Woohoo!! Lots of NEWS to share!!!

....and I am so happy and excited to say that I found out this morning and I was one of the lucky three winners who took part in the Hero Arts 2014 Catalog Blog Hop last week.   I also want to say Congratulations to Trinh and Michelle, who I also know must be equally thrilled to be a winner!!   We will each be receiving a Prize Packet full of wonderful goodies from the new 2014 Catalog!   WOOHOO! Thank you to HERO ARTS and to all the Hero Hostesses who put on a great hop. I'm so pleased that they spread it out over a full week, so that I could join the fun and not let Fibro, win out!

   On top of that exciting news and after having two weeks of issues with Verizon, between my phone line and my wireless router, not to mention my very old PC which still runs the dreaded Windows Vista, I have now decided to order a brand new All In One -  23" TOUCH Computer from Dell!!  Hubby bought himself a new Dell Laptop with the Touch Screen last week, so I figured it was now time for me to get a new computer too!   Now we will ALL be updated and I do HOPE that will resolve some of the Wireless Networking issues!!   Plus, I have wanted to "All In ONE" unit for some time now and it'll be great not having a big tower right in my way!!    I thought long and hard about what I wanted and since we have owned about six different Dell's now and always been VERY pleased with them, I decided to stay with Dell, plus we a Dell Card, which offer free 6 month financing on any systems!!  Love that!!   Had I been a born a rich girl, I would have gone for an iMac, but then I would have needed ALL new software and that just was not in the budget!!

   Today, I'm catching up and sharing lots of new cards, a few were cards that I started working in Card Club at my LSS on Tuesday, and the rest are cards I have been working on yesterday and today for some of my favorite challenges.

    First, I am starting with some of my favorites from Card Club and this first card is one I am also submitting to the new The Card Concept Challenge, where the current theme is "Texture"  and this card is full of it and was also very easy and fun to make.

   I think I would have to say this is probably my favorite from Card Club too.   I love how using an embossing folder along with some silver foil cardstock really make it look like you created a metal heart on your card.    

   These next few cards were also super easy and were all made from the same set of Patterned Papers which is the Smitten collection by Authentique.   And even though we used some of this paper on most of the ten cards, I still have a large supply left that I'll put away for next year.

  The heart on the card above, was again cut from a piece of the Smitten Paper and then stamped and heat-embossed with the floral heart from this Penny Black Set.  The heart was then popped with foam dots and I tied on a little pink bow, at home.

   

   This entire background from another piece of the Smitten Set, along with another Penny Black clean stamp (from the same set, as above), also stamped and then heart embossed and popped up off the card base.

  This card started with a plain card base, that we stamped our own Background using the new Hero Arts "Five Line" Wooden Stamp, that we inked first with Memento "Lady Bug" red Ink.  The "Playing Cards" were cut from one of the pieces of Authentique Cardstock and the Hugs & Kisses and layered Red Hearts are Die Cuts, that were already pre-cut and given to use in our class packet.  The Hugs and Kisses are from Penny Black, but I' not sure on the hearts.

  And next is this fun "I Love You" card that was created with using more of the same patterned paper along with two large hearts, that were both inked in Distress Ink (Festive Berries) and one was also stamped with the same Hero Arts "Five Line" stamp.   The card was completed with this sweet "I Love you" die!

    Penny Black Mice along with a nice "Birch Tree" background created also with a Tim Holtz Texture Fades  folder and then lightly shaded the Gray Pan Pastels.  The little pink hearts are also die cuts and I added the sentiment at home, an older Inky Antics stamp from my stash.  

     My next card was creative exclusively for this week's challenge over at CASology and to stay that I was excited about this week's cue, would be an understatement, especially since it's PURPLE -- which I'm guessing you might already know is my FAVORITE color and a color I personally LOVE to create with!! And a LOT of my friends have emailed me to tell me that this challenge is one I must NOT miss!   Thanks for all those hints and reminders!!  :)

  And next is a very fun little square card that I created for this weeks' new challenge over at Simon Says Stamp, where our theme this week is Anything Goes with "Twine or String".   This is also another very simple card that all started with an adorable Stickeroo, by Penny Black!   Although this is from a retired set called "Collage Hearts", they still make a wonderful variety of Stickeroos, which you can see HERE!!   These are the perfect stickers to have on hand when you are a card-maker and need a quick and easy card and they are all gorgeous!   I simply mat them and create a card base and add on a few embellishments.  In this case it was twine to make this super fast card!!!

  That brings me to my very last card tonight and this one was inspired and created based on the gorgeous MUSE card, designed by Marion Vagg!

   I am happy to share a photo of Marion's Card!

   Oh and before I forget, I had a great time in the Stenciled Class and hope to be sharing more cards that feature what I learned in class in the next couple of days. The class was awesome, as always and now I am looking forward to the next Online Card Class in March, which will be their third "Clean and Simple" class...!!  Love love love that style and can hardly wait to sign up!

   I am also working on making cards for another cause and this one is that helps "Dachshunds" of course!  I'm going to be making cards for the "Furever Dachshund Rescue" to sell in their ETSY Store with all the proceeds going to the group.  And for those of you who may not know, that the group that brought Skye and Zeva into my life, so I am very happy to help out in my own little way.  They also have the honor of having two of the sweet Doxies who is part of this year's Puppy Bowl, and you can learn more about that on their Webpage HERE!!  Isn't Mandy adorable - I hope she wins!!