Scraplings

Hello my blogging friends! Back with a quick post about some scraplings I made for a swap that I am in. What's a scrapling you ask? A scrapling is 1 1/4" wide and 4 1/4 " long ( 8 1/2" long before folding) and is usually made from the scrap piece of the cardstock after cutting your cardstock for a square card. This was my first time to make scraplings and I actually got a big kick out of making them.

I used some of my circle punches to cut different size circles from scraps I have...used a white ink pen to make the small dots and the sentiment is from Inkadinkado. My layout was inspired from a card that I saw and pinned on Pinterest. I pop dotted some of the circles to add dimension. Totally fun to make and even better....I got to use some of my scraps!

Thanks for stopping by!

Punch Art

This week I am the host for the weekly member challenge over at CardMakers Card Swaps forum. The challenge I chose to host is "Punch Art". When my obsession started with paper crafting years ago, I found that I loved punches! Big punches, little punches, shape punches and now all the wonderful border punches.....love them all. And what better way is there to get further use out of your punches than to create some punch art!

For my examples for the challenge I made 3x3 cards. The first one I made a ladybug using different size circle punches.

For the next one, the baby bib, I used a scallop punch, a circle punch and an oval punch to cut the neckline. Cute huh?

The last one, which is also my favorite, was made using different size circle punches and SU's ornament punch. The chocolate sauce is made by using the negative part of a scallop punch. I used a white pen for making the sprinkles then I added Diamond Glaze to help make the sauce look rich and chocolatey!

I can't take credit for these designs. I googled "punch art" and found oodles of designs! Instructions and credit for the ice cream sundae can be found HERE, the ladybug HERE and my apologies as I do not remember where I found the instructions for the baby bib. If you would like instructions though on how to make the bib, just let me know and I will be happy to post them.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed my punch art. If you haven't checked out my prior post to this one..."A Card Request"...please do and please consider sending a card. Your card can help put a smile on a child's face. Thanks!

A Card Request

Hello Everyone!

I'm posting this today to ask my card making friends from around the world to help bring a smile to a child's face. One of my card making buddies over on the CardMaker / Card Swaps site posted a request earlier today asking for cards to be sent to a 15 year old girl in Ohio who is currently in the hospital in isolation while preparing for a bone marrow transplant. Below is the email from her mother explaining the details and her daughter's wish. So if you could find it in your heart to send a card her way...it would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Hello,

My daughter was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome in late October 2011. At the time I had never heard of this disorder nor did I realize how it would change our lives. MDS is very rare in children, it is failure of a persons bone marrow. Bone marrow make cells that turn into red and white blood cells or platelets. As her bone marrow fails it brings her closer to acute myelogenous leukemia or AML. Not much is known about MDS, usually men in their 50's get this and research is ongoing to understand the disorder in children. The only treatment is a bone marrow transplant, it is not a cure as the MDS could reoccur. There are many risks associated with the transplant and all who under go this do not survive. Finding a donor can also be very difficult. We have been blessed in that her brother is a match and he agreed to be a hero and save his sisters life.

February 6 my daughter was admitted for the bone marrow transplant. She turned 15 on the first day she received chemo. This process means she will be in strict isolation for 6-8 weeks. She is not allowed out of her hospital room and a limited amount of people are allowed to visit. She will receive high doses of chemo to kill off all the cells in her bone marrow. As most people know, she will loose her hair, and can get mouth sores, experience pain in her bones, be nauseated and vomit. After the transplant many new risks will present themselves, such as possible rejection and all the side effects that go along with the medication required to help prevent the rejection of her brothers bone marrow.

Once she gets home she will be in isolation for 6 - 8 months. As you can imagine that isolation can be devastating for a teenager. Rach has been very brave throughout discovering her diagnosis along with the beginning of her chemotherapy. She is optimistic and plans on turning all of this into something positive.

My daughter has only asked for a few things after learning what challenges and treatments lay ahead for her. The first was to survive the transplant, and go on to live a long life. The second is that she wants to educate people about MDS and all that goes along with the diagnosis. She feels the more people hear about it, discuss it among others then perhaps more research could be done.

The last thing she requested was to see if she could get a 1,000 cards from people and teenagers like herself from around the world. Our hope is that this email gets forwarded to people from their contact list. She is hoping this could even reach ELLEN so someday she would have the opportunity to go on her show and educate people about MDS and bone marrow transplants. If this were to reach Justin Bieber, Racal Flatts or Taylor Swift that would be awesome too.


If you are willing please forward this email and send her a card or letter to:

Rachel K.
P.O. Box 1583
Hilliard, Ohio 43206

Winter Warm Up Blog Hop / CardSwaps

WELCOME!

You are on the CardSwaps Winter Warm Up Blog Hop! There is an awesome card crop going on over at CardSwaps with challenges, games and prizes. Which I will tell you about in just a second. I want to first let you know now that there is also a fun game on the blog hop which I will also tell you about in just a moment. So don't miss a thing....pull up a chair and read on!

First things first...here is the info about the card crop. Challenges and games will be posted February 8-11, 2012 and you have until February 14, 2012 to get your projects posted to the appropriate thread. If you haven't participated before, don't worry! There are many members  that will be around to offer support and encouragement. You can find out all you need to know in the forum. So... AFTER the hop... you will be taken to the crop and I do hope you join in. Prizes for each of the challenges will be given out as well as there will be one grand prize winner! Details for joining in and winning prizes are on the site. 

Onto my project! The theme for both the card crop and blog hop is "Winter Warm Up". When I think of warming up I think of having one of my favorite hot drinks! So for my project I made coffee cup cards. I have been seeing coffee cup cards on the internet that hold a gift card to a favorite coffee shop and thought they were cute. Then I saw where someone had made 3 x 3 cards in the shape of a coffee cup and just couldn't resist making some of my own. I thought they would be perfect to have on hand to add to little gifts that I like to give to the host of swaps that I like to join. Here's my card:

I used some basic supplies...cardstock, a crimper, ink and adhesive to make the little card. Took just minutes! What's that you say? Doesn't look like a 3x3 size? Well your right. I came out of the shower one day to find my son sitting in my craft room with a big smile on his face. He had added  steam to all my coffee cups! He was so proud that I didn't have the heart to tell him that they would no longer fit in a 3x3 envelope. I think they are cute too with the steam so I left them and they will still look cute attached to a hostess gift with a little note inside. If you would like to see where I got my inspiration to make these and for directions...click HERE.

Now onto the game details for the hoppers. You will be unscrambling a word once you  collect a letter at each blog you visit. The hostesses can play along, because they don't know any of the letters but their own. Once you collect ALL the letters, the last hostess in the blog hop will direct you to the thread in the forum where you can find all the details you need to enter the drawing. All hoppers collecting all the letters, unscrambling the word or phrase, entering the game by following the directions in the forum, and leaving feedback on EVERY blog they visit WILL be entered in to a random drawing held on February 15, 2012. ONE lucky hopper will have their name drawn and will win a prize!! Fun, right?? So, make sure you visit every blog and find the letters. Your only hints are... it's a phrase and it's a way papercrafters warm up.

OK... You arrived here from Lora's blog, I hope. If not, go back and check out her blog for her awesome creation and collect your letter. Then collect my letter and hop on, my friend.

My letter is... A

The list of hoppers, in case you get lost:

CardMaker

Lora

SusieQ

Laura

Marlene

Jane

Golda

Angelina

Tina

Judy

Ivanka

Teresa

Ana

Your next stop is Laura who I know will have an awesome project to share with you. So hop on over to her blog and all the others for fun and inspiration. Hope to see you after your through hopping over at the card crop!