Just for You

Today's card combines two challenges. The first is a sketch challenge from 2 Sketches 4 You. Secondly, I used the color combo from Color Throwdown's color challenge. (I used the word "color" three times in that sentence... I'm not going to correct it. Hehe.) This is the first time I've joined one of their challenges.

Here's what I came up with... Enjoy!

A Certain Sentiment... Missing U

Okay, I'm back. Here's what I made for 365 Cards' challenge to create a card with the sentiment, "I Miss You." I made this one with more of my handmade paper :-) If you click here you can see the paper I made and a couple more designs.

Handmade goodness :-)

Oh no!! It's been five days since I've posted anything! Geez, this week has just flown right by. Anyway, let me tell you what I've been up to... I am SO excited because I have finally realized one of my life-long dreams (well, sometimes a week feels like a lifetime. lol) to make my own paper!

It turned out so good!! Most of the time I cut the base for my cards from a 12x12 piece of paper. Depending on the size of the card, I usually end up with stacks and stacks of leftover pieces-- all uniformly cut to the exact same, generally unuasable size. Haha. Despite my efforts to use the leftovers as elements on my creations, the pile just keeps growing. I googled for "how-to" instructions several times, but finally found what I needed on dear ol' Etsy. Lots of pictures always help! Of course, I rarely follow "recipes" exactly... but here's how it turned out:

It seemed, from the different tutorials, that the main concern with handmade paper is that ink will bleed through. But I stamped this card and I think it turned out alright. I don't love it, but the ink didn't bleed :-)


Lastly, here's a card that I made entirely out of my own paper \m/(>_<)\m/ <--- Rock on!
It's waaaay prettier in person than it is in the photo. You'll just have to take my word for it. Thanks for looking! Check back later today-- I'll be posting a project for 365 Cards' latest challenge.

More Blog Challenges... :-)

Today I'm mixing it up again :-) The latest challenge on Caardvarks is to create a tree-themed card. Combined with 365 Cards and OCC's challenge to incorporate a recycled element, this is what I came up with:

The trunk of the tree is created from a piece of cardboard packaging-- it has such a cool texture! The "leafy" part is from an old Niemann Marcus catalog cover. I love the design and texture of it. I found the button in my stash of odds and ends.

My other project for the day was to make a second retirement card. (You can check out the first one here.) I wanted to keep it kind of simple and elegant, but still make it interesting and colorful. I LOVE the colors and patterns of this paper.

A recipe for a wonderful retirement...

I don't have it. But maybe someone does...

I was asked to create a retirement card by a friend of mine for one of her fellow teachers. I'm told this teacher likes to cook ;-) Here's what I came up with:


In other news... my little sister's birthday is this weekend, so here's the card I made for her. Hehe.

Pop-up Card

Today's challenge from 365 Cards is to create a pop-up card. This is one of those projects that pushes me a little bit. I don't usually do pop-up stuff. I'm not really big into dimensional projects... I like them, I just don't make them. Anyway, I kept this pretty simple. The front of the card is just covered with patterned paper from one of "The Stack" collections that I've had for FOREVER...


I used the same paper to create the "vase" for the pop-up. The greeting is from SU's "Sincere Salutations" set. Here's a shot of the inside of the card:

Matchbook Card

Hello everyone! It's a beautiful sunny day here is St. Louis... not a cloud in the sky-- or at least none that I can see sitting here on the living room floor! Today's challenge from 365 Cards was to make a matchbook card. I hadn't done this before, but I enjoyed making it, and I like how it turned out. It seemed like something modeled after a matchbook should be kind of small, so this one is about 3 inches square. Please excuse the obnoxious yellow background. Haha. I didn't think it would be that... ummm... vibrant. lol.

Here are a couple more pics to show how I put this together...

Mojo Monday Challenge

OH! Check it out! I said I was gonna post today, and here I am with just minutes to spare. Haha.

Today's card is for the Mojo Monday challenge. You can check it out by clicking here. I hope you can see it okay... the picture came out a little brighter than I wanted it to.


And just for fun, here's another card I made today...



I love reading all of your comments! Thanks for checking out my blog :-)

Aaaahhh!!

It's only been four days since I've posted, but goodness! It feels like a week! I haven't been able to make diddly-squat over the past few days. Between rehearsals for the Easter services and working on conference stuff, I haven't had time. Now, don't get me wrong, it hasn't been all work and no play :-) My sister and I have had some fun this week too, hanging out with friends and stuff. Good times.

My parents and little sister get back in town tonight, so hopefully things will get back to normal by the end of the week... sort of. Haha. I'm thinking I'll be back in full swing after Easter :-)

See ya then!

Hippity Hoppity, Easter's on it's way...

...and I am SO not ready. Holidays always sneak up on me. No matter how many extra choir rehearsals we have, it still doesn't click until a couple of days before. Haha.

I haven't had a chance to sit down and make anything new since last time I posted, but since I had to take my parents and sister to the airport at 0-dark-thirty this morning, I had a couple hours to myself before all the events of today get into full swing. Now how's that for a run-on sentence?

So, today's project (or projectS... i made two...) is for 365 Cards' Day 24 and OCC Challenge.

I was trying to stay away from the usual pastels and bunny rabbits look... I was going for something that resembled a Ukrainian pysanky egg. I think it worked out with all the different Amy Butler papers :-)

Okay, now, I get kind of excited when I figure out stuff like this, so "bear" with me... lol... you'll get it in a second...

I was looking through my craft punches yesterday, just to remind myself what I had, and one of them was turned so that the shape was upside down. All of a sudden, this light bulb appeared over my head and I heard an ethereal "aaahhhhhhhh..."

So basically, this is either a super cute puppy dog...

OR an upside down teddy bear, with a banana in his ear...

Thanks for looking!!

It's raining, it's pouring...

Well, here in St. Louis the water is comin' down. I keep saying I'm gonna make a "rain playlist" for days like this... any song with the word "rain," "storm," "umbrella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh," etc.
Thursday is usually my "nothing to do" day, so I spent some time down in the basement working on some more cards that I'm hoping to get on Etsy soon.

I could ramble on, but I won't bore you... The 365 Cards challenge for today was to make a card, keeping the design in only the top or bottom third, leaving two thirds of the space white. This wasn't so hard for me. The cards I make (when I'm not doing challenges) are usually very simple with a lot of white still showing. Ironically, this is kind of why I started doing some of these challenges-- to make myself try some other styles :-) Haha. Anyway, here it is:


Here's a set that I made this afternoon... they kind of fit the 1/3 challenge, except i used the side instead of the top or bottom. So I'll just throw them in for fun ;-)

I can't think of an attention grabbing title...

Today a friend of mine asked if I'd create a birthday card for her stepmom. Other than "red" and "flowers" there wasn't really anything specific that she asked for, so this is what I did:

There are little pearl beads in the center of each flower. They were a bit too big at first, but I was able to crack them in half. It worked much better and they were easier to glue down.