Good morning, everyone!

This week's Make a Card Monday actually doesn't include a card. ;) I'm in the middle of switching over to Wordpress from Movable Type and all my spare moments are being diminished by the reality of customizing a template I know nothing about. But it's coming along and I should be ready to launch the new site next Monday. So, watch for that.

Anyway, this video shows you how to create a heart-shaped paper clip just like How About Orange showed last week. I followed the visuals over there and it still look me a while to figure it out, so I thought a video would make it that much easier to teach you all how to create one. So enjoy!

I'll catch up with you all a bit later this week. :)

Okay.... super quick here. Heading out the door for work...

Here's the MACM video. Enjoy! :)



Supplies - Kraft card stock, Sweet Slumber patterned paper, Heart to Heart punch (Stampin' Up!); Threading Water edge punch (Fiskars).

Good morning!

Here's another Make a Card Monday video. This week it's pretty long again, although there's no conversation with Jen in the middle this time. But I do talk a bit about another giveaway, so hopefully it's worth watching all the way through. :)

Anyway, enjoy! The video below is in HD. To watch it in normal quality, click here.

EDITED TO ADD: You can find the stamps I used over at twopeasinabucket.com - Hellobot, and Double Bubble.



Supplies - Hellobot and Double Bubble stamp set (Bam Pop); Big Bold Birthday stamp set (heart), Baja Breeze card stock and ink, Ruby Red and Sahara Sand ink (Stampin' Up!); Treading Waters border punch (Fiskars); white card stock (Papertrey Ink); Jet Black ink (StazOn); Dove Blender Pen.

Whoa, Nelly!

You ready for a very different Make a Card Monday? This video is all sorts of weird. I almost didn't upload it the way it is, but Jen thought it was funny. Curse that Jen! :)

I must apologize if you find it boring. Oh, and you might want to have your sound turned up so you can... hear everything. Yeah, hear everything. :)

Thanks for watching! (Normal quality video for slower connections can be found here).



Supplies - Kraft and Baja Breeze card stock, scallop edge punch, Baja Breeze button, paper piercer, and Chocolate Chip marker (Stampin' Up!); Poolside/Greenhouse 6x6 paper pad (Making Memories); Uni-ball Signo gel pen.

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Oh yeah! The giveaways this week are going to start tomorrow. :)

Good morning, everyone!

I filmed this week's Make a Card Monday video early yesterday morning, but didn't like one of the cards. I meant to re-film it and modify the card, but just didn't get around to it. So, you're gettin' the absolutely real stuff! LOL!

I'm still in love with the bright colors in American's Crafts Teen papers. So fun! And I love that they have a paper with just hearts on it. It was begging to be cut up and individual hearts used on separate cards, don't you think? Love it!

This is also one of the first videos I've filmed with my new Canon Vixia HF10 camcorder (the real first one was for TwoPeas and won't go live until the 15th). I LOVE THIS CAMERA SO MUCH! It takes amazing HD video and it's so much easier to edit because I don't have to constantly render it in Final Cut! (Although that might be because I've learned a whole lot more about FC recently).

And... I didn't have any color issues. Hallelujah! There were spots when it was a bit bright, but I figure that's so much better than all the dark areas and color shifting that happened with my Flip Mino HD. So much better. I still love my Flip Mino HD, just not for this type of filming. What do you all think? Better? :)

Anyhow, enjoy the cards this week. Hopefully I'll be back later tonight with the latest Color Inspiration round-up. Until then, happy Monday!

As usual, you see watch the normal quality (easier on slower connections) over at YouTube. :)




Supplies - Basic Black card stock and corner rounder punch (Stampin' Up!); Teen patterned papers and BFF ribbon (American Crafts).

Good morning! I hope you all have rested up a bit after Christmas and are ready to head into New Year's. I, for one, could do with a bit more chocolate. ;)

How did I spend my weekend... Well, we had some major snow hit us. I spent most of Friday outside shoveling snow (even while it was still coming down in a blizzard!). I took it pretty easy though, and did it in small increments so I wouldn't hurt my back. So far so good! Back seems to be okay. :)

I didn't feel like going out and driving in all the snow so I gave myself a LOT of time in front of the computer (yes, I'm a nerd) so that I could learn Final Cut Studio 2. I've finally made the leap from iMovie to Final Cut, but there's a HUGE learning curve. Believe me, it's not for pansies. This software can kick some major tail.

Anyway, after exporting and uploading this week's MACM video to YouTube about a million times, I finally got it to work in HD with synced audio. Hallelujah! Let us all rejoice!

I also figured out how to embed HD video here at the blog. What does that mean? That means that all of you with fast internet connections no longer have to click over to YouTube to see high quality and HD versions (at least from now on you won't). For those who prefer the normal quality, I'll give you a link to head on over to YouTube to watch it there.

(If you're wondering how to embed HD video, go here. Just be aware that your video has to be available in HD over at YouTube for this hack to work).

Let's see, what else happened? On a whim, I applied for the YouTube Partner Program again and... I was accepted! Yeah! This is a direct result of my awesome YT subscribers and blog readers who watch my videos every week. You guys are awesome and I'm so thrilled to be given the opportunity to be a YT Partner.

One of the benefits of being a YT Partner is that I don't have a time limit on my videos now (the cut off used to be 10:59). This is particularly great because I've been editing the Questions and Answers videos--all FOUR of them! Holy crap! You guys had a lot of questions. Nearly all four videos are over 10 minutes long... um... I guess I talk too much. :)

So, anyway, here's this week's Make a Card Monday video. Sorry for jabbering on and on this morning... Now we'll get to why you're actually here. :)

The buttons I use in the video can be found here: Making Memories Rouge Paperie Blossom & Button Box. The flower I used on a Finally Friday card a couple weeks ago is from the same Making Memories box, but I don't think I showed the container in the video.

Seriously, there are a TON of buttons and flowers in these little plastic containers. I didn't realize how many there would be and when I ordered them from TwoPeas, I ordered two other colors as well... Uh, yeah. I have buttons and flowers coming out of my ears! There are so many!

So, here's the video. And if you prefer to watch it in normal quality, it's available over at YouTube.

Thanks again, everyone!



Supplies - Rouge Paperie Blossom & Button Box (Making Memories); Real Red marker, Kraft card stock, and corner rounder punch (Stampin' Up!).

Good morning, everyone!

First of all, thank you to everyone who has purchased this month's Virtual Card Club. It's been so fun to see what you've all done with it--even after posting it just over 36 hours ago! If you've created something using the card print-out in this month's VCC, send them along to me. I'd love to see them!

Anyway, this week's Make a Card Monday is all about finishing up those last minute gifts, and this takeout box it perfect for it. I found this pattern over at Kim's website and she was kind enough to allow me to adapt her pattern for my digital cutter, the Quickutz Silhouette.

So, here are the files I mention in the video for you to download:

• Illustrator EPS file (for those cutting to the Silhouette using a Mac and Adobe Illustrator)
• JPG image (for those on PCs who are cutting to the Silhouette or other digital cutters that allow jpeg images. For the instructions for the Silhouette, click here.)
• PDF template (for those who want to just cut the box out. Also, this is the file that shows the scoring lines).

If you have any questions about the box, or from the video, please leave a comment. Thanks, and have a wonderful day!

As usual, an HD version of this video is available over at YouTube. But like last week's Finally Friday video, the audio if out of sync... not sure why. Hmm... must do with how I encode it. I'll try to figure out why and hopefully it will be fixed by next week. :)


Supplies - Oh Joy patterned paper (Cosmo Cricket); Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon and Kraft card stock (Stampin' Up!); chipboard stickers (Basic Grey).

Good morning, all! Was your weekend good? Did you get some holiday shopping done? :)

I broke out the clear tags I've used a few times recently in order to finish out the pack (they come in packs of 5). I decided to create some gift tags for all the Christmas gifts I've been buying and wrapping up with the last three tags in the pack. I also thought I'd film it for this week's Make a Card Monday. They're not really cards, but I suppose they're close enough, right? :)

Anyway, I used a boat load of Papertrey Ink stuff on these tags. So cute! I really do love their stuff. And you know me--even though I work for Stampin' Up, I am an equal opportunity crafter! If it's cute, I'll use it! Who's with me?! :)

Be sure to check out the HD version over at YouTube. It really does make a HUGE difference in the quality of the video.


Supplies - Clear tags (Pageframe Designs); 2008 Holiday Tag Collection stamp set, Holiday Vintage Prints paper, Pure Poppy, Cream, and Ripe Avocado card stock, Ripe Avocado ribbons, Vintage Cream ink (Papertrey Ink); 1-3/4" circle and scallop edge punches (Stampin' Up!); Chesnut chalk ink (Colorbox).

Morning, all!

This week's video came about because of this adorable stamp set from My Cute Stamps. Come on now, who doesn't love chocolate?! :)

I have to apologize in advance... This video is loooonnnngggg. I never meant for it to be so long. I just kept going and going and going. I was up late editing, so I think I might have been a bit loopy and didn't realize how much I kept babbling on an on! :)

Speaking of how late I was up last night, while I was exporting the video from iMovie (which took FOREVER since it was HD quality), I watched some TV over at abc.com... Man, I love their HD video player. It looked amazing when I expanded it to full screen. It made my little geeky heart nearly burst. :)

Anyway, I uploaded the video to YouTube this morning, so when this posts, there might not be a high quality version available quite yet. But once there is, you really ought to head over there to watch the video. Seriously. The quality of the video is attrocious below, but when you watch it in high quality, it's a TON bettter.

Enjoy!



Supplies - Sweet Chocolate stamp set (My Cute Stamps); Polka Dot Basics stamp set, Cream, Sweet Blush, and Dark Chocolate card stock, Berry Sorbet ink and ribbon (Papertrey Ink); Kraft card stock, Chocolate Chip marker, and Very Vanilla embossing powder (Stampin' Up!); VersaMark ink.

Hi all!

I'm planning five giveaways this week, so stay tuned. I'll have details at the end of this entry. :)

This week's Make a Card Monday came about because I wanted to use the Bitsy Flower stamp set from Basic Grey. So cute! I love their Urban Prairie line of papers right now that coordinate with this set, so when I saw the whole stamp set--I couldn't help myself!

The swirls are sort of formal looking, but also very playful. I thought that would be perfect for a Christmas card. I also broke out that Colorbox ink that I used in last week's Finally Friday video--the gold ink. Seriously, people. This ink is awesome. They also have a silver ink! I'll have to work that one into a card sometime soon. :)

Oh, and my tip about the embossing powder in today's video? Here's more details... I have a box of fabric softener dryer sheets that I keep with my craft supplies. If I remember to, I'll always gently wipe across the card stock before I stamp in VersaMark. Then when I apply the embossing powder, it doesn't stick as much to non-stamped areas. Just a tip. :)

And onto the video! As usual, you can view it in higher quality over at YouTube (just click on "watch in high quality" below the video).


Supplies - Old Olive, Real Red, and Very Vanilla card stock, Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon, embossing powder (Stampin' Up!); Christmas Colorbox Queue ink and Merry Christmas stamp (Hero Arts); Bitsy Flower stamp set (Basic Grey).

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Okay! Giveaway details... I'm doing giveaways as a thank you for all your support with the Virtual Card Club. I had a great response and I can't wait to get going on next month's projects. :)

So, each day this week (Monday-Friday), I'll be giving away a few things. Just leave a comment (be sure to leave an email address you can be contacted at--it won't be published here, I just need it to contact you), and you'll be entered in the drawing. Please only one comment per person. :) And yes, international crafters are welcome to enter, too! :)

Today's giveaway is...

A pack of Bazzill Dotted Swiss paper (Plum Pudding Trio) and Sassafrass Lass In a Stitch buttons (Green). I love this stuff! BTW, in the picture below, the dotted paper is enlarged quite a bit. The dots are actually quite small. :)



So, leave a comment before 11:59 pm (Mountain Time) tonight and I'll post the winner's name tomorrow. :) Good luck!

NOTE: Comments are displaying weird in some internet browsers past comment #181... If you're browser is displaying things weird, it's just the browser... I am still receiving comments and can see them. No worries. :) Thanks!

Good morning, all!

Hmm... I'm not sure about this week's card. There's just something missing, ya know? Anyway, it was still fun to make. I don't watercolor very often so sometimes I forget how great it can be! :)

Also, I think this Santa stamp is from a retired Stampin' Up! set... Can any of you SU! fans out there tell me?

Before I get to the video, I just wanted to thank all of you who bought the Virtual Card Club PDF. You guys are awesome! And I'll definitely be able to cover my webhosting costs, with a bit extra. I want to thank you all, too, so I'll be giving away some prizes starting on the 1st of December. Think of it as an early Christmas gift. :) Be sure to check in starting next Monday. :)

So, here's the video. And I hope you enjoy it! Oh, and as usual, you can catch it in higher quality (just click on "watch in high quality" below the video).



Supplies - Watercolor paper, Naughty or Nice stamp set, watercolor crayons, AquaPainter, Real Red card stock, corner rounder punch (Stampin' Up!); patterned paper (American Crafts); Uniball Signo Gel Pen; Jolly Christmas stamp set (Hero Arts); chalk ink (Colorbox).

(Dude, I keep making MACM cards with the same title... Merry Christmas. I should branch out, eh? Maybe throw in a Happy Holidays or somethin'. ;)

This week's card is all about the glitter! And easy glitter since it's already on the stickers. I LOVE these stickers from Making Memories! So cool! (The red ones I used on this card are sold out at TwoPeas right now, so try the white ones... silver! Sweet!)

Anyhow, enjoy the video! And as usual, you can watch it in higher quality over at YouTube (just click on "watch in higher quality" below the video).

Morning all! Here's a really super quick MACM. :)

Before I head off for the day, I've received many emails from very confused readers about my last post. There are no new videos posted called "Vintage MACM." That's just a graphic--no videos will play if you click on them. I called them vintage because they're the old videos that I replaced. See this post to learn why.

