ABC challenge -- "fairies"

The ABC challenge this week is "fairies". I made this card last week. It has TONS of stickles. Fun!

Created By Hand Challenge -- "dream"

What a fun challenge from Created By Hand. Their challenge is to use the word "dream" in a project. I drew all of these flowers and then cut them out and added a brad. It's different. Still not sure if I like it or not.


Hearing the word dream reminds me of Edgar Allan Poe. So here's one of my favorite poems.

A Dream Within a Dream
by Edgar Allan Poe
Take this kiss upon the brow! And, in parting from you now, Thus much let me avow: You are not wrong who deem That my days have been a dream; Yet if hope has flown away In a night, or in a day, In a vision, or in none, Is it therefore the less gone? All that we see or seem Is but a dream within a dream. I stand amid the roar Of a surf-tormented shore, And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand-- How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep, While I weep--while I weep! O God! can I not grasp Them with a tighter clasp? O God! can I not save One from the pitiless wave? Is all that we see or seem But a dream within a dream?

Cute Card Thursday challenge -- "bright colors"

Cute Card Thursday has a "bright colors" challenge going on this week. I was totally psyched to make this card because I forgot about my friend Jacqui's birthday. On the inside it says "Happy Birthday! Sorry I totally frog-got".

I'm sure someone can understand this whole situation where you get really excited about a card and then as you're making the card you start to hate everything about it. That is the case with this card. The coloring looks terrible...the markers just look too streaky. I'm not a fan of big chunks of solid color... ugh. I only posted it because my mom said it looked nice. But moms have to say that.

No Time to Stamp? challenge -- "foreground/background"

So a little background (funny word to use here) on this challenge...the challenge is called "foreground/background" because you are supposed to use the same stamp for both parts of the card. I bought this stamp set probably 7-8 years ago and it remains one of my favorites. It is from way back in the wood mounted CTMH days. haha Want to see some more fun foreground/background cards? Check out the No Time to Stamp? blog!

Saturday Sketch challenge -- "sketch" AND Stamp Something challenge -- "birthday"

Did I cheat? I totally did. I usually do separate cards for each challenge but my card just worked out really well and then when I looked at my stamp challenge list I saw that birthday was a challenge.

Saturday Sketch posted this pretty picture as their sketch for the week. Stamp Something has a birthday theme... here's the two becoming one beautiful card!

CPS challenge -- "sketch"

The CPS challenge is to create a card based on their sketch.


My card is all Close to My Heart products (except the ribbon). I'm not a huge fan of sunflowers but I think it worked well for the card.

New frog tank

Okay. I have the most spoiled frogs on the planet. There are seven fire-bellied toads in the tank. They were in a 10-gallon but I really wanted to go from a mostly land tank to a mostly water tank.

My sister and I spent plenty of time at Petco picking things out yesterday. We ended up getting a 20 gallon (long) tank, a reptile filter, a big rock formation and a rocky bridge. The filter serves as a filtration system (duh) as well as pretty sound and a small water feature. This morning I got another plant with a suction cup for the back wall too. The frogs love to climb the vines and stuff.

What do you think of the tank?

Here's what the tank looks like during the day.

And here it is at night!

This is the bridge Danielle found. It has suction cups so it will stick to the side. On the left you can see the bubbles from the waterfall.

This is the magnetic rock my mom picked up for me. I put it just above the water so they can climb right up. They can get to the bridge from it too.

The fish tank light is nice because it isn't too bright but gives a nice glow at night. I'm sure the frogs are grateful for mood lighting.

Leap frog on the bridge.

A re-enactment of cliffhanger by one of the frogs.

The submarine effect. Awesome.

My Time challenge -- "sketch"

I LOVE Halloween so I took the sketch from the My Time blog and turned it into a funky Halloween card. Here's what the sketch looks like:

And ta-da! It's all Halloween funk-a-fied!

Cute Card Thursday challenge -- "soft furnishings"

This week's challenge at Cute Card Thursday is to make a card with the theme "soft furnishings". I have some really fun Basic Grey paper that was perfect to use with my comfy chair stamp ($1 at AC Moore...score!) This is a pretty simple 4"x 4".

Daring Cardmaker challenge -- "it's a wrap"

Here is my submission for Daring Cardmakers. Their theme this week is "it's a wrap". The challenge is to make a card with something that wraps around. I really wanted to use the stamp "your friendship is a gift" but it was too big for the card. Not my favorite card by any means, but it's alright! haha

Rainbow Lady's challenge -- "music"

Here is my submission for the Rainbow Lady's challenge this week, "music". I absolutely love this Sonata stamp from Close to My Heart. It has probably been YEARS since I've used it. The flower pieces are vellum. What do you think?

Papertake Weekly challenge -- "button it"

Here is my submission for the Papertake Weekly challenge. The challenge was to use buttons. I was totally excited to use my new bunny stamp. The tub is done in silver embossing powder that I heated until it almost burned the paper. I wanted a more crackled look since it's an old-fashioned tub. The bubbles are covered in liquid glass. What do you think?

ABC challenge -- "embellishments"

The challenge at the ABC blog is to use embellishments. Brads are plain embellishments but they work perfectly for the little froggies! I also added a little spiral to the message. I wrote the message by hand and was actually happy with it (I usually get frustrated trying to write out the messages on cards). Just for fun, I added some wiggly eyeballs!

Thank God It's Friday challenge -- "earthy colors"

Thank God It's Friday is having an "earthy colors" challenge. I honestly don't stamp with earth tones very often so I had to venture out of my element a bit. This stamp is a new one from HMStamps that I got in the mail a few days ago. The last few days at work have been rough on my sister so I'm going to send the card to her. (Danielle--- if you are reading this, stop it!)

Danken Sie Gott It' s Freitag hat ein " erdiges colors" Herausforderung. I ehrlich don' t-Stempel mit Erdetönen sehr häufig so musste ich aus meinem Element heraus eine Spitze riskieren. Vor dieser Stempel ist ein Neues von HMStamps, das ich in der Post einigen Tagen erhielt. Die letzten Tage bei der Arbeit sind auf meiner Schwester so I' rau gewesen; m, das geht, die Karte zu schicken ihr. (Danielle--- wenn Sie dieses lesen, stoppen Sie es!)

Sunflower Studio Challenge -- "birthday inspiration"

What a fun challenge from Sunflower Studios! It's always good to have extra birthday cards laying around. The papers are all from Close to My Heart. I've had this paper pack for the longest time and never found the right card to use it on. The scan makes the kitty's chef outfit look less color-coordinated than it does in real life. I just got this Penny Black stamp from HMStamps a few days ago. So much fun!

12 on the 12th -- August

Here are my "12 on the 12th" pictures... Thanks to my Auntie Debbie, the day didn't pass without digital photographs for the scrapbook!

Mmmm.....sushi.

I get a ticket almost every single week for not moving my car for street cleaning. But not today! I'm on the other side of the road!

Here are my toes. I painted the design on my big toe a few days ago. Can't see it too well though!

New stamps! I'm going to use them for the first time tonight!

I replaced the fish tank filter today. Fun stuff.

Most thrilling part of the day? Paying off my big screen TV and my elliptical!

Walking through our house is like being in a minefield.

My mommy doesn't feel so well today. :(

Anyone who has reptiles and amphibians can appreciate this picture. I FINALLY found some mealworms today. Can you believe there was a shortage? Craziness!

ChaCha was enjoying the mealworms. She had 8 of them today.

Uno (the one-eyed) frog was just relaxing in the tank.

This is a fashionable picture of Merlin. She was posing.

No time to stamp? challenge -- "old stamps"

Found this challenge online... it's from No Time to Stamp? . The challenge is to use an old stamp. I think we've had this House Mouse stamp in the basement for quite some time!

Blog candy!

Better hurry! This blog candy ends tonight! You can win some beautiful things from an Etsy artist.

Saturday Sketch challenge -- "sketch"

Fun sketch.... I found it only today at Saturday Sketch. I got to use some of my favorite Close to My Heart papers for it. What do you think?

Card Positioning Systems challenge -- "sketch"

I'm really having fun trying sketch challenges. I found this one in a random search today. The challenge is hosted by Card Positioning Systems. I flipped the sketch to fit my card a bit better. What do you think?

Sunflower Studio Challenge -- "sketch"

While blog surfing today I found the Sunflower Studio page. There was a sketch challenge. I thought I'd try it out. The scanner made the card look super bright but hopefully you get the idea! All the water on the card is covered in liquid glass so it has an actual "watery" feel to it.

Cleaning the craft room

I spent most of the day cleaning.... I've been organizing the plethora of craft stuff in the basement. I think it looks pretty good!

I even went to AC Moore today to buy some ribbon because we were lacking in a few colors.

More ribbon. I also wrapped the loose ribbon up.

Mom bought these storage cubes awhile back. We have it looking decent.

I sat around with the Prismacolors this morning and did a scribble of each color. Although I totally love the pencils now (despite how much I hated them at first) I dislike the fact that the pencils don't write in the same color you might guess sometimes.

This is how we store our Prismacolors.

Need an inkpad? The drawers are color-coded!

Embellishments are fun! I bought a new organizer today so we can see everything nicely.

More embellishments...plenty of rhinestones and wiggly eyeballs.