Virginia's View Challenge #2

Another day, another card...

This time it's another attempt to win a challenge at Lily Pad Cards. I had a particular card in mind, but when my friend Angela was over today we brainstormed this beauty:

I have included a second photo below because it is hard to see the white clouds embossed on the white background. I wanted to add a sentiment, but couldn't figure out where to put it, so I gave up and left it be.

Now Angela likes more ornate cards, but I had to stay loyal to my more simple design. Maybe one day I will figure out how to embellish a card with lots of goodies and still make it look wonderful. Until then...

Here is the inspiration photo:




Ok that's all the magic I can muster in one day,

Wida

Runway Inspired Challenge #6

Well as promised, I have a card for the Runway Inspired Challenge #6. This one was tough! I knew I wanted to do something with mosaics after reading Jennifer Rzasa's blog. I didn't even think of the word MOSAIC until she said it. After that, I was determined to make an image with dots that I had punched using my 1/2 inch and 5/8th inch circle punches and I just couldn't get it to look right. I googled mosaic art to see if I could find something reasonable, beautiful art, but after attempting some of them nothing translated into an image well. It just looked like abstract art.


Finally, I found a tree in my daughter's art box that I thought might work. Here is the picture of the tree:

Here is my card:

Supplies: cricut, circle punches, gems iroc

And here is the inspiration from Runway Inspired Challenge:





It's not easy trying to keep up with the masters! Hope you like it DT ladies of RIC. I gave it my all!

Till Next Time,

Wida
(pronounced Wee-dah)

ColourQ #125

Darn it if I didn't find another challenge. If I keep going at this rate, I will have enough challenges to keep me busy on a daily pace! I must say, I am just a sucker for a photo challenge blog.

ColourQ...what a neat place and cute concept. I might even like this one as much as the Runway Inspired Challenge, who by the way has a really exciting photo this week. No doubt I will try to come up with something good to appeal to my blog idols: Cristina, Laura, and Jen. If they only had Debby on their design team, I would be in blog heaven...sigh.

Anyhoo, back to ColourQ challenge #125. I wonder if there has been 125 challenges and oh my, how many pretty pictures I have missed out on! This blog is eye candy, check it out here.

Let me first introduce my card:

Supplies: stamps Stampin Up, Hero Arts

The colors this week says Wida ALL OVER IT! Here is the photo:




On a happy note, my hello card won top 5 at the Young Crafter's Unite Blog. AND I got an honorable mention for my bird trio card from the Play Date Cafe. Thank you very much!! Maybe I need to start one of those fancy pages I see other experienced bloggers have called "accomplishments" or "awards" or some other nice word that means I am a winner. We shall see. For now I will think about where to put my blinkie :))


Later,

Wida
formally known as Wee-dah (explanation in previous post)

Why Wee-dah?

Some of my inner circle have asked me why I am signing my name as Wee-dah.

it's a legitimate question...cuz my name is "Wida".

BUT...

it's pronounced Wee-dah.

soooo, here's the story:
As I was entering my first challenge and I saw the many, many cards and names and symbols and interesting phrases etc I wondered how I was going to stand out in this crowd. How do I get people to remember me?

I bet your thinking, well, isn't Wida interesting enough?  Sure, if it's said right. but most of the time it isn't.

people call me so many things: wide-a, wilda, Rita, what? it's very frustrating.

I just wanted people to know, even if it is just read in blog land, how it is said. If there was room, I would add the line (that's how you say it) so people could tell the difference.

However, now that I decided I am going to give this blog thing a serious go, I don't want people to get confused, and having too many names, phonetically speaking or not, can do that. After all, I am now an award winning card maker thanks to Hero Arts and Young Crafters Unite. I need to figure this out before I get famous. LOL. seriously LOL.

With that in mind, I plan on going back to my roots, if you will, and signing my name at the end of every post, entry for every challenge, comment to other bloggers as my real deal, confusing and hard to remember, but the one my mamma gave me name.

ie.

Wida

simple. uh, maybe too simple. Maybe I will work on a catch phrase...hmmm (insert evil laugh here).

PDCC119

Sometimes it just plain hurts when I have a stamp set and I don't use it right away. It's like you are waiting for just the right moment to break it out. A moment when you know it will shine. This is the moment for one such stamp set:

please pardon the surroundings, it was late and the staging was not as important as the light! (and I still couldn't get the pink to photograph just right. It looks neon/saturated in the pic)

Here is a pic of the card in natural light...had to fix it. It's one of those things that was going to keep bugging me!

This card uses the HAPPY TOGETHER stamp set from Stampin Up! Aren't the birdies so adorable?

The photo used to inspire my card is from the Play Date Cafe:



I really enjoy the pictures the experts use to get me motivated to create! I used my beloved bakers twine in honor of their wonderful sponsor THE TWINERY. I adore my bakers twine! 

See you LATER!

I won! I won!

This blog is a labor of love for me. I make crafts because it eases my stress, brings me joy, and the blog allows me to share it with you!

I have been entering various challenges/contests for weeks and weeks. I did so because they are SO SO addicting and fun! I was starting to get disappointed of all the losses, but thanks to Hero Arts, I am a WINNER! One of my beloved cards won a contest and I am elated, ecstatic, over-the-moon happy.

Thank You HERO ARTS for making me feel like my work is worth something...$50 bucks to be exact!

I am off to spend my money, but if you want to know which one of my card won, check out the hero arts blog>>> http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/!!

The Craft's Meow Jan/Feb Sketch Challenge

Now don't unfollow me for this card...

I stamped a bird under the sentiment and tried the cracked glass technique on the circle portion of the card. It is not my usual style, but I am trying new things, so yeah for experimenting, right?

