Let's Celebrate!!

NOTE: This candy offer is now closed. The winner will be announced shortly in a new post. Thank you for participating!





Can you say 'boatload' boys 'n girls? As in "OMGosh! That's a boatload of blog candy!!" *ROFL* Yeppers, I've been collecting yummies for over six months now. Well, ever since I discovered the joys of signing up for blog candy and seeing how excited folks can get. Now that my blog is a year old, I feel like celebrating in a BIG way!

I've got plenty here to keep ya busy, too:
5 clear checkbook covers (not just for checkbooks anymore - think auto maintainence books, planners...)
packets of flavoring (for those cute little hangers on water bottles you're seeing on blogs everywhere)
a CD of graphics by Diana Marcum
a large McGill punch with 4 sizes of word windows
2 squeeze punches (holly leaf & primitive heart)
2 embossers by EK Success (daisy & butterfly)
1 mini flower punch
1 pack of 50 gift card blanks (perfect for stamping on, then mounting to your project)
1 Stardust glitter clear gel pen by Sakura
1 pack of 2 clear Glaze pens by Sakura
1 pack of tags by Making Memories
1 baggie of yarns and fibers
1 baggie of wooden stars
2 baggies of prima "Got Flowers?" in misc colors
1 baggie of different sizes & colors of buttons
2 sets of wood mounted alphabet stamps
4 foam-mounted rubber travel stamps
1 witch silhouette stamp from Studio G
2 foam bug stamps
7 (yes SEVEN) sets of clear poly stamps from Studio G
1 pad of gold metallic ink from Studio G
FOURTEEN unmounted rubber stamps from The Angel Company out of my stash (no creative cling provided)

WHEW! That was a bigger list than I thought it was gonna be. *LOL* Now, I'm going to run this till midnight on the 30th, draw a winner first thing in the morning on the first of July & post the winner's name.

To win this lot, I ask that you (1) leave me some luvin in the comments section OR in the right sidebar on my Chatterbox; (2) post on your blog about my candy (I'll stop by to peek); & (3) it's not required, but I'd really love it if you'd join my list of stalkers, um, I mean FOLLOWERS. *LOL* No blog? No problem! I'll enter you, too...just sign in under comments or the Chatterbox & make sure I have a way to contact you.

Since this is my first candy giveaway, I'm limiting it to US residents only this time around, BUT...I will be doing some more throughout the remainder of the year that will be open to my International blogging buddies. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Digital, horses, & flamingos...OH MY!

Good morning! Well, at least it's still morning HERE...sorta. *LOL* I'm sitting here fighting off a massive sinus headache (stoopid cottonwood trees! grrr), sipping on some liquid sunshine, & trying to wake up. I've been up since 0800, but dummy ME didn't call it a night till 0300 this morning. I don't KNOW what I was thinking, okay?!? I started pulling old pix out of files for today's post, working on some new cards, and the next thing I know, the early morning birds are starting to sing. Bet I don't stay up late tonight! *ROFL*

Yesterday, I shared a hybrid project with you. This is another one that I made back in February 2008 (I've been collecting digital graphics, elements, & scrap papers since the summer of 2007 so I've got plenty to play with). The pre-colored graphics are from Marie Cole at PC Crafter (if any of you are tole painters, I KNOW you'll recognize this bear), sentiment is mine, and I've added raindrop stickers to finish the hybrid project. Inside, the sentiment is finished with one word...FRIENDS!
Now here are some examples of ALL digital...
Yes, even the LACE & the FLOWER are digital embellishments. They look REAL, don't they? Everything on this card, except the sentiment (mine), is from Manuella Zimmerman. I used my Print Shop program to do all of these. You can even do them in Word if you don't have a graphics program to work with.

This one (above) is from a freebie set by The Shabby Princess. Loved the blue & pink together with the little hat pin. Simple & elegant and NO LAYERS!

The only thing NOT digital on this card (above) is the inking that I did around the edges with my Ranger Ink Distress pads. Images are from Raspberry Road Designs.

The backgrounds & images on these cards (above & below) are from Trina Clark. She's got some of the best prim artwork out there. AND...a lot of her graphic sets come with linework, so if you want to color with your pencils, watercolors, or markers, you can! For these, I just printed them onto some cardstock, trimmed with my deckle scissors, did some highlighting with my Sakura Stardust clear gel glitter pen & mounted them onto pre-made card bases. EASY PEASY!


