My Thoughts on Word Verification

Heya, blogland! Hope your week is going well. 

Today I have a non-crafty post, yet it has everything to do with crafting and well, the world wide web in general! Lately I've been seeing a lot of bloggers mention word verification and how much they *ahem* dislike it. I definitely sit on the same side of the fence with them and blatantly have no problem in telling you so. What is word verification? It's exactly what you see below and most commonly found with blogs via Blogger. If you have a blog and don't know what this is, you may have it turned on and not even know it!

 

No problem, I'll tell you exactly what it is. It is an annoying little feature that makes readers have to verify that they are indeed human before being able to leave you a comment on your blog. I have over 200+ blogs that I subscribe to online and as I age, I guarantee you that it will increase! So when I take the time to give you some feedback, I expect to leave my comments without any hassle. Word verification is a big hassle. In fact, sometimes it takes me 2-5 tries before I'm able to leave some compliments on your blog and by that time, you're lucky I haven't even given up! It frustrates me to no end when I've tried that many times to "prove that I'm not a robot." 

If spam is annoying (it is!), you have options to filter spam on your settings and so what if the odd spam message goes through? It's just an extra commitment you have as a blog owner to go and delete it. Really, really hate spam?! No worries, just turn off word verification and change your settings so that you need to approve/review all comments before they get posted on your blog. Easy peasy!

That's just my little vent of the day. Please be a good blogging neighbour and turn off word verification. I'll return with regular programming tomorrow. ;)

TGF & CAS: You Make My Heart Flutter!

Hello there and happy new week! 

I had quite the relaxing weekend and was able to spend some time over a good meal with friends on Saturday. I'll post more about that after I show you my super CAS card using The Greeting Farm's Flutter Heart set:

Definitely not my usual style of card making, but I had this idea in my head for the longest time! It can be used for anyone you love, too. I was tempted to add some more embellishments but figured that the bright rainbow coloured hearts said enough.

Getting back to the weekend; I woke up on Saturday morning and had this craving for a breakfast sandwich and so that's what I ended up making:

Later in the afternoon, I went and got my haircut; I usually go shorter in the Spring:

Saturday evening, the Beau and I joined our friends at Salad de Fruits in Vancouver and it was absolutely delicious! For all my Vancouverite friends, I would highly recommend this authentic French bistro. I originally ordered their veal special, but ended up trading my friend for his chicken, lol. I was able to snap a quick photo of the veal before switching it up though:

This is how I spent my Sunday morning:

Loved this weekend! Cheers to having a great week!

Supplies:

Stamps - Flutter Heart (TGF)

Paper - Paper Trey Ink

Ink - Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun, Pear Pizzazz, Cool Caribbean, Rich Razzleberry (Stampin' Up!)

RTB93 - Mardi Gras PARTY!!!

TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yelling this at the top of my lungs, people!!! LOL ;)

Before I move onto the Raise the Bar Challenge this week, I wanted to show you my newest pretty that arrived here last week (thanks Naomi, lol):

I cannot wait to play with this on my cards and now sew on other related crafty/artsy things. Hooray! 

So let's get this party started, in honour of Mardi Gras, the Bar-tenders want to see your best par-tay colours of purple, green and one other colour.

 

I kept the colours more or less true to Mardi Gras and just used mostly purpke and greens with white. As you can see, this was my first sewing card and it definitely shows! LOL I am going to continue practicing as I totally need it. I wasn't even going to post this card, but ya know what? 6 months down the road, I am going to be grateful for what I did and what I can do. 

Hope to see you playing along with us! If you upload to any online galleries, please label RTB93 for your keywords.

To see what the other Bar-tenders have created, please check out all of their blogs below:

Joni

Julie
Peggy

Wanda

Have a wonderful weekend!

Supplies:
Stamps - Labels 16 (Layers of Colors), sentiment (CTMH)
Paper -Piggy Tales, Stampin' Up!
Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento), Violet & Bamboo (Versacolor)
Accessories -  Copic markers, pearls (Kaiser), Labels 16 (Spellbinders), Janome Sew Mini, Sulky thread

Simply Anya, Simply Chic

Hi there! Another week that is flyin' by I tell ya! 

