Cakes, cookies, and pie! Oh, my!

A modified version of this post was featured on Scrap Our Stash Show n Tell Sunday on November 22, 2010!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Christmas is lurking in the shadows! I can't believe the holidays are already here! The season is filled with pies, cookies, candies, and all types of cinnamon-y goodness. This year though, I'm saying move over to my traditional pumpkin and apple pies and I'm making room for CAKE! I just started taking a cake decorating class which I'm hoping will lead to more cross-crafting goodness (I envision matching cakes, invitations, and birthday cards...not to mention the memory-laden scrapbook pages! The first victim of all of this matching will be my mother-in-law who will be here on Wednesday!) It's really good timing too, everyone at work has already given up on their diets and I have a super easy method for pawning off my many decorated cakes! Here's a shot of my first at-home practice cake.

It's a strawberry cake (semi-homemade) with (homemade) dark chocolate frosting. To add to my repertoire of cake skills I also torted it (meaning it's filled with delicious strawberry jam)! It's kind of a little guy because I wanted to get some extra practice out of my extra layers, but I think it turned out pretty good anyway. The sides were deliciously smooth and then I made the grand mistake of pulling the wax paper out from under the edges of my cake. *Sigh* Should have put them closer to the edge of the cake. I guess it was a good thing though because I got to try a part of the cake (the chunk that stuck to the paper) before anyone else! Woo hoo!

I took it to work to welcome a new member to our team and the cake quickly disappeared! My boss made one recommendation for the next cake "bigger or nastier...you can't bring in tiny delicious cakes, that's just not right!" I guess if I never get the hang of writing, I've certainly got the flavor aspect covered! (Ugly cakes have fewer calories, right?) One of the guys on my team also teaches a cake decorating class so, it's pretty nice to be getting tips from him on my at home practice cakes as well as my normal cakes.

I'll be posting my cakes weekly on my blog as I go through all of the decorating courses. Wish me luck! Tomorrow we are doing a gel transfer on our cakes! Eeeep!

November Challenge at Scrap Our Stash

First and foremost - make sure you check out the Scrap Our Stash blog to see my original post!

I have been super busy figuring out how to make friends out here in Ohio. I think I've found the answer...stalk anyone at work who even mentions any kind of craft until they finally agree to hang out with you! It's this kind of resolve that has resulted in a couple of good opportunities to hang out with some new people and impersonate a socially functional person!

Most of the time though, I hang out at home with the hubby and spend a lot of time baking. Why baking? 1) I love to bake! 2) My craft area has been a disaster ever since we moved to Ohio! It was clean once, then I started going through our remaining boxes from the move and giving things away on FreeCycle. It turns out that my craft desk is the dumping ground for the few items we're keeping. Well, it's finally clean now, errr, was clean! I got it all prettied up just in time to catch a glimpse of Sketch 3 over at SOS! It all went downhill from there!

Here's the lo (It's a Disney one! Woo hoo!) and all the deets from the original post:

When I saw the sketches, I knew that I had the perfect moment to scrapbook! These three photos are from our trip to Disneyworld in February and I fell in love with the castle. (Unfortunately, I don't think the hubby would like a book filled with castle layouts!) I knew I needed to make it into an 8x8 which is why I modified the number of images, but there was something else that struck me.

While creating this layout I just knew that I was going to need the perfect "Thickers" to give my title the right emphasis...so, I made my own! I Used a previous Frugal Friday tip that drew me to the SOS Blog! I chose my favorite magical feeling font (It's a Sizzix font called Sunset) and some fun, silver, glittery, self-adhesive foam and created a custom title for my page. The remaining elements are cut from self-adhesive metal that I colored using my Copic markers. In the end, I ended up with a truly homemade, cost effective, memory capturing page! Perfect for someone who just received their first student loan bill in the mail, no?


If you haven't had a chance yet, pull out those crafty supplies and play! There's plenty of time to get in on the November challenge!

A long, long time ago...

I can still remember... when I used to craft all the time! Hahahaha!

I made this tag way back when Claire first announced the tag challenge and I'm just now posting it. Things have been quiet on the blog front for a while now because I've been working on Christmas cards and presents. While that means my blog suffers, I think it's a hit I'm willing to take right now. For the sake of meeting new people though, I may just have to go to another crop...and post more! :D
So here's my WMS inspired elegant tag.

