The current challenge over at The Lollipop Ladies (#14) blog gave me a bit of a fit.  I made four...yes 4!... cards before I had one I liked and thought really fit into the challenge.  The sweet picture of inspiration was some smarties and the extra 'cherry on top' was to use hearts.  I so did not like the other three attempts that I won't even post pics of them.  As a matter of fact, I'm not sure what I'll do with them!!

Here is the one I liked.  And I really like this one!  My style is more vintage/distressed and my difficulty was in putting the 'smarties' colors into this style.

Credits:

Pumpkin Pie, Lavender Lace and Certainly Celery card stock: Stampin' Up!

White card stock and vellum: from my stash  -  Tea Party DP: Stampin' Up!

Stamps, Inks and Pastels: Stampin' Up!

Punches: Stampin' Up! (large heart, three heart, curly label, ticket corner), Fiskars (corner)

Die cuts: Stampin' Up! (top note), Provo Craft (scalloped flowers)

Ribbon: Stampin' Up! (Certainly Celery twill), from my stash (sheer)

Jeweled brads: Oriental Trading Co.

A couple of my girls scrapped along with me for this challenge.  They were trying to 'help me along' on my troubled path toward a pleasing card.  What sweeties! =)

This card was made by Sis.

Credits:

White, pink and ivory card stocks: from the stash

Certainly Celery, Real Red and Marina Mist card stocks: Stampin' Up!

DP (yellow): from the stash  -  Stamps and Ink: Stampin' Up!

Punch: Stampin' Up! (eyelet border, three heart)  -  Brads: Oriental Trading Co.

And this one was made by Cowgirl.

Credits:

White, yellow and green card stock: from the stash

All other card stocks: Stampin' Up!  -  Stamp: Stampin' Up!

VersaMark: Tsukineko

Punches: Stampin' Up! (three for you, three heart, corner)

Sheer ribbon: from the stash  -  Brads: Oriental Trading Co.

I missed a few!

I had plans for doing several challenges this past week but I missed out on some of them.  That might have something to do with the fact that one of my little girls had a birthday a week ago, and one yesterday.  And maybe just a little bit with my thinking I can get a lot more done than reality allows!  But that last one is only a slim possibility.  =)))

One of the challenges I was able to finish a card for is The Color Throwdown #130.  I'm really excited about this challenge blog because they choose Stampin' Up! colors for the challenge.  Since 80% of my paper stash and all my inks are SU!, that makes it easy for me.  Except for this time because I had no DPs in those colors!!  What did I do?  Made a mad dash to the local (40 miles one way) scrapping stores!!  But forgot to bring SU! color swatches.  Thankfully there were enough choices I hit pretty close with what I chose.  I'm pleased with the result.  And with the fact that two of my teenage daughters joined me in making cards with these colors.  I'm only entering mine in the challenge, but I've included pics of theirs here, too.

Here is mine!

Credits:

White card stock: from my stash

DPs: Bo Bunny (stripes), Pinecone Press (yellow on mushrooms), 

American Crafts (orange scalloped circle) and SU! (pink mat)

Stamps and Ink: SU!  -  Flowers: Imaginisce

Punch: SU! scalloped circle  -  Ribbon: from my stash  -  Brad: SU!

And now for the cards made by my girls.  This one is Sis's card.

Credits:

White card stock: from the stash

Tangerine Tango and Chocolate Chip card stock: SU!

DP: Pinecone Press  -  Flowers: Imaginisce  -  Stamps and Ink: SU!

Punches: SU! (scalloped circle), Marvy (small daisy) and Fiskars (corner)

Brad: SU!  -  Lace:  hand made by her! =)

And this is Cowgirl's card.

Credits:

White card stock: from the stash  -  Chocolate Chip card stock: SU!

DPs: Bo Bunny (striped), American Crafts (orange scalloped circle), Pinecone Press (yellow daisies)

Vellum: from the stash  -  Stamp and Ink: SU!  -  Die cuts: SU!

