365 Cards - another recipe

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Recipes are just about the easiest challenges of all.

365 Days has one today -
5x5
3 stamps
Fiber/twine
2 Patterned papers
4 blossoms

No more, no less.

Stamps are always tough for me, I can never get them quite right, but today's turned out ok.

The orange seemed like the right color for a happy card. I do orange so very seldom - it always makes me think of the dreaded cooked carrots, which, well, I cannot abide. Don't like snakes either - you can count on one NEVER showing up on my work, EVER.

Spencer is spending tomorrow and Monday with us as his mom and dad are playing in a golf tournament - last week he treated us to the most frenzied dance to all 25 minutes of Baby Mozart. Luckily all we have to do is wave our arms occasionally, and blow on a kazoo once in a while, phew. Never knew Mozart translated into wild dance, but in his world it sure does.

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Our Creative Corner Color/Texture

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Our Creative Corner is looking for b&w and some texture this week.

I have been inspired by Linda the Funkie Junkie since I first became aware of all the card bloggers. Her take on this challenge was a silhouette, and I went for the same. Black and white is one of my favorite choices for challenges or color combos or just about anything - I think it tells a story so well.

My "freedom" is cut using Sure Cuts a Lot, which I know I will be talking about incessantly for awhile. No need for Cricut cartridges, everything you can imagine you can cut, you can cut using this software program. A simple USB cable from your Cricut to your computer, and the software, and boom, you are there. I spent $60 for my download, and that is all you ever need to spend. Seriously.

Any fonts you have on your computer now, or that you download for free in the future will all work, as will any wingdings and dingbats. If you really aren't creative at all, (which I completely doubt since you are only here because YOU ARE) there are lots of free files on the internet.

Honestly, no one will ever look at your cards and say "oh that is the George cartridge" because you will have unique stuff.

I will post another card in a day or two using the same software. Meantime I am loving it....

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365 Cards - Courage, City Crafter Challenge 6

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A couple entries today - 365 Cards theme is "courage", and City Crafter has a recipe.

The recipe at City Crafter is 3 flowers, 2 papers, 1 ribbon. A shout out to the ladies over there, who gave me their Artist Spotlight again last week ! Thank you so so much !!

Now, breakfast, a stop at Michael's, and 'let the day begin' ...

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365 Cards - Insects

Insects at 365 Cards today.

I tried to make them nice and friendly, some insects are cute aren't they ?

3 kinds - I used 4, bees, grasshopper, ladybug and butterflies. And I had to use ten of them. It just kinda makes me feel squiggley . . . (would Pam let me get away with just cutting any old thing on my Cricut ? ewww, that even made ME groan...)

The grasshopper came from the Graphics Fairy - I really enjoy seeing what is new there every day, and I often find just the right oddball thing for my cards. The teeny caption there that you will never be able to see properly says "the musical grasshopper."

Dom emailed me this morning and said even he was sick of the rain. If we even think for a moment it may let up in June I recall the first year after Brie was born when it rained every single June day. And not like a shower, then sun, noooooooo drizzle upon drizzle. Personally it never bothers me, but when Oregonians complain I know it has gone on too long.

Ok, now some lunch, then a nap, then something completely frivolous, whatever that may be...

OCC12

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A fairly simple card today for Our Creative Corner - they have a sketch challenge this week.

This looks just a little flat here, but it is much prettier in person.

Off to visit my next door neighbor !

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365 Cards - Keep it Simple

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Good morning ! A very simple card today, per instructions from 365 Cards. A sentiment, a stamped image, and one embellishment. No patterned paper !!
What ?

Been very busy, not a lot of time to get cards going this week.

Am trying to get the software Sure Cuts a Lot up and running. Wow, what an amazing product, and I am hoping I can solve my PC issues today ! I really want to play with this ...

If you are not familiar with this software, check out this website. Works with your Cricut, and eliminates the need for all those really expensive cartridges. Lots of free stuff on the internet to compliment it, plus you are only limited by your own imagination.

