Spring Fling Blog Hop

Hi there!  Welcome to Crafty Neighbor!  If you are here today as part of the Busy Chicks Spring Fling Blog Hop, you have come to the right place.  If you want to start at the beginning, please hop over to The Little Blue House, where Miss Tracy will tell you all about our little hop and how you can win some fabulous prizes from our participating blogs.  We have 13 wonderful businesses from the North Texas area participating in the blog this time, and I know you’ll just love some of the prizes we’ll be giving away -- including a prize from me -- a $150 cruise voucher good towards classes and group fees on one of our scrapbooking cruises!

If you’ve visited this blog before, welcome back, Neighbor! If this is your first time to Crafty Neighbor, welcome, and please allow me to introduce myself…I’m Cindy Murray, and I am the owner of Crafty Neighbor and Crafty Neighbor Travel.  I often call myself an event organizer, but really, Crafty Neighbor is so much more than that.  Remember the old-fashioned quilting bees and barn-raising parties?  That’s the way I view the crafting.  I like to see crafters coming together to learn new techniques, scrapbook at different venues, and meet new friends. I host crops, retreats, classes, workshops, and even scrapbooking cruises and garage sales -- my mission is to bring crafters together and to support the scrapbooking and paper-crafting industries.  In the digital age, we’re all neighbors now, right? 

In my spare time, I also run this blog, which I like to view as a source of news, tips, tricks, and inspiration for scrapbooking and paper-crafting of all kinds. If you are curious about the kinds of posts I usually do, you can access the archives on the left or you can search for posts by specific topics just below that.  Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think!

If you started at the beginning, you’ll know that Miss Tracy has instructed you to collect flowers for your "Pick-Me" Bouquet.  I chose the Iris in honor of the ones growing in my own flowerbeds -- heirloom plants that have been in my family for many generations, I’ve dug them up and brought them with me wherever we’ve moved. 

I did a little research hoping to find a clever tutorial to share with you on how to make a paper iris using punches or something, and I was really surprised at just how many different kinds of projects turned up with the search term “paper iris”.  I found Iris fold cards , Mechanical Iris greeting cards, and even an Origami Iris, which I made, but was not happy with. 

Finally, I searched my Cricut fonts for “iris” and found a lovely die cut on the 50 States cartridge, so I opted to make a card for you today.

DId you know that the Iris is the state flower of Tennessee?

If you like my card and you want to see more crafty posts, please follow my blog by using one of the subscription links on the left.  You can also find me on Facebook, Flickr, and you can even join our mailing list. 

Now, don’t forget to pick your flower from this page and then hop on over to the Very Vintage Retreat  to pick a flower there.  Thanks for stopping by, and Good Luck!

The Little Things

Hey Neighbors!  Thanks for stopping by our blog during The Craft Squad blog hop!  I hope you enjoyed all the projects we prepared for you and that you’ll come back to visit more often.  Some of the blogs in our hop post daily, so be sure to subscribe so you won’t miss any of the great projects we post in the future.  You can subscribe to the Crafty Neighbor “Neighborhood Gossip” blog using the gadget boxes over on the left. 

In the mean time, I wanted to announce that the winner of the blog hop is:

Jean Bullock

Jean wins a prize from each of our participating blogs.   Jean please contact us with your mailing address so we can send your prizes!

As you know, our theme for the hop was “Love is in the Air”, but LOAD is what’s on my mind -- both the virtual kind and the figurative.  I started LOAD this month with high hopes of completing all 28 layouts (one for each day), but after getting a call that my father suffered a heart attack last night, I have a different kind of load on my mind.  That said, I’m going to be posting a few of my LOAD layouts that I’ve done to date and I’ll try to catch back up, but if I miss a day or two, I hope you won’t mind.

A family crisis sure makes you appreciate all the little things, and that was exactly the topic of LOAD Day 2.  Lain challenged us to scrapbook about the little things, and I chose this picture of my son enjoying an ice cream after a very challenging week away at college.

I’ve been trying to keep my LOAD pages simple since I haven’t had a lot of time to work on them.  This one was a little extra challenging because it’s supposed to go in my son’s college scrapbook, which I’m doing in his school colors of maroon and white.  Luckily, I found this paper which is maroon with blue, pink and cream polka dots.  The ice cream embellishments were created with Stampin’ Up’s Mouthwatering stamp set.

