Happy Friday, Upcoming Blog Hop and a Personal Day

Happy Friday everyone!! I hope you all had a FABULOUS week. This post has no photos and I apologize to those who dislike reading. It is just one of those kinds of days for me!!

I took a personal day today. I get three a year and tend to hoard them. I work in a school and I have to use them by the end of the school year. March is a looooonnnnnggg month in Connecticut. We no longer have a February vacation, which is okay most of the time because we tend to have a ton of snow days. Alas, we have had very little snow this year and I have started to go buggy, hence the personal day.

I was going to call somebody to do something today but felt like spending it by myself doing things I wanted to do. HOWEVER, as it often goes, I wound doing a combination of things that had to get done and things I wanted to do.

The first thing I did was to get rid of some bags of stuff I have been meaning to bring to Goodwill.
I was saving them to haul over to the consignment shop but I always feel really guilty doing that. I also had these bags for a while because I was giving away one of the last loads of some of Charlotte's baby clothes. She is fifteen and I found a plastic bin full of clothes labeled 18 months to 2 years. I will never need these again but it was so hard for me to go through and bag these up.

I have to admit that I get attached to THINGS and as I pulled out and folded up each piece of clothing, a memory popped into my head. Who gave her the outfit,  (and yes, most of the things were OUTFITS-socks, head bands, hats-you name it!!) where I bought the outfit, where Charlotte wore it etc... It really was like packing up my memories and it made me sad. I know I had to do it but getting rid of stuff is traumatic to me.

Then as the story goes, as I get rid of things, I buy things. I took a trip to Homegoods, one of my favorite stores. The one I go to is attached to TJ Maxx and I bought three pairs of summer shoes, two tops, two light weight sweaters and a pair of pants. I didn't buy anything at the Homegoods part but it was just so fun looking at the colors and the stuff they had. I should have taken photos but as it often goes, it was CROWDED and people were getting in my way!! Anyway, it was a fun trip for me, since I rarely take the time to get there, let alone be there by myself.

The last thing for today I wanted to talk about is an upcoming blog hop over at Stamping Smiles Design Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge.

I will be hosting and the design team will be featuring cards that have more of a "punny" nature to them. It will last all weekend-April 1st through April 3rd-and there will be PRIZES. I hope you will hop with us!!

I hope you have a great rest of the day. Hopefully I will get some projects done that I can post this weekend. I miss playing!!

My Favorite Thing's "Recipe for Happiness" and some NBUS cards

Happy Wednesday!! I hope everyone is having a great start to the week. I have to get through two more days and then the weekend. I took a personal day on Friday and cannot wait. March is one of the longest months of the school year when you live in the Northeast. Especially when you don't get February break anymore. I am BURNED OUT!!

Today I am sharing two cards I created two weeks ago at my crop.

The first card I used My Favorite Things "Recipe for Happiness" stamp set.

I had stamped some of the images out and colored them with Prismacolor Pencils before I went to the crop.

I die cut the chef out and mounted it over a background that I had blended in using the My Favorite Things "Small Brick Wall" stencil. I used Ranger Distress Ink in "Festive Berry" and "Fired Brick" to do the blending.

I have a bunch more images to use and I cannot wait to use these on some more cards. This set is so fun. Even my daughter liked this card and she is my BIGGEST critic!!

For my second card, I used WPlus9's "Fresh Cut Container" stamp and die set.

I have had this set for A LONG time and never used it. I figured it would be a great one to bring to the crop. Who doesn't love a flower card?

I mounted the images over white card stock circle that I had popped over a layer of patterned paper pieces.

I added some Buttermilk Crystal Drops in the center of the red flowers and some Diamond Stickles for the pink flowers.

I missed Darnell's challenge but I am glad to use supplies that I never had used before. All supplies for my cards are linked below, just click on the picture. I am not an affiliate for any of these companies-just a fan!! (and a HOARDER of craft supplies!!)

I thank you for stopping by today. Have a great day!!

Supplies:
"Recipe for Happiness" Card

InLinkz.com


"Fresh Cut Containers" Card

InLinkz.com

Stamping Smiles Design Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #6

Hello everyone!! Today I am sharing my project for Stamping Smiles Design Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #6. I cannot believe that we are already on the sixth challenge. Where has the time gone?

I used the middle row going across-celebrate, clean and simple and critters. I will not lie, this was tough for me. Clean and simple is NOT my forte!! However, I LOVE a challenge and so I decided to create a birthday card (my celebration).

I started off by stamping and coloring an image from Mama Elephant's "Three Amigos" stamp set. I used Copic markers to color the adorable raccoon (my critter) in and then covered his dark gray "mask" and tail pieces in clear Wink of Stella. I then cut him out using his coordinating die.

Next I die cut the birthday sentiment from Mama Elephant from a piece of paper that I had watercolored and discarded ages ago. I am a hoarder so even when I make something I don't necessarily like, I keep it thinking I might use it on a different project. It makes creating a lot faster sometimes!! I then covered the die cut with clear Wink of Stella to give it some shine.

Now that I had my main elements, I could put everything together. I cut a piece of patterned paper from Pebbles and adhered it onto a 4 1/4" by 5 1/2" card base. I then die cut a white panel using Avery Elle's "Wonky Stitches" die and adhered it over the kraft paper.

Next, I adhered my birthday sentiment onto the card front and placed the critter on top, like he was sitting on a stool. I added the coral sequin and the little American Crafts heart (which was a generous gift from Ka) and it was done!! This was as clean and simple as I could make it!!

This challenge was a whole lot of fun. Please join us over at Stamping Smiles Design Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge and enter your creation!!

Supplies:

(clicking on the photo will direct you to where I bought the supplies!!)

InLinkz.com