Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Back in Business!

I needed groceries this morning, so I headed out to Walmart after dropping Amy off at school. Steve told me to find a cheapo card reader today. It appears the one in my computer is shot. (thank goodness it's the reader and not the card with all the pictures on it!) I just plugged it in and it looks like I am back in business.

I wanted to share just a couple of pictures right now as I have to leave in a few minutes to get the girls from school.100_4886 Sandy took us fishing on Sunday at a local park. She and her son Jeremy (14) tried to fish, but decided it was just too much fun helping the girls and they soon abandoned any attempts to catch a fish on their own. Amy caught 3 fish this time.100_4887 And Jessica met with success herself. She caught FOUR fish! This trip was her first attempt at fishing in Sioux Falls, usually she is content to watch. You should have seen the look on her face when she realized she actually caught one! She proudly emphasizes the four when she tells you and slyly adds that Amy only caught three. LOL

Sandy caught a tin can100_4865 which you can sort of see slightly left of center in the photo.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I caught a hook in my cheek, but not too deep. Sorry no pictures of that one.

 

Gotta go for now...

Jeanne

Monday, September 29, 2008

Did You Miss Me?

Happy Monday Evening!

I'm sorry I have been so quiet. A week ago today we got a phone call letting us know that Steve's older brother passed away. He was 51 and had a massive heart attack. Steve wanted all of us to go to Sioux Falls, South Dakota together. Airfare was way too pricey so we drove, leaving early Thursday morning and just got home a couple of hours ago. I didn't want to announce to the world that we would be gone for several days.

The girls and I didn't attend the wake or funeral, though. I thought they were way too young to be exposed to that, especially for an uncle they didn't know. Steve agreed and then doubly agreed after returning from the wake. I didn't know this brother well at all, having only met him once or twice in the time I've known Steve. He lived an hour away from Sioux Falls and rarely made the trip to SF when we were in town. It helped Steve and the family that we (the girls and I) made the trip as well so it was worth it.

While the family was off for the sad event activities, the girls and I did a few things together. The main being going to visit The Sertoma Butterfly House. We'd gone last year, but I knew they would enjoy a return visit and it would get their minds off the fact that Daddy was at a funeral. This butterfly house is quite a bit smaller than the one here in Colorado by where we live, but I have to admit that the butterflies there are much more active than the ones here! Must be the humid air. LOL We enjoyed ourselves and I took a bunch of pictures. Unfortunately my computer card reader is not recognizing my media card right now, so I can't access them to share.

Yesterday we stayed an extra day because Steve's sister Sandy wanted to take the girls fishing. We had a wonderful Sunday together. Went fishing (Amy even hooked my cheek-ouch-but I'm okay...was just her biggest catch of the day, LOL), then played in the nearby playground. Off to lunch at McDonald's, then we went to another park that had a racquetball court and they all hit the balls against the wall. Amy really enjoyed doing this and I see a purchase of racquetball rackets in our near future. A nice meal with most of the family last night rounded out the day.

I was able to sneak away for a bit on my own Friday morning and I checked out a couple of stamping/scrapping stores in the area. One is called The Stamping Garden and I finally found the Cuttlebug Argyle embossing folder there! Another store was called R Scrapbooking. There was a 3rd store I wanted to see, but it apparently closed this past summer. :( Thanks to the GPS unit we have, I was able to get around with no problems.

I'd love to share some pictures, but it will have to wait until I can get this computer to see the card.

Until then, there's a somewhat brief update of what I've been up to.  Now I need to get to bed so that I can be rested to get the girls off to school in the morning.

It's good to be home...

Jeanne

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Embossed Cards

When you are in need of a quick, but pretty card, this is the way to go! I saw this card on Creations by AR, it reminded me of the tutorial she posted earlier that I had wanted to try.

Steve's brother and his wife are brand new first time parents of a baby boy named Dallas Douglas (the new mommy is a huge fan of the Dallas Cowboys). Steve wanted to send them a little something. I thought a gift card would be nice so they can choose what they need. They live in South Dakota, so we have no idea what all they've accumulated for a baby. I told Steve I'd make a card and decided to use the technique for the card I linked above.

Here's the result:

100_4791Granted, it's not a typical "baby" card, but I like it. I don't have many baby stamps. I did use a CTMH sentiment from a retired set with the same name as the sentiment. The ribbon is American Crafts. It was part of one of those sets of 5-6 you can buy. I liked that the card could be made for a girl or boy depending on the ribbon you used. Anyway, it's ready to get mailed out tomorrow.

I liked the technique so much I decided to make another one, using a different embossing folder and one that has a girly100_4789 feel.

The ribbon is again from an American Crafts set I had in my stash. I've taken it out of its packaging, so I don't know the actual names of the set(s). Sorry about that.  To add bling, I used Stickles in the centers of alternate flowers. I thought about adding pink Stickles in the other ones, but thought it might be too much.

Here's another view of the card. 100_4793 I just realized an animal hair showed up. It's a wayward hair and not stuck to the card. LOL I liked how the ribbon looks with the blingy slide in my inspiration card, and I remembered I had some from Making Memories in my stash so I attempted to add it to my card as well. I like it even if it's not sparkly!

