Happy New Year

A big welcome to 2013. I wish everyone a wonderfully happy and safe new year.

My first Color of the Month selection is Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie and Real Red. Lots of dark colors. These colors are being used in a swap at SSSD for January.  I didn't realize how dark they would be together, I'm going to have to be more careful in the future.

Want to play? 

All you have to do is make a card using only these colors. Since I haven't figured out Mr. Linky, I can't ask anyone to post a card to my blog, so I can't see your beautiful creations. But do give this color combination a try.

 

 Here is my version of these colors together.

I love the stamp I used, I see so many possibilities with it. Its SU Tweet Leaves and I also purchased the die, Autumn Accents to go with it. I haven't used the die yet, but I will. This is a perfect set for fall cards.

Thanks for dropping by and I hope you will try this color combination.

Happy New Year 2013

Peace

Of all the cards I made this year, this is my favorite. So with it, I'm wishing you all the best during this Christmas/Holiday season and through out the new year.
The sentiment stamp is Stampendous and the holly stamp is Craftsmart

January is coming!

January is just around the corner and I haven't gotten through Christmas yet. These next few days are going to be quite busy. There's Dec. 21, when the world (as we know it) is to end according to the Mayans, and the day the world ends is the first day of winter. Then we have Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and finally, New Year's Eve. Is everyone ready for it? Not me, but then, I'm never ready for anything.
I joined a Christmas card swap again this year. I hope everyone that got my cards, liked them. I enjoyed making them and receiving cards in return. Here are a couple of cards that I made and sent.

 I made this bottom card at a Stamp Camp last year. I love that snowman, I haven't bought the set, Snow Much Fun, because I don't think I would use any of the other stamps. I would buy him if he were offered as an individual and I do have the set on my wish list.

The top and center cards are copies of cards we made at Stamp Camp a month or so ago. The only thing used that is SU in the two cards is the little gingerbread man. Isn't he cute? He was cut using the Framelits Holiday collection.

That's all for now. Wishing everyone the best.  Take care

ScrapbookPlace Fall Blog Hop-iversary

Welcome to the ScrapbookPlace Fall Blog Hop-iversary!  Fall is here in full force – crisp, cool air, leaves on the ground, Halloween has come and gone.  What a beautiful time of year! 

 

A Hop-iversary you say… You’ve never heard of a hop-iversary.  Well let me tell you what it’s all about.  Not only are we celebrating fall BUT we are also celebrating the seven, yes SEVEN, years that ScrapbookPlace has been on the net.  In seven years, we’ve made lots of friends and shared lots of memories.  More importantly, we shared our passion – paper crafting!  You want to join us, click here:  ScrapbookPlace-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

 

We have a wonderful sponsor for our hop, Floppy Latte Digital Designs (http://www.floppylattedesigns.com/catalog/).  The images used in the creations you see in the hop today are from FLDD.  Check out the site, they have great digi images and great deals!  Run on over to Floppy’s blog (http://floppylattesdigitaldesigns.blogspot.com/) and leave her some love too when the hop is over! 

 

If you have arrived from Sue’s blog,  you are right on track. If you are just happening by, you will want to start on the ScrapbookPlace blog.  http://yourscrapbookplace.blogspot.com/ 

 

My fall card, using the Floppy Latte Digital Designs lamp post. 

Upon opening the card you see the tree. There is still plenty of room to write a note or stamp a sentiment.

Card base is an "S" fold
 Brown & beige card stock is from stash

 Printed paper is DCWV

Tree and acorns cut using the Create a Critter 2 cartridge

Stamp is Lamp post by Floppy Latte Digital Designs

Your next stop is: 
Teresa :   www.teresasscrappinspot.blogspot.com

Leave some love at each blog and the main blog and you will be put in a drawing for a $10 gift certificate to Floppy Latte Digital Designs!    
 

