Leftover mania!

And no, it's not Thanksgiving leftovers!  We ate those a long time ago!  I have extra papers/kits from when I taught classes and I am busy making these into useful cards rather than having more bags of "stuff" around my craft room.  Here is a picture of what I had left over:

The top row shows the finished card samples.  Below each is a pile of "leftovers" from which I made new cards.  I had to substitute materials in some instances, but I pared each pile down to just a few scraps which I mostly tossed.

Here is a picture of all the finished cards I made:

I made lots of cards to use for birthday, sympathy, thinking of you.  Plus, I already used one birthday card today!

This was a fun activity, and rewarding.  I cleared away a sack of "stuff", and I added to my stash of cards I can use, give away, or sell in my next craft fair.  In addition, it was enlightening for me to revisit my past designs and make them even better in some cases.  I also enjoyed the different techniques that I may not have used in a while.

Now, on to the next bag of "stuff"!

Autumn Dinner Party

A few nights ago I went to an autumn dinner party with a few close friends.  The food was fabulous!  We had roast beef, potatoes, acorn squash, and salad with apple pie for dessert.  My favorite was the acorn squash with cranberry.  Here's a picture:

As you can see, we ate a lot of it!  I took one of these home for the next day!

I made a little "welcome autumn" card for everyone at the party:

This is another of the shaker cards I love so much.  I used the usual Paper Trey Ink supplies with background paper from an old Basic Grey line:  Indian Summer.  I filled the shaker with some confetti sequin leaves I found in my stash.  Everything old is new again!  Sequins are all the rage and I have to say I have a fair supply of all kinds that I have collected through the years.  

   About the leaf embellishment:  This is a Hero Arts leaf stamp that I stamped in Clearsnap's Alpine pigment ink and then sprinkled various embossing powders over:  orange from the Stampendous "Painting with Powder" line, a sort of matte gold from Ranger, and an old Ranger Adirondack Terra Cotta color.  I have to say that like sequins, I am glad I have collected a lot of various embossing powders in my day.   And unlike what some say, mine don't seem to go "bad".  

   I hope you like the card!  I liked the food and the company!

Happy Birthday!

I went with friends to the October birthday party at a local senior citizen independent living community.  I made eleven of the above card for the eleven residents who have birthdays in October.
It was fun!   We had ice cream with all the toppings for a treat and everybody liked their cards!  Lots of people shared cards.  I am going back for the November party!
    The card is made from kraft card and decorated with one of the famous Hero Arts cupcakes.  I used an Inkadinkado background stamp for the bottom of the card, using a stamp positioner.  I think I learned about this design in a Hero Arts workshop I took at one time.  Love the design!

Basket Fun

I haven't posted in a while, so I guess it's time to catch up.  Today I'm sharing a picture of a gift basket I made for a church fundraiser.  I had a lot of trouble with this basket, but I like what I ended up with.  I started with the idea of "county fair".  I got this idea from the fun PaperTrey Ink stamps and dies I got a while back and am still enjoying.  I thought I would fill the basket with items portraying fresh vegetables, fruits, and also quilted items.  However, I found it very difficult to obtain items fitting this theme.  Quilting items were especially scarce.  I guess it's not a popular shopping theme right now.  I was so wishing I had signed up for an "autumn" basket!  Autumn theme was everywhere!  (Of course!).  So I persevered, and this is the result:

I decided to make the basket tailored to fit a young girl's idea of fun at a fair.  I found a wonderful stuffed Hello Kitty plush at Hallmark,  She is eating an ice cream cone!  Also, at Hobby Lobby I found this metal sign in the shape of an ice cream cone  It says "Hand Dipped" and you can see it in the back of the basket.  Instead of the quilt I got a colorful Vera Bradley throw, and I filled the rest of the basket with fun things like popcorn, candies, jellies, caramel corn, soda, and even a colorful pincushion and pattern I got at JoAnn's.

The basket did sell, and the church made a few bucks off my fun!  I loved my basket so much I had a hard time parting with it, hoarder that I am!

BTW, I was trying a minute ago to think of the designer, Vera Bradley, for my text above, and I kept thinking of other names in commercial pursuits--Laura Ashley, Anna Griffin, Betty Crocker,  Do these people really exist?  Or are they made up for merchandise lines?  I have no idea!  I do know they have fun stuff, though!

Inspired by. . . .

Betsy Veldman's little fabric tag album made with Paper Trey Ink's Button Boutique.

Here is her original post:

     http://scrapbookgirl.typepad.com/paper_scissors_and_superh/2011/02/button-boutique.html



And here is my take on her fabulous idea:

I used Mary Engelbreit fabrics I have had for some time.  Several years ago I took a class with some friends and we made quilts.  I made a "cherry" quilt with Mary Engelbreit fabrics.  So I made a little album featuring the friends in the class sewing away.  (I won't post their pictures, but the little wallet size pictures are on the other "pages" of the fabric album.)

