Dum, dum, DUMMM!!!

I usually have such a difficult time coming up with card designs that I really like. Typically, I'm much more of a scrapper than a card maker so trying to design cards or card templates is a real challenge for me. In my attempt to create a 20 cards from 2 sheets of paper template, these Christmas cards were born. And I have to say that I think they came out alright even though they are.... contraband!! (Dum, dum, DUMM!!)


Colors : well, they would be Holiday Red, Citrus Green, Clover Meadow, White Daisy
Papers : Pebbles Inc Holiday set - small stripe and dot, white card bases
Stamps : No Peeking, Joy, Christmas Scripts, Confetti and Favors
Inks : Holiday Red, Clover Meadow
Accents : Ribbon (Pebbles), White brads

Now, I say contraband because normally the only products I use are CTMH (first because I like them better and second because I'm a consultant). But this time I just wanted a couple sheets to play with for examples. That and it's nice every once in a while to see what the other companies have out there. And even seeing all the other stuff, I still like our stuff better :D. Anyway, those are the cards I came up with and the nice thing is it helped me devise a template to make 20 cards from just two sheets of patterned paper plus card bases. Some of these cards are part of that template and some of the others just helped me get there by using their samples. You make four cards each of five designs and I'm pretty proud of it since it's very economic ^_^. I'll be making regular CTMH ones later after I finish tweaking the template.

These other cards are the ones I'm designing for our Fabulous Friday enrichment activity in our church. I'm in charge of the free make and take cards. Now I wanted to make them really nice and fun, but inexpensive as well since I'm on a budget. These are what I came up with. I might end up getting different pattern paper for each card for the actual event, this was just used to help me come up with some designs.

Colors : would be about - Heavenly Blue, Key Lime, Crystal Blue, White Daisy

Paper : Baby Boy Stripe by Pebbles Inc., Baby Blue CS, Honeydew CS both from pebbles

Stamps : Delight in Everything, Christmas Scripts, Music of Winter, Little Angel

Inks : Crystal Blue

Accents : Heavenly Blue Organdy, Silver brads, White embossing powder and acetate, chalks

This really fun flower card is called a crisscross card and it's the first one I've even made. I think it turned out very well for my first one. The colors in the picture are a bit subdued probably because of the lighting. In real like it's brighter and very cheery. The colors are actually classic baby boy colors, even the stripe is from the baby boy section, but I think blues and greens are great for any occasion!!

A closer look at the flower which is white embossed on acetate. I love this look and haven't done it until now just because I was lazy and didn't want to get out my embossing stuff :P. But the results are well worth the few minutes it takes to make the flower. It's what really makes the card 'pop!'

This card was the first thing that came to mind when I saw this paper. It was a little simpler in my head but by the time I finished it, I really loved it. I'm so sad that my camera just doesn't do these cards justice. It's light and wintery, the edges of the card distressed in the same blue as the happy holidays and snow flake.

Here's a close up of the snow flake. I put the brad in then used a pop dot to raise it and mounted it over the ribbon on a 2" circle punch out of the green. I love the effect!

And this is obviously a baby boy card. Simple and elegant. The added plus was that this was the simpliest card to make. You can't see it but the edges are distressed with chalk that gives it this soft feeling. All in all, I'm really happy with the way these turned out.

Helping Mom

So I heard the girls clanking around in the kitchen this morning with silverware which usually means they are getting all my clean dishes dirty. As I'm telling them to get out of the kitchen I round the corner to see the dishwasher open and both of them.... putting the silverware away in the drawer. Audrey is getting them out of the basket and handing them to Caitlyn, who is putting them in their little slots in the drawer. Why there was all the clanking, I have no idea because once I'm in the kitchen their small silverware procession is a silent one. I had to smile and say I was sorry but they didn't pay me any mind and just continued with their work. They also pulled out the bowls and plates and set them on the counter since the cupboard where those go is up above the counter. It was so sweet and it was only afterward that I realized I should have gotten some pictures. Then again, the moment I brought out the camera they probably would have stopped like they usually do and would have been more interested in the camera than in putting away dishes.

Starting Fall Out With A BOO!!

I finally decided to try and scrap some of the Halloween/not Halloween pictures from last year (I'm that far behind, farther actually : Feb 2006 :S). Now the story behind our Halloween last year was this. Early in the month we found costumes for the girls and were so excited for them to wear them near Halloween that we were devastated when that week both the girls and I caught a really nasty stomach bug. Needless to say we didn't get to go out at all during the week surrounding Halloween. So to make up for it after we were all better I had the girls get dressed up in their costumes and did a photo shoot. They also got chocolates afterward when we were sure their tummies could hold down the goodies :D. Here are two of the pages I scrapped of Audrey in her little witch costume.

Colors : Autumn Terracota, Smokey Plum, Garden Green, Pansy Purple, Black, Col.White
Papers : Enchanted PP ('07), Black CS, Autumn Terracota CS, Smokey Plum CS, Pansy Purple CS, Garden Green CS, Col White CS, Grey Wool CS
Stamps : Contempo Caps, Believe Caps and Lowercase, Sans small lowercase, Playful Flourishes, Simple Stitches
Inks : Garden Green, Sunflower, Autumn Terracota, Black, Smokey Plum
Accents : Black spiral, Autumn Terracota buttons

The cauldron I drew and cut out on black cardstock then sanded and colored to make the shadow with the black marker. It probably took longer to do that cauldron than both the pages put together, lol. The handle is grey wool cardstock distressed with gray wool ink. I used my oval coluzzle for a guide. A circle punch was used for where the handle connects to the cauldron and sanded autumn terracota cardstock was for the wooden piece on the handle. The legs and steam are from the flourish stamp. The page design is my own. I also did some fun doodling on the words trouble and bubble.

More My Style

Scrappy Scraps : So the past few days I've been really getting into using those paper flowers. I've made a some really pretty pages that I adore, but last night I went with something that's more my style. I love doing simple pages and using my stamps as the embellishment. This one was done using Imagine's Dynamic Duo template.

Colors : Lilac Mist, Spring Iris, Garden Green, Buttercup, White Daisy
Papers : Lazy Days PP ('06), Spring Iris CS, Lilac Mist CS, Buttercup CS, White CS
Stamps : Free Spirit
Inks : Spring Iris
Accents : Chipboard Alphas

I used chipboard tracings for the letters for play and the brackets. I was going to put the yellow on the chipboard but decided to just glue it on as just cardstock and save the chipboard for another page :D. I like the way it turned out and I didn't even use any embellishments! It still took me nearly two hours though, mostly because of cutting out stuff and I stamped five other birds and cut them out before realizing the page didn't need them and looked too busy with them on it.

On a Roll

Scrappy Scraps : Wow I feel really, really accomplished right now. With a total of 6 pages done adding up to 24 pictures scrapped I think I can officially say I was on a roll!


Colors : Cranberry, Moonstruck, Clover Meadow, Sunflower, Col. White
Papers : Route 66 Lvl 1 Kit ('07), Moonstruck CS, Cranberry CS, Col White CS
Stamps : Solo A, Charmed Lowercase
Inks : Clover Meadow, Cranberry

Colors : Hollyhock, Goldrush, Sweet leaf, Black

Papers : Wild Adventure PP ('05), Goldrush CS, Hollyhock CS, Sweet Leaf CS, Black CS, White CS

Stamps : In the Wild, Doodle Alpha, Solo T, Boutique Alpha, Rustic Alpha, Cobblestone Alpha

Inks : Black, Goldrush, Hollyhock

Accents : Hollyhock stripe ribbon, Hollyhock accents, Black brad, Chipboard mini tag

I almost never use black so this was a challenge for me as I love lighter color pages. And in the end I loved this layout. It's so bright and fun! The journalling talks about her Tiger and how she takes him everywhere with her, even to bed. These two took me all day since I had two little helpers, lol.


The palette was taken directly from the ribbon.. The tiger theme of course added the black and I was so happy that goldrush was nearly a perfect match to Tiger's coloring. I had to ink the zebra stripe paper to make it into tiger paper and punched out the circles from scraps to make the dot paper. Layout is from Cherish - Fabulous Fifteen.

Colors : Garden Green, Spring Iris, Lilac Mist, White Daisy, Olive?

Papers : Lazy Days ('06), Spring Iris CS, Lilac Mist CS, White Daisy CS, Garden Green CS

Stamps : Delight in Everything, Precious Alpha, Doodle Alpha

Inks : Spring Iris, Lilac Mist

Accents : Just Blooms White Daisy, white flower sequins, garden green brads, mini pastel flower brads (making memories), garden green organdy ribbon, chipboard F

These two pages took me about 2 1/2 hours and are from Imagine, but the result is well worth the time because they turned out just beautiful. Flowers are line stamped in spring iris and solid stamped in lilac mist, cut out, then a strip of ribbon, paper flowers and finally a brad are added (for the big flowers). The smaller ones have a sequin on using a glue dot.