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UPDATE - Just answering a couple questions that were in the comments:

- I recommend using only StazOn ink on acetate. Regular ink (SU!'s craft pad) will wipe right off the slick surface.

- Any heat applied to the acetate will warp it. I tried to speed up the StazOn drying time when I was making this card and I saw the acetate start to buckle. You can tried embossing on it, but in my experience all you'd end up with is a ruined sheet of acetate. :)



Supplies - Acetate card (Hero Arts); Snowfall and Calendar Alphabet & Numbers stamp sets, Old Olive and Whisper White card stock, Old Olive ink, scallop edge punch (Stampin' Up!); White ink (StazOn); patterned paper (Bo Bunny); buttons (Basic Grey).

I replaced them super quick, so if you find that a video is linked up with the wrong entry, or if any of them look weird, let me know. Thanks! :)

BTW, I tried uploading all the videos to Revver, but it just wasn't convenient. They limit file sizes (only 100 MB) and it was taking too long to compress my video files. I was like, "If this takes any longer, I'm going to lose interest and never finish." So, I'm back at YouTube. They really do make it much easier for people to share videos over there. Sucks that I can't get paid for my content, but in the end, it's the better choice.

Morning, all!

This week's MACM doubles as my contribution to CI 28--even though I hardly used any Pumpkin Pie. I did squeeze it in there on the snowman's nose, but it a rather puny use of it don't you think? Forgive me, there just wasn't another place for it! LOL!

Yes, I struggle with the color combos as much as you guys. :)

Anyhow, I did quite a bit of watercoloring for this one. I don't mention it in the video, but I used watercolor paper. For those of you who are struggling with using a blender pen or watercoloring, you should really try it with watercolor paper. Because it can absorb more, it's much more forgiving and you can really build up color.

So, here are my top fifteen for the color challenge, and below that, is the video.

Enjoy!

TOP FIFTEEN

Watch in high quality here (click on "watch in high quality" below the video).
Supplies - Ruby Red and Sage Shadow card stock, Ruby Red, Sage Shadow, and Pumpkin Pie ink (Stampin' Up!); Let it Snow stamp set (Hero Arts); StazOn Jet Black ink; Polka Dot Basics stamp set (Papertrey Ink); watercolor paper.

Good morning, all!

Ya know how sometimes you're just super thankful and grateful for everything you have and all the wonderful people in your life? I don't think we're grateful often enough. How much better would the world be if we were all a bit more grateful for each other, ya know?

That's sort of where this week's card came from. With Thanksgiving around the corner, it just really has me thinking about the people in my life that I'm grateful for... and not for any particular reason (which would have me send a regular thank you card). Just because they're there and are so good to me. :)

So, go out today and let the people in your life know that you care about them and are thinking about them.

Oh, and enjoy the card, too! :)



Supplies - Stampin' Up! kraft card stock, Simple Serif Mini Alphabet stamps, Loads of Letters and Lots of Letters chipboard, So Saffron card stock, and scallop edge punch and corner rounder punches; Heidi Swapp Forever stamp; Colorbox chalk ink; Sassafrass Lass buttons; Bazzill Swiss Dots paper

Hi all! Here we go again--it's time for Make a Card Monday! :)

Not a whole lot to talk about this morning. Just that I've been madly replacing all the music in my videos. About half of them have been replaced and are available at Revver.com (click here for my profile). All though I'll still upload my videos YouTube, I'm trying out Revver for the time being.

The main difference between YouTube and Revver is the fact that Revver pays all of it's content providers (video makers) with ad revenue. YouTube on the other hand only pays those who are in their partner program--and it's SUPER hard to get into the program. So basically YouTube sits back and makes money off it's video makers. Just doesn't sit right with me. And since I have monthly costs to maintain kwernerdesign.com, any little bit of money coming in each month is helpful. Ya know what I mean? :)

Anyway, hopefully all the videos will be back by the end of this week.

I'll be back tonight to post the Color Inspiration Challenge selections. I apologize for taking so long posting these each week. It's getting harder and harder to carve out the time.

Anyhow, here's the vid!


Supplies - Bazzill Kraft card stock, Making Memories patterned paper, Stampin' Up! ribbon, Hero Arts Three Trees stamp set, Colorbox Ink, Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla card stock, Papertrey Ink Mixed Messages stamp set

Hi all!

I really wanted to make a super simple card using minimal supplies for this week's MACM, and I don't think I could get any simpler! :)

Anyway, I fell in love with these flowers when I saw them over at the TwoPeas store. (They're sold out right now, but they have other colors that are available). What I didn't know about them though, was how big they are! They truly are sized for a 12x12 scrapbook page. Fortunately, they can be taken apart and only a few of the circles used, which is what I did for this card.

I plan to use the large petal circle on a 12x12 layout soon. :)

Anyhow, enjoy the video and as usual, you can view it in high quality by clicking here and then on "watch in high quality" below the video over at YouTube. :)



Music in video - "Little Wonders" by Rob Thomas
Supplies - Chocolate Chip card stock (Stampin' Up!); patterned paper (Heidi Grace); flower (Prima); ribbon (Papertrey Ink); button (Fancy Pants).

Good morning, all! I hope your weekend was fabulous! Me, I spend most of it organizing my craft room. Is it just me, or am I ALWAYS organizing my craft room? :)

Anyhow, even though it's only October, it's never too early to start on your holiday cards. So, here's my first official Christmas MACM of the year. However, I won't subject you to holiday music until November. (Although, I've been listening to Christmas music since... oh, July?)

I don't know about you, but I {heart} this stamp by Hero Arts. It's so adorable! I just love those little owls! :)

Oh, and before I forget, I've made my card for the Color Inspiration challenge this week, and I've selected my favorites. I just need to compile them all. I'll post them tomorrow morning.

Anyway, here's today's video. (Watch in high quality here, and then click on the "Watch in High Quality" link below the video. Seriously, it makes a HUGE difference.).



Supplies: Three Owls stamp (Hero Arts); Polka Dot Basics stamp set; Pure Poppy card stock; ribbon (Papertrey Ink); Garden Green, Whisper White, and Old Olive card stock; Chocolate Chip ink; Garden Green, Only Orange, Tempting Turquoise, Chocolate Chip Basic Black, and Real Red markers; corner rounder punch; blender pen (Stampin' Up!).

Hi all!

I finally had the chance to make a card last night. Just a super easy one. But I absolutely love this stamp set from Cosmo Cricket! Such funky little animals!

I first bought the line's pack of patterned paper while I was in Minnesota a few weeks ago, and then I saw the stamp set over at Two Peas. I had to have it!

Anyway, enjoy the video! (Oh, and hello--I look half asleep at the beginning because I was).

Seriously, watch it in high quality over here (click on "high quality" under the video).

Good morning, all!

I had so many questions about this card, I just had to make a video on it. :) I also decided to have it do double duty and I use this week's MACM as my Color Inspiration card. Such pretty autumn colors, right? :)

I'll be back tonight to post the selections for this week's round-up. I have an eye appointment this morning so I don't have the time to the post them now. Forgive me!

I also wanted to point you guys over the the Garden Girls blog over at TwoPeas. Today was my day to post a little something, so I have a few more cards over there. They use more of the AC Flair that I used for this month's card club, so now if you buy the flair, you'll have plenty of ideas on how to use them! :)

Have a wonderful day and I'll catch you guys tonight!


Watch in high quality here (click on "watch in high quality" below the video).



Supplies: Say It With Scallops stamp set, Polka Dot background stamp, Chocolate Chip and So Saffron card stock, vellum, Winter White detail embossing powder, Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon, Bravo Burgundy and Pumpkin Pie markers, and Scallop Sqaure punch (Stampin' Up!); VersaMark ink; Coluzzle.

Good morning, all! It's early and I'm tired. :) But here's the video for this week.

As usual, watch in high quality here.



Supplies: Old Olive card stock, 1-3/4" circle and scallop edge punches, paper piercer, Fine Cosmo glitter, Perfect Plum ink (Stampin' Up!); patterned paper (American Crafts); Friendship Messages stamp set (Hero Arts).

Hi all! This week's card is actually a gift card holder. Long time readers of my blog might remember that I made a few these about a year ago. Well, I thought it was time to break it out and make another. Once again, this is based on a gift card holder I got from Kelly Lunceford. :)

In video editing news, I also switched to a more robust movie editing software and let me let you... It's SO complicated.

I was using iMovie previously and got Final Cut Studio 2. It's WAY more software then I'll ever need. Now I know how people feel when we jump into using Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.) for the first time--overwhelmed!

I mostly just wanted to making pretty little animated titles. I didn't need all this other stuff! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the little added features. I'm still figuring it out, so it might be a bit less polished this week. I need to figure out how to export the video with the best quality. There are so many settings! AHH!

BTW, the video is MUCH better in high quality (click here and then on high quality beneath the video).


Supplies: Eastern Blooms stamp set, Basic Black and Whisper White card stock, Basic Black ink, Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon, 1-3/4" circle punch, pastels (Stampin' Up!); patterned fabric paper (KI Memories); brads (American Crafts); VersaMark ink.

UPDATE: Sorry about the broken link to the template. It's fixed now. :)

Hi all!

Sorry about the delay in today's video. I had a four-day weekend and truly enjoyed each minute, including pushing off the video until the very last moment! Eek! Anyway, here we are and it's still Monday, so let's make a card. :)

This card really stumped me. I had a small not-very-detailed sketch that I was referring to, but it sort of seemed off to me once I'd finished the card. I think maybe it needed a bit more color. Hmmm.... Oh, well!

However, the one part I absolutely love about this card is the curved edge. After I sketched it out, I knew I would need some sort of template so that I could get the two curves to look right, so I created one. :) You can download it below. It will fit a standard size card (4-1/4" x 5-1/2"), but I'm sure you guys will find a million other uses for it. :)



And on to the video!

Watch in high quality here (click on "watch in high quality" below the video).

Hi all!

Do you ever sit down to make a card and then... you're just not "feeling it"? Just nothing creative is happening? That describes this week's Make a Card Monday. :)

Oh, well! Sometimes it comes easier than other times, right? In fact, I really wanted to use Rose Red for the Hi stamp, but couldn't find my Rose Red stamp pad. Substituted with Purely Pomegranate and it just never looked quite right. Like I said before, oh, well!

Anyway, hope ya'll had a great weekend. I went to see two movies--one was good and the other was two hours of my life I'll never get back.

On Friday night, I saw Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 which was really good. It was interesting to see how they combined the rest of the books in the series for just one movie. And there were so many great parts. America Ferrera is awesome in this movie. On a side note, I saw this on the drive home. :)

On Saturday--thankfully a matinee because I'd hate to have paid full price--I saw The House Bunny. Oh my word. I heard the same people that were behind Legally Blonde made this movie too, so I had hopes that it wouldn't be as dumb as it looked. I was wrong. It really was that dumb. Seriously, you could skip this movie. Maybe rent it, but even that's a stretch.

Anyhow, on to the card!


Watch in high quality here (click on "watch in high quality" below the video).

NOTE: More website errors... GRRR! All the comments you guys left earlier this morning are gone. :(

Let's see... I have lots to cover this morning. :)

1. Thank You
I have to thank all of you for your lovely emails and messages of concern and well-wishing that you've sent over the past week. Ya'll are too cute. It's good to know that I was being thought of. :)

2. Blog Issues/Design
Those of you who are reading this over at my blog will notice a new design. I didn't really want to redesign, but was forced to after I updated my blogging software (Movable Type 4.2). The new version and my old design didn't get along so well and gave me fits.

On top of that, my webserver was giving me (and you!) fits and wouldn't allow any comments through. Hopefully it's working better now, but be forewarned--my webhost is still troubleshooting it and trying to figure out what went wrong. The database has been resetting itself (for lack of a better description) about every 6 hours, so most likely in a few hours from now, you won't be able to comment. If that happens, email me and I'll stick a bandaid on it and we'll limp by for another 6 hours.

It's ridiculous. I know.

On a postive note, though, everything should be functional. Including the "remember me" checkbox when you leave a comment! That in particular always bothered me, but I could never get it to work.

Also, you can now reply to comments by click on "Reply." Go ahead, reply to someone else's comment. It's pretty cool. :)

3. KWernerDesign Forum
The forum died a quick death when the blog did, but I've set it up again. I saved the responses so far and included them in my initial posts. Unfortunately, everyone who registered before will have to register again. Sorry guys!

EDIT: I can't get the forum to work correctly, so it's offline until I do.

4. My Back
I went to the chiropractor twice last week and am finally on the mend. I'm still pretty sore--probably from laying down for nearly a week straight--but at least I'm functional. I'm taking it super slow, especially after working a full day last Wednesday and seeing my progress halt and backtrack... No more! I'm going to watch it very closely.

5. Color Inspiration Round-Up #18
I'm so sorry, kids. I don't think I'm going to get around to making the grid of images for you this time. Please forgive me. I just really want to keep looking forward and starting everything new. But please go back and look at all the entries. I looked at them while I was in bed (with my laptop propped up next to me), and there are so really awesome cards in there. :)

6. This week's MACM
But I did finally get to make my card! I used the same sketch I shared with you last week, and the colors from the last Color Inspiration Challenge. Lots of embossing on this one. Enjoy!

As usual, also available in high quality.

Hi all! I can't believe it--this week my oldest nephew is turning nine! Crazy! Anyway, for his birthday, I decided to make him a card. :)

I hesitated to put the bow on 'cause it a little girlie, but then I didn't think it'd be too bad. After all, a girl (me) is making the card, right? What do you all think?

Anyhow, enjoy the video. Like it says at the beginning, I was fighting off a headache yesterday. I think I'm just so exhausted from all the fun at Convention! Man, that was a crazy week!

