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"

Inspired by Simplicity

I saw this card on Simplicity's blog many weeks ago and like the design.  Here's my version:

Different orientation.  Used my PTI rick-rack die and some matching patterned paper from the Ice Cream Parlor designer paper pack and the SU 5 petal punch to make the layered flower.  Since it was for the family I used the little Dazzle-like dots for the center of the flower instead of a brad to keep it nice and flat. 

I think this would make a cute Christmas card with a poinsettia instead of the flower and some cute Christmas patterned paper for the rick-rack, don't you?  May have to give that a try one of these nights.

Have a good Wednesday!

One Layer

Here's a really fun one layer card I did for the family.  Found the idea on a blog somewhere - just can't remember where to give the person credit :-(

I used 3 difference stamps a a couple of new techniques.  First I cut a rectangle out of a piece of cardstock and used the negative as a mask.  Then I used my big block script stamp (Hero Arts I think?) to stamp into the masked area.  Next I used my SU Pocket Silhouettes stamp set to stamp the flowers using 2 different colors.  And then finally I used a sentiment stamp from one of my little Hero Arts sets.  Gosh I loved those little 4 stamp sets that Lasting Impressions used to carry.  I bought quite a few over the years and they are some of my most used stamps.

It's hard to tell from this picture but the color combination of the Sahara Sand, Not Quite Navy and Cherry Cobbler is really pretty.

Hope to see you at the shop tonight.  Seems like we've got a lot to catch up on.

Paper Wishes Kits and Scraps

I'm back to digging in my stash and came across an unfinished card kit from Paper Wishes.  One of about 15 I'm ashamed to say!  So I made the shape card.  The kits typically have a shape card in each kit and I have to tell you I'm not a huge fan of shape cards.  Typically because they use some hokey clip art or they never really feel solid in your hand because the cutting of the shape seems to make the card flimsy. 

But with all that said, I really liked how this one turned out.  I'm probably going to send it to Noah, Allan's grandson, for Christmas.  Just thought it would look cut on a counter or shelf or dresser.

And then because I had some patterned paper and clip art left - one of the really nice benefits of the card kits - I made this card from the scraps and a few old, old supplies in my stash. . . leftover snowflake Dazzles, a snowflake eyelet and some fibers I think I bought at Angie's place almost 10 years ago!

That's one way of appeasing my guilt for the cost of the card kits.  They give you the supplies and patterns for 10 cards with each kit but I typically can get another 6-10 cards from all the scraps.  That makes it a real bargain, huh?!  :-)

Hope you enjoyed scraps week.  Have a great weekend and I'll see ya' Monday.

Touch of Kindness Scraps

So today's "scrap" post features the Touch of Kindness stamp set.  It was the one I used in this post for a family newsletter card.

I didn't have many scraps left from that card but I managed to make a bookmark for my SU catalog and this post-it note cover which I gave to a teammate.

You'll notice I didn't have a full piece of the red paper to mat the stamped image which normally would have driven me nuts.  But somehow it worked and I was OK with it. 

See ya' back here tomorrow for the last day of scrap week.

More Scrap Cards

I guess I'm going to declare this week's post to scraps.  Here's a card I made from some scraps from the weekly family card.  It turned out so cute and I liked it so much I gave it to Val for her birthday.  I played around with some paper piecing on this one.  I just really wanted the image to tie in with this paper.  I like the coordination part of putting cards together.  Maybe because I'm not very good at collage type cards.  Coordinating color and pattern then becomes a way of stretching a little without getting too collage-gy.

Here's another version of the same card sketch.  Not quite as cute as Val's birthday card but still cute. 

Both cards gave me an opportunity to use some of the $1 Snag 'em Stamps from Imaginisce that Debbie and Staci sometimes keep up at the counter. That's what I like - impulse items you have to buy but you're only out a buck!

Butterfly Punched Flowers

This is a card I made for Val during the height of all her bad breaks life was throwing at her.  The tide has started to turn a little but it's slow building momentum.  Let's hope smooth sailing is not far around the corner. 

I made the flower on the card at the shop on Tuesday this winter.  It was a technique I read about somewhere out in blog land.  But you basically take the Stampin' Up Butterfly Punch and punch 5 images out of double-side paper.  Then you fold them a little off center and interlock them and attach them to a circle that's been backed with score tape.  Attach a big decorative brad in the middle and "Ta-Da!" you've got a really cute embellishment.

The stamp is one of the little cuties from Stampendous that Memory Lane has been carrying more of.  I love them!  And the sentiment was so perfect for this card.  The paper was from one of the 6x6 Lime Twist paper packs - another of my favorites that the shop has been carrying.

And since I had a few punches and scraps on the craft counter after I made this, I threw together one more. . . .

The flower on this one I didn't get interlocked as well so it looks a little different but I curled the paper more which gave it some more dimension.  But I loved the paper and color combinations.  I think one of the neices will get this one for their birthday.

See ya at the shop later today.

Ooops - good link for the game

I realized when I read the post this morning the link to the game was bad.  Here it is:  http://www.michelemademe.com/2012/06/pebbles-and-pinecones-family-game.html

Sorry about that.

For the Crafty Grandmas

Happy Monday!

This post goes out to Mona and Debbie and any other crafty grandmas reading Gal Pals. 

I love, love, love the blog "Michelle Made Me" and read it at least once a week.  She's the woman that made my "Love Monster" puppets -- remember the ones Cricut Man gave me for Valentines Day?.  She does some really, really clever stuff with recyled items.

She posted this game she made up for her family and I thought it was a PERFECT fit for those days at the cabin up at the lake with the grandkids.  You've just got to check it out.  In fact it looks like so much fun I want to borrow your grandkids so I can play too.

Had a GREAT time playing at Memory Lane on Saturday.  I was totally exhausted by the time I got home.  I never thought 10 hours of solid crafting could take so much out of a girl.  But it was certainly happy exhaustion.  My secretary box turned out so cute and I was overwhelmed (in a good way) with all the tips and tricks and techniques Betty taught us.  I'll be signing up for a couple more of her classes this fall - the Unscrapbook project is definite and she said she has a Recipe Box class that she'll have the sample for soon.  Could be really nice for Christmas gifts.  Knowing Betty it will be as over-the-top fantastic as all her projects.  Keep an eye on her blog for more details if you're interested.

Hope to see you toorrow at the shop tomorrow.

Christmas in July

Goofing around on the internet while I'm having my morning coffee and stumbled on this card from this blog.  Oh my gosh! - I think I may have just found my Christmas theme for the holiday owl.  I just had to share.  How cute, huh?!

Hope you have a great Friday and weekend.  I'm hoping the weatherman is right about rain on Saturday.  That will make for a nice cozy day at Memory Lane for Betty's "Secretary" craft class.

Take care.

Another CAS Card

Here's another Clean And Simple card.  Really love all the hexagon stuff that's making its way around the papercrafting world.  Scrap-n-Fonts had a hexagon doodle set for sale a few weeks ago so I used that with the new SU Midnight Muse In Color in My Digital Studio and just adjusted the opacity setting with each row.  I then overstamped the sentiment in the full color over the last row.  I just loved it!

Gifts from a Friend

Wanted to share a quick and simple card made with some stamps Val gave me after cleaning out some of her excess in her craft room.  I really loved the simplicity.  I used one of the stamps from a border set she gave me along with an inchie stamp which I punched out with the SU postage stamp punch.  I popped the punched inchie up with some foam tap just to give it a little dimension.

Touch of Kindness

Here's a card I made with Stampin Up!'s "Touch of Kindness" stamp set.  I bought it because it seemed so perfect for the weekly family cards.  Plus there was lots of opportunity for coloring - something that I love to do!

I really liked how sweet this one turned out.  I found a piece of stray 12 x 12 patterned paper in my stash - just enough for six 4 x 5 1/4 card bases.  It was a really neat color of teal blue and it was polka dot to boot.  Next to ric-rac, polka dots are my next favorite thing.  The SU Dotted Scalloped Ribbon Border punch was just a perfect fit. 

I'm not sure if you can see in the picture but I used an old, old corner punch - one way back from the days at the Pumpkin Carriage - and then kept the polka-dot them going with a little dot of white gel pen in the center of the punched corners.  I finished off the focal image with some silver sticker lines which I thought gave it a bit more of a finished look.  Lately I just haven't been too fond of just a flat piece of paper matted on another flat piece of paper.  I've been inking my edges more often now or doing something to blend in the edges on my mats.  Not sure where that bug came from but can't seem to help myself.

Hope you enjoy the card and the day.  See you tonight at the shop!

Sock Monkeys

Happy Monday Everyone!

This is a thank you card I made for Tori last week.  She's our next door neighbor's daughter who was home for a month or so on summer break from University of Virginia where she is a Pre-Med student in her senior year. She has been working with me and Allan at UM for the last month on some data work for the Prerequisite Enforcement project. 

There's a bit of a story behind the sock monkey theme. . .I have a sock monkey puppet at the office that I use for those days when I'm bored or I need to cheer someone else up.  Tori and I had been working hard one day and were dizzy from all the spreadsheets of data we were sorting through.  The project involved interpreting some "rules" with a lot of parenthesis like . . . "allow registration if (the student passed their math placement) or (if they had a C- or better in Math 101)".  So I got out the sock monkey to have a little fun.  I decided his name needed to be "Paren"  and he needed to talk with a very French accent.  We giggled and laughed and played for awhile and then got back to work.  For the next few weeks, we used Paren to help us get through the tedious work days. 

Tuesday was Tori's last day on the project so as a going away gift we gave her Paren and this little thank you card.  We hope Paren will cheer her up on those days at UVA when she's cramming for her BioChem tests.

P.S.  Just a few details about the card. . . .it's a sketch I found from Splitcoaststampers Card Sketch Challenge and I used the "KandCompany" paper pack and embellishment pack I got from Memory Lane last summer. 

I used the "Solid Stripes" stamp from Stampin' Up's 2010 Occassions Mini to make the green striped cardstock on the card base.  Loved! how that turned out.  Will have to do that again sometime soon.

Unlikely Inspiration

Today's card is truly an inspiration card that just proves inspiration can come from just about anywhere. 

I was shopping at CJ Banks on my birthday and just LOVED!, loved, loved the colors and design on their shopping bags and tissue stickers.

I searched through my cardstock and stamps and found some close matches.  I figured out a good size for the circles and strips of paper and thought bright white embossing powder for the stamp would be great.  But after making the 1st card I ran into a big snag. . . .no matter what I did I kept getting extra embossing powder on the paper that would NOT rub off.  I tried with and without the embossing buddy, tried it with Versamark and with pigment ink but nothing would reliably fix the problem.  I'd get 2 good ones and then 3 or 4 bad ones.  I ruined all the blue cardstock I had.  Man! was I mad!!

So I took my project to Memory Lane Tuesday night and talked to Val and Staci.  They had a few suggestions but were as stumped as I was.  The only thing that we could think of is that my embossing powder was either old or somehow corrupted. 
So I bought 2 different kinds of white embossing powder (in addition to finding more blue paper that was a good match).  I rushed home and tried again. . . .and sure enough I was getting a clean image every time. 

Then I just had to try the old one again to make sure it wasn't something weird like humidity in the craft room the 1st day I was trying or dirty fingers or as Val thought. . .some sort of weird finish on the cardstock I was originally using.  And the old embossing powder produced the same bad results - powder all over the place.

And there you have it. . . .it looks like embossing powder CAN get old.  [And just I was wrote this I popped out on to Google and sure enough. . .there's tons of forum posts about similar problems and confirmations that the melting ingredient in the embossing powder can fade and lose it's sticky ability.]
I'm going to go ahead and send the ones I made on the 1st attempt to the family for their weekly card this week.  They all love me and will understand if the cards are less than perfect.  But I will make another 1/2 dozen of the same design to keep in my Thank You card stash.  Can never had enough gratitude in your life ;-). 

Take care and have a great weekend!  See you back here on Monday.

Happy 4th of July

Hope everyone had a nice day off and a HAPPY 4TH OF JULY !!!  And Mona, I hope you had a great time christening your new cabin!  We'll look forward to hearing all about next week at the shop.

Wow! Didn't intend to be away from this blog for over 2 1/2 months! But I must have needed the break. And now I feel ready to be back in the saddle. Plus I had a stash of cards that I've been making that I'm anxious to share with you. 

I'll kick things off with the card I sent to the family last week.
Mona and Val will remember that I've pledged to do a whole year of holiday cards using my Stampin Up! owl punch.  I got inspired when I made this card for the family on St. Patty's day. 

I just loved the little "springy" things that Memory Lane has in stock to pop up the owl and make him jiggle. So I decided for each major holiday the owl will be dressed in themed paper and will sit on a springy shape that matches the theme -- hence the red, white and blue paper and the sparkly star for the 4th of July.

Well enough chatter for today. See you back here tomorrow. I've got lots of fun cards to share with you for the next couple of weeks.

P.S. Val - so good to see you Tuesday night at the shop!!! Thanks for joining me.  I hope the healing continues and that you get to feeling a little better each and every day.