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Garden Update & Two Cards

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We're madly trying to finish up some household and major cleaning projects before Sarah and Adam come next Tuesday. Yesterday the plumber was here for three hours and made some much needed (and overdue) repairs to both bathrooms. We couldn't find appropriate fixtures for a 80 year old house in the city, so our plumber recommended a supply store in Livonia. The owner was very knowledgeable and we got the porcelain handles we wanted. On our way home, we stopped at the garden and got a lot of work done there. I cultivated the whole plot while Tracy weeded and mulched the paths around our plot. It still needs work before we can get plants in, but it looks a lot more like a garden than it did. Tracy's working on washing windows, painting the medicine cabinet doors, and I'm in the midst of cleaning.

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Thank goodness for our battery-operated Black & Decker cultivator. It would have been a lot harder with a spade!

Mulchw 

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After working on some projects at home, Nancy and I went to Image City to see a new photography show and out to lunch. When I got back, I had time to make two cards, one for a friend who has just had major foot surgery (artificial joint replacement) and one for a young friend of ours who's birthday is Tuesday.

AdirondackChair
Stamp: Lockhart Stamps & Papertrey Vintage Picnic Sentiments; patterned paper: A Muse & scraps; Copic markers

EnjoyRide
Stamps: Paptertrey Ink Enjoy the Ride & A Little Argyle; cardstock from scrap files; buttons: PTI & stash.

This was my first attempt to use both Enjoy the Ride and A Little Argyle. I love both sets, but would have redone some of this if I had had time. It's going to take a bit more practice than I'm used to having to do.

Copics & Prisma

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Saturday my friend and I drove to Buffalo to take a class on using Copic markers with Prisma colored pencils. I've been using Copics for about a year now after taking a Copic Certification class last February. I've had Prisma pencils for years. It never occurred to me to put the two together. The instructor was quite knowledgeable, but had a tendency to want to "do it for you." Nonetheless I learned quite a bit. We completed two of three cards she had planned, and I have most of the coloring done for the third, but am waiting for an order with new Copic markers to arrive before I finish it. The images the instructor chose are very different from the stamps I use and own, but they were great practice vehicles.

ClassCard#1 

I have no idea who the manufacturer of this stamp is. If anyone knows, please leave a comment.

ClassCard#2
I actually really like this image. I changed the ribbon on the card when I got home. These are October Afternoon papers, but again, I don't know who makes the image. I was quite pleased with how these came out. The basic coloring was done with Copic markers. Then we added very small highlights with the Prisma pencils and blended them with Gamsol.

Yesterday I tried this technique on one of my new Papertrey Ink stamps, Delightful Dahlia. I think over time, I will get better at this and will enjoy blending these two mediums together in an image.

BlueDahlia

Cardstock: PTI Spring Rain, Select White; Cuttlebug embossing folder: Swiss Dots; sentiment: PTI Mega Mixed Messages; ribbon: Offray; ink: Brilliance.

PinkDahlia

Patterned paper: A Muse; Quickutz embossing folder: Vine Label; sentiment: PTI Mega Mixed Messages

Compose A Card

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Becky Oehlers has been posting some great card recipes on her blog for quite some time. I've downloaded all her pdf.s, but this is the first time I've played along. Here's the recipe:

Compose-a-card-9-1024x866 

And here's my take on it. I love these new October Afternoon papers from their new line "Thrift Shop."

ComposeACard9
Cardstock:  Colormates; patterned Paper:  October Afternoon; flower: unknown scraps; sentiment: Stampendous; brad: Sassafrass Lass; ribbon from stash

A friend and I are off to Buffalo to a class at Buffalo Stamps & Stuff on using Copic markers with Prisma colored pencils. It should be lots of fun.

Adam is Thirty!

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Today is Adam's 30th birthday. Have a fabulous day!

Adam&Minnie1 

Here's the birthday card I sent him. It's a close copy of one I made for Matt's graduation last year and a lift from one I think I saw on Heather Nichol's blog.

AdamBD

All the materials are from Papertrey Ink except the buttons which came from my stash.

Happy Mail and a Card

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The big brown truck pulled up in front of our house this afternoon and left two copies of the new Papercraft magazine (May/June). Inside is my first published card. Interestingly, I did not submit it. It was one of three cards I created for a Moxie Fab challenge. Several months afterwards, I received an email from Cath Edvalson asking if I still had the card. Fortunately, I did, and here it is published. Quite exciting, actually, even though being published wasn't one of the things on my "To Do" list.

HappyMail 

And here is a card for a challenge on Kim Kesti's blog, another sketch from the Go To Sketch magazine. This was a really quick card, but I like it a lot.

HappyAnniversary 

Cardstock: red and black from scrap file, PTI Kraft; patterned paper: Pink Paislee Bayberry Cottage 6X6 pad; sentiment:  Savvy stamps; flowers from stash; brad: Making Memories; Cuttlebug embossing folder; I drew the lines on the sentiment strip with the new "no bleed" Sharpie marker.

CPS 161 Plus Two

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It's been surprisingly difficult to get back in the groove with crafting. The last couple of nights, though, I've been up late watching the men's and women's NCAA basketball championships and have finished several projects as I watched. The first two are for this week's CPS challenge.

Here's the sketch:

161 

And my interpretations:

CPS161.1 

Cardstock:  PTI Hawaiian Shores & Select White; patterned paper: PTI Green Boutique; Cuttlebug embossing folder; AC Dear Lizzy crocheted flowers; silk ribbon from Ellen Huston; pearl: Michael's; stick pin unknown.

Sunshine
Cardstock:  PTI Pure Poppy & Vintage Cream; patterned papers:  October Afternoon Thrift Shop; ribbon from stash; AC Dear Lizzy crocheted flowers;  sentiment:  A Muse; Nestabilities: long rectangles.

Now a card from a sketch in the newly released Go To Sketches by Papercrafts. The sketch I used is on p.142. I'll be using this publication regularly. So many great sketches and interpretations.

JustANote

AC Dear Lizzy patterned papers and phrase sticker; ribbon: Michaels; cardstock: BoBunny

This card is a lift from Debbie Olsen, one of the very best in the industry. My friend is a wonderful seamstress so this seemed like a great choice for her birthday card.

SewSweet 

Cardstock: PTI Pure Poppy & Vintage Cream; patterned papers: Cosmo Cricket "Material Girl;" twill: PTI Vintage Cream; buttons: PTI; safety pin from stash.

Gift Box

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One of my good friends celebrates her birthday while we're away. We're having dinner with her soon after we return. One of her gifts (she doesn't read my blog) is the set of cards in this post (which due to user error did not post in the correct order). I made a gift box for it, and wrapped her other gift in a piece of the patterned paper.

GiftBox 

GiftBoxDetail

Cardstock:  Papertrey Ink "Ocean Tides" & "Vintage Cream," patterned paper: Papertrey Ink "Tea Leaves," ribbon: Papertrey Ink "Ocean Tides" satin.

Happy Birthday, Tracy!

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Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you, and Happy Birthday to Tracy! Here's his card:

TOWBDcard
New Papertrey stamp, "Luck of the Irish," and Hero Arts sentiment. Jillibean patterned paper and New Leaf (PTI) cardstock and black twill (PTI). The inside sentiment says, "You're my pot of gold." Truly.

So here's my Weekly Gratitude a few days early:

Gratitude3.17w

Scrap-Mart Projects

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I thought I'd share a couple of Scrap-Mart projects that have gone up on their blog recently. The first is a layout I did for the Friday challenges.

8oMemoriesw
The patterned papers are all new American Craft papers from the Dear Lizzie and Letterbox lines. I love both lines. The white Thickers are also American Craft. The embellishments are all from my stash:  Prima flowers, Papertrey Vintage buttons and Amuse Creative Candy pearls.

And a card using the same papers:

Butterfliesw
It's a little busier than my usual card, but it's just the card for a friend of mine whose birthday is in April.

And one more with the Dear Lizzie papers:

Splendiddayw
The stamped sentiment is also from a Dear Lizzie stamp set. This one was lots of fun to make.

And now for a set of cards I made with the new Just Rite stamp set "Seeds of Kindness." Also for a friend's birthday in April.

SeedsNotecards 

Notecard1
Each sentiment is different and the colors of each patterned paper differs. Both the cardstock and the patterned paper are from Papertrey Ink. The ribbons are all from Paper Source.

Something From Nothing: Metals

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Classimage

It's been a particularly productive week, but finding time to get to the computer to blog has been difficult. I broke down and decided to take Shimelle's class Something From Almost Nothing for two reasons. One, several of my blogging friends were taking it, and second, I have plenty of stash to work with even after cleaning out and giving away a LOT of my supplies since the holidays.

The first prompt involved using your metal stash. I have several little drawers filled with metal letters, words, and frames as well as a little box devoted to brads. One items I saw used in the prompts was bottle caps. Ever since I bought them (probably 3-4 years ago) I have wondered what I was thinking. So I pulled them out and this is what I came up with.

StarBottleCapCard
Matt thought this was a particularly cool card–"Wow, a card with beer bottle caps!" Well, not exactly, but it sure is the idea.

3BottleCapCards
Three very similar cards, but all with a slightly different shape and size.

BottleCapDetail
These cards will need to be hand delivered or put into a padded envelope, but I like the flowers.

And a card with brads. I saved this paper when I cleaned out earlier this year and cut it into little squares. But then didn't know quite what to do with it.

BradCard
I have quite a bit of it left for another project or two or three.

