Well, it's not like I wasn't thinkin' about it...

*sigh*  Epic blogging fail.  I thought about it.  I really did.  But it's hard to say what would really be worse:  Sleep-deprived posting or no posting at all. Haha.

The school year is actually off to a great start.  I can't really complain at all.  The kiddos are super cute, and relatively mellow compared to last year's group.  But I think my whole body is still revolting against having to wake up early every day!

I realize this is a little after the fact, but I thought I would show you my card for Thursday's color scheme challenge over at 365 Cards.

If you still want to play along, it's not too late!  You have until 11:59pm to link up your posts.

 

Here are the last few cards that I never got around to posting, for any of you who don't frequent the 365 Cards blog. (Although, you should. :-)  I believe if you click on the photo, you'll be able to see it full-size.

Is it just me or is it gettin' hot in here?

OH, I just crack myself up.

Thursday has come to us once again, which means it's my turn to take on of Pam's fabulous challenges and attempt to inspire you all to play along!  Today the challenge at 365 Cards is to use our gardens as inspiration.  "Do you have a garden?  If so, what sorts of things do you have in your garden?  If not, what would you want in your garden?  That is what should inspire your card."

That's not too crazy, right?  My family used to have a small garden in our backyard.  I don't remember everything we had in there, but I know for sure that we had chili peppers.  We can go through dried chiles like nobody's business.  I remember one time my brother convinced my little sister to take a bite out of one... It's funny now. Hahaha.   Here's my chili-inspired card:

So what's in your garden?  I'm looking forward to seeing your creations!

I'm Baa-aack!

Hey there peeps!! I'm finally back home and I'm ready to stay for a while :-)  For the last two weeks I've been away at two different camps. The first one was a five-day girls camp, here in Missouri, where my sisters and I were leading worship.  We had a great time and met a ton of super amazing people.

I was home for a Saturday, then crazy early on Sunday morning I left on a week-long mission trip to New Orleans, LA with a group of teenagers, most of whom are getting ready to go into their freshman year of highschool.  I learned a lot and had plenty of experiences that pushed me waaaay out of my comfort zone. Haha.  It was a long week and we definitely had our challenges, but I'm so glad I went!

This week I've been getting back into the regular swing of things, finishing up some projects and working on getting the classrooms ready for the kiddos at school.  That also means it's time to get back into my cards!!  The card I have to show you is for today's "Ad Inspired" challenge at 365 Cards.  All you have to do to play along is use this image as your inspiration:

Here's what I came up with:

My favorite dress form was the black one with polka dots.  I also used some of the colors from the ad, and used tulle to mimic the curtains.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you'll play along :-)

Summer... it's Hot.

Haaaaappy Thursday!  How's your summer going?  Mine's flying right by and I'm trying to hang on :-)  I did get to spend a couple hours in the pool on Tuesday.  It was SO hot, it felt like bath water. But then it rained for a bit and cooled everything off and it turned out to be a gorgeous night, which we spent at the Muny. This is pretty much my only "free" week this month.  For the next two weeks I'll be out of town for two different summer camps.  One is a girls camp here in Missouri, the other is a mission trip with 8th graders in New Orleans.  I'll have about half a day break in between the two, but I think it'll be fun.  Then maybe I'll sleep for a week when I get back ;-)

I have a card to share with you today! This week at 365 Cards, we've been making collage cards.  I've said before that I tend to stay away from putting lots of "stuff" on my cards.  But then it's always fun to step outside the box and stretch a little bit.  For today's challenge, your collage card should include sponging, scallops and stitching.

There's plenty of sponging around the torn edges of the paper.  I didn't feel like lugging out my ridiculously heavy sewing machine, so I had to do the stitching by hand.  It turned out pretty good, I think.  For the scallops I used crepe paper ribbon.  There are so many possibilities with a challenge like this, so I hope you'll stop by and play along too!!

Quickie post!

Hey everyone!  This is gonna be a super short post because I'm quite literally on my way out the door to help with the middle school summer camp at church.  I'll be out until Sunday, so I wanted to make sure I was able to show you my cards for this week.

The challenge for today at 365 Cards is to use a sentiment that has somewhat of a crossword effect.  Our sponsor this week is Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps and More.  Here's the card I created using an image from her collection:

But THEN, I was thinking about it and I had another idea for a completely different card, so I made two:

Fun, huh?  You should give it a try.  The post for this challenge should be up on the 365 Cards blog pretty soon, then you'll be able to link up your creations :-)  Can't wait to see them!

Just Peachy

It just so happens that I was eating a peach when I got the details for today's challenge at 365 Cards.  The actual challenge is to make peach the dominant color, but I figured that nothing goes better with peach than peaches!

