creatively crafty adventures

The last time I was here, I felt I had wasted my weekend because I only made one card - this weekend I completed nine!  Two of them I just had to do the insides, and this one I had embossed the white layer two months ago for the three trees card that ended up going in a completely different direction.  Somewhere, since then I found some inspiration, and this one qualifies as monochrome for the challenge at Christmas Cards All Year 'Round:

stamp sets - Better Together, Thoughtful Branches; ink - Real Red; card stock - Whisper White, Real Red; Big Shot with Woodland embossing folder and Tags & Labels thinlits

I'm preparing for Card Buffet this week, and it's time to increase the Christmas options to two (of six).  Next month there will be three or four, and the card above is a possibility, but it wouldn't work this month because the Thoughtful Branches is needed for another card.  I decided Jean's Watercooler Wednesday color prompt would make an elegant choice, though, and I was able to combine it with the Creating Pretty Cards sketch:

stamp set - Christmas Pines; ink - Versaamark;  Stampin' Emboss powder - Copper; BigShot with Pine Bough embossing folder and Layering Circles framelits

You may have noticed that I missed the rectangle element in the lower left of the sketch; I think it really, reeeaaalllly needs a small pine branch cut with the Pretty Pines thinlits from Copper foil paper, but I don't have any Copper foil paper.  It's already on my next order, so I may re-post it when it's finished!  Hmm, so maybe I only completed eight cards.

But, in addition to cards, I made two wood signs with vinyl lettering.  One was a Life Expressions Make & Take - great fun with coworkers:

The other was a combined effort - my friend Ginger had a second cut from one she made and she gave it to me, then my husband cut & sanded a piece of wood for me, which I painted and applied the vinyl to.  It's my ♥favorite♥:

Before I did anything else, I machine-embroidered our names on the polo shirts we bought three and twelve months ago for bubble machine/kite festival engagements, and the household chores are (mostly) caught up, too!

still more wrapping up adventures

While searching for the super-shiny gift wrap paper I used on my second No Time Like the Presents Jingle Belles card, I came across this beautiful snowflake paper.  I  love it so much,  I'm sure I never wrapped anything in it, but simply hoarded it from the time I first set eyes on it.  I have no clue where I found it originally.  I may have made one Christmas card from it in another year, probably for a Jingle Belles challenge.  When I made this card last week, there were several open challenges looking for winter or snow-themed cards; this week my card only qualifies at Jingle Belles, where the challenges are two weeks long, and Christmas Cards All Year 'Round, where the Anything Goes challenge runs through month-end:

I pulled out some long-retired Stampin' Up!® card stock in Bashful Blue and Lavender Lace.  The sentiment is from the retired Joy to the World set, embossed with Pewter Stampin' Emboss powder, although it appears golden in the photo.

Earlier this year, I showed you the shadow box twinchie display I made with a summer theme.  Just before Thanksgiving, I decided it was time to update it - that project is wrapped up and on display in the living room:

The stamp sets and designer series papers are retired, as are several of the embellishments; the colors are Island Indigo, Pool Party, and Coastal Cabana.  Tom liked it so well, he suggested that I should update it for every season. :)

Several years ago I saw this project  in a craft magazine.  It looked fun & easy, so when I found the little silver-colored tray at a thrift store or yard sale, I snapped it up, painted it cream, and found some Antique Gold Rub'n Buff.  The painted tray and the unopened Rub'n Buff stayed together through more than one craft-room reorganization, but during this most recent one they finally made it to wrapped up status, and now the tray has a purpose, holding small things near the sink in the guest bath:

Of course, now I have 99.9% of a 1/2 oz. tube of Rub'n Buff that has no purpose and no home.  I have these little brass angels - another thrift store or yard sale purchase - that I thought about brightening up:

I did try cleaning them; that wasn't what I might consider successful, and I don't know if adding "the original wax metallic finish" will be an improvement, but I'm still thinking about it.

more wrapping up adventures

Tom tried to start putting away Christmas decorations today, but it's only the tenth day of Christmas, so I told him I'm waiting for lords a-leaping.  I haven't seen any, but I found time to wrap up some of the unfinished (or maybe they were never started) projects I found while unpacking and reorganizing my craft supplies last week.  One of the things I found was a shiny little unused Christmas gift tag that didn't match anything.  Jingle Belles' No Time Like the Presents idea to using gift wrap or tags coincides nicely with The Paper Players' "Everything Old is New Again" theme, so I cut the little trees out and went looking for something shiny to showcase them.  In my box of specialty papers I found this super-shiny silver gift wrap - all I needed was a few Stampin' Up!® supplies to wrap it up:

stamp set - Endless Wishes; ink - White Craft; Stampin' Emboss powder - Iridescent Ice; card stock - Night of Navy; Basic Jewels rhinestone; Big Shot with Labels Collection framelit

Edited to add - just found Christmas Cards All Year 'Round, where the January challenge is Anything Goes, so I'll link this one there, too!

