Bonus CIO Challenge Card

So we had a third sponsor for our challenge this time around.  I made this cute card using an image from QKR Stampede.  QKR is offering 5 images of the winner’s choice.  Yep, they are giving over $35 worth of digital stamps, Yahoo!!

 

I used my copics to color this little fellow with.

Body – YG63/65/67

Shirt – Y15/17

Umbrella – R24

Book Bag – B93/95/97

Glasses – B0000 for the lenses and Bic-Mark-It Cloud Nine Grey for the frames

 

I added chipboard buttons for the required stash.

 

 

 

I didn’t have any ribbon that matched but I really wanted to add a bow so I took some white satin ribbon and colored it with one of my copics.  I think it worked out pretty well!

 

 

 

Here is a peek at the inside…

 

You will have a few days to get in on this challenge.  Check out the Clear It Out Challenge Blog for more details! 

Don’t forget to enter the great giveaway I’m having.  Read all about it here.00

How To Use My Digital Sentiments…

I had a request from one of my followers to do a tutorial on how to use my Digital Sentiments.  It had never occurred to me that not everyone knows what to do with them.  Thank you to, Suman Pandit, for asking this question.  As promised, here is a quick lesson on using my sentiments.

WHAT YOU NEED:

• An ink-jet printer with black ink
• Microsoft Office Word or some other software that allows you to import a picture and print it.
• Cardstock
• Scissors or Paper Trimmer
• Adhesive

WHAT YOU DO:

1.  Download the sentiment and save it somewhere on your computer where you can easily find it.

2.  Open your software and import the sentiment. You can use any type of word processing software to achieve this.  If you do not own a word processing program,  you can download one for free from OpenOffice.org.  I'm using Microsoft Word in my examples.

 

3.  You will need to resize it.  Highlight the image and use the bounding boxes to drag it to the size you want.

 

4.  Alternatively, you can adjust the size by changing the width/height.

 

5.  You are now ready to print your image.  Print it at high quality.  You may need to test different settings on your printer to see what works best for you.

6.  Use your scissors or paper trimmer to trim out the image. I usually adhere it to a piece of colored cardstock to frame it.  Here are a couple of examples…

 

 

 

7.  Add it to your project and you're done!

If you have any questions, please leave me a comment and I will answer you (so watch for my answer in the comments).

Have fun!

Clear It Out Challenge–Back To School Week 2

I can’t believe that summer is almost over and the kids will be going back to school shortly.  As most of you know, I work in a local high school and I have enjoyed the quiet days of summer but I’m really looking forward to having the kids back next week to fill those empty hallways with noise. 

I love my job and one of the things I love most about it is the kids.  I work with a lot of “at-risk” kids that come from highly dysfunctional families and sometimes we (at the school) tend to be the only positive influence they have in their lives.  It brings me such joy to be able to infuse some of that positivity into them.

For this challenge we were given a “Back To School” theme with the requirement of using chipboard.  I thought this image of a school house from the awesome Nikki at Limited Runs was just perfect for my Back To School card.

 

 

 

 

I used my copics to color it.

• Wood Trim & Stairs – E13, E29
• Brick – R24
• Door – B93/95
• Windows – B0000

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found an apple on google images and used my glossy accents to make a 3-D glossy sticker which I popped up on the ribbon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added a chipboard flag under the sentiment which can be found on the inside of the card.

 

 

 

 

 

And here is a full view of the inside of the card…

 

Don’t forget…you have one more week to play along (until September 2nd) and you can make any paper crafting project you like just make sure to follow the theme and stash item!  Check out the Clear It Out Challenge blog for more details.

Clear It Out Challenge–Back To School

A new Clear Out Challenge has been posted and it’s time to empty out your stash and play along in another fab challenge!

The challenge this month is:

• Theme:  Back To School
• Requirement: Use chipboard

You have 2 weeks to play along (until September 2nd).

You can make any paper crafting project you like just make sure to follow the theme and stash item.

We have 3 amazing sponsors this week. We are so lucky!

 

  Winner will receive 5 images of their choice.

 

Winner receives 5 images of their choice.

Yep, they are giving over $35 worth of digital stamps, Yahoo!!

 

Winner receives 3 digis of their choice.

Winners are picked via Random.org. If your project is picked you must have both the theme, stash item and link back to our blog to be eligible.

 

The image used on this card is from Digi Darla.  I kept this card clean and simple, intentionally leaving a lot of white space showing.  I printed the image directly onto the cardstock and colored it with Bic Mark-It’s. 

