July = DONE!

Aah... caught up, again! Here I am sneezing, coughing, cramping, etc... and all I can think about is that it's the last day of July. If I don't get my cards done, I won't be on the list for the people that have done all the cards for the month! The tragedy! The embarrassment! The craziness!

Day 150 at 365

The challenge was to use a homophone. I chose dear/deer. I think the inside will say "You're old!" or something else really sweet like that. We'll see. I usually leave insides blank until I'm going to use the card. I used Friendly Forest papers from Colorbok. These are really awesome. The card not so much. This is apparently what your brain looks like on ink.

Here's the sketch for day 148
My take:


I started this on Sunday... It is now Friday. I am angry at this card. It may show in my treatment of it. I had the embossed cardstock and the brads on Sunday then I did various other things that amazingly looked worse than this. All I can say is that this should make you smile if for nothing else that you're laughing at the horribly awful card. So that's it... done with the self-deprecating humor for now.

Happy weekend to all you suckers that work! lol!

Just keep it rolling...

Here are some more for today... Getting my butt in gear!

I used this sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You... loosely My spin:
This is for day #153 at 365 cards. We had to use a journaling tag. This one is from Cosmo Cricket. I inked everything. I've been playing with my new Cuttlebug and Fiskars plates, so I had all these scraps that I'd already embossed. I inked them and pretty much just stuck them on the card. I even inked the buttons! This didn't photograph very well. In real life, it's pretty cool and fairly odd! Lol

And the bonus sketch from 2 sketches for you:

my take:

This one is such crap... lol! This is for day 152. You had to make a flap on your card. I don't know why, but I really don't like things like that. The scallop is a flap that lifts up to show an orange Clemson paw print on a navy background. I made this for a friend of mine. This fall we'll have known each other 10 years. The Clemson theme is an homage to where we met.

Last but not least... day 151 "YOU CAN DO IT!" I've never even watched the Waterboy the entire way through, but I can't seem to say that without making the Rob Schneider voice. Am I the only one? Probably. Anyway, I used some Colorbok chipboard and some Cosmo Cricket papers, a fine tip sharpie and voila. Easy peasy!

Probably more coming from me today... so head back!

Argh...

Once again, I am sick! My birthday was Wednesday and instead of being out doing something fun... I was in the house drowning in Kleenex and... well, you can guess the other things I was drowning in. And now... now, I still have a cold (it's getting better), but my husband has caught the cold (so no taking care of me) and I got my period the night of my birthday. I know that's too much info, but seriously, I must be being punished for something!! LOL. I do have to say I am amazingly lucky in life all year round, so I guess I can deal with a bad week... couldn't it have been next week, though?

So, I'm hopping back on the card train. Want to make sure this reader is appreciated ;-)

Here's my sponging card: The arrow is a little 'off', but I like it anyway. The tag is from Cosmo Cricket. I used the raindrops fiskars texture plate. Broken china distress ink and then some random browns for the card. Anyway, tons of sponging, so challenge complete!

Now for last Saturday's challenge, I chose to scraplift Gloria:
I love everything about this card and I thought Cosmo Cricket week was awesome! Here's my take... it pails in comparison, but it's not bad.

I think the flower didn't quite do what I wanted it to, but that's ok. Also, you can't really see my embossing on the white. It's another fiskars texture plate. I love working with them!

I'm looking at the man in the mirror...

It seems wrong to just be blogging about one card...

So, I'm posting this video from Wed's So You Think You Can Dance. I thought it was pretty powerful. You'll like it even if you're not interested in dance! Plus it's only really a little over 2 minutes... the rest is just the judges praising the piece and bawling.

Now here's my card for day 146 at 365

Here's the Limelight sketch I used. Which was inspired by the sweet Amy! Way to go Amy! So, the sketch is obvious... 365's challenge was to make it symmetrical. The sentiment didn't have to be, but I didn't add one, so that solves that. i thought the ornament spoke for its self. I'm not too sure what the smudge is on the card, but that was unintentional. Oh, well! Hmm... now let me think about the details. Ek Success scallop punch. Cosmo Cricket "Early Bird" paper. Anna Griffin rub-on. Random ribbon. Oh, and you're just going to have to pretend that the ribbons are symmetrical. That's the best I can do.

I was sort of hoping tomorrow's challenge would pop up before I went to bed. Tomorrow is going to be crazy and I like to finish these things in the same week. I think I'm getting a tad OCD with these things. It's not like I have any real need to do these... but it really stresses me out when I don't finish them on these days. I think 365 is giving me a new mental disorder (to add to my arsenal). lol

Night ladies!