Michael's had an ad for their cartridges real cheap this week, maybe $27 or $28 I think ? But our store didn't have any of the good cartridges in stock (ok I really mean the ones I wanted), and a limited choice at that, only maybe 12.

As long as I am plugging other sites, I might as well mention the DT call at the new Papercraft Star. I know my followers, and many others who visit me here have all the talent and know-how to apply for their DT. Check it out !!

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JUGS 34 template

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JUGS always has a 3D template requirement every fourth week of the month.

Being just a beginner to these kinds of templates I chose an easy pillow box.

Not much to say about it. It only took about 20 minutes, including cutting the template. Most of the time I spent matching up the scoring components. The nice thing about this is that I used scraps - paper, ribbons, and lace, and the tag I had previously made.

I have a bunch of tags already made, so I just have to sort through to find the right one ! I found that if I make a few every week I always have one that works. Otherwise, I agonize over making just the right one.

I know this is much simpler than the other beautiful designs, but I am cuttin' myself some slack.

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365 Cards - 4 wheel drive

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365 Cards requires 4 wheels today. Who could resist this most bizarre photo from The Graphics Fairy....

I especially liked "enjoy the trip" with the photo, I don't think they are going anywhere... I figure this for a birthday card, unless my recipient has no clue whatsoever.

And to all of us oldsters - to quote the Dead (and who here in Eugene can't) "what a long strange trip it's been."

Have a great weekend !!

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365 Cards - Picnic

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What a goofy card !

365 Cards has a picnic requirement, and it must be a picnic scene.

Well, I wasn't stumped, but Yogi Bear and his never ending quest for the pic-a-nic basket is the first thing in my mind. So, I am stickin' to it !!

No other rhyme or reason to this - just had a blast doing it and thinking of Yogi sneaking up on it.

This won't be posted to 365 Cards until their Mr Linky is back up, but thought I needed to get it here now before I forgot...

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OCCSC 16

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Just off the top, if you are looking for another post of mine it has been deleted. I spend a lot of time creating ~ and when no one stops by from the challenge I entered I get a little cranky. Especially after they have chosen a winner....

NOW, onto the OCC sketch for this week !

I did a lot of different things here than I usually do on my cards. I am not certain I have used a butterfly but maybe only once. I cut it from paper, and I just love it. I used Ranger Ink on chipboard that I would never have used otherwise for the butterfly background - I am pleased I actually thought of that, and I will do it again.

Also, I saw Darsie Bruno's take on this challenge and loved the bubble embossing. I have never used that folder, and thought I had wasted money on it, but after I saw her use it thought I would try it too. It is a really cool background I think.

The pretty blue borders I won from 365 Cards, Pamela Maas sent them in a fabulous package from her company Mackenzie Mae Designs.

My favorite thing about this card is that it is turquoise ! None of us do enough turquoise. I would challenge myself to a week of it, but goodness, that week long thank you challenge I had for myself was really really hard !!!

I will settle for it a day here and there I think.

Oh, and one last thing - if you are interested in a design team call for a new and unique challenge check out Papercraft Star. My pal Kristina is on the ground floor of this endeavor and it looks most interesting !!

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Play Date Cafe 29

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The colors at the Play Date Cafe are so amazing, I had to play. Well, it IS green ....

Lime green, tree green, very light blue - but the blue looks like a weathered gray to me.

I keep trying to work with vellum, but its properties escape me. Since glue and tape show through, the only way I can think to attach it is with brads or grommets. Anyone have any insight into vellum they can share ?

Another thank you card for me, I think that is 5 or 6 so far this week ?? .....

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365 Cards - Red, white & blue

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A red, white, blue challenge today at 365 Cards.

I know you can tell today what UPS brought me yesterday !!

Soooo, I had to keep it pretty easy and simple, since I am a beginner...

I figured this card for a returning serviceman/woman, as a welcome home. If that isn't in the cards, then a thank you for a great holiday bbq !

Back to work - .....

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365 Cards - Money, City Crafter 5

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Well, money is the theme at 365 Cards. Who doesn't like that ?? AND, City Crafter has a Paris challenge, lucky me !

