Nifty at 50!

I have no recollection of my parents turning 50. No recollection at all! In fact, the first person I can remember turning 50 was a woman, Elaine, who sat at the next desk over at my first real job nearly 25 years ago. And, although 50 seemed "old" to me then, Elaine was in no way "old." What I do remember most vividly about Elaine turning 50 was that she purposefully stuttered every time she said ffffff-fifty. It became quite a joke around the office. Fast forward 24 years (and I do mean fast forward) and now I have a husband who is fffffffff-fifty! Yes, Sal celebrated his 50th birthday earlier this week and here's the card I made for him:

To make this card, I covered a standard size base with pattern paper. I cut the blue paper 1/4 inch smaller and stamped it with the new Hero Arts Happy Definition cling stamp. Next I inked up the Technique Tuesday tile and stamped that with the wood grain pattern. I distressed all of the edges in keeping with the 50 theme. LOL! I stamped a sentiment from a travel set on the red strip and finished off the edges with a postage stamp punch.

For the inside of the card, I cut a square mask. After inking the center of the square with blue, I stamped lightly with the Happy Definition stamp. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and used clear embossing powder. Here's a look at the inside of the card.

Finally, here's a picture of the birthday boy with 51 (fffff-fifty plus one for good luck!) candles all aglow!

Happy birthday, Sal!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (White);

Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket (Cogsmo);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Happy Definition, Designer Woodgrain, Travel Journal;

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Weathered Wood, Pumice Stone, Vintage Photo); Ranger (Coffee); Versamark;

Chipboard: Technique Tuesday Technique Tiles (Postage Frames); American Crafts Thickers (Jewelry Box);

Tools: EK Success border punch (Postage Stamp);

Misc.: Twine from my stash

The Positive (and Negative) Thing About Masking!

This week, I created a card using the masking technique and for the first time ever, I used both the positive and negative masks. After finishing this card, all I can say is, I'm hooked on this technique! I love the rich textures and colors achieved by stamping and inking with the negative mask in place. Here's my card:

The colors for this card were inspired by the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger:

You can read more about the Tuesday Trigger and see the other projects it inspired at Moxie Fab World.

Now, here are some step-by step instructions for making this card. The first thing I did was create a positive and negative mask by stamping the flower on a piece of computer paper and cutting it out using an craft knife. (I found that the negative mask I first created with cardstock was a little too thick to stamp a pattern on the flower.) For the card, I stamped the background with Hero Arts' Dots and Flowers and then I stamped the large flower. With the negative mask in place, I stamped the flower with Old Letter Writing and colored it in with distress inks. I started with the lighter ink and added the darker inks as I went along until I got the color I wanted. I switched the negative mask for the positve and added the leaves. Once again, I used the negative leaf mask that I had created to color the leaves in. Here is a closer look at the flower:

You can see a full video tutorial of this technique at Hero Arts.

I mailed this card to my niece, Jennifer, for her birthday and it was only a day late. My One Little Word is really starting to kick in!

Supplies

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (White, Chocolate); Stampin' Up! (Crushed Curry)

Stamps: Hero Arts (Dots and Flowers, Engraved Flower, Old Letter Writing, Big and Small Flowers, Scroll Frames & Messages);

Ink: Ranger (Coffee); Stampin' Up! (Crushed Curry); Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Spiced Marmalade, Scattered Straw, Vintage Photo, Shabby Shutters);

Embellishments: Queen & Company bling;

Tools: Fiskars Border Punch (Scallop Sentiment).

The Starbucks Bag

So last week I showed you the card I made using a Bath & Body Works shopping bag. You can see the post here: http://eterno-lyyours.blogspot.com/2010/12/finding-new-use-for-christmas-shopping.html. Today I have a card that I made from a Starbucks shopping bag. Actually this pretty bag (which I forgot to take a picture of before I cut it up) was the one that inspired me to take a second look at all of my shopping bags. All that kraft and white...I was in paper craft heaven! Anyway, here is the card:

First I cut the tag from the bag using Papertrey Ink's Tag Sale 1 die. I stamped over the tag with a spray of leaves from PTI's Turning A New Leaf in green. The white leaves are part of the bag's design. Next, I created my background using the grid from PTI's Library Ledger and stamped more leaves over the grid. It was really easy to match the pattern and make the grid go half-way up the cardstock. Finally, I used the Mat Stack 2 stamps and matching die for the label and sentiment, and added the ribbon and bling! Here's a close-up look at the tag.

On the inside of the card, I stamped the sentiment and a smaller spray of leaves.

I mailed this birthday card to my sister who loves Starbucks coffee. I will have to ask her if she recognized the piece of bag I used on her card!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (White); Stampin' Up! (Wild Wasabi);

Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Turning a New Leaf, Library Ledger, Mat Stack 2, Birthday Basics);

Ink: Stampin' Up! (Wild Wasabi);

Tools: Papertrey Ink dies (Tag Sale 1, Mat Stack 2) EK Success punch (corner rounder);

Embelishments: Recollections (bling); Cosmo Cricket (ribbon);

Misc.: Starbucks shopping bag.

One Little Word

For the last couple of years, Ali Edwards has been choosing "one little word" to focus on for the year. According to Ali's original post on the subject in 2007, one single word "can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything. It can be sharp and biting or rich and soft and slow." You can read Ali's original post here: http://aliedwards.com/2007/01/one-little-word-3.html. So instead of making a New Year's Resolution this year, I decided to join to join Ali by choosing my own "one little word."

organize

There are several definitions for this verb but these are the meanings that I plan to focus on:

• to systematize;
• to give organic structure or character to;
• to put (oneself) in a state of mental competence to perform a task

I hope that by living the word "organize" and inviting it into my life, as Ali suggests, it will have ripple effects that positively impact my life throughout the year. I am well aware that focusing on my word will include the mundane like not letting the mail pile up and putting away the laundry as soon as the dryer buzzes. I'm hoping, however, that this will put an end to early morning searches for missing socks and actually give me more time to do the things I love like scrap and stamp.

If you would like to be truly inspired, check out the wordle Ali created with all of the words her readers have chosen by visiting her blog at http://aliedwards.com/2011/01/one-little-word-2011-the-words.html. And, if you are participating in this challenge, please leave a comment telling me what your "one little word" is for 2011.

And because I couldn't post without a project, here's a card I made back in November for my friend's son who turned 18. I was looking through my pictures to find a card with one little word on it but alas, I only found one with two. Here it is:

I created the background by inking Papertrey Ink's Fillable Frame #4 with Stampin' Up! Night of Navy ink. I then went back and filled in each frame with the "happy birthday" sentiment from PTI's Birthday Basics, stamping it once in Dusty Durango and twice in Crushed Curry. For emphasis, I die cut one image from Dusty Durango card stock and put ribbon behind it to anchor it.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Dark Chocolate, Vintage Cream); Stampin' Up! (Dusty Durango);

Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Fillable Frame #4, Birthday Basics);

Inks: Stampin' Up! (Night of Navy; Dusty Durango, Crushed Curry);

Chipboard: Heidi Swapp;

Ribbon: Cosmo Cricket;

Tools: Papertrey Ink die (Fillable Frames #4); EK Success Corner Rounder punch.

Finding a New Use for Christmas Shopping Bags

Did you happen to notice all of the great shopping bags this holiday season? From Starbucks and Trader Joe's to Whole Foods and Bath & Body Works, it seemed that graphic artists had their mojo on this year when creating these beautiful bags. As I was cleaning up after Christmas I took another look at these bags and decided I couldn't part with any of them. Instead, I decided to create with them. First up, Bath & Body Works. Here's the bag:

Here's the card I made with it:

I die cut that cute little house border using a Spellbinder's Nestabilities. Next, I used Glossy Accents to adhere some Martha Stewart snow glitter to the image. I'm not usually a fan of glitter but the Glossy Accents seems to keep it all in place. I added a little more shine with Perfect Pearls. Here's a closer look:

After mounting the image with pop dots, I set it aside and stamped and embossed the snowflake background. To further the economies of this card, I used ribbon from a 5-pack that I picked up at Target today for 75% off the original price!

I'll have another card to share using the Starbucks bag in a few days. I think I will save the others for next year! In the meantime, I better go shopping to see what bags I can add to my stash!

Happy New Year!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Stampin' UP! (kraft); Papertrey Ink (white); American Crafts (red);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Snowflakes; Merry Christmas Trees):

Ink: Ranger (Jet Black); VersaMark;

Ribbon: Target;

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (Classic Rectangles Large; Classic Scalloped Rectangles Large) Fiskars border punch (Scallop Sentiment);

Misc: Zing embossing powder (white); Perfect Pearls (white); Bath & Body Works shopping bag

Christmas Joy

I have one more Christmas card to share with you before the Christmas decorations come down. I bought the paper for this card about a year ago with my mother in mind. She loves angels so I thought this would make the perfect card for her. Here it is:

This was a very simple card and came together in a matter of minutes. I started by cutting my card base the width of the angel image. I cut three rows of coordinating scallops from two-sided patterned paper, inked the edges with distress ink and added them to the card base. I went around the rectangular frame with Diamond Stickles to add some shine, tied a bow and voila! My card was finished!

As for those Christmas decorations, I won't be ready to take them down until after January 6th!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper: Graphic 45 (Christmas Past)

Ribbon: EK Success Adornments (Tonal)

Misc.: Diamond Stickles

Tools: EK Success Slim Profile Border Punch (Double Embossed Dotted Lace)

Christmas Card 2010 -- A Variation

Another quick post tonight to share the card I sent to my friends who celebrate Hanukkah. The card is a variation of my Christmas card. I apologize ahead of time for the poor picture quality. Sal got me a new camera for Christmas so hopefully the blog pictures will be better! Anyway, here is my card:

Again I used Basic Grey papers and relied more on the blues and browns for less of a Christmas-y feel. On the right side of card, I used a distressed blue paper which I stamped with brown snowflakes. I think I LOVE brown snowflakes! The snowman was paper pieced from a cut I made with Cricut's Winter Woodlands cartridge. You can't tell from the picture, but I added shine to the buttons with Glossy Accents and distressed the edges with ink. The eyes are brown pearls. Here's another open view of the card:

To answer a few questions that were left on the previous post, I made a total of 65 cards -- 60 with Christmas trees and 5 with snowmen. I started early in December and worked in an assembly line fashion. As for how long it took, the answer is way too long. LOL! The cards were all mailed (with the last few going out on Christmas eve) and my dining room table was ready for Christmas Day dinner with only a few hours to spare! All I can say is that it was a labor of love!

I'm already getting ideas for next year's card and have promised myself that I will start earlier! Now all I have to do is get Mark and Melissa to pose for a picture!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream; Pure Poppy);

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Jovial; Figgy Pudding);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Merry Christmas Trees; Snowflakes);

Ink: Ranger (Coffee: Tim Holtz Distress (Antique Linen)

Ribbon: Papertrey Ink (Pure Poppy);

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities ( Large Classic Scalloped Rectangles); Cricut Cartridge (Winter Woodlands); EK Success punch (Vertical Slot);

Bling: Recollections