Miscellaneous

Hello & I have a one year Blogaversary today. I actually started trying to set up this blog on March 7, 2012, but my first 'actual post' was March 10. Boy, what a learning curve I was on, but it's been fun. I've met so many talented, creative - generous & sharing cardmakers. It's been such a joy. (Sometimes frustrating too, when I'd mess up & not know how to fix it). I was blessed very early on 'to meet' Miss Diane of Pixie's Playground; she was/still is, so helpful with explaining how to do things, fix things, make things look better! (lotta things there!) I know that she has helped other bloggers too. So a big THANK YOU ♥ goes out to Diane for all her many suggestions and help to me over this past year. I've met a lot of folks in the Snippet Playground (see above link), who also helped, encouraged, and were just plain friendly. Who knew blogging could be this much fun??? Anyway, I've got some candy to give away to celebrate the occasion. Now I've been trying to think of how is best to do this. I've just mailed a box out for the occasion of my 100th follower - took me a while to get the right size box. I didn't want to pay for paper stuffing so that the contents were not sliding around, and the first box we thought would work, was waaay too large. If you've mailed anything recently, you'll know about the postage issues! But at least the goodies are on the way to their new home, & I hope they will be enjoyed. So I've decided that I'll run Random Generator on March 31 (God willing...) and let's see what happens. I say God Willing 'cause who knows what will be going on then. So here's what will be in the next box, and remember, I might throw in a surprise or two. I did the other one!

One Year Blog Candy

You can't really see it too well in the picture, but I included some pretty napkins at the bottom. There will be a couple of Memory Box dies, some embossing folders, perhaps a stamp or two. I hope it will be items that someone will enjoy if they win. These are still in the original packing as you can see, and the box they currently are in, will probably be the mailer. Unless I can find a better one!!!

So please bear with me on the days when I'm not posting daily, just got things going on (and remember I am a Lazybug too!). We've started going to a fitness center, not doing anything real strenuous...walking a mile, using some machines. But when I get home, I be one tired puppy. I know it's good for me, and we're trying to go 3 times a week. So once again, thanks for joining me, thanks if you've become a follower, and I love reading all the comments. Good or bad. I feel I can learn from all, and I always appreciate the suggestions you leave. I'll put the candy picture on the side bar too so you keep it in mind! Good night. Sweet dreams.

St. Paddy's Day

Good evening friends, and thanks for joining me. It has been a lazy, lazy day. Ran some errands about noon, came home and went down to visit my stamp group. I didn't take any projects to work on, as I just was not in the mood. It was one of 'those' days. You may not know what I'm talking about...but it was just ONE OF THOSE DAYS! Not in the mood to really do anything...and I didn't!

Yesterday we received this lovely card from my blog buddy Candee, who was one of those folks who encouraged me to start a blog. Candee makes the most interesting projects even amidst a multiple room house remodel. Her blog is a fun place & worth your time to take a peek if you can. Without further yada, yada, here's the card:

 

We've never met face-to-face, but hopefully we will soon. Life just seems to keep getting in the way. She lives about 3-4 hours north of our area, in the OTHER Carolina! She is a master with using punches and always has the neatest layouts on her cards. The insert has a sweet Irish saying on it as well. Hope you will enjoy it as much as DH & I did. As always, thanks for your visit, and I'll be back again with a blog candy post. Hugs.

 

 

St. Paddy's Day

Hello again. Since I've been MIA the past few days, I thought I'd post another St. Pat's card today. I've had some cards on the desk, just needed to put finishing touches on. Life got a little busy, what with DH having some gastric tests done to see if we can find out the reason for this recurring vomiting problem he has been having. He's a diabetic, Type II, and the gastrologist thinks it may be something to do with how long he is taking to digest his food. So with one thing or another (and add my laziness into the pot) I didn't get around to posting for a few days. I was working on some Easter images in the evening and hope to get some Easter cards posted soon. In the meantime...

-  Our Daily Bread Designs image clear Clover colored with copics(I am using it for shamrocks; never having seen a real shamrock, this will work for ME)

- Diecut with S/B Deckled Ovals, sponged with DI Antique Linen

- Gold Glitter mat diecut with S/B Classic Scalloped Ovals

- background paper created with Impression Obsession Cover A Card stamp Crumpled Lace stamped with Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink Citrus; then overstamped with I.O. /CAC Shamrocks in Fluid Chalk Warm Green. Once I looked at this design, I randomly hit the Shamrocks CAC surface with Delicata Gold ink and stamped across the design again.

- Embossed this paper with a Shamrocks EF I recently ordered from Cropstop. I think this was a Darice folder, but don't have it handy at the moment. If you're interested, leave a comment, & I'll double check on the manufacturer.

- Butterflies are punched out of a snippet with the new SU small butterfly punch, with some Glossy Accents for shine. Added some tiny pink pearls for the body of the b/fly.

- Sentiment was computer generated with a Celtic font from Dafonts.com, then diecut with S/Binder Grommets Tag, sponged with some green DI. (don't know the exact color, as the sponge was handy, had some residual green, & I sponged it on!); then added some green rhinestones.

I cut out some of the stamp motif from an incomplete stamping effort,  then added some glossy accents to each motif, adhered back to the main image. I thought it made for a little more interest. I like this card, probably because I played around with creating the design paper background. I really like these CAC stamps - which I use with I.O. Megamount. You could ink this largish stamp & brayer the paper placed on top of inked stamp.  I've tried this but I don't do it very well. The megamount works better for me. I've also learned that the Fluid Chalk inks stay wet longer than some of the other inks I have, and give me a better result. I start with a light color, then do successive patterns with darker inks. I was really pleased to find the shamrock motifs in the CAC stamp and the folder. Hope you like this one. See you later. Have a wonderful afternoon and thanks for visiting.

St. Paddy's Card

Happy Monday Morning and I hope your day has gotten off to a good start. We have some sunshine, a bit on the coolish side however. We'll be heading out to the fitness center in a few moments. I had a couple more St. Pat's images I wanted to finish up, so I finally got around to putting on cards. This card is one that is a total experimental effort. I had some pretty paper from a couple years ago, and I bought it because of this Celtic Knot design. I decided I would try cutting out a specific portion of the design paper, using Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel on it, to see how it would look. I used Versa mark to cover the cut out design, dumped some UTEE on it, and did this process 3 times. Of course the paper curled, and when I straightened it out, these lovely cracks appeared. (There is a technique doing this, and then putting in the freezer for a couple minutes, then crackling it. I didn't even have to refrigerate this one). I debated about using some DI in vintage photo for more distressing, then decided against it.

- Mats are snippets from a pile of St. Patrick themed paper bought in past
years. I tried to select some that had colors of the UTEE square

- MS corner punch on the darker mat

- Memory Box Elegant Scrollwork die
 
- S/Binder Ribbon Tags Trio diecut the computer generated sentiment

Since most of this card is a snippet experiment, I think I shall wander over to the Playground and see what everyone is up to. What is the Playground, you might be asking? Well, it's a fun place with a lot of lovely talented cardmakers & crafters, and the only ticket you need to get admitted is to make your project using a lot of snippets. What is a snippet? In the USA, we call 'em scraps or leftovers...these ladies have a much nicer term...snippets! Don't you just love the term? Sounds so much nicer & more elegant than SCRAPS! So come along, and let's pop over to Pixie's (the head Playground lady who is very sweet ...smart too...she helps me with all the blog mixups!) and see what these girls are up to. They are sure to make us welcome, if we promise to play nicely with everyone.  I may not even send this card out, but I'm sure to get some good advice from these talented crafters..so off we go!