I need another....

BEER!

Steve Hughes this is for you!



Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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Glitz....inspired by Lauren

Lauren threw down our last challenge of the night to use sparklies on our card...hope this qualifies, as she is the Queen of Glitz!




Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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Inspired by paper

Here is my card, inspired by a piece of dp, which is behind my little gift card!



Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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Go Badgers!

My title says it all......
This is for a card inspired by LJ and her red, white and roses challenge.

I know, no roses, but the BADGERS are in the ROSE BOWL!






Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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Memories

Made this prototype for LJ's spring swap. Also, to join in the festivities in the Forest.....

We had lilies of the valley all over our yard when I was a child....will always associate them with my favorite thinking spot. My friend, Holly, always knew she could find me there!



Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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Year one comes to a close

I am truly ecstatic to have completed year one of Calendar Girl posts! I have had so much fun! This final post of 2011 was a ton of fun! It was a Mystery Word given to each of us by the 'month' ahead of us!

My mystery word is:
MASTERPIECE

Before I show you my card, let me tell you what went through my head when Kelly gave it to me.

Yep, first I drew a blank. Then, I said the word and thought of an art museum. This in turn made me think of ornate frames. And that was my starting point to my card.

I went with a folded paper frame (found the tutorial here on SCS). I knew I wanted to use that DP and the color purple, but the DP has white on the reverse. That is why I went with the purple highlighted with the green. I kept that pattern the same over the whole project. I colored the watercolor scene with a blendy pen and CTMH markers ~ image by Robyn's Fetishes. Then I knew I wanted to use the bird from Delicious Doodles as a chickadee and put it in front of the scene I framed! I used the same coloring technique here...lol. Because I felt the card was right side heavy, I added some festive bling to the left! These brads are also from CTMH.



I hope you enjoy my "masterpiece"! Please check out the rest of the Calendar Girls blogs and leave them some love!!


Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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More Christmas cards

Well, with a couple days left til Christmas, I only have cards for those near and dear to me left to do. PHEW!

After Mike, my DH, saw the stage card I made for my friend, he 'requested' one. Did he not hear my mumbles and not nice words while making the first one?? Needless to say, here is his....






Then life snowballed, not literally (we are actually praying for some snow ~ not just here, but for the Santi family too!), but then everyone thought they should have a stage card.

NOPE, didn't happen!

Kyle will be receiving this cute pop open box. I thank Sabrina for this awesome idea. My snowman came from here (I just googled and found it; printed two per 8.5 by 11 piece of paper).







Shelly, my SIL will be getting this one! How cute is Riley?? It's not on a stage and does not pop, but it will stand up when opened!




Sorry for the shortness of this and lack of details. If you have any questions, just ask and I will get you the info!

Of to make a couple more cards while I can....lol


Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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I tried....

A pop-up stage card....
I only have one word to say about it: YIKES

The tutorial on SCS made it look easy...and the directions were! My execution, on the other hand, made it into a process taking me the whole evening...lol

Here are the results:









The darling penguins are from Bugaboo, the sentiment from SU! And the snowflakes from Unity. The white base is SU! And the back is glitterpaper from Colorbok. I will be adding some dp to the front of the closed card, under the belly band...but, you get the gist of it!!


Thanks for stopping by! Leave me love if you have time....
HUGGZ,
April

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More GC Holders

Well, my title says it all. My favorite SIL needed a couple cards to put gift cards in...so, I made them...lol

The first was cased from my SU! Demo, Christine Luce, and the second used the current Mojo Monday challenge ~ #219.



Deets:
immie from Sassy Studio Designs DTBST#103 (this reminds me of oh so many Hallmark movies this holiday season)
All else from scraps



Deets:
Immie from Mo Manning
All else from scraps


Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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TicTac Anyone?

I was blurfing last week and found so many cool projects that I want to try.....thank goodness that I don't have EK on Friday so I can do some much needed crafting!

Today, I made up a cute little 'book' to hold TicTacs. I used scraps of card stock in the blue family, DP the was left over from who knows what, and even heat embossed the Unity Stamp with some blue glitter! The ribbon I have had forever as well as the pearls. The little Jingles are from SU!



I have entered this at the Unity Challenge and at Tuesday Morning Sketch 124.




Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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The answer...

...to your gift card dilemma!

I was at a card class last week and was taught a similar gift card holder. I changed out the SU products for Unity stamps! After taking the belly band off, there is a place for a handwritten message and a gift card!

I tried to show just a bit of snow/frost with just a touch of vanilla that I smudged with my thumb.....saw that idea over at SCS.




Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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I
Happy Son-day!
I hope everyone is taking a break today to enjoy THE reason for the season.

Today, we are celebrating friendship.
Our sponsor this week is Kenny K. So many fun images over there....it was hard to decide; but I (finally) decided on Delivery Guy. And, rather than make a card, I did up a little 3-D project. I made a delivery van holding a little gift....



This is being sent to one of my swapping friends! I hope she likes it!! I don't want to give it away, on the off chance she is reading this ;-)



I hope you have time, we are giving you until the beginning of the year, to stop over at CWWC and enter this fun challenge!


Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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A little tag

Well, it really isn't little, but I think tag and automatically think little....lol

I made this tag for a challenge at SCS for a guest DT position with MFT. I must be honest and say that I feel my tags are never quite worthy. I think all crafters think this way at some point, so I sucked it up and tried! I even think I pulled it off! My friend LJ has been quite the enabler where MFT is concerned. I am in love with the whole Pure Innocence line, not to mention Fred Bear! Who doesn't love a bear who loves s'mores and brings flowers?? I have yet to try their dies, but I look and sigh every month when I get their newsletter.....aaahhhhh.....sigh.... Just think, I could become the enabler if I am chosen....lol



I used card stock, kraft and candy cane stripe, by a*muse, ribbon by SU!, a dollar stamp from Mike's (the to/from), and Lily of the Valley from the Pure Innocence line at My Favorite Things. She's colored with my Copic's; and I replaced her lily of the valley with a poinsettia I layered with Prima's. The flower looks a bit blurry, but the top layer is tulle! The back of the tag is all candy cane stripe. I used my Cricut to cut out all three layers of the tag!

I really like who this sweet tag turned out! What do you think?

I have a super busy weekend ahead, so probably won't post again until the beginning of the week!


Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

This has also been entered in the current challenge at Joan's Gardens!

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Crafty Creation

As I was blurfing this morning, I came across a post at Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps about their sponsorship this week of challenges at the deconstructed sketch, Do You Stack Up and For Your Inspiration. While I follow Jen and her deconstruction, I wasn't aware of the other two challenges. (Ok, I do sometimes live under a rock....lol)

Well, moral of the story, I decided to combine the three challenges and created this card!



It was pretty easy to combine them; DS29 needed a bow of some sort and that played into the ribbon/something to tie aspect at DYSU48, and FYI19 gave me the color inspiration!

The plum base was from Recollections, the kraft from a*muse, and the DP from Bo Bunny. The ribbon I have had forever and the pearls were from Michael's and buttons from CTMH. The main frame is stamped with CTMH Cocoa on a base I chalked to give a reflective scene. The sentiment is from the same set!

What do you think? My SIL says that it is very girly for me!! I hope you will let me know what you think....


Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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Happy Hump Day!

Earlier this week you got a peek at my craft space. It was a mess (still is, so no more pictures), but in those pictures were hints of two card sets I am sending to my swapping pal, Sam. I Also did some creative cropping so that a mystery wasn't revealed too soon.....utoh....

Sam is hostessing a Men's Cards Swap and I took general spot and a birthday one. I will be honest and tell you, as many probably know, I rarely put a sentiment on the outside of my card. And, if I do, it is pretty generic. This holds true with these cards too. I hope Sam and the rest of the swappers don't mind!



I used some twine, from The Twinery, for a purely male embellishment. The card base is kraft from a*muse. The digital image is from Mo's Digital Pencil (one of my most favorite immies evah); the sentiment is from SU. This is intended for my general card, but could be a birthday one too!



The card base is a*muse and the DP is CTMH. The button is vintage~ an estate sale find! The image (obviously) is from Bugaboo!

Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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Happy November!

Can you believe that it is the 28th of the month already? In just a couple of days it will be December...ugh! That means lots of baking is in my near future! Great for my neighbors, not so much for my waistline!

It is probably a good thing that I have some of my Christmas cards already made!

This is my prototype that I wasn't 100% pleased with:



This is my final version:


I changed the color of the fireplace and double stamped the fire. The flowers are by Prima (a great find thanks to Kelly). The card stock is from a*muse. The ink is CTMH and the ribbon is a dollar find at Mike's.

Now, you are probably wondering why I am sharing this with you.....because today is the day when the Calendar Girls show off their version of the month's challenge. That challenge was to display a Christmas card! Woot woot...easy peasy!

Now, for the not so great part of the challenge.....we are all supposed to show off our crafting space. I must be honest and tell you that while I have a lot of space, I have terrible lighting. I am hoping that Santa brings me a new OttLite in my stocking! (I did decide I would show you my mess, since I showed you my scary pajama outfit a week or so ago!). You will notice that my cards are skewed across my desk, my ATG and stamp blocks haven't made it back to their storage bin, and I am about to send some swaps out!










I hope you will leave me some love, and then go leave some for the rest of the Calendar Girls (check my side bar)!!


Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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It's Sunday, so you know what that means

Yep, time for another challenge over at Crafting When We Can Challenges! This fortnight, we are 'cheating' and letting you use a sketch from another current challenge. Make sure that you still follow our rules......

We are sponsored this time around by Tiddly Inks.

I used the darling Christmas Pixie! She is really sparkly IRL. If you enlarge the photo you can see that better ;-)



I used the current sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches. Melissa always has a great challenge and since I am done with my current swaps have some time to play in some challenges!!



I hope you can all play this time with the Crafting When We Can Team. It is an easy challenge, so what are you waiting for??


Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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FIL's Cards

I love that my own family asks me to make their Christmas cards.... Yes, they do pay....lol
My FIL is a bit wacky and has a wicked sense of humor. He put in his order for thirty Christmas cards, and I asked what he wanted them to look like. His only stipulation was they not look like last year's (who can remember that long ago?).

I figured these are different, so went with it.....



The dp is from Frances Meyer and the stamp is Unity. I embossed using Versamark and Red Tinsel.

Here is a closer shot of my computer generated sentiment with the stamped snowflakes.



Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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Let's Face It

I so admire crafters that know what they are doing. The ones that can pull of a project effortlessly! I cannot always accomplish that!

I can cook like a dream, or so many friends and relatives say, so a week or so ago got it in my head to enter a challenge over at Peachy Keen Stamps for a recipe card!

I own one 'face' stamp and ever since being gifted with it have been petrified to ink it up. Well, I had a lot of time on my hands this week (many of you should laugh about this since I have cooked my entire dinner sans the turkeys already), so I gave using it a try.



While I am ambivalent about it, I did give it the old college try, so to speak! The recipe is inside; the yellow folds open. No real embellishments since it will be a well used card! The designer paper is homemade using a million-year old cheapy stamp and chalks...lol

Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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Prescott shows up again....

Last week's Mystery Image really stumped me. And, I hate to admit it, but I had to ask Barb for a couple more images since the first batch didn't turn out so well. In the end, I had this Prescott left over and decided while he wasn't what I wanted for my swap cards, he is card worthy!



Pretty much back to my CAS style....what do you think?


Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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A Mystery Revealed

Time sure does fly when I am crafting!  I love my many friends over on SCS.  

What? You have never stopped in to Splitcoast Stampers?  You should - there is a ton of inspiration floating around over there!

Besides visual inspiration, I have many friends that offer words of wisdom and support!  It goes to show you that there are genuinely nice people in the world!

One set of these nice people dreamt up a MYSTERY swap.  Every two months a new image comes to us, we create, send back to the hostess and await the next image.  

The current hostess is Barb and she sent Prescott, from Whipper Snapper Designs.

 

I had a ton of fun with this image ~ once I got my mind wrapped around it.  I must give a shout out to Barb with a BIG THANK YOU!

She sent me extras because I 'goofed' on the others.....but, I did finally figure it out to my liking!

Thanks for stopping by!

Huggz,

April

Happy Birthday, Adrianna

Yesterday was the big day!
A family friend turned
{{drum roll, please}}
13.

So, I colored up Birthday Anya, found some fun paper and made her a special card!



What do you think?

I now can blog from my iPad and haven't quite mastered taking pictures, so please bear with me ;-)

Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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Tennis Anyone?

It is always exciting to see someone you know in the news!
My son's friend became the first tennis player in school history to win a Section V Championship!!

This is certainly a card-worthy occasion and, as such, here is the card.




The image is from The Greeting Farm, papers from Close To My Heart, and flowers from Prima.

Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

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The Duel is ON

Well, it is the start of a new round of duels.  Jeanette was our hostess (that is for the Dazzlers) and Kelly hostessed for the Divas (they really are...lol).  Between the two of them, Jeanette and Kelly, they came up with a great and challenging theme: 

"What NOT to wear!" 

If you have ever seen that show, or even heard of it, you know that individuals with questionable taste get remade....

Yep, we all received kits that didn't necessarily "match".

Here's what was included:

DP's:

Colorbok Beautiful Music

Paper Company Double Sided Mulberry - green/lt gr

Paper Pizazz Yummy Chocolate Chips

Paper Studio Girly Graffiti, Hibiscus Flowers, Multi Colored Bursts,

Water Color Floral, and Watercolored Balloons

Embellishments:

Eyelet Outlet - mug and Bux cup

Heidi Swapp - Anywhere stickers

Karen Foster Designs - orange floss

Making Memories - Remeber Ribbon

Simplicity Buttons - green, pink and purple

Vintage key from a treasure hunt

I must admit that I knew straight away what I wanted to do.  Not sure I truly pulled it off, but it sure was FUN!!

The only piece of the kit I couldn't figure out to use on my card was the vintage key....I have some thoughts, but just not with this card...lol...

I did get everything else on it, or in it!

So, have I bored you yet with the details?

Hope not!

Because, here is my card!!

 

So, what do you think?  Did I take this mismatched kit and rework it into something great? (I will settle for okay here, or even fun and passable!)

After you leave me love - you are, aren't you??  Make sure to stop over and visit the rest of the Darling Duelers:

Dazzlers          Divas

April (me)         Barb

Debbie              Carol

Jeanette             Jamie

Melina               Joan

Michelle               Judy

Paola                Kelly

Terry                    LJ

Darlene              Tami

And, our guest this month, Janet!

I tried to forget this part, but I might as well post it....
I am supposed to put a 'questionable' outfit that I once wore into my post.  I am not sure the outfit is questionable, but when you put my BFF and I together....oivay!

This is my best friend, Cheryl, and I on our way out to the dance club circa 1986.
Can you say pretty in pink?
I sure do wish I could get away with going out in public like this today....lmbo!
Not only is the outfit "interesting", but those glasses are HUGE! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Huggz,

April

Here it is, Sunday again....lol
This fortnight over at Crafting When We Can Challenges, we are making birthday cards for GIRLS.  If you read my posts, you will know that I am surrounded by BOYS....yep, this was a challenge.

 

The image is Seraphena from

 

Isn't she adorable.  I layered her leaves to give her a bit of texture, but kept the rest of the card pretty simple.  It is going to a three year old, so didn't want to go overboard in my layers.  The papers were from my scrap file...colored with my Bic's!

Thanks for stopping by!

Huggz,

April