hello friend... Mojo 100 day 4!

I have been doing many vintage-y cards, and decided to challenge myself to do something different! Yes, I played with bold colors! Pinks and green, and no distress ink. Gasp! And it was fun! I was a little nervous, but I am happy with the results. I am also happy I am actually keeping up with the challenges! I am the Queen of Sidetracked as well "Nostalgia", but I am so pumped with doing cards, I find myself itching to do more and more and more!

This card uses the sketch by Sara from MojoMonday, and it was super fun :)

Ingredients

Paper: MyMindsEye, Creative Imagination, Prima

Image: Judith (it is dated 1995... I told you my stamps were old! But isn't that guy cute?)

Embellishments: Chipboard, ribbon

Techniques: Sanding (paper edges) and Paint (chipboard)

Halloween... the Hauntingly Magical Celebration!

Boo! I have some super exciting news! Vanessa, over at A Fanciful Twist, is hosting her fabulous Halloween party again this year! If you have never been to her blog, you must go. It is seriously, absolutely, magical! Vanessa has been in Artful Blogging, and she was hostess to the Mad Tea Party this past spring. It was amazing. To get all the details, and to see how can join in on this fabulous blog hop party, go to A Fanciful Twist to get more information. So get on your pointy hat, gather some pickled toads, and get ready for the most magical Halloween event in BlogLand!

Hey Diddle Diddle... Mojo Monday (day3)

It's mad times, I tell you, mad! Ok, so I am channeling Professor Slughorn from the Harry Potter books, but there is madness - MojoMadness! It is day 3, and I have made it my goal to do a card for each challenge this week. So far, so good :) AND this card actually has a stamped image. I have been using my vintage pics, but then I dug through my very small collection of stamps, and forgot I had this one! I love vintage children's books, and this cute stamp was perfect!

This is my first stamped card for a challenge, and therefore my first coloring... What do you think? I used colored pencils, and hope to get my hands on some Copic Markers one day :) They seem to be all the rage, and have fantastic results.

Ingredients

Paper: MyMindsEye, Cosmo Cricket, Paper Loft, K &Co

Image: "Hey Diddle Diddle" by Stampabilities

Distressing ink (Ranger) and colored pencils

Sketch: MojoTeresa
This card measures just under 6x6

Trick or Treat... Sketch Saturday Challenge

I made this sweetie little card for last week's challenge at Sketch Saturday. I need to start buying some new stamps, but until then, I have been delighted at how fun it is to use some of my vintage images! This little girl with the pumpkin basket - one of my absolute favorites! Isn't she fabulous?

Here is the sketch:

I flipped it on its side for my card, and used a spider's web in place of flowers :) I kept the color scheme pretty monochromatic, as I wanted to retain that vintage, olde world feel...

Ingredients

Paper: MyMindsEye, DCwView, Creative Imaginations, Cosmo Cricket, Bazzill cardstock

Image: Vintage photo from collection

Embellishments: cut spiderweb, ribbon, metal charm (Making Memories?)

Roar! Mojo 100 Day 2

Just a quick post! I wanted to get my Mojo100 Day 2 card. I am apt to get sidetracked (fine, I always get sidetracked) and don't want to lose my momentum.

My twin boys love dinosaurs, and I had a stash of this great paper from Basic Grey...

Ingredients

Paper:Basic Grey, Core'dinations cardstock

Embellishments: my hand pieced dinosaur, fabric tie

Ink:Ranger Distress Ink

"Back to School"... Mojo100

This week at Mojo Monday there is a celebration for hitting 100! If you haven't been to this blog and you like to craft, you need to hop over there. The sketches are amazing, and the cards created by their design team are fabulous inspiration. I know that sometimes I feel like I have lost, well, my crafty mojo, and a sketch perks me right up! I haven't made this many cards in my life, and I am loving it!

The card for the Day 1 of Mojo100 challenge is a back to school card. I was planning on making a back to school scrapbook layout for eBay, and thought it would be fun to make a coordinating 5x7 card. I am luuurving how this turned out :) (that was for you, Saucy :) )

Ingredients

Paper: Basic Grey, Graphic 45, MyMindsEye, Crate Paper

Embellishments: Chipboard, ruler ribbon that I teastained

Ink and Paint

Here is the Back To School Layout I plan on listing on eBay. Both pages are 12x12, and I paper pieced the schoolhouse, tree, landscaping... I don't think there are any "store-bought" embellishments here. Well, I guess the vintage scrabble tiles? I didn't carve those out of wood - I used pieces from an old scrabble game :) Anyhooo, this layout has lots of room for photos, and those scrabble letters are attached to a pull-out tag. I plan to list it tonight, so keep a look out.

Spooky! Friday Sketchers Challenge...

