Watch It Wednesday

Today I thought I'd share two crafty YouTubers that I love to watch. Mary Polanco makes wonderful cards, has tons of ideas and has a get-to-it-with-a-little-humor style I appreciate. She doesn't talk too long or get lost in what she's doing and ramble like some people that I have to skip through, and her cards are cool and she has a lot of kit videos so you can see how to create a lot of cards from one kit. Even though I don't often buy kits, I appreciate seeing a variety of cards made from one set of supplies.

You can watch one of her Halloween videos using Lawn Fawn and Distress Oxides here. This card has so much texture!

Someone I could listen to for a long time is Emily Leiphart of leiphartonart. She has the best voice for instructional videos—calm and clear and concise—and you should definitely check out her professional projects. This video has a little coloring and some tips and of course, that fabulous voice. These tags are glittertastic! Yes, that's a new word I'm coining. Feel free to use it in conversation and let me know how people react :)

                                      

Do you have any go-to favorite You Tubers for crafts/cards? 

I just wanted to remind everyone that the Caring Hearts Card Drive has started. This is a fabulous drive for nursing home residents for holiday/winter cards. I love how much it grows every year and while I don't make cards anymore, I do deliver them (my family helps) to places in Ohio. You can win fabulous prizes for sending cards in and you'll make someone a little happier with your art. How perfect is that?

Happy Wednesdsay!

Chark

Winter Cards of Cuteness with Doodlebug Designs

So I made some cards for kids for a card drive (see here for more info) and I used some cute Doodlebug Santa Express papers and stickers to create some of them. I cannot get enough of the Doodlebug goodies...they are always so stinkin' cute and just right for cardmaking.

The background paper is from the Christmas 6x6 paper pad. What's cuter than Doodlebug 12x12 papers? The designs miniaturized for the 6x6 pads. Look at these little candies! I used Nuvo drops in Caribbean Ocean on the corners. 

This train is a sticker from Doodlebug but I ran out of gingerbread men for the conductor, so I just went through my Christmas paper and found one that I could cut out and fit in the engine.

The background on this one is washi paper from Martha Stewart and the stickers are more Doodlebug. I just cut the snow from white cardstock.

These were fast and easy, just so I could meet the deadline and participate in the card drive. I am sooo last-minute on a lot of things. Speaking of which, I need to go create for the a2z Scrapbooking blog right now...more holiday supplies to play with. Well, if I gotta, I gotta!

Happy Monday!
Chark

I Choose Love

I decided to give doodling a shot with a quote I saw. I think it means when everyone is spewing hate, it is your choice to not spew hate back. So, here it is in black and white. If you want to download it and color, you're welcome to do so. I'll be coloring it soon myself, once I decide which medium to use. It's hard to meet anger with peace, hate with love and fury with calm. But it is definitely a better choice!

Hoping that more people will choose love over hate and spread kindness. If you want to join me, I'll be making some winter wishes cards for kids to receive at the Nationwide Children's Hospital. The details are here and they're taking them until August 25th. 

Happy Monday!
Chark

Lasting Hearts Blog Hop

Hi, friends, today the a2z Scrapbooking Design Team is sharing their cards for the Lasting Hearts Card Drive. You can start here at a2z to see the participants. 

Lasting Hearts is here to help comfort mothers who have lost a piece of their heart. Losing a child, whether in pregnancy or older, can be one of the hardest pains a parent can endure. We would like to raise awareness and show other mothers that they are not alone, that they are stronger than they realize, and that there are people out there who care dearly.

This drive was started by Kimberly, who experienced this great loss is planning to have copies of a book called “You are the Mother of all Mothers” by Angela Miller, along with handmade cards available for doctors to give to parents who lose their babies. It's a lovely gesture for women to make in order to help other women.

Here's my card. I used the sentiment from the So Sorry Stamp and Cut and the Color Layering Bird Stamps. The inks for the bird are Hero Arts Unicorn Blue for the first layer, Broken China Distress Ink for the middle layer and Hero Arts Midtone Navy for the top. The leaves are Mowed Lawn for the first layer and Broken China for the top. The sentiment outside and inside (so sorry) are in the Navy Midtone ink.

Hero Arts has created three stamps exclusively for Lasting Hearts – G6156 Mother of All Mothers, H6157 Sacred Strength, and DC185 So Sorry Stamp & Cut. Hero Arts is donating 25% of the profits from these stamps to support the Lasting Hearts efforts, in cooperation with Angela Miller, the author of “You Are The Mother of All Mothers.” These stamps are available from a2z Scrapbooking Supplies here.

If you are interested in creating a card to be given to these parents when they get a book, you can find out how on our main blog post here.

Making cards makes me happy and making cards that spread kindness makes me even happier. I'm so glad I had the chance to be a part of this card drive. I hope you'll consider joining in. Hop on over to Angie's blog to see her beautiful creation. 

Don't forget to comment on all the blogs by 3/25/16 at 11:59PM EDT to be entered to win a $25 gift card to the store!

Happy Monday!

Chark