Where Do You Find Inspiration? /NAC #70

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Hey y'all. Happy New Year's Eve! I hope you are ready for a Safe and Enjoyable end to 2013. It's Tuesday, so that means the Nacho's have a New Challenge for you. It's a Color Challenge to end the year. I hope you'll play along with us.

So today's project started a little differently for me and it made me think, "Where do you find your Inspiration?" I don't know about you, but sometimes inspiration strikes me in the weirdest ways and it's often surprising where it goes from the initial starting point. That's how it was for me with today's project. Also, I often Seriously Overthink things. Do you do that or is it just me? Also, I think it's fun to look back and see where your Inspiration started and how it evolved to it's end point.

So here's today's project I actually did it 3 ways, like I said- over thinking-

So at first I was really stumped by this week's color combination-

And then I remembered I had these from Thanksgiving and had thought they would make a pretty card-

Ok- not exactly the same color but it was close and it was a start. Then I had to figure out a layout. I don't know about you, but I absolutely love card sketches. I have a board on Pinterest just about sketches, in fact one for cards and one for scrapbooking. I had recently seen this sketch and thought it would be fun, especially since I have the Tape it stamp set in both Clear Mount and MDS-

Still a lot of open space though. AUGH! So, I started thinking and it struck me that maybe if my guy made a card from scraps in my stash he might do something simple and then maybe slap some Washi on it so my card was born.  I cropped and used the little heart flowers to go with my original "flower inspiration".

The card ended up a little darker than I planned so I played around with the combo and came up with these as well-

I just re-colored the layers and washi and changed the font styles and colors. I like the pink one the most but it definitely wouldn't be something I could give my man. LOL :) The green one was the last and it's definitely the most middle of the road but I still like it too.

You know what happened next? I looked at my team members projects and really realized just how much I had over-thunk it! Oh well. It's a creative process and the best part of doing this in MDS... I didn't waste any materials during my experimentation. YEA!!!

Well, that's all I have for you this week. I hope it inspires you to play along with us this week. Most of all I hope it inspires you to really step out of your comfort zone and try something totally different. You might be pleasantly surprised. I would love to hear what inspires you and/or how you come up with your ideas and I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated!

REMEMBER- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe and Happy New Year's early!,

Shan

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MDS Monday- Wedding Invitations Part Two

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend and are having a fabulous start to your week. My weekend was very busy and, thanks to my feet and lack of improvement on oral steroids, very painful as well. As many of you know my daughter got married on Saturday. Needless to say there will be lots of MDS'ing going on because of that wonderful event. Today, I want to show you the finished invites. I showed you the front not too long ago, I didn't have the inside finished then but I can show them to you now. This was my just my second time doing a Hybrid project and my first time ever doing a wedding invite. I asked the kids what colors they wanted and was told "Purple and Teal" We went down to the studio and I pulled out Perfect Plum and Island Indigo and we went from there. In less than 30 minutes I had a mock-up done. I have to say I was a little nervous to do this for them, especially since I had never done any invitations before, but since they had faith in my abilities I figured I should too.

Here's a look-

So many invites

Here's what I did with the inside-

Inside of wedding invites. Hybrid MDS & Traditional Stamping

Oh! How glad was I to be done with these!?! Very, would be the correct answer. I'm very happy with how they turned out and so were the kids, but I just couldn't get the flower painted in MDS like I wanted. I originally had a different flower and I fought and fought with getting it just right. You know my OCD was in full-blown overdrive on that right? Right! And then of course I couldn't figure out how to get these to print 4 to a sheet so I had to go back and make 4 spaces on a sheet and then fill them in with the card components. Let's just say I learned a lot of what to do and what not to do with MDS2 on this project. :) I actually took them to Kinko's since I had to have them printed in such a hurry and luckily they had a big tabletop cutter, because my regular papercutter at home, almost always cuts a little off. Yep, frustrates the mess out of me when my paper is not even. So I spent about 2 hours at Kinko's cutting 32 interior pieces for the invites. (It was a small ceremony.) I brought them home and then hand-stamped the flowers and watercolored them all in. Here's a closer look-

Sooooo excited by how this turned out. Even though it wasn't my first choice of how to add the flower,  it was definitely the best. I used Perfect Plum for the petals and So Saffron for the stamens. It doesn't show up in the picture but in person you can see the So Saffron beneath the Dazzling Diamonds. The sparkle was so delicate, but added so much to the overall impression.

For the envelopes I embossed the flap with the same E.F. I used on the front panel-

I also added a stamped flower to the front of each envelope that matched the one on the inside-

Wedding Invitation and Matching Envelope

What do you think? I'm so glad I offered to do these for the kids. Not only did they turn out beautifully, they were each a one of a kind memento of this special day.

However, I couldn't complete this post without showing a picture of Duecey, my studio assistant. He was trying to be so helpful during the creation of these cards. What a good boy!

I swear that's not a staged photo! He just always wants to be right in the middle of everything, usually by sitting on my work. LOL! This time however he was content with just having his paw on it. Love that tiny boy! HAHAHAHA, all 16 pounds of his big Maine Coon self. :)

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you liked today's MDS Project and I hope it inspires you to try your hand at something new. If you have questions or comments about today's card, I hope you'll take a moment to leave me a message below. I read all of them and they really do make my day! If you'd like to +1 or Pin today's project, I've added the buttons to my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan

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MDS Monday - A State of Grace

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend. :) I pretty much vegged out all weekend. I can't believe it but I didn't even get into the studio and stamp once. :( That makes me so sad. I did spend most of Friday evening playing around in MDS, but I had such high hopes for getting a lot of stamping done and it just didn't happen. I pretty much sat with my feet up the entire weekend. I am nursing an injury, so I don't feel quite sooo bad and I was able to get a little caught up on my DVR so that's good, what with the upcoming fall season and all, and spent plenty of time on Pinterest, lol, but still not I was I hoping for.

Last week's MDS was about finding beauty not in perfection but in imperfections. This week's MDS project is along similar lines. Earlier this year, as I was going through my reader feeds I saw a piece of framed artwork on one of the sites that spoke to me. I put it as my screen saver so I would see it everyday and be reminded of it's message. It seemed very simple and I thought I could probably do something similar on my own. Here's what I came up with-

What a great thought, don't you think? I don't remember the name of the stamp set in MDS2+, if you're interested let me know. I totally forgot about the whole project list feature or I would have added it. :( It's from one of the wedding ensembles. The image is actually wreath. I used the new crop feature to split it in two. I actually cropped the top half, copied it and flipped it. Pretty easy. Getting the words just right was the hardest part of the whole process. The new text features allowing you to alter the spacing and height of letters made all of the difference.

Here's the original-

What do you think? I think it's pretty close to the original. Maybe I'll add some of the little pearls to the inside of mine for a little extra something. I'm going to try some other backgrounds too. I'm thinking the Medallion split in two would be pretty like this as well.

For me the most important part is the sentiment. It just speaks to me. If you've been around here for any length of time you know how hard it is for me to let go of that idea of perfection. One of the nicest things about MDS is the creative freedom it allows you, to not just create cards and scrapbook items, but items you can actually frame and use as art. Love that!

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you liked it and I hope it inspires you to play around in MDS and make something special for yourself too. I love hearing from you, so if you have comments or questions about today's project, I hope you have just a moment to leave a comment. I read them all and they really do make my day. If you'd like to +1 or Pin it, I've put the buttons on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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MDS Monday - A Wedding Card

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend. Mine was fabulous except for a little hitch Saturday afternoon. Our team meeting was a blast and I'll have my swap from the meeting to show you a little bit later on. Saturday evening I sat down and worked on some cards and a few more yesterday. I even ran for 45 minutes yesterday. Yea Shan! Ok so my run is not a lot faster than my walk, but it still counts right!?! I even got my MDS Monday project up and ready for you in time, although I have a challenge card I almost put up first. LOL! This is why I don't like to designate days for things like MDS, C&S, End of the Week Technique etc. I feel like a failure when they don't get posted correctly. *SMH* :)

This weeks challenge over at Utah Diva's International was to do something for the newlyweds. Here's my card-

MDS Wedding Cake Card

Ok so the critic in me is just now noticing the center pieces are not centered top to bottom and I totally forgot to add my Blushing Bride pleated ribbon. AUGH! Will have to try and address that at home. I didn't have any "wedding " downloads so I decided to try & create one. I thought I'd make a cake. Somebody please tell me they realize that's where I was going. Anybody!?!

Colors used were Basic Grey for the base, Whisper White, and Blushing Bride for the bottom layers. For the cake I used the Rounded Square Punch and filled with Basic Grey, lightened up, and Pink Pirouette. I used the Baroque Motif flourish in Raspberry Ripple and Whisper White to create the designs on the cake. For the top layer I flipped the flourish, and for the bottom layer I stamped two and mirror imaged one. I think it made a really cool image where they meet in the center, don't you? I slid the top two layers down just enough to hide the rounded edges so it looked like another layer sitting on top of the lower layer.

***Tip*** When you lighten the opacity of something you have layered, you will begin to see the lower image through the first one. To keep that from happening, copy that layer, color it white and move it behind the layer you want showing. This way the only thing showing through when you lighten is white space and not your lower layer. Depending on how many layers you may have to send it back a few times. (Hope this helps)

Because you know I like to do the insides even for MDS Monday's, here's the inside-

Since I didn't have any wedding images (and let me tell you I was not going to try and recreate that cake from the front) I added two sentiments from different sets. The top sentiment is from the same set as the front and is done in Raspberry Ripple. The bottom one is from Once Upon A Time and is stamped in Primrose Petals. I like how it turned out.

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you liked it and I hope it inspires you to think out of the box and try something new. You might just surprise yourself with what you come up with. Each element of today's card was created with elements that are a part of the MDS initial pack, except for the In-Colors and those are free updates. :) If you'd like to try My Digital Studio you can get a free 30 day trial. Just check out my website.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Don't forget to check back soon to see what I've been creating for you. Your comments make my day, so I  hope you'll take just a minute to let me know what you think. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan

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MDS Monday- A CASE of Myself

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Hey y'all. Happy Thursday! Just one more day till the weekend. Woo-Hoo!

In case you're wondering, "Yes", I am aware that this is not Monday, but MDS Thursday just doesn't have the same ring to it. :) I had a busy weekend, last weekend, and didn't get to do anything with my MDS. Since I told you guys on Monday that I would try and get something put together, here it is. I figure late is better than nothing, right?

The challenge over at Utah Divas International was to do something "graduation" related. I decided to CASE myself. Here's what I came up with-

MDS Graduation Card

I thought I had the same stamp set I originally used in MDS, but I didn't. I did however have "Define Your Life" and I figured I could work with that. I really L.O.V.E. how using the drop shadow feature really gives the impression of a real paper card and not just a picture on the computer. So realistic! Know what else I love? The ability to change the sizes of everything. For my tassels, I used the white Grosgrain ribbon that comes with the program. Normally it fits all the way across the card and then some. I just kept decreasing the size until I got it where I wanted it. I added two to each cap because I wanted the impression of of movement. I have to say I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. Usually, I test something out on MDS and then make it instead of making it and then trying to convert it.

