Bittersweet

Ahh! I'm thrilled that Saturday is FINALLY here! I've had such a busy week and there's still so much left to do. But... being at home feels so good. I love my job, but commuting 2 hours a day and getting up before 5 am is a killer! If there's anyone out there who want to hire me to work from home in the paper crafting industry... my number is 555-####. ;) Ahhhh! Wouldn't that be awesome? :) We can all dream, can't we?

I can't believe that March is right around the corner! Yesterday, my final article posted to Craft Critique. It's bittersweet because I know it will free up more time for me to venture into new areas in the craft world... but it's always hard to close doors too. I really have enjoyed my year with CC and have loved writing for them! My last article was a review on the 'Rock-a-Block' stamp mounting system by Crafter's Companion. For those of you who are stampers, I'd love for you to check it out!

This is the card that I made to illustrate my article. I just got some new Marrakech Basic Grey paper and am in LOVE! The colors and patterns are so warm and had a great 'country' feel to me. Check out the quilt-pattern paper! Ah! I LOVE it! I've been dying to use this farmhouse image from PTI's Boards & Beams set. I just coudn't get a crisp stamped image from it, no matter how hard I tried. If you ever have this problem with some of your images - you need to read my article! ;)


The flower embellishment at the top was made by running a scrap of brown corduroy through my Cuttlebug using one of my floral dies. If you ever want to die cut fabric (cotton, denim, corduroy, etc.) --- USE A CUTTLEBUG! Even though my Wizard has a lot of pressure, it won't cut through fabric. I kept my Cuttlebug just for that purpose. It cuts it like buttah! I'm going to have to pick up some cute fabrics soon to use for homemade embellishments. Hmm..... :)

Thanks so much for coming to visit my blog! :)

Stamps:
- Boards & Beams set (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:
- Marrakech collection (Basic Grey)
Ink:
- Walnut Stain Distress Inkpad (Ranger)
- Onyx Black Versafine inkpad; Rich Cocoa & Potter's Clay Memento inkpads (Tsukineko)
Cardstock:
- Suede Brown Dark (Prism)
Accessories:
- Oval Nestabilities die (Spellbinders)
- Red Gelly Roll pen (Sakura)
- Marrakech brad (Basic Grey)
- 2x6 Flower Cuttlebug Die (Provo Craft)
- brown corduroy fabric
- brown fine-tipped marker
- Copic markers
- White gel pen (Ranger)
Tools:
- Paper piercing tools