I'm playing around with my CD tins again. This time I used silver embossing powder on the outside and created some fun magnets using my Big Shot Daisies die. Hope you like it!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room: Be Brave and Learn Something New

I remember so many years ago when my dad got his first computer and I sat down to play. I put in a disk and somehow typed in "init" - which, at that time, meant that the computer should initialize the disk. The result? Everything that was on the disk was wiped away! Oops! After that experience I became a bit more brave (believe it or not) since I figured I couldn't do much worse than make everything disappear off of a disk :) So today I started playing around with how I might rearrange and rework my blog. You can't see any of that yet, since I'm playing around on a test blog (since I really don't want to erase everything) and then I will transfer everything over once I'm happy with the way it all looks. There is a TON of information out there about how to customize your blogs. I found a great site called "Blogger Buster" if you're interested in learning how to play with the HTML in your blog template. Go ahead, be brave - there's always something new to learn!

This card was inspired by a card on Stampers' Showcase by Susan Legere (thanks Susan!). She did a beautiful black and gray mirror card like this and I couldn't help but change a few things and make the same card for my cousin's anniversary. I used pale plum and sage shadow card stock and ink and added some perfect plum ink as well. Hope you like it (and if you do, say thank you to Susan!).

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room: Taking Care Of Yourself Is Always The Right Thing

I spent a lot of time talking to one of my friends today. She is trying to decide what to do with respect to her job and she wants to make sure that she does the right thing. As I shared with her, taking care of yourself is always the right thing. It can be so easy to fall into the trap of wanting to make everyone else happy while ignoring the impact that might have on your own well-being. Today, make yourself a priority - it is the right thing.

Today's limited supply challenge on Splitcoast had to be a birthday card/money card holder with at least 1 butterfly and some close to cocoa or chocolate chip card stock. I folded a piece of card stock to make a "pocket" and the white card can slide in and out of the "pocket." You can even attach a money card to the card. The close to cocoa card stock was embossed with a texturz plate. I included the second photo so you can see how it looks like the butterflies just landed on the card! Hope you like it!

My neighbor asked me to create a card for her since her sister just had her appendix removed. At Convention I received a beautiful swap from Judy Hess and I decided to use her card front as an inspiration for this card (thanks Judy!). I used the Manhattan Flowers stamp set along with some dazzling diamonds. The Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set seems to have a greeting for everything and the scallop oval punch works perfectly with the oval punch. Hope you like it!

This crazy-colored card was my attempt at the emerging colors technique (and yes, those are a lot of colors emerging!). I stamped small flowers in bermuda bay, crushed curry and melon mambo on whisper white and then stamped the upsy daisy image in versamark. I then clear-embossed the upsy daisy image and brayered the piece with rich razzleberry. Once brayered, I wiped off the embossed area. I then added some additional stamping and some additional layers of color and ta-da! It's a crazy card, but I had fun with the technique! Hope you like it!

At 9:30 p.m. last night I got the itch to create! So I went into the craft room and decided to make this "smile" sign. I have to admit that I was thinking about my appointment tomorrow at the dentist's office and I thought that if I brought this sign with me to the appointment it might keep me calm during the visit :) I love going to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned, but when it comes to having dental work done, I'm a bit of a chicken! Now that I have this sign hanging in the house it's going to be hard to take it down and bring it with me to my appointment tomorrow! I may have to head into the craft room to make another one :) The sign was made from chipboard that I covered with card stock. I stamped the sage shadow card stock with the sanded background stamp. I used the 2 tags die with my big shot to make the backgrounds for the letters (I am loving this new die) and I also used the simple alphabet dies to create the letters. Hope you like it! Smile!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room: We Have All The Time There Is

In today's lesson from the book Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach, the author talks about how Victorian women prided themselves on their ability to take the time for handicrafts. In today's world we sometimes feel like we just don't have enough time to stop and do work with our hands. As Sarah points out, we have the same amount of time that Victorian women had - and possibly even more since our life expectancies are longer - it is just a matter of how we choose to use the time that we have. Today, ask yourself if how you use your time is nurturing to your heart and soul. If you find yourself answering "no," ask yourself what you might do differently, if even for 15 minutes, to provide your heart and soul the nurturing that it needs.

Today's challenge was to do something vintage. This photo is a vintage photo that I thought would make a great birthday card - with the message "drink again from the fountain of youth." I printed the photo onto card stock and then sponged with varying shades of brown to make it look aged. I popped up the message and highlighted it with summer sun ink. The background was clear embossed using the sanded background stamp. Inside I clear embossed "happy birthday." Hope you like it!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room: Sometimes It's Nice To Just Have Someone There To Hold Your Hand

So my last day at work as a full-time employee is on Monday and I am SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!! I have been thinking about this change for over a year and I finally had the courage to take the leap :) Of course, the less than exciting part is the crazy expensive COBRA option for medical insurance - yikes!!! So today I called a local insurance company to move my insurance to them and they were too sweet. The assistant stayed on the phone with me the whole time I filled out the on-line application. She really didn't do much, or say much, but just having her there to hold my hand kept me on task and made it a lot more enjoyable than if I was all alone :) Sometimes it's just nice to have someone there to hold your hand :)

I had fun in the craft room today! I decided to try to make a magnet board and here is the result!!! I started with chipboard and adhered two 5x7 galvanized step flashing pieces (picked these up at Home Depot a long time ago) and then covered the whole thing with card stock and paper to cover up the metal. The letters were made with the Simple Alphabet dies and the flower with the daisies die. I added a few eyelets to thread the ribbon. The magnets were simple - just die cut the circles from whisper white and the Night and Day Specialty paper (in the Holiday Mini Catalog). I attached the magnets using Crytal Effects (that stuff is STRONG!). I hope you like it!!!! Now I have to go attach some notes and photos and hang it in the craft room :)

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room: Don't Let An Opportunity Pass By To Thank Someone You Love!

My mom was here to visit recently and it meant a lot to me that she flew here, from Atlanta, to spend time. She was also very generous while she was here - whether it was helping me clean my closets, buying me a few things to refill my closets (lol :) or taking me out to eat. I really enjoyed the visit! So today I sat down to make a quick card for her to let her know how much I appreciated her visit and her generosity! Who could you say thank you to today?

The card came together quickly using the scallop square die for the big shot. I did some direct-to-paper inking up of the card stock and stamped some circle circus images on the paper to make them more interesting. The greeting was punched with the scallop oval punch. Hope you like it!