Lulu, What are you UP to?

A couple of years ago, my parents had this little - and I emphasize little - gray tabby stray that claimed a shrub on their property.  After we lost our beloved Casey just a few weeks later, we tried to adopt the kitty.  Lenny carried it to our house a half mile through the woods.  He fed it, named her Lulu; she hung around the back yard for the evening.  The next morning she was gone.  I called my Dad and asked if he had seen the little cat.  "It's not here; Lenny took it home."  I told him to check the kitty's favorite hiding place - her shrub.  He calls back 5 minutes later, "It's over here.  What am I supposed to do with it?"  "I guess you are going to keep her.  Clearly Lulu wants to live with you."

Fast forward a year and Lulu has grown very happy in her adopted home - grown being a key word.  She no longer lives under a shrub; she has an abundance of cat beds in every conceivable sheltered spot my Mother could think of to provide for her. She's very sweet and obviously, Mother dotes on her.  When my parents went on a trip, we were in charge of feeding.  Apparently we were in charge of getting her out of trees, too.

Here's the journaling:

Project Notes: 

• The tree is hand cut which isn't my best thing, but was the easiest way to get a tree the right size and position for the photos.  I cut the photos first and then laid them on the brown cardstock lightly marking the branches and trunk of the tree.  Distressing the edges with Soft Suede ink created a more natural looking tree and hid some of my less than terrific cutting.

• LULU is cut with the Cricut and adhered with dimensionals.  The leaves create some unity between the circles and variety of letters.
• A scallop border emulates grass in this highly stylized version of the backyard.  I did a second layer of scallops from an Old Olive designer paper.
• Using a designer paper with a simple overall pattern for the background adds interest without being too busy.

So will Lulu climb any more trees?  Let's hope not.  That extension laddder got pretty wobbly!

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Season of Frienship by SU!
Ink:  Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss, and Soft Suede for distressing
Cardstock:  Certainly Celery by SU!; Dark Coffee Brown by WorldWin
DSP: Delicate Dots by SU!
Stickers:  Doodlebug Designs and Paper Studio

Moon in the Trees

Another of the cards we made in card class this week.  I wish I could take credit for this pretty design but I CASEd it from a card on Splitcoaststampers.  I just searched to find the original creator and give credit but couldn't find it.  (There are over 7000 cards in the Lovely as a Tree gallery!)  I'm sorry I'm not giving proper credit.  Next time I'll be sure to mark cards I want to case in my favs.   My version just  has the colors changed a little and the greeting moved around.

Project Notes:

• The trees are stamped and stamped off in black pigment ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.
• The moon is masked with a circle cut from CM circle cutting system or you could use a punch.
• I used a blue pastel near the "ground."  Tempting Turquiose and Taken with Teal pastels make up the rest of the background.  It takes very little of them to create a pretty effect and allow the moon to show.
• I like this card because it is very flat and easy to mail; a good thing for Sympathy cards.

Our next class is Birthday cards on March 20.  If you are in my area and would like to attend, e-mail me for details.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great weekend; hopefully warm and safe wherever you are.

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, Kindred Spirits for greeting
Ink:  Black pigment ink from Colorbox
Cardstock:  Aqua Mist from Papertrey Ink; Going Grey, Basic Black from SU!
DSP:  Urban Garden from SU!

Project 365 - Wk 6 Charms

In all these years of scrapbooking, I've noticed that we have very few wintertime photos.  Unless it snows or we do something special on Valentine's Day - neither likely more often than every few years, the first photos we take are usually planting flowers and bulbs in our garden.  So now that I'm taking a photo every day for Project 365, it is quickly getting routine - just us around the house.  When I was thinking about the photos I snapped last week, I figured I'd probably just want to show small images of these everyday things.  That coupled with one of them being of an old charm I started wearing again led me to a charms theme.  Soon I was scouring my chipboard for pieces that would look like they hung from a charm braclet - actually a piece of gold trim. 

The next step was a background paper for this collection.  The photo doesn't do it justice but trust me, this Basic Grey Indian Summer paper is gorgeous.  It looks like there is light coming from within the image and creates a lovely warm backdrop for these typical winter day photos.   It also emphasizes how rich (and charmed) a life is filled with comforting routine things that bring joy each day.

Project Notes:

• The "charm bracelet" was a piece of gold gimp trim.  I'm not sure where it came from; you can find similar inexpensive trims in any fabric store. 
• To hold the charms, I unraveled some of this trim to make the ties.
• The chipboard is painted with a variety of shades of acrylic paint.  The heart has a coat of SU! Crystal Effects for shine.
• Some of the pieces have gold around the edges.  I used the brush end of a Versamark marker and then sprinkled on gold embossing powder and carefully heat set.  Be sure to use tweezors!
• The journaling block is cut on the Cricut with SCAL software.  It is distressed slightly with Rich Razzleberry ink which really helped it blend in with this paper.

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Designer Flourishes from Paper Studio
Ink:  Versamark, Rich Razzleberry
DSP, brads and stickers:  Indian Summer Collection from Basic Grey
Chipboard:  Stampin' Up! and Oriental Trading
Font:  Honey Script

Leftover DSP for Cards

When I buy a collection pack of paper, I usually have some scrapbook pages in mind.  After those pages are finished, the scraps and left over papers are free for cards.  The designer papers on this card are from Basic Grey's Periphery collection which were nature colors for many of our travel pages for 2009.  Most of the papers in that collection were large designs or collage type images that would be difficult to use on cards particularly if you want to make multiples.  These two papers are the exception though they still require some creative cutting to keep from looking too distressed for the stylized trees.  I love the ribbons that came with this collection.

Project Notes:

• 
  
  The trees were made with the Funky Forest wheel.  I rolled them in Certainly Celery. Then I took a Chocolate Chip marker and colored over the trunks and branches.
• 
  
  The trees, one designer paper and the Bordering Blue cardstock are glued together and raised with dimensionals over the darker stripe.  It keeps the dark colors of the stripe from 'taking over.'
• 
  
  Tying off the ribbon with twine uses less ribbon, adds interest and makes a flatter card for mailing than knotting the ribbon itself.

This is one of the cards we are dong in card class this Saturday for Sympathy and Thank You cards. 

Hope you have a great week!  Thanks for visiting.

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Trendy Trees for greeting, Funky Forest Wheel by SU!; Polka Dot basics by Papertrey Ink

Ink:   Dark Moss fluid chalk by Colorbox; Certainly Celery and Choc Chip by SU!

Cardstock:  Mellow Moss by SU!

DSP and Ribbon:  Periphery Collection by Basic Grey

TIPsy Tuesday - Pastels, the light and bright of it

These almost look like two different images.  Yet, they are the same stamped image - Upsy Daisy from Stampin' Up! background colored with pastels.  The one on the left is a lot bolder than the subtle look on the right.  Must have used very different pastels? Nope.

The one on the right does have a tiny bit of barely banana. Otherwise, nothing different on the pastels.  The bold look on the left is created by embossing the daisies in a dark color; that's it.  The one on the right has the daisies stamped in Versamark and embossed in white.  When you go over the white image with the same pastels, they just look far lighter.

In the sample on the left above, the chocolate chip has been stamped with Chococlate Chip craft ink and then embossed.  In the card below, I just stamped the daisies in Chocolate Chip classic ink and then went right over them with the pastels - no embossing.  Note:  I also tried this with Basic Black and it smeared.  I don't know why the chocolate worked and the black didn't but that was my experience. 

This was supposed to be a Sympathy card but it came out far too bold for sympathy. The subtle version above was too light for the pattern paper so in true papercrafting style, I adjusted.  It is now a birthday card with the recipients initial attached.  I've had that cute little green trim for awhile. I think it came from Stamper's Alley in Mooresville, NC.  They have great ribbons at very fair prices.

So when you are playing with pastels, try:

• 
  
  using a dark color for your image in classic ink without embossing.  (Test a piece first to be sure it doesn't smear when you add the pastels.)
• 
  
  if your look is too light or too dark, consider changing the stamped image color rather than the pastels for different effects.

One other note about this card, the daisies are stamped twice.  First, lined up on the left edge of the 4 1/4" wide cardstock.  Then I stamped again on the right side to fill out the design.  I just brought the daisies down so that I was only using the very top of the image so it looks like the image is a full card width wide.  No wonder this great image is so popular.

