December Papertrey Pages challenge!

So, the challenge was to create a page the size of which you do your layouts. I do 12 x 12, so this is what I made. I needed a one page layout to 'match' a page I made before, this is the one I mean.

I drew a grid with a Limepeel Prisma marker, then stamped Overall Sam from the Quilter's Sampler Addition set in Memento black.

Colored with all of the Prisma and Copics I had that I thought would match the first all over page I did. Lastly I stamped all along the edges of the Limepeel grid with the 'stitched' stamp from Faux Ribbon; it helped to make the page pop a bit more.

When I was done, I didn't like how the photo got lost on the page, so I filled in around the edges with pieces from 2008 Bitty Dot papers.


When I had it done and in the sleeve next to the other page, I realized I needed to cut it down and mat it the same~ so now the little edge squares are a funny shape, but lol, that's ok!

The layered title is cut in Blueberry Sky from the Cricut cartridge New Arrival...

... and the finish of the sentiment is from the Quilter's Sampler Sentiments.

Christmas is over, and I was so happy to have both of the scrapbooks I have been working on finished enough that I was not embarrassed to wrap them up as 'just a wee bit unfinished' gifts. My childreen accept that of me. Some of the last pages I never photographed. One I even finished at 2 am December 23rd, lol, and wrapped them both at 5 am Christmas morning. I bought matching photograph holders, and loaded in all of the photos I had sitting on the desk that I hadn't used in layouts. There are at least 5 more sets of pages I want to do, and will continue on my monthly challenge pages!

December Papertrey Blog Hop

Goodness, I forgot that today was the 26th, and we are on for a blog hop! Yay!

Here's the paper I started with- not sure where it came from, it has been in the wrapping paper box for ages. It's fabulous colors, very heavy, and very antiquey looking!

I took the Papertrey Christmas tree die and just plopped it down and cut a tree-

Whops, that won't work! Angel faces on the tree probably will look funny!

Had to fussy cut the tree, but it looks wonderful! I made a 'Strathmore' kind of card by cutting watercolor paper to an A-2 size, tearing off the right edge, then running a gold Pilot pen down the tear. Rejoice comes from this years Holiday Spirit Sentiments and I finished it off with a tiny star at the top. Lovely!

The tags are a little different; they are made with chocolate wrappers! You can get the chocolates at discount stores (mine came from Marshalls) at Christmas time. The chocolate isn't to rave about, but the vintage wrappers are!!! I used a Hampton Arts red rubber stamp to do the background, then aged the Pure Poppy layer, and put the trimmed wrapper right on top. Added some Making Memories poinsettias, made some snowflakes from brads and punches, and that's a little K&C folded paper doo dad on the lower tag.

Hope you are resting up if you had a busy weekend, and hope you are all safe if you are int he middle of a blizzard. We are waiting for the snow to start; supposed to get 18 inches tonight and another 6 tomorrow. Snow is fun while it falls and we are all snug with lanterns and a wood fire, but the wonder lasts for about 15 minutes when I think about going to work tomorrow, and all of my family who are out and about and need to get home. Sheesh.

Another 3-D baby card

I really do love the 3 D paper cuts, and they are much easier to find then they used to be. If there are only 3 layers, they mail pretty well, and with only 3 layers the nurses don't tear them apart putting them in and out of envelopes. I wobble back and forth between liking the punch out kind and the cut out kinds. Today I like the cut out kinds because the punch out ones you have to cut the teensy tabs left from the perforations.

The card is a premade one; ones that I am trying to use up and promise myself never to buy again (they fade too quickly).

I wish I hadn't cut such a big hole for the ribbon on the front, at least it isn't so visible when the card is shut. Next time, I'll stamp the sentiment a little bit closer to the image; it looks a little low to me in the photo!

Just a Sticker

I've always wondered if people with Birthday's around holiday's like getting holiday themed birthday cards or not. I made this card for a person with a close to Christmas birthday.

Believe it or not, this image started life as a sticker. I dressed it up with a litle bit of glam (glitter, actually), paired it with a wrap of green and purple, then put a coat around it of Basic Grey floral paper that matched the print of the sticker well. You can see I was tempted to use Plum Pudding ribbon, but decided the glitter was enough.

So New, So Loved

Are you ready for the cutest smooshed baby face you have ever seen?

Taa Daa! I think it is so cute, yet so funny!

The words are a Sizzix alphabet and Papertrey's Vintage Cream card stock. I used the Big Kick machine to cut them out since the Cuttlebug was not so successful cutting the narrow font. The 'loved' word is a foam alphabet stamp, done with acrylic paint.

That's a chipboard heart, layered with a piece of Papertrey's Chocolate Remix paper, then edged with Sweet Blush ink, and layered with a button.

Start to finish, 30 minutes. No lie! Was up drinking coffee at midnight ready to get to work at 1 am, the phone rang on the second sip and they told me to stay home. Now what???? I knew the next scrapbooking task was a Title page, and I had a photo but no ideas. Upstairs with coffee. Bam. 30 minutes. Done. I love it when it happens!


Thought you might like to see the tree- I see lots of beautiful photos of lit trees at night, but I have no idea how to take a picture like that! So you get my washed out nighttime photo where you can't see the flickering candle lights.

Fine Linen Baby

I write this post with the laptop balanced on my knee, and no mouse since there isn't anywhere to put it. The Christmas tree is in the window, so there is no table to put the laptop on to get wireless. lol, probably the only bad part of Christmas...other than the credit card bills mid January.



I love glittery, sparkly, embossed and flocked papers- but how to make them into baby cards?




Pearls and a sentiment and a lucious label- that's all it takes! Well, some Papertrey Fine Linen ribbons and an EK Success border punch too, lol!

Cleaning Out!

A few weeks back I was trying to work at the table and had the incredible sensation that I needed to Get Rid Of things I don't use- hence, the ribbon post a couple of posts back, and today, a set of small cards that I got from who knows where.


They are smaller than an A-2 (the nurses like smaller), and pretty flimsy. There were a total of 4 to work with.

My first step is always stamp right on it and see what happens! Just have to be careful of the thinness of the paper, but this water colored bear worked out ok. Stamping directly onto the card can be fraught with problems, though...

Don't you hate it when that happens?

Easily fixed by cutting it off and making a slightly bigger card. 2 down, 2 to go!

Here's where messing up the bird and balloons was ok; after I cut the card apart I had half of a card to use as a layer! Thinner paper works well with embossing, and I just love the polka dots EF! Thing is, you have to be careful when anchoring to embossing.

That's why debossing is so good- the layers anchor better. Say! See that frame??? Sitting on the desk after a Papertrey order got put away... that's the front of the paper label, cut out and fiddled with a little bit!

All told, about 3 hours, and I felt so good about it! I think another one of those little ribbon spools paired with a set of pre-made cards is next!

I know I stole this card from someone somewhere- but can't remember... probably a magazine...

A Sizzix die, I think. Papertrey's kraft paper as well as a piece of Pretty Pastels. Border punch, some very light Copic on the ears, a bunch of glitter...

Done.

I'm not sure, but I think Christmas is at the end of the month. I need 125-150 cards. I have 28.

Not done.

Papertrey Pages November

Ha! This month the challenge was to use either Thanksgiving or Halloween photos, or to at least use Dark Chocolate, Black, Terracotta Tile and/or Orange Zest card stock.

Since I have had this idea in my mind for a baby page, I opted for the latter.

Not much more to say than that, other than... turns out his hair isn't red like his big sister's, it's now very blond like his big brother's.

Flower Soft Hedgehog

Not at all original, lol, I pretty much copied the Flower Soft ad. I used the fine soft this time, I do like it better, I think. Papertrey's Dark Chocolate and Terracotta Tile worked well with the leaf colors. Terracotta Tile ribbon layered with some Michael's ribbon, and an edge punch with an EK Success punch.

Papertrey November Blog Hop

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Can you believe we are having a Blog Hop today? As usual, I am thinking about this 10 minutes before the start, and trying to fit it in with other things I need to produce today- Ha!

10 minute tags- I made the Kraft ones first, then realized I needed them silver, so I did 2 more. No lie, less than 10 minutes.

Cut the paper with the Christmas Tree die, stamp with the smaller Text Style in SU's Handsome Hunter, punch out little balls in Pure Poppy, and anchor the Pure Poppy Bakers Twine with a little star button and glue dots.

So want to see the rest of the story??

Here are the two silver tags on their bags...

Here's what's inside the bags- our annual Holiday Planners. I got the RSVP pens and put matching paper inside, then glued the pen tops on the fronts with Crystal Effects. These planners were a $4.00 bargain mid-July at a Hallmark store.

Inside- stamped their names with Trajan Monogram Edition.

There are envelopes inside the planners, but I added the one on the inside cover- I wanted a place to stash that cute Santa Chocolate bar-



Ah, yes... what the girls are really looking for, of course, is the stash in the chocolate bar wrapper- ha! Black Friday is one of the most fun days of the year for me!

Fingernail Ink!

I know, what do these wraps have to do with fingernail ink? Every year the mom and I make sweaters to wear to the Stitches yarn event; this year in Hartford Ct. We have fun making them, and she loves to have people comment on how we match. This year we made wraps instead of sweaters- fun, but I think we will make sweaters next year!

Now, the mom is over 80 years old, and I'm not telling how old I am (but she was way young when she had me, ha!). When I see pictures of her, I am thankful I came from some youthful looking genes!

I also think it is funny that we cut our own hair, and it looks so 'good' in this photo! Actually, she cuts her own, and Craig cuts mine...

So, at Stitches, there was a vendor selling fingernail paint to put decorations on buttons. Yes, indeedy, I can find card making supplies anywhere I go! They had a set in pastels, too!!

Not sure if you can see in the close up how tiny the polka dots can be, and the dimension, they give.

It might not look like it, but that circle behind the image is Papertrey's Fine Linen felt, cut with one of the new Limitless Layers dies.

Ahh yes, and I did delve into the world of sewing on card stock, lol. My Pfaff did perfectly, I had no thread or tension problems like others have reported. I have a walking foot which moves the top layer along with the bottom layer, and I did not even use tape to hold the layers together as I sewed. Looks ok, but this was probably not the right card to do it on-

Here's another one, girly this time.


Papertrey's Bitty Baby Blessings stamp, Pretty Pastels paper, Pink Shimmer cardstock, Guidelines paper and the scalloped oval cut from Plum Pudding.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, I wish for you a winter of all things to be thankful for!

A new to me technique and a Very Smart Little Boy!

Most of the time I make cards and I think- gosh, that's nice! Or more often 'Well, that's pretty cute'. Every once in a while, though, I can stun myself with something I make. This is one of those times.

I wanted to make a clear card, like Nichole did in her video here.

I started with PTI's clear card stock, and cut and folded as per Nichole's instructions. Rather than stamp and color, I wanted to see through the card, so I used a large rub-on directly onto the front of the card. Since there is no glue to see from the back, I didn't need to put a layer on the inside.

Next I took a piece of Stamper's Select white cut just a bit larger than the front image, and put a matching rub-on rose on the bottom left corner. I put Tombow on the back, and stuck it to the inside. Next I put the Happy Birthday rub-on directly under the big rose, so you can't see the sentiment from the outside. Of course, now there was glue to be seen from the back, so just like Nichole, I put a layer of Berry Sorbet on the very back, and it forms a mat for the front as well.

How cool is that?

You can exit now, or read my little story that follows~

All of my grandchildren are very, very, intelligent, and by golly, they can be pretty smart, too! Every once in a while I can be startled by how smart they are- like yesterday, for instance.

This is Jay, he is four. He's learnig to read and write and is very proud of himself for that. Yesterday he decided to stay with Poppy and I when his momma went shopping. After an hour of playing Candy Land, we decided to go next door to his house.

When we got to his house, there on the front door was taped a 4 x 6 card, with lots of letters and numbers written on it.

'Why Jay! What's this say?' I asked.

He kneeled down in front of the door, and ran his fingers over the letters, tracing over them slowly. 'It says, I love my Grandma!'

My heart melt. I got all warm and fuzzy. I hugged him and told him I loved him too. He grinned his little sheepish grin.

30 seconds later, his Grandpa came up to the door. He too, saw the card with letters and numbers taped to the door 'Hey Jay! What's this say?'

I couldn't wait to hear that little voice say 'I love my Grandma' once again. He went down on his knees, put his little fingers on those sweetly written letters and numbers and traced them out once again.

'It says, I love my Poppy!'

Such a smart boy!!!

Oh Thank Heaven for Little Spools of Ribbon

Have you all bought some of the littlest spools of ribbon in the big craft stores? The 99 cent ones? Yes, I know you have. Have you liked them? Have you used them? I bet no on both questions. Sigh. I have more than just a couple of rolls. I have waaayyy too many, actually. So when I was sorting things out to send to the yard sale, I pulled a bunch of them out to recycle- but I just couldn't do it, lol! So here they sit beside the table in a big container... waiting for inspiration. I opened one the other day, determined to not only use it, but use it up in one card making session!


First up: Oh Thank Heaven for Little Boys. Single sided- double sigh.

Tried to go quick and easy; this is a card I have done before. I love the little train from SU- put a score line about one inch up from the bottom of the card and you have a 'ground' for the train. The sentiment is from PTI's Baby Button Bits. The ribbon made a nice big bow, but I lost some of the sentiment because i was too cheap to move it more to the left- I would have lost a lot of the ribbon when I trimmed up the bow. I know, I know, the goal was to get rid of it- but still, I couldn't bring myself to cut so much off!

The second card is another quick and easy. Hard to tell, maybe, but the blue Nesty oval under the image is PTI's new Blueberry Sky- it just happened to match the ribbon! Used Copics on the Lockhart image. Tied the ribbon into a knot because I could see the end coming, but I didn't want to waste too much!

Here's what was left after 2 cards, lol... just about 6 inches! See the tape, though? I hate it when I need the last eeny weeny bit of ribbon and there is sticky tape residue on it!

Last up- just wrap the ribbon around some card stock and call it done!! Lol, I let the ribbon be the sentiment, and gosh, no stamping here!! That is a MS punch, and the darker blue is Enchanted Evening. My MS punches don't all work on PTI paper, but this one did ok since it is a bigger image punch, I think. The white carriage is a big plastic one I got from the dollar store (like a hundred of them for a dollar, lol, guess that should be my next challenge to self!!

Blue ribbon on the carriage is an old SU organdy- wish PTI had some organdy!!

October Papertrey Pages

Wow, these pages photographed very light, they are much more primary then they look!

This month's challenge was to use 3 ribbons and 3 buttons on your pages... I figured I'd do more than that, but guess what?!? Just 3! I used New Leaf and Blueberry Sky paper for the photograph layers, the Title, and the frogs. the shadow of the frogs (from Cricut's Create a Creature) is True black. The buttons are in the title, o's and the exclamation point dot. Ribbons are from New Leaf and Blueberry Sky line as well.


The hanging clothesline is the actual one from the shower cake, I've saved it all of these years! The grandchild is four, do you think it's time I made his album? The cake said 'Little Baby Lotta Laundry! and I had baby clothes hanging all over the room. Back then, though I did not have a great camera, so have no really good pictures of the shower.

In this close up you can see I did not think ahead to give me enough string to wrap around the back of the pages, when I cut it it just pulled towards the poles. I need to think about that, lol, and fix it with glue dots or something.

In addition, I printed off some of the photos and they are really grainy- so i caved and sent some to Snapfish to print. those are on the way but didn't make it in time. so much of the page is put together with removable glue, lol, and couldn't' be photographed standing up!

Halloween Goodies

I really do love the images from Tiny Treats: Halloween. Actually, I just love the tiny images of all of the Tiny Treats sets! Fingers crossed for a Tiny Treats Easter or Spring, think of all of the baby cards with chickies and bunnies!!!!

My tins are full of Halloween candies- the tins are from the dollar bin at Joanns. The label fits perfectly on top, and the images are decorated with a sparkly gel pen and little bows.

The vampire test tube Trendy Tubes are filled with Pear flavored Jelly Bellies- a perfect green color! Lisa Johnson did the tubes with Frank, she used M & M's~ either way, they are so cute!!!

You can counjt to 6, right?!? Please note that Grandchild #6 is 9 months old and is not yet eating candy- poor guy! At Easter when he was about 3 months old I was not going to make him a basket and his Momma was horrified... and who ate the chocoalte bunny, I ask? Yeah, I think his momma just wants this tin of chocolate eyeballs, too!

October PTI Blog Hop

Eeek! I almost forgot the Blog Hop format changes again, lol!!

So, gee whiz, two blog or website lessons:
1. Don't talk politics
2. Don't talk religion

Uh oh, I think I am going to break that rule in this post.

One of the things I love about the PTI forum is how happy and accepting it is. Every once in a while something erupts, of course. Religion this time, I think. I am sorry about that. I think this month we were to make a winter season card, and I interpreted it to mean we were to think outside of the Christmas box. Easy for me, hard for some, I guess.

I used Mozel Tov and MT Additions to make this Hanukkah card for a co-worker. Woo Hoo! One card down 149 to go!

I first made the background paper with alcohol inks, using both the direct to ink and the tapped on method. I stamped the menorah in Versafine Onyx black and heat dried. Layered on True Black, the card base is silver shimmer. There's a wee bit of yellow Pearl Pen in the flames. the sentiment is done in silver detail EP. 9 SU brads finish off the right hand edge.



Forgot the inside when IU first put up the post...


Next up is a different kind of 'winter holiday' card. Since we are atheist's, we recognize and celebrate each solstice during the lunar/calendar year. We celebrate Mother Earth and Father Time, so to speak, and the changing of the season is way important for us. Gee, how would we know when to start chopping wood and when we can stop? Ok, no more politic or religion, lol!!



Inside and Out Holiday works great for the thought of the Winter solstice. The center yellow and red alcohol ink represents both the fire on the hearth that must burn from now until the Spring solstice, but also the light at the end of the dark winter months. The magic is, of course, that Spring will come again! The image is edged with a gold pilot pen, layered onto Smokey Shadow CS then put on the card base of Shimmer Gold.

The date was done on my computer, and printed out on Stamper's Select CS Vellum
I had to make the glitter brads with glue and glitter. Not terribly successful; I am hopping the glue will be dry by December 21st!

Thanks for reading to the end on this long Blog Hop evening!

The Halloween Lineup

Sometimes it is best to just let the paper carry the card- this is a fine example! When I saw the paper, I saw little eyes peeking out at me from between the lines on the paper. I used little red rhinestones to highlight the eyes. You may need to enlarge the photo to see the creepiness of those eyes!

Martha Stewart's bat fence was punched from text weight black paper; a new to me Quick Kutz Halloween die made the moon and bats. A little bit of PTI's Smokey Shadow edged on the PTI Orange Zest card, and it's done~ a big 'punch' in person for not a lot of work.

The moon is cut from a piece of alcohol inked paper, but then I took 2 colors- Orange Zest and Memento Potter's Clay and sponged on to the inked image. I had to let it sit for an hour before I touched it since the ink needed to dry on top of the alcohol ink. Then some Smokey Shadow across the moon forming sort of a cloud look- again, waiting until the next morning to turn it over to glue it down. It did finally dry, though, so all is good!