Can you pick out the WMS stamp sets I used? There are two and I'm betting Laurie can pick them out. I was thinking that this tag would be excellent for a secret santa gift at work but I'm not sure how that will work since (a) my coworkers all have this blog address and (2) I don't think this particular group of people are going to be game for doing a gift exchange. Maybe I'll have to be a little more sneaky!

Thanks again for the challenge Claire!

'thx' for that!

Today is my dad's last day as a 49 year old. Tomorrow, he will be 50! So this is a short post just to show off my first acetate card before I hop on a plane to go see my folks! (I'll post my dad's birthday card when I get back! It has fishing lures on it!!) So here's my card for this week's Get Sketchy Thursday Challenge, and  I changed it up a little! I hope you like it! Have a great week and I'll post the winner of my candy when I get back!

SOS August Challenge

I hope you came my way from the Scrap Our Stash blog (if you didn't, you should definitely check out what's going on over there!) I made this card for my bestie and I hope she really likes it. It features a great sentiment stamp from one of my favorite stamp companies: Waltzingmouse Stamps! I also used this week's Tuesday Morning Sketch for some inspiration!  The tricky part wasn't the crochet flowers or chain. It wasn't matching the purples or cutting the paper. It was getting the darn metallic Staz-on ink to stamp right. I've never used this stuff before, but I really like it...now that I've spent hours practicing on scrap paper with it! You can't really tell, but the paper that it's stamped on is mirrored and purple, I think it came out quite nice in real life!
This is the part where it pays to read through all of my ramblings! If you read this thing regularly, you know that I said my SOS post would be sweet, and it is! I have a stamp set to give away! I was at a store this week and I saw this Basic Grey stamp set and thought to myself - a set with flowers, what a perfect giveaway! So, here's the deal: post a comment about your favorite stamping technique/brand/ink/paper/etc and become a follower by September 1 at 12:00 am eastern time to be entered into the random drawing. EXTRA BONUS: Post again if submitted anything for the August SOS Challenge to get a bonus entry (This is open to Design Team members)!

Merry Christmas...again!

So, I was over at Claire's blog today and I saw that there was a WMS Challenge Blog. Ok, I knew that it had existed but I never really paid much attention to it. Until today. When I saw Claire's post about free stamps, I thought "eh, I never win anyway" but then I saw the sketch.
Oh, the sketch. I love the sketch. I was super inspired by the sketch. And yes, this is a very simple project, but I now feel ready to tackle Christmas. Oh, yeah!
It was one of those easy nights for crafting. :) You know those days when you have a vision and you know which paper you'll use and where the heck everything is! Long story short, I chose to use the sketch to make this cutie of a tag. Can you guess what the family and friends that are now smattered across the country are getting for Christmas? Thanks, Claire! (Oh, and who am I kidding...winning would be AWESOME!)

A little color and a little sketch

I've been in a really crafty mood lately, it's resulted in all sorts of cards for my friends (this being one of them). I took the colors from the SPCC Challenge  and matched them up with the sketch at Get Sketchy and created this card for my shoe junkie friend. I'm getting more and more into paper piecing but I'm just not all the way there yet.As per usual, my card is super simple. I may *consider* something a little more "fully-loaded" next time. I'm just not so sure about that whole arena of cardmaking...or scrapbooking! This card has SU stamps and ink, colored with Copic Sketch markers, and Bazzil paper. And it wouldn't be my card if the button and ribbon weren't from Goodwill! (I have to find a new one now that I've moved!) BTW - You will want to keep an eye out for my SOS post, I'm sure it'll be "sweet"!

Hi, my life is crazy! I'm sure yours is too!

In case you were wondering, I did finally make it to Ohio. We unpacked the essentials, bought furniture from Craigslist and IKEA, went grocery shopping, and then I left for training in Jersey City, NJ. Apparently my life is full of craziness and I'm not allowed to live anywhere for more than 2 weeks now. Oh, did I mention we're about to fly back to Montana too? Yeah, really crazy life around here. And I'm pretty sure that a cold in August is really considered the plague. So I guess I'm just spreading the plague around the country, thanks NJ! :P I guess I could spread some love instead!
In all of the craze I forgot to post my winner for the blog hop in July. So hopefully Michele sees this post and gets back to me because her special something is all bundled up and waiting to be addressed! Are you there Michele? This is what she had to say about my post:

Michele's Scrapy Creations said...
I love ornament! I just became your follower! Thank for the idea!