It's a long one...

I'm back... with a vengeance! I've been extremely sick, the dog got neutered, we went out of town and we're having a house guest this weekend... So, crafting has taken a backseat, until today!

365' s

inspiration:
My take:

My husband looked at me like I was nuts when he saw this one... whatever. It's bizarre and I don't really care. I do feel like I whipped through some of these just to catch up!

Paper and parrot are from DCWV Animal Crackers
Cosmo Cricket letters
Inkadinkado butterfly stamp and crayola colored pencils


the sketch:
the inspiration:

the card:

This one is for a lot of challenges... Again, I am obsessed with catching up!

Here we go:

365 cards ~ 144 layers (pop dotted circle, I didn't glue down the leaves, brads and distressing on the strips)

Mojo Monday ~ sketch above

Lili of the valley ~ use animals (owl)

Rubbernecker stamps ~ circles (main circle and brads)

Pink Elephant ~ animals

Paper Bloom ~ animals

Heart Hugs ~ etsy inspired, see the pin cushion above (I found this one afterward, but thought the paper went perfectly!)

Supplies:

owl and flower paper ~ DCWV Green stack (my new fave... love the wonky eyes on the owl!)

brads ~ we r memory keepers

random cardstock

ooh... and I used my new Tim Holtz edge distresser. A lovely time saver!




#143

365's challenge was to create a sympathy card without a sentiment on the outside.

Stampin' B's just wants to use a butterfly (easy enough)

The paper is DCWV luxury stack and I used my new Heidi Swapp butterfly masks.



Twilight...

365 was to be inspired by Twilight (movie or books) and you had to use a black card base, red patterned paper and bling or sparkles.

I am an avid reader, but have managed to stay away from Twilight. Not really my cup of tea... different strokes for different folks, I guess.

So, I had to do some research and found this quote online. It's from one of the books, I think.

Paper is Autumn Leaves "Pretty Poppies" collection. This has been in the clearance section at Michael's for the last few weeks. Oh, and all the brads are We R Memory Keepers. My husband made a comment that I'm never going to use up all my brads (I have a ridiculous amount), so I've set out to prove him wrong!





365 sketchy Sunday

My take:

I got a bridal shower invite in the mail today and I promptly dismantled it! lol. So, the drinks are from the invite (should be a good shower). The background paper is from the DCWV animal crackers stack and the rub on is Anna Griffin.

I thought this would be a great Christmas card for some of my Fl. friends.

Truly Scrumptious sketch

My take:

Sorry the pic is blurry. It's for a couple challenges, again:

Truly Scrumptious ~ sketch

365 ~ use paint ( the background is completely painted and inked and I dry brushed over cuttlebug embossed paper)

Pile It On ~ use orange on the majority of your card.

Ooh, did I tell you guys I finally got a Cuttlebug?? I also got a bunch of fiskars plates and have been going nuts!! I LOVE BIRTHDAYS! and it's not even here yet!


Last one...

This one is just paper piercing for 365. You can't tell, but it is pierced around the bird. I used my Heidi Swapp masks again and a Cuttlebug folder. This was a throw together, but I kind of like it.

If any of you are still reading, thanks! Have a great night. I vow never to get this behind again. It stresses me out!


Oh, and here's a video of the dog with his collar on after his surgery. Awesome!

Typical...

Hey Ladies (and gents)! I hope everyone is enjoying their Thursday.

Here's a pic of a baby lizard I found outside the house. Just remember he is on one book. His body is about as long as my middle finger. These things are everywhere. They seem to finally have learned not to come inside the house after the cat killed half of their population. I've never seen a little one before, so I had to take a few snaps. On to today's challenges... I loosely based my card on this kitchen sink sketch:

I love their stamp sets! Here's mine:

I couldn't get this picture or the colors right... Oh, well. This is for 365 day 138 and SPCC color challenge (kiwi, chocolate chip, baja breeze or aqua, and deep raspberry). I added some yellow, but it was obviously necessary for the cake! My quote is from the 50 cent song, "21 Questions." Typical suburban white girl rockin' my gansta' rap. LOL. I'm not too thrilled with this, but I still love the quote and might try this again sometime. If I were business minded, I think I would make some stamp sets with semi-irreverent sayings... for "wrong" sense of humors like mine.

Oh, and if you haven't checked Pandora out yet... DO IT NOW!

You can create your own radio station. It's awesome to be able to combine Counting Crows, 50 Cent, Anne Murray ... whatever your eclectic taste is. It's awesome! Trust me!

p.s. I found someone else's blog that said they hated blogger's spell check and I agree... It doesn't recognize lol, scrapping, gangsta'... come on, blogger get with the times!

