I’ll Post Whatever I Want

Another butterfly card. I am just loving this set and butteflies in general.

I did this card for KWernerDesign’s color challenge. Pretty isn’t it? You can get more info from her blog. The colors are so saffron, real red, tempting turquoise, old olive, and pumpkin pie. Nice, huh?

Nothing interesting to share really. After this I’m going down to eat a tuna sandwich. The plumber is working on our water line in the basement. Moving a few things around before we work on our walls. Can’t wait until it’s done!!

Laters!

Color Challenge

Did this card for the color challenge at kwernerdesign. I did it really quick. Didn’t really have time to think of the design/layout. I really like the colors and want to participate. My first time trying out her color challenge.

I did substitute Sahara Sand with Craft paper. I don’t have Sahara Sand. Everything is by Stampin’ Up! except for the sentiment which is PaperTrey’s. I used the distressing tool to distress the so saffron paper and then paper pierced it. The stamp set is Garden Silhouettes.

So here it is. Hope you like.

Five Minute Card

Maybe less. It was pretty quick. I wanted a yellow card, so took out a yellow piece of paper and cut, punched a hole, grabbed the stamp-a-ma-jig and stamped the Lovely Labels Thank You through the hole, stamped the rest of the card using Baroque Motifs, and added the satin ribbon and the Primas. Ink color: chocolate chip. What do you think? Does it look five minutes or is it pretty presentable?

I love the colors, so bright, reminds me of warm summer days. But I think this card can easily be changed to look more elegant. Change the colors a bit and this will make a great and quick wedding invitation. I should try it… I’m thinking chocolate chip with soft sky or something a bit darker like last year’s cool caribbean more less like this on the right (color by Kuler).

I have no exciting story to tell. Same old stuff. I haven’t done a lot of crafting this week. Just haven’t been motivated. Which is too bad since hubby’s on late shift duty this week and I could have had plenty of time doing crafts but I’ve just been watching movies with M or playing. Today I did a bit of tidying up and this card and that’s it.

Glad it’s Friday tomorrow. Long week it seems like. I’ve posted all the assignments, including exams, for my two online classes that I’m teaching. So happy. I have no class to teach this summer, just my full-time job and the basement (plus retiling the bathroom). Oh, so not looking forward to labor work!

Beate’s Sketch

Did this Friday for Beate’s sketch and also mother’s day. Ever since I did the color challenge on SCS, temping turquoise, green galore, and kraft, I couldn’t get enough of this color. Obviously I haven’t overdone it but I would if I could {::SMILES}. I couldn’t resist this color when I saw the content of Dana Frantz new kit, Hippie Couture. Check out the pattern paper, isn’t that just perfect? Coincidently too, last Friday I picked up a few ribbons at Wally World and look, the colors match to perfectly!!!

Is this too bright of a mother’s day card? Who knows, but I love it {::SMILES}.

To get this color, I adjusted it a bit. I went into photoshop and get into the Curves and moved it slightly down. I wanted it to print a bit darker. The pattern is a 12×12 design but I just printed it out on an 8.5×11 white card stock.

I had a fun time at the crop yesterday. I did a few challenged that the ladies can choose from and out of the 17 there, 8 participated. Not a lot but not bad since it’s the first time we did challenges. I’m not sure if they liked it but those who did participate seemed to have had a fun time doing it. I’ll show you what I did throughout the week. Have a great rest of your Sunday!

Hello from Osage Beach

I have Internet, yeah! It’s $9.95/day but I really needed it. I got what I need to do for tomorrow done, learned lots in the process of it, and even helped out with some work website issues. Now I just need to go to bed.

Ok, what to share this…  If you’ve been following the ColourLovers tutorials, I have something here for you… what happens when you click on the “Create a pattern with this palette” button? Try it out. It’s pretty cool! Select a palette first and you should get to this window.

M… poor thing, her stomach is upset or something. She threw up at the restaurant. Nice huh? Earlier she said her tummy hurts. She took a nap and after she woke up she said she’s hungry. We went to the restaurant and she wouldn’t eat and when she did take a bite of the salmon… everything came out. Thankfully, the husband is here with me. But, soon after we got back to the hotel, she was fine. Hubby, who got puked on (literally all over — M was standing on the chair right next to him and hubby was extending his arms out to pick her up) got cleaned up and decided that after all that (picking salmon out of his favorite hat and cell phone besides rinsing everything else) he needed a drink (or more). So he went to the bar and joined my co-worker for some male bonding. What an evening!

I also have a card to share. It’s an old one that I did. Thought you might like it for inspiration if you have this Big Bloom retired SU set. I think this was one of my first card where I cut a lot. I use to not like doing it but now I find the need to always cut something. This was also the first card that I created that I really like. Again, I am hard on myself.

Well, good night. Got to grab breakfast at 7 a.m.  tomorrow. The great thing about today was that the front desk knew I was bringing my M today and so our room is right next to the back door of the room they’re using for the meals, YES! My sessions are also just around the corner. NICE!!

The Quickest LO Ever

I did this layout for A Million Memories Challenge and my friend, Guen.  First AMM info… The rules for the challenge are (copied from the forum):

1. Patterned Paper only (as in no cardstock, you can use  embellishments)
2. Hand journaling (lots of it)
3. LOTS of white space
and (the clincher)….
4. Do it in under 1 HOUR (we’re in the honor system here)

As you can see, there’s no card stock. The line around the photos are from the photo paper, I hand journaled, have quite a bit of white space, AND I did this in 45 minutes!!!! From the time I sat down, figured out which photo to use, find paper, and get to scrappin, I did this page in less than 60 minutes. Whoo hoo!!! I even incorporated some stamps — actually this is one of my favorite stamp set for my LO — oh wait, not the bird, just the bird, is my favorite stamp. I think this little guy is my trademark. Maybe I’ll have him in all my LO from now on. Might not be obvious but he’s there {::SMILES}.

Guen… well, she came over last weekend. I showed her the layouts that I did at the crop and she casually mentioned that my layouts have been more center focused lately compared to my past ones. Why yes, I didn’t realize that. So for this one, I made sure that the focal point isn’t in the middle (or to the right — I noticed that if it isn’t centered it’s slightly to the right).

Credits: I know that the b/w paper is 7Gypsies, the die-cut flower and stamp set is Stampin’ Up!, the chipboard text is American Crafts. The rest… unknown. I know I got the ribbons from the 2005 CK Convention in Kansas City and the polka dot background paper is nice and sturdy — doesn’t help, huh?

I really like this page. It’s not because my dog is too funny when he’s into his kong (see the larger image to read the journaling), but it’s because I did this in less than an hour. I think I’m spending more time blogging this than actually creating this LO!

Brother’s Birthday

This is a card that I did for my brother. His birthday is coming up. He’s an April’s Fools boy and lives in Indonesia. This is why I got his card done so early so that I can send it off this week — it’ll give me a few days to figure out when I’ll have time to stop by the post office. I have stamps but not sure how much it is to send overseas WITH a knotty ribbon — it’s not $.41 + $.17. Oh speaking of, stamps are going up again May 1st. Just a penny though. Which I think is reasonable the way gas is going.

I created this card based on Beate’s sketch challenge. Challenge #39. If I have time, I want to try another challenge, one from Caardvarks. They have all sorts of cool prizes so you might want to check them out. I didn’t do this week’s because I have nothing in mind for their transportation theme. So I’ll wait for the next one.

I hope my brother likes it. This card was easy to make (as you can see). I just used my 1 3/8″ punch for the square, then rounded the two corner edges and stamped and layered. I added the baby blue ribbon because the colors look good together and also because he’s my baby brother, ha! The brads are Making Memories, the coloring was done using Stampin’ Up! markers and there is also some dimensional sparkles on the cake — thought I’d give it sparkly icing look. Not sure if you can see it. I really like how this card turned out and I hope he does too — he better! {::SMILES}.

Have a great Monday!!

Had a Day Off, Yeah!

I had a nice day today. Yeah to me! {::SMILES}.

I stayed up late, not scrapbooking, but watched the Wedding Crasher last night. Hubby took M to school this morning and me… I slept in until 11 a.m.! Wow! I haven’t done that since… uhmm… who knows… It was nice. This afternoon we ran some errands, had lunch at a little tea house, and shopped at the local consignment store. I spent $97 on a butt load of almost new name brand clothes for myself. The most expensive was a $12 BCBG pants. I LOVE consignment stores! M even got a little Easter dress and necklace and the hubby got two pair of pants. Yeah… the poor guy, he had to leave and come back to get me since I was taking my sweet time in there. Even after he came back, I was still in the dressing room.

Ok, so here are some cards that I create for my Stampin’ Up! workshop on Tuesday. I actually did three but the other one I’m saving for a submission to something. I’ll tell you later.

I used the Just Celebrate set — my favorite owl — and the Cuttlebug. It’s a pretty simple card and for the owl, I just used my pastel SU markers to color it.

For the ribbon, the ribbon doesn’t go all around the card stock. It’s cut on each end and then glued on to the paper. What I did was glue one end and glued it to the back of the card stock, rolled the ribbon over and when I get to other end, I’ll decide how much I need for the glue and then cut the ribbon from the roll. For the center tied the knot first, arrange it the way I like it, and then cut the other end from the roll. I like doing this because I feel like I’m saving a lot of ribbons. I see people cutting a strip of ribbon and then end up trimming a lot of it after everything is all set and done. I know that some people can’t tie if the ribbon isn’t loose but to me it’s quite easy and that’s why I do it the way I do it.

