Hi, my name is Candy and I'm................a paper-a-holic

Oh, boy, the first step is acknowledging ones problem, right?  Those who know me best and have been in my craft room know this about me already.  In general, I am a lover and collector of all things pretty and necessary.  If I were not married I would have a serious problem, I would be on "THAT" show.  Yes, you know the show of which I speak, I shan't speak, write, or type its name, but YOU know as well as I.  I would probably also be a crazy cat lady.  Right now I have one beautiful cat, Ophelia.  She is a princess and does not tolerate other animals, particularly cats so I am a one cat house at the moment.  She is 15+ years old and will probably live forever so as to make sure that I have no other pets, no other sweet little animal (CAT) to love.  Nope, only her.  And I love her so!

But, I digress.  I believe I have more paper than I could EVER, EVER use in my lifetime,  I probably have far more paper than the law would allow if the law had such a silly law, a law of which I would surely and knowingly break, anyway!  I do use it, not as much as I should or could because more and more keep coming out that I just HAVE TO HAVE.  Yes, HAVE, not want,HAVE........ it is just so darn pretty!!!!  Ask my mom and she will tell you I have had a love affair with paper since I knew what paper was .  The smell, the textures, the words which can be written upon it.  I learned to read at 4, write at 5 and I also learned to collect things, too, most especially books and paper to write upon, go figure, right?!  I love books and reading, I love writing, and I have come to love scrapbooking and card making among many other facets of the paper crafting pastime.  I STILL love the smells and textures; these horribly enabling companies keep coming up with new types, glittery, embossed, shiny, textured this way and that, thick, thin, gorgeous patterns, marvelous colors, the list goes on, and I have them ALL!  My biggest penchant is for 6x6 paper pads.  Don't get me wrong, I love my 12x12 and have more than any human deems necessary, but for me, the 6x6 are more versatile. It has come to a point where Susie at Scrap Happy will order 6x6 pads of paper that she doesn't even carry in her store, because she knows I will want them, I will NEED them, and I will have them!  My friends think I am funny, my husband thinks I am insane, Susie, well she just likes that I spend the money, and my mom, if my MOM ever saw, she would flat out have me committed.  My grandma would understand, if she were alive, I am willing to bet she would be in my room with me making cards and loving my paper as much as I.  It is because of her that I love paper so much.  

I'm going out on a limb here, but I shall show you a couple pictures of my paper, JUST 6x6 and this is not even all of it, being that I am kinda in the process of trying to start moving.  I have a stack or two on my desk, even,  and I will not tell you where there are others hidden =O  Please don't try to count, I don't want a fixed number of what I have, ignorance is bliss, right?  You can also see at the bottom one of my shelves of 12x12 paper stacks.  I have all my 12x12 in collections in plastic holders, but I will share that another day.  I also forgot to mention, this is just patterned paper.  I have several files cabinets that I have organized my 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock, and several milk crates that I STILL need to organize of my 12x12 cardstock.

I am not sure if I feel better or more ashamed, lol, but now you know the rest of story!

Until next time,

Hugs,

Candy

Absence makes the heart grow fonder..........right?

Wow what a week is has been.  My DH and I closed on our new home and my mind has just been racing with all the fabulous things I can do with it.  My craft room will be almost twice the size as I have now and I am already planning scrappy slumber parties with my BFF's!!!  I have been making calls galore to utilities and inspectors and contractors, etc and can't wait to get settled in.

Aside from closing on the house and pinning like a madwoman, I have been trying to stay cool in this heat we  are having.  Thank Heavens for air conditioning and ice cream!!!!  Or ice cream and air conditioning?!  Anyway, I have been a busy little bee.  I whipped up my Scrap Happy design team project and did a couple cards for two of my NEW neighbors whom I have had the pleasure of meeting already.  Everyone seems so nice and friendly, so far, and quite happy to have someone moving in.  Lastly, I made a card for a friend because I just LOVE sending Happy Mail :)

These first four cards are my design team cards using Authentique Glory collection and some Scrap Happy stamps and dies.  I showed the envelopes on 3 of the cards because of Scrap Happy's soon to be released envelope liner die.  FANTASTIC!!!!  You can check out the specifics of these cards on the Scrap Happy blog!

The following two are the ones I made for my new neighbors.  I used the paper(Paper Cottage by Basic Grey) from my Simon Says Stamp July Kit, but I used some fitting stamps from CTMH and Stampin' Up where you can shop with my friends, Mindy & Marla, respectively.  The 2nd of the two also fulfilled my fun little challenge I have going on with my friends, Keisha and Mindy to use all our CTMH stamp sets and not use the same one twice.  I am a little behind on that, but, hey, I just bought a house!

 This is the card I made for my darling friend.  She just doesn't know it yet, probably tomorrow ;)  I used papers from Echo Park, their Hello Summer line from my Taylored Expressions Key Ingredients kit.  I also used the stamp set that Taylor had made especially for this paper collection.  It is so CUTE!  

That is all for this day, hope ya'll have a SUPER weekend and AMAZING Independence Day holiday if I can't blog before then!

HUGS
Candy

Thanks, Danielle (EcoScrapbook) for the love

Danielle, over that the ecoscrapbook, was so kind as to to award me the Liebster Blog award.

If this award is new to you, it's basically a way to grow our crafting community and let others know about smaller bloggers with less than 200 followers.  This is such an honor and a great springboard for those of us who are just starting out.  I am so excited to accept this and give Danielle the shout-out she deserves, what an inspiration she has been to me and the others whom she awarded.

As part of my acceptance of this award there are several steps I must take.....

If you chose to accept the award, the rules are as follows:

1. Thank the person who gave the award.
2. Link back to their blog.
3. Post the award onto your own blog.
4. Choose 5 new recipients with fewer than 200 followers.
5. Let each of them know about the award.

Well, steps 1-3 are done, now I must choose 5 of my own recommendations.  These lucky gals are as follows:

Keisha Hood at http://kustomtreasures.blogspot.com/  Keisha and I randomly met by an innocent order I place with CTMH 2 years ago and we have been friends ever since.  She is a single mom to the sweetest little guy and has recently gotten back into this wacky world of crafting!

Cathy Mount at http://iluvtomakecards.blogspot.com/  I actually JUST met Cathy last week.  We are on the same Design Team over at  Scrap Happy ,  She is so cute and outgoing and just loves to make cards and she does some super cute stuff.

Becky Carafa at http://www.lakeshorestamper.com/  I have never met her in person, but I have admired her work for a couple years now.  I randomly found her back when she was selling Ippity stamps and she is a fellow Ohioan.  Check her out.

Julie Emerine and her sister Michelle at http://sisterseesisterdo.blogspot.com/  I met Julie years ago before she had her GORGEOUS family and awesome blog.  She and her sister do just about everything crafty, sewing, altering, baking, cooking.  I love following them!

And finally....

Ashley Rock at http://rockpaperscrapbook.blogspot.com/  She is another fellow Ohioan and is a very talented scrapbook layout designer who has also done work with us at Scrap Happy.

Okay, steps 4-5 are done.  I hope that everyone will check this very talented girls out, and give them the love they deserve.

Hugs, Candy

Keisha's CTMH stamp challenge-Day 1

Just a quick post this evening.  My friend, Keisha, over at http://kustomtreasures.blogspot.com/ has struck up a challenge.  She is one of many fabulous CTMH consultants and she would like to see us use all of our CTMH stamp sets at least once and make a card, layout, or altered item.  She would like us to just randomly pick a set out of our stash, no put backs, but I had a card I needed to make for my friend, Mindy's   daughter for her upcoming Birthday and I JUST literally got this stamp set today so I figured, just this once, I would cheat!  ;). 

I used Card Chatter Birthday's as my stamp set and also used the sentiment on the inside, too, but didn't take a pic of that before I sealed it up.  And  I know, I know, it is the same paper line I have been using, but I am SO in love with it!!!!  Hope ya'll enjoy, have a fantastic night!

Jillibean Soup Masculine Thank You Card

Okay, I am not very good with masculine cards, but a friend of mine did me a HUGE favor this week and I needed an appropriate "thank you" card and since he is, well, a he, the occasion called for a masculine card.  I went to my Jillibean Soup card kit from this month's Card Kitchen because it had a masculine theme and I hadn't played around with it yet since I had already made my Father's Day cards.  I loved the bright bold colors that Jillibean is known for and I thought all the little accents and diecuts that come with the collection, which happen to be Macho Nacho Soup and it is SO stinkin' cute, were perfect for my sentiment and I adore the little name tag sticker that I used.  My friend, if you knew him you would find him equally as endearing, but he can be a little egotistical in a completely funny, loving, and self-deprecating way, does that make since? Anyway, I thought he would enjoy seeing his name in "lights"!  I've known him since Kindergarten so in the off chance he reads this blog post, he would concur with my assessment!  ;)

The card is very simple, just an Orange Fizz card base from Scrap Happy, a 1 1/2" strip of patterned paper on the bottom, some of Jillibeans corrugated shapes in the arrows, I used my Jenni Bowlin paint dabbers in Cough Syrup and Lemon Drops (which, of course can be found at Scrap Happy) to brighten them up a bit, adhered them toward the center pointing at my main image which was a perfectly fitting sticker from the collection adhered with pop dots.  Then I took the mini alphas, spelled out "thanks' and added that adorable name tag sticker I mentioned earlier.  This IS loosely based on a sketch from my kit this month, but I changed it around and gave it my own flair.  Not much flair, though, it is for a silly man! 

Super secret card and super secret sneak peek....shhhhh!!

I told you I was back and it's only been a mere 24 hours and here I am again!  This heat we're in the midst of has left me holed up in my craft room, but that certainly isn't a bad thing, I LOVE it!  

I have a lot of things I am working on at the moment, but I wanted to share a card I whipped up this evening for a dear friend, but it is, as I said, SUPER SECRET, so she cannot know. ;)  I used one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE paper lines, Neapolitan from Dear Lizzy for American Crafts.  This paper has been out since Winter CHA, but I really, really do love it and I use it all the time.  The colors are so soft and the images are so fresh and fun and definitely reminiscent of Summer.  It is just a simple Thank You card but I think it turned out SO cute.  I used up a lot of my 6x6 paper scraps with this one.   I kinda made my own patterned paper;  I cut out 1" strips of patterned paper from my scraps and adhered them on a scrap piece of paper in a diagonal pattern then I trimmed it down to 4" x 5 1/4" to fit on my standard A2 card base, then rounded the corners of both that and the card base.  Speaking of the card base it is from Scrap Happy of course and it is one of their exclusive colors, Sno Cone and it matches perfectly.  They sell their pre-scored and folded card bases with matching envelopes, YES, in the same color, SO, SO cute!  Anyway, I stamped the "thank you" with matching Sno Cone ink punched 3 hearts out of some remaining scraps and adhered them with pop dots to the little element from the paper pack.  I then wrapped it in some baker's twine and adhered that with more pop dots, but not until I cut and punched a 1 1/2" strip of Sno Cone cardstock.  Easy peasy!

NOW, for the SUPER SECRET sneak peek!  Scrap Happy has their own line of dies!  Okay, I know you already know that, right?  Well,  I  happen to be in possession of a future release die.  It is an envelope liner  die and it cuts and scores to fit into a standard A2 squared envelope and it fits PERFECTLY in the Scrap Happy envelopes!  I can't show you the die itself until it has been released, but here is a pic of the envelope I made for my card.  Isn't it the most awesome thing you have ever seen!? It just gives this and any card that little extra little something.  Can't wait to do more with it.

Until next time.......Hugs!

I'm BACK and back with a vengeance!

It has been a long time since I have blogged.  Far too long.  But I am back and back for good.  It has been a busy year thus far.  I have met some amazing friends, such as Miss Mindy, The Determined Scrapper, bought a new house on which we close next week, and really gotten down and dirty with my scrappy supplies.  I am excited to mention that I am part of the Scrap Happy design team and have already submitted my first project which I will also share with you.  If you haven't seen to the store or the online store, you must, if you are in Ohio or South East Michigan.  The absolute best scrapbook store around.  LOVE THEM!!!!

Anyway, I will make this a quick post since I was so long-winded on my post with Scrap Happy.  Here are the pics of my finished project and I invite you to read the post over there, it has all the nitty-gritty details :)  I used Glory from Authentique, my absolute FAVORITE paper company, from the very beginning.  I will be using this same line in my next DT post.  Next month I will be using their other new line called Fresh.  Amazing, as always.