Of course, the video is also available in high quality here.

Hi all! Had some video uploading issues this morning. But hopefully the video will work. I always try to have the "thumbnail" be a picture of the card, but today... Not sure what happened. Oh well!

Anyhow, enjoy the card! Super busy since I'm heading off to help out at the SU! Convention, so this entry's gonna be super short! :)

As usual, also available in high quality.

Hi all!

This week's card sets the record for "world's easiest card." :) Seriously, it only took me 13 minutes to do! And that includes trying to figure out what to do there in the middle for a couple minutes (I cut out that part of the video-- otherwise, you'd be sitting there like, "Hello? Isn't she going to do something?").

Anyway, enjoy the card and I'll be back later tonight for the Color Inspiration #16 Round-up!

BTW, did any of you see Batman this weekend? Oh. My. Word. I loved it so much! Definitely a very intense movie. And so good!

We saw it on an IMAX screen and 40 minutes into it, the screen shut off. You should have heard the whole audience... Collective gasp and then tons of grumbling and shouting.

Twenty minutes later, it was playing again, but not without starting up without sound for about 30 seconds. So, I missed about a minute in there in the middle. But even with technical glitches, it was AWESOME!

Also saw Mamma Mia this weekend. So good. I loved it! I've always loved Abba, so it was super fun to see the movie. Although, I could have done without Pierce Brosnan singing... Um, awkward. Just didn't seem right. He looked like he was choking the entire time. I wanting to yell at the screen, "Just take a breath!"

Even with that, I loved it. Such a fun movie. Who wants to go to Greece now? ;)

Hi all!

For this week's Make a Card Monday, I wanted to break out some paper I haven't use for a LONG time. The blue patterned paper is actually fabric paper from the KI Memories line Love Elsie. It has an adhesive on the back, but I wanted to pop it up from the card base, so I left the backing paper on.

I also covered a chipboard star with card stock. For more instruction on covering chipboard, please watch this video.

Anyway, I hope you all had a great weekend. I mostly lounged about the house and read. We're reading A Thousand Splendid Suns for our book club at work, and so far I really like it. I'm not too far in yet, but what I've read is really outstanding. I love this writing style. :) Have any of you read it? Without giving anything away, what did you think?

Anyhow, here's the video. :)

Good morning, all! (Unless, of course you're in a far away country where it's evening). :)

This week's Make a Card Monday came about because I had two packs of American Crafts rubons that I had rarely used. Both had the same designs but one was in brown and the other in white... Hmm... What to make?

I thought to make a card that uses only those two colors. But I substituted Very Vanilla for the white just so that it would soften the contrast just a bit. Even though the rubons were white, it doesn't really bother me too much.

It looks like a wedding card, huh? That wasn't what I was aiming for, but it certainly looks like one now. No complaints here, though. A card is a card. :)

Anyway, the card came together SUPER quickly! I wouldn't mind making a few more of these. :) Watch in high quality here (click on "watch in high quality" below the video).

Hi all! Thanks for being patient for today's video. :)

For those with high-speed internet, check out the video in higher quality over at YouTube. Just click here and then below the video click on "Watch in high quality."

Anyway, I used some chalk ink on this card. I LOVE chalk inks! They just look... so soft, or something. Just a cool look. I wish I had even more chalk inks to work with.

I also used a Stamp-a-ma-jig like you wouldn't believe! When I started stamping all those dots, I was all, "Hmm... this might take a while," and then I kept going and wanted to kill myself! That's a lot of dots! And just think--what if I'd tried to stamp the ENTIRE front of the card? Crazy! It was almost as bad as working with all those punched circles in my last entry's card. ;)

I also did a bit of individual color on the Happy Birthday stamp. I wasn't sure if the chalk ink would work in this case, but I was happy to note that it did. :)

Before I forget, I created an iTunes iMix for all the songs I've used in videos (including the Holiday ones). If the songs were bought from iTunes or could be found on iTunes, they're on this list. Plus, you can buy all of them at once, or individually. See it here.

Anyhow, on to the video!

Hi all! The Make a Card Monday video is uploading to YouTube right now. It's taking forever! Anyhow, it should be ready in the next few hours. :)

I decided to upload a larger file (higher quality) but then realized after I'd already uploaded it once that there was a glitch in the file. So... I'm uploading it again. Joy. :)

But that means that if you watch the video over at YouTube, you can click on "Watch in higher quality" and the video will be MUCH clearer. Seriously, it looks as good as when I'm editing it on my computer. No more pixelation! :)

Until then, enjoy your Monday morning (or Monday afternoon depending on where you live--whassup, my Aussies!?) :)

Good morning! It's so early, it's not even bright and sunny here yet. I'm writing this at 12:15 in the morning! :)

Before I head off to bed, here's this week's card. Sort of a different card for me. But the more I look at it, the more I like it.

Often I'm asked if I work from sketches when I make my Make a Card Monday videos. Sometimes I do. However, this card was created by just wingin' it. I had no plan whatsoever. Sometimes that works out for the good and other time it's atrocious. You just never know what you're going to get, ya know?

What about you guys? Do you plan ahead? Play it by ear? Or maybe something in between. If I don't have a sketch, usually I'll at least know a few things that I'd like to use, I put them out on my desk, and then I start creating. But like I mentioned above, this card was just random. Flyin'-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-random. :)

Enjoy!

Hi all!

This week's card is for one of the many people I know that announced just this week that they're expecting! Seriously, there is something in the water around here... everyone's pregnant! :)

Anyway, I'm still obsessing over these Educational Insights alpha stamps. Just can't get enough of them! We used them at card club on Thursday, and then I had to break them out for Make a Card Monday.

I also am stuck on an embossing kick. Any and all stamping has to include embossing!

I go through these phases every once in a while when nearly everything I create uses the same supplies or techniques. I bet many of you go through these phases too. Either colors, stamps, ribbons, tools.

What phase are you in right now?

Then again, maybe it's just that I use whatever is within reach on my craft desk (aka whatever is hanging out on the top surface of my mess). ;)

Hi all! I'm actually prepping this entry on Friday night since I won't be home on Monday to upload a new MACM. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this one.

I wanted to try using the same circle punches technique to create a scallop border on a circle. I've seen these a little bit and wanted to create a card using it.

This card is also my card for last week's Color Inspiration Challenge #9. Some of you mentioned that this was one of the harder challenges and I had to agree.

Such strong colors! And five of them, as well! It was definitely a bit more difficult to work with these colors compared to some of the combinations of the past few weeks. :)

Anyhow, I hope you all enjoy this one! Watch in high quality here (click on "watch in high quality" below the video).

Hi everyone! I hope your weekends were lovely and all you Mother's out there were loved with lots of chocolate and yummy goodies for Mother's Day. :)

This week's Make a Card Monday was prompted by the fact that there are a couple birthday's this week at my office. First, there's Andrea whose birthday is today (Holla!), and then on Thursday... well, just watch the video to find out. ;)

(Note: For all you gift-givers out there (you know who you are--hey, Mom!) I'd like to point you in the direction of my Amazon.com wish list ;) ... Click here)

Anyway, this Happy card can be used for many different occasions and I think that's why I like it. :)

Enjoy! And everyone have a wonderful Monday!