Here's my inspiration piece (and the link) in case you didn't see it the first time around-

I just realized I had red and white tassels on the original card. Darn it! Oh well, it was the starting off point. :)

Here's the inside-

I really liked the arrow I put in my inspiration piece because I embossed it, cut it out, and raised it up with dimensionals. I had planned on doing that, with this card, until I found out I didn't have the right stamp set. I still liked the idea of it though, so I punched and filled an arrow, increased the size so it could be a background image, added the text and then lightened the opacity so my sentiment could be read over it. The sentiment is one I wrote just to tie the front and inside together. I just realized I could have put a cap inside as well. :( My only excuse is, that I was doing this at around 11pm last night, as I was waiting for my laundry to finish, and I was tired. Maybe I'll try adding it and see how it looks. I'm pretty happy with it overall though, so who knows.

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you thought it was worth the wait. :) Your comments make my day, so if you liked it or have any feedback about today's project I'd love to hear from you! Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today. I hope you have an Amazing day and that you come back real soon to see what else I have in-store for you.

Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storm to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan

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MDS Monday - My Happy Babies

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend. I know I sure did. I went to the Crawfish Festival all day Saturday. YUM! It was Amazing. I realized, a little belatedly, that I got pics of all the food and none of my friends and myself. *SMH* Oh well, still good pics. Then late Saturday nite my friend Julia hit me up to see if I wanted to go to WMZQFest. My answer- DUH! She had an extra ticket and it was just my price-range...FREE! We had such a BLAST!!! Miranda Lambert, Lee Brice, Jerrod Nieman and Chris Young. So AMAZING! We were 8 rows back. I got a few pics there too. :) Thanks Jules!!!! Will try and post them soon.

Hey it's Monday, so you know that means MDS Monday and I'm actually getting to post it on time. Yea Shan!
Over at Utah Diva's the challenge was to use your pets. Well, I have plenty of pictures of my sweet little furry babies and found two for today. My babies have it really hard....sleep, play, snack, begin again. It's such a hard life they figure they might as well Grin & Bear it... Gee, I guess I should have used that for the title. LOL.

Here's today's MDS Monday challenge-

MDS Scrapbook Page

Are you smiling yet? If not, I just have one question for you. 

WHY in the world not!?! 

Lol. My babies are just so sweet. They are also my studio assistants and I featured them in my first Blog post, way back when (Holy Cow! Almost a year ago.) and others in-between now and then.

Duece (because he's the "second" of his name) is my big boy in the upper corner. Don't you just love his expression? Not sure how he got sooo fluffed out that day. Isn't he just the "Hasslehoff" of kitties. He wants to be "Big" when he grows up. HAHAHA. He's a Maine Coon and he's 16-17lbs and solid. He's over 3 feet tall when he stands up and can open any of the interior doors in the house. He scoffs at the thought of being locked up whenever anyone comes over. He just wants to love on you and is likely to jump up in your lap for some serious snuggling. Oh, and he thinks he's my guard dog. Yep, I don't need a doorbell, because he hears people coming up and runs to the door and howls. I kid you not, Barooooo. He's loud too, I can hear him in the driveway. Another fun fact- He likes to talk to me on the phone. Honest. So many people have heard him. My daughter used to call when she got home from school and she would put me on speaker and he would just sit there and chat with me. I love my sweet boy. I got him at the shelter when he was about 6 months old. His family lost their home and had to give him up. When I saw him he just looked a tiger-striped boy. I picked him up and he snuggled into my neck like a baby and I was totally lost. Never a second thought. He's almost 4 1/2 and I'm not sure who rescued who.

My sweet girl Bitty is in the bottom corner. I took this pic just last week. It's with her new boyfriend, Monkey. I promised not to tell her 6'2" bf (mine) she was kind of sweet on someone else. I'm a Scentsy consultant and this sweet little guy came in my starter kit. It came with a very masculine scent-pack and she couldn't be happier. He sits in the corner of my sleigh bed and every night she snuggles up next to him, ( I have my suspicions she snuggles with him during the day too) often putting her head on his lap. AWWWWWW, so sweet. Bitty's not even her real name but when I got her from the shelter she was sooo tiny only 2 1/2 pounds at 8 weeks old. The next week she got so sick we didn't think she would make it. She had a 106.7 degree temp and such a bad case of bronchitis/pneumonia she dropped to 1 1/2 lbs. She was not happy about sitting on that Ice Pack to get her temp down. She really hated the baby Neo-Synephrine drops I had to put in her nose and the humidifier. Needless to say she was soooo tiny then I started calling her Bitty Kitty and the name stuck. She's almost 4 now and there's not much  "bitty" about her. She is definitely one of those "You're my person" not an I'm your cat type of kitties. She allows me in her life because I pay for her house and toys. LOL, and I have the huge King-sized bed she likes to sheet surf on when they're fresh and snuggle under the covers in. Oh and course I make sure she has a hunky 6"2' bf that she thinks is there just for her and now Monkey too. What can I say, I'm a good mommy. 

