Sunday Scrappin’: June 14, 2009

Join us over at Sunday Scrappin’, won’t you?

TA-DAs:

• This week’s challenge was to let Christine’s work inspire us.  I liked this layout, and while mine doesn’t really look like her’s, her LO inspired me to use circles for the first time, and the ribbon at the bottom is en homage to her LO as well. It is another LO for my Childhood Album.  It is a tribute to the house in which I grew up.

MATERIALS: PPs: Martha Stewart; Textured Paper: Martha Stewart; Rub-on Alphas: Anna Griffin; Journaling Sheer: Maya Road; Paper circles: Crate Paper; Photo Corners: Jolee’s Boutique/EK Success; Ribbon: American Crafts & Michael’s.

• I’m also working on a series of “scrapwork quilt” cards in an attempt to use up my paper scraps.

Most of the papers are Marrakech (Basic Grey), Paper Source, and Amy Butler Designer Mat scraps.  I hand-etched the gold foil ribbon to give it some texture. The decorative ribbon tape is Martha Stewart and the brads are from Queen & Co.

• I participated in this week’s Creative Therapy.
• And I made a Father’s Day Card for my dad–his name is Bob, so I altered a vintage Bingo card and each square has an image that has some meaning or significance to my dad.  His initials are RVG, so that’s why those are in there!

• And finally, I made one other card, but I can’t show it just in case its recipient happens to look at this blog anytime soon.

TO-DOs:

• Sunday Scrappin’ Challenge for this coming week: Think about your favorite color. Now, think about what’s on the opposite side of the color wheel… and use those two colors in your project! Hmm…that means I’ll be working with red and green.  Christmas in June I guess!!
• A couple of other secret projects…

Sunday Scrappin-June 7, 2009

Once again, I’ve been forced to take a hiatus from Sunday Scrappin’.  But I return!  I’m awfully glad summer is here…I’ll be VERY busy this summer, but my time is more my own.  I spent this weekend organizing my craft space, and to celebrate–I did a layout for my “Childhood” album.

This is the other side of this layout.

This LO posed several challenges.  I chose to use bright (but NOT TOO BRIGHT) colors because the photos are old (1979) and the colors are washed out.  My bedroom was actually creme and light blue, but there was no sense in tryng to bring that out in these photos.  They were taken by my late grandparents and I’m so grateful to have them even though the photos aren’t super.  Because I was working on the reverse side of another LO (that had embellishments and texture), the stamping did not come out very well.  I covered up the middle stamp with a ribbon and I just let the owl go—live and learn.  I’m happy, however, with the colored photo corners.  They really made the LO much prettier and helped disguise the fact that the photos aren’t great.  The photos were also cropped with rounded corners (which I didn’t like), so the photo corners helped with that.

PP: Martha Stewart; ALPHAS: Thickers (American Crafts); RIBBON: American Crafts and Martha Stewart Decorative Tape; STAMPS: owl (Inkadinkadoo) and border stamp (Anna Griffin); INKS: Lavender and Silver (ColorBox); EMBOSSING POWDER: Rainbow Sparkle Lite (JudiKins); PHOTO CORNERS (waste not paper).

I’m excited that Christine is going to be co-hosting Sunday Scrappin’.  Next week’s challenge is to take a look at her work for inspiration.  The inspiration will be easy–it is the execution that might be a problem, LOL!

Catching up!!

Well, I’ve been super duper busy with professional obligations and doing the calligraphy for my friend’s wedding invitations, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t done some crafting!
In the middle of a crazy week I took time out to do my annual layout for a friend’s daughter’s birthday—she’s two!!

MATERIALS: “Baguette” double sided pp (American Crafts); “Dapper” alphas (All My Memories Couture Monogram alphabet); “Far Out” pp (Now & Then Collection–The Paper Loft); Marrakech pp (Basic Grey); pp from Target; 3-D butterfly stickers (“Spring Fling” line from Making Memories); laser cut bee stickers (Mrs. Grossman’s); #574 “Pretty Pink” Cardstock stickers (Doodlebug Designs–Double Takes); rub-ons (Anna Griffin)

And I got started on some thank you cards for the people who sponsored me for a music charity walk!

MATERIALS: PPs include “Musical Notes” (Design Originals), “Music Notes” (Boxer Scrapbook Productions), Hambly, #034 “Floral Garden” (g.c.d studios), “#051 “Floral Pinwheels”–Cosette Collection (g.c.d. studios); Maya Rd rub ons (“Scroll”, “Cubicle” and “Noah” alphabet); Anna Griffin rub ons; Martha Stewart decorative tape, “Scallop Sentiment” border punch (Fiskars); Coluzzle nested circle template; rub on alphas (EK Success); and a lot of stash materials.

Easter Cards and Earth Day Scrap Challenge

If you want details, you can browse the individual cards here or here.

But here is the sum of my cards for Easter 2009:

And since it is April, the month of Earth Day (22nd)…I have pledged not to buy any scrapbooking material this month and to use my stash as much as possible.  I’m thinking of having the pledge run from April 22 to May 22.  Anybody else interested??

Sunday Scrappin’ 3/29

Come play with us over at Sunday Scrappin’!  It’s getting lonely over there—rememember: the challenges are optional! We just want to know your scrapping projects and goals for the week!

Without further ado:

TA-DAs:

Illness breeds crafting productivity. I was sick with some nasty stomach bug, but managed these projects:

This is a birthday card for my sister’s 14th birthday. PPs are “Grandma’s Wallpaper, HP 393″ (Hambly) and the green is from Target’s dollar bins. Ribbon is from the “Uptown Green” (flipside) Elements set by American Crafts. Flower and buttons are “miniMarks: Market Accents” by American Crafts, plus some assorted vellum stickers.

These thumbnails are different views of an easter card for my friend based on a very cute picture of my friend’s baby mistaking his dad’s nose for a food source… The caption reads, “Somebunny’s hungry…”
Trifold pale pink cardstock is pre-cut from Paper Source, epoxy eyelet charm is from Making Memories Spring Fling line, PP on inside of card is from the Marrakech 6×6 Paper Pad by Basic Grey.

Hopefully the recipient of this LO won’t read my blog before she gets this in the mail.   I’m not totally happy with it, but I liked the sentiment of “surrounded by love” and having the baby surrounded by his family including: paternal grandma, maternal great-grandma, maternal step-grandma, maternal grandpa, maternal grandma, maternal step-grandpa…and yeah, I got mom and dad in there too. The alphas didn’t come out as well as I would have liked.
Background paper is #NT 104 “Far-Out/Buff” dbl. sided paper from Paper Loft; PP is Jack’s World: Animal Friends from Cosmo Cricket and the alpha stickers are from Target.

TO-DOs:

• Easter cards…I went to an antique store yesterday and bought a bunch of vintage Easter cards and other materials.
• LO for another friend

As for next week’s “single-layer challenge”….we shall see.   OH! And here is a new find.  I just LOVE the patterned paper…I can’t wait until Scrapbook.com starts carrying their stuff (I have hope).  Of course, I think, in honor of Earth Day in April, I’m going to pledge only to use my stash/recycled goods & papers for the entire month.

Thanks for visiting!

Sunday Scrappin’ #48

Yep, it is Sunday Scrappin’ time again–the weekly blogmeme for papercrafters! Come join us!

TO-DOs

Since I basically decided I was going to spend some of Friday crafting (due to the long weekend), I had a pretty incredible day of crafty accomplishments (for me). I did one project, then either worked or cleaned, another craft project, worked/cleaned…you get the picture. I wanted to get some stuff done before I have to pack up my supplies to be moved to the new house.

• birthday card for my dad
• My “dance” moos for Make a Moo or Two
• I got started on my holiday gift tags

MATERIALS: old Christmas wrap, cardstock, rub-ons (Hambly), snowflake sequins (Queen & Co.), gel pens (Sakura), “To From” stamp (A Muse Artstamps)

• A thank you card for our awesome realtor

MATERIALS & TECHNIQUES: red cardstock, stickers (Target), house sheer keychain (Maya Road), which I edged with VersaMark (Hero Arts), embossed with Gold Sparkle EP (Judi Kins); American Crafts ribbon, and a black eyelet to finish the hole from the keychain. (Psst…don’t tell, but the reason the letters are so random is because dummy here used glue dots to adhere the house, and then had to cover them up so you couldn’t see them…ahem).

