Life is good....

....and today is another absolutely gorgeous day!  The weather is just perfect with temps in the low 80's....no humidity and nice fresh air.  I have all my windows open and it's wonderful to have a sea breeze coming in.  No need for AC today and I love it.  I have spent a lot of time in my craft room and love all the extra sunlight.   I have been working on several projects and I wanted to share a few of my recent cards with everyone.  

    My first card today is for the Sweet Summertime challenge over that the Bugaboo Stamps challenge blog.  I'm also going to remind you that today is that LAST day of the BIG SALE at Bugaboo Stamps.  If you hop on over today, you will still have time to take 50% off your entire purchase.  It's Jodie's 'Moving is Expensive Sale'  and it ends tonight.  I also want to wish Jodie well on her move as we all know how much of a task moving can be! 
    This is my 'Sweet Summertime' card and it was a favorite.  I really LOVE Bugaboo images and own several, this one reminds me very much of Summer makes me SMILE! 

     I have also used this image a few times for other challenges and I thought I would also show you how it used it on a different background color and with the kids colored in different colors.  It has so many possibilities.  

     After I finished up my Bugaboo card, I went to work on some Fall-themed cards and I have actually made several.  Most of these, will be sent off to Operation Write Home and I plan to have my next package off to Dixie (my OWH shipper), by the end of the week!     

  

    

   

    And my last card is actually my first Halloween Card for the year!   I am very much looking forward to seeing all the new digi images that should be coming out any day for the new season.  Not that I am ready for Summer to go, but I do like to work on projects in advance.  Most of my cards were made with stamps or images from last season and now that I think about it, I really have many digi images last year, but this year I know I'll be adding more to my collection, especially for the Holidays!  I LOVE them and find them so much easier to work with.  I hope, in time, that ALL stamps change to a digi format - WooHOO!!

   So..... that's what I've been up to today and it's been a lot of fun.  I still have a few more images, all colored, so I think I will try and work on a few more cards, before I lose all my energy.  Tomorrow is my chore day (yuk), so I don't have as much time to craft on Sunday, and I would much rather craft than do chores Any day!   Wouldn't YOU? 

Happy FRIDAY!!

...WOOHOO!!  It's a gorgeous Friday with bright blue skies, lots of sunshine and LOW...yes low humidity...at last!  It feel so good to have dry air and it makes me and my little feet, feel much better too.  No swelling..and no aching -- what a nice relief.

    Today, I am going to start on a card that will be a surprise.  I was asked to create a special card for one of my favorite groups and I'm very excited, but its' going to be a secret for now.  I'll be sure to post it when it's time.   I am very excited and now just HOPE I can come up with a really nice card.  It feels to good to be creating and I'm thrilled to have another day of feeling well.  Yippee!!

     Yesterday, ended up being a great day and after I updated my blog,  I had a nice phone call from my friend Melanie.  It's always so nice to hear from any of my craft friends and Melanie is also such a sweetie.  I've been blessed to meet so many wonderful friends though crafting and that's another reason why this hobby is so special to me.  Mel has also been joining in on lots of the challenges and SSC and it's been fun to be posted cards together.  After we chatted a while, I was anxious to get to work on two more cards for SSC challenges.  Both are actually color themed cards, and this first card was for the Color Combo Challenge and the colors we had to use were: Black, White, Red and Green.  This is my card and it was really fun, yet easy to make.

  My second card for was this week's card challenge and that was also a color based challenge with a twist.  We had to use four of six colors (Red, Blue, Pink, Purple, Gray and Yellow) and include stripes.  I started by finding some striped paper that was - Purple, Yellow and Pink, and picked Gray as my card base.  I also added a second layer of yellow cardstock that I embossed, and another layer of pink and then added a flower made of up of all the colors.  It's not my favorite card, as it turns out, but I'm happy I completed the challenge.

    I'm off now to start on my new project and I am also finishing up a birthday card for my niece.  I hope you all are enjoying your Friday and finding lots of time to create!  

Hoping for a wonderful weekend too!!

 

Christmas in July...

...Have you noticed that a lot of the challenges lately seem to be related to Christmas, I think it's been kin of fun and who doesn't love the 'Christmas in July' Theme.

   I am feeling much better and very happy to be to cardmaking.  I finished up quite a few cards in the past couple of days and wanted to share some with you.   This first card was created for this week's Stamp n' Scrap Challenge over at SSC and the theme was to crate a very clean and simple card.  I LOVE this style, but I admit, it really is a challenge.  I did complete my card and have submitted it, but it does seem a little too plain?  What do you think?

