Thursday, May 31, 2012

Last of the Thank You Cards

All the cards for my DD teachers are now done just in time for the last day of school!  It was fun, as I haven't had a chance to do a lot of crafting lately.  This one is for the trumpet teacher - her only male teacher so I had to back off on the bows and bling, though I couldn't resist using some ribbon I have had for years and never used.  I also got out some Thickers I was hoarding.  Why is it we all love Thickers so much that we seem too afraid to use them?  Thanks to Use it Tuesday for giving me the kick I needed to use it before I loose it :-)  Finally, I used a piece of cork left over from a recent project as well as some twine, brass brads, and embossed cardstock from Bazzil.  Stamp is from Close to My Heart.


Challenges:


Here's the sketch I used from from Card Patterns challenge:

When You Can't Decide What to Use- Use it All

I was making more end of year thank you cards for my daughter's teachers (this one is for the math teacher) and couldn't decide which "thank you" stamp to use.  So I thought - why not use them all?  My only regret was that I didn't have the right color ink to match the burgundy paper - the green and brown are good but what was supposed to be burgundy ended up looking a bit more purple than I would like.  Oh well - gives me something to add to my shopping list when I go to the Great American Scrapbook convention this Saturday!




Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Teacher Appreciation Cards - Science

This is the last week of school for the kids so I am busy finishing up thank you notes for my daughter's teachers. 

This thank you card is for my daughter's science teacher.  I kept it quite simple (I have several to make, after all) and based it on a sketch from Unscripted Sketches.  The sentiment is a new stamp I just got from Verve ("Happy Hellos") and the paper is something I found over the weekend cleaning out my daughter's very old craft bin - it's actually oragami paper.  The center panel is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder in a reptile pattern - I thought it was a nice complement to the python paper :-)

Challenges include:


Saturday, May 26, 2012

We'll Miss You Card

One of my colleagues is leaving to work for another company so I made her a thank you/going away card.  Papers are from Echo Park and the sketch is based on a sketch from Viva la Verve May Week 3 challenge and is being entered into the Pile it On Challenge using mixed scale patterns.







Teacher Appreciation

As we get ready for the last day of school, I am working on teacher appreciation cards.  This first one is a clean and simple design based on a sketch from Freshly Made Sketches # 36 and uses two shades of blue for the Dynamic Duos May #4 Challenge.

Other challenges include:
Thanks for stopping by!



Playing with New Toys for Father's Day

I recently won a $25 gift certificate to Scrapbook.com and decided to pick up some Candi.  They are little chipboard dots that come in a broad range of color combinations (at least 3 colors to a pack) with more than 100 pieces in each pack. They're like the head of a brad but no need to punch holes!  I also picked up a roll of burlap "ribbon" that will be great for outdoor layouts, "manly" cards, etc.

So what do you get when the two are combined with a few other trinkets?  A Father's Day card!  I decided to stamp the cardstock rather than use printed paper; the stamped frame is from Verve and the sentiment is from Hero Arts.

There are a few challenges out this week that I am submitting this to:


Clean and Simple

I was putting away some of my paper and came across a pack of cork that I hadn't used for a long time.  I thought it might be cool to use for a clean and simple card for a sketch challenge from a Verve Stamps challenge on the Splitcoast Stampers forum.  I edge the diamonds with baker's twine and used a set of stamps from Verve for the sentiment.  Enjoy!




Catching Up with Echo Park

Happy weekend!  I have been very distracted lately with work and family matters including my husband breaking his arm!  But my work projects are delivered, husband is adapting to life with a stiff arm and I have decided this weekend is mine!  Needless to say, you'll see a few posts from me over the next few days as I get caught up on my obsessions!

First up is a card for my sister's birthday next month.  It's made with the Summer paper collection from Echo Park that I won in a challenge at Sketches4All (thanks Jenny!).  The tiny stamps are from Close to My Heart and the twine is from another challenge I won.

Challenges for this card:


This is the Pagemaps sketch I used:


Saturday, May 19, 2012

I'm Back...

Sorry y'all - lots of things going on at work so had to put my crafting aside to make a living and keep my clients happy :-)

But since all work and no play makes me miserable, I had to get back to it last night, if only to create a card for my colleague's baby shower this weekend.  With the scraps from the card (which were al lscraps in the first place) and extra pieces of ribbon, I decided to embellish the plain white gift bag, too!