Life Scraps : I think bandaids are catalysts for pain. So, I go to change out the water filter last night before going to bed so I don't have to do it first thing in the morning and as usual (for me) I damage myself trying to do this simple mundane chore. Aside from the banged elbow and kinked wrist, I cut my finger. And it was a decent cut, blood streaming out and everything. Now it was funny that it didn't hurt at all really. The cut felt warm but I'm assuming that's because of the blood, and other than that my finger was fine. I let it bleed for a minute then washed it off to check it and it really wasn't too bad. It had already stopped bleeding and the first thing that popped into my head was 'wow, I must have really good platelets.' Yes, I have random thoughts jump into my mind at weird times but the next thought was more urgent, 'I don't want to bleed on my nice white sheets'. So of course I get the neosporin and a bandaid to tend to my finger with and I swear not ten seconds after putting on that bandaide, my cut started searing. Not burning really, just 'ouch ouch ouch that hurts' kind of pain. Now I know the bandaide couldn't be on too tight because it actually felt a little loose. I have these skinny little fingers and if I'm not careful the sticky part of the bandaide will land on the cut, so I have to put it on a little looser because I definitely don't want to be pulling tape off any wound. Anyway, later that night the bandaid feels uncomfortable and I just think to myself that it's probably okay to take it off (for the sheets). Ten seconds later, my finger doesn't hurt anymore. Bandaides a catalyst for pain? I surely believe so :P.

More for today!

Scrappy Scraps : I must be doing really good :D. I just finished two more layouts and they turned out so darling that I decided to just post them now!

Colors : Hollyhock, Buttercup, Lilac Mist, Chocolate
Papers : Sonata PP ('07), Lilac Mist CS, Buttercup CS, Chocolate CS, Col. White CS
Stamps : Floral Delights, Solo T, Precious Alpha, Doodle Alpha, Playful Flourishes
Inks : Spring Iris, Hollyhock, Chocolate, Buttercup
Accents : Chocolate bigger brads and regular brads from spring connections club reward


Done with Imagine. I love these colors together!

Productivity!!

Scrappy Scraps : Well either my trying to get inspiration through doing smaller projects worked or I just broke through my scrapper's block coincidentally right after making cards. These were actually done last night, I was on such a roll that I was up until 2:30am finishing the Sisters page. Of course the last half hour of that was spent cleaning up my gargantuous mess!! I think the level 1 kit helped too. It's so much easier to scrapbook when you don't have to think about the layout and it's already provided for you! I don't know why I almost never buy them lol, because I love them so much and they make scrapping so much easier! So here is my level one kit completed. It's the four preprinted layouts, stickease, cardstock and then some stamps to liven it up.

Colors : Bamboo, Crystal Blue, Desert Sand, Outdoor Denim, Cranberry

Papers : Majestic Blue Lvl 1 kit ('07), Col. White CS, Desert Sand CS, Outdoor Denim CS, Cranberry CS

Stamps : Paradise, Rustic Alpha, Storytime Caps

Inks : Desert Sand, Cranberry, Outdoor Denim

The really neat thing about these four pages is that it only took me about an hour and a half to do all four, that includes all the stamping and journalling! I've actually done a level one kit (four pages) in about a half an hour before with no stamping, just using the stickease. And yes, it says 'sharks' above the journalling on this page. Caitlyn absolutely refused to get all the way into the water because of 'sharks'. Even after trying to tell her that there are no sharks in the swimming pool she wasn't convinced and told us 'sharks are in water'. At least she's not taken that so far as to be afraid of getting in the tub!!

Colors : Heavenly Blue, Hollyhock, Garden Green Cocoa, White Daisy

Papers : Groovy Blossoms PP ('06), Autumn Garden B&T Pack ('07), Heavenly Blue CS, Cocoa CS, White CS

Stamps : Giggle Lowercase

Inks : Hollyhock, Garden Green (to color some of the flowers)

Accents : Just Blooms in White Daisy and Autumn Daisy, Flower rhinestones from spring '07 connections club reward, white daisy sequins from old white daisy accents tube, hollyhock brads and buttons, chipboard S and mini tag, white waxy flax

The template is Ensemble Piece on page 40 from Imagine and this was the first time I used my book aside from just looking through it lol.

A close up of the title. I just love the chipboard S and the tag. In fact doing this page made me think about doing an alphabet album using the lowercase chipboard letters. It would be so cute!!

Mommy Scraps : So just this last week we had an interesting accident with the laundry. My dear hubby loves to keep a pen on him at all times and usually he's really good about making sure they don't go with his clothes into the hamper, and even on the occassion that they do I usually catch them before they end up in the wash. Such was not the case this last week, only it wasn't in the washer that the problem arose. Nope, his pen broke open in the dryer and ruined almost everything in there (he uses those ink flow pens). So this weekend we did a little clothes shopping, which was really nice since we rarely do so like this. I ended up getting a new pair of nice taupe/light chocolate trousers that work both great as dressy or casual, a few new tops, and two pairs of shoes (for fun). Now usually I only buy stuff that I won't care if it gets ruined because well let's face it, all clothes get ruined sooner or later. Instead I got pieces that yes, I really really liked and would be very sad if they did get destroyed. But you know, I feel so much better about myself in them. I feel more confident, I feel prettier, and more like a woman instead of just a mommy. As for my hubby, he was very happy to see me in clothing that consisting of something other than overworn t-shirts and loose fitting pants.

Inspiration Ideas

Colors : Garden Green, Olive, Desert Sand, Cocoa, Indian Corn Blue
Papers : Garden Green CS, Cocoa CS, White CS
Stamps : Outdoor Trek, Beauty Seen
Inks : Garden Green, Olive, Desert Sand, Cocoa, Indian Corn Blue

I pull out my scrapping supplies, bring my pictures out, and sit down with a magazine or a template book to scrap and that's when it hits me.... Lack of Inspiration. The motivation is there, I want to scrapbook; but the great ideas and 'aha!' moments seem to evade me. Anyone else get that? I'm sure I'm not the only one to feel debunked by scrapper's block. So, I thought I'd try something a little easier for me to get the inspiration flowing and that is to simply pick out a theme and go with it. I have wanted and wanted to use these stamps for so long but I don't have any 'hiking/camping' pictures. I actually picked out the stamp set instead of actually picking a theme but it worked. I didn't get any pages done but I had fun making these two cards. I only used scraps since I wasn't sure if I was going to use these or not.

Colors : Star Spangled Blue, Moonstruck, Cranberry, Olive, White Daisy

Papers : Moonstruch CS, Cranberry CS, White CS

Stamps : Typewriter, Confetti and Favors

Inks : Star Spangled Blue, Moonstruck, Cranberry, Olive

This card is I made for a friend's birthday party for her little boy. I have such a hard time making masculine/boy cards or layouts and I just love the colors and how this turned out. My 3 year old made making this card a blast as she started singing her ABCs when she saw me stamping the birthday letter background then naming off the colors and telling me how cool the stamps were. And I have to agree, stamps are pretty darn cool!!

Cards, Cards, Cards...

Colors : Hollyhock, Sunflower, Garden Green, Col. White
Paper : From Me to You card kit (Sept. '07 promo)
Stamps : From Me to You, For All Occassions
Inks : Hollyhock, Sunflower, Garden Green
Accents : Garden Green grosgrain ribbon and brads that came with the card kit

Sixteen cards from the kit. I basically followed the mini guide book for the card layouts but changed around some of the stamps used here and there and I also distressed all my cards. The longest and probably hardest part was cutting out all the flower pieces for all the cards, but I think the end results were worth it!

Life Scraps : So there is this really big rave about making a deck of cards. It has something to do with the 'art everyday' thing. I really haven't researched at all into it but from what I have seen it looks like a lot of fun. You make a card a day for 52 days using a deck of cards or just making your card the size of one. It's usually a descriptive word about you or something that happened that day and you essentially design a little card for the word and then journal on the back what it means or why you chose that word. At first I thought it was one card a week (hey even I can handle one a week!) because there are 52 weeks in a year and 52 cards in a deck. But the daily thing had me really thinking because we do things in our everyday lives that we don't scrap about. I'm not big on journalling (except in my scrapbooks) so this would not only be a challenge for me but would help me be creative on a daily basis instead of just 'whenever'. The problem with this is, I'll want make my cards about my girls since I spend all day with them instead of myself, and it's meant to be a self expression project (at least I think). Anyway, I might or might not start doing this. The biggest concern I have is what am I going to do with all those cards after I'm done!! They definitely aren't going to fit back into the box!