Brooke's Nook

Glitter and Color

2011-10-27T11:30:00.001-07:00

I’ve found myself using really bright, fun colors lately on my cards. Maybe it’s the weather turning colder and I’m trying to hang onto the sunny days a little longer.

I made this happy card and gave it to my beautiful cousin for her 4th 39th birthday .

It features lots of shapes cut with my Cricut, Making Memories metal letters and eyelets, and glitter for bling. I was going for a ‘clean’ feel so I left the background stark white.

I also made this thank you card.

More paper from stash, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Prima flowers, Making Memories buckle andof course more glitter!

Gotta love the BLING!

-Brooke

Attempt at a Celtic Theme

2011-02-05T12:31:00.001-08:00

I was going through some of my pictures of cards I have made over the last several months and came across this one I made this past summer for a dear friend. I thought I’d share it here, even though it’s an older one.

I was going for a Celtic feel, which proved to be quite hard. There is not a lot of Celtic/Gaelic themed items out there. (If there are, I’d love to know where to find them). These rub-ons were the closest I could find to a Celtic feel, in the color I wanted.

I used fiber paper on the front, combined with antique ribbon, and some lovely buckles. It’s a very simple card, and also one of my favorites.

-Brooke

Awesome FREE digi kit blog hop

2010-11-04T08:19:00.001-07:00

For all my Digital Scrapping friends. The Design House Digital designers are doing a blog hop today to celebrate digital scrapbooking day. The blog hop features 8 free downloads all creating a great kit. Check them out if you're interested!

Poke around some if you’re not familiar with them. I LOVE this site and all the designers for awesome digi files and inispration!

Design House Digital Fall Blog Hop

Birthday Monogram

2010-09-13T21:41:00.001-07:00

It was my sister’s birthday last week, so I made this tri-fold card and matching envelope just for her.

The second flap:

The inside:

All items used were in stash, so the following list is from memory:

Creative Memories Cardstock

Making Memories ribbon buckle, “P” charm, metal tag, and eyelets

Unknown- celebrate & happy birthday plaques

Basic Grey rub-ons

Tuskinek pigment ink (black)

patterned paper

bulk ribbon

Little Messy Missy’s Bookmarks!

2010-08-18T14:28:00.001-07:00

I received my package in the mail today from Little Messy Missy’s bookmark swap. I was so excited to open it and see what great creations were inside.

Wow!!

I LOVE them!

this one comes to me from Maree Gordon in Australia! I think that’s the furthest away I have ever received anything from. I love the stitching she did between the butterflies, and the French text.

The second one comes to me from Ruth. The picture just doesn’t show off all the details. The flowers and butterfly are embossed with a beautiful glaze. Pretty lace and ribbon, and a charm which I adore.

Missy also included a couple extra ladies! I just can’t say enough how much I love them all!

Thanks so much for an awesome swap!

Turtle Drop!

2010-08-12T17:21:00.001-07:00

Madi and I dropped our first toy for The Toy Society!

The Toy Society is a craft/street art project spreading love throughout the streets of the world. If you’d like to know more, you can visit them here. Or you if you just want to browse the photo gallery of all the great toys that have been “dropped” check out their flickr gallery here.

Thanks again to Little Messy Missy for turning me on to this fun project!

Technorati Tags: The Toy Society,Handmade Toys

Bookmarks!

2010-07-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

I opted to make 2 different styles of bookmarks for the swap I recently participated in. The first one is probably my favorite, but that may be because of my love for the tin flower embelishment I used on the tip. It fits nicely over the corner of your page.

For the second, I was going for a somewhat earthy feel. I used fiber paper as well as fiber strings as some of the components. I thought the rub-ons directly on the fiber papers gave a nice effect.

And here they are together:

I look at these and I see two different personalities, if bookmarks can have personalities. They were very fun to make. In fact, I think I will make some more!

Book Mark Swap

2010-07-02T20:27:00.001-07:00

Today I finished up my bookmarks for a bookmark swap hosted by my friend Missy at Little Messy Missy. I even remembered to mail them!

I don’t want to spoil the fun when she gets the package, so no full pictures for a couple of days, but here are some teaser sneak-peeks of the 2 book marks.

I’ve observed many, many swaps, but never had the nerve to actually participate in one, so this is my first, and I’m excited!

