Hello Everyone!! I;m BAAACK!

I have come back to Blogland.  I don't know if anyone missed me the last 2 1/2 years but my writing bug came back and I need to do it.  As always I feel inclined to talk about the weather.  This is the first Iris of spring.  I took the pic in Florida in early March. There are no Irises here in March!!

I have become obsessed with YouTube and watching crafters and haul videos.  I have mostly been doing paper crafts but hope to sew more soon!
Here is a Birthday card made with a Gorgeous girl.. 

I've been using Zig Kuratake Real Brush Markers and they are the best I have found.  They have brushes for tips and can blend with water and each other easily.  It's like watercoloring for the brush impaired. I'm loving it!
Here is a card I made using a curtain fold that I learned about from MayMayMadeIt.com.

 She is  a great and fun teacher. I am going to take a class from her tomorrow at the Stamp Escape in Pidgeon Forge, Tennessee! I am so looking forward to it.

Well it is hard to get back into this writing so I will stop for now.  

Today's encouragment:
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Psalm 27:1

Rasin Boat Challenge

I recently joined Raisin Boat. They have wonderful stamps and you can rent a few sets a month. I like the concept.  I am entering this card in their Christmas Challenge. I used the O Holy Night stamp set. I used the background from a vintage Christmas card, then stamped and colored the church and glued it on. I stamped the words in red and embossed them in gold for a more Christmasy effect. I used white dimensional paint for the snow with stickles diamond over it.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope everyone has a magically wonderful Holiday.

Can You Guess….

What season it is around here?  Fall has begun.  I have been getting everything ready for fall.

The cats are ready, 

the flags are up, 

my garden friends are bedecked!

But…

IT is 87 degrees outside!  But the nights are cool and I am sure that soon I will be missing this weather and grumbling about the cold.

Fall makes me feel so creative.  Just like the colors that are bursting out all over I feel rays of creativity shooting out of me like a disco ball spinning in air.  And this year I am actually making stuff. I recently joined a group called Your Paper Pantry(YPP) that is mostly a Youtube and swap group. They make unique items that I could never think of and now I am a part of it.  One swap is to take tickets and make them into embellishments for cards.

Another is to make a bingo card into a hanging fall banner.

I am loving this. I was getting a little burned out on just making cards. I may even make my own youtube videos but have to figure out the whole camera thing.

So even if the weather isn't cooperating, I am happy it is fall. 

Happy Fall Y'all!

Have a great week.

Is It Fall

The weather is so cool today that I am beginning to think it is already Fall.  It has been a cool rainy summer here in East Tennessee. I think I mention the weather and the seasons a lot on my blog.  I think it is because one of the reasons I wanted to live in North Carolina or Tennessee was because they have four distinct seasons. In Florida where I grew up there weren't the major weather changes like we have here. I love fall, everything about it even after the leaves fall. I am not fond of winter but the hope of Spring and a visit to Florida in February get me through it!

But enough about the weather.

I have recently begun to be creative again. I made several cards the other night to encourage friends at church. I took the pics at night so the color isn't what it should be. This is a valuable lesson about picture taking. The cards are long gone so I can't do it again.

I have been learning to color and blend with Spectrum Noir  pens now that I have most colors and the whole set of darks thanks to my daughter.  The pumpkin is an example of it.  The stamp is from HOTP at Paperwishes.com

And I have found a new addiction-----I have discovered YOUTUBE!
Yes I have known about it for a long time but I recently discovered all the crafting videos and tutorials.  But I absolutely love to watch Scrapbooking, thrift and craft hauls where people go shopping and show you what they bought. You get to see what's out there to buy!! and you get the thrill without buying it. I can shop vicariously and it is free!  Here are some of my favorite your tube channels.
alittleshabbychic; tabasco14thefrugalcrafter and littleredwagonstudio
Hope everyone has a great week.

June First Post

Ok I meant to post on June 1st and the hydrangea picture was taken then but it is really the 20th.  Where does the time go?  With all the modern conveniences where does all the time go? This week come screaming by like a freight train bearing down on me and I have no idea where the time goes.  And what happened to the lazy days of summer. I am waiting for the first one!

Today I have been making cards. I am not getting faster at it at all! It is one of the things I love to do best. The first card is using the new Prima Julie Nutting Doll Stamps. I wish I had them all but I am enjoying the 2 that I do have. I sparkled the Hello with embossing powder. It was a dollar stamp from Michael s and I really love it.

The next card is with a new Stampology set. I just got it at Big Lots so it is not a recent release but I like it very much.

I have already survived Vacation Bible School and now am starting the major panic clean up for everyone coming for the Fourth of July. I love it when everyone comes but things must be CLEAN!

Hope everyone has a great week and is enjoying summer. I should be posting more soon!

Comparisons

The problem with the internet and all the wonderful blogs plus Pinterest is that a person could become too intimidated to try anything after seeing the ravishing creations of others. I sometimes fall prey to this.  Someone I know quit looking at Pinterest because she came away from the experience feeling that her house would never measure up, she was too out of shape and her clothes just weren't cutting it.  I think we all fall in the trap of comparison and feel  "why bother"sometimes.

Which brings me to my thoughts on how I compare. I sometimes look at all the gorgeous cards and think "well I could copy that and have a card as good". But I don't want to copy and while I love many of the cards, that is not the way I make cards. I find it hard to make one just like any other one or even make the same one twice.

This thinking led me to start wondering what my motivations for crafting are.  If it is to please others then I need to copy what is popular and maybe it will.  

I hope that my crafting, art or whatever is to please me and to fulfill me. I also hope that it is pleasing to God.  I know that as the great creator He is perfect in His creations and gives us the urge to make and create.

So if in my creating as in everything else I remember I am doing it for the glory of God then I am sure it measures up in the only way that matters.

That is too deep for  Monday. Here is my card for the challenge at CDAC.  The umbrella is a digi from Nana Vic's and it is my entry for the Progressive Challenge.

Thanks for listening and have a great week, Robin

Happy Easter 2013

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday.  It has been very cold all week here but I am not going to let it convince me that it isn't Spring.  I have been playing and crafting some. I would like to show a house full of Easter decorations and surprises but unfortunately Easter got here way too fast once again.

I have been doing a lot of challenges lately.  Here is my card for the CDAC/Petaloo Flowers Challenge. It is entered for using a new image from Priscilla Styles and also Petaloo Flowers.  There are wonderful prizes from Petaloo and from some of the digital artists so I am hoping I win something.

This card is also for a CDAC challenge called Inspiration Challenge and you are supposed to be inspired by the pic to make your card.

I love this image and the card but I think it needs something else. I can't do minimal. The image is from Doe-C-Doe and I think it is meant to be embroidered but I like it as a digital stamp!

Prima marketing just came out with a new line of stamps and papers called Fairy Rhymes that I really like. The card below is made using one of the stamps. 

I belong to the PaperWishes message board (see sidebar) and we have swaps every month. Here is the card I made for my partner. It is called an Easel card and you can stand it up. I am very  pleased with how it turned out.

And last is my spring wreath made from Dollar General Market Grocery Bags. I am entering it in the Anythingi Goes Challenge at CDAC.  I think I need to add some decorations to it but it is a lovely green color for Spring!

I hope everyone has a Happy Easter and a lovely weekend.