I used chalks to color the fruit, then used an eraser to add highlights back in.  The sentiment is computer generated.  This one is a really simple layout, but I like the details of the peach.

I hope you all are having a fantastic summer! Thanks for stopping by :-)

Cars

I found it a little ironic that today's challenge for 365 Cards had to do with cars.  Just this week my car decided to crap out on me.  I knew it was coming but, you see, my car and I had this love-hate relationship :-)  I can't help but love a vehicle that got me wherever I needed to go, but there were a lot of things wrong with it that I wasn't about to fork out the money to fix.  My car was nice enough to hang on to life over the past several months while I saved up enough cash to replace it.  But just to get back at me, it waited until the most inconvenient moment possible (on the way to an 8 a.m. choir rehearsal) to die.

But anyway, back to the challenge...

Today is "Mega Movie Thursday."  All week we've been using movie posters from this summer's movie releases as our inspiration.  Today is no different!  I really liked the original "Cars" movie and I'm looking forward to seeing the second one.

For my card I decided to attempt to duplicate the Cars logo.  I think I got close. Haha.  Since Father's Day is right around the corner, I thought this would be a fun theme to work with.  I used watercolors to create a "road" for the background.  Super-shiny silver cardstock worked great for the "chrome" but it was a little tricky cutting the words!  Here's my final card:

You don't have to take this challenge quite as literally as I did!  I'd love to see how this movie poster inspired you, so make sure to link up your cards on the 365 blog!

Words to Inspire

Hello, friends!   It's Thursday, so I've got a card to show you for today's challenge on the 365 Cards blog.  Today we're supposed to incorporate an inspirational sentiment on our cards...

I'd love to see what inspiring words YOU would include on your card, so hop on over to 365 Cards and link up your cards!

B is for...

Apparently, I'm on some kind of baby card kick. Lol.  I don't know why.  I guess they're just kinda cute and fun to make.

This is my DT card for today's 365 Cards challenge, "Button Blitz."  Use at least TWENTY buttons on your card and be sure to stack at least SIX of them.

I have to admit that when I saw "20 buttons" I was a little intimidated.  As a rule I try to stay away from bulky cards, simply because they don't fit in envelopes.  But once I started looking through my stash and playing around with the placement of the buttons, it actually wasn't too bad.  This one would probably fit into a slightly oversized envelope quite nicely :-)

As always, thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to stop by the 365 Cards blog-- we'd love to have you play along!

Nature Stuff

I keep sitting down to write this post and I just end up with an insane case of writer's block!  This past week was a little crazy.  We had tornadoes ripping through St. Louis like nobody's business.  You see this kind of stuff on the news, but it's a really weird feeling when it's quite literally in your backyard.  Our church (which is where we were when the storms came through) and our house missed the worst of the destruction by a matter of blocks in both cases.  It's amazing that there were no fatalities.  And the only minor injuries where at the airport.  My brother was supposed to fly in that night from San Diego, but ended up having to turn around in Phoenix.  I'm just thankful that his flight wasn't a few hours earlier! Maybe it sounds a little cliché, but it really does make you realize that your stuff isn't going with you and it's having your family and loved ones safe that truly matters the most.

And speaking of nature... Lol...

I have a card for you today.  This one is for yesterday's challenge at 365 Cards, Day 59-Feeling "Kraft"y.

The challenge is to create a nature-themed card with kraft paper.  The image I used for the branch and the background pattern is from our sponsor this week, Shannon's Sentiments.  There are some really great images, so be sure to check it out.

If you wanna get in on the fun, come on over to the 365 Cards blog! You have until Monday night to get your project uploaded :-)

Ladybug, Ladybug

Hi there, blogger friends!  Happy Saturday to you all.  I'm singing at a conference here at church today, and I'm trying to do something useful with my time until the next session.  I haven't had a chance to blog anything these past couple of weeks, so I thought I'd do that :-)

Let's flashback to Thursday.  It was Day 31 at 365 Cards.  The challenge was to use a piece of poetry on your project.  It was a little hard to start with the image and find a poem to match, rather than starting with the poem then finding an image to compliment.  So with a quick search for poems about ladybugs, and then sifting through a bazillion preschool songs, I found this poem that I thought would be perfect for a card:

"I'm sending luck and wishes

All wrapped up in a hug

Good things should come your way

With this tiny ladybug."

