Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Tutorial on Envelope Card

I received a request for more information on creating this card:
So I thought I'd take some pictures and show you how I created it. Disclaimer: Please know I did this really quick and nothing is glued down. :o)
First, you need a 4x6 piece of paper (I had already folded one so you are seeing the crease marks)
Fold the paper in half like you see. Fold is on the left side
Fold again from the bottom to the top, so that edges are flush. Now you have a fold on the bottom.
Take the top layers two corners and fold them toward the center, like you would if you were making a paper airplane.
Then fold that top layer down so that the tip is flush with the bottom fold.
Fold the two corners of the bottom layer the same way and fold that portion down until it is about 1/4 inch above the previous fold. You can glue/adhere the bottom point down if you wish.
You can leave the envie as is, or your can trace the bottom point onto a piece of cardstock, cut it out and punch with a slit punch like you see I have done. That gets adhered to that bottom point and you can tuck the top layer into the slit.
Here are the pieces on the card. The green pieces are 1 1/2 inches wide and 3 1/2 inches long. The center yellow striped piece is 2 1/2 inches wide and 3 1/2 inches long. The lower strip is 3/4 inches by 5 1/2 inches across
I cut the blue pieces 1/4 inch wide and matched the lengths. You can see how I adhered them.
Then you add the green square (2 1/2 inches square) matted on the blue square (2 3/4 inches square) and attach the envie on top. Stamp/decorate as desired.

Hope that helps! Thanks for asking and happy creating!
Jeanne

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

2 Cards and a Layout!

My dad arrived on schedule today, but what was not on the schedule was me getting sick! I have a pretty intense head cold that has resulted in me getting a double ear infection. While I am not in pain, when I felt like I was talking in a tunnel and continually coughing so hard my chest hurt, I thought it was time to see the doctor "just in case." He took a peek at my ears and said I was coughing so hard I was trying to rupture the ear drums! Yikes! So now I am on a couple of different prescriptions, a steroid, Sudafed, Afrin...you name it. I am not one to take a lot of prescriptions and it seems like in the past few weeks I've had to do several. I haven't talked about this, but I have also been having pain in my lower left jaw due to clenching at night. I've been wearing a jig at night, which has helped some, but the pain was still there. So last Friday, the dentist gave me a prescription for a muscle relaxer to alleviate that pain! It's a bit better, but still hard to eat/open the jaw too wide. I go back Thursday for another follow up. I guess I am just a mess right now! LOL Better me get all this than my kids, so I'll muddle through and hopefully will be back to normal(whatever that may be) soon!

But, I did finally get some cards made for my Hostess Club this past weekend. My upline was also in Denver to meet up with her Colorado Girls (she lives in San Diego) and we did a make and take layout.
First card...simple and easy, but everyone liked it. Used Let's Get Together paper from CTMH, Cranberry ink and Delight in Everything flower. Happy Birthday is from the Happy Birthday stamp set.
This second card uses the square images from CTMH's Solo M set. I also used a stamp from Fabric Finishes for the outside border. Birthday uses Sans Caps and boy is Precious alphabet. The stars were cut from my Cricut (George and Basic Shapes) Colors: Bamboo, Cocoa, Chocolate, Autumn Terracotta, Indian Corn Blue and Garden Green. Cocoa grosgrain ribbon and a couple of gold brads finish the card. This is a stamplift from CTMH Consultant Sonja Skarbo's card. Her original design is a square card, but I adapted it to fit on a standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card.

Here's the layout we created with Kay this weekend. You'll find the pattern in the new Imagine pattern book, which will be available to order September 1st. This pattern is also featured as the left side of the layout pattern in the new idea book on page 15. It uses Caprice papers, Just Blooms (white, inked with Crystal Blue) and Sunflower attached with a Heavenly Blue brad. We also used the new edge anchors, Simple Stitches, some Sassy Strands and the sentiment is from the Memories stamp set. This was easy and fun to put together! Thanks for coming Kay and letting us do this great layout.

If I missed mentioning any parts of the cards/layout I'm blaming it on the meds I'm taking! LOL Feel free to comment/ask any questions. Thanks for looking!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Two New Digi Layouts!

I signed up for a 4 week online class at www.jessicasprague.com called Up and Running with Photoshop and it started on Monday. Today was the first day I was able to sit down and work on this week's assignments. Here's what I was able to complete following the awesome directions I received! I just had to share. I think if you click on the pictures you can read the journaling better.

Both of these layouts are pre-made and I basically just added the photos and journaling. Although on the first one, I did crop and add the star element. I created the title and date as well. It was a great assignment to get my feet wet.

