Happy as a Lark

Yesterday, acceptance notifications went out for Paper Craft's Magazine July/August 2013 edition. Although I didn't submit anything, I still enjoyed reading the postings of my crafty friends newsfeeds and sharing in their joy! The talented Virginia mentioned that she was happy as a lark because she received some awesome crafty news! Congratulations~

Welcome to the third day of The Craft's Meow's January Release. (You can read more about the releases at The Craft's Meow!) Happy as a Lark just so happens to be the name of one of the sets debuting today, as well as Lark Additions (which is free gift with a $50 purchase). And the set just so happens to have been designed by me! I have always wanted to create a large background stamp resembling tree bark, and this set has it! It also contains a smaller stamp of some knotty bark, which I showcased on my card today, and a bird. Oh how I love birds. Both sets offer a multitude of versatile sentiments in a pretty mix of fonts, I do hope you enjoy!

Today's Tip: Inspiration can strike at any time-keep your mind open. The color scheme and direction for this card was inspired by Arby's (the fast food restaurant) packaging: red woodgrain!

You can be eligible to win Happy as a Lark from The Craft's Meow by visiting the blogs and leaving a comment!

Inspire

**For my CAS-ual Fridays Challenge Post, please scroll down**

If I were ever asked why do I blog, and spend so much time blogging?, I guess my answer would be to inspire people, and be inspired by people. To share and learn. To make friends, build friendships, strengthen them. I do enjoy blogging, and you, my friends, inspire me.

**Thank you for coming back if you've already seen this! I accidently scheduled it too early, had to take it down and reschedule it for the proper time. My sincere apologies.***

Welcome to the second day of The Craft's Meow's January Release. (You can read more about the releases at The Craft's Meow!) The design team members are showcasing a follow up to Beautiful Shelf, a fun set called Crafty Shelf, designed by Nina B.

For the layout, I chose to work with Retro Sketches sketch, and stamped each of the crafty elements in green and then shifted slightly to stamp in black. I trimmed out the banners and finished the sentiment with two words from another stamp in the same set.

Today's Tip: Save your solid scraps and sort by color. For a clean look, pull out one color bag and find different shades of the color and use them on your card in a color block fashion.

You can be eligible to win Crafty Shelf from The Craft's Meow by visiting the blogs and leaving a comment!

Customized Chevrons

Shoes in the kitchen, jeans on the floor. Basketballs lying at the back door. Living room carpet shows signs of wear. The fridge and the cupboards are constantly bare. The toilet seat is up, it's stuck that way. The sports on TV blare all day. Racetracks, footballs, all kinds of toys. How did you guess, I'm the mother of boys... ~Author Unknown

CAS-ual Fridays has a cool new challenge up: Long and Short: Create a card or project with a long side and short side (3 x 6, 4 x 8, etc. inches). There is also a very exciting announcement that you won't want to miss either! This week's sponsor is CAS-ual Fridays Stamps, and there is so much inspiration from the Girl Fridays on the Blog.

I used the really graphic and fun open chevron image from the newly released Rad set to create a bright, masculine birthday card. The greeting comes from the set called Woot Woot. I colored in the chevrons and added the horizontal line through each set.

Today's Tip: Customize a stamped image with marker.

In Every Change

"When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I discovered I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an older man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world." ~Author Unknown

The Craft's Meow is back at it again with their January Release after taking the month of December off. (You can read more about the releases at The Craft's Meow!) The design team members are showcasing a beautiful and timeless set appropriate titled Beautiful Hymns, designed by Nina B.

I kept the hymn the focal point of my card: I stamped and die cut the panel, mounted it behind a banner and a bunch of bundled May Arts Burlap Sting, and then secured that all on a patterned paper large banner.

Today's Tip: You can still layer and be a Clean and Simple designer, choose patterns and solids with similiar colors and keep emellishments to a minimum.

You can be eligible to win Beautiful Hymns from The Craft's Meow by visiting the blogs and leaving a comment!

Pie Crust

**Please scroll down to see my final sneak peek card for the
January CAS-ual Fridays Stamps release!**

Do you make your own pie crust? I did for a couple of years, having learned from the best: my mother. Then the kids came around and I went to the store bought kind. This past Thanksgiving I knew that my days short-cutting the desserts had seen its last day after multiple family members hinted heavily that my crusts were so much better.

