Christmas Cards - Part 2

Whew!  All that’s left is the writing personal messages on all 60 cards!  Last night the boyfriend and I tried our hands (literally) at stamping.  He is much better than I am.  And that was after I gave him lecture after lecture of what NOT to do.  He was like, yeah, yeah, yeah.  I should have been the same way. 

This past weekend we took the hour drive to Michael’s and purchased stamps and ink pads because I was still waiting on my internet order to come in (arrived in Monday’s mail – figures).  On Monday night we finished putting cards together.  Then on Tuesday night we brought out the ink.  We practiced with different colors and techniques and finally got down to business.  His card interiors came out really well,

 mine not so much as you can see here:

            However, the cards and yearly pic are complete and ready for signing.  Speaking of the yearly photo – we took two – a test and a final.  Usually we do one in the house by the tree with the dogs.  This year D wanted to shake things up a bit and take it on the porch that he extended this past summer.  Plus, the wagon wheel would be in it and he definitely wanted to include that!  We put down a blanket on the step, gathered the dogs, dismissed the cat, set up the tri-pod and then D got a great idea!  A tremendously, wonderful, all-encompassing idea!  He thought let’s get the bunny in the picture my dear!  He’s new in the family, his image we must share! (Channeling the grinchy-claus right there!)  So he went and got Snugs (also known as Checkers) and pressed the shutter and ran to the porch for the photo and the dogs went bonkers!  Wouldn’t sit, wouldn’t stay, wanted the bunny – yes, it was chaos!  But it really signified our year! 

He put the bunny back in the cage and we took a perfectly respectable photo with the dogs being good.  You can see it here – it came out pretty good.  Later that evening as I was getting ready to order the prints I looked at them on the screen and just started laughing.  That first photo – all chaotic and un-posed was perfect.  I called D to look and he laughed too.  That’s the photo that should go in the card he said.  I totally agreed and ordered them.  I don’t know if friends and family will think we lost our minds, but this is our life and I wouldn’t trade it for a different one.  Crazy dogs, crazy boyfriend, new porch and in debt to our shoulders.  It’s still a good life and I am so very blessed.

I hope you like the cards, they were definitely a labor of love and I will try to mark my calendar in July to start then in getting them ready for the next Christmas season!

Christmas Cards - Part 1

It’s the most wonderful time of the year (besides summertime!) and it’s the time when I feel I can get most creative in some areas of my life.  If you haven’t checked out my post about the gingerbread, please do!  In the meantime, I will enchant you with my Christmas card journey.

            My cards should have been started in July so I wouldn’t be waiting until last minute to get it done, but my name should be “Last Minute Jenny”.  Therefore, I’m right on time!  I actually started thinking about cards before Thanksgiving.  I scoured Pinterest for card ideas as I am not a good card idea person at all, and I found some pretty good, albeit easy, examples. 

I started scouting my local crafting store for Christmas scrapbook paper and finding none, thought there would be some there for Black Friday, which of course it wasn’t.  I went on-line and found some 6x6 paper packs at scrapbook.com – all brands I had never used before, so this would be a learning experience as well.  I picked up some red 8.5x11 cardstock and Kraft paper for my cards and envelopes and got to work getting those cut out while I waited for my patterned paper.  I used my Cricut to cut the envelopes – all 60 of them.  Last year I did them by hand.  With a pattern.  Not again.

My patterned paper came in magically fast – I thought I would have a longer wait than I did so I started my card prototypes.  This is important.  If the card is too difficult my boyfriend will say so and then getting him to help will be no fun!  It took several days to get started and then I had one day all to myself and voila!  I was able to get all prototypes done and made into kits of 15 each and they are now ready to assemble!  Only one last problem – I thought it would be easy to go to my local Joann’s and get a set of Christmas stamps.  Well, it isn’t.  There was nothing Christmassy in that store except the decorations.  Once again, the internet should have saved me but as of this writing the stamps I ordered have not even shipped yet. 

We are headed to Michael’s over the weekend, even though it is an hour away, so we can get the cards stamped and ready to go out by the 17^th.  That is my deadline.  I will have to do the family picture this weekend, have it reproduced in-house and ready to go in the cards by then. That should not be a problem.  Getting the dogs to pose properly will be!  LOL!  I love them.  Last year we let the cat sit in the photo for the first time.  We’ll see if he returns…

Results and finished photos to come…

Gingerbread Houses

Recently, for a contest, the kids and I and my significant other, made gingerbread houses for a local contest.  They made a house last year just for fun and then got to eat it.  They did such a great job for first timers that I thought they should do the contest this year.  When I asked them they jumped at the chance. 

The kids decorated a regular house with candy they helped pick out.  They used laffy taffy softened in the microwave for a front door and pretzels for a fence.    I taught them how to make a snowman out of the cement frosting and powdered sugar.  They got right into it, each kid taking a side of the house and working independently from each other.  It was fun listening to them chatter while they worked. 

Gaige wanted to quit after a while and when he finished his roof I told him he could.  Hannah took over from there.  She’s our little bohemian artist.  We know someday she will be running around barefoot selling her paintings while living off the land with like-minded friends.  When it was finished it was the sweetest little gingerbread house ever!

 

 

As for me and D, we chose to create a local landmark, our hometown corner store.  It has been around since forever, just under different management for different uses.  As soon as I heard about the landmark theme of the contest I thought of this place and knew we could make it.  As with any gingerbread house I have ever made, and there’s been quite a few, trial and error is a huge part of it, with error being easily erased with frosting!

Ever since I finally received my amazing KitchenAid mixer for Christmas several years ago from my fantastic boyfriend, making the dough and icing has been a pleasure!  I used to hate making it with a regular mixer because the dough is just too hard to maneuver and the icing takes forever!  Hence, two batches of gingerbread and four batches of icing this year – with a smile!

D has never made a gingerbread house before, much less helped, so he really got into it.  He rolled out the dough and cut along the pattern I made.  After everything was baked and cooled I frosted the walls, trying to make them look like smooth cinder blocks (didn’t work), and set up the building.  D wanted to make the air pump on the side of the building so while he did that I made the sign and secured the steps.  When it was done he decided it needed the gas pump and that pulled the whole thing together. 

I love how it turned out!  D was all hyped up about how great it looked and how we would win but I warned him that we were amateurs compared to others who entered the contest, so just feel good about the job we did.  When we dropped the houses off yesterday and he looked around at some of the other entries he started seeing what I was talking about.  I think we have the best little houses ever, no one can tell me different, and there is no need for a prize to make that so.

 

 

I’d love to know if anyone else out there does gingerbread houses and what some of their favorite ones were and what they looked like.  Please share!

 

 

Christmas Paper Dilemma

I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am with my local scrapbooking store.  I was out this past weekend looking for Christmas paper stacks so I could start on my Christmas cards.  I didn’t think it was too early to look seeing as how I see new stacks on the internet and am getting emails from www.blitzy.com and www.scrapbook.com with Christmas stacks advertised.  My problem is I wanted to see them in person.  I wanted to see the colors up-close.  I wanted to feel the paper.  You know what I mean.  I also wanted to be able to start my cards right away.  No such luck.

I looked at the old Christmas stack I used last year and I just didn’t want to face it again.  After 50 or more cards the paper gets old fast.  I just couldn’t stomach it again this year.

Last night I scoured blitzy and a couple other sites.  I ended up on scrapbook.com where I did end up ordering four Christmas stacks of 6x6 that I think will work well with the cards I want to make.  They are also paper brands that I have never used before.  I’m not worried.  I am curious to see what this paper will be like.  Will it feel ok?  Will it work for what I need it for?  Will the colors be vibrant?  I took a chance and there’s no turning back. 

Hopefully I will have the paper by the end of the week.  Once it gets here, let the carding begin!

"Can" - do!

This past weekend as I was trying to decide what type of card I was going to make my brother I stumbled across a small empty can of tomato paste.  Stumbled is an exaggeration.  I used it the other night in sloppy Joe’s – our go-to dinner meal when we’ve forgotten to take anything out of the freezer.  Plus it’s super easy and after a day of taping and painting the living room they hit the spot.

The can.  Yes, I was getting to that.  Me in my crafty mind-set decided that a toilet paper roll cut in half would work to hold my mascara and eyeliner together for me on my dresser.  I was wrong.  It doesn’t work, it just falls over all the time.  I needed something small that could hold both without the annoying tip-over.  While I was making the sloppy Joe’s I realized I had found my tool!  I washed it out, dried it up and ran to my studio!

Within minutes I had found the paper I wanted to use and hot glued it on to the can. Looking at it I realized I needed to add a bit more to my plain little masterpiece.  I grabbed some ribbon I pulled off a wreath before composting it last year and cut a piece off.  Then I cut it in half and wrapped it around the top and bottom, securing it once again with the aforementioned hot glue gun.  I stood back and gazed at my little wonder.  It was still missing something!

At that point I had an a-ha moment (thanks Oprah!) and opted for a length of white ribbon.  I tied it into a pretty bow and secured that with a drop of hot glue too!  Done!  It is sitting on my dresser – not tipping – and holding my beauty regimen as pretty as can be!

I just realized that maybe a strand of itty-bitty baby pearls would look pretty good on this too.  Maybe my next one, after I get tired of this color scheme…

Birthday Card For My Bro

Yesterday I made a birthday card for my brother.  It wasn’t his birthday, but we were celebrating it at my mom’s apartment.  I looked to Pinterest for my card making inspiration.  I knew I wanted to do a fold-in card - possibly called a tri-fold.  I can never remember as I am not big on making cards.  I like doing them, but my first love is scrapbooking.  You can imagine my delight when I came across a tri-fold that looked like a good “man” card! 

I have an 8.5”x11” Colorbok stack that has only blue and brown patterned paper and I just love it but the only time I use it is for “man” or sympathy cards, so I was really glad to take it out and use it.

I put little banners on the front – two on one side, one on the other – and they keep the card closed!  I stamped “Happy Birthday” on the middle banner with a Fiskars stamp and dropped a silver star on it for some “pop”.  I made an envelope using my Cricut and the card was good to go!

My brother loved it and actually asked me if I made it!  Yeah bro – I did!  Let me know what you think!

DCWV November Challenge

          I am so excited to get in on the challenge this month!  I chose to do the card layout because the scrapbook pages I am doing this year are in a different format.  Basically in picture pages instead of straight 12” x 12”.  Another post on that later…

For the challenge I decided to use the “Hey Sailor” stack that I coveted for so long.  It took forever to get to my Joanne’s store that I ended up ordering it on-line!  It is a simple 4x6 card on Kraft paper, inked around the edges.  I decided to do a “standing” card instead of the usual side fold, something I rarely do and feel I should do more often!  I used a fabric flag and glued it to some twine to create a rope, keeping with a sea-worthy theme, and added some silver star bling.  On the inside is a note to my cousin who recently had knee surgery, hence the Arggh! On the front of the card!  I hope you like it!

 

 

 

 

 

A Trip to the Studio

A while back I took a beginner’s pottery class.  I did a semester in pottery in high school but my area, although filled with artsy fartsy folks, doesn’t offer “real” pottery classes.  Not often anyway.  That said, the reason I told you about the class is because the instructor found out that I was a scrap booker, sometimes card maker, painter and paper crafter and I referenced my spare room as a “craft room”.  He told me that it was my studio.  Any artist’s room where they create is a studio. 

I have a hard time calling it that.  It’s just a room in my house and I’m an amateur at best.  I don’t ever see myself painting anything as beautiful as Monet did, where people just want to gaze upon my work.  Sometimes though, I like the idea of it and I may make a sign that says just that.  STUDIO.  Big caps that will force me to open my eyes and realize I can create – anything.

So, the other night I went upstairs to the studio and took out the kid’s school days books to add their school photos we received last week.  While doing that I found last year’s photos too, so I made pages for those too.  I took a photo of Hannah’s because I thought hers came out really well. 

 

 

I used the Mariposa stack from DCWV and did a little layering.  I used my border punch from Creative Memories and added a picket fence.  I like the idea of her still being behind a fence, being protected just a little bit longer.  The world is going to invite her out to play soon, and then there’s no going back.  <sigh>  It’s already happening.  This was last year’s pic.  I cut a butterfly from one of the accent pages in the stack and layered that on with a couple of those thick stacker squares.  She just looks like she needed that on her page.

I was really happy how this turned out.  It’s an 8-1/2” x 11” layout which I don’t use very often.  I’m considering a title for the page but I wanted to get it in the album so she could see it.  It’ll get done soon enough.  I’m just glad I did it.

 

 

Toilet Paper Roll Album

             Last year at a scrapbook event I met a woman who was carrying toilet paper rolls in her stash of paper.  She talked of a toilet paper roll album that she had started making and had even been handing out as gifts.  I was intrigued, but did nothing.  I kept thinking about it, but since we use the roll-less TP, I was pretty much up the creek in the supplies department.

Fast forward to September 2014 – the local supply store has stopped carrying the roll-less TP and we have to buy the regular kind.  Finally, I can begin!  I knew immediately what paper I was going to use.  I had the Tim Holtz Lost and Found stack and had been dying to use it.  Then I started cruising YouTube to find a tutorial, and boy did I find one!  Check out My Sisters Scrapper – she has a ton of great tutorials and the ones I watched are really easy to follow! 

http://youtu.be/-8vndiRxuWk?list=UUuSLCMH4NBu0wUKEzD6Jw3w

She lists all the supplies you’ll need, plus dimensions, and it was like taking a class in my craft room. 

I didn’t do any embellishing – it’s not my strong point, plus I’m afraid to store anything that has stuff all over it.  There should be a class out there – “Don’t Fear the Embellie!”  Also, I will try to find better magnets.  The ones I picked up don’t seem strong enough when placed under paper.  I might need to use thinner paper though instead of cardstock. 

I love the product I ended up with.  Several of my friends have said it looks like something one would find in a gift shop.  I know I’m going to make several more and pass them on as gifts this Christmas.  I just feel really good about how well it turned out and wanted to share.

Tools I used:

Fiskars trimmer
Creative Memories trimmer
Fiskars tag punch
Creative Memories round tag

School Days Album

This is a project that I contemplated for a long while and then finally jumped in with both feet at an all-day crop.  Sometimes all day crops are hard to pack for, because if you’re like me you have a ton of projects and they are scattered and tucked in all over your work space.  If you are totally organized then I want to be your best friend and you can make my space useable!!!

This project that I had been delaying was a school days book for each of my grandkids.  I had cleaned out binders at work, and instead of throwing them away I was told I could take as many as I wanted.  Woohoo!  Three-ring binders for free!  Granted, they weren’t in the best condition, but they were usable and had potential.  I began dreaming right away of what I would use them for and how and that’s when I came up with the school days idea. 

I had a school days book when I was a kid, that my mom filled out and then as I got older I took over.  It had my school photos, friends, clubs, report cards, and I’m so glad that my parents thought it was important.  I look at it now and I see the year I cut my own hair because I wanted bangs.  And there’s the year I tried to do a glamour pose on picture day.  That’s the year I joined FFA and art club.  <sigh> Memories.  They are right there in that book in their most basic form and then my brain kicks into recall and it’s like going back.  Well, I want that same feeling for the kids.  I was lucky because I went to the same school my whole life.  The grands move around – a lot.  I thought this might give them a semi-permanent place to land once in a while.

