Summer Fun with the Dueling Darlings!

HI everyone!

We are having a great time "dueling" in SplitCoastStampers! The Darlings are at it again. This round we were to create a Summer themed......anything but a card! :)

I am in LOVE with pocket letters!!!!! 

They were created by the fabulous Janette Lane. You can find her blog HERE.

If you've never heard of them, don't worry, the concept was just "discovered" back in February. Visit Janette' blog for more details of see her videos on YouTube. You also need to check out AnnMarie's blog (she is how I found out about them!) HERE. Scroll down her blog and see all the pocket letter glory! WOWZERS!

Take a sleeve, you know the ones made for baseball card collecting?!!!! Then add 2.5"x3.5" decorated cards (also known as ATCs). Add goodies to the back (or front if you wish), add a letter to one pocket and mail to a pal! :) :) :)

It's so fun!

Here are a few I've made (I'm working on my 27th right now and only started the last of March LOL)

 The butterflies on this pocket letter remind me of summer.

(This one I recently sent to AnnMarie)

 Of course a garden theme reminds me of summer!

and these bright colors on this PL and memories of catching lightning bugs in mason jars, 

remind me of summer!

I loved the theme this round for the Dueling Darling challenge!

Thanks ladies for thinking outside the "card". :)

Be sure to visit all the other Dueling Darlings blogs. There is a list in my left sidebar.

Until next time...

Blessings...

Dueling Darlings ~ I Picked a Flower for You!

Hello everyone!

I'm so happy to say it is time to post another creation for the Dueling Darlings group. This round Tami was the hostess for the Divas and I was for the Dazzlers. We had fun coming up with what we were to challenge the ladies with and we even threw in a little twist.

Our kits consisted of an image with flowers and of course papers, card stocks and embellishments but one embellishment in particular the ladies HAD to include in their creations......a piece of green ribbon.

Here's what I came up with:

 This cute little image is from Whimsy Stamps called Fistful of Flowers.

I colored her with my Spectrum markers. I then went crazy with my sprays on the image and the sentiment (CTMH set Sweet & Lovely) piece.....both were stamped on white card stock. :)

I can't wait to check out all the other Darlings creations!

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog.

Until next time...

Blessings...

Finally! It's Time for "What's Your Brew?"

Don't even get me started on what I have gone through the last two months with our home internet provider! I've been bewildered, angry and livid.......it seems like all in the same moment. I don't like being taken advantage of (as I'm sure no one does) and I wish I didn't get so upset but GOODNESS! They were taking me away from my online crafty community! Hello?!! Do they not know I need my blog and SCS and chat time? LOL

Anyway, I've had my card ready from the kit Sweet P sent us for our March Dueling Darling challenge, but I didn't have access to the internet (unless I would have brought it to work to load and that would have been frowned upon, I'm sure. Hee! Hee!).

So, with my deepest apologies to Sweet P and the other Dazzlers and Divas, I present my "What's Your Brew?" creation!

 I LOOOOOOVED the papers and image that Sweet P sent us! Oh my! this was soooooo fun!

I used the baker's twine she sent all together at the top of my card.....just gave it a twist and taped it on the inside :)

I colored my image with my Spectrum makers.

I mean really, who has seen a coffee bag with a pink label? But, my image.....I can make it whatever I like, right?!! LOL

Thank you so much Sweet P! I loved working with this image and the kit you sent. I'm sorry it took me so long to post it to my blog. Thank you Dazzlers and Divas for having patience with me.

Until next time...

Blessings...

Don't Forget Your Umbrella!

Here I am again, late as usual and again I apologize to all my crafty friends with whom these creations mean the most to.

 

Our last Dueling Darling kit was too cute! Darlene sent the kits for the Dazzlers. She sent two different images and well, I used them both. LOL

 

Here's what I created:

 

A 5x5 card....

 

 Darlene's kit was so bright and cheerful! Thank you Sweetie!

I loved using the patterned papers and rick rack, too fun!

 

 

So this card should have been on my blog last month on the 15th. Well, in true Melina style, it's not.

Now, I get to visit all my other Dueling Darling Sisters' blogs to see what they created for this rainy challenge!

 

Thanks for visiting my blog!

 

Until next time...

Blessings...

 

 



The Dueling Darling Gals Wish You a Happy Birthday!

Hello everyone! I'm back with a cool Dueling Darling creation!

Deb (the hostess of the Dazzlers) sent the kit this month. Oh my! I'm in love with this image. It colored so beautifully and it was very simple to get the sections blended! I love when that happens.

