paper possibilities

Another "sweet pea" card...

Happy New Years Eve!!   

While I was playing around last night with the first pea pod baby card, I got another idea. Now, I am all about grabbing those light bulbs when they go off, so I got to work... I just wanted to use River Rock and Very Vanilla cardstock, and the colored image was gonna be my only pop of color. I kept it clean, uncluttered and simple. Did ya notice no embellishments, no sewing or anything. I wanted to frame the image with text stamped in River Rock. The text is from an acrylic set made by Fiskars, it comes with so many little baby images and text for making shower invites too. There is a little giraffe and onesie stamp in the same set & I'm gonna play with that next.

See ya in 2008! 

It's BABY season...

Well, at least that's the mode I am in now. No, no, no, not expecting, but for making cards! Don't be silly, I am way beyond those years. I was asked by Jordan last night if I didn't want another one. Now Jordan just turned 18, do you think she would needs an new sibling in the house? No, no, no... there was just a really cute little boy watching us eat at Olga's last night. hahaha

So I was looking through my stamps, and trying to figure out what I wanted to do next. I have not been home all this past week and finally got a chance to sit in my room and think. Valentines is too far away yet, and then a little bulb went off. {yeah, sometimes it really does}  BABY! Small kids, & stuff like that. I don't go to hardly any baby showers but other people do.

Now here is the really amazing part...another bulb went off in my head and I decided to do more than one. I decided it is time to make a few at a time and sell them. So I grabbed my hostess set from SU, Event Full, and used the little pea pod baby, it is soooo cute! 

The green cardstock is from SU, and the yellowish-green is from Archivers. The patterned paper is from K&Company's little boy stack and the ribbon is from Michaels. The acrylic alpha letters are from Hero Arts, found at Archivers, I love the style of this font! I Stamped the little pea pod baby in Palette's Jardin Moss ink, and the alphabet is stamed in that shade as well, but I stamped off once first, to get a lighter shade. I Used my colored pencils and Gamsol for the coloring and added a little colored pencil to the bottom of the alphabets. For this card, I ended up using some scalloped scissors to trim around the image, but my original idea is here below.  I wanted to use my cookie cutter nesting dies from Quickutz, but after I cut out this one, I didn't have more room to cut out the others in circles too. Good thing I am flexible and went to plan B. I did learn a few things in the process of creating these cards.

1. Remember to space your images out well if you're doing multiples.

2. Pay attention to size, yes, it matters. My cookie cutter dies do have a larger distance between sizes than I really would have liked.

3. Don't be hasty and throw away any part of the card that can be re-used. If you look at the card below, you might notice that I put a second layer on top of the stiched one. I stamped out my "little one" but wasn't happy with the spacing on the bottom, so I covered it up.

Happy Stamping! 

Merry Christmas

I just wanted to share a few last minute pics. Just when I thought I was done making my pinecone ornaments, I need a couple more for work tomorrow. Luckily I had some papers already folded and ready to go. I had already bought out the local Wal-Mart of the pins, and needed to raid JoAnns selection late saturday night. I made Jordan go with me so that I could use all the 40% off coupons I had. Those pins are expensive!  This merry & bright pinecone is my sisters. I picked out a more "out there" pattern for her. It is funny because just when you feel like you're not sure about a paper...you end up lovin it!                                                        Oh, and the kitty is my baby Pebbles, watching her mama, wondering when she will be done playing with her pinecones and pins, because she wants on my lap!  Jump up here, it's Christmas, time to relax and play.  Hope everyone is enjoying the day with family and friends, I am! {{{smiles}}}

Jingle Bell ROCK!

Rock-n-Roll that is!  I found out a few weeks ago that my niece was into the skull & cross bone stuff. Well...the scrapbook store just happened to have some really cute paper with... skulls & cross bones!!  So I bought it and wondered what I would do with it. I headed back to the crop room at the store and cut out a large "h" with a coordinating paper I picked up with the skull stuff. hmmm, still not sure what I was gonna do with this stuff. We are talking about the girl with everything and she is 9.5 now. I wanted something she could grow up with and I decided on another frame!! haha I have been having so much fun with these this month. The problem with me is that I still like everything just so and I don't get really loose with my creations. I always go more structured and this project was saying get a little funky. {funky NOT tacky! LOL}  So whaddya think? I only added a little glitter on some of the hearts, a little bling over some of the tiny circles, and a little ribbon in my stash to add a little fluff! I mean dimension, I added dimension. I also used some stars from Making Memories, {halloween leftovers}. I think she'll like it when she opens it today.  Happy Holidays!

My last minute gifts...

The holidays are here! Is everyone ready to celebrate?? I have been busy this week with activities outside the home/my crafting room. While I called these last minute gifts, I had planned on making them for some time, just when to find that time... This first family I did, using Stampin' Ups "All in the Family", is for my sister-in-law. I needed to keep it pretty flat because I did want to use the protective faux glass. I picked up these frames at IKEA, $2.00..what a deal!! & who doesn't love a deal?   This second family is for my brother-in-law. I planned on keepin them the same, but nothing ever goes as planned, haha. I had purchased a Christmas assortment pack called "frosty" from My Minds Eye, and there was only one sheet per pattern. So, with the difference in names, I had to go to plan B. I like them both, & may just do one for myself. I did use the modge-podge for putting the paper down on the wooden frame, then sanded all around. I did stching on one and just a thin black pen to add a little border on the one right above. I stamped everyone, colored them and then cut them out. I used Tim Holtz Aged Paper for the shading around everything. I had this ink for so long and I am rediscovering it all over again. I love the shade! I also cheated a little and drew the arms in with my thin black pen, it is so much easier when you are layering the little people.

HoHoHo!

BONUS Monday!

Hey a second post!!  But don't jump up and down and pull a muscle over there. I just wanted to tell ya that those cute, giant chipboards from Making Memories were found at my lss. I have seen them at several of the lss's and they have them for all kinds of holidays. Now, saying all this, I know they have been around for a while, so I don't know about the future. Last year they did have Valentine chipboard...and at $1.00...what a bargain!

Tonight Jordan and I went to some stores for a school project, ya know, last minute is always the best during the Christmas season. Archivers was a stop and I was all into some Quickutz alphabets! Oh, if there is a Santa for good little scrappers, please stop at my house! haha  How does one justify splurging on that for themselves during the "giving" season? Oh the willpower I have...hahaha  So, goodnight blogger friends, I am gonna finish watching my "new" favorite show on TLC...Jon & Kate + 8.

Happy Monday morning!

Happy, Happy, Happy....why? because I am on the last full week of work! We have our party on Friday, so that is a half day then just fun hangin' out at a local banquet hall/bar/resturant. And how I totally forgot to let everyone know this, but I have a card on Nichole Heady's blog, for Honerable Mention for last months Papertrey release. I used the Spiral Bouquet to make a very pretty card, and I am thrilled to be noticed with all the talented people there are out there!

So, yestreday I showed you the chipboard "JOY". Today I wanna show you what I did with my chipboard ornaments, also from Making Memories. I purchased three of these last year too, and decided it was time to get them made into something.

I wasn't sure where I was going with these either...can you tell that about me and my thought process. I started making them look realistic with shading and highlights. The pink one didn't photo as well as the other two, picking up that highlight in the light pink circles. Above the bows I made masks to use a dark brown ink and a sponge to shade the top of the ornament. I also used those same masks to rub on a little shading to the bottom of the ornament. I kept holding the ornaments up and wondering where they could hang. (I don't have a 20'  tree anywhere near!) So I thought that they would look festive in our offices at work. I will hang them up tomorrow and surprise Kelly & Dana. I think they'll like them.

Hope you are enjoying the lights and sounds of Christmas, I know I am!

Spread a little JOY!

Where did the week go?  I have been busy working my fingers off and now it's Sunday! I have spent the better part of this week finishing up my gifts for my friends at work...a small armload of paper pincone ornaments. Last night I worked on little tags for all the bags that they are going in. A few years ago my mom gave me a bunch of red, shiny lunchbags...voila! Instant packaging, couldn't be easier. I like easy...sometimes. The joy that I am spreading is these little JOY chipboards from Making Memories. I don't know who will get them, I don't think I want them, I like to give my things away. Until I am living in a larger place and can keep and store decorations, these need a good home.

I used some of my favorite papers on these projects and each one had a different look to them, based on the paper "feel".

I am the only person who loves what they are working on until I move onto another project and then I love that one. It is like loving all my babies, I can't choose which one is a favorite, I love tham all for different reasons!

I still have one more to add on here, but for some reason, they are loading onto here very slowly. I think I left them at too high a resolution. I gotta fix that. Hey, there we go.

I knew I would figure out how to get that last photo on here.  Thanks for stopping by on this snowy Sunday evening!

Hanna & the stars

Today is tuesday...you know that means...you're gonna get a special post!  Yeah, I have to be at work all day today, and then I get about 30 minutes at home before I run off to Weight Watchers. That is about the fastest 30 minutes ever too! So this weekend I was getting busy with coloring some more Hanna's from Hanna Stamps. I had been thinking of layouts using starts in this way, with the sewing seeming to dangle them down and I cam up with this idea for a graduation card, or maybe a congrats card for some special gal. I put Hanna in a purple outfit and found some purple paper I had, and there was not much to choose from, haha. I didn't realize how little I had of purple until then. {I guess I am more a green and brown kinda girl.} But hey, it works! How about that, I was happy with my palatte and wrote the sentiment out myself. I added a little sprkle to the stars and cut one out for a little pop at the bottom...it just seemed lacking something. This is my first blond Hanna too, modeled after me, of course...LOL 

Well, while I am counting down the pounds, I hope you are all feeling creative and counting down the days to Christmas.

Just how many more cards do I need??

see ya!

Spiral Blooms are pretty in blue...

As soon as I say this stamp set I knew it was on my birthday list! My mom did say buy something pretty! so I did. I have been admiring how Nichole Heady makes her own patterned paper and I wanted to give it a shot, I hadn't tried it before. So a couple weeks ago I played around and came up with this print. I looked at it and thought about it and then came up with this card last night. I am so in love with the soft sky cardstock from Stampin' Up! The pretty stamp set is the latest from Paper Trey Ink and it is called Spiral Blooms. I Used sofy sky ink and stamped off once before putting the base stamp down on the paper, then added the top swirly bloom in straight soft sky. I punched out a giga scallop with my shimmery white cardstock, all antiqued a little with Tim Holtz Distressing ink, in Antique paper. I used the SU word window punch for the smaller sentiment in very vanilla cardstock. Sewing...ya gotta add that, and a suede like knot in the perfect color to match and I was a happy camper!

I still have a little more of the homemade pattern paper left & I gotta decide what to do with it. I think this would make a perfect shower invite...hmmm