A Little Bundle of Cards

2009-07-09T02:18:00.001-07:00

I put together a package of cards to send to my Aunt. She mentioned wanting some Christmas cards she could send out, so I made her a little bundle of 10 Christmas cards with envelopes, along with 6 Any occasion cards and 6 tags.

Here’s a sampling of the Christmas cards:

The eyelets are Making Memories, as are the eyelet letters and woven labels. The white ribbon with red edging is Martha Stewart. The other ribbon is bulk. All the patterned paper was from various stash. I mounted all the card fronts on Basil Cardstock.

Now I need to get to work on her actual Birthday card to accompany the package.

Pysanky and Thank You Cards

2009-06-12T13:56:00.001-07:00

I know it may seem like I’ve stopped creating, but I really haven’t. It has slowed down quite a bit. Life has thrown some unexpected hurdles in my way – but in doing so has inspired a new project I’ll be working on.

Years ago my Aunt gave me a nice Creative Memories Album that she had started for my Dad. She had done a number of pages already which included some pictures of him when he was younger and also some treasures like pictures of my great-grandparents. The intention was that I would pick up where it left off and put together pages of his later life, grandkids, his horses, etc. I never got around to doing that. Now that his time here has come to a close I’m feeling inspired to get moving with that project. I’m still in the organizing phase of it all, but it is moving along.

I also worked on some more Pysanky! I used patterns for these 3 new eggs. I’m getting a better feel for the colors and applying the wax. This is such a relaxing hobby. So here are the latest 3 eggs. Maybe I’ll get brave again for the next one and work on an original design again. We’ll see.

Next Tuesday marks the end of the school year for my kids. We had an extended year due to lots of snow days that needed to be made up. With everything that’s been going on, I didn’t get as much time to work on their Teacher’s cards as I’d have liked, but I think they turned out well in spite of it. I put these all together last night using only things I had in stash already.

View Full Album

The papers used are from Basil (the card itself), My Mind’s Eye, DCWV, and Making Memories.

Embelishments include flowers from Prima and Petaloo, ribbon, Making Memories brads and charms, Me and My Big Ideas icons sticker, and Basic Grey chipboard letters ink’d with Tsukikek pigment ink in Coffee Bean.

I dug out one of my old D.O.T.S. stamps for the “just for you sentiment” and because I’m such a great stamper (laugh) I went over the image again with a matching pen. Maybe one day I can enlist one of my stamping friends to tutor me. :)

Sultan Bakery

2009-03-16T22:04:00.001-07:00

I surprised my friend Holly this morning by calling her and asking if I could take her to breakfast or lunch for her birthday. Breakfast it is! She told me about this great little place near her house, which I had never been to, and we decided to meet there. If anyone lives near Sultan, Washington and has not eaten at the Sultan Bakery, you are missing out. It’s located just off of Highway 2 on the north side of the street and if you’re not paying attention, you’ll miss it. It’s one of those charming ma and pop shops that are all (sadly) disappearing. This little place was fabulous! The food was so very good, so obviously fresh and portions were big enough to feed 3! Even in this poor economy it would seem people can’t stay away from this place. There was a consistent flow of people the entire time we were there. I’m glad we got seats! Don’t let the name fool you. It’s more than just a bakery, they have more breakfast choices than you can decide on, and (if I remember right) I’m pretty sure I saw sandwiches for the lunch crowd too. I will definitely be eating there again.

This is Holly’s birthday card.

Papers: Basil Cardstock, Three Bugs In a Rug - Color Me Pink; a touch of pink & The Back Porch; Florence, White fiber paper from stash
Making Memories –Buckle embellishment
Ranger - Inksentials Memory Frames
Ribbon from stash
Me & My Big Ideas – icons stickers

And Then I Cracked It

2009-03-13T19:17:00.001-07:00

A good friend of mine has been making Ukrainian Easter Eggs known as Pysanky. I have always loved these eggs. My Grandparents had a few over the years that they had brought back from various vacations. I’ve never known anyone who has made these beauties and so the thought never occurred to me to attempt to make any myself. The art form itself is over 2000 years old and has been passed down from generation to generation. After a bit of information gathering from Jennifer, a bit of browsing around, and getting more inspiration from Jennifer’s sister Melissa’s eggs - I ordered a kit from Ukrainian Gift Shop. It arrived about 3 days later – talk about fast, and I didn’t even expedite the shipping! I sat down the next day, sketched out a design and gave it a shot.