Here are another couple of pages:

I had "sew" much fun putting this little album together!  I also cut my buttons (all Paper Trey Ink) from coaster board, felt, and paper.  I love the button card die as well, and all the stamping options for it on the Button Boutique stamp set.  I cut the dress form using Tim Holtz' mini die.  Making this album was so meaningful for me, re-visiting my old friends while scrapbooking them!  And such a cute project!

It's about that time of year. . .

when I start thinking about Christmas.  I have been playing around with my Accucut Christmas tree flip album die--not really happy with my efforts so far, but I've been practicing.  Here is what I have so far:

This is the outside of the tree album.  I wish I had put the red tinsel trim actually on the edge of the scallops.  What was I thinking?  And I sewed the jingle bells onto ribbon and then hot glued the ribbon at the edge of a scallop.  Not a good idea!  I need to wire these on and punch holes in the scallop edges so they will actually jingle.  Also needed:  lots more bling.  I used a lot of K and Company pre-made diecuts for embellishment.

My major gripe with this album is that it is really too small for pictures, and I think that is the whole point of an album!  So I have really thought hard about how to add pictures.  This page shows how I put a Tim Holtz Sizzix ornament die to good use as a photo frame.

And the inside of this largest page shows a mini album I inserted to hold more pictures.  The red mini album is about 3" x 3" and is just folded pages that will flip so I can add pictures.  Then the album is just glued onto the page.  The previous page shows a green pocket that holds red tags for more pictures and journaling.  I have a few other ideas up my sleeve for how to continue to add space for pictures while keeping the whole album highly embellished, like a Christmas tree!

Winter Wonderland snowflake

This is one of the pages in my newest chipboard album called "Winter Wonderland".  It is a pocket page that holds four large tags.  Each tag acts as a mat for a 4" x 6" photo.  I put little snowflake brads in the hole of each tag.  The focus point on the page is the large decorative snowflake on the pocket itself.  I cut the pocket and tags from the Cricut Mini books cartridge using Craft Room, where I was able to enlarge them to suit my book.  I also cut the decorative snowflake using Cricut, from the Anna Griffin Winter Wonderland cartridge.  I love this cartridge!  I bought the universal overlay to use with it, since it is a newer cartridge that does not come with an overlay.  Also, the instruction book is very much smaller, and I find it a lot easier to read than the older format, especially for layering images.  I layered blue and white cardstock to make the snowflake, which is Option 26 on the cartridge.  I did not use Craft Room for this project--I just set my size to 3" and all four layered images cut beautifully and layered perfectly to make the snowflake.  I did add a small glitter brad to the center of the snowflake before adhering it to the outside of the pocket.  I know it is nowhere near to snow here, but I do think snow may soon be coming to parts of the country.  I had fun making this page of the book.  The whole mini book is nearly complete--it is a flip album with 6 pages front and back.  I used the blue and brown Magenta paper throughout, supplemented with blue, white, and brown Bazzill cardstock.  Lots of deer and snowflakes!

Time After Time

The last event of Stamp a Faire this year was called "Time After Time".  This was a challenge posing the concept of taking a card you had made years ago and re-making it to appear more "timely" or for whatever reason.
     I did not have the "time" to enter this challenge during the event, but the challenge was posed to me just the same.  Here is the first card I made years ago, featuring a cute little elephant stamp from Stampendous and a portion of a stamp featuring a balloon:

There are a couple of things wrong with this card:
     1. The background, while a pretty pink, is too stark and empty.
     2. I used a non-waterproof ink stamping the paper-pieced elephants, and the ink ran with the adhesive I used.
     3. I had originally glued beads for the eyes of the elephants.  The adhesive did not hold the beads properly and they all fell off, leaving an ugly mess of adhesive behind.

On the other hand, there are a couple of things right with the card:
     1. The paper piecing is attractive and neatly done, except for the unfortunate adhesive.
     2. The balloons are popped up, giving some dimension to the card.

So here is my re-make:

I decided to use a texture folder to add some dimension to my overall background.

I kept the balloons popped up, and I like the paper peicing, even though I had to use different prints.  I changed the yarn to baker's twine (a more timely choice).  But the main difference is in my choice of ink.  This time I used a waterproof ink!  Live and learn!  BTW, you can't really see in the scanned image above, but the piece is mounted on a pink card.  Also, this time I omitted the beads for eyes.  I do know this is going to a little girl, but I don't know how old she is--I don't want her choking on the beads in case they inadvertently get removed!

Products used:  elephant stamp (Stampendous, balloon stamp (All Night Media)--neither of these are still available, baker's twine, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Stampin' Up Cardstock, The Paper Studio cardstock, various scrapbook papers (unknown), Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Zig Two Way glue pen, Glossy Accents, dimensional adhesive

Re-discovering Brass Stencils

When I participated in Stamp a faire this last weekend, I re-discovered some toys I had previously put away:  my brass stencils!  So I dragged all of these out, including my light box, and had a little fun.  Here is the first card I made, using the faux ceramic tile technique:

This vase is stenciled onto light blue cardstock, with the diamond accent stencil adding pattern.  It took me a long time to figure out what to do, since I had not done this technique in a long while.  And I can't find my video from Dreamweaver Stencils.  I had a very good video showing all the steps, but I don't know where I put it.
    But I persevered, and I think the results are quite lovely.  The Hero Arts greenery stamp is stamped with Bamboo Leaves Memento ink over the diamond stencil.  I sponged clear embossing ink over the top of the vase and heat embossed with clear powder.  That step really made the blue of the paper pop.  (In a day or two, when I am finished with another card using the same technique, I'll show again this lovely light blue paper.)
   I used the vase stencil to make a background "frame" for the image using a tiny print scrapbook paper.  What do you think about the duck?  Should I lose it?  I am undecided.  I think the card needs something there, but I am not sure about the proportion of the duck.
         Here is a list of the supplies I used:  green Hero Arts notecard, green print from Basic Grey 6" Kioshi pad, Dreamweaver vase and diamond pattern stencil, Dreamweaver regular embossing paste,  light table, Hero Arts Exotic Bloom (H5424), Memento Bamboo Leaves ink, Colorbox Top Boss clear embossing ink, Toybox duck rubber stamp with Memento black ink on white card, Copic markers,
        This card looks cool in tone and peaceful.  I am thinking I might make some wall art from the stencils in this same manner.

Go Wild!

Having been out of things for a while, I hadn't checked out the latest Hero Arts stamps until late July or August.  Not only did I then get the cool blackboard stamp featured in the previous post, I also got a digital kit called "Go Wild".  Here is the first card I made with that kit:

The card is actually very bright and colorful.  I ran the leopard digital print through my computer with black ink on a lime green card.  I then printed out the sentiment and colored it with my new neon Sharpie markers.  I love the neon!  The alligator (or is it a croc?) was from an older Hero Arts set of cute little animals and is actually stamped twice, once on the card and then a top layer is cut out, colored with Sharpies, and adhered with dimensional tape.  I used Glossy Accents for his eyes.  I think this would be another perfect card for a birthday.
     The thing I most like about the digital stamping is that you can adjust the size of the image.  Plus, I don't have to store another stamp!  I am a novice and I have found not all files will work on my computer.  I like the Winnie and Walter program (see my blog blinkie) because they have two formats of their digital images and at least one will work on my older computer.  Hero Arts was very accommodating--they sent me an actual CD from which I could download the images.
     I guess I am going wild with making cards right now!  I started going to a new church since my previous church is just too far away to feasibly drive to now.  When I heard they needed some cards on a regular basis I volunteered to help them out.  It's fun, and I think my efforts are appreciated.
 

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday to you!  This card is for you!  I know I have missed lots of birthdays, so consider this your card from me!  I had a lot of fun making it.  The background stamp of the shaker is Hero Arts Birthday Blackboard K5872 which I inked with a beautiful Clearsnap orchid pigment ink.  I then assembled the shaker using my Paper Trey Ink Shakers and Sprinkles kit, using some Valentine heart sequins for the shaker element.  I also have made this card with shaker silver sequin stars, which I like even better.  The stamped cupcake is also Hero Arts, which I "iced" with my new white Wink of Stella glitter pen.  I added pink glitter glue and some rhinestones and beads to decorate the cupcake.  I think this card looks good enough to eat!

Morning Timer Challenge . . . .

.....which I did not meet!  Here is my project:

Here is the link to the original project guidelines:

http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2014/08/stamp-a-faire-opening-ceremony-and-morning-timer-challenge.html

I had a couple of problems:
                1. For a standard A2 size card, I could only fit four of my chosen stamp (Amuse Art Stamps).
                         Solution:  I made two cards, one A2 size (pictured above) and a much larger 5" x 7" card,                                           which accommodated all the colors in the palette, but didn't really work as a card
                                        - -too much white space.
                2.  I couldn't keep my images in line.
                          Solution:  I used a stamp positioner--solved the problem, but time-consuming.

So, I did not meet the "time" requirement, but I did end up with a card I can use!  I kind of like it!

