowers. I omitted the flowers in her dress by using a Memento Tuxedo Black tear drop which is great for detail work. I colored her with Prismacolor markers, Buff for her skintone and Pewter for the skirt of her dress which worked so well with this mat stack that I've had for ages. I am pleased with the results and let me say this was the 2nd try at this card. I hope you like it, too. Please visit Janice and the rest of the design team to see their creations, too.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sunshine Monday

Good Morning! It is a gorgeous day here in Martinsburg, WV - I hope it is in your neck of the woods!

This will a real quick post, this is my first day as a SAHM and I'm late already!! Thanks for joining me today for another Sunshine Monday and I actually combined two challenges into one!! Proud?


This is Sunshine & Giggles Future Hall of Famer stamp. He's got a big uniform and shoes to fill, but he'll do it someday! Kids grow so quickly. I used red, white and blue because my son Brendan's favorite team is the New England Patriots. I used more of the great GinaK digi paper and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink Boxes, Bags & Tags.

Now, I said I combined two challenges. The first is one that Sunshine & Giggles sponsored over at Cute Card Thursday which was to create a Thank You card for the teacher, well coaches are teachers, too. The second challenge was a sketch from Friday Sketchers - easy sketch to use! It's great!!

Have a super day, thanks for coming to visit me and don't forget that I post a new challenge tomorrow on Tuesday Morning Sketches.

Edit - I removed the apostrophe Ms. Winslow!

Sunshine Monday with Friday Sketchers

Hi everyone! I hope you all enjoyed a lovely holiday weekend. We have had my nephew here with us for a couple of weeks, so we took him home yesterday and spent the holiday with the other nephews and my sister-in-law. We had a great time, hung out a neighborhood pool for a couple of hours and then went back to her house for a delicious dinner, then a fireworks display. It was a nice time. We didn't get a lot of sleep either, so today after getting home has been very low key and pretty much the entire day was a pajama day. I got several cards done so that's a good thing.

Here's one to share with you using an awesome sketch from Friday Sketchers and since it's Sunshine Monday, I used another adorable Sunshine & Giggles stamp.



This sweet little girl is out picking wildflowers. Her face is so serene and content. The decorative paper I used is from a great paperpack that I bought a year ago from CTMH. I love the yellow, brown and blue hues - they're bold but calming. I colored the image with Prismacolor Markers.

Don't forget to visit Janice and the other DT members to see what adorable cards they made. Their links are in my side bar.

I am so excited about tomorrow, too. Please come visit my opening day of my challenge blog. Tuesday Morning Sketches launches tomorrow!

Sunshine Monday

Hello! Welcome to another week - it's always great when you start off with a little Sunshine.

This week, the DT is using a sketch challenge from Splitcoast Stampers (#234). I flipped the sketch and made this a great card for any basketball fan.


When I colored this little guy, I didn't color for a particular team. My hopes is that he'll fit in somewhere, even if just to give another child some encouragement. He is colored with Prismacolor Markers. I used some basketball themed paper that I got from Michaels. The sentiment is from a Papertrey Ink set. This is such a simple card - gotta love simple, especially when there's so much chaos in my house. Between 3 kids, an extra teenager, a puppy and senior dog, seven loads of laundry.... well you get the picture.

Enjoy your day. Thanks for stopping by and please visit the other Sunshine & Giggles design team members to see their awesome creations. Tenia ** Jennifer ** Sheri ** Nicole ** Janice