Rubics Cube

Remember them? Those challenging squares.  Well there was nothing challenging about filling in this blueprint designed by the pixies over at pixels2pages.

Can I really say enough about how much fun I am having with my pixels2pages subscription?  The amazing blueprints they put up are so fun.  When I digi scrap I typically like to get as many photos as I can on an 8.5 by 11 page, without compromising the story of course. This rubics cube blue print was just so fun to fill and mom’s summer visit in 2010 was the perfect set of pics for this. 
hmmm, I don’t know how to center this on the page, oh well, maybe it will center when it posts.  if it doesn’t, now you know why. 

Croptoberfest

Scrapbooking with cyber friends
It was a fun day yesterday.  Creative Memories held their annual Croptoberfest.  It was a first for me.  They post challenges on their main office facebook page and then people from all over the world interpret the challenges into a page either with traditional scrapbooking or digital pages.  I chose digital.  I saw on Thursday that they were going to do this but Gilbert and I had some plans for Friday evening.  I had it in my mind I would play along with them on Saturday and get some serious pages done.  One nice thing about digi scrapping is you don’t have to wait for pics to be printed and you don’t have to cut them or mat them, that’s all part of the CM program.  So it goes more quickly.

Errrk! Wrench in the gears.  I figured I better “earn” my scrapping time since I had been fishing a lot this week and I wanted to get my fall clothes into the closet and get rid of the bins sitting waiting for summer clothes.  Then we decided to run up to Wausau and do some shopping.  Hmmm….maybe I won’t scrap at all.  We got home about 5:30 so I jumped on line and started choosing the challenges and I was excited to complete six full pages.  Here they are.  What fun and I used a lot of the things I learned from Pixels2Pages.  Grouping embellys, layering text boxes, changing the colors of papers, easy insert of mats, cutting words apart.  I’m learning a lot from that subscription.  Looking forward to more.  Storybook Creator 4 is such an amazing tool and software and I’d like to learn to use the more advanced techniques to really let it be the work horse it was intended for. And here’s the pages.  I did a bit of refining on them but mostly got them done and posted (for chance to win prizes) by 9:30.

Glorious Autumn

It’s been a long time since a post found it’s way here.  What a busy and fulfilling summer.  Lots of fishing, lots of nature, lots of running.  Time to slow down the pace and what better way than to enjoy the peace and beauty of Autumn in Wisconsin.

Here are the words in a readable format.  I saved this in "good" quality.  The real page for my digi scrapbook is crystal clear. Just wanted to share some of the glorious beauty of Wisconsin Autumn.

Loving the autumn and beautiful day. The deck is swept of all the leaves most plants are sitting in their new home at the edge of the woods, out of their pots, they are fresh watered,. I am too funny, I cannot just pitch them while there is still life in them. I apologetically placed them ever so gently in their palliative care environment. The planters are now washed with a mild bleach solution.The last morning glory lifts her face to the sun as if to say I'm not finished yet.  Miss garden fairy and Mr. frog are waiting to be taken to the basement for their long winters nap. I have my iPad out here listening to soft classical music while I lay all my summer friends to rest. 

Guess i need a separate link to enter two cards. For Speedy the Fox challenge Card # 2 made with retired Speedy stamps.

A Masculine Birthday Card

It’s been quite awhile since I took part in any of the challenges in the stamping community.  Today there were two Masculine Card Challenges.  One at Stamp TV and the other at Speedy the Fox.  It was too hot to be outside and I thought it would be fun to stamp in some challenges again.  I can enter both cards in both challenges, just thought of that now.  Two chances to win 

 

I’ve done eight new digi scrap pages this weekend too so it has been a very productive weekend in the craft arena.

Technorati Tags: speedy the fox,gkd,stamp tv

12 on 12 for July

Digi scrapping 12 on the 12th. I'm really enjoying this plan for scrapping.  It's been a hot summer.  I'm not complaining, I love it.  It was an early spring and things heated up in a hurry.  We have had lots of 80+ days and it's only July.  The plants are suffering though.  I have replanted some things the third time.  Even though I am watering them they just aren't getting the rain water that makes them grow. Lots of ear wigs and some large caterpillars chomping away at the flowers and chewing them down to nothing.  I had to give in and sprinkel "Seven" an insecticide on everything.  Double application on the petunias and they finally started to grow.  (i know i have more than 12 pics but the idea is to just get you started)  

A good day to digi-scrap: it’s cold and gray

I want to keep on these 12 on 12 pages.  I will have to do some catch up somewhere in here and get Jan and Feb posted.  I will just take 12 photos from those months and put them in a collage to get the book up to date.  From this point on I want to do the 12 photos on the 12th and scrap them shortly after taking them.  Creative Memories software makes that easy to do.  Here are my pages from last week.  I was at Sarah’s on the 11th in the evening giving a presentation on BiosLife Slim at the 9th Street Wellness location with Dr. Erin Denil and Sarah and their invited guests.  I always like the opportunity to spend the night with Sarah. I actually took 34 pictures on the 12th and some of them I will scrap into my regular book.  I did get a picture of some geese but not the one that was flying alongside my car as I got onto Hwy 41.  That was great!  I laughed with glee.   I also missed a gorgeous shot of a large eagle sitting on the very top of a dead tree by Shawano.  He was so striking against a very blue sky.  I would have loved that shot.

A Restorative Saturday

It was a beautiful day to just sit and craft.  I was able to do some digi scrappin’.  Got a new Dell with Explorer 7 and have been loading things to it this past week.  I got all my Creative Memories things moved over with tech support from them and when I was working in it today I noticed that while everything is there several of the programs are locked.  I had enough other personal papers and embellishments to work with and I see that I actually have four years of scrapbooks going at once.  I’m almost done with 2009 now.   

After four plus hours of computer I went out and walked around the yard and checked the new growth of flowers.  The bleeding hearts look beautiful and so bright this year.  Then I just had to get “inky” and made a card with this sweet image from Door County Rubber Stamps. These little girls are my favorite series.

.

And I needed a card to encourage a young lady going through some challenging times.  I was given this artists trading card back in the fall and it was perfect for this card.  There was a W on the one tile and I just hand lettered the IN. 

Hope you get to do some stamping too.

One Image Three Ways

Finally got into the stamping room today.  Gilbert was so good to fix lunch and supper while I colored away.  Had this image I wanted to try water coloring with and also do a Copic coloring.  I found out I like the Copic the best and it was the fastest way to color also.  Used Gina K Designs Pure Luxury 120 lb. card stock  I thought I would like the water color one the best but actually it is my least favorite.  I did add some liquid Pearl Ex to it to give it a bit more glitz.  However, it is my favorite of the cards I made.   So why not VOTE on which is your favorite,  leave me comment with your choice.  As always your comments make me smile and are like a hug right from you.  This top one is the water colored pencils on GKD cardstock and the CS didn’t take the pencils very well.  Had to use a lot of pressure.

This one is the Copic colored one. You just can’t deny the brilliance that copics give you.  I dug out an old corner punch that was happy to be used again.  Remember those? I was practicing the coloring technique they showed on Split Coast Stampers last week. Always something to learn on there.

This was the same Staedler Water Color pencils that I used on the top card but did this on water color paper from Michaels.  I learned by error that my Memento ink pad didn’t work with the water colors on this paper.  It smeared though it didn’t smear on the Pure Luxury paper.  So on this image I re-stamped it with Staz-on.  The best choice for water color paper. So you can’t tell real well but the black is taped onto GKD pure luxury with a tiny white boarder around the black but it kind of blends in with the background.   SU wide organza ribbon in black.  Unknown pink grosgrain.   You can click on any of the images to get a closer look if you care to.  Happy Weekend everyone!  Sunshine predicted for us tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: Roses,Flowers,Pure Luxury,Water Colors,Copics

More March Musings

Digi-wonders.  I am using Creative Memories Story Book 4.0  It has so much that you can do.  Thought I would take pics of things I see on my daily walks.  It’s such a peaceful time in a small town and figured I better record some of it as we never know when changes come.

