Cards for Grace & prize pack!

I love making cards for kids and especially those for Jennifer's Cards for Kids drive. Putting a smile on a child who is sick? Sign me up. I've been making cards for this great cause for quite awhile and was so sad to hear the news that one of the children (Ellie) lost her battle with cancer. She left behind her twin, Grace and now Jennifer is collecting cards for her and wants to send them out A.S.A.P. Jennifer has all the information on this post . Even if you can send in one card, that would be great. I think of it as 1 card = 1 smile. :)

I've been making these cards for the card drive and will definitely be sending one to Grace...I love to include jokes like this one...."How much does a crab eat?"Punchline..."Just a pinch!" LOLIt's hard to see but I colored the crabs with distress inks and then sprayed pearlized water for some shine...So I decided to not only send in some cards but make a goal for collecting cards for Grace. My goal is 100 cards. I'm asking everyone I know to join in, even if they don't create handmade cards, purchased cards are great too! So in honor of that, I've put together a Hero Arts prize pack that includes...

Some clear card buttons...
An elephant clear stamp set (perfect for making cards for kids!)

a scallop circle woodblock stamp...
A pack of foilage mixed folded cards....and a soft apricot shadow ink pad...

Wanna win? Just leave a comment below telling me if you are going to create and send a card for Grace...and I will enter you in the drawing for a chance to win this prize pack. If you leave a link to your blog or gallery showing me your card or cards, I will enter you again into the drawing! The drawing ends July 31, 2010.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll be back soon with more card ideas....

Crafting is in the blood...

Okay, so it's been over a week since I blogged. Huh? Where has the time gone. Sorry to be MIA. I am really trying to blog more often because I love to share and connect with all of you. So as I slow down from all the craziness around here, I thought I'd share a cute picture of my niece, Taylor and her new favorite person in the whole world... (photo credit-Sandi Neumann..thanks Sandi!)

Yes, some of you may recognize her. That's Kay McGuire, step-daughter of the super sweet Jennifer McGuire. Kay taught a card class for kids last week and I thought it might be fun for Taylor because she is SO much like me when I was her age. Obsessed with anything paper, markers, art. She is so creative and when I asked her to go, she was counting down the days. :)

And what a FABULOUS teacher Kay was. All Taylor has talked about since then is her. When I see her now, the first thing out of her mouth is, "Remember when you took me to that card class and my card teacher Kay...." Yes. She know refers to her as her card teacher Kay. LOL I don't think she will be able to take another class from anyone else. Here's hoping Kay does another class.

Here is a shot Jennifer took during class...

I love this pic because Taylor should be working on creating her cards but she is talking to Kay instead. Kay must be super special to rank over paper and stamps!

That reminds me, Kay and Alex are about the same age....hmmmm ;)

I'll be back soon with some more creative shares. Promise.

Coloring with Chalk Inks...

Happy Friday!! Today I want to share with you a quick and easy way that I've been coloring stamped images. I will take you step by step on how I created this card...the inside sentiment...I just received some NEW Hero Arts stamps and had to play with this set called, "A kiss from the sun"...Here are the instructions to create this card...

1.Start with a scrap piece of blue cardstock. I used the Pool color from Hero Arts...and cover the front of your card.

2.On white cardstock stamp the Hero Arts background stamp in soft pool shadow ink...Cut out the image and adhere on top of the blue cardstock, leaving a little room on either side.

3. Next, swipe some Hero Arts chalk ink onto a white piece of cardstock...4. After it dries...start stamping your images that you want to use and then cut them out..
(Chalk Inks I used are Grass, Poppy, Iris, and Cerulean)
I absolutely love the velvety finish it gives.

5. Stamp the HA tiny owl using black ink onto white cardstock. Once it dries, add glossy accents to his eyes and let that dry. Cut them out to create googly eyes!

6. Stamp the tree image from the set in the middle of the card and color brown. Stamp the grass image along the bottom.

7. After you put on the finishing details to each piece, (the owl on the t-shirt, the glitter on the dress, the button on the jeans, the flower gems in the trees) you can assemble the card...Hope you enjoyed! Have a wonderful weekend!

Butterfly Show...

I realized I haven't had a personal post on the blog for awhile so I thought I'd share some pics from our adventure today. Because of this WONDERFUL young man...I got to go to the butterfly show. It's held every year close to where I live and I've always wanted to go but never got around to it. Alex surprised me today and took me. Bless his heart.

A few pics of the butterflies that I had time to edit...

Can you spot the butterflies? The best part was just spending time with Alex. Yep. I'm a happy girl. (FYI-Alex told me after he snapped this picture that he made sure I was on the right side of the frame in the pic so that I plenty of room on the left in case I wanted to digitally add my journaling to. LOL Yes, this kid knows me so well and has a heart of gold. Love him.)

Going to hit the sac...I'll be back over the weekend with a creative share. Thanks for stopping by!

Upcoming Class...

Hi! I will be teaching an upcoming class and thought I'd share an example of one of the cards. I like to give options so I created the same card with three different color choices to pick from... The theme for the class is Distress Inks. I absolutely love Distress Inks because of all the possibilities that you can create with it. A closer look...

A little information about the class. It will be held on Sunday, June 27th @11:30. The cost is $15.00 and we will create four different cards and a fun project (necklace). If you are interested and live close to the Cincinnati area, email me and I will email with the rest of the information. If you are not local but would still like a class kit, email me and I'll get you one.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week...

Laura's Birthday Blog Hop...