If you get lost along the way, here is the order:

 ScrapbookPlace blog:  http://yourscrapbookplace.blogspot.com/

Linda:  http://scrappingheaven.blogspot.com

Judy:   http://dragonhomer.blogspot.com/

Pammie:   Http://PammiesCraftRoom.blogspot.com/

Sue S:   http://sueinct.blogspot.com

Joyce G:   www.joycewashere.blogspot.com

Teresa :   www.teresasscrappinspot.blogspot.com

Carolyn :   http://luvmycards.blogspot.com

Karissa :   http://livelaughlovescrapbookstamp.blogspot.com/

Melissa :  http://melissa-thoughtsonpaper.blogspot.com/

ScrapbookPlace blog:  http://yourscrapbookplace.blogspot.com/

It's a Journaling Box

I joined a swap, what else is new. Yeah, I know, I love my swaps. Well, this one was different. Not a card but a journaling box. A journal box for a scrapbook page with side pockets, here is the description:

Make any kind of Embellished Cardstock Journal Box, any shape

Please add writing lines to your journal box and tags

Add two side pockets to your Journal Box

Add two tags with eyelets in the holes and add either Ribbon,twine,or fiber into the eyelet hole.

Place a completed tag into each pocket for additional journaling

Are you as confused as I was? I checked on line, I ask on the board if there were any pictures, I created many of these in my head, but just couldn't get one on paper. Laura, who was to send to me, got her's out early, so I have one in hand. Ok, that works. Thank you Laura. Here is the journal box she sent me:

Its pretty and sparkly and for a birthday. She used Nestabilities Labels Eight for the journal box itself and it opens bottom to top with room inside for journaling. Adding another piece of cardstock to the back, she created the two side pockets and then she used SU Top Note to create the tags. 

It looks really nice, why don't I copy it? She won't know and what better compliment can I give her? I'm at a total stand still on this and its due in the mail by Monday. I'll do mine a little different, but I have the same dies and her's looks really great. So I get to work and create my own work of art:

I went for a Christmas theme using a whimsical scene on the front, it opens and there are lines for journaling inside. I made my side pockets the same way she did. My tags are rectangle in shape and I used Nestabilities Labels 10 to cut the tops of the tags. I also placed the same house that is on the front of the box onto each tag. I'm done, I think its quite nice. Time to get it into the mail. 

I get out the directions that has the name of the person I'm to send to. I send to Laura! Back to the drawing board. We had a good laugh over this at Stamp Camp last night.

I still copied her's in a way; here is the one I made and sent to her. I hope she likes it. 

The snowman is cut using Sizzix Snowman w/skates die. I did paper piecing, coloring and flocking on him. I added googly eyes and plastic gems for his buttons. The lined paper on the inside, I put together and printed off my computer. I think I enjoyed making this one more than the other one.

A win is a win, is a win...

I don't know if I should be proud of my win, I won because I have a messy craft room. Yip, my craft room is a mess and I'm the only one allowed in so I can't blame anyone else. I have a new friend that lives in TN and she told me of a challenge that was going on over at Tamra's Crafty Paper Creations back in September called "Craft Space Give Away". The only requirement was that you were to send Tamra a picture of your messy craft space. The messiest would win a prize.  I'm not about to post a picture of my craft room on my own blog, so if you would like to see it you have to go here.

This is the stamp set I won. Its CTMH's For Every Occasion.  I love the different font styles.

 

Here is a card I made using one of the stamps. Isn't that font pretty?I'm thinking I will be using this set quite often.

Paper : Old Olive, Raspberry Ripple and Pretty in Pink, Image is from Everything Elenore stamp set, leaves are punched using the Bird Builder punch. Sentiment is CTMH from the For Every Occasion stamp set, ink used us Raspberry Ripple. Gems are from stash

12 x 12 Christmas paper challenge

I love challenges. Life is a challenge with its mostly ups and some downs. Paper crafting is a challenge too; it challenges our creativeness. In September, I chose to do the 12 x 12 Christmas patterned paper challenge/swap.If you have been following my blog, you know this isn't my first pp challenge. I had so much fun with this project..

I stepped out of my box for this one.  The red card with the wreath, I made using my Gypsy and Cricut. That was a new learning experience. I think I have posted this card earlier. The card on the left of the red one is actually a card that opens into a box. I saw this type of card on Pintrest. The item to the far left is a box card. The red below the pp is a little box, which is part of the card. Under the Cricut cut card is a corner bookmark. It was so much fun to make that I now have a whole slew of them. And then the old standbys, Tags and squares. Enjoyed working on this project.

