challenge updates adventure

I just, literally 3 minutes ago, clicked the Publish button for the previous post, which includes cards 86 through 93 for my #365cards2018, part of the #365somethings2018 challenge, and then realized that I neglected to show you cards 79 through 85:

The three cards on the left were all choices at the Card Buffet last week, so my guess is that I was still scrambling a bit to get everything done at the time.

While looking for the photo, I found that I've also neglected to show you this month's entry for #12PaperClipsOf2018:

The March theme is pets, or animals.  I tossed around several ideas, and had trouble making up my mind, as usual.  Then, for an unrelated project, I went off on an image search for pit bulls, and this little cutie looked like he would be perfect for a set of paper clips! 

I showed them to a friend recently, and later we were talking about ribbon.  I may have mentioned that I have a lot of retired Stampin' Up!® ribbon - I bet you can guess what happened next.  Do you think there's any such thing as too many decorated paper clips?  I think not:

adventures with Christmas cards and other challenges

I'm still up-to-date with #365somethings2018 which is #365cards2018 for me. Here are cards 23 through 29:

Why, yes, there is a new Christmas card, on the left in the center row - I used the Fab Friday sketch and the Jingle Belles prompt "Text Me":

stamp set (on envelope) - Patterned Pines (hostess, retired); card stock - Real Red, Old Olive; designer series paper - Merry Music (retired), Christmas Around the World (retired); punch - Decorative Ribbon Border

I made another Christmas card today, using the expired (oops!) fairy theme from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, which I think paired brilliantly with the new Merry Monday prompt for pastel colors:

stamp set - Endless Wishes (retired), Christmas Fairy (from Cardmaking © Origin Publishing); inks - Sweet Sugarplum, Soft Sky, Pink Pirouette Sahara Sand; blender pen; Stampin' Write marker - Soft Sky; Wink of Stella - gold (retired), clear; card stock - Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Soft Sky; Big Shot with Deco Labels framelits (retired)

I'm not claiming the decision to make the fairy sparkly gold was as brilliant as the fairy + pastel colors pairing, though :\ I'm trying to reserve judgement on that for now.

For another challenge, I completed my #12PaperClipsOf2018 for the February "hearts" theme, and gave away three of them.  I'll use mine in my planner, to help keep me organized, and to qualify at Cut It Up! Challenge:

stamp sets - Labeler Alphabet, Heart Happiness; ink - Versamark; Stampin' Emboss powder - white; card stock - Real Red, Whisper White; punch - Cookie Cutter Builder; Big Shot with Sweet & Sassy framelits; Fine-Tip glue pen  

Finally, I'm also still up-to-date with #LlamasLoveLettering for January 2018, but I'll spare you a picture since there is much scribbling on that page now :0  I've learned to appreciate the "crop" requirement for Instagram posts!  

I could probably stick with a daily challenge for one more month, but I'm not really excited about doodling or lettering.  I've been toying with going back to the 4x4 format, which I originally tried for the 100 days project; maybe 28 faces...

catching up on creative challenge adventures

Cards 15 through 22 - still only one card ahead in my #365cards2018 for #365somethings2018, and only 4 are Christmas cards.  (I can't resist - that's 6% of the total cards and 4% of the Christmas cards.)  I think I need to be ahead, since we'll be doing some traveling next month and have visitors the week after we return, but it's hard to get ahead during Card Buffet week.  At least, I'm not behind yet!

I've also completed 3 of 3 weekly prompts for #QHphotochallenge.  This was my entry for "blue" - a snow couple I made for a craft exchange:

I'm also up-to-date on #llamaslovelettering, although it's not pretty:

And, of course, I found a few other projects to dabble in - the Facebook group My Creative Year challenged members to use what we already have to create a craft room (or studio) mascot.  I altered a leaf shaped fall-themed photo stand, and I kind of love this quirky little angel:

Eventually I expect to have little cards, probably ATCs, on display in the clips.  That was the week 2 challenge, I skipped week 3.  I see that the coming week is to dig in the dark recesses of our storage for forgotten supplies or half-finished projects - wonder where that will lead me?

I joined another challenge, too, which I found through YouTube and Facebook, to make #12PaperClipsof2018 - a decorative paper clip each month according to the posted theme.  At the 6-month and 12-month points, if we've made two of each clip, we can swap them with someone else.  What an irresistibly fun idea - it's that "make more things" part of my unmeasurable quasi-resolution for the year.  The first theme was a 2018 goal:

So, now I find myself involved with a daily challenge (lettering) for the month of January, as well as a weekly challenge (photos), a monthly challenge (paper clips), and an annual challenge (365 cards) for the year 2018.  So much fun!  And, I've learned that, even if I don't complete all (or any) of the challenges, I can still feel good about the bits I do complete