Photo Explosion Box Tutorial

I think Jan Tink is a perhaps the Queen of Photo Explosion Boxes. She certainly has made a lot of them! Check out her blog at Stamps, Paper, Scissors for lots of great projects and tutorials. Here is the template that she designed that I used for mine a few posts down.

Photo Explosion Box Tutorial

Happy crafting!

A Few Tutorials

Taylor VanBruggen of the Taylored Expressions blog has done up a great tutorial on those cute little chipboard coaster boxes. Check it out! This gal is a fountain for creativity and awesome artwork! Check out her blog, too!

Chipboard Coaster Box Tutorial

****

Amy Rysavy of the Prairie Paper and Ink blog has done up a great tutorial for making very nice photo/image corners. She has an awesome blog, as well. Tons of information for another extremely talented gal! Also, another tutorial from Amy for dyeing grosgrain ribbon with re-inkers. What a great to get just the right colour of ribbon, if you have lots of re-inkers on hand! She has lots of tutorials, go check them out! These are just a couple that caught my eye.

Photo/Image Corners Tutorial

Dyeing Grosgrain Ribbon Tutorial

Blog Candy and Tutorials

I was checking out a few sites tonight and found some great tutorials that I thought were well done. I've done the waterfall card in the past, but lost my directions, so I'm glad to have found a tutorial on this card technique. Check out the neat ribbon ideas that Maria has. Very neat! I'm always looking for new ways to use ribbon.

Accordion File Tutorial

Bows Tutorial

Waterfall Card Tutorial

I think these little accordion files are just the cutest darn little things...my only dilemma is that I'm not sure what you would use it for after it was all made. I've been racking my brain trying to think of what I would use a file system for that it is so small.

So, I'm proposing a sort of blog candy contest. If you can tell me what you would use one for, I'll put your name into a draw for a card made by your's truly along with a few crafty goodies. I'd love to hear what ideas everyone has! I'm gonna be away most of the weekend, so I'll accept entries up until Sunday night and make the draw on Monday morning.

Little Easter Bunnies

Thought I would share the little crafty time I had with the girls this afternoon. They made cute little foam cut out Easter Bunnies. My Mum gave them to them, I'm thinking they likely came from the Dollar Store. The girls had lots of fun putting them together, any excuse to get into a sticky glue mess, though, eh? :)

Anyway, with Easter coming up soon, if you're looking for a small project to do with your little ones, this one was really fast and easy. My girls don't really have the attention span to do a long, drawn-out craft, so something like this is great for them and satisfies their need to be crafty for a little bit! They're certainly their Mama's daughter's! lol :)

Thanks for stopping by!

My First Tri-Fold Card

I've seen these tri-fold cards on several different occasions, then I got one in the mail a couple of days ago from Tracy, and I figured I would try making one, myself. I must admit, it was much nicer having her card to go by for measurements instead of having to refer to the web for directions. I'm such a visual person, I swear if you just gave me a set of written instructions only, I'd probably take about 5 times as long to complete it! lol :) Anyway, this is my take on the card...totally different colours than Tracy chose, but the style is basically the same. I'm not as fortunate to have to have a Cuttlebug like Tracy does (Boo Hoo for me), so I used some pretty SU Designer Paper, instead. I'm sure I'll be making more of these down the road now that I see how fun and easy they are to make. :) Oh, the possibilities....

Well, I'm callin' it a day, my cozy bed awaits! Thanks for stopping by!

RAK Received from Tracy

I received the most beautiful RAK (Random Act of Kindness) today from Tracy Houghton. She won my last blog candy giveaway and she sent a card today to thank me for it.

Tracy, thank you! You made my day! lol :) Your card is just gorgeous and I love the Cuttlebug embossed pink card stock. The dragonfly is one of the embellishments that I sent Tracy with her winnings. I like these...I really like dragonflies. :) I still haven't tried making one of these tri-fold cards..perhaps tonight I'll have to play...

Thanks for stopping by!

