Thursday, July 30, 2009
A little light at the end of the tunnel, please
Oh my, I've been busy being a bad blogger again. I've gotten some projects done, gotten about halfway through my photoshop class, and have a creepy project that if I can get the pics right, I can't wait to work on. Way back there was a band called Marillion... I used to love them... I still do, and of late there has been a song that has been running through my mind, a song entitled Jigsaw particularly the line "Dream coins for the fountain, or to cover your eyes." and I have an idea in my head, but I'm having a little trouble with the photographs. I don't have a tripod, so finding a way to get my camera still and where I need it to take the shots is proving difficult... as is the lighting.
I am taking the time tonight, though, to upload this 12 x 12 of my little one for Hallowe'en 2008. I had a great time playing with a colour challenge and a weekly challenge over at www.scrapbook.com and I pushed some limits for myself. This is a lot more pattern than I usually use. I'm feeling a little too tired to give details on all this right now, but I'll edit soon and post the particulars. Hope y'all have been been making great things
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Houston Holocaust Museum Butterfly Project
Please facilitate the
“I Never Saw Another Butterfly” activity and create as many handmade arts-and-crafts butterflies as possible. This project may be completed by all ages as individuals or groups.
- Butterflies should be no larger than 8 inches by 10 inches.
- Butterflies may be of any medium the artist chooses, but two-dimensional submissions are preferred.
- Glitter should not be used.
- Food products (cereal, macaroni, candy, marshmallows or other perishables) also should not be used.
If possible, e-mail a photograph of your butterflies, to butterflyproject@hmh.org.
Please send or bring your butterflies to the Museum by June 30, 2011, with the following information included:
- Your name,
- Your organization or school,
- Your address,
- Your e-mail address, and
- The total number of butterflies sent.
Mail or bring your butterflies to:
Holocaust Museum Houston
Butterfly Project
Education Department
5401 Caroline St.
Houston, TX 77004
USA
For questions or additional information, please e-mail butterflyproject@hmh.org.
this is such a wonderful idea... and surely, we all can make a few butterflies from the scraps in our stash... use your die cutter, paint some chipboard, make beaded ones, wire and ribbon... whatever it is you like to do... and drop them in the mail. (or if you happen to be in the Houston area, drop them off. ) So... here's what I'd like to know and see: how many of you will particpate in this project and what do your butterflies look like? Leave me a comment, and a link to your butterflies (they can be posted anywhere) and I'll post some here within the next week. I was so impressed with the bloggers and scrappers during the www.cardsforheroes.org bloghop ... so many people participating, and so many talented paper crafters giving and sharing, that I sure think we might be able to generate some real involvement . C'mon y'all... make a butterfly.
Angi is a Stampin' Up demonstrator and serves in the armed forces. I "met" her on the cardsforheroes bloghop and was instantly taken with her style, both as a blogger and a crafter. she is honest about her work and her life, and she really loves to share what she knows. if you've never seen her site, go give her a visit (and if you love Stampin' Up and need a rep, now you have one!) her blog address again is
www.scrappinoutloud.blogspot.com
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
practicing on the photoshop class
Saturday, June 27, 2009
A delicate treatment of the hospital photo
Ok... on to other things... I know there's a cute little photo gizmo for this but I haven't looked it up. Cricut is giving away 20 cruises : what you have to do is buy oe of the fout new cartridges, and if there is a golden ticket in your cartridge case, you've won. The promotion runs the length of July. I so hope that someone I know, whether in my real life or here through the scrapblog community wins this! And I"ll be giving a Demo on the Cricut create at work tomorrow, so if you happen to localto Monroe, come see me at Michaels from 1-3.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Bad Girl....
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
PAPER CRAFT PLEASURES: BLOG CANDY
Here's a neat little blog I found by random today... and Jan has an awesome giveaway going on! Go check out her site and leave a little love... it's always nice to know someone is looking!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
photoshop class at JessicaSprague.com
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Busy Busy Busy
Anyway, that means that I did not get any brads up at my shop at www.shophandmade.com
nor was I able to get the new photo frames finished. But I'll keep plugging away at it. The good news is that as things get more and more organized and I have less mess around me, I can get more work done. I hope you've all been making something wonderful!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
NapTime
Woohoo this was fun. this took a few days of work-- mostly in the design element stage... in between doctors appointments, a child that wants all of me all the time and a full load of chores/projects that I want to accomplish this week. This was my first time hand stitching on a layout and it was more work that I expected but I also didn't pierce my paper first. The line of stitching between the star buttons was not terrifically hard but the stitching of the swatches of my little guy's jammies was... umm... not a project I'm likely to repeat any time real soon! Good thing I have a sewing machine and I'm not afraid to use it! This layout is actually for two different challenges over at www.scrapbook.com
so there was some conditions that I had to meet... this particular one was using transparent material, bonus for three or more. The left hand page has three pieces of transparent material... the vellum quote, the glassing envelope for the hidden journaling, and the "shh" at the left corner of the picture. I used the relief cut from the "shh" as a mask and added more shh's to the bottom of the page with broken china distress ink. I was originally going to work this as an 8x8 layout but there were too many things I wanted to do with a page that small.
