Not Good-Bye, but...

Hi friends,
I want you to know I'm stepping away from the blogging world for a while. Life made other plans with our plans for a great summer, so I need to focus on the next difficult weeks to come. Nothing tragic, just an unfortunate change my family and I were not expecting. Sadly, I have decided to step down from all the Design Teams I'm currently on (and luuuuuv) since I don't feel I could meet deadlines, expectations, and such.

I plan on returning to crafting soon cuz it IS my drug of choice. It is how I unwind and get out of my head---> kwim? As I've told others, it's either crack or craft, and I choose the one with the more positive side effects! I hope to be back in time for my annual "Beginning of the Year Teacher Gifts & Ideas" in August/September sometime, as I know so many of you enjoy that :)

Thanks you for your visits to my blog, your comments that I truly appreciate, and for being my blogging buddies! Have a wonderful summer or whatever season it is in your part of the world!
Hugs,

ABC Blog Hop!

Hi ya friends,
Today marks a special day at ABC Challenges!  It's our birthday and we're celebrating in a BIG way with a birthday blog hop!

If this is your first stop, you may want to head over to the ABC Challenge Blog and get the full scoop about all the events and sponsor prizes up for grabs! If you've arrived from the lovely Angelique's blog, you're right where you should be :)
Here are the highlights:
1) There's a new challenge up that will run for 2 weeks : Y is for yesterday
Go vintage, use an old stamp, or choose an old ABC theme

2) There's a DT call! If you'd like to join us as part of the DT, email us with your info (check the main blog for all the deets)

3) Blog Hop! There's a list of the blog hop participants. Be sure to comment on all blogs to be eligible for the prizes~ and there are loads of prizes up for grabs! Check the main blog for contest rules---> HERE!

So on to my project:
First, here's my card:

 My sponsor is our lovely friends at Pollycraft. Who are offering a *special* prize for one lucky winner. I am using Swings & Slides- Cute as a cupcake image on my card. Isn't she a cuuuutie! She's holding a scrumptious cupcake while sitting on a present. My "yesterday" piece is the pattern paper I used which was last year's Quite Contrary collection from My Mind's Eye. I also added pearl detail with my Viva Decor Pearl pens. I used another fab sketch from The Sweet Stop for my card as well. 

I have a project to go along with this cuuuutie inspired by her yummy cupcake.
Here it is:

 Looks yummy right??!! But, this is no ordinary cupcake....nooooo...... this cupcake is hiding a surprise! Hee! Hee!

When you pull up on the cherry...

higher...

 HIGHER....

 You'll find a gift card!

 Here's the gift card completely out of the cupcake. Just remove it from the binder clip & it's ready to be used & enjoyed!

Here's the way it tucks into the cupcake. shhhh, it's our secret ;)

It took me about 1 1/2 hours to do this & a few fried fingers from the glue gun I hardly ever use! But isn't the final product so unique & a perfect way to give a gift card, don't ya think?

I followed a great tutorial to make this however one of the biggest complaints people had was that it took them several HOURS to make, so I did make a few modifications to be able to make it faster.
To make this cupcake, you'll need a styro foam ball, ribbon, flowers, a cupcake liner, & that dangerous weapon called a hot glue gun---> ouchy!

Thanks for joining us & being part of our birthday bash! Don't forget to check the main blog for all the deets & leave a comment on the DT blogs. I'm sending you off to my uber fab teammie Suzanne T who has an AMAZING creation to share with ya!

Thanks for sharing an ABC birthday with us!
Gotta Go!