Miss Anya and her daisies

Hello again and happy Thursday afternoon!
I just saw that the TGF Galleria was down so I thought I'd post my card here for the FFF sketch by Cindy:

I used the FFF layout, and was inspired by a fellow DCRU's challenge to use daisies in a card. {Sorry Gwen! I was a day late when it was finished!}
I am not sure what brought these colors together, I'm not a Lakers fan or anything but purple and yellow gingham seemed to call my name:

I bought the papers from JA's, the sentiment is from the McSplendid Farm set from TGF, Miss Anya was part of blog candy that I got from Erin. She sent two of each image, how sweet is that? Thanks Erin!
Okay, off to finish making dinner...Happy rest of your day everyone!!
~*Aloha

Easel with Izzy

Hello everyone (again)! My first post for Sunshine and Giggles is found below. Janice is having a DT call and debuting a new site so be sure to check it out!

I keep making these cards for challenges and not getting them in on time, so I decided to do a double post before I forget.

This is my first easel card, and I promise to contain myself and not do these everyday. haha! I just loved it! It's so fun to make, what a great way to showcase a card on itself.
Here are the challenges I used with this adorable new image named Izzy (Twinkle Tots line) by The Greeting Farm:

Anya Ink : color challenge {blue and orange}
Anyone For Anya?: recipe challenge {3 papers, 2 buttons, 1 bow}
Crazy 4 Challenges: Easel card
Card Patterns: Sketch challenge

A closer peek (just because I finally stopped being lazy and embossed the image first):

I received some new N copics in the mail as an early HB present! I was so happy to color Izzy up with them.

Thank you for popping in to see me! Have a wonderful rest of your day my friends.

*Love and Aloha*

We're all part of a Rhythm Nation!

Happy Monday everyone! :D I hope your weekend went well? If you haven't heard about the Rockin' challenge over at Club Anya, then let me fill you in. All you have to do is create your favorite rockstar from any Ian/Anya image. Of course, I chose Ms. Jackson as she was my favorite while I was in high school. When she came out with such strong independence and incredible choreographed videos, I found my idol. Although this was probably the last album that I bought of hers (the others couldn't compare to Rhythm Nation 1814 and Control), I can still remember most of the lyrics and dance moves. haha! TMI!
For Janet, I stamped Dress Me Anya on to SU's creamy caramel cardstock. Even though the color comes out flat, this is my favorite shortcut when I want a darker complexion. Since Janet is pretty curvy, I trimmed her into more of an hourglass shape. {*sigh...if only it was that easy IRL!}
I put her in an all black military jacket, fitted jeans, cinched belt and boots, then added the gold insignia with stickles. I lengthened her lashes a wee bit, tried to do her fabulous cheekbones, and added her beauty mark. In the actual video, Janet's hair is pulled back into a regular ponytail. That is so hard to acheive with a card!! I braided ribbon instead, it came out so much better than my original attempts.

My favorite but most difficult part of this card? It was her earring. Janet sported the hoop earrings, with one holding a key. I just had to pay homage to this fashion statement by making an actual miniature version of one with silver wire and silver DP. And I'm not even telling you whether or not I personally wore one just like it in high school. All I can say is that a diary key is the perfect size for a silver hoop. lol! ;)

Since the entire video is shot in an industrialized, very dark, silver, smokey environment, I soon found out that all of that can be quite overpowering. I decided to do something a bit more simple by honoring the platform that she and her dancers groove on along with silver elements behind her.
Want to see more samples? There were the most amazing DT cards at the challenge announcement, they are all now displayed HERE in TGF's galleria with the other card entries. Dance on over there, it's guaranteed to make you smile.
Have a wonderful Monday everyone!
*Love and Aloha*

A True "Fairy"-Tale/Egg Hunt Contest

Hahaha! I couldn't resist the pun along with this picture. :D So what's my big news? Well, this posting has several components so please bear with me.

First and foremost, it is my wedding anniversary! DH and I have been together for 15 years and I am truly blessed. Here's the fairy tale part of it all: It was love at first sight. For both of us. Did I believe that ever happened? Uh, no. And so I am sharing this true story with my blogging and stamping friends.
After a long night at work I opened my apartment door, turned the corner, and there he was on the couch with a group of our friends. It turned out that he was a friend of my roommate's boyfriend who, btw, was drunk so DH offered to drive that night.
(Warning grammarians, here come the cliches!) Angels singing? Check. Glow all around him? Check. Everything in slow motion? Check. Goofy grin? Double check, we were both smiling...and we have been together ever since. So Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband, who still makes my heart skip a beat all the time, like when I see him being silly with the kiddos, coaching his football and basketball teams, and especially vacuuming.

Second part - if you want to know a little more quirky stuff about me Club Anya is featuring yours truly in the blog today! Woohoo! I was so excited when Jessica emailed me to tell me the schedule and that it coincided with my anniversary! Consider yourself warned before you read my 13 facts, there's some weird stuff in there...I'll understand if I have less followers by the end of the day.

And finally...because my life focuses more on blessings and positivity, I wanted to celebrate today with all of my virtual friends! Here is my little surprise for YOU. Remember this from Monday?
Look at the banner on top...because I am hosting an egg hunt!! Guess how many eggs are on this house INCLUDING the 3 that Anya is already holding? Let me help out a bit, there was no intentional number, like, it's not 15 because DH and I are celebrating our anniversary. I was cutting and pasting eggs when I thought up this little challenge, so I had to count them after I was done. Please don't bother counting them in the pictures, and I say this lovingly because there are some that are peeking out only a little in the grass and hidden in the owl's tree. This isn't meant to be a tedious contest at all, you can just throw out a number. The contest ends on March 26th 11:59 EST, I will post the winner on March 27th's posting which is happily my sister's bday as well.
So what's the big prize? Since I am uber honored to be a guest designer for Club Anya's 1st DT (TY Jessica and Marie!!), I am giving away your choice of 3 TGF DIGIS!!! Baseball Ian anyone? Easter Anya? Adorable storybook inspired Anyas? And don't forget her other fun Digis as well, I love this line! OR if you aren't a digi fan, then you'll have your pick of any single Ian or Anya image, any of the sweet fairies, or Dream Quotes and I will ask Marie to ship it directly to you. The correct guess on the dot or closest without going over will win. If there are multiple correct guess-ees (haha) I will draw a name using random.conscience which isn't a real site but will haunt me forever if I even think of cheating or playing favoritism.

Are you ready to start guessing? Please post your ONE guess on this blog in the comment section. This way when it comes time to reveal the actual number, it will serve as proof that it was you. If you don't have a blog or are having a hard time posting (sorry, I keep trying to tweak this problem) then please PM me on SCS (jonjinko) or email me at jonjinko@hotmail.com with 'Egg Hunt' in the subject line. I will post your name and guess in the comment section for the same reasons. International friends are more than welcome to join in!

Are you still here? THANK YOU for staying until the credits rolled! You can go now and post your guess. If you really want to look at the Easter House again in the post below (don't look too closely or you'll see the flaws, haha!), note that there aren't any hidden eggs in the back of the house, nor in the actual magazine holder, and the little Anya peeking out the side window doesn't have any eggs because she hasn't been outside yet. ;) Have a great day everyone!
*Love and Aloha*

I LOOOOVE Mondays!

Yes, uh-huh. You read that right. And I am not being sarcastic. I love Mondays because it's a fresh start. It's like the first quarter of a football game. It's like the season premiere of your favorite tv show, a reset button. And it's a chance to redeem yourself after a blah weekend.
With that said, I apologize for my crappy card posting this weekend. I was part of Paper Makeup Stamps blog hop yesterday and felt like I didn't do my best job with my card sample even though I had an awesome sketch to follow! It was a tough weekend with 3 of our kiddos under the weather. :( So I apologize to Katie although I know the other 20+ blogs all did awesome cards!
Since I felt so unusually grumpy yesterday, I reached for what relaxes and calms me. For some it's a cigarette or a glass of wine. For me, my scissors, glue and a bare magazine holder.
And sure enough this cheered me up! First off, look at this adorable Easter Anya from The Greeting Farm! She is available right now in digi format. Instant gratification, Marie truly understands us. Why the crazy DP? Well, when I was young I used to wonder how our neighborhood would look if we could have designs on our houses. haha! Wouldn't that be a fun street to hang out at? And so I made my daydream come true since I fell in love with this paper.
Here is the angled side view of the magazine holder. Of course the Spring flag was a must! So many of our houses have theirs up already, despite our ongoing 30* weather. Ugh.