All card stock used is from my stash.  The rattle and scalloped circles dies are cutting files that I cut on my Cricut using MTC from Platypus Creek Digitals and SVG Shop.  Stamps are from Verve and My Creative Time, and the embossing folder are from Spellbinders M-Bossibilities ("So Trendy") and Cuttlebug ("Swiss Dots")


Challenges:


Sunday, May 13, 2012

Hugs from Nana

I've been a little quiet lately due to several projects at work but I did sneak in one layout this weekend in honor of Mother's Day but kept it very simple.  In this case, this is a photo of my Mom taken back in 2000 when my daughter was just two weeks old.  Mom flew over to London where we were living to see her new granddaughter and while she was there, we decided to take Mom on a few sightseeing tips.  In this case, it was Winchester Cathedral.  Some may find it odd that we were taking a two week old baby out to the English countryside in January but she is English, after all - ha ha. 

The papers are a mix of papers from my stash including Colorbok.  The ribbon is a Willow Green organza ribbon fro Ribbon Trends and the flowers are my own creation using the same ribbon.  The letters are Thickers from the Dear Lizzy collection.  Only one challenge for this one - Little Scrap Pieces.

UPDATE - I neglected to mention that I am also submitting this for the Paper Secrets May Stash Challenge (all three patterned papers have been in my scrap bin for some time as I had used pieces of them for other projects - in fact, that's why I put the one piece at an angle to hide the fact that I didn;t have a full 12x12 square piece).



Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Love You Mom!

Yes - I know.... I already made a card for my Mom.  But since I have missed sending her Mother's Day  cards in the past, I figured maybe I could double up to make up for lost time.  Or just send it now and tell her to hold on to it until next year in case I forget again.  Ha ha.

She really is the best Mom.  We talk for hours on the phone only ending the conversation when my cell phone battery dies.  Until I got into card making, I was horrible at remembering to send cards but she always forgave me.  She even forgave me from sneaking all the spoonfuls of peanut butter as a kid and leaving the spoons under the sofa for months on end.  I think she's still working on forgiving me for crushing lipstick into the antique oriental carpet from her grandmother, but she has at least moved on to other things....

So all I can say is Happy Mother's Day (a little early 'cuz I'm sure I'll forget to call you)!

The papers are a combination including Colorbok and Recollections.  The doily was cut on my Cricut using an SVG file from the 'net and the sentiment stamp is from Close to My Heart (buy it here).





Challenges include:

Monday, May 7, 2012

Treats, Please

2002 was my daughter's first Halloween after moving from the UK.  She didn't quite have the full "Trick or Treat" phrase worked out!

The motivation to do this came from the plethora of challenges this weekend in celebration of National Scrapbooking Day and specifically from two sources - Hiding in My Craft Room's Holiday Catch up challenge and My Sketch World's May Layout Sketch.  It's also perfect for Amanda's Getting Scrappy Challenge (Let's Celebrate).  Paper is from Colorbok and K&Company with bling courtesy of Creative Charms and alphas from Thickers (Chit Chat line).  The circles, ovals, and matt were cut on Cricut using Art Philosophy Cartridge and Cricut Craft Room.






This is the sketch from My Sketch World:

Saturday, May 5, 2012

"A" is for Alex

When you run out of clever things to use as a title, go with the alphabet!  I began with a title of "attitude" as it seemed to sum up my daughter's expression and then I decided to go with just "A" for Alex, attitude, amazing, awesome, and athletic. 

The layout was inspired by my Sketches4All crafty friend Kath's March challenge (image is at bottom of post).  I then also blinged up the "A" for Paper Secrets's Alpha Challenge in honor of National Scrapbooking Day (NSD) - so many great challenges and giveaways this weekend!  Another challenge this will go towards is the Let's Get Sketchy "Plus One" challenge where we had to use just one color other than white (I obviously chose blue including a very smokey blue for the cardstock).  And finally, I am also using this for the Scrap Friendzy May Challenge (Tic Tac Toe - went with the top row).









