Thinking of You

Hello! Just a quick post from me today.  Things are busy, busy, busy! Today I was looking through some paper and ran across this cute paper I used in the background.  It is actually from a Valentine pack from K & Company. 

I decided to use it for a few challenges that are going on.  First I will give you a quick run down.  I used a digi stamp from Digi Stamp Boutique.  The paper from the same K & Co Valentine pack to do some paper piecing on the turtle shell.  I then colored his body with copic markers YG25, YG23, YG21 and R81 for his rosy cheeks.  

 I am entering this card into the following challenges:

The first challenge I am entering this card into is Muse Challenge #60 you can click on the link to check out the challenge.  The inspiration given was a line of tall trees with a sort of rainbow colored background.  It's a beautiful card.  I decided to use the tall trees as my inspiration and thought that the tall flowers on my card would represent trees to a cute little turtle!  Here is there inspiration card.  The challenge is to interpret however you like!

 

This card is also being entered into the Digi Stamp Boutique Challenge. Check out this site for some great inspiration and some really cute images.

I am also entering this card into the Love to Create Challenge Blog.  Check out this cool challenge.  You have the bingo card below and can choose to create a card that includes 3 items in any of the columns going across, down, or diagonal. 

 

My card has top row across, PINK, PEARLS and SPARKLE!  Most of my cards include those items!

Click on the link above to see all the great things going on over there.

Have a great day!

 

Using Pastels

Today I made a card for the challenge going on over at a A Day for Daisies blog.  The challenge is to make a card using pastels. Well this led me to ask the question.... what actually qualifies as a "pastel"?

pas·tel

noun \pas-ˈtel\

: a type of chalk made from a powdery substance that is used for drawing and comes in many different colors
: a drawing that is done using pastels

: a pale or light color

Well that was helpful :/  I mean if you look at your spectrum of colors, at what point does it become pastel?  I am probably thinking too hard about it because as I sit here in my workout clothes, the longer I ponder the question, the less likely I am to get to the gym today. That being said I better just get on with it.

 

When I was making this card I realized that I really need to work on coloring with pastel colors.  That's why I love these challenges.  They force you out of your comfort zone.  I used my Copic markers but as an afterthought, I think I might try this card again on some watercolor paper and try my hand at coloring her dress using some of my water color pencils. You could also use distress markers and water them down too.  I purchased some of the Tim Holtz distress markers and have to say I've been quite disappointed.  I have only used them once and most seem to by dried up.  Wow that was a waste of money.  I'm glad I didn't invest in more of them, I'm not really sure if I got an old package or what.  I don't know that I would purchase them again because they cannot be refilled according to what I've read.

This card is being entered into Challenge #92-Pretty Pastels.  Click HERE to check out their stamps, challenges and also to get some great inspiration.

Well I really need to get to the gym. If I get a chance to try this stamp with water color pencils I will post it as well. 

Have a great day.

Challenge Winner and Healthy Crockpot Oatmeal

Hi there,
I hope everyone had a great week.  It has been a very busy one for me but today I have a bit more free time and thought I should get a post out on a couple of things I wanted to share.

I am so excited to let you know that I was the challenge winner for my Happy Birthday Card posted below.  Yeah ME!  I can't wait to claim my prize of more  Tiddly Ink images.  Check out her images but also check out the AMAZING designers for this blog.  So inspiring!

So, I've been trying to make a few healthy tweaks to my diet.  Overall I feel like I eat a pretty healthy diet but I have been wanting make things a bit more "routine".  I don't know about you but if I find a routine that I like, I will stick to it.  Therefore, I think if I find some healthy eating routine's then I will stick to them as well.  Each day I have been taking a packet of instant PLAIN oatmeal and then eating it with a touch of Agave Nectar and sometimes I add fresh blueberries or strawberries. While this is already a pretty healthy meal I wanted to make it even healthier by using steel cut oatmeal. Unfortunately steel cut oatmeal takes longer to cook and I don't have that kind of time in the morning.  You gotta love Pinterest.  I found a link to a website called Recipes that Crock for Crockpot Oatmeal. Had it this morning and all I can say is YUMMY!

 

If you click on the link above it will take you directly to the site and full instructions are there.  I love it. I can make it at night before I go to bed and a very healthy and satisfying breakfast is ready for me.  

Here are a couple of things that you might want to make note of. 