Yay Halloween! Oooh, how I can't wait to start decorating and looking for costumes for the kiddies :) I am thinking a donkey and a dragon? The boys are in love with the movie Shrek, and we could have some fun with that. Maybe I can convince Steve to let me paint him green and he can be the ogre. I would need a red wig...

Anyway, back to BOOusiness...
In the spirit of Halloween, I have created a card using the sketch from Friday Sketchers. Loving the challenges, I have to tell you. Having a sketch is awesome! I love the challenge, and it is amazing how one sketch can inspire such different cards! I love looking at the other card makers' works...

Ingredients
Papers: Daisy D (and for the life of me, I can't find the maker of the polkadots and text... anyone know?) and vellum *** Twyla knew! The text is by Making Memories :) Thanks Twyla! Now if anyone can tell me about the polkadots... I love that polkadot paper, and I need more :)
Embellishments: Making Memories brads, Prima flowers, ribbon

Cards, cards, cards! ...and the Basic Grey Challenge

So I have seriously caught a bug. No, not a got-a-fever-and-am-sick kind (that was last week - horrible sinus infection and cough like no other). No, I have caught the card bug! I love making cards! After finding some fabulous blogs out there, and looking at candy, and discovering great sketch sites - I am enthralled by all the lovely cards that can be made! I plan to add some great challenge sites to my blog so that you too can be addicted to card making :)

This card was created in response to the BasicGrey challenge. Using the sketch shown, I made my 6x6 card.

Ingredients:

Papers: Basic Grey, MyMindsEye, Jenni Bowlin, and Bazzill cardstock.

Image: Luna Girl (printed on vellum and layered over text paper)

Embellishments: Prima flowers, Queen and Co. brad, hand crocheted flower by PaperVintageRoses, vintage lace and trim

Ink: Ranger distressing ink

The sketch is also shown.

I think that one of the reasons I love card making so much is that I can use my stash of pretty vintage images! I love scrapbooking too, but I find it difficult to use vintage photos as embellishments... it feels odd to me to have pictures of "strangers" mixed with pictures of people I know :) But with cards, I am able to incorporate these lovely old photos. I want to do more stamping. I used to stamp waaaay back, so all of my stamps are from the 90s. Some are still to my fancy, but now that I have seen some of the lovely stamps out there, I want to try my hand at stamping some stamps from this century :)

Well, happy day to you, and hope you have a great one!

My first Mojo Monday Challenge

I am so excited! This is my first ever "challenge" card! I used the sketch from Mojo Monday. Instead of a stamp, I used a vintage image from my collection that was printed on tea-stained muslin. I have to say, I am feeling pretty fancy. AND I love, love, love the sketches on Mojo Monday's blog. I have made a few more challenge cards, but this is my first "official" one. I'll be posting the others shortly :) So fun! I frayed the edges of the fabric after I stitched the image onto cardstock.

Ingredients

Papers: Jenni Bowlin, Paper Loft, BoBunny

Image: vintage photo printed on tea-stained muslin

Inks: Ranger

Embellishments: Vintage lace, stitching, vintage button

Template: Mojo99

Candy Candy Candy!

As a somewhat "new to blogLand" blogger, I am sooo excited to make this discovery - Candy! Blog candy! Candy candy candy! I am on a quest to try to win candy, and you should too. Not only do you have chances to win (who doesn't like to win stuff? Seriously) BUT you also get a chance to find all these cool blogs! It is like a treasure hunt :)



I have gotten back into my card making, and am dying to get my paws on this set of stamps
Aren't they too cute? Fluttabyz Crafty Haven is offering this blog candy until September 1st, so be sure to get on over there! :)

Well, I am off to make some cards.

And dream of candy...

So long, Summer...

With summer winding down, I start to feel like I am "nesting." I want to organize the whole house, put the summer clothes to the back of the closet, and start looking for good soup recipes... Maybe because I am such a nerd, or because I was an English teacher, I love this time of year. Nothing makes me happier than a cup full of super sharp pencils and a stack of clean, white paper. I love school supplies! New notebooks and clean slates, a time for fresh starts and tidy backpacks. Ah... September is just around the corner, and with it the promising potential of fall, where fresh starts are like a shiny clean blackboard.


Sometimes I miss my blackboard.


Maybe I will work on some "Back to School" layouts this week. Sharpen my pencils and such.

I haven't totally dismissed summer, however. I just completed, and listed on eBay, two layouts. One is a wedding themed page, perfect for that "first page" in an album. I wanted to keep it simple, so that when photos are placed on the mats, they will be real showstoppers! I love making my little churches. For some reason, I like the brown shingles best...
The other is a sweet reminder of summer - fresh lemonade and sweet fruit, relaxing on those long hot days... Every once in a while, I get motivated to make a little fuzzy bear. My bears are a bit old fashioned, but they make me happy! :)

Well, I am off to find some fresh pencils and a clean, new notebook...

