My Favorite Things

Card Creations 7 WINNER!

I'm happy to announce that the winner of an issue of Card Creations 7 magazine is ELISE!!!!

"Howdy, Dawn! I was peeking around the Moxie site late last night: can't wait to get my hand on that magazine in person! Great stuff!"

Posted by: Elise | June 26, 2009 at 01:19 PM

Congrats, Elise!!  If you'll email me your mailing address info (link in left sidebar), I'll get it forwarded to the good folks at Paper Crafts and they can get your magazine sent out to you!! 

Thanks to all of you that left comments!

Hope you're having a great day!

Birthday Blowout Giveaway WINNERS!

Here we go with the birthday giveaway winners!!  Keep reading to see who won what packages!  

WINNER: Rebecca L.

"Happy Birthday, Dawn! My favorite birthday was a few years ago and I had recently moved 3000 miles away from my family. My sister came out to visit me on my b'day and it also happened to be Thanksgiving. We spent the day skiing and had a great Birthday/Thanksgiving dinner put on by my new friends. Hope you have a great one, too!"

Posted by: Rebecca L. | June 25, 2009 at 09:22 PM

WINNER: Julia Wu

"Happy birthday Dawn!

My favourite birthday memory is from this picture of me on my 7th birthday where I'm surrounded by my family and I've got an ice cream spoon stuck in my mouth. I've got a huge grin on my face just from pure, simple joy. I don't even remember what gifts I received that birthday but that picture always makes me smile because it reminds me that it's the simple things in life that make me happy ... family, cake and ice cream!"

Posted by: Julia Wu | June 25, 2009 at 11:35 AM

WINNER: Mary Ellen

"Happy Birthday! My favorite birthday was spending the whole week-end at our cottage with the family. Good food, great times, lots of laughs and loads of love!
Mary Ellen"

Posted by: Mary Ellen | June 27, 2009 at 08:12 AM

WINNER: Danielle Baldwin

"Happy Happy Birthday! I can't remember a favorite birthday but my most memorable was my 14th when my mom surprised me with getting my ears pierced. (Her original plan was to make us wait until we were 16 which, in the days of 80's fashion and big earrings, was just torture for this young teen!)"

Posted by: Danielle Baldwin | June 25, 2009 at 01:01 PM

WINNER: Mary W.

"Happy Birthday Dawn!!! Hope you have a great day! My favorite birthday was my 57th birthday. Got to spend it with my birthmother. It was the first time I had met her!!"

Posted by: Mary W. | June 25, 2009 at 10:47 AM

WINNER: Amy O

"Oooh! That's an easy one. My youngest child was due on Nov. 10, but she came early, on Oct. 27 -- my birthday. The best birthday present I've ever been given! Love you, Kendall!"

Posted by: Amy O | June 25, 2009 at 02:35 PM

A big CONGRATS to each of our winners!!  If each of you could email me (link in left sidebar) with your mailing address info, I'll get your packages sent out to you!!

And thank you SO much to each of you that left me sweet birthday wishes and that shared your favorite birthday stories with me!  It sounds like you've had some GREAT birthdays!  ;)  I'm so glad!!

In the Spotlight #10

Hey there!!  

Happy Monday to you!  I survived my first week at home (post lay-off) last week and while I'm still definitely adjusting to things, I'm looking forward to this week.....looking forward to time in the studio, looking forward to being productive and getting lots of design goodness accomplished!  A dear friend took me to lunch last week to celebrate 'my new job', as she put it.....and I have to say that I LOVE that outlook!  

So, all that being said, we'll have lots more fun on the blog-o this week including the announcement of the winners from my Birthday Blowout Giveaway!  And speaking of those winners, each of them will get one of these cutie-pie little 3"x3" cards I made this morning!  I knew I needed to make 'a card' for this week's Raspberry Suite color challenge and I also thought that I'd like to make some little 3"x3" square note cards so that I could tuck one inside each winner's package when I mail them out later this week.....so I decided to combine those two tasks and make my winners' cards using the color challenge colors!  Bonus!  :)

I made these card using lots of little goodies I had laying around that I hadn't yet used on other projects for one reason or another.  So I started grabbing little bits of this and that and layering them on my cards and I'm thrilled with how they turned out!  What do you think??  Do you have a favorite?

