Mud Buddies and Milestones

ETA: Congrats to Dawn Easton, commenter #19 for winning the blog candy.  I'll send off your prize this week!  Thank you to all who left a comment. :)

Hi everyone and thanks for popping today.  I hit a couple random milestones today on my blog and thought I would dance a little jig and give away a little somethin' somethin'.  Today, my hit counter rolled past 900,000 hits AND I now have 500 followers.  WOWZERS!  I see 1,800,000 eyes staring at me.  LOL  Ok, enough with the math, but I DO want to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to read my blog and view my stampy creations.  It means a lot and is a motivator for me to keep on stamping and sharing!  *group hug*

Be sure to scroll down to see WHAT I am giving away and HOW you can win.  :) 

But first, here is a Pure Innocence card I stamped this past weekend.  As usual, I am stuck on a patterned paper pack.  This time, it's Delovely by Cosmo Cricket.  I'm not sure when I decided I liked bright colors?  Maybe I miss Carole?  She is my bright-colors-using friend.  :)  Whatever the reason, please remember to grab a pair of sunglasses prior to visiting my blog for the next week or so.  I see some more bright colors in your immediate future... *wink*

I finally had time to ink my Pure Innocence Mud Buddies stamp set.  I just love her.  She is SO cute. :)  Again, I am playing with all my new goodies and I had a blast with the Cloud Trio Die-namics.  I wanted fluffy white clouds, but not felt... so I decided to make FLOCKED clouds.  It's definitely a different look and "feel".

When constructing my sun, I decided to put lots of different elements together and make it kinda snazzy since the card itself was on the plain side with lots of white space.  I cut the Sunshine die out of patterned paper, and then again with yellow card stock.  I then ran just the center circle through my Big Shot with the Ribbon RE:Creations Grosgrain Texture Board.  Finally, I added a fun crystal sticker that I got from Kim Forsyth some time ago. 

The Pure Innocence girl was stamped in Memento Black and colored with Copic markers.  I added some Baby Braddies to her overalls as clasps.  Her boots were paper-pieced out of patterned paper featuring the cute little flower.

The real fun came when I was deciding how to create a "tilled" ground.  She IS planting, after all, so she needed the ground tilled AND she needed little holes to drop her seeds in.  Jumbo Ric Rac to the rescue!  :)  Check out my mini-tutorial below showing you how to re-create it! 

Here is a peek inside:

Tilled and divoted garden: HOW TO

1.) Cut Jumbo Ric Rac out of brown card stock and then emboss using Grosgrain Texture Board.

2.) Place in paper trimmer as shown and cut just to the right of the waves on the left hand side.

3.) Place in paper trimmer as shown and cut off the upper portion of the waves of the ric rac.

4.) This will leave the "tilled" and divoted ground as shown.  You can then trim off the length you need and add it to your project.  It's easy enough, but a trick that I thought was worth sharing. :)

Flocked Clouds: HOW TO

You'll need Red Line Sticky Sheets, Cloud Trio Die-namics die, white card stock, and white Fun Flock.

1.) Adhere a small square of sticky sheet to the white card stock and die cut using the Cloud Trio Die-namics.

2.) Remove yellow liner and pour white Fun Flock on clouds.

3.) Tap off excess and lightly rub with your finger until the flock is uniform on the cloud shapes.  Again, this is simple, but thought I would show you anyway. :)

OK, now that all the formalities are out of the way, let's PARTY!  :)  In celebration of my blog milestones, I am giving away a prize!  It is sponsored by Pink Hedgehog Papercrafts.  That is where I like to get all my colored brads and eyelets (like the ones I used on today's card).  She has brads and eyelets that match almost all of the Stampin' Up colors AND many of them match Papertrey colors, too.  :)  LOVE the matchy matchiness (new word).   BONUS: It looks like all the brads are on sale for 30% off (and some are 50% and 75% off). 

Here is the prize that Heidi sent me to give away:

For your chance to win the prize shown, simply leave a comment on this post.  No strings attached. :)  I'll choose a winner via random.org in a couple days and contact the winner (and update this post with the winner's name).  Please be sure that I can contact you.  If your comment is left as "anonymous", please be sure to include your e-mail address.

Again, thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog.  HUGS to all!

Stamps: Mud Buddies
Ink: Memento Black
Paper: Cosmo Cricket, Raspberry, brown, white
Accessories: White brads, Die-namics (Sunshine, Cloud Trip, Jumbo Ric Rac, Fresh Cut Grass, Grosgrain Texture Board), CTMH crystal circle sticker, red line tape, red line dimensionals, Janome sew mini, Copic markers, yellow ribbon, baby braddies, flock, sticky sheets