Thanks for stopping by!

Ingredients: Stamps:  Upsy Daisy by SU!

Ink:  Chocolate Chip by SU!;  by Colorbox

DSP:  Sweet Pea by SU!

Cardstock:  Pretty in Pink, Whisper White

WT258 - Using Orange Challenge

Orange it is!  I bought this designer paper from SU! last fall when they had a warehouse cleaning out sale.  It was a great value and a terrific match for many of the photos from the kids visit last summer.  I'm a little backwards here doing their last night with us as one of the first pages.  I've had this felt and paper laying around for about two months.  Finally, the Splitcoast challenge to use orange prompted me to get it done.

I made the felt accents myself using my Cricut to cut patterns.  I'll do a TIPsy Tuesday on this after I've had a chance to play a little more.  It was rewarding using these old felt pieces from some abandoned project I can't even remember.  Plus, I even put my embroidery thread to use!  My button stash is seriously depleted though - in orange and bright blue for sure.

Project Notes: 

• The felt shapes were cut from patterns made by the Cricut's Accent Essentials cartridge.  I cut out the images, traced them on the felt and then hand cut.
• To get 12 photos on these two pages, I hid the journaling under the photos.  I wanted to use a lot of photos to show what a fun night it was for everyone.  I typically just use Times Roman or Arial and black print on white cardstock for hidden journaling - nothing fussy.
• "finale" is also cut with the Cricut using SCAL software.  The font is Lucida Handwriting.
• I tried designer paper for the strips between the photos but it was just too busy.  White cardstock strips sewn with light blue thread gave the design enough texture without competing with the photos.

Oh, these warm weather photos and the pretty day we had yeseterday have me aching for Spring.  Lenny and I took a walk in the woods yesterday.  He wore shorts.  I actually got by without a jacket - a miracle for me in February.

Ingredients: 

DSP:  Jersey Shore by SU!

Happy 1st Birthday, Blog!

One year and 266 blog posts later, I love to blog! I love reading other people’s blogs. I love the ideas, instructions, suggestions and inspirations from blogs and all the sites in the papercrafting industry. I love to share ideas, too. I hope you’ve learned something when visiting me here on the blog. I’m tickled pink whenever there is a post comment. (hint, hint)   I love you for taking time to visit!  Thanks so much to the blog's followers!

Several things have changed in the last year. When I started the blog last February, I was a new Stampin’ Up! demonstrator. I left SU! in October of ‘09. There were many positive aspects to the experience, focusing my blog in the early days was one of them. I’d been thinking of starting a blog, had actually started with an entry or two and then deleted them. The need to introduce SU! to my friends was a driver of my early blogging. Soon, though, blogging was not just about SU! products but all the great papercrafting products and techniques. Blogging is a wonderful way to express yourself in words and photographs.

I also find myself searching blogs for information. When I need a recipe, I’ll usually hit the Smitten Kitchen (http://www.smittenkitchen.com/ ) blog first. I know I can trust her to have tested and perfected the recipes. I’m sure there are many other good cooking blogs I just haven’t looked hard enough yet.

And that brings me to plans for the future. First, plans for this blog. I want to…

• make the tips and instructions easier to read. Personally I don’t want to delve through paragraphs of stuff to find the “how” to do something. While a blog is conversational, I’d like you to quickly locate the meat of an idea.

• continue TIPsy Tuesdays with more techniques, cost saving ideas, cool products, and organizational strategies. Let’s find more ways to use the neat stuff we have as well as supplementing our hobby with new products.

• add videos – this has been on my mental to-do list for months. I’m still churning around what to concentrate the videos on. Mostly I just need to get the camera out and try it. I was a corporate trainer for years and still do that type of work occasionally. Live audiences are no problem but I’m not immune to the fear of a video camera. That little red blinking light is far more intimidating than a conference hall full of people.

Also, there will be a new feature starting soon on ‘the joys of papercrafting.’ I think it will be fun.

