ThePurplePlace: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

At last....time to create!!

I am so happy to finally have another day to myself and have time to create some new cards and also continue with my craft room re-organization project.

Today, I have a few cards to share and some were actually created at Tuesday's Card Club where we focused on CAS cards...my new fave. I finished almost all my cards in class and will share them in the next few days. Too me it was a super easy class, but that's because I have been a student in many wonderful online classes and they certainly have helped me to learn so much about how to create in my own style and also in many others, including Clean and Simple, which I now love so much! I'm lucky to have learned so many awesome hints and tips and have been taught by some of the best...like Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner. As a matter of fact, I just recently finished up their second CAS2 class and it was amazing! And if you love them as much as I do, then you'll want to be sure to sign up for the next class "Pattern Play" which is schedule to start on March 18th -- Woohoo!! I signed up on day one and can't wait to get started!

I am sharing two of my class cards below and will add more as I complete them. I do all my final assembly at home, and always enjoy changing things a bit, to make them my own. I also try very hard to not Case the class cards and to instead us the idea or design as my inspiration, something I've learned to do more, thanks to Kristina Werner and lots of tips and hints she has shared about this on her blog. My first card is much like the card design from class as well as a design I have used in the past. I think it maybe have been one I saw first in the CAS2 Class and I love how you can use scraps to create this style. However, for this card, I used all brand news papers and these gorgeous shades of blue patterned papers all from the "Capsule Collection"-- from Papermania and we received the entire set in class --- which is wonderful, because I LOVE them!! To make my card my own, I decided to add the banner section for my Sentiment, which I stamped on in a pretty shade of blue from my SU Ink collection. My sentiment is also from my personal collection and is from a brand new set of stamps (Kindness Matters), that I just LOVE! They are by "Neat and Tangled" and I can tell you already I loved shopping at the store and the service and quality of the stamps are awesome. No doubt, I'll be adding more from this sweet line to my stash!!

And this is the other card I had fun making in class and I changed this a bit, by adding some patterned paper to the side under the Sentiment. I think this idea was fun and it was a very easy card to create.

My next card is one that I started way back on Sunday and it was created for the newest CAS Challenge over at The Outlawz Challenges, where the theme this week is "The Moon". I had to search and search through my files and finally found this cute little "Moon" digi that was actually a freebie that I originally found at "Free Digitial Stamps", a fabulous blog that offers a wonderful variety of free digital stamps -- every day!!

And my next card was inspired by another CAS challenge and this one is the "Addicted to CAS Challenge" which is new to me. This is my first time creating a card for this challenge and the theme is "Masculine", which is always truly a challenge, but one I love to try, especially since my home has always been me and three males!! And this is what I came up with....a very CAS card, with a cute little Sentiment by Paper Smooches and was Stamped over another image which is from a new set by My Mind's Eye -- called "Unforgetable".

After finding that it was really fun and different (for me) to create on Kraft cardstock, I was inspired again by Jennifer McGuire to make yet another card, also stamped on Kraft (Desert Storm) and this is also another very Clean and Simple card, that I made for fun.

The fun little wood flower is a new element that I picked up at my LSS on Tuesday. It's an adorable box of all kinds of wonderful little wooden elements from Prima and they are absolutely adorable. This set is called Prima Flowers and Birds and now that I have tried one, I can see I may have to buy another set. Soooo cute!! -- Maybe this cute set -- Leaves and Mushrooms!! Each piece is done in a natural wood color, but you can paint theme or ink them up to match your card. For mine, I used my Raspberry Jam Hero Arts Shadow Ink to color the little flower to match the flowers on the cardstock. The other colors I used is Cup o' Joe, also from Hero and now one of my favorites.

That card along with this next card were also both inspired and created for the brand new "Circle" Challenge being hosted this week at CASology.

This card in particular was created all from scraps that were in my scrap bin. I used a 2" circle punch to punch all the circles and then used my wonderful new Fiskars Procision Trimmer to cute the thin green strip as well as and the black and green elements used on the rest of the card. I used a new Spellbinder die to cue out the window area from the black cardstock, to make this card have a kind of graphic theme. The Sentiment is again from Paper Smooches, one of my favorite fun "Sentiment" sets -- Good Gab!

And I have one last card to end today's post and this too was one that was created for fun and inspired by many of the wonderful new ideas and designs I see when I browse my favorite blogs. It all started with the little Prima Butterfly button that I came across while doing my organizing. I simply took that and then punched a variety of circle shapes to use behind the button which I tied on with twine. I then took of Desert Storm Kraft Cardstock and cut it down to make an A2 size card. Next, I took some Emerald Green Iridescent paper "scraps", by Denami, which I cut into three strips. I embossed two in my Cuttlebug and left the center one un-embossed. I added two thin strips for contrast (Black and Kraft) and then finished it off, by adding on the button and circles! It turned out to be a favorite and yet it was so easy to make!! I am also submitting this card to the latest challenge over at Through The Craftroom Door!!

I also want to take a minute to thank all of my wonderful craft friends for the kind and caring thoughts that have been shared with me. I saw my Fibro doctor last week and found out that my thyroid test came back high, meaning I have Hypothyrodium and am now taking a thyroid med and hoping it will boost my metabolism, as well as explain some of my intense fatigue. I'm also now taking "Crestor" to help get my cholesterol down (from 213), which is not the worst ever, but too high! I also saw my Gyn yesterday and had a endrometrial biospy that I kind of expected, as well as a Pap, all to rule out any type of Cancer. I will get those results when I go back next week for another test, called a Sono-Hysterogram, which is an advanced form of ultrasound. I am NOT at all looking forward to that, but am very anxious to find out what is going on? I hope that everything is fine--but I have to admit, my gut instinct, tells me otherwise -- so please keep the good thoughts coming. Incidentally, she also found an removed a polyp from my cervix, which is unrelated, and they apparently are always benign, a word I hope I continue to hear! Hope that is not "TMI" for anyone! Just for the record, for those who don't know me well or might wonder why why I would share so much, it's because it's my life. And ever since I've found out I had a chronic health condition, Fibromyalgia and Degenerative Disc Disease, I have always tried to be proactive in sharing information in the hope that it may help someone else. This blog was started as my own personal journey through life as I learn to live with Fibro. It also focuses greatly on how important crafts have become in my life. A hobby that came into my life shortly after Fibro took over. A hobby that I am so passionate about and truly love. I would be lost without having this wonderful creative outlet and I am so thankful for all that it has brought to my life.

.....Heading back to my desk now to finish more cards and hopefully get started on this week's Cas(E) this Sketch Challenge--another new favorite!! Happy Crafting and hope you all have a fabulous Friday! I am getting my hair cut tomorrow and looking forward to it. After changing my color last week, I think it might be fun to try something new...we'll see how I feel when I'm there, but either way it's always nice to have your hair done and I can use a trim, if nothing else!!

Monday, February 25, 2013

Hello Monday!!

I guess I will never figure out WHY the weekends always fly by and the week days seem to always go by slower? On the upside I had a pretty good weekend, much of which I spend in my craft room. I did get quite a bit or 'drawer' organizing started and am happy with how it's going. It will be a long task, but I'm also only doing a little each day, so I have to time create and don't get burnt out.

I never did find time to post yesterday and by late afternoon I was wiped out again....so I had another nap and that also helped. I do hope once these new thyroid meds kick in, it will help with some of the fatigue. I hate sleeping away my life, but know when you are exhausted, the best thing for your body is to rest! Today, I'm feeling so much better and so happy to see the sun shining again. We have more rain that eventually turned to snow and ended overnight. Luckily, with much of it being rain, we did not end up with a lot of snow and the few inches we did get, seems to be melting very quickly under today's gorgeous sunshine.

And speaking of sunshine, one of my first cards today features sunshine and it was a new card I created yesterday for the newest challenge at CASology, where this week's cue to -- Flame. A cue that I really was challenged with and to be honest I'm NOT loving this card. If I find time and come up with a new idea, I may try to get another done. As you'll see most of the cards I did make yesterday, did not at ALL come out like I wanted....but, as always I'm sharing...the good and the bad! I also did re-create some new cards today, to replace some of the duds and was much more pleased with the second takes.

My Card

I am still really "stumped" with the "flame" theme and went searching through all my digi images, stamps and even all my Silhouette files and never did find anything that I really wanted to use. I thought about a candle, a fire flame and then settled on a star-burst type flame and found these summer sun likes images in the Silhouette Store and cute them on a variety of yellow and orange cardstock. I then layered them onto a piece of embossed orange cardstock and created the "Hello Sunshine" sentiment on the Cameo too. It's far from a favorite and a card I HOPE to re-create this week, if time allows!! UPDATE: As it turns out, I was already too late for the challenge and never did get this uploaded, but that's okay. Now I wait for the new challenge to be posted and come up something even better!!

My second card was one I also worked on yesterday and is one I'm not how I really feel. I love this sweet little digi image (it's from By Lori Designs) and also love the sentiment but something seems off, and I'm not sure what it is. The sketch for this card was from the Sunday Sketch Challenge over at OWH's Stars and Stamps blog and I am sharing a copy below. It's another card, I would like to try and do over, but that will depend on time. In additional to the Sketch Challenge, I am also submitted it to the latest "Sentiment" inspired challenge over at By LORi's Designs, which you'll find HERE!

My next two cards were both inspired and created for the newest Challenge over at Cas(E) This Sketch and as you will see, the first card I originally made, again was not working out for me, so today, I created a second card, which is the card that I will be submitting to the challenge. This has also become one of my favorite new challenges and I try to play in it every week. This is the sketch for this week's challenge, which is shown in both a landscape and portrait version ! It's your choice of how you want to use the sketch and in both my cards I went with portrait.

My First Attempt

A big HUG!

Card # 2

My favorite!

Lately, I really am finding the I like creating simple graphic cards....easy clean and simple cards that seem to have a lot of pop. I like this one ten times better than my first card and it's all the same sketch. I think the first card is simply too light and the contrast looks much better on card number two.

