Sunday, June 29, 2008

Birthday Set

While I love to make "stuff," I really want it to be practical and useful. I love pretty things but if it's just going to end up in the garbage, why bother?

With my sister's birthday coming up, I decided to make a note card set for her. I absolutely LOVE Papertrey Ink's stamps and paper (I WANT MORE!) and decided that this would be perfect for a set of note cards for her.

Cards with matching envies:


I even boxed the up, made a matching pen and added some York Peppermint Patties!

What do you think?

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

Google Reader

I’ve gotten several questions about Google Reader (what it is, how to use it, etc) in response to my blog candy so I thought I’d give a quick summary.

Google reader (www.google.com/reader) is a FANTASTIC tool that houses all your blogs you like to surf (or as I like to say, BLURF!). Gone are the days of having them in your favorites and having to click on them one by one to visit them every day to see if there is a new post. Google Reader takes care of that for you. Much like an email program that highlights “new mail”, Google Reader does the same thing.

To get started, you must have a Google account (but you do not have to have a Gmail account). If you don’t it’s quite simple to set one up. Once logged in, your home screen will appear. Here’s a copy of mine:

Yours will of course look different because you won’t have any blogs set up yet. Here’s the hard part (and I say that very loosely!) You need to collect all the blog addresses to put in here. That is the most labor intensive part (i.e. copy/paste function). Look over to the left side bar and in the middle you’ll see a neon green section with a plus sign that says Add Subscription. Just click on it and you’ll see this appear:

All you have to do now, is paste in one of your addresses (or mine for instance – www.mytreasuredcreations.blogspot.com). I chose for this example to add Making Memories blog(http://makingmemories.typepad.com/ ) I typed in the blog address then hit the Add button. This is what came up:

Depending on the blog you may or may not have unread items. If you do, then they’ll appear in the screen where it says “Making Memories” has no unread items.” If you want to view all of the blog entries you can click on View All Items. You’ve just added your first blog! How easy was that? Just do it as many times as you have blogs.

Now you can also organize your blogs as well by putting them in folders. If you see in the golden color bar where it says “You have subscribed to “Making Memories.” There is a button that says Add to a folder…. You can add it to an existing folder (if you have one), create a new one or leave as is. I like to organize mine on topic. I have photography/Photo Shop tutorial blogs, Scrapbook, Stamping, Friends, and even company blogs (like Making Memories). I even have a folder for new blogs I found and entered blog candy (so I remember to check back to see if I won!) This makes it much easier for me to locate a blog I want. It also allows me to not have to read ALL my blogs at one time if I don’t want to. I can choose a folder and only scroll through those. If you forget when you add a blog to put it in a folder (or you want to create one later, just click on the Feed Settings tab and go down to the third section where you folders are listed or choose at the bottom New Folder.

A couple notes. When you scroll through a blog, it now marks it as read and when you refresh your reader, it’s gone. SO, if you find something of value, you’ll need to figure a way to remember it. If you want to visit the blog (i.e. to leave comments or blog candy), you can click on the name of the blog entry in your reader window or on the name of the blog at the top and it’ll take you directly to the blog.

I’ve only scratched the tip of Google Reader and I know there must be more tips out there so how ‘bout YOU all give me some? What features could I be using? Also, was this helpful for you?

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Tuesday, June 24, 2008

MY blog Candy Time!

Woo Hoo! I've surpassed 1K in hits! THANK YOU! In show of my appreciation, I have the following candy up for grabs:
  • Ranger Glossy Accents
  • Jo-Ann Pink Letters
  • Heidi Swapp Distresser
  • American Craft Pink Polka dot ribbon
  • Five Heavy Weight 4x4 Coasters
  • Two Bind it all 4x4 acrylic pages (for your coasters above)
  • and a Copic Sketch C1 Cool Grey marker!
(I choose this color Copic marker because it is FABULOUS for shadows and I thought if you haven't tried Copics then it would be a good introduction to get you hooked!)


Of course there has to be rules and ways to enter. Here is the fine print:
1. One comment, one entry
2. Add my blog to your Google Reader (or similar) and get a second entry
3. Add a link to my blog candy on your blog and get a third entry!

Blog Candy Closes Sunday 6/29/2008 at 9PM CST.

Please use the following form for your entries. Upon reading on Freebies4Mom's website about Blog Coach's advice, I've decided to use GoogleDocs for my entries. This is going to be a better way to track entries (and safer too!)

Good Luck!


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Another Blogger giving Candy Away!

Did you see this blog and the candy she's giving away?? Magnolias?? Paper? Ribbon?? YUM! Go check her blog out too! She has some adorable creations!

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Monday, June 23, 2008

Freebies 4 Mom: Arts Cow Review

Have any of you tried Arts Cow Printing? They have a promotion right now that offers 400 free prints plus an 8x8 book. I've signed up and been credited with my free prints. Want to try them? Use this referral link to sign up.

I'll order some prints later this month and let you know how they turn out. If you're curious, Freebies4Mom used them and here is her review here and here.