• I cut the recipe-  I only wanted one serving so divided everything in fourths. But if you have more in your family that will eat it then by all means make the whole batch.
• She suggests using a bath method by placing a smaller bowl inside of your larger crockpot.  This prevents the oatmeal from scorching on the bottom.  Since I had a smaller serving I used the crock insert that goes to my mini crockpot and placed it inside of my large one.  It was perfect but a bowl works fine too.  I would use glass or ceramic. 
• When done, the oatmeal was VERY thick.  I used just a splash of skim milk and it was great. 

This website doesn't give nutritional information so I did some really quick and not very scientific math.... total disclaimer here because I am "just ok" at math and not very scientific at all LOL!  Based on the ingredients I used, I figured around 240 calories. It was a BIG portion.  I ate it several hours ago and still feel really satisfied.  I think I am going to try some variations on this as well.  Maybe banana's and a few walnuts?????

I really like to share recipes when I like them and I think this one is a keeper. I sure hope you give it a try.

Happy Birthday Card

Today I am posting a card that I made from an image from Tiddly Inks.  This image is called "Awww Thanks"  but I think it works for just about any occasion.

 

I made this easel card using paper from a paper stack by My Minds Eye.  I cut the image and label out with Spellbinders dies.  Markers used were: Skin-E11, E21, E00 E000; Jeans-G16, G21; Shirt-YG25, YG23, YG05; Hair-E29, E25, E31, E50

This card is being entered into the Tiddly Inks Challenge 128 -GREEN. Check out their great images!

Challenge Winner And A Few Ideas for Re-Purposing

Well I didn't have a chance to create any cards over the weekend. We had grand babies all weekend and loved every minute of it. I did come up with a couple tips to share for re-purposing jars into craft storage.

I found some candles at Wal-mart that are from the Better Homes and Gardens line.  They have a really cool lid and the candles are cheap ($5.00 in my area).  They don't burn quite as good as some of the more expensive candles but to me they were fine.  Like I said, they are cheap and something else I love about them, they have an "easy peel" label.  You can just peel it right off! Why can't ALL labels be easily peeled off.

Also an Archer Farms spice jar seemed like another great way to store my smaller craft items. It's actually nicer than the smaller plastic jars I had purchased at Michaels. I used a straight edge razor to peel this label off but it came off nicely.

One other bit of news.  My card posted on March 1st labeled Simple Country Card  was chosen as the challenge winner at  A Day for Daisies!!  I really appreciate the honor. As winner I get to pick four free digi's from their shop.  I can't wait to get my beautiful images so I can create wonderful cards with them. A great big thanks to those who chose my card as winner.

Here is my winning badge. It will be proudly displayed on my blog.

March Birthday Card

I wonder........... do people with March birthday's get tired of getting cards associated with St. Patrick's Day??  I know people with December birthday's want "birthday" wrap and not Christmas themed wrapping paper. Maybe it's a stretch for me to guess that perhaps March birthday's would like something on their birthday card other than GREEN or shamrocks, oh well. Here goes nothin'.

 

This card is being entered into the challenge on Muse  The challenge is to use bold colors and lots of white space.  Click on the link above to check out all the great  I struggle with cards for men and usually stick to something simple  This challenge provides a perfect opportunity to create a simple card for my son's birthday.  

How did I do it?    The digital stamp was a freebie from  Bluebird Flats.   I printed and cut out the stamp and then matted it on a piece of red card stock that was punched out with my circle punch.  I had a piece of scrap paper with bold colored stripes on it, so I used my scissors to cut it into a simple flag.that The stamp image was attached to the striped flag with a pop dot.  I used a background in plain white card stock ( I use Georgia Pacific from Wal-mart).  I also used my Scor-Pal to create score lines above and below the flag. I felt like it still needed some color but wanted to keep the white space large so I mounted the whole thing on a piece of navy card stock.  I hope my birthday boy likes his card !

Simple Country Card

Well I'm sitting here waiting for the big snow storm, watching House Hunters and fretting over why I keep getting these pop ups on my laptop all of a sudden grrr! 
Today I thought I would just submit a quick card that I created using an image from A Day for Daisies.  I love this blog. There are lots of challenges and lots of free images.

I love the simplicity of the image.  I used a green background paper for the challenge.  You can check out the other entries and all of the great images on A Day for Daisies USE SOME GREEN challenge.

I hope everyone stays safe in the snow and bitter cold weather.  Have a great rest of your weekend.