 This set is what is pretty normal for me and the first set I made. It contains the "box" card, corner bookmark, tags and squares. This is the set I made  learning how to use my Gypsy. The tags were cut using my Gypsy and Cricut. .Everything in it, except for the card on the right, was a learning experience.

I've learned so many new things this past month, I can hardly wait for the next 12 x 12 pp challenge.
Thanks for coming by and Take Care

New (to me) Challenge blog

I found another challenge blog. Haven't been doing so well on my challenges or even my posting for that matter. I have been busy still trying to learn how to use my Gypsy. That and getting my October swaps done. Cut off a little more than I can chew this month, but I'll get it done.
A couple of months back, SSSD had a monochromatic Color of the Month swap. I haven't posted the card yet, so I think I can use it at The Paper Cabana's challenge #5 which is a monochromatic challenge.

For my blue monochromatic card, I used SU Midnight Muse, Bashful Blue and I think that's Night of Navy. I kept going back and forth with Night of Navy and Not Quite Navy.I didn't write down which one I used and its difficult to tell from my picture.
The stamp is Inkadinkado and ink used is Midnight Muse.
I just love that pinwheel, its so easy to do and yet looks quite complicated.
Thanks for stopping by and Take Care

The Perfect Sentiment will celebrate it's one year Anniversary/Birthday from October 10th-30th, 2012. They will have four different challenges for you to participate in along with a blog hop for even more chances to win prizes.

I love challenges, tho I don't seem to get my projects entered very often, they give me inspiration. I am certainly make an effort to follow the blog hop and challenges.

I have a Gypsy. I've had it for about three years. Seems like forever, because I have never figured out how to use it, it didn't come with instructions. I went to a weekend crop at which there was to be a class on the basics. Class never took place because the one teaching wanted all of the Gypsys updated. Not possible since we didn't have internet. So no class. I did figure out how to turn it on and how to link my cartridges.
Fast forward to this past week. I was blog hopping when I ran across a challenge that interested me, but you had to use the Gypsy to enter. I made a comment about how pretty her card was but I couldn't do that. She e-mailed me and offered to teach me how to use my Gypsy. I jumped at the chance.
This is where I first saw the window card I wanted to make.

This is the card I ended up making.

Thanks to Kathi (who is now a friend), I have made a card using my Gypsy and a window card at that. The card she was walking me through had one item in the window. Since I'm working on a patterned paper swap and I needed another card, I decided to make the window card for the swap. I was using Christmas paper, so it had to be a Christmas card. I won't tell you that it took me eight hours just to get the foundation of the card cut out. I had a horrible time getting the two boxes together and not have my Cricut cut both of them or neither of them. When I finally got a foundation all in one piece, the rest was easy. And I have two layers instead of one. 

I would like you to go over to Kathi's blog, Design Originals and see what she has going on. You will also find a link to The Paper Cabana challenge blog. I missed the window card challenge, but I'll be ready next time. 

Thank You Kathi, you rock!

Double Embossing

I learned something new this month. Well, I learned lots of new things this month, but I'm only going to discuss one in this post. Using two embossing folders on a background.
I first embossed my background cardstock using SU's Elegant Lines folder, I lightly went over the embossing with yellow. I then re-imbossed the cardstock using Cuttlebug's Styled Flowers folder. This one I used the orange and green to highlight the embossing. The butterflies are cut using SU's Beautiful Wings folder.
I think my card is very pretty, but I still have a long way to go to perfect this technique. One thing that would help immensely is having folders with more open designs. I'm going to have to try this with the dotted swiss folder. Hmmm
Thank you for dropping by. Take Care

Black & White

At SSSD, August color of the month was black, white and grey. This month in another swap,we make a Masculine card in black & white.I went off the deep end making black & white cards. There is one a couple of posts down that I made using scraps for a challenge. The post below this, I used black & purple. Oh, that's not black & white is it. And this month, for a Feminine card, white on white.  Ok, ok, back to black, white and grey

This is the card I made for the August color of the month swap.  At our SU club, one of the members brought in her project for us to make and it was this card, only not B&W. It is a beautiful card and not too hard to make. Just gotta get those fold lines straight. This card, by the way, takes a full sheet of 12 x 12 patterned or solid light weight card stock  The patterned paper I used is S.E.I. White elegance. Its a beautiful paper.





