2010 - Not just a new year! A new plan!

Like many of you, I'm not sure where 2009 went, but am glad it's over! I had great intentions for this blog, and while they didn't quite materialize, I'm back with a new plan for this year!

Those of you who follow along to see what's happening in the crafting world might just enjoy this - a year of challenges! What's so different about that you might wonder - well let me tell you!
First of all, this will be something that I hope will apply to everyone who crafts - whether it's sewing, scrapping, card making or beading! How?! That's the fun part! I'll offer up MY version of a challenge every month, but you'll also have the opportunity to set your OWN goal and work to attain it. I'll start by posting mine, and then you'll have until later in the month to state whether or not you'll play along, and whether you'll be doing the 'group' challenge, or one of your own. That way, if the challenge I issue isn't something that interests or challenges you, you can still 'play along' and be held accountable for something that IS challenging for YOU!

Then, you'll have until the end of the month to work toward that goal, and until a set date to post the results - yes, you'll have to provide me with proof that you did, in fact, reach your goal!
**IF, and only IF, you want to work for....the second part of my new plan.... a prize! Yes, each month, I will offer up a prize to be offered at random among those who complete their goal AND post proof of that by the set date! Some months, I'll show you the prize before the month ends, and other months, it'll be a mystery....some ideas of things I might throw at you will be paper kits, stamps, stickers, cards, gift cards, idea books, and on and on. No, these will not ALL be CTMH items, though some of them surely will be - but they will all be NEW, and FUN for someone! ;)

So...if this sounds like something that might interest you, I hope you'll play along! It's not something that you'll have to be committed to doing every month, and you're welcome to share (or not share, and thus, up your rate for success & prizes, LOL!) with anybody that you'd like. Everyone will be welcome, and nothing is really required unless you're trying to win, of course, but sometimes just having the option to share what you're working on with other crafters & see what they're doing can be motivating in itself, and after all, that's what I'm really hoping for in all this!

My Little Rockstar!

So, Sterling's latest 'obsession' is music - singing it. Listening to it. Watching it. ALL kinds! He plays Disney's Sing It! on the Wii, as well as Boogie SuperStar. He listens on his iPod. He contructs microphones out of tinker toys and watches videos of his favorites in order to get all the moves (and lyrics!) down. Then, he puts on a show! He sings his heart out. He dances. He takes a bow at the end.

He sings ALL.the.time! In school. In the car. At grandma & grandpa's house. At restaurants. At home. In the bathroom. During meals. At bedtime. In the morning, first thing after his eyes are open, until they slam shut (finally!) at night, he sings.






What does he sing?! Well, here is a list of some of his current favorite performances:


#1 Gunpowder & Lead - Miranda Lambert
Get Your Head in the Game - High School Musical (whatever number...)
Toes - Zac Brown Band
Sideways - Dierks Bentley
Sic 'Em on a Chicken - Zac Brown Band
Dry Town - Miranda Lambert
I Am A Person, A Very Special Person - Unknown, from a school concert
Fly Away (Last Dollar) - Tim McGraw
Like Whoa - Ally & AJ
Wild Child - ?? from Disney
Girls' Night Out - Hannah Montana
Don't Laugh at Me - Mark Wills
Don't Stop Believing - Journey
Best of Both Worlds - Hannah Montana
All I Want (you to leave me is alone) - Darius Rucker
Love Story - Taylor Swift
Upside Down - Jack Johnson
This is the Life - Hannah Montana
Keith Urban - Sweet Thing
I Run to You - Lady Antebellum
All I Want to Do - Sugarland
Leave it All to Me - Theme song from iCarly tv show

See what I mean? His tastes vary - he picks up songs from the rest of the family, as well as school, tv, radio, etc, and learns all the words as best he can. He has at least 1 favorite from every CD, and knows everyone else's too. His memory is amazing, and he can sing more on tune than any other 5 year old I've ever known! And not only does he know the words, he can tell the artist from a single line of the song when he hears them on the radio or CD player, and announces to us who it is, and what album (if he knows), just like a DJ. Crack.me.UP! This kid just might have a future in music!! ;)

** Please ignore the mess that is my living room in the photo above. Sterling built the microphone, asked me to get the camera and take the picture the 'wrong way' all while posing, so I didn't want to miss my opportunity, LOL!

3 sheets of patterned paper...

What can you do with it?! Well, after CASE'ing a card I loved from a magazine, I decided to find out. I used 3 sheets of double-sided patterns from Scenic Route's Loveland line, and an extra sheet of their graph paper pattern, some cardstock (mostly scraps!!), and several stamp sets.

24 hours later, I have a few leftover scraps of patterned paper, a mess of a desk, and 13 cards of various sizes. WOW! Even I didn't think I would end up with that many! So, in honor of my first blog post, I'm going to show them here, and see what you think.

The top left card is the one I copied from a recent issue of "Scrapbook Trends" magazine - they used the green circle paper, but I didn't have that one, so I tried the multi-color dot, and still like it! ;) These 3 are all 6x6" - a size I don't use often as it's akward for mailing, but gives more room for embellishing a card. Top right uses a CTMH Big Pink flower, courdoroy button, and stamp from a SOTM set I love. On the bottom card, I used my Bazzill 'In Stitches' set and some CTMH thread to stitch the stem/leaf on the flower of the bottom card. Not sure how much I like it, but it's done, so....

These 4 cards are all the 'standard' card size - 4.25x5.5" and use the same papers, some the reverse side. Ribbon is a mix of CTMH and some I'd gotten in a ribbon club I used to belong to (until I filled a drawer and decided I better get to using it instead of just collecting it!). Top left card uses a cool kit from We R Memory Keepers with glitter, foil and flocking that goes over a glue-like rub-on, and the green was perfect for that card, so I was happy to use it!

Close-up of the glittered rub-on

More CTMH Just Blooms flowers here, along with the butterfly set (stamped on vellum, embossed, and cut out for fun!) and then one of our new decorative pins to hold it to the pretty pink ribbon under it.

Here's a close-up of the butterfly, certainly not perfect, but pretty enough, I thought! :D

The last 2 of the batch - some fun celebration cards in bright pinks and greens, pieced together additions, made with some new stamp sets i'm loving!




Nothing too fancy or original - most are at least loosely based on a sketch from Becky Fleck's Card Maps, but that's how I do my best work. Inspired by someone or something!