It's Technique Junkie Blog Hop Time!

Hi, Blog Hoppers!!  Don't these flowers remind you of spring?!!  Well, I want it to be inspiration to 'spring' you into action today!!   I'm the second stop on the Technique Junkie April Blog Hop.  If you arrived here first you may want to start at the beginning HERE!    You don't want to miss what our whole Design Team has in store for you!!  AND This blog hop has a Challenge ONLY for Technique Junkie subscribers with a prize!  Read about it below.

BUT.......before you read about the challenge, here is a little bit about my card.  I used the Corduroy technique from the April newsletter.  It was very fun to do and I look so festive now with glitter on me!  ;-)  The tulip stamp is from one of our newsletter vendors, I Brake For Stamps. (REMEMBER.....if you are a Junkie subscriber, you get a discount on "I Brake For Stamps"!  The code is on the Subscriber pages!)   I colored it with copic markers and as you can see from the closeup photo, I layered the flowers to give them a little more dimension.  The butterfly was also bumped up with foam tape and it was sparkled with the Stardust pen.  Now.....I must confess....my card only has one technique on it which was what I thought I was supposed to do.  BUT I see that the challenge has two techniques needed.  (Shame on me!!)  So don't forget to add one more technique on YOUR card!

NOW....back to the blog hop particulars!

This Technique by Design CHALLENGE is a new feature in the Technique Junkie Newsletter. You MUST be a subscriber to participate.  In order to WIN you will have to DO the challenge! 
Pat (the owner of the Technique Junkie Newsletter) will be offering a prize for this Technique By Design Challenge by drawing a name from those who PARTICIPATE in the challenge! The prize will be:

*  One year added to their Technique Junkie Subscription AND

*  A $25.00 gift certificate to ONE vendor of their choice from this issue's participating advertisers: I Brake for Stamps; Paper Temptress; Firecracker Designs by Pamela; Mark's Finest Papers; Croppinsville; OR Twisted Papers! YOU get to choose the place to spend your cash!

So.......Here is the Challenge:

“Technique by Design” Challenge/Contest. 

1. Follow the sketch on the Technique By Design area in the new April newsletter.  You can access the sketch and the dimensions/supplies list HERE.  PLEASE note that the dimensions printed in the paper version of the newsletter were incorrect.  The correct measurements are on the website.

This sketch is a great way to incorporate technique backgrounds into your cards. Just make sure the colors coordinate and you can mix and match different techniques on your card with a stunning effect! If you make extra backgrounds when trying out the techniques, you will love being able to use them here. I did talk to Pat and she said that you can use only one technique on your card to qualify for the challenge! 
2. Post a link and comment on Pat's Blog, which is the last stop on the hop.

3. The deadline to the challenge is MAY 15th!

Below is our blog hop order.  You will go to Beth's blog next!!

The Technique Junkies blog http://techniquejunkies.blogspot.com/
Ann  -THIS IS WHERE YOU ARE NOW!
Beth
Cathy
Lisa
Shelly
Chris
Hetty
Jane 
Kathie
Kimm 
Pat

My Very last Sweet Stop Design Team Card

This is a sad post for me.......I've completed the maximum 6 months of Design Team with Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge group.  I really have loved being on this Design Team.  The other members post fabulous cards and have been an inspiration to me!!  Thank you, Korin, for allowing me to be on your team.  I hope that I have met your expectations!  This week my card was one that I made for my in-laws as their Easter card.  The cool background piece behind the image is called Veined Marble and it a Technique Junkie technique.  It is such a fun technique that when a group of us got together to make some, we made a gazillion pieces and I'm still working off of them!!  The colors of this one just matched my cross coloring perfectly.  The cross image is from Sweet N Sassy Stamps and was super easy to color.  The coloring was done with copic markers.  I didn't blend the material drapped over the cross as good as I should have but that's okay, don't you think!!  After I cut it out with my Nestabilitiy, I kept the die in place and used my copic air brush to add the soft purple around the edges.     So.....this is the last time I get to tell you....make sure you visit the Sweet Stop and play along with the sketch of the week!!  Just click on the badge to the right!  So easy even a Caveman can do it!  ;-)

This was a great week......Zander was a good little boy both days that I watched him.  He has a healthy respect for the spoon and obeys so well now!  Amazing.  He must be growing too.......he has been pounding down the food and taking three hour naps.  While he naps, I've been trying to get a little stamping done as well as working on my picture cropping for our car club.......331 pics to crop....about 200 done!  My cards for the Rhododendron Society are done and sent.  I'll post a picture of them on Sunday or Monday.  Laundry is caught up.  Today is supposed to be beautiful again.  I hope to get lots more weeding done.....got three beds completely weed free this week....THAT felt good!  They are huge beds too.  The largest bed is about 30' long and 18' wide. 