On a side note... this Saturday (the 13th) there is a scrapbook garage sale in West Monroe, so if any of you who read this are local, come on by and check it out. On a personal note, the visits to the doctors are going about as expected... I am losing bone in my jaw but the DDS thinks we may have caught it before I actually have to lose any teeth, and I will be meeting with my other doctor at the end of the month to discuss either lifetime meds for pain management or surgery for a diagnosis I have yet to receive. The good news on both counts is that I have a fairly positive attitude about things and I'm certainly not pleased but nothing is critical and that is always lovely news.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
I so need a better camera...
This was a fun little layout though I agonized over the placement of the letters for days. This sat with the letters on it and I'd pass by it, move something, then walk away... then come back and move it again. I love, love, LOVE that journal paper from Lily Bee... unfortunately, my budget is all shot to heck from the refrigerator breaking down, so I won't be getting anymore of it any time soon... but I sure do love it. It distresses well with a variety of shades and it has perfect lines for journaling. The crackled brown paper is so old that I don't have a clue who made it, the corrugated green paper is from the Paper Company, the alphabet stickers are Colorbok sticky Stax, but I inked them with Soot Black Distress Ink because they were too bright for this page. Pop dots on the stars and wings are from All Night Media, and no big surprise, all other adhesion with the Tombow Mono. I keep getting inpsired by other people's pages and then revert back to my simple style. On the page, I have a hard time making things as complicated as they were in my head. I've made some serious progress in my scrap space and I can actaully do more than one project at a time right now. The goal will be to see if I can keep it that way, and continue to get things more organized.
By the end of the week, I should have new baby frames and beaded brads on the list over at www.shophandmade.com so please check them out.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
A little Chitter
I have posted before about www.scrapnwin.com anf I just wanted to post again for you cardmakers and scrapbookers... go check them out. They have monthly contests (yes EVERY month) and you can win some really wonderful stuff. I myself cannot particiapte because I work as ad rep for them, but I highly encourage any of you to do so. Also, if any of you are looking for an afforadable way to advertise your blog, or online store, please contact me at kaeres@scrapnwin.com and I'll be happy to send you ad rates. Hope you guys are getting to have some papercrafting while I am busy shoveling paper!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Just be Me
This is going to take awhile to get posted properly. There are more pictures and a lot of text coming, but I wanted to get this part at least up. This little mini album featuring Lily Bee paper has been my project of the last few days. This was HARD! I do not know why blogger keeps flipping my images either...
I can't seem to get these rotated the right way and it's driving me crackers. But I do love the book itself. If you click on the individual pictures, you can see the pages in larger detail. I used paper from both the French Couture and the Three Little Birds paper lines. My original intent had been to cover the binding tape as well, but then I loved the look of the tape with the paper so I left it exposed in places.
The one photo of me was taken many years ago (one of two I have left from before the hurricane) and it is one of my favorite pictures of me. The whole series was wonderful but this is the only one I still have. I played around with some different techniques as well as some different media on this project and really had a blast. The last page (the one with the polka dots and feathers) is my favourite bit of journaling in the book but the page itself was a little too stark. So I added the feathers and then thinned out some paint and mixed in some PearlEx powder and misted the page. It tinted the feathers just a little and aged the page with a little shimmer. While the page was still wet, I let the book close so the feathers would stamp onto the opposing page. I really like how that came out. The monogram and frame stamps are from Scrappy Cat and I used a variety of inks throughout the book. Distress Inks in Vintage Linen, Peeled Paint and Faded Denim, and Worn Lipstick, Tsukineko Dew Drop brilliance inks in Cosmic Copper and Galaxy Gold and ColorBox Liquid chalk inks in Chestnut Roan, Dark Brown and Creamy Brown. My favourite journaling pens are Micron and Kon I Noor both of which I used here. The copper wire for the bird on a wire page is from Wild Wire, the mirror pendant from Manor House and the Journey pendant is from Lost and Found. Ribbon and wired twine were just scraps I had in my collection. I did the paper mounting with Tombow mono adhesive, poop dots for the bird on a wire, and Glossy Accents for all the metal. The book base is from K and Company. I truly love making books.