~Author Unknown 

The image I used is from our sponsor this week, Digi Doodle Shop.  They have some super cute things, so make sure to check out their site!  Also, it's not too late to play along with this challenge (or any of the challenges this week)-- You've got until Monday night to post the links to your cards :-)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I've got just enough Irish in me to get some red highlights in my hair in the summertime and to justify making a semi-big deal out of wearing green today :-)
"Leprechauns" have been visiting our preschool class every day this week, leaving green footprints everywhere.  We have a class of 18 little ones who specialize in theatrics.  One day they'll be famous, but for now they just like to drive us nuts :-)  They're totally into it.  "Mattie," "Paddy," "Looie" and "Messy" leave us notes (and a mess) when they visit, and the kids can't wait to write one back with some advice on how to clean up their messes. Lol.  The irony kills me.

Anyway, today at 365 Cards, there's and ad-inspired challenge.  Here's the ad:

And here's my ad-inspired creation:

The color of my pictures has been coming out a little funky, but you can still see the elements from the ad that I used on my card.  One of the things that really stuck out to me, for some reason, was the legs of the chair and ottoman in the photo.  I tried to mimic that on my card using puffy fabric paint.

Here's the rest of the Irish Blessing on the inside of the card:

I'd love to see you join in the challenge!  Click here to go right to it :-)

Again with the late blogging. Gah! lol

Let's just cut to the chase here.  What I have to show you today is actually Thursday's card for 365 Cards.  The challenge is to pick something that is currently trending and use it on your card.  Now, I don't necessarily focus on what's trendy (at least not on purpose), but if I spend a little time thinking about it I do notice certain things.  It seems like I've been seeing a lot of lace everywhere lately, so that's what I decided to use on my project:

I kinda like how this turned out.  There's a lot of "stuff" there on the card, but it's not overwhelming. Well, it's past my bedtime PLUS I'm losing an hour of sleep with Daylight Savings starting tomorrow. Uggggh. Lol.  Well, good night all! And don't forget, you still have until Monday night to link up your cards for this challenge-- it's not too late!

Oh, I'm such a terrible blogger!! You know those badges that everyone likes to tag other bloggers with?  Someone should come up with a "Hey, where the heck did you go?" badge.  Actually, that might not be a bad idea.  It might be encouraging, for those people who wonder if anyone is really reading their blog, to get a comment saying "Your blog hasn't shown up in my feed for a while, and I've missed it!"

But I'm just rambling now.

The card I have to show you today is for Day 3 at 365 Cards. And yes! We just started a new year of cards, so now would be the perfect time to jump in and join us!  Today's challenge is to use fabric as a tool to apply ink or paint to your card any way you'd like.

I found a piece of material that had a pretty nice texture and applied white paint directly to the fabric.  Then I flipped it over and pressed it onto the paper.  I did use a brayer to make sure it got pressed down all the way.  It was also a little less messy that way ;-)  It ended up with a pretty cool distressed look.

Now remember, you can use the fabric any way you want, so you could scrunch it, roll it, twist it-- whatever!  You've got until Monday to link up :-)

Fabulous

Hey there, friends!  It's been a while.  I'm sorry. :-)

It's Day 347 at 365 Cards!  The challenge for today is to "divide your card into three parts so that none of embellishments or the sentiment overlaps from one section to another."

Here's how I did it:

The sentiment is from this week's sponsor, Digis With Attitude.  The silhouette is from the Forever Young Cricut cartridge.  It's definitely one of my favorites.  I haven't used eyelets in a while, but I finally have a Crop-a-dile tool.  I should have gotten myself one of those a loooong time ago. Lol.  It's SO much easier than that ridiculous hammer!

I'd love to see your take on the challenge, so link it up right HERE!

Peace

Happy Thursday, everyone!  I'll be celebrating with a snow day.  It started falling last night, and this morning I woke up to this:

My sister, attempting to clean off the cars... I'm not sure why.  I don't plan on going ANYWHERE today.

The patio furniture in the backyard is a pretty good indicator of how much snow actually fell...

I will be spending the rest of my day nice and warm inside the house. Lol.

But anyway, back to business...

The card I have to share with you today is for "Inspiration Week" at 365 Cards.  The word I picked for today is "Peace." This word means a lot to me right now.  It seems these last couple of months have been a little crazy.  Lots of family stuff, ridiculous stuff at work, but I feel like I've been able to maintain at least some peace in the middle of it all.  It'd like to think I'm not a person who's not easily stressed out, but I guess we all have our moments. :-) I came across this quote sort of by accident, while I was googling something else.  But I think it's absolutely perfect for today's word.