Each day during this course I receive an email from Jessica with tips and info. I guess mid-week we have another assignment and the second layout is what I made for it. Again it's a pre-made layout. I added the photo and changed the color-it was supposed to be black and white, but I didn't make it completely b/w. I thought it looked better with a hint of color. Then I added the journaling. So fun!

I hope you don't mind my sharing my experiences in learning about digi scrapping. :o)

I'm still running behind on creating new non digi projects. I've had a pretty quiet summer, but I'm ending it with a flurry of activity. My creative time is going to be pretty limited until after Labor Day. I'll definitely try to keep posting, but forgive me if I'm a little quiet until then. But after the 5th, both girls will be in school and I'll have a bit of "kid free" time during the day.




Tuesday, August 21, 2007

I'm Back! :o)

Well, I didn't make any sort of announcement, but we took a road trip to Sioux Falls, SD this past weekend. We left Thursday morning and just got back last night. Yes, it was a quick trip, but actually the perfect amount of time. We went back for a family reunion on Steve's side of the family. The girls did an awesome job on the drive. Those portable DVD players are fabulous! LOL We picked up Steve's friend, Dave, and dropped him off in Omaha, so he could visit his daughter and continue working on fixing up the house she has there. It was a lot of driving, but with 3 of us adults taking turns, quite enjoyable.

The visit itself went fairly well. The girls had a blast with their grandma Tomshack. We ended up staying at her place while we were there (this was not planned-we were going to stay in a motel). The weather was unseasonably cloudy and rainy, but also HUMID!! Oh boy! Am I spoiled by Colorado's dry weather! It actually wasn't too bad the first day and a half, but of course when we went for the big dinner, the humidity cranked up and the bugs came out! YIKES! Talk about a sauna!! The dinner was held at Falls Park, which is pretty these days I am told.

I'm sharing a few photos from our last full day there. First is a picture of a Chef Salad. Why? We all met for breakfast on Sunday and for some reason, Amy was fixated on getting a salad! She saw the picture of the Chef's Salad on the menu and could not be swayed to select a more breakfast type of food. So we ordered her a "mini" Chef Salad. What came was the regular sized one! As I suspected, what Amy ACTUALLY wanted was the hard boiled eggs that came in the salad. I took the picture of what was left after she was done. Good thing I added a couple of pancakes to my breakfast as she chowed down on those! LOL


The next two pictures are of the first fish Amy has ever caught! Steve has been taking the girls out just about everywhere he can think of around here to catch a fish and has had no luck. We had to travel all the way to Sioux Falls! She caught 5 total I think, all about the same size as this one. This is in about an hour to an hour and a half and in the rain for part of the time. No matter. The joy in her face was worth it all! Except when we had to leave and she realized she couldn't take the fish with her. Oh the sadness and drama!



We also went to the zoo and a butterfly house while we were there. They are definitely smaller than what we have here in Denver, but still fun. The butterflies in the place we visited were SO active! Much more so than I remember them being at the Butterfly Pavilion. We played at a couple of parks, too, but for me, I was more content to wait in the comfort of A/C! Oh then there is the fun the girls had taking a bath in Grandma's tub. It was a corner unit and different than ours, so that made it special. Grandma also has a waterbed...another source of fun and wonder.
Yes, it was a good trip all in all, but I am glad to be home where it is HOT....but NOT STICKY! LOL Today was spent doing laundry, getting groceries, laundry, cleaning out the van, laundry, oh and did I mention doing laundry???
I hope to be able to share some new creations in the next few days. Ahhhhh...it's good to be home! :o)

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Elegant Floral Thanks Card

Here's a card I created today, lifting a design I found on a blog. It's a 6x6 card, a type I don't do very often. Sometimes it's fun to work outside my normal card size. :o)

All supplies are CTMH.
Elegant Floral, thanks from Solo e, Simple Stitches
Elegant Bouquet papers
Vanilla Cream, Cranberry, New England Ivy cardstock, Colonial White (for stamped flower)
Pewter brads

I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder to get the texture. I used the Cricut cartridge Mini-Monograms to cut the scalloped squares (the large one is 2 1/2 inches, I cut two 1 inch size squares and cut them in half to make the "corners") and the ovals are from George.

I stamped the outline of the flower in Cranberry, then stamped the solid with Parchment ink, which was a bit too orange, so I went over the flower lightly with Cranberry coloring pencil.

I really like how it came out and wanted to share.