Here's my 5"x7" card:

(sorry for the poor lighting...it's been very dreary here today....the sun has been hiding)

Here's Deb's kit details:

DP - American Crafts, Confetti - Banana Cream Brady and Peanut Butter Benny.
Images - Whippersnappers "Little Girl and Dotted Present

Button - SU!
Ribbons - SU! Rose, crushed curry, orange, bermuda bay

I love this size card. I do believe this is my new "go to" card size. ;)

Thank you Deb for such a wonderful kit!

I can't wait to see what all my other Dueling Sisters created.

Please visit their blogs. The list is located in my left sidebar.

Thank you for stopping by my blog!

Until next time...

Blessings...

 

Giving Thanks with the Dueling Darlings!

Hi all!

I'm a few days late posting my November card for the Dueling Darling challenge.

I had so much fun with this kit.

Our hostesses were Kadie (for the Divas) and April (for the Dazzlers). The kit was full of goodies! I have enough for at least 2 more cards. The theme was give thanks, make a thank you card. Also, there was no image to really color....they wanted us to focus on the sentiment. That is right up my alley. I love clean and simple crafting and not having to color an image is well............simple :)

Here's what I made:

Isn't that paper gorgeous?!!!

I cut my sentiment out with a Spellbinders die. I think it fit around it perfectly.

My card is 6"x6" square.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today!

Until next time...

Blessings...

Happy Fall Harvest from the Darlings!

Hi everyone!

I'm so neglectful to my blog. Poor little bloggy woggy. :(

I'm crafting quite a bit...just can't find the time to blog about it. Ugh....

Oh well, I'm super late with the Dueling Darlings October challenge.

Terry was the Dazzlers hostess. She and LJ decided on a Halloween theme. Now, my family doesn't celebrate Halloween in regard to ghosts, spooks and gore. Our children do dress up (in Disney or Marvel costumes normally or they may be a cat or dog or football player, etc.) and we do take them out to local churches for their fall festivals and truck or treats. So, we do celebrate the holiday, we just do it more in celebration of the fall season. :)

With that being said, this kit was not hard for me to work with at all! I just trimmed off the Halloween sentiment at the bottom of the image and went with it. 

Here's what I created:

I love using my distress inks to give an aged look to crafty projects. I did that with this image (Haunted Forest from SU!). I created the moon with my white Gelly marker. I only colored the pumpkin (colored with Spectrum Noir markers). The papers Terry sent in the kit were wonderful! I picked two of them. The boots and candy corn are too cute. I added some candy dots and a brad from the kit. Then, I doodled around with my Gelly markers.

Thank you Terry and LJ for hostessing this round!

You wanted to know what my favorite candy is......oh my....to pick just one.....I CAN'T!

sweet n' salty - PayDay candy bar

mint n' chocolate - York Peppermint Patty

cream n' caramel - Cow Tails

chocolate n' caramel - Rolos

I guess I can safely say that caramel is my favorite go to sweet treat. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time....

Blessings....

My Recipe Took Longer Than I Thought!

Well, I'm so late I'm embarrassed.

I'm just now posting my Dueling Darling creation. What?!!! Yep, I'm 2 weeks late posting!

So sorry!

Debbie sent such a cute kit! I'm sorry it took me so long to make my recipe card. I loved everything you sent!

Here's my recipe for Creamy Crockpot Corn.......

 I colored the image Debbie sent with my Spectrum markers.

I also colored the chipboard spoon that was in the kit with the same markers.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! I hope to be more active now that my life settling down and everyone is getting used to their new school and work schedules.

Until next time...

Blessings...

Friends are the Family We Pick! ~ with the Dueling Darlings

Hello!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

The dueling darlings are at it again. This round, Carol (for the Divas) and I (for the Dazzlers) are hosting. We love our friends we have been crafting with for 4 years now. So, our theme is "Friends are the Family We Pick Ourselves". There is not another group of ladies I would pick to be my crafty family!

Here's the card I made with the kit I put together and sent all the Dazzlers:

The image is from Whimsy stamps called "I Will Carry You".

I thought this image fit perfectly with our theme. These two cute critters picked one another as family to help them along. That's the Dueling Darlings!!!!

Thanks girls for being a great support in my life.

BIG HUGS!

Until next time...

Blessings...

The Darlings are Birds of a Feather...............

...........we flock together!!!

The Dueling Darlings group (crafting sistahs over on Split coast Stampers) have been dueling for 4 years now! I can't believe it has been that long. It seems like yesterday I joined this fun-loving, sometimes nutty group of women. I love this group!

