TGIF; Thankful Friday #416

 

Happy Friday and it's another week to be thankful! This week I'm thankful for books. 

My daughter and I have been challenging ourselves to read as many books as possible during the summer months. We're in our 26th year. It started on May 29th and will end the day before the first day of school.

So far I have read three books! Once I complete the books, I write a book review. If you're interested in reading those reviews, follow me on IG @retir_edmd.

What are you thankful for this week?

Mixed Media Junk Journal

I love playing in my junk journal because it has many functions and styles that fit my mood. This time I really dug into my art supplies to make this spread.

Sometimes it looks like a hot mess but I always trust the process!

I pulled out a bunch of mark makers and supplies to create a colorful background. And then added a simple statement using black acrylic paint.

Questions on what or how? Be sure to watch the process video!

Pretty in Ink Layout

When I couldn't find anything to embellish my layout, I created my own. Cricut Design Space has thousands of images, I knew I'd be able to create something!

I searched tattoo and ink for these images. I used Basic Shapes hexagon as the base for the images because the sketch I used had them. I think they gave them an edgier look too!

Added an offset to the hexagons and then flattened them to create print then cut images. I also cut hexagons in cardstock for a variety.

Here's the sketch by Scrapbooking With AnnMarie:

Watch the process video on my YouTube channel. If you're not already a subscriber, I'd love for you to subscribe. I post two videos a week. One is always scrapbooking and the other is whatever else I'm creating in the Command Center which you know is my craft room.

Scrapbooking With AnnMarie or Scrapbooking The Day Away is a great site if you love scrapbooking. It's an all things scrapbooking community! There are two memberships available, one is free and the other is a small monthly fee. AnnMarie is a wonderful person and she provides tutorials, challenges, sketches, chat area, etc. It's worth checking out!

Another Fiesta Prize Ribbon

We have an annual event in our town called the Apricot Fiesta. It's a ton of fun and the whole town gets together for a lot of local entertainment, food, games, parade, fireworks, booths, rides, drinking, an arts and crafts show and so much more!

I've entered the show multiple times and have been fortunate to win a ribbon on all my entries. Well this year didn't disappoint.

Second Place:

Honorable Mention:

I love this picture I took while in Morro Bay. I was a little disappointed that I didn't place but when I saw the ones that did, I was ok with it. LOL

If you live in CA, have you been to Morro Bay? It's crazy, you drive into town and all of a sudden this huge rock is in your face. We're a ways away from the rock, but you can see how it's sorta magical. Wow, it's worth it if you can get there.

TGIF; Thankful Friday #415

TGIF and happy thankful Friday. This week was a weird one since Monday was a holiday. We didn't do anything different except my daughter was home from work.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to submit two entries for our Apricot Fiesta Arts and Crafts contest and Photography contest.

Hopefully I'll have a post celebrating a new ribbon to hang!

What are you thankful for this week? Let me know in the comments.

Designer Deep Dive; Echo Park YT Hop

It's time for another YouTube hop hosted by Tara of the Paper Snob. Scroll down for all the details. 

Here's my layout using Echo Park School Rules stickers. When Echo Park had a big warehouse sale, I decided to purchase a bunch of their stickers versus collections. If you're like me, we already have tons of papers that coordinate with these stickers even if they are not from Echo Park. I used a big paper pad called The Basics. You know, the one you bought because you were going to use it for everything? LOL

I haven't...but they sure did coordinate with the School Rules stickers I pulled out for my granddaughters' first day of school. It's a simple page but I love how colorful it is! I followed a sketch by Scrapbooking The Day Away.

Here's a closeup of the title/journaling part in the lower left corner:

Check out my YouTube video and follow the other scrapbookers.

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#designerdeepdive  #scrapbooklayouts #scrapbooking #useyourstash

Join a fun group of creators each month as we take on the Designer Deep Dive Hop! Each month Tara from @thepapersnob will select a designer or manufacturer to use on a layout. There will be some alternatives for some of the designers just in case you don’t have this designer or manufacturer in your stash.   You are not required to use 100% of this designer!  This hop goes live on the FOURTH THURSDAY of the month. We will have a hop on YouTube and Instagram to show how we each used the designer for the month. 

The designer/manufacturer of the month is: Echo Park or Carta Bella!

Instagram:

Brandi www.instagram.com/scrappy.boymama/

Simera:  www.instagram.com/scrappysimi

Laurie:  https://www.instagram.com/scrapbookingbits/

Kathy C:  https://www.instagram.com/kacarr61 

Kathy S:  https://www.instagram.com/kathyfl58/

Here is a playlist with ALL the videos of the YouTube creators:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCfSqErOPJorvbr97LYKxzROOYe2swnnb

If you want to play along, come over to the Paper Snob Community Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thepapersnobcommunity/

Sparkle and Shine Card; Jenlee Schoolcraft

Is it too early for Red, White and Blue card? I used a striped embossing folder and Sparkle & Shine die cuts all from the Jenlee Schoolcraft website, to create a July (patriotic) birthday card.

There's plenty of sparkle since I used clear glitter glue to really jazz this card up and some star shaped enamel dots to add more fun!

Overall an easy card since my Big Shot did most of the work. And I'm ok with that!

If you're looking for budget friendly crafty supplies, look no further than Jenlee Schoolcraft website. She has lots of supplies both new and gently used to make pretty, crafty things. Use my first name, Dorlene for 10% off your order. 

Punches, Pocket Pages and the Fuse Tool; Oh No!

This spread of my granddaughter's first birthday includes punches, a pocket page and the Fuse Tool! Oh my!

I printed a lot of 4x6 photos for this event and instead of creating lots of layouts, I decided to use a pocket page and some flip flaps. This definitely saved time and space in my album. I also like doing this to add interest to my albums.

Check out my YouTube process video to see how to use the Fuse Tool and to see what else I did to make this spread special.

This video also talks about using flip flaps, paper scraps and/or ugly papers. Did you learn anything new from this video? Let me know!

TGIF; Thankful Friday #414

Hey there. It's Friday and another week to be thankful. This week I volunteered at my daughter's work during the Book Fair. I am tired!

Tired but thankful for the time spent. It's pretty cool to see her in action. The way she interacts with the kiddos and the way they just love her is pretty cool. 

She was made for this job and I'm thankful she has a job that she loves. 

So yeah, that's what I'm thankful for this week.

How about you? What are you thankful for this week? LMK

New York City Junk Journal

I just got back from a quick trip to New York and of course had some great "junk" for a spread in my junk journal.

I wish more places had things I could gather but the map was a great find! 

I added some old, old New York stickers that I'm not even sure why I had them but definitely came in handy!

The glue that I used is from The Paper Source which is a Hobby Lobby brand. It was a great gift to receive a container of glue assortments from my friend.

This video is a little less talking and more cutting, tearing and glueing sounds. It's actually kinda soothing! Watch it here:

Let me know what you think about it! Do you like the audio this way or do you prefer more talking?

Printable Cuttable Creatables Spring Hop

Hey friends! Welcome to the Printable Cuttable Creatables Spring Blog Hop. (Scroll down for all the hop details.)

With graduation ceremonies right around the corner, I decided to add some graduation cards to my stash. There are quite a few cut files available on the PCC website (and some are free) but I decided to use the You Did It file.

Once uploaded into Cricut Design Space, I changed a few areas to customize the tassel, diploma ribbon and one of the offset layers to match school colors.

As always, I stack the pieces before adding adhesive. This helps visualize the project and avoids a gluey mess. With some small cuts, it was great to use my picking tool and fine tip adhesive.

I used both black and white markers to add highlights and don't you just love the red glitter paper to add sparkle!?

Watch the process video on YouTube:

Card Cut Measurements:

Base 5.5x11"; scored at 1.75, 5.5 and 9.75"

Patterned Papers:

Two at 3.5x5.25"

One at 1.5x5.25"

Two at 1x5.25"

Band 1x10"

White cardstock (optional): 4x5.25"

I mentioned above that there is a Spring Blog Hop going on at the PCC Blog. The Hop goodies and offers are active from May 15 through May 22nd.

There is a free file available for everyone who has the secret code (the code will be hidden in one of the participating blog posts) and one lucky hopper will win a Virtual Wallet prize. 

To be eligible for the Virtual Wallet Prize, viewer must leave a comment on the main blog post telling us their favorite blog post of the hop.

There will be discounts and specials too. Be sure you visit the main blog for all the details! You don't want to miss the hoopla!

Blog Hop main link HERE  and here's the other blog posts:

• Paula 
• Dorlene You are here!
• Michi
• Ana

TGIF; Thankful Friday #413

413 divided by 52 = 7.92 which rounds up to EIGHT years of this TGIF; Thankful Friday series! Wow! This is actually really cool. I'm glad I continued this series even when it was extremely hard to find something to be thankful.

This week I'm thankful for surprise texts and/or messages. I love it when someone reaches out just to touch base and say hi. It's so important and means so much. 

What are you thankful for this week? I'd love to hear about it!

Crush the Rainbow YT Hop; Yellow

It's that time again for the Crush the Rainbow YT Hop. The color for May is YELLOW. I had the perfect photos for this challenge and the layout turned out so cute. I mean...how can it not when the photos have these two cuties?

I used a sketch from Scrapbooking with AnnMarie/Scrapbooking the Day Away.

Be sure to check out her website if you're interested in all things scrapbooking including a great community of scrapbookers. There's a free and paid subscription available.

I also used my Cricut and SVG files from Printable Cuttable Createables for the embellishments and title. Can you believe I also did a little mixed media?

Watch the YT process video to see how it was created.

Here are the details of the hop:

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#scrapbooking #scrapbooklayouts #rainbowcrushhop #scrapbookprocessvideo

Welcome to Rainbow Crush – a Social Media hop where we share projects that feature a color of the rainbow each month! This hop is hosted by Tara on her Facebook Group.  Anyone is welcome to play along.  This hop takes place on the  2nd Wednesday of the month!  The color for May is yellow!

You can sign for the next month’s hop over on the The Paper Snob Community Facebook group: 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thepapersnobcommunity/

INSTAGRAM:

Tina:  https://www.instagram.com/tinamcmmvr/

Laurie:  https://www.instagram.com/scrapbookingbits/

Sheri: https://www.instagram.com/sheriluvs2scrap22/ 

Lauren:  https://www.instagram.com/creative_happy_hour/

Kathy:  https://www.instagram.com/kacarr61 

DawnLyn:  https://www.instagram.com/dawnlynsdesigns/

Brandi:  https://www.instagram.com/scrappy.boymama/

Simera:  https://www.instagram.com/scrappysimi/

Tammy:  https://www.instagram.com/handcrafterhaven/

Here is the YOUTUBE PLAYLIST for this hop! All the videos in one place!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCfSqErOPJookAv22BhuKSmTxlvw2PrLh

Five Products for a Simple Card; Jenlee Schoolcraft

I created a beautiful and simple card using just five items; paper, stamp, embossing powder, enamel dots and a ribbon.

The stamp set used is Documented by Kaiser Craft which is available on the Jenlee Schoolcraft website. I love the sentiments and simple designs in this set so I decided to keep the card simple as well. I think it's perfect for a unique graduation card.

I used the yellow cardstock to mat the beautiful soft floral paper. I think this gray/yellow combination makes this good for both female and male recipients. 

If you're like me, we have lots of embossing powders that sit in a container and hardly used. Because this was going to be a card with few frills, I wanted to put some pizzazz where I could. I think I nailed it! What do you think?

See the process video on YouTube:

Do you like making simple cards? What are your Go To items when cardmaking?

For your budget friendly needs, go to the Jenlee Schoolcraft website for new and slightly used crafty products. The selection is vast but remember this is not a big box store where the quantities are endless. If you see a product you like, your best bet is to get it now because it may not there later. These products range from simple embellishments to stamps to dies to embossing folders and so on...

And...use my name, Dorlene for an extra 10% off your order!

TGIF; Thankful Friday #412

Happy Friday and another week to be thankful. This week I am thankful to be home. For two days, I didn't do much and then the next two I hung out with my girlfriends. 

Having friends as adults is so important and I'm thankful to be home to spend time with them. 

This Sunday is Mother's Day and it may feel a little different for me and my sisters but it's the first of many.

Enjoy your weekend and remember, there is always something to be thankful for!

Funny Cards

I participate in as many challenges I can with card making and scrapbooking. It really helps me with trying new things and pushing myself. 

With these three cards, I did just that. I used three funny stamps from Rubbernecker that I've had for years; three different Snoopy stickers (stolen from my granddaughters' sticker bin) and a window die. Oh, I almost forgot. I used background paper using Cricut Design Space print/cut feature. 

These are pretty simple and I love them so much!

I also created a YouTube video and you can find it:

If you are interested in following me on Instagram, go to @3sons_and_astar for this particular hop or any of my other projects!

Cute Print Then Cut Tags

I know Easter had passed but I still wanted to share these simple print then cut tags that I made.

I used Spring Llama SVG from Printable Cuttable Creatables and a tag shape from Basic Shapes in Cricut Design Space.

I explain how to create your design and turn it into a print then cut file. Use a circle shape to cut a hole in the tag by using the attach function.

Watch how easy it is on my YouTube video:

I love the tulle for my ribbon of choice and then tied it with twine.

TGIF; Thankful Friday #411

Friday is here and I'm in New York! Yup, that's what I'm thankful for this week. The ability, time and desire to travel.

I got to see my sister's new house in North Carolina before the two of us flew out to NY. 

I'll post pics on IG later. Right now I'm on the road!

What are you thankful for this week? Please share!

Summerween Layout; LTCCB

It's time for another six week challenge on the Love To Craft Challenge Blog (LTCCB). This blog welcomes all kinds of crafty projects as long as you link it up before the deadline.

For my project, I decided to create a scrapbook layout using SVG cuts from Printable Cuttable Creatables and my Cricut to make these cuts into Print then Cut items.

Have you heard of Summerween? It's definitely a new event and a lot of fun. This was our first year participating and we will definitely be continuing this summer event!

Now it's your turn. Link your project to the LTCCB website before the June 15th deadline.