Betty's Scraps

I'm so glad Betty's back and active again.  I was catching up on her blog the other day - marveling over some of the stuff she's been creating - and stumbled across this post with a sneak peek to a new class she'll be doing.  Even though this sample is an ATC (Artist Trading Card) the technique for the ATC itself could translate easily to a card.  I love how she used small strips of her scraps.  It's kind of like that herringbone technique we saw on Splitcoast not long ago.  Cool!

P.S.  Check out the crafting retreat she references in that blog post.  Sounds fun.  I'm trying to get more details.  Will be sure share what I find out.

Warm Winter Wishes

This is the combination weekly newsletter/thank you card I made earlier for this year's Christmas gifts.  I love, love, love the lavender and turquoise color combination.  It just says cool, winter wonder to me.  With as pretty as winter can be, let's hope it doesn't have too many heavy snow dumps like we got week before last.

Happy Monday.

Finally!

Finally got the snowy cabin card done for this week's family newsletter.  I don't think this picture does it justice - you can't see the glittery snow or the soft pretty contrast of the browns and blues.  But bottom line is a sure do love that stamp.  I'll put it away for this season but will plan on dragging it out again next winter to see what kind of variation I can come up with.

Have a good weekend!

Reindeers and Rooftops

This was the card Mona gave me and Val for Christmas this year.  How over the top beautiful, huh?!  It uses dies from the Tim Holtz collections.  I just love the style. It feels so artistic vs. crafty.  I have to admit I'm a little intimidated still of playing with some of the Tim Holtz toys I have.  I just have never felt like I was artistic at all so I kind of feel lost.  But maybe some snowy day soon I'll get brave and just starting playing - and learning! - see what I can come up with.  I just need to remember "it's the about the journey not the destination", right?  Right!

Scraps Day

Wanted to share a cute idea I stumbled on while blogging last week that uses up what I know we all have in our offices. . . .the pile ready for the shred box. . . .

Look what you can do with a little help from one of my favorite toys, the Bind-It-All. . . . .

Aren't those adorable?!  I suppose if you didn't have a Bind-It-All or didn't want to use it you could do something similar with just "O" rings.

Here's the link to the full blog post on how to make them.  I'm gonna have to try this one out for sure.

So Very Special

This is the gift Mona gave me and Val this year for Christmas.  It's so very special.  Special because of all the talent and time she put into it and special because it came from our very special friend.  I know we will treasure it always.

Clean and Simple 153

I had some free time in  the craft room Sunday while I was doing the laundry.  It's so nice to have my craft room next to the laundry room.  Great excuse to be in there while the laundry's going -- makes me feel really productive. 

After I cleared off my counter, I checked this week's challenges on Splitcoast and saw this really cool sketch on last Monday's Clean and Simple Card Challenge.  So I decided to play a little.  After about 3 hours I came up with this card.  You wouldn't think finding 3 shades of pink that went together would be so hard. 

I started out intending to just stamp a one-layer card but then the new designer series paper I got a few weeks ago (Everyday Enchantment) just seemed to blend so well I had to do some matting of the stamped image.  Believe it or not, Cricut Man did some design consulting on this one.  I allowed him to enter the Girl Cave :-) and while he was in there he gave me some suggestions that I thought were really good.  Who says a bean counter accountant dude can't be artistic :-)

Happy Monday!

Fantasy

I was surfing around and stumbled on this lady's blog who has her very own little crafting play house.  Now how much fun would that be.  Check out the other pictures.  Way cool!  On a day  like today I'm not sure what intrigues me more. . .the play house or the beautiful sunny, dry weather in the pictures or the uber organized space.  What a Fantasy Land!

Have a good weekend!

Variety is the Spice of Life

Remember this card I did in early December with the Lovely As A Tree stamp set?  Which by the way happens to be one of my all time favorite stamp sets!  Well check out what another stamper did with the same set. . . .

