Today's Candy Alert

I'm on a blog hop and run across Katarina's blog where she's giving away candy daily in December with her Whiff of Joy Advent Calendar. She's very talented, so why not take a look around her blog while you're at it - I'm sure she'll appreciate it, too!

You should also check out Carlz Cardz to see her blog candy, too!

Card for Baby

My pastor and his wife just had their fourth child (and first girl!) a couple of days before Thanksgiving, so I made this card using the High Hopes Challenge #9 sketch. I am in short supply of image stamps, so I did my best to create an image for the focal point of this card. Overall, I'm happy with the results.

To get the shaded effect of the grass I stamped the image once, then immediately stamped again to leave the lighter impression. I also lined the inside of the card with the same plaid I used on the front.

Thanks for stopping by for a look. If you'd like to be updated each time I post, why not follow me? You can do that on the right side of my blog!

supplies - pink cardstock: from my stash, plaid & baby papers: Hot Off The Press, ribbon: American Crafts, fabric flower: unknown (from stash), stamp images: Studio G & unknown

Candy Alert

Head over to The Crafting Pad to see the candy she's offering. Hurry - it ends Nov. 29!!

While you're at it, hop on over to Blue Daisy Crafts to see her candy, too. =D

Another fantastic candy alert

Head over to confessions of a crafter to check out Katarina's candy. She's celebrating her 10th anniversary, and this candy gets bigger each time someone joins her candy! She's started out with a cute little hedgie stamp + sentiment, but how big this gets remains to be seen. Hop on over!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I'm giving thanks for so many blessing from the LORD. He has saved my soul, given me a wonderful husband who loves me dearly, parents who raised me to know the Lord Jesus Christ from a small child, a brother & his family that also know and love the LORD, a precious new little neice (daughter of said brother), and so many others.

There's a wonderful hymn I love to sing this time of year; it's a reminder of what is truly important. Perhaps you know it, too? It's called "Count Your Blessings":

Chorus:
Count your blessings, Name them one by one
Count your blessings, See what God has done
Count your blessings, Name them one by one
Count your many blessings, See what God has done

When upon life's billows
You are tempest tossed
When you are discouraged
Thinking all is lost
Count your many blessings
Name them one by one
And it will surprise you
What the Lord has done

Are you ever burdened
With a load of care
Does the cross seem heavy
You are called to bear
Count your many blessings
Every doubt will fly
And you will be singing
As the days go by

When you look at others
With their lands and gold
Think that Christ has promised
You His wealth untold
Count your many blessings
Money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven
Nor your home on high

So, amid the conflict
Whether great or small
Do not be discouraged
God is over all
Count your many blessings
Angels will attend
Help and comfort give you
To your journey's end

Shimmerz online store

I am so psyched about the new Shimmerz online store! For their grand opening, they are having a HUGE sale - go check it out HERE!

Super cute crayon boxes!

I was visiting the Created by Courtney blog when I came across a tutorial for making a crayon box. Well, I LOVE boxes. I usually just use origami folding to make them, but these were just so cute I had to try them. And wouldn't you know, the Scor-Pal I ordered had come in just a few days before - so this was my first project using it!


I was so psyched that I did all three of these boxes in a couple of hours (start to finish). They are easy-peasy to do with a Scor-Pal, but I definitely recommend that you do as much of the embellishing as possible before gluing the box up. It's just way easier working on a flat surface.

Just to be clear, the boxes are NOT my design - I got it from Courtney's blog.

Thanks for stopping by to look. If you'd like to follow my blog, it's over on the right. ---->

supplies ~ red cardstock: from my stash, sparkly cardstock: StickerKing, presents & dot/star papers: DCWV, ribbons: Wright's & Michael's, flower sparkle sticker: Me & My Big Ideas

Thanksgiving Somethings at Stamp Something

I found these fall leaves at Fred Meyer a few weeks ago and really wanted to make a card with them, so here it is! I used the challenge theme of Thanksgiving Something from Stamp Something, and I used Kazan's Sketch 14 from 2 Sketches 4 You.

I started with tan cardstock as the base, then ran the orange through my Cuttlebug. Over that I put olive cardstock with a cute little frame and stamped the sentiment in there. The leaves were next with a round brad. I felt like something was missing, so I went looking at other blogs for inspiration - voila! I needed a subtle background image. I know it's cheating to stamp AFTER everything else, but I used dune colored ink to stamp the image. I masked the orange/olive/sentiment with a scrap piece of paper to get the image above it. I think I like the overall effect, although next time I'll do the stamping first! =D

Thanks for stopping by for a look...if you like what you see, you can follow my blog over on the right hand side. ---->

supplies ~ cardstock: from my stash, polka dot frame & round brad: Making Memories, leaves: unknown, sentiment: Card Maker's dream, background stamp: Posh Impressions.

FINALLY got the Di Hickman/UHU sample challenge done!

Monday PM: I just submitted this for the challenge over at A Spoon Full of Sugar to create something Blooming Marvelous. I think this card grew on me...see below.

I'm not sure if it's just growing on me, or if my first impression of this card was way off. I finished it, but debated whether to start again or not. I'm not a huge fan of paper piecing because I can never seem to get the pieces to fit just right. At least when I'm sewing, a lot of the boo-boos in piecing can be covered up. On a card, it's harder.

Anyhoo, this card was for the Di Hickman challenge I chose in return for a UHU glue roller sample. I love simple layouts for their clean simplicity. Don't get me wrong, layered cards with lots of bellies are nice, too, but sometimes I just want to use my stash quickly or focus on just one element. Of course, simple layouts can end up just horrible if you don't get the focus right. =(

I may try again, but this is what I've got for now. I might enter it in another challenge, but might not. We'll see if I still like it in a day or two.

Thanks for looking!

supplies: papers by DCWV, flower by Jo-Ann's, sentiment by Inkadinkado.

2S4Y, Papertake Weekly and Cute Card Thursday Challenge Entry

I finally got my camera working long enough to get pictures of my latest creation: a snowman with a "tweet" friend! Alas! The camera died again after snapping this pic. Back to the drawing board! At least I got a decent shot this time.

I created this card using the sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You and used a snowman image for the Papertake Weekly Challenge (Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!) and Cute Card Thursday (Snow + Snowflakes). Gee I wonder if the season has anything to do with all the similar themes? Hmmm....

Anyway, I found this great glitter cardstock stack from DCWV. I originally thought it would be best for a mat or one layer among many. But then I thought: here in Alaska, the snow sparkles so I decide to use the silver glitter cardstock as the card base. I also used some glitter glue on the snowflakes around the snowman's head, the berries in his hat, and on the stars & snowflakes in "Cheer", but you can hardly see the sparklies in this photo ('cuz the camera DIED, darn it!). Ah, well - you can imagine, I suppose!

Thanks for stopping by to look! Leave a comment...follow my blog (over here on the right --->).

supplies: papers by DCWV, image & sentiment from Inkadinkado, moire ribbon from Wrights, glitter glue from Sulyn Industries.

I've been a bit swamped lately...and CANDY ALERT

I started this blog with the intent of taking time for myself from my "day job" as a middle school teacher. All the wonderful challenge blogs and fellow bloggers who post such beautiful creations became such a delightful distraction. Alas, putting off some of my work finally caught up with me this week, so I've been SLAMMED with overdue grading. So, I will still try to complete a challenge or two this weekend (look for a possible post Friday evening or over the weekend), but I really must get caught up before I end up spiraling out of control...lol!

But I also want to point you over to Stamping With Denise. She's starting up her own business and is giving away some SOOOOOO cute stamps. I immediately developed an acute case of froggy love with one of the stamps! So hop over to her blog and enter her candy!

Candy Alert

Wander on over to Cammie's blog - she's giving away candy every day this week!

Some Delish Candy!

Head on over to Passion For Crafts to check out some wonderful candy. She also has some really nice creations to share!

Three Different Challenges

Today's card was created for three different challenges: Lili of the Valley (Challenge #8 Sketch), Cute Card Thursday (Red + Green), and Daring Card Makers (Birds, birds, birds). I've also entered in the One Stop Craft Challenge, but I don't know if it will qualify. We'll see.
**Note: after posting this message, I also entered this card in the Theme Thursday challenge. So that brings the total to 5!**

The card blank is from Paper Accents, papers are by DCWV, the turkey image from Fiskar's Turkey Lurkey set, the sentiment from Inkadinkado, and the star stickers in the center of the flowers from Stampendous.

Probably the biggest bugger on this card was the sentiment. I really wanted to emboss it with silver to give the card a bit of shine, but it took several tries to get it right. I was originally going to stamp the sentiment as, "So thankful for Christmas" (maybe my humor is too subtle, but do you get it?) but I think I like this a wee bit better.

The turkey actually had legs, but I lopped them off in the interests of my sanity when I was cutting him out for a 3D element. At least he gets to celebrate Christmas this year!

Thanks for stopping by to look...leave me a comment!

Blog Candy Alert!

You ought to head over to Kristine's Cards and Photos to see her blogversary candy. She's posted some beautiful creations, too!

A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge 25 ~ A child's card entry

This card is my entry for the Spoon Full of Sugar challenge to make a child's card and the Friday Sketcher's sketch #27 challenge. I suppose it could also be given to an adult, but it just feels more like a teen's card than an adult's. At one point while making this card, I almost scrapped it because I wasn't thrilled with the color combo. But as I pieced together more elements, it seemed to finally come together.

The inspiration for this card actually started with the paper next to bottom - it is glittery paper with yellow, purple, green, blue, orange and pink on a background of yellow. It's from the Glitter Collection Paper Pack by Stickerking. Most of it can't be seen, though because of all the layers on top. There's just enough peeking out to give the card some pop, but it's hard to see in this photo.

I started with a 4.5" x 5" blank card and covered it with a light pink linen-look paper (don't remember who produces it - got it from Wal-Mart ages ago). Then I inked the edges with a black Ink Dot (I think it was from an Inkadinkado kit). Then I glued some of that funky paper to the corners of the card. Next I cut a narrow strip of orange paper (again, from Wal-Mart) to span nearly the width of the card & inked the edges. Over that I glued an orange rectangle that was cut slightly bigger than the image I stamped onto white cardstock (both also inked on the edges). I colored the image with colored pencils. The sentiment was stamped in black from a really cute little stamp set from Studio G, as was the flower in the lower right corner. I colored in the flower, too. The final flourish was the layered flowers affixed with an antiqued snap, both from Making Memories.

Thanks for stopping by!

A few more creations

These are also projects that have been waiting to be shown off. This first one is an accordion book I made from some picture matting. I covered it with this really wonderful vintage-looking paper, inserted the accordion book, then affixed a funky little square of paper with "remember" stamped on it. The ribbon was salvaged from a box of candy given to me as a gift. It was too pretty to throw away.


The bottom photo is a little booklet I made using my Cuttlebug and a Sizzix die. I was just experimenting because this was the first time I had used the Cuttlebug. I also had some Making Memories glitter die cuts that I got on clearance at Fred Meyer, so I embellished the cover and used some stamps to add the sentiment. This was purely thrown together as I went (totally NOT like me) and came out pretty decently.


Thanks for stopping by to look!

A couple of creations in one post

I'm noticing that several of my posts have been non-creation oriented, so I decided to pull out some projects I've made in the last year or so. Because this is a new blog they've never been posted until today.

The first one was a card blank that was re-folded to form a pocket, then covered with papers from a book/kit from Hot Off The Press called How to Create Handmade Cards If You Think You Can't that had directions for all kinds of cards and papers to complete some of them. This book was what got me started on cardmaking.

I cut out the tickets and used foam squares to give the card dimension. You can see the inside of the card in the top picture.

This second one is also from the book. This was a blank card cut down to make it a square, then I used papers from the book along with white cardstock and ribbon to finish the card. I'm really not a girly pink kinda gal, but I figured this would be a nice card to give someone else who might appreciate it.

Check out the candy at Joyful Stamper

Joyful Stamper: I'm celebrating 10,000 hits with Candy!

Retro Cafe Art Gallery Candy

Another blog to check out is Retro Cafe Art Gallery. She's got some great eyelet candy to give away, and some wonderful creations, too!

Heather's Heavinly Stampations: Some Blog Candy for you, - to Celebrate 5,000 hits in 7 weeks

Have you been to Heather's Heavinly Stampations? You really should check out her blog. She's got some beautiful creations to share, tutorials and CANDY! Check it out!

Blog Candy at Bootiful Stampz

Hey, have you seen the blog candy over at Bootiful Stampz? She's giving away a stamp every day in November! Check it out!

Arty Girlz Weekly Challenge #59 ~ Hand Drawn Element Entry

Yay! I hope it's not too late to enter in this week's challenge for Arty Girlz! Once again, the lighting wasn't too hot (but better than the last creation post). But I hope that you can look past that to see what I created this week.

The doodles were part of my experimentation with Lindsay Ostrom's technique for doodling. I liked this one so much that I stashed it, hoping that someday I could use it in a project.

I just added some rub-ons from Jo-ann's for the sentiment, mounted it on green DCWV patterned cardstock, mounted that on the yellow cardstock and found some tiny pink brads to add to the corners. Then I rounded the corners of the card with my Marvy corner punch to soften the overall look of the card. I also used my ProvoCraft button hole punch to make the rectangular openings for the ribbon (again, from Jo-ann's).

Thanks for stopping by to look!

SheetLoad's Blog Candy Blow Out

Check out the Blog Candy Blow Out over at Sheetload of Cards. Alicia is clearin' out her stash! Holy schmoley, does it look great!

My first creation post

Okay, the lighting was BAAAAAD, but I worked with what I had. My digital camera is on the fritz, so I had to make do with my iSight camera and some creative maneuvering.

Here's what I used on this card:

• black cardstock
• blue and yellow patterned paper
• metal letters to spell the "Merci"
• dark blue eyelets to attach letters
• vellum circle tag with metal rim

To hide the backs of the eyelets, I lined the inside of the card with the same blue from the front, leaving a 1/4" border. I also made an envelope for the card from the same yellow as on the card front.

Thanks for looking!

Card Challenges

So, I went looking for card challenges because I've run across quite a few blogs that mentioned them. I'm so NOT good at setting my own due dates, so I thought maybe trying some challenges might help motivate me to be more creative instead of locking myself into work, work, work (ah, I'm trying...). I'm sure there are many more than I've found, but to the left are links to challenges that I dug up over the last couple of days. If you know of some other fantastic challenges, leave me a comment & I'll check it out!

Yay, for me!

I got an email today that I'll be getting a UHU sample from the Glue With UHU blog - Yippee! When I get my sample, I'll be participating in a sketch challenge from Di Hickman. I hope it will come soon so I can start the fun!

I'm back!...(sort of)

I only have time for a quick post today, but I wanted to share with you Paper Wishes and Project of the Week. I found out about Hot Off The Press when a friend of mine became a contributor to a couple of their books. Once I started exploring a bit, I found these two websites created by the same fabulous ladies.

At Paper Wishes, there are project directions for all kinds of things (and I love their designs). Project of the Week is sort of an outgrowth of that. They have weekly "webisodes" where they give a demo of a product or tool they offer on their website and how to create one of their projects. They have some wonderful designs and the demos might provide some tips or inspire you.

Have fun!