And my last card today is another card I worked on today and one that I am very happy with on my first attempt. I realize now that my mojo was apparently half asleep yesterday and today after a nice long rest, my cards are coming out much better. I hope this trend continues for the rest of the week. This is also another challenge inspired card and another fabulous new challenge that I love. It's called the Muse Card Making Club and our Muse this week is this lovely card created by Deanna Jean. You can find it along with many more of her fabulous cards at her blog -- Kloset Kreations!!

Muse Challenge # 6 - by Deanna Jean

My Card

This card features two of my newest stamps. The first is the fun new Background Stamp - Everything Flowers, from Hero Arts. This is one of the few stamps that they did in Cling and Wood. First, I inked it in Versamark and then heat embossed it in white. To color my flowers I used a variety of Distress Inks, all in shades of red, pink, orange and yellow and simply colored directly from the pads and then topped it off with Perfect Pearls Mist and dried them with my Heat tool. Next, I cut out the flowers and used a Spellbinder die to cut out some leaves/stems. I arranged them piece of white cardstock and added black pearls to the center of each flower. Next, I used a brand new sets of stamps by Kristina Werner (for Simon Says Stamp) that were included in this Month's card kit -- I LOVE these kits that Kristina puts together for SSS each month and am a monthly kit subscriber!! They are fabulous and well-loved by all -- you can find them here and a photo of this month's kit HERE! I used the Thank You sentiment and stamped it directly to the cardstock in black archival ink. I then used my brand new Fiskars Procision Trimmer...now loving it, to cut the two thin strips of black accents that I added under my sentiment to complete my card!!

My special thanks to Elizabeth at A2Z Scrapbooking for doing a special order and finding this trimmer for me at a fantastic price! I highly recommend this wonderful store which you'll find on ETSY! If you hurry on over now you can use the St. Patrick's Day Promo Code and save money on all favorite goodies -- I especially LOVE that they carry so many of my favorite - Hero Art's products and was thrilled to see they now have the new "Shadow Re-Inkers" in stock!! Woohoo!!

Before I sign off, I'm also sharing a couple pictures of the re-organizing that I've started with all my craft supplies. This is one of my "Alex" Drawer Units (from IKEA) and this one is next to my desk, so I wanted to keep supplies in it that I use almost every day. I started with my Inks and also a large selection of my 6X6 Paper Pads, which you can see in the photos below. I have a four more units to totally re-do, but I'm taking my time and trying to be very neat.

It's so nice to be this organized and I'm going to do my best to keep on top of this. I also picked up quite a few little drawer inserts and tiny boxes to store small things. I found most of these at The Container Store and also at the Dollar Store. These are all my binders, which hold the majority of my clear and cling stamps. I keep them on top of one of my Expedit Bookcases and love this system!

Oh, and found some super cute valances that I ordered from a store called The Kangaroo Closet.t I wanted something different and have mini blinds in the windows, but like to have valences for extra color. My room is painted in a very light aqua and all my furniture is white. I also have lots of pink, purple and black accents, so I thought black and white would work well, plus I LOVED this cute style!! You can find them and many more at in this store -- another awesome ETSY find. I'm also have one long panel made to match, which will be for my closet door. When we first bought this house it had an old wood bifold door that would never stay closed. I took it off and still have not found the right door to replace it, so I use drapes and curtains, which has always made it easier to move things in an out of the closet. I also use a valance on that door, that matches the others, so I think it'll be cute or I hope it will! I There were so many cute designs that it was not easy to choose. I also loved the Chevron Patterns and almost bought these!!

Black and White Stripe Valance Curtain with Polka Dot Trim One Valance

Tomorrow I am very excited to be heading to the monthly Card Club at my LSS. This month we'll be working on CAS cards and I've thrilled about that, since they are now my favorites. I also missed out on January's class when I was in San Diego, so it'll be nice to be back with the girls again. I LOVE classes and having other people to create with and I also love browsing the store before and after class for the latest and greatest new products! I'm sure I'll buy something, as I have a coupon to use -- how could I ever go to a craft store and leave without buying something new? Could you??

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Lots of "Stuff" going on....??

It's been another crazy and hectic week, so today has been a wonderful day for me -- I'm back to creating and feeling pretty good too! I was so tired yesterday that I laid down at 4 pm to take a nap and ended up sleeping all night, getting back up at 8 am this morning. Talk about fatigue, mine seems to be relentless. I did get up about 6 pm and just was so tired that I put on my jammies, brushed my teeth and went right back to sleep..and I slept through too and it felt so good!!