Punches: SU! (scalloped circle) and Marvy (daisy)

Flowers: Imaginisce  -  Gems: SU!  -  Ribbon: from the stash

Whew! What a week!'

I just got my computer back from my techie guy!  (I happen to be a Mac fan, so even though I used the PC while mine was in the shop, I felt very computerless for 8 days!)  The Two Year Old had put a cardboard heart in my optical drive.  Not too detrimental, but we didn't know it was a cardboard heart until the tech took it out!  Dinky-Do had told us it was a penny!  GASP!  =))

Said Two Year Old is turning THREE today!  Since her favorite color is blue, and the "main" color that is part of the current challenge at The Color Throwdown is blue, (SU! Ballet Blue, to be exact, along with a light green and a dark green.) I decided to make the birthday card my challenge card.


I also gave myself a personal challenge. I couldn't cut into a new piec of anything to make this card.  As a result, the card base is 4 1/8" x 4" since that was the folded size of a piece of handy Ballet Blue card stock.  I dug in my scrap folders for some Certainly Celery as the light green.  It has a little texture to it as it was a sample piece used to run some Fiskars texture plates on my Big Shot.  Very subtle texturing, but it's there!  And, I had so much fun making polka-dots for The Lollipop Ladies last challenge, I decided to make some for this card, too. -)  The only dark green that shows up is in one of the ribbons, but that's okay.  I think this is the perfect card for my No Longer The Two Year Old.  (Hmmmmm,  now I have to come up with a new 'name' for her!)

Here's the card!

Credits:

Card stock, stamps, ink, dimensionals - Stampin' Up!

Ribbon - from my stash

Mint Fudge!! YUM! YUM!

That's what the theme was for the latest challenge over at The Lollipop Ladies.  I kind of waited until the last minute to do my card.  Partly because I had lots of other things going on, partly because I didn't have any polka-dot paper.  Which means I had to create my own!  That turned out to be lots of fun!  You see, polka-dots were supposed to be 'the cherry on top' of this yummy project.

Here's the card I made.  I already know it's going to be one of the cards I use for my week of Valentines to my Dear Sweet Hubby!  Hope you like it.

Credits:

Card stock, stamps, ink, punches, linen thread - Stampin' Up!

Designer Paper - My Mind's Eye [polka-dot papers created by me! =) ]

Flowers, button, ribbon - Hot Off the Press

Some kind of Valentine colors!

I'm speaking of the colors for the challenge over at The Color Throwdown.  This is the second week I've participated in this challenge.  Last weeks colors were much more in my ball park.  This week's colors (all selected from Stampin' Up! color families) are Basic Black, Real Red, Pink Passion (retired) and Orchid Opulence (retired).  These are definitely NOT in my ball park.  Which means I have to send a big TY to the ladies over there for helping to stretch my color thinking box.  And this is the very reason I have chosen to participate in this challenge.

Here's the card I created.  It took me a while to come up with something that I could live with!  =)

Credits:

Card stock (Pink Passion-ret, Orchid Opulence-ret, Real Red), 

stamps (Merci-ret), ink, punches - Stampin' Up!

Scalloped circle dies - Provo Craft

Black card stock, red grosgrain ribbon - from my stash

1John 3:18

"My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and truth." (KJV)

This is the verse that inspired the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge #75.  The projects created for the challenge were to represent love, without using words.  (On the outside, if the project was a card.)

This is the card I made.  I'm pretty pleased that four of my daughters knew the meaning of the key/ heart symbolism.  Guess I wasn't being as vague as I thought! =)

Credits:

Card stock, stamps, ink, emboss powder, lace punch, 

linen thread, dimensionals - Stampin' Up!

Designer paper - My Mind's Eye

Vellum - Paper Wishes

Ribbon - from my stash

I'm trying for a design team!

