Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Card-making? Celebrating? Prizes? It's a happy day, indeed!

Ready for some winning names? I know I am. But first, I'd like to sincerely thank you for taking time to visit my blog and enter my silly contests this week (or just peek without entering). It means a lot that you spent part of your day(s) with me. I've loved reading your comments. So many great ideas and warm thoughts. And I've loved connecting to your blogs (when available). Talk about a talented bunch of people! I'm definitely going to have to do giveaways more often. And with the craft room clean up, I have much to give! :)

OK, on to the goods. Let's start with the first prize - a super-cool Technique Tuesday stamp set:

My winner is: Smilynstef. Bet you're smily now. ;)




On to the magazines and cards a la Meg. Drum roll, please...

The lucky peeps are:
1. Cpullum
2. Wackie
Yeehaw!


Ready for the next tasty treat? A'ight! Let's award the fabric/beads/yarn winner. You ready for this?

Whoo hoo. Ronee is my girl!

But wait, there's more. On to the Chatterbox Card Set and Unity Stamp Company stamp set.

Kamewh, come on down! You're my gal.


Oh boy, it's time to give away my pretty packages. The three to win this freebie are:
1. Katie Scott
2. Kimberly A.
3. Paula




We're just getting warmed up, people. Let's give out some stamp sets. *in my best cheerleader voice* Ready? OK!

Foam Stamps Winner: CathyGalloway89
Clear Stamps Winner: Parker and Emma's Mom
Rubber Stamps Winner: Rachel

Finally, as promised, I'm going to give away an extra mystery box to thank you for your patience with my post today. To find this winner, I drew a name from all of the comments I received this week (using Random.org). My final WCMD winner is: Lisa K. Giddy up!

Congratulations to all of my winners. Please e-mail me (M2E2G@aol.com) with your contact information and I'll get your prizes in the mail.

Happy World Card Making Day, my friends! Again, thanks for sharing part of this happy day with me.

Create & Celebrate

It's here! Hip hip hooray! I hope you're doing something fun and creative to celebrate this happy time.

I have good news and bad news. I'll start with the bad - get it out of the way.

Bad: Something has come up and I have to run to the hospital. Please DON'T worry. I'm fine. Everything will be fine. But I will be there most of the day.

Good: This means there's a little more time to enter my card-making day contests. If you haven't already commented on any of the "Countdown" posts, you have until 9:00 PM (MST) tonight. So get to it! :)

I'll keep my promise and announce my winners today, but it may not be until the day is almost through. Please accept my apologies for the delay. Who knows, maybe I'll throw in a few extra winners to thank you for your patience.

So, until we meet again (later tonight), have fun creating and celebrating World Card Making Day 2008!

Cheers!
Megan

Countdown to WCMD...Store visit and a stamp giveaway!

Tomorrow is World Card Making Day. Do you have plans? I plan on announcing my grand list o’ winners. Good times!

Last year, I had the opportunity to fly to South Carolina and teach a card-making class at one of the cutest scrapbooking stores around, Scrappin’ at the Pink House. And yes, it really was a store inside a super cute, pink house. Delish!

I met the most delightful people during my visit, including the cute store owner, Michelle, her mom, Mom, and the very sassy Ronee. Charleston is a beautiful part of the country. If you’re in the area, please pay the Pink House a visit. You’ll be happy you did.

If you don’t have plans tomorrow, check the WCMD website for a list of official holiday retailers. If there’s not a participating store in your area, you’re sure to find lots happening online. I know for a fact that the Paper Crafts website will be a place for a card-making good time.

Whatever you choose to do, I hope it’s something that makes you happy. Being creative is about expressing yourself, which is a happy thing, indeed. Enjoy the moment!

Ready for prizes? Since I taught a stamping class at he Pink House last year, today’s WCMD giveaway is a stamp-a-palooza! I’m giving away three stamp sets – one rubber set (Paper Salon), one foam set (Making Memories), and one clear set (Rusty Pickle).