On this one, I cut out the butterfly using the SU! Bigz Butterfly die and I used some vintage book print from an old book I bought for 99 cents at a thrift store, for the sole purpose of tearing the pages out and using them on my projects.  If you just buy an old junker book like that, you won't feel bad that you're ruining some priceless family heirloom or whatever!  Hee.

I also used a melon berry button and a melon berry card base, some berry sorbet topnotch twill & some bitty square basics that I punched with my new Fiskars Upper Crest punch.

On this one, I have hand made card stock flowers, some Polka Dot Basics stamped on the background, a melon berry button and some vintage cream classic grosgrain to serve as leaves.

For this one, I used my 3/4" square punch to punch out melon berry card stock squares as well as berry sorbet and dark chocolate squares from the bitty dot basics, bitty star basics and bitty box basics patterned papers.  I've also got vintage cream and berry sorbet card stock and some melon berry topnotch twill on this one.

This little dearie has a teapot from the Tea For Two stamp set as well as some more Polka Dot Basics.  I paired those with some melon berry and berry sorbet card stocks and a berry sorbet button with PTI's new vintage cream button twine.  I also used a corner rounder punch on one corner of my melon berry card stock for a little added interest.

For this one, I used up a flower that I had punched and laying around.  I wrinkled it up, rubbed some Vintage Touch tea dye inks around the edges and added a BIG dark chocolate button to the center.  Seriously, for those of you that aren't sure what to do with your BIG buttons, why not try this??  They make GREAT flower centers!  I mean, this flower is so simple, but so striking too, don't you think?   

And lastly, this card has a cupcake from the new Cupcake Collection stamp set, paired with some melon berry luxe satin ribbon and a melon berry button.  The dark chocolate card stock was punched with my new Fiskars Apron Lace punch.  I {HEART} this punch!!  

Ok, so are you totally inspired to add this color combo to your arsenal of color palettes???  It's a fun one for sure!  I can't wait to send these little gems out to the giveaway winners, which I'll be announcing soon, so stay tuned for that!

And now, let's see who's In the Spotlight this week....

A. Ashley C. Newell

B. Deb Rymer

C. Heather P

D. Janie C

E. Julie Batta

F. Julie Lacey

G. Kelly Rasmussen

H. Lucy, England

I. Maile Belles

J. Maria Fiscella

K. Mary

L. Sarah Martina

M. Savitri Wilder

N. Sue Pardue

O. Tiffany Heilman

All righty, I'm outta here for a bit.....lots more to do in the studio today.  Be sure to check out these Spotlight cards....there are some TOTALLY adorable cards in this mix!  

Enjoy!

{3x3 Mini Card Supplies}

Paper: vintage cream, dark chocolate, melon berry, berry sorbet, bitty dot basics, bitty box basics, bitty star basics, vintage book print

Stamps: Tea For Two, Polka Dot Basics, Cupcake Collection

Ink: dark chocolate, melon berry, vintage touch tea dye

Other: vintage buttons - melon berry, berry sorbet, dark chocolate; vintage cream button twine, Marvy flower punch, topnotch twill - melon berry, berry sorbet; vintage cream classic grosgrain, melon berry luxe satin ribbon, Fiskars punches - apron lace, upper crest; SU! BIGZ butterfly die, SU! 3/4" square punch, SU! corner rounder punch

Card Creations 7 Blog Tour

 

Hi-ya Crew.....how are you today??  It's almost the WEEKEND!  Yahoo!  :)

I'm so excited to be participating in the Blog Tour that Paper Crafts is putting on in celebration of Card Creations 7!  Have you had a chance yet to flip thru this fabby magazine??  I can tell you that I have and it is just LOADED with fun cards that are sure to get you inspired to whip up a few of your own!

