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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

My favorite so far.

As I was stalking one of my favorite blogs, I came across this picture. I instantly loved the project in the background. I needed to make a gift for a friend here in Germany that we will all miss very much. So I took an 8 x 10 shadow frame and did something similar with pictures of the kids.
http://dawnmcvey.typepad.com/these_are_a_few_of_my_fav/2010/02/a-storage-solution.html


So far, this is one of my favorite projects. I am finding that I enjoy paper projects more than doing cards or scrapbooking. Next time I will probably stick to three colors instead of four so it will seem more unified. I think it was okay this time though because it was such a big project. It would probably look better with black and white photos too. I just hate putting the kids in black and white for some reason.

Here is another project I just finished. They are gifts for Jackson's two main teachers at the German Kindergarten. They took me a while! I mostly stamp when I lay Liam down for a nap. Since he is on the third floor, I walk into the next room which is my craft room and stay there until I am sure he is down. That way, I don't have to come back up the stairs a million times if he needs some more encouragement.

Anyways, I saw this cute box at Christmas time. I'm sorry I can't give credit as I can't remember what blog I got the idea from. It was just a picture and then I figured out all the dimensions on my own.


When you take the top off the box, it is a single 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock. It unfolds and there are pictures or writing in each square.


I added a little thank you note on a Stampin' Up petal card that I made with the Big Shot machine. Next time I will try to work it a little differently. I don't like that the corner squares are folded diagonally. Makes it hard to put a picture there without slicing it in half. I will probably try to cut the sheet 4 inches on the top and bottom of the left and right middle squares. That way it can still fold up but will lay flat when it unfolds. If that made no sense then don't worry and just stop reading. :) Next time I will also probably embellish the squares more. Kinda like I did with the project above. These look a little plain in comparison.


Random

Here are some random cards I've made over the last few months. When I begin a card I usually pick a stamp set or paper at random then look around and build from there. Sometimes it works ok and sometimes not.

This is one of my favorite stamps. I guess it is suppose to be for wedding but I'm sure I can find other uses. Baptism etc. I just love the pattern on the dress. I need to play around more with this one more.


A couple of baby cards. Not my favorite.

These two are made with the Stampin' Up treat cups. It was the first time I'd used them and I found they are not as easy as they look. It took me quite a while to work these out. They are cute but not my favorites. I will have to work on getting better at them.

Jason had to send a thank you card to his boss for an open house the boss and his wife did. He asked me for a card and he literally blanched when I suggested this card. :)
I guess I can see why. But really, it was going to the wife! Anyways, he then gave me strict instructions that there be NO flowers (especially really big floppy ones). This is what I came up with.
It is inspired by the cavalry red and white. Their guide on, or flag, looks kinda like this. Before I put it together I called and asked him if the red and white have to be in a certain order etc. He was glad I called because it matters a lot. He said the red goes above the white. Meaning: Blood before surrender. Would have been really bad if I put white on top. Anyways, Jason much preferred this card as a thank you note for his boss. :)

When I did some thank you notes to ladies in the troop FRG I did some smaller versions of this that were a little more complicated. I am so mad I didn't take pictures because they were really cute!!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Stamp Club

Every month we have a Stampin' Up Demonstrator show us some new techniques and fun paper crafts. They bring all the supplies and you leave after a couple hours with some really cute projects. I have loved doing this and look forward to it each month. Partly because of the cute projects and partly because of the great friends. I will miss my Auerbach stamping buddies very very much when we move next month!

I haven't scrapbooked the whole 3 years we've lived here. It has been really nice to still be creative and get my scraping "fix" filled without having to drag all my own supplies out.

Here are some of the projects we have made over the last couple years. Some were demonstrated by Cori Morris and some by Leah Russel. Both of them are good friends and Stampin' Up Demonstrators.

This is a regular white envelope. It was stamped on then cut in the middle. Stuffed with some candy and then one section is stuffed into the other. Very easy and cute idea for a gift.















This is a pill box made with the Big Shot machine. Very cute but a little small.















I love these trees! So cute.















This is one of my favorite cards. The first one is what we made at stamp club and then I copied it in a different color scheme. We made it using a bleach technique that is cool. The quote on the card is one of my all time favorites now.


























This is a cool technique where you stamp something twice and then layer it to match up.















Sunday, February 21, 2010

A Mini Thank You



Here is a cute little 'thank you' gift I put together for a friend.

I love the new mini milk carton! It is a Big Shot Die from Stampin' Up. It's a lot smaller than I thought it would be but I've gotten used to that now. I also love the petal card. On someone's blog (sorry I can't remember who's) I saw how they made the back look like ... Ok, I can't think of the name for it. The manilla envelopes where they twine the thread around the circles to keep it closed. Very cute.








Christmas 2009

Leah Russel, my Stampin' Up demonstrater, did these cute Christmas projects at a workshop in her home. Very cute.
























This is going back a while but here are some cards I made for all of the families in Jason's troop. Up to this point I had mostly done the stampin' club projects and that was all. This was the first big project I did at home. It got me hooked at home:)

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Lately

Here are some projects I've done lately.

A 'thank you' card for a good friend (Hi Cori). She is the one that introduced me to Stampin' Up. I had just gotten some new square punches and wanted to try them out. I had some left over cute paper from a sour cream container and decided to use it. I think it turned out really cute.



























I love the sour cream container to hold candy or whatever as a little thank you. These are really easy. Take a slightly rectangular piece of paper. Maybe 8"x 5". Put tape on three sides, two short and one long. Tape the long sides together, then fold one of the short sides together. Put something inside. Then take the other short side and fold it the opposite direction as the first short side, so they are perpendicular to each other. That gives it the twist effect. With a crimper you can give the taped ends the corrugated effect. Then just add a tag or ribbon of some type.















As I've been looking at other people's blogs, I notice they have their own distinct style. I am experimenting with some different styles. Mostly I just put a couple things together (I love using up scraps, makes me feel like I'm recycling) and move them around the table until it seems to fit right.


With this card I was looking at a patchwork quilt type style. I had seen some really cute cards where lately that took the craziest materials and they looked fabulous together. I don't think I'll ever be able to do that. I like cards that "pop" better. A solid, a bright color that is highlighted and a cute pattern to compliment.















For stamp club in January we did some cute valentines. Here is one of the projects inspired by sptampin up's catalog.