Giving of Thanks, Days 2 & 3

Howdy, Folks!

I have two for ya today, as I wasn't able to post something up here yesterday. So, let's get started!

Day #2:
Today I am thankful for Facebook. In all seriousness. Thank you, Facebook, for existing. Facebook has allowed me to get/stay in touch with people from my past, get vital updates about things that are happening to those I love, and be generally better connected with the world. I am grateful that I can pop over to FB and see who's up to what, and that makes me happy.

Day #3:
Today I am thankful for the nice people of the world. There are plenty of nice people, but today I think about those who are always willing to lend a hand and go out of their way to do something above and beyond. Some examples: our mortgage processor at work who is working to get us updates even while driving to Portland for a funeral, my darling husband who has made dinner every night this week so I can focus on my upcoming craft fair. There are many more to list here, but I am making an effort to keep these short and sweet. Thanks, nice people of the world, for being even nicer than most, to help make this a good place to be!

Giving of Thanks

Welcome to November. What happened to the other 10 months of this past year?

I've never really been the type to get mushy at Thanksgiving, but I have had many reminders lately of how lucky and fortunate I am about various things and aspects of my life. So why not dedicate my month to sharing a few of those things with you. I am going to try, every day, to blog about one thing that I am thankful for. I'll keep it short and parsimonious, and where applicable, will accompany a little story about why or what prompted this.
So, on with day #1.

Today I am thankful for my good health. I take for granted the fact that my legs are straight and strong and that I can not only walk, but run, bicycle, and dance. I can run around the house chasing the kitties, go for a hike up a mountain, or barrel down one using the force of my two legs on bike pedals. My heart pumps and my lungs heave, and everything functions as it should, making it possible to do the things I love.

A dear friend of mine found herself in a situation this past week where her body did not function as it should. As a result, she is in the hospital undergoing treatment. It was an exciting moment for her when she realized that she could move her foot, when she hadn't been able to do so for several days. This friend is a fellow dancer and shopper, and I know that her legs are crucial to allowing her to do the things that she loves. It's a shock to think about her in her current state and realize that it could have happened to anyone, at any time.

Today I think about my legs, and my health, and dedicate this post to Alissa in hopes that she continues to improve and grow stronger in the coming weeks.

Make it Monday #33 - Frosted Images

Hidey-ho, folks! Just popping in for a quickie today to show you my take on this week's Make It Monday challenge from the gals over at PapertreyInk. To make frosted images, Lisa taught to stamp your image first in a colored ink, then quickly stamping on top of that with white ink, and using your finger or a sponge dauber to blend the colors together giving it a foggy look.

My image didn't want to blend very well; perhaps my dark blue ink dried too quickly. I wasn't able to get a lot of the color to rub out, so I stuck my finger back, in the white and tried to blend it a little better. You can see that it definitely looks frosted, but not very well fogged.

I added some large crystal glitter for a winter wonderland look, and voila!

It's a bit tough to see the dark blue layer of the card base when photographed against the blue walls of my kitchen!

And a close up:

Cheers!

PTI Make It Monday #30: Colored Pencils

As chance should have it, no work on Monday! So instead, I had the chance to hang out in my craft room with the kitties all morning making cards. *Sigh*


I decided to participate in this week's Make It Monday challenge: colored pencils. I am usually quite averse to anything that requires coloring (or hand cutting), but decided to give it a go anyway.


Here's Nichole's blurb about the challenge:


"Everybody is crazy over Copic markers, but we're kickin' it old school today with a video on colored pencils. Let Jennifer show you how inexpensive, blendable, and impressive projects can be using this coloring medium."


And here's my card. Note: I used the colored pencils on a colored card stock base, so I had some of the melon berry color peeking through. I used a combination of three colors; pink, coral and maroon to get my rose effect. What do you think?

Kellogg, ID Biking Adventures

And now, some fun videos from my Darling Husband.

The first is a time-lapse video of our trail ride from Black Rock to Harrison to the bridge over Lake Coeur d'Alene and then back to harrison. Be sure to play this in 720 HD for the full effect. Such a beautiful ride!

This is a video of me falling down, in high resulution.

Cheers!

Shannon eats dirt mountain biking @ Silver Mountain

New Cards

Hi-ya! Here are a few of the cards that I've been working on this week. Some are same-old, same-old, some are a new style Let me know what ya think!

Playing with chocolate brown and Hawaiian shores colors together.