I also get to share a card with you that is published in this issue of Card Creations.  I used some American Crafts stickers on this one.  I adhered them to two different colors of card stock and then cut them out by trimming around the stickers so I could layer them on my card.  I then added some Hero Arts bling to the flowers and I stamped my sentiment with the Birthday Basics stamp set from Papertrey Ink.  A little patterned paper, some scallops and a grosgrain bow finish this card off making it a cheery little birthday greeting!

Along with this fun blog tour to get you inspired to get crafty, Paper Crafts is offering up some prizes for you as well and they're giving you lots of chances to win!  Each of the blogs listed on the blog tour below (including this here blog-o!) will be giving away a free copy of Card Creations 7........PLUS, the Paper Crafts Connection blog and the Moxie Fab World blog will giving away a total of 10 prize packages!!  Want to know what you need to do to get entered??  

• First up, just leave a comment on this post (it can be about anything!).  
• Next, head over to the 14 other blogs listed on the blog tour below and leave a comment at each of their blogs.  
• And lastly, be sure to bop on over to the Paper Crafts Connection Blog and the Moxie Fab World blog and leave a comment there as well! 

See what I mean??  Lots of chances to win!  Happy commenting, Peeps.....and have a GREAT weekend!!

 

Charlene Austin 
Ashley Newell 
Beatriz Jennings  
Betsy Veldman 
Carla Peicheff  
Alli Miles  
Debbie Olson  
Kim Kesti  
Layle Koncar  
Maren Benedict  
Melissa Phillips  
Sherry Wright  
Teri Anderson  
Kim Hughes  

Birthday Blowout Giveaway!

Hi-ya Dearies!  Well, today just happens to be my 34th birthday.....and so, I think it only fitting that we give away some presents around here!  ;)  What-do-ya say?

I love giving presents so I thought it'd be fun to give away some of my Papertrey favorites.  If you've been hangin' around here for very long at all, you know that I use ribbons and buttons ALL. THE. TIME.  *smile*  So, today I'll be giving away ribbon and button assortments to SIX WINNERS!  (More winners = more fun, right?? )  :)

 Wanna know what's up for grabs??

See anything you'd like to win???  Want to know what you have to do to enter??

All you need to do to enter is to leave a comment on this post telling me what was your favorite birthday ever.....and why?  That's it!  Easy peasy!  

Only one entry per person.  Contest closes Saturday, June 27 at 9pm CST.

Good luck, Peeps!  Happy Thursday!

Vintage-y Distressed Flower Tutorial #2

Hi-ya Dearies....

Back today with another type of vintage-y distressed flowers that you can make yourself!  To start out, you'll want to choose a color palette to work with.  I chose these 4 colors....spring moss, ripe avocado, raspberry fizz & aqua mist.

Next up, I got out my Marvy flower punches.  These are great for those of you that don't really want to hand cut flowers or tear your papers by hand.  

Next up, just punch out a few different flowers using the papers in the colors you selected.

Now, you'll want to stamp on your flowers.  Stamp whatever you want.....whatever floats your boat!  I chose Fancy Flourishes, Background Basics: Text Style and Polka Dot Basics.

Next up, take those pretty little flowers and wad them up in the tightest little balls you can!  I know, I know......it just doesn't seem right to take something so pretty and do what seems like you're going to be ruining it, but you're just gonna have to trust me on this one.  :)  Go ahead.....wad 'em up.  I'll wait.  

All right, now un-wad them.  But don't flatten them out too much.  You want to keep some of that lovely rumpled-ness.  Yes, I made that word up. 

Now, see how cute they're gonna be???  But we're not done yet.  

Before we sew a button in the center, we're gonna use some of Papertrey's new Vintage Touch tea dye inks.  These inks are just perfect for rubbing right around the edges of your flowers or other papers you want to distress.  

I like to use the tea dye inks AFTER I've rumpled the flowers up because this will allow the ink to catch some of those great wrinkles, adding even more dimension to your flowers.

I only used the lighter of the two tea dye inks (chamomile) on my flowers, but you can use both if you like.  See how cool they're looking??

Now before I sew the button to the center of the flowers, I do myself a favor and punch the holes out with a paper piercer.  Makes the sewing part lots easier!

Use a giant needle to thread the button right onto the flower.  This way, you don't have to use any adhesive to adhere those layers together.  Just let the thread do the work for you by tying a bow in the center of the button.