Well, that's all I have for you today. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my sweet babies. I hope it inspires you to make something about your loved ones too, whether they are 2-legged or 4-legged. We all need love and sadly sometimes we forget how special our loved ones are until it's too late. If you don't already own our MDS, you can get a FREE 30 day trial by going to my ONLINE STORE. Also, we're getting a new version MDS-2 later this year. If you purchase our current program you will get a FREE upgrade when the new program comes out. That's an almost $20.00 value free. The new program has lots of cool new features including the ability to use multiple colors on a stamp. I can hardly wait!

Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storm to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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MDS Monday- A Little "Spring" In My Afternoon

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, especially all of you Fabulous Moms.

I've been inspired by my team-mates to try and do a little more with my MDS. They've been doing such Amazing scrapbook layouts I thought I'd try my hand at it too. Since my go-to MDS site over at Utah Diva's didn't give a heads-up as to what this weeks challenge would be, I decided to do a scrapbook page.

I work in Washington, D.C. and every afternoon I walk to the commuter line for a ride-home. (We call it the slug-line. Pretty weird name huh? Basically it's called that because you're supposed to sit there like a "slug" and not make yourself noticed.) I've been noticing all the beautiful flowers along my afternoon walk and have been stopping to take pictures of them. I'm sure I look like such a tourist and that people are wondering why I'm taking pictures of the flowers in front of the buildings, especially since I'm using my stoopid BB. :) On top of that it's just sooo nice to be outside, especially after hearing the birds who nest under my window A.C. unit talking all day about how Spring is finally here. No, seriously...they chirp for 8 1/2 hours straight talking to God and Mother Nature about the weather. I can almost hear the things they're saying. When it's sunny, they chirp about how nice and beautiful it is out. When it rains, I swear their tone changes, you can hear them "yelling" about how wet and yucky it is out. All day, chirp, chirp, chirp. And then I go outside to head home and I get to see the bright, little bits of God's love all around us that they've been chatting about.

Here's today's MDS Project-

MDS Scrapbook Page

I used a base of Garden Green and then added one of the Photo Layout Templates that comes standard with our MDS Program. All I did was drop in my pictures and add mats and drop shadows to them. For the text boxes I added two mats to give my text a background. The hardest part was picking the pictures I wanted to use.

This is only the second scrapbook page I've done and the first one where I've used a template. What do you think? I like it except now I think the tulips look too bright and crisp compared to the other flowers. Maybe I'm just being too OCD and too critical? Overall though, I think I'm pretty happy with it.

Well, that's all I have for today. I hope you liked today's MDS offering and it inspires you to step out of your comfort zone and try something that you're not real comfortable with. If you liked my page, I'd love to hear from you. Friends and Followers are always welcome too. :)

I hope to see you back real soon. If you'd like to do some Digital Crafting and don't already own our Amazing MDS product, you can get a FREE 30 day trial and try it out. Just head over to my ONLINE STORE and get your FREE TRIAL. As fabulous as our program already is, we're getting an upgraded version later this year. If you purchase it now, you'll get an automatic upgrade to the new program. That's a $19.95 value for Free.

Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storm to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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MDS Monday - UDI Sketch Challenge #187 / My Challenge #20

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend. I know I did, filled with lots of friends and down-time and a little creative time thrown in. (Although there never seems to be enough of that!)

I was looking for my normal MDS challenge site to have a new challenge up but they hadn't posted one, so I used a regular sketch challenge from the same site. Normally I don't use my MDS projects for challenges, but because I felt like I really challenged myself on this card I decided to.

Do you use lots of different patterns of DSP when you create your cards or projects? I don't usually. I always struggle with which ones to put together. Normally my projects just have one pattern of DSP in them. I think it's the OCD in me that doesn't like the un-matched aspect. Even with this card, the only way I was able to combine these patterns was because the two outside were both kind of "florally" and had circles. Silly, I know but it's just so hard for me to do! I always love how others use DSP, but somehow trying to use multiples just causes me to "vapor-lock" creatively. There's a session at convention this year on creating with DSP...I am sooo in that session!

Oh well, I did try to mix it up with this project. You'll have to let me know what you think. The Scaredy Cat in me was stressing over this, but I tried anyways. Here's today's card-

MDS Happy Day Card

I used this sketch from Utah Divas Saturday Sketch Challenge for my inspiration-

I stuck right to the sketch for my card. The only extras were the little flowers and brad, that I added, that were part of the MDS Designer Kit I used. I know it say it a lot, but I really love the drop shadow feature. It adds such dimension to your projects it's hard to immediately recognize that it's not cardstock.

Here's the inside-

All the elements for the inside of this card were from the same kit. I think it's just so bright and cheery! Hopefully when I flake and miss someone's birthday and can't send a card by mail in time, they will be excited by receiving this in their in-box instead!

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you liked my attempt at combining DSP's. If you did, I hope you'll take a moment to let me know what you thought. I love hearing from you! Also, if you liked it and wanted to +1 or Pin it, I've put the buttons on my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too. :)

I hope you'll come back soon to see what I've got for you!

Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storm to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.


Be Safe,
Shan

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MDS Monday...Oooops Thursday :) Case the Occasions Mini

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Hey y'all. Happy Thursday! Just one more day left till the weekend. Woo-Hoo! I hope you're having an Amazing week!

I'm a little off on my posting days, but I figure better late than never. Right? This is challenge #2 for the week. Yea, Shan! The challenge over at Utah Diva's MDS Monday was to CASE a card or project from the Occasions Mini that retired on Monday. For those of you over the pond and down under, you just got yours.

