Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

When I count my blessings this Thanksgiving I will be counting every one who is reading this blog. You are why I love blogging!

Sending you smiles and hugs and wishes for a blessed holiday!

Barb

Thank you, Carolyn, for This Beautiful Award!

I haven't been updating my blogs this week in order to work on all the Christmas cards I want to get done. But I have blogging buddies out there who make sure I do have something to do online! Today I received this beautiful award from my dear friend Carolyn. She is also one busy paper crafter and card designer, as well as a friend and inspiration to so many, including me! Thank you, Carolyn for your thoughtfulness and friendship!

Here is the award... isn't it lovely!

Here is the wording that accompanies this award:

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY- nearness in space, time, and relationships! These blogs are exceedingly charming; and these kind bloggers, aim to find friends and to be friends. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please, give more attention to these writers!

Deliver this award to eight bloggers, who must choose eight more, and include this cleverly written text into the body of their award.

Choosing only eight more recipients was the difficult part! I have long lists of favorite blogs, and they are favorites because they all make this blogging experience special. But I did choose and it is my pleasure to pass this award to these eight bloggers who are creative crafters, talented photographers, inspired writers, and gifted artists. Above all, they establish supportive and fun friendships, and isn't that what blogging is all about? I follow all of these ladies' blogs daily and have been honored with their visits as well. Please take a jog over to their sites --- you'll be glad you did! Don't forget Carolyn... she's a sweetheart!

• Heidi
• Jak
• Lisa
• Pattie
• Michelle
• Cathleen
• Leigh
• Ryann

Thank you all for making blogging so much fun!

I've been tagged!

I've been tagged by my friend Donna, aka Popsicle Toes, to share 7 random and/or weird facts about myself. This is a fun tag, especially since I then get to tag seven more bloggers and learn more about them! I think I have done this before, but I have enough weirdness to go another round. :-)


So here we go:


1. I absolutely hate, yes I am using that word my mother never liked to hear, h.a.t.e. peanut butter! For that matter, I hate nuts of any kind. Can you say "sensitive gag reflex"?

2. While we are on the topic, put coconut in the same category as nuts --- hate it!

3. Ok, let's switch gears. Donna "Popsicle Toes" thinks pizza should be a food group. I think that chocolate should be a food group!

4. I cry when I see reunions at the airport, especially where military families are concerned. Even watching homecomings on TV send me grabbing for the tissues.

5. I hope I live long enough to read all the books I have, and continue to acquire, and to make all the cards-scrapbooks-photos-paintings that I have ideas in my head for.

6. Someday I will write a book, hopefully soon, but I don't know what it will be about.

7. I hate to get my hands dirty! So, I don't do gardening, or sculpting, or eat fried chicken with my fingers, or mix anything with my very clean hands --- except maybe chocolate chip cookie dough, the only finger-linkin'-good food.

Now for the other fun part. I have a lengthy list of talented papercrafters who I follow, so I will now tag seven of them. Some are old friends, some are new; some know I follow their blogs, some know it now (hee hee). In any case, I hope you all play along!

Terri
Ryann
Myrt
Lauri
Oma
Suzanne
Barbara

Reveal Number Four

Believe it or not, of all the pieces I cut last week (see collage in my post Organized Chaos) I made 20 more cards today, 4 each of 5 designs. And, I still have pieces for 20 more cards! I want to get those done tomorrow because I am expecting my Copics to arrive as well as more Cuttlebug embossing folders. I am ready to play again and make another organized chaos of new designs! My goal is 200 cards by Thanksgiving and I have 54 done so far. I have so many design ideas in my head, not to mention new tools and toys!

Here are the cards I did today. All are going in my shop at Branson Craft Mall.

Reveal Number Three

I am so crazy about Whiff of Joy stamps! Today I did more cards with Willow and one with Charlie. I have also gotten hooked on Copic! After seeing so many beautiful stamps colored with Copics I found a few (very few) at Hobby Lobby.

Below is Willow with hot chocolate, my first Copic colored stamp. I like the way she turned out, but was wishing I'd had lighter shades of the colors. Well, the good news is that I found Copics at a much more reasonable price at More Than Ink and ordered two sets. I can't wait to get them!

The next two cards are Willow with a lantern in blue once again, but with different card layouts. I used my Cuttlebug scroll die for the white embellishment.

A close up of the sparkly flowers that I can't remember the name of, but they made a colorful accent on this card.

I also colored Willow in green using watercolor pencils. The card is a tent fold to take advantage of the beautiful country winter scene on the scrapbook CS I used. Folded the dimensions are 6" x 6", extending to the full 12" length of the CS. I did several cards this way in a variety of the scenic CS. I bought the paper last year but I can't remember the maker.

Finally, here is mischievous Charlie ready with a round of snowballs for a poor unsuspecting passerby. As cute I he is, I would be prepared for a pelting! I colored him with the copics, also. The snowflakes are from the Cuttlebug die and the Swiss dot embossing folder added just the right touch of texture. The DP is from the DCWV Glitter Christmas Stack.

I made 10 cards today, but have pieces cut for over 40 more! Many of those will be note cards in sets of 4. When these are put together I'll use some of my other stamps and papers for a whole different batch! Whew!

Take the Handmade Pledge

Buy Handmade.org

As you do your holiday shopping this year, please consider supporting artists and crafters by buying handmade! I try to make many of my gifts and cards each year, and when I buy, I try to seek out unique and handcrafted items. Branson is a paradise of handcrafted items of all sorts and we welcome visitors, especially at this beautiful time of year.

There are a number of online stores where everything is made by artists in every imaginable genre. Etsy is growing rapidly in popularity and selection. You will soon be able to find my work there, too! Cafe Press is another and I can personally vouch for one of the artists, Heidi, who has a variety of products featuring her drawings.

Please take the handmade pledge and support our country's talented crafters. For quality, uniqueness and value, you won't find better.

Reveal Number Two

My assembly area is quickly turning into a stack of cards, but I have a long way to go.

Below is another Whiff of Joy Willow with a lantern, this time colored in blue pencil. The paper is a two-sided scrapbook paper (I don't remember the company) and I loved the snow-covered aspens. I sacrificed some of the full design to give the illusion that Willow is walking through the snowy landscape.

I have also put together five sets of note cards. Those below are stamped with the popular and beautiful Winter Wonderland Tree by Leigh Hannan of Impression Obsession.

Using two variations of the same color scheme, the tree is embossed in white with small pearl accents. Then mounted on white or turquoise glitter paper before mounting on opalescence card stock.

For this tree the stamp was embossed with blue glitter with silver sticker accents and wrapped with delicate ribbon. I mounted it on metallic paper, then on dp from the DCWV Glitter Christmas Stack.

I really love white on navy so I embossed the tree with white on a speckled card stock that gives the illusion of stars in the sky. Accented with small rhinestones and a silver bow it is mounted on lighter blue card stock, then on opalescence white card stock.

I like the combination of pink and green, so the coordinated papers in the DCWV Christmas Stack quickly caught my eye. This Christmas tree is from Leigh Hannan's Snowflake Collection at Impression Obsession. It embossed beautifully on the glitter paper. Then I mounted it on the pink glitter paper and added a hot pink ribbon bow. Of course that all goes perfectly with the pink and green plaid designer paper.

Well, back to the assembly line! These are so much fun! Thank you for stopping by!

Reveal Number One

While I am still in the assembly mode, I do have one card to reveal tonight.... drum roll, please!

It was love at first sight when I saw Willow and all her friends and images! When I finally got Willow with the lantern I couldn't wait to shade those wonderful folds and try different colors and media.

This card uses DCWV Glittered Christmas Stack papers and some metallic trims. I love that stack because it has some unconventional color combinations, like pink and black or lime green and pink, or burgundy and forest green. This selection looks like holly leaves and whimsical red flowers on a black background. I had already colored Willow with water color pencils creating a grey-ish gown and red trim, so this was the perfect background for her. Framed in metallic black seems a bit odd for Christmas, but very rich. The red velveteen bow helps to draw out the red more and is undoubtedly a Christmas touch.

I'll have more cards to reveal now that I am getting them all put together! Let me know what you think!

Organized Chaos!

This collage only makes my card mass-production look disorganized. Actually, I got quite a lot of piece work done today. Tomorrow I'll work on assembly and finishing touches. I love Christmas cards! So many colors and ideas!

We Interrupt Cardmaking for Special News!

With pieces of cards and layouts covering every flat space in my studio, I decided to take a break and catch up on favorite blogs. There was a lovely surprise waiting for me from Myrt at Myrt's Card-O-Craft! She gave me this very pretty award! Thank you, Myrt! Myrt is always there to encourage me and I appreciate her so much.

So, now, to spread the joy, I'll follow these steps:

1. The winner may put the logo on their blog. (proudly displayed)
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to their blogs. (Click on name below for link)
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

Here are the 5 bloggers I am passing this award on to. It was very difficult to choose because there are so many talented, creative papercrafters out there! Hopefully this will get passed on to all of them soon.

JenMarie at Taylor-Made by JenMarie . She is a designer for Limelight Papercrafts and when you look at her creations you will know why.

Nancy at Windstar Creations. She is a busy lady, making cards and cookies. Check out the great programs she made for her son's JROTC Military Ball!

Heidi at Heidi's Cards. Not just cards, either, but she has a new line of products of her own artwork. Check out her blog for what and where. It's definitely worth a peek!

Leigh at HappiLeigh Scrappin. I recently started following Leigh. While facing her own challenges, she finds time to make some very fun pieces. My favorite is her CD Album.

Donna at Popsicle Toes. This will come as a real surprise to Donna as she doesn't even know me, but I just found her blog and she is a very creative lady!

Please be sure to visit Myrt and all the other ladies to offer congrats and see their fine work.

Blog Candy At Scrap Bitz

There are dozens of Blog Candy opps out there, but I have to tell you about what Suzanne at Scrap Bitz is offering! How would you like this package?

-1 Karen Lockhart Apron stamp, signed & colored by Karen
-1 Karen Lockhart button
-1 tin of Prima poinsettia flowers/holly
-1 roll of ribbon
-1 Copic Atyou Spica Gold pen
-1 bottle of Christmas Red Stickles
-1 6x6 Basic Grey "Wassail" paper pad (LOVE IT)
-2 packages of Christmas buttons/charms

Enter to win over at Suzanne's... oh, and tell her about your favorite holiday song. That's part of the rules. :-)

Coming soon.....

I haven't posted for over a week! But I have been working: processing the gazillion photos I took last week and designing the Christmas cards I need to get into the shop. The good news is that I sold nearly all of the Halloween cards and some of the autumn cards last month. I had the best month yet at the Branson Craft Mall. Very encouraging!

I have jumped on the Whiff of Joy train... because those stamps are so adorable!... and was finally able to get some of my favorites that were in such high demand. They are now mounted and I have had fun with colored pencils and watercolor pencils. I also broke the bank and bought a few Copic pens to try... they look so beautiful on cards I see in my favorite blogs.

Today I was stamping and embossing Christmas trees. It looks like my theme this year will be the Christmas tree.... I found so many beautiful stamps of them that I just couldn't resist. Simplicity will be the rule, too. That will be my own personal challenge.

With all this work going on I expect to be showing some new cards soon.... stayed tuned!