Using My Cricut

I borrowed my school's cricut caRTRIDGE "Home Decor". A few cuts looked good, so I took it home to play with. I found so much more to cut for my pages and my cards. I love the bird in this card, and have cut a bunch more to use on more cards. I also found some borders to use on pages. I went through a blade and stacks of paper, but have a lot to work with in the coming weeks LOL

Overloaded craft table = inspiration

I went into my craft room to clean off my desk. I tseemed like as I touch each piece of paper or embellishment to put it in its place, I was inspired to use it. My desk is no cleaner than when I started, but I finished another set of birthday cards, and made another two cards to boot. I got a new Tilda stamp this week, I love it so. It's Tilda running, and my mind is whirring with so many ideas for it. I had an extra Z-fold card blank laying in the desk, so that was my first inspiration.
Next I found a gorgeous Sugar Nellie that screamed Spring to me. I borrowed the Home Decor cartridge for Cricut, and this beautiful circle frame turned out so well, I'm going to have to cut quite a few more before I return the cart.
Finally, I had a foursome of these images and pink came into my mind. Except for the card bases, all papers were leftover pieces from previous projects. I'm trying to use it all up, and also use different types of embellishments, like the SKittles on the last four.
I colored all my images with my Copics, of which I have added two more markers to my collection, both in the BG line.

Black & Whites

I have decided that I don't like to create with just black and white. I keep wanting to put at least a tiny piece of vibrant color on the card, or even a big splash of it. I am in a swap that requires me to make 5 black and white cards. Every time I finished a card I decided it was okay, but not exactly what I wanted. So my swap will include five totally different cards that I'm okay with, just not excited about.

No photo

Although I just finished another five pages, I haven't posted their photos, and I don't plan to. The last layout almost killed me. I lost a very good friend about two years ago. She died the night before we were supposed to get together. I didn't find out until she was about three hours late to meet me at my house. When I talked with her ex, I thought she had been in a car accident. She died a stupid death, passing out while in the bathtub. She had some serious issues, and I'll never know if it was an accident or not.
I just scrapped the few pictures I had of her and me together. I had a couple of my son and her daughter, who are the same age. We met when they were both in a park district class together. We really bonded, started working out together, had play dates with the kids, shopped together, took the kids trick or treating together. Our friendship stood up to several moves and her divorce. We saw less and less of each other, but when we did get together, we picked up where we left off, and I felt that our bond was still strong as ever.
I couldn't make it inot the room where the slideshow was playing with photos of her. Her own mom and daughters ended up consoling me at the memorial, and I left early so that they could share the day more comfortably with everybody else. Now I've lost touch with her daughters,a dn that part of my life is over and gone, but not forgotten, and there's a whole in my heart that I don't think will ever go away. I miss her.
These pages are going in the back of one of my scrapbooks. I wrote her a three page letter and asked her why, knowing I won't get an answer. But I finished the layout, and maybe that as well as this entry will help a little.

Folded Cards

A crafty friend asked for a set of friendship cards this week. I got this far with a horizontally folded card, using papers from the Green Stack by DCWV and Friendly Forest dp, and a styamped image from Sugar Nellie(?). I want to put in a sentiment, but where???


As you can see from the card, there's not much room on the front, and if I put it on the back, it will either block the background picture, or not be seen at all if I put it lower.

The card is meant to stand up as seen on top.


So anyone have somne creative ideas?? Or do I just send them out to her without a sentiment??

Happy St. Patrick's day

Ah, St. Patrick's Day, a holiday where everyone can (and does) claim a little Irish in them. Here's a quick card (actually, four of them) I made for co-workers. I also included a little limerick for each of them as well. Their rhymes are specific to their personalities and jobs, so I won't post them. I just love how Bella is ready to bestow good luck on everyone she meets. she is such a happy, upbeat, generous gal!

I used my leftover stash of dp, colored her with Copics, and embellished with felt flowers that I found at WalMart in the Christmas clearance aisle-a set of six for 50 cents!! Of course I bought what they had left LOL

Soccer Mom

My son is 24 years old. He was NOT into sports in high school. He barely finished out the year in Color Guard (and only did it for the contacts with girls).

My daughter is 14 and a Freshman in high school now. She was on a steady Fine Arts path until the Soccer bug hit her and hit her hard. She had never played team soccer before the tryouts for freshman girls two weeks ago. But she trained and conditioned with a select few who knew what the coachers expected. And she surprised me (I'm ashamed to say) by making the cut.

Her first game was today, and although I had to work, hubby and son drove an hour out to watch her play in her away game. Here she is driving the ball. She did not make any personal goals, but her team won their first match 3-1.

Her next game is at home, on Thursday. I am NOT working during that time, and I will be there come sunshine or rain, because...

I am now a Soccer Mom. And proud of it!

Holley's Blog Candy

Look at this gorgeous rubber!! The stamp sheet is from Sweet Pea Stamp COmpany, and my good friend Holley is offering it as blog candy right now, so you must race to her blog as quick as you can to try to win it! Here's the link:

http://www.holleybarnhartsblog.blogspot.com/

Oh, what I could do with these images!!!

New Cards to soothe my soul

I say to soothe my soul because it seems the only thing to calm my nerves, forget my stress and relax has been to take some time out in my craft room. My thing lately has been to make cards. I guess I'm saving myself for the 12 hour crop coming up this Saturday. I want to scrap more of my old paper printed photos. I only have about 28 years worth of photos to organize and crop.

The images I colored are both Sugar Nellies I think. I wish I had more experience with stamp companies. Not only would I know all their lovely names and designers, but I would have a whole bunch more in my collecgtion. I have images from stamping friends I can't identfi, and some of them I am salivating over, trying to find their makers to buy them and more like them!! All inage swaps should come with IDs !!

Dressed for Success

Wow, I never imagined how much inspiration I could get by sorting all my stamped images. I found several of this little cutie (I think it's a Sugar Nellie, please correct me if I'm wrong) and thought "I have just the sentiment and the paper for that. And four cards later, it's on my blog>
I used Cosmo Cricket Double Patterned Paper Pack, so it's either frtom their Ever After or Girl Friday lines.
The sentiment is from SU, and I colored her with the Copics pictured below. The Orange markers are: YR61 and YR16. The dp really lent itself to this image I think.

Well, that's all my free time today, back to work tonight. Happy crafting, all!

Cards, Cards, Cards!

More cards for your viewing pleasure. These cards use the Cosmo Cricket line of patterned papers (either Ever After or Girls' Life). A couple use Quicklets, which I found at the scrapbooking convention last summer. You set these with your pen tip--they are great!!
Well, work is kicking into high gear again, starting today. While there are no classes tonight, we have 8th graders and their sponsors/parents coming in for rehearsal, and on Saturday, the big event, Confirmation, with Reception for families immediately following, and dinner with the Bishop later. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday is the Parish Mission, and we have reknowned spiritual speaker Matthew Kelly (hunka, hunka Australian love) for each night. Of course, I'll be working those nights as well as my regular days. I'm tired already!! So no time for crafting boo hoo!

Digi designs

I've been on a card kick lately. I've created three different designs if you can the fairy cards I did this weekend. Here I used a digital design (first time using one of those) and I like what I see. The dp is CosmoCricket, with oranbge organza ribbon to embellish. I also used my new nestabilities die to cut the shape. I love these, and will have to work a lot harder and earn more money to feed my nestability hunger.

New Cards and a Bookmark

I'm loving these new manga fairy stamped images. I can't get enough of these. I've made several cards, including the ones
here, as well as this Book Fairy Bookmark.
I visited my local HobbyLobby yesterday and found the patterned paper that I used on the cards on clearance--10 cents a sheet!! I like the Spring look to it.
The bookmark was made with a page torn out of a white gel pen journal. Then I used white gel pen to embellish with a few extra swirls here and there.
The cards are also glitzed with Stickles and Liquid Glass. If I'm going to make any more cards with these images, I better check YouTube for coloring hints. Anime is a little different coloring technique than my usual . I like how they turned out though.

Fairy Card

I can almost smell Spring--it's close, even though there is still a foot or so of snow on the ground, and I'm still in my winter jacket. It's close..

...so saying, I celebrated ther return of Spring with anew card. I haven't had tiome to post anything new in a while due to work consuming me. I finished fifteen pages at a crop, and several cards and tags.

This card was made using an image I received in a swap. I don't know who makes the fairy, and I have other images like it. I love them all and want to buy more, but havew to wait until some king person IDs the maker for me LOL.

I wanted it to have a bit of other-worldly feel to the card, so added pearls and flowers and sparkles wherever the mood hit me. I love the colors. I would like to learn how to color manga images. It's a bit different than what I'm used to, not as much blending.

Spooky Saturday

Cropped last Saturday and really got a lot accomplished. The most difficult pages to layout are the ones using old printed photos from before I got a digital camera. I mean, really old. My kids are 24 and 14, and there are photos of the 24 year old of his first Halloween.

Anyway, the theme for the day was Halloween. I had most of my papers and embellies for Halloween in a couple huge plastic baggies, and had just finished organizing as many photos as I could find. I finished 13 pages, starting from 1986 and finishing with the year 2000. I'm not done, either, plus I'm missing photos as well, but I really feel like I accomplished a major task.

Scrapping those old photos to me is both enervating and gut-wrenching. I haven't touched some select sets of photos because the subject matter is near and dear to me, but on the other hand I'm looking forward to tackling them.

Now if I just didn't work, I could have all the time in the world to make pages and put my photos in their "frames".
And I have been holding onto some of the papers and embellies for so long I wouldn't know where to start to ID them. I'm just happy to have so many photos scrapped in one day.

A few of them had been scrapped already, but then our basement flooded and I lost a bunch of photos and the scrapbook was salvaged, but the pages were going to mold (sewage) so I had to either remove the photos or pull the dry pages out to revamp later.

I wasn't too worried about using all one design of paper either. I just wanted to get the photos ON paper and record some of the events, thoughts and stories that went along with each year.

All this makes me want to rummage through every box of photos i have to see if I can come up with any morte pics of Halloweens past!