Still churning Hope challenges...

Let it be known that a lack of power in my domicile did not keep me from working on these challenges... Lol. If you heard of the sudden winter storm that wreaked havoc on the northeastern United States, yep, we got it here. I really enjoyed watching the blustery blizzard-y weather from my warm home on Saturday. Unfortunately, we woke up cold on Sunday morning due to a power outage that resulted from trees that weren't ready for the weight of snow so they took power lines down with them when they snapped.... everywhere. I told my son it looked like some giant had a temper tantrum and wielded his mace up and down every block of our town. We are in Day 2 of no power and we didn't think fast enough, so we didn't get a hotel room in any nearby hotel. So we sleep under a number of extra comforters and look forward to our hot morning showers thanks to a water heater that runs on gas... hallelujah.

We need Superman (or at least Superboy) to come rescue us. This card is for the challenge to make a masculine card with a little pink in it (HYCCT1103).... my pink is peeking through the center of Saturn... and my little Superboy's bald head. Since I used a My Favorite Things stamp (Super Boy) and weekly sketch (MFTWSC43), I think I'll submit it over there, too.

Thanks for dropping by. I will continue to report from my local library if the power outage continues. In fact, I may have to use a photo of my library carrel for What's on Tap Tuesday tomorrow if things don't change. Life can be quite the adventure!

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

Here she is.... rounding the corner.....

I have about an hour to get this card posted to the Card Positioning Systems blog (CPS). I found out through my friend, Lydia, about this great sketch challenge, but it ends today. Yikes! I combined it with another Hope You Can Cling To challenge to send a word of encouragement (HYYCT1126). Since the CPS's challenge is sponsored by My Favorite Things, I brought out one of their sweet little boy images with just the right encouraging sentiment. The stamp is called Tree Swing. The adorable paper that was so perfect for this scene all came from DCWV's Songbird stack. That rope also beckoned for some of The Twinery's Cappuccino bakers twine so I glued it down and just cut out another arm to cover it where it passes over his hand. I like the 3D effect that gave.

Thanks for dropping by. I will be sure to check in on the CPS blog from now on because I loved this sketch and I suspect there's more where that came from.

Now, I can just stare out at the blanket of snow this Nor'easter has dumped on my little corner of NJ.... and then maybe I'll make another card....

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

FWF and a Hope You Can Cling To sketch challenge

Friday again! Unity's Friends with Flair blog hop is off and running. Check on it throughout the day because new blogs are constantly being added.

I'm still cranking out the Splitcoast Stampers Hope You Can Cling To cards. For a list of challenges, check HERE. This time, it's challenge #5 (HYCCT1105) and it's a sketch by none other than Unity's very own Jimmi Mayo. Jimmi, I hope you don't mind I took a little creative license with the sketch (I sort of buried the larger circle). It's just that I envisioned a sun when I saw the sketch.

I can't get enough of these little Ippity birds from Quotes a la Happy. And I always make them blue. Lol. The sentiment comes from a set called Sending My Love. The paper is from the Four Seasons stack by DCWV, the Cappuccino twine is from The Twinery and though the MFT cloud dies I used are retired, these new flat bottom cloud dies are a cool replacement. (The fence came from Michaels hobby aisle.)

I'm kinda liking ticking off the challenges from my list. I hope to get to a few more before the end of the month, so keep checkin'....

Have a wonderful Friday and be sure to check out the other blogs today. And if you've got Unity stamps, consider joining the hop. A random blogger and a random commenter are chosen to receive prizes. Good luck!

Oh, and if you're hankering for more blog hopping, Paper Smooches is having one until midnight tonight and it's so easy to win prizes. Check it out HERE and here's recent card I made with one of their stamps.


Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

Green, yellow and brown for Hope You Can Cling To

That's the latest challenge I'm undertaking today. HYCCT1107, to be exact. You can find all the challenges at this Splitcoast Stampers LINK.

For some reason, that color scheme brought fishing to mind. Maybe because I have this My Favorite Things (MFT) stamp set that hasn't seen ink yet. I wish they'd included "Dropping you a line" as one of the sentiments with the set but they didn't so I borrowed it from an A Muse stamp I had on hand. The sketch came from MFT's latest sketch challenge. My paper hoarding was justified today when I used scraps for her green blouse, camouflage pants and the glittery fish she caught. Copics did the rest. (I wish you could see that the image background isn't white but a whisper of blue...)

The other patterned papers came from the Songbird stack by DCWV and I finally got to use a button from my Vintage Findings set by Making Memories. A little stamped edge scissors and some nail heads and done.

I've been hobbling around a little more lately. Tomorrow, I'll probably be back behind the wheel to take ds to school (and allow him to sleep an hour later) but that may be the extent of it. Gotta let those little ligaments heal.

Hope you're having a nice day. We've got rain, but I love rain... so no complaints here.

I'm going to try to get another card done that can also be part of Unity's Friends with Flair blog hop tomorrow, so check back.

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

WOYWW#125... Lollipops, unicorns and rainbows...

In my pain-induced stupor yesterday, I forgot to post the photo of my desk, so it will be appropriately posted today: What's on Your Workspace Wednesday, hosted HERE by the lovely Julia. Take a snoop around later, lots of fun workspaces zooming around in cyberspace.

As far as the saga that began yesterday, when I regaled the story of my bum ankle as well as presented the card that emerged like Venus from the mess of a desk above, here's what I'm dealing with now.

I found out that there is no break or fracture. Just nasty torn ligaments causing all that pain. But I have to say that the minute the doctor put this on me, I felt 100% better. He spared me the air boot which is such a lovely accessory to any wardrobe. This is just an air sleeve that keeps the ankle rigid. I have to wear it 24/7 for a few weeks. Anything that provides a good night's sleep is fine with me. So, all's well that ends well. He also thought that it's best not to drive for the rest of the week, which means that ds has to get up 45 minutes earlier to get a ride to school with dh and poor me gets to sleep later. So sad. I'm also forced to lie down with my foot iced and propped above my heart so that the swelling will go down. Now that seems like the perfect position for catching up on the DVR tapings, doesn't it? Okay, okay, it sounds enviable but let me remind you the pain isn't completely gone so it's not all lollipops, unicorns and rainbows.

On that note, thanks for dropping by, have a wonderful day and watch your step!

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

WOTT and a pretty card that will always be associated with....

... my physical condition at the time.... Let me explain.

I've become obsessed with tennis. I stopped playing a few years ago and I was just getting back to it and just loving it. Then, yesterday, someone hit a ball hard straight at me so I must have instinctively moved backward to protect myself but I stumbled and fell. I knew right away something was wrong with my right ankle but stood up and seemed to shake it off okay. Not okay. A couple of hours later, it was hard to walk on. I iced it all afternoon. I figured I'd just be limping til it got better so I went about making a card for the Hope You Can Cling To challenge #10 (pink and ribbon and friendship). By the time I was finished with the card, I realized that I couldn't put any weight on the right foot. I photographed the card and then hobbled upstairs to bed. Needless to say, it was an excruciating night. Not any better this morning, but we artists are creative so I tried hopping on one foot to get around (that's hard) and then realized that if I could get to the end of the hall, I could retrieve my rolling desk chair and at least use it like a wheel chair upstairs. So, my friends, I crawled down the hall (nothing wrong with my knees.) Finally getting to the desk chair was like getting to an oasis in the middle of a desert. Ahhh. I was now able to upload my photo and do this blog post as I wait for dh to make the appropriate doctor's appointment. I realize now how much we take for granted when all our limbs are working. I'm used to dashing around, so this is an eye-opener.

But I'm happy to be able to post my card. It uses The Girls Paperie kit that's been featured on some of my recent cards, My Favorite Things (MFT) stamps and MFT's latest sketch, with a little adjustment in the sentiment location. I wasn't sure if the SCS challenge called for pink and a ribbon or a pink ribbon, so I added one to this girl's dress.

Too bad this pretty card will always remind me of a bum ankle.

Wish me luck later. I'm really hoping its only a torn ligament or something. Hopefully not a break. Dh said to expect crutches. I may just have to send for my mom. *grin*

If you'd like to cheer up  homebound-me, link into this week's What's on Tap Tuesday (WOTT) below.

Count your blessings! I'll be doing that from now on....

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

Can I assume the worm is male?

My stamp inventory is male-challenged. As you can see from previous posts, I like to make girly cards with little girl and lovely lady images... or birds. (I think this stems from living in a house full of males.)

So when it comes to the necessary male card, I have to tone down the frills and bling and use an appropriately masculine image. So, I ask you, can I assume this Paper Smooches worm is male? I think so. I wanted him set against a patterned paper so delicious that it would do a lot of the work for me. This paper from DCWV's Songbird stack is embossed and glittered but still gives me the outdoor look I wanted for this birthday dude. I stamped the greeting directly on the paper and, get this, I used a Stampin' Up oval punch to make a small hole for him to be popping out of. (I used a foam dot to pop him up a little, too.)

During a cleanup of the ol' studio yesterday, I happened on a bag of pom poms. What a happy accident because it was just the pop needed for his hat.

Thanks for dropping in. Now, back to making more Hope You Can Cling To cards. Click on the icon in the sidebar if you like to take a gander at the October daily challenges. Tons of prizes in store and for a wonderful cause, too. *smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

FWF and a Hope You Can Cling To card

Whoa, I have been absent from Friends with Flair, haven't I? Well, I'm back to visit today. I figured that if I was going to make a card for a Hope You Can Cling To challenge over at Splitcoast, I might as well get my Unity out and share it with you today.

I decided to go for the challenge calling for something to be hanging or dangling after I colored this image and felt that her neck looked too plain. A couple slits, a heart charm and some EK Success Adornaments fiber and, voila, she has a choker to dress up her outfit (and my card). The scalloped paper in the background is another block from a Girls Paperie 12x12 sheet that I cut up in my previous post.

The sweet girl is a retired Suzi Blu stamp called Love of My Life. (You may have this in your stash.) I felt like a little girl coloring in her coloring book with this image. So fun and relaxing to color. I broke out quite a few Copics for this exercise.

Thanks for dropping in. Enabler alert: If you check out the Unity site, you'll find a new stamp line called Brandy and Emma that features an adorable toddler and her dog and they may just be too cute to resist!

For now, I'm sure there are loads of cute cards to view in this week's blog hop, so enjoy!

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

WOYWW#124... and a Hope You Can Cling To challenge

It's Wednesday again and you know what that means. Yep, What's on Your Workspace Wednesday (WOYWW), hosted by the lovely Julia-across-the-pond. Get a peek at workspaces around the globe by visiting her HERE. (My link insertion from What's on Tap Tuesday is still open below if you'd like to add a link here, too. *smile*)

On my desk this week is a hot mess of The Girls Paperie (GP) products. I got them as a kit from either Crafty Steals or Scrapbook Steals. Both sites are worth checking out because they have great daily deals. The box of GP goodies has been open behind my desk waiting for the right time to organize it (yeah, right) and every time I pass the box I spy a cute pink paper with a scalloped border of text. Knowing that it most likely won't become a scrapbook page since I'm the only girl in this house, I decided to chop it up into 4" x 5-1/4" blocks and use it for a whole mess of cards.

I used the first block on the card below. It's for another Hope You Can Cling To challenge (HYCCT1102 - which inspired me to use lingerie on a card). I've had this Stampin Up stamp set (Laundry Notes) for a while, so it's probably retired, but I love the slip and the little sentiment along the side that says "Slipping You a Note." First, I stamped the slip directly on the block paper. Then, paper pieced it on a floral GP paper and set it on top of the first image. I added a GP die cut heart that I embellished with lacy ribbon and a clear Making Memories Vintage Finding button (that's been sitting on my desk for weeks.) Finally, I added to the sentiment with some GP word stickers.

That's it. Hope you're having fun with your own hot messes! Thanks for dropping in.....

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

Another Hope You Can Cling To card...

Hello friends... This card has been sitting in the back of my head and, like a good teenager, she just refused to wait any longer. I imagined making her for the Hope You Can Cling To challenge to use pink bling (HYCCT1101B). I knew I'd want her earphones (and iPod) to be pink and sparkly. If you'd like to see the list of SCS challenges that are added to daily, click HERE. There is quite a booty of prizes to be awarded at the end of the month, if that's any enticement.

I used a My Favorite Things Sketch #41 and a stamp set called Tweeny Teen Rock and DCWV's Rock Star line of papers and adhesive ribbon. The pink bling is actually Class a' Peels from Stampendous.