Who doesn't love a good flower set? And this one has blooms in a variety of sizes for bitty cards on up to big ones.

Just in time for Halloween, this set will make any Fright Night greeting cuter!

This playful set is just right for cards.

A’ight, you know the drill. Leaving a comment enters you to win. From the comments I receive by noon (MST) tomorrow, I’ll randomly select three winners, which I'll announce tomorrow. Yippee!

Today’s Question: What is your favorite card-making technique? Is it stamping? Embossing? Die-cutting? Something else? I’m a technique geek and can’t wait to read your answers.

P.S. Naturally, I can't do anything around my house without the pups' approval. This includes paper crafting.

Kiss investigates my WCMD decoration.

Jack gives the project one enthusiastic snout up!

Countdown to WCMD...Creative space and three-bie freebie!

You’re in luck! If you follow my blog, you know I’ve been busy redoing my craft room. You know what this means – sorting, sorting, sorting! What does this have to do with your luck? Will I excess paper craftng product to share with you, my e-friends! Giddy up!

Today is a three-bie freebie! That’s right, I’m giving away three mystery boxes of product to get you started on your next card-making project.

*shake, shake* Is that chipboard, patterned paper, and rub-ons I hear rattling around in there? I think it is, but what else do I hear? Hmmm… It’s a delightful mystery!

You want in? Please leave me a comment about where it is you create your cards. Is it in a pretty, pink room like the one I'm in the process of building? Or do you spread your supplies out across your kitchen table between meals? Everybody needs a space to be creative. Where is yours?

A peek inside the happy corner of my home where I create.

From the answers I receive between now and this Friday, October 3, I’ll randomly select three winners to receive a mystery box o’ goods. I’ll announce my winners this Saturday, WCMD!

Leave a comment and one of these pretty packages could be yours!

Countdown to WCMD...Card displays and a giveaway!

World Card Making Day is about making and exchanging handmade cards, but what happens after that? What do you do with the cards you receive?

As a packrat, I have a hard time throwing anything away. ANYTHING! Naturally this includes cards people send me. What do you do with the cards you receive? I’m currently a cardboard box gal, which I’ll admit is a bleak fate for these beauties. So, I’ve compiled a few creative card display ideas that I hope you’ll find inspiring.

Look out Polly, this bird cage is for cards!

Image by: Cadoodler4sure

Go green. Recycle those berry baskets and use 'em to hold greetings.

Image by: Bernee lee

What do you call two men with no arms and no legs hanging in the window? Curt and Rod...or, in this case, they're hanging on the wall, and they go by Card and Wire. Yeah, I know how lame that sounds. (No legs! Lame! Get it? Hahahahaha) Anyway, this person strung pieces of ribbon from a curtain wire and attached her cards to them. Cool!

Image by: Betsey Adieu

This gives new meaning to a "card catalog."

Image by: Bitsandbobbins

Are those iPods on a wire? Cards and iPods? Love it!

Image by: Moo Swaps

Wire we throwing cards away when we can oraganize them in such farm-fresh way?

Image by: bookbird1

Grab a few basic card-making supplies - wire and ribbon - and create a greeting garland.

Image by: Felt Mouse

Now, how ‘bout we get to the goods? Today’s WCMD prize is a yummy card kit from Chatterbox and a set of darling rubber stamps from Unity Stamp Company. You want? Just leave a note on this entry about how you store your cards. Don’t keep your cards? No worries. You can tell me how you display your holiday cards before they hit the round file. Sound good?

From comments I receive between now and Friday, October 3, I’ll randomly select a winner to receive this awesome card kit (includes cards, stickers and envelopes) and these super cool stamps. Go!

What better way to kick off the holiday card-making season than with a sassy card-making kit? And I'll throw in some super cute rubber stamps to top it off!

Countdown to WCMD...a challenge and a giveaway!

