Smile

I hope veryone had an amazing weekend! I went to go see the Picasso Exhibit at the Virginia Museum of the Fine Arts today and lets just say it was beyond AMAZING! There aren't even words that can describe it and awesome doesn't even come close to the right word to use. Other than that I've mostly been hanging out with family and my best friend. What better way to spend the weekend right?

Ok I finally tried a new type of card! I'd love to hear everyone's comments/criticism! I decided to make another Christmas card to add to my ever growing collection. If you take the band off you can see the cricut reindeer on the inside. How cute is that? I'm starting to love using cricut images on my cards! I've got a pile I need to use up before I make any more though.

Now the smile card below if you can't tell has two shades of pink on the butterfly and I used my prisma pencils. I put a picture up of what I cut and put on the inside below the actual card. Don't you think it gives it some personality? The stickers and paper came from my stash. The butterfly digi I bought at Hero Arts awhile back.

Woof Woof!

Ok it's a new challenge and I just had to play along. The layout design is simple and right up my alley. How could I not resist making something? I know I don't post as much anymore, but I've been insanely busy with work and life in general. Tomorrow I've made plans to go see the Picasso exhibit at VMFA and a bunch of other fun things to do with my best friend. We've made plans way in advance and are planning to make the most out of the day. Anywho, would you even enjoy me clogging up your front page with a million links to my page? I don't think so! Now how many of us can pass up free digis? I know I can't! Some are super duper cute. Yes, I said super duper. The one I'm going to use on this card is from A Colourful World. I really wanted a card with bunnies! Cute and adorable bunnies! I can't wait to play around with my prisma pencils and baby oil tomorrow. I love the technique she shares in the video! I watched along live, but you can catch up if you missed it. I'm going to use the bunnies later this week! For this card I used the adorable free digi from Bugaboo Stamps. Anyways anyone who knows me know I love dogs! Yes, I'm a dog lover. When I saw the digi for this week I had to get it and make several cards out of them. How could I pass it up though? Anyways you should go get it before time runs out! This card is for the Green is Envy Challenge!

I used my prismas to color the dog. (black, light umber, dark umber, yellow ochre, pink, ultramarine, and crimson red). All of the paper is from my stash and the buttons too. I also used my corner rounder. Finally, the stamp is from Bugaboo Stamps as I mentioned earlier. The green is subtle and it's located in the plaid paper!

Pink and Red

Hows everyone's week going so far? Here's a card I created a few days ago and finally had the time to post. After looking at the finished product I started to think I should've done different colored buttons down the side.

I bought paper over my three day weekend and address labels. That means I can make even cooler cards and prepare a bunch of them to send to Operation Write Home. I really want to get some set out, but lately I've been a tad busy with everything that I haven't gotten around to it just quite yet. I'm hoping having all of the needed supplies to label the backs of the cards will give me a shove in the right direction. As for the cards I want to start creating I'm trying to think what I want to create next. I know I definitely want to create more Christmas cards. This year I'm making so many that I'm giving myself a huge head start so I know I've got enough to send to everyone. Lastly, I'm starting to think it's almost time for another challenge. What does everyone think?

Great News and Cards

Lately I've been working (teaching) and researching a variety of different things. Lately I've been busy doing everything except make cards. Somehow it's fallen to the waste side again. Lately I've been deciding what I want to do with my current collection of cards that I've made. My file box is so full I need to destash to make room for newer creations. I'm thinking of selling half and donating the other half. As everyone knows I've researched Operation Write Home and Card Cupids so that's where my donations will be going. For right now I'm going to start by donating cards and look into selling them. I'm not sure what to price my cards at on etsy. If you sell cards I'd love to hear some insight from you!
In other news I won some great prizes from the Blog Hop hosted by Card Cupid! You can read about the article by clicking on the link posted. I can't wait to get it in the mail and share it with everyone. Below are the four cards I've made recently. The top left flower image is from OWH, The bottom left car image is from Yolanda's Blog, the dragon is from Bugaboo Stamps, and the top right fairy I got from one of the blogs I'm currently following. I find some of the most adorable free digis on blogs! Hopefully everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

I'll update you with the cutest butterfly card I created with the digi I bought from Two Peas in a Bucket. First, the card needs to dry and I wanted to add more embellishments to it. I'm so excited about this card because not only is it in the shape of a butterfly, but I learned how to use distress ink on my cards! For now I'm going to enjoy the rest of my weekend and get my cards ready to mail on Monday! Also, for those of you following my blog I'm thinking about doing another card challenge. Any ideas on what you think the theme should be? Let me know!

