Scrapping it Up

During my blah part of the week, I sat down to create a card with the goal of not cutting any new paper and not spending too much time! This is it. Try to pretend you don't see the blob of glue above the ribbon, 'kay?

Shhhh...Someone is Having a Birthday

That little someone is my youngest, MW, who turns 18 the first week of November. She's my music major and artist extraordinaire, so only a slightly out-of-the-box card will do for her.

The 18 is from the Songbird Cartridge. The notes and heart are from Gypsy Wanderings. I mirrored the notes and heart and printed one side out of a music-themed paper and the other out of the purply paper and then glued the ribbon in between the layers. Papers are from various sources. Edges of paper are distressed with Colorbox Cat Eye inks (found some really old ones lying around from when the kids were little!). The music embossing is from a Cuttlebug folder and was run through my Sizzix.

Mojo Monday

Mojo Monday Challenge 162

Here's my entry--went my own way a bit ; )

SW Makes a Mini Album

Ah--Young Love. It is sooo difficult to photograph these longish mini-albums, but these pics at least give you the gist!

SW Gets Creative with Cards

My middle daughter has been having a very creative week. She's been home sick w/ a sinus infection, so has spent a little time finishing up a darling mini-album and some wonderful cards. Without further ado, the cards (mini album tomorrow)...

Stamping Boutique Giveaway!

Don't you just love the generosity of the scrapping world? There are sooo many great opportunities to win Free Stuff that are out in InternetLand right now!! You'll definitely want to check this one out though: The Stamping Boutique

There's a great prize that includes Copic Markers and all kinds of goodies. Check it out!

Card Organization

Do you ever have those days where you completely lack card-making inspiration? Today is one for me, but I know my mojo will return soon; I haven't been completely useless. Last night I made two card holders. One is a little folder that I found over here: Danni's Designs. She has tons of good tutorials, so be sure to check her out!

The second one I found here: Fabulously Artsy. Another great blog w/ hugely creative person behind it! I love this little card box; it is easy to make, fits A2 cards nicely, and is beautiful to boot.

Tomorrow, I'll take some time to photograph and show you the darling little LOVE book SW made in honor of her sweet guy, J. It is so darling. Scrapbooking is HER gift!

Imagine Card

This card is one I wanted to try from a Cardmaker special magazine. It was a little fussy to cut the papers out to layer on top, but after perfecting my method of madness, I could see doing it in much less time next time around. Papers are all colorbok. Sentiments are vellum. It's a clever card, and I'd love to do more, now that I "get" the design.

Get Sketchy Challenge #61

I love the Get Sketchy challenges. This week is #61:



My creation papers are from DCWV Summer Dreams.

I layered a 5 1/2" circle onto an 8 1/2 x 5.5 rectangle using my gypsy and then tri-folded to A2 size. Both the card shape and the circle are from Gypsy Wanderings. The round circle w/ the little holes is from Stamping Solutions cartridge cut at 3" and then it is just layered under the paper border. I used my Pfaff to stitch a border on the circle edge of the card and then layered from there. The little button is stitched on with weaving thread; it keeps the card closed. The sentiment is a sizzix rub-on. I initially had a vellum quote, but the glue showed through! Wah! It was so cute, too. Well, I learned something from that. I need clear vellum adhesive ; )

Woof

Funny thing about "Woof." A few years back, someone in the family, and no one is claiming the fame, starting saying "woof" when they walked in the front door.

Now, it is our family greeting that everyone has adopted. We woof on the phone, woof at the door, woof at just about every greeting available to us.


In honor of that, the woof card: Papers are generally from the Citrus Collection. I used the Paper Pups cartridge (of course!) exclusively. The photos make the cardstock look more orange when it is actually red...I used a primary color theme.

ETA: Just after I posted this, I saw that She's A Sassy Lady posted a tutorial on doing partial shapes on the Gypsy, which is exactly the technique I used to do the border on these cards. Basically, I added the bone border overlapping the card (I hid the inside of the bone so it wouldn't cut it out), then recut it to layer over. A very fun technique!

