Shout Out to Sheetload!

Ok, let's hear it ! Woo Hoo! Sheetloads is offering some awesome blog candy on their site. Why is it that I am always the last one to know? But there is a saying that goes something like..."Better late than never!"

If you have never visited Sheetload of Cards before, this is a new year to start. Every month, Sheetload of Cards publishes a downloadable ezine (in .pdf form) full of inspiring ideas and interpretations for a monthly sketch from their talented group of DT gals. Every month, you will see various sponsors for the sketches as well as challenges for blog candy. So, what you are waiting for????!!!!

Ruuunnnnnn Fooooorrrreeessst...Sign-up now for some great ideas and amazing inspiration!

Click on this to check out the January 2009 issue...Happy Stamping!

More Altered Notebooks for Christmas!

I had so much fun making the altered composition notebooks for my sister that I decided that I would make a few more to give as Christmas gifts. These notebooks were especially made for the three daughters of one of our good friends. They are all at that age where they like to write in journals so what not better way, but to write in something that is made specially for you.

The first notebook is created with Pink Cat Studio Cat Plate #1 stamp set. I love the kitties in this set. They are all so playful. I had trouble at first on how to color her so I had to get some inspiration between the PCS and SCS galleries. I don't own any copics yet and still using SU markers so this was a toughy, but with some persistance and determination, I was able to match the Glamour Puss with the patterned paper I chose to decorate the notebook with. I also paper pieced the scarf and shirt with some scrap patterned paper I had. Then I added some bling to her glasses (too bad you can't really see it - but it was so adorable IRL). I used a retired SU alpha stamp set called "Alphabet Fun Lower" for the monogram "J".

This second notebook was made for their oldest daughter who is an 8th grader so I had to make it a little more mature. I used the Inkadinkado Garden clear stamps along with the Rhona Farrer Scribbles alphabet for the monogram "T". I then sponged the edges with distress ink Antique Linen for a more vintage look. I also added some bling (clear glitter) to the dragonfly as well as the flower silhouette.

This was made for the youngest daughter. It took me awhile to come up with a stamp set to use with her notebook eventhough I already had an idea in mind. I hadn't inked up my GinaK Just Keep Swimming. Again, I had a hard time figuring out how to color the images so I scoured the SCS gallery for samples. Right now, the youngest one is very into oceans and sea life so this is the reason why I chose to use these images for her notebook. I also used the SU Alpha Fun Lower for the monogram "M" and PTI Borders and Corners - Circles stamp set for the dashed circle around the monogram. This looked better IRL...the lighting was just not right when I took the picture.

Ok, it's getting late so going to retire but fear not, more projects to post...ta ta!

RECIPE: composition notebooks from target, ginak just keep swimming/inkadinkado garden set/su alphabet fun lower/autumn leaves scribbles alpha/pti corner and borders - circles stamp sets, olive green/white/orange/dark blue cardstock, magnolia patterned paper, ribbon, rsvp pen, terrrifically tacky tape, green galore/summer sun/positively pink/real red/mellow moss/going grey/antique linen ink, clear glitter, nesties

Altered Notebooks - what fun!

Here is what I had been doing before Christmas...was so very busy making gifts sets! One of the projects I enjoy the most is altering composition notebooks. Man, did I overdo it...I must have made about 9 of them - yikes! But it was so much making them all so uniquely different from each other. I also love that you can combine so many pretty papers together.

For this project, my sister ordered some monogram gift sets to give to some gals who work in the office of her apartment complex. She wanted to thank them for all of their help for ensuring a smooth move to another apartment. I was ecstatic when she wanted me to make some altered notebooks - cause she enjoys the one I made her! She also wanted some matching thank you notes to go with the notebooks. I loved using these Magnolicious papers I bought from Hobby Lobby awhile back - totally down to earth yummy papers that all coordinate. I never really buy single papers anymore - just paper slabs from Jo's, M's or Hobby Lobby. So I made sure to stock up on lots and lots of paper during the holidays since we don't have much here in northern MN.

I was able to play with a new set I bought from Jo's called Inkadinkado Birds Galore...I am just so into birds and nature stamps lately! Since monogram sets are so "in" right now, this was the perfect project to add that personal touch. Each of the matching cards are 4x4 in size.

stamps: autumn leaves scribbles alpha, happy harmony, inkadinkado birds galore, small script, cornish heritage farms lined paper paper: white/teal/olive green/chocolate chip/orange cs, magnolia dp ink: bordering blue, antique linen distress ink, basic black accessories: nestabilities, cricut george cart for flower, transparency, gem bling for flower center and owl eyes, ribbon, red liner tape, sponge for distressing, scotch foam mounting tape, slit punch for scallop border, spiral punch

A Squirrel-y Thanks...

It's not often I participate in challenges on SCS so I created this for card sketch #209..I made a few of these awhile back to serve as thank you card for family and friends who gave and/or sent my son a present for his 5th birthday. I was still in the spirit of Thanksgiving so I created a more fallish card with this cute little squirrel from Stampendous (even though old man winter came very early). I bought this stamp set off a friend from a craft show. It was so cute - I just couldn't resist!

CARD RECIPE: stampendous beatrix potter nutkin knocking/mft give thanks stamp sets, chocolate chip/summer sun cardstock, unknown fall patterned paper, real rust/chocolate chip ink, clear decorative accents, cuttlebug die cut leaves and branches embossing folder, paper piercer, bone folder to make creases on the leaf, dimensionals. size of card: 5.5x5.5

Cards...Just for the Men!

I was in the mood to make some masculine cards so I just played with some simple layouts and finally inked my TAC ship collage stamp set and my favorite masculine set called Light the Path. I really love the distressed look so I used the cracked glass technique seen here. It is such a fun technique. The only thing is getting the card to crack the way you want it too after putting in the freezer. I kept the layout simple...on the inside of the card, I stamped a lighthouse image on the bottom corner using distress ink Antique Linen and stamped the sentiment in dark brown.

CARD RECIPE: tac light the path/ship collage/su cheesecloth stamp sets, beige/dar blue cardstock, inspirations by memory block patterned paper, chocolate chip/summer sun/bordering blue/distress ink antique linen/versamark ink, clear UTEE, silver eyelets, silver star brad, rectangle nesties, crop-a-dile, string

I'm so late...so very very late!

Hello Everyone and a Happy New Year! Sorry I have been MIA since the holidays. More projects got the best of me and then my family took a long drive back to IL to visit with family and friends. It was a great time and the kids loved every minute they spent with our families!

My first post for 2009 is a birthday card I made for my son. He turned 5 on December 3rd - just two days away from my hubby's birthday. I bought these 3D Disney Cars stickers from a craft fair I attended last November and knew exactly what I was going to use it for. My son is a big fan of the movie "Cars" and anything that is fast! Boys will be boys... I only had about 2 days to make the card and tried to make it nice and simple. My son is so sweet - he has such a huge appreciation for the arts that I thought to make him a birthday card this year! 'Nough said, here it is...

Ta Da! No stamping on this one - the first for me since I usually have some kind stamping on my cards. I dry embossed the kraft cardstock with the Number Collage cuttlebug embossing folder. I took a number 5 chipboard piece and painted it with some acrylic paint and for a 3D effect, I used Aleene's paper glaze on it. The rest is self explanatory. I used Mater as the focal point of the card and used some the tires as embellishments. I hooked his towing cable to the number 5 - wasn't that pretty ingenious? Well, fair enough to say that my son loved his card and is now sitting on top of his dresser. There was supposed to be another part to this card - an altered piggy bank. One of those banks with an electronic calculator on the lid that tells you how much money you have saved. I got it for a great deal from an Avon rep and ended up buying one for my daughter as well. Since I didn't have enough time, the piggy bank is still in progress so that will another post later later on...

Best Wishes to everyone in the New Year! Trying to catch up with my posts so stay tuned for more...

CARD RECIPE: no stamps used on this card, bliss blue/yellow/kraft cardstock, brown satin ribbon, number collage cuttlebug embossing folder, slit punch for scallops, DCWV Nana's Kids patterned paper

Projects, Projects and More...A Really Loooong Post!

I have to admit I have never really made so many things in a span of 2-3 weeks. My niece's 2nd birthday is coming up on November 8th, but she will be having the party on November 9th. My sister and Mom decided to have a big blow-out 2nd birthday for her. At first, I was thinking about gifting my sister some thank you notes made out of the Princess stamps she sent me, but when I found out that they invited over 100 people - then I said I would stick to making thank you notes for my Mom instead since she only wanted 15 of them. I finally finished on Tuesday night, just in time to send it priority on Wednesday to make sure it made to IL by Friday or Saturday.

LITTLE PRINCESS GIFT SET

The first picture is the gift set I made for my niece, Briana. The theme of her birthday party is a princess theme so what not better way to make her some princess gifts. My sister originally asked me to make backpack tags after browsing my gallery on SCS (like the one I made for my son) so that is part of the gift. I also had a one of those bare wood frames that I bought on sale from Hobby Lobby awhile back after the holidays and finally had a reason to alter it. I am also going to make my niece a matching name frame but did not want to send that in the mail because the frame is too big and afraid that the glass might break during transit. So, she will be getting that as part of her Christmas gift when we visit during the holidays.

I made a matching card to go with her gift set. Isn't that dress the cutest thing? I got the template from Mel's (mel stampz) blog. She is so generous in sharing not only her own templates, but others as well. Click here for a link to all of Mels' fabulous dress card samples. Here is the template I used for the dress...very simple.

THANK YOU GIFT SET

The second gift set is for my Mom. She has always been so generous when it comes to sending us packages especially now that we have moved far away. I haven't had the chance to really thank her so I thought of making her this gift set. It is made from my most favorite stamp set of all, Rubber Stamping Fun. This was part of a program (that did not go too well) where many of us stampers were hand picked to be part of their preview program of never released sets. They sent us the stamp set we picked for free and all we had to do was create card samples and upload them to our gallery. We got to pick one stamp set and they had a contest to help name them. I picked preview set #22 which reminded me of the Artfully Asian set by Stampin Up. This set is so versatile. The sentiment on the card reads "Life's greatest happiness is to know we are loved." Unfortunately, this stamp set did not make it on their list of new releases on their website. I had not heard from RSF since the program and heard that many folks on SCS did not get their free stamp set. Fortunately for me, I picked this set and love using it!

I also purchased a jade necklace (which I should have taken a picture of, but I had already nicely placed it in the box) that I ordered from one of the neighborhood kids' school fundraisers - yes, jewelry and not cookies! How odd! The fundraiser had a great selection of jewelry. The necklace already came in a box of its own (which I still kept it in), but I wanted to make something special box to put it in. I've been telling my mom how much stamping and crafting I have been doing so I thought it would show off some of the things I have been doing. I thought the mini pizza box was perfect in size. You can click here for the mini pizza box tutorial...

I also wanted to make her something special that she could write notes on...she is always sending out mail to family and friends. And I have been drooling over those monogram notecards that everyone's been making. I don't own any JustRite monogram stampers so I improvised with some Unity Stamps Formal Alphabet set. I made 12 of these so I wanted the layout to be simple. I just love the aqua blue color (which I was never fond of before).

And, last but not least, I also created a holiday planner. I had been admiring all of those planners on SCS that I decided to make one for my Mom. She normally uses a legal pad to make a list of all of the people she has to buy a gift for and now she has a special place to keep her lists. I also made two pockets she can use to keep reciepts. I created them using the CD holder template found here. It doubled as an actual holder for a CD of pictures that I took this year.

THANK YOU NOTES FOR BRIANA'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Here are samples of the thank you notes I made for my mom. She wanted to give the people who volunteered to help set-up, run errands and cook food for the party. I had to make 15 of these so, again, I needed to find something simple. I found this card made by Cindy Williams (cwilliams) and cased it...I made her two kinds since I ran out of the brown ribbon, but I think I like the one with the twine.

OFFICE GIFT SET

My sister just started a new job as an administrative assistant. And I had been dying to make another office gift set. I made one for one of my good friends awhile back, but forgot to take a picture of it – bummer! Hope my sister likes my color choice.

I created a matching card to go with the gift set and distressed it to look like I tore off sentiment piece out of a notebook.

I remember when I was an executive assistant (way back when...) that I used a notebook to keep track of To Do's, phonecalls, etc... so I made her a composition notebook with matching jumbo clips and pen. I also created a pocket on the inside front cover for misc items.

She can use the matching clipboard to display pictures of her daughter, Briana, or of her family. Or she can use it as a regular clipboard so I also included a notepad.

I also made her a matching name frame so she can put it up in her cubicle - I would have loved one when I was working full-time!

Well, that is it…told you it was a very looong post and I had lots to share!

LITTLE PRINCESS GIFT SET RECIPE: Paper: MME Magnolia dp, White/Hot Pink cs Inks: Chocolate Chip marker/Bliss Blue/YoYo Yellow Accessories: Clear badge holders from Wal-mart, Diamond stickles, Scribbles 3D Paint Crystal Gel Very Berry Red, Nestabilities, Dress Template, White satin ribbon from Wal-mart, Distress Ink Antique Linen, , Cricut Jasmine cart, Mod Podge, Wood frame from Hobby Lobby, Clear mini decorative accents from M’s

THANK YOU GIFT SET RECIPE: Paper: Paper Pack dp from Hobby Lobby, Provo Craft Holiday Slab, White/ Bliss Blue cs Stamps: Rubber Stamping Fun preview set #22, Unity Stamps Formal Alphabet, Merry Accessories:White satin ribbon, Clear beads, Sticky Tape, RSVP pen, Slit punch for scalloped border on card and mini pizza box, Mini pizza box template White/Hot Pink cs, Teal polkadot grosgrain ribbon Nestabilities, Composition Notebook

THANK YOU NOTES FOR BRIANA’S BIRTHDAY PARTY RECIPE: Paper: Unkown speckled cs, Stamps: MFT Falling for You, SU Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Inks: Chocolate Chip/Really Rust/ Summer Sun/Old Olive/Only Orange, Twine, Chocolate Brown satin ribbon from Wal-mart, Accessories: Nestabilities (template for round sun)

OFFICE GIFT SET RECIPE: Paper: MME Magnolia dp, White cs, Not Quite Navy Inks: Distress Ink Antique Linen, Creamy Caramel, Bordering Blue, Black sharpie marker Stamps: Autumn Leaves Scribbles Alphabet, Cornish Heritage Farms Lined Paper, Riveting, Delight in Life Accessories: Frame from Wal-mart, Mini clipboard from OfficeMax, Composition notebook, RSVP pen, White grosgrain ribbon, Wide orange grosgrain ribbon, buttons, glue dots, Nestabilities, Mod Podge, Prima flower adhesive back, Jumbo clips, Clear mini decorative accents from M’s, Spiral binding punch, Cuttlebug Script embossing folder