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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Talk Time Tuesday with Ask Jo



Click Here for FCC#10 "Bling it up"


Hello my friends!
I am very sorry this is going out a day late. Life got in the way. I often feel that there is never enough time in a day to get everything accomplished. I feel like a turkey running around about to get her head cut off. Okay so this week we have some great questions! Let's jump right into it.

Our first question comes from Janice who asks, "Hi Jo! I totally love Tuesdays so that I can read along and see what the talk is all about. This time I figured that I would stick my feet in the water and ask something that I have been wanting to know since I started following your blog. How do you find the time to keep up with your blog as often as you do?

Hi Janice!
Well in the beginning, I was not very good at keeping up with my blog. Truth be told, this was the 3rd time that I had tried to start up a blog and for some reason, this time around it took off. I guess as they say, "three times a charm"! When I had tried to start up a blog the first two times, I was a full-time college student and worked full-time. I did not know anything about blog challenges or how they even worked really. But little by little I started to join blogs to read them and learn new things. Eventually with those few blogs, I ended up meeting some great friends who then convinced me to join some challenges. Well to do that I needed my own blog and the thought of trying it up again was a nightmare!
Needless to say, with a little encouragement from blog friends I created my blog. I started joining challenges and started growing. Once I ended up getting followers I was excited because I finally felt like I was actually a blogger. Not a part-time blogger who just read other blogs, but an actual all around blogger who read blogs, joined challenges and now had some followers who wanted to see my work and what I was up to. So I made time for it. I started off with allowing myself to have 1 hour to sit through getting my challenge posts up and leave comments. Now a little over a year later, that has all changed. I am no longer working full-time or in school so I have more time on my hands. Also a little over a year later and I am now subscribed to well over 250+ blogs that I DO comment on all the time, am now a designer for 3 Design Teams, run my own challenges as well as participate in many others and blogging has now become a full-time job for me. I spend anywhere between 5-6 hours per day blogging. That covers everything from posting, reading, commenting and entering challenges along the way. I do the blog hops and I make sure to make time for my blog. So if you are finding yourself not able to keep up, take a few minutes to think of when you can schedule blog time into your schedule. It does not have to be daily. It can be every other day or even a couple times a week but make sure you find the time because to be honest, blogging is not only addictive for me but it is a stress reliever and it is refreshing. I am always learning something new and I always making new friends and that keeps me going and keeps me motivated with my own crafting.
Thanks so much for your question today Janice. I hope to hear from you again soon!

Our second question today comes from Melissa C. who asks, "I would like to know if you could give me any tips on how to curb my appetite for spending? I see all the new crafty products coming out and I want to buy everything! EVERYTHING! I am NOT KIDDING!!! LOL! My husband does not know how much I spend every month but I have found that I am now cutting into our savings and I need to stop. Any suggestions?"


Hi there Melissa!
Boy oh boy this should be good considering your asking the wrong person about this LOL!!! I LOVE to shop! But then again, don't we all? I think I speak for all of us when I say that we all love to shop and I think your question speaks for over 75% of the crafters out there LOL. You are definitely not alone in your situation Melissa. Ok so my advice to you would be:
1. Never tell your husband how much you spend or he'll either divorce you or kill you LOL
2. When you are reading emails that come through from your favorite craft stores; don't read them. Just delete them right away especially if you know you cannot afford to spend.
3. Use up the product you already have so that way you only spend when you run low or completely out. This way it gives you an excuse to shop!!
4. Ask yourself if you will even use what your about to buy. Do you have something similar to it and have you used that yet? If you are like me, you have a room full of everything and half of it is still unopened and never been used. If you won't use it, you don't need to buy it.
5. My last tip for you is this......create a spending allowance and schedule into your expenses each month. Act like it is another utility bill that needs to get paid and set so much money aside for it. This is what I used to do when I was still working. I allowed myself $100 per month to spend on craft supplies.
 
