Signs of Christmas

 Literally...I made a sign (or decoration)....lol

This is hanging in the store next to the CANDi and is about 8x8

When we were doing Make & Takes at CHA, several booths were using these cool little nail head looking things and I thought "we just HAD to get them in". I can say we sold several over the weekend....we are actually out of the foam pop-dots that match them already...but you can use a liquid glue to adhere them (no worries, we will get more!).  You get 400 in a package in several color combos and designs (and the pop-dots come with over 400 mini dots to make it super easy to work with)

I am lovin' these!!

They are like brads, but legless...lol

Materials:

    Paper: Metallic cardstock

Spellbinders: Grands Labels One, Snowflake, Square and Beaded Square

CANDi:  Vintage Berries Silver

Snowpersons: Jolee's

The patterned paper I used here is something they gave us at the demo booth, so we do not have this or the little saying, but you all can figure out a way to make this work with different papers and sayings.....we are a crafty bunch!

SRM MINI TUBES

SRM has made these fabulous tubes that are seen all over the internet...the regular tubes...the wands...and now....the MINI's!  Super cute and fun to decorate.  A bunch of these little cuties will be arriving in the store soon....but in the meantime, I got to create with a few while at CHA last week...so I am sharing my creation.

Materials:
     Paper: Paper Cut
Stickers: SRM
Twine from the TWINERY
Gems: HERO ARTS

Stay tuned to the store blog and Facebook for updates on their arrival.

EDITED: SRM mini tubes are HERE!!  they arrived Thursday with the afternoon shipments....yippie (I pre-posted this blog posting early last week..who knew they would get here so quick??)

The last one

The last card from my class on Monday.

Cosmo Cricket paper and some fun repurposed materials

Class card

Another card from the card class Monday night

Tags and papers from Graphic45.

Pennant fun

It's been a while since I was able to play with my pennants....which I bought a few weeks ago, but I did this one as part of a class.  It has a fun different fold to it too.

Materials:
     Paper: Graphic45 "Le Cirque"
     Cardstock: Paper Cut and WorldWin
Spellbinders: Pennant and Pennant Scallop
Sizzix Alterations: Rosette
Twine from the TWINERY

I love the bright colors of this paper line.  Well, I love pretty much ANY paper pattern in the Graphic45 line!

Inspiration strikes...

....everywhere.....but this time it was a blog challenge post...and some cool new papers that we just got into the store while we were busy at CHA. You have to scroll down a bit at the above link to see their version....mine is just made with slightly different materials.  I made my holes with the SEW EASY tool!  There are a million uses for that little baby!!

Materials:
     Paper: Paper Cut Cardstock and Metallic cardstock
     ECHO PARK "Summer Days" Clouds
     We R Memory Keepers
Circle punch: Marvy
Flower Punch: Marvy (old and discontinued)
SEW EASY tool from We R
Stamps: JUST RITE
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink "Black Soot"
Pop-Dots

Shoes shoes

One more pair of little paper shoes

Thank You

A random card of random leftover bits.

Materials:
     Paper: WorldWin, Graphic45 and Memory Box
Sticker: Cosmo Cricket
Bling: Kaiser Craft
Butterfly punch: Martha Stewart
Crepe Paper

The butterfly is a leftover from a class....now used up.
The sticker is the last off a sheet.....now used up
The bling is the last on a sheet....now used up
The background paper is the last from a paper pad...now used up
The stripe paper is the last bit from another project.....all used up
The only new thing was the crepe paper..that is real crepe paper streamer like you use at parties.  I have seen it used on all sorts of things and thought, I have that just laying around....I will give it a go.  Easy peasy....just lay out a strip of double sided tape and start putting down the crepe paper with a few gathers in it along the way.

Cinderella

Materials:
     Paper: LilyBee and Paper Cut cardstock
Ribbon: My Mind's Eye
Brads: My Mind's Eye

I spent a late evening creating these and trying to perfect the technique....still working on that one....I would like a pair of these to sit on my shelf in the craft/media/computer/kid room with the other vinatgey handcrafted goodness I have in there.  This one was a "fun" one so I could use the glitter ribbon from  My Mind's Eye. Again, I used the template from HERE for this...and I am getting closer to letting the PAZZLES to do the work for me.