I love paper... all kinds of paper. I love patterns and textures and the weight of it. I have to say that this is the first time I've worked with Lily Bee papers and the quality is excellent! Double sided cardstock with a perfect weight for shapind and sanding. I'm glad I didn't use all of the paper for this project and I'll definitely be getting more. I was able to find Lily Bee papers at a reasonable price for both the paper and the shipping at www.paperhouse.com .
Finishing the project has left me with that crafter afterglow... can't believe how good it felt, can't believe it's over...
On another note, I took pictures of the shoebox I craft in in all it's towering piles of glory. I'm hoping that it will motivate me to post before and after pictures as I clean out my space and get it set up so that I can really work in the space. I'll keep you posted.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Blog Giveaway Winner...
Tami B.
And a little something else...
Victoria B and Bekah, if you'll also email your address and a colour preferrence, I'd like to send you some of my beaded brads as well.
Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful comments And I sure hope to see you around here more often!
Quick update on Cards for Heroes giveaway
Hey all, thanks for all the wonderful comments! This was sure a lot of fun. It took me two days to get through all the blogs on the hop and there were some amazing cards and stories out there. I'll be accepting comments for my little giveaway up until 11:00 p.m. central time. I will use a random generator to pick the winner. I had to make this little card, too... Took all of about fifteen minutes, unless you count the hour or so I spent looking for a heart shaped punch or stickers... had neither, bought both, but went with the SandyLion epoxy glitter hearts.
Dumptruck die is Cuttlebug, alphabets by Mrs. Grossman's Stickers. The card is a white Halcraft blank that I inked with Faded Denim Distress Ink, the grass is from a Golf paper by Paper House (why do I own golf paper? no clue, but I sure love that I had some Grass!) The road was cut from brown handmade paper. Super easy and not at all feminine!
Friday, May 22, 2009
www.cardsforheroes.org Bloghop
How about:
Ranger Distress Ink in Vintage Linen
And here's another one...
This is done on a textured blank from DCWV, embossed with the Cuttlebug.
I toned the background and the embossed music bars with Kimberly Walters watercolour pencils and then brushed them with water. The little letter stickers are from Making Memories, Chloe's Closet line. Though this looks like a lot of work, it really only took about 45 minutes, after I got over being afraid to mess it up.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Mom's birthday card
And here are my handmade beaded brads... The crystal brads are from Recollections, but the beaded flowers I do myself... Aren't they adorable? The Daisies are the easier of the two as they are simply strung and twisted to form the petals. The Poinsettia has to be done petal by petal and then attached together. I enjoy making them and they add such nice sparkle to cards and pages.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
www.cardsforheroes.org
Saturday, May 16, 2009
took the week off... back now!
Saturday, May 9, 2009
almost mother's day
It's 11:30 at night and tomorrow is Mother's Day... there are still moments in every day that I would rather be me again, and not so responsible for another life. I did get a card made and int he mail to mom and I finished this baby page. This is done with the Die Cuts With a View baby boy series except for the ribbon, (Bobbin Ribbon), the swiss dot mat and photo corners (Anna Griffin papers) and the bright blue back paper, which i think is paper company, but I could be wrong. There is so much paper in my stash that I often don't know what is from whom! I was a little horizontally challenged on this one and my edges don't quite line up. By the time I noticed that I was a bit crooked I decided that I didn't want to start over. I love this picture of him sleeping. He still (at nearly 21 months) is sleep challenged and it's a rare night that he sleeps til morning. I also made some baby pooh character magnets today for him to play with on a magnetic board. He loves to play with stickers but still likes to tear pages from his books so I thought that a board and magnets might have more longevity. I'll post pics soon. While working on the baby characters, I've found that a toothpick is my best friend. I'm working at a 3 inch size which makes the detail cuts tiny and difficult but a toothpick cleans them right out. Most pieces I run through the Xyron sticker maker for ease and the tinier pieces i use my little Tombo adhesive runner. I need to spend some time organizing again as I get a new project idea before I get everything cleared off the craft table. I would love a little more storage space and I would really love a little more room but I do like that this space forces me to clean up after myself and organize on a regular basis.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Just a little chitter today...
krikey it's 1:00 a.m.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Late but...