I hope my advice has helped you some, Lord knows it is so hard to NOT want to buy everything cool coming out. It is almost like your a little kid in school again and you have to "fit in" so you need to have the cool tools and the pretty papers that everyone else has. I know it is hard but with a little bit of  time to think and plan out some sort of budget, you can do it!
Well Melissa it was great to hear from you and I hope to again soon.
 
Thanks for great questions today Janice and Melissa!
 Well my friends that is all I have for today. I hope you have a great day!
Thanks for stopping by and until next time....
Enjoy life's blessings~
 


Monday, July 29, 2013

FFC 9 Winners & Happy Mail!



Click Here for FFC #10 Bling It Up!

Hello my crafty friends!
Happy Monday to you all.
Wow is time flying by! I cannot believe that August is 3 days away. Where is the time going?
And I'm shocked that school will be starting up already!! It feels like yesterday that the kids just got out for the summer. I have not done much of anything this summer so for me it has not felt like much of a summer as I have not had many cookouts or a vacation. I need a vacation though! LOL
 
Ok so let's get to our winners from last week's FFC #9 "Summer Fun" challenge.
 
# 9 Karen
# 20 Nicole N.
# 25 Mayras Designs
 
Congratulations ladies!
Please email me at:
Joann6274 at gmail dot com to get your top 3 badge!
 
Well something awesome came in the mail to me and I wanted to share it with ya'll
So have a peek!
 
 
Well my friends that is all I have for today.
I hope you have a great day!
Thanks for stopping by and until next time....
Enjoy life's blessings~
  


Friday, July 26, 2013

FFC #10 "BLING IT UP" & A special GD!

 
Hello my bloggy friends!
 Welcome to another Funday Friday Challenge.
  
This week's Challenge:
"Bling it up"
Starts: Friday, July 26th 12:00AM
Ends: Friday, August 2nd 6:00PM
(central time)
 
Our sponsor this week is Carri aka Abusybee
and she is offering not 1, not 2 but 3!! bags of skittles!!!
One lucky winner will receive three bags of skittles in the colors:
Watermelon, Slate and Wild Plum!
Carri is also our Guest Designer today!
So let's see what she created!

Carri's card is gorgeous! Look at that fairy wishing
 away some beautiful birthday wishes!
And look how she used her skittles
 on the mushroom!! Darling! I love it!
Thank you so much Carri for being our
 GD and sponsor this week!

 
Now Here is what I created this week for the challenge:
 


 I made this card with a special friend on my mind.
 So this will be going to her soon.
My card is a standard A2 size card.
My cardbase is black Bazzill CS.
My first layer is a pretty pink glittery piece of CS by Recollections. The pretty intricate black layer on top was cut from my pazzles machine. I used my trellis punch by Martha Stewart to give the bottom edge of my card
a "girly" lacey look. My sentiment comes from Lawn Fawn's stamp set, " Hello Friend". I stamped it on black CS with versamark, heat embossed it using some light pink embossing powder and cut the
edge into a banner. I used some of Carri's skittles on the ends.
To finish off my card, I added some bling from
Recollections and a cute pink
blossom flower from Bo Bunny which I added
3 skittles for the stamens.
Well that's my card for this Bling it up challenge.
I hope you like it!
       
Now let's see what the FFC Design Team has created for this Challenge:
    
   Candice
 
 
 

 
Well my friends, it is YOUR turn to show us what
 you can do for this challenge!
Just link up using our link up tool at the bottom of this post for your chance to win top 3 and get entered into our monthly prize drawing.
 
*NOTE*
CHALLENGE RULES UPDATE
We have now changed the challenge rules to 3 entries per person per challenge except for the Anything Goes challenges which will be unlimited.
 
What do you need to do to enter?
Challenge Rules

1. Please post a direct link to your card/project post that includes your challenge,
using the linky tool below.

2. Be sure to include a link back to our challenge

3. 3 entries per person and you must post a separate blog post for each entry.