Here's my Occasions Mini CASE- This is a very clean card. No added embellishments because that's how the card in the catalog was.

MDS Beau Chateau

I started with a base of Soft Suede. On that I layered two scalloped borders of Marina Mist, a strip of DSP  from Beau Chateau kit, and a label from the same set. Believe it or not the DSP actually started out white, and the Marina Mist much brighter. I used the Opacity feature to lighten both up and when I did it allowed the Soft Suede to show through changing their color. I only know this is what happened because when I tried to lighten up the label I could see the the DSP & the borders showing through. This is as light as I could get the label and not have them really noticeable. If you look real close you can actually see both elements, but I think if I didn't tell you about that you would never know.

The Opacity feature is one of my favorite tools (next to the recently discovered and adored drop shadow feature) and I use it often. It allows you so much flexibility with your designs and at it's most basic, it replicates the stamping off technique. Love, Love, Love It! I'm not really that much of a "vintagey" type designer but I like how this one turned out.

Here's the inspiration. I couldn't figure out how to just get the card itself, so you have to see the whole page. (Hey I have never claimed to be computer/blog savvy. Just the opposite in fact!) Ok, Epic Fail! I saved what I thought was the page and it gave me the front of the catalog. If you have a catalog it's on page 25, the Apothecary Art card, if you don't have a catalog, you can go to my ONLINE STORE (I've directed the link to the catalog page) and check it out there.

***Edited*** LOL!!!! I just went to post this on the UDI MDS Monday Page and the first thing you see is a CASE of the card I cased, and there's is almost identical to the one in the catalog. : D

Because you probably know by now that I do insides to my MDS cards just like a regular card, Here it is-

The design in the center is one of the Beau Chateau Labels. It's found in the embellishment portion of the kit. I simply used my Opacity Tool to lighten it up so I had a design element that wouldn't interfere with any message I might want to add. I love how it coordinates perfectly with the sentiment on the front.

Well, that's all I have for you today. I have one more challenge for you this week and hopefully I will get to finish it tonight and have it ready to post tomorrow for the End of the Week Technique. If not tomorrow, it will be posted on Saturday, but I'm really trying for tomorrow.

I hope you enjoyed today's card. It came together really quickly and I'm sure someone would love it if you sent them something like this to make their day. If you haven't tried MDS yet, you can get a FREE 30 day trial. Just go to my store or contact me for more information.

If you liked today's MDS card, please feel free to leave me a comment. I love hearing from you! Also, if you liked it and wanted to +1 or Pin it, I've placed those buttons on my sidebar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms, than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storm to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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MDS Monday - A Hoppy Hello, Stampin 411 challenge #18 # 252, My Challenge

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend! Mine was pretty laid back. Caught up on my sleep and my DVR recordings. Lol. The best part thought was that I went to an Open House with my best stamping buddy April and saw some old friends, met some new ones, and even sold a few cards. (yea!) I was really surprised at how few cards I had to sell considering the amount I make for this blog. I guess that means I've been giving more away than I thought. (yea me again!)

I wanted to make a cute card to send to my new friends and decided to combine that with my MDS Monday post. I decided to try and find a cute sketch challenge for inspiration and found one over at Stampin 411. They always have such cute sketches. I figured I could also use it as my challenge card for the week, two birds with one stone and all that. :) Hope they won't mind me submitting a MDS card as my entry.

Here's today's card-

MDS Card- Hoppy Memories

The DSP's and images are all from the Designer Kit Hoppy Memories that comes in your MDS pack. It's a great kit and has lots of extras and would make for really cute scrapbook pages. YOu know one of my new favorite features of MDS is the drop shadow feature. I think it makes the cards look so much more realistic, like you could reach out and touch the layers.

Here's the Stamping 411 sketch I based this card on-

I stuck right to the sketch which is a little unusual for me. The only thing I wish was different on mine is the color of the ribbon, but I didn't have any in Concord Crush. Not quite sure how I had the other In-Colors and not that one, I'm sure I did something not quite right. Oh well.

Here's the inside-

I used the sentiment from Turtle and Co and the image is from Hoppy Memories Designer Kit which came as part of my original MDS dowloads.

Well, that's all I have for today. I hope you liked it and I hope it inspires you to create something today, maybe using MDS or a challenge.

If you liked today's card I hope you'll leave me a comment, I love hearing from you. Also, if you liked it please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added buttons to my sidebar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

I hope you'll drop back by soon to see what I've got waiting for you.

Till next time-

Remember- Life isn't about Waiting for the storm to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan

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MDS Monday- A First for Me- Color Challenge Card #2

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Hey y'all. Just wanted to post my second card for today's MDS Monday Challenge over at the Utah Diva's International site.

Here's card #2-

MDS Monday Color Challenge

The challenge was to use Always Artichoke, Basic Black and Pear Pizzazz. I used the same Baroque stamp set as my first card.

I used a different brad and an additional floral image from the set as well as one of the sentiments. This set is retiring from our regular catalog so if you like the set, don't wait too long to pick it up. After May 31 it'll be gone.

What do you think about this card? I'm not sure about all the black. It's not a color I use often, or at least not this much of it. The more I look at it though, the more it's growing on me.

If you liked today's card, please feel free to leave me a comment. I love hearing from you. You can also +1 or Pin it. I've put buttons on my sidebar for your convenience. Friends and followers are also welcome. :)

I hope you'll come back soon to see what else I've been coming up with for you.

Till next time- 

Remember- Life isn't about Waiting for the storm to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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MDS Monday- A First For Me-Color Challenge

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! I hope you had an Amazing weekend!

