My 2nd Blog Candy .... celebrating confusion ;-)

**This post is pinned. Please scroll down for current ones**

So yesterday (9/09/09) I was being my usual OCD self when I noticed that my blog hit counter was not only over 3K but over 11K!!!! Not quite sure how that happened but I'm going to go with the policy of 'don't knock it' LOL . So in celebration I'm offering a small blog candy giveaway.

• What's in the candy? Well, lots of 3d embellishments and paper cutouts of flowers and butterflies and tags.
  
• What do you have to do to win? Spread the word on your blog somehow (either by a post or linking me on your sidebar) and it's NOT necessary for you to become a follower. Then come back here and post a comment to this question: What is the one scrapbook/cardmaking tool or item you cannot live without?
• When's the deadline? September 30th at 11PM CST (GMT-6)
• Who can enter? Anyone with a blog all over the world :-)
  

Gradient is Radiant: The Next Moxie Fab World Challenge

I decided to do one more card for today. For this Moxie Fab World challenge you had to create a project with a color gradient. After looking through all my papers I found a purple patterned paper that fit this challenge perfectly so I decided to use it as my focal point.

My take... A Very Purple Christmas

Ingredients:

• cs - dark purple (DCWV), light purple (American Traditional Designs)
• pp - squares & glitter stripes (My Minds Eye Cool Spectrums)
• stamped sentiment - Hero Arts
• color - BV08 copic, glitter pen
• ribbon - all 3 purples (Michaels)
• half pearls - Basic Grey
• paper piercer

Double Double Toil & Trouble (can you guess today's theme?)

Twisted Thursday #26 with S2G

So it's been quite a while since I last participated in the Twisted Thursday Challenge but I managed to fit one in this weekend. This week in addition to the sketch, the twist was to use the word 'Boo' somewhere on the card. And now for this week's sketch....

Die Cuts R Us Tuesday's Challenge #8

This card also qualifies for the 'create any Halloween project' over at DCRU Tuesday Challenge #8 which will be my first time participating ....so YAY for double the fun ;-)



My take.....Scared Silly Spider

Ingredients:

• cs - DCWV Latte Stack
• pp - green spiders (K&Co Halloween Whimsy Spider Flocked), striped (BG Eerie)
• digi image stamp - Enjoy The Little Things (S2G)
• sentiment - Boo (Bleeding Cowboys font)
• ink - dobber colored with copic BV08 ... TECHNIQUE ALERT: don't have the right ink color to match your papers??? ink up a dobber or sponge with a marker/copic marker and presto change-0 instant matching ink!
• circle nestabilities
  
• glitter pen
• purple shimmer ribbon (Michaels)
• googly eyes (Michaels)
  

A New Magazine...SO FUN!!

So there's a new magazine fixin' to (yes I said that, hey I'm from Texas..lol) come out this winter. It's called Embellish Magazine and I for one can't wait to get my hands on it!!!

What's this new magazine all about? Well read for yourself (taken from their website) ....

Embellish magazine is an interactive online publication that showcases handmade paper crafts using current trends in creative ways. The magazine highlights the designers and shares information and ideas to inspire other designers. Embellish looks for new designers with unique craft ideas and designs. The magazine is eco-friendly, only offering in an online format to save on paper consumption and storage. The online magazine enables interactive functions, such as direct links to designers blogs or galleries and to manufacturers to easily find supplies used in every project. Video instructions are also included in the magazine to showcase projects from beginning to end. From a traditional magazine perspective, Embellish includes two columns that cover color and paper crafting trends by two top designers.

They also have a blog that offers biweekly challenges. There's one going on right now and you can see what the requirements are here for their October 1st deadline.

Right now there's also a challenge call out for the first magazine issue and I decided to participate :-)

The details....