Hi all!

For this week's card, I wanted to create an easy Mother's Day card. Can you believe it's nearly Mother's Day? Whoa. This year is just flying by! I swear it was Christmas yesterday!

Anyway, I used many of the same supplies for this card that I used a couple weeks ago. I wanted to show that you can use the same products but get a different look. :)

Okay, so I'm super tired, but I should go get ready for work... I really need to get to bed at a decent time tonight, especially after staying up late last night to watch my TiVo'd episode of Brothers and Sisters. Anyone else watch it? Hello. I love this show. :)

For all you French manicure fans out there, I found the best colors for a natural manicure. I painted my nails a couple days before I filmed this video, so you can see it in this video. I used Essie Marshmallow and Mademoiselle. LOVE this combination. :)

Hi all!

Wow, Make a Card Monday nearly wasn't made this week! I had a super busy weekend. Well, except for the three hours I spent watching the BBC's Sense and Sensability. But that doesn't count because it was awesome. It's the version that's showing on Masterpiece Theatre in the US right now as part of the Complete Jane Austen series on PBS. However, I have the DVDs so I'm watching it all at once. :)

For those of you who like the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice, you'll like this version of Sense and Sensability. Totally great. In fact, I bought this box set for my mom for Mother's Day. It has the new BBC version of Persuasion and a new movie called Miss Austen Regrets included as well. You should all go watch it. I'm telling you. Awesome. :)

Anyway, this week's card sort of resembles a book. In fact, I started out covering two squares of chipboard and was planning to make it like this, but then I switched to just card stock.

I'm afraid I don't have any measurements other than it's 3.5" x 3.5". All other measurements after that I just eye-balled. So if you'd like to recreate it, you'll have to do a bit of measuring.

Here are the stamp sets I used, though. I bought these from scrapsupply.com: Autumn Leaves Universal Symbols and Pink Paislee Spring Fling. The paper I used is by Scenic Route.

Happy crafting everyone! Ooo... I just realized that my book club is today and I haven't read the book... oops! DANGIT! I don't want to go without reading the book! Hmm...

On to the video!

NOTE: The Name Stamp I list below is currently out of stock from scrapsupply.com, but they have more on order. So check back soon!

Hi all!

This week's card is for Annie! She was in the Salt Lake Marathon on Saturday! I'm so proud of her! GO ANNIE!

I really wanted to use some of the new stamps I bought from scrapsupply.com so this is the card I made. I totally fell in love with the Maya Road "Hello My Name is" stamp when I first saw it! I love a similar image that's in Stampin' Up!'s Messenger Accents & Elements, but as a stamp, I can use it over and over!

Not to mention these journaling background stamps (the dots)! HELLO! I love these for backgrounds!

I actually really struggled on which alphabet (stickers or stamps) to use for the "awesome." In fact, at first I was going to use some unmounted rubber stamps that needed to be put on EZMount first. I had video of me mounting the stamps, but then it didn't look quite right for this particular card. I'll save the video of using EZMount for another day. :)

Anyhow, on to the video!

Hi all!

It's back to the usual schedule for Make a Card Monday! :)

This week, I decided to show you all how to create the woven ribbon square that I showed you a few days ago. I'm pretty sure nearly everyone learned simple weaving in elementary school, so this is super easy.

For this card I used Lisa Bearnson's kit for the month of April, and let me tell you--I love this kit! So many awesome pieces in it. I think they're just about sold out, but if there are some still available, you need to order it right now. Right now!

Anyhow, hope you enjoy this week's card!

Oh, and ya'll should head on over to Erica's blog and wish her a happy birthday. Happy Birthday, Erica!

Hi kids!

Unfortunately, there will not be a MACM this week. I got back home from the cruise late late Saturday night (more like early early Sunday morning). I spent the day in bed, sleeping and icing my leg.

I'm actually going to my doctor today because I think the injury is a bit more serious than first imagined. :(

I keep looking down at my leg and thinking, "My gosh, it looks like I've been in a car accident or something." And then I realize that essentially, I have. I have bruises everywhere, including my right hand which you would have seen had I had the energy to make the MACM video.

This sucks.

No pictures of the leg. Sorry. I did take one, but was all grossed out just looking at it. And it's my leg I was looking at! No one, I mean NO ONE, needs to see it. Seriously.

I will have a Color Inspiration Challenge for ya'll tomorrow, though. :) Watch for that.

Hi all! I'm updating from my not-as-warm-as-I-was-hoping cruise ship!

Anyway, here's this week's Make a Card Monday. I've been really wanted to use these Basic Grey die-cuts and I'm just now getting around to using them. Plus! The Love Elsie ribbon was too luscious to pass up!

This card is pretty straight forward and it uses a design that I find myself using quite a bit. It's my no-fail card template. :) If you've been around here at the blog for a while, I'm sure you'll recognize the elements. However, this time I mixed it up by using two ribbons. :)

So from sunny Bermuda, here's another Make a Card Monday!

Hi all!

This week's MACM is just a simple card that can be pulled together quickly (just in case you miss someone's birthday). :) And don't you just LOVE the wide green stain ribbon. Totally in love with it. I have a thing for satin ribbons... just so pretty!

You'll notice in the video that I used American Crafts patterned paper. One of the reasons I really like their patterned paper is that the backside is a solid color. So when I need a solid that matches and isn't as heavy as card stock, I can just use the opposite side.

Even though Stampin' Up! offers solid card stock, sometimes I wish for a solid side in Stampin' Up! patterned papers. Sometimes a girl wants the solid color in a lighter weight, ya know? Like when covering a tin box, for example. Have you guy encountered this, too?

So, how do you prefer your patterned paper? Take my informal survey below, and then watch this week's video. :)

Hi all!

This weeks MACM sort turned out a bit masculine, eh? You can always use some masculine cards because they're the hardest to make. :) It's inevitable that most of the paper crafting industry would be slightly feminine because 99% of paper crafters are women!

Anyway, this card is just a simple one. Easy and quick to make.

On a completely unrelated note, I just finished painting my fingernails in Essie's Wicked. LOVE this color! Sadly, it's not a very spring-like color, so I'm afraid I'll have to switch it up soon. Maybe Foot Loose?

If ya'll are new to Essie and are wondering where to buy it online, the cheapest I've found it is at Head 2 Toe Beauty.

Oh! And I'm planning for another live chat. This time it will be earlier in the day to accommodate those in Europe. Let's plan on Saturday, March 22, at 12:00 noon MDT (USA - Utah - Salt Lake City). Be sure to convert the time if you're elsewhere in the world.

I hope I can catch even more of you on Saturday! :)

Hi all! This week's card is for a good friend and former SU! upline, Erica! :) She's such a cutie so I thought I'd make her a little card. Really, I LOVE making cards for specific people! Especially when their name is on them--let's them know you were thinking about them for the entire time you were making the card. :)

I also tried a little watercoloring on a flower from Stampin' Up!'s Pretties Kit. I like how it turned out, but I also wish I would have put more color on it. It looks a little anemic? But alas, it dried lighter than I anticipated. Remember that for when you color a flower... Paint it darker than you want because it will dry back quite a bit.

I just realized that these colors are similar to the colors in last year's Polka Dots & Paisleys paper. And we all know how much I loved that paper... LOTS! :)

Live chat info after the video.



---------------

LIVE CHAT
Tonight, March 10, 2008
8:30 pm MDT
Link to chat: http://www.livevideo.com/liveshow/starofmay

Time Conversion - If you're in a different time zone, be sure to convert the time by clicking here. Then put in March 10, 2008 and the 8:30 pm. Select USA - Utah - Salt Lake City (my timezone) for the first location, put in your location/time zone and hit "Convert Time."

Join us by text chatting or hook up your webcam. Those with webcams might want to register early for a Live Video account so they can test their webcam settings.

See you tonight! :)

Hi all! I used a few new things to my stash for this week's MACM. The minute I saw Sassafras Lass' Owl Pals product, I feel in love! The little owls are SO so cute! I couldn't find any online stores that carried it yet, but I did find a seller on eBay. So I bought some paper and a stamp set. So cute! I love them!

In fact, I'm going to modify this card for my card club this week. Hopefully I have enough tags for everyone... Hmm... better look into that. :)

So, I joined a live chat last night that someone on YouTube organized (xsparkage... LOVE her!). Got me thinking. Would you guys want to have a live chat? Like with webcams and such? Anyone interested? If there are enough of you, I'll set one up. We can chat and gab like there's no tomorrow. And I'll try to answer some questions but quicker because it's live! :)

So, whadda think? Live video chat? If you have a webcam, I'll be able to see you, too!

EDITED TO ADD: Livevideo.com has a live chat feature where those with webcams can all see each other AND those without webcams can type in the chat window and then watch the other webcams. The live chat would be for EVERYONE who wants to join, whether you have a webcam or not. :)

Owl Pal - Stamp set and pattered paper: Sassafras Lass; Close to Cocoa ink, white card stock, tag, paper piercer and template: Stampin' Up!; ribbon: Basic Grey.

Sorry, all! In a hurry this morning! Video should be pretty self explanatory. :)

Hi all! This week's card was actually made last week! Right now, I'm actually in Las Vegas so I had to film the MACM video early. :)

Of all the occasions that need a card, I think birthdays are the most common. I always like to have different types of birthday cards on hand just in case I need them. This card could be for just about anyone, but with the bright colors I might lean more toward giving it to child.

This video also shows how to mount stamps and a few tips on creating "window" cards with multiple punches. I also do a bit of watercolor painting with Stampin' Up!'s Watercolor Wonder Crayons. As I mention in the video, there are many other ways of using the crayons--this is just one way. :)

Anyway, enjoy the video and I'll catch up with you when I get back in town. Thanks, ya'll!

Hi all!

For this week's video I wanted to do something SO super easy that anyone could do it. I mean, if you know how to cut paper and sprinkle some glitter, you're all set for this card!

When I saw the Making Memories Ready-to-Glitter stickers, I knew I had to try them out. They're similar to Stampin' Up!'s Sticky Cuts Letters, only smaller which makes them perfect for cards. :)

Anyhow, my only complaint is that it's hard to remove the backing on them. Not NEARLY as hard as using Martha's Double-Sided Alphabet Sticker Roll. Now, that was a disaster. You mean they sell these things? I bought some a while back and practically wanted to throw them across the room. Although, I did do one project with them.

Anyhow, enjoy the card!

Hi all!

I'm still obsessing a little bit over Accents & Elements kits, so the card for this week's video uses another kit. :) These really are awesome kits... But enough of that. I'm sure you're all sick of me going on and on about them.

This week's card took 17 minutes, but only because I couldn't decide what to do! It took a bit longer because I didn't really have a plan before I set out to make the card. Sometimes I'll have a glimpse of an idea, but other times like when I made this video, I have NO idea. Anyway, I'm sure if I cut out all the indecisiveness, it would have taken me about 7 minutes. :)

Something to note about the video: I have a typo in it about half way through when I use the felt flower. The Flower Fusion Accents & Elements kit is actually $14.95 US. Sorry 'bout the confusion. I really should upload a new version of this video, but I didn't want to make ya'll wait until tonight to get the new MACM.

Hi all!

Thought I might try another Valentine's Day card. Can't have enough of these, right? :) For some reason, I just love Cocoa, Guava, and Blossom together... such pretty colors! I can't get enough of them so I had to use them on this card.

I think I'm in a Cocoa-Guava-Blossom phase. Do you go through color combo phases, too? I remember two summers ago, I was in an Olive-Coral-Apricot phase (inspired by this card), and then last summer it was Pomegranate-Wasabi-Pumpkin-Sky phase (see it here and here).

I've also been known to just stick with the same colors for weeks at a time. ;)

Hi all!

This week's card was inspired by... well, I'll just let you watch the video.

Anyway, just the first part of the card took nearly 15 minutes! Normally I wouldn't spend so much time on just one thing for a card, but it was the first time I'd tried doing anything like that so I didn't know how long it would take. I think if I do it again, I'll probably be a bit faster because I'll already know what to do. At least I hope I would faster.

Ribbon Flower - All supplies from Stampin' Up! Polka Dot background stamp; Sage Shadow, Basic Gray, and Naturals White card stock; Sago Shadow ink; Pretty in Pink and Basic Gray taffeta ribbon; paper piercer and mat pack.

Good morning!

This week's card features a little bit of blender penning (is that a word?). A few people asked about blender pens, and really, this is all I use them for... to color in outlined images. How do you use blender pens? We all want to know.

In other news, I'm going to the One Republic concert! I won the tickets off the radio and I'm super excited! I have go and pick them up today.

How did I win? The DJ played a mash-up and had people call in and tell them who the artists were. Well, there I was, driving to my card club, at a stoplight. Ehhh, why not. Got out my iPhone, googled the song name and presto! Billy Idol and Justine Timberlake.

Then I was the tenth caller! Yeah! I {heart} my iPhone. :)

Thanks... I Needed That - All supplies from Stampin' Up! Kraft, Basic Gray, and Whisper White card stock; Fun & Fast Notes stamp set; StazOn ink; Regal Rose, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron, and Pumpkin Pie inks; Regal Rose wide grosgrain; Crew Kids Girl Simply Scrappin'.

This was a special request from someone over at YouTube. She wanted easy Valentine's Day cards she could make for her daughter to give to the other children in her school class. This is what I came up with. :)

This card would be super easy to duplicate and make a ton of. Just work it like an assembly line... do one step at a time and then assemble. It can be done so much faster that way.

So, here's the video. BTW, I came to a decision on the voiceover thing. I'll do voiceovers if I need to explain something extensive, but if it's super easy (like today's card), I'll use captions. :)

Thanks for letting me know what you all think. I truly appreciate it.