I didn't look back at how she embossed the card, so I had to take some time to try to figure it out. I ended up realizing I had to turn the folder and just looked at her tutorial to confirm that is indeed how it needs to be done. So, if you want to know how to do the partial embossing...check out her tutorial, which I've linked again, just in case you don't want to scroll back up. Ü

I feel I was pretty productive today in getting cards made. I also worked a bit more on organizing my little corner. I've brought in a shelf that fits my clear stamps fairly well and another bookshelf. I think that's all that will be allowed so as not to overwhelm the room. And good for me, I cleaned up the space when I was done for the day so it's nice and neat for the next time I wander over there.

Thanks again for stopping by! Hope you have a great start to your week.

Jeanne

Simply Kathi

Happy Sunday! Thanks for the encouraging words with regards to shopping. I went to Walmart for my weekly shopping and they finally stocked the jeans I wanted. Yea! So, I feel a tad better. Ü

I was also able to head into my new craft corner today and made several cards. The first two I am sharing are my versions of cards created by Kathi.

100_4792 When I saw this one last month, I knew I wanted to see what it looked like in person. I don't think a picture can truly pick up how pretty it is. I followed her design with a few differences. I chose to round the outside corners and added ribbon. I moved the sentiment to the center. The colors are Sunflower, Goldrush, Barn Red, New England Ivy, Outdoor Denim,  & Colonial White. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Birthday Basics set and I used the same Abundance Borders that Kathi used, embossed with clear embossing powder. The brads are pewter and the oval shape is from SU's word window punch.

I really liked this card of Kathi's100_4790. I thought it was very striking.  I'm really trying not to just copy outright and you can see I switched it up a bit on my version. I used my Scor-Pal to score at 1/2 inch increments. I used a different stamp from the same Verve set called Thoughtful Florals she used. Then I was trying to decide which edge punch I wanted to use and tested it on each side of my white cardstock. I liked how it looked so I kept it. I don't have a sentiment as I wasn't sure where it would fit. I liked the added bit of ribbon to give a little dimension without taking away from the pattern of stamping.

You might notice the posting dates of the cards that inspired me are from August. If you know Kathi, you know she is a very prolific stamper. She manages to create a card most days of the week, whereas I've been known to do a few on the weekend. She gets more done than I do. But it's all good. She inspires me so often I know I will always have something I can work from. Ü I just wish I had her ability to come up with great card designs on my own.

Thanks, Kathi!

I will share the other two cards in a separate post. First I've got to go get dinner cooking.

Thanks for stopping by...come back later if you want to see what else I created today.

Jeanne

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Greetings, Visitors...

I haven't had a chance to create yet today. And last night I was recuperating from a fall off my bike! Yes, I tried riding my bike last night and it actually was fine-no pain or anything except a little discomfort when I stopped and put the foot down. It was the getting into the driveway that proved difficult. Somehow I managed to bump into the sloped curb instead of riding up the dang thing. I fell to the right and had to use my foot to try to stop my fall. Thankfully the ankle seems to be fine. Whew! But I managed to scrape up my elbow in the process. Always an adventure with me, trying to do everyday things, and getting unexpected results. LOL I have not fallen off my bike since I was a kid, so it was embarrassing to say the least.

The girls have been anxious to go back to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. And just last week there was a news story about a couple of dinosaurs they were putting up near the parking garage. So we decided to go this morning. Here's what we saw:100_4752

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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100_4761The parking garage goes down 2 levels I think, so he's a pretty tall dude. Obviously, they aren't quite finished with construction yet, but he's pretty darn impressive. I am not sure of the name of the big dinosaur, but I think it starts with a "c" cammeranosaurus...or something like that. The little guy is down toward the lower level on that ledge you can see in the 4th picture.

Upon entering the museum, we discovered we were a week early for the new dinosaur exhibit. Ah well...the girls had fun and Steve and I decided we'd come back in a few weeks to check it out. One of the areas we went to is called Space Odyssey and I couldn't resist taking these two shots of Daddy helping his girls take "pictures" from the space machine. He loves that they are completely interested in space type stuff. Ü

100_4787 That's Jessica in the striped shirt and Amy in the red shirt.

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After we got home from the museum, with promises to the girls of going again very soon, and I rested my foot for a little bit. Then I ventured to a local mall to see if I could find some jeans that actually fit. (the jeans I'm currently wearing are just about ready to fall apart) First of all, I am NOT a mall shopper. I feel very out of place in most of them and this particular one, especially. Most of the shoppers live well above our income bracket. I feel frumpy going there. But the store I wanted to try is no longer in the mall I'm more comfortable going to. Anyway, talk about an exercise in humility and futility. I tried a few jeans on, but they were a no-go. I tried a few tops on and actually got tangled up in one as I was trying to put it on. I gave up there and thought I'd try another store nearby. Went in there and literally gasped at the prices of the jeans. Over $100! To some that may not seem like a lot, but for me, it's way too much. I figured I'd depressed myself enough for one day and went home. With those promises to myself to lose some weight so I can fit into jeans at the stores I frequent more often. Sigh.

