Hello My Friends! And welcome to the Once Upon a Monthly Challenge #2. I am a host of the July month. It is the middle of the summer season that is why I decided to challenge ourselves and create a card which will show something we enjoy about summer.
Since I live in a state where we have all four seasons including winter, summer is the only season when we can cook on our barbeque! This year we try to grill not only hotdogs or steaks, but veggies too. And they taste so good and also good for you.
Now you will understand why I chose this cutie (Just One More) form Lily of The Valley Shop. When I saw this stamp, I told myself:” I need it!” About a month ago there was a great sale with free shipping to any place, so it worked perfect for me. This store is located in UK, but to my big surprise I got a package in a week! I was a very happy customer.
For the layout of my card I stopped at the Splitcoaststampers forum and was inspired by the Sketch 288.
Would you like to see a card that Ida created? You really need to see it! It is so beautiful! I mean really she is very talented lady!
Last month some of our readers asked if they can join us for this challenge; also some of you played already (Thank you Susan, this made me very happy). We decided with Ida that anyone can join our challenge, just live a link to your card at Ida’s or my blog. We would like to see what makes your summer enjoyable!
Thank you so much for stopping by! Thank you for leaving your comments! They are always appreciated!
See you soon,
Elena
Posted in Card Making, Challenges, Nestabilities, Stamping.
Hello to Everybody! So glad you stopped by. Yesterday we had another big storm with several weather alerts, tornado watch and lately warnings, plus thunder storms with lots of rain. I was at work, and we were all wondering – will we need to have a boat to get home? But since the temperature was so hot, all the water was evaporating fast. Yes, this year our summer is not very pleasant. But I keep saying:” I rather be hot, then cold”.
Of course I came here today not only for my complains about the weather, I wanted to show you a card. I fall in love in this sweet Scooter Chloe at first sight when Sparkle had previous of her stamps. I really like her cute outfit (especially scarf) and striped socks. Looks like Chloe really enjoys herself riding her scooter.
For the layout I followed Sweet Sunday Sketch from Karen’s blog. Basic Grey patterned papers helped me to chose the colors for coloring Chloe with my “handy-dandy” Prismacolor pencils.
That is all for now. Wishing you all fantastic day! Enjoy yourself no matter what,
Elena
Posted in Card Making, Challenges, Stamping.
Hello my Friends! How are you all doing? It is being pretty busy for me, and especially for my son. He started his swimming lesson, and he also goes to a Football Camp. So before work I go to the field to look at little football players, which is fun even for me! Their coaches are the high school students and they are doing a very good job! I am so impressed! Sergei is very excited about this too!
Swimming Lucy
On Monday I sneaked in my craft room while waiting for Sergei from his summer school. And here is what I created. Oh, wish I could enjoy the sun like Swimming Lucy from Sparkle’s Creations Rubber Stamps. Water, cold and refreshing drinks… What else you need in a hot summer days? I also tried Sketch For You To Try; great layout and gives so may opportunities to use different embellishments. I chose Prima flowers, looks like I am getting more comfortable with adding flowers to my cards! 
Thank you so much for stopping by today! Your comments always brighten up my day! Enjoy your summer days,
Elena
Posted in Card Making, Challenges, Stamping.
Happy Saturday everybody! Do you have any plans for the weekend? I will be heading to work soon, but I wanted to show you card that I just finished. I used one of the Whipper Snapper stamps which I had for almost a year. Don’t you just love this cute puppy? I think this sentiment fits perfect to this tiny fur-ball!
Once again I played with my favotite Mercy’s Tuesday Sketch. Love this fun layout! Thank you to Mercy and all her team for providing an inspiration each week.
Sorry for the very short post. Hope you all enjoy this day and have some time to create! Thank you for stopping by and leaving me your comments!
Hugs and smiles,
Elena
Posted in Card Making, Challenges, Nestabilities, Stamping, Whipper Snapper.
Hello my Friends! Thank you so much for stopping by today! I have a card to share with you, a very special one. It is my first try of the Sparkle’s Creations Rubber stamps. As you already know I won this cute Lantern Rin from her blog candy. I got it (with other goodies) in the mail so quick and was very pleased with it! I also found Sparkle’s card inside… and wow!!! The card is so beautiful! I was amazed of her coloring and all the detailed work. Really, a picture doesn’t show all of the glory as in the real life.
For my card I followed a Sweet Sunday Sketch from Karen’s blog. Love those scalloped borders and the way how the main image displayed on the layout. When card was almost finished, I thought it looked very plain… Then I got an idea! :) I added some glittery dots to the background paper and I think it looks pretty good!
Yesterday was a very disappointing day at work… I was so upset with many things that are going one right now, very hectic… So I couldn’t have a sleep this night at all. Thinking, thinking, just couldn’t turn my brain off. It looks like very soon I will need to make a very hard decision which will not be easy to do.
That is all for now. Thank you MUCH for finding some time and leaving me your lovely comments. Wishing you all a fantastic day,
Elena
P.S. Some of my readers noticed my blog change. I decided to do something different, it will take a time probably since I am not very good at computers. Luckily, my DH was helping me. Thank you Ken! Hope you will like this makeover change.
