Monday, January 31, 2011

Apple Picking from Sketch Support 1 page sketch

I used a 1 page sketch from Sketch Support to create a two page layout. I cut the tree and scarecrow with the Simply Charmed cartridge. The apples are from Create A Critter. I gave the apples and scarecrow Peachy Keen faces. The apple paper and tree paper strips are retired Stampin Up! I used the following SU! cardstock colors in this layout Close to Cocoa, So Saffron, Ruby Red, Rose Red, Garden Green, Brilliant Blue and Blush Blossom.

Hanging Out at the Philadelphia Zoo Let's Scrap Sketch Challenge for 1-26-11



I used the sketch for the week of 1-26-11 on  Let's Scrap to create this layout. I cut the monkey at 3" with Create A Critter. I gave him a Peachy Keen critter face and flocking. The banana and vine are also from Create a Critter. I cute the circles from Graphically Speaking in various sizes and embellished with a white gel pen. The paper strips and red layer are from a DCWV stack. The monkey paper with the buttons is Recollections from Michaels. I used Stampin Up! buttons on the vines because they matched the yellow buttons on the monkey paper so nicely. Colors used in this layout are Bashful Blue, Ruby Red, Wild Wasabi, and Pumpkin Pie all from Stampin Up!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Birthday and Valentine cards

This week I neglected my blog a bit. It's not that I wasn't crafty. I just never got around to posting anything. I made several cards trying to get ahead of the game. My boys are turning 4 on the 8th so I made their birthday cards in advance. I also made Valentine cards for them and my husband. Trust me when I say I am never this prepared. However I decided I was going to do them now because so often I have so many other projects going on that I never end up making things for my own family. So, let's start with the birthday cards. I am thrilled with them. They're my first shaped cards! The first is a cow card as requested by my son. He has been telling me that's what he wants for his birthday card for at least a month. He saw it in the Create A Critter book. He's always very interested in what I'm doing at the craft table (read up my butt ;) ).
It even stands up! I made the party hat for the cow with Simply Charmed. The white part of the cow is flocked in white. I just got two bottles of flocking this week to use on these cards and I think I am in love! I can see a new obsession coming.

The next shape card is an ice cream cone from Simply Charmed.
The cone is flocked in brown. The white on the cone and the ice cream are embellished with frosted lace Stickles. The face of course is my new Peach Keen doll faces, the big one that comes in the set. Neither of my shaped cards lined up perfectly so if any one has any tips or knows of any tutorials I should check out please let me know.

Next up we have Valentine cards for the boys.
I saw a similar idea on the blog Add Ink and Stamp by Lisa Young. I made the card with SU I Heart Hearts and Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set, the Heart to Heart, Scallop Trim and Word Window punches, Real Red and Whisper White card stock, glimmer paper, and patterned paper that came in the Filled with Love bundle. I pilfered these tootsie rolls from goodie bags the boys got at a recent birthday party. I did promise they'd get them back!

I hope I don't spoil anything for fellow swappers in my SU demonstrator group but here is the card I made for our Feb. swap.
This card was made with Very Vanilla and Real Red card stock and again patterned paper that came in the Filled with Love Bundle.  The patterned paper is cut into 1/2" and 1" strips and adhered to a 4"x5" piece of  red cardtsock. Then I ran the whole thing through the Big Shot with the top note die. The stamp and greeting are from Filled with Love and punched with the Curly label punch. I embossed the vanilla card stock with a texture plate and used vanilla ribbon.

My last card this week is a Valentine for my hubby.
These cute little penguins are cut from the Simply Charmed cartridge. I gave them faces with my Peachy Keen critters set. Aren't they sweet? I used my new iRock to embellish the bows as well as a white gel pen. The card base is an SU color we don't carry anymore, Pink Passion I think and so is the layer it was from the natural assortment they used to carry. I used a texture plate and the big shot to emboss the card base. Ribbon is from my stash. I love how the heart came out. The sentiment is from Filled with Love and stamped with Versa Mark and white embossing powder. I used the white gel pen again around the heart.

Tomorrow I am going to a full day crop so looking forward to having some more layouts to post next week!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Pick of the Patch

This is a two page layout I did with two different one page sketches. The first sketch is the sketch challenge this month at Scrapville. The second is a sketch I saw this past fall and an idea I cased from the very talented Aphra at My Scrappy Life. I don't like one page sketches because I like to scrap a lot of pictures so I often ignore them but I thought these two went well together.