After dipping the egg into the second color dye I dropped it while applying the next layer of wax… oops. It’s a pretty good crack, actually, but it managed to hold together while I finished it. I’m not sure how long it will last in the long run though. When I mentioned this to Jen, she let me know she had cracked her first too! I guess dropping your first egg is some kind of rite-of-passage or something.

So here it is. My first attempt at making one of these eggs.

It’s not great, but I call it a good first attempt. The design only barely resembles the one I sketched out and the colors aren’t what I’d pick if I did it again, but I learned a lot! I think I’ll be sticking to the designs that came with my kit for the next couple of eggs to get more comfortable with it.

Mom

2009-03-06T15:46:00.000-08:00

It was my Mom's Birthday on Wednesday. She must be coming up on 30 now ;). We sure miss her and we're looking forward to seeing her in about 4 weeks, when she comes for a visit. It's been way too long! The kids are really excited to see their Grandma.

Have a great birthday, Mom! We love you!

Papers:

Three Bugs in a Rug - Color me Pink, Blush
The Paper Company - Flocked Stripes with Flowers
Basil Cardstock (frame insert, upper right cir. & inside)

Rub-Ons:

Sticker King (flower border)

Little Yellow Bicycle (It's Your Birthday, Time to Celebrate + Swirls)

Embellishments:

Ranger - Inksentials Memory Frames

Making Memories - Vintage Hip Trinket Pins

Making Memories - Shaped Clips (Swirl)

Prima Flowers

Baby Blue Embroidery Floss

Small Red Button

Translucent Baby Blue Ribbon

Knot Tree Cards

2009-02-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

I made some ornaments for an ornament exchange a few years back by tying knots in some fabric strips and then hot gluing them onto cinnamon sticks in the form of Christmas trees. The ornaments had little wooden stars at the top, and a hanging loop made of floss. I thought they turned out cute, and they smelled quite nice.

This past Christmas, as we were decorating our tree it dawned on me that those little trees just might look just as darling on the front of a card. Cinnamon sticks were a bit bulkier than I like to put on cards that will be traveling through the mail system. I wasn't sure how well they'd hold up, and thought they might crumble (at least a little) so I decided to use flat craft sticks in their place for the cards. I stained each stick using a Dew Drop Pigment ink pad. Instead of stars for the toppers, I used the yellow buttons I had laying around.

I embossed some using my Cuttlebug embossing folders. I doodled a border on some, and others I simply stitched around the edges using my sewing machine (without thread) to make a border.

For the sentiments I used a few different products. Mrs. Grossman's stickers: Card Captions Christmas adorn the inside of quite a few of the cards. The cards with sentiments on the outside were made with rub-ons. I used both Mrs. Grossman's and S.E.I. rub-ons for those.

A closer look at the details:

A Blooming Artist

2009-02-20T10:33:00.000-08:00

My mom has recently decided to spend some time developing a hidden talent. She's been painting, and she's quite good at it. She Made these very pretty hand-painted stationary cards for me a while ago. I love them so much, I have only actually sent one of them off. I love that each one is slighty different. Handmade items are wonderful that way!

My Beautiful Sister

2008-10-06T13:20:00.000-07:00

I actually made this card before I made the Thank you cards previously posted, but since my sister is one of the handful of people that regularly check this blog, I couldn't post it until she received it. Happy Birthday Sis! I wish we could be there to celebrate with you!

The front of the card: Prima flowers; I just can't say enough how much I love these tin flowers. The black and white pp is Classic Black, Chick flick by Luxe Designs. I can't recall who did the pink and black pp, but I really, really like it. I used Rusty Pickle rub-on for the Happy Birthday sentiment. Making Memories eyelet, and then finished it off with some complimenting pink bubble dots I had on hand.

The inside of the card: I used Kaiser Craft sentiments for the inside of the card. Where these rub-ons take more effort to get on the card, once they're there, they feel like they're part of the paper. They're completely smooth.

The envelope: I want to say the pp is from My Mind's Eye, but to be honest with you, I'm not completely sure. It came from a block stack of pp I purchased quite a while ago. The stickers for Rachel's name are from Mrs. Grossman's.

