Guilty

Yes... I have been feeling guilty about neglecting my blog. You see, I still have a bunch of Christmas posts I have been meaning to write and here it is March. Those who know me really aren't surprsied. But I don't want to skip it all and jump right to spring.. so once I get my rear in gear, just smile when you see my Christmas posts in July??.. no it will be sooner than that. Here is a brief run down of post waiting to be written and/or new things in my life.

I did receive ALL of my ornaments from the ornament exchange and I will post about them.

I did make thank you cards for all those ladies who sent me ornaments but they are still sitting on my desk.

I did alot of sewing/crafting Christmas gifts for my immediate family that I will post although one is still only part-way finished. There will be pictures but no tutorials... sorry I'm not quite to that point yet.

I have been on a wood painting trend with my crafts and don't have alot of cards that I have made recently to post. There will be post with both wood crafts (yes some from Christmastime) and cards.

For those who know... we are an Air Force family of almost 22 years and have been in Japan for the last 6 years on an Army post. We got orders (well not hard copies yet) to go to Ft. George Meade, Maryland. Being an Idaho girl, this will be the farthest East I have lived. LOL except that I am living in the "Far East". We are excited for all the new experiences, historical sites, and old friends we will reunite with because of this move... BUT there is SO much to do and declutter, etc.. We move the end of June.

I wanted to add a button for this next tidbit of news but having a Japanese IP address.. I can't seem to access buttons and codes right now. After reading many reviews of Choffy (brewed chocolate) on Whipperberry, Choffy, and FB, we tried some... and ran out in 4 days! SO I decided to become a distributor. I am really excited because two of my four kids on the Autism spectrum and I am hoping they can benefit from all the goodness Choffy has to offer.

I am currently working with my friend Lisa on a last minute baby shower and a teacher appreciation luncheon for our elementary school. Something to look forward to.

I am gonna leave you with a picture of something I've done recently, just for reading all the way to the end of this post!

Ornament Exchange part 2

If you missed part 1 of this post it is here. As promised here are the Ornaments I made to exchange. I signed up to exchange 5 ornaments. The pictures only show 4 because I made 2 of the pink one.



These are Kusudama origami balls. They are made with Washi paper but you could use any type of paper as long as it isnt too heavy. Cardstock would not work very well. Each ball is made up of 12 flowers and each flower has 5 petals (although some of Lisa's had 6!) so that is 60 pieces of paper all folder and glued per ornament. Thank heaven for binder clips, bobby pins, and Aleene's Tacky Glue!


I found the instructions here over 2 years ago but was intimidated to make them. Honestly it wasn't hard, just time consuming. And once I got a good routine down, the balls came together pretty quick.


I have not personally heard from each person I mailed ornaments too, but I am assuming they all have them by now as I sent them Priority Mail 2 weeks ago. I have only received 2 of my ornaments so far. Parcel post takes 30 days (not during the holiday rush) to get here to Japan so I will start to worry come New Year's. I will do a part 3 post once I have them all together.



As you can tell I haven't been blogging much, but I have a load of crafts that I have done that I want to share. I hope you won't be too offending seeing Thanksgiving and Christmas crafts around Valentine's Day! Some of what Ive been making is for Christmas gifts so it's under wraps.




I have been inspired by alot of crafty blogs lately and I like to ready all of the "Linky Parties" and see what others are crafting and cooking. SO I am going to try today to Link to a few of these that I frequent most. I hope it works and that I do it right!


Linking to:


Sassy Sites

Tatertots and Jello

CraftOManiac

Archway Cookies

Here are the Valentine's cards my friends, Lisa H. and Ashley H., helped me make for Operation Write Home's Archway Cookie Challenge. We made a total of 60 cards to send. I only colored one set of cards, the rest of my contribution were card sketches and assembling parts and pieces.



The Elephant and Kangaroo cards are from an old Stampin' Up! set. They were colored in with Copics. The ricrack die cut is from PapertreyInk. Used misc. cardstock and printed paper.



I love how simple yet elegant the heart card is. I have been wanting to try this style for some time now. Misc. printed paper and punched hearts. Sentiment by CTMH.



The Goldfish and Toucan are also from an old Stampin' Up! set and colored in with Copics. The background is embossed with Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. I used two heart punches to create the hearts used on these cards.


If you want to send Valentine's for OWH the dealine for shippers to receive them is Jan 7th.


I will be posting some non-card crafty items soon!

Operation Write Home's Be My Valentine Bloghop!

Welcome to my stop on the Operation Write Home "Be My Valentine" Bloghop!

You should have arrived from Sheryl's Crafting Corner. If not, you need to go to OWH Stars and Stamps blog to start from the beginning and enjoy ALL of the inspiration.

This is the first time I have participated in an OWH bloghop as a blogger. It is one of the reasons I started a blog so I could participate this way and I'm SO excited!

