CFC29 = Super-Quick Holiday Cards!

Well hello there! I took a little blogging break for Thanksgiving (and the shopping, leftover-eating, and gutter-cleaning that followed), but today I'm back with a quick batch of holiday cards that just happen to use this week's CAS-ual Fridays sketch:

Clean and Simple, indeed. I grabbed some of my recent holiday acquisitions, as well as some stamps from the stash, and whipped up four cards in about twenty minutes!

When I'm pressed for time (or mojo), I don't fuss with the sketch -- I run with it! Here, the upper two cards use paper from the Simple Stories Christmas line (the 6x6 pad), while the bottom two use the same North Country collection from this post (but the 6x6 pad instead). All the papers came from Scrappy Chic (where else?).

Besides the top-right card, which uses a quick bit of stamping (an older SU set) and paper-piecing, I let the papers stand on their own and just stamped the sentiments (all from Papertrey Ink). It's a little hard to see, but I also pierced lines around the sentiments too.

Quick, easy -- and I can cross four more cards off the list. Hooray!

I'll see you again soon -- have a lovely day!

Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!

Whether you're in the US or not, it's always nice to pause and think about all the good things to be thankful for. And if you ARE in the US, well...why not stuff yourself silly too? That's right, tomorrow is Thanksgiving here, and besides the thankfulness and all the great chow in store for me tomorrow, Thanksgiving is also prime crafting time.

For most big holidays, I make tags for my family. This year, I got all Tim Holtz-happy and broke out my underutilized TH embossing folders, along with about 5 different colors of Glimmer Mist, three styles of 7gypsies tape, and some Prima leaves to make these:

Ooh, pretty. :)

After the mist dried, I hit each tag with some Distress Ink (using one of the foam applicator thingies) to catch the highlights of the embossed designs.

All the ribbons were pulled sort of randomly from my stash -- I just picked fall-appropriate colors.

Those flowers look like the ubiquitous rolled-ribbon flowers, but I actually made them with strips of vintage pattern tissue - it works the same as ribbon, I just had to be a little more delicate as I twisted to keep the paper from tearing.  The stamps are from Waltzingmouse, and they're conveniently placed to disguise the seam in the embossing (my tags were bigger than my folders, so I flipped them around and embossed the bottom inch or so separately).

The back features my favorite tiny gnome (and an appropriate sentiment) from this Unity stamp set (their big sale ends today, in case you were looking to spend some dough). The papers on the back are all from We R Memory Keepers' Autumn Splendor collection.

Everything you see here (except the Waltzingmouse stamps) came from Scrappy Chic -- some recently, some from days past. Their big sale starts Friday, in case you were looking to spend some MORE dough (and at a locally-owned small business, natch).

I had fun getting all misty and inky and stuff making these, and I hope the fam digs them, too!

Time to get back to the oven -- one more dessert to go, and my contributions to the feast will be complete. Yum. I'll get photos, don't you worry.

Have a lovely day, and have a great Thanksgiving, wherever you may roam.

Hip Holiday layouts

Ok, maybe these layouts aren't hip, but they do feature Hipstamatic photos...have I mentioned lately how much I love taking photos with that delightful little iphone app? It makes everything look festive/artsy/skillful without trying too hard at all. 

I wanted to scrap two very blurry photos of one of Andrew's choirs singing at last year's holiday concert. Here's an explanation of the event:

And here's the whole layout, using Prima's awesome and quirky holiday collection, North Country. It's very un-Prima, which is good for me -- as you know, floral girly stuff and I are not the best of friends (Look! Did you notice I used a flower right smack on this layout? I impressed myself with that one!). I ganked the layout design from a layout in this post, which was based on a layout from Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party class (whew!). Yes, "gank" is a word, though CASE would probably be a better option.

