Beautiful RAKs from Beautiful Blog Friends

Hello Friends! Look what I received from Ms. Denise of Denise Loves Stamps! She sent me this beautiful card! Denise have been such a sweetheart sending me beautiful RAKs. . .she's such a thoughtful person! I really appreciate it. I love the cute Tilda and her coloring is awesome! She added such pretty embellishments too! Thank you Denise for being so kind!! Stop by her blog and check out her beautiful cards and projects!

Here's a beautiful RAK I received the lovely Joy of A Place to be me! I participated in Teri's of Big Ideas From A Little Girl monthly "One Card Swap". Awww, Joy. . .your card is so pretty. Looks like a lot of love was put into this beautiful card. Her coloring is beautiful and all the embellishments were such awesome additions.

Okay. . .this is the inside of the card! OMG! It's so cool! I've never seen a card like this in person! I really want to try it out after I saw Joy's card. Despite its complexity. . .it's actually not so difficult to make. . .I think! LOL! We'll see when it's time for me to try it out.

Thank you Joy for being so kind. Your card is totally beautiful and so appreciated!

Be sure to stop by Joy's blog. . .her and Denise are big time RAKers. They are always RAKing goodies to others! That shows how big their heart is.

On a personal note. . .it's another day dropping off my daughter at the university and hanging out on campus. We received good news yesterday. My daughter received a 4 year full tuition waiver. I wanted to shout with joy when we received the letter yesterday!! Tuition at UC this year has increased by 20% so by the time my daughter finishes her 4 years of college, the total tuition will be at least 50 grand and this is resident tuition. . .can you imagine what out of state students pay. Basically, the full tuition waiver covers all of her tuition and fees for at least 4 years of college or until she graduates. My daughter isn't dorming so the only thing we will need to pay are her books, food, and transportation. It's such a relief. I feel blessed.

Anyway. . .gotta run! I need to head out the door! I'm hoping I'll find time to craft when I get home. Hope you all have a wonderful day!!

Stampin Up Stipple Gardenia

Hi Friends! Well. . .it's another day of driving my daughter to the university. It hasn't been too bad so far. Yesterday I decided to stop by Jo-Anns. . .it was the smallest JoAnns store I've ever been to. The JoAnns I'm accustomed to is a big super store. Remember I said I was going on a buying freeze well. . .I ended up buying a few stuff. Ugggh! It was out of boredom.

I did buy a book about re-organizing your life. . . .you know . . .de-cluttering your life. I really don't own too many personal things. . .except for my craft stuff. Other than my crafting stuff. . .I'm actually a minimalist. My biggest problem is my accumulation of craft stuff. I can't and I mean I CAN'T seem to rid of the old stuff. Many of them were paid at full price and I would never ever recoup my money if I were to sell them so I hold on to them thinking I'll get around to using all of them one day.

Anyway. . .we'll see if I can follow the book's advise. LOL!

I made this card about a week ago but haven't posted it. I used the SU Stipple Gardenia stamp set for this card. I made another card that I posted a week ago using the same stamp but with a different layout.



I'll post the sketch when I get home from dropping my daughter off to school. Today she'll be catching the bus home so I don't have to hang out on campus.

The drive isn't too bad. . .50 miles don't seem too far after you've driven it several times. It does cut off a good portion of my day to drive my daughter and hang out on campus but I guess that is what parents are for. . .we have to make sacrifices so our children will do well in life. I guess it's worth it.

Anyway. . .I gotta run! It's time to head on out again!

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Our Creative Corner Sketch Challenge

Hi Friends! Happy Tuesday! Well my day at the university was uneventful. I basically roamed around the campus. Being on the campus reminded me of when I was in college. . .lots of walking! LOL! I spent the time taking pictures of the buildings and such. I sat around and went on Facebook using my blackberry. I couldn't get my netbook to hook up to a wireless modem so my netbook was just an extra load.

I think today I'll hang out a coffee shop while I wait for my daughter to finish her class. Parking at the school was stinkin' expensive. Ugggh! Oh, that's another thing that reminded me of when I was in college. . .drinking a lot of coffee and hanging out at bookstores and coffee shops! LOL!

Anyway. . .I decided to participate in the Our Creative Corner Sketch Challenge. It was different from my norm so I felt it was something I wanted to do.