Prompt, I Am Not

2008-09-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to get these out for a bit now. They're some well-deserved and overdue thank yous. Time seems to slip so easily once school starts and the hustle of shuffling kids comes back into play.

I love how, when I'm making cards, each one transforms just slightly and I learn something new with each one. Simple things such as what attaches where and in what order to give the best presentation.

The materials for these cards were all in stash, so I'm only going to mention the ones I'm certain of.

Rub Ons: LOVE Rusty Pickle rub-ons. Kaiser Craft rub-ons, not so much. Both of the sentiments seen here are Rusty Pickle. I used a Kaiser Craft sentiment on the inside of one of the cards. They were just not as good of a quality, in my opinion. The Rusty Pickle ones were easier to keep in position and apply. I didn't have to guess if it was burnished on well enough, it was obvious. With the Kaiser ones, I got to burnish good and hard and long before they adhered to the card, and it wasn't obvious when they had released from their original sheet. Both brands look great once you get them on.

Prima Flowers: All the flowers here are Prima. I just ADORE the pixie tin flower brads(also Prima) used for the centers.

Brads and Eyelets: All the other brads and eyelets are from Making Memories.

Papers and Cardstock: EK Success and Basil cardstock. I'm not sure who made the other papers I used. I LOVE the fiber papers though.

Where Are All the Boys?

2008-08-18T19:38:00.001-07:00

Another baby card. Baby girls are sooo cute, but with everyone I know that is expecting having a girl, I can't help but wonder where the boys are.

I made a template using Cricut Design Studio when I made the green baby card below. I used the same template on this card. I created the 3 windows on the right using the Mini Monograms cartridge. I just love the cute little baby embelies I had in my stash, which I nestled the windows of the cut outs. The paper is Marcella by Kay, which was also in my stash. Basil cardstock. The circles are cut using my Creative Memories circle cutter, and the sentiment is a cuttlebug embossing folder on white card cut with my cricut for the cute design around the edge.

A Couple More Baby Cards

2008-08-11T00:05:00.000-07:00

I used a bit of my stash, and played with my new Cuttlebug embossing folders on these two baby cards.

Christmas in July!

2008-08-09T14:34:00.000-07:00

I had a great 2 week vacation with my family. While I was there, my lovely Aunt informed me that she had a box of extra scrapbook supplies she wanted to give me. When she brought it over, I was shocked! This is all EXTRA?! And you're giving it to me!? And it's not even Christmas!? There was plenty to go around, and my mom and sister each took out a small stash of their own.

Of course while I was there I had to fit in time to pick up some things I've been wanting, that I can't easily get at home. The Cricut cartridges happened to be on sale while I was there. $40 each. Woohoo!

Time to get busy creating again! I can't wait!

And Soon I Will Be on Vacation

2008-07-18T20:42:00.001-07:00

I really thought things would slow down a little for me once summer vacation got here. Wrong! It's been great so far, but plenty busy. I get to head out for vacatoin in 2 days. I'm looking forward to seeing all our family and friends. I think I may need some retail therapy to combat the change in temperature between here and there.

This is a simple layout I did of my daughter's class photos. Quite simple with a few embelishments, vellum, some tearing and a little snipping around objects on the patterned paper. If you know my DD at all, you know how fitting these papers are for her personality. Of course anything involving amimals or bugs, or flowers would pretty much capture her loves.

...And Tomorrow Summer Vacation Begins

2008-06-12T19:13:00.000-07:00

The last 2 thank you cards for my kids' fantastic teachers. I think it takes a special kind of person to teach children and honestly love it. And when they do, it really shows! I'm grateful to the teachers who taught my kids this year. They are all really wonderful ladies. I hope they enjoy these cards and the little gift that goes along with them.

Two Down, Two to Go

2008-06-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

We're in the midst of the end-of-year bussiness at my house. It is fun, but it's also chaotic. At any given time I have at least 2 places to be, it seems. And next week it's officially summer break. WooHoo! I wonder if I can catch a nap...

You Can Never Have Too Many

2008-05-31T11:59:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be whipping up some more thank you cards to keep on-hand. It seems there's always a chance to use them. This is one I made using some scraps I had, for the end-of-the-year card for one of my kids' teachers.

Babies, Babies, Everywhere!

