Friends 24-7 Color Challenge

Good morning! Just a quick reminder that today is the last day to order from the Sale-A-Bration mini catalog. Simply click the 'Shop Now' button on my business website and get those promo items while you can!

Here's a card made for today's color challenge over on SplitCoast. The circles were made with the circle cutter after stamping the images in Chocolate Chip ink on Pink Pirouette cardstock. The edges of the pink circles were distressed with the cutter kit distressor tool. These circles were matted with brads inserted, and then arranged on top of a Bella Toile stamped background in Chocolate Chip ink. The corner brads and Riding Hood Red taffeta ribbon were added last.

Stamps: Friends 24-7, Bella Toile background
Paper: Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Accessories: circle cutter, cutter kit, ribbon, brads, dimensionals

For those of you in the Phoenix metro area, please be sure to check out my Flip Album Scrapbooking Class coming in April - prepayment/RSVPs are due by April 5th so that I can get your materials in time! :)

Flip Album Scrapbook Class Offering

(album front)

Happy Saturday! I hope your day has been a good one... I wanted to share a few pics this evening of a sample project made for a Flip Album scrapbook class that I'll be holding during April in my home. There will be several available dates/times offered for this class to allow some flexibility with your schedule, so if you are in the Phoenix area & want to come, please let me know which class you will be attending. I am limiting the amount of people to 5 per class. The dates, times and cost are at the bottom of this post, so hurry to get your spot - first come, first serve! Just fill out my contact page and type in your preferred time in the comment section.

You know, this project would be a fantastic Mother's Day gift! Actually, it would be a perfect gift for just about any occasion... There's (7) 6x6 pages to decorate (excluding the outside covers) - plus multiple side flaps to put lists, tags, pictures, journaling - you name it! It's fun to flip the pages & flaps open and closed - and the ladies who attended my March class were really diggin' the one I made with a different scrapbook kit! :)


(open view)

You will complete 1 fully decorated album in class and have enough basic supplies to complete another at home (each album uses 1/2 of a Simply Scrappin' Kit, pages 162-165 of the Spring/Summer 2009 IB&C). When you pre-pay for your class, I will ask you to select your choice of Simply Scrappin' Kit at that time and order it for you so that it will arrive before your scheduled class date. You will also receive the following at class:

(3) sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 coordinating color cardstock for matting photos/using my punches & Big Shot dies
3 pieces of Hodgepodge Hardware (your choice)
10 brads
(2) 10" strips of ribbon to tie your album closed
(1) 12" strip of ribbon for embellishment

In addition, you will have the opportunity to use my stamps, inks, punches, Big Shot, dies and texture plates for embellishing your album during class.

My sample album is using materials from the Sweet Nothings Simply Scrappin' Kit. I've added some embellishments using stamps, inks, punches, and the Big Shot/dies. Here are two closer views of a couple pages that are in my sample album -

Even though the basic recipe/layouts will be taught in class, each of you will have selected a different Simply Scrappin' Kit, so each album is going to be so unique and wonderful!!! If you are in the Phoenix metro area, please consider joining me for this fun-filled class! Let your scrappin' friends know and come together! Pre-payment/RSVP is due no later that Sunday, April 5th.

Dates:

Sunday, April 19 1-5pm

Monday, April 20 11am - 3pm OR 6pm - 10pm

Location:

My Home - light refreshments will be served

Cost:

$32 (remember that this will make two albums!)

-OR-

$5 for my March class members who have already purchased their SSKit in anticipation of this class offering :)

I blocked 4 hours for this class, although I anticipate many of you will finish earlier. I wanted to be sure you had enough time for your project! If there are any questions, please fill out the contact page (link above in 1st paragraph). Thanks so much and have a great day!

Lake Pleasant Scrapbook Layout

Hello everyone! I thought I'd post a two page scrapbook layout that I did a long time ago with one of SU! stamps from a now-retired stamp set called Southwest (I think... it was one I picked up at a yard sale and the label was torn off).

As you can see, I used the sun swirl to create my background for my Lake Pleasant layout. Lake Pleasant is just northwest of Phoenix, and is a huge, beautiful lake plopped in the middle of the desert (no silly, it's not a mirage!). Once again, I'm struggling to reduce glare on my photos and take better layout pictures, but I think you can see most of the details otherwise. If you have any tips with this, I'd be happy to listen!

