Jan Card Party

I hope that everyone had a good Christmas, ours was pleasant with some local and not so local family around. We're definitely ready to get back into our regular routines though! Or at least the mommy is. 

This set of cards will be a class at Soul Sentiments in January, part of our Card Party series, and features papers from Bo Bunny Powder Mountain and Echo Park Head Over Heels. Bet you can't guess which line is which. Just kidding.

The first card is super simple but has a crazy long drying time. I drew a snowman on some Silhouette Stencil Material that I'd cut wrong but saved and cut it out by hand. Then use a Ranger Ink Blending Tool and Distress Inks to color the edges of the shape. Fill in the stencil with Glass Beads (that's the long drying part). While it dried I added the other edge inking, the sentiment and the flocking "snow." 

Heat embossing is one of my favorite techniques for Card Party classes, it just adds so much interest without building up the costs.  A little fussy cutting, some Stickles, and a Unity Stamp and this one's done. 

I am normally alllllllll about the layers, but this paper was so pretty that I didn't want to cover it up so I kept this card CAS and used a technique that I hadn't incorporated into any parties yet - stitching. The large snowflake is from a WRMK Sew Easy template and the smaller ones were hand punched to cover up some poor stamping on my part. 

Okay, this one's more what you'd expect from me. I did some stash busting for this card and am sharing a whole bunch of old flowers (I haven't been scrapping that long and still can't remember what company they're from). The ribbon is AC, the brad is Girl's Paperie, cork heart is Studio Calico. The birds were created by using a pink and a metallic gray gelato on Neenan cardstock with a wet brush, allowed to dry and then the birds (from Lawn Fawn) were stamped over the color and fussy cut. 

And I sort of went patterned crazy on this and totally love it. In person, this is definitely my favorite card. Products include WrMK and MME washi tapes, Love My Tapes ribbon tape, some of my homemade enamel dots (pony beads), and that braided ribbon thing (I got a bunch at a recent stash sale at Soul Sentiments and that look was a fun touch for the card). 

More to come, I'm almost caught up on posting older projects...

Map Art

One of my online scrappy friends shared a large piece of artwork like this on her Instagram feed and I knew that I was inspired to make one for my in-laws for Christmas. In the end they'll get it after because Dala liked it so much that we're going to offer it as a class at Soul Sentiments after the new year. 

The map is a Silhouette Studio file and I used Jillibean Soup Sightseeing Stew. Some of the "A" sides of the papers were a little iffy for this project, but those "B" sides were perfect, almost at the same scale as a 6x6 pad and just the right colors. 

Yes, those are real book pages. Torn from a paperback that was falling apart and not worth repairing, so they got a new life, decoupaged under the map. 

Have you ever made something as a gift for someone and had to wait to gift it for a silly reason like that?

Big Push

Um, did you realize how close we are to Christmas? I mean, I knew, and then I realized that this weekend begins the family gatherings, starting with Vance's birthday. Six already, crazy. While I go and weep at how quickly he's growing I'll leave you with another project we have going at Soul Sentiments - we call them Tidbits, just a 5x7 cello bag of mixed goodies. They've been a good way to mix up some old and new goodies that have just been hanging around (and who really needs 20 of the same wood veneer anyway?). 

This set of projects was our inaugural Tidbits, September and I may have forgotten to edit the photos. Sorry if they're a bit dark. 

I still had leftovers after doing the layout and wanted to take the rest off the page so I grabbed an old frame and started layering on the glass. 

I couldn't tell you what the individual lines are for the life of me, I know that some of the manufacturers include Prima, Fancy Pants, My Mind's Eye, and Bo Bunny.

Snowy Canvas

I don't know about your household, but for the most of the past year Frozen (and most importantly, Olaf) have been very important in mine.  When Dala asked me for a winter themed canvas I kept coming back to that theme but wanted to keep it simple enough that it didn't scream "Let it Go" or "Do You Want to Build a Snowman."

Success! As soon as Rylan saw the canvas, he declared that I'd painted Olaf (because basically any stack of three things is an Olaf these days). 

