Crazy 4 Challenge C4C62 - Square Card

Hey Friends! It's Saturday and that means it's Crazy 4 Challenges time again and this week's challenge is right up my alley! Cindy came up with a great challenge this week! What is it? Well, the challenge is to make a square card!

Weeellll. . ..I make square cards all the time! I was like "yay"!! I love square cards because there's a lot of room to add embellishments and all sorts of fun stuff that you sometimes can't do with the standard sized cards. Come play along with and be sure to stop by and check out all the beautiful cards the design team created or you can stop by their individual blogs. I also want to welcome back Vicki . . .she's returning to the team . . .she was on sabbatical of sort but she is back rearing to go! Yay!

* Barbara Anders

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

Just a quick info about my card. . .nothing much to say but all of the designer paper including the Santa are by K&CO. . .the Santa was cut out from one of the designer paper's design. . .:) Simple stuff. The snowflake and sentiment tag chipboards are by Making Memories. . card stock by SU . . .that's basically it. This actually was a quicky card. . .:)

Okay. . .that's it for today! Be sure to play along with us this week!! Have a fun weekend folks!!

Christmas Stampin All Year Long Gift Set Challenge #7 - Altered Tin

Hello Friends! Hey, it's Christmas Stampin All Year Long Challenge time again and this week, it's a gift set challenge. The challenge is to alter a tin or container. I love altering containers! It's so fun. I especially love altering "used" tins and containers because normally, I would throw a used container but it's nice to see it turn into something beautiful after altering it.

Before I continue, don't forgot to stop by CSAYL and check out the beautiful altered tins and container the design team created.

I decided to alter a Prima container. Actually the flowers are still inside my container. LOL!

Just a quicky details about my card. The sentiment is actually a designer paper and I cut it out. It's by K&CO and the rest of the designer paper of my card and tin is by DCWV. The adhesive ribbon is by DCWV as well. This was a super quick 15 minute card. Lately I've been into making quick cards. . .:) I actually created a bunch which I'll share on another day!

Here is the altered tin. . .I don't know if you can see the Prima flowers inside. I actually have a bunch of these tins. . they make perfect gift tins. . just remove the flowers and store them elsewhere!

Anyway. . .that's it for today. I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!!

Pink Cat Studio Digi Release and SCS Holiday Tutorial Blitz - Maria's Treat Box

Hi Friends! Gosh, I've got a lot of stuff to share today so I won't waste any time! First of all, today is the release of these super cute dino images at Pink Cat Studio! Whoohoo! They are "dino-mite". . for sure! The first card is actually a pocket card with an insert and I was going to share the tutorial with you but I have another tutorial that I needed to share! One of my tutorials is being published today as part of the SplitCoast Stampers Holiday Tutorial Blitz! I'll share more info about the treat box tutorial posted later in this post.

For now, let me talk about the PCS release. . .okay, back to the pocket card and insert. I'll post the tutorial on another day. Be sure to stop by the Pink Cat Studio blog and check out the awesome cards the design team created! Also, if you purchase a digi image today at Pink Cat Studio, you'll receive the free baby dino image so be sure to go get'em!

Here is my second card that I created! Yipee! I decided to create a girl birthday card with this image. All of the images were colored with my Copic Markers.

Now to the Holiday Tutorial Blitz tutorial. My tutorial is on this treat box. . .titled "Maria's Treat Box". Beate at SCS actually named it that because there were already a project named "treat box" so we had to improvise a little! LOL! Again, the image is by Pink Cat Studio.

For the SCS Written Tutorial of this project: Click Here

This is another of the same box using a Pink Cat Studio image. . .:) So fun! It's a simple box to create. . .really fast project and it's a nice size for treat bags or even a set of handmade cards. The box measures approximately 4 x 5 1/2" and a depth of 2". Lots of room in there. . .:) I actually created this tutorial last year and I have additional tutorials for the "Top Notes Topper" and a "Coco Packet Pocket" that is shown inside the box if you would like to try them out. Here is the link to the tutorial: Click Here

I made an additional box for the video tutorial on this project also posted on SCS. Stop by SCS. . .they have a new tutorial every day. Lots of fun stuff going on. Here is the video tutorial if you prefer video tutorials rather than written. . .:)

Don't forget to stop by Pink Cat Studio and check out all their fun digi and rubber stamp images!