Here is a close-up of Anya. I flocked her ears just because it told me to. haha!


And here's Mr. Owl from TGF's Forest Friends set. He even stayed up to watch the egg hunt. :D
And on the other side of the magazine holder is a window with a mini little Easter Anya being sneaky and trying to peek. teehee! There's also a mailbox and tufts of grass with not so subtle hidden eggs.

As you can tell, I am in a much better mood now. So good, in fact, that you MUST come back on Wednesday for some very exciting stuff. ;)
You want some hints? There's a true story and a little bit about me that you'll find out about.

Here's another hint: It has something to do with today's post.

And one final hint: I know that whenever you feel blah or in a rut, the best thing you can do is to give to others. See? I am already smiling from ear to ear! Hope to see you then!

My question of the day: What color and patterned prints would your house have? Mine would be a light shade of orange with flowers and polka dots.

Have a wonderful Monday (and that's an order)!

*Love and Aloha*

Yet another altered item from me...

Hi everyone! We're half way through and headed to the weekend. Yay!
I had an extra band aid tin from All That Scraps and decided to alter one for my DD. She was trying to get one out this morning before school and the cardboard box the band aids normally come in was falling apart. Poor thing! So I did this in her fave colors of baby blue and brown and used Nurse Anya from The Greeting Farm. She kind of looks old school, doesn't she? I think it's her retro nurse outfit which gives her a classic feel. So what's on her tray? Orange juice and a powdered donut hole. haha!
I got the DP from Michaels and thought the circles and polka dots were fun. The ribbon pieces were random ones that I used to match the DP. And wouldn't you know, it got a smile out of DD when she came home from school. :D Oh, and it matches my vase and table runner. HAHA!

I am finally done with my ATC's for KelliJo's swap on SCS. phew! This was stressful as so many of the girls in the swap are Dirty Dozen Alumni and fabulous DT members. I knew I had to think out of the box and create art with these. I used the sentiment and butterfly out of the mini set "Bug Me Anytime"from Jessica's There She Goes store. (Note: I have to say that I am not the best when it comes to using photopolymer stamps. However, Jessica's line is so detailed and well etched that they are like using rubber!)
Using my scalloped SU punch, I created the flower, then ran brown cardstock through my CB with the swiss dots folder for the centers. (Thanks for the idea Tammy!) I decided to turn the butterfly into a monarch, which meant coloring in his sweet face so he could turn towards the flower. :( Sorry Mr. Butterfly. I did lift his wings up for flight, then attached his main body area with adhesive on to the flower petals. I made some clouds by freehand so there would be more dimension for the background. These are finally going in the mail tomorrow - closure!
Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!
*Love and Aloha*

And the winner is...

Wait! Stop the drum roll! Before I announce the winner of this week's Super Saturday Challenge, I wanted to show you what she'll receive - A purse inspired by Rock The Farm Anya! :D It's in denim and daisies (can you tell I am so ready for spring?) and will be filled with goodies. I thought it would be fun to give away something that matched this week's Emotional Baggage Challenge. I found the most incredible tutorial from Tammy's blog to share with you all on how to make this purse. She does it HK style. ;)

Okay, so now on to the winner...This week was TOUGH! I loved all the personalities of the different purses, and even had to enlist an outsider for her opinion. I wish I had the means to send all of you blog candy for this challenge as you all made such beautiful cards! Gabby was like, "You pick!" Lol! And Mel gave me her top choice, but I was still so undecided which is why I had to call for back up. Okay, drum roll again please...

Congratulations Sarah! Here is her Vera Bradley inspired card:

Thank you so much for joining me this week. I hope you come back next Saturday when Mel hosts her challenge on her blog.