My take....Definition of a Friend

Ingredients:

• cs - DCWV
• pp - red (BG), teal (DCWV Recycled Stack)
• image - Friend (Rubber Stampede)
• ink - Chocolate Brown (Craft Smart)
• ribbons - red (Craft Essentials), brown (American Craft Elements)
• twine/cord - Elmer's Braid

I feel like Christmas :-)

Here is a card I made for the Winter Issue call for Scrapbook and Cards Today Magazine. I also entered the 2 Christmas cards in the previous post :-)

Vintage Merry Christmas

Ingredients:

• cs - DCWV
• pp - Basic Grey (BG) Wassail
• ink - Tim Holtz Vintage Photo
• stamp - Hero Arts
• embossing powder - Zing Clear
  
• ribbon
• half pearls - BG
  

One Sketch Two Cards

Inspired by the sketch Cindy Haffner made for the current Farm Fresh Friday Challenge over at The Greeting Farm I made two Christmas cards :-) Card 1 is for FFF and Card 2 is for the Fancy Friday Challenge over at the Fancy Pants Blog.

Card 1: Peace on Earth

Ingredients:

• cs - DCWV
• pp - Pebbles Inc Legacy
• distressed ink - Tim Holtz Weathered Wood
• image stamp - Shepherd Boy (TGF)
• sentiment stamp - Wisemen Seek Him (Treehouse Stamps)
• ribbon - Making Memories Black Tie
• half pearls - Basic Grey
• embossing powder - Zing Clear
  
• sketch - FFF sketch by Cindy Haffner

Card 2: Come Let Us Adore Him

Ingredients:

• cs - DCWV
• pp - Fancy Pants Happy Holidays
• distressed ink - Tim Holtz Vintage Photo
• image & sentiment stamps - Wisemen Seek Him (Treehouse Stamps)
• ribbon - my stash
• color - copics
  
• emboss powder - Zing Clear
• sketch - FFF sketch by Cindy Haffner

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cut a 6.75" by 10" piece of cardstock, fold in half so card now measures 5" by 6.75"
2. Cut out the 2 upper patterned pieces to 2.25" by 3.25"
3. Cut out the bottom layer to 2.25" by 6.50"
4. Adhere the pieces to the card front
5. Cut 6.75" of ribbon and adhere to the card front
6. Cut the image cardstock to 3" by 3", stamp image and/or sentiment onto cs, & ink the edges
7. Adhere stamped cs to card front
8. Add embellishment
   

Sweet Tooth Addons

Check out my SIDEBAR Candy Jar for the newest addons :-)

• Jenn's celebrating finding out the gender of her precious little one.
• Heather's celebrating her blogaversary and having over 35k hits :-)
• Steph's celebrating her 7th Wedding Anniversary!!! (her & the hubby are too cute)
• Doodle Palace is giving away Christmas themed goodies to one lucky person.
  

TGF News

Have you been over to The Greeting Farm blog recently? Well if you haven't there some fun things in store. Stop over to check out the new cute animal digi previews that are coming out soon...I promise they are super cute! My fave is the one with sharing the candy cane :-)

Also if you stopped by today's post you might have seen a familiar card. Yup that's right my card was picked out the gallery by Marie as part of her cute card lineup. Go check out my card and the other cuties here ....

Okay that's it for now. I must get back to studying for my glaucoma exam tomorrow. Hopefully my fever will break and I will still have my lungs by then *stupid cough* :(

September is National Women's Friendship Month

Celebrate friendship all month long during September! So send a card to all your friends or go here to send an e-card: 123greetings.com, Blue Mountain, and egreetings.com.

Click here for Facts on NWFM :-)

History of National Women's Friendship Month

National Women's Friendship Month first began as National Women's Friendship Day in 1999 (celebrated the third Sunday in September each year). Created by Kappa Delta Sorority for all women, the day offered a chance for women to celebrate their special bonds with female friends.

As a national sorority with a membership of over 200,000 women, the leaders of Kappa Delta were well aware of the importance of women friends. They also recognized that friendship was not exclusive to the sorority.

"All women find strength, comfort and inspiration from their girlfriends," said Melanie Schild, Executive Director of Kappa Delta and the brains behind the creation of the celebration. "In a time of increasing demands, we want to encourage women to take the time to nurture and celebrate these important relationships."

Following the 10th anniversary of National Women's Friendship Day in 2008, it became apparent that one day just wasn't enough, so the celebration was expanded to the entire month of September beginning in 2009.

For more information, contact:
National Women's Friendship Month
c/o Kappa Delta Sorority
3205 Players Lane
Memphis, TN 38125
friendship@KappaDelta.org
901-748-1897 or 1-800-536-1897

A Government Proclamation from Texas Governor Rick Perry:

Other government proclamations

What are the chances?