That's it for today! Hope you have a fun Thursday!

Give Thanks - Unity Stamps September KOM and Halloween Stuff

Hello My Friends!! It's November. . .Yipee! It's a month of gratitude, did you know that? Well, it is!! It's a month when we look at our lives and find gratitude in what is. . .there are so many things to be grateful for. . .for one thing, just being alive is a reason to be grateful. LOL!

I'll work on my "Reflections Album/Journal" today. . .I think I'm going to focus on creating "gratitude" layouts this month. I'll post it later when I'm done.

I worked on this card yesterday. The images are from the Unity Stamps September KOM. I finally found time to actually use my Unity stamps. I've been terrible with stamping for the past months. . .I call it burn out. I've reflected and reassessed my life and wonder what direction I should head for the upcoming year. Change is difficult sometimes but well, it's inevitable. . .it happens and we do have to accept it when it does happen. I'll figure it out before the new year starts.

How the heck did my finally using my Unity Stamps turned into a discussion of change! LOL! It's funny. . .that's how my brain works apparently. Only "I" can understand it most times. Actually, when I talk about change. . .it's about my blog and stamping, card making, and paper crafting. . .because I finally used my stamps which I haven't used since buying them, it made me think about what I want to do in the next coming months or year. It made me think about how to make blogging feel new and exciting again and what I should do about it. I've been blogging for close to 4 years and basically, been doing the same thing day in and day out and maybe I need to do something different with it. I don't know. . .I'm still mulling over it. . .:) I'll figure it out!

All I did with my card is stamp the images on card stock and cut the leaves out and layered them. There really isn't much to talk about. . .other than the stamping, I added lace and epoxy sticker to dress the card up a little. That's about it

Photos of the Day

Before I go, I wanted to share a few Halloween pictures from yesterday! Did you all have a wonderful Halloween? Well, we did. . .unfortunately, there weren't too many trick or treaters last night and now I have a ton of left over candies.

I did decorate our house a little bit. . .not too much. . .just enough to be festive

I like this "Boo" sign because it lights up at night

My daughter at the very last minute decided to dress up in a costume. . .she is actually wearing her high school "homecoming dance" dress, threw on a cape that she wore for Halloween in the 8th grade, and my step-son's old Halloween Wizard hat. LOL! Whala. . .this is what she came up with. . .it a actually turned out pretty good.

Here is her costume in full form. She is actually wearing my knee-high boots. . .you can't see it in the picture.


Anyway. . .that's it. . .sorry for the super long post. Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween and that your November will be a fabulous one!! Remember. . .be thankful and find gratitude in your every day life. . .:)

Reflections Scrapbook Album/Journal #3 - My Favorite Things - Food

Hello Friends! It's interesting because creating a "Reflections Album/Journal" is much easier than I expected. I think because I don't feel the pressure of creating a keepsake for my family. . .the process of creating the layout is so much easier. I care more about getting my thoughts and reflections written down and less so about how it looks. I can't believe how quickly I created this layout!

What am I going to do with my layouts? Well, many times when I look back at my life, I see how things have changed and how many things remain the same. It'll be fun to look back at my layouts, read what I wrote and look at the pictures I've taken. Although many of the pictures are of inanimate objects, they are photos that I have taken with my camera. Many are pictures I've taken using my cel phone and have posted on my Facebook profile. I take a lot of random photos when I'm out and about and many times, they are photos of food I've had for lunch or dinner.


This layout is the first page of "My Favorite Things" series. I'll have different series or topics in my album/journal . . .I think one of them will be "Dreams and Wishes". Anyway. . .about my layout. . .one of my favorite things is "FOOD". I love eating at nice restaurants but I tend to get out of hand sometimes. It's no wonder I need to lose at least 20 lbs. Seriously. . .food is good but it can be bad where my weight is concerned.

Anyway, here is what I journaled on the layout:

One of the things that make me happy is eating good food. Knowing I'll eat something delicious can make a "blue" day into a " beauitful " day. Unfortunately, it's not helping me as far as my weight is concerned.

Luckily, I do tend to eat more sea food than red meat. I don't eat a lot dessert or pastries either but I do occasionally like to treat myself to a nice yummy hot fudge brownie sundae. . .:)

One of the changes I do need to make is to start eating healthier and focus on cooking at home. One day I'll get to that point. Right now. . .well, it's bon apetite for me. . .

It's just a simple journaling/reflections. . .nothing thought provoking or interesting as a matter of fact but I just wanted to reflect a little on one of my favorite things in life. . .:LOL!

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!!

Crazy 4 Challenges - C4C61 - Sketch Challenge

Hello Friends!! Hey we have a fun challenge for you this week at Crazy 4 Challenges! Silke came up with a great sketch for us to follow. . .come join us and play along with us this week. Be sure to stop by Crazy 4 Challenges and check out all the fabulous cards the design team created or stop by their individual blogs. . .:) You will surely be inspired!

* Barbara Anders

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

Because Thanksgiving is right around the corner, I decided to work on a Thanksgiving card. The image is by Unity Stamps, the designer paper and ribbon are by Stampin Up, and the various embellishments are by K&CO.

I stamped the image on to a beige colored card stock and colored it with my Copic Markers. . I then smudged a bit of blue pastel around the image. That's basically it. The rest of the card is basically following the sketch!

Another short post today. . .I actually don't have anything to talk about. . .LOL! Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday!

Christmas Stampin All Year Long #69 Color Challenge - Purple and Silver

Hello Friends! Well it's Friday and it's Christmas Stampin All Year Long Challenge time again! This week Jacqui, one of the DT members, came up with a great color combo to work with! The color combination is "Purple and Silver"! Wow, what a great color combination! Stop by Christmas Stampin All Year Long and check out the awesome cards the design team created!

I decided this would be a great time to heat emboss my image. I did it by using a glittery embossing powder heated on a purple card stock. I cut the snowflake image out and mounted it on a silver foil card stock! I love how it turned out!

I bought the snowflake charms about 6 months ago and I'm so glad I'm finally able to use one of the charms. The charm is by Making Memories.

Just a short post today. Hope you'll play along with us this week!

Hope you all have a wonderful Friday!

My Reflections Scrapbook Album/Journal #1 and #2

Hi Friends! I decided to start a "Reflections Scrapbook Album/Journal". My album/journal will primarily consist of my reflections of the day or week, my goals for the day and future, about me and the daily things I do, and finding gratitude in what is. I'm not a scrapbooker and I've always been a bit intimidated by scrapbooking but I decided that I won't focus on creating layouts that satisfies me "artistically" but to focus on what I write and the pictures that I use.

My first layout is the first layout I've created. I didn't choose the picture of myself because of my "face". . .LOL! Do you see behind at the top of my head. .. well, it's a word art in my craft room and it reflects my life to a great extent. I see that word art every morning and it inspires me. The quote says" Cre-ate: To produce through artistic or imaginative effort. Create and inspire. To make your own." I just love it!




My journaling. . .if you are interested in what I wrote:

Create

I'm happiest when I'm creating.
This is the time when I enter a world of possibilities
Where it's beautiful and filled with color
Where my imagination carries me through different shapes and textures
And time just flies quickly, too quickly at times
Time skips to a happy beat
And all worries and stress disappears even for just a moment
When I'm done
It makes me smile to see that what I've created
Is a reflection of my happiness

This is the second layout/journaling I created. It's basically about my morning routine and a bit of reflection and goal setting.

My journaling says:

My mornings start off with a cup of coffee, turning on my computer, post something on Facebook (LOL), then I walk to my car and view the sunrise as I enter my car to drive my daughter to the bus stop every week day at 6:30 in the morning.

It's good to have a moment where there's a routine and life runs smoothly without a hitch. The rest of the day is always unpredictable and it's something that I need to reassess in m y life. I don't plan my day and basically, fly by the seat of my pants on most days. I found it to be ineffective and although, I like the spontaneity of not having a plan, a bit of planning will help to accomplish more things. It's something I need to work on and a goal I'll set for the new year.

Just to let you know, the sunflower cut and coffee mug digi image can be found at myscrapchick.com

Hope you all have a beautiful Thursday!