Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

I know that most people will be celebrating the long weekend with cookouts and parades but I hope that the reason for this "day off" will be remembered...and that is to honor those who died while serving in the US Armed Forces.  This should be a reminder that our freedoms came at a huge price.

My dad served 31 years in the United States Army.  A career veteran.  He passed away many years ago but I do remember his very profound sense of patriotism.  He (and my mother) are buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

And now onto card making...not a very graceful segue.... :)

I made this as a congratulations card for a recent graduate.  I liked the fun paper from My Mind's Eye that said "Follow Your Dreams".  Appropriate for a young adult venturing out in to the world!

Congrats was stamped with a Lawn Fawn stamp in Versafine Smokey Gray onto vellum and then embossed with some clear embossing powder. 

A simple card...mostly flat and easy to mail! 

Happy Crafting and Happy Memorial Day!

Simons Says Stamp September Card Kit: Part 2

I posted a couple of cards I made the other day with the Simon Says Stamp Card for September.  As I mentioned the enclosed printed chalkboard papers were a bit difficult for me to decide how to use them so I did what any self respecting card maker would do and stole ideas used inspiration I found around the the great big ol' WWW.

Here are two more cards I did:

The first one is a direct ripoff is done with a really cute Studio Calico wood veneer as the focal point.  The original card I was "inspired by" used a bicycle on the card but I just decided to put my own spin on it and after much thinking I came up with the idea of "why not use a car which came in the same pack as the bicycle and then it will look like I am just inspired and not totally stealing".  Yeah, right! LOL!!!

Oh and I did add the "Life is" stamp at the top.  Another huge change to make this card my own was to use the circle printed paper with the stripes going vertically rather than horizontally as was on the  stolen card.  Brilliant!  LOL!!!

And here I am complaining about the chalkboard papers and I didn't  even use them! 

Here's a closeup:

I know you'll want to be inspired by this fabulous card! ;)

The second one is my attempt at a chalkboard look:

I heat embossed the sentiment and then just used some white pigment ink which I stamped off before putting on the paper.  I added a little pen stitching and that was it.  A flat card.  I tried to add some bling and/or sequins but it just didn't do it for me so I left them off.

And that's it for today!

Still no baby...

Happy Crafting!!!

Project Life: Week 37

When you look at my pages for Week 37 you may wonder..."how on earth is she so far behind?  She doesn't do much other than slap pictures in her book.  How long can that take???"  Haha!  Well, it's the behind the scenes that takes so much time for me. That dreaded photo selection and editing!

But I did get Week 37 done...and have most of Week 38 done....and Week 39 was just last week...so I'm catching up!  Yadda, yadda, yadda...

Here is the left side:

I used Simple Stories journaling cards, stickers and papers and a few Studio Calico wood veneers.  I stamped the wood veneers with some Basic Grey stamps. 

Sometimes you just gotta journal where you can...

Isn't this action shot so cute.  My little guy is the one in the white shirt.  I love the look and concentration on his face:

Here is the right side:

The sentiment below is a brush from CZ design.  My daughter has a theory that it doesn't matter what shoes a child will put on...they will always be on the wrong feet!

The journaling card was made on my Silhouette Cameo with a design from Hero Arts and  Simple Stories paper as well as a Becky Higgins journaling card.  I used a little Basic Grey arrow stamp to point in the direction of the photo the journaling is about.

And that's it for today.  Easy peasy...only took me 6 hours.  LOL!!!

Baby watch continues...we are T-6 days from the due date....any day now....  Stay tuned...

Happy Crafting!

Simon Says Stamp Card Kit-September

I am behind on all my crafting....I'm 2 weeks behind on Project Life...I am a month or two behind with my Simon Says Stamp monthly card kits...and there is no reason except a bit of laziness! LOL!!!  But life is grand and there are not complaints here.

We are still on baby watch....My daughter is due with my new little grand-pumpkin in a week.  But she usually goes early so you know what that means...  It would be sort of ironic if she goes over her due date, you know?  A friend of hers in about 9 days post due date but unless it is medically indicated will not induce.  I admire that.  I would be shrieking "Get this watermelon out"!

I did make a few cards with the Simon Says Stamp Card Kit for September the other night.  Here is the kit:

To be honest (my husband hates that saying...he says it implies you are usually NOT honest) it was not my favorite.  I liked the stamp set and I loved the papers and the wood veneers but I found the chalkboard printed papers just a bit difficult to work with.  Sort of a challenge, you know....  The papers included were from My Mind's Eye.  They had some great printed words on them but they didn't always cut well for standard cards.  Wah, wah, wah.

But I did have a great time trying...and here are two I came up with...both inspired by cards I saw posted elsewhere.  If you inspired me...well, thanks!