That two of the challenges I frequently participate in would have the same exact challenge? LOL, guess it works out for me then ;-) The two challenges I'm referring to are the Basic Grey 2week Challenge and Farm Fresh Fridays over at TGF who's challenges are both to use an embossing technique.

So my grandpa's bday was on Saturday and being so busy with school and getting sick last week I didn't have time to make a card. I bought these papers a while ago and they ended up going perfectly with Fishing Ian from the Rock the Farm set. To make everything pull together inside the card says 'Fishing You Happy Birthday', cute huh? :-)

So where's the embossing you ask? Well, I used my nestabilites to emboss a circle edge around the image and I heat embossed the clear Zing embossing powder that I dusted Ian with. Because there was so much going on with the patterned papers I felt that doing a lot of dry embossing on a background paper would overwhelm the card. Anyways hope y'all (and my gpa) like it.


Fishing You Happy Birthday

Ingredients:

• cs - DCWV
• pp - Moxxie's A Fish Tale (get it in gear & the big catch), Reminisce's It's All Relative (grandpa)
• stamp - Rock the Farm (TGF)
  
• die cuts/embossing - QuicKutz Nesting Flowers, Nestabilities standard large circles
• ink - Tim Holtz distressed ink vintage photo
• color - Copics (G94, BG96)
  
• heat embossing powder - Zing Clear
• buttons - Basic Grey
• Elmer's braiding cord
• popup dots
  

Customizing Your Blog....

There are several sites out there that can help turn your blog into a work of art. Here are some of the most helpful links and tidbits I've found:

• Hide Your NavBar - Easy Custom Blogs
• Viewing the website full screen - Press F11 for full view; press it F11 again to return to normal
• Making Your Own Navigation Tabs: STEP 1 & STEP 2 - Easy Custom Blogs
• Making Your Own Background - Easy Custom Blogs' way & The Cutest Blog on the Block's (TCBOTB) way
• How to Add Images Next to Your Sidebar & Post Titles - TCBOTB

While your at those 2 sites look around you never know what you might find :-)

We Will Never Forget...

I remember the morning like it was yesterday. It was my freshman year at Texas A&M and I was woken up by a huge charlie horse in my calf when my alarm to get up went off. However, instead of my alarm clock going off to the country radio station I realized I was listening to some urgent message. At first I didn't quite understand what was happening but then what the radio announcer was saying broke through my early morning foggy brain and I was stunned. I turned on the television, it didn't matter what channel b/c it was on them all, just in time to see the second plane hit the towers. I remember yelling at my roommate Natalie to get up and her telling me to shut up. When I finally got through to her she joined me in my state of disbelief. I didn't go to class that day but instead was glued to the horror unfolding on the screen. My uncle was a NY firefighter at the time and when those 2 towers came down I couldn't help but think of all the people they took with them; not only the workers and building visitors that day and the passengers on the planes but also the brave men and women in uniforms and out who's lives were extinguished in a single moment. So today like all the anniversaries that came before and all that will come after I will remember. I will remember all those affected by this unspeakable tragedy; the ones who lost their lives, the ones who's lives were destroyed in the aftermath, the ones who's families will never again be the same. I will remember. Freedom is NOT free and I will always stand behind those who fight for our country's.

Design My Sprout @ TGF

Over at The Greeting Farm Marie is giving the fans a chance to design the next Sprout! So I decided to try my hand at drawing (eek). My 3 sprouts are Bobbie Jo (the Cutie Bowler), Bettie Sue (the 50s Sweetheart), and Sandy (the Skating Princess).

First I started off with the gray bodies Marie provided...

Then I sketched my ideas....notice the roughness :-P

Now finally here's the final product (I traced the images from my sketches). Meet my Wild Sprouts crew.... Bobbie Jo, Bettie Sue and Sandy!

Go HERE to see what the other fans are creating...

Finally Finished

So I finally finished my altered canvas piece. It's made from a variety of baby themed patterned papers from various designers.

Free For YOU :-)

Over at Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Thursday is not only the day of new digi releases, but starting today they are now giving away a FREE digi every Thursday! Today's free digi is Cleo the Clownfish and she's super cute (for a fish that is ... lol). You need to get it fast, though, because come Friday, it will be gone! Be sure to spread the word! And while you're there check out their other digis including the 2 new sets!

