Card Making Marathon Part 1 -

Hi Friends! Yesterday I decided to do a card making marathon and my goal was 20 cards but I ran out of gas at card #15. LOL! I'm posting 6 of the cards I made and I'll post the others tomorrow; otherwise my post will be too long.

I decided to use stamps and papers that I have not touched in ages. I actually brought the rubber stamps up to my room to look through and decide whether to sell them on Ebay but after making some cards with them, I decided to keep them. LOL!!! Any excuse to keep them, huh?

Rather than creating individual designs, I decided to create 3 cards of each design. It took me about 4 hours spread out throughout the day to create 15 cards. I could have created more cards if I created cards with simple designs but I decided that creating cards that I like was much better than creating a whole bunch of cards that I wouldn't feel satisfied with.


With this first card, I stamped the "Hero Arts" heart image with distressing ink on to the Stampin Up designer paper. I then cut it out and mat it on a card stock and cut it out as well. The rest of the card's design is basically adding a border using my Spellbinder Borderbilities and embellishing the heart with roses by All Natural Accents, a satin ribbon by SU and dew drops to the border. That's about it.

This was actually the first set I created and the goal was to use a stamp set that I haven't touched for such a long time. To be honest I think the last time I used the SU "Sassy Stems" set was 3 or 4 years ago. I'm serious!!! I also used a bunch of SU designer paper that I've hoarded and sort of just kept because they were too pretty to use. How silly is that? I'm a serious hoarder when it comes to retired SU designer paper. LOL.


Again, I stamped the image on to a designer paper, colored it with my Copic Markers, added dots of Scribbles paint (fabric paint), and rubbed a bit of ink to the designer paper. For the rest of the design, I basically embellished the card with dew drops, paper flower by CTMH, and adding the Making Memories Ric Rac. That's about it.

I think I'm going to do a card making marathon again. Maybe once a month. The concept of a marathon helps you to focus on creating as many cards you can using older rubber stamps, designer paper, and embellishments. The key is to choose a day where you are relatively free to create and keep your focus on a set goal of cards whether you reach that goal or not. It sort of pushes you to keep going.

Anyway. . .I'll post the other cards I created tomorrow. I have 9 more cards to show you. . .:)

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!!!!

Crazy 4 Challenges - C4C72

Hello Friends!!! Happy Saturday! Well, it's my last week to host the challenges at Crazy 4 Challenges so I decided something Shabby Chic or Vintage would be a perfect challenge. I love, love shabby chic and vintage stuff. There are times when I head to the local boutique/gift shops and antique stores in my town and just look at all all the fun creations. In Temecula, where I live we have a lot of boutiques that sell a lot of shabby chic and vintage items from jewelry, paper products, clothing, bags, and home decor. I just walk around and try to get ideas and inspirations. I wish I could make the home decor stuff myself but what would I do with them? Our house is fully decorated; there's no room to add any more stuff. I guess I could sell them on Etsy or something. I don't know. . .it's something I've thought about but well, I need money to buy materials and such. It can get costly so I'll just stick to paper crafting and jewelry right now and use the materials I already have.

So. . .the challenge this week at Crazy 4 Challenges is to create a card or project with a shabby chic or vintage element on it such silk flowers, lace, distressed paper, vintage or ephemera images, buttons, beads, french script design, metal, whatever. There are a lot of different shabby chic and vintage items you can add to your card or project.

Be sure to stop by C4C and check out the gorgeous shabby chic and vintage cards the design team created or stop by the designers' individual blogs:

* Barbara Anders

* Cindy Haffner
* Frances Byrne
* Jessie Rone
* Joanne Grzelak
* Joycelyn Pelkey
Lynda Benden
* Angela Wood
*Silke Ledlow
* Silke Kittmann
* Tammy Hershberger
Vicki Garrett

The image on my card is from "Marie's Freebies". She has a lot of pretty vintage images on her site and they're free!! Go check out her images and make your own shabby chic and vintage card. The epoxy sticker on my card says "love" in the case you can't read it. It's a translucent alpha sticker by Making Memories.

A few of the items on my card were DYI embellishments. I'm having fun creating my own embellishments. It can take a bit of work but it's less costly than having to buy them pre-made.

