Caardvarks - 7 Days 24 Hour Challenge

For all the details and rules visit Caardvarks.

Join Caardvarks September 20 - 27th for seven, 24 hour challenges and prizes!

Grand Prize = A spot on the Caardvarks Crew Design Team!

Here's the sketch from today. Day 1.

Here's my first card. I just got the Studio G stamp today and was excited to use it.

You can't tell from the pictures, but the ink, also Studio G, has a sparkle to it. It's great.

The lace was a cream color. I inked it to get it darker.

I made this next based on a very, very, very loose interpretation of the sketch.

The chipboard reminds me of an ancient rune. It just has the right feel.

The color is off, the buttons are green, orange and purple. Same as the skulls eyes.

Here's the inside of the card. I love this bone paper. I think it's K & Co. I could be wrong.



Thanks for looking.

Halloween Blog Candy - Haunted House Mini Album Kit

Die Cut Diva's blog is giving away blog candy on September 18th.

Check out this cool kit.

That makes this really cool album. Just go here and follow the directions to enter.

I would say good luck. But, I really like this little album and want it for myself.

BWAHAHAHA

Opus Gluei Challenge # 24 - Learning

All of us learn new things. We might not realize it, but we learn.

Right now I am learning to take care of me.

It isn't easy. I have to MAKE myself do things strickly for me.

As part of this process, and it is a process, I am taking a class at Big Picture Scrapbooking called

ME: The Abridged Version.

In the class we are making an entire album about ourselves. ME. I am having to learn again what matters to me. What makes me tick. What is important and what I like. AND I am having fun in the process.

So far, I have ALL of the pages created digitally.

That is to say that I have the basic pages laid out for each letter in the alphabet.

I only have a handful of them completed.

Getting them all done will take me a bit of time as I have to limit my time spent on this project to 20-30 minute chunks of time.

I will get it done AND I WILL get the pages printed and put into an album.

(You can see the "a" page in the below post.)

ME: The Abridged Version

This is my first page for this album. I have all the papers needed for this class. Except for the background paper. (Rosemary, I know you are thinking "How in bloody hell does she NOT have background papers?", but I don't. I want kraft and I can't find mine. I know I have it somewhere. So being the impatient soul that I am, I decided to play with PSE7 and see what popped out. I am THRILLED with the outcome.

Cathy Z is a GREAT teacher. She is teaching/leading us on how to get a book about ME. Okay if you were taking the class yours would be about YOU. But since I am taking it, mine is about ME. ME ME ME.

I have always wanted to do a book about me. With stories that my family can read later in life and get to know me a bit better. So when Cathy offered this class, it was a NO BRAINER.

Now that I have the first page done digitally, I have to find something to do with all the other patterned paper I just cut into specific sized pieces. Hmmm. Card sets maybe?????

Opus Gluei Challenge #23

Flowers. So many different thoughts come to mind. I love me some flowers.
I made this card.

(Papers are all old Daisy D's. Stamp is Unity. A few dew drops and some thin ribbon. Card stock is unknown. I have had it forever. Sketch is from Sheetload of Cards. Read below for more info.)

Actually it is one of a set of six. I think I will make it a gift for a friend. We exchange gifts every year for Christmas. Not expensive ones. Just little somethings that say "I thought of you". So I am sending her these. I hope she likes them. But if she doesn't, she will be giving them away anyway, so no biggie. Right?!?!?!

I found this wonderful blog. Sheetload of Cards. I know that some of you have already been there, done that. But for me it was like striking gold this morning. I used their pattern from September of 2008. Yup. I went over there and browsed back to then. I would have gone further, except that none else in this family was gonna make these cards, so I had to save the rest for later oogling.

Caardvarks is a bad influence. In a good way. :-D

You know how there are a gazillion challenge blogs out there. And you know how you really want to "do" them all, but just don't have time. (the family keeps wanting food and clean laundry. really, the nerve. I wish they would just accept that I have needs. Creative needs. Anyway, back to reality.

I have a project to do for my own challenge blog, OPUS GLUEI. This week is flowers. And later today I will post a project. I had intended to work on it this morning. But, I slept late, then I had to check my email, and surf a bit. Well, one of my stops was at ALL THE GOOD BLOG NAMES WERE TAKEN. Lauren is uber talented and very funny. Go there, but not until after you are done here. She is one of the DT members for CAARDVARKS. (do you see where this is going?!) And they posted a new challenge yesterday. They have 3 sketches from which to choose. Make a card based on one of them and whiz bang you can post in the challenge. Don't get me wrong, they are ALL great sketches, but one of them SANG out to me. I was powerless to resist the call.