What's Cookin?

Pizzelles

Well, in my kitchen that would be the very yummy Italian desert cookie PIZZELLES. My 'Auntie' Kay made these every time we would go visit our relatives up in NY and we would literally shove them down they're that good (but then it could just be that I'm Italian...well 1/2 Italian so that counts). So about a year ago when shopping at Tuesday Mornings (LOVE that store), I found a pizzelle maker and just had to have it but as I was fundless I ended up getting it as my 25th bday pressie from my mom. They take awhile to make and make the kitchen hotter than.... well you know where.... but they are sooooo very worth it. Plus now I don't have to wait to go to NY and visit Auntie Kay ;-)

My pizzelle maker

Here's the receipe I modify from:

Traditional Italian Pizzelles

3 eggs, room temperature 1 tsp. vanilla (optional)
3/4 cup sugar 1/2 tsp. anise (optional)
1/2 cup butter or margarine, 1 3/4 cups flour
melted and cooled 2 tsp. baking powder

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar. Add the cooled butter or margarine, vanilla and anise. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the egg mixture. The batter should be stiff enough to be dropped by spoon. The batter can also be refrigerated to be used later.

It's a Party!

Etsy Inspired is celebrating turning ONE! Come join in the celebration :-)

New look

So while bored in dispensary early this morning I decided to play around with a new background. I made this with the free digital scrapbooking kit from Digi-Mac Designs. It's called 'I Bit A Pillow' and you guessed it...was inspired by Twilight (one of my favorite book series). So what do you think? I'm not totally convinced that I'm in love with my design. I'll give it a few days to let it grow on me. :-D

And the Winner is......

#40 LINANNA DESIGNS said...

What gorgeous blog candy hunny. congratulations on your hits, although im not surprised as im loving your blog. I have linked your candy to my sidebar. Hugs Linda x

CONGRATS!!!! Please contact me with your address so I can ship you your goodies :-)

My own Sweet Tooth Add-on

*** Blog Candy now closed... Stay Tuned for the Winner***

Okay so I've decided it's time to offer a blog candy; this is my first one so I'm super excited. What am I celebrating you ask? Having hit 1000 on my blog counter (I wonder how many are from me? lol) and the start of a new school year. What do you need to do to be entered to win? Well just spread the word and leave me a comment :-) (It's also not necessary to become a follower unless you really want to). The deadline is September 1st at 10pm CST and the winner will be announced on September 2nd. What's inside.....have a looksee:

What's in the sweet candy giveaway?

• 1 K&Co paper pack - Daydreams
• 1 Create & Treasure Blank Board Book - Tag 5"x3"
• 3 groups of tiles (4 in each) - summer, fall and winter
• ShortCuts Clear Cards - 5 small
• 1 ink pad - Archival Brilliance Graphite Black
• 5 Studio G Mini stamp sets - mother's day, father's day, summer, spring, etc
• 3 baby ribbons 3yd each - blue, green, pink
• Imaginesce Flowers - Pockets full of Posie
• Pearl Beads
• 1 Queen Kat Designs Stamp - Asian Doll
• Blue fabric covered brads
• 2 three dimensional embellishment packs - beach & travel

***Update: 8/12/09....Sold my very first card so I'm adding a mystery goodie to celebrate :-)

***Update: 8/20/09.....First custom order and some additional etsy sales so I'm going to throw in some flower stencils :-)

***Update: 8/21/09....Now have over 50 comments so I've added the Spooktacular stamp set from The Greeting Farm :)

***Update: 8/24/09...Now have well over 2000 hits on my blog. So I'm throwing in a baby rubber stamping set. Thanks y'all for spreading the word :-) Hopefully some of y'all like what you see and will stop by again in the future.

***Update: 8/27/09...Reached another 50 comments so I'm adding Birthday Anya from The Greeting Farm to the mix (this stamp is currently SOLD OUT) :-)

***Update: 8/31/09...Reached another 50 comments so I'm throwing in a surprise stamp set :-)

PS I will ship worldwide so everyone is welcome to enter even those without a blog. And for every 50 comments, I'll add another goodie :-)