Questions and No Answers

 Ok I'm getting a bit desperate trying to find a place where I can buy paper that I can use in my crafting endeavors. Where do you guys buy your paper to make your cards? I no longer have a place to buy paper from. Can anyone suggest places to buy paper in a wide range of colors for cardmaking/scrapbooking? Thanks a bunch!

I'm currently looking into donating and using up the cards I've made to make room for more. Right now I'm leaning towards Cupid Cards. I've also looked at Operation Write Home. Are there any other great organizations anyone's looked into? I haven't found any other websites other than those two so any help would be much appreciated.

My latest find and I forget how I ran across it is the Stamp TV website. When I looked over it some of the tutorials they give for making cards is pretty cool. I love how they go step by step and it's not extremely fast so you can really see what's going on.

Also, I'm constantly looking at the Blog Hop contest and since nobody has entered the challenge using the picture I posted the scrapbook is still up for grabs!! If nobody enters it then I'll need to come up with a new challenge and put together some awesome prizes together.

I hope everyone's week is going well! I've been busy teaching in elementary schools and exercising. Although, lately I've squeezed in some browsing at the local Goodwills and some reading. I even found time to write my penpal another letter.

Heating it Up

When I saw the new image for Bugaboo Stamps I couldn't resist running with it and coming up with something. I found the quote for this card here "Click Me". I'm not quite sure what I'll come up with next for a card, but I've got my images and everything. I'd love to try something later in the week that isn't just a basic card.

Paper used:
Bazzil Basics Paper Intensive Kiwi
My Mind's Eye  Natural "Embark"
I don't remember the name of the chocolate brown paper though. Sorry!

Don't forget to enter the contest I posted from the blog hop! The drawing is February 19 and one lucky winner gets an 8 by 8 scrapbook!! How cool is that?

Hugs and Kisses

Welcome to the Card Cupids Appreciation Blog Tour!  

 If you have just hopped on the tour, please go to the first stop Card Cupids (www.cardcupids.org/blog).  If you have arrived from http://plainandfancypapercrafts.blogspot.com/ then you are in the right place. Thanks for stopping by! 

Card Cupids mission is to provide encouragement and joy by sending Card Cuddle Care Packages to children who are facing difficult challenges in their young lives regardless of their economic background. Card Cupids believes that every child needs to know that they are loved. A stuffed animal to hold, along with cards that share a positive message can help lift the spirits of children that are faced with difficult challenges. Card Cupids collects handmade cards to be sent to children along with new stuffed animals, coloring books, activity books, crayons and markers. Card Cupids hopes to provide numerous Card Cuddle Care Packages to children in hospitals, foster care, homeless shelters as well as children facing difficulties.

Our Blog Tour theme today is Valentine’s projects for children. The project I decided to do is a Valentines Day card for a child.

I'm glad you've stopped by my blog and I hope you enjoy the card I've created. I enjoy making cards so I decided to make on for the blog hop itself. This card I used my flower punch, popup stickers, and my new embossing pen. All of the paper is from my large paper stash. The green leaves were just petals I cut from a flower I punched into the green paper.

One lucky person will win an 8 by 8 scrapbook on February 19,2011. You can enter until midnight and the winner will be chosen by http://www.random.org/ around 9AM EST. All you've got to do is follow the blog and post a card using this flower picture posted below. How easy is that? Picture for the contest:

Below is my card for the Blog Hop:

Thanks for stopping by today! The secret word from my stop is OUR.  Remember, to win the Blog Tour prize you have to email the secret sentences to info@cardcupids.org by 11:59 pm February 14 with subject: Blog Tour Prize. www.cardcupids.org) for more information.

