Don't Worry... Be Scrappi

My Life...as I now know it!

2011-01-19T13:10:00.000-05:00

I haven't written a blog entry since September 24th of 2010 and the reason is because my life kinda went kattywompus and I stopped making cards and/or blogging about them. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on what day you ask, my Spouse of 14 years and I split up in October after some longstanding problems, and I started the process of "finding me" again. I'm still looking in the couch cushions and everywhere I can think and some days I actually do find little pieces (of me). There are days I take two big steps forward and other days I fall ten steps backward, those are the days I forget to take my Prozac. I still have my son with AS whose almost 9 and my daughter who is 19 and in college living with me. I am in the process of finding a job in this down-turned economy. As you may have read I haven't worked outside the home in eight years so this process is extremely scary and difficult, and I haven't had very many promising leads as of yet so right now I am in within the ranks of the unemployed. The good news is we made it through the holidays and I am doing my best to keep the faith that all will work out for us in the near future. In trying to pick up my pieces I have once again found my blog and I'm trying to get back to my hobbies and the things I love. Happy Scrapp 'n! ~Cheryl~

In Style Stamps/OWH Birthday Challenge

2010-09-24T20:59:00.003-04:00

Here is a HAPPY BIRTHDAY card I submit for the challenge over at In Style Stamps. No sentiment needed -who could have a sad birthday with all these colors! This cute clown digi came from my freebie stash but I can't remember who drew her, if anyone knows please advise so I can give proper credit. Thanks for looking! have a wonderful weekend!
~Cheryl~

Sparkle Challenge and Copic technique for cheapos!

2010-09-24T09:47:00.005-04:00

Hey ya'll! I am entering this first card in the challenge over at Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps, the request was for any card that makes you think of fall. I had just whipped this card up the other day using this AKV Bugaboo Stamps freebie and some miscellaneous papers that were in my scrap folder. To color the image I used a combo of copic, sharpie, and cheapo kid markers. I was able to get a little shading by first coloring with the fine point sharpies then immediately using the lighter copic to blend toward the center, it may not be as good as using all copics but so far I only own six of them in the very lightest shades so I do what I can with those.

When I started the hobby of making cards for Operation Write Home; though I absolutely love it, I had no idea what it would truly cost to build up a supply trove. For months I spent no less than fifty bucks a week at craft stores including my cuttlebug, then folders, spellbinders dies etc...thank god I hid the receipts from hubby...shhh. I must admit I put copics last because they really are expensive, they are also worth it for the exceptional blend-ability. One marker for four bucks is a lot of moolah in my neck o' the woods- and that is the SALE price! lol. As you can tell I used my "skin" marker to shade around the image, something I tried the other day and I liked it -kinda' looks a little antiqued. My next batch of copics will include at least one other color to represent another ethnicity because right now I'm limited to white skin.

I tried to buy my copics according to which I would need for the largest areas of my images. For example I started with the lighter browns for all of the bear(s) and even one very light green for turtles and frogs. I heard that by buying the lighter shades first you can get away with having less colors because you can build up color with the lighter ones by going over and over the same spot you want darker -it works! Since I only have a few copics - I "outline" a little darker with my cheapo markers -I kinda' prefer this method. I did splurge on a $16 collection of fine point sharpies which I really like for a variety of card-making purposes. They write very smoothly -love me some smooth writing pens- and of course they do include a darker and lighter version of each color which gives them some versatility, copics WILL blend with them if you do it in a hurry. For example below, check out the wings on this little bugaboo angel. I first used my pink sharpie to outline the inside edges (zoom close) where it would be naturally darker then quickly used my pink copic to blend toward the middle. A cheaper way to achieve some depth.Nothing could be done for the moon, however because I had no lighter color of yellow...note to self...need light yellow copic too!

While you're zoomed in notice there is a little sparkle on the middle band there. That there is OWH APPROVED glitter paper. This paper has glitter literally baked into the paper so there is absolutely no flaking whatsoever. I think I now have this paper in EVERY color because sometimes you just NEED glitter and even though I really haven't been using this paper as much as I thought I would, buying it and owning it and knowing you do have a way to add glitter is really fun, almost like breaking the rules without getting caught. lol.

...and just one more thing, it doesn't really show up in this pic all that great but I've added some real cheap bling there in the corners. Glitter paper is great for use with your punches to add a little flower, then pop a cheap as dirt sequin, then a little gem on top of that. It doesn't really translate here but this card is really bedazzled in person and who doesn't love that?

OWH Sketch 35 Challenge

2010-09-21T08:03:00.004-04:00

Hi there, this time I wanted to make a birthday card for a boy since my last two were obviously for girls. It wasn't easy because I didn't have much colorful paper on hand but I found this in my scrap folder. Birthday cards are not my favorite cards to make either. I like to just make general cards and if they are to be used for a birthday I figure the soldier can write inside "Happy Birthday" but since many of the OWH birthday challenges of late are specifically asking for Birthday cards I am stretching myself. So the little alien monster I got from the freebies blog but (I feel really bad about this) I can't remember who submitted it, if you know please advise. I then added three googly eyes. I made the little sentiment sign on my scrapbook factory program.

By the way is anyone else's blogger acting funny. Mine keeps highlighting errors instead of turning them red and it won't let me type text except in link form with an underline unless I go and put a jump break which is got me baffled. I must have inadvertantly changed some settings but have no idea how to get back to normal blogger. It is really drivin' me insane! LOL

This last card here is just a random I scrapped up from this image by Elizabeth Dulemba, theres a link on my blog that will take you to all of her wonderful digital freebies! Happy Scrap 'n!

TGIF Card Extravaganza!

2010-09-17T13:49:00.010-04:00

This is my submission for Shelly's Images Challenge Blog over at OWH which was to make a birthday card. The image used here is a Dustin Pike D.P. freebies and I added the googly eyes!

This Snowman card is for the OWH challenge over at Paper Romance, which was to make either a birthday or Christmas card.If you zoom in a little you'll notice on the snowflakes I dabbed a little blob of sparkly stickles. The paper used on both of the Christmas cards was a donation from Karen Gory Creating With Kajikit (she sent me a ton of paper a while back) she's a real sweet lady and the snowman was a stamp I received in Scrappy's blog candy I won a while back.

Next up is my submission for both the ABC Christmas Challenge Blog which was to use a Santa and the Little Red Wagon Blog Challenge which was to use a star or stars. This image is by Dustin PikeD.P. freebies. Did you get the dragon "pun"? My daughter didn't! lol


Here's my entry for the OWH Some Odd Girl Challenge Blog which was to make a birthday card; This sweet little digi is a freebie over there so make sure you get it! This card is going to make some soldiers daughter smile when she receives it because it is so colorful. I was really on a roll today! Thanks So Much for stopping by to say Hi! I hope ya'll have a wonderful weekend!

Cooking it up with Katie Challenge

2010-09-16T10:07:00.001-04:00

Yesterdays challenge over at cooking it up with Katie was to make a fancy fold card with an autumn theme. Here is my submission for that Challenge. The only thing I left out (doh) was the embossing which I must have skipped over that deet in my reading yesterday but hey... two out of three ain't bad right?

....and here is the inside of my easel fold card. Since this card will be received by a Soldier I needed to provide a little room for a quick note home. This is only the second easel fold card I've ever done and I really liked the fact that it can be displayed but the message inside still remains private from view.

Deets;
All of my papers are random, some from books, others bought by the sheet (I can't seem to resist buying paper even though I have a LOT of books already) I'm not dedicated to any brand when it comes to scrapp'n , I like them ALL! Thanks for visiting my blog today, if you leave me a comment ill visit yours! Happy Scrapp'n!
~Cheryl~

Thanksgiving Collection

2010-09-15T14:16:00.000-04:00

Hey there, here are my first four Thanksgiving cards...I made these from two (one dollar) stamps I picked up at Joanns the other day. On the first two I used a vellum to stamp the images onto. Also I used my quick cutz squares and circle frames on these!

Thanks for checking out my designs & Happy Scrap 'n!

OWH Sketch #34 Challenge plus Fab n Funky Challenge #39 & DT call

2010-09-08T15:52:00.001-04:00

Pink ATG on the Cheap plus Random Acts of Cardness

2010-09-01T09:31:00.000-04:00

Hey ya'll. Those of you who read my post on no-fail adhesives may appreciate this. Today I received my pink ATG ~WOOT WOOT! I did have to wait about seven weeks for it because it was a pre-order and there had been a defect in a huge batch of them that were to be shipped. Scotch had to pull and re-manufacture all of those so it put all of the subsequent shipments way behind.

     I LOVE this thing and would wait an eternity to have it in my hands....now I'm sounding like a bad romance novel, but seriously love is NOT too strong of a word here. I have scrapped up six (see below) cards with this thing and now I see what all the fuss over at Operation Write Home is about. First off it did not feel awkward to me which was a concern of it being so big, I picked it up and started to use it right away and it is very user friendly, if you're a scrapper it is pretty intuitive to use, just pull the trigger, drag on your card-stock, and release the trigger in a full motion -very fast and accurate for even narrow strips and ribbon. I even used it on the back of some tiny (less than 1/2 inch surface) paper flowers and yes it is that accurate in tape placement, so say goodbye to those sticky fingers. The loading of the tape reminds me of the way you thread a sewing machine...a little bit to learn but once you've done it one time you never need the instructions again! This tape sticks like no other. It far surpasses the Ad-Tech permanent variety that I reviewed in its stick-ability and this is the scotch gold that came with my Susan G. Komen ATG (2 rolls included). You will definitely become a shipper favorite card-designer if you use this!

     Here's one more thing to feel good about... I only paid thirty bucks with shipping ($21.50 + $8.50 S&H) for this ATG over at Glenda's Creative Place Glenda is an awesome seller, I do not work for her but; I had to call her because I was so anxious to get my ATG and she kindly explained to me about the pre-order. She makes no money on these...she is doing it solely for the good of cancer research and to offer scrappers this low price, what an awesome lady!! Please go there and buy one of these from her, you WILL have to wait... but you WILL NOT get a better price anywhere and during the wait time you will be able to use up all of the current adhesive you have on hand (no waste = no glue in a landfill) YAY - because once you receive this you will never want to use anything else. Incidentally I also found a cheaper brand tape WHICH I HAVE NOT TRIED, but that you may wish to try AFTER you buy your ATG...here is the link to that JVCC brand tape thats fits the ATG $1.93 per roll.

   Now for my Random Acts of Cardness. I call it that because what follows is a mis-match of differently themed cards that I just scrapped up in a jiffy to test out my ATG. Most of the papers used came from a scrap box and honestly were not my favorites but hey...every paper deserves a "chance" to shine right? The Halloween card is the only one that follows this weeks Sketch 32 challenge @Operation Write Home. Have you ever noticed how your glue doesn't seem to stick as well to your embossed papers? The ATG tape solves this problem. I still used Beacons 3 in 1 for the buttons in case you were wondering.

Please let me know if this post was helpful to you or if it took a long while to load (I just got a new camera and pics are taking forever to upload so I may need to reduce the resolution.) Thanks for stopping by and Happy Scrap n'!

OWH Non Fail Adhesives (Follow Up)

2010-08-24T09:58:00.001-04:00

Hey y'all, sorry it has taken me so long to post this but my son was back to school last week and having gall bladder surgery in early August put me behind a little. I was frantically trying to play catch up with his transition journal (for those of you wondering this is a journal to introduce my son to his teacher that basically talks about his special needs and what she can expect this year.) So far my son is doing great, he has lost no recess time and he seems to be handling the demands of school more maturely.Fingers crossed that this continues.
Many of you who read my recently featured post on the Operation Write Home Tuesday Tutorial "How to become a shippers pet: non fail adhesives" have been asking about the discounted "off brand" ATG tape I mentioned that I found on the internet. It is called JVCC ATG-7502 and according to http://www.findtape.com the per roll price is 1.93. The claims by users are that it works just fine in the Scotch ATG as it is the same 1/4 inch size by 36 yards ( JVC has their own off-brand gun as well.) I believe the cheapest price I came across on the scotch brand tape was in the five dollar per roll range. Now I should mention that since I have NOT received my pink pre-order ATG yet -I have NOT tried this tape but I certainly will be trying & reviewing it for OWH one day so stay tuned. It got 4.5 stars under the reviews section and most-if not all-of the reviews were by scrappers and they seem to love it!

Some of you wanted to see pictures of my card liners where I had described the way I like to add a little interest using up the little paper scraps you cut off to make a 4" x5 1/2 inch card base out of a whole 11X 8 1/2 sheet of card stock. Here's a few examples of cards and their liners done different ways. This one I just took the regular computer paper in white, scalloped the side using a MS punch, over the top there I glued one of the black strips that got cut off when creating the card base. I punched a flower out of a scrap from the front designer paper and in the center of the flower popped out a dot from a regular hole punch. See now isn't that cute? Here's another...

This picture turned out kinda fuzzy...I just got a new camera so it is the user in this case I'm sure. Below is an example of a liner I did that covered most of the card inside...you can do this to add weight when your card stock is on the flimsier side. I don't know why it is but when I started buying these card-stock specialty color packs from Johanns I realized that not all card-stock is created equal. I actually prefer Wal-Mart card-stock for bases because its fairly stiff and cheap, you can get it in primary colors, neon colors, and black and white. However if you enjoy using a broader range of colors and can't stomach the price of bazzill or pricier card-stocks you can try this method, just add a liner of heavier card-stock and problem solved!!

So now I am off to experiment with the art of freezer cooking and advanced meal prep. I will probably be posting about it here in the coming days. I hear it leaves WA-A-AY more time for scrapping cards and of course I am all for that! Until then...Happy Scrap 'N!

Small kitchen!/What would you do?

2010-08-06T16:10:00.000-04:00

Hey there ya'll. Wow my posts are becoming more sporadic as I've been doing less cards for OWH lately. I just have had some other things going on and have had to focus on those things for a bit. One area of focus being "Back to school" which will be happening here in less than two weeks. My son is 8 and will be going in the second grade. He happens to have Asperger's Syndrome which presents a host of challenges for new situations/teachers/classrooms/expectations etc...and a LOT of Stress for me. Every year I go through and try and pair down papers etc.. from the previous year and believe me -there are LOTS but I have to make room for homework and after school organization-this means getting my kitchen in order.

One thing I have been trying to do in this little house that my Mom left me is to make space. This place is at just about 1200 square feet but just feels so cramped and cluttered a lot of times. I've been trying to work on more visually pleasing organization. To be honest where the problem lies right now is CRAFTS, I just have no place for them as I have a child in each bedroom and a small kitchen and no dining room and a son who loves to use all kinds of crafts. Speaking of small kitchen here it is with original 1956 knotty pine cabinets. I have no idea how a family of 6-7 members lived in this house at one time but they managed so I suppose we (the four of us) can too but first I need more places to put stuff-like the overflow of food that won't fit in cabinets because there aren't enough cabinets. So I came up with an idea for the other side of the room -a high shelf.

Now This is still in the process of being worked on. The bins came from walmart and do a pretty good job of hiding snacks/chips/cereal/etc... that I previously stored on this hutch stacked to the brim. Now mind you, I want to move this hutch over slightly to center with the table and move the trash bin back to the other side of the room so this wall is not crazy cluttered looking. On the other wall to the right I need some sort of bulletin board to keep school events/after school/dates/papers/etc... but I need it to NOT look cluttered as it often does when my son brings home papers and we display them. That will be my next project.

I am wondering for the longest time if I should attempt to paint these cabinets. I mean obviously I went with the "country" theme because nothing else would have meshed with these cabinets but I wonder if a more cohesive color pallet wouldn't make this kitchen at least seem less cluttered and I do not have a LOT of money. Here's where I welcome your ideas and opinions. What would you do?

How to become a shippers pet! Non-fail adhesives!

2010-07-27T00:01:00.000-04:00

So...in my quest for the best adhesive for Operation Write Home...I have decided to extensively review here all of the adhesives I have used so far including their good and bad qualities. It seems as though I've tried them all but there are so many brands it can be really confusing for the newer OWH card maker. Operation Write Home cards obviously are going overseas where temperatures are extreme and require adhesives that will not dry out and cause our cards to lose their pieces or pop layers with a slight bend. In effort to not have my cards be patients in the shippers triage (card hospital) I store and test my cards before shipment. I have stages my cards go through...

Stage one - Card front creation, I usually use glue stick for patterned (thin) paper to card stock adhesion - glue stick usually allows for easier repositioning than tape so that is the advantage and why I usually prefer it. However glue sticks are almost always the culprits in card triage. But -the BY FAR BEST glue ~stick~ I've found so far is POINEER Embellishment glue stick - it goes on very sticky and gummy and does tend to gum around the neck of the tube and makes for a hard to remove cap after a few uses (at which point teeth help) but this is a good sign -if your glue stick glides on very smoothly and easily I have found those are usually the worst culprits for popping up layered card-stock once its dry. PIONEER does not warp up the paper like some liquid adhesives I've used and it is easily found at Walmart. I made all 20 of my recent Halloween cards with it and they have sat for three weeks and still seem to be adhered very well given the slight "bend" test. Speaking of 20 cards - you will get about 20 cards out of this stick. The price of one stick is $2.00 so that's about .10 per card.This product works well for card-stock to card-stock adherence as well as thin paper adherence such as liners or designer papers and also it claims embellishments so do give it a try if you are a new card-maker looking for a good glue stick -don't waste your money on the school glue stick varieties or even the Aleenes tacky glue stick-I have found all of these to be a "temporary hold" that will probably not survive shipping to A-Stan!.