Let me know if you try them!

Freebies 4 Mom: Arts Cow Review

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Thursday, June 19, 2008

High Hopes Stamps

Did you see Jami's blog? She's got some High Hopes images for BLOG candy. If you haven't checked out High Hopes stamps you need to go there! They are wonderful! I LOVE that elephant!
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Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day!

Remember the cards I posted here? Well, I was blurfing (blog surfing) and found this post of a really cool wallet and just HAD to do it for my amazing hubby! Here is how it turned out.
Outside is embossed with my $2 stamp It's Good To Be King from Big Lots:


Inside is embossed with Cool Dad and Man of the Year (again from Big Lots!).
In the wallet itself is a picture of S (the youngest) on pink cardstock (her favorite color) and E on yellow ( her favorite color), a Starbucks gift card, a Happy Father's Day card and of course there has to be green in the wallet right?



Hope you all had a wonderful day!
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Saturday, June 14, 2008

Blog Candy Coming!

I cannot believe it! I've passed the 1k mark for visitors on my blog! WOW! To thank my ya'll (yes, I live in the south!) I'm going to do blog candy!! Check back here in a day or so and I'll have some posted.

THANK YOU!!
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Friday, June 13, 2008

Kim's Creative Corner Challenge

I'm a faithful reader of Kim's blog and decided to take her challenge. I love her owl card here and that black and green color inspired me to use the same colors on mine.

Here's mine:


I made this for a good friend of mine who is so thoughtful. Since my daughter was diagnoised with cancer, she has been checking in with me, just to see how she's doing and making sure I'm alright. She also coordinated meals after we came home from her surgery in NY and decorated our house! I know that if I need any help all I have to do ask. She ROCKS!
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Monday, June 9, 2008

Sweet Pea

One of the gals from the girls playgroup had a little baby boy on Wednesday so I had to make card to welcome him. This is the same mom that I made 30+ invites for the baby shower here. I used my $1 Studio G Sweet Pea stamp, American Crafts ribbon, and Sandy Lion Lollia Paper. I used the rectangular and scalloped rectangle nestabilities for the blue mat and the stamped image. I paper pieced the blue baby blanket but that's hard to see in the picture. Isn't it cute?

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Sunday, June 8, 2008

Father's Day Early

Believe it or not, I am actually DONE with Father's Day Cards. This year is a hard one for me as my grandfather passed away less than two short months ago. He was my "father" as he and my grandmother raised me since I was nine months old. This is the first year I won't be sending him a card.

I made two cards, one for my husband (from the kids) and one for my dad. I had intended to the It's good to be King card for my dad but decided that it DH would appreciate it more! The stamp I used was from my Big Lots find ($2!) and the chipboard man is from my LSS.

This one again, the stamp is from Big Lots but I made my own paper using the stamp then popped up one I stamped on white paper.

After doing these cards, I realized that all I really have is girly paper! I need more manly paper!

Did you make anything for Father's Day? The girls and I are going to work on garden stones today. Each girl will have their own stone to decorate as they please or put their hand print/footprint on it. Wish me luck!

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Saturday, June 7, 2008

Over the Hill

My SIL was turning 40 and I knew I needed to make a card for her. I'm not the humorous type (that would be my hubby) but needed to make a card that had a little both of us in it, i.e. humor and elegance!

This is what I came up with:


It's a spinner card where the car "drives" over the hill. She loved it and I like how it turned out. I used Ranger Glossy Accents to make the car shiney too:


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Friday, June 6, 2008

Now is everything

Tonight I was reminded about something important. As I was watching television (catching up on my shows that were TiVo'd for the last two months!), a the conversations struck a cord with me where an actor said, "Now is everything." How true that statement is. Each day, each moment, is so important.When E was diagnosed last September, ten days before her fourth birthday, my world fell apart. Life changed. Forever. I now see life in a different way. The little hugs and kisses, the moments of joy, ultimately are what is most important. When I come home from work, she meets me at the door, wanting kisses and hugs and I no longer take those for granted. I hold her a little longer, kiss her a little more, knowing that THIS is what is important. My husband calls me Charmin (you know, soft toilet paper??) but I can't help it. I need to live in the now. I don't say no as much as I used to and say yes more often. I don't worry about stains on clothes or saving them for that special moment because that moment is now.

You're probably wondering why I am writing this. Well, E's 3 month scans are coming up next week and I'm starting to get apprehensive about them. That coupled with looking at the pictures for printing makes me a little sad that my little girl had to go through so much and grow up so quickly. It makes me sad knowing my 2 1/2 year old has the words "cancer" and "chemo" in her vocabulary.

I decided to photograph my girls more the last couple weeks. I tried to get more of their personality and less of what they were doing. You tell me what you think and if you see that in their photographs.

So in closing, tell those close to you that you love them. Listen a little more, talk a little less. Play with your children and give them extra hugs and kisses. I know I will.

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Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Review and Giveaway!


Hop on over to Jill's blog to read her review and a chance to win this book!

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