New Year's Resolutions Check Up

Well, believe it or not we are done with the first quarter of the year 2014.  Time flies when you're having fun.

As promised I am doing a review of my New Year's resolutions:

1)  Only buy what I need and not EVERYTHING I want.  Check!  I have been staying away from the stores so I'm only tempted online.  I bought some paper during a weekend retreat, I bought some Stampin Up sets during saleabration and some digital images.  Update  -  this weekend was an epic fail on this resolution - but I"m not going to let that get me down!  LOL  Thank goodness Stampin Up Saleabration is over.  And I don't have access to quality cardstock very often.

2)  As far as crafting:

                   1)  Keep up with  Project Life - I'm caught up through the second week of Feb.  I give 
                        myself a so so.
                   2)  Catch up on my scrapbooking of vacations and trips - I've worked on my trips on my 
                        retreat and our monthly crops.
                   3)  Make lots of cards for Operation Write Home - check!  I sent a box of 94 last week.
                   4)  Use up my stash!  check! - Since I haven't purchased much paper, I've been using 
                        up my stash.  
                   5)  Participate in challenges in order to accomplish my goals.  Not so much.   I've                                    participated in a couple challenges, but not as many as I would like.

3)  Get organized.  Every week I want to clean out a drawer or a corner of a room.  I am going to work at it small pieces at a time.  And hopefully by the end of the year - I will be decluttered.  I haven't done this every week, but I have done a little.  I give myself a need to do better.

4)  Spend at least 5 minutes a day (not nearly enough) nurturing my faith either by devotion or reading the Bible.  It is a small small amount of time for all the blessings that have been bestowed upon me.  Check!  I downloaded the Holy Bible app on my iphone and I am particpating in a 'read the Bible in a year' plan.

That is my progress report.  I am doing well on some of my resolutions and not so well on others.  Let's see if I can improve at the next quarterly check up.

If you made new year's resolutions - are you keeping them?  Have you done a check up?  Tell me how you're doing on yours.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April

Isaiah 1:18 - 20  Come, let's consider your options, says the Lord.  Though your sins have stained you like the color red, you can become white like snow;  though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet, you can become white like wool.  If you have a willing attitude and obey, then you will again eat the good crops of the land.  But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.  Know for certain that the Lord has spoken.

Mother's Day Marathon Continued On

I still need more Mother's Day cards/Mom cards.

This is my favorite of this style:

I used an idea that Sandy Allnock shared here on the OWH Blog.  I just used a square punch, a Stampin Up embossing folder and My Favorite Things alaphabet stamps.

Thank you for stopping by.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April
John 1:9  The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

Craft Room Update - I've Moved Some Stuff Around

I am always trying to come up with ways to more efficiently use my craft space.  And to create more table space as I can never have enough.  I decided to move my cubes from Michaels from one side of the room to the other.  And the chest of drawers from one side of the room to the other.

I did a little video of the update.

The only draw back to my changes is that I covered up the part of my pegboard that I was using to store my dies.  I'm trying another solution.  I will share that in a later video.

Thank you for stopping by.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April
Isaiah 40:31  but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles;  they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. 

Feeling Pretty Yellow

I have finally been working on 2 of my New Year's goals.  I made cards for friends who have had deaths in their family and I used a sketch to do it.

I used sketch 143 from Desconstructed Sketches to create my friend's sympathy cards:

I used a 6x6 paper pad by Little Yellow Bicycle called Poppy.  The flower stamps are clear cling stamps from Sweet-n-Sassy Stamps.  I colored them using Copics.  The sentiment is from Avery Elle and was stamped on a piece of the Poppy cardstock cut using a Stampin Up die from the labels collection.  I used yellow Paper Pen to create the three yellow dots.  I inked the edges of the paper with brown chalk ink.

Thank you for stopping by my blog.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April
Psalm 119:93  I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life.

WOYWW 251 - Busy Busy Busy

It is once again the day that is reserved for taking a picture of my desk and sharing it with others WOYWWers from around the world.  If you would like to see what this is all about visit Julia's Blog and check it out.

I have a winner of the Unity Stamp from last week - It was Neet.  I've collected her address and her stamp will be going out soon.

And I have another Unity stamp to give away.  I will draw on Saturday.

Here is my desk and my updated Craft Room.  I couldn't stand it any more.  I NEED tabletop space.  So - I moved the chest of drawers from one side of the room to the other and moved the cubes to the other side of the room.  It really 'opened up' the room  I think the cubes being stacked so high made it feel more closed in.

My box ready to ship to OWH.

I just finished my Mother's Day marathon card making for OWH so my room is in recovery.  The next Project is catching up on Project Life, but that is after I made some sympathy cards for friends and general cards for my RAK.  Poor Project Life.  LOL

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April
2 Timothy 4:16 - 17  At my first defense no one stood with me but all forsook me.  May it not be charged against them but the Lord stood with me and strengthened me.

Mother's Day Marathon Continued

Sandy Allnock of Operation Write Home did a video this weekend demonstrating some cards with flowers made using punches.  I decided to follow her lead.  Here is another Mother's Day card that will be heading to Washington this week to make the Mother's Day deadline at OWH.

I used a circle punch and a scallop circle punch.  I used a Stampin up embossing folder to create the cloud background.  The stamp is from Hero Arts.

The stems are stamped using a Stampin Up stamp with Gumball Green ink.  I used my Martha Stewart multi blade scissors to create the grassy effect on the bottom of the card.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April

Proverbs 18:10

The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

Mother's Day Marathon

This weekend was my own Make Mother's Day cards for OWH marathon.  I have a box that is about 30 to 40 cards shy of being packed full.  So my goal was to make Mother's Day cards or Mother themed card and get that box packed full.

Usually when I make a card - I do multiples of that card design.  They won't be identical, but I can cut out several of the same shape and make several cards with a similar design.  That is the case with this card:

I actually used The Paper Players #188 sketch and will be entering the challenge.

After I took my first pictures I decided to add some pearl pen in black.

I used my Silhouette Cameo sketch pen to write Love you Mom and the Cameo to cut out the hearts.  As I mentioned before I cut out several hearts so I also used these sentiment hearts on another group of cards earlier.  I used a Bo Bunny 6X6 paper pad for the patterned paper.  And then I embossed the background with a dots folder.  I  finished it off with Pearl Pen.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Happy Mother's Day

I'm a woman on a mission.  I need to create at least 40 more cards for my OWH box.  I thought since Sandy mentioned they were in need of Mother's cards I would do 40 of those.  I've created 4.  Woo hoo!  I am on my way.

I used a paper stack that I ordered from Stampin Up that is 4 1/2 x 6 1/2 size double sided patterned pages using colors Real Red, Crumb Cake, Whisper White and Coastal Cabana.  I love this combination of colors and it has my favorite color red.

I used my silhouette to cut out the red hearts.  I also used my Silhouette sketch pens to print 'Love you Mom' in the white heart and to cut out the white hearts after I printed them.

I used the Stampin Up Pennant Banners dies to cut out the banners and a Sizzix embossing folder to get the polka dots.  I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder to get the diagonal stripes on the cart with the striped paper.

I've decided I do not create well under pressure.  I've always thought I worked better under pressure, but rarely do I have to design a card under pressure.  And that's a good thing since I obviously have issues with it.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April
Titus 3:1  Be ready for every good work.

Blog Stalking Friday - Theresa Momber

Theresa Momber designs for Gina K. Designs and has her own blog http://craftingtheweb.blogspot.com/.  She has a soft spot for flowers like I do.  If you're a sucker for flowers - check her out.  Even if you aren't a sucker for flowers - check her out.  ;-)

She does a great job of making her cards pop.  She also has a youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/TheresaOnline.  She does a lot of Copic coloring and fussy cutting.  Her cards are beautiful works of art.

Thank you for stopping by.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April
1 Timothy 4:8  For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 

WOYWW 250 - Just a Mess and a Unity Stamp

It is once again the day to share our desk with the rest of the world.  If you would like to check it out go visit Julia's Blog and be prepared for awesomeness.  Is it a word?  I think so.

My desks are a mess.  I am working on Mother's Day cards for OWH and I am on a mission.  My creative juices are not flowing so it is a fight all the way.  But I can win this fight.  I can!  I can!

I also have a give away.  Unity Stamps sent me an extra stamp of the week and I would like to share it with someone who visits my blog and makes a comment.  Just leave a comment and I will put you in the drawing.  I will draw on Saturday.  Please make sure I can get in contact with you via email to get your address.

Here are the views of my room:

I wasn't able to return visits last week because I went out of town for a scrapbooking weekend.  But I will be making the rounds this week.

Thank you for stopping by.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April

Proverbs 3:13  Happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding.

PL Weeks 4 and 5 - Not in the groove.....

I am unusually behind on Project Life this year.  I am about 6 weeks behind.  I have decided that I do not need to get more than a month behind before I put my pages together.  And I need to keep a journal of what the week was like so I don't forget.

Because I'm behind - I'm a little out of the groove.  But don't worry - I'll get my groove back.  how do you make a tissue shake - put a little boogie in it.  I couldn't help myself.

Here are how my pages turned out.

And I did a process video:

Thank you for stopping by my blog.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April

Psalm 130: 5  I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.

Here Comes the Bride, here comes the bride

We had a wedding to attend last weekend.  I put their gift in a black and white bag.  I used white tissue paper, but white and black would have been better.  I didn't have any black tissue paper, but you can bet I will be getting some.

Then the challenge began - making the card.  We do not attend that many weddings so my selection of wedding stamps is, well, non-existent.  So, I had an idea and went out to the Silhouette Store to find some wedding bells.

I didn't end up with wedding bells, but here is what I came up with:

I found this wedding cake in the Silhouette store.  I cut out the banners using the Stampin Up Banners Framelits.  I used an embossing folder to emboss the 5 1/4" x 4" layer and the small banner.  I created one card with the white as the background and one with black as the background.  I used glossy accents to make the black layers of the cake shiny.  The sentiment is from a set from Paper Studio.

When we walked into the church I saw the bows on the end of the pews and they were black and white!  Her bridesmaids wore black.  Of course her dress what white.  When we walked into the reception - her cake looked just like the one on her card.  I wish I'd taken a picture.  Success.  I also cut out some more cakes and am going to make some more so I have a stash to use or share in RAK's.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April

Psalm 100:4 -5  Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Blog Stalking Friday - Liz's Paper Loft

On Fridays I like to share blogs that I regularly visit to get great card ideas.  One of those is Liz's Paper Loft.

Check out her blog to get ideas for cards and Project Life.  She is on the Peachy Keen design team and you know Peachy Keen makes the cutest stamps with the most adorable faces.

She also does stuff with My Creative Time - I think she is a member of their design team, too.  But I don't want to mistate.

Check out her blog - you will be glad you did.

Have a great day and be inspired.

April
Luke 2:6 - 7  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them.

ROYGBIV

When we were in Vegas we ate at a seafood restaurant in Treasure Island -  I cannot remember the name.  They had good food, but what I really liked about their place was the menu:

I saw this menu and immediately thought - that's a great way to group these colors.  And this background would look great on a card.  lol  This menu follows the ROYGBIV - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, Red, Orange, Yellow.....  Those colors that are next to one another can be overlapped without negative effects.  You'll be seeing this background on one of my cards - I guarantee it.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April
Psalm 100:1 - 2  Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness;  come before him with joyful songs.

WOYWW 249 - Project Life Overload

I'm finally back to Project Life.  And it's WOYWW which means I share a picture of my desk and go blog hopping around the world looking at other desks.  And we owe all this fun to Julia over at Stamping Ground Blog to check out all the fun.

Here are my desks:

I am behind on Project Life because I am not good at multi tasking.  I am either focusing on cards or I am focusing on Project Life or I am focusing on scrapbooking.  I scrapbook differently that I do Project Life.  Anyhoo  I am trying to catch up on my Project life and having been away from it for a few weeks I'm not in the PL groove.  But I will get my groove back.  I have faith.


Thank you for stopping by.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April
Psalm 100:3 - 5  Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his;  we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

More Shades of Gray

I'm enjoying working with these Hero Arts gray inks.  I've created another card for the CAS-ual Fridays Blog.  Love the fact that we have a month to participate.

Here is my card:

The stamp came in a pizza box full of stamps from Club Scrap as part of an OWH fundraiser.  I put the stamps in a two tier basket so they would be out and in my site.  I'm really liking the bright green of Hero Arts green hills.  I again used one of my favorites stamp set - Stampin Up Gorgeous Grunge in addition to the 'spot' stamp from Club Scraps.  The sentiment is from Stampin Up set Perfect Pennants.

