It's Been Awhile

Hi friends! It's been awhile since I posted, but my absence wasn't by choice. I spent my summer undergoing surgery, recovery, radiation and more recovery for cancer in my right eye. Unfortunately, I lost my eye, but they were able to remove all the cancer. I am indeed very blessed.

It's been just in the last few weeks that I have felt like crafting again, so I thought I would share a couple of cards I made recently. The card below is for a swap. Each person made a card using a mostly monochromatic scheme of a specific color. I chose gray because I think it's a very nice neutral color that often gets ignored. I also wanted to prove that a gray card doesn't have to be dull or dreary.

The card below is one of my favorites that I have ever made. This one was for a challenge to make a food shaped card. I saw a candy corn card on Pinterest and decided to do my own distressed version. I really like how it turned out and it was very quick and easy to make.

Thanks for stopping by. I have missed crafting and I'm glad to be back!

CardSwaps Time to Shine Blog Hop

There is an awesome crop going on over at CardSwaps this week. Challenges and games will be posted May 16-19, 2012 and you have until May 22, 2012 to get your projects posted to the appropriate thread. If you haven't participated before, don't worry! There are many members that will be around to offer support and encouragement. You can find out all you need to know in the forum. At the end of the hop, you will be taken to the crop and I do hope you join in. Collect the letters along the way and unscramble them to entered into the drawing for a prize for one lucky hopper! You will be given details at the bottom of the post. 


Your should have arrived here from Michelle Woerner's blog. If not, there is a list of all blogs in the hop at the bottom of this post. Make sure you visit all the blogs, leave comments and collect your letter so you can play the game.


The blog hop "theme" goes with the crop title of "Time To Shine". The only criteria our projects had to meet is that it has to be able to be used for a day in which someone has their “time to shine”, such as birthdays, graduations, weddings, bridging ceremonies, communions, or whatever. We were also asked to add some glimmer and shine to our projects.

I didn't have a specific occasion in mind for the card I created. I left it open so that it can be used for anything from a birthday to a wedding. For the glimmer and shine I used pearlized cardstock and silver vellum, rhinestones, and  Perfect Pearls. After embossing the center strip, I used a brayer to apply Distress Ink, then brushed on Perfect Pearls. That's a little difficult to see in the photo.

Supplies:
Cardstock (light gray - Club Scrap; blue damask pearl - DCWV Luxury Stack; silver pearl vellum - Michael's; solid blue - Bazzill)
Distress Ink - Tumbled Glass
Perfect Pearls - Perfect Pearl
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder - Victoria
Border Punches - Recollections
Embellishments - blue rhinestones, silver satin ribbon, blue vintage button, stick pin

Unscramble It game for hoppers... You will be unscrambling a word once you will collect a letter at each blog you visit. Once you collect ALL the letters, the last hostess in the blog hop will direct you to the thread in the forum where you can find all the details you need to enter the drawing. All hoppers collecting all the letters, unscrambling the word or phrase, entering the game by following the directions in the forum, and leaving feedback on EVERY blog they visit WILL be entered in to a random drawing held on May 23, 2012. ONE lucky hopper will have their name drawn and will win a prize!! Fun, right?? So, make sure you visit every blog and find the letters. Your hints are... it’s a phrase, it has four words, and it’s a way you will be able to shine.


My letter is "S".

Now hop on to Lisa's blog, leave her some blog love and collect your letter.

The full list of hoppers, in case you got lost.

Brooke Smith -CardMaker blog

Jeanette

Ashley

Anya Schrier    

Golda

Ivanka

Ana

Michelle Woerner

Judy L > You are here.

Lisa

Trudy Sjolander

Jane

Angelina

Kimberly Crawford

Laura

Tammy

Carolyn King

Marlene

Susan

Colleen Schaan

Meredith

Lora 

Heartfelt Wishes

Wow - it's been awhile since I've posted anything. Things in my life have been a little upside down lately and I haven't been able to do much crafting. My beloved step father Paul lost his battle with pancreatic cancer at the end of March. In addition to my own grieving process, I've been helping my son and my mother as much as I can. I think we are all getting back to a more or less normal life, so I should be able to spend more time in my craft room. I do have a few things I haven't posted yet, so I'll be catching up with those over the next few days.

For today I have a distressed shabby card that I made for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day. I am also submitting it for Linda Jo's recipe challenge this week on the CardMaker Card Swaps forum. She asked us to use At least 1 piece of cardstock, 2-3 different designer papers, a sentiment, a border punch and 2-3 embellishments.

My recipe is as follows:

Cream cardstock (unknown), blue cardstock (Club Scrap)
Three designer papers (MME Lost and Found - Portobello Road)
Sentiment - Heartfelt Wishes (Hero Arts)
Border punch (Reflections)
Five embellishments - Monarch butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), pearls, beaded stick pin, ribbon, flower (handmade using Retro Daisy punch and Prima rosebud)
Other supplies - Tim Holtz Distress ink (Antique Linen, Tumbled Glass, Weathered Wood); Nestabilities label die, Tim Holtz script stamp, Inkadinkado flower stamp

Thanks for stopping by!

Let Us Rejoice!

Hello friends! Jane is hosting this week's member challenge on the CardSwaps forum at CardMaker magazine's website. Her challenge this week was to make a round card. I made mine a tent card and used one of my favorite Bible verses. The color is a bit off in the photo. The butterfly looks green, but it is actually cream color like the flowers. The pearls on the butterfly were originally white. I colored them with Latte Alcohol Ink. The sentiment is computer generated and the flowers (Inkadinkado) were stamped with Bundled Sage Distress Ink. The embossing folder used was Tropical Paisley by Sizzix and the butterfly die/embossing folder is Cuttlebug. I cut the card using the large scallop, lacy scallop and classic circle Nesties.

Thanks for stopping by!

Winter Warm Up Blog Hop

Hello Friends! Welcome to the blog hop being held in conjunction with this week's "Winter Warm Up" online crop at CardSwaps. You should have arrived here from Tina's blog. If not, make sure you go back and start at the beginning with CardMaker's blog. You don't want to miss anything because there is a prize involved!

For the crop, a variety of fun challenges and games will be posted on CardSwaps February 8 - 11, 2012, and you will have until 11:59 p.m. CST February 14, 2012 to post your projects. There are prizes for challenge and game winners, and this time there is also a prize for completing the blog hop. You'll find details about how to win the blog hop prize at the end of this post. At the end of the hop you will be able to link directly to the online crop.

I gotta tell ya - the older I get, the less I like Winter. But there are still some good things about it. One of the things I most enjoy is soaking in a hot, steamy bath and dreaming. Here is the card I made to reflect my favorite Winter warm up.

For this card, I used the Happy Hopper image, "Bunny Bath." I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils and blended with Gamsol. Nope - I still haven't jumped on Copic bandwagon. They are way out of my budget and I am still happy with my tried and true pencils. :) The card base is made from kraft cardstock and I added some vintage-look striped and paisley paper, which I distressed. I embellished with a metal photo corner and wood buttons tied with twine. I used Vintage Photo Distress Ink to age everything a bit.

Now here are the details about how to enter the drawing for the blog hop prize. At each blog in the hop you will collect a letter. Once you have collected all the letters, you will unscramble them to spell a word or phrase. At the end of the blog hop you will be directed to the thread in the forum where you can find the details on how to enter the drawing. To be eligible you must:

1. visit each blog in the hop
2. leave a comment on EVERY blog
3. collect all the letters
4. correctly unscramble the word or phrase (here's a hint - it's a way papercrafters warm up)
5. enter the game by following the directions in the forum. 

Everyone who meets these requirements will be entered into a random prize drawing to be held on February 15, 2012.

The letter for this blog is: D

Your next stop on the hop is Ivanka's blog and you are going to love her work. Everything she does is just beautiful and she has even had one of her projects published in CardMaker Magazine. Cool huh?

Here's a list of all the blogs on the hop in order, just in case you lose your way. Happy hopping!!

CardMaker  http://www.cardmakermagazine.com/blog/
Lora  http://www.lorabrinkman.com/
SusieQ  http://lilbitofme-susan.blogspot.com/
Laura  http://ljjonescircus.blogspot.com/
Marlene  http://marlenescubbyholecreations.blogspot.com/
Jane  http://jane-notsuchaplainjane.blogspot.com/
Golda  http://goldapete.wordpress.com/
Angelina  http://angel-artdesign.blogspot.com/
Tina  http://tina-craftingkewpie.blogspot.com/
Judy http://prairiewildflowerpapercrafts.blogspot.com/ < You are here.
Ivanka  http://ivankascardstudio.blogspot.com/
Teresa  http://www.tickellexpressions.blogspot.com/
Ana  http://anaggarciam.blogspot.com/

Rustic Daisy Candle

Hi friends! I was getting tired of the card that has been at the top of my blog for three weeks. I can't believe it's been that long since I've posted anything. My life has been more than a little crazy lately.

Elaine is hosting this week's member challenge on the CardMaker Magazine CardSwaps forum. It's a non-card challenge, and she asked us to alter a candle. I stamped the flourishes and daisies on natural color tissue paper, then applied them to the candle with my heat tool. I wrapped the bottom with a strip of burlap and some jute ric-rak and glued on a handmade daisy. The button center of the flower is tied with a piece of fiber that I pulled from the burlap.

I really enjoyed altering this candle. The technique was super easy and it was quick to make. I do think I need to practice a bit more as the surface of the candle got a little more bumpy than I would have liked from heating the wax to adhere the tissue. In this case, it kind of adds to the rustic look though.

This candle will be part of a set of gifts I'm making my mother for her birthday in February. She loves daisies. I'll post the other pieces when I get them finished.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Sing

Hi y'all! I am hosting this week's member challenge on CardMaker's Card Swap forum. We have a different type of challenge each week, and I was asked to host a recipe challenge. Rather than a typical recipe challenge,  I decided to give mine a little twist. Instead of telling participants what to use, I am providing the recipe I used for my sample card and asking them to choose at least three of my ingredients to incorporate into their own creation. I tried to put a lot of different elements into my card to give them a number of ingredients to choose from.

Here is my recipe:

Colors: black, white, pink, neutrals + one color

Papers: cardstock

Stamps: collage, leaf, bird, music, butterfly, flowers, nature theme

Color Mediums: black ink

Embellishments: ribbon, twine (cord, yarn, etc. can also be used. My button is tied with crochet cotton), thread, buttons, beads, pears, rhinestones, stick pin

Techniques: embossing (it’s hard to see, but the black background square is embossed), collage, inchies, stitching

Tools: die cuts, punches, embossing folders or texture plates

Themes: nature, birds, butterflies, flowers, music, leaves

Thanks for stopping by!