Winner! Plus my new obsession -- Pinterest!

First off, I'm very pleased to announce a winner for last week's "Growing in Unity" party!  Our randomly chosen winner is Carol, who said:

Carol, I'll be emailing you soon with your prize info!

And now, on to my favorite new thing -- Pinterest!

Have you heard of it yet?  Chances are you have, and either you're already an addict (like I am), or you're wondering what it's all about.

If you're like me, you love to cruise around different blogs and online stores and whatnot, gathering inspiration and just enjoying the eye candy.  And you bookmark things you don't want to forget, projects you want to try, etc. -- but then you forget all about those things once they're tucked away in your bookmark folder.

Well, Pinterest is pure awesome for visual people like us. It's like a virtual pin board, so you can keep track of all the awesome things you see online -- crafts, recipes, home decor, books to read, vacations you'd like to take, anything you like. That way you can SEE everything you've bookmarked, instead of just bookmarking it in your browser and then forgetting it.  You can set up categories however you like, so it's always easy to see at a glance whatever you're trying to find.  This is what my own board looks like right this second:

As you can see, I'm just getting started in some categories, and in others I'm already going hog wild. :)

It's also a fun social sharing thing, because you can follow other people whose taste you like, and others can follow you. I have been having so much fun finding new people to follow and getting TONS of inspiration. If you want to check out what I've been pinning, you can take a look here.  Lots of the best bloggers are becoming Pinterest junkies (like Shelley from House of Smiths -- LOVE everything she pins!), and you never know who else you might find that you love.  My sister-in-law's mom, for instance, is one of the most prolific pinners every, and I get a ton of inspiration from her.  Oh, and one nice thing is that you don't have to follow every category a person creates.  I have a friend who is a teacher and pins a lot of classroom ideas -- I don't really need those, so I don't follow that board, but I do love the other stuff she pins.  It's great that it's not an all-or-nothing follower thing.

Let me know if you want an invite and I'll send you one! (I think the invite thing is kind of a gimmick, because I've never heard of anyone NOT getting invited if they click "request an invite," but it does usually take a few days. If someone invites you, I think you can join up immediately.)

So come play with me!  (And the gazillion other people having fun there.)  This isn't any kind of a sponsored post -- I'm just so in love with it that I can't help sharing the fun!

Flower Power Blog Hop -- ScrapbookPal.com

Welcome to another fun and inspiring Blog Hop with the ScrapbookPal.com Design Team!  Our theme this time around is Flower Power, and we've teamed up to bring you a whole bouquet of beautiful ideas.  If this is your first stop, make sure you head back to the ScrapbookPal blog so you can visit all the designers and find out how to win a Cricut cartridge of your choice! ScrapbookPal.com has a fantastic selection of tools for paper-crafters, and they are adding new things all the time.  They have great customer service, and shipping is always free on orders over $25 -- raise your hand if you HATE paying for shipping like I do!  Yay for free shipping!

Today I thought I'd show you a fun technique that creates a really show-stopping flower.  The best part about it is that it uses a basic scalloped circle, which you can find on a whole bunch of different cartridges!  I used Mini-Monograms, but you can use a scalloped circle or even a flower shape from anywhere.

This flower is made from tissue paper!  It's a great project to do with a mat that is on it's last legs, because you want one that is as un-sticky as possible (so that you'll be able to get the tissue paper off again).  Cut yourself a 12x12ish square of tissue paper and adhere it to your mat.  Then cut as many scalloped circles as you can fit on the page (either using the "auto-fill" feature on your Expression or setting it up that way on your Gypsy).

Now, the tissue paper will not cut super cleanly.  Don't stress out -- the flower shapes will punch out just fine once it's done cutting, and the feathery edges just add to the full-ness of the flower.  Once you're done cutting, layer all the circles together, not quite on center.  Punch a hole in the center and insert a brad.

