Gina speak

How about some cheese with that whine?

2012-02-11T14:11:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling a bit whiny today. My cats are acting like idiots, hissing and growling at each other. My abs hurt from my workout class last night. I'm hungry, but there's nothing I want to eat in my house. I rented movies from the RedBox last night but now I don't feel like watching them. You know, typical poor-pitiful-me, I'm just a whiner because there's nothing seriously wrong whining. (and yes, I realize that many, many people have it worse today. I just feel whiny!). I don't feel sad or depressed, just whiny. My intention for this weekend was to make a ton of Mother's Day cards for Operation Write Home. It seems way too early to make Mom's Day cards, but I understand why they need them now. They've got to get organized and shipped, and it takes a while for stuff to make it to our troops sometimes. I just can't get into the groove of making them this early, so that's yet another whine. Mr. Mojo took a flying leap off a building today, or maybe he took a vacation to Hawaii, I don't know. He's not here, though. Another whine. I decided to power through his absence and my mood to make a few cards, anyway. My cousin spoiled me for Christmas and got me the Grand Calibur and labels 1. I used a coupon and got Labels 4, too. Although I unwrapped this fabulous gift about two weeks ago, I finally got the chance to pull out the machine and play with it today. I wanted to make a shaped card. My friend Brenda is the queen of shaped cards. In fact, it's her fault that even had the Grand Calibur on my Amazon wishlist. She really inspired me with her cards. You can check out her work HERE.

I colored tons of images over the last year or so. Some of them have just been sitting there, waiting to get slapped onto a card. This was one of them. Even though she is one of my favorite Elisabeth Bell images, it took me a while to get her placed on a card this time around.

I wanted to add flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, but refrained since this card is for OWH. When the cards are too thick, they can't fit as many in the box that goes to the base, so I try to refrain from using overly thick embellies. That is very hard for me, and it caused me to discover that I don't have many flatter embellies in my stash!

The image is kind of cold weather-ish, with her heavy sweater and long pants, but since Mom's Day is in the spring, that wouldn't work. So, I used floral paper and butterflies to invoke warmer weather thoughts. I used a butterfly punch, a half of a doily, and some pearls to fill up some empty areas. The colors are actually a light peach and sage green, but for some reason, it looks more orange. This card opens twice. The shaped area opens to reveal a note for the soldier's mom, like this:

And then the rectangular background opens to form a blank area for him/her to write a letter to mom. I made another card shortly after this one. Maybe I'll get up the energy to show you that one later. For now, I think I'm going to go chill out for a bit and see if I can shake this mood. Maybe I'll have some cheese and crackers. It would suit my whine. As always, thanks for stopping by. Hopefully, I won't be acting like such a spoiled brat the next time you come for a visit.

Helping more heroes to write home

2012-01-25T13:05:00.000-05:00

This is the last of my cards for Operation Write Home. I was going to put off sending the box until I could add a few more, but I just don't know when that will be. So, I'll send this box and then work on the next one as I get the chance. One of these days, I'm going to start working on my Christmas cards for this year, too, in hopes that I actually get to send some! And in there somewhere, I need to work on some more scrapbook layouts and cards for birthdays and such. Well, I guess there's just not enough hours in the day or enough visits from Mr. Mojo, either. I'll do what I can and be happy with that.

Anyway, back to the cards. Images are (clockwise from upper left): The Greeting Farm, Sugar Nellie Gorjuss, Elisabeth Bell (for Belles n' Whistles), and Gruffies. All were colored with copics. I try to keep my OWH cards from getting too heavy or too embellie-happy, because I figure it's hard for them to write on both sides of the card if the back side of the image feels bumpy all over. Plus, I also worry about embellie-happy cards getting squished between mailing to the OWH rep, then mailing overseas, then coming back home when the soldier sends it. That's a lot of travel for one little card!
Please consider making some cards to help our deployed military keep in touch with home. Have a fantastic day!

Are you tired of me yet?

2012-01-21T15:41:00.001-05:00

I know, I didn't post for a bit. I got caught up in all of the holiday madness, I think. Now things are settled once again (well, as settled as they can ever be in my household) and I'm back in creating mode. I'm still trying to make cards for Operation Write Home, but in between that, I need some cards for upcoming birthdays. Are you tired of seeing all of my creations yet? I think I've posted more this month than I have in the last two months combined, and the month is only a little half over. Yay for visits from Mr. Mojo! I'm trying hard to get involved in challenges again and take advantage of his visit, that's for sure!
It snowed here near Baltimore last night. Not much, but just enough to remind us that it's winter, and to make us slip and slide a little while walking on the sidewalks. It seemed the perfect time to finally make my card for the latest Belles N Whistles challenge. This time around, they've asked us to make a "frosty" creation. I colored this image last weekend, but it wasn't until today that I actually got the chance to put her on a card. Isn't she adorable?

Image is one of Elisabeth Bell's from Belles N Whistles snowbaby collection. Again, isn't she cute? If you don't think so, look a little closer:

Come on, you gotta admit that she makes you smile! I colored her with copics, leaving some hard lines at the edges this time rather than totally blending them. Then I added some flowersoft and liquid applique to the image for texture. I cut her out with a spellbinders die and added some silver liquid pearls around the edges to make her stand out even more on my embellie-happy card. The embellishments are all from my stash. Papers are Heidi Grace. I'm entering her in the Frosty challenge, but also in hopes of joining their GDT. I'd love to be on an Elisabeth Bell DT, or two, or three....Wouldn't it be exciting to be on their DT and get to work with her new images??

Hey, baby, it's cold outside!

2012-01-19T23:30:00.008-05:00

Well, not as cold as it usually is for this time of year, but it's gettin' a wee bit chilly out there now. At least, near Baltimore it is, and in honor of winter, we're having a cool color challenge over at Guylou's Inimitability. It's our leader G's turn to host, and she's chosen a beautiful color combination to start off our year. Happy 2012!

What do you think? Pretty and cool, huh? I really love this combination of colors. At first, I was going to go with a whole winter theme, since the colors seem to inspire that. I was sitting here, thinking about it, when Abie, my newest cat, walked over and started chattering at me. He stared up at me with those big blue eyes, and it gave me a different idea. How about a kitty card?

This is one of my favorite G images. I just love cats, and I love how these two make a heart shape as they snuggle. I actually have a picture of my girls doing something similar. In keeping with the color challenge, I used my copics and colored the kitties in shades of grey, then used blue ribbon, as well as blue, white, and grey paper. I ran the top paper through my crimper, and now the texture of it reminds me of the blanket I have on my bed. Yeah, I make loose associations like that. Anyway, I was going to go all embellie-happy on it, but something told me to slow it down and look at the card again. I decided that I like the simple look of it, so I put the flowers and other bits of embellishments away. I hope you like it!

Now it's time to make your own card. What inspires you about this color combination? Use that inspiration and get crafting, already!

Challenge details:
Your project must be in this color scheme. One entry per person. Upload to Guylou's Inimitability by 10 p.m. EST on February 2nd. You don't have to use a GI image, but if you do, your entry counts twice! You could win a $10 gift certificate to G's store, a one year subscription to Through the Craftroom Door magazine, and a chance to be a guest DT on a future challenge. Pretty nice prizes, aren't they?!? So, what are you waiting for? Stop reading my rambling chatter and go make something! And if you're still feeling low on inspiration, check out the work by G's fabulous DT (links in my sidebar). Those ladies inspire me, and I know they'll do the same for you. Happy crafting!

By the way, here's another challenge blog to check out: Charisma Card Challenges. The challenge this time around is Clean and Simple. Check it out, my card fits!

Helping our heroes write home

2012-01-15T18:47:00.000-05:00

Finally, Mr. Nasty Cold has decided to vacate the premises. I felt much better today, but still didn't really have the energy to run the errands I needed to run. I did sit down to make some cards for Operation Write Home, though. For those of you who aren't aware, OWH is an organization that collects handmade cards for our deployed military to use to write to their loved ones at home. I have been so busy with Soldier's Angels lately that I've been neglecting OWH. Granted, I send each of the soldiers a blank card when I write to them each week, but that's no excuse. So, I decided that I need to get a bunch of cards together for OWH. So far, I'm up to 14. I'm hoping to make a few more before I send the box off.

I made these two cards tonight:

As you can see, both are rather flowery and feminine. I decided I wanted to make a card that could be sent to a child, since many of our military have children at home that miss their parents something fierce. It's also a bit more masculine than the above cards, so it could be sent to an adult male relative who isn't skeered of a few hearts. I went to OWH's Stars and Stamps for some inspiration, and found it in a sketch. Go check it out! My card doesn't follow the sketch exactly, but as you all know, I have a really hard time with that. I tend to use a sketch as a jumping off point more than a strict map to follow. Here's what I came up with:

I thought that a House Mouse image would be perfect, since they're just too cute. Thanks to my friend Tracy for the sentiment, which I have used several times now. Ok, now you've seen what I've got for tonight. Now how about giving it a shot...make some cards to send to our soldiers, so they can connect with home. I know, I'm bossy, but hey, it's a good cause!

You would think that Mr. Mojo would be like most men...

2012-01-14T21:05:00.000-05:00

...and avoid me when I'm sick. After all, I'm a bad patient. I whine. I'm cranky. I want you to leave me alone, but be close enough to get me anything I happen to yell for. Most men would run for the hills, but it seems that Mr. Mojo likes it, because not only did he show up yesterday, but he came over to my house today, too. Granted, I was feeling better today. Not 100%. I had to cancel my day out with my gram and aunt because I didn't feel quite well enough for excursions to another state (and didn't want to make them sick), but I was feeling a bit better. I colored a couple of images today. For the first time, I tried stamping on kraft paper and coloring it with copics. Now, THAT was an interesting endeavor. The copics come out very differently on kraft paper, as you'd imagine. It was a lot differently than I expected, though, but I guess the results aren't bad. Check it out:

Paper is kraft, bazzill (brown cardstock), and Webster's Pages. Flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts. The brown pleated ribbon came from Hobby Lobby. I added liquid pearls around the image, which was cut out with Spellbinders nestabilities. I added flowersoft below her little foot. Isn't she too cute? She's another Elisabeth Bell image from my collection. I'm pretty sure I got her at Sweet Pea Stamps. I have so many Elisabeth Bell images now that I sometimes forget which great store they came from! If you get the chance, swing by Lynette's store. She's got lots of great rubber stamps from awesome artists, and her customer service is fantastic.

This card is for the following challenges:
BnW challenge blog: warm earth colors
Charisma Card Challenges: birthday card
Simon Says Stamp challenge: spots or stripes
Sketch Saturday: week 190

As always, thanks for looking! And wish me luck; I hope to feel well enough tomorrow to get to Target so I can buy some stuff for my new soldier. I don't know if I told you, but the marine I adopted through Soldier's Angels is coming home (yay!!! I'm so excited for her!). So, I adopted another soldier and I need to send him a kick ass care package to introduce myself and remind him that his sacrifices and dedication are not forgotten.

Being sick sucks, but Tylenol cold is some good stuff!

2012-01-13T21:42:00.000-05:00

I didn't go to work today. When my alarm went off at 7:00 this morning, I pretty much felt like my body had met with a truck, and the truck had won. I went back to sleep for a bit, woke up long enough to realize I still felt like crud and that moving further than grabbing my cell off of my nightstand just wasn't a good idea. I called out and went right back to sleep until lunch time. At that point, I got up long enough to shove some food down my throat and plant my butt on the couch. All afternoon, I plied myself with Tylenol Cold and didn't move from my couch. Around 4:00 or so, I got a spurt of energy. I came upstairs, checked out some blogs, and started to make a card. Dizziness took over, and I went back to the couch. Then I came back up here and did some more to the card. Then I laid down again. Got up, did some more, then laid down again. You get the idea. Here it is, almost time for bed. I still feel achey. My head hurts, and I feel a little bit dizzy. However, this card kept calling to me to be finished. It took quite a few hours, and many stops and starts due to Mr. Nasty or whatever this is, but I finally finished my card. I really think Tylenol Cold helped out quite a bit, too. It seems to work better for me than most OTC drugs for knocking out the nasties.

Anyway, here it is:

Let's see if I can remember all I used on this card.
Paper and effects done to it: Well, there's plain old craft paper from the value paks at either Michael's or Hobby Lobby. There's some Basic Grey white basics paper. Most of the paper was distressed and one piece was crimped. Then I played around with some Copic White Opaque paint on it. I am in love. It gives a great effect and dried quickly. I used a fiskars border punch at the bottom. Oh, and the scallops and oval for the image to rest on are from Nestabilities dies.
Sentiment: The stamp is from Inkadinkado, and I stamped it on Kraft paper then cut it with a Magnolia tag die. I added some twisted twine to the top of the tag, as well as the white opaque paint.
Embellishments: The flowers and silver corner piece are from Wild Orchid Crafts. The ribbon is from Michael's. The lace is old lace that I got in a big basket of lace at an antique shop. The butterfly is from prima's canvas collection; I embossed it and then I misted it with three different Glimmer Mists.
The image (the most important part!): She's an Elisabeth Bell image from Whiff of Joy. I've had this one for a while and she remains one of my favorites. I colored her with copics, but it's been so long that I have no recollection of the colors I used. Then I covered her with Crackle Effects. It's hard to see that in the photo, but she has a really neat effect with the little crackles everywhere.

I'm entering this card in the Digi Bells "anything goes" challenge for guest DT spots. I'd love to be on their GDT. I have been a fan of Elisabeth Bell's images for a long time, and probably have 75-100 of them. They're just too cute to do anything but buy them and bring them home!!! I'm always so excited to get them in the mail (or email, for digi).

Fabulous Fun with the Greeting Farm

2012-01-09T20:59:00.000-05:00

As I've already said in the last post or two, I'm trying hard to build up my stash of cards to send to deployed soldiers, that they can then use to write home. The Farm Fresh Challenge this week really got me thinking and I wanted to make a card for it. I mean, after all, it's a challenge about pink, polka dots, and ribbon, which are three things that I love! Unfortunately, Mr. Mojo was being a brat tonight. He just didn't feel like helping me out. I made two cards and hated them both. In fact, I hated them so much that I tore them apart, because I didn't want to waste this cute image on them. I think she's retired, because I didn't see her in the store and I know I've had her for a while. After much tossing and cutting of paper, I finally came up with this card:

I hope it doesn't sound too vain, but I like it! Of course, since nothing was going my way tonight, I didn't notice that I put the one piece of paper too low, so I had to make up for that with a tab and some pearls. Of course, that also meant that the big ribbon covered up most of the dog's face in the patterned paper, and I was hoping to have him peeking out a bit more. Then I realized that the challenge said two pieces of ribbon, and you can't see the velvet piece behind the big bow. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to get another piece on there. Then I got the idea to tie some twine through a button. Man, I hope twine counts. If not, then I hope that the ribbon behind the big bow counts!!! If not, at least I got a card made, right? And I still like it, which I definitely can't always say.

Anyway, head on over to the Farm Fresh Challenge blog. It's a recipe this week to make a card with pink, polka dots, and two ribbons. Come on, don't you have a cute Greeting Farm stamp in your stash, just calling to you to color him or her up?!?!? I had quite a few. You've got to have at least one, and if not, they sell digis! Get on over there and get one!

Sometimes, it's okay to have a mouse in the house

2012-01-08T19:03:00.000-05:00

When it's a House Mouse stamp, that is. I got some time to create this weekend. I'm trying hard to build up my stash of cards for soldiers that they can use to write home. With the weekly letter writing, my stash has gotten extraordinarily low. I didn't have any motivation to color, so I used some images that I had colored months ago, and came up with these cards:

I have long been a fan of House Mouse images, and their cute counterparts Happy Hoppers (bunnies) and Gruffies (bears). They're just too cute, as well as fun to color.

I got this little guy with his inkwell and pen on ebay. Even though it's one of the more simple of the HM stamps I own, it's also one of my favorites. I love how you can put a sentiment up near his pen tip and make it look like he's written it. It also makes for a sweet card every time, with minimal time needed for coloring if you are in a hurry.

I also love the images with fruit, for some reason, especially when their little tummies are all fat. It just cracks me up.

As always, thanks for taking a peek at my blog! Have a wonderful week. I've got a busy one coming up this week, but maybe I'll find more time to create in there somewhere.

Friend to Friend

2012-01-02T17:40:00.001-05:00

I know, I know. I disappeared for a couple of weeks. Sorry about that. The holiday hubbub drew me in and kept me running! Then this weekend came and I got so much done. I even got some time to create. I already showed you the three cards I made for the soldier's family. This card is for a dear friend of mine who just needs a pick-me-up. She's a generous, kind soul and although she struggles with health issues, she continues to put her own needs to the side for others. I tease her that I am going to teach her how to say "no". Truly, though, her giving nature is one of the many things I love about her. Now if I could just get her to see that she needs to take care of herself, too....

Anyway, I used my new DCWV stack of adhesive fabric paper. That stuff is REALLY sticky. Everything else is from my stash. I know that the ecru lace was on sale at a Joann's when it was closing its doors, the pink rose ribbon is from Hancock Fabrics (I think), the pink leaves are from Joann's dollar spot, and I bought the crocheted flower in a lot on ebay. The pink polka dot border is a self-adhesive fabric border, but I don't know which company makes it. The lined paper is a journaling spot from Heidi Swapp. Oh, and the fabric leaves are Prima. I think that covers almost all of it.

As always, thanks for looking!! I sincerely appreciate your comments, but I haven't figured out yet how to change the comment section to say so. I'm a bit of a techno-idiot like that.

Oh, yeah! I almost forgot!!! I started this card using a sketch over at Cardabilities. It's sketch #46. Go check it out!!!

Thinking of our military on New Years

2011-12-31T20:22:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone in the blogosphere is having a safe and happy day, counting down to the New Year. I got a letter from my marine yesterday that made my day. She is coming home to her two year old son in February, just in time for his birthday. She wrote me to thank me for the letters and care packages, and tell me how much they meant to her over the last 6 months or so. Now that Jessica is coming home, I'm going to adopt another soldier. In the mean time, I'll keep writing letters to a new soldier each week. This week, the soldier's story really touched my heart and made it hurt for him and his family. This is his second deployment. Five days after he was deployed, he found out that his daughter has cancer. His wife and daughter are currently at the hospital while his daughter undergoes treatment, and his son is several hundred miles away from them (and he is several thousand miles away!). I wanted to do a little extra something for him, rather than just writing a letter. Well, for several of them, I include a blank card that they can use to send a note to family. In his case, I'm going to include a donation towards a phone card or internet service (they have to pay $70/month for it, where he is stationed), as well as a card each for his wife, son, and daughter. Here are the cards I've made. I used some images that I had already colored.

This is the card for his wife. The "I'm Yours" is actually a pin that she can later remove and wear, if she so chooses. Image is Edwin from Magnolia. Papers are Prima.

And these are the cards for his kids. The little monkey card is for his son, and the House Mouse card is for his daughter. Many thanks to my awesome friend Tracy for making the sentiment for me!

In each card, I added a folding piece of paper so he can write a lengthy note to each one of them. This New Year's, stay safe, stay warm, be happy and please...remember those courageous men and women who sacrifice for us each and every day!

I hope I don't have to draw a new winner

2011-12-10T00:28:00.002-05:00

Ursula, please contact me by Tuesday to claim your prize from our Guylou's Inimitability blog hop. If not, I'm going to have to draw another winner and I don't want to do that to you!

Congratulations to Ursula!

2011-12-05T12:23:00.000-05:00

First off, thanks to everyone who hopped along with us on Saturday. I hope you got lots of inspiration and had fun, too!

