HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hey, it's not quite 2011 here yet, but I didn't want to end up forgetting to wish you all a blessed new year - a year full of love, happiness, health, and prosperity!

And since I'm at it, I'm going to share a few more cards I made for Christmas. I figure once the new year hits, I really shouldn't still be posting these...  :D

Merry Christmas!

I seem to be extra late wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. My Google Reader hasn't seen many posts the last couple of days; everyone already said it and went on blog vacation...  I'm about to start cooking Christmas Eve dinner, but I couldn't skip telling YOU to have a great Christmas! I won't stay gone long...  :)

Not My Babies!!

No, not any real babies - my cards. I just started making cards in the summer, and while I hadn't planned for them to live with me forever, parting with them is so hard! There are cards I've made for specific people; I don't mind giving them up. It's the cards that I made just because I loved an image or wanted to try a technique that I have a problem handing over. Last week, my bf asked me to make some cards for people at his job. (First commission gig!!) I made extra cards but gave him the option to pick from all of the winter-y/Christmas cards I've ever made. Some of the ones he picked were my favorites, and I'm sad that I'll never be able to go to hold them again.  :)  Is this just me? Do you ever make cards that you love so much you want to keep?

So, one of the cards I made especially for him that he picked is this one:

The digi stamp is Holly the Christmas Friendship Fairy from Michelle Perkett Studio. She's colored with Copics and outlined with colored pencil + OMS. There are a gang of Stickles, but I don't know what colors they are. I got the multipack of big bottles from Michaels, but they don't have any name or other indicator of color on them. (Help me out. They're both white in the bottle. One has gold glitter; the other has blue. The other one from the pack has green glitter.) The little pearls just arrived the other day as part of a Christmas present from my friend Theresa... I really like how this card came out and hope you do too!

Challenges: Michelle Perkett Studio Challenge - Let it Snow, Pollycraft Monday Challenge - #74 All White or Snowy Scene, Bunny Zoe's Crafts - #7 Sparkle and Shine, Bizzy Becs Store Challenge - Christmas

Turn that Smile Upside Down... Smile Challenge at Guylou's Inimitability!

I'm one of those people who is really silly and loves to laugh BUT walks around with a mean mug. It's not usually on purpose. Sometimes I'm busy trying to remember what I'm supposed to be doing; other times I might be singing a song or replaying a conversation in my head. Whatever the case, random folks like telling me to smile...

Anyway... The new challenge at Guylou's Inimitability is "Smile" themed! To participate, you can make any kind of card you'd like (bday, thinking of you, get well, friend, you get the point) using GI's Smile Bingo Card below and another digi stamp. If you want to be in the running for a FREE GI digi and a guest design team member spot (which will score you another digi), your second stamp needs to be from Guylou's. If you don't have any, you can purchase one/some from the GI store, OR you can sign up to follow the GI blog or join our group on CDAC and get a FREE digi stamp.  The challenge is open until 10 pm (EST) on January 6.

Here's my card for the challenge; my second stamp is Bernadette.

If any of you are in good with Santa, please ask him to drop me off some more DeLovely paper from Cosmo Cricket. I love that pack! If you care to know, Bernadette was colored with Copics, her dress is paper pieced, the butterfly punch is MS, the smiley face heart stamp is from American Girl, the pearls are Recollections, font from kevinandamanda.com, and the bingo card was colorized using The Gimp!

Okay, you made it! Here's the Smile Bingo Card:

To save the image on your computer, right click on the image and select "Save LINK  as..." so you get the large version.

Make sure you enter your project by 10 pm on Jan 6, 2011, at Guylou's Inimitability!

I can't wait to see what you make; I know it will make me smile! :D

Challenges: Creative Card Crew - Anything Goes, OSAAT - Anything Goes, AI Factory - #61 Anything Goes

Electronic Santa

First, I would like to thank two very talented ladies who have recently given away candy that I happened to win!! Lorie at The Peddler's Gallery gave away some Copic markers on her blog last weekend. There aren't any markers to win right now, but I think you should mosey on over there to see the beautiful projects she makes! Plus, you never know when she might have some other goodies... :)  The second person who deserves a big thanks is Fern from Fern's Creations. You may have seen her badge in my sidebar; she was giving away $100 and a pack of M&Ms. This morning, while still laying in the bed, I opened Reader in my phone, clicked a link, and saw my name in bright red letters as the winner of her candy! You wanna talk about excited?! Thank you both so much!!