The first one was made with the Simon Says Stamp exclusive Expressions for You die and stamp set. 
I cut the "you" out with some coordinating paper and then used the stamp that said "make me smile" which I heat embossed with some white embossing powder.  I just masked off the "smile" since the printed paper already had "smile" on it.  Would make sense to say "You make me smile smile" now, would it?  ;)

 I added a few little blingy things and that was it for this card.  Simple and easy (once I figured out how to use that paper!).
The second card was made with a full printed sentiment....I just trimmed it and colored it with some Copics and Wink of Stella Glitter ink and added an inked wood veneer bird to the top of it.  I also used a little Wink of Stella glitter ink to the little bird for a little sheen.  I love the Wink of Stella brush tip glitter pens....they give the sheen of glitter without the mess!

Here you can (maybe) see the glittery sheen a little bit.

I'm entering the first card in the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge HERE and the Simon Says Stamp Using a Simon Says Stamp Exclusive Product HERE

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 21

Woohoooooo....getting back on track!  We spent the last week before this one on our favorite family vacation and it was great.  Came back...grandkids got sick, son got sick, I got sick....sure glad it didn't happen while we were at the beach! 

I was able to get my photos developed to get back on track with PL.  I have learned that I just need to stay current with this.  When I can't work on it and get behind it does get a bit overwhelming.  I can't imagine feeling like I am weeks and weeks behind.  I know me....I'd give up!

So here is week 21....all done with Simple Stories leftover stuff I had and some wood veneer pieces.  I did do some stamping with some Amy Tangerine and Hero Arts stamps....
but this was a pretty simple layout, I think.  Oh yeah, I did break out my Silhouette for the little card at the bottom....

Left side:

I bought these large wood flowers several years ago and still have quite a few left.  I needed SOMETHING for this card.  Does it have any significance or really GO WITH the them of this page?  Heck no.  I call this the eclectic thema! LOL!
I make up my rules as I go....LOL!

 I love the wood pieces and I love arrows.  Wooden arrows?  Perfection!

My week card was done with some (hide your eyes, Donna!) glittered Thickers.  (Note to readers....my good friend, Donna, hates glitter. I didn't know that and one year sent her several birthday cards full of glitter because I LOVE GLITTER!)

This is my Silhouette Cameo cut card with a design by Lori Whitlock.  The arrow was done with a Hero Arts stamp and cut out with the corresponding die.  No fussy cutting here!
I found this turqiose   turqoise blue label thingy in a stash and decided to use it.  And oh yeah....I am a great speller.  I know it's really turquoise.  :)

Slapping down these wood pieces is EASY, too!

And here is the right side:

Not much adorning there....

But isn't this cute little arrow the greatest?

Well, that's it for today!
Week 22 is going to be oh so easy as I have a ton of photos and will let my photos do the talking!

Happy Crafting!

Project Life: Week 13 (Left Side)

I've had a very uncrafty last couple of days but they were good ones nonetheless!  My good friend was here from Florida for nearly a week and then we celebrated Easter at my house on Sunday.  My kids were here, my grandkids were here as well as a few more guests.  It was a great day despite it being a bit wet for an outdoor egg hunt.

Anyway, I got back into my craft room last night and worked on my Project Life for Week 13 which was March 24-March 30.  Here is the left side:

The papers I used this week were from Michael's own brand: Recollections.  I love the bright colors and they work great for Project Life at a loooooow price!  I used templates from The LilyPad for the photo collages.  How about the photo(s) on the bottom right.  I let my 3 1/3 year old grandson have at it (is that a southern expression?) with my camera on occasion and he does a wonderful job taking photos.  I decided to include those this week....our little budding photographer!

I added a few K and Company daisies to a filler card and added a wood veneer butterfly (Recollections but I think they are made by Studio Calico) that I inked with some Hero Arts Neon ink.  I also added some Stampin' Up Dazzling Details to the centers of the flowers and the butterfly and then stitched a flight trail for the little butterfly.

 I used one of the 3x4 inch slots for my "week" card.  I cut out the word "week" and offset it with my Silhouette.  I cannot remember what font I used but it did begin with a "C".  LOL!  The numbers are metal and are by Tim Holtz....and picked up ON CLEARANCE (read: very low price) at Michael's. 

 I added a wooden bird also inked with Hero Arts Neon ink to my "A Little Birdie Told Me...." card. 

Now....off to do the left side!

It's rainy here in Atlanta today... a perfect day to stay inside and craft!

Happy Crafting to You!