This is the inside of the card.The butterflies are punched from a sparkly black which was in my scrap drawer along with the grey paper I used. The grey paper is textured. The punch and stamp are SU.








My card for September, Masculine in black & white.

I created the background paper on my computer. I did the background paper and sentiment using Word.I don't remember where I got the image. It is a digi and the drive I had it on gave up the ghost, so I no longer have it. Its a fun digi and is perfect for paper piecing.

Now that I have discovered what one can do with black & white...  I love the elegance of the first card and the fun of the second card.

Thanks for stopping by,  Take Care

Fall card

Fall is almost here, know what that means? HALLOWEEN! I don't normally make cards for Halloween, or anything else for that matter. However, for some reason, I'm in the mood. Maybe it comes from doing the black & white cards last month and this month.

A Yahoo group I have recently joined is challenging the members to make a Fall card.Now I don't know if a Halloween card qualifies as a Fall card or not... And besides, how much more Fall can one get than Halloween?

I dug into my scrap drawer and came up with all the papers except for the card foundation. I cut the tree out with my Cricut and the October 31st cartridge, the pumpkins are from a digi I purchased a year or so ago and the bats and moon are cut from a QuicKutz die "haunted house". I started out wanting to use the haunted house, but when I cut the tree, I scrapped the house. Perhaps I will use it on another project.
Besides posting this card on the SBP blog, I'm going to post it on the HIMCR for the Super Scraps Saturday challenge.

I apologize for the picture being so faded out, I scanned it several times and took several pictures. My card just isn't photogenic.It looks a lot better in person.
Thanks for stopping by
Take Care

Using Those Scraps

Over at Hiding in My Craft Room, Laurie has posted her Saturday challenge. This week it is HIMCR #62 Super Scraps Saturday. 

I am entering this card in that challenge. I made the card because I wanted to see what the pinwheel card would look like in Black & White. As soon as I decided to do B & W (which was SSSD's Color of the Month for August), I discovered that I didn't have any black & white patterned paper. (The next time Joanne's has a paper sale, I'm buying black patterned paper.) I pulled out my black scrap folder and found some small pieces of B&W. It was fun trying to get all the squares even when cutting around "holes" in the paper. But I managed. Except for the foundation, it is all from my scrap drawer. Now all I need to do is find someone to send the card to 
So go on over to Hiding in My Craft Room and see all the cards made from "scraps".
Thanks for dropping by. Please leave a comment, so I can visit your blog and see what wonderful things you have been making.
Take Care

 

Everything Eleanor

I love this stamp set, so versatile.  I first saw it while blogging and fell in love with it. It is new with this current SU catalog. I saw a card that just jumped out at me and said "You need the stamp set used on me". A little investigating and came up with the Everything Eleanor stamp. The swirl, that's what caught my attention, I just had to have it. I immediately e-mailed my SU enabler and ask her to put it on my first order out of the new catalog, I had to wait over a month before I could order it.

At our June Stamp Camp we used Everything Eleanor. I had ordered the set a couple of weeks before, so I had it and had already played with it but the flowers didn't interest me, I was after the swirl.  Anyway, at SU Camp we made this card. I actually didn't know how to use the flower stamps (probably why I ignored them), but fell in love with the technique we used here. Not the fussy cut, but the "smearing" of the ink. It doesn't show up well here, but it is blended using water. I don't know the right name for the technique, but I really like it on these flowers.



This next card I also used Everything Eleanor.

I just love that swirl. I punched the flowers with the Boho Blossoms punch. Ordered it same time I ordered EE.
This card was for a mystery item card swap. The mystery item was the leaf and I punched the flowers out of the leaf and attached them to card stock so they wouldn't be so fragile.

I think every card I have made using this stamp set, I have used shades of purple. July was my purple month.

Hope you like my cards. Thanks for stopping by. Take Care

As if I don't have enough to do

I joined a new Yahoo scrapbooking group and I jumped right into the swaps. I'm still learning my way around the site and am a bit confused on some of the requirements. Actually, I'm totally confused on how to upload to/from (make) a tiny url. I have the directions and I will give it a try by uploading my swap picture to my album. That is if I have one, I haven't been in that section yet.
I joined three swaps two of which are nearly ready to go.

One is to make ten matted sentiments. No embellishments, just matting  to make three layers. I have three more matted sentiments, but they are duplicates of some shown here. I hope the receiver of these likes them and is able to use them. I'm anxious to see the ones I'm going to get.

The other swap that is ready to go was so easy. I'm to mail 30 pieces of scrap printed paper. Nope, you don't get a picture of that.

The third swap, a Halloween tag, isn't due this month. Don't know when its due, but my tag is under construction. I will need to go in and check to see the due date on it. 
Thanks for stopping by  Take Care

Always a fun challenge

Do you know how many items you can get out of a 12 x 12 piece of patterned paper? I'm doing a swap challenge and I'm to make as many items as possible out of one sheet of paper. Been doing pretty good, but I have some left overs. Here is what I have so far.

                                                         Envelope for Teepee card  
Box for note paper
Bookmark or tag
Teepee card
Two cards
Patterned paper is Paper Pizzaz's Purple "handmade" Flowers
Butterflies stamped and/or punched with SU punches and SU stamp sets Everything Elenore and Papillion Potpourri.
Ink used is a Ranger product. The black that stands out is the body of a butterfly and I flocked it in black. All card stock used is from stash.
I have two sets to make. I love this pp and I hope the ladies enjoy what I have made. Now I must go and make a few more items, probably cards.
Thank you for stopping by. Take Care

Color challenge at HIMCR

I like color challenges. I'm color challenged and I'm hoping that some day I will figure out how to match up colors. It has been explained to me over and over again, but...
The colors for the Hiding In My Craft Room challenge #53 are Old Olive, Summer Sun, Certainly Celery. I'm don't know what shade of yellow Summer sun is so I used Summer Starfruit, one of the new SU 2012-2014 In Colors.

For the layout I used the Build a Sketch challenge at SSSD. Out of 18 numbered shapes we are given five with which to build a card . This is my BAS for August. Whoopee, its done! However, as I look at this card, I find I have left out one of the pieces. Since I don't know where I would put it, I'm leaving it out.  I like this card and  in person the flower centers sparkle.
When I first made the card, I didn't like it, but as I look at it more, I am very satisfied with it.
The image, Flower Wreath, is from Hero Arts. I colored the flowers using More mustard, So saffron, Daffodil delight, Old olive and Certainly celery and some sparkly pens from stash.
The butterfly punch is SU and the gems are from stash.
If you like color challenges, hop on over to HIMCR and join in  the fun.
Thanks for stopping by and Take Care

July Colors

The July colors of the month for SSSD group are Blushing bride, Pear pizzazz, Concord crush, Daffodil delight or So saffron. After choosing the colors I discovered that all but the yellows were retired in June.

The sentiment and the embossing powder (Pearlized Amethyst) are from Stampendous. The gems on the butterfly are from Love2scrap. The card stock and butterfly punch are Stampin Up. 
I challenge you to make a project using these colors. While I have the directions for installing a link here, I have been unable to figure out how to do it.  However, if you take up my challenge and post your project to your blog, you can leave me a comment with your blog address. Oh, by-the-way, its a good way to use up some retired colors.
Thanks for stopping by and Take Care

Its from scraps

Make a card using scraps. This is this weeks Saturday challenge #49 at Hiding in my craft room. I can do that, I have a whole file drawer full of scraps. Little tiny pieces to 12 x 8, yip, I have scraps.

This is my contribution to the challenge. Except for the base, which is white, everything is from my scrap drawer. The image and sentiment is from the SU The Nicest Things stamp set. I think these little girls are adorable. I paper pieced their clothes and the basket. Hair is colored with pencils and flesh is with Copic. The blob on the hair of the girl on the right is a gem and it didn't scan well. Its a pink flower.
The sketch is a sketch swap challenge for July for a yahoo group I belong to. It does have one element missing and I just couldn't figure out where to put it. The missing piece is 7/8 x 2 1/4. I will probably make a bow and put it in the lower left corner. Thanks for stopping by and Take care

June Color of the Month

Crumb cake, Tangerine tango, Marina mist and Early espresso are the colors chosen for June.

