Card #12 - Pile It On!

Here's a simple card I made for my brother-in-law Mike's 41st birthday. I realize it looks more like a St. Patrick's Day card, but if you knew Mike, you'd understand. Mike is a self-proclaimed Irishman. This is something I don't really understand. Yes, we have an Irish last name, but I think this branch of the McCleary clan has been in North America for something like 200 years. And yet Mike embraces everything Irish from the history to the literature to the sports, and of course, the beer. (And he's single, so if you're in the lower mainland and know a single Irish girl who likes cops and rugby, let me know, please! Our kids need cousins!) I just printed out this clip art image of a beer mug and a totally appropriate sentiment from Graphicat Designs, then layered them both up on a 5x5 base. What do you think of the bottom layer? It's a mesh bag from avocados! (Thanks to Karen B for that idea!) I sprayed the whole thing with some Perfect Pearls Mist, but you can't see it in the photo, unfortunately.

Anyway, Jason found this T-shirt for Mike in Kamloops:

Dropkick Murphys, apparently a real band that Mike actually listens to! Hopefully he likes his present and card!

Challenges I'm entering this card in:

Pile It On: use lots of layers (that background layer is mesh from an avocado bag!)

Sweet Sketch Wednesday: use this sketch:

Graphicat Challenges: Use a sketch, any sketch (the sentiment is also from Graphicat)

Creative Stamp Friends: Card for a man

Supplies: CTMH cardstock and brads, Kaiser, K&Co, and American Crafts patterned paper, Graphicat Designs sentiment, Ranger Perfect Pearls Mist, avocado bag

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Card #11 - Happy Birthday Tara!

It was Tara's birthday yesterday, and I went to Williams Lake for a special birthday crop in her honor. It was great to meet most of the members of the Seriously Creative Design Team, and I was able to see their creative mojo in progress. Let me tell you, "Seriously Creative" is really an understatement! They are FREAKIN' AMAZING!!! Especially with the Copic action! Anyhoo, it's a little humbling to give a card to an accomplished cardmaker like Tara, but I couldn't go empty handed, so this is what I came up with:

It features a Kraftin' Kimmie stamp called... "Roxy"!!! Can you believe it? And since she's a roller derby queen, she MUST be Roxy Rolla! I just had to have this stamp, even though she looks nothing like me, although I dig the hair and the leg warmers - I might be able to pull those two off, but the hot pants are a definite no-go at the mo'! Okay, enough ramblin' about me, more about the card. I used this sketch from Paper Sundaes, but missed the deadline due to our little croppin' party:

I also got to use the new Copics that Jenn sent me, some beautiful YG's! Plus I watched a couple of YouTube videos by Suzanne Dean to tweak my technique. This time I tried to get some highlights in the center of her body, and I think it's looking pretty good. I think this might be my best coloring job yet! I was also inspired by my friend Carole to get out my ol' sewing machine and add some stitching, just to make it a wee bit more special. This will also allow me to enter Some Odd Girl's challenge this week.

Well, weekend's pretty much over. Apparently our new puppy will be arriving next weekend (yikes!) and Jason's going to be in Kamloops most of the week, so let's see if mama can keep the stress level under control! Wish me luck!

Supplies: Close to My Heart and Bazzill cardstock, Cosmo Cricket and Echo Park patterned paper, Kraftin' Kimmie stamp, Memento ink, Copic markers, Close to My Heart pearl, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Spellbinders Nestabilities, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, unknown die cut flowers

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Layout #42 - Project 12

FINALLY, finished with this one! It seemed to take forever, and there were so many times I wanted to put it aside and do something else, but I persevered, and YAY! So glad I'm doing Project 12 this year, it feels really great to be summarizing each month, and if I got nothing else done in the scrapbooking department, at least I'll have these 12 layouts for the family album.

So, what did I do here? Well, I started with the photos, tried to represent the major happenings and the major players (of course, I'm only in one photo, but that's the way it goes, right?) Then chose patterned paper - I had this cool glossy stripe pp from Imaginisce, with polka dots on the reverse, that seemed to go great with everything, but I wanted a blue background and didn't have any blue. What to do? I masked and brayered some Broken China Distress Ink on both pieces of cream cardstock. It's pretty hard to get even coverage, but I kind of like the uneven look anyway! I also sprayed some Electric Blue Glimmer Mist on there to blotch it up some more. After I laid out my photos and papers, I thought it still looked a bit plain, and that's when I had the idea to make little tags for each photo and tie them with twine. Done, but still a bit plain, so then I had the idea of making each patterned paper block into a little vignette: kites, and trees, and owls, oh my! And don't forget about Mr. Hedgehog, isn't he adorable? I find that sometimes my mind is very grounded in reality, and I balk at the idea of a green sky or a red mushroom, so these little scenes are a bit of a stretch for me! Then it was just the title and journaling, but all this stamping and inking and fussy cutting has me drained! I'm done like dinner, hope you enjoy this little look into my creative process!

