Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Scraps Day #4


Another installment of Wednesday - Hump Day - Scrap Day.  I thought this card was a really cute example of what  you could do with scraps of cardstock.  Found this card on this blog.  She's got some other really cute CAS (Clean And Simple) cards posted there and was the winner of one of the PaperCraft blog's recent color challenges.

Had a good time at the shop last night.  No matter what the projects or lack of projects are, just spending time with some of my favorite women is a very good thing.

Have a great Wednesday.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Stitched Stockings



I think I might have found my inspiration for the special family Christmas card.  Isn't this card so cute?  I  found it on another SU demonstrator's blog.  Check out her blog to see some other cute things she did with the set.

This is part of what I'm ordering out of the Holiday Mini - the stamp set, coordinating punch and the Lodge paper.  I'm going to load the order after craft night tonight so I might have a chance of getting it on Friday in time for the long weekend.

See ya' at the shop.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Clean and Simple by Necessity


This is last week's family newsletter card.  Very, very clean and simple.  Because we were travelling last weekend I had all of 10 minutes on Tuesday morning to pull a design together.  Thank goodness for this cute little a la carte stamp from Stampin Up.  I used that with the new In Color green and a strip of patterned paper from the new paper pack I bought at Memory Lane.  I actually kind of like it.

Hope everyone had a good weekend and found some place cool to stay during the heat of the afternoons.  Looks like we only have maybe 2 more days of this heat before things may start to cool down a little.  I'm looking forward to that.  With today being the 1st day of the new academic year, I'm in the mood for Fall.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Check this out!! . . . .

You've got to check out this link!!!! 

These people engineered - completely out of paper!! - some retro electronics.



Now this takes papercrafting to a whole new level!!!

Happy Friday.  Have a great weekend.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Fun Color Combination


As I was moving back into my craft room and re-organizing some of my paper packs, I found this patterned paper that had what I thought was a really unique color combination - brown, gold, poppy red and baby blue.  So I used that combo to craft this card for the family letter a couple of weeks ago.  I really liked how it turned out.  I used kraft paper for the mat color and loved playing with the Boho Blossoms punch and the coordinating "One of a Kind" stamp set.  Cute, cute, cute! don't you think?!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Scraps Day #3


It's Wednesday, so that means it's "scraps" day.  Here's a really cute card I found on this blog that uses tiny strips of patterned paper on plain cardstock to make a really big impact.  Can't tell you how many times I've trimmed a 1/4 or 1/2 off a piece of paper and then thrown the little leftover strip away.  Guess I won't be doing that anymore!

Happy Hump Day!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

There's no place like home


We're back safe and sound from a long weekend in North Carolina to see Allan's family.  It was a good trip and we did get some time on the beach so that was extra special.  But I have to say, I'm really glad to be home. 

Got in on the late night flight last night but I slept most of the last leg so I'm surprisingly refreshed this morning.  I'm still going to skip craft night though as I need to get unpacked and settled back in.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this cute little card I found on Splitcoast.  It has been a Happy Summer in so many ways.

See ya' soon.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Wednesday - Hump Day - Scrap Day #2


As promised, Wednesday is now the day we pay tribute to Mona's resolution of using more of her paper scraps.  I'll be sharing cards and ideas for using up all those scraps of patterned paper we collect.  Today's card came from this blog: My Pink Mexico.  I thought it took using scraps to the limit - tiny bit of torn paper and some small butterflies punched from a tiny piece of coordinating paper.  Love the overstamping of the sentiment and of course love, love, love the kraft paper.

Happy Hump Day!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Punch Storage

Remember last Friday when I said in this post that Cricut Man was going to help me with a pegboard solution for my punches?  Well leave it to that genius man to come up with something even better.  He came home after running errands on Saturday and suggested that instead of buying  new pegboard and mounting it to the wall, why don't I just just the pegboard that's on both ends of my rolling cart.  (This cart is a custom piece that my Dad built for me which I use for my cutting area and it has great storage underneath)  He suggested I could mount the rods on each end and have almost just as much space as the solution we were going to put on the wall.  What a cool idea!!

So here's how it came out. . . .


And here's what it looks like as I start to load and organize my punches. . .


Is that Cricut Man some kind of wonderful or what??!!!!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Silouhettes


Now that the family should have received their weekly newsletter card from last week, it should be safe to post it on this blog.  Love, love, love the 2 silhouettes stamp sets.  Had fun playing with the 3 colors of purple and doing a little offset stamping. 

Friday, August 12, 2011

Status Report

I wanted to post a few more pictures of my craft room.  As I mentioned at the shop Tuesday night, I made some good progress last weekend - started to move back in, got all my loose stamps loaded onto the new shelf, organized all the SU stamps in the new cabinet and bought a lamp for my reading corner.  Next steps are to get the storage system for the punches built.  Cricut Man offered to help with that.  We're going to try that cool pegboard solution we saw on the internet so hopefully that will be this weekend's project. 

So here's a few pictures of where I'm at.  Gosh!!!  I just feel like it's a girl's Heaven!  I feel so blessed and so very thankful.







Thursday, August 11, 2011

My Boy Cat's Birthday


Last Friday was my kitty cat's 9th birthday.  My how time flies when you're living the good life!

Maddie often joins me in the craft room so I invited him down to make a birthday card for himself.  Here's what he came up with. . . .




. . . and the note on the inside was to his neighbor cat from up the street - Edward Abbey. . .