These colors, for me, just fell together. I was going to have the card base in Tangerine, but discovered I only had an 8 x 8 piece, so used it as accent. I like this card and am satisfied with it.  I would have left off the three orange jellies (skittles) in the upper left corner, but directions require some embellishments.
I'm still working on opening up for linking cards, but having a time figuring it out. A friend, Vivi sent me the address on how to do it, but... Thanks Vivi.
OH, the post previous to this? I ended up removing that green and just placing the shirt on my technique background
Thanks for stopping by. Take care

I'm never satisfied

I was to do a new technique and use it on a card.
Sponge three colors of ink onto white cardstock, then clear heat emboss whole piece.  I'm ok to this point. When I applied heat, it looked nice until I noticed several spots that were missed with the powder. I fix this little problem using my VersaMark pen, more EP and heat.  I am  not loving this technique. Surfing the net, I found the perfect embellishments to make for my card. A shirt. I found a card that was really nice and  loved the idea of using a shirt on the front of my card. She gave wonderful directions using Simply Charmed cartridge and the Cricut. But my shirt didn't look at nice as her shirt Anyway I put it on my newly made heat embossed paper, applied everything and had a complete card. My card looked horrible!

No, this isn't the first or even the second card I made, and tho I played around with the Cricut shirt for a long time,  I ended up making an origami shirt for my card. In fact, I made several before I got one that I liked, then proceeded to misplace it so I had to make another. I love the little origami shirt and  I like the background I made but  being super critical of my work, I just don't like this card. Sorry Terry, but I'm sending it anyway.
Thanks for stopping by

Its been a while since I have entered into a challenge and color challenges are my nemesis. I have entered this card in the Hiding in my Craft Room  HIMCR #48 which is to use red, kraft and white. The red that I chose along with the kraft made me think of Autumn. I also had the gold leaves that are above and below the sentiment that I needed to use on a card. The lines on the border leaves is clear heat embossed. It didn't turn out very embossed, but it shows, which is what I wanted. This card is also my card for the mystery swap at SSSD. They mystery item being the four gold leaves. I also put a larger gold leaf on the inside of the card. 
Thanks for stopping by. Take care

Bald Eagles

Isn't he beautiful? Don't really know if this is mom or dad, but both parents are equally beautiful. I have been watching this nest, which is in Decorah, Iowa, via live webcam. The eaglets are developing nicely, and at eight weeks, they are nearly as big as their parents, soon they will begin flight instruction. It is so cute to see them spread their wings and hop up and down in the nest.
I belong to a computer club and someone brought in the address for this webcam. I am so glad they did, it has been very interesting watching the eaglets and learning about the American Bald Eagle.  If you would like to see these eaglets in action, you can see them here.
I wanted to post about the eaglets and I wanted a picture of an adult eagle, but hesitated using any pictures I found on the internet, and there are some beautiful ones. So I got out my camera, and took a picture of my monitor  (during upstream) while a parent eagle was on the nest. Go on over and see them for yourself and then come back and let me know what you think. Thank you for stopping by.

May color of the month

The colors for May are: Riding hood red, Wild wasabi, So saffron and Soft suede.

Someday I am going to figure out how to put a link in so that I can offer this challenge to anyone that may stop by. I don't sell anything, I can't give away any prizes, I just think it would be fun to throw out the challenge and let things fall where they may.

Anyway, this is my card for the color of the May month challenge/swap. I'm not happy with these buttons, but they are the only ones I have. I may hold the card and check with my rep, to see if she can "loan" me buttons. I think I'm gonna have to stock up on SU buttons. Especially in the Brights and Regals. So to the lady that gets this card, it may be a little late just because of the buttons.

The sketch for this is from another swap which is always challenging to me. We are told the sizes and shapes of the layers and we build a sketch using those layers. This, however, isn't the card that gets sent in that swap. It is the same, except the other one has red buttons.