2008-05-28T13:47:00.000-07:00

There are so many new babies coming into the world to people I have the privilege of knowing! You know what that means? More cards! Lots and lots of baby cards. I made these with a special someone in mind who I believe likes simple. So here they are, simple baby cards.

How Cool Is He?!

2008-05-19T12:37:00.000-07:00

I mentioned before that I had family in town over Mother's Day. My sister and her husband were among those that were staying with us. The day they got here, my Brother-in-law mentioned that he didn't get the chance to get my sister something nice for Mother's Day, he needed to find time to do that, and did I have any suggestions (being that he's unfamiliar with my town). I had been hoping to make a star of my nephew for her at some point, but hadn't gotten the chance to. I mentioned that I probably had all the supplies for it, aside from pictures, and that if he'd like to, I'd show him how to make one. He got busy taking all kinds of cute pics of my awesome nephew especially for this star.

He did all the work himself, picked out all the coordinating papers and embelishments from my stash. Not everyone has a hubby that would make something meaningful and from scratch for them (read crafty). He worked on it a little at a time each morning before she woke up, so it was a complete surprise that he was working on anything. It turned out awesome!

Mother's Day

2008-05-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Mother's day, whether you are a mom, or just spent it thinking of your mom and the other wonderful ladies in your life. We've had a full house for the last couple weeks with nearly all of my siblings(only one of my sisters was missing) and their families, and my mom in town for a visit. It made for a great mother's day for me!

I altered a box for my Mom for her gift this year. The great thing about this box is that the flower on the lower left was made by my daughter in school a few years back. It was originally a pin. So it's actually got a touch of both her and me in it's creation. My mom tells me she's going to keep the photos she's working on in it. I also made her and my MIL both cards for the occasion. My mom's is the "You" card, and my MIL's is the "Mom" card.

We took a nice walk with the kids and saw a few wild flowers, and more than a few slugs. The last photos I leave you with today, show a glimpse of Seattle wildflowers in the spring time. Even on the sunny days, there are reminders of rain.

Nana's Birthday

2008-04-05T15:16:00.000-07:00

My MIL's birthday is coming up in a few days. To my kids, she is Nana. I thought I'd share the card I made for her last year, as well as the one I finished up for her this year. The blue and brown card was her 07' card. The pink is the new one for this year. She's a really special person, and we miss her terribly. Have a great birthday! We love you!

Spring is in the air

2008-03-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

When my daughter was littler, she had this cute little headband with a big blue mesh flower. It had floating silver balls that rolled through the transparent pettals. The flower has long since fallen off. I've been holding onto it for the longest time. I decided it needed to dress up this bag. This cute pp that's been in my stash reminds me of spring so much, and went perfectly with the big blue mesh flower. I'm going to tuck some turtles into it and give it to a friend. Who can resist chocolate and caramel! Now if I can just wish spring here, we'd be all set!

Birthday Wishes

2008-03-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

It was my friend Holly’s birthday yesterday! Since “Happy” and”Holly” both start with H, I thought the occasion would make a perfect window/monogram card. The flower on the inside was a left over from a craft project my daughter did. I am so glad she let me use it!

Recipe:
Green cardstock
Pink pp; Daisy Bucket Designs
Yellow pp
Fiskars embossing system
Cricut machine and Alphalicious cart
Chipboard
Brads; JoAnn
Bubble stickers; Cloud 9 Design
Rub Ons; EK Success
Copper ink pad; Dew Drop
Button
Ribbon
White marker
Pink marker

Happy Birthday, Mom

2008-03-15T11:05:00.000-07:00

My mom finally received her birthday present and card, so I can post it here now. I have a few porjects in the works. If I can actually focus enough to finish one of them, I'll have more to show you soon!

2008-02-07T23:59:00.000-08:00

Yay! I’m using more stash!

These cards will find homes with my son’s teachers. They’d make good any occasion cards, but this time they’ll be valentines. I used Daisy Bucket Designs patterned paper, Making Memories glitter letters and prima flowers on both cards. The squares on the smile card were from Cock-a-doodle Designs and have been in my stash for years (literally). I attached the rick-rack to the squares and hand-stitched floss around the edges. The peridot flower centers are from Dress It Up. For the Enjoy card I added faux stitching to opposing corners to balance it a bit, and made white dots in a circle around the center. Added matching glitter dots from the same stickers the sentiment came in to the upper left. The prima flower is nesting on top of heart-shaped cardstock arranged to look like petals. The center gem is Me and My Big Ideas. I really like the feel of the smile card. There are so many different textures. It’s just fun to touch.
TFL

Chinese New Year

2008-02-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

These are some invitations I did for my son's Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. The theme this year is Chinese New year. They had to be simple so I could do a lot of them quickly. It's customary for red envelopes with money in them to be given to bring good luck, so I tucked some fake money into these "envelopes". The "Fu" symbol is printed out and then cut and mounted with my circle cutter. Gold paint around the edges of the front, and also used to distress the insert. I found the back picture on another pack's website and stuck it to the back. Tied the symbol and the pull-out insert with rafia.

An Elephant Never Forgets

2008-02-04T01:22:00.002-08:00

This is a tri-fold card I made for my daughter's teacher for Valentine's day. My daughter is a big animal lover, and her teacher is well aware of this, so the elephant theme is perfect for her. The kids had a lot of fun making the elephants (one of which is the center of this card). They're cut with hearts for the ears, and a heart for the head with a "J" welded to it using my cricut. The papers are all from stash. The card is kept closed using magnetic snaps from Basic Grey. These things are great! The heart brads are Making Memories, and the ribbon is Martha Stewart. It was fun to do a card with my kids. They like how it turned out, and I hope my daughter's teacher does as well.

Goals

2008-02-02T20:39:00.000-08:00

Wow! My crafty space is in some desperate need of tidying up! I'm finally feeling well enough to start taking down our Christmas things. I have a lot of handmade ornaments, and some of them were in need of repair, so they all made their way up to my desk, and now I can't make any cards or layouts until I get that taken care of. So I've mad a goal to get this tidied up this weekend. These are my goals for the coming week:

Tidy up my desk!
Valentines cards for teachers from my kids
"Reflections" jar - fold the tasks, and alter the jar. (I may need a larger jar)
Alter "Reflections" book
Trains LO of ds#2

That should keep my plenty busy. I made a new year's resolution to do an on-going project that was all about me. Something my posterity can look back at and learn more of who I am. A journal if you will, but I intend to keep it in a scrapbook form with tons of journaling. That will be my reflections book. I found a cool message board at http://123-scrap.com. On this board, one of the projects is a Book of Me, which I figure will be a HUGE help to me for my reflections book. I'm sure there are going to be days that I'm not compelled toward a certain subject. On those days, I'll go to my jar, and pick a topic they've used for the Book of Me. I hope to do 2-3 pages in my reflections book a month all year long. I've printed the topics out on pp and cut them into strips (1 topic on each strip). I need to get them all folded up and into my jar, which I need to alter. From the looks of my cuts, I should add replacing my trimmer blade to that goal list...

"Foiled" Challenge - Shine Like the Star U R !

2008-01-31T01:27:00.000-08:00

I decided to try my hand at the challenge over at http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ this week. The theme is "Foiled" and the challenge was to use some plain old aluminum foil from your kitchen on your card. This is what I came up with, and let me just say, it was indeed a challenge. Foil is hard to work with- It's so thin! I also had trouble getting it to photograph well.

The paper background is Karen Foster Design, and I used my Cricut to cut out the stars, tag and words. My Cricut didn't want to cut the foil (even after mounting it onto cardsotck) without tearing it, so I added the foil afterward and hand trimmed it. The eyelets are Making Memories, and the ribbon is bulk from my local craft store. I just love this ribbon. It's got an opalescent look to it, and it's not very wide. I like the delicate touch it adds. I added dimension with some dots used under the main star.

Thanks for the challenge!

1 Reason not to scrap at 2am

2008-01-29T21:32:00.001-08:00

This is a page I've been wanting to do of my dh. I got it all finished in the wee hours this morning, and was looking forward to putting it in my book when I noticed I dated the letter with the wrong year. I should know by now never to date anything with a year until at least June, since that's how long it takes me to get used to the change. Anyway, now I need to go in and fix it.

The paper is K&Company. I used lots of Cricut cuts on this one: Opposites attract, Mini Monograms, Jasmine, Teardrop, and All Mixed Up. I used DS to help me with this (LOVE IT!).

I hand made the notebook look letter using my Cropadile and then ripping the holes outward. Antiqued the edges with "caramel". The ribbon is Making Memories.

