unconventional birthday card

Hey there! I've been busy lately and haven't made much time for crafting in the past few months- sad I know :( But I don't want to let my craft blog die, so I scrounged up some unposted pictures. Here are some shots of a card I made recently for my husband for his birthday:

The background paper is actually a fabric paper. I had purchased both the fabric paper and the dotted paper together years ago when I was first starting to scrapbook, before I really knew how any of it worked, thinking I would need to do some book binding voodoo in order to make a scrapbook- I selected these papers to make my honeymoon scrapbook. I then very quickly learned that I could use a pre-fab binder and the fancy book binding papers have been sitting prettily in the corner ever since.

I highly recommend enlarging the pics- those little colored dots are raised and are quite cute! I used orange rhinestones for the eyes just to spice it up. The stamp is kind of hard to read but says 'Hoo loves you'. So it's a non-birthday birthday cards for the spouse :)

*so close*

Ta-dah! Furniture and boxes and labels! Hooray!!!

Ok, so there's still some work to be done, but all my craft stuff is back in my craft room and is mostly organized- I have to hang a shelf and Bygel rail, but the bulk of what's left is getting the rest of my 'Jess stuff' in there and organized. I don't want to bring in any piles- thing must have a home to be let back in! You can see some of my dolls and stuffed animals along the top of the cube unit- it makes me so happy to have them home with me!

I wasn't really sure what to get when I went to Ikea for boxes, so I just bought a bunch in two sizes and it worked out surprisingly well. I actually filled each box with some category of item, though thankfully only one of the boxes is actually *full*. They are however nicely sorted and labelled- now all of my craft stuff is mixed together and it should be pretty easy to find what I need regardless of what type of project I am working on. I did spring for two nice metal boxes to hold my Thickers and other misc. flat embellishments and am thrilled with how well that worked. the left tower is still holding our DVDs.

After I get it all finished up I'll do a post with some detail shots.

gift box

I wanted to make a cute coordinating card holder to send the card set to my mom, so I downloaded the 'All Boxed Up' template from Paper Trey Ink. Initially, I had a problem with the card holder pockets being too small, but I was able to recreate the basic design with a whole new set of measurements specific to my needs. After thinking about it, I think the template just printed out at less than 100% of size, so I'll be sure to keep an eye on that next time.

I liked being able to customize it- I used some older SU! paper with a damask print and felt it all tied together pretty nicely!

Here is the front- the stamp I used is from the same set I used to make the cards. I finished the main image off wit a single pearl and popped it up. I layered brown grosgrain and thin purple satin ribbon to tie it shut.

Here you can see it stuffed with cards and envelopes!

Here is is open- 4 cards and 4 envelopes on each side.

Of course, I covered up the inside and outside of the pockets with more of that SU! paper.

Here is what he envelopes look like- I love how the image looks when it is creeping off the envelope.

ATC!!!

I got my ATCs from the OAK swap I participated in!!! Being the oblivious person that I am, I spent the entire walk back from the mailbox holding the envelope, trying to figure who from that location would have sent me something, without taking the 2 seconds to recognize my own handwriting on the 'to' section of the envelope! Anywho, the three ATCs I got in return are a lot of fun and very unique. The ducky one definitely inspires me to try and make more use out of my stickles (there is a lot of good highlighting sparkle that you can't see in the photo)! I'm pressed for time so I will show you the three little cuties I got in the mail! Next step: proper ATC storage must be acquired!

Sparkly inspiration

After watching Jennifer McGuire's Thinking Inking videos for Perfect Pearls, I was feeling pretty inspired to break out my Luminarte pigment powders. I knew I wanted to make my mom a set of cards for her birthday, but other than the stamp wasn't sure how I wanted them to look, so this was pretty good timing!

I tried a few different things, but wound up doing this:

1. Stamp damask image (Inkadinkado) on white paper with VersaMark ink and emboss with detail clear powder.
2. Make a paint with the pigment powders & Simple Solution #2.
3. Layer paints over whole image- wipe off embossed image with paper towel.

The emboss resist worked fairly well, although the image does not appear to be totally solid. I made 8 different panels- I'm not 100% sure what I will do with them next, but I'm looking forward to some hopefully really neat cards!

It's hard to capture the sparklyness on film, but it's pretty cool!

Well, I will have to get these done soon as I'm on a deadline!

Bargello

Yesterday Leslie posted an awesome card with the bargello technique used. since I have a vicous anal retentive streak, this technique is right up my ally! I tried my hand at it last night and am pretty please with the results. I was pretty tired at that point so it didn't come out as neatly as I would have liked, but I still think it's worthy to send off to mom for her birthday. Here is the front. I varied the size of the individual color strips as well as the cuts finished strips. I think it may be too much variance, but I lan to play around with it a bit more.

I decided to keep the cut portion and put it inside the card, I think it's a neat visual effect my mom will appreciate.

This was one of those projects that was extra exciting because I got to use up one of those random things I had sucking up space. My mom, the former art teacher, has this wealth of random art supplies, which she occasionally passes on to me (thanks mom!). This box of colored papers is one such item. At 4X6, I figured I could use it for matting or something.
See all the pretty colors? I knew I would find *some* use. I think these will produce many such cards.

Velvety thanks

Hello there! I was on vacation for the past week so no major crafting. I did get some cross stitch time in and am almost finished with the little alligator.