Of course, no post is complete without a project! I have a special card for you that is going to a special friend and it's for a challenge site that I hold dear to my heart. Yeah, that's right, this card is for the Technique challenge this week at Tuesday Morning Sketches. I'll give you more pics and details once she gets the card. :) Hope you like it!

PS - This is from the June Swapping Sisters stash...I have no idea where July is...

I want to wish you a very merry SOS Christmas in July!

I'd like to welcome you to the very first Scrap Our Stash blog hop.It's Christmas in July and I'd like to share with you my creation. Please start at the beginning if you stumbled upon my blog today and there is a list at the bottom of this post if you need to start over! I chose to make this very versatile ornament which I actually made on the way to Ohio! I wanted to make something that reminded me of Christmas at home. So, using these supplies:

I made this ornament:

It's a super easy ornament and I chose to make mine out of Christmas themed paper. However, once I get to Ohio, I'll be making a set out of photos that I can send home to the folks. Thanks to mom for showing me how to make these! Hope you're having a very merry Christmas in July! Just to make it a little more merry, I'll be doing a random drawing for you to win a special gift all you have to do is become a follower and leave a comment. I'll close my drawing at midnight (eastern time) on Sunday.

I bet you're looking for something else though. I bet you are looking for my secret word! My word is "and" and here are the details! If you visit all the blogs in the order given - you will have the complete phrase.   Send an email to scrappinpsycho@live.com with the secret phrase (all words must be in the correct order).  At the conclusion of the blog hop - a lucky winner will be drawn from  all the correct phrases, and will be awarded  the GRAND PRIZE, an assorted array of Scrapbooking supplies from several of our Design Team Members. 

Your Next  hop will be to Design Team Member Laurie's blog. She will provide you with your last word.

Here's the list:

Scrap Our Stash Blog

Joni

Rachel

Angie

Wendy

Kimmarie

Amy

Christy

Tere

Ren-Yi

Monica

Kathy

Brittney

Stephanie (that's me)

Laurie

A very short, very belated post...and a winner!

I've been busy lately. We're moving out of the house so the renters can take up residence before we leave for Ohio. Before we move back in with the folks/move into the dorms (the Hubby's going with his folks and I'm going to be an RA for the summer) we've decided to go on a little road trip. However, I know that I need to post an update before I disappear on the beach for the rest of the week.
My blog candy winner is Ren-Yi Lo! Coincidentally, her card ended up earning her a guest design team member spot with Scrap Our Stash! Congrats! (Please email me when you decide which WMS stamp set you want!)
Next bit of news: I'm applying for Samantha Strachan's new design team! Wish me lots of luck, and I'll let you know how it goes!
I'll leave you with my rules of (this) road trip:
If you realize you forgot something, you must laugh. There's no point in getting mad anyway! :)
Physics makes a great drinking topic, especially with a couple of physics majors!
The rain is not an excuse, you must still get out of the car...and you won't melt!
Forget about everything that you didn't do at home before you left. (I can't pack from Oregon anyway!)
Have fun & take lots of photos! (I'll be scrappin' this when I get back!)

I'll be back with another post after we return from our trip on June 13! Happy Monday!

This is SO much better than packing!

I just can't seem to have one of those lives where I literally have nothing to do. Now that graduation is over I have to start packing and getting ready to move. Actually, I have to pack for move #1, there will be 4 moves for me in the next two months. Oh, joy. So, as you can see, I have plenty to do. However, I have lots of commenting on blogs to do and I am in need of some wedding cards. Guess that means I have to do some crafting and take a break. WOO HOO!
I have a couple of graduation scrapbook pages coming your way but since it's wedding season, I thought I would entertain you with this pretty blue card I made for Paper Play Challenge Week 20,
Tuesday Morning Sketches #47, and most importantly, my friends Charmaine and Dustin who are getting married in June. I even made a super envelope using the snazzy scoring board that Molli bought me for my birthday! (And it's lined too!)

DON'T FORGET! You need a new set of WMS' stamps and I'm giving one away! Scroll down to the May 17th post for details on how to win!

A little extension...

