I am so excited to play along with My Favorite Things and their Camp Create!  I LOVE the camping theme and decided for each card everyday I would only stick to camping themes.   I have some wicked cool outdoor paper from Carta Bella and from October Afternoon.

Boy did I struggle with this card.  I first copic colored the tent and the fire and then masked them.  Then I used distress inks on the card and then no matter how long I waited, the darn card would not dry.  I used a heat gun, I waited…and waited.  Heat gun again.  ugh!  Everytime I put embossing powder on it stuck to the entire card.    Finally with a paint brush and some determination I was able to finish.   I did not have that wonderful Elizabeth Crafts double sided adhesive, nor her glitter.  So I had to make do with what I had.   It was very hard to get the smaller stars to stick to the never drying damp paper.  Glitter everywhere and a damp card.  Sort of like camping, a damp tent and smoke everywhere.   Welcome to Camp Create!!!!  LOL

But I finished and earned my badge!!!  Whooo Hoooo!

Thanks for Looking!!!!

Oh my lucky stars!!!!  I just saw this on the My Favorite Things blog.  There are having a week long “Camp” for card makers.   I am so jazzed.  I do not know if it is because I was once a brownie who earned badges.  But the idea of earning a BADGE for making a card and the potential chance of winning prizes!   Whoooo Hoooo!

This week as a Camp Create camper, you have three ways to win:

• To be eligible to win a $25 voucher: Participate in today’s craft and upload an image via InLinkz on today’s post. Winners will be chosen randomly from the InLinkz entries.
• To be eligible to win a $15 voucher: Subscribe to our MFTv channel on YouTube and comment on today’s video. Winners will be chosen randomly from comments on the YouTube video and announced in the MFTv episode that will air on Monday, June 27th.
• To be eligible to win the $150 Grand Prize: Earn all five badges for the week by participating in each craft presented this week (via the InLinkz on each blog post). One random winner will be chosen for the week!

I am already one day behind….but as Douglas Adams quote goes

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”

Check back later for my first badge worthy card!!!!

Some nice woman posted a comment on my blog about my last set of cards and told me about this website and their challenge inspired by God’s Word.

I like that they have a clean approach to cards and crafts that embrace their love of Jesus into their creative works of art.    They also provide a free scripture word art that you can use in your cards.  They do not require that you use it, but as a good citizen of supporting bloggers and blog sites, I decided to make a card using this challenges word art.  See below for the image.

So I jumped into making this card and it was not until I had finished  that I realized that it probably would have been better on a masculine style card!  Opps.

Nevertheless, I was just into the creative moment.

I decided that I wanted to use my Minc foiling machine and made the words in green foil.  You can see it better here.

We all make mistakes.  I had accidently let the paper touch some water colors I had out on my desk.  So I had to place the leaves just in the perfect place to hide the yellow paint.  You cannot tell there is a boo boo there.

Next time I will pay more attention to the quote and make it more appropriate for the occasion.

Thanks for looking at my site!  I truly appreciate it!!!!

I recently bought the new Lawn Fawn Dad and Me stamp set because I could not resist those cute bears and mooses.  Moose.  Mooses…Meece.   Not sure what the plural of Moose is.

I also purchase the Carta Bella Outdoors 6×6 paper pad.  The two are a match made in heaven.

I made a total of 4 cards and I love them all!

I love the small strip of campers over the map.  I think my Moose moved off the card as he was centered in the circle.  Opps, runaway Moose.

I put a little fish in the moose’s mouth.  I love this paper with the little stream of water.

This is my favorite card of the four I made.  Not sure if it was the silly hat the bear was wearing or the amazing scene.   So cute!!!!

This was my least favorite.  I think the mountains look too small.  But I love the paper.  It looks like a meadow.

For all the critters I used copics.   The inks I used were Lawn Fawn.

Please note:  No Animals were hurt during the card making.  No selfies were taken.  Respect Wildlife!!!

Thanks for looking!

Posted in:

I saw on Papertrey Ink the Make it Monday Challenge #251 Gradient Watercolor die cuts and was inspired to try a card using my Zig Real Color pens.

I have the Papertrey Ink Rainy Day cover up die and was thinking wonderful blue raindrops would look great.   Also the Simon Says Monday challenge was to make a Monochrome project.  This card fits the bill for both.