One of the reasons I do LOAD every year is because it challenges me to do pages I wouldn’t have thought of other wise.  I’m terribly guilty of tackling my family scrapbooks in a chronological order, devoting most of my attention to the big events: births, birthdays, weddings, graduations, etc.  And while those things are important, it’s really the little things that tend to mean the most to us when we think back on our lives, and they are the things that make us who we are.  So be sure to document all those little things…like the time your sister got gum in her hair or the joy of eating your favorite comfort food or even the relief of getting to work and finding your lost iPhone right there on your desk.  You’ll be glad you did!

Love is in the Air

Welcome to Crafty Neighbor’s “Neighborhood Gossip” blog, and welcome to The Craft Squad’s monthly blog hop.  The hop starts right here, so grab a cup of coffee or your favorite beverage, and get ready to visit some fun and fabulous blogs from The Craft Squad.  And be sure to read through to the end to find out how you can win one of the prizes we’ll be giving away on each of the blogs.

If you are new to Crafty Neighbor, my name is Cindy Murray, and I am the owner of Crafty Neighbor and Crafty Neighbor Travel.  I host crops, retreats, classes, workshops, and even scrapbooking cruises and garage sales, but my real mission is to bring crafters together and support the scrapbooking and paper-crafting industries by providing fun and unique opportunities to learn new techniques, scrapbook at different venues, and meet new friends.  I also run this blog, which I like to view as a source of news, tips, tricks, and inspiration for scrapbooking and paper-crafting of all kinds. 

Our February blog theme is “Love is in the Air”, and we are, of course, referring to Valentine’s Day, which is coming up in less than two weeks.  I decided this would be a good opportunity to use my time wisely and make my Valentine for my own sweet husband, Mark, so that’s what I’m sharing with you today.  I always like to make him a really special card, because he actually appreciates them.  And it doesn’t hurt that he brings me my favorite Valentine candy – Godiva Chocolates.  I just love those chocolates!  I love any chocolate, really, but the Godivas are so good, I have been known to buy them for him on Valentine’s Day just to be sure I got some!

This card is full of texture and color, but it was super easy to make.  I just cut a bunch of hearts of varying sizes from different papers, colored a Tim Holtz grungeboard “U” and glossed over it with Diamond Glaze, and stuck it all together.  A list of the materials used is available for download by clicking here.

I hope you liked my card.  If you would like to see some of my previous posts and projects, scroll down to the “Blog Archives” on the left, or you can search for posts by specific topics just below that.  Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think!  You can also find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/craftyneighbor, on Pinterest at http://www.pinterest.com/c1ndyluhu/, or on the web at http://www.craftyneighbor.com.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today!  Be sure to subscribe using one of the links on the left to be eligible to win one of our awesome prizes! 

HOW to WIN:

Beginning today February 5th through February 9th, simply visit each of the sites listed below.  Become a follower of their blog or sign up for their newsletter. Read the post and look for a Valentine’s candy treat (a different candy will be mentioned on each blog). As you hop from site to site, you must collect ALL the candies! When you are done, you will send your name and candy list to:

TheCraftSquad@hotmail.com

Your email is your entry to win a prize from one of our seven participating blogs!!!!  The winners will be announced on Monday, February 10^th on each of the blogs.

Here’s the list of participating blogs

Crafty Neighbor
http://craftyneighbor.blogspot.com/2014/02/love-is-in-air.html

Stamp-Patty's
http://www.stamppattys.com/2014/02/love-is-in-air.html

Treasure Chest of Memories
http://TreasureChestofMemories.com/Love-is-in-the-air/

The 'Thrifty & Organized' Scrapper with I Finally Got It Right INC.
http://www.ifinallygotitrightproductsinfo.com/origami-owl/love-is-in-the-air-with-origami-owl

Roxie's Stamping Room
http://roxiesstampingroom.blogspot.com/2014/02/Love-is-in-the-air.html

Lisa T Loves to Stamp
http://lisatstamps.blogspot.com/2014/02/love-is-in-air_3.html

That’s it for now, so be sure to hop on over to the next blog: Stamp-Patty's at http://www.stamppattys.com/2014/02/love-is-in-air.html  Patty Chenail will have another candy for you to collect.

Don't forget to become a follower and Good Luck!!!