Winners FFC #194 Announced~

Hi there friends...
We have the Top 3's and winners from Funday Friday
challenge #194! We had 42 awesome entries!
 Are you one of them lucky ones???

Our TOP 3 winners from  FFC #194

                       #14----->  Lucy Patrick

                       #23----->  Emily HSU

                       #27----->  NanaConnie

And now our winner of the $15 gift voucher from The Paper Shelter :

#32 Art Tart Talks- Melissa

All Winners & Top 3's Please email me at:

FFCprizes at gmail dot com!

You will have 2 weeks to claim your prizes!

  

Well my friends that is all I have for today. I hope you have a great day! Thanks for stopping by and until next time.... Enjoy life's blessings~

  



Winner of Hampton Arts Stamp & Die set announced~

For my 4 year Blogaversary Blog Hop Day 1, please click here Over $100 of prizes up for grabs!!!

Hey Friends!

Today I have the winner of this awesome stamp and die set that I posted on this Talk Time Tuesday post last week. So without further ado..... who is it? Is it you?

6:LoriApril 27, 2016 at 3:08 PM

I reserved me and husband tickets to see Purple Rain again in theaters tomorrow night.

Congrats Lori!!!

Please email me at Joann6274 at gmail dot com, with your mailing information so that I can get this stamp and die set out to you!

Until next time, Enjoy life's blessings~

SVGCuts File Giveaway Winner!

Hello sweet friends! For those of you who left me a comment on This Post here , telling me what my Easter/Passover would be like if I were to come to your home, you had a chance at winning 1 free file from SVGCuts! So let's see who the lucky winner is!!!

 **** Drum Roll please****

4:LisaMarch 8, 2016 at 6:43 PM

It's so fun getting to know more about you, Jo!! The sound of ocean waves is one of my favorites, too :) Easter here would be Mass followed by an Easter brunch including all the things that were given up for Lent :) Have a great day!! Big hugs :)

Lisa
A Mermaid's Crafts

Congratulations Lisa!!!!  Please email me at Joann6274 at gmail dot com with your SVGCUTS file of choice!

Thank you everyone who left a sweet comment and allowing me a little glimpse of what this special Easter Holiday would be like in your home. :)

Until next time, Enjoy life's blessings~

Ask Jo! It's Talk Time Tuesday & a winner~

Hello my sweet friends!

Welcome back to another Talk time Tuesday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I ended up catching a nasty chest cold so I've been congested and my asthma has kicked in high gear. I have used my inhaler more in the past few days than I have in the past 12 months. Aahh here is to hoping that Spring comes soon and these arctic temperatures go back to Alaska! LOL

Moving right along... today's question comes from Jose who wants to know, " my question is not paper crafting related. I hope that is ok? I would liking to know if you will share stories of when you were little girl. I like to meeting you better?"

 Well hello Jose! Hmm... I will admit this question kind of made me think! And I have always told all of my readers that you can ask anything at all (as long as topic is appropriate) and I will do my best to answer! So you want to get to know me better and want me to share a little something from my past? Ok.... one story that I guess I would like to share takes me back to when I was 10 years old. It was April 16, 1984 and I was in school in the auditorium with the rest of my class and the school. It was an award ceremony covering things like student of the month, honor roll, academics, attendance and lastly, our spring talent show. Well to my disbelief and shock, my name was chosen as the winner of our spring talent show!!! I had decided to sing the song, "Borderline" by Madonna. I had no idea I would win! So what was my prize? That is what is the best part, better then winning the entire school talent contest!! I won a trip to the White House to have a birthday dinner with President Ronald Reagan!! He was having a late birthday celebration, dinner, cocktails and dessert and I swear there must have been 50-60 people there! I was in awe! I felt star-struck literally! So my role in all of this was to not only have dinner in the White house with the president of the United States... but I won the privilege to sing "Happy Birthday" to him when the cake came out! So cool huh? I thought so anyways! So that is my story Jose! And what most of you do not know about me is that I was born with 2 extremely beautiful talents; writing and singing. I have had over 25 poems and 7 short stories published. I have 12 poems published in the Poetry's Guild. I also had a vocal coach from the age of 12 to 17 and I won many singing competitions. I was even offered the opportunity at the age of 13 to fly out to California and do some studio time to create a demo but unfortunately, times back then were very tough financially for my mom and grandfather that I was unable to go. My dream was to always be a songwriter and singer and well, life happens. I got married at 18 and had my first child at 19. You all know how the rest goes. :)

 Now moving along.... last week I opened up a linky for everyone to play along in the decoupage challenge. Only one person was brave enough to play along or had the time to play.... so the winner of the decoupage challenge goes to Melissa who created this..