It's a little hard to see in the photos, but I layered some red tulle trim under the photo edges as well as under a Hambly transparency strip -- since tulle is so lightweight, it didn't add much bulk, even though it's all pleated and stuff. Ooh, and speaking of ganking, I totally ganked the title from the musical Mame:

Yet another song to get lodged in your brain. Enjoy. :)

One more layout today, this one featuring some Webster's Pages paper from the Botanical Christmas collection:

Kept it simple, since the Webster's paper is so pretty all on its own. I like that I unintentionally ended up with a visual triangle of trees, though :). My favorite part is the bow, which I made with some ribbon from my stash that I'd had forever:

The bow-y part is made the same way as the one on this card, only with a loop of ribbon instead, and then I just added the short tails behind and the long bit behind the pictures -- 4 separate pieces of ribbon come together so neatly, eh?

A little Stickles on the top of the tree, some alphas from Basic Grey and Studio Calico, and I called it a day! These layouts are out for the viewing at Scrappy Chic, if you're curious to see them in person. They have some great Black Friday (and Small Business Saturday) sales planned, so shop well!

Speaking of "calling it a day," today our second bathroom got torn apart (thanks Dad!) -- it's reno time. On top of that, I made mac and cheese for Thanksgiving, along with a batch of ice cream from this fabulous book -- seriously, this chick has her ice cream science down!! Oh, you know, plus I worked and stuff. Busy day!

Hope yours has been lovely! I'll be back (maybe) Wednesday with my family tags for Thanksgiving. Hooray!

Christmas progress -- slowly but surely

Hi all -

Quick post today. First, a card using this week's CPS sketch:

When I'm stuck, design-wise, I love finding a sketch and just going with it. That's the case right now with me and Christmas cards -- I have plenty to make, but not a ton of inspiration (yet). So, here's what I did with the sketch:

Simple and faithful to the original. I used some Simple Stories 6x6 paper (from their 25 Days of Christmas collection) -- it's a prettier, warmer olive irl, but it's awfully grey around here, so the colors aren't the best.  The sentiment is from SU, and the two narrow panels behind it are embossed with some cheery snowflakes. Some white ink around the edges, and I can cross one card off my to-make list.

Before I go, I've added some pages to my Big Fun Christmas Project journal:

I took some of my favorite pages from the Little Golden Book I used as the cover and stitched them onto some kraft cs pages (first I folded up the bottoms and stitched them into pockets). I love how colorful the vintage images are!

That's about it for now -- back to your regularly scheduled Saturday. :)

Cats and Dogs in October.

Hi there, and happy Wednesday! I have a three-layout post for you today, all featuring pets. What could be better? Oh, I know -- how about three great lines of paper from my October kit from Scrappy Chic?

On with the show:

You know, sometimes it's worth scrapping somewhat crappy pictures of yourself...as long as they feature a cute and distracting kitten! These are all self-portraits I took when Simon was just a baby. He was so much snugglier then...now his snuggle attention span is pretty dang short. Oh well. I've used a great line from Glitz Design -- definitely shabbier than I usually go, but I think the colors are just gorgeous. I inked my title alphas purple to match and threw in some Distress ink splats for good measure.

So, in case you were wondering, yes, we DO have two cats :). I already showed y'all this picture on an earlier post, but I just had to scrap it, too -- this still wins the prize for the most non-growl-inducing physical contact Dex and Simon have had. Plus, ain't it cute? Here I used Studio Calico's awesome Autumn Press collection (including those kraft butterfly stickers -- yummy), along with a bit of Amy Tangerine, some Maya Rd. tickets, plus doilies and burlap from my stash.

Look out below! It's not one, but TWO DOGS on a layout. You see, Andrew and I are definitely cat people (he'd like a dog someday...I think that particular someday is quite a way from now!), but my parents are definitely dog people. I grew up with dogs, I like dogs, and I know what a pain in the behind dogs can be (hence: cats).

Anyway, this cute photo of my mom and her dogs (Zeus and Roxy) just makes me smile. They're very good at waiting their turn for scraps. The paper line is Summer's End by Fancy Pants -- suitable, since the photo is from the end of August. The frames are pre-printed on the page, making embellishing quick work. Did some layering under the photo, gave some veneer butterflies a dose of ink (thanks for the tip, Liz), threw in a fussy-cut leaf from another sheet, and used the negative from the butterfly stickers on the previous layout along with some watercolors as an accent up at the top.

I have more from October's kit...plus what I've done so far with November's kit...plus some progress on my Big Fun Christmas Project, plus some holiday cards...So, yeah -- you'll be hearing from me again soon! In the meantime, local folks can check out these layouts and a bunch more over at Scrappy Chic. (Happy Shopping!)

Have a lovely day!

Eight-in-one.

Hey y'all -- Happy Monday!

I have been on a layout tear of late, and I figured I'd try to catch up on some projects. The eight layouts below were all made just for me, just because. Some I made at a crop at Scrappy Chic; others I made after being inspired by my Pretty Paper Party class over at Shimelle Laine's website. Eight is a lot, so let's get on with it:

{a quick note: I realized for the first time that I can make photo collages right in Picnik -- and with a lot of options and control over proportions. Makes me happy! A click here will enlarge the whole thing.)

Clockwise from top left: 1. Photo/CHA; Paper/Authentique. 2. Photo/CHA; Paper/Kaisercraft. 3. Photo/CHA; Paper/Studio Calico, Echo Park, Dear Lizzy, Anna Griffin. 4. Photos/Detroit Jazz Fest. Paper/Crate Random.

Notes: 1. I love this photo of Chris and Katie on the escalator -- we were looking for a banquet, but we weren't finding it...yet. 2. The Paper Crafts people had copies of their then-newest issue -- the first time I had a card published! I totally snuck this photo :). 3. Holy pattern-combo, batman! I love the cluster of embellishments -- all of which were within arm's reach on my desk! 4. Holy photos, batman! I count nine. One of them might look familiar from this post, but this layout's all about the fireworks.

Next:

(The Picnik collage tool has a "wonkiness" control -- great for not-quite-straight on photos like these!)

Again from top-left: 1. (cute)Photos/our bedroom :); Paper/Prima, Studio Calico 2. Photo/our bedroom; Papers/Crate, Authentique, Grant Studio [mostly kit leftovers]. 3. Photo/our bedroom (see a pattern?); Paper/all scraps. 4. Photos/my aunt's backyard; Papers/My Mind's Eye (various lines), Crate.

Notes: 1. Holy cuteness, batman! I love these photos of Simon snuggling up next to Andrew's back - under the covers, no less! 2. Another snuggle -- this time from June, when Simon was just a little guy. 3. Oh, that photo -- this is definitely frame-worthy. I let it take center-stage on the layout because I love it soooo much. 4. This is CASEd from one of the class sketches -- I CASEd it again because I love it -- that layout will follow soon.

Patterns I can see in these eight layouts: Clearly, I like to scrap about Simon and Andrew! I also really like kraft. And grey. And I guess I'm not afraid of mixing patterns or paper lines. I also like doilies and mists quite a bit right now, though the mists don't always photograph clearly. Single-photo layouts come together most quickly for me, though I'm pretty proud of my two-, three- and NINE-photo layouts too! I've been intentional about layering more, and I think it's starting to stick. What do you see? Let me know.

Anyway, I hope this wasn't sensory overload for you! I know the details are sketchy -- if you'd like to know how something was done, or where my embellishments came from, etc., just ask in the comments.

Next up: catching up on Scrappy Chic layouts! See you soon -- have a lovely day!

Friends with (bandwagon and stash-busting) Flair Friday!

Hey there -- happy Friday!

Since it's Friday, it must be Friends with Flair Friday over at Unity -- be sure to stop over and see today's great deal and all the other bloggers participating.

