Christmas 2010 Layout Using Chomas Creations Gel Pen Holder

I need to catch up on my scrapbooking!  I decided to create a holiday layout that had some elegance to it, and my Chomas Creations gel pen holder was just the tool to help me accomplish this goal.  

As usual photographing scrapbook pages is hard for me, so I have some closeup shots that will help you see the beauty of the gel pens.

Everything was from the Christmas Solutions cartridge, except the numbers I used to spell out "2010" which are from Storybook.

I created 4 layers in my Gypsy.  I named them gold, green, red, & cut.  

On the gold page I placed 2 angels at 4.25 inches - with one flipped, and the banner at 1.25.

On the green page I placed the word "Christmas" at 1.75 inches.

On the red page I placed "2010" very carefully over my banner at .75 inches.

On the cut page I shadowed everything.  I didn't want the inner cuts of the angel shadow, so I hid the inner contours to simplify the cut.  The gel pen drew everything so beautifully I didn't want to detract from it with intricate cutting. 

These gel pens are so much fun to work with!  They give a really  unique look to projects.  Ir really wish I had better photography skills.  They look so much nicer in person.  

I have a lot of scrapbooking to do here over the next month or so.  I am going to try and be better about photographing some of my pages to share with ya'll.  I do many layouts, but most of them don't end up on my blog.

Thanks so much for visiting!  I appreciate it :)  Have a fabulous & very crafty day.

Little St Patrick's Day Card

Here is a fun little card I whipped up for St Patrick's Day.  I am really digging Kraft cardstock right now :)  *LOL*  For the details and links to the stamp sets I used to create this please head on over to this post at Scrapmaster's Paradise. 

Casual Easter Card

You can click on the photo to see the details more clearly.

I was just playing around with this one.  I think I am going to put together a little Easter basket for my 2 year old daughter and I thought it would be fun to include a card.  Although I do like this one, I feel like the balance is "off".  I don't think my daughter would notice that, so I'm leaving it as is :)

The chocolate bunny is a Stampin' Up stamp - one that was sold by itself last year.  The clouds are also from Stampin' Up from the Good Neighbors set.  The eggs are all from the cheapie $1 stamps.  The sentiment was built using SP & Company's Mix & Match Sentiments: Basics

The grass is a Martha Stewart punch.  The patterned paper is from DCWV - I think from the Sweet Stack, and was punched with the Fiskars Threading Water Punch. 

I had fun playing with ink, paper, and scissors this morning :)  I know my daughter will get a kick out of it.  Sometimes it's fun to make a "no pressure" kind of a card where if things are crooked or "off" it isn't a big deal. 

You're My Favorite Father-in-law, Masculine Card

Aren't masculine cards always the hardest?  I had fun with this one.  I tried really hard to keep everything pretty simple.  It's my experience that most men I know don't like a lot of "frills" and prefer the more clean card styles.

I started off with a gray card base.  I used Stampin' Up's Totally Tool set for all the tools.  I used a very pale blue ink for them.  I had to use a Stamp-a-ma-jig (which helps you position your stamps), and a whole lot of patience to line all those tools up in a row like that. 

I sponged around the edges softly, and then it was on to stamping my sentiment.  SP & Company has these AWESOME mix and match sets out.  I love them because you can personalize all your greetings so much more than the phrases that are already put together.  The other thing I love is that they are all separate parts.  That made it super easy to make the word "favorite" stand out more in a darker color.  I think that little detail gives the card a lot more personality.  

I used the set Mix & Match Sentiments: Family for the sentiment.  Now, I figured this would be a fun card for my father-in-law since he's always picking on me.  It reads "You're my favorite father-in-law" Of course he's my favorite father-in-law, he's the only one I've got ;)  I'm sure he'll see the humor in that. 

Thanks so much for visiting today!  Be sure and check out my post from yesterday to see some fun stuff about my cardmaking party!  That party was a blast :)  It's the reason I fell behind on my blog last week.

My Crazy Cardmaking Party!

This past Saturday was CRAZY!  *LOL*  I am a Cricut Circle member, and I had 8 of my fellow Circlets over for a day of fun.  We each took turns teaching a card.  Everyone brought enough of card kits for everyone to make their card, and each person brought their own adhesive.

*Bug Hugs* to everyone :)  I sure wish I could meet all my lovely online friends in person.  I don't get to go to the big Circle Swarms and things like CHA, so I decided to bring the party right to my own home on a smaller scale.