Shopping for clothes has always been so difficult for me. I'm short, have just about no waist, and am broad shouldered. If I can find something that fits around my waist, it's huge on my hips and thighs. My bust is larger in size and that coupled with my broad shoulders makes buying fitted tops difficult. So I resort to sweatshirts and jeans in the winter and t-shirts and jeans or shorts in the summer. Not the most flattering wardrobe. I don't like feeling discouraged, so I'd rather buy crafting stuff than clothing!

Didn't mean to be a downer. Sorry about that, but our morning was fun! I got some fun photos to scrap, and memories of family time were shared. That's always a good thing!

Thanks for stopping by. If I manage to get something created, I'll be back later. Til then, Happy Saturday!

Jeanne

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Inkspired by Kathi-Rolled Leaves

Kathi continually inkspires me with her creations. She has a knack for choosing pleasing colors and designs. 100_4735Most of the time I just outright copy what she's done because, I figure,  why mess with perfection? Ü

However, there are times when I feel like I should stretch myself a little and see what I can do with a piece I've seen. Today was one of those times. Here's the card that inkspired me.

You can obviously see the differences, the most obvious being I didn't have the same leaf stamp. But the leaf in Inkadinkado's Fall Season set reminded me of the leaf in Kathi's card and went a long way towards my deciding to purchase the set at Joann's recently. See Kathi, you enable me when you don't even know it!

I used the ink rolling technique, like Kathi, but I don't think I used all the same colors. The brown leaf is stamped in Brown Bag and rolled in Barn red. The middle leaf uses Autumn Terracotta and Barn Red and the yellow leaf is Honey and Goldrush. I cut them out and mounted them with some foam tape to give dimension. The Colonial White squares are matted with Barn Red cardstock and stamped with Speckled Background in Bamboo. The edges are sponged with corresponding ink colors. The stamp on the Autumn Terracotta background is from Adorable Backgrounds. The sentiment was punched with my new Word Window punch (from SU) and stamped with a sentiment from Verve's Thoughtful Sentiments set. All other supplies are from CTMH.

It's kind of a simple card, but that's okay. Those are great cards, too. It took the longest time to cut out those leaves!

Thanks for stopping by. And thanks, Kathi, for always inkspiring me!

Jeanne

Fall Season Brayered Card...

Ohhhhh Errrrinnnnn....Here's my card, well card front, using the brayer like you wanted. What do you think?

brayeredcard

Erin G. and I have been chatting up a storm on Google Talk and last night she had the nerve to challenged me to use my brayer! She wanted to try using it herself, too. I remembered this tutorial that I wanted to try when I had the time. I recently picked up the same stamp set, but didn't know what to do with it. I liked the swirls in the leaf and pumpkin. The tree is neat,too. Anyway, Erin's "nudge" prompted me to try the technique this morning. It was really cool. Jessica wanted to make cards at her desk, while I was working on this card, or rather card front...I haven't attached it to a base yet. My inky fingers are still wet as I type this. LOL

Michelle Zindorf, of the Freedom in Creating blog, must the queen of brayering! (is that a word?) The tutorial she shared making this card was easy to follow. I've not ever really worked at using the brayer...I get too frustrated too easily, but I tried my best.

True confession...this is my second attempt for this card. On the first try I tried to use markers like she did on the leaves in the tree and the trunk, but after I finished the card, all I could see what how yucky they looked! I also goofed and got blue in the green part. So I started over and took the easy way out and just stamped the tree in one color and masked off the green.

Stuff I used: Fall Season by Inkadinkado, white cardstock, Autumn Terracotta, Garden Green, New England Ivy, Crystal Blue, Moonstruck ink (CTMH), Versamark ink, clear embossing powder, heat gun, brayer, Curvy Cutter, sponges

 

Thanks for stopping by...I may go back to my little corner after I take Jessica to school...so check back later and see if I did!

Jeanne

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Reposting a Corrected Digi Layout...

I realized, that I goofed on my layout after I read Kathi's comment that she couldn't read the small type.  When I enlarged it to try to read the text, I saw I had copied one of the text circles and put it around a new circle, but forgot to change the text! oops! Goes to show how you "see" what you expect to see sometimes.  I also thought, since the text IS small, I'd share just what is written around those circles.

Here's the layout again, fixed this time (I hope)!Jeanne-TW-25SmallThings_edi

We were to free write about ourselves. Liv gave us a plethora of topic starters. From that we were to glean several items to type in around the circles of paper. The items/words are the text that is typed in around the circle

I am:

Lost without (brown circle) Diet Coke, internet access, contact lenses, a little solitude, vehicle to get out and about

Calmed by (paisley circle) reading before sleeping, Freecell game, brushing hair, hugs and kisses, being still, warm fragrant bath, a smile

Blessed with (yellowish and black circle) two awesome daughters, a tolerant hubby, a nice house, fantastic friends, a love for life, desire to create, curiosity

Indulging in (orange circle) chocolate, buttered popcorn, blogs, digi-scrapping, stamping, creating

In between each word is a "dingbat" or picture of a heart in a square

The quote word art is another lesson Jessica taught us. She showed and explained how best to take a quotation (this one is one she had on her layout and I really liked it, so I chose to use it) and emphasize different words in the quote by changing the size of the word and arranging the words in a visually pleasing way.