I'm actually surprised that I was able to get this card done. The girls have been in rare form most of the weekend. Jessica is perfecting the fine art of crying at the drop of a hat and Amy is working on how to be the most argumentative big sister. All the fussing and fighting is making me want to count the days til school starts. Fourteen days tomorrow...who's counting?? LOL

Then at dinner we were talking about an upcoming road trip we are taking to visit Grandma. I was informed by the girls that I (Mom) was NOT going! Oh really? Amy and Jessica insisted that there was only room for three and besides I had to stay home and take care of the dog and cat! Then just as quickly, they consented to "let" me go. Oh the mercurial moods of little girls.

How many days til school starts again???

I hope you find time to create today!
Jeanne

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Two Cards!

This first one is a stamplift of a card I found on a blog. I used Free Spirit (swirl), Flutter (butterfly), Kindred Spirits (smile). Colors are Autumn Terracotta, Honey and Garden Green. I added the AT swirls by using a template I have and a marker. Rhinestones and a bit of ribbon complete the card.
This is the final card of the set of 12 I have been working on. I've been trying out some $1 stamps I've picked up at Michaels (Studio G is the brand). They aren't nearly as high quality as CTMH, but some of the images are so fun, I couldn't resist.
Now that we seem to have gotten past some monsoonal moisture, it's warming up and the girls played a lot in the pool today. That gave me some time to get the cards done. After the pool, the girls also kept me company for a while.
Enjoy!
Jeanne

I was Tagged as a Rockin' Girl Blogger Again!


Erin at Inky Smiles tagged me this time as a Rockin' Girl Blogger-Thanks, Erin! You need to check her blog out!! She is super sweet, super funny and a super paper artist! PLUS her hubby makes some rockin' storage products. You'll have to ask her about it! :o)
Now I need to tag some blogs...I am (I'm almost embarrassed to say) becoming quite enthralled with subscribing to blogs these days....thanks in part to Kim!
In no particular order, here's my list this time...
1. Pammie Whammie - She's a CTMH consultant and paper artist extraordinaire....Don't let the eyes freak you out too much when you check out her blog. LOL
2. Tresa Black - Okay, she's in my side bar, but I haven't really mentioned that when I grow up, I want to have just an ounce of her talent! She's published frequently and I get a funny thrill when I see her name in print that I sort of "know" her! :o)
3. Karen Burniston-I came across her blog via a newsletter I received from a new scrapbook store in the Denver area. I guess this gal is going to teach a class there. Anyway, I clicked on her website, which is neat, but I was intrigued by the name of her blog...I am not Left Handed and read her post about her poor van. I was almost crying I was laughing so hard, not AT her, but in sympathy...it could have been me! You have to scroll down to the Mrs Dumas Strikes Again entry...
4. Oodabug Alley - Cool name for a blog and worth a visit! She creates some REALLY cute art!
5. Running With Scissors - Just found this one too. It's been recommended to me and rightly so. She does some awesome work!
That's my list and is by no means complete. I've said it before and I'll say it again...there is LOTS of inspiration out there....set your timers so you aren't glued to your computer all day!

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Two More Cards for the Set I Started...


I was able to work on a couple more cards from the 12 from 1 I have been attempting to work on. I'm almost done with the last one, but not quite.
These have been fun to make because I just love the colors and the flowered paper.
Thanks for looking!
Jeanne

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Quick and Super Easy Digi Page

Well, I whipped this one out pretty quickly! I used a template I downloaded from 2Ps website. Plunked in one picture in a frame. Added the journaling accent for the title and then opened a text box for journaling. Nothing really fancy, but I can now say I have TWO digi layouts under my belt. :o)

Love This Paper!

Joann's recently had a 50% off coupon bonanza and I took full advantage of it! I had been eyeing this DCWV (Die Cuts With a View) paper for a while. I love the sparkly look of this particular pattern. I had the textured paper in my stash and decided to make some cards with the paper. Joann's also recently added some new clear stamps and while the quality isn't nearly as wonderful as CTMH's My Acrylix stamps, I simply couldn't resist the designs of this Heidi Grace stamp set. I also picked up a Fiskar's stamp set as well. So, this artwork is pretty much not CTMH, but I did use a few things...like the ribbon, the inks (Dutch Blue and Clover meadow), Buttercup cardstock and the bling! I think I used a Happy Birthday from the set with the same name. :o)

I also tried to start a new digital layout, but my computer locked up before I could save and I lost it! Darn. Well, it's still a learning process for me. Hopefully I'll get one done in the not too distant future.





Thanks for looking and I hope you find some time to create today!
Jeanne