Fun Fun FUN!!

    I am very excited because of all the new craft related things I have coming up in the next couple of weeks.   The first of which is the Inspiration Showcase workshop that I am taking with Jennifer McGuire, beginning on Monday.  I signed up for this as soon as it was first announced and now it's only 3 days away.  Woohoo!!

  I was actually lucky enough to have taken this workshop with Jennifer in person, this past April at my LSS, but I'm thrilled she's now offering it in her new online classroom and I'm all ready to start.  I had a lot of fun shopping for some new supplies too and want to say THANK YOU to each of the stores who offered all of the students a wonderful discount to be used for the class supplies.   Thanks to Simon Says Stamp, Two Peas in a Bucket and Ellen Hutson, all stores I have been happy to visit in the past several weeks.  All three carry the Hero Arts line of products, which I totally LOVE!    I also love that there were links to each of th products on the site making it easy to pick out favorites that we may want to use in class!

   I've quickly become a huge fan of Hero Arts and totally love the products.   I have now joined the Hero Arts Blog and also find all kinds of fabulous inspiration there, and in their Flickr Group.   Even since I took Jennifer's class, in April, I've become a Hero Arts addict and now have a fantastic supplies of their products in my stash.   I added some new Christmas stamps this week and I have to admit, I also love the new product combinations they have been putting together with Basic Grey!   Awesome!!   Gorgeous!

    Today, I started getting ready and my first project was to cut several hearts with my MFT Heart die, as I know that what I want to use on my Canvas, based on the first one we made.  I loved this die and bout it at my LSS after taking the workshop.  It actually cuts 3 hearts, but you can use it to cut one or if you want, you can even carefully cut it into 3 separate dies.  In this workshop, I plan to use the techniques to make new cards as well as a second canvas!  This is a picture of my first canvas that I created in April --

    Once I'm done with the workshop, I'll be sure to share a picture of my new canvas, which I plan to create in Purple, Pink and White theme.  This workshop runs through Friday, September 23rd and I plan to post updates on my blog during that time.  If you don't see me around as much, you'll know it's because I'm working on my new project.

     I'm also thrilled that I'll be heading off my LSS on the 23rd to take two classes with Karen Lockhart of Lockhart Stamps.   Those darling little stamps that you can find HERE and HERE!   I have a few in my collection and I think they are adorable.   Even though I generally do not like using color pencils, I think it will still be a great class and I know I can always use what I learn and substitute Copics, at home.   I totally LOVE to take classes, because it teaches me new things, gets me out of the house, plus it's a great way to meet others who also love to create, not to mention doing a bit of shopping!   My second favorite hobby!!

     I have two new cards to share today and both these cards were inspired by a 'Bling' challenges over at the Crafting By Designs Group.    I have to admit, that today is one of my off days and I'm not really loving either card, but it was still fun to create!   For my first card I challenged myself to make it all from scraps and every piece including the card base came from my scrap pile.    In the end, this is what I came up with a cute little card that would be good for Valentine's Day or a LOVE card -

   My second card is  more suited for this season and is my newest Halloween card, featuring a cute little digi by Tiddly Inks.   I colored up the little witch with Copics and then cut out the image into a circle shape with another set of Nestie die.  I then layered it onto my card and added a variety of bling along with some Distress Stickles to add more sparkle!! 

    And finally before I sign off, I have been trying out the wonderful new Beta Inlinkz Link Manager and this is my first post where I am including some of my all time favorite products and links at the end of my post.   I think this is such a cool idea and hope to find time to add more collections to my Manager, so that I can easily add these to all my posts.   VERY COOL!

InLinkz.com

      This is such a cool tool and I really think it will be a big hit.  I found it easy to use after watching a video that Jennifer had shared on her blog.   So far, this is the beginning of my first 'collection', but will be one of many that I can add to my personal Manager.    If you would like to see the intro video and or sign up to try out the Beta, please go HERE, for more details!  Have FUN!! 

Happy Friday!! -- and as always -- Happy Crafting!!