  I do love this cute little image and it's one I picked up yesterday at the Bugaboo Sale.  If you haven't been there yet, don't forget that all images are 50% off through Saturday, July 31st.  To find the promo code for the sale, please go HERE and have fun shopping.



  The rest of my cards are all in a Christmas theme and all were created for various challenges.  My first card was created to two challenges, and both are 'Christmas in July'.  The first challenge is the Midweek Throwdown Challenge over at the Stars & Stamps blog.  And the second challenge is over at SSC where we were inspired to use non-traditional colors and create from our Scrap Pile.  Here is my card for both challenges!

  
  My next card was also created for another challenge over at SSC, and this one was 'Coloring White' and was based off a new less in the Copic Group.

   And while I was in the whole mode of coloring Christmas images, I also created two more cards to add to my stash.  I had been trying to make at least one a week and started off great...but that ended weeks ago--LOL!  This has helped to get me back on track and I hope to continue and be ahead this year!   

    And that's it for now folks...!  I am off to work some more challenges and then get back to my Cricit Class!  Happy Crafting!

Great Sale at Bugaboo Stamps !

     Today is also a good day for a few reasons, I am feeling so MUCH better than yesterday and feel like I can head back into my craft room and create.   Wednesday is always a good day, because many of my favorites challenges start on Wednesday.  My first stop was over at  SSC and there are some fun challenges this week that I'll be joining in.  One of my favorites is also the Scrap N' Stamp Challenge and I also always enjoy the Color Combo and each week's Copic Coloring challenge.  

   It's also the 'Midweek Throwdown Challenge' over at the Stars and Stamps Blog and this week is Christmas in July, a theme I LOVE!!  I am also very honored that Jan, has asked me to create a card for one of the upcoming challenges in August and it was be one of the inspiration cards for the challenge that week.  I am already thinking of ideas and very excited that she has offered me this wonderful opportunity!


   I started looking for some new Digi Images and my first stop was over at Bugaboo Stamps, where I was very happy to find there is currently at 50% OFF sale!!  WOOHOO!   Needless, to say, I bought nine new digi images!   I wanted to be sure to share the sale info with all my craft friends.  Simply go Bugaboo Stamps and look for ALL the details in the yellow box, it's called the MOVING IS EXPENSIVE SALE and you'll find the promo code in that box.  Simply add the code at check out and your entire order will be reduced by 50%!!  What a great sale!!

  
  Bugaboo Stamps has, always been one of my favorite places to buy digi images and I had a great time finding some new images, especially with the sale.  Jodie (the owner and designer) also offers a freebie every Friday, which is fabulous.  If you have never tried digi stamps, then hop on over now and you can 'Try Before you Buy'.  I highly recommend this store and have always been very pleased with my purchases.   As soon as your payment is processed you'll be linked to a site where you instantly download your new images.  That's a huge plus...no waiting for them to be shipped, you have them in minutes.   I also LOVE that you can print your digi images in any size you want.

   Well...now that I have enabled you all to go shopping!  I am off to start creating.  I have already downloaded my new images and I am ready to print and color!   I hope you all find time to stop over and don't wait too long, the sale ends on Saturday and you don't want to miss out!!   Happy Shopping!!  

A Terrible Tuesday...

....Yesterday, was NOT at all a good day.  It started off badly right away when I went to take the laundry from the washer and realized that "someone" had left a packet of GUM in their pocket....ARGH!!   Green GUM too...!!  YUK!!    I had to take out every thing and pick off all them green gum...(luckily none melted), so once I found all five pieces and the wrappers, I was pretty happy to realize none of the clothes were ruined.  I put them all back in, turned on the washer and noticed that it was not agitating well...(this is something that has been acting up)..and today was the day, of course, that it was about to die!
         Luckily, after a phone call to a local repair guy, I was very happy to find out, it was a pretty common problem and he thought he would be able to fix it easily.  Of course, the parts were only $5, but the service call was $70, but I figured it would be worth it, to have it done and he was hoping to coming the same day...so I was happy.   He told me he would call me later with a time, and I was beginning to think the day was getting better.  But, at the same time I started having some nausea and belly pain (and ongoing issue)..and by noon felt absolutely miserable and just had to go lay down.  No sooner, did I hit the bed, when the repairman called and said he was one his way!  UGH......just my luck.  I dragged myself downstairs and luckily he was in and out in 30 minutes and my washer was fine.  It was exactly what he thought $75 later, my washer was fixed and a new load was in.
   And that was pretty much it for me...I went back up my my bedroom, turned and on the AC and slept for the next few hours.  I woke up when DH and Alex came home and was starting to feel some relief.  This belly pain and nausea is NOT good and I'm thinking it may be some type of gallbladder attack, as it has happened a few times...but I've have bouts like this in the past, and each time, the test came out fine and basically, it was determine to be a form or IBS, which is very common with Fibro.  Its' been a long time, since I had this and it's rally awful and comes on so suddenly and you become really sick, very fast.   I ended up getting up about 6 PM, simply to get some water, jump in the shower and get into some jammies.   I also feel a lttie better, after a nice shower and in some snuggly jammies.  I then  went back to bed and slept through the night.  I did wake up a few times and was feeling better little by little.  Phew!  I'm glad that feeling did NOT last long, as it was NOT good and I just hope it's gone!  But, I guess I probably should see my doctor again and since I'm due for a Fibro visit, I will plan to do that. 

