Sunday, June 30, 2013

Project Life Week 7: Then

 This layout features a lot of stamping, but not a lot of 3D embellishments. My pages are generally a little lumpier these days, but it's fun to do it this way, and you can fit more pages in an album if they are flatter. Remember, if you click on the pictures, you can see them a little larger.
 By Week 7, I was really cognizant of all the very cool Project Life geared stamp sets out there, but I still didn't have any. So when I made this page, I used a lot of stamps from my stash, and it was really fun. I like that paperclip peeking out from the other side of the card.
 Most of the hearts are from an A Muse Studio heart set. It's nice because it has lots of different sizes, shapes, and styles of heart stamps. The arrow and doily stickers are from my original Becky Higgins Amber Edition. They don't come with the newer sets, but now the cards are so. much. cooler.
 That's a K&Co tag, but I don't remember who made the frame stamp. I'm thinking that both of these cards are the backs of the cards from the page before. I do that quite a lot if it works out.
 Those are a|s hearts, but I'm not sure about the "love" stamp. On the right, I typed directly onto the photograph. It's fun to do, but don't try it if mistakes freak you out. Imperfection doesn't bother me, so I do it all the time.
 The "special" stamp came from the same set as the "love" stamp, I'm thinking Inkadinkado. A lot of the time, I'll cut a few coordinating solid cards to match the patterned cards I'm using in a layout. It looks a little less busy.
I just stamped right on a shipping tag from Office Max, and stapled the ends down for coolness.

We got a tiny bit of rain today. I was better than nothing, but I'm hoping for more. We haven't had more than a couple of tenths of rain in the year we've lived here. It's pretty bad.

Friday, June 28, 2013

Best Wishes

 This set of cards is a continuation from the last set of cards I posted. I had this stuff out on my desk, so it's what I used for a few days. That Victorian flower basket is from an old SU! set called Memory of the Heart. The sentiment is Waltzing Mouse. There's also Crafty Secrets, Prima, Maya Road and MAMBI.
 On this one, I added a K&Co Naked Tag, plus diecuts from A Muse Studio.
 This one has all the same supplies with the addition of a Melissa Francis resin cameo. I love those things, but they are a little expensive for use on a card, so I don't buy them very often.
 This one features a K&Co Anna Griffin Flora Collection tag. The little epoxy stamps are by The Paper Studio. I have a ton of those, even after I stuck them on dang near everything.
Ah, PSX. I am selling ALL of my wood mounted stamps in my Etsy shop. I am tired of storing them, and I much prefer unmounted stamps. These PSX botanic stamps are gorgeous, though, and fun to color, so I have been using them off and on before they sell. I know I can replace any of them with equally beautiful unmounted stamps. Flourishes makes the prettiest floral stamps on the market, in my opinion, so I know right where to go if I decide I need a detailed flower stamp.

It's only 98 here today, which feels refreshing compared to yesterday. We are supposed to get some rain today or tomorrow. I hope we do, we're in a bad way here.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Project Life Week 6: Now

 Only two pictures this week, and both from the same event! I was already loving Project Life at this point, but I still hadn't made it a habit to take pictures with any kind of regularity.
 I used two different alphabets here, some ribbon, some washi, and some stitching. I continue to stitch on all my layouts. I just love the way it looks, and I enjoy the process.
 This is the receipt for one of my typewriters. I can't quit buying them. I adore them. so. much.
 I actually used filler cards on this layout. I'm not sure if I've done that since then.
 I've gotten away from doing my Week in Review cards, I think I'll try to remember to add one in Week 23, which is what I'll be working on today.
 I took these pics with my cell phone and used Google Cloud Print to print them. They came out way too small, and I don't know how to fix that, so I just went with it. Now I email myself all my pics so I can edit them. It works better for me.
These are some K&Co epoxy stickers. They make no sense here at all, since this isn't a sporting event. Well, no one ever accused me of being able to use sporting vernacular correctly.

 I've been making cards like crazy lately, so I hope you'll stop by tomorrow to see my latest batch. I hope your summer is going well. I think it goes without saying that things could be better in Colorado.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Thank You Kindly

 Of all the thousands and thousands of dollars of papercrafting supplies I've amassed over the last 13 years, Crafty Secrets' Image & Journal Notes Booklets are probably in my top 10 favorite products. I love these booklets, and used the Birds & Botanicals booklet on all five cards here. I have five or six different versions, and I love them all, but this is the one I use the most. I used my favorite thank you stamp, from Waltzing Mouse Stamps. I love every single stamp from that lovely company. The green striped ribbon is from my Cocoa Daisy kit. I used every scrap of it.
 Here I added some K&Co goodness, a Maya Road velvet flower, and some Art Glitter. No stamping on this card, except for the envelope, where I used an old SU! set. The tiny piece of green trim is from Prima. I got mine from Creative Play Stamps, a very nice store with excellent service.
 Same ingredients here. I tend to use up the stuff on my desk, because I am too lazy or I can't unearth anything else in the disaster area that is my "studio." I used A Muse Studio dies for the butterfly and swallow. I messed the swallow tail up, so I just cut it off. The full die is beautiful.
 More juicy scraps from my desk here. Are you still using your mulberry flowers? I am. They are bought and paid for, that's pretty much my criteria for using things. And that I like them, of course. And yes, I have bought things I don't really like. I don't know why.
The "my apologies" stamp is also from WM. The buttons are vintage. If you click on these, you will be able to see larger versions, and admire the incredible shimmer of the Art Glitter. Love that stuff!! If you stop by tomorrow, you'll see Week 6 of my Project Life album. I'm a little behind right now, but not panicking just yet. It's all for fun.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Project Life Week 6: Then

 More getting dressed shots, and shots of the church before the wedding. Have you considered making a PL style album for older events? I have been loving getting our wedding documented. I don't spend quite as much time on this side of my weekly layout, but at least I'm getting them into an album!! I think it's kind of cool to have an almost 25 year old event right along side our current life. I'm going to keep using this method until our daily life will fill a two week spread every week. We aren't there yet, and I still don't always remember to take pictures.
 I added an acrylic sticker to this pic. I love the shine and dimension it adds, and since the wedding was on December 17th, and the church was already decorated for Christmas, I enjoyed adding a few Christmas products.
 That's a Martha Stewart punched snowflake, but why bother mentioning it? You have that punch, don't you? Those are vintage sequins, and a snowflake brad I bought about five or six years ago when shopping with Noelle at Joanne's.
 Another one of those epoxy stickers. I'm sorry these pictures are so bad. I am trying to improve my Project Life photography, but I'm finding it difficult. I think each week gets a little better. There's lots of room for improvement!
 On the left I have a vintage to/from sticker, a vintage cupcake topper, and a piece of plastic vintage greenery. On the right is Noelle in her Southern Belle dress. It was a doozy! Check out that perm, pure 1988!
 Adhesive ribbon from Joanne's. I'm pretty sure I bought that at the same time I bought the snowflake brads. Noelle has talked me into more stuff over the years. Some of it has been great, like the brads. Some, like this ribbon, are not so hot. I loved burgundy back then, though, I confess.
You can see I added a Making Memories silver brad to this cluster. I love those things, and still have a few for Christmas 2013. I hope you can stop by tomorrow, I'll be sharing some cards I made recently.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Life is a journey...

 I hope you are all having a lovely summer!! My sister is coming today, and bringing my youngest home with her, so I am very excited. Wilson has been at his grandparent's house since the 8th due to my heavy work schedule. This is another Unity card. I used that cute little fairy tale house again.
 I used a Crafty Secrets cutout here. I can't remember what they are called, but they come on a large, folded, double-sided sheet. There's so much to play with, I always keep them on hand. Those are vintage buttons. I'd like a piece of that cake, but I guess I'll just eat my oatmeal instead.
 Another view of that house. The flowers are MM. I think that card base is SU! Pumpkin. I got the sequins at a thrift store, they are vintage.
 This is a Unity quote stamp. It says, "We are the music makers..." and then some other stuff. I love the little Unity butterfly stamp I used on the envelope.
This is an odd card, but my favorite of the ones in this post. I say odd because of the mixture of things I added. The gold embossed circle is an Artistic Outpost stamp and it reads, "The thoughts of the day become the dreams of the night." There's also a SU! fruit tree stamped image, a PTI Love Lives Here die cut, and some other random stuff I found on my desk. That metal thing that says summer has to be 10 years old.

Check back tomorrow for a Project Life update. I'll be sharing Week 6 here on the blog, but I'm actually caught up to Week 23. I have lots of fun, new stuff I've been using, and I'm looking forward to sharing that, and telling you all about my kit clubs.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Project Life Week 5: Now

 Week 5 Now side. We are moving into February. My pages are getting a little better. I'm learning to embellish each insert, and trying to stay with just a few colors. I was still having a hard time remembering to take pictures. I only got two this week. I think I pulled the ankle one off Facebook, and I probably took the typewriter pic the day I did the LO. I still wasn't thinking like a scrapbooker yet.
 Here I did some stamping and added one of my silver glitter butterflies. I use these all the time on my cards. The stamped circle is from Stampin' Up!'s Looks Like Spring. I loved that set so much, but I could never use it well. The little flower punch matches that set.
 A little sewing, a little typing. These are two things I do on almost every insert, and certainly on every lay out. That's a PTI stamped die cut at the top. It is surprisingly difficult to stamp that little booger well. The arrow thing I bought at ARC. I don't know what they were for, but they are old, and I got a bunch of them.
 Ugh. Doesn't that ankle look horrible? Don't worry, he's up and at 'em these days. Here I just embellished a Becky Higgins grid card. Added sewing and typing, of course!
 This was on the case of the first typewriter I ever bought. it's a 4 x 6 notecard, so I just cut it in half and inserted it into two slots. This was the most I have paid for a typewriter, yet I don't regret it one bit. I love this typewriter!
 I stamped this card with an SU! background stamp, Crosshatch, I think?
There she is. My first typewriter. *LOVE*

Thursday, June 13, 2013

I love you because...

 Isn't this Unity stamp sweet? I mixed it with some MM {note}worthy and a little Heidi Grace.
 More Unity stamps, isn't this cute? I put blue rhinestones in his eyes.
 Here I mixed a Unity apron stamp with a little Crafty Secrets. I love that apron stamp.
 More Unity. A cute little fairy tale house stamp. If I was good at coloring, I might color it.
No stamps at all here, just  a few scraps gathered from the flotsam and jetsam whirling around on my desk.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Project Life Week 5: Then

 The left side of Week 5. I don't have a lot of commentary for this spread. It's pretty self explanatory. Plus, I'm coming off a 48 hour shift, so I'm tired. I'm also lonely. Troy is in Kansas teaching a two week workshop, and Wilson is at his parents' so I can work.
 Three different alphas: foam, felt & cork. I don't think I would put three different alphas on a card these days, but I was just learning and using what I had. I do go through a lot of alphas with my Project Life album.
 So, I'm glad for the hours, but I truly hate how spread out we are. Troy in Kansas, Ross in NOLA, Sky in Gunnison, Wilson in Kiowa, and me in Pueblo. It just feels wrong, wrong, wrong.
 The day these pictures were taken, I wasn't even thinking about my future family, and that I would be so miserable to be away from them. I have been so blessed these past 25 years.
 The hearts are K&Co adhesive borders. I use them on almost every THEN layout.

Depending on my work schedule, I may be back tomorrow with some cards. I adore working on PL, but card making is still my first love.