I hope this helps the layout make more sense. And maybe you learned a tidbit about me you didn't know before?!  LOL

Thanks, Kathi, you helped me big time tonight and you didn't even know it! Ü

Til next time...hopefully tomorrow... because Erin challenged me to do a certain technique and I hope to be able to create something worth sharing. How's THAT for a teaser? LOL

Jeanne

25 Small Things...Digi Layout

Happy Wednesday! You might be wondering whatever happened to the Type_Writer class I've been taking, seeing as I haven't mentioned it lately. We are half way through Week 2 and I am plugging along...slowly. I was distracted first by the girls being out of school. Then I got distracted again by deciding to move my craft space. The beauty of Jessica Sprague's classes is that you have access to the lessons forever, so if life gets in your way, you can work at your own pace.

This afternoon I managed to finally finish the second layout for class. Jeanne-TW-25SmallThingsWe were to share 20 small things about us. I realized that in order to fill the text circles (because I didn't like leaving blank space) I added a few extra items and ended up with 25 small things. LOL 

I chose to use a photo of me from this summer so it may look familiar to you. Ü Creating a layout about oneself is difficult to do because we are our own worst critic about how we look, but Jessica and Liv firmly believe every one of us is beautiful and even shared a photo with us telling us that before we launched into creating this layout. With that in mind, I'm striving to like this photo, perceived flaws and all. Ü

I didn't feel the papers that came in our kit worked really well with the colors in my photo, so I chose to use papers from Misty Cato's newly re-released kit Richer from Sweet Shoppe Designs. (She remade her first ever kit and Richer is the result).

Maybe tonight I can start the next lesson?

Thanks for stopping by...

Jeanne

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Thinking of You-Artful Elegance

After my cleaning marathon yesterday, and dealing with a sore back, I decided I would take it easy today. So, I made a card! 100_4727 My inspiration came from this card by Janine Tinklenberg. She has a great and funny blog called Stamps, Paper, Scissors. If you check it out be prepared to giggle. Anyway...you can see where I started to follow her card and decided to finish it up a little differently. I have to admit that I like it. Stampin' Up recently started online shopping (in case you hadn't heard) and I immediately took advantage to buy a few tools I have had my eye on for awhile. I used the piercing mat I bought on this card. I love that little thing! Ü

The color combo is a bit different, but it looks good together, don't you think? I used Holiday Red and Kiwi, from CTMH, and a brown cardstock from Martha Stewart. I sponged the edges with Holiday Red, Kiwi and Chocolate ink. Then I cut a scallop circle with my Nestabilities and ran that piece thru my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and sponged color on with Chocolate ink. You might not be able to tell from the photo but the square sentiment piece is a stamp that I paper pieced together. I stamped the image on the brown cardstock, Kiwi, Holiday Red and white. Then I cut out the pieces I wanted and glued them onto the brown base. The rest of the card should be easy to figure out.

My time is up for now...have to take the girls to swim class. If you have any questions please feel free to ask away.

Thanks for stopping by! Ü

Jeanne

Monday, September 15, 2008

Boy Am I Beat!

Sorry, no photos to share today. I've been cleaning up around the house like a mad woman most of the day. It's started innocently enough...I needed to do laundry. I changed the sheets on the beds. I cleaned up in my computer corner, since the table that was next to my computer is now my new craft desk, the printer and other equipment are sitting on the floor for the time being. There were tons o' cord from all the plugs that I decided to try to neaten up. The fireplace is right next to my computer desk on the other side, and was full of ashes from a "bonfire" of twigs and such Steve set a few weeks ago. Those got dumped, which meant I had to sweep up. LOL Then I decided to go through the girls' dresser drawers and pull out what hasn't been worn/too small/too worn out while they were at school (oh so much easier to do it this way-not leaving room for oh no, I HAVE to keep that even though it's 3 sizes too small-it's my favorite....fill in the blank). Since I had so much laundry to do, I figured half their clothes were getting washed anyway, it shouldn't/didn't take too long. And so it went all day. Dusting, vacuuming...oh my! I sat down for a few minutes and Steve walked in the door. The first time I sat down all day! LOL I know that most of my work isn't visible, but it sure makes me feel better knowing it's done!

My feet are tired, my legs are tired and my back is tired! I'm tired from top to bottom, back to front, but in a good way. Ü

Hopefully I'll have something new to share soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Jeanne

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Elegance and Guide Lines Cards

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Here's the card I was working on yesterday. I was waiting for the Icicle Stickles to dry. I think it came out pretty nice, if I do say so myself. I used Verve's Grateful Elegance and made my version of this card. Instead of a square card, I made it the standard 5 1/2 by 4 1/4 size. I used CTMH's Chocolate and Heavenly Blue cardstock and Cocoa ink. The ribbon is from Michaels and the brads are from my stash. You can't tell in the card but the white matted piece is on foam tape.  I punched two small holes in the diamond mat and threaded the ribbon thru. The plan was to make it look like my inspiration card, but the holes got covered up. I like it this way.

Then today I managed to get100_4726 this card done.