I was checking out The Lollipop Ladies challenge blog when I found out they had put out a Design Team call.  This may be a crazy (nutty?) thing to do if I make the DT, but I decided to give it a try anyway.  I just figured if I was going to be following and participating in this challenge blog, why not get the 'spotlight' for a while?

So, I took the rules to heart and decided to use my favorite dessert, 'scrummy' banana split, as my inspiration.  Here is the card I made.  [Sorry for the poor pic!  My computer is in for repairs - courtesy of the two year old - so I can't be as fancy as  normal with my posts! =( ]

Credits:

Card stock, designer paper, stamp, ink, 

punches, grosgrain ribbon - Stampin' Up!

Brads - Oriental Trading Co.

Pearls - Mark Richards

Paper flowers - e./Prima Marketing

Velvet ribbon - from my stash

My first Color Throwdown!

I have found another scrapping challenge site called The Color Throwdown.  I'm not sure how I got there (again!) but I really like this challenge site because the colors they choose for the challenges are from Stampin' Up!.  The majority of the scrapping materials I use come from Stampin' Up! so this works really well for me.

This weeks challenge was to use the colors Early Espresso, Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake and So Saffron.  The finished card wound up looking nothing like the vague idea I had in my head.  I wanted to use the Early Espresso as my card base, but found out I didn't have any! =(  so I had to think on my feet.  I like the way this card turned out, even though it is a little different from my normal vintage/distressed style.

Credits:

 All materials and tools used to make this card are from

Stampin' Up!

[with the exception of the thread and sewing machine! =) ]

I'm also planning to enter this card in the  

Your Next Stamp challenge #35 - Pretty Pleats.

The card set I was working on for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge has not been finished yet.  It was a case of 'life getting in the way'!  That set is destined to be a gift for a friend so I will finish it next week.  Too much on my plate this week! =)

Challenge Card Four - Psalm 23:4

I'm a little later than I planned to be posting this card.  I didn't make it on Wednesday because that is my town day - 40 miles one way! (Yes, we live way out in the country!)  So....

I started my fourth card for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge #74 last night, but wasn't able to finish it.  I sat myself down early this morning and got the job done!  I like this one, but I'm thinking it might be a little better if I had inked the edges of the Designer Paper.  (Oops!  Too late now!)

Credits:

Card stock, stamps, ink, journaling marker, 

grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals - Stampin' Up!

Designer papers - My Mind's Eye

Brad - Making Memories

Twill tape - from my stash

Sentiment - my personal handwriting

Challenge Card Three - Psalm 23:3

WHEW!!  Did I know what I was doing when I decided make a set of cards for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge #74?  Yes - and no!!  I knew it was a good idea, but I didn't realize how difficult it might be to come up with a new card design every day.  I'm not exactly thrilled with this one.  Take a look and tell me what you think!

Credits:

Card stock, stamps, inks, ribbon, glitter and dimensionals - Stampin' Up!

Verse - computer generated using Pea Font Sandra Dee from www.kevinandamanda.com

Adding a Post Divider to your blog.......

.......WITHOUT NEEDING PHOTOBUCKET OR FLICKR!!

Yes, you can now host all your images with Google and then place them in all the fun and funky places on your blog using the 'codes' that are available from all the blog experts out there!!  And really, I can't take any credit for this since I discovered all of this info by accident! =)

I will be posting a page (which will show in the top tabs) as I gather all this info.  Each update will have a date attached to it so you will know how current the info is!

The basic 'Need to Know' is that, every blogger blog now has its own web album in Picasa, which is hosted by Google.  Every picture you post to your blog is in that album!  And I even found some info in the Google Blogger help that tells how to put your own original background onto your blog by hosting it on Picasa and using CSS.

My post divider is hosted on Picasa and linked in CSS.

Whee!  More room for originality and creativity!!

Check back over the next few weeks for the 'Blogging Help' page!

[Sorry I can't get all the info up sooner, but I do have to be wife and Mom, too!]