Rubeena's Craftiversary Blog Hop DAY TWO + Giveaways

Hey guys, 

Welcome to Rubeena’s Crafting Anniversary 2-Day Blog Hop! 
 

I'm so honored and excited that Ruby asked me to be a part of this celebration! The hop is huge with more than 70 guests and over $1,000 in sponsored prizes! Wow! Here is the prize list. Amazing, right?!

Studio Katia – $50 gift card

Hello Bluebird – $50 gift card

Altenew – $50 Gift card

Pinkfresh Studio – $30 gift card

Gina K. Designs – $50 gift card

Clearly Besotted – £25 gift card

Simon Says Stamp – $25 gift card

Spellbinders Card Kit ($55 value)

Jennifer McGuire – $50 Simon Says Stamp gift card

Winnie & Walter, LLC – $40 gift card

Mama Elephant – $25 gift card

Hero Arts – $25 gift card

Nichol Spohr LLC – Custom-sewn rainbow pencil case + 6 Spellbinders die collections (estimated $115 value)

Danielle Flynn – $25 Simon Says Stamp gift card

Picket Fence Studios – four $25 gift cards

Ellen Hutson – two $25 gift cards

Pretty Pink Posh – two $30 gift cards

The Stamp Market – July 2018 Release (estimated $100 value)

Indigojade Art Shop – $50 gift card to Art Prints & Gifts Shop

Flora & Fauna – a 4×6 stamp set

Waffle Flower – $25 gift card
Power Poppy – $50 gift card

Winners will be randomly selected from the comments left on all the blogs and will be announced here on Wednesday, September 5th. Winners will have 2 weeks to contact Ruby at: ararerubycrafts@gmail.com to claim their prize, before another winner is selected.

If you're following along the hop, you should have arrived here from my talented friend, Laurie Willison's blog. You can find the full hop list on Ruby's blog.

We're not only celebrating Ruby's fourth year since she first discovered cardmaking, we're also celebrating this amazing hobby of ours. It's an industry made up of wonderful people who are not only creative and talented, they are kind, giving and incredibly supportive of each other! I'm so happy you're hopping along so you can learn about why we create and how much joy it brings us!

Without going into too much detail, I started cardmaking in 2010 after scrapbooking for a few years first. I was immediately hooked and never looked back. 

I love this hobby for so many reasons. Yes, like many of you, it is a great stress reliever. To sit down and stamp, or color, or just play with inks, is such a joy and always makes me feel better. But even more important than that are the friendships I've made. I've met so many amazing people, online and in person because of this hobby and gosh, I am so grateful to be able to call them my friends! And even though I don't get to see them very often, we all remain friends and know that we are here for each other, always. Love that!

Okay, enough about me, let's celebrate Ruby and her amazing talent! Seriously, that girl can color and create like no other! And she also has the sweetest personality, always thinking of others, so kind and caring. Love ya, Ruby! Congrats on 4 years!

I've created two cards for today's celebration. All the products used will be listed in the affiliate links at the bottom of this post.

My first card uses the, "Beautiful Heart" stamp set from Altenew.

I colored the flower and leaves with Copic Markers, fussy cut them out and adhered them to a softly blended card base, then added some splatters, along with a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp.

For my second card, I used the, "Even More Spring Flowers" stamp and die set from Simon Says Stamp.

After coloring the images with Copics, I cut them out using the matching dies and adhered them onto the embossed glitter panel. Love that glitter cardstock from Simon!

Thanks so much for visiting me today! The next stop on the hop is the amazingly talented, Janette Kausen's blog!

Happy hopping! ♥

A Couple Floral Cards and My Deck

Hey guys!

During the summer months, I don't make as many cards because well, when ya live in Minnesota, you tend to wanna be outside anytime there isn't any snow. Lol! 

I love hanging out on my deck, enjoying the warm temps, the sunshine and lots of flowers. For those of you who don't follow me on my Instagram page, you may not have seen my colorful deck and yard. Here's a few pics.

Love sitting right here with my morning coffee!

Of course I needed an aqua bench so I painted it. Makes me happy!

Give me allllllll the flowers! And I painted the chairs too. Needed more color in my life.

My favorite pot this year.

New Squirrel-proof bird feeder. Love this thing!

 

We live on a corner lot so mowing takes me about an hour but I love to do it! So much better than shoveling, am I right?
 
So, now you can understand why I'm not down in my craft room creating as much lately. But. . . .

. . . .we've had a couple of cloudy and VERY humid days here recently, so I sat down the other day and did some coloring. First up is this beautiful daisy set from Altenew, colored with Copics. I don't usually use colored cardstock but thought the purple went really well with my Copic shades. **thumbs up**

This next one is an attempt at no-line coloring. I feel like I'm getting better at this technique. And for those of you who are afraid to try it, I say, give it a go because what I've found from the few times I've done this technique - it will look horrible until it's finished. I'm serious. I almost stopped trying on this one but persevered and I love how it turned out! This stamp is from Clearly Besotted.

Okay, I'm all set to go. . . . . . .yup, you guessed it - outside because it's sunny today - yay!

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you know how much I appreciate it! Enjoy your week! ♥

All products used are listed below in the affiliate links.