Motivation Challenge 1/21

Posting it tonight to give everyone ample time!! Here is the sketch for the challenge. I have been checking out some two page LO's for challenges as I have had requests for those. I will see if I can find a good 2 pager for the challenge this weekend! Okay folks grab your paper, pictures, tapes, glues, glitters, brads, ribbons, cutters, tweezers....heck even the kitchen sink if it will help.....AND GET TO SCRAPPIN!









**************UPDATE*************

Here is my LO for the challenge. I chose pictures from Halloween this year. I also turned the sketch so my pictures matched the measurements better.

LAYOUT INFO -
- Title, word and cutouts are black velvet stickers. I don't know who makes them as my former LSS owner gave them to me.
- Picture mats are cut with the Cricut Stamped cartridge
- Pattern paper is Cosmo Cricket...from their Halloween line this year I believe
- Brads are from Wal-Mart in their office deparment, I embossed them...see the picture below for close up.
- Journaling is with a white Uniball Signo pen
- Inking is with Tom Holtz walnut distressed ink
- Flowers are Petaloo's
- double sided adhesive foam to pop the pictures
- ribbon is Stampin Up more mustard

Here is the close up of the brad. The embossing powder was a very small vial I got at the stamp garage sale this fall and it looked purple but when heated it had some white in it. I think it looks pretty cool! To emboss brads just heat your brad in front of your heat gun and dip it your embossing powder. Simple as that!

HERE'S THE STORY OF THE LOVELY AMY

*to the tune of The Brady Bunch okie sings in her best voice...which by the way will curl the hairs on a Shetland pony*

Here's the story of the lovely Amy
Who was bringing up okie not having an E
She had a heart of gold, like the others
And the secret mission started with glee

Here's the story, of a girl named okie
Who was busy with a Cricut of her own
She was sitting in her den, putting a .cut file together,
working on some crabs all alone.

Til the one day when the group met their goal
And they knew it was much more than a hunch
They were able to get okie the E
That's the way okie entered the Expressions Bunch
The Expressions Bunch
That's the way okie entered the Expressions bunch!
THE EXPRESSIONS BUNCH!!!

Now for those of you who do not know the reason for the song.....

Yesterday I went to my friend LGuild's house to make cards. I posted on the MB that I was going and that LGuild had an E and said I could play with it *okie wonders now why LGuild didn't let her play with it* and I was hoping I didn't like it since I don't have one. AmyAngels2 from the Cricut MB decided that would just not do. She started a TOP SECRET RAK thread in my absence. I saw the thread last night when I got home and thought "OMG Amy is giving away a huge paper RAK...that poor girl is gonna go broke sending out paper to people!", so I didn't email her about it.

After logging into the MB I checked my email and I had like 43 emails, 40 of which were REFERENCE: OKIE'S EXPRESSIONS FUND OKIELADYBUG: DONATION FROM _______. I thought WHAT THE?? I have received a few donations through the donate button my blog since putting it there, but 40 in one day?? So I posted on the MB if there was a Telethon going on or something. I got a few responses and everyone acted like they were just clueless *okie thinks to self....sneaky bunch of folks on that MB!!* Anywho I work on a .cut file for a crab *which okie posted earlier today* and then go to bed.

I get up this morning and check my email.....MORE DONATION NOTIFICATIONS CAME IN!! By this time I am really wondering what is going on!! I searched the MB for any hints of "donate to okie" but never saw any. I continued to work on the crab .cut file, adding different sizes and them some cuts for dimensions. During this time I get more emails.......MORE DONATIONS!!

FINALLY.....Amy confesses. She tells me she saw that I didn't have an E and that she did the TOP SECRET RAK to get people to donate to the cause because people think it is nice of me that I share my cut files, answer questions about DS, etc. *okie wonders when people will start believing that she is NOT a nice person* and I just almost cry! Well within no time I had enough donations in to order the E!!

After some confusion with my payment method, calling payapl and being on the phone with them and then checking my account again I was able to order the E from Hallmark Scrapbooks!!

*okie gives a big sigh and wonders if she will even be able to sleep tonight* There are not enough words to express my thanks to all of my readers, message board sisters and brothers for all the joy you guys have brought to my life in the last year...and now for you to come together and do this for me.....Well.......I say THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!!

I've got CRABS!!

