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Time for my last Hambo SCS challenge. Actually, this will be my last card on the Hambo Design Team. I'll miss being a part of the team, for sure. Here is this week's sketch on the SplitCoast Sketch challenge:

And here's the Valentines Day card that I made using it:

I used the Party Elephant digi image which you can find here.

The balloon and the sentiment are actually rub ons that I found in my stash when cleaning out. They were a special gift to SU demos a few years back.

The patterned paper is all from a SU DSP pack. The cardstock is also SU. The twine is from Divine Twine.

As my time on the Hambo Design Team comes to a close, make sure to check back Tuesday to find out about a new adventure I'm starting on!

Green Eggs and Hambo Blog Hop

Welcome to the “Green Eggs and….Hambo!” Blog Hop sponsored by Hambo Stamps! The Bacon Bits are here to help you start your New Year’s reading list off right with a little book title laughter and fun.

If you arrived here from Allison’s blog, you are in the right place. If not, you will want to start back at the beginning at the Hambo blog – TALK TO THE HAM. We don’t want you to miss anything!

A little surprise is hiding on one of the blogs today, so be sure to leave some comment love as you “hoof it” around the hop. One lucky commenter on the mystery hop spot will be in hog heaven and win a prize from Hambo Stamps!

We love comments anytime, but the deadline for prize entries is Tuesday, January 31 at 5 PM CST. Our current team will be retiring that day, and we will be welcoming a new Design Team AND celebrating the Hambo Hoedown’s ONE YEAR BIRTHDAY on February 1st. Blog Hop winners will be announced at the Hoedown on the 1st.

When picking a stamp to use for today's blog hop, I came across this adorable Amish image. I have always loved reading books about the Amish, and one in particular stands out, "Plain Truth" by Jodi Picoult (one of my very favorite authors!). So here is the card that I created to depict the book:

In addition to the Hambo digi Amish image, I used my new Mega Mat Stack #1 and Mat Stack #1 from PTI for the mats. The background was stamped with PTI's Tin Types. The impression folder is from SU, and the fence is a Martha Stewart punch.

The cardstock is all PTI and the ribbon is SU. The Amish image is colored with Copics.

And here's the inside....isn't the sentiment so funny/cute?!

In addition to the Bacon Bits, we are happy to show off some Hambo customer blogs as well. See below for the complete list of links to all the participants. Now head on over to Jen's blog to check out what book she is highlighting, I'm sure you're going to love it :)

Talk to the Ham

Jennifer S

Melissa

Karin

Pat

Laura

Stephanie

Sherry

Leslie

Judy

Sandy

Michele

Allison

Jessica (you are here!)

Jen N

Andrea

Libby

Hambo Hoedown #50

Time for another Hambo Hoedown challenge, this time using the Caped Chick digi image which you can find here.

The challenge this week was to find a card in the Hambo gallery and use it as inspiration. Here is the card that I chose:

On my card I copied the sketch. It was nice and easy, but is still cute. The patterned paper is PTI's Men of Life, the ribbon is SU, the frame is Nestabilities, and the cardstock is PTI.

I wasn't able to print the sentiment right under the bird so I had to cut it out and stick it there, but it gives it the same effect.

This will make a nice masculine birthday card that I can add to my stash. In the meantime, why don't you head on over to the Hoedown and try the challenge yourself? It means a free Hambo digital stamp for you!

Hambo Hoedown #49

This week, Hambo is sponsoring the Send a Smile 4 Kids blog which is dedicated to collecting and distributing handmade cards to children who are inpatient at Children's Hospitals. Hambo asked us to use this new Bailey image. You know I'm partial since its a dog card :)

I made this card extra cheery since it is a child's themed card. The "woof you" could be either "love you" or "thank you." The patterned paper is leftovers from a pack that Suzanne gave me, but I'm not sure of the company. The banner is made from an EK success punch that a friend gave me for Christmas. The "you" is from a pack of wooden letters that I got on sale at Joanns ages ago.

The little lady bug clothespins I found at work awhile back when I was cleaning out the craft closet, so I'm not sure where they came from, either. The twine is from Martha Stewart.

I used PTI's Mat Stack 5 to cut out the mat and then used SU punches for the circle, scallop, and label punch. I think any kid would definitely smile if they received this card!

My card will be showing up on the Send a Smile 4 Kids blog on Saturday rather than on the Hoedown blog today, so go over and check it out and what the other talented DT members have created! Also, today is the last day to apply to be on the Hambo DT for the next term, and to submit to be a part of the customer blog hop, so don't forget about that!

Hambo Hoedown #48

We haven't had a Hambo Hoedown challenge for a couple of weeks due to the holidays, but now we're back on track. This challenge was different...one I've never done before. We were given just a sentiment to use (you can find it here) and asked to use two different sizes of circles on our card. With the sentiment, I knew I'd make my circles balloons. So here's what I created:

The circles were cut with two different sized SU punches from SU cardstock. The two scallops are stickers that came with an SU paper pack. The striped paper also came in the pack.

The mini library clip is from SU, too.

