....from the heart!

  Today has been another fun and creative day for me and I'm stopping by to share my latest card creations.  My first two cards were inspired and created for today's 90 minute Scramble hosted by Tina over at the Hero Arts Flickr Group.  I really have had a lot of fun taking part in this quick moving challenges and one of things I love most, is seeing if you can get a project or two done and uploaded in time.

  When I first saw the photo inspiration for today's Scramble, I was a bit flustered, as my first thought had me thinking I might need to sew something...and sadly that is one talent that this girl to not have.  I  greatly admire those who sew, but it's not for me and even though I have owned a sewing machine for years, I'm lucky if I can repair a simply seam!    As it turns out, there was not any sewing involved - Phew!!    After linking from Pinterest back to the site of the creator - Charming Zebra,  I realized that this cute wreath has been created without doing any sewing.   It's actually a really cute idea and fun  that Tina shared it with us today, as our Inspiration image for the Scramble.  Don't you just LOVE Pinterest, I sure do!

    After taking a few minutes to look more at the image, I knew I wanted to make a circular shaped card to start and I would use my Cameo to create it.  I quickly found a card design I had already created and adjusted the size to use it for my card base, which I cut from Hero Arts Soft Pool Layering Paper.  I also cut a smaller inner circle and scalloped circle in Pink Bubblegum Dots paper from Memory Box and sat down to put a card together.  I knew I would not have enough time to make flowers, so I grabbed some Prima Roses from my Stash and glued them on the side of my card.  I tied on a pink bow and added my Sentiment, which is from the Hero Arts - Find Joy set.   This was my completed card and I had it done and uploaded with time to spare.

 Once I realized I had more time, I went right to work on my second card, which was totally inspired by Tina's card, which you'll see on her blog HERE!   I really love the Flower Dot Pattern Stamp and wanted to try and make a card that was similar to hers.  I did finish my card and changed some things, for the sake of time, but in the end, I'm not loving it, but you get the idea.  I will plan to try my best to CASE Tina's card at another time, since I really loved hers.

   As you can see I used slightly different colors and knowing I would not have time to make my roses, I used a Stampin' Up punch.  I also colored some of the pattern on the stamp with my Copics to tie in all the colors, but in my rush, my coloring is not so hot, so I think that kind of ruined my card!   Even so, it really loved playing and find every scramble to be a lot of fun.

   I have one more card to share today and this one was created for today's new Paper a La Mode Challenge being hosted at The Outlawz.  Our challenge today was to create a project with a Quote/Saying is the main focal point and I started by actually looking through some of my digital sentiments/quotes and found the perfect one for my card.  My card base created from some  My Mind's Eye cardstock, that I just happened to find at our local Marshall's the other day.   I also picked up awesome black metal newspaper type rack in the clearance section and it's perfect for storing 8 1/2 X 11 cardstock!   I love finding bargains and those were my two best deals this week!    WooHOO!!

    Now I am off to clean up my desk and make something for a quick dinner!!  I'm thinking a nice bowl of yummy oatmeal topped with Blueberries.  Yummy and one of my favorite quick dinners, and also healthy too!  

   Hope you are all having a nice weekend and to those of you who celebrate Easter, I hope you have a wonderful day!    Happy Easter - Happy Spring -- Happy Happy Everything!!!

You Make my Heart Happy!!!

   This is such a nice sentiment and it's one I have used on a few of my cards.   Today I am here to share two of my latest cards and both were inspired and created for Hero Arts Challenges.   This wonderful sentiment is also from the Anytime Messages Set by Hero Arts and it's one of my favorite sets.

 My first card was cared today for this month's Sunshine and  Flowers Challenge being hosted over at Hero Arts.    I decided to base my card on one of the sketches we were provided as inspiration for the new challenge.  Here is a copy of the images I have copied over to share --

   
    I am also submitting this card to the very first challenge being hosted this week over at A Blog Named Hero and invite you all to join the fun!!  

   The theme for the our very first challenge is to great a card using some of your favorite Hero Arts Products and that also why I chose to incorporate this wonderful sentiment.  I also used Soft Pool Layering Cardstock to crated my card base and my tag and then added a white layer, which I stamped in Soft Pool Ink using the Solid Dots Pattern Background Stamp.  My middle layer is some cute dotted cardstock from Memory Box.

   My second card was also created for this month's Hero Arts Challenge and also feature another cute sentiment from the same Anything Messages Clear Set.  This card was created using inspiration form the lower left sketch.  My card base was again created with Soft Pool Layering Papers and each of the strips were cut from Memory Box - Minuet Patterned Paper.  I punched out my Sentiment and layered it onto a scalloped circle to finish off the card.   I really LOVE all the sketches and may even try to make another card to submit over the weekend.

   

   As much as I LOVE my PURPLE, this wonderful aqua blue shade, is also a favorite and I really love how Hero had coordinated all the inks and papers to world so well together.  The shadow inks are some of my favorite inks and I love the way they make a tone on tone shade!

   I hope to be back later and have another card or two to share, but if not, I'll plan to create some more of the weekend.   I am also excited about tomorrow's 90 Minute Scramble being hosted over at the Hero Arts Flickr Group.  I find it a really fun challenges and I'm looking forward to playing again tomorrow at 1PM!! 

Easter Cuties....

   It's been another of my busy weeks.....and today I am very happy to be back in my craft room and working on a couple of fun new cards.  It feels like I haven't colored with my Copics in ages, so I knew that I wanted to do that today.

   I also wanted to make a couple of cute little Easter Cards and had bought some really adorable digi images from Lori Boyd on Monday, that I wanted to use for my cards.  I'm also planning to enter these in this week's challenge being hosted over at By Lori Designs.

   My first card was the card I created specifically for the challenge and all of the colors i used were inspired by the wonderful image that Lori shared for the challenge.  I am including a copy here on my blog to inspire you to come on over and play along --

    My second little card was also created with a second challenge in mind and that one is the current challenge being hosted over at the Color Me Creative Classroom.   This card also features another adorable little Bug N Roo image and this cutie is called - Bunny Girl 2!!

    On top of making these cards, I have been totally enjoying the Silhouette Class that I've been taking all week with Kerri Bradford.  Even though I had had my Cameo since December, I've quickly learned all kinds of wonderful new hints and tips and as of today, I have completed four of the five lessons that Kerri has offered in this fun beginner class!!     I had shared two projects I completed earlier in the week and today I have one more that was a card that I created for the new Color Combo Challenge, over at The Outlawz.      

    I am adding a copy of the colors we had to use for our card and our added "twist" this week was to use beads along with the wonderful spring colors!

  It was such an easy card to create, because of the wonderful new tips I've been learning in class.   And speaking of classes, I am very excited to invite your ALL to join me in the next class I'm taking over at the Online Card Classroom, with Jennifer McGuire, Kristina Werner and a special Guest Instructor - Nichol Magouirk, in the brand new class called 'A Cut Above' which starts on Monday, April 16th.   There are also some fabulous guest designers joining the fun, as as always there are some wonderful sponsor stores who are offering discounts to everyone enrolled in the class!  

   If you LOVE to use die-cuts on your project, then I'll bet you will love this wonderful class.   It's actually a two part class and for those who want to take BOTH section, you can register now!    For all the details, please head on over to the classroom HERE!!   The first section with be based on traditional die-cut machines, i.e. Cuttlebug, BigShot and Vagabond.  And following up after that, Part II, will be focused on creating with a electronic die-cut machine, namely the Silhouette Cameo!!  WOOHOO!    This is class that many of us had asked for and I was so excited to find out that it's happening so soon.   I am already signed up and very much looking forward to it.   

    

     I think once I finish up with that one top of my current workshop, I'll have a wonderful understanding of how to use all these machines and how to incorporate them with my cardmaking, something I totally LOVE!!

      And that is it for this update -- a fun week and also a very relaxing week for me.   Tomorrow, is my first 'free' day ALL week and my goal to to spend as much of it as I can, in my craft room.   I want to try and work on some more cards and goal is to create a very fun card for a brand new challenge over a  'A Blog Named Hero'.    Hopefully, I'll have a update tomorrow and even more cards to share!  

Short and sweet...

  That pretty much describe my day!  The time has flown by, which makes it seem very short, but it's always been another great day of creating and that's the Sweet part.

   Today was my first day taking Kerri Bradford's - Getting to Know your Silhouette Class and so far, I'm loving it and have already learned some great tips and hints and made my very first two cards.    I found there was a wealth of information in the very first Lesson, which contains multiple tasks and was the only one I managed to complete today.

   My very first card is one that I fell in love with after seeing it over at the Hero Arts's blog, last night.  It's a happy and fun card and all my inspiration came the casing the card that Shari Carroll shared with us this week.  You can find Sheri's Video here along with her card.     I did not have the stamps that Sheri used, so I left my sun plain and created my own clouds also using my Cameo along with two embossing folders.    It's such a fun and happy card and I was so excited that I was able to make one of my own.

    My second card was created by using some elements form the card design and also from some from a really cute little Flower card that Kerri helped us to create in class.    I started by taking this little flower card, and after realizing I had ripped this first one.

    I then cut a second little card along with more of the elements from Sheri's design and put it all together to make this large circular flower card!

  Both card very much remind me of Spring and give you that Happy kind of feeling.  It was so much fun to use my Cameo and to put both ideas together to create these cards.  I think the class is perfect and I'm very happy I signed up.

   We have saw our final video in the Creative Chemistry 101 class, and it's was a riot.  It was a Blooper Video that Tim and Mario and put together for our last day.  I was really very funny and put together so well...it definitely had me smiling.  It was also great to see all the fantastic cards that Tim created to help inspired us all to take all the tag techniques and use them for our own card projects.   There also was a long list of Random Drawing winners and I wanted to say Congratulations to everyone who won a prize.  This class has oodles of rave reviews and is still open for all to take.  Tim will continue to be answering the forum questions until April 9th and new students can still share their projects and questions in the Galleries, until the 9th.  After that time, it becomes a Read Only (Independent Study) type class, without the daily interaction of the teachers and other students.   Even so, ALL the videos and class content will remain on the site forever and every student has lifetime access, as we do to ALL the classes that Jennifer and Kristina has offered in the classroom.  .  I'm  thrilled to have been a part of it all and to be be a graduate.   I'll share more news soon about the next class, but for now -- it's open only to those who are in the current class or are Newsletter subscribers.   I'll be there and it will be another perfection addition to all the other classes I have taken!  WOOHOO!!

   I'm off now so I can work more with the files that Kerri shared with us in her class today and also so I can review more of the Lesson.  It's been a great first day and I very pleased!!

Having a blast....

   Much like yesterday, today has been another fabulous day for me.  After finishing up my morning chores I quickly headed up to my craft room and get started on some new cards.   I didn't quite realize how much I had missed it, until I was right back at my desk.

   I'm also very excited about a brand new challenge that started today over at Oozak's brand new Challenge Blog.  I'm especially thrilled for two wonderful friends (Melanie and Anary) who are running this awesome new blog and Design team, along with Rusty, Oozak's owner..    Today is the official start of their very first Challenge and it's open to all and will be perfect for all, as the theme is "Anything Goes".

  I knew right away that I wanted to make a card for new challenge and also want to support Rusty, Melanie and Anary in this wonderful new venture.  If you have never shopped over at Oozak, then you've been missing out at a wonderful store, with totally awesome prices.   The store is also grown and is now carrying a huge variety of craft supplies, including some of my favorites -- Memory Box Dies, Ranger Products, Hero Arts goodies, oodles of awesome new papers and of course, a huge selection of Copic products and some the of best prices I have ever seen.   The service is excellent, shipping is super fast and Rusty is a pleasure to shop with.  He is very generous and is one of the top sponsors over at The Outlawz.     Oh and for the record, I am NOT a paid sponsor, I simply LOVE to tell you about great places to shop and stores where I find the best deals and the best service.

   My first card today was created with two challenges in mind and the first was the new Oozak Challenge, as well as today's CAS Challenge being hosted at The Outlawz.  I thought it would be fun to make one card that would fit both, since both groups are very special to me.    It was also a great chance for me to use my Copics and doing some coloring, something else I had missed while being in class.

   This is the card I created and it's a fun Birthday Card that I will be sending out to my nephew later this week. My little image is a digi image from By Lori Designs and is one of her Puddle Jumpers (Cole).  Little Cole was colored with my Copics and then cut out with an oval shaped Nestie Die.  I layered him onto a larger oval in deep Navy, which is also the color my my card base.  My checkered paper is from Memory Box and my birthday sentiment was computer generated to match!!

   My next three cards are all new cards that will be shipped off in my next package to Operation Write Home.  The first two were also inspired by the weekly Sketch Challenge that is hosted every Sunday over at the Stars and Stamps Blog.   I am including a copy of this week's sketch, in the hopes that you'll join me in creating cards for our Heroes.

Sketch # 115

      My Cards

  My third card was one that a made up by using up the scraps that I had left from both of the above cards and for this one, I simply made up a design as I was working on the card, which is typically how I make all my cards, unless I have a sketch to work with.    I changed my sentiment to Hugs for this card, as that is my favorite and one that is always perfect for OWH cards.

  I had a great time creating today and I am heading back to my desk again now in the hopes of making a few more cards.   Tomorrow, is the final wrap-up day in the Creative Chemistry 101 Class and Tim will be sharing 25 cards in the classroom Gallery, all of which were created with the wonderful techniques he shared with us in the past two week.  I'm also started my new Silhouette class and looking forward to it.  After making such pretty card with my Cameo yesterday, I'm excited for this class and to find out what else I can create with my Cameo.   Please be sure to stop by, as I plan to share new projects every day!!  

  Hope you are all having a nice day and a wonderful weekend!!   I know I am and I have totally loved every minute I've spent in my craft room!     I am also very proud and happy to now be a Creative Chemistry Graduate and totally loved the class!