Monday, July 30, 2012

Follow Your Dreams

Well, I don't know about you but a LOT of our time lately is being spent watching the Olympic coverage.  My kids love it!  We pretty much leave the television on all the time so that at any time we can peek over and see how the U.S.A. is doing.  These athletes are so inspiring.

The other day when I was on a run, I thought of the idea to make the Olympic rings using some of The Twinery baker's twine.  Here is the resulting card:

I used two Spellbinders Nestability circle dies and ran them through the Cuttlebug together to form the ring shapes.  Then, I added some adhesive on one side and wound the twine around each ring to replicate the colors in the Olympic rings.  Here are The Twinery colors I used:  Denim, Charcoal, Marachino, Marigold, Peapod. 
I used some Helmar 450 Quick Dry to add the rings to the card and then finished the card with a sentiment by SRM stickers (Express Yourself: Graduation).

The result is an Olympic inspired card to remind you to "Follow Your Dreams."

Thanks for all the wonderful comments on my running post.  I will be touching base with any of you who asked specific questions on that post or through email!

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, July 29, 2012

For the Run of It

This is a non-craft related post so if you don't want to hear my blabbering....just skip over it :)  

Today, I participated in my first 5K race in about 3 years.   I used to race a lot before my last two children were born (competing often in 5Ks, 10Ks, 10 mile races and even a marathon).  My husband and I would compete with each other to see who could win the most medals!  But, I stopped running a lot when life got so busy with numerous military moves and lack of energy and drive----what I assume I can attribute to an autoimmune disease (Hashimoto's Thyroiditis) that zapped me of my energy to run consistently.

In May, after years of battling chronic fatigue and a goiter, I was sent to an endocrinologist who put me on medication after the blood tests confirmed that my thyroid was attacking itself.  By my symptoms and visible appearance, she presumed that my thyroid has been sluggish or ineffective for years

After a just a month of medication, I had lost some of the unexplainable weight gain (particularly in my neck and face) and felt so much better.  With the increase of energy, I could run a lot more regularly (like the good ole days)!  And....I realized how much I missed it.  Running had become mundane and I really tried to find excuses to go to the gym or hit the sidewalks.  Feeling exhausted so often made me dread my workout days.  Not anymore...I cherish my runs and love the time to myself to unwind and just think about things.   Some days I run fast, some days I run slower...but the important thing is that I run.

A few weeks ago, I decided to register for a 5K race to keep me motivated.  That race was this morning.

I was super lucky---the weather here has been crazy lately but this morning it was beautiful---the sun was shining and at race start it was 78 degrees.  (Perfect!)

Before I left, I insisted that my husband and kids NOT come to the race. It was only a mile away but I really did not want to have any pressure to do well and if I did have to stop or ran slower than I usually did....I didn't want to disappoint anyone but myself.   It was too long since I had done this so I didn't know what to expect.

Well, he ended up bringing my two youngest (the oldest is spending the week with her dad.) I didn't know they were there until after I ran through the finish line.  It was so fun to have them see me doing something that was such a big part of my life before they were born.  And, they were pretty impressed to see their mom in a race.  They didn't care how fast or slow I was...just loved seeing me do it!

My son (a TOTAL details person) ran up to me and said "Mom, you were the fourth woman and the 20th finisher overall.....I counted!" Ha!  He expressed an interest in trying to run a race soon as well :)

Although, the race field was not super competitive or large,  it was good enough for me.  I was thrilled with my finish* and was just happy to finish feeling good.

Here is my medal---2nd place in Female 31-40 age group. (Yep, even though I finished 4th overall for women, the third place finisher was also in my age group...drats! )  I am really proud of this one because I could not have done this just a few months ago.

After the race.  (Thank goodness this is not a scratch-and-sniff picture! SWEATY!)
 
*For my running friends out there, here are my official race details.
Finish time:  23:35 (7:35 min/mile pace) ; 4th place female overall; 20/150 overall finish; 2nd place female 31-40 age group.

Off to put my feet up for awhile and watch some Olympics!  Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, July 27, 2012

It's Your Day!

Hi there!  I am busy preparing for my sister and nephews to visit--:) Love company!  Yesterday, I decided to tackle my teenage daughter's room while she is spending the week at her dads.  Eww...I am a bit traumatized but got the whole room picked up, organized, dusted and vacuumed in about 2 hours.  *Yes, it was that bad!