I had some old paper with French money on it. I bought this paper so many years ago - maybe before anyone even made scrapbooks or did cards. (It said 5 cents on it, that is how old it is.) Don't know what I thought I would do with it, but it was so cool I just held onto it. Stuck it in with all my craft stuff.

But today it will shine at long last.

How does Money inspire us ? Well, it inspired me to make a card with a French theme I guess... lol

I have never been to France and will, no doubt, never go there. In my youth it was the ideal. The place to vacation, fashion, food, even bicycles seemed so exotic !

My friend Bill vacationed there recently, and he said it was everything he had imagined.

And isn't Amelie my most favorite movie ??

Truthfully, I would settle for France at Epcot. In fact, I would completely adore that.

Soooo, back to the card. Did some stamping, and created the sentiment in Word, then used a Sensibility die cut to cut it out. In keeping with my continuing week long theme of thank you cards, I made it Merci !!

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The Weeping Cherry Tree

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A couple photos of the weeping cherry tree Dom planted yesterday.

The tree is only ornamental, no cherries, sadly, but it blossoms in the spring and appears over laden with flowers. I think the origin is Japan.

We don't have grass, except ornamental grasses, and the front yard is just beginning its beautification. The window on the house is one in my craft room !!!

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365 Cards - Criss Cross

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A crisscross pattern is required at 365 Cards today.

I did three - the embossing, the ribbon, and the punch.

In keeping with my self-imposed week long requirement, it is also a thank you note !

Dom is out planting a new weeping cherry tree - so so pretty.

I have put it off long enough - now is the time to clean this messy craft room. Maybe I will find a lot of treasures....

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365 Cards - Recipe Day

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365 Cards has a recipe today,

4.25 x 5.5 card

2 patterned papers

stripes

1 piece of ribbon

stamped image (digi counts!)

stamped sentiment

Can't add a thing to that. Well, I have a bow, but with a piece of ribbon one has to tie it, right ?

The stamped image is a flourish on the left side. I am not sure about the yellow card stock, but now that I have thought about it I am just going to leave it. It looks right, so if it fits in the recipe great, if not, oh well.

I think I shall launch my own week of recipe(s) - my requirement is a thank you card every single day.... now, can I do that ? or have I placed too much strain upon myself ?? will I have so many thank you cards I will have to leave them with my tip at breakfast time ? or at the pharmacy ? Oh no, now that raises the question about the self-check lane at the grocery ...

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365 Cards - 4 buttons, 4 bows

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4 buttons, and 4 bows at 365 Cards today. Pam said this would be easy, hah !

No kidding, I worked on this all day, and here it is 8:30 pm and finally finally finished it.

Well, everything is probably fairly obvious, the buttons are doubled at the top right, and the net bow has a ribbon bow in it.

Green and pink is almost as beautiful as purple and pink, isn't it.

That is about all for today. Have a good one !

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365 Cards - Tri Colors

365 Cards has a tri-color requirement today, along with a stamp. Black and white don't count !

Well, in my mind that is the perfect reason to totally build on black and white.

My three colors are hot pink and red. Ok, that is only two, but I was afraid, since Pam said shades are colors too, that the pink polka dots might be just plain ol' pink and would count ! Or oh dear does it mean no shades at all ? (sort of like the windows here ??) Worry worry, fret fret, oh no. Did she mean don't put shades on the windows, or do put them on, or just mini-blinds? It is all so confusing..........

My first digi stamp, and notice I didn't color it too much cause I have no skills. I used a black circle paper clip for the "key ring". I actually impressed myself with how clever that key ring looks, that is a first ! (it was dumb luck, not artistic skill, believe me)

I broke down and bought myself a Cri-Cut today, found it "buy now" on Ebay. I am sure I won't have to announce when it arrives, there are bound to be cards covered in all sorts of shapes and letters for weeks to come. If I use it half as much as my Cuttlebug, it will be worth it.

Ever noticed how people think you save money on cards by making them yourself ?
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

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365 Cards - Add something

Today at 365 Cards we were to add something to an image to enhance it. Check out this girlie's face, I think she is planting crab apples... (what I really wanted to use as the sentiment was "Daddy's little sunshine..." lol)

While I often add stickles and flowers and ribbons and misc junkola, what I got from the assignment was something outside the norm, something to add some depth and interest that was also part of the image itself.