I created the felt flower myself by cutting petals shapes and sewing them together to create a flower. I had to sew them together because when I tried to glue them together, it took forever to dry. To give it a bit of a vintage look, I added a metal vintage style button. I dyed the seam binding (Hug Snug) myself using Walnut ink to create a vintage looking ribbon. I topped it off by creating my own beaded pin. It's very simple to create. It's just a sewing pin with a gold pin head and I added additional beads.

Hey scroll down to my previous post and check out the very first beaded necklace I made. If you love Prima flowers, I think you'll like it. . .:)

Anyway, that's it for today! Hope you all have a beautiful Saturday!!!!

My First Necklace. . .Artsy Fartsy Prima Crochet Polymer Clay Necklace

Hey Friends!!! Happy Friday! Hey I created my very first necklace! It's kinda artsy fartsy with a mixed media approach to it. I've been experimenting in my crafty laboratory trying to come up with different stuff and learning new jewelry making, crocheting, polymer clay techniques. Some came out cool, some not so much. LOL! I really haven't been able to complete a project because I've been playing around with different materials and such. Because I'm new to these crafts, well I'm a bit slow and just feeling my way through it. For example, yesterday was the first time I clamped the ends of a jewelry wire using a crimper. I need some practice. . .LOL! I also experienced a bit of grief with my polymer clay. . .the clay wasn't holding together very well because it appeared to be a little dry and hard to knead. I looked up how to remedy the problem and found that there is a clay softner and yay, it solved my problem. Stuff like that . . .just trying to figure how things work. It's fun but it can be time consuming.

Anyway, back to my necklace. If you've read my post about my new hobby - jewelry making, I've talked about how pricey large pendants and charms are. Ugggh! So I decided to find different ways to make a large "pendant" without breaking the bank. One good way is to create your own pendants using polymer clay or using your scrapbook and stamping materials. Fabric and yarn is also a good way to create a large pendant. It's sort of artsy fartsy and non-traditional as far as beaded jewelry is concerned but hey, whatever works and honestly, I kinda like it looking a bit unique. At least you'll know that your stuff is one of a kind!


Okay, just a bit of info on my pendant. Yes, it's a Prima flower bedded on a crochet flower. I did apply Outdoor Mod Podge to the Prima so it's weather and water proof. The Outdoor Mod Podge causes the Prima to dry stiff so it's almost like a polymer clay flower. It won't tear or fall apart. I did crochet the flower and secured the Prima flower with glue and wire so it won't fall off.

I also created my own pearly beads using white clay and brushing Pearl Ex to the beads before baking. I then polished it after baking so the Pearl Ex won't rub off and stain your clothing. I could have sealed it with a glaze but I didn't want the glaze to cover the pearly effect of the Pearl Ex.

I'm sorry I haven't been posting projects as often as I used to but once I get the hang of these new hobbies that I've been learning, I'll be able to actually complete projects. . .I am working on book markers right now and other fun stuff. I'm still trying to figure out the design of the book markers so once I can decide how I want them to look, I'll finish them up and post them.

That's it! Hope you all have a wonderful Friday!

Creations by AR Blog Hop Winner

Creations by AR Blog HopWinner

Hi Friends! Thank you for all of you played along in the Creations by AR blog hop. Your comments were very kind and very appreciated.

Via Random.org, the 69th commenter is the winner of a Creation's by AR Template!!

Congratulations to Lolis of My Creative Corner

Please email me at cardinspired@gmail.com and I'll provide the information you need to claim your prize!!!

Simple 10 minutes Baby Cards

Hi Friends! I just wanted to post these cards that I made a few days ago. I wanted to create a few simple cards using a stamp set that I haven't used in years. I had pulled the stamp set out of a box when I was organizing the garage and thought maybe I should use it! Sometimes I can't get around to using my stamps because making a card can take more effort than it should and I can never get around to using my stamps as often as I would want to. I would probably use more of my stamp sets if I could concentrate on creating more simple cards that takes a few minutes to make.

Well I did manage to create all 6 cards within an hour and 1/2 because they were actually very simple in design and I created the cards assembly style which I rarely do but now that I think of it, I should do it more often.

I used the SU "Cuddles & Tickles" stamp set to create all 6 cards and the designer paper on my baby girl cards are by DCWV.

Just a simple design on the sentiment. To create the foot print, I used Veramark ink to give it a watermark appearance and added the buttons and tied embroidery floss around the card as a decorative trimming.

The ribbon or string on this card is actually canvas plastic string or whatever you call them. LOL! Not sure what they are called but I thought they made for a nice trimming on my card. I'm not sure what brand of the designer paper on this card. I had it lying around forever and I thought it would make for a perfect designer paper for a baby boy card.

Just a little update on my cat, Dori. Her drainage tubes were removed and she's doing fabulous. Her incision is healing real well and she's recovering nicely. I'll post a few pictures later as she progress in her healing. We have no word of her histology report so we're still waiting on it.

Anyway, that's it for today. I have a few projects to post tomorrow and I'm working on a few others right now. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Creations by AR Template Release and Blog Hop

Hey Friends! It's Creations by AR blog hop time! Yipee! Come join in the fun! Check out blog hop details below. Creations by AR is releasing new templates today so be sure to stop by the store and check it out. One of the new releases is this totally, totally cute bird cage called Home Tweet Home!! OMG! I had so much fun creating this bird cage and it was super easy too!! I cut the file on designer using my Cricut and SCAL and added embellishments. . that's it! Super simple!!!



EVENT
NEW Valentine's Day Templates at Creations by AR!

WHEN
Monday, January 24, 6:00 am (Pacific Time)

PRIZE
One winner per blog of a Valentine template of their choice.

Each designer will pick one random winner -- so leave a comment on each of the designer's blog hop post and you could be one of the lucky ones! Each designer will announce their winner on Wednesday, Jan 26. Okay, now go hoppin'!!!! Good luck

Don't forget to comment and hop on to the other designers' blogs!!!

Amy Park
Andrea Budjack
Magdalena CortezMandy Gill

Maria Bell
Nikki Schmaltz
Silvia Mabie
Adela Rossol

Okay back to the cute bird cage! Depending on the size you cut the file, it can be tall or short. The height of my bird cage measures about 7 1/2 inch tall from the very top to bottom and 4" wide. If you don't have a cutting machine, a PDF file is also provided. As you can see in the photo, the top opens up so you can put a goody bag inside like I did. There's 2 types of top available.

This one is a "Heart Basket"! There is also a "Heart Box" being released. I'll create a project with it on another day. You're thinking "whoa. . .that's a lot of blings going on with you basket"! LOL! Yeah. . . .now that I'm into jewelry making, it was fitting to make a beaded handle! Why not? It's something different but you can add a ribbon if you don't want to go nuts and add all the beads. . .:)

There's an extra heart panel included in the files and in SCAL, I just embedded the heart to the center of the box template and cut it so it provides an opening to the front of my box. I then added acetate (overhead projector film) over the opening so it's see through. If you don't want an opening in the front, you can use the heart panel as a regular panel as a decorative feature to the front of the box.

Do you see how I created the heart at the top of the handle? Well, I had made the handle too long so I improvised! I twisted the wire and shaped the top into a heart. It wasn't what I originally planned to do but it worked out fine. I actually really like it!!


Creations by AR also has embellishments! This butterfly comes in a set of embellishments! They are super cute and they will add a perfect touch to your Valentine projects!!! Check out the embellishments: Click Here Don't forget to check out the new template releases as well and the other awesome files at Creations by AR!! There are a lot of cute ones!!!

Heart Box

Heart Basket

Home Tweet HomeIsn't She Lovely Dress

Okay, that's it for now! I hope you'll play along in our blog hop! Have a beautiful Monday, everyone!!!

Celebrating L-O-V-E with Creations by AR Blog Hop Monday, January 24th

Celebrating L-O-V-E with Creations by AR!

New templates available tomorrow, January 24th!

Time: January 24, 2011 to January 25, 2011
Location: Creations by AR
Organized By: Adela

Join Adela of Creations by AR and her team of talented ladies for our Valentine Blog Hop featuring new templates! All you have to do is visit each of their blogs and leave some "LOVE" and you'll automatically be entered to win one of the new templates. You'll have plenty of chances to win because each of them will have a prize to give away! Are you IN?