The winner of my secret RAK and Dorothy Makes a Snow Angel is:

Ursula Uphof

Congratulations, Ursula! Please email me at RSL314 (at) verizon (dot) net with your home address, so I can mail you the RAK. I will also email you the certificate to use for your free Guylou's Inimitability image, Dorothy Makes a Snow Angel.

Are you ready to play a fun game with Guylou's Inimitability?

2011-12-03T08:00:00.001-05:00

Hey, there, all the readers in blogland! I'm a bit punchy today; it's been a super busy week both personally and at work, so I'm rather tired and slap happy. I promise, I'm usually pretty sane. Most of the time. LOL.

Ok, ok, I'll get to the point. It's coming up on Christmas! I love Christmas and have such a great time making gifts for family and friends. I usually make Christmas cards, too, but I didn't do too much of that this year. Time just got away from me. Man, I can't seem to stop being tangential today. Sorry about that. Back to it: we're having a hop at Guylou's Inimitability. If you've made it here from our wonderful NEW DT member Chana's blog, then you're in the right spot. If you get lost at any point, head on back to Guylou's Inimitability for some direction.

First off, welcome, Chana! We're so happy to have you with us on our DT. You rock, girl!

This is our awesomest hop of the year. We've got so many prizes, freebies, and a fun game, too! All you have to do is visit each stop on the hop, leave a comment, and collect the secret word on each blog...it shouldn't be too hard, since our DT has made every effort to um...showcase and provide some form of highlight on their particular word. Once you've got all of the words, reorganize them to a Christmas phrase and go to Guylou's Inimitability and put it in the InLinkz on the GI blog. You should have nine words once you've collected them all. Two people with the correct phrase will win gift certificates to the Guylou's Inimitability store. We're not done there, though. I mean, after all, it's coming up on Christmas, people!

In addition to the chance to win a gift certificate, you could win free images. At the end of the hop, each DT member will draw a name from their commenters. One lucky commenter per blog will win the image used on that DT member's blog. In my case, you can win Dorothy Makes a Snow Angel. Isn't she darling? Check her out:

I made her into a tag for my aunt's Christmas present (the to and from are on the back). She's a shakerbox full of teeny, tiny blingy beads. The light reflects off of those beads like crazy! I added some silver ribbon, which I attached with KI Gloo to the back. Papers are Basic Grey. I used Liquid Applique to suggest the snow angel shape.

Oh, yeah, back to prizes and such. We're not done yet! Not only will I give away Dorothy Makes a Snow Angel to one lucky winner, but I'll also be giving away a secret Christmas RAK! Trust me, it's yummy. I'll give you a hint of some of the things you might find in it: a Tim Holtz mini bird with cage die, a 6x6 paper pad or two, maybe some ribbon and buttons....I tend to go a bit overboard with my shopping, so trust me, you will love it!

We're STILL not done. Just for participating in this hop, everyone is eligible to receive two free digis from Guylou's store. You can get the wreath with the bow as well as without it. Just add it to your cart at the GI digi store and apply the coupon code 2011-12-BH-WREATH.

Did you catch all of that? In short, we're having fun at Christmas time, offering prizes, a game, and two free images!!! Thank you so much for your support throughout this year. Have fun hopping! Your next stop is my awesome buddy, Sara. Just in case you need it, here's the blog order:

Chana
Gina (you are here!)
Sara
Tracy
Trina
Kim
Carmen
Guylou
Guylou's Inimitability

Thanks for coming by and Merry Christmas!!!!

(Did you get my secret word yet? I'm seeing red....)

The secret life of a marriage

2011-11-20T23:15:00.000-05:00

I didn't plan on posting again today, or any time within the next few days, for that matter. I will blame it on Stephen King. I used to read his books repeatedly. Repeatedly, as in, I read books like It at least five times. I lost my passion for horror for a bit there, though. Then he released his new compilation of short stories. My brother got it, read it in two days, and loaned it to me. In one of the stories, he talks about the secret life of a marriage, consisting of ordinary day-to-day things that speak about that life and that relationship. Simple things, like where he puts his toothbrush, what side of the bed he sleeps on, and so on. If you are in a committed relationship, then you know what Mr. King means. I think it also encompasses things like those decisions you make together: the big ones such as where to live and the smaller ones, like what furniture to buy. Only the two of you know every step and detail that happened during that decision-making process. It's a life that's secret from everyone else, because only the two of you know the intimate details of it. His story got me thinking about that life that Rick and I shared. As usual, when the grief hits one of the bottomless ocean pits, it helps me to journal about it. I had my cry, then came up to my computer and journaled. Then I felt that internal push to put that journaling on a LO for his memorial album. Unfortunately, my design mojo is vacationing right now, probably someplace warmer than it is here in Maryland. So, I went hunting for a sketch to kick start the process. I found the new sketch, posted today at Sketch Support. It's sketch #15 and suited my purposes perfectly.

The layout is called: The Secret Life of a Marriage. Papers are Cosmo Cricket and the cardstock is Bazzill dotted swiss. I love that stuff! The hearts were in a pack from Walmart, I think. The ribbon is from Hobby Lobby. Letters are felt (red) and the tiny alphas, from Making Memories. The journaling says:
Perfectly matched oak furniture, found after much hunting and discussion. Simple gold lamps. Rotation of the items displayed above the tv. The maroon crocheted throw. The green throw pillows. Your toothbrush on the shelf. Hairspray clouds in the bathroom. The sound of your shaver. Colorless walls, covered in pictures we spent so much time choosing and hanging. These are just some of the things that made up the secret life of our marriage. I bought new furniture, removed the matching lamps, remodeled the bathroom, replaced the pictures, and painted the off-white walls. Part of me thinks that I did these things to prove to myself that I could move forward; to prove to myself that I could get past this, even though sometimes, I’m not so sure that I can. Sometimes, I miss you so much that I want to take it all back to matching furniture and eggshell walls, just so I can hear your voice again, disagreeing with me on the merits of mixing patterns.

As always, thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sketch Support's DT Call

2011-11-20T17:42:00.001-05:00

First off, prepare for a post of epic length. Fair warning!!! I know that none of you are surprised, since you all know that I can chat the ears off of an elephant. Now, on to the purpose of this post: they're having a DT call over at Sketch Support. Well, wait. Before I go any further, I have to thank Jill Sargenson (peenut_23 on scrapbook.com) for telling everyone about the DT call in a general post to the community. I've decided to give it a shot, although I may not stand a snowball's chance in hell. But hey, if you don't try, then you can never succeed, right? Sketch Support has challenged us to create three projects, and gave us four sketches to choose from. As you know, I love sketches. I love to use them as inspiration, more than anything else. I like to take them and put my own spin on them. After all, I think that's what they're all about. They're a jumping off point to get your mojo flowing.

First, I chose the card sketch #11, and turned it into a layout. It just seemed to suit my photos so well.

Here's my take on it:

Papers are all Bazzill, dotted swiss or metallic. I used my brown journaling pen to make a dotted border around the pictures, and attached two buttons using KI Gloo. Love that stuff! The pictures are Chinese Elm trees that were on display at the Botanical Gardens in Montreal. I didn't feel the need to journal on the LO, because you can actually see the display's description plate on the far left tree. Plus, this LO will get sandwiched between other LOs of the gardens, which do have journaling. I took quite a few pictures at the Botanical Gardens. They were gorgeous!

Next, I decided to tackle the add-on, even though I knew this would be the hardest for me. I'm okay with paper-piecing, but have the hardest time with exact measurements.

What a cute little camera, right? I went back and forth on what to do with it: 1) put it on a layout and call it "oh, snap"; 2) put it on a joke card with the punch line of "oh snap"; 3) add a picture to the middle; 4) cut a card in this shape, with the sentiment in the lens area...the list goes on and on. I decided to peek through my huge stash of pictures waiting to be scrapped, to see if anything spoke to me. Well, I found a few miscellaneous pictures of my nephew Austin throughout the years. Then I found this awesome quote online, and from there, I just started playing with papers and embellishments. Here's what I came up with:

Papers are a mix of American Crafts and Basic Grey. You can see my little camera down on the right. I think it turned out halfway decent, which shocked the heck out of me!!! Anyway, the embellishments are KI Memories, from my stash that I've had forever. The adhesive had worn off the back, so I used glue dots to attach them. Then I added a few shaped heart buttons and stamped a border with a Sassafras Lass stamp set. I journaled in some circles I cut out of Creative Memories lined paper, then matted them using a scalloped circle punch.

Lastly, I turned the two page sketch into a card. I guess I was just feeling cantankerous tonight, and didn't feel like using anything like it was intended. Sheesh. I just used the sketches in the way that they spoke to me. So, here's the two page LO sketch:

I took the right hand side and made this card from it:

Papers are Basic Grey Figgy Pudding. The bow was tied using ribbon from the Dollar Spot at Michael's. The snowflakes are Jolee's and mounted on vellum that I cut using my nestabilities. I inked the edges of the paper and punched the one paper with an EK Success snowflake border punch. The card measures 5x6.5. The dp is cut in 2x3 inch rectangles, then matted on a piece of dotted swiss cardstock.

Well, if you read all of that, you are a patient soul and I thank you! If I don't make the DT, well, at least I got some projects done, right?!? Just in case I don't post again before the holiday, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, with lots of time and love from family and friends, plus a ton of yummy turkey!!!

We're having a cheerful Christmas over at Guylou's

2011-11-18T01:00:00.002-05:00

And we'd love for you to join us! It's time for another challenge over at Guylou's Inimitability. This time around, it's Kim's turn to host. She's a fun-loving person with a great sense of humor, who always has some interesting idea up her sleeve. It's no different now.

I don't know about you, but I am way behind on making my Christmas cards. I think I've made a total of three so far. I think Kim read my mind and knew I needed something to really get me motivated to make more, so she gave us a fun challenge. I'm sure you've already guessed that we're making Christmas cards. Not just any old Christmas cards, though. These ones need to include a wreath. I used one of Guylou's new wreath images for my card.

I wanted to keep it pretty clean and simple this time. I colored lightly with a green watercolor pencil, then went over the whole thing with my stardust pens. In real life, this sucker blings all over the darned place.

Guylou has plenty of images in her store to choose from, but we accept all projects that fit the challenge criteria (Christmas card with a wreath). However, if you use a GI image, you get an extra chance to win the fabulous prize! G is generously donating a $10 gift card to her store, as well as a spot as a guest DT on a future challenge.

You have until 10:00 p.m. EST on December 1st to link your project to Guylou's Inimitability blog. Now it's your turn; make us a Christmas card with a wreath on it. Show us what you've got!

Abie's in the house...

2011-11-13T11:00:00.000-05:00

...and the girls are pissed! No surprise there, I guess. They keep hissing and growling at him. Sophie is especially bad about it. She stands guard and just waits for him to come anywhere near, and she starts with the low growl. She's a bit of a bully. LOL. Anyway, the funnier part is that he gives both of them a look like, "what in the hell is your problem?" and then walks away with a "I don't have time for your drama" attitude. It is totally cracking me up. Of course, I'd love it if they'd snuggle and be friendly, but I know that's going to take time. At this point, I am happy that they are not attacking each other. Here are a couple of better pics of Abie. Look at those gorgeous eyes! My fave thing about the siamese breed is their personality. They have it in spades. I must admit, though, that their eyes are a huge draw for me, too. How can you resist those baby blues?

Wish us luck!

2011-11-10T11:11:00.000-05:00

Or, more accurately, wish for no war. LOL. I'm getting a new cat on November 19th. He's a kitty I've met before, as he was my cousin's. She has to move and can't keep all of her pets. Excuse me, she can't keep her zoo (one dog, six cats, seven rabbits). I offered to take her red (also called "flame") point siamese. Siamese are my favorite breed of cat. They're inquisitive, intelligent, active, and very affectionate. Well, they're affectionate with people they know. My baby Athena is a lovebug with me, but she's very timid with others. Sophie, on the other hand, loves anyone who will pet her. So, anyway, this little guy's name is AB. He got the name when my cousin's daughter was learning the alphabet. He's not a kitten anymore, which works fine in our household, since my girls are six years old now.

AB is a bit timid and shy, but I have infinite patience and will try to let him acclimate slowly. In between my other plans for the weekend, I'm going shopping for a new carrier, toys, a litter pan, and blankets to make a cat bed (my girls seem to prefer blankets to actual cat beds). He'll hang out in my spare room and get a little bit of time out of it each day, until he and the girls can get used to each other without lots of fighting and hissing. I'm hoping it goes well. In fact, I'm hoping they get used to each other and come to love each other quickly, but I have to be realistic and realize that it might not happen that way.

So, anyhow, meet AB:

Isn't he precious? I am so sad for my cousin that she has to get rid of many of her beloved pets. I'm happy to offer him a home, where she can come visit him and love on him and know that he is safe and spoiled. I have to stop now, though. My nephew Josh told me so. He said, "Aunt Gina, please don't get another cat after this one. I don't want you to become the crazy cat lady!"

I am sure that over the coming weeks, you'll hear tales of the exploits of introducing a new cat into our home, as well as maybe seeing a layout or two about the experience. I will post more pictures once I have him here and can take them!

Another Christmas card...a few gazillion more to go...

2011-11-07T23:59:00.000-05:00

I finished another Christmas card a few days ago, but didn't want to post it and interfere with my DT post for Guylou or the blog hop post for Star, so I waited til today. This makes two cards for Christmas, and I hate to think of how many more to go. I'm actually trying to decide if I'll even send them to anyone other than close family and friends this year.

Anyway, I colored up this image last year and never managed to put her on a card. Well, more accurately, I colored this same image in the same fashion several times and this is just the last one left. She's from Elisabeth Bell and I just love her. She's so serene and lovely! I really love her huge wings, for some reason.

I originally planned to keep this card with a very soft, neutral palette. However, then I added the big snowflake. It came with the gems already attached. I tried to take it off, because I thought it was too bright. Well, I made the mistake of using my KI Gloo. That stuff sticks like dried cement and it was not going anywhere! I swear, I usually love my KI Gloo and can't say enough good things about it, except when I want to actually remove something I've mistakenly attached, that is! So, anyhow, I added all of the other bright blue gemstones so that the ones on the snowflake didn't look so lonely and out of place. It's hard to see, but there's also light blue tulle behind the image and snowflakes. Papers are Basic Grey, I think and the cardstock is Bazzill. I colored the Elisabeth Bell image with copics, but I have no clue which colors I used, since it was almost a year ago!

Two down and so many more cards to go.....Have you started your Christmas cards yet?

It's a fairy good day for a blog hop!

2011-11-06T07:00:00.003-05:00

I am thrilled to be part of Star's blog hop to celebrate her birthday, her blogaversary, and her list of 100 followers. If you are here from my pal Sara's blog, you're in the right place. If not, well, just head on over to Vicki's blog to start over. I've also got the blog roll listed later in this post. Oh, and with this whole daylight savings time thing, if a post is not up yet, come on back a bit later and it should be there. Who knows if blogger feels like cooperating with DST?

Star and I met over on CDAC. She's such a sweetie, with such a great attitude and a caring heart. Happy belated birthday, Star, my friend! It's just like her to offer presents to everyone else on her day (well, we're a bit belated, but still...). She's offering prizes on her blog for multiple winners, but you have to complete the hop. That means, you have to leave a comment at each stop. Don't worry, it may take a bit of time, but it'll be fun and inspirational! Each of the ladies on the hop has a different take on the fairy theme, and I promise that all of their work is outstanding. Star is offering even more prizes if you participate in her challenge. Curious? Well, you'll see once you make it to the end and hit Star's blog!

I need to get crackin' on making my Christmas cards. Plus, I haven't played with my Sweet Pea stamps in entirely too long. I love Ching Chou Kiuk's work. She is a phenomenal artist and I have quite a few of her images. Lynette at Sweet Pea stamps sells not only her images, but also many others that are also amazing. Check them out!

Here's my card, using Holly Fairy. I love her. She's so ethereal and just a little bit mischeivous, playing in all of that holly.

Papers are My Mind's Eye. I added bling to the image using stardust pens, and made the holly berries shine with glossy accents. It's hard to tell, but the ribbon has glitter in it. The charm says "hugs and kisses". Here's a close up of the image, so you can see the shine and bling:

One Christmas card down, what feels like a gazillion to go! And now it's time for you to continue on with the hop. Your next stop is my dear friend Brenda's blog. Bren is super talented. I promise, you're going to love this whole hop! You should have figured that out already, but I can't say enough how talented, fun, and awesome this group of ladies happens to be. Have fun! Here's the blog roll, so you don't get lost:

Vicki
Cely
Charlene
Lynn
Sara
Gina (that's me!)
Brenda
Tracy
Kim
Guylou
and the woman of the hour, STARLA!

We're thankful over at Guylou's!

2011-11-04T01:28:00.000-04:00

It's that time of year again to think about all that we have to be thankful for. Yeah, yeah, we should think of it all year long, but the fact of the matter is that sometimes, we get so caught up in whatever is happening in our lives that we don't pay attention to those little things that should make us feel grateful. Well, this time around, we're calling attention to it. It's Sara's turn to host. Sara is a dear friend of mine who listens to my vents when I'm not feeling thankful, and shares my joys when I am. I love you, girl.

Ok, enough sappy stuff and back to the challenge. Thanksgiving is fast approaching and all you need for this challenge is a bit of gratitude and a turkey. Yeah, I said a turkey. That's our challenge, after all. Make a thank you project and include a turkey somewhere on it. Easy enough, right? Here's my card:

Even though the image doesn't have a turkey on it, I gravitated towards it because I love images with apples. Plus, I still had some cute apple paper left over from another project. The image is colored with copics. You can't tell in the pic, but there's glossy accents on the apple and the wine that's in the glass.

Now it's your turn. Make a thankful project and include a turkey. Link it at Guylou's Inimitability by November 17th at 10 p.m.EST. G is offering a $10 gift card to her store for one lucky winner! If you're stumped (or even if you're not), check out the projects by the rest of the DT, too. They're a talented group and I am thankful to call them friends.

Together again

2011-10-27T13:44:00.000-04:00

That is what I am telling myself today to get me through the day and sad times. I have known Tori since high school. I then met her parents and grandfather when we were both members of the Glen Burnie Volunteer Fire Department. We all became great friends. Her grandfather Poe was an angel on earth. That man was always ready with a smile and kind word for everyone. You couldn't help but smile when you were around him. He was 86 years old when he died on Sunday, October 23rd. I went to the funeral today and let me tell you, I was pretty much done in when Taps started, but I held it together. That is, until they folded, saluted, and presented the flag. Holy canoli! What I am telling myself now is that Poe is where he was happiest; he is once again by his wife's side. She preceded him in death by 14 years and he told me once that he missed her every single day. They were married for 56 years!

I wanted to make a special sympathy card for the family, to not only share a memory of Poe but also to let them know that a donation had been made in his name to Hospice of the Chesapeake. This is what I came up with, and they must have liked it since they displayed it at the funeral home:

Rest in peace, Poe. You will be missed.

Truer words have never been spoken!

2011-10-23T22:01:00.000-04:00

I am way overdue for checking out the blogs I follow. My schedule has just been so nutso lately. I'm behind on leaving love in the gallery at sb.com. I'm behind in the challenges I've entered. I need to make three sympathy cards within the next day or two, ship off the RAK from our Guylou surprise birthday blog hop, get stuff ready for my visit with my gram this weekend, do a crapload of laundry, unpack from my camping trip, clean my house...well, you get the jist. I know I'm not the only one with a hectic schedule at this time of year, so I'll stop whining and get to the purpose of this post.

