Painting..and Dancing in the Rain

I know I just blogged a few days ago (*edit: umm, I blogged yesterday I really don't know what day it is anymore. Oops!) , so it's really crazy for me to do another blog post so soon. I just really wanted to try some new techniques and do some different things with some of the supplies I had on hand, so that's what I decided to do.

First, let me start (before getting to the card) that it was a little hard getting motivated. We've had some rough news that Eddy's father MAY have lung cancer. With that thought in the back of my mind, I kept putting my work aside and then picking it back up again when I felt like I could. Any good vibes, prayers, happy thoughts, or whatever you subscribe to would be much appreciated. His dad is a good man and never smoked.

*heavy sigh* Now the card.

I really wanted to use some of the paint that I received during the Ranger class taught by Claudine Hellmuth at CHA. Wasn't sure what I'd do with it, but I wanted to try something...anything. I've also been wanting to use some of the paint dabbers from Ranger (also acrylic paint). There's a lot going on with this card!! Techniques galore! My fave.



and a close up of the sentiment (which is stamped with acrylic paint then covered with Distress Rock Candy Stickles):




It IS raining here now in so-called Sunny California and with the news of yesterday it seems fitting. But I'm hoping that we will also find ourselves dancing in the rain, too, and not just waiting for the storm to pass.

Thank you for stopping by & taking a look!

{Supplies:
Cardstock: SU
Canvas: Sticky Back canvas (Claudine Hellmuth Studio for Ranger)
Inks: Distress Inks (Tim Holtz for Ranger Industries), Versamark (Tsukineko)
Stamps: Urban Chic, Good Thoughts (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous) and Aged Print Frame (Hero Arts)
Paint: Claudine Hellmuth Studio for Ranger, Ranger Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers (Purple Twilight and Black)
Embossing: Distress Embossing Powder (Tim Holtz for Ranger)
Coloring Medium: Forever Violet Perfect Pearls by Ranger, Rock Candy Distress Stickles by Ranger
Embellishments: Word Stick, Staples using Tiny Attacher (both Tim Holtz Idea-ology for Advantus)}



All my best,

Inspiration Box

One of the most creative and gifted paper-crafters I know, Sarah Martina, made her first template and it's just the sweetest little box ever. (Please go HERE to see her template on the Clean & Simple Stamps blog.) I have a real love for working with templates, so when I saw hers I knew I wanted to try to make something with it, too.

I chose to emboss the entire box (not an easy feat, let me just say) and change out the handles using binder clips as the handles with ribbon attached. I saw it on Lauren Meader's blog HERE and I thought it was sooooo cute AND I've been just itching to try it, so thought I'd try it on this box.



I used two of my new Tim Holtz stamps, which I just love! And some of the new Distress Inks as well. I can't tell you how much I adore his new line of stamps, inks, and other goodies. In case you can't read the stamp it says, "Live in the moment and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering". Isn't that fabulous?

Hope that you all have an amazing weekend and live in your moments.

Thanks for stopping by!

{Supplies:
Cardstock: SU
Ink: Distress Inks (Tim Holtz for Ranger Ind.)
Stamps: Urban Chic and Shabby French (Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous)
Flower: Prima Artistry Flowers
Brad: i-top brad maker (Imaginisce)
Ribbon: SU
Crimper: Fiskars
Brads: Making Memories
Embossing: Textile texture (ProvoCraft) }


All my best,

Valentine's Day...the day after

I was out & about yesterday. My sweetie & I spent the majority of our day in Napa. We've finally been having some Spring-like weather so we decided to enjoy the day & took a drive up to Napa.

It was a glorious day:





and one of my sweetie!



We had a really nice time. His mom thinks that Valentine's Day is a holiday so we stopped by and had a really lovely evening with his family after we did our thing and had just a great time with his family.

His mom had sent us a beautiful Valentine's card and I had not had a very good week health-wise so I didn't get around to making her a card until late Saturday night. Then I saw a post on Tim Holtz's blog that got me inspired. Here <---click . So, I made her this:

Close up of the roses & tiny tag:



It doesn't look like his at all, but I did get my inspiration from his. That's what counts and I wasn't TRYING to copy it anyway.

Hope you all feel loved and had a wonderful Valentine's Day. And that you are staying safe and warm wherever you are.

{Supplies:
Cardstock: SU
Inks: Distress Inks (Tim Holtz for Ranger)
Stamps: The Artist in You (Donna Downey for Unity)
Other: Sticky back canvas (Claudine Hellmuth for Ranger), shaped clips & brads (Making Memories), Adage Ticket (Tim Holtz for Idea-ology)}


All my best,

Easel Madness continues!

I really NEEDED to make a card for Valentine's Day for a card swap. I haven't been feeling particularly crafty, though. (I hate when that happens.) But, I really wanted to get this done so I could get it mailed out.

I don't have many (or any!) Valentine's Day stamps so I went searching through my paper stash & found some really fabby paper from last year and My Mind's Eye. I figured if I worked with that I'd be inspired....right? Oh, I wish it were that easy. But, the task did get done. I just decided to make ANOTHER easel card!! WOOOO!! ;)

It turned out pretty cool even though my page pebbles make the letters look a little weird. :| I still think it's groovy even though it's pattern heavy.

Ta-Da!!



Thanks, as always, for stopping by to have a peek!

{Supplies:
Cardstock: SU
DSP: My Mind's Eye (Irresistible Flying High & Irresistible Flower For You)
Ribbon & Twine: SU
Button: DeNami Design
Punch: Fiskars
Staples: Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher
Embossing: Swiss Dots folder (ProvoCraft)
Page Pebbles: Making Memories}




All my best,

Winners of Blog Candy!! CONGRATS!!

My procedure for randomizing was a tad complex, but I put all your names in a MS Excel list (some of you got listed more than once because of already being followers, being new followers, etc), THEN I generated a random numbered list from that. (So it would be more fair.) From that numbered list is how I'm picking the winners....or getting my randomly picked winner. Haha! I really wanted it to be as fair as possible. I hope you all agree.

Without further ado, the winners:


Winner of Drawing #1 - maiahs_momma! Congrats! Woooo! You win Courtney Baker's beautiful set with matching buttons!! This set is so versatile! You'll love it.




Winner for stamp set #2 is: Heidi!! Yay!! Congrats! Hope you enjoy the beautiful set from Taylored Expressions. :)




And now for the drumroll & what everyone REALLY wanted to win (including me! Hahhaha):

The winner of the most fabby $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp is:

TARA!!!!!!! WOOOO!! Lucky YOU!!!



All winners, please contact me ASAP! So I can get your prizes to you. This has been WAY too much fun for me & I hope to do it a LOT more often so, please keep your eyes peeled or glued to my blog.

I kept this as fair as I could, so I'm super happy for the girls that won. :)



All my best,

Thanks! Giveaway Commenting Closed

Thanks so much to all of you who wandered over to my little part of the blogoverse and commented and/or followed me for a chance to win some really terrific stuff.

My birthday was wonderful!! Really, I couldn't have asked for a better day. I was spoiled rotten in so many ways. I feel so blessed to have a loving family (even though they are far away), a really wonderful guy in my life, and such amazing friends who have touched my life beyond words.

I hope that all of you enjoyed maybe taking a peek at my blog. I try not to over-post. ;) Once a week or so. No over-posting from me! Heheh. But, most of all thanks just for visiting. I really enjoyed reading all of your comments and thanks to all my new followers and subscribers.

I promise to have a few new cards coming up soon. But only after I've posted the winners for the Blog Candy. I'll be randomizing the names, then randomizing AGAIN tomorrow. So keep your eyes peeled to my blog for YOUR NAME!!! :)

Have a wonderful week.

All my best,

It's my Birthday & I'm Giving Stuff Away!

I LOOOOOVE BIRTHDAYS!!

I love them so much. I feel like a little kid. It's the one day that's all yours. To feel special. To feel celebrated. I love that. It's just awesome. I'm a bit of a dork, but so what?! :D

I decided today I'm going to share my birthday with all of YOU! WOOOOOOOO!!!! Instead of doing Blogaversary blog candy, I decided to give stuff away for my Birthday. How fun is that? I think it's pretty darn fun.

I bought a few stamp sets at CHA. This really great one from Courtney Baker (which can also be purchased directly from her --> Practicing Creativity Designs:



Isn't that great? Valentine's, friendship, just an all-around fun set.

The other set that I purchased is a super cute set from the really talented folks over at Taylored Expressions. This is a set in which a portion of the profits from the sale of the set goes to charity (in this case the Eden Project).




(For more details on this set click HERE ).

I will be including a bag of GORGEOUS buttons from the fabulous DeNami Design with each stamp set! How cool is THAT?! Are you getting excited yet? I hope so.

Here's a peek at some of their eye-popping buttons.... so pretty.





OK....now if both those pretty stamp sets and those yummy buttons weren't enough I have one more thing up my sleeve. Are you ready?

This is an update from last night an earlier today, but the PHENOMENAL Heidi from Simon Say Stamp is sponsoring my Blog Candy and has generously offered this voucher!! So follow, comment & win! :) And check out their awesome store! Simon Says Stamp!

YAY!!! I hope you're all on board with my birthday celebration NOW!! HAHHA!!!



*~*~*So here's the nitty gritty details on what you need to do: *~*~*

One comment per person- unless you become/ or already are a blog follower.

1. Leave a comment ON THIS POST letting me know what you love about birthdays – especially your OWN! :D

2. Leave a link on your blog to my giveaway (link back to this post, please) you can even add my cute little blinkie if ya want! ;)

3. Leave a way for me to contact you. (ie: blog or email address - you can e-mail me privately if you don't want to leave your addy on the blog. My e-mail addy can be accessed to the right...see the button?)


If you become a (public) follower, or already are one, you get to leave an additional comment! Just let me know you became/ or are a follower (extra chances to win...just sayin')! (I know how many followers I have already and how many are checking my blog out through Reader, so it's not hard to guess who's new & who isn't.)

The fine print:
Commenting will be open for through Feb. 7 at 11:59:59 PM PST On Feb. 8th I’ll start sorting & winners will be posted NLT than Feb. 10th. Plenty of time to comment & win some goodies. :) I vow to keep the awarding as random as I can, once sorted.

{*** I closed commenting at 10:16 PM PST. If you tried to comment and couldn't between that time and 11:59 PM PST, please send me an e-mail (button on the right), in lieu of commenting***}.

*~*~So looking forward to reading your comments.*~*~*

There's only one thing left for me to do ----

All my best,

(I posted just a little early....I couldn't stand it. But my b-day IS Feb. 1st!)

** You can follow from the VERY top of this page. It's kind of transparent, but it does say follow. Let me know if you have any problems. Thanks! :) **