Hope you'll join us tomorrow, January 24th!!

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C71 - Sketch Challenge

Hello Friends! Happy Saturday! It's that time again. . .what time is that you ask. Well, it's Crazy 4 Challenges time again. I'm still hosting the challenges up until the end of the month and the challenge C4C has for you is a "sketch challenge" Simple enough, huh? Well, for that reason I hope you'll stop by and play along in the challenge this week!!!


The crazy gals at C4C created beautiful cards using the sketch, stop by and check them out or visit the designers' individual blogs:

* Barbara Anders

* Cindy Haffner
* Frances Byrne
* Jessie Rone
* Joanne Grzelak
* Joycelyn Pelkey
Lynda Benden
* Angela Wood
*Silke Ledlow
* Silke Kittmann
* Tammy Hershberger
Vicki Garrett

I added a bit of jewelry element to my card. Actually, it was actually a part of an earring that I created but one of the main stone fell off so rather than reattaching the stone, I just left it as is and added it to my card instead. It actually worked out pretty well. It's been fun adding my jewelries as an embellishment to my cards. It's sort of a mix of my crafty world. Maybe next time, I'll add some crocheting and sewing.

I decided a bit of stamping to my card which I haven't been doing much of lately. The butterfly image is by Stampin Up "Simple Sketches", which is an old retired SU set and the leaves are from the "Stem Silhouettes" set. In the past, I've been really terrible at using my SU sets but I'm putting some effort to using them more often.

Another update on my cat Dori. We have no word yet from the vet regarding her biopsy. Hopefully, we'll find out tomorrow. Her incision is looking better each day and she is walking about with less discomfort. So far, she looks great and she's eating and drinking like normal. Her bowel function is normal too. I'm so happy that she seem to be doing very well. Thank you everyone for all your well wishes. I really appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Okay, that's it. . .I hope you all are having a wonderful Saturday!!

Valentines, Flower, and Striped Crochet Hats

Hello Friends! Hope you are all having a wonderful Friday! During the week I did work on a few crochet hats. I found the pattern in this month's Crochet World magazine. I would love to share the pattern but it's not mine to share and there's no Internet link to the pattern. If you want the pattern, email me at "cardinspired@gmail.com" with the subject "Valentines Hat" and I'll email the pattern to you.

Rather than adding the heart, as shown in the third photo below, I decided to add a flower which honestly, I prefer. The pattern calls for only two colored yarns but I decided to use 3 which I think is prettier. You can use as many colored yarns you want, I suppose. It's a good way to use up your scrap yarns.

The pattern has various sizes for infant, toddler, child and adult. The one above is a child size hat. The majority of the stitch used for the hat is half double stitch except for the rim of the hat. I used 4 ply worsted yarn throughout.

Here is the heart at the front of the hat. The pattern calls for the heart to be more at the top of the hat but I think lowering it may be better. This hat and the one below is actually a "toddler" size hat.

The heart is actually a separate piece that is sewn in to the front of the hat.

I left this hat and the one below without a heart or flower. I'm still debating which to add to the hats. Which do you prefer? The flower or the heart? I guess both. . .considering it's a Valentines hat, it should have a heart. I'm thinking of adding a flower and create a crochet heart center for the flower so it'll have a Valentines theme to it.

Just a little update on my cat Dori. I took a few pictures of her incision but I'll share it later. She is doing really well. She is still in a little pain and doesn't move around much but after today, we'll force her to move around a bit more so her muscles don't get stiff. Besides, being sedentary after surgery leads to complications so we need to stop babying her. Because I'm an RN, I baby her a little less and sort of force her to walk around a bit and not hand feed her. My family, on the other hand, baby her like crazy and they think I'm being mean. Dori thinks I'm being mean too. . .she doesn't purr when I pet her. . .LOL! I'm sorry but I'm doing her a big favor. . .her digestive system will work better, her muscles will be more conditioned and not so stiff, and her circulation will improve and the incision area will heal faster. I'm not worried. . .she'll thank me later.

Anyway, that's it for today. I promise I have a card for you tomorrow. . .:)

Hope you all have a beautiful Friday!!!!

