Pushing myself for #DCWV, Inc.

     I have done very little crafting since back surgery over a year and a half ago.  I know paper makes for the best therapy, but the pain has been over the top.  Hopefully, I will be having a spinal stimulator put in soon which will replace the pain signals with "champagne bubbles" according to the patient rep from Boston Scientific!  I wanna believe that, but when I saw the opportunity to win a DCWV cardstock stack I was motivated now!
     The January challenge uses a card sketch.  That's at least 1/3 of the cardmaking process.  It requires the use of DCWV cardstock.  If you use a stack, the papers are pretty much arranged so that the prints coordinate and compliment each other, which makes the paper-pickin' much easier.  Another 1/3?  I could see that this card was making itself, so I went for it! 
     I chose three prints from the Lemon Flower Matstack. I even had a set of stamps by American Crafts that needed inking.  It couldn't come together better! 

     I'm sure back problems are behind the saying that "if you play, you pay."  I'm paying today, but the satisfaction of doing something positive and creative, maybe even encouraging to someone else, makes it worthwhile. 
     Thanks to my FiskaFriend Pam for giving me a heads up just in time to participate and to DCWV, Inc. for the fun of competing for a new cardstock stack!  And to anyone else who happens to stop by, thank you, too!  Hugz!  Suzi

#sctmagazineinsd2017

This was the sketch for International Scrapbook Day at Scrapbook & Cards Today.  I love the sketch, but, as always, I'm finishing up the last minute.  I will also enter it at Papercrafter's Corner Magazine Monday.  I couldn't find a link between the two challenges, except I did use a date on both.  And they ARE both paper projects.  I'm stretching here, I know, but I just couldn't do more!

Our little boys will be moving with their mom to Seattle soon.  It breaks my heart knowing we won't have these weekend visits.  Sequoia will miss her little brothers, too.  Now I better stop before I cry. . . .  too late. . . .

PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday #169

    Anyone who knows my scrapbooking won't be at all surprised with my interpretation of PCC's inspiration piece this week.  It was a no-brainer, which is just about what I'm up for right now.  It still took me a week to get it together.  The pain from my March 2016 back surgery continues to rule my life.  It gets me out of a lot of work 😊, but also interrupts my playtime.  Sitting at the computer is not one of my strong points right now, either, so without further ado. . . .

Inspiration

     You knew it would be a page for my granddaughter's scrapbook, didn't you?  Of course!  I hope it made you smile, too!  Thanks for looking!

A Trick with DCWV Metallic Card Stock

     This month I've been working on the DCWV Stack-a-holic challenges, always fun.  My background paper is from the beautiful Samantha Rose stack which has a lot of gold foil.  I wanted my sentiment tags to have coordinating shine, so I printed them out with my little Epson printer on card stock from the Metallic stack.

Yeah, you can hardly see it!  But I noticed how wet the ink was and how it just sat on the paper!  So I printed it out again and immediately poured on black embossing powder.  When I heated it, voila!  

Crisp, dark and clear!  I've heard of other people embossing right out of the printer, but my ink always dried too fast.  On this card stock, it didn't.  I loved the result.  I loved learning something new!

DCWV February Stack-a-holic Challenges

     So excited to be able to play in these challenges and get creative.  When I thought Sequoia was to be our last grandchild, I decided to do a page-a-month album for her.  Her two little brothers get a lot of attention, just not on paper!  I had hopes of getting current with Sequoia's album before I had back surgery almost a year ago.  Then I fell way behind.  So, yay!  Another page!  From October, 2015, but I WILL GET CAUGHT UP!  Thank you, DCWV!  You are awesome!  I needed just the incentive I got from you!
     Here are both the scrapbook layout sketch and the card sketch.  I had fun with both!
  
     I like my scrap pages to tell a story, and this one tells a lot about our granddaughter.  Can you say "STRONG-WILLED?  The paper I used is mostly from the DCWV Kidlets Stack. The scissor blades are from the Card Stock Stack-Shimmer.

     Some of my favorite cards are ones that give you a punch line inside. That's what I went for here. The background is paper from the beautiful Samantha Rose Stack.  The sentiment is computer printed and embossed on the Card Stock Stack-Metallic.  (I'm going to do a separate post on that.)  The little girl is an svg from Apex Cuttable Designs, the leaves from Cheery Lynn Designs, and the cats from a Impressions Obsession die.  

I hope you like them.  Thanks for looking.  

DCWV January Stack-a-holic Challenges

     Oh, yes, I am slow!  But sure!  I'm finally ready to post my Stack-a-holic challenges, both the card and scrapbook layout challenge.  Yay!  That's two things I got accomplished this month!
     I had to take two pictures of my card.  It wasn't complete without the inside!  The red bordering the pictures is just the table it was sitting on.  Sorry.

     Of course, it's too late to play along this month, unless you are really speedy, but do check out the DCWV challenges.  Great fun!  Thanks for checking me out!

New Year's Eve at Our House

    December 31 is a special day at our house, Sequoia's birthday!  Number 7 and counting!
    I took ideas from PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday 166 for an easel card I made for our girl. The jester in the inspiration piece was decked out in bright colors, just like my cat!  Sequoia is definitely a cat lover.  When she opened the card, she and her little cousin both said, "Awwww!" in unison.  It was pretty cute!  She was also pleased with the gift card to the local movie theater that was attached inside.  😊
     Steph of PCC also mentioned the "pure joy" of the magazine image.  I can easily relate that to Sequoia, too, most of the time!
But I did make a scrapbook page which I also entered in DCWV's December Scrap-a-holic Challenge of something that brings a lot of joy to my family Christmas morning.

    Well, I've completely erased/deleted this post once.  I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.  Thanks for visiting!