hello there!

The posting has been halted lately due to a couple things, such as Lent, a darn paper (you might find this ironic with the way I chat on here, but I hate writing papers!), some family over, school, a possible trip to Europe- yes, you read that right! A trip to Europe! Wohoo!

Details on that later, since I supposedly gave up blogging for Lent {sigh}, but I had to stop in and tell you that the GCD Studios design team call ends in five days! If you love their products {and after seeing the 2012 Winter line-up, who doesn't like them at least a little bit?}, and haven't applied already, do it now!
Heidi is so nice, as is the rest of the team, and you get to work with lots of those pretty papers! Unfortunately, this is call is for US applicants only, but, if you still want a chance at getting some pretty papers free, then join THIS blinky contest!

And because I don't want to post this without a card, here's my favorite one I made for the booth, using Splendor.

The bird is so sparkly pretty, which doesn't show well in the pic.

Well, thanks for stopping in and have a blessed day!

Giveaway week: Day four

How about some tools and alterable objects now? :)

Maya Road Scroll Frame Chipboard Accordion Album, Maya Road Mason Jar Chipboard Album, Maya Road Tags Mini Chipboard Set, Orange and Cotton Candy Tattered Angels Chalkboard Mists, Silver and Waterfall Stickles, Tim Holtz Ideaology Mask Borderline, EK Success Cupcake Punch set, and (my favorite) a Fiskars Large Squeeze Cloud Punch.

1. Leave a comment.
2. Become a follower and leave another comment (if you're already a follower, leave a second comment)
3. Post the above photo on your blog with a link and leave a third comment.

Steps two and three are NOT optional today.

...

...

...just kidding. ;)

Giveaway week: Day three

And giveaway week is continued, and we're on to the embellishments!

 

So in case you're wondering what's all in there, here's the master list: Tattered Angels Antique Keys, K&Company Handmade Alphabet Cards, K&Company Amy Butler adhesive flowers, Maya Road Sunshine Buttons, Maya Road Gingham Blossoms, Maya Road Velvet Jewel Flowers, SEI Claire Designer Brads, SEI Morning Meadow Epoxy Stickers, two different packages of Boutique Fleur flowers, two different My Little Shoebox Mini Alphabet Stickers, three Pebbles felt stickers packs, two different My Little Shoebox, Glitter Alphabet Stickers, and my fave, two different sheets of pretty fabric stickers by Colorbok.

1. Leave a comment telling me what your favorite kind of embellishment is.
2. Become a follower and leave another comment (if you're already a follower, leave a second comment)
3. Post the above photo on your blog with a link and leave a third comment.

Steps two and three are still optional. :)

Giveaway week: Day two

6x6 papers - over 105 papers (including, but not limited to) - Crate Paper, Basic Grey, Studio Calico, Sassafras, and Websters Pages. A dozen or so papers are 'oldies' (Restoration, for example), but goodies. The rest are papers that came out in Summer CHA '11.
And then, there's my favorite - a brand new My Minds Eye Stella and Rose paper pad. This is a unique pad in that it has most of the papers from all of the S&R collections, so you don't need to get all four individual paper pads.

Yikes! Please forgive the terrible photos!

So totaled up, that's 150+ designer papers, at least a third of which are double sided.

To enter;

1. Leave a comment telling me what your favorite paper collection of all time is.
2. Become a follower and leave another comment (if you're already a follower, leave a second comment)
3. Post the above photo on your blog with a link and leave a third comment (if you've already posted Day One's giveaway, you don't need to do this step again - just leave a third comment)


As before, steps two and three are totally optional (well, the first step is actually optional too, but...)
This giveaway ends March 1st as well. :)

Giveaway week: Day One

Uck! That word pretty much sums up today's weather - it's been looking nasty all day. :( On the bright side of things, I've stopped procrastinating and finally gotten around to this post! 

I've been promising a giveaway for quite some time now; lots of little yummy's have been making their way into the giveaway box over the months, and now that it's full, it's time to pay it forward! I wanted to have the goodies spread out over a couple months, but since I actually haven't ever done a blogversary or post milestone giveaway, I thought I should just have week of giveaways.
Due to the yucky weather, the photos are absolutely crummy, but I hope you can look past that. ;)

Day One giveaway includes, but is not limited to {always wanted to use that phrase!},;

Hero Arts 2012 Catalog, Bold Blooms stamp set, Dots and Flowers stamp set, Hearts Accent Pearls, Medium Accent Pearl, and a secret brand new 2012 Hero Arts stamp or stamp set (no hints ;)).

To enter:
1. Leave a comment telling me what your favorite stamp company is.
2. Become a follower and leave another comment (if you're already a follower, leave a second comment)
3. Post the above photo on your blog with a link and leave a third comment.

Steps two and three are totally optional. :)
Giveaway ends on March 1st, 11:59 PM EST, day after Leap Day!

Quick Valentine projects

Us kids make our parents Valentines every year, and this year, I went with a fun (thought definitely not original) and quick way to package the goodies. :)

I picked up some super cute mini glassine bags at Stamp Fanci, and went to work.
Here's my Mom's (she loves to garden, so the Garden Variety stamp and die set were perfect for her!) - and for the Moxie Fab World die cut challenge.

A pretty flower from a Valentine K&Company die cut pack I bought last year...

Some hand-dyed ribbon using a different formula than I usually use - I'm thinking of adding this to the shoppe...what do you think?

Some removable adhesive keeps the seed card/Valentine in place, and this is what it looks like if you turn it around..

Cookie!

And now for my Dad's..

The train is a nod to my Dad's dad, who was a railroad worker.

Some fun bakers twine I got on sale..

Little story behind the 'stashe - whenever my Mom was pregnant, my Dad would always wear a mustache, and only shaved it off after we were born. Now that my oldest sister is pregnant, he's working on some sort of mustache/bottom chin beard...thing...;)

Modeling one of the eyeglass cookies I made...(sorry for the poor picture - I was just messing around with my youngest brother - I have some hilarious pics of him, but am going to keep them to family :))

I'll have the recipe for these cookies (plus some pictures) tomorrow or the day after. :)

I hope you enjoyed the pics, and have a blessed day!

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First cookie valentine
Stamps: PTI "Garden Variety" and Hero Arts "Ledger"
Ink: Martha Stewart, Ranger, Versamark
Other: die cut (K&Company), pearls (Paper Studio), ribbon (Beardyo Shoppe)

Second Valentine
Stamps: Hero Arts "Past Times" and "Ledger"
Ink: Ranger, Versamark
Patterned paper: My Minds Eye, Basic Grey
Other: twine (Martha Stewart), pearl (Michaels), paperclip (Tim Holtz)

So grateful

...for all the good and trying things that have come my way lately. Good things being new crafty product, more time with friends and other assorted good news; the trying things mainly being lack of mojo and studying for CLEP tests (if the following statement makes any sense to you, you must be a psychologist/doctor/studier-of-the-nervous-system-person)

"The sympathetic nervous system's terminal buttons which synapse directly onto "target" organs, release noradrenaline, or norepinephrine, and are termed noradrenergic; in neuron-to-neuron communication, sympathetic neurons also use ACh."

Yeah, I was lost at noradrenaline too. ;)

But still, even though it's hard and frustrating, still grateful. The bitter helps me appreciate the sweet even more. :)
Anyhows, here's a card for this week CardPatterns sketch (haven't played in this challenge in forever!)...

Added glitter to the center of the flowers, decided it wasn't dimensional enough, added Glossy Accents, decided it wasn't glittery enough, added glitter, and then was semi-satisfied. Can't figure out what's not clicking with this card, but I'm too lazy to ponder it any longer lol.

Thanks so much for the sweet comments yesterday - took awhile, but I feel much better now. :)

Have a blessed day!

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Card recipe
Cardstock: LSS
Patterned paper: Crate Paper "Portrait"
Stapmps: PTI "Year of Flowers", MFS
Ink: Staz-on
Other: ribbon (stash), button (stash), glitter (Martha Stewart), Prismacolor watercolor pencils, hemp cord (Bearydo Shoppe)

Tools: trimmer, adhesive, scissors, Glossy Accents