ABC Week on Tombow

**Happy Leap Year! Tombow is giving away $29 worth of goodies on their blog. Be sure to stop by!

If you have followed me at all, you will know I love making these notepads. They were also a huge hit at CHA. They are so quick and easy to make, fit into your purse and the perfect size for keeping track of things our minds so easily forget (esp. as we grow older. Ü)

I used Fancy Pants patterned papers. I love using double sided papers as it makes creating projects like this so easy. The "just a note" was created on my computer. I just made a sheet of them and then centered the sentiment with a circle punch and punched out. I used Mono Adhesive Permanent to adhere the papers to the notepad.

This is the first time I’ve made a tab closure. To give the tab more strength, I adhered Power Tabs to the end of the tab that went to the back, and then a Fastener Tab for the round end that goes to the front.

Be sure to stop by the Tombow blog this week and see what the rest of the DT has created for you. We would also love to have you comment there. You never know when there might be a surprise drawing for free product.

One Stamp, Two Looks

This is a Valentine stamp from Inky Antics (2244G Love Watering). I have made two different cards that aren't for Valentine's day. I left the sentiment off so that I could use it for any occasion that comes up. Maybe Mother's Day, birthday, or just thinking of you.

I used My Mine's Eye patterned papers for each card, the same layout and accessories. This one is more vintage and soft.

Here is the second card; bright and cheerful. This could even be used as a get well card.

BFB The Scent of Cherry Blossoms

The Scent of Cherry Blossoms by Cindy Woodsmall.

Cindy Woodsmall is one of my favorite Amish story authors. I even subscribe to her newsletter! Ü This story was unique in that it was a love story about the Old Order Amish and the Old Order Mennonites. Even though they have common beliefs, they do not intermingle, let alone date/marry.

Annie is Mennonite and her friend Aden is Amish. The odds are against them as they struggle to have a relationship beyond friendship.

The only negative about this book is that it was over too soon. Ü I am pretty sure the story will continue in another of Cindy's books and can't wait til it comes out.

**I received a copy of this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

Spring HoneyPOP Hop

Welcome to Inky’s Spring HoneyPOP Blog Hop! If you are following in order you’ve come from Jovi’s blog, if not you will want to start at the beginning here. I used a new Honey Pop set called Chocolate Rabbit (11088MC) to create my projects, which you can find on this page.

I colored the bunnies with Irojiten colored pencils and Gamsol and added a fluffy tail. Do you see my "faux" brads? I love those colorable dots by CANDI!

Here is a look at the inside. Isn't this such a fun surprise?:

I hand cut the carrots and added a folded ribbon for the tops. Of course I had to add a chocolate bunny. I have more ideas of what to do with Honeycomb bunnies so be sure to watch my blog in the next few weeks.

I purposely chose the orange and brown colors (w/ green accent) to match Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs that will be out soon to go with this card and this matching tag:

I thought the bunny needed some whiskers so just added some with embroidery floss. This gives you an idea of what you can do with the stamp sets besides using the Honeycomb papers. I will add the tag to an Easter basket filled with goodies for someone special.

Now on to the hop details.

The blog hop starts today and ends on Sunday, February 27^th at midnight Central time. Please visit each DT members’ blog to view their projects and leave a comment for each designer. The more you comment, the better your chances are to win. (Limit one comment per blog, please). Two people’s names will be drawn at random to receive a surprise Inky HoneyPOP prize pack. The winners’ names will be announced on the Inky Antics (insert link) blog next Monday, so remember to stop back and see if you’ve won.

Your next stop on the hop is Trudy’s blog.

Designer's Choice

This week on Tombow our challenge is Designer's Choice. These are my favorite challenges. Ü It gives us the creative license to really shine and show what we like to do the most.

I thought I would share one of the most popular make--takes I taught at CHA. This was the first time (of course it was only my second time at CHA and first time teaching what I had designed. LOL) that I had a line of gals waiting to take my classes.

For this make-n-take, we altered a composition notebook. Here is a peek at the front.

We also added papers inside the front and back covers as well as covered the back. You can see where we didn't have the inside patterned paper to clear to the binding. This helps the notebook to close.