The ties that bind

OK, now that I'm semi-awake...

Here's all the stuff I did yesterday. Check out the post below, too for some blog candy and my return to Scrapbooking. On a side note, Internet, have you tried coconut M&M's?? I was a little scared, but they are really good. The first one you eat is a little weird as you get used to it, but I find the next 50 go down just fine!

Here's the current Mojo sketch:And here's my spin: Not much of a spin, I know...

This one also worked for Stampin' B's who wanted only neutrals this week. I thought that was going to be super difficult, but it resulted in one of my favorite cards, go figure... Just saw that Rubber Necker's latest challenge totally works with this (I think).

Supplies:

inked background paper ~ fiskars black ink (I have a small square ink pad that came with something and I just stamped it randomly on the background)

bird stamp ~ Hampton Art

patterned paper ~ ?? wish I knew... I have a HUGE pile of paper that all came from the same manufacturer and no idea where it came from.

wood grain ribbon ~ Label tulip kit (some of their previous kits are on sale!)

Flowers ~ Prima and they're velvet!

brad ~ creative imaginations

Now for 365's card of the day...
Here's the outside. Lots and lots of Cosmo Cricket going on here! For this challenge we had to bind something. I used my gromlets since I have about 3 million of them (We R Memory Keepers). Does anyone else just use their crop-a-dile as an expensive hole-punch/paper weight? The brown paper is My mind's Eye and the ribbon is SEI or SIE... I think it's SEI. I'm sure you all know, anyway!

Now for the inside...

Ugh! I thought I was going to bed yesterday at around 2 and then came these rub-ons. They are from October Afternoon and they came in last month's Label Tulip kit. I generally don't like letter rub-ons anyway, because I just would rather have stickers. These were a nightmare. I had to use my bone folder and each letter took at least 10 minutes to put on. The green paper will actually not lay flat on the inside of the card b/c I had to press so hard on the letters so the center is bowed. I hope this is not normal for their rub-ons, but I'm pretty sure I won't be buying any in the near future! Oh, and this card will say Happy 55 on the bottom... my Mom will be officially a senior in a little over a month. She really enjoys being reminded of this fact. (p.s. peak at the post below for some photos of Mom and me in the 80's).


This is a Truly Scrumptious sketch:

Here's what I did:

This is the one where I can tell that I'm tired... LOL! The cards just get weird! I have no idea what this will be for, but it is making me laugh at how ridiculous it is. The monster/cutie is a digi stamp that I found in one of my obsessive searches (don't know from where - I'll get back to you on that one). The rest of it is random scraps and some thickers (my new love) and some Colorbok jewels that I placed together to try to make a flower...

Super Sketchy Sunday at 365...

My spin:

I really wish you could see my creative process... It really involves what I can find in front of me at that very moment. LOL. I feel like this would have been better if i had sought out some different papers, but it's not my favorite color combo, so maybe that's the problem. Also, this was for the Rubber Necker challenge, but it ended... oh well!

Supplies:

more paper that I can not identify... the green piece is Jenny Bowlin

ribbon ~ 5 for $1 AC Moore

stamp ~ Label Tulip

I think the inside will say... "You are old." I'm pretty sure all my older relatives really like getting these cards. They may cry, but secretly, I think they're really glad to get something from the heart... They're really secretive about it, though.

Now, go check out the post below for the candy! and the Scrapbooking!

You know you want to!

Sweet like candy to my soul...

First things first, here are the latest candy listings I've found:

http://franmade.blogspot.com/2009/07/birthday-candy.html

and

http://crystalkbk.blogspot.com/

One of these times I'm bound to win... right??

Here's a sketch from Studio Calico: Here are some close ups of the small pics... sorry they're blurry.
Mom and I on the steps in Germany around 1985.

Mom, Lance and I on the street in Augsburg around 1985.

I finally got back to scrapping. I opened up my Label Tulip kit from June and couldn't help myself. The journaling reads "My mother 1972 to circa 1985. I was always told I looked like my Dad, but the older I get I see a lot of my Mom. I love having her senior picture! The pictures of us in Germany bring back my best memories!" "Ever the fashion plates! From Mom's flannel shirt to my overalls (Osh Kosh no doubt) to Lance's 'fest' hat and my red coat. Love it all!" Title reads "A Mother holds her child's hand for a while and forever holds their heart."

Almost everything here is Cosmo Cricket.