 

 

 

 

 

The arrow is a chipboard piece I picked up from HomeSense.  I colored it with my Rambunctious Red Bic Mark-It and added some polka dots using my white gel pen.  The Baker’s Twine is also from HomeSense.

 

 

 

 

 

You can find more information about this challenge on the Clear It Out Challenge Blog.  Thanks for playing along each time. We appreciate it :)

Don’t forget to enter my 300 Follower Giveaway for a chance to win some great prizes!

I Just Discovered Something Cool…

Well, at least I think it’s cool.  If you are a PC user and you are using Windows Live Mail to receive your emails did you know that you can have your feeds (for example http://piece-ofheart.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default) downloaded straight to your inbox.  Here is a screenshot of what I’m talking about….

 

 

All you have to do to add a new feed is to click on the word “Feeds” at the bottom (see #1 above) and then click again on the word “Feed” at the top left (see #2 above). 

 

Type in the feed address for that blog and you’re good to go.  The best way that I’ve found to figure out the feed address is to scroll to the bottom of the blog and look for Subscribe to: Posts (Atom).  Right-click on that and select “copy link location” then paste that into the feed box when it asks you for the feed URL.  Of course, this only works if the blog has a feed set up.

 

 

If you want to comment on the post just click on “View Online”  to go to the blog and comment.

 

 

You may already know all about this but since I just recently downloaded the free Windows Mail client to try it out this is something I’ve just discovered.  And now that Google Reader is no longer available I thought it was worth sharing.

Mid Challenge–Clear It Out

Before I start I need to apologize.  When I posted the original challenge post I mentioned that Laura was giving anyone who commented a chance to win a $10.00 gift certificate to any CIO challenge sponsor’s store of your choice.    That’s true.  But what I failed to mention is that she was combining all of the Designer Blogs into one big random draw.  She picked a winner via random.org and congratulations goes out to Lucy who commented on Jenni’s challenge blog post.  I truly apologize for this misunderstanding. 

BUT, don’t forget you have a chance to win one of four great prizes in my giveaway so hopefully that makes up for my boo-boo.

Now let’s move on to the challenge.  You have one more week to enter your card into the Summer Vacation Challenge.  One of the things I loved doing when visiting the cottage during the summer was fishing with my family!  I couldn’t get enough of it.  So, because of this, I chose this cute little image of a girl fishing from Lacy Sunshine, one of our sponsors for this challenge.  It really brought back those special memories.

 

 

The image from Lacy is of the girl and her fishing pole.  I placed her on a dock which I found in Google Images.  I added some glitter star-shaped brads and some ribbon which I tied in a knot off to the side.

 

 

 

Our required stash item for this challenge was rub-ons or stickers.  I chose to use a cloth sticker that I picked up at my local HomeSense.  I’m not sure if you have ever heard of HomeSense but if you have one near you, I would check it out for card making and scrapbooking supplies.  I was surprised by how much I found there and the best part of it all is that the prices are EXCELLENT!

 

 

Here is a peek at the inside…

 

That’s it for this post.  I hope you are enjoying your day.  Don’t forget to enter my 300 Follower Giveaway for a chance to win some great prizes!

I Love This Idea!!

 

I was visiting Virginia’s blog -- one of the Fresh Squeezed Stamps design team members -- and saw this idea posted.  I love it and wanted to share it with you.  Visit her blog here for more information on how you can make this, too.

Ready .. Set .. Giveaway!!

If you love paper crafting you’re going to love this giveaway!  I have not one but four fabulous giveaways.  Tons of great crafting products and goodies that you’ll be sure to enjoy!  

Unfortunately, with the cost of postage I must limit the snail mail portion of this giveaway to people who live in the U.S. or Canada.   BUT, don’t worry, there is still ample opportunity for my friends across the pond to win, too.  How great is that!!! 

Here’s the rundown…(please make sure you read all about the fabulous sponsors who are contributing to this giveaway.  This information is found after the Giveaway details under the heading ‘A Little About Our Contributors’.  They are all incredible and very generous and I couldn’t have done this without any of them!)