I decided to use the Greeting Farm Matey and Best Mates set. I had already colored the image a while ago so this card was fairly quick to create. I colored Anya with my Copic Markers and added Scribbles Iridescent Paint to the stars.

Anyway, I have nothing much else to talk about. Hope you all have a fantastic Tuesday!!

Card Details:

Stamps: The Greeting Farm Matey and Best Mates
Paper: DCWV and SU designer paper, SU Taken with Teal, Apricot Appeal
Ink: Copic Makers, Scribbles Iridescent Paint
Accessories: SU So saffron grosgrain ribbon, Marvy Oval Punch, JoAnn star brads, Coluzzle Oval Template, Fiskar Scallop Scissors

Christmas Stampin All Year Long Challenge #27

Good morning Friends! Well it's Monday again and that means a new challenge at Christmas Stampin All Year Long Challenge. This week Sankari of Sankari's Sunshine Corner is hosting the challenge and she has a simple challenge for us! I love simple . .don't you?

This week's challenge is to create a card with a snowman. That's it. How easy is that? I decided to use a stamp that I have never inked up from all the years I've had it. I have a lot of snowman stamps for some reason. . .I mean how many snowman do one person need? I'm glad I dug it out of my piles of stamps and used it. It's a cutie.

What are your plans today? Well, my daughter is starting summer school today and I have to drive her to school daily, which is a 40 minute drive one way. I'm teaching her to drive so she can drive herself to school. Sadly until she can get her license, I have to drive her to school this fall as well. I am not looking forward to the drive.

My daughter decided she didn't want to dorm but the University is a 40 minute drive away. It really bothered me initially that I would have to drive her to school. I thought my chauffeuring days were over. Well, not so. . .at least for one semester. My goal is to get her to pass her drivers license so I don't have to drive her next year.

What am I going to do after I drop her off? Well, for the summer session. . .her class is only 1 1/2 hours so I'll just hang out at the school. I'll bring my netbook and blurf or something. Maybe I'll walk around and take photos or cruise around town and hang out a coffee shop.

The fall semester will be a bit tricky. I tried to apply for the arts program at the same university but due to the budget cuts, they weren't accepting any new arts students until next fall. Bummers.

I'm thinking of taking community college art courses to get me started at least until UC starts accepting new art students. . .there's a community college near by to the university. The alternative is to drive back home then drive back to pick her up which I am absolutely not thrilled about. Our city bus system only makes selected trips to the university. . .very early in the morning and in the evening. No in betweens. My daughter will be able to catch the bus home a few days a week but she won't be able to catch the bus to the university. Her schedule just don't fit the bus schedule in the mornings.

It's a bit of a dilemma. . .mainly for me. I was planning to return to work but it's not going to work out. I was planning to return to college. . .but that isn't working out either. I guess the best bet is my daughter getting her drivers license and I'll take community college courses in the mean time.

Anyway. . enough of my yapping. There's not much to discuss about this card. I colored parts of the image with my Copic Markers and the rest is about layering and embellishing.

Stop by Christmas Stampin All Year Long challenge and check out the beautiful samples that the DT created. Hope you'll play along this week!

Hope y'all have a great day!

Stamps: I don't know. . they were unmounted with no labelsPaper: SU designer paper, Real Red, Bliss Blue

Ink: Copic Markers, Bliss Blue

Accessories: SU Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8 circle punch, Jolee's by You, Stickles Glitter, Organdy ribbon

The Greeting Farm - Farm Fresh Friday Challenge

Hi Friends!! It's Farm Fresh challenge time again at The Greeting Farm. The challenge is to use flowers and butterflies to your card. Okay. . .this is simple! I add flowers to my cards all the time! LOL! I decided to use Ms. Anya again. She's one cute chick and so fun to color.

I colored Anya with my Copic Markers and used scrap DPs from my scrap pile. I'm making great efforts to reduce my scrap pile and I'm trying my hardest not to cut up new designer paper. I decided to use lace on my card again. I bought a bunch of lace a while ago and recently came across them in one of my drawers.

I think I'm going on a spending freeze on craft stuff. I really want a wide angle lens for my camera before we go on our European trip in December. My husband refuses to buy me a $500 lens so I will have to save my money. Okay. . .I don't work so what money am I going to save? LOL!