  So.... that was my Terrible Tuesday...not a day I want to repeat!  Today, I hope will be a Wonderful Wednesday?  

Muggy Monday...

   Yup...you got it...we are still in the middle of the never ending summer heat!  It's another hot and humid July day, but today there is a nice ocean breeze, so it feels much better.  I'm still amazed at how hot it's been all Summer.  I think this is by far the hottest Summer of my life.  It's so unusual for us to have to many 90 degree days.  Normally, we have less than 10 all season, we passed that days ago.  Our 'Dog Days' of Summer are typically in August, but who knows what we'll have this year.  It's hard to believe that July is almost over.    I am NOT where near ready for Summer to end, so I hope August is a very slow moving month.  I've also loved August and it's my birthday month, so maybe that's why...but I think more, because it's a one of the best months of the year and I LOVE Summer!!   Even with all this HOT weather, I'll take ANY Summer day over a COLD winter day...!!  I just do NOT like winter or the cold...I am a Summer girl for sure.

  And still very much in my Summer thinking, I have a few more challenge cards to post.  All of these are for challenges over at SSC and my favorite challenge this week, was the Scrap n' Stamp challenge, because it was based on a theme image and that image was a gorgeous beach....  Lovely!

  My first card is a beach themed card, and to me the beach is all about FUN and bright colors and that's exactly what I used in my card.  A super fun digi image from Bugaboo stamps, some Summer themed paper from a DCWV stack and bright Copic Colors for my beach guy!!  Isn't he cute!!

   My next card was created for this week's Color Combo Challenge and the colors we had were 0 Dark Brown, Kraft/Tan, Yellow and Orange.   I used my Cricut for this card and took advantage of what I have been learning in my class, so that I could use my Cricut more often in my cardmaking.  All of these images were cut from the Cindy Loo Cartridge, a new favorite.

  And my final card was created for this week's Copic Challenge, which was coloring fur.  But, I totally forgot (Fibro Fog) that we had also been provided a sketch and needless to say I did not use the sketch, so my card can not be submitted for the challenge, but I still enjoyed making it and think it will be a nice card for OWH!!

    And now I'm off to head over to the Color Me Creative Classroom to work on another project in my Pagoda Cartridge class.  And speaking of the classroom, I think it will be a quiet week, since both Marti and Suzanne and both currently in flight to CHA.   I  hope they both have a great flight out and a wonderful time at the show.   I can't wait to see all the NEW goodies coming out and I'll be sure to be following both of their blogs to see what they find!  Someday I would LOVE to go to CHA and I hope at some time, if will be hosted here on the East Coast again!
   Have YOU ever been to CHA?  Please post and let me know! 

Challenge Card!!

    As much as I have been loving my new class, I'm also starting to miss creating cards for my favorite challenges.  I deciced to take the rest of the afternoon to work on some challenge cards and then go back to class tomorrow!  It's also nice to change things up a bit and work on a variety of projects.

    My first stop was over at SSC (Simply Scrapping Crafts) which is my favorite challenge blog.  I quickly found that my first challenge would be this week's Card Corner Challenge.  The challenge this week is to create a card where the Sentiment is the main focal point.   With that in mind, I then hoped over to check out this week's Sketch over at the  Stars and Stamps Challenge Blog.   My goal was to use the sketch as inspiration and create one card that would work out great for both challenges.   I was very happy to hop over and find this sketch, which I really like. 

   Next I picked out a cute sentiment, and this is one I really thought would work out well.  It was designed by Melissa Jenkins of Meljen Designs and I really LOVE her digis and own quite a few.  This is one of my favorite 'sentiment' digi stamps and I thought it would work well.  I then picked out my papers and added a bit of the matching color the sentiment with my Copic Markers.  I put it all together to create this fun easy card.

   It was a fun card to make and I really love the 'Faith Hope Love" sentiment.  It will be a card that I send off in my next package to OWH!  

    I'm off to see if I can find another challenge card to work on today!


  

It's Sunday...already??

  And Sunday is our majoring cleaning and chore day!  We are pretty much done now and I'm just finding some time to sit down, check email and update my blog.  I had tried to go online earlier for a bit, but the internet for was down?  It's fine now, so that's good.  I think I'd be lost it if were down for very long!  I really enjoy my craft groups and keeping in touch with friend online.  I would not be good for long without being able to connect!! LOL! 
   It's another hot and humid day here, but it is a bit cloudy, so I'm sure that is keeping the temps down a bit.   Looks like we have another hot week ahead, but by the end of the week, the humidity may finally break and it looks like it may be sunny, dry and in the 80's on Friday!!  WOOHOO!  That would be wonderful and I hope it works out!!  I really don't mind the heat, but I sure do NOT like the humidity and it really does a number on those of with with Fibro.  Normally, Summer is my best time, but this year it's been almost as hard a winter, and that's a bummer, because I really LOVE Summer!

   Yesterday, I pretty much spend the day in my very cool and comfy craft room.  I worked on another two card for my Pagoda Class and there are pictures the cards I completed.  Both cards were based on sketches and both have various elements and textures.  The first cards contains another Kanji Word and this one is Believe.  My second card has a cute little Asian doll digi image that I colored with my Copics.  Both cards were a lot of fun to make.  I am so pleased with this class and finally feel like I know how to use my Expression - Thank you Marti!!

  I also had a great time trying out my new  "Lacy Labels" cartridge, and I absolutely LOVE it.  If you are a card-maker this is a cartridge that you will LOVE.  It has a wonderful selection of 'labels' which work perfectly for layers for you cards.   In the card above, I created three layers for the Asian Doll, all with my new cartridge.    I also used my Cuttlebug along with the Asian folders to emboss each layer.  The doily layer in the background was cut using another favorite cartridge - Cindy Loo!  I've used my Expression so much this week and I'm totally enjoying putting it to good use and being able to create so many new die cut that work great for cards!  WOOHOO!

  Now, I'm off to work on a package for my Secret Sister that I need to get mailed out this week.  I picked up a few things last week, while out shopping, but have not put it all together yet.  Today is the day and after I finish that I hope to go back to my Pagoda Class and start on the next video!  A perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Kellie's Amazing Blog Candy!!

  This has to be one of the most Amazing Blog Candy giveaways I have ever seen.  Take a look at this --

  WOWeeeeeeeeeee!!  This is going to make one person a very very happy crafter.  I want to send my special thanks to Kellie Winnell, the wonderful crafter who is hosting this fabulous blog candy giveaway.  You can find her blog here!  Be sure to check out Kellie's fabulous tutorials too, she is a very talented crafter and shares a lot a great info on her blog!!   Thanks again Kellie!  You ROCK!!

 
 I also want to wish everyone LOTS of LUCK!   ENJOY and Good Luck!!
 

A super Saturday....

...Today is turning out to be a great day and I'm spending most of it being creative in my craft room.  I actually slept in and it was close to 10 AM before I got up and I have not slept that late in a long long time.  I think being so busy yesterday, really tired me out and I guess I needed that extra sleep.  I did wake up at 7, just before Alex left for work, but I fell right back asleep as soon as he left. 

    Next thing I knew, I was awake and it seemed like it was only a few minutes later.  I looked quickly at the time and thought it was ten of 8.  But...once I was downstairs, I looked at the kitchen clock and quickly realized I had read the time wrong, it's was actually twenty minute of 10!! Oh my...I had fallen back to sleep for almost 3 hours..now a few minutes!   Oh my..was that a shocker!!   I had some coffee and put in the laundry and was off to start my day.  A half hour later my mail arrived and I was thrilled to see that my brand new 'Lacy Label' Cricut Cartridge, was here!!  Yippee!!
   If you are a card-maker and have a Cricut, this is a cartridge you will LOVE and as of today, it's currently available at Walmart online  for $39.00 plus 97 cents shipping!  And, if you ship it to your local store (it's free shipping).  But, since I don't have a local Walmart, I was lucky enough to have a crafter friend (JoAnn) pick it up and ship it out to me.  I am LOVING this cartridge and think it'll be one of my all time favorites.   If you are like me and can't find it locally, then hit Walmart online and be sure to use  Mr. Rebates too for an additional savings.  I wish more of the craft stores worked with Mr. Rebates, but luckily there are a few that do including, HSN, JoAnn's, Scrapbook Alley, Walmart and of even eBay.  I love earning free money for shopping...don't you!!


