Fun 'n Crafty Blog Hop September 2014

Welcome to the Fun n’ Crafty Blog Hop for September This month we will be showcasing project ideas from the new Holiday Catalog. Last year's holiday catalog did not impress me.  The company has more than made up for it with this year's catalog.  I want all the things! After a bit of play, I finally decided on using my new Christmas tree punch. And I absolutely love how it turned out. So make sure to check out the list of stops on the hop at the bottom of this post to see them all!

This card is all about my new holiday catalog supplies.  I found a cute idea of creating a shaker card behind a punched image and knew i wanted to use my new Tree punch.  After a bit of trial and error (forgot to add another layer of plastic to contain the sequins), I successfully made a shaker card!  Adding a bit of bling with some silver glimmer helped complete the sentiment and the card.  If I can find a way to make the shaker pocket faster, this would be a great fun Christmas card to send to family.  Might have to play a bit more.  But overall, I adore my new holiday catalog products and can't wait to experiment some more.

Supplies Used:

• Stamps: Festival of Trees
• Inks: Garden Green
• Cardstock: Garden Green; Pistachio Pudding; Whisper White; Silver Glimmer Paper; Trim the Tree DSP
• Accessories: Frosted Sequins
• Tools: Tree Punch

Blog Hop Participants:

• Sara G of 1200 Some Miles
• Tobe B. of The Craft Sea
• Pam W of Stinky Tofu
• Jennifer B. of Northwest Stamper
• Angela M of Stamp with Angela

Christmas OSW Set

For the Christmas set, I wanted to try another OSW template.  I found this one from Mae Collins.

Unfortunately, it is using the metric system.  My paper trimmer doesn't do centimeters.  First things first, I had to convert the measurements to get me approximations for inches.  Once cut, I was supposed to use the pieces to create these 15 cards.

Instead of making 15 cards, I made the following 12 cards.  I added some layering cardstock and stamping to help fill the cards.  Overall, I did like the template and will possibly use it again sometime.

Supplies:

• Stamps: SU Merry Christmas stamp (retired); SU Christmas Tree stamp (retired)
• Cardstock: SU Candlelight Christmas (retired); Primrose Petals (retired)
• Accessories: SU Buttons (retired); SU Embossing Folder (retired)

Snail Adhesive

$6.95

Stampin' Trimmer

$29.95

Big Shot Die-Cut Machine

$99.95

Stampin' Dimensionals

$3.95

Old Olive 8-1/2X11 Card Stock

$6.95

Real Red 8-1/2X11 Card Stock

$6.95

Chocolate Chip Classic Stampin' Pad

$5.95

Table by StampinBuddy. Try it FREE.

Archives: Another Card Making Session

Originally published on February 8th, 2014

Reorganizing my Pinterest boards to include one for "This Week's Project" ideas has really motivated my crafting.  Now I pull some random ideas over on Sunday night (recipes, cards, sketches, crafts, books, projects) and use that board for inspiration when I want to craft.  I spend less time thinking of what I want to do and more time just doing.  Love it!  If you want to check it out, click here.  It turns out I was crafting fool this week.  Let's see what I made:

Card #1

My first card combines a color challenge and a sketch to create my homework for February Stamp Club.  Again this week, I tried to use as many scraps as I could and not cut up whole sheets.  It was a success.  The only full sheets I cut were those used to make the card bases.  I love the play of patterns with this card.  I also added my own sentiment design.  I didn't want to stamp over the floral patterned paper so I used some layering framelits to highlight the sentiment.  The dimensions of the paper scraps are 4" x 3", 1.75" x 1.75", 0.25" x 1.75", 0.5" x 4"

• Stamps: Stampin’ Up Best of Greetings
• Inks: SU Primrose Petals
• Cardstock: SU Primrose Petals, SU Gumball Green; various scraps
• Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Eight; Dimensionals; SNAIL; Big Shot

Card #2

My second card used the same sketch as the first but I used different scrap papers.  I also changed up the sentiment design in favor of an oval scrap I had laying around.  While it's not a traditional sympathy card, I think the cool blues and greens are soothing and the patterns are completely distracting.

• Stamps: Stampin’ Up Best of Greetings
• Inks: SU Midnight Muse
• Cardstock: SU DSP (don't know the name), various scraps
• Tools: SNAIL

Card #3

My third card is straight from a card on my Pinterest boards.  I love the simplicity of the squares but with the fun coordinating patterns.  Robin used the SU Festival of Prints paper stack (which I have), but I decided to use more of small scraps.  If you look closely, many of the papers used in this card were also used in card #2. Way to make double use of scraps!

• Stamps: Stampin’ Up Best of Greetings
• Inks: SU Marina Mist
• Cardstock: SU DSP (can't remember name);  various scraps
• Tools: 1″ Square Punch; SNAIL

Card #4

My fourth card used a sketch (that has since disappeared from Pinterest, odd...) and my new SU Smoky Slate cardstock.  I am in love with this shade of gray.  It's light and not overpowering but such a fun departure from white bases.  I also tried to again use a ton of scraps for this card and succeeded!

• Stamps: Stampin’ Up Stacks of Wishes
• Inks: SU Basic Gray
• Cardstock: SU Smoky Slate; various scraps
• Tools:  Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Eight; SNAIL; Big Shot

Card #5

My fifth card came from the need to use these specific papers.  So I scoured my techniques and sketches board and pulled this sketch out.  The picture is horrid, but somehow I couldn't take a non-yellowed photo.  Something about these papers just threw off the picture.  Anyway, I am loving how geometric and layered this card is and yet it's still very nice and simple.

• Stamps: Random Stampin' Up retired stamp
• Inks: SU Pumpkin Pie
• Cardstock: SU Pumpkin Pie; various scraps
• Tools: 1 1/4" Circle Punch; SNAIL

Card #6

I adore the simplicity of the original butterfly card.  I had to try and make my own.  Looking at the finished project, I love the design and my pattern choices.  But, the butterflies are all crooked...  Next time, I need to use a ruler.

• Stamps: Random Stampin' Up retired stamp
• Inks: SU Primrose Petals
• Cardstock: SU Print Poetry DSP
• Tools: 7/8" Scallop Circle Punch; SU Bitty Butterfly Punch; SNAIL

Card #7

I wanted to try out a different interpretation of the butterfly card.  For this one, I decided to make everything bigger and see what happened.  I love the asymmetrical design of this card.  I was going to just do a straight line of butterflies down the middle, but at the last minute I change up the placement.  I like this look much better.  Also, I repeated the use of the Print Poetry DSP but chose only papers featuring Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple, and Crumb Cake.  I love the color play!

• Stamps: Random Stampin' Up retired stamp
• Inks: SU Raspberry Ripple
• Cardstock: SU Primrose Petals
• Tools: SU Elegant Butterfly Punch; 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punch; SNAIL

Card #8

My last inspiration card was this gorgeous play of circles and patterns.  To help me narrow down the choices, I used only paper from SU's retired Festival of Prints DSP stack.  For the first card, I ended up using the Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Gumball Green, and Cherry Cobbler pages.  I had to make it an actual Christmas card after seeing the results.  My only issue is the placement of the circles.  It was much harder than I thought it was going to be.  Now I know how to place the first (bottom) row to get a better placement overall.  Also, next time I will probably use a smaller size circle punch.

• Stamps: Random Stampin' Up retired stamp
• Inks: SU Cherry Cobbler
• Cardstock: SU Festival of Prints DSP; various scraps
• Accessories: 3D flower sticker
• Tools: 1 1/4" Circle Punch; SNAIL

Card #9

My last card of the week is another version of the circles card.  This time, I used the Island Indigo, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, and Crumb Cake papers from the stack.  After putting it all together, it didn't look like a Christmas card so I made it a Congratulations card.  Also, I did a bit better with the circle placements. I'm sure that I will revisit this design in the future.

• Stamps: Random Stampin' Up retired stamp
• Inks: SU Early Espresso
• Cardstock: SU Festival of Prints DSP; various scraps
• Accessories: Fabric flowers; brad
• Tools: 1 1/4" Circe Punch; SNAIL

I'm loving my cards from this week.  Next week, I want to play around with one sheet wonders...

Archives: Cards #27

Originally published on December 8th, 2013

I had a couple of classes these past two weeks, a meet and greet, and a crop night.  At crop night, i finished my stamp club homework (pics #2, 3, 4) and some copycat cards (pics #1, 5).  Lots of crafting fun!  With the class today, I think I've finished my Christmas cards.  Now to get them addressed and sent out before traveling.

Archives: Cards #26

Originally published on November 10th, 2013

Besides doing my weekly Project Life Pages (check out October's pages), I managed to squeeze about 20 minutes in on Saturday morning for Christmas cards.  I've signed up for two Christmas card classes, so I decided to finish up my own random cards.  I knocked out three cards using lots of scraps (hurray for supply reduction!) and managed to organize my Christmas supply drawer.  I have about 45 Christmas cards done.  I think I will stop there and wait for the class cards. I may have to finish a few more before the holidays, but I don't want to overdo it this year.  Here's two of my random scrap cards.  I took these images from some cut up scrapbook pages.  I added the sentiment and the washi tape and striped scrap.  I love the washi tape on the Santa card.  Overall, I really love how these two came out and I used two large scraps that have been in the box for two years!

Archives: Cards #25

Originally published on October 27th, 213

I started my Christmas cards before Arthur arrived, but didn't have the chance to upload the pictures.  My plan is to create ~five different cards using some old templates and some class designs.  So I focused on taking the design and using scraps and stamps to recreate it.  Not all are exactly alike, but I'm loving the results.  35 cards down, about 20 to go!

Pictures I ordered came in the mail the other day.  Inserting those finishes my introduction spreads in the PL albums.  I highlighted the results in my PL Transition post from Thursday.  Now I can start on my weekly spreads.  I've got the first week done and am working on week 2 today.  I need to remind myself to take more pictures throughout the week so I can have a few to choose from when it comes time to make the spread.  As an extra helper to record our daily lives, I signed up for Oh Life.  Every day they send you an email asking how your day was.  You just reply to the email.  The site collects your responses in an easy to read format.  This helps me remember to jot down a few key things about the day and I don't need to remember where I put the notebook, etc.  I'm going with a bulleted list of things for each day.  Then I can elaborate in my actual journaling cards if I want to or leave it as a bulleted list of activities.

Archives: Crafting Crazy

Originally published on February 2nd, 2013

This past week I went a little crazy.  I intended to sit down and make a card of two, and ended up much more than two cards.  My goal was to use scraps laying around.  Some of the designs just didn't work that well (cut out polka dots) and some were gorgeous (green with poem, flowers, and bird).  It's all about experimentation.

At Christmas, Pam had us make this awesome abstract Christmas tree.

I decided to take the idea and make some variations.  I especially love how the "make a wish" candle comes off the paper.  I colored it in with a bronze marker to add a bit more.

As part of our Stamp Club, Pam gave us homework!  Homework!  Oh my goodness.  We had to make a card based off this sketch.  And here are my attempts.  I like the coffee one the best.