The Liebster Award

Good evening fellow crafters! I hope you have all had a fantastic weekend so far! Today I am posting without showing a project because back on February, 28. 2014. the wonderful Linda over at Lin's Craft Corner nominated me along with some other fantastic bloggers for the Liebster Award on her post here and I am ashamed to say that I forgot all about it :( I was completely honored because 1.) Linda is one of my most frequent blog visitors and often leaves a very nice comment! and 2.) I've never been nominated for a blog award!

If you haven't heard of the Liebster Award or even know what the heck it is, you can find all the details here. I was a little confused at first because there are several different sets of rules for the award, and then there is an official set of rules of the award towards the bottom of the blog post. So I wasn't sure if I was supposed to follow the official set of rules or pick one of the sets of rules to follow..make sense? Anywho, Linda gave me her own set of questions to answer, so here are my answers:


1. How long have you been making cards? I've been fascinated with making beaded jewelry since I was a teenager. My older sister would take seed beads and make little flower bracelets out of them and I thought they were so pretty, so I taught myself to make jewelry. Everything I know about making jewelry, I am self-taught. After my first daughter was born in 2004, I really got into scrapbooking. The idea of taking plain ol' photos and jazzing them up with some awesome layouts and embellishments was the coolest new thing to me! I loved it, I couldn't get enough. I was first introduced to Stampin' Up around 2007 when I attended a Hostess workshop, and was hooked ever since.
2. When did you start blogging? My family and I have used to internet for as long as I can remember. I am not that old, but I do remember dial-up days, DOS computer systems, and even the sound of the dial-up modems! I had wanted to start a blog for a while but was worried about not getting enough readers or followers, but I thought what the heck, I needed to find inspiration and fellow crafters who loved to do what I did, and I just love reading other peoples blog stories and seeing their projects. I launched my blog in March of 2010.
3. What are your favorite color combinations? I love pairing Kraft cardstock with subtle colors. I have yet had the chance to own any Papertrey Ink stamp pads, so the majority of my stamping pads are Stampin' Up. My favorite collection to use from them is the Subtles collection because they work so well with Kraft cardstock.
4. Who is your favorite Card Designer? Oh, man, it is so hard to pick just one. It is insane how many different card designers are out in blogland, I can spend hours upon hours browsing other designers card galleries, but I guess if I had to choose just one, Dawn McVey is my favorite. She is never afraid to step outside the box and always create such beautiful cards. I love the way she can take any Papertrey Ink floral stamp set and create something wonderful with it! Plus, I have to admit I am a little jealous of all her international travel adventures!
5. What do you do with all of the cards you make? If I really, really love a card that I make, I have to admit that I hoard it for a while. I do keep all my handmade cards in Photo boxes so sell through my Etsy shop, or to have in case I need one for a friend or family member.
6. What are your favorite kinds of stamps: flowers, geometric symbols, backgrounds, etc? I love image stamps, anything that is easy to color. When I first started getting into stamping, I really liked stamping in black ink and going back in and coloring the images in with my Prismacolor Markers. My favorite stamp sets to use are the Papertrey Ink Tiny and Tremendous treats stamp sets. They are so fun to use, even if not for the holiday they are created for! I am trying to get more into stamping images with colored inks and I getting more used to color combinations.
7. What style of cards do you make? CAS, Layered, Shabby Chic, etc? Clean and Simple. I love to make a simple card set. If I sell a card in my Etsy shop, I try to make it worthwhile to my customers by offering them a card set that they can use for a while. I realize that not everyone wants this and some people just want a specific card or two, and am working on creating different card styles now so I can have more single cards on hand.
8. What challenges do you enter? If I have time, my favorite challenge to enter is Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday Challenge. It is nice to have a weekly challenge with a video tutorial and I like that I different Design team member comes up with something new every week. This challenge has definitely helped me improve my stamping and cardmaking techniques over the last few years!

In the "official" set of Liebster Award rules, it says to name 11 random facts about yourself.

1. I am a middle child with 4 sisters.
2. I have 2 children, both girls, and one fur-baby.
3. I am an introvert.
4. I do not have a best friend. (I blame random fact #3)
5. I plan and hope to go to pharmacy school within the next 5 years.
6. I would rather read the book than watch the movie.
7. I graduated in 2003 and have been able to keep the same job since 2005.
8. My life partner and I have been together since 2001.
9. I am currently addicted to playing the game Hay Day.
10. I love to run, have done 2 half-marathons, and hope to complete a marathon before I turn 30 (I only have 4 months left, yikes!)
11. I work 6 days a week and am secretly super excited for the summer so I can spend some much-needed time with my kiddos!

5 Blogs that I nominate to receive this award:

1.) What did I do today?
2.) Lefty Scrapper
3.) The Scrap Yard
4.) Love Papercrafting
5.) Pattie's Crafty Cave

The questions that I would like these lovely, wonderful Crafty ladies to answer are:

1.) Who, if anyone, influenced you to start crafting and how long have you been doing it?
2.) What is your favorite crafting technique/style (card making, scrapbooking, jewelry making, etc.)?
3.) What is your favorite crafting company or store?
4.) Where is your favorite place to create?
5.) What is your favorite way to stay organized?
6.) What is your favorite die-cutting machine?
7.) What was your first big crafting splurge and was it worth it?
8.) Is there anything in your crafting stash that you refuse to use on a project?
9.) What 3 crafting tools can you not work without?
10.) If you could have any crafter/designer come to your house and give you free tutorials, who would it be?

Whew! I think this is the longest that it has ever taken me to write a blog post! Those questions sure got me thinking! I have to thank Linda again for thinking of me when she was nominated for this award. I really hope that with the summer coming up here in a few days, I have more time to craft and spend here in my craft room. It has been so hot outside this past week that I will definitely not mind staying home and inside most of the week! We reached a record high of 109 degrees here this week!

Anywho, thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to read through my whole post, enjoy the rest of your weekend!