Happy Weekend to you all! *Love and Aloha*

This cold can't hold me down!!

Well actually, it did. For 2 long days I had the chills and a fever!! Grrrr...right when I was in the flow of organizing my craft room and having fun with challenges, it hit me unexpectedly. The house was at 75* and I was still dressed in 2 layers of sweats AND under 4 - count 'em - 4 blankets (2 of which were comforters and one was our favorite UT mink blanket). UGH! Just thinking about all those layers makes me sweat now.

DH (who, btw, is the most INCREDIBLE Mr. Mom ever) insisted I keep my sick self in bed although he broke down and let me color Sunday night. Haha! All my copics were brought to me with my bag of stamped images. The girls and I colored and watched cartoons.

I finally felt well enough today to work on some projects. In all of my fever and delirium, I kept dreaming of cards and altered items.

Tammy, one of my new TGF addicted friends over at SCS, asked me what I'd do with empty tissue boxes. Seems as if we all have some lying around after this cold season, and especially after my yucky weekend. (BTW, Tammy made the cuuuutest house out of one, check out her blog to see it!) I had this little must-try project sitting in a folder from a family magazine. Since I wanted to keep my mojo flowing, I thought I'd try it tonight and...

VOILA! Here's my altered tissue box - turned into a purse! Now it's not something I'd take to the Emmy Awards, but it was so fun and easy to do.

Here's the funny part. I was so excited to try it that I forgot to take pictures for the tutorial. Whoops! I promise I will do it for next Tuesday though, so this week make sure you keep an empty upright tissue box and join me for the how-to. As proof, I even left the little Marcoal logo on the bottom that says "Fluff Out." :D

Okay, so what's this card all about? Well, let's just say that it has something to do with my challenge that I am hosting this Saturday. Can you guess? It's a fun one, I can't wait to tell you what it is! Okay, here's a clue: This card isn't actually from my own collection but I couldn't resist. Vague enough? I'll give you another hint on Thursday if you promise to come and join the challenge. Hey...I see your fingers crossed behind you. Regardless, come back and see me again - that's if I don't relapse. Whoa, I need to go knock on wood now.

*Love and Aloha*

HAPPY THURSDAY!

Okay, so I have decided that instead of blabbing daily, I will post 4-5 times a week with quality stuff. This means that I have to put on my thinking cap on a daily basis which will be good for me!

Here's a little fun project that I am working on for the kids' other teachers. I love chocolate and thought it would be cuter to personalize the covers instead of just having the Russell Stovers cover. When Marie from TGF introduced this digi image, I knew that it would be perfect for my project.

These chocolates are only 99 cents (or less from Feb 15th on - ha!) and come with a 'template' - all you have to do is trace the top cover heart on to the back of cardstock or DP, cut away and then adhere. Easy shmeasy, my kind of project. I raised Ian and Anya on dimensionals, added ribbon and bling to jazz it up. It took me all of 10 minutes and will be user friendly as I have to make 10 of them by next Friday.

Here is a side view, I would show you the inside but as I was altering, the contents mysteriously disappeared. Lo and behold, 2 little girls of mine walked around the corner with chocolate on their mouths asking for more. ;)

Have a great day, thank you for stopping by!
*Love and Aloha*

Here's my Teacher Anya...

Welcome to another edition of Transformation Tuesday! As you can see, I've been an altering fanatic lately. I just feel like it has more longevity and that the recipient can make practical use of it. I made this magazine holder for DD's teacher as a Valentine's Day gift. They are so much fun and easy to make, I promise!

Here are the supplies that you need:
~unfinished magazine holder (this one is from Michaels)
~glue
~2 pieces 12x12 cardstock
~paint (if desired, otherwise cardstock all around is fine)
~dark ink pad
~scissors
~bone folder
~foam brush to spread glue and/or paint
~gold school bell (used for this project)

{Note: If you decide to paint the door and window, this is a good time to do it. By the time you are done working with your cardstock, the holder will be dry enough to work with.}

Directions for 'wood' effect:
Start by folding cardstock in even increments to whatever size you wish. I folded mine about an inch and a half, then continued folding it in to the rest of the paper.

