Summer's End Blog Hop

Hello and Welcome!

I'm so glad you joined us on the Cardswaps Summer's End blog hop!

You should have come here from Ashley. If not, be sure to start at Lora's blog so you don't miss any of the great projects!

At the end of the hop, be sure to hop on over to the forum for more fun, games, challenges and...PRIZES!!!

The crop will be going on from August 10th - August 13th, 2011 and you have until 11:59pm CST August 16th, 2011 to get your projects uploaded.

But enough about that...you're here to hop along and get inspired, right?

The theme of our crop and blog hop is Summer's End.

We have hostesses that are going to help you spell out SUMMERS END in products, techniques, embellishments or anyway they can.

My assigned letter was M.
There are so many ways to use M! Masking, Monograms, Marigolds, Monsters...in the end, I decided to use a Mouse!

This is a digital stamp from Designed2Delight...who happens to have a challenge going on right now where if you use this stamp (which you can get for free!) you will be emailed another stamp!

Oh, and the D2D blog has another weekly challenge...this week's is to add bling to your card...and what goes better on a birthday card than gems and glitter?

Your next stop on the hop is Ana! Hop on over and see what fabulousness she has for you!

In case you get lost along the way, here are all the hostesses for the blog hop...

• 
  
  
  S Lora


• 
  
  U Jane
  M Ashley


• 
  
  M Meredith <--- you are here


• 
  
  E Ana


• 
  
  R SusieQ


• 
  
  S Tina


• 
  
  E Angelina


• 
  
  N Jeanette


• 
  
  D Golda

Somewhere Over the Rainbow Blog Hop

Welcome to the Sunny Days "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" Blog Hop! I know that you are having a great time hopping around and enjoying everyone's creations! You should have arrived here from Ana's blog...is she not the most joyful person? Endlessly creative, and a Twilight fan to boot ~ Fabulous!

The theme of this blog hop is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Each blog hostess has been assigned a color. At the end of this rainbow is the link to your pot of gold! Be sure to click through the link so you can join us in the Card Swaps forum for challenges, games, fun and prizes! We're all sure to have a lot of fun!

The color that I have been assigned is green (betcha guessed that already!) Normally, green is a color that I use to accent...so making it the focus of a card was different for me. I do love this color though...to me, green means Spring! My lawn greens up, my plants start sending out new growth and become happy mounds of green that I know will be covered in flowers soon, and we plant seeds and starts in the garden. Happy Green Spring!

And without further ado, here is my card:

It looks involved, but was very easy to put together. I used some doodle flowers from a Stamps of Life set to dress up my background paper, just randomly stamping and spacing where it looked good to me. Another smaller layer on top of that for the sentiment, and that's it for the cardstock and paper. The flowers are all from one package, and while I love layering them, I wanted to try something different this time. So I folded one of the flowers in half and put a shiny gem brad in the center middle, kind of like a black-eyed susan. I then folded another flower into quarters and used a button from my stash to accent the bud shape. The last flower is just the three types that came in the package layered together with a glittery brad in the center.



Supply list: cardstock:Hobby Lobby, patterned paper:My Mind's Eye, ink:TPC Studios, flowers and brads:The Paper Studio, stamps:The Stamps of Life

For the inside, I wanted enough room for the whole family to sign, so I covered the cardstock with patterned paper, stamped my sentiment, and scattered some more stamped flowers across the pages.

And hey...this is a plea to any designers out there...could we please have some awesome anniversary sets? With happy and anniversary in several different fonts and sizes...and maybe even some labels or frames to go around? There are so many wedding sets out there...but one wedding equals lots and lots of anniversaries!!! And if any of you know of any fabulous anniversary sets...please, leave me a comment and tell me where!!!



We aren't doing prizes on the blog hop today, because the real prize is seeing great ideas and filling your mind with inspiration. However, I do hope you leave a comment and let me know what you think! There is also a post in the forum where you can post any cards you make that are blog hop inspired. I do hope to see you there! Here is a link to the Cardmaker's Cardswaps forum...but don't go until you get through the blog hop, we'll all have this link for you!

Your next stop along the hop is Laura. She has a sense of style that won't quit and a sense of humor that goes even longer! I know you'll enjoy your visit!

In case you want a map, here is the complete list of blogs in order:

Lora
Susan H
Golda
Jane
Ana
Meredith ~ You are here!
Laura
Angelina
Ashley

Enjoy,

Meredith

Winner for Sugar Crash Blog Hop!

Thank you so much for the lovely comments during the blog hop...I read and appreciate every single one!