4. All entries must be NEW and created for the current challenge.

5. You may combine with other challenges as long as you link back to us in your post.

 * All entries that do not meet the challenge requirements
Will not be eligible for top 3 or random/monthly wins.
The monthly prize drawings will only be mailed within the US and Canada only.
 
You have until August 2nd by 6:00Pm (central) time to link up.
All winners will be announced on Monday, August 5th.
Have fun and we look forward to seeing what you create!
 
 
Until next time, enjoy life's blessings~

Thanks for stopping by!
  I am entering my project in the following challenges:
 
 
TTCRD "Anything Goes"
Penny's Challenge 137 "Bling it on"

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

We have a YNS Winner!!



Click Here for FCC#9 "Summer Fun"

 
Good Day Wednesday my friends!
This past week's Funday Friday challenge had a very sweet sponsor. Karen from Your Next Stamp Company graciously is awarding one lucky winner a YNS stamp set! If you have not  heard of YNS stamps, please stop by and have a look. These stamps are soooo cute!! I just love em! So who is our lucky winner?? Well random.org has chosen for us and has given us the lucky #11
 

Marilyn!!!
 
Please email me your mailing address at:
Joann6274 at gmail dot com
 
I would like to say a very big THANK YOU to Karen for sponsoring our last challenge!
We ♥Heart♥ You!
 
Thanks for stopping by today friends and I
 sure hope you have a great day!
Until next time...
Enjoy life's blessings~
 


Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Talk Time Tuesday with Ask Jo & FFC 8 Winners



Click Here for FCC#9 'Summer Fun Challenge'


Hello my friends!
I hope you are all enjoying your day today. The sun is really shining here and we are expected to get temps of 115 today! Insane! Ah in any case, I am sorry I'm a day late with announcing the Top 3 winners from last week's challenge. My meds really kick my butt sometimes and there are days where I sleep all day and night and that is what happened to me yesterday. So before we get started on today's Talk Time Tuesday segment, let's announce the winning top 3 from last week...
# 7 Michelle's Cricut Fun
# 9 Melissa Sunshine Honeybee
# 12 Yainea
 
Congratulations ladies!
Please email me at:
Joann6274 at gmail dot com to get your top 3 badge!
 
 
 
So onto this week's Talk Time Tuesday segment.
Our first question today comes from Dawn aka "D" who asks, "How do you put your name on your post pictures?"
 
Hi there D!
My name on my photos that I post are watermarks. I get my personalized watermarks by a wonderful woman, Karen from The Sweetest Thing. She has some gorgeous watermarks for only $2. I have purchased several from her over the past year. Now as to how I get them onto my photos. I use a program called Gimp. It's a free application that you can download here and Karen has actually done a tutorial on how to use the program and you can find the tutorial here. If you follow the tutorial, you will be able to work the program. It is extremely easy! If I can do it, anyone can! I hope you give it a try if you decide to get a watermark. =)
Thanks for your question today and I hope to hear from you again my friend!
 
Our next question comes from Melissa who asks, "Jo I saw that you have a for sale tab on  your blog. What do you sell?"

Hi Melissa,
I was asked by a few friends if I would sell my word books and mini albums because they would love to purchase them and in the past, I used to sell cards and albums. So I decided to go ahead and start it up again but unfortunately, have not put anything up on the for sale posting as of yet. I am taking special orders and make the word books and the mini albums as they come in. I have an order that is actually going out this week and I just got another order for a personalized baby mini album. A friend's daughter is having her first baby boy and she wants it personalized with his name, "Michael". If there is anything you want to order, just email me. I make mini albums, picture frames, word books, card sets and scrapbook layouts and I will be selling kits very soon. So if you want more information on anything, email me and I will be glad to talk with you further on it. Thanks so much for your question today Melissa and I hope to hear from you again very soon. =)
 
Well my friends that concludes another Ask Jo segment but before I say goodbye, I just wanted to let you all know that I do take requests and I do take special orders. This is something I have not yet written about on the blog but I will be very soon. I just have a few things to work on first and that will be the next thing I do. If anyone is interested in knowing more, please email me. Also, I am taking requests so if there is anything you want to know or any type of tutorial you want to see, please let me know and I'd be glad to help.
=)
 Well my friends that is all I have for today. I hope you have a great day!
Thanks for stopping by and until next time....
Enjoy life's blessings~
 


Friday, July 19, 2013

FFC #9 "Summer Fun"

 
Hello my bloggy friends!
 Welcome to another Funday Friday Challenge.
  
This week's Challenge:
"Summer Fun"
Starts: Friday, July 19th 12:00AM
Ends: Friday, July 26th 6:00PM
(central time)
 
 
*NOTE*
CHALLENGE RULES UPDATE
We have now changed the challenge rules to 3 entries per person per challenge except for the Anything Goes challenges which will be unlimited.
 
 Here is what I created this week for the challenge:
 

 
My card is a 5x5 sized card. My card base and first layer are CS by Papertrey Ink and the patterned paper is handmade paper that I had in my stash. I used my pazzles machine to cut out the sentiment frame at 1 3/4", 2" and 2 1/4". I stamped my sentiment in Ranger's archival black ink and then added some glossy accents to the words "Fun" and "Sun" as well as some stickles. The sentiment is popped up on foam tape on 3 layers. It is adhered to the patterned paper strip which measures 1" and then that is matted on a piece of solid CS that measures 1 1/4". The strip is also popped up on foam tape. I distressed my patterned paper edges with my distressing tool to give it some texture. The cute flip flops were stamped onto white CS and colored in using my prisma colored pencils and gamsol. I fussy cut them out and popped them up on 2 layers of foam tape.  I added some glossy accents to these flip flops as well and again, added some stickles.  Both the sentiment and the flip flops are from an old CTMH stamp set called, "August Word Puzzle".

 To finish off my card I ran some trimmings by Lawn Fawn around a couple of times and then tied off in some bows.  I was trying to go for a  lot  of dimension for
 this card and I love how this turned out.
      
Now let's see what the FFC Design Team has created for this Summer Fun Challenge:
    
   Candice
 
 
 

 
Well my friends, it is YOUR turn to show us what
 you can do for this challenge!
Just link up using our link up tool at the bottom of this post for your chance to win top 3 and get entered into our monthly prize drawing.

What do you need to do to enter?
Challenge Rules

1. Please post a direct link to your card/project post that includes your challenge,
using the linky tool below.

2. Be sure to include a link back to our challenge

3. 3 entries per person and you must post a separate blog post for each entry.

4. All entries must be NEW and created for the current challenge.

5. You may combine with other challenges as long as you link back to us in your post.

 * All entries that do not meet the challenge requirements
Will not be eligible for top 3 or random/monthly wins.
The monthly prize drawings will only be mailed within the US and Canada only.
 
You have until July 26th by 6:00Pm (central) time to link up.
All winners will be announced on Monday, July 29th.
Have fun and we look forward to seeing what you create!
 
 
Until next time, enjoy life's blessings~
Thanks for stopping by!
  I am entering my project in the following challenges:
TTCRD "Anything Goes"
Simon Says Stamp "By the Sea"
Simon Says Stamp "Green"
 





Thursday, July 18, 2013

Aud Sentiments Challenge 85 "With Sympathy"



Click Here for FFC #8

Hello my friends!
Today is my first post as a design team member with the Aud Sentiments DT and our challenge was to create a card or project for those hard times, "With Sympathy". This challenge is being sponsored by the Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps store. If you have not checked out this store and you love to work with digital images, this is the place to go!
Tons and tons of gorgeous digis just waiting to be inked up!
Okay so here is my card for the challenge:

 
I chose to use the Rose digi from the Robyns Fetish for my card. I tried to think of something that would possibly try to make a person smile during their hard times and this rose spoke to me. I think it is gorgeous. I colored the image in using my copics, R24, R29 and R46 for the rose and G21 and G24 for the leaves and stem. I added some glossy accents to my rose to give it some dimension and a more realistic feel. I fussy cut the rose out as best as I could and then put it on a ton of foam popups.


I then took a white piece of Bazzill CS and cut it down to make it an A2 sized card. I ran the front half of it through my ebosser and embossed it using my Anna Griffin "Rose Pavillion" embossing folder. I wanted to keep the background white and simple as I wanted the sentiment to stand out and say it all. I stamped my sentiment, "With sincere sympathy" in momento tuxedo black ink. This sentiment comes from an old Close to my heart set called, "Comforting Thoughts". To finish off my card I added a few red sequins. I did not want the card to take away from the rose and the sentiment.


Well my friends that is my card today. I hope you like it. Please join in the challenge over at the Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog and link up your creation too. All you need to do is make a card or project with the words, "Sympathy or Thinking of You" and link up by July 30th! Don't forget to stop on by and see Robyn at Robyn's Fetish and have a look at all her amazing designs. Remember that you can win some of her digi's if you play along in the challenge as Robyn is graciously giving away 5 digis stamps, winner's choice!
Thanks for stopping by and until next time...
Enjoy life's blessings~ 

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Talk Time Tuesday with Ask Jo & A winner!



Hello my friends!
Before we get to our segment today, I wanted to share some news. I was asked to be on the design team at Aud Sentiments so I'm super excited about that! My first post will be on Thursday. Also,
at the bottom of this post I will announce last week's Funday Friday Challenge top 3 winners, as I could not get on the internet last night due to storms in my area.
 
So onto this week's Talk Time Tuesday segment.
Our first question today comes from Erica K. who asks, "Hi Jo.  I see that you have a Pinterest account but I was wondering if you have a facebook account or a twitter account?"
 
Hi there Erica!
I do have a facebook and a twitter account. I must confess that I hardly ever go onto my twitter account. I just do not have the time. It has been forever since I logged onto that account. As for facebook, Yes I do have a facebook account. I first started facebook to mainly keep in contact with family and old friends but I also have a lot of new crafting friends and bloggy friends on there. I am set to private so unfortunately, no one can add me however; if you would like to become facebook friends, please email me your facebook URL address and I'll gladly add you. Thanks so much for your question today Erica and I hope to hear from you again soon!
 
Our next question comes from Kelly A. who asks, "Hi there Jo! My question is totally non-craft related. I was wondering if you could share a family recipe that you cook for your family?"
 
Hi Kelly!
Great question and totally unexpected! Well there are plenty of recipes that I have that I can share but one of my family's favorites of mine, is my SouthWestern Chicken Bean Soup. This recipe is a slow cooker recipe but can easily be cooked on the stove top.
 
What you will need:
2-4 pieces of chicken breast
2 boxes of 32 oz chicken stock
1 large onion
2 cans of chick peas
1-16oz jar of Medium or Mild Salsa
2 cans of corn
2 tablespoons of cumin
2 cups of water
 
Directions:
1.On stove top on medium heat, pre-cook the chicken breast for about 10 minutes until they are white on both sides. Once they are white on both sides, add them to the slow cooker.
 
2.Cut up your onion into slices about an eighth thick and add to slow cooker.
 
3.Add all the rest of your ingredients at this time into the slow cooker; cumin, chicken stock(both boxes), 2c water, both cans of chick peas(drained), both cans of corn with water(if using canned) and the complete jar of salsa. At this point you should have all your ingredients inside the crock pot or slow cooker. Add your slow cooker's lid.
4.Turn on your crock pot or slow cooker on high and set it at 5 hours and forget it! That's its!

If you are using the stove top, follow the same directions as above and cook on low to medium heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
I serve this soup with a little bit of cheddar cheese and tortilla chips on top This is just a personal preference. It is delicious and definitely a family favorite. Very tasty and filling.
Thanks so much Kelly for your question and I sure hope you enjoy this recipe if you give it a try!
Now I know it is summer and hot outside but this soup is great any time of the year!


