Yep…still here. Barely.

Well, tonight, out of necessity, I made the time to make some cards!!  One is a belated birthday card for my father, and the other is for my godson/nephew.  I also made one for my MIL, but on the chance she checks out this blog, I won’t post it until AFTER her birthday.

I’m busier than I’ve ever been before in my life.  I wish that was an overstatement. I miss my crafting friends and my crafting time, but at least I am happy professionally (something new).

I’ll be here when I can!

This card (for my dad) reuses some “junk” mail.  I say this as I don’t mean ANY disrespect to the organization that keeps sending me these paper Tibetan prayer flags.  I just don’t have use for a lot of them, so I’ve decided to incorporate them into some craft projects.  Here I’ve used two “flags” against BasicGrey Marrakech line paper with a letterpress tag from Paper Source.  I also inked/distressed the edges of one of the flags with “Dark Moss” Chalk Ink (ColorBox).

This card uses double sided cardstock (#NT104-Far Out) from The Paper Loft, a letterpress tag (Paper Source), Hero Arts “Printers Type Alphabet” lettering stamps,  “Penguin with Presents” stamp from Savvy Stamps and I embossed with “Rainbow Sparkle Lite” ep and Color box brown pigment ink.

Sunday Scrappin’ July 12, 2009

TA-DAs

• I’ll include THIS because it is a paper craft, kinda.
• I also managed this little card for some friends who are getting married on Saturday. I quilled the flowers and the pp is BasicGrey’s Wisteria line:

• I also managed an anniversary card for my husband (we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary with a lovely day and a half in the Berkshires…Tanglewood, Hancock Shaker Village (my new favorite place) and the Norman Rockwell Museum) but I wasn’t absolutely thrilled with the results. The pp is BasicGrey’s Wisteria line, the swirl stamps are Rhonna Farrer, and the letterpress tag is from Paper Source.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do Christine’s red, white and blue challenge.

TO-DOs:

I’ll be surprised if I get any crafting done in the next 10 days because I am going on VACATION!  To the other side of the country, in fact. I’m very thrilled about this, but will miss crafting while I’m gone..especially since Amy’s challenge for this week is so enticing:

…pull something out of your “someday” file and give it a try. Always wanted to try a certain technique? Been thinking about experimenting with a new layout or embellishment? Let’s get one of those things crossed off our list this week!

But I hope everyone else has a stellar crafting week!

Sunday Scrappin’ July 5, 2009

TA-DAs

• Birthday card for a friend, based on SK011009 (sketch at Paper Craft Planet, original attributed to Becky Fleck). I love the Wisteria line from BasicGrey. The beads were threaded on to craft wire, and the base (which you can’t see), is lavender cardstock. The letterpress tag is from Paper Source.

• I bought these beautiful letterpress tags from Paper Source and they are true inspiration for cardmaking. This follows a sketch by Melanie Muenchinger (SK120608 at Paper Craft Planet). All materials are from Paper Source except the PP which is from Making Memories Travel Collection.
• I also worked on my altered book.
• And, because I hate to miss a challenge, I did this little tag to fulfill the “Summer” challenge from last week’s Sunday Scrappin’.  All materials are from Target, except the cute epoxy flip-flops.

TO-DOs

• fix anniversary card for husband (oops)
• buy some graph paper

I probably won’t  do next week’s challenge, which is “and the 4th of July is all about red, white and blue, let’s create a page using those colors. It doesn’t have to be a 4th of July layout just use the patriotic colors.” I’m on deadline for some projects, so I’d best deal with some non-crafting stuff before I go on VACATION!!!

Project: Altered Book

I’ve taken on another job (unofficially) for the fall, so with teaching at three separate institutions, I’m allowing myself some real time this summer to explore my creative side. I’ve wanted to do an altered book for awhile now, but have been daunted by a number of different things.  First, I’m a bibliophile, and the idea of “altering” a book, kinda weirds me out, to be honest.  But, I picked up this 1953 historical romance Seed of Mischief (now THERE’s a title) in a box marked “FREE” on the street, so it isn’t as though I’m playing around with a first edition of War and Peace.  This was going to be an inspiration journal a la Donna Downey, but it has since morphed into something else.

Frontispiece

What you see here is a combo of paper piecing and cutting (see detail shot below), and the flower was punched into the paper, I put paper on the back, and then put a distressed double layer flower on top with an indian bead center. “R” is my first initial (for those of you who thought my name is really Lyra). I backed the paper cutting and did the piecing with scraps.

detail of monogram

I think I’ve decided that I’m going to work with the book itself–the narrative and, in these preliminary pages, the biographical material of the writer (that’s her on the left: Willa Gibbs). The book came with the original jacket, complete with the art that screams “1950s historical romance” so I’ve incorporated it here on page (ii). That, my friends, is “Jeanne of France, “  the “lovely, tragic heroine.”  The slipcover talked a little bit about our author’s process, so I included that here as well.

Papers are all Marrakech (BasicGrey) scraps, and the brown ribbon is from Paper Source.

Sunday Scrappin’ 6/28/09

TA-DAs

Well, this was another good crafty week for me (which means I didn’t get a lot of other important stuff done, but shhh….don’t tell).  Last week’s challenge was to do something in honor of dads, about dads, etc…and I managed to do a component of a LO here.  I tried the iris folding technique several weeks ago and loved it, but it does create lot of bulk behind the mat.  In an attempt to rectify that, I tried an iris effect without folding the strips (and using ONLY scraps).  It came out ok, but I had to add white gel pen because the scraps had such a busy pattern, the effect was obscured.  This will go on a LO about my family, since it is a picture of my dad and his mom, circa 1943 or 44.

iris effect

My biggest accomplishment from last week is that I completed my first quilling project!!

And here are two ta-das from previous weeks that I couldn’t show because the recipients hadn’t received them yet!

You can find all the particulars on the cards in my gallery at scrapbook.com.  I did want to mention, however, that the last two cards use some great Anna Griffin border stamps that I got from Anita at Anita’s Arts.  Do check out her site!

Finally, I whipped this quick card together mostly as an excuse to use my new cherry blossom stamp from inkadinkadoo:

TO-DOs

Amy has challenged us with this for next week:

I’d love to see something that represents your summer. Not necessarily a layout of summer activities… though that would work… but maybe something inspired by the color of your neighborhood pool, or something that reminds you of your garden. Get creative with summer inspirations!

Maybe I’ll integrate it with my next quilling project!

Sunday Scrappin: June 21, 2009

Well, it is Christine’s first Sunday at host over at Sunday Scrappin’! I hope you’ll come join us.  This week wasn’t QUITE as fulfilling craftwise as last, but I managed to get some stuff done!

TA-DAs:

Last week’s challenge was to use complementary colors (opposites on the color wheel) with your favorite color.  Well, my favorite color is green, and its complement is red.  I took a more liberal view and stayed within the color families, LOL (not in the mood to do Christmas layouts!!)  Here are the two LOs  of my rehearsal dinner:

As you can see, they fulfill the challenge!  The second one was created using the Non-Conformist collection from ScrapInStyleTV with some Marrakech papers (BasicGrey) thrown in for good measure!

I also tried a brand new technique–iris paper folding! I’m quite excited about this and used it for the frame of the picture on this LO:

I wove the ribbon through the paper and interspersed it with some cute owl epoxy stickers (Paperchase).  The sentiment is from Anna Griffin Friendship rub-on kit.  The wooden tulips I picked up at Cost Plus World Market (I think!) and I placed them around a journaling tag from Maya Road.  I think the photograph is too dark for the paper I chose, but c’est la vie.

And finally I finished this mixed media card up this morning (which just coincidentally happens to meet last week’s challenge):

I was curious to see if some old fabric dye I had would work on paper. Well, it was so old it was gooey, so I smeared it with a tissue. It also was very sticky, so I coated the entire card with mod-podge to get rid of the tackiness (it worked!). The Mod-Podge allowed the orange ink from the fish to bleed a little and I liked the sort of batikish effect.

STAMPS: “Happy Birthday” (All Night Media) and “Gus” (Mostly Animals)
EMBOSSING POWDERS: clear (Ranger) and gold tinsel (Personal Stamp Exchange)
INKS: Versamark and Gold Pigment (Colorbox); fabric dye (Tulip Tye Dye); Marvy Orange Le Plume II (on fish)
OTHER: braided sequined thread, eyelets, Mod-Podge

I also made another birthday card that I can’t show you yet.

TO-DOs:

Next week’s challenge: Show off a card you made or a scrapbook page you completed featuring dear ole Dad or someone who is like a dad to you.

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!

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.