The page's title was created on the computer and printed open-line style on blue cardstock. I used colored pencils and added the shadings and highlights to bring out the words. The little lake scene below the title was created by ripping different shades of brown strips of paper and placing them around my "lake" to create mountains in the background and desert scenery in the foreground. The cacti was made with punches, as well as cutting saguaro shaped cacti free-hand using green cardstock. The longhorn skull was cut free-hand after sketching it out on light brown cardstock, then I added shadings in colored pencil to create the skull's contours. Here's a close-up section of the title below:

The letter "h" was a template created with the computer and then cut out with blue cardstock and chipboard. I distressed it and wrapped a little string around it for interest. It started my journaling block to tell about our awesome time at the lake.

The cactus on the 2nd page was cut free-hand and heavily distressed before adding it to a block. I really like how it turned out.

The kids had a super time meeting new friends, fishing and flying kites. We also spent time at the Visitor's Center and learned about the dam, a nearby eagle preserve and various wildlife that surrounded the lake. The entire spread turned out to be 6 pages when it was finally finished!

I love to stamp in my scrapbooks, and look forward to sharing more with you soon. I will be posting samples for an April album class this Saturday that uses the current Sweet Nothings Simply Scrappin' Kit, so I hope that you will come on back and check it out! It is turning out better than I imagined, and I can't wait to share it with you... see you soon!

Inspirational Friend

Hi everyone... I combined two challenges posted on SplitCoastStampers this week to create this card today.... here are the links to the sketch challenge, and the inspiration challenge.

I used this little black and white zebra striped dress from Little Daisy Designs as my inspiration - http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12704590

My card background was created with the Big Shot and Sizzix Distressed Texturz plate. I brayered over the raised areas with black ink to bring out the pattern. The top layer was stamped multiple times with a selection from Pocket Silhouettes stamp set. I sponged this panel with black ink on the edges. The butterfly was heat-embossed in clear EP using black ink and cut out. The tips of each butterfly wing are slightly curled upward. The sentiment was colored with markers, so that I could highlight the word "friend" in Real Red ink, and cut out. Half back pearls were added last on the main panel and butterfly. The panels, sentiment and butterfly are adhered with dimensionals popdots.

Thanks for stopping by today. I appreciate all of your kind comments! Have a great spring Saturday, and I'll see you next time!

Stamps: Great Friend, Pocket Silhouettes
Paper: Whisper White, black
Ink: black, SU markers: Real Red, black
Accessories: Big Shot, distressed texturz plate, sponge dauber, brayer, clear embossing powder, heatgun, StampAMaJig, 1/2 back pearls, dimensional popdots

It All Started with These...

Today, I thought I'd do something alittle fun (and maybe alittle scary! LOL!). I went through my first scrapbook and pulled out some of the very first pages that I created. I'm not sure how many of you scrapbook, but I started about 13 years ago. I was introduced first to stamping and cardmaking by a close friend and neighbor, and I admit that it took alot of coaxing on her part to get me to try scrapbooking. One day, she invited me to scrapbook, and this is my first ever scrapbook page:

LOL! I had used one of my first Stampin' Up! sets on the page called Happy Harvest. Cutting pictures out with templates was big then too, and I followed the trend with the pumpkin shapes. The stamped images were colored with markers. I'm pretty sure the alphabet is not SU!. And journal blocks.... what's that?

Once again, I used a template to cut around my pictures (sorry for the glare on one of them), and fancy edge scissors were used on the matting. For you "old timers", remember when these were the rage? I think I collected at least 20 different edge scissors back then.... and still have them... somewhere! As you can see in the pic above, I used stamps to create an American flag for the background. I have no idea what the name of these stamps are, except the alphabet. This was my very first alphabet purchase with SU!, and it's a set that I still have.... it's all Alphabet Attitude, baby! Hee hee...

The last page I'm sharing has no SU! stamps (well, maybe that little dotted stamp on the background, I'm not sure), but the images are stamped and colored directly on the light blue cardstock with colored pencils. This page brings back so many memories! I didn't journal on the front of the page, but I did pencil in some thoughts on the backside to capture the moment. I don't believe in redoing pages because it's fun to see how I've evolved over the years. Anyhow, to give alittle background on this page, we had recently returned from spending a day at the Renaissance Festival. My very impressionable, young son wore this Easter bucket on his head every day for over a week while slaying dragons and evil enemies! It *really did* work well as a helmet, ya know! :)

Thanks for going back in time with me today. It's fun to occasionally go back and see how you discovered your "style" of cardmaking or scrapbooking... you see alot of experimentation as your style slowly evolved to become the way it is now, and it'll be fun to look back at today's work 10 years from now! Well, I'm off to make a birthday card for my Dragon Slayer - he's got a birthday party to attend this afternoon... see you soon!

