Paper Wishes Marathon/National Craft Month

Well, I'm back!  Not sure if a normal thing, but time will tell.

March is National Craft Month which I did not know.  However, it all works out with what we are doing on the Paper Wishes message board.  This month we are having a Marathon to try and use up some of our stash!  However, I have a slightly off-beat sense of humor and decided that the 2 prizes would be packs of designer paper!  It's only the 3rd, but I've done 3 pages from last Christmas (2013 is still not done) and a couple of cards. 

If you are a fan of Paper Wishes/Hot Off the Press products come on over to the message board and join in the fun!

Working on getting back here!

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Really want to start up again, but having trouble finding the energy.  Maybe this should be a blog about depression and PTSD instead of cards?  Hang in there with me!

Valentine's Day Cards in November!

Seems a little odd to be making Valentine's cards in November, but Operation Write Home has to stay ahead of the calendar and these cards are due by Dec. 31.  As I was choosing papers, I realized I have a lot of paper packs with bits out of them, but never seem to actually finish one.  So for these cards I decided to use up HOTP Classic Creative Pack which features black, gray, red and tan patterned papers.  I added my own CS from WinArt, HOTP glimmer paper and various stamp sets.  I figure I had about 75% of the paper left and I have made 26 cards - most of them lovey dovey for OWH.  I thought I'd share a few.  the HOTP Paper Wishes Message board November week 2 challenge was a sketch that I used to make 7 different cards.

I didn't follow the sketch exactly as my 2 paper strips are not the same width and I did some rectangles instead of ovals.

I turned the sketch this way and that to keep it interesting.  My favorite is the middle one - I'm just not sure why.  I think it is because of the color combo.


I made one card from Operation Write Home's Weekly sketch challenge #147


This is my card from the sketch - I'm not sure about this card - I want to try another one.

One last card to share.  I really love the Spellbinder's French Frills dies and JustRite matching Ooh-La-La matching stamps.  I finally convinced myself I could get them and here are the first 2 cards I made from it:

Thanks for stopping by and, as always, I'd love it if you left some comments!

Really Reasonable Ribbon

Just a quick post to let you know about Really Reasonable Ribbon - it is the only place on-line I buy ribbon and I get their Ribbon Club as well.  Each month, a small package of goodies is delivered to my house!

Right now they are having a giveaway - check it out on their blog. 

These are just a few of the cards I've made with their ribbon - great quality, great price!  Check them out!

Holiday Card Workshop Day 9

I actually made a card on the same day as the class!  Of course, tomorrow is the last day, so not much of an accomplishment, but I'll take it just the same.

One of the techniques was to use sentiment stamps to make a background.  There seems to be a lot of embossing folders out there with lots of words on them, but I must confess I don't much care for them as I'm not really sure what to do with them beyond sanding.  So, I was intrigued with this technique.  Since all my Christmas cards are done, I decided to use the technique for a Valentine's card instead (just a reminder, the deadline for OWH is the end of December!).  I have 2 specific Valentine's sentiments, but didn't use either one.  Instead I pulled all the love kind of words from several sets of stamps from HOTP.  One thing I learned earlier with regular stamps is if they are not from the same manufacturer it is almost impossible to combine them on one acrylic block - they are not uniform depth.  I used a Nellie's heart die set and did the sentiments in the heart shape.

Jennifer Maguire used her cheat sheet method (which is fabulous) and her Fiskar's stamp press (if you don't have one - run, do not walk, to the nearest store and get yourself one) and used ink pads for her various colors.  I decided to use Marvy Markers in pink, red and cherry instead - just worked easier for me and I was able to ink them all at once and "huff" which saved a couple of steps.

I could probably fill the heart a little more - I saved my cheat sheet so I can easily replicate this card.  All papers but white are HOTP; white cardstock from WinArt; both ribbons are May Arts through Really Reasonable Ribbon.  I included the second picture because I finally figured out how to use the Bow Easy and have it come out right!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Card Workshop Day 7

To say I'm way behind in this class is really stretching it.  I love everything I've seen, but keep on getting side tracked.  I had decided after I sent my Christmas OWH box off this would be a good time to rearrange my craft room and bring order to chaos.  Unfortunately, I'm not Borg, so efficiency of time is not my strong suit.

Back to HCW:  Day 7 was using reverse stamps.  I don't have any , but the class showed a tree scene and I do have a Dreamweaver stencil that is a tree scene, so I used that.  Kristina did a beautiful card with the same kinds of colors, but made hers darker.  I decided to not use black ink for the background but used a Judikins blue glitter EP - you can't see the sparkle in the picture, but it is there.  I used Adirondack lights to brush color onto the trees which were the white of the background CS.  I liked the lighter look so did not add any black ink.  I popped it onto a white card base run through a Sizzix snowflake EF added a little ribbon and bling and was done.

I'm hoping to get more cards for the class done as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

Garden Journal

Seems like World Card Making Day turned into World Card Making Month on the Paper Wishes Message Board.  One of the many activities was a Garden Journal swap and cover contest.  All of the pages/covers can be seen here.

My pages were put to shame by the others, but I'm going to share them anyway, LOL!  I kept mine very simple; the first one I used a Crafter's Workshop Template and homemade sprays using Adirondack re-inkers.  I added some embellishments from the Finished in a Flash Floral kit, a bit of Liquid Pearls and called it good.

For the second page, I used the Doodles template to add some flourishes.  I cut a border with the Tonic Dotty Border punch, layered some papers and Liquid Pearls again.

This is my cover.  I used Vintage Roses, Sunshine & Shadows papers, Design Tool 1, Swirls/Flourishes Dazzles, Chocolate Jute Cord, Word Fragments, Tonic Dotty Border punch, Bohemian Embellish-abilities, silver fibers and the Fringed Mums Quilling Die.

This is a close-up of the focal.  I cut various labels from the Design Tool onto white CS and PP.  I added "imagine" and "dream" silver word fragments.  I wasn't sure aobut the quilling die when I got it, but I really like the flowers it makes.  I used 2 strips of the medium and large cut PP - I didn't plan on the color gradient, but it sure is a pretty, happy accident.  I added 2 brown felt flowers (not sure where they are from) along with 2 red flower brads and the black Dazzles.


These are not the usual colors I like to work with,but I really like how the whole thing came out.
There were just a few people in the swap, but I plan to add blank pages and use this journal as an art journal as I delve into "mixed media".

Thanks for stopping by!