LiveJournal Tags: March,Scrap Book,2012

Posting Scrap Book Pages

Well, I like to learn new things and one thing I’ve noticed.  Learning new things takes time.  I don’t factor that in when I am learning something new and therefore I get frustrated.  Ah….an hour later and here are the digi scrap book pages I did for the new project TAKE TWELVE.  For me this is done with Creative Memories Story Book Digi program.  This is the first time I have ever used their pre-designed pages and just plopped the pics in.  That was simple.  I added the text box on the second one and expanded the tag on the first page and took off the embellishment they had on there. Easy Peasy.  The hard part today was learning how to save the pages to make them pictures so I could load them into this Blog.  Got it figured out now, though!  Okay that’s it for today, I’m going out for a walk to enjoy this beautiful day.  Aren’t we all enjoying this gorgeous early spring??

LiveJournal Tags: Take Twelve,Creative Memories,March 11,March 13

BLOCK HEAD BLOG CANDY

I just found BLOCKHEAD stamp land.  :)  Lots of goodies all in one place.  Check them out HERE to enter and have a chance to win a free stamp.  Lots of great tutorials on here for unusual techniques and there is THE cutest little wide eyed Gecko stamp that is calling my name.

ICY FISHERMAN

Isn’t he a cutie?  Our wonderful friends gave us some of their ice fishing catch again to share with my brother and his wife who will be visiting us from North Carolina for a couple of days.  They never get to eat fish this cold!    Keeping the oval in place after die cutting the snow man out, I sponged with Encore blue Metallic ink.  Removed the die and then clear heat embossed.  It gives the nice icy lake effect. I used a couple of copics to snazz up the snow man a bit and then found this blue and green printed vellum in my stash.  It’s perfect for this as it looks a bit like snow coming down.  Thanks again friends for the wonderful catch!

Valentine’s Day is coming

Here’s a couple of cards in the spirit of the day that symbolizes love for people in many countries. Both of these were for Outlawz challenges this past week.

The black and white one was done for the sketch challenge.  I had these Martha Stewart petal shaped inks and decided to make two-tone hearts for a background with them.  Just align and press.  Voila’ a heart!  For texture I cut sponge squares and ran them through the cuttlebug, then colored in the one heart.  Add a ribbon, and you have an interesting composition.

The pink one is made with no stamps at all.  Using some scrap background papers, I taped them together and then adhered to the card.  The focal image is from an old calendar.  You know those tiny images they show on the backs of calendars so you can see the month by month photos.  Perfect for a valentine card.  Added a bow with my ever handy bow easy.  (it makes the prettiest style of bow) and the rest is all stickers. 

Thanks for looking.  Let me know if you post any of your creations to your blog.  Always open for ideas.

LiveJournal Tags: outlawz sketch challenge,outlawz greeting card challenge,valentine,foam,calendar

CAS Valentines

Jinny gave me a bunch of stickers and supplies last summer and I had kind of sorted them out to be easier to use.  I remembered she gave me this Valentine stickers when I saw the CAS Challenge for Saturday over at Outlawz.  It falls under the Paper a la Mode and my friend Karen Knetgen is the host this week.  Hey pardner, rustle on over and join us.

Very simple.  I used an image off a calendar back.  You know those little images they show you so you know what the month by month pictures are.  Then a quick snip with scalloped scissors on the back ground paper. I popped up the image added stickers and a bow.  EASY PEASY CAS card.

LiveJournal Tags: valentine,outlawz

We have a Wedding Coming up

Oh the joy of seeing young love.  We have a wedding coming up with these colors and when I saw the Wed. Sketch for last week at Outlawz this just popped into my head.