Spring Time Paper Containers

Hello again! I felt inspired this morning by our warm *spring* weather here in Phoenix to create some colorful projects today. Well, it turned out to be 90 degrees... yep, in March!!! I resisted turning on the air conditioner because it was breezy, and needless to say, all the windows and doors were open to take advantage of it. Tomorrow will be slightly warmer, but next week should be back in the upper 70's - low 80's (whew! and just where I like it!).

Well, I'm rambling, so let's get on to the projects. As you can see, I made an assortment of paper containers today. Two are from templates, and one from the Sizzix Bigz XL Scallop Box die. I took individual pictures of each container below to show you alittle more details. Wouldn't these be cute with candy, or little gifts, for the kids on Easter morning?

Carrot Box

This was made using one of SCS's carrot box templates. The stamped images come from the new Spring-Summer Occasions Mini set called Forest Friends and will be available for purchase after April 1st. The sentiment comes from Wagon Full of Fun. My customers should be receiving their complimentary Mini catalog this week, so if you don't have it by Friday, please let me know! I see lots of possibilities with this uber-cute stamp set. I chose to use the sweet bunny to decorate the front of the carrot box. The Tangerine Tango box itself was randomly stamped with the small swirl stamp in Tangerine Tango ink from the Priceless stamp set. The carrot top was die-cut using Kiwi Kiss cardstock, the Big Shot and Daisies # 2 die. I cut 3 of the large daisies, and glued the centers down to a 3/4 inch circle punchout. Then I layered and glued 1 medium daisy and 1 small daisy on top of that. The top picture below shows you what that looked like. The bottom picture (a bit blurry, sorry) shows you what it looked like after I bent all the petals upward and punched a small hole in the center for my gemstone brad.

The pic below shows a side angle view of the carrot top - I think it turned out pretty cute, even though it doesn't resemble real carrot greens (at least the carrot greens from the ones I grow in my garden during the Phoenix "winter" season).... but good enough for me! You can see the gemstone brad peeking out.

Scallop Box

This pic shows a close-up of the Sizzix Bigz XL Scallop Box cut using the Big Shot. I cut the box in Gable Green, and stamped the leaves from another new set called Great Friend in Versamark along the edges of all pieces. I created my window by using the new Scalloped Oval punch that's new in this Mini catalog. The punched out scalloped oval was used above on the flap of the box. I punched 1 scallop circle and large oval in Pixie Pink (after stamping the sentiment) and glued these down on the flap as seen below. I cut a small rectangle from one of the cellophane bags and glued that down inside around the window before final assembly. The box flaps were glued down, then I added dots with a black marker and a ribbon bow to the top. The butterfly from Great Friend was stamped in Pixie Pink ink and quickly heat-embossed in clear embossing powder. It was trimmed out and glued onto the box. Finally, and most importantly :) , yummy jellybeans were added last. A perfect Easter treat!


Chinese Take Out Box

Finally, this little box was created from another template (here's one for ya). I used DSP from the Delicate Dots selection (a Sale-A-Bration goodie!) and cut the template with it. I glued the flaps down and tied an Old Olive ribbon around it. The duck comes from Wagon Full of Fun, another new set from the Mini, and is colored in with markers on watercolor paper. I used my aquapainter to "swipe away" areas of the colored marker to highlight the duck and ribbon to give it a bit of depth. (This is a cool technique and you should try it out!) The duck was cut out and glued to the side of the box. The label was attached last and is lightly sponged and matted on Bashful Blue cardstock.

Well, there you have it! Three different paper containers to help inspire you to create something special for your special someone! I would love to hear what you think... let me know your favorite one! I used alot of new product today that will soon be available for purchase. If you're thinking about any of these new stamps sets or tools from the Mini Catalog and would like to host a workshop in the Phoenix area, please let me know! You can contact me by visiting http://www.mycreativecorner.com/ and filling out the contact page. I would love to show you more ways to maximize the use of any of these products shown today.

Thanks for visiting with me... I am going to do a Friday Flashback for you tomorrow and show you my very *1st ever* scrapbook page, and a couple more that started me on my scrapbook journey 13 years ago... see you then!

24-7 Framed Calendar

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you - are you wearing any green? :)

Many years ago, I spied a very pretty 12x12 inch floral calendar that included this frame and had to purchase it (mostly because it was in my very favorite home decor color - burgundy!). I've reused the frame every year since then, but I was behind this year with all the interior painting and general spring cleaning/repairs that kept me busy these first couple months of 2009. Better late than never, I finished up this 12x12 scrapbook page that became the topper for our 2009 calendar. DH put the calendar part together for me using Publisher - saving me about 6 hours of frustration (I am so NOT good with computers!). Thank you, hon!