Oh, and I forgot to note in the video that the heart stamp is from the older Stampin' Up! set Simply Said. Enjoy!


Watch in high quality here (click on "watch in high quality" below the video).

Hi everyone! This week's Make a Card Monday uses the same Imaginisce patterned paper I used in my last video. I just couldn't put it down! I love it!

Anyhow, I'm sitting here in the dark because all the lightbulbs in my craft room went out last night! Ahh! I'm waiting until it's a bit lighter in the day so I can climb up on a ladder to change the lightbulbs. (Vaulted ceilings can be VERY inconvenient, you know). Good thing I don't have to look at the keyboard while I'm typing! lol

So, I'll just keep rambling on while I wait for the video to upload to YouTube...

I tried something new with this video. One of my subscribers over at YouTube (thanks ninajeanette2!) suggested I still have audio commentary. So in this video, I tried voiceovers. I felt like I was doing commentary on a DVD! :) Hopefully it makes it a bit easier to watch. Leave a comment, please, and tell me if you like it better than the text commentary.

Thanks! And on to the video...


Watch in high quality here (click on "watch in high quality" below the video).

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope your holiday is shaping up to be the best ever!

Some of you noticed because I Twittered about, but I bought myself an early Christmas gift! I have been accumulating Target gift cards for a while and I put them all together for a trip to Target on Saturday. I bought a Dyson DC17 Absolute Animal vacuum! It's the best ever! Since it was a larger purchase (nearly half was paid for by gift cards!), of course I named her. Jerrica. Anyone else watch Jem when they were younger? Jerrica was Jem's real life persona.

Yes, I'm a dorky child of the 80s.

Anyway, it's wonderful! It's made for homes with pets and lots of pet hair, and I don't have a pet now, but when I move out I want to get a cat. I was thinking ahead and bought the animal one because of that. It also has a HEPA filter in it so it's great for people with allergies.

Seriously, I'd just vacuumed with my Mom's vacuum right before I went to Target to get Jerrica. When I vacuumed again after bringing her home, I was totally amazed and grossed out by how much dirt and dust the Dyson picked up! I had to empty it after only vacuuming one room! And that was AFTER I'd vacuumed it before!

We had our family (just the siblings and my mom) Christmas dinner last night. I made Kathy's breadsticks and they turned out great! Definitely not as wonderful as when Kathy makes them, but for a first attempt they turned out pretty well. I think I had too much flour and kneaded it too long... oops! But they were all gobbled up so I must have done something right. :)

I opened a gift from my mom last night and loved it right away. It was a pair of slippers. They are so comfy and the first thing I thought of was that I could wear them while making cards! I'm a truly sick crafter if that's the first thing I think of. ;)

You'll see in the video that I had some trouble with a square punch. Well, I figure it out! I was trying to punch off the edge of the card stock. For some reason, the punch needs the resistance from both sides. I tried to punch a square out of the center of a piece of card stock after I turned the camera off, and it worked just fine. :)

Also, this week's MACM was completed in 19 minutes. Once again, Merry Christmas!


Watch in high quality here (click on "watch in high quality" below the video).

Happy 25 Days - Kraft and Chocolate Chip card stock, 1-1/4" square punch, Chocolate Chip ink, Simple Serif Mini Alphabet, embossing powder: Stampin' Up!; chipboard: Scenic Route; patterned paper: S.E.I.; pen: American Crafts; VersaMark ink.

Let's just say we're lucky I finished making this card.

Have you ever had a day when things just never seem to go right? That was my day when I made this video. :)

Anyway, in this video I show you how to emboss on a brad. It's actually very straight forward, but in case you were wondering... Just "smoosh" the top of the brad all over a VersaMark pad, sprinkle embossing powder over top, heat, and then sprinkle more embossing powder and heat again. It doesn't cool off very fast so the second coat of powder should stick to the first without any problem.

There's also a tip in the video on removing rubons that refuse to work.

Anyway, hope everyone's day is better than mine. Seriously, that won't be hard. Oh, and how's your Christmas shopping coming?


Watch in high quality here (click on "watch in high quality" below the video).

Merry and Bright - Patterned paper, felt flower, brad, Thickers, and rubons: American Crafts; kraft card stock and embossing powder: Stampin' Up!; Versamark ink.

Hi everyone! I hope your weekend was fabulous! Sorry for not being around much--I was busy this weekend!

I got to make a cake for my grandma's birthday. I make a White Lemon Sour Cream Cake with Lemon Curd Filling and Buttercream Icing. Unfortunately, I didn't get to try any of it because I was taking photos for my good friend from work, Wendi. Her family is adorable! Maybe I'll share some photos here, but I want to ask her permission first (they're her kids, after all).

Anyhow, here's another installment of Make a Card Monday! Hope you all like it! Actual time to make the card: 43 minutes. Yep, a long one this week! It was all the chipboard letters. :)


Watch in high quality here (click on "watch in high quality" below the video).

Happy Holidays - All supplies from Stampin' Up! Three For You and Fundamental Phrases stamps sets; Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, and Wild Wasabi card stock; Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose Craft ink; Wild Wasabi Classic ink; On Board Lots of Letters; Heat & Stick powder; Dazzling Diamonds glitter; Regal Rose wide grosgrain; corner rounder punch.

This week's Make a Card Monday is brought to you by Heat & Stick powder and a whole lot of glitter! As you can see in the video, I had NO idea what I was doing! I started out thinking the card base was going to be white and then later changed my mind. Oh, well!

Anyhow, I hope you all enjoy it! Actual time to create the card: 23 minutes.

NOTE: The song used in the video is "Nattöppet" by Detektivbyrån. Get a free MP3 download of the song at www.detektivbyran.net. I absolutely loved this song in the Sprint commercials, so I had to track down the song and artist. :)


Watch in high quality here (click on "watch in high quality below the video").

Hi all!

So I'm going to try something new: Make a Card Monday! Feel free to join me, or you can just tune in here to see what I'm doing. :)

After I completed this card, it occurred to me that the sentiment might not be complete! "Have a fun & merry..." what? Where's the rest of it? I totally didn't finish the card! I suppose I'll have to put "holiday!" on the inside of the card to complete it. Hee hee... I'm a dork. Forgive me. :)

You'll also notice in the video that I had no idea what I wanted the card to say! This truly is how I work. I just jump in feet first and try to figure it out as I go. My process is very organic like that. Not much planning outside of picking colors, and even then sometimes I don't know (like when I chose the ribbon in the video).

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy Make a Card Monday! Actual time making the card: 17 minutes.

OH! And before you all start asking, the music is by Diana Krall. :)


Watch in high quality here (click on "watch in high quality below the video")

Merry - Patterned paper: Basic Grey; alpha stickers: American Crafts; Basic Black, Always Artichoke, and Natural White card stock, Whisper White taffeta ribbon, Simple Serif Mini Alphabet, and Cranberry Crisp ink: Stampin' Up!