Two For One

Hello!

How's your day going?  I'm enjoying a bit of a break from the chaos that is 4 teenage girls sleeping over, while they're at the pool.  I can only imagine that they're going to come back sunburned and/or "crispy" from being there most of the afternoon. lol  In the nice, quiet, alone time I have had, I created two cards.  I usually only post one at a time, but I wanted to share both of these right now.  I was a bit impatient in sharing these. :-)

Here is the first.

A few weeks ago I saw a card posted using a crochet mat.  I did some investigating, and found that Jessi Fogan, makes AND sells them.  I was super excited to place my order, and was even more excited when they arrived so quickly at my house the other day (she's awesome!).  I've asked her to try to find some neon thread.  Wouldn't they be awesome?!  It had been a while since I'd created anything but a square card, so I went with round for this one.  My peach/white flourish panel is actually the emboss resist technique, which I really should do more often.  I matted it in a pale yellow, and added it to my sage green crochet mat.  I then added a wood veneer banner that came in one of my Simon Says Stamp card kits, a twine bow, a hand crocheted flower I ordered on Etsy, and a few sequins.  In all, I think this card took me 20 minutes to complete, and I love it!

I've combined the following challenges in this card:

Stampin Royalty #189 - Photo Inspiration (hope I got close enough to the colors)
Drunken Stampers #137 - Twine (Hi Jessi!!)
Totally Gorjuss #197 - Die Cuts/Punches (my shaped card was made with dies)

And, here is the second card. 

If you know me, you know I LOVE blue.  I reminded myself about the need to continue my use of the emboss resist technique, and wound up with this beauty.  I made two identical panels, only one is embossed with snowflakes and has Mr. Huey's mist on it.  For a bit of added interest, I matted them in opposite directions.  The bottom layer starts with the darker colors at the top, and the focal panel starts with the lighter colors at the top.  I have to say, this turned out much better than I expected.  I added an MFT snowflake, a beautiful I Am Roses paper flower, and some cork paper leaves on top of my ribbon and sentiment, and was finished.  I think the emboss resist technique will be used again this afternoon, for some gift tags.  Or maybe a couple of bookmarks.  Ooooh, yeah...that would work!

I've combined the following challenges in this card:

Cards Galore August Challenge - Bingo (embossing/masks, sprays/inks, ribbon)
Cardabilities #81 - Sketch
Jingle Belles - Tic Tac Toe (embossing heat or dry, ribbon, stamping)
Just Add Ink #178 - Just Add Snowflakes
Just Us Girls #202 - Monochromatic Blues

Now that my long post is done, I've got a question to ask you awesome crafty people!  I recently started thinking that I might want to try my hand at getting published.  I've added it to my bucket list, but am in no hurry.  What advice would you give someone who's never tried this?  Any tips or hints at anything to help me out would be greatly appreciated. 

I'm off to try to create something else to share later in the week.  I'll be back on Monday with my next House of Cards project.  Hopefully, you'll get the chance to stop by and check out what I've made for that.  I do hope the rest of your weekend is fantastic!

Stay crafty my friends!

Celebrate

Greetings!

Happy 4th of July to all of my American friends!  A very special Thank You to all of those who have served, and are serving, to protect our freedom!

I hope you're enjoying the time off with family and friends.  I don't have much planned for today.  I'm just going to relax, and play with all of my new goodies, as much as I can.  I wanted to participate in a few challenges I saw, and use one of the Design Seeds color combos (below) that goes well with this holiday week.  Here is what I put together.

I'm still struggling with my photos.  I think I may have to just break down and pay for a real light box.  This way, my photos will be consistent.  Either way, this card turned out exactly how I pictured it in my head.  That's always a plus for me.  That doesn't happen very often. lol  I really wanted to use the new stuff that arrived in my Simon Says Stamp July Card Kit, and am glad that I was able to pull it off.  I suppose this card could be use for several different occasions, not just 4th of July or birthday.  I'll just keep it in my card stash, and use it when I need to. 

