Dumpster Dive...

...Crafter style! This kleenex box was headed for the trash can but the colors and design were so pretty I just hated to throw it away. So...to the rescue came my Fiskars 4XL Squared Lever Punch to cut out the little hummingbird,

and ta-da! a cute card! finished off with Fiskars 1/2 Round Corner Squeeze Punch & Fiskars 3-in-1 Rotating Corner Squeeze Punch, Summer Fun!

Spring Blog Hop!

there's a Spring Blog Hop! going on today and tomorrow, March 24th & 25th by my friends at Fiskateers!



If you are thinking a “Fiskawhat?”, you should know that Fiskateers is an online community of craftiness (paper crafts, sewing, gardening, etc.) all based around our love and appreciation of Fiskars (think orange-handled scissors to start).There is a blog, gallery, and message board led by four lovely Lead Fiskateers who along with the other Fiskateers are fabulous at getting creativity flowing via chats, challenges, on-line crops, and interviews with other crafty celebrities. After hopping with us today (see complete list of hop stops below), if you would like to join in the inspiration of Fiskateers, or would like to learn more, you can hop over to Fiskateers to join :)

Start hopping now! there are awesome projects and how-to instructions using Fiskars tools, ...and some suprises, like a chance to win some of these fantastic supplies! So go on over to Kelly's blog and start the HOP!

sweet layout but ow!

When my niece showed me her new piercing I just had to take a pic! It's her first. Will it be the first of many or the one and only ;)

my take on...

...this card sketch from My Favorite Things



using Pure Innocence "Fresh From the Oven"





love putting these papres and images all together, adding buttons, gems and ribbon! doing a little fussy cutting to paper piece the hat, bowl and pants.
very relaxing :)

busy, busy, busy

here it is the last day of August! Summer is almost over and I haven't got around to doing half of what I wanted to do ;)
Oh well, "tomorrow is another day"...
Busy is the word for the last few weeks, busy with making projects for challenges I'm hosting for the online crop at the Fiskateers site :) and then joining in on some of the challenges which include "lifting" other Fiskateer's projects, being inspired by them and then creating to make it my own. These are a few projects that I've completed,

Love making Halloween cards, orange is one of my favorite colors :)

first pinwheels that I've made

created this layout playing Simon Says challenge, what a Fun! game...after following the directions you just don't know what it's going to look like in the end, it's a surprise :)

I have realized that I am hyper-motivated by challenges! not competition but the challenge to get 'er done :) and working under pressure seems to push me to complete the project. Not sure if this is a good thing or not but just looking at my work, looks pretty good to me ;)

two of my favorite crafting companies...

I love Fiskars and My Favorite Things! Here's a card I made using both :) Two border punches by Fiskars and a stamp set by My Favorite Things.



These stamps are so adorable and fun to color. I'm going to try and practice more with my Copics. And I can never have too many punches from Fiskars ;)

and here's what I came up with...

This week is the CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) convention in Chicago. My lss, Paper Studio, is there scouting out the new products for fall, winter, holidays and especially Christmas :) Can hardly wait to see what Micaela finds! Check out Paper Studio's Facebook page, Micaela has posted some pics :)

Also the Lead Fiskateers are there having fun working with Fiskars products, showing off what wonderful projects that can be made with crafting companies products. While they are gone, over at the Fiskateers site we are having an online crop with challenges to make and share in the gallery. Love this! It motivates me to create and think of other ways to use my supplies...inspiring! I love seeing what everyone comes up with, totally amazing and awesome!

Here's one of the challenges I worked on making the card below. In this challenge we needed to come up with a crafty C-H-A! Create a project that includes an item, embellishment or technique that starts with a “C”, an “H” and an “A”.


My "C" was Chalk ink around the edges of my pattered paper, "H" was cutting my patterned paper in Half and "A" was for Accenting with gems :)

There are 24 challenges and I've gotten 18 completed so far!

taught a card class today

I am in love with the My Favorite Things stamp sets and their die sets! So I created this card with the "Something's Fishy" stamp set and the Die-namics "Fishtail Banner" set. Isn't she just the cutest! and in the stamp set there are three sentiments that are adorable! "Feeling a little green around the gills?" and "That's Just Crappie"...see, aren't they fun!



...and here's the inside of one of the cards that I wanted to use for a birthday card, I used a sentiment stamp from Hero Arts. It's OK to mix and match stamp sets :)



I'll be teaching this class again next week at Paper Studio which includes making two cards with envelopes and the stamp set!