Crafting Crazy

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.

Book of Lists: Looking Forward

I ran across this idea on At Random, I followed her links to Kapachino's original post. This month's topic is "Looking forward." I decided to take that as what I am excited about this coming year. Not what I want, but what I know is coming soon...

The picture is a bit hard to read so here are the items.

Looking Forward

to getting back to sunny California
to the beach
to swimming in the pool
to exploring more of the Bay Area
to finishing Stargate Universe
to losing a few pounds
to awesome food
to next Christmas
to the drive-in
to a lighter work load for J
to Spring Break
to possible family/friends visit to California
to the Farmer's Market
to going to concerts
to daily energizing walks
to finally watching The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones
to March birthday extravaganza
to hanging our framed art
to getting our scrapbooks up to date
to planning summer vacation
to reading some great books
to decluttering the office
to card class
to movie marathons
to new movies (Star Trek! Oz!)
to next month's list
to getting a job
to knocking off tasks on my Day Zero Project
to wearing my new dragonfly necklace
to buying and using hiking boots
to new clothes

Just a few (or a lot) things I'm really looking forward to in the next year. I've already stated on some of them (reading good books, planning summer vacation).

I again did just a page in the composition notebook with colored inks. I'm completing this month's list back in my hometown (2000 miles away from current home), so I really don't have any supplies to decorate or embellish. But I still like how it turned out.

Next month: We’ll be posting on February 4 and the topic is “perfect day.”

Ornament Exchange Thank You

I signed up for The Reading Fever's Ornament Exchange this year. I love all these gift exchanges this time of the year. I received Diana @ Book Adventures for my partner. And she sent me a most awesome ornament.

Does anyone recognize this awesome image? It's from one of my favorite books: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams! This ornament has earned a respected place on my Christmas tree. Thanks Diana!

Thanks again Diana!

P.S. She wrote me a nice thank you post on her blog. Check it out here.

Book Bloggers Holiday Card Exchange

Care to join me? Click the picture above!

This year, the Book Bloggers Holiday Card Exchange is organised by me at Leeswammes’ Blog and by Courtney of Stiletto Storytime. Anastasia of Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog has passed the baton on to us. Anastasia is the originator and ran this very popular event for two years. Courtney and I were sorry to hear Anastasia wasn’t running it this year, so we’re very pleased she allowed us to take over. As we’re a little late announcing this event we’re more or less taking Anastasia’s text from last year, with her permission (thank you so much, Anastasia!).

The Book Bloggers Holiday Card Exchange is an event in which book bloggers send each other a holiday card around the Christmas period (the end of December). This isn’t just for people that celebrate Christmas, though! Everyone is can join in the fun.

Info

1. Sign up for the exchange by November 30, 2012.

2. Emails with partner info go out December 3, 2012 (please check your spam folder if you didn’t get the email, then contact us).

3. You have until December 13, 2012 to send your card(s).

4. Since it’s a book-lovers card exchange you have to include something book-related in your card. Some ideas:

Write about a book you’ve read recently.
Give a few book recommendations to your partner.
Tell a book-related story.
Something else book-related that you think up yourself.

5. Since this is a book blogger holiday card exchange, you need to be a blogger who blogs at least sometimes about books to participate.

6. The swap is open internationally. It’s too cumbersome trying to pair up people who do/do not want to send internationally, so everyone must be willing to send internationally.

7. You can exchange up to five cards. You won’t always get a card from the same people you send your cards to. It will nevertheless be an awesome thing.

Some Things to Remember

1. You HAVE to send a card. A card is something like this. You can make it yourself or buy it at the store. Everything you write must be contained in the card itself. Letters are not cards. The card doesn’t have to be book-themed OR holiday themed (but it might be nice if it was). We suggest you refrain from sending specifically religious-themed cards, because that sort of thing tends to offend people, even if you didn’t mean to offend them.

2. You HAVE to write something book-related in your card (see above). You can’t just say “happy holidays.” You COULD just write a list of books and that’s all, but I don’t think that’d be a lot of fun, do you?

3. You DON’T have to send anything else but the card, but if you want to stick in something else that’d be fine. A bookmark, for instance, would be really nice. Whatever you send: it has to be flat enough to fit in the envelope– no upgrading into package territory, here.

4. The most you should spend is $5. The point of the exchange is that it’s cheap enough for us money-less people to participate in, so everything should cost $5 and under. I don’t know if you can even buy a card that costs more than $5. Can you?

Oh, and the Twitter hashtag is #bkcardex.

Bookmark Love

For whatever reason, this week I have been a crafting maniac... This maybe because I am getting excited for the holidays. I got this crazy idea in my head to make handmade cards for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Plus I wanted to make some homemade gifts for some of my family and friends. To be fair, last year I made over 100 homemade cards for family, friends, and coworkers. This year I have only aimed for ~40 cards for Christmas. That's less, but I feel like the other projects will make up for the time saved. I found myself at Michael's the other day loading up on some supplies. They had a great deal on albums and paper stacks. I just can't help myself when I enter that (or any) craft store. I get all these great ideas and inspirations. I want to try everything. Thankfully I limit myself to a few projects at a time. Currently I have al but finished my Christmas cards. On to the next projects...

Bookmarks! I made a batch of bookmarks last year to include in my book giveaways. I wanted to do that again (October giveaway is coming...) and I wanted to make some bookmarks for friends and family. What reader doesn't love a good bookmark. The best part is that making bookmarks allows me to use a ton of scraps laying around my crafting area. All those small paper pieces that would look silly on a 12x12 scrapbook page can add just the right amount of flourish to a bookmark. Check out my new creations!

I think my personal favorite is the the middle one in the third picture. I love the blues and greens (even if my favorite color is purple) and the silver letters "read daily" and blue ribbon just tie the entire design together. See any you like?

Quote Wednesday - Michelangelo

I saw the angel in the marble and I just chiseled till I set him free. -- Michelangelo

I love the simplicity of Michelangelo's quote. He saw the beauty that could be and created it. There was no divine intervention, no long drawn out artistic speech. He saw, he did. Beside the fact that he had such great talent, I envy Michelangelo in his simple outlook. When I want to create, I obsess. I think about what I want to do, how to do it, where I could go wrong. I don't just create. I need to focus on my crafting techniques. I want to just do. And however it comes out, it is. I won't obsess over perfection. I am sure that Michelangelo had many pieces left unfinished. We see only the greatness of his work. But I want to not be shamed by the unfinished, the imperfect. I want to create. And if I create something beautiful, I want to revel in its beauty without boasting. Wish me luck...

Holiday Card Exchange

From BirdBrain(ed) Book Blog:

It’s that time of the year! I’m hosting the Book Bloggers Holiday Card Exchange once more (see the 2010 post here) and I’m hoping this year will go much more smoothly. Last year was fun but it took me forever to come up with partners; this year I’ve simplified things so hopefully I won’t have people getting more cards than they send out again.

Info

1. Sign up for the exchange by November 30, 2011. 2. Partners go out December 3, 2011. 3. You have until December 13, 2011 to send your card(s). 4. Since it’s a book-lovers card exchange you have to include something book-related in your card. Some ideas:

a. Write about a book you’ve read recently

b. Give a few book recommendations to your partner

c. Tell a book-related story

d. Something else book-related that you think up yourself.

5. Since this is a book blogger holiday card exchange, you need to be a blogger who blogs at least sometimes about books to participate. 6. The swap is open internationally. Since last year I got a big headache trying to pair up people who did/did not want to send internationally, this year everyone must be willing to send internationally. Okay? Okay. 7. You can exchange up to five cards. You won’t always get a card from the same people you send your cards to. It will nevertheless be an awesome thing.

Some Things to Remember

1. You HAVE to send a card. A card is something like this. You can make it yourself or buy it at the store. Everything you write must be contained in the card itself. Letters are not cards. The card doesn’t have to be book-themed OR holiday themed (but it might be nice if it was). I would personally refrain from sending specifically religious-themed cards, because that sort of thing tends to offend people, even if you didn’t mean to offend them. 2. You HAVE to write something book-related in your card (see above). You can’t just say “happy holidays.” You COULD just write a list of books and that’s all, but I don’t think that’d be a lot of fun, do you? 3. You DON’T have to send anything else but the card, but if you want to stick in something else that’d be fine. A bookmark, for instance, would be really nice. Whatever you send: it has to be flat enough to fit in the envelope– no upgrading into package territory, here. 4. The most you should spend is $5. The point of the exchange is that it’s cheap enough for us money-less people to participate in, so everything should cost $5 and under. I don’t know if you can even buy a card that costs more than $5. Can you?

I love this Idea!!!! I'm going to be making homemade Christmas cards this year and it would be amazing to spread the joy to fellow book bloggers! Follow the link, sign up, and join me in the fun!

Card Making Fun!

I went to my first official class as member of the Bellevue Stampers! I am so excited about being a part of the club. We have a nice small group of six people and everyone is so nice. They might be a bit older than me, but they're lovely ladies. This week we made another three cards. First up was a pretty fallish card with falling leaves. I am so bad when it comes to ideas that I didn't even think of using a simple stencil to make the circles of colors. It's such a nice, clean design. I'm thinking about using this idea for Christmas cards (ornaments?). Second, we made a cute Halloween card. Unfortunately, I don't send cards for Halloween (or haven't in the past), so I don't know if I'll be making this again. But I do like the layering of paper and patterns. You can't really tell from the photo, but the black paper is embossed with a spider web. Very cute effect up close. Finally, we tackled our technic card. The background card is embossed with grass. The white piece was then embossed clear with a grass and butterfly stamp. We then mixed ink into a swirly design in a layer of shaving cream, plopped the card facedown, and then wiped the excess off. Of all the cards, mine had the darkest colors. But I love it all the more for it! It created a beautiful tie dye pattern under the grass and butterfly. To finish we add a vellum punched out butterfly with small beads. I love this card! We all remarked that while it was messy to do one, we could fill a shallow baking sheet with shaving cream and do many at one time. This card could work well for birthdays, sympathy, Mother's Day, thank yous, or get well. I love how versatile it is.

I made my first order through Stampin' Up. It's due to arrive sometime early next week. I'm thinking that I should start thinking about Christmas cards. What colors do I want? Any particular stamps/designs I want? What about techniques? So many possibilities...

Crafty Crafty Me

It's been a bit boring around here without the boys. I don't have much to fill up my day yet, so I started to look around... what could I do? What do I enjoy doing? What should I be doing? Of course, I take care of a lot of the random household stuff right now (still unpacking, organizing, getting rid of stuff). Plus I read, look for a job, blog, etc. But I needed more. And I found something! Stampin' Up! There's a Stampin' Up club here in Omaha that meets once a month to make some projects. I decided to check it out. And I'm glad I did. I had so much fun. Everyone gets one free class and then can either pay per month for the class or join the club to get member perks. We made three cards.

I especially loved the purple one! It's my favorite color. And I needed a birthday card for my grandmother for Saturday and her favorite color is purple. Perfect!!!!! The fall colors card would be great for a birthday or Father's Day or Thanksgiving or lots of other things. And while I don't love the design of the last one, I did get to learn how to emboss. I've always wanted to try it for scrapbooking, but couldn't see where it would fit.

After the class was over, I talked to the demonstrator about the club (how it works, etc.) and we ended up talking for almost two hours. It was a lot of fun. Before I left, I decided to join! At least for the next six months, I have somewhere to be for one night a month. Card making!!!! And all you friends out there, watch out for some homemade cards coming your way!

Now that I found one thing, time to find another.... I'm leaning towards some academics...