Why limit your card-making supplies to items you can find on the scrapbook aisle? It’s much more fun to mix creative mediums.

On this birthday card, I hand-stitched brown flannel fabric onto my cardstock base to create my cupcake top. But before I finished stitching, I stuffed the cake with fabric scraps to give it a bit more dimension. To add to the sweet look, I cut a real cupcake cup (Martha Stewart Crafts) in half and stitched it to the card. I first tried adhering it with glue, but its no-stick surface wouldn’t cooperate, so needle-and-thread it was.

Here’s a little card challenge for you: Create a card using something other than the scrapbook basics. Maybe that’s making a cupcake card of your own, using beads as sprinkles. Perhaps you forget the chipboard letters and spell out a sentiment with yarn instead. Or, one of my personal favorites, use fabric in place of patterned paper. If you decide to take me up on this challenge, please let me know where your project is posted so that I can check it out.

OK, on to what we’ve all been waiting for, today’s World Card Making Day giveaway...

Leave a comment on this post, stating one of your creative outlets. You don’t have to be a card maker to be creative. Maybe you can play a phat guitar lick. Maybe you express yourself through watercolor. Maybe baking is your expression of choice. Whatever it is, I’d love to hear about it.

From comments I receive by this Friday, October 3, I’ll randomly select a winner to receive a box full of craft-store goodies. I’ll throw in some fun fabric pieces, a few sparkly beads, even some yarn – tasty things to consider using on your next creation. Yum!


Funny story about where the inspiration to create my card came from. I baked these cupcakes. OK, that's not so "funny" unless you know me well enough to know that I don't really get along well with kitchens. Baking and cooking are not exactly strengths of mine. These small cakes in cups look easy enough, but they actually took me hours to complete. Why? Because I didn't want to drip any frosting. Transporting frosting from a bowl to a cake top without drips is a looong, slloooow, ridiculous process that I wouldn't recommend. Good thing the end result was a sweet one. :)

Countdown to WCMD...Card Club and a Giveaway

A card club is a little bit like a book club, but instead of getting together to discuss the latest literary conquest, you get together to create and/or exchange handmade cards.

The members of our club would get together once a month to create and exchange. It was so fun to share our designs and go home with a basket of greetings to enjoy.

Sadly, the club has come to a close. Little by littler, our group of ten dwindled down to 4 or 5 regular members, so the club hostess, Ashley, decided that it wasn’t something she could continue giving her time and energy to. It was A LOT of work for her, and nobody in the group blames her for making this call.

P. Kelly is one of the groups lasting members, and her cards are always stinkin' cute. Ironically, this self proclaimed hater of gingham used red gingham paper on her final card exchange. She's just full of surprises.

Ashley (on the left) and Danielle, sitting down for our final make-and-take project. Thanks, Ash, for all of your hard work and for making this club happen!

Since I’m celebrating World Card Making Day on my blog this week, I just wanted to share a few pics from my card club and encourage my fellow card makers to consider forming clubs of your own. They’re a great way to connect with other creative people and take a break from the routine. Plus, once you join a club, you’ll never find yourself without a handmade card on hand, which is awesome!

Here I am with Ashley, holding two of the many cards I went home with on Saturday. It's hard to see in this bitty picture, but these cards are A-for-Awesome!

So, here’s to the card clubs and their members out there. If you’re ever in UT, look me up. We can go to a private club and exchange cards over cocktails, eat a few club sandwiches, and, if necessary, swing a few billy clubs if/when the locals get restless. (You know how rowdy those UT natives can be.) ;)

Speaking of card-making, how about we get to today’s World Card Making Day giveaway?

Are you a member of a club? If so, I’d love to hear about it. If not, you can leave a comment stating where your favorite club sandwich is served. (Mine happens to be at a local dive called Village Inn – great clubs and great pie! Mmmm….pie!)

From the comments I receive on this post (between today and this Friday, Oct. 3), I’ll randomly select 2 winners to receive a few of my handmade cards (in the spirit of card-club exchanges), as well as a copy of Cards, Gifts, & More, a super-fun Paper Crafts special issue. (I helped with this project, so I’ll even autograph the issue if that sweetens the deal. Not sure if it will, but, hey, it’s worth a shot, right?) ;)

Let the commenting begin!

Note: Cards shown may not be the same cards winners will receive.
Also, note P. Kelly's red gingham card above. So cute for a gal who hates gingham. LOL!

Count Down to World Card Making Day...and a giveaway!

Did you know that World Card Making Day (WCMD) is less than a week away? That’s right; there’s a day dedicated to making cards that is celebrated the world over on the first Saturday in October. Cool, eh?

This particular holiday is near and dear to my heart. You see, last year I, along with the rest of the Paper Crafts magazine team, busted my hump to make this day happen. (PC founded the day, so there was a lot of work to do to spread the word.) As most of you know, I’m now an editor with Simple Scrapbooks magazine (sister pub to PC), which means I haven’t been involved with the WCMD work this year. I can’t lie; this has been a slight relief – it was A LOT of work last year – but I have to admit that there’s a part of me that misses that involvement.

No worries. I may not be involved as a PC editor, but I’m definitely still celebrating as a card maker. In honor of WCMD 08, I’m going to post a new blog every day this week, complete with card-making tips, giveaways, project ideas, and more. Please check back; I'm giving away card candy with every post. Yum!

Let the countdown to WCMD begin with the first prize...

Win this fantastic Technique Tuesday stamp set, perfect for making card sentiments! Simply leave a comment on this post between now and this Friday, October 3, stating your favorite thing about cards:

Maybe it’s the feeling you get when you receive a card;
Perhaps it's the happiness that comes from giving a card to someone you care about;
Could be the creative inspiration you get from walking down the greeting-card aisle at Target;
Or is it the joy you find in making your own paper pleasure?

From the comments received, I’ll randomly select a winner to receive this clear stamp set. I’ll list the winner on my blog this Saturday, WCMD! I can’t wait to read your responses!

Megan

Thanks a Bunch!

Yesterday was Nat’l Thank-You Day. In honor of the ocassion, I’m posting a thank-you card to thank you.

This card is super simple to make. I just added a rub-on to a glitter chipboard buckle (from Scrapworks) and attached some foam flowers (American Crafts) with brads (and a little bling for good measure). To add to the sparkly feel, I drew the stems and leaves with a purple glitter pen (Copic Markers).

Thank you, blog friends, for welcoming me to the blogosphere so warmly. I LOVE reading your comments and sharing my silly vantage point with you!

And another thanks to those of you who post blogs of your own. Blog hopping is one of my favorite e-things to do; I find all of you to be so inspiring and fun!

Happy Nat’l Thank-You Day (a day late)!

A card that's this quick and easy to make is an easy one to turn into a card set. Make a few and give them as a gift to someone you want to thank! Share the love, people. Share that love! :)

Sweetness!

How sweet it is…the Oh, Sweet Sadie Art & Gift Show, that is. It happened to be in my neighborhood yesterday, so I went for a little shopping and creative inspiration.

This is a huge craft show. So big, in fact, that it filled an entire model home on Suncrest in Draper, and these aren’t homes to sneeze at (whatever that expression means). In words that make more sense, this was a big house packed with hand-crafted goods. Yes!

Everything from sewn crafts (baby stuff, clothing, home décor, etc.) and wearables (scarves, purses, gloves, hats, etc.) to paper crafts (cards, gift wrap, tags, etc.) and beaded beauties (necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, rings, etc.).

I like to consider myself a creative gal, and there are few things I like more than surrounding myself with other creative people. If you fit that description, or if you just want to go for some one-of-a-kind shopping, I suggest you check out the Oh, Sweet Sadie show next weekend. I’ll be there doing some more shopping, so please say hello if you see me.

Here are a few of the yummies I found at the show yesterday:

A trend I've had my eye on for a while is blending fabric with paper-crafts, and a lot of these projects do just that. The little paper notebooks have fabric strips stitched down the side, ad the greeting cards have a stamped image with fabric scraps added for a splash of color. Delightful!

These are some cutie-patootie handmade baby accessories (bib, burp cloths, and a squishy toy, complete with a jingley bell). It seems like I have a friend getting prego every other day these days so I'm always on the lookout for unique gift ideas. These are perfect for my friend who's about to have a little boy. :)

Get out of town! This little sock pup is stuffed happiness, complete with a spot around his eye. I have a feeling he'll stay in the hope chest vs. the gift box. I just don't think I can part with him.

And I couldn't go home without a little something for my closet. This red t-shirt has a fabric birdie stiched on. So simple, yet so fun!

Easy, Breezy, Beautiful

No, I’m not modeling the latest fashions for Vogue, but I am a cover girl. Well, my card is, to be exact.

The fine folks at Paper Crafts magazine put my happy little owl card on their October cover. Isn’t that exciting? I was thrilled when I heard the news and even more excited when I got my copy of the issue. If you haven’t seen it, you should check it out. It’s full of adorable designs and creative ideas. My favorite feature is the "Enchanted Forest," which is full of projects featuring cute woodland creatures – owls, furry friends, deer, shrooms, trees and more. So fun!

My card is actually in the feature about using rub-ons, which is also very fun. The owl is a large journaling block rub-on from Glitz Designs. (They have great products!) The minute I saw it at CHA winter last year, I knew I wanted to turn it into a card. I simply rubbed the owl on kraft cardstock, folded it in half to create the card base, cut around the owl to make the shape (leaving the left side connected for the card seam), and cut the journaling block lines out of the owl’s belly with an Exacto knife and replaced them with some cheerful green paper. Talk about an easy design! You can read more about the card and see all of Glitz's amazing products here.

Thanks, PC team, for giving me the easy, breezy, beautiful opportunity to be a cover girl. I’m beyond delighted!

A Fair to Remember

OK, maybe Cary Grant wasn’t at the Utah State Fair, but I did have a celebrity sighting…



That’s right, Kevin Costner was in attendance…selling pans. In response to seeing him, Cor said, “Oh, how the mighty have fallen.” I don't know how "mighty" Costner ever was, but he does a mean job of selling pans now.

But who needs celebrities when you have the fair-ly awesome food? We had pork sandwiches, mine was complete with a hair garnish. (I always seem to find hair in my food, but that’s a story for another time.) We washed down our hairy meals with some good, greeeezy funnel cake. Excellent!





On to the rides. Well, the ride. We took a slip down the Giant Yellow Slide, which is a fair tradition of mine. Cory won, but that’s only because he cheats…that and I was busy snapping pictures, which made me late off the starting line. Trust me, had the camera been out of the equation I would have won that race, no contest!

Finally, the exhibits. The arts and crafts room was my favorite – big surprise. Can you believe they actually had a Wendover Fun Bus made out of yarn? It oozed awesomeness! (For those of you who don't know, Wendover is a town on the UT/NV border. Some say it's a ghetto Vegas. I say it's easy access to the MegaBucks. It will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine!)

Naturally, Cor was more enthralled with the steam motor (or whatever this thing is) that somebody entered. Yeah, great!

Then there was the scrapbooking. Talk about an assortment. Here's one of the Best in Show layouts.

And the animals are always fun. Isn’t that baby pig sweet? Then you walk outside to benches that say “eat pork” on them. Yikes! Yes, I know that’s what the fair animals are raised for, but it’s still a little hard to take. Good thing I ate my hairy pork sandwich before our jaunt down pig row.

Inspired by my cute friend Cathy’s blog, I’m going to leave you with a few more fair pics to enjoy. This was definitely a fair to remember.

Some canned goodies.




Only the best ride EVER!


My favorite frozen treat!