A little bit of business before I share my Valentine's Card~

The deadline for your OWH shipper to receive Valentine's Cards is January 7th.
The deadline for sending Christmas cards is already passed.

Operation Write Home made the Top 3 charities in JoAnn's Craft for a Cause contest. Please Vote for OWH! You can vote once per day per IP address. If you would like to see the card I entered in the contest to help OWH into the Top 3, scroll down 2 posts. There is also more info about the contest.

Here is my Valentine's Card to Share

Stamp images by Waltzingmouse Stamps, Sentiment by PapertreyInk embossed in Gold, wonderful ribbon I have been hoarding by Stampin'Up!, and Nestabilities.

I have 2 friends that I meet with every other week to make cards, gift tags etc.. and this next week we are going to make Valentine's because Archway Cookies will send 4000 cookies to the troops if Operation Write Home cardmakers mail 4000 Valentine's Cards to their shippers by December 1st! Isn't this an great reason to get a head start making and shipping all those wonderful valentines.

Thank you for stopping by. Your next stop on the bloghop is

Katlyn at Splashes of Joy

Ornament Exchange

I have just started getting out and exploring blogland. I find most of the blogs I follow are craft ideas/sharing blogs. Wonderful ideas! Very creative women! I'm not worthy~

So I find one blog and it links to another and then another and that's how I found Wendy's blog. She is an especially crafty lady who is dearly missed after her recent move. She is featuring an ornament a day for the month of November AND a far-away friends ornament exchange! I figured I am a pretty far away friend! I talked my friend Lisa into doing it (we are doing 5 ornament each!) and I tried to "talk" my sister into it (nudge).

You can sign up and read the rules at her blog Craft Goodies or just check out her creative ornaments. If you are part of the exchange and you get an ornament from me or Lisa (we are working on them together) it will be unique and Japanese-ish! Obviously I will not be posting any pictures until the ornaments arrive at their final destination.

A final word on Christmas ornaments. Tradition. I have ornaments that I hang on my tree EVERY YEAR that one of my Aunts made me when I was growing up. The oldest one is 38 years old. Not going to say how old I was when I got it :O
One of my sisters has continued that tradition and my children look forward to their ornament every Christmas. I also give my kids an ornament too, so when they are old and grey and they put those ornaments on their Christmas Trees, happy memories (I hope) will come flooding back to mind.

JoAnn's Craft for a Cause

Here is a card I made and entered for Operation Write Home in JoAnn's Craft for a Cause contest. I have to use only items purchased from JoAnn's (online for me) and scan the receipt plus 3 photos. The top 3 charities with the most entries go on as finalist to win prizes (and money) for their charity. OWH made the top three! SO now it is down to a vote. You can vote once in a 24 hour period per IP address. VOTE for OWH! The money will help pay for postage to mail the boxes of cards to the desert and also to help pay for envelopes, etc.. If you want to learn more about Operation Write Home click on the button on my sidebar. Card details; Image and sentiment by Inkadinkado, Paper by DCWV Pocket Full of Posies stack, ribbon by Kaisercraft. Did you notice I paper pieced the Turtle shell? She has flowers on it!

backlog of cards

So, I haven't posted for awhile but I have been making cards on a fairly regular basis. Every other week I meet with my friends Lisa and Ashley and we stamp! Since I am a stamping veteran of at least 19 years, I feel like I need to share my knowledge with them. I hope they enjoy it. We have done thank you cards (this post), funny birthday cards, halloween tags, learning to use a card sketch, masculine birthday and different types of embossing (dry, heat, & machine). Here are some of the card examples I have made for these classes.

This card features a sketch from OWH Stars and Stamps. The image is a stamp from Two Scoops Rice design. Mochi is a Japanese food of pounded rice and will include a sauce. I have even had mochi covered ice cream. I used Crystal Effects to make the Mochi glossy. I free handed the swirls on the red paper with a gold spica pen.

One of the techniques I have learned by reading Nichole Heady's blog of stamping on the patterned paper and piecing the image together. I used a versamark pad to creat the background on the teal strip of paper. Images by PapertreyInk. This is also a OWH Stars and Stamps sketch.

Image by MelJen's, colored in with Copics, and sketch by OWH Stars and Stamps.

This is one of my Thomas Kincade stamps by Cornish Heritage Farms, sentiment by PTI. This is the cracked glass technique. I have been wanting to try this forever. I did not have/could not find my Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel, so I used regular clear embossing powder, about 7 layers. Then I stuck it in the freezer (forgot it was there) and pulled it out and cracked it. Sentiment is embossed with gold filigree embossing powder.

I have a few more cards that I haven't finished that I will post another time. I have a few more posts to finish up today and then maybe I will feel "caught up" in the blogging world.