Pirate pop up

I am taking a Fun Folds card class from one of my favorite bloggers, Andrea Walford and Sophia Landry.  They have such terrific ideas and always provide great tutorials for them!  If you want to take the class, you can hop on over to their blog in the right column for information.

I will not post the card that they presented as the project, but I will share a card that was inspired by one of the featured tutorials.  Here is a pirate card that I made for a boy's birthday.  I put some sprinkly background on all the white paper for visual texture.  For the front, I cut out a ship (I hope it looks like a ship!) and embossed it with the lattice embossing folder from the summer mini.  Next, I took my brayer and rolled Basic Black ink all over this to make it look more rustic.  I just handcut a pole and flag for the finish of the front. 

For the inside, I used the provided pdf file to make a treasure box for my pop up piece.  I used the woodgrain paper from the winter mini catalogue for the treasure box.  I added a few other stamps from the Birthday Greetings stamp set and the My Favorite Things stamp set for a personal note. 

Happy together - crystal effects and titles

Here is a page I created using the May 1st sketch at Stuck Sketches.  I don't really know what it is about this page, but I just really love the way it turned out.  The color scheme, the flowers (which I won on a Sketches for All contest, BTW!), the silly pictures....it all just came together perfectly. 

 And here is a close-up of the title - Liz Goldhawk (who has a blog in the right hand column) inspired me to use some crystal effects, so I used it on my entire title in it and I loved the finish!  I had some aqua colored chipboard letters and my paper already had the word together on it, so with the crystal effects smeared across the letters, it really made it stand out.  Finally, The Pink Elephant contest this week was to use pink, so there is just a quart of pink on this page to make it perfect!

PageMaps and Sketch Inspiration pages

Here are two coordinating pages I did based on a few sketches I found recently.  The top page is based on the ever inspirational Becky Fleck's PageMaps sketch.  http://www.pagemaps.com/ I used the Autumn paper from the fall mini catalogue for the patterned paper and then a hodgepodge of other matching items.  For instance, I used several different stickers/journaling spots from Simply Scrappin' kits that are several years old (I just can't throw them away....I'll find a page like this for all those embellies!!).  Our local dollar store carries lots of interesting scrapbooking items, like these chipboard letters from K and Company, and then there was some beautiful velvety ribbon I found on the clearance rack at my SU website! 

For this page, I took the same Chocolate Chip background and used a chipboard scalloped circle to frame the picture.  I spritzed the chipboard with a mixture of shimmer paint/alcohol/Chocolate Chip re-inker (Homemade Shimmer Mist).  I created a few swirls with my Swirly die cut on my Big Shot and stamped a few flowers in More Mustard and Real Rust with the Flower Fancy stamp set.  I added a yellow rhinestone (from the dollar store again- K & Company) and a little pumpkin by Making Memories and here was the finished page. 

As for my school countdown.....14 days to go until summer break!!!  As for tomorrow....more pacing circles to monitor state testing......ah, the fun of the end of the school year!!

Good friends, great times!

Last October we went to visit Toby's best friend growing up, Perk.  He lives outside of Chicago, so we don't get to see him very often!  We got to stay up late and let the kids play all evening and all day the next day.  They had quite a wonderful time together and we definitely enjoyed getting to spend time with good friends and eat some GREAT food! 

The top page uses my new Log Cabin Smooch Spritz!  I sprayed it all over a chipboard frame for a shimmery, bronze look.  I used some homemade shimmer mist with Real Red ink in it for the scalloped edges.  For my title, I stamped first, colored in Good friend with embossing powder and heated it up.  Then I stamped the circle images on top and wiped off the spots on top of the embossing powder.  I stamped a flower image in VersaMark ink and then rubbed Real Red ink all over it for a subtle look on the flowers.  Finally, I dry embossed a few pieces of flowers using the polka dot embossing folder and my Big Shot!

For this side of the page, I trimmed up the

scalloped edges and added a bit of ribbon.  My favorite part of this page, though is the stamped image I made to look just like the girls playing together.  I used the All in the Family stamp set to create an image of the three girls and then watercolored the hair, skin and clothing to match each of the girls!

Quick card for Make, Take, and Donate

Okay, this is a total card lift from the SU Idea Book and Catalogue!  A similar card is shown in the back with all of the card kits, but I haven't purchased this particular card kit, so I just made this with lots of free paper from the hostess level one paper packs!  I used Crushed Curry and Bashful Blue paper as well as Real Red and Basic Gray DSP.  I stamped a few images from the Starring You stamp set and added a little red glitter to the star.  I finished it off with some Bashful Blue gingham ribbon from the clearance rack that I love so dearly!  Quick and easy and great for guys!!!

Make, take and donate card class coming soon!

Here is a graduation card I made for the upcoming Make, Take, and Donate card class at our church's Oasis recovery program.  The class is simply a $5 donation to Oasis and we will make this card as well as 2 other cards in the class.  You make all three and then at the end you have the option to donate one to the thrift store to be sold on behalf of Oasis.

To make this card, I used Basic Black, Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant and a touch of Summer Sun ink. 

I stamped the owl from the Go, Graduate set in the summer mini.  I stamped it in Black StazOn ink on watercolor paper.  Then I colored it using watercolor pencils and a blender pen.  I added a bit of detail with my Signo Uni-Ball white gel pen.  Finally, I cut out a Congratulations "C" in Summer Sun from the 8 Great Greetings stamp set. 

Punches used:  Eyelet border, scallop circle, 1 1/4" circle, 1" circle

Well, I gave a kids scrapbook challenge, so I thought I would show you my little 3-year old's masterpieces!  She wanted to make a card for her daddy and a cow puppet to play with.  She did most everything by herself with only a little bit of help from me!  No matter what, she had a blast using mommy's stamps and making special projects with mommy.  They were good rainy day activities!

Handmade flower challenge

The Pink Elephant is having a challenge for you to make your own flowers, so I decided to create this layout.  I used some pics I took with the action shot mode on my camera.  I loved how the pictures showed my daughter jumping into her daddy's arms. 

It made me think of a song that says, "When I'm weak...I am safe in your arms."  I thought that would be a great title for the page, so I made a tag using that as the title. 

Finally, I finished off the page by making some flowers.  I used a retired stamp set, Stitched Exotics to create the flowers.  I stamped them, cut them out and took an empressor to shape the flowers and make them more 3-dimensional.  I sprayed all of them with some vanilla smooch spritz and then added a little yellow rhinestone in the middle of the red flowers.  For the yellow flowers, I punched a 1/2" circle and pressed the center in to make the edges pucker.  Then I stamped a tiny flower from a new stamp set called Itty Bitty Bits and punched it out with the matching Bitty punch.  I finished those off with teeny tiny pearls.  For the finishing touch, I took some hemp twine and curved it across the layout to connect all of the flowers.