Monday, February 28, 2011

I Got An AWARD!!!

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!! to Yolanda for giving me my 1st Stylish Blogger Award!!! I am truly honored to have been given this, as I have only had my blog up for a few months!



I am supposed to share 8 random things about myself and then pass the award to 8 other wonderful bloggers! The latter is going to be extremely difficult to choose because I follow about 50 bloggers, and ALL of them are worthy of this award!! So I will pick 8, but believe me when I say that I have yet to see a blog that doesn't deserve this!!

Okay... 8 things about me......
1- I'm a Jesus Freak! I don't go around preaching to people, judging people, or pretending I'm not a sinner... BECAUSE I AM!!! But I LOVE going to church, being around other believers, listening to worship music, and sharing scriptures!!
2- I HATE mushrooms! They stink and look disgusting to me and I refuse to eat them!!
3- I volunteer at a local hospital where I get to work in the Birth Certificate Dept. and see all the new babies!
4- I can sit at my craft table for 8 hours and only make 1 card!
5- I LOVE to gamble! Have never won any large amounts of money, but will continue to do it as long as I can!
6- I got in my 1st car accident when I was 19 and totaled my 1972 Pinto.
7- I had Lasik surgery on my eyes 3 years ago,
and 8- I am a Starbuck's junkie

So there you have it.... completely random things about me!!

and now to pass on the torch...... here's what to do:

1) thank the person who gave this award to you and link it back to their blog

2) share 8 things about yourself

3) pass this award to 8 other individuals

4) leave a comment so that they can pass along the recognition!


Again... This list is by no means all-inclusive of the Stylish Bloggers out there!!! Thanks Yolanda for sharing this with me!!
Allison
Jody
Samantha
Mari
Kavi
Rhonda
Shirley
SimplyBren

You should be able to right click on the award, and copy and paste on your post!

Easel Card

I've been seeing easel cards a lot lately and thought I'd give it a shot! I got the tutorial from OWH Stars and Stamps and couldn't believe how easy it was!!

I used a Stampin' Up Curvy Verse for the sentiment, SU rub-ons and background paper, Exscrapaganza designer paper, and a Martha Stewart butterfly punch....

Give it a try... they're so much fun!!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Spinner Cards

Stampin' Up Ocassions Mini Catalog has these really cool "Take A Spin" stamps and game spinner hands that I have been anxious to use!! I have only used the square birthday stamps, but there are 3 round stamps also...

My intention was to make not only gender neutral, but something that could be used for any age (my husband said I accomplished this!!). The brown card may be just a little more feminine than the blue card though....

All the supplies used on both cards are from Stampin' Up except for the middle strip, which is from my Exscrapaganza pack (from the HSN and no longer available).

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

OWH MWT Any Occasion Challenge

This week's challenge for the S&S MWT is to make an "any occasion card"... this one was easy for me!!

It also goes along with the masculine challenge for last week!

I used Sliekje Digi Stamps for the image, Cuttlebug for the embossing, SU markers to color the digi, SU ink and stamp for the sentiment, Celebrate It paper rafia, and Memories brown ink to distress the edges.

Enjoy!!

Embossed Butterfly Card

I liked the embossed flower card from Pam so much I thought I'd experiment with it... then when I went back and looked at the samples she made, I realized she had already made one with butterflies... so it wasn't my idea after all!! I was so focused on the beautiful flower card! Anyway, here's mine....


 I used all the same details as the embossed flower card in the previous post, with the exception of the butterfly punch.

AND of course... another digi!! This one is also from Sliekje's Digi Stamps



Now... off to bed!!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Embossed Flower

There's a tutorial on Stars & Stamps today by Pam at Airbornewife's Stamping Spot that is so pretty, I just had to try it!! I used generic dark blue cardstock, some flowers I bought at a Scrapbook Expo a few years ago, SU's Teeny Tiny Wishes and Priceless stamps, SU rhinestones, and an SU punch for the sentiment....


I'm showing the side view so you can see that I gave the tag a little bit of dimension with some pop dots.

I've also been having lots of fun with digi's... My OWH friends weren't kidding when they told me these things were addictive!!

The digi is from Jedi Scrapbooking and if you get a chance, I highly recommend visiting her page! The papers and embellishments are from my Exscrapaganza kit, and I colored the image with SU markers. And I think I bought the rafia at Michael's.

I wanted to put a sentiment on it, but couldn't figure out which one, so what do you think if I leave it as is? Too plain?

Monday, February 21, 2011

Another Masculine Card & My FIRST Digi!!!

Okay... So I spent about 4 hours tonight "Digi-Searching" and found some amazing digis!!! (A digi is a digital image that can be resized to fit your cards or whatever other project you are working on!)

I had never heard of a "Digi" until I started working with Operation Write Home and even then, I haven't had ink in my printer for about 5 months so I couldn't print anything out! So today I bought some ink and then went blog-hopping and found a bazillion cool digis!!

Here is my very 1st attempt at this... the image was found on Sliekje's Digi Stamps, where I actually found about 10 images I hope to use soon! This is also going to be used for the Stars and Stamps Mid-Week Throwdown, which calls for Masculine cards...


