Monday, January 31, 2011

Open Post to Challenge Hosts and their DT'S

I would like to start by saying Thank You to all the Challenge Hosts and their DT's for all the work they put into challenges.  I am awed and inspired by DT projects and I have purchased many products based on those projects.  I appreciate the time you take to comment on my little projects, you are truly uplifting and encouraging even though I am obviously a novice.

I hope that my comments will be read in the spirit in which they are offered.  An explanation of sorts. I am directing my comments to Challenge Hosts and DT's in case there are some out there that have been offended by the number of challenges I enter for a single project.

I stumbled onto a discussion the other day regarding the number of challenges people enter and I was a little taken aback by the tone of the discussion.  I am one of "those" crafters lol. I LOVE to enter challenges and since I usually have 1 card per week, I try to enter my card in as many challenges as I can. Not because of greed, I enter challenges where there are no prizes offered.  Of the Challenges that do have a prize I have only won a handful and of those, I can't recall any one card winning more than one challenge, regardless of the number of challenges entered. I enter because I love the feeling of participating with all the real artist out there. You are my peers. The fact that any of you take the time to look at my little contribution is a joy to me.

During the discussion regarding challenges, one DT said she didn't even want to leave a comment on one project because of the large number of challenges entered and she didn't feel the project met the criteria.  Personally, I have tried to be more careful about reading guidelines.  In the past, I too have missed something that disqualified my card.  I never intentionally want to waste any ones time. It takes a LONG time to link all those challenges and I truly only want to participate in the ones my project qualifies for.  And please, regardless of your DT obligations, if you are offended by the number of challenges I enter or anything else about my project, do not feel obligated to comment, in fact I would rather you didn't.

I am in no way advocating that all challenges be open without guidelines. To the contrary, I think participants should be good guests and read and respect the rules.  There are some challenge blogs that place limits on the number of combined challenges and those limits should be respected.

I could never get a straight answer as to why entering multiple challenges was considered "ridiculous" and I asked nicely.  Why is it wrong? Why is it a problem? Why is a certain number "too many"?  I was really curious about their opinions, but no one would give me a direct answer. I got "Well..you do it your way and I'll do it mine" or "It's my Opinion" or "Personally, I think it's too many".  But that never really answered my question.

It was never my intention to become one of "those" crafters.  I thought people put challenges out there because they wanted participants.  Many of the themes are exactly the same.  I truly fail to see the harm or why it is so frowned upon.  I will continue on my merry way entering in those challenges that will have me LOL.  To the Challenge Hosts and their DT's, if I have not told you before, let me say now I TRULY appreciate each of you.  Thank you for inviting me and other crafters of all skill levels to your blog home, offering us a chair at the table and letting us share with you.

Thanks for reading my very long post and as always.. Thanks for looking.


Saturday, January 29, 2011

First Christmas Card of 2011 and Challenges


Hi everyone! This is the first Christmas card for my stash for 2011.  The image is a digi image, Mollie Mittens Christmas,  from Tickled Pink Stamps.  The blue and orange papers are a freebie from Bearly-Mine Designs ( I LOVE her papers). The orange paper is from a kit cb CRelly. The doily is from JoAnns and I colored it with Distress ink.  The flowers were white and sprayed with home made glimmer mist. The decorative corners were free cut files from the amazing Penny Duncan and I embossed them and colored them with distress ink. I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:
  1. Bearly-Mine Challenge- Recipe - 3 flowers, 2 dp and 1 image
  2. CES Challenge- Bold and Bright
  3. Totally Gorjuss-As You like it
  4. Crafty Catz-Flowers
  5. Fuzzy Wuzzy-Anything goes
  6. Crafty Purple Frog-Distressing
  7. Crafty Sentiments-Your favorite things (Cats, digi paper, pearls, flowers)
  8. Do You Stack Up-Patterned Paper
  9. PaperPlay-Layer it up
  10. Southern Girls-Dry Embossing
  11. Creative Belli-Something starting with P (Pearls)
  12. Creative Craft World-Cute and Cuddly
  13. Fab n Funky- Use a digi
  14. Fresh Brewed-Warm and Flowers
  15. Penny's Paper Craft-Anything Goes
  16. Simon Says-Animal Antics
  17. Tuesday Throwdown-Distressing
  18. Craft Your Passion-Use 2 Patterned Papers
  19. Critter Sketch-A circle and Distressing
  20. Ooh La La-3 of a Kind
  21. StampFairy-Circles
  22. Stamps R Us-Animals
  23. Woodware USA-Anything Goes
  24. Catered Crop-Recipe (Prisma color Pencils)
  25. Paper Sundaes-Distressing
  26. The Crazy Challenge-Dots and Stripes
  27. Kaboodle Doodles-Bling it up
  28. Stampin for the Weekend-Warm it up (colors)
  29. Stamping Vacation-Animal Applause
  30. Stamping Vacation-Embelish it Anything Animal Related
  31. Everybody Art-Favorite Things
As always, thanks to the crafters who take the time to challenge and inspire us, to the generous sponsors who sponsor the challenges, to Feline Playful and Pile it On for listing all the challenges and Thank YOU for looking!


