Wanda's Back With a Prize to Boot!!!

My friend, and fellow crafter, Wanda is back in the game!  She is coming back kicking and screaming as well- She is giving a Joann's Gift Certificate to one lucky winner! Could it be you?  I wish you luck *Hugs*
Wanda's Crafts

Happy Birthday Chyanne!!!!

Oh My, where DO the years go? It is hard to believe that Chyanne is 18 today and even harder to believe that Chris will be 18 three months from today as well!  As I tend to do here lately, I got a late start and waited until the last minute! Of course, I had NO clue what I was going to put on the card either. So, while browsing through digi images for another project, I found the circle with the 18 in the center- it was perfect! I printed it out on vellum and then used my Spellbinders circle to cut it out and then attached it to the spellbinders lacey circles or something similar. The lacey circle is cut out of some wrapping paper I found at the dollar store and just love it! I used some Penny Duncan Roses that were just perfect, along with some pearls and pink diamonds to spruce it up a hair. The bow (besides being lop sided and twisted) is made from plain curling ribbon I found on clearance at The Christmas Tree Store.  I DID try to make a bow on a fork, but my fork was too small to make the proper size and I was too lazy to get out the bow maker thing I have, so it really shows, LOL But, it is done and I still have about 30 minutes to spare :)  *Hugs*

I am playing with paper again!!!!

Oh my gracious, it has been SO long since I played around with paper, but I broke down tonight and made my dad a birthday card (for today, mind you, LOL). I followed directions from Water Gel Card.  I had been searching through my saved emails and bookmarks for ages to find this site again, but sadly it was lost in my pc someplace in a deep dark unknown folder, until Julie posted a link to an old project and there it was!!!! I was SO tickled to find the directions as I had totally forgotten what she said to do, LOL So, I managed to make one without too many mishaps- Ok, I had quite a few, as my baggie leaked all over the card and I had to trim wet areas off and use clips to keep the card closed to try to get it to stay closed to dry, but it all came together somewhat in the end! The fish is sorta hard to see, as I think I used a hair too much gel in my baggie!  The fishing bobber is actually red and white but I think my flash sorta messed the colors up! *Hugs*

525 Follower Giveaway - Celebration

Scraps2treasure is celebrating her new found freedom from an abusive relationship she had been in for over 15 years.  She said it was a long struggle but she survived and actually became a stronger, better person for it.  Help her to reach her goal of 525 followers and have a chance at some amazing blog candy!  We have all heard horror stories of abusive relationships and may not always understand how people stay in them year after year but I know it takes a very strong person to walk away and begin life anew, so I congratulate her from the bottom of my heart! *Hugs* 

Link To Video on How to Make the Sequin Flowers

I had to hunt this down to share it, but it is the one I watched to learn how to make these flowers. It is long and in 2 parts but you will learn how to make them by following it :) *Hugs*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlexk1z07yE

Graduation is Upon Us!

Where does the time go? I have another family member, my niece, graduating this year! They are all growing up SO fast and it just amazes me to see how they have gone from babies to young adults! I started this graduation announcement when my oldest son, first of the family children, graduated.  I have since made numerous copies in the years that followed. I have three left in the family to graduate- two next year and one a long way from now! This is the one I made for Tiffany, my second to youngest niece, who received her diploma on Friday Night for graduating with straight "A's"- Way to go Tiffany!!!!  *Hugs*

Home Again and SO happy to be here!

Hey Everyone! I am home from Santee and could not be happier to be here, LOL I am going to add in some pictures I took while on vacation as it is easier here! *Hugs*

Axel Swimming

Beware of Gator Signs all over Camp Grounds

Gator Pond

Gator Pond

Lilies in Gator Pond

Primitive Camp Site- Note the Gator Warning on the Site Box- NOT for me, LOL

Cute 2 Room Cabin for Rent

Me and my only catch!
Disregard the grunge look of baggy sweats, large baggy tee with baggy jacket and wind blown hair do, LOL

Marshes near Primitive Camping

Marshes

Marsh

Marsh

Roundette We had along with camp site

TOO Cute one room cabin for rent, bed and AC only!

Close up of my Fish

Water in front of roundette

Another view of the front of roundette

Roundette from other side

The Bay

Fishing Wall 

Mama Duck and Babies

Jack! I named him this as he got WAY too close to me and I said "Back up Jack" and it stuck, LOL

Chyanne feeding Mallards

Travis, Chyanne and Bart feeding Canadian Geese

Jack WAY too close

Clear water

Another view of the clear water

Minnows on the bottom

Sign near boat landing and fishing dock

My Older Brother, Gary, and one of his Cat Fish- NOT the largest nor even close to it!

Mom and Bart fishing on sea wall

Blasted Hound Dog that barked ALL the time- Animal Control and Short Stay Employees can't catch him- royal pest is what he was, LOL

My Son's "Man Cave" off the back of my car- he had his pc and X-Box Set up, LOL

Vivi Has Candy...

To celebrate her upcoming trip to the US to meet up with her amazing Art Friends and to take some awesome classes!!! Oh how I envy her!  *Hugs*

Vivi's Surprise Blog Candy

Shirt and Tie Required

Oh My, I found directions for a shirt with tie card on YouTube and I just had to try it out! It was so simple and so much fun to create as well! The video was by Dawn and the link to see it is: Shirt and Tie Card She is a great instructor and super enthusiastic about this card as well, LOL I do hope you will try it out as it would make a super Father's Day Card or Birthday for a male also! *Hugs*

3D for Me!

Oh My, I have discovered 3D Decoupage Cards and just love them! I can sit down at night and cut out the pieces, pop a few pop dots on them and it just amazes me! My Grandmother asked me last night if I could make her a Sympathy Card for a close friend and of course I did.  I am NOT going to go into how many mishaps I had on this one card as I am afraid the Card Creation Cops would come arrest me for wasting so many sheets of paper!  Suffice it to say, I started on it around 10PM, stopped at 4Am, restarted at 11AM and it was dropped off at My Mom's (for safe keeping- I didn't want it anywhere around me) at 3:30PM!!!  I colored my glossy paper with silver, purple and green alcohol inks as I didn't have any silver card stock, so hopefully you can see a bit of the colors in there. I just wish I had the ability to just sit down and slap a card together in a matter of minutes as some do and be happy with it, LOL *Hugs*

Yippee...

... I'm a winner :) I was chosen by Mr. Random to receive 5 free digi stamps from Robyn's Fetish for my Send a Smile to Kids Challenge Entry!!!  Creating the cards was the easy part, picking only 5 stamps will be the complicated part!!! *Hugs*

Mardi Gras 2011

Wow, two posts in one day!!! Probably will never happen again, LOL Nancy from Promises To Keep is having an awesome blog candy giveaway in celebration of her upcoming birthday. She gave us a picture with a Mardi Gras Theme and we were to come up with a card to match.  Well, I know nothing about Mardi Gras except people do a lot of drinking, flashing body parts to collect necklaces of fake beads and New Orleans probably has more arrests in this one week than several months combined! So, I did the best I could on this, but I am NOT happy with it at all! I think the small spirals that turned into more of small splotches really messed up my background, so I am hoping someone will read this and help me to make it look a bit better! I am wondering if maybe I paint the background a mixture of colors with some sparkle added if that will make it look a bit better? Any ideas would be appreciated! I got the files to make the card from: The Paper Yoga Blog *Hugs*

Send a Smile 4 Kids Challenges Me!

Happy March!! Over in ArtHaven Creations one of this month's challenges is to create at least 2 Birthday Cards for boys. Of course, if it is for charity, I try to get in on it, so here are three that I have completed thus far. The files come from SVG Cuts and it is their Happy Birthday Cards Kit. I am loving this set and they are so simple to complete!  Now, you know I had to have at least one mishap in there someplace, but I turned one into two apparently, LOL On the fish card, I put a large brown smudge on the blue card, so I figured I would cover it up with a fish sticker I had, but My Mom was quick to inform me that a Sea Horse and a Bass do NOT swim in the same waters, LOL Oh well, let's just hope a very young boy gets this one, LOL *Hugs* 

