Steady as She Goes

 Just went through my desk drawers in the basement. I decluttered all the school notebooks, dividers, report covers, file folders, and assorted stationery. Now one drawer holds that kind of stationery, while the other drawer holds hanging folders of memorabilia due for scrapbooking.

After that rewarding chore, I sat down with my box of leftover goodies and created another batch of cards, along with one more bookmark. I have to ask myself, who still reads real printed books? I know I and my sisters do. Many of my friends read both printed and online books, but there are several who only read on their Nook or Kindle.

I can't say it matters either way. I love books, I love reading, whatever the media, and children love getting bookmarks (and some adults). The cards are all put together from pieces and bits of crafting supplies. There's even a lone novelty playing card with Charlie Brown and Snoopy on a birthday card. I used to belong to a Yahoo group that offered challenges like on Blogger. Sometimes a challenge would pop up that asked a crafter to use what was lying on their crafting desk/table. That's kind of what I'm doing, only I gather up the extras I've discovered while decluttering and bagged them for cardmaking later.

Next on my declutter list is the small stuff. That's right, the jewels, brads, Skittles, etc., that have been housed in t tool tower with 50 small clear bins. Maybe (no promises) I'll remember to take a before photo of the tower before I declutter. Remember, I'm not just throwing away or sending stuff off to a thrift store. I'm giving all my selected supplies to a young girl who loves crafting but has no means to buy her own. Not only does she get to discover all kinds of techniques and media, but since she's young her mom joins her and that's some quality time they have together!

Okay, I better tackle that tower that terrifies me into trembles (how's that for alliteration?) 

P.S. (A special shout out to Faith of Daffodil Cards for being my cheerleader in this venture. Besides the positive reinforcement, she has some beautiful cards to inspire all her visitors!).

Happy crafting, all!_

A CHALLENGE WITH REAL CHARACTER

The tear 2020 will  be a challenging one for me - lots of changes related to family, health, time, finances, and other essentials. I'll be looking at the year with a new perspective, open to different paths, short cuts, adventures, challenges and determined to stay focused and flexible.
I'll also be on and offline due to life playing with my plans. But I did manage to create for the Path of Positivity's first challenge of 2020. It has a lot of character, at least the optional theme of the challenge is to somehow feature one of your character traits in your artwork.
Me, I may seem to be outgoing but I've always been a homebody, or as my cousins used to put it as I was growing up, a bookworm. Give me a book and some privacy and the sky could fall down and I wouldn't notice. What kind of books do I like to read? The question should be what kind don't I like to read? I like to go to library book sales the last day when they have bag sales, where you can fill up a bag for a set amount of money. It's like getting presents at someone else's birthday party!
Then again,I am an English Major, and I love the English language. I love words, and while in college, I had wanted to become a lexicologist, traveling the country, studying how people in different sections of the USA pronounced words or used words differently.
Nowadays I just get affronted when I read a book with several typos. I mean, don't publishers have proof readers any more? I want to write an article demanding to banish the apostrophe, so everyone can relax when they can't remember if the word is "its" or "it's".
But life is too full of adventures and inspiration and love and laughter and everything, to worry about punctuation, spelling, etc.  But I still like my cuppa and a good book...or an okay book...or a magazine...you know, something to read.

So, I don't have a Kindle (gasp), I just love holding a paper book, which means I use bookmarks, so I created one using 2 images from Bugaboo called AKVB SITTING DOG TOPPER (possibly retired) and BOOK STACK. I printed them onto a piece of Decosse's Dynamite Doodles paper from the Color of the Rainbow Chevrons Paper Kit before coloring them with Copic markers.I framed the bookmark with teal cardstock, added a tab and swag at the top, and couldn't resist a small strip of tiny jewels at the bottom. Don't you wish you read real books?? .LOL

Bugaboo Stamps is one of two guest sponsors this month,along with Scribbles Designs.

• In order to be considered eligible for this month's prizes, remember that general types of  projects/posts will not qualify for the prizes UNLESS they are also positive, inspirational, motivational or encouraging in some nature. Prizes this month include:
• $12 gift certificate from Bugaboo Stamps, our guest sponsor for this month, for a person chosen in a random draw based on all qualifying entrants.
• ONE image (value of $5 or less) from Scribbles Designs, for the post or project that the team deems most inspiring of the bunch based on all qualifying entrants.
• One digital image from Creative Bug Digital SnapShots for each person chosen as a DT Delight.

Anything Goes w/optional twist - Use a bow

 The newest challenge at Ike's World Challenge blog has reached its midway point. Their challenges are now Anything Goes, with some months offering a Twist. This month the Twist is to Use a BOW. I created my card with an image from Ike's Store called Spanish Dancer. I love this image because my cousin dances with a Spanish Dance Company, and she also teaches Flamenco classes.

My card has a surprise in that the image is part of a removable bookmark. My family and I love to read, and we're always losing our bookmarks, so demand is high. Mine folds over the top of a page. My bow  is actually a glitter sticker at the top.
My sentiment reads, "Everything in the universe has rhythm. Everything dances. I'll talk more about that in the next challenge for Ike's World Challenge Blog. Meanwhile, share your art with us for your chance to win free digis from Ike's Art store.
Happy crafting!

Masculine Theme at Quirky Crafts This Month

Here we are at the midway point of this month's Masculine challenge over at Quirky Crafts challenge blog. Our sponsors this month are Bugaboo and SLS Lines. I got to play with a Bugaboo digi image from the Har Pot collection called The Chosen One.
I love the Harry Potter series, both the books and the movies! I decided to embellish with odds and ends found in my crafting catch-all drawer. The effect reminds me of spells and potions classes from the movies.

Challenges I am Entering:

The Paper Shelter challenges - Birthday Boy

My next project is a bookmark I created for my husband. He laughs every time he sees it peeking out of his book. He says it reminds him of all the "old librarians" in his youth who always shushed him in the stacks.

I like to color my girls' hair with non-standard colors. Besides the quirkiness of doing so, I just don't have a good range of hair colors in my Copics. My sentiment is the perfect one for the way I feel about reading (and being stranded).

Below you can see my Book Lover peeking over the top of the closed book. I love those pencils stuck into her bun, don't you?!

Challenges I am Entering:

Our Creative Corner - Trip Down Memory Lane/use a past challenge (What Makes you smile challenge - to create something that will make us smile. It could be a scrapbook or journal page, a canvas, a tag, whatever your imagination dictates  What makes me smile is having the time to read! My sentiment is one I take to heart: If I'm ever stranded, I hope it's in a Book Store. That would be pure heaven for me)

Know a guy with a birthday coming up? Or any occasion for that matter? Create something with a masculine theme and link it up with Quirky Crafts challenge blog this month. Awesome pries from:

Bugaboo Digi Stamps

and SLS Lines

Pop Open a Good Book

Good evening, crafters! I'm a little late in showcasing my DT make for the Outlaw Greetings challenge that started this morning. The guest sponsor this week is Crafty Sentiments

and I got to play with this cute digi image called "Daydreaming." I decided to make a bookmark after coloring and fussy-cutting my guy. After all, reading opens up a lot of ideas for daydreams!

I used red & white striped paper to make my popcorn box, and a magazine pic for the boy's background before putting it altogether on a green base. My sentiment (a necessity for any challenge at the Outlaw Monday Greetings) is inspired by the popcorn, and I used a brad to form the letter O in POP. A paper clip and ribbon finish off my project and now it's your turn.

The challenge this week is ANYTHING GOES!!

Beach-Inspired Sunday Project

Happy Sunday, crafters! Today I was cleaning and organizing my craft room and happened upon some pictures I had taken at the beach in Wisconsin (the beach being Lake Michigan). I remembered the trip with my mom and sisters, and how utterly relaxing our "girls' day(s) out" had been. We had connecting rooms with full views of the lake, and often we would catch each other just sitting there, staring out of the window and being hypnotized by the dance of the clouds in the sky and the waves in the water.
So, I just had to look at what I had at hand, as I promised myself I would use up my stash before all else. I limited my project to what was still on my desk (which isn't much of a limit-I hadn't cleaned it off in a while).
I found this simple yet elegant digital image from Sami Stamps to color up. I had just returned all my Copics back to their corrals, and they were organized so the coloring went quickly. Then I fussy cut her out along with her steaming mug.
Since my head was wrapped up in the relaxation of the trip, and what better way than to relax with a book, I made a bookmark. Yes, for a real, paper book (after all, how can you make a bookmark for your Kindle?) Some leftover trim and a button and my bookmark was almost complete.
I love to play in Photoshop, and am fairly new to digital crafting, so I opened my bookmark base there and placed it on some beautiful textured paper from the Christmas Grunge collection by Decosse's Dynamite Doodles. All I had left to do was choose the right sentiment, and I think that's exactly what I did. Now my bookmark is ready to print, and I think I'll make a few of them so that, while marking their pages in their books, each of my sisters and my mom will remember our weekend awa, and the peaceful time we had together.
Image:  Comfy Cocoa from Sami Stamps
Papers: Christmas Grunge from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles, and a page from DCWV A Colorful Life paper pad
Embellishments: stray green button (actually I found it under my craft desk); purple adhesive-backed trim from Recollections, Inc
Ink: Copics Y38,17,11; E00; V04,12; and G21,94

Challenges I am Entering:

Sami Stamps challenge blog - Add 2 Different patterned papers (although you can't see much of the grunge paper, it makes a thin border around my bookmark)

Lil Patch of Crafty Friends - Anything Goes

Corrosive Challenges - Utterly Feminine

Sketchy Colors challenges - Lilac, grey & blue (see below)

A Gem of a Challenge - One for the Girls 

Jo's Scrap Shack - Lazy Days of Summer

Simply Papercraft challenges - Anything Goes
613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes w/optional twist-Girls' Night Out (I was inspired to create from a Girls' Weekend Out recently-it was very chill)

An Early Mother's Day Gift

My mom taught me several things as I was growing up, but the most important thing she taught me was a love of books. There were no boundaries when it came to reading, no "you're not old enough yet's."

So to celebrate just one of the many things I love about her and am grateful to her for sharing with me, I made her a bookmark. She doesn't have a Kindle, a Nook nor does her phone allow those kind of app's. She likes hard covers and paperbacks. And since shes just as busy as I am, she needs a bookmark to keep her place in between readings.
I colored up a free digi image from Tiddly Ink called Annie, using my Copics and some Sakura diamond gel pen for a little sparkle. Then I fussy-cut her and placed her on a piece of patterned paper I found while rummaging in my re-discovered box of paper.
(Sad note, peeps: While organizing my craft room before my granddaughter's sleepover this weekend, I discovered yet another photo storage box stuffed with papers. I need serious therapy!)
Anyway, I trimmed the bookmark with thin gold stickers, added some silver outline flowers, stamped a few butterflies and popped on a vellum punched butterfly.
To give it more character, I used a Stampin Up punch to cut a rounded slit in the top of the bookmark to slip onto the top of a book's page. In the photo, it's behind that half-moon sliver. Above that, I punched a tiny hole and slipped a tassel to the top. Since it will sit between book pages, I needed to keep it clean and simple.
And the first of my handmade presents is finished. Eek, I am running out of time, too! Catch you later, crafters!

Challenges I am entering:

Crafty Catz challenges - CAS 

Simply Crafting challenges - CAS

Stempelsonne challenges - Anything Goes

Inspiration Destination - Anything Goes

Wonderful Wednesdays - Anything Goes

Clear It Out challenges - Use your stash

Tiddly Inks challenges - So Sweet (although the image doesn't have a sweet treat, the book behind it is a Bailey Cates Magical Bakery Mystery called Bewitched, Bothered & Biscotti)

Get Creative challenges - Mother's Day

Stamps & Fun = Creativity - No Cards (bookmark) eine lesezeichen

The Eyes Have It!

No matter how many books I read on my phone or Kindle, I still prefer the weight and smell of a

good book in my hands, paperback or hard cover! So today I made a bookmark using a digi from Bugaboo Stamps. This little fella is called Frog and is colored with Copics. I fussy-cut him out and made a "flap-over" bookmark out of a paint strip. I had to keep the embellishments down to a minimum in order to lie flat in a book, so I added a few sequins and hand-wrote the sentiment, " This book is absolutely Ribbit-ing."      When the bookmark is placed in my book, my frog's "bug eyes" peep out over the top of the book, like in my photo.

I'm entering him in this month's Catch the Bug's Anything Goes challenge. 