Voila!  Finished flower.  Cute, right??

And here's the little gem on a finished card.  What do you think??

I used a sentiment from my Scattered Showers stamp set and sewed a strip of ribbon on the card front.  And yes, there's another bit of patterned paper punched with my new embossed curve punch.  Darn, I love that thing.  :)

That's all I've got for you today, my friends.  But be SURE and check back tomorrow......big giveaways here at the blog-o that I don't think you'll want to miss out on!

Toodles!

{Wishing You Sunshine! supplies}

Paper: spring moss, aqua mist, ripe avocado, raspberry fizz, Bitty Box Basics

Stamps: Scattered Showers, Fancy Flourishes, Background Basics: Text Style, Polka Dot Basics

Ink: ripe avocado, raspberry fizz, vintage touch tea dye inks

Other: spring moss vintage button, vintage cream button twine, Marvy flower punches, aqua mist classic grosgrain ribbon, EK Success embossed curve punch

Feelin' Good...

Hey there, Friends...

I am happy to report that I lasted 20 minutes on the elliptical today!  Now, I'm not gonna lie.....I figured out how to go slooooower so that I didn't DIE right there on the machine and that is largely why I was able to last so long.  When I first started out, I was going so fast that I wasn't sure which was going to fall off first, my calves or my thighs!  SO, I dialed down the turbo speed I was pumping out and decided to maybe work on staying on longer before I focus on staying on longer AND going at a break-neck speed at the same time.  We'll see how it goes.  The main thing is I got my heart rate up and I sweated!!  Both, very good things.  :)

All right, so I promise not to do this to you every day, but you're never gonna believe what the Verse of the Day is over at biblegateway.com today.....

Isaiah 40:31

"but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."  

I'm starting to think God might be trying to tell me something.....  *wink*

In other news, I got to go have lunch today with Lori Craig and I am so glad!  I met Lori at CHA Summer last year and we've since discovered that she lives less than 2 hours away from me!  So I was so touched when she asked me to go to lunch with her today.....such a dear, she is.  We went to Oklahoma Joe's BBQ (remember - that's where we took our Aussie friends), had a yummy lunch and a great chat.  Thanks again, Lori.....we'll have to do it again!  Can't wait to see you at CHA next month!  

So anywho, let's talk about cards, shall we?!  I got to play along with Kristina Werner's color challenge tonight and I'm glad I did.  I just looooove those adorable shoes, don't you??  

It's a super simple card (cause the mojo just isn't flowing so much tonight) but I like how it turned out.  I had a scrap of really rust card stock laying around, already cut out in half of the top note die shape so I used that, added some stitching, ribbon, buttons and used my apron lace punch again.  Easy peasy!  The sentiment is from the new Vintage Picnic Sentiments set.

Back tomorrow, Peeps.....sleep tight!

{Take Care supplies}

Paper: SU!-basic gray, really rust, more mustard; PTI vintage cream

Stamps: Vintage Picnic Sentiments

Ink: SU! basic gray

Other: vintage cream buttons & grosgrain ribbon, sewing machine/thread, SU! top note die, apron lace punch

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #10

All righty, Peeps....

Here is Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #10!  Fun colors, right??  I took this photo of some fabulous Amy Butler fabrics that I bought to make baby burpies out of.  

The two pinky colors are orangy-pinks so think sort of coral-ly when you're selecting your colors.  I'll be using Papertrey's berry sorbet, melon berry, dark chocolate & vintage cream but feel free to use whatever brand of card stock and other goodies you have on hand.  Have FUN with this color challenge......I can't see what you come up with this week!!

Here are the deets:
Create a card or other project, upload a photo of your card to your blog or online gallery & then come back here to post the link to your photo in the Mister Linky box below.  Don't leave your links in the comments section but feel free to leave me a comment after you've posted your link in Mister Linky.  You know I love hearing from you!

Also, be sure that the link you're posting is the direct link to your card!  Please don't leave your blog's url, but rather, the link to your specific post that shows us your card. 