For my personal enjoyment of blogs, I’d like to broaden my reading. I have plenty of hobbies but haven’t really looked for blogs on quilting, cooking, travel, etc. I come across one now and again, they just aren’t on my regular reading list. If you have suggestions, please leave a comment or e-mail.


So back to making it easier to find info. With that in mind, here’s the rundown on the card above:

• CASEd from this week’s Finally Friday by Kristina Werner for Two Peas in a Bucket. Finally Friday Happy Birthday

• In place of the Hero Arts set she used, I pulled out the favorite “A Little Birdie” set from SU!

• For the balloons, I cut out the shapes on the Cricut and then stamped and embossed them. Using heavier designer paper works best for this cutting and embossing.

• My “oops!” for this card was forgetting that the “Little Birdie” had writing on it when I went to stamp the legs. I had to switch to markers for inking the stamp before applying to the “grass.”

• What I liked about this card: Needed some birthday cards suitable for all ages. Also I loved working with all designer paper. I know that is a shock! :-)

Thank you for visiting. I hope you will stop by again and find something interesting and helpful here. Leave me a comment with your blog address and I’ll be sure to visit you, too!

Ingredients: Stamps: A Little Birdie Told Me, On Your Birthday by SU!; Hearts and Stars by Autumn Leaves
DSP: My Mind’s Eye; Chatterbox; Basic Grey’s Nook and Pantry, October Afternoon’s Farm Fresh; SU Brocade Blue DSP
Ink: Versamark
Embossing Powder: White by SU!

Easter Wishes

Easter, already?  Yes, Easter is April 4 so its time to think "Spring."  Yeah!  Sunshine, bright and pastel colors, lots of green - what could be better?  
This stamp set, Mailbox Greetings, from Papertrey Ink is new to me and contains loads of sentiments - just about any occasion.  I know I'll use this one for a lot of Operation Write Home cards in future.   This DCWV designer paper from my stash just said spring to me with its lovely soft colors so I decided to get going on some Easter cards.

I punched out a few of the images from the designer paper scraps using flower punches to balance the sentiment.  Spring, here we come!

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Mailbox Greeting from Papertrey Ink

Ink:  Staz-on black, Brocade Blue from SU!  Also, Soft Subtles Watercolor Crayons

Cardstock:  Bashful blue, Barely Banana

Designer Paper:  DCWV

Ribbon: Michaels

Project 365 Wk5 - Designer Paper Works

The background for this layout is from Fancy Pants' Delight collection.  There were so many great flowers printed on the ledger paper that I only added a few embellishments to my photo strip and journaling.

For the title I used a combo of stickers from Basic Grey and the Cricut with SCAL software.  The only real time consuming part of this layout was figuring out what fonts to use for my letters.  I'm finally creating a master sample of fonts in SCAL software to quickly see what the fonts really look like when letters are cut from them.  When I get that done, I'll post in a TIPsy Tuesday entry.

One tiny embellishment was this row of rub-ons from the same collection.  A few flowers were added with Papershaper flower punches and brads.

When my husband visits his family in Missouri, I always enjoy some favorite simple activities. I snapped photos as the week went along of me baking, quilting, making cards, etc. I was pleasantly surprised to find several of the activities last week were of benefit to others. Now, I had plenty of ME time which I thoroughly enjoyed. But I'm glad I have some hobbies that I not only enjoy but help others, too.

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Flowers from Autumn Leaves (in upper right corner)

Ink:  Baja breeze and Kiwi Kiss from SU!

DSP:  Delight collection from Fancy Pants

Brads:  Paper Studio

Bookplate:  Fancy Pants Daily Grind Collection

CC258 - Soft Perfect Plums Challenge

When making a card for the color challenge on Splitcoaststampers this week, I did the additional card above adding a little More Mustard to the Soft Suede, Pale Plum and Perfect Plum colors.  I really think these colors needed a shot of something bold to bring them to life.  The challenge also encouraged us to add a "critter" - in my case, a butterfly stamped on vellum.

The card I submitted for the challenge is this one.  It was a real struggle.  You can usually tell I'm having trouble when I just keep throwing stuff on a card.  I love the embossed background on Pale Plum with a little Perfect Plum pastel on the edges but just couldn't make the butterfly work with it.  It was too dark and dull. 

The Vanilla Hodgepodge hardware really came in handy here.  The rhinestones are cut from some rhinestone letters.  The capital "Z" looks much better adding some zing to this butterfly than lounging in one of my storage drawers.  Whew! Now I know why these things are called challenges.

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Branch background from Hero Arts; God's Beauty, Make It Count and All Holidays from SU!
Ink:  Perfect Plum, Soft Suede, Versamark, several pastels; Staz-on Timber Brown
Cardstock:  Whisper White, Pale Plum, Very Vanilla, Soft Suede
Embellishments:  SU! Soft Suede and Very Vanilla taffeta ribbons, Vanilla Hodgepodge hardware, Kaisercraft rhinestone letters

TIPsy Tuesday - Handy Space in Color Caddy

Thanks for stopping by for TIPsy Tuesday for a quick organization tip.  I bet many of you have or plan to buy a Stampin' Up! Color Caddy for holding your stamp pads.  This is a great investment if you have and use many of the full size SU stamp pads, either Classic or Craft. Some other brands will also fit.  I have my Versamark pad and one full size Papertrey Ink pad in mine also.

One of the best features of the caddy is the top portion meant to hold ink refill bottles.  Personally, I don't reach for an ink refill all that often.  So I keep those in a drawer near my stamp area.

I keep adhesives in this top tray. The real estate on the desktop area is precious.  I want things at hand that I really use.  Tombow glue, glue dots, dimensionals and tape runner fit into the four compartments neatly and are always at hand.

Repurposing is often the best way to 'make' space whether a minor change or a major overhaul.  What have you repurposed for storage in your work area?

Christmas in July (SBSC225 - Sketch)

The day after Valentine's and here is a layout about Christmas in July.  If think you are Alice in a Wonderland of Seasons, welcome to scrapbooking.  If I do a seasonal page, it is usually several weeks or months past the event.  This isn't all bad.

The good part is that you get to relive the event when it is refreshing.  Summer pages make you warm in winter and look forward, even more, to spring.  Snowfall pages or autumn leaves cool down a hot summer day and make me long for my fall wardrobe. 

This is the first layout in a series about my stepdaughter and family's visit last summer.  Since we don't see the kids during the holidays, we wrapped up Christmas gifts, pulled out a small tree and did Christmas in July.  It was a lot of fun and they really appreciated the gifts.

I was stumped on the best way to arrange these bright photos and turned to Splitcoaststampers challenge to guide me.  The layout suggested a single photo or digital collage for the background.  I already had the photos printed so I did the collage with machine sewing between each photo.  The pink and red colors were pulled from the photos. Perhaps Valentine's also had a wee bit of influence, too.

And as I write this, it is pouring the snow down - again!  Maybe those snow pages will look great when I get around to them next July.

Stamps:  Holiday Seasons by Inkadinkado

Ink:  Rouge fluid chalk by Colorbox; More Mustard and whisper white by SU!

Ribbon:  Real Red by SU!; bakers twine by Martha Stewart Crafts

DSP:  My Mind's Eye

Quilt Romance

Lenny got home late yesterday from a long visit with his family.  We hadn't expected to spend Valentine's Day together this year so it is a special treat!  We plan to watch Olympics figure skating tonight.  The pairs skating is my favorite though I usually forget to check the schedule and miss the event.  Finally, I'm remembering that it is early in the Olympic schedule.

Also yesterday another special treat arrived in the mail, the book I'd ordered, Quilt Romance by Kaffe Fassett.  Link to Quilt Romance book at Amazon.com Other quilters may know of his wonderful fabrics but this is my introduction to them.   I'm smitten.  The bright colors in busy floral patterns, polka dots and stripes are so charming.  The setting for all the photos in this book is equally enticing.  It is a small village in North Wales that looks like it should be in Italy.  This little town is moving to the top of my dream travel list.

In the meantime, I'm inspired to find some of these fabrics for my next quilting project. There are a couple of UFO's (Unfinished Fabric Objects) I need to work on but I can dream and plan...

