June 25th, 2009... Happy Birthday to me...

Well, it turned out to be a birthday I will never ever forget. Not because of any celebration I had. The King of Pop- Michael Jackson and Farrah Faucett, one of the original Charlies' Angels both died today. Farrah had been diagnosed with cancer, and her family was bracing for her passing, as much as you can prepare for the passing of a loved one, I'm sure. It is a shame her only son continued to be incarcerated, and was unable to be with his mother at her death. Also Ryan O'neal wanted to marry her after all these years, but that wasn't able to happen.

Michael Jackson!?! Dead?!? I don't think anyone was prepared for that. It was a surreal feeling. I watched videos of his music as long as I could keep my eyes open. My heart goes out to his three young children, and the rest of his family.

May they both rest in peace. One report said that Farrah finally got her real angels wings...

I hope Micheal's soul is "moonwalking" in heaven...

I celebrated my birthday by treating myself to a movie. Something I do rarely any more. I used to love going to the movies, and went frequently. Anyway, I saw the movie "Transformers". It was a 10 out of 10. I really liked it, and I didn't really see the first one. Maybe I can watch it now. : )

A longtime friend of mine insisted on taking my son and me out to celebrate my birthday. It was very nice and very kind. Sometimes it is hard for me to accept kindness when I have been so self absorbed lately. Something to work on...

365 Cards Day 116 Keep it to yourself- wedding card

Keep it to yourself: Wedding card.

Not entirely sure this one counts, but that is used as background paper.

1. Cardstock is from The paper company, the background paper is a sticker page that was copied, reduced in size and then printed, handmade mulberry paper is in between the hearts.

2. the beads, wire, brads and ribbon came from AC Moore.

3. I traced various sized heart templates and cut them out (my sizzix heart dies were not big enough)

365 Cards Lovin Lavendar Day 114

Here's my lavendar card:

1. mulberry paper by DCWV, cardstock by The Paper Company, vellum paper

2. silk flowers, leaves from AC Moore

3. flowerpot button, rhinestones

4. Used template by Kreate a lope for the envelope

Happy Father's Day!

I am wishing all the great fathers out there a beautiful and Happy Father's Day! Thanks for all you do in holding things together with our future generations. Remember they are the ones who will be checking us into those senior citizen homes and bringing us our oatmeal, applesauce and mashed potatoes! Be blessed!

365 Cards Say it with Stripes, Day 111 and Day 112 Everlasting Love

Just couldn't get home in time to complete the last challenge.

I decided to finish this card anyway. Just for myself.

Especially because I probably will not get to play most of next week.

1. Stampin Up metallic paper, bronze

2. Lasting Impressions brass template

3. Dreamweaver Stencils, Pearlescent embossing paste

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1. silk flower, extra large brad and large rhinestone

2. Happy birthday paper by DCWV

3. bold yellow by Imagine That

365 Cards Day 110 My Guy

For 365 Cards the Thursday challenge is make a masculine card, and use an argyle pattern.

I searched SCS for a different sketch, and here's the one I am using for this card...

Here's my take on this sketch. I made a card for my son to use for his Grandfather. This was the only argyle paper I could find in the thousands of designer sheets I have stored. I personally did not have any problem with the pink in the paper. My son told me that a male that is secure in who he is has no problem with pink. : ) (he's 14) So, I think it worked out OK....

1. DCWV cardstock, Argyle paper is chatterbox, Inc. double sided paper and both sides were used.

2. The cuddlebug folder was used on a deep bronze sheet of metal by EK success.

3. "Grampa" -/K & Company embossed paper

4. "You're my hero"- Mrs Grossmans scrap metal stickers

Trying to locate these very specific things I need to make the challenge cards has cemented the fact that I MUST get this room organized. I am taking off from work next week for my birthday and I think my "gift" to me will be to work on this room. Next week I will not do any challenges or make any cards until I have shifted this furniture around, and sorted paper and embellishments. I am not sure exactly how to do the paper. I had it stored by color, and then by occasion and then by patterns...I still have to work it out. But I am determined.

365 Cards Day 109 Color Scheme, and SC233

For this challenge on 365 Cards I went looking for a sketch challenge on SCS, and I found this one below that I liked.

This was a difficult challenge for me because I couldn't decide if my colors were correct, and I didn't want to go buy any new paper. If you got a look at my paper wall (Yes, you heard me right) you would not want me to go buy any new paper either. People who do not craft with paper have no idea how many different shades of every color exist, and how many of those shades don't seem to match when you are working on a project! OK, I am digressing...back to the challenge...

Here's the sketch.

The color palette...

Here's my card...

1. The dotted paper is double sided cardstock from We R Memory Keepers

2. The quote came from a paper pack scrap kit by Basic Grey

3. various buttons and jute cord

The longest amount of time was spent comparing the colors, and wouldn't you know the camera doesn't lie. The colors are off. I gotta get some better lighting in here... :) Oh well, I tried... : / I still have some catching up to do so I am off to work on my next challenge!

365 Cards: Day 107 So Girly and Day 108 Oh Boy!

I'm making progress on my challenges...AND it's

only 10pm!

365 Cards: Day 108 Oh Boy!...

Make a masculine card, but not for an adult.

1. Cardstock is from the paper company,

(except the green, .blue striped behind the boy and the vellum)

2. Dump truck is Mrs. Grossman's sticker

3. multi-color brads, deckle scissors

4. The little boy is a "Me & my big ideas" sticker on crimped paper

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365 Cards: Day 107 So Girly...

The word "girl" must be on the card, and the card must be girly.

1. All cardstock by The paper Company, blue, fusia, white and kraft

(except)I think the green star paper is DCWV, but it's old so I don't really remember

2. white grosgrain ribbon, gold star brads

3. Stamped "friend" set by Stampin up

4. My girlie girl is a bratz sticker from the dollar store

4. The "so girly!" - I cut off the colorbok "so girly" embellishment pack

365 challenge Day 106, Super Sketchy Sunday

365 Cards Super Sketchy Sunday, Day 106

I am so behind, but I'm gonna get on it. I have had this idea in my head for a while, but I just couldn't get in my craft room. Here I am, and you guessed it- it's (ahem) 1:23 in the am. I am going to bed in about 7 minutes...

OK, so here's the sketch...

And here's my take on it....

1. The card size is 4.25X5.5

2. The sun is a brass stencil. I used texture magic (white), let it dry and colored it in with golden marker. Then I painted it with tulip glitter crystal sparkles.

3. The paper is DCWV. I put sand on top of the brownish paper after inking it a little. Then I glued the shells on it.

4. The little girl is a mini paperkins. I hand cut her bathing suit while I held the paper on her body (I like doing things the hard way). I also painted her suit with the tulip glitter crystal sparkles and added rhinestones to her suit and her pony tail- which I also hand cut out.

5. I popped her up and added a sea shell to her hand.

6. I tried to make the sentiment look a little like a beach ball using the white gel pen. The sentiment is stampin up. I stamped it on a small circle punch, and then placed that on a small scallop punch.

Well, that's it. I gotta get some sleep so I can try to get all these challenges done this week. I look them over and think about what I want to do during the week. Getting to the execution is the tricky part.

I also want to give Glenna (fabricbutterfly, her link is on my sidebar) a hugh THANK YOU for the nice blog award. I will get it on my blog as soon as I figure out what to do. : ) It was sweet of you to think of me, and I just wanted you to know I do appreciate it. I haven't learned all of the dos and don'ts yet, bear with me- I am still a work in progress!

OK... I'm off to dream about these colors for day 109...(it's 1:45A) .....

365 Cards Day 101, Day 103, Day 104, Day 105

365 Card Challenges

Day 105- Sing along Saturday : Rainbow connection

I made a rainbow of hearts. No stamping involved. The sentiment was computer generated. The white background as well as the hearts were put through a cuddlebug folder. I guess you can tell I love my cuddlebug folders. I just added three punched hearts to the envelope. I think the embossing usually adds greatly to the card. I added brads to the sentiment. Pretty easy.

The sentiment says " All the beautiful things you are... (inside) ...like the colors of a rainbow.

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Day 104 Imagine This: Grass

I needed this card for a co-worker who moved into a new home, so this challenge was perfect.

I used a cuddlebug background on DCWV cardstock, the houses were stickers, behind the houses I stamped stampin up- "lovely as a tree", the grass is a sizzix die cut. I think that was pretty much it.

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Day 103 Card Recipe:

4.25 X 5.5 card size

solid background

2 patterned papers

stamped sentiment

3 jewels

i tried to follow the recipe. The papers are DCVW. One was rectangles and the other was circles. They came from Nana's kids. I love that set! The jewels are 2 flowers and a butterfly I bought from Oriental Trading. The stamp set came from Inkadinkado clear stamps "Just saying".

