The Scrappy Chick

Some layouts for You

One of the things I did get accmplished last week while on the mend, was to match up some pics with pre-made layouts.  I have sooo many from clubs and Fundraisers and such.  I got a lot of photos caught up and I'll share a few each day for a while.

The first is a layout that is  CASE from a Junkitz page I had seen.  The stamps used are Big Pieces, Little Pieces, Sweet Spot, Petal Pushers, and BEst Friends Alphabets, all Stampin' Up!  The colors are Real Red, Certainly Celery, Cool Carribean, Whisper White, and BAsic Blask for the distressed edges.

The next layout is from the Boy track of my latest Fundraiser (just for you SAndra, <wink>).  It uses the leaf from Seasonal Whimsy, the trees from Happy Camper, the Canvas background (hard to see but its on the River Rock mats), and Whimsical Alphabets (retired).  I used River Rock, Chocolate Chip, Blue Bayou, and Always Artichoke.  This was a combo I think I got from the 2007-2008 In Color Combo Chart(see the link on my sidebar).  All the edges of the mats and layers are distressed with the cutter kit, then inked.  I try to keep these layouts pretty simple so that the 50-60+ ladies can get them all done in a day!  Some choose to do only 2 tracks, 10 2-page spreads, but others do all 4, for a total of 20 spreads, 40 pages.  But thats a years worth of photos for some people!  Just go home and add pics and you're set, its a no-brainer, no-stress, fun day to get caught up!

I'll share some more later, thanks for stopping in!  -Cyndi

I'm Back! (Sort of) & scroll down for a big GRIN!

Well, I'm back from the land of the dead...but I'm still not 100%.  I did have a day of stamping when I was almost better, but still not out and about.  Now that I can drive & everything I'm back on taxi duty and way behind on the house! 

I was working on projects for my next stamp club.  I'll share some more later, I need to tweek a few things, but here's one card for you.  It started for Beate's weekend sketch, last weekend, LOL.  But I love the way it turned out!!

The main image is from "Big on Christmas", stamped in Basic Black on Very Vanilla and then colored with my Stampin' Write markers in Old Olive, Certainly Celery, and Real Red.  I finally caved and bought "All in A Row".  What on earth was I waiting for?? I love the look of the faux stitching!  The argyle image was stamped in basic black after the layers were adrhered together.  The background papers are both from "Dashing" DSP, and the cardstock is Real Red, Old Olive, and River Rock.  Its tied off with a wide Red Grosgrain Ribbon.

OK, so now its time for the big grin for everyone.  Little Michael , my 4 year old. tripped over his flip-flop last Friday and apparently jammed his toe.  He cried a bit, but then he was fine.  He didn't want to walk on it for a couple of days, but you know how kids are, they cna milk anything!  But the thing was, unless he bent his toe (which he could do) he was fine.  If you made him bend it he whined.  Finally we figured something may be up (even though he was playing outside just fine, LOL)...turns out he has a small fracture.  But what I have to share is the photo of him on the crutches, how cute is that??  He's been a show-stopper and head turner for sure this week!

Thanks for stopping in, I'll get back the stamping mojo soon!

-Cyndi

Coaster Mini Album

I've tried to be really good lately, but illness will get you every time.  I have had a nasty cough/cold for a couple of weeks now, and thought it was getting better.  But starting last Thursday, it was whooping my butt!  Busy mom of 4 that I am, I didn't take time to go to the doc til Sunday, and guess what?  I have pneumonia, bwaaa!  I don't have time to be that sick!  But by that night I felt like pure death and was soooo glad that I had gone.  Today is a bit better, and tonight I'm antsy from the stupid meds so I thought I'd catch up.  Sorry to be away!

I obviously haven't felt like stamping this weekend, but earlier in the week I put together a bit of a tutorial and a cute mini-book.  The mini album is made for a gal at my kids' dentist that just had a baby.  She's a sweetheart, and I thought it would be a bit of good advertising, tehehe.

Here's the finished product, I thought it turned out kinda cute!  I wanted to keep it simple though, so I used a Simply Scrappin' Kit, Special Delivery Boy from Stampin' Up!  And I hate to admit, but there's no stamping involved! The kits are great because they now have 3 sheets of each of the pattern papers, and textured cardstock!!  Not to mention of course the million punchouts.

So, for the tutorial bit: I started with 5 plain medium weight coasters and 10 pieces of 4x4 pattern paper.  In order to cover the coaster you will need a good adhesive.  My favorite for chipboard is a spray adhesive, but they are sooo messy, so if a prject involves a lot of pieces, I don't go that route.  Next favorite is SNAIL adhesive, AKA Mono ADhesive.  I lay the adhesive down on the chipboard, not the paper.

Be careful to get all the edges, then a good portion of the middle of the piece as well.  Place the paper on the coaster, being careful to line up the edges so there is no blank space and adhesive showing.    After covering all you pieces front and back, you want to sand the edges with sandpaper or a sanding block.

After finishing the 5 coasters I punched through the top one with a standard 1/4" hole punch (I really need a crop-a-dile!).  Line up this hole onto the next coaster, trace, and punch.   Repeat until all coasters are punched.  The insert a loose leaf ring, attach ribbons, and voila!

Again, I did no stamping on this project, just used the punchouts, and added some simple mats from the cardstock within the Simply Scrappin' pack.  I wanted it to stay very simple.  Here are some pics from the inside:

  Thanks for visiting!  I hope to feel like stamping in a few days and I'll share more then :)

Kitty page & a quick card

I had this set stuck in my mind for some reason yesterday, so I ended up with a pretty page with girly colors, and guess what?  No photos.  Teen girls don't really like having their pictures taken it seems, or maybe they are just too busy to slow down.  Either way, the only pics in the pile of my girlies were in reds, pink, beach and Christmas.  Argh.  Time to set up a photo-shoot!! 

So, anyway Louie ended up on this page.  I know, he's a boy  cat, but he can't complain that his mug is framed in Guava now can he?  Hehe.

I used Doodle This on the background Soft Sky textured cardstock stamped in the same color.  I then traced near most of the doodles with my WHite uniball pen.  The next layer is much the same, only in Certainly Celery.  It is inked on the edges with the Celery pad, whereas the Sky piece was inked with my Whisper White craft pad.  Also on the background is stamped the name Louie (its hard to see here but scroll down for a closeup) with the Close to My Heart alphabet set Boutique.  The flower/scroll images over the photo are stamped in Certainly Celery, Groovy Guava, and Soft SKy, and then watercolored in with a blender pen. Other elements: a bit of the new solid color Designer Series papers in Sky and Guava, scallop border done with corner rounder.

Also, a quick card for you.  This is another big buckle card I made last fall  using the set Eat Cake.  The colors are Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, and Cool Carribean.  All products are Stampin' Up!  Thanks for visiting!

Naughty or Nice?

OK, This is not normally the kind of set I buy, it was just so cute.  Plus I haven't bought a Santa set in years.  He has been a bit of a challenge for me.  I was determined to create some cards with him tonight before I got anything else out.  (I did a page with him for the scrapbook fundraiser that I'll post another day)  So, I started with the basic red and green concept.  The first card is for this weeks technique challenge, a suprise pop-up card, see the Beate's tutorial here.  There are also tons of samples in the gallery. 

I used last years Christmas line from American Crafts called "The Goods".  Along with that paper I used Su! Real red and whisper white.  The images are stamped in Basic Black then colored with my Stampin' Write markers in Real red, Garden Green, Blush blossom, and Basic Black.  Also added are wild wasabi ribbon and Red gingham.

For the next Santa, I let Mrs Claus dress him, LOL!  He's decked out in Purely Pomegranate for last weeks color challenge.  I had so much fun with those colors that I used them again. (Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink, and Old Olive).  The background is stamped with the canvas background stamp.  All the edges are inked, and the Pomegranate strip is stamped with Pomegranate and Whisper WHite.  It still needed somehing, what?  A ribbon of course!  So I added a bit more Pretty in pink in the way of a strip of ribbon under the Joy sentiment.  Santa and Joy are watercolored using stamp pads and blender pens, and both images are raised on dimensionals.

The  layout for the card is again using Beate's weekend sketch challenge  ( I really like that layout)  OK, so Santa looks a bit goofy in "pink", but look at his open arms ready to hug his sweet wife with the  warped  sense of fashion (or humor perhaps?) Either way, my only real issue with the card is that I really want some copic markers!  (If you don't know what they are, don't ask as you will start to covet them as well, if you do know what they are, you know what I mean!)

OK, so I'm in a bit of a rambling mood tonight, sorry, hehe.  The last card needs some work but while I'm on  a roll we'll add it to the upload.  I wante to do something different with the set...so I started thinking, colors, hmmm,,,lets look up this weeks color challenge...Groovy Guava and ALways artichoke...perfect, but for SAnta?  So I left him off and just used the snowflake from the set.  It is stamped in River Rock, Guava, and Artichoke on Very Vanilla.  The large Guava panel is stamped with the Tres Chic background stamp in Guava on Guava.  These panels are backed on Artichoke and River rock, adding some ribbon, my ticket corner punch, and scallop circle punch.  The little coppper brad from the Vintage brads is the perfect color here!  The only thing I want to change is to try stamping the main snowflake image in Artichoke so it will stand out.

As always, thanks for visiting my blog!  Scroll down to the next entry to see who last weeks Blog candy winner is!

We have a winner!

I used random.org to choose a number for me, and it picked #48, JulieG who said:

"Cute cat! My cat tries to 'type' (walk) on my laptop. I like tutorials about diff types of folding cards. And, my fav set is still Delight in Life. Thanks for a chance to win!"

Julie, email me with your snail mail so I can get this out to you!

Overall, it looks like most of you guys want to see different folds for cards!  There were other suggestions as well, but that one was said by almost half!  I'll see what I can do :)

It appears a lot of us have cats, and they all seem to like the computer, but I do have to share my favorite comment for those of you who don't read them all, this gave me a good laugh:  Courtney said "I think if we got your Roxie together with my computer loving Zelda, they could start their own blog!"  too funny!!

More Darling Doodles Paper!

I can't get enough of this Darling Doodles Paper!  Not only that, but I had been struggling with what to do with all of these photos where the girls are wearing glorious green!  Its just not one of my favorite colors.  I wanted something modern, girly, cute, and sassy...perfect!

The first page was for the Scrapbook sketch challenge on Splitcoast Stampers.  I loved the sketch, but I had too many photos so I had to extend it into 2 pages.  I loved the circular element of the first page, but pattern paper alone wasn't getting it done, so I added random buttons all around (the only non-Stampin' Up! product, these are Autumn Leaves I think).  It started on plain Brocade Blue as the base, but again it was lacking, so I added a layer of Rose Red behind then hand doodled around the border with my white gel pen.  The letters are a retired set, from a previous mini catalog, called Spunky alphabet.  Also used was my Round tab punch and corner rounder. (Note:even though I refered to Glorious green above, that is not the shade in this paper pack.  The colors are: Wild Wasabi, Rose Red, Brocade Blue, and Groovy Guava.)

Thanks for stopping by!

Beate's Weekend Sketch

This sketch, WSC17,  is of course quite simple, here on Beate's Blog.  But of course I struggled with it.  I wanted to use True Friend, but it just didn't fit the circle piece on the sketch quite right.  I tried hanging it off, adding a half a panel, then gave up and kinda did both as well as lopping off the excess.  The only thing I want to change now is to slide the circle panel over a tad, LOL.  Here are 2 of the versions...

The larger on the right is the one I ended up with so far.  The base is Close to cocoa, with a layer of Very Vanilla on top that has been distressed.  On top of that is a piece from the Apple Cider DSP that has also been distressed then inked on the edges.  The long strip is another pattern from the same pack of Apple Cider, aren't the colors gorgeous?  I scooted my sentiment down from the sketch...I inked just the "friend" from the "A true friend is you friend" stamp using my Really Rust marker, then punched it out with the Round Tab punch.  The large circle is cut with a Creative Memories circle cutter, gasp!!, my coluzzle is out at a friend's for the weekend (wrong weekend for that,huh?).  I inked the edges with the small medallion in River Rock (strange I know, but Wasabi is visiting my same friend, LOL) and I really like the way the color turned out.  It was then distressed and inked and I added some brads.  The center image was stamped 3 times...once in River Rock, once in Really Rust, then finally in Close to Cocoa.  I cut out different amounts from the center of the 2 latter colors then pieced it all together and attached it with another brad.  And last, what creation would be complete witout a bit of ribbon?

Blog Candy Requests

Wow!  Everyone wants tutorials of card folds it looks like...   Hmm, I'll have to dig through the archives in my brain  from the last 10 years with Stampin' Up!!  There are so many great tutorials on Splitcoast, but it seems many are newbies, so maybe they haven't figured out how to navigate through all the possibilities there yet...it took me years to find it all, LOL.  But I'll try to think through some old basics that I loved when I got started...

Thanks to everyone for your sweet comments!  There are a number of sets that you all have mentioned so far, most I have, hehe.  I'll work on that too hopefully.  I do also need to work on prepping for fall classes soon, so I'll be posting all that as well in the weeks to come.

And lastly, it appears we all love animals :)  So here's some more shots of Roxie, our youngest cat, with Michael, our youngest child.

Almost 10,000 Hits & Blog Candy! (& kitty pic)

I can't believe I'm almost at 10,000 hits!  In celebration, I am offering some Blog Candy!  In the goodie box is over 75 sheets of 12x12 pattern paper, all Stampin' Up! (retired prints that need to make room on my sleves for new), some double-sided; a new roll of retired True Thyme stitched ribbon; a package of Fresh Favorites eyelets; some Magic Mesh; and some Fancy Fibers!  Lots of goodies...  just tell me what would you like to see more of, or what is your favorite Stampin' Up! set, or are there any tutorials you would like?  Thats it!  And as always,  feel free to just say hi :)  I will keep this open til I hit 10,000 or until Tuesday  night, whichever is last!

 

Also, here's a cute pic for you fellow cat lovers.  Roxie sat beside the laptop last night, very patiently watching my friend Heather typing each kestroke...when she quit typing Roxie climbed right up on the keboard and settled in for a bit of a nap!

Big Buckle Card

Here's a card that got lost in my sample basket for a couple of months, LOL.  This was one of the projects  we made at Stamp Club in July.  Its a Big Buckle card...I just love these! 

The colors on the card are almost the colors for this weeks challenge on SCS...Purely Pomegranate, Pale Plum (instead of Pretty in Pink), and Old Olive.  The images are from the set Double Line Doodle.  The main image was stamped in Black then watercolored with Aqua Painters and ink pads.  The other images are stamped in Pomegranate.  The sentiment was punched twice with the key tag punch to make it smaller.