Birthday Greeting!

My daughter's birthday is fast approaching, so that has been my last assignment before this chaos gets all sealed up!  On top of everything else, I just got the call that they are showing this house again today!!! Boxes everywhere!  Ugh!  Oh well....whatcha gonna do? 

I made this card to enter in the Polka Doodles Homemade Embellies card challenge.

I love the metal butterfly. Simple! Just cut a soda can up, and run it through your Cuttlebug with the butterfly die and then emboss with the same set!  Be very careful!  The edges will be very sharp! I suggest NOT giving this to anyone under the age of 16!
Well, better "fly" myself!  I can at least make a path for folks through the boxes!!!

Monday Morning!

What a crazy weekend!  We decided on a house and signed all the paperwork, and will get the keys on October 15th!  So, needless to say, I've been packing up stuff anticipating the movers on the following Wednesday. My scrapbook room is in a sad state...

I am having a hard time letting go, even if for only two weeks until I get everything organized at the new place.  It's "just one more card..." or "I need to send out my SLT cards to the kids!"   I have lots of excuses, but have pretty much run out of time. I just have to tell myself that I'll make up for it later.

PHINDY"S PLACE is having a really cute challenge this week. The theme is CUTE. Well, I usually don't do really cute, only boy cute. But I got out the pinks and purples, and grabbed the freebie on thier website, "Petticoat Patty".  With limited products at my disposal, I put this card together that will be sent to Harley, my little gal from Send Love Today.

The papers were some old Miss Elizabeth's I bought at the Dollar Store years ago, I colored "Patty" with my Copics, and made a little tulle flower with a bling center. The bee was a little button I had left over from an ancient project.

The second card was for the challenge over at Shirleys2Girls, or S2G.  The only requirement is that you have the word BOO on the card.  Well, needing to make some Halloween cards on the run before we move, I made my first out of eight that I'll send out.  

The ghost with balloon is a free image I downloaded some time ago and didn't tag (I THINK it may be a Dustin Pike), the "B" is a chipboard piece that I covered with paper and ran through my Cuttlebug with my new Tim Holtz folder, Circles.  And the "O"s, well you know those little Bazzill washer-looking things? I bought a BUNCH of them last year at the sale. Don't have a clue what to really use most of them for!  So I painted two of them black, and those became my "o's.  It gave the card some depth and weight. Wrapped the little balloon floss through them, and done! Oh, and I love the font that I found on my computer (have no idea where half of these came from) called KA Monster. It even has little skulls on the letters!

These cards are also entered in the Polka Doodles card challenge asking for examples of our homemade embellies! The tulle flower was my very first attempt at making the fabric flowers. ( hint, hint: Tulle is NOT the easiest thing to start with! ) and I thought using the Bazzill pieces was kinda clever....


Well, except for a Birthday Card for my daughter, I'm done until after the move.  I'll post it here in the next few days, and then quit...I have to. The house doesn't pack itself!  :)

Big Paper Tower Giveaway!

Priscilla Styles is having a Paper Tower Huge Contest Giveaway !



The Original Scrap Box is celebrating Back to School with an awesome new product-- The Paper Tower! This is the perfect storage solution for paper lovers and scrapbookers everywhere and The Original Scrapbox is giving one away! Paper Tower (value up to $545.00)



The Paper Tower was designed as a companion to the Workbox and Craftbox line of brilliant storage solutions from The Original Scrapbox.

There are so many possibilities with the Paper Tower. It can be used for any type of crafting storage from quilting to beading to stamping. Store your material, paper, stamps, accessories, anything your heart desires. The see-through totes make organizing a snap and I love the handy velcro storage bags on the inside of the door!

This is the answer to so many of my storage problems!  All those tiny items that are constantly getting lost or misplaced!
Check out the contest and maybe one of us will win!  Good Luck!

Dragon Doodles Does It Again!

It's time for another great Dragon Doodles card challenge!  This week it is a MASCULINE card using products that are less glitter and lace, and more plaid and manly.  Which was a fantastic theme since I wanted to send my grandson an "I miss you" message anyway! 
The inside reads, "I really, really miss you!"
I used pattern paper from ChatterBox, inked the card edges, distressed the edge of the plaid paper, "stitched" around the edge, printed the message in a juvenile font, then stamped the notebook lines on the journaling tag with Stampin' Up in artichoke ink. I have yet to meet a Dragon Doodle image I don't like!