I was trying to be good and catch up on some blog comments tonight. I didn't get far, because I saw this quote over at Nicole's blog and it just made me stop and think. Here it is (I copied it direct from her blog; I hope she doesn't mind):

As most of you know because I'm not shy when talking about it, my husband Rick died unexpectedly on September 18, 2009. He was exactly one week past his 38th birthday. We had been together for a little over 11 years, and were friends for 5 years before that. It's a horrific loss that I still struggle with every day. I can't even tell you how many people have told me that they admire my strength. I hear quite a bit, "you're so strong. I couldn't be that strong." I've heard "I'd just curl up in a ball and die with him" or "I'd just go into a corner and never come out" and other variations on the same theme. My response is always something like, "you don't know that. You have absolutely no idea what you'll do until you are in the situation yourself. Nothing prepares you for it, and you just don't know how you'll handle it until you're there." I think the quote that Nicole posted is so much more eloquent. I think I'm going to use it on one of the pages of Rick's memorial album. It speaks volumes to me in one little sentence. Thanks, Nicole!

It's one of the only kinds of recipes I like (again).

2011-10-20T23:59:00.001-04:00

You know, the kind that means you don't have to cook! It's my turn to host the challenge at Guylou's Inimitability. This time around, with the help of some brainstorming from my fabulous friends on the DT, it's a recipe challenge! Since I love so many things about fall that I could not pick just one, I picked a few! I love the colors, the leaves, and the textures of everything. Heck, if I could have figured out how to add the smell of campfires, I'd have done that, too! Since I couldn't, our recipe just deals with colors, leaves, and textures. Make a card using the following recipe:
F - fabric
A - amber (as in the color, not the stone!)
L - lace
L - leaf or leaves

Easy enough, right? Here's my card.

I had the hardest time picking which image I wanted to use, simply because Guylou has so many great ones for fall. I finally settled on Chuck with his pumpkins. I colored the image with copics. Here's how I fulfilled the recipe:
F (fabric) - the houndstooth paper is actually a thin piece of fabric that I inked and adhered with glue lines. The leaves are felt.
A (amber) - well, hopefully, you can see the color in the paper I used to mount everything, and in the button.
L (lace) - this card went to my father-in-law for his birthday, so I didn't want to make it too girlie. I found a strip of lace that would fit through the buttonholes.
L (leaves) - I added felt ones and stickers.

I colored Chuck with copics. It's a bit off topic, but I have to tell you a funny story. I gave this card to my father-in-law last night. He was asking me about the image, because he thought it came colored like that. I told him about my incredibly talented friend Guylou and how this is one of her images. He's heard about her already, so that wasn't the shock. Then I told him that I colored it. He said, "you can do that with crayons?" I told him that I used markers, and he said, "how did you stay inside the lines?" My reply: "because I'm not five anymore, dad." I guess we never grow up in the eyes of our parents. Or, in this case, my adopted parent. Funny part is that my FIL didn't even meet me until I was in my 20's!!!

So, anyhow, you have until November 3 at 10:00 p.m. EST to cook up your own card or project using our recipe. Post it over at Guylou's Inimitability for a chance to win a $5 gift card to her store, where she has some super cute images! And while you're at it, why not try for a shot on the DT? Details on the GI blog!

Congrats to Colleen!

2011-10-17T10:19:00.001-04:00

Congrats to Colleen Holmes! You have won the RAK for the surprise birthday blog hop that we had for Guylou. That means you get: a 4 pack of copic multiliners, a 2 pack of stardust pens, a black memento ink pad, and a $5 gift card to Guylou's Inimitability store. Please email me at (email removed).

Congratulations, Colleen!!!

DT Call at Guylou's Inimitability

2011-10-16T22:53:00.000-04:00

Hey to all of my fellow crafters! Just in case you haven't heard, we're looking to add a design team member over at Guylou's Inimitability. There's lots of perks, like free digi images and "hanging out" on the Net with a fun group of crafters. For more information, check out the details here. I'm going to shut up now, in the hopes that you'll head over to the GI blog and share your talent with us!!!

Hoppin' over to wish G a happy birthday!

2011-10-13T00:01:00.002-04:00

***if you made it hear from the wonderful Trina's blog, you're in the right place. If not, head to Brenda's and start your hop!***

As you all know by now, I'm a member of Guylou's design team. G and I have been friends for several years now. She's stood by me through lots of stuff. G has always been compassionate, supportive, and a bit protective, too. She's a kind, caring, wonderful person and I am blessed to call her my friend.

When the calendar told us that G's birthday was just about here, Bren came up with the idea to have a surprise birthday blog hop to celebrate. So, G, are you surprised?!? G's not the only one who gets something out of this, though. I'm giving away a RAK to one lucky person. All you have to do is leave a comment on every single blog along the hop (including mine!), then head on over to Guylou's blog to wish her a happy birthday. Yep, that's it. Not too hard, right, especially considering that you get to look at several fun, inspiring creations along the way! What you could potentially win is: a 4 pack of copic multi-liners, a black memento ink pad, a two pack of stardust pens, and a $5 gift card to Guylou's Inimitability.

In case you got lost, here's the blog hop order:
Brenda
Carmen
Kim
Sara
Tracy
Trina
Gina (me!)

And then head on over to wish Guylou a happy birthday!

Now that all of the chatter is out of the way (come on, you all know how I love to chatter), let me share a birthday card for G. It's actually my second one, because the first one got mailed off over a week ago. G will get two cards from me this year. Here's the second one:

Once again, Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Guylou! I hope your birthday is everything you could wish for and more. LUG!!!!

***shoot, I almost forgot to tell you: you have until Sunday night to leave comments for all of the hop stops and Guylou (don't forget to wish her a happy birthday!). I'll use random.org to draw a winner on Monday. I'll be checking to make sure that you commented for everyone! Thanks for hopping along with us, and more importantly, helping us to make Guylou realize how special she is!***

With Sympathy

2011-10-12T08:42:00.000-04:00

Sympathy cards are so difficult for me to make, not only because of the overall design issues (keeping the colors more subdued, going for elegant or CAS rather than fun and over the top, etc), but because they make me sad for the recipient. I know what loss is like and I always find myself getting upset when I make these cards for my friends, because it hurts me that they are suffering losses, as well. This time around, it's for a coworker who just lost her dad. Here's the card, the design of which was actually inspired by the paper:

Paper is Prima's Madeline line. The big rose is from Recollections (Michael's). The brown ribbon was purchased at Hobby Lobby ages ago. The sentiment is from Verve and was cut using a spellbinders die. The little butterfly brad is from Oriental Trading Company, I think. The little leaf stick pins were in a pack at Joann's. I think that about covers it!

Fall Fun

2011-10-09T16:18:00.000-04:00

I love fall and always have. September is a rough month for me now, but once I get through it, I can usually jump into the joys of fall a bit more. I love the changing of the leaves, the brisk feel in the air, the smell of campfires, Halloween, pumpkins, the whole nine yards. Last weekend, my friend Kim and I took her son to the Fall Festival at Homestead Gardens. They had tons of activities for the kiddos, like a hay bale maze, pumpkin painting, a jungle gym made from hay, a little train, pumpkin bowling, horseback riding, and even some llamas. We had a grand old time, even though it was a bit cold.

Jami hosts a sketch challenge at scrapbook.com each month. The first week's sketches for October inspired this two page layout:

And just in case you are interested in reading it, here's a close up of the journaling:

What's your favorite thing about fall?

Pink is my favorite color for many reasons...

2011-10-07T00:10:00.000-04:00

...one of them being that it promotes breast cancer awareness. It seems like everyone knows what that pink ribbon means. This time around, we're encouraging everyone to be aware. Think of someone they know who is fighting or has survived breast cancer. Think of your good friends and remind them to take care of themselves by doing regular breast self-exams.

My good friend Sara is hosting the challenge this time around at Guylou's Inimitability. It's a pretty simple challenge, really. Make a card with pink ribbon and make the predominant color of the card be pink, as well. Guylou even made a brand new image for everyone to use, called Gabrielle and Ribbon. Check her out on my card:

Isn't she pretty? I colored her with copics and highlighted her wings with a silver stardust pen. Guess what else? You can get her for FREE between October 7-14, just by using the code BCA-Gabrielle at checkout in Guylou's store. So, you don't have any excuses this time around. I think the rules are pretty easy: pink and ribbon. The image is free, plus you've got until October 20th at 10 p.m. EST to upload your project to Guylou's Inimitability.

If it helps, think of someone you know who is a survivor, or who is currently fighting this awful disease. You could even send this card to a friend, just to remind her to be aware and do breast self-exams. Breast Cancer is the second leading cause of death in women, and the best means of prevention is early detection. I'm sending my card to my aunt, who is a survivor. She's strong, she's awesome, she has the most positive attitude and sense of humor, and she knows how to kick cancer ass; she fights like a girl and I am so proud of her!

Calorie-free cupcakes. Really!

2011-10-02T20:16:00.000-04:00

Calorie-free but I don't think they'd taste too good. Isn't that always the way, though? If something tastes divine, it usually has a gazillion calories floating around in it. You know, the kind of calorie count where not even a two-hour session at the gym will fix the fat that went right to your hips when you ate it? Anyway, I was recently approached to make a "crafty" (her word, not mine) favor to use at a baby shower. I initially thought of boo-boo bunnies, but nobody who is childless wants those things. So, then I thought of making a diaper cake for the mom, but since this was supposed to be a favor to give out to guests, that wouldn't really work. Plus, I don't think I've got the skills of frustration tolerance for that. I came up with this idea to make cupcakes using washcloths, pom-poms, stick pins and patterned paper. Once I figured out that I needed two washcloths per cupcake (yes, I admit that I got thin washcloths, but that was because all of the thick ones were funky colors), and then I figured out how to fold them, it wasn't so hard and the rest came together pretty quickly. I made not quite 2 dozen. Here's a pic of my calorie-free, no cook cupcakes:

As with most handmade things, some look better than others. They were super simple to make, though, and were a pretty big hit. I'm not much good at tutorials, especially without pictures. I don't have pictures of each step, so here's a description and I hope you can figure it out.

Ingredients:
square washcloths - 1 if it's thick or 2 if they're thinner
red pom-poms
straight pins
patterned paper that fits your theme
a border punch
adhesive to hold the patterned paper in place

Directions:
1. Put the washcloth down on a flat surface so that one of the corners is facing you (like a diamond). If you're using two cloths, just layer one on top of the other before folding.
2. Fold the corner facing you about 1/4 of the way into the center. Then continue to fold the cloth until it's in a long tube.
3. Now begin at the end and roll the fabric into a cinnamon roll shape, making sure that the center comes out a bit higher than the rest, so you have distinct "rolls".
4. Once it's all rolled up and looks like you want it to look, use a rubber band to secure the bottom. Don't worry, the paper will cover it later.
5. Now cut a strip of paper, about 1 3/4" wide x 8-10 inches long (depends on how fat your cupcake is; it needs to go around the bottom of the cloth cupcake).
6. Use a border punch to make a fancy edge along the top of the paper.
7. Wrap the paper around the bottom of the washcloth cupcake. I used a 1" glue line to secure it shut. You want it kind of tight so the washcloth can't fall out the bottom.
8. Put a red pom-pom on top of your cupcake and secure it with a straight pin. Ta-da!!! All done!

I'm not a good cook of real food, which is probably a good thing or I'd be fatter than I already am. These cupcakes, though, are just my kind!!!

Memories and stuff

2011-09-18T18:12:00.000-04:00

Today marks the two year anniversary of my husband's passing. I was going to go away this weekend, but decided I needed time at home by myself instead. Well, not totally by myself. My girls are here and they must sense my mood. Sophie spent yesterday glued to my side, following me all around the house, laying on me as soon as I sat down, and crying at me if I didn't give her enough attention. Today, it was Athena's turn. She actually did the "pay attention to me, damnit!" meow that she does only when she is frustrated because you are ignoring her. Sorry, cat. I was trying to eat my lunch! Sheesh.

I came upstairs after lunch today to get some scrapping done, which was when Sophie decided it was her turn again. She wouldn't get off of my chair. Every time I put her on the floor, she jumped back up. As soon as I got up, she was in the seat. Do these eyes scream, "pay attention to me. I'm cute!" or what?

Ok, so they also look a bit belligerent. LOL.
Anyway, I have been working on some layouts recently. My card-making mojo just isn't around much. I manage to eek out the cards for G's DT work but I can't seem to get my heart into anything else. I just want to flip through my pictures and get them onto paper with pretty embellishments. Today, I finished four layouts. I also did two last night. I'm just putting them together here and there, as I get the time and the energy. Energy is hard for me to come by during September, because I just get to feeling blah about things. Enough moroseness, though. Here's a few layouts I've completed in the last week or so:

Athena learned how to turn the water on in the sink when she was about four months old. Now she would have a hard time fitting in the sink! She's not fat, but she's not a tiny kitten anymore, either. We'll blame it on a smaller sink since I had the bathroom remodeled, though. I wouldn't want to give her a complex or anything!

This is the girls playing on the day after we brought Sophie home. Athena and Sophie are from the same breeder and are born only one day apart. However, we got Athena in November 2005 and didn't get Sophie until January 2006. Aren't they adorable with their 3 pound selves?

This is the bear that Tammy of Tammybears.com made for me, using Rick's wool scarves that he always wore with his favorite bomber jacket. I love this bear!

Another LO for Rick's memorial album. He sat down on the bench in front of Kings Arms Tavern in Williamsburg, VA. It was snowing outside at the time.

Ok, that's enough for now. Thanks for looking!

It's time we said thanks!

2011-09-16T08:44:00.000-04:00

It's time for a new challenge at Guylou's Inimitability. Our wonderful leader and the creator of GI images, Guylou herself, is hosting this one. We all have someone in our lives that has done something generous or thoughtful for us. Some of those people even do those things frequently, putting themselves before others or simply just thinking of us when we're feeling low or need a hand. It's time to thank them! Your challenge this time is to make a thank-you card. Since those people make our lives shine brighter, your card needs to include at least one star on it. I'll give you an example. Here's mine, made with G's new clown image called Binker:

Isn't he cute? I colored him with copics, then added glossy accents to his nose, shoes, and the balloons. I also used my signo pen to add some highlights. The "thanks" sentiment, border on the card edge and strings on the star balloons are doodled. Two of the star balloons are popped with pop dots, and the blue one says "you lift me up."

Thanks, once again, for taking a peek at my blog. Now go make your own card and enter it. Come on, you know you have someone who deserves that "thank you."

Details: projects are due by 10 p.m. EST on September 29th. Check out the rest of the DT work for some inspiration, and post your own creation over at Guylou's Inimitability.

It's back to school time at Guylou's Inimitability!

2011-09-01T23:00:00.001-04:00

School seems to be on the minds of many right now. Whether it's your kids, your neighbor's kids, your sibling's kids, your grandkids...well, you get the picture. Shopping trips show empty shelves formerly full of school supplies. I know that my brother and I have done a few shopping trips so far for my younger nephew and my niece. Those kids are getting so old! My oldest nephew is a senior this year. His brother just started high school and my niece ventured into the world of middle school. I've got friends who are sad to see their kids grow up and start their very first day of school ever. Ok, okay, enough with the sadness and pangs of nostalgia! We're going to have fun with this school thing, darnit!

Your challenge this time around is to create a project with a school theme and it must include at least one apple. I chose to make a thank-you card for a teacher, using one of Guylou's newer images called Teacher Leah.

I cropped the image to suit my card. She's colored with copics. The sentiment is also from Guylou's Inimitability. Papers are from a kit sold by Oriental Trading Company. They're really thin, so I first made the card out of heavy white cardstock. If you untie the little bit of pink and white striped twine, the card opens. I finished the card off with some rain dots and an apple button. You all know that I have a button for pretty much every occasion!

Now it's your turn. Make a school-themed project. Make sure to include an apple. Then upload it to Guylou's Inimitability by September 15th at 10 p.m. EST. You could win the opportunity to act as guest DT on a future challenge, plus a $5 gift card to spend in Guylou's store! What are you waiting for? Get to it!

He wants to think he's big and bad...

2011-08-29T17:19:00.000-04:00

..but my nephew Josh is still an angel at heart. He's such a caring, giving kid who often thinks of others. He loves animals. Today, he rescued a turtle from the road and put it in the park. Don't get me wrong; the kid's not all sappy sweetness. He's ornery at times. He loves to play practical jokes and tease. He's got a devilish streak, with a wickedly sarcastic sense of humor. I love every last inch of this kid and his personality.

For Christmas a year or two ago, I snagged a big box of pictures my brother was hoarding at his house. I organized them all and put them into this photo box that I bought at some home store. He let me keep the doubles. When I saw this picture, I had to have it. Friday night at a crop, I finally got around to scrapping it. Take a peek below and you'll see how cute this picture is, and hopefully, you'll fall in love with it, too!

Josh is 14 now. I have no idea how old he was when this picture was taken, but I'm guessing around 4. He's grown and yet maintained his cuteness. He's a bit of a chick magnet now, and he's loving that. When he was younger, he attracted the older women who wanted to mother him and pinch his little cheeks. Now he's attracting other teenagers, including ones older than him. What 14 year old wouldn't love that?!?

Birthday wishes

2011-08-26T23:11:00.000-04:00

Happy belated birthday to my friend, Trina. I sent this card on her actual birthday, so I know it was at least a day, probably even two or three days, late. Sorry, girl!

Trina is one of my fabulous and fun DT friends. She has some serious talent. Go check out here blog HERE. I had fun making this card for her. Ok, so once again, the picture sucks. What happens is that I tend to create late at night, when I am up and energetic. The problem is that there's no natural light at that time. I could hold off on taking the pic til the next day, but then what happens is that I'll forget. In this case, I had to send the darned card, so I made it, wrote the note inside, and shoved it in the addressed envie before I had the chance to forget. Cut me some slack, people. It was already late enough!

Anyway, the card is not cream and brown, as the bad picture portrays. I already admitted the pic is bad, so no need to remind me. The card is white and brown. Image is Elisabeth Bell from Ladybug and Friends. It's colored with copics and accented with flower soft, then cut out with a spellbinders die and inked on the edges.

Thanks for stopping by. If you're in Irene's path, take care and do your best to stay safe, please! I'd like to keep all of my followers, k?

If the airplane is functioning just fine, what else is there to do but jump out of it?

2011-08-20T22:31:00.000-04:00

When Rick was alive, we decided to go skydiving for our 40th birthdays. His would have been this upcoming September 11th. His brother, sister, and mine and Rick's friend Missy all wanted to follow through with our plans and honor Rick's memory. Today, I went skydiving for the first, but hopefully not the last, time. Wow. I have been psyching myself up for it since we booked the jump. I felt pretty excited with a healthy dose of frickin' terrified. When we got there this morning, excitement was pushing that little terrified dude to the back of my brain. I was bouncing off the walls to go. Here's me, grinning like a fool, harness on and ready to go.

That's Bharat with me. He's a nice guy from work. We had a group of guys from my work as well as some of my family and friends jumping.

