March Leap Year! Extra Challenge!

I was chosen as an extra Guest Designer this month at Crafting By Designs. The challenge I decided on was per a sketch, BUT to use TEA BAG FOLDING. I know Tea Bag Folding has been around forever, but it is new to me. I've always been intimidated by it, but have always been in complete awe of it. I realized it's not so hard after all. Of course practice always helps. My first couple of flowers didn't look quite like flowers at all, but some sort of mis-matched geometric shape.
The sketch I chose was from Mojo Mondays. I love their sketches!  You can find their blog here. The tutorial to learn how to make this flower from circles is right here.
Here is the sketch:

And here is my card:

Papers used for this card are from:  DCWV, Martha Stewart and unknown card stock.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great night!

It's a Great Day for Hockey and playing with paper!

 Hello~

It's Sunday night. My least favorite night of the week. Why? Because when I go to bed tonight, I know when I wake up in the morning I have to get ready for work (sigh) ... 

I wanted to play with paper, but didn't want to make a card, I didn't want to scrap. I wanted to play with paper and make flowers. I've been on such a flower kick lately. I'm trying to create more with handmade items, not die cuts, something I can actually create from scratch, basically.

A few weeks ago in the Dollar store, I bought a pack of clothes pins, not sure why. I have a gazillion, (at least), sitting in an coffee can somewhere. So as I was sitting at my desk in my messy, scrappy corner, creating flowers to my hearts content, I remembered the clothes pins and this is what I came up with:

I also had to find my roll of magnetic tape, which was buried
in the back of the junk drawer. I'm talking way back!

And since I was creating these flowers, I decided to create a different one too. I had a few paperclips sitting on my desk and decided to use them. I came up with these little bookmarks.

Aren't the bookmarks and the magnetic clips the cutest? They didn't take all that much time to make and would be perfect little gifts to give those special someones.

ALSO! A rare 7:00 hockey game tonight. The Pens won!!! YAY! Beat the Devils!! YAY!!! My boyfriend, Sidney Crosby, (in my head he is - lol), is back and on fire. By beating the Devils tonight, we are only 1 point behind the Rangers for play-offs. I love play off hockey!

Well, it is late, and 5:45 comes around pretty quick.

Drop me a line, let me know you were here. I love reading the comments left by all of you.

Have a great night!

~Hugs~

Cricut/Die Cut Challenge - Crafting By Designs

Hello Everyone!!
First off, I would just like to thank all of you lovely ladies for leaving wonderful comments on CBD's Blog Hop. Also, thank you so much for becoming a follower. If you stop in, let me know, say hello. See something you like, let me know, see something you don't, let me know : )
I am the lead on the Cricut/Die Cut Challenge this week and the theme is flowers. Spring is in full bloom. How can you not possibly create something with flowers?

My paper for the card is a combination from DCWV and
My Mind's Eye. I've been trying to use up the paper
from my scrap pile. I cut the flower image using my
Cricut Expression. I used the Create a Critter Cartridge,
the Fawn cut and used the accessory option. I cut it at 3".

I also had a little bit of time to play with paper for a couple of other challenges. This week at Cub Scouts, the younger dens were making cards for the residents at a senior living home. I helped them and in the meantime created a Spring Card for Tammy's Challenge.

And the lovely Beth Pollock was our Guest Designer for our Year in Cards series. She knocked it out of the park! Please stop by and check out her beautiful creation, you can find it here. This is what I came up with:

Please come visit us at Crafting By Designs. We have some fantastic challenges going on for the month of March. And we have some awesome prizes too.

Again - thank you for making the first ever CBD Blog Hop a HUGE Success!!!

Winner of the Birds & Blooms Blog Hop Candy

Drum roll please...................

Random.Org picked the lucky #5!!!!

Gwen!!! Gwen you are the winner of my blog hop candy!!  CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Please email me your mailing information to:  shareeduff@aol.com
or send me a message through CBD
In the message/subject line, please type "Blog Hop Winner."

Thank you for your sweet comment and becoming a follower of my blog.

The Outlawz - Paper ala Mode - Go Green

Hello ~
I've been a little busy and haven't played with paper much over the past week...I miss it. Well when checking on the challenges going on over at The Outlawz, Saturday's Paper ala Mode just jumped out at me. Go Green. Create something by using a recycled item and use a touch of green.
My niece Lauren who is a junior in college has been accepted into the program that will allow her to student teach in Ireland! My little Princess Lauren is going to Ireland! We are so very proud of her. She will be there for 6 to 8 weeks in the fall, only to return and graduate in a few days, a semester early I might add.
I wanted to make her something for her trip. I had been saving this cardboard canister that held Christmas candy. My husband wanted to throw it away months ago, but I wouldn't let him. I knew someday I would have the perfect use for it. Yesterday, I did.
I made this little bank to give to Lauren on Easter. I will fill it with some Leprechaun Loot to get her started. I thought that she could save her change and have a little extra cash for her trip. For her 21st birthday in May, I am going to make her an Ireland Memory Box from a recycled Cigar Box. (I love cigar boxes!)

Please let me know you were here. I love reading your comments, I appreciate them so much.
As always thanks for stopping by and have a great night!

Wings & Blooms Blog Hop

Hi There! Welcome to the very first ever Crafting By Designs Wings & Blooms Blog Hop! We are all so happy that you are able to join us and can not wait for you to HOP into the fun.
Starting off our Hop is the multi-talented, founder of CBD, Doris. If at any time you get lost along the way, visit Doris at Mom's Been Scrappin and you will find the complete list there. You can also visit the Blog Hop posting at Crafting By Designs to get back on the right track.
Since you have found me, you surely came from Julia Vazquez at Papers & Scraps Creations. My goodness is Julia talented or what? You never know what you are going to find, but one thing for sure, you will never be disappointed.
Our theme is Wings & Blooms. Create projects with wings, anything with wings and blooms, anything with blooms. The weather is getting warmer, birds are singing, flowers are blooming....ahhhh the wonderful sights and sounds of spring. I used a combination of Wings and Blooms on my projects.

These cards were so fun to make. I recycled most of the
supplies. The paper came from my scrap bin. And the flower?
Guess what the flower is made from? I'll keep you guessing
a little bit longer....

The flower is made from recycled plain white cupcake liners!
I use 5 to make each flower. One for the base, then 4 to fold and
adhere to the base. I slightly colored them with my Marvey's first,
then sprayed them with water. I flattened them out on a towel
and let them dry. How cool is that?

0

I am in love with these little packets. A few years ago I made tons
of these and gave them out as favors to all of the Mom's at the
Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. I forgot all about them. So when the
details for the hop were finalized, I was racking my brain trying to figure out
something unique to come up with. What else could be better than these
little seed packets?
I cut out the packs at 10-1/2" using my Cricut and the
Tags, Bags, Boxes and More Cartridge. You can fit 2 on a
12 x 12" sheet of paper. The flowers are by Prima and the
die-cut/embellies are from K & Co.

Don't these just sing spring?

Now from my blog, you are going to visit Chrissie Tobas at Harvestmoon Papiere. Chrissie's creations are stunning! She makes the most beautiful mini-albums. There are a few more things for you before you hop over to Chrissie.
Please hop into the fun and share your creations with us. Please post them under the Blog Hop Section at Crafting By Designs. We are a small, friendly, crafty community and would love for you and your friends to join us. Leave a comment on my blog with your email address and also leave a comment with your email at CBD for a chance at winning an awesome prize package! That's right, awesome PRIZE PACKAGE! All comments and projects must be posted NO LATER THAN 11:59 p.m. Monday, March 19th. Doris will use Random.Org to choose a winner on Tuesday March 20th.

Also, for the first time ever, I am offering the chance to win a little Blog Candy:

For a chance at winning, you must become a follower of my blog, leave me a comment and tell me you are a follower. I will announce the winner of my Blog Candy on Wednesday, March 21st after 4:00 p.m.
Thank you so much for stopping by. Enjoy the Hop!

Flower Power

Quick blogging before bed. If I don't do it now, I'll forget to do it tomorrow.
I had the lead on A Year in Cards at Crafting By Design, I used a sketch from Mojo Monday and created a St. Patrick's Day Card.

I also entered this at the Outlawz under the Greeting Card Challenge.
Tonight I was wearing my cranky pants, had very little spare time, but was able teach myself how to paper fold and came up with this:

Not quite perfection, but very happy with the first time result. I entered this one at the Outlawz under Clean & Simple.
I was a little overly excited about the Blog Hop at Crafting By Designs. I was ready to hop a little too soon. The correct date of the hop is March 16th. A fun filled weekend. Please join in with us. Become a member, leave a comment, play along.
I will have a little blog candy up for grabs the weekend of the hop. In order for a chance to win you must become a follower of my blog and leave a comment. I will choose one winner at random.
Have a great night and thanks for stopping by!

Use your Favorite Paper - CBD March 2

Hello ~
This week at Crafting By Designs I was lead on a new Challenge for the month of March. The challenge is to use your favorite paper. I love paper! I love the way it smells, I love the way it feels. I just love paper. Choosing a favorite patterned paper is hard! I'm a paper hoarder! Honestly I should by 2 of every piece of paper or paper stack I come across. One to use, the other to keep and just look at over and over again. Although with me there is no doubt about it, POLKA DOTS are my favorite. They make me happy. I love, love, love Polka Dots. When deciding what to create and what paper to use I discovered my polka dot stash is dwindling. I'm going to have to do something about it. For the challenge I created a 2 page layout. And here is what I came up with:

Although the reason as to why Danny was so emotional that day has long been forgotten, I knew at the time that this was a perfect scrapping moment. I kept snapping pics and Danny kept getting madder and madder to the point of tears. Complete torment on my part, yes I know, bad Mommy.

I also created 3 more bookmarks from Granny's sewing box. I made one for each of my nieces. Now I have to decide which niece gets which one. A small gesture, but something to treasure. Something that their Granny had once used, saved for a special reason, something that was touched by her hands.

And lastly before I go, Wednesday I will be posting the Challenge - A year in Cards. I'm going with a sketch and a St. Patrick's Day theme. This coming weekend, starting on Friday, Crafting By Designs will be having their first ever BLOG HOP! We are hopping right into spring with the theme of Flowers and Things with Wings. The ladies over there are so talented and I know you won't be disappointed. Please join us. Join CBD, play along with us. Hop to the blogs and along the way there will be chances at winning some awesome prizes. I'm going to be giving away blog candy, stop back towards the end of the week for a peek. To be able to win, become a follower of my blog, leave a comment and comment at CBD.
Here is a sneak peek at one of my projects:

Stop back at the end of the week to see the rest.
Have a great night! Thanks for stopping by.