Thanking The People You Love

Last week was quite a week for me and am thankful that this past weekend, I was able to recharge myself. I went to the movie & saw the Guardian of the Galaxy 2 (which I totally love!!), spent some time on our backyard with the doggies enjoying the beautiful weather and crafting several cards.

Being able to sit outside always help me to feel better and I need this recharge as this past week been filled with some sad news. I lost my dear aunt to cancer and it hit me harder than I expected. Also, not being able to go home & be with my family made it even harder.

I have several aunts, but this one is very dear to me because we pretty much grew up together. She was adopted by my grandma since she was a baby and she's about 8 years older than me. When my grandma passed away, she joined our family & in a way, she's more like my big sister. 

The one thing that everyone remember of her is her gentleness. She's such a gentle, thoughtful, kind person. Cancer took her away from us way too early. I mourn her passing. Though, I rejoice that she's now in heaven and free from pain. I am holding on to the memory of our time together.

I am grateful to have known her, for her patience with me during my childhood time. She had such a simple view of life, always grateful for what she had, always trying to comfort people. I will miss her dearly & will forever be thankful for the blessing of having her as part of our family. 

With this in mind, I wanted to create a thank you card. Too often we take the people we love for granted. I want to be better at not doing that. To thank them at random time just because I am lucky to have them in my  life.

I fell in love with this Honey Bee Hello Gorgeous set from the moment I saw it and I just have to have it. However, it's been sitting on my drawer and it's time to play with it. And, I am so glad that I took this set out. The coloring process was very therapeutic for me.

This set is truly a beautiful set & as you know I love playing with flower sets (if you asked me this a few years ago, I probably said differently, hah!!). I am very happy with the way this card turned out.

Crafting is good for the soul. Well peeps, that's all from me for today. May your week starts off wonderfully. <3

The Ton May Tic Tac Toe Challenge

Hi peeps and welcome to May! Can you believe that it's already May? Seriously, I feel like we just celebrated New Year's. Sigh... where did the time go. Anyhoo... with the starts of new month, that means, it's time for new The Ton Stamps challenge.

This month we have a fun tic tac toe challenge. Create a project base on any 3 combination across sideway, up and down or diagonally.

I chose to combine shaker card, embossing and watercolor for my card.

Supplies: Fresh Cut Sunflowers, Fresh Cut Sunflowers Coordinate Outlines, 
Modern Labels Coordinating Dies, Kiwi Smoothie Couture Mix, 
Kamikaze Seed Beads, Mini Hearts Holo Clear

There's just something about sunflowers that always make me feel more upbeat. Whether it's the bright coloring or the simple beauty of it, I feel like sunflowers represent sunshine and cheerfulness.

To make my card, I stamped, heat embossed, watercolored and die cut the flowers. I created the shaker card opening using the Modern Label dies. I stamped the sentiment directly on the card base & add the couture mix & enhance it a bit more by adding more seed beads and confetti. I also sprinkle some fine glitters just because I love glitters!! Once I am happy with the mix, I adhere the card panel and voila,  the shaker part done. Adhere all the flowers and tadaaa....

Here's a closer look of the card:

I hope you will join us and play along! You can enter the challenge and see more inspiration from the team HERE. Looking forward to seeing your fabulous project. Cheers...

Celebrating Parents Blog Hop Winner Annoucement

Hi peeps. Thank you all so much to those of you who joined our Celebrating Parents Card Drive Blog Hop. As promised, I am giving away a $30 gift card to the store to one lucky commenter.

Without further delay the winner from my blog is: KAREN B

Congratulations, Karen!! To claim your prize, please contact Altenew at winner@altenew.com by 6/30/2017 with the subject line Altenew Celebrating Parents Blog Hop Winner from ____'s Blog.

Also, three winners of a $50 Altenew gift certificate will be announced tomorrow, on Tuesday, May 2nd at 5:00 pm EDT on the Altenew blog.

