Made Especially For You: January 2013

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Free Snowman Hugs

I can't believe it's Wednesday already - or almost February, for that matter! It's amazing how fast time flies, I'm already into week three of my semester! Thankfully my workload hasn't been too heavy so far, and I hope it stays that way. It's nice to be able to scrap during my free time and not be buried by piles of homework. :)

We're still in the middle of winter here in the Midwest, although it was nearly 60 degrees yesterday.. and we had an ice storm this past weekend?! Crazy weather! I hate being teased.. I'm ready for sunshine and for my winter coat to be stuffed back in my closet for good! Anyways, there's a new Whimsical Wednesday challenge!

This week's challenge theme is "Winter Wonderland" - create a project using sparkle and one or more snowflake.

The background paper is from DCWV and I embossed the light blue paper with a snowflake embossing folder using my Cuttlebug. The sentiment is from the 'Snow Much Fun' stamp set by Whimsical Designs and distressed with blue ink - I believe it's Tim Holtz, can't remember the color. The pearls and lace are from my stash.

The snowman was cut at 3" from the Create a Critter 2 cartridge and then glittered up with Orange, Turquoise, and Frosted Lace Stickles. He's also on an Action Wobble. :)

Don't forget to stop by Whimsical Designs to see more great DT inspiration and check out the awesome prize for entering this week's challenge!

Friday, January 25, 2013

My Memories Software Winner!

A few weeks ago I shared my review of the My Memories software, and even received a copy of the software to give away! The review can be found here.

And the lucky winner is...

Marianne!

Congratulations, Marianne! I'll be sending you an email with information about how to claim your free My Memories software.

For those of you who don't own My Memories, remember you can use this code to get you $10 off your purchase of the software!

STMMMS99661

Upcoming Whimsical Designs Blog Hop!

Happy Friday, everyone! Just wanted to post quick reminder today that next weekend, February 1st-3rd, the Whimsical Designs design team is hosting a love-themed blog hop!

The DT has some great, love-themed projects to share with you, along with awesome prizes from our sponsors! Speaking of prizes... Stephanie is having a giveaway to help promote the hop, so make sure to stop by Whimsical Designs to find out how you can win!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

A Little Treat for Someone So Sweet

Whimsical Wednesday is back with another challenge! This week's challenge theme is 'With Love' - create any loved theme project for a chance to win some great blog candy!

Although Stephanie has an awesome 'With Love' stamp set in her shop, I chose to use a sentiment from the 'Whimsical Fun Vol. 1' stamp set since it matched my card better. Ever since I got the Sweethearts Cricut cartridge for Christmas I've been admiring this gum ball machine die cut, and couldn't wait to have the opportunity to use on a card.

The gum ball machine is cut at 3.5" and adhered using pop dots on some fun patterned paper by DCWV. I cut the shape of the card at 5.5" using the Artiste cartridge. The pearls are from Miriam's Crafting Supplies... I love how they match the blue in the paper so perfectly!

I used vellum to give the machine a glassy look and used Cotton Candy Stickles on the heart.

Here's a close up of the sentiment, which is distressed with Spun Sugar Tim Holtz Distress Ink and adhered onto some washi tape (my first time using washi, ever!) from Recollections.

Don't forget to stop by Whimsical Designs to take a peek at the other design team members' wonderful creations and enter this week's 'With Love' challenge! We can't wait to see what you create!

Friday, January 18, 2013

You Make My Heart Feel Super Happy

Happy Friday! Today I'm so excited to share with you a card made for a special kit on sale for the next few days at Pumpkin Spice. If you've never heard of Pumpkin Spice, it's a scrapbook supply store that also sells kits of coordinating scrapbook supplies made by different companies. Pretty cool, huh? Want to know what's even cooler? They are having a sale on a special Valentine's Day kit featuring the 'With Love' stamp set from Whimsical Designs - and I just happen to be on the WD design team!

