Today I was going back to look at some of the pictures I had tweeted from CHA and guess what? THEY WEREN'T THERE!!! Nor were ANY of the pictures I had tweeted from prior to 1 day ago. *poof* gone. I'm so sad.

Now some of my older photos are gone forever (because I deleted them from my phone), but the rest I just uploaded from my phone to my computer. So, at the very least I can blog my lost CHA pictures. I think I'll even re-tweet some of them. Grrr to YOU, TwitPic!! *fist in the air*

So I decided to make a collage (ala Tiff at iheartart )

Here are the pic with links etc... Hope you enjoy it!!


(if you click the pic you can see it at a larger size)

Row 1 (L - R) Mackie from @Vintajco natural Brass, @OhMyCrafts, @collageartist (Claudine Hellmuth) teaching us at her Ranger class, Stuart & Heidi from @Stampavie, the beautiful papers from Webster's Pages, and a demo from @tim_holtz.

Row 2 (L - R) The beautiful make n' take from the Idea-ology booth; Angela from @Fiskateers and me; me and Margie (@MRomneyAslett) from The Girls' Paperie; the gorgeous display from @graphic45; the banner from @AmCrafts (American Crafts) their booth was HUGE!

Row 3 (L-R) Kelly - @lawnfawn with her friend Erica; one of the beautiful displays from the DT of Maya Road; more from Maya Road; my good buddy @Moeneeke doing a make n' take at the CHA Consumer show; a peek at the @tim_holtz dies (so awesome) & embossing folders; the welcome sign to the convention center. :)

Row 4 (L - R) Total gorgeousness from the Idea-ology line (love all the new papers!); it's Tiff! - @iheartart; I had just finished making a really cool bracelet with Claudine Hellmuth (@collageartist) over at the Ranger booth; I felt bad, but I caught a snapshot of @CraftyChica on the phone.

Row 5 (L - R) The @CraftCritique folks during the consumer show; the beautiful booth of Taylored Expressions @TExpressions; the really fun chicks of @Craftster (from whom I bought I really awesome shirt!!); awww!!!....me and Monique (@Moeneeke on Twitter), I so loved meeting her; the crazy Cricut Cake by Provocraft (still don't understand the concept, but I'm not a baker, so whatever...but the cupcakes were good.)

I hope I gave you all the necessary linkage & means to follow via Twitter. Tell 'em @papergrace sent ya. :D

I'll be ready to get my hands inky again soon. But today was a recoup day & a day just to hang out with my kitties getting snuggly. I love them.


All my best,

Just a quick post to let you all know that I'm so excited to be attending the CHA SuperShow & Tradeshow this weekend at the Anaheim Convention Center. Going to this is like a pilgrimage, of sorts. Getting to see all the up-and-coming new products and all the new and exciting things our fave crafty companies are going to be showing us this season.

I leave tomorrow evening...hopefully Mother Nature will play nice. She sure hasn't been lately. Nothing but rain for us West Coasters lately. Wreaking havoc on all the best travel plans.

I plan to take lots of pics. I will also blog AND Twitter. So, if you don't follow me on Twitter, you can do so from the sidebar on the right. Yes, I'll have to approve you. But, as long as you're not some weirdo, it'll be fine. ;)

To all my fellow CHA friends.... SEE YOU SOON!!!


All my best,

I really never considered submitting for a Design Team before, quite honestly. But, I gotta say I love the folks over at Simon Says Stamp soooooo much that when they put the bug in my ear about this call, I figured what the heck...why not give it a go?

I went over to the blog (this one right HERE <---click me) and when I saw HOW many people want to be on this design team I almost (ALMOST) changed my mind about doing this. HOLY SMOKES is that a lot of people who want this gig! Of course, they all know what I know. Simon Says Stamp rocks. It's simple. :) No, I'm not kissing you-know-what, c'mon people!! You all know me better than that. Right?! Right.

So today I made a few cards. I made four. One I just didn't like that much. The colors just didn't work for me that much. It reminded me too much of how blah it is outside. So I'm not posting that one. I dig the other three so those WILL get posted. ALL three!! WOOO!! Banner day!! THREE cards in one glorious day. Lucky you. HAHHAH!!

Card one:


I really love this set from Hero Arts (Speckled Ornaments) I can see it being used for so many things, but a monochromatic card was calling out to me. I loved using an Italian dictionary page and stamping on it with Versamark then using Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder. That stuff is so cool.

Card two:


Lots of Basic Grey Origins goodness going on in this card. The paper & the canvas tag...all origins. Just love it. I also love that it has earthy AND bright tones to it. What a great paper line. Glammed it up with a little satin ribbon before adding the natural element of a wooden button.

Card three:



Yep, it's all about Tim Holtz in this one. :) Got the Distress Inks going on, the alcohol inks, distressed edges, Perfect Pearls and the fragment tag. I think the PTI sentiment fits perfectly with that awesome Hero Arts Poppy stamp, though. Bold & bright. Love how this one turned out.

Lots & lots of supplies. Too many for me to type up right NOW!! ;) But I may amend each card to add the specific supplies I used tomorrow.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by to look.

I'm heading off to CHA on Friday! Wooo-hoooo! So excited! Can't wait to meet everyone & have a crafty good time. Hope to bring back some goodies. And be on the look out around my birthday (HINT, HINT) for some really awesome bloggy-goodness. :)


All my best,

Dumb play on words, I know, but I couldn't help myself. So sue me. (NO DON'T!!) I've been wanting to learn how to make easel cards for awhile now, but all of the templates and instructions just blew my little pea-brain right out of the water...until yesterday.

GOD BLESS SPLITCOAST STAMPERS!!! (Click to be taken to their tutorial for the easel card.) So awesome!

I dove right in. Got inky pretty quick & made a birthday card for one of my girlfriends back home. This little card right here:



I love that Basic Grey Indian Summer paper, don't you? I can't bear to use it. I just want to keep it forever it's so gorgeous.

Then later in the day I decided to make a Valentine for a secret card thing I'm doing. I changed the size of the card (the sizes are given on the tutorial link above) and went to work. Here's the result of THAT effort:



Pretty huh? I used Stampin Up's Bella Rose DSP as the focus then worked with that: punched out some butterflies using Martha Stewart's butterfly punch, made circles out of metallic cardstock for the butterflies to rest on, and stuck some small metallic alpha letters on small punched out pieces of c/s then covered them with a page pebble. Easy!! (The red is Riding Hood Red, just in case anyone is wondering).

Both were super simple and I love the result. I'm afraid that the next 10 or 20 cards I make will ALL be easel cards. :D

On another note: Today I'll know whether any of the cards I submitted will be picked up for submission by PaperCrafts Magazine. If you don't get an e-mail you didn't get picked up. This was my first time submitting, and I guess it's a bit rare to get picked up the first time. :( Also, another negative for me is that my style may not fit theirs. *sigh* Still, I'm praying for a miracle!! :) Crossing myself, fingers, toes, eyes...whatever. And I won't give up. So, if you read this: Think happy thoughts for me, okay? They're muchly appreciated. :)

**Edit: Thank you to those of you who were thinking of me today. My first cards submissions were NOT accepted, unfortunately. I wish I could say I'm not crushed, but I am. If nothing else, I am honest. I know the disappointment of this initial rejection will pass soon enough, but right now it does feel a little weird. Then I'll start it all over again. It's one of my few goals for this year. Someday you'll see my creations in a magazine. :)


Thanks for stopping by! Have a fab Thursday.

All my best,

Today is a day of reflection for me. Turns out today is my blog's 1st Birthday. I don't have 4,000 followers and 28,000 hits. I have a small-time blog. A hand-full of followers with just over 2,000 hits, that are (in all honesty) mostly me.

I don't want to bribe people to follow my blog. You either like what you see here, or you don't. I can't (and won't) promise to blog to try to keep anyone entertained. Plus, I'm just not that entertaining.

