A Fusion with Royalty: O Holy Night

Usually I find a challenge that I like to play, then I scrounge around in my craft corner until I find stamps and dies that will work.  Today, I decided to do it all backwards because I absolutely have to deal with an overflowing box of stamps-that-will-not-be-put-away-until-they-see-ink.  I came up with a Christmas set by Verve that has a wonderful look to the sentiments.  It's a beautiful set called Peace on Earth (sadly, when I went to find the link I saw that it was sold out until the end of August!)   Then I went scrounging for challenges.

First, I saw Stampin' Royalty's Christmas In July challenge.  I was definitely heading in the right direction for that one.  Then I saw Fusion.  The sketch had a perfect space to showcase the sentiment and the inspiration photo gave me colors and the stars.  A perfect fusion!!

I'm not in terrible shape for Christmas cards so far this year, but I could definitely be in better shape. Last year was the one and only year that I was ever ahead - and it felt so good.  I'm trying to remember that feeling every time that I sit down at my craft table so I can get motivated - it's probably going to start looking more like Christmas on this blog!!

• Stamps: Verve Peace on Earth
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Aqua Mist, Avery Elle Maple Wood Grain, Stampin' Up Glitter Gold
• Ink: Stampin' Up Baked Brown Sugar
• Accessories: Lil' Inkers stitched rectangle, My Favorite Things star die, Papertrey Ink Aqua Mist button

Wow!  I have an amazing variety of companies' products on this card, don't I??

Absolutely Thinking of You

This is my second post today.

I am having a very good day.  I turned in the final projects for my classes yesterday and now I have a two week summer break!  (The next break is a week-long fall break and they don't even have a Christmas break - so I am going to take full advantage of this break with a lot of time in my craft corner!)  I had a plan today to catch up on some Operation Write Home sketches, tutorials and throw-downs.  I got sidetracked by the great sketch and bold colors at the Fusion Card Challenge and then I realized that it would really well with windows which is the OWH tutorial this week!  Check out the cute little owls peeking out of their holes!!

I fused the two challenges.  Obviously, I used the sketch.  Then from the inspiration, I got the owls, the flowers, and the rich browns and teals with pops of bright colors.

The window are quite easy to do.  Punch or die-cut your window shapes out of post-its.  Line them up on the cardstock.  Then use your punch (upside-down) or your die to cut each shape.

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Love Bandit, Simon Says Stamp On Edge
• Paper: Stampin' Up Early Espresso, Island Indigo, American Crafts Soho Garden 6x6
• Ink: Stampin' Up Early Espresso
• Accessories: Simon Says Stamps Absolutely die, Stampin' Up Island Indigo twine, Papertrey Ink wood impression plate, misc heart gems colored with copics

Fusion: Allow Faith to be Your Guide

This is my second post today.

I needed to quickly throw together a confirmation card this morning.  I had tucked some links to confirmation cards into my inspiration file and I planned to totally CASE something because I really didn't have a lot of time.  I just couldn't do it.  I used to totally CASE all the time (and I mean totally copy cards without any adjustment to make it my own.)  Don't get me wrong, I CASE ideas all the time - I'm great at putting a bunch of ideas together on a card - I'm not so great at coming up with my own creative ideas.  I was fairly proud of myself when I realized I don't copy anymore!

I like the FUSION challenge this week and it was perfect for my card.  Obviously I used the layout.  I was also inspired by the muted colors and twine in the inspiration photo.

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Spiritual Sampler
• Paper: Stampin' Up Crushed Curry, Island Indigo, Sahara Sand, Fancy Pants Park Bench 6x6 dsp, Simon Says woodgrain paper
• Ink: Versamark
• Accesories: Stampin' Up Butterfly punches, Papertrey letter dies, Zing white embossing powder

It's FUSION time!!

If you are a bloglovin' user - be sure to read to the bottom of this post.

There's an amazing new challenge hosted by the amazing duo of Jackie Rockwell and Lesley Croghan who between them have started so many top challenge blogs, it's hard to list them all - CAS(E) this Sketch, Dynamic Duos, Muse, Freshly Made Sketches - and more!!

This challenge is called Fusion and you can use the sketch, the inspiration or both!  If this week's combo is a good sample of what's to come - this is going to be FUN!

I absolutely had to make a card for my son before he got up this morning and headed out to take a big test that he is very nervous about.  So I was tied into a masculine card and couldn't use the flowers in Lesley's photo - but I did use two of the bright colors!

I thought the graphic squares gave a video game impression, thus the sentiment.  Hopefully my son is not so literal that he things I'm actually talking about a "game"!?
The interest in this card does not show up well in the photo.  Here's a close-up of the dimension.

I am definitely looking forward to being a regular player in this challenge.

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Square Prints, Boy Basics Game On
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Smokey Shadow
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Smokey Shadow, Poppy and Orange
• Accessories: misc square punches and various heights of pop dots

Now a totally different subject.  As I have been posting about Google Reader, etc., a number of people have come to me for help and advice.  I love that because I am total geek and I love trying to track things down.  
First - I have written so many words, that I think I have not effectively communicated something very important.
If you didn't use Google Reader to read your blogs, you are absolutely NOT affected by its loss.You will NOT lose followers.You do NOT need to add anything to your blog.Your blog will go on as usual!!!
But one of the recent problems shared with me is concerning - hopefully just a little concerning, but I really don't know....
A WARNING FOR BLOGLOVIN' USERS:
A fellow blogger was getting reports that bloglovin' users were not getting her blog updates and she came to me wondering what she had to sign up for at bloglovin' so that people who read her blog could keep reading her.  The answer is "nothing".  
Bloglovin' is used by readers of blogs to collect a list of their favorite blogs and then bloglovin' nicely tells them when those blogs have a new post.  It absolutely doesn't matter whether their favorite blogs are signed up for bloglovin' or not.  That's a definite fact and proof is that I signed up for bloglovin' to test this lady's problem and the day I signed up, I already had 69 people following me there - I did NOT need to be in bloglovin' to collect those followers.
But there appears to be something broken in bloglovin'.  When people try to add this lady's blog, it says NOT FOUND.  I am very concerned about people who simply moved everything all at once from Google Reader - I don't know if they even got a warning.  All I know is that her blog didn't make it over.  There is nothing unique about her blog - she uses blogger, and Google Reader and Feedly find her - I don't believe the problem is at her end.
Even more concerning is the fact that they have a problem form specifically for this issue - so it is NOT a one-time thing.  And what really annoys me, is that I submitted her blog as a problem days ago and I still haven't heard back.
I'll let you know when I finally hear - but in the meantime, if you have moved to bloglovin' - you really might want to check that all of your favorites are still there.
ON OTHER HAND:
Keep in mind that Google Reader users are moving by the millions to other blog readers.  Feedly reports 3 million new users in 2 weeks.  These blog reader companies are scrambling.  Not to mention the minor little detail that none of them will actually work when Google Reader dies as they were developed as a pretty front-end to Google Reader, using Reader's functionality - they have just a few months to program it all.  We have to have a little patience.  Feedly is pumping out updates as fast as they can.  They aren't all good - I'm definitely having some visual hiccups on my iPad Feedly after the last update. 
But knowing this doesn't help my friend with her bloglovin' problem.  We have to figure out how to get her in and then the bigger task is how to let people know that bloglovin' lost her!!I'm hoping it is all working for you!!
{There's a label on my sidebar near the top of the list - Feedly/bloglovin/Google Reader - that yu can click on if you want detailed information}