Quick Card - Purple & Glitter Pink

My card stash has dwindled down quite low, and with so many birthdays this month I thought I better get something accomplished.  I usually have a hard time working with purple, but I have a friend who really likes this color-- so I thought I'd go with a "mostly" monochromatic card in varying shades of...purple, and a touch of glitter pink.  Actually this was a pretty quick card.  I used a purple cardstock base, and made my mat from white cardstock already embossed with cupcakes.  I used Distress Inks:  dusty concord & milled lavender which I blended on to the white cardstock--the embossed design acts as a resist and the cupcakes popped.  I wrapped a wire ribbon bow to the front and added a paper ribbon with the stamped sentiment.  Finished it off with a glittery initial, for my friend Rachael.  I made the envelope from lavender scrapbook paper and stamped Happy Birthday with CTMH Greeting Script stamp set. 

Now...I'm off to the post office, and back with another quick card tomorrow. 
Happy Crafting!  Lisa

School Poster Projects

Decades Poster for the 90's
Music scales were copied, wrinkled, & inked. Title cut from Shall We Dance cartridge.

I don't know about everyone else, but my kids always seemed to have large projects due the very next day--like the teachers didn't give them any advance notice at all, which of course is not true.  And the big thing these days seem to be "group" projects.  Of course my son likes to tell his group that he'll be happy to do the poster projects since he has a "crafty mom".  And it never fails, he is voted unanimously to create the group's poster projects.  Enter--the Cricut!!  For Christmas 2009, my husband got me a Cricut cutting machine and the Gypsy design program!  This has been a lifesaver for last minute projects, I just gotta tell ya!  But before you start thinking that I do my son's projects for him--let me be the first to say, "I don't".  =)  I go through the different cutting designs that might pertain to his project and he decides what we'll cut and the colors he'd like them to be.  He's helped in all the processes, and along the way I might give him some ideas or feedback if I think of something else he can do.  He thinks it's funny that he can sit at the computer and work on other portions of the project, while the Cricut is working behind him.  Of course the Cricut works at a much faster speed than if we sat down to cut all the portions individually ourselves, so it's a great time-saver for those last minute designs. 

I don't think he's realized yet how much work he actually does himself, since I'm mostly just helping with direction-- he does the gluing, the inking, and paper piecing, as well as the research & printing from the PC.  And I don't plan on enlightening him either.   Ha ha...  I have to say though, that the Cricut is a wonderful tool in helping with school projects for the kids--and not just those last minute ones.  I know that Provocraft has donated quite a few Cricuts to schools all over, and teachers have been able to use them for their classroom creations.  And I think that's awesome. 

I don't use my Cricut for all my crafts though, because I enjoy using a variety of crafting tools & mediums.  But I love having it as part of my craft room for so many things besides school projects.  It's especially great when I need a LOT of a certain cut, such as gift tags, Valentine heart confetti, creative name badges, etc (the list goes on & on).  For those of you that have been thinking about getting one, I would recommend checking out some blogs that do a lot with their Cricut at the Cricut Top 40 blogs site.  The Gypsy is a handheld device that lets you do so much more with your cartridges--but I'd recommend becoming familiar with your Cricut first.  I'll talk more about the Gypsy in another post, but please feel free to contact me with questions any time.

In the meantime, here are a few school projects Cody and I put together that uses the Cricut in conjunction with paper crafting. 

Decades-The 90's, Television - one of our old TVs had the same scratches on it.

Sometimes using a white poster & filling in white space with squiggles works wonders.

Cody had to show the differences in weddings between the USA & China.
This was during the Bejing Olympics so we worked that into the design.

This poster had a lot of info about Panera Bread & the Cricut wasn't used at all

Cody's Spanish Album

Thank you for stopping by!  Lisa

Eagle Scout Ceremony Invite

The eagle's movable wing can be used as a gate-latch

My friend’s son, Keith, has been working on his Eagle Scout project for Boy Scouts -- collecting gently used musical instruments and donations for the local high school band/music department to assist students who would like to participate in the arts, but are unable to obtain an instrument due to lack of funds. What a wonderful project to benefit his community. [For more information, or to contact Keith directly about a donation, you can check out this local news article which includes his contact info.]