In all that "excitement" I forgot to share that I posted over at the Cardmaker Blog yesterday----about taking a card in a magazine that you love and recreating it when you do not have the same products.  So, I took my first ever card that was published in Cardmaker in 2008 and gave it a facelift!  You can see the before and after pictures on the post HERE

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Fun news!

Well, I just got the Sept 2012 issue of Cardmaker Magazine and I am so excited to share that I am the featured designer! (yippee!)



I have a few projects in the issue as well and there are a slew of awesome projects from crafty friends: Jennie Harper, Clare Buswell, Dawn Lusk, Kathy Martin, Kimber McGray, Colleen Schaan, Michelle Woerner, Cindy Coutts, Anya Schrier, Lora Brickman, Tami Mayberry and Glenda Wyatt.

Here is a peek at one of my Halloween projects (page 60):

It's a great issue! There is a cool video that editor Tanya Fox put together to highlight some of the new changes in the magazine HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, July 23, 2012

Twine-tastic News and a CARD!

Did you hear?  The Twinery just added four new colors to its collection.  The new colors include Midnight Blue, Ocean, Strawberry and Seaweed and they are fabulous!

Head on over to The Twinery blog today to see them and to get the details on some special pricing that is available for today!

Here is a color chart with all the of The Twinery's colors:

So fun!  And finally, I have a card to share with you.   I love this silhouette image---> 
Supplies:  Silhouette file- Couple on Tandem Bike (Jamie Koay: Silhouette); Patterned paper- Happy Go Lucky: Love Notes, Lovely Day: New Story (My Little Shoebox); white cardstock (Gina K Designs); baker's twine- charcoal (The Twinery); metal heart (Colorbok); SRM sticker- Fancy Sticker Sentiments-Birthday.

Hope you have a Marvelous Monday!

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Where u been?

Sorry!  I might have mentioned before that my summer's are often crazy busy with the kids and this one has been the most busy of them all.  We have had some great trips and have enjoyed lots of family time.  I really cherish these days where the days are relaxed and we don't have such a jam-packed schedule.

This past week, we were in the mountains in North Carolina with my husband's family.  I had briefly thought about heading to CHA first and then meeting my family in NC but ended up just going the whole time.

Anyway, internet connection/cell coverage was sketchy at best in our house on the cliff so I just went with it and decided to not post while I was away.

We are back home and again drowning in laundry and stuff my kids hauled back from vacation.

I have a few projects I have to finish up and send off and then I will be back to share some fun things.  I have not been in blog land lately but am looking forward to catching up on all I have missed out on.  Thanks so much for all the wonderful comments you have left on my recent posts and for the sweet emails I have received.  I will be responding to email messages asap.

Be back soon!

Friday, July 13, 2012

Really Reasonable Ribbon/Cardmaker Blog Hop


Welcome to the Really Reasonable Ribbon/Cardmaker Blog hop.  Bonnie (Really Reasonable Ribbon) asked the Cardmaker girls to join in on their blog hop this month!  Hope you are inspired by all the ways to use ribbon!

You should have come here from Bonnie's blog.  If you did not, you can head on over to the Cardmaker Blog and start at the beginning of the hop!

I was sent the July Really Reasonable Ribbon Assortment from the Monthly Ribbon Club.  When I saw the beautiful vibrant yellows in the assortment, I immediately thought of lemonade.  So my summer inspired card is based on that:


I used two of the yellow ribbons from the pack and layered them to create the lemonade in the lemonade pitcher (Silhouette) using some 1/4" Scor Tape.  I also used one of the yellow to tie on the pitcher's handle.  To create the background, I used my Scor-Pal to add some vertical embossed lines.  I added a SRM sticker to a piece of vellum to tie onto the handle with some twine.

No summer party is complete without some ice cold lemonade!

Thanks, Bonnie, for asking us to be a part of this hop!  It was great fun and I cannot wait to see what everyone else came up with!

Blog Candy*  The Blog Hop will be open from 7/13 to 7/20 and there will be a prize offered on the RRR blog for a randomly selected comment there.  RRR will also be giving away two additional July Ribbon Club Assortments, one from comments on a random RRR designer's blog and one from comments on a random Cardmaker designer's blog.
 
The next stop on the hop is the talented Heidi!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Summer Dreams Cardmaker Blog Hop

Hello! Welcome to the Cardmaker Blog team hop.  This month's theme is Summer Dreams: cards featuring ice cream treats reminiscent of the ice cream truck.
I totally loved this theme and totally went crazy trying to reproduce an ice cream truck just like the ones I remember from my youth.