Thanks for dropping in....

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

WOYWW#123, WOTT#26 and ... I'm Back....

Hi! I've just been on a little holiday hiatus... and now I'm hoping to jump back into crafting....

Yesterday was What's on Tap Tuesday and today is What's on Your Workspace Wednesday. (The difference? I run WOTT and Ms. Julia in the UK runs WOYWW, a worldwide version that's fun to check out. If you'd like, you can link in here and/or there. Here's what's going on on my desk this week....

I have to laugh when I review my photo and notice that the little perpetual block calendar is usually behind the times. I guess I haven't changed it since Oct 5th. Lol.

What's out on the desk is the new Stampin' Up designer paper series called Domestic Goddess (a phrase Roseanne Barr used once and I took a liking to... *grin*) I had to use it with this My Favorite Things (MFT) stamp set called What's Cooking? because they really complement each other. This week's MFT sketch really helped me put this card together quickly. I just love sketches.... sigh...

Anyway, you'll also see my little twine and ribbon case. Not large enough to hold all my ribbons but these are favorites. I found those Making Memories buttons at a local discount store and as much as I love them, they didn't make the cut for the card because I dug up a charm that looked like measuring spoons to me (they're probably lollipops or somethin') so they took the place of a button. The sketch had a circle on it, but I decided to use an MFT flower die meant for rolling a 3D flower. I left it flat but inked all the edges. I like the interest it adds. When it came to the sentiment, I wanted to make it as small as I could so that the patterned paper could shine and I wound up using these very inexpensive decorative scissors by Fiskars. They made it so easy to trim a nice stamp edge design close to the words.

This card is going out to my s-i-l for her upcoming birthday. I forgot to take a picture of the inside of my card but I'll tell you that I used the back of my patterned paper because it was a soft yellow pattern that would be good for writing on and I was thrilled to find it happened to have a pretty red flower in one corner. Effortless embellishment, love that.

Here's the finished card.

Thanks for dropping by. I'll try not to be a stranger from now on!

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

Hope You Can Cling To Challenge starts now

Hello all! October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and the folks over at Splitcoast Stampers (SCS) run a month long event called Hope You Can Cling To. Its goal is to create cards for breast cancer patients at MD Anderson in Houston, TX. SCS will post a new card challenge daily and you link in your cards in their forums as you make them. (I should say that although there will be one new challenge per day, the first day started with 3 challenges... just so we can rev our engines!) At the end of the month there will be prizes for each challenge, but the real prize comes in knowing that you've brightened someone's day. For more info, check this LINK and consider playing along with us.

One of the first challenges was to create a card with a pink critter (animal, fish, insect, etc.) on it. I'm surprising one of the SCS administrators, Lydia of Understand Blue, by using a stamp that she created in the image of one of her kitties, Maddy. Maddy has been colored pink and set against some Pink Paislee patterned paper that was left over when I created the card showing on my previous blog post. The adorable birdies and banner are from Lawn Fawn's Bannerific set and I hand stamped the sentiment with their Harold's ABCs set, too. The gold letters are from a clock-making set I found at Michaels. I just love how they shine.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to have lots of cards to post this month as I play along with these challenges so do drop in again. Also, tomorrow is my weekly What's on Tap Tuesday where I share my mess of a desk and encourage you to share yours! *smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)   

World Card Making Day... never too late!

As World Card Making Day is coming to a close, I feel a little like the inevitable marathoner that finally crosses the finish line long after everyone else has. Lol. But I persevered and finished a card for my in-laws 67th anniversary coming up. (I added their anniversary number candles to the cake image.) It may be late for WCMD, but it's still about a week before I have to mail it so I'm pleased with that.

I used My Favorite Things stamp sets (What's Cooking, Time to Celebrate and Who's That Birthday Girl) and luscious Pink Paislee papers (Soiree and Daily Junque). I recently received a card that had a cool flap and it inspired me to recreate one of my own. This is an easel card with a front panel that flaps open. I just realized that I focused so much on the patterned papers that I didn't even use ribbon or glitter or bling. The inside of the flap highlights a section of paper that had a great cake and a party collage. I love making my paper work for me.

If you'd like to check out how others celebrated WCMD, check out this LINK.

Thanks for dropping by!

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)
@scrapcollectr on Twitter