Mema's Crafts: 07/2013

August 2014 Grab Bag and Bonus Challenge

August is a long month so here at Mema's Crafts we're giving away five prizes (2 winners from monthly challenge and 3 winners for the bonus and grab bag challenge). It took me a while to decide how this challenge would work, but here it is:

1. A winner is drawn randomly;
2. The winner's random number is the second winner and;
3. Lastly a DT member will win a small token based on votes

Here are the rules for this challenge:

1. Be a follower of Mema's Crafts (as always)
2. Use the 1st Mr Linky to enter your name followed by
a random number in the range of 1 - 210
3. Come back 8/3 and Vote for the DT using 2nd Mr Linky (hopefully its working)
4. We'd appreciate a comment

A MINIMUM OF 20 ENTRIES IS REQUIRED TO AWARD PRIZES

!GRAB BAG ITEMS!
* We R Memory Makers "Envelope Punch Board
* The New Spectrum Noir "Essentials" Pack

*Digi Image of Choice from Stitchy Bear Digital Outlet
*Paper Kit Collection "Simple Stories"
*Paper Kit Collection "Teresa Collins"

For the bonus challenge I provided my M&M Girls DT a few random products and instructions to use in their creation. Below are the details. Look them over and then vote on your favorite DT project. You can only vote once.

Princess - was given a raw and dusty Paper Mache Book Box and a paper pad. This is her altered creation that holds a mini album. More info and additional photos can be found on her blog.

Judith - was provided two standard sized embossing folders and was asked to create a card using the embossing folder as the focal point. Her creation brings embossing and inking together in a fun colorful way.
I'm sure she'll have more techniques to share in the future using embossing folders.

Lisa - was asked to decorate her name by spelling it out using Paper Mache alphabet and Prima paper.
I was so inspired by the results I decided to decorate my name to hang in my craft-room.

Penny Rae - was given a set of border/edge punchers and told to use these to create anything but a card. She opted to use the edgers to bind the pages of a mini album she was constructing for two very special men. Find out more about how she used these edgers to create this binding technique by visiting her blog.

Donna - was given three tags; White, Creme and Kraft and was asked to decorate them and to include a sentiment. She really rocked these tags...I wouldn't mind having one for myself.

So there you have our entries. Don't forget to enter your name followed by a number between 1 and 210. Vote on your favorite DT project and leave a comment.

click here for our Anything Goes Challenge.

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First Mr Linky Enter Your Name
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Second Mr Linky

Bouquet of Flowers

CLICK HERE FOR CURRENT CHALLENGE

Hello Everyone, hope you all are doing well and crafting away today. I have a card to share with you, although it is a bit outside of my comfort zone because when it comes to more than 4 or 5 flowers I start to get flustered on how to arrange them but I will give it a try.

A friend asked me if I could make a card for her that had a big bouquet of flowers, and of course I had to give it a try. Plus I had just received a heart doily from Cheery Lynn and ideas were running wild in my head although the anxiety of more than 5 flowers did worry me just a bit.

I tried not to make things line up (habits of a A personality with a compulsive disorder) because flowers don't line up in reality. Anyway when I finished my friend was very pleased, while I couldn't say anything good about the card except that the heart doily was pretty and the inside was simple enough.

So now I will share with you, and you can give me your thoughts. But don't be too cruel...I might just cry. Any advice would be wonderful on how to make sure your flowers are arranged properly. Do you guys look at pictures or does it just come naturally? Let me know.

Of course I have to mention that my challenge is still open so if you haven't entered why not do so now... just click here.

This is all I have for today. Hope to chat with you again real soon.

~Lesia~

Cheery Lynn White on White

Click Here for Current Challenge

Well, I survived a day walking around the booths at the Heirloom Productions event today in Grapevine, Texas. Over the years this event like the Scrapbook convention in June, has gotten smaller and smaller with less vendors participating. Of course for us die-hard crafters we will always be there to see what we can get. I left with a decent haul but not near as much as I usually do, so that leads me to believe that either I have everything that I need or my budget won't support everything that I want!!! Figure which one of those is true, although with a little bit of thought, I truly believe both are true statements.

