MIA!

I'll be missing in action for the next several days. I did get some more items created over the last few days. I've photographed them, edited them, but not ready to share them. Some are gifts - and I want the gals getting them to be surprised. Others are things I created specifically for a DT call and some I've shared, but these I'll hold onto until later in the week. Depending on how the packing goes this afternoon, I may get on and get some posts ready in draft. That's a big IF though....

I will be at my in-laws in Shawnee so hopefully I'll find time to keep up with all of YOU!!! I am taking a suitcase of stamping supplies - and hopefully I'll even have time to work on some of that too!

"see" ya'll later!!

What's Your Reason?

Julie Campbell posted a story today about a card she made specifically for someone. I got the impression that this was not the norm - that she makes cards first and then gives them to people. She then closed her post challenging her readers to specifically make a card to give to someone - and see the power of the gift on that person.

Which I find kinda odd. Like not weird odd - just different from me odd. I pretty much make cards with a recipient in mind. Even if I don't know *exactly* who will get it, I know that it'll go to someone.
I figure what's the point of making all these things if they are given away? Not to say that I don't have a stack of cards - but I don't just make them and then keep them.

It's a great idea. And it's why I like to make cards - to send to someone. So what about you? Do you send off the majority of the cards you make or do you keep them?

Sparkly Birthday

There's not too much different going on around here this week. I have been working on some cards - all RAKs so I've decided not to share them here; hopefully the recipients will share them. I've also been working on an ATC swap over at SCS. I did manage to make this card Wednesday evening to share from an extra card base. It was really fast and simple!

Simply Sista's Challenge 1

I issued a challenge to the Simply Sista's DT to create a card using their favorite color. The only other color allowed was a neutral.
I've always loved pink! Here is Bailey Jane again, whipping up something yummy for her family. Maybe it's strawberry cupcakes! I've been craving cupcakes the last few days.

I colored her with my Prismacolors and then used a mat stack for my paper selections. The striped layer and the focal layer are both popped up on dimensionals.

Go check out Roz's card - she used a completely different image. You can find all of Amy's stamps at Card Scents.

Make it a beautiful day!!

Are you in the Area?

I will be in Oklahoma City next week on lia sophia business and visiting my in-laws in Shawnee.

If you - or if you know someone - who is in the area, and loves jewelry, please pass this info along to them!

If I meet them Tuesday night, and they let me know that you sent them, I'll have a little gift to mail you - your choice: jewelry or stamping supplies!

Inspirational Craft Swap

Over at the Inspiration blog, they have a craft swap going on. Sounds like a neat idea. I have other commitments right now so I'm not signing up for this one, but I will watch for future swaps and hopefully will be able to participate then. I love these types of swaps because it's so fun to make something for a fellow crafter - you KNOW they are going to enjoy it!

My LSS held a charity crop yesterday for PKU. I shared a table with my friend Suzann and got quite a bit done. I finished a gift album for my in laws of their wedding. I sure hope they like it. She's not very crafty. Do you ever feel more apprehensive about a gift you've made when the person is not a crafty person? Like they won't appreciate it as much?
My sister got married in January and I'm tossing around the idea of doing one for her. She saw my car yesterday and ran in to say hello. Her hubby was with her - and he told her she should scrapbook. OH - how many women would love to hear that, right? I'll work on getting pictues taken of that today and posted.
After I finished the album I just kinda played around with some stuff. I ordered the seed packet wheel as part of my SU order. I think I managed to create the ugliest thing ever! Seriously. ICK!
Well, I played all day yesterday so I'm going to start some laundry and do a little bit of housework that didn't get done yet. Hopefully I'll be back later with some stuff to share!

Texas 2 Stampers April ATC

In April, the local stamp club that I go to worked on an ABC project. We worked with half the alphabet and we'll finish the other half later in the year.
I knew as soon as I got A that I wanted to use this angel stamp by Acey Duecy. I just love, LOve, LOVE her!! I stamped her in chocolate brown chalk ink, masked her and then stamped the harlequins with white ink - I think it was Colorbox. I chose to hand write my sentiment - not sure why, just wanted to try it out. I call her Apathetic Angel.
Really love this one.