I think I will need to sell my cards and some of my craft stuff to buy that lens. I really want the lens. . . .badly. I'm terrible when I want something. . .I have to "have" it. Ugggh!

Anyway. . .stop by the Greeting Farm blog site and check out the challenge!!

There's a prize to be given out and I want it since I can't buy it. LOL! Wish me luck!

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!

Card Details:

Stamps: The Greeting Farm Ms. Anya Collection, Pretty Hat

Paper: DCWV and K&CO DP, SU Pretty in Pink, Real Red

Ink: Copic markers, Scribbles Iridescent Paint

Accessories: Marvy butterfly punch, Prima Flowers, JoAnn Brads, Lace, Coluzzle Oval Template, Fiskar Scallop Scissors,

Mommy Scraps Alot Blog Candy

Hey Friends! Tina at Mommy Scraps Alot still has her blog candy going and it'll end tomorrow! Holy. . .she added a bunch more of goodies. . .I'm serious! Scroll down her blog and you'll see all the addition to her blog candy that she's giving out. Be sure to comment and participate. She's giving out this blog candy. . .just because she's happy! Join in her happiness!

Christmas Stampin All Year Long Card Set Challenge #1

Hi Friends! Christmas Stampin All Year Long will be having 2 challenges a week. . .Monday is the regular card challenges and Thursday's will be the "card set" challenges. What is the "Card Set" challenges? Well, the challenge is to make simple multiple Holiday (Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc) or Celebration cards (birthday, congratulations, etc). You need to make a set of cards (3 or more) . . .the minimum should be at least 3 cards. . . .basically, assembly style. The cards need to be of the same design following a challenge that will be provided. There may be variations to the challenge. . .sometimes the challenge may be a color challenge or a "theme" challenge.

This week's challenge is to follow a sketch. I decided to create Thanksgiving cards and I made 7 of them! Whoohoo! I was pretty ambitious! LOL! Actually, making multiple cards of the same design are actually fast and easy. . .much faster and easier than making cards of different design that's for sure.

I think I'll make a few more sets of Thanksgiving card in the next two weeks and I'll be done with my Thanksgiving cards! Amazing! After that I'll work on my Halloween cards!

To make the process of coloring the images easier, I decided to watercolor the images using my SU markers on watercolor paper.

I did do a bit of layering on the design but not as much as I typically would. The goal is to keep the card simple but I couldn't resist adding a few layers.

Stop by Christmas Stampin All Year Long and play along. The sketch to follow is shown below!


I'm still archiving photos to CDs. A few of you recommended other
ways to archive my photos besides CDs. I'm atually archiving them on DVDs which stores about 4MB of data. I don't want to use an SD card or memory card because it's too tiny. . .I may lose it. LOL!

There are online storage that were recommended but honestly, I'm sort of old school. I'm suspicious of online stuff. Can you believe it? I don't want to archive my photos and files with a third party because I'm afraid they'll be accessible to someone else and used without my permission. A few of you mentioned using an exterior hard drive. That could be an option but I like having the DVDs. . .which I can view on my computer as well as on a DVD machine. Thank you all for the different suggestions!!

Anyway. . here is the challenge sketch. Hope you'll play along!! Comment on Christmas Stampin All Year Long Challenge blog with the link to your multiple cards!!

Card Details:

Stamps: Stampin UP Grand Cornucopia, Harvest Home
Paper: DCWV designer paper, SU Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, More Mustard, watercolor paper
Ink: SU Markers
Accessories: JoAnn Brads, CB Embossing Folder, Fiskar Scallop Scissors, Coluzzle Oval Template

The Greeting Farm - Farm Fresh Friday Challenge

Hi Friends! Darn it! I'm late for the Greeting Farm - Farm Fresh Friday challenge. I was suppose to post this yesterday in time for the deadline but my computer was a bit hung up! Where have you been, Maria? Sorry for being MIA for a few days. Wanna know why?

Well, I believe it was Monday. . .there was a brush fire about a block from where I live and if you know California brush fires. . .a small fire can turn into a BIG fire. Last year over 3,000 homes were burned down in San Diego alone and about 10 miles from where I live in the town of Fallbrook, 500 homes were burned down.

The first thing I thought of when I saw the fire was. . .what I was going to take with me if we were asked to evacuate and my first thought was taking our family albums, our pets and important papers. Okay, we have a two chest full of photo albums. not including the ones in my computer. Well, that got me worried because well, that would mean taking the two heavy chest and my computer. . .I don't think they'll fit into our cars.

I decided that I should archive all my photos and documents on my computer on to CDs and scan the photos in my photo albums on to CDs as well. This way. . .if need be, I can just grab the CDs instead of taking the photo albums and computer with me. As you can imagine. . .archiving photos on to CDs is not as simple as it sounds.

I have literally thousands of photos. I was able to archive 2008 and 2009 photos on to CDs. Unfortunately, while I'm transferring photos on to CDs, it held up my ability to upload photos from my camera and it slowed down my computer. Believe me, it took a whole day just to delete unwanted files and archive just my 2008 photos. It's a painful process but it has to be done. Besides, if my computer ever crashes, I may lose all my photos so I do have to back them up any way. You should too!

Anyway. . .I created this card the other day for the Greeting Farm - Farm Fresh Friday Challenge. The challenge was to follow a sketch.
I missed the deadline . . oh, well.

I colored Ms Anya with my Copic Markers. That's about it.

Well. . .back to my archiving! Ugggh! I need to work on 2007 photos today. How fun!! LOL!

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Card Details:

Stamps: the Greeting Farm
Paper: DCWV Designer paper, My minds eye dp, SU Close to Cocoa, Pretty in PInk
Ink: Copic makers, SU Close to Cocoa, Sakura Gel Pen
Accessories: Satin Ribbon, Prima Flowers, Deja View brads, Making Memories button brads, Lace

Christmas Stampin All Year Long and Stamp With Fun Challenge

Hi Friends! My goal this week is to be less of a slacker! Right before I was going to bed last night, I realized that today was Christmas Stampin All Year Long Challenge and I had forgotten to make my card! Ugggh! So. . .late last night, I stayed up late making my card! Ugggh!!

I didn't realize yesterday was Sunday. . .do you go through days when you don't even know what day it is because time is flying quickly? Well, it's been that way with me lately.

Anyway. . .it's my week to host this week's challenge at Christmas Stampin All Year Long Challenge. . .and my challenge is a sketch! Duh. . .that's not very surprising, huh? LOL!

Here is Ms. Tilda carrying her Christmas gifts for you. Isn't she adorable? I decided to paper piece her dress. . .how fun!! I haven't paper pieced my images for a while now so I decided it's time that I do! I colored the rest of Tilda with my Copic Markers.

My card is actually a "jacket". . .and I was suppose to add an insert but well, it was late and I wanted to go to bed. My plan is to add an insert before I send this card out.

With my sketch you can also create a "gate fold" card or just a regular card. The sketch is very versatile.







Hope you'll play along in this week's challenge! We'd love to see your fabulous card! Be sure to stop by Christmas Stampin All Year Long Challenge site and check out the gorgeous cards the design team created!

Scroll down to check out the Stamp With Fun Challenge card I created. I'm the guest designer this week!

Card Details:

Stamps: Tilda
Paper: SU DSP, SU Old Olive, Real Red
Ink: Copic Markers
Accessories: Nestabilities, Fiskar Scallop Scissors, SU 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, DeJa View Brads

Hey, guess what! I'm a guest designer this week for Stamp With Fun Challenge site!! Whoohoo! I created a sketch for this week's challenge!!

If you play in this week's challenge, you may be chosen to become a guest designer for 2 weeks! Whoohoo! How fun so be sure to stop by Stamp With Fun and play along in the challenge.

I think I was suppose to use a "cute" stamp for the challenge. I guess my butterfly is cute enough, huh? I only realized after I made my card that I was suppose to use a "cute" style of stamp for the challenge.

Anyway. . .I used my SU Simple Friendship stamp set. . .it's becoming one of my favorite Stampin Up stamp set. I heat embossed the butterfly and added a bit of Scribbles Iridescent Paint to the center of the butterfly.













Be sure to stop by Stamp With Fun and check out the gorgeous cards created by the design team!!

Hope you all have a wonderful Monday!!

Card Details:

Stamps: Stampin Up Simple Friendship

Paper: CTMH designer paper, SU Real Red, Beige (?)