Now comes the fun part!  Use Glimmer Mist to add some extra color and glitz to your flower.  Your first spray will only get the top layer and few edges, so let that dry for a minute and then scrunch the flower up a little bit.  Spray just a little, until you get the desired effect.  You'll get all sorts of different tints over the surface of the flower.  Let it dry, then fluff it up til it looks fabulous.  Now it's ready to be the star of your next card or scrapbook page!

Other elements: Label shape -- Storybook; "Miss You" -- Cindy Loo; Chalk Ink -- Cat's Eye chalk ink in Creamy Brown; Brad -- American Crafts, Lace -- Fancy Pants; Patterned Paper -- My Mind's Eye


Now, off to the rest of the Blog Hop with you!

ScrapbookPal Blog (http://scrapbookpal.blogspot.com/)
Amy Crockett (http://www.scrappingmommy.com/)
Tomi Ann Hill (http://tomiannie.blogspot.com/) <-- You are here!
Cheryl Walker (http://sweeetdesignsbycheryl.blogspot.com/) <-- This is your next stop!
Leah Cornelius(http://paperblossoms.blogspot.com/)
Jamie Cripps (http://jamielanedesigns.blogspot.com/)
Crystal Butler (http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/)
Tammy White (http://theeventqueen.blogspot.com/)
ScrapbookPal Blog (http://www.scrapbookpal.blogspot.com/)


Happy hopping!

A little help, pretty please?

***If you are here for the ScrapbookPal.com Blog Hop, please scroll down...***

Oh, I'm so excited!  The ScrapbookUSA Expo is coming up in March, and it is a sacred weekend to me.  This time around they had a t-shirt design contest, and TWO of my designs made the finals!  They decided to put it to a vote on Facebook, so I am here shamelessly begging for your help!  If you are on Facebook and you have an extra moment, please become a fan of ScrapbookUSA Expo, then scroll down to their pictures on the left-hand side.  Mine are the first two of the four designs.  Here is what they look like:

And here is number 2:

I actually submitted 6 different designs for the contest (hey, I was on a roll, okay?), and I thought you might like to see the others as well.

If you like any of these, I'm going to be putting them in my Zazzle shop on t-shirts (minus the ScrapbookUSA info, of course).

Once again, thank you SO much for your help!  I can't even tell you how excited I am to have made the finals and possibly get to see my designs on everyone's t-shirts at the expo!  I do most of my graphic design work for clients via email and I don't very often get to see my designs off the computer screen, so this would be super cool! :)  And if you're in the Utah area, you should join us for the Expo!  We have a group that gets together at the Expo all day Friday, and then Saturday we go to Archivers to scrapbook our little hearts out.  It's so much fun, and we're always looking for new friends to join the group!

Hope you're having a wonderful day -- don't forget to check out the Valentine's Blog Hop I posted earlier today!

ScrapbookPal.com Blog Hop!

Thank you for joining us for our very first ScrapbookPal Blog Hop!  If this is your first stop, make sure you check out all the other designers' blogs and, of course, ScrapbookPal.com's blog for a chance to win a FREE Cricut cartridge of your choice from any they have in stock!  With all the new arrivals flooding in, I don't think I'd be able to choose!  ScrapbookPal.com is a terrific online store -- they have consistently low prices, excellent service, and shipping is always free on orders over $25.  What more could you ask for?

If this is your first visit to my blog, welcome!  My name is Tomi Ann, and I am a busy wife and mom, just trying to squeeze crafts in wherever I can.  I love to try new things and share the results (awesome or not) with my friends in blog-land.  My heart belongs to paper-crafting, however, so you'll usually see some element of paper-crafting in just about everything I do.

Using my Cricut and paper-crafting supplies to make jewelry is the perfect example!  I've been wanting to try a glass tile pendant for a long time*, so I decided to use my little gnome friend from Freshly Picked to make myself a fun and unusual necklace for Christmas time (see my project from earlier in the month to learn more about my nisse obsession). I've seen demonstrations on how to do this several times, but I used the great step by step instructions from The Hybrid Chick to help me along.

I used Freshly Picked to cut the little gnome at 1 1/4".  I gave him rosy cheeks with Berrylicious chalk ink, and I used Chestnut Roan ink for all the other distressing.  Chestnut Roan is a must-have color -- I always have at least 4 on hand, just in case -- and ScrapbookPal.com has the best prices on the chalk ink I've found anywhere.  "God Jul" means Merry Christmas in Danish, and I just wrote the letters on white cardstock, snipped them, and distressed them.  I used the houndstooth background to give him a little bit of a funky feeling, to make it a more grown-up accessory.  I also decided to decorate the back, because I'm sure it will flip over now and then. 

Now I can't wait til Christmas -- or do you think it's too early to just start wearing it now?

Thanks for joining me on this stop on the blog hop!  Now, for your chance to win the Cricut cartridge of your choice (awesome!), just leave a comment here so we know you stopped by, then check out all the other amazing projects on the hop and leave comments there as well.  Finish up by visiting the awesome ScrapbookPal Blog and becoming a follower there so you can check out all the great inspiration AND keep up with all the big news from ScrapbookPal.com.  You'll love it!

ScrapbookPal Blog
Jamie Cripps
Rowena Valentine
Crystal Butler
Amy Crockett
Tammy White
Leah Cornelius
Tomi Ann Hill < -------You are here.  Keep going!
Cheryl Walker
ScrapbookPal Blog

*Confession Session:  This isn't actually my first try at the glass tile pendant.  I tried to make one for my son's preschool teacher at the end of last school year and it was a massive craft fail.  So this one is just my first successful glass tile pendant...

Silhouette Giveaways Everywhere!

Now, you know I'm a Cricut girl, but I certainly wouldn't turn my nose up at winning a Silhouette -- it's definitely a very nice machine!  And it seems like there is another blog giving one away every time I boot up my Google reader.  Here are a few for your drawing-entering pleasure!

A Soft Place to Land

UCreate

V&Co 

The Idea Room 
 
Skip to My Lou

Tidy Mom

Centsational Girl

Homemade by Jill

Infarrantly Creative
 
All of these blogs are just jam-packed with amazing ideas and tutorials, so if you're not familiar with them, now is the perfect time to be introduced to them!
Good luck!

P.S.  I may have missed some, but How Does She has a list of them all!

The Rummage Challenge! Fun Prizes, too!

Last week I finally bought a Clip It Up, which allowed me to clean out my giant bin of embellishments and get them organized. I was amazed at all the things I have that I hadn't seen or thought about since I bought them! And I was thinking, I bet everyone has a bin or a scrap drawer or a closet where things just disappear. So here's the challenge:

With your eyes closed, rummage through that black hole stash and pick one thing, then make a project with it! It can be some kind of embellishment, a long-forgotten scrap of paper you've been saving for some reason you can't remember, or anything you've had for a long time and just never used. And remember, you can't pick it on purpose -- you have to have your eyes closed! I can't wait to see everyone's creations! Post a comment with a link to where you've posted your project -- the deadline for entry will be Sunday, May 25th. Then I'll announce the winner on May 26th!

And here are the prizes you can win! Depending on how many entries I receive, I'll probably divide this up into a grand prize and a smaller runner-up prize.



I'm going to have to take some better pictures, but here's what's in the pot:
- Fancy Pants borders rub-ons
- Fancy Pants "Mulberry Road" flowers
- Making Memories cloth flowers - Blue and White mix
- Making Memories cloth pockets
- DCWV 6x6 accordian album
- Scrapworks "Color Rubz" summer-themed rub-ons
- Scrapworks "Hugz&Dotz" accent and alpha stickers (2 sets)
- Scenic Route chipboard alpha in tan
- Making Memories copper sheets
- Sizzix manila envelope die (can be used with Sizzix or Cuttlebug machines)
- Making Memories "desination" rub-on alpha
- We R Memory Keepers "Garden Path" chipboard tags
- Making Memories "Eclectic Brads"
- Pioneer photo corners
- Elmer's adhesive runner


I'm going to be taking on this challenge as well. What got me started on this whole kick was actually trying to use up some of the scraps from my scrap drawers, which were offically overflowing. Here are some of the fun cards I made: