Another day, another challenge!

I'm learning so much by doing these challenges, and having a lot of fun at the same time.  This card is called Flamingo Love and was entered in the Outlaws CAS challenge: Anything Goes.

Now I'm going to go have dinner and watch a bit of TV. 

Finally finished this one, I can finally go to sleep!

I had some trouble getting this image to print.  After putzing around with it for a while it FINALLY printed.  I think she was worth the wait, what do you think?

She is being entered in two challenges on the Outlawz site:
Clean and Simple, and
Birthday.

Good night!

Another challenge!

This card was made from the sketch at AnitaBeStampin for their challenge #5.  You can see it here.

The image is from AnitaBeStampin and I just love her!  The second I saw her this card started percolating in the back of my brain.  I drew the profile of a face on the heart, with lips pursed to blow.  It's much clearer in person, the glitter in the ink makes it hard to see in the picture.  The image is colored with Copics and Gelly Roll Sparkle glitter pens.

I'm also entering her in the following challenges:

One Crazy Stamper challenge: Love.

Outlawz Friday Copics challenge: Anything Goes.

My first card challenge

I finally took the leap and participated in my first card challenge.  The Outlawz have a challenge for every day of the week, and I chose the Clean and Simple challenge you can find here.   Using the sketch from the blog, I created this card:

It was fun!  I'm going to try another challenge very soon.

Thursday's cards

Thursday I went to a workshop at my Stampin' Up demonstrator's house.  I like Cherie's workshops, we make 3 each of 5 cards and I get to do a little shopping.  The cost of the workshop is $25, but if you order $40 in product the class is free.  I don't think I've ever paid for a class.  Just sayin'.  =D

I have two cards that tied for my favorites in this workshop, and this is one of them.  It was the first card I made that night and I fell in love with the damask stamp behind the heart, and the tulip border texture folder.  I ended up ordering both of them.

I think this would be a good Valentine for a guy, don't you? 

This one is cute and was FAST to make!  I really like the embossed heart die.

This card is my other favorite from the workshop.  It uses that same embossing folder, a cute stamp set (yep, I'm getting that set too), and a heart punch.  Add a little ribbon and a few stick on pearls and you have a super cute Valentine!

This one was fast and easy too.  I like the Love badge!

It's been a busy week!

There was a lot of time devoted to papercrafts this week, which means I was a happy girl!

Tuesday Star and I were back at Archiver's for the Very Valentine Minis class.  All of the cards are 3x3 inches.  Most of them were fast and easy to make!  This first one is very cute, and we got to use the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher (aka a weeeeee small stapler) which I love.

It doesn't get much faster/easier than this one.  A corner chomper, stamp, and some stickers! The heart is a foam backed sticker for some dimension.

 Isn't this cute?  I kinda messed it up with the ink on the top edge of the stamp.  I guess I could put ribbon or some stickers there, but it's not TOO awful, and I don't want to clutter it up.

Yep, I messed this one up too.  I was supposed to stamp the "Love ya" before I went all crazy with the heart stamp.  Still, I'm not completely unhappy with my alterations!  The red marker I used was FULL of sparkle, unfortunately the camera didn't pick it up.

 This one was labor intensive because of the flower. These things take forever!  But I like the outcome. We also used the Texture Boutique and some Perfect Pearls spray.  I love the shimmer!

Rosettes take a long time too, when you do them manually.  I like that we can do them on the Martha Stewart scoring tool, as we did here, but I think I'll be using my Tim Holtz die when I want to make these!

 More Texture Boutique, this time adding some white ink with the Tim Holtz sponge applicator.  I like this look so much I picked up some white ink before leaving the store.

I like this card a lot.  It couldn't get much simpler, either!

This one is probably my favorite.  I LOVE the artsy, painted look of the rose! We used Copics to color the stamp, and it's just so pretty.  You have to be quick tho, the Copics dry FAST.  The rose was done in two steps, stem first, then blossom. 

That was our Tuesday class!  FUN!



A new challenge!

Cardmadfairy's Digi Days is having a challenge, starting February 4th.  A chance to win blog candy and some brand new digis!  Check it out here!

Anniversary card

Here's a picture of the anniversary card I made for my husband.  He liked it very much! 

The picture frame and ticket were cut on my Silhouette SD.  The ticket was a print and cut.  I used Tarnished Bronze Distress Stickles on the frame, couldn't have it TOO sparkly since hubby isn't a sparkly kind of guy!  =D  The frame was designed by the VERY talented Ileana, her blog can be found here.  If you have a cutter you should check her blog out, she does a free file every week and they are FANTASTIC!

Let me know what you think!

Speaking of celebrations...

My husband and I are celebrating our 6th anniversary today, and my birthday tomorrow.  We had our traditional Red Lobster dinner a few hours ago and I'm still stuffed.  Mmmmm... crab legs!

Star and I took a class at Archiver's earlier today and made some very cool cards.  The class was fun and I would recommend it to everyone!  Call Archivers and sign up for the Vintage Valentine class today!

Here are pictures of the cards we made in class:

I can't decide which one I like best...  which do you prefer?

Happy Birthday BUGABOO!

Bugaboo stamps ( http://www.bugaboostamps.com/ ) is one year old!  I love their digis and am participating in their celebratory blog hop.  Come join the fun!

I hate being sick!

The past week was uneventful, mostly because I spent a good part of it curled up in my recliner.  I caught the latest bug so spent a lot of time coughing and congested. Even had to stay home from work Tuesday. So... NOT a great week!

On the plus side my husband got home safe and sound from Texas.  I picked him up Thursday after work and am very glad to have him home.

Yesterday was my day in the kitchen.  I made another batch of the Three Bean Turkey Chili and froze some for lunches.  Then I cleaned the pressure cooker to make more Chicken and Rice.  We had that for dinner.  It's very good, if a little bland. I think next time I"ll up the garlic and add more carrots.

Today my plan is to spend some time in my craft room trying to organize it so I can actually USE the room.  It's not a one day project, but it will be good to get a start on the job.  Jim will be very happy when I can take down the 6' folding table in the dining room, for good!

Have a great week!

First post for the New Year...

I feel like it should be something momentous.  Unfortunately, I've got nothing.  Sorry!

The weather over New Year's weekend has been awful.  I'm lucky not to have had to go anywhere, the roads were icy and in many places undriveable (is that a word?). 

My daughter and son-in-law headed out early Friday morning from Minneapolis to drive to Grand Forks, ND, typically a 5 hour drive.  They were going to my SIL's sister's wedding, where he was to give away the bride, on Saturday afternoon.  Friday afternoon they had to stop in Fergus Falls, MN, as the roads were treacherous and the Highway Patrol closed the highway in both directions.  The roads were closed all day Saturday, and they missed the wedding.  I'm so sad for them, especially for him.  They tried as hard as they could, the stupid weather was against them.  Star said there were people at the hotel who were 20 minutes from home and couldn't get there!  Another brother gave away the bride, who was beautiful, and the wedding was lovely(they could see bits and pieces on the church webcam, but the video was choppy and unreliable).

Here are the Thank You cards I made and will be sending out this week:

The ribbon is shiny silver but doesn't show up well in the photo.

Yesterday was another new meal cooked in the pressure cooker!  I made Three Bean Turkey Chili from Lorna Sass' book Pressure Perfect.  I can tell already that this book is going to be a favorite resource.

Speaking of books, I finished Two Rivers which was good.  It was a sad book, with an uplifting ending that I never saw coming.  Now I'm reading Sugar and Spice by Saffina Desforges.  I'm only 10% in, but I'm hooked.