who me...

I haven't been very crafty this summer, but with school starting I hope to get back on the ball! I am working really hard at organizing my craft room and that too has been helping with my creativity. So, maybe you will be seeing more of me these days... both of you!

Teachers are always requesting gel hand sanitizer and I thought it would be fun to deck these two out. Who am I kidding, I was cleaning up some projects from... well, I don't even want to tell you how long ago! and I didn't want to put the apple paper away so instead I whipped these two simple beauties out. The bottles are slightly tapered and that was the hardest part. These were easy peasy!

supplies
paper: DCWV
accessories: SU ribbon, DCWV stickers and unknown die cut letters

hijacked...

No, it's really just me. I just fell off the face of the earth for a while :) There was Christmas, then my daughters birthday in early January and she's in kindergarten now so it's kinda a big deal these days. And I am going to be a grandma.. yeah, I know. I'm not old enough but it seems no one told my boys that! Anyway, we're getting excited as Bryce will soon be here. Just a few more weeks if he decides to show up on time. Plus, I am ashamed to admit I was addicted to too many of those blasted facebook games. Yoville. That's it. I allow myself that one game. No Mafia Wars, no Cafe World, no Farmville... you get the picture. If you play look me up :)

So, I plan to get back into crafting and blogging again. Actually, I've been crafting. Any kind words of encouragement is appreciated :) Oh, and thanks to those who missed me. I really appreciate that.

Here's a little tote I made for my daughter to give to her kindergarten teacher. It's got a bag of Valentine Ghirardelli chocolates in there. Yup, the big one. She's that good. I just wish I knew school would be closed for three days due to the snow we have in the Northeast. I would have gotten them tomorrow when they are half price.

For this sweet tote, I pulled out my Scor-Pal. Love that thing! I just lined the candy box up with the lines on the Pal and went at it. I rarely follow directions and I just wing it quite often. I waste a LOT of paper that way, but I still have an abundance so I am generally OK with that. The mouse is from the DCWV stack and I cut her out with my craft knife. I added a little shimmer of cheapo glitter glue to her bow, and some red grosgrain (after Christmas clearance at Target, love it!) as a handle. The top of the bag was done with the EK success punches. My intent was to do both layers with the larger scallop but the punch had other ideas. It stuck on the cardstock and refused to give it up. An email to EK success solved that little problem, but not in time to finish the bag. If your punch gets stuck on cardstock, they say to toss it in the freezer to contract the metal then punch foil and wax paper. I knew the last part but the freezer idea was new to me. I hope that tip helps both of you :)

supplies
paper: dcwv farmer's market paper stack
accessories: red grosgrain, ek success punches

split baby...

This baby has an identity crisis! LOL Really, another VSN challenge here. This one is called split negative. Usually this is done with embossing but I played with my SU pastels. I don't think they've seen the light of day since the last time I've played in VSN... what like two years ago???

supplies
stamps: no idea who makes this kiddo
ink: versamark
paper: su certainly celery, so sarrfon, pink pirouette, soft sky, dcwv nanas nursery boy and girl
accessories: su pastels, sponge dauber

the perfect tree...

For the perfect Elzybells. These girls are so cute! I really love them. The image is from the generosity of the Wish RAK group.

I used my new nestabilities for the image on this one. I really want to get the set that resembles the top note die from stampin up, but they are always out of stock :( I do like this one too though :) I ran the red layer through my wizard with my swiss dots cuttlebug folder. I put it on backwards because the paper is white core and all the dots were white on the other side, and I didn't really care for that look.

supplies:
stamps: elzybells, su warmest regards
paper: DCWV
ink: ruby red craft
accessories: copic markers, ribbon from my stash, stickles, nesties

i've been feeling christmassey...

It seems like it's been forever since I've stamped for fun. Today I decided I'd make some Christmas cards for my husband to give to some of his friends. A few times a year a group gets together and they hike along old rail lines and find all sorts of historical things. Most of these lines haven't even had a train on them in years... heck, some of them don't even have rail anymore LOL. But they have fun, they map it out, take pictures and see some really cool old stuff.

So, I decided today I'd make him a set of cards. I got most of it done too till I got sidetracked with some new rubber that I bought from Paper Addiction a few weeks ago. I really love this paper by Scenic Route (and it's on sale this weekend) and I wanted to try to CASE it with the matching stamp set. You will see that card soon. Back to the cards I made for my husband... The Elzybell is from Wish RAK. I colored her with with my Copic markers and added some stickles and liquid applique for dimension.

supplies:

stamps: elzybells

ink: copic markers

paper: dcwv

accessories: red ribbon from taylored expressions and the organdy is from my stash

the third baby card...

The final baby card. I hope you're not sick of them yet! LOL

This one was stamped on white and colored with copic markers and the outfit was pieced on. The little buttons are a little larger than I'd like but they were the smallest that I had and I really, really wanted to use some buttons!

The ribbon is from my stash, I think it was leftover from a SEI class I took at CKC. The scallop punch is by Martha Stewart... love her edge punches!!

supplies:
stamps: stampin' up sentiment and if you know the source of this baby, please let me know so i can list that :)
ink: palette noir, rose red
paper: DCWV patterned paper, SU whisper white, certain celery
accessories: buttons, copic markers, ms edge punch

another baby card...

A few days ago I mentioned that a friend of mine had a baby girl. This is the second card that I made for her. Most of the details are the same. I wanted a similar look even though the cards are different.

supplies:

stamps: stampin up sentiment, if you know the source of this baby, please let me know so i can list that :)

ink: palette noir, rose red

paper: DCWV patterned paper, SU whisper white, certain celery

accessories: rhinestones, copic marker (for rosy cheeks), sponge daubers

oh baby!

A friend of mine just had a sweet baby girl. I remember the days my little one was baby girl. Sometimes I miss those baby days... but most times I really enjoy her being a little girl. I know it will be the same for my friend as her angel grows.

For this card I stamped the baby image twice. Once onto blush blossom paper and once onto the DCWV flower paper. I trimmed out the entire image in blush and layered it onto the bard base, then cut out only the outfit on the flowery paper and added some rhinestones for the buttons. This card is one of three I am sending her, so the other two will be coming over the next few days.

supplies:
stamps: unknown. if you know the source of this baby, please let me know so i can list that :)
ink: palette noir, rose red
paper: DCWV patterned paper, SU whisper white, certain celery
accessories: rhinestones, copic marker (for rosy cheeks), sponge daubers

happy birthday lili...

We had a birthday party to go to on Saturday, so I whipped this up for the birthday girl. I had this image all ready to go, so I ran the pink paper through my Wizard with my Cuttlebug folder. Since the paper was white core, I decided that I'd do a little sanding on it. I really like the way it looks, maybe some day I will pull out my coredinations and play with the embossing folders that those papers. I wanted a little more bling so I added the heidi swapp gems to the bottom but I thought it was too much, so I popped off every other one. Usually, I'd glue the popped ones down and not sure the strip, but they were already perfectly spaced and I was in a hurry.

supplies:

stamps: paper salon

paper: su and dcwv

ink: basic black

accessories: cuttlebug folder, stickles, nestabilities, ribbon scrap, sanding block, heidi swapp gems, copic markers

i have an inkling...

Alesha Walls wrote this weeks tutorial featured in the Weekly Inkling on SCS. As soon as I read it I immediately thought of this Martha punch. Who am I kidding... I didn't read it. I looked at the picture, skimmed for measurements and got punchin'!
It was love at first site. I think this punch works amazingly with this technique. I chose this orange paper because it was a scrap from these boxes that I made for the last Ft Meade MD swap. And besides, orange is an amazing color! The card base (layers and all) was pulled from the french board. I made it last halloween but never did anything with it. I have some bellas on it in my gallery at SCS. I have no idea where the black and white gingham is from. I was on a card in a ribbon box. I was thinking about what ribbon to use when I spotted it up on the top shelf. I pulled out my YR07 Copic marker and colored away. I love coloring my ribbons. You really get a lot out of your ribbons this way :)
supplies:
stamps: stampin bella
paper: su only orange, dcwv
accessories: black and white gingham, martha stewart punch, circle nestabilities, Copic Markers

bella in stitches

I've been playing with the sewing machine a lot over the last few days and plan on playing a bit more :) A day late and a dollar short... again.
I love this DCWV card base with this bella. I will be so sad when I am out. I save them for special cards. Since I stitched directly on the card base, I have a quarter sheet of white on the back to hide the stitching.
On last years Holiday paper from SU, I took my Creative Memories wavy trimmer and sloped the one edge. I wanted to test my ability on steering LOL
Bella is colored with Copic and Stampin' Up markers. The felt flowers are by Making Memories and Stampin' Up and the brad is Stampin' Up.
supplies:
stamps: jammybella by stamping bella
paper: stampin' up and dcwv
ink: brilliance graphite black

sew... what's new?

Cheesy, I know but who could resist? About three years ago I said to my husband "Honey, I need a sewing machine!" Being told I didn't need one because I didn't need a new hobby, I promptly went out and bought one. After all, it's for PAPER not fabric! I wish I would have waited because I would have gotten the ever popular Janome Mini. This is the first card I've sewn on. I have always loved the look... Julia does amazing amazing things with her machine! I really love and admire her art.
Fluffles is from the wonderful ladies over at the SCS Wish RAK group. I *heart* them! His sweater is flocked (white) and colored with Copic marker.
supplies
stamps: fluffles
paper: su cranberry crisp, dcwv patterned
ink: copic G05 and I colored the gray so long ago I have no idea!
accessories: sewing machine and thread, flocking, heidi swapp gems

pretty as a princess...

This is another card on double sided card stock. I had this image stamped and colored and on my french board waiting for a loooong time! Really, I think like two years! I was going to use the images for my daughters second birthday but went with something else *after* I stamped and colored about twenty of these... look for more of her in these colors LOL!!
Thanks to Lauren (my biggest enabler!!), I have these wonderful Disney Princess stamps and had to use this sentiment for this card.
supplies:
stamps: SU Pretty Princess (I think) Disney Princess sentiment
SU Basic Brown ink
paper: stampin up confetti white; unknown card stock, DCWV patterned paper
MME ribbon, Stickles, DCWV stitches rub ons

a tiny tote

When I first made the 2-4-6-8 box I loved it! When Jenn Balcer posted directions for the 2-5-7-10 box I was in love! I was going to use these boxes for school treats but they don't hold pencils well at this size. So, these are going to be little treat boxes for a special group of ladies.

I used a half sheet of card stock and scored the bottom at 1.5 inches. It's banded with a two inch strip of patterned paper and Booglie Eyes is stamped, colored in with just my prisma colored pencils (it was hard to resist blending with mineral spirits.) A little ribbon wrapped around and a finished with just a knot. The image is popped up on foam dots.

supplies:

booglie eyes by SU

only orange card stock, dcwv patterned paper and green panel

basic gray ink by stampin' up

prisma colored pencils

random ribbon scrap from my ribbon basket, google eyes

teachers gifts....

I am making some note cards for my son's teacher for the Holidays this year. I wanted to make self sealing notes that he can use to send notes home to parents or use for colleagues. That's why I chose to do these matchbook cards. I am using up some 12x12 card stock I have excess of so these cards are 4x5.5 instead of the standard A2. I actually like this size better... somehow it just seems more proportional or something.

More of these to come in the next few weeks!

supplies:
su mini mates stamp set
dcwv patterned paper, craft cardstock
giltter glue, stapler