You wouldn't think it would be hard to work with just a sentiment, but this card has NO stamping on it! Totally unusual for me. Why don't you give it a shot yourself? Head on over to the Hoedown, here, and you could be eligible for a free digi next week :)

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Time for my monthly Splitcoast Sketch Challenge with Hambo! Here's this week's sketch:

And here's my card:

I used the new Elfgift digi that you can find here. Isn't he just adorable? See that cute sheet music paper underneath? Suzanne gave me a sheet of it :)

This card uses cardstock from SU and so is the diamond patterned paper (not sure where Suzanne got the sheet music from). The ribbon was from the dollar bin at Joanns...forever ago!

Because of the busyness of the holiday season, Hambo decided not to do a challenge at the Hoedown this week, that is why you're seeing my Hambo card early. But don't worry, I've got all my Christmas cards to show you that I've been diligently working on and FINALLY sent all of them out this morning at 6:30 on the way to the gym. I was shocked...I started a line of cars at the post office that early in the morning!

Hambo Hoedown #46

This week's challenge at the Hambo Hoedown was to use Santa Monster (which you can find here) and to use rounded corners (because Santa doesn't cut corners ;) I wanted to make sure there were a lot of rounded corners, so I used circles, the Top Note die, and of course rounded the corners of my card. It turned out like this:

Santa Monster is colored with Copics and the circles are cut with Nestabilities and various sized circle punches.

The sentiment comes with this digi (there are two included). I cut it out with one of my SU label punches and added some red pearls for color.

All cardstock is a mixture of SU and PTI. The ribbon and button are SU. The pearls are Q and Company. If you would like the chance to earn your own free digital image from Hambo, go on over to the Hoedown, here, and give it a try for yourself!

Hambo Hoedown #45

It's that time again...time for my Hambo Hoedown post! This week's challenge was to use this cute "Anty Claus" image (which you can find here) and to use an extra fold in your card. Well, I decided to add more than one!

I made my ant red because I grew up in FL where we had a TON of red ants.

And here are my extra folds. I took a piece of card stock and scored it many times. I folded it on the score lines and got a ripple/pleating effect. Then I tied some twine from the Twinery on top and added some awesome bling that Christina gave me on Saturday at our Christmas card making get-together. It is from Recollections and called bling on a roll.

All the cardstock is a mixture of SU and PTI. The image was colored with Copics. The button is from SU. So go on over to the Hoedown blog, here, and give this challenge a shot for yourself! It means earning a free Hambo digi image for yourself :) Who could resist??

Hambo Hoedown #44

It's time for another Hoedown at Hambo! This week's challenge was to use the digital image Snowball Fight (which you can find here) and to use dry embossing on your card (don't you love their "punny" challenges? Snow is wet, so use something dry...). If you'd like to give this challenge a shot yourself, head on over to the Hambo Hoedown page, here. It will mean a free digi stamp for you!

I used this cute Sizzix embossing folder as my dry embossing. It reminds me of snow, so it went well with this stamp. I also tied the bells on to my sheer blue ribbon with some twine to give the card a festive appeal.

Notice the nice, straight, pinking shears line? Well, that was made with my new PTI pinking shears die that I got in my last release package. The pearls are from Recollections.

I got a lot of use out of my BG10 Cool Shadow Copic marker on this digi stamp to make the snow stand out on the white background. If you don't own Copics but want to get started, make sure to get this marker first...I use it the most of them all!

All cardstock is PTI, and other supplies were listed above. It has been unusually warm up here in Massachusetts, this year. We're still getting in the 60s in the afternoons and we've only seen snow on Halloween when we had that huge storm that caused so much damage. Most people up here are really thankful that it is so warm and hasn't snowed yet. To me, it just doesn't quite seem like its going to be December tomorrow without the cold.

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Each month with Hambo, I get to choose a challenge from the Splitcoast Stampers forum to use one of the Hambo digi images. I enjoy sketch challenges, so I decided to play along with this one:

And this is what I made with this funny Blind Mice Hambo digi that you can find here.

This stamp cracks me up ;)

I felt like it was too empty on the left side of the card, so I added a big pink bow that was repurposed from a gift and now it looks like a big birthday present :) Sorry about the yellow tone to the pictures, for some reason the camera was really picking up on that and I couldn't find an angle to make it stop.

The border punch is from Martha Stewart. The cardstock is a mixture of PTI and SU. The circle was cut with a Nestabilities circle die.

I don't have anyone in particular in mind to receive this card, so I'll stick it in my stash, but when they do I think it will definitely get a laugh out of the recipient ;)

Hambo Hoedown #43

At the Hoedown this week, the challenge was to use the digital image Computer, which you can find here. They had a cute play on words for the challenge....use our SOFTwares, and put something soft on our cards. You can try it out yourself and be eligible for a free digi image here.

My "soft" item was fabric. The plaid part of the card is actually fabric that I adhered behind my Terracotta Tile Frame that was left over from the turkey tags that I cut for my coworkers (thrifty, huh?) I colored the computer with Copics and then popped it off the page with foam tape.

There was no sentiment given this week, so I used some cool typewriter looking letters off a piece of patterned paper that I've had so long I can't remember where I got it from ;)

The ribbon and clip are both from Michaels. The frame was cut out with PTI's Mega Mat Stack #3 die.

I hope you all have some wonderful Thanksgiving plans! Enjoy yourselves :)