Another Card for the week! WOO HOO!!!

Hello All,

I'm so excited. It's only Monday and I have made a second card for the week (and managed to go to work all day, cook dinner, AND do a load of laundry!!). I'm on a roll!!!

Okay, so this card was started last night. I THOUGHT I was going to do another Christmas card BUT when I was going through my file of Phindy images that I have printed out (sadly I'm out of black ink), I found this little cutie. She was all printed out and ready to be paper pieced. The digital papers are from Summer Driggs (unfortunately I can't remember the name of the paper pack). I used some thin green ribbon that just happened to go perfectly with the DP. I made the flowers with a SU punch and wooden buttons that I "colored" with ink refill.

This card fits the following challenges:

• Phindy's Place Challenge Blog: Sketch - okay, I left out the sentiment on this one but it just didn't seem to "fit" with the size of the card so instead I lowered it and turned it from a sentiment into a bow!
• Angel Creative Updates: Flowers in the Snow - you must use at least 2 different kinds of flowers in your project. I used flowered DP for the background paper, the image has flowers on the bonnet and the flower in her chubby little hand, AND I made the flower embellies!
• Happileigh Scrappin' Challenge: Photo Inspiration - I went with the flower/summery feel of this photo! Oh, it really makes me want this snow to go away (though, instead we're supposed to get up to 30 more inches!).

Hope you enjoy this card with Phindy's little Summer Cutie as much as I enjoyed making it!

Another Christmas Card....only 38 or so to go!

Hello all!

I'm trying to make up for slacking already on my New Year's Resolution. Well, it wasn't exactly a resolution, more of a loose goal. I hate New Year's Resolutions because they never seem to work out and then you get frustrated with yourself. Anyway, my goal for the year was to make, on average, one Christmas Card a week. Doesn't sound too hard does it? Yeah, well, factor in a 4 year old, a 6 month old, strep throat, a full time job, etc., etc. and so far this is only the second card I've done and January is pretty much over! Oh well, I'm making a little bit of progress!!

Anyway, I made this cute little card using an adorable Phindy Image. I just love this snowman and his cute little friends. The best part about this image is that it takes no time to color! You have to love that when you have a clingy baby!!

Oh, and here's my exciting part.....last year (sounds funny to be saying that but technically December was last year) I ran into a bit of a dilemma. I had made my Christmas cards to be the A1 size. That's the general size I make and the easiest for me to get envelopes for. Well, then I had my kids Christmas pictures printed and guess what, yup, they were bigger than the envelopes! Sooooooooooo, I scrambled to find bigger envelopes. Then the cards were too small for the envelopes - it was a mess! So, this year I decided I would make all of my Christmas cards bigger to solve that problem. Then I realized that I would have to buy bigger envelopes and guess what, they cost more! I'm on a tight little budget and that was going to eat up basically my entire crafting budget - not good! Well, I went shopping for the after Christmas Sales and saw that you could get REALLY cheap Christmas Cards especially if you're not picky about what they look like. I bought 3 boxes of really ugly religious Christmas Cards for a quarter a box. Each box has 24 cards in it. I gave the cards to the ladies I work for (they make their own envelopes, I'm too lazy for that!) and kept the envelopes. Now I have 72 envelopes that cost me basically a penny each! That's a bargain!!!

So, here's the card that I made using the sketch from Phindy's Place Challenge Blog. I think it's a pretty cool sketch. I used ribbon (the brown thick one) that my friend Lynda gave me. She got BOXES of ribbons and lace that were being thrown away at work and she shared some with me, isn't she sweet?? The papers were all from a scrapbooking kit my brother's girlfriend got me for Christmas (I just love her and the awesome presents she gives me). I added little rhinestones in the center of the flowers. I had bought them at Walmart a few weeks ago and wasn't sure what I'd do with them but I had to have them, now I'm glad I do, they add a nice little sparkle.

This card is for the following challenges:

Phindy's Place Challenge Blog: Sketch Challenge

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog: Bling It Up!