I'm not going to try to list all the products by name but there's a lot of Viva Decor Modeling Creme, Viva Decor Ferro, some old book pages, a TCW stencil, and some UTEE embossing powder, 

Christmas Tag Party

Since July we've been doing monthly card making parties, incorporating a lot of products and techniques. Instead of cards for the December addition, we decided on gift card holders and gift tags using Heidi Swapp Believe. 

Stickles, glitter glue, Viva Inka Gold, and my Cameo were my best friends for this project.

First up, a small gift card holder: 

And then a standard card size with notches inside to hold the card:

And then a couple of variations of tags:

Sweater Weather Page Kits

Okay, here's the last of the page kits that I created for Dala to take to a huge crop. 

Can I just start by saying how much I love this line? Simple Stories really knocked it out of the park with Sweater Weather. Often by the time I'm done using a paper kit I may really like the layouts but I'm ready to move on to new paper, but with this one I kept coming up with ideas. 

We had so much of this paper that double page kits were the way to go, and I had tons of photos from last fall that had been waiting to be put to use:

I'll show you the single page first because in the sequence of photo events it came moments before the next layout. 

Annnnnd Rylan got in on the leaf throwing action too, once he caught up with Vance that is. You never know what might happen on a walk to the playground.

This day we just spent some time walking around a different park, the first layout is when we got to the playground and I tried to make them stay still for some leafy photos. 

After we played at the playground we went for a walk around the lake in the middle of the park. 

More Page Kits

On Tuesday I promised to show you more of the page kits that I created for Soul Sentiments. Today, I have two very different sorts of kits. 

First up, a double page using Echo Park's Head Over Heels. Don't you just love that grid? I wanted it to be sort of pocket style without the pockets because it was a simple, yet great way to show off all the papers in the line (and they could easily mix and match the papers if they like a different print better). 

Can we discuss that the boys have gotten way, way to big? Look how small baby Rylan is at 3 or so weeks old and now he's 4 years. Waaaaaah!

And then a way more fussy single page layout featuring photos from our first sledding with the boys (last year, and this year they're predicting even more snow!). This one is Bo Bunny Powder Mountain and basically the whole page is fussy cut papers with foam adhesive to create interest. Yes, I did fussy cut most of those snowflakes out for the kits.

Hello December

There are certainly no half measures with me and this craft. A month (or so) ago Dala at Soul Sentiments and I were talking about creating a monthly page kit for the store because we'd had a couple of people asking about them. As part of that she wanted to talk them up at a crop that she was about to vendor at, the following week. So I made a mad dash through paper and created several page kit designs, totalling over 100 kits prepped in just  under a week. My poor household. 

Today I'll show you some of the page kits that I did using Glitz Designs Hello December. I seriously love the funky colors and patterns in this line. Up first, a double page spread with lots of room for journaling (or maybe an extra photo?): 

And then two single page kits that could go on facing pages and make a double page, though I intended the second to be sort of multi-purpose and not necessarily a "Christmas" layout. 

More page kits to come as the week progresses, hope you are enjoying catching up on my crafty as much as I'm enjoying sharing again!

November Card Party

I've been working on so many Christmas projects, starting with the Christmas in July Card Party at Soul Sentiments and it seems like I've hardly stopped this year. 

Speaking of which, as of the end of November I only had 10 sheets left of Christmas paper, down from several inches. Guess I'm gonna have to replenish my own stash if I'm gonna get some Christmas cards in the mail, and STAT.

These are cards that I did with the store's Fancy Pants Merry Little Christmas and some of my own embellishments, like the fab ribbon tape in this first photo. 

We figured that people would be interested in another round of Christmas cards in November, just in time to get them finished up and sent out days after Thanksgiving, because who makes Christmas cards in December? Oh yeah, I still have to (don't count on it...)

This tree one was super fun, hellllo actual tree branch and paints. I used Art Anthology Metal Effects to stamp the sheet music behind the tree and a little Emerald Viva Decor Inka Gold to "ink" the card because Christmas cards need bling (and I'm not a huge glitter person). 

More Inka Gold here, silver this time and some sequins. <3 p="">

Embossing powders are another way to really get your bling on without using glitter. This card is probably my favorite in the bunch, but man was I crazy to do all that embossing. Five colors of powders, five on this one. 

Because who doesn't love a shaker card in the shape of a stocking? I "believe" that everyone should. 

World Card Making Day

This was just a simple card I made to celebrate World Cardmaking Day 2014. 

The paper's are from SEI and I loved loved loved the foil touches it had. On the shelf I was a tad skeptical about the paper but once I started cutting it I had a bajillion and one ideas for using it. 

Courage Canvas

I've said before that Soul Sentiments has a large mixed media crowd and that I'm always pushing myself to learn or create something that will inspire them to want a class. This one definitely broke some of my color combo comfort zones. All that orange was very intense through a few layers. 

This canvas uses a bunch of Viva Decor products (noticing a trend? I use it a lot!) and the stencil is from The Crafter's Workshop. 

I die cut the dress form and wings on my Cameo and used some Teresa Collins die cut flowers (why did I have so many of those anyway? I still have leftovers of them.)

October Card Party

We've started doing this thing at Soul Sentiments that we call "Card Party." Basically it's a self-paced card workshop where we have all the stuff prepped for 5 cards and students just do the techniques (if any) and assemblage. So.Much.Fun. and they're super popular on top of that.  

These cards were made for the October Card Party using a couple of older lines that we had around and wanted to finish off. 

First, a bendy card.

 If you haven't made one, doing a little searching around for directions because it's super easy and the finished product is quite impressive (most of the students were a bit intimidated by it, even with the piece pre cut but were astounded at how easily it came together in the end).

And another using that music paper from Moxxie:

Then I used Teresa Collins Masquerade for a non-themed card and two Halloween Cards.

The "boo" was altered using embossing powders and the web was coated with Viva Decor Glitter Pen (in class we used their Glitter Paste because it could be scraped on and then heat set much more efficiently).

Easy cheesy card, the stamps were from Glitz Design.

And how do you like that? There was a lot of black and white papers left over from the pack so I altered them by painting on Art Anthology Velvet paints (these things are semi-transparent and were perfect for this!). You almost wouldn't believe that the paper is from the same line. 

Soar Canvas

Of all the canvases I've done in the past 6 months, this one is probably my favorite. I'd intended it to be a class but there were some ordering problems. Why can't distribution centers always keep what I want them to carry?! LOL

Layers and layers of delicious Art Anthology paints. And check out my little Mod Podge shapes! So cute. 

love bliss

Last week I did something that I promised myself I'd never do, I went back into lower-management at my store. I seriously love my job but didn't love that aspect of it which is why I stepped down in the first place. Given the time of year it was probably a crazy idea but I'm getting the swing of things again.  All this catching up I've been doing is kind of fun, a walk down memory lane without even opening my albums and my mental break from day to day expectations. ;) 

Like so many others I've posted in November, this layout's been hanging around the computer for a while too. I don't remember all the techniques I used but there is definitely some Viva Decor Stamp Paint and Modeling Creme. I think that the background colors were done with Faber-Castell gelatos.

But seriously, why wouldn't I scrap that adorable kid? I couldn't find it again in my computer but based on the shirt, he was probably about to be a big brother. What a doll. Ack! And that smirk.

Also used on this layout was: 

Studio Calico wood veneers

stash sequins

Heidi Swapp Words stencil

Stampendous stamp

Studio Calico chevron stencil

Pink Paislee Artisan mistable shapes

Washi Cards

These ones have been sitting in my computer for a very long time! I made the second one for my dad's birthday in late July. I'd kind of forgotten about them and think I'm gonna have to do the top one again really soon! 

Fall Memories

Playing a bit of catch-up still. It's hard to imagine that we're nearing the end of November. I made this one this summer when I blog I was following on Facebook was chatting about starburst layouts. My goal simply to use up some scraps and do try out a burst that wasn't brightly colored. It got posted there but not over here. 

This layout it THICK and heavy. There are so many American Crafts Thickers on that right side that it's not surprising that either statement is true. 

The papers and stickers used on this are from Echo Park's Reflections line.