Treat Yourself Cardmaking Crop Blog Hop

Hello and Welcome to my little blog!

If you've just stumbled here, keep reading, you'll figure out what is going on pretty quickly! If you are participating in the CardSwaps Treat Yourself Cardmaking Crop Blog Hop, then you are in the right place!

My favorite online hangout, Cardswaps forum is hosting an awesome crop this week. How do I know it is awesome when we have just started? Because we have rocked this party before! Trust me, you want to come on over and have fun with us!

Challenges and games will be posted August 8-11, 2012 and you have until 11:59pm EST August 14, 2012 to get your projects posted to the appropriate thread. If you haven't participated before, no worries! There are many members (including me!) that will be around to offer support and encouragement. You will be able to find out all you need to know in the forum, you can start here at the thread for new members.

At the end of this blog hop, you will be taken to the crop and I sure hope to 'see' you there! One of the games is a word scramble, collect the letters along the hop and unscramble them to be entered into the drawing for a prize for one lucky hopper! You will be given details at the bottom of this post. Don't skip ahead! Keep reading...

Alright then...you should have arrived here from Golda's blog, if not, go back to check out her blog and collect your letter. Then come back here and hop on. If you want/need to start over, feel free to go back to Brooke at the Cardmaker Magazine blog.

The blog hop "theme" goes with the crop title of "Treat Yourself". You'll be seeing lots of different types of projects, since it was left up to each of us what to do, as long as it somehow conveys a way the hostess "treats" herself. We were also each asked to share something about a way that we unwind or treat ourselves. (Be honest, who immediately thought 'chocolate'?)

The project I created was inspired by something I found on Pinterest. (Hmm, an awful lot of my projects start that way nowadays, and that's a good thing!) Anyway, I treat myself by spending time in my craft room. I know, I know, you're thinking, "Duh, don't we all?" But let me explain...I treat myself by spending time trying out new techniques in my craft room, better?

Case in point, today's project:

Based on the pin above, which was only a picture and did not provide a link to any instructions, I turned these...

into this!

Just kidding! This might make it a little more clear!

What do you think, cute? I'm thinking that this will be a birthday card you definitely would not see a duplicate of at the party!

You can tell just by looking that it is not difficult to make, it took the longest to find 10 strait and smooth popsicle/craft sticks!

So, here are my easy instructions to make this project.

1. Sort your craft sticks to find 10 strait and smooth ones.
2. I did not have this, but I recommend using a line of temporary adhesive to secure your craft sticks to the work surface. It will save you some time in rearranging and straitening them after you lift each stamp and the stick comes up with it.
3. Stamp your scene. This could be anything you want!
4. Bundle your sticks into a pile and send them off to make someone's day!

See, I told you it was easy!

Supplies:

• Craft sticks: Loew-Cornell
• Stamps: Inkadinkado, TPC Studios & Studio G
• Inks: Memories, Colorbox, Stampabilities & Martha Stewart
• Ribbon: Ribbon Trends

One of my dream places to be is by the sea. It seems to me that I have always loved the water, I have no idea when that might actually have started. By some definitions, my name (Meredith) means 'royalty of the sea', so maybe my parents started me off with that! I treat myself as often as I can with trips to the seaside, although since I live in New Mexico, that is not often! So, since I am not able to be there physically, I surround myself with images and colors of the sea. One of my favorite images is one that I took of the arch at the end of Baja California while on a cruise there.

I also seem to gravitate toward seaside images while cardmaking. Here is an additional project using the craft sticks as above, only they are affixed to the card base. I feel that the sentiment on this card fits me perfectly...

In case it is difficult for you to read, it states, "The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever".

Supplies:

• Craft Sticks: Loew-Cornell
• Stamps: Crafty Secrets & Impression Obsession
• Ink: Tsukineko Versafine
• Cardstock: Wausau
• Other: hemp twine

Unscramble It game for hoppers: You will be unscrambling a word once you collect a letter at each blog you visit. Once you collect ALL the letters, the last hostess in the blog hop will direct you to the thread in the forum where you can find all the details you need to enter the drawing. All hoppers collecting the letters, unscrambling the word or phrase, entering the game by following the directions in the forum and leaving feedback on EVERY blog in the hop WILL be entered into a random drawing held on August 15, 2012. ONE lucky hopper will have their name drawn and will win a prize! The winner will be posted in the forum on the game thread for Treat Yourself Unscramble It. So, make sure you visit every blog and find the letters.

Your hints are...its a phrase, it has three words, and its a way to keep balance in one's life.

My letter is...E

Now, be sure to hop on over to Jeanette's blog on the way to the forum to get all your letters and unscramble the phrase. Check out the challenges (I'm in charge of two!) and play some games! Its a lot of fun!!!

Here is the complete list of blogs on the hop, in case you get lost somewhere.

Brooke Smith -CardMaker blog 

Jane

Susan

Margaret

Trudy

Golda

Meredith --- You are here!

Jeanette

Colleen

Laura

Ivanka

Marlene

Anya

Angelina

Ana

Ashley

Lora

Thank you for visiting!

Meredith