OH MY GOODNESS!!!

Oh my sweet goodness me I'm so excited!

I just sat down to my little crafting table, powered up my laptop and was checking out my Google Reader list and there was the Lawnscaping Challenge blog update, with the winner of the most recent challenge (to Stamp a Scene)...remember the card I made for it?

This little baby.

Well...

 I won!!! 

*SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAL!!!*

*this is me right now*

I'm so so so so so so honoured and excited! When I saw all the other entries I thought 'Oh my goodness what am I even doing putting my card in with these fantastic creations?!' But as those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you know I decided to just put my everything into this blog and my crafting, to 'roll with it' and enter every challenge I could--how wonderfully uplifting to have won after such a low time in my crafty self-esteem!! Wow. 

So now I get to display this badge VERY proudly on my blog--->>

I'm so so excited. (can you tell?! lol)

And you know what?! This just made me smile SO big, after a really rough mummy day (sick baby, being spewed on at 4:30 in the morning *nice*, being awake from 4am *erg*, cranky baby, mummy, daddy and just an overall poop of a day.) so how how wonderful.

I'm going to sit and grin ear to ear for a bit, hugging my card :) lol and try to think of how I can pay my happiness forward :)

Lastly I just want to say a thank you to those of you who have welcomed me back after my (short-lived) hiatus from my blog and to Virginia Lu, who (despite the fact that I've been a terrible blogger-friend and not commented on her gorgeous cards in a while-- ironic isn't it?!) always inspires me so much. She enters just about every challenge/inspiration challenge etc there is in this card making community and always puts so much sunshine in her blog, I read it ravenously every time I see her update. Virginia--without you, I wouldn't have entered this competition, let alone won it! Thank you for all your inspiration :)

Talk to you soon sweet people!

"Queen" Linda (lol, couldn't help myself)

 xxx

Guest Blogger Virginia Lu and a Challenge!

Hi there friends!! Happy Wednesday!!!

Today I'm SO excited, because we have a special friend of ours visiting, Virginia! 

this was me when Virginia agreed to be a guest blogger :)

Virginia's blog HERE is just fantastic and her creations are even more so.  She's not only funny as all get-out and sweet, thoughtful and just all-around lovely, she's SUPER-creative!!

I check in on Virginia's blog daily (even though I'm signed up for the alerts when a new post comes up, I can never wait!) and I'm consistantly amazed and impressed with not only how versatile Virginia's style is, but what comes out of her inspiration!  

I'm a very "literal translation" kind of girl (maybe it comes from learning languages?!) so when I see an inspiration photo, my 'translation' into a card is usually quite similar to the original. 

Here's an example: I recently participated in the etsy inspired challenge, this was my inspiration photo:

which is from the amazing Becky Kazana's etsy shop (HERE).

and here's what I made:

See what I mean?! LITERAL.  I saw flowers, I made flowers, I saw yellow, I made yellow.  lol!  (You can see the full details of this card HERE)  

But Virginia?! Nuh-uh. She's AMAZINGLY creative and participates in challenges constantly, which has made her a truly innovative cardmaker. 

SO, when she agreed to be a special guest on the a2z blog, we were so excited!!  Virginia's cards are rarely super-extravagant, they're almost never highly embellished.  They're clean and simple, they're sweet and fun and kooky (just like Virginia I think!!).  Hopefully seeing some of her creations will inspire those of you who lack experience (or are just a bit low on mojo).  I know I've used her creations as inspiration MANY times.

Therefore, without further ado, I give you Virginia's first specially designed for our blog Halloween Card "Boo!";

 

See what I mean?! Simple, effective, funny, kooky--FABULOUS!!

Here are some step-by-step instructions straight from Virginia:

1. Stamp house in Versamark and emboss in white on black card stock

2. Cut the house and set it aside

3: Distress the pumpkin color card stock with Antique Linen

4: Run the bottom throught Cuttlbug with Bubbles folder

5: Use hard surfaced sponge and lightly colored the pop-up bubbles

6. Stamp the ghost images in black and cut them out.

7. Plaace all pieces and plan out for space to sentiment

8: Stamp BOO with the Alphabet set and trim and layer them in squares.

9: Apply Glossy Accent on the eyes of ghosts and the letter BOO

and how about this one "

SO CUTE!!! This is my favorite of the two, only because a) I giggled when I saw that little guy sitting in the tree and imagined his crazy high-pitched voice saying YOO HOO!!! and b) that's pretty much what I look like when I wake up in the morning :)

Again, here are some instructions:

1. Stamp house in Versamark and emboss in pink on grey card stock

2. Cut the house and set it aside

3. Distress the grey color card stock with Weathered Jeans 

4. Stamp the pumkins in black card stock and cut out.

5. Stamp the pumpkins in green using masking technique

6. Adhere the pumkins with pop dots

7. Emboss the little owl in white and stamp the branches (using makers or small cubes of ink)

8. Attach raffia at the bottom, place the houses with pop dots

9. Apply Stickles in background for the starry sky

--ooOOoo--

NOW--usually, we give you a list of links for the exact products you'll need to recreate a card or project.  But this time I want to do things a little differently. You will still get a list of products, but the main Hero Arts Stamps that I've listed are slightly different than those Virginia used.

I've done this, because rather than having you all go out and copy Virginia's gorgeous cards down to the letter, I thought--this blog is called "Creativity and Inspiration".  So that's your Challenge--be inspired to make your OWN version! Change things up, make the house different or the tree or the owl a little different, anything!

Use these cards as INSPIRATION for your own creation to come out, not a carbon copy of Virginia's.  Trust me, you'll feel better about it if it's truly yours. 

THEN, we'd love it if you either emailed us with photos of what you make, or uploaded them to our flickr gallery! (Just search on flickr for a2zscrapbookingsupplies)--of course, we'd also love it if you'd join our flickr group!

Show us how someone as amazing and inspiring as Virginia, has inspired you! (I know she'd love to see it too!)

So here are the links:

Stampendous Stamp N Stuff Embossing Powder White Opaque

Tsukineko Tuxedo Black ink

Tsukineko VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad

Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Linen)

Cuttlebug Swiss dots Embossing Folder 

Hero Arts Country Pumpkin Stamp
Hero Arts Two Houses Stamp
Hero Arts Owl-oween Stamp
Tsukineko Tuxedo Black ink  

Copic Markers

Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents

Tim Holtz Distress Ink  (Faded Jeans)
Ranger Frosted Lace Stickles  

umm, how perfect is this?!

Now:  do like the poster says!! GET EXCITED AND MAKE THINGS!!!

A huge thank you to Virginia for these gorgeous creations.

Talk to you soon lovelies--can't wait to see what you make!

Linda xx