Flapper Anya

This has got to be my favorite Greeting Farm stamp as I keep going back to her. I'm using up scraps, so I don't remember what the dots are, but I know I used it last month, so if you're really curious browse back!



Materials:

- Paper: A2 blue card base, pattern paper cut at 3.5", cardstock cut at 5.25 x 3", pink strip of cardstrip 1.5" x 4.25" (before punching)

- Stamp(s): The Greeting Farm "Flapper Anya", stamped using Ranger Archival ink and clear embossed before coloring with Copics, Hampton Art "You and Me" stamped using Memento ink,

- Punch(es): Martha Stewart Doily Lace

-Embellishments: gems

- Adhesives: Pink ATG gun

Get Well Bear

No, no one's sick (that I know of), but I couldn't resist this adorable bear from Kaban Stamps. I think the set's called "Little Friends." I cut the bear out of the picture as there's a little table and some bottles, which really didn't fit on this card. I'm actually thinking that I probably could use him on a different sort of card, maybe a miss you or something that. Regardless, he's cute! I used a new border punch that I got at Michaels (it's their Recollections line). These daisies are cute, but the punch doesn't seem too sturdy and is stiff. Here's my card.



Materials:

- Paper: A2 white card base, pattern paper cut at 4 x 5.25", green strip of cardstrip 1.5" x 4.25" (before punching)

- Adhesives: Pink ATG gun, Zig two-way glue pen, glue dots

- Stamp(s): Kanban "Little Friends", stamped using Ranger Archival ink and clear embossed before coloring with Copics, Hero Arts "Everyday Sayings" stamped using Memento ink, Colorbox chalk ink for distressing.

- Punch(es): Recollections flower border punch, Marvy Uchida 1.5" circle punch

-Embellishments: ribbon, gems

Simply Charmed and My Friday Night

Happy Friday! Look what was waiting in my mailbox when I came home:



Look for some cards from it later this evening. I thought I could wait to open to the box until I'd finished a couple more projects, but its cuteness was too much to resist. After I took the picture, the plastic lasted about 20 seconds!

This evening, I will also be watching Laura of Following the Paper Trail on UStream. We're be making this awesome train mini that she shares in this Youtube video.



I don't know whether I'll be making the project tonight as I really need to finish up some projects, but I definitely will be tuning in.

Pink and Blue goodies

No card today as the only thing I made last night was another raccoon witch and ratatouille. However, I wanted to show you the goodies I got in the mail.



As you can see, I finally joined the Scotch ATG craze. With a price of $30 (or less) on a new pink tape dispenser that came with two spools of tape, with $1.50 going to breast cancer research (or awareness?), I couldn't resist. Frankly, it was quite silly of me not to have bought one months ago. I wasn't doing the math properly. Each spool of ATG tape has 36 yards. I was buying Glue Glider Pro refills with 40 FEET. Oh well. really do like the smaller size of the Glue Glider Pro, but I was just buying too many refills....I easily bought more than 10 in the last two months. Even at $5 or less a pop, that's too much. Refills for the ATG are about the same, have so much more tape. I'm still getting the hang of it, but I'm loving in, especially because I know it will last longer.

After ordering the ATG gun I had promised to take a break from shopping. I failed. Some blogger whom I read daily posted about Amazon's fabulous deal on a BLUE Cuttlebug for only $39.99 with free shipping, of course. Not only is the machine pretty, but included in the box is a bone folder, a paper trimmer, extra blades, three pairs of nonstick scissors, and 4 little dies. All those extras alone could easily cost $20+ The paper trimmer is the same as the green one sole separately, which I own and have gunked up by cutting paper that already had adhesive on it. Thus, I will now use the new blue one for nice paper and the green one for gunky paper. The scissors seem a little stiff, but I'm sure I can fix that. The bone folder will be a backup as I love my Martha Stewart one. All in all a really good deal.




Oh yeah, while placing my order for the Pink ATG at Cutters Creek, I couldn't help ordering two itty bitty new Copic markers. I have an addiction.

Halloween Day 6: Witchy Raccoon

Good morning! When I envisioned this card, I pictured a kitty, but while flipping through the Create a Critter booklet, this guy jumped out at me. He fit perfectly with the purple theme of pattern paper from the K&Co's "Halloween by Tim Coffey" paper collection that I'm still working my way through. I was only able to finish one card before work, but will make more tonight using my Gypsy. Multiples are the way to go to meet my goals.



Materials:

- Paper: A2 black card base, pattern paper and white lining cut at 4 x 5.25", black mat cut at 2.75 x 3.75, blue mat cut at 2.5 x 3.5", tan mat cut at 2 5/8 x 1 1/8", and yellow mat cut at 2.5 x 7/8".

