4 Christmas cards done!

http://thestampmanchallenges.blogspot.ca/2012/03/bingo-card-recipe.html - Bingo Recipe-chose Green, Flowers, Swirls

http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.ca/2012/03/simon-sayslets-play-bingo.html -Bingo Recipe-Chose Flowers, Glitter, Brads

http://christmascardsallyearround.blogspot.ca/2012/03/march-challenge.html - Green plus 2 patterned papers

http://christmasstampin.blogspot.ca/2012/03/challenge-3-anything-goes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+ChristmasStampinAllYearLong+(Christmas+Stampin'+All+Year+Long) - Anything Goes

http://abcchristmaschallenge.blogspot.ca/2012/03/f-is-for-furry-andor-feathered-friends.html - F for furry or Feathered Friends

http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.ca/2012/03/make-it-monday-82.html - Anything Goes

I finally made all 5 cards for CCAYR and this was difficult for me since I rarely work with patterend paper...I know...I am a freak!:) The first card i combines it with Simon says and The Stampman Challenge because each had a bingo card recipe and it seemed to fit all together so i hope this works for the challenges since I combined them. I used a nestibilities cut out of a poinsettia to make a flower and used 2 different patterned papers for that. I also used glitter paper for the swirlies and brads and glitter which I love always. The squirrel card does have 2 patterned papers but they were from the same bag, sort of speak, so I combined them. I stamped the squirrel and coloured them with tombows for a little definition. The 3rd card I love that patterned paper and didn't want to cover it up much because of the birdie and cage. I used a strip from another patterned paper near the top and then I placed "Merry Christmas" from my peel offs which I almost always use. The last card has the fun snowmen. The stamped image was painted slightly to reflect the same colours in the background snowmen and then I used a tacky sheer double paste to cover the snowman so I could use my ultra fine glitter to cover him with. I hope that made sense. I can not believe I am in the top 10 for make It Monday either-Wowzers! I am usually in the 200's:) Everyone have a great day!

Green Christmas

http://christmascardsallyearround.blogspot.com/2012/03/march-challenge.html -use green and 2 patterend paper
http://sparklesforumchristmaschallenge.blogspot.com/2012/03/ch-14-to-use-peel-offs.html -use peel offs

True to form even my picture is crooked. It is a wonder I don't walk with a permanent slant. I also am not centred with the card which also is so true to my form. This will drive my hubby crazy......so it was well worth making it crooked:) I can sit for hours trying to make it straight and it still will turn out crooked. I used a ruler on this damm card too. I am true to my calling which is not a true artist as a true artist would have thrown this card away because they are freakishly wanting perfectionism. My mom is one and my hubby is another which is why I can say they are true artists. I rarely work with patterned paper. I just can't wrap my mind around it(sorry for the pun, you know-wrap-chuckle, chuckle). I will be making 4 more but this is my first one. I used the stars papers and coloured it green with tombow marker and paint that gives this pretty sheen. I used a second patterned paper in 4 strips to set it off. The middle is a peel off showing a town. I coloured it all in green tombow markers and I tried-the word meaning TRY to evoke the Currier and Ives feeling but using green instead of blue. I took a very pale green shimmer paper and used the cuddlebug for the background added a jewel and a peel off star and-Voila! my card for March..the first of 5.

springtime and Yellow

http://abcdtchallenge.blogspot.com/2012/03/springtime-challenge.html -Springtime

http://flutterbywednesdays.blogspot.com/2012/03/flutter-by-wednesday-194.html -Card for a child

http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/2012/03/make-it-monday-80-with-meljens-designs.html -anything Goes

http://colourcreatechallenge.blogspot.com/2012/03/challenge-91-yellow-grey-black-white.html-Yellow, Grey and Black

http://thestampmanchallenges.blogspot.com/2012/03/vintage-theme-challenge.html -Vintage

OK so I am finally trying to get my cards uploaded and my dinner is getting cold...waaay. Anyhoo I made a bookmark and a cute card for springtime. The cutie card is for someone who recently had a baby boy. I love the colour challenge so I made 2 cards and I hope the one fits the vintage theme since mideival is quite old. At least I hope it meets the challenge. I used alot of the pencil crayons and tombow markers and layered and cut. Now off to have some food!

Some Christmas Cards

http://christmascardsallyearround.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-challenge-announcement.html-must have hearts on cards

http://colourcreatechallenge.blogspot.com/2012/02/challenge-90-lilac-blue-white-kraft.html - Lilac, Blue and White

http://flutterbywednesdays.blogspot.com/2012/02/flutter-by-wednesday-190.html-Anything with wings

http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/2012/02/make-it-monday-77-with-meljens-designs.html - Anything goes

So I am pleased to say that I completed the Christmas challenge for this month:) All the cards have hearts on them and I stuck with stickers! The first card has Lilac, Blue and white. I used this glitsy background paper that i used the cuddlebug on for a snowflake design and used the stickers of the cherub holding a bird (dove). I colured almost all with tombow markers and added stickles as well. I also used the cuddlebug to cut out the design of the border in lilac for the first card. The second card, I embossed the background paper with some gold and silver. The thrid card-the background was done with perfect pearls. The fourth-I cut out Mr. Cupid and used a nice dark blue background paper that I then added some sticker borders in a bit of sparkle and I used stickles to add write the words. The last card I simply used a heart that I coloured in twinkling H20's. Happy card-making every one

Insecure Writer's Support Group February

I am quite happy that I am back creating cards and I am loving that! I thought, as well, about this group and how many wonderful writers are out there and people like Alex who lets everyone have a voice on anything! I am blown away how there are over 200 people who participate on this website and I try to visit as many as I can but I fail at visiting as many as I want to. I am happy that I am doing the best I can at present and I thank everyone who looked at my blog and not tear down my horrible grammar etc... I have a tendency to write the way I speak and can leave errors in my hurried manner:) I thought I would write in the next few months about my mom whom I believe has led an extraordinary life. I will also try to do some highlights from the good to the bad and to the ugly (I can't tear myself away from film).

My mom was born February 10, 1928. Her name...Elfriede (elf-free-de) Ruth Ortmann. Her grandmother-her mother's mother, found my mom to be special and named her. Her name "Elfriede" is special. "Elf" means 11-for the 11th month of the 11th day of the 11th hour when the First World War ended. "Friede", in German, means freedom and this word my mom took strongly to her heart. She was baptized in the Lutherstadt church where Martin Luther nailed the 95 thesis to the door. She grew up in Germany before the wall, when Germany was changing into something horrible. She had a wonderful childhood in the country side near Wittenberg. Her love for her grandmother was strong and loyal. As for the other grandmother, her father's mother, ...not so much. This grandmother, who had 17 children with only 4 reaching adulthood, was one tough cookie who did not care for my mom and once walked across the street to just slap my mom on the ear. If you saw a picture of this lady you would see why my mother would distance herself from her. The funny thing is that the artistic side and the love for the finer things came from the bad Oma, as I used to call her. The grandfathers? Her grandfather on her father's side never spoke a word and just sat in a chair and would sleep. Her mother's father was the kindest man who owned a farm and bought a small carousel and would never charge the children to ride the carousel. He was kind and thoughtful and my mom always was fond of her mom's parents. How sweet the days of school, playing in the snow in winter and swimming at the local old quarry that filled up with cold spring water. Who knew that she would be taken from her home, watch her brother die and her other brother die of his wounds(so did 176 others that day). Who knew that she would be in Hamburg and Dresden when the bombings started or that she would suffer at the hands of the Russian soldiers....who knew. Throughout it all her love for freedom and her loyalty to family drove her on and created one strong woman.

OMG! I'm Back with a couple of cards!!

http://abcdtchallenge.blogspot.com/2012/02/february-challenge-red-white-pink.html -Red, White & Pink

http://craftycreationschallenges.blogspot.com/2012/02/155-home-sweet-home.html -Home, Sweet Home

http://dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.com/2012/02/challenge-25-valentine.html -Valentine

http://flutterbywednesdays.blogspot.com/2012/02/flutter-by-wednesday-188.html -Open

http://ppp-makeitmonday.blogspot.com/2012/02/make-it-monday-75-with-bugaboo-stamps.html - Anything Goes

http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.com/2012/02/simon-saysanimal-antics.html - Animal Antics

I have been away for quite some time...Alot of stress but now it is calmer. My mom went to long term care in mid November, then Christmas which is the first Christmas without her at home, All the Christmas usual mayhem and then I got quite sick in January. I can say I am all better and my mom is adjusting as best as she can. My wonderful hubby organized my wreck of my craft room and I was so happy with what he did. I felt quite lost for a long time. The first card I used mainly pink, with some red and yellow and I used my cute hedgehog stamp for the animal antics which I embossed and coloured in with pastels. It is a combined Valentine and birthday card for a cutie of a girl named Torie. The second card is pure valentine with mainly red, some pink, and white but I had to add a little black ....I can't go all pink:) I think it fits perfect also for home sweet home. My husband and I have dealt with my mom for 2 years and we really did not have a home on our own for so long and now we do. I don't mean this to sound cold as I love my mommy with all my heart but it has been difficult and now we have our home with just us and it feels so nice. I had a sticker and I coloured the image with tombow markers and used reds and pinks and sponged the background but left some white. I used stickles in black for edging and mounted it on dark red and glossy black.

Insecure Writers Support group

I have been bummed because I have not been able to do any cards lately especially since my mom went into long term care. Christmas came and went like a whirlwind but by Christmas decorations....yup they are still up and I am not happy. Now i LOVE Christmas, anyone who knows me, knows this and I do keep everything up until the 6th of January since that is 3 Kings day and some countries like the Ukraine, I believe, celebrate that day. The problem is that I got sick. Well..OK OK Jan. 6th I celebrated with my best friend a little too much and the 7th I was making magic with the porcelain God which I have not done in a few years. Considering all the stress of the past 2 years I actually found that drunken fest quite liberating. I had enough ability on the Sunday to take the tree down and then I started to feel the disgust of that cold come on. I thought it would come and go as I have been so great with colds but NOOOOOOOO it felled me with one big kick in the ass! Since last Friday I have been down and out with a bad sinus infection to boot. You know the feeling...when you blink and breathe through your nose it hurts so much that you wish someone would come with a screwdriver and just drill it out of your sinuses. Well I felt I heard the drill all weekend. I am finally back to work and decided to whine about my cold and dreck on my blog. One thing I have done is watch movies. Now I can't recall all the movies and many i had seen before but it is so much fun even when one is ill. I will admit that some I nodded off on but that is due to the cold. So Let's see I shall start off with one we saw in the theatre before i got sick:

1. Sherlock Holmes #2-If you think I will remember the full name...think again I am lucky to remember my own name. This is an excellent film and on par with the first. Just as entertaining, witty and well written and the first film and now i can not picture anyone else being Sherlock or Watson but for good ole Robert and Jude.

2. The Searchers-Great..GREAT John Wayne Ford western. I LOVE John Wayne and he is my favourite..yes ahead of Clint Eastwood!!! I challenge you to even try to say someone is better than the Duke!

3. The Shootist-Duke's last film and one that makes me cry (the other is the Man who Shot Liberty Valance"). It is like we are watching his own life in some ways except that the cancer was probably due to his 4 pack a day habit and /or that awful film "the Conqueror" where so many died of cancer due to the bomb testing site.

4. MClintlock"-Great rollick with Maureen O'Hara-wish i could have gone down that mud path with them-seems like fun

5. High Noon-Great film par none and with the Quiet man one of the best of the year. Tell me why did "The Greatest Show on Earth" win best picture??

6. Die Hard"-oh boy-I like Alan Rickman and laugh at how Bruce keeps undressing during this whole flick. It is fun to watch but by no means great unless one says it is great schlock.

7. Die Hard 2-yup I watched this too...blame it on the illness. It is stupid, silly mindless dreck. The CIA would have been called in with the FBI.. ugh bad crap

8. "Across The Universe"-I got this film as a gift from my ex a couple of years ago and finally watched it and was blown away by how good it was. I love musicals but you don;t have to be a musical lover to love this film. Quite intelligently done, well written and played. Should be better known.

9. Shadow of a Doubt"-This was Hitchcock's favourite of his films and I love it as it also stars one of my faves...Joseph Cotton. It is like Frank Capra's world silently on crack-Great film.

OK that is my whine for the month. Take care and thanks for reading