A birthday card to share!

So, as it happens, I haven't scrapped in a month again. My December Daily sits forlornly on my desktop, neglected. I have yet to start this year's Project Life, so another New Year's resolution broken. But, I did manage to eek out a birthday card for my father-in-law!

I decided to share it here because I love the way it turned out and I used lots of old supplies and tools! The paper and stickers are 15-year-old American Traditional Designs. The cardstock is old Die Cuts With A View that I ran through my dusty Cuttlebug. I accented the balloon stickers with some old Close To My Heart dimensional glaze and then added a couple newer touches - the Pebbles rub-on sentiment and the Jillibean Soup enamel stars. And all done!

Hoping I find a way to carve out some scrapping time once again! Until then, Happy March!!

Mother's Day Cards!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas out there!

I'm spending today being spoiled by my boys and also getting some scrapping time in! But, I wanted to share the cards I made for Mother's Day this year that I sent out to my mom, mother-in-law and grandma (aka Nana). 

I dug deep into some old kits and found one with lots of Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm scraps that I just couldn't part with. Those types of beloved scraps are perfect for making pretty greeting cards!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Throwback Thursday: A Card Share!

I know, I know. I said I'd be updating the scrappy blog and FaceBook page more regularly. Well, the truth is I haven't done a ton of scrapping. I have been slowly but surely chipping away at my 2015 December Daily and am happy to report I'm over halfway done. It's just hard finding the time so when I get ten minutes here and five minutes there to sit at my scrap desk and get a little something done, I consider it a win. I won't be sharing last year's December Daily until this upcoming November as I feel it will be more relevant to everyone then. But, once I get my December Daily done, I'm picking up my YEARS worth of Project Life to catch up on again!

In the meantime though, I've also been back to making a few cards here and there. March is a crazy busy birthday month for us so I've found myself making several birthday cards. Here is one that I really liked that I made for my Nana. It's a total "throwback Thursday" card because I used old Basic Grey June Bug papers, a super old original Heidi Swapp chipboard heart, an old sentiment sticker I've had for years and an old Studio Calico card sketch. I love digging into my stash and creating something super fun from items I've had on hand forever. And the best part? My Nana absolutely loved receiving this handmade card, along with a few photos of the boys, for her birthday. A win all around!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Bazzill Basics

Papers: Basic Grey

Sentiment sticker: Unknown

Flower: Petaloo

Chipboard: Heidi Swapp

Wood Veneers: Studio Calico

Sketch: Studio Calico

Patchwork card with the Birds of a Feather March kit!

I am so excited to have shared my first Birds of a Feather tutorial! So I decided to share it with all my blog readers here. I saw this technique a few months back at Two Peas and had to give it a try. So here we go!

(1) Gather your supplies: several different papers, a sheet of letter size cardstock, cardstock trimmed and folded to standard greeting card size (5.5" x 4.25"), an adhesive runner, a trimmer and embellishments.

(2) Cut a total of 17 1/2" wide, 12" long strips from your various papers.

(3) Adhere your strips side-by-side vertically along your sheet of letter-size cardstock. Be sure to separate and space out patterns of like color and pattern.

(4) Trim 1/2" strips from your patterned-paper covered cardstock perpendicular to the strips you just adhered to that cardstock.

(5) Adhere the checked strips to your greeting card base. Stagger and flip your strips so that the same patterned block is not adjacent to another block of the same pattern. Once you're finished, you should have a bunch of leftover checked strips so put those aside for use on another project or make a second card! (Note: In these photos, you can see that my squares don't line up perfectly. I purposely cut my strips around 1/2" wide and not exactly 1/2" wide. I did this to give my card a more "homespun" look. Of course, you will have more of an exact, clean grid if you cut all your strips to exactly a 1/2" wide. It all depends on the look you want.)

(6) Trim off the overhanging strip pieces from your card.

(7) Embellish your card and add your sentiment. I prefer to keep the embellishing minimal on this type of card because the background is very busy.

(8) Pick a recipient of your finished card!

 

Thanks for checking out my tutorial! I hope you'll find it useful for creating a quick card that looks like it takes forever to create and it's a great way to use up long, thin scraps of paper!

My Sketch World Sketchathon Creations

During February, My Sketch World had their Sketchathon in honor of their 7th anniversary. I participated in the games and by completing a few of the sketches...namely, all the card sketches. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to complete any of the layout challenges but I really need to stock up on greeting cards and I had a ton of old scraps to use. So focusing on the card sketches was perfect for me. Here are the cards I created...

World Card Making Day at Let's Capture These Sketches!

I didn't get the chance to make any cards on World Card Making Day, so I was super excited to see that Let's Capture These Sketches kept the deadline for their world card making challenges open for a whole week! I got a chance to complete each challenge...

Challenge #1 was to lift one of two cards by LCTS designer Shirl. I lifted the first card. Instead of using a cute little guy in the center of my card, I used a few butterflies. I also used twine instead of ribbon, but the general design of the card is still there. I also made this card for two other challenges - this week's Two Peas Finally Friday card challenge to use white ink on kraft paper (I used white embossing powder though because my white ink was barely showing on the kraft cardstock) and My Sketch World's World Card Making Day crop challenge #4 to use at least four layers on your card.

(Supplies: Bazzill cardstock; Jillibean Soup papers & twine; Karen Foster sticker sentiment; Hero Arts grid background stamp; Inkadinkado white embossing powder; Ranger embossing ink; Glue Arts, Helmar, Tombow and 3M adhesives).

Challenge #2 was to use a card sketch and here's what I came up with. I also created this card for My Sketch World's World Card Making Day crop challenge #8 to use a quote on your card.

(Supplies: Jillibean Soup papers; Chatterbox quote sentiment; unknown ribbon; Glue Arts, Helmar, Thermoweb, 3M adhesives.)

Challenge #3 was to use mist or paints. I used some of my Bubblegum pink Glimmer Mist on the background of this card. I also made this card for Kimber's 10/13/12 Saturday Card Sketch challenge over at Two Peas.

(Supplies: Pink Paislee papers; Joann's cardstock & sentiment embellishment; EK Success heart punch; Tattered Angels glimmer mist; Glue Arts and Helmar adhesives.)

Challenge #4 was to create a card with a handmade flower on it. I created a handmade lollipop flower for this card. I also made this card for My Sketch World's World Card Making Day crop challenge #6 which was to use at least six patterned papers on a card.

 (Supplies: Bo Bunny papers & stickers; unknown sentiment sticker; Basic Grey brad; Creative Memories circle cutting system and punches; Glue Arts and Thermoweb adhesives.)

Challenge #5 was to create a card with something colored on it. I pulled out these cute printables I got from CK's 2012 Summer Camp that I never used and then colored one of the banners and the flag/pinwheel cluster with my Zig Writers. It was fun! I also made this card for My Sketch World's World Card Making Day crop challenge #7 which was to lift a card made by MSW card designer Lisa M.

 (Supplies: Me And My Big Ideas and Fancy Pants papers; Bazzill cardstock; CK printables; EK Success Zig Writer markers; Karen Foster sentiment stickers; Jillibean Soup twine; Glue Arts, Tombow, Helmar adhesives.)

Challenge #6 was to create a card with something shiny on it. Not only is there five pieces of bling on this card, but (it's hard to see) there is glitter on the polka dots of the chipboard purse. I also created this card for My Sketch World's World Card Making Day crop challenge #9 which was to create a card using all pink in honor of breast cancer awareness month.

(Supplies: Joann's and DCWV cardstock; DCWV and Dream Street papers; Crate Paper chipboard embellishment and stickers; Kaiser Craft rhinestones; Glue Arts adhesive.)

Spook-tacular!

Here's a quick card I created to get you all in the mood for Halloween! I used this sketch by Susan Stringfellow for Basic Grey and also used some Basic Grey Eerie. Why did I decide to pull out some Halloween supplies and make a Halloween card for this Basic Grey sketch challenge? Well, because Kandis Smith, Garden Girl at Two Peas, asked us to for this week's Finally Friday card challenge.

(Supplies: Basic Grey papers, chipboard & stickers; Bazzill cardstock; miscellaneous ribbon; Zig Photo signature & Sakura Micron pens; Glue Arts, Thermoweb & 3M adhesives.)

A Page Maps card sketch just in time for a newly important holiday for me!

I received an email from my wonderful husband Andrew on Tuesday that simply said "Grandparents Day is 9/9." Yikes! That's this Sunday and as newly minted grandparents, I wanted to make sure we recognized my parents and in-laws. Now, I know they wouldn't want a gift or anything (I can hardly give them anything for Father's or Mother's Day) but I knew I had to send each couple a handmade card. 

Then, Becky posted this contest on the Page Maps blog for a chance to win the inaugural (and sold out) Studio Calico card kit. Um, yes please? So, I used her fabulous sketch to create this Grandparents Day card to send to my in-laws...

 Supplies: Bazzill cardstock; Dream Street papers; Jillibean Soup tiny alphas; Studio Calico wood veneers; DCWV rub-on border; StazOn ink; Cuttlebug embossing system; Glue Arts, 3M & Thermoweb adhesives.

And I followed the sketch pretty much to the letter, adjusting a bit for a longer sentiment and smaller embellishments...

Using up some scraps on a pretty card!

I have really been trying to use up the oodles and oodles of scraps I have. And I have found that cards are a great way to do this. The following card is no exception. I also decided to use this sketch by Susan Stringfellow for Basic Grey to complete this card. And, I also used four (I think!) old Basic Grey collections...there is definitely some Urban Couture, Sultry and Wisteria. I think the pink is Lily Kate. A Basic Grey Wholy Cow rub-on sentiment completes this card. Now, who can I send this to???

Basic Grey Card Sketch Challenge

So, I was still one Mother's Day card short for this year. But, with this challenge completed, I am all set for next weekend. Basic Grey challenged you to use the following card sketch...

And here is what I came up with using the Wisteria collection, some Basic Grey bling and a Basic Grey rub-on sentiment. I also used my own handwriting on this card which I hardly ever do. It doesn't look exactly like the sketch, but sketch are supposed to provide inspiration and this one sure did!

Cards Galore!

So I have been scrapping - not as much as I'd like but some. Recent projects include finishing Alexis' first year album by Christmas (over halfway there), our Orlando 2007 trip, various layouts for photos I have already printed and cards! Why cards? Well, National Cardmaking Day was last month and I have to desperately clean out my scrap paper file because it is ready to explode. I find making cards out of my scraps is the best way to purge that pile without just throwing everything away. So here are some cards I've made recently...

Last month at Memorable Seasons, we had a card swap. I received the following card from Sally...

...and part of the swap was to lift the card we received....

I used a sketch provided by Audrey at Memorable Seasons to create my first ever sympathy card...

And this was also created from a sketch provided over at Memorable Seasons...

For a Dixie Pieces challenge last month (create a card with numbers on it)...

And another Dixie Pieces challenge to create a card with four buttons on it...

And here's the card I made for Laura during the Memorable Seasons card swap...

And here's my first baptism card...

Happy World Card Making Day!

Hope you all got some great cards made! Here are a couple cards I made earlier this week. Thanks for looking!

This year's christmas project.

So last year, I went totally crazy and made 90 homemade Christmas cards and two albums as gifts. The year before, I made three albums as gifts. This year, I am cutting back on my workload and have decided not to send Christmas cards at all (GASP!) and am not creating any gift albums. Instead, I am making perpetual calendars for various people and I am creating nine sets of greeting cards (10 cards in each set) for various friends and family. The set below I created to be auctioned off on Christmas Day at our family charity auction.

Thank You Cards!

My family and friends were generous for my birthday and I wanted to show my appreciation with some homemade cards...here they are!

I've been busy working on cards.

I have been getting my scrappin' mojo back slowly but surely after my very long break by making some long overdue cards. Here are just a few of my favorites:

An anniversary card for my parents:

(Circular stamp is from the "Remember This" My Acrylix stamp set from Close To My Heart.)

A birthday card for my mom:

(The paper is Making Memories and Scenic Route.)

A thank you card for my brother:

(The paper is Scenic Route.)

Cece's Birth Announcement

I created this announcement for my new baby cousin who was born on St. Patrick's Day this year. It took me awhile - I made 60 of them. I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. I hope you like it!