Giveaway# 1 (limited to Canada & the U.S. only)

I have put together a fabulous package of goodies that I’ve purchased just for my faithful followers here at A Piece Of Heart.  You’ll find products such as clear stamps, dies, gingham flowers, rub-on transfers, a burnishing tool, dimensional stickers, embossing folders, dies cuts, and tons more filling up your mailbox once this giveaway ends.  Here’s a sneak peak…

 

Giveaway# 2

• $15.00 Gift Certificate toward purchase of any digital stamps in the FBD store, donated by Fresh Brewed Designs
• “Spooky Hoots” digi stamp set, donated by Digi Scrap Kits

 

Giveaway# 3

• $10.00 Gift Certificate from DigiStamps4Joy, donated by A Piece Of Heart Blog (me, lol).
• 5 digis, donated by Digi Darla
• 4 digis, donated by Scribbles Designs
• Custom Designer Paper, donated by Décosse's Dynamite Doodles

 

Giveaway# 4

• $5.00 Gift Certificate, donated by KaDoodleBug Designs
• 3 digis, donated by Limited Runs
• 5 digis, donated by Creative Bug On The Loose
• 4 digis, donated by Scribbles Designs

 

A Little Bit About The Contributors

Digi Darla was formed by Kim Eskola and her teenage daughter, Emilea.  They both have a love for creating and designing digital stamps was their way of embarking on an incredible journey through cyberworld.  In collaboration with a few family friends, the Digi Darla store and the amazing stamps found there have been a huge success in the digi community.  When you visit the store you’ll see what I’m talking about!  I'm so excited and thrilled that they will be participating in this giveaway by generously agreeing to offer 5 digis of the winner's choice. Thanks so much, Karen!  You can find the store here >> http://www.digidarladesigns.com/

 

 

Sandy, from Scribbles Designs is a fellow Canadian who lives in British Columbia, a beautiful province surrounded by towering mountain peaks and deep blue ocean waters.  I'm sure she gathers much of her inspiration from the breathtaking scenery surrounding her.  The quirky, funky and fun images she creates are the perfect addition to great cards and projects.  Make sure you check out her blog – http://buyscribblesdesigns.blogspot.com - so you don't miss out on all the wonderful, new images in her store.  You'll also find some great tutorials and freebies there as well (among many other great things!).  Sandy is offering 2 packages with 4 digital images in each package. Thanks, Sandy!

 

 

It's quite obvious that Nikki at Limited Runs takes pride in her work!  You can definitely see it in the crisp black & white images she creates.  BUT, not only does Nikki create incredible digis, she also dabbles in card making, jewelry making, designing purses and she's even tried her hand at stained glass. This woman has it all! Her stamps can be found at http://limitedrunsstamps.blogspot.ca but you can also find her at http://graphixanddesign.blogspot.ca (cards & other paper products), and http://limitedruns.blogspot.ca (exclusively jewelry).  Nikki will be offering 3 digital images from Limited Runs to one of the lucky winners.  Thanks, Nikki!

 

 

I just absolutely adore Melissa Deuss, owner of KaDoodlebug Designs, and her fabulous work and I'm so excited that she is willing to participate in this giveaway by kindly offering a $5.00 gift certificate to KaDoodle Bug Designs!  Melissa is an incredible artist and her adorable designs are so much fun to work with.  She has a lot to offer with her digi stamps, clipart, paper piecing patterns, and cutting files and you don't want to miss out on any of it!  Melissa isn't the only artist in the family either.  Her precious 4 year old Kayla is quite the little artist herself.  Check this out ... http://kadoodlebugdesigns.blogspot.ca/2013/07/painting-and-peachy-keen-stamps.html.  Thanks, Melissa!

 

 

I have been a fan of  Trina Clark since I started designing years ago.  She was the first digi designer I was aware of when I first began digital and paper crafting and her work just really makes me smile.  I’m so happy I get to share her amazing designs with you all.  Trina began creating primitive and country graphics in 1999 and now operates a successful web based business, Digi Scrap Kits. Since early childhood, Trina has always loved to draw.  Her favorite Christmas presents were doodle pads, markers, pencils, and crayons.  Her talent inspires me to be a better designer.  Trina has graciously offered her “Spooky Hoots’ digi set for this giveaway.  Trina can also be found on her blog -- http://trinaclark.blogspot.ca/ – I encourage you to pop on over for a visit and, while you are there, make sure you congratulate her on her newest grandchild, baby Harper, who was just born this week.  Thanks, Trina!

 

 

If you are looking for the cutzie factor, sincerity or just straight up quirky you will love to dig into Naomi’s world of digital designz. Naomi Edwards, owner of Creative Bug Digital Stamps has created a hive to inspire card makers to take a plunge into the world of coloring.  Her store is fairly new but her love and increasing passion to create is sure to be evident as you buzz around taking in the view. If you are new to coloring digital images you will be pleased to know there are “how to videos” created by the lovely Christina from Card Making Magic who is  Spectrum Noir’s Accredited Instructor and Accredited Colorist Status! Drop on by and keep a look out for a new freebie biweekly!  Make sure to also check out Naomi on her blog -- http://scrapbookingforbeginners-naomi.blogspot.ca/.  Naomi has been kind enough to offer 5 digital images from Creative Bug On The Loose to one of the lucky winners of this giveaway.  Thanks, Naomi!