And I want to give them to you!! ROTFLMAO Well I just couldn't resist that!!

Anyway I was at friend LGuilds house yesterday to make cards and I used her Stampin Up Crab & Company stamp set to make some cards. I so fell in love with that little crab! I told Linda that I bet I could make a .cut file of the SNAPPY CRAB...and so I did!! I did use George for the .cut file. When I posted the original screenshot I got a lot of replies about how people would love to have the file and use on LO's...so then I got to thinking....Oh dang....it isn't resizeable because of all the parts and the angles!! So I made two others on the same file that were different sizes. The small measures approx 2" x 1.5", great for cards!! The medium measures approx. 2.5" x 1.75" and the large measures approx. 3" x 2.75". I also added a mat for the body and claws, because I am crazy about pop dotting!!

It will require a bit of hand doodling but not much. As you can see by the picture I doodled for the claws, the mouth and the eyes. I also inked a bit on some of the edges. Oh and I added stickles to one just to see how it would look.....Not sure if I like it or not. Anyway you can click on the picture to make it bigger if you want!! I think you can probably see the pop dotting better in a bigger picture. Oh and ignore the little mess up on the left claw in the picture. I did go in and fix that before posting the .cut file.

Well hope ya'll enjoy having crabs as much as I do!! *okie gives herself a headache from laughing at herself*

***UPDATE***
If you downloaded the file before 4:40 pm Central time you will need to delete the square around the large crab. I forgot to take it off when I was checking the measurements!! The file is fixed now and the fixed file is what will download *okie hopes*

Motivation Challenge 1/17

Here is the sketch for the challenge. Since I wasn't sure everyone had a cart with a tag on it I made cut files for LAYOUT TAG in Plantin and George. It is on the same file, on different mats. The mats are labeled. I made the tag to fit two 4x3 photos.











Back in March of 2001 Shiane and I got ready to leave for school one morning and there was a squirrel stuck between the screen and the glass on the door. Everytime we tried to open the door the squirrel would jump out and try to get in the house. The neighbors dog was barking trying to get the squirrel and I was afraid if we left out the back the dog would get the squirrel, leaving a bloody mess for us to come home to later! I called the school I work at and told them I would be late because there was a squirrel stuck in my door. The only reason I took pictures at the time was because I was afraid they wouldn't believe me!! You can see Shiane behind the door, she kept telling the squirrel to get out. Finally I got a broom and eased the squirrel out and it took off running with the dog close behind, but luckily it got away!

I decided to use the pictures for the challenge.
LAYOUT INFO -
- Tag is from Tags, Bags, Boxes and More
- Title is Stickers from Basic Grey Mellow pack
- Pattern paper is Basic Grey Mellow pack
- Solid paper is some I got at Big Lots *okie wishes she had more of it!*
- Brads are spare parts
- Eyelets are Making Memories
- Journaling is with Stampin Up Chocolate Chip marker
- Inking is with Tom Holtz walnut distressed ink
- Flowers are Petaloo's
- double sided adhesive foam to pop the tag mat and flowers
-stamping is with brown ink and SEE D's stamp

1-14 Card challenge

I got my cards done for this weeks card challenge. I actually made 6 of each so that is 18 for my stash!! WOOT WOOT!!

Here are the sketches I posted on the MB.








To be honest I wasn't too keen on the first sketch. But I thought it would be a challenge to come up with a card with that sketch. I used an Inkadinkado set that I had for the medallion and sentiment. I used Mini Monograms for the scallop circle and George for the triangles, which I squished to the size I needed for the card. I used the Stampin Up ticket punch on the corners of the card mat.







The second sketch I really liked. I even made two versions of it!! LOL For the first one I used Storybook for the butterfly and Tags, Bags, Boxes and more for the tag.











On this version I used Storybook for the flowers and Tags, Bags, Boxes and more for the tag. I used flock on the flowers to add some dimension and color since there wasn't a cut for the individual flowers. I just used a Zig glue pen to cover the area I needed and then added the flock. I think it turned out pretty nice.

Motivation Challenge 1/14

I posted the challenge a little early, and I got it done already!!

Here is the sketch for the challenge. I added the size of the photos because I thought it might make it easier, at least for me *okie is all about easy*











Here is my version of the layout.
LAYOUT INFO -
- Title is All Mixed UP
- Dogs are Paper Pups
- Black stickles for the dogs eyes
- Patterned paper is something I got at a LSS sometime ago.
- Plain paper Prism
- Brads are some that were RAK'd to me when I got Lucy
- Eyelets are quicklets from Eyelet Outlet
- Journaling is MS word generated
- Inking is with Tom Holtz walnut distressed ink
- double sided adhesive foam to pop the circle embellies and picture in the middle


Here is a close up of the brads and one of the puppies. I took the prongs off the big brads and then mounted them on the circles. The circles are made with the 3/4" and 1" EKSuccess punches.

I COOKED!!

Yep I sure did!! I actually cooked tonight. I had laid pork chops out last night with the intentions of cooking them but they were still kinda frozen so thought I would save them for today.

I made a pork chop casserole and it was really good!! I did tweak the recipe a bit because it sounded a little bland, but putting my instructions in this recipe

Here is the recipe

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 6 boneless pork chops
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup milk
• 4 potatoes, thinly sliced
• 1 onion thinly sliced
• Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning
  
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high-heat. Place the pork chops in the oil, and sear.
3. After pork chops are done place sliced onion in skillet and brown.
   
4. In a medium bowl, combine the soup and the milk. Arrange the potatoes in a 9x13 inch baking dish and sprinkle the Creole Seasoning on top of the potatoes, then place browned onions on top of potatoes. Place the browned chops over the potatoes and onions, then pour the soup mixture over all.
5. Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven. Top with the cheese, and bake for 30 more minutes.

My daughter even liked it! I took some over to my neighbor Naomi and she liked it too!

One in a Melon.....

I so love watermelon!! I do like to eat it but I think they are just too stinkin cute!! I made this card tonight. I have 11 more to put together. Why so many you ask? BECAUSE I CAN! *okie falls out chair laughin*. Actually I made so many because I think they could work for birthdays, thank you's, thinking of you and just to say hello!! I think I will cut some sentiments from Wild Cards to put on the insides but not sure which ones yet.

The paper is some I found at the LSS today. Since I love the saying "You're one in a melon" I knew I had to get a sheet or two of it to make cards. I cut my watermelon and stripe paper at 3.75 x 2.75 inches. Oh this is an A2 size card.

I used Doodlecharms watermelon border for the melons at the bottom of the card. The scallop circle is from MiniMonograms. I used Jasmine for the corners.

The ribbon is Lemongrass grosgrain 1/4" ribbon from Wal-mart. I really like the color and have used it on quite a few projects.

I printed the saying in MS word using the circle text feature and then used my 1 3/4" circle punch to punch out the saying.

I wanted to show you a close up of the watermelon paper so you can see why I did pink on the photo corners. You can't see it as well in the overall all picture of the card. You can click on the pictures and make them bigger if you want to see more detail.









I did quite a bit of doodling on the card, and I think I might have over done it! I was going to sew on the card but I was too lazy to get the sewing machine out *okie reminds herself she never did finish reorganizing the last time* so I just used a black Zig pen for doodling on the edges of the card mat, photo corners and the sentiment circle. I used a white Signo gel pen for the white doodling. If you havent' gotten a Uniball Signo white pen let me tell you...YOU SHOULD!! It is totally awesome and by far the best white pen I have worked with!





And ya know by now I am totally addicted to using double sided adhesive foam to make things stand out. Luckily I found a cheap foam and I have built up my stash...so I shouldn't be running out anytime soon....I HOPE!! I think elements on cards and LO's just look fantastic when given the little extra dimension!

Thank you Enfys!

I got this lovely blog award from Enfys! I take it as a tremendous compliment as while Enfys's talent makes me completely sick to my stomach, it is only jealousy of her never ending talent!!

Now if I can figure out how to put the award in my sidebar! LOL Still trying to figure that one out. Thank you to Sue, BettyBee and Sandy for explaining to me how to save the image and post it. *okie can be such an airhead sometimes*

My cards for the 1-7 challenge

I got both of my cards done for this weeks challenge and thought I would get them posted on here.

Here is the first sketch...I decided to make it a Valentines card. The paper at the bottom is some that ScrapperDelighted sent home with my daugther. It is like the retro valentine, collage style. The hearts are from all kinda of different carts!! The sentiment is from Beyond Birthdays. The hearts are from George, Stamped, Paper Pups, Mickey Font and well I don't remember







Here you can see where I pop dotted the sentiment. I did add Stickles the the silhouette hearts. Oh yes.....and I doodled and then doodled some more!!








Here is the second card sketch. I did a birthday card for this one. I used one of my SU stamps, it has a scallop around the sentiment but I just used markers and colored the candles and words. I used the SU scallop punch that I got recently. The stitching is rubons, yeah I cheated!! HA HA HA









Here is a close up of the stamp.

Huntin you...

a Happy Birthday

This is a card I made at the request of my friend Naomi. Her nephew's birthday is Monday and he is an avid hunter. She wanted a special card for him and asked if I could do anything with a hunting theme. I immediately thought of Paper Pups!!









I also used Stretch your Imagination, Animal Kingdom, Jasmine, My Commumity and Mickey Font. The card is a 5x7. I was going to try and do an A2 card but there was just too much to put on the card for that size. I think she and her nephew will be pleased!! I did save my .cut file so if I need to make another one of these I can. I did have to do some hand cutting for the duck and also the gun.

Motivation Challenge 1/10

This is the sketch for the challenge. I love LO's that use more than one picture. I like to scrap more than one picture per page most of the time. I am learning that I love the staggering of pictures, when I first started it was hard for me to do but I do like it. I do find that I still have a hard time not matting pictures though!!










I actually even got mine done today! WOOT WOOT!!
LAYOUT INFO -
- Title is All Mixed UP
- Snowflakes are Stretch Your Imagination and Going Places
- Patterned paper is DCWV Christmas Stack 2007
- Plain paper is some I got at Hobby Lobby, so not sure of the brand
- Corners are with the Stampin Up ticket punch
- Snowflake brads are Spare Parts
- Diamond stickles on the title and some blue lines of the patterned paper
- Ribbon is some I got at the LSS sometime ago, it has swirls on it, might not be able to see so well in the picture though
- Journaling is done with Chocolate Chip Stampin Up marker.
- Inking is with Tom Holtz walnut distressed ink

Awards...

*okie steps up to the mic...taps it....turns and says "is this thing on?"*

Helloooo!! I need your help. I have gotten several comments where people have given me awards. But sadly. I don't know what I am suppose to do with them. I think it is cool to get an award for my blog but what do ya do?? I have went to the blogs where I am suppose to get the award and I will see my name on that blog saying they are giving me the award, BUT I JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO FROM THERE!! Can someone please tell me. Thank you. *okie walks away from the mic and off the stage*

Off to Stamp Club

Tonight is Stamp Club and as promised my DD and her friend are going with me! YYIIPPEE!! *okie somehow thinks she might have her REAL DD back after 2 years*. I am so excited about them going with me. My DD use to love to do things with me but when she got interested in boys and got a serious boyfriend...well ya know how that goes.

I won't be able to work on my challenges tonight but I will work on them tomorrow and at least get one of them done....okay I will work on them anyway! HA HA HA

Tonight is Thank You card night so no telling what will be created!!

CARD CHALLENGE 1-7-09

Here are the card challenge sketches for this week.

If I continue to post 2 sketches a week I will have approximately 624 cards done in a year! LOL While I think that is a lot of cards I know it isn't as my friend Linda whips out about 400 or so a month!! I generally try to make 6 of a card if I can. Sometimes it only works out to 4 though, depends on the cuts I am using. This one shouldn't require to many cuts with the cricut. I am going to use flowers from Walk In My Garden for this challenge.

I did get the elements done in Design Studio tonight but haven't cut them yet. I also worked on my layout challenge tonight. I have my pictures, mats and title box cut, and I have the embellies and title designed and ready to cut. So I guess I did a lot of designing tonight and no cutting.......does that mean it was still a productive night??

OOHH and I did get the other 5 heart cards put together this evening!! So I would say that was a success. I have Stamp Club tomorrow night so I won't be getting anything done on the card or layout challenges!!

Motivation Challenge 1/07

I am posting the sketch a little early since it would be tomorrow afternoon before I could post it and people might want to get a jump start on it before then.

Here is the sketch for 1/7 challenge.

I don't have my pictures for this yet so I better get to lookin at pics tomorrow!!

I will put my LO in this post when I am done with it.









*****UPDATE******

Here is my LO for the challenge for this sketch. I decided to use pictures from when my daughter had her wisdom teeth cut out. I think it turned out pretty good.