Since 90% of my scrap room is now in packed away for our move, this will probably one of my last cards for a few weeks....eek!  Going through withdrawals already.  I think I felt my hands tremble as I put my papers and supplies in boxes today!  I MAY be able to dig out a few papers and sneak in a project or two before the BIG day!

The Holidays are here!

I have officially started the Christmas holidays here at our house!  Amidst the packing and the stress, I made the first Christmas card of 2010!  For this card challenge, I used the image provided called "Harriet".  Since I am a sucker for all things vintage, she stole my heart!  Go over to Waltzing Mouse Stamp blog, and check out all of the gorgeous cards submitted for this challenge! I'll also be able to submit it at the Waltzing Mouse Sketch challenge (see below).  Talk about "two birds with one stone"!  That's good, because these days, I barely have time to figure out what's getting moved, and what isn't!  I love Freecycle!

The papers used were all Bo Bunny, and I used my Copics to add her personality and that cute little ermine coat!  You can't really see it well in the photo, but the gift is silver and her hair bow is gold.  Both I colored with Sakura pens.  She looks just like she stepped out of a Charles Dickens book.

Thanks for looking!  Have a pleasant 'hump-day"!

Here is the sketch for this week's Waltzing Mouse Sketch challenge!  Easy Peasy!

This card was also entered in the Skipping Stones sketch challenge with a very similiar sketch!

Good Times!

For World Card Making Day, I pulled out some projects I had been working on and decided to FINISH a few! Thanks to ALL of the scrap blogs who help encourage all of us to get those cards made!  This one actually worked out well for the 9/14 challenge over at Sassy 'Lil Sketches and this week's challenge at I (Heart) to Stamp!. I love my Ippity stamps from the Thoughts2Paper store, and if it weren't for the DT over there, I would still be afraid to step out of my little box! Thanks, girls!
Well, I won't be doing much the next two weeks. Starting to pack up my scrap room and anticipating my new space !  Kinda sad and kinda exciting....  Maybe I'll just leave THIS box open, and these Copics out, and maybe this ribbon box. And I can always pack this stack of pattern paper the last minute....oh, oh, this is going to be harder than I thought!

PLAY BALL!

One of the September sketch challenges at Sassy Lil' Sketches was this adorable three-photo layout! I decided it worked better "weightwise" with my pictures of my grandson by FLIPPING the page, with the title on the left and the baseball embellie and swirl on the right!  I've been asked what paper line I used for the "newspaper srticle" used in the background...well, being frugal to a fault, it is an actual scanned article from our local Arizona Republic! I printed it onto tan paper and aged it on the edges.

 This one will go in my mother's (great-grandma's)  8 X 8 album.   Future Diamondback?  Probably not....

Home Tweet Home

This week's Waltzing Mouse sketch challenge is shown below. This is the card I made to send out to a friend who, like us, is moving this next month!

It was so very easy using the DCWV paper pack, Songbird. I simply fussy cut the bird houses (popping center one up), cut the flower with my Cricut, and stamped the sentiment with a stamp from Jillibean Soup. 

                                               Waltzing Mouse card sketch
Enjoy your day!

Graphics Card

My mother's birthday is this weekend, and I wanted to make something she would cherish. I made this card using the Graphic 45 Domestic Goddess image and Rennaissance Faire in the background. The black rose and ribbon added the perfect balance with the metal embellie. And guess what that was?  A corner reinforement on an old office storage piece!  Just tore it off the cardboard!

So, here you go, Liz, the glue isn't even dry yet! LOL!  I plan on decorating a small birdcage and stand to match, and will post that later this week when I get it finished!

                    Graphic 45 rules!  Love all of the collections!

This Week's Card Challenges

This week's card challenge at Some Odd Girl, is Monochromatic.  I love the use of colors that are all in the same color family, but when you have to choose ONLY those colors, it does get tempting to go outside that box!  Here is my Yellow/Orange card that I made. It will be sent to my little gal from Send Love Today. She just started riding the bus to kindergarten, and started chemo treatments the same week. She has had a rather rough time of it.  I hope this cheers her up a bit!

I also entered this card in the sketch challenge above from Skipping Stones Designs.  They have some really sweet and easy layouts!
The image is "Bussie" from Some Odd Girls, (the freebie provided for their challenges), pattern paper from DCWV, some Bazzill ric-rak, and a Bazzill paper flower that I spritzed with my Copics. I liked the retro look of the card even though Harley's much too young to "get it".  LOL!

OOOPS! I DID IT AGAIN....

Yea, went to the Bazzill Warehouse Sale on Friday and spent more than I had planned to! Hahaha! Funny, that happens all the time! It was a fantabulus time, for sure!

I went with a new scrap buddy, Kim, and we had a blast! Laughed and talked till my throat was raw, and spent more time looking for LSS's than anything else! I can see more road trips and "girl trouble" ahead! I also can't wait till I get my new scrappin' digs set up at the new house! I scored big time on a tall paper storage rack at Bazzill that will hold ALL my new and old cardstock and then some. No reason to be unorganized now. They also had the cutest little accordian books for 25 cents that I can't wait to see what I can turn them into!

Yesterday was my annual Wildlife Rehabbers symposium at the Fish and Game here in Arizona. Learned a lot, got to see my old friends from Fallen Feathers and good friends, Pam and Mark from the Lake Havasu Rescue. We were even given a behind-the-scenes tour of the new Wildlife Zoo Aquarium in Surprise. Very cool....


I am calling it a weekend! Whew! Gotta start in tomorrow doing some serious packing (everything except my scrap stuff, that is) and catch up on all the blogs I haven't read in days!


Hope your weekend was a good one, too!

Monday's Cards

Dragondoodles sketch challenge for this week is all about

Fall Colors!

To qualify for the prize you must use a DDS image and the colors BROWN, RED & ORANGE...!

For this card, I simply used my Copics to color the image, and stamped and inked some paper for the background. The little spider on the web is a Karen Foster rub-on, with the second being hand drawn. (It simply needed a friend!

Popped Title!

My second was a card I needed for a little four year old girl who is having a difficult time adjusting to school. After I took the photo, I decided that it needs some lavender stickles on the frame, too!  Little girls can't have too much bling, right?

Making Memories flowers and a sentiment stamp from Studio G.

There's small strip of SEI pattern paper stuck in there, too!

 Easy Peasy card!

This card will be entered in the Skipping Stones sketch challenge for the week.

Simple but sweet!

Vintage Truck Card

Had to whip together a masculine birthday card this afternoon, so I decided to use the sketch from the Waltzing Mouse card challenge again.  They have such great layout ideas!  I wish I had some of their stamps, but you can't start out new with every one's!  Someday soon....

Anyway, here's what I came up with in an hour.

Papers: Gin-X and Road Trip;  Nestibilities, Labels Four; Copics markers; Sakura Silver pen on grill and bumpers; Helmar adhesive.
I'm going to enter this one in the WaltzingMouse card challenge, too!

Dragon Doodles Challenge Winner! ME!

Oh my gosh! I am soooo excited! I just found out that I won the Fancy Fold Card Challenge at the Dragon Doodles Blog!  Dustin, you're the greatest! Thanks, Jenn, for telling me! I wouldn't have been on the wesbite until tomorrow if I hadn't seen your comment!  Sooo, my heart rate is slowly coming back down to normal, and I've emailed or text everyone I know to tell them!  So, patting myself on the back just a bit and trying to figure out how to "grab the blinkie". Yea, still a novice when it comes to the blogging....wheee!

A Blogaversary Celebration Announcement!

Lelia, over at Green Goddess Creations, is having a great giveaway until Oct 1st! Check out her blog and all her great projects!
Simply leave a comment telling why and when YOU started blogging, then link up and post on your own blog.  You could win some fantastic prizes!  I'm partial because Lelia is a big Dustin Pike fan, too! (Dragon Doodles Design Team)   Gotta love those dragons!

Dragon Doodles Fancy Fold Challenge!

This week's challenge over at DragonDoodles is "fancy folds"! Dustin has some of the the most adorable dragon images, and he does so much for chairty besides! Since I am fairly new to cardmaking, my folds are quite limited. However, I decided to turn a gate fold on it's side and "dangle" a dragon! I think he came out pretty cute! He is 3D, popped up several layers. The card stands up on it's own and delivers a clear, thoughtful message! Wish me luck!

I also kept this sketch in mind when I made it for the challenge over at Waltzingmouse! Check out the website for that design team's gorgeous and fun projects!

Thanks for looking! Have a great weekend!

Kaiser Advent Project!

