Paper Bows - Using up my stash!

Do you ever make New Year's resolutions? One of my goals for the New Year is to "shop my stash" more often and to make a dent in the enormous amount of scrapbooking paper and embellishments I have.  Of course, I hope to make lots of layouts and cards but I am also going to be more purposeful in looking for ways in which I can use my paper in other projects too. There are just some papers I have which are not my style anymore or which I bought in bulk and just need to use up. So I hope to share some of the projects I find every once in awhile and here is my first find.

I love this idea for using up my extra scrapbooking paper: http://aphradeedesigns.blogspot.com/2010/07/paper-bow-tutorial.html

I will need to practice but here are my first couple of attempts. My bows got a little squished because I am too cheap thrifty to use glue dots and I stapled through my bow layers.

I had enough leftovers to make a little gift card and of course it coordinates perfectly!

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All Decked Out - Snowman Card

I spent yesterday and today making a bunch of snowman cards using All Decked Out. It is such a fun stamp set to embellish! I thought about using different hats and scarves on each card to personalize them a bit, but in the end I decided that it would make the process faster and simpler to make them all with the same hat and the same scarf. I needed 9 cards to use as thank you cards for my students and then I wanted a few extras.

I started off by stamping a snowman with arms, a face, and snowflakes on a 3.5" x 5" piece of White Daisy cardstock. Then I repeated this about 12 more times. Sorry for the out of focus picture!

Then I stamped the hat I chose on a patterned piece of paper as well as on a solid piece of Sky cardstock multiple times. I also stamped the scarf on Sky cardstock and then I cut out the hats, hat bands, and scarves. I layered the Sky hat band onto the patterned paper hats.

Next, I "dressed" the snowmen in their hats and scarves and inked up the edges of the White Daisy cardstock pieces in Moonstruck ink. I also colored the carrot noses with an orange colored pencil.

I inked up the edges of some old patterned paper (from Twitterpated) in Moonstruck ink and attached them to card bases.Then I attached the White Daisy snowman stamped pieces to these card bases. I added some silver Glitz to some of the snowflakes and Liquid Glass to the carrot noses.

After the cards were dry, I added Sunset ink to some mini paper flowers and added mini sparkles to the middles. I added these flowers to the hats. I also added some ribbon to the card. Here is the final card.

Supplies used (all CTMH): (D1308) All Decked Out stamp set, Sky stamp pad, (Z2134) Moonstruck stamp set, (Z2124) Grey Flannel stamp pad, (Z2117) Crystal Blue Stamp pad, (Z2105) Black stamp pad, (Z2114) Cocoa stamp pad, (Z1482) Silver Glitz glitter gel, (Z679) Liquid Glass, blue ribbon, mini paper flowers, (retired) Sweet Home paper, (retired) Twitterpated paperPin It

Backyard Fun - Studio J Layout

Whew...I feel like I am just coming up for air! The fall is always really busy so I tried to be prepared this year but, as my workload increased, certain things (like my creative pursuits) had to make way. I really miss it when I can't craft!

Studio J has been such a wonderful way for me to sneak in some crafting time even when things are hectic. I don't have to worry about clearing out a space and getting out all of my materials out which all takes time (and then cleaning up after which takes even more time). I love working with actual paper and ink and stamps.  But it is nice when I have limited time to just turn on the computer, sign in, and start experimenting with my layouts. If I need to go do something in the middle, my project gets saved automatically. If I come back and don't like it, I can rearrange it or just start all over without having to worry about "ruining" my paper!

This layout is a 14 picture layout called Snappy and it's available to Studio J members. You could easily turn it into a 16 picture layout by converting the title box and the journaling box into photo wells. I deleted my title box and just used the letters from the Quick Title Tool in its place. I left my journaling box as is and I also added a small journaling box to the bottom right of the left page so I could include the date separately.

Here is the Love Your Layout video for December from Close to My Heart. It gives some great tips about how to personalize your layout including a different way to make a border by cropping Stickease. Click on the arrows in the bottom right of the embedded screen to expand the video.