I was so honored when I was asked to participate in Laura's Birthday Blog Hop. I can't think of a more deserving person. Laura's blog was the first I ever read. She is super creative but more importantly, she is so kind. I've never "met" another person in this industry that has been as giving as Laura. She is encouraging and so willing to share. Happy 40th Birthday Laura and thank you for being you!

Here's the card I created for Laura...The inside greeting reads, "Wishing you a day to get your craft on!"... I also wanted to make Laura a little gift for her birthday. So I created a coordinating mini card set. Now I know Laura can make her own cards (and I'm sure they would be amazing) but I just love to give handmade gifts. Here is the set...I put them and some envelopes in a clear container and they are on their way to Laura's house...I hope you like them Laura! Have a fabulous day!

Next on the blog hop is the very talented Cindy Liebel.

(If you want to start at the beginning of the blog hop, click HERE)

Happy Saturday everyone!

Couch Cards...

Hello! I had some time to play in my scrap studio yesterday and found THESE couches that I stamped at the last crop I was at. My sweet friend Shane let me borrow her set and I went to town stamping, knowing I would put them to good use someday...

I decided to make flat notecards, so the opening is actually the die-cut label. I used a brad to make them swivel open so I can write my message....The backgrounds were made with THIS stamp set. I recently placed an order with Papertrey Ink. If you haven't shopped there yet, you must! Good people, good product, and good service. I already have a wish list going for my next order. ;)

Hope you're having a great day! Off to enjoy this beautiful weather. Be back soon...

AC Challenge...

Feels like I haven't worked on a challenge in awhile! Thought THIS challenge from the American Crafts blog sounded like fun...I decided to use two of my favorite things from AC. Their patterned paper (star strip, red diamond strip, and cloud strip) and their thickers alphabets. (I think I may have a thickers hoarding problem...LOL)These are all pics of my nephew, J.T. He is a ball of energy and just like the title says, I just love that boy.

Journaling reads: "I have such a special bond with this boy. Not just because he is my Godson but because he brings so much joy to my world. I am blessed to be called his “Aunt Hea”. Love you so much J.T. (pics 2009-2010)"

A closer look...

He's so stinkin' cute. :)

Oh, and before I sign of, the winner of the 30 DOI prize goes to... CHARLI (comment from day 22) Congratulations! Email me with address and I will send out your goodies.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you had a great weekend.

30 DOI- Day 30 & turning 30!

Hello and TGIF! I'm wrapping up the Thirty Days of Inspiration today with some inspiration from Elum. Loving THIS stationary set...I was really feeling the sophisticated feel of the stationary and also wanted to rock the yellow and gray color combo on a layout of the sweetest young man I know... Journaling reads: "Right now at 17...

It’s all about the music...band practice, writing and recording songs, Winter Rising t-shirt designs, drumming. You live and breathe music. You are just finishing up your junior year at LaSalle and received first honors every quarter. You have been driving for almost a year and enjoying more freedom. You’re showing your dad and I a glimpse of what kind of man you will become and we could not be any more proud of you."

I just received THIS stamp and had to play with it...so I stamped it with Staz On black ink onto the acetate that comes in the package, cut it in half and used it as a photo border. A closer look...And before I go, I have to say THANK YOU for all of the birthday wishes on Wednesday. You guys are the best! I have a lot of pics to edit of the day but I'd thought I'd share a few here.

As much as Ted teased me about turning 30, he did a fantastic job planning the day. He also took some snapshots of me. ( I hate to have my picture taken....always the photographer...never the subject! lol) Thought I'd share this one because apparently the inspiration for today carried into my wardrobe and background! ...Ted and Alex took me out to dinner (Longhorn)....and later I opened some presents when I got home from the movies. One of them was an acoustic guitar. I was so surprised because I mentioned to Ted and Alex a few months ago that the guitar was something I was wanting to learn. Something that was on my bucket list! I loved that they remembered. I see lots of bonding time with this guy in the future....:) That's all I got for now. Remember, keep leaving comments because I will draw a random winner on Sunday night for a special prize to celebrate the 30 DOI. Thanks for stopping by!

30 DOI- Day 28 & 29

I decided to hop on the computer to avoid my hubby and his joking me all day long about my big birthday tomorrow! (Shhh..I'm turning 30 and I'm freakin' out!) I'm usually really big on birthdays and he couldn't understand why I was not giving him a countdown to this one. ;) Well, he figured it out and has been teasing me ever since. lol

Anyway, onto the 30 DOI. I have two cards today to share. The first inspired by THIS necklace... I was drawn to the colors and wanted to use that blue/teal greenish shade...I stamped the fern image onto canvas using VersaMark and heat embossed with some green embossing powder. After that, I applied some bundled sage distress ink all over the canvas. I also put some rock candy distress stickles on top of the canvas for some shine...The next card was inspired by Jennifer McGuire. I'm lucky enough to call her a friend. We are both Cincinnati girls so I attend a lot of her classes...what a treat...you learn so much and Jenn is an amazing teacher. She makes you want to step outside the box and try something new. Play, experiment. I love it. I recently saw a fun technique on her BLOG and wanted to give it a try.(Scroll down to the May 20th post)

She stamped with pearlized water (perfect pearls + water +mini mister). Here is my card using that technique....loving the new butterfly stamp from Hero arts...I can't believe that the 30 DOI is almost over! Don't forget to leave a link to your creation inspired by any of the days. I will draw a name at the end to receive a prize!

Thanks for stopping by!