Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner

Today is the day!  When one lucky person that commented on my blog about the Spellbinders dies gets chosen.  

How I chose a winner...... I asked my 5 year old son (5 & 3/4 if you ask him) to pick a number between 1 and 17.  His response was 1 and 17.  No, no, no.  Pick one number.  Ok, one!  Um, let's try this....pick a number between 1 and 17, like 5.  Oh, ok 5.  *Face palm*  Nevermind, I'll ask your father.  Honey pick a number between 1 and 17.  8.5.  SERIOUSLY?!  When he did get serious, he picked 9.

The winner is......

Jen Mueller!!

Congrats Jen, you have just won the Spellbinders die set.  I will be contacting you soon via email to get your address.

Thanks everyone who "played" along!

Spellbinders Nestabilities Up For Grabs!

Wow, didn't realize it's been awhile since I've done anything with my blog.  Guess I need to get on that.  But in the meantime, it's a good thing I'm blogging.  Why you ask?  Because I have a Spellbinders set up for grabs!

My dear hubby bought me some Spellbinders for Christmas.  When he opened the package that arrived, he noticed there were 2 of the same die sets.  He didn't want to mess with returning it until after Christmas.

Now there is a problem.  And here is where it gets a little complicated.  The actual die set is Labels 18.  But the package says Labels 9.  My husband can't return it because the invoice says Labels 18 (there is no record of Labels 9 being shipped to us).  Luckily, the set is what I wanted (the 18) but it took a little researching on Spellbinders page to realize this.

So, hopefully you were able to follow that & understand it.  But the only real thing that matters is, you get a chance to win this Labels 18 set.  All you need to do is leave a comment with your email address.  Please make sure to spell out your email or leave spaces (ex: janedoe at yahoo dot com OR janedoe @ yahoo . com).  I will leave it open until midnight (EST) Monday, December 31st.  I will randomly pick a winner on Tuesday & will contact the winner.  Good luck!!

Elegant Cards

I went through a very dry spell of making cards.  Nothing inspired me.  I didn't have the desire to make cards.  With the support of the wonderful ladies on Facebook, I just stepped back and let time go by.  And with my son tracked out of school for 3 1/2 weeks during that time, it was even harder to think of making cards.

Then the end of September came.  Which is my parent's anniversary.  I had to make them a card.  My mom loves my cards and is very appreciative of them.  So I looked through some inspiration cards and sketches and came up one that I knew they would love.

When I posted it on Facebook to share, everyone loved it.  I even got some suggestions that I could mass produce these.  I figured it would be perfect since I had recently bought a pack of wonderful design paper from Michaels. 

So I didn't mass produce the cards.  But I did make ten.  Four of them I used the sentiment "Missing You" and six using the sentiment "Thinking of You."  I really could mass produce these if I wanted.  They are super easy to make.  And great with pattern paper.  Maybe another time.  :o)

Christmas In August

I hate to admit it but Christmas is coming, whether I want it to or not.   I had a friend announce the other day that she bought her first Christmas gift.  It's a good thing she's not close by or I would have to smack her!  The deadline for Christmas cards is coming even faster.  So I might as well embrace it, instead of fighting it.

I saw a card online using the thread technique to make a Christmas tree.  And since I just got a goodie bag from Sarah of different color baker's twine for me to try out, I had to give it a whirl.  It's a very easy card to make.  The only issue I had was how much twine I needed without wasting.  Took a couple of tries, but I got it.

Pattern Paper ~ Oriental Trading Christmas Paper Pad

Star ~ Sizzix die

Baker's Twine ~ The Twinery (Pea Pod)

Midweek Throwdown - Any Hero Cards

When this challenge came up on OWH's blog, I thought no problem.  Easy, peasy to make patriotic cards.  WRONG!  I was on the verge of burning my creations.  Not just throwing them in the trash but actually burning them. 

I used my border punch to get the scalloped edge.  The blue paper with white stars came from a 6x6 pad I just purchased today (don't remember name of it). 

After about 5 attempts, I finally came up with this card.  I'm having major OCD & notice my strips aren't straight.  Oh well! 

I Think I'm In Love

I think I'm in love......with a sketch.  Going through the latest additions to the OWH sketches, I came across #123 and thought I'd give it a try.  Now I think it's my 'go to' sketch.

I thought I would try to make some masculine cards while using this sketch.  The first one was using some green.

Pattern Paper: Recollections Aqua Damask

Sentiment: Paper Smooches 'Chit Chat'

Embellishment: Liquid Pearls

This next one is my favorite.  I really like the browns together.  The green thank you card is very simple.  But I really like how 'polished' this one looks with the black layers.  I love it so much, I made 12 of them!

Pattern Papers: Recollections Fashionably Chic Paper Pack

Sentiment: Stampin Up

Thinking Winter

My son started an amazing adventure today......his 1st day of kindergarten.  He is attending a year round school.  With him being at school all day means Mommy has time to play!  I have a box just about ready to ship.  But couldn't close it up yet.  I was in desperate need of crafting time.

My son excited about his 1st day

With it being in the 90's today & humidity making it feel worse, I needed a cool down.  Even if it is with a card.  The image & background of the image came from The Paper Shelter - Warm In The Winter.  The snowflake brads are from a stash I've had for years.  And the snowflake ribbon I got last year.  I took the image of the girl & popped it on the background part.