Swappin' Sistahs Card Swap - My turn for torture!

Note: We have a "name" now - we are the Swappin' Sistahs. I'll try to add this into my post titles from now on! :)

It was my turn to send the supplies this month so I headed to my LSS and picked up 2 SEI sets of paper and embelishments. I was the December sender (he he, that rhymes!) so the ladies got some extra supplies as a cheery holiday surprise!

I made two cards! Up first is this one - I used paper and acrylic brads from the SEI Winter Song collection and a stamp from the G Studio (AKA Michaels $1 bin). The scalloped edge comes from the special blade I picked up for my Fiskars rotary paper cutter. Even though I plunked down $40+ for a nice Purple Cows Cutting set (the freestyle mouse) I still prefer my rotary cutter. It probably has something to do with my poor dexterity and obsession with straight cuts! ;)

You might notice that I actually layered my card. Impressive, no? I used my new Cuttlebug die to cut out the intricate squares and made them into stickers...using the Xyron Create a Sticker 250 this time. :P While the paper is part of a Christmas collection, I really don't feel like the card is overly Christmassy. Thoughts?

The second card is also a thank you card, noticing a theme yet? The card uses paper and embellishments from SEI's Moravia collection which also came from my LSS. I actually had a dream that lead to this layout. (Don't ask, it's better that way!) I resisted the urge to put this on a solid background and went with the "subtle" pp approach. It's not too patterny and it seems to ground the lines under the copper panels well.

With the exception of the G Studio stamps (again, Michael's $1 bin) and embossing powder, I didn't add anything from my collection. I did cheat a little though. I used ribbon that I had from the Moravia set...but not ribbon that I sent out to everyone. Is that really cheating though? :) Also, I'm admitting to a cover-up mission. The oh, so, cute button embellishment is covering my crappy stamping/embossing job on the Thank you image, where there were supposed to be flowers there were roundish blobs. But I meant to do that! ;)

Hope you enjoyed my cards now head on over to the others' blogs so you can see their wonderful creations!

Belinda

Ren-Yi

Laurie

This month is Ren-Yi's turn to send out supplies and I can't wait to see what she's going to challenge us with!

The Wedding Scrapper - Part Deux

As promised, here's the rest of the wedding scrapbook for Miss Jen. The title page features an 8x10 of my favorite wedding photo and uses all of the colors from the scrapbook. I kind of thought the book needed to begin on the same level that it ended on so I titled the page "Our Wedding". (For the record - All of the embellishments are from K & Company and all of the Vellum quotes are from Colorbok.)

Then we have the card I made for the pocket. I wanted it to match the book which meant it needed to be (1) simple, (b) in the same color spectrum, and (4) use the same set of embellishments (if any). (<- Sorry, that's a terrible reference to Home Alone...I apologize!). However, my rules didn't state that I couldn't go nuts and abuse my Sizzix! So, the "love" and <3 come from a Sizzix Bigz die, the blue base is from the labels 3 Nestabilities set, and the corners are from a Cuttlebug die. I couldn't help adding a little bling with the round gemstone from the K & Company embellishment from the album.

I used the sticker machine, again, to make the corners sticky. Which seems to have worked well. I kind of feel like it needed a little dimension but it's not bad the way it is. It's just kind of plain...oh, wait. In this case that works, and it's good! Woo hoo! I did something right!

On that note, I'm out of here! Have a happy Friday! Find yourself a date and get some love! ;)

We "owl" wish you a happy birthday!

This week, I found another obsession - Skipping Stones Design. They had a blog hop earlier this week and just opened their store. I wanted some of their super awesome stamps pretty bad but, Christmas left me broke so, I just used their Card Sketch 2.
The details --
     I used the 1/4 inch corner rounder on my Crop-a-dile Corner Chomper for all of the rounded corners. The balloon, hat, present, and Olivia the Owl are all cut out from the Owl Celebrations set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. I used foam sitckies to raise the hat, balloon (but not the string), and the whole "Happy Birthday" section off of the cream base. I colored the stamps with my black Copic markers and assorted Marvy Brush Markers. The plaid and blue papers are from Die Cuts With A View and the Cream cardstock is from the Paper Factory. Being the queen of thrift, you can guess where the buttons came from. That's right - Goodwill! Best $7 giant bag of crafty stuff ever! I accented the Happy Birthday stamp, from Making Memories, with my Clear Star Gelly Roll pen. Yay, glitter!
It's a pretty darn cute card. I must say, I'm liking all of this time I have right now for crafting. :) Enjoy!
Check out the Skipping Stones designer that inspired me to make this card - http://scraptasticvoyage.blogspot.com/2010/01/tuesday-alreadyand-blog-hop.html

A wedding present: a little early and a little late, all at once

My friend Jen got married in September and I (along with a friend) took photos for the wedding. Her very late but oddly early wedding/anniversary gift is this scrapbook. I will be giving it to her tomorrow, I let you know what she says about it.

Anywho, I'm being lazy, so this is just going to be a picture post with some assorted commentary from me (aka, the peanut gallery)! (Please note, the book is missing a front page and a card. Both will be completed when I get the photos I ordered after work. Look for another post in a day or two!)

Jacob & Jennifer McCulloch

10 September 2009

Each section is color coordinated: Ceremony, Formals, Portraits, Flowers, Reception 

 

It's a little odd but, I felt like titling the family page...don't ask why!

Also, please note that I am merely an accesory to the assault of the bride in the spread above!

With the spreads on the left, above an below, I started to play with 2 pages that "go" together.

I like these 4 pages the best! (Plus I finally used some of the ribbon that I bought for invitations in July!)

While the flower page on the right (above) does have bling, you could tell that I was at a loss for layouts at this point. Oh, well. There has to be a "least favorite" part of every project!

On the left, we have photos from the micro-reception and subsequent car painting. And finally, I had a blank page...so, I filled it. Since I already gave the bride all of the pictures on a thumb drive, I figured that I would use the CD slot/envelope/thingy to put in a handmade card that matches.

There it is. 19 pages of "simple elegance". If you had any knowledge of the planning phase of the wedding you would totally understand the reasoning behind the super "plain" pages. I like to think of it as "clean" since I'm not one to go gaga over a 1 lb. scrapbook page! :) Oh, and before you ask - the album is in black and white because the two cameras used were not shooting in the same color profile...oops!

Copics, a pepper, and glitter on my man's card

Poor guy...I don't have the decency, or restraint, that Belinda and Laurie have when it comes to making masculine cards, well, masculine. The only thing manly about my hubby's v-day card is...well, there's red on it...

I mean, seriously, it's for Valentine's Day! How manly is the holiday in the first place? On to the card!

This is another one of those "I'm a n00b" type of posts. This it the first time using:

 - Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps (Punny fruits and vegetables)

 - Copic markers

 - my Xyron 150 sticker maker

 - a knot instead of a bow

 - paper from Target

 - a Cuttlebug embossing folder in my Sizzix BigShot (Spots and Dots)

 - a real easel to hold up my card

You see, I'm a total n00b!

I think the card turned out well even if I did use all of my Copics on this card! (Ok, I own these three!) They are actually really nice to color with, I'll be using these a lot! I also have an apple and pear that I can use from the Punny Fruits & Vegetables set! Oh, boy!

The only real problem I had was that the Cuttlebug folder cut out the Spots & Dots design instead of simply embossing it. I may need to review my "sandwich recipe". Oh, there was also a bit of "user error" with the 150 sticker maker. I didn't know which way was "face up." No, I wasn't at a crop. No, there's nothing wrong with my 250. Yes, I just wanted to play with the new toy that the hubby got me. For all of his caring and love, he got glittery hearts!

Enjoy the card and the artsy photo of my new markers...I think I'm in love! (Shh! Don't tell the hubby!) I'm braving the world of challenges again and submitting this for this week's A Spoon Full of Sugar Challenge. Wish me luck!