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Love Your Layout: November 2011

 Here's a great video that shows some tips on layering embellishments, adding journaling, and adding a title in Studio J.

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Wonderland Wishing You Well

My poor sister-in-law suffers from terrible migraines and actually had to be hospitalized this week so I wanted to send some get well wishes to her. When I saw the colors at CR84FN, they struck me as being very soothing and I thought they would work nicely for my card. I actually like them for any type of card and I think I will try to use this design with a different sentiment for a couple of birthday cards I need to make. I also used the sketch at Mojo Monday for my card's layout.

Here are the colors for CR84FN:

...and here's the Mojo Monday sketch:

This is my first easel card and I used Beate's video to help me along. I also used my Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge for the flowers, the circles, and the ovals. I was in the mood to roll flowers today!

Supplies used(all CTMH): (G1031) Wonderland stamp set from Workshop on the Go, (D1283) Say it in Style stamp set, (Z2119) Dutch Blue stamp pad, (Z2194) Sky stamp pad, (Z308) Liquid Applique, (retired) Sweet Home Level 2 paper pack, Buttercup cardstock, Dutch Blue cardstock, Grey Wool Cardstock, (Z1336) Opaques Pearl Adhesive Gems, Buttercup Waxy Flax, (Z1686) Cricut Art Philosophy CartridgePin It

So Grateful - Heart 2 Heart Color Challenge

Happy November everyone! The last part of October just seemed to go by at lightning speed!

I unfortunately lost most of my files from my computer due to a virus (even though I do have an anti virus program). The main files I am really missing are my lesson plans from last year so I am having to take some time to rework those. I had just bought a memory stick to back up my files but, of course, didn't! Also some pictures of a couple of projects which I had hoped to post got lost as well. Sigh...I can retake them but I decided to move on and do something new!

This week the challenge at Heart 2 Heart is a color challenge: Terra Cotta, Juniper, Bamboo.

Captured Moments is one of my favorite stamp sets but I haven't pulled it out too much so I thought I would play with it today using these colors. I also used Harvest Happiness with the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge for the leaves up top. I decided to sponge the Colonial White panel, which has the main image stamped on it, in all three colors. What a nice palette for a fall themed card! 

 Supplies used: (C1423) Captured Moments stamp set, (C1463) Harvest Happiness stamp set, (X7139B) Typeset Level 2 paper pack, (Z1248) Juniper Waxy Flax, (Z1249) Sorbet Waxy Flax, (Z697) Round Sponge, (Z1686) Art Philosophy Cricut CartridgePin It

Treat Bag Leftovers

If you saw my post from Sunday and the one from last Wednesday, you'll understand why I had some leftover Kraft paper ovals!

So, I was looking at these ovals and thinking that I should use them somehow. After sponging them with Sunset ink and then a little Barn Red on the edges, I put three together like this...

...and got a pumpkin!

The stem is from Milepost Shapes. I just cut it in half and inked it with Cocoa to use as a stem.

Now I had a perfectly good pumpkin with no where to go! So I made a home for it. I thought a pumpkin carving layout might be appropriate. I'll have to wait for the pictures but I know I need to have about 4 pictures with a portrait orientation! What other type of layout would be good for a pumpkin besides this one, Halloween, or going to a pumpkin patch? Cute as a Pumkin?

I am almost done with my Dreamin' paper pack. I've gotten a lot of mileage from it but it is also nice not to have too much leftover. I think I am finally appreciating the new packaging for the Level 2 papers.

Here is the double layout side by side.

Here is the left side of the layout with the pumpkin.

Here is the right page of the layout. The blank Colonial White fancy square can be for journaling.

Supplies used (all CTMH): (X7142B) Dreamin' Level 2 paper pack, Leftover ovals from Kraft paper, (Z2191) Sunset stamp pad, (1245) Olive cardstock, (Z1464) Milepost Shapes, (Z697) Round Sponge

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