COPIC SALE at Scrap-Mart

Hello friends and happy Saturday! I got an exciting email today from Scrap-Mart and wanted to share it with all of you who love Copics as much as me. Scrap-Mart has the best prices I've found plus...free shipping everyday on Copics! Until Monday you get free shipping PLUS 20% off their already low price on anything Copic. I'm buying a dozen or so Sketch markers which run in the vicinty of $6. normally, for only $3.90 a piece! This is the first time I've ever seen Sketch markers for such a great price.

Don't forget to enter "COPICSALE" at check out and don't forget who gave you this great tip! Stop back and tell me how many you bought.

Day 3 without my closest little pal and daughter, Carrie...she's off on a Mediterranean cruise with her good friends, Megan & Shannon. The girls arrived in Barcelona 2 days ahead of their ship to enjoy a little bit of Spain as well.
I was relieved to get a call from her this morning and happy to hear they are safely on the ship which should have just sailed out heading for Nice in France where she's going to look for Hanglar Stanglar rubber stamps or any other unusual European stamps!! Hanglar Stanglars are from Sweden and don't ship to the USA so I'm hoping she finds a store in France. I should be so lucky!

My Rare Top Tip Tuesday Challenge Entry

The folks at Top Tips are having a challenge with prizes for the top tip during the current challenge period. My tip is a simple one that involves a bit of recycling. Cricut users are guaranteed to LOVE this one!

I have the Cricut Expression and have found once I am ready to discard my adhesive mats I save them to reuse the top acetate sheet if in good shape but the real secret is I reuse the mats too. I love to do paper piecing and make many of my own patterns for animals and little humans, etc. I found the "spent" mats make great patterns or templates. I trace around my piece (right side up) with a Sharpie and cut out. The adhesive remainder on the pattern you've just created will adhere just enough so the pattern doesn't slide around and the vinyl makes a terrific sturdy pattern. Enjoy!

New ORANGE Challenge Card!

Well, it's October and the challenge called for orange over at Copic Creations' challenge blog so what could one do besides a Halloween card? I tested out my newly won C.C. Designs Honey Witch digital stamp hand colored with my growing collection of Copics and applied her to a 5-1/2" card cut from the Cricut Wild Card cartridge along with coordinating layers of circles in black & orange. My recipe for witchy gal's complexion is to use a rim of G20 & lightly w/G99 around the head and fill in & blend with E50. Her blush and lips color are shaded with V00 & V06. I like the outcome!

Love the 5/8" orange & black grosgrain ribbon & bow, for fun I colored the thread on the orange Button-Up black with a Copic for the occasion.
On the inside I added a stamped tag and a creepy spider from the Cricut Paper Dolls cartridge. This was a fun little card to make with the double-sided vintage K & Co. DP. It's perfect for one of my sweet little grandgals!

Be sure to check out the other fun entries at Copic Creations Challenge Blog!

Free Halloween Coloring Page

Check out the amazing free coloring page I received today in the Knack Newsletter from craft superstore Michaels. I think it would make a terrific paper piecing pattern or digi for a Halloween card for the kids too!

Be sure to click the link above to head to Michaels' Knack for your own 8-1/2" x 11" coloring page!

2 Peas and Jennifer McGuire - Free Lessons!

The amazing online superstore
2 Peas In A Bucket and Jennifer McGuire have teamed up for a series of videos entitled "Thinking Inking." I've been at 2 Peas most of the morning catching up! Jennifer is a endless well of creative energy who constantly amazes with the treasures and techniques she creates. Do yourself a favor and set aside a little time to go enjoy these videos. Then head over to May Arts and Hero Arts for more Christmas magic and giveaways! Check around too...many of the HA stamps are on sale around the internet.

My Mind's Eye Challenge #16

Here's a fun challenge with a great Anam Stubbington sketch from one of my favorite paper companies... My Mind's Eye!! The theme is "black" and must be 80% MME product. It doesn't have to be a Halloween layout and can be any theme.

The challenge ends October 21st and there are wonderful prizes! Oh, I sure hope I can do this one...who wouldn't want to win 3 full collections of MME paper? Sheesh...amazing for a paper addict like me :-)

Triple Play!!!