I used random.org to chose a winner, and it chose #52

oh4theloveof said...

love the colors you used for the candy, they would be a fantastic edition to scrapbook pages, cards etc....thanks for sharing

November 5, 2010 12:43 PM

I have notified her, and will get her prize out as soon as I have her address!

Thank you all again for participating, I hope that you all finished with new ideas for your paper crafting projects!

Meredith

Sugar Crash Crop! Nov 4th - Nov 6th

Welcome to the next blog of the Sugar Crash Crop Blog Hop!!!

You should have come here from Carolyn King's blog, does she not have fabulous style? I love her daughter's 'couch' moment...lol. If you got here from another route...then be sure to click on over to Lora's blog to start, so that you don't miss out on any of the sugary sweet fun!

Why hop around? Well, there are 16 stops on the hop where you can win a prize or pick up a cool sketch or digital image. The only way to win the prizes is to leave a comment on that blog AND its always nice to say thank you for the freebies too. PLUS, our blog hosts have worked very hard and we want to show a little love and appreciation!

You are invited to participate in the Sugar Crash Crop at Cardswaps, too. There are 10 challenges to be posted over the next three days (November 4th thru 6th, 2010) and EVERY challenge will have a winner! What is the prize, you ask? A papercrafts book from Cardmaker Magazine!! Plus, one lucky crop participant will win a cardmaking kit that makes 50 cards! It is very cool, you must play along!

Now, on to my project!!!

With a theme like Sugar Crash...I needed something sweet...what could be sweeter than card candy???

What is card candy, you may ask? No, it has nothing to do with the quickly dwindling bowl of tootsie rolls on my table....well, unless you count them as a source of energy, that is!

Card candy is an embellishment that you make to put on your card...have you ever die-cut a shape? Punched a border? Stamped and matted a sentiment? Paper-pieced an image? Sure you have! Well, you've made card candy!!!

Sometimes, you can make up several coordinating embellishments, and store them together so that when you want to make up a card quickly, you can have them ready to go...sort of a compliment to a card kit if you want to do some card making on the go...

So, in honor of the Sugar Crash Crop, I made up some Christmas Card Candy!



I used some stamps from Unity (mittens and sentiment) and Penny Black (joy seal), some fabulously glittery papers from My Mind's Eye (green snowflakes and red/cream swirl) and scraps from other projects (red cardstock and green linen printed paper), scarlet ink from TPC Studios, punches from EK Success (ticket, square, circle) and unknown (snowflake) and the great little loopy scalloped circles were cut on my Cricut using Make the Cut software.

Here is a different angle of the card candy, to show off the glitter better!



I believe that the holiday season is my favorite time of the year! It is certainly a busy time, with my birthday, Christmas and my wedding anniversary all in one week! I love the cooler weather, I love pulling out the scarves to wear, I love choosing the new Christmas music to listen to this year...I love it all! I wish each and every one of you a happy holiday season this year!

You have until 11:59pm CST, November 6th, 2010 to post your comments on the blogs along the hop. (That includes mine, please!) Everyone that comments on my blog will be entered in the drawing to win a prize from me!

Are you ready for some Christmas card making? How about some card candy to start you off? The prize that a lucky blog commenter will win from my blog is a set of the card candy that I made above, plus, all the goodies that you see in the picture below!

It includes 6x6 patterned paper and cardstock, die cut shapes, punched border, alphabet fabric stickers, paper flowers and pewter metal embellishments!



In addition, if you want to participate in the challenges for the Sugar Crash Crop go check it out after the blog hop and upload your completed projects by 11:59pm CST, November 8th, 2010. There are prizes to win there, too!

Your next stop along the hop is Ashley, she is such a talented crafter, you'll enjoy her project!

Here is a full list of the blog hop hosts...just in case you missed a stop along the way!

Lora

Carolyn King (Guest Designer)

Meredith <---------- You are here!

Ashley

Christy Croll (Tiddly Inks - Guest Designer)

Susie

Diana

Jane

Traci (Guest Cardmaker)

Angelina

Tami Mayberry (Guest Designer)

Irina

Ana

Margaret

Natalie (Chi Chi Memories - Guest Designer)

Laura

It's a Cardmaker's World Cardmaking Day Blog Hop!

You are on the CardSwaps World Cardmaking Day Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Irina's blog. If you got here differently, make sure you start at the beginning and work your way around. Comment on every blog by midnight CST, October 3, 2010, to be entered in to a drawing for prizes. The full list of prizes are on Lora's blog.

My Challenge was....make a 10 minute card....

Which is a funny challenge to me, because I am a fan of Stephanie Barnard of The Stamps of Life, and she actually posts a monthly video titled, "30 second card (in 5 minutes) on her blog, and I always get a kick out of watching them...sorry, no videos here! (lol)

Ok, really...this was a lot harder than I thought it would be....really!

