Halloween Goodness

I made some cute paper backpacks for my DD to give to her friends for Halloween. I've seen these made on a couple of blogs but here is where I saw them first and is a great webstite for directions and inspiration in general!. http://inkingidaho.blogspot.com/2008/09/start-with-piece-of-cardstock-measuring.html. DD is 19 and typically has no desire/patience for Mom's paper projects - but this one sparked her interest when she saw one I'd made and I'm making 12 for her to give to her college friends...

P.S. If any of you blog readers can help this computer illiterate person - what do I need to do to get the link to inkingidaho to post as a link vs the url?

Ok back to the project - Here are a few of the backpacks made - aren't they cute?



Here is the back with the cute ribbon "backpack" handles!


I've never made stuff in bulk before and decided to make an assembly line - this is the only photo that came out clearly but I think you can see the process.


I used velco dots to close the flap and plan on putting mini candy bars inside the big pocket.

Hope you enjoyed these! Thanks for looking - and if you don't mind - drop a quick comment so I know if anyone's been here LOL cuz I don't know how else to know LOL!!

This has been a difficult post to make - lots of picture loading issues - but I'm so glad it worked - off to watch NCIS with my youngest - our fav show!!!

Andrea

Use it or lose it!!

Ok I've been a bad blogger!! A month since my last project posting...you know you've been away too long when you have trouble remembering your password. Well - here's to hoping I'm back sooner next time - I'll try!

Why this title? My Mom (may she rest in peace) used to say I deserved to use my "good" stuff for me - she also used to talk about "Use it or Lose" specifically in reference to aging and using one's brain to stay sharp. Sunday would have been her 80th birthday so she's been on my mind extra lately - but hey - you guys aren't here for this!! Except to say - my new approach is gonna be use that nice stuff for me - use it NOW!! Don't save it all for "best" - I'm refering to lots in my life but for the purposes of this blog - for my crafting stuff. I recently moved to a larger space and have my own SB room - and thus have access to stuff I've stashed for years - and guess what - lots of it isn't any good - a couple of ink pads had disintegrated - some rub-ons didn't work too well (but that could have been the brand) and the paper - well lets just say - I'm pickyer now LOL.

So here is (finally) a card I made for Halloween. I am sending it to my sister - but I think I'm safe to post it cuz I don't think she visits here (oops if I'm wrong).

Its a trifold Gate card that I saw at SCS and had to try.

Here is the card closed.

I used Martha Steward stamps I got on clearance at Michael's last year with versamark and SU! black embossing powder. From my stash - ribbon and rubons and the pumkins eyes are triangular bling!


When you open up the card it has several different panels to decorate. I'm going to sign my name and write a note to my sister on some orange cardstock and attach it to the open dotted patterned paper - also from my stash.

This one isn't the best photo but I wanted to show y'all the neat way the card opens.

Thanks for visiting (and letting me ramble LOL). Till next time. Andrea

My Favorite Card

To date this is my Favorite Card. I sent it to my dear friend and SU! demo who moved away - HI Sharon if you finally made it here!

I used the SU! set friends 24-7, bashful blue and chocolate chip cardstock, ink and ribbon. The top note die, a cuttlebug embossing folder and SU! clear embossing powder.

I embossed with clear embossing powder the brocades from the set to make my own patterned paper. I cut a top note from cardstock and then ran it through a cuttlebug embossing folder. I stamped the bird image twice in chocolate chip ink on scrap white c/s. I colored w/ SU! markers. The secondof the birds I cut out and adhered with popdots. I put glitter on his belly and layered the thinner brown ribbon ontop of the 1 inch thick blue ribbon. After attaching the ribbon I matted my glittered birdie and adhered to my top note. I then stamped brocades on the envelop flap - I love decorated envies! and the Friends sentiment on the lower left.

My new thing now is pretty insides . I needed to mail Sharon a check for my order so I folded the check in half and used the ribbon border like a pocket. The right side is pretty obvious - bashful blue c/s and a quick sentiment stamp.

Sorry if my descriptions are rambling and perhaps boring to some of y'all. I like when I go to blogs and the folks tell me what they used and/or how so I can take a little bit away for me to try. Do you guys like that or not?

Thats all for today! Thanks for stopping by.

Sponged Card

I decided to try something different today and tried to make a brayered card. Well that so did NOT work. I couldn't get rid of the lines the brayer left. If any of you guys have any brayer tips - HELP!! I suppose in the next few days I'll be stalking YouTube for tips.

So I tried the next best thing. I used SU! sponges and sponged white cardstock with all SU! colors - yoyo yellow, only orange, real red, close to cocoa, and chocolate chip. The trees and birds are from Definately Decorative Pines - a retired SU! set and I inked it with sage green and then took all the different green markers and thumped and generally just dabbed ontop of the inked stamp to give shading of the trees. The ground is a beach/sand stamp from my stash. I used the nesties to cut my label and the sentiment is from SU! Simple Delights.

I like how this looks IRL. Next I want to try a beachy type scene. I'm gonna have to think about the shades of blue to use...ok thats all for now - dinner calls!! Thanks for stopping by!!

P.S. So ok - I really need to find a better way to take photos cuz this looks so much prettier and richer in real life...I'll add it to the list of what I wanna learn - but I may retake this tomorrow when the sun is out - I bet that will help

DVD Project

DVD Holder

This is about my journey to create a DVD holder for my DD to take movies to college. She has a huge movie collection and the DVD cases took up too much space. She asked me to make something right before moving day. Now I've never created from "scratch" any kind of box or bag etc. I've done lots by following tutorials. Here is the first creation I made - simple and not too decorated as time was short and DD has simple and clean taste.

I of course used my Bind It All to hold it all together. This has to be one of the best tools I've ever purchased. As you cann see here on my blog - I sure do use it alot!

I started off with the paper cd holders. They were not big enough to hold a DVD and be bound with the BIA so I folded the little flap back and decided my holder would have to make sure to have a closed side so nothing fell out.

I used SU! real red and black cardstock. The patterned paper is from my stash (yeah!! I used some!!)

Looks great right?? Well there was a problem. I told you this was my first "design" of anything like this and I forgot to account for the extra space the DVDs would take in the envelops so the project looked nice in the photo above here while empty but it was so big when full that not only did it not close but the BIA rings weren't big enough to hold it. BIA has come out with a bigger coil but I don't have any nor do I have access to a LSS any more :{ and Hobby Lobby doesn't carry the big coils yet.

So time to be CREATIVE!

Here you can kind of see what I'm talking about - see how "fat it is"? Well I split it in two and decided to use 1 coil in the center to hold two mini holders on each side.

I then used the same cover I had already made for the holder before I realized how much room the DVDs take. I made another one just like it and attached it to the other side. I used velcro to hold the flaps closed.

The finished product! I took a piece of SU! chipboard to make a base so the DVDs wouldn't flopa round. SU! chipboard is nice and thick. I painted it black with some Plaid paint from M's and dried it with my heat gun. Then attached the holder with Scor-tape to the bottom.

I decorated with the SU! top note die (another tool I absolutely love), the SU! curly label punch and a Dream stamp from my stash.

Hope you enjoyed this long winded post!! Thanks for stopping by.
Off to link to Craft It Wednesday http://craftitwednesday.blogspot.com/2009/08/week-6.html

Graduation Mini Album

Wow - I didn't mean to be away from here for so long. Life got in the way and I didn't create anything to share. I hope to be more consistent after next week. This weekend my eldest DD goes to college.

Just a quick update on the Sounds of Summer Album I posted earlier - I was one of the winners of the Bind It All Challenge - how fun is that!!! I won a Display It All to display my album! I can't wait to get my new sb room set up so I can put it on a shelf.

On to todays post. I made this mini graduation for a friend whose son is going off to college - Hi Judy if you're here!

Here is the front cover. Again I used my Bind It All to make the coils and hold it together.

the paper is various school papers I've collected and I don't really know the manufacturers.

I love to make these 6 x 6 albums. I call them "tube" albums cuz I fold a piece of 12 x 12 paper into a tube and crease with the overlap in the center. You end up with an opening on each end. For the covers, I close the opening but as you'll see below, I often make a pocket out of them.

I learned how to make these albums several years ago at Scrap-a-faire an online class by SB Etc. Unfortunately I didn't record the name of the teacher. If any of you know, drop me a line and I'll give her credit. I've searched and can't find it.

I made a 2 page layout for each year of high school. Each LO has its own pullout tag inside one of the pockets to record additional photos or memories.

also, I included a few nonspecific layouts.

This is my first album for a boy so I tried to keep it pretty clean and simple.

Thats all for today and probably the week. Happy Crafting y'all.

I'm off to link this to the craft it Wednesday blog. It was a great idea for me to join that blog because weeks like this one - it forced me to take a second and post.

http://craftitwednesday.blogspot.com/

Cards

I started this blog for a couple of reasons -some of which are to be more consistently creative and to broaden my crafting horizons. I thought it would help me to try some challenges. So today's post is my version of a sketch from My Time to Create from Lauren Meader at her blog http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/ but I don't know how to post the example here. Sorry!!
I used SU! bashful blue cardstock, SU! Friends 24-7 , scraps from a K and Co pad, SU! bashful blue ribbon and my stash of navy ribbon, a random Dream stamp I had but don't know who made, versamark, SU! clear embossing powder, SU! punches - oval, curvey label

Here is a second version of the same card

On this one I put a strip of the patterned paper on top of the bashful blue ribbon and I used the designer label SU! punch as well.

Now my next challenge to myself is to actually MAIL some of the cards that I make!! Do you guys collect cards or send them?

Thanks for stopping by!

Andrea