Hawaiian Shores & Royal Velvet

Leafy Vines die! "It's a RAINBOW!" - For Mom

New damask designed patterned paper run through the sewing machine for a quilt-like look.

Without the stitching. 

Simple.

The patterned paper on this is left-overs from Misty's Birthday Calendar. I covered the binder with this and coordinating yellow satin ribbon at the seams. Looked amazing. 

The picture here was the inspiration for Papertrey Ink's Blog Hop this past week. While I didn't finish my card in time to enter it into the blog hop itself, I still really liked the card that I came up with. I used both the colors & the window as inspiration for my design. I have orange, white, kraft, aqua and light green. Whaddya think?

This and That

Welcome to summertime in the NW. It lasted about 3 days, and now we're back into Fall. Maybe next year summer will last a full week?

Blerg.

This past weekend, temperatures broke 80 degrees, which we haven't seen in these parts since last August or September. Really. Saturday I spent the day hunched over doing some much needed yard work. I weeded my garden along the street, moved some poorly-situated plants from last year, and bought 8 bags of bark mulch. What a difference that makes! Wow, it looks and smells fantastic out there, now!

I attempted some vinca (periwinkle) removal, but when the roots started coming up with 8+ inches of bark and soil attached, I decided that I would tackle this project bit by bit.

On Sunday Clint and I went to Duthie Hill Park for some mountain biking. Being sore from the previous days' workload, I wasn't super into it. I wanted to go for a road ride, but changed my mind to appease my darling husband. I struggled. I was tired, achy, and it was bloody hot outside! I sweat, and it never evaporated. I just kept sweating and sweating. It felt good, but it was really gross.

After a rocky (literally and emotionally) run on Step it Up, we parked ourselves in the clearing to play around a bit. I rode the skinnies (successfully, I might add) and played around on the drops. I landed, perfectly, the 2nd drop, twice! OK, so Clint rides off all 5 like they're nothing, but for me, landing the 2nd was a big step! I mean, it's like 10 inches! (That's what he said...?)

So now we're back into the work week and life is moving on. Today we have the appliance repair man fixing our dryer. After almost 2 hours tumbling the other night, we opened the door to find a lump of wet clothes flopping around. Poop. After checking the venting, we decided it wasn't something we could fix. In comes the repair man, who found $10.33 and 10C Canadian, and $220 later, our dryer works like new. Great! Now I can start wearing good clothes to work again. :-)

I have been making cards here and there lately, but with Bear's needs, and working until 4:00 instead of 3:30 lately, I'm not finding the time that I wish I had for this. I have Fridays off now, which is nice. I made several cards last Friday, most of which I like, too. But yesterday I wanted to participate in Papertrey Ink's Blog Hop, but didn't have enough time to complete my card and get it posted to participate and possible be a random winner. Bummer. But my card will be super cute when it's done!

We started eating according to the Paleo Blueprint a couple of weeks ago. The basic idea behind this lifestyle is that if we eat the way people ate 10,000 years ago, then our bodies will be better equipped to process the foods instead of storing it for fat. According to this guy's book, agriculture developed much faster than the human body, so that today, agriculture, and therefore the way that people eat, has outpaced evolution, which is partly why people these days are so fat, respectively. By taking our diets back 10,000 years, we are eating only what our bodies can handle, and what our bodies need. No grains, no corn, no starches. Just hunting-gathering types of sustenance. So if it can be hunted or gathered, I can eat it. I can gather cupcakes, right? I mean...

So lots of meat, fish, veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, berries. We try to eat little that has been processed, like hot dogs. Sure, they're beef, but not exactly in its purest form, you know? So far I've lost 8 lbs, but our cheat day of burger & fries & 2 beers but me up a few, so net loss is only 5. But we're getting there. This feels like a lifestyle change that has some longevity for us. Mush easier than Atkins, mostly because of the fruit. And hey, if it comes straight from the Earth, chances are it's pretty good for you.

A new (temporary) member of our family

Last Friday we picked up our new family member, who will be living with us for about 2 months.

Meet Bear. Bear is a chow (but I think he must be a mix). Bear is from China, but moved to Atlanta last year. Bear's family has sadly learned that Atlanta is too darn hot for chows in the summertime, so they put him in his crate, took him to Delta air cargo services, and sent him 3,000 to us in Puget Sound (where it is about 30 degrees cooler than it is in Altanta). Dad and I picked him up from the airport last Friday and took him home to live with Clint and me.

So far, the cats are not thrilled to have Bear in their house. Hops, the territorial terror (how do you like that tongue twister?), has likely hissed himself hoarse (or that one?) over the weekend. Hops puffs out his tail, arches his back, and makes the fur on his backbone stand up like a mohawk whenever the dog gets too close. But if the closeness is on Hops' terms, he's OK. Hops can approach Bear, but not vice-versa.

Barley, the scardey-cat, surprised us all with her bravery and boldness toward Bear. She doesn't seem to notice that he's there. She gives him a wide berth, but otherwise, doesn't seem to be bothered much. She learned very quickly, however, not to get too close to Bear when he's eating. That bark will likely be forever marked in her mind.

Bear is a friendly dog. He doesn't do much other than follow me around and lie on my feet where ever I am. We took him to Mom & Dad's on Sunday to meet them and see the other Golden Girls (Mom & Dad's Golden Retreiver Riccia and Grandma's Golden Retreiver Mandy). Looking down on the 3 dogs, their fur is all about the same color & texture, although Bear's is much longer and poofier. The 3 of them played and ran together, and Bear really seemed to have fun. It was nice to see him acting like a dog; full of energy.

We took him for a tromp in the woods, which he seemed to enjoy. He did NOT enjoy getting his furry paws washed off with the hose water afterward. At home, he mopes around a bit. I'm not sure if it's jet lag, the cats harrassing him, or missing his people, but he seems blue. Every day he gets better, though, so I think it's wearing off. Today Clint is taking him for a jog after work, and I think Bear will like that.

My new Titus El Guapo & Clint's new toy!

Wahoo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmkcwK6RuPs

Make it Monday #16 - Sympathy Cards

Hi there! Long time, no blog!

I decided to participate in this week's Make it Monday challenge because between working extra hours and making about 200 wedding invitations for my best friend, I was still struggling with extra hours in my day! Right. OK, note to self: sarcasm is most effective when spoken.

At any rate, this week's but was..."Sympathy cards are nobody's favorite to make. But with care and kindness, they can touch deeply the recipients with the thought put into making them. Follow Dawn McVey's lead and learn some helpful tips when it comes to making your own."

The tips to follow were to keep things classic and simple, not too much frills or whimsy. It's OK to use bold colors, and you can never go wrong with flowers. 

So, here's my take.

And because everybody loves a crazy cat lady, here's a picture of Barley sitting in the cubby where my Cuttlebug lives. Appropriate, no?

And because everybody loves photos of people they don't know, here's Clint and me after our ride @ Duthie Hill last Sunday. This was my first ride on my new Tutis El Guapo. Loads of fun! If I ride enough, maybe that spare ring around my middle will dissipate!?!?

*Disclaimer: this photo was taken post ride, hence the muddy legs and face. Please do not assume that this is what I typically look like. Although, with all the riding I do, I do typically look like this. But only when riding. 

Way 2 Go!

Good morning! Just popping in to show you a cute little card I made for my brother yesterday. I used my new Alpha Blocks set from PTI, and I LOVE it! The coordinating die makes it super easy to make these little windows where you can stamp your image. This photo was scanned, so you can't see that the letters are actually stamped on the INside of the card. The die cut is a window frame, so when you open the dard, you can still see the "WAY 2 GO" sentinemt.

The leaf patter is from Turning A New Leaf. They have a coordinating die to cut this out, but sadly, I do not yet own it. Maybe soon...

And yet another dude card, too!

On and Off again...

I just can't seem to get used to this thing called consistency. In every area of my life, I struggle with it. Blog posting? Sporadic. Going to the gym? Hit and miss. Card making? Comes in waves. But I suppose if you average things out over the course of a year, I'd be OK. And who carers anyway? I like my life the way it is.

Last weekend, when we had some sunshine (not warmth, but the clouds did momentarily part), I took advantage of the natural light to photograph all of the cards that I have in my possession. I do this to document when I've done so I can refer back in the future. As I send cards, sell cards, give them away, I want a reminder of the styles, colors, techniques & layouts that I have previously done. I can't remember them all, and sometimes when I get "crafter's block," looking through previous cards helps jump start the creative process all over again. Plus, this gives me a reason to post them here and fish for read all the nice compliments. ;-)

Some of these may be duplicates of previous posts, but here are some of my favorites from this year to date.

Back in the saddle again!

Last week was the most gorgeous week that we have had to date this year. The sun came out, the grass dried, flowers started bobbing their heads along the sun's trajectory throughout the day. Wow, it was such a nice repreive from the dreary grey and rain.

Monday afternoon I planted my herbs while Clint mowed the lawn. I bought a cute basket that holds marjoram, lemon thyme, Australian bush mint, oregano and two flavors of sage. The second pot holds my chives, mint and regular thyme. It smelled so good while I was planting them that I wanted to grill every meat in sight and slather it with fresh gremolada. De-lish!

Tuesday was a poopy day at work, so I called Clint and told him to have the bikes ready when I got home, I needed to pund some pavement. We headed to the Sammamish River Trailhead @ Bothell Landing and hit the road. We pounded for a steady hour, Clint trailing behind me. I'm not saying this to be mean to Clint, but rather to point out that I had some serious frustration that I was absolutely pounding the crap out of! We rode 16 miles in 1h 3m. That's pretty rocking!

Friday was a short day at work. I was a volunteer speaker to a group of 11-14 year old girls participating in a Spring Break girls' conference through SeaMar. Friday was their day to talk about goal setting and thinking about the things that they like to do in terms of future career options. I was on a panel of 4 women who came in to talk about their careers. It was really great to have the opportunity to talk to these girls and hopefully make a difference in their lives. Although, remembering what I was like at that age, i should give up hope of helping, as they have probably already forgotten everything about that day...

After that, Clint and I went for another bike ride, again on the Sammamish River Trail. We rode all thr way into Redmond, through Marymoore Park to the very end where the trail becomes gravel. We turned around, and rode home. This was kind of a bummer, as we both felt that we could have rode more. But 22 miles was good for our 2nd ride of the season.

Saturday. Oh Saturday. My favorite. The sun came out and hit 70 degrees, I had forgotten exactly what warmth felt like. Like melted marshmallows smashed between soft chocolate, help together by honey grahams. Only better. OK, I really like s'mores, too. But the sunshine was also amazing! I went to the little bursery down the street and picked up some new plants for our front and was gardening for a while, sweating profusely in the luke-warm sun. Clint brought home Larry's BBQ sandwhiches for lunch. Yum-o!

After lunch I decided I needed more seat time, so I called Dad and headed over there to ride with him on the Centennial Trail. We did 24 miles in teh sunshine, getting passed by none. We saw a Bald Eagle and a garder snake. We saw equines, children, in-line skaters, dog walkers, and joggers all out enjoying the sun. It was, in fact, a perfect day.

Now we're back in the 50s with rain and grey skies. I am so thankful that I got out and did as much as I did last week and took advantage of the weather. It was such a teaser, but I'm happier to have had some than none at all!

Family Time

This Tuesday marks my grandfather's 80th birthday. This is Dad's Dad. So on Saturday, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Clint and I piled into a car and drove to Portland for Chief's 80th party. We were greeted by Uncles, Aunts, Great Aunts, and cousins that I haven't seen in several years to over a decade.

It was really great to have people together in the same place celebrating Chief's resistance to aging. Or at least in his mind. I remember Chief as somewhat of a wild man, traveling from here to there, always in search of the biggest wave or best snow, depending on the season. Passing through on his way, stopping in for dinner and a shower when he could. Despite the slowing of his lifestyle, his attitude and mental agility are still right at the top, and I hope to all hopes that I inherit those characteristics.

Today is a day for family, too. The Big Blue House family. I woke up yesterday morning feeling congested and short on energy, but pushed through the day, for the party, only to sack out in the car on the way home. Today I woke up feeling like a moose had lodged itself inside my head. My sinuses are packed to the brim with funk and it's not going anywhere. No drips, no coughs, just sticking around. And this feels miserable.

So today I got to spend a lot of time on the couch with my hubby and the kitties, who I think have felt neglected the past two weeks due to our over-working schedules paired with a successful effort of getting back to the gym.

 I cancelled my previous plans for the day and just relaxed. Hopefully this crud will start making its way out of my head tomorrow. Although I LOVE napping and waking up to a magnificently clean kitchen!

Routine Wins

Hello, one and all. It's been a crazy couple of weeks, and I'm looking forward to getting some normalcy back in my life. Two weekends ago I spent the weekend in Poulsbo with a good friend of mine (Jenni) and two of her girlfriends* for a "Ladies' Weekend." We rented this super cute house overlooking Hood Canal just a few minutes up the road from old town Poulsbo. We arrived Friday afternoon and had a lovely time cooking dinner, chatting, and being girls. Saturday we walked down to the private beach in the mist and rain, walked around the neighborhood, spent some time in old town Poulsbo, and ended the evening with a moderately drunken dance party. OK, more than moderate, but this is a family blog... Sunday was definitely recovery day, as the 4 of us took turns napping in the house's 2 beds. Mid-afternoon arrived, and I hopped the ferry back to Shoreline and came home to a relax husband and a messy house. Let's face it; it's not fun doing chores alone.