Today, I'm entering three challenges with my new and improved Christmas stocking card.
The challenges are:
Magnolia Lovers - Lace theme, ends 10/9
Just Magnolia - 2x2 (pairs of things), ends 10/14. Can you find the 5 pairs I used on the card??
All That Scraps #2 Magnolia Challenge, Christmas Scene

For the card I used a vintage Magnolia Santa stamp which was colored with Copic markers and a $1 vintage "Do Not Open Til Christmas" stamp from one of the big 3 craft stores. Everything was from my stash of DP and vintage trims...nothing new went into the making of this card! The base card is a 5x7 ivory invitation from early Martha Stewart that I cut into my desired shape and recycled. It can be glued shut to make a sweet stocking for giftcards and moola or a greeting can be added to the interior to make it a regular Christmas card. The green base Santa rests on is also a perfect sized pocket for giftcards. Look for more of this shape card from me as the holidays approach. I LOVE it!

Etsy.Com Coup!!

Have you ever seen those nifty montage pages the etsy.com staff assembles periodically that are so cool? Well, am I ever excited!!! I just got some etsy mail telling me my ancient snowman cards are featured there. Guess I better get busy posting some more cards tonight! Wow, my run of good luck is on a roll...I'm buying a lottery ticket soon! Click this link and see the last row for my set of 4 cards.

Mojo Monday #159 Challenge

Just when I thought all my mojo was gone along comes a fun challenge sketch to get the creative energy flowing! I decided this sketch lent itself well to cards I wanted to make for OWH so I went to town and made 6. I think they turned out pretty nice and might make a great Valentine card too.

Here's the cool Mojo Monday sketch:

For my interpretation of the sketch I used my paper stash to make a double-layer diecut label from the Cricut Storybook cartridge. Bo Bunny Double Dot ribbon conceals the "seam" on the 2 patterned papers which are layered with harlequin check on a 5.5" x 4.25" black card base which was lined with white paper (since the troops don't have white pens.) The red diecut "love note" comes from the Wild Card cart. I stamped the back in white with the OWH logo. The flowers are generic mulberry flowers and ones I diecut with the Cricut Wild Card, self-adhesive Button-Ups make fun centers. Best of all...everything used came from my stash so no shopping required!

Hurry over to Mojo Monday's blog...this is a weekly challenge where you can enter more than one card. Entries must be in by Sunday. The prize is a set of Verve stamps. Have fun!

I wish I could find a partner to share a case of A2 size white envelopes because the $10.99 Staples charges for a measly 100 is a budget buster when one can get 1000 for about $29.00 from the OWH source! Email me if anyone nearby would like to share a case.

* * Uncle Luther's Honor Flight * *

I remember my mother's stories of long ago about her large family's beloved oldest brother who went off to war and was captured by the Germans...I thought it was so exciting when I heard that my aunt, Margie had nominated him for the Honor Flight Program. Honor Flight weekly flies WWII veterans, free of charge, to Washington, DC so they can see the wonderful memorial dedicated in their honor. Our uncle is one of the nicest men on Earth so it is fitting that he was selected to participate. His sacrifice was great and we are all so proud, and blessed to know this special man!

Each Honor Flight has mail call in flight heading to DC so lots of family members sent off cards to our participant. For me, it was much fun making a greeting card for our own family hero after just sending off dozens of cards to Operation Write Home. Everything I needed to make a patriotic card for a special veteran was right at hand...no shopping required!

Congrats Uncle Luther...I hope you had a terrific adventure!!

To make tax deductible contributions to this worthy organization contact Diane Gresse by email at offmgr@honorflight.org or call the National Office at 937-521-2400.

HOLY COW - I won!!!!!

Wowza!!! I cannot believe this but I won a wonderful set of Sugarplum Christmas stamps from one of my favorite stores online...All That Scraps. It pays to blog hop :-)

Here's the cool set I won and if you hop over to ATS there are still many chances to win new stamps:

All That Scraps Blog Hop & Contests

Lots going on over at the ATS blog. Be sure to check it out soon. There are hops and new stamp premieres with lots of chances to win free stamps. I got totally confused hoping around the design teams blogs but it was a fun journey with lots of great inspiration. Check it outat the ATS blog!