OLW38 - Get Sketchy

The OLW challenge is hosted this week by Jennifer Styles at Styles Ink.  This week, Jennifer gave us a sketch to use to create our one layer card. For my card, I chose to use some PaperTrey Ink stamps - Up, Up and Away.

I used a white card base and stamped the cloud on the card with Versamark ink, embossed it with clear embossing powder, and heat set the embossing powder.  I stamped the hot air balloons with black Mementos Ink, then stamped them again on plain paper.  I cut out my masks and the inked the entire background with Stormy Skies distress in and a sponge.  I pealed the masks off and colored the images with Copic markers.  The sentiment is from the same collection and was stamped in black Memento's ink.  Here's the sketch Jennifer provided for us:

I thought I'd share a new layout with you too.  This is photos I took of my youngest son and his two children (Allen & Helen Grace) in 2008 at a downtown park.

I used Scenic Route papers for this layout. I laid the photos out in a grid then added a layered star in the center. The star is 3 layers and each layer is pop-dotted. The photos are matted on solid green then I added a red border on the top and bottom punched with a Fiskars border punch and a strip of yellow card stock. The side borders are green scalloped edges with a striped paper laid over the top of it (and a small strip of solid red.) The title letters were cut with the Silhouette. I cut both red and green letters and layered them...adding a bit of stickles to the edges. The butterflies are punched from a solid yellow card stock and then I added glitter to each of them. The bodies of the butterflies are pearls and 3D paint. The "genuine happiness" tag was cut with a Spellbinder die then I layered a red oval on it and the words are rubons I've had forever. The big star on the genuine tag was cut from the back of one of the pprs and highlighted with yellow stickles. The "everyday moments" tag was stamped and pop dotted. Journaling was cut into strips and layered on green card stock and reads:

You two love to walk through the park holding Daddy's hand. Your Daddy takes the time to talk to you and answer your questions. I hope that days like this will be etched in your memories as very special.....Daddy Time.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  As always, I truly appreciate all the sweet comments! Until next time...

 

Hugs!

**Scrapping some OLD photos**

In my efforts to work on scrapping photos of my children when they were growing up, here's a new layout to share.  The photos are of my son when he was just a little over 2 years old. The photos taken at my wedding to Butch in 1981.  In sorting through my photos made when my children were growing up, I'm finding that most of the pictures are dark and are beginning to turn an orange-y color.  So....I have to scan them in and clean them up in photoshop before I can print them and scrap them.  Unfortunately, many of my photos are in pretty bad shape.  I thought these photos scanned in pretty good though...and with a little cleaning up, they looked almost like new photos! 

 

I used a solid blue cs for the background and the patterned papers are Echo Park's Little Boy collection. The ruler was stamped on the yellow striped paper. I tore some edges and layered it with the blue dotted paper. On the strip next to the photos I added a little stitching. The trees trunks were cut with the Silhouette and the tops were made with circle and scallop punches. The flowers and grass across the bottom were free handed with Zig markers and a bit of stickles. The title work is a combination of stickers from the Echo Park papers and "Bellew" was cut from QK alpha dies. The tag at the top (You will always be my little boy) is also a sticker from the same collection. I added a bit of doodling and some brads to the top tag. The tag at the top of the journaling was made in Word - making a blue background and turning the letters white - and punched out with a ticket punch. I layered it on the yellow strip papers and punched the corners with a SU ticket corner punch. The scalloped edge on the bottom was punched with an EK Success punch and highlighted with white dots. A green ribbon was added for the "grass".

Journaling was printed on a transparency and adhered with the title work on top. Journaling reads:

Matthew, you were such a little boy when Butch and I got married. I made the clothes that you and your sisters wore to the wedding. All three of you looked so cute in your blue and white outfits. We got married in the afternoon, and by that time, you were so tired that you could barely keep your eyes open. I love the photo of you holding my flowers, it makes me wish I could just pick you up and give you a hug!

Our babysitter, Melanie, was so good to keep an eye on you three during the wedding and reception. Now, here it is almost 30 years later…and you know what? You’ll always be my little boy no matter how old you get! I love you, Matthew!

That's all for today.  Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time...

Hugs!



OLW 37 - SentimentS + a New Layout!

It's time once again for the One Layer Wednesday challenge.  This week's host is Susan Raihala at Simplicity.  Our challenge this week was to create a one layer card using only sentiment stamps - no images - and we had to use at least two different stamps. Here's my card for the challenge: 

For my card, I used a white card base. I used a 1 inch embossing folder (dotted Swiss) and embossed the top and bottom edges of the card.  I used four sentiments (stamped in Not Quite Navy - SU!) that are Hero Arts sentiments, and the Happy Birthday (stamped in Cherry Cobbler - SU!) sentiment is from Close to My Heart.  After embossing the dots, I scored a couple of line and then stamped my sentiments.  The inside of the card is stamped with a sentiment from Papertrey Ink. 

The layout I'm sharing is one I finished last week.  The photos are my oldest daughter when she was about 6 weeks old. I've been going through my photos lately and I've noticed that the photos of my children are not very good quality photos and I'm finding that I need to scan them and clean them up a bit before scrapping them.  I guess that's why I scrap so many layouts of my grandchildren.  They're much better photos! LOL!  Well, I'm working on cleaning up some of the photos of my children, because it's important to me to record those memories too.

For this layout, I used a piece of soft white card stock for the background and punched the edges with a Martha Stewart corner and edge punch.  I think this is the first time I've gotten it perfect with no misaligned edges!  I punched two scallop borders - one in soft white and one in teal and layered them with a piece of patterned paper.  All patterned paper used is from My Mind's Eye - Lush collection.  On the dotted piece used for the mat behind the photos, I hand stitched a border around the edges.  I distressed the edges of the hounds tooth piece.  The small white flowers are Prima and I added a small teal bling piece for the centers of each flower.  The soft pink pearl flourish is also Prima.  The title letters were cut with the Quikutz Fiesta dies. The poodle was cut with the Silhouette.  I used some Copics to highlight the Poodle a bit, gray around the edges, black for the feet and nose.  The poodle's eye is a black flat-back pearl and then I added a "jewel" collar on the poodle with the teal bling.

I wish I could have gotten a better photo of the layout, because I wanted the punched edge to show up, but this was the best photo I could get.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I know this is a long post...if you read it all...bless you! Until next time...

Hugs!

OLW36 - Bare trees

This week's OLW36 Challenge is hosted by Jennifer Styles at Styles Ink.  Our challenge was to use a bare tree, or bare vegetation of some kind which means no leaves, no needles, no buds, no flowers. We could use as many images/sentiments/colours as we wanted to, but needed to use one plant image that is “bare”.  Well, I hope this counts as one image....after all the trees were all on one stamp.  Does that count?

I had trouble getting a decent photo of the card since it's so cold and overcast here I took the photo inside and I couldn't get the white to look white!  I tore a mask for the ground and punched a circle for the moon.  Then I used my Copics air gun (YAY me!!! I finally used it!!) to spray the sky.  After spraying the sky, I inked up the tree stamp and stamped it so that the trees would appear to be behind the hill of snow.  Then I removed the lower mask used for the ground.  Some of the trees appeared to be floating in the air, so I just colored in the bottom of the trees to meet the ground with a marker that matched the ink color.  I added the fence with a stamp from Stampscapes.  I had to stamp it three times to get it across the card.  Then I added a little Copics light gray shadows for the trees and fence. I'm still working on getting the shadows right.  But practice makes perfect...right?  The sentiment stamp is from PaperTrey Ink.

I thought I'd also post another layout I just finished the other day, too.  This is photos of my granddaughter, Helen Grace.  Whenever she comes over to the house, and I'm in my office/scrap room, she always wants to join me and "make a card".  Her favorite color is pink and she always grabs a pink marker to get started.  On this particular day (December 31, 2010), we decided that I'd help her make bookmarks for her Mama and Daddy.  I showed her (and helped her) stamp a few leaf images on a bookmark size cardstock (in green - not pink!) and then she wanted to write on the back of the bookmarks.  Now, bear in mind, she just turned 5 in November 2010.  She worked so hard and wrote on the back of each bookmark "to Mama Love Helen Grace and to Daddy love Helen Grace."  It took her a while, but she got it done. 