It's been one of those weeks that nothing went as planned and the downturn started Tuesday when my Mom ended up being admitted back to the Cardiac ICU following a check up with her heart surgeon. She went to her appointment thinking things were basically okay, but after a chest xray, it was quickly determined she had fluid in her lungs and had to be admitted to prepare for a chest tube. With her being on blood thinners, they spent the first afternoon and stopping her Warfrin and giving her Plasma to get her blood levels steady before the could put the tube in. By Wednesday, her levels were ready and they scheduled her to have the procedure that afternoon. I stayed home that day, since I was not feeling so great and knew I would not get to see her much, but I did go up on Thursday and by then, they had already drained a significant amount of fluid and felt that she would go home Friday, if all was well, in the morning. She also had a GI consult to try and determine why she continues to have such horrible nausea and they had h9ped that possibly this fluid may have been part of the problem. They also changed her cholesterol med and for one day, she felt better! But, by the time she was discharged and got home yesterday afternoon, it was already back? UGH! This has become a huge factor and is really hindering her recovery! I HOPE it will be better and so far today it is, but it changes daily. If it's not totally gone about by Monday, I told her to call her PCP and tell them again, so they can continue to figure this out! Not good, and I have NO clue why this continues and no one can figure it out -- but I really hope they do soon, otherwise I feel like she'll never really recover? She has been battling this since January 10th, the day after her surgery and has had only a few days where it has not occurred, mostly when I was away in California and her feeling so good then, had me thinking of was finally resolved...but it came back and continues almost every day and some days she feels so sick, she barely gets up....it's like having the awful stomach flu...and is very intense, at times.

I hate having nausea and to me it' worse than pain, but maybe because I have learned to live with pain? Thankfully, I don't have it often, but when I do and it's bad...I go to bed too, so I can totally relate and feel for her. As for me, I've been totally feeling wiped out and found out yesterday, that I'm dealing with Hypothyroidism again and now have to go back on a Thyroid med, something I've had in the past, but this time it's much higher, so it could be why I'm so fatigued too. Time will tell! It's also very common for Fibro patient's, and I guess maybe I was lucky that it was okay for a few years. I'm also now going on a Cholesterol med, after trying to battle it with diet and such for the past few years. Now with my Mom's history and seeing what she's been through, I was ready to give in and take something to help! The only improvement is my Triglycerides and I already take a med specifically for those, which does work, but my other numbers are off and my total cholesterol is now at 213, which is better, but still not great! And with my Mom now being a heart patient, not to mention that my Dad died of heart disease when he was only 59, I'm a bit more scared and can't imagine my life ending in only four more years. He died far too young and I wish now they could have saved him, like my Mom...but back then, medicine was much different and they didn't do think like catheterizations or even a lot of heart surgery...it was all new and we never knew he apparently needed it? Sad ! My doc feels I'm just one of those people who's body simply makes too much and now with my Mom's history on top of my Dad's he agreed it's time to treat it with meds and I just hope I have no side effects for issues with them!

After all that crap....I made an appointment to have my hair colored yesterday, which was my one fun thing this week. I changed it to a warmer brunette color with some very subtle highlights and I like it. I had been adding some deep auburn highlights for the past couple of years and a some auburn in my color, but wanted to go a little warmer for now and really felt like I needed a change!! Next week, I'm going back for a cut and then I'll be all set for awhile!!

Now I just hope that my next doctor's appointment with my Gyn goes well. I've been experiencing menopausal bleeding, which is not good or normal, and I know I'll likely need to have an endometrial biopsy and/or an ultrasound to determine why?? I've been a bit concerned and tried to get in ASAP, but they had no open appointments at this office, so I'm still on a waiting list, but now almost there, as my appointment is on Wednesday. Hope this is not "TMI", but knowing that all my followers are females and I'm sure you understand. Maybe some of you have had this come up and can reassure me, that it's more common than it's sounds? Of course, as soon as I "Googled" it, the first thing that comes up is "Uterine or Endometrial Cancer", but I knew that before, so I was not shocked, but it doesn't help you feel overly confident. Now, I just want to get in and figure this out. It's not fun having to wait to get in, when you have something like this, but my doctor had no appointments and the nurse assured me that it would be okay and that if they had a cancellation, they would call me? I hope she's right, but now it's almost time and I go on Wednesday! If you have had this happen and care to share your experience/results -- please do, it would be nice to hear from someone else who has been fine?

Today...I'm having a better day and happy to have a few new cards to share! The first one was created for fun and I wanted to try some paper piecing, but the card did not come out as nice as I had thought, but as always I'm sharing it anyway....

I started this idea with a cute new set of stamps from Paper Smooches. I picked out a cute flower and stamped it directly onto some "old" yellow patterned paper and then hand-colored the centers with Brown Copics. I then hand cut out each one and added it to my card and then stamped on the matching stems, which I also colored with Copics. I cut a 'grassy' border for the bottom, using some old deco scissors and then layered on my Sentiment banner! Its' okay, but not my favorite!!

My next two cards were created for today's new "90 Minute Scramble" over at the Hero Arts Flickr Group. Paula hosted a fun Scramble this afternoon where her theme was "Congratulations". I was able to complete two cards for the challenge and also submitted this first card to today's new "Paper a La Mode" challenge, which you can find over at The Outlawz Challenges.

This very CAS Black and White card is my favorite and was actually very fun and easy to create. I started with a plain white (Snow Note card by Hero) and then layered on a thick black center strip of Bazzil cardstock. I added a second layer in a black/white patterned paper that was in my scrap bin and then stamped the Congratulations sentiment and layered that onto more black card-stock The Love Stamp is from one of the Hero Arts "Art of the Card" sets and was stamped in Versamark and then heat embossed in White. I then added that to a small scalloped circle which I cut with a punch! Like I said, a very fun and easy card!!

