finally another post

I know I said I would be blogging at least once on Sundays in my last blog post in April, but what can I say? I've had a lot of family things that have fallen on Sundays lately, so I just haven't had a chance. But I'm back, finally, with a card that I made several weeks ago. 

I wish I could have photographed this better. It looks so much cooler in person. The whole thing is covered with Glitter Ritz glitter except for the black outline. The red, silver, and black interior is totally glittered. It's so sparkly in person. I really like it, although now that I look at it, the background reminds me of a chain link fence. Ha ha! Oh well! :) 

I used the hexagon background die from Simon Says Stamp and the hello die is from Lawn Fawn. I was inspired by this card of Jennifer McGuire's. This was such a fun technique. I will have to try it again sometime.

Can you believe it's June already? Where does the time go?

Oh, and by the way - my self-imposed schedule has been going pretty well. There's days when I don't follow it, of course, especially last week, since it was my dad's birthday and we had some family things, and then I got sick. But I'm feeling so much better now, so I'm getting back to it. 

plans

The problem with having two blogs is that sometimes I don't know which one to post things on. :)

So I'm trying something new. I'm trying something similar to Ali Edwards. She and her assistant have implemented a block schedule so they always know what to work on when. I decided to try something similar, but mine can't be quite the same since I don't craft for my job. (But I sure wish I did sometimes!) I want to finish up some projects, so this is my tentative schedule:

Sunday: Project Life and at least one blog post
Monday: The History Project
Tuesday: clean
Wednesday: cards/scrapbook
Thursday: cards/scrapbook or read/review things from my photography or crafting classes
Friday: stitch/work on Halloween quilt
Saturday: whatever I'm in the mood for

Now, don't get me wrong - I will be flexible with this schedule. There will be times when I go shopping after work, or when I have a really good book that I want to finish instead of being crafty, or when I'm just really not in the mood to work on anything, but I am going to try to be more productive. At least I have finished some of the things that I have wanted to this year. I finished a rag quilt, and I made my sister-in-law a mini album. And I reorganized a bunch of stuff in my craft room (and I came to the conclusion that I do not need to buy any more paper for a very long time!). I'm planning on posting some of those things soon, so stay tuned, and wish me luck on my self-imposed schedule and getting some projects finished!

And now, as it's Sunday, I'm going to get working on Project Life. :)

paper smooches sparks challenge

I decided to enter the Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge for the first time. I always see the challenges on the blog, but I've never made anything for it. But today I felt like playing with some dies and stamps. 

I covered the Paper Smooches Tag Stitched Die with some Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. Then I die cut the Paper Smooches Rainbow out of some Stampin' Up double-sided adhesive on top of Neenah white cardstock. I adhered Doodlebug glitter to give the rainbow color. I then used double-sided Scor-tape on Neenah cardstock, and stamped the cloud from Paper Smooches Spectrum on top of the sticky tape using Hero Arts Soft Granite Shadow Ink. Then I covered the cloud with Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter, and then cut it out. I attached the rainbow and cloud to the tag with Glue Dots and 3M foam adhesive. Then I stamped the greeting from Paper Smooches Spectrum on a scrap of Neenah cardstock with the Soft Granite ink, and cut it into a banner shape. I used a little more Tumbled Glass Distress Ink on the edges. I glued that down, and then tied some Doodlebug twine at the top. I like how it turned out. It's very colorful and fun, which is what I needed today, as it snowed again. I'm so ready for spring!

Thanks for stopping by!

paper smooches

Happy Sunday all! I'm just popping in for a minute to say I haven't forgotten about this here little blog of mine. I just haven't been creating anything lately. I decided my ever-expanding paper stash is in dire need of reorganizing, so I have been working on that. Hopefully I will be back to crafting things soon.

And I just have to say Happy 3rd Anniversary Paper Smooches!

I have loved Paper Smooches stamps ever since I saw their Halloweenies stamp set a couple years ago. I ordered it shortly after I saw it on Ellen Hutson. I loved it even more when I got it, and since then I have purchased many other stamp sets and dies, and I love them all. They are one of my favorite stamp companies. They are having a lot of fun things on their blog this month, so I encourage you to check it out. You won't be sorry! :)

cards from the heart

Well, what do you know - two posts in one day. I don't expect this to happen again. :)

I thought I would share a few cards that I have made for the Cards from the Heart Card Drive. They are pretty simple, but I think they turned out kind of cute. I hope the kids like them.

I used white Neenah cardstock, Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, Copic Markers, and touches of the clear Wink of Stella marker on the hearts. I'm not sure of the brands of red cardstock, as I just grabbed some from my stash, and I've had a lot of it for quite some time. I used two stamp sets from Papertrey Ink: Tiny Treats Valentine and Tremendous Treats Valentine, and three Hero Arts stamp sets: Monster Fun, Many Hearts, and Valentine Sayings. Many Hearts and Valentine Sayings must not be available anymore, as I couldn't find them on Hero Arts' website to link them. Oh and I used my Tombow Stamp Runner to adhere the stamped pieces to the red cardstock. Anyway, here are the cards:

I think the airplane and the pail are my favorite. I don't know why, but I seem to be able to blend the blues better than a lot of the other colors. It's weird. I cut the Neenah cardstock to 3x4, and the red to 3.25x8.25. I rounded some of the corners with the We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, and I added some Rocky Candy Distress Stickles to the frosting on the cupcake. I love how it looks like sugar. And I used a bit of black Enamel Accents on some of the eyes.

Thanks for stopping by!

a creative mess

Here we go again! I've tried blogging every now and again on my other blog here, but I'm not the best at keeping it updated. But now I finally have a decent internet connection, so we'll see how it goes. I thought I would leave that blog as more of a personal nature, and write about whatever is on my mind, and then I created this one to share my creative endeavors. I love to have projects. I love making cards, scrapbooks and other memory keeping things, such as Project Life, stitching, sewing, and I have even done a little knitting and jewelry making. And I'm usually willing to try my hand at anything crafty that comes along, sometimes with good results, sometimes, not so much. But I have fun doing it. I would love to be better at baking and decorating cookies and cupcakes, but they usually look better in my mind than they do when I actually decorate them. But no matter what I'm working on, I can't do it without making a mess. My craft table is constantly covered with paper, fabric, books, glitter, pens, and who knows what else. Even when I clean it off, it doesn't stay that way for long. And that is why the saying "a creative mess is preferable to idle neatness" fits me perfectly!

I hope to be back here with another post soon, but right now I'm off to make some cards for the 2014 Cards from the Heart Card Drive while I watch my favorite show - Gilmore Girls. Hopefully, I will have a chance to post some of the cards I made for it soon!