A very simple card today, a stamp, an image, a brad, a sticker, another sticker, some tape, some paper - that about sums it all up !

And, of course my item of interest to add to the picture was the watering can brad.

I really longed to do a much more complicated design, but that would have taken several days to pull together, and as we all know here at 365 Cards - time is of the essence !! I will be working on a more elaborate idea I think ...

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OCCSC 14 Sketch

I was reading Tracy's blog today, and she said she had done a tag that took her back to her "usual" artistic roots. It is funny how we learn all these wonderful new things, and grow and challenge ourselves - but there is still that little thing that brought us here !

I let myself fall back into that too - kinda simple, kinda distressed, oops, kinda purple you say ?? Even a gel pen on there....

The OCCSC Sketch challenge is always a favorite of mine, even if I don't participate that week. I always look and lurk ! If you haven't been there, take a little tour. Here is this week's take !

365 Cards - the 50's Decade

Picked up this cute apron template at the Stampers Sampler.

Inspiration from a decade is our theme today at 365 Cards. I know the 1920's was the choice, but I opted for 1950's since I lived it. Plus, that is what inspired me !

I recall Sputnik's trip into space, and a Russian boy in my classroom who knew everything about it. Didn't have a tv until about 1958 or so. My dream was to go to Disneyland, and I watched old Walt shamelessly promoting it on the aptly named show "Disneyland" week after week. I saw Queen Elizabeth when she was a young woman, in our very own city, Vancouver B.C., at a tattoo (a drum/bagpipe military event) in her honor.

Mostly from the 50's though I remember the smell of poverty. It will stay with me forever.

I made this card in honor of my grandma, who wore an apron every day of her life I think. This pattern is exactly what she would have chosen. The ribbon and buttons may be a bit fancy for her taste - but I am sure she would have kept it for a "good" apron.

365 Cards - Sunday sketch day 70

Well, I just wanted to get something posted today for the Sunday sketch at 365 Cards. Had to use a flash, maybe I can remedy that in the morning.

Long long Mother's Day, that is a blessing, right ? Off to watch Breaking Bad, my most favorite show...

365 Cards - 3 T's

Ok.

Today at 365 Cards we have three T's. I sneaked a peek late last night to see today's assignment - and all night my brain kept saying "twine, twees, twiangles."

My twine is obvious. The twees I stamped onto the background paper - if you look to the right you can see 3 or 4 of them. The twiangles I cut into the black paper piece by teeny piece, well ok, I used pinking shears.

My usual little flower. I have had a number of people ask about those again, and how to make them. I don't have a cricut, I just cut four or five scalloped circles by hand. I punch a hole in the middle, and use a small brad for the center. Then using a mister (or missus) I spray water over it until it is soaked, and I squish each petal into the middle from the center outward. Keep misting. Then I unravel each petal and shape them by hand, I use a little poker tool (from an eyeglass repair kit) to round them.

Bazzill card stock was recommended to me to use for these, and that is what this flower is made from. However I have used other card stocks, and they give you a different look. For example, if you look at my green flower from Thursday, that was some Target card stock, and you can see it is not tight like this. If the brad is showing I may shoot a stickle or two on there. I use the brad to attach it to the card. These take about 10 minutes to make, very simple, and I always have a variety of them on hand.

Happy Mother's Day to you all - hope you are treated the way you deserve to be. !!!

365 Cards - 3 L's, The Shabby Tea Room 8

Three L's today at 365 Cards -
Love
Leaf
Lace

and I added some Lime Green, along with 16 other green shades. Made the flower, and free cut the leaves, there are also some leaves down in the lower right corner.

The Shabby Tea Room is requiring glitter this week. Lots o' glitter here, even if it may be difficult to see.

Easy and fun card to make. Loving the letter challenges at 365 Cards.

City Crafter 3

If you haven't seen the new City Crafter challenge, check it out. Great prizes ! And I thank them for a "city spotlight" last week !