LAYOUT INFO -
- Title is Opposites Attract
- Tooth shapes are cut files I made
- Toothfairy I used vellum, Sharpie gold pen, metallic and bling for the crown...blush is cat eye chalk ink
- Patterned paper is My Minds Eye Glitter
- Plain paper is DCWV and Prism
- Brown fibers around the picture mats
- Inking is Tim Holtz Walnut distressed ink

Gotta love Inkadinkado!

My friend Softbrn sent me a set of Inkadinko stamps last spring and I just love these stamps!! They are very humorous. I think I have posted a card with this stamp before, but it has been some time ago. And I have to admit since I used these stamps my abilities have evolved a bit and this card is better than the one I made before.

I found some surfboard epoxy stickers at Michaels this summer with this stamp in mind but just now got around to using them. I made 8 of these cards for my stash. I used Doodlebug Sugared Glitter to add on the water. I also colored the image with Stampin Up markers.....have I told you how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE the markers?? I think I have!!

Click on the picture to get a better look at the sticker!! IT IS WAY COOL!!

CARD CHALLENGE......DONE!!

I was able to make the midnight deadline for the card challenge I posted on the Cricut message board. I probably would have made it just fine had I not made 8 other birthday cards last night and this evening, but I was on a roll! LOL

These are the card maps I posted, I got them from PAGEMAPS . I think people really enjoyed the challenge and some have even asked for me to post them once a week. It is so cool to see how everyone does things so differently with a map!


Here are my cards I made. This one is CELEBRATE FLOWER. I used the Stamped cartridge for it so you will need that cart to cut the pieces for the card. The file is set to cut 6 at a time. No sense in just making just one is my motto!!









This next one is for Valentines day I guess. I am not sure really. I have 6 of these too. My daughter said "uh....I like that, I need about 10" I told her "well I have 6" LOL. I used TBBM for the heart on this one and I did use George to cut the pieces for the ban at the bottom and the little ban across the heart.

I guess I better get looking for another card map and post another challenge for cards tomorrow! I also have to post my next LO challenge on the MB tomorrow also!

Did a little today...

I finished up some cards today for my card challenge I posted on the Cricut messageboard. But now I am too tired to take pictures HA HA HA. I love keeping ya'll in suspense. I still have to cut my stuff for the other card as part of the card challenge but since DD was doing homework on the computer I had to find something else to do. I hope I can do them tomorrow as the deadline is tomorrow night! AACCKK!!

I also stamped some images from an Inkadinkadoo stamp I have and added some stickers *GASP!! okie used stickers!* to the image. I used my Stampin Up markers to color the images and let me tell you - IT GOES SO MUCH FASTER THAN THE COLORED PENCILS AND GAMASOL METHOD!! I think they turned out great, but didn't finish them into cards, so again you must wait *okie laughs her evil laugh*.

Stamp Club is Thursday night and my DD and her friend have promised they would go with me! YAY!!! But we will see........I bet they back out on me! *okie frowns*

So did you get anything done today?

Motivation Challenge 1/03

I found a LO for today's challenge but it was kinda small so I redrew it using windows paint. I then opened up my Print Shop progam and was able to redo it in there and it definately looks better. I think I will use that program for any sketches I make on my own, or that I need to make bigger from other links. I think this one has a lot of room for adding personal touches!!

Deadline is Tuesday Jan 6th. I will then post another challenge on Wednesday January 7th. I will try to keep this schedule as much as possible. I might not always be able to do the challenges either but at least they will be out there to help us get motivated to use our stuff! LOL

I will do an update to this post with the LO I did. Hopefully finishing it today!!



*****UPDATE*****

I got the LO done! WOOT WOOT!! I chose a black and white photo of my daughter and my 3 Goddaughters for this LO. I just love this picture of them.


- Title and swirl is Storybook
- Butterflies are Martha Stewart punch
- Patterned paper is Basic Grey Eva Collection
- Plain paper is Prism
- Stampin Up marker for hand doodling on letters
-Signo white pen for lines to the butterflies and lines across the purple
- Flowers are Prima's
- Brads are Bazzil
- Tim Holz Walnut ink for the edges of the mats and photos
- Bling is Prima


Here are some close up photos.
















I liked the sketch for this one and think overall it turned out pretty good.