And the winner for my stop of the blog hop is...

Flutterby Trina! Congratulations. Please contact me to collect your RAK of all things pink!

I want to sincerely thank each and every person who stopped by for the Guylou's Inimitability winter release blog hop. Your comments gave me warm fuzzies. I plan to visit your blogs over the next few days and return the love! Have a wonderful week.

You know I can't stay away from challenge blogs...

...and I made a deliberate effort to work on cards this weekend. I finished quite a few, thank goodness. I've uploaded some of them here. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed coloring them with copics, then adding texture and visual interest with flowersoft, glossy accents, and/or stardust pens.

The fairy card is for mo's digital pencil challenge to make a card using a swirl or flourish. I had a pink stud flourish that was not shaped quite right, so I cut it up and manuevered it around to make it work. The sentiment is done in Word. I had some Making Memories metal butterflies. I cut one in half and put a wing on each side of the rose.

Then we have the ever lovely Stella. I just love Stella from bugaboo stamps. The challenge on their blog is to make a shopping themed card with black. Obviously, I didn't hit those requirements with this card. Instead, I based her after a sketch at Sweet Sketch Wednesday. It's sketch #77. I love that blog because the sketches are always so inspiring. Anyway, the inside of the Stella card says, "Santa called. You ain't gettin' *&^$." Too funny!

Finally, an image from one of my absolute fave artists, Elisabeth Bell. The challenge over at the Belles N Whistles blog was to use bright colors for a Christmas card. This card is brighter in real life...it has several pops of orange as well as turquoise. I used ivory flowersoft on her coat and hat. The branch punch is Martha Stewart and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts.

These are only a few of the cards I managed to make on Saturday. I'm just excited to have my Christmas cards done. Well, I think they're done. I need to count them one more time and go over my list again. I'm being stingy this year and not sending out nearly as many cards as I used to. Bah humbug or something like that.

Welcome to Guylou's Inimitability Blog Hop!

Well, hey! Welcome to the blog hop for Guylou's Inimitability. If you made it over here from Dale's blog, you're in the right place. If not, you might want to go back to Guylou's Inimitability and start from the beginning!



Today, the DT for Guylou's store are excited to share some creations we've made with Guylou's new images. She's releasing FIVE new images in her store today and one of you lucky hoppers could win them all! Just follow along on the hop, leaving comments for each DT member as you go, and becoming a follower of the DT member's blog if it's required (they'll let you know if it is. Even if it's not, you might want to become a follower, anyway. These girls are talented!). Be advised, you MUST leave comments at each stop in order to win the grand prize of all five images!

Aren't these new images too precious? I got the honor of making cards using Louise, with both her candycane and her wreath. I love her little outfits! I colored both images with copics. I love the look of liquid applique as "fur", so I was pretty liberal with it. I also added glossy accents to both images for shine, and vintage Christmas flowersoft to Louise's wreath. Louise and her candy cane are in a shaker box full of glitter!

Now, on to what I have in store for one lucky winner: a RAK. Leave me a comment and I'll draw a random winner to receive a goodie bag full of pink deliciousness. So far, it's got a pink copic, some pink rhinestones, pink pearls, pink ribbon, and some pink 6x6 papers. I'll also be giving away one of the new GI images! I am a bit of a shopaholic, as well, so the goodie bag might obtain a few more items before it gets mailed out. I'm sure no one would argue with that. Who doesn't love goodies?!?





Thanks for stopping by! Next stop on the hop is the wonderful creator of these fun images, Guylou!

If you've lost your way, here's the full list:

Brenda

Carmen

Dale

Gina (me!)

Guylou

Kim

Tracy

Trina

Final stop: Guylou's Inimitability

Gift cards, anyone?

My friend Brenda led me to a great challenge blog, All that Scraps. The challenge for this week, due tonight (I'm cutting it close) was to make a gift card holder. I gotta tell ya, I'm disappointed. So many people have asked for gift cards this year. Yes, I like getting people what they want, but I also love to shop and find the perfect gift for someone. In this case, I got to do both. I won't say who the gift is for, given that she/he may read my blog, but suffice it to say that these two little gift cards are just the icing on the cake of what I hope is the perfect present. Speaking of hope, I'm hoping this adhesive holds! Gift cards are a heavy burden to expect some patterned paper and tombo to hold...I might have to reinforce it a little.

I never really know how to make gift card holders. I've made ones that were like little envelopes. I've made rectangular pocket ones. I've never tried the diagonal angle for one, though, so I gave that a shot. I added a cute little Magnolia stamp, sitting on her bag of mail. Both images were colored with copics. Thanks for looking!

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Well, in the form of my good buddy, Guylou. We're having a blog hop on the weekend of November 27th to announce five new images in Guylou's Inimitability line of awesome digi stamps. There will be fun little prizes along the way from several of the DT members. Leave comments, follow some blogs if you choose...you will probably want to, as you'll see some awesome talent (and some of the DT may require it to win...but I am not sure on that one)! The rules, though, are that you must leave comments at every blog to qualify for the grand prize: all five new images from Guylou's store!

Here at my blog, I'll have a RAK that will include one of the new images, plus some lovely things pink. After all, pink is the best color in the whole wide world. I've gathered up some wonderful goodies. My stash is HUGE, so I have raided it, and of course, hit the craft store for some additional pink deliciousness. I'm also giving you a little, teeny tiny sneak peek of one of the new images. Come back on Saturday morning to get a full view! You won't want to miss it!

You gotta love it...

...when a blog title is right on the money. You know, like Sweet stop sketches. The sketches are definitely sweet and challenging at the same time. Or how about Mojo Monday? Definitely kick starts my mojo! Or, in this case, Inspirational card sketches. I love the sketches provided on this blog. I particularly like this week's, number 91. It's perfect for smaller cards. I made a 4.5 x 4.5 inch square card with a cute little house mouse image and old stash of Basic Grey papers. I love this design! I'm making some card kits as Christmas gifts and may just have to use this design for at least one of them. It's sometimes difficult to find sketches that work with smaller images like this one does. If you haven't checked out Inspirational card sketches yet, get your butt on over there and see! Great stuff!

Giving thanks

There's a great challenge going on over at 7 Kids College Fund to make a thank-you card using an image from the store. Although I am thankful every day for the blessings in my life and try very hard to keep a positive attitude (yes, it deserts me quite a bit sometimes, but I try!), I don't tend to make thank you cards. I don't give out cards at Thanksgiving and often thank people only verbally or through some small token. This challenge made me think about the people in my life for whom I am thankful...it also challenged me to make a thank you card that can be used for Christmas. Fact is, I've been trying to get my Christmas cards done for weeks now and I've still got quite a few to go. The challenge at 7 Kids helped me to get one more card knocked off the list. I love this little Magnolia image called "Tilda wants a hug." I used Basic Grey's new Christmas line of papers called Jovial. I love that it has so much black...such a nontraditional color for Christmas and yet so elegant! Flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts. The little red berries were a gift from my friend Tracy. Image colored with copics. The little white tag says "hugs." Oh, and a special thanks to my friend Brenda for telling me about the 7 Kids Challenge blog. I've purchased from the store before, but had somehow missed the blog. Now I'm a follower and hope to play along on other challenges, too. Head on over and see what challenges inspire you!

Whiff of Joy Blog Hop

****If you're looking for Guylou's Elegance Challenge cards, scroll down to the next post****

It's time for a blog hop over at Elisabeth Bell's Digi blog. The challenge was to make a Christmas card using any Elisabeth Bell image. That wasn't hard...I love pretty much anything Elisabeth Bell draws. I think she is incredibly talented. Consequently, I own quite a few of her stamps! I recently purchased the praying angel from Summer's store. I love her peaceful look. I had so much fun coloring her, that I stayed up late coloring her again. I put my first attempt on this card. My second attempt involves a light blue dress...watch for that one at a later date. Anyway, I added liquid applique around the image and to the big flower. The larger flower is prima, smaller are Wild Orchid Crafts, leaves are Reflections from Michael's and I found the pearl spray in the wedding aisle at Michael's. Papers are My Mind's Eye from last year's Christmas selection. As usual, I colored the image with copics. Thanks for looking!

Elegance...

Yes, I am well aware that I am not known for my elegance. I'm pretty uncouth sometimes for sure. However, in this case, I had to pull myself together and yank some of that elegance out from somewhere...I'm not really sure where it came from. The reason, you ask, that I'd make myself do something so opposite of my nature? Well, it's another challenge at Guylou's blog! Here are my cards for it:

And here's the details:

You need to use an image from Guylou's Inimitability, like Gertrude (pictured three times above, so you get the hint...it's smacking you over the head not once, not twice, but three times, people!). Your challenge is to make an elegant card. In case you're like me and are pretty clueless about what in the heck that means, that means a card that is dignified, graceful, and refined. Yeah, I had a hard time with it, too. That's why it's called a challenge!

What you can win makes all of that brain burning worth it, though. You will not only win a free digi of your choice from http://guylousinimitabilitystore.blogspot.com, but you'll also earn the chance to be a guest DT member on an upcoming challenge, and receive another free image to use in that challenge. DT exposure is good. Come on, admit it, most of us are attention-seeking in some way.

Oh, and before I forget, you can also check out Guylou's group on Crafter's Digital Art Center...I'm a member already and there's a link in the sidebar. Guylou generously shares free images with the group when we hit certain milestones. Right now, we're shooting for 300 members. We're almost there, so come on over! You can also buy any of her images at her store. The link's above, but some of you like to be smacked over the head with things, so here it is again: http://guylousinimitabilitystore.blogspot.com

And if you want to see more cards made by the wonderful DT to inspire you for this challenge, check it out at: http://guylousinimitability.blogspot.com

You've got until Dec 2 to post your card there, too! Go ahead, get to it!

Oh....a shiny...I mean, a comfy....

Yeah, yeah, that's it. The challenge at Belles n Whistles new challenge blog was to create a card using something soft and cozy. On this card, I used flower soft for the oats and liquid applique for the "fur" on the elf's outfit. It's hard to tell, but I also blinged it up with my red stardust pen on the berries and my green stardust pen on the leaves. As usual, the image was colored with copics. Believe it or not, those fab flowers came from the dollar store! I went back a few times, but they're all gone. The leaves were white...I shot them with some glimmer mist. The red mat and green background paper are DCWV specialty stack. They're really shiny, but it's hard to tell in the pic. I embossed the green background with one of the adorable Basic Grey folders. If you want to play along, you've still got time. The challenge ends on November 22. Check it out here: http://www.bnwchallenges.blogspot.com/

I love when Mr. Mojo comes home!

Well, I should rephrase that a little. I love when Mr. Mojo returns home and I have time and energy to do something about it. Although the neighbor's kids were here for the majority of the day yesterday, I've still found some time to create this weekend. I've got some flower soft drying on another image, so I hope I can get a few more cards made today. For now, here's what I've got. The cute little Tilda is for Magnolia-licious, to create a card using pink and yellow. I hope she counts...I only used yellow on the image, so she might not, but I'm going to send her over and see what they say. The next one is for Whiff of Joy's Monday challenge for a Christmas card.

Heading on down, there's a card using a Guylou's Inimitability image (link in my sidebar) for Friday's sketchers.

Then we've got this cute little girl in her granny's armchair. She's another image from Guylou's Inimitability. Card design is based on Mojo Monday's sketch.

Everyone who knows me knows that I love House Mouse images. The little mouse card is based after this week's Sweet Stop Sketch 82. I love, love, love this sketch and will probably use it repeatedly.

I apologize if the format of this post is funky. I'm still getting the hang of this blogger thing. I know, it's been months! Maybe the truth of the matter is that I just don't take the time to learn it better. Yeah, that's probably it, but that makes me sound lazy. Then again, I guess that's better than sounding dumb....

Oh, yeah, before I forget, if you want to catch some awesome inspiration, here's the links to the challenge blogs from this post, in no particular order:

http://fridaysketchersblog.blogspot.com/

http://sweetstopsketches.blogspot.com/

http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/

http://wojmondaychallenge.blogspot.com/

http://magnolia-liciouschallengeblog.blogspot.com/

A Day of Rest

Typically, I think a lot of people hear "day of rest" and think of Sunday. This week, mine came on Saturday. I spent the day at home, watching movies and just chilling out.

Oh, and that little cutie in the pic is one of my siamese. Sophie likes to curl up in a chair while I work on my crafty stuff. That is, when she is not at my feet, trying to get in my lap, or generally being curious. Doesn't she look so cute, all bundled up in a kitty ball?

Why, there you are, mojo!

Woot-woot, my mojo came home. Little Mr. Mojo went on a sabbatical for a bit there. Sketches always help, but tonight, I felt inspired without them. In fact, I mainly used them so I could participate in some great challenge blogs. I love challenge blogs. It's fun to make myself stick within certain rules and guidelines...I guess that's what makes it a challenge, right? And Lord knows, I'm not always good at following rules. Challenge blogs give me the opportunity to follow the rules and feel good about it, not to mention potentially being rewarded for it!

So, anyhow, here's how it goes. The cute little CC Designs guy with the cupcake is for http://sweetsketchwednesday.blogspot.com, challenge 75. I originally colored him with intentions of using him for this week's Simon Says challenge to do a male card with a charm, but that didn't work out. However, he worked perfectly for the challenge at SSW, to follow a sketch. I had the ruler paper in my scraps. Since I'm trying hard to keep my scraps pile from growing large enough to hide one of my cats, that made me happy. His little cupcake is covered in liquid applique and then sprinkled with Martha Stewart mica glitter. I've gotta do an aside here to give thanks to my friend Brenda, who sent me some Neenah paper. I'd never used it before; I'm a big fan of Gina K. This Neenah paper was awesome, though. I'm glad I tried it. I might have to get some for those times that the Gina K is too thick or too glossy.

Moving on...the friend card with the adorable Sarah Kay image is sketch challenge 25 at http://peartreedesigns.blogspot.com. As instructed, I followed the sketch exactly and didn't flip it or any of my other usual tricks. I love the simplicity of this card. I'm pretty proud of myself for tying a fairly decent bow, too. That's not one of my strong suits. I got myself a bow easy and that sucker grew legs and walked. Now I am tying my bows by hand until it turns up. I'd sure like to know where some of my craft supplies and mojo take their vacations. I might follow them. I need a vacation.

Wait, I digress. So, what else is new? Back to the cards. The third and final card is for the Sweet Stop sketch challenge 81. I am in love with everything apple lately. If it's got an apple on it, it's mine. I have to have it. On this card, I used my fabulous nestabilities. I cut the apple once around the image, then cut it again out of the red checkboard paper. Then I used the scalloped oval to cut the center of the apple out so the image could show through, and layered it on top. The cute little leaves are from Wild Orchid Crafts. Check them out...their flowers and leaves are gorgeous! Sentiment stamp is Magnolia. I had so much fun making this card.

This is a wonderful way to start the weekend. I need to clean my bathrooms this weekend, and maybe do a few other little cleaning chores, but my hope is to create, create, create. So, let's just hope that Mr. Mojo does not go on another vacation, shall we? Well, at least, I hope he doesn't. As always, thanks for reading my ramblings!

Oh, the meltdown...

My fellow grievers know just what I am talking about. It's that rush of emotion that jumps up and beats the crap out of you before you have a chance to brace yourself. It's the over-the-top sobbing that leaves your eyes swollen til you can't see out of them and your nose as red as Rudolph's. When it's finally over and you fall asleep, the reminder just bites you in the ass the next day, because you wake up with a killer headache and a puffy Pillsbury doughboy face. Yeah, that's the one. It hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks on Friday night. I don't know why. Maybe I'm overtired. I know I'm stressed. I was PMSing, too. Whatever excuse I want to give it, the fact of the matter is that grief just punches you whenever the hell that bully feels like it. It's usually a sucker punch, too, because, well, grief is a bully, after all.