This round our fearless leaders were our hostesses. Jeanette for the Dazzlers and Kelly for the Divas.

The kit that Jeanette sent is soooooooooooooooo cute!

She and Kelly wanted us to use 4 of something on our card. So, 4 flowers, 4 gems, 4 brads, etc.

Here's what I did:

Is that Penny Black image (called Chicky Work Out) not the cutest thing?!!

I love it!

I colored my image with Spectrum/Noir markers.

I used the 4 yellow gems Jeanette sent in the kit as my 4 items. I love the sentiment she sent also (from Great Impressions). It reminds me of the show "The Wonder Years". Even though I wasn't allowed to watch the show (ha ha), I do remember listening to the theme song any chance I got.

I can't wait to see what all the other Darlings did with their kits and what the Divas' kits included.

You can find their blogs listed in my left sidebar.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...

Blessings...

The Darlings are Gardening!

Hello all!

Long time not blog post. I'm bad........

Here is my June "Duel" card made with the Dazzler team's Leader for the month, Darlene. :)

We are gardening this time around. Darlene sent such a cute image!

Here's what I made:

Isn't that a cute image? It's from Stamps Happen. I love it.

I added the sentiment from a SU! stamp set.

We were supposed to share a gardening tip along with our card.

Well, my tip is if you plant a squash plant in a 5 gallon bucket, be sure to poke a few holes in the bottom of the bucket to let the water drain. With all the rain we've been having, my plant is floating in the bucket! hahahahahahaha! It's very water logged! LOL

Have a great day

Until next time....

Blessings.....

I'm Double Dueling

Hello All

Long time no see. I have 2 cards to show you today. The first is from our current "Duel" with the Dueling Darling Group. Sweet P is our hostess.

I'm loving the kit she sent us. I love music, our daughter plays the piano, it is just a great kit!

Here's what I made with it:

I made my card kind of abstract. I loved the quote stamped image she sent and also loved the single music note and found a way to use them together.

Thank you Sweet P for a great kit! I still have enough images and papers to make another card :)

Now, on to the card that has been sitting on my desk, all laid out for weeks, just needing to be put together. I haven't been in a crafty "place" for the last couple months. I'm still not there 100%. Last time the Dueling Darlings posted, I didn't. I couldn't. I just didn't have it in me. I'm sorry ladies that I let you down.

I'm very late but here is my card I made using the FABULOUS kit that April sent us.

I loved all the pink papers and card stocks April sent. So, I decided to go wild with pink. :)

{She is drinking fruit punch by the way! with a cherry in it. No "hard stuff" allowed in this house. LOL}

I decided to make her a little more mature than I usually color my girl images. 

Thanks April for sending such a fun kit! I'm sorry it took me so long to get this posted.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog!

I hope to post more often, as our situation at home is looking up.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, we are still in need of them.

Until next time...

Blessings...

The Dueling Darlings are Celebrating......

UMBRELLAS!

March is National Umbrella month.....who knew?! LOL

The Dueling Darlings are a group of ladies I create with on Split Coast Stampers. We have a different hostess each round for the Dazzler team and the Diva team.

This round, Terry is the Dazzler's leader.

She and LJ (Diva's leader for this round) decided to send out kits that included umbrellas. That is such a cute idea! I had fun with this kit, even though I had to color the image 3 times and I'm not happy with the end result. uggggggg! My Spectrum markers didn't like the paper or something, they kept bleeding over the lines of the image. So, I had to color the image with my watercolor pencils. Well, I haven't done that in ages so I royally messed it up. Oh well.

Here's what I made:

I cut the image out after I finished coloring and matted it with some of the paper Terry sent. The flower paper I cut at an angle and then backed that with the pale blue paper.

The image is popped up with pop dots. All of the embellishments I used came in the kit along with the sentiment.

Thanks Terry for a wonderful kit! So sorry I am late in the day getting it posted.

Be sure to check out all the other Darlings creations. You can find their blogs listed in my left sidebar.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Until next time...

Blessings...

 

The Dueling Darlings' Love Fest!

Hi all!

I've been in such a crafty slump lately. Can't you tell? It's been forever since I posted to my blog.

So sorry.

I also apologize to my Dueling Darling Sisters.....I'm late getting my card posted for our February challenge.

We are honoring our fearless leaders this month. Thank you Kelly and Jeanette for all you do to keep us straight! We love you!

Here it is, Debbie, sent us a lovely kit. She is a great Dazzler hostess! ;)

kit supplies:

Ribbons from Stampin' Up!
Doily - Wilton cake decorating
Flowers - Joann's
Lg white brad/brown brad - Stampin' Up!
Heart brads - ???? My stash
Plaid DP - Hot Off the Press - Christmas Plaid
Heart DP - Hot Off the Press - Lots of Love
"Love" DP - me & My Big Ideas

I made my card 5.5" square.