Reinventing Art

I am experimenting with my style. On Wednesday, when I attending my youngest daughter's first college choir concert, I noticed that the program had a great design, and of course, thought, that would be a fun card! So, here is my interpretation of that design. The sentiment is one of my favorite sayings. I'm sure you'll see it used over and over again in my creations.

New Cards

Spent a little time creating today. I really wanted to try a tri-shutter card. There are tons of tutorials out there, but I especially liked the one at Cardz TV. This is my version. I kept trying to add embellishments, but I would take them off. Sometimes less is more! Papers are mainly Black Orchid from SEI, although the lime dot is from DCWV citrus collection. The die cut "Hug" is from Paper Pups.

Next up is a card by SW who is experimenting with vintage. .
It's so lovely! She sewed along the framing, and darn, I need to try that! Love it


I have another card to share, but couldn't get a good pic, so I'll try again tomorrow. Must go to the airport to pick up Mister! He's back from Poland.

Hello Thursday Preview at Obsessed w/ Scrapbooking

Sneak peak at the new Cricut Cartridges!! Have you seen the Hello Thursday releases from ProvoCraft today? They've outdone themselves. Obsessed with Scrapbooking has a great preview, so be sure to check them out. I could see owning everything except the Sesame Street (no little ones in my life right now).

Get Sketchy Challenge

Thought I'd participate in a challenge this week. It's over at Get Sketchy, so check out the link if you enjoy challenges! So, here's my entry:

Details: Colorbok Black cardstock cut to A2 size; SEI Black Orchid patterned papers from the 8x8 stack. Ribbons are from the stash and were purchased at Michaels and Joann's. You can either die cut 12-1 3/4" squares or use a trimmer to cut them. Origami fold triangles. I fussy cut the motif and used a Sizzix rub on for the sentiment.

Temptation Tuesday

During work days, I have very little time to create! Between trying to squeeze in exercise, socializing with my family, tending to life, and maybe indulging in some sleep, there doesn't seem to be too much time for the arts.

Regardless, during break at work today, I was able to sign up for this:

I have been researching scrapbooking kit of the month clubs for some time now, trying to decide if I wanted to commit. But, to be honest, I didn't want to have a huge money commitment tied up in a kit I may or may not like. So, the nice thing about the SEI is they have a mini kit one month, and a big kit the next, both for under $30 AND you can skip a shipment if you don't like the preview. So, I'll report back with a review once I get started.

A Trio of Cards

Sunday was so fun! The girls were all busy, and with Mister gone, I could create to my heart's content. As a result, I was able to craft three very different cards for the day. The first is the aforementioned sympathy card..
The papers are all from DCWV La Creme. The border is a die cut from Tim Holtz' collection. The With Sympathy sentiment is from the Jasmine cartridge

Next up is a creation using cardstock from LaCreme, but all of the other papers are My Mind's Eye. I cut out the motifs, and then gave them a little dimension.
Faux stitching is a black marker.

Finally, I wanted to try a card completely without using the Cricut (horrors), and since I don't have any stamping materials for sentiments, I started thinking about how I could achieve a message without! I also wanted to use Kraft paper as cardstock and to play with a little "grunge" All patterned papers are once again My Mind's Eye.
I cut out words, matted them, matted the card assymetrically (ask me sometime what a difficulty I have with the idea of symmetry...it is not in my nature!) and assembled; all edges were sanded to distress and I crumpled the mat for "love" and pop-dotted it for more dimension. Buttons are non-matching from my prolific button collection. I really like this card. It was hard to do this one justice in a photo!

Wish List Sunday

Not much time for scrappin' today. Took the Mister off to the airport so he could jetset off to Cracow--you know, the one in Poland. Mister travels a fair amount, but generally only within the continental US. However, his boss's boss requested his presence on a last-minute project back in July for the international corporation he works for, which sent him packing for Berlin. Apparently the mainly-European contingent meets quarterly at various locations in Europe, and this quarter--yup--Cracow. Tough life, eh? Wonder where he'll be off to in January? Of course, Mister thinks of his poor family left behind sniff, sniff and brings us yummy gifts. Last time of course it was delicious Haribo Gummy Bears and an incredibly well-made project tote. The Haribos from Germany taste much fruitier than those we get here--I won't even eat US ones because they taste icky to me. But those German ones--yum!

On the way home from the airport, I did trot out to Michael's to pick up a trimmer w/ my 50% off coupon! Then, got a wonderful organizer using a 40% coupon at Joann's. I love me a bargain. Means more money for working up the stash!

I still have some wish list items (hey! who doesn't?) Among them is the new CosmoCricket Line "Circa 1934." This is totally different than my usual bright, citrusy callings, but it is just so different and yummy:


I am also wanting embellishments galore! Oh for endless time and money.

Goal for today? I want to make a sympathy card for a student of mine who lost a family member this past week. I would also like to do another cheerful "hello" type card and play with some design ideas. Look for these posted later in the week. Mister usually photographs for me, so I'll have to struggle with his fancy digital slr camera since he took our point and shoot along with him. Ahem...we'll see how that goes!

Finally, I discovered that Card Trends magazine along with their affiliated magazines, offers online versions! I love that idea since my house fills with clutter far too easily. Although I don't typically love reading on computer screens, I tried it out, and found that the format is wonderful. I also can download issues to my 'puter and archive them myself for future browsing. I really love these mags--lots of elegant ideas, for a great price! Check it out...Magazine LinkOne can have access to all of the magazine issues in the line plus idea books for 9.99 monthly, or 4.99 month for just a single mag. For full disclosure, I'm not affiliated ; )

Confessions and a Baby Card

Here's the thing. I'm addicted to the Cricut and Gypsy. That's all there is to say about that, except maybe my family thinks I'm crazy...and they know I'm getting very little else done (I did pay a few bills today...sheesh!)

Latest creation is a baby card for my niece, who is expecting a little boy in December. I knit the little guy an aran sweater, and here's the card to go with it.




I used the gypsy (of course) to weld together a scroll from the Home Accents cartridge to a rectangle from Gypsy Wanderings. (Card is A2 size). Then, I added the Baby border from Gypsy wanderings, cutting out the shadow on the card, and then cutting the regular border from cardstock. The cardstock is one from ColorBok from Wal-mart, and the large polka dot is My Mind's Eye. The small polka is another ColorBok. Ribbon is grosgrain from Joann's.

Guest Designers

SW and LW love paper crafts, too. Unfortunately, they are both busy busy with school for SW and work for LW. No job-share luxury like their Mum who has the second half of the week to craft and create. However, they both have a wonderful sense of style.
Here is a card from each.
First up is LW's Congrats card. I absolutely adore cards with very clean lines and both LW and SW have achieved that with elegance and beauty.











Next up is SW's card which was a quick-create for the aforementioned birthday guy. Isn't it lovely?

A Good Deal and Wonky Happy Birthday Series

First of all, I have to report the really stashing good deal I got at HSN this past week. Fortunately, I don't have TV, which means the only way I can shop there is online; I can't get sucked in by any sales pitches! It was new-to-me how much they have in scrapbooking supplies. I'll have to tame my inner shopper. However, they were having a closeout on two DCWV papers--Latte and LaCreme. Both included the 12 x 12 and 8 x 8 paper packs for 9.95 each! Then, they had reduced shipping on the second item, so I got all of the above for about $27.00 shipped.
Here's the link to Latte: Latte Paper on HSN

Looks like the La Creme is sold out. But they have some other bargains, too, if you're in the mood to shop.

Next, MW requested a birthday card today for a friend of her's and SW's. He's a he ; ), so I couldn't make anything feminine, yet I wanted to have some "spares" for those times when a stash card is needed. So, I came up with what I call the Wonky Happy Birthday. Here are the details:

Cardstock is from the Paper Company Seaside Fashion Colors.
Embossing folder was Cuttlebug "Traffic Jam" run through the Sizzix Texture Boutique.
The dark blue rectangle was from DCWV Citrus Collection and cut at 5 x 1"
The Wonky square shape is from the Cricut Accent Essentials cartridge cut at 3" along w/ the shadow shape in shades of blue and lime from the Citrus Collection.

The mini brads are Color Bok.

I use a combo of adhesives--ziq glue pens, scotch liquid glue pink, and my pink atg.

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Posting...

4 Crafty Angels is having a delicious giveaway! Be sure to follow the link to her blog with an opportunity to win a Cricut Country Life Cartridge. Having recently won a free cartridge from Everyday Cricut, I know how fun it is to win! Check it out. 4 Crafty Angels has some to-die-for designs that are wonderful eyecandy.

Thinking of You

This card was inspired by Wednesday's Eye Candy photo. It is my first designed-entirely-by-myself design and I thought it turned out pretty well! I made two versions, one of which is shown here. The only differences between the two are embellishments and placement of pop squares. I used various papers and cardstocks from the stash, and cut all the papers using my Gypsy. The Thinking of You sentiment was designed on the Gypsy, too. I printed it out using gypsy markers (purchased w/ a 40% off coupon at Joann's) and then hid the wording and cut out a rectangle. Black card is A2 sized. Here's a summary of where the elements came from:

(use real size for sizing on these)
Thinking of you: from the Stamping Solutions Cartridge 1.72" x 1"
Rectangle around words: Plantin Schoolbook Cartridge 2" x 1.5"
Yellow Border: Accent Essentials Cartridge 5.5" x .75"
Green cardstock panel: Plantin Schoolbook rectangle 5" x 3.5"
Flower and shadow: Gypsy Wanderings 3.0"
Green and grey/black scrolled circles ---hmmmm. Can't seem to find

Black buttons for one card and mini black brads for the other. Flower is pop dotted.

Photo Wednesday

I don't have any new cards or papercrafts to share today, however, how about some eye candy from my husband's photography site? Wouldn't this make a great color scheme for a card or scrapbook layout?

Get Well Soon

I "cheated" on these simple cards; I used DCWV's cards and papers and K's Company stickers to shortcut some get well cards for a friend about to have surgery...

I really need to work on my ribbon stash. Sure would like to add some neat ribbon to my creations!

Thank You

One of my first papercrafting goals is to create a stock of cards for those special occasions--thank you's, birthday wishes, Christmas cards, get well soon cards.

So, with that in mind, I took an issue of a card crafting mag that had folding features in it as inspiration and set out. I didn't want anything too girly, since I needed a thank you for my parents and one for LW's fiance. The papers are inexpensive ones from Wal-mart. If I had a do-over, I'd choose a lighter colored cardstock in order to have more contrast, but, next time I'll know!


<

Gypsy Lesson

As a new Cricut Expression and Gypsy owner, I feel like the learning curve for my new toys is HUGE! But, thanks to She's A Sassy Lady, I'm trying to learn a few things. Yesterday, a lesson was posted on making a window card, so I made a copy of the sample and then went out on my own. This is what I came up with. It is a card for a friend, and of course the paper is from DCWV's Citrus collection and image and words are from Paper Pups.

I'm New Here

Ahhh...the proverbial blank slate. Don't you love that? I'm quite possibly the newest papercrafter in the universe, but I do have a long and honorable history of jumping into new things rather wholly. No half-hearted efforts going on here. And, I like toys. So, after being enabled my "mini-me" SW, who is a scrapbooker. I can see myself doing some scrapbooking, but cards and home dec are really my initial interests. All subject to change, of course.









So, without further ado, meet the little family: This is a compilation of my three-ring circus. Read more about them in my profile ; )

That's the Mister and me last summer at Crater Lake. It is also SW's finger in the photo. I'm too lazy to crop it out, so stay it must.





The goal for this blog is to document my growth as a crafter and to have a visual diary of my creations. So, onward...