I've combined the following challenges in my card today:

Color Q #196 - Real Red, More Mustard, Night of Navy, Crumb Cake & White (Hoping I'm close enough)
Stampin Royalty #183 - Anything Goes
Pals Paper Arts #162 - Pacific Point, Real Red & Crumb Cake (Hoping I got close enough, again)

I'm off to make more stuff, and eat some amazing food that we've prepared for today.  Later, I suppose I'll leave the house, and go watch the fireworks with my mom somewhere.  Maybe. :-)

Just a quick reminder, before I forget.  Have you checked out the new challenge at House of Cards?  I hope you will, and if you can, play along with us.

Enjoy your day!
Hugs!

Unscripted Sketches Challenge #178

Greetings!!

I hope you've had a good week!  Our end of month is finally over, and I get to sleep in for two days.  I'm excited about that! lol 

I have another Unscripted Sketches project for you today.  The sketch this week is fantastic, and leaves a lot of room for interpretation.  For all of the details, click HERE.

I decided to make my card round.  I really like how it turned out.  I used more digis from THATB, and paired it with distress inks, bakers twine and some bling.  It's adorable, and I know just the person who will receive it. 

I've also included the following challenges in my card.

Crazy 4 Challenges #155 - Thank You or Thanksgiving Inspired
Stamptacular Sunday #182 - Bling It On
Kaboodle Doodles #138 - Stitching
The Pink Elephant #167 - Chevrons or Hexagons
Stampin Royalty #143 - Use Your Bigshot/Die Cuts

As always, there are some wonderful projects posted over at the US blog.  I do hope you get a chance to check them out, and maybe play along. :)

I'm off to be a bum, while watching The Avengers, and then I'm off to the grocery store.  Not sure what I'm going to do the rest of the weekend, but I hope to get my craft on. lol

Have a great day!
Hugs!

I'm On A Roll!

Hiya!

I've got another crafty post, just for fun.  Isn't that interesting. lol  I needed one more Mother's Day card for my supervisor at work.  His wife is pregnant, and they're having a girl, and she LOVES pink.  I'm not a huge pink fan myself, but it worked out, and I'm sure she'll love it.  He sure did.

I've always known pink and chocolate look great together, but I have to say, I dig the pink and kraft color combo too.  I'm actually quite fond of this card, even though it is super pink. lol  Gotta love it when something comes together quickly, and how you pictured it.  I've combined the following challenges in my card:

Celebrate The Occasion #62 - Mother's Day
Going Grey With Scrap Creations - Happy Mother's Day
Tuesday Throwdown #97 - Motherly Love
Scrapalicious, USA - Mother, I Love You :)
Stampin' Royalty #123 - Punches

I've got a couple posts scheduled for this weekend, but I'll be gone for most of it.  I do hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Hugs!

Thank You So Much!

Hi ya'll!

I was so excited I got to play along with a couple challenges yesterday evening.  It's been a while since I've created something just for fun.

You know how I am about my butterflies.  I'm SO happy that Spring is almost here again, and I can get back to putting butterflies on just about everything I make.  Although, I'm not sure I really ever stopped.  Hmm.  Anyway, I'm going to enter this into the following challenges.

Papertake Weekly - Putting On The Glitz (My butterfly wings are outlined with my Sakura Stardust pen)
Flutterby Wednesday #142 - Butterflies with a rainbow theme.
Stampin Royalty #59 - Mark It Up (Use your markers. My butterflies were colored with my Copics)

I hope you have a great evening!
Hugs!

Birthday Blessings

Hi everyone!

I got some time to play along with a couple of challenges.  Here is what I created.

I really dig this card.  I hope the birthday girl likes it.  I am going to enter this into the following challenges.

Mojo Monday #174 - Sketch
SPCC #83 - Crumb Cake, Regal Rose & Pretty In Pink
Flutterby Wednesday #138 - Anything Goes (as long as you have a butterfly, angel or fairy)
Stampin Royalty #55 - Anything With Wings

Don't forget about THIS, going on right now. :)

Thanks for stopping by! 
Hugs!