The lighting isn't all that great on this one, sorry about that. I need to figure out a place to set up my light box, so I used the desk that is in the room. Anyway, I was inspired by this card made by Lauren Meader, whose blog My Time, My Creations, My Stampedence is so inspirational. I am simply in awe of her talent and creativity! I used PTI's Guide Lines You can see that I didn't mask my circle like she did. I was working from a printout of the picture of the card and didn't print out any directions, so I played with it my way. Ü I used PTI's Sweet Blush cardstock and CTMH's Petal cardstock and ink. The ribbon and brads are from my stash. I added white dots using an American Crafts white gel pen. One of my "essentials" in the room is my Cuttlebug and you can see I used Swiss Dots like Lauren did. The circle and scallop circle are from my Nestabilities.

Update on my new space. I shopped around today and picked up several Cropper Hopper Vertical Paper Storage files. I got all my CTMH cardstock in them. Yippee! I had to pull out my scraps though and put the cardstock in without the baggies I was using. I kept the scraps in those baggies and realized I had a tub wide and long enough to house the scraps. For now they are all under the desk/table. Not ideal, but way better than nothing! Anyway, just having the cardstock in the room was great. Steve hooked up a TV in there, so the girls and I watched the Bronco game while we worked. Ü I shifted the desk so that I don't have to keep turning around to look at the TV. I was less frustrated today creating than I was yesterday.

Answering a couple of comments I've received:

Gloria, hubby does have some earphones that block noise. In addition to being a light sleeper, he also has tinnitus and he uses these to create some white noise. I think he's been wearing them this weekend. Whew! I will remind the girls to be quiet when needed, but won't be stressing so much about it.

Jackie, we don't have an Ikea in CO....yet! I just read in the paper on Friday that we may be getting one south of Denver...in about a year and a half! I've heard great things about items you can get for storage and organization there and will look forward to checking it out should that plan come to fruition.

Thanks for the encouragement and tips!

Til next time, thanks for visiting!

Jeanne

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Didn't Take Long...

100_4719To mess up my "new", inside the house, craft corner! As most of you may know I have been using a room in our garage, which is detached from the house. I can honestly say it is a decent sized space. However, it doesn't have a bathroom and if it rains or snows too much, I tend to not go out there. In the winter I have to turn the heaters on awhile before I go in to warm up the space. But while I was a consultant with Close To My Heart, it was my workroom as well as craft space. Now that I am not a consultant, I thought it might be nice to move back into the house. Hubby is okay with it, as long as I don't bring everything back in. Mind you, I have a lot of stuff. At first, I thought he meant I could have a table in our spare bedroom and then bring in what I want to use for a project, then take everything back out to the garage. I wasn't willing to do that. When I brought up only bringing in the "essentials" and leave the not often used things out in the garage he said that is what he meant. So, here's the corner I have set up for the moment. And what I've brought in for the closet.

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The shelving was there already, except for the white one on the side. I bought that today. And attached it with zip ties to secure it. The white boxes on the top shelf hold some of my cardstock. I've already decided I don't like this type of storage for paper. In the garage I have wire cubes set up, but I know hubby doesn't like them and doesn't want them back in the house. I may have to start collecting the Cropper Hopper Vertical Storage. I know I can arrange things better, but this is as far as I got today. I did end up going out to the garage several times for some thing or other I needed when I decided to work on a couple of cards, which bugged me.

I'm not convinced that this set up is going to work. Hubby takes a nap on the days he doesn't work, and our bedroom is right next to this bedroom. The girls were excited to be in the room with me and I had to keep shushing them. Then I didn't want to use too many tools in case they were too noisy.  I was very conscious of any noise I was making and that was frustrating. Although, when I asked him after he got up, he said he wasn't bothered by noise (he's a very light sleeper and can get grumpy if it's too loud) until the doorbell rang about the time he would get up.

It was nice being close to the bathroom and/or kitchen when needed, but I'm not sure if the trade-off is worth it. I'll try it for a little while and see how it goes, I guess.

If you've gotten this far, here's one of the cards I made today. The other one I made has Stickles on it and I'm waiting for it to dry before finishing up the card, so I'll share that one tomorrow. This card is my version of one that Nichole Heady shared on her blog, Capture the Moment, several months ago, although I used Artful Elegance and Thoughtful Florals from Verve Visual. I was going to use Garden Green, but realized I didn't bring in that cardstock and didn't want to go out to the garage yet again, so I decided to try the design with Kiwi (CTMH) and I think it looks fine. I stamped the sentiment with Versamark and heat embossed white. Added the bling and called it good.

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Thanks for reading if you got to this point. Let me know if you have any inexpensive storage ideas. I'd love to see/hear about them. I did look at some of the scraprooms on the Two Peas website and will probably keep checking it.

Jeanne

Thursday, September 11, 2008

She Gets It and Says It SO Well...

If you aren't a reader of Jessica Sprague's blog, I have to say, you are missing out on some goodness. I just read her latest post and immediately felt the need to jump on my blog to tell you to go look and read.  She has such a way of expressing herself through pictures and words that touches my heart. It's a great reminder of what I aspire to in  my blogging and scrapbooking. She's real and honest. And she nailed it in her last paragraph.   Check it out and enjoy a good belly laugh and some awesome visual delights. You won't be sorry.

Thank you, Jessica Sprague, for sharing and reminding me what this whole scrapbooking/blogging thing is all about.

Jeanne

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The Final Tally-Type+Writer Digi Layout

Well, here it is Wednesday and I'm behind on this two week class already! I'll blame it on the kids. They had Monday off from school (in addition to Thursday and Friday of last week for assessments-they only went for 45 minutes on Friday) and I had to keep them entertained. Monday was the first day of class.

This is a class about writing to improve journaling and also to learn a bit about typography. There are two teachers, the incomparable Jessica Sprague and her trusty sidekick, Liv E. Liv has a fabulous journaling style and I'm excited to learn some of her tricks. Okay, so on odd days of class, Liv is in charge and gives us writing prompts. Then on even days, Jessica gives us a digital template to use to create our layout and lessons in typography. What I'm sharing today is the layout for Day 2. In addition to the templates Jessica gives us, we were also given a digital kit full of papers and embellishments from various designers. The items I use will be from the kit unless otherwise specified.

So without further ado, here is my layout! Click on it to make it larger if you want.

MonicaTW-TheFinalTally_-2 

We learned how to make the type and numbers all grungy. The layout is a template from class. We were to free write for 15 uninterrupted (yea, right) minutes the details from a recent adventure. I chose to write about our day trip when my friend Monica and her family drove to Keystone, CO (ski area) where they have a timeshare condo. I think I want to do another layout of the trip to Estes Park to see my friend Kelly and her family. We'll see, though. I've got some more free writing to do for class. Ü

Thanks for visiting!

Jeanne

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Same Stamps, Two Looks

Happy Sunday to you! I was able to get out to my craft room again today. Yippee!  I had so many cards I wanted to try but only two came into fruition. The girls were a little needy while we were in my room and, let's face it, I'm a slow creator!  But what I liked the most about what I made today is the fact that I used the same stamp set for both cards, but by using different colors, the look and feel is completely different.

First up is a fun primary colored card that was inspired by Primary-Thanks-a-Bunchthis one on the Verve Visual blog. It looks a little crooked, but it's the stripes. I didn't think it was as obvious as it looks in the picture. May have to use some Un-Do and fix that. LOL  I used my markers...mostly Sharpies on this. Kathi, I think you are right...this coloring can become addicting. (hee, hee) That striped paper is part of a paper deck I bought at Target. It's by Marcella by K and called Birthday Mat Deck. It's nice because one side is a pattern and the other side is a coordinating solid. The stamp set is called Grateful Elegance. I added the flowers in a way to add some dimension. The red one has a pop dot, the blue has some foam tape and the yellow is just adhered. The centers are jewels I found at Hobby Lobby in the bead/jewelry section.

Pink-and-Brown-Elegance

Next up, is my version of this card found on the Verve blog. I used the same stamp set with Cocoa, Chocolate, Colonial White, and Baby Pink cardstock colors. I used Hollyhock and Cocoa ink (all CTMH). The border was punched using a Martha Stewart punch. The pearls are from Hobby Lobby. I'm pretty sure that ribbon is from Michaels.

That does it for me today.  I signed up for a class called Type + Writer on Jessica Sprague and it starts tomorrow and runs for two weeks. I'll bet I just might have some digi layouts to share during the course of this class. Ü

Til next time, thanks for visiting!

Jeanne

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Warmest Thanks-Artful Elegance Card

Here is the final card I made today. As I was finishing this one up, Warmest-Thanks-Vervethe girls came out to my room to let me know they were home. I was pretty much tired anyway, so it was a great stopping point. I pretty much cased this card on Just Give Me Stamps. I just eyeballed the dimensions. The colors are Cocoa, Garden Green and Colonial White. It's pretty straightforward. I found my 1 3/8 circle punch gave the medallion stamp a great mat. I stamped one on Cocoa, matted in Cocoa and cut it in half. This card has lots of sponging done in Cocoa. The "ribbon" strip is Cocoa cardstock that is sanded a bit. I used my 1/2 inch square punch to punch the tail on either side.

I hope you've enjoyed the cards. I sure enjoyed making them.

On the knitted hat front...I made the pom-poms and added them to the hats. They add a nice touch. I can't remember if I mentioned that the yarn I used for the hats is a chenille type of yarn. It's not a good yarn to use to make pom-poms (don't ask me how I know). The girls picked out a color that works with the hat color. Now I'm working on some matching scarves. In fact, Amy asked if I worked on the scarf while they were gone. (um, that would be a no).

Thanks for visiting. If luck is on my side...I may find my way out to my craft room again tomorrow. I probably should space out the sharing of the cards, but I get too excited to wait. Ü

Jeanne

Friendship Quilt Card

 

Do you like Copic markers? If you wander around the Quilt-Friendshipblogosphere, you will see that many stampers use Copics to color  in their images. I sure love the look, but I simply can't afford to buy them. Then I came across this video on You Tube and found the Bic Mark-Its at Walmart for a great price. I've been trying my hand at blending, but don't have anything worthy of showing anyone except the trash can. One of the hints she gives in the video is that she heat embosses her images to keep the colors from bleeding into one another when you don't want them to. Super clever! I ordered Quilter's Sampler from Papertrey Ink just before I broke my ankle and am finally getting a chance to use it! I stamped each of the quilt squares in the set on white cardstock, heat embossed with clear powser, colored them, then punched them out with a 3/4 inch square punch-which is the perfect size for the quilt squares. Finally, I adhered them to a piece of white cardstock.

I love the colors that I chose, but didn't really think ahead about what color cardstock the colors would match. I decided on Bamboo. Then the white looked pretty stark, so I colored in the seam areas. I used my rectangle Nestabilities to cut and emboss. I decided to color the edge with one of the colors I used in the quilt. It ended up looking like a framed quilt to me. Not being sure what else to do to the card that would work, I just stamped the sentiment and called it good. While I think the card looks much better in person than in this photo, I like it well enough to share. It was fun to color in. Time-consuming, but fun!

Jeanne

Stuff I used:

Quilter's Sampler (Papertrey ink), Bamboo, Colonial White cardstock, Archival Black ink, Cocoa ink (CTMH), clear embossing powder, Rectangle Nestabilities, Bic Mark-Its.

Thanks a Bunch-Grateful Elegance

Thanks-a-bunch-Verve

I am honestly not sure how well I like this card. This is the card (from Just Give Me Stamps) I saw that inspired me, but I thought I'd try a different color pink. I am not real keen on making square cards so I usually try to adapt them to a 5 1/2 by 4 1/4 inch size. Then I realized that pretty flower wasn't included in the sets I purchased from Verve (I'm using Grateful Elegance and the flower is from Beautiful You). Oh poo! I tried to make do with the flower that came in the set, but to me it looks too small for the rest of the card. I tried using a pop dot to give the flower some dimension, but all that did was bug me! It was too high for the card. Ah well, I still love the images. Mostly this is a straightforward card. I heat embossed with white in case you can't tell. The flower was stamped twice with black ink, embossed with clear powder and then I tried to color in the pink petals with my blending pen and Berry Sorbet ink. (I didn't know for sure if PTI's hybrid ink would work well. I got it colored, but probably wouldn't try it again). The bottom flower is colored in with Cocoa ink which I like better than I thought I would. I layered the two flowers and added a pearl. The little pearls on the bottom are glued onto 1/4 inch diameter hole punched cardstock using Berry Sorbet cardstock and sponged with Cocoa. I used my oval Coluzzle for the sentiment.

I'm sure people will say I'm being too hard on myself, and maybe I am. But I definitely want to try this type of card again...with a different flower...or maybe I should buy that set that has the flower in the inspiration card.  Ü

Jeanne

 

Stuff I Used:

Grateful Elegance (Verve Visual), Berry Sorbet cardstock, ink and ribbon (Papertrey Ink), Cocoa and Colonial White cardstock, Cocoa ink , Cocoa grosgrain ribbon (CTMH), Versamark ink (Tsukineko), white embossing powder, pearls, 1/4 inch hole punch, Coluzzle

Circle Frame Card-Thinking of You

Medallion-Punch-Card I recently discovered a blog called Amazing Paper Grace with artwork by Becca Feekan. Today she posted this card which reminded me of this tutorial she created that I wanted to watch. Oh boy, was I ever impressed! And just had to try the technique for myself. This is the result of my efforts. I would have loved to have made more frames, but my right hand was balking at that much punching! The punch is an EK Success Corner Adorner Basketweave punch (isn't that a mouthful?) I just think her cards are stunning and will now be on the hunt for more corner punches.

Medallion-Close-Up Here is a close up picture of the circle frame. I believe, if you click on the images, you can see them larger.

I had a bit of a hard time deciding how to put on a sentiment. I tried stamping on a vellum metal rimmed tag I had in my stash, but was bugged by the hole for hanging. So I ultimately decided to pull the vellum out and stamp on white, then heat emboss using clear embossing powder. I attached the white to the frame using a wet glue.

Steve and Dave took the girls, Buster (the dog) and Dave's neighbor's kids out on a day hike today, so I had plenty of time to play. Ü I'll be posting each of the 4 cards in their own posts.

Stuff I Used:

Stamps: Artful Elegance (Verve Visual), Breeze and White cardstock, Breeze ink (CTMH), Circle Nestabilities, Ribbon is some I found at Big Lots, Pearls (Hobby Lobby), corner punch (EK Success), metal framed tag (?), clear embossing powder, pop dots

Jeanne

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Wow, That Was Fast!

100_4705

Disregard the dirty face and focus on the hat, please! Whenever I had a lull in my activities today, Jessica asked, "Don't you want to work on your knitting, Mom?" Translation, I want you to get MY hat done!  LOL She was so excited and I was relieved that it actually fit. It didn't take that long at all as it's a straightforward stitch. I just love the colors and the softness of the yarn. Amy immediately asked, "When are you going to start on my hat, Mom?" So, I'm working on hat number two (worked on it while I watched the last half of John McCain's speech and got the brim done already). I want to make a matching scarf, too. Tomorrow I want to pick up a pom pom maker device. I think it will add just the right touch.

Remember my retail therapy this past weekend? Well, I ordered some stamps from Verve Visual and just this morning I checked to see the status of my order. There was no indication of any processing or shipping. I figured with the holiday and all that I'd be lucky to get the stamps on Monday. Guess what showed up in today's mail?! Yeppers! I am so tickled and appreciative of their speedy service. I can't to ink them up!

Thanks for visiting! Til Next Time...