- Adhesives: Pink ATG gun, Zig two-way glue pen, foam, and stickles

- Cartridges: Create a Critter (raccoon cut at 2.5"), Paper Doll Dress Up (witch's hat and moon and stars cut at 2.5")

- Stamp(s): Inkadinkadoo "Halloween/Harvest Assortment" stamped using Memento ink, Colorbox chalk ink for dist

Happy Birthday: Take a Bite Out of Life

My brother-in-law's birthday is this week, so here is the card I made. I didn't really have a clue what sort of card fit him, so I just made a fun one. He or his wife like Indiana Jones, so perhaps it's fitting. I used a bunch of Cricut cartridges, mostly without my Gypsy because the darn thing was charging. (It can be used while charging, but due to the plug situation, I elected to plus it up in another part of my room).






Materials:

- Paper: 5 x 7" kraft card base, tan cardstock mat cut at 4.75 x 6.75", lining cut at 4.75 x 5.75"

- Adhesives: Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro, Zig two-way glue pen, glue dots, Xyron, Mod-Podge. foam tape

- Cartridges: Create a Critter (gator and bubble cut at 2"), Paper Doll Dress Up (island cut at 5", boy cut at 4"), Gypsy font (1")

- Other: hemp, Colorbox chalk ink for distressing, gel pen for belt.

Bear Flip Book

WARNING - TONS OF PICTURES

It's finished, it's finished! (Well, as much as I'm going to post is finished.) Earlier this month, I was inspired by this post at 4 Crafty Angels to do a part card, part mini album to send to my husband. I used the tutorial here and it worked beautifully. It has a cover, an inside large sentiment, and 7 large photos that were cut down from 4 x 6" photos. I've already put in all the photos and just have go back and do some journaling. I'm hoping to mail it to my husband tomorrow! There really isn't a theme other than cute animals from the Create a Critter cartridge. I wanted to send him some pictures of him and his friends, although while I take a ton of photos, most are of my husband because he's so darn photogenic ;) I was able to find some recent shots of him and a few friends that I had printed. I don't have a photo printer, and once and while send photos that I think are "scrapable" to Walgreens or CVS but that occasionally presents a problem when I sit down to scrap. Oh well. I don't want a photo printer right now so I make do. As I mentioned last week I used all papers in my stash, likely all DCWV given the age of the paper as it used to be all I bought. Making this gave me lots of smiles. Hope you like it!

"All wrapped up"

"Unwrapped"

Inside greeting

First right flap

Left














It's fairly thick, but not too bad (about 3/4")

Back (hopefully this will keep the ribbon secure)

Halloween Day 6: Mummy Card

I love this little guy. I have no idea where I saw the greeting. It's definitely not original but so cute. When I made background paper last weekend, I somehow neglected to make a full sheet of tombstones (or else I did and used it but don't remember). Thus, I cut a small tombstone out of purple and used it as an embellishment. It was completely a happy accident that the skeleton appears to be holding up the tombstone. I also attempted to distress the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink, but made more of a mess than anything. Oh well, Halloween cards can be grungy.





Materials:

- Paper: A2 card base, pattern paper cut at 4 x 5.25" (K&Co "Halloween by Tim Coffey" and paper stamped by me), plain cardstock cut at 4 x 5.25" for lining.

- Adhesives: Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro, Zig two-way glue pen

- Cartridges: Paperdoll Dress Up (doll cut at 4"), Alphalicious (sentiment cut at .5")

- Stamps: Inkadinkadoo "Halloween/Harvest Assortment" stamped using Colorbox Chalk Ink

- Embellishments: ribbon, gems


Here's a last look of them together:

Halloween Day 5: Celebrate with Flourish Pumpkin

I'm having loads of fun with the Celebrate with Flourish Cricut Lite cartridge. This pumpkin is 4 pieces, but extremely simple. I opted to fill the entire cover with the die cut, so I put the message on the inside. I've now made seven or so Halloween cards, only about ten more to go!

Have a great weekend.


Materials:

- Paper: A2 card base, pattern paper cut at 4 x 5.25" (K&Co "Halloween by Tim Coffey"), 5.25 x .75" before punching

- Adhesives: Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro, Zig two-way glue pen. glue dots

- Cartridges: Celebrate with Flourish (cut at 4")

- Punch: MS Scalloped Dots

- Stamps: Inkadinkadoo "Halloween/Harvest Assortment" stamped using Colorbox Chalk Ink

- Embellishments: ribbon, gems

Updates to the blog

I will post another card or project this evening, but for now take a spin around my site and see if you can locate the three new permanent elements that I've added in the last day or so. Two are lists and you know how I love lists.

Halloween Day 5: Happy Halloween Pumpkin

Sorry for the lateness of this post. I laid it out this morning, but didn't get back to it until late this evening. I attempted to use Celebrate with Flourish for the greeting, but I didn't like the flourish part of the "Halloween," so I just trimmed the "Happy" and used a stamp. Can't wait for the Gypsy update.