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Giveaway Winner
Giveaway closed
Saturday, May 2, 2009
NSBD at scrapbook.com
What a day it has been. I did win one of the challenges so I'm totally looking forward to new supplies. The above pic is for the all day challenge. I don't have the best camera and I do have a caffeine problem so steady pics are not my forte! I'm still hoping I'll get a few more comments so that I'll have more to choose from for my little giveaway. My layout for the all day challenge uses that flourish mask that is in my giveaway.
The journaling in this one was interesting...
The ribbon across the bottom is printed with Xyron design runner to read this is just how you see me, not who i am. The journal tags were cut on the cricut and the inking is (of course) distress inks. Yes, you can ink on black paper and have it show. I sand the paper a bit before to give the ink something to grab. I had wanted to make pockets for each of these tags and just let the one over the picture be visible but I really ran out of time. My men (the grown up and the baby) were very gracious about giving me time today to do the challenges and the layout. I wanted to have time to do the 2ps one as well, but I just don't think i have it in me today to do anything else.
Friday, May 1, 2009
A little jaunt into my altered art territory
Then it was just a simple replace the plastic scrapbook sleeve pages with paper and I now have a journal that suits me. For more on Pioneer, check them out at http://www.memoryscrapbooks.com/ . You'll likely be surprised at how many albums you already love are from them. I also have to give a plug for their military medallions which are truly beautiful. I have a deep respect for those who choose to serve this country and protect our freedoms and I think it's great to have scrapbook embellishments that really are impressive. (for more on military scrapbooking, K and Company also has a great line).
Now, I'm generally a fast scrapper. It usually takes me more time to clean my workspace and find my supplies than it does to actually create a project or layout but this one took some time. Mulberry paper is absorbent, so the dry time was excruciatingly long for me. I also spent a lot of time trying to decide on text for the cover and finally gave up. One night while I was organizing the stamps at work, I saw this one and I knew it was the right thing. So this project had a completion time of well over a month, but the actual work was about two hours; the drying time was about 36 hours. And here's my last plug for my National Scrapbooking Day giveaway. Post a comment anywhere on my blog to be eligible to win my little giveaway.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
National Scrapbooking Day Countdown
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
WoohOO someone left a comment....
I was just getting ready to come back through and edit out my Freebie giveaway for National Scrapbooking day since no comments had been posted and now... here is a comment! I love comments.... it's just like getting mail only there's no bills in the pile! Let me clarify on this... I'm a working mom in a single income family. Though I work for one of the big craft stores, this giveaway is just plain from me to... the winner. I want to share some of my new favs as well as give someone something new and fun to play with. The economy being what it is, I know how hard it is to have anything extra at the end of the week for some new supplies. I lost everything I owned in Hurricane Katrina and without gifts from others, I would not be where I am today. So there's not a lot of flash to this giveaway but the products are all new (as in unused, not necessarily recent) and I hope that I'll be able to continue to do giveaways every so often.
So here it goes: The Contents of the Giveaway for Scrapbooking Day:
One Tim Holtz Flourish Mask
One package Martha Stewart Red Glitter Alphabet Stickers
One Bare Elements (by Creative Imaginations) Precious Boy Kit
One K. and Co. chipboard mini book
As you know from reading the blog, I love making books... one of my favourite things to do. I'm getting ready to work on my Bad Mommy book... which I think will end up being called something like Supermom meets the Real World. Keep the comments coming and I'll post the winner on Sunday. These mini books are wonderful to work with. Scroll back through for some advice on sanding chipboard books.
Color Inspiration # 50 from Kristina Werner
I spend a healthy amount of time cruising other paper crafters blogs. Some of that is for www.Scrapnwin.com for whom I am an ad rep, and the rest of it is simply because I love seeing what other people are doing. We are also a really interesting breed of people... we love to share what we know and what we've learned along the way. So I stumbled across this challenge at Kristina's blog http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog . This color combo is such a stretch for me... which was the real fun in this challenge. The glitter and Vellum daisies are from Jolee's Boutique, the papers are Bazill and Paper Company cardstock. That brown from Bazzill is wonderful... though I'll tell you that my baby bug cricut taught me a lesson or two about cutting on textured cardstock. The Turquoise eggs are hand inked. This was really fun and quite easy to execute. For those of you who don't know, if you scroll over the picture you can see it enlarged. I still really am learning the digital camera... Oh... and I promise... I'm off tomorrow so I'll post the picture and the product list for my National Scrapbooking day Giveaway. Remember all you have to do is post a comment and I'll pick one post as the winner. As always, I hope you are having a good time with your paper and projects.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
A few thank you cards... and a frantic search
Grr... you ever have one of those days where nothing quite goes right... it doesn't quite go wrong either but just not quite right... yeah... It was one of those. The time at the crafting table went well, until my cricut mat gave up the ghost and I went about searching for the replacement ones I swear I own... I cannot find them anywhere. It does mean that I did get more cleaning done, more organizing done. And I made two thank you cards that I've been needing to get out in the mail. The cards were super quick and fun. On the blue card, the flower shapes are inked through a mask so they are very subtle on the page. That heart vine bouquet is one of my favourite stamps and it's one of the cheapy dollar bin stamps from michaels. On the green card... the flowers are die cuts and held in place with Making Memories Snaps... don't let the name fool you... there is no snap function, you still need a setter (thank you Crop-a-dile) but they do give a cleaner backside finish than brads. They also have a fairly long shank so there is room to crimp them closed but still have movement on the attached piece. I've been putting off putting together the items for my scrap giveaway since no one has yet posted but I suppose I ought to get a picture put up soon. As soon as I narrow down my choices, I'll make up a bundle and take a pic. I'll post the actual contents list as well, because a picture maybe won't tell you much.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Another Christmas Page
Precious little pumpkin, he is. I started work on his 8x8 baby album today but haven't gotten a page fully completed yet. I took a break from that to do this page. The lettering proved to be the biggest time eater... I cut it on the Cricut and then decided that I wanted a shadow cut as well... ran everything through the Xyron sticker maker and then mounted the maroon letters onto the shadow cuts. The frames and photos are also cut on the cricut. The background paper and patterned paper are from Rob and Bob studios, I want to say the fall slab (slab IX?) The maroon and burnt orange cardstock are Paper Company. The date tag was made with layers of the card stock and the patterned scroll paper, date printed out with the design runner. I had a really good time with this one... and I think that in future, when doing alphabet cut outs, I'm going to try running the paper through the Xyron first, then cutting the alphabets. I have not gotten anything Mother's Day made for my shop at www.shophandmade.com and I have two thank you notes to get made this week, as well as a mother's day card for my own Mom. I have not made a final selection on the goodie giveaway, but since I also still see no comments, I guess I don't have to panic about getting that done right quickly. So it might end up that it's really easy to win this! I'm heading back to the craft room to clean up from this project and perhaps get started on another.
Friday, April 17, 2009
National Scrapbook Day May 2nd
Mother's Day Sale at www.shophandmade.com
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Toddler at Easter and a book for a coworker
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Found that pic and.... A shop that store list
Monday, April 6, 2009
procrastination
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
playing with the Xyron design runner
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Xyron Design Runner
Still studiously avoiding that thank you card.... but must get it done this weekend.
Hey.... if anyone is actually reading this... drop me a comment would you? I feel as though I'm shouting into a cavern here.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Showcase Scrapbook Page
And as you can see, I'm still studiously avoiding that Thank You card....
The Very Best Present Is You
On Christmas Morning...
the very best present is you.
Though it photographs poorly, I love the effect of the Glossy Accents on the string of word tags. It gives them dimension and a full sheen. I still think UTE might have been easier but I'm happy with it overall. The hardest part of this project was keeping the cardstock from tearing on the small packages. Those ribbon cuts are narrower than 1/16 " thick and they are delicate. I owned my cricut for more than a year before I even took it out of the box... the curse of having too many projects on the list and so little time to get things done. I actually broke it out for the first time for my son's first birthday. I was unable to find Winnie the Pooh decorations, so I made them. To think I used to trace shapes and then cut them by hand!
Detour from thank you card to scrap page
So I took a little break from that project to make a scrapbook page of a Christmas morning picture of my son. I spent an hour or so looking for the picture I wanted to work with and still haven't found that but found one I did want to work with and had an great idea for it. The page is not yet finished as I'm waiting for the Glossy Accents to dry.... hoping that it produces the desired effect. I have a feeling I should have gone with UTE and the heat tool, but we'll see. This was also a fast project... about forty minutes from start to finish except for the dry time which will likely be near an hour. Having spent so much time away from actually making things, I had forgotten how much fun it is and how satisfied it leaves me feeling. My son has just reached the age where he will let mommy do something for a little while without feeling neglected. I do have to work with the constant refrain of "See? See?" which is his way of saying "I want that." or wait until he has gone to bed... hence the very late posts.
I think it would be so hard to pick just one card, but I do love Nancy Maxwell James post for the bloghop. She shares her family history of men in the military with some beautiful photos. I was so touched by that. Your cards are so thoughtful.