I'll be closing my giveaway Friday, May 28 so that more people can play. My buddies Belinda and Ren-Yi have put the challenge out there to their follower and I hope a see a few more people! (Also, I'm doing a random drawing so don't feel like you have to compete!) Go on, see what "outside the box" is for you, or check out the awesome sketch at Scrap Our Stash. Hope you can play!

Waltzingmouse Stamps' Beautiful Birthday Blog Waltz!

* Fair warning, this is a long post. I think it's worth reading about the giveaway and at least there's a pretty card at the end! *

Welcome to my lengthy post for the Waltzingmouse Stamps' (WMS) May Blog Waltz. This month is both WMS' and my birthday and I have quite the birthday present for you! It's been 6 weeks since I've blogged. (It hasn't been quite that long since I crafted, check out Scrap Our Stash to see some of my other projects!) A lot has happened in 6 weeks, let me fill you in:
- I missed the April WMS Blog Waltz, and I was sad for days. :(
- I became a Guest Design Team Member at Scrap Our Stash
- I *successfully* defended my thesis
- I had a birthday on May 1!
- I was denied a margarita...and then got it for free (<- Critically important after a thesis defense!)
- I ran in the Montana Women's Run with my best friend and my new B-Squad mom!
- I graduated from college with my 2 bachelor degrees and my masters degree
- I said goodbye for the last time to some dear friends
- I accepted a job offer that will take me to Columbus, Ohio in July
- I went through my craft stuff and I have decided to sell almost 1/2 of it!
Those are just the highlights! A lot has happened and I've decided that I will be giving away some goodness as a way to celebrate!
Here's how to play along:
1) You must become a follower of my blog
2) You must go to Scrap Our Stash and submit something for either one of the May challenges (There's a sketch and theme challenge)
2.5) If you use WMS Stamps, you'll get 2 entries!
3) You must comment on this post with a link to your blog post!
What will you win?
You will get a Fiskars Stamp Press and the WMS Set of your choice! This is a rather large prize (especially for any of my stateside followers) and I want a ton of people to participate so, I'll leave this open until May 24!
You're probably wondering what I did for this Blog Waltz, huh? Here's my card!

I used the Labels 5 set, and some inspiration from WMS Makers' blog to make this lovely birthday card! It's a birthday card for my bestest friend! Her birthday is today and I didn't mail the card. I may just have to deliver it myself! *wink, wink* (Hi Molli!) The card is made with papers that Belinda sent to me as part of our Swappin' Sistahs challenge and a piece of copper metal sheet. I embossed the words and frame so that they stood out better on the patterned paper. If I were to submit this as my "outside the box" card at Scrap Our Stash I would have to say that using the metal sheet and the flowers-on-a-pin as something I always see but never use. In case you're wondering the card is a little mini 4 x 4 card and I'm thinking it needs a matching envelope. Back to my craft area now!
For those who are Waltzing with WMS and stumbled on my blog, go check out the WMS Forum or Claire's Blog for all of the links to the other participants' blogs!

You have to see this paper...

"...it's made out of wood!" Those were the first words out of my mouth to my dear friend Molli when I saw the paper that I used on this card. Her response, "isn't all paper made out of wood?" And my quick retaliation, "yeah, but you can tell with this paper!"

So, I'm a little rediculous! It just so happens that I'm not alone because my dear hubby thought that the paper was pretty freakin' sweet too. Then again, I was making him hang out in a scrapbook store during his 4 day Florida vacation! (This was prearranged, I did a lot of research before I finally decided to go here!) Anywho, I decided that I was not brave enough to be "trendy" alone so, I picked up a couple of sheets and brought them back to Montana. This Florida paper was sent to both coasts and I'm pretty sure I heard Laurie say "wood, really?" when she opened the envelope. Normally, for our swaps we send each other paper and embellies. I chose to send paper and a sketch. Without further ado, here's a bit about what I made for this month's swap card!

I used the wood paper to stamp the sentiment, Olivia the owl, and her branch from Sweet 'n Sassy stamps. The ink is Stampin' Up black and I used my green copic marker on the acrylic dots in the corner. I used Gamsol (I don't actually used Gamsol. I use generic odorless mineral spirits also called artist quality turpenoid. However, people generally know what Gamsol is and it's less to type!) and my trusty Crayola twist up colored pencils on Olivia and the leaves. Olivia is stamped on some Bazzill white cardstock and the leaves are stamped on the wood paper. I cut out the colored leaveds and popped them up. Inside the card says "Good for you!" and I think I know just who I'll be sending this card to! I think I'm going to try a new challenge blog too. It is April Fool's day and since I was the butt of one joke today I think I'll take advantage of the special twist in this challenge!