The patterned paper I used in this layout is from a camping/adventure pack I purchased from Creative Memories probably 3 years ago. I cut the leaves and pumpkins from EDPD.For the pumpkin I cut 8" ovals from Plantin School book. I embossed the ovals with my Big Shot and inked them with TH distress inks.  I stamped the title and the pumpkin poem is a BoBunny cardstock sticker from the Pumpkin Patch sheet. I used raffia to embellish and the scarecrow and corns are buttons from a package I picked up at Hobby Lobby.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Smartie Cards

I found a tutorial to make these smartie holder cards at Dawn's Stamping Studio. It's easy but I'll tell you I had to watch the video about 6 times. Every time I thought I had it I went down to work on it and couldn't figure it out. I made some for Valentine's and thought these would make great party favors so I did a few birthday themed ones as well. The only bag of smarties I could find was at Wal*Mart and there must be hundreds in the bag. I guess I'll be making a lot of these cards. Glad it's a candy I don't like LOL!


All stamps are Stampin Up! from the following sets: I Heart Hearts, Filled with Love, Party Hearty, Crazy for Cupcakes, and Teeny Tiny Wishes.

Bubble Gum cards

I bought the Something Sweet stamp set from Stampin Up! last year when it was in the mini. I just loved it but never got around to using it. Part of it had to do with dropping my 1 3/4 inch circle punch and it no longer punches. But I used my cricut to cut the circles and made these cards today. I'm going to have to make a lot of them because everyone in my family loves them and wants one for themselves!

Created for Getting Cricky Challenge

 I really liked the layout K. Andrews created for this challenge. I was inspired to create something so that I could participate. I combined the sketch from Let's Scrap and the challenge to use a bird to create this two page layout.


The coolest thing about this layout is that I finally used My Digital Studio from Stampin Up! I created the journaling box and the Ludlow, VT tag with MDS. The patterned paper is something my Mom gave me when she cleaned out her stash. Cardstock is SU in old olive, ruby red pumpkin pie, and brillant blue. You'll see these colors recurring quite frequently in my work. The buttons are also SU. I cute the birds at 3" from the Simply charmed cartridge and embellished with a white gel pen. I am really quite pleased with how it turned out. P.S. Even though I scrapped with photos I photographed it before gluing them down. That way I didn't have to put those silly little circles over my kids faces. Being married to a cop makes you worry about things like putting your kids mugs on the web.

Organizational Boot Camp Week 3

OK so I am so happy with how my scrap room is turning out. Here are the pics of the shelves my hubby hung. I actually like working down here now.




Embellishments are now stored in one of three places. 1. on the peg board 2. In that turquoise case on the stamp shelf 3. In an envelope on my table. I want to make a homemade clip up but that is for next week. Markers and pens are either 1. In a basket 2. In the SU case 3. In my desk top tote bag. Inks are either 1. SU spinner on desk 2. Basket. Adhesives are all in a basket. Still need a place for finished projects.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Rainbow Wobble Card

I am participating in the Spring/Easter themed swap hosted by Candace Pelfrey. Check out her blog she has some really nice projects. I cut these rainbows from the Simply Charmed cartridge at 3" for the swap. I found this ribbon at Michael's and thought they would be perfect together. The faces are Peachy Keen stamps and make the cloud look so cute! I used an action wobble on this card to send to my sister for her birthday this week. The buttons are SU.

Scallop Square Cards and Box

Last Spring we made these boxes filled with four cards at a stamp camp. We used the big shot for the scallop square and 13/4 inch circle punch on the cards.
I do not have either the big shot die or the circle punch but still wanted to recreate this project. I cut the scallop square using my cricut and the Accent Essentials cartridge. I also cut the squares for the top layer of the card with a 13/4 inch circle in the middle on my Cricut with the Gypsy. I used the Fun and Fast Notes and Beary Best Friends SU stamp sets. The patterned paper is retired SU paper.




Sweet Treats

I made these for Valentine's Day at my boys school. This paper is SU from last year. I used the hearts from the Loads of Love stamp set and the greeting says Sweet Treats and is from Teeny Tiny Wishes. The containers hold 5 Hershey Kisses.

Filled with Love

I have been super busy this week crafting cards and goodies. I used my new SU Filled with Love stamp set, that I got in the special bundle on sale now, to make several cards and a scrapbook layout. I used the SU I Heart Hearts stamp set and the Happy Valentine's Day stamp from Teeny Tiny Wishes as well. Patterned paper is also from the Filled with Love bundle. I used the letterpress template to make the red photo boxes with black hearts on the LO.




Friday, January 14, 2011

Organizational Boot Camp Week Two

Our goals for last week were to clean up our workspace and clear out products that we don't use. I have a large file box full of stamps, punches, tools, and scraps and a large bag of scrapbook paper here that I am donating to the rec center in my community.

In addition one of my goals was to get rid of the breakfast nook that I worked at because the table was too small and the set up led to me getting buried with stuff piled on the benches all around me while I worked. I was going to set up a plastic folding table temporarily until I found a more permanent desk/table that worked for me, however the dining table that we were storing behind the breakfast nook is so heavy that it won't stand up without something heavy to support it. So for safety sake and a lack of anywhere else to put the table I am now using it to work. It is a nice long table but to wide for me to reach anything on the wall even when standing. I have to climb on the chair to get to my stuff, but it works for now. My husband has promised to put up shelves this weekend so I went about organizing all my stuff into baskets and boxes I already had. One for adhesives, ribbon, tools, envelopes and treat bags, glitter, etc. It looks even more cluttered now but I think once the shelves are up it will be much better. So here's my space as it looks now.
 This week we were to take a photo of our paper storage/stashes. I actually keep my paper pretty organized. I use these Iris 12x12 paper storage bins. I have one that is actually organized and labeled by color and inside the 12 x 12 folders I also have a file folder where I put all the scraps and 8.5 x 11 paper of the same color. One holds all my patterned paper and the third is a mish mash. The only reason it is not organized like the first is that the 12 x 12 file folders are so expensive and the bins only came with three folders to start.  They sell extra folders at $5.99 for three folders! So I add them slowly. I also keep one expanding folder for cut patterned paper to keep the bins from getting jammed up with scrap paper. That isn't so neat looking but it works.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Organizational Boot Camp

I am joining a challenge to get my scrap area organized. The first part of the challenge is to post photos of your scrap room as it is now and some goals for what you would like to achieve in organizing your space.
Here's my room/corner of the basement.

Here are my goals:
1. I need to find a desk/table that works better. I am currently using a breakfast nook and I get blocked in. It is hard to get in and out every time I need something and the table is not big enough. That's why I end up with so much stuff on the benches surrounding me.
2. I'd like to have a way to see my stash that's shoved here and there so I use it more.
3. I'd like to have a place to display some of my finished projects.
4. I'd like to clear out papers, stickers and embellishments and give away to someone who could use it.
5. I'd like a place I could place my Cricut cartridges so they are in reach but not in the way.

Some completed layouts for the week of 1/2/11

I seem to have lost my crafting mojo. I took down all the Christmas decor today and got the house back to normal. I folded and put away an entire weeks worth of laundry. I cleaned up all the toys so I could find the floor and vacuum. The afternoon was mine for crafting. What did I come up with? Nada. Everything I had in my brain wasn't working out the way I wanted. I either didn't have the right product, or it wasn't going to look how I thought and then the gypsy battery died. I called it quits. I do have some layouts from the past week to post so I am going to go ahead and get those up.
This layout is based on a sketch from Let's Scrap. I cut the stockings, light bulbs, and the Santa from Christmas Cheer and Christmas Solutions. I can't recall which cuts were from which though. I used green wire to string the lights. I had some garland/tinsel like ribbon that I just got from SU! and I used that to hang the stockings and embellish my photo.
This layout is also loosely based on a sketch from Let's Scrap. I used some papers I had on hand and a few SU! buttons to embellish. The two quotes are from a quote stack I got in my stocking from my Mom. I cut the title from Graphically Speaking. I am really pleased with it. Sometimes less is more!
This is a layout I saw on Wendy AKA Bling Queen's blog. All credit for creativity goes to her since I copied her work almost completely. To see her original work click here. All the cuts are from Life's a Beach.

Fuzzy Sock Cupcake


I haven't blogged in a while Boo! I do have stuff to post. I just haven't taken photos of them yet. I also want to participate in an organizational challenge but haven't taken picture of my scrap area yet. I did take photos of this cute little gift before giving it to my friend for her birthday. I used a gypsy file I loaded that uses the tag from Plantin Schoolbook to cut this cupcake wrapper. This paper was from a DCWV stack and I thought the colors were perfect for my friend. I used SU B is for Birthday to stamp the cupcake on a tag and I believe the sentiment is SU from Crazy for Cupcakes. So cute!