This time my focus was on dies and embossing folders and I actually stayed within my list and only went about $6 over budget...trust me that was a joy to know that I could stay on a budget! Yipee! Well after leaving the convention I hurried home to of course play with my new toys and to run a few cuts to see how well they cut on the first pass. Of course Cheery Lynn's dies always cut clean especially if you use the metal adapter (I love that piece of metal)!!

After playing and cutting I decided to use some of the pieces I had cut to create a card and here is what I came up with as my first card. I still have additional pieces that need a home so they will come in a later post. I hope you will enjoy my creation and leave me your thoughts.

Ingredients Used To Create This Card:

Cheery Lynn Dies: DL112AB Small Exotic Butterflies #1 w/Angel Wings

Cheery Lynn Dies: FRM149 Mexican Tile Pattern

Couture Creations: Waterfall Embossing Folder

EK Success: Border Punch

Inkadinkadoo Stamp

Recollection Pearls

Thanks for stopping by and come back real soon.

May you be blessed and stay safe where ever you are

Hugs

~Lesia~

Cooler Weather

Click Here for Current Challenge

You know the weather can be the most confusing part of nature. After suffering through triple digit weather, we have finally awakened to a nice cool rainfall making the day a rather lovely day. My yard and trees are all coming to life with color and I am so loving it. For three nights so far I have fallen asleep while listening to the lullaby of the rain. Such a relaxing and peaceful sleep; if only this could last a while but alas the weather man says it is destined to end this week.

I've managed to stay indoors when not at work and create a bit. Today. I want to share a couple of birthday cards I made as a RAK (random act of kindness) that I will give to a couple of ladies that work in my doctor's office, to celebrate their birthdays (one in July and one in August). This act will count toward my resolution to perform one RAK per month this year.

Let me share with you the two cards...not sure which one will be for July and I don't think it really matters. I just hope it surprises these two ladies and that they enjoy the thought. Well here goes and if you have an idea as to which one should be July, leave me a comment and let me know.

While you check out the cards I think I'll raise a few windows and enjoy this cooler weather just a bit longer....before it all ends...the rain actually has a fresh clean smell....awwww.

This is my first card for one of the ladies. I wanted something soft and clean so I chose pink and white.

Recollections Card-stock
Spellbinders Birdcage, fancy tags one
Couture Creations embossing folder
Marianne Design createables folder
EK Sucess small flower punch
Recollections bling

On the inside I used the createable folder from Marianne Design and a Heroe stamp to finish it off.

Plain and simple with a simple sentiment from Hero Stamps

Challenges for this card include:
LEJ Designs - Challenge #62 "Anything Goes" (7/20)
Lady Bugs Crafts Ink - Challenge "Birthdays" (8/5)
Crafty Sentiments Designs - Challenge "Female Birthdays" (7/21)

My next card uses the same ingredients as the first card with the exception of the stamps which were from Stampendous.

Challenges I Want to Enter This Card:
Through the Craftroom Door - "Anything Goes" (7/22)
Use it Tuesday - Challenge #59 "Birthdays" (7/19)
Tuesday Throwdown - Challenge #156 "Anything Goes" (7/21)
Sweet Stamps - Challenge #126 "Anything Goes" (7/21)

I hope these ladies like the cards. They are receptionist and have to show patience and a caring attitude on a daily basis so I hope these cards will somehow brighten their day, if only for a minute.

Don't forget to check the winners tab above to see if you're a winner in our first drawing and then check back for the second drawing. If you haven't entered, there is still time.

Thanks for stopping by

May you be safe and blessed where ever you are

Hugs

Lesia

July 2014 Winners

First of all I want to thank those of you who have chosen to play with us at Mema's Crafts and we hope you will continue to share your talent with us.

We're at the half way point for July so its time to name a new winner. This winner will win digi images of their choice from our very generous sponsor "Kenny K", so without further ado

Congratulations to Entry #7

as selected by Random Generator

as our July 15th Winner

And this fabulous entry was created by

Roz of Scraps of Color.

Check out this red and white card and then check that HAT.

Please contact Mema to claim your prize before 07/22. Send email to
memascrafts2@gmail.com

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The end of the month has arrived and so there's another winner waiting to be announced so with the help of random.org our final July 2014 winner is: Entry #19

So congratulations to

Helene of 2amscrapper

who submitted this doosie of a duo duet.

