ThePurplePlace

Love, Love and more LOVE!!!

2012-02-13T15:31:00.002-05:00

   I am so happy to be feeling better and I think that wonderful nap I took yesterday afternoon, was a big help. I don't know WHY I was so tired and sore, but I guess it was that awful bitter wind and cold. It's still chilly today but the wind is gone and the sun is shine so brightly that it simply makes me feel warmer. I also have a nice fire going in the woodstove and it's very comfy.

    I LOVE being warm and I love sunshine and really do hope to eventually move to a place with a much warmer year-round climate. It would be wonderful to be lying in the sun on a warm beach and right now that's simply a dream.

    Speaking of things I LOVE, I have really had a wonderful time created lots of Valentine and Love cards this year and trying all kinds of new stamps and techniques. I have two new cards to share today and both were created for new challenges.   The first one, is my a new card that I am submitting to yesterday's CAS Card challenge over at The Outlawz. I just did not like how my card turned out and found today to be a better day for coming up with ideas. I started with a deep red piece of Glossy Cardstock and a cream colored card-base. I knew I wanted to trying something different and started by die-cutting two red hearts with my MFT die (this is my favorite heart shaped die) and I especially love that you cut three hearts each time. My next step was to cut a simply black bow and for that I used a Memory Box (Crisp Bow) Die and a scrap of black cardstock. I then popped the small heart on top of the other and added them along with the bow to my card. To complete the card, I stamped on my Sentiment (from Hero Arts) and heat embossed it in black. I finished off the card with three black pearls...! Hope you like it.

My next card was created for today's new 'Rainbow Themed' Greeting Card Challenge over at The Outlawz and for this challenge, we were required to use a Rainbow in some way on our project. I knew I had this sweet image by Lori Boyd and simply needed to print it out on some Cyrogen Cardstock, and color it up with my Copics. I think it's so adorable and I love that it was created for a fundraiser - A Mission for Macie, which you can find over on Lori's site HERE!!

I knew right away that I wanted to use 'Somewhere over a rainbow'...as my sentiment and have always LOVED that song. I can't ever think about a rainbow without starting to hum that song. Do you still remember when you first heard it? If you are like me, it's probably the version the Judy Garland sang in The Wizard of Oz....I love it and for some reason this song always touches my heart!!! It's another song I used to sing to my boys when they were babies...and I think that is why I love it so....

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

Feel free to sing along.....!!

Brrrrr....cold and cranky!!

2012-02-12T15:45:00.002-05:00

I absolutely can NOT stand bitter cold weather...and today is one of those days!   I'm cold...can't seem to feel warm and just listening the the howling winds all night has me tired and cranky. Luckily, this cold snap won't be around too long and I'll be much happier when it warms up again.   The cold is making me sore and achy and that's just not FUN!!

   I had plans to craft away the day, but I'm so tired and achy that I have no energy and did not get much done. I have two new cards to share and I have a feeling this will be it for today.

    My first card was inspired by two challenges - one is the VCMD Challenge #13 , over at the Stars & Stamps blog and the second is today's new CAS challenge at The Outlawz.    Not feeling all the motivated today, I thought it might be fun to see what I could create using my Silhouette Cameo, but quickly realized after a couple of cuts that the original card I had planned, was not working out, like I hoped. I ended up saving one portion of the card and then put together the rest myself. I added a layer of embossed hearts as my background and this is the card I came up with.

My second card was also created for Operation Write Home and was inspired to today's new Sketch. I also enjoy the Sunday challenges, because they always have such great sketches. I have copied over this week's sketch to share and hopefully inspire you to play along:

Sketch # 108

My Card

My 'hugs' card was a very easy card to create and I chose lots of bright sunny colors, I think hoping to make me feel warm!! I would LOVE to be lounging on a nice sunny beach today. I think I may go lay down for a bit and pretend I'm on a beach...maybe that will help me feel better!! Bye Bye!!

A snowy Saturday!

2012-02-11T13:51:00.005-05:00

     Yesterday, we had another mild February day with temps up close to 50, but today, is a whole new day and it's snowing.   Very much a typical New England type day, once where the weather changes in a matter of minutes.   Luckily, with the ground still so warm, the snow is not really sticking, but that could change and it's going to become bitter cold over night....UGH!   I dread that weather and I'm happy to hear it won't be around for long..!!

      I really don't mind it snowing today, as I have no where I need to go and plan to craft away my day. I have two new cards to share now and may be back later with an update.   Both of these cards were created for challenges and both were really fun.

      After being the lucky winner of the last challenge over at By Lori Designs, I was very happy and excited to create a card for the new challenge, which is called HEARTS!    I started by picked out my image, which is one of Lori's Puddle Jumpers and this cutie is Darla.   She had been partly colored with my Copics and partly paper-pieced with some adorable new digi paper from Shery K Designs.

I think she looks cute in her little pink outfit and would also be a really sweet Valentine or LOVE card. I am submitting this card to each of these challenges.

My next card was also inspired by today's brand new Paper a la Mode Challenge, also being hosted over the The Outlawz. This week we have an awesome sketch that Sharon created for the challenge. I am including a copy to hopefully inspire you to come on over and join us!!

Sharon's Sketch

My Card

In addition, I am also submitting this card to today's new Rainforest Color Challenge being hosted over at the Stars and Stamps Blog.

I'm now heading back to my desk to work on two more cards for challenges being hosted this week at Crafting By Designs. One will be a One Layer card, which I truly feel are a Challenge and the second card is going to be a sketch inspired challenge.

Update: I'm back with three more cards and all three were inspired and created for the new challenges at CBD. The first two cards were created for a new Sketch Inspired Challenge. I found that once I started the first card, I liked to the sketch so much that I made a second card and both are shown below. As you can see I'm also using more papers from my new favorite Memory Box collection - Viola. Love Love Love these papers.

And last by not least, I have one more card to share today and this one was also created for a challenge at Crafting by Designs. Our challenge was one that is truly a challenge for me, as it's a One Layer Card, and for some reason, I always feel like I need lots of layers on my cards. But, I also love CAS style cards and one layer cards work perfect. This is the card I created for the challenge and in the end, it was pretty easy to create. The white cardstock I used is Cryogen which is my all time favorite cardstock to use with Copics. My stamp and sentiment are both from the Hero Arts - Merci Bouquet set, which is a new favorite.

To add texture and dimension I first ran the card-base through my Cuttlebug with one of my Tim Holtz Alterations folders, unfortunately, I don't know the name of this one and it's not printed on the folder? If you happen to know the name, please share! I would like to label all my embossing folders...some day!! Note: Special thanks to Berni for letting me know that this is one of Tim's Texture Fades Embossing folders and part of the set called - Fancy and Floral Frames. It's a great set and perfect for this style card!!

And that's it for today!! I'm beat and going to spend the rest of my day resting and relaxing!

A Smashin' Friday!!

2012-02-10T14:14:00.001-05:00

I have been slowly working on my Smash Book and today I finished up two more pages and these are both were inspired by this month's challenge over at the Color Me Creative Classroom. If you are working on any type of art journal, smash book or even a scrapbook, I'd like to invite you to hop on over and join our fun new group named - We are Smash Bookin'.

Our challenge for this month is to create a new page or layout all about LOVE. It's up to YOU as to how you want to show you LOVE and everyone is welcome. Whenever, I think of the month of February, I always think of hearts and Valentine's Day and that is the theme that I used for my pages.

I stamped and cut a variety of heart shapes as a start and then some were embellishments, colored, inked or glittered. I also used a variety of papers and sizes. I also picked out one of my favorite valentine stamps and colored that image and added that along with lots of embellishments that reminds me of Love, Hugs and Hearts!

These are the two pages I have completed and have submitted to the new challenge. For me it's all about fun and I'm making a yearly type book of each month in 2012. I am using a Smash Book and this book is the Blue version.

I'm having fun with this and it's just a matter of picking out thing I like or making fun little things that work for each theme. I do have a goal of working on an Art Journal next and I'm in the process of finding lots of inspiration from blogs and also on Pinterest!

2012-02-10T10:49:00.003-05:00

Yippee!! What a wonderful way to start out my day -- I was the lucky winner of a challenge over at By Lori Designs!!

Happy Day BLD Friends!!

Thank you all for playing along last week!!

It makes me so happy to see you each here!

YAY!! We have a winner for BLD23.

Our winner is...

The lovely and talented

Lisa Haines

Congratulations Lisa!!

Have a Blessed Day!

Hugs - LORi BOYD

I'm so excited....!!!

2012-02-09T15:51:00.001-05:00

   ....and very happy to have lots of new things to share today!   It's been a busy week for me and I'm happy to finally be sitting down and writing up a new post.

      I am most excited about having my plans all set to travel down to Baltimore in May to meet up with a great group of Craft friends. I have been looking forward to the chance to meet some of these gals for a very long time and I'm so happy that all of our plans are working out.   I found great flights on Jet Blue and have already bought my tickets and will be booking my hotel next!! Yippee!!

      I also had a great time taking another fun technique class at my LSS (Absolutely Everything) on Tuesday and this week we worked with using a variety of Distress products to create five new tags, as shown below. I really loved the tag that was created with foil and alcohol inks and that's something I know I'll do again.   We also found out that day that Tim Holtz will be coming to the store to teach a weekend of classes in May. But, as it turns out, that's the same weekend I'm away, so I'll miss out this time.   And for me that's really okay, because I know I'm going to have a great time and I'll be taking a Copic Class with Suzanne Dean, which is awesome!

These are ALL of the Tags in have created to date in the:

Ink, Paint Techniques classes!

Oh, and speaking of awesome classes, I was thrilled to hear that Dyan Reaveley will be coming in July to teach a weekend of her classes and I can't wait to sign up for one of those. I saw a great video she had done whuke at CHA and I just LOVE the bright colors of her Dylusions. I also bought my first set of stamps while at the store on Tuesday and can't wait to play with them!

I was also thrilled to see brand new Memory Box - What's in the Box release had hit my store and I now have a favorite new set of papers -- called Viola, which I absolutely LOVE! Not to mention five wonderful new dies that I have added to my every growing collection. Stay tuned for more cards that showcase these awesome dies and the gorgeous Viola per. I bought two 6X6 sets and a dozen 12X12 papers in my favorite designs! Below are a few of the first cards I have creating with this awesome new paper!!

The stamp on this card is also from the same

collection and is called Drift Flowers!!

The card above was created for this week's Color Combo Challenge over at The Outlawz and I used one of my favorite papers from the Viola Collection, along with the same wonderful stamps. The colors for this week's challenge go perfectly with the Viola Papers.

My next card is also for this week's Greeting Card Challenge, also being hosted at The Outlawz and this card I made today as a THANK YOU for 'Anything Goes'. I wanted to give a BIG shout out to Colleen to thank HER for all the hard work she's been doing to arrange the Getaway weekend! Yippee! Thank so much Colleen, I know you spent a lot of time on this, and know you'll make it a great weekend for ALL!!

I had this gorgeous Japanese paper in my stash and totally LOVE the colors (so much prettier in person). I also bought some really nice matching cardstock that has a hint of shimmer. I put both together, and then created a matching sentiment. The die cute is another one from Memory Box and that was cut twice to add more dimension in a color that matched. Below is another view of the card that shows the colors a bit better.

I have one more Challenge card to share and this again was created for today's new Twisted Thursday Challenge, where we have been inspired to create Masculine Cards. I started by taking out my new Hero Arts set, which is one that is perfect for my OWH cards and also has great sentiments for the guys.

I started out with a deep gray card base, knowing I wanted to use the Sentiment that says "Hello Handsome". Next, I picked out another paper from the fabulous Viola Set (Black with white dots) and cut it down to fit the front of the card. I then punched out two (2") circles from some white scrap cardstock. I then used some Weathered Wood Distress Ink and embossed each with the same Cuttlebug folder. The top one was embossed first and then inked and the bottom was done the opposite, inked first and then embossed, for two different looks. The little stars were punched from the same inks paper. It was a fun, yet very easy card to create. This card will be added to the next package I send out to Operation Write Home.

And and speaking of OWH, I am very excited to have shipped over another package of 30 cards yesterday. My total so far for 2012 is 55 cards and $20 in cash donations for postage/supplies. My goal for 2012 was to send at least 150 cards and I can keep up this well, I will easily break that record! Woohoo!! Here is a picture of the cards I sent yesterday. I also stamped and tucked each one, in a effort to make it easier for Caro, (my shipper)!

   I wanted to again invite any and all of you to consider donating cards to this wonderful group. As you can see, many of the cards that I donate are cards that I originally created and entered into challenges.   I love to take part in challenges and also to take classes, so I quickly end up with several new cards each week. and never knew what to do with all the cards. That's when I found OWH and found the perfect place for me to send them!   I LOVE helping out this group and it's also so inspiring when you read about a family who received a card that was created by an OWH Member.   If you take part in lots of challenges and have cards piling up in your craft-room, I'm sure they could be put to good use! For more details on helping out, please visit the Operation Write Home for more details HERE!

   I'm off now to pick up some of my mess and to start working on a new page in my SMASH Book. We have a fun "We are Smashin'.." group over at CMC and have a new LOVE inspired challenge for February!   I'm thinking that I want to try something fun or similar to the amazing journal pages that Dyan created in this awesome Video!!!

    Hope you week is going as well as mine! It's really exciting to have a trip planned and a long time, since I've been away. I think we all will have a wonderful weekend and I'm so excited to finally meet these amazing ladies! YIPPEE!!!

Blog Candy Winner!!

2012-02-06T12:00:00.000-05:00

I am very happy and excited to announce the WINNER of my

Blog Candy from Saturday's

Operation Write Home - Blog Skip

My winner was chosen by Random Drawing, using Random.org ---

and the lucky Winner is:

Comment Number 22 - Margaret!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Margaret -- Please contact me at Purple_Place@verizon.net with your shipping details! I am very happy for you and Thank You for taking part in the Skip! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Woohoo!! What a day!!

2012-02-05T15:38:00.003-05:00

Today is a great day in so many ways! The sun is shining brightly, the temps are not brutal, its' Super Bowl Sunday and my team is playing, GO PATS and I'm have fun creating in my craft room. Pretty much a perfect day!!

I'm also very happy and excited to be planning a really fun trip down to Baltimore in May and it's all for a wonderful Girl's Weekend Getaway being hosted by Colleen Holmes and The Outlawz. I'm so happy to finally have this chance to meet many of the gals I have been creating with online for the past few years. We have all wanted to plan some type of event like this and it's very exciting to see it all working out. If you are interested in being part of the trip - please head on over to The Outlawz for more details.

And speaking of The Outlawz, my first card was one I created yesterday for their weekly Paper A La Mode challenge, which you'll find here. This week's challenge is called "I Heart You" and you will need to include at least TWO hearts on your project. This is the card that I submitted -

My next card was created with two new challenges in mind. The first is this week's CAS Challenge, also at The Outlawz and the second challenge is this week's Sketch Challenge over at the Stars and Stamps Blog. I based my card on this week's sketch, but also made it in the CAS Style, so that it would work out for both challenges. The theme for the CAS Challenge is Wedding, Anniversary or Engagement and I think my card could be used for any of those ocassions.

Sketch #107

My Card

I have one more card to share and this one was inspired by the new Copic Coloring Challenge over at the Color Me Creative Classroom. Our challenge this month was to use the Colors of Love (Reds and Pinks) on our project. I know that many of the entrants will likely make a Valentine, but I have already created so many Valentine's this year, that I wanted to go with something different and since I LOVE flowers I went with this cute flower can Bugaboo digi image.

Oh, and speaking of Copics and Coloring, I should also let you know that Suzanne Dean will be offering Copic Coloring Classes at the Baltimore Retreat. If you have always wanted to take one of Suzanne's - On the Road Classes, then you'll want to be sure to join us. You can stay tuned for more details from Suzanne, by visiting her On the Road Blog - HERE!!

And that's going to be it for me today! I need to clean up my craft room and then get ready to watch the big game! I really want my team to win and I hope very much that they do. Let's HOPE it happens and that all of New England can enjoy the fun of having another Championship Team!!! GO PATS!!!!!

