New product doesn't get dusty in my scraproom (like everything else in my house does :-) but I think I broke a record with the Elements of Style stamp set from Stampin' Up!  I picked it up last Saturday morning and made this card Saturday afternoon.

My plan for this large floral stamp was to use it as a background image and I still plan to.  For it's maiden trip, I thought I'd use some watercolors in various shades of purples and yellows to match this pretty striped MME paper.  Purples can be such a challenge to find so I'm always on the lookout for pretty purple paper.

Thanks for visiting today!

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Elements of Style, Kind and Caring Thoughts (greeting) by Stampin' Up!
Ink:  Staz on Jet Black and various watercolor crayons from SU!; Vintage Photo from Ranger
Brad:  Stampin' Up!
DSP:  So Sophie Happy for You by My Mind's Eye
Cardstock:   Perfect Plum

Old Tricks

On this bright sunny day, it seems ages since I stood on the porch and watched my first white Christmas unfold yet it has only been a few weeks!  It certainly was a gorgeous snowfall.  We just loved watching it come down.   I have a couple more pages to finish up 2010.

For this page, I used older techniques of matting photos and scattering them around the page - sort of like snowflakes, I guess.  It was mainly to make the transition between these very grayish photos which are actually printed in color and the snow sprinkled background paper.

I finally brought down the last decoration boxes out of the attic this week and just haven't had a chance yet to pack up the mantle garland.  I know when it is gone, I'll really be looking for spring.

Ingredients:  DSP:  My Mind's Eye
Chipboard:  Stampin' Up!
Paint:  Anita's
Font:  Bickley Script
Cricut Cartridge:  Storybook for letters

Stylish Blog Awards

A big "Thank You!!!" to Jen at Frame Fanatic for picking my blog as a Stylish Blog...

See Jen's great blog here:  Frame Fanatic Blog

The award encourages me to tell you 7 things about myself and then pass along the award.

7 things, hmm!  Okay, here goes...

Sunrise on Hilton Head Island's beach

1. I love to travel to new places but my favorite place in the entire world is the beach of Hilton Head Island on a warm day.
   
2. I hate to clean house.  I'm in agreement with the late Governor Ann Richards of Texas.  I don't want my epitaph to read "She kept a clean house."  And believe me, it won't!  (Actually my husband is out right now so I really out to be mopping his office, but you can see what I'm doing instead.)
3. Ironically, I do like to organize spaces.  Cleaning out the closet is very gratifying to me.
4. When I was a child, I dreamed of becoming a great singer - until I got my first tape recorder when I was about 12.  I sound like that??? Really???
5. I can answer almost all the "US Presidents" questions on Jeopardy.  I know little about sports and nothing about mythology.  
6. I may be one of the few women in the world who hates shoe shopping. It has only gotten worse as my feet have become increasingly particular in their middle age.  Actually, my feet seem to think I'm at least 80!
7. I'm perfectly happy to stay home Valentine's Day, watch TV and share a dessert.  I think this year we are going to watch the IBM Jeopardy tournament.  My husband thinks that makes me the perfect wife.  Let's not disillusion him with my house keeping confessions, shall we?  Never mind, he actually dusted the end table by his chair the other day himself saying even he could tell it was time so I think he knows he didn't marry Martha Stewart. 

And I'd like to pass the award along to:

1. Sue at life and memories
2. Mary at  the charmed life
3. ArtfulDelight  Artfuldelight
4. Tracy at tracy's treasures
5. Rainy at Rainy Day Creations

Be sure and visit their wonderful blogs!

Thanks to everyone who visits me here.  I love all your comments and encouragement and love visiting so many great blogs.  (And I did feel guilty enough to go mop the office.)

Have a great day!

TIPsy Tuesday - Accordion Flower with Pinwheel Center

I've been seeing all these great accordion style flowers on layouts and in scrapbooking product and wondered  if I could make my own.  YouTube to the rescue!  Yes, you can make them.  They are a bit tedious though so it is something to play with and then decide if you want to make or buy.  Of course the advantage to making your own is to make whatever size you want with whatever paper you already have.

The layout arrangement is from Shimelle's new class at Two Peas in a Bucket called 4x6 photo love.  This month, we are focusing on only one photo and the arrangement was fairly specific to call attention to the one photo.  To take her great class, visit  4x6 Photo Love at Two Peas

When making my flowers, I did 1/4" pleats and 1/2" pleats.  The 1/4" made very sturdy flowers that create a thick but not unmanageable layout.  The 1/2" ones were just awfully thick particularly if you want finish off with a button in the center as I did.  So I did a little extra snip with the scissors and that is what I'm showing in this video.  I actually ended up making the entire flower on the video.  If you want to see the extra bit only, just fast forward to about 4 minutes in.

Click on video below are Watch at YouTube





Other Project Notes:

• The white stamped circles are painted chipboard stamped in Craft ink with the Big Flower's stamp set from Stampin' Up!
• I snipped my scallop circles to give them a little extra dimension.
• This was one layout where I could see the advantage of a digi scrapper.  I must have tried a half dozen background combos before I decided on the Doodlebug paper over the orange.  All that meant those flowers got moved off and on a zillion times.
• I wish I'd photographed this layout before adding the small darker blue buttons.  Those buttons are the smallest element and they made the most difference in bringing it together!

Here is one of the videos I watched on a basic Accordion Flower from dahlhousedesigns:   That's How Thursday  Another one I watched used a glue gun for the adhesive.  If I wasn't a total klutz with the glue gun, I might give that a go.

Thanks for visiting today!

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Big Flowers by Stampin' Up!
DSP:  Jersey Shore by SU!; Blue Jean Petite Prints by Doodlebug
Ink:  Brilliant Blue, Only Orange, Garden Green
Buttons:  Paper Studio and fabric store
Stickers:  Stickopotomous
Chipboard letters:  Basic Grey Sweets undressed chipboard

February Reboot

I had hardly been in my craft room last week until Friday so I made a few of these bright cards for Operation Write Home to kick start my weekend.  That is one of the many things I love about card making.  You can jump back into crafting after a short or long break with an easy 'win.'  

These were made with one of my favorite Hampton Arts sets- Fabulous Flowers.  For some reason they really call out for bright colors so I stuck to the Brights color family from Stampin' Up!  Staying within a color family was another way to get things going without spending a lot of time debating color choices.  The base cardstock is one of the In Colors - Peach - because I didn't have that much Tangerine Tango.

After this card, I did another and then worked on a scrapbook page that should be up tomorrow.

Something else that needs a little kick but won't be nearly as easy is my New Year's resolution.  I "got moving" some in January but not nearly enough.  So today, I'm recommitting.  Keeping a record really helps.  I found myself pleasantly surprised at how much crafting I did in January.  My quick daily note of my "get moving" resolution revealed about an even split between days I met my commitment, met half of it, and days I didn't do anything!  I did work a lot more in the evenings last month but I told myself from the beginning I would not let work count as extra moving or as an excuse not to do anything.

So I'd better get started.

Hope you will stop by tomorrow.  I'll have some accordion/pinwheel flowers up for TIPsy Tuesday.  Have a great day!

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Hampton Arts Fabulous Flowers:  Butterfly from Inkadinkado
Ink:  Pacific Point, Melon Mambo, Only Orange, Old Olive
Cardstock:  Pacific Point, Peach Parfait

Cupcake Love

Here's the last of my Basic Grey Nook and Pantry Paper Pad using my favorite paper of all - the cupcakes.  I also used a Hampton Arts set to stamp the companion cupcake with sprinkles.   

I love Hampton Arts stamps and am going to have to find more sources for them.  They have very good image quality when stamped and the don't stain at all.  I've also found they work with many types of ink equally well.

Hope you have a very sweet day.  Thanks for stopping by!

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Sweet Little Sentiments by Stampin UP! and Cupcakes by Hampton Arts

DSP:  Basic Grey Nook and Pantry 6x6 pad, Blush blossom from Stampin' Up!

Cardstock:  Crumb Cake (appropriate, isn't it!)

Ribbon:  Making Memories

Stickles:  Lipstick from Ranger

Winter 2011 CHA picks

As you might guess from yesterdays post, I've been working to move a little product out of my scrapbook space.  Why?  Because I want to enjoy the serenity of those empty drawers.  Ha, NO!  Of course not, I want to buy more pretty papers and goodies!

The winter Craft and Hobby Association show is over and I've 'window' shopped through many of the major manufacturers offerings.  It is so much fun to browse when I don't have to put on shoes, makeup or actually spend any money - yet!  Here are my favorites:

1.  Basic Grey's Sweet Threads Line - Love the patterns in this collection, particularly the magenta colors.  I've turned to my Indian Summer papers in those colors so often, I think this one will be a good fit for our pages.  (Sweet Threads collection at Basicgrey.com

2.  Trendsetter Trim card from Webster's Pages.  They do such gorgeous and really unusual trims!  Trendsetter Line from Webster's Pages

3.  Over at Crate Paper, I'm torn between  Emma's Shoppe Collection and the Portrait Collection or getting the Restoration collection from last time that I never bought.  It seems every time I click on a layout I like in a gallery, there pops up the Restoration collection again.  So many beautiful papers and embellishments here.  This is a paper from Emma's Shoppe.  Isn't that just delightful!

4.  My Mind's Eye has so much pretty stuff in the Stella Rose collection, I don't know where to start.  I usually pick and choose with MME because there is just so much!  Their papers are wonderful quality.  They also have a doily stamp that looks tempting:  Stella Rose Collections

I'm definitely seeing a trend in products, like clothes, toward the feminine looks.  Lots of lace, ruffles, and beads.  Pretty, pretty!

5.  When I got my Cricut, I thought that would be the end of buying chipboard letters.  So, not!  I do use my Cricut for at least some of the title on most layouts.  However, I've become quite addicted to Thickers.  There are some new ones at American Crafts.  Jillibean Soup also has some wonderful alphas in chipboard and stickers:

It will be interesting to look back on this later in the year and see if really bought these things or changed my mind a dozen more times.

One new thing I'm doing this year is tracking how many papercrafting projects I complete each month.  I've been tracking my spending for a long time but could only estimate the amount of stuff I got made.  January was a remarkably productive month, I thought, particularly since I've had a lot of regular work to do.  In January, I made 32 cards and 17 scrapbook pages!  That is a lot of scrapbooking for me.  I counted every 2 pages in a mini album as one page based on their size.  So I'm feeling justified in filling up those empty spaces just a little bit (smile)

What do you have your eye on for spring crafting?

TIPsy Tuesday - Graceful Exits

Are you like me?  Do you crave new designer papers, pretty ribbons and more and more chipboard even though the cupboards are a bit full?  Many new papers are on their way to our favorite scrapbooking retailers this month.

I just can't resist a few new papers and ribbons even though I still have some older collections.  Some of my collections are also well used so there just aren't that many papers - certainly not whole sheets left.  But I feel so guilty just throwing out that lovely paper I once craved!  And embellishments, too, get used partially up particularly those chipboard letters.  What to do with the remainder?

Here are some ideas to help your old products make a graceful exit from your scrapping space:

1. If you are normally a scrapbooker, make cards!  It is a great way to use up scraps or sheets of paper that just didn't work for a page.  Use extra DSP to line a matching envelope for an extra special card.
2. Divide and conquer!  I normally keep paper by collection but eventually I'll take the whole sheets I want to keep and put them with another collection they coordinate with.  Mixing collections really breathes life into your stash.  Scraps can go in a bag to give away.  Look at the B sides of your holiday papers, can they be used for general purpose?
   Also, I have some of my older chipboard alpha sets arranged by letter rather than by set so I can do a mixed alpha title.
3. Give away to friends!  At your next class or crop, bring along a bag of goodies to share.  Or do you have a friend who might put them to good use?  I have a friend who does remarkable cards from the tiniest of scraps and found items.
4. Donate.  Find a teacher or school that wants some free art supplies.  Caution:  I would not give away to preschools personally.  A lot of embellishments just aren't made for little ones to handle.
5. Make your own scrap box for your die cutter, Cricut or Silhouette.  Aren't you always needing to test a cut shape to see if it is the right size?  

The photo above are some items that I've had for years - some well used, and some never out of the package!  Later in the week, I'll share the finished layout using some of the supplies above.  I have something very shabby chic in mind so I can use lots of things from different manufacturers and styles.

Thanks for visiting today!