Color Throwdown Challenge #176

Happy Wednesday, friends!  I'm popping in to share my lackluster CTD176 card that was the result of my mojo being on hiatus this week :/  This CAS design was inspired by Deb's card found HERE.  Hers is absolutely STUNNING, whereas, mine failed in a few areas that I believe to be obvious so I won't belabor you with explaining.  Instead, I'll thank the ever so talented, Joan for selecting this fantastic color palette that made it a little easier to CASE Deb's card.  If that even makes sense...  Either way, check out this fab combo:

I used my MTME Sentimental Occasions set to build my greeting, and the MTME Bold Botanicals set for my bloom.  My border punch is Recollections (from Michaels) and the butterfly was made using a Martha Stewart punch.  Other than that, it's pretty basic and self-explanatory.  I guess the perk is that this will mail easily unlike most of my other cards :]  LOL

Please be sure to swing by the rest of the team's blogs for some real inspiration!!  They're projects are stunning as usual.

Bar

Broni

Danielle

Joan

Kerri

Keva

Lori

Lynn

Tammy

Wanda
Stacy Morgan ~ January Guest Designer

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope you are having a great week!!

Color Throwdown Challenge #175

Hi everyone!  I'm back in the Color Throwdown swing of things after my trip to San Antonio last week, so I'm popping in to share a VERY quick project I made to house the VERY time consuming cupcakes I made :/  Danielle is our hostess with the mostess (CTD175), and she chose an awesome palette for this time of year.  It can be winter-y, Valentine-y, spring-y, whatever theme you're feeling at the moment.  I'm feeling kinda Valentine-y ♥ ...even though I don't even have a prospective Valentine :[  Check out her palette:

I used the new MTME Hey Cupcake template for my project.  I've been itching to whip one of these up, so this week's challenge was the perfect opportunity!  I layered my MTME Fun Flowers paper as the decorative panel, adhered my fave white sewing trim and olive ribbon, and hot glued some primas.  That was IT!  I know, I know...I didn't stamp a tag, I didn't stamp ANYTHING, but I still think it makes a statement and is adorable!  Just goes to show your projects don't have to be overly fussy to look sweet ♥

Here's a snapshot of the inside of my box:

I also couldn't wait to show you how easy it is to dress up your cupcakes!!  I made some fancier cupcake wrappers for this release (My Sweet Heart and Fine Foliage), but I didn't want anyone to lose sight of how quick and easy the Basic Cupcake Wrapper can be when paired with some fun digital paper!  It cuts in just a few seconds (whereas the more detailed the design, the longer it takes to cut), and it's simply a matter of securing it and adding the cupcakes like I did here!  I used the smaller of the two sizes.

So...what do you think?  EASY stuff, my friends!  Glad you stopped by today.  Please be sure to check out my fellow, amazing DT sisters to soak up some more inspiration :]

Bar

Broni

Danielle

Joan

Kerri

Keva

Lori

Lynn

Tammy

Wanda
Stacy Morgan ~ January Guest Designer

Have a fantastic remainder of the week!

Achoo! Bless you...

Hi friends.  I’m popping in to share my third project as Our Craft Lounge's Artist of the Month!  This is the time of year for runny noses and head colds, so I thought a little decorated tissue pack would make a cute, yet thoughtful gift for my co-workers who are a little under the weather.  I chose to work with two sets today to make my simple project.  I stamped the “ACHOO!” sentiment from the Say It With Flowers set, because I wanted a simple font that I could stamp repeatedly.  

The “Bless you” sentiment, the tissue box and bowl of soup came from the Running Sick set.