Please contact Mema to claim your prize before 08/08.
Send email to memascrafts2@gmail.com

Congrats to both our winners and thanks to everyone who participated in this challenge. We hope to see you next month where "Anything Goes" and don't forget the Bonus Challenge.

Here Comes The Stork

Click Here for Current Challenge

Hello my fellow crafters. Now that the celebrations have stopped, I can look back and note that my time with my grans, was most enjoyable. They wore this grandma out and I enjoyed every minute but alas the fun and games must come to an end and back to reality we must travel. For me that means early rising, hard work and late nights, but I have no complaints. I say it's just another day in this event we call life...so life, bring it on!!!

It seems to be that we are approaching the time of year when babies are born and I say that because I have gotten so many request for cards that revolve around the birth of a baby. I usually get one or two, but lately the numbers have gotten quite large in comparison. Designing baby cards is not one of my strong creative points, so instead of wasting paper I decided to give myself a jump start by surfing the net a bit to get an idea of what others were doing with the hope of being inspired. Well lady luck was with me and I did find one that caught my eye and tickled my fancy.

I found the original card on "pinterest". The designer is Sister Sandie who can be found on Split Coast Stampers. Thank you Sandie! Check out Sandie's original design by clicking here and for my "scraplifted" version just keep reading below.

I'm not sure why but I couldn't get the light to reflect properly so my really white card appears to be a bit dark and gungy, but I promise you it is a brilliant white in reality.

Supplies:

Stampin Up Tulip Embossing Folder

Marianne Pram die

SB 5x7 Enchanted Labels 28

SB Floral Ovals Die

SB Pennant Die

Lastly before I end this post I just noticed that we only need 15 more followers before I can release $50 to one lucky follower, so tell your friends about my blog and of course mention the prizes that can be won.

If you think my blog is a good place for tips and tutorials then tell your friends that as well. I am ready to get this $50 out of my sight because it is real tempting just sitting there waiting to be awarded. (smiles)

As always my girls and I would like to thank you for taking time to stop by our little place and sharing in our games.

May God keep you safe and lay his blessings upon you where ever you are.

Hugz

~Lesia~

Parades, Food and Celebration!

Click Here for Current Challenge

Today started with a parade of red, white and blue in the middle of downtown Arlington. Folks from all over gather on this rather mild day to watch the floats and introduce the little ones to the joys of celebrating.

Not only are there the parades but the food is absolutely delicious! That's the best part; tasting from from all cultures and tastes...whew talk about throwing calories to the wind! Well for me it starts with a light dinner today because I know tomorrow after I travel to visit my grans there will be more food to eat and lots more sugar splurges...no diet this weekend.

With all the celebrations, fireworks and food surrounding me I still found a few hours to retreat into my craft room to play with a couple of new toys. I like getting new crafting tools but I must stay on budget and purchase only two items per week, which comes out of my weekly allowance. It seems to be working so I'll try to stick with the plan. It doesn't count when there is a special even going on though.

So this week I have two new cards to share with everyone.

Above I am showing both cards together.

Below is each card shown separately.

Entering these challenges:
Charisma Cardz - Challenge "Lace"
Crafts and Me - Challenge "Anything Goes"
Fab 'n' Funky - Challenge #178 "Anything But Square"
Stampin Royalty - Challenge #183 "Anything Goes"

Challenges I want to enter:
Aud Sentiments - Challenge #84 Two Words
Little Red Wagon - #192 CAS
Scrapper's Delights - Challenge "Die-Cuts/Punches"

Supplies Used on Both Cards:
CS: Recollections White and Kraft
Embellishments: Buttons, Lace and Brads from my stash
Flowers: Prima
MS: Lace Punch
Memory Box: Quinn Flourish Die and Woodland Branch
Sentiments: Just-Rite Stamps
Recollections: Pearls

Hope you like these two cards.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will come back real soon.

Hugz

~Lesia~

July 2014 Challenge - Make it a Duet

Wow last month we had a lot of wonderful inspirational cards that celebrated our men. Thanks to all of you that decided to visit and play with us. We hope you'll return for our next months' challenge.

This time the theme is rather simple

"Make It A Duet"

This means use two dominant colors and either black or white as your accessory color.

So if you're working on a

patriotic Red, White and Blue then

you'll fit this theme perfectly but if thats not your cup of tea

then use your two favorite colors and share with us.

The sponsors for this months' challenge are:

Kenny K