I also did an M card. I guess this is what they would call a "hybrid" ATC. I knew I wanted to use the concept of "measure" but didn't like the one ruler stamp that I have with anything. So I browsed around and found these 2 images and printed them out. It was just a matter of cutting and pasting then.

I wanted my sentiment to read "do you measure up?". I thought it was great, I know that I am constantly wondering if I "measure" up. How do I compare to other ladies in my stamping group. Is it neat? creative? original? pleasing to look at? and on. and on. and on.
My hubby thought that was mean. And gave me all sorts of grief about being positive so I changed it. One gal at stamp club loved the original idea and another told me I made the right choice in changing it. *shrug*
The one thing that I really am not happy with was the stitching on the side. I *intended* to have sewing on my card - with actual thread. Didn't work out so well. So it just has the holes pierced. My mat pack is still on backorder so I just ran it through the sewing machine w/o thread. It's really hard to see.
Once we finish the other half, I'll post the whole set together. They are really cool!

Make it a beautiful day!

24/7 Stampers Swap - SPOILER

If you are a 24/7 Stamper and don't want to see the card I sent, then don't read this post! *grin*

Last month, I was so fortunate to connect with Ann, and she is awesome. She lives in California and I'm in Texas so I won't be meeting up with her anytime soon! Anyway ---- I still get to "participate" in her swap via mail. So I'm really excited....and Oh.So.Nervous. at the same time. I really hope that they like what I came up with. I had every intention of using this set and Jen's SFYTT from this week (this one). I won't go into details because I STILL want to carry out the card I originally sat down to make.
Only when I went to actually MAKE it, I just couldn't get started. So this is what evolved out of me sitting at my desk, fretting and fussing and worrying about being "good enough". Hopefully they are all pleased with "the new girls" stuff.
Now I just have to count the days until I get cards back.





I've been working on some other things too so hopefully those will be ready to share soon!

WIPED

OUT!
I did finally finish our taxes. Ugh. I don't know why I wait until the very end. All day I kept thinking "you're almost done. you'll have such fun stamping tonight".
No.
I am done. Hubby even treated me to DQ as my reward for all my hard and tedious work. But I have no energy to go stamp tonight. My brain is too fried to actually accomplish anything. So I'm grabbing my SU catalog and I'm going to go "page-shop" while I rest in bed.

*yaaaawwwwwnnnnn*

DROWNING!

I am swimming in tax stuff. I always say I will not wait until the last minute. I start getting stuff together in January. Wait on the forms to come in the mail. Sorta look at towards the end of February. Decide I have lots of time and I'll do it later. Then I decide that I don't want to do it. So here I am, a gorgeous Monday, baby at daycare....and I'm punching numbers, and reading forms and UGH!
I could hire someone to do it all for me - but I'd rather spend that $70 (? just a guess, could be more) on stamps or ink or PAPER!!!

Be back soon!!

Just Do It!

Have you ever said that you were "going to do something"....only you never did it....for a multitude of reasons.

I have. For so many things. But I'm tired of living in the "what if" world. And my SBS3 Sister, Maren, makes gorgeous cards. I've been telling her forever that she needs to submit them. She told me she would....if I would. So I'm doing it.

I've started submitting my cards to various places. Design Team calls and Stampers Sampler so far. Even if I don't get "the call" or "the email" --- I'm okay with it. At least I'm making cards and at least I'm actually submitting them....instead of just SAYING I'll submit them.

Here are two cards I created for the Page Plans sketches. They are going to be posting sketches for scrapbooking and cardmaking.

This is the card I created for this sketch:


This paper was the easiest to reach. I love this stamp I recently got on clearance at Hobby Lobby! Such an easy stamp to use - just ink and stamp. There is no need to color at all!! It's a pretty literal translation of the sketch but I really like it. The circle details are more Karen Russell. They are popped up and the middle one is on a double layer of dimensionals.
I originally thought the call was for 2 cards using the sketch so I set out to make another card. I wanted my second card to be "not so literal". I had some rub-ons out on my desk and decided to use those. This is a one layer card. I'm just going to pen a personal note on the back and mail it to my grandma.