   It's now already going on 4 pm and I am just about to finish up two projects!  I've already used my new cartridge to create some cool layers for my cards.  Both cards were created for my Pagoda Class, which is fabulous.  I've taken quite a few classes online and some card class my at LSS, but out of ALL the Cricut classes I have tired, this is the BEST..by far!!    If you love your Cricut and you love classes, then I highly recommend you buy the Lacy Labels Cartridge, and then hop on over to the  Color Me Creative Classroom and enroll in one of the new Cricut Classes or one of the Copic Classes.   Not only do I love Suzanne's Copic Classes, but I'm now totally thrilled with Marti's Cricut Classes too!  And I know they both have lots of creative ideas and plan to continue to offer even more craft classes very soon.  Woohoo!!   I told Suzanne the other night,  that I'm going to eventually need a Lifetime Membership, because I love ALL the classes and know I'll want to take more in the future!!
   And that's it for me...I'm off ton put the final touches on my cards and then see start on a new project.  Happy Crafting!!

Woohoo! Friday is here!!!

....And today is going to be a nice Friday for me.  I've already been to my nail appointment and now I'm finishing up some laundry before I head out again.  I'm meeting my Mom and two of my cousins for a nice 'girls' lunch, which I'm sure will be fun.  I'm looking forward to getting out of the house for a change too.  Luckily it's even a bit cooler today and the temps are down in the 80's and it should be perfect for sitting out on the deck at the Restuarant...hopefully there will be nice little sea breeze too!

  

     I also hope to find some time later to do a bit a crafting and finish up two cards I am working on in my wonderful Pagoda Class, especially after yesterday turning out to be so frustrating with my Design Studio.  I spent most of the day trying to get it work only to realize it was NOT happening....and boy was that frustrating.

    I had decided yesterday that I wanted to use my Design Studio to save time and easily cut a bunch of images I needed for my Pagoda Class.  I designed the mat, set everything up perfectly with all the cardstock, plugged in my Cricut and hit CUT, and go the messages about looking for the Jukebox (which I was not using), and then hit NO, and it told me to put in Pagoda and hit OK--which I did, as usual, but it would NOT cut.  Nothing would happen.  I remember this happened before and I had been frustrated and moved on to another project and since forget.  I then decided to try in in one of the Jukeboxes, to see if that would work...NOPE...same thing...my Expression does NOT recognize the Pagoda cartridge!  I restart my computer, made sure I had all the current updates...and tried this over and over! and NOTHING!  Finally, I decided to call Provo, and I luckily was got through right away to find out, this is a known issuse with Pagoda and DS.  And the worst part is that it's NOT new and has been known for a couple of years and there is NO FIX!  Of course, it doesn't happen to everyone or every cartridge and PC has no clue why.   I went and checked the message baords and some people has had this issue back to 2007, so that was NOT a good thing to find out.  Now, I'm bummed, because I can NOT use Pagoda with DS and it would have saved me a lot of time!  Darn Provo -- I have a feeling if they have not figured this out in 3 years, that the chances of resolving it, may not be good! Grrr!!   I can use Pagoda manually and use the keyboard, but that's what makes NO sense to me? 

    Now I am wondering how many others may be having issues with cutting with Pagoda while using your DS?  Do you own Pagoda?  And if you do, can you use Design Studio (or even a Gypsy) along and actually cut a design?   I HOPE that this is NOT happening to you too, but I am curious? 

    I also was thinking about HOW messy my work area can become when I am crafting and I wonderful if any of you also end up with a huge mess to clean up every day?  

  This ended up being on ONLY card I finished yesterday for my

Pagoda Class!

   And this is what my work desk looks like after making ONE simple card?  Does this look familiar to you?  Or I am just a very messy crafter??

   I am always amazed at how much cleaning up I have to do every day!  I am the type who can't leave it messy and go to bed to go out.  I always pick up and start fresh every day!!   How about you?  How do you craft?

    Whatever way, I'm sure it's always fun and worth the mess, at least I know it is for me.  My desk is clean how and I'm leaving shortly, but you can bet it'll be back to looking just like this by the end of the day!! 

Happy Friday!!!

A fun and creative week!!

  We are back in another heat wave....YUK!   I think this has been the hottest Summer we have had here in Massachusetts in a long long time.  I can only imagine how high our electric bill will be after running these AC's non-stop.  Usually, the Summer utility bills are really inexpensive, but with these temps I have a feeling they will be up near the winter bill.  Grrr!!

   Luckily, I have so much crafting to do and my room is actually one of the coolest rooms in the house...it's has one of the newest AC units and cools down in a few minutes.  Yesterday, it was not as sunny as today and one of the cooler days and I spent almost the entire day in my new Cricut Class.  I am addicted to this class and didn't even stop except for a quick bite to eat for Dinner.  I never did much cleaning, so today I had to make up that but I'm right back in class again today and totally enjoying it.
   I have already made my first three cards and learned so mnay great hints and tips about using my Expression.  Yes, Marti...I did and the videos and your instructions are Fabulous!  They make it very easy to follow and I think I am finally dong to LOVE my Expression and use it a whole lot more!!

   These are the first three cards I made and I had so much FUN! 

 

   Not only are we learning how to use our Cricuts and the Pagoda cartridge, we are also learning tips and hints for making cards.  Some fun inking and Cuttlebug techniques and Marti has also provide us with some cards sketches and tips on find Asian inspired cardstock and so much more!   I'm telling you, I just LOVE this class and I'm taking this whole week off from challenges and spending ALL my time here.  That's how much I LOVE IT.  It's ALL I want to do and I'm happy that I an spend more time in the classroom today too!
    My other exciting news is that a really sweet new craft friend, (JoAnn) aka JoBoogie Stamping, was kind enough to pick up a Lucy Labels Cricut Lite cartridge for me, while she was at her Wal-Mart yesterday!! WOOHOO!!     As most of you know, I live in a rural area and we do not have  any Wal-Mart stores close by and the closest one, doesn't even have a Craft Department, so me ever finding any Wal-Mart deals is not possible.  I'm always bummed when I hear about all the great deals that you all find at Wal-Mart.  You can only imagine how bummed I was, when I found out that ALL the Criicut Lites were going to be exclusive to Wal-Mart!!  Argh!
   I started looking on eBay for them, but the prices were much to high, then this weekend I found some were available at Walmart.com and I was excited to pick out one!  I knew I only wanted to buy one, and simply had to figure out which would be best for me.  I then asked a few friends which they liked best and it was Marti that told me how versatile that Lucy Labels was and how much she has been using hers.  She was even thinking of possible doing a class with it in the future, so I knew that the the ONE I HAD to HAVE it.    That night, I put the word out in a few of my craft groups and the very next day, JoAnn from the Scrapaholics Group, let me know she was going to Wal-Mart on Tuesday and she kindly offered to get me one, if they had any left...that was my lucky day!!    I was thrilled when a text message arrived saying she found me one and was trying to decide if she should get one too,  I was very happy  to 'enable' Jo to buy one for herself, after all she just upgraded to her first Expression, so it made perfect sense!!  Now we both happily own the cart and I can't wait to try mine.  Yippee!!


   I'm off now to go back to class, but simply wanted to show you my latest cards and also THANK Joann again for her kind and generous offer!  She shipped my cartridge off this morning and I know I will love it...especially since I am finally understanding just how much I can do with my Expression!   It's my lucky week...and I am very thankful and happy!

   Hoping you are ALL having a fun week...!! ENJOY!!

Christmas in July -- and more....

....I LOVE Christmas....so when I saw this week's challenge at 'The Cuttlebug Spot' was a Christmas Card, I was happy to did out my supplies and make my card.  I've been trying to work on a few Christmas Cards every month, but admit I am way behind.  Now, that I have my Christmas box out, maybe I'll be motivated to create a few more.  This is the card I created for the Challenge!

    It's seem kind of funny to making a card for Christmas when if 90 degree's everyday.  Yikes!!  I am really sick and tired of the heat and humidity, but I am very thankful for AC.  I have spent a whole lot of time in my craft room keeping very cool and working on new things.   Here are some of my recent cards -- most of these will be going off to OWH and they were all created in the past couple of days.  As you'll see, I kind of had a theme going on!

  These were all fun and easy cards to make.  I actually have about five more, but did not want to bore you with every one.  I had a very productive Saturday making this cards!


   Today, I am very very excited to be heading back to my Pagoda Cricut Class , that I am taking from Marti over at the  Color-Me Creative Classroom.  It's absolutely awesome and I know I'm going to LOVE it and learn a lot.  I spent  about 3 hours last night watching the first video and printing out all the PDF files.   I have already learned some great tips and Marti is very detailed in the video, yet makes it very easy to follow!   She has already helped me to use my Expression in a whole new way.  This is exactly what I was hoping for and every more!  Today, I will be started my first project and I can't wait to get creating.   I am so thrilled with this class, it ROCKS!  I truly HOPE Suzanne and Marti will continue to offer more of these type of classes -- and I hope more people will join in, it's well worth every penny. WOOHOO!!

    I'm off to class!  Have a great day...I know I will!!