Second, I did go download those Christmas songs from Target. I sing along with You'll Never Find My Christmas when it's on tv, but Electronic Santa is my song! :) I know it sounds crazy, but I listened to that song about twenty times in a row last night. (I was working, and it's only about two and half minutes.) I just heard it for, like, the seventeenth consecutive time but turned it off because The Sing-Off came on. I thought about embedding it on the page, but I hate when my computer gets slowed down because it's trying to load a playlist or song as I'm surfing...

And now, because I don't think the few of you who come here do it to read my dribble, here's a card!

The card is for a lady in one of the groups I'm in online. I think she got married the other day, but I can't remember when her date is/was... The card is really simple: Wedding Veil digi stamp from A Day for Daisies colored with Copics and glittered, a piece of embossing with a Fiskars Scrap Boss sheet, and some pink cardstock! (If you're interested, ADFD is giving away a free digi to the first 300 people who sign up to follow the new blog using FeedBurner...) 

Sorry this was so long!

Challenges: CES Challenge Blog - #16 Anything but a Christmas Card, Karber Weekly Challenge - #18 Anything Goes Using a Digi

Grr...

Darn Blogger's trying to ruin surprises! If you saw that, ignore it... Ugh!

Is it really almost Christmas?

First things first, I am really diggin' those weird Christmas songs that Target has on their commercials this year! I am seriously debating whether I'm going to the site to download the songs... Also, I want to say Thanks!! to my buddy Claire for giving me a Stylish Blogger Award. I just realized she gave it to me the other day!

So, I know I shouldn't post this card online until late next year. If you know why, just hush if you know the person I'm sending it to. If she happens to post it online or you know her personally, just act like you've never seen it before. If you don't know what I'm talking about, stick around until next October and all will be revealed...  :)

Anyway, I made this card with last week's Monday freebie from Marker Guru/Gurukity. She's been really sweet about giving cute digis on Mondays. The one this week is TOO adorable; you should go pick it up now then check out the goodies in the store...  Also, if you're into Copic coloring, she has some really neat tutorials including one on coloring darker skin tones. Trust me, it's way more than your usual E11/13/15 tutorial... I CASEd the card on the Repeat Impression's blog to come up with this little guy.  That paper is from DCWV, and the coloring is a mix of Copics, colored pencils, and pastels. Oh hey, I finally picked up some Stickles! (I used my coupon at Michael's...)

Challenges: Repeat Impressions - CASE #D8,  Stamp Something - Anything Goes (digi), 2 Sisters Challenge - Twas the Night Before Christmas (...not a creature was stirring...), Digis with Attitude! - Anything Goes (digi)

You Shouldn't Have...

Have you ever gotten a present that completely underwhelmed you? Something that made you want to slap the person who "thought so much" of you?  If so, you'll understand how this little guy feels...

Oh goodness, his little screw face is too much! This is Chihuahua-dolf from Digis With Attitude!, and I needed him in my life...  I made a card using sketch #168 from Mojo Monday and a perfect, FREE sentiment from Create with TLC.

In case you haven't seen it everywhere, that paper is from the Eskimo Kisses pack by Basic Grey. It made so much sense with this little reindog... (Oh, umm, Dorcas if you decide to visit, I'm borrowing your blue outlining technique because I like it so much!)

Challenges: Digi Doodle Shop's Best - #37 Animals/Insects, Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge - #44 Merry Christmas, Dutch Dare Card Challenges - #92 Christmas or Winter Themed Projects, and Mojo Monday (listed above)

Stylish Blogger Award

 
Recently my online buddies Ruby from Ruby's Impressions and Lisa at Land of enCRAFTment  surprised me by giving me a Stylish Blogger Award.  Thank you both so much! To accept this award, there are a few duties I have to fulfill:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this.
2. Share 8 things about yourself.
3. Pay it forward to 8 bloggers that you have recently discovered.
4. Contact those bloggers and tell them about their awards.