I hope the people at the The Craft's Meow can appreciate the effort and love in making the card more than the results, sigh...

Here is their sketch again:

On that note, Happy Valentine's Day. I just finished giving my kids their treat bags filled with books, candy, and pens. Later, my husband brings home ballooons with more candy. It's a fun day here. I like to see them excited about all the happenings of the holiday!

A Beachorado Card at it's finest...Just Sayin'

Well, I finally did it~I made a beachorado card. I try to have some beachorado elements in all my cards, but today folks, I have really outdone myself. Today I made a 100% certified BEACHORADO card. Here it is:

It is a take on a sketch challenge by The Crafts Meow.  Here is their sketch:






At first I made another card, which I will post tomorrow, but after completing it, I just didn't feel like it was me. So, it was back to the drawing board where created this little beauty. I knew it was a winner,  in my heart anyway, when I put down those pretty patterned papers.  The best part is that all the papers were SCRAPS! How about that! ?!? I took some liberties with the scetch, I hope that I am allowed to.

You know when you are making something good and you get a little EXTRA happy? That's what making cards and crafting does to me! Makes me a little extra happy.


Some women take xanax, I just make cards :)

I am also entering this card in the Lily Pad Patterned Paper Challenge.  :)

footnote: this card is Beachorado because: it has a combination of a variety of colors, both muted and with some pop, some texture (buttons), some nature (the bird), and you can put this in both a winter cabin home and a beach home and it would fit nicely! 

PDCC118 Submission #2

Here is my second entry to The Play Date Cafe. I learned this technique from Kristina Werner. I cut strips of 2 different shades of blue and embossed with Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE for short).  I think it gave it a nice wet/nautical look which goes nicely with the star!

Supplies: star Jolee's sticker, UTEE, seam binding, circle punch

                  Here is the PDCC inspiration board:

Thanks for stopping by!

PDCC118

Another browsed blog, another challenge found. Play Date Cafe Challenge #118. You might wonder how I have time to browse all these blogs and make all these cards with 4 kids and a job and a house, and a husband, and so on? Or you may not!

This card was finished after my kids went to bed. I started it while they were in the craft room with me. We were making their school valentine's cards together. I made the flowers that went on top and then got STUCK. I decided to step away rather than hurt the card even more than I already had (notice the wrinked flowers), hehe.

When I came back to it, I decided to embrace the distressed look and sprayed it with blue tattered mist. Then came the sayings off to the side. The stamped sentiment didn't go on as clear as I would have liked, but then I got to thinking that it could just be part of the distressed look? yeah, that's right, it was INTENTIONAL, yep, sure was!

Oh, and thank God for smart phones, so when I get trapped having to watch Wizards of Waverly Place on Disney, I can still snuggle with my kids and view my dear blogs. I guess that's called multi-tasking??

Supplies: tattered Angels mist, stamp: Hero Arts

Here is the inspiration board:

I have another submission for this challenge, see you tomorrow!

Lensalicous!

1. I am a NIKON girl. 
2. My children are my favorite subjects.  

I have a D70 that is about 8 years old. It came with a standard lens. The photos that I have taken in the past were good (so I thought). Then I took a photography class by Maggie Holmes that was worth every penny! She said that investing in new lenses was worth it. So, after saving for many months, I finally got a prime lens 50mm f1.8.

Oh My! what a difference a lens can make. Take a look at the snapshots I took of my daughter Anya. This is without any editing. HELLO! the color, sharpness and bokah are ridiculous! I don't know what that little fuzz is on her hair on the first photo and I really wish it wasn't there, but other than that, it's going in the scrapbook. stay tuned for that page...

2 challenges 1 card

It's been a while, I took a few days off to travel to Florida and help my aunt out with her new twins. Got to see my mom too which was BONUS! They are cutie pies and I had a great time loving on them.

Anyhoo, I have noticed that other bloggers are able to enter 1 card in 2 challenges. I thought I would give this a try today. Here is my card coming down the runway, bet you can guess the challenge:

and closer up

 in bright light...

and twilight :)

I am entering this in the Runway Inspired Challenge. I drew inspiration from the squares on the blouse and the color combination. I also liked the shimmery stockings she wore so I threw in some glitter.

Here is the runway photo:

The design of the card fit into another challenge by  Young Crafters Unite:

This is a sketch challenge which I have not tried yet. I am still not sure about how much I am allowed to tinker with the sketch and still be in the guidelines, hope it's right. So there you have it, attempting 2 challenges at once. Probably means I'm going to lose twice, oh well!

A Spot O' Tea

I am entering this in Hero Arts Challenge: Friendship and Hello Cards. Hands down it is the cutest tea cup stamp EVER! And my favorite paper of any color, size, type? Polka Dots. Hence the title-Spot O' Tea. AAAAAAAAhhhhh, funny hu?

 I am in love with the card and feel a HOARDING compulsion coming on...going to have to be a pretty spectacular person to get me to let this one go!

Supplies: Stamp set Hero Arts, bakers twine, patterned paper Making Memories Just Chillin' collection, heart gems Hero Arts.

The black embossing powder sprayed on it a bit and there wasn't much I could do to save it, but it kind of looks like steam, so I went with it! :)

Fresh Flowers+ Friends=Beachorado Goodness

My dinner party was a success, not just because I was able to hang out with some of my favorite people, but because my friend Gwen gave me these beautiful fresh flowers and I put them in a vase given to me by my other awesome friend Heidi. HELLO, I love it when I get unexpected goodness!

ABSOLUTELY BEACHORADO

Do something nice for somebody today, it feels nice to give and to receive.