Posted in Card Making, Challenges, Stamping.
Hello My Friends! Thank you so much for your kind comments from my previous post. They inspire me and make me feel so good!
Yesterday I made a card for one of my co-workers; it was her birthday. Adorable Birthday Cake Maya that lives at La-La Land Crafts was perfect for this occasion. Inside the card I wrote down some birthday wishes (of course), and at the end I signed it like this:”From yours “cow”-workers”.
The layout of this card is from this week’s Mercy’s Tuesday Sketch Challenge. What would I do without sketch challenges; they help me a lot!
That is all for today… I will be heading to work soon. Wishing you all a wonderful Saturday and hope you will have a great day,
Elena
Posted in Card Making, Challenges, La-La Land Crafts, Nestabilities, Stamping.
Hello to Everybody! So glad that you stopped by today. Just a short post for today, not feeling so great lately… Humid weather is not so much fun…
Anyway here is card with one of the cutest mermaids from Sweet November Stamps created by very talented Amy. I got this stamped image from my friend Anna. I loved coloring this mermaid, and creating a card was such a pleasure even it took me hours for choosing the right papers and layout. It doesn’t look too fancy, maybe a little bit pale… But it is not too bad, right?
Hope you all have a fantastic day today! Thank you so much for looking and leaving me your kind comments!
Hugs and smiles,
Elena
Posted in C.C. Designs, Card Making, Nestabilities, Stamping.
Hello My Friends! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. The weather was very hot here in WI and by not having A/C in the house it wasn’t very pleasant. But I am not complaining too much; rather be hot (warm) than rainy and cold. J:) We went to watch fireworks with my son as we planned; it was very beautiful! We enjoyed it so much! My DH cooked some ribs on barbecue; they were so sticky, but very yummy! Ken is a very good cook!
As I promised here is one of the cards I made during my time off. I decided to play with the MOJO Monday Sketch this time. Really liked this week’s layout! Thank you for the inspiration to Julee and her team!
The main character of my card is Oliver from The Greeting Farm. I tried to add some sewing to the actual stamped image… Can you see some stitching on Oliver’s hat? Of course I just couldn’t stop sewing and added more stitching. Then I realized that I can participate in FFF challenge which is about sewing!
Before I finish I wanted to share about fabulous give away that Katharina has at her blog. Each day she is giving away a stamp from her new City Girl II stamp collection. You still have time, who knows maybe you can be the lucky winner!
That is all for today. Thank you so much for stopping by and giving me your attention. Really appreciate it!
Have a wonderful Tuesday everybody,
Elena
Posted in Card Making, Challenges, Nestabilities, Stamping, The Greeting Farm.
Hello and Happy Friday! Been so busy this week again, but made one card yesterday. Wanted to participate in Mercy’s Tuesday Sketch for so long; I missed it so much. Really liked the circle and scalloped border on the layout; it was perfect for a Sitting Pretty Rosie from La-La Land Crafts. I added a button that I had in my stash, and then saw that it matches pretty well to Rosie’s headband flower.
Do you have any plans for the coming holiday weekend? I am so lucky to have days off! Probably we will be making barbecue, and during the day I am going to ink up more stamps! Also planning on going to watch our local fireworks on July 4th.
Before I finish this post, I would like to share some fun news with you. Did you know that on July 10th stamping world will welcome a brand new stamping company from Sparkle – Sparkle’s Creations Rubber Stamps! I am very excited for Sparkle and looking forward to her new designs! She has some sneak peeks with the fabulous give aways at the company blog, and I just won an adorable stamp Lantern Rin! Was very glad to see my name the other day on her blog! Thank you Sparkle and I wish you all the best in your new venture!
Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving me your comments. They mean a lot to me. Enjoy your weekend and summer days,
Elena
Posted in Card Making, Challenges, La-La Land Crafts, Nestabilities, Stamping.
Hello and Happy Friday! Sorry I didn’t post for so long this week… After big storms we had some computer problems, and with so much stuff going on at work I felt so tired and overwhelmed. We also had a Tornado Warning this Monday. I was at work, so we spent about hour and a half at the shelter. This storm didn’t touch us, but hit a small village which is about an hour drive from us…
Anyway here is card I created and didn’t show to you yet. I can’t really tell that I am happy how it turned out… But I just love this happy smiley face from The Greeting Farm. I tried to add some interest to this card by making stitches as the patches have on the girls’ overalls. I also folded a corner of the paper and stitched a cross on the top. A character of this card reminded me a story by very famous Russian author N.Nosov “Zaplatka”. It is a story about a boy who tore his favorite pants and then tried to fix it. First he asked his mom to fix it, but she told him to learn how to do it by himself. The first try doing it was not very successful… And he decided to redo it again. He sewed slowly this time, carefully and constantly watched to make sure the patch does not come out beyond the line. At the end of the story little boy was very happy how it turned out and all the boys on the playground were agree with it.
That is all for today. Thank you so much for stopping by! Oh, and thank for your kind words regarding our “Once upon a Monthly Challenge”. I am so glad that you liked it!
Have a wonderful day everybody!
Elena
Posted in Card Making, Stamping, The Greeting Farm.