 Besides the digi from Sliekje, I used dark brown and dark blue generic cardstock, a SU sentiment, and SU markers. I also used a sponge to distress the edges with Memories ink (another technique I learned from OWH... although I didn't have a distressing tool like the one Sandy used in the OWH UStream TV practice run last night!!)

It's only my 1st and I hope to improve on this, but I'd love some feedback!

Thanks for visiting!!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

OWH- Masculine MWT Challenge

This week's MidWeek Challenge for OWH Stars and Stamps is to make a masculine card for our heroes to send home to their men and/or boys. I wasn't going to participate because I have a really hard time making masculine cards BUT.... since I've been venturing out of my comfort zone lately I have found that I am learning a lot about cardmaking!!

This card took me about 3 1/2 hours to make!! I used papers from Tada and Stampin' Up, a stamped sentiment from Stampin' Up, and a roll of rope string I found in my husband's toolbox! Oh, and the star was cut with my Cricut!

If you are struggling with ideas on masculine cards, I encourage you to visit Stars and Stamps for some great samples!!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Toilet Paper Rolls?!?!?

I've seen a card holder made out of toilet paper rolls somewhere and decided to search for it on YouTube...  (I typed in "tutorial toilet paper roll")

Create! with Dee had a tutorial on mini albums that was so clear and easy, so I thought I'd try it! She uses 3 rolls to make the mini album, but I only used 1, to be used as a gift card holder or a tag card holder.... you can use your imagination on different ideas! (This link will take you to her home page and it's listed under 'Mini Album.' I recommend watching the 13 minute video as she gives some good ideas on it!)






I'm not at the point of making tutorials, but I can tell you that all I did was smooshed the roll and covered it using a 5"x6" designer paper (my apologies to the designer, but I can't remember which pack it was pulled out of!). Then I embellished it with flowers I got at one of the Scrapbook Expo's a few years ago. I also cut a tag and used a Stampin' Up rub-on to fancy it up a little!

It was really very simple and similar to making a card.... so give it a try and let me know how yours comes out!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

And The Winner Is.....

Maxine!!!

I'm going to send you an email and your cards will be in the mail by the end of next week!!

THANK YOU ALL for supporting me and my obsession!!!

20 Followers!!!

WHOOO HOOO!!! I finally hit 20 followers!! On November 3rd I posted that when I reach 20 I would give away a free 5-pack of cards.... I've already put all your names on a list on random.org so I am going to ramdomize them and reveal the winner......

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

OWH Mid-Week Throwdown Challenge

This week's Mid-Week Throwdown Challenge for Operation Write Home's Stars and Stamps Blog was to create a card using the colors Red, White, Blue, and Kraft...

Serious challenge for me because I didn't even know what the color 'kraft' was! (I'm a primary color kinda girl!!) Little did I know I had been using this color a lot, but I just called it 'brown'! And I had never used it with red, white and blue!



 (the white border isn't part of the card!)

Anyway, once I got started I couldn't stop! I ended up making about 10 cards in these colors, and still find myself going back to them once in a while!!

Here are a couple I came up with for Valentine's Day....



And the last one is the card I made for the OWH FaceBook page on the day of President Obama's State of the Union Speech...  (I think it's my favorite!)



Thanks so much for stopping by!
Enjoy!!

PS... Did I mention that when I get to 20 followers I'm giving away a 5-pack of cards?!?!?

Sunday, February 6, 2011

OWH to the Rescue!! SKETCH #55

I've been sitting her for about 3 hours with a total creator's block!! I FINALLY went to www.owhstarsandstamps.org and #55 sketch was exactly what I needed!!!

The 1st card I'm showing is the card I made for the sketch, and it may even fit in with the Saturday Seminar Series #1 (creating a focal point)....





The 2nd card is the same card but I thought it was missing something, so I added a sentiment....


I'm not sure how this one fits in with the focal point, but I like it a little more than the 1st card!!

Your input would be greatly appreciated!!  And THANKS for stopping by!!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

OWH Saturday Seminar Series #1b

At the risk of seeming obsessive, I couldn't wait to take the advice from Velda and Sandy on my last cards!! Here is the 2nd remake....  (the sentiment isn't blurry on the actual card!)






Here's the 'before' in case you missed it...

What do you think???

OWH Saturday Seminar Series #1

OWH is hosting an amazing seminar! (And it's free to us... an extra bonus!!) Paula, a graphic designer, will be teaching us how to add to and improve on our skills. (Please click on the badge to the right for detailed info on this.)

The 1st lesson is creating a focal point. I'm using a card I made and posted last week that came out nice, but is really spread out over the card. There isn't really a central focal point...


For the remake, I chose to put the sentiment on a little bordered box and bring the butterflies in, as well as making them a little brighter instead of the same as the outside border. And used red ribbon...


NOW... here's where you come in!! Leave me some feedback and tell me the 1st thing you focused on when you saw this.

Although I think I followed the guide of creating a focal point, now I feel like something is missing on the left.... hopefully, one of the future series lessons will tell me what to do about that!!

Thanks for stopping by and PLEASE leave some feedback!!