Wow, where on earth has the time gone? I took a "lil break" from my passion and the "lil break" turned into almost 2 years! With so much money invested into my hobby, I don't think that I will ever completely abandon my passion for paper and stamps. The desire to create again has hit me full force and I found myself looking for a few challenges. I created this card featuring an Inky Impressions stamp, Nickies Birdie. The colors are

Challenges starting thursday, march 29

Simon Says Stamp......Anything goes (due by next tuesday 4/04)
Aud Sentiments......Sentiment saying "Happy Easter"
By LORI Designs.....sketch
Craft Us Crazy.....Anything but a card (meilen designs)
Do You Stack UP?......Sewing
Cute Card Thursday....Easter
Lili of the Valley.....Anything Goes
Meljens Designs.....Anything Goes
Inky Impressions......Flower Power
The Pixie Cottage.....Cuddly Critters
Kenny K's Krafty Girlz's.....Fun and games

ATS Wednesday.....♥Valentine Ideas♥.....

This is my second post for today, please scroll down to see the Pixie Cottage's Love Themed Challenge.

Hello again!
I'm back with this weeks All That Scraps Wednesday Challenge, this weeks theme is ideas for Valentine's Day . Now that the kids consider themselves "too old "to take treats to school, I had think about this project a little bit. At the end of the day, I decided to make Valentine treat boxes. Originally I had made three treat boxes of various sizes but wasn't able to capture all three treat boxes and card into the photo. I think that treat boxes are perfect ideas for gift giving. You can dress them up beautifully for a more sophisticated crowd or make them simple for kids. The possibilities are endless here! I feel my "mojo" trying to return and I plan to make some fancy Valentine treat boxes for a few of my friends.

Once again I resorted to my scrap bin for design paper and used what I could find to decorate my treat boxes. Both boxes are embellished rather simply, I just add some eyelet lace trim. Of course I had to make a card and decided to feature C.C. Designs Honey Teacher Rubber Stamp. I covered Honey's Teachers apple with my sentiment titled "For You". The base layer of my card was embossed with Sizzix's textured hearts embossing folder. I also used my EK Success hearts border punch to embellish Honey Teacher's mat and added ribbon and Kaiser half back gems for contrast.

Be sure to head over to the ATS Wednesdays Challenge Blog to play along with us. Every week there is a new and exciting prize being offered .... but in order to be eligible to win,your card must include a stamp that is sold in the ALL THAT SCRAPS store..Whether it is one of our wonderful in-house designs or from the various other stamp companies that ATS carries, the choice is yours. Then be sure to link up your creation with Mr. Linky by next Tuesday at 10:00pm EST with only one entry per person please! For more Valentine Day Ideas, be sure to check out the ATS DT Blogs♥

• Lesa Rapp
• Traci Porter
• Risa West (Me♥)
• Rachel Schneider
• Pam Varnell (me)
• Mary Pfaff
• Mary Giemza
• Amy Young

Have a beautiful day and I thank all of you so much for your kind and beautiful words of inspiration. Your acts of kindness truly touched my heart in ways that you could never imagine.

Hugs
Risa:)

card details........
stamp ATS Honey Teacher, sentiment PTI, c/s Bazzill and PTI....DP Yellow Bicycle (on treat bags).....inks Copic Markers, SU Red Riding Hood and Memento Tuxedo Black, tools Sizzix's textured heart embossing folder, EK Success Hearts border edge punch and MS fancy scallop border edge punch.....Embellishments ribbon, lace and half back gems

The Pixie Cottage Challenge#53...Love/Sketch

Hello Everyone and Happy Wednesday!
Today's Pixie Cottage Challenge theme is ♥♥♥...Love...♥♥♥ ! As with all of our challenges, you can make a card based on our weekly theme or you can make a card based on the present sketch.

This weeks challenge really helped to cheer my spirits. My image, Fairy Molly, designed by Ellen Gutierrez is among my favorite Pixie Cottage images. My image is colored in with Copic Markers and her wings were embellished with extra fine glitter. Other embellishments are felt flowers, Liquid Pearls an Kaiser half back pearls. I haven't brought any new Valentine design papers yet and had to resort to looking around in my scrap bin. I found a couple pieces that were large enough to make a card and that made me happy. Usually my scrap pieces are small and I can't stand it when I find a great piece of DP that is too small to do anything with!

Should you decide to participate in this weeks Pixie Cottage Challenge, remember the theme is ♥♥♥ and we are looking forward to viewing your creations! Have lots of fun with our LOVE theme and if you feel the need for more inspiration, feel free to use this weeks sketch as well.

For more LOVE inspired cards, please click here to see the Pixie Cottage DT Creations, the girls really had fun with this challenge and I hope that you do too! Click here for the rules etc.

card details...... stamp...The Pixie Cottage's Fairy Molly,sentiment MFT....c/s Bazzill...DP from my scrap bin....inks Copic Markers and Memento Tuxdeo Black....tools SU's window punch, Spellbinders lg. circle and lg. scalloped circle dies.....embellishments...felt flowers, Kaiser half back pearls, extra fine glitter,Liquid Pearls and Liquid Glass on Fairy Molly's heart.

My card also qualifies for the following blog challenges.....

The Reason Why I Haven't Been Around...

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year Wishes To All!

I've been meaning to post a note regarding my absence but no matter how many times I tried, I wasn't able to do anything that made sense. My cousin passed away suddenly right before Christmas and I haven't been myself for a while.
We were very close throughout childhood and as adults, my cousin was like the sister that I never had, almost like my mom in some cases and most of all, my best friend. My entire family is still reeling from our sudden lost and the past few days (or weeks) have been very painful. I never knew that losing someone so close to me could be this painful, I've cried buckets of tears wondering why her? I know that God has his reason for everything and I'm really trying to come terms and get a grip on life itself.
When I woke up today, I decided that today was the day to take life by the horns and deal with my pain by dealing with life itself. My husband and the kids have been understanding to some degree and I can tell by their faces that they are happy to see me coming back around.
I hope that you all can forgive me but I wasn't in any shape to do too much of anything, I tried but when old memories got in the way, I just fell apart and retreated to my bed.
I finally finished my card for Wednesday's challenge and it took me forever to finish it but I hung in there and managed a card that I can live with.
Well...enough gabbing for me, I'm going to take a hot shower and get ready for bed, today has been a long one.

Hugs
Risa:)

*My Christmas post was created a week before Christmas and pre-scheduled, I should have said something before hand, but I didn't have the strength...the shock was too much to handle.