Crazy week ends with Sweetness

This has been a crazy week!!  But here is my 'next to last' card as a member of the Design Team for the Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge.  Korin (owner of Sweet N Sassy Stamps) lets you be on the DT for only 6 months.  That's good as the designers don't get burned out and the designs stay fresh.  BUT I am sad that it has come to an end.  The challenges have been great to keep my stamping even when I've gotten so busy!  This week the spin to the sketch was fuzzy!!  So......I needed to create a sympathy card for my husband's Uncle.  His aunt Lavina passed away last Sunday and the funeral was this last Thursday.  I had the stamp in mind already....it is from Inkadinkado.  With the fuzzy spin I thought that I would use some of that beautiful velour paper and use the mono die technique as well.  The end result turned out so textural and it so beautiful to touch.  I hope that Uncle Calvin likes it.  The saying is from Stampin Up.

As for the crazy week........On Tuesday I pretended to be the Choir director at church.  Wednesday was Praise Team practice.  Thursday we left for Southern Oregon for a funeral, came back on Friday.  THEN today it was the rubber stamp convention in Portland which I HAD to go to......gots lots of rubber that had my name on it!! 

One for the kids

Here is one of the Easter cards for my grandkids.  The image is from Dustin Pike colored with copics.  I used the 'out of the box' technique with the nestabilities.  I also used a technique from the Technique Junkie newsletter called Oil Pastel Gesso.  I can't say it is my favorite technique but it does give some cool backgrounds!  Enjoy!

On a side note.  Ray's Aunt Lavina passed away early this morning.  She was taken to the hospital on Friday afternoon after she has collapsed in their home.  Lavina was a sweet lady and will be greatly missed.   Her funeral will be sometime this week in Southern Oregon.

It's a Sweet Time!

It's Saturday!  The sun is shining after several LONG grey days and it makes you feel soooo wonderful!!  With all the rainy days we had I came up with this card for the Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge.  I saw another card somewhere that had used just yellow and white and it made me so happy.  So....I decided that I had to do a yellow and white card.  The ABSOLUTELY darling bear is from Sweet and Sassy Stamps.  The minute I saw him I knew I had to have him!!  AND it was such a perfect stamp for yellow, don't you think?!  To make the card base, I had one of those long narrow cuttlebug folders that I repeated then I used my marker and drew the yellow lines between.  So.....I hope that this sketch has inspired you to go play and create your own.  Remember to click on the badge to the right and see what the other designers have done and upload your own!  The bear was colored with copics and the hat, boots, and coat were cut out and mounted up with foam tape.

Don't forget the Junkie for Life contest

Look at the February 3rd post about the contest for being a Junkie for life!!  You don't want to miss out and the deadline is only a couple of days away!!

Sweet Stop Challenge Fun

The Design Team ladies of the Sweet Stop Challenge were talking this last week about children.  Some of us are caring for our grandchildren (like me), some have teenagers, some have younger children, some have none, and finally one of us is pregnant (NOT me!!).  We talked about the challenges of our children and grandchildren.  When it came time for me to make my card this week AND keeping in mind the conversations that we had been having.  I just had to use this darling image from Mo's Digital Pencil.  This little boy is throwing a tantrum and most of us have seen this happen in our lives!  The splashed background behind him is the Bingo Blast Technique from the Technique Junkies Newsletter (you can read more about it by clicking the TJ banner below to the right). as well as another technique called Ancient Paper.  That technique is under the ribbon.   Then....the sentiment.......ya know not many sentiments go with a screaming child but I thought "This too shall pass" was quite appropriate, don't you?!  Remember, you can play along with us!  Click the Sweet Stop banner to the right and follow the directions!

A cute birthday card for you!

I was cleaning out my e-mails.  THEN......I saw it........the e-mail from a friend reminding me to bring her a birthday card with cats.  Dang!!  Ran down to the Stamp Hole and looked through my stash.  Nope....nothin'.....nada.  I'd have to create it.  It was 10:30pm on saturday and I needed it for Sunday morning so I just bit the bullet and created.  I've had this piece of Simple Sumi background (from the 10-05 Technique Junkie newsletter) that I've been hoarding.  I just didn't want to use it......I thought it was so pretty and didn't want to see it go bye bye.  If you haven't tried it before, it is one of the most addicting techniques.  You can click on the Technique Junkie banner down on the right to read more about being a subscriber!!  I digress...........After grabbing it, I searched through my cat stamps and found one that I thought would work nice from Magenta.  As I was cutting it to show the pretty background, I decided to actually separate the two cats (they originally were together on the stamp) apart.  Add a little copic work on it and voila!  My friend at church loved it.  I decided to also enter it into the Gingersnap Birthday Challenge!  You can see the challenge page HERE.  Hope you have enjoyed it!