Papertrey 8th Anniversary Challenge

Hi friends. I've been gone for a short bit I know. The husband and I took a little trip up to NYC last weekend and since then I've been playing catchup (ketchup? yea that too). I have also been doing a bit of scrapbooking. Perhaps I'll share that soon.
Anyway it's that time of year again - Papertrey Ink's Anniversary celebration and that always includes tons of challenges which are always great fun, don't you agree?
As I said I've been scrapbooking and playing with all manner of supplies and techniques I hadn't done in years. Which brings me to my entry into the first challenge over at the PTI blog. (You were wondering when I'd get to that huh?) The challenge is to use inspiration cards (sketches and color schemes) to come up with a card.  My card is loosely based on this sketch. My colors are loosely based on two of the color schemes. I think the inspiration cards are just that right? Used for inspiration. okay....

I decided on using the Friendship Jar Spring Fillers stamp set - I wanted to use those conversation hearts. But first I wanted to create a bit of a background - using the Background Basics: Hearts. I created a mask  & a template using the PTI jar die. I adhered the mask then stamped in the BB: Hearts with Versamark. I peeled up my mask then used the template to mark off where the jar would go. Then inside that area I stamped the conversation hearts. I colored those with prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits. Then went back in and stamped the words. Then I took a Copic Marker (Dull Ivory E43) and colored in my jar. I went back over that with a line drawing (since I don't have the Jar Stamp) using probably my new favorite pen - a Pilot G-TEC-C4.
Then I went back to those background hearts and used some chalk to color those in (the chalk sticks to the Versamark - an old technique but a fun one!)
Finally I cut a tag using the Tiny Tags die and stamped it with one of those little conversation stamps. Then I poked some holes into my card to tie the tag on with some Rustic Cream twine.
I gotta say I had such a good time with this. I hadn't been drawing in way too long and as much as I love my Copics I adore my Prismacolor pencils.
Okay I'll shut up now. I need to start looking for some inspiration for the challenge posted today. Hope you're having a good one.

Year of Cards - August

Hi there! Back today to show you the August card for my Year of Card sets (gifts I'm giving to family at Christmas.) I made July a few weeks ago. And since I've got a birthday comin up I need a card for, I decided to go ahead and make August now. I played around with this one a lot. I'm trying to make these simple - as I'm making 8 sets of cards - but I really like the sentiment stamped in three colors (I know - I need my head examined - masking 8 of these will take a little bit of time LOL! not to mention stamping out that sunrise in the background)
I used the Birthday Classics: August and Hello Sunshine stamp sets from Papertrey Ink. The patterned paper is also from PTI. I used  a Nestabilities die for the circle. And then I stitched across that patterned paper with my sewing machine. I really need to get my sewing machine out more often. I used to stitch on paper a lot - I've been doing it for probably the last 17 years or so. But lately - not so much. Anywho... I've got to get on with the stamping! I just figured I'd post this now as I haven't in almost a week. I've been working on my London scrapbook :-) and really enjoying it. Okay kids, that's all for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Reorganizing: Unmounting the Wood Block stamps

So it was about 2 weeks ago I mentioned I've been purging and reorganizing all around the house. It's one of those things you just gotta do now and then. This ongoing project finally brought me to my little craft haven - my art room. OMG - tons to be done in here.
A big problem was the amount of space my stamps take up. A lot of crafty real estate to be sure. I have two large bookcases on one wall of my room and 2-1/2 to 3 of the eight shelves were just Stampin Up stamp sets. There were also 5 acrylic frames (11x14) filled with more stamps from various companies. (I won't even go into the unmounted stamp sets in CD cases and foam block stamps, PTI stamp sets. the list goes on. But hey - I've been stamping for probably 17 years. You accumulate a lot of stamps right?  And I know I have much less than others I know - you know who you are! LOL ).
So I finally decided I could gain back a lot of space if I unmounted all those woodblock stamps I wanted to keep. I finally finished un
mounting and remounting on EZ Mount cling today. YAY!
This is just some of the blocks that have made their way to the recycling bin. I didn't take a pic of the ones that I'd already disposed of - which was probably about 3 times this amount.
Here's the last batch I did today. I still need to pull off the labels (if they have them - some of the images are printed right on the wood - can you see the photo boxes behind them - 2 high... it's a lotta wood!)

Before I started this project I looked around online to see if I could glean any tips. I did find a big fat one - via You Tube - that I thought I'd share in case anyone out there wants to do this to their collection.
I would have done what I always do when using EZ Mount. Get out my Kai scissors and go to town. And of course the scissors get sticky and you have to be cleaning them repeatedly during the whole process.
Well there is a much better way to do this girls. It's called a Hot Knife. I got mine on Amazon (I think the company is called Walnut Hollow) but you might also find it at Jo-Ann's. It is a mighty handy tool I'll tell ya. My daughter came through the kitchen when I was cutting with this tool and she said - what's that? Like a hot X-acto knife?  And that is exactly what it's like. I highly recommend it ladies.  Here's one last pic I took while I was cutting. You can see the blade there on the right. The blade turns black from the adhesive being heated but it causes no problems.
So now - what was once occupying almost 3 shelves of my bookcase - now is all contained in several binders - on about 1/3 of 1 shelf. How about that? Incredible.
I do have some remaining woodblocks that I keep in those photo boxes. They're two different categories: Holiday stamps (Christmas, Valentines, St Patricks Day, Halloween) and Background Stamps (mostly StampinUp but one or two others). I'm debating whether or not I'll unmount those. But for right now they're nicely organized in those boxes and it works.
Now onto the final phase of reorganizing my craft room: all things Scrapbooking. This includes 10 photo boxes (full of photos), various containers of loose random photos and memorabilia and a ton of albums I've already made and those in progress. I'm drowning in the stuff and it needs to be better organized so I can get some scrapping done. I've been working on current scrapbooking (like the photos from our recent trip) but I need to get to the old stuff- kwim?
If you have any tips or tricks - please share! In the meantime - have a good one!

