gaudy is good!

I had bought all these fabulous stamps before the mad Christmas card making frenzy began, and I never got to use any of them! Sooo....time to play! This particular card I used a set I got from Erica (the Angel company!). Gotta love the flamingoes! I made this one for a few challenges.....(listed below card!)

1. Sketchy Thursday's second chance sketch...here is teh sketch, I flipped it on its side!
2. 365 cards, day 303, with a flourish! Had to include 3 flourishes....i used 3, they are just all put together
3. charisma cardz: anything but Christmas!!!

Hope to get much more crafting done shortly! Thanks for stopping by today!
~tracey

My new fav thing....Life Stories by My Minds Eye!

Yes...I have fallen in love with a line of paper....it's true. Here is how it came about.....I am on the design team for my local scrapbook store, All About Scrapbooks in the lovely Chesapeake, VA. My assignment for January is a Vintage Mini-album. So....when I went to the store to pick out my materials, I asked Tara, the product goddess of the store...what do I NEED to make this album??? She immediately, without hesitation, pointed me to My Mind's Eye Life Stories. I didn't even look at it very well, just trusted her (she is all knowing on this sort of thing!), grabbed both packs (it came in Lavendar Plaid and Green Plaid) and went with it. As I was checking out, I discovered the neat little journalling cards that went with the line, yeah...I grabbed one of every one of those too! Oh...the actual mini album I bought was by Maya Road...it is a binder style mini album with fun envelopes in it as well! Some Prima roses and American Crafts Thickers may have found their way into my basket as well....LOL!
After the madness of Christmas card making, I remembered...oh yeah! I have an entire mini album to make! ACK! This is when I opened the Life Storiespaper packs.....WOW! Mindblowing! This line is amazing! I quickly realized that this was going to easier than I thought, thanks to this amazing paper pack! It is chock full of journalling prompts that just make it easy peasy to do just about anything with minimal thought process! And since I was on a time crunch...this worked! As I got started, I decided the album would be a 2009 year in review, and a gift for my dad. He had asked me to compile the pictures from the year and give them to him....so what better way? As I got further into the album, it occured to me that I was going to have to PART with this! I am 99% sure that I will probably go and repurchase all the same supplies...as I am in love with this album! I'm thinking it won't take as long the second time around right? I've already done the creative process of thinking it up!
So what did I come up with? Take My Mind's Eye Life Stories (the whole kit and kaboodle!), prima flowers, American Crafts Thickers, add in Tim Holtz (it is a vintage album....gotta have some vintage photo distress ink, and GRUNGE!), and add it to a Maya Road album...and this is what you get! (yes, there are 19 photo's, and i SUCK at photography...I have not done this album justice with my camera!)

So what do you think??? Do you think my dad will like it?? I hope the store does too! Each of teh envelopes has even more fun pics from each quarter of the year for my dad....love those envelopes! The only thing I have to worry about now is that the store won't have any more of this fab paper in stock!
Thanks for stopping by! Let me know what you think...I am truly excited about this album!
~tracey

sketchy thursdays GDT app!

So I absolutely LOVE the Sketchy Thursday's blog and decided to apply to be their Guest Designer for January...plus, I was SO TIRED of making christmas cards....I needed to do somethign different! So...here is my entry! THe challenge was to use their sketch and then use THREES! Three patterned papers from three different lines ( i used basic grey lemonade, cosmo cricket boyfriend and earth love) and then three different clusters of three embellies! My clusters are 3 chipboard stars (i did this cluster twice!) 3 die-cut hearts and 3 stamped flowers! If you look closer, I even did another three....I faux stiched 3 different items! So...there it is, my first non -christmas card in like forever it seems! Wish me luck!

let it snow!

Have you checked out If the Shoe Fits....SCRAP IT! lately?? If not...hurry on over! This weeks challenge is a good one (and a popular one this time of year...lol!) The theme this week is 'let it snow!' I imagine this is pretty easy to fit into your projects this time of year right? So stop by and check it out, our DT made some amazingly snowy creations this week! Can't wait to see what you will make! Here is my snowy guy!

Now get on over to the Shoe and enter YOUR snowy projects! I'm dying for some new inspiration so I can finish up my cards!!! Thanks for stopping by!
~tracey

one more card down....

One more card done of the millions it seems I am making.....this one is for 5 challenges...here goes!
1. Sketch Saturday, I used their sketch!
2. Papertake Weekly: Red and green must NOT be seen!
3. Saturday Spotlight with Hidden Potential: Christmas Flowers
4. Allsorts: PURPLE!
5. Colour Create: purple, aqua, black and white!

So there you have it! a totally untraditionally colored christmas card this time!!! now off to bed!
thanks for stopping by!
~tracey

Christmas Photo Shoot!

So now that I am in the business of making my own Christmas cards, I no longer have my kids ON the actual card. So...I have resorted to sitting them down by the tree and taking my own picture of them and printing it out wallet size and including it in the card instead. Let me tell you how much fun this is!!! Getting a 3 and 5 year old to smile nice at the same time while actually looking at the camera? Next to impossible! This year, it took me 36 tries....yes, 36! Just thought I would share a few of my favorites with you...they are funny!

This next one is the one I FINALLY got after 35 failures! Although...I'm definetly planning in my head how I am going to scrap all of the funny shots leading up to the perfect one...LOL!

Now back to more card making! I don't have enough done yet!!! Thanks for stopping by again!
~tracey

Naughty or Nice???

Another Christmas card in the books for me! This one has a specific destination....I'm going to send it to my fav driver....of course...Michael Waltrip. I hope he likes it! I used a sketch from 365 cards to make this one.....just LOVED the sketch, so thought I'd give it a whirl! Anyways...that's all I have for now, I'm still a busy bee making cards adn getting them in the mail! I think I will be done soon though, so.woohoo!!!

sketch from 365 cards:

thanks for stopping by! have a great day everyone!
~tracey

o christmas tree...

just a quick post here as i am in a hurry! i recently found this blog called Sketch Saturday that has the cutest little sketches! But...what drew me in this week was the prize they are offering! It is a stamp with a HIPPO! my daughter LOvES HIPPOS! So....i made a mad dash to try to get this done in time so I can at least TRY to win the Hippo Stamp!!! So...here is my card for this week, with a few hours to spare! LOL!
This card is also for a blog called Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge...their challenge is Christmas trees!
So there you have it, and now i have to RUN and make dinner!!!!! Thanks for stoppign by, and I will be back later tonight, as we are decorating our tree tonight!!!

More Christmas Birds!

As you may have guessed, I am a little obsessed with birds! Yes...just a little. I saw this image on Digital Ink Co and just HAD to have it immediatly! (which is the best part of digital stamps right? you can get them right NOW!) I've got a whole list of challenges that fit for this card, so lets go!
1. Mojo Monday sketch:

2. Digital Ink Co: Holiday Special Challenge #12: YOu must use one of their images, and create a card using the line from a Christmas song! I used their Merry Kissmas birds image, and well, 'We Wish you a Merry Christmas!"
3. Tellen's Place (which I found thanks to Tanisha!): Red and Green!
4. 365 Cards, day 275: Red and Green!
5. Cupcake Craft: Red and Green! (are we seeing a theme here??)
6. The Pink Elephant: Color me Wonderful: I colored with my brand new Copics! Still learning, but I think Im doing and ok job!
7.2Red Bananas: Christmas Card!

I think 7 challenges is a personal record for me actually...lol! Makes it easy when red and green is featured on 3 sites!!!
Thanks for stopping by! Next on the agenda (after i clean a bit :( ) is to tackle Tim Holtz's fabulous TAG! So glad it is December!!!