And in the same them and starting also in Black and White, I created this second card, which I also added in this pretty Teal Patterned Paper from My Mind's Eye. The other elements are a simply white doily that I cut down, two punched hearts and some pretty matching ribbon that I bought from Stampin' Up when it was on clearance. All in all, I like this card too, but not not quite as much as the one above!!

In the meantime, I'm still in the middle of my major room re-organization and have quite a bit started. I LOVE my new IKEA drawer unit and that has given me lots of room to move things around and also keep things I use all the time, closer to my craft desk. It's going to be an ongoing project, but I really want to take my time and make sure I'm happy with how it comes out. When this room was first put together, I kind of rushed to put things away and some have never been touched and are in the back of drawers or taking up valuable space on my bookcases. Now, I think I may open a little Etsy Store to sell off a lot of my stash and even my Pink Expression and all my remaining cartridges. I thought I would use it, but I'm not and find my Cameo is my love and the one electronic die cutter I need. I also know which stamps I really love now and have oodles of others that I have barely, if ever, have even touched. It takes a while to figure out your taste and what works and know I know. It's about time I try and make a little of my money back, instead of giving everything away. I'm going to save up to go out to California again and also going to try to no buy any more new goodies until I have my room all done and I'm know exactly what I have and what I don't use and need! It's going to be a long project, but I'm not in a rush and there is still plenty of cold weather to keep in inside! Once the nice weather arrives, I hope I'll be done -- but for now this is my goal!!

Tomorrow, I'll clean more and then work on some more new challenges. I also love the Sunday Sketch Challenge at Operation Write Home as well as the CAS Challenge at The Outlawz! Hope to see you tomorrow and so far, we had NOT had any snow today, so I'm hoping they were wrong and this storm goes out to sea...or somewhere else!! See you all tomorrow and in the the meantime -- Happy Crafting!!

Monday, February 18, 2013

My Mojo Monday!!

....Today has turned out to be another very creative day and that's such a JOY!! I had originally planned to be at my LSS today for our monthly Silhouette Group meeting, but it ended up being cancelled because too many of the gals could not make it. At the time that Cathy told me I was so cold and tired that I thought it was just as well and that also gave me another fun day in my craft room.

I started my day working on two cards for challenges and the first one is the Sketch Challenge being hosted this month over on Hero's Blog. I had already created two Love and Lace cards and wanted to try my hand with the sketch, which I have shared below.

To start I turned on my Cameo and used it to create the largest piece which is a Hexagon. At the same time, I took advantage of the machine being one and cut several circles flags, hearts and other shapes that I use often on my cards. In addition for this card, I also used some Nestie dies and some punches too!

Once I had my shapes picked out, I wanted to add an image to the center and chose one of my newest Hero Art Stamps (K5723-Big Bold Flower), which I inked up in Raspberry Jam Mid-Tone Ink an stamped onto some white cardstock. I masked off the stem portion and then hand cut out the flower which I added to the center of a black scalloped circle that I punched for a background. Although I used the sketch as my inspiration, I did add more of my own layers and added extra texture by embossing the background, which was done in Burgundy. Hope you like it, as you can see, I'm still using lots of hearts and love themes on my cards, which is always a favorite for me.

With all the black, white and burgundy shapes sitting on my desk, I had plenty of pieces to put together two more cards, which I have shared below. These were made for fun and will also be added to my next OWH Shipment. I really LOVE these cute little envelopes and think they are really fun to add to cards. I first found some on Etsy that I bought and then realized that I could cut my own mini envelopes and cards using my Cameo. Needless to say, I know have quite a collection and love them. I also love the tiny clothes pins that are so popular now and this red one worked perfectly as a way to attach my sentiment. The little tag on this card is another brand new stamp set (LP255-Heartfelt Messages), also from Hero Arts. This cute set was actually the Stamp of the Week last week and that's always a great time to buy them, as they offered at 25% off! You can find the weekly stamps each week on the home page of the HeroArts Store -- Here!!

And next I have my other Love Inspired card, which did not end up photographing very well. It's probably the most clean and simple of these three, but one I still had fun making and for the most part, it's all scraps. The Sentiment, (CL493 Live Life), also from a set of Hero's Clear stamps, is one of my favorites. I really LOVE this set and have used it many times. To make POP on this card, I stamped it in Versamark and them Heat Embossed it with Silver Embossing Powder.

I also put together this super super easy card and it's simply a little pre-colored circle that had a red heart in the center and the words "I love you" around it. I have a full sheet of them and each one is a bit different and I LOVE them! Too bad that with my silly Fibro Fog I can not for the life of me remember where I found or bought these? If you know, please share so that I can give credit to the artist or designer! They are perfect for love cards. I picked up a white, (Snow) HeroArts Notecard, and then cut two bright red circles with a nestie die, once size larger than the die I used to cut out the image. Easy and Cute too!!

And last, but not least I'm finishing up with some totally different colors on my last card. which was inspired and created for today's brand new "Muse" challenge, which you can find HERE! I am also sharing a copy of this week's inspiration (Muse) card which was created by - Marion Vagg!