Their challenge this week was a tag.

Before I started making cards I was really interested in altered books, and made a few. This double tag reminds me of that.

I must say, I do love the Tim Holtz style, but I think everyone probably does.

Anyway, a departure for me from my usual ribbons and goo-goo stuff. (I think I am just always trying to find a way to use colored hemp in big knots !) Hope you like it.

365 Cards - 3 W's, & my craft room

After seeing Carolyn's craft room, I thought I would post some pix of mine too.

It is important you know I did NOT clean this up, I manage to have it look like this ALL the time.

To make matters worse, I did not include pix of the other computer in the room, and two closets.

Does this look like something from one of those hoarder tv shows ? Notice I have 365 Cards up on my computer, as it should be ...

So today Pam has us using 3 W's. White, white and wings.

This may be the most versatile card I have made. I think I could use it for almost any occasion, Christmas, babies, weddings, sympathy, Mothers Day ...

So it is all white, except for the image, from The Graphics Fairy, a great place for vintage images if you have not been there, AND a set of wings. There actually are some wings in the image, but only partial ones. I think the angels' faces are so charming.

I think I need to go to the Olive Garden for dinner, don't you ? YUM.

365 Cards - 3 A's

3 A's today at 365 Cards

Alpha sticker
Arc
Anniversary

Easy - except I had already done 2 anniversary cards in the past week, and one mushy one.

I looked at today's date on the internet to find some other things to commemorate.

5/4/1970 - Kent State 4 students were killed by the Ohio National Guard. I remember it so clearly. I was 20 years old, and my family was living in Ohio, I sure identified with that one. But not a card sending opportunity.

Then, I saw 5/4/1976 - KISS has their first concert in NYC. Wow, that could be really cool - but hey, I think they were around long before then. Checked it out, and sure enough, that web-site was way way off the mark.

How about AROUND 5/4 ? Well I guess I could send out cards commemorating 5/18/80, the day Mt. Helen's exploded... I have never gotten a card celebrating that, have you ? It could be unique... I remember that so clearly too - we could hear the explosion here, 120 miles away. The ash lingered for months.

BUT in the end, just a you and me card, every day is an anniversary of some sort, isn't it.

I know I did purple and green again - I will abstain the remainder of the month, promise...

365 Cards - 3 F's

Hello, Monday !!

Well it is official - I have now bought everything I could have ever wanted at Michael's. I went shopping this morning to use my 50% coupon, and couldn't find anything else I wanted. If only Ben Franklin's had those good coupons too...

Today at 365 Cards we are doing 3 F's.

1) Favorite color - well purple of course ! It is always my number one choice every day when I look for inspiration, even when it is a color challenge with something completely different !

2) Fringe - completely easy too. I have a nice little stash of that. Tho' I restrained myself on the color...

3) Fairy tale - uh oh. I used my good fairy tale idea last week when I listed a handsome prince and some glittery crowns as my favorite things. So I guess I will just have to stick with the first two, and leave the fairy tale fantasizing to someone else... Just don't have any other ideas ...

365 Cards - Sunday sketch day 63

Yes, we post them all here folks, the good, the bad, the ugly.

365 Cards had a super sketch today, but I didn't manage it AT ALL. In fact, once the photo was up I thought, it looks like snow, it is supposed to be Thanksgiving, am I totally nuts ? Please say there is snow at Thanksgiving.... Well, maybe this isn't going to stay in the "keeper file" !! lol

Spent the day with Spencer yesterday as his mom is golfing in the Oregon Tournament of Champions up in Portland, and his dad and grand dad were working. Slept like the dead last night...

Spencer "cooked" and served me any number of great meals yesterday. One was pizza, which he told me was half sausage and half pepperoni. He said, "Have some sausage...have some pepperoni... have some half..." Still laughing today.

Check out this video below, it is only 25 seconds, but I guarantee you will like it. Who doesn't love a giggling baby, catching his first football. That is our little Spencer... (who also loves being hit in the head with a ball I might add...)

JUGS 31 Sketch

JUGS 31 is a sketch.

Taking care of Spencer today ...