Happy Birthday to my little sister

 It's her birthday today and of course I made her a card. Well, actually I made 2 cards. Here's the cute card :-)
A few years back I saw an adorable card made by Heather Nichols - I'm sure it's on her blog somewhere - regardless she used the PTI Cupcake Collection and some of this PTI Dark Chocolate pattern paper. Her card had a doily in it and I think it also had 2 cupcakes. Anyhow it stuck in my head mostly because the cupcakes looked like little Hostess cupcakes - with that little squiggle of white frosting on top. That sealed the deal for me. I knew one day I'd make a card like that for my little sister. A few years ago my sister was visiting me right around my birthday. And she baked up some faux Hostess cupcakes for the occasion - she made the cream inside and the squiggle on top. One of the cupcakes squiggles actually said my name. She is a clever one. Not only were they cute they were yummy.
 

So last week I made this card for her using that cupcake stamp set. The squiggle was made using the Loop De Loop die and I used the Double Ended Banner die stamped with the Keep It Simple: Birthday stamp set. I think it came out pretty cute. Oh and there's lots of foam tape popping up those cupcake tops there so it's very fun.










I called my sister a little while ago. She loved her card :-)
Oh and I included something in the card that I found recently while going through my mom's things. I found an old wallet of my mother's. I opened it up and there was this little blast from the past. My mother had saved this newspaper clipping for 50 years. From the New York Times, a photo of my little sister. She was an absolutely beautiful baby. Seriously she was stinkin adorable.  Still is. The photographer must have thought so too because he used her photo for advertising his business.  So when I found that clipping maybe a couple of weeks ago I scanned it and then put it in the envelope for my sister.

Funny - you see the caption - Pictured Forever. He didn't know how true that would be right?
Okay - that's all for today. Have a good one!

Pocket Scrapbooking

I made three little 3x4 pocket scrapbooking cards for the Monthly Moments Trading Card challenge at PTI last night. I had a few minutes and decided I'd give it a whirl - but I didn't check the closing time on the challenge so.... didn't get these in for the challenge. But I had a quick bit of fun and that's what its really all about. I'm so into my Valentines I wasn't participating in all those fun challenges.

So here are mine. Sorry about the pics - its a little dark out this morning and I couldn't get a good pic to save my life. anyway....I'm gonna put them in my box of scrapbooking cards - yes I make little cards now and again with scraps or when the spirit moves me :-) That's whats so fun about these little cards. Just like ATC's - it's this wonderful little canvas and you can just have at it!

For all three I used Papertrey Ink's Big Ticket Basics stamp set. I used the coordinating die on the second one - to make that ticket. On the first one I used the Double-ended banner die. And on all three I used some pretty patterned paper from the Pacific Vineyard paper pack; cardstock colors are Fine Linen, Ripe Avocado and Royal Velvet.
Funny thing - I bought Big Ticket Basics primarily to use in my scrapbooks.
It's such a great set for that - and I've used it in my scrapbooks a few times already. And made some greeting cards as well. It was fun to pull it back out last night. I haven't really had time in the last 4 or 5 months to do any scrapbooking. I'm hoping when a few things fall into place around here over the next month or so I'll be able to get back into a regular schedule of scrapbooking.
We are planning a very big trip in April and May - so excited about that and I'll share more about it in the coming months. But I'd already decided to make something of a travel album ahead of time - to record as we go from place to place. I know from experience, coming home afterward and trying to remember all the details is really hard. I want to make sure I don't forget a thing!
Okay - off to begin my Sunday :-) Have a good one!

busy week

You know I've been busy with things-other-than-papercrafting when I received my new Big Shot (yes I finally bought one - the deal was too good and I'll still use my Cuttlebug) on Monday. I forgot that I'd ordered it even when the doorbell rang and I went to see who it was and I saw the box on my doorstep. Get this - I thought it was a package for my son - let him bring in the box when he got home and I said whaddyaget? He said "It's for you, Mom". I did a little doubletake and thought what could it be? Then realized it was my Big Shot. And it is now Wednesday and I still haven't taken it out of the box! I know - how is this possible? LOL
Well suffice it to say I've got a lot of stuff going on and I hope to be back in card making mode tomorrow. I will confess that this afternoon I had a golden hour of scrapbooking. Yes! And since I've been using Project Life by Becky Higgins page protectors (and also We R Memory Keepers page protectors for maybe the last year or two? - the divided up kind) I actually got a bunch of pics scrapbooked memorabilia included. Happy happy girl here.
So stay tuned. Oh - tonite is Survivor and American Idol (the DVR is a wonderful thing) - loving them both this year - how bout choo?