Exciting News--New online Crafting Channel

This is such exciting news! There is going to be a new online crafting channel and it can be found at http://mycraftchannelblog.blogspot.com/

I am so jazzed about this and am soooo looking forward to it. Run on over to subscribe and try to win some of the prizes they are giving away!

MFTWSC27 Weekly Challenge

This is the card I did for the weekly MFT challenge. I used their stamp set Pure Innocence-Cart Full of Friends, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite sets. I am giving this card to my daughter to send to a friend of hers. On July 4th, this friend was holding her three year old daughter during a fireworks show when one of the fireworks went off course and slammed into them. The Mom is ok but the little girl has some serious burns. For those of you who are interested in sending a card to her, here is a facebook link (sorry, it's the only info I could find on this as I don't think the Mom has a blog) http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Ruffled-Rebelles/110617265636205 and cards can be sent to her at Izzy c/o Ruffled ReBelles 110 N. Main St. Mansfield, TX. 76063. Please keep this family in your prayers.

My Sister's Challenge Response

Here is my sister's challenge response and I LOVED IT!! Wahoo, what a great card!! Here's the link to her card so I hope you'll go look at it http://piecesofjoyhadden.blogspot.com/2011/07/debs-challenge-and-cha.html but I also wanted to show just a snippet here...to show how she used teeny tiny buttons for the wheels on the cars and rvs. This is just so precious!!

MFT Challenge--- I WON!!

I won the weekly MFT challenge for the card in the post below. Now I KNOW it was a random pick type winner (there are some great cards and great ideas on these challenges) and it was all luck, but I'll take lucky anytime! I am sooo happy to win this challenge and can't wait to do more!! If anybody out there is interested, the weekly sketch challenge is issued under the title "Wednesday Stamp Club" and the blog address is: http://www.mftstamps.com/blog/

My Favorite Things Challenge and Challenge to My sister

I did this card for a challenge by My Favorite Things and as a challenge to my sister. For this card I used a free internet manuscript sample from a teacher's website for the manuscript handwriting, SUs Crushed Curry cardstock for the mat, a scrap of black paper and red ribbon and a small apple stamp covered with Glossy Accents to give it shine. The doily was cut with my Cricut using the Paper Lace cartridge, the circle was also cut with the Cricut and edged in SUs Crushed Curry ink. The skirt and blouse are paper pieced with scraps and the shoes are done with a black Glaze pen. Coloring was done with Prismacolor pencils.

I cut the inside of the chalkboard out and replaced it with ChalkPaper which is just like a chalkboard. I couldn't find a piece of chalk to write on it but after going through some sewing things that my Mom gave me once, I found her old Dressmaker's Pencil which looks like a small Prismacolor Pencil but is actually chalk. She's been gone almost 4 years now, but she's still helping me out! She was a fabulous mom. I'm sending this card to my sister as I gave her some of the chalkpaper and challenged her to find a way to use it and I think knowing where the "chalk" came from will mean a lot to her.

The inside of the card is simply a mat of SU Crushed Curry, layered on top is Whisper White and another piece of the manuscript example.

The Pink Stamper Birthday Challenge

The Pink Stamper is having a Birthday Challenge at http://www.mypinkstamper.com/2011/06/birthday-crazy-card-challenge-giveaway.html and here is my entry. I did this for my sister's birthday last year and she liked it so much that she still has it on display. I used a cut file from the wonderful Denise Hill at PaperPastimes and cuts from the Cricut Cartridge "A Child's Year" and "George".

Grandson's Graduation Card

Well, the last 18 years have blown by so fast that I am amazed. My first-born granboy will be graduating next week and then leaving for Marine BootCamp in 6 weeks. My emotions are running the span of pride, fear, happiness, trepidation, love, loss..and on and on and on. I just have to trust in his good judgment and will keep him in my prayers and I trust in the Lord for his protection and growth. He is a fantastic young man with a very bright future. One thing I discovered last week--the last and final Harry Potter movie will come out four days after he leaves for basic training. We have seen EVERY Harry Potter movie together, read the books together, went to midnight release parties for the books and have even been lucky enough to obtain tickets to pre-screening events for several of the movies. I am sooooo going to miss him and seeing this one just won't be the same.

I made a card similar to this for my great-niece who graduated last year. When they were little, we used to tease that my great-niece and granboy were cosmic twins--although born EXACTLY TO THE MINUTE 24 hours apart, they lost their first tooth on the same day, played for soccer teams of the same name (even though they lived 90 miles apart)--so many different things were alike. So, I made a male version of her graduation card. All cricut cuts are from Everyday Paper Dolls. The face and sentiment are computer generated

New Cricut Blog at http://cricutblog.org/

Cricut has started a new Cricut Blog as of 05/18/2011 at http://cricutblog.org/ and for awhile they will be giving to some lucky crafter a $100.00 credit to cricut.com for becoming a follower and $150.00 for becoming a follower of Royal Things at http://royalthings.blogspot.com/ and for leaving a comment! Wowzah! I sure want to win this one!! Head on over and check it out...Both are great blogs!! I'm not sure how long the contests will last as I was so excited I had to post this info before I read all the entries!

From the Cricut Blog website:

The Official Cricut Blog sponsored by the Cricut Circle will feature the following:

Inspirational projects using your favorite Cricut machines. The Imagine, Expression, Cricut Cake, Cuttlebug, Yudu and more.
Hello Thursday Cartridge announcements.
Educational videos and tutorials directly from Provo Craft.
Occasional sneak peeks into the exclusive Cricut Circle Community.
Access to the latest Cricut.com deals.
And much, much more!

Challenge to my Sister

I issued a challenge to my sister to make something using some really cute little flower stick pins I found at PS Scrapbook in Allen, Texas. They are by My Little Yellow Bicycle and I think they are so cute! I used the stickpins for her antenna, used a ladybug stamp from MFT and cuttlebugged the oval and backgrounds. Flowers are made with the MS Hydragnea punch and a little flower hole punch and the MS pine branch punches.

The sentiment on the inside is also from MFT and the ladybug is from a Tilda ladybug stamp.

Mother's Day Card Box for My Mom's Friend

My Mom passed away almost four years ago and I miss her every single day but especially at Mother's Day. So this year I decided to make a card box for a friend of my Mom's with some cards and stamps for her to send out. The box instructions can be found at http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/drawerbox/ but I did change some of the measurements a little because there was a small "gap" above where the drawer slides in. The flower is from the Mother's Day Bouquet cartridge and sprayed with Smooch Frost Shimmer. I cut the stamen out of a stem of old silk flowers because I just couldn't make one that looked right. The leaves are from Home Accents and the sentiment is from the Martha Stewart Seasonal Cake Art cartridge that I won recently from Creative Critters (thank you PC and Creative Critters!). I used paper from SU Springtime Vintage (I LOVE this paper!!) I didn't use a lot of Cricut cuts on the cards. I am also going to have copies made of pictures of the business her husband and my dad used to own as well as some pictures of when we used to go camping at Possum Kingdom Lake. I think she'll be surprised and maybe it'll make me miss my Mom a little less. And I know my Mom would have been tickled for me to do this for Susie. Everybody out there...have a great Mother's Day!!