Now hop back on the tour bus to visit your next stop http://samanthascricutcreations.blogspot.com/. Come back and visit real soon!

Card Cupids is collecting handmade cards, new stuffed animals, coloring/activity books, crayons and markers for Absolutely Incredible Kids Day on March 15 as well as cards for Kate and Christopher and their siblings.  If you would like to donate handmade cards or care package items, please visit Card Cupids.

Fairy Card

All of the paper for the fary card came from my stash, but the image is from The Sherlocks Home free digital stamp section. Isn't it absolutely adorable? The card backing is black if you can't tell from the picture. I also used the heart corner punch I've got and of course the paper is all from my stash. I probably need to downsize and get rid of some of it. I'm just not sure how I'm going to do that or even if I want to do that.

Challenges:

http://flutterbywednesdays.blogspot.com/2011/02/flutter-by-wednesday-141.html

The flowers were made just for fun. They're 3D and I love the combination of the lip paper with the red for some odd reason. ENJOY!

My Blog Hop card is set to be posted early tomorrow morning just in time for everyone to see it. The official event is on Valentines Day. I set it to be posted early because tomorrow I've decided to sleep in.

  

Always Together

I hope everyone had a great week so far and looking forward to the wonderful weekend ahead. Above is a Valentines Day card I decided to create after I made the card for the this weekend's blog hop. The flowers are on pop-up stickers and I used my newest empressor tool/embossing tool to make the petals seem more realistic. All of the paper came from my stash. This card was entered into the DDCC #99 Love Is In The Air-Red/White/Pink. Don't forget to look at my blog for the blog hop to see what I came up with!

Blog Hop and More

Sorry I haven't posted anything in quite awhile, but I've been too busy to make cards lately. I've been busy teaching and getting back into the routine of exercising lately. I got the information for Cupid Card's Blog Hop for Valentines Day though. I'm going to have everything posted by this Saturday. I can't wait to participate in my first blog hop! I did go shopping recently to add to my cardmaking and scrapbooking supplies. I bought Hershey Kisses paper and an embossing pen. Who doesn't enjoy chocolate? I've got digi stamps that are going to be colored and made into cards this week. I'm determined to get at least three cards completed this week and if I go over that amount I'll be ecstatic! Since I feel so awful for not posting anything in so long I pulled something from my card stash to post. It's wasn't made recently, but it's cute. Since I'm missing beautiful flowers and warm weather I decided to post something that reminds me of it all.

Operation Write Home

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far and the weather isn't too bad where you're located! In VA today it was relatively warm which is strange! The forecast shows it'll get cold again this weekend, but I loved the weather today.

Today was one of my days off from making cards, but I'll hopefully get some finished to post this weekend. I did however find some amazing videos while researching as well as an awesome cause! The cause is Operation Write Home and the organization sends out letters as well as cards to people in the armed forces. Who wouldn't want to brighten someone else's day by sending them something handmade? I'm thinking about sending cards in and you should too! At some point this week I'm going to look up other great places to donate cards to as well.

There are a lot of techniques in cardmaking that I haven't done yet or even heard of. I love finding new techniques and different ideas I want to try out. Below are two I was most interested in learning, but there are a bunch of tutorials on their website.

Dahlia Fold Video:
http://vimeo.com/6109698

Paper Pansies:
http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/2010/05/tutorial-paper-pansies.html

Happy crafting!!!!!!

Hugs & Kisses

Who can resist doing something Valentine's Day related now that it's February?

Well now that it's the month of February I'm starting to think reds and pinks!

Everything used to make this card came from my stash. I've got a lot of scraps and a lot of 12 by 12 paper!

It'll take me a very long time to go through it all. Anyways this card is for the WHAT IF? Wednesday ~ Sketch Challenge J2611.