Since my friend advised me that she received my card, I have the go ahead to show this special card I made. ;) This past winter, a couple of my friends were betrothed. <-- lol I've always gotten a kick out of that word. Since I have been so busy this past little season, I finally was able to make some cards for them! I'll show you the other one another day, but the first one goes out to Tom & Crystal, congratulations you two!

I dedicated the card to Crystal because I know how much she loves getting The Greeting Farm images and this Simply Anya, with her red hair, does look like her! 

I added some bling to her "finger" but you can't see it unless it's up close or in person.

 

I'm adding in this other Simply Anya card to show you just how versatile you can make the TGF images. The same image can be turned into another one of my friends with a few strokes of Copic markers! Voila boys and girls! LOL

Hooray for one more work day only! I'll see you tomorrow for the Raise the Bar Challenge. xo

Supplies:

Engagement card:

Stamps - Simply Anya, Cake Topper (TGF)

Paper - Stampin' Up!

Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento), Summer Sun (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories - Copic markers, circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), border punch (Stampin' Up!), ribbon & lace (Offray), rhinestone gem & pearls (Kaiser)

You are Special card:

Stamps - Simply Anya, Lucky Bunnies (TGF)

Paper - Stampin' Up!

Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento), Pink (Versacolor)

Accessories - Copic markers, oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders), border punch (Stampin' Up!), ribbon (Creative Packaging),  pearls (Kaiser), white pen (Ranger)

Showcasing TGF's Creeper Madden - You Rock!

Happy Hump Day!!! What have you been up to so far this week?

I've been busy playing catching up with Blogland after work and firing off emails as I fell a little bit behind the last couple of weeks. I hope that you've had a more relaxing week than me, lol.

Today I wanted to showcase a card that totally ROCKS! No, I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but using a play on words, ha. Yes, it's that Creeper Madden again rockin' out with blue and black hair. You all gave me such nice compliments on the first card I made with Madden with blonde and pink hair that I thought I'd try out black and blue. 

What do you think? She totally rocks it eh! The inspiration for my layout came from Jen's Deconstructed Sketch #39:

Have a terrific day and I will be back tomorrow with some more TGF *Wink* 

Supplies:

Stamps - Creeper Madden, sentiment from the Creeper Crew set (TGF)

Paper - Paper Trey Ink, Stampin' Up!, unknown

Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento), Sapphire (Versacolor), Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories - Copic markers, star dies (My Favorite Things), circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), star embossing folder (Lifestyle Crafts), Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels)

Hockey Night in Canada - Canucks Jersey Card

G'day to you, readers! Hope that your week has started out smoothly.

Last Wednesday, the Beau and I were off to watch my first (Canucks) hockey game! I gave him tickets as part of his birthday gift and thought we could have a fun date night out together. So of course I also had to spruce up his birthday card to fit the theme! ;)

I had this idea to make the Canucks jersey into a card and I am ever so thankful that they have a fairly easy logo to recreate/handmake.

The look on his face when he opened up the card was priceless. :) His favourite player on the team is #1, Roberto Luongo, the goal tender.

 

This is a quick snap of us via Instagram before the game. You can't see it in this photo, but I am just swimming in this size small men's jersey, lol!

It was a good game we played against Colorado Avalanche and even though we were worried thorughout the second period, we ended up winning 3-1. 

Thanks for stoppin' by and I hope you have a great Tuesday!

Supplies:

Paper - Bazzill, Stampin' Up!

Accessories - corner punch, circle punches (EK Success), number die (Quickutz)

Liebster Blog Award

Er... *rubs eyes and yawns* Happy Monday?!

LOL I will likely still be a little sleepy today, but some tea first thing in the morning should do it! I am just writing this before I go to bed on Sunday night. I wanted to share a very special award I received from Grace of Sugar Cards last week.

She presented me with the Liebster Blog Award and trust me when I say that I don't get these often! Thank you, Grace, for always leaving me sweet words on my blog. Truly an honour to receive this.

These awards give small bloggers with less than 200 followers some well deserved recognition for their creations.  Here are the rules:

• Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
• Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
• Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
• Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed.
• Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

 Here are my 5 blogs:

1. Suzanne Bier 
2. Chelsea Comer
3. Annie Rose
4. Boriville
5. Angie Reece

All five of these Liebster Blog award recipients fit the description above and I am off to give them their recognition and let them know they received this from me! Well deserved, ladies! Please join me in giving them some love, too!