My Resolution Advent Calendar for Moxie Fab World!
Who I am... is just the beginning of who I wish to become.

I was fortunate enough to get this Kaiser product from my freind, Liz, before they were sold out this year! I have tried for several years to purchase one, and always with no luck!
I wanted to do something different than the usual Christmas project, so I decided to concentrate on the goals I had for the coming year. (I know, this is only September) But I had no idea how long it would sit untouched in the packaging before I even started it! Yea, you know what I mean! My future plans are to add numbers to the tiny little drawers to co-ordinate with a list of 20 goals I have written out for myself for 2011. Wish me luck! Each numbered drawer will hold a special treat or reward, like permission to get a new pair of jeans when I lose my first 5 lbs! A new blouse for my final 10! And some more personal goals that will have to be on my own honor system to myself! (ex: more patience with family, getting more rest, etc)

The papers were mostly from Mr Webster's Pages with the images fussy cut and layered with pop dots for a 3D appearance. The drawers were decorated with all sorts of textiles and buttons from my stash. I added the Prima flower to cover the fact that the corner of the box did not match up perfectly! Any of you who have assembled one of these knows they are not as cut and dry as they try to make it look! But well worth the effort. I added dew drops to the leaves and petals to give it a realistic feel! The entire outer frame was crackle finished. I love the final product and will enjoy it for a long time!

I was lucky enough to finish this project just in time for the "Decor to Make the Season Bright Challenge" in the Moxie Fab World ! Love the holidays!

How was it done?

This is the original photo I took in Zion National Park while on vacation there last month. I wanted to share with you how I printed The Raven picture in my Alice's Hallows Eve mini-album.

Then, in order to make minor color changes, I opened it in Photoshop and changed it to Black and White.

Then comes the cool part. I wanted to print it onto something with some texture....hmmm... My large format printer has been acting up, so I was leary of sending a piece of fabric through it! Sooo, I decided to put the Coredinations cardstock to the test! I sanded down the center of a 4 x 6 piece of Black with White core, leaving some of the black heavier around the edges. I then printed the image directly onto the cardstock, trimmed it to size, and lightly inked around the sides where I thought it needed a bit more shading!

I love the effect! It was easier than fabric to print and to adhere to my mini-album page. Hope this helps some of you who have been hesitant about printing onto odd materials! No taping fabric to paper, no stiffener needed. Just sand and go!

The Coredinations cardstock can be purchased at the Thoughts2paper store!

Have fun and Happy Hallows Eve!

Alice's Hallows Eve Mini

I love the new Halloween in Wonderland collection from Graphics 45! Of course, I love ALL the papers from graphics!
This month I put together a mini-album for Thoughts2paper using this great set of pattern papers!
The characters are vivid and the images so imaginative, it worked perfectly for my Halloween project.
I wanted to make a book that would entertain my grandson, not only this Halloween, but for years to come. I chose to include poems and songs that both he and I like. I printed and found ways to journal the entire "The Raven" and Spider and the Fly" poems, along with some of his favorite songs and poems. Have a look!


The "pocketwatch" is actually a locket from JoAnn's. The title is done by cutting strips of the Cordinations cardstock. white with black core, and running it through my old Label Buddy and sanded. See my other post to see how the "raven" photo was printed!

Now, when guests come and hang out, they can browse through this album and recall some of the memories we had as children and as adults!

Thanks Liz, from Thoughts2paper. Best project yet!

T2P September Sketch Challenge

The sketch challenge over at Thoughts2Paper was a fairly easy one this month! I loved the fact that I had no problem applying it to a card and used my leftover papers I had used on my KaiserCraft Advent Calendar one more time!
Here's the sketch! Thanks, Del, loved it!

Here's my card! Anytime I can use the sketch challenge to work double-duty, I'm thrilled. Everyone is doing Back-to-School, so thought I'd switch it up.

This card will be sent to one of my Send Love Today kids. I know those of you who read my blog are probably getting tired of hearing about SLT, but these folks do so much for young people with cancer! The volunteers send cards to kids and young adults all over the country who are dealing with any type of cancer, but especially brain cancers. I found the group after my uncle had passed away. He had suffered a long time with what started as a brain tumor. If you have a few extra minutes a week, or an extra card here and there, you may want to look into it! SendLoveToday.org! It feels good to know these cards are going to help someone feel just a little better today.

And note for today: You can't pop up too many images!! Use those Pop Dots!