Now onto our FFC#7's top 3!
# 19 Gail Scott
# 64 Lisa
# 116 D-Designs by Dragonfly
 
Congratulations ladies!
Please email me at:
Joann6274 at gmail dot com to get your top 3 badge!
 
 
Well my friends that is all I have for today. I hope you have a great day!
Thanks for stopping by and until next time....
Enjoy life's blessings~
  


Friday, July 12, 2013

FFC #8 "Photo Inspiration" & Our August GD Winner!

 
Hello my bloggy friends!
 Welcome to another Funday Friday Challenge.
 
 
This week's Challenge:
"Photo Inspiration"
Create a card, layout or project from the photo above
We also have a special sponsor this week
Karen and Your Next Stamp will be giving away 1 stamp set to one lucky winner!  So if you have any YNS stamps, please use them! We wanna see them!
Starts: Friday, July 12th 12:00AM
Ends: Friday, July 19th 6:00PM
(central time)
 
 
*NOTE*
CHALLENGE RULES UPDATE
We have now changed the challenge rules to 3 entries per person per challenge except for the Anything Goes challenges which will be unlimited.
 
 Here is what I created this week for the challenge



I decided to use my cricut expression to make my card. I loaded up my artiste cartridge and cut this card at 6" from some deep plum CS from Recollections. I cut out the stars from the same cartridge on teal and light blue papers also from Recollections, at 3/4", 1",  1 3/4" and 2". I then cut out the teal and light blue shape from the elegant edges cartridge at 2 1/2" and 3".
 
I ran the card base through my ebosser using the "Smitten" folder by Anna Griffin. I layered all my stars together and layered my main shapes together. I used the Kudos Stamp Set from CTMH to stamp the star that says "super" and the sentiments, "You're the best" and "Congrats". This stamp set comes with the Artiste bundle and made stamping it onto my cut out star a snap! I stamped these images in versafine and used my Ranger's white embossing powder and heat embossed each one. I then stamped my sentiment, "Follow your dreams" from Cardz TV Stamp's set called "More Encouraging Thoughts" in soft lilac by Hero Arts. I ran this sentiment piece through my ebosser using my swiss dots embossing folder to give it some texture. To finish off my card I added some purple sequins and used my white sakura pen to add some white dots.
      
Now let's see what our amazing design team have created for us......
    
   Candice
 
 
 

 
Well my friends, it is YOUR turn to show us what
 you can do for this challenge!
Just link up using our link up tool at the bottom of this post for your chance to win top 3 and get entered into our monthly prize drawing.

What do you need to do to enter?
Challenge Rules

1. Please post a direct link to your card/project post that includes your challenge,
using the linky tool below.

2. Be sure to include a link back to our challenge

3. 3 entries per person and you must post a separate blog post for each entry.

4. All entries must be NEW and created for the current challenge.

5. You may combine with other challenges as long as you link back to us in your post.

 * All entries that do not meet the challenge requirements
Will not be eligible for top 3 or random/monthly wins.
The monthly prize drawings will only be mailed within the US and Canada only.
 
You have until July 19th by 6:00Pm (central) time to link up.
All winners will be announced on Monday, July 22nd.
Have fun and we look forward to seeing what you create!
 
I also have a winner to announce from last week. A random winner from last week's challenge had the chance to win a Guest designer spot for August! So without further ado... Let's see who our August Guest Designer is!!

 
                      
 
 
CONGRATULATIONS GAIL!!!
Please email me at
joann6274 at gmail dot com to discuss dates!
 
 
Until next time, enjoy life's blessings~
Thanks for stopping by!
  I am entering my tag in the following challenges:
TTCRD "Anything Goes"
Simon Says Stamp & Show "A Little Stamping"
Catch the Bug Challenge "Anything Goes"