Graduation Card

Here's another simple card using the A Light Unto My Path set. I needed a graduation card, but didn't have any caps/gowns etc. I figured a lighthouse was a good image to use instead. I also love the quote from Thoreau from the Live Your Dream set. It's a bit non-traditional, which is right up my alley. The "tassel" sort of ties the whole thing to graduation, in a sense. Have a great weekend. Hope you have time to visit again next week.

Stamps: A Light Unto My Path, Live Your Dream
Ink: Night of Navy
Paper: Very Vanilla, Night of Navy, So Saffron
Accessories: Double Circle punch, silver cord

A Post-It Post

I'm stamping with a great group of kids in a couple of weeks. Their moms are members of one of my stamp groups. Our theme is Father's Day and we're making these cute covers for Post-It notepads. These make cute gifts, so here's your gift idea for the week. Have a great Thursday.

Stamps: Seeing Spots, Little Pieces, Classic Alphabet (retired)
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Pumpkin Pie, Brilliant Blue
Paper: Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White and Jersey Shore DS Paper
Accessories: Circle Punches 1-inch and 3/4- inch, Velcro circles for the closure

Final Layout

Here is the 5th and Final Layout for National Scrapbooking Month. I hope you've enjoyed them. In the future, I'll try to post at least 2 layouts a month to keep myself challenged. This one was fun to make because we took so many cool photos at the zoo the last time we were there. My son and I passed the camera back and forth the whole day, so I tried to use as many as possible. The square punch made it easy to highlight the animals we couldn't see up close. How about that Lazy Iguana? That's my favorite picture from a really fun day. Enjoy.

Stamps: Paint Prints, Whimsical Alphabet Lower Case (retired), Full Calendar, Simple Serif Alphabet and Numbers, Just Journaling (retired)
Ink: Garden Green, Blue Bayou, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Sahara Sand, Basic Black, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Garden Green, Blue Bayou
Accessories: Square Punches (1-1/4 inch and 1-3/8 inch), Spiral Punch

Wild Animal Week

This week, we're all about the animals. I'll post the final Scrapbook layout tomorrow, but here's the card it will be based on. Fun! The card is very basic, no extra embellishments. The "film" is made with that great Sprial Punch from Stampin' Up!. I got the idea from another card, but unfortunately, I don't remember the exact source. Apologies to whoever came up with it originally. I think it's really cute. By the way, the punch is easier to line up than you think. Hope you have an enjoyable Tuesday. Thanks for visiting.

Stamps: Wild About You, Paint Prints, Eat Cake
Ink: Garden Green, Blue Bayou, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Sahara Sand, Basic Black, Whisper White, Blue Bayou, Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie
Accessories: Spiral Punch

CK Sample Number 3

Crazy for Chipboard was the name of the class sponsored by Paper Crafts Magazine. We made this cute card on the left. I omitted the sentiment which was stamped in pink up the upper left corner because the ink looked too light to me. The chipboard flower was painted using pink acrylic paint. We applied it with a make-up sponge, the triangular kind, which really made the job easy. Then we stamped the green dots on the dried chipboard in green pigment ink. Very cool technique, which I had to try with my stuff this week. On the right is the July 4th card that matches the weekly layout. The big star is chipboard. No makeup sponges in the cupboard, so I just "smoshed" (that highly technical verb) the Brilliant Blue Craft Pad all over the star. I let it dry and then stamped the stars in White Craft Ink.

Thanks for visiting this week. I'd love to hear your comments about the projects. Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.

Crazy For Chipboard Card Recipe: Stamps: Polka Dot Background (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Ink: Colorbox Pistachio, Bubble Gum acrylic paint from Delta Crafts
Paper: Solid colors: Bazzill Basics, Flowered paper: by Heidi Grace
Accessories: Chipboard (self-adhesive, I didn't write down the company), Button (Jesse James & Co)

July 4th Card:
Stamps: Background Basics, Polka Dots and Paisley, Classic Stars Jumbo Wheel, Big Deal Numbers, Simple Serif Alphabet and Numbers
Ink: Brilliant Blue (classic and craft), Real Red, White Craft Ink
Paper: Whisper White, Brilliant Blue, Real Red
Accessories: Real Red striped Grosgrain ribbon, On Board Chipboard Simon Upper, Large star punch, Small star punch, dimensionals

CK Sample Number 2

The ladybug card was another free make and take from a company called Boxer Scrapbook Productions, LLC. Wonderful ladies at this booth. I accidently left one of my bags at their booth and they saved it for me all day, hoping I'd come back for it. Great integrity, great products. They have some really cute things. Lots of pet-related stamps, papers, and other stuff. I'll showcase some more of their things next week. At the booth we used the scalloped square punches from Marvy (the pink and the purple sizes). Here's a similar card I made with my stuff at home. The Martini glasses are by Inkadoo, a gift from my friend Amy (Thanks Amy!) and the Marvy plain square punches. The rest is SU stuff. This is a great card template. Look for it again next week with the wild animals. Thanks for visiting today.

Boxer card details: Ladybugs and Daisies paper, Yellow Gingham paper from Boxer (available at their On-line store, see the link), Stamps from their Butterfly Garden clear stamp set. Inks were Pallette Inks in red, yellow and green. Don't know the exact colors. Punches were those GIGA/MEGA scalloped squares from Marvy.

Emily's take on this card (sort of):
Stamps: Martini glasses by Inkadoo, Sentiment from Enjoy Every Moment
Ink: Basic Black, Real Red marker, Gable Green Marker
Paper: Gable Green, Basic Black, Whisper White
Accessories: Punches Giga and Mega squares by Marvy

The promised sample

After a frustrating attempt to go to our newly-opened neighborhood grocery store (full parking-lot, parking vultures, crowds, you get the picture?) I decided to come home and get stuff done. So, for my break from cleaning the basement, I made the aforementioned sample from this morning. This time, I used SU paper and stamps and the Crystal Effects for some shine. I also changed the orientation. However, I couldn't resist using another one of the cool tools I got at CK Manchester: Scalloped Oval Nestabilities. They're great, I'm sold. They work with all sorts of die-cutting machines, including my Cuttlebug. Check out the link for more information. They had a booth at CK-M and were impressive. I hope we'll see them in stores soon, but until then, search for them on-line. You'll see them used a lot in my future posts, I can tell. No more 2-post days, I promise.

Stamps: Simply Said
Ink: Basic Brown, Wild Wasabi, Apricot Appeal marker
Paper: Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, Apricot Appeal DS paper from the Print Pack hostess gift
Accessories: Wild Wasabi Stitched Grosgrain ribbon, Blender Pens, dimensionals, Crystal Effects (on the flowers for some shine), Petite Scalloped Oval Nestabilities

CK Convention Sample Number 1

Here's a really cute Make and Take card (it was free!) that we did at the Ink About It booth at CK Manchester. The card uses A Muse rubber stamps. Unfortunately I can't find the stamps at the store's website. If you're in our area, Rubber Chicken and Photo Scraps are listed as retail locations on the A Muse home site. Visit the gallery at A Muse for some really cute samples. To make this card we used 3 really cool products that were new to me. The first was coloring with the Copic markers. Very cool. A bit pricey, but cool. The second was this great "Quick Stik" by Quick Kutz. It picks up those tiny, sticky bling-jewels to put them exactly where you want them. (Yes, I bought one...I love cool tools!) The third product we used was the Gelly Roll Glaze pen in clear (by Sakura). It makes the glass look like a glass. Kind of similar to SU's Crystal Effects (see p. 187 in the big catalog at this link), but it's in a pen. (Yes, I bought that one, too!) The products are linked to places on the web for more info. Later today, I'll post a re-creation of this card using SU products and my new Nestabilities scalloped ovals. Here's the recipe for this one. Enjoy.

Stamps: Glass and Happy Summer from A Muse
Ink: Color Box Chalk ink in Black, Copic markers (an orange one and a yellow one, I don't recall the numbers)
Paper: White, Orange Glitter Paper and Polkadots from a source unidentified by the Make and Take Helper. (apologies to the companies)
Accessories: Scalloped Oval punch by Marvy ( I think it was the pink one), Creative Candy from A Muse in teal (yes, I bought some of these, too) and an unidentified stitched ribbon in orange.

Scalloped Invitation

Here's another Invitation sample for this month's Sassy 7 meeting. Enjoy, ladies! See you this evening. I used the Carousel Notes from the Occasions Mini as the base for the layered invitation. They come with those great square Chocolate Chip envelopes, too. The color coordination with the Afternoon Tea paper made the choices easy. Thanks for checking in.

Stamps: Live Your Dream, Please Come
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi
Paper: Chocolate Chip, DS Afternoon Tea, Groovy Guava
Accessories: Carousel Notes, dimensionals

Layout Week 4

We made it back from a fun weekend at CK Manchester. Lots to share and show. Lots of fun tools to play with and review for you. For now, back to the Layout of the Week. As promised earlier with my Fathers Day card post, here are the stars. This time it's 4th of July. Yes, the chipboard star says 2000. Yes, I'm that behind in the scrapbook, I admit it. But this is a fun way to use star punches and chipboard for a simple layout. If you want to see it with the pictures, stop by for Stamp and Scrap this week. (see the remaining dates at the right) Here's the recipe:
Stamps: Classic Stars Jumbo Wheel, Classic Alphabet and Numbers (both retired)
Ink: Real Red Jumbo Cartridge and Ink Pad, Brilliant Blue classic and craft inks, White Craft Ink
Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Brilliant Blue Textured CS
Accessories: Punches: Small and Large Star, Real Red Striped Grosgrain ribbon, On Board Simon Upper chipboard star, glue dots

Flower Pot of Thanks

Another Thank You card using the Summer Days kit goodies and a couple of extras. I used one of those felt flowers again to add dimension and used the stems and sentiment from Live Your Dream from the Occasions mini collection. The flower pot is made with a double-sided piece of paper punched in a large square and folded back at the top. I trimmed the sides at angles to make the pot shape. Recipe follows. This is my last post this week because we're off to the CK Convention this weekend. I hope to have lots of ideas to share next week. Have a great time.

Stamps: Live Your Dream
Ink: Real Red, Wild Wasabi
Paper: Certainly Celery, Real Red Textured Card Stock (from the Summer Days kit), DS paper from the kit, too.
Accessories: Felt Flower Fusion, Dimensionals

Gift Idea of the Week

Here's an altered clipboard that would make a great gift. Add a matching pen, and/or a colorful notepad and you're all set. The clipboard is an On Board Chipboard piece. Once again I used paper and die-cuts from the Summer Days Simply Scrappin' kit. I also stamped "friend" from the set Friendly Flowers. I added ribbon to the top for some decoration. Have a great Wednesday.

Stamps: Friendly Flowers
Ink: Basic Black
Paper: Wild Wasabi textured cardstock and DS paper from the Summer Days kit.
Accessories: Summer Days self-adhesive die cuts, Ribbon scraps to match (Wild Wasabi stitched, Real Red Gingham, Bashful Blue grosgrain)

Keeping it Simple

More uses for the Summer Days Simply Scrappin' kit. A quick and easy flower card. Thank you cards are always in need this time of year. Again the "self-adhesive die-cuts" from the kit make things pretty quick. I added the orange Die-Cut Bloom as the flower base and a bit of ribbon for a stem. The "Thank You" is, once again, from Enjoy Every Moment, something I invite you to do today and as often as you can. Thanks for stopping by.

Stamps: Enjoy Every Moment
Ink: Wild Wasabi
Paper: Wild Wasabi, Real Red Textured CS (from the kit)
Accessories: Simply Scrappin' Kit: Summer Days, Wild Wasabi double stictched grosgrain ribbon

Layout Week 3

This week we're playing with the Simply Scrappin'® kit called Summer Days. I'm always amazed when I open one of these kits how much stuff is included. I'm going to attempt to use it all (ha! I say that every time...). Here's the 12x12 layout. I don't own the actual set that coordinates with the kit, but I do have Enjoy Every Moment and the coordinating Jumbo wheel which work fine. the only things outside the kit I used here was that set, and a Die Cut Blooms flower from the Occasions mini. The card that inspired this layout was one that came on the cover sheet of the SS Kit. I made a copy to show you, as well.

Stamps: Enjoy Every Moment, Daisy Dash jumbo wheel
Ink: Real Red (pad and marker), Only Orange (marker), Bashful Blue (jumbo cartridge), Wild Wasabi (pad on the card)
Paper: Whisper White, Bashful Blue (12x12), Real Red and Only Orange Textured Card Stock (from the kit)
Accessories: Simply Scrappin' Kit Summer Days, Die Cut Blooms, Bashful Blue grosgrain ribbon (on the card), Glue Dots and dimensionals where needed.

Recipe Swaps

They're finished! My daughter and I are headed for the CK Scrapbooking Convention in Manchester New Hampshire next week. It's our annual "girls weekend" with my sisters-in-law. This year, Flora gets to take classes for the first time. One of the most exciting ones

we're taking is the Paper Crafts Magazine "Recipe Swap" next Friday night. We each had to scrap 20 copies of a recipe on 6x6. At the class, we'll embellish an album and make 3 food-related projects. Then we swap recipes with the other attendees. What fun. Recipe collecting and paper-crafting all in one class. Two of my favorite things. Here are our recipe pages. Flora's honors her Gram's famous Whoopie Pies. She's going to journal a bit about what the recipe means to her on each page. All her idea, as is the layout. My recipe is a favorite of Flora's, Stuffed Shells. It uses that cute Crab and Company set.

Stamps: Crab and Company, Sandy Shells wheel, Seeing Spots (Flora's), Little Pieces (Flora's), Live Your Dream (journaling lines, Flora's)
Inks: River Rock (mine), Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue, Basic Black (all Flora's)
Paper: Sahara Sand, River Rock, Blue Bayou, DS Paper Western Sky (all mine), Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue (Flora's)
Accessories: Punches (1-1/4" circle, 1-3/8" circle, scalloped circle, 1/2" circle, 1-1/4" square, 1-3/8" square), Bashful blue striped grosgrain ribbon

Invitation Inspiration

A friend of mine is working on invitations for her daughter's Bat Mitzvah (apologies for my spelling) and wanted some ideas. Colors were brown and light blue. I didn't have any sacred stamps for her, but I did have some fun flowers. Here is the plain version and the embellished version. I also stamped tone on tone on the chocolate paper and ran it through my crimper. I hope it comes out in the sample because it adds a nice texture. Since Invitations are the theme for the Sassy 7 ladies this month, I thought I show you all some samples.

Stamps: Bud Basics, Hugs and Wishes
Inks: Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue
Paper: Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue
Accessories: Double Rectangle punch, Crimper, Ice Rhinestone Brads, Bashful Blue striped grosgrain ribbon,

Chip Board Day

It's a chip board, gift idea Wednesday. I made this photo holder for my cousin. The On Board Book Basics are great for making photo gifts for people. You can see another sample of one on the front cover of the Stampin' Up! catalog. I used 2 chip board letters from the On Board Lots of Letters, as well. The colors are the same ones I used in the Layout on Monday. Enjoy.

Stamps: Collage Alphabet (retired)
Ink: Ruby Red, Not Quite Navy, Ruby Red Craft (for the "A"), Not Quite Navy Craft (for the "L")
Paper: DS Paper Western Sky, Ruby Red, Blue Bayou, Soft Sky
Accessories: On Board Lots of Letters, On Board Book Basics (the small size), Soft Sky Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, 3/16" corner rounder

Baroque Thank You

I thought a nice "Thank You" would be in order today. Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope you find it as enjoyable to read as I find it to write. I seem to be attached to these cute felt flowers. They sure are fun to play with. Cheers for a pleasant Tuesday.

Stamps: Baroque Motifs, Short and Sweet
Ink: Old Olive, Rose Red
Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive, Rose Red
Accessories: Ticket Corner Punch, Felt Flower Fusion, Earth Elements Brads

Layout Week 2

For all of you with a "Dude" in your life, this week's layout is geared toward the boys. I need to scrapbook my son's 13th birthday, so here's a tribute to all things teenager. The card and scrapbook pages will be featured at Stamp and Scrap Day this week.









The nice thing about this layout is it's not too covered in bling (for those who do simple), but can be dressed up. Later in the week, I'll show a sample of the decked-out version. Here are the card(at left), the6x6 (top) and 12x12 versions. Hope everyone has an enjoyable week.

Stamps: So Cool, Big Deal Numbers, Big Deal Alphabet, It's Your Birthday (for the card), Collage Numbers and Alphabet (both retired) for the 12x12 page
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Ruby Red
Paper: Kraft, Ruby Red, Not Quite Navy, DS Paper Western Sky
Accessories: 1-1/4" Circle punch, 1-3/8" Circle punch, Colluzle circle cutter

A Bevy of Baskets

Here's the gift idea for the week. A cute basket to package things in for teachers, friends, co-workers, just about anyone. These baskets are really easy to make. No cutting involved at all. I first saw these made at the Stampin' Up! convention last summer. I'll try to find a tutorial for them (or make one myself.) In any case the boxes are made from a square of DS paper (small 6x6, medium 9x9, large 12x12), scored in thirds each way.

Some of the sets I used were: Wanted, Friendly Flowers, Tart and Tangy. The embellishments are what make the boxes fun. I used a build-a-brad on the friend box, the Felt Fusion Flowers on the medium box, brads, eyelets and different ribbons, as well. If you need specific supplies, let me know.

Meanwhile, enjoy your weekend and I'll see you Monday with the layout of the week.

¡Fiesta!

Happy May! For those of you looking for that excuse for Mexican food on Monday, ¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Here's a Margarita card just for you. It even comes with glitter "salt!" The "ice cubes" are vellum cardstock sponged with Gable Green Ink. Happy National Scrapbook Month, as well. Be sure to check out the layout on Monday. It's a "cool" one. Tomorrow is the "gift idea" of the week, be sure to stop in for that one, as well.

Stamps: Tart and Tangy, Celebrate Everything
Ink: Gable Green, Green Galore
Paper: Whisper White, Gable Green, Green Galore, Vellum Cardstock
Accessories: 3/4" square punch, 1-1/4" circle punch, 1-3/8" circle punch, Scalloped Circle punch, 1/8" hand-held circle punch, linen thread, Chunky sprinkles Stampin' Glitter from the Occasions Mini Collection (makes great salt!)