Here's a close-up of my page (if you double-click on the pic, it should enlarge for you). I used a burgundy and Certainly Celery page base, and stamped the large flourish stamp from Baroque Motifs in Versamark around the left side and bottom of the page. (Note - had I been thinking, doh! - I should have stamped the flourish in Versamark/Certainly Celery and heat-embossed with clear embossing powder. I've noticed that "Versamark-only" stamped images will eventually fade... just an observation and a FYI for you to be aware of...). After stamping my flourishes, I lightly sponged around the edges in Always Artichoke (yep, I love to sponge everything!). :)

I created two strips with paper from Bella Rose DSP, layering with Always Artichoke and Burgundy. I stamped on the pink DSP with the damask stamp from Friends 24-7 stamp set in Riding Hood Red ink. I also used the "24-7" stamp for the piece in the HodgePodge hardware. The "always" rub-on came from our Chateau Bella Rub-On collection. I love the little sentiment that fits above the word (or below, if you choose)... it says "cherish every moment with those you love". That's beautiful, isn't it?

There are a couple non-SU items on the page - the 1.5 inch wide burgundy sheer ribbon was from the Christmas clearance bin at Walmart, and the various brads are ones I've collected many years ago. The Always Artichoke green leaves are die-cut from the Little Leaves sizzlet/Big Shot. The Riding Hood Red and Pink Pirouette flowers were created with the Birds & Blooms sizzlet/Big Shot. The RHR flowers have the first two petal layers curled upward, and the Pink Pirouette flowers are lightly sponged with Riding Hood Red ink before assembling together in a stack. The flowers/leaves were arranged and glued together in sections to make it easier on me during final assembly.

I love doing scrapbook pages (and this one is doing double-duty being my calendar topper for now), and I hope to share more pages with you soon. Thanks for checking out my blog today, and I look forward to your next visit! Till next time!!!

Stamps: Friends 24-7, Baroque Motifs
Paper: burgundy, Certainly Celery, Riding Hood Red, Always Artichoke, Pink Pirouette, Bella Rose DSP
Ink: Always Artichoke, Riding Hood Red, Versamark, black
Accessories: sponge, ribbon, brads, Big Shot, Little Leaves sizzlet, Birds & Blooms sizzlet, hodgepodge hardware, Chateau Bella rub-ons

Floral Crimped Envelope & Pocket Card

This is such a simple technique for those of you wanting to make a card, or present a gift card with pizazz, for someone really special! So often, we don't seem to really embellish the envelope as much as the beautiful card we've created, and this project really fills that void... and how!!! This technique was featured a couple weeks ago on Splitcoast's Technique challenge, and I encourage you to click on the link to learn how it's done so that you can give it a try!

I used a couple different stamp sets for this, Botanical Blooms and Heartfelt Thanks. The envelope was stamped first with the leaves from Botanical Blooms in Old Olive and Kiwi Kiss inks, and I lightly sponged around the perimeter with Kiwi Kiss. The envelope was crimped, then the flowers from Botanical Blooms were stamped using a Stamp-A-Ma-Jig on a separate piece of Whisper White cardstock and cut out. They are adhered to the envelope with dimensional popdots, along with several sprays of leaves diecut using the Little Leaves sizzlet/Big Shot. The envelope topper is sponged lightly all around, with a strip of Bella Rose DSP layered a couple times, and a ribbon knot attached around the strip before being glued to the topper. The pocket card is stamped with a flower from Heartfelt Thanks on Whisper White cardstock (again using a Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, every stamper should have one of these in their arsenal!). This panel was layered a couple times, then I used my Eyelet Border edge punch along the bottom. I sewed along the edges of one panel with a zig-zag stitch to add a little bit of oomph. Finally, I added a stamped tab using the Round Tab punch to make it easier on the recipient to remove the pocket card from the envelope.

I hope you enjoy my little project for today... I would love to hear what you think! Again, I encourage you to try this technique for yourself - it really is a wonderful way to present someone with a beautiful handmade card or giftcard. See you tomorrow... I've got another fun project to show you that I'm finishing up today.... ta ta for now!

Stamps: Botanical Blooms, Heartfelt Thanks

Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red, white, Bella Rose DSP

Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Old Olive, Riding Hood Red

Accessories: Envelope, Kiwi Kiss ribbon, crimper, sponge, Big Shot, Little Leaves sizzlet, dimensionals, brads, sewing machine, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, SU punches - Round Tab, Eyelet Border

Contemporary 5th Avenue

Happy Sunday to you! I hope that you've had an enjoyable weekend so far... I've been trying to clean up and organize my craft room, and felt inspired to make a card when separating my paper scraps (oh, the temptation was too hard to resist!). This one was actually pretty quick to do, which is why I really like this particular stamp set, Fifth Avenue Floral. You can leave the open-lined images uncolored after stamping, and it lends itself to be contemporary that way. It's not my usual style, so it felt good to try something alittle different, and I like the result. A couple small details, in case you were wondering... most of the corners have the small photo corner punched out of cardstock and attached behind the panels, and I used a mat pack to pierce along the top and bottom right side of the card. Well, just a quick post for today... please come back soon! I've got a cute envelope card for you to see tomorrow.

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red, White
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Riding Hood Red
Accessories: ribbon, mat pack, photo corners punch

Praying for You

Sorry for the yellow/pink tint in this photo... I messed up my camera settings and haven't quite figured out what I did!!! LOL!! Anyhow, this card shows you a couple of stamps from the new SS09 catalog set called "Thoughts and Prayers". Image-wise, it's one of my very favorites from this catalog as the images are clean and simple and pack alot of punch! Since I have a very limited sympathy-type sentiment collection, the verses were a real necessity, too. There are a couple other applications, like "thinking of you" and "get well soon" - so this set is versatile!!


You can see my use of one of SU's Sizzix texture plates with the polka-dotted background. The polka dots are subtle, but I like that with this card. I could have achieved a more pronounced effect by spraying the paper with alcohol first before running it through the Big Shot (as I did two posts down with the diamond background on the flower trio card), but I appreciate the softness that this background provided for this card. The flower spray was colored directly with Old Olive and Rose Red markers, huffed on (so the moisture from my breath could reactivate the ink), then stamped on Whisper White cardstock. The sentiment was stamped and the whole thing matted. The ribbon bow was tied after punching two small holes and threading the tails from the back of the block.

Thanks for stopping in today - see you soon!

Stamps - Thoughts and Prayers
Paper - Old Olive, Riding Hood Red, white
Ink - Riding Hood Red, SU markers: Old Olive, Rose Red
Accessories - Big Shot, texturz background plate, ribbon, 1/8 in hole punch

Baby Blue Elephant

Hi everyone! Aren't baby cards just too much fun to make? This one was made for a family who was just recently blessed with a bouncing baby boy! Congratulations, Jennifer, to you and your family!!! This striped paper is from a retired DSP paper pack called Summer Picnic, and was perfect for what I had in mind. The elephant is watercolored, and the ribbon & balloon are colored in with markers. This card was simple to put together, and relatively quick to do too. Congrats again, Jennifer! See you all next time...

Stamps - Pun Fun
Paper - Bashful Blue, Only Orange, white, Summer Picnic DSP (retired)
Ink - black, going grey, bashful blue, SU markers: Bashful Blue, Only Orange
Accessories - aquapainter, sponge, silver brads, ribbon, circle punch

3D Glittered Flowers

I know, I know... I have been away FAR TOO LONG! My sincere apologies to you all, but I've been up to my eyebrows with spring cleaning, yard clean-up & maintenance, and painting the interior of my house. One thing lead to another, and with my work hours mixed in there too, time really got away from me. There's still much to do, but doing today's SCS color challenge was refreshing and a much needed time-out for myself to get lost with paper for a couple hours. I had a wonderful 10-10-10 class last weekend, and it was so much fun to spend time with some old (and new!) friends, and am really looking forward to our next gathering!!

For today's card, I created it with SCS's color challenge in mind. I used the Big Shot and diamond texturz background plate on the artichoke and white oval layers. The beautiful Little Leaves sizzlet die cuts were sponged with artichoke ink to darken them up a bit. The Birds & Blooms sizzlet set was used to create the trio of flowers. I also used the oval template/coluzzle to cut out the white oval, then cut the Rose Red matting freehand around it. The flowers were assembled with a black brad in the center, and the petals were curled upward. Dazzling Diamond glitter was adhered with 2-way glue and adds a wonderful sparkle that's hard to miss (and capture in a photo!). Once the right occasion comes along, I will add a sentiment in the lower right corner punched out with either the curly label or large oval punches, but for now, I think this card can stand on it's own.... what do you think?

Stamps: none!
Paper: Rose Red, Always Artichoke, Black, white
Ink: Always Artichoke
Accessories: Big Shot, diamond texturz background plate, coluzzle, Little Leaves sizzlet, Birds and Blooms sizzlet, sponge, black brads, dazzling diamonds glitter, 2-way glue pen