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Before the Old Year Slips Away

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I'm trying to organize my folders and prepare for the photographs and challenges of the new year. In the process I found some projects I created recently that were never posted so before the year slips away, here they are. A tag I created with a Maya Road chipboard house and Tim Holtz distress inks for a house-warming gift I gave Sarah last month.

HouseTag

Although I created some gift-specific tags (you'll see those in an upcoming JYC post), here are the bulk tags I created this year with my Silhouette. The white dots are a glitter pen, and the recipient's name was written in white. I wrap all my gifts in red and white paper so they worked for any gift.

SilhouetteTags

And a group of thank you cards. The first with one of my favorite dies by Memory Box.

Thanks1

A thank you note created with LifeStyle Crafts wreath die.

WreathThankYou

Three thank you cards with the delightful dies "In the Meadow" by Papertrey Ink, inspired by a home decor project created by Melissa Philips.

SleddingThanksSet

SleddingThanksClose

A birthday card for a friend, using the "Friends Til the End" and "Birthday Bash Sentiments" stamps by Papertrey Ink.

HappyBDAnne

And finally, I want to share a beautiful work of art by Cheri. I received this in the midst of our kitchen remodeling, and set it on a shelf in my studio. One day while they were working on the new window, everything on that wall fell off and hit the floor. Fortunately, nothing was damaged, but I piled it all up and this wonderful canvas was "lost" in the pile until recently when I got it all back where it belongs. Thanks, Cheri. It's one of my favorite quotes, and a lovely reminder of the wonderful relationships I've made through blogging.

Cheri'sArt

December Papertrey Blog Hop

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I missed last month's blog hop because we were traveling, so I really wanted to participate in today's. Fortunately, we have NOTHING planned for the day after Christmas so I had time to make a card. The challenge this month for the Papertrey Blog Hop was to use  any of the wrapping paper, bows, ribbon, tags, canceled postage from holiday cards you have received, photos from holiday cards and anything else you might have laying around after the holiday preparations have ended. I decided to use some of the wrapping paper and twine I used on the package and try the technique Maile posted here on her blog a week or so ago. Here's what I came up with.

PTI Blog Hop1

I ran a piece of cardstock through my Xyron and laid strips of wrapping paper down, then used the diecut from Love Lives Here:  Holiday to cut out the mittens. I added some white Liquid Applique to the top of both mittens and then a bit of glittery Stickles. The evergreen boughs were stamped with Love Lives Here:  Holiday and the sentiment was a surprise gift from PTI in my December order. Perfect for the thank you notes I need to write. The heart was punched from a piece of the prepared cardstock and I used the same twine I used to attach tags to my packages to attach the mittens.

Here's a close-up:

PTIBloghop2

Hope you had a wonderful holiday! We had tremendous fun at last night's family celebration, and we're resting up today.

Needing Some Christmas Cheer

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It's been a couple of tough weeks around here. One friend is home recuperating from a masectomy, another friend had surgery (more to come, perhaps) following a life-threatening fall, and yesterday one of my dearest friends received a diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor. She went to the ER on Sunday with flu-like symtoms and the tumor was discovered on a CAT scan. Who knows how long she might have walked around with this without knowing had she not gotten some kind of infection. Prayers for all of them would be appreciated!

I do have some Christmas crafts to share when there's time again to ready them for the blog, but for today, here are the last two projects I've posted at the Scrap-Mart blog. My time on the DT has come to an end. I've really enjoyed my association with all the wonderful folks there, especially Katie, who is a fantastic DT Coordinator.

SnowmanCard
A wintery card made with Canvas Corps and Heartfelt Creations products.

WonderlandLO

This was made with October Afternoon's Holdiay Style papers and snowflake stickers, and a new LifeStyle Crafts Snowflake border die, which was just perfect for this layout. I hid the jounaling on a stamped journaling card, since there wasn't a good place for it on the layout.

WonderlandJournaling

In all the rush and busyness of the last few days before Christmas, don't forget to take time to hug all those closest to you, and tell them you love them! 

Christmas Blog Hop at Scrap-Mart

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Tomorrow is the beginning of the second annual Christmas Blog Hop at Scrap-Mart. You won't want to miss it. 

Scrap-Mart has teamed up with these fabulous manufacturers to bring you a week long blog hop dedicated to Christmas-themed projects!