Flashback Friday Challenge 20.0 - Black & White

Greetings Blogland!!! 

Just poppin' in to play along with the Flashback Friday Challenge V. 20.0...

I am actually embarassed to be linking up this card, but it just goes to show you how much my style and the paper crafting world has changed. I made this 5 years ago this month! Craziness!!! lol It took me awhile to find this card as I rarely work in black and white only. I usually like to pair black and white with a third colour to give the project some interest. 

But sometimes, black and white says it best!

Guess what else? Amy went shopping and she's giving away a huge prize pack!!! So I hope to see you playing and hopping along as well to have a chance at winning the prize pack.

If you want to see the supplies I used, please click here for the original post.

Thanks for stoppin' in to see me today. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. :)

RTB92 - Rock Star Madden

Hello and happy Friday, friends!!!

This week has FLOWN by for me, but I'm still happy that the weekend is here! lol I was out with the Beau for Valentine's on Tuesday and then we went to watch my first Canucks hockey game on Wednesday. That left me very tired on Thursday and thankful for Friday! *wink*

This week over at Raise the Bar, we are challenging you to make projects with a side of chips. We want to see you using chipboard on your projects. :)

This card was suppose to be more rock, but I would hedge my bet towards shabby or something in between. I had Madden's hair coloured up for awhile now and I just needed to find the perfect clothing colour combo for her. I hope the colours don't look too Christmas-like? My side of chips is the Tattered Angels frame.

Did you also hear? I'm so happy that Kim Yu is getting sketchy with it and she's started a monthly sketch challenge. I was inspired by her first sketch below:

Hope to see you playing along with us! If you upload to any online galleries, please label RTB92 for your keywords.

To see what the other Bar-tenders have created, please check out all of their blogs below:

Joni

Julie
Peggy

Wanda

Enjoy the weekend! xo

Supplies:
Stamps - Madden (The Greeting Farm), sentiment (Studio G)
Paper - Real Red, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!), Bazzill
Ink - Black ( Versacolor), Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories -  Copic markers, pearls (Kaiser), chipboard & glimmer mist (Tattered Angels), circle punch (EK Success), border punch (Stampin' Up!)

DYSU - Guest DT Post - Little Miss Muffet Stamps

Hello!! I hope that you're having a wonderful week so far. I know this week is flying by for me, especially since the Beau and I went to watch the Canucks hockey game tonight (February 15th). It was my first hockey game and I just trying to type up a storm here before going to bed, lol. 

I was sooo thrilled when the Team Lead, Joan, over at Do You Stack Up Challenge Blog asked me to be their Guest Designer for this week. I am joining them for Challenge # 59: Layers.

I was given Opal Wishes from Little Miss Muffet Stamps to use and this is what I came up with for my layers challenge:

I think I can count 8 layers in there and this excludes the flowers and the pearls! Thanks so much for letting me play with you gals at the DYSU Challenge Blog this week!

The inspiration for the layout comes from February's Sketch For You To Try as seen below:

Thanks for poppin' in to see me today! Hopefully the rest of your week goes by smoothly. :)

Supplies:

Stamps - Opal Wishes (Little Miss Muffet), Lucky Bunnies (The Greeting Farm)

Paper - Kissing Booth (Basic Grey), So Saffron, Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette (Stampin' Up!)

Ink - Creamy Brown (Versacolor), Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Accessories - Copic markers, pearls (Kaiser), picot circles die (Spellbinders), flowers (Prima), corner rounder punch (EK Success)

Happy Heart Day 2012

Because you can't eat flowers. Cookies By George. Yummy, yummy cookies!!!

Because red roses have been the tradition of the past 3 years...

Because we didn't want a schmancy dinner, we opted for one of our local sushi places.

I DO believe that Valentine's is a bit of a gimmick, but I admit, I can't help not being a girl and taking it all! lol I hope you had a great one. If you don't celebrate Valentine's - just remember that you are fabulous and to take a moment for YOU. xo

TGF Valentine's Day

Hello Blogland readers! ;)

I hope that you had a great weekend. I was busy running around helping a girlfriend's mom with a baby shower so it was a bit of a whirlwind weekend for me. Hopefully some pictures to show you this week!