First, the card. Yes, I've finally joined the hexagon bandwagon. Have you noticed how they're popping up all over in the paper world? I can appreciate geometry and all, but I didn't have any hexagon punches or dies, and I wasn't really sure I wanted to invest dough in yet another bulky tool...and then I saw this tutorial over on the Cosmo Cricket blog using a quilter's template -- and about $5 later, I'm in business. Here I used the smallest size, but I can make hexagons up to 5.5" -- think of the scrapping possibilities! Anyway, take a peek:

I think this is the earliest I've ever gotten my Unity KoM! In celebration, I immediately got that cute cardinals-and-holly image inked up (with some markers), along with the pretty snowflake bg. To go along with it, I used a sentiment from the September kit. Close-up time!

The snowflakes are much clearer here, and you can see that I blasted the thing with some shimmer. Pretty! The "bow" is just some ribbon that I stuck in a brad before popping it through the card front. Easy!

Second, the stash-buster {Warning: there's no Unity in the rest of the post, so if you need to hop along, you won't hurt my feelings ;)}. All the hexagon papers up there are leftovers from my Big Fun Christmas Project this year -- a mini-album made entirely from my favorite holiday goodies, the papers and embellishments and other bits that I've saved hoarded over the years. I also have a vague memory of seeing someone make an album out of a Little Golden book, and I just couldn't resist it! {That idea is pre-Pinterest, so I no longer remember where I saw it. Does anyone else remember seeing such a thing in blogland? If so, let me know so I can give credit, eh? Thanks!}

Alrighty, then, here's the stash I've used:

Ooh, pretty! The top photo are the fronts, the bottom are the flip sides. I cut a couple dozen sheets down to about 6.5x7.5" to fit inside a Little Golden book I picked up at a used bookstore -- it's definitely one I remember owning, though, so that makes it funner :). I broke out my long-neglected Crop-a-Dile Big Bite to punch holes through the whole stack at once. Man, that made an exciting noise ;).

Here's how I turned the book into an album cover:

A little fancy box-cutter work, a pair of pliers (and then wirecutters) for staple removal, some Crop-a-dile work, and I was in business! Luckily, Little Golden books are very cheaply assembled, so it wasn't exactly hard work disassembling one. Here's the whole thing put together:

...and there's my messy grid pad underneath it ;). Since I did my initial assembly, I've added some extras -- envelopes, tags, etc. My favorite thing? With the exception of just a couple papers (namely the reindeer Hambly transparency and the Amy Tangerine fabric paper you can see up above [from Scrappy Chic, of course!]), everything else is at least a year old, and several papers go way, way back. I've kept them because I love them, but now I'm using what I love, and that's even better. I'll keep you posted as I add to the album (especially once I start adding photos!). I wish I could say it'll be a December Daily, but I'm not exactly that disciplined...so it'll probably just cover the whole season in bits and pieces, more Smash Book style, perhaps. I can't wait!

Anyway, thanks for hanging in there through a shockingly long post! Anyone else out there have a Big Fun Christmas Project planned? Let me know about it below.

Hop along, and enjoy your weekend!

Looking up in Wonder.

Hey there, people! I mentioned last post that I've made a lot of stuff for Shimelle Laine's Pretty Paper Party class (which has been quite inspiring). Today's layout is inspired by all that fearless paper- and pattern-mixing that's part of the class, as well as Shimelle's sketch of the week, which just happens to be perfect for square photos...

...and it just so happens that I have a pile of square photos to scrap -- they just arrived last week from my first order at PostalPix, an iPhone app that allows one to order photos straight from the iPhone photo library (convenient!), AND they offer square prints, which is perfect for a Hipstamatic fiend like me (awesome!) If you're interested, the prices, quality, and speed of delivery are comparable to other developers I've used as well. 

Anyway, when I saw the GORGEOUS Head over Heels collection from Lily Bee, I knew it had to be part of my November Scrappy Chic kit, because I could see this photo in my head and knew it would be a great combo. (Note: y'all know I am NOT usually a floral-paper kind of girl, yet here I am! I think the class is working....). My goodness, shall we get on to the layout already? Ok!

Holy cats, is that a cute baby or what? I can brag since she isn't mine, right? Ha. I took this photo of my friend's daughter, Sahana, back in April, and it still gets me every time. Since she's looking up (in wonder), I bumped the photo block to the bottom of the layout, but left the title up there at the top to give her something to look at ;). The title work is my second-favorite part of the layout (besides the photo, of course!):

I laid down a bunch of strips of my latest washi tape acquisitions (from Hambly and Amy Tangerine - so yummy) before layering on my title (letters from Studio Calico, October Afternoon, and My Mind's Eye [the pretty fuzzy ones]). Love. My supplies (including my embellishments, which are from Pink Paislee, Kaisercraft, and Elle's Studio) are all from Scrappy Chic, and this layout will soon be there too, so keep an eye out, local folks!

Thanks for an inspiring sketch, Shimelle! For now, I have to get back to the real world, sadly -- in the meantime, have a lovely day!

Paper Smooches SPARKS - November edition

Hey folks -- happy Monday!

I have so many things to show you -- somehow, when I should be doing fun things like grading and cleaning, I end up making stuff instead! Such a sacrifice, I know.

Anyway, today I thought I'd kick things off with a layout that's all about the stamping -- a rarity for me, actually, even though I'm as much a stamper as a scrapper. It seems like I have a hard time putting the two together, but when I saw the current Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge image, I had a flash of...something...maybe not exactly brilliance, but a flash nonetheless.

Here's the challenge image:

Yum - Orla Kiely. Love this design! Plus, since I won some Paper Smooches stamps from Emily's blog a couple weeks ago, I was all set to get 'em inky! I was inspired by the colors and the multi-directional repetition of the image, as well as the little signature in the selvedge. Here's my layout:

Holy stamping, Batman! I repeated the camera from Perpetual Bliss over and over (and over) again, adding the lens cap (at least that's what I think it is) in lighter and darker orange, plus some hearts in navy. Some Echo Park paper scraps form the crazy mat for my photo (Dots and Stripes Metropolitan and Candy Shoppe), and I added the sentiment several times in white(ish) on the navy bits to echo the signature on the fabric.

I turned one of the cameras into a little medallion accent to highlight the theme of the page: we often forget to get photos of ourselves, but I almost always love the ones we remember to take! This particular photo was from Jazz Fest back in September.

Well, I can't say I'll always stamp THIS much on my layouts, but I'm sure encouraged to break out the rubber and ink more often when I'm scrapping.

Coming up this week: I'll be sharing my October projects for Scrappy Chic, and if I'm really ambitious, I'll have a pile o'layouts inspired by Shimelle Laine's Pretty Paper Party class. Can't wait!

Now, back to the real world. Grading, here I come! Have a lovely day.

Friends with (winning) flair!

Hi all, and happy Friday!

Be sure to head over and see what great deal Unity has for their Friday Feature -- it's always a good one. In the meantime, it's also Friends with Flair Friday, so how about a card?  Ok, then:

Aw, ain't it kinda sweet? Friends of ours just let us know that their first bundle of joy is on the way -- but it's kinda early, so they're keeping it on the DL for awhile. Still, I couldn't let the card-making opportunity slide by! This card also happens to fit right in with the Unity Kit of the Month sketch challenge for November (bonus!) -- I used stamps from April's KoM (the cutie-pie onesie, which I trimmed out and "hung" on some Twinery twine), and from February's KoM (the sentiment). Papers are from Echo Park's For the Record collection, which I still love to bits. So yummy. I die-cut and embossed my own tag, which gave me a chance to break out my ancient eyelets (bonus again!).

Before I go, I thought it was high time I posted the winner from my little giveaway -- out of a whopping four qualified and desirous entrants, here's the winner:

That'd be Lindsey! Congrats, Linds -- I'll be emailing you shortly.

Have a lovely weekend!