I'm Back!

Oh My Goodness, feels like forever since I had a chance to post. The week was very hectic.

I spent Monday & Tuesday & Wednesday working on wedding invitations after my regular job. Also worked two afternoons at the scrapbooking store. Had to fit in time to design an interactive card for a swap Thursday night with friends. (which is the one above, more on that in a minute).

Friday we went to Antigonish to Bob & Pam's to go to the live theatre. That was so much fun! The play was called "Sexy Laundry" about a couple, married 25 years and they are in a hotel room trying to figure out where the spark has gone in their marriage. It was so funny...and for any of us who have been married that long you could relate to many of the things they were saying. I could go on and on telling you things about the play but I won't....however, if you had the chance to see it you should go. Of couse we stayed overnight with Bob & Pam and visited on Saturday. The trip also lent us the opportunity to see Adam and Steph and make more wedding plans. Looking forward to October 3rd (that's the big day)!

Enough chatting and I'll tell you about the card. It's a magic card. When you pull the tab the black and white image magically appears colored. A great card especially for children. You stamp one image on acetate with Stazon and then stamp the image a second time on another piece of cardstock. Color the second piece and then assemble the cardstock. Drop me an e-mail if you're looking for specific directions. Thank you to Deborah M. for hosting the fun evening on Thursday. Tomorrow I'll post the card I received.....

Oh yes, isn't the House Mouse so cute! He's my very first one but I now have three stamps with the little mice. I know what I'm going to be doing for awhile. I hear my name being called.....I think the house wants some attention.

Yvonne

Shoebox Swap Project

Yesterday Deborah Lecreax held a gathering for all individuals in her downline. It was a great day! She provided us with three make & take projects (which I will show at a later date) and then some of us also particpated in a shoe box swap. We all brought an unmade project and all the supplies to duplicate it for the number of participants. In this case we came home with 18 different projects, I think, I haven't unpacked and checked! So today I'll share what my projects was and the dimensions.

The green cardstock size 5 1/2" x 8 1/2", scored at 2" & 5 1/2". There was an additional orange piece cut at 2 1/4" x 5 1/2", which was glued under the top flap. I used the scallop circle punch and the 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" punch to embelish the front. The little pocket on the inside of the project is a white lunch bag cut at 3". You could also use a brown paperbag. You can get two inserts from one lunch bag. If you really like the white bags, I found them hard to find but finally located them at "Parties R Us" in Halifax.

I got the idea from Dawns Stampin Thoughts - this is a tutorial from her if you're a visual person.

http://dawnsstampingthoughts.typepad.com/dawns_stamping_thoughts/2008/03/envelope-card-v.html

No time for additional chit chat, my son and future daughter-in-law are coming up today for a visit and we'll be looking at some designs for wedding invitations. WooHoo!

Yvonne

Looks Like Wallpaper

Oh happy day! It's Friday and that means the week-end is almost here. On Saturday I'm going to Truro for a day of stamping with a group of Stampin' Up demonstrators. Looking forward to visiting with a lot of gals that I haven't seen in a very long time and making some cool projects.
Last night my friend Sherry and her girls dropped by for a visit. We realized it been two years since she had been to the house. Where does the time go? I guess life just happens and you forget to slow down so you can enjoy the ride.
A little about my card for today. Of course I used the cuttlebug to make the background. I just love that textile folder....seems to look good with every type of stamp. The textile folder was brayered with dye ink and then a light green cardstock was embossed. It reminds me of textured wallpaper. The flower was stamped in the same color of ink and I went over the little flowers with a white souffle pen. Both the stamps used are retired images from Stampin' Up as is the ink color. To tone down the vanilla cardstock I sponged the edges of the paper just a little. This will be one of the six cards I'll be teaching in a two-night Cuttlebug class at The Cutting Garden.
All the new seasonal cuttlebug folders arrived at the store yesterday too....but I was really good.....well good thing I didn't really think I needed any of the Halloween/Fall folders but I did get the Lace Tree, Christmas Ornaments, & Holly. Can hardly wait to create some new projects with them. By the way, I think there were twelve new designs so if we do the math I only purchased 25% of them. Can you say, "Justification" lol Enough chit chat for today (I could have had another card done if I wouldn't have been so long winded) time to get ready to go to work at my real job.

