Gobble, Gobble

Well I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving holiday.  I don't know about you but I'm stuffed!  We had a full turkey dinner with our friends Colleen and Diane on Wednesday night - a tradition we started back in the 90's since none of us had family in town.  And then another full turkey dinner on Thursday with our neighbor family - a tradition we started after Stephen passed.  And then if that wasn't enough, we had another full turkey dinner on Friday night so Allan could show off his cooking talent.  And boy! is that Cricut Man talented!!!  It so delish!  I think I've lost my position as head chef for the holiday dinner. I'm not sure that's a bad thing ;-)

Here's the next in line of the holiday wobbly owl cards.  I liked how this one turned out MUCH better than the silly one I did for Halloween.  And something cool I wanted to point out on this one. . . .the back feathers - the ones punched with the scallop punch - used an old coffee sleeve.  The puckered craft color paper was just perfect and added a little texture. 

So next up for the owl cards is Christmas, then New Year's and finally Valentines.  Once those are done it will be a full year of holiday owls.  I have to tell you it's been pretty fun.

I'll leave you with another turkey project - and one that's much cuter than mine.  Here's Mona's quirkey turkey placecards.  She was inspired by this post on Tim Holtz's blog.  Didn't they turn out cute?  Can't wait to hear about how everyone in her family liked them.

Griz Themed

A month or so ago I *finally* got around to using my Tim Holtz medallion die and made these cute little embellishments for a Griz themed card.  It sure does make quick work of things and those Griz stickers they sell at the Bookstore fit perfectly for the center.  I used a bear paw stamp I picked up at Memory Lane and Versamark ink to make a background paper.  And I found some decorative scissors from way, way back that made a decorative border that kind of reminded me of teeth.  I thought it turned out pretty cute.  I have a few more embellishments which I'll be using for toppers on some paper candy boxes I'm making for some folks at work. 

See ya at the shop tonight.

Quick and Easy

I know most of my Gal Pals have seen this card at the shop but I wanted to get it posted on the blog for use later on.  With all the coordinated paper packs I've been picking up here and there, this is a great card sketch to keep on hand for those last minute cards you might need.  I actually got the sketch from the Clean and Simple web site - one of my favorite sites for easy-peasy ideas.  I've got the dimensions for the patterned pieces somewhere on my craft counter - which is kind of a mess right now :-( but will edit this post as soon as I find them.  I've also made a bunch of different versions of this card and will post them too.  Working on the one for Christmas now.

Hope you all have a good weekend.  We'll be at the Brawl of the Wild Griz-Cat game on Saturday.  It ought to be a good one.

See ya' back here next week.

One Layer Part 2

This is another one layer card - similar to this one I did several months ago.  Well I guess it's not technically a one layer card because I matted the stamped image before adhering it to the card base, but you get the jist.  I love the color combination but I do want to try it in some other colors too.  I used a couple of the excess stamp sets Val passed along.  Thanks! one more time Val!!!  Loved the butterfly set - it's a keeper for sure!

I made this card for the family but the more I look at it the more it seems like a sympathy card to me.  Unfortunately I've needed a few of those lately so I've been looking for more good designs.  Please pass them along if you find any during your browsing.

I'll leave you today with another quote from the back of the digital CardMaker magazine archives I browsed through last week.

CardMaker

I recently remembered that our subscription to CardMaker magazine now includes access to the digital version of the magazine and digital versions to all of the archives.  So I took a little enteretainment with me for the long plane ride to Jacksonville last week.  I downloaded 3 Nov/Dec issues from the early years.  I found several really cute card ideas - some quick and simple like this one and others that show off a specific technique I want to try.

The other thing that was kind of cool was looking through the 2 pages of quotes they have at end of each issue.  I found several that were really meaningful to me.  They will be going in my quote journal for safekeeping.  Here's one that really seemed to resonate for me right now.

Another distressed wood

Remember the Father's Day card I posted last week?  Well here's another using the same technique and sketch. The technique really reminded me of weathered wood in a seaside cottage.  The image is another digital download from Stampin' Up - "By the Seashore".  Instead of the brads I did something a little different as this card was a family newsletter card and I try to keep those flat.  I took my mini-hole punch and punched tiny circles and then glossed them up using Crystal Effects.  I really like how that turned out.  May have to do more of that.

Hope you enjoyed the long weekend.  See ya' tonight.

Another Summer Silhouettes

Finishing up the week with another card I made for the family from the Summer Silhouettes stamp set.  Used the Pear Pizazz patterned paper and ink and Poppy Parade for the flower tops and paper borders.  Now that we're fully into the fall and holiday season I think I'll have to put this one away for awhile.  But I'm sure it will be back next Spring.

Hope you all have a good weekend.  I'll be travelling back from Jacksonville on Sunday.  See ya' at the shop on Tuesday.

Red and Green

Got a little early head start on the red and green with this card I CASE'd from Me, My Stamps and I - a blog I haven't surfed in quite awhile.  I forgot how clean and simple her card designs are.  Even though it's red and green it's definitely not a Christmas card but rather this week's family card.  Love the vibrancy of the 2 colors together (Gumball Green and Raspberry Ripple - 2 of the 2012-14 In Colors).  The stamp set has been one of my favorites - Summer Silhouettes.  The sentiment is from Happy Greetings.   And the embossing folder is the paisley one from Val's excess stash - Thanks Val!

Father's Day

I couldn't find where I posted this card I made for all my father's this year - my Dad, Hippy Bob and Ernest (Allan's father).  I loved how it turned out!  I used this technique I saw on the Gina K blog where you score every half inch and then rub an inkpad over the raised surface until it looks like barn wood.  I downloaded a digital stamp set (Countryside) from Stampin' Up and did just minimal colored pencil work on it.  With the brads and twine it just seemed perfect for a Father's Day card.  I'm not sure how I'll top this next year.  Glad I got some prep time :-)

I missed the boat

Boy did I miss the boat on the design of my Halloween Owl.  Check out this Pinterest board from a lady who pinned my owl card from last week. . . .

.. .notice all the cute, cute Halloween themed owls there were. Man! Wish I would have seen those earlier.

Here's the link to her Pinterest Board which is dedicated just to cards and ideas for the owl punch.  Now how cool is that!  I'm putting this link on the blog so I'll have it for future reference the next time I hit a creative bump.

Triple Time

Hi Gal Pals,

Just wanted to post these pictures and the link to the instruction video so I wouldn't lose track of this idea.  I really want to give this a try.  Tuesday Card Group did it at the shop a few weeks ago and these pics are cards Staci made.  So cool!

Here's the link to the instruction video.  And here's the link to the related blog post with the measurements.

And last but not least, more of Staci's card samples. . .

 

 

Gal Pal Retreat

 

This is a belated Thank You post to Mona for the wonderful time we had at her cabin a couple of weeks ago.  It was one of the most cozy joyful, relaxing days I've had in quite a while.  Notice the fireplace in the background and the peanut butter Oreos in the middle of the table. It doesn't get much cozier and comforting than that, now does it?!

And believe it or not, in addition to all the Gal Pal chatting, we actually got some cards finished.  Here's the baby shower card I made for Meaghanne. 

I loved how it turned out - especially the cute ceramic button which was a fun find at Deer Country Quilts.

I'm hoping there will be many more retreats in the years to come.  And to close, I'll leave you with a blast from the past - the little video montage I put together after our 1st Gal Pal road trip to Helena and crafter's Heaven (aka Ben Franklin).  Click here for a little stroll down Memory Lane -- no pun intended! :-)

Happy Halloween Owl

Well this is not at all the way I wanted this card to turn out but I just ran out of time on Sunday - the deadline for getting the weekly letter out to the family.  First of all the paper was supposed to be candy corn but I couldn't find card stock and coordinating paper for the owl's vest.  The owl was supposed to be on a pumpkin but I couldn't find a die cut for one and didn't have any creativity for creating one.  So this funky looking sunburst was the best I could find.  Kind of looks like a mutated orange spider, huh?!

Oh well, at least I was able to get him to jiggle which was the whole intent.  Remember my pledge - a jiggly owl card for every major holiday this year.  Here's a reminder of the St Patty's Day and 4th of July cards which I have to say are much, much cuter.  I'll be sure to start alot earlier on the jiggly Thanksgiving owl card.  Now how am I going to make him look like a turkey??  :-)

Silly, Silly Me

This post goes out to Debbie and Val.  I'm finally getting around to posting that silly YouTube video I was telling you about - the one where I had my sock monkey puppet on and did a little message to the University of Virginia student that was helping us with the Prerequisite Enforcement Project at work.

Now before you watch it, there's a little explaining to do.  The Prereq Project is one where we are setting up mathematical type rules in the computer system to make sure when students register the system will stop them if they haven't taken the right courses yet.  So the rules use a lot of parenthesis and hence the puppet's name Left Paren ("LP").  We gave our student worker a puppet similar to this one but his name is Right Paren.  Get it?  Silly I know - but we just had to blow off some steam some how.

After watching this and also remembering the little improv I did in the shop with my Love Monster finger puppets, I'm sure you're thinking I probably need to seek some professional help for my puppet fettish!!!

Happy Friday!  Wishing you lots of Grins and Giggles.  I'm off to Walla Walla for a little wine tasting trip with Cricut Man.  See ya' next week. 

"Baby" Noah

I wanted to share with you another album page I made with the most recent pictures of Allan's grandson, Baby Noah - not such a baby anymore.    It’s a pretty “clean and simple” page.   I loved doing it.  But it made we realize how far behind I am with creating pages for some of the pictures his parents post each month.  That’s me though. . . so many fun ideas but not much time to bring them all to life :-(. 

 

Working on scrapbook pages always gives me the time to think about the person I’m scrapbooking.  So I had plenty of time to think about . . .”I wonder what he’s like?. . .I wonder what makes him giggle. . .  what’s his favorite toy right now?. . . .what we’ll he be like when he’s all grown up?”  He’s a beautiful boy and it will be fun watching him grow.  I'm so thankful that Natasha and Cameron have been so good about posting pictures each month on Shutterfly.  It makes us feel a part of things even though we’re so many miles away.

 

P.S.  Staci - those red, white and blue "candies" really came in handy for this page, don't ya' think?!

Farewell to Summer

Remember the Summertime card I was coloring last week at the shop?  Well here's how it turned out.  Really liked how bright it was - even though I only have yellow Copic colors.  Just the sentiment I was trying to convey for the weekly family card. . . Summer's last bright hurrah!!

Passing it along. . .

Just had to pass something cool along. . . .my friend Beth at work - a majorly crafty person in her own right - shared this link from a friend of a friend who is doing some really cool stuff with needle felting.  Absolutely amazing!  Check out all the other cool storybook characters that she's done.

Hope you all had a good Labor Day weekend.  Am looking foward to seeing you at the shop tonight.

Favorite Friends

Hi My Gal Pals,

After a few weeks of missing one of the three of us, I'm hoping that we can all gather at the shop tonight.  I miss you guys.  And often this sentiment on this card is what I feel. . . .with you guys *is* my favorite place to be.

Thanks! to Staci and Val for being so, so good to my Mom when she was here for a visit.  She was so energized at just being able to sit and talk with other women.  And I was over the top joyful at being able to share a Tuesday craft night with her.

Thanks! to Debbie for keeping me in stitches the last few visits to the shop.  You've made me see exercise in a whole new way ;-) wink, wink.  And I can't tell how poigniant and timely the sharing of your special Pinterest post was.  Thanks, thanks, thanks for sharing that - I will treasure it always.

So see you all soon.  We've got a lot of catching up to do!

-J-

WingDings

You know I just realized as I was picking the card for this post that there's been a little bit of a them to this week's posts. . . .one-layer or "creative slump" cards.  Here's one that is both.

I was running late on getting the weekly family card done and was also in a bit of a creative slump.  I found a font I had purchased from Scrap-n-Fonts a few years ago that was a bunch of flower images.  I think they call them DoodleBats - kind of like WingDings in Microsoft Word.  So I picked out one I liked, used some colored pencils and . . .Ta-Da! . . . . a quick and easy card ready for the mail.

That wraps up the posts for this week.  Hope you enjoyed.  We're off to the Red Ants Pants Music Festival in the morning.  What a hoot that should be.  I'm sure there will be stories to tell at the shop next week.  Until then. . . .

Cricut Man's Photography

Every once in awhile we try to use some of Cricut Man's photos on our weekly family cards.  He has a bizillion! so it's usually easy to find something to work with. 

I was having a hard time coming up with a design one week so we started going through his photos and found the set from a hot air balloon ride he had taken while visiting the wine country of Tumecula outside San Diego.  We did some creative cropping and found a really cool quote and this is how it turned out. 

I have to tell you it's one of my favorite cards so far this year.  I particularly loved the quote. . . .

"Love is not something your heart falls into,

but something that picks it up and set it soaring"