Did I mention it's a snow day here in Portland??!!

This was for another sketch challenge from my Stampin Up! upline. Most of the supplies are from the current Sale-a-Bration and Occasions catalogs.

Can't get enough of sketches :-)

Sending good thoughts your way

It's a snow day here in Portland!!! Seriously, we've gotten several inches of snow over the last 2 1/2 days, and it's still coming. So, what better way to spend a snow day than making cards.

Most of what I used are from the current Sale-a-Bration catalog, and it's based on a sketch challenge posted on my upline's facebook page. I just love working from sketches. I don't know about you, but the hardest part of the process sometimes is coming up with a layout. So, if I can start with a sketch -- it makes it so much easier.

I've been a big fan of Stampin' Up for awhile now. In the last few years, I've regularly attended several workshops where my love for Stampin' Up grew. I had been contemplating joining for awhile, and last October they ran a special to join for $25. I couldn't resist!!!

My current housing situation isn't really conducive to holding workshops -- but I'm gonna give it my best shot. So far, it's been mostly about enjoying my consultant discount.

But I did recently sent out an invite for a workshop and was pleasantly surprised at the response.

This was the offering:

The first card at the top of this post is based on a Mojo Monday sketch that I found. I originally made it for a Demonstrator swap, then decided it would make a great card for a workshop.

The other card that I picked was one I CASE'd from Pinterest. Gotta love Pinterest!!!

Anyway, based on the the response to my first offering, I hope it will be the first of many workshops. And I definitely hope it will be the first of many cards.

I would eventually like to start a monthly handmade card swap. I just love creating and giving handmade cards!

mini-albums

I am OBSESSED with mini-albums...... maybe because they are so popular right now??? I actually made my first one a few years ago, for my in-laws 50th wedding anniversary.

It was made out of brown paper lunch bags. Each page (bag) was assigned to a child or grandchild and their family.

At their celebration, I sat it on a table with a stack of tags. Each family member wrote a note, signed it, and then slipped it in their page. 

I was very pleased with how it turned out. And my MIL told me later that they really enjoyed reading through all the messages.

So, fast forward to this past Christmas.....with mini-albums all the rage, I couldn't resist making another one. 

First, I put together a pinterest "recipe" book for one daughter, but failed to take a pic :-(     I visited her pinterest boards, printed up several,and organized them into categories. The neat thing is that it's designed so that she can continue to add recipes to it.

And then I wanted to put together something for my other daughter. So I came up with this.....

"52 weeks of blessings" was actually designed to be more of a journal than an album. You see, my daughter and husband are going through a difficult challenge and I thought it might help if she was able to compile a years worth of blessings (1) to look back on and (2) to see that even if there are certain blessings that are being withheld, there's many others that they are still experiencing.

 Each page was designed to keep a weeks worth of blessings.

 Each page is only 5x7, so each blessing can be recorded in 1 or 2 sentences.

And for whatever reason, I can't get this last pic rotated!!! <sigh> Anyway, you can see the pages are tabbed with the month.My new favorite tool for this project --- my tab punches :-)

Cutest thing ever !

Aren't these just the cutest ?? Ever ??

I saw this on one of my favorite blogs, capture the moment, and I just had to try it. So, I purchased the die set from papertrey ink, and wah-lah!!

These I made into lapel pins, now I just need to figure out how to turn it into a headband accessory.

Submissions

This is my last post, for now......

When I began getting interested in card making, I turned to the blogosphere for inspiration. As you can see, there are several blogs that I "follow". And along with inspiration, I've discovered several blogs that offer challenges. Some just for the pure challenge, and some that offer great prizes (like stamps !!!).

Well, I mustered up my courage and submitted my first card:

A local craft store (Craft Warehouse) has a Scrapbooking / Card making club that meets monthly. The first one I attended....quite by accident....was in January. It's only an hour, but we cover quite a bit of stuff. Not only do we get a run down of new products the store is or will be carrying, but we also cover a topic -- organizing, tools, techniques, etc. And, if we choose, we can participate in a challenge. We're given usually 3 items (doily / heart sticker / treat box) that we have to use in a project. This month's challenge included the white scalloped border that I used at the bottom, the 2 acrylic tiles, and a new type of brad (that I included in another card).

In addition to the card club challenge, I submitted this for the Get Your Diva On challenge at the Verve Stamps Blog.

And then, sporting all my newly acquired courage, I decided to try the February VLV Sketchbook challenge that Verve had going.

 Here's the brad that came in the Craft Warehouse challenge:

I'm sooo happy that I accepted the challenge. Through this process I discovered that I really like working from sketches. For me, the most difficult part of designing a card is often just coming up with the design.

Though I don't really feel I can truly "compete" with most of those that enter the contests, it doesn't mean I enjoy the challenge any less. And the way I look at it, I end up with a pretty nice card when I'm done!!!

Card swap

Once I pulled out all my materials, and attended a few workshops, I decided I want to start a card swap group. My first step --- create cards / invitations.....

Hopefully, if I can get a group started, I'll be able to continue posting my contributions. We'll see how it goes.