Stationery Set Inspired by Lisa's Creative Corner...

When I saw this stationery set on Lisa's Creative Corner, I KNEW I had to try to make one myself. While Lisa uses CTMH images I don't own (with the exception of Legendary Moments), I made do with other CTMH sets. :o) Lisa's artwork inspires me quite a bit and I thank her for always sharing and inspiring!

Lisa shared a link for the tutorial on how to make the box. Check it out here. Like Lisa, I modified the box so that it would fit standard size cards (4 1/4 by 5 1/2 and envelopes. I used the same dimension as Lisa did and also had to modify the size of the lid a bit. I think the lid piece was 6 1/2 long by 3 1/2 wide. It's the dimension of the top opening of the box, with an inch added on each side for scoring.

I created 10 cards and followed Lisa's idea of using the corner stamp in Legendary Moments. It took a lot bit of fiddling with the stamp for me to realize how to turn it to get it to work correctly.

Here is an example of the blue cards. As you can see, I stamped the envelopes as well as the front corner with the corner stamp. I used a variety of sentiments on the cards, making 5 cards blue and 5 cards brown.

Credits:

Stamps: All CTMH-Butterflies, Legendary Moments, Thinking of You, Happy Birthday, Share Laughter (Hero Arts-sentiment on box and flower on handles-which you can't see in the photos),

Cardstock: Heavenly Blue, Chocolate (same inks as well)

Other: Brown brads, 1 1/8 inch circle punch, 1 inch circle punch, super sticky adhesive (the kind that looks red until you peel the backing off)

This will be an end of year thank you gift for one of the girls' teachers I think.

Thanks so much for visiting! I may have some time tomorrow to create. Actually I need to get Jessica's teachers' gifts done as next week is her last week so I'll most likely be back with something to share. :o)

I Played Today...2 Cards!

Hi there! I was able to head out to my craft room today and get busy! Yea! I have two cards to share in this post. Later this evening, I hope to post another project I worked on...

Here we go! I was completely inspired by this lovely card by Nancy Riley (who cased another stamper-Jackie Pedro) at iStamp.

I used a flower stamp by Heidi Grace in her Wild Daisy Road stamp collection. Actually I stamped it two times and cut them out (there were some parts of the stamped image I didn't want to use), layered them and added the pearl brad. I used my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder and gold brads. For a little more visual interest, and to make it more "my own" card, I added some satin ribbon that I got at Walmart. Cardstock: Textured Black (Hobby Lobby), Bamboo, Garden Green (Close To My Heart) This next card is a case of this pretty card by Carolyn King at My Blog By Cammie. You have to scroll a bit to see how closely I copied! I took a close up of the flower to show you that I used an open ring in CTMH's My Accents line (cannot for the life of me remember what those things are called...not conchos...) for the center of the flower. Then I added the rhinestone with a small piece of foam tape. I used the Share Laughter stamp set by Hero Arts as well as a set called Dotted Flourishes by Inkadinkado. The cardstock and ink colors are Outdoor Denim and Crystal Blue, both from CTMH.


I hope you are having a great weekend so far! I'll be back later with the next project. Oh boy, it feels good to want to create something! :o) Forgive the pictures showing up not centered...I was trying something different in my formating.

Mother's Day Gifts Digi Layout

Well doesn't this photo look like it's floating in space? It is a 12 x 12 layout, but obviously my background is white. I wanted it to sort of go with the flowers layout (see previous post), so I used Kay Miller Designs' It's a Spring Thing papers again. The template is one by Terriann Hanks, but I lost where I got it from. Fonts are Roselyn and Century Gothic.
Another simple one, but I'll go with it, since I've now posted two layouts in two days. Yippeee!

Thanks as always for visiting. I'm still hoping to get out to my craft room this weekend and maybe I'll be back with some new cards. (fingers crossed)

Mother's Day Flowers digi layout!

I futzed enough with this layout and am calling it done! I used a Kay Miller Designs template that had some other elements included. I tried and tried to make them work, but couldn't so I took them off and kept this clean and simple. I also used papers from Kay Miller Designs' newest kit called It's a Spring Thing. the font is Roselyn and it was on a font cd I bought somewhere sometime!
I had to share this picture I took today. These are the chicks that were born just a few short weeks ago at Jessica's preschool. They quickly outgrew a 10 gallon aquarium, then a 35 gallon aquarium, and have spent this week in a dog kennel/cage.But, they simply need more room, so they are going back to the farm. I honestly cannot believe how quickly they lost their down and started growing feathers. Amazing. The kids really enjoyed having them. I hope Jessica isn't too upset next week when she realizes they are really gone. The kids have been watching caterpillars become a chrysalis (sp?) this week and those are supposed to open up and become butterflies next week. Maybe that will be a good distraction...G'bye Peanut and Juanita...it's been fun watching you grow!
Acrylic discs, flowers and chicks...man I've jumped around a lot today, huh? LOL

Ah well, at least I've posted something...

Acrylic Discs from Michaels...

I could have sworn I blogged about this before, but I cannot find the post, so I will share now. I was just reading Kathi's blog and she had a Q and A post. She gets asked about the acrylic discs from Michaels, as do I. She answered a question about them. Because so many people are having a difficult time finding these little things, I decided to risk a double post and talk about them.

Unfortunately, these are on clearance now at Michaels. So, if your store has a clearance section like mine does...look there. I actually picked up some clear ones last week, so my store still has them. They are $2 a bag right now. This is the size of the bag, and it is jam packed with discs, both clear and in a color. Feel free to print off these pictures and take it to your Michaels when asking where they might be located.

Now why would I go out and buy a bag of just clear? Well, I have often heard that using Copic Markers (pricey little suckers that I do not need to get hooked on) on the clear discs will work in coloring them. It got me to wondering if using Sharpie Markers will work. I finally tried it back when I had a creative urge and they DO work-just color the bottom!!! You'll get your fingers dirty in the process if you are like me and hold them in your hand, but whatever...The light blue I tried didn't work all that well, but the other colors did. So...seeing that Sharpie keeps coming out with more colors in the markers and they are cheaper than Copics, I picked up the clear...just in case I should ever run out...And there's my enabler tip for you today. :o)

I actually started a digi layout last night, GASP, can you believe it? But then I got sucked into watching Super Nanny, which was followed by Boston Legal and all was lost! But at least I attempted something right? Boston Legal moved nights and I've missed watching it. Last night was funny because someone told Denny Crane they wanted him to run for president. If you watch this show at all you know how scary the thought of Denny Crane as president would be.

And today marks one week since I've had an "episode," so hopefully they will be just a memory soon. My pressure has been pretty decent all week, if I do say so myself. Yea...

I am starting to feel the itch to create, so hopefully this weekend will provide ample opportunity to play. After I cut out 55 paper turtles for Jessica's preschool that is! Sniff Sniff...next week is her last week in preschool....

Man, I got windy in this post...sorry about that!

Sorry...not feeling very creative~

Gosh, it's been a bit since I last posted, hasn't it? I'm sorry about that. I don't even have any artwork to share for my hiatus from posting. :o( I just haven't felt very creative lately. Hopefully that will change soon.

I thought I'd let you know that I had planned to see a new doctor in a different practice about my blood pressure situation. I had even set up an appointment, but I couldn't get in until Wednesday of this week. I was okay with that...until I had another "episode" of a tingly left hand and raging headache with the bp rising (although not quite as high as last time-thank goodness) last Thursday. I called the practice I normally go to and asked for a different doctor. I'd heard that another doctor in that practice was good, so I thought I'd try him. I was able to get in by the end of the day (I think I was his last patient). The bp was up when I got there...but that didn't surprise me given my history of higher bp when I go in. He was able to explain things in a way that made sense. I'm making some pretty big health changes, plus I am in perimenopause, all of which are big stressors on my body. But he listened and he answered questions and gave me some guidelines to follow. He gave me reasons for what has been happening which eased my mind tremendously. There are some things I am to"do" which helps me feel a bit more in control (like recording my bp at specific times during the day-not just willy nilly) and that helps. I'm to go back in a few weeks for follow up. So, I feel a lot better about things. I most impressed that he spent a significant amount of time with me, and didn't rush me out the door. Whew!

I hope you had a nice Mother's Day. Mine was nice, but it is always a bit bittersweet as my mom is no longer here to celebrate. Steve didn't feel like making his usual Sunday morning breakfast, so we went out. Then at dinner time he asked what was for dinner. To which I replied...whatever you feel like making or whatever you choose to eat at a restaurant. I think he thought going out to breakfast would "cover" the meal. But since I don't make the big breakfast, ever, what kind of time off was that? LOL I was in the mood for salad so we went to Sweet Tomatoes...which was yummy and not crowded! :o) We all went for a bike ride after dinner, too, which was a nice way to finish off the day.

Today was a bit busy as Amy only had to go to school for an hour and a half for assessments. She went in at 8, Jessica starts at 9. Drop Jess off and go back to pick up Amy. We ran some errands to fill the time til we picked up Jess. Got home, had lunch and they played a bit before swim class. Back and forth...back and forth! LOL But it's all good. Enjoyed the 70plus degree weather as tomorrow we are supposed to get a rain/snow mix I've heard! Thank goodness I listened and haven't started planting flowers just yet.

Okay...that's it. Hopefully my creative spark will return soon and I'll have something fun to share. :o)

Trying something out...

I'm just being a dork trying something out that I've seen done a lot but didn't know how to do.

According to my preview it worked, so I'll 'splain.

I was just reading the Because I Said So blog and on Sundays she does a Sound Out where she answers questions she received during the week. Someone asked and she gave this answer:

QUESTION: I recently started a blog for my family and friends to see, but I can't figure out the *cross out the word* thing that you do . I can do it in my word program, but when I copy and try to paste it over, it doesn't have the crossed out words there. I know this is such a random and off the subject thing, but I AM SO CURIOUS!!! AND I CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT!!!

ANSWER: OK, before the word you want crossed out, type < *del > (take the asterisk and spaces out) Then after the word you want crossed out, type < /del >. That will draw a line through the word. I used some spaces in my example so the word wouldn't really get crossed out. Just omit the spaces when you do it.

I'm just testing it to see if it works and it looks like it does. How fun! :o) Yes, I know it takes very little sometimes to make me giddy.

And, by the way, I completely forgot meant to add the stamp set Gift Tags (CTMH) in my credits on the card I posted earlier.

Okay, I'm done now. Have a good one. :o)