Loops aplenty

Two posts in one weekend! Oh my! 

Today, I'm posting to share a submission to the the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.  Loop thrown.  It's another color challenge.  Yay. 

After scanning through the designer spotlight, I knew that I was going to try to use that pretty plaid paper from My Favorite Things that I ordered a year ago and haven't hardly touched.  

While digging in my Lawn Fawn box, I found that I hadn't broken in the cutie sloth from the Hang in There set.  That means that I hadn't yet figured out what colors to color the sloth.  Several sloths later, this is what I came up with.  The background was a happy mistake that yields quite a bit of texture.  Yay! 

For anyone who might be wondering about the atmosphere at my house... I'm still hiding in my craft room amidst the discontented.  

Happy Easter!

The Land of Discontent

Today's blog and challenge entries come to you from the Land of Discontent.  

But, not to worry. I'm just along for the ride.  BR is the one residing there today. Always fun for the rest of us...

It's rare that I find the opportunity to 
1. Go to the MFT Stamps blog and find the challenge posts, 
2. Make a card that meets the sketch or color challenge, and 
3. Actually post it before the challenge closes.  

But, on this three day, holiday weekend, I have found the time to do multiple crafty things, to include visiting the MFT Stamps blog, making cards, and posting them here!  I am so excited! 

Not only that, but I also finally got around to photographing the newest Fitbit Strap Wrap additions to GardeniaDrive on Etsy!  These strap wraps have been waiting patiently on my craft table for a couple of months now.  Phew!  Glad they have been so patient!  I also made a few new badge reels that will hopefully get photographed and posted sometime this week.  Fingers crossed. 

This week's sketch at MFT Stamps really stumped me.  I knew that I wanted to use a watercolor background that I made previously and the Fun in the Sun stamp, but wasn't sure what to use for that diagonal strip.  

Amongst the mess on my craft table, I had Lawn Fawn's new set Sewn with Love peeking out.  It has some cute swirly lines for stitches with matching dies.  I used the dies only and added them to the background.  Waves? Maybe.  Random wavy lines.  Defnitely.  But it works! 

Next in the queue is the MFT Stamps Color Challenge.  Color challenges are always really hard for me.  This challenge is using pretty basic primary colors. But it still threw me for a loop.

But, once I got started, it all kinda flowed... 

So, adios and Happy Easter from the Land of Discontent, where I am happily hiding in my craft room! 

... I wonder who's going to make dinner...

It's the way you ride the trail that counts...

Perspective has come up a lot lately, both at home and at work.  Usually when talking about our paradigms and how we make decisions.  Using Lawn Fawn's Happy Trails stamp set this week made me look up the lyrics to Dale Evans' original song, and I was surprised to find that the song is all about perspective and choosing your own weather (a FranklinCovey phrase to choose your attitude).  I'm going to try to remember the lyrics, specifically the line "It's the way you ride the trail that counts..." so that I can sing next time the perspective conversation comes up again!

Mom asked me to create a set of cards using the Lawn Fawn Happy Trails set for a friend of hers. Granted, she asked me to do this in November and I'm just now getting to them... ummm, yeah...

I've owned this set for several months.  Maybe even a year. And I've never used it.  The stamps are cute and so perfect for someone who owns a camper (Yup, that's me!), but the creative juices just never flowed for Happy Trails.  With mom's request, I started trolling Pinterest looking for a cute and easy card idea.  I found myself on Lydia Evans Designs blog where I totally cased this card from. (Thanks, Lydia!)  I colored the scene and the car and camper images with my Zig Clean Color markers and am pleased with how it turned out.  So pleased that I even made a few extra to keep in my card stash!

Since I'm on spring break, one of my goals for this week was to create a card to enter into the My Favorite Things weekly sketch challenge.  After spending so much time working on these darn Happy Trails cards, I kinda lost my mojo.  But, I did it and here's my entry and the original sketch... which I missed getting into.  But I'm sharing it anyway!

  

I used MFT's I Knead You and Soda Pop sets for this card.  

Thanks for stopping by! 

Blog this, blog that.

This fall I stopped posting on My Medley because I found that it is much easier and quicker to post images to Instagram for the card challenges I participate in. Lazy? Maybe.  Really, though, I just don't make enough time to craft regularly and then to talk about it here. Working weekends throws me for a loop sometimes, even though I only work 1-2 weekend days per month. Sometimes the commitments, events, hobbies, and don't forget scheduling in time to just RELAX, can be overwhelming for this girl. 

But, lately, I've been coming up with things that I want to share here... 

So many things, that I have a list. A list of the most random things that pop into my head that I cannot get off my mind and have to share somewhere with someone. Guess what? That's you! 

To start off, let's talk about grammar.

Yup, grammar. It's important if you consider yourself knowledgeable enough to share with others via the written word. Sure, I understand that the average Joe who posts or tweets on occasion may not consider themselves experts and may not care if their grammar is correct. But, Blogging Bonnie, Facebook Frank, and Tweeting Tiffany, who consider themselves experts, have a huge social media presence, and just might be making money online, need to pay attention to what they are writing. Learn to use a grammar and/or spellcheck! For the love of Pete, just proofread before you post!

I see funny memes like this one (below) cross my Facebook feed regularly. There are hundreds. Thousands, maybe. Some are hysterical.  Some are crazy. Some are stupid.  All make me shake my head in disbelief. You can see more of them here.  

Why is this at the top of my list? Not even considering what I see on Facebook, the amount of poor grammar that is published on popular blogs drives me crazy! Especially when I see that they have large numbers of followers/readers.   And when they have reputable companies who are paying to advertise on these blogs (that's on the list too).  And, this is the tip of the iceberg for me, when a blogger who has poor grammar wins a blogging award or is highlighted on a well-known media outlet (another blog, tv, magazine, etc).  

Come on people! Proofread before you post! Run the spellcheck!

Rant over.  Now to start crafting! 

Life is hard: Share Joy Sketch Challenge

I used this week's Taylored Expression Share Joy Sketch Challenge to help me get ready for all the fall birthdays in our family.   This card was made with one special little boy in mind. 

One of the stamp sets I received in the mail this week was Stacking Animals from Simon Says Stamp.  The silly critters in this set are fun to use and color, but I need to rethink my decision not to purchase the dies to accompany them.  

Here's a look at my couch-mate for the evening while I color and watch tv.  Monkey is a riot.  You can tell her life is unbelievably hard... 

Rainy Day: MFT Sketch Challenge 294

Texas has been in severe drought conditions for the last several weeks.  With temps hovering just above 100* and no rain, the area I live in has been like a desert.  Then, all of a sudden, it started raining and it hasn't stopped in a week. It's great!  The grass is green again and the temps have dropped to the 80s.  

On this rainy day, I am, of course, in the craft room.  I received multiple stamp orders this week, so I've been playing with the sets for the last few days.  One of my favorites that I've been waiting to order since it was released earlier this summer, is My Favorite Things Fun in the Sun.  And, no big surprise, I used it for this week's MFT Sketch Challenge...

Several years ago, I picked up this wave border punch on clearance and have NEVER used it.  I'm glad to finally be able to pull it out of storage and put it to good use! Although you can't see it, there is a third layer of waves under the sentiment... 

Since the theme of the card is swimming, I took the card out to the pool to photograph.  It had to be a quick shoot so the wind wouldn't whip the card off into the pool. 

A is for Avery

A is for Avery is a 12x12 scrapbook page highlighting this super cute photo of Avery and I playing on the swingset this winter.  

The wild colors on this page were inspired by the My Favorite Things Color Challenge #51 and the Let's Go Wild Challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge!