Thursday, December 30, 2010

OWH Holiday Vacation Challenge #10

HOLY TOLEDO!!! It is COLD today!! I think we hit 37 degrees!!! That's unheard of in sunny southern California! The good thing is that I was too cold to go outside so I made some really cool cards today!

Today's Operation Write Home Challenge is to make a card using circular elements and a sentiment starting with the letter 'R'. This is in honor of OWH obtaining their own Registered Trademark! CONGRATULATIONS OWH!!!

My card is very simple... I cut different sized circles with my Cricut and made the sentiment using various stickers.... 

I am also working on some cards for a color challenge that is coming up in February... I am so excited to share these, but we gotta wait a few more weeks!!

Well, I'm off to find some cozy sweats and a cup of hot chai tea so I can get back to work!!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

OWH Holiday Vacation Challenge #9

Good Morning! Today's Challenge for OWH is to make an "Anything But Pink" card... I actually have 2 cards that I made and had a hard time deciding which one to use!

The 1st one is a Valentine's Day card using the Stampin' Up kit from last year... I love that kit because everything is color-matched and ready to be cut to size, and all the embellishments and borders are stickers!


The second card I made is just a fun girlie card using standard cardstock, and the image is from Inky Antics by Monica Lee colored with Stampin' Up markers. I think I got the flowers from a scrapbook convention and just added eyelets...


Now I'm off to work on more Valentine's Day cards to add to my OWH package...


These cards are all from the same Stampin' Up kit from last year.
By the way, I will be working on V-Day cards for the next week to send in to OWH. If you would like to make some and send them in with mine, I will be sending them no later than Tuesday, January 4th.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

OWH Challenge #5

Before I talk about today's card I have to correct the S&S link from day before yesterday... the correct link to see more cards and info on the challenge is www.owhstarsandstamps.org

NOW.... Today our challenge was to make a monochrome card. I've never even heard of this so this was truly a challenge for me! But after looking at the other entries, this is what I came up with....



I'm kinda bummed you can't see the true color... it's a really pretty lavender! The top and bottom layers are textured and I inked the edges for a little outline. The stamped saying is from SU. I also added dimension to the inked butterflies and top layer with some pop dots...

I was so frustrated yesterday because my internet was down and I couldn't submit a card for the challenge, but if you look on my FB page (link to the right), there are some kid's encouragement cards that I made a few months ago...

I hope you all are enjoying the Holiday Challenges as much as I am!!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

OWH Challenge #3... BLING!!!

Here is my card for OWH's Winter Vacation Challenge #3... Create a card with bling without using glitter!!  My girl is sportin' her diamonds and pearls!!



 The image is Inky Antics by Monica Lee...  go to www.starsnstamps.org for more good stuff!!

Monday, December 20, 2010

OWH Challenge

OK... this is the 1st time I am participating in a card challenge, so I hope I do it right!

Operation Write Home is doing a Holiday Vacation Challenge... Winter's Last Hurrah!  The challenge is to use up the last of our winter "stuff" and I actually dug deep in the depths of my unused embellishments to find this one!

I added a few snowflakes and gave them a little POP with pop-dots!


Visit www.owhstarsandstamps.org for more cards and challenges!!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Has It Really Been 3 Weeks???

WOW!!! I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since my last post!!! I feel like I've been going 200 miles a minute with no stops in-between!

Let's see.... I've set up my table at 2 boutiques... 1 at Sprouts Photography in Fullerton and 1 at Dragonfly Shops and Garden in Orange. Sprouts specializes in baby pictures, and Dragonfly is a very busy store with lots of goodies to decorate your home! Both are highly recommended!!



I also set up my table at a friend's house last Sunday and they completely cleaned me out of my Christmas cards, mini albums and 1/2 of my photo clips!!! Thank You Ambyr for offering me a corner!!!

After Ambyr's house, I went to my mom's and she asked me to make her a bunch of photo clips to put on a "cake" for her boss's birthday.... all the employees wrote out a little birthday greeting for her... and the clips were a big hit!!