Boss Kut

October Afternoon

The Rubber Cafe

Canvas Corp

Heartfelt Creations (Dec. 7th)

Want2Scrap

LaLa Land Crafts

Sizzix

Each of the generous manufacturers will have prizes for you along the way so be sure visit and complete the hop each day from Dec. 5th through Dec. 10th to be eligible to win.

And generous is right! When I returned home this week there were two packages waiting for me filled with goodies from Canvas Corp, October Afternoon, and Heartfelt Creations as well as some great dies from LifeStyle Crafts. I had such fun yesterday creating with these fabulous products. I thought I'd share a non-traditional Christmas card with you.

ReindeerCard

I love this reindeer die from Lifestyle Crafts (there’s also a sleigh that comes with it). Once I cut it from felt, I loved the way it looked on one of Canvas Corp’s Burlap Minis. Canvas Corp also has these wonderful card sets, and although it’s not a traditionally Christmas pattern, I really liked how the card came together. The green twill is from my stash, but the sentiment strip is another from the October Afternoon Holiday Style collection. It's a perfect card for one of my many single men neighbors. 

 

Happy Birthday, Greg!

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Today is my BIL's birthday. Greg was the lead guitar and song writer for a very popular band in the 60's and 70's and still participates in the music scene in Austin, TX. Music was one of the biggest reasons (in addition to the weather) that he decided to move to Texas a few years ago.

I had a lot of fun making his card this year, and tried a lot of new and unusual techniques for me:  stenciling (the dots), misting, background stamping, and tearing. The guitar has a coat of Glossy Accents on it though it's a bit hard to see here. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, and I hope Greg likes it.

YouRock

The stamps are Boy Basics:  Simple Circles and Rock On by Papertrey Ink.

Get Well Cards

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Sadly, I seem to have more and more reasons to make a get well and feel better cards. Here are two recent ones.

 

GetWell1
No matter how I tried, I couldn't get the felt colors to photograph true to life. The flower is the same color as the background behind the card, and the button is an Orange Zest one from Papertrey Ink. In fact, all the supplies from this cards are from Papertrey. They are definitely my "go-to" stamps and dies.

GetWell2

I love paper-piecing this little chair and like the accompanying sentiment as well. The chair and lamp are from "Chairished" (PTI) and the sentiment is from "On My Couch Additions." I never purchased the original "On My Couch," but got the additions which I've used frequently. 

It's a gray and dreary day here; more like the November I remember from past years than the bright, sunny days we've been enjoying. Hope it's bright and cheerful where you are!

With Sympathy

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Sympathy cards are the hardest cards to make, I think. I want them to be a bit elegant, yet clean and simple and to convey my heartfelt sympathy to the recipient. I used the "let the paper work for you" technique again here, and I think it worked well.

Sympathy1
I started with a journaling card by Webster's Pages, stamped the sentiment (Papertrey Ink's Birds of a Feather), and tied a ribbon (Paper Source) around the Memory Box card. I can always find an appropriate sentiment for the inside in Papertrey's With Sympathy set. 

Sympathy2

For this card I used a piece of paper from Pink Paislee's "Butterfly Garden" mini-pad adhered to some Ripe Avocado cardstock by Papertrey Ink. These printed papers are almost gone now, and I wish I had some more of them. I used the same stamp, and my last piece of moss green ribbon from Paper Source.

We've kept up the frantic pace around here. The basement has been cleaned and purged; many bags to the garbage and to Goodwill. There's still a large box of heirloom items from my family that need to be cleaned and appraised after the holidays, but finally everything has a place and is packed away in plastic boxes or bags so they won't need so much cleaning in the future.

I've just about finished two baby albums, but they can't be shown here for awhile as well as another banner for a second shower. About half my Christmas cards are finished. The rest will have to wait until I return from California and Oregon with a fresh supply of paper from Paper Source. Invitations to a holiday open house are also completed so they can be mailed before we leave.

The subway tiles were installed in the kitchen last week, and they look fantastic. We're still waiting for the painters, but I'm hopeful they'll show up this week though our contractor has yet to get a firm commitment from them. Maybe because it's the last thing that needs to be done (except for a final finish on the floor), and maybe because it's now been twice as long as the original estimate of time, but this delay is the most frustrating one we've had. I never expected I'd be decorating for the holidays and the kitchen would not be completed. But, that too, is happening since we'll be entertaining shortly after we return. I do love decorating for Christmas, but it seems odd to be moving from summer decorations right to Christmas. I never did get the fall decorations out. With the construction, it seemed rather pointless. Our unusually warm November temperatures also make decorating for the holiday seem a bit odd.

I'm doing the best I can to keep up with all your wonderful blog posts, but once I'm on our trip I should be able to catch up!

Thank You Card Set

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Both Rinda and Jacky have posted recently about letting patterned paper work for you, and stamping directly on paper. I did a bit of both with this set of thank you cards to three friends who gifted me with a wonderful children's book and painted stool for Skylar. A painted stool for Caleb is in the works. 

I love these patterned papers from the mini pad "Sunshine" Lost and Found by My Minds Eye. All three papers came from the pad and were adhered to Vintage Cream cardstock by Papertrey Ink. The stamps were Fillable Frames #1 and #11 (sentiment). The nice thing about cards like this is once you pick the papers, the cards come together very easily.

Card1
Card2

Card3

And Happy Veteran's Day, and a heartfelt thanks to all the veterans who have defended our freedom throughout the years!

Bear!!!

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Meet Samuel Bear Harrison, Adam's sister's new baby boy. Allison and her husband, Simon, live in England, and Adam's parents arrived just after he was born. Perfect timing! He sure is a cutie pie!

Screen Shot 2011-11-06 at 7.43.04 PM

Photo Collage by Adam

I couldn't resist buying him a little outfit embroidered with bears, a long-sleeved onesie, a hat, bib and adorable little socks. I forgot to take a photo of it, but I did take a photo of the package with the card I made.

Bear'sPackage.

I cut the card with my Silhouette using cute gingham paper by Memory Box. Then I stamped the little bear from Papertrey Ink's Baby Button Bits on brown gingham paper and added a button from my stash tied with some twine by Martha Stewart.

BearOnsie

 

October Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

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Once again, I nearly missed today's Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. Early this morning I saw a reference to it on someone else's blog and had time to create a card. I love this month's inspiration photo.

October-blog-Hop-inspiration

My first inclination was to paper piece some pumpkins, but as I went through my Papertrey collection, I came upon Take Three: Fall, and decided to stamp each of the three pumpkins on a different piece of patterned paper from the Autumn Abundance collection. 

Oct11PTI

Since I don't have a recipient in mind, I chose a sentiment from Everyday Button Bits so it can easily become a birthday card, a thank you card, or just a thinking of you card. The ribbon is Orange Zest (PTI), and the black rhinestones are from Kaiser. I'm off to check out the other entries on the blog hop, always a great source of inspiration!

Pass the Book Inspiration Part 3

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Here's the last edition of the Pass the Book project. The other posts are here and here.

P.24

The cover of this album about a beloved dog inspired this card.

Typewriter

I followed the same color scheme, the same CAS design, and found a silver clip for the top of the card.

On page I found this.

P61

I loved the idea of using a journaling spot for the bottom half of the card. I have several books of the Making Memory journaling books so it's a great use for them.

HelloFriend

I used some papers and a rosette from the new Pink Paislee line called Vintage Vogue, and a stamp from Papertrey Ink.

P82
This cover prompted me to use some of my letter stickers for a greeting.

Celebrate

All the border stickers are from Studio Calico kits.

And finally, this cover inspired me to get Matt's birthday card made way early. He won't be 29 until February!

P100

29

I die cut the 29 from black cardstock with number dies from Papertrey Ink, then layered them over a Basic Grey paper from the Granola line. The little star is also from Basic Grey (Life of the Party).  Here's the inside:

Inside29

I just love this set from Papertrey Ink.

More Inspiration from Pass the Book

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I made another layout today for the Pretty Paper Party, immediately after seeing Shimelle's prompt, but I'm too tired to upload and edit the photo, so how about a few more cards inspired by Sharing Your Story.

On page 35 I found this:

P35

And created a birthday card (now addressed to a male friend for his November birthday).

HB2U

I loved this cracked paint butterfly on page 49.

P49
The front of this minibook prompted me to get out my crackle paint. I could only find one jar, and it was pretty old. It took several coats and a bit chipped off. I'm quite sure I have some more, but that will require cleaning the craft cupboard. But I like it enough to try it again.

