Sidebar wishes & blog candy dreams.....

I need to figure out how to set up a sidebar for blog candy - maybe then it won't look like all I do is blog about other people's blog candy!! When I'm a little more adept at blogging, I'm going to change the layout of my blog & a sidebar will definitely be on my list of requirements.

Anyway, just a quick note to tell you about Pauline's candy at Passion for Papercraft. She's just reached her 1 year Blogoversary & 20,000 hits too! It's a "must enter" for Penny Black fans - she's giving away a stamp set, stamped images, & more. While you're there be sure to check out some of her fabulous cards - this one is one of my favorites. (closes July 12)

Joanne at Stampin' Up! My Way is having a Copic candy giveaway to celebrate the 1st Northern Papercraft Retreat - if you're in the UK you might want to check it out - sounds like fun! (winner to be drawn July 31)

Computer Issues............

I was doing better with my posts in the month of June & then the computer problems started. First it was issues with the computer not wanting to stay connected to the internet & now it rarely wants to connect period. Hopefully my computer guy (i.e. Dad) will take a look at it soon & tell me that it will be a simple fix. All I have to do is get myself in gear & walk next door with my laptop but it just hasn't happened yet.....LOL. That's kind of sad, isn't it? Maybe I'll do that this evening.

My shopping weekend is rapidly approaching & I've been trying to track down more stores that I "need" to go to while in Columbus. So far we're planning to hit Michael's, JoAnn's, Archivers, Hobby Lobby, Dick Blick, & Scrapbook Groupies. I didn't account for stores being closed or closing early) for the holiday so we'll have to see if we can work them all in. Trina requested going to a TJ Maxx or Marshall's & I'll make sure we get to 1, if not both, of those since she's nice enough to accompany me on my whirlwind trip!

Depending on what time we arrive Friday night we may just grab a slice of cheesecake & hang out in our hotel room, or we may try to get to a couple of stores that night & save the cheesecake for Saturday night. I've been wanting to see the movie The Proposal so there's a good chance that might be our Saturday evening entertainment. Basically you could say that we'll be somewhat playing it by ear. I'm hoping we get to do everything we planned but I'm just looking forward to having a weekend where I don't have to do anything!!

One more quick thing before I go.....Abby has blog candy to celebrate becoming a member of The Next Level design team. Her candy is open until midnight (EST) July 5. She makes some beautiful things so be sure to check out her blog.

For your entertainment.....

If you're looking for something entertaining - it might even make you giggle - check out Cake Wrecks. This blogger posts photos of cakes with misspelled words, awful artistry, & (my personal favorite) sometimes even the decorating instructions right on the cake - see example above.

It's not all bad though, they do "Sunday Sweets" weekly which features fabulous cakes on a different theme each time. Some recent themes were Star Trek, cakes that look like candy, & cakes based on books. Here are a few of my favorite Sweets:

Isn't he adorable??? There are a few more cuddly little dragons by the same cake artist - I think I picked this one because of his colors.



These little flower pot cakes are just gorgeous! They almost look like real flowers - especially the paler roses.



To really appreciate the detail in this one, you should check out this bigger photo. Pretty amazing, isn't it? Like a lot of the sweets, it doesn't even look like a cake! The blogger really hit the nail on the head when she said it looks like a Hallmark ornament.

Shopping trip!

I'm going shopping!!! No, not now, but soon! My friend, Trina, & I decided we needed to get out of our little town, so we're going to the big(ger) city of Columbus, Ohio for a couple of days. Why Columbus? To be honest, I've been dying to get back to Archivers since I was last there in February & the closest one is in Columbus. The lady at a local scrapbooking store was telling me about Hobby Lobby the other day so I'm hoping to check them out while I'm there too. Throw Michael's & Jo-Ann's into the mix & my bank account may be in serious trouble!

We booked a hotel on Priceline & it looks to be pretty nice - 3.5 stars - and we got it for less than $100 for 2 nights! I was pretty pleased with that deal, and then I was looking online & saw that there are a couple of Hobby Lobby stores within 5 miles, and we're like 7 miles from Archivers (and The Cheesecake Factory - yummmm....). That made the deal even sweeter for me! Now I just have to be patient & wait a few weeks till we actually get to go - easier said than done.

My goal is to actually enter a card making challenge sometime soon. I have a bunch of them bookmarked on my computer & I keep checking them out, but haven't had the courage to actually do one. In the meantime I keep visiting tons of you blogging crafters & I'm so blown away by the talent & creativity!

