Putting Pen to Paper...

What an AWESOME and much needed CHALLENGE for me...ahhhhhh, I get to use my "word of the year" here:)

Putting Pen to Paper...I've always thought scrapbooking, for me anyway, is an EMOTIONAL JOURNEY through the MEMORIES of this WONDERFUL life I'm BLESSED with!

Now, I have to admit...I find most of my EMOTION in the fotos I take...I LOVE IT when one of my fotos exudes EMOTION...but alas, I also need to realize that those who VIEW these FOTOS may not SEE the emotion as I SEE it...possibly because they weren't there with me to EXPERIENCE the emotion firsthand, possibly because they SEE things in a different LIGHT...and quite possibly, it's because I'm just CRAZY WEIRD in how I SEE things, lol...

Sooooo....sometimes, WORDS are needed to BRING the story and fotos to LIFE...Not always ALOT of WORDS, sometimes just a few well placed words will do it...

BUT...what IF there are NO fotos to TELL the STORY you want to TELL?  What if you just want to TELL the STORY?...BUT to add the right MIX of EMOTION, how about if you just use EMBELLISHMENTS and ALTERED ART?

OH YES, BABY....this IS gonna be AWESOME!!!!!

I'm gonna put a little twist on the Pen to Paper Challenge over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog...I'm gonna TELL a STORY...and let the embellishments I chose help exude the EMOTION!  Whoo hoo!  I'm SOOOOOO EXCITED!

Now, the hard part...I can't show you my ENTIRE layout just yet...because, it's also going to be my SKETCH CHALLENGE project!

Without further adieu, here's a sneak peek:) 



You'll have to wait until February 28th for the full reveal...but trust me...it's gonna be chock full of "Frugal Goodness", so stop back:)

I made it! 365 Cards Day 272!

Whew!  I made it!  I finished an ENTIRE week of challenges over at 365 Cards.  Whoo Hoo!  I have to say, I've had alot of fun this week AND have challenged myself to work "outside of MY box", creatively speaking...and ya know what????  I LOVED it!

Now, today's card was a bit more of a challenge than I thought it would be...my time was a bit limited today.  I started at 6 a.m...had to get the ole MOJO going with a "cup of JOE"...then I started putting all of my recipe items together...

Paper piercing...check.
Stitching...check.
Button...check.
Die Cuts...check.
5 x 5 card...check.
Stick pin...check.
Stamping...check.
Distressin'...check.
Dimensional Sticker...check.
Lace...check.

Whew...even though I did officially "finish" this card, I found I was so worried about trying to fit everything in that I realized I didn't really make a great piece of ART.  It was kinda like I used the same canvas and randomly made sure each element was included, but without the normal flow I like to use...

BUT...I DID finish!

Do I think this is my best creation?...NO. Is it vintag-y?...YES (at least somewhat).  Did I get all of the elements in?...YES.  I'd love to try a project like this again, and with experience doing a challenge like this, I just KNOW, I could eventually...create a masterpiece:)

Thanks again, 365 Cards, for all the fun!

enJOY,

Lori M. FSE:)

MDC Challenge

I made this card for two challenges:) One was for a challenge on http://mdcchallenges.blogspot.com/2009/01/thursdays-challenge.html where the challenge was to:

"For each card you may: Not use Nestabilities or Cuttlebug. Can use one patterned paper, cardstock, one embellishment, and two stamps, one of which must be a sentiment."

I hope I didn't disqualify myself, though...I realized I used ribbon AND buttons...I should have used a strip of cardstock instead of the ribbon, I guess.

The other challenge was on http://ymbd.blogspot.com/2009/01/january-card-class.html. This was to follow a tutorial and make a card.

Thanks to both Mothers and Daughters Creations AND Your Memories By Design for these great challenges:)

TNT DINE-O-MITE Recipe Layout Challenge

O.K fellow scrappers, get ready to have a BLAST!!! I have added a new link to my blog (see TNT DINE-O-MITE Recipes). I have created these recipes to share with anyone who is interested in "just the facts".

I do want to go over a few "administrative" things:

1. For this TNT DINE-O-MITE Recipe, I saved a Power Point file as a jpeg. While you may not be able to read the screen when opening the link, if you print the file, it is fine. If it doesn't work for you, Oops.....I promise to figure out a better way by next month...consider this a "test", so see how close I have come to my target:)
2. This challenge is FOR ALL! Print it, copy it, share it, toss it, do whatever you want. Just make sure you had a BLAST with it, lol.

TNT (tips 'n techniques) DINE-O-MITE Recipes are instructions designed to get your creative juices flowing.

Consider them the opposite of a sketch challenge where you have a sketch (and I DO LOVE a good sketch challenge) to follow, but no written instructions.

TNT DINE-O-MITE Recipes are layout instructions without the sketch. That's right scrappers...you get Recipe Rules, Ingredient list, and Mixing Instructions...the rest is up to you.

I plan to make a new recipe available each month. Once the month is over, I will post my "vision" of what I "saw" when I read the directions...in other words, I will post my version of how I followed the instructions and completed my DINE-O-MITE Recipe.

Please feel free to post your comments and links to your "vision" of the DINE-O-MITE Recipe!

Invite your friends to join in on the fun!!! Don't forget to have a BLAST!

Happy Scrappin'

Lori McCausland
The Frugal Scrapper