Score with a bone folder just to get the creases nice and flat.

Once you are done folding and creasing both pieces of cardstock, run each edge along your ink pad. This will give it the defined lines. (If you wish, you can also just draw it with a marker.)

Measure the cs against the wall of the house. Each 12x12 piece of cardstock will cover the wall of your house plus half of the back. The front remains bare, which is easy to cover with your scraps (so don't throw them away). Repeat on both sides and trim as necessary. Using scraps, cover the front part by sections. I find that this is easier to do as the window and door are tricky to cut around.

By this point , you are ready for the FUN part - the decorating!

Using a school theme, I added a white picket fence and some flowers in DD's teachers favorite colors. I attached my Anya and school sign with dimensionals. I added the school bell with a little bit of glue, then added the gingham bow to cover up that area. Here is the side version of my holder.


Tried and true tips:
*Don't worry about undercutting the walls. Make sure the top part is matched up as much as possible, the bottom is easy to cover up with decorative elements. (Not that I would know from experience - ha!)
*Window and door are frustrating to measure and cut around. I strongly recommend using sponge and ink or paint to finish those areas. I went through a ton of paper trying to get it right the first time I altered a holder.
*A great element to add to the wood effect is hand dotting (is that a word?) 'nail' dots to each side of the board as I did with the Dorothy holder (see blog entry right below this one). It gives it an aged/distressed look.
Thank you so much for stopping by! Hope you enjoyed my not-so-quick tutorial. ;) Have a great day~
*Love and Aloha*

My Dorothy Anya

And here she is! :D

I made this for DH's cousin who is a huge Wizard of Oz fan. She loves Home interior decorating magazines (teehee!) so I thought this would be perfect for her birthday.

It is an unfinished magazine holder ($6 from M's) that I covered in cs and distressed. It's hard to tell the exact color of Aunt Em's house as it is featured mostly in black and white. I made the boards uneven on purpose, just so it looked aged by distressing it with 4 different inks. Toto is in a little basket that I made using the weave tutorial. The doorknob is a little button, and I added the primas as Aunt Em's house may have been old, but looked quaint, cozy, and well kept.

Thanks for blog hopping today! I will be taking Monday off to hang out with the kiddos - I spent the whole day at the TGF release party today and missed them. See you on Tuesday for a tutorial on a magazine holder like this.

*Love and Aloha*

A very exciting TGF Thursday/Q#4

I was so excited when I was asked to be a part of The Greeting Farm's new release party this Sunday. Thank you so much Marie and Jessica!!!

After much anticipation, we are FINALLY ready to launch Club Anya. Our Club VP, Jessica, is SO excited to get things going, see your samples, and have fun challenges, contests, and events.
This Sunday, February 1st, 2009, we have some really fun things planned for you. It all starts at NOON CST on the Club Anya blog with a special "Guess that Anya" blog hop that will ultimately end with the new release of Rock the Farm and an ALL NEW MYSTERY ANYA! (Please note: This card is made with Dorothy Anya, one of Marie's current & huggable digital downloads.)
As if that isn't exciting enough, we will be giving away some adorable Anya Pocket Mirrors to the first 20 people who complete ALL the "Guess that Anyas" on the Blog Hop correctly, as well as completing our Anya "Scavenger Hunt." In addition, we will be giving away a few of the brand new Anyas as well! How awesome is that?
Please email Jessica with any questions as well as any fun samples you'd like to have displayed on the Club Anya Blog throughout the coming months.
Stay tuned to Jessica's personal blog on Saturday for the Official Blog Hop schedule of events, as well as the VERY FIRST SNEAK PEEK of the brand new Anya! Tell DH to have a great time watching the game and you can come hang with us; it all starts on Sunday at Noon. {All the blog hops girls are found there under TGF Release Party ------->}

And don't forget - I have my ongoing TGF trivia which brings us to...

Question #4: How many tutorials can be found on TGF's website?

Have a wonderful Thursday!

*Love and Aloha*

Think outside the box Thursday

I am so excited to show you my inspiration for this blog entry. Many of you have already seen it, but it is worth showing again. This is Susan's {aka craftycrunchymama} winning card for Marie's Anya Fashion Show contest:

Isn't this soooo fabulous? The colors, the perfect details (look at how they all balance out - the rhinestones, the prima, the star brad, bling on the belt), the layout, they all work so darn well together.

But the coolest part about this card is that if you look closely, 'she' is not Anya. 'She' is IAN with braids! Susan wanted to do the challenge but didn't have any Anyas to work with. So she dove in with this entry and was crowned the winner. Bravo Susan!

So for today, I'd like to challenge you all to think outside the box with your stamps. Is there one image that you can flip, turn, add to, stamp half of, to make another image? Imagine the possibilities! I am going to work on one this morning and I might post it here. If it doesn't come out right, then this adorable card will be all you see for the day. teehee! :D

***

Okay, I am back! And guess what? I AM posting a card! It turned out better than I thought it would, but all that I hoped. haha! How is that for confidence? ;)

Well, here it is:

He's actually the horse from Marie's Mcsplendid Farm set. When she announced that she'll be having some type of Unicorn challenge on Friday, my mind went spinning! (It turns out that she has a digi image of an adorable unicorn, I panicked for nothing.) I stamped him with my new memento black ink that I am loving. It has such strong color and doesn't bleed when you color with copics.While I didn't use my one copic on my unicorn (haha), I did line him with crystal stickles. The colors pick up in the DP that I used as well. I did a freehand on the horn and blended it all in with his mane. I can't wait to hear about your ideas!

*Love and Aloha*

My latest craze...

I am never one to be on the cutting edge of crafting. Prime example - I have one copic marker. Usually by the time I am purchasing something, crafters are moving on to the latest thing. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to stumble across this website in someone's siggy line on SCS who happens to be a DT for the company.
Marie's line of stamps called The Greeting Farm had me hooked from the minute I saw her Ian and Anya characters. Absolutely adorable. Yes, some savvy sisters had already heard of her, but - egad, could it be? - that I could actually introduce her to some of my cutting edge friends?!?! And so my love for TGF began. I even started a swap on SCS, and was thrilled when Marie put a link in her blog directing stampers to it!

Marie is so super sweet, she's still at the point where she emails you back and really wants feedback on her merchandise. She now has a gallery set up for uploading cards, but I was giddy to see that she featured this card (below) that I made in her blog! I have never been mentioned ANYWHERE before regarding my crafting! So today to pay homage to this sweet and cuddly line of rubber stamps, here are a few cards that I made with them.

This is my Teacher Anya. I love the Anya faces, they are so innocent and simple. I am not one for really detailed stamps, mainly because having 6 kids gives me very little time to do a good job coloring. LOL! The DP is a DCWV 8x8 pack called Grade School. I was looking for something to match her and jumped out of my chair when I saw this. See my one copic? It's skin tone. lmbo! The rest of the coloring was done with SU pencils and markers.

Here is my Dress Me Anya. This set has Anya and Ian in undergarments with little clothes that you can put on them. She also sells a separate set of just clothes. Marie is hosting her first challenge called the Anya Fashion Show. The idea is to put Anya in her fashionable best. I had some maribou from a Christmas project and turned it into a boa. Anya's dress is stamped on black cs and embossed with SU dazzling diamond EP. I did the same for her headband, then drew on shoes and attached some necessary bling.

This is what Dress Me Anya has on when you stamp her. Instead of undergarments though, I paper pieced some fun DP to turn it into a bikini. I ordered the backgound DP this winter on clearance from allthatscraps.com. Remember my copic collection? ;) Since I only have a lighter skinned tone, I stamped Anya on SU creamy caramel cardstock so she would be a little more tanned. It was so much easier this way than to color in everything. I just had to add the flowers for island appeal. My nesties looked like a beach towel and at this angle, I wanted her to look like she was relaxing with SPF50 sunscreen during the hours of 3-5pm. teehee!

I am finishing up 2 other Anyas that I am entering in the fashion show. The contest ends tonight so I have to brainstorm on my last one. I will be sure to post the fashionistas tomorrow!

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone!
*Love and Aloha*