Pun'kins

Going into The Wood Connection was NOT a good fiscal decision for me!

I already had a big wooden pumpkin from a class forever ago, but it was lonely. So I bought it some friends:

Luckily, I am OCD and save all my scraps! So years later my little pun'kins match perfectly. See? Never know when your are going to need those! 

Just a little close up of the paper flowers and leaves on top. Lots of glue on this one...

Happy Fall!

Romantic Pumpkin

Ok, the pumpkin itself is not romantic... but it was made out of a 25 cent romance novel!

My awesome upline Blythe has instructions to make your own cheap romantic pumpkin on her blog HERE. It's really not that difficult. Just destroy one book and add some fluff!

I want to make more! 

"Thanksgiving" tree...

..ha ha! Psych! It's a Halloween tree:

I found this awesome little wood-cutting store just around the corner with really good prices! Visit their cute blog HERE and make your own stuff :) 

In the store this tree was labeled "Thanksgiving Tree" and the sample was all done up in fall colors with leaves and hearts... but I thought painting it black and sticking bats out of the top would be better! Never been much of a cutesy-heart person.

The tree part I painted silver and crackled black over the top. If you have never used the "weathered wood crackling medium" at your local store, now is the time to get some and play. 

The bats are glued to hanger wire and stuck into holes kindly drilled by my husband into the top of the tree. I learned that fine glitter does not do well when sealed with ModPodge! Spray it with a shiny finishing spray instead. And then add googly eyes. Everything is better with glitter and googly eyes!

I gave this to my mother-in-law for her birthday. Yes, she did actually request a Halloween tree decoration! And yes, she liked it. 

Since I ended up using all neutral colors (black and grey) I can enter my tree in Heart2Heart's neutral challenge! Go visit their blog HERE to enter the fun weekly challenges. 

Happy 2 days after Halloween!

H2H Halloween

It's a Halloween challenge over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges this week!!! Of course I had to participate! Here is the card I made:

I have a thing for Halloween trees, so this whole card was designed around the tree poking out the back :) All the black is heat embossed and the haunted house is colored with the Close To My Heart blending pen and inks. 

Here it is all opened up:

And from the side:

The actual folds of this card are easy to do, it's all the planning about what will peek out where that takes some time!

Check out everyone else's cute ideas at the Heart 2 Heart blog HERE.

Have a spooky night!

November Layout

On time this time!

Here is the layout my scrapbooking group will be making in November:

We are using the Flirty Paper Packet and the coordinating Dimensional Elements. NO STAMPING AT ALL! Once you have all the paper cut, this is like a 15 minute layout!

We are only using the fall-ish pieces of the chipboard: the word "autumn" and all the leaves. Everyone will be left with the word "bloom", lots of flowers, an owl, and a few sayings. 

I love the tree! Favorite part!

If you find yourself bored in Utah (very possible) in November, contact me and come join us :)

Home-made Halloween

Just a couple of my favorite Halloween decorations I've made over the years:

My husband was VERY impressed... until he found out it was paper. He thought I painted them! Now they're just more annoying decorations for him to pack up and store year after year. So supportive! 

October Layout #2

Ummmm... oops!

Here is the second layout my scrapbooking group is making in 4 days:

Sorry for the not-so-good pictures! It's really difficult for me to photograph black for some reason... Anyway, we are using the Mischief paper packet and of course I love it because I LOVE Halloween!

Just an awesome "Eek!" that you can cut with the awesome new Close To My Heart Cricut cartridge! I embossed a spider web border in the background for some texture.

It's hard to see in my poor pictures, but all the "spider web" is covered in green Glitz Glitter Gel. I added some black sparkles and I love how it looks! By the way, this spider web cut is what sold me on the new Cricut cartridge. I have a big thing for spiders :)

...Which is probably why this little guy is my favorite thing on the whole layout! He has his own tiny web and sparkly area and green thread. He's happy.

More Halloween to come!

Shameless Copies

I wanted to avoid mailing my card-group cards so badly that I made 72 cards in 3 days!!! 12 each of 6 different patterns!

So you can see why I needed to borrow someone else's creativity!

Here are 2 of said cards:

This card is as close to a direct copy as I could get with the paper I had on hand. See page 73 in the Close To My Heart Spring/Summer 2012 Idea Book. Yep. There it is! Pretty though, huh? 

This card is at least changed a little bit, besides just the different paper and ribbon and edge punches... See the front cover of Northridge Publishing's Cards magazine for July 2009. (It's one of those super-expensive subscriptions that no normal person can afford so we all buy them years later for $1 at a warehouse sale) My ribbon "bow" lays so perfectly behind the button because it is a cheater bow! Thank you Tresa Black! Visit her blog HERE to watch a video tutorial and make your own fake bows.

I hear tonsillectomy child #2 coughing, time for drugs!

October Layout #1

Ok, not so early this time!

Here is one of the layouts my scrapbooking group will be making in a few weeks:

We are using the Clementine paper packet (which I love) and burlap ribbon (which I love even more) and wooden buttons (and who doesn't love buttons?).

I am really proud of how these flowers turned out! I just cut the burlap in half and spiraled the ribbon around a circle of paper. Yes, your fingers get either very sticky from liquid glue or burnt from the glue gun. Totally worth it!

If you would like to join us with sticky and/or burnt fingers in October, let me know!

National Stamping Month

Since National Stamping Month is almost over, I thought this last week was the perfect time to tell everyone about the Close To My Heart special! Ok, I forgot until now. Fire me. 

The special is that if you spend $35 on anything from Close To My Heart you can get this exclusive DOUBLE stamp set for $5!!!

The "It's Your Day" stamp set! It's super cute and super versatile and I love it! Here are a few things I've made with this awesome stamp set:

This is a cute little 3x3 card using only cardstock. All the patterns were stamped using the stamp set!

This whole layout is made from white cardstock (with a bit of Kraft for photo mats) rainbow stamped with the stamp set. I have seen this rainbow-type look everywhere and decided to create it for less than $1! You should be able to click on the photo to make it bigger...

This is my attempt to keep paper where I need it. At any given moment I have at least 5 pen magnets on the fridge, but my post-its seem to wander off. All by themselves I'm sure. So with a bit of chipboard and the new stamp set, I made a home for some paper! 

Obviously I am on an outline/doodle-in-black-pen kick, sorry. 

You have less than a week to get this fun stamp set! Hurry hurry!

How To Fix Your My Creations Bookmark Album

Close To My Heart has a really cute mixed-page mini-album called the My Creations Bookmark Album. I LOVED the magnetic flip-over clasp; but the whole thing was so skinny! I doubted if I could even layer a photo and patterned paper on each page and still close the book (you can, but barely). 

So I fixed it.

Step one: 

Remove the flimsy tiny jump rings that it comes with. Usually I have no complaints about a Close To My Heart product, but these are really bad quality! Go buy some sturdy ones from an office store as large as you like to fit your book. 

Step two:

Lay out just the last page with the magnetic flap. Chop out the little rectangle between the creases where the flap closes, like this:

Step three: 

Cut yourself a wider one! Mine is cut from 2 pieces glued together of that thin chipboard that comes with a pad of paper. You could use normal chipboard, cardboard, even a few cereal box pieces would be great. Cut your new piece as tall as the old one and as wide as you need for your book to be thicker. Mine is only about 1/4 an inch wider, but it made a world of difference!

Step four: 

Get your Duck Tape. Yes, we are being manly and fixing our girly scrapbook album with Duck Tape. It is ok to borrow your husbands if you do not currently own your own roll :) I used silver, because that's what we had and I am impatient. White would probably have blended in better in this case... Measure and cut 2 pieces the same length as your book (it's about 4 inches). 

Step five:

Line up your album back, your new rectangle, and the magnetic flap onto one of the Duct Tape strips. MAKE SURE YOUR MAGNETIC FLAP IS CLOSING THE RIGHT WAY!!! We don't want to go to all this work and have the flap not connect! Leave a little bit of room between all the pieces so they are still flexible. Once lined up straight, press down hard! (Obviously try to line up really good before the pressing... or your chipboard will look like mine when you rip it off for a second try...)

Step six:

Flip your book over. Line up the other Duct Tape strip and press onto this side. Really press hard and seal the tape together in the creases.  Both sides should now have a lovely strip of duct tape connecting your new rectangle to your mini-book. 

Step seven:

For the love of all things holy, DECORATE THE DUCT TAPE! Unless, of course, this is an album for a teenage boy or something... that would look awesome! And the silver really isn't bad. You hardly see it, see? 

Ta-da! Finished album! Only now it is thick enough to not only hold paper AND photos, but embellishments as well! And it still closes magnetically!

Wow, that was quite the post! Let me know if you have questions!

Favorite

This is my favorite club project ever!!!

A back-to-school ruler-wreath! My amazing upline Blythe (visit her blog HERE) saw something like this on Pintrest last year, and here it is! I can never keep track of an idea for a year...

Wooden rulers, paper, and buttons. Who knew?!

I am entering this in Heart2Hear's back-to-school challenge this week (visit the blog HERE) so more people can see it and copy it and EVERYONE can have one! That's how much I love this wreath!

Now go make your own!

Happy Birthday Blythe!

Today is my amazingly talented and really nice upline Blythe's birthday! She is turning 24 with a few years experience ;)

I didn't get to go shopping (see previous post) so all she got was this card:

As close to a copy from an old Papercrafts magazine as I could get! I think it turned out cute... I just wish it was attached to a present!

Every cupcake needs a little pink glitter! My cupcake stamp was too big to fit in the circle punch I wanted to use, so I just chopped off some of the "wrapper" at the bottom. 

Just the inside view. Not sure why the Hollyhock pink looks so red in this photo?

I like to make cards that open in fun ways! To me, this version of opening is more fun than the traditional card. 

Ok, so it's not that exciting. Let's remember that I haven't slept in 3 days...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLYTHE!!!

Going CRAZY!

I am chained to my house sitting by both phones waiting for the surgery center to call and tell me when my 11-year-old is getting her tonsils and adenoids out... tomorrow...

I am going insane!

So to divert my mind, or at least part of it, I made a card:

This card is not an exact copy, but is pretty heavily inspired by a card I saw in an old Cards magazine. I got to use up some scraps! And cardboard! And acid-full ribbon I can't use on my pages!

Here is a quick view of the inside that kind of makes the whole "orange and oranges" theme work. At least I hope it makes it work...

Thanks for diverting you minds with me!

Don't worry; they will call between 8 and 5. 

Any time now. 

Yes, it really IS a wedding card!

I needed a wedding card.
Quick.
Like the reception was in 3 hours quick.

So after wasting 1/3 of those hours looking through books for something to copy (am I the only one?) this is what I came up with:

I know what you're thinking: zig-zag, orange, polka dots? This is NOT a wedding card! ...well YES IT IS! Trust me, I created it. 

I used the same color combo as all of the towels on their gift registry. They had zig-zags on their invite and their welcome mat. The invite was tied with bakers twine. And their date was printed in a circle. 

See? Perfect for a wedding! Perhaps not most weddings, but definitely for this one!

All the circle pieces are popped up and the card is cut to open in the middle. You could easily make the zig-zag piece into a pocket for a gift card, but mine just went into an envelope attached to above mentioned welcome mat :)

Happy unconventional wedding crafting!

Good Enough?

I'm nervous.

I have been invited to join a rather exclusive card group and I don't know if I am good enough...

You tell me:

This is what I came up with. I needed to use new product, the Flirty Paper Packet, and no discontinued stuff. Oh, and make 20!

I stamped the flower in 3 colors and cut them out separately so I could ink the edges a bit. Then I hooked them on with foam tape for even more dimension.

The awesomely beautiful ribbon is the new Rosette Ribbon. It was surprisingly simple to work with! I have seen people dye is and sponge it, but all I needed to do was glue it on :)

So you let me know.

Is this card good enough?

September Layout

I am super early this time! I was just excited to start using the NEW papers from Close To My Heart's NEW catalog!

Here is the layout my scrapbooking group will be making in September:

We will be using the NEW Scholastic Paper Pack. My whole family loves to read so I decided it was time to make a book layout!

I used the NEW Canvas Alphabet for the title and and OLD poem from Shel Silverstein :)

I am in love with the NEW Burlap Ribbon and the Bakers Twine! We are using lots of embellishments on this one... 

Contact me if you are in Utah County in September and want to join us!

Yep... Still Summer

We've already discussed that I am not a huge fan of Summer.

It's been extra hot and extra muggy lately; so I am extra uncomfortable... My kids are starting the nearing-the-end freak-out and driving me crazy... My house is a disaster filled with old clothes I attempted to organize and never finished...

So I think it's time to post something cute to remind me that this is supposed to be a happy fun time:

I made this banner forever ago, but finally just hung it up! It was designed by my super-talented upline Blythe, visit her blog HERE, who always makes cute things. Close up of each letter:

I was out of chipboard (I know, ridiculous) so these are backed with a cut-up Amazon box. It doesn't need to be acid-free to hang on the wall, right? 

Happy summer!