Then we went up in this teeny, tiny, itty bitty plane. It was like one of these:

No big deal. The four of us (two instructors, plus two jumpers) were shoved in there pretty tightly, but the mood and gorgeous scenery made up for it. After climbing up into the air for about two miles, it was time to hook in with our instructors. No biggie. I was still ready to go, filled with anticipation. Then Bharat's instructor opened the door, got Bharat into position, and BAM! they were gone. Just like that. At that point, I focused my bugged out eyes on the blank spot where Bharat used to be. I think that was when I decided that maybe this was not the best idea I've ever had. Yeah, I was flippin' TERRIFIED. This picture is me, hiding my terror behind what was supposed to be a happy, jaunty wave and comes out more like, "WTH did I sign up for?":

(notice the death grip on the harness with the hand that is not pretending to be jaunty and happy). Seriously, WTF was I thinking?!? Daniel didn't give me much time to decide. He hustled my chubs to the door, where I steadfastly refused to look down and did just what they told me to do: I stuck my head back against his shoulder. This is me, less than 10 seconds into that first freefall, realizing that my terror was all for naught and this was going to be one of the very best experiences of my life:

We're already planning the next trip. Try it. You will like it.

"Sketch"y behavior at Guylou's!

2011-08-19T01:08:00.009-04:00

Come on in! Today, we're behaving in a bit of a sketchy fashion at Guylou's Inimitability. It's Carmen's turn to host our challenge and I am stoked about it. Not only because my behavior is sometimes a little less than stellar (i.e., sketchy!!! LOL...I am not as innocent as I look, people), but also because I just love her sketches. She is big into layering, which I love because layering up those pretty patterned papers is one of my favorite things to do. Rather than just talking about it, let me show you what I mean. Here's Carmen's sketch.

It's awesome, don't you think? I used it to make yet another card for the troops. I've been running low lately. I'm down to one card to use for sending a letter to a wonderful soldier. I need to build that stash back up, so I used the perfect image for it: praying soldier.

Isn't he powerful? I left him in black and white, because I think it makes a stark contrast against the muted military colors of the card. What do you think? Do you think I should color him or leave him in black and white?

So, that's it. Here's your challenge this time around: make a card using Carmen's sketch and upload it to Guylou's Inimitability by September 1st at 10 p.m. EST. You could win a $5 gift card to her shop, as well as the opportunity to appear as a Guest DT in a future challenge. Come on, you know that sketch is calling you!

(Hey, my fellow Americans...check out the links for Soldier's Angels and Operation Write Home in my sidebar on the left. Let's give back to our troops, who give for us every single day!)

What about your friends?

2011-08-11T17:23:00.000-04:00

I don't know why, but the TLC song popped into my head as I started to write this post, so the title comes from there. Anyway, I don't know about everyone out there in blogland, but I have been blessed to have some very wonderful, supportive, compassionate, caring friends in my life. When Rick passed away in September of 2009 (coming up on the 2 year anniversary. Terrible thought....), I was lucky to have a strong support system of friends and family to help pull me through it. I honestly don't know where I'd be today without them. My friend Brenda is among that group. She's simply amazing, and I treasure her friendship more than she can possibly know. Bren is celebrating her birthday this month, so I sent her a goodie box and added a card just for her. Here it is.

I had a lot of fun making this card. Papers are Graphic 45 Romantique and Bazzill cardstock. I used my spellbinders, some flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts, a couple of buttons from my stash, some antique lace, pearls from Queen & Co, and a cuttlebug embossing folder.
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I hope you are blessed to have close, caring, wonderful friends like Brenda in your life! Oh, and speaking of Bren, go stop by her blog. She's having birthday candy madness this month. Check it out here. You've got two days left to enter! Follow her blog while you are there, too. She's not only a great person, but she is uber talented. Happy Birthday, Bren!

A weekend not totally wasted

2011-08-07T23:36:00.000-04:00

I don't know about you, but I am one of those people who starts thinking on Monday about all of the things I want to get done during the upcoming weekend. This weekend, I planned to clean my house from top to bottom. Um, yeah. That didn't happen. I just couldn't get motivated to do much of anything. I did the dishes and laundry, straightened up here and there, hung up the shadowbox I made a bit ago, changed the sheets on the bed, and that was pretty much it for household stuff. I was hoping to get all of the household stuff done so I could create. Well, I didn't have much mojo for creating, either. I managed to eek out one card and one layout. I'll show you the card later. The layout is one that I made for a challenge on scrapbook.com. Basically, you scraplift the person who signed up before you. I lifted a LO called "Love" by Amy (abk32276 on sb.com). You can find her layout HERE. Here's what I did with it.

The picture is a little crooked. Sorry about that. This is my friend's son Brent. Papers are all Bungle Jungle by Sassafras Lass, with the exception of the yellow cardstock and the leaf paper. The leaf paper is Creative Imaginations. They're a great company for shaped and themed papers. The little paws are buttons; I cut off the shanks.

I haven't been scrapping much this year and I'll admit it's been kind of hard to get back into it. Scraplift challenges are great for that, because it takes the guesswork out of designing the LO. I've joined two other challenges at scrapbook.com this month, too. Now I just hope I can pull something out for them, as well!

Holy cow, what a challenge!

2011-08-05T07:00:00.002-04:00

It's time for another challenge at Guylou's Inimitability, and what a challenge it is! Well, at least, it was a challenge for me. This time around, our wonderful shop owner and the creator behind Guylou's Inimitability digi stamps, Guylou herself, hosted our challenge. She likes to push the limits of creativity, I think. Rather than just doing a color challenge OR an "anything but a card" challenge, she decided to do them both at once. In other words, it's time for an Anything but a card color challenge! Whoa.

Here's the colors you get to play with:

For most people, I guess that wouldn't be an issue. The colors are beautiful, bright, happy and cool, all at the same time. However, I tend to create with more subdued colors, or maybe it's just that I'm in a vintage/shabby chic mood. Either way, this color palette really challenged me. To top it off, I wasn't allowed to make a card. Sheesh...talking about testing my imagination and creativity. I guess that's why they call it a "challenge."

I came up with this idea to make something using my shrinky dink plastic. At first, I attempted a magnet, but I used the wrong type of shrinky dink paper. The ink from my printer ran all over the place. Oops. So, I paid attention to what I was doing the next time around and grabbed the inkjet shrinky dink plastic. I intended to make a ring, but the image didn't shrink as much as I thought it would, so it became a pin instead. I used Ben. Check it out:

Here's how I did it:
Step 1. Crop the image and size it bigger than you need. The package says it will shrink to about a third of its size. I don't think it shrank that much. Then again, I suck at eyeballing these things.
Step 2. Print the image out on INKJET shrinky dink plastic. It is very important that you use the Inkjet kind, or the ink will run.
Step 3. Color with a stayfast medium, like copics. The colors will change slightly when they heat up. Mine got less vivid. I promise that I started out with the bright colors of the challenge.
Step 4. Cut around the image in the shape you want. This can't be done after you put the stuff in the oven, so do it now! If you want to make a charm, don't forget to hole punch the image at this point, too.
Step 5. Bake at 325 degrees for 1-3 minutes.
Step 6. Pull image from oven and hold wax paper flat over image for about 15 seconds, to flatten out any residual curling.
Step 7. Once image is cooled, add a pin back, ring, or other jewelry fastener/notion. This is also the time to add any embellishment, like the rhinestone I put on my pin. If you don't have a pin back, use some strong glue and attach a safety pin to the back.

It's quick, it's easy, and it's fun! Who doesn't want to head back to childhood and play with markers and shrinky dinks???

You have until August 18th at 10:00 p.m. EST to enter this challenge. Random draw will choose a winner to get a $5 gift card to G's store, as well as the opportunity to be a guest DT on a future challenge! Let's see how creative YOU can get!

Well, that only took forever.

2011-07-29T17:07:00.000-04:00

Finally! I'm getting back into the groove of scrapbooking again. I've been making so many cards over the last few months that I think I've only made one, maybe two pages for my own scrapbooks. In fact, the current page isn't even for a scrapbook; it's a shadowbox to hang on my bedroom wall.

I've been redecorating my house for a while now. I'm moving the efforts into my bedroom. I got my old furniture back from my mom's house. It's all white and all beat to heck and back, since it's been used by three girls/women and one guy since it was originally purchased in the late 1960's. I was going to replace the knobs, sand the furniture, and repaint it. However, I kind of like the beat up look it has. I might just leave it. I supplemented those two pieces with a headboard I bought online and an old elementary school desk that I found at an antique shop for $50. The desk became my nightstand.

Now that my furniture is set up, I've moved my efforts to the walls. They're already painted sage green, which I love. I found some artwork while vacationing in Florida. Check it out:

The walls look more olive in this pic, but they're actually sage. The artwork is from a talented guy named Alan Foxx. You can find more of his work here. The pictures have some green in them and actually look great on the walls. They pop just the right amount. Please look at his link, because this picture really sucks!

I bought one of his angels to go on an opposing wall, and made a shadowbox to hang with it. Here's the shadowbox layout. It only took me forever:

And here's how it looks actually inside the shadowbox frame, with a little Willow Tree figurine added:

The picture is one of me and Rick taken a year or two before he passed away. The tag says: "Memories are the most beautiful pictures our minds can paint, and nothing can ever erase them." The lace and doily are from my recent trip to Germany. The figurine and couple ornament are Willow Tree. Paper is Graphic 45 Le Romantique collection. I distressed the edges, then added white crackle paint. Flowers and butterflies are prima. I think that about covers it! Now I just need to get this sucker up on the wall. Maybe this weekend, or maybe not. I've got so much other crap to do! It'll get there eventually!

The only kind of cooking I like to do...

2011-07-15T01:00:00.002-04:00

...is the kind you do with papers and embellishments!!! I hate cooking food and I pretty much suck at it, but I love recipe challenges for crafty stuff. Therefore, I was happy to hear that Kim's choice for her challenge at Guylou's Inimitability was nothing other than a recipe challenge. Fun, right? This one is called a "1-2-3" recipe challenge. So, here's what you need to do.
Make a card or project that includes the following:
1 - one lace or ribbon
2 - two patterned papers (some people call these PP or DP)
3 - three bits of bling (charms, pearls, rhinestones, etc)

Here's my example for you:

I used one pink grosgrain ribbon, two pink patterned papers from Prima, and three rhinestones. This is Louise and cupcake. Isn't she cute? I paper pieced her top but colored her skin and hair with copics. I used liquid applique as cupcake frosting.

You have until July 28th at 10 pm EST to enter the challenge. One random winner will get a $5 gift card to Guylou's Inimitability, as well as a chance to appear as a guest DT in a future challenge. What are you waiting for? Get cooking!

Insanely awesome friendships

2011-07-04T19:40:00.000-04:00

Ok, so before I get started with my latest card post, I'll take a minute to wish everyone in the USA a Happy Independence Day! Thanks to our military, past and present, for all of their dedication, efforts, and sacrifices to maintain our liberty.

The fireworks will be starting here in an hour and a half or so. I am stoked. I love fireworks. It's also a bit sad, because I'd usually be watching them going off over the armory in Colonial Williamsburg. Rick and I would stay there for the holiday, walking to the armory from our hotel and setting up our little folding chairs and snacks. We'd settle in for an hour or two of people watching before the fireworks got started. Thinking about that kind of thing makes me miss him yet again (as if I don't do that enough times each day, already!). So, let's focus on good stuff, instead. I don't want to get all weepy-eyed and crap like that.

I spent all weekend getting a bunch of stuff done that has been sitting off to the side for ages. I hung shelves and pictures, scrubbed floors, went through my closet and made a pile for the Goodwill, and so on. I also took some time in there to be a bum, read my book, and color.

This time around, I colored "stepsisters" by Mo Manning. Mo is incredibly talented. All her images make me smile and/or tug at my heartstrings. This is one of the ones that makes me grin. These two just look so ornery. They're perfect for a card for a very close friend of mine, who happens to share my sarcastic sense of humor, understands my moods (and deals well with them), and is just a blessing in my life.

This image made me think of us. She's taller and slimmer than me with straighter hair, while I'm short, fat, and have curly/wavy hair. I admit it, we're both a little ornery, too! Papers are Basic Grey "hopscotch." I just noticed that the little teddy bear charm got hidden under the bow. Darnit. I don't feel like taking and uploading another pic, so just trust me that there's a cute teddy bear who hangs from the bow, okay? I added glossy accents and bling to the image, although the bling doesn't show up well. It's on the taller girl's shoes and both necklaces.

As usual, I colored the image with my copics. Here's the ones I used:

The sentiment says: "Our friendship is insanely awesome! You're insane and I'm awesome!!!"

Ok, I'm off to see what else I can get into before my family gets here to watch fireworks with me! Happy 4th!

We're seeing stars....and stripes, too!

2011-07-01T22:24:00.000-04:00

It's time for a new challenge at Guylou's Inimitability! This time around, it's my wonderful friend Sara's turn to play hostess. With the 4th of July just around the corner, she made a wise choice. I think so, anyway. Our challenge this time around is to make a project using stars and stripes. Since not all of you out there in blogland are American (happy Canada day to my Canadian friends, by the way), I decided to make a card for celebration rather than patriotism. Besides, you all know I'll be making more patriotic cards again soon for my soldier letter writing stuff.

After my last card of over-embellie happiness, I tried to keep this one clean and simple. We all know how hard that is for me. I think it's a little TOO simple. However, having a deadline and virtually no time towards the end of this week pretty much means I didn't get to throw more things at it. That could change before long, since I haven't sent it out yet....

I don't know why the colors are glaringly yellow. I promise, they're not quite so flourescent in real life! LOL. Leah's dress is colored with a stardust pen, so it blings all over town. Anyway, why not give our latest challenge a shot? Make a card or other project using stars AND stripes. Upload it over at Guylou's Inimitability before July 14th at 10 pm EST and have the chance to win a $5 gift card to her digi stamp store as well as the chance to be on the guest DT in a future challenge. If you need more inspiration, check out the cards by my fab DT friends (links on my left sidebar). Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans! And you knew I'd take another chance to say it (insert broken record comment here, LOL)....give thanks and praise, please, to our wonderful military who have made it possible for this country to remain free. They sacrifice every day for us, the least we can do is say, "thanks."

Yes, I admit it. I like to throw things...

2011-06-23T22:15:00.001-04:00

...well, at my cards, anyway. I have this tendency to start with whatever image I've colored, find some coordinating papers, then just start throwing embellishments at that poor card until it can't take anymore. The paper sometimes ends up totally covered with pretties, but it's like an addiction. I can't stop. There's nothing more fun to me than digging through all of my embellishments to find yet another one that might work. Here's a case in point:

Quite some time ago, I colored this adorable image from Belles N Whistles, called "Clowning Around". Isn't she cute? Tonight, I finally decided to put her on a card, because she seemed perfect for the current Digi Bells challenge to make a birthday card. I'm also entering her in the Pink Elephant challenge 104 to make a circus card (thanks to Star for telling me about it!). This card started out with a basic light blue paper from Basic Grey's Hopscotch collection, matted onto dark brown bazzill cardstock. Then I put on three stripes of patterned paper from the Hopscotch collection. I didn't like that effect; it was too bland, so I added another piece of paper from the same collection. You see where this is going, right? The paper wasn't enough, so I popped the image with some dimensional dots. Still not enough. I added ribbon. Boring! Tossed on a sentiment, which made the other three corners look empty. I love Wild Orchid Crafts, so I had to add some flowers to fill a corner. Two corners were still empty. A quick punch with my EK Success scalloped corner punch almost fixed it, but not quite. More dimensional dots, and somehow, some buttons and cupcake stickers, netting, and a Sassafras Lass card made their way on there. I hope my poor clown did not end up buried. Nah, not possible, since Elisabeth Bell's images can't help but stand out. Her work is just too awesome to do anything else. And besides, this little clown needed some cute stuff to juggle, right? Yeah, yeah, that's it.

I'm tired from all of that tossing and throwing, plus trying to carry this heavy card to another room to get a decent picture (it does sit up surprisingly well, considering its weight). I'm off to watch So You Think You Can Dance, and then maybe I'll actually get some sleep tonight. Not likely, given my insomnia over the last few days, but I'm going to give it a shot! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy sunny birthday, Dale!

2011-06-22T19:17:00.000-04:00

My friend Dale celebrated her birthday this past Monday, but I couldn't post the card til she got it in the mail. It finally showed up yesterday. I guess I'll look at that in a positive light and say she got to extend her birthday by a day that way!

Dale loves yellow and all things vintage, so I overloaded on the yellow, then threw in some vintage touches (an old button, some pins, and old lace). She also loves red, but I couldn't make that fly with the softer feel of this card. Oh, well.

She has been an amazing friend to me for the last few years that I have known her. She's got a great spirit, a fabulous sense of humor, and a loving heart. She's got to have tons of patience, too...she has little ones running around her house constantly! I love kids, but I don't know if I'd have the patience for that (which is one of the reasons why I didn't have any! LOL). She's such an involved mom and grandma. I love to watch her videos on youtube, where she's singing with her family or doing little lessons with her sweet granddaughter Emma. Each video makes me smile. Happy Birthday, Dale! LUG!!!

So, anyway, thanks once again for looking. Have a fabulous day!

Bling is a girl's best friend!

2011-06-21T17:02:00.000-04:00

I love bling and it doesn't need to be in the form of diamonds (although I've not been known to turn them down!). Guylou is hosting a challenge over at CDAC to use bling, bow(s), and buttons. She provided this adorable freebie for us to use, too. You can get one yourself if you join CDAC. Check out the challenge here. I had fun making this card, although it took me a few days. I started it, let the stickles dry, then left it sit and sit and sit. I finally finished it up. Introducing little Dorothy and her sparkler!

Isn't she adorable? This image brings back many, many memories from when I was a kid. I remember summer picnics and playing with sparklers. We used to wave them around, writing words in the air with them. I can still smell the rather chemical, nasty smell they had as they burned. I can hear the sizzle and pop. It makes me smile to think back to those innocent days, where I just got to be a kid and not worry about anything but having fun.
Now, on to details about the card. I used Spellbinders Label #14 to cut around the image. I colored her with copics, then added red ink and outlines with a blue stardust pen and gold stickles. Dorothy's dress is polka dotted using a signo pen, and her sparkler blings courtesy of more gold stickles. While I had the stickles out, I outlined the background paper, too. The stars are cut with a Creative Memories star punch and I attached some star-shaped buttons with KI Gloo. I love that stuff. It holds practically everything. I got the cute red gingham ribbon at a store in Germany. It was what we used to call "five and dime"s here in the US. In other words, lots of fun stuff super cheap. Oh, yeah, I added some freckles to Dorothy's cute little cheeks using my Creative Memories journaling pen in brown.

When coloring the background, I wanted to get away from doing the solid thing (like a sky). Instead, I remembered how the ash from the sparklers used to fall all around us. It inspired me to use the dot technique. I used C00-C5 and then hit it with some silver sparkle from a stardust pen, too. Here's a close-up so you can see a bit better.
This card is headed out to one of our soldiers in Afghanistan.
July 4th is fast approaching! I hope you have a fun Independence Day with lots of sparklers, fireworks, and yummy picnic food. Darnit, now I want a hamburger.....

Sweet summertime at Guylou's!

2011-06-15T23:02:00.003-04:00

It's time for another challenge at Guylou's Inimitability and I am stoked because it's my turn to host! When Guylou (a.k.a "G") asked me to take a turn, I had so many ideas floating through the swiss cheese holes in my brain. With the help of my wonderful friends on G's DT, I narrowed it down and decided to do a sweet summertime challenge. What's this mean, you ask (and if you didn't ask, just pretend like you did, ok?)? It's simple. Make a project that includes BOTH of the following:
1. The word "sweet" somewhere on the front of the card. You can use it in any way you like. If you check out Guylou's store, she's even got some cute sentiments made by Tracy. That makes it easy peasy!
AND
2. Your project must have something to do with summer/warm weather. That doesn't really limit you too much. I mean, you can use so many ideas for that. You could focus on foods associated with summer like watermelon, ice cream, and even Maryland crabs! (yes, I have steamed crabs on the brain. I'm getting my first batch of the season this Saturday. Yum!). You could focus on warm weather places like the beach, or warm weather clothes like flip flops, bathing suits, shorts or sunglasses.

