WOYWW #617

Boy, I'm late to post this, but I did take a photo of my desk so I thought I'd share it with you. Why, you ask? It's Wednesday and that means it's WOYWW (What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday) and many deskers share what's on their desk or work area. Click on over to Stamping Ground blog, take a peek into the different craft areas and be inspired or just nosey! 

My desk this morning:

It was very clear since last night I did my first Facebook Live event (that's why you can see my gooseneck phone holder on the right). I'm starting a "craft with me" monthly card kit and did a trial run with a few selected friends and family. Went well, by the way!

Right after I came down from my buzz of the event, I remembered that a friend asked me to make a sympathy card. So the items left on my desk are from the card.

Have a great week!

Golden Challenge Card

I created this card using the Winged Masterpiece Stamp of the Month from Close To My Heart. I'm entering the challenge at the Heart 2 Heart Challenge blog which is a challenge site for all things CTMH.

The final card after I added gold sequins:

Isn't it so pretty! I splashed a variety of ink sprays on my craft mat and smudged them onto a piece of heavy weight card stock. Once that dried, I heat embossed the two dragonflies in gold using Versamark ink.

I added a white marker and yellow & pink watercolor pencils on some of the flowers within the wings to highlight them a little more.

Once that was done, I added some black and white splatter all over. I stamped the sentiment with black archival ink onto vellum so it wouldn't hide the beautiful background.

After I took photos of the card, I remembered that I had some gold sequins so I added them (in part to hold the vellum to the card front). The sequins are also from CTMH. I love this set because there's shiny gold and matte gold sequins!

Be sure to click over to the Heart 2 Heart challenge blog for their newest challenges!

UPDATE:  I was selected as the challenge winner for this card!

BBTB2 Easter/Bunnies Challenge

It's time for another challenge at the Bitten By The Bug 2 (BBTB2) challenge site.  Each challenge lasts two weeks and the current challenge theme is Easter/Bunnies. Perfect, considering Easter is right around the corner.

 
I bought these plain eggs/carton from the Dollar Tree and knew I had to do something with them.

I searched for some basic line drawn Easter images and found Chick & Bunny from Baby Animals set in Cricut Access and typed words using the Kyden font. Cut them with vinyl and applied to the eggs...but before I did that, I decided to "dye" these eggs to pastel colors.

To "dye" the eggs, I used pastel acrylic. I had to paint three coats to get a good coverage. I used paint brushes to hold the eggs up while they were drying.

Here's the final project:

Super cute, right?! Now it's your turn. Create an Easter/bunny project using your Cricut and link it to the BBTB2 challenge site.

TGIF; Thankful Friday #171

Happy Friday! What a week. We had hospital and dental visits for a few members of our family which leads me to what I'm thankful for this week. This week, I'm thankful for insurance. Every time I see the dollar amount taken out of my check, I cringe, but when you need it, it is nice to know we're covered.

I hope you are staying safe & healthy and enjoying the Spring weather.

What are you thankful for this week? Leave a comment and let me know!

Pocket Page Insert/Scrapbooking

As you can imagine, I took a lot of photos when our grandbaby was born in November, 2019. If you follow my blog, you'll noticed that I'm finally getting to them with two layouts HERE and HERE. I decided to use a pocket page to insert between these two layouts instead of another full two-page spread.

Check out the video below on the process:

Watch the video for tips and tricks to embellishing these pockets using punches and scraps. These inserts are a great way to add more photos to your albums as well as a fun variety within them.

WOYWW #616

Happy Wednesday and Happy WOYWW! I've been really busy in the Command Center lately although my desk looks pretty clean. I just finished a Month in Review layout for October, 2019. I love the idea of Month in Review layouts since there are many things happening that don't necessarily require more than one photo or an entire layout.

I completed the layout using a sketch for the Sketch n Scrap DT that I'm on so I'll be showing it later but here's the paper pad that I used for it and my work area:

Why am I sharing my desk today? It's all part of the world-wide linkage at the Stamping Ground blog. Be sure to click on over there and check out the other deskers and maybe link a photo of your work area! 

Clowning Around; Birthday Card

I made another card for the Sketch n Scrap challenge blog using sketch #. Be sure to click on over there for the sketch and Design Team inspiration. 

Super cute, right?!?

I dug in deep in my "children/babies" stamp drawer to find this cute clown stamp. I need to do another Bash Your Stash series for this drawer. I used Tombow watercolor markers to color the clown and added clear glitter marker over his shirt. I also added white pen dots here and there to add some fun.

The three different primary color panels were scraps that I dry embossed for texture and interest. I think this card turned out super cute.

Click on over to the SNS site to add your project before the month ends.

 

TGIF; Thankful Friday #170

TGIF! Another Friday and another day to be thankful. What am I thankful for this week? We're getting rain and things are starting to turn green and in some cases bloom.

 
Oh no, not in my yard. Don't get me wrong. I want things to bloom, but I just don't have a green thumb. But...my succulents survived the winter and are still alive so I'm definitely thankful for that!!

How about you? What are you thankful for this week? Please share by leaving a comment below.

Life Can Be Prickly, Bloom Any Way; JJ Spread

Working in the Junk Journal again on a two page spread. I love this wonky circles and decided to film the process.

In 2019, I visited my mom and sister in Tucson and it was during the time when the cacti were blooming. I took a ton of photos - I'm not even lying! Many I put in a scrapbook but there are many that are still sitting in the photo envelope. I pulled two out to add to this spread.

Watch the video here:

More photos:

It's so fun using the best tool - my fingers - to create this bright spread. I changed the circles to look more like cacti by adding "needles" with the black pencil and making the white dots into flowers.

Products:

Acrylic Paints by Apple Barrel in Vineyard Green, Wintergreen, Parakeet and White

Faber Castell Gelatos in Banana and Watermelon

Illustrated Faith "Goodness" Green Crayon

Faber Castell White Pitt Pen

POSCA Yellow Paint Pen

Stabilo Pencil in Black

Dollar Tree White Metallic Pen

Black Archival Ink Pad

Variety of Letter Stamp Sets from my stash (large sets from SU!)

Sketch n Scrap March Layout #221; Your First Breath

Another great layout sketch is posted on the Sketch n Scrap challenge blog and I get to play with it! This final layout may look a little familiar since I used the one page sketch to coordinate with a previously made one page layout. Although I used a lot of the same embellishments, it still has a different look but definitely lots of PINK!

The sketch:

Photos:

Video:

Details:

• I used my Cricut to cut the title letters. I chose to add the title words to a base to make it easier to adhere and I love the look.
• The "Daisy" embellishment was a leftover cut from the baby shower and fit perfectly on this layout.
• To finish the page, I added pink and white Color Silks from Fun Stampers Journey/Spellbinders.
• With the exception of the dark pink base, all papers and paper embellishments were from my pink scrap stash.

I was surprised to see that I do not have baby girl papers/embellishments. I need to determine if they need to be purchased or to use what I have and make it work. I'm leaning towards the second, but...

Your turn, click on over to the Sketch n Scrap site. Pick a sketch or two and create a new layout or card. They have both!

And if you're interested in my press-on nails, click over to Dashing Divas!

BBTB2 Music/Dance Challenge

Time for a new challenge on the Bitten By The Bug 2 (BBTB2) Cricut challenge site. It's my turn to host and I chose the theme of...music/dance. I had all kinds of projects in mind but settled on making a slimline spinner card. I've never made one before but I thought it would be neat to have a ballerina spinning. 

I search "dancer" images in Design Space and found this one from the Dance It Out set and knew she'd be perfect! Then I designed the card using shapes. First a square turned into a rectangle for the card base. Then a circle turned into an oval for the cut out. Since it's a slimline card, the card base rectangle is 7.5x8.5 (once folded the card size is 3.75x8.5).

I made another rectangle 3.5x8 for the card front. I arranged it on the right side of the card base so the oval cut out would be in the same spot.

The ballerina was duplicated and then flipped. With the silhouette design, I probably didn't need to flip it, but sometimes the cut can be different, so I figured, better to be safe than sorry.

As you can tell, I added some fun eyelash trim and a punched border strip to the front left and a cute gem to her hair (on both sides).

Isn't this a fun card! I must make more!

Now it's your turn...create a music/dance project with your Cricut and link it to the BBTB2 site before the two week deadline. Don't forget to let us know how you used your Cricut for the project.

Shenanigans

Have you seen these cute glass mugs from the Dollar Tree? 

Using black & three different green vinyl scraps, I made this cute St. Patrick's Day mug!

Glass projects are so hard to photograph, but I think this turned out so cute! And the cute shamrock shaker cards I made are a perfect pairing!

Now I  need to decide if I keep it or gift it? LOL Isn't that the crafter question of the day?

TGIF; Thankful Friday #169

TGIF and Happy Thankful Friday!

What am I thankful for this week? I'm thankful that I was able to get Round One of the COVID-19 vaccine shot. 

I'm noticing that more and more people are posting that they are getting the shot and it makes me feel good. There's hope that this pandemic will end soon and things will go back to normal.

It'll be interesting to see what "normal" will mean after all the closures, limitations and PPE that we're used to now...

What are you thankful for this week? Feel free to share in the comments.
 

WOYWW #614

Happy WOYWW! Click over to the Stamping Ground blog to read more about WOYWW and to take a peek into others' craft rooms/areas.

Mine for the week:

I had a lot of fun stamping and trying new techniques over the weekend and it spilled out through the week. So fun!

Here's a close up of the card on my desk. I decided to make it a 3D flower bouquet by stamping the image 3x. Well, the 2nd and 3rd stamp concentrated on the flowers not the boot. I colored and then fussy cut the whole set of flowers with the exception of the top right and the 3rd stamp, I only cut out the front right flower.

I had to add the beige color around the edge since the marker dropped and left a mark on the white cardstock. And as an afterthought, I decided to stamp the paisley background stamp around it. Cute, huh?!

I was able to get my first vaccination shot on Monday. My arms a little sore, but it's not bad.

I hope you have a creative week!

Shake It Up This St. Patrick's Day (Bash Your Stash; Shaker Elements)

I've been on a shaker card roll. They are so fun and can be used for (almost) any occasion. I don't normally send St. Patrick's Day cards, but hey, why not now?

I used my Cricut to design/cut the shamrocks out of a rectangle base. What I also did was cut a circle shape slightly larger than the shamrock. The reason why is I thought it would be easier to adhere the 3D foam tape to the circle shape versus the odd shape of the shamrocks.

Check out the video below to see how I created the shaker elements first & then put the card together:

What inspired me to create my own shaker elements? I purchased a Halloween shaker element pack for $6.99 for no other reason than it look fun. When I went to put it away, I noticed that I have four different Halloween shaped confetti. What?! I really should return it but is one of the return choices, stupidity?

That made me realize that I can create my own shaker elements. So I dug in and Bashed My Stash! I'm imagining that this will be a great project if I'm ever in a creative funk and just want to play.

Watch the video, see how I fix a big mistake and still come out with a fun card.

I love the addition of the Cool Pool and Gold Color Silks to finish the card - just what it needed!

If you're not already, be sure to hit the subscribe button on my YouTube channel and the bell if you want to be notified of any new videos.

TGIF; Thankful Friday #168

TGIF and Happy Thankful Friday! This week I'm thankful for giving, sharing and friendship. I know that sounds like a lot, but let me explain. So the other day, one of my coworkers mentioned that she was taking her family to the snow, within the hour, she had been given enough snow gear for them so she didn't have to purchase or rent anything. 

Then, another friend posted that she was collecting clothing for the homeless and I was able to give her some bags of clothing. Since thrift stores are no longer accepting donations because of COVID, they were sitting in our hallway for months. Win for both of us!

My workplace is having issues with coffee - the absence of coffee - and one of my coworkers gifted me and another person some Starbucks gift cards that were sitting in her drawer. Score!

All it takes is someone to ask...does anyone have...can I borrow...etc., to receive a blessing but also allow others to give that blessing as well.

For those people who are lonely, just speak up. Reach out, we're out there waiting to lend a helping hand. I know that can be hard, but it must be harder to sit in silence.

I hope you had a blessed week and have much to be thankful for. Please leave a comment and let me know what you are thankful for this week.

Sketch-N-Scrap Card Sketch; First DT Submission

I’m excited to announce that I’m a new DT member of the Sketch-n-Scrap challenge blog. They host multiple sketches a month for both cards & layouts. Check out the site...you’ll be glad you did!

My first project for the DT is a card sketch challenge. The sketch:

My card:

I dug into my animal stamps for this one. Don’t you love that sassy poodle?! Doesn't it seem like she would actually say what's on the card? LOL

It was actually a pretty easy card to put together. I added some rhinestones to give her the bling she deserves & then added three more under the sentiment banner.

It’s hard to tell in the photos, but the light blue mat is pearlized paper. So pretty!

Be sure to click on over to the Sketch-n-Scrap blog to see what the other DT members have created as well as link up your own card!