Another glue/ adhesive I have used with success is Beacons 3 in 1. This is a liquid initially re-positionable fast drying tacky glue that is good for EVERYTHING from adhering paper to card-stock to adhering buttons, metal embellishments, buttons to buttons, ribbon, the kitchen sink - you get the idea. You can find it at any craft store. This glue IMO is a must have for certain embellishments because it is the only thing I've found that holds over time on the bulkier embellishments like buttons -it seems to remain somewhat flexible like rubber so this allows your card to still flex without popping parts. The drawbacks to it are; its slow as molasses to come out of the bottle, so I store it upside down but immediately upon removing the cap it begins to bubble up more product than I can use... as it has been stored upside down; (stored upright you'll have to wait for it like pouring ketchup)... so I have to wipe the nozzle of excess with a baby wipe and re-screw the cap quickly which can be time consuming when your glueing/stopping/glueing etc... - perhaps if I store it on its side it would ooze somewhere in between too fast and too slow (ill have to try that) but it is a definite MUST HAVE for repairs of pop offs from other faulty glues and embellishments. Also Beacon's only causes minimal warping on the card-stock -barely noticeable if any - unlike Aleenes which I find causes warping. The cost of Beacon's is around 3.95, however I have had one bottle last me months - if you used only "Beacon's" product (a little goes a long way with this) I estimate you could get between 40-60 cards + embellishments so that's a cost of around .07 per card. If I were new to scrapping cards for OWH and my funds were limited and I could only have one glue for every purpose this would be the one I'd recommend -it will get you through until you can add to your adhesive (s) collection and your shipper will smile big every time they think of you because your cards will not need repairs.

The next adhesive I use with success and mainly for those tiny pieces of paper embellishments such as sizzlits, die cuts with intricate lines etc... that need adhered without a huge blob of glue is "ZIG" pen, I always use it blue/wet and adhere quickly; as opposed to clear/dry which is a temporary hold according to the directions. I would not use it for large areas because the pen I have is the very small chisel tip variety - I have not tried the other ZIG products so I can not review them but the zig pen does work for small pieces when used in the blue/wet (permanent) method. I forget how much I paid for this product but it is a must have if you adhere the sizes of paper as described above.

Up next: Stage two - Card liner creation. Lately I have been creating decorative, yet simple liners for the insides of most of my cards. I just think it adds a little more hand-made quality and weight to the cards. Usually if the card is any color other than white I will add a liner (ink-jet weight paper -the kind found at Walmart) of a complimentary pastel color. If the card is already pastel I will add a liner of white. I use the little 1/4 strips that get cut off of my card-stock to create a little interest line to the right of the fold then I punch out a flower or two and adhere in the corners or to the edge. I usually do this in stage 2 because I like to pick a day to do only liners and inside card embellishments, usually this is when I think I have enough cards to create a shipment. I go into my scrap box to find scrap pieces to use -it seems to go faster than if I were trying to create card fronts and do liners at the same time plus I like to revisit the cards I've previously made and assure my glues are holding strong before shipping - Next step- Labeling and Shipping!

   Now as for adhesive tape(s) I have used Ad-tech (permanent) variety, they also sell re-positionable but in making cards for OWH I stay away from anything that is not permanent for obvious reasons. The advantages to "tape" are mainly that you get no warping no matter how many layers of paper/card-stock you end up using and it is fast, easy, and the least-messy option, your creativity flows because you are not constantly having to stop and clean glue off your fingers, or tabletop or cap and un-cap adhesives which can be appreciated best when the creative mojo is flowing freely. The main problem I personally have with permanent tape including ad-tech is once you've adhered it (even if crooked as mine often is) you've adhered it! You can "try" to quickly pull your pieces apart but sometimes it will warble your paper or rip and make it look like you used recycled paper to create your card - not a good look for our soldiers! Also I have noticed that cards adhered with tape may still pop up a little on the edges but seem to still stay adhered in the middle and tapes have not been accused of losing their parts as often as glues if at all. One trick I use for getting a straight layer is to use a generous line of glue stick in the middle of my paper in a line to be adhered/ position it down onto my card front pressing firmly so it will not move -then lift each of the individual sides/ apply tape runner/and press the sides down working from the middle out.

     Stage three-labeling and shipping. This is the final card-check-through for shipping to my OWH "shipper". I first check the cards for any glue failures, loose embellishments etc...I fix those usually with Aleenes Tacky glue hopefully saving my shipper from a triage nightmare. At this point it is the only repair glue that will adhere peeling edges without making a huge mess of your card... due to the tip being very narrow, you can easily squeeze it under your papers and button up any glue failures you may have. Aleene's is very cheap-a huge bottle for a dollar and change, adhesion is very good however I do not like the warping you get if using it to create the cards. Next I adhere my OWH and handmade labels to the backs of my cards and pair them with their envelopes by sticking the back of the card into the envelope pouch and folding the envelope flap backwards. I sort my cards into categories such as Love/Miss you, Everyday/No Sentiment, Child, Man, or other Occasion categories. I then bundle with paper straps (liner scraps taped together) all of my cards so my shipper doesn't have the extra chore of sorting -it also keeps my cards compacted for easier packing. I turn cards any way needed to offset embellishments to fit the most cards in a box. I label the bundles with post it's so she can open my box and know at an instant what kinds of cards are there in case she has a need for one particular type, she can quickly access it and then get to the rest later.

Now here are a few glues i've tried that will not hold up to OWH shipping conditions!

And "Terrifically Tacky Tape" is an excellent tape for those who make their own envelopes and need a super sticky "flap" tape adhesive. Now I have purchased an ATG gun from an online vendor at the beginning of this month.I got a great price at 30.00 with shipping - however I am currently holding my breath because it is a pre-order and I still have yet to receive it & I am told it could be months! I also found an off brand of tape that will work in the ATG for a fraction of what other tapes/glues cost! I hope I receive it soon though!

OWH cards using bold papers

2010-07-15T12:32:00.000-04:00

Hey ya'll i've been afk for sometime...I kinda lost my card mojo after all those Halloween cards -I can't say it is entirely back but I have made a few cards since. I however am posting them way too late but one or two were based on OWH sketch challenge of last week or perhaps even the week before...yeah i'm behind!

I got a new snoopy stamp and thought I'd experiment with some papers that have been a challenge to use in the past due to their bold patterns!

Sometimes ya' just gotta' let the paper speak for itself...I call this under-embellished but it made use of some scraps I had!

Again...challenging paper left to speak for itself and the center life saver I just wrote in "Life's a Beach"...simple!

This here is a Dustin Pike image (I think a freebie) utilizing some scraps again...this time for a birthday card - this layout loosely followed the OWH sketch although my measurements had to be modified! That's it for now, thanks for stopping by!

Halloween III

2010-06-25T12:51:00.000-04:00

Hey ya'll, more Halloween cards here...this makes 20 of 'em in all. I will store these until "Operation Write Home" asks for them. Believe it or not I still have over 1/2 of each of the original 5- 12X12 design sheets I got off the clearance aisle that started this whole Halloween endeavor (the fuzzy green and purple dot papers were originally 1.99 but I got them for .21cents each, the others were .11cents -now if only I could find embellishments that cheap!! I'm going to just save the rest of these papers for now because I am burnt out on the orange, green, and purple color scheme...well, wouldn't you be?

Speaking of cheap embellishments...here's an idea...sequins. Here I used them to give a sparkly look to this paper - it really screamed for something but in an effort to make no two cards alike I had to search my craft bins for rarely used items and I really liked the way it turned out, of course the photo doesn't do justice to the bling of it but I think a soldiers wife or little girl would really like this.

Here I used an old OWH sketch for my layout and this is a Dustin Pike image with googly eyes added - I LOVE GOOGLY EYES especially for child appropriate cards. Their the ultimate 3D embellishment and "cheap". Also added a few buttons, this paper became a little harder to work with as it seemed to take over but I still managed to embellish it to within an inch of its life!

Here is the reverse of the other, I used this cuttlebug cutout on the corners and put a button in the center, this was my daughter's favorite card. The trick or treat words came in a stash of buttons of different sorts from hobby lobby.

The "spooky" words and bat came from a chipboard Halloween set which I copied onto plain white cardstock at 60% of original size -the pieces were too big for cards otherwise. The rest are pretty self-explanatory, thanks for stopping by!

Halloween II

2010-06-22T22:38:00.003-04:00

Hey ya'll, here's my second batch of Halloween cards...my crop night got canceled so instead of making kits I decided to go ahead and use up these discount papers by making all the Halloween cards I can - my son (and I) are taking three weeks off from camp/driving so I get to craft most of the day -I think I am going to make my goal "40" cards for this break -so far I am at 11. This first one is for the OWH sketch challenge -I rotated it.

This one is for the sketch challenge over at 2S4Y (2 sketches for you).

This is for the Crafty Ho's sketch challenge.

The rest are just some cards I made using up some of the scraps! Thanks for stopping by!

Hello Halloween

2010-06-18T14:15:00.000-04:00

Hey ya'll,
I know its been over a week since my last post but I had a project to finish up for a lady at church & thankfully got that done-Whew! I also got to do some shopping the past week, mostly picked up some clearance items. Is it just me or does everyone feel the need to buy a few new papers every single time they hit the craft aisles? I really don't need the papers since I have at least 5 huge new paper books I barely even open but sometimes the singles entice me so I can't resist. Lately I have had a fascination with all colors of gingham -it goes with every thing and adds a little country flair which I like! So anyways in the store I found a few sheets of Halloween themed paper on the clearance aisle, also some Christmas -I know its only June but I hate trying to beat the deadlines because more often than not I - FAIL! I'd rather just make them now and store them until OWH asks for them. So far I haven't really been into doing the specific occasion cards -I usually prefer the anytime love or miss you type cards but I'm trying to branch out of my comfort zone besides I LOVE Halloween - second only to Christmas which I also LOVE.
In the back of my mind was also this upcoming crop night and I had told some of the girls that I'd make KITS which I've never done before (ruh-roh) - me and my big ideas-lol-so since the paper was on sale I figured I'd give "HALLOWEEN" in June a try. So far ... what I have to show you is five cards I came up with. Incidentally, I think I am allergic to multiples of the exact same card so I'm not sure how I'm going to pull my kits together but I had fun creating these cards and a few of them even qualify me for this weeks challenges at OWH. The Frankenstein one would be for the bling challenge -don't worry that's OWH approved glitter paper -it does not flake! Two are based off of this weeks sketch challenge and two of them I even tried the pinwheel tutorial -the second pinwheel I modified a bit! Thanks for stopping by!

Five year old superhero needs encouragement!

2010-06-09T15:50:00.001-04:00

Hi y'all, hope you're all having a wonderful hump day. I am having a nice peaceful week with my youngest (8) in day camp. While perusing the blogs this afternoon I found out about a little boy named Sam who is battling cancer - can you imagine what that is like for a five year old? It makes me tear up just to think of such a thing.

Pixie Dust Studio has an ongoing campaign asking for cards to encourage him along the way, they even have a cute image drawn up just for him - to let him know he is truly a super-hero (get the image and more info here). Unfortunately if that's not bad enough his poor Mom is battling breast cancer too. I already had this card done but I thought it would be appropriate for a five year old so now I'll be sending this off to little Sam.

It is a Dustin Pike freebie image and I made up this little riddle to go with it:
Q. Why do 99% of children sleep with stuffed bears?
A. Because 100% of monsters are scared of them.
Incidentally Dustin also has a request for McKensie who suffers from M.S., on his blog -I also sent her a card earlier so I am feeling pretty good about myself today! Our Pastor says "be a blessing to someone" I hope I have used my talent for that today and I hope you all will get time to do the same!

Happy Scrap' n!!

Tuesday's Challenge Cards

2010-06-08T14:29:00.000-04:00

Hey ya'll, I have several cards to show you today. First up are my OWH Sketch #20 challenge cards -yup I made three of them. the first two I used chipboard tags purchased from the dollar bin at Michaels and chose my paper colors to match. The last of the OWH sketch cards is a "man" card...those are a little more challenging for me, the "Mr. Fix it" was a stamp I found in the dollar bin at Johanns and the little hammers,saws,and screwdrivers I stamped over the plaid paper twice, also came from the dollar bin.

Next are two other sketch challenges...first is a card for the Tuesday Morning Sketches challenge. I did not have this spellbinder die so I improvised with a scrolly stamp I had. This card features a cute frog called "beach baby Jayme". It is a freebie over at Whimsey Inspirations. Please check out her special request for cards for her sister (Jayme) who has terminal cancer. She also has a sponsored RAK for one lucky participant. I hope my card will bring Jayme a smile!

Last is my entry for the JUGS (Just Us Girls Sketch) Challenge. I found this background paper at Hobby Lobby in the clearance bin. Its really colorful but a tad hard to work with because it tends to overtake a card. This was the first cut from this sheet. I will probably make simple cards with the rest of it just maybe tying a bow since the paper stands well "alone". On this card I also got to use one of the freebies I got on the OWH bloghop and colored to match the paper...this adorable little snail by...Yolanda.

Thanks for having a look at my cards today! Happy Scrap 'n!

I have a Memorial Day Blog hop WINNER!

2010-06-07T11:00:00.001-04:00

Hi there, as many of you know I ran my blog hop challenge up until midnight last night! When I checked my blog this morning there was a total of 88 comments + 48 followers and 6 challenge contestants who earned multiple entries to win my Memorial Day Blog Hop Candy. For those who completed my Oscar challenge they earned 10+ additional entries which I paired alongside their comment #. For example if your comment was number three and you earned ten entries for taking my challenge you were #'s 3-14. The total number of "entries" came to 234. I took me about two hours to get them all listed -whew! Then I used Random.org number generator to calculate the winner at # 48....Congratulations Melanie Holzwarth! Melanie I'll be emailing you shortly. I wish I could have a prize for each and every one of you who left me a comment, chose to follow me, and most especially those who took the time to create beautiful cards with my drawings of a little camel but that would surely cause me to go bankrupt so a big huge blog-hop hug will have to suffice. lol. I've added all the challenge entries into my left sidebar if you'd like to check them out...they are all spectacular! As always, Happy Scrapp 'n!

BLOGHOP CANDY & FREEBIES - still up for grabs all week!

2010-06-01T10:57:00.002-04:00

Hey Ya'll and Happy Tuesday to ya'! ~Click here to go to my spot on the hop!~ Wow... what a fabulous Memorial Day Blog Hop OWH put on this past weekend. I have never had my brain and my desktop so flooded with delightful ideas, inspiration, tutorials, freebies, and candy giveaways!! If you missed it you can still go here and get the list of almost 150 stops! No time for that? Well then you can go here (scroll to the bottom) and see the thumbnail re-cap if you'd like to see all the beautiful cards or pick and choose just a few wonderful crafters to visit. If you have arrived here because you are one of my "24" new followers (WOW) then I'd like to THANK YOU for being a "follower" even though I'm sure your Mother told you not to. lol

I'd like to remind everyone that my blog giveaway will not be closing until Midnight June 6th...so if you'd still like to enter or make a card ~ten entries~ with one of my Oscar the camel Digi Freebie's then you still have plenty of time but you must link/comment to the original bloghop post here.

Yesterday I got a few hours to play so here are several cards I made. The little eagle freebie was by Sandy at OWH. I used (my) set of wonky stamps to spell out USA...these are the same wonky stamps featured in my blog candy. The rest of the cards are for another really sweet lady at my husbands church that I'm getting together a little card-collection for...hence the reason they are not all using my new found digis and techniques...believe me I can't wait to get to use all of those! I just used pre-purchased chipboard on the pink and green ones. The blue-monkey image is a Dustin Pike pre-colored freebie I added googly eyes to~ADHD moment~ *HOLY MOLY* his entire ZOO of digi's is on sale today for just $5.00!!! I also added the little saying...to make it a cheer-up card with my scrapbook factory program-very simple. All of the cards today are based off of this week's Sketch Challenge #19 by Karen at OWH so a great big thanks to her as well!

I love comments!!

Hoppy Memorial Day! Win Candy!

2010-05-28T20:44:00.016-04:00

     Hey ya'll...Welcome to my stop on the Operation Write Home Memorial Day Blog Hop (hop begins here). Wasn't Rhonda's blog lovely and her cards are so unique...I loved the frogs...she really inspires!
   Today I'd like to acknowledge all of our deployed soldiers, military, and especially veterans and families of the fallen...I am deeply grateful and humbled by your incredible sacrifice. The freedom that we know in the US would not be ours without these brave men and women so today we miss them and remember them in our card making!
     First up is my red, white, and blue (and a few other colors) "miss you" card. I used this week's OWH Sketch # 18 by Kate. I colored this little sock monkey image which was a (cute cute cute) Bugaboo stamps freebie with regular markers ...no copics for me yet :(... then for a little pizazz I added these over sized jewels I had in my stash as the centers for the little cut out flowers.

This week has been full of technical difficulties for me...my computer's hard drive went unstable on Sunday and then subsequently crashed on Wednesday causing me to lose some unbacked up recent photos...some of which were of a project I was working on to feature here. Fortunately I was able to save my collection of digi images onto a zip drive before my hard drive made its final click of death...In fact I saved my digis instead of some recent family photos...is that bad? That said... my tip o' the hop is backup your files!!

...but the HOP must go on so I want to introduce you to "Oscar" the camel located at the bottom of this post (update ~ scroll all the way down please) who was saved from extinction by my lil' ole zip drive. Oscar is my first attempt at drawing my own digi... he's free for the taking and he's anxious to be featured on your handmade card for a deployed soldier to send home to his/her family...what could be better than a little patriotic camel love from afar? So go ahead --- swipe him... of course if you make a card or project with him I'd love for you to give a shout out to my blog and basically follow the same angel policy as you would for any digital image! You'll notice the only difference in the first two Oscar's are his saddle...I just did that so that if you wanted to do a non-patriotic card you could color the afghan to match your chosen colors. You'll also find him smelling a flower and swimming... of all things!

Now here is a little blog candy I put together for one lucky crafter.
It includes:
*Juicy Summer specialty paper pack
*The letter box (how-to) by EK Success
*Pop up and 3D cards (how to) book (some cute ideas in here)
*Assorted ribbons (20yards)
*Full set of wonky letter stamps
*Assorted rubber and acrylic stamps (5)
*Lots of embellishments, chipboard, brads, flowers... (you get the idea!)

Here are the rules and ways to enter for your chance(s) to win...
* You must live in the US (sorry I can only ship within the US).

* You must have a blog for the 10 "challenge" entries!

#1...leave me a comment on this post = 1 entry

#2...become a follower of my blog = 1 entry (present followers included)

#3...Challenge...use one of my Oscar freebies on a card for OWH then come back and link up to your post or gallery using Mr. Linky below= 10 entries

You have until Midnight Sunday June 6th! The winner will be announced here on my blog later that week so be sure and check back...I will also try and post an announcement on the OWH face book fan page as a reminder!

Before you go... I wanted to share with you a few cards I made with Oscar and a little picnic basket I've been working on using two great value muffin boxes ...I wanted to find some way to recycle them since we go through 3 of them a week in my house and they seemed the right size to create a picnic basket which I have the idea it will serve as a monthly card sorter for a special lady! I will add monthly dividers but at this point it is still a work in progress.
Finally I want to say a HUGE thanks to Sandy Allnock and Melanie Holzwarth for creating their own sample cards with Oscar...their links are in my sidebar.

Okay so now you'll be off to visit Greta's blog...Let a little sunshine in ...do not miss her recipe book... it is fabulous! Happy Memorial Day and thanks for stopping by!

Be sure to click on Oscar to enlarge then right click the large version and save to your hard drive. If you have trouble with the images you can email me at clkreider@bellsouth.net and I will send them to you!

Mojo Monday sketch -card#2

2010-05-20T15:32:00.006-04:00

Here is the second card I created for this weeks mojo monday sketch challenge. The first is in the previous blog post...hope you liked them....Happy scrapp 'n!!

Stash challenge/Mojo monday

2010-05-20T15:16:00.000-04:00

Here is my submission for the Wednesday stash challenge at OWH which is to use "stars"...I also used this weeks Mojo Monday's Sketch! This little image I am giving away on the OWH Memorial Day bloghop along with three others...you can check out the other three digi freebies today on Melanie's blog at http://arkmom-scrappilyeverafter.blogspot.com She was so nice in volunteering to make some sample cards with them and she did an awesome job so please show her some love!!! Thanks for stopping by and happy scrapp'n Thursday!! Cheryl

Monochromatic Challenge

2010-05-18T12:35:00.000-04:00

Hey Ya'll.... today I spent a good part of the morning checking out the challenge blogs and doing my best to find several challenges I could combine. I see a lot of scrappers do this but I am not very good at it and usually when I give it a try I miss one or more of the deadlines. Anyhoo this card should (hopefully) qualify me for the following challenges;
*Crafty Ho's Sketch Challenge (see sketch)
*Rileyandco Challenge (create a birthday card)
*Kaboodle Doodles Challenge #31 (make a Monochromatic card)
*Tuesday Morning Challenge#46 (your fave color combo and glitter -hey I used shiny paper...that qualifies me right?)

OWH Sketch Challenge 17

2010-05-17T19:04:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday....if I may say Monday and happy in the same sentence...lol. This weeks sketch is by Lora B. and it is a REALLY good sketch to use (I think) for cuttlebug embossed papers because its simple and I REALLY like simple sketches that don't involve serious measuring and lots of cuts. I liked it so much I made two cards. Here they are and I hope you like them! Cheryl

Anyone for a slice of watermelon?

2010-05-15T14:31:00.000-04:00

What a wonderful Saturday afternoon I am having. I made a quick trip to JoAnns fabrics last night and picked up a few dollar items and a couple punches for 40% off. I had this little idea in my head for a "picnic basket which would be a sort of a monthly card organizer.
I have this sweet little old lady in mind to receive this. Her name is Miss Maggie and she goes to my husband's little church that a Minister friend of his is trying to revive...she's always giving my husband ten dollars for playing his guitar (the church can't afford a pianist so my husband volunteers guitar right now) and he doesn't want to hurt her feelings and not accept it. When my husband takes our son to church, Maggie sits with him during the service part while my husband is playing... My son loves her...she is as sweet as watermelon! That gave me an idea...what goes better in a picnic basket than watermelon? Nothing...so without further ado...

I thought this would also be appropriate for the 4th of July cards many of you OWH'ers are working on! I started with a lime green card which I used a bowl to draw around to give it that oval shape so this is not a perfect thing but as MS says "it is a good thing". Then I did the same with the pink part only made a 1/4 inch smaller or so. I also distressed it with some red ink and just used the edge of the ink to create a little dimension in the center. Then here's the cool part ...the flower punch I had purchased came in really handy for the seeds. I just punched three flowers and then cut off the petals to use for seeds -perfect size...gluing them on...ARGHHH! Now I needed a little embellishment. I had also purchased this little Sizzix vine die for 4.99. I wasn't even sure it would work in my cuttlebug but I used the A plate & the 2 B plates and it worked like a charm! I stacked a couple of other flowers on top and finished with a black rhinestone! Then it was on to the inside!

I lined the inside with a lighter pink more suitable for writing on. Then I had to taste the watermelon so I took a huge bite out of it! YUM! This was not as easy as I had first thought as my punch was trying to cut through 5 layers but it eventually went when I put ALL of my weight into it--hmmm! Then I covered this little chipboard tag...stamped a message... and tied the red/white/and blue ribbons...and of course added my little flowers and WALLA!!! Now I am onto the picnic basket which will be made of two (modified) great value muffin boxes. I will post that as soon as I finish! Have a happy scrapp 'n weekend & thanks for stopping by!
Cheryl

Rainy Day Flower Power

2010-05-14T17:12:00.000-04:00

Hey ya'll...TGIF! Today I submit (2) flower power cards which qualifies me twice for the FP challenge over at Catch the bug . This challenge closes at 7AM so I got these crafted up just in time. My card recipe is a little of this and a dash of that. Honestly I don't look at labels I just get to cuttin' sorta' like Edward Scissorhands. I know the paper came from hobby lobby and it was 59cents. You probably can't tell in the picture but it has OWH approved glitter on every other row of flowers (for those that don't know -that's the kind that doesn't flake off!) The sketch is Scrappy's from a few weeks back as cased off of Jan Hunnicut this afternoon! This card also qualifies me for the OWH Wednesday Throw down which is to use this rainy day digi freebie from wink wink ink. You can tell I paper pieced the bear's rain gear! I probably should have put a sentiment April Showers bring May flowers because it seems so fitting now! lol

This card I tried my best to use up the smaller scraps from the previous card. I used this little digi I drew named Oscar...hes a Camel in case you didn't know, lol. He & three others will be up for grabs on my stop of the OWH Memorial Day Blog Hop...and guess what....just like us...he is FREE!! He loves to smell flowers and this card is full of them. I went and popped a smaller flower on top of the first in several places then I added a little bump of glitter in the centers. It really made it cute but I'm not sure if all of the detail shows in the pic. Thanks for looking and ill leave you with this pic of my fur baby!

Sketch 16 Challenge

2010-05-11T16:17:00.000-04:00

Here is my submission for this weeks OWH sketch challenge by Vieve! As you can see I used these crazy retro papers (again) and I wasn't completely happy with the way the colors came out but I made a futile attempt to pull them together with these braided ribbons... oh well.
If you are wondering where I got the little camel digi...I drew him and I really hope you like because I am going to be giving him away on my blog as a Memorial Day Blog Hop freebie. I've had this idea rolling around in my head for this little humorous A-Stan camel...I call him Oscar...our military has adopted him as their mascot and they do things like drape U.S. Flags over his back and set him flying on explosive devices but he doesn't mind...in fact he loves the USA!

Also if you like this little guy I have a couple more digi's of him in the works that will also be giveaways. Thanks for visiting my blog and hope you all have a happy scrapp 'n Tuesday evening!!
Cheryl

Favorite Color Challenge/SKetch 15 challenge

2010-05-05T15:15:00.000-04:00

For today's favorite color challenge over at OWH, I used some pink dot and girly words paper I picked up on sale at Hobby Lobby from the single sheet aisle. This is a huge break from my man-card marathon of late...this card is extra girly and features hot pink,lime green, black, and white. Of course once I have all my stuff out I never make just one card so the girly card below makes use of the OWH sketch 15 by Bev - I added the little flower embellishment and jewels for a focal point!

Okay here are some of the man cards I've also been working on this week, the first two of which are also based on Bev's sketch 15. Originally I was attempting to get them shipped before the deadline for father's day however, I may just wait until I have another full box to ship since they can really be used for any occasion in need of a man card.

Here' another card suitable for a woman in the same scheme as the above man card. Again I just had these papers out so I kept going. Thanks for looking and have a happy scrapp'n Wednesday!

National Scrapbooking Day -Bugaboo Digi

2010-05-01T18:05:00.000-04:00

Happy NSD ya'll! To celebrate I wanted to show you this card I made using a Bugaboo digital image. I won my choice while hopping on their latest blog hop. I chose the little cowboy image. Isn't it adorable?? Well they are giving away a similar image for free right now. Well as some of you know I have been trying real hard to do more boy and man cards...they are just so challenging for me but I think I am getting better and remembering sometimes less is more. I read somewhere you can always spot a novice card-maker from a mile away because they tend to over-embellish. GUILTY as charged...I must admit! lol. I loved the way this card turned out if I may say that. You know once in a while when you just look at what you just created and say "I got that one right". My recipe is this little uncolored image was superimposed onto a "scrapbook factory" background image of horses and riders...a bit askew with a fence and ruddy colors-then printed and colored I added the little sign that says "...miss you little wrangler". I cut out the little stick from the same program and I used a little floral wire to hang it as you might see at a dude ranch! LOL... like I'VE ever been to a dude ranch! Now below I made ANOTHER shirt card...yes I am on a roll with these...pairing them with different themes...this one I chose golf! The image is from my program as well.

Someone had mentioned they liked that I coordinated my shirt with the edge pattern. Well that is a little trick too. What I do is put my scrapbook paper into my copier and reduce the size about 50% and print it onto just plain white computer paper...I make my shirt out of that so the pattern is a little smaller. Then I use the regular paper to do the coordinated edge. Well Happy Saturday ya'll...now I'm off to check out what you've been making on your blogs!

Wild Thing Challenge

2010-04-29T22:01:00.000-04:00

Hey ya'll...here's my card for Wednesdays Wild Thing Challenge over at Operation Write Home. I was actually in the middle of making a lot of paper shirts from the shirt tutorial that was posted earlier in the week. Scroll down and see some of them. But first...my "Wild Thing" is a Monkey which is kind of becoming my theme of sorts...what can I say...I like Monkeys and this little guy was just laying around from a previous project he never got used for. He is made of a stamp I got from the dollar tree and I stamp it twice...one on dark brown for the face and once on the light brown...cut out and "pop" the parts...then his tail was made from jute & of course I added googly eyes for humor. I think this could be a nice card for a child.

This is another card based off of Shirley's Sketch from OWH. The "gone fishing" sign came from my scrapbook factory program...I cut it out...added eyelets and wire.

Here is one of the "shirt" cards...I tried to keep it simple but also added the gone fishing sign to coordinate with the fish shirt theme.

This shirt I did in a checkered flag theme. The diamond plate stainless was actually stainless look contact paper run through the diamond plate cuttlebug folder. The letter tags came from the scrapbook factory software. Again this is based on the challenge #14 sketch!

...so I was in a groove making man appropriate cards and this one started out that way but took an unexpected turn. I goofed on my image which was to be a dad grilling. I had to do "triage" and swapped images -so I ended up with a summer theme & I liked it. The image is also from the scrapbook factory It is always more challenging (for me anyway) to come up boy and man cards so when I create one it is good! Thanks for looking...have a great evening...tomorrow is FRIDAY -woot woot!

OWH Sketch Challenge 14

2010-04-27T16:43:00.000-04:00

Happy Tuesday to you all! Here's this weeks sketch by Shirley S. over at Operation Write Home. I made two cards for this one.

So there they are -hope you liked them! I also wanted to post some pics of my little bitty crafting area which is under my sons loft bed in his room...at least until the daughter moves out which is no time soon since she has about 7 years of college ahead of her -she wants to be a pharmacist -around here that's a PH-D! Here it is. My sons drawings are my inspiration - he loves to draw & color like Mom!

Today I sent this batch of cards off to Dixie...my OWH shipper for the "Make Someones Day Challenge and I also shipped a care package off to each of my adopted soldiers! That's it for today -Thanks for stopping by and ya'll have a great evening!

OWH Sketch 13 challenge & Hardware Challenge

2010-04-23T10:31:00.000-04:00

Hey ya'll...is it friday already? This week I did not get any scrapping done whatsoever until last night. In fact I almost missed the OWH Sketch Challenge 13 and 13 is my LUCKY # and I probably did miss the Digi Design Challenge over at http://designed2delight.blogspot.com/.

The good news however, is that I did get my tiny crafting space re-organized...this is a good thing because my "crafting space" is actually the nook under my sons twin size loft bed-but it works for me since everything is in reach. I also received some sweet blog candy this week from Marcy Keifer At OWH and some lovely paper of all sorts from Karen Gori who also designed this weeks sketch (what a sweet lady)! And I won some more fabulous blog swag from Yvonne (Scrappy) over at http://big-scrappy-world.blogspot.com/ I am HOT...on FIRE...I hope this is NOT the start of menopause -lol!

So without further adieu here are my submissions for the Sketch 13 by Karen @ http://kajikit.blogspot.com/ . This one was a little different but I like "different"! You'll notice both cards have the same layout...The "DAD" card however is a bit unusual because what I used here is some contact paper that has the look of stainless steel. I ran it through my diamond plate folder on the cuttle-bug and wallah! Never over-look contact paper as a possibility! Then I needed some hardware but I wanted REAL MAN hardware so I went 'a huntin' in the hubbys old junk drawer and found these thingamajiggies. Now I did add some FLOWERS but they are very MANLY-FLOWERS don't ya' think? What I really wanted to use was some checkered flag paper behind the diamond-plate but....alas I didn't have any -I've added it to my shopping list though!

The next card (if I'm not too late) qualifies me for the Digi Challenge over at http://designed2delight.blogspot.com/. The little bear with flowers is a freebie from Faith S. - it's so cute -she gives you one every week if you play along. I layered the saying love ya' bunches over the bear to qualify for the sketch 13 again as well. So there it is...my creations of this week. TGIF!! Tonight is Crop Night at Michael's - See Ya there! - Woot Woot!

I Won Scrappi's Blog Candy -YUM!!!

2010-04-22T16:28:00.000-04:00

Hey Ya'll I was just over checking out Scrappi's blog and her new cards shes made...of course they are awesome but I scrolled down to see "I won" her fab B-day blog candy...I got a prize on HER birthday! See it on her blog here ...It's a scrappy world ... She says to watch her blog because you never know when she may be having another giveaway! Now I am off to work on my "hardware stash" card for OWH's Wednesday challenge! Happy Scrapp 'n Thursday!

OWH His and Her General Cards

2010-04-18T10:45:00.000-04:00

Hey Ya'll...I finally got around to OWH's Wednesday challenge to do a his and her general card. I have been getting my cards ready to ship to my NC Shipper for the Make Someone's Day Challenge & realized I did not have any "any-hero" cards to include so I made these cards in a Patriotic color scheme. For my Hero note I will put a post it inside with my "thanks" and then my hero can use the card again as well! So the blue would be the "his". On the blue I used the little USA heart image which was a freebie fromdelightful inspiration I also used it on the little MS postage stamp cutout (purchased for 2.99 @ Tuesday Morning) on both cards. The red is for "her"and the little bear image is a freebie from bugaboo stamps. I colored his shirt and the flowers in red white and blue. I embossed the background of both cards with the stars folder. Below I used my last mosaic card-front with an adorable giraffe freebie from Melissa Jenkins .Thanks for looking and have a Happy Scrapp 'n Sunday!

No SCRAP left behind! - Idea/Tutorial!

2010-04-15T11:32:00.000-04:00

Hey ya'll...here's an idea! Do you like me; have a little box loaded with paper scraps that you just hate to throw away? This became a bigger problem for me recently because my box had gotten FULL which meant it was time to "put up or shut up" and sadly (boohoo) throw my tiny scraps away admitting that I would never give them the attention they deserved. Then low and behold I was perusing the stars and stamps blog and came across Debi Rice's blog. Her take on paper is a bit different...yet refreshing. In fact it got me to thinking about those tiny neglected odd-sized scraps and it also reminded me of a mosaic piece of art where no pieces are the same measurement or color but together create an interesting design. So my recycling "experiment" began!
Here ill share what I learned with you as well as some of the cards I made. You will need your scraps, a cuttlebug & folders (if you have one/ if not - you can still do this without embossing!) and some matte mod podge and/or glitter (if desired)!

First dump out that scrap box!

Second choose some colors you like, never-mind the pattern! Then get to cuttin' 'em into even smaller pieces -no piece is too tiny -no scrap left behind! Take that Laura Bush! lol. You could do triangles and/or whatever -let the scraps dictate your shape and be "random" about it (or even use your punches if you want to end up with a different look - a whole page of butterflies/circles/stars would be interesting.) Get a sheet of card stock in a (background) color of your choice. I used White to make my pieces "pop". I sprayed my card stock with craft bond which stays tacky and makes for faster adhesion. It also apparently attracts dog hair but hey - who couldn't use a dog hair or two for extra embellishment? lol. You could instead use glue stick, tape runner, or even the mod podge but it does dry fast so be careful...maybe do a small section at a time and lay down your pieces. When you're done you'll end up with a sheet of card stock that look like this!

Now you can cut your card stock into four equal card fronts. But I did not stop here because all those Carol Duvall shows kept creeping into my head. When I think Carol Duvall I think Mod Podge, for whatever reason, I do not know - but I knew I had to secure all these tiny pieces or my shipper would have a terrible time with the Aleenes and somehow it didn't seem quite "finished" to me! So I bought some Mod Podge (I used Matte for this project.) I used a Spouncer (is that a word? -I think that's what it's called) to dot on my Mod Podge in a light coat and waited a little bit for it to dry - I preferred the spouncer because most of my triangles had been cut from computer generated papers and it did tend to pick up a tad of the color especially the bright red pieces. Had I used a brush it would have been a big ole mess or... ?another interesting look? lol. So then I wondered...could glitter be added for a different effect? I tried it on one card front with some white iridescent glitter I had on hand. This turned out OK ...more on this later. Then after my card fronts dried I wanted to try my cuttle bug folders to add some dimension. It worked very well! On the three card fronts I had left I tried the swirl, traffic jam, and swiss dots.

Pictured below are the three card fronts after embossing. I stuck them under my sewing machine light to try and highlight the embossing as I wasn't sure if the camera was picking it up -you may have to enlarge to see the detail.

Ok so there it is...I thought it turned out to be really pretty card stock that could be the main focus of any card. The matte mod podge actually left a semi-gloss sheen that also gave a nice weight & professional look to the card stock & these pieces will never fall off - so mission accomplished! (Of note; the mod podge jar actually states that if your mod podge stays tacky you can use a coat of acrylic sealer over top but I did not find this necessary at all - even running them through my cuttlebug they did not stick to my folders or anything - but I made sure they were very dry first.
As promised out of this experiment came another unexpected one... when I began using the mod podge... I thought "wow this stuff would "trap" glitter and dry to clear - wonder if I could make some "OWH approved" glitter card stock this way? Well they do in fact sell glitter mod podge that already has it in there so you might try that but that is really no fun & as crafters we like to get our Messy On-don't we? So in my experiment using white iridescent glitter -it came out slightly lumpy when dry as the glitter had accumulated in some places more than others and it being white it was hard for me to tell this...after it dried it did have a "glisten" to it and of course a bumpy texture. I would need to try it with a colored glitter combined with a colored card stock to say for sure if I like this method. One thing is for sure -the mod podge did successfully trap the glitter as though it was embedded so I think it would be acceptable for OWH cards. The picture below shows the card front with the white glitter. Enlarge and you may even notice the lumps at the bottom! It kinda gives the effect of snow.

Now you can NEVER throw away those scraps again - lol. Below are a few of the cards I made using the recycled card stock! I hope you liked this idea/tutorial. I can only take half of the credit and humbly owe the rest to Debi Rice for inspiring me to try her project! Check out her blog if you can because she has a lot of other (outside of the box) creative ideas for card making in her archives!

In the next pic the flower "parts' were made with the mosaic card stock.

For some reason I REALLY liked the look of using the black and white neutrals along with the funky mosaic pattern.

I also thought this mosaic would make a colorful birthday card. Here I used the "glitter" experiment paper. You didn't think I was going to throw it away did you?

Thanks for looking! If you decide to make your own mosaics - and you have time...leave me a link-I'd LOVE to check out your work! Cheryl

OWH sketch 12 challenge

2010-04-14T10:55:00.000-04:00

     Hi everyone this is my submission for the sketch 12 challenge over at OWH this week. This sketch is by Carol L. The background paper with the stitching I printed to near (oops) exact measurement from my Scrapbook Factory program onto white cardstock and attached to the front of my tan card. This little image is another freebie from http://meljensdesigns.blogspot.com. Isn't it cute? I colored it with markers (cheap ones) lol.. I also used my new MS border punch I got the other day for ($3.99-WOW) from Tuesday Morning - I punched both sides of the checkered yellow card stock then layered my ribbon over that, underneath I used OWH "approved" sparkle paper (its the kind that has the sparkle embedded so no sparklies all over my floor or the soldier who receives it) -YAY!!
     Below I made a "MAN" card using the sketch #10 from an OWH past challenge by Ali Manning. Layering plaids on top of solids I thought made a pretty neat "MAN" card -they are so hard for me to do because I can't use flowers - and the little car was a clip art cut out from my Scrapbook Factory program. I stamped on the dad letters after everything was put together. Anyways hope you like them and I hope you have a happy scrapp 'n hump day! :)
                                                                                                                                               Cheryl

bugaboo bloghop challenge

2010-04-12T00:54:00.000-04:00

This card I created for the bugaboo blog hop challenge which was to create a card with a bug in it. It is also based off of the sketch challenge over at Tuesday Morning Sketches.

Mojo Monday + MelJen Girly Colors Challenge

2010-04-09T10:32:00.000-04:00

Hey ya'll. Today's card is another challenge combo.I started with the sketch (by Janette Olen) challenge contest over at Mojomonday. I used girly colors to qualify me for the the #2 challenge over at MelJens Design Team Blog. I also used her cute as can be "Cuppa Tea" digital freebie. You can find it here...http://meljensdesigns.blogspot.com just scroll down a little bit! I started with lavender cardstock...did I mention I am making my own cards now rather than using the pre-bought ones as before...this gives me more color choices...I got tired of white. I used the cuttle-bug diamond-plate folder on the card base front. Then I used paper studio papers and some papers printed from my "scrapbook factory" program. I have a LOT of paper but I find myself going back to the printable ones over and over. I think because it is easier than flipping through those huge paper books...lol. I changed up the design slightly by turning the card on its side so my peony nesties would fit! Thanks for checking it out and have a happy scrapp 'n friday! Cheryl

OWH color challenge

2010-04-07T22:26:00.000-04:00

Hey y'all and thanks for popping in. Here is my submission for the color challenge (browns and blues) over at OWH. I am also entering it into the Thursday challenge at MelJen's designs as the digi is one of Melissa Jenkin's cute freebie images. Its getting entered into the sketch 11 challenge at OWH as well as this is Caryl P's stampsnstitches sketch turned upside down. Finally this card also qualifies me for challenge 85 (make your own flowers)over at cupcake crafts. Whew that's a first for me...one card ...four challenges!!

OWH Sketch Challenge

2010-04-07T13:30:00.000-04:00

Here is my submission for this weeks sketch challenge over at Operation Write Home but first here's the sketch by Caryl P.
For Meljens #1 anything goes challenge the card for that challenge is at the bottom of this post!

...and here is my submission. Note that I combined the OWH sketch challenge with Designed2delight's free digital image "spring peep" challenge and a color challenge of lemon yellow + grass green + aqua (unfortunately I cannot find that color challenge now to link to it - these are the drawbacks to being a newbie - i'm learning). However I did "add" a smidgen of orange with the ribbon and flower center so I may have disqualified myself there anyway. Of note the little image of the skating bear in the Christmas card below is a freebie from http://dulemba.com/index_ColoringPages.html.Well thanks for stopping by & happy scrapping...if you have time check out my other cards below for inspiration & please leave comments & suggestions! Cheryl

Four Legged & Color Challenge

2010-03-31T10:41:00.000-04:00

This is my submission for the (Midweek throw-down) over at Operation Write Home combined with the color (coral,kiwi,banana) challenge over at Bugaboo stamps & another excuse to use my new nestie dies. It is the "four legged friend challenge." I used this Alligator that came in my new Sandy Lion stamps set I got yesterday at Michaels for 40% off! I'm trying to do more boyish cards but in the end I could not resist this time with adding the flower.

OWH SKetch #10 Challenge

2010-03-31T10:22:00.000-04:00

Pictured here is Sketch challenge # 10 by Martha from Operation Write Home. This time I tried to do a card in a boy theme which is a stretch for me because I have a tendency to want to add flowers and girlie things -lol. The blue plaid is paper studio the red is walmart colors pack which I used my new cuttlebug diamond plate folder to emboss. The stamp, green ink and, green pearls were all from Dixie's blog candy I won from the blog hop! Thanks so much Dixie! I really loved this layout even though it took a little longer due to all of the cutting which is imperfect because I didn't have a tag punch and I rounded the corners instead - I did not see the tag tutorial Martha put up until after I created the card -doh but I will definitely be using that in the future along with this template. I finished it with the yellow paper studio ribbon and a little foamie car -I LOVE foamies! Thanks for looking and happy scrapp'n!!

OWH Sketch #9 Challenge

2010-03-26T02:38:00.000-04:00

Heres the little bugaboo turtle again...and some papers I had left over from my previous cards. I'm practicing using colored pencils and blending techniques on these images. Thanks for stopping by! Cheryl

The pink elephant challenge

2010-03-24T00:58:00.000-04:00

Here's this weeks Pink elephant sketch challenge. I wasn't totally happy with this card but it is what came together for me. To me this sketch begged for embellishments but these colors are not my favorites and I embossed the pink paper but it did not turn out well due to the area for embossing is larger than the cuttlebug folder so I had to piece it -this I have already found is a drawback to the cuttlebug. At least I got to use my nestie circles for the first time! Happy Scrapp'n!

Cuttlebug Frenzy

2010-03-23T01:33:00.000-04:00

Wow the blog-hop was really awesome. Just when I thought I had this card-makin' thing in the bag I realized I still have a LOT to learn... but what a fun craft to learn while at the same time supporting a great cause at Operation Write Home! That was my first time ever hopping and I got a few digital freebies and to my amazement I even won some blog candy from Dixie...my NC shipper! Woot Woot!

So now on to my latest cards and some tips for cuttlebug newbies like myself...
On the hop I picked up this great image of a little turtle from Bugaboo Stamps (freebie) I read somewhere the tell tale signs of a novice card maker is over-embellishing...so I added the buttons only after consulting with my daughter and her friend! lol.
On Friday I got my cuttle bug, somehow I felt disadvantaged to "not" have one and I was so envious of everyone's textured papers and perfectly cut circles. It was definitely a case of design tool peer pressure! For the couple of card makers out there that still do not own one I have a few things to share with you. (in blue for those of you who'd like to skip this part.)

The first time you try and emboss (which means "squish" a design onto your paper) you will be a little scared that the plate is going to crack because you will hear some creaking and squeaking of the plastic pieces. At first I was scared I might crack my B plate but I checked the internet and found out it is normal. I also had purchased one of the spellbinders nestabilities (other scrappers call them "nesties" ...basically they are those shapes that are cut perfectly with a little professional edge and sometimes you see that they are layered two or more high.) I was scared to use my nestie circles at first because on the spellbinder package it said you needed a "tan mat" to make them work with the cuttlebug. I later found out that you "can" use them anyways sandwiching them between the B and C plates but that your embossing may be "crisper" WITH the mat. The circles pictured in these cards , however were NOT done with the cuttlebug -these were traced using a fiskers template (pictured behind the cuttlebug) for the cost of about $3.20. The fisker template is WAY more economical than the cuttlebug system but I did not purchase the Fiskers "cutter" to go with the template so my ovals were hand-cut! I was a bit surprised at what the cuttlebug actually is... its basically just a squishing device; no motor or anything...in fact a very basic contraption for the price I paid of 67.99. Then considering the dies are a little pricey at around 14.99 (that was a sale of 40% off btw) for "each" die set which includes several different sizes of the same shape for layering - pricey! The folders are a bit more affordable at from $3-$5 depending if u catch a sale so this alone does add some dimension to your projects even if you're like me and it will be many months before you can collect up all the dies you'd like to have. I will say this about the cuttlebug -it IS a lot of fun to squish paper and see what it looks like on the other side as it turns out beautiful every time with this bug! Whether one really NEED'S it to make beautiful cards is in the eye of the beholder however because I have seen some beautiful cards with and without it!

This is a card I made using two of the cuttlebug embossing folders. The yellow was a circles design and the blue on top was swiss dots. This image was a freebie from Bugaboo Stamps (freebie) designs...so cute! I colored it in with a combo of colored pencils and sparkly gel pens in some areas. A lot of the card makers use copic markers but at this point I can't afford them at six dollars and change per marker so I opted for a box of 36 colored pencils at 6.99 instead! This was my daughters favorite card of the three I made this weekend.

This last card I made utilized Velda's sketch #6 from the OWH challenge I just liked this layout and wanted to try it along with the little clown image I got fromBugaboo Stamps (freebie) Here I used the swiss dots on the plaid pattern and the circles design with the circles paper.Thanks for stopping by!

OWH Springbreak Bloghop

2010-03-20T04:00:00.000-04:00

     Welcome to my stop on the Operation Write Home spring break blog-hop! If you got here from Sarah's simply scrapping page -Great! If not and if you'd like to see all the ideas and blog candy this hop has to offer please hop in order by starting at http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org
     Below you will find my "spring card" which is based on Shirley's #8 sketch from this week's challenge at OWH-thanks so much Shirley I will definitely be using this template a lot! This card along with others pictured will eventually make its way into the hands of one of our deployed American Hero's for the purpose of writing home to a family member! I first began by adopting a soldier through www.adoptaussoldier.org, in November of 09 and quickly made it one of my favorite causes. Soon after I came to know of OWH through facebook connections. Though I had never made a card before I immediately loved the idea and decided to try it. I've dabbled in crafts from sculpey to acrylic painting and most everything in between but was never into the scrap-booking thing. So I've been making cards now for about 3 1/2 months and Hobby Lobby has replaced Wal-Mart as my favorite place to shop!
     One interesting thing I find is that when I create a card I have to give it the overnight test. If I like it then I sleep on it...if I still like it in the morning I don't tear it apart and start over! LOL. Today I got my Cuttlebug albeit against my husbands wishes...lol. If you are new like me it won't take you but a few months and perhaps X amount of dollars wasted on other stuff to realize you NEED this contraption!
     I hope you like my card and please leave a comment because I LOVE comments. I'm also new to blogging with just having gotten this blog up this week in time for the hop so I hope you will follow me or stop by again soon!

Now hop on over to Caro's blog... Scraps of time
http://caroscreativecorner.blogspot.com/2010/03/happy-spring-happy-bloghop.html

Citrus color challenge

2010-03-17T23:05:00.000-04:00

A few days ago I was surfing the blogs trying to learn how to do this and that concerning blogs since I am new to blogging and styling a blog...and I came across a challenge to do a card in the color "citrus". To me citrus is yellow-ish but I've since learned that it is actually lime green-ish. I guess what confused me was that citrus always makes me think of those drinks with little umbrellas and the beach which makes me think of sunshine which happens to be yellow!!
No- I'm not blonde... but I do tend to have those moments. Anyways the moral of this story is if you go to the trouble to make a card for a challenge it is good to get clarification on the color & also jot down or otherwise remember where you saw the challenge since I can no longer remember where it was posted in the first place!

Sketch 08 challenge

2010-03-16T09:47:00.000-04:00

This is my first attempt at a "challenge" and at "blogging" about it. This challenge comes from Operation Write Home's Stars and Stamps blog. As you can see I got the diagonal backwards - I realized this after I uploaded the pic...but nevertheless its the same idea. The papers are from my "scrapbook factory" software program...I printed them onto white card stock. The stamp was from the dollar store. The circle cut outs were done by hand then I used my Martha Stewart heart cutter to punch out the edges. I'm a newbie so I don't have a cuttle-bug or cricut...yet! lol. I colored it in with some gel pens for a little sparkle then I stamped my sentiment "girly girl" over the top of that using acrylic stamped letters, then I added a ribbon and some gem embellishments for a very "girlie" card. What do ya' think? Thanks for looking!