Feel free to use the graphic I've created above, however you DON'T want to copy and paste the image!  Just SAVE the image to your computer and then upload the image to your blog post, as though it is a photo from your own computer.  Make sense?

Don't have a blog but still want to participate??  Don't worry!  You don't have to have a blog!  You are more than welcome to upload your card to an online gallery of your choice  (i.e. www.splitcoaststampers.com,  www.papertreyink.com,  www.twopeasinabucket.com, etc.) and then use the url for your photo in your gallery as the link that you post in Mister Linky.

Challenge ends Thursday, June 25 at 9pm CST.

Magazine Winner!

Well, this was certainly a fun (and interesting!) contest!  I thoroughly enjoyed reading your thoughts on magazines.  Sounds like there are a lot of you that, like me, love a good magazine.  It also sounds like there are a lot of you that really prefer holding the actual paper version in your hands!  However, with the expense to consider these days, it sounds like the online issues might provide a great alternative for a lot of you that still want the inspiration but don't want the cost of a (paper) magazine subscription.  That being said, I'm glad we had this little discussion and I'm really glad I was able to let some of you know about the online issues.  I love sharing money-saving tips......I'm here for you.  Hee.

So let's get to the winner!!!  The winner of 4 issues of my fave magazines IIIIIIIS......ANDIE!!

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"when i get a new creating keepsakes magazine in the mail each month i flip through it quickly, then set it aside until bedtime. i like to snuggle up with it in bed and get about a quarter of the way through and continue just reading a quarter of the magazine each night until i'm done...so the goodness lasts for 4 nights! haha! you know that saying, "savor the flavor"...does that work for magazines? :0) xoxo andie..."

Posted by: andie... | June 17, 2009 at 09:47 PM

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CONGRATS Andie!!!!  I'm so happy for you.  May these magazines bring you hours of relaxation as you flip thru the pages.....and lots of inspiration too!  (These should last you at least 16 nights!  *smile*)  Andie, please email me (link in left side bar) with your mailing address and I'll get your magazines right out to you!

Thanks to all of you that entered the contest and shared your feedback!

Smooches!

In the Spotlight #9

Hi-ya....

Ok, so here's the card I made for Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #9.  I have to tell you that it felt goooooood to get a little crafty today!  I busted out two of my new punches -- the Apron Lace punch by Fiskars and the Embossed Curve punch by EK Success.  I also used the Bigz Butterflies die from Stampin' Up! with some card stock and a bit of vintage book print, stamped a pattern on the green butterfly with Background Basics: Retro and the sentiment is from the new Cupcake Collection stamp set.  I also threw in some Bitty Box Basics paper for a fun little card that has lots of layers and texture!  Consider this little card, my way of saying Thank You to each of you that have supported me, encouraged me and lifted me up in prayer over the last few days.  

SMOOCHES!

So enough about my card....

Here we go with this week's Spotlight!!  Man, there were a lot of great entries again this week.  I totally had to narrow it down and then narrow it down some more and still ended up with 15 fabulous cards that you should definitely check out.  And I don't normally do this but you just HAVE to see Melissa Bickford's card (it's in the list below) because it is simply amazing.....that's all there is to it.  I think my mouth literally fell open when I saw her card!  What a GREAT use of the colors and such a perfect layout....so clever.  Love it, Melissa!!  

A. Anabelle O'Malley
B. Anthea (AUS)
C. Anthonette
D. Brenda Weaver
E. Brit Swiderski
F. Deanna (Dee Woodland)
G. Heather P
H. Julie Batta
I. Kelly Jo
J. Lisa Forsythe
K. Maile Belles
L. Maureen P
M. Melissa Bickford
N. Natasha
O. Tiffany Heilman

Thanks so much to each of you that participated!!  I'm continually amazed and inspired by your creations!!  

Toodles!

{Thank You Supplies}
Paper: vintage cream, new leaf, bitty box basics, vintage book print
Stamps: Cupcake Collection, Background Basics: Retro
Ink: new leaf, true black
Other: true black topnotch twill ribbon, true black vintage button, rustic cream button twine, EK Success embossed curve punch, Fiskars apron lace punch, SU! Bigz Butterflies die