Tone on Tone

While I had the Sunshine Garden Simply Scrappin' kit out the other day, I made this card with scraps and it just evolved as a tone-on-tone in all greens.  Green is my favorite color so this was a treat.  Got to use the new Stampin' Up! punch from the SAB catalog, too.

Ingredients:  Stamps by SU! Define Your Life, Kind and Caring Thoughts; Flowers by Autumn Leaves

Ink:  Soft Sky, Sage Shadow, Baja Breeze

Cardstock:  Baja Breeze

DSP and stickers:  Sunshine Garden Simply Scrappin'

Ribbon:  Ocean Tides from Papertrey Ink

Buttons:  fabric store

Operation Write Home

We all love to make cards, don't we?  Since I started making my own, I do send more than I used to.  However, I still make far more than I send to individuals I know.  I've given quite a few gifts of cards usually a bundle with some stamps and perhaps and ink pen as a set.  The gifts are always appreciated.

Also, I'd given a few cards to a local store that passed the cards along to Meals on Wheels recipients.  One day when I was checking their website to see if they still took in cards for this purpose, I found some information on Operation Write Home.  After checking out their site, I decided to participate.  Yesterday, I sent off my 2nd box of cards.

Operation Write Home sends boxes of handmade cards to troops overseas.  The members of our military can then select cards to send back to their loved ones at home with their own personal note inside.  Cardmakers give the troops a way to stay in touch with family and friends.  Both the sender and the recipient at home enjoy the beauty and originality of a handmade card.  It is like giving a card twice. 

For me, this is both a way to support our military and a way to enjoy my hobby.  I can't imagine how stressful and lonely it must be to be thousands of miles away from your family and friends in an often inhospitable climate - inhospitable in every sense of the word.  Just looking at all those pictures on the news of the desert and mountainsides, you know the troops need more beauty and color in their lives.

Check out Operation Write Home at http://www.operationwritehome.org/   Their website explains what type of cards they accept, how to pack them, where to send them (central packers within the US), and what not to send (nothing with glitter!).  They have a blog reporting each week on what is sent where.  They are very thorough and professional.

There is no card store in the middle of the Iraqi desert or the mountains of Afghanistan and even if there were, it wouldn't have unique cards made by loving hands like ours.

Sketch Challenge 267

I don't know if anyone does a "Use Your Old Stuff" challenge but this would fit for that as well.  I started with this Occasionally stamp set from SU!  I bought it off E-bay a couple of years ago but it goes back to 2004, probably a SAB or hostess set.  For a color scheme, this ribbon from my stash inspired the use of red, blue and green.  Since I wanted to color in the images and just happened to have some Staz-on ink in these colors I hadn't used in 2 years, it was perfect.

I always feel so good when I use older supplies.  The little angel on my shoulder preens ...just like the little devil beams when I order new supplies on-line.

Thanks for dropping by.  For more of the challenge cards, visit the Splitcoaststampers gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?si=sc267


Ingredients:  Stamps:  Occasionally; greeting from A Little Birdie Told Me
Ink:  Stazon; Bold Bright markers from SU!, powder blue Zig marker
Ribbon:  Wal-mart, I think.
Cardstock:  Kraft and red from my stash
Brad:  Fire from SU!

Project 365 Wk 5 - Neg space & hiding photos

Yesterday's post was about creating and using negative space.  This must have been stuck in my mind.  When I was finishing up this layout yesterday, I wanted a subtle title so once again turned to negative space.  To create the title, I just adhered stickers and then sponged over the area with a slightly darker shade of ink than the background paper.  After removing the stickers, a clear title shows through.  It accentuates the 'quiet hero' concept of my husband taking care of everyone in his life with all the little things he does.

Note:  Don't write anything on your ink sponged area and then try to erase it as I did with my penciled in "My."  The ink will come off with the eraser marks.  Just had to leave them in place.

This layout started from a lovely design I saw in an old Creating Keepsakes magazine.  The layout was of single baby photo beside a pocket containing several tags of journaling.  The elements were on a plain cardstock backbground. After 4 weeks of creating layouts with 7 photos each, I figured our eyes would need a rest as we perused our album someday.  So I created the layout using the pocket to hold the remaining 5 photos for the week. 

Try as I did, I just could not put all this on a solid cardstock background with no designer paper.  I tried, I really, really did.  But it was bare, boring, the elements were lost, I tell you, drifting on the page!  So I just had to find a strip of DSP and add a border to bring it all together.

Here's one of the tags inside the pocket.  Lenny has been trying to teach our cat the word "Mine" - meaning, "My chair, you need to get up now."  

The bubble says, "Oh you deluded human.  You think this is your chair."

Clearly, there is a steep learning curve.

Ingredients:  Stamps by SU!  One of a Kind, Office Accruement
Ink:  Night of Navy, Ruby Red, Whisper White
DSP:  Western Sky by SU!
Cardstock:  Not Quite Navy, Ruby Red, Kraft
Embellishments:  A variety of sources including one SU! ribbon and star chipboard from Oriental Trading.

TIPsy Tuesday - Plus Side of Negative Space

My hubby recently made an early Valentine delivery for me.  For sweet treats, I made up these treat boxes using The Project Girl, Jen Allyson's, template from her webiste.  (See this older post for info http://lisae-design.blogspot.com/2009/12/treat-boxes.html )  Each box was cut from two 12x12 sheets on my Cricut and held about 10 medium to large chocolate chip cookies. 

Before assembly, I used some left over hearts from another Cricut project to create a negative space design.  First I adhered the hearts to the scored, but unassembled box tops using repositionable adhesive.

Next, I stamped over the images with a fairly busy background stamp.

Then I removed the hearts and stamped a message inside some of them. 

The heart cutout still didn't go to waste.  By the time I finished two boxes, the little hearts were pretty covered in images in a couple of Valentine colors.  I put the hearts inside a little heart shaped box to fall out like confetti and tucked them in my hubby's suitcase.  I was in a hurry to get Lenny off before the storm hit so didn't get a photo. 

We did run into one problem with this plan - distribution.  I made a box of cookies for each child but combined the adults with one couple per box.  I thought this would make it easier on the adults so the kids wouldn't be fighting over the cookies.  Apparently, it was the adults who fought over the cookies!  Good thing Lenny had his own bag of cookies for travel - well, he did until he left them unattended during the Super Bowl.  Oh well, I kept a few for myself so I'm good.

Ingredients:  Stamps: swirls by Impression Obsession; greeting from All Holidays by Stampin' Up!
Ink:  Rich Razzleberry, Melon Mambo

Cute, but shocked, barnyard creatures

"You're How Old?"

Inside greeting:  "We haven't been this shocked since Elsie, the cow, ran off with Mr. Ed."

These super shocked looking farm animals just called out for a funny card.   My husband helped me with the inside greeting. Hokey, but cute. 

This designer paper is part of the Farm Fresh collection from October Afternoon.  Still loving these patterns and colors.

Ingredients:  Designer Paper:  Farm Fresh by October Afternoon

Cardstock:  Chocolate Chip by SU!; Summer Sun by PTI

1-2-3-4-5-6 Eggs!

Every day last May we checked the nest in the geranium in front of the kitchen window.  Once the eggs started, our little birdie left another each day.  I couldn't believe it when we were up to 5 but finally 6 was the grand total. 

Lenny and I had been debating how we were going to keep Jasper away from those birds.  He hops up right beside the geranium to look in the kitchen window.  It is his signal to us that he wants in the house.  He never paid any attention to the nest even when the mother bird was on it.  Chirping little birdies would have been another story.  Mother bird sat on the nest for a couple more days after all the eggs came and then abandoned it.  It solved our dilema but we hated that they didn't hatch.

This layout features several papers from the Sweep Pea Designer Series Paper in Stampin' Up!'s mini catalog.  The colors were perfect for these photos.  I used assorted stickers for the numbers up to 5 which is chipboard and the "6" I cut on the Cricut out of more of that DSP. 

The little birds are stamped using the Cheep Talk stamp set.

A fun layout for a fun few days of discovery.

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Cheep Talk by Stampin' Up!
Ink:  Rouge by Colorbox; Old Olive, Ruby Red by SU!
DSP:  Sweep Pea by SU!
Chipboard letters:  Sweets by Basic Grey
Buttons:  Various sources including some Pink Piroette from SU!