Chasing Dreams and Catching Butterflies

They're all the same, aren't they?  Your dreams are butterflies, some elusive, some landing right in your hand.  My card today uses Hambo Stamps digi image "Catching Butterflies", which I received FREE just for playing in last week's challenge!  That's right, all dancers in the Hambo Hoedown receive a free digi for the next challenge, plus a chance to win more!  And Hambo is hosting a BLOG HOP next weekend, so hop on over for a free digi to start you tapping your toes with creativity!

Meanwhile, back at the blog, I printed "Catching Butterflies" twice, since my 4 yo granddaughter is visiting and wants to make cards for all the moms in her family.  The first card is mine using patterned paper I snagged at a rummage sale.  I used my new Creative Memories punch system to "prettify" my sentiment, which I printed on my computer.
I colored the image with my trusty Copics, fussy cut him out and adhered him with pop dots for dimension.  The image comes with a butterfly, but I had these cute shimmery butterflies already planned for him to chase.
The challenge calls for FLOWERS, and you can see I piled them on with tiny pearls.
I want to wish all women a Happy Mother's Day, whether you have children, nieces, nephews, pets--doesn't matter, you nurture others, which means you are a mother.  So enjoy the day, and keep crafting!!

p.s. (Here is my granddaughter's creation for your viewing pleasure).

Scrapbook Place BLOG HOP and Queen Kat Designs

Today I am part of Your Scrapbook Place's Blog Hop.  The theme is Mothers' and Fathers' Days, and we are showcasing projects in appreciation of  moms and dads everywhere!
I made another card using Queen Kat Designs' "This Flower Feels Squishy" by artist Carla Morrow for my blgo hop project.  I am giving Mother's Day cards to my mom and Gram (101 years old and still kicking), my sisters, who are godmothers to my kids, and my MIL.  This one is going to my sister Kathy.  She likes dragons.
 I made a 6x6 card using ivory cardstock.  After punching the corners, I added a piece of patterned paper, slipping the corners into the punched paper. 
I framed my image with diecut papers, embossing one of them first, as well as a torn piece of sheet music snagged at an estate sale by my cropping girlfriend, Carol.
A clump of flowers in the corner and adhesive pearls as a border, and my card is complete.  Well, I did layer the inside as well, wishing Kathy a relaxing Mother's Day.  I'm seeing her on Saturday, so I can hand her the card along with a hug.
This image is one of the May new releases from Queen Kat Designs and available for sale HERE.
Now onto the HOP.   The theme of course is Mothers' and Fathers' Day projects, and
this month, Scrapbook Place Blog is offering a beautiful prize from Shannon Leffew.  Here's what she has to say about herself:

Hello! I am a wife and SAHM of 4. I have been scrapbooking since 1997 and have since fell in love doing altered projects. I created my etsy store to earn a little extra income. I feature mostly flowers in my store but I will also do custom orders for almost anything. In my spare time I also like to garden, take pics, read and host parties. Please stop by my blog and leave me some love http://shannonleffew.blogspot.com .  I would also love it if you would visit me at my Etsy store HERE. 
Pictured is just a sampling of her flowers.
So, leave a little love for me in the comments section below.  Then go back to Scrapbook Place Blog and let them know how you enjoyed the HOP, as well as telling us a favorite story about one of your parents/grandparents.
I lost my dad in 1994.  I love to tell stories of him, especially this one:
Dad was a smoker.  Years ago, restaurants had baskets of personalized matchbooks at the cash register, to advertise their restaurants.  My dad was a hog when it came to taking these.  Instead of one, he would grab a handful.  So, hubby and I are on vacation with my parents, and have just finished dinner at a very nice restaurant.  Dad is at the table reading the check and figuring out the tip, while the three of us head toward the front when the idea for a major punk hits me.
So I go up to the hostess and say "The gentleman over there is a well-known matchbook thief.  When he comes to pay, he will grab a huge handful of the matchbooks you have.  Can you possibly tell him that there is a limit of ONE per patron?"
We skedaddle to the coatroom to watch the drama unfold.  He comes up to the hostess, who asks him how his dinner was.  He replies and then reaches in and grabs his usual ten or twelve matchbooks.  The hostess, God bless her poker face, tells him: I'M SORRY SIR BUT THERE IS A LIMIT OF ONE MATCH BOOK PER CUSTOMER."
The look on his face was priceless!!!  He backpedaled, stammered and dropped the matchbooks back into the bowl.  Then he heard our giggles, and we came out and the hostess was smiling and we told him what we had done.  So after a good laugh from him and us...
HE REACHES IN AND TAKES HIS HANDFUL OF MATCH BOOKS!
And the look on the hostess' face was just as priceless!!!
God bless you, Dad.  Thanks for the years as my dad and my friend.
Now hop on back to Your Scrapbook Place blog so you can be entered in the drawing to win some fabulous handmade flowers from Shannon Leffew!!