Are you ready for it?

Ta-da:

Here it is.

Isn't it great?

Isn't it the best sketch you have ever seen?

I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the Martha Stewart punch "drippy goo".

It too sang to me.

This sketch and this punch are meant to be together.

Don't cha think!!!

Oh, yeah. The card I made.

(I really kinda cheated. I made this ATC 2 years ago (don't remember the manufacturer of the stickers, Quickutz bats and Bazzill paper) and now my baby has a home. The ribbon is from the Target $ section from last year. Paper is from a Walmart Halloween stack from a couple years back and the green drippy goo paper is the packaging from a K&Co Halloween Die cuts. None of which were used, or harmed, in the making of this card.)

Okay, duty calls, and now I am off to get floral...

Pink Lemonade Pie - Stampin Up Style

I recently joined a Stamp Club. It's a group of ladies (Yes, I am taking the leap) that get together once a month to make cards and a few other projects. Well, the lady that is my Stampin' Up consultant, who I found through surfing blogs on the internet, Lisa, was just recognized as the 8th top seller in the USA. How cool is that!

Anyway, she is hosting a 6x6 recipe swap. Now being the #8 stamp seller in the country, she couldn't very well allow other products to be used is this swap. Yup, I used Stampin' Up products exclusively. Card stock is Rich Razzleberry (purple), Mambo Melon (pink), Dusty something or other (orangey) and Whisper White. Inks used to create the patterned look on the card stocks are the same names as the card stocks. Stamp set is something to do with Friendship. I used the little swirly stamp and the flower. Ribbon is something Curry (yellow). Patterned paper is the Razzberry Lemonade. I used a jumbo brad. I fell in love with them and had to have them after using them in a project at one of the Stamp meeting thingies. Oh, and the little white brad is from the white hardware kit. And you know me. I can't ever "follow" the "recipe", the staples are NOT Stampin' Up. But, I think it'll be okay.

(edited: Official color names are

Rich Razzleberry, Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo and Dusty Durango.

And the stamp set is Wings of Friendship.

Sorry if I threw you off.)

I want Candy...Notebooks

I saw these cute little notebooks on Etsy and thought,

"I can do that".

Famous last words.

I usually think that right before I make a huge mess.

And spend more money than I would have if I had just bought the item that started it all.

I can't help it.

It's a condition I have.

I made one with a box of candy we already had. My middle daughter loved it and wanted one for her friends. This was early June, before school got out. And I didn't have nearly enough to do, so I agreed. I let both of my younger daughters pick out some candy at the dollar store (I love that place) and then we stopped at WalMart to get some steno notebooks. (Office Max had them for WAY too much money)

I have to warn you that I am NO teacher. My "tutorial" is only intended to give you an idea of what I did. If you still have questions, please ask. I will do my best to answer them.

So, here's what I do:

I gather my tools:

(I am using several different candy boxes. Because that is how it turned out to be the easiest for me.

Just keep in mind that they are pretty much the same.)

I take the candy out of the boxes. Sample a few of them.

Keep others around for inspirational energy.

It's what I HAVE to do. Yum.

Peel the glued seams of the box apart.

Flatten the boxes and cut along the creases.






I trim the front and back panels to the same size. And set them aside.

(Save the pretty side panels for bookmarks. I do.)

I carefully bend the locking loop back on the steno pad,

and un-twist the wire out of the notebook.

I found I can get two notebooks out of one steno pad

if I bound the Candy Notebooks on the

short side of the candy box panels.

I cut the steno covers to the same dimensions as the candy box panels.

Then glue one of the steno covers to the candy box panel.

(Make sure to check the orientation with regard to the holes in the cover.

I made one notebook upside down because I wasn't so careful.)

While the glue is setting/drying, cut the paper by carefully

grabbing 10-ish sheets at a time and cut to size using a paper trimmer.

Once everything is cut, flip the covers over and

using my Crop-a-dile, I punch through the candy box

panels using the holes of the steno pad for guides..

Place the bottom cover, papers, and top cover together.

I use a couple of binder clips to hold the stack

together while I re-wind the wire back into the holes.

Once it is all the way in, I cut the wire with a wire cutter

and then use plyers to bend a locking loop back into the wire.

And whiz bang, you have a Candy Notebook.

(see first picture in post again. I forgot to add it here

and am feeling too lazy to delete all the pics and add them again. Sorry.)

With the leftover pieces I was able to make a bunch of smaller notebooks. I am currently using one in my purse for whatever. These little notebooks are a great way to use up those little left over binding wires from my bind-it-all. I usually have little sections of 4 just hanging out.

I was eyeballing a box of mac and cheese the other day.....

It wasn't because I was hungry,

it was because I have an extra steno pad

just burning a hole on my craft table.

Oh the possibilities!

Hope you have fun. Let me know if you make any. I would love to see them.

365 Cards - Day 153 - Tag You're It and other stuff...

I stayed home with a sick child today. My youngest has strep. YUK. On the up side, I got to play with my computer and paper. I was able to get some envelopes addressed for the Opus Gluei give-away. I won't show the pictures of the goodies being packed. I want them to be surprised. It should only be another day or two before they go out in the mail.

I also worked on the base for a Disney album for our coming vacation.

I happened to have a Disney Park Guide (brochure) from a previous trip. It measures 9x4, so I made my pages to fit. I also used white card stock and made a background overlay with the words "Disney World 2009" repeated in two different fonts.

I used a couple different frames for the different parks and restaurants that we have reservations at. Plus I made a cool airplane page. The girls are really looking forward to flying down there.

I still have to punch holes and maybe make a few more filler pages.

I was inspired by Lauren.
She made a couple of kickin' vacation albums built around brochures.

You can see one here and another here.
She has a fantastic creative flair. Thanks Lauren.


I will probably make a kit to take with me on vacation that is similar to Lauren's. Scissors, glue, stapler, rub-ons, pen. I don't know about the DYMO. Jury's still out.

Mine won't be nearly as cool. But it'll get done this time. Sooner.

The challenge today on 365 Cards was to use a tag on your card.

I used up some scraps that have been in my drawer for a while.

There is a bit of Little Yellow Bicycle, some other unknown bits of paper and I don't know the larger background paper.

The stamps are Unity. I am in the monthly club. AND holy moly is it ever a great deal.

You really have to check them out.

A little random bling and a scrap of fiber.

I also worked on a couple of Christmas albums from last year.

One for my mom and one for my sister.

I will show you them in a couple days.

Or weeks. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks for looking.

365 Cards - Days 130 and 138

DAY 130 - That Tickles Me

365 Cards challenged us to make humorous cards.

I made two because I could.

Day 138 - She Said, and I Quote...

Today's challenge is to use a quote. I used this quote.

Don't know to whom the credit goes.

Thanks for looking.

365 Cards - Make up time...

DAY 137 - IN A BIND

I have to admit. I was stumped with this challenge on 365 Cards. I love that they push you to use your imagination. Anyway, back to this challenge. I didn't want to use a brad. Or binder rings. Or ribbon. So I thought, and I thought. And eventually it hit me.

I saw an album on Club Scrap that is bound using wire and beads. So I modified the design a bit and came up with this. I didn't have time to do this yesterday. (You know work, feeding the family, major toothache...) But since I took today off to go to the dentist to see if I need a root canal (wish me luck, or just wish my pain away), I thought I may as well do something FUN.

Thanks for looking. And be on the lookout for more posts today with more cards...

Gluebooks to Crowabout

I have regressed back to kindergarten. LOL.

I am smitten with gluebooks.

I started one and there is such freedom in just cutting/tearing, arranging and glueing.

This is a page I made the other day

because I found a magazine

that was just begging to be cut into.

And this one I made for CROWABOUT. I stumbled onto this blog, and signed up. There are weekly sheets of images available. You can use all of them, some of them, one of them. Create and post to the members only FLICKR group. I have to tell you, I was intimidated. These people have major talent. But here is my first collage using some of the images.

Images provded are: side borders, bathing beauty, cat with yarnball, man's head in frame, butterfly, nest and eggs. Images found in a magazine: chalkboard background, top and bottom borders, man sitting in chair, quote bubble, white cat standing.


Hope to see your creations soon.

365 Day 127 - Super Sketchy Sunday

365 Cards challenge today is Super Sketchy Sunday.

I just love saying that.

Here's the sketch:

And here's my card.

I am back in the game.

For today anyway.

Hopefully I will get some more done,
but we will see...

Going Buggy Blog Candy

Don't go to Enfys' blog before June 30th. If you do you will reduce my chances to win this blog candy. You must go to her blog and see her wonderful creations. She is wonderful.

Cupcake Candy

You must not go to this site. This candy is mine and if you go there I will have less of a chance to win this Cupcake Candy. Don't go before July 1st. Because that is the day that my name will be chosen. After July 1st, go over and check out her works. Kim Ross is a very talented artist.

Stay away until July 1st. The goodies are mine. Now, go somewhere else.

Opus Gluei and Gluebooks

These two are intertwined this week. I recently found this article on gluebooks. I was thrilled. A way to release creative energy without worrying about what to do with the end project. I have a tendency to have to "DO" something with what I create. So a gluebook is the perfect answer.



I took an old, slightly used composition notebook, a stick of glue, a pair of scissors and some old magazines. The first challenge on the YAHOO Gluebook group for me was PURPLE.



So, here it is. My first gluebook page. I made is a while back, but am just now posting it.

(I have a NO STRESS IN CREATING policy.)





The challenge this week on OPUS GLUEI is WHITE WEDDING. Since I don't have any weddings coming up, I decided to make a page in my gluebook. See how handy they are to have around!

Here's the right page:

I was trying to get the feel of how most brides get lost in the wedding.

Yeah, it's supposed to be about the bride, but with all the details, she is sort of just one of the ornaments.

Much like the groom, delegated to the bottom corner.

The actual commitment gets lost in the pomp and circumstance.

And the left page:

This page is just some pretty dressed and a nice little saying with some color thrown in.

Except for the knife and chain in the middle.
Take those as you will.....

And here is how they look side by side:



As you can see, I couldn't stay with just white.

I HAD to throw in a splash of color.

365 Cards - Catchin' up molasses style...

I made this card for the 365 Cards - Day 117 Challenge - Simply Stamped. I made this in time to post, just didn't get to posting it. This darned family wants to eat. EVERYDAY.

Anyway, the peacock is from Unity's January Kit of the month, and the quote "Dare to be FABULOUS" is from Stampin UP. Not sure which kit. Sorry. I colored with regular ole Crayola colored pencils.

And, why YES, that is the 2009-2010 Stampin UP Catalog. Yummy. I have a wish list started...

Opus Gluei Challenge #14 - Patriotism

Danny and I just took the girls to witness my nephew graduate from United States Coast Guard Boot Camp. I am so proud to be his aunt. He is such a perfect young man. I can't believe that he is a man. He was just a baby a few months ago. How did that happen!! But there is NO question now.

HE IS A MAN.

And a fine one at that. I made this project with him in mind. I hoped that the banner would look like nautical flags. It is hard to see, but there are letters that spell out "H-A-P-P-Y-4th".
(I was hoping to get a better picture, but I suck at photography, so this is all I got. You can click on it to enlarge for more detail.)

Head over to Opus Gluei for more patriotic projects.

365 Cards - Day 107 - So Girly - Melissa's Card

Tonight it was Melissa (my youngest daughter - 9 yrs old) who approached me to find out what the challenge was today on 365 Cards. She was thrilled to find out that it was to make a girlie card to include the word GIRL on it. She was thrilled, I was perplexed. Melissa is a Tom-boy. I picked her up today from afterschool care she was playing basketball with the boys, not hopscotch with the girls, in her Steelers football jersey. She asked for, and received, permission to make a card using my supplies. I was not surprised that she used Tinkerbelle. Tink is one of her favs. I am surprised, pleasantly so, that she came up with the saying on the card. I am always taken aback by my youngest. She is quite unpredictable. I love it. Right after she finished her card, she asked if I would put it on my blog and enter it at 365. (Not to be out done by her sister, I'm sure.) So here is her card.

Thank you for looking at her creation. I am one very proud mommy.

365 Cards - Day 107 - So Girly

Todays 365 Cards challenge was to make a girlie card. I used Hello Kitty papers from a past project, red scraps, a cupcake cut for a project I ended up not doing and made the hello girlie label tonight. The ribbon is actually two ribbons twisted together. One is this really cool wired pom-pom ribbon that I got in a kit (I think) and the other is a dollar bin special.

No make up cards tonight. I was busy with other projects this afternoon/evening. I rearranged the furniture in the family room, took the girls to get Chinese food, took them to Wal-Mart to pick up a prescription and get supplies to make some really cool candy notebooks. (I'll be posting pics soon.) And finally, at 9:30 got to play with card making goodies.

Thanks for looking.