I hope the two ladies that get these cards like them.
Take care

Oh me oh my

I am very frustrated at blogger and google. I can visit blogs, but I can't leave a comment on them. It wants me to "sign in" but it won't let me. If I try to comment using my name and url, it deletes my comment. I even tried using anonymous. Poor Lisa, if she is screening them, she may have a dozen from me.
Not a happy camper

PS  I can post to my blog from my laptop, but I can't make a comment on anyone's blog from my laptop.
Anyone have any ideas?

April Colors of the Month

Colors for April were Night of Navy, Daffodil Delight, Cherry Cobbler and Old Olive. I know most of you would never put these colors together, but I found that they can be very pretty together.

Have you ever had something in your head and you have to do it no matter what? When I started planning this card, I had something in mind and the focal point was to be the doily. I wanted the yellow on the blue. I then needed to figure out how to put the green and red on it and make it attractive. I liked what I had before I added the butterflies, but...
As I sit here looking at this card, I see my mistake. I should have made the card smaller.
In case you can't tell, I still haven't found my creativity, so any suggestions for future reference would be greatly appreciated.  I like the doily and the butterflies and I want to use them again.
The doily is cut with the SU Large Paper Doily sizzlit and the print on the butterflies is also cut from the doily sizzlit. I saw the butterflies done like this in one of the catalogs I think. In any case, it wasn't my idea originally.

I have been very lazy lately. Actually I lost my mojo, whatever that is. When people can't seem to create, they say they lost their mojo. Well, I have been in a non-creative place for a couple of months now. Since I haven't been here for quite a while, I will fill you in on some things. In March I took a vacation; no housework, no cooking, no kids, no responsibilities except for myself.

We drove down to Galveston, TX twice and spent the better part of both days there. Went shopping along the Strand, visited the exhibit "The Body Revealed" at Moody Gardens and had lunch at a little place called Eatcetra. food was delicious.

I went to Galveston with my camera and took pictures of ab-so-lutely nothing!! Oh, the pictures you see, well I took them a couple of years ago with my phone. That time I didn't take my camera to Galveston and I really should have.

In September 2008, Hurricane Ike roared through Galvestion and left so much devastation. The salt water from the storm surge killed thousands of trees.The pictures on the left are tree sculptures that were carved out of some of the dead trees. My pictures do not do them justice.

The woman in the bottom picture had a note on her requesting donations. I don't remember what the donation request was for..  

 We didn't take time to drive around Galveston this year, so I didn't get any new pictures. I'm putting that on my list of things to do next year.

I hope you enjoy the pictures I took. At the web address below, you can see more of these sculptures, including the three I have posted here. It also gives the addresses of the carvings.

http://www.slideshare.net/rangatang/galveston-tree-carving

Visitors

We went camping of the President's Day weekend. It was a spur-of-the-moment thing, but turned out nice considering.  The days were sunny but chilly and we had a breeze most of the time,  the evenings were cold and required a fire.

We had a marshmallow roasting fire each evening, except for Friday night, in which case we roasted hot dogs over the coals. I roasted my chicken over the coals on Sunday night. Boy was it good.

We also had some visitors:

 This is just one of the many little birds that come to visit. Don't know what they are, but, maybe next time I will ask one of the rangers.
They come in and eat crumbs laying around, its relaxing to watch them as they scurry around eating bugs and crumbs.

 This is a Magpie. They are really pretty birds and boy do they have an attitude. They swoop in and grab the dog food and take off. Some of them even swallow the kebble before leaving so that they can steal two at a time. I enjoy watching them. They have been known to open food packages and take the contents. Cookies, bread, crackers, fruit, gutsy little creachers. Almost as bad as the raccoons, except they come in packs.

Lift up a rock and you might find a scorpion. I couldn't get a good photo of this one, but the kids brought him in from the cold. When they first brought him in, he was stiff and unmoving. As he warmed up in their hands, he began moving, so got put on a plate. After we all had a good look and discussion, he was put back to where he came from. 

It was a very nice, relaxing weekend. I even got some Photoshop work done and did some reading. Hope your weekend was good. Thanks for coming by.