Another CKC project finished

I wrapped up my Prima "Get Your Grunge On: A Boy Album" project the other day.  Forgive the photos but they're very quick and dirty.

This whole project was foreign to me.  I've never really done a mini album, I scrap events- not photos, I don't do individual books about anything - just pages for the overall book, I journal everything since pretty much everything is event-based and therefore has something to be said about it, and as I'll say again, I really don't use flowers- ESPECIALLY for things about my son. 

Since this wasn't going to be a normal album, coming up with a theme was tough but I wanted to do it otherwise it would be another unfinished project sitting around collecting dust.  Flipping through photos, I realized that there were about 15 or so that I REALLY like and this would be a great place to collect those.  The colors that Prima gave us for the book worked really well with the photos and the flowers definitely grunged up nicely.

Alice in Wonderland ATCs

So these are new to me.  I've seen ATCs but I've never made any.  I love the look but collaging isn't really something that comes naturally to me (I was a yearbook editor in college and I beat it into my staff that we WEREN'T doing collage pages- EVERY photo needed to be on a grid and captioned.  Now you know why I scrap like I do and seem to be allergic to tilting photos.)  Also, I don't know what you do with the cards once you've made them.  I know people trade and collect them but do you trade something that someone gave you?  If not, WHAT do you do with it?  I would think they just start to really accumulate and I'm trying desperately NOT to accumulate more. 

All of that said, Simon Says Stamp and Show's challenge right now is to create ATCs and I thought if not now, when?

• White Rabbit: LOVE this image and I've also been wanting to do something steampunkish so again, here was my chance.  I added pearlescent shimmer paint to his fur.
• Mad Hatter: I've always associated him with the price on his hat (In this style, 10/6) so I went with numbers and prices, and the word "DIVA" because it just seems to fit his personality.  The hat (not the label) has the pearlescent shimmer paint.
• Cheshire Cat: Definitely my fav character in Alice and not just because I'm a cat person.  I added a lot of shimmer to the card that only shows if you tilt it the right way.  The shimmer paint is on his stripes and the background was sprayed with a Pearl-ex mist- green/gold.  The elements are travel related since he's always popping in and out and floating where ever his whims take him.  I also put an odd little doll in because Chessie is odd and maybe a bit creepy taken the wrong way.  Her dress is also shimmery.

Ingredients:

• Stamps: AiW characters (Lost Coast Designs), Doll (Kraftin' Kimmie), DIVA (Stamping Bella), Letters on WR's ATC (Studio G)
• Paper: Manilla folders (Staples), Halloween in Wonderland (Graphic45), Green (SU)
• Inks/Colorants: Very Vanilla (SU), Walnut Stain (Ranger), Pearl Shimmer Paint (Tsukineko), Copics, Green "Stickles" (Studio G), Mist (Green Pearl-Ex)
• Misc: Postage Stickers (Sticko), Gears (Tim Holtz, Watch parts), Numbered flower (October Afternoon), Watch accent (Graphic45), Glitter (Martha Stewart), Adhesive strips (I glittered- Close to My Heart), Crown stencil (Tim Holtz), Black acrylic paint

Challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp and Show: ATCs
• Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturday: Favorite color/s:  I really like blue and tend to work with it a lot- almost too much (Boy is 4- enough said).  However, with fall and Halloween coming, I'm loving green and purple, particularly when added to Halloween projects. 
• Sweet Stampin' Challenge: Anything Goes
• Scrapbooker's Paradise Ponderings: #34: Quote from favorite book.  The only catch is I'm not sure that I got it right.  I THOUGHT the rabbit said, "Oh my ears and whiskers!" (I've been known to mutter that when I'm running late) but when I went back to the book tonight after I finished, I found, "Oh my fur and whiskers!"  Gotta do a little more research into that one!!
• Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog: #50: Vintage

Everyone else's bday parties LO

I saw the sketch challenge over at Apron Strings and had to give it a whirl- love the sketch!  And these photos worked beautifully for it!