January's Artful Delight Card Kit includes a Paper Smooches Stamp set so I put that to work on two cards. Even though the kit is geared towards Valentine's Day, most of the elements can be used for multipurpose, year round projects. The top card includes some of the fun patterned papers from the kit, and a sentiment from another Paper Smooches set. The following card uses everything from the kit, with the exception of a large hexagon punch.

I followed January's Artful Delight Card Sketch, which there are a few more days to play along for your chance to win a kit! Another way to win an absolutely amazing Artful Delight Kit is to send some children's Valentine's cards to Winter for her annual card drive, as Artful Delight is one of the sponsors!

Rad

I *think* the checkbook is starting to feel the effects of having two growing boys in the house. I wish my metabolism would work like theirs because both of them eat, eat and eat some more yet I still tuck trim little bodies under the covers each night. So far I am having luck with them still liking a healthy snack before bed, but I'm wondering how long that will last?

One final sneak of the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps January Release for you...please check out more on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog and find out how you could win this set and the two showcased the previous days! Which, by the way, is perfect for teens, boys and men!

Free HBO

Ok. I admit it. My hobby has taken a backseat while we have free HBO. War Horse=a must see. The boys thoroughly enjoyed it and there was some great history introduced and questions answered. Bridesmaids=Hilarious! (No, the boys didn't watch!) Got some good chuckles. Green Lantern=got me into wanting to craft in green.

Playing along in two challenges today. Lawnscaping Challenge is celebrating their birthday (congratulations to you!) so I made a birthday card.

I also was inspired by the bright and fun colors from the inspiration picture at the new Pinspired Challenge.

Tried out a new technique on this card, the watercolor effect that has taken the crafty industry by storm. I loved watercoloring in highschool and college and was delighted to find that my paints were still good. Although I wouldn't call this the most successful or most beautimous card, I'm glad I tried it and will continue to try it until I get better. It is my opinion that in blogging you've got to share the good and the not so good. I sprayed the panel with shimmer spray but you can't really see that in the photo.

Today's Tip: Don't toss your experiments...trim the panel down for a clean sample that has some interest and create a card.

Casual Elegance

P.S. Another CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Sneak Peak for you...check out more on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog!

Loving Thoughts

Moxie Fab World is hosting some pretty dang neat challenges for the 75 Creative Card Challenges Week, and one of them is to Create Your Own Background Paper. I started with soft gray paper, lightly stamped the large bloom in gray and then came back with the same stamp in green ink. My initial thought was to create a letterpressed look, but I will have to work on this a bit more. I filled in the empty areas with the smaller stamps in a yellow chalk ink, as well as in the center of the large blooms. Finally, I added a touch of black enamal accent dots to each flower's center. The background was busy enough, so I simply adorned the card with a large, silk green bow and a sentiment from the set!

P.S. A CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Sneak Peak for you...check out more on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog!

Clear to See

Do you believe in love at first sight? Having struggled with getting over a relationship, when my mother mentioned that there was someone I should meet at a wedding we were about to attend, I wasn't too keen on her suggestion. But as I saw him walk down the aisle as the best man of my childhood friend, I knew he was the one. And after hearing him say "If you are sorry, you'll dance with me later" after I accidentally (truly, honestly, accidentally) bumped into him during a line dance at the reception, confirmed my belief that he was "the one."

I was inspired to create a little Valentine's Card for the current Moxie Fab World's 75 Creative Card Challenges Week: Make a Card with a Window. I pulled out the Lifestyle Craft's Nesting Circle Dies, and with one die cut a circle from the front of the card, and with the next size larger die, I die cut a circle from the Adhesive Backed Metal, adhered it to the inside of the card base to create a mirror look. The heart is suspended by fishing line to obscure some of the mirror when viewing the card from the front.

When you open the card, the metal provides just enough of a reflection so that the recipient sees his/her own reflection. Lifestyle Crafts has given me a code to share with you...enter the keyword DRAGONFLY for 20% off! From January 21-27, you can enter the code for 50% off! Lifestyle Crafts introduced a ton of fun new products for CHA.

Today's Tip: In the words of Cath from Moxie Fab World: "The whole purpose of creating a window on a card is to add an interactive surprise." My interactive surprise is seeing your face in the circled mirror when opening up the card and finishing the sentiment.