Challenges

For Christmas last year, YaYa Kimberly gave us all a paint bucket full of monthly crafting challenges. She included some rough instructions/ ideas of where to start and some embellishments/ supplies we could use each month if we wanted to. Then, once we had completed our project we were to mail it to one of the YaYas according to the mailing list she had made up. Up til last month I had done fairly well meeting my challenge goals. I can already feel that we're coming up to the time of year when the frenetic pace begins. There are always lots of events to get to, and things that must be done. Is it just me, or does it seem to start earlier each year???
Anyway, I finally did my October and November YaYa challenges and they are literally in the mail.
Here's my October card. (Janna, close your eyes if you haven't gotten yours yet). It was supposed to use a picture of a leaf/ leaves, but I used this pretty little stamp instead. The sentiment says "Happy fall Y'all".

Recipe: Fabriano Mediovalis card, PTI summer sunrise cardstock, Stamps Rubber Stampede, Just Rite alphabet, Ink PTI dark chocolate, summer sunrise, pure poppie, ripe avacado.

This next card uses the Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge

Recipe: Cardstock PTI pure poppy, SU cool carribean, DP BasicGrey Figgy Pudding, Ribbon/Ink PTI pure poppy, oval hardware/ brads SU, sentiment from SU Cute and Curly.

So my challenge for you in this holiday season, dear reader, is to only take on those projects/ events which will truly enrich the lives of you and yours, and feeds your spirit-like crafting. If you're doing something just for the sake of doing, let that be the thing you say "no" to. Speaking of "feeding the spirit", tonight is my choir's Requiem Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew. The program begins at 7pm, and is free. Come join us (if your spirit could use some feeding). It is a memorial service for our loved ones who have died, especially those who have died during the past year.

Have a great week, and happy crafting!

Paper crafting

One of my favorite things is paper crafting. I started maybe 5 years ago when my friend Debbie dragged me to a Stampin' Up party. I did not want any part of it. I knew I had no artistic or creative abilities and that I would be bored out of my mind.
So I went to the party and loved it. I thought I was the most talented person on the planet to make (copy) Anne, our demo's, card. Since then my card making skills and tastes have evolved, and I do have to say my creations today look a bit better than when I started. (Though no where near as fabulous as many of the bloggers out there in the blog-o-sphere that I like to CASE).
Recently, my friend Kimberly challenged some of us in our crafty/ card making group (the Art YaYas) to get to crafting. Last weekend we had a virtual party and made lots of cards. I loved it. It forced me to actually use some of the crafting supplies that I've been hoarding. Pig (that's what she told us to call her, really!) sent me all of her challenge creations as a birthday gift. Am I a lucky girl or what?

Enough about that. Here are a few of my creations.

I made this card combining two of our challenges. This was a color challenge to use soft sky, chocolate chip, close to cocoa, and vanilla. The other challenge was to use Paper Trey Ink's ( http://papertreyink.com/) new set called Guidelines---love this set! This challenge was to make a card with cupcakes. The dp is from PTI and the images are from Stampendous.
This card was made using some beautiful dp from K and Company from their Wild Saffron collection. The monogram is done using the DIY monogram stamper from http://www.justritestampers.com/ . Kimberly gave me the monogram stamper with two fonts and the alphabets for my b-day. It is awesome!