I have also volunteered a couple days at Operation Santa Claus.... It's a social services warehouse in Orange County that collects toys all year and distributes them to social workers, probation officers, children's homes, foster parents, and other such people working with kids that are caught up in the system. We don't actually go out and distribute toys, but the workers and parents get vouchers and are able to come to the warehouse to get toys and books for the kids they are working with for Christmas. If you are ever looking for a place to volunteer your time, definitely look into this!

Besides all the running around with my own activities, I have spent just as much time with my kids and working at their school.... But, thank goodness it's Christmas Break!! We got to sleep in today and do absolutely nothing!!

So now... since I have no more orders for Christmas Cards, I'm going to work on some personal card orders I have... One wants purple-girlie cards, and the other just everyday cards. This is the card that inspired the order for everyday cards...


I also need to start working on Valentine's Day cards for Operation Write Home....

Oh... and did I mention that I have not even BEGUN Christmas shopping??? That's on the list, too!!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has had a chance to recover from eating waaay too much food for Thanksgiving! I had a beautiful visit with my family at my mom's house and got to take LOTS of leftovers home!

For the last couple weeks I have been working to build up my inventory. My dream is to start a small business to sell my cards, photo clips, and mini photo albums. If anyone has any advice for me, I would TRULY appreciate all the help I can get!

I mentioned in an earlier post that I met a lady that sells baby items, and she asked me to make her some cards to go with her baskets. For some reason baby cards are not really my thing, so this was no easy task for me, but this is what I came up with....



I will have the rest of the cards I made on my facebook page if you're interested in checking them out! (see the link to the right)

... and other than making about 10 more photo clips, I made some Christmas Mini Albums... let me know if you are interested in one for yourself. They measure about 5 1/2" x 5" and I sell them for $6....


 Until next time... have a beautiful week!!

Monday, November 15, 2010

Free Card Give-Away Update

One more thing for today... I forgot to mention that you have to actually become a FOLLOWER in order to win! I know that's kind of obvious, but sometimes it's good to be a little more specific!

Share my page with your friends, and when I reach 20 FOLLOWERS I will give away a 5 pack of cards. The winner will be randomly picked... more details on how when I reach 20!!

My Latest Addiction!

Happy Monday!!

I've been so busy playing with some new ideas that I haven't had a chance to update my blog since last week!  I TiVo Scrapbook Memories on the BYU channel and sit and watch about once every few weeks, so I'm not sure which episode I found this wonderful idea on... but I've been addicted ever since I saw it!



 Are these not the cutest little Photo Clips you've ever seen??!!!
And the best part is that they take about 5 minutes to make!
All you do is cover the black part of a medium or large binder clip with any patterned paper and embellish with your favorite embellishment. I couldn't get the card to stay straight in the clip so I tied a bow around it and it worked perfect! My daughter also made one using a small clip, but it's more for decoration because it's so tiny...

I got a little carried away and made about 20 of them in 2 days and then went to Staples and bought about 30 more clips so I could keep going!

And then my cousin asked me to make some that she could put pictures of boys in (she wasn't too keen on the idea of putting boys in flowered clips!)... so I made some football clips....

 These can also be used for Thank You gifts with a card instead of a picture, gift card holders, Hostess gifts, etc.... The possibilities are endless!!!

Besides making clips for the past week, I also participated in the Purple Stride Orange County 2010 Walk for Pancreatic Cancer Awareness... Our team had 21 people and raised $750!!

AND... last but definitely not least, I took my kids to Riverside National Cemetary for their annual Veteran's Day Ceremony on Veteran's Day... If you have not attended one of these, I strongly recommend that you try next year! Not only is it patriotic and emotional, but it's also educational in a way that keeps the kids paying attention!

OK... now that I'm all caught up, time for lunch and then more clip-making and card-making!!! Hope you have a wonderful day! And if you enjoy my page, PLEASE share it with your friends! (Read previous posts to see how someone will get to receive a pack of cards for FREE!!!)

Monday, November 8, 2010

OWH Cards Sent & Boutique Update

I can't believe I FINALLY sent my 1st box of cards to Operation Write Home!

There was a total of 25 blank cards for the Heroes to write in and send home to their loved ones, and 9 cards that my 3 youngest kids made and wrote notes to servicemen and women thanking them for their service!


Unfortunately, the Boutiques I participated in this past weekend were not as successful as I had hoped as far as selling my cards. But on the plus side, I met a very sweet young lady that sells baby items (bibs, booties, blankets, and wraps) that asked me to make some cards to sell with her items :)  So between that, working with Tisa, and talking to some other vendors, I think the future is bright for my business!

Here is a pic of the table Tisa and I shared at the Boutique at St. Callistus Church... lots of good stuff!

Tisa has a store on Etsy called Tisa's Vintage Affair, and Lesley's webpage is babyflirt.net (make sure you type .net because the .com is an adult website!)








Friday, November 5, 2010

Today's Boutique

I'll be at River 47 Church today selling some of my Christmas Cards at a Boutique/Fundraiser.
Come by if you're in the area!

250 S. Prospect in Orange
3-8pm

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Card Give-Away

No pictures today... I can't figure out how to send pics directly from my phone to my blog?!?!?


Instead, I'm in the mood to give stuff away!
I am now at 10 followers! Yaaayyyy! But, like any normal girl, I want more!
I've decided when I reach 20 followers I'm going to give a lucky winner a 5-pack
of cards! If it's before Christmas, they will be Christmas Cards.... if not, it'll be a
mix of Thinking of You's, Birthday, etc...

Please share my page with your friends and maybe I'll be sending the pack of cards to
YOU!!!

Have a good night, Friends!!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

More Christmas Cards

The last few days I have been trying to get my cards together to send to OWH... Had the girls making Any Hero Cards that came out really cute!



Moving right along with the Christmas Cards, I made about 10 more today! So as not to bore you, I'm only posting a few of them here. The rest will be on my FaceBook Page (the tab on the right side of my page will take you there).

 This one is just a simple card using stamps from Recollections and Stampin' Up... dazzled it up a little with glitter on the ribbon!
 I thought this one had a little too much green in it, but my daughter really liked it.... so it stays!
 Another simple card, but I love the background....





.... And... my favorite is.......
This beautiful blue snowman!!!

I recently purchased some rhinestones and couldn't wait to use them! Those, the stamps, and ink/markers are all from Stampin' Up. I also added some snowflakes (Marvy Punch)...







I am going to a boutique in Orange on November 5th to try to sell these. These are all one-of-a-kind, but if you like any and would like me to make you some, please let me know!

And don't forget to check out my FB page for more cards! Hope those of you that celebrated had a safe and fun Halloween! Good Night!!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Cards Sent To Sweden!!!

I think at one time or another, every cardmaker hopes their cards will travel to as many countries around the world as they can.... well, guess what???

MINE ARE HEADED TO SWEDEN!!!

While searching Facebook one day, my sister Carina found a lady in Sweden that has the same name as her. It wouldn't be such a big deal except that not only do they have the same uncommon name, their families are from the same town, and they both have aunts and uncles and cousins, etc., with a lot of the same names!! Anyway, I have befriended her also and she happened to mention that she likes my cards.... so... being the giver that I am, I offered to send her some to share with her friends!

Just to make them a little more special for her, I did some research and translated them into Swedish! I just hope I used the correct translations!! I'm posting them x-large with hopes that you can read the sayings :)


Thursday, October 21, 2010

Operation Write Home

One more thing before I go to sleep...

I came across this wonderful organization that collects handmade cards from cardmakers around the country and sends them to troops overseas so the troops can send cards to their loved ones at home. They collect cards for every holiday, birthdays, thank you cards, thinking of you cards, kid's cards, etc.

They also give us the opportunity to send cards to the servicemen and women to thank them for their service, which I understand are received with tremendous gratitude!

I've been working on my first box to send in but, like all my other projects, it's moving a little slower than I'd like! If anyone would like to get together and make some cards for OWH, please leave me a post with some info on how to best contact you. Or, if you would like to make cards on your own and send them all together, we can do that too!

Here's what I have so far.... (there are just a little over 20 cards ready)



 I can tell this is going to be a very slow process! I worked for about 2 hours last night and this was all I got done! You can't tell on this one, but I used some Polar White Flower Soft on the snow to add a little dimension...

 I love light blue for Christmas cards!

The snowmen are all from from Stampin' Up and I colored them in with Stampin' Up Markers.

.... and here's a close-up so you can see the Flower Soft on the snow!

Hopefully I will have a little more to show in the next couple days!
And if you have any good ideas for me, please leave me a post with your blog.... I love swapping ideas!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

My Work Space

So this is where I sit for hours on end trying to come up with something brilliant that will capture the attention of potential buyers!!

I know it doesn't seem like much, but you see that closet in the mirror? That's where I keep the good stuff hidden!

As you can see by all the red on the table, I am working on some Christmas cards in the hopes that I can come up with something to sell at a boutique or two this winter! And the pile in front of the mirror is the Halloween stuff I haven't finished!

Last but not least, I keep a picture of my dad right in front of me... We lost him almost a year ago to Pancreatic Cancer, and not much brings me more pleasure than when I sit and daydream about him!!

I am participating in the PanCan Walk on November 13th... please visit my page if you get a chance!

http://blba.us/i.asp?id=426665-275654699-1

Monday, October 18, 2010


I attend a Technique Class once a month with my favorite Stampin' Up demonstrator, Aimee Gandara.  Each month we get together and we get to make 3 projects using whatever technique she conjures up for us!  This past week we made a cute little purse using a template that turned out to be a lot easier than it looked! We also made a wine bottle tag and a beautiful Christmas card.

The snowman was made using different punches and glitter.... a little more small pieces than I usually like to use, but since he's so cute, I'm thinking of making more! (I guess that really depends on whether or not I get some orders for him!)

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Ornament Card

With the Christmas season quickly approaching, I figure I better get moving on my cards!

I was Googling Christmas card images and found alot of
great ideas! One similar to this was found on
http://handmadebyamy.com/christmas/
I changed the layout and colors to make it my own....

Monday, October 11, 2010

Another Halloween Mini Album

Here's another Halloween Mini... I think I'll just make a bunch of them since I'm already getting orders! Anyone want to join me?

PS... I'm still learning how to size and position my postings! There's so much to learn that I'm beginning to feel like a "Blog Junkie"!!!





Sunday, October 10, 2010

I was going through my stickers and embellishments and found some Halloween stuff.... so I figured I'd make a mini album. I started making these a couple years ago and actually sold them on Ebay!

The book is made out of small paper bags. You can use any size or color you want, but I used brown
5 1/8" x 3 1/8" x 10 5/8". I punched 3 holes on the sides and tied ribbon through it. After I glued a background on each page (4 3/4" x 4"), I decorated with stickers, embellishments, and Voila!!

These little albums are great for any occasion.... It's totally up to you and your creativity!!



Thursday, October 7, 2010

Here's the 1st of the bunch!!




Welcome!

Thank you for visiting my new blog! I hope this becomes a page you visit often and tell your friends about!

I would love for this to become a place where you can get cardmaking ideas, and where you can feel free to share your ideas. I have 4 kids and love sharing stories about them, so bear with me while I introduce you to my family!

My oldest daughter is 18 and just graduated high school. She just got her driver's licence and is currently in the process of trying to get into the Air Force.
My son is 13 and has informed us that football is his passion!
The 2 youngest girls are 9 and 8 years old. They have taken dance, cheer, and most recently softball. We also just got a piano and my 9 year old started lessons yesterday.
As for me, my husband and I just celebrated 10 years of marital bliss!!! We had a beautiful dinner at La Cave in Costa Mesa.... highly recommend it!


Three days ago I started making Christmas cards! I know.... it's only October! But I had a couple projects I needed to get ahead on, so I figured I would just go with it! As soon as I figure out how to upload pictures, I will post some of my favorite cards. (tips and advice are welcome!)

Hope you have a great week!