When I was perusing my metal goodies, I found a set of Making Memories metal frames. Then I started going through the little square photos I have in a drawer (a tip from Stacy Julian's Photo Freedom). I found a set I have piled on my desk for a later layout, but these four fit the frames perfectly. Since the three of us were just talking about Kiawah the other night at dinner, the journaling came easily.

MetalFrameLO
I have a lot of ideas for prompt #2 (patterned paper), and hope to get to some of them this week, but the days are pretty filled with appointments and errands that need to be done before we leave for California early Saturday morning. I knew when I signed up that I would never be able to keep up, so I'm pleased to have created a few things for the beginning of class.

Jillibean Goodness

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In addition to the CPS 156 Challenge, I've made several other cards using the goodies I won on the Jillibean blog. The embellishments are so versatile and can be found at Scrap-Mart. I already owned most of  the Jillibean papers I used.

JillibeanBDWishesw 

All Jillibean products unless otherwise noted:  Patterned paper (New England Clam Chowder & Lentil Soup), Canvas flowers (Green Grid), Twine (Pigs), Sentiment (Birthday Party), tag (Spellbinders), brads from stash, epoxy tile sticker (EK Success), cardstock (Papertrey Ink Dark chocolate)

JillibeanSongw
Patterned Paper (Jillibean Soup Staples "Light Blue Sugar" both sides), Stamp (Jillibean "Hand Made"), Copic markers, button and rickrack from stash, flowers (Prima) 

JillBDw
Jillibean stamps ("Birthday Party"), cardstock from stash, Copic markers, Making Memories glitter alpha

JillibeanFabulousw
Cardstock (Papertrey), patterned paper (Jillibean Soup Staples " Red Sugar"), Jillibean canvas flowers (Red Polka & Brown Letters), rickrack (Jillibean Bean Stalks "Red & Black"), sentiment (Papertrey "Signature Greetings)

CPS 156

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I've been playing with the fabulous goodies I won on the Jillibean blog a few weeks ago. Today I used some of them to make a card for the CPS 156 challenge. Here's the sketch:

156 

And my take on it:

JillibeanSmilew 

I hand cut and folded the edges of a sunflower from the Lentil Soup "Vegetable Soup" paper. In the center I added one of the great new canvas flowers "Green Grid", a button (PTI), and some twine from the Jillibean Stalks "Pigs". I added a strip of the B side of the same patterned paper as a border with a piece of twill from the Bean Stalks "Red & Black." The sentiment is from Papertrey's "Signature Greetings."

Project 365 & A Card

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Here's the February Photo 365 Layout. I used an Ali Edward's template and simply listed the photos under the collage. That's really all the journaling I need for this month. I chose photos that represented what happened this month as well as a couple of favorites from the month. I decided to go with graph paper again. If I have enough in my stash, I think that will be the consistent element in the layouts. I'm not nuts about the font style of these Doodlebug stickers, but I'm determined to use my stash, and these were the only ones that were the right color.

February365LO
Journaling:

1. Snow, lots and lots of snow 2. One of my favorite photos of the month 3. The night sky 4. My new high-tech point and shoot camera 5. Valentine flowers and cupcakes 6. Books read  7. The 2010 Olympics  8. Goodies from a road trip to Buffalo 9. Wacom tablet & pen class

I've been wanting to try the Flower Soft I got in Buffalo, so while I watched the news tonight I put together this card. I love the soft, spring-like feel to it, and have a spring birthday recipient in mind for it.

FlowerSoftTree
Cardstock: Papertrey (Sweet Blush, Spring Moss) & Bazzil textured white, stamp: Memory Box,  pearls (A Muse Creative Candy), sentiment: Papertrey (Vintage Picnic), silk ribbon: Papertrey, Flower Soft & glitter

Happy Birthday, Matt

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It's a rare three post day. Matt turned 27 today. We decided to eat at home instead of going out since he's taking the Graduate Record Exam tomorrow. We'll celebrate both tomorrow night at his favorite restaurant.

MattBDw 

The birthday cake never varies:  a cookie cake from Wegmans. This year I forgot to order one ahead (gasp!) so it has a bit more frosting than usual.

BDCakew 

And his gift:

MattiPodw

Cosmos Cricket "Boyfriend" had the perfect paper for a card:

MattBDw
MattBCInw

Alice in Wonderland Challenge

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I've been thinking about Rhinda's Alice in Wonderland challenge, and really didn't have any idea what to do, but finally decided to give it a whirl. I ended up with this card, just in time!

MadHatter
I used my Maya Mist for the very first time on sticky back canvas, and then stamped three different watch stamps for the background. I ran a Jillibean "Repair Tag" through my corrugator (haven't used that in years) and added a quote from Alice in Wonderland. The image was a download kindly given to us by Rhinda. A Heidi Swapp watch finished the card front.