CraftyEngineer

Texas Tuesday - Little Dude.

It's time again for Texas Tuesday! Feel free to play along - just leave a comment or send me an email and we'll get you hooked in for the next round. We (the Texas Tuesday Team) create something inspired by this great state of ours every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month.

I have to admit... I'm thinking I'm not doing this challenge justice. Here's my problem. When most people think of Texas... they think of cowboy boots, horses, yeehaw, howdy and all that. Me. Not so much. I've been in this great state since I was 11. And when I was moving down here from Canada, one of my childhood friends asked me if I knew how to ride a horse and if I was going to ride a horse to go to school. Ah, innocence. It's something, isn't it?

Problem is I've never thought of Texas as the cowboy, boot-sootin', country place... and I grew up in a small Texas town and my brother even helped out the Debonaires for 8 years (local C/W band - do you know them?). So, what do I think of when I think of Texas. I dunno. Still working on that. Hence, why I am struggling with this challenge.

So what did I make for Texas Tuesday? Well, a card with a cowboy and a horse on it, of course. Sigh.

supplies: images and ribbon by A Muse Artstamps; cuttlebug embossing folder; signo gel pen; foam tape - card size 4 bar; paper by A Muse, Stampin' Up!, and LCI papers

There you have it. The good thing is that this challenge is making me "work" ... I'll figure out what inspires me here in this great state I call home. (right now - it would be a card showing me cutting down all the BLEEPING cedar (juniper) trees in a 100 mile radius of me - it wouldn't be pretty. If you're not from here... google cedar fever texas and you'll see... awful, awful stuff).

Happy Texas Tuesday! Check out the Texas crew and see what they have to say:

Libby

Mark

Betty

Tina

Jennifer

Karen

Danielle

Glenda's 100th Challenge Post

My dear friend, Glenda, is celebrating her 100 challenge post over on her blog. She asked me (along with a bunch of other really creative, crafty gals!) to help her celebrate in a blog celebration!

Glenda's Random Amusing Challenge #100 is to use red on your card or project.  Use as much or as little as you like.  Incorporate it by using paper, ink, ribbon, embellishments, whatever you like!  You must play along with the challenge to be eligible to win the blog candy.  If you play along, please leave a comment on Glenda's blog (http://papersscissorsrocks.blogspot.com) and link back to her post from your post.  If you upload to an online gallery, please use the keyword GRAC100. You have until midnight Pacific Time on January 23rd to play along and you can play along as many times as you like.  The winner will be randomly chosen and announced on January 24th.

 
Here is my card to celebrate Glenda's 100th challenge and the color RED!

I don't use RED often enough. Well, except at the RED holidays - Christmas, Valentine's, etc. It's not a color in "my" palette. I remember Glenda and I talking about that in Seattle at A Muse last time we were there. It's her favorite color!

Anyway, I broke out my Unity Stamps I received before the holidays, matched with the A Muse sentiment "you make life sweet". I *heart* A Muse sentiments. Yeah, I know, I've said that before.

This card size is A2. I know you wondering why I'm mentioning that. Well, for a really long time I've only made 4 bar or smaller! So it was a bit of challenge to "fill up" the extra space. Texture. That helped. :)

 

Lastly, the glass dome is covered in DG3 (diamond glaze's faster drying stuff. Yeah, I don't know that it really is faster...) but it works well enough. Here is a close up:

Thanks for stopping by and see the list below!

 

 

---

Check out all of these lovely crafters that played along in Glenda's challenge:

Allison Fillo http://stampinwhenican.blogspot.com/
Allison Miles http://allistamps.blogspot.com/
Beate Johns http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Belinda Chang Langner http://cadnileb.blogspot.com
Carly Robertson http://carlyrobertson.typepad.com/
Cheiron Brandon http://www.cheironbrandon.typepad.com/
Chris Sather http://cattsscratchingpost.blogspot.com/
Dawn Stein http://www.lavendergiraffe.blogspot.com/
Donna Hitz http://www.frozenstamper.blogspot.com/
Elena Shacochis http://thestampingshac.blogspot.com/
 Jenn Shurkus http://jennshurkus.typepad.com/creative_chick/
Jennie Moczan http://www.simplycaffeinated.typepad.com/
Jill Grace (& family) http://creativegrace.typepad.com/
Joan Jeffery http://www.j-jcreations.blogspot.com/
June Gibbons http://perfectlikeacurl.blogspot.com/
Kamila Younkman http://littlescrapsofheaven.typepad.com/
Krystie Lee Hersch http://www.cupcakemartini.com/
Meghan Fahey http://driventoink.com/
Michelle Clark http://www.sparkledesigns.typepad.com/
Michelle Mathey http://msmathey.blogspot.com/
Michelle Woerner http://stopandstamptheroses.blogspot.com
Nance Lempinen-Leedy http://nanceleedy.blogspot.com/
Sherry Czarnecki http://littlestampsbiglife.blogspot.com/
Silke Ledlow http://silkeledlow.blogspot.com/
Teresa Kline http://www.enjoythevasunshine.blogspot.com

A Quick Gift...

I'm so far behind in posting things that you might have to bear with me as I show some of the stuff I made during the holidays!

I made this for my brother's girlfriend. I really love it and will have to make more of these!

A few months ago, maybe last summer, a couple of the A Muse gals were telling me about this Accucut die that is a portfolio. It holds 8 cards and 8 envelopes. I got the 4 bar size because I love that size of notecards. The die scores and cuts in all the right places, including ribbon slots on the sides. Anyway, I *finally* opened it up and used it for this project. I was surprised at how quickly I could make this whole thing. 

So, I made her 8 matching thank you cards. I hope she liked them!

Happy 1-11-11! :)

---

Supplies:

Images: damask by A Muse, thanks by A Muse, just a note by Memory Box;

Cardstock: by A Muse

Ribbon: by May Arts

Ink: Mementos

  

Moxie Fab Challenge: Gray is the New Black

I got a chance to play in my first Moxie Fab Challenge: Gray is the New Black over on Moxie Fab World. The challenge is "create a paper crafted project (card, gift bag, tag, layout, home decor item, mini-book cover, etc.) that incorporates gray in an innovative way".  

I was inspired by a photo on their blog of the purple and gray kitchen. Wouldn't that be fabulous? I used gray for my card base and also for the big block background for the focal image. The sentiment is in white (but a bit hard to see in the picture... grr.).

I made wedding invitations in purple, black and white back in October. I had this purple silk May Arts ribbon from those invitations left over. It is BEAUTIFUL ribbon. :)

Finally, I added a bit of sparkle to the marigold with my Spicas. 

If you get a chance to play along, do so here.

Happy Monday!

 

---

Supplies:

 Images: marigold by A Muse, big block by A Muse, thank you unknown;

Cardstock: by A Muse

Ribbon: by May Arts

Ink: Mementos, Colorbox

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! May 2011 bring you much laughter and may you get to create something every day!

We spent Christmas in Puerto Rico. It was a great trip. We hiked the El Yunque rainforest, boated out to a bioluminenscent lagoon, beached, pooled, spa'ed, and even experienced a 5.4 magnitude Earthquake on Christmas Eve!

This was our view from our hotel room.

We were surprised at how large and metropolitian Puerto Rico is.

Anyway, today is the first Texas Tuesday for 2011. I think I must have left my "inspiration" and "mojo" in PR because it took me MANY trys to get something I could be happy posting. And then I'm not even sure about this. Ah well. Here it is:

 

It's a cold, rainy day here in Central Texas and not optimal for card photo taking, for sure! Anyway, I used the Texas punch here with the 3 Texas colors. The howdy is from Lizzie Anne Stamps. It is hard to tell but the card is a panel card (embossed inset). I got a bunch of these 4 bar panel cards for dirt cheap at a local printer. Love 'em!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day and a wonderful start to 2011. Be sure to check out the rest of the gang:

Libby

Mark

Betty

Tina

Jennifer

Karen

Danielle