Reach For the Stars

 

Hello,
I am trying something different.  Part of my post is coming from my phone.  Ok, one sentence.  The on board keyboard gave out.  not sure what happened.  I got the phone in December 2011.  The picture came from my phone though.  I currently in search for a new digital camera that also takes videos for You Tube.

Today, I want to show you that anyone can make a card.  What I love about 3-D stickers is the promise of quick delivery.  What I mean is you can make this for less than $10.   Also with this card, it takes about 10 mins or less to place the mat on the card and knowing how you want to arrange the stickers.   Add a note for the grad, voila, instant card.   For this graduation card, you will need:

Ingredients:

1 card blank cut to any size.  I am using a A2 size card card blank (4.24" x 5.5")

Adhesive of your choice

Cardstock for matting (matting for this card is cut 1/8" smaller than the card blank)

1 pack of 3-D stickers from any company (I am using the stickers called Valedictorian by TPC Studio)

Your Imagination

Alternate #1:  If you know how to make a pocket for the inside of the card, place on the left-hand side to hold a gift card, check, or money. (2 minutes extra time)

Alternate #2:  If you are inviting a group of a few friends.  You can make this into an invitation.  All you need is 2 or three packs of the same sticker set.  Having 4 or more items in a pack helps, because everyone does not have to get the same sticker.  Mat with one sticker then on the inside place your invite.

Be sure to stop by the Card a Day Blog to take a look at all of the cards for the week, and enter a card in the April Challenge.

For those of you how are graduating this year or have a person, big or small, who is graduating, you earned it.   As today's card says, reach for the stars, do not let anything hold you back, and give back whenever you can.  Do well in life, enjoy, and have fun at what you do.  You can never stop learning, so learn all that you can, and never give up.   Have a good day, and be blessed.

Things are wonderful, really. New blog for my ramblings.

I apologize for not posting lately.   I am changing a bit, and it takes time.  I did start my new blog, and it is called My Blessed Life, and the address is http://patricialogan.blogspot.com.  Blogger said my name is available , so I took it as a sign to use it.   This blog is still available, but it is moving in a different direction.   I am now going in sort of a business phase of it.  It will still have the personal touches that it will always have but not as much as I like it to be.  I started feeling like I was not showing you as much of my work as I should.  After all, that was the real reason behind starting the MDN Creates blog in the first place.  I want this blog to be a inspiration, not a ramble session.   I think it was something I read in December.

I was thinking about why I only have 169 people following me.   So, I saw on a couple of newsletters I follow that you have to have a focus niche.  Scrapbooking, card making, and making journals is my niche for this blog.   Then I was asking myself, "was am I giving the readers or the people who look forward to reading this stuff, My take on the subject at hand, not what is going on in my family, not what happened to me two years ago, or my views on the world?"   I will have that, but only if it ties into what I am about to show you.

I also think I have too many affiliations on this blog.  I knew it for some time, but some are not related to the subject of crafting, so I need to refine it to where it all relates to crafting.  I also want to get involve with being part of a design team, and that means people looking at my blog for determination of my entrance application.

Two years ago, I pulled my Longaberger business stuff off of this blog to separate the two, and now I am doing it again.  Its called "cleaning house", and I am doing it once again.   I only have Two posts on the new one, but if you would like to hear what I have to say about life in general, from a short, black woman's point of view, come over to My Blessed Life.   It will be fun, I promise you.   I gave it that title, because I feel like I have been blessed.  Despite my situations in life over the years, I feel like God has given me more that I can ever ask for.   I will be honest, I have act like he has not, but you know what?  he has given me what I need for the moment.  I act like this spoiled, person, who just wants to be able to afford material things, but for Him, it does not matter.  I am trying to make a new change for this year.

So this is a wrap up of things you will see from me:  (just click the title of each blog)

MDN Creates (where you at now):  Scrapbooking, card making, and journal making.   also a link to my Etsy page.
Tricia's Baskets:   Longaberger products, specials, and a link to my Longaberger My Shop page.
My Blessed Life:  Ramblings about the world, content you can put on your own blogs, organizing, travel, and household stuff (cooking, car, and family)

Well that is it.   Oh, and take a look at something I made last month:

It is a tree made out of old sheet music.   a fun and simple little project I made at my stamp club. This Monday, I get to make something out of a soda can.  I will take a picture when I get finished with it.

Until then, or the next time I post.  take care of yourself.

Quick blog post: What is on your desk...

I am not sure why I entered this, except I follow Creations with Christina (http://www.creationswithchristina.com/), and I saw this post.   She was asking the question, What is on my desk.   Well, here is my challenge (and just to let you know Christina, I have TWO desk I scrapbook on, my computer and a crafting table):

Picture #1 has a far shot of my crafting desk, Picture #2 has both desk together, and Picture #3 has a close up of my crafting desk.  I have not quite finished cleaning up from an envelope swap I finished doing.   I am still in the middle of making my mom's cards.

Well that is a quick blog post, and the end of my Challenge.  Good night, and God Bless you.

I am bored...and Stampin Up

Good morning all you early risers.    For some reason or another you may be up reading this because, either you are getting ready for work, you are a stay at home mom, work from home mom, or whatever.  You may find this very interesting.   Before I start work on tags for a client (paper is on the way), I want to announce that I am bored.   Sure, I have my mom and Aunt Mary's cards to work on, then there is the Christmas list for cards to work on.  I even have a little organizing project that needs to get finished.   Actually, it was the organizing project that got me out of this boredom.   This is my first challenge, and I am passing it on to you, if you dare.   Do you want to know what it is?    It is a challenge called, "Use What You Have."   The object of this challenge is to look around your scrapbooking area, and if there are supplies that you have not used in years (old paper, that embellishment meant for a project and got scrapped for something different) and make something out of it.   It could be a card, a layout, a journal piece, anything.  It could be for a present, or for yourself, just make it.   The only thing you are allowed to buy is if you run out of adhesive.   This is a good way to clean out your space for all the new stuff that will come in the form of a Christmas or Hanukkah present.  If you have set a goal for how many layouts or cards you are going to make for 2010, this is a good way to play catch up.  
I found a My Accents Heavenly Blue from Close to My Heart (must be retired, I have not seen that color in the current catalog).   I used some buttons on two of my mom's thank you cards, I made a database on MS Access 2010 of my stamp pads from CTMH.  I have found my wooden Christmas rubber stamps.   So the images will be cards.  I have dug up magazines from 2006, 1998, and 1999 that I can use a reference and update.   This leads to my next segment....Stampin up.
I have decided that in addition to being a Longaberger consultant and owner of MDN Creates, I am going to be a Stampin up ! consultant in name only.   It is mainly for supplies, but if someone wants to order something, they can.  I will not be building a team.   The reason for not building a team is I do not want to let them go when I become branch leader for Longaberger.   as a branch leader, I cannot sell for another direct selling company, and even if I have been a Longaberger consultant for 9 years, I only have 10 consultants who have yet to make their goal, and I have not pulled in a $1,000 a month each month.   The team has to have $6,000 for 3 months straight, including my sales, and so far I am the only one selling.  Once that is up, and the company offers me the branch leader position, then I will make one last order from SU, and quit.  At least that is the plan, but I will never know what God has planned.  I just know that I like the products, and I do not want to pay full price.   The only way to pay at a discount is to be a consultant.   I know that there is an angel policy, but I list all products I use in a project anyway, so that is not a problem for me.

Well, for me, this is good night.  I do this sometimes.   I know, doctors want adults to get 8 hours of sleep, but I am nursing an official cold, and I have not been sleeping well the past two days.   I will be up in a few.

BTW, the next challenge will have blog candy, this challenge is for you to get up and do something creative if you are not already doing it.

It is Sunday Mid-day....

And I should have been in church. Yes, this is a big deal to me. To be quite honest, my ankle has been bothering me for the past two days. I have not done anything to it, just went to bed, and woke up with this pain. I have heard that being in your forties is the worst time for when it comes to pain, because your body is use to not having this much pain. Once you hit your fifties, your body is use to it, and life goes on as usual. Well, I am 46 (last month was my birthday), it seems like the pain got worst. The doctors said that it was arthritis in left leg. I found out December 2008. Here is my question: why does a person learn how to do ballet, jazz, and tap, only to have arthritis years later? I thought that I would still be dancing, but I am not. I do it for me now (I never took it to the professional level). I had to stop in my twenties, because my parents wanted me to get a "real" job. Honestly, there is nothing like feeling invincible when you are balancing your whole body weight on your toes, and shoes made of fabric, wood, and cement, lol. Only those who took pointe class when they were young can relate. This this coming from a woman, who used to sprain her ankle quite a bit. That where Arthur comes in. It comes from the injuries, the pliés, the flap ball changes from tap, and the jazz runs from jazz dances. It finally comes from the all the hard work done from the recitals, hours of lessons, costume changes (I should show you a picture of me in an electric green tap outfit, can you say gross), and mom saying, "I have to pay what this time, LOL. Did I mention the cost of shoes?

I was watching So You Think You Can Dance a few weeks ago, before the finale, and for the first time this year, the dance industry is labeling dance as a sport. It is about time, because dancers can get the same type of injuries that a football, basketball, or soccer player can get. Go on You Tube, and you will find tons of videos clips of dance recitals, competitions, and even lessons on the subject.

Why am I mentioning this, and what does it have to do with scrapbooking? I saw a couple of layouts this at the Ohio State fair, and they did have a dance theme to them. If you have a little one in dance (big one, or even yourself), I am given you a theme challenge to scrapbooking this year's recital. I am sure that you, your spouse, parents or other relatives have taken a picture or two. Also just like schools, there is a dance picture to be taken. I remember those. Instead of sitting still, you pose. This was the closest thing to modeling I would ever get. If you did not take pictures this year, because your subject does not take dance, or too shy of the camera (I have a couple), dig up the pictures taken from yesteryear and scrapbook them. If you have a baseball or soccer player, now is the time to scrapbook them too. Musicians, you are not left out of this challenge. There are recitals in there too. I have been through that as well. Calling all cheerleaders. Get those pictures in the book too. The reason why I did not say football or basketball because I want you to save those for later, when winter sets in.

So now it is time for me to hobble over to my parent’s for Sunday dinner. My mom just called to ask if I wanted fried chicken or Chinese take-out. Since I had sushi last night, I voted for KFC. So we will be munching on that while my dad, Mike and a friend of his will be eating Chinese.

Oh, along the way I lost my train of thought which was, it is so amazing how God’s handiwork allows us to learn things like ballet, tap, and jazz, and to man to sculpt a shoe that allows a woman to balance on her toes. (Did you know that task was originally made for men to do that?). How about balance on a 4” beam that is 2 feet off the ground to flip in the air to win a gold metal like Shawn Johnson. I always wanted to do that. How about balancing on a tin piece of metal to carve an intricate line in a ring of ice to win a metal like Nancy Kerrigan. That is another sport I always wanted to take up. No, I could not imagine that we are that complicate, and God made it all for us to use to learn delight, and to entertain others. I am satisfied from what I learned since the age of 5, including being able to play a mean piano, organ, and keyboard. I am blessed by my talents, and I am happy.

No cards today, no layouts either. I am in dry dock, if you want to call it that. I did good with Ebay. Talk to you later, God Bless You.