CrackedButterfly

ButterflyClose

And lastly for tonight, this was found on page 52.

P.52

I like the design of this card a lot, but it's my least favorite of all the cards I made. I used some old, old My Mind's Eye die cuts and used some new Studio Calico "Shine" mist on the orange cardstock.

3Stars

We've had the best week ever with everyone here. Adam arrived from his conference in Virginia this afternoon, and we all went out to eat tonight. Baby Skylar slept through the whole dinner. She is one of the most contented newborns I've ever known. The days have flown by, and it will be hard to send everyone off during the next few days.

Pass the Book

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It’s been very busy here, and I have lots to share, but first I want to send on the next installment of Pass the Book. Melissa sent it on to me last month, and it’s definitely time to send it on its way. You can read more about the Pass the Book project here.

I have thoroughly enjoyed Sharing Your Story: Recording Life’s Details with Mini Books by Ali Edwards, and it has provided me with some amazing inspiration though not for mini books. As soon as I saw the front cover, I had an idea for a card. It didn’t take long to create, and I was quite happy with. That prompted me to go through the book looking at design ideas for cards. I ended up with quite a few new cards, and over the next few days I’ll be sharing them with you. I remember Mel did something similar with one of her Pass the Book reads.

Here’s the cover and the card it inspired:

Cover

WishYou

On page 9, I found this:

P9

Which inspired an anniversary card for dear friends:

Happy

I liked the word overlayed on the text paper and repeated the polka-dot pattern as well. Here's the inside:

InsideHappy

And one more for today. On p. 14 I found this:

P14

And created this:

6Squares

I'm quite sure this is a design I'll use again and again when I need a quick card. Typically I list all my supplies, but both my kids are here this week so I'm going to cut this short. I do have a list of the supplies, so let me know if you're curious about anything I used.

I'll have more to share, but I’m ready to pass the book along. If you’re a fan of mini books, I’m quite sure you’ll enjoy the book. (I have jotted down ideas for several mini books as well.) And even if you’re not, you may find inspiration for layouts or other creative endeavors from the designs you’ll find here. If you’d like a chance to peruse the book, leave a comment here, and I’ll do a random pick on Monday, October 24th, and send it on its way.

Fall Birthday Cards

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We have lots of friends and family with fall birthdays. Here are two cards ready to go. The first one is for two challenges. The CR84FN color challenge and the CPS Sketch Challenge. Here's the lovely fall color combination at CR84Fn:

CR84FN39+Graphic

And the sketch at CPS:

Here's what I came up with:

SMLeavesCard

I made two of the following card, both for men with fall birthdays. I absolutely love this tree die by Memory Box. I hope you can see in the close-up the beautiful shimmer of the brown and gold cardstock.

Tree

TreeClose

Supplies
Leaves:
Cardstock: Autumn collection (American Craft)
Patterned Paper: "Sunshine" (My Minds Eye)
Dies: Nested Maple Leaves & Nested Eyelet Rectangles (Lifestyle Crafts) & Foliage (Spellbinders)
Distress Inks (Tim Holtz)
Stamps:  Birthday Basics (Papertrey Ink)
Tree:
Cardstock: Fine Linen and Bazzil Shimmer
Patterned Paper:  from the scrap drawer
Twine and Button:  Papertrey In
Die: Memory Box

A Trio of Get Well Wishes

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I've been inspired each time Sian posts her LSNED tags created with her Slice. I like my Slice, but am more apt to use a metal die cut or the Silhouette when I 'm creating. But I decided I needed to get back to the Slice. I needed a few get well cards for friends and family so I chose a 6X6 paper pad, got out my Slice and decided to see what I could create in a hour or so. I have to say I don't have Sian's skill as grouping embellishments to create miniature works of art, but I had a lot of fun, and was reminded of how versatile the Slice can be.

GetWell1

GetWell2

GetWell3

The tags and all the elements were cut with the Vintage Findings Design card (my favorite, although I don't have any of the newer ones.) The patterned papers are all from Six By Six Vanity Fair pad by My Mind's Eye. Their two-sided paper pads are just the best! The stamps are both from Unity ("Stitched Greetings" & the August Kit of the Month), and all the cardstock is Papertrey Ink (Spring Moss, Ripe Avocado, & Ocean Tides.)