Ink: Versamark

Accessoreis: Nestabilities, SU Rhinestone brads, Organdy Ribbon,

Inky Impressions DT Call

Hey Friends! I just want to let you know that Inky Impressions is having a 2nd Design Team Call. If you want to be a designer for this wonderful new stamp company, stop by the Inky Impressions blog site for the details. The deadline for the DT call is August 3rd. Try it out. . .who knows you may be chosen!! Good luck, folks!

Stampin Up Stipple Gardenia

***update: The name of the stamp set is "Stipple Gardenia" not "Stipple Rose".

Hi Friends! Happy Sunday to you all! Do you have stamps that you've had for a very long time and have not inked in ages. Well, let me tell you. . .I have so many of them that it's really quite sad because many of the images are so pretty. I tend to want to use the more current stamps and totally forget about the old stamps. Yesterday, I walked into the garage and decided to pull out my old stamps and this rose image from the Stampin Up Stipple Gardenia stamp set was one of them. Isn't the gardenia pretty image pretty or what?

I colored the gardenia with my Copic Markers and added a bit of Stickles to parts of the image. I also decided to do a polished stone technique to my background. I cut out the rose image then remounted the image on to the polished stone background with foam tape to give it a 3D effect.

I wanted to discuss photographing your cards and the importance of lighting. If you scroll down below, do you see the photo of the same card? Well, I had bought a new set of lamps for my craft room and I had used regular light bulbs. I decided to test to see if there were any difference to my photos if I used a mixed OTT light with the regular light bulb. Regardless of using the OTT light as a secondary light source, the regular light bulbs still created a yellow tinge to my card.

To avoid this effect, buy craft light bulbs which provide true color spectrum's meaning the light illuminated do not distort the colors of what you see in the room; instead, the colors are as you see it in natural sunlight. You can find the light bulbs at Lowes or any hardware store. They're a bit expensive but so worth it.

It really makes a difference when you take photos of your cards. As you can see in the picture . . .the color in the photo is a lot of more orange. I used SU Cameo Coral and Old Olive card stock and as you can see in the picture . . the colors are distorted.

Anyway. . .hope you all have a wonderful day!





















Card Details:

Stamps: Stampin Up Stipple Gardenia, Sweet Serendipity

Paper: SU Hawaiian Papaya DSP, SU Cameo Coral, Old Olive

Ink: Copic Markers, Scribbles Iridescent Paint, SU Cameo Coral and Old Olive Reinker (Polished Stone)

Accessories: Stickles glitter, EK Success Punch, Provo Craft Punch, Nestabilities, SU Key Tag Punch

More Scrappy Cards

Hi Friends! How is your Saturday going? Well, mine is hot. We're in the 100s today. Ugggh! I hope it's temporary.

Well, yesterday I worked on a few more "scrappy cards". It's not really a scrappy card because I used stamped images but the majority of the two cards are "scrapped" stuff. The two images on both of my cards were initially "scrapped" images that I colored meaning I wasn't happy with my coloring and didn't want to use them so they ended up in my scrap collection bin.

I had watercolored the images using my SU markers a long time ago. There was something I didn't like about my coloring because I threw them in my collection bin. Now that I look at the images, they don't really look bad at all.

I initially cut the big flower for a scrapbook layout but I just haven't found the time to create a layout so I decided to use it on my card. The dot ribbon was the remaining ribbon on a roll of ribbon. The heart brads were brads that I had picked off from my floor and threw in my collection bin.

I drop a lot of embellishments on my floor and every few days, I would crawl on the floor and pick up brads, rhinestones, buttons, whatever off the floor and throw it in my collection bin.








Here is another scrappy card using scrap stuff. The book and pacifier embellishments are not from my scrap bin. I had opened a new package of embellishments because my baby image was "crooked". I only realized that the image was crooked after I took a photo of it. I placed the book embellishment to balance the image so it appears straight. LOL!









I watercolored the image using my SU Markers. . .I didn't like the way I colored the image so I threw it in my scrap bin. I had colored the images like a year ago. When I looked at it the other day, I figured it didn't look too bad so I decided to use it.

I'm not going to add the ingredients to the card because I can't remember who made the materials. I do know the designer paper is by DCWV and the image by CTMH.

Hope you have a beautiful Saturday!