This past weekend we went to Portland to use a hotel reservation that we mistakenly booked over 9 months ago. As it was already paid for, there was nothing stopping us. We went to the Farmer's Market, which is huge and awesome, and ate Falafel and Papusas, and drank the Rogue Ambush IPA. It was great! We walked to the Rogue brewery and had a tasting flight of 4 4-oz. beers before walking down to Bridgeport Brewery, where we had their tasting flight of 8 4-oz beers. Wow, dinner time. We ate at a very small French Bistro, Le Bouchon. I don't think I have ever dined at a real French restaurant. We started with some Pate, and Clint and I each ordered a duck dish. Fabulous! I think duck is my new favorite red meat. :-) And what French dinner is complete without creme brule? Not ours! After dinner we walked to the Deschutes Brewery (yes, they have a Portland location) for one last tasting flight; 8 more 4-oz beers. Despite the free trolley that took us close to our hotel, it was still quite a stumble home. Noticing a pattern here?

Sunday was overcast and windy, but not too cold. We walked to Mother's for breakfast, our Portland must-do every time we go. Crab cake eggs Benedict for me; stuffed frittata for Clint, and a shared French Press of their Stumptown coffee of the week. Not as good as last trip's Panama Duncan Estates blend, but still an exceptional cup of Joe! We wandered around Powell's for a bit, shopped here and there, then met Chief & Rose for lunch. More food. It was great to spend time (albeit short) with them and laugh about this and that. Chief has some great stories that kept us laughing all throughout our chowder.

Chief's parting gift to me was a pair of short skis that he bought a few years ago. Now I didn't really know what to expect, but when he pulled out 3" skis from his trunk, I got it. Oh boy. I am going to break my butt the first time I try these! Wish me luck...

So now we're home. We've grocery shopped and made our weekly menu. This weekend we're here, and we're looking forward to cleaning the house (oh God, these floors...), taking care of some projects here and there, and just being home. It's amazing how drained I feel not having a sense of normalcy and routine in my life. I am lost without it.

*So it turns out, after a day together, that one of Jenni's girlfriends there knows my mom, dad, grandma, and brother! Talk about a small world! Alicia O'Dell went to EUUF a few weeks ago when dad was the lay-leader and met the family. She lives in Marysville and went to WWU (knows Misty), and is totally awesome. It's nice to make a new connection in the area!

A few more for this week

So in my challenge to make a card a day this week, I would give myself an A-, as I missed Thursday, but as I mad previously mentioned, I was gone from 5:30 a.m. until 12:30 a.m. Friday morning. I think I get a pass. So I made multiple cards Friday & today in an effort to make up for Thursday, Or because I like making cards and it's what I wanted to do regardless.

Anyhow, here's a few more from this week.

A cute little spring-timey note:

Yeah, not too sure about this one. Too much going on with the flower & polka dots.

 A new technique: spray your stamped image with water to make it bleed & look like a watercolor. No, it's not your eyes. :-) I"m getting a funky reflection in the gold brads. Strange!

A simple Wedding Card for a high school friend of mine. 

David Gray and Four Years

The Incredible Mr. Gray

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a David Gray concert with my good friend and college sophomore roommate Stephanie. The tickets were a gift from my boss, as he likes to do that from time time, and I like to receive things like that from time to time. I had heard some of Mr. Gray's more popular songs on the radio, but i have never purchased an album or sought him out on a Pandora station. I knew enough of his music to know that I liked him. So off to the concert we went. Mr. Gray's band consisted of a piano/keyboardist, bassist, drummer, cellist, guitarist and himself, but the stage was set with way more instruments than people. During the set, they would finish one song, and all shuffle around to other instruments and start the next song! It was incredible! The pure, raw, unfiltered sound in that auditorium was amazing, and I truly found myself captivated. And now I'm going on iTunes to buy me some David Gray songs!

(INSERT SEXY PURR HERE)

Four Years

Tomorrow marks my 4 year anniversary of working at ICON. I was thinking about this the other day on my drive home, and realized that four years, while being a drop in the bucket in terms of life scope, is also a very long time! When I interviewed with ICON, I had been graduated from college for just under a year, living with my parents, had just bought my first car (my original car was a gift from Grandpap), and was woefully single. ICON needed a receptionist/admin assistant, so I took the job. The pay was low, but it was better than what I had previously, and a lot more ethical, to boot!