What I do, is get a little inky every now and again. When my health cooperates, when I have the energy and when I just plain old feel like it. I have learned a LOT since I first started making cards and am now finding where my strengths are. I have learned how to utilize social media (escpecially Twitter) in reaching out and making friends, finding like-minded souls. It truly has been a God-send at rotten and rough times. I am eternally grateful for my Twitter friends.

When I first started making cards I thought you had to follow the rules. But what I know now, is that in crafting, there are no rules. And that any rules there are?... Are meant to be broken, stretched, cut, paper pieced, inked and distressed. :)

So today, on my blogaversary, I wanted to share the very first card I EVER made. It's horrible. But at the time I was so proud. The colors don't match, nothing about it is right. Except that I gave it with love.



There will be no blog candy today. So sorry. I will do that on another day. Maybe my birthday?! (Keep your eyes peeled...it's coming up soon! :) )

But, thanks to those of you who do read my blog, who do follow, who do care. I wouldn't still be here 1 year later if it weren't for all of you.

My thanks always,

I was invited (well, coerced...heh!) by one of my dear Twitter pals Dreena over at Prairie Papercrafts to participate in a color challenge. I was a bit unsure. I'm feeling a bit unsure of challenges these days. But, since I *DO* think she's awfully groovy, I figured I'd do it anyway. Plus, she said she'd tell the Coffee Gods on me if I didn't participate!!! Can't have that now, can we?

I've been itching to play with my new Hero Arts stamps since I got them so this seemed like a really good time to dig in. :)

I'm posting the card tonight to link on Dreena's blog & will update with all the supplies tomorrow (there's TONS!).



I really loved making this card. It was a blast. And I have the perfect person to send it to. (Hugs, Ashley!!! This card is YOURS!)

Thanks for looking and I hope you like what I made.

*Edited to add the loooong list of supplies:

{Supplies:
Stamps - Engraved Flower, Ledger, Essential Messages (Hero Arts)
Cardstock - Chocolate Chip, Kraft, & Naturals White (SU)
DSP - Ambrosia Collection by Basic Grey in Citrus, Mandarin & Fresh-Squeezed.
Other Paper - Grunge-paper (Tim Holtz Ideaology -Advantus)
Ink - Walnut Stain, Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brick (Tim Holtz Distress Inks for Ranger Industries), Jet Black Archival Ink (Ranger Ind.), Perfect Pearls in Forever Red, Perfect Gold & Perfect Copper (Ranger Ind.).
Etc - Staples (Tiny Attacher - Tim Holtz) , Ribbon (Michaels). I also used Ranger's Glossy Accents as "glue" and SU's Dimensionals to help pop-up the petals. }

All my best,

I was totally hooked every single day to all 12 days of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas. Each tag that he created was so stunning, creative, and just mind-numbingly WOW!! He takes you through each step and I was just blown away with his creative process. But then... Day 12. GRUNGE ROSES!! I was swept away to a whole new level of I MUST LEARN TO DO THIS!!! (Sorry for shouting.)

I needed to get all of the supplies. None of which Michael's or JoAnne's really carries. Only one place to go for that: Stamper's Corner in Elk Grove. So, when I went up there for the Hero Arts Debut Party I completely ravaged their Tim Holtz section. It's heaven at that store. Honest.

With all the tools in hand...I put everything aside. I'm lame. I had Christmas, had to go back to Vegas...blah, blah, blah. Excuses, excuses. I know. BUT!! I did finally make them!! This weekend. Yay me!! I started making one before realizing I had the wrong Sizzix die. Oops. But was encouraged to go forth and conquer. So I did. What a mess!! Ink, glossy accents, all kinds of goop everywhere. I doubt Tim is as messy as I was. But, ohhh....OHHHH....the results!! AMAZING! I'm hooked!!



All the supplies needed can be found on Tim's blog. I hope you make them too. They ROCK!!

AND YAY!!

All my best,