Enjoy your day!

Yvonne

Mini Album

This was such a fun little album to make and took no time at all. It's not my design, as I got the idea from the You Tube. It's really very simple though. One piece of pattern paper 8" x 12" scored at 4" lengthwise (12") and then two more scores at 4" & 8" widthwise. You may want to adjust those slightly to make sure the book will fold properly. The edges are not glued together. I cut my tags 3 1/2" x 5. From there it is just a matter of choosing your pictures and decorating to your taste.

These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago at a slow pitch tournament my son and his girlfriend were in. They did win the game too!

Yvonne

PS - Sorry if the blog subscribers have been receiving duplicate e-mails. I have it figured out now! lol

Altered Note Book & Note Pad

Well I finally got out the camera and took some pictures of things that just won't fit in the scanner! This was a gifty from Val a couple of weeks ago. Thanks Val! She altered a standard little note book with some very pretty paper. The centre of the flowers are all pretty and sparkley...now if the paper didn't come that way then I would think she applied stickles to it. Either way I love it.

Now the note box, yeah I know, I can't think of the proper term for it this morning. Too early I guess. These are the little boxes of paper that you can get at the Dollar store. Val bought one to get the template for the box. So she decontructed it and then reconstructed it with more pretty paper. As an extra plus she gave me the template so I could make some more. I'll put that on my things to play with list.

No crafting for me tonight. Have friends coming from Antigonish so I'll be visiting instead! It'll be fun.

Well off to run the vacuum over the floors.

Yvonne

Snail Mail

Look what I found in my mailbox Monday. . . . a Cuttlebugged Anniversary Card from Barbara M. The background is on ivory cardstock and embossed with Birds & Swirls. That folder makes for a very elegant background. The wedding bells are also embossed (thinking it's one of the metal folders we used to do dry embossing with. . . .you do remember those, right?) on gold paper and layered onto the ivory cardstock and raised with dimensionals to create depth. It's finished off with ribbon that has matching gold hearts. Thank you Barbara!

As a side note if you've signed up to get automatic e-mails when I post there maybe some glitches. It was working properly and as of the 15th something may have gone wrong. I know I'm not getting my updates. It might have had something to do when I added the slide show to the blog. I'm working to make sure it's corrected.

Thanks for looking and tomorrow a 3-D project.

Yvonne

I've Got Mail

Look what I received today in my mailbox and I mean the snail mail. Hardly ever get that anymore. Sharon M. sent me this delightful card (play on words there if you didn't notice). It is so elegant looking. I just love it. Thank you Sharon. Now, I know you used swiss dots on the bottom but the top, is that an edgibility or a different embossing folder? Do tell!

Back to my craft room. Working on projects to teach at The Cutting Garden in the fall. I'm doing a two night series on using the Cuttlebug. I've got 5 of the 6 projects designed.

Have a great evening.

Yvonne

Oh So Pretty

Well it's been a busy couple of days. Monday night was our anniversary so went out to a wonderful supper at the Press Gang. Food was superb and the wine was good too! lol
I have been working on a few things but just can't post them yet......it's a surprise.
This card I made a couple of months ago and just love it. A very simple card to make ...all you have to do is emboss and cut out the flowers. I stamped the flower image twice on two different colored cardstock so I could layer them up for some dimension. I slightly curved the petals on the flower so it would have a rounder look. Don't you just love the pretty in the centre of the flowers? It's from Stampin' Up's Pretties Kit. I bought the kit when it first came out but have never used any of the contents cause I didn't want to use up all my "Pretties". Well I still have all the "Pretties" so I decided I needed to use some. Goodness knows there will probably be a new "Pretties" kit and I won't have used up the last one. lol It's like the pretty paper we buy but don't use cause it's to pretty to use. Instead we just look at it on occassion when we leaf through the paper drawer. Go ahead, tell me YOU don't do this!
This wraps it up for today.

Yvonne

Supplies Used:
Stamps - SU Doodle This, Elegant Cheer
Paper - SU Groovy Guava, Blush Blossom
Ink - Versamark
Embossing Powder - Gold
Pearl from SU Pretties Kit

TOO FUNNY!

Click on ad to enlarge

I received my "Simple Scrapbooks" magazine a couple days ago. There was an ad in there offering a chance to win some FREE goodies. All you have to do is go through the magazine and find a bogus ad and then use the internet link to enter. I found the ad and it is just too cute! I had to share. Actually, as I'm on the internet entering the contest my DH comes in and wants to know what I'm up to. I told him I was ordering a new caddy.....and gave him the article to read. lol He was confused until I explained it to him.

Yvonne

With Love Borders

Card Front

Card Open

Monday again. Where did the week-end go? I spent yesterday cleaning house which should translate into crafting after work today.

Once again this card was done using the Core'dinations cardstock. Both embossed images are from the Cuttlebug folder "With Love". The bottom border was sanded so the lighter core of the cardstock would show through. The sentiment is heat embossed using Iridescent Ice. I love the sparkle it gives the words. Kind of goes with the rest of the bling on the card. Super simple card to do.

Have a good stampin' day!

Yvonne

Supplies Used:

Paper - Core'dinations

Ink - SU Pigment Perfect Plum

Cuttlebug Folder - With Love

EP - Iridescent Ice

Bling

New Cuttlebug Folder

This card is for my DH for our anniversary. Of course I have just received some of my new embossing folders so had to play with them. The "with love" is from the border set called "With Love". There are five borders in the set. This is the only one with words. I used Swiss Dots to emboss a portion of the background and then used the scorer on my cutter to make a couple of lines above and below the phrase. The paper is from Core'dinations. I sanded the embossed words so the core of the dark purple would show through. Happy Anniversary is embossed in gold and the image was watercolored with H2O's. I used dimensionals to raise the layered image.

This afternoon I also went and watched my son and his girlfriend play slow pitch. It's been years since I watched a ball game and I just couldn't keep quiet. There were hardly any spectators but I think I made up for that. lol BTW they won!

Hubby is out for a motorcycle ride so I think I'll slip back to the craft room and play with my new folders some more. I'll be back.

Yvonne

Supplies Used:
Paper - Core'dinations * SU Shimmery White
Ink - Versamark
Embossing Folders - Swiss Dots, With Love
Stamps - Stamp City, SU Hugs & Wishes
Gold EP & Gold Heart Brads
Sanding Blocks

New York Chipboard Word Album

This is a Chipboard Word Album. Basically it's raw chipboard and you cover it with patterned paper or cardstock and then insert your photos and embellish the pages.
I placed only snapshots of our time spent in New York City in June. We did all the touristy things: subway ride, Times Square, Broadway musical, carriage ride in Central Park.
I didn't include a shot of each page as I didn't want to bore you. lol If you do want to see more pages for ideas leave a comment and I can forward to some.





Carriage Ride Central Park

Riding the Subway!

Altered Box with Coasters & Matching Card

These are some items I altered as a gift to a friend. BTW if you've been following me and my camera problems I still haven't been able to download the pictures. I had to resort to lifting them from Julie's blog (http://www.mutchtostamp.blogspot.com/) to put on my blog (of couse with her permission). Julie has also asked that I give a tutorial on making the coasters. So here goes!

I'm going to start with the boxes I altered. Dollar store wooden box covered with patterned paper. I cover the sides of the box one at a time...I cover the box completely with glue stick and also the patterned paper. Make sure you use a brayer or firmly press the paper to the box, paying close attention to the sides and corners as you don't want it to lift. I only do one side at a time so I can see where the box bottom meets the lid. Once the glue has dried I use an exacto knife to cut the paper so the lid will separate. The advantage to doing this is your design will match up perfectly.
This is just a top view of the box. If you look closely I used a clear glaze pen to color in the leaves. If almost makes it look like it was embossed giving it that glossy look.

The card is a pretty basic design using the stamp set "One Of A Kind". I've stamped it four times and cut out three of those images to layer using dimensionals. I love to stamp and cut. The cute bling on the card are diamonds, well not really, but the little rhinestones were given to my by Kim. I've had so much fun with them. They are actually called cell phone bling and I think it can be found at Future Shop. Just see how creative stampers can be.

If you're still reading, onto what I'm supposed to be giving a tutorial on.
I've used tumbled tiles for this project. They are porous and will absorb ink and other mediums unlike the glazed tiles what you would usually find in kitchens and bathrooms. These can be bought at Kent's or Home Depot. At Kent's (as of yesterday) you can buy them individually which also means you can pick out good ones. Many will have flaws in the top which makes it hard to get a good stamped image.
To stamp the image on the tile I use Stazon Ink or Ancient Page Black Archival Ink. Both of these inks are waterproof so will not smear or bleed if you color over them with markers, blending pens etc. However if you do make an error in stamping to get the color off you will need to sand the tile. Next I took chalks and a sponge dauber and rubbed the chalk over the areas on the tile that I wanted to color. Because it is chalk you need to put a sealant over the image so it doesn't rub off. I used a Krylon spray, (left over from my tole painting days....sound familiar). I would have sprayed two or three coats but they would have been a very light misting. If you spray too heavy it will cause the chalks to run.
Other ways to color in the images would be to use markers, blender pens with chalks, pigment inks, or watercolor pencils. Depending on the medium you are using to color in the image will depend if it needs to be sealed. If the coaster is sealed it won't aborb the water off of a cold glass. There are other methods besides the sealing with a spray which entails heat setting the image by way of putting it in an oven and baking it.

If you have any questions regarding this project drop me an e-mail.

Until later....

Yvonne

Alcohol Inks

I had created the background some time ago and just couldn't find the right image to go with the colors. Well last night I found it. The background is tin foil that had been adhered to a piece of cardstock, embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and then alcohol inks on top. The brad was also altered with alcohol inks as I didn't have one the right shade of brown. The shell is embossed with Rust Tapestry which creates a nice grainy surface. The shell and the dark brown cardstock are raised up by dimensionals. I wanted to put a sentiment on the front but with the layout of the card I needed to make it look like a tab on the card.



Supplies Used:
Stamps: SU Stippled Shells, Fundamental Phrases
Inks: Versamark, SU Chocolate Chip
Paper: SU Chocolate Chip, Creamy Carmel,
Rust Tapestry EP, Brad, Dimensionals
Alcohol Ink - Caramel, Latte, Ginger



If you haven't tried the alcohol inks you really should. They can be used on any non-porous surface. The image below is an domino made into a necklace.

That's all for today. . . . . I'm off to craft.

Yvonne

Storing Your Nestabilities

Once I started purchasing the Nestabilities I quickly learned I needed someway to store them. Having them loose on my desktop was not going to be a good thing. Can't believe they don't come in a cute container!

So I store mine in cd cases. If you don't have some already you can get them at the Dollar store (3/$1.00) and then just take out the inserts. You can buy magnets by the roll and there is adhesive on one side. I just cut it to fit inside the CD case, removed the paper backing from the magnet and attached it to the cd case and then your metal nestabilities will stick to the magnet and stay in place. Now that you have than done why not alter the CD case to make it cute.

If you have other ways that you store your Nestabilities share your idea with me by leaving a comment.


Thanks for stopping by.

Yvonne

Lovely Cards I've Received!

These are all cards that I received last week from a group of gals that I get together with regularly for workshops. They are amazing stampers and it's tough to come up with new ideas for them. I'm missing a project from Val but I have to locate my digital camera first as it was a 3-D item. It's on my desk but I decided to steam clean the carpet in the craft room which meant I had to take everything off of the floor and I can't find my desk top now. Watch for it this week.


Kim P. was the creator of this card. Unfortunately I don't know the name of the rubber stamps used, however the gals are trying to educate me and get me purchasing stamps outside of Stampin' UP!
Oh those girls are such enablers for my addiction.







This card was made by Julie M. Now she did use Stampin' UP flowers.
She twisted ribbon to make the stems. What a cute idea!








Catherine L. made this card for me. Once again I don't know the stamp line however if you look really close at the word Friends it has been double stamped in two different colors. The image was so crisp and clear I thought it was a rub on. I really like those stamps.




Serenity Now is what the saying says. Kelly E. created this card. I love the colors. I'm an earth tone person so the greens and oranges are totally me. Actually if that person is supposed to represent me that is great....I like her shape!