• Last but not least, a birthday card for my stepmom

MATERIALS: Here I refashioned a pre-existing notecard from Papyrus with some Anna Griffin paper and a letterpress tag (Paper Source). I also inked the deckled edge with “Rosebud” pigment ink (ColorBox)

Last week’s Challenge was to use orange! Well, I think I got that covered (see Moos, Thank You Card, and Birthday card for my dad). This week’s challenge is:

Use something clear. It could be acetate used for a shaker card, an altered container that’s clear, a piece of clear-ish vellum…. use your imagination!

TO-DOs

• stay sane as we get closer and closer to move day
• a birthday card or two

Thanks for looking, commenting and generally, just being there.

Sunday Scrappin’ #47:Paperclips

It’s Sunday Scrappin’ time—the weekly papercrafting meme where we post our TA-DAs from the week, TO-DOs for the coming week, and participate in optional challenges.  Won’t you join us?

The challenge for this next week:

Make the majority of your project the color orange. It’s a great fall color, but one a lot of us don’t use often. Do you have a fall scrapbook page to work on? A Halloween card to make? A recipe to scrap? Looking around my craft area right now I can see an orange giraffe that’s waiting to go on the cover of my zoo book… my orange paper cutter (Maybe a layout about scrapbooking?)…. and some orange flowers. See what you can come up with that’s orange this week!

TA-DAs

Well, even though I only accomplished one thing this week, it did fulfill the Sunday Scrappin’ paperclip challenge from last week!  I didn’t have any cool paperclips in different shapes, so I made do with a color combo inspired by the ones I did have. I made a birthday card for a friend:

And on the inside, the middle paper clip held a “Birthday Token” (aka vellum tag) redeemable for a dinner out at the place of her choice:

MATERIALS:  Paper is from Martha Stewart “Salon” collection and “Blossom Clover Chartreuse” (Paper Source); “Green and White Checkered Ribbon” (American Crafts); Rub-on flowers (source unknown); vellum sticker “Sticko” (Cathy B. for EK Success); “Rosebud” pigment ink (ColorBox) embossed with Ranger Clear EP, then outlined with a Pigma Micron green pen (Sakura, 0.30 width); stamp is #550H03, (Posh Impressions by Dee Gruenig for All-Night Media)

TO-DOs

Well, we closed on our house this week!! so I’ve got my hands full cleaning 30 years worth (or so it seems) of grime off our new kitchen, pulling up carpets, hiring contractors…but I’ve got to get a birthday card done for my dad, at the very least!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Creative Therapy: Catalyst #22

Creative Therapy asks this week, What is your biggest accomplishment?

Hah! No small question, that. I had several options here, and I was reticent to go with this one as I was worried I might seem elitist or pretentious or something like that. But truly, this was ONE of my biggest accomplishments…not because of the piece of paper, but because of who I became over the 9 years I spent working toward it. It was a really rough road, both professionally and personally, but I also had many bright spots along the way. But mostly, in the end, it was something I set out to do, and while for a long time it seemed that grad school owned me, in the very end, I owned it. I took charge and finished…for me and no one else.

Labor of Love? Dr. CraftyLyra

I used a draft of my dissertation (printed on 100% cotton bond) for the distressed hearts, the question mark, and the chipboard letters in “labor” and “of.” I needed something rough and distressed represented in this layout. The journaling reads:

Above and beyond anything else, I earned a degree in self-awareness. It isn’t about academic prestige. It is about setting a goal and learning about yourself as you strive to achieve it.

MATERIALS: A la Carte “Bruschetta” paper (American Crafts); Amy Butler Designer Mats (K & Co); Tim Holtz Distress Ink “Scattered Straw” (Ranger); Chipboard letters (Maya Road); “Pistachio” and “Rosebud” pigments (ColorBox); Rainbow Sparkle Lite EP (JudiKins); Stick-IT felt letters (CPE ImageCo)