This other card is a super simple card for M’s friend. We’re going to another party this weekend. Her friend is turning three, so I don’t see the need for a fancy card. The last card I made for M’s friend, the one who turned five, she glanced at it and put it down. Who knows where the card is now.

I used the scallop punch for this and the stamp is from the So Many Scallops set. It’s a Sale-A-Bration set.

Tomorrow and Saturday I’ll be scrapbooking. I hope to have a lot to show you by Monday but we’ll see. My husband said it’s so discouraging for him when I go to this types of events. I’ll be gone for so long and I’ll come back with one or maybe two layouts. I’ve told him that I’m just a slow scrapper. I’ve actually gotten better this year but I’m still slow compare to many of you out there. So we’ll see.

Card and LO

Silke Ledlow nominated me for a You Made my Day Award. Wow! I wasn’t expecting it. I’m one of her blog stalkers, love her simple, classy, and fun designs. You should check her out! So now I need to nominate five people…. hmmm…

1. Amy Tsuruta - Tsuruta Designs. Her cards always make me smile. They’re so simple and sooo elegant. Amy definitely makes my day
2. Cathy - Paper Cat. She’s my new SIS sister and I love her stuff and her blog. She makes my day when I see all her work
3. Allison - Your Memories. This chick is another awesome scrapbooker. Her work makes my day too
4. Melissa Goodsell - One Crafty Mumma. She’s my hero. She’s my Martha Stewart! She’s so good at everything it’s sick and her family is so lovely. Check out Bella’s sock monkey tutorial. This family makes M and my day
5. Bonnie - The Lucky Clucker. She’s one of my blogging sister and her work makes me smile. She’s really good and so she deserves the award {::SMILES}

Here are some projects that I did tonight. The first is a card. I used my scrap papers for this card and also the netting. For the flower, I used Stampin’ Up’s die cut floral. The hi is American Craft and the friend is SU’s Rough Edges Alphabet stamp. Ok, let me tell you this… I am a SU demo but I don’t recommend this Rough Edges Alphabet stamps unless you like to mount A LOT of itty bitty rubber. I hated it! The stamps are great but the process of mounting is a pain in the a**. I mounted friend and a few more. That’s it, until next time. Maybe I’ll just use it for just the word friend, ha!

Then I did this page. I used Tara Sroka’s Love Muffin kit, Hearts Do Dads, size tags, and to-do list.

I used the B/W photo technique that I showed you last week or maybe two weeks ago. If you read the journaling, you’ll know why the picture is kind of over exposed.

For the journaling, I used the path tool and I intersected two squares together (in the tutorial I intersected two circles and used the intersection, in this one I combined the two squares).

This is a pretty simple LO, another layered one — I am really liking this layering concept.

I’m only working half a day tomorrow. Yeah! Not sure what I’ll do but one is to prepare for my Stampin’ Up! workshop tomorrow night. I didn’t take the half day to do that, I did the half day just because and coincidently I have a workshop tomorrow. I’m excited. I don’t do workshops much, maybe once or twice a year, so it’s always fun.

I am Tara Sroka’s CT!

Last Sunday I was officially one of Tara Sroka’s Creative Team. Remember the Green layout that I did (if not, it’s this one on the left {::SMILES})? Well, she liked it and here I am, one of her CT. I am also going to be a May guest for a stamping company but I can’t say who yet until March 15th — EXCITED THOUGH!!!

I applied for Tara’s spot because I love her clean design. Her style, to me at least, is like the old school graphic designer. It’s what I learned to do when I was in graphics class (I was an advertising major… I thought I was going to be working in some big advertising company creating magazine ads or something). I love trying a little bit of everything but every so often I miss the clean layouts so this will give me the opportunity to mix it up a bit more. I also applied because I saw a lot of things that Tara created that I can use for my cards and hybrid scrapbooking. I can’t wait to create a few big items this weekend!

After checking out the other members and also Tara’s forum, I really like it. Before February I’ve never joined a CT before and the experience has been quite interesting (plus who doesn’t like free kits). I plan on being in no more than three CT at a time. This forces me to create 9-12 LO (or cards or altered craft)/mo which is about my goal for this year.

Here’s my first creation with Tara’s paper. These pattern papers are gorgeous. The design’s just lovely and the colors! Pastel but at the same time it’s not so fufu (does that make sense?). It’s suppose to be an Easter set but hey, I’m not one to follow rules, and thus this none Easter card. I printed them on card stock on my color inkjet printer. I just got a tip today that I’d get better results if I print on matte photo paper so I will be stopping at the store to get some. The stamp is Stampin’ Up! for Friends and PaperTrey’s Mixed Messages. Card stock and ribbon also SU. The brad… oh, isn’t it pretty? My blogging sister hosted a brad share and this was one of the many that I received. Lovely!! This is the first time that I’ve actually used bling-age {::SMILES}.

Ok, it’s Thursday, yeah!!! A video will be coming out on my next post!