Wednesday, November 30, 2011

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

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Monday, November 28, 2011

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

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday, November 27, 2011

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

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Saturday, November 26, 2011

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

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

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

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Monday, November 21, 2011

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

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Friday, November 18, 2011

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

Thursday, November 17, 2011

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

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

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

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

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

Sunday, November 13, 2011

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

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

A DudeTime Doodle Challenge

Well, I am either very crafty...or not so much!  I love those times when everything goes as planned....I get to craft and blog about it in a timely manner....lol

It seems that for a bit, I was in a rut and couldn't get the two times to coincide!

Today, I have used the free image over at Dude Time Doodles to make a little card for my son.  He is twelve and an avid baseball player/fan!  In fact, he has already made next year's travel team and I am sure practice will be starting before I know (or really want) it! 

Now, if you know Tammy and/or Marlene, you have run into the humor the Dudes and Dudettes show off all the time.   I thought I would give it a shot, and let my humor hang out...lmbo!

 

Thanks for stopping by!
Huggz,
April

SOTC ~ November

MaryAnn was the hostess of our Traveling Card Swap this month and as such, wanted us to make cards for teen girls (yikes, I live in a house of boys...)!  Straight forward challenge...EXCEPT she wanted something on the card to be twisted....I sure do hope that my rolled flower counts!
 
Thanks for stopping in today!
Huggz,
April

Friday, November 4, 2011

A Little Asian Flair....

Paola is the hostess of an Asian Flair Swap over on SCS. This is her second swap of this kind...not sure how I missed round one, but I wanted to be sure I made it in this round. Because the postal system doesn't like me, I mailed these early, but am just now showing y'all!

Here is what I came up with:


What do you think? The blue looks very blue here, but IRL is more of a teal color. The geisha image is from Whimsie Doodles and the CS and DP is from Close To My Heart; as is the branch I have layered under my computer generated sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!
HUGGZ,
April

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

On a roll....


I just love this Riley! I come from a long line of hunters, and while I don't get out there and hunt or track deer, I do benefit from the labors of my brother/cousins/husband (&friends)!! When I won this Riley I just knew that it would be inked up a lot!! In fact, I think he is so stinkin' cute that I used him for the latest Forest Swap at SCS!

I didn't want to offend anyone, so I made a card without a hunting sentiment, but rather an uplifting one!

Thanks for stopping by....I will have more to share later in the week!

HUGGZ,
April