In the meantime, I’ve been trying to talk my friend, Marla, into making Keith’s invitations. Ha ha…yep, I am such an enabler! We did a bit of brainstorming and came up with the idea of using a gatefold card. So, to help get her creative juices flowing I made this “mock-up” invite. I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the stars on the two gate panels on the outside of the card on green cardstock (CS). I used CS with a white core so that when I lightly sanded the raised star images the green sanded away to expose the white. I used the Independence Day cartridge on my Cricut to cut out the eagle for the front gate “latch”. I actually cut the eagle out twice—I cut off the wing of the second eagle and added it behind the other eagle wing with a brad. This way the wing can be moved into any position. If you move the second wing down, you can actually slide it behind the left gate panel to lock the card in place. I added a “paper ribbon” to the brad with the Boy Scout law printed on vellum.


You could also use the pocket for an RSVP card

For the inside of the card, I embossed the Fleur de Lis design in the same CS and sanded again. But this time I printed the invite information onto vellum and adhered to the both inside panels with a brad. I love the quote I found from Neil Armstrong—apropos, don’t ya think? For the photo pocket, I printed out the Boy Scout emblem onto vellum (I love how easy vellum is to use), and arranged it by tearing and adding adhesive to three sides. Although I didn’t take a picture of the back, I added a group photo of his troop on the back of the invite.
This card actually didn’t take too long to make since I used the vellum for a lot of my wording—that can be pre-printed ahead of time, which is good considering it’s best to let vellum have a bit of drying time so the ink doesn’t smudge. If you don’t have an embossing machine, you could use printed scrapbook papers instead. And there are a lot of digital stamps you could find on the internet in place of the eagle if you don’t have a die cutting machine or a Cricut.  Marla’s daughter, Kelsey, is a talented artist and can draw an awesome eagle, but I personally wouldn’t like to show anything I’ve actually drawn. LOL.  Anyway, I hope this gives you some creative ideas towards your next card or invite!

Just to add: becoming an Eagle Scout is an awesome accomplishment – and I’m so proud of Keith! WTG!! Lisa

Altered Ancestors

Altered Ancestors book page -- great grandfather "Free bird, yea"

I've been busy like crazy this week finishing my Altered Ancestors book pages for the ATT Altered Ancestors Little Fat Book swap...whew...say that fast.  ATT is the All Things Tim (Holtz) group I joined last year.  I saw this swap posted, and since I had never altered any photos like that before I thought I'd give it a try. 

Also, was the fact that just last year my cousin, Kathy, gave me an awesome pocket watch that belonged to my great-great Grandfather, who passed it down to his son, who passed it down to his son, who passed it down to my cousin...who passed it down to me.  That's a lot of passing around...but I do have a point. 

When my cousin gave it to me, she showed me the picture of my great-great Gpa inside.  It looked like an old postage stamp--but it was SO cool when I got it home and photographed it and found out that it was taken in St. Louis!  Funny, since I live close to STL now--though home is in another state! 

Anyway, I was fiddling around with the pocket watch and noticed a small gap on the other side--and what'd ya know, but it opened to reveal a picture of my great Gpa and my great-great Gpa's name etched inside.  It was my great grandfather's photo I used in my altered design.  I think he might have enjoyed it, as he was a bit of a "free bird" himself.

Here's a bit of trivia--my cousin Kathy, also known as Suzanne Walker (stage name), danced with Mikhail Baryshnikov in the Oklahoma scene of Baryshnikov on Broadway while I was still in high school.  Click HERE to watch the 4 min. YouTube video, she comes on the scene at 1:21 in the video.  Growing up, I always wanted to be like her.  =)



Back to my book pages...I needed to make 11 pages, so I made them all the same except for a few changes:  the sizes of the keys (rusted grunge--these were fun to make), and adding a bit of color to various facial features using Stormy Sky Distress re-inker.  For the back of the page I used the filmstrip die for my "Credits" and two different stamps: the "Time" quote & "clock" stamp went perfectly for my "back story".  I like having a bit of a story to special projects I make.

I used all Tim Holtz products, except for my fibers.  These were a lot of fun to make, but time consuming...considering I lost three that I had made!  Who does that?  Seriously, I looked all over the house thinking I must've carried them out of my craft room (which I scoured top to bottom)...but they were nowhere to be found.  I had to run out and buy another paper stash to finish the last three.  [sigh]

Off to the mail!

Thanks for stopping by!  Lisa

Maritial Bliss is a 50/50 Treat

Happy Valentines Day blog friends!  I gotta tell ya...I love anything romantic, but I married the perfect guy to also have fun.  He makes me laugh all the time, which is probably why I feel much younger than I am.  To whit...the other day I was browsing the valentine/candy aisle and came across this 50/50 candy bar--50% his, 50% hers, called the "Martial Bliss Bar".  Of course everyone knows that to keep a marriage happy, the wife needs her chocolate (at least that's they way I've always heard it).  That candy bar says it all...as long as hubby knows what constitutes his "50%" (more like 30%), the marriage should be pure marital bliss!  LOL  So sorry...but I just couldn't resist that candy bar (nor the pun).  So I made this Pull-up Treat wrapper for my hubby for Valentines day--with, of course, the candy bar nestled inside!  There's a great tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers website to make this treat wrapper, I just modified it a bit to fit the size of the candy I used. 

Simon Says Stamp has their current challenge for Anything But a Card until Wednesday, for which I entered this treat wrapper.  I don't always have time to do many challenges, but when I do I always like to check out Simon Says Stamp & Studio L3 (see previous blog post). 

For this project the following supplies were used: 

Tim Holtz (TH) Vintage Shabby Paper Stash inked with Black Soot & Walnut Stain Distress Ink (DI)
"1" "4" textured grungeboard inked with Aged Mahogany DI
"I am so lucky" & "you make me smile" stamps by Clearly Wordsworth
clear stamp "love"
TH Philosophy Tags "Cherish"
TH Journaling Tickets
black satin ribbon
May Arts ribbon, red

I hope you all get to have a little fun today!  Lisa

Family Time Rusted Enamel CCC #31

I'm finally getting back to some of the challenge blogs I've enjoyed.  This one is for StudioL3's Compendium of Curiosities Challenge #31 -- Rusted Enamel.  I'm getting this one in just under the wire--but important to note that I made it...whew!  I'd been thinking about the phrase, "Time with Family is a beautiful thing", and had the idea of the butterfly wings with a timepiece...with "Family" as the key word, and came up with this tag.  So a play on words, if you will (though I used a different saying on the tag...hmmm).  I followed Tim Holtz' technique on page 41 of his book Compendium of Curiosities for the grunge heart, and used Turquoise Perfect Pearls on the butterfly wings and "Family", and added Cranberry Alcohol ink to the time piece (noting the 1 & 4 for the numbers)...yeah...still sappy for Valentines day!  =)

I'll be putting the rest of my Valentine's gifties up tomorrow--can't let the hubster see what I made just yet.  Until then...have a lovelee day!  TFL, Lisa

ATT Red & White Valentine Tag Swap

I joined the All Things Tim (ATT) yahoo group last year in the fall after trying my hand at the Compendium of Curiosities challenges & Simon Says Stamp challenges.  What a fun group this is...whether you're already enjoying Tim Holtz techniques & products, or just getting started, this group is the place to be.  They even have their own tshirts & accessories now...but you need to join the group to find out more about that.  It's free to join; click on my sidebar "All Things Tim" for more info).

AnyWay...I joined my first tag swap at ATT and the theme was monochromatic red & white only.  I admit I had to put on my thinking cap, but in the end I do like how they turned out.  I'm just posting this now, because I wanted to wait until everyone received their swapped tags.  I received my swaps in the mail the end of this week, and they are ALL gorgeous!  If I get permission from their designers I'll post what I received...but in the meantime--here's my offerings:

I listed my supplies on the back of the tags (wasn't sure if I was supposed to or not, but I did it in vellum with very little adhesive so they could remove it if they chose to).  The cardstock I used (DCWV Rustic) was more of a red & ivory--I was probably pushing the white a bit on that one, but I added white Paint Dabbers to the edges & stamped a flourish at the top (mostly hidden by ribbon...hmmm).  For my fragments, I stamped the Love Definition from TH Love Struck stamp set onto cardstock from TH Vintage Shabby paper stash, and positioned it in the left corner--so that the Cupid was shooting an arrow into it.  The cupid was one of my favorite pieces.  I used plastic packaging and stamped the Cupid from the Love Struck collection with VersaMark, added Rose Quartz embossing powder (EP) & heat set.  I wanted them to have dimension so I maneuvered them while hot to hold their wonky shapes--if I had wanted them flat, I would've heated them a few seconds longer and they would've flattened out completed (I love using plastic packaging).  Important to note--don't touch the EP while the plastic is still hot or it will come off...ask me how I know. =)

A dab of hot glue on a cardstock center helped to roll my ribbon in place for the rose/flower, and hot glue at

various intervals to keep it in place.  The ribbon wasn't a dark enough red, so I spritzed it with Tattered Angels Candy Apple Glimmer Mist.  I used mini Christmas tree iridescent pearl garland for the beads across  the bottom, and cut up some of the same beads for the center of the red rose.  The cutout quote is from a book I got at the dollar store, some Silver Stickles on the CTMH stamped key (which reacted to the Aged Mahogany ink & turned pink--love it), Martha Stewart red tinsel glitter on the quote, and some ribbon/fibers to finish it up.

This was a fun swap, I really enjoyed it. Currently I'm working on another swap for ATT, "Altered Ancestors Little Fat Book" swap.  I'll post pictures soon!  In the meantime, thanks for stopping by!  Lisa

Chocolate Kisses in a Box

So I get a text message from my son Nathan, now 22, reminding me that he loves Cherry Cordial Hershey Kisses.  I thought it was funny and sweet actually, that he thought I might need an idea for him for Valentines Day.  LOL  I picked up on his "hint", and picked up his favorite kisses the other day--I decided I wanted to package them up in the fun candy boxes I used to give the kids when they were younger.  So it was cool that Cricut's Love Struck Cartridge has that very same box. 

I needed to make it quite a bit larger to hold Hershey kisses instead of candy hearts, so I used my Gypsy to size the box width to 11 1/2" from My Minds Eye Be Loved Sweethearts cardstock.  The original cut had a heart cut out of the box front--I used contour to hide the heart, and cut out the Monogram letter "N" instead, from Gypsy Font.  I wanted to stabilize the box a bit more than just cardstock for holding the kisses, so I used some plastic packaging to stabilize the inside front & back of the box, securing it to the cardstock with score tape.  I added a bit of ribbon & Barn Door Distress Ink to the box--but nothing too girly.  ha ha

You may not notice, but I actually have the box upside down.  There's a tab that fits into a slot meant for securing your goodies for the opening, but I chose to use that as the bottom of my box--which I secured with scor-tape for a good seal.  I wanted the flap for the opening, but I was wasn't sure how to secure it down so that he could open it without tearing it up...and close it back up again when he wasn't scarfing down chocolates.  Initially I was thinking I'd have to use a sticker, but sometime before Christmas I bought some Post-it Craft Paper.  I hadn't even opened the package, but when I went to find a sticker it was sitting on top of my stash--the lightbulb (in my head) went off, and I decided I'd use that instead.  I cut out a 2 1/2" shadow heart w/banner from the Love Struck cart, and because I only had blue Post-it paper...I inked it with more Barn Door ink, and heat embossed it with Stampendous Ruby Red embossing powder.  When it was dry I smudged the edges of the banner with Black Soot Distress Ink, and wrote "Chocolate Cherry Kisses" over the banner (momentary lapse of memory that they were Cherry Cordials--even though the bag was right in front of me). 

