Happy almost 2012!

My cards for today's Friends with Flair are quickies. Santa brought me a bunch of stamps that I really wanted to use, but the inlaws were visiting and I was supposed to be a good hostess. So I sneaked up to my craft room while the rest of the family was playing Wii to make these:

They were really fast and might actually fit in an envelope, too, which is always a bonus!

PTI cardstock, twine

CTMH water color pencils

paper studio gems

button from stash

Unity Stamp Co stamps

I hope everyone has a great New Year- I know I learned a ton from you all this past year!

Hearts...

PTI cardstock

memento ink

twinery twine

Unity Stamp Co. stamp

Hearts are kind of like snowflakes- no two are the same. Or at least, I can't seem to find two that are the same in any of my crafty stuff. It's funny how one shape can have so many variations.

 I was hoping that one of my heart punches would make this card easier to make, but not a single one had just the right shape. So I stamped the heart four times and tried cutting it out, but my cutting wasn't very neatly done. I ended up sanding the edges for that nice, warm, fuzzy heart feeling.... or something. It's kind of funny that my sander is heart-shaped, too. Whatever. I'm just going with it.

I hope everyone has a wonderfully merry Christmas!

Randomness...

It's Friends with Flair Friday! WooooHoooo!

PTI Cardstock

Cosmo Cricket dp

Martha Stewart Punch

Marvy ink pens

Unity Stamp Co stamps

This is a card I made for my Grandma, who just made a generous addition to my kids' college funds. I was playing with my ink markers, trying to make cool colors out of the basics that I have. I don't have the eye for color that I wish I did, so this is always a challenge.

Echo Park dp

Unity Stamp Co stamp

Prima flower

random clothes pin and zipper pull

This one is a big pile of randomness. I won the stamp in a random drawing. I love random drawings because that's the only way I even have a chance :) The clothes pin was on my bell music folder forever until I thought it might come in handy as an embellishment- today is that day. I saved the zipper pull for the same reason. This is now one of those cards that the Post office cringes when it sees me coming! I think I'm going to enter it into the monthly sketch challenge, also.

Off to make some chocolate covered pretzels- bring on the holidays!

Oh, and thanks for your kind comments. They are the reason I love Fridays :)



Helllooooo, Friday!

All I can say is... TGIF!

I'm pretty sure this dp looks just like the wallpaper in my grandma's house.

Paper studio cardstock

Cosmo cricket dp

Unity Stamp co. stamps

Copics

Stickles

Not many words this week :) Have a good one!

Glitter....lots of it...

Tuesday Trigger Time!

I usually stay away from glitter. I'm not sure if it's my neatfreak tendencies, or the  unwillingness to share with my four-year-old, or how I'm going to explain to my 7 year-old that I played in the glitter without her.

I saw a tutorial the other day about masking with glitter and adhesive sheets and it's slightly less messy than using GLUE and glitter, so I went for it.

I was having a bad picture taking day (kind of like a bad hair day?) so it's hard to see all of the sparkle that's on this sucker. Good thing this will be given in real life!

Georgia Pacific cardstock

Papertrey Ink adhesive sheets

Doodlebug glitter

Unity Stamp Co sentiment

Nestabilities dies

Versamark and Memento ink

Ranger embossing powder

Bell Tree

PTI cardstock, stamps, & twine

Paper Studio card base

Hobby Lobby bells

Ribbon Boutique ribbon

Palette ink

Sizzix embossing folder

I promised I would make the card for my bell director's Christmas present, and I almost forgot (oops!) until now. We don't have a true bell tree at our church, so we have been making do with a laundry rack with a couple of bells hung on the opposite side for ballast. It takes a definite sense of humor to play a laundry tree!

This also works for Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday- the pleated ribbon at the bottom made a nice base for the tree

Anyway, Connie's the best and she'll like the play on words here. I just hope that all of our signatures will fit on the inside right because the front is definitely bumpy.

Gearing up for Black Friday

This time next week, I will either be shopping or taking a turkey-induced nap. I can't wait!

