Brrrrrr!!! A bitter cold New Year....

....for us here in Massachusetts and that's on top of close to 2 feet of snow which has finally ended.   Now the bitter arctic blast is here, at least for a couple of days, so it's not very likely this snow is going away very fast.

   Thankfully, we did well with this storm, no damage and although we did lose power it was only for about 2 hours in the middle of the night and that's not nearly as bad as it can be with a nasty Nor'Easter!!   If you know me, you know that I dread winter and wish so much that I lived in a warmer year round climate, something I do hope to do, sooner than later.  With Fibro the cold weather makes it even worse, and it's hard to feel warm when it's this cold.  Having a wood stove is also something I'm grateful for and today is the perfect day to have it going!!

   Today and the next few days I have NO plans to leave the house, no thanks -- it's MUCH to cold for me.  It's the perfect weather to stay in and I'm still working on my craft room re-organization, as well as some new challenge cards.

     Speaking of my "messy" craft room, I'm sharing one picture from Tuesday, when we have MOST of the furniture in it's new spot, but still have a lot to organize and purge.  As you can see there are still things ALL over the place in this picture and lots of bins of things that I guess I need to go through again...way too many bins and I'm/ realizing more and more that I never even look in them...plus, there are several more in another area (out of this shot). Yikes!!

   After three days working on this (it's looking quite a bit better now), I was very happy to take a break today and focus on some new card challenges.   It's been ages, since I've had time to create for fun, so today was really fun!!

    The first challenge card is for the current FUSION Challenge, which is one I really enjoy.   You have a choice of using the Sketch, the Inspiration photo, or "fusing" them both together, as I did on my card.  First I'll share a photo the  challenge options:

My Card

  As you can see, I used the sketch as the basic design for my card and then found that I was inspired to use some of the colors and patterns in the photo.  I loved the pillows on the bed and tried to pick out patterned papers that had similar looks.  I also loved the look of the large "Poppy" colored headboard and used that as my theme color too.  The patterned paper in Poppy is from Hero Arts, as is the Sentiment.  The card base is also a Hero Hues (Wet Cement) card base and the other patterns are assorted scraps I grabbed out of my scrap bin.   I was quickly able to create the card design with this fabulous exclusive die, a favorite from Simon Says Stamp.  I also own and love the same die in the trio of squares!!

  And speaking of Simon Says Stamp, my next card was inspired and created for the current "Wednesday" Challenge, which you'll find on the challenge blog HERE!!  And with the challenge starting on the first day of 2014, the theme is "New Beginnings" which you can interrupt as you see fit.  I thought of a "New Baby" and that's the inspiration I used for this sweet little card, which featured a sweet little digi image, by Lori Boyd, who is one of my favorite digi artists.

   I adore Lori's images and they are all so adorable including this sweet little baby girl, who is actually one of a set of two, that Lori designed as part of a special fundraiser a while back.  The other baby is a little boy and I think they are both adorable and loved coloring up this cutie with my Copics.   I then simply used a circle Die to cut her out and card a second circle one size larger in pink cardstock, that I embossed with little dots.  I then layered those onto a white doily.  The card I made from the bright fuchsia cardstock and added a pink front, that I also embossed in my Cuttlebug.  The pink and white patterned paper is from Echo Park, Bundle of joy, which was perfect for this card.

  And my final card today, is one that I put together for the current challenge over at Die Cut Divas!   It's a fun group that I also belong to on Flickr and I also was excited to learn that Hero Arts was sponsoring this challenge!   The theme for the current challenge is "Make it Glitter" and that's all I needed to know and I knew it was a challenge I would LOVE!!  I love all kinds of sparkle and shine and also wanted to try out some new "Glittered Paper"!!  WOOHOO!

  This pre-glittered paper (by Petaloo), although not new to crafters is new to me, although I have owned it for a long time, but only re-discovered it during my craft room project.   I'm not even sure if it's still sold, but I can say I like it and found it very easy to work with.  Much easier to cut then the other type of glittered "cardstock" and it's also more flexible!!   

   I started by picking out a sheet of purple and then chose a die from my Memory Box Collection, which I can assure you will be growing again soon!!  Have you seen their new 2014 Collection?  If not, here is a link for you!!  I browsed it this morning and LOVE so many of the new dies.  Memory Box makes the most amazing thin dies and I've been a fan since they first started.  I also LOVED many of their papers, including the one I used on this card, which is from the Viola Collection.   I'm wondering now, if they still are making new papers as I don't recall seeing any in some time.  Maybe because the dies have become so popular, they just have shifted the focus to them!!   I am happy that I still have some of my Viola stash and very pleased that I stocked up, when it was easy to find!!   I'll miss it when it's gone, as it is so pretty!!  

   I created my own card base with some deep purple cardstock and then cut the Hollyhock and a scalloped circle for my sentiment, from the Purple Glitter sheets.  For some extra sparkle, I added some Hero Bling to my little flowers and also stamped my sentiment (also by Hero Art "Anytime Messages"), in Grape Juice Shadow Ink another Hero favorite!!   Yes, in case you didn't already know I'm a huge fan of Hero Arts and own many of their products!! 

   And these are my first three cards for 2014!  I hope that there will be hundreds more by the end of this year and look forward to spending more time in my craft room!  Now, if only I can get myself back on the task of organizing it, along with all my stamps and dies!  Phew!!  This is a lot of work, but I know in the end, I'm going to love it!!