Supplies: Close to My Heart cardstock, brads, ink, and stamps, Ranger Distress Ink, Imaginisce and Basic Grey patterned paper, Bazzill orange cardstock, Prima journaling card, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Twinery twine, American Crafts Thickers, Creative Memories pen, My Minds Eye acetate border, Courier New font

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Card #10 - I Got New Copics!

A couple of RV's, so now my girl stamps don't have to wear brown or yellow clothes all the time! And I really broke the bank and bought this sentiment from Graphicat Designs because when I read it, I just cracked up and had to have it! I suppose this isn't really appropriate for a kid's birthday card (although Ailis thinks it's hilarious, too, but she's desensitized from having an older brother with a potty mouth!) but I'm sure one of my old friends would love it! So I'm entering this card over at Kraftin' Kimmie (oh yeah, I was the random winner last week, so that was pretty awesome!): use 1 flower, 1 ribbon, and 1 piece of chipboard. While I was making this card, I realized that I hardly have any chipboard - what kind of scrapper am I? I used a scrap bit of chipboard to make the flower center, which you can't see that well in the photo, but it adds a bit of dimension, as does the box pleated cardstock at the bottom. This was the first time I tried to box pleat anything, and I like the result, so I'll be doing that again for sure! I also used this sketch from Graphicat Designs sketch challenges:

so that I can enter Cheri's August challenge.

Well, I hope you all have a lovely weekend! It's hot here, and supposed to stay so all weekend, so hopefully I'll get some sun on these ol' bones and rejuvenate a bit, because come Monday, I'm a single mom for a few days and I'm gonna need my energy!

Supplies: Close to My Heart, Prism, and Creative Memories cardstock, Cosmo Cricket and Echo Park patterned paper, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Kraftin' Kimmie stamp, Memento ink, Copic markers, Graphicat Designs sentiment, unknown ribbon

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Card #9 - Kraftin' Kimmie and Paper Sundaes

Paper Sundaes had a sketch this week that I really liked, and I thought it would be perfect to use my new Kraftin' Kimmie stamp! Also, at Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps, they would like to see a creation with "distressing", so I was happy to distress my papers with my handy little CTMH edge distressor. As I've mentioned before, I don't have a whole lot of Copic markers, so I have to choose my paper carefully if I want my colouring to match. This scrap of Basic Grey left over from a LO a couple of posts ago matched pretty nicely, if I do say so myself. I made some booboos with my stamping and colouring, so I had to trim my fairy and hummingbird out. I made a mistake on her face (live and learn) which I see every time I look at it, but I really like how her wings turned out, so I guess I feel okay with the final result. Anyway, Ailis is invited to a Barbie tea party birthday party (try saying that 10 x fast!), so I said she could have this card to give to her little friend. I won't have to live with my mistakes long, haha! Looking forward to the weekend, hopefully the weather holds up! Now to catch up on all your posts! Big hugs, Roxy.

Supplies: CTMH cardstock, Prisma Glitter, and brads, Basic Grey pp, Kraftin' Kimmie stamp, Copic markers, Memento ink, Ranger Glossy Accents

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Layout #33 - June Project 12

Hey, remember when I posted my May Project 12 and I was all upset because Jason said it looked Christmassy? Well, Davinie Fiero gave me a shout out on the Scrapbook and Cards Today blog, and she left me a message on my blog, saying that my page was definitely NOT a Christmas page! I was so stoked, I think I might've screamed when I saw my name on the SBCT blog!!! Davinie is the most famous scrapbooker that's ever left me a message, I was totally starstruck!

Anyway, onto June's Project 12 page. I loved this sketch as soon as I saw it because it has 5 equal photos, perfect for my family of 5! See?:

So, choosing photos was simple, I just picked my favorite head shots of the month. Then when I went into Creative Accents, my LSS, this Echo Park paper just jumped out at me, and I knew I had to have it! It's one of the best things about this LO, don't you think?

I also really like the Purple Pumpkin button, and how I did part of the title in twine. Here's a couple close ups.

Hope you enjoy, folks! Oh, by the way, I know my blog photos haven't been the best quality lately. My old computer had Picasa, but this one doesn't. I was going to upload Picasa today, but there's that message that comes up saying "this file can harm your computer". Has anyone had problems with that, or do you think Picasa is safe? Thanks for any advice on this!

Supplies: Bazzill, CTMH and Creative Memories cardstock, Echo Park and Basic Grey patterned paper, Hampton Arts alpha stamps, Prima flowers, Queen and Co. flower sequins and brads, CTMH ink and gems, Colorbok die cut letters, Purple Pumpkin and unknown buttons, twine

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Out of Action!

Hey all, just a quick note (written at my local public library) to let ya know I am without internet service at the moment. Kind of a bummer, as I have a couple great pages to post, and some neat photos for the June photo challenge. I also won't be able to leave comments for a while, but I'll still be around, don't worry! Big hugs, Roxy.

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