No Brainer Day

I just figured out why I had such a problem with this super simple waterfall card yesterday! I spent a lot of time emailing Leo from SVG Cuts in regards to how to put this together, but I could not get it to work right.  I did it backwards, upside down and ripped my pieces to shreds before I finally gave up and went to bed! I got up this morning and they went together without a problem!! Then it dawned on me, yesterday in ArtHaven Creations Yahoo Group, Diann informed us on the calendar, it was No Brainer Day- Well Duh (not that I don't have a whole lot of those) but that was my entire problem!!  I made two of these cards as I needed one for my Nephew's Birthday and another for a little boy battling Leukemia, but I failed to take a picture of the second one prior to sealing the envelope :(  Sadly, this is the one that didn't turn out as nicely either, as I forgot to emboss the dino's face with the Cuttlebug LOL *Hugs*

Oh Boy, A New Addiction, Just What I Needed!!!

A friend showed these on my Yahoo Group and I just had to try them!  They are so much fun and easy to do as well!  I do, however, recommend being very careful when cutting off the excess thread on the back, as I ruined THREE by clipping the thread too high and they fell apart, LOL *Hugs*

With Sympathy

Wow, What a rough year it has been already in my Yahoo Group "ArtHavenCreations_Friendship".  So many have lost loved ones, seen family members heading to surgery, been ill themselves or had Mother Nature hit them super hard. I hope this is not a sign of how our year is going to be!  So, with that in mind, I am posting images of two Sympathy Cards I made today.  One is for my best friend's husband and the other is for another great friend's mother. I hope that these last few weeks are the worst of it for my friend's and life will soon be sunshine and laughter for all!  *Hugs* and Take Care!

 Card for a Friend's Mother

Card for Best Friend's Husband

3 weeks into January...

...and I am only up to 2 cards- think I need to send out a search crew for my missing mojo as it just does not appear to be with me!  I am hoping it will again resurface and help me to create again soon.  In the meantime, here is a card I made for a special friend in a super rough patch on life's highway.  I used a Mariposa Stack Pack purchased with a Christmas Gift Card from Hobby Lobby.  This was my first pack of Mariposa Paper and I am surely hooked on it now! I just truly hope it brings a bit of a happy moment to my friend who is aching so much right now! *Hugs*

How Honored I am to have received this in the mail today!

Department of Veterans Affairs

James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital

13000 Bruce B. Downs Boulevard

Tampa FL 33612

 

In Reply Refer To:

January 11, 2011

673/135

Ms. Alicia Baldwin

854 W. 5 Notch Road North Augusta, SC 29860

Dear Ms. Baldwin:

On behalf of the patients and staff of James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa, FL, we wish to thank you for your recent donation of hand-crafted cards for our veteran patients.

Thank you, again, for remembering our patients in such a thoughtful way and for your support of our efforts to enhance the quality of care provided to America's heroes.

Sincerely,

For Suzanne Tate Assistant Director

In accordance with VHA Directive 4721, \ve are required to state "The Department of Veterans Affairs did not provide you, the donor, any goods or services in consideration in whole or part for your contribution."

I am Alive Believe it or Not!

I have no excuse for my absence other than lacking creativity.  My mojo just went out the door and on vacation probably someplace much warmer, I just wish it had taken me with it, LOL  I do finally have something to share though.  This is a card I made for my niece (LOVES Winnie) for graduation.  She received notice of having passed her GED on Christmas Eve!  She's going through a rough spell at the moment so I thought a nice Congrats would help to perk her up a bit. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day! *Hugs*

Happy New Year!!!!

Well, it's the last day of 2010 and this year has been a rough one for me.  I so hope and pray that 2011 is the best year yet, not only for myself, but for all my friends and family!  I plan on bringing it in doing the things I love the most- watching television and coloring OR sleeping, LOL  I can't promise I won't sit down to start coloring with my new watercolor pencils and slowly drift into a dream world all my own :)  Whatever you may be doing as the ball drops, I hope it is with someone you love or doing something you love!  *Hugs* and farewell to 2010!