I wanted to get a couple of things out before I started the timer...here is my workspace, ready to go...



I thought that it would be fun to make a halloween card...since I've got all that stuff gathered, waiting to make some with my son...

So, here is what I had after 10 minutes...



That's it!!! I had the card folded, I had two of my inside mats cut...and I had one image stamped....how pitiful is that!!!!!

I thought it was hilarious! I guess I've never paid any attention to how long I spend making a card....have you?

So, more than 40 minutes later....this is what I had....





Card Supplies: cardstock (green, black, yellow, white) from stash, patterned paper (purple moons, orange polka dots) K & Co, ink (black, watermark) Tsukineko (white) blanco, stamps (frankenstein) craft smart for Michael's (ghost, boo, spiderweb, spider, mini ghosts, happy halloween and trick or treat) The Stamps of Life spooky2scare and thanks2fall sets

An adorable halloween card, inside and out...but I'm still laughing about how long I take to create a card!!!!

Here are some close-ups of the details...

I made a gate-fold card...just cut your cardstock 11" wide by 4 1/4" high, and score it at 2 3/4" in from each short side...then they will meet in the middle!



I cut the purple rectangle mat at 3 1/4" wide by 3 3/4" tall, and the black mat a bit smaller, and only adhered it to half of the front...so that the card could open...



Isn't this stamp a crack-up? I got this one in the dollar bin!!!

I cut the mats for the sides (both front and back) at 2 1/2" wide by 4" tall.



Here you can see my watermarked spider border....



And the second side...aren't those wee ghosties adorable?

Lots of details...which makes for a much longer than 10 minute card!


Honestly, I thought I could do better, time wise...so I tried again....

Here is my work area ~ take two...



This time, I decided to pull out a coordinated paper/embellishment pack. Maybe it was cheating....but I call it smart planning!

10 minutes later, I was much happier with my results....



The front was done....and the inside just needed the sentiment....



Here it is completed inside....took me about 12 minutes total....much better!



Card supplies: cardstock (white) from stash, patterned cardstock and sticker embellishments lime rickey by Basic Grey, ink (black) Tsukineko, stamps (thanks, you rock) The Stamps of Life thanks2you set.

So, all in all, I learned that I'm not that creative when under the clock!!! How about you? Are you ready to give it a try? When you finish the blog hop, the last link will be to the mini-crop challenges on the Cardmaker message board....I'm going to have fun reading and seeing what others can do in their 10 minutes!!!

A bit about me ~ Like many, I started cardmaking as an offshoot of scrapbooking. I was attending regular crop nights at a local scrapbooking store and was exposed to lots of gorgeous rubber stamps and card samples ~ eventually, I decided to try my hand, and now, my pictures remain lonely and unprinted on my computer while I make cards every opportunity that I have! If you browse through my blog, you'll see that I try lots of different techniques and styles, but lean toward simple and slightly distressed with texture...


Now, on with the blog hop!

You have until midnight, CST, October 3rd 2010, to post your comment on each blog along the hop. Everyone that comments on each blog will be entered into the drawings for blog hop prizes. In addition, if you want to participate in the challenges for the mini crop at Card Swaps, go check it out after the blog hop and upload your completed project by midnight CST, October 3, 2010, in order to get in the drawings for more prizes!

Your next stop on the hop is Ana!

Here is the complete list of blogs participating...be sure to get them all!

Lora
Jeanette
Laura
Faith Skrdla (Designed 2 Delight)

Redonna
SusieQ

Jane
Lori (representing Stretch N Bubbles)

Irina

Meredith <--- You are here!

Ana

Dustin Pike
Diana
Angelina
Ashley

Have you heard?

My favorite place to play online is having a mini-crop and blog hop in celebration of World Cardmaking Day!

So click on over to the Cardmaker magazine message board and join in on the fun October 2nd and 3rd!

There will be challenges, there will be fun, there will be a blog hop, there will be prizes!

And guess what? Yours truly is one of the 'hosts' for the blog hop! I'm excited, since I've participated in blog hops before, but this will be the first time I've been one of the hosts.

Not familiar with blog hops?

A blog hop is where several blog writers agree to post about a specific subject (in this case, the Cardmaker's message board World Cardmaking Day Mini Crop) on a specific day, or for a specific time.

Participants follow the links from blog to blog, commenting on each blog as they go. Sometimes the hops include prizes to win, but they are always full of inspiration and fun!

I hope to 'see' you for our hop!

Enjoy,

Meredith