Is that not absolutely AMAZING!?  This person has a really great blog, Bits and Pieces.  She uses a lot of really different stamp techniques and a lot of her cards have a very artistic, ethereal quality to them.  It's refreshing to see her style when a lot of what we see in the card magazines starts to look the same.  Just my two cents :-)

Stay safe on the roads today.  Let's hope that freezing rain really does stay away and we can keep all the pretty, fluffy white stuff around for a little while.

Scraps of Fabric

Is this not adorable??!!!  Since Wednesday's are Mona's day I'm posting something I stumbled on that uses scraps - not paper scraps but scraps of fabrics.  Just what she needs - another sewing project!  Well, Yes - I think she does need another sewing project! :-)  She could expand her Snap Happy product line with these little cuties.  This uses the fabric lines from Stampin Up which I've actually been thinking about ordering for some Snap Happys of my own now that I have my sewing machine back from its tune-up.  Here's a link to all the details.

Have a good one today. Stay warm.

Honeymoon

Happy Tuesday!

Hope everyone enjoyed the 3 day weekend.  Allan and I spent part of ours on a little get-away honeymoon up in Big Fork.  Actually it was a belated Christmas gifts to ourselves.  Had a great time!  It's amazing what running away from life and house chores even for just a day will do for re-energizing the soul.  I feel really ready for the week ahead.

The card is a picture Allan took of Flathead Lake from the deck outside our room at the Mountain Lake Lodge.  Will keep a copy of it on my desk this week as a reminder of the fun times.

Have a great day.  See you at the shop a little later.

Just a Little Note

Here's another card I made from the Apple Blossoms stamp set.  Once again, a total case from SplitCoast.  I was pleased with the way the notebook paper turned out.  I did that in a Word text box.

I've got one more from this set to post next week and then I'll be returning it to our drawer at Memory Lane.  Val, Mona - Hope you'll take it home someday soon so I can see what you create with that set.

Have a good weekend.

Apple Blossoms

This is another cased card from SplitCoastStampers.  The only thing I changed was the color scheme.  These soft blues and beiges are really appealing to me. 

I used our jointly owned stamp set "Apple Blossoms".  Have been playing with it a lot.  Here's the link to the index card that shows all the stamps in it and the gallery of sample cards.

I'll have another card from this set to post tomorrow.  See ya' then.

Wednesdays are Mona's Day

Last  year when I was posting daily, I always made sure to post a card that was made from scraps.  It was a special dedication to my Gal Pal Mona who is trying to use up all kinds of scraps in her craft room.  So in that same vain, I'm declaring Wednesday to be Mona's Day - a day to feature some of her handywork or to post something that I think she needs to make ;-).

Check out what she did a couple of  weeks ago. . . .this ADORABLE little Christmas tree made from a Tim Holtz die cut and a bunch of scraps she found - thread spool, baker's twine and star embellishment.  Now how CUTE is that??!!! 

Here's another one where she used some hardware for the embellishments.  How clever!

I'm thinking  this needs to be one of our projects for our monthly craft group.  I think they'd love it!

One for next year

This is a card I think Wendy at Memory Lane made.  I just *LOVED* it and had every good intention of making a few for my Christmas cards this year.  But when I got sick for almost the entire month of December with that nasty cold running around town I just had to let this one go.  But thankfully I have the stamp, Dazzles and the glitter pack to make it for next year.  I better start now! :-)

2012

Couldn't believe it when I saw the date on the last post.  So after a week of settling into 2012, let's see if I can get my daily posting discipline back.

I'll play catch up a littlle this week and post some of the cards and projects we made during December. 

This card was a total case from SplitCoastStampers using the stocking stamp set and coordinating punch from the Holiday Mini catalog along with the Frostwood Lodge paper pack and quilted satin ribbons.  I loved how it turned out.  I ended up using it for the downline swap we had at Marcia's house and then for the Christmas card I gave to my special friends.

Hope you have a good start to the week.  I'll see you back here on the blog tomorrow - I promise! :-)