Guest Blogger: Sophia

For those of you who know me more for my cards than my kids, I have 4...that is NOT a typo. My oldest, Sophia, likes to make cards with me. Actually, they all do. But today is a special day...she is GUEST blogging here on Beachorado. 

Pretty sweet to get a guest blog spot so early in her career, eh? ;)

She made this card using her own colors, design and stamp choices. Not bad for an 8 year old! I am proud. My photo does not do it justice. I enjoy creating with them and seeing their faces light up when I praise their work.

CHAPTER 4 (of the Blog Handbook)---Blog Etiquette

Now, I got many emails, comments, and Facebook messages on my last post about Blog Etiquette. Truly, I thought I was the only one who didn't know about these things, as I didn't know about word verification among other things!

Basically, I have found that there is a general guideline to blogging. Now these are not hard and fast rules, but for the most part is to be followed by the masses. Certainly, you don't have to follow them and some don't because the higher up the blog chain you get, the rules change. I am probably going to get a bunch of emails about that sentence too!

Here are some that I have learned:

1. Be nice

2. Comment back when you can, especially if it is a new follower

3. Don't copy

4. Give credit

Wida

Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #71

I am a big fan of trying new things. Today I am giving Bordered Sentiments a try. You can see the other participants who also gave this technique a try here.

stamps: all PTI

I am still making cards like mad for an attempt at publication, but sadly, don't have a single one that I think will be publish worthy. I am going to keep trying till the deadline. Probably have better odds that way.

OH! and I just learned that there is a BLOG ETIQUETTE! Did you all know that? If I did not follow this in the past, I am so very sorry. I am still learning the ropes ;)

Always happy to learn,

Wida

Creative Uses for Stamps: MTE Style!

When I look at cards that wow me, it is usually because they do something new. One way to get so longevity out of your stamps is to find new things to do with them...and also get that WOW response we all look for!

In one of my card making sessions, I wanted to recreate this book cover found on Pinterest here. 

I set out to do this by cutting a bunch of shapes in a variety of colors using my Cricut. I ended up with  a card that I didn't like well enough to post and I had a bunch of the shapes left over. What to do...what to do? 

I looked at the shapes and my stamp sets the other night to see what I could make for my post, and ended up with this!

I used the Father's Day Subway Art set (see below) for the sentiment and the dash line for the stem in the flowers. Made a masculine stamp set feminine!! This is the part where you say "WOW"!  ;)

There you have it folks, another fine stamping moment using MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY STAMPS!

WIDA

stamper

creative card maker

all around good person :)

Where did I go?

Hi all,

My Cinderella moment has come to an end, I am proud to say that I made it to the TOP 15 in Paper Crafts Gallery Idol! For this green bean, it is a shining moment.

I have had this blog for 6 months and am trying hard to figure things out. I have asked lots of questions and thought about where I want to go next. Since there is no blogger handbook, here is what I have concluded:

1. Make cards

2. Find great challenges, get inspired, and enter...try to win (I am competitive that way)

3. Make some friends, get some followers

4. Comments, love comments. You know what my favorite part of that has been? When I love someones work who is obviously better than me, make a comment on their blog, and THEY say my comment made THEIR day! What??? little ol' me? 

5. Listen to Susan Opel and publish, even if your mentors told you that months ago...

I have been missing from my regular, challenge entering posts for that reason. I have been making cards with the hopes of publishing something! I love Paper Crafts Magazine. Have a subscription and as I flip through the pages, I realized I know about 80% of the designers. That is so cool! I am going to try to publish elsewhere too, but PC is my first stop!

On a different note, today is father's day. I made this card for Lance to give to his dad. I gave my dad a mustache one, see post here.

It's simple...

stamps: My Thoughts Exactly Fathers Day Mini and Mustache Mania and liquid pearls to make the dots pop.

If anyone has some adjustments to my 5, let me know. I am open to hearing ideas! And welcome to some new followers. Thank you so much!!!

Bye Friends,

Wida

Cheering myself Up!

The pressure is crazy. I had been feeling sad about the Paper Crafts Challenge, but today is a better day. When I was a bit down, Lance played me Tina Turner which sure does cheer a gal up. That lady can SING! It was fun to see him smile with me as I karaoked my way through "You Better Be Good to Me".

Supplies: stamp by My Thoughts Exactly called Mustache On

Before our karaoke moment, I decided to make MYSELF a card to feel better. Isn't that silly? Well it worked. OK, that and some new Papertrey Ink goodies that I played with. Thanks Aimes for enabling.

Friday, I find out my fate. I haven't lost my hope, but if it's my time to go, I will go with grace and be thankful for the experience and for the opportunity to feel like Cinderella at the age of 36.

PS. it's not too late to vote for me...see that sidebar? click it!

Thank you sincerely,

Wida

Paper Crafts Gallery Idol Round 3

Oh boy this challenge (create a masculine and feminine card using the same element) was hard.

So here's the story.

I have a lot of twins in my family. I feel bad for twins sometimes because people don't see their individuality. They become known as a single entity "the twins" and that goes for holiday and birthdays too, which is unfortunate.

I made a baby card that is easy to mail because on the surface it looks like one card, but when you open it, it separates into 2 distinct cards with a feminine side (baby girl) and a masculine side (baby boy). That way each person has their own special card but you don't have to pay for extra postage! This is the part where you think, "that girl Wida sure is clever." At least I hope that is what you are saying. hehe...

Gallery Idol only lets you submit one photo. But here on my blog, I can show you exactly how this card works!