It's Monday, so you know what that means... another MDS creation. I try to play along over with the Utah Diva's International site and their MDS Monday Challenges. It's usually a theme challenge but this week it's a Color Challenge. I've never done one of these before, so I decided I would give it a try. I'm not too sure about the results. I actually did two separate cards. I'm hoping you'll let me know what you think.

Here's today's first card-

MDS Color Challenge Card

The challenge was to use Always Artichoke, Basic Black and Pear Pizzazz. To be honest I didn't know how I was going to incorporate the Pear Pizzazz so I added one of the floral images from the Baroque stamp set and added a Vintage Brad to the center. I love how you can change the sizes of the elements to fit your needs. I made the brad small enough to fit in the center of the floral image and still allow the details to show. :)

Here's the inside-

I used the flourish from the Baroque set to create a focal point on the inside. I didn't add a sentiment so there was plenty of room for a message. I love that I can change the opacity to mimic stamping off.

That's all for this card. I hope you'll let me know what you think. I love hearing from you. I hope it inspires you to try something new today, whether it's a challenge or new cards style or just to play around with MDS and see what you can create.

Till next time-

Remember- Life isn't about Waiting for the storm to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan

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MDS Monday -Flowers Flowers Everywhere

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend full of family, friends and creative time. I know I sure did!

I was able to get lots of projects done yesterday and plan on getting even more done this afternoon, including some OOOOPS! and some Tips which I hope you will find helpful.

I don't know what the weather is like where you're at but as I walked out the door this morning there was recent rain marks on the sidewalk, (which considering I put a Keratin Straightener on my hair last night didn't make me very happy) and I as I write this I am lucky enough to sit listening to the sweet sweet sound of a group of birds just a chatting away outside my window. It would seem Spring is trying in earnest to arrive in the DMV. The Cherry Blossoms are blooming early, Darn It! (Jas is going to miss them!)

I took my inspiration for this weeks card from the UDI challenge that they gave a heads up to last week. And, the Utah Diva's MDS Challenge for this week was for Flowers and Butterfly's. However, when I did my MDS last night I was going by memory from last week of what they had said it was going to be so I have plenty of flowers, but sadly no butterfly's.

Here's this weeks card-

I was inspired by one of the cards I helped kids make at a St. Baldrick's fundraiser this weekend where we randomly stamped flowers on a white back ground. This is a Designer Kit that came with my MDS starter kit. I think it's called Summer Home.

Here's the inside-

You guys know I like the inside to be pretty too. I added a different strip of the DSP across the bottom and then added a few of the flower embellishments. I love how you're able to change the size of each one to make it fit just like you want it, and then rotate it to position it you like you want to. I also used the layering function to make sure everything was situated just right. :)

Well, that's it for today. Short and sweet. I hope you liked today's card and I hope I have inspired you to try your hand at digital crafting. I have to tell you, I am definitely one of the most technologically challenged people you will ever meet, ask anyone who knows me. If I can do it, anyone can.

Well, I'm off to try and finish putting together the pieces for my swap cards so I can finish assembling them tonight or tomorrow night. I can't wait to show them to you on Friday. I have to say, I think they are pretty darn cute.

I also have a post coming up at some point in the next few weeks where you're just going to go Really?!?!, Seriously Shan!?! SMH!!!! That was just fair warning. :)

So, if you liked today's post, I hope you 'll consider leaving me a comment. I would love to hear from you. Also, friends and followers are always welcome.

Don't forget, Sale-A-Bration is almost over. Just 12 More Days to get FREE and Exclusive Items and to get your Starter Kit at an AMAZING Price. You can shop in my ONLINE STORE or contact me for more information. I would hate for you to miss out on this Amazing opportunity.

Till next time-

Remember- Life isn't about Waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

MDS Monday - St Patrick's Day - Utah Diva's MDS Challenge/My Challenge #14

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! I hope you all had a Fabulous weekend! I got to spend the weekend with my Amazing BF so my weekend was beyond compare! Hope yours was half as good!

I did manage to squeeze in just a little time (ok a couple of hours if I'm being totally honest) for the Utah Divas MDS Monday Challenge for something "St. Patrick's Day" or "Going Green". I went with St. Patrick's Day. Now, normally I wouldn't count this as my challenge for the week since I do a MDS Monday every week anyway, but this card was pretty involved with the punch work, so I'm going to count it as this weeks challenge card. I may still do another one, in fact there's one I'm looking at doing, but for now this one is "the one". I hope you like it. :)

Here's today's card-

AUGH! I just noticed as I posted this that somehow during all my manipulating I had dropped my white layer down and it's not even! DOUBLE AUGH! OK, so you guys are my friends and will just pretend like you don't really notice that right, and I'll go home tonight and adjust it. So Sorry. SMH!

Anyways, other than that do you love it? I love how it turned out! My daughter was looking at it while I was making it and I had all the oval punches out on the white background (for the stems) and she said I don't see any shamrocks! LOL

I thought it would be nice to have a bunch of regular shamrocks and one 4-leaf clover thrown in there just for luck.

Just in case you're wondering how I made the stems, here's what you need to do-
1- Make 2 oval punches. Take the first one down to the size you would like the length of your stem to be.
2- Fill it in with color you would like your "stem" to be. I used Garden Green.
3- Take your next punch and fill it in with the color of the layer your "stem" is on. Here I used Whisper White.
4 - Take that oval down in size so that it's close to the same size as your "stem" oval. Use the "Bring Forward" function so that you will be able to place it on front of the "stem" piece. Move it into place and rotate it until you have just the portion showing that you want. Voila! Instant stem! :)
Hope this helps.

