Archives: Cards #21

Originally published on March 24th, 2013

Monday was stamp club. We made three cards and a 3d project. The extra card (on brown cardstock) was my version of our homework. I particularly loved the whale card. I don't plan on buying the whale clearlit, but I love the play of circles. I'm debating about whether or not to get the banner framelits next order. I didn't like the coordinating stamp set, but the framelits are cute.

On Saturday I acquired a ton of new card supplies. I had to try them out, so I made 10 cards, 5 color/designs with 2 options. Some of these are sticking around until April stamp club as they are my interpretation of our homework. I'm really loved the blue vine embossed cards with the polka dot flowers. The colors look really nice together.

Shopping Scores: I was hostess this month as stamp club. I bought my $50 of products to get the Sale-a-bration gift. With everyone's combined total, I earned $50 of free products. Holy cow! After searching through the catalog, I finally narrowed it down to a few great finds. Our order arrived on Friday. My scores: Four Seasons stamp set (hostess), Sweet Essentials stamp set (hostess), Wacky Wishes stamp set (hostess), Stacks of Wishes stamp set (hostess), 2011-2013 In Color Markers set, Secret Garden Bundle (framelits and stamp set), Glimmer paper (hostess), Vine embossing folder (sale-a-bration), Perfect Plum Ink pad.

A crafting friend clued me into the big clearance sale as a local craft store. She picked me up early Saturday morning so we could get there before the rush. Tables upon tables of new and used card making and scrapbooking supplies. People can sell their supplies on consignment. We dove in, but the crowd was intense and the aisles small. After about 1/3 of the way through the tables, we decided to call it quits. But I did find some awesome supplies: 3 stamps sets from Stampin Up, 1 stamp set (manufacturing unknown), 1 double sided circle stamp, 1 square punch, 3 Stampin Up ink pads (basic gray, real red, and tangerine tango), 100 sheets of various paper ($5!), and 1 mini scrap pad ($0.50). Such a great shopping trip!

Archives: Cards #20

Originally published on March 10th, 2013

I had a fun card class on Monday using some products that I actually own.

At class, I received my February Stampin' Up order. So lots of fun new toys to play with. I got inspired... Lots of butterflies. Using my new stamps and embossing folders. And a couple of birthday cards for the boys.

Archives: Cards #19

Originally published on February 24th, 2013

A great crafting class on Tuesday. All the stamps were from the Sale-a-Bration catalog. I've got some great new ideas. I love the new chalkboard technique of the first card. I changed my order to get the white craft ink so I can replicate! The last card is actually from Pam as a thank you. I just love the colors of that card.

Plus I had a free crafting night at Panera where I worked on our scrapbook. I completed multiple pages and made some great headway.

Archives: Cards #18

Originally published on February 17th, 2013

I had a bit of fun with my new butterfly punch this week. I love the simplistic look of colored butterflies on a white background. For the two polka dot cards, I wanted to play with repeating background images. I stamped the same simple dot flair stamp in a yellow, light pink, and pink to match the designer paper (DSP stack from Stampin' Up). In real life, the colors work much better. Plus, I love the repeating colors. I want to play around with the idea some more. Lastly, I used another sheet of the DSP for the background of the "Bloom" card. I tried to bring out the green of the paper with green ink, but it doesn't quite work right. Maybe layering of stamps is a bit much.

Archives: Cards #17

Originally posted on February 10th, 2013

Somehow I only made one card this week. Just one! But I did use some of my new products. I love my new butterfly stamps and punch. This is the small one, I have yet to play with the larger butterfly stamps. And I got to use my new Sale-a-Bration stamps ("Oh happy day" and flowers) I love the simplicity of this card. I even like the pastels (not usually a fan). Hopefully next week, I will be more inspired for crafting.

Archives: Cards #16

Originally published on February 3rd, 2013

I went a bit crazy this week and crafted a ton of cards. Instead of cluttering up this post, I made a separate post yesterday to show off my creations. As to general crafting, we had our first Stampin' Up Club meeting this past Monday. It's Sale-a-Bration, so of course I had to spend $50 to get my free product. Here are my goodies:

Versamark (for my new embossing heat tool)
Pewter embossing powder
Small butterfly punch (coordinates with both stamp sets
Papillion Potpourri
Bloomin Marvelous (Sale-a-Bration pick)
Print Poetry DSP (lots of fun designs)

And of course I had some cute cards to show from Stamp Club and Card Class.

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.

Archives: Cards #15

Originally published on January 30th, 2013 I got a bit inspired and made a few cards. I'm on a new plan to use my scraps before cutting up new 12x12 sheets. Thankfully I found a ton of ideas to do just that.

I had a few scraps of this fun pink chandelier paper. I paired it with scraps of polka dot ribbon, fabric flowers, and a cute little "congrats" stamp.

More fabric flowers and last of the polka dot ribbon, but with a hot pink zebra print background. This would be a perfect birthday card for a pre-teen girl.

I experimented with double stamping with the background flowers. I don't love the result, but it's nice. I decided to add a tag with sentiment instead of adding a new stamp.

I had a few pieces of this beautiful watercolor paper. It was so pretty that I didn't really want to use it, but i just had to. One of these "hope" cards is going to a my mom's friend who's dealing with a cancer diagnosis. I think the soft colors add a soothing presence to these cards.

It's a bit hard to tell, but I stamped "dream" in silver behind the black to add some dimension. I like the look and will definitely be playing with the idea more in the future.

Archives: Joy of Scrapbooking Book Review

Originally published on January 30th, 2012 Title: The Joy of Scrapbooking

Publisher: Leisure Arts 2011

Genre: Nonfiction; Crafting

Pages: 224

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Dewey Decimal -- 770s; A to Z - J

Discover the fun and joy of scrapbooking with this essential guide! Introduced by Lisa Bearnson, the Creating Keepsakes founding editor, this revised and expanded edition combines all the instruction of the original along with comprehensive coverage of new scrapbooking tips, techniques, and supplies. Whether you're a beginner or have been scrapbooking for ages, this guide will get you excited and going strong! You ll discover more than 90 never-before-seen layouts featuring practical ideas and themes; principles of basic scrapbook design and helpful hints; guidelines for organizing and preserving photos and memorabilia; ways to sharpen your journaling and photography skills; and an introduction to digital scrapbooking.

I grabbed this book off the shelf thinking that I could get some new tips for scrapbooking. And I was wrong. That's not to say this isn't a good book. It is, just not for someone who has been scrapbooking for a couple of years. This really is an introduction to scrapbooking. It lays out tools, tips, and hints. If I was just starting, this would be a great way to start. The one redeeming factor for me was the sample layouts. Some of them were inspirational... I want to try out some of the blocking.

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