Greatly Appreciated Card

Hello Friends! It's another week that I haven't posted anything regularly. Well it's been a crazy week, especially for my pets. My dogs had a vet appointment on Tuesday which took 2+ hours of my time and it turns out one of my dog has an ear infection so I've been taking care of him. Then yesterday was both our cats' appointment. I ended up at the vet for close to 3 hours. About a month ago, I noticed a lump on my sweet cat Dori's back while petting her and because it was soft, I thought it may have been a fatty deposit. I had the vet check the lump and in a blink of an eye, my cat is being scheduled for surgery to remove a possible cancerous mass on her back that afternoon. She had the surgery yesterday afternoon and she came home that evening. My poor baby has a humongous incision across her back. Apparently she had a lemon size mass on her back, not as round but about the same oval size. I'm very sad about it. We're waiting on the biopsy to see if it's malignant. I'm praying that it's benign.

So. . .last night, we spent the evening taking care of her and this morning as well. Her surgery went well and she seem to be doing okay. She's in pain but otherwise, she's been purring and rubbing against us. We've been doing incisional care and making sure she's comfortable. I'm trying not to worry too much about the results of the biopsy. . .we'll find out in a few days.

Anyway. . .I'm feeling a little down today but decided to make a quick card. Creating something always makes me feel happier so this was a good way to brighten my day.

There's a little bit of stamping on this card. I stamped the background with a Stampin Up background stamp "Floral" and the sentiment from the "Many Thanks stamp set".

Because I'm into jewelry making, I decided to add a beaded pin to dress the card up a little

And finally, a Prima flower always add an extra yumminess to any card so I just had to add one. I love Prima flowers.

Anyway. . .I think I'll work on another card. I'll post more about Dori on a another day. I'll take a picture of her incision and her progress.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Thursday!

Lightroom 3 Edited Photos

Hi Friends! I wanted to share a few photos that I edited using Lightroom 3. For those who have never heard of this program, it's a photo editing programing by Adobe. With a few clicks, you can edit your photos to the desired lighting, exposure, and other features which normally would take a lot of effort in Photoshop. You can still achieve similar results in Photoshop but you would have to be very well versed with Photoshop to achieve the same results. Well, I'm no Photoshop expert and it frustrated me immensely to fiddle my way through Photoshop to get the results I wanted.

This is where Lightroom 3 came into the picture. A professional photographer friend recommended the program to me and OMG!, it changed my world. . .well, as far as photography is concerned. There a lot of sites online that provide information on Lightroom 3 and a bunch of tutorials too. There are YouTube tutorials as well. It is an expensive program but fairly inexpensive if you have a student ID whether it's yours or your child's. Adobe has the "academic or educational" version which is exactly the same as the original program but offered at a huge discounted price. You don't have to have a child that is in college to obtain the program at the discounted price, if you provide Adobe with your child's report card or anything that shows that your child is enrolled, that works too.

The photo above is a photo I took during our trip to Lucerne, Switzerland. I used my Canon Rebel to take the photo and despite having a good camera, the photo did not come out as well as I wanted. I was rather disappointed when I looked at my photos. I tried editing my photos in Photoshop but I was having such difficulties with the editing process.

I used Lightroom 3 to edit the photo and as you can see compared to the original photo below, the exposure and lighting is better, much more clearer, sharper and professional looking.

This is the original photo. . .very dark and under exposed compared to the Lightroom 3 edited version in the first photo.

This is a Lightroom 3 edited version of the original photo below. I didn't edit it too much, just a bit of touch up here and there but I did add a vignette around the photo which allows your eyes to focus on my daughter's face.

This is the original photo. It's not bad but I like the edited one above better.

I did the same thing with this photo. It's not too far from from the original below but the original photo appears a little dull and the Lightroom 3 edited version much more brighter and sharper.

With Lightroom 3, you don't need an expensive professional camera to achieve professional looking photos. I do highly recommend the program if you don't like messing around with Photoshop. Although it can't do the other editing features that Photoshop has (Lightroom 3 is limited to lighting, saturation, hues, exposures, tone, etc.) it is a great addition to Photoshop or as a stand alone editing program.

Anyway, I'm working on a few crafty projects today but I'll post them when I finish them. I just wanted to share a my photography with you.

Hope you have a wonder Martin Luther King day!