Tip Top Tuesday: Fabulous Flowers! - There is a fabulous tutorial on making your own flowers on their blog. Now, I did not use their tutorial for this project but I'm thinking I'm going to have to give it a try one of these days!

Stamp Something: Winter Somethings

Yup, I've started my Christmas Cards!

Hello all!

I've decided to start my Christmas cards earlier this year so I'm not freaking out in December like I was last year. Well, I WAS planning on trying a card a week, hahaha, January's almost over and that hasn't happened yet! I do have one card done though!

This adorable little elf is from Phindy's Place and is called "spreading cheer". I think he's adorable! I made the sentiment myself "Spreading some cheer...wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!".

This card was made for the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog: Lace and Pearls. The challenge ends tonight which means a NEW challenge will be posted tomorrow morning - I can't wait!

Something's fishy..........

Here's my latest creating for the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog: Valentines or for Someone You Love:

This project will also be entered in Tip Top Tuesday's Challenge: All Sentimental.

I made these cute little fishy Valentines for my son to bring to his "friends" at the babysitter's. Aren't they cute? I love Phindy's little fish digi "I Glub You". I think it makes a great "Boy Valentine". You don't went to be too girly for the poor kid!

For this image, I paper pieced the fish using gold foil paper and the seaweed using green glitter paper. For the "pebbles" at the bottom of the fish bowl, I used different colored glitter in tons of different glue drops. I also added a clear rhinestone to glam it up some more!

I think the girls at the sitter will love these! I attached it to a snack sized baggie of "Goldfish" crackers. They were just a natural pairing with the image AND they are not sweet and sugary which is always a plus with the little ones! (well, for their parents and the sitter at least!)

Pay It Forward 2011

Well, I'm here to share not only a project but something that a friend of mine passed on to me. My friend Michelle is a very caring and giving person. She always has sweet things to say to everyone and looks for good deeds to do. As a Special Education School Nurse, she does plenty of good deeds but they don't end when she leaves school every day. About a week ago, she posted the following status on Facebook:

"Pay it Forward 2011: I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment. They must in turn post this and send something they made to the first 5 people who comment on their status. The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011."

Of course, I commented immediately on her status (I am really hoping for something edible). I then posted the same status on my Facebook page. Michelle was the ONLY person to comment! I couldn't believe it. Either people don't want something handmade from me or they're too lazy to be willing to make 5 handmade things for someone else. Either way, I decided that since Michelle was the only person to comment, she MUST get something extra special.

She was hoping for a card, I figure I'll go through my stash and pick out a selection of notecards and give it to her as a set, still not what I had in mind though....

This brings me to my current project. I made her "roses". This is a very simple project, you take 2 red Hershey Kisses, wrap them in a square of Saran Wrap, stick a wooden skewer in them and wrap the whole thing with floral tape to secure it. I added silk leaves and then some white silk flowers as filler. She got a 1/2 dozen roses because that's how many red Kisses I had left over from Christmas!!

I then added marbles to a beer bottle that I had laying around. Actually, a friend of ours had brought over just one of these beers and drank it here (rather rude if you ask me - nobody did!). He was going to throw away the bottle when my boyfriend rescued it for recycling. I then rescued it from recycling for "re-purposing". I had no idea what I'd use it for but I thought it was a cool little bottle. After the label came off, it had that yucky glue residue left around it. I could have soaked and scrubbed it but that's completely NOT my style! Instead, I wrapped paper around it, added a decorative edge with a punch, stitched a ribbon through it and added a cute little digi from Phindy's Place, "My Love Grows". I decided to keep it rather simple because I didn't want it to all be too busy.

So, here's my extra present for Michelle for being my only commenter on the 2011 Pay It Forward Game....hope you enjoy it and please feel free to "steal" my Facebook status - it's fun and will put a smile on someone's face!

This project works for several challenges:

Phindy's Place Challenge Blog - Valentines or For A Loved One

Southern Girls Challenge Blog - Totally Loved Up

Kaboodle Doodles Challenge Blog - Do it with digis

Tip Top Tuesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Scrap Creations - Love Is In The Air

Stamp Something - Anything Goes

Distressed while Keeping Warm With Fur!