Punched squares with Creative Memories punches which I love. Then I took my Fiskars scalloped punch and just rounded the top corners for a cake like effect.  Using the bow easy to make a triple organza bow with Stampin”Up ribbon and adding a tag with sentiment from Door County Rubber Stamps.  Decorated the cake layers with a SU stamp, colored in with SU markers and glitzed up a bit with a Sakura crystal pen.  Also added a bit of crystal effects glaze to the leaves. Easiest cake I ever made.  

LiveJournal Tags: outlawz sketch challenge,wedding,cake

Monday’s NOTHING challenge with Outlawz

Here are the rules as stated. 

Happy Nothing Day!

To Honor National Nothing Day, Our Theme This Week Is

Nothing But Your Sentiment and One Embellishment!

I know, I Know, it sounds very minimalistic but I can assure your there is NOTHING to it.

You can use layers.  This does not have to be a flat card; but remember, the edges of your layers cannot be decorative...so put away the Martha Stewarts and the Fiskars!  Embossing Folders are okay!

I found this little DOTS stamp in my stash.  I love doing the Tole look with these “chunky” type stamps.  Stamp image on cardstock first and do basic coloring. Then stamp another of the same image on a scrap piece and color in the parts you are going to pop up.  Cut out the individual parts .  Turn the pieces over and using a stylus go around the edges kind of bending the edges up towards you.  This gives it the puffy 3-D look.  Now place the individual pieces over the image on the card with dimmensionals. On this card I popped up all of him.  I used thicker dimensionals (stampin up) on the hat and mittens and then used not so thick dimensionals on this face.  Isn’t he just adorable looking?

LiveJournal Tags: Outlawz,Monday Challenge,Tole,Snowman

Designing for Door County Rubber Stamps

It’s been great fun seeing what creativity lies within with a limited spectrum of papers and stamps.  Kind of like the Iron Chef of the stamping world.  I challenged myself to mostly use the papers that came from Oscar’s stores as I did these projects.  We have the freedom to use from our own stash but I wanted people who visit the store to be able to take home the entire package of things they need if they like the project they see by the displays.  And here are a few of the creations.

I really like this Spellbinders Die.  Well I like all of them.  And I wonder how did I ever get along without Pearl Pens. They come in a variety of colors and I think a collection of them would be very nice to have.
This bear was so much fun.  I really liked the way the bear paw fit in with this.  This would make a good masculine Thank you or Birthday card. I used a square punch, embossed the footprints and popped them up.
This little dragonfly stamp had such a light feel to it.  Just that feeling of flight.  Thus, the trail that leads from one to the other. Tore the edges for a more outdoor spacious feel.


One thing I like is to show different ways to use the same stamp.  See how different a look you get when cut out and used as an accent rather than a focal point?  The background paper was perfect for this application. The flowers are stamped onto the back ground paper and lightly embossed.
And one more. This one was done with a Dream Weaver stencil for the large butterfly. I ran it through the cuttlebug and with stencil still in place I sponged to get a soft dreamy look.  Then I stamped the little butterfly all over the back ground paper.  I really liked how this turned out.  I do like my brass stencils and need to dig them out more often.  Thanks for looking.  Your comments are like hugs to me and I appreciate them.

LiveJournal Tags: Oscar's,Door County Rubber Stamps,Dream weavers,butterfly,dragonfly

Outlawz

Here's a fun place to hang out.  Thanks to Karen K for giving me a heads up on the Outlawz blog.  Mosey on over pardner and check out their great give aways for challenges.  The Monday's Greeting Card challenge was to use a book or a card inspired by a book.  My brain has been on overload and the first book that came to mind was Snow White.  I always loved fairy tale books as a little girl and since inspiration is open to lots of interpretation I came up with this card. Doesn't this little guy look like one of the dwarfs and i did get Snow and White in there. :)