CAS-ual Fridays -- Chip Off the Ol' Block Challenge

I decided to play along with the CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week by creating a clean and simple project using chipboard. Here's my card:

I cut white cardstock down to a standard sized card and scored it so that the fold would be at the top of the card. I seem to do this a lot! Next, I cut a piece of red cardstock to measure 4"x5.25" and a piece of kraft cardstock to measure 3.75"x5." I used distress ink to stamp the background and distress the edges. The sentiment was stamped with the same ink on a strip of white cards which I trimmed with two strips of scalloped patterned paper. I adhered this to the card using foam dimensionals and added some buttons and twine for good measure. I added the chipboard cupcake which I decorated with Stickles. After all, shouldn't all cupcakes be decorated!

Supplies

Cardstock: Papertray Ink (Stamper's Select White; Pure Poppy); Stampin' UP! (Kraft);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Happy Definition;Happiness Messages );

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Barn Door);

Patterned Paper/Chipboard: Basic Grey (Sugar Rush);

Embellishments: Buttons (Making Memories); Twine (Martha Stewart) Ranger Diamond Stickers.

A Christmas Thank You

What a nice surprise I had in the mail a few weeks before Christmas when my cousin sent me the gift that every crafter covets: a Michael's gift card. And the only thing better than getting a Michael's gift card is knowing that it is actually worth twice as much as it says because who,after all, buys anything at Michael's without a 50% off coupon. (Yes, I even turn up my nose on those 40% off coupons and patiently wait for the 50% off coupon that inevitably shows up!) So, with such a wonderful scrappy gift in mind, I knew I had to make a crafty thank you card. Mind you, not one product used on this card came from Michael's but I don't think my cousin will know. Here's my card:

I knew I wanted to play along with Ellen Hutson's Hero Arts Cling Take 'N Make Challenge so I pulled the wrapper off of the Indie Bloom Hero Arts Star Blooms Background Cling Stamp. (I did forget to take a picture of the card with the stamp before mailing it. Oops!) I was also anxious to use the new seasonal distress inks from Tim Holtz so I decided on an embossed resist technique. I inked up my background stamp with Versa Mark and heat embossed with White Zing. Next, I swiped some of the Festive Berries and Evergreen Bough inks on my mat, spritzed with a little water mixed with Liquid Pearls and began painting in the image with my aqua brush.

To finish off the card, I wrapped some twine around the card, stamped the sentiment on the die cut piece and affixed to the card using foam adhesive, and scattered some rhinestone stickers for a little added bling!

Supplies

Cardstock: Neenah (Solar White); Papertrey Ink (Pure Poppy);

Stamp: Hero Arts (Star Blooms) Papertrey Ink (Mat Stack 1 Collection);

Ink: Versa Mark; Tim Holtz Distress (Festive Berries; Evergreen Bough);

Misc.: Zing embossing powder (white); Martha Stewart twine; Recollections rhinestone stickers

Blog Your Heart*/One Little Word

One little word. Select a word for yourself or let it find you and live it for the year. Sounds simple, right? That's what I thought this time last year when I picked my word. I thought long and hard about my word. I thought about my word in the shower, as I was sorting through junk mail, as I drifted off to sleep next to a night stand piled high with scrapbook magazines. And it came to me as if in a dream. Or maybe it was a wish. My word for 2011 would be organize. Surely picking the word and writing a blog post about it would mean that I would live this word and, as a result, all the clutter in my life would vanish -- or at least be neatly put away into one of the many bins I continue to buy in my never-ending quest for a clutter-free life. Ha!

It's January 1, 2012 and I am back to report that I failed miserably. Yes, it was just one little word but I couldn't embrace it. Those eight little letters got the best of me! With the exception of a stack of magazines which finally made their way into the recycling bin, clothes that went to Good Will and my stamps which I organized into labelled binders, my house is no more organized at the start of 2012 than it was at the start of 2011. I did make two cabinets a Gluten Free zone for Melissa but now when I cook, I can't find my spices because they are no longer in the place they have been for the last 18 years. More organization is definitely needed in this department! I still can't figure out how to make the most of Photo Shop so I never get around to posting my pictures on Shutterfly which is something that my sister in California always asks me to do. My Project 12 became a Project 3 as everyday life got in the way of scrapping these monthly recaps in March. My December Daily has turned into a A Week in December but I did take all of the pictures so who knows!

Maybe guilt, or frustration, or defeated should be my word for 2012!