Number 1 - Check!
Number 2 - Here goes...

     1. I have a problem sharing my info on the internet; you never know who's out there!
     2. I'm a military brat.
     3. Noodles are my go to food when I'm feeling down.
     4 - 7. I'm a bit of a dork. I enjoy reading comic books, graphic novels, manga, and YA fantasy novels, taught science, and love gadgets! (Is that cheating?)
     8. I used to cry when I saw road kill.  :)

Number 3 - I read so many blogs regularly that this is a little hard, but...

     Sara - Sara's Sugar and Spice
     Barb - The Buzz
     Chris - Chris' Scrappin Fun
     Starla - Star's Stuff...
     Lorie - The Peddler's Gallery
     Dale - Dale's Treasured Moments
     Gina - Gina speak
     Pryn - So Not Mocha-vated

On to number 4! Hopefully, all of these ladies will accept their award....

I am so BLESSED!

You know how every day you know you are blessed but some days you feel it more than others? I'm having one of those days.  Sure, I had to take my uncle to the doctor and sit for hours today. And yeah, I was a little annoyed when I had to make another appointment for him for this week, another next week, and one in the beginning of January. But overall, I'm having a great day! I got a good night's sleep, had breakfast with some of my family, found out I won some goodies from the Jesus is the Reason blog hop I mentioned the other day, heard Order My Steps and the fast version of Donny Hathaway's This Christmas today (I don't like the slow one...), and got a package full of blog candy from one of my favorite card makers, Piali, in the mail today. I was also unexpectedly gifted some digi stamps the other day, and two of my online buddies gave me a Stylish Blogger Award recently. (I guess I'll do my part for that since I'm at the computer now...) Anyway, just wanted to share. We all seem extra busy right now, but go ahead and recognize your blessings big and small. It'll make you feel better!

Guylou's Christmas Challenge!

Hey! I am so happy that it's that time of the year when Christmas songs are on the radio. I swear I've heard The Temptations' Silent Night almost every day since Thanksgiving, and I am very happy about it!  In the spirit of the season, the new challenge at Guylou's Inimitability is to make a Christmas card. (I'm sure if you make a Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Epiphany, Islamic New Year, Boxing Day, etc. card, it will be ok too...)  Here's my card for the challenge:

 

I used Guylou's Cowboy Snowman digi stamp, Copic markers, a MS snowflake punch, some Recollections pearls, Celebrate It ribbon, DCWV paper, Colorbox ink, and my pastels to make this card. I hope you like it...

Now, I know you're busy making holiday cards, so make sure to enter at least one of them in the challenge!  You can use any stamp to enter, but in order to win a free GI stamp and a guest DT spot, you'll need to use a Guylou's Inimitability digi stamp.  (There are plenty of ways to get a free one if your money is tight like mine... Click "guylou's" in the tag list if you're interested.) I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Time to Get Back to Work!

So, I really slacked off on card making over the holiday. I had to move all my supplies out of the dining room, and toting things from an upstairs room back downstairs then running up and down for all the supplies I forgot the first seven times is not the easiest way to make cards...  I'm getting the hang of it though. I want to get the stuff organized upstairs and not bring it back to the dining room. (Christmas is coming and I don't want to start back over...)

Anyway, I made two cards yesterday. One I can't show you until the 3rd. It's for an upcoming challenge at Guylou's Inimitability. (Have you made your elegant card yet? I know you've made something that's classy/classic/elegant in the last week... Link it up!)  The second card I made was for a challenge at Copic Challenge Corner on Simply Scrapping Crafts. We were supposed to use our Copics and some other coloring medium. Here's what I made...

The image is digi stamp called A Special Gift from A Day for Daisies. I colored Mary, Jesus, and the star with Copic markers, then used my colored pencils and OMS for the background. It's simple, but I just felt like the image was enough; it didn't really need any embellishing or a sentiment. I have a feeling that I'll end up making some more copies of this card...

PaperAddict Catherine and some other bloggers are having a "Jesus is the Reason" blog hop that started this morning. I'm heading over to hit that up right now. They have a spot for faith-based Christmas projects at the end, and I'm planning to put my card there.