This one is a scraplift, so here is Danielle's original:

Here's mine:

Pretty darn similar... Again, I think it's all Cosmo Cricket... maybe a little Jenny Bowlin here and there. The only things I really changed from the original was adding journaling around the edges and I punched out the die-cuts and no ribbon. Oh, and the croc paper in the background (not attached just a bg for the photo) is Anna Griffin and it is as awesome as you might imagine! The title here is "This makes my heart sing." and all the journaling reads"This was taken at our Rehearsal dinner. One of my favorite pictures of Mom-mom! It captures her spirit so well!" And around the circle, "Always on the move, never sitting still. Full of Life. She never misses a beat and would really be upset if she did miss something. Stylin' in her pink 'suit'. Fun and witty. Always ready to eat. Staying up with the times. Loving Grandmother."

Also, check out this link for some great freebies:

http://labeltulip.blogspot.com/2009/07/birthday-countdown-8-more-days-freebie.html

p.s. I just found out that Label Tulip's July kit features bamboo letters. I have been coveting these for a while! I'm super excited to get them in the mail so I can drool over them and never use them in a project (b/c I don't want to waste them... lol).

Another day... another challenge

I'm sitting here staring at this screen and completely blanking out on what I wanted to say. I have been ridiculously tired for about 2 weeks now and it's really affecting the creative energy. Anyway, here's my stuff for today:

Day 136 at 365 cards What's Black and white and red all over. I did this card a couple of times and I'm still not really sure about it... I guess it turned out OK, but really not my favorite. Everything used is from the Autumn Leaves "Pretty Poppy" Collection.

Then this one is day 135 at 365
You have to create a window using plastic. Again, I completed the challenge, but I feel like I phoned it in. I really liked the idea behind this one, but the end result just looks sloppy. I wanted to make the background paper (which I did), but I wanted it to look like it was raining sprinkles and ice cream cones. I guess it does, but again, it just doesn't look like what I pictured. I do want to give a shout to Purple Onion Designs. I ordered some stuff from there and they throw in some extra little stamps, one of which was this little ice cream cone. I think it's adorable! You just have to ignore my crappy coloring!

This one is for a few challenges... details below:

Challenges:

Use it! ~ add some texture (ribbon, inking, paper piecing)

at least 2 punches (flourish and photo corner both EK Success)

Paper from your favorite manufacturer (DCWV and Me and my big Ideas
Bonus * pearls (don't have any, so no bonus for me).
365 cards ~ Day #6 make it sparkly (I used glitter pens on the outfits and the punches and the actual card base has some glitter on it, trust me)

Kelly Jo's Stamp pad ~ yellow, black and white (I was late on this one, but what the heck)

Paperplay ~ fashion (I think my Hero Arts ladies are very fashionable)

Last, but not least...

Challenges:

365 cards ~ day #4 ad inspired

Cinema Saturday ~ Inspired by National Treasure (1 or 2)... tell us what you treasure.

So, I used the colors from the ad inspired challenge. Then I was thinking about what I treasure and I was looking straight at the flowers on my desk. I thought that I do treasure when my husband surprises me with flowers and getting to look at them all week while I'm working. I also treasure his smiles and him making me smile. Also, since my b-day is getting closer... I treasure rubies and red for my July/Leo b-day! I hope that's not too much of a stretch! lol.

'Cause that's my fun day...

Pretty chill day here... nothing out of the ordinary to report. We did go out to dinner last night. If anyone is in the Va. Beach area, I suggest you check out the Wicked Sisters Cafe. Good food and good atmosphere in the Va. Beach Courthouse area. I recommend the fried shrimp. It's usually a safe choice, but this was actually amazing... best I've ever had!

Now, here is the inspiration over at Libby's Little Addiction: This is Mattea. I have to say thanks to Libby for the mention on her blog! In case you were wondering, my header is a photo my husband took on one of our trips to San Fran's Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. This is a must see if you're ever in SanFrancisco!

Here is the sketch from Sweetie's sketches:

My take:

Challenges:

Simon Says ~ Paper piecing (butterfly is 2 different papers)

Sweetie's Sketches ~ Sketch (obviously)

High Hopes Stamps ~ Use Daisies (Prima flower and the flowers on the paper remind me of different kinds of daisies)

365 Cards ~ #3 trio is butterfly, flower and ribbon (check)

#59 "I Miss You" (check)

Libby's Little Addiction ~ Use Miss Mattea and her dress as inspiration ( I used the colors and took some cues from the simple floral pattern)

Supplies:

Prima flower

Crate Paper "Lillian" Collection
rick rack from May My Creative Scrapbook kit

Hope your weekend was wonderful!