I filled the box with the kisses, took the backing off the Post-it paper and sealed the box!  The box held nearly a whole bag of Hershey kisses!  Well, all but the couple (or so) I ate while crafting.  I sent the box on it's postal way via those video size postage boxes--it fit perfectly with his Valentine's card that I forgot to take a picture of.  It was a fun, quick project that didn't take me more than 30 minutes to make...if even that. 

Thanks for stopping by...and have a crafty weekend! Lisa

Love in a Paper Bag

I love making paper bag books--you might have noticed from a few other posts I've made:  Lincoln's Birthday Brochure Book and our Disney Vacation.  But I had a goal to accomplish on this one--I had two rolls of valentine stickers I wanted to use up.  Rolls of stickers aren't used nearly as often these days, but they are pretty inexpensive when you consider Jolee stickers have evolved to 3D embellishments in themselves, while the rolled stickers can only be flat.  So I challenged myself to use the flat stickers as the primary embellishment.  I think it turned out nice--and just in time for Valentines day (imagine that).

In addition to my loooove stickers, I used Bazzil cream cardstock (CS), Core'dinations brown/red CS (which I sanded & tore to show the color variations), designer CS (which was in a store bin with no company name, unfortunately), Distress ink (Barn Door, Fired Brick), Tattered Angels Candy Apple Glimmer Mist, & May Arts ribbon -- oh, and a few pictures, of course.

Thanks for stopping by!  Lisa

Distress Ink Swatch Book

UPDATE - I've updated this post with written directions & YouTube video which you can check out by clicking ---> HERE.

I love using Tim Holtz (TH) Distress Ink!  I think I was completely won over when I learned that the browns didn't turn a muddy green color when added with water -- you know that's right!  When I first started using these inks I kept them upside down (which I still do), but aside from reading the name of the ink, I wasn't able to see the colors.  So, I swiped the ink onto a square of white cardstock and glued it to the bottom of each ink pad.  As I added to my collection I also created white tags inked with the colors of each ink pad & labeled -- that way, when I'd be crafting and looking for a particular color to match my project I could just flip through my ring of tags.  I would take my Distress Ink (DI) tags to the store when I was looking to buy more, so I didn't repeat ones I already had -- this worked out nice at first, but then I'd get annoyed trying to separate the tags to look at each one. 

Did you know that Ranger Industries website has free PDFs of their color charts & labels you can download?  That's when I decided to make this swatch book for my DI.  I cut out the individual swatches and used TH blender tool to blend the color onto each swatch, then I swiped the ink over the top of the swatch for a solid color visual.  I adhered the swatches to the the 2x2 squares cardstock sheet of TH Vintage Shabby paper stash (cutting off 2 rows of squares I didn't need).  I made two cuts, and created a folding technique I was happy with, decorated the front with some flat TH embellishments and used a binder clip to hold the ribbons together for a closure.  After trying several closure options I liked the clip best -- when I released the clip to open the book, I could wrap the ribbon around the back of the front cover and re-attach the binder clip while I flip the swatch card back & forth -- no more dandling ribbons, lost clips, etc. 

I love that this swatch book lets me see my color families at a glance -- and I can see what I am missing since those particular swatches aren't inked (including the pull out tag on the cover that lists what I still need), and it's small enough to fit in my purse and my storage container.   Speaking of my Snapware container -- I got mine from JoAnn Fabrics, and I love it!  I used the DI titles from the swatch sheets and inked them according to the basic inks I have in each compartment which I also labeled:  earth tones/black, red/orange/purple, and blue/green.  Did I mention that there are currently 36 different DI colors available?  I am still missing 7 of those -- but I have plenty of room in my containers for the ones I'm missing.  Besides my ink pads, each compartment also holds a blending tool, cut n dry foam for blending, AND mini misters too.  I like that it doesn't take up much room on my desk either since it's stacked. 

[RePurposing Note:  I used the shoulder ribbon from an outfit for my binder clip.  I never liked those ribbon straps that hold up the outfits on hangers, and I'd cut them off--now I use them for all sorts of things.]

If you need further direction in making one of these, please let me know--hopefully the pictures below will help.  And Hey -- Thanks for stopping by!  Lisa