I colored the leaves on the image with Spectrum markers.

I added a small red flower to the others that Debbie sent and some black card stock behind the image.

I really, really love this kit she sent. Absolutely pun intended! :)

Now, I'm off to see all the yumminess on my DDD sisters' blogs!

Until next time...

Blessings...

Angels Who Duel?!!

Say it ain't so!

Yep, the Dueling Darlings are at it again. This round I'm hostessing for the Dazzlers! :)

Carol is the Divas hostess. Our theme is Angels. More specifically for me, the Dazzlers are Angels! ;)

This great group of ladies put up with my constant "air headedness" and love me anyway.

I got their kits to them just in the nick of time to post today. Whew! I'm just glad they arrived. LOL

I hope they enjoy what I sent them.

Their kit included ~

Image: C.C. Designs Peace on Earth

teal papers from Recollections

textured flower paper from DCWV

an acetate sheet from Crafter's Companion

white paper bag from the Scrapbooking with M.E. Boutique on FB

buttons from MFT

Dewdrops from the Robin's Nest

fabric flower from Wal-Mart

and baker's twine from Maya Road

Here's what I made:

My card base is 5"x5". Those C.C. Design stamps are pretty big!

I colored the image with my Spectrum markers.

I don't have an oval spellbinders die big enough so a little of her halo got cut off :(

We've asked the ladies to share an "Angelic" story with us in their post.

The angel in my life would have to be my grandmother, Gertrude Wray. She was always so sweet to me and my sister. Always loving on us and asking about everything and everybody in our lives. Even though she had 19 grandchildren, she had this way of making you feel like you were the only one. You know? This March will be 2 years since she left this Earth. I miss her terribly. But, I wouldn't wish her back here for anything. She is finally getting to be with Papaw again after 38 years of being apart.

I love you Mamaw!

Thanks so much for stopping by my little blog.

I can't wait to visit the Dueling Darlings to see what they made for this challenge.

See for yourself! Visit their blogs by following the links in my left sidebar.

Until next time...

Blessings...

Melina

I'm Late.......TIMES TWO!!!!! The Grinch is in the Christmas Story!

Okay, I'm soooooooooo late in posting my

Red Carpet Studios post today

and my

Dueling Darlings card.

So, here they are, all wrapped up together.

I'm so sorry to be so late in the day posting these......

First off, The Red Carpet Studios Challenge is "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".

You must use the sketch from Stuck and include a tree of some type on your project.

Here's my page:

(sorry for the picture quality, I literally just finished this page and it's almost dark here)

Here's the sketch we were to use:

 My page is from a 8x8 mini album I'm currently making (that explains the rounded corners on one side and not the other :) ) with the Bo Bunny Woodland Winter collection.

*************************

Now, on to my Dueling Darlings card.

The Dueling Darlings are a blog group on SCS that I've been a part of for years. We receive a card kit from a different hostess for each round. This round the wonderful Jeanette was the Dazzlers hostess (Kelly was the Divas hostess).

This is what I made with the kit she sent:

I love the Kraftin Kimmie images she sent, I must shop for these! LOL

The gold glitter organza in the kit is wonderful! Love that stuff! I added a strip of it behind my oddly cut burlap.

I just felt the need to spotlight this image. Baby Jesus is a great reason to spotlight! :)

I didn't add one of the sentiments Jeanette sent because I loved the paper studio paper background and arranged my card to show it off!

Our leaders wanted us to share a personal Christmas story along with our creations....

I have to say one of my fondest Christmas memories is running around on Christmas Eve to both my grandmother's houses, Mom and Dad rushing me and my sister along trying to get from one house to the next. My Mamaw Swader (mother's mom) had a tiny home. She also had 8 children and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren. I remember her wood stove getting so blazing hot with that many people in her house that one year the men wised up and enclosed her front porch! There was no heat needed in the new enclosed structure due to that very, very efficient wood heater and the front door of the house open! ha ha ha ha At my Mamaw Wray's (Dad's mom), well, she had a little bigger of a home but just as many children (yes, both my parents were their parents youngest children and they both had 7 brothers and sisters!) and probably a few more grand children and great grandchildren. I remember being so hot and sooooo tired when we finally got home on those nights. My parents never had any problems getting me and my sister to sleep before Santa came. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Have a great day!

Until next time...

Blessings....

Melina