Inspiration Alley

Make-N-Takes from the Crop

Another late night, but I figure I'd just do a quick post here before I go to sleep for a bit.  I did find my card reader so I can post some pics from the Make-N-Takes we did at the crop.

The first one is from Friday.  It is a beachy themed card with vellum we colored and the ultra fine glitter on the sun.  I really love this card.
It's got a "real" straw and one of those umbrellas.

The next project we did Saturday.  It is a wood box with a slide lid that was called a card box, but could be used for other things as well.  We first stamped on it with a versamark then embossed with white embossing powder, then used the Distress Stain daubers to color.  After staining the box, we added some embellishments from Tattered Angels.  I've never worked with Glimmer Glass.  Who knew that you could heat it up and mold it so it's no longer flat.  Amazing stuff.  You may or may not be able to see it but the umbrella and the sun have the glimmer glass that I molded.

I can see me trying this again.  It was fun, and surprisingly quick to do (unless you are an overachiever like some people - no names mentioned).

Oh well, it's off to bed I go.  At least today I'm making it before the sprinklers come on.  I'll have to give a final report tomorrow but I know I completed over 50 cards and a mini album, plus some ATCs.  I don't know what if anything I'll get accomplished tomorrow so we'll just have to see.  The next crop is just a couple of weeks away, so it's all good.

Card Challenge

Over at the PaperWhores board they post a challenge each week where you use a different manufacturers paper line.  This week it is Fancy Pants Designs.

I went with a Halloween theme using the Father/Son Line

I did one for Thanksgiving too using the same paper line

Some simple and fun cards which also use the Stamps of Life clear stamps.

A couple of Cards

I seem to be on a creative roll here.  I actually love being this way.  I look forward to getting home so I can play a bit.  So here's a couple more of my creations.  The first uses the BoBunny Flutter Butter line and the second one uses the BoBunny Party Line.

For both sets I've used some stamps from The Stamps of Life.  They have a monthly club where each month you get a new stamp set.  I'm sad to say, I've been receiving them for a couple of months now and haven't had any play time.  So these were the first stamps I grabbed to play with, and I love them.  I can't wait to get this months which has a tree and a little bird.  Should be here just about any day now.  They also have mid month releases, so I've got to check those out too.

Card

When I worked on the kit of man cards from Sue Neal, she did a card with a mitered corner frame made out of a striped paper.  Of course, I wanted to try it again, so I used it once again with some of the BoBunny Petal Pushers paper and stickers.

This was another simple card.  You just cut 1/2 inch strips of striped paper.  Then you hold two strips together overlapping at a right angle (just like as if they were on the paper), then cut on the diagonal.  You repeat the process so all four pieces have a mitered edge.  The center is a sticker.

DCWV Songbird Cards - Part 2

Here's the rest of the cards I made with the paper pack.  I love it.  I'm thinking about going back to buy another pack.

 

So this last one, there were no tag thingys left so I had to improvise and make my own phrase.  I know that I'm a bit biased but they are really cute.  In real life the glitter aspects of the cards really add to the look.

DCWV Songbird Cards

Friday, I happened to go to Michaels which is a rare event these days.  They had a display of paper pad packs and the sign said 30% off.  I took them to the counter to check out and it rang up normal price.  So I showed the cashier the sign and she still couldn't adjust the price.  The assistant manager looked at the sign and said "oh ... it's not all of them, it's just these" and points to a small pack of plain paper on the third shelf down.  So ... I said, well ... that looks like false advertising .. quite honestly I think you should give it to me for the price you are displaying, as well as make the sign clearer -- to which she said - we don't do that here.

What ... what ... WHAT !  So my voice raised a few volumes, the line is getting longer (of course they only have the one) and the people behind me are grumbling under their breath but I was digging my heals in.  Not because I needed the $4 discount, but because it's the principle of the thing.  To make a long story short, we ended up with a very good compromise ... she found a valid coupon for 40% off paper packs, so I was happy, the people in line were happy, the manager was happy, and well ... the girl at the register still had the dumb stare on her face - I'm not so sure she was all there.

So I ended up buying 2 paper packs - one of which was a DCWV pack called Songbirds. 
and a cool pack of paper it was.  It even had a page of tags (at least that's what I would call them) which worked perfectly for making cards.  I love, love, love this pack of paper and just because I fell in love with it, I set right to work making some cards ... Here's half and I'll post the rest tomorrow.

I had lots of fun creating these ... with the exception of the cardstock card "base" if you will, all the other paper was in the pack.  I made a total of 14 cards, and still have scraps of paper left over not to mention that since I only used 1 sheet of paper of each design, I can really repeat the process and have another 14 cards - that'll give me a total of 28 cards and paper left over.

Card Kit

One of the kits I did at the crop last weekend was a card kit from Sue Neal.  This was a kit of "man" cards which appealed to me because in my life I'm pretty much surrounded by men.  I work in a male dominated field, and then we spend a lot of time at car shows (not too many of the wives attend).

  I loved them all, but my favorite was the chair card with the mitered corners/frame effect.  First, I loved the framing with the striped paper, and secondly the concept of the empty chair with the simple phrase "miss you."  It spoke volumes.  Of course I also loved the suitcase one, it is just too cute for words.

A couple of things happened at last weeks crop ...

first, I actually got some things accomplished.  I'm trying to figure out just why that happened (so I can keep it going) and I think it has to do with the fact that I had seen so many of my friends on the Utah trip.  Usually, when I attend the Hilltop crops it's been 6 months or longer so I spend a lot of time catching up.  This time, since there was much less to catch up on, I was more focused on scrapping.  I'm going to test out the theory once again because I will be at the Fried Green Tomatoes crop in August.  If I still get a bunch accomplished, then that's the answer, and if that's the case then my solution is to go to more crops. 

second, believe it or not, I'm still scrapping.  On my way over to Sarasota, I stopped in Bonita Springs at Scrapbooks Etc, and bought some paper, Copics, and other things, I bought some more at the Hilltop store while at the crop (shhh ... don't tell, I also bought a Cinch), I had some orders come in, and damn if Michaels didn't have a coupon this past week for paper pads so I bought a couple of those, not to mention I have all that I bought while in Utah.  That being said, having new stuff to play with is always a boost to my creative side.  I've been making cards, and finished my first Triple-D layout.

I'll post some more of my of what I've completed in the days to come.

Open Book Challenge

If you know me, then you know that two of my favorite things are reading and scrapping/stamping.  So when I saw that Audrey Neal (scrapper and digital designer) was going to start some new scrapbooking challenges based on books I was jumping for joy and jumping on the bandwagon to participate.  So if you scrap or stamp and enjoy scrapping challenges, you might want to drop on over to the AUDacious Blog.  Audrey is calling the challenges  "Open Book Challenges" and they are using the books we've read as the inspiration. 

The challenges will be every other week and will include a review of the book as well as several challenges based on the book - it could be a color or element on the cover, a font, a quote, or even based on the storyline or characters - the challenges are just a starting point to get you thinking.  The team (including yours truly) presenting the challenges can be found here with links to their blogs and Goodreads accounts. 

The first challenge is based on the book "The Help".  I had just bought a bird stamp and I wanted to play so I made this quick and simple card.  Nothing fancy, but it does look a little like the cover of the book somewhat. 

Bazzill Cardstock, Memento Tangelo Ink (direct to paper), Memory Box Bird and Nest stamp #D1127, Autumn Leaves Beautiful Stamp (part of Romance of Spring collection #AL2626), Memento Lady Bug and Rich Cocoa Inks.

You can participate by posting a comment on the challenge post on the Audacious Blog and linking to your creation be it a scrapbook page, card, or other paper crafted item.

I'm pretty excited about getting to play along and I hope some of my scrapping and stamping friends will join in even if it's just every once in awhile.

Pink and Black

are a weird color combination for Christmas - but who am I - if it's good enough for DCWV it's good enough for me.  Here's another Christmas Card I made. 
Both the papers ares DCWV and they are glittery.  The Merriest Wishes stamp is Hero Arts.  I like how the card turned out, but I'm not too sure about pink and black as a color choice.  I think it would have looked beautiful in an iridescent blue.  I working on one more with this paper to finish it up.  Then that will be it because I have to get them out in the mail so they arrive at Scrapbook Royalty in time.  I will probably finish the last one on Saturday, and then take them to the post office.

We interrupt the cards for Christmas ...

to bring you a "tall card". 
 
  
I did this one in answer to the Caardvarks challenge.  The paper is by Daisy Bucket Designs the Magical Moments line.  I used the "Ring Around the Rosie" paper which is a composite of 4 of the designs in this paper line.  The "Thinking of You" stamp is HeroArts "Frames and Messages" - it's a two part stamp one is the frame the other is the message inside.  The flower is from Prima, and the bling and zigzag felt are just generic bling.  Hope you like it.

I'm going to see just how long I can keep posting a card a day, I'm kindof enjoying it - getting back to the basics.  I can always use cards, plus it's giving me the opportunity to use up some of my older supplies.  I've got quite a bit on my plate right now, so the stamping is a welcome diversion.