Additionally, in case, you would like to donate your Mother’s Day & Father’s Day cards to the card drive, here are the guidelines:

• Cards may be for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. Sentiments should be generic – a specific greeting such as “so happy you’re my dad” wouldn’t really work.
  
• Please sign your name on the inside of each card. You may also include a note and where you are from!
  
• Include an envelope for each card you send, and make sure they are not sealed.
  
• To be eligible for the giveaway, please include a post-it note with your name and email address. (one post-it note per package, please.)
  
• We would love for you to use Altenew products, but of course, your cards may use products from any companies!
  
• Send cards to the following address by May 3rd:
  Altenew
  ATTN: Card Drive
  222 Teall Ave,
  Syracuse, NY 13210

If you have any questions or would like Altenew to send cards to a local shelter or nursing home near you, please email us at support@altenew.com with subject line Celebrating Parents Card Drive.

SugarPea Designs & Sweet Petunia Blog Hop

Hi peeps, welcome to SugarPea Designs & Sweet Petunia blog hop. It is one fun hop and I am glad you can join us. If you've been following the hop order, you should arrive here from Amy Lantz Rohl blog.

To be honest, I was slightly behind to jump in on the Misti wagon. Then, one of my card making friend came over for a crafty weekend and she's like look, you have to have this! Well, she convinced me to get it and boy, it sure made a whole world of difference. I am glad I listed to her. Thanks, Trinh!

Now, without further delay, here's my card using SugarPea Designs This Little Piggy and Special Delivery set.

I start by cutting a panel and then using the mini Misti and Misti Creative Corner, I lined up the envelopes that I want to use for the background. To start I went ahead and stamped both at the same time.

Use the corner of the grids to guide the ruler placement.

Once I have my base, I repeated the process, but since, the envelopes are different sizes, I want to place them accordingly to create the background pattern. During this process, I realized I  need the original size so I can move my panel more freely. Yep, am ordering one and it's on the way. :)

Again, for perfect line up, I use the grids as guidance.

I simply repeating the process till I filled out the panel. The I trim the bottom part as I want the color of the card base to show. I adhere the card panel and then stamped the envelope on the card base using versamark, so  the envelope pattern continue without being too busy.

Once that done, I simply stamped, color, die-cut and adhere the flying piggy with pop dots and adhere the sentiment. Having the Misti sure helped me in lining up the envelopes faster and I finished this card in a pretty short time.

Now, how about some giveaway? SugarPea Designs is giving away (2) $25 gift certificates and MISTI is giving away a Misti (winner's choice of original or mini). All you  need to do is leave a comment on each blog.

MISTI Winners will be announced on this page of the My Sweet Petunia blog on April 28th and Sugar Pea Winners of (2) $25 gift certificates will be on the Sugar Pea Blog on the 28th. Good luck!!

I hope you enjoy today's hop and find lots of inspiration. Your next stop is Ceal Pritchett blog. Thank you for stopping by here and in case you get lost, here's a complete list of the hop participant. Cheers.....

My Sweet Petunia

Stephanie Beauchamin

Ilina Crouse

Isha Gupta

Jeanne Streiff

Kerin Sylvester

Maureen Wong

Lisa Lara

 Lydia Fiedler

Simonne Clay

Kia Gibson-Clapper

Amy Lantz Rohl

you are here --> Vera Wirianta Yates <-- you are here

Ceal Pritchett

Brianna Loeffelbein

Maria Sabina

Ardyth Bolam Percy-Robb

Giovana Smith

Tracey Mehak McNeely

Sugar Pea Designs

Altenew Celebrate Parents Card Drive Blog Hop & Giveaway

** For my SugarPea Designs post please scroll down or click HERE **

Hi peeps and welcome to Altenew Celebrating Parents Card Drive Blog Hop & Giveaway. If you've been following the hop order, you should arrive here from Svitlana Shayevich blog.

Celebrating Parents Card Drive goal is to send cards for the elderly that lives in nursing homes or shelters to let them know they’re not forgotten. As you may or may not know, I have run Caring Hearts Card Drive for years and brightening the lives of the people that lives in nursing homes is something that's close to my heart. Celebrating Parents is just  like Caring Hearts, but we send the cards for Mother's and Father's Day. Please check out the Celebrating Parents Card Drive and join this great cause by sending in cards.

Now, for today's post, I have made 2 cards. Here's my 1st card using Best Dad Stamp & Die Bundle.

My husband is the inspiration for this card. He's a home builder, so all these tools totally reminds me of him. And, yes, he is also an amazing dad to our furry kids. :)

Next up is my 2nd card using the beautiful Best Mom set.

This set is such a gorgeous set & I love practicing  my watercolor on it.

Special Offer:

35% Off Best Dad Stamp & Die Bundle
30% Off Best Dad Die Set
25% Off Best Dad Stamp Set
Offer valid from April 19th through April 22nd at 11:59 pm EDT. No coupon code needed.

Prizes:
Altenew is giving away $50 gift certificates to THREE lucky winners. Be sure to leave comments by Sunday, April 30th, 2017 at 11:59 PM EDT for a chance to win! Winners will be chosen at random from the comments left on any of the blogs listed below and will be announced on the Altenew blog on May 2nd, 2017.

Also, from my blog, I am giving away a $30 gift certificate to our store. I will announce the winner on my blog on May 1st, 2017. From here, please hop on over to Therese Calvird blog. In case you're missing any link, here's a complete list of the hop participants.

Altenew

Joni Andaya

Sveta Fotinia

Jessica Frost-Ballas

Virginia Lu

Emily Leiphart

May Sukyong Park

Jung AhSang

Natalia Zubkova

Nicole Picadura

Kristina Pokazanieva

Erum Tasneem

Barb Engler

Hussena Cal

Svitlana Shayevich

Vera Yates

Therese Calvird

Nichol Spohr

Lydia Evans

Chunky Monkey Celebrate

Hi peeps. How's thing going? Am popping in to share this card I made for the current SugarPea Designs Challenge # 30.

At first, I was going to make my cards based on the colors inspiration only. But then, as I die cut the sentiment and start to laying them down, I realized I could actually fit the sketch idea as well. Instead of the circle, I used the monkey to replace it and the sentiment represent the row of stripes.

I am so  happy the way this card turned out. I just love the rainbow watercolor gradient on the sentiment.  I hope you will play along. You still have plenty of time to enter HERE.

Well, that's all for now, be back in a few hours for another post. :)

SugarPea Designs Sweet Release Day 5

Hi peeps and welcome to day 5 of SugarPea Designs spring release. Today we are introducing our last sets for this release, the sweet Breakfast In Bed set & SugarCut Breakfast In Bed set.

And, introducing this fantastic Watt's Up!, which is our FREE Sweet Incentive Stamp set. When you placed an order of $60 or more during the promotion period of April 14 - May 12 you will get this set for free. 

Now, without further delay, here's my cards using today's sets. The 1st one is perfect for pampering mom, right? That tray dies is really awesome!! I just love it. I simply added a little shading to create more depth. Then for the word mom, I also added a little shading to create gradient look.

For my second card, I am showcasing the Watt's Up set. I just dig this look.

Here's a look at today's sets:

From here please stop by SugarPea Designs Blog to enter the giveaway as well as to see complete list of the DT blogs. You get extra entry for the giveaway with each comment you leave on the DT blog. 

I hope you enjoy our spring release as much as we do. Everything you see throughout the week is available for purchase at the store starting today. Have fun shopping!!

Altenew’s 3rd Anniversary Blog Hop + Giveaway

** For SugarPea Designs release please scroll down**

Hi peeps and welcome to Altenew 3rd Anniversary Blog Hop! We are on day 3 of the anniversary celebration. I am so excited to be part of this celebration since I am a big fan of Altenew from their first release three years ago. If you are following the hop, you should come here from Eunyoung Lee blog.

Originally, I was going to just make 1 card, but once I start, I ended up with 2 cards. For my 1st card, I used Beautiful Day set. I heat embossed the flowers and then color them with ZIG Kuretake Watercolor Brush. For each flowers I used 2 colors to create the color blend.

