Quilling

Surprise! I'm not stamping or scrapbooking! I know you're shocked. My latest project has been a paper quilling that I started about a week ago. It's just a mandala shape that I don't have planned out at all, I just plan as I'm creating. I'm using white quilling strips, 1/8"x12", that I bought pre-cut. Here's the ingredients list:

1. "The Paper Company" Quilling Strips in Neutral
2. "Scotch" Quick Dry Adhesive, acid-free
3. Martha Stewart Tweezer assortment
4. Quilling Tool (I cannot remember the brand name.)

In the top picture you can see the tools I'm using. If you cannot see if clearly from the picture, the blue handle above the white tweezers is the quilling tool. The second picture shows the beginning of the white mandala and a few other colored pieces that I've started.

Annnd that's what it looks like now! Still have alot more to go though. I usually make them about 8" across, and right now is about 4". Keep checking back for the finally product!

Sweet Pea DSP

I'm on a scrapbooking kick and I'm all about the Sweet Pea DSP I got on ebay! Here is my newest 8x8 page i made with a really old picture from 2006! Back when we were just babies hahaha.. Here's the list:

1. SU! Sweet Pea DSP
2. SU! So Saffron cardstock
3. SU! "Happy Everything" stamp set
4. SU! So Saffron ribbon
5. SU! So Saffron ink
6. Making Memories designer brads

If I had a sewing machine making the folded ribbon in the upper right hand corner of the page wouldve been MUCH easier. I could have hand-stitched it, but I didn't think of that until later! To create the folds I used itty bitty strips of doubled sided super sticky tape.. hope it stays!

Birthday cards

Hello again! I have a few friend's birthdays coming up so I got to work making some birthday cards! Just a quick note about heat embossing- it can be messy, time and space consuming, and alot of work for 1 little piece of your project. What I do is heat emboss multiple things at once in many color inks, stamps, and embossing powders and keep them in a folder for when I need them. Ok, on to the projects! Here's the ingredient list for my orange-lover's birthday card!

1. SU! "Peach Parfait" ink and cardstock
2. SU! "Poppy Parade" ink and cardstock
3. SU! "Blushing Bride" ink and cardstock
4. VersaMark watermark stamp pad (to stick the emboss powder)
5. SU! Stampin' Emboss powder in "Glassy Glaze Enamel"
6. SU! "Upsy Daisy" stamp set
7. SU! "Small Script" stamp set
8. SU! "Season of Friendship" stamp set (for the leaf background)
9. SU! "Curly Label" punch

I absolutely LOVE how the daisy stamp turned out with the embossing powder, and I even love the "mistake" droplets above the stamp.. it looks like dew and adds more subtle dimension! This was actually a quick card to make (having the embossing already previously done.)


Ok, so the next card is a variation on a card I've done before, but it's so fun and bright I can't help but re-create it! Here's the list!:

1. SU! "Bermuda Bay" cardstock and ink (marker)
2. SU! "Rich Razzleberry" textured cardstock and ink 
3. SU! "Crushed Curry" cardstock and ink (marker)
4. SU! "Melon Mambo" cardstock and ink (marker)
5. SU! "Whisper White" cardstock and ink (marker)
6. SU! "Soft Suede" ink (marker)
7. Close to My Heart "White Daisy" ink
8. SU! "Bermuda Bay 1/2" Polka Dot ribbon
9. SU! "Out of the Box" stamp set
10. SU! "Happy Everything" stamp set
11. Fiskar's circle punch

Although I wish I had both the ink pads and markers for this old In-Color set, I don't. I'm too poor for that, haha! I just have the markers, which I colored in the stamps with. I used the Bermuda Bay marker to color the edge of the circle punch to give it some more "pop." The cupcake is glued on with a dimensional sticker to make it appear as though its jumping off the card! I know my friend will love this card, and be even more shocked that it was handmade! It didn't take too lng to make either! I think one of the keys is to not try to be so precise with the coloring in of the stamp. I colored the whole box in Rich Razzleberry and the handle in Soft Suede, aftewards I went in with my markers and filled in the flowers, but just by making little dots. Have a great day everyone!

Scrapbooking through the blizzard

Holy moley, blizzards! We've had so much snow here that all of my free time has been spent shoveling out the driveway and digging out our cars! I finally got a chance to sit down and do some papercrafting. I think I'll seperate this post into scrapbook pages and cards. I'll start with the scrapbook pages!

I'm a big fan of 8x8 pages. There's just something about the constrictive size that forces you to be a little more creative with your space I think. I've tried 12x12 pages and I usually just end up trying to think of ways for fill up the empty spaces.. which leads to cluttered pages! I have to admit one of the pages I made is a bit cluttered, but I couldn't help myself, the Sweet Pea DSP is just too cute. I purchased the Sweet Pea DSP on ebay a few weeks ago- it's a retired SU! item. So here's the materials list of this page:

1. Sweet Pea DSP (this DSP features Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Taken with Teal, Rose Red, Chocolate Chip, Tangerine Tango, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, and Sahara Sand)
2. Cricket Lite cartridge "Cherry Limeade"
3. SU! Rub-On's "Bright Delight" (features Rose Red,Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, and Chocolate Chip.
4. SU! 5/16" Brads "Neutral Assortment"
5. SU! Rose Red cardstock
   

I actually didn't use any ink or stamps in this page, the bird on the DSP is enough in my opinion!

So that page wasn't really typical of things I usually do. I most often keep my pages simple and let the pictures shine. This next page took me quite awhile because I used SU! Chipboard pieces, and I'm not quite pro with that technique yet! Here's my ingredients list:

1. SU! Rich Razzleberry textured cardstock
2. SU! Soft Suede textured cardstock
3. SU! Melon Mambo cardstock
4. SU! Crushed Curry cardstock
5. SU! Bermuda Bay cardstock
6. SU! Dusty Durango cardstock
7. SU! Rub-On's "Fashion District" in white
8. SU! On Board Chipboard "Lots of Letters"
9. Cricket Cartridge "Simply Sweet"
10. Martha Stewart scalloped edge punch
    

On the yellow chipboard "u" I actually got ink smudged across it. I covered it up with those tiny hearts I had left over from using my Cricket to make Valentines! The actually chipboard pieces (if you can't really see the dimension in the picture) are the "I," the "u," and the Bermuda Bay bar underneath the picture. The big heart is a Cricket die-cut with a dimensional sticker underneath it. Hope you enjoyed the post!

Grab bag!

The other day I felt the strong urge to organize.. which made sense since I went to Michael's and bought a ton of loot! I had some giftcards from Christmas that were burning a hole in my pocket so I HAD to go shopping. I picked up this bag of assorted Making Memories scrapbooking embellishments- it was only $8, I needed to have it! And it did have good stuff in it... but alot of stuff I didn't need.. maybe I'll sell some on Ebay? I couldn't see everything that was in the bag when I bought it, but I grabbed it anyways. Check out the picture of how much stuff was included!

So after I tore into it and saw how many little trinkets were in there I had to sort it all out. The boyfriend gave me these neat neon boxes, so I put them to good use. In the hot pick box are left overs from a Stampin' Up hodgepodge hardware kit. The purple box is full of Making Memories brads and letters. Projects coming soon!

Snow Day!

SNOW DAY!!! Oh what a wonderful wonderful thing! Sure, I "worked from home" today, but that didn't get in the way of some serious crafty time! So today I figured I would get a head start on my Valentines. I know I'm a month early, but why not? I ended up with 3 completed cards. As always, I stuck with Stampin Up products. I used mostly the "Candy Lane" DSP and Riding Hood Red, Pirouette Pink, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, and Kraft cardstock.

I used my brand new Cricket cartridge to make the heart with the "u" in it. And the bow on that same card is embroidary string. Oh, I threw in an action shot too, the card making in progress. Enjoy :)

Medallion stamp

Two days ago I made my sister a card for her birthday (her birthday is tomorrow.) Since I'm still not in the swing of documenting my craftiness, I sealed up the envelope before even taking a picture! Since I cant show you, I'll talk about what I used to create it.. just as good, right? Well, Im 100% a Stampin Up! freak, and basically everything I use if from their catalog. I love the quality of their products, the design, and the color choices. I've been using Stampin' Up! since 2007, and the very first ink pads I bought back then in the summer of '07 are still juicy with ink (they were Pixie Pink and Green Galore from the 'old' Bold Brights) .

Well anyhow, for my sister's card I used a Stampin' Up! stamp that may be my very favorite, "Medallion." As you can see from the picture, it's big and gorgeous, about the size of my hand. I used Whisper White cardstock and Yoyo Yellow to stamp the Medallion offset in the lower left hand corner of the card. It takes up a majority of the card front, and could be left alone as is and still be beautiful, but I stamped "Happy Birthday" on the front with the "Happy Everything" stamp set. I've used the Medallion stamp for several other cards, such a thank you notes and sympathy cards. It's bold, but if you use it with soft colors its very elegant. Oh boy, I sound like a nut right now, calling stamps 'elegant.' Too much coffee perhaps?

So I promise with practice I'll get better at blogging, with actual pictures of the finished products! I swear I will! Just be patient with me :)

Success! After a few frustrating hours, the craft table is finally clean!! Its not as organized as I'd like it, but I just have waaay too much stuff. I'd love to have some shelves above the desk, maybe some day! So now all of my Stampin' Up! 8.5"x11" cardstock and 12"x12" patterned paper is all together. I have some drawers under the desk which holds all my ink pads, embellishments, stamp sets, and more non-Stampin' Up! paper and cardstock. Under the desk I have some storage boxes full of my paints, pastels, oil pastels, etc. I think ill just have to eventually take over the whole room! Nate has his "man cave" with all of his woodworking and car tools, so I should have my own craft room, right? Anyone have any tips for organizing craft/art materials? I have some glass jars and storage boxes but they seem to take up too much space!

Happy 2011!! I'm too hung over to do anything but lay on the couch. Better posts coming soon!

Here it is, the blog that my boyfriend thinks I have no time to start! Two jobs and other responsibilities have never gotten in the way of a good "craft coma." You know, when you sit down to start a project and then all of a sudden 3 hours have passed and you can't remember where all that time went?

I just finished a major project, a wedding scrapbook for my very best friend, Meg. It took 6 months to complete and i've worked on no other projects except that one. Now I have no idea what i'll do with my free time! I always went straight to the wedding scrapbook to take on another page. I really am proud of how it turned out, but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the completed product.

My "craft corner" is an absolute mess. I just spent an hour cleaning it up and it still looks like a disaster. My first goal for the New Year = clean and organize the craft corner before starting any projects. Here is what it looks like after an hour of cleaning/organizing... wish me luck!