I wanted to showcase some Valentine ideas; I know that we all have to sometimes work at the last minute so I am choosing to show you some Valentine's Day related projects! Perhaps it may spark up an idea or two if you will be working til the wee hours finishing up those special handmade items. lol

 

My first card uses the Miss Anya Garland set which was one of my favourite sets from the January TGF release. I love the classic colours of red, pinks and black so the Yours Truly paper from Echo Park sure was fun to work with.

While I had those papers out... I wanted to dress up some homemade cookies that I had made and so I quickly just put these into glassine bags and sealed it by tying the ribbon in a bow. I added a punched tag and used one of the sentiments from the Made By set. So easy and quick to dress these up!

I hope that these have given you some inspiration to create your own Valentine items!

In case I don't get a chance to blog tomorrow, have a wonderful Valentine's day with all of your loved ones! xo Thanh

RTB91 - Reds & Browns

Hello there, friends, and another happy Friday to you!

This week seems to have just zoomed by me... I find that February usually drags, but since the Beau's birthday happens to be in February and that day called Valentine's is in the same month, this month now comes and goes! 

With that being said, it's time to play along again at Raise the Bar. This week we are challenging you to use the colours of chocolates and roses on your cards. Yep, bring out those reds and browns!

I kept it clean and simple this week and didn't add any lumps and bumps besides the bow! I made about 10 of these babies if memory serves me correct... They were already sent out earlier this week! Hehe.

Hope to see you playing along with us! If you upload to any online galleries, please label RTB91 for your keywords.

To see what the other Bar-tenders have created, please check out all of their blogs below:

Joni

Julie
Peggy * Our Newest DT member; Head over and give her some love!

Wanda

Supplies:

Stamps -Lucky Bunnies (The Greeting Farm)

Paper - Stampin' Up!

Ink - Creamy Brown (Colorbox), Real Red, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories - organza ribbon (Creative Packaging)

Instagram. Apartment View

This was my apartment view this past Saturday morning.

Find me on Instagram; thanhvo

TGF Showcase - For You Miss Anya

Hello dear readers!!! 

Just wanted to pop in with a showcase on The Greeting Farm Stamps.

I've had this urge to play along with sketches for the past while so I wanted to use Sweet Sketch Sunday #151 for this layout as seen below:

While I adore making Valentine's, even I was getting tired of staring at reds and pinks all day! LOL I chose to work with the image from the Miss Anya Garland set that wasn't themed around love. I just adore this paper and think that the image works so well with the paper and the colours.

On the back of the card, I also stamped one of the images from the Made By set also by TGF. 

Thanks for stopping by today! XO t.

Supplies:
Stamps - Made By, Miss Anya Garland (The Greeting Farm), sentiment (CTMH)
Paper - Origins (Basic Grey), Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Soft Suede (Stampin' Up!)
Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories - Copic markers, pearls (Pizzazz Aplenty), twine (Stampin' Up!)

RTB90 - Whimsie Doodles Sponsored Sketch

Hello and happy Friday!!!

It was the Beau's birthday yesterday (well, as I am typing this right now) and we went out and had dinner and I am writing this up right before I go to bed so excuse me if there are any typos! X_x

I hope that everyone has a had a great week so far. The challenge over at Raise the Bar this week is to use the sketch as drawn by Melyssa Connelly of Whimsie Doodles here:

I wanted to still celebrate Chinese New Year by making a dragon focused card but wanted to make the card for use of any occasion. So I kept the traditional "lucky" colours and used the sentiment "best wishes."

Hope to see you playing along with us! If you upload to any online galleries, please label RTB90 for your keywords.

To see what the other Bar-tenders have created, please check out all of their blogs below:

Joni

Julie

Wanda

Smiles! Have a great weekend.

Supplies:

Stamps - 2012 is Year of the Dragon (Whimsie Doodles), sentiment (Paper Trey Ink)

Paper - DCWV, Stampin' Up!

Ink - Tuxedo Black (Memento), Creamy Brown (Colorbox)

Accessories - Copic markers, border punch (Martha Stewart), circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders)