Chepstow Castle

Here is the second Welsh castle we visited - much bigger, and we got to see the inside too.

Echo Park - Wintertime - craft kit; Cosmo Criket Alphas; Warm Cord Brads by Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker; hemp. This sketch was based on the GYSO #8 from Get Your Shetch On below, which I rotated 180 degrees.

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It's Party Time!

Party Time Tuesday's challenge this week is Anything Goes! Use your creativity and join the Party this week! We are being sponsored by Glitterbabe's Digis, where you can find great digi stamps! Check out her images at her site and see what the Party Planners came up with at PTT. Even I took a turn with a digi stamp for the first time:

Patterned paper by Cosmo Cricket - Material Girl; May Arts ribbon; SRM sticker sentiment; Glitterbabe's Digis - Birthday Wish Flower and eyelets from Eyelet Outlet & Brads.

Challenges entered:
Scrap-creations: Birthday
Sweet Stamps: Challenge #3 - flowers
Bunny Zoe's Crafts: Challenge #9 - spring.... flowers
Lexi's Creations: Challenge #34 - flowers
A Spoon Full of Sugar: Challenge #140 - birthday wishes

I hope you can join the Party this week!

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Wales

During our trip to England we rented a car and drove into Wales to see some castles. Here are the first two LOs from the trip: our day at Caldicot Castle. I started out with a double pager, but as I ended up with a boy in each page I decided to add title and journal to each. Now each boy has a page for this castle outing.

Echo Park - Wintertime - craft kit; K&Co. - Citronella - adhesive chipboard; Queen&Co. pearls; Glue arts High Tac adhesive and foam.

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In a Christmas mood...

Sketchy Thursdays has paired up with Jingle Belles for a Second Chance Challenge. The theme is holiday card and here is the sketch:

Here is my entry:

I changed the dimensions of the card to fit the vintage postcard. Paper: LilyBee - Catching Fall, DCWV - The Christmas/Winter combo cardstock pack and Holliday Collection glitter Matstack. Maya Road Medallion Flowers, Jillibean Soup sugar pick, Offray ribbon.

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Christmas books

For my last Chrismas layout (for 2009) I wanted to make a ribbon tree, so this LO just worked itself around the tree like presents at our house usually do.

Papers: LilyBee - Catching Fall, Crate Paper - Snow Day, Jillibean Soup - Christmas Chestnut Soup on kraft. American Craft cardstock, Sandylion embellishments, Cosmo Cricket alphas, Crate Paper - Snow Day - cardstock sticker, Offray (green) ribbon. The brown ribbon I bought from Laurl's Etsy shop. I used Glue Arts ribbon adhesive, 3D combo pack and my Glue Glider Pro with a High Tac cartridge. The left page was based on the GYSO #7 from Get Your Shetch On below, which I rotated 90o clockwise.

Now I need to organize the UK vacation pictures before I can scrap another LO...

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Quick card

I made this card yesterday for my oldest to take to a birthday party... somehow all the cards in my drawer were too girly. I definitely need to make more boy cards, somehow the last few parties were all for boys...

Paper scraps + Jolee's 3D sticker + SRM birthday sentiment

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Another tent card

I gave the other tent card to a friend of mine and her mother wanted one too - to display a photo of her new granddaughter. I had to come up with something fast, as she was leaving today:

I used Cosmo Cricket - Togetherness - papers and chipboard elements. Pearls by Prima, Creative Imaginations and Eyelet Outlet & Brads.The cardstock base is Core'dinations - Gemstones - and I cut it 4.5" x 12.5" (including the label strip). I scored at 5", 10", 11", 12" and applied adhesive to the label strip to close the tent. More info on tent cards here. I cut the window with a 3" scallop circle punch.

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Vol 4, #8

The Tuesday Party is hopping!

This week Party Time Tuesday is hosting a sketch challenge! I love sketches and we are so happy to have Stacy as our Sketch Designer! Look at the amazing sketch she made for us:

If that is not enough to entice you to play along, you might also want to know that our sponsor this week is Circle B Enterprises Scrapbooking & More Store! They have such an amazing selection of stickers and embellishments, go ahead and check them out! The Party Planners will be showcasing some of their products in the coming months, so stay tuned...

I loved Stacy' sketch, it was so inspiring! I decided to make a tent card (my first):

Maya Road Medallion Flowers and Jenni Bowlin Butterfly Banner Stickers from the Mosh Posh July'10 kit. My Mind's Eye - Lounging Around - and American Crafts - Tree House -  papers from the Country Home July'10 kit I won at Color me Miki. Core'dinations - Whitewash - cardstock, SRM sticker sentiment and ribbon from my stash.

Challenges entered:
Catch the Bug - Different Fold
Mimi Doodles - Challenge #20 Flower Card
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Challenge 9
DYSU - challenge #6 ribbons

I started out following this tent card tutorial, but decided to use a 12" x 4.5" card base and score at 4.5", 9", 10", 11" - as you can see from the picture below:

I cut the window with a Coluzzle template and lined it with a scrap of cardstock to give it more support. I had to trim the length of the closing flap so it would not show through the window. I twirled the paper strips with a quilling tool that came with Twirled Paper: Make Almost Anything With Simple Paper Strips (Klutz). Here is another view from the side:

I hope you get a chance to join the Party this week!

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Vol 5, #1

Happy Valentine's Day

I made a Valentine's Day card for Dada day this year with a Pink Paislee Mistletoe & Co. die-cut paper I've had in my stash forever. One of those papers I always pull out but end up returning. I love it but until now I never figured out how to use it.

The alphas are also by Pink Paislee. Core'dinations cardstocks (Whitewash and Gemstones), May Arts Ribbon.

Challenges entered:
Sew Many Cards - Challenge #43 Valentines
ECP Challenge Blog - Challenge #31
One Stop Craft Challenge - Week #118 Love is in the Air
Card Makin Mamas - Challenge #14
Crafty Ann's - Challenge #35
Crafty Catz - Challenge 69
Frosted Designs - use the word LOVE
Ooh La La - Challenge #73
DYSU - challenge #6 ribbons

Here is a tutorial for the fan:

1- cut the paper in half, then "half" again making sure you have complete scallops.

2- With the pattern facing up score from the tip to the point where two scallops meet. (I found it helpful to mark my scoring board at full inch marks to help line things up.)

3- Turn the paper over and score from the tip to the middle of each scallop.

4- Accordion fold and gather the base (about one third of the length from the tip). I cut the tip off because the fan was a little too long for my card.

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Vol 4, #8

My LO space

My crafting space was driving me crazy, mostly because is was a big mess and things were stored in bags so I could "put it away" when needed. This is what my corner in our family/guest room looked like most of the time:

Once I started crafting on a regular basis, I knew I needed something more permanent too... When we found a desk by our neighbors curb that would serve my purpose, I knew I was halfway there. Dada refinished it and fixed the broken drawer. Yesterday I found a lazy susan organizer at a garage sale and I spent the afternoon organizing my little nook. Here is what it looks like now:

And here is a closeup of my table top:

I know it won't stay this neat for long, but I'm so happy to have a more purposeful craft space!


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An early Christmas

 Here is another layout for Christmas 2009, you can click on the image to see it larger.

Sassafrass Lass papers and alphas, Cosmo Cricket tiny Type, Sandylion embellishments, American crafts tree chip. This LO was based on a Becky Fleck sketch for Apron Strings:

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CHA favorites

CHA Winter 2011 showed a glimpse of the amazing things that are hitting the market in the next months. Here are some of my favorite:

by Cosmo Cricket: Glubers
I can't wait to make flowers with these!

by October Afternoon: Rocket Age
The perfect boy paper collection! 

by Sassafras: Starters
Perfect background when you don't want to use cardstock.

by We R Memory Keepers: Sew Easy large stitch piercers and fancy floss
I'm loving stitching on paper with my Sew Easy piercer and I can't wait to do more fancy stuff!

by Core'dinations: BasicGray Core Impressions
I don't have an embossing machine, so these would be perfect and the colors are way up my alley!

I'll be watching out for these and other great new releases to show up on my favorite sites!

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Welcome baby!

One of my best friends had a baby girl last week, and here is the card I made for them:

The paper is left over from the first baby book kit I bought almost 5 years ago... Flower was cut from Cosmo Cricket DeLovely paper, Prima pearls and ribbon from my stash.

I made the card to match the baby box I decorated last August. I was thinking of her when I put the box together, but she would probably have had a boy if I had said so before :)

Here is a re-post on the box (more pictures if you follow the link above, and the rose tutorial is here):

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