 

To learn more about how she created this gorgeous post card, click her name above and visit her blog. Melissa please send me your address to joann6274 at gmail dot com so that I can get your prize out to you!

Well friends, that is it for today. Please write in with questions you want answered or topics you would like to see talked about during our Tuesdays together :) 

 Thanks for stopping by and until next time.... Enjoy life's blessings~

FFC Winners~

Click Here for FFC #17 "Autumn"!

Hello my crafty friends!

Happy Monday!
 I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I cannot believe that summer is over.
For me, summer flew by. I went in the pool twice. I did not even see a beach. Speaking of beaches, my 2nd hometown beach of Seaside, New Jersey; suffered a hard hit once again this past week. The boardwalk caught on fire and destroyed a complete pier and half of the boardwalk. Seaside was also hit by Hurricane Sandy earlier in the year. 2013 has been a very bad year for the shore. I feel horrible for the locals there and for the business owners who have lost everything. My heart goes out to them.
Please keep the people of Seaside in your prayers.  Thanks!

 

Ok so let's get to our TOP 3 winners from last week's FFC #16 Sketch challenge.

 

# 1 Lisa

# 2 AJ

# 4 Marilyn

 

Our winner of the 3 digis from

Limited Runs Digital Stamps is...

 1. Lisa 

  

Congratulations ladies!

All Winners Please email me at:

Joann6274 at gmail dot com!

You will have 2 weeks to claim your prizes!

 

  

Well my friends that is all I have for today. I hope you have a great day! Thanks for stopping by and until next time.... Enjoy life's blessings~

  



We have a YNS Winner!!

Click Here for FCC#9 "Summer Fun"

 

Good Day Wednesday my friends!

This past week's Funday Friday challenge had a very sweet sponsor. Karen from Your Next Stamp Company graciously is awarding one lucky winner a YNS stamp set! If you have not  heard of YNS stamps, please stop by and have a look. These stamps are soooo cute!! I just love em! So who is our lucky winner?? Well random.org has chosen for us and has given us the lucky #11

 

 11. Marilyn 



Marilyn!!!

 

Please email me your mailing address at:

Joann6274 at gmail dot com

 

I would like to say a very big THANK YOU to Karen for sponsoring our last challenge!

We ♥Heart♥ You!

 

Thanks for stopping by today friends and I

 sure hope you have a great day!

Until next time...

Enjoy life's blessings~

 



Talk Time Tuesday with Ask Jo & FFC 8 Winners

Click Here for FCC#9 'Summer Fun Challenge'

Hello my friends!

I hope you are all enjoying your day today. The sun is really shining here and we are expected to get temps of 115 today! Insane! Ah in any case, I am sorry I'm a day late with announcing the Top 3 winners from last week's challenge. My meds really kick my butt sometimes and there are days where I sleep all day and night and that is what happened to me yesterday. So before we get started on today's Talk Time Tuesday segment, let's announce the winning top 3 from last week...

# 7 Michelle's Cricut Fun

# 9 Melissa Sunshine Honeybee

# 12 Yainea

 

Congratulations ladies!

Please email me at:

Joann6274 at gmail dot com to get your top 3 badge!

 

 

 

So onto this week's Talk Time Tuesday segment.

Our first question today comes from Dawn aka "D" who asks, "How do you put your name on your post pictures?"

 

Hi there D!

My name on my photos that I post are watermarks. I get my personalized watermarks by a wonderful woman, Karen from The Sweetest Thing. She has some gorgeous watermarks for only $2. I have purchased several from her over the past year. Now as to how I get them onto my photos. I use a program called Gimp. It's a free application that you can download here and Karen has actually done a tutorial on how to use the program and you can find the tutorial here. If you follow the tutorial, you will be able to work the program. It is extremely easy! If I can do it, anyone can! I hope you give it a try if you decide to get a watermark. =)
Thanks for your question today and I hope to hear from you again my friend!

 

Our next question comes from Melissa who asks, "Jo I saw that you have a for sale tab on  your blog. What do you sell?"

