Friday, November 9, 2012

Card Challenge and Share

This month at Scrapjazz.com, Nora is hosting a card sketch challenge.  This is what I came up with:

I really enjoyed making this little card, it was simple, but very beautiful.  I really wanted to showcase the background stamp on this card, which is why I think the sketch was so awesome - it's perfect to showcase your large stamps.  If you would like to play along - here is the link for the thread for this month's challenge:
http://www.scrapjazz.com/forums/showtopic.php?tid/323154/

Thanks for stopping by and have a happy crafty inspired day!

Supplies: (Cardstock) Bazzill, Recollections, Stampin' Up! Garden Green; (Ink) Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip, Stampin' Up! Marina Mist; (Stamps) Stampin' Up! Petite Pairs, Stampin' Up!  Sweet Floral; (Dies) Spellbinders Lacey Circles, Spellbinders Circle

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Envelope Mini Album

I have to admit to everyone, I really like getting junk mail - weird right?  Well let me say that I used to not, but I stumbled across a tutorial on YouTube by Laura Denison showing how to use up those junk mail envelopes - and I look forward to opening my junk mail just to get the envelopes!  While cleaning my crafting area the other day, I realized that I had a rather large build up of these envelopes, so I decided to make a real quick mini.  The tutorial that inspired this can be found on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjzRGSevuuQ

Here is what I came up with:






I have not added photos or anything yet, mainly because I was not sure what I wanted to use this for - I just wanted to create.  The nice thing was that I was also able to use up a lot of my scraps from other projects in this mini album - I didn't cut new paper, just used what was left over from other projects.  For the large tags, I added ribbon by stapling it to the tags - I was also able to use up some old ribbon!

Supplies:  (Cardstock) Bazzill, Stampin' Up!; (Pattern Paper) My Mind's Eye, Provo Craft, Die Cuts With a View; (Stamps) Stampin' Up! Established Elegance, Stampin' Up! Faith in Nature, Stampin' Up! Friends 24-7; (Ink) Stampin' Up! Chocolate chip, Tim Holtz Gathered Twig; (Dies) Stampin' Up! Framelits, Spellbinders Lacey Circles, Spellbinders Circle, Spellbinders Scalloped Rectangles

Monday, November 5, 2012

Life Is Beautiful Canvas

I am so excited to share a project that I have been working on for years mentally and months physically.   I got the idea several years ago while in a craft store in which the canvas had other canvases layered on top of it.  It was a beautiful texturie canvas - and the idea stuck and stuck.  Well fast forward years later and this is what that inspiration turned into:

 I built this canvas using the wood blocks from stamps that I had unmounted.  I never parted with them because it felt like such a waste.  This canvas is a 16x20 base, and the large wood blocks are little more than 4x6 (designed for background stamps).  Here are some close ups of the canvas:




Isn't it gorgeous?  I cannot even begin to express how happy I am with this project.  I have been working on it on and off for months, putting it aside when I lost inspiration.  Here is a video of this same project:



Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit and have a happy craft inspired day!

(Supplies):  Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam, Tattered Angels, Glimmer Glaze, Tim Holtz Acrylic Paint, Jacquard Lumiere Paint (Inks and Pain); Stampin'  Up! Classic Ink Chocolate Chip, Stampin' Up! Classic Ink (Ink); Stampin' Up! punch, Stampin' Up! Four Frames Stamp set, Stampin' Up! Broadsheet Stamps





Sunday, November 4, 2012

What's For Dinner

I bet you are wondering why I am posting about Dinner in the morning on a crafty blog!  Well, I will share.....

 It's a menu board.  As both my husband and I are at school full time and our lives are even more hectic now that he is out of the Army - if you can imagine that.  I thought it was time to increase our communication about food plans by creating a menu board.  This was a super easy project to make and I will share how I made it in just a moment.  But before I do that, I wanted to share with you the super cute clothes pin!
Okay, so how did I make this little guy you are wondering?!
  1. The board is actually the bottom of an Ikea shelf that I purchased, put together and realized it was the wrong size for the furniture it was supposed to go in. I was unable to return it, so $40 down the drain - I saved it, and used it here.
  2. Sprayed the heck fire out of the piece of particle board using Chalkboard Spray paint
  3. While the spray paint was drying, I cut out the title "Menu" and each letter for each day of the week on my Cricut using Vinyl.
    • Menu was cut using Gypsy Wanderings Font
    • The little swirls were Cindy Loo which I welded to the Gypsy Font using my Gypsy
    • The letters for each day of the week were cut using Cindy Loo
  1. The clothes pin is from Michaels - I covered it in paper, inked the edges and then covered it in Glossy Accents.
  2. I ran the back of the board with Magnet strips using E6000 - nothing else worked, including the glue gun.
If you count the time it took for the board to be ready (24 hours of spray paint dry time and glossy accents hardening time) this was a 2 day project.  If you count just the time I spent working on it, this was a 1 hour project.  And it's SUPER CUTE!  And lets face it, whenever your husband calls it cool project and admires your creativity, you know it's an awesome project.   Not to mention, this was my very first time using Vinyl in my cricut, I'm pretty sure I am in love!

Thanks for stopping by, having a creatively inspired day!


Friday, November 2, 2012

9{11} 2009

Recently I participated in a challenge at one of my scrapbook forums Scrapjazz.com - this month's Use It Up Challenge included the following:


  • Chipboard
  • 3 Buttons
  • a punched image
  • Mist spray or paint
  • Transparency 

I took this opportunity to begin working on an album that will contain all the letters, photos, and ephemera that was collected by myself and my husband while he was deployed - this is the first page of that album.  And this is what my finished product looks like:
 I cannot tell you how much fun I had making this layout.  This has been a project that I have been dreading to start for a while just because of a lack of direction in how to do it!  But this challenge and the new technique that I tried had really inspired me to get a leg up on this long awaiting project.

The background of this layout was done using clear glue, reinkers, and a transparency.  This is generally a technique that is done in cardmaking and is known as the Acetate and Tissue Paper technique.  You can find a tutorial for it here.  It was such a fun technique and definitely made using my transparencies more appealing and fun. The technique generally only uses one color of reinker, but I used two to create more of a mixed and distressed look.  Before I did the technique, I stamped the underlying cardstock using a glass to make watermarks. I did the same thing for my journaling card. 

Here are some closeups of some of the details:


Thanks for stopping in today and have a happy crafty creativity inspired day!

Supplies: (Inks) Walnut Stain Distress Reinker, Antique Linen Distress Reinker, Gathered Twigs Distress Ink, Ranger Acrylic Paint Black; (Paper) Stampin' Up! Vanilla Cardstock, Tim Holtz Paper Pack, K&Company, Bazzill, Teressa Collins World Traveler Transparency; (Stamps) Unity Stamp Co Postcard; (Embellishments) Tattered Angels, Buttons from Stash, Mon Ami Gabby Burlap, Mon Ami Gabby trim; (Letters) American Crafts, Pink Paislee

 

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Graphic45 BirdSong Travel Junk Journal

In December my hubby and I will be taking a trip to Korea for visit family.  I am very excited about going as is he since this will be his first time going to someplace other than the Sandbox as he affectionately calls it.  While thinking of how to make this a memorable trip and to ease my scrapbooking burden after we return, I came up with this:

I created little pockets that can hold little bits and pieces as well as brochures and such - hubby and I both like to pick up brochures so that we can look back on them later and remember stuff.  There is one of these for each day of the trip.
 We are going on a 15 day trip, so I thought that adding dividers between every so many days would be a good idea - just so that it doesn't become a big huge confusing mess and later when I go back to it I'll know what we did on which days.  So the dividers are giant chipboard letter piece negatives left over that I covered in the paper as well - the dividers spell out K O R E A and there are three days behind each divider.
At the back of the journal I included a thick plastic pouch to store extra stuff that may fall from the pockets and such but that we want to keep. 

All I can say is that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Graphic45 Birdsong Paper.  I purchased several packs of it when it first came out, and I'm pretty sure I am going to purchase several more.  It is just a beautiful paper line!  I did do a youtube video of this journal if you would like to see it in it's entirety and here it is:

Thanks for stopping by and have a Crafty filled Day!

Monday, October 29, 2012

Fall Inspired Mini Album

Hello!  I know that is has been a while since I have posted, kinda stinks, okay maybe stinks a lot.  But today I am here and sharing another mini album that I have made recently.  I love fall - particularly the colors that fall brings out, the oranges, greens, browns, yellows, and reds in rich regal tones, so yummy.  So with that inspiration, I made a mini album out of an envelope and card pack from Michaels.  In keeping with the theme of fall, I covered the cover of the mini album in fabric and burlap and gave it a twine ribbon binding.  Yummy yummy stuff.  And here is what the inside looks like:







The part that I really enjoyed was making these awesome leaves for the mini album.  A little while back I got a stamp set from Paper Trey Ink with the intention of making UTEE leaves.  And that is what these little bad boys are.  I first die cut out the shape of the leaves and then embossed them with three layers of UTEE - once I had heated the UTEE for the third time, I then stamped the leaf skeleton into the UTEE after I had inked the stamp.  This was a SUPER messy process - in fact portions of my desk are still UTEEd from doing this, but it was definitely worth.  Even my husband thought the leaves were super cool and totally worth the mess (never stated something truer really).
And because I know you are still reading my post at this point (probably not, i'm a picture looker too), I thought it might be fun to share some things about this mini:

1.  I used Tim Holtz Festive Berries Distress Ink and Frayed Burlap to ink all the edges of the paper - I also managed to die TONS of paper and myself in Festive Berries Distress Ink.  I loved how it added to the look of the fall colors of the mini album, but that Festive Berries is bright and definitely, be warned!
2.  I had a lot of inspiration from YouTube.  The idea for the use of the envelopes and cards came from .  The idea for the little diagonal belly band came from .
3.  That yummy seam binding came from my friend Julie the PaperBagLady on Etsy.

Supplies:  (Paper) DCWV Autumn Splendor, Stampin' Up! Garden Green Cardstock; (Ink) Ranger Distress Ink Festive Berries, Ranger Distress Ink Frayed Burlap; (Stamps) Stampin' Up! Day of Gratitude, Paper Trey Ink Leaf Prints Stamp Set; (Fabric) Burlap, Stampin' Up! Orchard Harvest Fabric, Seam binding from ThePaperBagLady; (Tools) Martha Stewart Doily Punch, Paper Trey Ink Leaves Dies, Spellbinders Scalloped Rectangle Grand Die, Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Tag Die

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Halloween Countdown!

Hello Everyone!  I thought I would drop in and share with you a little project that I have been working on for a little while and finished and then immediately put to use.  It is a Halloween Countdown decor project.  In my home, Halloween in celebrated all month long, so I decided it was time we had one that officially counted down to the very special day.  So here is what it looks like:

 I found the frame at my local dollar store and came home and spray painted it with black glitter spray paint.  By the way, that glitter spray paint stuff is TERRIBLE - it was a pain to use and I will be avoiding it in the future...... And here are some close ups:



I originally wanted to you the hitch fasteners to hang my little tombstone tags on, but I did not have any so I used some binder clips instead!  The little skeletons and heads I got from Michael's in their Halloween section.  The beware sign was cut using the Tim Holtz Hanging Sign Die and then I embossed it in distress powder and then put distress ink over it.  The letters and number were cut using my Haunted House Cricut Cartridge.  And then I decorated it a bit more using some of the spider webbing and spiders that are also found widely at Halloween Time.

Supplies:  Haunted Halloween Cricut Cartridge, Bleeding Cowboy TTF (Fonts/Lettering); Tim Holtz Hanging Sign Die, Spellbinders Tombstone (Die Cuts); Graphic45 (Pattern Paper); Bazzill (Glazed Cardstock);

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Something Exciting!

I just wanted to pop in and share what I received from my secret admierer, also known as the UPS guy, the other day.

Yep that's right, a new camera and all the bells and whistles!  I cannot tell you how excited I am, this is my first ever DSLR, and I have been waiting for a VERY VERY VERY (okay since I was in the 9th grade) about one day having a DSLR.  I have been taking photos like a mad man since this little bad boy arrived.  Now that I have him I'm thinking of all the things that I have to learn!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Halloween Mini Albums and a New Endeavor

Hello all my lovelies, I realize that my posting as of late has been very sporadic - it's true, life has taken on a new personna all it's own!  With that said, although I try and post on a consistent and regular basis, it appears that posting on a consistent and regular basis will be sporadic and inconsistent.  With that said, I will continue to post when I can.  In that note, I figured I would share why this sporadicness has been occurring.  Well, blogging takes time, and so does crafting, but time for both is sometimes difficult to find, so rather than blogging and planning, photo taking, and loading I have traded that with actual crafting.  With that said I would like to share what I have been up to lately.  This is a warning, this is going to be a seriously photo heavy posting!

So you are probably by now wondering what in the world I have been up to.  Along with my post today, I would like to share that I have begun to branch out and am attempting to sell my crafty projects.  This has been a long considered thing, and my dear husband has been encouraging me to sell my crafts.  Of late, I have felt to be in a position to do this, and lets be honest, I don't actually have THAT many photos to fill all the cute little things that I make!  So, the things that I share with you will are up on my Etsy for sale!  Here is the link to my Etsy store, The Peanut Butter Shop.

With Halloween quickly coming up, I thought I would share some of the fun minis I have made in honor of the festive occasion of running amuck, trickery, candy, and an all around imaginative good time.

 I loved making this little mini.  I covered the cover in plastic after I had carefully placed some fun and playful decorative items.  The spine was covered with paper that had been punched with a spider web punch, and then I overlayed it with die cut bats that extend onto the back. I wanted to leave the front cover as open as possible because the spider paper was so darn cute.  When I created this album, I had a vision of a child's trick or treat party, photos of costums, the loot, and maybe even the process of picking out the costumes for the kiddos and getting them ready for their evening of running a muck.  Here are some photos of the inside:





 Is this not the cutest little thing?  The mini was made following the youtube tutorial mini series provided by Kathy Orta.  While making it I really wished I had kiddos so I could fill it with my own photos of the kids, but I am not at that point yet.  Regardless, this was so much fun to make.  Each tag had a bat die cut adhered to it, and then I also included some cute tombstone die cuts to add to the fun and spooky feel of the season. 
Supplies:  My Mind's Eye Boo To You (Pattern Paper); Bazzill (Cardstock);  Spellbinders Bats, Spellbinders Tombstone, Spellbinders Graveyard Set (Die Cuts); Martha Stewart Spider Web Border Punch, EK Success Spider Web Punch (Border Die Cuts); Tim Holtz Distress Ink Peeled Paint, Black Soot (Ink)

And here is the other super awesome mini album for the halloween season designed with adult activities in mind.  I tried to create this mini album with more of a spooky adult feel to it - because well lets face it, adults like to go out and have a good time as well on Halloween!  I had so much fun making the cover, I covered it in paper and then lace, created a spider web and drippy goo border, and then created a banner title.  All of this was covered with a plastic cover in order to protect and preserve.  The button was added after the plastic was added.

This is a paper bag mini album made using the paperbag envelope pocket tutorial on youtube by SteffoGal1.  And here are photos of the inside of the mini album, as you can tell it is stuffed with super awesome goodies perfect for an affair of spooks for adults! 


Isn't this a fun mini or what?  I added some stamping to this one in addition to all the fun little tag details - I thought that it added to the spookiness just a tad.  
 
Supplies:  My Mind's Eye The Spider Web (Pattern Paper); Bazzill (Cardstock);Spellbinders Lacey Circles, Spellbinders Labels 18 (Die Cuts); Martha Steward Drippy Goo, Martha Stewart Spider Web Border Punches, Stampin' Up Pennants Punch (paper punches); My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Halloween Stamps, CraftSmart Stamps, Pink Paislee (stamps); We R Memory Keepers Large Brads, Prima, Imaginesnce Brad Maker, the paperbaglady trim, Basic Grey alpha stickers (embellishments)

Thanks for stopping by and drooling over my minis like I have been!  I hope you have enjoyed your stop by my blog and today's share.  Have a happy crafty inspired day!