I found a few projects and kits that I decided needed to be completed instead of stored, so this cute wood bear is "wrapped up" and now marches at the top of a bookcase in the reorganized craft studio:

I used the Stripes stencil from my Dots & Stripes pack to make the plaid pattern using acrylic craft paint.  In the suggestion photo, he sported a little bow, but I stole one of the wooden hearts from this little chalkboard kit, another project "wrapped up" this weekend:

easy adventures

I wanted to make gifts for some of my friends - these were so easy, it's hard to take as much credit as "hand made" sounds - I'll just call them hand stamped:

stamp set - The Sounding Joy; versamark ink and Gold Stampin' Emboss powder; 

not available from Stampin' Up!® - Blazing Red StazOn ink

I got the idea from another Stampin' Up!® demonstrator who posted her ornament at Stampin' Connection (the website for Stampin' Up!® demonstrators to share with each other).  The Darice® ceramic star ornaments are available from DJ's Ceramic Supply, but if you live near me and just want one or two give me a call (or email) - I bought more than I needed.

Here's a close-up of the prototype, which now hangs on our tree:

Even before Shopping Our Stash challenged us to make a tag , I'd been planning to make some hand-stamped gift tags for my friend, Janet.  (hmm, hope she's not reading my blog these days).  I gave her some a year or two ago, and she told me they're "too special" to use.  I thought maybe if she had bunches, she'd be ready to give up some of them, so here are some for this year, in a tin that she can keep:

 stamp sets - Gift Givers, Punch Pals, Perfect Punches, Delightful Decorations; ink - Cherry Cobbler, Marina Mist, Old Olive, Garden Green, Real Red; card stock - Riding Hood Red, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Garden Green, Real Red; punches - Stocking builder, large Tag, Scallop Circle, Ornament, Decorative Label; Cherry Cobbler Dazzling Details


The only the reason these projects took any time at all to complete is that I was making multiples, so I had plenty of time to make one more Christmas card for someone who was left out of last week's mass mailings, since I didn't have their address until today:

stamp set - Perfect Punches; ink - Versamark with Gold Stampin' Emboss powder; card stock - Early Espresso, textured Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler; designer series paper - Deck the Halls (retired); Victoria 5/8" crochet trim, Stampin Dimensionals

It was also quite easy, because I started with sketch #171 from Clean & Simple, the Music theme from Less is More, and the SU-Only Challenge to "express those bright, cheerful and joyous feeling of the holidays".  With all of that to start out with, it was just a matter of choosing paper and coordinating colors of card stock!  I'm not really sure it's a clean and simple design according to the Less is More guidelines, I may have to try that challenge again, but I like the card nonetheless.

adventures in crafting

hmm it seems that i could be doing better than posting once or twice a week...

One problem this time of year is it's not only hard to leave home, but it's increasingly difficult to be anywhere other than the back deck.  I do occasionally swap for the front deck, but the back one has a dining table (handy for meals, books, a laptop computer) and a view of the bird feeders:

I did leave home last weekend, to spend time at Strawberry Fest downtown - no pictures, but I bought the cutest hot air balloon crocheted over a Christmas bulb.  Afterwards there was a meeting of my friends' family craft club, where we were working on yard art created from bicycle wheels, an idea AJ found last year in a magazine - Better Homes & Gardens, maybe?

The consensus was that we needed smaller, colored glass dessert-size dishes, which we hadn't had much luck collecting from thrift stores and yard sales.  More shopping will be needed!  Well, maybe not "shopping" as much as "junking"...

Craft club is as much about food as any other craft.  One winter day we taught ourselves cake decorating, although none of us will be on Cake Boss any day soon.  Carol's contribution last week came from another magazine, Woman's Day, this time, or it may have been Family Circle.  I went searching and couldn't find it, but it's the current cover on the newsstands now:

Carol retired from a position with the school system recently, and although she sells real estate, it's a possibility she has a little too much free time on her hands.  Of course, I think she needs to get started in paper crafting.  Then she could make things like this card I designed for the Less is More Monogram theme:

Unfortunately, I am once again too late to post for the challenge.  I originally planned to stamp the monogram, but the only alphabet set I own seemed small for a focal point.  Then I remembered having a Sizzlit die set called Broadway Melody, which I had to have because the letters are created with a music-note motif, and it was on sale (it may have been retiring).  So, in spite of the border punch background being so new that it's not even available until July 1, I believe this card does qualify at Shopping Our Stash for THIS week's challenge to "use some of those tools we *had* to have but don't use often".  As does this card, since I never seem to think about the crimper unless someone else reminds me:

In this case, Nisha reminded me, when she taught this card at her stamp-a-stack event Thursday evening.  Please excuse (or ignore) the little schmear on the the sentiment - she did not teach it that way.  ;)  It's so totally ADORABLE! - I probably will have to use it at my 10-for-$10 stamp-a-stack, too.  Which is next week, so maybe I should design four more cards to go with it...

Or three more, as I'm pretty sure we'll be doing this card, because it demonstrates a technique I learned at Less is More to emboss a background that is wider than the embossing folder:

Well, I guess I better get to "work" (heh heh)