Within 3 months of working there, both of the other support staff quit, so it was just me supporting both planners. Yikes! But as I am a well rounded person, I was able to step up and fill the need for the office, and landed myself into the role in which I now find myself. I now make almost double my starting salary, I have great benefits, Matt is a terrific boss (see The Incredible Mr. Gray, above), and I find that my needs are satisfied. So congratulations to me for finding ICON, and congratulations to ICON for making it a place worth sticking around!

OK, more about four years:

As I mentioned, a lot can happen in 4 short years. In the time that I have been working at ICON, I have:

1. Moved out of my parents house
2. Met a boy I love
3. Moved in with boy I love
4. Boy and I move in with my parents (yes, I know)
5. Boy and I get married
6. Husband and I buy  a house (hence the living with parents to save up a down payment)
7. Husband and I fill the house with things and kitties
8. Husband and I live happily ever after...

It's legal!

Our house!

OK, so really the big things are getting married and buying a house. But to think that I hadn't even met Clint when I started at ICON is pretty nuts. And consider the fact that I was living paycheck-to-paycheck for quite some time, sometimes barely being able to afford simple things, and now I OWN A HOUSE; that's pretty crazy, too.

A lot has happened in 4 years, and I eagerly look forward to the next four!

Daily Card Challenge

On Monday of this week I decided I was going to try to make a card each day this week. Well, I know I'm going to fail, as I'm going to Seattle straight from work tomorrow for a concert, but oh well...It should be "Barring and unforeseen circumstances that would prevent craft time..."

But here are the cards that I made Tuesday and today.

This first card is a color change from a previous set that I have on Etsy. I was contacted and asked to make the same set in pink/purple. So cute!

This card is one that I case'd from one that I randomly found online, but I changed a few elements, and viola! I think it's pretty cute & sweet.

Mojo Monday #180

Today I decided to do a design challenge through Mojo Monday. Today's design seemed simple enough, with straight edges, circles, scallops, etc. so I thought I'd give it a whirl...Right. Despite looking like a crisp & clean card, this was a plethora of bits and pieces to assemble!

I struggled with this design, just like I struggle with following a recipe. I usually just do whatever comes to mind and make it all work together. But following these guidelines and staying within the confines of the pre-set layout was really challenging and took so much longer than normal to create this card! I had to think about all the parts and pieces, choose colors that would coordinate, think of a picture and sentiment to use...I didn't have any coordinating patterned paper, so I hand-drew the pinstripes. Seriously! This was no walk in the park...But I somehow found a way to make it all work. Here's my take on it, and...another dude card, to boot!

Recipe:

Cardstock: PTI Ocean Tides, Vintage Cream, Smoky Shadow, DCWV Glitter Stack, Open Stock dark teal textured cardstock

Stamps: PTI Enjoy the Ride, SU Apple Blossom

Ink: SU Night of Navy, SU Many Marvelous Markers in Sahara Sand and Not Quite Navy

Accessories: PTI Enjoy the Ride die cut, Marvy 1" circle punch, dimensional squares, vivory 1/4" ribbon.

PTI Blog Hop

Good afternoon! Today I am participating in the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop Challenge, which I have never done before. The challenge is below; let me know your thoughts about my interpretation!

This month we decided to dedicate the Blog Hop to scallops!  We want to see your best use of scallops, of any sort, on a project!  This can include scalloped borders, offset-scallops, stamped scallops,  scalloped mats, scalloped frames, layered scallops, scalloped tags or anything else you can dream up! You can use dies, patterned scissors or even circle punches in a row to achieve your special look. We are looking forward to seeing all of your amazing creations!


And here is my card. I used my scalloped circles die cuts to make this cute little flower. I cut the circles, cut a wedge out, and used adhesive to stick the two straight edges together, giving the flower some dimension. I used 5 layers, and I cut a progressively bigger wedge out of each layer as I neared the center of the flower to give it a blooming effect with the tightest blossom in the center. And no flower is complete without a pearl and glitter center.

I also used the Fillable Frames #5 die (scalloped rectangle) behind the Fillable Frames #10 to give the sentiment bubble an extra pop and make it stand out more. The sentiment is from the Signature Greetings set. All in all, I'd say it passes. What are your thoughts?