This card is made from a hodgepodge of scraps: some lace, wallpaper, a wedding invitation and the last scrap of some shimmery cardstock I've been trying to use up.  I think it's fun to make cards that way... except that it's very unlikely that it will ever be duplicated!  I guess we'll have to go for variations on a theme ;-)

Now it's your turn!  Head on over to the 365 Cards blog to check out the other words of inspiration from this week and maybe pick a few (or all of them!) to play along with.

Since I began this post, I've been informed by my sisters that I will NOT be allowed to stay inside today.  I guess I should go find something warm to wear.... ughhhh... ;-)

Busy, busy!

Well, this week has been interesting.  Started off pretty good, got a little weird toward the middle, ended a little crummy on Friday, but then got a whole lot better with taco night and some fabulous friends ;-)

Somewhere in the middle of that, I did find time to put together my card for Thursday's challenge at 365 Cards, but I'm running a little late again with posting. Oops.

The challenge was to create a photo frame card.  It's not too complicated.  The trickiest part for me was figuring out what size to make the card.  Mine ended up being 6.5 x 5 in.  I made it so that the photo slides in on the side.

That cute frog image is from Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps and More, our sponsor for this week.  Make sure to link up all your cards for this week!  The winner gets 5 digi stamps OR 4 digi stamps and a paper set.

Hi there, friends!

The year 2010 has come to a close and we're kickin' off the new year with hopes for another 12 months of endless possibilities.  I can't wait to see what happens :-)

These last couple of weeks have flown by.  We've enjoyed having my brother home for the holidays.  He'll be leaving on Monday already, and I have to go back to work.  I have to start getting up early again. Ugh.

I do have a card to share with you.  This is a little late, but there's still time to play along!  We're doing a "flashback week" at 365 Cards, so we're revisiting a challenge from June called "Stunning Silhouettes- With a Twist."  Obviously, there should be a silhouette on your card, but the "twist" is that the whole card should have a black and white color scheme.  I'm a big fan of black and white.  Here's what I did:

The silhouette is from the "Sweethearts" Cricut cartridge.  I created the "charm" by punching out a heart from the patterned paper and then covering it with diamond glaze.

Thanks to all of you who've dropped by over this past year! It's been fun :-)

Deck the Card

Hey friends!  It's SUPER icy on the roads this morning, so school is canceled... can I get a "Woot, woot!?"

It's Thursday, which means I've got a card for today's challenge at 365 Cards.  All you have to do is create a detachable ornament for your card.  It doesn't necessarily have to be a Christmas ornament.  This was such a great idea and a lot of fun to make!  Here's what I did...

The ornament was pretty easy to make.  I Googled images of "paper ornaments" and got a lot of great ideas.  I found this blog with some absolutely GORGEOUS examples.  My ornament came together mostly by trial and error, since I didn't follow instructions. Hehe.  But I like how it turned out.  I used super fine gold glitter on the edges for a little sparkle.  It looks so pretty, but unfortunately I will also be sparkling for weeks to come.  My sister stopped to talk to me for, like, two seconds and even she had glitter on her. Lol. And so continues my love-hate relationship with glitter.

I used my "Accent Essentials" CC for the frame, and the "Home Decor" cartridge for the center of the ornament.  Sparkly ribbon, silver button, sticky pearl and "Voila!"

The trickiest part of this card was deciding how to attach the ornament so that it could be removed later.  I ended up just using some gold thread and tacking the bow to the top of the card.  Seems to work just fine.  To gift this, I'd probably have to figure out a way to stick the actual ornament down.  I thought some kind of re-positionable glue dot would work... I just don't have any.

I really hope you give this a try!! Since I've got plenty of unscheduled time today, I'm thinking I might have to make some more of these ;-)  Thanks for stopping by!

Let's Catch Up... or Ketchup... However You Wanna Do This

Hey there, everyone.  I can't believe I've let over two weeks go by without posting.  *facepalm*

I've got a card to show you, but first I just wanted to say "way to go!" to everyone who participated in the 365 Cards Vintage Love Blog Hop.  You all came up with some flippin' AMAZING cards.  But also, I wanted to say thanks to all of you who commented on my blog with the things that you are thankful for.  Some of the stories you shared were so touching.  I see so many of your names all across Blog-land, but it's kinda cool to learn one more little thing about the person behind the link :-)

Okay, so here's my card for the Day 284 challenge from Thursday.  The challenge was to create a card with two pockets.  You can interpret that just about any way you want, but here's what I came up with:

 

Kinda cute, huh? lol.  The stickers are from E.A.D. Designs. I actually managed to create a SVG file to cut this with my Cricut.  It needs to be tweaked a bit, but if I ever get around to it, I'll share the file with y'all.

Again, I know this is late, but you still have a little time to play along.  You have until Sunday at midnight to get your cards linked up!