Jeanne

I'm Hooked!

Happy Thursday to you! My girls have the day off of school today and only go for a very short time tomorrow. It's assessment time at school. The students are assessed to see where they are at in Reading. Towards the end of the school year they will be assessed again to see how far they've grown.  They are off school on Monday as well for a district-wide in-service. And so it begins again. LOL I sometimes wonder just when the teaching gets done. I'm not faulting the teachers at all, having been one myself, I know just how hard they work and how sometimes their hands are tied. It is a bit frustrating to see how often the kids don't have school for one reason or another and I wonder how the momentum of learning gets affected.

Enough of that! I took a few pictures of the girls working on their projects. Yes, Jessica wanted to try her hand at knitting, too.100_4697

They wanted to work on their project before they went to school. What incentive to get them ready early!  Amy's got owies on her arms from numerous mosquito bites that she can't resist scratching.

Amy was also quite excited when100_4699 she started to see the knitting coming out of the bottom of the tube. Ü

Working on Jessica's project reminded me how fun working with yarn can be. I know how to crochet and can even knit (thanks to my Mom's crafty influence), but I haven't done any needlework in years. After I got a phone call from a good friend, Vicky, who told me she owned a Knifty Knitter and made lots of great projects with it, I decided I'd go get one for myself. If Vicky, a full time working mom of two boys, can find time to create (she says it's her therapy after a tough day at work) I certainly can carve out some time in my day.100_4704  Here's how far I got yesterday afternoon. Isn't that yarn luscious looking? It's SO soft and I love the colors for fall. I'm starting out with a basic hat for the girls. Once I get the hang of it and find some patterns I'll try other projects. I'm definitely hooked!  LOL

And one last thing, because I know this is getting long, but I found this so cute I had to share. I bought the Knifty Knitter at Michaels and it is right next door to Target. We went into Target after I picked up the items at Mike's. My girls like to get a little bag of something at the checkout. Mostly it's been granola bites, but Amy saw this100_4702 little doghouse of Animals Crackers. I thought the house was cute and said okay. Then I wondered if the animals would be the Target Dog (do they call him Spot?). Lo and behold...that's exactly what the shape of crackers were! How funny is this?100_4703 And how

 

 

 

funny is it that Mommy told the girls to be sure to leave one each of the crackers alone so that I could take pictures when we got home!

Hope you have a great day!

Jeanne

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Google Chrome

Today Google released their new browser called Chrome. Since IE 7 isn't working for my gmail anymore and Firefox randomly doesn't work and I have to reboot the computer to get it to work right again, I thought...what the heck and downloaded it. (I just typed in Google Chrome into a Google search to find the link). It downloaded quickly and seems rather cool. There's a bunch of short videos that show different features that you can view before you decide to download. In some ways it looks similar to Firefox so it's not a completely foreign interface.  We'll see how I like it after I play around with it.

I received a package in the mail from my friend, Monica. She sent the sweetest little book about friends, an angel bookmark and two spool knitting kits for the girls. Amy was excited to get started right away and Jessica was excited for Mommy to get started with hers right away. Ü I completely forgot to take a picture of Amy working on hers, but I will tomorrow.  In the meantime, here's what I have managed to complete for Jessica.100_4688 She wants a pink butterfly. It's oddly therapeutic to do this. After a few false starts, Amy seems to have grasped the "knitting" aspect of it. I was thinking of picking up an adult version of this thing. Hmmmm...what do you think?

I  wanted to apologize for the fonts on previous posts that were too small to read. When I was typing them, they looked huge to me, so I made them smaller. Apparently too small. I don't want to harm anyone's eyesight! I also am thinking that you might prefer a more standard type of font as well for easier readability.  Let me know if this font (which is the default font and size) is difficult to read, okay?

Thanks for visiting!

Jeanne

Another Year Older and...

My brain cells are fading! My birthday was on Sunday. And this morning I got a call from the dental hygienist's office asking me if I was on my way. Huh? My appointment isn't until the 2nd. It is the 2nd! Sheepishly, I apologized and we rescheduled for tomorrow morning.  Oh man that holiday on a Monday throws me off, I was thinking today was Monday! I felt like a dork.

I haven't posted in a few days because I haven't created in a few days. As I mentioned I had a birthday and I've debated whether I should bring it up for, you see, my husband forgot. Yes, he did. Now, he knew it "was coming up," but lost track of what day of the month it was. (claims he gets his memory from his mom) On my birthday he bought himself a new bike and a new printer. He bought me dinner, (where we were seated in a station that had no server). We were taken pity on by a waitress who had passed our table a few times and realized no one had taken care of us. I've done a little retail therapy to help ease the thought that he forgot my birthday, so it's okay-sort of-not really-but what can you do? It happened and I can't change the fact. Just move on, faded brain cells and all.

I've been getting phone calls and emails from other people who actually remembered, so it wasn't all bad! My friend Becky came by with this lovely card AND the stamp set! Isn't it pretty?! Thanks, Becky!

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And to end on a happier note...I took my crutches back today! Yessireebob, I may be limping still, but I don't need those crutches no mo'. The swelling, bruising and pain has lessened quite a bit. Yee-haw!

Hope you all have a great day and week!

Jeanne