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Day 101 Fun with Food: Veggies. Very interesting... so let's see...

I am going backwards for only a moment.

The ingredients for this card are: DCWV cardstock, vegetable postcard, white grosgrain ribbon, buttons from "Dress It Up", and a Hero Arts stamp from word blocks set.

365 Cards: Day 102, Challenge Combo

I seem to be hooked on this Challenge site, lately.  I would love to do more challenges, but just can not seem to make the time right now.  I like this challenge because it forced me to go through the last 3 months of challenges on this site to see which ones I wanted to combine.  Being the type of person I am, I took notes. (smile) 

Although it was very time comsuming looking back through 3 months, I really enjoyed going backwards to check out all of the challenges I have missed (since I just recently discovered this site).  I am looking forward to the challenges to come.  I would have liked to have had the time to also look back at all of the ladies creations for each challenge, but that just wasn't meant to be...  :)

Anyway, these are the 3 challenges I decided to combine.

1)Day 30 (March): Don't bug me (use a ladybug)

2)Day 41 (April) Feel Better Friday (get well card with 5 flowers)

3)Day 81 (May) It's hip to be square. (use 5 squares)

I used irridescent flowers (pink, blue, orange and green) and placed rhinestones in the centers, the squares were each a different shade of blue or green- although you can't really tell (except for the pop of pink and orange). The lady bug is a thick acrylic type sticker.  The card base is kraft paper.The stamp is Stampin up. I used a paper shapers punch for the sentiment.

I accidentally linked to the march challenge because it is 2 am, and I haven't slept more than 4 hours a night any day this week.  Sorry!

365 Cards- Day 100, manic monday, SC231

I tried another combined challenge today.  The challange for 365 cards was to make a card using 

red, orange, yellow, green, and blue.  Obviously the sketch is the other challenge- SC231 from a Split Coast Stamper forum.  

I used card stock from the Paper Company, except for the red- that's DCWV. a large heart punch behind the bird, word stamp is from Stampin up, bird stamp is from Autumn Leaves, ink is from Hero Arts, and I used 2 cuddlebug folders.

I find that the challenges make me do something in my craft room.  I desperately need to get organized, so I can actually enjoy working in here. Hopefully I can work on that soon.  The first thing I will do is shift furniture.  My sister gave me an excellent idea to make rows like they have in the library.  It probably sounds awful, but I think it just might work for me.

I am not that happy with this card today.  It could be the fact that I'm operating on less than 4 hours sleep.  Or just that the creative flow wasn't there today.

It's already almost midnight.  I'm gonna shoot for 5 hours sleep tonight.  

365 cards Day 99, Super Sketchy Sunday and CC216

I am really proud of myself now. : )  I did my first combined challenge.  Day 99 using the 365 Card sketch, and the color challenge CC216 from SCS.  I was happy pretty happy with the way it turned out, too.   

I used 2 different cuddlebug templates for the red and green paper, which is DCWV.  I stamped the dotted circle which is Inkadinkadoo.  The heart is from Me and My Big Ideas: soft spoken, The dragon fly is Jolees, and I added the red rhinestones.  I also used the same Fiskers scallop punch on the bottom of the triangle.  

I really hope I can do the challenge tomorrow. I love the colors!  But for now, I need to get some shut eye.  Six o'clock comes sooo early, and it's going on 2!...TFL!

And thank you to all of the ladies who left me comments on my first challenge for 365 Cards.  I know it was those comments that inspired me to push myself to stay up and get some more cards done.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

365 challenge Day 98, It's an Anniversary...

My second challenge from the 365 Card site.  Whew! I do not know how the ladies do it!  I enjoyed doing these challenges, but I will probably not be able to keep up on a daily basis for a while.  I am going to try to do as many as I can, though.

This is a simple card.  I made a tag using a sentiment from Cloud Nine design.  The scallop punch on the end of the tag is from FiskarsThe brad in the center of the flower is from K & Company. The flowers are silk from a store called "Garden Ridge" in Virginia. I used metallic cord to hang the tag from the flower.  The white card base is DCWV pre-embossed paper.  The butterfly was made with card stock, vellum, 2 of Martha Stewart punches and Tulip glitter paint.  TFL!

365 card design challenge...fun with fabric

I saw a challenge over on 365 cards that I decided to participate in.  The challenge was to incorporate fabric into the card design.  What do you think?