Materials:

- Paper: A2 card base, kraft cardstock cut at 4 x 5.25" embossed; strip of cardstock cut at 2.5 x 5", and small square of pattern paper 2.25 sq (K&Co "Halloween by Tim Coffey")

- Adhesives: Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro, Zig two-way glue pen

- Cartridges: Celebrate with Flourish (cut at 2")

- Stamps: Inkadinkadoo "Halloween/Harvest Assortment" stamped using Colorbox Chalk Ink

No card today but sneak peek!

No Halloween card or project today because I'm working on a new project that's part mini-book and part card. Plus, it uses Create a Critter, so you know it will be adorable. I'm using extremely old paper from my stash along with some newer stuff that looks great together.

Here are some sneak peaks. Sorry for the terrible lighting. I really need to get a natural light lamp.

Halloween Day 4: Trick or Treat Witches

Here are a a couple of cards using my new Cricut Lite Celebrate with Flourish. I love this cartridge for its holiday images, but was really disappointed to learn that it could not be uploaded to my Gypsy. Hopefully Provocraft will soon remedy that, but they haven't as yet. I made the larger witch first at 4", then scaled it down to 3".





Materials:

- Paper: A2 card base, pattern paper or lime green cardstock cut at 4 x 5.25" (K&Co "Halloween by Tim Coffey", 1 x 4" strips of pattern paper, small strip of vellum, if desired.

- Adhesives: Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro, Zig two-way glue pen

- Cartridges: Celebrate with Flourish (cut at 4" and 3")

- Stamps: Inkadinkadoo "Halloween/Harvest Assortment" stamped using Colorbox Chalk Ink

- Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug "Spots and Dots"

- Embellishments: gem

Halloween Day 3: Happy Halloween Pumpkin

Here's my first card using paper I decorated myself. I stamped a piece of 4 x 5.25" kraft cardstock with different pumpkins using clear embossing powder, then dusted it with black embossing powder. I used my new paper from K&Co, as well as fun foam attached with adhesive instead of foam tape. I forget on which blog or Youtube video I saw that trick, but I will definitely try to use it for larger pieces since I have a ton of fun foam and foam tape is expensive. I also inked the edges of the paper and die cut.



Materials:

- Paper: A2 black card base; kraft cardstock cut at 4 x 5.25", pattern paper cut at 3.5" (K&Co "Halloween by Tim Coffey")

- Adhesives: Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro, Zig two-way glue pen, fun foam

- Cartridges: Gypsy Wandering (pumpkin cut at 3")

- Stamps: Inkadinkadoo "Halloween/Harvest Assortment" stamped using Memento Ink

Halloween Weekend Shopping

Well, it's another Monday! After complaining yesterday morning that I could not find Halloween paper at my local Michaels, I went on a quest that afternoon to find some. I went to Tuesday Morning, which is a store similar to Big Lots that I had heard good things about online awhile back. Much to my surprise, it felt a lot like a thrift store and was extremely grungy and small. After much digging through a very small craft section, I came away with just these three items.


I only paid $4 for the textured cardstock, which was a good deal especially since it is thinner than the DCWV stuff that I had that struggles to go through my Cricut cleanly on the first try. I paid $3 for those tags which hopefully can be bent without the tag maker--oh yeah, I just pulled one out and I'm able to bend it with my fingers. They will make a nice addition to cards. As for the Making Memories plaques, they are self-adhesive and should look smart in an album.

Disappointed with my Tuesday Morning and only 1.5 miles or so from Jo-Ann's, I mapped it using my Iphone and treked on over. There I used my 10% off everything coupon from CHA and finally found some Halloween stuff!

I only got that K&Co mat pad (4x6" sheets) even though they had some other cute stuff because I'm not sure just how many Halloween cards my attention span is going to allow me to make. Assuming I use them judiciously, I will be able to make 18+ cards using this stack. I also got some $1 Inkadinkadoo Halloween stamps, die cut stickers, and ribbon with candy corns.

The only product that I used at CHA and loved but was not able to buy was the new Fiskars Everywhere Punch. Basically, using a magnet and swappable bases, it allows you to punch a variety of shapes anywhere on a page rather than just near the edge. It was a great gimmick to sell the square punch with the base rather than the circle, which is why you see two in the picture, but oh well. Finally, I got some silver No 10 policy envelopes to make another envelope mini.

I hope to post another card soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Halloween Paper

After complaining that I couldn't find Halloween paper that I liked at my local Michaels, I remembered that I have all these cool supplies such as embossing powder, stamps, etc, which could be used to make my own background paper! (Yes, I often forget the obvious ;) This is what I came up with. I will still keep scouring the net for "in stock" paper that I like and probably make a run to another craft store or two in the are, but this will keep me crafting for the time being. I used a stamp set from last year, Colorbox ink, and some Stampendous embossing power. What do you think?

Here's all of them:


A few close-ups: