Color Challenge #19

Here is my card for the Kristina Werner Color Challenge.



I am super excited about this design, I have been experimenting with overlapping stamped images and a similar collage is featured on the invitation to the upcoming "Sneak Peek" for the Close to My Heart Fall Idea Book premiere in September. For this design, I used black embossing powder and the May Stamp of the Month, black and white card stock and some ribbon. So, Here is my card: "LOVE" enjoy!

I Got an Award!

Here's the award I received from Crafty Sue



New Award



I am a new blogger so this is great!! I sincerely appreciate this award. I have gotten so much inspiration from card challenges and other bloggers, I can't wait to pass on the award to those that have inspired me. I must also tell you the rules.




I have chosen to award the following blogs:

Stamp Your Art Out
Korny Scrapping
Sankari's Sunshine Corner
Wee Inkings
Jenkins Rose Designs



The rules of the award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 5-7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you’ve nominated

My Work Space

A family member recently constructed the MOTHER of all crafting areas. A bonus room featuring a gift wrapping station and matching cute furniture and colorful baskets and accessory holders for every embellishment. I have to admit, I am soooo jealous even though I haven't seen this bonus room, it is already a family legend, I have heard all about it from family members, even grown men are in awe of its beauty and charm. *Sigh*....I keep reminding myself that I am only 25 and I have a tiny house. The basement just had a few walls constructed over the weekend, so I hope to have my own real crafting space eventually with plenty of built-in storage...But for now, I settle for a corner of the spare bedroom. It has large windows which are great for natural light, but there isn't much room for a desk with the big spare bed and clothing dresser in the corner.

The black dresser with the T.V. on top holds only art supplies, pictures and other scrapbooking stuff.







The tan dresser holds clothes, but I've turned the top into a shelf for my albums and Close to My Heart business supplies. You might notice shelf with ribbon holders. I got a K&Co. Ribbon box at the flea market for $1 recently, it is perched atop a ribbon box with a clear lid from Hobby Lobby, this was a really great buy.












So I don't really have any tips on organization, I tend to spread everything out on the floor when I work. I do have a cabinet with a book case on top and a space for storing my paper on bottom. The shelves on top are great for displaying stuff. I am also not so great at making this the scrapbooking room of my dreams....I've got 3 clashing colors of red going on, matched up with black and white accents and green walls....*Sigh* I will get there eventually.




Ooh, before I forget, here is a great find from JoAnn's...It is a recycled newspaper trash can. I've seen this stuff before at Pier One, but it is always so expensive. I got a great deal on this.


I've decided to share this messy space with you because even though it isn't the MOTHER of all crafting areas, it is mine and I like it just fine. To see another work space for my friend and fellow CTMH consultant, click here.

Back to School

This week I will be preparing for Open House....I am looking forward to seeing all of the kids and getting all of the supplies ready. I love opening the new giant boxes of crayons and makers. Still...it is bittersweet...I love having time off. Summer allows me to do grown up crafts! I get to make cards and scrapbook pages at my leisure. Here are a few cards, dedicated to my fellow teachers..."I Can't Wait for Spring Break"...





I love the look of the Doodle Art stamp set from Close to My Heart.

Finally, here is one more card, dedicated to SUMMER...This card utilizes stamps from the CTMH 'Footprints' set. The background is stamped with clear embossing powder (an oops, it got mixed a little bit with some iridescent powder, but it is a beautiful shade for shells!)

Color Throw Down Week 5

Here is my card for the Color Throw Down....I got a chance to play around with some iridescent looking embossing powder...an 'oops' combination that was created when my glitter tray still had a bunch of Prisma glitter and it mixed with clear and'opalesque'embossing powders. Add a little bit of yellow chalk and it looks beautiful. Enjoy!






Ooh, while I am at it, I might as well brag about my most recent classroom creation. I found this great mobile at an art museum gift shop, but the cards/photos shown in the display were not included so I decided to make my own. I used animal stamps from my Close to My Heart collection and embossed them to create a positive and negative image on the front and back of the card.

Inspired by Christmas in July

Last month while I was working on my Christmas in July card, I realized that I have tons of magazines with Christmas card ideas that I lug around and flip through for inspiration. I had the brilliant idea to create an idea book of my very own with the magazines!! As I went through the magazines and I realized that most of the content was just adds and junk taking up space in my Christmas file. (Yes, I have a file which holds all of my Christmas embellishments, card samples, papers, stickers and stamps.)

