Wonderful Mother

So, here's my first take at a Mother's Day card.  These cards are never easy for me to make.  While my Mom appreciates handmade cards it ends there, scrapbooks and the like are just not received well by her ... not sure what that's about but I'm working hard to just accept it.  Mom can be a tough egg to crack sometimes, she likes to say one thing but actually feels/thinks a completely different thing.  Anyway, it's hard to do creative things when you worry that it might be unappreciated.  Sorry bout my moment of melancholy there ...

Close to my Heart Wonderful Mother

Details

Paper:  Close to my Heart Topstitch

Cardstock:  Stampin' UP! Whisper White, Close to my Heart Vineyard Berry, Colonial White

Stamps:  Close to my Heart Love Is in the Air, Stampin' UP! French Script, Well Scripted

Ink:  Close to my Heart Colonial White, Stampin' UP! Very Vanilla

Embellishments:  Close to my Heart Soft Suede Pinwheels, Mini-Medley Colonial White, Recollections Pink Rhinestones

Fibers:  Offray Organza Pink Ribbon

Punch:  EK Success Oval Punch 1-1/4" x 2"

Diecuts:  Sure Cuts A Lot Software, Cricut, Unknown Maker Scallop Ding-Bat Collection

Design:  PaperCrafts May/June 2010 issue, pg. 45 Sweet, Sweet Flower Card

As always thanks for looking and yes HE stamps.

A little baby chic

This layout was so much fun.  How could it not be with a totally cute picture of my grandbaby and another interesting sketch from one of the Jeanette Lynton books.  Part of me wants to point out the things that didn't work out as well as I hoped but, I'm going to endeavour to stop critiquing my work to death.  It smells of pandering for compliments and I don't want to be quilty of that.  Anyway, I had fun with this picture and making the page.  Caroline definitely looks like she is posing for her mommy, wonder if she knew Audrey Hepburn in another life - definitely has that whole Breakfast at Tiffany's look going on. 

Baby Chic

Details


Paper: Making Memories Animal Crackers Ella
Cardstock: Bazzill Textured Basics Chablis, Unknown Mfg. White
Inks: Close to my Heart Cocoa
Stamps:  Close to my Heart Chocolate Alphabet Small
Embellishments: Making Memories Animal Crackers Ella Pebble Stickers, Stampin' UP! Rub-Ons Lovely Lines
Ribbon:  A.C. Moore Satin White
Diecuts:  Cricut Fabulous Finds Shapes Cartridge
Design: Imagine, Jeanette R. Lynton, Right Layout, Perfect Prelude - pg. 26 - 27

As always thanks for looking and yes HE stamps!

Halloween 2009

Being that the kids came to live with us in November 2008 we missed Halloween.  So these pictures are of the first Halloween that we got to spend with them.  Both Kam and Jasey had very definite ideas of who they wanted to dress as.  At the time Kam was entranced with the Snow White movie so she of course wanted to be Snow White.  Jase is crazy for two movies, Cars and Toy Story - he wanted to be Lighting McQueen but the costumes were horrible so we talked up Buzz Lightyear and he went for it.  They were so excited getting dressed and preparing to go out ... I'm not sure but I believe it might have been the first time they ever went trick or treating.  It was a special day for ALL of us.

These pages were so much fun to do.  I love the colors and images of Halloween.  I probably should have scaled back a bit and choose one of the more kid friendly collections like Imaginese has but I went for the ever reliable Making Memories.  There's a forgettable first attempt at stitching on the second page - needed to be larger and more dramatic but there's always next year.

Halloween 2009

Details
Paper: Making Memories Spook Alley Collection, K&Company Tim Coffey Whimsy Collection
Cardstock: DCWV Textured Black
Embellishments:  Martha Stewart Halloween Transfers
Ribbon:  JoAnn Crafting Essentials Orange Twill, Black Organdy

Punches:  EK Success Photo Corners, Martha Stewart Pumpkin Double-punch, Small Bat

Diecuts: Cricut, Stamped Font Cartridge, Making Memories Slice Spellbound Design Disc

Design:  Reflections, Jeanette R. Lynton, Maine Frame - Four Square Layout, - pg. 52,  Triple Play - Three is the Charm, pg. 96

As always thanks for looking and yes HE stamps!

Future PC guru

Kamdyn plays games on the PC frequently and Jasey has been begging to for awhile.  So recently, I began letting him try it, he's quite good at the mouse and knows where to find the red X to close something.  I took these pictures on the first day he got on the PC.  He was one happy little boy.  I bought this paper online and it looked so much better there.  It served it's purpose but boy I did overbuy (as usual.)  I did a little fussy cutting on the second page with the stars in an attempt to have some of them pop.  I think the effect is lost here.

Future PC guru

Details
Paper: Fancy Pants Rough and Tough by lili
Cardstock: DCWV Blue and Dark Orange
Ink: Stampin' UP! Stampin' Write Journaler Basic Black

Embellishments:  I-top 22mm Brad Maker, JoAnn Craft Essentials Hinges, Stampin' UP! Star Brads

Punches:  Marvy Uchida 2" Circle, EK Success Paper Shaper 1-3/8", Stampin' UP! 1" Circle, 1/2" Circle, Making Memories Spiral Paperclip 

Diecuts: Unknown PC Font, Sure Cuts Alot Software, Cricut

Design:  Reflections, Jeanette R. Lynton, Main Frame - Offset - pg. 57,  Sidebar - Main Frame - pg. 41

As always thanks for looking and yes HE stamps!

Precious Memories Sympathy

At one time sympathy cards were the worse -- I would struggle with these cards. Picking colors, images words the whole thing would take me several days to complete. Not so much these days. I suppose making all those bereavement thank yous for my mother-in-law took care of that. So the card today was made for the passing of the father of a co-worker of David's.

Precious Memories



Details:
Paper: Stampin' UP Porcelain Prints (Retired)
Cardstock: SU Blue Bayou (Retired), Very Vanilla, Whisper White, and Barely Banana
Ink: SU Classic Basic Black, and Craft Certainly Celery
Ribbon: Michaels Unknown Manufacturer 1/4" Organza, Hand dyed Barely Banana
Stamps: Scrappy Cat Clear Botanical Flourishes Stamps
Punches: SU Scallop Edge
Diecuts: Cricut, George and Basic Shapes
Design: Mercy's Tuesday Sketch Challenge #55

Thanks for looking and yes HE stamps!

Birthday Tri-Shutter Card

So, I've been trying some of the many wonderful tutorials on SCS (there should be a national holiday for Beate's contribution to stamping.) My latest attempt is the Tri-Shutter Card. It was quite simple to make but difficult (for me at least) to get the folds consistently correct (lots of duh moments.) I made this card for the birthday of a very dear friend.



Not being fond of many of the current designer papers from Stampin' UP! I had turned to Ebay to find retired ones. The DSP I used for this card is from the 2007 Fall IB&C and is titled Porcelain Prints. The combo of the retired Blue Bayou, River Rock and Wild Wasabi are irresistible on this collection. I would recommend you check these papers out if you can get your hands on it.


Recipe:

Stamps: Savvy Stamps Outline Swirl Cake, Inkadinkadoo Blue Skies, SU Noteworthy
Ink: SU Classic Basic Black, Blue Bayou, Barely Banana
Paper: SU Porcelain Prints DSP, Barely Banana, Blue Bayou
Accessories: Cricut, Sure Cuts A Lot, KutUps Dingbat from Clever Someday blog, PaperPups cartridge, SU Eyelet Border punch, SU Apricot 1/4" Grosgrain Ribbon.

Thanks for looking and yes HE stamps.

The very first card

The first card created for my beautiful new granddaughter Caroline. As per my usual mode the card is CASEd heavily this time from the very talented Devlinwhite on SCS. I also choose to try a easel card which was incredibly simple to do (check SCS for all the details.) I really liked how she created a background using portions of tree stamps. This was the first time I attempted to do anything other than creating dots with the Uni-ball pen, as evidenced I certainly need lots more practice.

Recipe:
Stamps: SU Forest Friends, Fresh Cuts and Michaels Recollection Clear Stamps Sweet Baby Girl.

Cardstock: SU Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, Mellow Moss, Whisper White.
Patterned Paper: Prints Pack (retired), Spring Fling DSP (retired).

Ink: SU Basic Black, Mellow Moss, Certainly Celery, Ruby Red

Accessories: Cuttlebug Photocorners die, Cricut, Sure Cuts A Lot, KutUps Dingbat from Clever Someday blog. Cetainly Celery 5/8" inch poly ribbon, Marvy Petite-Petals punch, Making Memories Vintage Findings Gem Pins, unknown manufacturer Gemstone, Uni-ball Signo White Pigment Ink pen, SU Scalloped Border punch.

As my last day quickly approaches with Stampin' UP! (11/01) I am trying to move into purchasing/considering other paper crafting manufacturers (although, to be honest today I am sitting here waiting for delivery of my FINAL SU demo order.) I have to confess that it's hard leaving SU my crafting heart will always have a soft spot for the products of the company but ... never mind I'm not going to get negative, it's just time for me to move on.

Thanks for looking and yes HE stamps!

A happy one

I am so loving these 6x6 scrapbook pages! It's so less intimidating then a big ole' 12x12 page. So look away if it pains you cause there's gonna be a lot more. I've also noticed the sudden (at least for me) availability of albums in the 6x6 size, which is tremendous in my opinion.

The inspiration for this page was the pure joy that glowed from Kammie face at the pink balloon she was given at Friendly's Restaurant. The picture was taken using my cell phone and I was quite surprised to see that it was actually usable.

As for the details, I used the retiring Rainbow Sherbet Designer Series Paper, Gable Green, Apricot Appeal, and Tempting Turquoise cardstocks. I used the Alphalicious Cricut cartridge for the titling, cutting each letter 3 times and then gluing together to get the chipboard look. The Sizzix Sizzlit Decorative Strip Die Flowers & Stems provided the flower embellishments and a 1" Circle punch provided the circles.

Thanks for looking and yes HE stamps.

Scrapbook pages

What follows are several pages that I created for NSM. Unfortunately, the pages did not turn out as I hoped through one reason or another. I am a horrible judge of my own work ... too much comparing. I wasn't going to show the pages but in the end decided that I needed to do it for myself, so here they are:

Gatsby's Casino

Our adventures in the Princess Cruise casino.

Cardstock is So Saffron. Patterned paper is Jackpot Designer Series Paper. Computer journaling. Titling and large diecut is from the Opposites Attract catridge for the Cricut.

Scrapbooking Pages

What follows are several pages that I created for NSM. Unfortunately, the pages did not turn out as I hoped through one reason or another. I am a horrible judge of my own work ... too much comparing. I wasn't going to show the pages but in the end decided that I needed to do it for myself, so here they are:

The Butterfly Farm

An excursion we took in St. Thomas to a butterfly farm.

Cardstock is Kiwi Kiss, Brilliant Blue and Tangerine Tango. Patterned Paper is Good Morning Sunshine Designer Series Paper. Diecuts

are Cricut Home Accents cartridge, and stamped

with Autumn Leaves Block Stamps 2 stamp set. Pewter Jumbo Build-A-Brads are embellished with paper selections from Good Morning Sunshine DSP. Ribbon is Kiwi Kiss 5/8" Striped Grosgrain Ribbon.

Sorry for the weird view of this post, having a hard time controlling how the content appears!?!

Face Time

Celebrating just three of the many faces of my 2 year old nephew Jase who has been living with us for the past seven months.  I found the LO on a site called Choubox Scrapbook Design I was able to grab the sketch as a pdf file and refer back to it often as cutting sizes were included.

Being a new demonstrator creating samples can be challenging to say the least ... so here's another example of using cardstock exclusively on these pages.  I think using the background stamp from the Sweet Sampler stamp set turned out really nicely though.  Cardstock is the extremely like able Barely Banana and always faithful Bashful Blue.  Ink was the stand-alone Bashful Blue.  Unfortunately, I did have to veer into non-SU products for titling and fonts.  Fonts were downloaded over the Internet and were freeware.  Titling was completed using the Sure Cuts Alot software for the Cricut.

Thanks for looking and yes HE stamps!