Okay, crazy title for this post I know, but I just couldn't come up with something witty and clever!

This card is a second card for the Phindy's Place Challenge this week: Distressed. I was completely distressed over the first card but I have to say I'm enjoying the whole "destroying" my paper thing! Really though, I think the effect of the curling paper and the "basket weave" pattern in the bottom right corner is kind of neat. For the edges of the image and tag, I ruffed up the edges and then dipped them in watered down ink refills from Stampin' Up! I like the way it turned out (and I don't often think that!).

I am also entering this card in Mary's challenge at Angel Creative Updates. Her challenge this (2) week(s) is "Keeping Warm With Fur". I think this cute little, or not so little, polar bear is a great image (from Phindy's Place) that can either be used for Christmas or just winter in general - love those multi purpose images!!

This card ALSO qualifies for the Fuzzy Wuzzy Challenge: Anything Goes (as long as an animal is used!).

Enough chitchat....go check out all three challenges and enter! It's fun!!

Distressing was.....distressing!

Okay, so, Phindy's Place Challenge Blog this week has a challenge that was, well, challenging for me! This week is all about distressing and it had me distressed! I didn't know quite where to start but the idea of taking a brand spankin' new piece of DP and ripping, tearing, etc. - WHAT???? But, I pushed up my sleeves and gave it a go!

So, for my background paper I crinkled it up into a ball. The second layer was crinkled into a ball and then ripped in half (that took a few years off my life I think). The paper flowers that I made were crinkled and then I ran them under water and then put it on the heater to dry. Finally, I took each layer and ran scissors over all of the edges to make them "distressed". While doing all of this, I just kept thinking "why am I ruining this paper?".

Well, I have to say, when I put it all together, I LOVE IT! It's totally not "me" - well not normally anyway, but I do love it!

Thanks for the challenge Phindy! It was phun!!

Still going on the "thank yous"

Well, It's been about 2 weeks since Santa came and the presents started flowing into my house like crazy and I'm STILL working on making (and writing and mailing) my Thank You Cards! This is nuts, please remind me next year to make the cards in advance! (yeah right, I won't have anything else going on!).

Anyway, this card is for a family friend who unexpectedly dropped off presents for my kiddos on Christmas Eve (a "Fancy Nancy" book for Alex and a "baby's first Christmas" set for Johnny). So, I thought this Phindy image "Big Sister at Work" would be a perfect one for her thank you card.

This card is also going to be entered in Phindy's Challenge Blog "Thank You With Scraps". Luckily the "With Scraps" part is optional because, once again, I couldn't resist using my new papers from Christmas!! These are from my HUGE K&Company paper stack from my aunt!

I hope you enjoy my card....

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

It seems like we say an awful lot of that this time of year, doesn't it? The amount of gifts that get passed around in my family alone is a bit absurd....but, I love it. I love getting gifts and I especially love giving gifts. I love the whole Christmas season, spending time with family and friends, buying things for my loved ones, wrapping presents and EATING!

Anyway, I have been so wrapped up in Christmas that I've had very little time to craft and I'm going through complete withdrawl! So, it's after midnight and I'm exhausted but I stayed up to take advantage of my quiet house and finish this card that has taken me a week to complete!

I used "cozy cabin" from Phindy for this card. It was one of my Christmas presents and it's been killing me that I have these new images just waiting to be colored. I used watercolors and then added red embossing powder for the tree lights and a clear-ish glitter for the snow. I absolutely love the end result!

I also got a new paper pack for Christmas (a couple of them actually). I used these K&Company papers from my aunt - it's a HUGE paper pack - I'm soooooo excited!

So, this card is for two different challenges:

1.) Phindy's Place Challenge Blog - "Give Thanks with Scraps" - luckily the "with scraps" part is optional. I just couldn't resist using my brand new papers!

2.) Mary's Challenge at Angel Creative Updates - "Snow Anywhere" - this is my third entry for her challenge, I have pretty good odds of winning this week!

Alright, I have to go to bed, if this post makes little or no sense, have pity on me, I'm VERY sleep deprived! However, I'm happy because I got to craft!!