 From the outside, it looks like a single card. It has woodgrain embossed using the Papertrey Ink Impression plate. But notice how the masculine font is on the left and the feminine font is on the right? Keepin' it subtle initially.

Then it banner open and separates into feminine and masculine patterns and you get a peek of what's inside. I used paper from the Miss Caroline collection from My Minds Eye. 

Here you can see how they overlap. I chose paper buttons for easier folding

The card then separates into 2 distinct cards. One for the girl baby...

with pink and florals and a flower tag. You can write your message along the right side. The little lamb and baby stamp is from Denami. This is the stamp set I used in both the cards.

Here is the boy version. Blue is very typical, but gray plaid? Now that's trendy! The tag is more boyish and the banner behind it has less detail.

Here is the outside of the boys side. 

And here are both cards standing side by side! I hope you like my take on the challenge and vote for me! Trying hard...trying so so hard :) 

Oh and the tag on the left is by Stampin' Up and the one on the right is by Tim Holtz. For the design, I cased my own card shown here. 

Oh, and I called this one "TWOFER"(two-fer) which is defined as accomplishing 2 things at once, or two items for the price of one. You could use this concept for other 2 for one type of events like anniversaries where you want both people to feel special!


You can see everyone's fantastic cards here.

Thank you, thank YOU, THANK YOU,

Wida

PS. some people have been asking me what stamp I used for my card that won the top 20. It is by My Thoughts Exactly and is called "more mini thoughts". It's a great versatile set here!

I made it!

I made this card a while back...but I think it still works in this case.

I sure am...

After a week of "Did I make it?  Do you think I made it? I sure hope I make it". 

I DID MAKE IT! 

Thank you for showing your support of me and my card. I made it to round 3 along with some fantastic card makers. Now I have this little idea for the next challenge and it has potential.  The challenge is to create a masculine and feminine card using the same element. I will be back on Monday to show you my entry for Paper Crafts Gallery Idol Round 3. Ding Ding Ding! (sounds like I am in a boxing match).

Wish me Luck!

Wida

The day before

Friday I will find out my fate at the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol competition. It has been a long road to get here. I have been trying to stay positive, though the emotional roller coaster has taken a toll at times. I seem to have a mental block and hard as I try, I cannot make a card. Just waitin' for Friday.

So instead I thought I would post some pics of my kids and I playing around with the photo booth feature on the new apple computer. This is me with really black hair. My profile here and on the Gallery Idol has me with lighter hair. I like trying new things. You will find that I don't look the same 2 years in a row. I enjoy changing my hair and makeup a lot. Less so my weight, but that seems to have happened over the years too having 4 kids!

This is me in my scrap space. Kind of an impromptu idea to take a self portrait. Then 3 of my kids showed up...

Our best shot out of the bunch. 

But then we got silly...

Each of us took turns shouting out something to do and then we took a pic.

Sad face.

Hip hop/cool dudes face.

Pyramid?

Attack!!!

Just being goofy.

Running out of ideas...

Then Karina woke up from her nap...

And I couldn't NOT get one with my baby. Although she couldn't figure out where to look while eating her banana. (hence the messy delicious face!)

I usually like my cards to be the focus of my blog. But this is a really important moment for me and I wanted to let you all know what is going on with this contestant behind the scenes. I would love to move forward to the next round. Thanks again for the kind words and votes. It has been so special to be recognized!

Wida

My Thoughts Exactly and Cardio Collaborate!

A while back, I made this card for Virginia's View challenge. Virginia now has a little challenge on her blog if you want to check it out here. Today I am going to show you a video on how I made it using Mini Thoughts by My Thoughts Exactly. 

The card in the video is not the same one above. I can't make cards on the fly, so I made another variation for the video. 

Thank you so much for watching, you get to see my mug in this one. It's me, a tired, smudged up make up me. I was trying to film when my little ones weren't up (if you watch Cardio 1 and 2, you will know why).  Next time I will be better prepared for my starring role ;)

PS. My Thoughts Exactly is having it's first ever challenge. So check it out here and ENTER!!

Wida

Paper Crafts Gallery Idol Challenge Round 2

You have not idea what shock and awe I have been in for the last few days. 

I was selected out of so so many wonderful cards (nearly 2000) to participate in Paper Crafts Magazine Gallery Idol 2012. I have so few followers and a handful of people who are loyal and enthusiastic about what I create to say so with each post. I am not even close to being a somebody in this blog world. I feel like Cinderella (my favorite Disney princess). Thank you for all of you who congratulated and encouraged me, I tried to write back to each of you and if I missed you, I am sorry. I really appreciated the well wishes!

For the second round of the contest, we were given the theme: "YOU COLOR MY WORLD". If you know me, you know I love rainbow cards. So off I went to make my entry.

They asked me to name my card. I have never done that before. After much thought...

I call it "REVEALED" (said in a dramatic fashion while curtains part and my card is shown).

Supplies: Hero Arts butterfly die, Papertrey Ink sentiment, Martha Stewart glitter. 

There are so many decisions that go into making a card that people don't realize. Color choices, placement  of sentiment, photography, and image selection among others.  The self doubt is mind boggling. In the end, I realized I needed to make a card that I was happy with and hope for the best. Thank you fellow idol Jennifer Ingle for helping me see that and my sister-in-law Carla for giving it to me straight ;).

The idea of my card stems from the concept of letting others get to know you or conversely, learning more about someone else and the beauty you will find in doing so.  Hence the title REVEALED.

I hope you find my card worthy of a vote. Click here to see all 20 fantastic entries too.

Humbly Yours,

Wida