Yearning for summer...

I'm sooo over this whole winter thing. I'm ready for warm weather, sunshine, longer days (or at least having daylight still when I head home), and to pump up my bike tires. I never bike very far, but I want to know that I can!

When the Saturated Canary challenge went up, I loved the colors ... but I wanted to make them fit a summery card. I just didn't have an image that said "summer." This gave me a fabulous excuse to purchase a few more SC digis, though! I used nearly every color posted for the challenge in some part of the card. I considered putting "Warm Winter Wishes" as the sentiment ... but that seemed like a cruel joke!

The image I decided to use is called "To the Lake," which you can purchase here. I colored her up with Copics, and I'm relatively happy with the skin shading, but I definitely need to work on hair. I struggle with coloring hair well -- I never seem to have the same colors others use in tutorials, so I have to layer what I have until it works (ish).

Two things I would do differently (just the most obvious, to start) would be to run the piece of blush pink cardstock through an embossing folder to give it some texture, and to adjust the placement of the bows.

I'm trying to get better each week, but I'm just not good (yet!) at the elaborate cards I love so much on other people's blogs. Some people excel at layering flowers and lace and bling and DP ... but I'm not one of them. I just hope to continue developing my style until I'm happy and comfortable with it. I hope I'll be able to look back at my posts next year and see how my style has changed!

I'm entering this in the Saturated Canary Challenge #36.

By the skin of my teeth...

That seems like such an odd saying -- "by the skin of my teeth." I'll have to look up what it means. Anyhow, I needed -- per NYRL (New Year's Resolution Law) -- to post a second card before the end of the month. That would be today. So I made a card last night specifically to fulfill this resolution and juuuust barely made it!



This used the Saturated Canary image Princess Rose Red, which is available here. I also used Stampin' Up! designer paper, SU! cardstock, and some ribbon I saved from a Christmas gift (sometimes I'm as excited to get the wrapping as I am for the gift inside!). I masked the image and made the clouds with Tim Holtz distress ink -- a technique I saw both on Krista's (Saturated Canary artist) blog, and while watching some videos on YouTube. Hope you like!

Living up to my New Year's Resolutions

I made a LOT of New Year's Resolutions. A lot. There are daily, weekly, monthly, and annual goals. Several of those goals have to do with card making and blogging. I am required (by New Year's Resolution law) to post two cards a month to my blog, and to enter at least one challenge a month using a card I've posted. It's pretty late in the month, so I need to post this quickly to enter a challenge and post another card by Thursday, eek!

This is a card I created for the Saturated Canary Challenge #35 -- Movie Inspiration. I used Glossy Accents on her glasses frames, and a little glitter on her eyelids and edges of her glasses, which hopefully is visible in the picture below:

The inspiration for this card actually comes from two movies -- "The Christmas Kiss" and "Head Over Heels." I'm a sucker for geek-who-gets-the-guy-of-her-dreams movies and books. I wonder why? ;-)

I'm entering this in the following challenges:

Saturated Canary - Movie Inspiration (The Christmas Kiss and Head Over Heels)

Stampin' for the Weekend - Something Girly


I'm looking forward to more challenges -- I like having parameters to build a card around!

Polly Pocket Mansion

I realized I haven't posted anything in a while, and there's some big news. I'm buying a house! Last month -- the week of my birthday, actually -- I visited a teeny-weeny house that is actually in my price range, and I loved it.

Last year, I remember entering my budget into an online calculator that helps you figure out how much house you can afford. It gave me a negative number.
I'm not even joking.

This year, my tax refund, some savings, the first-time homebuyer tax credit opportunity, and a down payment assistance grant enabled me to put 20 percent down on a 444-square-foot house.

You read that right. 444. According to the aldermen in my city, it's the smallest free-standing house in town. When I called home inspectors to get estimates, all of them either laughed, asked me to repeat the number, or thought I said fourteen-hundred-forty-four square feet.

Currently, a young married couple, their baby and their dog live there. It's a very tight fit, but it'll be perfect for me.

My Polly Pocket Mansion.

Fame and fortune, here I come...

or not! Well, Week 3 of the TGF Royal Battle has begun, and the scrapbook pages are posted. Our team is the Ink Tossers, and here is a sneak peek of the page. You'll have to go to The Greeting Farm gallery to see the whole thing, though!

We also need votes! If you've submitted a comment before, you know it's not completely streamlined process ... but we would really appreciate the votes! Your comment counts as a vote, and you can vote for up to three different entries.

I hope you all like the Ink Tossers' page!

What a weekend!

A friend noted that I tend to bounce from subject to subject in my blog posts, so I'm trying to come up with a "theme." This weekend's theme is "I need a nap."

My mom, grandma, and my two sisters went shopping yesterday for my older sister's wedding dress. I took a half-day vacation, left work at 1 o'clock, and didn't get home until 8. During our 7-hour shopping extravaganza, we met some lovely fellow customers, a couple of nice clerks, a grumpy saleswoman and a waitress who took one look at us, decided we looked pretty self-sufficient, and disappeared. The food at the restaurant was good, though. :-) We also came pretty close to being kicked out of Macy's for being a little rowdy while trying on hats.

Does anyone else feel weird after trying on hats? I always remember horror stories about infected millinery ... but I never think about it until after I've tried them on. By then, it's too late, and I feel like my head is itchy. My younger sister says it's all in my head. (Ha! My head, get it? Yeah, lame joke.)

Oops, I think Raegan would call this straying from the theme. Anyhow, I get home at 8 and finish up the scrapbook page I'm doing for the TGF challenge, battle the computer to send it, go back later to see that it didn't send, resend the photos, start to feel rather ill (not about trying to send the photos, though that didn't help -- I mean started feeling literally sick), and finally went to bed.

Then I woke up this morning and realized I'm not particularly thrilled with the page I did. So I decided to revamp it. But I'm also babysitting the most insanely adorable but extremely active nieces ever, so I figure after lunch I'll be able to work on it while they nap. Then I discover they don't nap. At least not for me. No worries, I'll have them color while I scrapbook. Oh, but I can't bring out any sharp objects ... or glue ... or (as I quickly discovered) Copics. Meltdown ensues. This was a niece meltdown because she recognized ('cause she's smart) that Copics are waaaay better than crayons, and yet her aunt did not want her to use them. Because I'm mean.

My meltdown was imminent ... when the girls' mom came home. I sent up a prayer of thanks for the speedy response and started Version 2 of the scrapbook page. I like it a bit better, but I'm not sure which one the team will decide to send. I'll post a photo once I know!

This evening is Show Time Dinner Theater, an annual music department fundraiser/talent showcase in our school district. I have to bring my own dessert because they only offer cheesecake (ew!). I'm also taking photos there for the paper. Then tomorrow I proof and edit the paper ... and do my taxes. Yes, I waited until the last minute. Even thinking about doing my taxes stresses me out.

On the bright side, going to work on Monday will feel like a relief!

Keep on Swimming...

Well, the team I am on for The Greeting Farm battle has moved on to Week 2!

Our team is the Ink Tossers, and Joanne made the card our team entered. The challenge was an easel card, and she made a super cute Mer-Ian starfish-shaped card. Hopefully, the Ink Tossers will be one of the 25 teams that moves on to next week. If we do (*fingers crossed*) Jessica and I will make a card for Week 3, and our team will decide collectively which one to enter. To vote for the Ink Tossers (and you know you want to!), go to http://www.thegreetingfarm.com/ and visit the Gallery. From there, go to Contests/Challenges --> TGF Royal Battle --> Week 2. If you've never submitted a comment before, you'll need to register. Commenting on the card is a vote, so let us know what you like about Joanne's card!

Above is the easel card I made to play along for the Week 2 challenge. It's my first easel card ever, and I'm not thrilled with it, but I definitely like the concept and technique.