Other Challenges I am Entering:

Crazy for Challenges - related to vision or eyes

Less is More - Opposites on the color wheel (green & purple)

Book Your Next Challenge with Your Scrapbook Place

Today I am going to let my Dreams Take Flight. After work, I will sit down and tally up all the winners of my Birthday Blowout celebration. I wished to increase my Blog Following, which I did, and Lisa from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles has made a badge for me to display in my sidebar. Thank you Lisa!
Everyone who joined me in my Birthday Blowout is getting something, so please send me your email, either in the comnents section or by emailing me at: patacake1956@yahoo.com
Now, on to my project. I design for Your Scrapbook Place with other talented crafters. The blog's challenges are always Anything Goes, so today, as a midway reminder of our April challenge, I made a bookmark. It features an image from our sponsor, Angie's Digital Stamps. I used Butterfly on a Toadstool, which can be found along with many others on her Etsy Shop.
After coloring it with my trusty Copics, I shimmered it a bit with Stickles and then fussy-cut the image out. I prepared a base of cardstock and patterned paper which I border punched. I embossed my sentiment. A piece of trim and some sequins and all I needed to finish it off was a ribbon. BUT, I promised myself that today I would look no further than the top of my craft table to create, and there was no ribbon to be had. There was, however, a strip of that black cardstock that happened to be red on the other side as well as the core, so I stapled it to look like a ribbon, added a punched circle to each end.
I still have so much on my craft table, including images. I could probably make another 10 projects without touching anything except what's on my table. And that is the promise I am making today. If it's not put away immediately, I MUST use what's leftover before rooting around for more. The madness has to stop somewhere, and I alone have the power!!
Meanwhile, back to reality. Please carve some time out this month to play, and then join Your Scrapbook Place for its April Anything Goes challenge.

BTW, I will post this week once I have made my birthday goodies lists. Keep checking back!! Everyone is a winner!

Other Challenges I am Entering:

City Crafter challenges - CASE the card

All Crafts - Anything Goes no Cards

Not Just Cards - Anything Goes

Sparkle n Sprinkle - Anything Goes w/loose glitter,emb powder,flocking

Nothing Like a Good Read

Santa (and my family) was very good to me this Christmas.  I got some cool crafting supplies, like the Spellbinders die with which I cut my Squigglefly digi image called "A Good Read Maddie" by artist Cheryl Grant Alger.

Isn't she cute?  After I colored her with Copics and used my Epic Six to diecut her, I decided that she would make an awesome bookmark.  I made a corner tuck bookmark.  Here's what the bookmark looks tucked in to save my page.

And another present I received was a book.  I love distopian stories like Hunger Games, and the book I received is another great series.  In fact, the movie from the first book is coming out later this year.  Here's the cover:

I was so excited to receive it.  It is the final chapter of the Divergent series, where society is centered around factions that display specific behaviors and when children reach a certain age, they are required to choose the faction that matches their "aptitude" test, or to remain in the faction in which they were born.  I've read Divergent, Insurgent and now I have Allegiant!
What did you receive for Christmas?  This week's Squigglefly challenge is to make a project using or showing something you received during the holidays (and of course a Squigglefly digi image).  Could be your week to win!!

Three Cheers for Reading

I love to read!  So does my family, which means there would be a lot of books lying open on couches and tables and desks, their spines slowly tearing, if it weren't for my love for making bookmarks!!

Here's the latest bookmark I made using a Bugaboo digi image called Cheerleader Girl.  She reminds me of my granddaughter Christina, who has been in competitive cheer for a couple years.

So this one will probably find a home in one of her books in the next week or two when I see her again.  Now that I have five grandchildren, I think I'll be pretty busy making a few more bookmarks!  Then again, both my granddaughters love to craft--maybe they can help.

p.s.  The book pictured is a Lucy Stone Mystery called Tea Party Murder by author Leslie Meier.  So, where is your bookmark hiding out?

Bloomin' Bookmark

Hello, crafters!  Today I have a pretty bookmark using a Queen Kat Design's April release called "Four-eyed Flower".  The image is designed by the talented artist Sandra Caldwell.

I thought this glasses-wearing posy would look great in a book.  I used a magnetic bookmark base from Stampin Up and created an ATC-sized card base that fits well on the magnet.  I kept my embellishments to a minimum so that it would lay flat in the books I read.

DO you like to read?  I love mysteries by Joann Fluke and Carol Higgins Clark, as well as biographies and the witty writings of Carl Hiasson.  But my all-time favorite books are The Stand by Stephen King, The Number of the Beast by Robert Heinlein, and The Crystal Singer trilogy by Anne McCaffrey.

Do you have a favorite book you like to read more than once?  Tell me what your favorite reads are and I'll choose a random commenter and send you my Bloomin' Bookmark.

Meanwhile, Four-Eyed Flower would look perfect on your own bookmark!!  Or you could make a card with Sandra's image and put it with a book to give to a friend!  For her image, and the rest of the new releases this month, check out the Shoppe.  There's nothing like some new images to make your day bloom!

Holy Card, I Mean, Hole-y Bookmark

I liked paper piercing so much that I had to use it on another bookmark I made for my sisters.  This one uses the Squigglefly digi image Sassy Sally Likes Birds from artist Cheryl Alger.  I like the design of this bookmark, as it is CAS, so it fits nicely inside a book or magazine, and I can easily slip it onto the top of the page where I left off by designing it with a circular cut at the top.  It's easy peasy, it looks great, and it won't slip out of place like some loose bookmarks can.
Anyway, here is  my project for this week's Squigglefly challenge, which is to try Paper Piercing (not piecing) on your project.  You try it too, it's addicting!!!  Here I just made freehand "photo corners", and also pierced the little banner-shaped bottom edge.   The sentiments are from TLC Quik Words Rub-Ons, "Moments" collection.  They read: "Imagine the Perfect Day".
And now that I look more closely at my image here, I see that I forgot to color her shoes!!  ROTFLMAO  I will definitely fix that before I gift this bookmark out to family!!

Happy crafting, and keep cool!!

Cool Bookmark for a Summer Read

Hello, crafters!  I have been trying to take time out to make this awesome bookmark, and I finally decided to skip the dishes and lock myself in my craft room until I finished it.  I found my inspiration while flipping through the yellowed pages of a cast off book from a rummage sale.  There was a receipt card in its pages that was dated 1985 (that was the year my son was born).

It had a semi-circular cut at the top that a reader could slip the top edge of the page into that she wanted to save.  I thought what a clean, simple design for a bookmark, and so I inked up my Queen Kat Designs "Snowball" stamp, designed by artist Terra Bidlespacher.  After coloring her with Copics (the image, not Terra), I tore it to create a natural frame.
Being a bookmark, I had to keep my project flat, so I used a winter-themed patterned paper, a coordinating blue patterned paper and a strip of leftover white cardstock to bring my snowflake border to life.  I colored another leftover strip of the white cardstock to place behind my image as a sort of ribbon embellishment, coloring it with the pink-shaded Copic with which I colored her outfit.
The tiny snowflakes that were punched out with the punch I used for the border were rescued and adhered to my "scene".  For the semi-circular cut that holds the bookmark in place, I used the medium-sized circle template from the Creative Memories Circle Cutting System.
Now I can keep my cool when my reading is interrupted, and know that I can get back to my summer read without losing my place!
I have a girls' day out coming up soon with my mom and sisters, and they are all avid readers.  I think a little handmade goody is in order, don't you?!  I just picked up a few Christmas romances from my local Goodwill store, and I can slip the bookmarks into them for a little "Christmas in July" giftie!
If you like what you see, leave me some love.  If you like the image, check it out HERE along with Terra's other offerings.

Another Summer Day, Another Summer Card

It is HOT, HOT, HOT outside today. That's why I'm in my craft room, to cool off and PLAY!
SO I played with another new stamp set from Crafter's Companion, "Thanks a Bunch" starring Popcorn Bear. I can see a lot of my wages chasing after all the Popcorn stamp sets they have at the Crafting Companion Store.
So their Challenge Blog is offering a June Challenge, looking for Summer projects using any CC image. You can enter more than once, so I made a second card for their June challenge. Wait til you see what the prize is for one lucky random winner! But before you check out their blog, let me give you the deets on my newest card:
I made a 6x6 card with coordinating bookmark. I colored my Popcorn Bear image with Copics: E00,13; Y11,15; YR16; G00,02; BG05,10,15 & 100(BLACK).
I put some shine to him with Red and Icicle Stickles, and used Stickles to create some background glitz. The sentiment on the bookmark is from the same stamp set.
Okay, run along and check out the Crafter's Companion Challenge Blog, and if you fall in love with their stamps like I did, I'll see you around the store's website! have fun!
CHALLENGES:
Craft Catz - BOOKMARK