Hi Melissa,
I was asked by a few friends if I would sell my word books and mini albums because they would love to purchase them and in the past, I used to sell cards and albums. So I decided to go ahead and start it up again but unfortunately, have not put anything up on the for sale posting as of yet. I am taking special orders and make the word books and the mini albums as they come in. I have an order that is actually going out this week and I just got another order for a personalized baby mini album. A friend's daughter is having her first baby boy and she wants it personalized with his name, "Michael". If there is anything you want to order, just email me. I make mini albums, picture frames, word books, card sets and scrapbook layouts and I will be selling kits very soon. So if you want more information on anything, email me and I will be glad to talk with you further on it. Thanks so much for your question today Melissa and I hope to hear from you again very soon. =)

 

Well my friends that concludes another Ask Jo segment but before I say goodbye, I just wanted to let you all know that I do take requests and I do take special orders. This is something I have not yet written about on the blog but I will be very soon. I just have a few things to work on first and that will be the next thing I do. If anyone is interested in knowing more, please email me. Also, I am taking requests so if there is anything you want to know or any type of tutorial you want to see, please let me know and I'd be glad to help.
=)

 Well my friends that is all I have for today. I hope you have a great day!
Thanks for stopping by and until next time....
Enjoy life's blessings~

 



Talk Time Tuesday with Ask Jo & A winner!

Hello my friends!

Before we get to our segment today, I wanted to share some news. I was asked to be on the design team at Aud Sentiments so I'm super excited about that! My first post will be on Thursday. Also,
at the bottom of this post I will announce last week's Funday Friday Challenge top 3 winners, as I could not get on the internet last night due to storms in my area.
 

So onto this week's Talk Time Tuesday segment.

Our first question today comes from Erica K. who asks, "Hi Jo.  I see that you have a Pinterest account but I was wondering if you have a facebook account or a twitter account?"

 

Hi there Erica!

I do have a facebook and a twitter account. I must confess that I hardly ever go onto my twitter account. I just do not have the time. It has been forever since I logged onto that account. As for facebook, Yes I do have a facebook account. I first started facebook to mainly keep in contact with family and old friends but I also have a lot of new crafting friends and bloggy friends on there. I am set to private so unfortunately, no one can add me however; if you would like to become facebook friends, please email me your facebook URL address and I'll gladly add you. Thanks so much for your question today Erica and I hope to hear from you again soon!

 

Our next question comes from Kelly A. who asks, "Hi there Jo! My question is totally non-craft related. I was wondering if you could share a family recipe that you cook for your family?"

 

Hi Kelly!

Great question and totally unexpected! Well there are plenty of recipes that I have that I can share but one of my family's favorites of mine, is my SouthWestern Chicken Bean Soup. This recipe is a slow cooker recipe but can easily be cooked on the stove top.
 

What you will need:

2-4 pieces of chicken breast

2 boxes of 32 oz chicken stock

1 large onion

2 cans of chick peas

1-16oz jar of Medium or Mild Salsa

2 cans of corn

2 tablespoons of cumin

2 cups of water

 

Directions:

1.On stove top on medium heat, pre-cook the chicken breast for about 10 minutes until they are white on both sides. Once they are white on both sides, add them to the slow cooker.
 

2.Cut up your onion into slices about an eighth thick and add to slow cooker.
 

3.Add all the rest of your ingredients at this time into the slow cooker; cumin, chicken stock(both boxes), 2c water, both cans of chick peas(drained), both cans of corn with water(if using canned) and the complete jar of salsa. At this point you should have all your ingredients inside the crock pot or slow cooker. Add your slow cooker's lid.

4.Turn on your crock pot or slow cooker on high and set it at 5 hours and forget it! That's its!

If you are using the stove top, follow the same directions as above and cook on low to medium heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

I serve this soup with a little bit of cheddar cheese and tortilla chips on top This is just a personal preference. It is delicious and definitely a family favorite. Very tasty and filling.

Thanks so much Kelly for your question and I sure hope you enjoy this recipe if you give it a try!
Now I know it is summer and hot outside but this soup is great any time of the year!


Now onto our FFC#7's top 3!

# 19 Gail Scott

# 64 Lisa

# 116 D-Designs by Dragonfly

 

Congratulations ladies!

Please email me at:

Joann6274 at gmail dot com to get your top 3 badge!

 

 

Well my friends that is all I have for today. I hope you have a great day!
Thanks for stopping by and until next time....
Enjoy life's blessings~

  



FFC #7 *Anything Goes*, Winner & a Freebie!

 

Hello my bloggy friends!

 Welcome to another Funday Friday Challenge.

 

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe Fourth of July Holiday. We had a very small cookout for the five of us here and it was so good to finally be able to eat food off the grill again. It had been awhile!

We watched the firework display last night and it was so beautiful. My daughter was amazed at all the beautiful colors bursting in the air above us. The look on her face was priceless as she smiled and enjoyed each beautiful colored firework sparkle above her. I hope that you were able to watch some fireworks as I know it was a beautiful night all around for most. Ok so are ya'll ready for this week's challenge? It's one of your favorites....=*)

 

This week's Challenge:

"Anything Goes"

Create a card, layout or project of your choice!

Starts: Friday, July 5th 12:00AM

Ends: Friday, July 12th 6:00PM

(central time)

 

*NOTE*

CHALLENGE RULES UPDATE

We have now changed the challenge rules to 3 entries per person per challenge except for the Anything Goes challenges which will be unlimited.

 

 Here is what I created this week for the challenge

 

For this challenge, I decided I wanted to create a gate fold card. So I turned to my beloved Pazzles machine and searched my files and cut this beautiful card which is a file designed by a woman named Monica. I cannot remember her site name at the moment but if you like this card and would like to make one, just click the link at the bottom of this post for the free file.

My card was cut out twice, once using a chocolate brown/tan Core'dinations CS and again using some patterned damask paper from the Luxury Stack by DCWV. The card size is a 5"x5" card for the most part. I layered the chocolate CS on the inside of the patterned paper for my inside of the card. I actually cut it apart so that I had the darker chocolate textured side on the inside "sides" and the tan color in the middle. I ran that tan middle portion through my "Tide"embossing folder to give some texture as well.
  

       

 

 I then added a few pearls to the inside top and to the inside & outside folds. A few liquid pearls around the scallops complete my card nicely both inside and out. I then die cut this gorgeous Parisian lace doily out by Papertrey Ink using the damask patterned paper. I inked the edges with some tea dye distress ink.Then using my Nesting circles dies, I cut out two circles about 1/4" apart, one from the chocolate CS and one from the reverse side(tan), layered them together using foam tape for some dimension and then on top of that, layered a white circle stamped with the sentiment, "Just Because"

which is from an old Justrite Stampers  set called 'Just a Note'.

 My sentiment was stamped using momento rich cocoa ink. 

 

To finish off my card I created a belly band out of some neutral patterned paper that I had in my stash. I cut out two more of the circles, this time in the chocolate and the damask patterned paper and added a pearl to the center. The belly band helps keep the card closed since it is a gate fold style.

Well that is my card for today.....hope you like it.

 

Now let's see what our amazing design team have created for us......

    

   Candice

 

 Kellie

 

 

 

Stephanie

Amanda

 

 Brenda

 

Well my friends, it is YOUR turn to show us what

 you can do for this challenge!

Just link up using our link up tool at the bottom of this post for your chance to win top 3 and get entered into our monthly prize drawing.

What do you need to do to enter?

Challenge Rules

1. Please post a direct link to your card/project post that includes your challenge,

using the linky tool below.

2. Be sure to include a link back to our challenge

3. Unlimited entries per person and you must post a separate blog post for each entry.

4. All entries must be NEW and created for the current challenge.

5. You may combine with other challenges as long as you link back to us in your post.

 * All entries that do not meet the challenge requirements

Will not be eligible for top 3 or random/monthly wins.

The monthly prize drawings will only be mailed within the US and Canada only.

 

You have until July 12th by 6:00Pm (central) time to link up.

All winners will be announced on Monday, July 15th.

Have fun and we look forward to seeing what you create!

 

I also have a winner to announce from last week's Flower frenzy template giveaway.

Here is the list of people who qualified by asking me a question:

 

Amy,  Claudia, Lisa W., Danielle S., Melissa R., Christine

Janice, QueenB, Dawn M., Robyn N., Theresa

 

 

 

 

CONGRATULATIONS ROBYN!!!

Please email me at

joann6274 at gmail dot com to claim

your prize.You will have 2 weeks to claim it!

  

Here is the free cut file!
Gate Fold SVG

Until next time, enjoy life's blessings~

Thanks for stopping by!

  I am entering my tag in the following challenges:

TTCRD "Anything Goes"

Simon Says "Anything Goes"

Oozak #17 "Anything Girlie"

 

We have a Winner!!

 

 

Hello my crafty friends!

 

I want to thank you so much for all of your hard work in helping me to reach my goal of 200 followers. Now that my goal has been met, it's on to a new goal! But first.... I have a winner to announce from my 200th follower giveaway! So are ya'll ready??? .... DRUMROLL PLEASE

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Random.org has selected our winner.....

 

 

 

 

Danielle!!

 

46:Danielle June 13, 2013 at 3:12 PM

 

You're sooo close! I'm sharing again on Facebook & Twitter!
Congrats, girl!
Danielle
SewMuchCrafting.com

 

Congratulations Danielle!!

Please email me at Joann6274 at gmail dot com to claim your $25 gift card to Michael's!

You will have 2 weeks to claim your prize.

Until next time..
Enjoy Life's Blessings~
 

A Late Talk Time Tuesday and some Winners!

Click Here for my 200 Follower Giveaway!

Hello my crafty friends!

  I am so very sorry that these posts are late! I have been extremely sick and unable to get onto the computer. Many of you know that I am not in the best of health and the past few days have truly been a nightmare! I'm sorry that I'm announcing last week's Funday Friday Challenge Winners late as well as yesterday's Talk Time Tuesday with Ask Jo. Better late then never though right? So without further ado, let's get on to last week's challenge winners~

The design team and I had a hard time choosing the top 3 as each one of your projects were gorgeous! I wish everyone could win but unfortunately only 3 can earn the top 3 Funday Friday badge. So our top 3 winners in no random order are:

 

#2 "D"

#5 Pam Remesh

#17 Sarah

Congratulations ladies on winning top 3 and for earning an entry in the monthly prize drawing!! 

Please email me at Joann6274 at gmail dot com to get your badge code for your blogs!

Moving on to our random.org winner of Mary's Cardz TV Stamps, our lucky winner chosen is

 

#11 Michelle's Cricut Fun

Congratulations Michelle!!

 Please email me at joann6274 at gmail dot com to claim your prize!

 

Now moving on to this week's Talk Time Tuesday Post......

 

Our first question comes from Kris S who says, "Hi Jo, For someone like me who is just starting out with scrapbooking and card making I wish sometimes when I look at others work that my projects would turn out like theirs. What can you recommend for me to do too help me advance in my skills in card making and scrapbooking"

 

Hello Kris!

Excellent question! Let me first start off by saying that  we are our own worst critics! We can look at our work and judge our work harshly and what you need to understand first, is that your work is truly a work of art. There is no certain way to create nor is there a right or wrong way to do it. Starting out at a beginner level is overwhelming because there are so many tools, techniques and styles out there and you wonder to yourself, 'Where do I start?'.

 

My advice to you is this...

Continue creating! Watch some videos on YouTube on certain techniques that catch your eye. Take the plunge and do one of the many challenges that are out there on the web. Challenges are just that! A challenge! It will challenge you to think outside the box! Start to follow some blogs that are similar to your style and follow along on some step by step tutorials to create something out of your comfort zone or take a class on something that you have never tried before. By doing this, you are not only learning something new but you are giving your creative side a chance to explore with new products and from their, the possibilities are endless. I hope this has answered your question and I look forward to seeing what you create!

Our next question comes from Georgiana who asks,
"How cool that you have all those machines...where do you keep them all?"

Hi Georgiana!
My pazzles inspiration machine sits on my computer desk right next to my computer. I have another table that is 4 inches long that holds my cricut expression and my cricut imagine side by side. The table is big enough so that I am able to use both machines at the same time if I wanted to, with enough space for both. My Ebosser sits on a small table that I got from Ikea which sits right next to my work station desk.
All my other machines, the original sizzix, the sizzix sidekick, the xyron personal die cutting machine and the cuttlebugs sit in my closet on a bookcase. I rarely use these machines so I have them put away and out of sight. I plan on doing a craft room tour soon so be on the look out for this post so that you can see exactly where my machines are and how my room is set up to work for me! I hope this answered your question and I hope to hear from you again soon!

Well my friends that is all I have for you for today. As a reminder, there is still time to enter for this week's Funday Friday Challenge#2. Until next time, enjoy life's blessings! Thanks for stopping by!