Happy Monday!!!

....And today is going to be a FUN day because I am starting a brand new class over at Color-Me Creative Classroom.  This class is being taught by Marti Wills (Pez-a-doodle) and is a Cricut class featuring the Pagoda cartridge and Marti is called it a Pagoda-Palooza!!   Now that I have seen all the projects I know it's going to be fantastic!   And if you are interested and sign up quickly, you can still get get discount on the price!!  Here is a picture of the ALL the awesome projects we will be creating in Marti's Pagoda class --

  Yesterday, I actually ventured off to my LSS, AC Moore and Michaels to pick up some needed supplies and also a few things for the class.  I had not been shopping in ages, so it was nice to get out of the house, plus I had money put away and had saved up about $100 to take with me.  I also took along my coupons and did well.  
   AC Moore had all the Cricut products on sale, so I picked up on set of Vinyl, which we will use in class, plus an extra set of 12X12 Mats, along with a few small things form the Clearance row.  My next stop was Michael's and I always start in the Clearance where I happily found two Martha Stewart punches I had been wanting on sale for $4.95.  I also picked up a new Marvy punch at 40% off and some glue and adhesives.  The last thing I bought there was some Bazzill Cardstock (also on sale) and a 12X12 Frame also for a project.
  I ended my spree at my LSS, which is my absolute favorite store.  I could spend hours in there, because they have all the newest products, its so much better than either of the chain stores and has much better stamps too.  I bought some Memory Box papers (2 sets) which I love, and also found some gorgeous Asian style papers that will work out great on this project.  I also stocked up on on Bazzill Cardstock and picked up a lot of new colors and colors that would go well with my new papers.  I had a coupon for 20% off my entire purchase, so I did very well. 
     I am off now to watch Martha Stewart and the Craft Shows on HSN!  I wonder if there where be any fabulous deals that I MUST have!!  I'm still trying to stick to my 24 hour rule.  This really helps me to make sure I want things.  I put them in my cart and then sleep on it...you'd be amazed at how many time, I find the next day, I am NOT as interested.  I really think sometimes the hype makes me jump on the idea, but then I find I am not as interested the next day!!  It's a great tip and hint and helps me be a more frugal shopper!!   and see if there are deals that I need to have.  LOL!!  I do like her punches, but I have a least one punch of both sets she has today, so they are not going to be for me!  :)
   Happy Crafting and if you are watching HSN - Happy Shopping!!


 

Organizing Day for me....

   My first project today was to do some organizing in my craft room and one big project was organizing all the the cards I have created in the past few weeks.   I have two huge wicker baskets overflowing with cards and had another huge pile and no where to put them.  I started by going through them all again and pulling out ALL the cards that I could send off to  'Operation Write Home".  I made sure none had glitter and matched each up with it's own envelope.  Now all I need to do is stamp them with my OWH Stamp, and tuck them into their envelopes.  I hope to get that done something this week and send them off to my shipper by Friday!   My goal has been to send one big packet of cards each month, and I'm right on schedule!   I think I have about 35 or so going in this shipment!  :)
    After I had those put aside, I sorted the rest by size and and type.   I then put each with a matching envelope and put them all in clear cards bags and packed them into a large storage bin.  After those we put away, I had plenty of room in my basket for all the newer cards.  While I had cards on my mind, I finally remembered to send another card off to my Secret Sister.  I will work on her July goodie package in the next week or so and get that off too!  

   Once I finished that project I was ready to make a very sun and easy cards.  The first two were created using some of the distress paper flowers I made the other night.  These work really well to create a very quick and easy card. 

     I then started looking online for a new challenge card to work on, but amazingly could really find one that seemed to interest me today.  Go Figure!  So, I decided to simply make a card or two with some of my favorite colors and paper.  Wanna guess what color that might be?  If you guessed PURPLE, then you know me well!!  I also picked out one of my favorite Stampin' Up Designer Papers - 'Cottage Wall' and this is the card I created...super easy, but pretty!!

   I think I may try and finish one more card and then maybe look for a challenge again.  If you have any you want to suggest, please leave me a comment!  

    Happy Crafting !!

A Happy Friday!!!

  Yesterday, was not one of my best crafting days -- I really think it was a BUST!  I was not at all happy with any of my cards and feel much better, since I started over again today!   I am not going to re-create the Two Peas cards again, as they simply were not my style.   But...I have created a brand-new card for Simply Scrapping Crafts.    I guess it was just one of those days, when things do no turn out as well as planned!