Sunday, January 23, 2011

New Card and Challenges


I have made another Girlfriend card.  This will be it for awhile for my Vintage girls and back to coloring my digi's! I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
  1. Catered Crop-Recipe Challenge (Flower Patterned Paper, Punch)
  2. The Crafty Pad-Girly
  3. Stamping Sisters-Vintage
  4. Alphabet Challenge-L is for Ladies
  5. Fairy Knoll-Chocolate
  6. Fairy tale Challenge-Flowers
  7. Simply Create-Punches
  8. AI Factory-Anything Goes
  9. Crafty Purple Frog-Distressing (ink)
  10. Crafty Sentiments-Vintage
  11. Cute Card Thursday-1-2-3 (1 butterfly, 2 flowers, 3 Patterned Papers)
  12. Digi Doodle Shops Best-Anything Goes
  13. Penny's Paper Challenge-Anything Goes
  14. Simon Says-Bingo (Gems, Flower, Punch)
  15. Truly Scrumptious-Brown Pink and Green
  16. My Time to Craft-Spots and Dots
  17. Stamping Vacation-No No Tags
  18. Paper Cutz Challenge-Your Choice
As always thanks to those talented crafters that challenge and inspire us, thanks to the generous sponsors that sponsor the challenges, thanks to Feline Playful and Pile it On for listing the challenges, and thank YOU for looking!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Pets in the Craft Room!

Meighen at Scrappin_3rdeeschik wants to see our pets...in our craft room. I have accepted the fact that pets, especially cats are always at your side..like it or not, busy or not.  Here is a picture of my Moon (prior to surgery where he now has a bad haircut LOL).  I wish I had gotten a picture of when he recently covered himself in home made glue dots.  He evidently walked across them as they were drying.  So I give you Moon:





Thursday, January 13, 2011

Thank You card and Challenges



Hi everyone. I wanted to share a Thank You card I made for my Vet.  My Siamese cat "Moon" was very ill and at 12 years old,  it didn't look like he was going to make it.  The Vet did surgery and he is doing great! Ok, the cat thinks I have lost my mind, it is our first attempt at "pill administration" it has been an exciting time LOL. The cat digi was a freebie from Wink Wink Ink, you got a regular digi to color anyway you wanted, you got this precolored digi (I used the pre colored digi and I added the doctor's name to the envelope :), and you got a transparent digi to be colored any way you want.   I merged the kitty with the vase of flowers (I colored these with Prisma Pencils and OMS I am sorry I don't remember where I got it). All of the papers are digi papers the majority of which are from Cuddlebeez and were also freebies. I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:
  1. Sketch Saturday-Sketch
  2. Ai Factory-Anything Goes
  3. Colour Create-Color
  4. Crafty Sentiments-Thank You
  5. Do You Stack Up-Distress (Distress ink on dragon fly and corner)
  6. Meljens Design-Square Card
  7. PaperPlay Challenge-Cutie Patootie
  8. Sassy Studio Designs-Use something at least a year old (dragon fly, gems, )
  9. Stampin B's -Use a diecut
  10. A Spoon Full of Sugar-Thank You
  11. Flourish-Use your favorites ( I love Digi Stamps and gems!)
  12. Top Tip Tuesday-Anything Goes
  13. Crazy Challenge-Animals
  14. Oh La La-Bling it on
  15. Pollycraft-New Things (Word art sentiment)
  16. Catered Crop-Recipe (Distress ink, Digi images, ribbon)
  17. Creative Cowgirls-(Word Art Sentiment)
  18. Karber Monthly-Favorite Movie (Aristocats)
  19. Paper Sundaes-Circles
  20. Scrappy Frogs-Sentiments
  21. Craft Your Days Away-Anything Goes
  22. CES Challenge-All Creatures Great and Small
  23. Delicious Doodles-New (Word Art Sentiment)
  24. Phindy's Place-Distressing
  25. Stamp Something-Use a Digi
  26. Totally Paper Crafts-Thank You
  27. By the Cute and Girly-Bling it on
  28. The Fuzzy Wuzzy Challenge-Anything Goes
  29. Stamping Vacation-Paper with Words
  30. Really Reasonable Ribbon-Ribbon and something new (word art sentiment)
  31. Sundays with Crissy-Ribbon
  32. Easy Craft Projects-Use old stash
  33. Crafty Purple Frog-New (Word Art Sentiment)
  34. Outlaws-Prisma's and Other mediums - Flowers
  35. Crafty Ann's-New and Old
Special thanks to the crafters who take the time to present us with challenges, Thanks to Feline Playful and Pile it On for listing the challenges and Thank YOU for looking!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Birthday Card and Challenges

Hi everyone.  I made this card for my stash and I decided to try a few new things.  This is a digital image from Funky Kits and is a  Sugar Nellie (I am SO glad they have digis!) I cut her out with my Nestie and then I embossed and then I used distress ink while the image was still in the Nestie.  This is new to me and..obviously needs work LOL.  The image was sliding out from under, I am sure I will get the hang of it. The very bottom paper is a digi paper from a kit, this is a very old file and I am sorry I don't know who to credit.  The digi patterned paper is a freebie from Bearly Mine Designs. Donna has tons of beautiful digi paper and card inserts.  I just ordered a couple of cd's that have 700 papers.  I know I know..budget but what a great price for 700 papers! The sentiment is a freebie from Bizzy Becs. The flowers and rhinestones are from my stash and the flourish is new..newer. I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
  1. Make it Colorful-Warm or Cool
  2. Aly's Sunday Challenge-Things with Wings
  3. Catered Crop- Recipe-Paper Flowers, Distress ink,
  4. Creative Cowgirls-Something New-New Technique (distress in a nestie)
  5. Gingerloft-Celebrations
  6. Scrappy Frogs-Sentiments
  7. Sentimental Sundays-Anything with Wings and a Sentiment
  8. 2 Sisters-Girly
  9. Catch the Bug-Embossing
  10. Craft Your Days Away-Anything Goes
  11. Our Daily Bread- Something old (bottom digi papers) Something New (Rhinestone Flourish)
  12. Sweet Stampin-Try something new (distress in a nestie)
  13. Stamp Something-Use a digi
  14. Phindy's Place-Distressing
  15. Delicious Doodles-Try something new (distress in a nestie)
  16. Scrapbook Sisters-Anything Goes
  17. Crafty Sentiments-Anything Goes
  18. Cute Card Thursday-Out with the Old (bottom digi paper, paper flowers, rhinestones)
  19. Moving Along with the Times-Ring out the Old Ring in the new (old digi paper, flowers, new flourish.
  20. PaperCrafting Journey-Use digi (Paper or elements or image)
  21. Rainbow Lady-All new to me (Technique distress in a nestie)
  22. Sassy Studio-use something new (Flourish)
  23. Stampin Bs-Old favorite (paper flowers) and Something New (flourish)
  24. The Creative Cottage-Something New (Flourish)
  25. Fab n Funky-Anything Goes
  26. Papertake Weekly-Anything Goes
  27. Simply Create-embossing
  28. Crafty Purple Frog-New Technique (Distress in nestie)
  29. Crafter's Companion-Something New-Technique (Distress nestie)
  30. Outlawz-Monday birthday Card Challenge
As always thank you to the wonderful crafters that provide us with Challenges. Thank you to the sponsors that provide the prizes. Thank you to Feline Playful and Pile it On for listing and updating all the challenges and Thank YOU for looking!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Sympathy Card and Challenges


Hi everyone. I made this sympathy card for my friend Sandi who lost her grandfather.  The Stair Way to Heaven is a digi image from Make it Crafty. The image of the "Grandfather" is one from the awesome Mo Manning.  He was actually part of a digi titled "Jack and Ginger" which also featured a female. I asked for and received permission from Mo to remove "Ginger" and merge her image with the Stair Way to Heaven image. I started coloring this 8 different times LOL.  I am still not completely happy with my work on this card but I am out of time. I guess you only get better with practice and I bit off more than I could chew LOL! Over reached just a bit. I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:
  1. Bunny Zoe's Challenge-Sparkle and Shine
  2. Craft Your Passion-Anything Goes
  3. The Crazy Challenge-All things new (both digi images are new)
  4. Woodware USA- New
  5. Aly's Sunday Challenge-Anything Goes
  6. I Did it Creations-Favorite Technique (Prisma color pencils)
  7. One Stitch at a Time-Anything Goes
  8. Paper Sundaes-Something New (Digis)
  9. Pile it on-Brand Spankin New (Digis)
  10. Catch the Bug-Anything Goes
  11. CES Challenge-Anything Goes
  12. Creative Inspirations-Something New (Digis)
  13. Mark's Finest Papers-Use Something New (Digis)
  14. Sweet Stampin Challenge-Favorite Song (Stairway to Heaven -Led Zeppelin)
  15. The Character Cafe-Sparkle
  16. Sew Many Cards-New Things
  17. Stamp Something-Glitter
  18. Crafty Sentiments-Anything Goes
  19. Digi Doodle Shops Best-Anything Goes
  20. Southern Girls-Anything Goes
  21. Stamp Insanity-Sparkle
  22. Digital Tuesday-Digi anything goes
  23. My Time to Craft-Brand Spanking New
  24. Sundays with Crissy-Ribbons (Entry 1)
  25. Stamping Vacation-No No Punches
  26. Really Reasonable Ribbon-Something New + Ribbon (Digis)
  27. Creative Cowgirls-Something New (digis) (Entry 1)
  28. Simply Create-Embossing
  29. Top Tip Tuesday-Embellish it
  30. Card Makin Mamas-Anything goes (entry 3)
  31. Moxie Fab World-Glitter is Glam
  32. Meredith scraps-Use coloring on your card (chalk, primacolor pencils,zig markers)
As always thanks so much to the crafters that take the time to provide us with challenges, to Feline Playful and Pile it On for listing the challenges, and to all the wonderful sponsors that are so generous with everyone! And thanks for looking!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Blog Candy at Sweet Pea Stampers!

Hi everyone.  Sweet Pea Stampers has a fab blog candy and here are the details:

To be in with a chance of winning these 3 gorgeous Christmas stamps from Sweet Pea Stamps and 3 sheets of Digital Ching Chou KuikDecoupage from The Crafty Purple Frog please follow the rules as this is the only way to win!!!

I am sure you will agree this will be a great way to build up your collection of Sweet Pea Stamps Images or Ching Chou Kuik decoupage and to start a collection if you are new to these Magnificient Images!
RULES

Become a Follower if you are not one already as the prize is only for Followers of Sweet Pea Stampers


Post the Blog Candy Banner in your sidebar


Spread The Word on your Blog and link this post to here using the Blue Frog Inlinkz below by January 30th 2011.

Click here to enter!