PTI Cardstock and white ink

My Mind's Eye paper

Unity stamps

SU star punch

embroidery thread

In my in my email today, A Cherry on Top sent free gift wrapping ideas that were great. I don't usually like to give gift cards because I think they are kind of impersonal and I don't really like the recipient knowing what his/her gift cost, but a gift card was the only idea my mom gave me for my dad. I made this envelope thingie from two ideas ACOT sent. The first is the shape of the envelope, and the second is a garland made from punched shapes, in my project I used stars. It looks like I put a little more effort into it now!

Does anyone know if the snowflakes are {ippity}? I mixed up my stamps accidentally and I don't want to do the research to find out now :)

Have a blessed Thanksgiving, everyone!

Destruction, Mayhem, and Zippers

It's Tuesday Trigger time again at the Moxie Fab World!

As soon as I saw this, I thought of some paper I bought a long time ago and hadn't yet used. The trees were vertical, though, and the angles of the trees in the inspiration picture were what caught my eye. I thought about cutting the paper on an angle, but that mean the trees would have been leaning. While that is the norm here in Wyoming, it would have looked funny on a card.

I used my overabundance of buttons to get the angle, and then I couldn't make a good tree from my scraps, so I destroyed a zipper and stitched it into a circle to make  my tree. I think my favorite part about this card is the random heart and zipper pull.

Jillibean Soup Paper

Coredinations Cardstock

Basic Grey and Paper Studio buttons

Unity sentiment

Palette ink

Zipper???

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Ho Big Red

TGIF!

The final project for the class I'm taking is due the Monday after Thanksgiving.

 WHO DOES THAT??

 I fully intend to spend the holiday eating and shopping, so I have to get my project done before we leave for the weekend. Grrrr. I used most of Thursday morning working on it and I needed something as a treat, so I made these Christmas tags...

My Mind's Eye paper

Paper Studio tag

Ribbon Boutique

{ippity} Stamps

Papertrey Ink scallop die

canvas from stash

Memento and Palette ink

I had to laugh when I noticed that the middle tag in the picture says "Ho Big Red". Either the project is getting to me or my sense of humor is getting more warped.

I'm going to use these for Unity's Friends with Flair and Ippity's Chick Challenges.

Oh, and thank you to whoever did the music on canvas thing a couple of weeks ago. I had to try it because it looked so cool.

Back to the project!

Make it Monday

This was an especially fun Make it Monday for me- not quite sure why!

I keep seeing friends on Facebook saying each day in November what they are grateful for, and today I am grateful for faux stitching. I think I would have gotten super frustrated with all the titchy little corners on this one.

Papertrey Ink cardstock, dp, dies, sentiment

Basic Grey dp

Paper Studio brads

Versamark ink, Zing embossing powder

Uniball pen

Murphy's Law and Friends with Flair!

Happy Friday!

I keep thinking that it's going to calm down around here...yeah, right. As I was trying to be useful and get some housework done, I kept getting ideas for cards. Unfotunately, if I don't try them out right away, I forget what the idea was in the first place. This was the one that I didn't forget!

Papertrey Ink  and Paper Studio cardstock

Paperstudio brads

Zing embossing powder

Unity/ Itty bitty stamps

memento ink

The background was from the itty bitty found here and the sentiment here. I like how this card turned out, but what makes me smile about this picture is that my enormous pile of homework was the only way to prop up the card so I could get a picture that showed the background at all.

And this is my little guy who kept popping his head in front of my camera and saying, "Cheese!" I couldn't resist that grimy little face!

Chick Challenge #4

My local fabric store was having a sale on buttons and I found some doozies. It's a good thing they were on sale!

The fabulous mailman brought my {ippity} order yesterday and I liked how the leopard print banner stamp and my cool button went together. And then I noticed the new Chick Challege was posted. So here goes nothing...

Going for simple and elegant....

Papertrey Ink cardstock, die, and twine

Memento ink

Prima flowers

{ippity} stamps

JHB button

Wausau paper

Yay for simple!

I'm really glad for this week's Make it Monday for two reasons: 1-  I finally know how to use my impression plates (directions, shmirections) and 2- these cards were really easy to make in assembly line fashion.