For this layout, I used some older stuff from my stash.  I have no idea who makes the patterned paper but it worked well for this layout.  The pencil border was cut from another piece of paper and layered on red.  I added a little doodling in white, a scalloped border to ground the pencils, a few brads, and some journaling.  For the title work, I used plain chipboard alphas and colored them with Copic markers then coated them with glossy accents. A quick and simple layout...but I like the end result.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Until next time....

Hugs!

OLW35 + A New Layout

This week's One Layer Wednesday is hosted by Susan Raihala at Simplicity.  Our challenge for this week was to make  A one-layer card using the color yellow.  Now, I understand that yellow is generally considered a "happy" color, but I must admit yellow is definitely not one of my favorite colors and even now that I'm finished with the card, I'm still not too sure that I {{love}} it.  This was definitely a difficult challenge for me!

For my challenge card this week, I chose a Flourishes stamp - Paperwhites.  Now I know that these flowers are generally white [mostly because I looked it up. LOL!], so I needed to get yellow on the card some way, some how......~putting on thinking cap~....Ah, yes, I'll just make the background yellow. Well, I'll tell you, that brilliant thought was very difficult to transfer to the card stock!  But, I did it and here it is.  I colored the stems of the flower with three different colors using Copic markers, the centers of the flowers with a darker yellow Copic, and then added my background with several shades of yellow Copic markers.  Okay...I admit it...had to do this several times before I finally got it looking halfway like I wanted it too.  Lesson learned....quit over thinking things!

As a bonus today, I'm posting a new layout I completed the other day.  This is a few photos that I took of my grandchildren Adam and Katie while I was visiting them when their little sister, Maggie was born.  We took several walks outside that weekend. The weather was a little chilly and the leaves on the trees were turning and were just beautiful.

I used Jillibean Soup - Chicken Noodle, and Old World Cabbage Stew collections for this layout.  The background is a soft yellow card stock.The edges were punched with an EK Success punch then cut close to the punched edge and added as a border. I layered the two large photos on the green check paper (rounding opposite corners of the top and bottom photo) and added layered border strips at the top an bottom as well as the punched red border which was punched with the same punch at the outside strip borders. The journaling block was cut from one of the papers and layered on the red. I added a piece of ribbon behind the journaling and a bow at the top of the journaling. The smaller photo of Katie and Adam at the bottom was layered on the red and I rounded the corners. The tag was made using the corner punch from SU. Title work is a combination of Thickers and letters generated on the computer. The butterfly was punched with the MS anywhere punch and I added red half pearls for the body and the trail. I added three red heart buttons between the two large photos. The journaling is hand written.

Thanks so much for stopping by and for taking the time to leave me a comment. Your comments always make me happy!  Until next time...

Hugs!

Time Well Spent

 Now that the holidays are over, I've found myself back in my craft room. I've done some card making, and I've finally finished a couple of new layouts.  I haven't done much scrapbooking in the last couple of months and it was difficult to get back into the groove.  Here's two layouts that I recently finished:

I used a sketch from Pagemaps for this first layout.  I needed something to get my creative mind moving again.  The photo was taken at a local park this past fall.  These three were having a great time running and playing...and if I'm not mistaken, they were making fun of the photographer (me) at the time the picture was snapped! The papers I used for this layout are from My Mind's Eye - Alphabet Soup Collection.  I used a few buttons, cut the tag with a Coluzzle template, and punched the orange border with an EK Success punch.  The title letters are chipboard and rubons.  I didn't have ribbon to match the papers, so I improvised by coloring some white, sheer, sparkly ribbon with a Copic marker that matched.  The "stitching" in the upper left corner was done with a black pen.  The top and bottom borders are just strips of paper adhered to the background paper.

