A Self Imposed Challenge

While I was working on the shower invitations, I realized that I haven't even stepped foot in the craft room for most of the summer other than to iron. My supply stash has continued to grow, but my card box remains empty. I read a multitude of blogs with every kind of challenge imagineable and so I decided it was time to challenge myself - one card a day for the month of August.

As August 1 approached and I finished up the invitations, I was getting excited. I've been working on an ambitious organization challenge, and it seemed time to put my new 'system' to work. (I am working to convert my collection of ideas from a pretty un-useable notebook/page protector system to the 4x6-index-cards-in-a-photo-box system described in the Organize Your Stuff Challenge blog post. So far, so good....but very time consuming up front.) I pulled out some of my favorite ideas and got to work.

First, I decided that I'd finish up some of the unfinished cards. Surprisingly, there really weren't too many of those - not even enough for the first week!

And so...for August 1:

I actually made a few of these cards back in the spring, but I had a couple of the blue background pieces left. The blue background was made by running some white core cardstock through the Cuttlebug, sanding it, and inking it with lime green ink. The bird and the sentiment are Hero Arts stamps, and the idea for this card came straight from the HA website.

For August 2, I pulled out some more card 'parts' and finished up 10 Christmas cards that have been laying around since last fall:

This card was also an idea straight from the Hero Arts website, and the Joy stamp is one of theirs. Nothing fancy, but DONE.