How silly am I, huh?!!  Have a fun, silly, happy day today.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Wednesday - Hump Day - Scrap Day


I was talking at the shop last night about declaring a theme for blog posts on certain days of the week.  Like dedicating Wednesdays to Mona and the art of using your scraps to make cards.  It's a recent resolution of hers.  Sounds like a good idea, huh?! 

So here's the 1st of the Wednesday / Hump Day / Scraps Day posts.  It's a card I made from some scraps from a Paper Wishes card kit a couple of years ago.  Notice the bottom scrap wasn't quite enough to cover the 5.5 width of the card so I centered it and then aligned the other scrap to math.  I used some scraps to cover the chipboard letters. 

I like the card but the only thing I wish I had done differently was to print the sentiment on the computer or use a rub on.  I just don't like my handwriting and especially on the front of a card.  I know all the scrapbookers say that you should learn to love and preserve your handwriting, which I kind of agree with, but I'm not so sure it applies to cardmaking.  What are your thoughts???

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Jen


Here's an oldie but goodie.  It's a card from one of Jen's card classes way, way back when Angie had her shop.  My Mom was in town that spring and we took the class together on a cozy Saturday afternoon.  I used to take almost every class Jen taught - I just loved her style!  She used very few embellishments and instead focused on doing cool things with patterned paper.  For this card we used an exacto knife to cut out the flowers and then pieced them on coordinating patterned papers.  I'm bringing some similar papers to the shop tonight and am going to give it another try.  See ya' later on.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Friendship with a side of Fries


Another pic from the archives.  This is a fry box I made as a gift for Val a couple of years ago.  Unlike the slick new die cut I have now for these, this one was made from a template of a real McDonald's fry box.  It was a real personal sacrifice I tell you, eating all those french fries just to get the empty box to use as the template. 

Friday, August 5, 2011

Bits and Pieces


Happy Friday!!  Friday's make me smile - how 'bout you?

Saw this card on one of my new favorite blog sites, The Paper Boutique.  Yet another way to use up those scraps of patterned paper.  Don't you just love it?!

Have a great weekend. 

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Old Griz


There's 25 days until the first day of the Fall semester.  There's some folks at work that I'd like to do a little something for and I'm thinking about dusting this old craft project off and making a few more.  There are little paper candy boxes I made for my Systems team one year.  I scanned my T-shirt to get the cute Old Griz logo, printed it off and layered it up for a cute embellishment for the top.  I thought they turned out pretty cute and except for the time it took to paint the paper maiche boxes, it was a really, really quick project. Wonder how this design would look on a Fry Box!! :-) (now that I've spent some major budget on the die and all the tools to make them)

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

A Sneak Peek. . .

I got home from craft night last night and found the door to my craft room closed.  I asked Cricut Man "What's Up?".  He said the carpenter had been at the house today starting the finishing work on the wall that had been damaged by the water earlier this spring and because the door to the outside was open so much the house was getting hot. 

But the closed door added some excitement - kind of like doing a big reveal on one of those HGTV home improvement shows.  And my reaction to the work that has been completed was about as over the top as the people on those shows. . . I squeeled with delight and just kept saying "Oh My Gosh!!, Oh My Gosh!!!  Take a look at what he's done so far. . . .

The beadboard and chair rail are up.  It's kind of hard to tell from this picture how cool the beadboard looks.  It really helps make the room look beachy and since this room is called the "Coastal Craft Room" that's a cool thing. 

But the thing I'm most thrilled with right now is the stamp shelf.  Although it looks built in, he actually built it so that it can be unscrewed from the wall and taken off.  So if and when I ever leave my lovely home at the "Jewel of the Pines", I can take it with me.  Here's a closer look.. . .


I feel like the room is starting to look like one of those in the magazines! 

Today he'll be working on the paint and hanging the old bathroom cabinet that I repurposed and Allan painted which will store all my Stampin' Up stamp sets.  I'll be sure to post the final pictures when it's all done.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Momma's Girl


I've been feeling kind of melancholly ever since I got back from Jacksonville.  I know I'm a grown woman but I'm really missing my Mom these days.  Love this picture of Mom and me I found in one of my old craft folders.  It was taken at a craft store in Jacksonville about 4 or 5 years ago when we took a class doing some papercrafting on paint cans.  We had so much fun.  I come by this need to craft through my genes.  And the can I making in this picture was a gift for my Dad which I'm proud to say he still uses.  Mom had to fix it up a little to repair the worn paper but it's still being used to hold his candies.  That's one of the things I love about crafting gifts and making cards - you hold the people they're intended for in your heart as they do you in return. 

Have a great day!

Monday, August 1, 2011

A Fresh New Month

"I question not if thrushes sing,

If roses load the air;

Beyond my heart I need not reach

When all is summer there.

~John Vance Cheney"


Happy August! And Happy Dog Days of Summer!! Boy it was a hot one yesterday. Took advantage of getting outside during the cooler mornings and spent a little time in the craft room during the heat of the day. I've got some funny things from the craft room to share with you this week.

But we'll start with a little business as I have a little SU news to share. . . .




. . . . today's the 1st day we demonstrators can get a peek at the new Holiday Mini Catalog.  I ordered your catalogs which should be sent out sometime around August 15th.  We'll talk more about it if you want when we hopefully get together tomorrow.  I looked through it online and there's some really cute stuff in there.

The other thing I can't remember if I told you about what the Buy 3 Get 1 Free promotion going on right now.  If you buy 3 sets of Designer Papers you get 1 free - now a 10.95 value.  I'm thinking about taking advantage of this one.  Among a few others, I like this Well Worn paper for the masculine cards and possibly Thanksgiving cards.  Holler if you're interested.

Have a great summer day.  See ya' tomorrow!