As soon as I saw Marion's card I knew I wanted to use some of the same colors and I chose the yellow and blue and also wanted to create some type of Chevron patterns to use on my card, which I did using my wonderful Cameo. I actually bought a Chevron style cut file from the Silhouette store and then changed it around to make it work the way I wanted. I also went with Marion's idea of making it a Hello card stamped that sentiment onto the same Blue cardstock, using a darker blue ink. I realized later that she had actually die cut her sentiment, which is a very cool idea and one that I will try again. I also like that she used Washi tape to make her card and think I may try another one using only Washi tape, but in a different design or color. I'm sure the gallery will soon be be of fabulous new ideas and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!!

Woohoo and now it's time to go and get ready to fill up my brand new "Alex" drawer unit, that my son Alex, picked up for me at IKEA today! This is my fourth "Alex" unit, but is the first one in this size and style. I loved the idea that this one has 9 drawers and is tall and narrow. It will give me a lot more storage space and I need it. It's going to replace an old Iris cart that is falling apart, and will also look much nicer too. And to think that I paid close $50+ for that silly plastic cart, when I could have saved it bit longer and bought this instead. If I had know then, but I know about IKEA now, there is no doubt I never would have bought that car, it was not worth what I paid and the casters broke off in the first year...Bummer! But, it'll be gone soon and now I'll have to much better replacement and even have room to spare for other things!! I also have two of the six drawer units and one of the smaller units and LOVE them all. My craftroom is pretty much all IKEA furniture and I could not be happier! I love how easy they are to clean, the prices are good and every piece is very study and holds a lot of stuff. I also love my Expedit Bookcase units and highly recommend them to anyone who needs a paper storage solution. Each cube is perfect for 12" paper and they even have cubes and drawer units you can add to each section. Fabulous products for those who love to create and stay organized!!

ALEX Drawer unit with 9 drawers IKEA High unit with many drawers means plenty of storage on minimum floor space.

My Large Expedit Unit/Love it!!

Hope you all had a day as nice as mine. Tomorrow I have to go out early for blood work for a doctor's appointment later this week and then will be back to continue on my organizing. I think once I get started, it'll be the perfect time to organize my entire room and hopefully even my craft room closet too! As task I keep putting off, but one that is much needed!!

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Brrrrr!! Freezing, Snowy and Windy....

...not at ALL a weather combination I like and today I wish so much that I was back in San Diego enjoyed that gorgeous warm sun. Heck, I'd be quite happy to be back to Friday's weather, which was gorgeous with sun and temps in the 50's!! But, it is winter in New England today it's proving that Winter is still here and it's miserable. The new snow from overnight and this morning is very light and fluffy, but it's also blowing all over and drifting in today's fierce winds, which bite you as soon as you walk out the door. Scout and I both and not at all happy when he has to go out, but he's been quick to get his deed done, so we both can fun back inside and get warm.

I even have my little portable heater going in my Craft room today and it's not something I use unless it's super cold or windy, but it's getting tons of use now and likely will until it's time for me to good to sleep.

Being inside all day never breaks my heart, because it gives me lots of time to create and that is pretty much what I've done all day! I have five new cards to share and also my first review of my new Fiskars ProCision Trimmer, which I have to admit, is a lot larger than I expected and taking up quite a bit of prime real estate on my desk. That being said, it's also a very study and strong Trimmer and has the ability of cutting several sheets of paper and even chipboard, which is one of the reason I really was impressed by it. Now, that I have it, I'm thinking I need to do more organizing and free up some more much-needed desk space, but for now that can wait.

The trimmer itself does an excellent job of cutting and is very accurate, but again, it's really big and takes up a good chunk of space, which for some will be a downfall. Another feature I really am missing is the fabulous guide wire that my other Fiskars Trimmers have and I admit, it's been a bit of a trial and error to figure out 'exactly' where it cuts, but I am getting better. I do WISH they had added that feature to this trimmer and that is a downside for me. I'll have to continue to use it more and write a more detailed review after I have it and will also have pictures to share too! I don't think it's fair to a big review after using it for only one day, so please stay tuned for updates. You can also go over to Jennifer's McGuires You-Tube Video HERE and see her using her in action.

Now back to my cards, which were all inspired and created for some of the challenges I had mentioned last night. My first card today was created for the newest Challenge (#20) over at A Blog Named Hero and also worked out to fit into this month's challenge at the HeroArts Blog, with a theme of "Love and Lace". I also still plan to make a card for the Sketch challenge and have that started, as well.

For this card I started by picking out a Stamp Set which had a vintage feel and I choose - Friend You're the Best, which is a clear set designed by Hero Arts and Basic Grey - CL564. Next, I knew I wanted to create some heart die cuts, so I grabbed my new Layered Hearts Frame Cuts - DI057, also from Hero Arts and started cutting with some new patterned papers, that I had recently added to my collection. The first piece is by Echo Park and is called Handwritten, which has a fabulous chevron like design on the flip side and a vintage style of light handwriting on the other. I love double-sided papers and in this case, I LOVE both sides, which is awesome. Next, I inked up the "To My Friend" stamp in Black Memento Ink and stamped it directly to some "First Kiss" paper, from Pink Paislee, which is also what I used as the background layer, which was cut down to fit on top of my Hero Hues Black Notecard. I then dug out some wide black lace from my Ribbon and Trim stash and wrapped that around the background piece to create a center type border. and added a white doily on top to use as the frame for my heart. I added the four hearts along with a little Heart-themed stick pin I had made last summer, while playing in some Stick Pin Swaps. I topped it off with a little black satin bow and was done.

After having fun with that card and inspired to try another in the same idea, I came up with a second card, also done in a vintage or shabby chic type theme. I'm trying to push myself to try new things and works on card that are a bit out of my comfort zone. I basically used a lot of the leftover scraps and changed my colors to be more of a cream and chocolate theme and added a vintage button and a simple gold "Thank You" sticker sentiment.

My next card was created for today's new Sunday Sketch Challenge over that the Stars and Stamps Blog and I'm sharing a copy of Sketch #160 which Maureen created for us today after being inspired by a card that had been created by one of the OWH Cardmakers -- .Samantha!

I'm sure you'll quickly notice that I continued to use more scraps and leftover papers from both of my earlier card. I hate to waste any Paper....yes, I am a paper addict, so I try to put every piece to good use and also have a huge scrap bin that I keep under my desk!!

In addition to the papers I also cut these sweet flowers (Hollyhock Stems) using one of my new Memory Box Dies. I cut them from the new Black Hero Hues Layering papers which is a perfect weight for die cut. It cuts perfectly and is extra sturdy, making it work very well, even with the most intricate dies. I cut two little pieces of black ribbon to add to each end of my Sentiment, which is from Hero Arts -- Everyday Sayings.

And my last two card today are considered "Hybrid Cards", which are cards that are created using digital elements along with traditional paper/cardmaking elements. If you would like to learn more about Hybrid Cards, please go here to this blog, which is one I found when I first heard about it. Hybrid Chick, has many great hints and tips and is a fun blog to follow and even offers a Free Hybrid Cardmaking Class, that I just found this evening and am very excited to try. I have always wanted to learn how to use PhotoShop Elements and this maybe the perfect way for me to finally learn! Yippee!!

I really find that I LOVE digi images and recently have started using more and more digital elements, backgrounds and even sentiments on my cards. I'll never stop stamping or coloring, but it's kind of fun to work with both together and they card were both created with Hero Arts Digital products, which I bought over at Two Peas in a Bucket. I also have recently started purchasing several "Cut Files" fro the Silhouette Store, which were created by HeroArts. It's really fun to tie both styles of cardmaking together! I used the vibrant happy flowers from this SET to created these two fun and easy cards.

These cards took only a matter of minutes to make, but they are both fun and happy and I'm sure they will brighten someone's day! Both images were first printed from my computer onto some nice white cardstock and then trimmed down to the size I wanted. The first card was trimmed down to use along with more paper (scraps) on another A2Size Black Notecard. For the second one I made it into a smaller size little 3 1/2" X 3 1/2" square, which I added onto some black layering paper, cut down to look like a frame for my image. The pink background on this card is part of the image, and is they were both from the same set (Words and Flowers) which contains a total 24 digital elements, all for only $6.00!

The bright flowers made me think of SPRING and warm sun and that helped me to forget (for a little while) that it's bitter cold outside and that I still have to take Scout out again!! BRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

Saturday, February 16, 2013

More snow....UGH!!

After a fabulous spring-like day yesterday, today we are back do gray skies and snow flurries and on top of that I just received this terrible weather update in my email --

Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect until 1 PM EST - Sunday...

* locations...interior northeastern Massachusetts.

* Hazard types...heavy snow and gusty winds.

* Accumulations...snow accumulation of 4 to 6 inches.

* Timing...any mixed precipitation should changeover to snow this evening. The snow may fall heavily for a time tonight and Sunday morning....YUK!!!

While I did know that some flurries and a bit of snow had been foretasted I was NOT happy to read this. Just when the snow was really starting to melt away, we end up with more. I guess this is NOT going to be one of my favorite winters, but I sure am happy that we are already into February and not December. At least now we are winding down and not just beginning our winter and cold months.

I'm very happy however, to be inside today and I am totally enjoying more time in my craft room, except that my MOJO seems to be missing a bit. I did manage to create three new cards today and had great ideas for each, when I started, but I have to admit, it's NOT one of my best days and in the end, I'm not lovin' any of these, but still had fun simply creating. Good cards or bad, spending time being creative is a wonderful form of therapy for me and I LOVE IT!!

I'm sharing each of the cards, as I always share the good and the bad, which I feel helps me to grow. I can look back in time and these cards will help me come up with better ideas. It also helps me to see how much I do improve and how some days I really am very happy with all my cards. Either way...to me it's all about fun and being creative and that's why I love this hobby. Each of these cards were inspired by challenges and I find challenges are one of my best forms of inspiration. They help me come up with new ideas and also often force me to create out of my comfort zone or also create in a style or with colors that I might not otherwise use!! It's also FUN!!!

My first card today was actually inspired by two challenges. The Color Combo Challenge at The Outlawz, as well as the new "Here's my Heart" challenge which you'll find over at Crafting by Designs. I am including a copy of the color swatch from The Outlawz group and hope it might inspired YOU to play along.