My friend Janny is giving away candy! Check it out!

So in the middle of the chaos that is my new studio, I have been busy, busy, busy! I had a bit of time last night to list some new pretties for Etsy... I have been wanting to work with dress forms forever, and when I saw these papers from Graphic 45, I was in love! I am pretty much sure that Graphic 45 is my new most favorite paper company :) They have a Christmas line coming out, as well as a Domestic Godess line too! Oh, and of course a fabulous Renaissance themed assortment that would be perfect for ATCs and other mixed media... Ahhhh... I love looking at paper.

Speaking of looking at paper... Because I had decided to move my studio, I also decided to finally resort my paper. I usually do a re-sort at each "season" because in my creative process (also known as the Giant Mess That Takes Up At Least Three Table Tops), I usually end up mixing in papers, scraps get slid into piles of uncut paper (gasp!), my Basic Grey somehow ends up with My Minds Eye, and I can never find a whole piece of BoBunny Polkadot Paper.... Anywhoo, it looked as though I hadn't sorted and organized my paper since Christmas.

It was like shopping!

I found so many fab papers I had purchased months ago and never got to cutting, piles of forgotten yet awesome Halloween papers, and even some half-finished layouts! Who knew? So my studio was looking clean and pristine, but I started to work in it even as I am still moving things, so it is very, ummmm... messy. I should just bite the bullet and take some pictures - it will never be perfectly clean. And I think I will be ok with that.

Maybe.

ooooh, you won't believe how nice my stuio is looking! It isn't very super frilly or fancy ( I love looking at pretty studios where the studio itself looks like a piece of art) but it is getting organized, and I actually have space for everything! Woo Hoo! I'll have to add some cutie touches after I get it situated, so stay tuned!

Oh, and the best part? I have a TV and DVD player, so I can rock to Buffy the Vampire Slayer all night long as I work and not worry about waking up the boys :)

August is near, and I can't believe how fast the summer is flying by...

I think I am ok with that. While I love the idea of lazy summer days, I rarely actually have them.

And, most excitingly, HALLOWEEN is coming! Yes, with the end of summer comes crisper nights, and the air feels fresher and the trees turn a blaze of scarlet and sunset yellow. I love it! I am itching to start some Halloween projects. I did a few little pretty Halloween pieces for the Trunkshow last weekend, but plan to witch it up in earnest next week. Speaking of... here is a peek at what wares I offered... Oh, and my sisters of the Traveling Trunks... I will email you the pictures I took! I still need to edit them and sort out the pictures Johnny took when he got his little hands on the camera... Lots of self portraits and still lifes involving toys and juice cups...

Hey, is your sound turned on? I got all fancy and added a gizmo-dealie-do Playlist thing, and so now my blog has music! I hope it doesn't distract you... Pretty sure you can hit pause if you don't like the music, or you can skip through the songs... My addiction to Buffy the Vampire Slayer extends to music too, so if you haven't had the pleasure of watching this fab series, you can listen to some of its lovely music. I like the softer instrumentals myself, and chose those. I almost put the theme song to the show here, but it is kind of spooky and LOUD and rocky-rolly, and I didn't want to scare any unsuspecting bloggers... There are some non-Buffy songs here too, of course. I love soundtracks, and have started re-reading the Harry Potter books, so you will find some Hogwarts tunes here. If you haven't heard of Loreena Mckennit, you must stop reading now and click to one of her songs. Simply amazing. Her music will transport you with its haunting beauty...

I was going to make a sketch for this past Tuesday, but I was just tooooo tuckered out. It weighs upon me greatly, but maybe next week I'll do a card AND scrapbook sketch. Does that sound fair? Do you still love me? I love you... I adore you! Speaking of people I adore, I want to introduce you to Dee. I metioned meeting her in previous posts. Dee rocks, plain and simple. She loves Halloween, she loves artsy stuff, and she knows Sandy Mooney, a fabulous artist that I also had the pleasure of meeting at the Trunk Show! I don't have a picture of Sandy (you shy thing!) but I caught Dee unawares and begged to let me take her picture. Isn't she sweet? She makes me smile each time I see her :)

Like I said, I had the Sisterhood of the Traveling Trunkshow last weekend, and I decided that this week was a great week to totally revamp my studio. I know, I know... Is this just a procrastination of work I need to do? Things I should photograph and list? Pages to make? Most likely...I have decided to transform the bulk of the finished basement into my studio... I can't wait! Of course, moving all my stuff isn't thrilling me to death. I'll most likely run out of steam part way through, kick myself, and have my supplies and furniture half here, half there, half everywhere... Ah, well, such is the creative process, right?