    For the Color Combo Challenge at SSC, I really thought it was nice combo and would be easy....WRONG!   Very wrong.   These colors do NOT all work so well together.  Blue and Green are Nice, Pink and Blue and Pink and Black are cool too...but all four....YUK!  After several ideas and starts on cards, I ended up creating this card and finished it last night.  But, just is not one I really like!  !

  This morning I decided to start ALL over and was inspired by these flowers.....

  And created a whole new card....

   This new flower was created but using a combination of shapes that I punched/cut into shades of blue/green, blue and pink patterned paper.  I added a pink brad for the center adhered it to my card with a large glue dot!  It did not photograph very well, but I still think it's a much better card!!    I also had used some 'smooch' on the flower to add some shimmer!!   I really love these handmade flowers, they are so easy to make and look cute on any card or even on top of a gift box instead of a bow!!

   Off to find a NEW challenge...Happy FRIDAY....!!  What's up for the weekend??

Happy Thursday....

   It seems like it's going to be another pretty good day!  Yippee!! 

   Today, I am going to start my crafting with this month's 'A Year In Cards' over at Two Peas.  The cards this month are really cute too, so it'll be fun to try.  If you want to join in and try the cards, please go to Two Peas and you'll find the July challenge cards HERE!  There is a great little tutorial and even a PDF file you can print out and save for future use.   The classes are taught by Kristina Werner, a fabulous stamper and they are FREE!  

   Update!!  -- Good thing Blogger has the auto-save...as I took a phone call early this morning and TOTALLY forget to finish my post!! LOL!

   Now, I'm back and her to post the newest cards I created for the Two Peas challenge.  I ahve to admit, this was NOT one of my favorites, and I definitely struggled in getting the cards done.  The basic them was 'Repition' and I don't think it's one I would necessarily use a lot.  I can't tell you how many times I tried a fiew of these cards....needless to say my paper recycle bin is over flowing today...!  These are the cards I did finished!   

 

 

 This ended up being my favorite and this

one I may actually keep!  It's a large 5" square card and 

much better looking in person!!

 

 

    And as I mentioned, I am really not overly pleased with any fo the card, but I am happy that I did complete the challenge and kept trying.  You might wonder why I posting cards that are NOT so hot..well that is so I can go back and year from now, and HOPEFULLY see a big improvements.  (And maybe laugh)!!  I wish in some ways I had been blogging or taking pics of my cards when I first started, although I can recall my beginning cards and they were far worse then these!  LOL.
    I have also been working on this week's Color Combo Challenge card for SSC, and that too is giving me trouble, even though I really love the colors -  Pink, Bright Green, Bright Blue and Black.  I think the green in this pics look a bit more like lime and I will likely learn more in that direction.  I've made two cards so far, but they too are in my trash bin.

    
I think I have worked enough for today and need to give myself a break!  I need to rest and start over tomorrow and HOPE my Mojo will be back!   See you all them and for any of you who are in Suzanne's Classes, do not forget the tonight there is a LIVE CHAT at 8 pm.  I hope I can make it!! :)

    

  

A few more cards.....

   I am having such a nice day in my craft-room.  Feeling sooo much better and NO signs of any stomach pains today...!   I am having a blast creating cards and have a few more to add.


  The first card was created for this week's Card Challenge over at SSC.  The challenge this week was to create a card using the 'Rock  N' Roll' Stamping Technique.  If you have never heard of it or tried it, please go HERE for a great tutorial.  Once I started stamping I decided to make two cards with the same design and the second card was created for the Midweek Throwdown Challenge over at the Stars and Stamps Blog.  Both cards will actually be in my next shipment to OWH! 

  This is the first card, which was submitted

to the Card Challenge at SSC. 

And this is my card for the Midweek Throwdown

Challenge for OWH!

  It's really a fun and easy technique and you can use any two or even three colors.  I stamped all the hearts first.  For these card I cut out the hearts, and used different backgrounds papers and textures to make them each a bit different. I created them both to be ' I Miss You' cards, so that both would work well for OWH. 

   This is my next card, (which will also be sent off to OWH), was created for this week's Copic Coloring Challenge at SSC.  Our lesson for this week was coloring fur, so I chose this adorable teddy bear image from Meljen Designs.  I think this makes such a sweet card and it was fun and easy to color with my Copics.  I added a bit of Distress ink to the edges and some red & white polka dotted ribbon to make it all work together!  I think it ended up being my favorite of the day!!

  And I think that I will now take some time to rest a bit.  I have so much organizing I need to do in my craft room, so I may work on a little of that.  I'm feeling kind of tired, but not sick and that's what matters.  I'm very happy to be back to creating and hoping tomorrow will also be another fun day!!

  

    Hugs,

     Lisa