So, anyhow, sometimes, I am pushed to journal by that little voice in my head (shh...don't tell anyone it's still there, LOL). Puffy eyed, unable to see the darned monitor, I was thanking my obnoxious typing teacher for the fact that I can find the keys without looking. That man was a menace, but at least he taught me how to type. A few days later, I got the journaling printed out onto paper for a layout. Here it is:
If you're actually reading this blog, that means you're probably interested, so I won't torture you and make you squint or try to blow it up. On the flip side, since the journaling doesn't seem to want to paste from Word, I'm also not going to torture myself or risk another meltdown by retyping it. It's not totally mean of me. You can find it here: http://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/203797/view/2993155/-1.html

And now, I am going to go drink a huge bottle of water and watch my new fave show, "How I Met Your Mother." For those of you out there who are grieving, too, I send you big hugs. It's a sucky ride, isn't it?

Time to remember those...

...who have helped us in some way, any way at all. Did someone do something nice for you recently? Think about it, and I'm sure you can think of so many someones that did something good for you or someone you love. I mean heck, even if your friends and family are acting like total brats right now (I doubt they ALL are, but some people might disagree with me), there's strangers out there who help you each and every day. I can think of one great example and that's our wonderful military, who put themselves on the line for us repeatedly throughout their years of service. There's others, too...firefighters, policemen, nurses, doctors, the kid down the street who mowed your lawn....yeah, yeah, I'm feelin' all gooey and grateful today. It's Guylou's fault. She's having a contest on her blog, and it's a super easy one. Think of someone you'd like to thank and make them a card using one of Guylou's Inimitability images. If you don't already have one, where in the heck have you been? Oooppss...(thought to self - stop the snark, stop the snark, stop the snark). Ahem, let me rephrase that...if you don't already have one, head on over to Guylou's Inimitability and get one! The link is in my sidebar but I want to display the fact that I can finally get links into my posts now, too, so here you go: http://guylousinimitability.blogspot.com/


And just in case you want a taste of what some of her images look like, check out these two cards. I added Magnolia stamps to the pumpkin and wheelbarrow and fall scenes from G's store. What are you waiting for? Get started! Oh, yeah, and it's due by November 18, which gives you time to create. Don't pretend like it doesn't. Come on, get to it!

Sketch to the rescue again

Once again, I am rescued by a sketch. I colored this adorable little image from Sugar Nellie months ago. Yes, really, MONTHS. Like, sometime in July or August. Anyway, he's called "Worried." Doesn't he look so sad, hugging his friend the teddy bear? He just makes me want to go find him and hug his little self. I think this image is great for any kind of card conveying sadness and/or disappointment, such as "I'm Sorry" or "Get Well" or even just "Cheer Up" cards. In this case, I chose to use him for an "I Miss You" card. I've been missing my friend Bernadette lately. She's on my mind a lot right now, because this is a difficult time of year for her. I saw the sketch over at http://sugarbowlblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/challenge-47-maria-thereses-sketch.html and it seemed perfect to showcase this cutie. It was like kismet or something, because the requirement was to use a Sugar Nellie image and I found the sketch on a Sugar Nellie challenge blog without even intending to look there...I was flipping through all of my blogs on my dashboard and there it was! Anyhow, I distressed and inked the edges. I'll shut up now and show him off. Here you go:

And unfortunately, I cannot add the disclaimer that no animals were harmed in the making of this product. My cat Sophie loves to sit at my feet when I am at my craft table. Usually, she rubs up against my legs to make her presence known, and occasionally jumps on my lap or the table because her curiousity cannot be contained. Well, this time, she decided to act like a stealth fighter and creep up on me. I didn't know she was there, and I pushed my chair back to get up. I caught one of her little paws under the wheel of the chair and she cried out. Poor little baby. She seems to be fine, though. No limping, no tenderness (she let me squeeze her paw and kiss it), and she's running around even now, chasing her sister, Athena. Since she really seems okay, I only feel a smidgen of guilt, rather than the huge wave that could have crashed on me if she was seriously hurt. I know siamese are supposed to be vocal cats, but I can assure you that they're pretty darned quiet when they want to be. I never saw her coming. Sheesh.