Now, these are the cards that kept me up WAYYYY too late last night. The first two are hybrids - the light & dark pink polka dot background papers came from my friend Kristine over at Wench'd Grafix. She's got some wonderful things in her store and the sweetie is always giving away digital goodies for us to play with. Love ya, GF!

The stamped image is from The Angel Company ("Tickled Pink") - another in my newly collected stash donated from other Angels for me to play with. I have to be honest, I'm NOT a flamingo person, but these are just SO STINKIN CUTE, I couldn't resist! Images are colored with COPIC markers & the backgrounds are chalked with 2 shades of pink, violet, & a medium blue. Had to add some "bling" with the rhinestone flowers & her ankle bracelet is highlighted with my Stardust glitter pen by Sakura (which T~A~C will carry in the NEW catalog coming July 1st!).


I've got a couple more flamingo images that I'm gonna play with later. I'll share, I promise! And here's my lovely horse from T~A~C. The background paper is from the Rustic Chic pad by T~A~C, a little twine lariat (made by moi), a gold Texas concho antiqued with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink by Ranger, some tan textured mat paper by DCWV, & colored with COPICS.


And finally, a Darcie stamped image, from a swap that I did with some friends a month or so back. I cut this one apart, colored it with my COPICS, used Aleene's Paper Glaze on the bubbles for some dimension & shine, & my Sakura white gel pen for some highlighting on her hat. Paper is from ProvoCraft, matting is from DCWV.Well, I've got more to share with you, but I think that it can wait till tomorrow - this post is long enough! *LOL* If you haven't signed up for my blog candy & you live in the USA, be sure to do so - you've got till Tuesday night to get in. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Going HYBRID

No, not my vehicle! Althought we DO have a Ford F-150 that runs off of 100% compressd natural gas. *LOL* I made a card yesterday with a mixture of traditional papers and elements and some digital papers. Here's a snippet of the digital paper I used. I really wanted to give you a link to who made it, but I cleaned out 25Gigs of digital stuff off my external hard drive last month and after 3 hours of searching the remaining 37Gigs that I still had, I had to accept the fact that I dumped it. :-(Don't you just love the texture & pattern in that paper? I'm kicking myself for tossing the kit it came in...
Inside the card I took some ivory cardstock, punched down two sides with my MS lace border punch, then chalked the edges in 3 colors that are in the digital paper - yellow ochre, brown, & teal. I know - now you're gonna go back up & say "I only see blue, gray, & aqua." Believe me, they're in there!!
As you can see, I mounted the digital paper first onto a 5x7 kraft base, then used a 4x6 cut of dotted paper from My Mind's Eye. The border paper is also from My Mind's Eye & was punched with the MS lace border punch. This darling image is from The Angel Company, out of our Spring 2009 Magalogue, Serendipity. It's in a set called "Dear Friend" (R-2039 2 images, 4 sentiments $9.95), & was designed by TAC's exclusive artist, Mabelle Ortiz. I think it's precious, so I've got the set in my wish list for a future purchase. The image I'm using here was sent to me by another Angel to "test drive." I colored her with my COPIC markers, cut & embossed the image with the 2nd largest die out of the classic oval Nestabilities, then used the yellow ochre, brown, and teal chalks around the edge of the oval.
The flowers are ALL Prima. I had the roses already (picked them up from Michael's a few weeks ago). Kathe, my downline and good bud, sent me the posies this week & the colors were PERFECT for this project (thanks, Kat!). I used my Dew Drops Silver Bells (pewter, silver, & pearl mixture) for the flower centers.
And this is the completed project! I hope that this will help you think about looking at your digital freebies in another light. Don't be scared to actually PRINT & USE them (I know there are some of you that collect them & let them sit on your hard drive, it's OKAY to admit it!). Tomorrow, I'll have some more hybrid projects & I may even break down & show you that you can even use your digital elements on card fronts, too...I'm thinking flamingos & horses. What a combo, huh? *LOL* Stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Oh, wow! My blog's birthday is TODAY!!!!

My little home on the web is one year old today! I can't believe it...where on Earth did the time go? It's funny to think about, because, when I started this journey, I never thought that anyone would be very interested in what I had to say, or the crafts that I had to share. Friends, yes, because they've been so supportive of me for such a long time. But the NEW friends that I've made over this last year - you have all become a very important part of my life. I enjoy visiting with you, learning new things from you, sharing similar circumstances, sharing humor, sharing the rough spots...I'm thrilled and humbled by it all.