Or maybe patience is the word for me this year. Patience to accept the non-perfect days as my reality now. Patience to get through some of the tedious tasks that need to be done (like photo editing) in order to get to the good stuff -- like scrapping! Patience with my kids. With two teens in the house surely I need to embrace this now more than ever! Patience with myself to find a way to eat better and maybe get to the gym. Who knows, maybe I will even have the patience to organize my house or at least go through another pile of magazines!

It's just one little word. How hard can it be?

*Blog Your Heart is a monthly challenge created by Stephanie Howell who brings a refreshing honesty to all of her blog posts. Thanks for always telling it like it is, Stephanie!

Joy to You and Yours

...and best wishes for health and happiness

in 2012!

Christmas Boxes

Oh, you just have to love Pinterest! Where else can you store all of your ideas and inspiration without adding to the clutter on your desk? I found the tutorial for these little gift boxes on Jillibean Soup's blog, saved it to my Gift Wrap board on Pinterest and knew exactly where to find the instructions when I started to wrap my presents! So, here's the gift boxes I made:

Just a note on dimensions. I cut the paper for the bottom of the box to measure 7x7 as stated in the instructions. However when I cut the lid as a 5x5 and scored as instructed, it did not fit as snugly as I wanted so I cut a new piece to measure 4 5/8" x 4 5/8" and scored at the 3/4 inch mark. The result was much better! As you can see, I was able to make two boxes from the two coordinating sheets of patterned paper.

To decorate the boxes, I cut a belly band 3/4" wide and added two punched snowflakes (the top one adhered with pop dots) that were adorned with rhinestone stickers. My nieces loved their Christmas presents -- inside and out!

Supplies:

Patterned Paper: SEI Winter (Winter Song; Blaze Velvet);

Tools: Martha Stewart (Scoring Board; Nordic Snowflake punch; Icelandic Snowflake punch);

Embellishments; Recollections rhinestone stickers

Noel Tag

Whew! Is it the end of December already? I feel like this month has really flown by as evidenced by my absence here on the blog. Between Christmas preparations, a nasty upper respiratory infection, taking my mother to physical therapy, shopping, making my Christmas cards and a broken washing machine, I feel like my excuses for not being here could fill Santa's sleigh. Luckily, I was a little crafty this month and even worked on a December Daily for the first time. These are all projects I will be sharing with you over the next week or so.

Today, I want to share my folded Christmas tags. They were inspired by this challenge at Papertrey Ink. Here is my tag:

I started with the Papertrey Ink's Mat Stack 3 die. I added a strip of velvet paper which was left over from my Christmas cards I stamped a label using PTI's Label Basics, added the sentiment and brad and adhered it to the tag using pop dots. The snowflake was something I had in my stash. I bought a pack of four last year at Michael's for $1. Now, I wish I had bought more!

Supplies:

Cardstock base: Georgia Pacific;

Patterned Paper: K & Company;

Tools: Papertrey Ink dies (Mat Stack 3; Label Basics);

Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Label Basics; Think Big Favorites 8);

Ink: Stampin' Up! (Riding Hood Red); Memento (Black);

Embellishments: Snowflakes (Michael's); Brads (Anna Griffin)

It's In The Bag!

Remember this post from last year? Well, the holiday shopping bags are out so I thought I would challenge myself, once again, to use one as the basis of a card. So, here's the bag:

As luck would have it, this week's challenge at Our Creative Corner was to make a project with a Christmas tree. Here's my card:

To create it, I stamped my tree onto the shopping bag and cut it out. To give it more definition, I ran the edges along my black ink pad. I also stamped my tree onto my card base since I was only popping the top. For the background, I used Versa Mark ink to stamp the snow line and ran over it with some liquid glue so that the glitter would stick. Next, I spritzed the card with some Mister Huey in Calico White. Finally, I sprayed some Mister Huey Calico Shine over the entire background before adding the tree and the ribbon.

It's so hard to photograph the shimmer on this card but hopefully the photo below gives you an idea of why I love Calico White and Calico Shine!

If you are inspired to make a card from a shopping bag, please link it up to my blog in the comment section. I would love to see them!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Stamper's Select White);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Merriest Wishes);

Ink: Ranger (Jet Black); Versa Mark; Studio Calico Mister Huey (Calico White; Calico Shine);

Embellishments: Recollections Rhinestones (Red); Martha Stewart Glitter (Crystal Coarse); Making Memories Ribbon;

Misc.: Bath & Body Works shopping bag.