See, I tried to make it easy on you! As usual, G's DT came up with some cool ideas. Don't forget to check out their blogs to see (links in my sidebar on your left). For my card, I used a new image from G's store called "Leah Eating Watermelon." Leah is one of my favorite GI characters and I'm always so excited when G releases a new one.

I colored Leah with copics (no surprise there, since I don't tend to use any other medium anymore). My sentiment is from my friend Tracy. G's selling it in her store, along with several other "sweet" sentiments. Papers are My Mind's Eye "Home" collection. I got that cute rubber flower on clearance at Michael's. It's so bright and happy that I had to add it to this card. This is the first time I've created a background with chalk, but I went a little too light. It's actually clouds that I made by cutting out a cloud shape from white paper and using chalk to rub it onto the paper all through the background. In real life, it shows up as a very faint sky. I promise. LOL.

So, what are you waiting for? You have until June 30th at 10 p.m. EST to enter the challenge over at Guylou's Inimitability. To make it even sweeter, the winner of the challenge will receive a $5 gift card to spend in the GI store, plus a chance to be the guest DT for a future challenge. I can't wait to see how sweet you can make your summer project for Guylou's Inimitability!

One of the good things about dragons...

2011-06-12T13:02:00.000-04:00

...is that they can be any color you want them to be, and no one bats an eye. I guess that's the good thing about any fantasy creature. They're pure imagination and you can let your creativity lead you where it may. Today, I decided my dragon should be purple. Maybe I was inspired by my niece, who graduates from elementary school tomorrow. No, I'm not implying the child is a dragon (although she did inherit some of her father's stubborn behavior and temper!). I just think of her every time I see purple, since it's her favorite color. Debating with a ten year old over the merits of pink versus purple is actually quite fun, or funny...whichever way you look at it. Anyway, here's the card:

The papers are Basic Grey. The tulle bow is actually purple, although it looks pink in this pic for some odd reason. I colored the dragon with my copics. I used stardust pens to highlight the scales and flames, as well as liquid applique to make the marshmallows look more realistic. The dragon is from Sweet Pea Stamps.
This card is for several challenges:
Sweet Pea Stampers - monochromatic. I chose purple
In a Sweet Pea Dream - wings
CES - inspired by a movie. My movie is Shrek!

Now I need to get back to cleaning out what has become my storage room. It's supposed to be a room where I can chill out and read in my beanbag chair, surrounded by my fun collection of Steiff, Hermann, and hand-crafted artist bears. Right now, though, it's a hoarder's dream. It's just so overwhelming that I have been taking "breaks" from it all day to do things like make cards and read my book (unfortunately, not in my beanbag chair. There's no room for it in all of the boxes. So, for now, my couch is still the place to read). Have a wonderful Sunday!

For our soldiers, with gratitude

2011-06-11T15:55:00.000-04:00

***this will be a short post because I am supremely irritated that I typed out a long post and blogger ATE it!!!***

My plan was to head to Busch Gardens today, but I woke up and wasn't in the mood. Shocking, since it's one of my fave places to go, but I just wasn't up for the drive and didn't feel like moving. I went back to bed, slept in til 9:00, bummed around with a book for a bit, then decided to make some cards. I got this great stamp from Hobby Lobby earlier this week, because it expresses my feelings towards are soldiers perfectly. The new sketch at Sweet Stop Sketches also seemed perfect for it. These cards are based after Sweet Sketch #112.

The stamp says: "Soldier, because of your bravery, courage, and sacrifice, liberty and freedom are still ours. We are deeply grateful."

When I bought the stamp, I came home and made this card with it, which I promptly mailed off to a soldier:

Please consider supporting groups like Soldier's Angels and Operation Write Home. Let's give back to those who sacrifice for us every day!

What do you call it when it's not big enough to be a milestone?

2011-06-08T23:07:00.000-04:00

If you've accomplished something that you wouldn't necessarily call a milestone, but it's still an accomplishment, what in the heck do you call it? Heck, I don't even know that it's an accomplishment. Today, I went to the movies by myself for the first time. Doesn't seem like much, I know. It's just not something I have ever done. If you know me, you know that I am a very independent person. I go to amusement parks alone (in fact, I plan to go to Busch Gardens on Saturday). I eat out at restaurants alone. I go on road trips alone. None of this phases me. My ex told me that he admires that I can do that, because he can't stand to go to restaurants and things like that by himself. I have never had an issue with that, for whatever reason. However, I've never gone to a movie by myself. My brother does it all of the time and I know that other people do, as well. It's just never been something I did. Movies have always seemed like a couple activity or something you do with friends, so you can talk about the movie after. You'd think trips and amusement parks would seem more like group activities to me, wouldn't you? It just hasn't been that way.

Since Rick passed away, I've been trying hard to step out of my comfort zone. A wonderful guy I know who also lost his partner gave me great advice. He had a lot of good advice to give, in fact. I'll just share one tidbit with you here, because it pertains to this post. He told me that I needed to get out and do something for me. Something that had nothing to do with Rick. Something that could be totally mine and mine alone. He told me, although not in so many words, that I needed to find my own way, apart from my memories of Rick. I needed to do this to move forward in my life. I've tried to take his advice to heart. I took a Spanish class (I don't remember much of it now, but hey, I took it!). I signed up for some groups like Soldier's Angels and CDAC. I planned and executed a trip to Canada. I've redecorated my home and made major decisions about home improvements, and even managed to do some small home repairs on my own (that was a serious shocker, let me tell you. I'm not handy). One thing I hadn't done was something small, but for some reason, significant to me. Today, I did it. I went to a movie by myself, and man, was it weird. It wasn't even a movie Rick would have seen with me. It was strange to buy one ticket, to go through the snack line without conferring with anyone else about what they wanted to share, and to pick my seat without checking with another person to see where they'd like to sit. I gotta say, I didn't like it much. I don't see this as something I'll do often. It kind of sucked. It didn't help that the movie was not as good as I had hoped. At least there's always my other sole endeavors. Busch Gardens, here I come!

Two in one day. YAY!

2011-06-04T23:22:00.001-04:00

I'm getting slap-happy. I guess it's getting late or something! Anyway, I managed to finish another card today. This one is for a few challenges. First, though, let me show it to you:

Isn't she a cutie? I colored her with copics and a red stardust pen for the "flames" on her torch. Papers are Basic Grey curio collection.

I'm going to make this post short because I am tired! This card is for the following challenges:
Sweet Sketch Wednesday #104
Anyone for Anya and Friends - use polka dots (I embossed dots on the black paper, and the ribbon has polka dots)
All That Scraps Wed Challenge - Anything Goes

This is another card I'll be sending to one of our wonderful soldiers. I bought this stamp after I joined Soldier's Angels, figuring she'd be perfect for cards for them. Have a great night!

Man, I suck at masculine cards

2011-06-04T16:38:00.002-04:00

I have the hardest time with masculine cards. If you are a follower of my blog or have seen my gallery at sb.com, you know I'm more into the frilly, feminine stuff. Flowers, lace, pastels/soft colors, etc. I also have a difficult time with the clean and simple style. The word "simple" refers to the lack of embellishment and layering way more than the difficulty level, in my opinion. I find those CAS cards extremely difficult to do. I just want to throw more and more embellishments at them.

Today, I had a bit of free time before picking up my mom to head out to an auction to support the JDRF. I decided that I should try a CAS card with a more masculine theme. Um, yeah. This sucker drove me nuts. I think it turned out okay, though. Judge for yourself:

The cute little image and the sentiment are from the Greeting Farm. I had a rough time with his bright red hair. I used my trusty copics to color the image. The buttons and star are from my stash. The olive green paper is Bazzill. There's a black mat before you get to the patterned paper, but it didn't show up well here. The pp is Tim Holtz. I went around the edges of the image repeatedly with my double edge cutterbee piercing tool. In real life, it shows up pretty well. I roughed up the edge of the white paper with my distressing tool and added some cats eye chalk ink in creamy brown. Then I doodled some stars and a few little circles, put it all together, and ta-da!
Now I'm off to hopefully win some good stuff at this auction. I've never been to a quarter auction and have no clue what that even means, so wish me luck! If you're there, you can identify me as the short, chubby one, looking around like I have no clue what in the heck is going on!!! LOL

Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. This card is for the Simon Says Stamp challenge to make a masculine card. I'm glad to see I could find a challenge for it, too!

Edited to add: this card is also for the CES Clean and Simple challenge. Thanks to Vicky for telling me about it!

Monochrome Mania over at Guylou's!

2011-06-02T22:42:00.000-04:00

It's time for another challenge over at Guylou's Inimitability. And boy, what a challenge it is! Our wonderful digi team leader and creator came up with this one. I think she really wanted us to have to work or something, because man, it was hard. G has decided that it's time for a monochromic (monochromatic, as I call it) challenge. That means your project must pretty much appear to have all the same color. I chose white. Of course, my picture taking abilities lately pretty much suck, so it looks like white and grey. I promise, the whole card is white. It is just different textures in the papers that throws things off, I think. Oh, wait, I guess you can't decide for yourself unless you see the card. Well, here it is:

The pieces that appear grey are actually white paper with a bit of bling to it. The sparkle around the image comes from stickles, since you can't use any loose glitter when sending cards to the troops. This is the card I put in my first care package to Jessica, to introduce myself as her soldier's angel.

This image is called Gabrielle and I left her uncolored to stay with the white theme. She's mounted on two scalloped ovals cut with my nesties, and then onto a piece of cardstock that I covered with strips of lace.

Now, here's all you have to do to win a wicked cool prize, which includes two free digis of your choice from G's store as well as the opportunity to be a guest designer on an upcoming challenge: make a monochromatic card and upload it to Guylou's Inimitability challenge blog. But wait, there's more!!! This time around, we've got an awesome sponsor, too. In addition to free images and appearing as a guest DT, the winner of this challenge will also get a free one year subscription to Through the Craft Room Door magazine. How awesome is that, and how sweet of them to sponsor Guylou's Inimitability. You have until June 16 at 10:00 p.m. EST to enter the challenge. As always, you improve your chances of winning if you use one of G's images, but it's not mandatory. Again, though, it does give you more chances to win. You can even pick up a freebie if you join her group at CDAC. Come on, give it a shot!!! I can't wait to see what color you choose!

Dragons are animals too, right?

2011-05-31T22:18:00.000-04:00

I was in the mood to make a card tonight and had colored this adorable Sweet Pea dragon by Lisa Victoria. In fact, I thought he was so cute that I colored him in purple, then stamped him off again and colored him in green.

This little guy seemed perfect for this week's sketch at Mojo Monday (week 193 already!). I was about to use the purple version, but then I discovered a large piece of the Bazzill bling in my scraps pile. It matched the green guy perfectly. Then I happened to remember that I had this cool embossed paper that looks like scales, which also seemed perfect for a little dragon. Unfortunately, I suck at cutting straight angles. You'd think cutting a square into quarters would be easy, but I somehow mess it up every time. Maybe I should measure instead of eyeballing it, but that's too much like effort. Oh, well.

This little dragon is colored with copics. I highlighted the scales along his back and his wings with a green stardust pen. I used a red stardust pen on the flames, and liquid applique on the marshmallows.

I'm entering this card in the Do You Stack Up (DYSU) challenge for this time around, too. This time, the challenge is to make an animal inspired card. Well, dragons are animals, too, right? Make believe ones, perhaps, but animals nonetheless. Even if he doesn't count, I hope the paper with scales is enough animal-like stuff to count for the challenge, at least. Come on, pretty please???

As always, thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful week!

More stampin' with Sweet Pea

2011-05-30T20:10:00.000-04:00

Things have been crazy busy, hectic and stressful in my life for the last few weeks, since I got home from vacation. I haven't had the time to create as much as I'd like. My house needs tons of things done, but I decided that if I didn't get in some time at my craft table today, I wouldn't be a pleasant person to be around this week. It's a stress reliever for me to sit down and lose myself in coloring, putting together a card or layout, and just generally futzing around at my craft table. Unfortunately, I just didn't have any mojo at first. I just wasn't feeling much of anything as far as creativity and energy goes, but I finally forced myself to sit down and try.

When I get like that, it helps me to use challenge blogs to get the creativity flowing. This time, I tried the challenge at Sweet Pea Stampers to use lace and pearls with a Sweet Pea image. I chose one my newer stamps from Elaine Cox. Once I got started, I just kept wanting to throw more goodies at the card and the final result is this:

I colored her with copics. Her cheeks don't look as flushed as they are in this pic, and the colors are blue and cream, not blue and light yellow. I don't know what is up with my camera today. It's probably a result of the lighting, but anyway.... I added glossy accents and bling to the image, punched up some butterflies and prettied them up with pearls, added some flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts (the little blue roses), and a fairy charm. My friend Tracy sent me these awesome lace photo corners a while ago and it seemed perfect to use one for this challenge. I am not sure yet where this card will go, but possibly to my adopted soldier. I'd like to have a bunch of cards set aside for her and the other soldiers. I like having cards ready to go because I don't always have time to make one when it's needed.

Again, a very heartfelt thank you to all of our soldiers, past and present, for their sacrifices, dedication, and heroic efforts!!!

Sweet Pea for a soldier

2011-05-29T22:59:00.001-04:00

Given that it's Memorial Day weekend, I figured it's a good time to share my latest undertaking. I've joined Soldier's Angels. Soldier's Angels is an organization dedicated solely to supporting our soldiers, be they retired, wounded, or active. There's so many different groups within the organization. If you're not crafty, you can sign up to write letters to soldiers or send cards to soldiers needing additional support. That's just a few of the things you can do. I signed up for both of those groups, but I also adopted a soldier. That basically means I've agreed to send her a letter a week and a care package per month for the length of her deployment. I figure it's the least I can do, given that she is in some hellhole, sacrificing for us each and every day. I know that not everyone can afford to do that, though. I still urge you to look at the site and find some way to help a soldier that fits your lifestyle. At the risk of sounding like one of those latenight telemarketing campaigns, a stamp per week to send a letter costs less than one cup of coffee or one soda, and it touches the life of someone who has dedicated theirs to this country. Just think about it, ok?

Ok, enough with the salespitch. I'll get to the card now. I made this card to send to my soldier. I've already made her another one that will be sent out with her first care package, but I can't show you that one yet, since it's for Guylou's DT. This card I'm showing you here tonight is the second card I'll be sending her. As I've said many times, I am in love with Sweet Pea stamps. Lynette has introduced so many new artists over the last year or so, and I'm loving it.

I colored her with copics. I tried to shade it so that it looks as if the light is coming in from her right (your left as you look at the card), but I am having the hardest time with that lately. I added glossy accents to her lips and eyes, glitter to various places (although it's hard to see), and liquid pearls to the leaves and her hair. I got the idea to put them in her hair from Vicky's header on her blog. (I think she might have used a signo or similar pen, but it gave me the idea, so I am giving credit). Thanks for the inspiration! The patterned paper is K&Co and the cardstock is bazzill. The lace is from Hancock Fabrics and the frame around the image is a Spellbinders die. I think that about covers it!! As always, thanks for coming by. Please take a minute to remember our soldiers!

No more showers, it's time for flowers!

2011-05-19T23:00:00.035-04:00

I have heard that saying, "April showers bring May flowers" since my childhood. For some of us, the flowers are here and blooming beautifully, despite the fact that some April showers choose to come back through every once in a while. My personal fave are black eyed susans. My friend has tons of them where she lives in Pennsylvania, but I haven't seen one yet this year, and I live in Maryland. It's our state flower, for pete's sake. Okay, okay, I'm digressing again. I'll get to it now. Really, I will. It's time for a new challenge at Guylou's Inimitability and I think you may have already figured out what it is. If your brain is as fried as mine has been lately, maybe I didn't lead you down the right path or you're just not so sure. In that case, I'll go ahead and tell you. This time around, we're focusing on flowers! We're not going to make it that easy on you, though. For one, although you can use flowered patterned paper if you choose to do so, the plan is for you to use floral embellishments, like Prima or Wild Orchid Crafts. Not too hard, I hope. Secondly, we've even got a color palette for this one:

This challenge was my wonderful DT teammate and friend's choice and I personally love it. I love this color combo, I love flowers, I love all things girlie. Yes, I am a girlie-girl. I freely admit it. Plus, I just got a new order from Wild Orchid Crafts. Boy, I had fun breaking into that box!

For my card, I chose to use the wonderful cat in a basket image. He always makes me smile, because he reminds me of my girls. They love to explore all containers. I could see them choosing a big basket as their new home.

I colored him with copics. As I've already stated, flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts. The circle and scalloped circle are from Spellbinders dies. Papers are K&Co. The stitched border is actually a stamp from Sassafras Lass that I inked up with purple cat's eye chalk ink.

The challenge starts today and you have until June 2nd at 10:00 pm EST to enter your card. Remember to let the colors above inspire you and use some flowered embellishments! You can read all of the rules at Guylou's challenge blog. Come and play along!

Prepare for a long, picture heavy post...

2011-05-14T00:46:00.000-04:00

In honor of National Scrapbooking Day over on Scrapbook.com, they are hosting a challenge to complete a mini-album about yourself. It could be any topic, as long as it pertained to YOU. I struggled a lot with this idea. One, I suck at mini-albums. I don't know why they are so challenging for me. You'd think I'd see it as a bunch of card faces put together, but I just have the hardest time with them. Two, I couldn't pick a topic. I was so wishy-washy about it. Not like me at all. Usually, I'm pretty decisive. Three, I didn't have much time this week. It was a crazy busy week, with Robby's wedding, dinner plans with a friend, taking my car to the dealership for it's 50,000 mile check-up, work, etc.

I don't know when the idea came to me to do an album about my grieving process. Originally, I was going to do one about how losing Rick has changed both me and my life. My outlook on life is totally different now; I'm not the same person I was 19 months ago, that's for sure. I was struggling with the journaling when I met a new widow. I met her through my job. She had just lost her husband the day before, totally unexpectedly. I offered my condolences and we got to talking. I told her about my grieving process. I know that talking to other widows helped me, and I was hoping to help her in some small way. We talked for a long time. Then her sisters showed up and I talked to them, too. As I was leaving, she told me that I had helped her more than anyone. It got me thinking and the idea popped into my head to do a lessons learned mini album. So, that's what I did. Grief is definitely a monster. Now, here come all of the pictures. The journaling was a piece of cake, but I had the hardest time with page design. Oh, well.

Here is what the journaling says:
There are so many things I’ve learned about myself as I’ve journeyed through grief. It’s crazy how one experience can change you and your life so profoundly. You never really know just how much it will until it happens to you. Some things I’ve learned:

It’s okay to put yourself first sometimes.

It’s okay to ask for what you need.

It’s okay to demand what you need.

Saying “no, thanks” doesn’t mean you’re ungrateful.

Tears are not a sign of weakness.

On a similar note, refusing to cry in front of others is not uptight or wrong.

Lack of tears is not about strength; sometimes, tears just don’t feel adequate.

The shower is a great place to cry.

If you don’t have the energy to deal with something, find someone to do it for you.

If you want to do it yourself, it’s okay to take your time.

Some things will wait. For those that won’t, don’t sweat it. Just do what you can.

Don’t let anyone make you feel guilty for grieving in your own way and on your own timetable.

Don’t get rid of personal effects until you are ready, and don’t let anyone rush you into giving them something.
Every loss is different. You may have all lost the same person, but that loss will affect you all in different ways, and take something different from each of you. Have patience with others, they’re trying to find their way through the path of grief, too.

Grief is like an ocean. Some killer waves will knock you on your ass. Quiet waters will make you feel complacent until that next killer wave knocks you on your ass again. It’s okay. Ride the waves, because the quiet waters come back eventually.

Most importantly, be gentle with yourself. Don’t expect that you’ll be fine in no time. Don’t get mad at yourself when you are not fine or when things don’t go like you expect. After all, nobody really expects what grief does. It’s not only an ocean, it’s a monster and it might take multiple battles to kick it down. Fight hard and rest between battles.

Time does not heal all wounds. It just makes them smart a little less.

Memories will pop up at unexpected times. Don’t push them away. Let them comfort you.

To paraphrase a book that really helped me, you CAN go on living when someone you love dies. You are stronger than you think, and you can pull through. Every person we meet puts their footprint on our soul and it’s our job to carry that footprint on its next journey. Live your life; it’s the best gift you can give your deceased loved one.

I warned you it'd be a long post! If you read all of that, you are a more patient person than I am!!! (oh, and thanks for doing it!)

Reminders...

2011-05-08T21:03:00.000-04:00

Sometimes, I get to feeling sad or just plain old down. I sometimes get sucker-punched with memories that I'm not expecting. When you lose someone so close to you like I lost Rick, you lose so much more than that person. You have to readjust your ideas and desires for the future. It changes your day-to-day routines in a way that you're just not ready for. A part of you goes with that person and you never get that part of you back. You're changed in a way that you weren't prepared for and may or may not like. You don't just have to rebuild your life, you have to rebuild yourself. It's a hard job, but I feel like I'm hanging in there with it. Well, most of the time. I'm still working on his memorial album and that has helped me in so many ways. Here's a page I finished for it this weekend:

It is mainly about his sense of humor, and how much I miss it. And what a sucker punch it is every time I go to share one of our private jokes and realize he's not there to supply the punch line.

Then I hear about someone losing their child and I think, "wow, how in the hell do you handle that?!?" I wasn't ready for Rick to go, but at least he got 38 years here. I got to share 16 years of my life with him. We got to build memories together. His parents got to watch him grow up and get married. Yeah, it's a total suckfest that he is gone and that I don't get to build more memories with him or share our days together. I mean, it sucks more than I can express. But I got that gift of time with him. I got to see him achieve dreams.

I heard recently about a couple in Texas who lost their son to anencephalopathy. Thomas was only two days old when he died. I cannot even imagine what his parents are going through. I can't even fathom it. I wanted to help in some small way, so I made some pages for his baby book. It doesn't feel like enough.

The pages for Thomas'es album do not include pictures, as they will be added later by his parents or a friend. Little Thomas gets my first ever attempt at felt roses. He gets lots of prayers from me too, as do his parents. Like I said, I can't even imagine their pain. I feel so badly for his mother, on her first mother's day that she was supposed to be cuddling her precious baby, but instead, her arms are empty. I feel badly for Rick's mother. She should have had the chance to hug her son today, too.

Hugs and prayers for all of you moms today, whether your children are gracing this Earth or have become angels in Heaven. Every footprint, no matter how small, makes its mark on the world. (I read that somewhere, so I can't take credit)

We're having fun at the hop for Guylou's Inimitability!

2011-05-06T07:00:00.001-04:00

It's a new release from Guylou's Inimitability and I am so excited that I've got that old tune "Let's go to the hop" in my head. Good thing for you all that you can't hear my singing voice on a blog, isn't it? I can't carry a tune any better than I can dance. Guess I should just hop instead, which leads us back to what in the heck I'm supposed to be talking about.

Guylou has released two new sets of images. We've got the sweet, loveable Leah puttering around in her garden (Leah in her Garden series) and some funny but cute fish (Dysfunctional Fish Family). Guylou and her DT want to show them off, so we're having a hop! It will start today, May 6th at 9 am EST and end on Mother's Day (May 8th) at 9 pm EST.

Here's the new goodies:

Don't they make you smile?

What's even better is that you have the chance to win them! Play along with our hop today, and you could win one of three awesome prizes. The first prize is a card kit that I put together just for the grand prize winner, who will also receive the whole set of Leah in her Garden. For the sake of keeping this post from being way too long, I'll let Guylou show of the card kit on the Guylou's Inimitability blog. Second place is the full Leah in her Garden series. The third place winner will receive those funny dysfunctional fish. Cool, huh?

Here's what you gotta do to win: follow the hop. It'd be nice of you to leave comments for the DT along the way (it's also required to win). At the end of the hop, make sure to leave your name and email (not visible) on Guylou's Inimitability site.

The hop order is as follows:
Guylou's Inimitability
Trina
Kim
Sara
Guylou
Brenda
Gina (you're here!)
Guylou's Inimitability

Now, I gotta tell you, G's DT has been one busy bunch. Not only are we hopping, but we're playing along in a contest, too. You should join us! We're making shaker boxes using the new images. This challenge was the fabulous Kim's idea. If you are clueless about making shaker boxes, check out this video. All you gotta do to win two free images from G's store and the opportunity to be a guest DT in a future challenge is to make a project using a shaker box and post it to the Guylou's Inimitability by May 19th at 2 pm EST. Easy peasy and fun, too. Here's mine.

I used buttons, removing the shank beforehand, as well as flat-backed rhinestones. Leah is colored with copics. I had to use lots of pink, because, well, that's my favorite color. Leah looks like a pink girl to me, don't you think? Flowers are wild orchid crafts and some silk flowers I got at Michael's. Buttons were in the dollar bin at Michael's.

So, go hop. Don't forget to leave comments on the way and especially at the end, on the Guylou's Inimitability blog. Then give the shaker box a shot. Come on, you can do it!

On vacation...

2011-05-02T19:00:00.001-04:00

I will be on vacation until May 3rd and will not have access to my blog. I've got one post pre-scheduled for a DT assignment. Otherwise, you won't hear from me for a bit. If anyone has any questions about any projects, or if I happen to be lucky enough to win any random draws or RAKs that I've entered, please have patience! I'll reply as soon as I am back to blogland! Thanks and have a great couple of weeks. HAPPY EASTER!!!

Getting creative with khaki

2011-04-22T01:00:00.001-04:00

It's time for another fun challenge at Guylou's Inimitability! We've changed things up a little. Now the DT members are alternating so that we each design our own challenge. This time around, it was Tracy's turn. Tracy decided to go with a color challenge with a twist. I must admit, I love color challenges, and I really liked this one. The twist was a little hard for me, but that's what makes it a challenge, right? Ok, I'll shut up long enough to show you the color palette:

Pretty awesome, wouldn't you say? Great for nature cards, masculine cards, and pretty much anything. Neutral colors are so cool that way. What made me even more excited was that the colors immediately reminded me of my girls. Guylou drew a fun image of snuggling cats that cried out to be colored in siamese fashion. I've done it once already and I tried it with some different copic colors this time. Here it is:

Now, can you look at the card and figure out what our twist is this time around??? Huh, can you do it? Ok, I will take pity on you and just tell you. The twist this time around is to use something from your household that you would not usually use on a card. Go ahead, use an unconventional item! For some of you, that might be easy. For me, it was darned difficult. I ended up using washers and a keyring.

This card is for my father-in-law for Father's Day. A little early, I know, but I like to be prepared. He loves my girls and calls them things like, "the babies." He asks after them and gets so excited to come over and pet them. It's kind of cute.

Alright, in case you didn't feel like reading all of my chatter, I'll give you the details of the challenge in one fell swoop:
Use the colors above and add an unconventional item from the household to your project. Projects are due at Guylou's Inimitability by May 5th at 10 p.m. EST. The winner will get two free Guylou's Inimitability images and will also be a guest DT on a future challenge.

And before I forget, stay tuned for a fun new release from Guylou's store, too! She's bringing back a favorite character. Here's a sneak peek! She's got some other images forthcoming, too. We're going to have a fabulous blog hop on May 6th. The winner of the hop will not only receive some free GI images, but also a special something from me. The girls on the DT have seen this goodie pack and have told me that I am being very generous!

For now, go play with the khaki color challenge with a twist. Don't forget to check the other DT member blogs (link in my sidebar) for some great inspiration. Then head on back to GI's blog on May 6th for a fun hop!!! See you soon!

Lili of the Valley makes me want a pet bunny

2011-04-12T22:07:00.000-04:00

Yeah, it's all the fault of Lili of the Valley. The new bunny images are so stinkin' cute! Several of them are super quick to color and make for great, adorable cards when you don't have a lot of time. I managed to slap together two more Easter cards tonight. I colored these images days ago and it didn't take me long to find matching paper and get them down onto what I hope are some cute cards (and by the way, I think I'm getting better at tying my bows by hand. Take that, you darned bow not-so-easy, you!).

Ok, so it's not all the fault of LOTV. Rick started it. We were at a flea market and saw this adorable bunny colored just like a siamese cat. That little guy was the epitome of cuteness. We didn't bring him home, as I reminded myself that the cats are enough and already demand my attention. They're rather spoiled. However, it was tempting. Then I really got into House Mouse stamps and wouldn't you know it, they have those adorable Happy Hopper stamps, too? Then LOTV had to go and come out with these new bunny stamps. Sheesh. I guess since I won't get a live bunny, they're the next best thing. Plus, I don't have to feed them or clean their cages. LOL

So, I lied...

2011-04-11T20:01:00.000-04:00

I told my friends earlier today that I wasn't going to make any more Easter cards. I said I didn't have time. If I thought it was the truth, does it still count as a lie? Basically, I figured on running certain errands tonight in preparation for my trip. I won't bore you with details. Suffice it to say that banks don't always have money and now I have to go back there on Wednesday. I thought I needed to head to the store for some things, but found out that I have them all at home, and so on. That's enough info on that. Anyhow, the unexpected free time allowed me to finish another Easter card. Really, it wasn't free time...I should have been cleaning my house. Who feels like cleaning when Mr. Mojo visits, though???

My mojo tonight came from two places: 1) this adorable stamp from Stampavie. Yes, I used it on an earlier card, too. I can't help it. This little chick is too cute for words; and 2) the great sketch at Sweet Sketch Wednesday. It's sketch #96 this week.

I colored the image with copics. My friend Tracy inspired me to use tiny ribbons to tie up bigger ribbon. I took some sheer yellow ribbon, added lavender crinkly ribbon on top of it, then cinched it together with three thin purple ribbon pieces. I got the pom pom ribbon on clearance at Hancock Fabrics ages ago. The yellow flower seam binding came in a basket of odds and ends from an antique store, still in it's original wrapper with the original 20 cent price tag on it. The sentiment is from Whiff of Joy. Papers are prima and bazzill. I think that about covers it! Once again, thanks for stopping by. Have a fabulous day!

Another Easter card

2011-04-10T22:14:00.000-04:00

So, I went from being slap happy and silly to just plain tired. LOL. I have no wit or silliness left tonight, so all I've got for a title is just plain old boring. I am trying to get my Easter cards done. I have four more to make before Friday. That wouldn't seem so bad if I didn't have a ton of other stuff to do, too. Thank goodness for Hallmark. That's my back-up plan!

Anyway, this card is for my grandmother. If you're a regular reader of my blog, you know that she loves purple. For Christmas, I made her a calendar using this line of paper. I still had some scraps left over, so I tossed them onto this card. The flower is attached to the striped tag, which pulls out to reveal a note. The flower looks blue in the pic, but it is actually purple. I got the lace at an antique store, in a basket full of odds and ends.

I haven't made a card without stamping in a while. I keep wanting to add an image to this card. Old habits die hard!

Shake, shake, shake...shake your bunny booty!

2011-04-10T18:13:00.000-04:00

Um....yeah, so I'm feeling a bit slap happy right about now, which means my mind goes in even sillier directions than normal. The title came to my head as I was shaking this shakerbox card, to see how well it worked:

This little card is for my friend's four year old son for Easter. I hope it's not too girlie. I think once he sees all of the Easter egg confetti moving around inside, he won't care. I got the confetti at Walmart for a whopping buck. I already had the image colored, so this was a pretty quick card, meaning it didn't cost much in the way of time. I used scraps I had in my scrap pile. Pretty cheap entertainment, wouldn't you say?

I also got him a few coloring books. What kid doesn't love to receive mail with his name on it? He can spell his own name now and recognize it, too, so I figured now is the perfect time to send him some mail intended just for him.

The card is for the Anyone for Anya challenge to use colors inspired by the pic on their blog. The pic is one that will get us all thinking of Easter and the fun of dyeing and then Easter egg hunting! It makes me miss the whole process with Rick. He got such a kick out of making Easter eggs. He'd write little messages for me in crayon before dyeing them. Then we'd always head to my aunt and uncle's to participate in a huge Easter bash with my family, including an Easter egg hunt, a pinata, games, and good food. Then we'd run to visit his family afterwards. It has always been one of my favorite family times. This year, I won't be around for it, but I'm sure my family will make sure that I get plenty of pictures!

Oh, and before I forget, many thanks to my pal Trina for this cute little Anya. Trina, I used my multiliners, just like you said I would!!! LOL.

Count the happies!

2011-04-10T00:01:00.000-04:00

Mr. Mojo has deserted me lately. I think he must be off visiting some of my friends, based on the cool stuff they've got posted on their blogs. I tried to entice him back to me tonight with a great sketch from Mojo Monday. It's sketch 185 this week, and you really need to go check it out. It's a great one. So, Mr. Mojo decided he could hang with me long enough to put together this card. Then he bailed yet again. That guy is a brat. I'm hoping he'll show up again tomorrow. I have so many Easter cards to make, and only this week in which to make them! After this week, I will be unable to sit at my scrap table for two weeks, since I'll be off galivanting around Germany. I am so stoked! Good thing I've already lined up a cat/house sitter, huh?

Anyway, I made this card with an image I'd colored last week. This cute little chick is from Stampavie and I colored her with copics. The patterned paper is Prima and I used a Martha Stewart punch to make the little chicks, the butterfly, and the scallops. I cut the image out with Spellbinders scalloped ovals and inked around the edge with cats eye chalk inks. The card is actually brighter in real life, but I wanted to get a pic tonight and get the card posted, before I forgot and missed the Mojo Monday deadline.

In addition to Mojo Monday's sketch 185, this card fits for the Simon Says Challenge to make an Easter or spring card. It also fits the DYSU challenge to make a card with yellow. The cardstock, the punched out chickies, and the image all contain yellow.

Oh, and before I forget, here's the inside of the card. Another bad picture, but you get the idea. I'm going to stamp an Easter sentiment as soon as I can find my darn stamp.

It's raining....Ben???

2011-04-07T07:00:00.005-04:00

Sorry, I couldn't resist the play on the old song "It's Raining Men". Do I need to add the "hallelujah" in there, too??? Ok, well, hallelujah, it's a new challenge at Guylou's Inimitability! How's that? This one is all about those April Showers. Your challenge this time around: Bring on the Umbrellas! Make a project with an umbrella or two or three on it. That's all you gotta do.

I'm pretty obsessed with three themes: apples, cats, and umbrellas. So, when Guylou told the DT to make a card using Ben, well, I didn't complain. I might have even grinned pretty big. He's so cute with his umbrella, don't you think?

I colored him with copics and added glossy accents to his umbrella, pockets, and boots. I made this card as a get well for a sweet boy, so I didn't want to girlie it up too much with lots of embellies and such. Ben's on a tri-fold card, which opens to look like this:

I've already said how much I like Ben. I made another card with him ages ago...I'm talking months! Well, I've made more than one other card with him, I think, but this is one that I still had a picture of. I gave this card away to my aunt, when she was going through a major health scare:

There's my examples. Head on over to the blogs of the rest of the DT to see more great examples (links in my sidebar, on your left). Now, it's time to show us yours. Make a card featuring an umbrella (or more than one) and post it at Guylou's Inimitability. The challenge engs on April 21st, at 10:00 p.m. EST. There's a twist that gets you even more chances to win: use a GI image on your card. Use Ben and you could get even more chances to win! And I mean, come on? Why wouldn't you use him? He's cute and he suits this challenge so well! Go on, give it a shot!

Disclaimer: I'm bad at following directions and I posted early. Sheesh....go check out the DT blogs now for other fun stuff, but they followed the rules and won't be showing Ben for another 10-15 hours or so. Oops.

In honor of love and old friendships

2011-03-28T18:35:00.004-04:00

Some of us were blessed enough to grow up with a really close friend with whom we shared pretty much everything. As adults, we might grow apart or go our own ways for a while, but that person will always remain special to us. They've taken a piece of our hearts and kept it with them. My husband was lucky enough to have one of these friends. Rick and Robby were inseparable for years, or so I am told. They did typical boy things...let off model rockets, played with toy soldiers and cars, and got dirty in the back yard. During these boyish activities, they hurt each other and then the hurt one covered for the one who inflicted. They were brothers of the heart.

Rick and Robby grew apart as they aged and followed different paths in life. Both of them grew up to be good men with great hearts, but they didn't see much of each other for a while there. I've only met Robby a few times, but when he came to Rick's memorial service, he sat next to me in the front row. He earned his place there as the little boy who stood beside Rick for years, who had grown into a good man. Now Robby is getting married, and I wanted to make him a special card. I had to girlie it up for his bride, but I used a precious image from Lili of the Valley for Robby. I thought the two little kids on the swing together might bring back memories of his own childhood and the things they shared. I know that Rick would want to be there in person to celebrate with him, but that wasn't to be. Instead, he gets to smile down on the whole day, and maybe play a prank or two (as he liked to do...if things go wrong that day, or little annoyances happen, he'll probably be up there in heaven, laughing his fool butt off).

Anyway, this card was made with the LOTV image and several punches to meet their challenge for the week. I used the heart border punch, leaf punch, and butterfly punches from Martha Stewart. Papers are Memory Box Minuet. The smaller flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts,while the large yellow roses are Recollections. The little journaling card says "enjoy every moment" and is from Webster's Pages. The congrats stamp is from the $1 bin at Michael's. The card opens below the heart border to show a pocket, where I plan to place some cash on their big day.

I colored the image with copics, then covered it with a circle of paper so I could spray with smooch spray. Then I used spellbinders to cut it out and pop-dotted it onto the card. Here's the inside:

The sentiment goes down into the pocket slightly and I added the "perfect pair" embellie, as well.

Thanks for looking! I plan to enter this card in the Lili of the Valley challenge to punch it up. As I already mentioned, I used three punches on it. It also fits the Color Create challenge to use pastels. The main colors are light blue and yellow, as well as Stamp Something's edict to make a spring card. What's more spring than flowers, butterflies, and swinging on a swing with your buddy? Card is also for A Spoon Full of Sugar to use ribbon, flowers, and pearls. And last but not least, for the Simon Says Stamp challenge to make a girlie card. I'd say this one is pretty girlie, even if half of the pair it's going to isn't!!! LOL

I had a lot of fun with this card. I hope they like it!

With sympathy...

2011-03-27T14:48:00.001-04:00

My dear friend Brenda lost her mother-in-law a short time ago. As you can imagine, it's been a rough and emotional time for her whole family. I wanted to send her a little card to let her know that I was thinking of her and her husband at this awful time. I have a really difficult time with sympathy cards, though. In the end, I decided to use one of my favorite Sweet Pea images from Ching Chou Kiuk. Okay, okay...it's true. Sweet Pea images are one of my new obsessions, so I think my faves list is a bit long, but still....

I colored the image with copics and attempted another multi-fold card. I have a very, very difficult time with measuring, scoring, and folding, despite owning the appropriate tools for doing all of that. I must be getting better with practice, though (or so I tell myself), because it seems to be getting easier and the folds seem to be lining up better. Woot woot!

Here are two pictures of how the card looks when it's opened:

And here's the copics I used. This image doesn't call for many:

I plan to enter this card in the Sweet Pea Dream challenge, which is to make a card for spring. I think the flowers, colors, and little bird qualify this one. I hope so, anyway! I'd also like to enter it in the Color Create challenge to use pastels.

Now it's back to doing the laundry. I finally pulled my spring clothes down out of the attic and I've been washing, washing, washing all day. I don't know how that can be, when I didn't have that many clothes, but it sure feels like a never-ending job. Happy Sunday, everyone. And Bren, you know I'm still sending prayers and hugs your way, girl. Love you!

Thanks!

2011-03-24T22:28:00.001-04:00

Voting is almost over for the Sweet Pea stampoff, round 2. I'm still in the #4 slot, which means my little card is not moving on to round 3. It's all okay, though. The competition was fierce and the cards that did move on are fantastic. Very creative, pretty, and obviously labor-intensive. Gorgeous stuff! Congrats to the top three!
And here's my card. It took me a while, because you all know that I suck at measuring, scoring, and folding. I colored three sweet pea images from ching-chou kiuk, using my wonderful copics.

That's how she looks opened. And closed, the card looks like this:

From the closed picture, you can see the first panel pretty well. Here's close-ups of the other three panels, too.

They all have a bit of bling on them using stardust pens, as well as tiny little pearls here and there.

Thanks for looking, and if you got the chance, thanks for voting! And congrats, once again, to the top 3!!!

Cottage cat is sweet, not sneaky!

2011-03-21T20:44:00.000-04:00

Some people think cats are sneaky. Admittedly, they can be. Sophie is a perfect example. She knows she's not allowed to chew my one lousy little plant, so she waits until I leave the room and gives it a taste. Then she's like those sour patch kids commercials. First she's sour and chewing on my plant, then she's sweet and loving up on me, purring away. Well, cottage cat from Guylou's Inimitability has decided to show you the sweet side of being a kitty cat. Just check him out. Don't you want to come love on him?

I colored him up last night, using my copics. I added glossy accents to his eyes and the umbrella. Cottage Cat has been at Guylou's store for a while. He was one of her earlier digistamps, and has remained one of my favorites. I love any image of cats and this one just reminds me of how serene and sweet they look when they curl up to check out the world or nap. The design of the card is based after sketch 100 at the Sweet Stop. Check it out; the prize this week is awesome.

I'm currently trying to build up a stash of cards to send to Operation Write Home. I only have two more cards to make for events in my life (provided that nothing else pops up unexpectedly), and then I'll be set for my cards through early May. In the mean time, I'm trying to make a card here and there for OWH. It's a great cause, to help out our wonderful military who make sacrifices for us every day. This card is not the right size for them (they prefer A2 size for shipping reasons), so I'll use it for one of my own needs. I just wanted to take this opportunity while I was writing already to remind people about OWH. I know, totally off topic of my cottage cat card, but since when have you known me to stay on topic througout a whole blog post?!?!

We're seeing spots over at Guylou's Inimitability!

2011-03-17T23:58:00.000-04:00

Come play along and see some spots with us! The challenge this time around at Guylou's Inimitability is to make a card using dots. Polka dots. Fat dots. Dalmation spots. Ha...check me out, channeling Dr. Suess. What a talented man he was. My little rhyme pales drastically in comparison. Ok, again, I digress. You're used to that by now, I figure.

The DT worked with an adorable image called "cat and fish." I think it's pretty obvious that cat images always make me smile. I had a good time making my card. It's actually a gift card/cash holder. One of my neighbor's older children is going to take care of my cats for me for a bit, so I wanted to make her a little card to thank her for her time. I'm going to give her a wee bit of cash for it, too, which will definitely thrill her. She's coveting some jewelry from Avon, and some new markers for her art, and probably some clothes. Hey, she's a teenager, what do you expect?

Without further ado, here's my card:

Of course, I would hope that while she is taking care of them, it's not in the mindset of that kitty cat who wants to eat the fishies!!! LOL.

Like I said, it's a gift card holder. It opens where the scalloped border is. The bottom half of the card makes the pocket. I used rain dots as the little stones in the fishbowl, added glossy accents to the fish so they're shiny looking, colored the image with copics, and cut it out with my spellbinders. The fish paper is Cosmo Cricket.

You have until March 31st to make your own card for Guylou's Inimitability. Just make sure you don't forget to include the spots! Easy peasy, right? Well, then, what are you waiting for? Get to it!

What a flattering birthday present!

2011-03-15T01:07:00.000-04:00

A few days ago, I received an adorable birthday card from my friend Guylou. G owns a digi stamp store and I've been on her DT from day one. As if it was not flattering enough that she included me in this endeavor, then she went and drew me!!! Yes, that's right, she surprised me with a digi image of none other than myself, sitting with my two sweet kitty cats. Not only am I so flattered and touched that she did that, but I'm also happy to see that she made some...um....welcomed changes. In the world according to Guylou, I am no longer flat-chested and chubby. I've well-endowed and willowy. Man, you gotta love friends who see the skinny inner child living inside of you!

As soon as I saw the image, I knew I had to color her up and put her on a birthday card for my gram. My gram loves purple and I also know that she'd get the biggest kick out of getting a card with me on it. So, here's what I came up with:

I colored her up with copics, added a sentiment stamp that I got at Michael's, and some flowers and leaves that I had in my stash. I had to give her freckles, because I've got quite a few. The chandelier gems are from Michael's wedding section. I was worried that the big cluster of gems, leaves and flowers might be a bit too big, but my gram loves all of that frou-frou stuff, so I decided not to tone it down. The design of the card is based after this week's sketch over at the Sweet Stop. Go check it out...they've got great sketches to inspire you!

RAK WINNER!!!!!!!

2011-03-14T19:33:00.002-04:00

So, I know that when I am waiting on a RAK draw, the wait is the worst part. I didn't want to torture everyone too badly. I can't for the life of me figure out how to put the darned random.org results in my posts so you can actually see the calculator. Sheesh.

Without further ado, the winner of my combination blogaversary and birthday RAK is: #24 Debby W - Paper Pearls!

Debby, please shoot me an email at (email removed to prevent Spam). If I don't hear from you by 8:00 a.m. EST on Monday, March 18th, I'll draw for a new winner.

Congrats, Debby! I've added several things to the RAK since I posted it back in February. I hope you enjoy it all!

Help! I need a sentiment!

2011-03-13T16:05:00.000-04:00

So, I wanted to enter some more challenges and also play with some of my newer stamps while I was at it. I colored up this adorable little kitty. My mother-in-law loves cats. I want to give it to her for Mother's Day, but I can't figure out a good sentiment. Any ideas? I've got time to think about it, thank goodness!

Image is from Sweet Pea stamps, and colored with copics. I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Fuzzy Wuzzy - sketch challenge
In a Sweet Pea Dream - pink sweet pea (card is primarily pink and mint green)
Simon Says - anything goes

Mojo Monday, when you don't have any of your own

2011-03-13T13:45:00.000-04:00

I ran out of mojo today. Yesterday, Mr. Mojo was visiting me and having a grand time, but I guess he got bored with my company. As usual, when my mojo has decided to take a vacation, I turn to a sketch. I find that designing the card is often the hardest part, and the sketch challenges alleviate the need to come up with a design completely on my own. This time around, I used a sketch from Mojo Monday. I love their sketches. Fabulous stuff!

I needed yet another birthday card. I recently got this stamp set with a cute little bunny and some adorable sayings. One of my fave is "I hope your birthday is as fabulous as me!" Too funny. For this one, though, I just used the "go forth and eat cake!" sentiment on the inside.

Most of the papers are from that pack I found at Tuesday Morning for only $2.99. They're Heidi Swapp. Then I threw on some Doodlebug pink dotted cardstock from my scrap pile, and the blue cardstock was also in my scrap pile. I colored this cute bunny up with copics, then added liquid applique for cake frosting, and glossy accents on the candle and his nose.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Once again, it's about Tammy and the bears!

2011-03-12T22:02:00.000-05:00

So, a day or two ago, I posted about the sweet and awesome bear that Tammy made for me. Even though I commissioned her to make the bear, I wanted to send her a special thank you for her compassion and just overall fabulousness. Here's what I came up with:

There is a very thin layer of red around the outside of the card. Due to my measuring snafu, it's not as thick as it should be. Hopefully, that does not detract from the card. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, with the exception of the big red rose. I got that at the Dollar Store. Papers are Prima, sent to me for my birthday by my great friend, Terri. I got a huge roll of red tulle on sale for 70% off at Hobby Lobby after Valentine's Day, so I added it to the card, too. I have tons left! The image is colored with copics on Hammermill paper. I have so many wonderful friends...another one of them (Tracy) sent me the Hammermill to try. She loves it, but it didn't work for me. I'm sticking with my Gina K or Neenah. I love that Tracy was generous enough to share her stash of Hammermill so I could try it, though. Wasn't that sweet of her?

So, anyway, this card is based on this week's sketch at Friday Sketchers. I'm also entering it in the Belles N Whistles challenge to use red, pink and white on a card, as well as the DYSU challenge to layer. As you can see, I layered paper upon paper upon paper. It's a pretty heavy card! I hope it makes Tammy smile.

Welcome baby!

2011-03-12T18:16:00.000-05:00

I'm going to make this a quick, short post. I was wondering why I have been feeling so hungry for the last hour or so. I just now looked at the clock and realized it's past my dinner time. I usually eat between 5:00-5:30. Whoops. Good thing I went grocery shopping today!

My cousin just had her baby boy. His name is Brayden and he's precious. I'm not posting any pics, though (sorry), because I'm not sure if she'd be okay with that. I always make it a point to ask the parents first. However, I will show you the card I made to congratulate her and welcome baby Brayden to our family. I based it after the sketch at Sweet Sketch Wednesday, sketch #92.

The stamp is from an older Stampin' Up set. I stamped it using the CTMH ink that my friend Bren generously gave me. The button is actually light blue, but it's iridescent, so it didn't photograph well. The whole card is blue and white, with the exception of the outlines of the clouds. I hope she likes it!

Yummy, sugar!

2011-03-12T18:03:00.001-05:00

First off, prepare yourself for lots of activity on your dashboard from me today. I've been making cards like crazy today. My house needs a good scrubbing, but oh, well. It's not like anyone is going to break in and steal the dust, right?

Here's two of the cards I've finished today. Both are sympathy cards. My friend Kim and I met years and years ago, when we were in 7th grade. We've known each other more than half of our lives. When her grandfather passed away, I wanted to make her a special card. Purple is her favorite color. This is what I came up with:

I'd like to enter this card in two challenges:
1. The Sugar Bowl, challenge 55 - to use Erika's sketch and of course, a sugar nellie image
2. A Spoon Full of Sugar - anything with a vintage/shabby theme. I distressed this card like crazy to make it have a more vintage feel. I also added some crocheted lace and pretty flowers.

As you can imagine, since Kim and I have known each other for so long, that means that I also know her awesome parents. They're two very sweet people who have always supported our friendship. They're also just extremely thoughtful. I had to make them a card, too. Here's the one I made for them:

This card is for the Cardabilities challenge, using sketch #26. I snagged the gold ribbon off of a gift that I recently received. I think it works well on this card. I managed to tie it by hand, because I am still mad at my bow easy!

Darnit all, I missed the cardabilities challenge. Oh, well, at least the sketch helped me get a card done!

Funky and fabulous!!! (picture heavy post)

2011-03-10T17:28:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a great mail day (both snailmail and email)! I got some lovely birthday cards today, a gift certificate for Oozak.com (you can bet I signed right up to be notified when the new copics appear again), and no bills. Woot woot! To top it off, I found a soaking wet box on my doorstep. Ok, I know that doesn't sound like a good thing, but trust me, it was a fabulous thing. Not the fact that the box was wet, but the contents of the box...oh, my!

About two months after Rick passed away, I was at this crop that a friend of mine had convinced me I should attend. I think she was trying to get me out of the house and also where she could keep an eye on me, because she was worried about me. So, I reluctantly agreed to go. I'm glad that I did. I met a sweet bunch of ladies who were so compassionate and understanding of my teary eyes and rather withdrawn behavior (can you imagine it...ME, not talking much?!?). One of the ladies had recently lost her father and she was talking about memorial bears. I had seen them before, but I guess grief had fogged my brain and I wasn't thinking of them. That's a bit shocking, since I collect bears and other animals. I have a huge collection of Steiff, Hermann, artist and other bears (not to mention the hedgehogs, tigers, cats, horses, dogs, birds, etc).

Once I got home, I went to my trusty pal Google and started checking out sites for memorial bears. I found Tammy Bears and I am so glad that I did. All of her bears are so unique, full of character, and made with such thought and care. Unfortunately, I just could not decide what articles of clothing I wanted to use for my own special Rick bear. It took me forever (over a year!), but I finally figured it out. You see, Rick used to wear this bomber jacket everywhere. As soon as it cooled down even a little, he was in that thing. He even had various wool scarves to wear with it. While I could not fathom cutting up his bomber jacket, I figured I could leave one scarf hanging with it, and send the rest off to Tammy, so that's just what I did.

I told Tammy that I love funky bears that are different than anything else. Then I told her what a prankster Rick was, and how he was always up to something mischievous. I even sent her a picture of him in the process of pulling a prank on one of his buddies in Iraq. I happened to send the bear request right at the height of her Christmas rush. Knowing that, I told her not to hurry and that if I had the bear by my birthday in March, I'd be happy. Tammy made it happen. He arrived today. He's fun, he's funky, he looks a little curious and a little serious, too. I think he's waiting til I fall asleep to start his next prank, but he sure looks like he's plotting it now.

Now, just look at him. Isn't he cute? He's got those ears off to the side that always make bears look so curious (at least, I think so), long, soft "fur", and even leather paw pads that remind me of Rick's bomber jacket.

The little heart on his chest is embroidered with a number that was one of our little private things we signed in our cards and notes to each other. His body is made from Rick's scarves.

As Rick would tell me, he was calling my name from inside that box. That's what he used to say when I would see a bear I wanted in the store. He'd tell me that bear was calling my name. This one definitely calls for me. In fact, I think he's screaming my name pretty loudly.

I hope you never have need of a memorial bear, but if you do, please visit Tammy. Read her inspirational story, check out her amazing work, and support a fabulous artist. And if you're not a bear person, she makes dogs, too. Some of the dogs she's made look so realistic that I figure they might even bark. Even if you don't want a memorial bear and you just want that special bear that's handmade just for you, you might want to give her a call.

My little Rick bear is going to hang out on the shelf in my living room, where he can be seen and admired, but not easily touched. He told me that he doesn't want to live behind glass, so he's hanging out next to some scrapbooks, loving life. He's got his friend the Steiff Sloth bear just a few steps away (although you can't see him in the pic below. He's a bit further down on the shelf).

This is one of his lighterweight bombers. This was the one he wore the most. He also owned one of the more traditional bombers, with the really thick shearling collar and lining. That thing would roast you out in 10 degree weather. Since Rick was always cold, I guess he liked that.

Now I've got a fabulous bear to make me smile every time I lay eyes on him, and to make me remember how Rick always pushed me to get any animal I wanted for my collection. Thanks, Tammy. You made my day. Heck, probably a lot longer than just a day!

An udder birthday?

2011-03-08T22:40:00.000-05:00

Wow, with the world opened up in the internet, I'm meeting all kinds of people who share my birthday month! Happy Birthday to my fellow March babies! I'm moving on to a new month with this card, though. My friend Melissa's birthday is in April. Since I won't have much time in April to craft, I am trying to get both March and April projects done now. It's slow going, but I'm working on it. I guess it would help if I made a list on actual paper, rather than the notepad that lives in my head (and tends to disappear on occasion, like the rest of my memories can sometimes do!). That's another thing to worry about doing, though, and I just haven't quite gotten to it yet.

I just won this stamp set over on Anita Be Stampin's Challenge blog. You really need to go play over there. She has great sketch and color challenges, and the prize is an awesome gift card to use in her store. Her store carries both digis and rubber stamps. When I first got a rubber stamp set from Anita's store, I could not believe: 1) how fast she shipped it; 2) how cutely (is that a word?) in which she packaged it (I love pink polka dot tissue paper); 3) how deeply etched the rubber is; and 4) how cleanly they stamp. Totally worth every penny. Each set comes with sentiments and an image or two. I now have multiple sets from her store (5, I think?), plus some digis. Such cute stuff!

Here's my card for the challenge this week, which is a sketch. You need to head over to the blog to see the sketch, though. Go on, get over there. No, no, wait! Look at my card first, THEN get over there. I'll shut up now so you can see. Here you go:

I used Nesties labels 11 to cut out the sentiment. Papers are Cosmo Cricket. I added shine to the balloon and party hat with glossy accents. Since I love buttons, I had to add a few of those to the card, too. The image is colored with copics. I found this awesome tutorial on 7 Kids College Fund to show me how to make the cloud background. Needless to say, I need some practice, but it was fun to try. I am slowly but surely learning how to make various backgrounds. Dana taught me how to do the dotted one. Someone else (sorry, I can't recall who it was!) showed me how to make the shadows, and now I learned how to make clouds. Fun!

So, anyway, head on over to Anita's challenge blog and check out the sketch for yourself! It's okay...you can go now. I won't pull you back to listen to more chatter. At least, not yet.

That Star chick is silly...I mean, sweet. Yeah, yeah, that too!

2011-03-08T16:35:00.000-05:00

So my pal Starla decided I needed an award. How did she know I have been a cranker all day today? Totally off topic, but isn't "cranker" an interesting word? I picked it up from my friend, Danni. Basically, I'm being a witch today. I'm just so tired, which makes me cranky. Good thing my coworkers only have to deal with me for another half hour. In all honesty, I've been trying to hide from most of them today, for two reasons: 1) their safety; and 2) to preserve their view of me as a nice person. LOL!

Anywho, Star made me smile for a little while, just by giving me a blog award. Now, she said I had to pass it on to five other people. There's a few stipulations in there, including that they had to be people who are so deserving of one of those huge follower databases (you know the ones...people who have thousands of followers) and yet don't have a ton of followers just yet. I think all of these blogs are fantabulous and that the reason they don't have the gazillions of followers yet is because maybe you haven't seen them. Heck, since I don't have a ton of followers, maybe you still won't see them here on my blog, but I'm trying! Without further ado, here's my list. I tried to pick people that Star hadn't snagged already. She always has to try to be first. Man, what's up with that? (Love ya, Star, and you know I'm kiddin').

Trina
Bren
Tracy
Chris
Amanda

Go ahead, click on their names to see their blogs, and follow them, if you aren't already. I promise, it's worth it!

Oh, yeah, the other stipulation...I have to post the award. So, here it is:

Now, if my five friends want to accept the award, they just have to do the same...pick five people with less than 200 followers (the original award said 150. I changed it because I hate following rules) and send them an award!

Sweet Pea sympathy

2011-03-07T22:04:00.000-05:00

I have such a difficult time with sympathy cards. I made this one for a friend who recently lost a wonderful family member. I mailed it already; I hope she gets it before she sees this blog post. Unfortunately, I didn't want to wait any longer to post the card, since the challenge at In a Sweet Pea Dream closes soon. Well, I guess if she sees it, then she'll get to look upon it twice. That sounds like a good rationalization, right?

