cardmaking kind of weekend

this past weekend I had the chance to meet up with some of my scrappy friends. I don't know about
you but when I go to a crop, I bring a lot of stuff with me ( I have always been know for overpacking).
At home, I am so spoiled having my own craft room, so I have gotten use to some 'must haves' when I work on a layout.

- my computer for journaling and altering photos
- my printer, I can never really decide what size photos
that I need, until I sit down to start working
on the layout. Often, I print a 5x7 and several small pics.
and...
- my 6 foot table. I bought this table when I was doing
demo work for Canon last year, and I use every square inch
of it.
Being away from home and all my 'luxuries' is hard. So, I often work on cards when I go to crops
and scrapbooking events. It just so happened, that Paper Crafts magazine was having a call for
cards. So, I submitted 10 that I made. That is a world record for me. I am crossing my fingers
that atleast 1 of them gets picked up. :)

I can't show you what I submitted to the call, so I would like to share some other recent cards
that I made using the Animal Crackers for girls line from GCD Studios.
This line is so versatile and fun! I just adore it.

You are my favorite card:



I used a blanket stitch and stitched the edge of the kraft paper by hand. I don't usually handstitch on cards- this is kind
of a big deal for me. Since I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia last year and because I also have arthritis in my hands - tedious
hand work is really hard for me. I fumbled with this, and it took me 2 hours to complete the stitching. But, I think it was
worth it. I love how it came out and I am proud that I was able to complete it and didn't give up.

Happy Birthday Baby:


another GCD studios card. I just loved that little giraffe so I 'dolled' her up with pearls. So fun!

Thanks for coming by, and listening to me go on about my 'must haves'. So, what about you?
What are your 'must haves' when you scrap?
I would love to hear from you.
BTW...
I have been getting a lot of inspiration lately from today's creative blog You can visit there site for lots of inspiring handmade ideas.