If the Shoe fits

Well, if this one fits you, I would be surprised!  Maybe if you are 6 or 7 years old this is a possibility...hehehe.  We found a template for the shoe a while ago...HERE....and you can give it a try too. I am currently working on converting it to a PAZZLES file right now, so the machine can do the cutting job....yup, I can do that.

Materials:
     Paper: Graphic45 Fashionista Collection
Ribbon: May Arts
Brad: My Mind's Eye

Summer Birthday Splash

Materials:
     Paper: Bo-Bunny, Pink Paislee "Hometown Summer" and WorldWin cardstock
Bling: Kaiser Craft & HERO ARTS
Eyelets: Making Memories and Spare Parts
Thread: DMC Floss
Sew Easy tool (We R Memory Keepers)
Cuttlebug Quilled Flowers "Chrysanthemum"
Spellbinders/JUST RITE emboss, cut and stamp combo
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink "Barn Door" and "Spiced Marmalade"
Glossy Accents (center of the sun)

I am not sure of the name of the head for the SEW EASY that I used...could be zigzag but I am not sure...I have all the small heads for the tool and can't keep track of them....lol.  As a NO-SEW gal, I love this little tool.  I have a terrible time with sewing machines in general, so this fits the bill when I need a stitched look.  Sure, it's time consuming, but so is threading a bobbin...and that NEVER goes well for me!  I also dug out my vast collection of EYELETS for this too.  It added a little splash of color to the already colorful piece.

Summer at it's best!

Summer is lemonade and suntan lotion, water wings and picnic baskets.  What are you doing this summer? I have been busy working and creating a few cards....not to mention the trip to CHA.

Materials:
     Paper: WorldWin DoubleMates
     Pink Paislee and Bo-Bunny Patterned papers
Glossy Accents
Spellbinders: Fancy Labels 2
Stickers: Crate Paper and My Mind's Eye

I have had this piece of paper for a little while now and could not think of a theme for it...other than the usual Birthday....so I decided to make a summer card.  All that is missing is the margarita.....so lemonade will do.

Deja Vu?

You may have seen this card before in a larger format....and now you see it 12 times.  Each card is different yet the same.

Materials:
     Paper: Graphic45 "Botanicabella", "A Proper Gentleman" and "Fashionista"
     Crate Paper
     Cardstock: Paper Cut
Sizzix Alterations Film Strip Die
Spellbinders Standard Circle

Different cars and different groups of ladies make up the main parts of this card set.

A Summery "HI"

A little fun with circles, packaging and twine!

Materials:
     Paper: Pink Paislee "Hometown Summer"
     Simple Stories: Summer
Spellbinders: Standard Circle and Star
Sizzix Alterations: Heart Wings
Stickers: Crate Paper "Neighborhood Collection: Alpha Labels"
Die Cut: My Mind's Eye
Twine from the TWINERY
Cuttlebug "Seeing Spots" folder
Pop-dots

I like the look of kraft paper and I used the JUTE cardstock for the card base and then used a sheet of chipboard like paper from some packaging that I had....why throw it out...make a cute card!  I also used the platic from packaging to make the heart in the background here too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

 STEPHANIE

A little card I whipped up this morning for my sis-in-law.....with my favorite dress form die from the SEWING ROOM die by Tim Holtz for SIZZIX Alterations. Wow, that is a mouthful!  We should be getting those dies in hopefully this week (at least that is what they told us at SIZZIX)....we shall see.  If not, Tim is coming out with some AWESOME newe stuff at show...so we will be craving more goodies from him by the end of next week!!!

Materials:
     Paper: LilyBee and Paper Cut cardstock
Brads: My Mind's Eye
Bling: PRIMA
Spellbinders: Long Rectangles
Sizzix Alterations "Sewing Room" and "Tattered Florals" dies
Ribbon: My Mind's Eye
Tulle
Paint

I love this glitter ribbon from My Mind's Eye....it comes on a card with two other ribbons and matches the "Lost  & Found" line perfectly.  Not that I used anything from that line...I am just saying.  I also fell in love with the red hot polka dot on this LilyBee paper!  The perfect combo is born.  The red/gold bling from PRIMA is also a great combo for my card.  I can't believe I still have bling left from the class I took with Tina from PRIMA almost 3 years ago!!  And, I do use it a lot.  But it had a lot of pieces on a sheet that was almost 8x11.  We don't have it in the store anymore, but we have other cool PRIMA blings that will work just fine.  On a fun side note..I used a dress pattern for the flower in the bottom corner....you all know how I feel about sewing (can't do it to save my soul) but I like the look of the patterns.

Random

Have you ever sat and stared at your "toys" and just wanted to pick stuff up and just slap things down on the paper to see what would happen?  I started with a piece of Jute cardstock and the clock piece....then I just went to town grabbing stamps and ink and other little bits of stuff laying on my table.  It was liberating!  The fact that I have a lot of Graphic45 laying on my table DOES make this pretty easy.

Materials:
     Paper: Graphic45, October Afternoon and Paper Cut cardstock
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink "Black Soot", "Vintage Photo" and "Antique Linen"
Stamps: Stampers Anonymous
Spellbinders: Standard Circle, Inverted Circle and Labels 5
Brad: My Mind's Eye

Ok, so this is a totally random card....just stuff on a card front...but I like it.  Sort of collagey and, well, fun.

While I was waiting

So while I was waiting for my class to begin yesterday I decided to make a card out of the leftovers from the class.  The only added extras are the ribbon, bling and the number paper.

Materials:
     Paper: Graphic45, October Afternoon and WorldWin cardstock
Cuttlebug Quilling flower "Chrysanthemum"
Bling: Prima
Ribbon: May Arts

I have a bag full of bits and pieces from the "Dress Form "class so I might as well use them up!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Leann

HOPE YOU HAVE A LOVELY BIRTHDAY

Happy Retirement

Nothing like rainbow to make you smile right?  Nothing like the thought of retirement to do the same :)

Materials:
     Paper: Paper Cut and WorldWin cardstock
     Pink Paislee "Hometown Summer" patterned paper
Die-Namics "Cloud" and "Rainbow" dies
Stamp: JUST RITE
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink "Black Soot", "Barn Door", "Peeled Paint" and "Mustard Seed"
Paint
Sizzix Alterations "Townscape" die

Finally, a rainbow die to play with.  Die-namics has some really cute dies to go with My Favorite Things  adorable and sometimes sarcastic stamps.  I used some leftover scraps of cardstock for the rainbow. Easy enough.

HAPPY 4th of July!

HAPPY 4th to you all.

Materials:
     Paper: My Mind's Eye "American Made" line
     Paper Cut cardstock
Sizzix Alterations "Sewing Room" and "Rosette" die
Tulle
Ribbon: Creative Imaginations
My Mind's Eye "American Made" die cut set
Spellbinders: STAR
Pop-dots

I just had to make one more  July 4th card.  I love this dress form die from Sizzix (and we should be getting them in finally at the store!!) so I made a patriotic dress for my card front.

Happy Birthday Quin

A Happy Birthday to my little dude....who isn't so little anymore.

Materials:
     Paper: My Mind's Eye patterned paper
     Paper Cut and WorldWin cardstocks
Spellbinders Star and Standard Circles
Stickers: Cosmo Cricket and EK Success

Those stickers in the middle are some really old ones I have had for a long long time.  You can't see it in the picture but they are the ones that if you move the card the picture changes.  Basically it says "You Rock" and "Dude" in a different color.  I thought they were pretty cool at the time and thought they were perfect for this card.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Quin

All American

A quick card for today.  I saw the cool card that Tim Holtz did on his blog and tried to replicated with the tools I had around the house.

Materials:
     Paper: Paper Cut Cardstock
Die Cut: My Mind's Eye
Bottle cap: an antique find
Ribbon: Creative Imaginations
Bling: HERO ARTS
Sizzix embossing folder
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink: "Barn Door" and "Faded Denim"

I inked up my folder before putting it through and then did a little ink rubbing around the edges too.  The bottle cap was squished with the Cuttlebug....just run it through..and added my other embellishments.

The original card can be found here on Tim Holtz site.  Thanks for the inspiration Tim!!

State Track 2011

Graduation is coming.....in 11 months.....but I am going to be ready.

Materials:
     Paper: Scrappin Sports & More
     Stamping Station
Spellbinders: Star
Custom Die Cuts: PICTURE THIS in Eau Claire
Sticker: Karen Foster

The background paper I used for this layout is actually from the Wrestling line of Scrappin' Sports & More.  I wanted a background with a little texture and this was perfect.  I used a "Hockney" style layout for the photos in motion look.  Since I take so many photos during the course of an event, I wanted to use most this time.  Plus, with the flow of the photos the style worked wonderfully.  He starts, he runs, he finishes. I kept it all pretty simple with all the photos.