Image is colored with copics and blinged up with stardust pens in various colors. The large green rose is prima; all other flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts. I don't know if this image is right for a sympathy card. I just know that my friend loves Ching-Chou Kiuk's stamps (as I do) and that the image looks somehow intense and so serious. The challenge this time around at In a Sweet Pea Dream is "warmer weather." Well, I figure her bare shoulders don't bode well for cold. Take the bare shoulders, flowers, and butterflies into account, and she's definitely a warmer weather lady!

Elisabeth Bell and Whiff of Joy and yumminess

2011-03-06T23:14:00.001-05:00

So, for my birthday, I treated myself to Whiff of Joy's kit club. I am so stoked to know that I will have four kits of Elisabeth Bell images coming to me over the course of the next 12 months. How exciting is that??? And the fact that they only bill each installment as the kit is sent out makes it rather afforable. It's definitely a good deal. Ordering this way gives you not only bunches of awesome stamps, but also 11% off of each kit, plus a 20% off coupon to the Whiff of Joy store. And I think it's super fun that the kits are a secret. I won't have any idea what images I'm getting until the kit arrives. It's a surprise! It's like having another birthday every three months. How cool is that??? If you're interested, check out Katharina's blog, where she gives you some links to order. Hurry up, though. I think your last chance to sign up ends this month. Here's a sneak peek of the summer kit. I am in love with this little cutie and her glasses already! If you can't afford the kit club (I mean, that'd be the only reason not to get it, right?), but maybe you have some dough set aside from your tax return and want just one kit, you can preorder the summer kit now.

Oh, and if you're interested in getting an Elisabeth Bell image for free, don't forget to check out my combination birthday and blogaversary RAK, to be drawn on March 14th. The sticky at the top of my blog has the link!

Fairy wishes and butterfly kisses

2011-03-06T21:43:00.000-05:00

I recently found this great pack of Heidi Swapp papers at Tuesday Morning for a whopping $2.99. Since I am really in the mood for spring, this pack of pastels had to come home with me. This is the first card I've made with the pack. It's for a dear friend who is going through a rough patch. I just want her to know that she's on my mind and I'm sending positive thoughts her way.

I colored this little cutie with copics. She's from Mo's Digital Pencil (although I got her in the acrylic version). I'm entering her in Mo's Digital Pencil challenge. The theme this week is "oh, baby!" She's a cute little baby. Well, really, probably a toddler, but they're still babies, right??? If not, don't disillusion me, k?
The design of the card is based on the sketch at Mojo Monday. The options for square or round cards were offered this time around, and I picked square. My card is 6x6. As previously mentioned, papers are Heidi Swapp. The ribbon was on clearance at Hobby Lobby. I used an EK Success scallop border punch, distressed some edges with my Heidi Swapp edge distresser, and added some buttons. The colors are actually more vibrant in real life, but I wanted to get her into an envie and sent off, so I am not waiting til tomorrow for better lighting. Besides, I'm not really sure we'll have better lighting tomorrow. It's raining to beat the band here in my little corner of Maryland. Blech.

There's no shame in being a worm!

2011-03-03T23:00:00.001-05:00

A bookworm,that is. I've been called a bookworm for as long as I can remember. When my brother and I were growing up, my mom used to read to us every night. She says that I was reading by the time I was in kindergarten, and bringing home each of my lessons from school to teach my younger brother. I will read pretty much anything. I'm that person you might find at the breakfast table, reading the cereal box, just to have something to read. Since I speed read, that cereal box is practically memorized by the end of the meal. LOL.

Anyway, let's get to it. The challenge over at Guylou's Inimitability this time around is to make a project using Carmen's sketch. It's an awesome sketch. Since it's reading month, G wanted the DT to make cards using Marysse or Caroline. I made a card with each one. I was really inspired by Carmen's sketch, so I just made one card and kept right on going!

Here's the awesome sketch:

And here's what I did with it:

Now it's your turn. Make a card using Carmen's awesome sketch. Upload it to Guylou's Inimitability and have a chance to win!

You have until March 17 at 10:00 p.m. EST to enter your project. Please make sure to read the rules over on the GI blog, so that your project is eligible to play. It makes us sad when we can't include you. And if you follow those rules, you have the chance to win a free digi from Guylou's Inimitability, as well as the opportunity to be a guest DT on a future challenge (which means another digi to use as you play along with the DT). I'm looking forward to seeing what you do!

What's cookin', chick?

2011-02-28T23:16:00.000-05:00

One thing I love about blogger is the awesome dashboard that shows me a brief synopsis of posts on those gazillion blogs that I follow. I recently got some new Whiff of Joy stamps, including little Willow with her pot of chicken soup. Well, the lovely ladies over at the Whiff of Joy challenge blog posted a reminder that their challenge closes tonight. I had totally forgotten. Holy moly! How could I forget? The challenge this week was to use paper piecing, so I paper pieced her little apron. Thank goodness for my cutterbees, which allow pretty intricate work. I colored little Willow with my copics, added some flowers from the dollar store and Wild Orchid Crafts, wrestled with a darned bow for a while (I still can't get the hang of my bow easy. That sucker is a total misnomer), threw on some pearls and buttons, punched some paper, inked some edges, and voila! Well, it didn't all necessarily happen in that order, but I think you can figure it out. This card is for a dear friend of mine who is going through some rough times right now. Whenever I see cooking images, I think of her, because she loves to cook. Since I HATE cooking, I definitely don't think of me when I see any cooking or baking images. Well, unless I am thinking, "man, if I only looked that cute in an apron, it wouldn't matter if I couldn't cook."

Well, hello, hottie!

2011-02-27T15:27:00.000-05:00

I was having trouble sleeping last night. I finally fell asleep at 6:00 this morning. WTH? Anyway, during my sleeplessness, I managed to throw together a card for some challenges. This little cutie is Devilish Diva from Anita Be Stampin'. Isn't she fun? She comes with a bunch of sentiments, too, but I didn't use one yet because I haven't decided who is getting this card and for what occasion. I colored her up with copics and used my nesties labels, as well as some new trims that I just got at Hobby Lobby. I glittered up her horns, trident (is that what that thing is called?), shoes, and the heart on her tail using stardust pens. It's hard to tell in the pic, though.

She's based after the sketch at Anita Be Stampin' challenge blog.
I'm also entering her in the following challenges:
Charisma - black, white, and one other color
Do You Stack Up (DYSU) - anything goes
Digi Doodle Shop - spots and dots

Thanks for looking, and wish me luck! I don't want to take a nap today and risk not sleeping again tonight, especially when I have to get up for work at 7:00 in the morning. Unfortunately, I'm too tired to do much of anything. I hate days like that.

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Blogaversary too, and a RAK for you!

2011-02-26T15:49:00.001-05:00

*This RAK is now closed*
Congrats to the winner, Debby W!

My scrap room recently underwent an overhaul. During this reorganization project, I found lots of goodies in my stash that I had not been using. I mean, brand new stuff that had never even been opened! I threw them all in a bag and tried to figure out what in the heck to do with them. I even had two copies of the same book (I got one as a gift; for once, it wasn't about me buying something I already had because I forgot I had it! LOL). I realized that my blogaversary was fast approaching and that my birthday also happened to fall within the same month. On March 14th, I'll be 39. Thus, the idea to combine both the blogaversary and my birthday into one big RAK was born. Once I decided that, well, I just kept adding to the RAK. Everyone knows I'm a shopaholic. I was in Hobby Lobby and found these great trims on sale. I got a yard each for me and a yard each for my RAK winner. I found some Whiff of Joy stamps at a more than reasonable price, so I got one for the RAK winner. I found some K&Co trims at Tuesday Morning, so I got those for my RAK winner, and so on. By the time I was ready to post, this is the RAK that had accumulated:

And who knows what else I might add to it before drawing the winner?

So, what do you have to do to win it all, you ask? It's super easy. You don't even have to become a follower of my blog (although that might make it easier to find out if you won). I'd rather you became a follower because you liked my work than because you want the RAK, so don't feel pressured to follow it. You don't have to post on Facebook or Twitter. I don't have accounts there, anyway, so I don't have a way to check it. You don't have to post on various scrapbook or craft forums. All you have to do is:

1. Leave a comment on this post
2. Add my RAK to the sidebar on your blog
3. Put your info into Mr. Linky

That's it. Nothing else is needed.

I'll use random.org to draw the RAK on my birthday, March 14. You have until March 14th at 5:16 p.m. to enter. If I remember correctly, that's the time I was born. Maybe. If not, it sounds good and that's the time I'm using, because I'm too lazy to check my birth certificate or ask my mom.

Yum, yum Sweet Pea in a RAK

2011-02-24T09:53:00.000-05:00

I make no secret of my love for Sweet Pea stamps. Lynette has added the work of some great artists to her store, and now Jennifer is giving away 16 Sweet Pea stamps for her birthday! It's super easy to win. All you have to do is follow her blog, leave her a comment, and spread the word. The more means you use to spread the word (facebook, twitter, message boards, etc), the greater your chances to win. Please don't use this as an opportunity to remind me of why you think I should be on Facebook! LOL.

Here's a pic of this awesome RAK:

Fabulous, yummy stuff! Head on over to her blog to enter!

Come on, warm weather!

2011-02-23T22:43:00.001-05:00

Shew. I took a LONG nap and now my headache is gone, thank goodness. I hate headaches. Since it decided to vacate and I got a burst of energy after my nap, I got to work on that card I was talking about in my last post. Let me start by saying that I'm pretty much done with winter. I know that as far as snow accumulation goes, it's been much milder than last year. However, I'm still done. It doesn't help that Mother Nature tricks us with 70-degree days like last Friday, then throws snow at us on Monday. I mean, what the hell? Anyway, when I saw the challenge over at the Digi Bells blog to make a summertime fun card, I jumped right on it. I'm so in the mood for warmer weather.

Isn't she the cutest thing ever? I love her little pouty face and toddler chubbiness. I colored her up with copics, then cut the image out with my new spellbinders label die. I love my spellbinders! Anyway, here's how the inside of the card looks:

I made a joy fold card because I have never made one before, and one of the Digi Bells DT members (Kiki)inspired me with hers. You can find her card here. I did an online search for directions and for once, I actually scored the card properly on the first try! Despite having a scor-pal, I usually mess something up. I know it's operator error, no need to point it out.

Back to the card. I picked these papers and colors because they are bright and happy, and remind me of summer with the fresh colors and flowers. I hope you like my card. You've still got time to enter your own. Head on over to the Digi Bells DT blog for information. You can use any Elisabeth Bell image that you like. I chose one that I got at Belles N Whistles. She's called Little Eden. She's out of stock right now, but Summer makes every effort to keep the inventory up, so I'm sure she'll be back in stock soon.

Come on, warmer weather! Oh, and if summer gets here and I start complaining about those hot days, be kind to me and don't remind me that I actually wished for them, k? I mean, that'd just be rude, and you're not rude, are you???

Happy Birthday to a couple of amazing friends!

2011-02-23T16:59:00.000-05:00

I've been waiting anxiously for my friends Terri and Danni to get their bday cards in the mail so that I could post them here. I met both of them online several years ago, on scrapbook.com. It all started with Danni and her crazy but adorable dog. Being an animal lover, I had to go ga-ga over all of the pictures she posted of him. Then we got to chatting and she invited me to join this online group of friends. The group was so welcoming. Terri is one of them. I went to visit her in Montreal last summer and had a blast. I am so grateful for this group of ladies. Danni makes me smile with her opinions and her total lack of fear when it comes to stating them. She's protective, generous, goofy, and loving. Terri shares my love of things vintage and funky, as well as my sarcastic sense of humor and ability to laugh at some of life's trials. She has become someone I can vent to about anything, while knowing that it won't go any further. She snarks with me and then we both feel better and life moves on! Both of these women bless me with their friendship. In fact, I am so grateful each and every day for The Derelicts at sb.com. They truly bring a bright light to my life that has helped me through some really dark times.

Ok, enough sentimental crap. I don't do well with that stuff. Let's get to the cards, shall we? Let's start with Danni's, since it's her fault that the Derelicts have to put up with me (being as she invited me into the group and all. Those poor women didn't know what they were in for). Danni and I have a deal that works really well for both of us. We send handmade cards to each other, love all over them for a bit, then tear those puppies apart to use the goodies. Well, she has three boys, plus she loves stars and the color green. She's not a girlie girl, although she does appreciate some frillies. So, I wanted to make her a card with lots of stars and green on it. Here's what I came up with:

The image is from Elisabeth Bell. I tried a dot technique I learned on Dana's Inspirations blog. I added silver bling to it with my stardust pen. I'm still working on perfecting this technique. It's fun!

Ok, moving on to Terri's card. I've already told you that she likes funky and vintage. The crocheted flower on her card is from a vintage lacey thing that I cut up. The image is from the Greeting Farm. I love her; she's so funky and cute.

It's hard to tell, but there's pearls on each of the butterflies on her cake outfit. Images for both cards were colored with copics.

Ok, I've chatted enough for now. I've got a killer headache today. I had really hoped to make a card for the Digi Bells challenge. I picked my image and stamped it off. I picked the papers I want to use. I haven't gotten any further, because my head is killing me. I'm going to lay down for a bit, and then maybe give the challenge a shot.

Don't forget...stay posted for my combination birthday and blogaversary RAK. I think I have finally finished compiling everything. Maybe. I wasn't going to post about it until March 1, but I think I'm going to try to get it on here a bit early. I think I'm going to shoot for Saturday, so keep your eyes peeled. Trust me, it will be worth it. Lots of ribbon/trims, stamps, bling, two border punches, and other odds and ends. Goodies!

Anything goes. Yep, anything. Really.

2011-02-17T23:00:00.002-05:00

It’s time for another challenge at Guylou’s Inimitability! I know you’re up for another one. Come on, play along. It’s super easy this time, because you get to pick what you want to do. That’s right…you’re in control... it's an "Anything Goes" challenge. All you have to do is make a project and link it over at the Guylou’s Inimitability blog. Not hard, right? And if you use one of her images, you get more chances to win!

On a side note, we’ve had a few people recently who didn’t follow the challenge rules. They’re listed on the blog, so give them a quick read-through before posting your project, k?

This time around, G’s DT got to play with either Phillip or Molly. I chose Phillip. I like his cake. I imagine that it’s full of yummy chocolate goodness on the inside. Darnit. Now I’m craving cake.

Anyway, Phillip told me that he wasn’t in the mood to grace a card. He decided he wanted to be on a recipe page instead. A couple of years ago, some friends and I put together a recipe book for each other (basically, we each made two pages for everyone and had a great big swap. Fun!). Phillip is going to go into my recipe book from that swap.

Phillip also knows I don’t cook, because I pretty much don’t make a secret of that fact (or many other things, for that matter). My friend Danni is often talking about this ice cream cake she makes with ice cream sandwiches. No baking involved, just lots of ice cream and other yummies, all layered together and frozen. Yummmm! Check it out:

This blog post gets super long if I type out the recipe, too. Let's face it, I'm just lazy. Blogger ate my post once already, and I really don't feel like retyping the recipe again. You can click on the picture and it should get big enough to read. I hope.

Anyhow, your project is due by March 3rd, 10:00 pm EST at Guylou's Inimitability. Go ahead, give it a shot! It's anything goes!!!

So, my mind runs to strange places...

2011-02-15T22:23:00.000-05:00

Sunday night, I showed you those awesome cowboy boots that we were to use for inspiration for the Outlawz clean and simple challenge. I made my little cowboy card and have the option to enter this particular challenge twice more by Feb 19. For whatever reason, my brain went in one of its strange directions. Cowboy boots led to thinking about boots, which led to thinking about other kinds of boots, which led me to remember these cute little wellington boots that I had hiding in my images folder.

I colored them up with red flowers, like the cowboy boots in the inspiration picture. I wasn't going to enter this card in the challenge, thinking it was too far off of the western theme. Then I read the rules again and it specifically says to use the cowboy boot photo as inspiration and that the card did not have to be western themed. Rock on! So, here's another clean and simple card, inspired by those fun cowboy boots.

So, THAT's why they call them "Challenges"

2011-02-15T22:00:00.000-05:00

I love entering challenges at various sites, but some of them just befuddle me. I must admit, I am having the hardest time with the Western themed challenges at the Outlawz. I don't make many cards or projects with that theme and I find it to be really, really difficult. Then you add more specific rules on top of that, like certain colors or styles, and, well...I'm kinda lost. My husband didn't call me his navigator for nothing, though. If I try hard enough, I will find my way again. Sometimes, I take a few detours first. Like this card. It's my detour. I started out intending to enter another card for the Clean and Simple challenge. Then I realized I was layering too much to fit that theme. I remembered that the color challenge was red and white with one other color. I thought "aha! My other color will be black." Um, yeah. I stood back at one point and looked at my card, which made me realize that I'd already added this straw-looking stuff. Um, not black. Well, crap. Detour again. Luckily for me, I had not added any sentiments yet, so I was able to turn this into a birthday card. The interior sentiment is all about having a rockin' birthday. I mean, even country and western stars rock out, right? Carrie Underwood, Shania Twain, even Faith Hill, to name a few. Crossover stars and all of that. Now I've completed my detour and from here, hopefully, I can go back home to my initial challenge: the clean and simple one. Or maybe I'll just detour back to the color challenge. I'll figure it out eventually!

Some deets on this super heavy card (man, I should have used bazzill black cardstock, instead of the stuff from the value pack). The black star folds up at the crease you can see in the top, so that the white star is the back of the card as well as the outline on the front. Does that make sense? It's a big card, so thank goodness I have 7.5x7.5 envelopes. I cut the stars with my Creative Memories cutting system. The image is cut out with a spellbinders die and the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I cut it out with a EK Success punch. I got the straw paper at a yard sale and I am sad to say that I am almost out. I like the texture it adds. In this case, it reminded me of one of those straw cowboy hats. Image is colored with copics and blinged up with stardust pens. I inked the edges with my cat's eye red ink pad. The little hearts were $1 for a pack of 4 at Michael's.

Thanks for looking and taking this journey with me. I'm off to see where it leads me next!

Spread the word, Theresa is fabulous and (almost) 50!!!

2011-02-15T13:17:00.000-05:00

My friend Theresa turns 50 next month. Being the extremely generous soul that she is, she has put together a birthday candy to give out. Not just one candy, either. She's giving candy away to FIVE lucky people. It's super easy peesy to win, too. All you gotta do is blog about her candy (it's easy to talk about sweet people like T), put a link to it in your sidebar, and leave her a comment. Of course, you have to be a follower of her blog, too. It's worth it, though, and takes less time than you'd think. You can go to her blog here. And here's a pic of the goodies she's giving away:

Again, she said something about giving away MULTIPLE prizes! She's drawing winners on March 16. Get your butt over there and give it a shot!

Now, everyone knows by now how I tend to digress on my blog posts (and in real life conversations. Yes, I admit it). Well, I have been wondering how to put it out there that I'll be offering my own birthday candy next month. I figure that T and both have that "great minds think alike" thing going. However, she's more generous than I am. I only plan to share with one lucky follower, but it will be a HUGE share. It'll be my 39th birthday, so I figure I have to include at least 39 items, and maybe a few more for luck. I've been gathering stuff for my big birthday candy for a while now. I've got some new things, some almost new things from my stash, and pretty much just a little bit of everything. I hope to add more to it before I finally post the darned RAK. I plan on posting within the first week of March, and will draw the candy on my birthday, March 14. That'll give you two weeks to leave me a comment, add the candy to your sidebar, and follow my blog (if you aren't already). A pic of the RAK is coming. Stay tuned; I promise it will be worth it. For now, though, I return the limelight to Theresa. It's the big 5-0, people! Get over there and sing some birthday songs to Theresa!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, dear T, happy big 5-0 birthday to you! Fifty and fabulous!