Simple Things

Hello Friends! I'm finally getting back into the swing of things... I know it has been a while since we've last "chatted." I've been able to squeeze in a bit of card making here and there, but I haven't had much time to tell you how things are going around these parts. :)

I've been longing to pop on here and reflect a bit my blog goals. But to be completely honest, I haven't had much time to think about it! So here I am with a reflection (and update) on my blog goals.

Last year, I wanted to Blog More. Success! In 2010, I averaged 16 posts a month. In 2011, I averaged 23 posts! And some months, I was even able to post daily - Wow! It's very clear that I work on a school schedule and that my busy months are at the beginning and end of the school year, with May/June and September/October being the months where I seemed to disappear a bit. :) Apparently this year hasn't started off too well with blogging... It's been crazy here, but I think things are starting to settle... I hope!

Last year I tried to Get Personal. And boy was this hard! I used to be scared to share details of my life, but I've been showered with nothing but kindess from all of you. THANK YOU! :) It's still hard for me to tell you about my life - mostly because my guess is that you probably don't care. Haha. So clearly, this is something I need to continue working on...

Another goal was to Challenge Myself. I told you that color and sketch challenges were not my forte. This is still very true. I'm "forced" to continue working on this with the new changes at Pals Paper Arts. Honestly, when I got accepted onto the design team, I was a little bit nervous about the fact that I'd HAVE to participate in these other types of challenges. But really, I'm thrilled to be a part of the team and to be pushed this way.

I was also wanting to Inspire Myself. But I've decided this one is not that important. The way I see it, the challenges that I play are what inspire me and if that's the way I inspire myself, then that works for me. Plus I'm hoping that the I {Heart} Ribbon challenge will continue to be another way I can inspire myself and others. :)

My last goal was to Find a Home for all my cards. Still working on that... :) But I have been better about mailing out my cards and I hope that continues.

So there's a recap of my goals. I've decided it makes sense to keep them as they are since I'm still working on many of them. And now, time for today's card...



Jay Gee's Nook always has the best challenges! I couldn't wait to play along with this one! There is so much that you can pull from the inspiration below:

Here are the DEEtails:

I started with the Lattice die cut from Stampin' Up!, which I adhered onto Whisper White card stock and matted with Crumb Cake card stock. I placed some strips of So Saffron DSP before attaching my die cut. Then I added a bunch of fun embellishments - a book print heart (from the Hearts dies), a die cut tag (from Lots of Tags) stamped with the sentiment from SU!'s Touch of Kindness, some punched leaves (from the SU! Bird punch), some Victoria Lace, a stamped bird cage from SU!'s Aviary (embellished with a piece of brown ribbon and a Rhinestone Jewel), and a layered butterfly (from the MS butterfly punch). I'm loving all those little goodies piled on top of each other. What do you think?