You're in my Prayers

Hi guys. I'm trying to get some of my scraps cleaned up. But how to go about making nice looking cards with scraps? It's always a challenge for me! Where do you go to for ideas and inspiration? I head to Pinterest -- it's a limitless supply of inspiration! Perfect to get the mojo flowing...

I found this great card sketch...and set out to use a bit of everything...

• designer paper scraps
• Cuttlebug embossed cardstock scraps
• ribbon
• bling
• die cuts
• & of course stamps

 First, I stamped a butterfly image with light gold ink. Then I stamped my sentiment with black ink. I layered the circle onto a purple die cut from my stash.

Then I layered all the cardstock, designer paper and added a bright yellow ribbon between the two different papers to kind of create a separation. Finally, I adhered my die cut with some foam stickers so it has a bit of dimension.

 ...and finished off with some black bling. :)

Not bad for a cleaning-up-scraps card!!! Too bad I haven't even made a dent in my scraps pile though! :p

supplies used:
Scalloped Edge Circle Spellbinder die

"Fanciful Butterflies" by Sweet Stamps 

Clear Stamp Sentiment

"Victorian" Cuttlebug Folder

various sizes black bling

ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbons

challenges:

ABC challenges-- Anything Goes
Created with Love -- Anything Goes
House of Gilli -- Anything Goes +  Pastel
Lawnscaping Challenge -- Texture
Paper Playtime -- Anything Goes
Addicted to Stamping and More -- Must Stamp
Crafty Ribbon Challenge -- Anything Goes + Ribbon
Victorine Stamps -- Anything Goes

Cards for Easter

Someone ordered 10 Easter cards! Honestly, I was a bit stressed...'cause I was running low on supplies, low on mojo (I had just completed a big order the previous day) and basically had no ideas whatsoever!!!

I love love love online galleries!!! I found a few card sketches I liked...and set to work. LOL Apparently stress makes my mojo flow!!! Who knew!! :p At the end of the day, I had a whole set of cards that I loved. You might not to able to tell, but I managed to use up scraps at the same time!!! I'm totally happy with how these turned out! :) TFL 

 PaperPlay Challenges -- EasterCupcake Craft Challenge -- Lots of Layers

Quirky Crafts -- Sparkly, Punches & Easter
My Time to Craft -- Easter Wishes
 Pear Tree Designs -- Easter

Totally Stampalicious -- Keep it Simple
Daring Cardmakers -- Spring

Music Makes My Heart Sing

I've had this unfinished layout lying around forever now. I loved the background paper -- although I did add a different border to the center to get the colour combo I wanted. But then I was stuck, as I couldn't come up with a layout design I liked.

Lol -- I settled on a circle. It's quite interesting -- when I first started scrapping, I didn't really like circles in my layouts. I was working mostly with squares and rectangles...until one day a circle layout just came together, and I've been hooked ever since. Now, when I get stuck, the first thing that comes to mind is a circle!!! And bling -- lots of bling!!! :) TFL.

Double Butterfly

And I'm off with my card making for 2011!!! :)

 This card is actually for a card lifting group I joined -- you get a card to "lift" or copy...once a week, and see what you come up with. One of the best parts is making the original card idea into something entirely your own. For the most part, it's made me think outside the box -- because soooooo often the cards we are lifting are totally not my style!!! But it keeps things interesting -- and keeps me challenged. :p

This is the latest card I made -- LOL -- about the only thing that I lifted from the original card was the half circle in the center. I love how it turned out though...

 

PaperPlay Challenges: Clean and Simple

Craft Your Days Away -- Anything Goes

Cute Card Thursday -- Out With The Old

 >> used all supplies from my stash.

Determined Camper

This layout was so much fun to make! The photos themselves are awesome -- totally hilarious! :) It's pouring rain, but one determined guy sets out to build a campfire anyways! You gotta love those moments -- especially when you manage to catch them on film. :)

This is actually an original sketch -- kind of an amazing accomplishment -- especially when it comes to working with circles on layouts. It's complicated...because I love the circles look, but I still find it hard to come up with a layout I like when I try using them. This one just happened...and I LOVE IT! :) I think it's also the colours...it all works together so well. TFL.

Black & Gray

I saw the challenge to make a card using black and gray paper and I thought "I have the perfect papers for that challenge!". The pack my sister gave me is such a challenge to use...it's nice to have ideas and ways to use it! I love it -- especially all the designs it has on there...but it's soooo difficult to mix up with other papers. Having one solid colour works though. :)

I actually got this card sketch from one of the challenge blogs. One of the DT had made a card using this sketch...and I loved it right away! Plus, I also tried paper piercing with the machine. It didn't turned out perfectly...as the machine decided to do its own thing on the bottom, but other than that it worked perfectly! I've seen this technique used so often...and always loved it! Figured I'd give it a shot -- definitely gonna use the technique more often -- I love it! :) TFL

Challenges for this card:
Cupcake Challenge: Black, Grey & One Colour
Sunday's With Crissy: Layers
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge: Celebrate/Birthday

Scoring "Something New"

I found a challenge that has a Scor Pal for the prize!!!!!!!! The Beary Sweet Design Challenge #2. Like totally wow, eh??? I've heard a lot about "scoring" when I watch/read tutorials, but I've never owned anything that does this! So this prize would be like a huge win for me! :) One catch though...the challenge is "Fancy Folds"  -- which is like totally out of my norm!!!!!! I'm the "fold the paper in half, create a card" type of girl...never done a fancy folding card (of any kind )!!!! So I'm totally out of my league here!

But I went for it! I thought -- what the heck! Even the crappy-est looking card gets an entry -- it is random draw prize, btw. :p So I gave it a shot. In fact, I tried TWO different techniques!!!!!!! And the totally amazing part is....

... they don't look bad!!!!!!!!! In fact, I actually LIKE them!!!!

Guess you want to see my creations already, eh???

Tah-dah!!!!!!!

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The first one is a Criss Cross Card (Pocket Card): See a Tutorial

Basically it's a pocket with the note slipped in on the top. And a fancy band attached to the bottom.

Definitely a different kind of card for me! :)

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Because the first card turned out so nice...I decided to attempt another technique.

This one is called "Triangle Trifold Card". See the tutorial

When it's opened it looks like this:

So that's basically it! I had a blast -- went out of my comfort zone...and now have two more amazing cards to add to my pile! :) TFL

...and lest anyone forgets -- I LOVE COMMENTS!!! :D

Pink B day

Hi there! It's another pink day as far as cards go around here! LOL

I've had this image stamped and coloured for awhile now. It's my first attempt at coloured my own image -- it reminded me of my kindergarten years all over again!!! And I didn't have enough shades of colours in my markers collection, so I went with simple colour pencils. It's not spectacular -- but I'm hoping to get my hand on some copics one of these days...and then try this again. But I figured since I'd come this far, I may as well make a card using the image.

Unfortunately this isn't the best photo as the background is too dark to show off the card's brown background...but I think you get the picture! Right??? TFL :)

Have a crafty fabulous day!!! :)

Bring out the Browns!

I've been working behind the sewing machine for most of the day, but unfortunately things haven't gone too well. Let's just say "I didn't have a productive day" and leave it at that! 'cause I'm frustrated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I created another layout. It's funny how my scrappin' works -- my mojo comes in spurts. I can mass produce for a week and then I am totally lost when I sit down to do anything! (Or maybe it's because I recently found some awesome rub-ons and adding them to the layouts just makes them look wonderful!) LOL Who knows! I shouldn't be complaining though -- my pictures are being scrapped!!! :)

This layout is actually also a sketch I found on a blog somewhere. Who knows...it might have been a challenge blog -- and I just didn't have any scrappin' mojo at the time...so I saved the sketch. And today I finally used it. I love working with browns. The photo is a little brownish tinged (don't know why exactly...other than it was evening and the light was fading) so the browns just work well. And I just LOVE the bling! Once I started using that stuff...it's hard not to use it on everything! TFL :)

Hide & Seek

Hi there! I've been trying to get back into scrapbooking (not card making) the last few days. I don't know what's been going on -- but I'm seriously experiencing scrapper's block! At least where layouts go! And it's sooooo frustrating!!! :(

One of the blogs I follow had a post with 20 tips to get through scrapper's block. Totally what I needed today. Although I've been doing most of the tips for the past week (visiting galleries, layout magazines, etc.) but nothing's worked! And sketches didn't help either! I actually tried following a sketch TWICE with this photo and then took it all apart 'cause I wasn't happy with it!

I don't know what happened this afternoon -- I just put a few pieces from my scraps together and I loved the look. From there on it all came together pretty easily. In fact, this layout is the first time that I actually love the product I created using my new big daisy punch! And I finally found a purpose for those sparkle-y  pieces I used for the insides of the flowers! I'm totally happy! :) TFL

Some details:

A Sketchy B-day

I got some new papers yesterday...and borrowed some coloured ink. Stamped out a few images...and embossed them with my clear/sparkling embossing powder. I followed a sketch I found this morning -- and I think it turned out great! :) Love those papers!!!

I've entered this card into the Sketch Challenge #17. TFL :)

** HINT:
If you're new to stamping and embossing, here's a little hint when buying supplies: I bought some embossing powders awhile back (clear/sparkling and silver). I quickly learned that instead of buying coloured embosssing powders, it's simpler just to buy coloured ink...and emboss with clear/sparkling powder. Your image keeps its ink colour...and is shiny. :) So if you're trying to save money...this would be one way to keep things simple and less expensive.

Here's my latest layout. It's actually the second time I've tried making a layout for this picture. The first one didn't turn out -- and although I did have it in my scrapbook for a few weeks, I was never happy with it. So I decided instead of not liking it...why not go at it again! I used the same layout as I used for the Mr. Prince Charming page. Although laying them side-by-side there's a world of a difference between them! It's amazing what a difference paper can make!!!

The background paper I used here is NOT my style! I don't really like big patterns on my scrap paper -- but I had it in a pack...so I figured I should try using it. Really, it turned out ok...and I like the over all look. It's not the best page I've ever done...but at least now when I look through my scrapbooks and get to this picture I won't cringe!!! :p

Hello Mr. Charming!

Hi there! Do you have a certain style when it comes to layouts or cards??? Well, I do!!! Big-time!!! And although I love other peoples ideas and various styles, I usually find myself going back to the way I ALWAYS scrap. I sit down with a certain technique in mind...but after awhile I give up because...I don't know! I just do! And then I end up with another layout that looks basically like a page I did before!!!! Totally frustrating!!!

So anyways, I've had this picture lying in my "to scrap" pile for a long time now. Yesterday I determined to get it scrapped...but came up empty!!! I've been trying to incorporate circles of some kind into my layouts...but have found it's harder than it looks. At least for me -- I've been the girl of solid lines...straight lines, etc. scrapping for over a year now...and getting out of that groove is difficult! :(

BUT...I got it all worked out this morning!!! What do you think???

The journaling reads:
When Tyler was about 3 or 4 years old, all the girls his age were into Disney princesses. Whenever they played "dress up", everyone chose a different Disney princess to play. Wanting to involve Tyler in the game, we called him our "Prince Charming". I guess he wanted to be like all his little playmates, because he turned to us and stated, "I am not Prince Charming, I'm Cinderella!!!"

I raised the letters to give a little extra affect to the whole page. Love this layout!!! :)