Today is the DAY--It's a Blog Skip at OWH!!

2012-02-04T03:00:00.000-05:00

If you are a regular follower of my blog, you'll know that I have been hinting about a special day coming up and today is that day! It's a really fun little Blog Skip being hosted by Operation Write Home's - Stars and Stamps Blog and I am inviting you all to skip along with us!

Note: If you have already started the Skip, you have arrived here from Sheila's Blog! If you are starting here or your find yourself lost at anytime, simply hop over to the Star's and Stamps Blog to start over or to find the full list of the ten blogs you'll visit!

Our focus for this fun little Blog Skip is Clean & Simple Cards and many of us were inspired after being part of Jennifer's McGuire's recent online class - Clean & Simple Cardmaking. If you have not already taken this class, I highly recommend it and think you'll LOVE it. We are also thrilled to have Jennifer joining us on this blog skip and thank her for being such a wonderful supporter for OWH!!

My card today was actually inspired after taking this wonderful class and was fun to make. One of the ideas we learned from class is that using a Sketch can be a really easy way to come up with ideas for your cards and that's exactly what I did for my inspiraiton card. Whenever, I feel like I have lost my Mojo, I will always start looking through a folder of my favorite sketches. I also love looking in the fabulous Sketch Gallery that you can find on the Stars and Stamps blog. That's exactly where I headed for this card and my inspiration came from Sketch # 34.

    As you can see, I changed things up a big, but my basic idea was taken from the Sketch. If you know me, you already know that 'Hugs' is my favorite sentiment and one that is perfect for the cards I create for Operation Write Home.    This particular HUG Sentiment is from one of the new Hero Arts Sets -- called XO!    I really LOVE this set and also now own all the new sets that were designed by Hero Arts for Operation Write Home.     I am very happy and excited to be offering the wonderful XO Stamp Set, along with another favorite new HeroArts Stamp called - Starbursts -- as my Blog Candy!!

   All you need to do is simply leave a comment and tell me what your favorite Sentiment is. One lucky winner will be chosen on Random Drawing and will be posted on my blog on Monday - February 6th at Noon!    Comments will the drawing will be accepted through Midnight Eastern Time on Sunday, February 3rd. Please be sure to stop by again on Monday to see if you are the lucky winner!!

The Starburst Stamp is also really fun to create with and can be used in many ways. They could be used like flowers, fireworks or even as a fun background. I made this little card using the set to provide you with some inspiration and as another card for my next shipment to Operation Write Home. If you would like to make cards for this fabulous group -- please go HERE for all the details! It's a wonderful group and I know you'll enjoy doing your part to support our Heroes!!

Thanks so much for visiting and you'll now be headed off to Yolanda's Blog - Imagine-Make-Share! She's an amazing crafter who I'm sure will WOW you with her talent! I hope you ENJOY our little Blog Skip and wish you all a wonderful weekend.

Hugs and Happiness....

2012-02-03T16:03:00.002-05:00

What could be better!! Who doesn't love a day when things go well, you feel really good and everything is Happy....I know those are wonderful days for me and today is one of those days. I love it when I have a great day and love a days that is full of creativity and today has been wonderful. I actually slept well and woke up without a lot of pain...Yippee! A perfect start to my day and it's Friday!!

I have been in my craft room most of the day and I have lots of new creations to share. All of my cards today were inspired by a variety of new challenges and my first card is for this week's new Copic Challenge over at Crafting By Designs. Cindy's challenge this week is named 'Copics and Curves' and her card was full of wonderful red hearts, which is the inspiration I used to get started. I picked out a cute little image from my Bugaboo Stash and started coloring away. Once I had my Copics out, I was inspired to color even more, as you see in my other cards below. This was the first card I completed and it's the one that I am submitted to the Challenge.

This card is also being submitted to this week's challenge over the "By the Cure and Girly". Their theme is 'Love is in the Air' and for today's new Anything Goes Challenge # 20, over at Craft Us Crazy. Both are which are two more challenges that Bugaboo is sponsoring!

My next card was also colored with my Copics and was created for today's new Copic Challenge over at The Outlawz Group. This week the girls have challenge use to a Color Combo Challenge and the colors are all the colors of Mardi Gras - Purple, Green and Gold. Thankfully the theme was not as Mardi Gras one, as I did not have anything that would have worked. I decided to use another of my Bugaboo images and thought this fun Heart themed image would work out well.

My next card turned out to be one of my favorites today and it's a Masculine Valentine (NO Pinks), which was inspired and created for the new challenge over at Through the Craftroom Door. Typically, I still find Masculine cards to be difficult, but I with the wonderful new stamps that I have from Hero Arts, I'm finding that I can make some really nice cards, perfect for Men and Women and also for Operation Write Home.

In addition to the challenge at TTCRD, this card was also inspired and created to submit to today's new Stamp Challenge, also over at Crafting by Designs!

My next card was another card inspired by today's brand new Challenge at Lily Pad. As soon as I saw the color combo, I knew I wanted to play along. This challenge is also being sponsored by Bugaboo Stamps, so I chose another cute digi from my Bugaboo Collection. I also really had fun coloring this one and liked the change of using the happy fun colors. This turned out to be my favorite card today and I think it's because of the pretty spring-like colors!!

And I also finished up one more card today and this was for FUN! I did not have any challenge in mind when I started it, but simply knew I wanted to create another card with some of the goodies I have left in my Card Kit. I have totally enjoyed using the products in my February Card Kit from Simon Says Stamp and thank Kristina again, for putting together such an awesome kit. I'm very excited to now be enrolled for the next kit and can't wait to see what we'll have next. NOTE: I also added a few items from my stash for this card, (the trim and heart stamped image), but the inspiration, paper and embellishment came from the kit.

I'm off now to rest up a bit and finish up my Surprise? Stay tuned....the big day is coming fast and you'll want to be sure not to miss out!! Have a fabulous Friday and let's ALL look forward to a great weekend. I'm very excited about the Super Bowl and wish our home team GOOD LUCK! Go PATS!!!!!!!

It's February???

2012-02-02T14:35:00.001-05:00

Wow....where does the time go!   I can't believe the January is already over and it's now February 2nd, Ground Hog Day!   I guess having the wonderful mild winter has really made it so much more bearable and I'm thrilled that it has been so good. This is one of the best winters I have had in a long time and I would LOVE for every winter to be this mild.   It's been a blessing for those of us who suffer in the bitter cold and I do not miss that one bit.

    I'm a day behind in posting and had myself a fun day of pampering yesterday. I had my regular nail appointment which is always fun and then I stopped by the Hair Salon on my way home to make an appointment for some hightlights.   Well it turned out to be perfect time, as my stylist (Nicole) had a cancellation and she took me right in. Yippee!!   I also had her tone down the hightlights a bit from the last time I had them and now I really like them much more.   It was a nice day and with temps up the 50's I enjoyed being out, as much as possible.

     I do have one card that I created yesterday and I'm happy to share that one now. It was created for the Midweek Throwdown over at Operation Write Home's Stars and Stamps Blog. Our challenge this week was to use Die Cuts and/or Punches on our cards.   WooHoo! I love both and between owning a Cameo, a Cricut Expression, a Big Shot, A Cuttlebug and even a Grand Calibur, not to mention oodles of punches, this luck gal, has a lot to play with and can cut all kinds of wonderful designs.   Yes, I am a bit spoiled, but this is my only hobby and it's my passion.

   For this card, I wanted to stick with a CAS style, so I chose one of my Memory Box Dies (Amana Circle) which, I first cut directly into the front of my card to create a window.   I then picked a piece of contrasting paper and created a 'circle' which I adhered on the inside of my card, directly in the opening created by the first cut. I created a small scalloped border across the top, with a border punch and finishing off this little notecard with a matching bow.

This card would be very easy to quickly re-create and you could simply change the colors and papers to easily made a wonderful variety and would be fun to make in sets too.

My next card was inspired by yesterday's new Sketch Challenge over at The Outlawz. This week we had this fun sketch as our inspiration. I also loved the cards that the Design Team created and that inspired me even more to play along!

       This card was really fun and thank to my wonderful Cameo and the fabulous designs that Silhouette offers, it was also quite easy to design.   I started with a White Striped card base and colored a white doily with my new Pan Pastels. I then picked out a new heart/flourish image from the Silhouette store and cut it twice onto pink and white checkered paper. The second cut was flipped so that I would have a flourish on each side, much like the sketch.   I then simply punched a scalloped edge heart in pink, edged it with worn lipstick distress ink and embossed it in my Cuttlebug. I add that to the card with pop dots and finished it off with an I Love you sentiment from Hero Arts.

And my next card was inspired two new challenges, starting with the new 'Sparkle, Glitter and Bling' Challenge currently being hosted at Crafting by Designs.   I also took that idea and them and created my card to also work for today's new 'Twisted Thursday Challenge' at The Outlawz, which is a Valentine or Love Theme.

     This is the card that I created for both challenges and this one was also fun to created. I started with one of my Hero Arts Background Stamps which I inked with Distress Ink and then misted with Perfect Pearls Mist. I then stamped that directly to my card and used my Heat Tool to dry it. Next, I took my Hero Arts "Frame Cuts" heart set and cut the largest heart in the center of the card. I then stamped a heart on white cardstock and with Black Archival Inks and colored it with Distress Stains and added a layer of Rock Candy Stickles on top. I then heat set that and adhered it right behind the window I had but out of my card. I used a variety of other heart dies/punches to created some more hearts and layered them on the cards. I added a pink glitter ribbon bow and finished off the card by adding white pearl bling with a Pearl Pen.   This is my "technique" card of the day and I hope you like it.

Oh and speaking of techniques, I'm heading to another Technique Class at my LSS next Tuesday and can't wait, the focus will be on working with Ranger products on special surfaces, such as: kraft paper, canvas, metal tape and grunge board! I'm hoping we'll find out more about the New Ranger Distress Ink Markers, which I'm dying to buy! I LOVE the Ranger Distress products and can't wait to add those to my collection. In the meantime if anyone hears of any stores that have them ready for Pre-Order, let me know! I want to buy the full set and both of the new Water Brushes that Tim designed!

Happy Crafting!!!

Hello Yellow!

2012-01-31T16:10:00.003-05:00

Today was another fun day in my craft room and I am happy to be here to share some new cards with you. My first card was actually one I finished up last night for three different challenges. My original inspiration came from the latest Copic Coloring Challenge over at the Color Me Creative Classroom. The theme for Janaury was to color up a card based on some Wintery Color Photos that Suzanne shared. Think - Frosty, Cold and Winter!!

I started by picking out a cute little image to color and went with sweet little Hattie, who is from DigiStamp Boutique and is dressed in a perfect little winter outfit. I colored her up in lots of shades of blues and blue greens along with lots of wonderful glitter for sparkle and shine. My border is another wonderful die from Memory Box, which was one of the first I bought for Christmas Cards. Oh and speaking of Christmas Cards, we are having a fun year-round inspiration challenge each week over at Crafting by Designs that is called "Getting Ready for Christmas". The goal is to create at least one new card each week and inspires us all to make a head start for the following year. It's a perfect way to stock up and also is great for those of us, who create cards for Operation Write Home.

This is the card that I created for both challenges and I'm also submitting it to the Monthly Customer Challenge over at DigiStamp Boutique, which you'll find on their blog HERE!!

My next card was created for today's new Color Combo Challenge being hosted over at The Outlawz Group. This week Rox has come up with a pretty color combination and twist and I am sharing it with you here, to inspire you to join us.

There was a time a rarely, if ever colored or used my yellow in my cards, but the more I use it, the more I'm finding it like it and I had so much fun with this color combo, that I actually created three cards with it today. The card that I am submitting to the challenge is this first one, as it's the one that also has the required "Twist" which is to include Fabric. Fabric is not something I have much of, as I can not sew for beans, but I did have a few scraps of ruffled yellow trim in my stash and I hope that will work! T

While in my yellow mode, and using up more of the papers I had pulled for the first card, I came up with a second card to share. For this one, I found some yellow tulle in my stash and added that under my flowers as another layer and for some more dimension and texture

And as the very end, I colored up another little Marcie image that was left over from one of yesterday's cards. I colored her in the combo colors and quickly put together this very sweet little notecard. The sentiment is also from Lori Boyd and part of a collection I bought some time back. It's also the song I used to sing to my boys when they were little and every time I hear it, I think back of those fond memories...it makes me smile and feel very happy!!!

I think she's simply adorable and after having so many sweet comments on the card I created with Marcie yesterday, I thought it would be fun to try again! It a very simple card, but is still one I think is cute!

I'm off now to clean my Copics and try to work on another page in my Smash Book. Did you know we also have a new Smash Book/Journal group over at Color Me Creative? Yes, we do and it's been a fun way to find inspiration and ideas for my book. I have not accomplished too much in mine, but I really enjoy the group and you are welcome to join us too! You'll find us HERE in the main classroom and this too is a FREE group and like the Copic Challenge Group, it's open to ALL!!

See you all tomorrow! I'll be off in the morning as I am heading out to have my nails done, but will be back and working on my Surprise!! Stay tuned!!!

As sweet as can be!!

2012-01-30T12:08:00.001-05:00

I am such a "Girlie Girl" and I think it's because of fact that I raised two sons and spent most of the last twenty years living in a home with three males! Goodness knows I LOVE them all to pieces, but there is nothing cute or fun and frilly about the way they dress or the type of decor they like in their rooms. I had a peach bathroom for a few year, but they kept calling it PINK...nope it's was peach, but men, don't seem to get colors like we do. I'm actually really to re-paint that bathroom again, and wait until they see my new color, because guess what hue it's going to be in.....! If you guessed purple, you are RIGHT! Although it's more of a light lavender and I've narrowed it down to three shades- French Lavender, Meghan (which ironically is my future daughter-in-law's name), and Spring Violet. All the trim will be a bright white. as is the toilet, tub/shower and vanity. The entire color scheme, actually came from a really cute little trash bucket I found at Michael's! Go Figure! I also already added a little lavender hamper and matching shower curtain. I wish I had done my craft room in these colors and in time, I do plan to change that room too, but with so much furniture and 'stuff', it's way too much work for now.

And speaking of sweet and adorable, some of my favorite digi images have been created by Lori and Hannah Boyd of By Lori Designs and today's card shares one of my new favorites. All their little images are always a joy to create with and I find it very hard to pass up a new release. Today's card features Marcie, who is one of the newest little Bug & Roo images, created by Hannah (Lori's daughter). You can find them along with a huge collection of wonderful images at Lori's store HERE!

My card today features little Marcie and was created for a variety of fun new challenges. It was originally inspired by the new Challenge over at Lori's site, which you can find HERE! I have copied over the wonderful inspiration image that Lori shared as our inspiration. As soon as I saw the picture I knew I wanted to play and knew I had some adorable digi papers that would work perfect.

.... The challenge this week is a Photo Inspiration Challenge...let it inspire you to create whatever you like, any way you like:

Photo is from and can be found at Cozy Canadian Cottage..

I also knew that I wanted to paper-piece on a cute little outfit and submit my card to a new Paper Piecing Challenge, being hosted at Crafting by Designs. I buy almost ALL of my wonderful digi papers from Shery K Designs and really LOVE them. If you hop on over to Shery's store now, you can even sign up for a chance to win a Brand New Silhouette Cameo!! You'll find all the details on her site, but hurry, the contest is almost over!! Good Luck to ALL!!

Once I had my papers picked out, I simply printed everything out onto my favorite Cryogen Cardstock. I then cute out the little outfit I wanted for Marcie and a did the same for her little Hair Bow. I colored the rest with my Copics and layered then used a nestie die to cute her out and layered that onto a second scalloped circle, of pink and white paper. I then added that to a green checkered layer and put it all onto some pink polka-dotted cardstock from Memory Box. I add a sweet little 'I Love You' Sentiment and tied on a little heart with Pink Twine. I punched some more hearts with my mini Heart Punch and put it all together to make this sweet little card.

Don't you just love her? I think she's simply adorable and these are the types of wonderful images that I adore. They always make me SMILE and are fun and Happy. I had a lot of fun picking up papers to use to paper-piece her cute little overall and matching hair bow!

I'm submitting her to each of these fun new challenges and I invite you ALL to join in and play along:

And now I am off to work on some new cards and to continue on my special projects.....Sshhh...it's a surprise, but stay tuned!! Wishing everyone a wonderful week!!

I feel awesome...and have lots to share!!

2012-01-29T15:46:00.003-05:00

After a week of dealing with a stomach bug on top of my daily life with Fibro, I am THRILLED to be feeling good today!! Yippee!! I can never say enough about how wonderful it is to feel good! It's also been a super weekend for me and I have lots of new cards to share.

I missed crafting so much and was so excited to make up some of my lost time. I started by heading off to my LSS, (Absolutely Everything), for two card-making classes yesterday. When I left in the morning, I thought I would simply stay for the first class and then take the afternoon set home. I really did not think I would make it through two classes, so imagine my surprise when I did. I think having all that extra rest this week, paid off! Yippee!!

The first class was my favorite, because we used Copics for most of the coloring, and also made some really pretty Valentine Cards. All of the stamps were from Northwoods and this is the first time, I've taken one of their classes. Below is a copy of the board we had as our inspiration for the class and we created all six of the cards shown. I changed up a few things on some of my cards, as you'll see below.

The first card I will share is actually my absolute favorite and the one that I chose to submit to this week's Twisted Thursday Challenge at The Outlawz. The challenge this week is 'Anything Goes' with a twist of RED - you can find all the details on the site.

I loved this card so much that I bought both Stamps and will be making this again. It was colored with a combination of Copics, Distress Inks and even some Red Glitter. The heart image was first stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed in black. I colored the red little hearts and roses with Copics and Stamped a second heart, which we cut out only the roses, colored and popped them up on the card. The backgrounds of the heart, tag and little I love you tag were colored with Distress Ink in Tea Dye and Aged Mahogany.

The next card is my second favorite and is was also very quick and easy to color. I love the basket full of tiny hearts think this card could be used year round as a love type card too! I think I may end up buying this stamp, the next time I'm back at the store. This is the card that I created to submit to the Copic/Prismacolor Challenge this week (Anything Goes), also being hosted over at 'The Outlawz'.

The next four cards were the remaining cards we made in class. Most of the gals in class liked this next card best. Usually pinks and purples are may favorite too, but in this class I really loved the deep reds...Go Figure??

This card is really pretty and has lots

of Sparkle and Shine!!

The last card does not feature the stamps we used in class. I actually did not like how that card turned out, so I took it apart today and keep the pink background and the dies cut borders and put that together will all new elements today, to make this card for the new CAS Challenge over at The Outlawz. Our challenge this week is a 'Melting Pot Challenge' and the idea is to use (4) different elements on our card. Mine are: Die Cut Border, Patterned Paper, Die Cut Hearts, which I popped and Distressed in Spun Sugar. My last element was adding a little Stick pin, which I made today with white and pink beads and finished off with a little Baker's Twine bow. I like this card so much more than the one I had done yesterday and I'm very happy I started over!! :)

My next set of cards were all created in the second class and these cards and stamps are all from Inky Antics and are very whimsical and cute. In this set they are all cute little bears and we colored them all with the new Marvy Le Plume Alcohol Markers which have recently hit the market. They are very much a lower cost version of a Copic, but in my humble opinion, they are nothing like a Copic and not a marker I would buy. They only have one tip (brush), are not refillable and the colors are very washed out looking, as you'll see in the cards. They almost have a chalk-like look, which could appeal to some. I LOVE the vibrant colors of Copic's ink much more, and I admit I am spoiled, because I already own my Copics. Had I never tried Copics, I might like these more, which is why I can understand that for some crafters this might be a much more affordable marker. The retail price is $2.99 and there are currently 144 colors. These are all six of the cards and I'm starting with my favorite first, which is also the featured card on the Ink Antic site.

They are kind of cute, but I not really my favorite styles or colors. I did not end up buying any of the stamps or the contrasting papers. Even so, it was still nice to get out and spend time with others, who love to create as much as I do. It was a fun afternoon, but I really LOVED the morning class and cards much more.

Today, I have two more cards done and ready to share and the first was created for today's new Sketch Challenge over at OWH's Stars and Stamps Blog. We are now working on Sketch # 106 and this is a copy I copied over to share! I really enjoyed this sketch and know it's one I'll use again!!

Sketch # 106

My Card

Note: Special thanks to Paula for creating me new OWH Watermarks for my cards! I love them both and will put them to good use!! THANK YOU!!!

And last, but not least, I have one more card to share and this one was also based on a CAS Sketch and is also for a new challenge over at Crafting By Designs. I have also copied over Gwen's Sketch to share and inspire you to join.

CBD Sketch

My Card

This card, although very Clean and Simple is also one of my favorite cards today. It was created with a brand new stamp set that I just LOVE from Hero Arts. Both the Sentiment and sweet little floral image are part of the set (Merci Bouquet), along with even more adorable images. This stamp I bought after seeing Jennifer McGuire used it in the CAS Class. I love it and colored my little flowers with Copics and Spica Pens!!!

Oh, and speaking of Jennifer, I was absolutely thrilled to hear that she is expecting a new Baby this Spring. For those of you who had not heard the news, she shared it on her blog on Friday. You can see it here, along with an adorable picture of her and her sweet little son, Colin. I am so happy for the entire family!! She's glowing!! Congratulations again Jennifer, I'm beyond thrilled for you all!! Enjoy your time at CHA and have a safe and happy trip back home!!

And now I am off to work on a special project!! Sshhh....it's a secret, but it's going to be fun and I can't wait to share it all with you, later this week. Be sure to stop by each day, so you don't miss out, there may even be some Blog Candy involved??? In the meantime, I want to thank everyone for all the Well Wishes and for the sweet comments you all left for me when I was sick last week. I'm looking forward to doing a lot more crafting this week and I am off to a nice start!!

My thanks to Operation Write Home!

2012-01-27T10:00:00.000-05:00

Today is a very special day for and and I wanted to take a minute to share it with all my craft friends. I am very excited to be this week's Featured Cardmaker over at OWH's Stars and Stamps Blog. My special thanks to Paula for contacting me about this wonderful honor. I'm very happy and truly feel very proud to be a member of Operation Write Home and love doing my little part to let our heroes know how much we value and appreciate their service.

As many of you know I have been creating cards for Operation Write Home for the past two years and find it a wonderful way to say THANK YOU to those who proudly protect and serve our country. I also love to take part in their challenges and my two favorites have always been the Midweek Throwdown, which is hosted every Wednesday, as well as the weekly Sketch Challenge, hosted each Sunday.

I would also like to invite and encourage all of my card-maker friends to consider being a member of this fabulous group. Even if you only have a time to make a few cards each week or month, they will all be greatly appreciated. You can even send me your cards and I'll be happy to Stamp and Tuck them and include them in my next shipment!! If you think this is something you'd like to do or if you want more details about being a card-maker for OWH, please go here!! If you are not a card-maker, but would like to help out, donations are also greatly appreciated and you can donate directly from the main site, simply go HERE!!

I hope you'll consider joining us and know you won't be disappointed! If you need more inspiration, you can find it here! I think you'll be very happy you joined this group! You also find us on Facebook and we welcome you to stop by and visit!

Sick day....Yuk!

2012-01-25T10:35:00.002-05:00

....Well more like a couple of days of not feeling so hot!! Needless to say I have not been doing much in my craft room, but did manage to make it to a fun Card Class yesterday at my LSS! I had felt better yesterday, but now feel kind of queasy again!

I think I need a nice day of extra rest and that's my plan for today! I am HOPING tomorrow will be a better day and I can find lots of time to create! I miss being in my craft room and would much rather be crafting than feeling so Yuk.....

Hoping you are all feeling well and that you all have a wonderful week! See you in another day or so and praying this 'Bug' leaves me alone!!

Sad Day...Happy Day...Very HAPPY DAY!!

2012-01-23T13:11:00.001-05:00

One of those days that is full of happy and sad. The sad part actually started late yesterday when I started feeling really lousy. I am not sure if I had a touch of a stomach bug or even possible a gall bladder attack, but boy did it come on fast and did I ever feel awful. I ended up going to bed halfway through the Football game and fell asleep, only to wake up at the end to find out my team had won!! Go PATS!!! As much as I was happy about that, my stomach was still feeling awful and I could not get back to sleep or even feel comfy. I ended up getting up and took some Pepto and went back to bed. Needless to say, I did not sleep well and even woke up still feeling pretty lousy. On a happy note, as the day has moved along I am feeling better, the pain is now gone and the nausea is much improved! I had some crackers and tea and that seemed to help! Phew!!

Today is also a bittersweet day over at the CAS Class as this is our final day and I know I'll miss it. I've had withdrawal from each of the classes and know that this week will be no different. I am, however, very excited to about the new class which will be in March. It's going to a HUGE hit and if you happen to like Tim Holtz, you'll want to be join in, as he will be teaching in March! Woohoo!! I was also thrilled to find out that I was one of the very lucky winners in this class and I won $30 worth of Stamps from Purple Onion Designs! Can you say HAPPY!! Yippee!!

Imagine my happiness when I read this news on the class site this morning --

Finally, we have Lisa Haines who wins $30 worth of stamps from Purple Onion Designs. Purple Onionhas some fabulous unmounted rubber stamps – all high quality and unique. We LOVE their alphabets! Be sure to check out their blog HERE. They have a great design team.

I want to say THANK YOU again to Jennifer, Kristina and Julie for a fantastic class. My thanks also goes out to Simon Says Stamp and Ellen Hutson for being class sponsors and for the great discounts they gave to all the students!!

And now, I'd like to thank Purple Onion Designs for their prize too! I'm very excited and have already been over to the blog to check out the adorable stamps!! I have a feeling it's a store I'll visit often, as they have a wonderful variety of great stamps!!

And back to more HAPPY things I have two new cards to share today and the first one, was actually once I had started yesterday. It's based on this week's Sketch over at Operation Write Home's Stars and Stamps Blog.

And I also have one more which was created for this week's CAS Challenge over at The Outlawz. Our challenge this week was to create a CAS Style card to to use something NEW! I decided to create my card with the awesome Card Kit I bought last week from Simon Says Stamp. It's one of the new monthly card kits that are now being designed by Kristina Werner and offered by subscription at SSS!!

I am so happy that I'm now feeling better and that my day keeps getting happier and happier. My mail lady was here while I was working on this post and I had three wonderful HAPPY Mail packages today. The first was a pretty Hero Arts Stamp that I had been wishing for last week, after it was used one day in Class. I lucked out and found it (brand new) on eBay for only $8.25!!

And in the second package was my wonderful new Copics! Woohoo! I am very excited to be adding the newest release to my collection and LOVE that it has two new Purple shades!!! Special thanks to Ashley at iCopic for shipping them out so fast! You ROCK!!

And my last wonderful goodie package is my most recent order from Simon Say Stamps! I've had such great service from their have totally loved shopping at the store, during our CAS Class. I bought the newest Corner Chomper to add to my collection, along with a cute little date stamp and I'm planning to use my Smash Book.

What a FUN and HAPPY day this has turned out to be and tomorrow should also be really awesome, as I'm heading to my LSS (Absolutely Everything) for the Monthly Card Club, which is a new card-making class I enrolled in for the Winter Months!! Happiness is such a nice feeling!!

A snowy Saturday!

2012-01-21T14:31:00.001-05:00

...Today is a very typical January day here in New England and it's also another snowy day, but luckily the snow is very light and we should not have more than a few inches. We have had such a mild winter and the snowfall has been very low and I truly hope it stays that way. This will probably be one of the first times that we will actually need to shovel, and that's wonderful, to me.

It's also another day that I can spend working on craft projects, and that too makes it a great day for me. I have two new cards to share today and both were created and inspired by new challenges.

My first card was created for the brand new challenge over at Lily Pad Cards. This challenge is Virginia's Challenge #1 and it's a photo inspiration challenge. I copied over a picture of the inspiration photo hoping it will inspire you to join along!

For all the details, please hop on over the the Lily Pad blog HERE!!

I also want to once again say Congratulations to the newest members of the Design Team and was very excited to see some familiar faces! I'm very happy for everyone and hope you all have a great time. I've been a big Fan of Vicky and Lily Pad for some time and really enjoy the blog!! :)

I had a few ideas right away for my card, but my first card ended up being a bust. I had used an old stamp, but the design simply did not work out as I hoped. Needless to stay that card need was finished and is now in my recycle bin. I am also not loving this card, but I do think it came out better than my first attempt and that's why I decided to submit it.

After I finished that card, I head over to The Outlawz Group to see what new challenge they had today and as it turned today's Paper a la Mode Challenge, was to created a CAS Style Valentine. Perfect for me, after having been in the CAS Class for the past two week. I found that this card was actually much easier and in the end, I actually like this one much better! I'll bet you will too.

As you can see I made another beaded stick pin for this card and can't wait to see what I end up receiving from the swap. I sent off my pins last week and most of the participants also have theirs in. I also made a couple more, to have on hand and have them in my little Pink Cushion.

And now I am off to see what other fun challenge I can find today! I am already missing CAS Class and not having their daily email in my in-box. I do want to say special thanks to Kristina, Jennifer and Julie for another awesome class. I'll be looking forward to your next class and know it'll be wonderful. Good Luck to everyone who is in the class, I can't wait to find out who wins all the wonderful prizes that will be given out. I would love to see some of my friends win ! Good Luck!!

.....Wonderful week...!!

2012-01-20T17:48:00.002-05:00

This week has been one of the best weeks that I've had in awhile. I've felt pretty good all week and had a fabulous time participating the CAS Class. The downside is that the class wraps up on Monday and will be over and that's always the sad part. Not only, has it been a fun and very inspirational class, it's also been the perfect way to to get through the cold days of January.

I did not have a chance to start working on the new inspiration from class today, but I really did love the ideas and hope to work on them this weekend. I totally LOVED the wonderful set of cards that Julie Ebersole shared in her Video today and you can bet it's a design that I want to try. She used a really pretty embossing folder and it's one I had never seen before. Luckily, the girls share links to all the supplies they use and I found it in stock at Ellen Hutson's store and ordered it for my collection. I love that Ellen is one of the sponsors and truly think it's a bonus to have the discount codes. It's also been an added plus to have Julie as one of the teacher's in this class. She is such a joy and I've really found I love her style and her wonderful sense of humor. All of her videos are fun and they always make me smile.

After catching up on paperwork, paying bills and filing our taxes, I didn't have too much time to create, but I am very happy those tasks are done and I can now have the whole weekend to create. We are expecting more snow, so it's the perfect time to stay home and spend time in my craft room. As long as we don't lose the power, I'll be very happy. I also really want to spend some more time in the CAS Classroom and maybe even do a bit more shopping to take advantage of the awesome discount codes, we have from class.

My first card today is for new Copic Coloring Challenge over at The Outlawz and this week's challenges is called "Girls Only" and theme is to create a call that is definitely feminine in some way. I started with a cute floral image from Bugaboo that I colored with my Copics. I also wanted to use it in a clean and simple card, so I did not add a lot of extra detail. I simply rounder the corners of the colored image and then created a card base that matched with Bazzill Swiss Dot Cardstock. I added a small contrast element and then simply tied on a matching bow.

I also finished up another small card and this once is for the new CAS Challenge that is being hosted at Crafting by Designs. This week we were challenge to create a CAS style card and it had to include either four circles or four squares. At first, I thought about making another Valentine type card and was going to incorporate some hearts, but after seeing I was not the only one with that idea, I decided to use scalloped square and to also start with a square card base. It came out to be a cute little Thank You card!

And now I am off to see what else is sitting on my desk. Whenever I find a challenge that I want to join, I always print out a page with all the details and keep it on my craft desk. Right now, I am caught up with the ones I had hoped to do, so it's time to start on some brand new ideas. I think I'm going to heard over to the Hero Arts blog for some inspiration!

Have a great night, and as always --- Happy Crafting!

Another LOVE filled day!!

2012-01-19T13:58:00.003-05:00

I was up bright and early this morning even though I had planned to sleep in. But...when you forget to shut off your alarm, chances are you're going to wake up. And it's even worse when you remember that your phone (which I use for my alarm clock), is in your pocketbook and not on your night stand. Yup, that was the start to my day and since I had to actually get up to shut it off....I was up! Grrrrr!! I guess in some ways it was good to get up early as I had all my chores done early, giving me lots of time to make these new cards.
My first card was created for a Sketch Challenge over at Creating by Designs. We have a special Guest Designer for this month and Heide inspired me to create a Sympathy Card, something we all find a bit of a challenge to make. I find that they are often the one card I will still buy. This one, however I will be using and sadly I have to send it out today. My thanks to Heide for sharing the sketch and her inspiration.

My next card was also created for a Sketch Challenge and this one is being hosted over at The Outlawz Group. I knew right away that I wanted to make another Valentine Card and the sketch seemed to be perfect. I also wanted to practice making a CAS Card and really have learned so many wonderful tips for the CAS Class. Here is my card which was very easy and fun to make!

After I had these cards done I was very excited to break out my brand new Card Kit which I had ordered from Simon Say Stamp. They are now working with Kristina Werner to put out a month card kit and I was one of the very lucky crafters who bought the February Kit before it sold out. Mine arrived yesterday and I was so excited to see everything it contained. Yippee! I'm also very excited to have subscribed to the next kit and will look forward to these awesome kits arriving in my mailbox every month.

If you are a fan of Kristina and would love to get in on these kits, I highly suggest you head over to SSS and buy in for the next kit. If I remember correctly the February kits sold out on the very first day!! Oh and for anyone who was not able to buy the February Kit, those crafters will receive the wonderful set of Tim's Seasonal Distress Inks as a BONUS in their March Kit. For all the details on subscribing to future kits, you'll find a Q & A, HERE!!

All three of these card were created with products in the kit. Other than a few scraps, everything on each card came from the February Kit. It even has it's own little Heart Punch, a cute little Stamp set, and all the ribbons, bling and embellishments. There is also a inspiration sheet included with ideas for six cards and I used that for each of these. I totally LOVE this and I'm so happy I signed up and subscribed. Speical thanks to Heidi (Simon Says Stamps) and Kristina, for working together to bring these kits tp the market! They ROCK!!

These are the first of my kit cards and these three were all inspired by Kristina --

If you like these cards and if you are a fan of Kristina, as I am, I think you'll be very happy to subscribe to the kits. I know I am and I'm very excited to share some of my cards in the Gallery today over at the CAS Class. My next project today is to work on a card based on today's new ideas. It'll be fun and in a totally different theme, as I try to color up some gorgeous Spring inspired images. I loved the new new Hero Arts Stamp that both Kristina and Jennifer used today, it's this awesome image (NOTE: This image was copied over from the Hero Arts Blog).

I also thought for sure I had it, but I don't, which is a bummer, as I wanted to color it right up after seeing their cards. For now, I'll work with another floral image and will buy this from my LSS, when I go to class on Tuesday. It's gorgeous and the cards they made use it were ALL awesome. I love to colors these types of stamps with my Copics and that's exactly what I plan to do!

Oh, and speaking of Copics, I was thrilled to find out last night that the brand new set is now in and shipping out from iCopic. My set has already shipped and I can hardly wait to color with them. The new colors are some of my favorites and I know they'll be awesome for Spring!! Yippee!! Here is a copy fo the chart that I shared from iCopic's website and this is a link if you want to add them to your collection!

I'm off now to search one more time and make sure I do not have this stamp, hidden away. The last thing I need to do is buy another duplicate! I did that again this past weekend and already have one stamp to return on Tuesday. This is what happens when you do not have a good catalog system, something I am slowly working on putting together. My first step was to sort out my stamps by type and company and I do have that done. I now have ALL my Hero Arts Clings and Clear Stamps all combined in two large bins. All my larger background and wood stamps are in my hanging organizers. It's a big project, but is helping me to easily find what I need and know exactly where to look. If you have any wonderful ideas on how you catalog your stamps -- Please share!!

All we need is LOVE!!

2012-01-18T15:54:00.003-05:00

.....and that's exactly the theme of all the cards I have to share with you today. I am very much into my Valentine Cards today. It's been a busy day and I'm pretty tired, so I have not had time to work on my class cards today. But, I do have three new cards to share and they were all inspired the two different challenges.
My first card was created specifically for a Color Combo Challenge over at The Outlawz, but it is my 'bust' card of the day. Let me start by sharing a copy of the color combo for the challenge.

I loved the colors right away and knew I wanted to make a card that would also work out for Valentine's Day. I started with one of my newest Memory Box Dies and a red card base and partially cut out the design on the bottom on my card. I didn't end up liked how it looked and decided to line the card inside with a piece of patterned paper which I also used for my heart. I also then realized that the red in the patterned paper was not as bright as I had wanted, but I kept going and finished up this card. It's okay....but not a favorite and in the end I totally forget the embossing! LOL!

Moving on, I started over and made my second card, which was also inspired by today's Midweek Challenge over at the OWH Stars and Stamps Blog. The challenge this week was Black and White (with another pop of color). Of course, I knew right away that pop was going to be red for me. I also started by dry embossing my red card base, just to be certain I would not forget. I then used a combination of heart shaped dies and put it all together to make this card, which will be the one I submit to both challenges.

After being much happier with that card I decided to make one more and to also include Heat Embossing, so that I have covered all the bases. I used some of the same ideas, but came up with a totally different look by starting with a black embossed card base and adding a white heat-shaped doily. THis card could also be submitted to both challenges.

My next plan today is to start on a new card based on today's class, which was another good one. Jennifer taught me a brand new technique, called mirror image stamping/ The concept is to take one image and be able to mirror image it on your project. As an example, she used a cute little bird and on the first stamp he's facing to the left and then she also taught us a few different ways where you can also stamp him, (or her) so that he's mirrored (or facing to the right). The cards she made were both really adorable and feature this sweet new set from Hero Arts. Of course, I now have it on my wish list, because I totally love the little bird. It was also a class where Jennifer did some Copic Coloring and that's another part I really liked.

Our guest designer today is Lisa Spangler and she shared another great card and video and that one was also new to me! Her card was created with this adorable stamp, another from the new HA release! Her card was a window type card and I love the fun techniques she shared on have her image center on the inside of her card! She's another amazing crafter and you can see her work on her blog!!

Oh, and one more piece of exciting news for those who may or may not have heard. Kristina has been working a lot lately creating projects for Simon Say Stamps and one of the other new things she has started on is creating these fabulous Monthly Card Kits which you can subscribe to at SSS. The very first kit was Valentine kit, which sold out in less then 48 hours. I'm thrilled, because I was one of the lucky people who ordered the kit and mine arrived today. I can't wait to play with it and will look forward to seeing Kristina sharing ideas of what we can create on her blog. If this sounds lie something you'd like, you can now sign up to subscribe to the March kit and/or future kits. The price was fabulous and the first kit, can be seen here, to give you an idea of what they have. WooHoo! Kudos to Kristina and SSS for working together to create these kits. I've already subscribed and think they'll ALL be a huge hit!! I'll be sure to post pictures of the cards that I create with supplies from the kit, so stay tuned!

Yippee! Sun and Fun!!

2012-01-17T15:16:00.000-05:00

I was so surprised to wake up and see snow on the ground? I guess I have not been paying much attention to the weather lately, as I didn't know we had snow coming. On a happy note, it snowed overnight, the sun is now out and it's all quickly melting away. The temperatures are warming up too, which is even better.
I've had another great day in my craft room and have a few new cards to share. This first card has me breaking out my Copics, which I have not used very much since I started the CAS Class. I have to admit, that as much as I love CAS and working with inks....I also LOVE to color and Copics are my absolute favorite medium. I have a full set and have already ordered the brand new colors due out next month. If you are new to Copics and want to take some fabulous classes, then I highly recommend you head on over to Suzanne Dean's Color Me Creative Classroom and sign up for one of her classes. She currently has five levels and so far I have taken 1-4. I'm also very excited to hopefully be finally meeting her when I go on my Girls Weekend in May and I plan to take one of her On The Road classes too! Yippee!!
This cute little card was created for a Color Combo Challenge over at the Crafting by Designs group and also is somewhat a CAS card. I didn't add a lot of extra embellishment, and simply used a variety of papers to add more texture and design. My cute little digi is one of the newest - just released by Lori Boyd ! You can find many more at her wonderful store HERE! This little cutie is Penny!!

And next are two new cards that were both created based on inspiration from today's CAS Class. The first card was inspired by Julie Ebersole and I have to tell you how much I adore her. Not only is she an amazing designer, but she is so happy and fun and every time I watch one of her video's I always smile. She makes me laugh and smile and that's awesome! Thank Julie!! You are a hoot !!!

This care was very easy to create, but I give all the credit to Julie, as this is basically a case of her card. I may have used different papers and colors, but the card design is all her. I loved the tip she shared about adding a layer of Vellum over your die cuts, which I did for these little butterflies, cut with an MS Punch. The Vellum that I had is also the type that has some glitter and sparkle on it, and that made it even more perfect for this card. The deep plum papers I used are old Stampin' Up papers and my card itself is from a box of the DCWV cards that I pick up whenever Jo's has them on sale, as they are now at $5.99 for the full box of 50! They are all a nice texture weight and come in a variety of colors. My sentiment is from Hero Arts and I used Pop Dots to add more dimension. The white center piece is simply a piece of scrap white that I ran through the Cuttlebug in a new embossing folder. I loved this idea and also now love to follow Julie's blog, as it's always full of fantastic inspiration.

My last card today was inspired by Jennifer's, but I'm not loving mine as much as hers. I did use the same Memory Box die, but did change around my colors and think her card looks brighter and happier. She also used a really cute sentiment from Paper Smooches and that's one line of stamps that I do not own, (at least not year). I did try to go to Simon Says Stamp and order the set, but it was sold out, so it's now on my Wish List, along with lots of other goodies, as always!!

As you can see I used light colors and tried something a bit different and only adhered one color directly to the card base and adhered a dark purple strip, in the middle row and then covered it with Glitter. You can see it better in this next photo, but please excuse seeing my hand holding down the card, it was my quick and easily solution for keeping it closed, while I took the picture!! LOL!! Do you love my Pink Glittered nails, that was my new color from when I had my nails done last week!

And that's going to be my last card today to share. I'm now working on a really fun new Valentine Card, but it's going to be for a Swap in the Hero Arts Group and since I want it to be a surprise, for Barb, I'm not going to post it until I know she had received it.

See you all again tomorrow! I'm off bright and early for a new hair cut/color and then will spend time working on projects in the afternoon! I can't believe our wonderful CAS class is going by so quickly and I know I'm going to miss it when it ends! Luckily, I have some fun classes coming up at my LSS and can look forward to them, as well as having more time to get back to challenges and working on my OWH Cards!!

Monday, Monday...Bah, Da, Bah Bah Da Da....

2012-01-16T14:01:00.001-05:00

Monday, Monday.....! How many of your remember that wonderful oldie by The Mama's and The Papa's? I know I do and for some reason...it's not stuck in my head, so I thought it would be a fun idea for my post title. This Monday is a nice day for me and the day we celebrate Martin Luther King Day, here in the USA. It's also turning out to be a really awesome day for me and I have a few new projects to share.

I started my day by going to CAS Card class, which I love and I ended up created today's card based on the wonderful video that Kristina shared. It also worked out that it would be the perfect card to submit to this week's CAS Challenge over and The Outlawz and I encourage every one in the CAS Class to hop on over to this fun challenge group and take part in all the challenges. The group is OPEN to all, and they offer a new challenge every day of the week. Sunday is always CAS day, making it perfect for all of you in the class. We also found out today in class that one of the lucky students is going to win a brand new Vagabond machine, thanks to the generosity of Simon Say Stamps! WOWeeee.....what a fantastic prize and would I ever be thrilled to win that. Good Luck to everyone!!

In class we were inspired to find a fun to to make our own embellishments and created the cute little center flower you see on my card. It's also a little window card and although Kristina used a MS circle cutter to create her window, I don't own one, so I simply used a circle Spellbinder die. My flower papers are an oldie but goodie from Stampin' Up called Cottage Wall, once of my all time favorite sets. When this set went on clearance, I ended up ordering several sets, which is why I still have some left...Love IT!!

My second card was created also based somewhat on the idea of this card, as I created another window card and also kept with a very Clean and Simple Design. It's also the card I am submitting to this week's Greeting Card Challenge, also hosted over at The Outlawz. Again, this is another of the fun challenges the gals have every week and this week's challenge was all about 'nothing', so to speak. We were challenge to create a card with only one Embellishment and a Sentiment. Not as ALL as easy as it sound.

Luckily, I have so many wonderful dies from Memory Box that I knew right away that my one embellishment was going to be a die cut and I picked my latest favorite, which is the LaRue Heart. It's also perfect for Valentine's cards or LOVE cards, which is what I created today. I searched through my Hero Arts Sentiment Stamps and found the perfect Sentiment that tied into my Love and Heart Theme. I also lined the inside of my card in clear acetate to make it rally look ever more like a window!

I hope I have now inspired you to play long and make some Clean and Simple Cards. If you love this type of challenge, I'd also like to invite you to another challenge group, called Crafting By Designs. This is a nice small group where everyone also loves to create. CBD also offers a variety of challenges, tutorials and is a nice friendly group. If you feel a bit intimated by larger groups, this might be the perfect place for you and they are currently open for enrollment! Come on over and play at either group, both are fabulous and full of inspiration.

Oh, and I am very happy and excited to be planning a Spring Trip to go down to the Baltimore area to meet up with a bunch of my online craft friends. A bunch of the gals have always wanted to get together, meet up for a girl's weekend and that's exactly what we plan to do. Plans are for a fun-filled craft weekend in May and I'm so excited to be flying down for that weekend. WOOHOO! I'm hoping every one I know will plan to come, the more the merrier and I think it will be a fantastic time. If you would like to join us, please email me for more details. I know there are tentative plans for some classes and we have some very admired designers who will be attending. More details will follow, but I can't wait! Yippee! I will be flying out of Boston, if you are local to my area and want to go, we can plan our flights together!! It'll be a blast!!

Fun, Fun and More Creative Fun!!

2012-01-15T16:51:00.000-05:00

I have had a couple of super busy days, but it's all been fun and almost all my time has been spent crafting. I'm still loving being a part of the CAS Card Class and looking forward to another fun day tomorrow. We also were surprised with some fun Bonus Inspiration and fun tips and information over the weekend, which was a nice plus.

Yesterday, I headed out to my LSS (Absolutely Everything) to take a really fun and unique class. It's was the Beginner Zentangle class and it was really fun. I knew that Kate, (the owner), had taught these classes several times and thought it would be something different. I've heard many people talk about how relaxing it is to draw Zentangles, and that inspired me to try. Kate is not only the store owner, but an amazing artist, who also love to share her talents by teaching a variety of classes at the store. It's great to have a store owner who loves to create as much as we all do. She also loves to have all the latest and greatest products in the store and will be off to CHA shortly to order all the new things coming out. WooHoo! It's such a wonderful store and I'm so lucky to have a store this awesome. The best part is that it's close enough to home that I can make the drive, a bonus for sure.

We started by learning the basics about Zentagles and how they were first created by a couple that is actually from Massachusetts. You can find out more about this very cool art, by going to their website HERE! Below are some images of the basic starter pieces, along with the two Zentangle tiles I completed yesterday. We learned 8 different 'tangles' and each tangle has it's own name. It's really amazing and is quite relaxing!

Next, is a picture of the Zentangle 4 booklet that I bought for future inspiration. It's also in this issue that Kate has a wonderful project featured (it's also on the cover), and I have also included a picture of the piece below. In person, it's gorgeous and includes several tangles. The cool thing is that you can tangle on almost anything, which you'll see done in Kate's project.

As you can see, this project is amazing and this shows how you can use Zentangles on flowers, titles and other ways to create really fabulous projects. I thought it would be fun to try on cards from time to time and I do plan to take a follow-up class.

My next project has been to finish up all the Beaded Stick Pins that I have been working on for a SWAP. I'm very happy to say I am now done and all my pins will be mailed out on Tuesday. I also wanted to share a few pics of my adorable pink giant pin-cushion that I found at Jo'Ann's. You'll also see that I created little bags for each set of three Pins, which was another part of the project. This is my very first swap of this type and I really had fun. I love using this pins on cards and will enjoy having a fun collection after the swap is over. It's also another fun creative outlet and I will continue to make more. I'm glad I tried it!!

Once they were all done, I had these six little packages which are what every of the participants will receive. I also created another set all in a Valentine's Theme, which I shared last week. Those pins were packaged in little Matchbook type packages which I created using my Silhouette Cameo. The Cameo was also used to create these little bags and the inside die cut, was is a brand new one I bought yesterday, while at the store. It's another from Memory Box is is really pretty!.

I had also planned to make cards today for some of my favorite challenges, but I'm now running out of time and only have one finished. This card was created based on today's new Sketch Challenge over that the Stars and Stamps Blog and will be sent off in my new batch to OWH. I have also copied over today's sketch for anyone who wants to play along!!

Sketch # 104

My Card

I'm pretty tired right now, but feel good about getting so much done. It's a good feeling when you can check a few things of your to do list and that's exactly what I did today.

I hope you all had a nice creative weekend and had time to spend in your craft room. Tomorrow, will the first day of our second week in CAS Card Class and I'm sure it'll be fun. The Gallery is jam packed full of amazing cards that many of the participants have shared. I really love to browse it and get ideas and inspiration for future card ideas. See you all tomorrow!!

Brrrrrr.....the chill is on....!!

2012-01-13T17:59:00.003-05:00

What a difference a day can make! We've had a lot of mild weather this winter and the past two days have been pouring rain, but that's all about to change and I can already feel the chill in the air. It's getting very very windy and tonight we are expected to have temps down in the single digits!!!! Brrrrrr! That is too cold for this girl and I sure HOPE it doesn't last too long.

Tomorrow, I will be up and off early to head to my LSS to take a new class. I'm trying something totally different and new, but thought it might be a great thing to go along with my Smash Book. I'm taking a Zentangle class, which looks like it will be fun. If you have never heard of it, it's almost a form of doodling, but can also be very advances. They are several books and levels, but I'll be taking the beginner class and will let you know how it goes.

Today, I have been working on a variety of projects including my Smash Book, which I had been slacking on. After seeing how fabulous some of the gals pages are over at our Smash Group, I knew I wanted to re-vamp my very first page and then also manged to finish up the start of my second page. I love the idea of these very cool and colorful journals and I'm so happy that Suzanne Dean added a free group to her Color Me Creative Classroom. It's open to all, so please free free to come on over and join the fun.

These are my two completed pages! I did a lot of changes to the first page, which is pretty much all about my passion for purple. The first challenge in our group is to create your first pages and there are some fun themes you can follow along. I went with new beginnings and also added the very first card I created this year on my second page, which I finished off today. The backgrounds on my first page were also brand new stamps that I had bought in early January and that's how I tied in that new theme.

My next project that I need to finish up is the Stick Pin Swap that I joined over at CDAC. I have all my pins done, now it's a matter of packaging them up and shipping them out. I am in two groups and one is a Love theme and the other is a Spring Theme. You make three pins for each member of the group (6) for a total of 18. You also need to come up with some fun little way to package them, like a little gift. That has been the hardest part, but I did finally come up with a few ideas and they were all done with my Silhouette Cameo. I'm so lucky to have this die cut machine and LOVE it. It's so much easier to use than a Cricut and I love that I can edit each of the designs, or even create my own. So far, this is what I plan to use for the LOVE packaging...

I'm still working on the spring set, but have something similar, but I thought I might try something totally different. That will be another project I must finish up on the weekend, so that I can plan to enjoy another full week in my CAS Class.

And last, but not least, I have two new cards to share that were designed based on new inspiration from today's CAS Class. I am so loving this, even more than I had thought I would, as I'm not great with this style, but I've learned a lot and have so many new and fun ideas to try. Now I have lots of do, but not enough time...sound familiar.

This first card is my favorite of the day and was based on a cute new technique that Jennifer shared with use. I won't hare all the details, you'll have to take the class for that, but it's very easy and uses Distress Inks, Perfect Pearls Mist and the wonderful blender tools from Ranger. The cute little images that are in the centers are from another Hero Arts Stamp Set....and were stamped very Versamark and then heat embossed in white. This is a card style I could easily do over in lots of colors and designs. I especially loved some of the more intricate designs that Jennifer used on one of her cards! Stunning!!

And my last card, was kind of a bust, that I re-vamped into a different idea and it ended up being so much better. It had started much like the one above, only I had used different colors in various areas. But, the colors were too close, and there was not enough contrast, so I used the base of what I had and made it into a background using the Classic Fabric Background Stamp. I then simply stamped on the large Wildflower (from the first stamp set) and heat embossed it, again in white and added a little bling!! For a different look, I used a Carnation Card (from Hero Arts) and put the pink on the inside and then used a border punch on the bottom front, so that the pink would show through.

And that is all that I'm going to be able to finish today. It's now almost 6 pm and the winds are howling. I dread this kind of weather and will be much happier when Spring is here!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend! I hope my class is fun and I'll be looking forward to spending time creating on Sunday. I also wanted to give a CHEER to my home team and wish them well in the big game tomorrow night. GO PATS!!!

Bleck....

2012-01-12T13:37:00.002-05:00

....Yup...not a great day! Between the weather and just not feeling so hot. Bummer!! I had so many fun things I had wanted to do...oh well!

I did manage to create one very fun and super easy CAS Card that was based on a card the Kristina shared with us in class today. Oh how I wish I had her wonderful handwriting, but I don't, which is why you won't ever see much of my personal writing on my cards.

I followed her idea of using my Silhouette to cute out my letters and then stamped them with the Hero Arts Friend Definitation Stamp in one of new new Mid-Tone Shadow Inks (StoneWash) from Hero Arts. You can find them in all stock now at Simon Says Stamp! For more details on this new set and all the fabulous colors, hop on over to Jennifer McGuire's blog and check out her post from yesterday. She had some great pictures and shows you all the different shades! Thanks Jennifer!!

Once I had the letters but and before I removed them from the mat, is when I stamped them, making it much easier than trying to stamp them individually. (Great tip from Kristina). When they were all dry, I simply adhered them onto a layer of black card stock. I punched out some matching hearts and added everything to a soft blue card - from Hero Arts.

As you can see I used my favorite sentiment "Hugs", but you could use any words/letters or numbers to create this very easy and fun card. Special thanks to the girls for a great class, I'm looking forward to feeling a bit better, so that I can work on the other fabulous cards that were shared with us today!

See you all later and I hope that everyone is having a great day....and has time to create!

More fun in class...

2012-01-11T14:07:00.001-05:00

Today, was another fabulous day in Clean and Simple Card Making. I am really enjoying this class, but also am not afraid to admit that I still struggle with this technique. I LOVE seeing truly fabulous CAS style cards, but for me, it's not an easy concept.

Yesterday, ended up being those of those crazy and hectic days and by the time I did get to class and finished up my card -- It was too darn tired to post. This is the card I created based on Day Two in class and it's very much a case of the card that Julie Ebersole shared with us. The theme yesterday was flat cards or one layer cards and for me, they are not easy, which is why I pretty much followed her card. I am starting to learn that the whole idea is to have one main focal point and how you can also create a look of texture. In this card that was done by using one stamp that was bold and another that was more of a fine line image. It also creates a type of visual triangle which is another concept in this style of cards. Although my card is very close to Julie's one of my stamps is a bit different than hers, as is the sentiment I chose, but the color scheme layout is very much like hers. . I greatly admire her style and think she is one of the fabulous Clean & Simple Designers. If you ever want some wonderful inspiration, be sure to visit her blog - Paper Trufflez. She's also a really fun person and her videos are always a treat to watch.

I never found time to work on a second card yesterday, but do really enjoy what I learned and still think this class is really good.

Today, is now Day Three and both of the cards I created today, were somewhat based on the card that Jennifer McGuire shared with us in her video. It's a tone on tone concept and the added texture is achieved by adding die cuts to the card in the same tone on tone colors. Although my colors and dies are different the Jennifer's they are also from Memory Box (love them), and they are some of the newest that I have added to my collection.

My first card pretty much kept with the same Red and White theme I had in my mind from yesterday, and this was the card I created using Jennifer's inspiration. It's also another card that would make a wonderful Valentine and I did have that theme in my mind when I started it.

My large die cuts are one of my favorite Memory Box dies and it's called 'LaRue Flourish'-- The smaller hearts were created with a Stampin' up punch and I first dry embossed the red cardstock for those hearts to give me more texture. The sentiment set, is called Amour and is one of the brand new clear sets from the new Hero Arts Release. It's a perfect set for Love and Valentine's cards and was the same set I used in yesterday's card!!

I have one more card to share now and that was also created with the same theme in mind, but in a totally different color scheme and in more of a Spring Theme. The papers and sentiments are all from Hero Arts and the sweet butterfly die, is again from the newest Memory Box collection. I had a fabulous time shopping for this class, as you can tell. I was also very lucky to have a generous family who gave me lots of money and gift cards to use for Craft Shopping! Thank YOU!

I'm off now to go back to the classroom and drool over all the fabulous cards in the Gallery. I also hope to make one more card, either from yesterday's class or from the other two cards from today, which are also both fantastic!

Update: I am back with one more card to share and this one was created for the Midweek Throwdown over at the Stars and Stamps Blog. It will also be added to my next packet of card for Operation Write Home. The them for today is Floral Fantasy and I thought it would be fun to break out my Copics and create a fun happy card. I found this sweet image in my digi collection and it's from Tiddly Inks and is just darling. I colored her up with my Copics and then used some of the same cardstock I had leftover from this morning, to create another card base. I then added some flowers a scalloped element and found a nice little a sentiment that I thought was perfect for an OWH card. I hope it will make someone smile and feel happy and loved!

Happy Crafting!!

I just LOVE classes! Yippee!!

2012-01-09T14:20:00.002-05:00

I am so excited to be back in school once again and this time, I am taking another fabulous card-making class with Jennifer McGuire, Kristina Werner, Julie Ebersole and some other very talented designers. Today is Day One of Clean&Simple Cardmaking, as as expected we are off to a great start and I loved the cards and ideas the girls shared with use today.

Today, we worked on the idea of using Sketches for our cards and that is something I don't do enough. I do LOVE working with sketches, but never have made up one of my own before I start any card and maybe now I will think more about doing that.

Of course, every card we create does not always come out like we hope and that is exactly what happned with my very first card today. This card was based on one of the sketches we had to work with today and also was inspired by a wonderful card that Kristina made (she makes it look so easy). My original idea was pretty much to CASE her card, but change my colors and my masked area and that ended up being a bust. My very first stamped background smudges and was just not right for the card, so that one is in the trash. It will shortly be followed by this card, which is number two of my YUK cards. I'm never afraid to share my YUK cards and this did not turn out at ALL like I had hoped.

UPDATE: After receiving such nice comment about this card, I decided to try the heart mask one more time and this time, I went with the idea of Red and White (thanks Michelle). In the end, this was one of my favorite cards today. I used White Picket Distress Stain to stamp with and only wish I had gone with White Staz-on instead, as the Stain did smear a bit. I am glad I tried it again and THANK YOU all for the encouragement!

After my first disaster, I moved on and decided I would work with a different sketch and that one I had much better luck with and came up with this very easy card.

Having been happier with my second sketch I decided to try my hand a the third sketch, which was also the one that Maile Belles (one of the guest designers) used on her card today. I really loved how her card came out. Mine is much different but we did both use the same sketch and I was also pretty happy with this card. It's truly Clean and Simple and that's why this class is all about!

For those of you who are also in this class, I'll be curious to know which sketch or card you liked best today. I thought they were both awesome and really could not pick a favorite. There are also some many amazing cards in Gallery to see! WOW!!

After being pleased with those two, I decided to try the original sketch one last time and to also try and make it work with today's new challenge at 'The Outlawz', which is the weekly Greeting Card Challenge. The theme this week is Sending a Hug or Love and since 'HUGS' has always been one of my favorite sentiments, I knew that's exactly what I would use for my card. I picked out new papers and started my third attempt at this sweet little square card. In the end, I was much happier with this one and will also be submitting it to the challenge. This time instead of stamping with ink, I used White Distress Stain and one of my favorite Hero Arts Background stamps, called Lotus Background.

In this case, I also dry embossed the 'white' section of the card, which was originally going to be the open space area. I kind of liked the added texture, so instead of leaving that space open, I cut a piece of white cardstock in the same size of my original mask and then ran it through my Cuttlebug in a new embossing folder. The sentiment is from one of the newest Hero Arts Sets and my cardstock is Rich Rizzleberry from Stampin' up. What a great day and it's only Day One!! Today's giveaway is also a fantastic prize, it's a $50 gift certificate to Ellen Hutson's Store! How cool is that!!

Good Luck to all and I hope that one of my craft friends is the lucky winner! I'm heading back to class now to admire all the awesome cards that are in the Gallery!

Oh, and one more thing before I forget -- If you have been wanting to start your own Smash Book or a new Journal, there is a brand new group doing exactly that. You can find it over at Suzanne Dean's -- Color Me Creative Classroom! It's open to all and is FREE. We are all working together on some challenges and ideas for our Smash/Journal books for 2012. The first LIVE CHAT is also being hosted on the Main Site tonight, at 7:45 EST.

Classes, Chats and Challenges -- Yippee!

A perfect creative day for me!!!

More creative time!!

2012-01-08T14:56:00.001-05:00

Today, has turned out to be another fun and creative day. One of my first goals today was to finish up my first package of cards to ship off to Operation Write Home and I'm happy to say that I have that done and will be shipping out 25 new cards tomorrow morning.

I typically create about 125 cards each year for OWH! I also add a donation with each package and always feel very happy when I send off a package. I know I'm not one of the larger card-makers, but every card is always appreciated and I love doing my little part to help out. This year I hope to increase my goal and would like to send at least 150 or more!! This will be my third year creating for Operation Write Home and I also donate to other smaller Card Drives throughout the year.

This is a picture of some of the cards in today's package. I tend to send a variety of cards and each one is different, I try to make cards that can be used year round!

And speaking of OWH, the next card I am sharing today was created based on today's Sketch Challenge over at the Stars and Stamps Blog. Every Sunday they host this fun sketch challenge and I try to play along every week.

Sketch # 103

My Card

My next two cards were created for brand new challenges being hosted at Crafting by Designs, which is one of my favorite challenge groups. This first card was created for their new Valentine Card Challenge and turned out to be one I really Love!

As you can see, I have been making a lot of Valentine themed cards and it's been really fun and a nice change. I love to use 'hearts' on my cards year round and always LOVE to make cards that send a Hug or lots of Love!!

My next card was created for this week's Copic/Marker Coloring Challenge also being hosted at CBD and this week, we've been inspired to create a card that has flowers or makes you Think Spring. I colored this pretty new stamp, which is one of my newest from Hero Arts.

And then I made this cute little card with a digi that I had already colored, but had not make into a card. Its' a fun everyday king of card and is one that makes me smile and picked my Sentiment to match that thought. This sweet little digi is from DigiStamp Boutique! I am also going to submit it to their January Customer Challenge, which you can find HERE!!

I have one more card to share and this one was created today for the brand new CAS Challenge being hosted over at The Outlawz Challenge Group. Their challenge this week is to use a "tag" in some way on your project and the DT has some wonderful inspiration you'll find HERE!

After finding and old white chipboard heart-shaped tag in my stash, I knew that's what I wanted to use. I started by mixing up two Distress Inks along with some Perfect Pearls Mist onto my craft sheet. I then ran my tag through the ink mixture until it was totally covered. I then dried it with my heat gun and used a Hero Arts Background stamp and Black Archival Ink to create a fun design on the Heart. I then picked out matching colors in cardstock and papers and put it all together to make this Valentine. Hope you like it.

Now, I am off and planning to clear up my room to be all ready for the brand new Clean&Simple Cardmaking Class that starts tomorrow! WOOHOO! I have been looking forward to this class for weeks and can't wait to start. If you don't see me posting a lot in the next two weeks, you'll know it's because I', having such a great time in class. I will stop in from time to time to share some of the cards we make in the class! If you hurry there is still time to register, I think it'll be awesome! Looking forward to seeing you there!

Go Here!

Look what I've been making...

2012-01-07T13:23:00.001-05:00

Where did this week go? Wow, I can't believe that I have not had a chance to post since Tuesday. But, the good news is that I have been really busy and had a great week.

Wednesday we celebrated Christmas with Brian and Meghan and talked a little about their wedding plans. I am so excited and happy and will be thrilled to have Meg in our family. I know they had thought about planning for a September wedding, but with being only eight months away, we all thought that we'd need more time, so the new date is planned for May 11, 2013! WooHoo! If all goes well they will plan to have a lovely outdoor wedding at a gorgeous Bed and Breakfast! I'm sure I be sharing more about that in the next several months.

I also have been spending time cleaning in my craft room and did some organizing and also filled a large Priority Box of goodies to send off to a new craft friend, who is starting to build her Stash. I was really happy and excited to share with some one who does not have a big stash and I hope she loves what I sent off! I found that I have more duplicates of things than even I had imagined. I really should come up with some type of listing of all my stamps, but knowing how many I own, the thought of that project sounds exhausting and that's why it's not done!!

One fun new project I have been working on is making the Beaded Stick Pins for a swap. This is something I have been wanting to try for a long time and I was excited to sign up for a swap at CDAC. I'm making mine in two themes--Love and Spring and have already started. It's been really fun and I like them even more than I thought I would. Here is a picture of the beads I have done, so far. I have a few more sets on the pins, but I have not glued the beads yet.

I have used pins on my cards in the past and I love how they look. I found most of my supplies from Pizzaz Aplenty and then also picked up some clearance beads at Michael's last week. I'm looking forward to finishing up my sets and then seeing what I end up with, after the swap. These have become very popular and I found lots of ideas and help from YouTube videos.

Yesterday, I went to another series of the Ink, Paint, Technique classes that I've been taking at my LSS. Yesterday was Class 5 and we focused on working with Distress Stains and also Pan Pastels. Each class we create a total of five tags and label the back of each tag with the typed instructions (provided by Kate), for each technique. All the tags are then kept on a large ring and anytime you want to do something a bit different, you can look through your tags for ideas. I have 25 on my ring now and they were all really fun. These are some photos of the newest tags.

All Five Tags

Distress Stains on

Resist Paper

Pan Pastels

These are really cool and the

colors are so much more vibrant in person!

I also did some shopping, as always and got some fabulous deals on Christmas stamps that I'll save for next year. I also bought two new Hero Arts sets that we'll be using in the CAS Cardmaking Class that starts on Monday, along with some new Distress Stain colors and two more colors of the Pan Pastels.

I have finished all the laundry and chores and now I'm ready to create and play with some of my new things. I had also ordered a bunch of Hero Arts goodies from Two Peas, who has a huge 70% sale last week -- super prices that could not be beat! That package has just arrived, so I am OFF to open it and create! Wishing you all a very happy and creative weekend!

A Smashing and Creative Day!

2012-01-03T13:21:00.001-05:00

It's so much fun to be back in my craft room and also to have the house back to myself. Goodness knows that I love my guys, but after having them all home and 'under foot' for the last week or so, has it's problems too and I like my 'me' time, which is what today is.

I have two new projects to share and my first is a card that I created for a new challenge over at Crafting by Design -- a fun small challenge group and I really enjoy. If you love smaller groups, then this one will be perfect for you and all of the members are really friendly and fun. It's also a brand new year with a new Design Team who have lots of creative ideas. There will be new challenges and lots of fun for all types of crafting. Today's new challenge is a take off of the very popular 'A Year in Cards' that was formerly hosted by Kristina Werner at Two Peas. In this group it will be a new challenge type group where the girls focus on every day cards and will help you build your collection.

The first challenge is a fun Valentine or Love card and is also a sketch challenge and you can find all the details over at the group HERE! It's also open enrollment and new members are welcome to join and have some fun!

Here is my card and it was fun and very easy to make. It would be the perfect type card for a group and you could make them in variety of colors and could also use another element in place of the hearts to make it work for any season or event!!

If I had not already sent out an engagement card to Brian and Meghan, this would have also been perfect for them.

My next project is something I have been wanting to get started on for a long time and it's my very first Smash Book and I'm thrilled to now be a member of the new Craft Group called - We R Smash Bookin', Scrappin' and Journalin, ' that Suzanne Dean is now hosting over at her Color Me Creative Classroom. If you've ever wanted to create one or any type of art journal or mini book, this group will be fun for you. It's brand new the first Live Chat and Opening Event will be held on Monday, January 9th in the main room, which you'll find HERE. Once you have set up your membership to the group, you can sign up to be notified of all events and also create your own little page, just like on any of the Ning Network groups! It's also a FREE Group and is OPEN to all. You do not have to be in one of Suzanne's Classes to join, but if you love classes, she does has lots of wonderful classes to offer and I especially LOVE the Copic Classes.

I bought my first Smash Book when they first hit the market and then kind of put it aside and never started it. Now I have, and I'm here to share my first two pages and to also submit my first full page to Challenge one in the new group.

I am working on now and it's the Blue Smash Book. For anyone who is not familiar, each color is a bit different and there are several colors to choose from in the series. You can easily find them online, in your local craft stores and even at Amazon. Of course, you do NOT need to use an official Smash Book to play along and can use any type journal or notebook you choose. I loved the theme and idea of the Smash Book and have even picked up some of the accessory items.

These are pictures of my very first Smash Book, along with the first two pages, which I completed today. I started in the middle of the book on some pages that were blank, but the fun part is that some pages have graphics and you can do whatever you choose and start anywhere you want. It's your book and your choice.

My Blue Smash Book

(I will decorate it more, but this is a start)

My first Page - It's Purplicious!!

I have also started my second page, which

is the left side and shows one of the first cards I created in 2012!

I think this is really going to be fun and my goal is to make this first one all about my favorite things, my crafting and also all about products I love to create with. I'm happy to have something started and so far, it's been really fun! I've also tucked away some little things in the pockets in the back for future pages. I hope you like it and hope you'll come on over and join the group.

Update: I am back with one more card to share and this one was created for today's new Color Combo Challenge over at The Outlawz. I am also working on a creating Beaded Stick Pins for a Swap and thought it would be fun to use one on this card, since the Twist this week is to Include Beads. I'm also sharing a the color inspiration, which I copied over from The Outlawz --

inspiration photo for this challenge!

My Card!

I really am enjoying making these Beaded Stick Pins and they really work out well with cards too. The LaRue Heart on this card was cut with a brand new Memory Box Die. It's from the newest collection and is one of my all-time favorites! I'm amazed and how many they have come out with in the last year and am thrilled at how wonderful they are cut, even the intricate dies come out perfectly!!

Wishing you all a 'Smashing' day and

hope you have a wonderful evening too!

Another fun and creative day!!

2012-01-02T15:05:00.000-05:00

Today is the last day of vacation for Hubby and he and Alex will both be back to work tomorrow. I have to admit that there are some days when they are home that they drive me crazy, making a big mess and while we did have a few of those days, in the end it was worth it, because they both completed some long over due projects and cleaned and totally organized two huge closets! Thanks guys!!

Every one has been so helpful and we are all very much in the cleaning and organizing mode. Today, we put away all the Christmas decorations and the house is now looking nice and clean! As much as I love the decorations, I am one who likes them to be put away shortly after Christmas and I'm glad that task is done. I had picked up some cute new organizer goodies at Michael's last week and I'm still working on cleaning more in my craft room and my major task are to totally re-organize my stamps and my newly acquired collection of beads and stick pins. My latest new creative venture, along with my Smash Books!

I really need to do another major purge and would LOVE to give away some of my goodies. If anyone knows of a needy or new crafter, who can use some new things, please let me know! I do not want to sell anything, I prefer to help out someone who is new or is need of craft supplies. All I ask is that you help me with the cost of shipping the goodies to their new home. I have all the packing materials and always try to use the Flat Rate packages, as they are most cost effective. I also print all my own labels from home, as that also saves money too. My main goal is to make sure all these products are being used and there is simply NO way I can use all that I have. I love to SHARE and if you know anyone I can help, please don't be shy!

Today, in between organizing, I'm also enjoying making cards again and I have three new ones to share now. The first one was created for the Copic/Promarker Color Challenge over at The Outlawz. This week is Anything Goes, so that makes it really fun, because I can use any image and colors I want. I started on this last night and had printed out 4 different digi images and colored them all. The one I chose for this card is one I really love and it's a sweet little image by Heather Ellis (Pure Innocence). I used ALL of my favorite colors on this one an think she's a cutie.

My second card was created for fun and as a way to continue to practice creating CAS cards. This image is also a digi and is from Bugaboo. It was also colored in the same Blue Violet and Teal colors I used o the card above and I turned this one into a very simple little note card.

And my last card today was created for a brand new Challenge being hosted at the Through the Craftroom Door group which you'll find HERE or on their challenge blog HERE! At first I was torn on this, as I find Monochromatic cards, can be hard to create, but once I got going, and starting putting ideas together, I really was happy with the end result. All the the stamps I used on this card are from the new 2012 Hero Arts Collection and I really LOVE the new Heart Sets. I know I'll be using these over and over and they will also be perfect for Valentine's cards too.

The funny thing is the yellow is not typically one of my colors, but after making a different yellow card for my Mom last week, I found that I liked it more than I had thought. This card was started with a Hero Arts Yellow card base. I then used a new Memory Box (Heart Delights Die) to cut out the hearts that run the left side. I then adhered on some Memory Box Gingham paper behind the hearts and punched out a small matching heart with the same paper. I then picked out some yellow scraps and cute one into a square and cute the second into a circle which I embossed in my Cuttlebug and used for my layers. I then stamped two different hearts both in Scattered Straw Distress Inks and then edged them with Wild Honey and Mustard Seed, after coloring them them with various shades of Yellow Copics. I made a little bow (with my BowEasy) and then created a little beaded stick-pin, (my new addiciton) to adhere the bow to the card. I use pop dots for the hearts and completed the cards by adding a little yellow bling. Hope you like it and I hope you'll try playing in the Monochromatic Challenge too! It was fun!!

Wishing you a wonderful day and hope you have some time for crafting and relaxing!!

Happy 2012!!!

2012-01-01T13:51:00.000-05:00

....Every year seems to fly by and the older I get, it seems they go even faster, which is a bit scary. I can still remember when we were all celebrating the Year 2000 and it's amazing to think that was already 12 years ago. WOW!!

I am not one who makes a lot of resolutions for the New Year, but I do try to accomplish some goals. I have a few things I'd like to do this year and I'm all set to being. One thing I want to do, is finally work on a Smash Book and now that Suzanne Dean has opened up a new Smashbox/Journal Group in her Classroom, I'm excited to begin. I bought a lot of Smash Book accessories last year and never started my book. It did find lots of inspiraiton at Pinterest and do have those ideas saved. My goal is to create two books, one will be more like a jourmal of my life in 2012 and the other I want to be some type of art and creativity journal. I think it will be fun and if this is something you want to do, everyone is welcome. If you are not already a member of the Color Me Creative Classroom, all you need to do is set up and an account and then join the group. Suzanne also offers several classes, but the Smashbook Group, like the Copic Challenge Group is Free and everyone is welcome.

My next goal for 2012 is to create more cards for Operation Write Home. I would like to create more than every and would like to send in at least 200 cards. I know for some of the OWH card-makers that number is small, but I'll be very happy if I can make the goal. I also will continue to send along a donation with each package of cards and hope to increase that amount too. If you are a card-maker and would like to create and donate cards for our troops -- Please go HERE for all the details! It's a wonderful group and a great cause! I really enjoy being a part of the group and also love taking part in the challenges over at the Stars and Stamps Blog. One of my favorites is the weekly Sketch Challenge which is hosted every Sunday. Here is a copy of today's Sketch and that will be my next project today.

Update: I'm back to add the card I just finished up for the new sketch. I used one of my brand new sets of Hero Arts Stamps and this is the set I actually won for taking part in a challenge at the Stars and Stamps blog. It's one one of the three sets that Hero Arts created especially for OWH!

Another goal is to continue to take part in challenges and also participate in more craft classes, so I can continue to learn new ideas and enhance my cardmaking. There is still so much I want to learn and I totally love creating. I'm very excited to have a few classes already lined up and my first class for 2012 will be one I am taking this Friday at my LSS. It's part of a series of classes all about Ink Paint and Techniques and this one will be #6 and focuses on working with Pan Pastels and Distress Stains. My second class will be the online Clean&Simple Cardmaking Class that starts on January 9th. That is another fabulous 2 week class being hosted by Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner. It's also open to ALL and you can enroll or find more info HERE!! And I also enrolled in a beginner Zentangle Class, also being hosted at my LSS. I have never tried Zentangles, but I have often thought it might be fun, so I thought I would take this new beginner class. If I like it, there will be more classes to take down the road, but the intro class is required first. Has anyone tried them? And if so, do you like creating them? The remind me of doodling in notebooks back in High School, but the advanced versions are amazing....!!

And lastly I want to continue to look for new ways to learn to leave with Fibromyalgia and to hope that this might be the year that they finally figure out how to better treat this illness. I also want to remember to be very thankfully for the good days when I feel pretty well and can craft and create. As long as I can create, I am a happy girl and crafts have become the perfect way for me to keep my mind of pain and also to meet new people and learn new things. I do want to makes some more changes in my craft room and I may even get hubby to paint it for me and change the color.

Before I sign off for now I have two cards to share and these we both created and inspired by challenges over at The Outlawz. The first card, is actually my very first card for 2012. It was created for the new CAS Challenge, which you'll find HERE!

This was such an easy card to create and it started with a white card base. I stamped the two cute flowers, (from this Hero Arts Set), onto white Cryogen cardstock and colored them with my Copics. I then punched them out and layered them onto a pink cardstock. The banner was created with the same pink cardstock and the Sentiment was stamped in Pink to match. I finished it off with some Pink pearls!

My second card was inspired by this week's Paper a la Mode Challenge also at The Outlawz and this card was also another fun one to create. The theme for this week to was to think of the New Year and to create a card with Pink, Gold and Silver and also also add stars and bling!

I had fun making this one, but really had no idea in mind when I started. I started with a pink card base, along with some pink vellum, which I embossed in my Cuttlebug. The gold and silver stars were in my stahs and I also created some with the same pink velum and blued them all one. The silver mesh layer was also from some leftover material in my scrap bin and I topped that off with some ruffle trim I had bought on Etsy. My sentiment is computer generated and them was cute out with a Stampin' Up punch and glued onto the ruffle. I tied a little pink bow with my Bow Easy and added that along with a combination of Pink and white pearls. I have to admit, this did not come out as I had hoped, and this was truly a challenge. The creations the Design Team created are much better!

I'm off now to work on my OWH Sketch card and then do a bit more organizing before I start on my Stick Pin Swap project. I have been wanting to make these for a long time, so I was excited to join the Stick Pin Swap being hosted over at CDAC. I also had a great little spree at Pizzaz APlenty, for my supplies and picked up more beads all on sale at AC Moore on Friday. I'll be sure to post some pictures as I get them done. You can find some great tutorials on these awesome pins at You Tube - HERE!! The swap is full and closed now, but if anyone knows of others, please let me know! I think this will be really fun and they also look fabulous on cards!!

Happy New Year! I hope that 2012 will be a wonderful year for all. May it be full of lots of happiness, laughter and LOVE!!

It's all about the little things....

2011-12-28T15:12:00.002-05:00

...and today is one of those days that even the little things can mean so much. Today is a day I am having a wonderful day because I am crafting and also because my pain levels are down and I'm feeling good. I am always so thankful for the good days and it's such a JOY to feel good.

It's also one of those days that reminds me to be thankful for all the good things in life and to try and forgot those that are not so great. Today I am especially thankful that Brian and Meghan are now on their final flight home and will be landing later tonight. I'm also blessed to have Meghan join our family and am thrilled about their Engagement.

On top of that I'm very grateful and thankful for my family and all my friends. My local childhood freinds, friends that I've met at work and all the wonderful friends that I've met through crafting. With the world of the internet and my blog, I've met lots of new friends and have learned so much from the blogs and groups I follow.

I have two new cards to share today and they were both inspired and created with a whole Thank You theme in mind. The first card is also the card I made to send to my Mom to thank her for all the awesome Christmas gifts that she gave to me. I know she loves yellow, and that is the main color of my card. She also loves ribbons and feminine looking cards, so I think she'll be very please with this one. It was easy, yet fun to make and I'm also submitting it to the new "Greeting Card Challenge" that is being hosted at The Outlawz Group this week. If you want to play along, please go HERE for all the details.

My second card is also another Thank You card and this one was created especially to honor Dixie, who was the East Coast Shipper and my contact for all the cards I sent to OWH in 2010 and 2011. As some of you may know, Dixie has now retired after holding that position for two years! It was my personal pleasure to have worked with her and I have always admired how much work she and ALL the shippers and members of OWH do. It's a fabulous group and I am proud to be a small part of what they do. One of my new goals for 2011 to create even more cards, specifically for OWH ! If you would like to create cards for this wonderful organization, please go HERE for all the details.

As an extra special thank you for Dixie, today's Midweek Throwdown Challenge over at the Stars and Stamps Blog is to create a Thank You card in her Honor and this is the card that I came up for in honor of Dixie and all her hard work! I'm sure she will be missed! I am looking forward to working with Caro, who has taken on the role of East Coast Shipper!

I also have am very excited about a brand new craft group that Suzanne Dean has opened over at her Color Me Creative Classroom. It's called - "We R Smash Bookin', Scrapbookin & Journalin'" and the group is open to all. All you need to do is be a member apply for membership to the Main Classroom and join the fun. If you already take part in the Copic Coloring Challenge Group and/or take any of the Classes at CMC you'll find it on the main page. Suzanne's classes are all wonderful and there is a great variety now available, including a brand new (Level 5) Advanced Technique Copic Class. That is the only one I have not taken yet, but I do hope to take it sometime this year.

I bought a Smash Book (and accessories) a while back, when I first heard about them and saw the video that K&Company had put on You Tube. I thought it would be really fun to use it as some sort of art journal, but then simply never started it. I did start collection ideas and found some inspiration over at Pinterest, but that was as far as I made it. Now, I'm thrilled to be a member of the new group and to start fresh for 2012. I'm thinking I will make it more like a daily journal, but will also include lots of crafty goodies. If this is something you've been thinking of doing, then come on over and join us. I think we will all have fun and I can't wait to start working on my book! Here is a link to see more a few more styles and some of the accessories!! I have Blue one, but I had hoped they came in Purple, and sadly they did not. But, you can bet, they will be lots of purple in my book and I'm excited to get it started!

I'm off now to see what Hubby is up too? He's doing some project (yikes)...in our bathroom and I have been hearing lots of noise and he's been off to the hardware store once? I have NO clue what's going on, and I'm almost afraid to look? I do HOPE whatever he's doing is a good think and I also HOPE...maybe, just maybe, that he'll paint it when he's done? I think I might be dreaming???

It's time to CREATE!!!

2011-12-27T11:49:00.003-05:00

I had a wonderful Christmas and my family treated me very well. I am now the very happy and lucky owner of an iPad and I totally LOVE it. It was a gift I had on my 'dream list' and I feel very fortunate to now have one. Special thanks to Hubby and my Boys for making this dream come true. I still have lots to learn, but it's been fun. My friend, Patty also received one this year and it'll be fun to learn with her. I think I might even take one of the free classes that Apple offers in their stores. One of the best features I've use so far is FaceTime and that was a JOY for me on Christmas because I was able to talk live to Brian and Meghan in Portugal. I am also very happy and excited to announce that they are Engaged!! WooHoo!! I could not be happier for them both and I already Love Meghan, so having her as my daughter, will be a wonderful gift!! I can't wait for them to be back, so that we can celebrate another Christmas with them and I can give them each a big Hug and Kiss - I've missed them very much!

I'm also blessed to have had both Alex and Acacia here to celebrate Christmas and they are also a wonderful couple. Maybe some day they too will get engaged? They are still both young and have plenty of time. I really am so lucky that my boys each have such wonderful girls in their life.

On another happy note, I have been pretty lucky again lately and I won three awesome prizes last week. The first was from Operation Write Home and it's one of the brand new stamps sets, that Hero Arts created specifically for OWH. I already own the 'Year Round Sentiment Set', and will now be adding the 'Right at Home' set which is adorable. I hope to buy the last set, when I hit AE on Friday.

My second wonderful surprise was part of a Giveaway, at PoppyStamps website and I won a set of the adorable new PoppyStamps, which you can find HERE! I totally LOVE Memory Box products and this new line is going to be another favorite. I'm especially lucky as they are sold at my LSS!! This set that I won is called Snowtime Fun and I won both the die and the matching stamp! Sooooo Cute! Thanks Dave!!

My third wonderful prize was won from taking part in a wonderful Card Drive that I read about on Jennifer McGuire's Blog. It's cards Cards that Care and I was happy to do my little part to create some card for such a great cause.

I never even thought about winning a thing and had even forgot that there were several sponsors -- so you can only imagine my surprise when I read on Jennifer's Blog that I was one of the lucky winners. And the best part of ALL is that I won my choice of (6) Hero Arts Stamps, the absolute perfect prize for me, since I am such a fan of Hero Arts. I've been drooling all over the brand new 2012 Catalog! WooHoo! My thanks to Jennifer and Vera for hosting the drive and also to all the companies who donated such awesome prizes! THANK YOU!!! I was also excited to see two craft friends also won -- Congratulations to Donna and Dixie!

Today, I want to get back to creating and have really missed it, so it should be fun. I do have a few cards that I created last week, but did not have time to post. I'm happy to share them with you now:

All three of these card were created for a variety of Challenges and they were all really fun to make. These will also be the last of my Christmas Cards for this year and I'm very ready to move on and create some fun new themes.

For anyone who LOVES to create CAS style cards, you still have time to sign up and take the Clean&Simple Card Making Workshop that Jennifer McGuire, Kristina Werner and Julie Ebersole are hosting online. It starts on January 9th, and you can find all the details HERE! I am very happy to be enrolled and look forward to learning this style! I LOVE it, but find it a challenge, so this will be a great class for me.

Phew!! Took me two hours to get this done, but I had a lot to share!! I want to wish you all a wonderful week and hope you all had a Christmas as special as mine!! Hugs to all!!

Afternoon Update: I am back to share two new cards that I created today with the help of my wonderful Silhouette Cameo. I really love all that I can do with this machine and I find it so much easier to use than my Cricuts, plus I Love that I can be used withe both SCAL and Make the Cut and that's such a bonus. Now I can use any SVG file and cut it on my machine!! WOOHOO!!

My first card today was created for this week's CAS card challenge at The Outlawz and the theme for this week was Baby. I do not have Grand-kids or young children, so I really did not have anything in my stash that seemed like it would work out for a cute Baby card? That's when I thought about how easily I could use my Cameo and find a cute 'Baby' image from the Silhouette Store. I actually added a few to my library so that I would have some on hand for any more baby cards. The cute image was actually meant to be used as a card base, but I simply loved it as a little baby Onesie, so I changed it a bit and added the little buttons. In the end, this is the card that I created and I think it's very sweet!

I also finished up a second card and this one is for another challenge being hosted this week over at "The Outlawz". This is for the new Color Combo Challenge, which you'll find HERE! The colors this week are perfect for Valentine's cards and that was initially what I thought I would make. But, after looking at the colors again, along with the adorable inspiration image (see below), I went back to the Silhouette Store, pick out some cute cupcakes files and made this fun card in that theme.

I hope I have now inspired you to hop on over to The Outlawz and join in the fun challenges. I had fun working on both these cards and my next goal today to is create a new Operation Write Home card based on the new Sketch, which I have shared below:

I have always loved the way banner/pennant cards come out, but admit, I have always considered them to be Hard! I am hoping I can come up with something that will look good and I'm off to work on that next!! Wish me luck...for this I need a LOT!!

Woohoo! I did it! I found a wonderful pennant banner in the Silhouette Store. I think it's perfect for OWH cards and is one that I can use again. It originally had four pennants, so I copied one of them and attached it to the end, to have five. I also loved that it was created with with Stars and Stripes that that's what drew me to the image. Once I had it cut, I added some Baker's Twine and use that to tie it onto my card. Here is the completed card and I hope you'll like it!!

And that will be it for today! Tomorrow will be another day spent creating and I can't wait!

Christmas Hugs!!

2011-12-21T12:37:00.000-05:00

...and best wishes to all for a wonderful weekend! I'm taking off the next couple of days to finish up my last few Christmas preparations and to also take some time to rest and relax.

I truly LOVE Christmas and will enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I will also looking forward to talking to Brian and Meghan and hearing about how the celebrated their Christmas in Portugal, which by tradition, will be on the 24th. I miss them both, but I know they are having a wonderful vacation and that makes me very happy.

Special wishes to all my friends for a very Merry Christmas! I hope it's a day full of LOVE and that all of your dreams and wishes come true!

Christmas Hugs to all!

I will be looking forward to lots of happy creative time, once the Holidays are over! I have some really fun classes coming up in January and they will be the perfect way for me to spend time in my craft-room! It will also be a wonderful way to get though those bitter cold winter days!

Peace and Love!

A special day....

2011-12-19T14:31:00.000-05:00

Twenty-five years ago at 10:20 am, my life was forever changed with the birth of my first child, my son, Brian. Becoming a mother will be be one of the greatest joys in my life and December 19th, 1986 was my very first day as a Mom a day I'll always cherish!

I am truly blessed to have two amazing sons and can hardly believe that my first born turned 25 this morning. I wish him a wonderful birthday and hope he and Meghan have a super trip. They flew out this morning and will be spending the new 10 days celebrating his Birthday and Christmas in Portugal. I know I'll miss them both terribly, but I'm also very happy they are off on this awesome journey. They planned this trip months ago and both were so excited to be heading out this morning. I'll look forward to keeping in touch and talking with them on Christmas. They will actually celebrate Christmas on the 24th, as that is the tradition in Portugal and from what I've read it sounds like a very festive and magical day. I can't wait to see all the pictures they'll have when they come home and I'll always look forward to having a second Christmas with them, after they are back.

Today, having my son being away on a milestone birthday and over Christmas, makes me realize how lucky I have been to have had him with me every year for the past 24. I know of many families who do not always have the chance to be together for the Holidays, especially many of our Troops service overseas. My heart to goes out to them and I can't even being to imagine how hard it is to have your family away, for so much longer. Thinking about our Troops and all they do for our country, is what drew me to Operation Write Home and the wonderful service they do for all the Troops, all year long. I'm very honored and proud to do my little part in created cards for OWH and today that's the one card I have to share. It is one that is based on this week's Sketch Challenge over at the Stars and Stamps Blog and it's also Sketch # 100!!! WOOHOO!!

Sketch # 100

I named this card - My Lucky Stars and I do feel so thankful for ALL the days I have with both of my boys and all the birthdays and holidays we'll have in the future. This wonderful sentiment is from one of the brand Clear Stamp Sets (Year Round Sentiments) that Hero Arts created especially for OWH and it worked out perfect for my card.

I also Thank My Lucky Stars to all the Troops who serve and protect us each and every day! May God Bless every one and may they all look forward to being back home with their families very soon! I wish you all a very Happy Holiday Season!

And one before I sign off, I also have one more special wish....

Happy Birthday Brian - I love you !!

Have a safe, happy and wonderful trip and be sure to give Meghan a big kiss from me on Christmas morning!

XOXO,

Mom

Hugs and Hero Arts....

2011-12-17T10:41:00.003-05:00

Stopping by to quickly share some of the newest things I have been working on with the awesome new Hero Arts Stamps. I have not had too much time to spend in my craft room but I could not resist at least trying a few of my newest stamps! LOVE!!!

All of these cards were created with Operation Write Home in mind and I'm also submitted this first one to their Happy Hour Blog Skip, which started yesterday! I'm a bit late in getting my card done, but happy that I did finish it and can share it with you all now.

This card was created with one of my new Hero Arts Background Stamps and it's fast becoming one of my favorites. I combined a variety of Distress Inks directly onto the stamp, misted it in Perfect Pearls Mist and then stamped it directly onto a Pink Hero Arts Card Base. The Hugs Sentiment is also from one of my new Sentiment Sets.

If you are looking to add any of the new Hero Arts Stamps to your collection, you can see them a great selection of them HERE at Simon Say Stamps!! You can also find them at Ellen Hutson's store HERE and at Two Peas in a Bucket HERE, as well as at your local LSS!!

My next card is another card that I created with the same wonderful background stamp and technique, but simply changed some of my colors and my sentiment!

I also have one more in progress, which you see here, as well as the start of a fourth card, which features their awesome new Owl Stamps (Big Eyes)...he's adorable!!!

I'm now off to continue my Christmas Wrapping and HOPE, I can finish it up today. I really want to make a few more cards with these awesome stamps and that will be my afternoon goal. I hope I have inspired you to check out this wonderful new line and to also hop on over to the Stars and Stamps Blog, and take a peek at all the wonderful cards the gals have shared with their new HA Stamps!!

Have a sensational Saturday and a wonderful weekend!

Ten Days and Counting....

2011-12-15T12:38:00.002-05:00

WOW! Can you believe that Christmas is now only 10 days away! Why is it that the time seems to fly by all of a sudden and you realize you have soooo much more to do! That's where I am today and also why I didn't find any time to post yesterday.

Yesterday, I did make one day card and that for the Valentine Challenge over at the Stars & Stripes Blog, which you'll fine HERE!! This was another of those very easy cards, thanks to the adorable Die Cuts I bought from Lily of the Valley!! The sweet little image on this is card one of those wonder die cuts and whenever I find I need to make a card quickly, these are perfect!

I had hoped to play along in quite a few more challenges this week, but it's not looking like I'm gong to have much time for crafts! As much as I LOVE to create, I also do not like to stress out over the Holidays, so I'm taking each days as it comes and trying very hard to accomplish all I need to do. Today, I did some more of my wrapping and made a pretty good dent in the pile. I also opened more packages that had arrived in the past couple of days and put those gifts into gift bags. Tomorrow, I will wrap more and add tissue and ribbons to those bags.

This weekend will be spend wrapping more and picking up a few last minute gifts that I need. On Sunday, I'll be heading down to the Pub to celebrate my son Brian's 25th Birthday! I can hardly believe that I have a son who is now 25....! Those years have passed so fast and have been a JOY! I'm looking forward to spending the afternoon with him and Meg and I hope they have a fabulous time on their trip. I'm going to miss them both so much, but will be happy to keep in touch via the Internet!! They fly out on Monday, morning and I'l be happy when I know they have arrived safe and sound in Portugal!!

Next, week is the final countdown and I also have a Chiro appointment and Nail appointment to get in. That's also my week to bake and make my candies! I have everything bought and I'm all set, it's just a matter of picking my good days and get going. Most of what I have to do, will be towards the end of the week and I'll be done on Christmas Eve, with a nice night of relaxation here at home awaiting Santa's arrival and a wonderful Christmas morning spent with my family!

I do hope to stop in every now and then with an update, but if not, it's because I'm resting and/or making some goodies for Christmas! I wish all my wonderful crafty friends, a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season. I hope you all have a fabulous time with friends and family and that each day if full of fun, happiness and lots of LOVE!!

Did you hear about the SALE???

2011-12-14T12:54:00.033-05:00

Well if you know me, then you'll know that SALE is one of my favorite words. Not only is there a sale at Ellen Hutson's store, but it's for the BIG 2012 Debut Preview Party with Hero Arts!! WOOHOO!!

And yes, despite the fact that I was at my LSS yesterday and bought some of the new stamps, I had to share my money with Ellen, as well! It worked our perfect, as I was able to pick up three new goodies that had already sold out here locally.

Do you want to see what I bought? I'll share one image, it's this adorable OWL named Big Eyes!

If you want to see more, I have two cards below and both were created with some of the brand new stamps. The first one, I created last night and it's a sweet 'Thinking of You' card. It features two of the stamps I picked up yesterday, along with one I already owned. You'll see this wonderful new Cling Stamp, as well as this new Die Cut set! Love Love Love!!

I am also sharing the Make and Take card I created yesterday while at AE, (my LSS). This one also includes two new stamps from the Debut and they are the Cling Watch Gears Stamp, as well as the Fancy Keys Background Stamp. The more I look at this card, the more I think that I'll be planning to buy both of these stamps, sometime after Christmas! I think it's perfect for any of the hard to make "Male" cards and would also be fantastic for OWH!

Another set I did buy and really love is one of the Sentiment Stamps that was designed along with Operation Write Home! It's called Year Round Sentiments and you'll find it at Ellen's store!!

Happy SHOPPING!!!
And hurry -- the sale ends on December 15th!!

Another super day....

2011-12-12T16:12:00.000-05:00

...and today was another great day to get a lot done and still have some time to create. After finishing up my typical morning chores, I also finished up decorating my tree and then caught up on a bunch of paperwork and bills that had been sitting on my desk. I love it when I can file them all away and be done that that task for another week.

Once I did all my chores my Mom stopped by, so that I could go online for her and pre-register them for the Cruise they're taking after the Holidays. What a pain it is to do that for people who do not have or understand computers. I was very surprised at all the information I had to provide to the Cruise Line and would have through the travel agency would have done a lot more. On a happy note it's all done now and she also have print-out of all the papers and such that she needs. I often wonder what happens to he many senior citizens who do have have access to a computer and never will. It's just something my Mom has no interest in and as many times as I've tried to show her basic things....she just does NOT get it and wants NO part of it.

Once we had the done, it was time for me to work on organizing some of my Christmas gifts and that went pretty well. I finally sorted through the bags I had sitting around since Friday and some of the most recent packages that have arrived. I made a nice dent in that task and then moved into my craft room for some fun.

I have two new cards to share and the first card was created and inspired by two new challenges. The first is the new Sketch Challenge from the Stars and Stamps (OWH) blog and this is a copy of this week's Sketch, which is number 99! Next, Sunday it'll be the 100th Sketch -- how cool is that!!

And this is the card that I created that will also be submitted to today's new Greeting Card Challenge at The Outlawz. It's a cute little die cut image that I bought during a fabulous sale at Lily of the Valley. I think these images are so sweet and always make a fun and easy card. This one worked perfect, as the name of the challenge this week at The Outlawz is "Let it Snow".

Once I had that card done I decided to make one more and I simply wanted to use up some cut little Die Cut trees that were sitting on my desk. I added Glitter to a couple and cut one more to add some variety. I then took a piece of White Glittered Cardstock and cut it down to look like a hill of snow. I then added my tree assortment and finished it off by tying on a Ribbon and Bow! So easy, but it came out kind of cute too! I have quite a few spare Christmas cards on hand and most will be saved for next year and/or donated to special causes, like Operation Write Home.

My next goal is to continue on wrapping my gifts and then start working on some tins of Hersey Nuggets. I like to wrap each of the Nuggets in cute Holiday paper and then place 12 in each tin. They make nice little ad on gifts and are very easy to make! Here is a picture of one of the tins I made last year!

Tomorrow, I have to go back to see my doctor for a follow-up and then hope to head to my LSS - Absolutely Everything for their awesome Hero Arts Special. They are part of the new Catalog Release Party and are offering all the new Stamps and Goodies at a special price for this one week only. I think it will be fun to head to the store one last time before Christmas, see the girls and also do some of the Freebie Make and Takes! I am excited to go and may sign up for one of the January classes too!

That's it for today -- if you don't see me posting tomorrow, you'll know I'm having a great time shopping and continuing to get ready for Christmas!!

A Sensational Sunday!!

2011-12-11T16:57:00.004-05:00

Life is Good!!! I have had a wonderful day and it's also been a low pain day, which is so nice. I feel good today and that's always such a blessing and the kind of day I LOVE. I'm also so happy to have a really good day and one that has been full of fun and happy things.

This morning DH and I did our Christmas decorating and it all went really well and the house is looking a lot more festive. We did scale back quite a bit on how much decor I put out, but we are happy with the outcome and this will make things much easier for us both, especially when it comes time to put it all back in the attic.

Once we had that done, it was time to me to head to my craft room and that's where I've been for the rest of the day. I had three cards that I had started last night to finish and also now have completed three more, all of which I'm happy to share with you now. It's been such a joy to also have so much crafting time and to be enjoying it so much. Another wonderful bonus of feeling well!!

My first three cards were all created in a Santa theme and that inspiration came from this week's Challenge over at Catch the Bug - Bugaboo's Challenge Blog, which you'll find here. I'm sad that I missed out on their wonderful Twelve days of Christmas and that's because I was not feeling well during most of the it! I really enjoy creating with Bugaboo Images and all three of these Santa cards contain Bugaboo images!!

These are the cards I created for the Santa Baby Challenge and since I am allowed to enter two, I will be submitting the first two Santa Cards!

And my third card is Santa with his adorable little Christmas Tree! This card was inspired by today's new (Day 10) "Ten Lords a Leaping' Challenge over at Bugaboo, as well as this week's Come and Get it Challenge, that you'll find HERE!! Their challenge is a color challenge called Red, Green and Your Pick and I chose to use Yellow, for the stars on my tree!

My next card was created and inspired by this week's Copic Color Challenge over at The Outlawz Group. Their challenge this week is to create a Christmas/Holiday card using Non-Traditional colors, something I love to do and actually do quite often for many of my cards.

This sweet card was colored with my Copics and Glitter and contains an sweet and adorable digi image from DigiStamp Boutique. This cutie is Lucy and she's one my newest digi stamps and I think she's as cute as can be. She is also part of a set of three images that are the Offer of the month at DSB for December. In addition to the Challenge at The Outlawz, I am also submitting her to the Customer Challenge over at the DSB blog HERE!!

My next card also was created with the same idea in mind and also is another of my new digi images. This sweetie, (Paige) is one created by Hannah Boyd, the very talented daughter of Lori Boyd. It's part of Hannah's Bug & Roo Limited Edition Bundle, which you'll find HERE! You can also find all kinds of wonderful inspiration over at the store HERE!! I am a big fan of both Lori and Hannah, as well and just LOVE fun, cute and whimsical images! They make me smile!!

This card is being submitted to these fun Challenges:

And last, but not least, my final card today was created for today's new CAS Challenge over at The Outlawz. This week's challenge is all about Glitter!! You can find some wonderful inspiration from the DT by going HERE!!

This was another fun, yet easy card to create, thanks to one of the awesome new Dies from Memory Box. I picked the "Winterland Tree" die and used Green Glittered cardstock (by DCWV) and my Big Shot to cut out this delicate tree. I then adhered that onto black cardstock and added several black flat back pearls as my ornaments. I then matted that layer on the same green glittered cardstock and put it all together on a light olive card base and added a piece of pretty black trim that I bought from this wonderful Etsy Store!!

I'm off now to rest and relax for the rest of the day and will be back tomorrow, hopefully with some new cards. My next goal to to work on this week's Sketch Challenge over at the Stars & Stamps Blog. Oh, and speaking of that challenge, have you seen the wonderful new Stamps that Hero Arts created along with Operation Write Home? They are all part of the brand new release and I have already ordered my first two sets. You can go to Jennifer McGuire's Blog and check out her fabulous post about the new catalog release!! If you read carefully, you might even find a way to buy yours and save some money! Hint Hint!!!

These are the two sets I have already ordered and the first one is called "Year Round Sentiments" and is one that will be perfect for OWH Cards. I also just love the "Newspaper Flower" and have a few more on my wish list. My LSS is running a special on the new releases and they will all be 15% off for the next week. I hope to try and get up there on Tuesday and pick up another set or two! I'd hate to miss a SALE!!!

I just LOVE so many of the new stamps and I'll bet we'll be using some of them in the upcoming Clean & Simple Card Making Class that Jennifer and Kristina Werner will be offering in January! I was able to enroll early after taking the "Holiday Boot Camp Class". I believe the enrollment for all crafters starts tomorrow (December 12th). You can find more details over on their Classroom Site HERE!! Based on all the classes I have already taken, I know it'll be fantastic and I'll be looking forward to it during the cold month of January !

I hope I have now inspired you to create some fun new cards, play in the challenges, do a little shopping and maybe even make some cards to send off to Operation Write Home. Whatever you do, I hope your day turns out to be as awesome as mine has been!!

Pink is pretty....

2011-12-10T12:00:00.001-05:00

...and today I'm back to share some new cards that I created for a variety of new challenges. The funny thing is that they all turned out to be in a Pink theme, although that was not my intention when I started.

My first card was created for using one of my newest digi images from DigiStamp Boutique. I think she (Hattie) is so sweet and makes a very special card. You can find this adorable little image HERE! I'm also excited to be entering this card to this week's to the December Customer Challenge over at DigiStamp Boutique Blog!

My next card also features lots of pink and a wonderful digi image by Hannah Lynn. I think her images are truly amazing and have added quite a few to my collection. This one is called 'Irish Christmas Fae' and I thought she would look pretty all done in pink. I also created her specifically for the Copic Coloring Challenge over at the Color Me Creative Classroom.

And also in a pink theme was this CAS card that I created mostly for FUN and because I am already longing for SPRING. As most of you know, I am not at ALL a fan of winter of the cold, and once the cold weather hits, my Fibro really seems to flare. When I was really feeling lousy last week, this was one of the only cards I managed to create and all I wanted was some warm sunshine! On a happy note, we had a very mild November and so far December has not been bad, which is very good for me. For those of you who LOVE snow, feel free to have all of ours and keep in in your hometowns!!

My next card was created today and this one is being submitted to three new challenge. The first is the current challenge over at Through The Craftroom Door and it's also being submitted to the new Paper a la Mode Challenge at The Outlawz, as well as today's new 'Anything Goes' challenge over at the Creating by Designs Group! Everyone is welcome to play in one or all of these challenge and I would LOVE to see you!

My sweet little Primitive Angel image is a new digi from Bugaboo, which you can find in the store HERE and buy now during the huge 50% off Sale!!

I am off now to work on some new challenge cards and then will make an attempt to start on some of my Christmas Wrapping. I think I am almost done with my shopping and had a great time at the Mall finishing up yesterday. I was very happy to easily find parking spaces and to find lots of great sales and deals. I'm also so happy to be feeling better and looking forward more and more to Christmas!!

Special thanks to everyone who has been so supportive, kind and caring and left me such sweet comments for the past couple of weeks. I hope now that this flare is gone, that I can slow get back to more time in my craft room and also stay well! Tomorrow is going to be our decorating day and although I'm going to scale back quite a bit, I'm still looking forward to making my house look a bit more festive!!

Have a wonderful weekend and as always --- Happy Crafting!!

Holiday Hugs!!!

2011-12-06T12:21:00.004-05:00

..... I am very happy to finally be feeling a bit more like myself, but I'm also very busy in trying to catch up on the days I lost last week. I've decided to take a little break from my blog as I continue to prepare for Christmas, my favorite holiday!! I will try to check in every couple of days and say hi, but if you don't see me, you'll know I'm decorating, wrapping gifts, making chocolates and doing all the fun stuff that makes Christmas so special.

In the meantime, I'm going to do my best to rest, relax and look forward to a wonderful Christmas -- Full of Fun, Happiness and lots of LOVE!!

Still recovering....

2011-12-03T14:23:00.001-05:00

......taking a few more days off to rest and hopefully finally recover from this flare.

It's been a long week and ended on a sad note, as one of my best friend's (Kim), lost her Dad early this morning. He had been battling cancer along with heart disease for the past several months, but we certainly never saw this coming so soon. I am happy to know that they all had a nice Thanksgiving at home last week and that he was feeling pretty good that day. It's still always heartbreaking to lose anyone you love and I am heartbroken for the family. I can still remember when my Dad died how supportive Kim and her parents were to me and my family. I can still picture her at my Dad's services arm in arm with both her Mom and Dad--that thought brought back fond memories today -- but very sad thoughts too!

Life is very short at times, as this is another of those times. I pray that Hank is now pain free and is in Heaven being reunited with those we have already lost. My love goes out to all of his family.... I feel their pain and know he will be missed very much!! God Bless -- May he now Rest in Peace.

Pain is not a happy thing.....

2011-12-01T11:23:00.003-05:00

....and today is another day of PAIN! I'm on my fourth day of a new med and so far, there is NO change, other than even MORE fatigue. It does seem to knock me out at night and I take it at bedtime, but boy is it hard to get up in the morning. I wake up feeling exhausted and this morning I 'snoozed' my alarm, at least five times. I literally am dragging today and my pain level is also UP? UGH!!

Hoping tomorrow will be better and sending out Happy Wishes to all my friends!

Later.....I have a little bit of GOOD NEWS to share!! I was one of the lucky winners this month over at 'The Outlawz' challenge group. I won the prize from the Color Combo Group, which is perfect for me. It's 20 sheets of Cryogen Cardstock from The Paper Temptress.

What a wonderful surprise and a little happiness for an otherwise - crappy day! My thanks to Colleen, Patricia, the (Paper Temptress) and all the DT Girlz for all the fun challenges and inspiration.

Afternoon Update: I'm back with an afternoon update and feeling a bit more upbeat! I really do try VERY hard NOT to let this illness get to me, but there are times, I just want to scream and this morning that was me venting, thanks for listening and also for taking time to stop by and wish me well. It really does help and I appreciate you and ALL of your kind comments so much!

I have two new projects to share and both were inspired by ideas I found online. My first card was inspired by one that Kristina Werner shared on her blog and it also features some of my favorite stamps and techniques that I learned from her and Jennifer McGuire.

Mine was created in different colors, but I used a lot of the ideas that Kristina shared in this VIDEO. I used the new Seasonal Distress Inks and also was able to find the same Wreath Die Cut in the Silhouette Store. Having my new Silhouette Cameo makes it so much fun now, as it opens up all kinds of new things! Here is my card -- hope you like it.

My second project today was inspired today's new Twisted Thursday Challenge over at The Outlawz and also with the infamous "Twelve Tags of Christmas" that Tim Holtz creates every year. I had the idea of trying to make each one this year, but quickly realized on Day One that I just do NOT have all of the dies and goodies that Tim uses and as much as I love his talent, some of his projects are a bit too "Masculine" for me. It was then that I decided to use some of his inspiration, but to also make these more my style and go for a more feminine and whimsical look! I hope you'll like what I came up with!

I started by picking out some cardstock that was very close in color to the Iced Spruce Distress Ink and cut it into a tag shape. I then picked out a cute snowman image (from Bugaboo) and colored it up in shades to match the cardstock. Next, I grabbed one of my newer snowflake embossing folders and inked it with the Iced Spruce ink, placed my tag inside and ran it through my Big Shot. I then added on my new image, and punched a whole and added a grommet for ribbons. I finished it off by added a Sentiment that was stamped in Black and then glittered in Silver! And here it is...................

Once I got started I really enjoyed making both projects and I'm so happy that I pushed myself and did not give into the pain. It's so much nicer to do anything I can to forget it and crafting has always been my escape! I find that I almost always feel a bit better, if I can focus on my crafts and it really does keep my mind of the pain. I also am now looking forward to seeing what Tim will come up with each day and I'm going to make it my goal to try and create at least one project each day, based on inspiration from his Tag series! Maybe you'll play along too -- I think it will be fun!!