Crafty Secret's Masculine Challenge!

Good morning to you! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Mine was a cold and rainy one, but I got to have a "date night" with my hubby, so it was all good!

The Crafty Secret's gals are creating masculine themed cards for this month's challenge. I decided to use the, Car Classic's set. I stamped the Route 66 image 3 times, in black, red, and olive green. I cut it apart and reassembled it. I used Crackle accents and set it aside to dry. The tiny car was colored with Prisma Colored Pencils and Gamsol. I had this silver disc thingy in my stash FOREVAH and decided to finally put it to good use. I die cut the image with a circle Spellbinder's die, inked the edges in brown and applied crackle accents to it as well.
The "Note to Self" card is by 7Gypsies and I cut the center out with my rectangular Spellbinder's die. The edges were inked. I then cut out a piece of corrugated cardboard with a larger rectangular die, painted it with cream pain, and inked the edges in a dark brown. I assembled the pieces using foam dots here and there for added dimension! I love lumpy and bumpy! ; ) Since ribbon would be out of the question for man's card, I used some dark brown twine and wrapped it around the center image several times.

Love creating little "shadow" boxes to create depth! And since glitter would be another No No......crackle accents was my substitute! ; )

I love how it gives it an instant aged feel! Super cool stuff!

Be sure to pop on over to the other ladies' blogs for more "Manly" inspiration! ; )

•Vicki Chrisman Team Leader

•Pam Hooten
•Heidi Blankenship
•Linda Duke
•Michele Kovack <----- Me! : )

•Melissa Phillips
•Julie Campbell

• Heartwarming Vintage Blog
Crafty Secrets

Have a wonderful day!!!!

Blog Candy Winners!!

Good morning!!! I am sorry for the delay in my post today.........but I had to attend to my girl this morning which put me a wee bit behind! So without further delay, I want to announce my two winners! Normally, I use Random.org, but to make sure I gave everyone a second chance who linked back to my blog, I printed off all 206 comments, and printed those of you who linked to me a second time! I wanted to be as fair as possible!
I mixed them up REALLY well in my large red bowl! ; )

These are the two names that were pulled!

Congratulations to the winners! Please e-mail me with your address so I can get these out to you ASAP!

And THANK YOU to all that participated! I really, really, really appreciate your kind words and comments! They mean the world to me!!!

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Will Extend Blog Candy ONE More Day!

Since Blogger decided to be a big ole' booger the other day and deleted many of my comments AND wouldn't allow people to LEAVE a comment, I have decided to extend my blog candy until tomorrow! Be sure to click HERE or scroll down to leave a comment! I will pick two winners at 8:00 AM tomorrow! Remember, if you link up my blog, you have an additional chance to win! : ) Good luck!!!

Summer Inspired....

Good morning to you! It has been quite hot here in Chicago. We literally went from having our heat on one day to putting the air on the next! It has been in the 90's the last two days and it definitely feels more like July than May! So I've been inspired to create something summery.....hence this lil' Crafty Secret's card. What says summer more than raspberries? Especially glittery raspberries? ; ) The image is from the Garden Creative Scraps line. I inked it up a bit and added some ribbon. The ribbon was quite white which didn't look shabby enough for me, so I took my Copic E31 and ran it over the ribbon. This toned down the white quite a bit and matched the papers much better. I did a bit of machine stitching as well!

Don't forget to stop HERE to enter my blog candy giveaway! I will be picking TWO winners on Saturday! : )

Have a great day! : ) : )

2 Cartridges to Give Away!

Good morning! Provo Craft has generously donated two awesome cartridges to give away!That means YOU have a chance to win ONE of these fabulous cartridges! I will pick a winner for each one! Since I realize that not everyone has an Imagine machine, you can leave a comment stating which cartridge you would like more! I would love for you to become a follower, but it is certainly not necessary! If you link back to me on your blog letting others know about my blog candy I will throw your name in the "hat" (so to speak) for a another chance to win!

The first cartridge is called, "Everyday Pop-Up Cards." It has the best images! I adore this cartridge!
See? Cute right?

And for all of you Imagine owners, here is "Enjoy the Seasons." I love that this cartridge is so versatile!

Please remember to state which cartridge you like more! ; ) I will pick TWO winners on Saturday, May 14th at 8:00 AM.

Thank you sooooooo much for visiting me daily and leaving such kind words for me! It really does mean a lot to me! HUGS!

Just. For. You.

Good morning to you! I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day! I have another card to share with you from JustRite. It uses a brand new set called, Just Because. This set has 18 mini sentiments to use in conjunction with your other stamps! I know I will be using this set and over and over again!

I used this little "Puffy" from KI Memories as the focal point for my mini card. I added rhinestones along the outer edge of my circle which had been cut using a Spellbinder's die. The paper is actually a journaling card that I've had in my stash forever by October Afternoon.

I added some Spanish Moss. ( I think that is what it's called.....if not please tell me what it is!) I had picked up a package of these small plastic speckled eggs and decided to thread it through a stick pin. Can't have a "nest" without an egg, can you? ; ) I tied a Papertrey satin bow around the bottom and then tied a vintage button to its center. I stamped the sentiment on cream card stock and added my strip to the bottom of the card. A few rhinestones were added for fun!
Be sure to visit the other DT ladies' blogs for my JustRite inspiration!!! Their projects are over the top gorgeous!!

JustRite Inspiration Blog

Sharon Harnist

Kellie Fortin

Michele Kovack < -----ME! : )

Mona Pendleton

Angela Barkhouse

Kathy Jones

Debbie Olson

Heidi Blankenship

Barb Schram

Kazan Clark

Sankari Wegman

Becca Feeken

Have a wonderful Monday! The sun is shining here and the count down to the end of the year has begun! : )

Happy Mother's Day!

I have a mother's day card today that uses the Fancy Frames set by JustRite. I inked the background with my Colorbox ink and used clear embossing powder to set it. I stamped it again and cut out the middle portion by hand and popped it up on foam squares. The sentiment was stamped with Papertrey's olive and cut out with an oval Spellbinder's die. I backed it with a scalloped oval to make it stand out a bit. The flower and leaf were cut using a Papertrey flower die. I added a bit of thin thread and a pearl to finish it off. I added a few scallops here and there using my SU! scalloped border punch.
All of the papers used as well as the ribbon are by PApertrey Ink.

I am going to see my gram today. It is always a difficult and bittersweet visit as her Alzheimer's is progressing fairly rapidly now........but for now she still remembers who I am. So it is worth it when she gets a great big smile on her face when I walk through her door.

Happy Mother's Day to you all!!! I hope you have a relaxing day surrounded by loved ones!