Papertrey Ink die, impression plate, white ink, sentiment, twine

Memento black ink

Paper Studio pre-made card

Hobby Lobby button

This was my first ever try at using a brayer and I love how it makes the tree look. With the impression plates, it's like decorating without getting stuck with pine needles!

Here's to starting a simple and joyous holiday season!

6th time's the charm?

I figure that if I keep joining challenges, I might actually have enough Christmas cards to send out this year!

This week's Make it Monday was to make a frame using dies and I chose the most inefficient way of making my card.

I blame the embossing powder that seems to stick everywhere but where I want it. It took me seriously 6 tries before I figured out to emboss first, then do the rest.

I like how it turned out, though. The snowflake die is my favorite die of all time, I think.

Papertrey Ink cardstock, snowflake die, stamps, white ink, twine

Spellbinders circle die

Versamark ink

Zing embossing powder

Thank you, PTI, for inspiring me to get my Christmas cards done this year!

Friends With Flair!

Happy Friday, finally!

My daughter's school is in the middle of a fundraiser for new playground equipment, and guess who offered to be treasurer last spring?

Really, I'm not sure what I was thinking. I'm working on my Master's in library science- not a lot of numbers there. In my free time, I've been making cards. Besides measuring, not a lot of numbers there, either.

We spent the last four afternoons verifying totals and getting the deposit ready. My brain might explode now. But really, I'm lucky that we live in such an excellent and GENEROUS school district. I will be thankful that we are nearly done!

I started out to make a pink and sparkly card for a pink, sparkly friend who is starting a new job and this came out instead. I like how it turned out, I just have to head back to the craft table to make that pink, sparkly card!

Papertrey Ink cardstock

My Mind's Eye dp

{ippity} by Unity stamps

Martha Stewart edge punch

Prima flowers

shell buttons from stash

TGIF everyone! We are headed to the pumpkin patch, yay!

Tuesday Trigger

It's Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger! I had to do the challenge this week because I think all of the clothes I bought for this fall are either that teal-y blue-green or dark grey. It's a sign, I tell you!

I also like the swirly design on this dress. I just got this Prima paper from in the mail yesterday and it kind of reminded me of the swirls. I just wish my photography was better :)

I bought these stamps in one of Unity's fabulous sales a while ago and I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to ink them up. Fortunately, I had a few minutes yesterday and this was a super easy card since the paper is so great. Also, it was a sanity saver, getting to be creative instead of counting fundraiser money!

Papertrey Ink cardstock and ink

Unity Stamp Co. stamps

Prima dp

Memento ink

Have a great day, it's almost Friday!

What brain wave?

I'm having a few days where I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one on my brain wave. That, or else my hands and brain are having a huge disconnect. I'm just glad that this doesn't seem to be applying to my school work as I have an assignment due on Monday.

With World Card Making Day, there have been some great challenges on SCS. I read the challenges, I look at all the great examples, and then what turns up on my craft table is something completely different.

Here is my first disconnect. It's for the Chick Challenges with {ippity} and here is the sketch:

And here is what landed on my table:

And here is my second. The challenge was to be inspired by this photo:

And this is what happened:

Not even close, although I think I'll enter it in the Halloween challenge instead.

Good thing there aren't Card Police.

My Mind's Eye paper

Papertrey Ink dies

Memento and Stampin' Up ink

{ippity} and Unity Stamp Co. Stamps

Have a good one!

Marathon Birthday Month

October is a huge month for birthdays around here. My mom, my m-i-l, two nieces and I were all born in October, plus three of those family members were born in the first week, so I have a lot of work to do, but at least it's the fun kind.

So I found this lady via facebook who makes really cool personalized family necklaces, plus she's one of the nicest people I have ever dealt with. So I ordered two of these:

One for each mom with grandkids' names on them. You can find them here on Etsy. The quality is great and the lady is just so nice!

So here are my Friends with Flair birthday cards to go with fabulous gifts:

Both were made with My Mind's Eye paper, PTI cardstock, twine, and gem thingies, Basic Grey buttons, and American Crafts embossing powder. The twine on the first card was kind of unintentional. I was trying to see if I wanted it there and accidentally glued it- so there it stays!

Have a great weekend- this weekend starts the 3-month "everything is covered in holiday decorations" time for our house. Yay!

Procrastination...

I have a million things to do. October is a big month for birthdays in our household and I meant to start making birthday cards for both of our moms, plus two nieces. I ran by Hobby Lobby today to find ghost-making material for an entirely different project...

 and found some really cool trim instead.

 I hadn't planned on trying the Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger this week because my to-do list is really that long, but the trim was calling my name...



Papertrey Ink cardstock

My Mind's Eye dp

Unity Stamp Co stamps

Versamark ink,

American Crafts embossing powder

Hobby Lobby button trim

Going back to my to-do list.

 Really.

Friends with Flair

Hello everyone!

I've been in an incredible funk or rut or something lately. I see all of the incredible things that everyone makes every week and I feel like my creations have just been.... things.

Somewhere along the way, I forgot why I started making cards in the first place.... partly because store-bought cards are overpriced, and partly because the homemade touch seems to mean so much for the recipient. So I'm going to get over myself and start having fun again. After all, it's not like the card police are going to come after me or something!

Ok, whining done.

Unity keeps coming out with all of these incredible images that I have a bunch of stamps I haven't had time to use. So many stamps, so little time...

Unity Stamp Co stamps

Papertrey Ink cloud dies and dp

My Mind's Eye cloud dp

Paper studio kraft card base.

Off to do homework!

Friends with Flair...and it finally dried!

TGIF! It's Friends with Flair Friday, plus there is a new Monthly Challenge!

Paper Studio and Papertrey Ink cardstock

GlimmerMist

Unity Stamp Co. stamps

Ribbon Boutique ribbon

PTI twine

The monthly challenge is to use leaves. I don't have any fall-ish dp because I don't like orange, so I had to make some, which started an all-afternoon long process. I sprayed the daylights out of some cardstock with GlimmerMist to get the fall colors for the leaves...and had to let it dry. When it was mostly dry, I couldn't get it to stick, so I brought out the Mod Podge....and had to let it dry. While I was waiting, I tried paper-piecing the leaves on the tag...which had to dry before I could trim it. I usually go for quick and easy, so this was torture. This is what I get for hating orange, but at least the new stamps got inky!

Thanks for any comments you have- it's always a wonderful was to start the weekend!

Tuesday Trigger

Well, I wasn't going to do the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger this week because this picture really didn't jump out at me... until I was looking through my paper stash today and found some papers that reminded me of this:

I think they were a freebie as a part of a stamp order from a while back, but I really don't know what brand they are. The stamp is a new one from Unity, and the flowers are Prima, and my sewing machine is finally working a little better for the stitching behind the flower.

Thanks for looking!

More is more, Part II

Another Friends with Flair Friday!

My craft room yesterday looked like a stamp volcano exploded. I was looking for every flourish stamp I own and my stamps are not all that organized, so it takes a massive hunt if I'm looking for something specific. I think when I was done, I ended up using three different kits plus an itty bitty to make this.

Georgia-Pacific cardstock

Memento and Stampin' Up inks

Unity Stamp Co. stamps

Mark Richards shiny things

Make it Monday

Papertrey Ink Cardstock, stamps, and twine

Distress  and Memento inks

Color Stories leaves

This week's Make it Monday is about making stamped backgrounds with non-background stamps. For this, I used one of the twirly butterflies from Butterfly Kisses because butterflies and this sentiment go so well together.

I'm also trying new color combinations. I found a blog that has a random color generator where you input how many colors you want to use, any colors that need to be in the combo, and how many results you want, and presto! There's a whole list to choose from. I found it here. It just became my new favorite tool.

More is more??

Hello everyone!

Jillibean Soup dp

PTI cardstock

Memento ink

Unity Stamp Co. stamps

Here we go for another Friends with Flair Friday! So, lately I've been on a "reduce the paper stash" kick. Although you wouldn't be able to tell from looking at my closet. So much gorgious paper, so little time...

This image is one of my favorites from the July KOM. This card reminds me of my parents who are going on year 43. They keep taking crazy long trips at various places around the world on their bikes. I'm all for exercise, but not that much!

Have a really great long weekend!

Tuesday Trigger!

 It's Moxie Fab World's Tuesday Trigger!

I love the texture and ruffliness of this week's Trigger.

Unfortunately, my photography could use a lot of work. All of the papers I used have great texture, but it's too hard to see it in this picture. Going for simple this week, including this post!

Papertrey Ink Cardstock and ink

Wausau dp

Ribbon Boutique ribbon

Unity Stamp Co/ Marah Johnson sentiment

Polka Dots and Stripes

Happy Friends with Flair Friday everyone!

This Friday finishes up a crazy summer for me. One kiddo went back to school this week, I start next week, and the other kiddo starts the week after that. I will be super glad to get back in our routine and I'm not babysitting this year so that I can focus on my own kids. Plus, there will hopefully be a bit more crafting time, too!

I have two months of KOM stamps that have not gotten nearly enough love (or ink) because of the craziness around here, so I pulled this one out. Those bees are just so stinkin' cute. I much prefer them in rubber form!

Georgia Pacific cardstock

Echo Park dp

Unity Stamp Co. stamps

Memento Ink

Ribbon Boutique ribbon

glitter glue

Have a beautiful day!

Square Sketch Challenge in the Moxie Fab World

School is back in session! I was able to play with my stamps ALL BY MYSELF.

It was kind of nice, not having to stop every few minutes to help kiddos with this or that or have them rooting around my mess.

My school doesn't start until next week, but the in-laws are descending tonight, so it will be a while before I get another stamping moment.

This is the sketch found at Moxie Fab World:

And here is my take on it. I've had a lot of these stamps for a while, and I love the sketch, but it took me three tries before I was satisfied with the stamping. On the other hand, I was able to diminish my ridiculous stash of paper.

Papertrey Ink cardstock and banner stamps

Mark's Finest Paper twine

Unity Stamp Co tickets, sentiments, and Ferris Wheel

Paper Studio gem

Thanks for looking!

Envelope, shmenvelope, Part II

I feel like I've been having an ongoing battle with envelopes. I haven't been making cards all that long and when I first started, I bought a couple of sets of envelopes, thinking that they were standardized and would fit my A2 cards. Boy, was I wrong. They are ALL about 1/4" too short on all sides and I never remember to trim the bases before stamping, so the cards NEVER fit.

So now I have a ton of envelopes just sitting in my closet and I can't find anywhere in town that sells the right size. Not even Wal-Mart, who sells everything. I'm too impatientt and forgetful to order any, plus the post office here has gotten really picky about lumpy envelopes anyway.

OK, rant finished. I threw this birthday card for my friend together in record time since it's getting late on Friday, the in-laws are a couple of hours away, and we have PTO stuff going crazy with school just around the corner...

I love the lanterns. Thank you, Unity, for them.

Unity stamps

Basic Grey paper

Paper Studio shiny things (what are they called anyway?) and ribbon

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Make it Monday

These posts have been all over the place lately. Since my class ended and its deadlines are over, I've been having a hard time remembering which day it is anyway. Bring on the school schedule and routine!

This Make it Monday was kind of a hoardsaver- to make our own coordinating ribbon using Copics. I can hardly ever find the exact color I want and it has never dawned on my to try making my own before. Duh.

I like how this one turned out- this hasn't happened a lot lately so I'm grateful.

Bo Bunny dp

Papertrey Ink cardstock, dies, stamps, ribbon

Copic markers

Palette Ink

vellum

Tuesday Trigger

Trying something new... I've seen other blog posts where the blogger has tried Moxie Fab's Tuesday Trigger and it looks like fun, so here goes...

I love patterns- all kinds. My paper stash is out of control at the moment because that's how much I love patterns. The dress in the Tuesday Trigger is so cute that I am seriously considering hunting it down. My favorite part is how the patterns seemingly don't match but still go so well together.

When I saw the dress, the first thing that came to mind was the Basic Grey "Out of Print" pad of paper just waiting to be used and my Unity stamps. The flower is canvas sprayed with GlimmerMist and die cut with Papertrey Ink dies. The button came from my stash.

Thanks for looking!