Summer Card Camp!

I haven't been able to go camping this summer yet, but I got to sign up for Summer Card Camp :D.

I broke out one of my favorite Papertrey Ink stamp sets, Chair-ished and went to town. I used Versamark on PTI Spring Rain cardstock to make the background on the card.

WOYWW 108 - Wow Wednesday Again??

Ok I spent most of the week being ill, a fast acting starting off as sneezing ninja attack sort of bug that triggered problems with asthma and possibly bronchitis. Not very creative nor fun lol. But I did manage to get a little crafting in and shock of all shocks, some clearing of deskspaces!. What can I say... I was ill lol.

The odd pink looking thing to the right is a marvelous little brad setting tool that I picked up on sale for $5.00. The airplane was a test model from my new Groovy Times cartridge. The fun foams are cut with Papertrey Ink die cuts and glued onto plastic packaging thus transforming them into stamps. Continuing in a clockwise direction are two more embellishments I made from the Botanicals Lite cartridge that I haven't decided what to do with yet, and above them was my Purse Project for the last three years finally finished!

It's all made of French knots and Cotswold knots and the perfect thing for carrying in a purse to be worked on. At the same time sort of mindless as it's just filling in the lines with colored threads, no counting required at all. But at the same time interesting and enough to focus on to book passage to my happy place if needed (and a lot less noticeable than sticking my fingers in my ears and la-la-la-ing). And I had no idea what a Cotswold knot was till I purchased this kit lol.

I am a big fan of stencils, but usually forget to use them. So I got a handy dandy notebook and started putting them in page protector sheets. I'm really addicted to page protector sheets lol. I'm not sure if I'm ready to start sewing pockets in them though, time will tell. Some of these stencils go back to the 80's btw lol.  Apparently there is no expiration date on them.

Lastly, Interweave Press has 10 free books available for download now, you have to sign up, but lots of good info there.

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, snap picture of your workspace and join in the fun :D.

Military Thank You Card

The current challenge at Club Ruby Designers is a Military Thank You card. This is my sample for the Design Team post. BTW the winner will receive a goodie bag from Megan.

and on the inside

Cardstock: Papertry Ink, Kraft, Vintage Cream and Dark Chocolate.

Brown Cricut marker set at a pressure of 1 (if it is too light at 1, go to 2).

Cricut Expression2, Gypsy

Calligraphy Collection cartridge for the "for all you do" ( 0.92" high) and the Thank You phrase (1.61" high)

Stand and Salute cartridge: Service Woman cut at 3.82" high.

WOYWW 107 - Traveling! (Now with pictures).

I went on a little three day jaunt, and really haven't been in my craft room (though it's a little better than last week). All I took with me craftwise was my notebook, my camera and a small spindle. (I know, not even my Gypsy got to come along!).

Aren't the designs around the headstones marvelous? Salem btw.

Maple Bark.

 Sea glass on the beach just lights up in the morning! Not so easy to see in the afternoon.

I watched the sunrise from bed lol.

So if you are wondering what's all this WOYWW than, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander, better yet, snap a picture of your workdesk and join in!

WOYWW 106 - ! Gorgeous PiF and Creative Chaos Abounds... No Really lol

Usually I start with my crafty spaces, but this week I'm showing the gorgeous PiF I received from Helen. It's a large tag and it is stunning! Sometimes it's near the computer and sometimes it's in the craftroom (set aside from the fray). If you haven't done a PiF before, I highly recommend it!!

Now if you are of delicate sensibilities and you find chaos (creative or no) paralyzing... look away... look away now!

Here is my desk this morning testing the earthly bonds of gravity lol. Front and center is a pinwheel I cut on my Cricut with the Mother's Day 2010 cartridge. I love a really free spinning pinwheel and have discovered that if some substantial cardstock is glued to the back it gives a nice solid framework to the whole thing. Another tip, eyelets. The jar is my water jar for washing out paint brushes, notice the lid? That lid has saved my bacon on more than one occasion lol. Balancing on top of the paint jar, are my labeled Distress Inks. I left part of the label white to show the ink against the white and then wrote across in black ink (so I can see at a glance if I like the color against black ink writing). And on top of the labelled Distress Inks are two more of the Maze Books (seriously, I'm addicted).

Joann's online was having a brilliant sale on all things Tim Holtz, so I picked up some Distress Inks I didn't have (to the left under the strip), and those ball feet for boxes. Upper left is a picture of DD waiting to be put on a scrapbook page. It's the reason to go to Disney World, the smiling, brilliantly happy child on the Dumbo ride. When I took the picture I had no idea it was the shot most often taken lol. But it is a brilliant picture of her :D.

The strip thing is another flash of inspiration. Put down a line of tombow glue and let dry (so it's tacky) and now it's perfect for decorating those clear half dome candle accents which we call skittles. Which reminds me, I found some diamond (as in argyle) shaped ones, but they are buried in there somewhere.  The plastic bag to the right is to keep the moisture in a brick of paper clay. So much fun to be had, but it really is time for a clearing... only I have to not get distracted... wish me luck lol. *looking for harness and safety helmet*

Now if you are wondering what's all this WOYWW then, head over to Julia's and have a gander, better yet, snap a picture and join in the fun. Honestly, could your desk be more ... creatively chaotic ... than mine???? LOL

Stamp Challenge

There is a Stamp Challenge at Club Ruby Designers now. So make a card, a layout, pretty much anything as long as it features a stamped image. The randomly selected winner will receive a goodie bag from Megan!

I used Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream cardstock, with the Papertrey Ink Friendship Jar Spring Filler sunflower stamp, colored in with regular markers.

One of the Best Days layout and Botanicals Lite cartridge Blog Candy

This layout is made completely with the Botanicals Lite cartridge and four shades of green Core'dinations cardstock. It was one of those low key, eating lunch in the backyard days and we see a hummingbird zooming around the yard from feeder to flower to feeders.

Now that summer is nearly here again, I'm celebrating by giving away a brand new in the box Cricut Botanicals Lite cartridge. All you have to do for a chance to win it is leave a comment saying that you'd like to win it by the end of June 30 (so roughly 11:59 EDT). Easy Peasy. The winner will be chosen at random on July 1, 2011.

A WOYWW Maze Book

As I mentioned before, I made about 5 PiFs, not knowing which would be the "one" to send. After this one was finished, it demanded to be sent to our fearless WOYWW leader, Julia. I wrote a basic Maze/Meander Mini Book tutorial (which you can see here). This is another variation.

The outside I could photograph, but I had to scan in the pages to show them properly.

front.

side. And I just have to say, that's the best looking bow I ever tied lol.

open front.

open back.

Attaching the pages together makes the book more solid. I used a paper piercer, a piece of cork and made holes for sewing along the appropriate pages to make pockets. Except for one pair that I left unpocketed so it could be a panorama. I used a book needle and some Papertrey Ink Twine, then lost the book needle and used a thin tapestry needle. I had the darnedest time finding the paper for the cover and nearly passed this up because it was too "cool/blue". Tim Holtz (crafty super hero) to the rescue with some Antique Linen Distress Ink! I used Distress Ink for everything inky in this project.

The pocket art is shown "out".

Tiny piece of sea glass (aka Mermaid's Tear) sewn on before the covers were attached.

WOYWW 105, the week after.

I'm in the middle of labeling all my distress inks. I saw some on desks done in a similar manner. Very handy and saves a lot of going through stacks one at a time lol. The green string and beads is a little necklace I made a while ago, that wandered back to the desk lol.

There's a lot of talk about Smash books by K&Co., which I don't have, but I did find this lovely stamp. I've yet to master the art of stamping it without getting the left edge of it stamping as well, but it's fun and anarchy sheep doesn't mind :D.

I think I made 5 things before I decided which would be my PiF (pay it forward) for the 104th WOYWW, including one that demanded to be sent to Julia Dunnit lol (which I'll post after I've had word it's been received). I was tickled pink that I got to send my PiF to Elizabeth and Bleubeard, and especially pleased she really liked it :D. (I have something to make for Bleubeard, but it might take me a little while).

Finally I decided this little piece of sea glass (collected in Rockport, Mass) and wrapped in handspun wool embroidery thread (wrapping was a bit more difficult than I thought it would be) would do the trick :D. I love how the thread is visible on the other side (in real life, harder to show in a photograph). I took the photograph on a kraft glassine envelope. Truly a wonder this stuff :D. I confess I'm also partial to regular glassine and wax paper lol.

I thought it appropriate to send a card along with my PiF. Actually the entire card was made with things that had been on my desk (some longer then others, some actually made their way into storage tins lol), and as it was a WOYWW event card, that seemed the height of appropriateness to me :D. And also because it was a WOYWW card, I wrote a long list about what everything was from on the back lol.

With the beachy feeling of sea glass, I turned my Tim Holtz townscape shared in an earlier WOYWW into a beach town. Papertrey Ink kraft cardstock makes the edge stand up even after being sea punched (Martha Stewart). The fleur de lis border is from Octoberish 2009 when I got my Gypsy at the launch and I was madly testing the two cartridges that came pre-loaded on it and couldn't bear to toss perfectly good embellishments just because I didn't know what to do with them lol. I also bundled up a few things that had been on my desk as goodies, Papertrey Ink buttons, a bit of film strip (also by Tim Holtz), a sheep I stamped and cut out, sheep from my Imagine, etc.

It also gave me a chance to use my tiny tiny Tim Holtz brads which I didn't realize, until I used them, had screw heads punched in the top (philipsheads and slots!). So crafty, that Mr. Holtz lol.
If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, or if you are just curious to see what other crafty folks have on their desks, head over to the Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, join in :D.

Boo-lated Birthday Card, but wait there's more :D

 Hello everyone, today is my day to be a guest designer at the Bug Bytes!

 Ok, so it's a scary tree card, nice but...

 

Inside there is writing with a Cricut Marker... nice but wait... there's more.

It's barely visible in the picture (it glows brighter in real life). The moon and tree face glow in the dark! :D I used the Art Deco Glow in the Dark paint on the base, I think four layers would be even better, this is with two.

Using the E2 is vastly improved for using with markers, but I haven't figured out if I can move the blade and what to do when writing inside a card? Gypsy to the rescue :D. Select the card you want and arrange it on the Gypsy. Then make another layer and copy the card to that and line it up exactly. Hide the score marks and add the sentiment where you want it placed.

Using the marker layer, put the marker in the machine and hit the cut button.

After the drawing is complete, return to design.

Take out the marker and put in the cutting blade (and please use scrap paper lol). Then go to the cut layer.  Do not hit the load/unload paper button. Easy Peasy :D

Happy 104 WOYWW

Though I've only been participating for a few months, it is the 104th WOYWW. Our fearless leader, Ms. Julia Dunnit of Stamping Ground, gave us lots of advance notice so we could, if we wished, participate in a Pay It Forward (or PIF).  That's mine ready to go (when I get a name and address) in the back. And I got my Tim Holtz goodies today. I've been pining for those ink pads, kraft glassine anything and the ring binders. The Glow in the Dark is my new obession, 3 projects in 3 days :D.

I also wanted to include somethings on the blog that every one could access if they want to do so.
Here is a jpeg I made from the instruction card included in my newest to me typewriter. You can save it to your computer and print it on cardstock for all sorts of fun things :D.

I'm also including some links to lovely free things.
http://www.interweave.com/Communities/ Interweave has a variety of communities where you can sign up for daily emails with tips and some free ebooks. Quilting Arts, Cloth Paper Scissors, Spinning, Weaving, Crochet, Artist, Knitting, Beading, Jewelry Making, and Sewing.

http://clothpaperscissors.com/media/p/5291/showcontent.aspx This link goes to a free ebook (once you've signed up for the Cloth Paper Scissors community) about 5 Art Journaling Techniques including ZenTangle. You do have to sign up, but it is free.

Here's hoping your Wednesday is wonderful :D.