Although  this was very simple to make using water color paper and Zig Real Clean Color markers, it was harder to keep the raindrops in the card so I can line them up on the card.  I finally had to use the negative space card to use as a template and glue each of the drops in place.   I then used some of my favorite raindrop gems on the card to give the additional feel of rain.   Finally just a simple sentiment from the rainy day sentiments stamp set which was embossed in white.

Here is a close up of the card where you can see the gradient of color better on the drops.   I really like the gemstones, I think it adds just the right about of bling to the card.

Thank you so much for looking at my card!

Supplies:

Papertrey ink Cover Plate Rainy Day
Papertrey Ink Rainy Day Sentiments
Zig Real Color Pens
Pretty Pink  Posh rainstones
Simon Says White Embossing Powder
Neenah Solar White Cardstock
My Favorite Things Lush Lagoon Cardstock

Posted on the Simon Says Monday Challenge

Ok I am guilty.  Very Guilty.   I am guilty of “buy the kit and do nothing with it – itis”

I subscribe to the Simon Says Stamp monthly card kit.   And the kits just sit in their boxes.  Sad little brown boxes, just wanting to be made into fantastic cards.

So I decided to get off my butt and commit to making at least 5 cards from one kit.  So grabbed the current kit, the June 2016 kit.  To be honest I was not that thrilled with the colors of the kit, but I loved the stamp set.  I also loved the coloring cards.   I have to admit,  I am seriously crushing on Suzy Plantamura and her adorable drawings.  I actually went to Simon Says and bought the sets.  Here is her newest one.

Doesn’t this make you want to sharpen your colored pencils.

Ok, to get back on track.  Here is the kit for June 2016

So my first two cards are made from the cute coloring card fronts from the kit.  It was  great paper to use copics on.  On a side note, I almost have all the copic colors.  I have been collecting them for a long, long time.  I just wish there was a better storage solution.  I did check out Sandy Allnock’s post on copic storage and it did give me some ideas.   You can check out her post here.  I am seriously thinking of the new suitcase, but back to the cards.

Besides using copics, I used a white gel pen to add some dots.

I decided to make this a shaker card.   The body of the sun was just begging to be made into a shaker.  I also used some zig glitter pens to the sun rays, you can see it better in this closeup.

Next I wanted a card that has some elegance.   I decided to emboss on some gold vellum with the new Simon Says stamp Rose Gold Embossing powder.   I also used the same embossing powder for the “dream” die cut.   The glitter strips were from Anita’s 3D Border Glitterations.  She has some cute stuff and I thought this puffy glitter strip was just perfect.   I recently went to the CKC Expo in Mesa Arizona and found some orange colored Twinkle Goosebumps that matched perfectly.

For my next card I wanted to use the Look for a Miracle stamp.   I water colored the card front with some pinks, green and yellows.

For my final card I wanted to use the pretty rainbow type paper, but I could not think of design that was not overwhelming in colors.   I finally decided to do a die cut that showed the pretty color underneath.  I actually like how this card came out.

I hope you enjoyed my cards.   I really enjoyed challenging myself to come up with some designs.

Posted in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog

When my Mother passed away, I wanted to make sure her Grandchildren had an opportunity to know her the way we knew her.   They only got to know the old woman who was at times, let’s be honest, cranky.   But growing up, my siblings and I knew a woman who was crafty, smart and caring.

So I created this book using my digital scrapbooking skills.  I asked my siblings a series of questions about certain memories, from favorite foods, what she helped us with, her style, etc etc.   Then I incorporated into this book.   Funny things looking back at this book, I can see errors I made and duplicate pictures.  But in my defense, I was grieving the loss of my Mother and I was under a tight tight deadline to get the books back before the memorial service.

This is the cover.  You will notice on the cover there is a strange border, this was added so the stretch of the bleed over on the cover did not distort the images.    It is only on the front and the back of the cover.

I asked my siblings to send any pictures they had of Mom so I could capture as many as I could into the book

To start the book, I talked of her childhood.  My Mom did not talk much about her childhood, except that it was hard.   I guess any child from the Great Depression can say the same thing.

More childhood memories she shared with us.

About the death of her only brother Ray.  Such a loss.   I actually got a copy of his military file and learned some about his stint in the Navy.  Since he was a gunner’s mate on the ship, he was probably killed instantly when the Kamikaze pilot hit the ship.   I remember someone telling me that some of his ship mates came to visit my Grandmother to give condolences and confirm that he truly was dead.  No physical body was ever found for a funeral.  His name is on a plaque in Hawaii.  If I ever go there, I will have to go and see it.

She grew into a pretty young woman.  I often wondered what she wanted to be growing up.   That is why it is so important to ask these questions today when they are still alive.

She met Dad at a neighbor’s house, and history was made!  A few years ago I found out Mom was pregnant when they got married.  I asked my Mom about it.  She laughed and said yes, but they had already planned to get married.  I called her a slut (joking).  And she laughed.   I really need to pay attention to those dates on the genealogy charts.  LOL.

Christmas and Halloween were the two times of the year where we had the most great memories.

All of us kids remember the Christmas trees and the crafts!

She even made our Christmas stockings.

My Mom was such an avid sewer.  She made the most incredible costumes.

We often won awards at school for our costumes.

more Halloween pages.

Thanksgiving and Halloween memories!

Easter!  Always had those pretty dresses on!

As a family we did a lot of road trips and camping.  Many great memories there.

I never learned to fish, but my brother Doug and Dad sure caught several.  I was so paranoid of choking on a fish bone!

More camping memories

This camping page was actually not in the book.  I think I was in too much of a rush and forgot.  But at least it is here for all blog readers.

Food memories.

My page of food memories!

My sisters food memories

Oh the things we thought we got away with!!!

The things we did not get away with!

How our Mom embarrassed us!  LOL

Shopping with Mom!!!

Clothes that Mom made for us!

Our favorite sewing projects from Mom!

What our Mom helped us with!

When we were grateful when Mom helped us!!

My Mom’s style, both young and older!

Things Mom taught us!!

All the little things in life that we see that makes us remember Mom.  And they still do!!!

Back page.

Back cover!

I made sure that her grandchildren had a copy of this book.  I truly did not expect them to read it.   I was so pleased when my niece Rachel wrote to me that she read the book from cover to cover and learned so much about her Grandmother and that she will always miss her.   Made me cry!

So if you lose a family member, try to get the memories down fast before you forget.   I still look at this book of my Mom and I am surprised on how many things I had already forgotten!

Thanks for looking!

DAY TWENTY-FIVE

I started out the day with another cricut cutting file.  I used a soft muted silver paper and added a little deer to embellish the page

I wanted to add some Pet Food ads to my album since Christmas day was really about opening gifts for the animals.

I also added a small page protected with cat food!  I actually remember this ad!

The funny thing about this ad is that Penny LOVES cheese!  I call her my dairy dog because she would sell her soul for cheese or butter.

This layout is about us actually opening the gifts on Christmas Day.  Basically all the animals got the goods.  LOL.

This cute jacket was for Eli (my brother dog).  Somehow I think I will never see him wear this coat.

I really did not like just cutting the album off without some sort of closure.  So I created an cutting file overlay on a bokeh light photo.

Then I write an Epilogue to wrap up my thoughts.

Thanks for looking!

DAY TWENTY-THREE

I wanted this day to be about the critters.

I started out with a small photo insert of the dogs and cats.

The Cats

We were also dog sitting a dog we placed from the rescue.  Little Lily which we called Monkey.

Lily has this cute little face that reminded us of the monkeys in Wizard of Oz.  Horrible to say, but she really does.   Sweet little Monkey!

DAY TWENTY-FOUR

This year I wanted to make a collage with the cards I received in the mail.   I get so many pretty cards and I hate to toss them.  I usually make something with the cards.

I made a circle collection with some of the larger images

For the other prints, I created a Christmas tree by cutting out small circles.   I also used some flairs from October Afternoon.

Thanks for looking!

DAY TWENTY-ONE

For this day I wanted to capture the weather.  For Southern California we don’t really have seasons.   The only sign that it is winter is the bare trees.  Except on Christmas day we still have some brown leaves.  Once in a blue moon we get snow.  So you never know.

DAY TWENTY-TWO

Every year I try to do a puzzle.  I love doing puzzles and try to do them at Christmas time while watching Christmas movies.    My brother picked out this one with cupcakes.  His theory, similar to mine is something where you can tell what the pieces are.

MEMORIES THEN AND NOW

I wanted to show what Christmas was like when I was a child, and what it looks like when I am all grown up.

I took a transparency that had typewriter fonts on it.  The tree in my Mom’s house was so typical of our tree.  Tinsel carefully laid on each branch.  The tinsel was lead based and heavy.  LOL, the good old days.

This Christmas scene was at my house.  I had not been in the house very long so there was not a lot of clutter there.   LOLOLLLLLOLLL.

All my nieces and nephews are all grown up now.  Time flies.

Thanks for looking!