I started with a binder that I cleaned off fairly well.  They had been on the shelf for quite some time and were a bit dusty.  The kids had picked out their duct tape and I had some old DCWV paper on hand.  Now these are not state of the art albums, but they were crafted with love.  I glued the paper onto the binder with my Aileen’s Tacky Glue.  Then I used the duct tape to secure the edges so they don’t rip or fray.  I also used it for the spine of the book.  The kids really liked that.  They liked it better than the paper so next time we may just go with straight tape.  However, my vision was with paper so that is where I went.

I also used coordinating paper for the pages, some of which I slipped into protective page coverings.  I also made pockets out of used manila envelopes.  My whole idea was to recycle/re-use as much office supplies as I possibly could.  I know it’ll barely make a dent in a landfill, but I needed to try.  I will eventually add photos from scouts and 4H and different things they did with their friends, but at least this part is done and ready to go.  The kids were surprised and they thought it was pretty cool that I did it for them.  I hope they really appreciate it when they are older and can look back and say, “That’s the year I almost won the rain gutter regatta”, or “That’s the year I let my bangs grow out”.

I just hope it makes them smile.

Fiskateers WCMD Challenge

As you may know, several weeks ago we crafters celebrated World Card Making Day.  Some of us celebrated by drinking our coffee and moving on with the day.  Others thought about crafting but went shopping instead and bought new supplies.  Others trolled Facebook and were rewarded by the Fiskateers wanting to do several challenges for the day.

The first challenge was to do a Halloween card.  As it was the beginning of October I thought this was a great idea!  Plus, I have never made a Halloween card.  I actually don’t make a lot of cards and those I do make, well, I’m a little embarrassed to send.  But this challenge pulled together a lot of colors that I like – mainly orange (the official Fiskars color), and anything bright or dark or spooky!  I love anything on black so I made this cute little card.  I used the Fiskars gingerbread man punch for the ghosts and just cut off one of the legs.

The second challenge was to create a card with a flower embellishment on it.  I used my border punch system by Creative Memories, using the notebook cartridge with some pretty patterned pink cardstock.  Once punched, I scored it using my Martha Stewart scoring board and hot glued the sucker together into a rosette.  This was after several tries of creating a ripped piece of cardstock twisted into a beautiful rose, and crumpled circles of paper manipulated to look like morning glories.  Didn’t work.  So I made the rosette.  I like it!  I ripped apart a tiny silk flower and popped an enamel dot on top and I think it looks cute!

The last card of the challenge was a thank you card.  At this point I didn’t know what I was going to do.  You can tell, because this card is by far the least worked upon.  To be truthful, I did the Halloween card the first day and then the other two I had worked in a couple of days after.  It was an extremely tough weekend and I had a hard time getting to my room to work.  You know how it is!  As I was part of the initial cheer heard on the Fiskateer FB page regarding these challenges, I persevered.  I wanted something a little more formal and I pulled out this paper pad I had purchased previously.  Now smile – that sounded cool!  I love the blues and browns in this pack and I especially loved the blue patterned paper that I grabbed.  The paper is by Colorbok, by the way.  I used my cricut to cut out “merci” and then I placed everything together with some ribbon to embellish, colored my merci with glitter glue, and voila!  The card is finished!  I ended up having to tack town the ribbon with hot glue, smudged my lettering and had to re-do the glitter as best as I could.  I don’t think it’s too bad…

After the weekend was over I was contacted by Fiskateers to let me know that my Halloween card was chosen (at random) as a winner!  There were so many other cards that were great, but this little card I do love!  I have no idea who I am going to send it to though!  I received my prize yesterday, after a fifteen hour day of work, appointments and meetings.  I have yet to play with it but I am thoroughly excited to get my hands on it and go.

Thank you Fiskateers!  It was truly a wonderful experience getting together with other Fiskateers for a day to challenge ourselves and encourage each other in our crafting and especially card making.  It’s been a long time since we’ve done this and I’m really glad I got to be a part of it.  It also made me want to kick-start this blog, so thank you!