Here is a close-up of the fabric flower made using Tombow's Mono Multi and Power Tabs:

A closer view of the tabs using Mono Adhesive Permanent (put a tab on the first bage and then every 20 pages after that)

 

 I hope this inpsires you to create an altered journal. If you do, please let me know as I would love to see it.

Valentine Goodies

**for some reason this went into draft when I had it scheduled
Here is a Valentine card I made for Inky Antics. I like that it can be used for a just because card as well.

For Valentine's Day I made these goodies and sent them to my son and his girlfriend in college. I also sent them other boughten goodies but didn't take pics of them.

These Oreo Truffle balls are made with Peanut Butter Oreos. Benjamin's girlfriend loves peanut butter so I wanted to try them and see how they turned out. Oh my, they are yummy! (we had to taste test before sending you know. Ü)

In case you haven't tried these they are super simple to make!

Oreo Truffles
1 pkg cream cheese, room temp
1 pkg Oreos
Almond Bark

Crush Oreos and stir into cream cheese until completely blended together. Make into balls and freeze. Dip into melted Almond Bark and add sprinkles or leave plain.

Swingin' By

Hello! I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with love and surprises. Today I have some cards to share with you using Our Craft Lounge's Swingin' By stamp set. I used the tree on all 3 of my cards, leaving the sentiment off of two as sometimes I need a card that has the wrong sentiment on it. This way I can just add the needed sentiment inside the card.
For my first two cards I stamped the image in black on white cardstock and colored the trees by using a lighter Tombow marker and picking up a darker color and then "smooshing" the marker into the leaves to make a tear drop pattern. This leaves a little white showing, which I liked.

For the next card I stamped on watercolor paper and colored and blended with a blender pen using Tombow markers.

Sometimes it is harder to use a larger image, but I really like how these turned out esp the last one. Which one is your favorite?

Have you entered for a chance to win on Our Craft Lounge's blog and FB? If not, you have until today to comment. Comments close at midnight PST. Be sure to go HERE to get the details.

Happy V-owl-entine's Day!

How do you like my sentiment? HAHA! I even thought of that myself. This week on Tombow we are focusing on the Irojiten colored pencils. My favorite way to color is using colored pencils and Gamsol, so this is a fun challenge for me.
This is a card I created for CHA and those that took the class loved it. They had alot of fun coloring the image and using the Irojiten pencils for the first time.

**Be sure to scroll down for a chance to win goodies from Our Craft Lounge

The colored pencils I used are:
Rain Forest: D03Autumn Leaf, D02 Chestnut Brown, P06 Ice Green, V06 Peacock Blue
Woodlands: P11 Rose Pink, P18 Celeste Blue, D15 Mustard, Lg02 Cork, D12 Maroon
Seascape: DL05 Verdigris
in addition:
Saddle Brown #977 was used to create the dots and dashes around the stamped image and Mono Adhesive Permanent to adhere all the pieces together.
I found out at CHA that the image from Stampavie is no longer available, but they do have a new owl image out. Patterned papers are by Echo Park.

Inky Antics at CHA

Here is the Inky Antics and Darcie's booth at CHA. Because of the death of Bruce's g'ma, this was the first time in several years that I didn't have anything at CHA. Thank you Michelle, Jovi and others for pinch hitting for me!

Now for some Darcie goodness:

I just love all the new little monsters!

Outside CA

Although I was inside most of the time, I did get to see a few sights while in CA. Unfortunately it was at night, so my pics are dark, but here are some pictures of some of the things I got to do and see.

Downtown Disney. I wish I had more pics and better ones. Need to figure out how to take pics in the dark. I had no idea I was so close to Disneyland! Only about 6 blocks. I seriously need to take Aaron with me next time.

Here is the Lego Store. I felt guilty being here wihout Aaron. Ü

On the second night I was there, my cousin Nancy and her coworker and friend Maria (I knew Maria from times she had come to visit in NE) came and got me and took me to the beach

After taking me on the beach we ate on the pier at a place called Ruby's.

the 3 of us shared this:

this is what I ate for breakfast every morning; oatmeal with granola, dried apricots and cranberries, toasted almonds and real maple syrup (yum!! started eating it at home too) PLUS yummy fruit! Oh my goodness the pineapple was soooo yummy.

then when I got home and checked out Pinterest I saw this and thought it was fitting for what I saw while in CA

I hope you enjoyed the pics I shared of my trip.