Accordion 'Friends' Album

This is the accordion album that I promised to show you that Louise did with us on Tuesday night at our Girls' Crafty Night Out at Deborah's place. I love this little album. I didn't have time to finish my album, so I finished it today. Just in time, tomorrow is my Mum's birthday and I'm going to give this to her along with her gift. She's a scrapbooker, so I think she'll like this. I know it says friends on the front, but my Mum really is my best friend. :)

On the inside, I had made each of the little floral half squares into a pocket, by leaving each of the longest layers without any adhesive. However, my dilemma was that after I made all these little pockets I didn't know what to put in them so that it would still allow you to be able to fold the album back to it's smallest state as shown above. So, I simply decided to add several little sentiments to the inside along with some flourishes, flowers and of course a couple of butterflies, too! :)

The album has a series of mountain folds which allows it to fold up to the pocket size square above, then it unfolds to be three times wider and 2 times higher. Here are some different views of the album.

Half opened

Fully opened

Close up of the middle Love sentiment

Close up of the Live Laugh Love Sentiment and the Metal LOVE embellishment
Close up of the Family and Time Well Spent sentiment

Close up of the Delight in Life sentiment
Close up of the Always sentiment
View of the back

Wow, that was a lot of pictures...sorry about that, just trying to give you a view of all the elements.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Stamps:Flourish - 96129J (Inkadinkado), Live Laugh Love (Daisy Bucket designs), Delight in Life (SU), 'always' - Small Script (SU), Butterfly, Time Well Spent and Family (Studio G), Love sentiment - Treasure the Moments - CL156 (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Chocolate Brown, Cream
Ink: Vintage Sepia (VersaFine), Vintage Photo (Tim Holtz Distress Ink)
Patterned Paper: Classic K McKenna (K & Company)
Tools: Sponge (SU), Small Flower Punch, Cuttlebug, Large Flower Die Cut (Cuttlebug), Square Frame, Tag Punch (SU), Terrifically Tacky Tape (Provocraft)
Embellishments: 1/4" Chocolate Brown Grosgrain Ribbon (Fabricville), 1/8" Leaf Green Satin Ribbon (Michaels), LOVE Metal Antique Finish Letters (Dollarama), Antique Copper Swirl & Brads -Hodge Podge Hardware (SU), Paper Flowers (Dollarstore)

Curly locks

I was bored this afternoon so I decided to curl my hair for fun since it's finally getting longer and it's actually long enough to curl! I've had short hair for about 7 years now so it's been about that long since I've used a curling iron. Anyway, just thought I'd share an updated pic of me just for fun. :)

The mirror in the background is one that I tole painted way back in 1995...before I discovered my current obsession/hobby of cardmaking and paper crafts! lol :)

Hope everyone is having a crafty day. I'll be back soon with something else to show you.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

A great crafty night

We had so much fun last night at our Girls' Crafty Night out at Deborah's. We made three projects, Val did an altered tin with us along with a matching altered journal. I love altering things so these were right up my alley! Thanks for the great projects, Val! :)

Don't look too closely at the sentiment on my journal below, I rather botched it up. :( When I stamped this beautiful sentiment by Quietfire Designs, I stamped it at the card table that I was sitting at and the table wasn't solid, so I didn't get a clear impression with my stamp. *sigh* I attempted to give it a highlighted look with a white gel pen, but I covered up too much of the dark ink, so then I had to use my black gel pen to re-write the sentiment. Yup, I rather ruined it! Perhaps I'll just borrow the stamp in the future and stamp it out again onto another piece of cardstock and layer it over top of my botched one.

Louise did a gorgeous accordion album with us. I'm still working on it, so I'll post it later. Thanks so much for doing such a fun project with us, Louise! :)

We also did our draw for our Spring swap cards. I drew Kim's name and I received this beautiful card below that she made with a very cool Nova Scotia inspired stamp of Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. It's about 45 minutes from where I live. These three churches are famous for the area. If you check out the link above, it'll take you to a tourism site for Mahone Bay where you can clearly see the three churches in their scrolling banner. I'm using the picture from Kim's blog. I wish you could see the way this card shimmers in real life - it's absolutely delicious eye candy! :)

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Spring Card Swap

I couldn't sleep last night so I got to thinking about another Spring-themed card idea that I could use for my swap card for tonight and this is what I came up with. I'm happier with this card, but I'll take both cards with me and whoever gets my name can choose which card they would like to have.

For the dragonfly, I used the rock n' roll technique with Wild Wasabi first, then Blue Bayou to give a more chameleon look to the wings. I cut out all the bugs with my scissors and used dimensional squares to lift them all up off the layered squares and rectangles that were also all popped up.

I thought it'd be cute to use vellum for the wings to make them look more like bee wings. Here's an angle view to show you.I'l be back tomorrow with our projects from tongiht's crafty session. Stay tuned...