For my card I started with the sweet "Hanging Hearts" image which is digi image from Dilly Beans. I printed it directly to white Cyrogen Cardstock, which is my favorite cardstock to use, when I plan to color with my Copics. Once I had the hearts colors I added a layer of 3D Crystal Accents on each to give it some extra sparkle and dimension. I also added a very sweet little LOVE Sentiment with is from a new set of clear stamps by Technique Tuesday and Ali Edwards, who I think creates some of the best Sentiments.

The next card I created was inspired by the new Paper a la Mode Challenge which started today over at The Outlawz. The theme for this week is movement and my first thought was to use some type of flying bird or insect. I opened up my Silhouette Designer software, as I also knew I wanted to use my Cameo to cut my image. I have not been using my Cameo enough and want to get back into the habit, especially since I have my monthly Cameo group meeting on Monday at my LSS!! I also knew that I have well over $100 in credits to use for the month and had some fun adding lots of new images to my Library. (I have a monthly subscription and pay $14.99 each month, for $150 in store credits -- a great deal and well worth it to me for the savings). If you are a Cameo user and need any Valentine images, head over to the store now while they are all on sale for 75 cents!!

By the way, if you do NOT own an Cameo, but have been thinking about it, you can download and use the software FREE to try it out. The Designer Edition is an upgrade and one that's well worth it, if you do decide to buy a Cameo, but if you want to try out the Silhouette Studio software and see all the images you can add from the store, you'll find the download HERE!! This is something I did before I bought my Cameo and it helped me to decide that I loved it. There is also a brand new machine, called the Portrait, which is a smaller size and less expensive for anyone who can not afford the Cameo, this is a great choice. I would also suggest that you shop around as you can find much better prices at Amazon and many of the other online vendors.

And now that I have enabled you again, and gone way off track, LOL, this is the card that I created for the challenge, with the cute little butterfly that I bought from the Silhouette Store!

My first step was to cut the Butterfly and I did that using plain white cardstock. (NOTE: I cut many of my images on white and then use a variety of coloring mediums to color each cuts to match my project). When I cut this butterfly, I actually cut a full 12" sheets of assorted images/shapes, all to be used on future cards. I then colored this butterfly with my Copics in two shades of pink -- a very light pink for the main area and a darker brighter pink for the section that lifts off the card. This butterfly shape can be found HERE, in the Silhouette Store.

Next, I took a piece of light pink cardstock (from my scrap pile) and rand it through my Cuttlebug in the Chevron Embossing folder, (by Hero/Sizzix). That piece adhered to my card base, which is from Hero and is one of their newest products and a favorite of mine. I was thrilled when they added the new Midnight Hues line, which includes Black, Charcoal and Wet Cement in both note-cards and their awesome layering papers, which you can use to create you own card-bases It's much more a cardstock than paper and like all their other cards and layer papers, only one side if in color. The other side is white, which is perfect for cardmaking. Next I added a wide lavender strip and a black die cut circle which I used as the frame from my Butterfly. To complete the card I added Pink Gems to the butterfly and stamped the "Happy Everything" Sentiment by Paper Smooches in Versamark, and then heat embossed it in black.

And last by not least I have one more card and this one was started with a fun little "Shooting Star" cut file that was also purchased from the Silhouette online store. I had also cut this from white and it was cut from the same white cardstock I had used for my butterfly.

I used two different Dylusion Sprays to color up the star and then picked out some matching yellow chevron paper from the new Soleil Paper Pad by Basic Grey. I cut a piece to layer directly onto my dark brown card base and then also used a dark brown Copic marker to color the outer layer of the star image to match the background I chose this sentiment from one of the Hero Arts Clear Stamp sets (Year Round Sentiments), that was designed for Operation Write Home and that's exactly where this card will be going. It is also being submitted to the VCMP Challenge being hosted today over at the Stars and Stamps Blog. I thought it fit perfectly with the Star image and I stamped it in Versamark and then heat embossed it with Gold Embossing Powder. I then punched two smaller stars from the same BG patterned paper using a MS Punch and added those to the sentiment strip to finish off my card.

And that is it for today, I'm off to clean off my desk and unpack my brand new Fiskars Trimmer that I had to have after seeing this post and video by Jennifer McGuire. Please be sure to stop by tomorrow and I'll plan to share my review and let you know how I like it. I have to tell you that I have tried many many trimmers and it took me a very long time to find ANY that I loved. My current favorite is another Fiskar's Trimmer that Jennifer also had recommended, as well as the new Trimmer that Stampin' Up came out with earlier this year, along with my other large favorite which is this one by Tonic...! ALL three are awesome and are my go to trimmers and the ONLY trimmers I am loyal too and still LOVE after much use!

On top of that, I also plan to have more cards to share and hope to have something created for the newest challenge at A Blog Name Hero and this month's Sketch Challenge hosted by Hero Arts, along with one of my favorite Sunday Challenges, which is the weekly Sketch Challenge over at OWH's Stars and Stamps blog! Hope you'll join me and play too -- the more the merrier!!

Pages