This card will go to www.operationwritehome.org to be sent to our troops serving away from home.  If you have any extra cards that you don't know what to do with or you just want to make some cards for our troops - go to the website and check it out.

If you see a Stampin Up set that you just have to have - contact your local Stampin Up demonstrator.  If you do not have a Stampin Up demonstrator, you can purchase it from my demonstrator website:  dowhatyoulove.

Thank you for stopping by to visit.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April
Psalm 32:1 - 2  How blessed is the one whose rebellious acts are forgiven, whose sin is pardoned!  How blessed is the one whose wrongdoing the Lord does not punish, in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Daylight Savings Remorse

I cannot seem to get over my frustration of losing an hour of sleep.  But even as I work through my bitterness - I found even positive thinking to create a card.

I used a stamp and die set by The Stamps of Life:

You can see the other products I used in the pictures.

I used that Fancy Pants Swagger collection paper for this project.  I was disappointed with the weight of this paper.  I like my paper to be really heavy and this paper is not a heavy weight paper.  But since I am using it to layer - that is okay.  I also like that this paper pad has more masculine patterns.

Thank you for stopping by my blog.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April
John 6:33  The Bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

Shades of Gray

The challenge at CAS-ualfridays Blog is use 2 shades of gray.  And because they've revamped their challenges to last longer - I think I actually made it in time for this challenge.

Here is my card:

I really like how this card turned out.  I was able to use one of my favorite Stampin Up Stamp sets - Gorgeous Grunge and the new set - Six Sided Sampler.

I don't think I'd used the in color ink Coastal Cabana before.  I like the gray and the Coastal Cabana together.

This card will be heading to OWH to be sent to our troops serving away from home.  Check out their website if you're interested in donating cards to this very worth organization.

If you see any Stampin Up products you would like to purchase, contact your local Stampin up demonstrator.  If you do not have a Stampin Up demonstrator, you can purchase any of these items from me at website:  http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/dowhatyoulove/.

Thank you for stopping by.  Have a great day and be inspired.

April
Psalm 100:  Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;  give thanks to him and praise his name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;  his faithfulness continues through all generations.

In the Middle of the Night

I've been talking about the revelation I had in the middle of the night for the layout of a card.  And here I am finally sharing it.

It looks like a simple card, but I found the execution was a little more complex than I had originally imagined.  Lining up triangles in a straight line without getting any color on the white cardstock isn't as easy as it looks.

I took my Paper Trey Ink stamp set and created this CAS card.  Althoug his is more clean than simple.  I had to break out my ruler and the Stamp-a-majig to get his card created.

Here is the video:

Have a great day and be inspired.

April

Blog Stalking Friday - Finding Nana

As you know I have been doing Project Life faithfully since October 2013.  There are a couple blogs that I follow for their Project Life pages.  This particular blogger, Leena, creates the most beautiful pocket pages.

If you want ideas for exceptional PL pages check out Finding Nana.  Leenah likes to use cards that have mostly white backgrounds and combines those with black and a few bright colors.

She is the member of the Studio Calico design team and she shares their monthly kits.  Go see Leena and check out her pages - you will be inspired.

Have a great day and be inspired.

April
Job 23:10 - 11  He knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.  My feet have closely followed his steps;  I have kept to his way without turning aside.

WOYWW 248 - It's Clean!

Today is WOYWW and that means that I get to share my desk with all my friends who are doing the same at Julia's Stamping Ground.  Go check it out to see desks from around the world.

I did not leave my house this weekend!  I cannot tell you the last time I was able to do that.  I was able to spend the majority of my weekend in my craft room.  I organized and cleaned and straightened.  I also made cards and videos.

The main reason I did that was so that I could put together a room tour.  I tried to do a room tour last year, but there was a problem with my video.

So here is my clean desk.  I can guarantee it won't stay like this.  lol

Well it was clean - except for the cat.  lol

This is the desk without the cat.

Gracie picked up some pink duct tape from somewhere.  She's so stinkin cute!

This is my scrapbook desk.  I'm toying around with the idea of leaving my Cricut E2 for convenient access.  We'll see what happens.

And if you want to check out the video, but I warn you it's long.:

Thanks for stopping by.  I'm off to do some blog hopping.

Have a great day and be inspired.

April
Jeremiah 33: 2 - 3  This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it - the Lord is his name:  'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

I'm Ape for You

I actually made this card in a card class that I go to in Glasgow.  The wood stamp has the word Judith on it, but I'm not sure if that is the brand or not.  I used my Spectrum Noir pens to color the ape.  Because the paper was provided for the class, I do not know the brand.

This card is not my normal style, but it's good to get out of one's comfort zone - don't you think?

Have a great day and be inspired.

April
Hebrews 2:1 - 4 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.  For if the mesage spoken through angels pvoed to be so firm that every violation or disobedience received its just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?  It was first communicated through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him,  while God confirmed their witness with signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Monochromatic - Kind of

I woke up in the middle of the night with a card design in my head.  I don't know about you all, but sometimes when I dream something I will remember it when I first wake up, but within an hour of being awake - it's gone.  Fortunately I stuck with me.  This card is not the design that woke me up, but it was inspired by that design.

I also did a video showing how I made this card for Operation Write Home.

If you are a card maker looking for a reason to make more cards - check out the Operation Write Home website to get instructions on how to donate your cards to a worthy cause.

Have a great day and be inspired.

April
Psalm 55:14  What fellowship we had what wonderful discussions as we walked together to the temple of the Lord on holy days. 

Happy Birthday with Heidi Swapp

I've been trying to 'catch up' on my card making this week.  I went to the craft room one night this week while I was on a conference call for work.  I had to be on the call, but didn't really have to participate.  So while I was stuck on the phone I cut out some balloons on my Silhouette and made some birthday cards.

I used 2 sided paper from Heidi Swapp, enamel dots from Basic Grey, a banner die from taylored expressions, a Happy Birthday sentiment from Technique Tuesday and ribbon from American Crafts.

These cards will be going to Operation Write Home so that our troops can send them home to their loved ones.  Check out the website and see how you can let our troops know you care.

Have a great day and be inspired.

April
James 3:9 - 10  With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness.  Out of the same mouth come priase and cursing.  My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

Taking Off

We recently took a trip to Las Vegas.  I judge the success of a vacation on the number of pictures that I take on the trip and how many scrapbook pages come from said pictures.  On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the lowest, this trip was a 2.  Not enough pictures to create many scrapbook pages and most of them documenting things we'd done on past trips.

The first trip to Las Vegas was automatically a 10 because it was the first experience.  The second trip to Vegas we went to see the Eagles and Barry Manilow and of course gambled so it was a 10.  The next trip to Vegas we took the girls.  We saw Barry Manilow in concert and went to the Hoover dam.  We got to stand on the Hoover dam and watch cars drive by.  Now you can't drive on the Hoover dam anymore which of course automatically makes that trip a 10.  :-)  You see a pattern here.

This trip we went to see the Eagles in concert (been there done that) and we gambled (been there and done that, too).  We did go to the Kounting Cars garage and VivaLasVegaStamps, but those were just couple hour jaunts.  So like my Mom said - so you relaxed?  Like she was surprised.  On Saturday, we never even walked outside the Casino.

So, again after being very wordy, I am getting to my point.  This trip was on the verge of being a 1 until I got the following picture from the plane as we were taking off.

If you look in the middle of this picture you will see Mandalay Bay at the far right, the new Ferris Wheel in the middle and the Stratosphere wwwwwwaaaayyyy at the end of the strip on the middle left.

The fact that I was sitting by the window was a miracle in itself.  Todd likes to sit next to the window so he can sleep.  I think that is wasting a perfectly good window seat.  I was sitting there because I made Todd feel guilty.  It's a gift.  He is 6'3" and is a big boy.  He swears the window seat provides him some extra room.  The flight wasn't full so I got the window seat the whole time.  He slept in the aisle seat and leaned over the middle seat.

Considering I took this picture with my ipad out an airplane window - I was pretty impressed with myself.

And that is how the trip went from a 1 to a 2 memorabilia wise.  Relaxation wise - it was great.  However, I do have a favor to ask.  If anyone goes to Vegas - I left something behind.  I would appreciate it if you could pick it up for me.  It's at the Mirage - my money.  lol

Have a great day and be inspired.

April
Psalm 118:19  Open to me the gates of righteousness I will go through them and I will praise the Lord.