Another mini scrapbook

A friend of mine and fellow teacher share gifts at Christmas time and we both have January birthdays so I decided to make her a couple mini scrapbooks. So for Christmas I gave her a mini 'My Grand Cowboys' book and then for her birthday she received a mini 'My Grand Cowgirls' book. Her daughter has two boys and her son has three girls. I didn't even take the time to take pictures of the grand cowboys' book, but she is bringing it back so I can take pictures. It is set up similar to the grand cowgirls' book. I did take pictures of the girls book so here it is . . .

I don't know if you can see the shiny paper on the cover. I bought it at Hobby Lobby.

The inside cover has a pocket with the tag in it. Each page is made from 1/2 sheet of card stock.

The right side flap opens up . . .

to look like this. The large polka dots make a pocket and I stamped the lines for journaling.

 There is a vellum pocket that was run through the Big Shot and attached with gold brads.

 Here's a closer shot. Two tags were cut from the two tags die.

 The left side has a pocket and the right side you can place a photo under the ribbon.

 Here's the front tie of the ribbon and the back cover has the pocket with the "LOVE" tag.

 Here's the back cover with my signature.

I think she liked the mini scrapbook. I hope I get to see it when she is done adding pictures.

Life is a matter of moments.

Here's a simple card for you. I used the Elements of Style on the background of the soft suede card using soft suede ink. I've been trying to experiment with the flowers. This flower was made from the scallop layer from the Triple Layer punch. You cut a spiral shape around the scallop piece and roll it up on your paper piercer. Kind of hard to explain. There are all kinds of videos out there that would teach you. I did add a little two-way glue and some glitter on the tips of the flower. A little ribbon behind the flower, embossing the oval, adding a flag strip of designer series paper, a strip of vanilla card stock with brads along the bottom, and adding the sentiment finishes it up. Hope you like it.

Snowmen cards

Since I haven't posted for a while I thought I would put both of my snowmen (Holiday Lineup) cards on. They are based on kind of the same thing.

I used the spotlighting technique so I didn't have to color all of the snowmen. One thing I did learn from another demonstrator's blog was that the medium sized oval on the ovals die will cut out around the dotted edge of the oval embossing folder. Of course, I don't have the ovals die so that will go on my list. Cut the oval out of the card stock using the die and then with a little dotto tape to hold the oval in place on the oval embossing folder, run the embossing folder through the die. It seemed to work slick as could be. I can't wait to try it.

On both cards I used the Iridescent Ice. I used versa mark all over the snowmen, then applied the iridescent ice powder, and heated it up. It just sparkles! I used the color spritzer tool and markers to add a little something to the background. The sentiment is from the Elements of Style stamp set and used the scoring tool to get the banner effect. Hope you like them.

Best Wishes card

I'm getting behind here in my posts. The days just go by so fast. I finally finished a 11 1/2 minute community video after working on it every chance I could for the last three days. Anyway, I made up some cards over the weekend so I would have one to share each day this week, but just didn't get them posted. So here is another card . . .

I used the Mocha designer series paper, the oval embossing folder, the lacey edge punch, oval all words, and the extra large oval punch for the words. I've been wanting to figure out how to make my own flowers. I was satisfied with this flower. I've looked in Hobby Lobby and didn't really want to spend the money on flowers that would probably not really match the card I would be making so decided I needed to start experimenting with my own flowers. I used the circles die and I believe the 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" punches and snipped Vs around the edge of each circle. I sprayed the paper with water so that it is easy to pinch the paper together to create the texture. I opened the circles back up and layered them so that they would dry. The paper drys really hard and will keep this shape. I added a vintage brad and that's it. It really isn't raised up too much on the card, and I thought I could add some glitter or dazzling details too if I wanted. Hope you like it.

Thank you card

Loving the pinterest site for ideas. I masked above and below the color and just sponged starting with a light yellow and getting darker toward the right side. I used So Saffron, More Mustard, Cajun Craze, and just a little black Staz on. The sample used a wheat stamp, but this was as close as I could get. The stamp is from an old hostess set called Silhouette Sentiments. I tied some black grosgrain ribbon around the card and added the sentiment from the Upsy Daisy set "Thank you for your friendship."

Valentine treat holder

I believe this will be my other project for stamp club. It is using a matchbook style of card which will hold a fun size package of either m & m or skittles. The white cardstock measures 4 1/4 x 8". Randomly stamp the kiss stamp all over the card base. The S.W.A.K. single stamp is found in the IB & C pg. 20. Then score at 3", 3 1/2", and 7". Fold and staple about 1/4" at the bottom to make the bottom of the matchbook. You could decorate the front and inside however you wish. I used the Candy Conversation single stamp found in the Occasions Mini Catalog for the inside message and the heart punch works perfect with these hearts. I used the red glitter paper for the front hearts.

I didn't have pretty Valentine m & m packages, but at least you get the idea. Have a great day!

Valentine's Day card

I had a little time last night to put a card together. I decided I should start deciding what to make at the stamping clubs. I have the Chambers club going full force and will be starting a club in Ainsworth. I'm still deciding on what cards to make, but here is one that I'm thinking about.

I purchased the small heart punch from Stampin' Up, along with the Candy Conversation stamp, but they won't be delivered until Wednesday so I used an old heart stamp punch that I already had and punched the hearts out of vanilla card stock. I put different red papers behind the punched heart and then backed the square in cherry cobbler card stock. The words are from the Three Little Words stamp set and stamped using Soft Suede ink. I stamped 'i love you' in the middle of the card. The musical notes are from the standard wheel that I inked in Soft Suede. I took a sponge and shaded around the card. I just love the vintage, antique look. I have a couple other ideas to try so I'm not sure if this will be one of the sample cards yet or not for the stamp clubs. Probably won't get any stamping done tonight with basketball games at school all evening. I'm excited that my order should be delivered on Wednesday night. I'll pass along more ideas then.

What a great weekend! My family got together at a motel to celebrate our family Christmas. The weather cooperated and we enjoyed each others company.

Here's another card idea. Are you familiar with pinterest? Once you visit the site you'll be hooked. I can spend hours looking and I usually find something of interest every time I'm searching. I found this card idea from the site.

I masked the base so just the two inch area was showing. Using another mask piece, I used my brayer to form the hill. The clouds were made using a sponge and a template I had made from an old x-ray. The flowers are from the Inspired by Nature stamp set and the phrase was from the Love & Sympathy stamp set. The whole card is using the Soft Suede ink on vanilla card stock. It turned out exactly how I wanted it to.

A quick post to put this card on. I'm in a hurry so not much for words right now. Have a great weekend!

Calendar project

Maybe my schedule will get back to a routine now that the holidays are over. It was great to spend time with my family. We still aren't finished with Christmas. My side of the family is getting together this weekend. I did find time to craft. I still have been enjoying the mini scrapbooking and here is my latest project. It still isn't finished, but I wanted to post what I have so far. It's a flip calendar. The designer papers were from Hobby Lobby. It is a seasonal pack of papers that has designs for each holiday throughout the year. Here is the front which will eventually have the January calendar on it. The first one here has rings and then I decided to try it using the bind-it-all. I like the bind-it-all much better.

Here's a side view so you can see the chip board pages. There are actually six pages. When you flip the January over to the back, the December calendar will be showing on the back. Once you've flipped through June, you'll turn the base around and go back through the pages. The July is on the back of June. If you have any questions, just email me (dexterjane82@gmail.com). The base was made covering three separate pieces of chip board. I've done a lot of research on techniques for covering chip board and finally found one that I really like.

I'm still planning to give these to a few ladies here at school so hopefully I can finish them up tonight. I'm anxious to get back to stamping some cards. There just isn't enough time in the day.

**I was glad to hear there is a lot of interest in making the "Family" frame project down in Burwell. Terri emailed me so I will be working to have that project ready for whenever we set the date.  If you missed out on the information, just email me (dexterjane82@gmail.com) and I'll fill you in. It should be a fun project!