Project Life: Week 8

Woohoo...Week 8 done!
My grandkids were here visiting last week and, as a result, I took a ton of pictures...so the most difficult or time consuming part for me was figuring out which pictures to use.  I am bound by no rules, I tell myself....I do not have to do a 2 page spread for each week....I can do more if it so behooves me (how many chances do you get to say "behoove"?!).  But it did take me a while to go through my photos and then get them printed in the sizes I want.  More about that later...
Anyway, here we go with pages for (drum roll, please....) WEEK 8 starting with the left side:

I used Thickers and a Memory Box die for my "Week" card.  The papers are from My Mind's Eye On the Boardwalk and Anthologie.  Simple and fast and I loved the beachy colors!

Here is the right side:

Same papers....I did use a little Studio Calico wood word bubble which is just oh so cute and how I felt about that great German restaurant we went to!  JAWOHL!

I also used a little stamp set from KI Memories for the little glasses.  I just made a shadow with the reverse side of the stamp and then stamped the words and cut it out.  I added a bit of Glossy Accents to the lenses.  To make them look real.  Yeah, right! LOL!

Isn't my little puppy cute?  She was all happy because we had just pulled into the park....all kinds of great smells at the park! LOL!

Since I am using Design A from Becky Higgins for my main layouts I have 4 4x6 and 4 3/4 inch slots to fill on each page.  Sometimes I get the photos printed out in wallet sizes.  So, what I've done is I created a template in Photoshop Elements for a 2 photo 4x6 print.  That way I get my two photos at a one photo price....instead of printing each separately and paying for a full photo.  Get it?
My template looks like this (nothing special here):

And I also created a template for a 3 photo 4x6 print like this:

I reuse these again and again!
I even did a 5x7 3 photo template which looks like the one above except it is sized for a 5x7 print.
I just open Photoshop Elements and plop my photos in to the slots and mask out the parts I don't want.  Make sense?  No?  Basically by having the templates which I can reuse I save a good bit of time and maybe a few cents here and there!
I had so many photos from last week that I am also doing an insert page.  My page protectors will be here on Wednesday so will post that page(s) later in the week.
And my planning sheet which you can see HERE has come in very handily!  It's available for download (there is a link there) if you need it.
I'm all about shortcuts!

Happy Crafting!
 

Project Life: Week 3

I was able to get quite a few photos last week which left me with a different quandary than when I don't have many...which photos to use and which ones to omit?!  My daughter doesn't use a regular camera much...she's of the cell phone camera generation but at least now she is sharing those photos with me via Dropbox and I can get the full resolution files. So at least I'm getting better prints now!

I had fun getting my Project Life pages done.  I'm not totally finished, though....still have an insert I am putting in this week with some extra pictures.  But I'm glad I got the 2 12x12 layouts completed.

And here they are:

Left side:

 I used Basic Grey Fact and Fiction papers and embellishments for these spreads.  The "Week 3" box in the top left was one I designed myself in Silhouette.  It didn't take much time at all took forever because I forgot the whole compound path versus a grouped shape and the whole welding thing.  OK, if you don't speak Silhouettese that's ok....but really it should have been easy to do and now I will remember for the next time...well, that may not be true but I did write it down so as long as I remember where I put that little snippet I'll be good to go!  I do like the way it turned out.  I used a new to me Simon Says Stamp die for the banner.  Too cute!  Added a few hearts that I punched out with a Martha Stewart Punch and used a little glossy accents and some foam tape to give it a little more oomph.

I cut a couple of other things with my Cameo, too....the Everyday Life word art which was from the Silhouette Store and "remember this" which is from Ali Edwards....brought the design in to the Silhouette software, traced it and resized it the way I wanted it.

And here is the right side:

It's difficult to see here but "smile laugh and giggle" and the arrow are cut out with my Cameo, too.  The little badge is from the Basic Grey Fact and Fiction line.

The little journaling box was made with an EK Success border punch and the cutest little wooden banner from Studio Calico which I stamped on.

On the bottom left of the right layout (follow that?) there is a transparency that shows from the page before (last week's).  Not sure if I'm going to leave it that way or back it but for now you can see cute Tay-Tay through the transparency and when you are in Week 2 you get a teensy glimpse of week 3.  Not sure, though....not sure....but it is cute the way Taylor's eyes peek through the word "Genuine"!
See?

Pretty simple stuff and if I had remember how to weld, blah, blah, blah with my Silhouette it probably wouldn't have taken me 5 hours! LOL!  (Slight exaggeration!)

Fun, fun, fun!

Week 3 down....49 to go!

I'm entering this in the Basic Grey Challenges: Challenge 85 New Beginnings/Something New.
I used all kinds of new to me things....the banner die, the Basic Grey cutie embellishments, cut files from the Silhouette Store, etc.

Happy Crafting!