Ingredients:

Cardstock: Yoyo Yellow (SU), Blue (?)
DSP: Night Light (October Afternoon)
Stamps: Favorite Teddy Bear, Crazy Alphabet (SU)
Sticker: Storybook Collection (Cosmo Cricket)
Misc: Journalling Card (Becky Higgins), Misters (Studio Calico), Twine (Whisker Graphics), Watercolor Pencils
 
Sketch #17 in the challenge: replace the large photo on the right-side with at least two smaller photos or embellishments.

Silly little card

I made this silly little card this evening.  I generally do cards aimed at a birthday or holiday but this one is just meant to brighten someone's day... not sure I've ever done one of those outside of an SU party.  I definitely went in different directions than I usually do by both changing that "theme" and by using, yes, wait for it, FLORAL PAPER!  AHHHHH!  :)



Ingredients:
Cardstock: Yellow (Stampin' Up), Shimmery Raspberry (DCWV)
Print paper: Pocket full of Posies (DCWV)
Stamps: Tricycle (Unity), Sentiment (Technique Tuesday)
Misc: Glitter (Martha Stewart), Copics (for buttons)

Paper Crafts Color Inspiration #9:

Card Patterns: Sketch 133:

Sweet Stampin': Flowers
Shopping Our Stash: No coloring (the paper I won this summer but I rarely use floral papers so this definitely something that could sit for a while.  The yellow paper is left from my son's birth announcements.  He's 4 now.)
Crafter's Cafe: GHWI #6: Buttons, Bows or Bling
Southern Girls: #28 Anything Goes
Fab n' Funky: #91: A Theme Hard for You

Blog candy over at Creations by Alison

This is for her followers and I usually don't push the "You must be a follower" candy but she has some great work.

Where ya been?!

You may be asking yourself that about me.  Then again, since it's only been 2 days, you may not.  I'll guess the latter actually.  However, whether or not you're interested, I'll give you an idea.  This time of year I get crazy cravings for fall- cool air, crisp breezes, fall colors, sweatshirts and jeans.  Of course, this year I have to smack myself on the head to remind myself that I live in NC and none of that will really happen for another month though these 85deg days are an improvement over this summer.  However, what it all really means is that I have a crafting frenzy come upon me and this year it hit me bad. So far we have

1. The Halloween banner last week
2. The conversion of a tshirt my husband gave me over a year ago- he wanted short sleeve instead of long (not crafty but had to be done since I found it!)
3. More non-craft but MUST BE DONE: Hemming up a pair of jeans I bought LAST summer...yep, they've been languishing for over a year.   I'm not a seamstress by ANY stretch and doing things like cutting off 6" of a pair of relatively expensive pants stresses me out a bit... so I don't do it quickly.  Why buy them?  Because I tell myself this will be the time I'll hem them with no reservations.  Uh huh.  Sure Jen.  You keep telling yourself that.
4. The continuation towards completion this week (I hope) of a Halloween project I started a few years ago.  Yeah.  A few.  Like... 6 or 7 probably.  Yeah.  It's bad.  I do that- I start something, get bored, decide I don't want to sew anymore (Did I mention REALLY don't like sewing), whatever, and the project gets dropped for a year or 6.  And there's another part of it this project I started and can't even find.  *sigh*  This is the pattern the projects are from:

5. A big pile of lightly felted sweater pieces on my table being turned into felt leaves.  I'd love to show you a picture but darn if I can lay hands on a camera right now.  I picked up a few wool sweaters at Good Will the other day and tried felting them in the wash.  1. Hmmm... put them in a tied up pillow case when washing so the PILES of lint that come off don't go down the waterways?  I wish I'd known that before I washed them 4x.  Hopefully it wasn't enough to foul up our washer lines!!!  2. Top-loading washer= good for felting.  Top-loading washer without the central spindle= not so good- there's not as much agitation= lightly felted.  Adding golf balls to the pillow cases before tying helps and didn't seem to bang around in the washer too much... I hope. 

These were sort of the inspiration for where I was going with this:

 So hopefully, once I finish this pile of goodies, I'll get back to papercrafting.  I just received a set of Unity stamps from Aletha over at The Crafter's Cafe.  My Halloween potion card was randomly picked for that challenge so I won a fab set of stamps AND I'll be a guest designer in Oct.  Whoo hoo!  My first GD position.  It may have been random but I'll take it!  I also signed up this evening to be a "Growing in Unity" featured designer in 2012.  I really need to start doing more of this - sticking my foot in the door because while no one's slamming it in my face (been there, felt that!), no one's going to hold it open if they don't even know I'm outside. 

Hope you're all having a good week!  I'll get some pix up when I've got some goodies to show and I can uncover a camera.

Sorry about the previous post!

I was trying to figure out putting posts on multiple pages before I understood how Pages work.  Silly me.  Sorry about that.

Birthday Balancing Act card

There are 2 challenges on blogs I follow for circus/carnival/fair themes.  At first I was going to let them move to the marked read pile in Reader because I couldn't think of anything I had related to those themes.  Then I remembered the "Jest Between Friends" stamp set.  It certainly isn't new but it's still one of my favorites.

I'm REALLY happy with the end result on this one.  YAY!  :)

Ingredients:
Paper: Print: Creative Imaginations, LLC  Black: Michaels
Stamps: Stampin' Up
Ink/Colors: Momento Ink, Copics
Twine: Whisker Graphics

Challenges:
Paper Crafts: Sept. Gallery Challenge
Scrappin' Chics: Carnival/Fair
Southern Girls: Layers and/or birthday
The Stamping Boutique: Birthday

Great giveaway over at Life in the Craft Lane

This month, Julie McGuffee is giving away a DVD set from "Scrapbook Soup."  Personally, I hadn't heard of the show but I had a look at the site and they look fantastic.  Entries are gained by going around the circle of blogs and finding the ones with the Scrapbook Soup logo- easy enough and some fantastic projects along the way.  Have a look!!

Halloween Pennant Banner

I did it.  I FINALLY made a pennant banner.  They've been the rage for how long?  And I'm FINALLY getting around to it?  I really like them- I just hadn't gotten to it until now.

Let see.  The crazy ingredient list.

Designer paper: Purple: Basic Grey, Orange/Green: Target $1 aisle
Cardstock: SU, Michaels
Glitter: Martha Stewart
Cricut Cart: Happy Hauntings
Eyelets: Making Memories
Punch: SU
Misc: Buttons: ?  Glue... I have to mention this because it's Beacon's 3 in 1 for paper and it ROCKS!!!  I got it for CKC, used it there first last weekend and I'm already through 1/2 of it because I'm using it for EVERYTHING!

Challenges:
Quick Quotes: #2: Anything with a Banner

Retro Rocket Baby

Last weekend at CKC, the October Afternoon "Rocket Age" line was HIGH on my shopping list.  I ended up finding a collection pack and snatched it up FAST.  What I can't believe is that I already cut into it.  This from a woman who's been hoarding papers from CKC LAST year until just recently.  Hooray me!  :)

I saw October Afternoon's Thur. sketch challenge and really liked it.  I considered the papers I had, thought of the Rocket Age ones and then remembered some older pictures of Boy.  Ok.  Truthfully?  These are from RIGHT before he turned one and they're the oldest pix of him I've ever scrapped.

Here's the sketch:

It's not a whole lot to turn into a 2pg spread but it just worked SO well to do so.  The only things that aren't from the OA line are the small star accents (I stamped stars from an SU wheel and cut them out) and the solids (red- SEI, blue- Bazzill).  I saved as much paper as possible by actually cutting the background papers to size and adhering them to a white 12x12 that's included in the album.  When you only have 2 sheets of each paper and you LOVE it,you waste NOTHING!  In fact, the meteor on the 2nd page and the astronomical chart in the top corner of the 1st were cut from the page that comes with the collection showing small pix of what's actually in the set.  In other words, I cut up the index page.  I'd never thought of it before but they were the perfect sizes and worked perfectly.  Like I said, I'm using this one VERY frugally. 

Distressed Fall Card

It's simple but I like this one.  If I were to do it again, I would use a different stamped image- the tree doesn't translate very well, but I still like it.

Ingredients:

Paper: CS: Very Vanilla, Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive: Stampin Up; Dotted DSP: ??

Stamp: Lovely As a Tree: SU

Ink: Basic Black: SU; Walnut, Linen: Tim Holtz; Pesto, Espresso, Ginger: Adirondack

Misc: Button: SU, Tiles: Tim Holtz, Brad: ??

Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp: Stamp-tember Blog Hop