You Did It

I have about 5 minutes to post before running my littlest dancer to her hip hop class.

So here goes...

Today is the start of a new challenge blog called Poppy Sketches

by Laura Davis

And in an effort to bounce around and try as many sketch challenges as I can, I decided to plunge right in on the first sketch

It's a sketch with a color challenge and this is what I imagined

I'd like to tell you all about the yummy new ink I bought from Papertrey Ink, but I think this close-up picture will do a better job

Um, can ya tell I'm in love with gold right now?

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to do a floral thing -- it seems the DT did, so I went with this fabulous Teresa Collins paper that made me think of overlapping flower petals.

I have another card to post and details from my oldest daughter's recent trip to Washington D.C.  I'm one proud momma and I have to share.

The short version is that she went to represent the state of Washington to advocate for diabetes research.

Back soon with more crafty business...

Kind and Lovely

I had that stunning moment recently when I realized that I never sat my oldest daughter down to write thank you notes for her birthday (which was more than a month ago!).  So I decided to put a little more effort into creating some extra special cards.  Of course, this takes time and so they will go up on the blog one at a time.

Here's the first one

So the gold cardstock with the white threads running through it was one of my impulse purchases.  Gold is definitely "in" right now, and I wanted to give it a whirl.  The sentiment stickers were a must have - I was eyeing them the last time I went shopping and I couldn't resist them this time.  They are Maggie Holmes from Crate Paper/American Crafts.  It was all I could do not to buy up the whole collection!  

The stars, clear sequins and the giant & are from Paper Issues Swag Bags & kits.  Pink sequins are Doodlebug.  Patterned paper is Teresa Collins.  I spritzed it with some Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Primrose.

Here's a close-up of the glittery, shiny gold goodness

On a completely separate note, but along the lines of "Kind & Lovely", I had a "YAY ME" moment recently when I received an honorable mention award from the Fusion Challenge Blog.

I was so very proud of my card, and it meant a lot to have received recognition for it, so thank you for that!  I will be playing along whenever I can because I adore the idea of their challenges.

I made a completely unnecessary and frivolous purchase at Craft Warehouse today, but I am pretty excited about this one set of items in particular

Notice the price tag in the corner - American Crafts scissors from $29.99 down to $7.00 - um, yes please!  I always resent having to spend $$ on boring old supplies like glue, tape and scissors, and yet they must be a part of our crafty collection of things, so I'm happy to have stocked up.  My daughters get their hands on all of that stuff and I never see it again (until many months later when I do a thorough cleaning of their rooms!).

Alright, back to crafting - I have a few more thank you notes to create...

XO

I'm beginning to explore other challenge blogs out there, and thanks to my bloggy friend Rose, I discovered this sketch from Sieze the Sketch

Sketches are definitely tough for me, but I really liked this one and I imagined hearts instead of stars

Cardstock Papertrey Ink~Patterned Paper Crate Paper, Teresa Collins~Other items Chipboard Heart, Heart Punch, Sewing Machine Stitching

Your eyes are not deceiving you, the stitching and 'XO' banner are meant to look crooked.

Getting started on my Valentines and this puts me in the mood to make more.

I'm hoping to tackle a few more challenges before the week is up, so it might be a regular love fest on my blog.