TFL

My Stars

2008-01-27T22:12:00.000-08:00

I finally finished my dd's star, and my set is now complete. (Unless I decide to add one for me and my dh hehe). I love these stars. They come in all different sizes. These are about 6". The technique is the same as listed below on the larger star post. Pictures printed at 3x5 are just the right size for these. The papers I used on all are from a color block mat stack from DCWV.

TFL

Simple Thank You

2008-01-27T21:17:00.000-08:00

I'm recovering well from my surgery. I had a handful of really wonderful friends bring over meals, send flower, and other acts of kindness to assist me with various things while I was down, which of course warrants some "Thank You" cards. These are nothing complicated, since I made them rather quickly while I was still not able to do much but lay down. I also wanted to get them out quickly. I found this cute little card in my Provo Craft Style book, and scraplifted it for my cards, with very minor changes.

The flowers were cut with my Cricut and Accent Essentials. The snaps for the center are some I've had kicking around for some time. I believe they are Making Memories, but I could be wrong. "Thank you" was cut from All Mixed Up. The ribbon is Making Memories.

Grandma's Angels

2008-01-19T12:50:00.000-08:00

This is a project I did for my mom for Christmas. It's a large rusty star purchased from my local Ben Franklin Craft. It's about 24". The papers used are My Mind's Eye. I was able to include photos of all of her grandchildren. The star is made by making a template of where your pictures and papers will be. If you are using printed pictures from your computer, you will have to protect the images with a sealant so the colors won't run. I used "Preserve It". Everything is adhered to the star using Mod Podge, and then a final finishing layer is washed over the papers, pictures and embellishments. I added rub on lettering and some stickers to the finished star, which I didn't get the chance to take a pic of before mailing it off to her. (It was risking being late as it was, and my camera was out of batteries). My mom really likes how this turned out, and plans to keep it up year round. TFL

Surgery

2008-01-18T14:35:00.000-08:00

So, I was having a pretty annoying stomach ache that just wouldn't go away on Sunday. By Monday morning, I had decided it wasn't a "normal" ache and that I needed to have it looked at. So my hubby and I got the kids ready for school, dropped them off, and proceeded to the emergency room for me to be checked out. 1 set of X-rays and 1 ultrasound later, I was informed that I had a substantial sized stone trying to escape my gall bladder, which had lodged itself against my stomach. Apparently the ER doc, ultrasound tech, and surgical doc were all a bit surprised that I hadn't experienced any pain before this. End result: Surgery to remove the gallbladder, 2 days in a hospital, a liquid diet, and so far 5 days recovering. I'm still sluggish, and don't move around as well as I'd like, but I am feeling much better. I've been able to mix solid foods in with my liquids of choice. My good friends (and surrogate sisters, since my real ones are so far away) Holly and Joann sent me these lovely flowers today.

I've been working an altered box for my oldest son that would normally have taken me one night. Because of my current state, I've been working on it here and there for a few minutes at a time. I've almost finished the lid. I hope to have it finished and posted here soon. In the mean time, I have a previous project that I did for my mom for Christmas that I'll post shortly.

Christina's Card

2008-01-11T16:21:00.000-08:00

This is a card I made for my friend who is moving out of state. The finished card is about 5x8”.

The Letters were all cut using my Cricut, and the Jasmine cartridge. The large C is the charm function cut at 4.5”. For this charm I made chip board using a piece of cardboard that came with some scrapbook sheet protectors that I had, with a colored paper mounted to it. “My friend” was cut at 1 ½ ”. The tag was cut at 2” and 1 ¾” from the Plantin SchoolBook cartridge. The paper is all “Magnolia” from My Mind’s Eye. The ribbon was bulk ribbon from Ben Franklin Craft that I had left over from a card I made my mother-in-law for her birthday. The brad is Making Memories. I believe the flower charm is also, although I’m not sure. I used Walnut Ink from Tsukinek for the antiquing around the edges.

The sentiment on the inside of the card was printed on my printer. I cut out some of the shapes from one of the coordinating papers used on the front of the card, and spiced up the inside a bit. I also made an envelope for the card with this same paper.

Beginnings

2008-01-11T16:06:00.001-08:00

Well, this is my first shot at an actual "blog" so we'll see how well it turns out. My thoughts are that this will be a good place to share the various things I create, as well as keep track of them myself, since most tend to be gifts for other people.