I saw the cutest dyed doilies on my friend, Dana Gustafson's blog the other day, and just HAD to give them a try!  The original tutorial was posted by Charlotte's Fancy.  I kind of followed Charlotte's tutorial for the first three colors I tried...but I used SU ink droppers instead of food coloring.  The pastel colors were really pretty, but I love BOLD regal colors, so I changed it up a bit.  I put my white doilies in a Pyrex dish and squirt a LOT of SU ink on them.  The doilies kind of absorbed the ink, but not edge to edge, so I put the dish under the faucet and simply turned the water on just until it hit the doily (very slow drip) and then shut it off.  I'm talking a DROP of water...literally.  I then moved the doily around to completely absorb the ink and used the same mixture for my next doily.  Check out the difference in the color hues!!  I LOVE the dark ones :]

The "blue" doily is actually plum in person...it's gorgeous!!  I used the Garden Green one on my tissue pack decoration.  You'll notice I cut a fancy 4.25"x4.25" white frame to go under my doily so that the colors of the tissue pack wouldn't show through.

I also cut an Occasional Label out of my MTME Fresh Cut Expressions Collection 1 pack of digi paper, and stamped my ACHOO on the layered oval.  I colored the soup bowl and tissue box with Copics and layered them with dimensional tape.  The Bless You sentiment was a perfect fit for my SU punch using another sheet of digi paper from the same pack.  A little ribbon and a prima finished off my project :]

Easy, cost effective, cute little gift!!!  Love those kinds ;]  Hope you're inspired to get crafty!!  Thanks for stopping by.

love YOU

Hi everyone!  I'm popping in this morning to share the card I made for my second week as Artist of the Month over at Our Craft Lounge.  I'm a tad delayed in posting (okay, a little more than a tad) due to a work trip to San Antonio, so please forgive my tardiness.  Hopefully you were able to check out my project on the OCL blog and this is a repeat!  I had the pleasure of working with a lovely set called Love Notes.  Check it out:

I plan on using this set again, so keep an eye out for more fun projects ;]  I have a TON of ideas for this set...just not enough time in the day to bring them to fruition all at once.  For my card, I used one of my newest paper packs over at My Time Made Easy called Island Love.  Now, I realize I also released a more traditional Valentine/love color palette for this paper, but I wanted to go against the grain of what's expected.  So, I stuck with the pretty Pool Party, Calypso Coral and white palette. I created a double frame if you will to bring the focus to my script panel.  If you look closely you'll see that I first stamped the "shaded" background in Soft Sky and then embossed the script in white on top.  I highlighted the last word in the script, "love" to draw the eye to the first word in my sentiment. 

I added some white, frilly trim layered with some teal seam binding and a coral bloom, then adhered the second word in my sentimet, "YOU".  Hot glue is my adhesive of choice when I play with blooms, so I just tucked my tag in while it was still hot.  I added some antique brass SU! brads to finish the look and I was done!

I'm having such a great time using my OCL goodies and sharing them on their blog.  I'm still very honored to represent OCL as their Artist of the Month ♥  I'll have another project to share on the OCL blog tomorrow!  I might wait a day or two to share on my blog just to break it up a bit since this post was so late.  Hope your new year is off to a wonderful start.  I know I'm inspired by the possibilities and have a great feeling that this year is going to be amazing.

All the best ♥

The Importance of Exercising During and After Cancer

Hi friends.  I'm sharing a special post today written by David Haas.  David contacted me and asked if I would be interested in posting one of his articles about cancer awareness, to which of course I happily agreed.  I'm very blessed to report that my mother is a breast cancer survivor, which is one reason I take cancer awareness seriously. 

I wanted to make a card to share with David's article, so I made use of the Color Throwdown's first challenge of the year.  Bar's color choice was perfect for my card:

David is a Guest Blogger for the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance, so I did a little research and found that the ribbon awareness color for Mesothelioma is pearl.  I used some satin white ribbon to depict pearl, and recolored my MTME Amour paper (swapped pink with gray) to follow the palette ;]  My layout was inspired by the Mojo Monday challenge (MOJO222).

As for David's article, he eloquently educates us on the importance of exercising during and after cancer.  I hope you'll take a minute to read his important message whether you or someone you know has been affected by cancer.  You never know when this type of knowledge will be useful in life.