This layout was created with the I Believe Collection from My Mind's Eye.  I took this photo of Allen and Helen Grace just a few days before Christmas.  The stack of presents are three different stamps from Flourishes called All Wrapped Up  I colored each stamped image with Copic Markers, then put a light coat of Glimmer Glaze (Tim Holtz).  I used foam tape to mount the presents to the layout to give it a little dimension.

The ornament at the top left was made by stamping the poinsettia on white card stock with black Memento ink.  I colored the poinsettia and then colored around it with a soft yellow Copic marker.  I cut the ornament out with the Spellbinder Ornament die (the next to the large one).  Then I added a hatch work of glue and sprinkled with glitter.  I also added a little glitter to the poinsettia and some glossy accents.  Before the glossy accents dried, I added some small beads to the center of the poinsettia.  After all the glitter and glossy accent was dried, I added a flat-back gold pearl to the intersections of the lines.  Then I matted the ornament with red paper and used foam tape to add it to the layout.  It was a lot of work, but I loved the end result.  

The green border across the bottom of the red was punch with an EK Success border punch.  The journaling was printed on white card stock.  I punch the corners with a ticket punch, added a small gold border with a gold metallic pen and then added three tiny red flat-back pearls to the bottom.  I also added pearls to the name plate by the photo.  

Title letters are white, glittery Thickers.  After looking at the layout for a little while, I decided that a "stitched" border would be the perfect finishing touch...and I love the way it ties everything together.  BTW....the black border around the layout was just added digitally so that the white background of the layout didn't fade away.

Only one small mishap while scrapping yesterday.  When I was opening the little jar to get the beads out for the poinsettia ornament, I opened it upside down and spilled beads everywhere!  I'll be cleaning up beads for months to come, I'm sure!  Thank goodness I didn't spill ALL of them! LOL!

That's all for today. Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time...

Hugs!



OLW 34 - Using One Stamp

Now that the holidays are over, I'm finding a little more time to play.  I haven't played in the One Layer Wednesday challenge in several weeks and I've really missed it!  This week's challenge is hosted by Jennifer Styles at Styles Ink.  Our challenge is to make a card using ONLY ONE image stamp and a maximum of two ink colours. You may use the same image repeatedly, but you may only use the one image. You may also use one sentiment stamp if you choose. Oh, and no embellishments.

So...I hope I've stuck to the challenge...I used one heart stamp, then I doodled the "heartbeat" with a red pen and stamped the sentiment in red.  Maybe the "heartbeat" line is stretching the challenge a bit, but the card just needed it.

Stamps are from Flourishes and are stamped in SU Real Red ink.  I thought I might use this card from my hubby for Valentine's Day.  The sentiment stamped inside says:  "Some moments are worth holding in your heart forever".

That's my take on the challenge...now let's see yours!  Until next time....

Hugs!

The Magic of Christmas

Today, I finally sat down to scrapbook again.  I don't think I've completed a layout since the week before Thanksgiving!  And let me tell you, I took all day long with this layout. It was like I'd forgotten what to do.  In the weeks prior to Thanksgiving and before Christmas, I spent most of my time making my Christmas cards.  I send out about 50 cards each year and for some reason, I want them all to be different.  I just can't seem to create one card over and over.  Then, of course, I have the MOST difficult time deciding who gets which card! LOL!

Geesh! I'm rambling!  Anyway...here's the layout I've been working on all day today. 

I used the Bo Bunny Christmas papers for this layout. I had purchased two sheets of the background paper, just so I could cut out the ornaments and pop them up...and that's exactly what I did. I also added a little glitter to the ornaments with Stickles. I rounded the corner of the rectangle photo and then cut the other photo in an oval shape with my coluzzle. The snowman ornament was stamped with a Flourishes stamp and colored with Copics. I added some bling buttons and a bit of sparkle to the snowman with Stickles too. The snowflakes were punched with MS and EK Success punches. Title chipboard letters are Thickers and the other title letters were done on the computer. I cut a bit of the greenery with an Xacto knife so that I could slide the photo under it. Journaling is under the photo with the ribbon pull and reads:

Allen, I had to beg you to sit still for a minute so that I could get a few photos of you and the Christmas tree. I finally found the magic phrase to get you to work with me… “Remember Allen, Santa Claus is watching you.” That phrase worked like a charm! You sat so still and you were so patient while I snapped away with the camera. Now THAT’S magic!   (December 20, 2010)

Thanks for stopping by! Until next time....