A few yummy Blog Candy Giveaways I wanted to tell you about:

• Allison is celebrating a belated 1st Blogoversary (and over 25,000 hits!)
• Michelle is giving away blog candy in honor of reaching 75,000 hits - wow! (check out her adorable donkeys while you're there)
• Martine is celebrating becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator by giving away some awesome candy!
• Dianne is trying to reach 250 followers - how about giving her a hand? Her candy is pretty fantastic (as are the cards she makes)!
  

So much blog candy.....I'm stuffed!

Wow - ok, so everytime I go blog hopping I see such fantastic candy & so many times it's things that I can find here in my rural area so, of course, I have to enter the giveaway. I think maybe I should quit spending so much time visiting other blogs & work on my own! It's so much easier to browse through other people's blogs & appreciate all the talent out there than it is to try to figure out what to say on here, I guess. There is such an amazing variety of blogs - the more I see the more determined I am to get rid of my generic layout! Please be patient, it may take a while before I find the right look. I seem to have misplaced my camera at the moment, but I really will be posting pictures of my cards at some point - I promise! In the meantime, here's some more yummy blog candy for you to check out!

Nikki at Smells Like Homemade is giving away this assortment of goodies to celebrate her growing blog popularity (there should be a word for that - maybe blogularity?!). Not only is her candy fabulous but so is her blog - I've looked at most of the cards she's posted & I can honestly say I haven't seen one that I don't like!! (expires June 15)



Next, check out Create4fun's blog - it's a pink & green theme that makes me feel like Spring! It's a Copic giveaway on this one. I'll be honest, I hadn't even heard of Copic markers (let alone used them) until the last month but I've seen beautiful results from so many of you cardmakers that I'm dying to try them myself! (expires May 24)


Wendy at Creations by Louby Loo is celebrating 10,000 hits (WOW!!) with an amazing variety of items including dies, papers, stamps & more. She also has her own line of digital downloads for crafting - I've never tried digital stamping but I may just have to give her stuff a try! (expires June 1)



Take a moment to visit Gayle at Little Bird Design - I love the color combinations she uses on her cards. Don't forget to sign up for her blog candy while you're there (she has even packaged it prettily in a crafting bag). (expires May 31)



I hope you take the time to visit these blogs created by these amazingly talented people!

Fabulous blog candy to sign up for!

I just wanted to take a minute to tell you about some fabulous blog candy from a couple of blogs I follow. Carly at Carlz Cards is celebrating 30,000 hits by giving away this beautiful assortment of stamps, papers, & embellishments. Check out the fantastic cards she makes - you'll be glad you did! It's really a beautiful blog - I love the embroidered/embellished look of her blog set-up.

After you sign up for Carly's blog candy head over to Debbie's blog, Passion For Crafts, & sign up for her blog candy! I must say that Debbie has both one of the "awesomest" (is that a word??) blogs & the best giveaways I've seen in a while. I absolutely love the clarity of pictures of the cards she makes. Plus she's got skills with Copics! In fact, I think it was on her blog that I first heard of Copic markers (have yet to get my hands on any but I can't wait to try them out!). Take a look at this card she made for a recent Penny Black card challenge - I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't love to receive something so pretty!

Magazines or Storage Units??

I am a member of My Points which is a site that sends you emails to read, surveys, etc., you get points for visiting the websites in the emails, answering the surveys and then you can redeem your points for cool stuff. Usually I redeem mine for Barnes & Noble gift cards but I've decided to go outside the box this time. I've been debating between a $50 Magazines.com gift code or an $50 Amazon.com gift code. If I go with Magazines.com I'll be using the code for a couple of craft magazines I've had my eye on for a while. On the other hand, Amazon.com has some storage units that would be fabulous for all my craft supplies. Decisions, decisions......

In the end I decided to go with the Magazines.com gift code since my craft room isn't ready yet & the storage units would just be sitting around the house taking up space. Instead I'm going to subscribe to PaperCrafts and CardMaker. That way I'll (hopefully) have some ideas to try out when my craft room is ready! Makes sense, right? Even after purchasing those two I still have money left on the code so I'll have to decide if I want another magazine or cash - great, another decision! Can anyone think of an awesome magazine I should use the rest of my $$$ on??

By the way, if you're interested in signing up for MyPoints, check out their website at MyPoints.com & sign up! Or you can email me at auntyjan(at)hotmail(dot)com & I can send you right to the sign up link - I'll get some more points for referring you if you do that, but no hard feelings if you just sign yourself up :)