Swirls and Flowers

I was going to head off to bed...then, I heard my stamp room calling me..."Jul-ie, Jul-ie, Jul-ie!" Just kidding, but I did feel the urge to go in and create one card, though. This is what I came up with tonight. I used the Cuttlebug "swirl' embossed white cardstock that Kim so graciously gave me...as I don't have a Cuttlebug, yet, and I have tremendous Cuttlebug envy! Swiped it with SU Close to Cocoa (one of my favourite colours) and the rest was inspired by the ribbon I got from Michaels by American Craft Elements. Love, love, love their ribbon... only wish more came on a roll! I attached a couple of hardware pieces from my SU Hodge Podge hardware set and stamped a few flowers from SU Burst Into Bloom using SU Rose Romance ink, cut them out and applied them with dimensionals. I think if SU made a punch for both this flower and the large flower from from the SU set Looks Like Spring, I'd be the first to buy them, with many others closely behind me! Not a huge fan of cutting out flowers, but I love the effect, so I'll continue to cut them out until SU decides to cater to us a bit more! lol :)

I'm having digital camera problems...my camera battery just died, so I'll have to wait until the morning to upload my card pic after my camera is re-charged.

Thanks for stopping by!

Photo Explosion Box

So, this has been a project I've been doing over the past week or so... a bit more time consuming than expected to get all the pics resized in Photoshop, than I had originally expected. I had planned to use some designed paper, but when working with such a small area, I decided in the end to only use a couple layers of card stock to mat the picture. However, I'm quite pleased with how this turned out. It's my first attempt at a Photo Explosion Box. I made this one for my friends that just had a little baby girl 4 weeks ago. The pics I included are all of them in her first 2 weeks. Some of the most precious moments. :)

I'm a little unhappy with the fact that when I added the pics to the outside of the box, I forgot that the cover would cover up the tops of them! Oops, oh well, I'm sure Craig and Tammy won't hold it against me! lol :) Tammy likes crafty things, she just doesn't do any crafts herself, so I think she'll appreciate my effort. This is their first child, so I wanted to do something special for them so they could have a keepsake for those first pictures.

Well, I have to go to bed, it's nearly 1 AM and I have an early morning planned.

Thanks for stopping by!

Apple Eatin' Fun

Did you ever imagine that eating an apple could bring so much happiness to a little girl? lol :) My youngest daughter would rather eat fruit or yogurt over sweets any day. Unlike my oldest daughter who loves cake and cookies, but will eat fruit, too, she just doesn't eat as much as the little one. Good thing she keeps thin, must be all that running she does! I want to know where I could get a hold of some of that energy...why can't we bottle it for future use!! That's what I want to know!

Well, that's all for now, just thought I would share a pic of my little ones, I'll be making some more cards tonight and I'll post them tonight or tomorrow morning. I'm off to enjoy the beautiful sunny day we're having here, before it starts to rain again!

Thanks for stopping by!

My New Stampin' Space

So the mouse decided to play tonight while the cat was away... lol :) Jim's duty on the ship tonight, so he has to spend the night down there. After I got the kiddies bathed up and off to bed I took the opportunity to move my craft area into the larger storage room and took over one end of it. I'm so pleased, I have so much more room! Before I was shoved in back of the furnace in the back corner of the laundry room! It was so noisy with the furnace going and most times since I do my stamping in the evenings, the washer and dryer were also going... it didn't exactly make for a tranquil environment. I'd try to listen to music, but it would have to be blasting in order to hear it over all the other racket! lol :)

As you can see we still need to finish the walls, I started to patch them, (don't look too closely!) but they really need to be redone altogether. In time... But, most importantly, I now have all my stuff that I use most often set out in arms reach of me, as well as having a pantry cupboard on the opposite wall of the table that I have extra boxes of embellishments, cardstock and crafty supplies in. Before I moved, the room was a wreck, I should have taken a before pic, but I was too embarrassed, it's much much much tidier now. I'm sure Jim will be pleased, even if I have taken over another room in the house. Oh well, the Princess has to be happy, eh? lol :) I'm far from a Princess, just kidding!

Anyway, I had to share my new area, I should be in there tomorrow to get creating again.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Candy Goodness

Skip on over to Michelle's blog for a chance to win the SU Sell-A-Bration stamp set 'Big Blossom' along with lots of other great little goodies! Hurry though, time's running out!

Playing with my New Paper Piercer

I thought I would play a bit tonight with my new paper piercer and some Cuttlebug embossed cardstock that Kim so kindly shared with me. I have such Cuttlebug envy...I want one! Pretty Please for my Birthday! It's coming up in a few months! :)

The flower stamps and the script background stamp are both from Hero Arts and also new to me. OMG...I'm a SU Trader! I'm not even a Demo and I feel traderous! lol :) I've just never bought any other stamps really other than from SU. Just a few cheapies from WalMart or Michaels. Time to start branching out a bit...must broaden the addiction! :)

Well, this is a quick post, gotta go to bed...the kiddies will be up in a few hours!

Thanks for stopping by!

A Package Card

Package card closed & ribbon closure undone.


First 2 flaps opened & last 2 flaps opened.


Card fully opened & closeup of first 2 squares.


Closeup of last 2 squares.

I thought I would share this little card that I made last year at a SU workshop. It was part of a Fun-Fold Class that we did where we made 4 different cards. I really like cards like this that are a bit different from the norm. I don't tend to make many, mainly because they tend to take longer to make, and as it is, my DH thinks I spend a crazy amount of time making just one regular card, I'd hate to fuel his fire for my little hobby! lol :) Sorry for the small pics, but I thought I would post them smaller so that they didn't take up so much space. If you want a better look, just click on the picture for a larger view.

These are the different stages of how you open the card. It's a cute design and I love the SU set, Unfrogettable. I still don't own this one, I've only used it the one time I did this class and it belonged to my old SU Demo up in Ontario. I really 'need', do you like how I said 'need' to buy this set. It's been on my wish list since I spied it, but other sets seem to have taken priority. But, this set is too cute, not to have, so I think it will be my next set to order. Oh the stamp madness continues...it really is a sickness, isn't it!!! lol :) The set used to make the background is also by SU, it's 'Simple Shapes.' I really like the versatility of this set, you can play around so much with this one. Lots of fun to use. :)

Have fun with this design and thanks for stopping by!

Back in Action

Wow, it's amazing how much I missed my little card making area during the weekend while we were away. I didn't get a chance to play the past couple of nights, as the kiddies were later getting to sleep, and then I thought it was too late to get crafty. Sometimes if I leave it too late to craft, I just end up just messing up what I was attempting and it's a shame to waste good card stock and supplies. lol :)

So, this is the creation that I came up with tonight after my girls went to sleep. Natalia is feeling much better, btw. She hasn't been sick to her stomach since the drive home on Monday, however both girls have been running fevers yesterday and today. Hopefully, it's just their way of fighting off whatever is trying to attack them. That's usually what they do and the next day they're all better. Fingers crossed! :)

In this card I tried a new way, to me, for using ribbon, I kinda like it. I haven't used eyelets in ages, so I pulled out the ol' Silent Setter and added a few. I also used a couple of the patterned papers that I got on the drive home on Monday at the scrapbooking store that I visited in Newcastle, New Brunswick. I thought they were really nice papers, unlike the papers that I normally use, but I really like them. An elegant Jules design...lol :) Yeah, I don't usually talk about myself in the third person, just trying to poke fun at myself! :) What do ya think of this style? I don't know that I really have one style, I tend to jump around to whatever seems to make me happy for the time being. Sometimes happy whimsical cards, sometimes serious, sometimes romantic or elegant, sometimes girly, as long as it includes some pretty paper or cardstock and some great stamps, I guess it doesn't matter, it all makes my day a little happier! How's that for a rant about nothing? lol :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Candy Offerings...

Here are a few sites that are offering up all sorts of yummy blog candy. Check them out and be sure to look at their card creations, as well. They're a talented bunch of gals! :)

Jeanna's blog

Julie's blog

Kyla's blog

Good luck!

I'm back home from vacation

Well, I guess it's called vacation...but it certainly wasn't the tropics! lol We headed off Friday afternoon to go up to my in-laws place in New Brunswick for a few days. We had a good visit with Jim's parents and a bunch of other family members. Always nice to go visit, but it's normally a rather stressful time, the girls act crazy when we go there, I think they get a little shack happy in the small space and they get into everything. Sometimes, it's so much nicer just to be at home, where they have their toys and there's nothing that they can get into. But, nonetheless, the grandparents were pleased to see the kiddies and it was nice to get compliments from everyone on my weight loss. :) A lot of them haven't seen me since Christmas or even the Summer time and I've lost 51 lbs now since Sept, so they can see quite a difference. Makes a girl feel very nice to get lots of nice compliments! :)

We got home last night after a fairly long trip home. Normally, it's a 4 1/2 hour drive home...but, it took us 6 1/2 hours. Our little girl, Natalia, ended up getting the stomach flu on Sunday night. I was up with her until 6 am, when Jim took over with her. She threw up all night long as I sat with her, as soon as I went to bed, she just slept for Jim. Isn't that just the way! Anyway, I'm glad she was finally getting some relief. My poor little girl. Then, she threw up once on the way home. I feel rather bad, the girls had both just fallen asleep and I spied a scrapbooking store and asked Jim if we could stop for a 'minute' so I could take a peek. LOL...we both knew it was gonna be more than a minute. Well, I ended up chatting with the store owner as I perused the patterned paper and embellishments. I guess I was in there for about 20 minutes and just as I was paying for my delicious new paper, the door flies open and Jim announces in a panicked voice, "Come out, NOW!" Well, I went outside and Natalia had thrown up all over herself in her car seat. But, that was the last of it. I think the piece of banana that she had a half hour earlier didn't settle well and that's what upset her stomach this time. I wasn't even thinking about how rich a banana was. Glad she ended up only eating one bite when she said she had enough. I can only imagine the mess, had she eaten the whole thing! Anyway, we stopped at a restaurant on the way home and the girls behaved very well and eat a bit and we were home soon for them to sleep in their own beds.

Today, I had the exciting job of doing post vacation laundry, and we actually got some painting down around the house, as well. The girls had a great day of playing, Natalia is feeling much better today and no signs of sickness from Alexandria, knock on wood! I think I'll play a bit with my stamps tonight, going through a bit of card making withdrawal after being away from them all weekend. I came home to 157 new emails from all my blog feeds and Yahoo stamping forum and personal emails. That took a while last night to go through all of those so I didn't get a chance to play last night.

Off to play...thanks for stopping by!

My First Very Masculine Card

I am very pleased with how this turned out. This is the very first card that I've ever made that is truly masculine, as I wanted it to be. I like the browns, beige and caramel together. I tried a new technique (to me) on the lighter brown cs. You use a scrunched up piece of saran wrap and dab it into your chocolate coloured ink pad, then, keep smooshing it onto the cs. It almost makes a 'leather-like' appearance. I really liked how this technique turned out. I also got to use some of the new paper and the tree stamp that I got last night and some of my new Hodge Podge Hardware. I made the little tabs... don't look too closely, I cut them out myself with scissors! lol Can't wait to send this one out. I think it's one that I'm truly proud of and he's genuinely going to like my card. I don't mean for that to be conceeded sounding, but have you ever made a card and thought, well, I guess that'll do or it's good enough to send to this person, but not to this person. Some cards I've made I've even thrown out... I'm that unhappy with how they turned out. Anyway, perhaps I'll sign off now before you all think I'm a total nutjob, or can only agree with me in silence. lol :)

Thanks for stopping by!

A card from Catherine Levy

My dear friend, Catherine, stopped by this morning to drop me off some blueberry cake and a beautiful card made from the stamps that I loaned her to make the stationary box for her Mum. I absolutely love the DP that she used in the background. I just love the whimsical butterflies! How cute are they? :) Mauve and purple are some of my favourite colours to work with and I love the versatility of the SU Watercolour Garden set. You can do so much with it. Just lovely, Cat! Thanks so much for thinking of me! Can't wait to try the blueberry cake! :)

A card from Kelly Eelhart

I just love this card that Kelly gave me tonight for coming to her SU party. Thanks so much, Kelly, it was sweet of you to give me a thank you card, but you know all you have to do is ask...and I'm there! lol :) I love this stamp set and I'm so disappointed that I didn't get it when I had the chance...oh to have regrets! :( Anyway, I had to share her beautiful card! :) We'll get together soon for some more stampin' fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lots of goodies...

Woohoo! What a great night for goodies. :) I got my SU order tonight, I'm happy to say I finally have a set of hodgepodge hardware in an antique brass finish. I've wanted this for such a long time. Can't wait to start playing around with the pieces. A pink passion dye ink pad for some girly cards and some white craft ink to use on dark cardstock so you can actually see the image in white. It's a beautiful effect. Also, a horizontal slot punch and some more 2-Way glue...have you tried this stuff? It's awesome stuff! Oh, there needs to be more hours in the day to create things! Either that, or I'm gonna have to start to veto sleep, altogether! lol :)

My friend, Kelly and I also went shopping at a friends place tonight to buy some of her stash that she was selling off. I'm very pleased, I got 100 sheets of gorgeous new card stock in some beautiful colours. A few stamps, a paper piercing template with mat and piercing tool that I'll seen cards done with and they look so beautiful. Can't wait to play with that. Kim was also nice enough to let me play around a bit with her Cuttlebug and I got a bunch of white cs and vellum embossed with some of her different folders. Ohh, I have such Cuttlebug envy, I'd love to own one, it'll just be a little while longer before one is in the budget for me... Thanks again for everything, Kim! :) Kelly and I had fun!

My 'Little Mother'

I had to share this of my friend's new little girl. Laura was 15 days old here when it was taken on Sunday. She's such a sweetheart. She slept in my arms and just made those sweet little sounds...that I miss so much! It was killing my daughter, Alexandria to just look as I held her, she was just itching to hold her, her little mothering side is kicking in full force! I'm just waiting for her to ask me when we're having another baby of our own... She loves little Laura, so much, I think you can see in this pic. Just had to share!

Well, I gotta go get supper ready and then I'm on my way out for a girls night out, going shopping for stamps, card stock, all the goodies! I can't wait. I'll post my treasures later! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Candy Alert

Check out Kelly Jo's blog for a chance to win lots of gorgeous American Craft Elements ribbon and clear stamp giveaway! OOOH, AHHH Ribbon! :)

RUN...don't walk...on over to Laura's blog for a chance to win a SU Delight in Life stamp set, some cranberry ribbon, a black SU ink spot and a sampling of the SU In Color papers!!!!

Rush on over to Julia's blog for a chance to win some gorgeous designer papers by Basic Grey! They're awesome for card making and the most beautiful papers!

Forgotten Swirls

This is the card that I came up with tonight for the few minutes that I spent in my stampin' room. I decided to pull out the ol' SU Soft Swirls background stamp that I had to have last year and I think I've used it twice! Have you ever made one of these decisions. Silly stamper woman! (That's me, by the way, that I'm referring to.) Note to self, I must practice better self-control when it comes to buying stamps... Ok, enough ranting, I really just wanted to try out my new aqua painter and pastels. Can you believe this is my first time using pastels. Crazy, eh? Well, I must say, either it's gonna take some practice or I just don't like the aqua painter that I bought. I went el-cheap-o and didn't buy the SU ones that I love and I think I may kick myself for that. But, it might just be the pastels that are the problem. I've always used SU watercolour crayons, which I love love love, as well. Anyway, I'll play more over the next bit and see how they work out.

Got a rest today and now I'm off to bed at an ungodly hour, shame on me, and how wonderful the time changed tonight so it's even an hour later. I hope the girls sleep in, in the morning. LOL That's wishful thinking! :)

Thanks for stoppin' by!

Junior cardmaker and sleepy girl...

Thought I would post a couple more pics of my girls. First one is of my little self-napper, Natalia, this afternoon. She's happy as can be, surrounded by Dora and clutching 'the beloved, Cookie Bear' very closely! He goes everywhere with her. It's a stuffed bear made by Cherished Teddies. He has the name of Cookie on his belly. He sports a red sweater with a Gingerbreadman cookie on it. Here's another pic of her at Xmas with Cookie Bear in tow. We've almost lost him n several occasions and gone back to where we lost him and with luck got him back again! Unfortunately they don't sell this line of bears anymore, we'd love to have a spare, just in case we lose him, so if anyone has one that they would like to pass along to her, just in case, it would much appreciated!

The third pic is of Alexandria, my junior cardmaker, in the making! She loves making cards and says she's learning how to be a cardmaker, just like Mummy! (As Jim rolls his eyes... I think he knows it's gonna cost us more money! :) lol) Can you tell she loves pink and red and especially my new 'toy' as she calls it, my new SU Spring Bouquet Flower punch. She was just in a punchin' frenzy! :) The card on the left was one she made for her Daddy and the one on the right was for me. Don't ya love the big silver flower I got on mine! The other one she calls a snow angel flower for Jim. She's a creative little one!

Blog Candy Bling

Hey Everyone,

Pop on over to Stephanie's blog for a chance to win some blog candy bling for your cards! Gotta love a touch of bling! :) She's got a lot of awesome creations, as well, check her site out while you're at it!

http://creativeexpressionsbystephanie.blogspot.com/

My Little Cutie Petuties

I love watching the girls making snow angels! They were so happy to play outside in the new snow a few days ago. It was really cold though, so we only stayed outside for a few minutes. Just enough time to take a few pics to add to the scrapbook! lol :)

Unfortunately, I think they're both coming down with my flu. :( Natalia, my 3 year old, doesn't nap in the afternoon anymore and she just put herself down for a nap. All was quiet upstairs and we went up to check on her and she was all tucked in bed, sound asleep.

Alexandria, my 5 year old is laying on the couch, very quiet as well, nearly asleep. Poor little girls. I fear it's gonna be a long few days if everyone is under the weather.

I'm feeling much better today. My head still really hurts from the fall, but the dizziness is gone, so that's good. On the bright side, I've lost 3 lbs since Thursday morning! lol LA Weight loss will be pleased with me when I go in for my weigh-in on Tuesday. I'm down 48.2 lbs now! I just tried on a skirt this morning that a friend of mine gave me and it fits! Yippee! I've dropped 4 sizes so far! Oh, how happy was I over that! :)

What a crazy day!

Wow, what a crazy day today! I wasn't feeling well last night when I made this card, sore throat, just thought my cold was coming back yet again. Think I've been fighting it for about 6 weeks now. I just get rid of it and then my daughter Alex brings more sickness home from pre-school again! Arg! Gotta love school and germs! But, then I woke up this morning really dizzy. Tried getting around and I just couldn't, so I had to stay in bed as the girls played in my room or their rooms. Feel like a bad Mum, but I knew Jim would be getting home right after lunch, he was duty on the ship last night so they have to sleep there. I had got up and was about to get their lunches ready and I passed out! I don't think I've done that since I started to go through puberty with hormone level changing! At least the girls thought I just playing around, so it didn't scare them since I was home alone here with them when I passed out. I went back to bed and laid there until Jim got home 45 minutes later. Stayed in bed the rest of the day. I think I lost about 5 lbs today from all the sweating from the fever I had. Crazy! Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow. Starting to feel a lot better already. The dizziness is going away. Jim made a nice supper for us, it was nice to actually have him cook for a change and for me to be able to relax all day as he took care of the kids. So, that was my day!

Here's the card that I made last night. I was having internet issues last night and wasn't able to get online to post it last night.Thanks for stopping by!

One Sheet Wonder Template

This is the sample template for the One Sheet Wonder cards that go with the Stationary Box Tutorial, next post down. Also, pictured are the cards that I included with my box. You could alter them however you wish, this is just a guideline to show you how the one sheet wonders work. I also have the template done up below that shows where to cut the stamped sheet to use for the cards shown. Once you open the picture, you'll see the diagram shows all the dimensions for the pieces that go with each card. In bold, you'll see the card number that that piece goes with. Hope this all makes sense! lol :) I'm a weeeeee bit stressed at the moment!

One Sheet Wonder Diagram
(On 8 1/2" x 11" Cardstock)

*On section #8, the measurements below should read 5.5" x 4.25" not 4.5"

One Sheet Wonder Stamped Sample

This is Card 1

This is Card 2
This is Card 3

This is Card 4

This is Card 5

This is Card 6

This is Card 7

This is Card 8

This is Card 9

Thanks for stopping by and happy stampin'!