I then punched out 19 small hearts 3 each for the regular shamrocks and one for the 4 leaf-clover, re-sized them so each clover's hearts were at least similar in size to the ones next to it and then filled it in with Garden Green color.

Here's the inside of the card-

I always loved this saying, but never knew it was attributed to St. Patrick until last night. I just knew it had to go on my card.

You know I like a little pretty on the inside of my card but I have to say I was so tired of adding punches and re-sizing and re-positioning that I actually considered (for a Hot-Minute!) not making another one for the inside, but then I thought, "How could I not make one for the inside to go with that beautiful saying?". So, back to the punch, re-size, re-position, fill. Then I lightened the opacity to 60% and my card was done.

So, you see, that's why, with all the planning and everything I'm calling this my challenge card of the week. :)

Well, that's all I have for today. I hope I've inspired you to try something new today. If you'd like to play with MDS and create something fun too, remember we're offering a FREE 30day trial of our Fabulous MDS at No-Risk to you. You can check it out at my ONLINE STORE where you can shop 24/7.

If you liked today's card, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)

Till next time-

Remember- Life isn't about Waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

MDS Monday- Happy Birthday Momma! - My Challenge 12

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday. I hope you all had a great weekend. I got a huge box from sweet Mr. Ups and had every intention of stamping the weekend away. And then life happened as it has a tendency to do, and I spent it, spending quality time with my daughter who just moved back home. We saw the Lorax (go see it, it's Amazing!), did some shopping, did some cleaning and organizing and then it came time to work on my MDS.

I think I have lamented plenty of times here that I am not the most computer savvy person. In fact me and technology, not a good mix in general, unless it's the medical kind or Lexus-Nexus, I did pretty good with the Law library. How I managed to get an A in my computer class was sheer determination, hard work and the fact that the professor gave us the majority of the answers on the first 2 tests. God Bless that man! I have in fact now killed 2 lap-tops, a net-book and 2 desk tops. At any rate, I had some issues with finding some of my downloaded material and updates (totally my issue) and spent the better part of about 4-5 hours over 2 evening dealing with this all in an effort to come up with today's post.

Toady's post is a very special post! It's my momma's 65th birthday.

Happy Birthday Momma! :)


I talked to her late last week and told her I was afraid I had waited to long and was trying to figure out how I was going to manage to get her card in her hand by today. I was thinking I was going to have to Priority Mail or Express Mail it to her. She said all she wanted was for me to make her a card and put it on my blog for everyone to see. She follows my blog and she thought that would be cool.

Well, I think she's the best, so I thought I'd surprise her and do her one better and give her two cards instead of one. So, I made two cards that I'm posting here, and then I'm e-mailing her the cards with a special message inside just for her.

Also, I told you guys last week I'm doing 2 challenges early since my best friend Jason will be here at the end of the month and I won't be stamping and won't be able to do my challenges those weeks. Both of these cards fit the Utah Diva's MDS Monday Challenge for last week of Anything Birthday or Use A Piece of Cake CD from Sale-A-Bration, so I submitted both of them to their site last night to qualify. Now my 2 challenges are caught up and I'm back to just my one challenge a week. :)Yea me!

Ok, so are you ready to see my momma's first card? Here it is-

I used Elements of Style and Messages for Mom. My Mom loves Humming Birds so I knew she would love this sweet little guy.

You know I have to have a pretty inside-

Another little Humming Bird this one getting a little sip from one of the flowers on the flower from the Element of Style flourish. The sentiment is from Messages for Mom.

Here's card #2-

The first card was more serious, so I wanted to give momma a fun card too. This one is from the Piece of Cake CD in the Sale-A-Bration Catalog. You can get it Free. Lots of Fun Stuff in it.

Here's the inside-

Those little pieces down the sides are "pieces of cake" how fun is that?

Well, what do you think? I hope she loves them as much as I loved designing them for her, but more importantly.... as much as I love her!

I hope I inspired you to try creating with MDS today. If you decide to try I would love to see what you make.

If you liked today's card, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)


Thanks for stopping by!
Till next time-

Remember- Life is not about Waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

Preview-Utah Diva's MDS Monday Challenge Birthday Cards or Piece of Cake- My Challenge #12

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Hey y'all. Quick little post-

These cards are actually for my mother's birthday which will be my Monday post. It will also be my MDS Monday post. I'm posting it early so I can get it in on the Utah Divah's MDS Monday Challenge for Birthday Cards or Cards using the Piece of Cake CD that you can get free during Sale-A-Bration.

My Mom lives out of state and I waited just a little too long to be able to get her card in  her hands on her birthday and she said all she wanted was for me to make her a card and put it on my blog for everyone to see. I decided since I waited to long I would to her one better and make her two. I hope she likes them. Be sure to check my blog on Monday to see both full cards- the insides are done as well.

Entry #1

Entry #2

 Hope you liked this quick little preview. :)

Till next time-
Remember- Life is not about Waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan

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MDS Monday-

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I had Friday night off and made two cards I'll post here later this week, got to stamp with my best stamping buddy, April, on Saturday and just relaxed yesterday, caught up on my DVR and got ready for the Oscar's. But before the Oscar's started I made a quick MDS card for you. :)

I was inspired by my stamping with April. We did a project from our Stampin Success catalog, I'll post that soon too. Anyways we did some tone on tone stamping and it made me remember how simple but pretty that effect is. So I decided to try it on MDS. I ended up not using just the one color, but a palate of colors and I have to say it was fairly quick and easy and I'm not too disappointed with the results. Not sure it's my favorite MDS card, but I didn't feel the need to trash it either. Maybe you'll chime in and let me know if it's something I could send to someone via e-mail (which is what I often do with my e-cards) or not.