What do you think? I was really happy with it until I saw THIS CARD by Carol. Isn't it GORGEOUS!!?!?!?!?
I still love mine - I just love hers better!
When I got on last night to send in my submissions, I re-read the guidelines and realized they wanted a creation using both sketches. (glad I checked)!
I turned the layout sketch into a card since I don't consider myself a scrapbooker! Here it is:


And here's my card:


I don't know why I like making baby cards so much - I guess it's because babies are just so awesome and sweet and they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! This image is a CTMH stamp - from waaaay back when they were mounted on wood! But I think he's soooo cute. The words I stamped around are all some 7 Gypsies "turn" stamps - you know, like they used to use in offices all the time. Love them. I saw on a blog somewhere in the last week or so that someone mounted words stamped on the same background color - I loved the effect and wanted to try it out here. After I had them all done, I decided to highlight a few in white. Really love the effect. The sketch called for some sort of embellishment in the lower left corner. I tried some neat metal stuff from Making Memories but wasn't happy with it. And I didn't want to use anything that would cover up my words really. I was going to just leave it off and then decided to try some ribbon at the last minute.
Regardless of whether I get picked for this team or not, I am VERY HAPPY with my cards. I love, LOve, LOVE them!!! I hope you enjoy them too! Thanks for stopping by today! I'll see you soon!

Scraps

This card was the result of some odd pieces lying on my desk. I don't save scraps and I hate little bits of rub-ons that get detached from the main sheet. How do you store those? So I had to use this stem - otherwise it was going in the trash. So this is what I came up with. Very simple, but hopefully stunning. Actually, I really like it. My sis was over today and she really liked all the cards I showed her. So - I'm sticking with it - a Simply Stunning card!!

Thanks for all the wonderful comments this last week. I've had some new visitors to my blog and that is so nice. New Friends and Old Friends - I hope you enjoy and will keep coming back! (Now I have that old song from my girl scout days in my head: Make New Friends, But Keep The Old, One is Silver and the Other's Gold!)

Make it a beautiful day!

Just One Layer

Here is a simple card I made last night. I bought this stamp in the clearance bin at Hobby Lobby - just love it!! Of course, we have the Karen Russell paper that I ADORE!!! If you've been reading my blog for long, you have seen this paper before. I doubt you're too surprised I'm using it again. You may be thinking - "again?!?!" - but that's okay. I love, LOve, LOVE it and I'll keep using it!! Somewhere I have some in a gorgeous TEAL color - I'm sure I'll unearth it one of these days. The sentiment is also a Karen Russell sticker. It says "One of my favorite memories of you..."


Make it a beautiful day! I hope you'll come back again!

Something Different

I have been working on re-organizing my craft space. I went in on Sunday afternoon to work on some VSN challenges. We had family come in to town so I wasn't able to actually participate in the actual Fri/Sat process. But when I got into the room, I was overcome with how out of whack it is and just couldn't be inspired. So I decided to just fix it. I've pulled thing away from the shelf, and moved my desk so that it is against the wall. WHAT A DIFFERENCE this has made. The room already feels so much more open and we can move around easily. Plus, Dane can definitely be in there with me now so that alone is worth it.

Of course, doing that does mean that I have done away with storage space. While I would love to use it - I mean, I *DID* buy it - I just don't think there is enough hours in the day. So I've got to get rid of some things. Some I will sell, some will be PIF, some will be blog candy, and some of it I want to use in a different way.

I want to set up a challenge. Send some stuff out, you make something with it, we'll post it and have a winner! Like a poll with voting and all. Prizes will definitely be awarded but they will vary. One week it might be a crafty supply item, another week it might be jewelry, another week it might be a gift certificate for somewhere or just a really cool "banner" to put on your blog. What do you think?

Interested? Leave a comment here if you are!

Share a SheetLoad

SheetLoad of Cards is asking its readers to "give back". You can find all the details at http://sheetload.blogspot.com/2008/04/share-sheetload-of-cards-april-2008.html.

Check it out and help spread the word!

I want this....UPDATE

....almost as much as I want the new gardening set from MFT and the Biker Bella from Stamping Bella.

The Nitro PDF Professional is a wonderful program that lets you create a PDF that can be viewed by anyone, irregardless of the programs they have or their operating system.

I hope I'm lucky again this week; I would love to win this! I got my goodie package from Nancy today and it was so cool! She wrapped it in this oh so pretty tissue paper!! Thanks again Nancy!! And may the blog candy gurus smile upon me!!

ETA: I am a LUCKY, LUCKY girl!!! I won a copy of this!! I am so stinkin' excited!!!

Happy Day

Today is a happy day!! I am so excited to share with you a little secret I've been keeping. I am a member of the Simply Sista's & Card Scents Design Team!! Ya'll have no idea how excited I am. Amy has the neatest girly-girls in her stamp line. And a way to add scent to your cards. I don't have my scents yet, but I can hardly wait! Can you imagine how stinkin' cool it's going to be to get to send out a card that smells yummy AND looks yummy!! She has tons of scents too! And of course, my wish list is a mile long!! Seriously. I sat and looked at the list and kept thinking of stamps that I had that would go with a scent. I did narrow it down to "just the basics". You know, baby powder, lilac, french vanilla coffee. Mmmm, I love the smell of coffee!! I will fill you in on all that later when they arrive.
What is really cool about her line is that she is offering it 3 different ways. Talk about making everybody happy! You can go download the images right now.....and re-size them to whatever your project dictates. I really enjoyed that luxury this weekend.
So this is Bailey Jane. And I chose her for my first project because I just knew she would pair perfectly with a handmade treat. I will be seeing some teacher friends today and wanted to take them a treat**. This is the time of the school year when teachers get so tired ---- and we love chocolate and used to joke about what a pick-me-up it was.*** So, just like Bailey Jane, I whipped up some chocalately goodness!! The box is actually a lia sophia jewelry box* that I covered with paper and lined with wax paper on the inside.

*I knew holding on to those would come in handy one day!
**I only ate 2 truffles. So far.
*I had a student once tape a piece of chocolate onto an assignment he was turning in late. How sweet is that? Made it hard to stay irritated at him - which I'm sure was his ingenius plan all along! You bet I enjoyed that sweet morsel too! *wink*

Make it a beautiful day!

My Three Puppies

Well, I said I've been working on my coloring skills. I am very pleased with how this turned out. I found this stamp at the Grapevine Stamp Convention about 2 years ago. I really like the artwork of Paula Best, although it is not my typical style. However, when I saw this stamp, I HAD to get it. you see, this stamp EXACTLY depicts my three dogs.

On the left is Maddie, the prettiest mutt you'll ever see. We got her from the pound and 6 years ago and she has just the most loving personality a dog could have. We think she is a dachsund, border collie, blue heeler mix. Her ears are silky soft. Everyone that sees her says she is so pretty! If it was possible to clone a dog, I would clone Maddie. If it was feasible to have her tested and figure out the right mix, I would do so....and create a new breed that would take over the hearts of America. But she is unique and I will treasure her for always.

In the middle is Katie, our youngest puppy. She is a Pembroke Corgi - the kind without a tail. Just like the stamp, she has very little white markings on her. She is incredibly gentle and loyal. She has a big heart full of love. At the same time, she is very domineering and a big PIG!! Yes, she is huge!! She gets all the table scraps and finishes off the other dog's food. She is so fat she can't jump up onto our bed. It's so sad.

The dog on the right is Sam, our other Corgi. He must've been the runt of the litter because he is very small compared to every other Corgi that we've ever seen. He is a dog that is all lean - all muscle. He is so energetic and just craves love and attention. He is also very skittish. While he is not the alpha dog in this household and he's quite small, he thinks he is the "king" of the neighborhood.

I used sketch #7 over at Paper World for this card. I love checking out that blog and finally got a chance to play! Colored with my Prismacolor pencils. I'll be sending this card to my MIL, who loves these doggies like they are her grandkids --- probably b/c she feared for the longest time that they *would* be her grandkids.

Make it a beautiful day!!