First, I ripped out the cards that I wanted to keep and put them in a pile, then I found the perfect album. Finally, I got out my glue stick and started pasting them into the album by color. The primarily red cards got a layout page and so did the light blues, also pink, and the mostly green cards, they got their own page too! Of course I cut out things that I like from the magazines, like tags and directions for a seasonal gift box. I even snipped out big, cute Santa for the first page:


Finally, the fun part! I got to use some 3-D letters for the front. I really like to use the word JOY on my cards because it is so short I can whip up a stamp or use stickers and it generally fits on any card. For the cover of my Christmas Idea book, I used Close to My Heart 3-D Chipboard letters and I covered them in red glitter, they look just like Dorothy's Ruby Slippers in The Wizard of Oz!! I also got to use some gold embossing and I whipped out the paint for the chipboard frame.


I am super excited to use this book when making Christmas cards this year....Whenever I see it sitting across the room, I just want to grab it and brainstorm...I left lots of white areas for sketching out card layouts and trying out techniques before putting them on a card, I can even put in swatches of paper and stamp my stamps in the book so that I will know what I have without dragging it all out! (haha, yeah right...I drag everything out and spread it out so it looks like an explosion to most people...but to me...it is Inspiration Mountain!!)

I MUST SPEAK OUT

"Attention Hasbro/Mattel Executives,
As an avid player of the online game Facebook application Scrabulous, I respectfully request that you please allow users to continue to play the game until an agreement can be reached. It is very frustrating that the new version of the Scrabble game does not work and isn't user friendly. Please allow the fans to play Scrabulous, we love it.

Miserable in Missouri, USA
Nellie Mae Mitchell"



I spend hours a day on the computer and I always click over to check my Scrabulous games on Facebook. My vocabulary and spelling have improved and I have met friends from all over the world. The makers of the board game Scrabble have ordered the makers of the online game to remove it from Facebook for everyone in the USA and Canada. This is very frustrating because I had lots of games going that I really wanted to finish. I have met people from all over the world since I have started playing this game. It is a way for me to relax and still engage my brain. I am very frustrated that the game has been removed...Thanks for listening, I just needed to vent!

Christmas in July Challenge

I just couldn't resist entering a card for the Christmas in July Challenge

I love creating Christmas cards with colors that are non-traditional. Enjoy!

Color Throw Down Challenge, Week 3

My first challenge is for Color Throw Down Week 3!!! I am sooo excited to be a blogger and to submit my card for this challenge. I love creating cards and these challenges are much more inspiring than a birthday or an anniversary...Here are the colors for this challenge.


So anyway.....Here is my card...I hope you like it.

Nellie, you like invented that.....

A few months ago, I told my dad....hey, I think I want to be a consultant for a scrap booking company so that I can make some extra money to help pay for my hobby. His reaction wasn't quite the usual, "Oh, really....hmmmm...." that I am used to receiving whenever I tell him about some new adventure of mine. Instead, he was actually enthusiastic for me.

Dad reminisced, "Back when you was a little girl, Nellie, I remember you used to go through all the pictures and snip 'em up and you were always cutting stuff out of magazines....way back before this scrapbooking even existed, you were already doing it....you like invented it..."

"Haha, Dad, hardly," I replied, "If I were just a few years older, I would have invented it and now I would be rich....my dream job would be designing stickers, stamps, and papers......and I would be on the top of the industry."

He was right. When I was younger I poured over magazines for tiny things to cut out and words and sayings to use that might go along with pictures that I had taken at camp or church conventions. I loved to use memorabilia from everywhere I went in albums, long before it was mainstream to do anything archival safe, I was pasting everything right onto and beside my pictures. I cringe when I look back at my version of 'cropping' and my horrible photography skills...but hey, I WAS only 15, I remind myself.....Here is a sample "layout."







After our conversation, I started thinking....Wow....fancy that....me, the head of some big company....I would love to edit a scrap booking magazine and write product reviews.....imagine all of the freebies I would get to play around with...And other women, from all over the world, would see that little 1" picture of me, editor, executive....and think, wow...She has the life.....she gets to enjoy doing her hobby every day...and make big money for being creative. She probably has the coolest office/crafting area....its probably pink...with lots of patterns and cute little containers...and all of her notions are probably labeled, and organized.....

Don't get me wrong, I do make money using my creative talents every day....and I get to play around with art supplies and influence people....I just do it on a much smaller scale and my pay check and freebie stash isn't quite as impressive as someone at the top of a leading magazine or product line. Being an art teacher isn't quite the life that people dream about and I don't have a fancy office....but scrapbooking is something that I get to do for myself...everyday...and I really enjoy it....after all, I did 'like' invent it....