A Cute Video of My 2 and 1/2 Year Old Making a Card

Hello everyone!  This is a card my daughter made for the Kids Can Color the Future Blog Hop :)  The hop is being hosted by the lovely Jen over at Purple Scrapbooker, and she is the first stop on the hop - so if you did not arrive from her blog you should go there first to start the hopping fun!

I'm excited about the hop because I love seeing what kids come up with, and it is always good to have fun ideas to entertain children.  My daughter, Tiffany, is 2 and 1/2 and was very excited to make a video for all of you.  She watches a lot of Youtube with her Mommy :)  It was pretty cute to watch her little face light up when she saw her video on my computer.

Here's her short little video....

I don't have any blog candy to offer you today, but I will read all of you nice comments to little Miss Tiffany later on today - so it would be great if you'd say something nice to her :)

Now, if you are ready to move along on the hop trail you can head over to Star's Paper Passion to continue the fun!

Below I am providing the complete lineup in case you get lost along the way :)

Purple Scrapbooker - You should have come from here

Staying Crafty - You are Here!

Star's Paper Passion - You should go here next!

One Creative Teen

CC's Cards & Crafts

Simple Scrappin - Project was never posted so skip this stop

Beyond Paper Designs

Heavenly Creations

The Creative Stamper's Spot

Scrappy Zeni

Addicted to Crafts

Cards by CG

 

I'm With You Rain or Shine

This little square card is 4 and 1/4 inches.  I started with a Kraft colored base, and drew the white stitching lines with a Uni Ball Signo Gel Pen.    I cut the adorable little penguin from the Jolly Holidays Cricut Cartridge at 3.5 inches.  I added some tiny little googly eyes, and I pop dotted the top portion of the umbrella. 

I didn't attach him right away, but I did lay him on the card to help me determine where to do my stamping.  I used SP & Company's Rain Boots set.  I stamped in Versamark Ink and used a WONDERFUL Stampendous product called Stamp n Stuff embossing powder, this color is Blue Tinsel.  It is breathtakingly pretty, but very difficult to photograph well because of the sparkle.  

I stamped and embossed the sentiment first, and then moved onto the rain drops.  The stamp set comes with a set of 4 rain drops all in 1 stamp, but I didn't want my rain drops very close together.  So, I took some sharp scissors and cut the stamp.  As long as you don't cut through the portion that actually stamps the image you won't hurt your stamp.  You can cut apart sentiments to fit on your cards differently, and all sorts of things.  It made all the difference in this case to be able to use one little raindrop on it's own.  Masking that many times would have been possible - but not very convenient. I can still stamp all 4 rain drops in their original pattern, simply by sticking them to the block at the same time, and nestling the cut piece in where it was before.

This will likely be the only project you see from me this week!  I am SUPER busy prepping for a big party - and I've been very crafty, but I can't share what I've made because it will spoil the surprise for my guests.  My daughter is in a kids' blog hop on Sunday, and then I will be sharing a bunch of fun things next week :)

Fun & Girlie Set

I am so pleased with this little set. So girlie and fun, and also including plenty of PURPLE! Purple is my favorite color, and also the favorite color of my dear friend Jen over at Purple Scrapbooker. Today I had the special honor of being a guest designer on her blog – and that is what I designed this project for.
 

I know you want all the fabulous details, so be sure and check out this post on her blog.

Thanks Jen for asking me to do this, and for being a great gal! One of my favorite things about blogging is getting to know other crafty peeps.

Silly Card

Hello everyone.  I think today's card is really fun :)

So, my husband went on a little one day trip to the mountains with some co-workers and one of his company's clients.  He was snowboarding, and many other people were snowboarding or skiing as well.  He said that one of his coworkers had bumped her head.  She is totally fine.  For some reason this card popped into my head almost instantly.  I pictured a skier with a bag of ice on her head.  *LOL*

So, I set to work on making it.  Originally I would have spelled out "Wishing you a speedy recovery" but it's a week and a half later and she isn't recovering, so I just put "Wishing you a splendid day" instead.  I figured it would be kind of a silly card and an upbeat sentiment was fitting.  I used SP & Company's Mix & Match Sentiments: Occasions for this. 

The card is 6 by 6 inches.  I cut the paper doll and all her accessories form Everyday Paper Dolls at 5 inches.  The ONLY exception to this was the little ice bag.  It was actually from the Christmas solutions cartridge, supposed to be a bag for Santa.  I modified it slightly by cutting off a part that looked like a bow tied on the side and adding some little touches with a marker.  It was cut at 2.5 inches.  

I enjoyed the details in this card.  Many of them are just so so in the photograph.  So, I've included some additional photos below to show you some of the detail.

Frosted Lace Stickles helped me add a little something to the snow.  The Cricut made the lines and dots for me, and I just followed along them with the Stickles.  This is my favorite Stickles color for snow, a lot less sparkly than some of the colors.

I used Liquid Applique to make fuzzy parts on the hat and gloves.  This is a cool product.  You apply it, let it dry (overnight is recommended) and then take your heat tool to it and watch it puff up!  Super fun :)  I ordered mine from Joanns.com

I drew the nose and mouth myself with markers.  I used my Gypsy to hide the face on the paper doll.  I don't have any face stamps yet, so doing this is my only option besides the Cricut face.  I also added little I Rock mirrored gems for earrings.  I got the idea to do that from Emma over at My Creative Time.  I saw her do it around the holidays on a card and thought it was adorable.

Thanks for visiting!  Have a wonderful, and very crafty day :)

You're The Best Chandelier Card

I had such fun with this card!  

I started off by stamping the paper 4 times with one of the stamps from SP & Company's Scripty Scripts set.  Instead of doing it as a more subtle background I wanted it to be a bright color and really pop so I used Stampin' Up's Pink Passion. I stamped the sentiment "You're the Best" on the bottom using the same ink from the set Ultimate Sentiments I.  

Now that the base layer of stamping was complete I started adding my layers.  I added a strip of patterned paper from Me and My Big Ideas.  It looks like a snow leapord.  I punched it with the EK Success Open Scallop border punch.  I added a hot pink ribbon on top of it.

The last step was adding the chandelier, which was cut from the Home Decor Cricut cartridge and then using my IRock to add a bunch of bling to it.  Most of the card was pretty quick and easy, but it did take me a long time to add all the bling.  I have no used my Irock much yet, so maybe I need more practice.  It took me ea long time to line everything up nicely, but I think it was well worth the effort because the bling really adds a lot to this card.

Love Frames

These were designed for Tracy over at Craft Junkie Too.  This time she challenged her designers to do the following "Make a gift bag, party favor, treat bag, box, (for a valentine party or gift) and incorporate the word LOVE in it."  

These aren't a traditional party favors, but I think they would be adorable to give out at a little Valentine shin-dig as a favor.  I kept them really simple without embellishments and all those extra touches that add additional time and cost to a project, which helps keep them fitting for such an occasion.  

In my particular case I made 3 frames, one for my hubby and one for each of my 2 kids to help decorate the dining room table for Valentine's Day.  You could also do a lot more work and make them nicer to be an individual gift or display piece instead of keeping them simple for larger scale production. 

I got my frame shape from Ashlyn's Alphabet.  I liked the oval shape to show the photo, and the interesting shape of the corners, but you could easily use something else, or use a Gypsy or Design Studio to create your own frame with basic shapes.  I manipulated the shape to be 5.34 by 8 WITH the actual size button on!  I found that I liked this size when I took a rectangle sized at 4 by 6 and placed it over the shape to see how much of the photo would show through the oval.  I figured the proportions would be right if I used a piece the size of the photos I planned to use. My estimate seemed to work pretty well.  Only a small amount of the photos are covered by the oval edges.

For each frame I cut the word "Love" from Sweethears at 1.75 inches tall.  What a gorgeous word!  I just love the loops in the L.  The heart is from Plantin SchoolBook at 2 inches.  Many other cartridges have hearts!

For the silhouettes I cut the couple for my husband's frame from Sweethearts at 3.5 inches.  The boy and girl were both from A Child's Year and also at 3.5 inches.  There is a wide variety of silhouettes on A Child's Year, so if you are making these for a party or a class you can find some other ones to use.  I chose the 2 that reminded me most of my own children. 

To have a place to slip the photos I cut pieces of white cardstock at 4.25 by 6.25 inches.  Then I taped them behind the frames on the sides and bottom, leaving the top open to slide my photos inside.  I bent some cardstock in the back to create stands.  Mine work so-so, but I imagine I could have done a much better job. 

Super quick and easy!  They will take a fair amount of cardstock cut for photos this large, but if you have plenty on hand this will be affordable and fun to make for favors!  Definitely something different than the usual candies and Valentine cards everyone is used to exchanging. 

Like I said, you can easily modify this idea to suite your needs.  To fit different sizes of photos or different people.  I am going to love using these on our table, and because they were simple I'll be OK with throwing them away after wards. 

Thanks for visiting!  Be sure and visit Tracy to see what she's been up to, and today you will be able to see the other designers fun projects to fit this challenge as well :)

U R Sweet Gumball Card

I wanted to participate in the Throwback Thursday Challenge over at My Creative Time.  She challenged us to use either Wild Card or Just Because Cards and to use a stamped sentiment.  I used Just Because Cards to cut out this fun little gumball container.

I used acetate for the main part of it, and I inked around it with White Staz On.  The lid is made with mirrored cardstock.  I kind of wanted to have some Valentine colors for this one so the gumballs are red, white, & pink.  I covered them in Frosted Lace Stickles.

The paper is by DCWV - from the Nana's Kids stack I believe.  The ribbon was a random $1 bargain.  The stamp is from SP & Company's Candy Hearts set.  I rounded the corners with the 1/2 inch setting on my corner chomper and did some doodling with a Stampin' Up Marker.

Little Valentine Pillow Boxes

I love little treat boxes!  To be honest I think anything little is automatically cuter - my husband makes fun of me because of it.  Hey, I can't be the only one who thinks those little baby cans of soda (the half sized ones) are adorable ;)

If you'd like to see the details of how I put these together you can check out my guest post today over here.

I really need to get busy.  I want to decorate our dining room for Valentine's day.  I am hoping to have my 2 year old daughter join in on making some projects too :)

Card for Momo's Color Challenge

So, my new year's resolution was to do more challenges.  I am not getting all of them done, but I'm sure trying :)  This one is for a challenge over at Made By Momo.  Oh how I love Momo :)  Her work is fantastic and she's just such a fun gal!  

She picked a really fun challenge this time that I just HAD to do - here are her own words

"The challenge this week is to make something with the colors Black, White, and Hot Pink!!! BUT, there is a catch.... It must have at least one Heart!"

I just thought the colors are so much fun and I don't work with them often enough.  So I got busy.  The shoe is from the Wedding Solutions Cricut cartridge.  I used a white gel pen to bring out the lines the Cricut made for detail in the shoe, and added a piece of bling. 

I matted my shoe onto a fun piece of hot pink cardstock.  I stamped "Too Cute" from SP & Company's Candy Hearts set.  Then I went around and did some dashes and dots with a Sharpie - I really need a black scrapbooking marker of some kind, but for a card I'm not too worried about it.

The background hearts are from SP & Company's Hearty Hearts Backgrounds.  I thought it would be fun to have the hearts be in the background instead of as a more main feature of the card - just to get away from Valentine's a bit.  Even though I loooove to make Valentine projects :)  I get bored so quickly that I have to change it up all the time. 

The ribbon is from the Target dollar bin awhile back.  The sentiment on the bottom is Pink By Design's Shop-a-holic.  It says "Women can do everything better... in heels." After stamping the sentiment I finished up with some more doodling along the bottom.  The color is Stampin' Up's Pink Passion - which is also what I used for the heart background.

Thanks for visiting! I appreciate each and every one of you so much :) 

You Are Fantabulous Mini Valentine

This was a fun little Valentine to make.  I actually made 8 of them, but I only show the one being made in the video.  I used all SP & Company stamps to create it.  I also used my FAVORITE embossing powder from Stampendous.  You can watch the short video below for all the details.

Blueberry Pie Card

Isn't this such a fun card!  I made this for a challenge over at My Pink Stamper to make something super yummy.

I cut this adorable little slice of pie from the Smiley Cards cartridge.  I think it was cut at 2.5 inches.  I wanted it to look like blueberry pie, so I used blue paper and then embossed it with the Tiny Bubbles folder.  I was really tickled with that little detail.  I inked around the edges with a little light brown ink to give the image more depth, and I added some Fruit Punch colored Stickles to the cheeks for a touch of bling.

I matted the little pie on a pink piece, and then I matted that on a pale brown piece.  I went around and added pink dots with a marker.  After I attached the pie and layers to the card I decided to add a little bit of ribbon.  I believe it came from the Target Dollar Spot awhile ago.  I added brown stitching below the ribbon, and dark blue stitching and dots above the ribbon.  My final touch was to stamp "Sweet Thoughts of You" in Whisper White Craft Ink using a My Pink Stamper stamp.

I am really happy with this little card - it makes me smile :)  Thanks for stopping by to check it out!  Have a fabulous and very crafty day!