Recipe:
  • Paper = Colorbok
  • Tags = printed from my PC and glued to tiny tags from Staples.  I inked up the tags, used a bit of glimmer mist and then heat set them which gave a bit of a tattered distressed look that I liked.
  • Bling on bows and lower right = Creative Charms
  • Flower = Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, available for sale from my CTMH shop
  • Flourish Border = Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, available for sale from my CTMH shop
  • Stitching on circle = Sew Easy twine

Edit - forgot to post the sketch image:



Friday, May 4, 2012

Trash to Treasure

I DID IT!  I made something other than a card or layout!  Inspired by the Fantabulous Cricut Save the Earth challenge/blog hop, I decided to try to re-purpous something.  I started with a Twinings Tea box and with the help of an Authentique "Splendid" paper collection I won in March from a challenge at Grand Diva's Creative Corner, I created a darling little trinket box.  The purpose?  For my daughter to use for all her miscellaneous "stuff" that seems to find its way onto my bathroom countertop!  (Although when I moved all that stuff to the box, I discovered most of the pieces of misc. jewelry in the pile was actually mine - ha ha.)

All of the papers were cut using patterns I created in Make the Cut with the help of some micro-tipped scissors to trim a bit of overhang.  The corners were then "cleaned up" with ribbon.  The pleated flower is from American Crafts and the brass "nails" on the corners are from Recollections (I used larger "nail heads" on the bottom to act as small feet).  The chevrons were inspired by Kelly's Chevron challenge over at Paper Secrets.

I really enjoyed this and may even try my hand at creating more altered items in the future!


Thursday, May 3, 2012

MOM - Don't read this!

Strange title for a post, right?  Well, my Mom gets the posts via email and since we are coming up on Mother's Day, there just might be a few things I don;t want her to see!  Then again, given my history of forgetting to actually MAIL the cards I make for her, maybe this will be her only chance....  let's keep our fingers crossed that (a) she doesn't read this and (b) I remember to mail it this time.

I had fun making this, with my daughter advising me the whole way!  I had a fun spool of fuchsia ribbon on clearance from Michael's so I started with that as my color.  I wanted to keep it a little simple so rather than use patterned paper, I embossed the background and then simply stamped a pattern onto the flower I cut on my Cricut (the flower pattern is an SVG cutting file from Platypus Creek Digitals).  I created the title in MTC using Brinlea font and embossed that as well, using a button for the "o".  Both buttons are recycled from my daughter's old clothes; the white, fuchsia, and little piece of light pink cardstock is scraps from other projects.






Challenges (I know - list looks crazy but there were so many Mother's Day challenges...)

EDIT - somehow I left out Creative Cutter Room challenge!  I linked up myu project to their site but neglected to call them out here.  Sorry, ladies!

The sketch I adapted from Card Patterns is below.  I substituted the title for the banner, used the flower rather than the bow, and omitted the flower tag in favor of the button in the title.





CTMH Dotty For You

What a great day for a birthday party!  A few years ago, our good friends from my daughter's soccer team decided to combine their daughter's birthday with the end of season soccer picnic.  It shows how close the team is that we all thought it was a natural choice to combine the two!

I love this new Dotty For You paper pack from Close to My Heart - only $5 with a $35 order from my shop through May!  The shapes were cut using the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge from CTMH while the title was created in Make the Cut and embossed with a Sizzix folder.  Again, I am using some great stuff from Creative Charms including their adorable Braided Daisy flowers and the polka dot ribbon.







Challenges:

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

You Rock with Creative Charms and 7gypsies

I have a the pleasure of working with two awesome interns from the Masters program at University Texas at Dallas.  They are more than just interns and have made a big difference in what we deliver to our clients.  As a thank you, I made this card for one of them after she really rocked on a client project.

The background paper is from the Paddington packer pack from 7gypsies.  As a former resident of London, some of the papers with subway art references to English cities and train stations are right up my alley (with a few call outs to other European cities).  I paired it with a cute felt flower from Creative Charms - great stuff, great prices, and amazing customer service!  My mother thinks I am obsessed with my paper crafting - if she saw everything I got from Creative Charms I definitely would have no defense.

The layout is inspired by Mojo Monday # 239 - I took the square sketch and turned it on its side.  The shaped mat in red is from the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge/stamp/tag set and the letters are Thickers.