I made this thank you card for my stamping friend Leslie who sent me some really cute cross stitch kits she had collecting dust- thanks again Leslie! I hope she liked the card :)

Notice that layer under the sentiment layer? It's velvet! I used liquid Tombow mono-multi to attach the layer on top and then again to attach the whole thing to the card base, but only in the center of the layer, so the edges are a little loose. The bow was added to balance out the giant-ness of the layer the sentiment is stamped on- I had originally planned on cutting it in half, but I like having the whole shape there. I do not trust that I could cut it exactly strait down the middle anyway.

I clear embossed the background image, and used Tattered Rose distress ink around the edges. Aren't you impressed with the color match? I sure was! Sentiment is stamped in Chocolate pallette ink. Background stamp is Hero Arts, sentiment is Amuse. I think. I thought it needed a little something else so I added teeny tiny pearls to the corners.

Can I interest you in a stack of books?

What do all these pictures have in common?
Why they all point to one exciting thing: craft room revamp!!! You see, we emptied all the books out of the sitting room and placed them upstairs to languish out of the way. I'll be laying claim to all that lovely Ikea furniture, and filling it with my myriad supplies. My desk will hopefully no longer look like such a disaster, and my walls will be one blissful color. I chose the one on the left! Ground Ginger. Mmmmmm- serene!

Painting is schedule for this weekend, who knwo how long it will take me to actually get things organized. Another trip to Ikea is in order!

ATCs!!!

For awhile now I've been intrigued by ATCs and wanted to get in on some ATC swap action, but have been hesitant- I've read so many complaint threads about bad swaps, that even though I know I'm not a jerk, I've still been wary of getting involved. This weekend, however, I took the plunge! I signed up for my first ever ATC swap- it called for 3 one of a kind ATCs with an animal theme, so I felt it was an easy enough way to start.

Man, I had no idea how tiny 2.3" x 3.5" is! I had a hard time fitting some of my stamps on there- I never though of my stamps as being beefy! But it went pretty quickly and was a lot of fun! All three came out very differently.

This first guy came out great- I even got to use that yellow cat's eye chalk ink pad I bought a few months ago and then immediately realized I had no use for. No use until now that it! It coordinated perfectly with that patterned paper I bought on a whim last month. Just one random sheet, but it has been taunting me as a total impulse buy since then. It feels good to put those random purchases to use! Notice his little gem eyes- I think they're a little creepy, but in a good way. I stamped him with VersaMark + Palette ink and clear embossed, then went over a few spots with my VersaMark pen and embossed those with gold.

This was a real bear to make- lots of cutting! I think it came out cute, though it is not a style I favor all that much. The pink and yellow fish were inked once, then a stamp with another color was 'kissed' to the fish stamp, then it all went down on paper. The blue fishy was a bit easier- I stamped him in blue then stamped the white over the top.

Hey there chocolate bunny! What's that you say? OAK ATCs are a perfect mate for 6x6 paper pads? I'll keep that in mind!

The first round of ATCs went so well, I went and signed up for another swap! This was 8+1 swap, theme was distressing. I think these are pretty cute and I like the way the various distress elements came out.
The light on my desk unfortunately gives things a funky yellow cast, but this picture shows the real colors better.

Again, that batch went pretty quickly, so I signed up for a spot in another group for the same distressed ATC swap. Here is a close up of the 2nd design. I love the way it looks with the background text stamp! Without that int he background, the main image just looks so lost. Some purple Stickles came in handy to jazz it all up and meet the 'one embellishment' requirement.
As you can see, I am half done with this set- I hope to get it all in the mail tomorrow!

Some old pages

In an effort to keep this blog somewhat interesting, I'll be posting some older work from time to time. It's interesting to see how my style and product use has changed, and it prevents huge gaps in posting. I know, my adoring fan loves me :D

First up is a favorite page- for both the finished layout and picture used!

The pic doesn't show the color of the pp well, but it is orange/yellow notebook style pp from Basic Grey- the lines are blue. Anywho, this was a fun layout- the only time I have ever done my journaling on the computer. I think the computer journaling fits well. I like the little twine bow I used- that twine is off of some packaging I had absolutely unrelated to scrapbooking. Now the picture, well isn't it awesome??? My friend and I were driving on the LIE one day and there was a school bus in flames on the other side. Naturally a picture was taken. This is the only copy of the photo I have- it's from pre-digital days. The pic itself is actually all crinkled from being taped up and removed from walls more than once, but it's still in decent shape.

This next layout features the one time I've used my foam stamps- sad, huh? Well, I tried some other new things when I made this- all the tearing and staples. I like the finished product a lot but likely won't do a title similarly again.

The cool parts of this layout are where I traced around the swirly design on the paper with my Sakura stardust pen (clear glitter pen), and the swirl I cut out of vellum. I'm quite pleased with how both came out!

So I hope you enjoyed your trip in the way back machine! Maybe I'll post some old cards next, although those aren't nearly as nice as my older scrapbook pages- I definitely think I'm a better scrapper than card maker!

Mini book completed!

I am pleased to report I finished up one of my hanging projects this past weekend! It actually did not take that much time either! So here are all 20 pages of my mini album. I'm not going to write too much because it I did this post would be out of control. All patterned papers are by K & Co. If anyone wants to know anything specific, just ask in the comments! Click pics to enbiggen.