Here's a quick peek at what this special Valentine "With Love" Kit contains:

1 ~ "With Love" Stamp Set - by Whimsical Designs with 22 individual sentiment and icon stamps

1 ~ Echo Park "Love Story" 6 x 6 Paper Pad with 24 double-sided 65 lb cardstock papers

1 ~ Authentique "Lovely" 6 x 6 Paper Pad with 36 double-sided cardstock papers

1 ~ Echo Park "Love Story" Brad set with 30 decorative brads and 5 tags

1 ~ Echo Park "Love Story" Chipboard sheet with 33 chipboard accents

6 ~ 8 1/2 x 11 Sheets of Classic White Bazzill Cardstock

2 ~ 8 1/2 x 11 Sheets of Swiss Dot Pheniox Bazzill Cardstock

The kit has a retail value of $44, but at Pumpkin Spice you can get it for only $27! And look at all those cute Valentine's supplies... who wouldn't want those in their stash?!

Unfortunately I've been doing a little too much crafty spending lately (oops) so I haven't been able to purchase the kit for myself, but I do have the With Love stamp set from Whimsical Designs, and wanted to share with you a cute and easy Valentine's Day card I made using the stamp set:

Both patterned and solid papers are from Recollections.

The red and white hearts were cut from the Art Philosophy cartridge and then embossed and glittered with Crystal Stickles. The black adhesive rhinestones in the corners are from my stash. All the hearts were adhered to the card using pop dots.

The large pink heart was cut from Cricut Craft Room Basics and then embellished with Cotton Candy and Christmas Red Stickles, and of course stamped with the 'You Make My Heart Feel Super Happy' stamp from the With Love stamp set. One of my favorite stamp sets I own!

Thanks so much for reading! Have a great weekend!

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Happy Bird-Day To You!

Happy Thursday! Today is my first Designer Day as an Our Kreative Karma design team member! Each DT member gets one designated day a month (there's a lot of us) to showcase a project that we've made that we can also share on our blogs.

My mom's birthday is next week, so I thought I'd make her birthday card a bit early so that I can finish the scrapbook I'm making for her. :) Her favorite colors are purple and orange, and she has a strange thing for the birds in her backyard, lol, so I put those two elements together and came up with this, I know she'll get a good laugh out of it:

The papers on this card are from the Cricut "Celebrations" paper collection and any solid colored cardstock is Recollections. I embossed the balloon and white circle with the Spots and Dots folder using my Cuttlebug.

The little birdie was cut at 2.5 inches from the Birthday Bash cricut cartridge. I accented his feathers with some Lavender stickles, and then put him on an action wobble. :) The sentiment is computer generated and distressed with Tim Holtz Distress in Dusty Concord.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to stop by Our Kreative Karma to check out what it's all about and see posts from other design team members. :)

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Welcome Back, Whimsical Wednesday!

Happy Hump Day! Only a few more days until the weekend. :) This week marks the start of yet another semester for me as I continue to complete coursework to earn my bachelor's degree in Elementary Education. Although the first week of the semester is usually pretty overwhelming, one thing keeping me sane is knowing that today marks the return of Whimsical Wednesday Challenges at Whimsical Designs!

Every Wednesday Whimsical Designs will feature a new, fun, and whimsical crafty challenge. We will have a winner for each challenge who will win a prize donated by our generous sponsor, and the design team will also choose their top three submissions. Any type of project can be created for our challenges - cards, layouts, altered items, you name it! Just make sure your project always meets the requirements of the challenge. :)

Our first challenge is an anything goes challenge!

I created this winter card for my first challenge as a Whimsical DT member:

Hot chocolate is one of my FAVORITE parts about winter... given that I'm a complete wuss when it comes to the cold. Here in the Midwest are winters are usually pretty chilly, with 20-30 degree temps every day, if not colder. What better way to warm up then with a steaming mug of hot chocolate?

None of the Cricut carts I own had a die cut hot chocolate.. but thankfully Cricut Craft Room was offering the Don Juan cartridge for free this week, and that cart just happened to have this cute little mug! How lucky was that?! I used some Frosted Lace Stickles to give it some steam and added the heart on the mug as an accent to match the sentiment. :)

The 'Cocoa Warms the Heart' sentiment came from the Whimsical Designs "Snow Much Fun" stamp set, which can be purchased here.

Here's a complete list of materials used to create this card:

- Solid blue and white cardstock by Recollections

- All patterned papers by Recollections

- Don Juan cartridge (hot chocolate cut at 2.5")

- Elegant Edges cartridge (circle accent cut at 3")

- Frosted Lace Stickles

- Red pearls from Miriam's Crafting Supplies

- White Opal Liquid Pearls

- Red ink

- "Snow Much Fun" stamp set

- Red and white polka dot ribbon from my stash

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please be sure to stop by Whimsical Designs to see what the rest of the design team has created for this week's anything goes challenge. You can also see the awesome prize being given away for this challenge, and enter your project, too! We can't wait to see what you create. :)

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

All About Penguins Blog Hop Winners

A huge thanks to all those who participated in our All About Penguins Blog Hop this past weekend!

Here are the winners from the hop:

Designs on Cloud 9

$20 Gift Certificate
WINNER: CATHY

Hot Berry Designs

$20 Gift Certificate
WINNER: SARAH BISWABIC

Di's Digi Downloads

$10 Gift Certificate
WINNER: PAULA J

KaDoodle Bug Designs
3 patterns of winner's choice
WINNER: MIRANDA

V's Sweet Ideas

$10 Gift Certificate
WINNER: LAURIE H.

*NEW* CTMH Paper Packet

Kit Includes: Chantilly 6 - 12x12 B&T Duos (2 of each 3 double designs)

6 - 12x12 Cardstock Sheets (2 Champagne, 2 Twilight, 1 Buttercup, 1 Cotton Candy)

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Our Kreative Karma's Meet the DT Blog Hop!

Looking for the All About Penguins Blog Hop?
Please click here.

Hello and welcome to Our Kreative Karma's
"Let's Meet the Team Blog Hop!"

Thank you so much for joining us! If you've come from the Our Kreative Karma blog, you're in the right place. If you did not, please HERE to go back to the beginning at the Our Kreative Karma blog. :)

We are so very happy you could join all of us on our newest blog venture! We are VERY excited to get back to the MAIN roots of crafting-doing what we LOVE!

You will recognize each of us from the blog world! The women on this team are SO very talented!
And that's that is the reason we decided to have this hop; to show you all just a taste of what you are going to be getting from each of the ladies here at Kreative Karma!

So, I am sure you are asking yourself what Kreative Karma is. Well, Kreative Karma means something different to all of us, and I am very sure you could even have your own meaning if you thought about it! Go ahead, ask yourself what Kreative Karma means to you!

One thing that we all agreed upon was that Kreative Karma was something FUN! Well, you can't have FUN without a blog hop with LOTS of prizes right? What prizes you ask?

Have a lookie below:

Craftin' and Stampin'
2 packs of BUBS & 1 Silhouette Studio SVG File

Theresa The Scrapbooking Queen
5 pack Action Wobbles

The Cutting Cafe
Any 3 sets of winners choice

Scraptastical Kreations

$15 gift card to store

The Digi Garden
8 Digi Images of winners choice

3 Girl Jam
$10 gift card to store

Creative Bug On The Loose
Creative Bug Package of 4 Digitals

Aren't these prizes AMAZING?

And all you have to do to be eligible to win is:

1. Follow Our Kreative Karma
2. Follow our AWESOME designers pages
3. Follow each of our sponsors pages
4. Follow Our Kreative Karma on Facebook
5. Leave a comment below with your email/blog address
6. Leave a comment on each designers page (showing some love!!)

Easy right?!

Today's a special day since it was my first time creating a project using the Everyday Paper Dolls cartridge that Santa brought me for Christmas. :) It's such a cute cart filled with loads of adorable outfits and accessories for all sorts of fun paper dolls. Even though we're still in the midst of winter here in the Midwest, I thought I'd "spring" forward a bit and make a flowery, girly card:

The little girl is cut at 4" and all papers are Recollections. The sentiment is from my stash and stamped on a die cut made using the Elegant Edges cartridge, cut at 2.5 inches. The card itself is 6x6 inches. The balloon and white background are embossed with the Swiss Dots embossing folder using my Cuttlebug.

If you look closely, you can see that the girl's dress (personally, I think she looks like a Sally) is made using some fabulous 3 Girl Jam crinkle ribbon in the shade of Witches Brew! 3GJ just happens to be one of our many wonderful sponsors for today's hop and I loved the idea of using their ribbon for little Sally's dress. So cute! Her face was stamped with Peachy Keen Stamps.

I also couldn't resist using Stickles on this card... Sally was just too cute to not have glitter! I used Glam Pink on her shoes and Lavender on the straps of her dress and the bows in her hair. Liquid pearls were used for the yellow dots around the sentiment, and I used some bright pink pearl accents on the sentiment and also on the bows in Sally's hair.

Now, are we ready to continue hopping?!

Here's the entire lineup:

Our Kreative Karma
Ashley - http://especiallymade.blogspot.com/ (You are here!)
Christina Capps -  http://cema1cema.blogspot.com
Janet Royer - http://janetscreativeworld.blogspot.com/
Jodie Ruiz -  http://www.jodiesscraplab.blogspot.com/
Lisa Carrier -  http://ourcraftingcorner.blogspot.com/
Lisa Chamberlain - http://desileedesigningdivas.blogspot.com/
Marji Franklin -  http://www.fstampaholic.blogspot.com/
Tess Hilton - www.sassycricutcrafting.com
Sharon Littrell - http://simplysweetbysharon.blogspot.com/
Jessica Wilson - http://craftinandstampin.blogspot.com

*** Please note: We have 3 Design Team sisters that were NOT able to design with us today, but I would still love for you all to check out their pages and show them some love as well! They are:

Teresa Kaufauld - http://www.createenjoyshare.blogspot.com/
Susie Gerdes - http://scrappyrandomness.blogspot.com/
Jenn Jackson - http://scraphappensembellishit.blogspot.com/
Melissa Lipcsey -  http://papershenaniganz.blogspot.com/
Jennifer Lorist -  http://www.jennspapercrafts.blogspot.com/
Jessica Buffa -  http://jessicascraftshaque.blogspot.com

Heather Lynn - http://heathernovinger.blogspot.com
Robin Lane - http://create-a-latte.blogspot.com/

And be sure to check back every day for our designer day!
Jessica from Craftin' and Stampin' will be our first designer tomorrow!

Our winners from today's hop will be picked by Random.Org and announced next Saturday 1/19/2013. You will have until Friday, 1/18/2013 to go through and follow all rules of the hop!

Have fun hopping along!!

Friday, January 11, 2013

All About Penguins Blog Hop

Welcome to the All About Penguins Blog Hop!

We're so glad you could join us! Today we'd like to share with you a whole bunch of crafty projects made using our favorite, adorable, and lovable winter friends... penguins!

If you've just come across the hop and would like to start at the beginning, you're in the right place!

Penguins are my absolute favorite animal.. I find it completely impossible to resist their cuteness! I couldn't wait to create a project for this hop, and ended up making a card (one of my favorites) using the Simply Charmed Cricut cartridge.

Designer papers are DCWV and the penguins were cut at 2.5" from the Simply Charmed cartridge

The black ribbon and adhesive rhinestones are from my stash and the sentiment is from Michael's and distressed with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Black Soot

I cut the big heart at 1.25" and the smaller hearts at .75" using Cricut Craft Room and then used Glam Pink and Yellow Stickles to make them sparkle, and adhered them to the card using pop dots.

A close-up of the cute couple :)

We have some fabulous sponsors ready to give away prizes to those who comment AND follow every stop of the hop!

Designs on Cloud 9

$20 Gift Certificate

Hot Berry Designs

$20 Gift Certificate

Di's Digi Downloads

$10 Gift Certificate

KaDoodle Bug Designs

V's Sweet Ideas

$10 Gift Certificate

*NEW* CTMH Paper Packet
Kit Includes: Chantilly 6 - 12x12 B&T Duos (2 of each 3 double designs)
6 - 12x12 Cardstock Sheets (2 Champagne, 2 Twilight, 1 Buttercup, 1 Cotton Candy)