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Sentiments 1 (Impression Obsession), Patterned Bugs (Inkadinkado)
Cardstock: Goldenrod Linen (CRS), Jet Black Linen (CRS), Flat White (CRS), China Red Linen (CRS), Teal (Bazzill), Wild Wasabi (SU), Vellum Cardstock (SU)
Ink: Jet Black (StazOn), Wild Wasabi (SU), Onyx Black (VersaFine), Real Red (SU), Blue Bayou (SU)
Tools: Corner Rounder (SU), 1/8" Dimensional Squares (EK Success), Scissors
Embellishments: Green Rhinestones (KaiserCraft)

CPS104 Sketch Challenge

This is the card that I made for our card swap for our girls' stampin' night out tonight. Wow, that was a mouthful, wasn't it? lol :) I used sketch CPS104 from (Card Positioning Systems), sponsored this time around by PaperTrey Ink. I didn't actually enter the contest, though, as I felt it was cheating. I used the sketch, but I also CASE'd two ideas from a sample card that I loved by Jeanne Streiff. I loved the swirling butterflies that she made in her scalloped circle and I also liked the stitching, so I used that, too, although mine is faux stitching. I did paper pierce the whole card, though which was a little time consuming. Oh, I also added Dew Drops instead of her bling. So, as you can see, it wouldn't be fair to enter. I cheated way too much! lol :) Her card is much nicer than mine, but thanks for the inspiration, though, Jeanne!

This is the sketch (CPS104).
Anyway, I thought this would be a good card to make for our "Spring' themed card swap. I hope it looks springy enough. I'm looking forward to seeing what cards all the other ladies came up with. Our only rules were that it had to be spring-like colours. I think these would be classified as spring-like colours...I hope so anyway! lol :) I realize the base layer of the card, as well as the other base layers look almost black, but they're actually plum.

OK, so I'm off for a fun night of stampin'. I'll post our projects tomorrow. Until then...

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Enjoy (Daisy Bucket Designs), 'Butterfly' - Amy Butler Lotus (K&Company)
Cardstock: Flat White (CRS), Goldenrod Linen (CRS), Plum (Bazzill)
Ink: Eggplant Envy (SU), White Gel Pen (Signo)
Patterned Paper: Art Blanchè - Raspberry Swirl Circle (EK Success)
Tools: Corner Rounder Punch (SU), 1 1/4" & 1 1/2" Circle Punches, Classic Scallop Nestabilities (Spellbinders), 1/8" Dimensional Squares (EK Success)
Embellishments: Plum Dew Drops, Plum and Pink Ribbon (Michaels)

Mojo75 Sketch Challenge

This is my interpretation of the current Mojo Monday sketch for Week 75. As soon as I saw this sketch this morning, I knew right away that I wanted to try it. Julee really has the nicest sketches to play with, doesn't she? :) I decided to go with an elegant version using a repetition of just three colours. I love turquoise and black and white together.

Here's the sketch that I followed:

Here's a angle view to show you the way the butterfly wings curl when you watercolour on the vellum cardstock. Isn't she purdy? lol :)I've got another card to show you, but I have to wait until tomorrow night, since it's a swap card for a group of stamping friends that I'm meeting with Tuesday night. I'll schedule it to post when our group starts.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:

Stamps: Butterfly (Daisy Bucket Designs), Flourish - C95.182.N (Magenta), 'Thank You' - Amy Butler Lotus (K&Company)
Cardstock: Turquoise (Bazzill), Jet Black Linen (CRS), Flat White (CRS), Vellum Cardstock (SU)

Ink: Tempting Turqoise (SU), Onyx Black (VersaFine), Jet Black (StazOn)

Tools: Scallop Border Punch (SU), 1 1/4" & 1 1/2" Circle Punches, 1/8" Dimensional Squares (EK Success), Scissors

Embellishments: Black Jumbo Brads (Dollarama)

Happy Birthday Little Lady

This is a birthday card that I made for the daughter of a very good friend of mine. Her daughter is turning 2 years old on Tuesday and I thought she'd like the bright colours in this card...and who doesn't like ladybugs? By the way, the eyes don't look nearly that psychotic in person, it's just the flash against the clear gems that's making them them look all crazy! lol :)

Here's a close up of the A Muse sentiment, Happy Birthday Little Lady. I love it!
This is a close up of the ribbon fed through the slots. I CASE'd this card sketch from Amy Rysavy, from a card she did for PTI. I loved her card, but mostly the way that she fed the ribbon through her card and I knew I wanted to try it. I think it gives a neat look to the card.

Well, I think I've had all I can take today of being up and moving around. Gotta retire back to my comfy bed to relax for the evening with my pain meds...or as a friend of mine put it, "better living through chemistry!" You're funny, Deborah! I seriously laughed out loud when I read that! :)

Jim's been away this afternoon on a Search and Rescue exercise flight, but he should be home soon...let's hope he brings supper with him! :) I'll try to have something else to show you tomorrow.

Thanks for stoppin' by! :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Little Lady (A Muse Artstamps)
Cardstock: China Red Linen (CRS), Flat White (CRS), Jet Black Linen (CRS), Soft Sky (SU)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Patterned Paper: So Saffron (K&Company)
Tools: Cuttlebug, Ladybug die, Slot Punch (SU), Scissors
Embellishments: 1/4" Black and White Polka Dot Grosgrain Ribbon (Michaels), Clear Bling (Staples)