The Importance of Exercising During and After Cancer

After you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, you have to reassess your entire life. How you eat, when you sleep, and how you care for your body are all factors of life that you must tailor to survive cancer. Whether you are a cancer survivor or recently diagnosed, changes have to be made to your lifestyle in order to maintain your health. However, both cancer survivors and those who have been recently diagnosed should consider the health benefits of continued fitness both during and after cancer.

If you already have a fitness routine when you are diagnosed with cancer, it can be beneficial to continue with it. However, you should adjust your exercise routine to ensure that you do not overexert yourself during treatments. Cancer changes your body. While you are undergoing cancer treatments, your doctor may recommend that you decrease the intensity of your workouts, as well as tailor your fitness routine to ensure that you are getting the maximum benefits, and not hurting yourself.

Maintaining an exercise routine while you have cancer and after you have cancer can help you in a variety of ways. Exercise can help you maintain your weight, as well as keep your bones, joints, and muscles healthy. Exercise also helps with your mental well-being. Having a healthy mental well-being while you have cancer is vital to getting better. When you feel good about yourself and know you are keeping your body healthy, it can boost your mood.

After you go through cancer, you need to slowly build your health back up. Exercise is an ideal way to help build up your health because you can tailor exercise routines. For example, you can slowly build up how much rigorous activity you do as you start to feel better. Typically, adults need to exercise at least five days a week for 30 minutes a day. However, as you go through cancer or build yourself up after cancer, you can tailor this amount of exercise to fit your needs.

While studies are not conclusive, research has indicated that people who have a regular exercise routine have a lower risk of developing certain types of cancer.

When your doctor gives you a cancer diagnosis, it does not matter what type of cancer it is. Whether it is breast cancer or mesothelioma, the news is always devastating. However, when you keep yourself active, it can help you overcome the obstacle of cancer.


Thanks for letting me share my card and David's important message. I hope you found it enlightening. 

Please be sure to visit the CTD gals today while you soak up your creative inspiration.  You can find their links over at the CTD blog :0] 

I hope you all have a wonderful, prosperous 2012 ♥

Artist of the Month at Our Craft Lounge!!

Wow!  What a nice break, ehh?  The CTD closed shop early for the holidays which gave me more time to focus on my kiddo and spoiling her, but it's been a while since I've shared a project ;]  With the new year, we're getting back into the swing of things, and I'm also soooo excited to announce that I'm the January Artist of the Month for Our Craft Lounge!  I was equally humbled and excited when Kendra asked me to join them for the month :]

I have lots of OCL goodies to work with, but I chose Pretty Petals for my first project, because it's my FAVE set!!  I also like the fact that I can use it for the much needed thank you cards this time of year, and also as a catalyst to gently bring us out of the holiday season.  My MTME Buzz-y Blooms and Get Graphic patterned paper also helped to promo this fun set.

I used the Mojo Monday 221 sketch from last week as the inspiration for my layout.

I masked two of my daisies and sponged the bg on the main panel, and layered another I cut by hand.  The centers of my daisies are indeed fluffy, if you were wondering ;]  I used OCL's exclusive Sparkly Fluff, Lemon Drop Yellow on my blooms ♥

My sentiment is from the very versatile OCL Say It With Flowers set.  I just love the fun, "You're Bloomin' Fabulous!" sentiment.  This will be perfect for a close girlfriend of mine ;]  I stamped it with Staz On on vellum after cutting my flag with the Lil Inker Sentiment Flag Die.  I adhered my button and white hemp twine with hot glue.

That wraps up my project deets for today, but be sure to check in each Monday this month for another dose of OCL inspiration ala Kristin ;]

Hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday this season.  I wish you all the best 2012 has to offer.

Supplies
Stamps: OCL Pretty Petals and Say It With Flowers
Ink: Black Staz On, SU! Soft Sky
Paper: SU! Old Olive and Vellum, Couture Cardstock One Sheet Wonder, MTME Buzz-y Blooms and Get Graphic
Accessories: OCL Lemon Drop Yellow Sparkly Fluff, SU! Scalloped Border Punch, Large Circle and Scalloped Circle Nesties, Lil Inker Designs Sentiment Flag Die, Michaels white jewelry hemp twine, aqua ribbon and button