here be challenges!

hey guess what?! my pals laura & gabi invited me to host a cardmaking bonus challenge at scrapdragons! it started yesterday, and you have until midnight on 9-22 to submit a card! i won't give away what it is--but it's a lauren challenge, so you know it's gotta be:

• kind of silly
• kind of funky
• definitely different!

here's a card i made especially for the challenge:

(lollipop dragon badge is from a rummage sale; "dragon wings" are fancy pants chipboard scrolls that i painted, sanded, inked & stamped with a cherry pie crackle stamp; main patterned paper is karen foster, with scraps of my mind's eye, scenic route, kma, basic grey...maybe a few others...+ bits of a road map & a page from a children's dictionary; heidi swapp stars are inked & embellished with creative imaginations rub-on's; plus: colorbox inks, ki rub-ons, jewelcraft rhinestones, bazzill cardstock, ek success circle punches)

if you wanna know more come and play!!!

in the meantime, you can still enter their regularly scheduled layout challenge (#3) until september 15th.

...oh & did i mention there are prizes for both of these endeavors...? :)

i'm running for mayor...

...on a platform of:

fiscal responsibility

enviromental awareness

...and...

hot fudge

can i count on *your* suppport? :)

sticker shock, part deux

...in which i show the rest of my cards from this challenge...

a "layout" card featuring my nieces:

(frances meyer stickers; doodlebug, scenic route & basic grey papers; creative imaginations rub-ons; plus colorbox ink & sharpie marker)

another baby card:

(frances meyer sticker; bazzill cardstock; american crafts rub-ons; unknown pattern paper, vellum & ribbon; colorbox inks)

a collage card in which--bizarrely for me!--has a *plain* background:

(frances meyer stickers; ki chipboard; sei tag; urban lily flower; heidi grace heart; heidi swapp ribbon & journalling spot; scraps of christina coler, my mind's eye & creative imaginations papers; doodlebug brads; plus colorbox ink & sharpie marker)

one of my faves--this is the very first idea i had when i got my frances meyer package & saw the sheet of indian-themed animal stickers (yep, i used all of 'em on one card!) and the spice rub-ons:

(frances meyer stickers, rub-ons & patterned paper; k&co chipboard; american crafts rub-on letters; making memories brad; unknown photo mat)

and finally, my very favorite card of this batch! this is the one with the *72* embellies...in quite a small space. the swathe of "fairy dust" was an idea i stole--ahem "lifted"-- from a vicki boutin layout in a magazine. i've used it many times and will do so many more, i am sure!

(frances meyer stickers; creative imaginations & treehouse memories papers, plus a page from an old michelin guide to paris; heidi swapp heart; prima flowers; jewelcraft rhinestones & gems; making memories & doodlebug brads; hero arts heart stamp; mylar stars)

STICKER SHOCK!!

don'tcha loooove the title?! yepper, it's the new CAARDVARKS challenge: use stickers on your card...how easy is that??! the design team managed to fill up two gallery pages using only the neat packs we had from our sponsor, frances meyers. the best part is that since some of us were given the same stickers, you can see how many cool & completely different styles you can get using identical products. LOVE IT!

since i made *10* cards...and since my back went out at work yesterday and i'm still not really up to sitting for more than like 15 seconds at a time... (it has taken me 20 minutes--and several breaks--just to write this much!) i've decided to post half today, and half tomorrow. (you can see 'em all in the gallery at any time, though.)

if you need me, i'll be on my living room floor, bemoaning the lack of quality daytime television!

only one day to go!

until the new CAARDVARKS challenge posts...and i'm getting pretty excited! wait till you see the *design team gallery*! wait'll you see the PRIZES!!!!! i've decided i just cannot wait till you see a couple of my cards...ok, ok, part of a couple of my cards. i'm not giving away the theme(b/c jen would kill me!) but i will say that you definitely have a bunch of the thing you're going to be asked to use...you might even be glad to use some up...and it could be easier than you think to do so in a cool way! (and yes, i do know it's obnoxious to hint...i just can't help it!!!)

labor day...without the labor!

we've had a lovely day out, in doylestown, pennsylvania. we had barbeque at the duck deli, we spent the afternoon at mercer museum, then we got ice cream and walked around the town.

aside from a few photos...and a couple of postcards, o'course...i have absolutely nothing to show for the day. niiiiiiice.

my virtue knows no bounds

(...she said, modestly...) :)

being as it is labor day weekend, i have been laborin', bigtime! my bills are paid, my loose change is rolled & bank-ready, my checkbook is balanced, my desk is cleared off. my patterned paper storage has been cleaned out, tidied up and...for the first time in several months...ALL the expandy-file-thingies actually close *and* latch. (which is beyond virtue, really; in fact it nearly stretches into miraculous!) a lot of people might've felt like that was enough to accomplish, but not me, oh no!

i have ventured forth into (cue dramatic music) the attic of doom. i have conquered the giant precarious towers of cardboard boxes which threatened to takeover the entire eastern seaboard! in fact i reorganized all the packing supplies, even sorted my bubble wrap by size, color, and country of origin. (i am kidding...of course there is no organizational advantage in sorting by color!) i have cleared out loads of craft supplies and rearranged the remainder in ways that should now make it possible to locate & retrieve any given item in less than a week. (go, me!) i have assembled a garage sale/ebay pile that would make neimann-marcus green with envy!

sadly, in the midst of all the hullaballoo, i realized that the caardvarks' bead-based microchallenge started yesterday, and not this morning, like i thought; so it turns out my own masterpiece is slightly late. see, in the laurniverse, august has thirty-two days. i understand it may take you earthlings several more millenia to catch up...but it's cool...i can wait.

in the meantime, since i'm on a roll, i think i will nip over to the middle east and work on that pesky "world peace" thing. does anyone know the arabic for "bubble wrap"??!

happy birdie (which scanned kinda wonky--the shadows near the tail aren't there irl!): patterned paper by frances meyer, scrapbook wizard, provocraft & sei; jenni bowlin & making memories rub-ons; miscellaneous beads

oh but before i go, lemme give a big shout out to our two new caardvarks DT members: lesley langdon and amy westerman, who are already stunnin' us with their amazing beaded creations!

welcome, ladies!!!