Here's a close up look of the flowers. To each flower I added white dots just for fun. :)

Once the first card get going, my mojo went in full gear and I made this 2nd card using Best Mom and Magnolias For Her. I used the same technique as my 1st card. I colored the flowers first in 1 color and before they completely dry, add the second color and gently blend them.

For the sentiment, I used Bold Alphabet Die set and die cut the "xo". I was debating for a long time whether I should get this dies set and decided to get it  because they're also great for scrapbooking. I do still dabble in scrapbooking and make pages whenever I could. Here's a close up look of the magnolia. I just love this flower & the way the coloring turned out!!

Special Offer

FREE U.S. shipping with code HAPPY3RD or $5 OFF international shipping with code ANNIVERSARY at checkout. Offer valid from April 11th through April 16th at 11:59 pm EDT. Not valid on prior purchases. Cannot be combined with other promo codes.

Prizes

Altenew is giving away $50 gift certificates to FIVE lucky winners. There are also 12 awesome companies who are celebrating with us, and they are offering the following prizes:

Spellbinders: Three $100 Gift Certificates
Online Card Classes: Three Class Spots
My Sweet Petunia : Mini MISTI
Pretty Pink Posh : $30 Gift Certificate
WOW! Embossing Powder : $30 Prize Pack
Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L : $30 Prize Pack
Tombow USA: 1 pack of 10 Dual Brush Pens
Chameleon Pens: 1 Pack of 5 Chameleon Pens
Butterfly Reflections Ink: $25 Gift Certificate
Ellen Huston LLC : $25 Gift Certificate
Freckled Fawn : $25 Gift Certificate
Simon Says Stamp : $25 Gift Certificate

Be sure to leave comments by Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 11:59 PM EDT for a chance to win! 15 WINNERS will be chosen at random from the comments left on any of the blogs listed below and will be announced on the Altenew blog on April 28th, 2017.

That's all from me today. Thank you for stopping by here. From here please hop on over to Stephanie Klauck.

In case you miss day 1 and day 2, you can start your hop for day 1 HERE and for day 2 HERE. And, here's a complete list of today's hop participants:

Altenew

Agnieszka Malyszek

Tracey McNeely

Butterfly Reflections Ink

Eunyoung Lee

you are here --> Vera Yates <-- you are here

Stephanie Klauck

My Sweet Petunia

Emily Leiphart

Kim Stewart

Freckled Fawn

Lilith Eeckels

Kathy Racoosin

SugarPea Designs Sweet Release Day 4

Day 4 of SugarPea Designs spring release. Only 1 more day to release day! Are you getting excited and have you shopping list ready?

For today we are introducing squeal worthy set, This Little Piggy with it's matching SugarCut. For my card, I am keeping it simple as I think these 2 piggies deserve all the attention.

This set is sow cute, right?? You see what I did there? Yep, pun intended.Look at the smile on those chubby face! So darn adorable. Hah... I always fall for cute critter set.

Here's a look at the set.

Make sure you stop by SugarPea Designs blog and leave a comment here and on the blog to enter our giveaway. Then come back tomorrow for our final sneak peek. Hope you love what you see so far! 

SugarPea Designs Sweet Release Day 3

Hi peeps and welcome to day 3 of SPD sweet release. Today we are introducing several sets that would be great to honor teachers.

Let's get on with it, right away, shall we? I actually made 2 cards for today. For my 1st card I used the new Class Act, SugarCut Class Act, and Sweet Sentiments Teacher.

How sweet is this set? I especially love the font used for the word "teacher". It has this cool sketch look to it. I am giving this card to my cousin who I know could use this for her boys teacher.

For my 2nd card I used SugarCut SchoolScape, SugarCut Teacher.

With SPD release this month, I think they really calling out my inner clean & simple style. :) Here's a look at all the sets being introduced today.

That's all from me today peeps. Please stop by SugarPea Designs blog for more inspiration as well as for details to enter today's giveaway. Swing by again tomorrow for more new products. Cheers...