Play Date Cafe Challenge 66

Hello there!

Happy Monday, everyone.

Did you get a chance to see my first

how-to video that I posted on Friday?

If not, please scroll down to the previous

post and let me know what you think!

It's how to alter a mini composition notebook.

So as I enter this second year of papercrafting,

I decided it's time to start participating

in more challenges.

I came across one for the Play Date Cafe

in my blog travels this weekend,

and loved the colors so much,

I promptly made a card.

The Play Date Cafe Challenge 66

is to go black and white

with a color splash of lilac

(or any shade of purple).

Here's what I came up with.

I got out my new Lawn Fawn "Sew Lovely"

stamps and introduced them to ink for the first time.

The dress on the dress form, I paper pieced

with some scraps I had laying in my scrap bin.

I decided it would be fun to go shabby chic,

so I used some Core'dinations cardstock

sanded down and distressed, then ripped

up the purple swiss dot cardstock for a fun edge

before I glammed it up a bit with 

sheer ribbon and silver pearls.

And now, a little feast for the eyes.

My hubby spent Saturday afternoon

while I was at work, on speakerphone

with his mother in Germany

baking this cake "together."

He was so proud, when I got home he asked,

"Are you going to post this on your blog?"

Around a mouthful of chocolate cake

and raspberries and pudding,

I replied that I most definitely would.

He did everything from scratch,

and let me tell you, it was YUMMY!

With that, I bid you Auf Wiedersehen.

'Til next time, friends. :o)

Card Supplies:

cardstock: Hollo's, Core'dinations, Bazzill Swiss Dot

patterned paper: Basic Grey "Kioshi", Best Occasions

stamps: Lawn Fawn "You're So Lovely"

ink: Tsukineko Momento in Tuxedo Black

copics: Special Black 110, C05

ribbon: Offray

pearls: Queen & Co

My First Video - Altered Mini Composition Notebook

Oh my gosh!

I can't believe I finally did it!

I made my very first video!

This is something I've dreamed of doing

since I came across my first

 Kristina Werner video a year ago

and was inspired to begin this whole

papercrafting journey.

But I was clueless as to how to go

about it, and I'll admit it, a bit

terrified, too. Afraid of coming across

as a total idiot, I guess. ;o)

But then the other day when I posted

my latest altered mini composition notebook

and some of you requested a how-to,

I figured it was time to take the plunge.

When I began on Monday,

I didn't even know if my camera had

video capabilities. I had no idea

that there was video software

(Windows Movie Maker)

already installed on my computer.

Told you I was clueless!

But with a little help from Google

and YouTube, I figured it out.

It took me the ENTIRE day Monday

to film, and the ENTIRE day today

to do the voice-over and upload,

but here it is at last.

Enjoy!

By the way, I am also entering this in the Wee Memories Challenge 40 Sponsored by iCopic. The theme of this challenge is "Free Your Creativity."  I'd say I've done that this week, wouldn't you? :o)


Kids Cards for Kids

Hello again!

How's everybody tonight?

I wanted to pop in and share

the cards my boys made for the

Cards for St. Jude's drive that

Winter is hosting.

I was really touched and proud at

the way they jumped right on board

and got involved in every aspect of the

card-making, from stamping (I helped),

 to coloring, to signing their names.

All together they made 61 cards

for the kids at St. Jude's.

They were very concerned

that there would be enough for

all the sick kids.

Here's a small sampling

of their efforts:

My five-year-old, Dominic,

is in LOVE with the Lawn Fawn kitty.

He wants to stamp him on everything!

And he was very excited about

"coloring in patterns" with the hearts.

I love how my 7-year-old, Elliott,

got creative and gave the pie

cherries on his cheeks.

He's also responsible for the

big smiley-face on the dog card

in the next photo.

My 9-year-old, Chaztin,

has a lot of homework every night

so he didn't get to help as much as the

others, but he still wanted to get involved.

I love his heart trail floating up

into the sky from the bear balloon.

Be sure to let me know if you

enjoyed their cards --

I know they'll be eager to read

the comments. :o)

If you'd like to participate

in this great cause, you still have a

few days to get your card's in.

Click here to find all you need to know.

Have a great night, everybody!

Hot Stuff - Card for St. Jude's

Hi everyone!

Just a super-quick post tonight.

I've been working all day on something

special for ya, ;o) but now it's late and

I really need to get to bed.

But before I do, I wanted to share

this card I made yesterday for the

Cards for St. Jude's Kids drive that my

lovely blog buddy Winter is hosting.

I did a lot of paper piecing on this guy.

A little Copic shading brought him more to life.

I used Tiff's Sketchy Sundays sketch,

but flipped it upside down.

(The fancy edge did come to a point,

it's just hiding behind the dragon.)

Tomorrow I'll share some cards my kids have

been working on for this drive.

They've really gotten in the spirit of it!

And it's such a great cause.

If you'd like to participate,

see Winter's blog for all the details.

You still have the rest of this week

to join in and bless some great kids!

G'night!

Supplies:

cardstock: Georgia Pacific

paper: My Mind's Eye

stamp: Inkadinkado (dragon), Lawn Fawn "My Silly Valentine" (sentiment)

ink: Tsukineko Momento Tuxedo Black, Colorbox Fluid Chalk in Warm Red

twine: DMC



Love Life - Tiff's Sunday Sketch

Hey, girlies!

How'd you all like the new

Lawnscaping Challenge yesterday?

Pretty cool, huh?

Don't forget that since January has five weeks,

you actually have some extra time to play along.

Hop on over to Lawnscaping for all the deets.

Onto a new card.

My lovely blog pal Tiff began a new series called

Sketchy Sundays on her blog last week.

I made this card to play along,

but didn't get a chance to post it until now.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

I have to say, this was really, really challenging for me.

The sketch is fab, don't get me wrong, but it's

very CAS, and I've never done CAS before.

But then, I guess that's the whole point of challenges,

whether they be sketches or color samples or whatever.

To knock you out of your comfort zone a little bit.

To force you to try something new.

Tiff's got Sketchy Sunday #2

up already, and this one's even better!

I definitely plan to play along again.

Wanna join me?

Supplies:

cardstock: Georgia Pacific

paper: Pink Paislee, My Mind's Eye

stamps: Lawn Fawn - Fly Free, Bannerific, and Just My Type (hearts)

ink: Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink in Lime Pastel and Warm Red

pearls: Queen & Co.

Lawnscaping Challenge #2

Happy Monday, everybody!

Not only is it Monday, but it's the third Monday

of the month, which also makes it

Lawnscaping Challenge #2 day!

Here's the challenge:

and the prize:

Fun, right?

I hopped on over to the Lawn Fawn blog

to find a card of Kelly Marie's to CASE.

Not hard at all, since she's a fabulous card artist

and there's a ton of great choices to pick from.

But while I was there,

I thought it would be fun to go back to the very beginning

of Lawn Fawn through the archives and

learn more about how Kelly Marie

turned her dream into the AMAZING

company Lawn Fawn is today.

So back in March of 2009,

(before Lawn Fawn stamps were

even in exsistence)

I came across this little gem:

I thought the circle card was really fun --

I'd never made one before, and the sentiment!

Well, that was just the icing on the cake.

It reads: "Keeep a green tree in your heart

and perhaps a singing bird will come."

Love it.

I just HAD to do my own version of it.

And here it is:

I did have to shorten the sentiment a little.

There just wasn't room for any more stickers!

Fun angle shot:

Anyway, I hope you like it

and that it inspires you a little!

Now head on over to the

Lawnscaping Challenge blog

to catch a peek at the other

Design Team member's cards

and get all the info on how to enter!

And don't forget to stop by their

personal blogs and leave them some love!

Laurel

Lynette

Britta

Ashley

Christiana (me!)

and fabulous guest designer

Ayana

Have a very crafty day!

Supplies:

cardstock: Bazzill

patterned paper: My Mind's Eye

stamps: Lawn Fawn: Critters in the Burbs, Fly Free, and Just My Type (heart)

ink: Tsukineko Momento black

alpha stickers: Cosmo Cricket

twine: Martha Stewart

Branching Out -- New Job Title

So two weeks ago I had some exciting news

to share when I was chosen to be one of the

Lawnscaping Design Team members.

This week I have some more exciting news

to share -- this time pertaining to my job.

I think most of you know that I work at

an arts and crafts chain store.

Well, awhile back (long story) we found

ourselves without a floral designer.

Then just before Christmas

a lady came in with a special order.

There was no one who was qualified to do it,

but I guess since I have a reputation

for being crafty they asked me to try.

So with fear and trepidation,

and zero training or experience

I put together my first floral arrangement.

And to my surprise, the lady LOVED it.

Raved about it.

So the next week when another customer

came in wanting another arrangement,

I was again assigned the task.

And the lady LOVED it.

One of my bosses called me especially

on her day off, just to tell me how thrilled

the customer was.

So when I came back from Germany,

my bosses met with me and gave me a new job title:

Floral Designer.

They know I'm new at this.

They know I'm learning on the fly here.

But they're willing to let me test my wings.

It's scary and exciting and I couldn't be more thrilled.

I remembered to bring my camera

this week, to snap a pic to share

of one of my first-week-as-floral-designer

floral arrangements.

And a close up.

A lot of what I used here, I recycled.

The white hydrangeas were from the Christmas tree

we decorated, the peach roses were from

a broken pot of flowers.

Then I just added a few stems that I thought

looked pretty.

I know I have so much to learn.

But isn't it exciting? :o)

Altered Mini Composition

Good morning!

I wanted to pop in real quick before work

and share with you an altered mini composition

notebook I made the other night for my step-mom.

They're travelling to Israel in March

so I thought a pocket-sized notebook like this

might make a good travel journal.

These are really easy to whip up.

And at $.97 plus paper and ribbon scraps

they're really inexpensive, too.

I make them for my kids all the time.

If anyone's interested, maybe I can do

a how-to post. Let me know if that's something

you would like. :o)

Have a great day!

Supplies:

mini composition notebook (purchased at WalMart for $.97)

patterned paper: October Afternoon, Cosmo Cricket

ribbon: Offray

alpha stickers: Nostalgique

Stylish Blogger Award

Happy Monday, all!

Have you recovered from the weekend yet?

Lookie what the lovely Lynette over at

Netters Notables gave me today!

Lynette is someone whose work I have long admired.

She's an amazingly talented artist

with such a fresh and fun style

and I feel so deeply honored and humbled

that she would think of me.

I also have the rare priveledge of serving with

Lynette on Lawnscaping, the new Lawn Fawn challenge blog.

So on to the award!

This one is super fun, because it gives you a chance to

learn more about your blogging buddies in

ways we don't always connect just through crafting.

There are just three rules on accepting:

1. Link and thank the person who gave it to you

2. Share 8 things about yourself

3. Pass it along to 8 fellow bloggers

So, here are 8 things you may or may not

know about me:

1. We are a multi-national, bi-lingual family.

My darling husband is German, and our three boys

were born there and have dual citizenship.

2. My husband and I spent a year as missionaries

to Cameroon, West Africa where we ran a primitive

jungle health center from 2001-2002.

3. My other great passion is writing.

It's been my dream since I was a child

to become a published novelist.

4. I love seafood.

Crab, shrimp, scallops...

I'd eat them every day if I could.

Yum.

5. I also love cheesecake,

and I've spent years perfecting my

various cheesecake recipes.

I'm getting close!

6. As much as a dearly love my three boys

there will always be an empty place in my heart

for the daughter I longed for and never had.

7. My husband's nickname for me is

Sunshine. :o)

8. I can recite the alphabet backwards

in 5 seconds flat.

Okay, so in absolutely no particular order,

these are the 8 fabulous bloggers

I'm passing this award on to.

Britta

I discovered the adorable Brit

when she had the hop before mine

on the Lawn Fawn Hearts Cards For Kids

Blog Hop. Since then I've been an avid

follower -- the girl's got skills!

And now I'm thrilled to be on the same

design team with her at Lawnscaping.

Xiumaiyuki

One of the sweetest bloggers out there.

She's like a little beam of happiness.

Plus she's seriously talented.

I love her bright and cheerful style.

Simone

I adore her name, and I adore her.

Simone is such a versatile card artist.

I always take away inspiration from her blog.

She truly can do it all!

Ayana

If you're looking for cards that

are loads of fun and just a little bit funky,

Ayana's your girl.

She rocks bright colors like no one else.

Hannah

I love to visit Hannah's blog

to get my fix on some serious eye candy.

Love her happy creations!

Check out all the new Hero Arts

goodness she used on her latest card.

Chan

You probably recognize her work

from her many publications in all the great

papercrafting magazines -- and for good reason!

Her designs are so happy and lighthearted!

I swoon.

Ruby

This girl should get an award just for

having the cutest blog name on the planet!

But she gets one for being an awesomely

talented card artist as well.

Ashley

Ashley is my cousin and she's

been papercrafting for a little less

than a year now. She's doing so well!

I'm really proud of her.

Love you, Ash!

Okay, well that's it for me tonight.

I hope you all have a wonderful day

tomorrow. I'm going to try to get into my

craft room and try my hand at

 Tiffany's first  Sketchy Sundays sketch.

It's a good one!

G'night all!

Rotary Hello

Good morning!

Or should I say, good afternoon?

I've been a busy little crafty bee this morning.

I got an idea for a card around midnight

last night, but I was so tired, and my

eyes would just not focus

so I didn't want to attempt it.

This morning when I woke up,

I jumped out of bed and headed straight to my

craft table to put my idea into action.

Here's the finished result.

It all started with that bottom print.

It's actually filled with different jump rope chants,

but the "upward, downward, all along the line"

reminded me of a telephone.

And I hadn't inked up the little Lawn Fawn phone

yet, so I was itching to use it anyway.

To assemble my panel, I took a tip

from Card Queen Extraordinaire

Kristina Werner (love her!)

and adhered my strips of patterned paper

to a sheet of regular printer paper

and then trimmed them down to size.

You can see how she does it here.

Hope you all have a fabulous day!



Supplies:

cardstock: Bazzill kraft

patterned paper: Scrappin' Sports, October Afternoon *Thrift Shop*, Cosmo Cricket *Circa 1934*

stamps: Lawn Fawn *Just My Type*

ink: Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Distress in Antique Linen and Vintage Photo

copics: C9, C7, C5, E35, E33, E31

ribbon: Offray

pearls: Queen & Co (colored with C9)
spellbinders nestabilities Labels 1

Top 10 of 2010

Hello again!

I'm back from our lovely holiday in Germany.

We had a wonderful memory-making time with my

husband's family there. We did a lot of fun stuff,

ate a lot of good food, and now I'm armed with

German chocolate and ready to dive headlong

into the world of crafting again.

Since my office is still filled with my half-unpacked

suitcase (LOVE to travel, HATE to unpack!)

it will be another day or two before I'm able to get inky.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share some of my favorite

cards I made over the past year. Here's my top 10 of 2010.

Hoppy Easter

Bulldog Birthday

Welcome Little One

Hey Champ

Hello, Love

Beautiful Friend

Happy Birthday to Me

Set Your Heart On Something Beautiful

Fairy Birthday Wishes

Mr. Kitty and the Blustery Day

Whew! Well I hope you enjoyed that little look back.

It's been one year exactly to the day

since I began this amazing journey into Papercrafting.

I've learned so much and I've loved every minute.

I hope it continues for a good, long while.

In honor of my one year blogoversary

I am going to be putting together another

BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY --

Our holiday plans pushed things back a bit

so I don't have it quite ready, but I'll keep you updated.

To all my followers, thank you so much for

your love and support. It means the world to me.

Happy 2011!

Introducing Lawnscaping!

Happy New Year!

Let's start this new year off with a bang, shall we?

When last we left off, I told you I had an exciting secret

that I couldn't share quite yet -- but guess what? I can now!

Introducing...

Lawnscaping!

The new challenge blog dedicated to all things Lawn Fawn.

Oh my gosh, are you excited?

I'm practically hyperventilating over here!

Speaking of "here" -- you'll never guess where I am right now.

I'm in Germany! We're spending the holidays with my in-laws

in the little farming village where we used to live and they still do.

Which means that I'm actually posting this ahead of time

and setting the little timer do-hickey and praying to God it works!

But back to the BIG NEWS:

A couple of weeks ago the lovely Laurel Beard contacted

me and asked me if I'd like to be a part of the design team

 for this amazing new venture.

When I finished scraping my jaw off the floor

(seriously? They wanted ME?) I said,

HECK, yeah! Are you kidding me? Of course I do!

And as the details began to unfold over the next few days

I got more and more amped up, because what's

better than a bunch of Lawn Fawn lovers, using their goodies

to encourage and inspire one another --

plus have a chance at winning some great prizes.

Back up the pony! Did she say PRIZES?

Yes she certainly did. Er, I did.

Prizes. There, I did it again. ;o)

We will be holding two challenges a month,

on the first and third Mondays, and there will be

a winner and a prize awarded each time.

Plus, at the end of the year, one lucky duck will take home

a HUGE bonus prize package full of goodies that

will make your mouth drool and your heart go pitter-patter.

All you have to do to be eligible is to play along.

Each and every Lawnscaping Challenge participant

will have their name added to the pot.

At two challenges a month, that's 24 chances to win

this super-duper amazing prize package.

So what's inside?

Well, if we told you that, we'd have to kill you.

Kidding.

But we're not going to tell you anyway.

Not yet. Yeah, we're mean like that. ;o)

No wait! We've just brought you Lawnscaping Challenges!

We are most definitely nice. The nicest.

This first two-week challenge theme is:

and the prize is:

That's right, one FREE Lawn Fawn stamp set

of your own choosing. Yum!

And here is my very first design team sample:

I decided to use Frosties, stamping the sentiment

and a few snowflakes with Versamark ink

and heat-setting them with white embossing powder.

I piled on some Tumbled Glass distress ink by Ranger,

then chased it with a little Broken China.

Then I punched out six snowflakes using the

Martha Stewart snowflake punch

and stapled them to my panel with

Tim Holtz's Tiny Attacher.

Added a few pearl embellishments and adhered

 to my 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 card front with pop dots.

Please head over to the Lawnscaping Challenge Blog

and get all of the details, plus meet the rest of

the AMAZING design team and catch

a peek at their beautiful samples.

Then head on over to their blogs and congratulate

them on a job well done.

Laurel Beard

Lynette Kauffman

Ashley Newell

Britta Swiderski

Christiana Reuling (me!)

Now, go and get inky!

The challenge is on!