MOJO MIA

Well, I've been MIA and I guess a bad blogger lately. Aside from being busy with regular life, I've been very worried about a family member who has undergone surgery. Things are slowly getting better now but all my worrying has sucked out my creative MOJO - temporarily I hope.

Really hoping to be crafting this weekend or sometime next week as my stamps, ink, paper and embellies are all waiting on my diningroom table for my MOJO to return. Hope you won't forget about me and I appreciate your patience.

Thanks to those of you who kindly emailed asking about my whereabouts - you guys rock!

See you later. Hugs, Maria

New Blog

Checkout Crissy's new blog Crissy's Art & Heart to see why she's High Hopes' #1 Artist. You'll be amazed and inspired by her creations and awesome colouring.

Have a great Monday,
Maria

Blog Candy Alerts

I will update this post regularly this week for additional blog candy alerts.

Nikki has reached 20,000 hits and is celebrating with some great blog candy here. Plan on sitting a while cause she has a lot of beauties. Congratulations Nikki!

Congratulations to Karin who's celebrating almost 10,000 hits with some generous blog candy. Get a cup of coffee or tea and sit a while to checkout Karin's wonderful blog.

Congratulations to Carmen who's celebrating 20,000 hits with some wonderful blog candy here which includes a Magnolia stamp. Checkout her wonderful creations!

Congratulations to Mariska who's celebrating 1,000 hits and for being selected to be a Design Team member on Sketch Saturday. Checkout Mariska's blog for some inspiration.

Tilda & Friends ATC

Here's my submission to the Tilda & Friends ATC Challenge and I've used Prismas + Gamsol again. I thought about making a do-over since I was going for a more orange than orangy yellow look but when my 6 year-old saw it she yelled "mine" so that was encouragement enough for me to submit as is! The ATC is proudly on her nightstand in her room - she insisted on taking it to bed with her last night. How sweet!

Edited to add: I was asked about stumps and those made in Taiwan work better for me when blending than those made in China. I bought mine from Stamping Bella here. BTW, Bella is offering FREE SHIPPING on orders over $45 until Tuesday, September 9th.

There's no theme this week but Tilda & Friends ATC have expanded their challenges to include other cute round faced images. See here for more details.

Happy Saturday,
Maria

Magnolia Image - SU cs + ribbon + felt flowers - K&Co dp + floral brad - Prismas + Gamsol - Heart charm from $1 store.

1st Sarah Kay & Friday Sketchers Challenges

I'm back! It's been a very busy week with my girls starting back to school and me getting back to work. An especially emotional time for me as the girls didn't cling to me on their first day like last year. I keep telling myself that's a good thing and they're growing up but that didn't stop the tears from coming on my way back to work.

Here's a number of 1sts with this card. My 1st Sarah Kay image, 1st time using Prismacolours + OMS and 1st submission to both the Sarah Kay and Friday Sketchers Challenges. Now be gentle, I tried practising over the holidays with the Prismas on a few other images and believe you me its not as easy as most of you artists make it seem. Anyway, its not great but I think the colouring turned out OK. Practice makes perfect, right?!

I'm submitting this card into 2 challenges. Checkout the Sarah Kay weekly Sunday Challenge blog here. This week's challenge is to use purple and green which, although the picture doesn't show it well, runs through the dp. The layout is part of this week's sketch on the Friday Sketchers Challenge blog. Checkout the Friday Sketcher's blog here and join in the fun on both blogs.

Today's my day off but I gotta run as its almost time to pick-up the girls. I've got to get dinner going and another load of laundry....etc. Anyone else have this much fun on their day off!!

Hugs, Maria

Sarah Kay stamp, SU cs + ribbon, Wausau paper, Brilliance Graphite Black
ink, Prismas, OMS, stumps, floral brads from $1 store, Prima flowers &
Doodlebug brad and Little Yellow Bicycle DP called Plaid.