I have some errands that MUST be done today *sigh* but I promise just as soon as I get back this afternoon, I'll have something to share...

I'm blog hoppin today!

No crafting for me till later this evening. Sugar Nellie is hosting a HUGE blog hop today, complete with randomly given prezzies, so I'm visiting blogs and sprinkling love everywhere while I bake a huge, sugar-cured, Virginia spiral cut ham for hubby's motorcycle club & their open house event tonight. Maybe I'll bump into you at one of the blogs...

Start hopping HERE. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

DUUUUUDE! Happy B-day!

Today's project was a combined effort...my 14 1/2 year old son, Cordell did some artwork on this card, because it's for his best friend's birthday today. They both are REEEEALLY into sk8ing, so I figured I'd let Cordell, well, BE Cordell! As you can see, he's already perfected his "artist's signature," complete with the LRG logo "tree" underneath...Some of his "tagging." Hey! At least the boy is doing it on paper & not walls, train cars, or signs like other boys that are bored out of their trees this summer! *LOL*
And of course no birthday is complete without balloons. Okay, it's a PSYCHO balloon, but it's still a balloon! {OW! I took a poke in the ribs for that one! *ROFL*}
A look at the entire inside of the card...Gotta say, I'm pretty proud of him. He got a little of Mom's artistic side & not everything from their father. (I was beginning to worry there for a bit!) He & his brother, Devin, are always doodling in altered journals that I make for them (like I said, it's better than paint cans and someone else's fence or walls!). Cordell is into the graffiti & sk8t logos, Devin draws anime' and manga art. Not sure WHAT little Aidan is going to do, but he's starting to ask for art journals now too! *LOL*

And here's my contribution to the card project...wheat-colored 5x7 base by K&Co, "skate collage" paper from Karen Foster Designs (just 10 minutes down the road from me in Centerville, UT!), & "sports extreme" stickers from Christine Adolph for Creative Imaginations. Skateboarding paper & embellies are NOT easy to find, lemme tell ya, so when I found these, I bought multiples!
Finished with a $10 bill tucked inside & we're good ta go! *LOL* Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Sumbuddy WUVS me!!!!

I got ribbon, a baggie of brads n' buttons, & some Studio G clear stamps. It's kinda tough to see, but the rubbah is a crown & this really cool ATC-sized KICKIN Halloween image. (can't wait to play with THOSE!) And just look at these sweet images! I'm running them through my copier now onto some cardstock (I want to practice & have plenty to play with!).And these fantastic "N"s. I see an altered journal or two in my future, or maybe even a cute chipboard wall hanging with these on 'em...I got all of this in the mail today & I feel like a kid who just had Santa visit! *LOL* My bloggin buddy, Vicki, over at Stamped Smiles sent me this package & I've gotta tell ya, I'm just blown away. It was almost like winning blog candy that I never signed up for! *ROFL* GF, I'd like to thank YOU - it's because of your blog & the fantastic ideas you post about that have inspired me to spread my wings & step off that cliff a couple times - and now you're spoilin me! I've had a couple of rough days, too, so this little surprise really lifted my spirits. You're Da Bomb!

For those of you that have never been to Vicki's place...GO, run, get there now! You'll be inspired, just like I was, I guarantee it! Now, I'm gonna go play...thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Remember earlier today?

When I was antiquing? Well, here's what came out of that little adventure...Even the inside got "that look."
I didn't like any of the rub-ons that I had in my stash, but I found a cute clear epoxy with a nice phrase that didn't take away from where I was going with this project...
And voila! Finished card...so whaddya think? These grungy, shabby cards are some of my favorites to do.Of course, I had to do the envelope, too!!!Card base - 5x7 from K&Co
Distressed aqua paper - My Mind's Eye
Swirl Stamp - Lil See Ds
Ink - Ranger Vintage Photo, Brushed Corduroy
Pewter Butterfly - out of my stash
Twine
Epoxy Sticker - Cloud 9 Design
Punch - floral lace Martha Stewart border
Image Stamp - Flower Collage Trio (T-899) by The Angel Company, colored with COPIC markers

Well, it's dinner time. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!