Here's today's card-

And here's the inside-

What do you think? I randomly stamped (I know...random....I hate doing that) the 3 different floral images from the stamp set I used (I think it's One of a Kind) in 3 different tones of purple and made a little layered flower using the Boho Blossoms Punch and just adjusted the sizes so they would layer nicely.

I used two different stamp sets for the sentiments. All of the items used are from my basic MDS download except the Boho Blossoms Punch which I got a while back to do another layout. Don't forget you can Download a FREE 1 month trial of our fabulous MDS program with absolutely No Risk! You can get it by visiting my ONLINE STORE.

Well, that's all I have for today's MDS Monday. Hope you liked it and I hope it inspires you to make something today, maybe with MDS or maybe a technique you haven't used in a while like Tone on Tone stamping. Remember the goal of this blog is to Just Try!

Till next time (it will probably be later today)-

Remember- Life isn't about Waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

MDS Monday

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Hey y'all. Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had a fabulous, long, holiday weekend. Sorry I've missed a few days. This darn pneumonia just won't go away! I swear it's like the "Terminator" of pneumonias. After a 4th Doctors visit in a month, I got a new even stronger antibiotic, another round of steroids, and a new steroid inhaler. SMH... I am so ready to be over this and feel strong enough to get back to my regular routine! So I pretty much rested the whole weekend. I slept in, got some stamping done to show you this week and saw "The Vow" with my daughter who just moved back home from Nashville. I hope your weekend was equally as restful. :)

So, thanks to the holiday weekend, my MDS Monday is a day late but I do have it for you. I am really enjoying it. How about you? Have you tried it out yet? Don't forget we are offering a FREE 1 month trial, no strings attached and you can even purchase and download sets while you are in the trial period and use them after it's over, whether you purchase our program or not. Pretty Cool, huh?

Well, here's today's card-

I used the stamp set Cheap Talk. Isn't it cute? I have to say one of the things I love the most about SU's colors is how they all coordinate with each other. I used a strip of Sale-A-Bration DSP from Everyday Enchantment for a pop of color on my card. However, I didn't have the matching colors in cardstock. Kind of hard to tell though, isn't it? I mean, if you look real closely, you can tell the base c/s color and the mat color are not exact matches to that in the DSP, but you have to look really closely and it still coordinates so well.
The base c/s is Bashful Blue and the mat is Certainly Celery. I stamped my sweet little bird and sentiment in Night of Navy on a branch of Garden Green. So quick and easy!

Here's the inside-

Same colors carried through. I just think these little birds and the sentiments are sooo sweet! This is the first time I've used this stamp set and it may just be one I end up buying. :)

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you liked today's card and I hope it inspires you to try something new today, be it MDS or opening a stamp set you haven't used, or trying a new technique. Remember the goal of this blog is to Just Try!

As always, if today's card inspired you , I would love to see what you create.


If you liked today's card, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)
Be sure to come back tomorrow for a new card.

Till next time-

Remember- Life is not about Waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It

MDS Monday - Experimenting With Punched Layers

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Hey y'all. Happy Monday. I hope you had a great weekend! I don't know about you but I am ready for summer to be here! I woke up Saturday with energy for the first time in weeks and thought I was definitely on the mend only to wake up yesterday with more sinus issues. UGH!!!!! So I took the day off today today to rest in hopes that that listening to my body might make it happy, we'll see.

To that end, just a quick MDS Monday post for you today. I did this last night while I was waiting for the chinese take-out to arrive. I originally had planned on another scrap-book layout but my mojo wasn't there so I decided to do a card. I actually used a challenge sketch as the inspiration. I wanted to see if I could use my punches to make the DSP strips flagged in the middle like a piece of ribbon. This had been my original plan for a card when I saw the sketch, but since I've been so sick this past week I never got around to making it, and I wanted to see if I could make a go of it here instead. I think it turned out pretty nice.

Here's today's card-

I used a base of Riding Hood Red and a layer of Very Vanilla. For the center "Flagged"area, I used Everyday Enchantment DSP from Sale-A-Bration and Riding Hood Red and then used the Square Punch filled with Very Vanilla to take out the "cut" section. I think it turned out great!

I used the Curly Label Punch for the central focal point. I love that you can change the size of the different elements to suit your design needs. To me it almost looks likes one of our new "Label Framelts" here. I used the "mat" feature to help my Riding Hood Red one stand out from the background and then added another one in Very Vanilla to "stamp " my image on.  I used the Upsy Daisy Stamp in Riding Hood Red and lightened the color with the opacity feature. Love that! My sentiment is from the same set in Early Espresso.

Here's the challenge sketch-

Here's the inside-

The sentiment is from the set Enjoy the Moment. I put a few more daisies in the corner to add a bit of pretty and I think I've got a nice card to send someone. What do you think?

Well, I'm off to rest up while the laundry's going and I watch some t.v. and try and get an appointment scheduled to do my taxes later this week. I hope you have a great day and I hope to see you back here later this week.

If you liked today's card, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)
Till next time-

Remember- Life is not about Waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,
Shan


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