Happy Birthday in White and Turquoise

The challenge at City Crafter Challenge blog this week was to use white and one other color. This was quite a challenge for me since I really love patterned paper but its good to stretch your creativity so I combined a new birthday stamp with a printed journaling tag and some flowers. This week is generously being sponsored by Laura's Vintage Garden. I'm not a big fan of white space, but in the end I'm pretty happy with my take on what for me was quite a challenge.

Valentines for St Judes

I created these super simple valentines for Winter Sims' Cards for St Jude's Drive. I cut hearts from a black and silver DCWV paper that has guitars on it and then stamped a simple Happy Valentine's Day. One of the requirements for the drive is to make a card for any age or gender. So I figured guitars are universally cool and black and silver are gender neutral. I included a simple "Have a great day!" message inside. See the rules and more info at the bottom of my post.

Here are some of the guidelines from

St. Jude hospital and a few of Winter's.

(St. Jude's has added a few new rules, so please read carefully.)

* Cards need to be a Valentine theme.

* Cards can't have anything about 'Get Well Soon', 'Feel Better', or anything reminding them of being sick. (Only Valentine Cards)

* Please make cards that can be used for any gender or age.

* Cards must be able to fit into a 4 1/2 X 5 3/4 envelope. (Winter will provide clear envelopes for each card, so there is no need to send one with your card.)

* You can include a message in the inside, but please remember, nothing reminding them of being sick. (Maybe just a Valentine sentiment.) You can also sign your first name but not your last name or where you are from. (St. Jude's rules state that they can't give out the givers info.)

*Winter will be excepting cards for the whole month of January. ( Jan. 1 - Jan. 31, Please don't send any out after that. At the end of the month, Winter will pick random winners for prizes. Winter will be adding more prizes, often. The more cards you send, the more times your name goes into the drawing. Let your kids get involved too! :)

* Please send a piece of paper with your name, address, email address, and the amount of cards you sent.

Bo Bunny Card Sketch

I'm a big fan of Bo Bunny's card challenges. I love that playing with a favorite manufacturer can possibly win me more goodies. I got these Winter Joy papers as part of the December card kit from my LSS. I stretched the sketch to make a square card and cut the banner pieces with my Cricut. This is also for the Jingle Belles challenge to use something old (flower, leaves, and sticker sentiment) and new (Winter Joy papers and gems).

One Little Word

I heard about Ali Edward's One Little Word project. I thought it was a great idea especially for this year. This year will be when I graduate from grad school and really enter the job market. I know that trying to get a job is tough right now and so I anticipate that this will be a challenging year. Also because I finished my first degree last year the pressure of my school loans has begun to hit so the importance of said job is clear. So these challenges and the everyday challenges of life that lay before me shaped my decision to chose the word PERSIST. I tend to procrastinate and avoid things that are unpleasant, but this year I intend to be tenacious and go after the things that I want. I created this wall hanging with some Sassafras Anthem. When I saw "more to do" on the paper I thought it fit perfect and I added the owl simply because they always make me happy. I encourage you to pick a word if you need something to get you going in this new year. Certainly beats resolutions that are inevitably broken in the first month.

Let It Snow- New to Me Challenges

Still trying to make enough cards for the friends I'll be meeting up with this weekend. This card is for several challenges. First up I found out from Amy's blog about Jingle Belles, a new challenge blog designed to help build up Christmas card stashes throughout the year. Since I'm still working on the cards for this past Christmas this seems perfect for me. The first challenge is to use something old and something new (old stash plus something new like a Christmas present). So I used my new Cricut and BoBunny Winter Joy papers combined with an old tag and old ribbon. Also this is for the Fantabulous Cricut challenge of Snowy Delights. The snowflake strip was cut from my Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. I figure the best way to make sure I use my new Cricut is to join challenges.

While at Micheal's looking at after Christmas bargains I was found this large recipe box for $1 and thought it would be a perfect place to collect a stash of Christmas cards especially because it even holds large 5x5 cards. The other box I have for my cards is usually pretty crowded so I figured having a second one for Christmas cards wouldn't be a bad idea. Plus it would be a personal challenge to fill up the box with cards for next year. I altered it just a touch to cover the recipes label and then labeled some dividers inside to keep Christmas and Winter cards separate.

I still have Christmas cards...

I'm still whipping up some Christmas cards because I will be meeting up for a Secret Santa on Jan 9th and I'll be meeting up with my dad and his wife tomorrow. So here's one more Christmas card. I used Sassafras Life at the Pole. I've been hoarding a few sheets of the paper and the stickers for a long time, but I really need to use it. What's the point of buying latest trendy papers to put them away (in my case in plastic 2 gallon ziplocs sorted by manufacturer and line)? I based this card on the Etsy Inspired Challenge featuring the Muffa shop. The cute little snowman in the link was my inspiration. The snowman is Christmas in such a cutesy way like the little reindeer on this card and the colors also inspired my color choices. Hope you're all having a wonderful New Year's Day. A good portion of my day will be spent studying for my Praxis exam on Monday. I will be taking two Praxis exams this month :( but I'm pretty confident I'll do well.

CPS Year in Review

CPS is having a year in review challenge. Simply take any sketch from 148 to 198 and make a card. Super easy except that when faced with all those sketches it was a little hard to choose. I settled on sketch 184 because I knew I would be able to use one of my pretty, but quite old Basic Grey flourish rub-ons. I've had some trouble with older rub-ons not working anymore so I've put them in a basket by my table determined to use them up soon. I hoarded them because I thought they were so lovely, but no one will appreciate their loveliness unless I use them. Carly Robertson is generously sponsoring with a $20 gift certificate to Waltzingmouse Stamps! For any one who's going out to new years eve parties have fun but drive safe! And to all I wish you the happiest new year yet!