 

 

If you are looking for some freshly brewed inspiration, then you must visit Heather at Fresh Brewed Designs.  Fresh Brewed Designs is a small on-line company that has been offering a wide variety of digital images and rubber stamps since November 2010, designed to meet the needs of paper crafting addicts everywhere.  Owned and operated by Heather Dennis, loving wife and mother to two home-schooled children, you can always expect personalized service.  Whether you are looking for one of their uniquely designed coffee inspired images or something entirely different, you are sure to find something to please.  Heather and the Fresh Brewed Designs team would also love for you to visit them over on their blog (http://freshbreweddesigns.blogspot.com/) where inspiration is always percolating.  You will also find a digi release at least once a month as well as a monthly rubber stamp release and blog hop. Make sure to visit them on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fresh-Brewed-Designs/139388879447210) too.  You never know what other goodies you may find there.  Heather is contributing a $15 Digital Stamp Gift Card which can be used toward purchasing any digital stamps in the FBD shop.  Isn’t that awesome!  Thanks, Heather!

 

Are you interested in digital sentiments, papers and other embellishments?  How about a badge made especially for your blog?  If these are items you are interested in, you are going to want to check out Lisa at Décosse's Dynamite Doodles.  With over 100 freebies to choose from, and new ones added weekly, she just might have what you are looking for.  Along with the freebies she offers, she also creates blog badges and is in the process of putting some kits together.  Additionally, there is always inspiration to be found among her many different features.  Pop by and visit Lisa.  I know you’ll have a blast!  Lisa has graciously agreed to create a digital paper of your request from a group of offered choices.  Thanks, Lisa!

 

So how do you get in on all of this, you ask.  It’s very easy.  Just take a short walk through the PromoSimple widget and in no time at all you will be on your way to your chance at winning one of the incredible giveaways being offered. 

Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that this is all new territory for me and there may be some glitches along the way *crossing my fingers there aren’t* so please have patience as I work to fix any problems that arise.  Thank you!

Alright, get ready, get set, let’s giveaway!!!!

 

A Piece Of Heart
300 Follower Giveaway!

What I’ve Been Up To…

I just wanted to let you all know that I’ve been very busy getting ready for the upcoming giveaway.  I’m really excited about it and I promise you, it will be worth the wait.  I’m hoping to post it up this coming weekend (if not sooner) so please keep an eye on this blog for more details. 

I am also in the midst of clearing out my basement and getting ready for a garage sale so I’m up to my ears in “stuff” today.  I have cleared a bunch out but there is still sooooooooo much more. My advice to you all … throw things out or give them to a charity when you are done with them.  I have almost 30 years of things down there to go through.  I promise you, though, I’m not a hoarder haha.

I hope you are all having a great day. 

Clear It Out Challenge–Summer Vacation

A new Clear Out Challenge has been posted and it’s time to empty out your stash and play along in another fab challenge!

The challenge this month is:

• Theme:  Summer Vacation
• Requirement: Use stickers or rub-ons

 

You have 2 weeks to play along (until August 19th).

 

Our sponsors this week are:

 

 

When I think of summer vacation I think about going away with my family.  For that reason, I chose the fun image below from The Stamping Chef.

 

 

I used star stickers as the required stash item. 

 

 

 

I kept it fairly simple except for one small detail which, unfortunately, cannot be seen in action.  I made my own wobbler from wire and a couple of adhesive pads and attached the rocket to it so that it would wobble back and forth with the flick of a finger.  It makes for a fun, interactive card.

 

 

That’s about it for this one.  Thanks for looking and come back soon!

Update..Giveaway

I promised to post the instructions and details of the giveaway for this week but I’m still working on how I’m going to package stuff affordably.  I didn’t realize postage was so stinkin’ much!!  So, with that said, I’m going to delay posting until I have each package together and I go to the post office to determine the weight. I put some fake #’s into a rate finder on Canada Post website and .. yikes .. $100.00 for shipping! That’s just not something I can afford.   For those of you who have hosted giveaways before, what have you found the best way to do this affordably?

So sorry for the delay!  I should have had all this organized before I let the ‘cat out of the bag’ but I was so excited I had stuff to giveaway that I didn’t think about the rest of it.  Please don’t think I’m a flake..I promise I’ll get this figured out as soon as possible!  Thanks for understanding.