Friday, November 30, 2012

Party! 3D Papier Toile Birthday card


This card came together really quickly using 3D Papier Toile elements. Each image has several layers. It's up to the indivdual how many layers you actually want to apply. I learned how to make it during a techniques crop and don't remember who taught it. Each presenter has 10 mins (if that) to teach a technique so it's very fast paced.



Using foam tape each piece was layered to create a 3D look. I think this kind of product would come in handy for all those cards I have to make in 5 secs because I forgot to do it ahead of time LOL. Hope you liked this pink party project!


La-Vie

Thursday, November 29, 2012

"A Gift for You" gift card holder (CKC Lancaster 2012)


Here's the last card from the gift card holder class taught by The-Whole-Kit-N-Kaboodle at CKC Lancaster PA this past summer. The projects were designed by Andrea Deer and they are super cute! We made 3 cards in class with another 2 to make at home. Check out "Built Tough" if you'd like to see these posts from the beginning.



I love this card!!! I always wanted to learn how to make brick on a card. It's so simple. Ink the bricks, run them through the xyron to add adhesive and then add them in a staggered pattern row by row to the chimney base. On the left and right hand side, bricks will hang over. Just cut straight along the chimey base once your done to create a finished look.




The dimensional Rudolph sticker just set it off for me! So cute. Gotta love a card that looks more involved that it really is. Starting tomorrow I will share the scrapbook pages and 2 page layouts I made in classes at CKC. Stay tuned...

La-Vie

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

"Thanks!" Gift Card Holder (CKC Lancaster 2012)

 
Here's another gift card holder from a class taught by The-Whole-Kit-N-Kaboodle at CKC Lancaster PA this past summer. I'm sharing projects that I made at the conference all month long. This class was great! The projects were designed by Andrea Deer. We made 3 cards in class with another 3 to make at home. All came with complete instructions and color pictures (so helpful)! If you'd like to start at the beginning of my project posts, check out "Built Tough" and you'll be pleasantly surprised!
 
 Today's project "Thanks!" had the most steps out of the bunch. But, I love how it came out! Don't you? I'm shy to use a lot of different patterns together but this really showed me how to do it tastefully while packing a punch.
 
 


I loved the use of a dimensional fabric flower and circles to bring interest to the card. I had a lot of fun bringing this card together. Although I didn't have one for the pictures, some gift cards are beautifully designed and could blend into this scene quite seamlessly. In or out, it's a beautiful piece.




Stay tuned,  I have a Christmas card for tomorrow and I'll share the brick laying technique I learned in class.

La-Vie

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

"Special Delivery" Gift Card Holder (CKC Lancaster 2012)


As I continue to share projects I made in classes at CKC Lancaster PA this past summer, I hope you're being inspired! If you've never been to a scrapbook convention, I suggest you make a trip. The energy is contagious. Everyone understands what it means to be a crafter and is excited to be a part of the craft community. My next stop will be a craft cruise (if I can talk my hubby into bringing the family along as well.)

Ok, so here's another gift card holder from the class taught by The-Whole-Kit-N-Kaboodle. The projects were designed by Andrea Deer and are super duper cute! We made 3 cards in class with another 2 to make at home. To start at the beginning of my posts from this class, check out "Built Tough" from earlier this week.




We created this envelope from small pieces of paper for this card. It is the perfect size for a folded check or a gift card. The design is a perfect marriage between form and function. The use of dimensional stickers and die cut elements is spot on. It all came together really quickly (even moreso for me since I didn't ink the edges of every element). I didn't even mind drawing on all that faux stitching. I'm not usually that fussy with my designs. I love design elements that are not hand drawn. But that's just me...

 
Please sheck back tomorrow for the next card from this set. You won't want to miss it!
 

La-Vie

Monday, November 26, 2012

"Behing Every Good Woman" Gift Card Holder (CKC Lancaster 2012)


This month, I am sharing projects I made in classes at CKC Lancaster PA this past summer. I loved a gift card holder class taught by The-Whole-Kit-N-Kaboodle. The projects were designed by Andrea Deer and they are super cute! We made 3 cards in class with another 2 to make at home. Check out "Built Tough" the project from yesterday. Today I'm showcasing "Behind Every Good" a gift card holder with a coffee theme.




I was amazed at how basic shapes came together to make this coffee cup! It's a great way to present a gift card to someone's favorite coffee shop.




I love the idea of including the gift card under the flap. It's a very cool surprise. Hope you enjoyed it!


La-Vie

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Organizing your Punches with the ScrapRack


I own many of the martha stewart punches (in all varieties), Stampin' Up! punches and ones from EK Success. They live in drawers, on shelves, etc. and thus I hardly ever remember to use them. It's like a punch museum! .Tiffany Spaulding, inventor of the ScrapRack and the pioneer of 4 section organization seminars, taught me how to bring my punches out of their museum-like state and into my every day crafting again. I am so grateful!




 
By using my scrap cardstock I was able to punch out the images that each punch cuts and place it in my ScrapRack. Because the pages are see through and I needed to label each cut, I placed a white piece of cardstock behind each cut. That way I can easily see what I have, what the sizes are and I can even use that example as a placeholder (or test) on my project to see if I like it before actually punching. That's golden because I have thought I would like a punched element many times only to be disappionted after punching my almost done project. Having to settle or start over is the pits!
 
 
 
 

 
 






These Martha Stewart punch around the page punches come with a corner and a straight punch in the set. First I punched both together. Then I thought about it... a lot of times I use just the corners so I'd like to see those by themselves. Next I punched just the corners and added them to the sweet sixteen scrap rack page.

 




These last few images are from a Stampin' Up punch that punches 5 different shapes. It is really helpful to see which layer cuts on this type of punch.

A final note --- Tiffany suggests that the punches be sorted by theme. I will make a second set and do that some day but have decided to put all my punches together for now. I like the idea of being able to look at everything in one place. I'm a winner anyway because it's all in my ScrapRack and that's the best place to have it (no matter how it's organized). I can easily move things around at my leisure.



If you'd like to see where I started and the things I learned along the way, check out:
And here's some storage tips:
 
 
La-Vie

Saturday, November 24, 2012

"Built Tough" Gift Card Holder (CKC Lancaster 2012)

 
This past summer I had the pleasure of attending the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Lancaster, PA from Thursday to Saturday. I took many classes, cropped and shopped 'til I dropped with my fav croppin' buddy C.W. - shout out girlfriend! I shared my haul (a first for me) shortly after the convention with a promise to share what I learned and made during this fabulous weekend of crafting goodness. So, I am making good on my promise. For the next month I will share all the projects and how I made them my own once I got home.
 
 
Let's get started with a fun gift card holder class taught by The-Whole-Kit-N-Kaboodle. The projects were designed by Andrea Deer and they are super cute! We made 3 cards in class with another 2 to make at home. Everything was given to us in kits with color pictures and detailed typed instructions. I loved that and the fact that it was fast-paced We didn't have to measure or cut a thing but learned a lot! Great class.
 
 
I had never made a single gift card holder before - especially not ones that are so beautifully adorned. This particular design was great for me because I am not as skilled at making male-oriented craft project. It really got my mojo going. I hope you enjoyed "Built Tough" as much as I did!
 
 
without the gift card in

gift card inserted in the trunk

La-Vie

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Thanksgiving Class Project (REPOST)








































I posted this project in 2010 when my (at the time) 5 year old daughter and I designed this card for a Kindergarten class project. I thought it would be cool to repost it today.

We used the Cricut Cartridge create a critter, stampin up! stamps, stazon black stamp pad and a cuttlebug embossing folder for the background effect. I did all the cutting and stamping and she did all the glueing. We made a great team! The give thanks stamp and the talk bubble stamp are recent additions to my stash from HSN. I decided to emboss the envelope flap, stamp the front of the envelope and add some googly eyes to the turkey for the compelte effect.
The kids will make one card for their parents and one card for elders at a nursing home. I will volunteer at the school and teach the kids how to make this card. It's got a lot of layering...but I think if my 5 year old can do it, all 5 year olds can try (right)?












La-Vie

Monday, November 19, 2012

Happy Birthday Ladybug Banner


As promised, here is the ladybug 1st birthday banner (that matches the cupcake picks) I made for a client who is also my friend. I am glad about how it came out. It's the longest banner I have done to date! I like to string my banners with one long length of ribbon. That was quite a challenge. The ribbon is from The Ribbon Boutique from Hobby Lobby. I used one spool of 7/8" x 15 ft of ribbon to complete this look.



Love is in the details...in the interest of having a clean look to the ends of the banner, I make a loop where the push pin is placed. Once the pin is in, you can position the bow to hide the push pin.

 


Here's a closer look at the banner pieces. The pieces and layers are cut at 5.75" from Cricut Cartridge Pretty Pennants in American Crafts green foil cardstock and Bazzill Basics white.


The ladybug is cut at 11.25" from Cricut Cartridge Just Because Cards with black adhesive cardstock and red glitter cardstock both from DCWV. The flower is from Jolee's boutique from a wedding sticker set. I hand colored the white pearl with Copic marker Y06 to make it yellow.


The letters are cut from Cricut Cartridge Cricut American Alphabet at 3" from DCWV glitter cardstock. Green scallop circles were cut from Cricut Cartridge Cricut Essentials at 3.5" as an additional layer.



 
 
The Pretty Pennants cartridge includes several layers for each banner shape. They are some of the prettiest cuts I have seen on banners. One of my favs is the candle layer. I decided to embellish with stickles in Yellow and Candy Cane. I read it as "1st" with the s and t cut at 1.5" (and please excuse that scrap of hole punched paper that is weirdly on the bottom of the t).




This was the first time I used the Cricut Cartridge Ribbons and Rosettes. I have tried making rosettes on my own and they always look jacked up! But this came out perfect every time!!! I used paper from my stash to cut 3 lengths of the at 3" to make each rosette. I made 5 total. There were score lines and I used my Martha Stewart score board (which is the best way). I taped the pieces together and let them rise in the middle of the circle. I placed a 3D zot glue dot in the middle of a 1.5" circle (cut with a marvy punch) to anchor the rosette. then I used another 3D zot to place the letter over the hole in the middle. I feel triumphant!!!!!

 


I decided to embellish other letters with the stickles. This is one of my favorites as well.




Here's the lovely ladybug herself....
 
 
I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did!
 
 
La-Vie
 

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Happy Birthday Ladybug Cupcake Picks

 
I was happy to assist my good friend and her husband celebrate their only daughter's 1st birthday. The theme was ladybug birthday. They wanted 30 ladybug cupcake picks. Sooo, I made the sacrifice and got a cupcake prop (dulce de leche yum!) I figured it was the ONLY way to properly show you this creation. LOL!
 


I loved the ladybug and layers from Cricut Cartridge Just Because Cards (cut at 3.75") and that's where the design process began. I used 2 marvy circle punches (1.5" and 2") to punch the white circle (Bazzill) and the red glitter cirlce (DCWV). The white circle was inked with TPC Studio Clearly Better ink for clear stamps (green). The green toothpicks are from Giant supermarket.

The black part of the ladybug was cut using my new fav DCWV adhesive cardstock. It makes things so much easier when it's a sticker. Here's a tip... I cut this cardstock as if it's vinyl (kiss cut) so it cuts the cardstock but not the sticker backing.



The back of the cupcake pick sports a happy bday stamp from Inkadinkado Birthday fun set. Thanks for stopping by!

Tune in soon for my next post! I'll share the FABULOUS ladybug birthday banner I designed for this family. Until then.... keep it crafty!


La-Vie

Thursday, November 15, 2012

The Perfect Sports Coach Gift!

 
Have you ever wondered how to thank your kids' sports coaches once the season is through? I love giving a framed scrapbook page that documents some highlights of the season. This year, my daughter tried her hand at cheerleading. It was a very long, emotional, triumphant season with too many great pics to document on just one page. But these gifts sum it up perfectly!
 
NOTE: For another example of this kind of gift, check out the soccer coach gifts I gave last year.  
 
 
  
It all started with these paper dolls from Cricut cartridge Paper Dolls Teen Scene. I love this cart and this was the first time I used it (won't be the last). The paper doll named summer is the one with the cheer outfit. I chose the version of summer that had the ponytail I wanted (each doll has several hair options) and cut the doll at 6" and all the layers and accessories the same size. The water bottle is an accessory with one of the male paper dolls (A-wrkout). As usually I used both Bazzill and DCWV cardstock. 
 
 
 



  
In order to make the cheer outfit somewhat similar to the one my daughter wore, I cut the vest and skirt in layers of maroon and white and added gold details by hand with a zig writer in gold metallic. I also used a zig millenium pen - pure brown - to write the team name on the vest, the caps on the water bottles and the nike swoosh on the sneaker (I was super jazzed about that!!) My daughter layered all the pieces of both dolls.
 
To create the multi-colored pom-poms I employed heat embossing. I used the versa marker with white and gold embossing powder and a heat tool working one color at a time. I was so happy with the results!




The gold 12x12 foil cardstock is from American Crafts. It is so brilliant but doesn't photograph well. I cut a V out of DCWV white adhesive cardstock (free hand) to mimic the cheer vest and added pieces of maroon ribbon that I ran through my xyron (to make them stickers). I thnk it made the perfect back drop for the scrapbook page.

After adding the photos, I simply embellished with dimensional cheer stickers from Hobby Lobby, white glitter chipboard letters (ALPHAchips by me and my big ideas) and a dimensional cheerleader in mid jump by recollections.

Using pop dots, I fussy cut a picture of the cheer cone and placed it near the cheerleader to make my own embellishment. Can you tell I had a lot of fun with this one??? Once it was all done I asked Zora to add her signature with a Zig Photo signature pen (in leiu of journaling) on the grass under her perfect hurkey jump. Then I placed it inside of a scrapbook page frame from Micheals craft store.

This was the first time my daughter chose an activity for herself. She enjoyed herself so much that she can't wait until next season. She actually cried right after taking this picturewith her coaches at her final game. That's why making such a personal gift was a must!




La-Vie

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Merry Christmas Banner Swap

 
It's a first for me... I was honored to be invited to participate in a Merry Christmas banner swap. There are 14 letters that were assigned (one each) to 14 participants. I got the last s in Christmas.
 
The guidelines were, create a pointed banner that is 3.5" x 5" with the bottom cut so the distance between the middle and one side is 1.75" wide. Classic Christmas colors red, white and green and that the letter had to be a solid color. The holes were to be punched half inch in and half in down.
 
Everyone was asked to make 14 identical letter s banner pieces and mail it to the host. She will collate and return a full Merry Christmas banner (minus the piece you made for yourself) in the mail before the holidays.
 
Here's what I came up with...
 





Supplies:
  1. Banner1 cut at 5.25" - Cricut cartridge Pretty Pennants - DCWV White Chipboard
  2. The pennant didn't have a deep enough notch at the bottom so I measured and cut it
  3. Layer - Banner1 cut at 4.25" - Cricut cartridge Pretty Pennants - Hot off the press color me paper in swirls or silver flourish
  4. Hot off the press color me paper in swirls or silver flourish - colored with mallard and poppy luminarte raidant rain twinkling H2Os
  5. Banner top - Brntop1 cut at 5.25" - Cricut cartridge Pretty Pennants - American Crafts foil cardstock
  6. s cut at 3" and ! cut at 2.75" - Cricut Cartridge Mickey Font -DCWV Glitter cardstock
  7. To add dimension I raised the letters on 1/8" thick (1/2" circle) sticky dots from The Paper Studio.
  8. Adorned with dimensional epoxy sticker from Jolee's Boutique.


 
Here's my 14 banner pieces. It was so much fun! I am hoping to share the entire completed banner here on the blog once I receive it. But first, I will ask the permission of the 13 other talented ladies and get back to you...
 
until then, stay cool and stay crafty!
 
La-Vie

Monday, November 12, 2012

My Craft Room Organization - Progress

 
Here's several views of my scrap room now that I have organized and purged a bunch of stuff. Someday I will paint it pink and brown and put my company name up on the wall. I am so happy to see the floor and know where I can find stuff and to be using what I have instead of stockpiling. I could jump in the air... (remember the commerical... Oh what a feeling... TOYOTA!) that's how I feel right now, LOL!
 
The best tip Tiffany Spauling from the ScrapRack shared (I'm following her lead on my organization) is that I should take the packages off the embellishments before putting them in the page protectors in my ScrapRack. You will see that it's not as stuffed looking as it's been in other updates. Changed my organization life! I'm greatful for the little things....
 
 




 
 

 


 

If you'd like to see where I started and the things I learned along the way, check out:







La-Vie