Do you have any tips for using wood paper? Thoughts? Ideas? (I'm not a fan of blog candy...only because I never win it but if you actually follow me and comment...I may be inclined to perform a RAK!)

Blogger is a jerk!

I don't know what happened but apparently Blogger ate all of my images. I'll check back this afternoon and if they haven't reappeared, I'll reload them this evening. Hope you had fun reading my grumbly rumbly!

Waltzingmouse and Stamping Around - A challenge made in heaven!

(This is my second post of the day. To see my TMS submission, please click here.)

I'm on my way to a 1-year-old's birthday party. (I made this piggy bank for her birthday.) To make it a bit easier to handle this adventure I got a bit crafty this morning. I used the Stamping Around Inspiration challenge as, well, my inspiration. I picked up the pretty colors and the stacked plates as elements in my card. To be honest, I am pretty excited about this card because it is pretty different from the cards I normally make. I was inspired by the Raise The Bar challenge to mix it up...and I did! I actually sewed. More than that, I sewed beads onto the card. This is my first experience with Gamsol and colored pencils too. All in all, I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out.

A Hallmark Holiday and a Tuesday Morning Sketch

So, I don't make cards for people. Well, I make cards and give them to people, but I don't make cards for people to give away to other people...this is confusing. I don't make cards for hire. But when my mom asked me to make cards for "provider's day" I caved like a piece of limp celery and found myself struggling to make something. I wanted it to be simple and durable because they were going to be passed around the office for signatures but, I didn't want them to look like I just slapped it all together. So I picked a sketch (Tuesday Morning Sketches #38) and got to work. I made three cards and gave myself heartburn. I'd say "never again" but I know I'll give in to my mom again!

SRM Stickers has inspired me...

...to make a baby card! First of all, I'd like to thank Get Sketchy for introducing me to SRM Stickers. Secondly, I'd like to thank SRM for making an incredible line of stickers that I REALLY want. In fact, I want them enough to make a baby card! *Gasp!* So, for any of you who know me well, you know that I'm not going to have kids until after the hubby and I go to Europe on vacation. (That same group of people also knows that I'm about to graduate with 6 years' worth of student loans coming due in November!) So, pretty much what I'm saying is that I'm not having kids any time even remotely considered soon...or so I hope! But my friends are...
So, I made this card for the next happy lady that I know who happens to become impregnated with a female form of these so called "babies." (Can you see why I'm not all gung-ho for my own yet?) I had a lot of fun making this card though. It gave me a chance to try my hand at faux stitching...and then covering it up! Which lead to my first experience with Stickles...and if you give a Stephanie a cookie...
Anyway, I used letter stickers for the first time in ages. And I used a new trick I picked up a few Frugal Fridays ago on the Scrap Our Stash blog (the base card is from the packaging for the stickers)! I used this week's Get Sketchy Sketch #30 (and blog hop EXTRAVAGANZA!) for the layout of my mini card. Well, it was a 4x4 mini card until I saw the packaging for the stickers and then it turned into a 4 3/4 x 4 3/4 card! I'm still claiming it's a mini! Hope you like it. I'm going to go practice saying "your baby is so cute" for a while, I've got at least 9 months with most of my friends! ;)

A good way to say I *heart* you!

So, not too long ago I got some pretty roses and a card from the hubster. Also, not too long ago, I was in my LSS and I saw a set of stickers that I just had to have. (I'm getting somewhere, stick with me!) Last night, while the hubster was riding away on the exercise bike I snuck away to my craft cave and made this sweet card for him. A little background - this summer I went to the SF Museum Of Modern Art and I saw the famous Robert Indiana "LOVE" painting. I fell in love! Does that explain why I just had to have these stickers?
Enough with the sappiness, here's the scoop on the card. It's for 2 challenges, the March Scrap Our Stash challenge and this week's Die Cuts R Us challenge it's a recipe - 3 jewels/buttons, ribbon, 2 die cuts, and one stamped image.
I used my (old) first set of Nesties (labels 3) to make my two die cuts and couldn't keep my hands off of the fuzzy flocked paper in one of the (new) DCWV stacks I got for Christmas (Downtown Loft). I pulled the shades of brown from my (old) stash of cardstock and did the same with the ribbon. The stamp is from the drawer of doom (aka - clear stamps without backing live there) and I used Al A Carte embossing powder. My jewels/buttons are, in fact, jewels but you can't see them very well in this photo. There is a pretty heart one on the LOVE sticker and two little round ones accenting the embossed swirly. As you can see, I still can't tie a bow...but that knot is HOT!
PS - I took this photo in my liquor cabinet....I don't drink much but I drink well! :)

And now for something a little different!

The Tuesday Morning Sketch this week is actually a challenge to make something other than a card. Of course, once I figured out what I was making, I had to make a card to go with it. :) Here it is, Serena's first birthday gift!

What is it? It's a piggy bank! This however is the point where I've been instructed to "step away from the laptop if you want to go to Michaels." So, I'll be finishing this post from the road! :)
 Unfortunately, my new phone didn't play well with Blogger so, I'm finishing this post now. Here's the run down on the project. The jar is a pickle jar that I wrapped in My Mind's Eye butterfly patterned paper. I used this week's Frugal Friday tip from Scrap Our Stash to make my own "Thickers" from foam that I've had FOREVER, an alphabet that I bought on clearance, and my favorite Distress Ink pad, Worn Lipstick. This is the first time I have ever used my perfect pearls too, a little interesting but it seemed to really make the card and jar match. I am not going to lie, I really liked this project because I used a hammer, a nail, and a power drill to make the hole in the lid. Too much fun!
For those who asked - I bought some memory glass, a Weathered Wood Distress Ink pad, and a couple of other small things. Unfortunately, I have to drive 80 miles one way to go to the nearest Michaels so, it also meant a trip to Costco, Ross, the mall, and dinner with a friend. It's always fun to go with the hubby! He's a pretty great guy!

A sweet bit of Irish for you!

 

Welcome to the St. Patrick's Day blog hop with Waltzingmouse Stamps! I'm happy to be bringing you my card for this hop. Last hop, I brought you WMS's first digi templates and this time I'm using WMS's first digi stamps! Thanks, Claire! I used a bit of inspiration from CPS Sketch #55 and the supplies from our Swappin' Sistah's swap. (Thanks, Laurie!) For the first time, I actually used some Aidirondack Alcohol Inks on one of my cards. I also kind of wish that I had ironed my ribbon! :) Thanks for joining me on this hop and here are the details for following the rest of the hop!

(Details below have been"stolen" straight from Claire's blog here)

Here's how to follow the hop - pop on over to the WMS Forum here and register if you haven't already, it takes just a sec and they don't ask any awkward questions, lol.

Go to the 'Play Room' and you will see the March blog hop posts, one is a list of participants and the other is a thread for chat and the Leprechaun hunt!!!

The Leprechaun Hunt!
As you work your way through the hop you will see that the DT ladies are participating, check the DT photos very carefully, if you see any leprechauns, note them and count them all up. Post your Leprechaun tally in the chat thread that accompanies the hop list and I will pick a random winner from the correct answers to win a free Stamp set of your choice, Claire will pick the winner on Saturday night!!!

Now, happy hopping, remember the master blog list is in the forum here.

Wow! That was hard!

So, I found this challenge blog.
It's a movie challenge blog.
It hurt my brain.
I like the torture! :)
This week's challenge on Cinema Saturday is to do a card/layout based on the movie "Dear Frankie" and using a map. I did it! I used red as the background for the layout because when I watched the trailer it was the one color that stood out time and time again! Also, the map is recycled out of a NYC Guide Book, perfect for the Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge LAST WEEK. Oops! But it does work for this week's Pollycraft Challenge of sparkly things. Yay for glitter!
It was hard for me to get everything about two Broadway shows onto the two 8x8 spread but I think it turned out well. I was going to use a tiny clothes pin to hold all of our tickets but I decided that a pocket would be better because it would allow me to do some journaling on the pages. I can't believe that I've gone from hating journaling to making it an essential part of my scrapbook layouts! Oh, I'd also like to note that I did TWO pages in March! Woot!

A quick post to kick off spring break!

I'm coming in under the wire on this one but I just wanted to share this card that I made for Stampin' Around's color challenge. The colors were sugar pink, pale yellow, pale green, and a neutral such as kraft or white. This card is for a couple of other challenges but I am up way past my bedtime (I was up at 4 am for work today) and I need some sleep. I'll finish the post tomorrow. Maybe I'll also learn more about procrastination...nah, another day! Oh, yeah, I almost forgot! It's spring break! I'm free! (For a few days anyway!) Have a great night!

February Scrapbook Page

Ok, this is the last post today, I promise! I also promise myself that every month I would do at least one scrapbook page. Yes, I know that others do one page a week but I should really be focusing on school and not doing any! :P So, I did this layout for my 2009 NY Marathon scrapbook and I used the Tuesday Morning Sketches' colors and ten lacing brads for the Scrap Our Stash 10 for '10 challenge. This is the first time I've ever done any journaling on a page and the first time I've ever had a scrapbook page all laid out in my head before I laid it out on paper. In fact, I took this photo of my shoe when I took off the real shoelaces to retrieve my d-tag from my shoe. This is an 8x8 page so that shoe isn't 10 inches tall it's more like 6. :) That's pretty close to real life which goes pretty well with the real d-tag (BTW - the d-tag is the timing device that they use for making sure that people actually run the race and to get an official finish time) and the real color of the laces. The TMS colors this week are chocolate chip, vanilla, and light orange. I did pretty well with the vanilla and chocolate chip but deviated a little bit with the light orange. See, the shoe laces that I actually wore on my shoes were BRIGHT orange and matched the d-tag. So, I'm sorry Melissa, I hope you understand! :)

Scrap our stash 10 for '10 - Easel Card

So, I'm on a bit of a post streak today even though I'm not "supposed" to be working on crafty stuff! I am killing 2 birds with one stone with this card, (1) It's a b-day card for our girly swap and (2) I used 10 stars on the card which met the Scrap Our Stash February challenge. The stamps that I used are the rocket and stars from the robot set that Laurie brought me from California at Christmastime. This is the first easel card I've ever made and let me tell you it was super simple. I cut a piece of  paper 4" wide from a 12x12 sheet of cardstock. Then I scored it a 4" and 8" and folded them in. Then I scored the middle 4x4 square at 2 inches. I glued the top two inches to the back of the card front and then did a lot of creasing of the scored folds. I feel like I either need to find someone else's tutorial to show you or I need to make another card and make my own tutorial. Ok, I'm going for option #2. See you after Orlando! :)

Scrap our stash - Spring Cleaning!

After reading the Scrap Our Stash challenge blog, I decided to take part in their spring cleaning challenge. This is a quick post just to show off my DISASTER of a crafty area. Once I took the picture I had to clean it up. I think I'll let you look at this mess for a while before I post the "after" photos.

Room details:

Location: My basement

Flat surfaces: 4 - two computer desks, one table that was formerly a bar, and the empty keboard tray on one of the desks

Shelves - two corner shelves and a printer stand (that is exactly 12 inches wide!)

Drawers - Three stacks but only one is 12x12 friendly. :(

Junk - Yes, did you look at the photo?

Silhouettes of a crafty hiatus

Here's a card using something old (Bazzil Basics black stock), something new (Dream Silhouettes stamp from Sweet n' sassy stamps), something borrowed (Stampin' UP Sentiment that I borrowed from Molli), something blue (ribbon from stash). No, the card's not getting married but it is serving as an important messager. Unfortunately, one of my friends is grieving over the unexpected death of her father and since I live so far away I'm sending her this card.

The embossing powder is such a dark blue, that it looks black. It works anyway. :) Also, I have a pretty heavy hand on the stamp so the bottom two lines aren't as crisp as they could be. I'm working on that.

Even though I claim to be on a crafty challenge hiatus this card is for:

• Get Sketchy #27
• Raise the bar #7
• Cute Card Thursday #101

Hope you enjoy my poor attempt at a hiatus!

Card details:

Paper - Black by Bazzil, Salmon adhesive cardstock by DCWV, Striped pattern by My Mind's Eye

Stuff from my stash - Ribbon, Buttons, Flowers

Stamps - Sentiment from Stampin' UP and Dream Silhouettes from  Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps

Embossing Powder - Mettalic blue from Ala Mode

Waltzingmouse Stamps Customer Blog Hop (AKA - My very first blog hop!)

Welcome! This is my very first blog hop and I'm super excited! I hope this is just the beginning for me! :) (Ok, I'm a bit excited right now! :D ) You should have come here from Julee's blog and if you've just stumbled on my blog today, you'll want to start from the beginning at the Waltzingmouse Stamps blog. Because I'm across the pond from Waltzingmouse Stamps and still lusting after a set from Claire's awesome collection, (my next set of stamps will be from Waltzingmouse Stamps though! Right, hubby?) I am very happy to be sharing with you Waltzingmouse Stamps' first digital templates. I hear that digital stamps may be next! Yay!

On to the project! I used the super cute Spring Basket Template both ways (tall and short) to make a basket and a "vase" for Easter. I let the hubster pick out the colors and I'm sure by the time he reads this he'll already know why! (Hi, honey!)
For both of these, I used whitecore pastel cardstock from DCWV and did all of my decorative trimming with a scallop blade in my Fiskars rotary trimmer.  For the handle on the short basket I used a blue piece with an "inverse scallop" on top of a normal scalloped yellow piece. For this project, I started with 12 x 12 paper and trimmed it to 11 x 8.5. I used the trimmings to make my handles. Each handle is 1 inch wide and 10-12 inches long. I should also mention that I broke the rules a little and folded over the liner so that the little basket had a flat edge with contrasting scallops on the outside panels. (This involved a teensy bit of trimming and some engineering with the handle.) Apparently, I can't follow a template any better than I can follow a sketch which is how my tall basket turned into a short vase.
I feel inclined to share how I made my basket into a vase. So, here's what you need to do - put your basket completely together except for the liner. (We'll get to that later.) Take a very sharp craft knife and cut across the base of the "basket" piece (you should end up with 6 flaps where you had a solid basket. Using sticky dots or glue glue each of the flaps to the inside of the "shaft". Attach the handle. Next, you can either glue in the liner and do the same cutting process or you can cut it into 6 pieces before gluing it into the basket and the shaft. Next, you need to decide if you will be using fresh flowers or silk flowers. If you are using fresh flowers you can cut a sandwich baggie in half (so that it's short) to wrap the stems in (to protect the paper) and then place them into the vase. Voila!
Thanks for joining me on this magical hop adventure. Next, up is Tamara and don't forget that you can always check out what's going on at the Waltzingmouse Stamps Blog!

One last challenge post before I go!

I have to go back to school tomorrow and between school, work, two onsite interviews in the next week, I just don't see much crafty time in my immediate future. Ok, really, I just don't have a good enough reason to make crafty time this week...yes, I'm still on about DT calls. :D I had a lot of fun making this card because anytime I use a manual eyelet setter the dog goes bonkers running around the basement! (I couldn't get my Big Bite to set the eyelets properly. :( ) Here's the scoop on this card it's for a couple of new challenges and another Get Sketchy Challenge.

• 
  
  TCP Tuesday #97 Color Challenge - Olive, light blue, ivory
• Get Sketchy #26 - Sketch
• Cute Card Thursday - Challenge 100 Metal Mania!

I don't know what got into me, but I decided that the card needed to open a bit differently. It swings open by the metal brad in the upper left corner. This was initially going to be a birthday card with a donut in the middle but blue and green donuts didn't really look all that appealing. *yuck!* Instead I inked up my coffee set from Skipping Stones and played a bit with my blue embossing powder and glitter pen. I tried some distressing of sorts with a craft knife to change the look of the cup. I like how the cup turned out and I'm glad that the card looks good all together. However, I'm a little annoyed that I put two smudges on the card after spending  hours on the thing. Argh!

Details:

Paper - Solids from stash
Embellishments - Blue Sticky Ribbon thing from Michael's Clearance bin (but from an unmarked package)
Eyelets - K&Company
Stamps - Skipping Stones' Funny Coffee Vol. 1

Swappin' Sistahs...a little late this time!

So, I am kind of late with this post and I'm also late getting to a meeting right now. I'm making this one quick. Which is quite ironic considering how many hours I spent working on this thing!

Also, my brads may or may not match. I had to buy new heart ones...only the dog and my cats know where the ones Ren-Yi sent are.

Ok, so today's going to be one of those days. I've already written out this post twice and it won't save. So, I'm just going to say that the inspiration came from a TCP Tuesday Inspiration Challenge and to answer Laurie's question - this is how the card opens:

I'll update this post properly when I'm not at work and not angry. Argh!