Pretty Birdie by Anam Stubbington

Trying to catch a few crafty moments before I go to work today.  This Queen Kat Designs image is called Pretty Birdie by Anam Stubbington.  It is all swirly, so I looked in my secret bag of tricks, also known as my stash, and pulled out this swirly piece of patterned pper from gcd studios from the Ella Blue collection.
I framed her with my newest and most favorite nestabilities die from Spellbinders.  I didn't want to cover up the swirls on the patterned paper too much, so I just added some bling along the lines of the swirls on the paper to embellish my card.  A clean and simple (CAS) card to show off the Pretty Birdie from QKD today, and I hope you like it!!  for more inspiration during your own stolen crafting moments, check out the QKD Gallery--there are hundreds of cards and layouts in there!!  It's like a QKD Pinterest site!!

Fairy Ring by Daphne van der Zandem

I snagged a great deal online last month, and I'm reaping the benefits this month.  I'm talking about Squigglefly's One a Day in May digi Sale!!  When you pre-order in April, you get a free digital image every day in May.  So today I wanted to show you what I did with one of my freebies from Squigglefly.

The image is called Fairy Ring and it is by artist Daphne van der Zandem.  After coloring her with my trusty Copics, I fussy-cut her so that it is partially encircling my sentiment. 
This week, Squigglefly challenge blog has a new challenge, to use Stickles on your card.  Besides the ladybug sharing the flowers with my fairy, her wings are fairly shimmering with red Stickles.
Now it's your turn!  Shine up your card, using a Squigglefly image, and join in the fun!  If you haven't started your collection of Squigglefly digi's yet, you can grab a freebie HERE.http://www.squigglefly.com/index.php/freebies

Bailey is Hot, Hot, Hot!!

Hot as in Hot pink, Hot Orange and Hot Purple!!  The new challenge at the Hambo Hoedown calls for a Hambo digi image and these hot colors, so I used Bailey Flower digi-image and created this card.  The card base is purple cardstock, as well as Bailey's dog collar.  The flower on his head shows off the hot pink, along with the strip of hot pink butterfly patterned paper.  The background patterned paper and the handmade flower highlight the orange in my card, and I am done!
So now you can see how easy it is to dance in the Hoedown---come play!!

Watch Where You Sit!

...especially if your a dragon with a not-so-small derrierre!  I love the humor in the title of Carla Morrow's stamp for Queen Kat Designs this month.  It's called "This Flower Feels Squishy".  I suppose it does, but how do you think  the flower feels??? LOL

I am into my second year (yes, slow-going, but hope on, hope ever) of trying to use up my stash of patterned papers.  By now I'm sure you have figured out that I am an overzealous paperholic.  If I were to stack my paper, cardstock, patterned, sets, and leftover pieces, I believe I could just get it to fit under my 7 foot ceiling! sigh!
But I am trying, really I am!  And today I offer you a card made with leftover papers from the DCWV Green Stack.  My dragon friend seems to be sitting outside, admiring the birds in the trees.  I was going to add the sentiment, "Friends Are Too Good to Eat", but then I wondered at the smile on his face, if I should rather put something like, "Friend or Fricasse? Decisions, decisions..." 
Which do you think goes with him?
"This Flower Feels Squishy" is one of many new stamps released this month by QKD.  Go check them out!!

Light Fairy by Ann Howard

Another month has started, and with it comes all kinds of gorgeous new stamps from Queen Kat Designs.  Check out Ann Howard's Light Fairy on my card today!  I had this awesome frame already diecut and waiting to be used, so I paired it with Ann's fairy image and lots of flowers for a whimsical card.
The patterned paper is actually from a Christmas DCWV stack, but by adding the gold foil "ribbon", it conceals enough of the words to the Christmas song for me to use it in May!  I gave my fairy some liberal streaks in her hair, and decided to place some flowers with coordinating yellow on them for embellishment.
There are more May releases to follow, so check back here often, and if you like any (or all) of them, click HERE to go shopping at the QKD Shoppe!!