Stamp a Faire: Regency period

Melissa Phillips shared how to "antique" a gold embossed piece.  Here is the link:  http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2014/08/saf-2014-explore-the-regency-era-with-melissa-phillips.html

I did not use a frame, but a medallion.  The stamped flowers are from the Paper Trey ink County Fair kit, and the Happy Birthday sentiment is from Shakers and Sprinkles.  Here is my project:

The papers are from Anna Griffin--so elegant, perfect for the Regency period.  My large tag is made from gold cardstock.

The other project from the Regency period uses stitching.  I cross stitched all day practically to get the stitching done.  That's why I am so poky on making my projects!  I hope to be able to finish that card on Monday.  I am taking a break tomorrow, and now it is time to retire for the night!  I enjoyed all the projects at Stamp a Faire.  Thank you for a fun time.

Stamp a Faire: 1940's

This afternoon we were able to visit the 1940's courtesy of the talented Betsy Veldman, who showed a wonderful "tablecloth" motif stamp set used with repetition pattern stamping.  Here is the link:
http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2014/08/saf-2014-explore-the-1940s-with-betsy-veldman.html

This entry reminded me of the County Fair Paper Trey set of stamps and dies I purchased earlier this month.  Actually, Betsy was the designer of that set, and I think she presented a card on her website similar to what I am doing here.  Instead of using a stamp as the defining large element, I used the quilt die from the set.  Here is my card:

You will have to disregard all my "stamping outside the lines".  I am not quite used to this set but I really enjoyed playing with it this afternoon.  I love sewing and quilts all things homemade and crafty.  I think this will make an excellent birthday card if the inside sentiment says "Birthday Ever!"  the black numbers on the "ribbon" are stamped with an old Amuse Art Stamp clear set of numbers I had.  I like that the set came with a -st, -nd, etc.  If I make this card again (and I will), I will make the number white rather than black.  Thank you, Betsy, for a fabulous idea and a fabulous stamp set.  I love my County Fair set!

Stamp a Faire: Renaissance

The next stop on the Stamp A Faire was the Renaissance.  Nichole Heady shared the stamping on velvet technique and using wax seals, real and faux.   Here is the link:  http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2014/08/saf-2014-explore-the-renaissance-with-nichole-heady.html%20
   I had not used these materials in years, so I dragged out a rather wrinkled scrap of green velvet and got to work.  Luckily, velvet irons very nicely.  I think the image I chose (Hero Arts) is a little too big for this project.  My card ended up gi-normous (6" square) but I did find an envelope to fit.  Here is apicture of my card:

I used Spellbinder's dies to complete the card.  The JOY in the center is from the Paper Trey Ink Shakers and Sprinkles kit.  I think the card is rather elegant with the gold cardstock and the embossed elements, but my husband thinks it is rather plain.  He says he has gotten too used to looking at all my "fancies"!

Stamp a Faire: Ancient Rome

Our first stop along the Stamp a Faire was Ancient Rome.  I viewed some excellent videos by Lizzie Jones at the Paper Trey Website on using frescos and mosaics as inspiration for cardmaking.  Here is the link: http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2014/08/saf-2014-explore-ancient-rome-with-lizzie-jones.html
I worked on the fresco technique.  Here is my somewhat finished card:

I used an older Magenta giraffe stamp that I really like.  I think the Romans knew about giraffes!  Anyway, the Roman inspiration is in the fresco technique.  I loved watercoloring over the embossing paste!  I had never done this before and I made several panels.  I used Tim Holtz Distress watercolor markers in Tumbled Glass, Weathered Wood, Forest Green, Pine Needles, and Spiced Marmalade.  The challenge stipulated that we had to use at least one Paper Trey ink supply in each project, and I have only two sets of these, so coming up with an idea was a challenge.  I used the sun from the Shakers and Sprinkles set and the sentiment from the County Fair set.  The background is scrapbook paper I have had forever and looks good with a hot sun and giraffes.  Thank you, Lizzie Jones, for this technique.  I guess an old stamper like me can still learn some new techniques!

Stamp a Faire 2014

I am getting ready for an amazing event tomorrow.  It's hosted by Paper Trey Ink (https://www.papertreyink.com/) and consists of videos and projects all day long.  The theme is what intrigued me:  it's a travel in time, from ancient Rome to the Renaissance to the 1940's and beyond.  Each segment of the day is devoted to a different time period and stamping techniques are presented that showcase each era. 

    This picture shows my worktable as I have cleared off a space to work and gathered my supplies--from basic stamps and inks to velvet and flower stamens.  The company offered a package for sale earlier in the year that contained supplies for the event, but, not knowing anything about the annual event, I missed the opportunity.  However, those of you who know me know I have tons of things to use and I will have to be creative.  That's what the day is all about, and I am looking forward to doing some projects hosted by some talented designers like Betsy Veldman and Maile Belles.  

   I hope to show pictures of what I come up with after the event.