Hugs!

Merry Christmas to ALL!!

Tomorrow, I'll be 60 years old.  I can't believe it!  Where has the time gone? Have I accomplished anything noteworthy in my 60 years?  I think so.  I have wonderful children, beautiful grandchildren, and my health. How rich can one person be?! 

On December 11, my children surprised me with a birthday party.  Now....I KNEW I would be having a party, I just thought it was going to be on my actual birthday on the 23rd....so they REALLY surprised me.  About 50 people came to help me celebrate.  I was almost speechless!  I know...who would have thought! LOL!  One of my brothers drove almost 3 hours to be there.  I had all the children and most of the grandchildren, friends from the neighborhood, and friends from work.  What a wonderful time we had.  To make it even more special, when we were talking about a birthday party, I had told my kids that I didn't really want gifts (you know the gag type gifts I'm talking about!), but that I would love it if people would bring non-perishable foods that we could donate to a food pantry.  Well....we ended up with about 3 laundry baskets FULL of food to donate.  It couldn't have been any better! 

Now, in a couple of days it will be Christmas.  It seems to come a little faster each year.  This week has been especially busy for me.  I finished all my Christmas shopping on Monday.  Tuesday, I wrapped presents for about 4 hours, and today, I spend the day baking....peanut brittle, cheese straws, pecan brittle, toffee bars, M&M cookies, fudge, and peanut butter Ritz crackers dipped in chocolate! Whew!!

Now, I think I'll go prop my feet up and rest.  Tomorrow...since it's my birthday, I think I'll pamper myself a bit and get a pedicure and manicure.  Ahhhh.....

I should be back to posting regularly by the first of the year.  To all my followers, and to those of you who visit my blog regularly....

Have a very Merry Christmas and and safe, healthy and prosperous New Year!

Hugs!



DRS Designs and Ornaments Galore

I was recently asked by Sue at DRS Designs Rubber Stamps to design a card using their stamps .  Actually, I made two cards because I had two different ideas rattling around in my head!  Sue sent me a few of their stamps and this is what I've created with them.  The stamps are red rubber unmounted stamps and I was really pleased with the crisp, clear image you get with them.  

 

For this first card I stamped the image on heavy white card stock, colored the image with Copic markers and then added a bit of glitter to each of the ornaments.  I used a Spellbinder die to cut the image out, then backed it with some shiny, textured red paper.  The layer behind the shape was embossed with a dotted Swiss embossing folder and also backed with the shiny, textured red paper.  I used a white card base, layered the embossed layer, then put the ornament layer on with pop dots.  Tied gold cord around about three times and added a bow...all done!

This is the inside of the dotted Swiss card.  The sentiment and the "Merry Christmas" are two separate stamps.



I had a difficult time getting this second card from inside my head to the paper, although I am please with the final outcome.  I was inspired by this design from a card I saw at Splitcoast Stampers designed by Kathy.  I wanted it to look like ornaments hanging from the tree on the inside of a window.  I added lots of stickles for "frost" on the windows.  The snowflakes were cut with the Silhouette and I added just a touch of glitter to each snowflake.The Merry Christmas sign was made with the stamp I used inside the other card...I just punched it out with a ticket punch and added gold leafing to the edges. The holly leaves were also cut with the Silhouette and I added three small red bling for the berries.

I added a portion of the Ornaments Galore stamp on the inside of the card and colored them with my Copic markers. 

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you get a chance, head over to DRS Designs and check out all the great stamps they have.  I must admit, I had a VERY difficult time choosing the stamp I wanted to use for my card.

Until next time...

Hugs!