I designed this card approaching the theme quite literally:

I used a truck Silhouette design by Hero arts to design the ice cream truck.  I played around with the file a bit and was able to make a flip over card design so I didn't have to mount the ice cream truck on a base.  (Yes, I was patting myself on the back for that one!)

I used some Echo Park: Sweet Day stickers and cardstock to cut the truck and to embellish.  I found one ice cream sticker to use from this collection but then the other two I added are Silhouette files (Silhouette Store: Ice Cream Treats by Sweet Afton) that I shrunk down to fit.  (Definitely needed an ice cream sandwich!)  I added a little touch of blossom baker's twine (The Twinery) to the sticker ice cream to finish off the truck.

This was so much fun to make -- I just cannot wait to see what the other gals came up with.  Here is the full list:

Cardmaker blog
Kimberly Crawford
Carolyn King (you are here!)
Colleen Schaan
Anya Schrier
Trudy Sjolander
Michelle Woerner

Why do I suddenly feel the urge to eat some ice cream?   Thanks for stopping by today! 
 

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Gina K Inspiration Hop Day 2

Hello again!   The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop!!! As you hop through the blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of deeply etched, pre-cut Gina K. Designs stamps! To see the full list of winners check the Big News forum at Stamp TV a couple of days after the hops!!
Today we are working with the new sets: Tropical Nature and I Do!

Here are my samples:
The first card features I Do!
I folded over a printed shaped frame to create the card base.  I stamped the fella in tuxedo black ink (Memento) to make a fun anniversary or wedding day card.  I added a little flower made out of twine on his lapel.  I stamped the 4 ever sentiment in Fired Brick ink (Ranger).

Next, I used the "+" and "=" from the I Do! set and coupled them with the images and sentiment from Tropical Nature to create this equation:
I stamped the pineapple and then added a little drink straw with a black pen and then stamped the trees. Since I was using clear stamps I was able to separate off the "in the sun" sentiment from the rest of the sentiment so I could stamp it by itself.  (This is one of the benefits of clear stamps...you can make a quick vertical cut to use it in pieces and then you can place it on the block back together to use as a whole sentiment again!)
Fun sets! ugh?

Check out all the amazing designs and inspiration from the rest of the team:
 Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, July 9, 2012

Gina K Inspiration Hop Day 1

The Design Team for Gina K. Designs welcomes you to another fabulous Inspiration Blog Hop!!! Hopefully you will be inspired by all the beautiful ideas! And as you hop through the blogs, make sure to leave a comment on each of them because we will choose a few random comments and those stampers will each win a grab bag of deeply etched, pre-cut Gina K. Designs stamps! To see the full list of winners check the Big News forum at Stamp TV a couple of days after the hops!!

Today, the design team is using Pretty Patterns and Grand Tags.  Here is my card using Pretty Patterns:
Definitely choose the clear stamps for this set because it makes lining up the patterns a breeze.  Melanie went all out combining classic patterns (like the ever popular Chevrons) and several unique designs to compose this set. It is a must-have set and I cannot wait to play with it some more.  For my card, I stamped the fun circle design (long stamp) twice vertically and then paper pieced some of the circles.  I used the single circle from the set to add an exaggerated period after the stamped thank you (from Stamp TV set-Hello Sunshine)

And, here is my card using Grand Tags:
This set coordinates perfectly with a Spellbinders set.  However, it is very simple to just cut around the edge of the label as well. That is what I did for this card.  I was really smitten with this piano label and all the "grand" sentiments.

Looking for more inspiration??  Check out all the amazing designs and inspiration on these blogs today:
 Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Aloha!

We have just returned from an 11 day Hawaiian adventure.  It was so wonderful to take my kids to see all the beautiful sites of Hawaii.  We stayed on the Big Island for 5 days and then headed to Maui for the final part of our trip.  We took lots of hikes, walked the Volcanoes National Park, ziplined in Maui, went snorkeling, went to a luau, toured Mac nut farms, saw waterfalls, black sand beaches, mountains and spent a lot of time in the pools and beaches.
We all had a blast--and we are taking our time adjusting back to east coast time :) Luckily, it is the summer so we have some flexibility to do so.

So, while I do not have project to share today...I did want to share a picture from our trip:
 

This was taken on the Big island at a luau.  The kids loved it.  The fire thrower was an especially good one so they were all enthralled with his performance.
I am working to get caught up on laundry, house work, etc.  We are throwing my daughter a sweet 16 party this weekend and then I will be back to share some projects with you :)

Thanks for stopping by!