More Waltzingmouse # 75

I had so much fun making those cards last night I made another set this morning!  This time I used the Large Doily 2 stamps, Fancy Phrases and Fancy Flourishes.  I colored a little, did a bit more layering and added some ribbon to these.  Pretty cute for an hour and a half's work.

 Thanks for stopping by! 

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge No. 75

Something new.  I stamped.  And colored.  Since when have I ever done that?  Never!  And I'm an amateur.  I colored these Waltzingmouse Christmas light images with a combination of the few copics I own, along with some Stampin' Up markers.   And man was this quick.  Consider this my clean and simple look, which I am still trying to master.  Lol. So for what it's worth, I'm happy!  I have a lot of odds and ends to get out over the next few weeks and these cards will do the trick for sure.

Paper:  Stampin' Up White

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse Dainty Doilies2, Season of Love

And before I forget, here's this week's sketch!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Games We Play

Did you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving?  I spent the holiday with my husband's family in Gainesville, FL.  I am originally for Colorado, so even though I've grown used to the mild fall temperatures of the South, it is beyond strange to be to be walking around in shorts, t-shirts and 80 degree weather on Thanksgiving.  That said, my boys had a good time, there was plenty of good food and conversation and thankfully we arrived home safely this evening.  

I missed my craft room dearly.  

I managed to sneak down here this evening after the family movie and Wii games were over, to finish a scrapbook page I started right before I left.  No sketch, other than my own, and an attempt to again strip it down and keep it simple.  And something else - all of the die-cuts you see were cut from my new Silhouette Cameo.  I even print & cut the small journaling tag.  It only took me eight tries, but hey, I pulled it off. 

Thanks for stopping by!

It's Beginning To Feel Like Christmas . . .

It's time for the Christmas projects! My best friend Brandy was over this past weekend to play, or rather to work.  She has a rather large extended family and for some unknown reason they all still exchange gifts.  Better her than me!  As you can imagine, it gets expensive buying for ten zillion people, so in an effort to come up with something her relatives will like while not breaking the bank we have been working on some projects.  

Today I have a snowman themed plate and glass block to share with you.  What is funny is that these are all supplies I had packed away after last Christmas.  I got a little happy shopping and I have a big bin of this stuff left over.   The snowman file is one that I purchased from Kim Bright.  Kim has converted some very intricate Inkadinkadoo stamps into svg files and she sells them in her store Creative Bling.  I used the snowman file that was one of my favorites from last year.  This image is very intricate and because I hate weeding I would have normally put this one away until I was in the mood to deal with it.  That's where Brandy comes in because she loves weeding.   Crazy lady.

Don't you just love these ribbon plates?  I bought them last year from Hobby Lobby.  It was the only place I could find them and I have to tell you I scoured the internet looking for them.  I sadly, broke a few that I had saved and I am wishing and hoping that Hobby Lobby still carries them this year because I would like to make a few more.  

All the images were cut using Make The Cut with my Cricut.  I am eager to get my Zing up and running but it has quite the learning curve.  I've been taking my time and really haven't done more than draw with markers and pens with it.   Soon, very soon. In the meantime I'm still using my Expression.  The snowflakes you see are from the MTC gallery.  There are tons of fabulous free images there.  It's often the first place I look when I have a specific image in mind.

The glass block is another last year purchase from Hobby Lobby and the "Merry & Bright" sentiment is from a reindeer set I purchased from SVGCuts.

Thanks for stopping by!

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge No. 74

It's been a while since I made a card and man did that feel good.  Two hours, in and out, and it's done.  This card was made with a friend in mind.  I am sending her a gift and wanted to send something fun along with it.  This week's Waltzingmouse sketch was the perfect jumping off point.  The sketch:

And the card:

Recipe:

Paper:  Coordinations, Kraft Paper, Stampin' Up Vanilla

Spellbinders:  Vintage Ornaments, Labels 18

Waltzingmouse Stamps:  Vintage Ornaments, Labels 18, Say It With Style

Twine:  The Twinery

Stampin' Up Ink:  Cherry Cobblyer, Chocolate Ink, Wild Wasabi

Embossing:  Cuttlebug Folders

Thanks for stopping by!

Take A Picture

Happy Sunday before Thanksgiving everyone! Today is my day to guest design on TheThe Bugbytes.  If you have some time, please go check out the blog.  Pam as assembled a rock star lineup of guest designers and I am never disappointed with the projects over there and neither will you! This week I have more scrapbook pages for you.  I don't know if any of you spend any time perusing the gallery over at Two Peas.  I am always intrigued by scrapbook pages that have this teeny, tiny photo sitting alone, a few small embellishments, and then, well, nothing else.  I think this new stream lined look is definitely *in* to some degree. While it doesn't feel like my style, I can't help but be intrigued by pages that don't have much on them, but still turn out very pretty.  So I decided I was going to attempt a more stripped down look for these next pages.  I also wanted to try a technique I saw in one my my crafting magazines (can't remember which one sorry!) which was to frame out part of a picture.  I've had this photograph of my boys and I from a Mini Golf trip we took last year.   We are in the corner of the photo so it sort of lends itself to this technique.

The frames are from the Cricut cartridges Sophie and Cindy Lou respectfully.  I think I ultimatley like the second one better.  After inking it with chocolate chip (Stampin' Up), I still felt like it was lacking something so I decided to add some bling to the corners, and it just grew from there.  I've had those pearls in my stash for almost a year and I'm always giddy when I get to use something that I really liked but just couldn't *work in* any other project.

Something else new that I tried was stamping on a layout.  The picture is a 6 x 6 photo that I trimmed down to 5.75 x 5.75.  I stamped, in Craft ink on the top page, and then Old Olive on the bottom page the floral stamp from Stampin' Up's Elements of Style.  I then cut the mat out from Elegant Edges and the result is a custom designer paper.  More stamping can be seen on the tags, flower pot and leaves.  I also used Waltzingmouse stamps that coordinate with Spellbinders Labels 18 to create the journaling tag and mat you see at the top.  Again, I used the flourish stamp to give the paper a bit more interest. 

The last  major element on this page worth mentioning are the flowers coming out of the flower pot.  I was inspired by my friend over at Cool Beans by L.B. who created this really cute card with flowers and stems coming out of a pot. This is my attempt at a more 3D version.  The flower pot is from the Make The Cut gallery.  I used baker's twine from the Twinery for stems and finally, the flowers are a mixture of flowers cut and quilled from Flower Shoppe (the leaves are also on the Flower Shoppe cartridge) and from my stash.  I wasn't terribly happy with the flowers overall.  I think this might have been the one time it would have been better to make them less 3D. But I don't hate them and I will remember that for next time.

Here are a few more pictures of the pages.

Recipe:

Paper:  My Mind's Eye Lost & Found

Cartridges:  Sophie, Elegant Edges, Cindy Lou, Flower Shoppe

Spellbinders:  Labels 18, Scallop Hearts

Make The Cut - flower pot

Misc:   Twine - The Twinery, Pins - Maya Road, Pearls and Bling - my stash

 Thanks for stopping by!!

What Means The Most

This past week I have spent some time, a lot of time actually, playing with my new machines.  In case, you are wondering what I am talking about - My new Cameo arrived last Friday and on Tuesday I was greeted with a beautiful new KNK Zing.  Yea!  Except that things haven't gone as smoothly as I would have liked.  The Cameo's blade system is, for lack of a better word, crap.  And the Zing has a tremendous learning curve so I am just at the beginning of learning how to use it.  I'm still drawing with pens!

Despite my new machine issues, I sat down last night to MAKE SOMETHING.  This is a scrapbook page of my best friend and her twins.  I think they were only a few months old here.  The sketch is from Anan Stubbington's site.  If you haven't been by - you need to check it out.  She is FABULOUS.  And she designs for My Mind's Eye - my dream job.  Anyway, back to the page.  

There are Cameo images on this page! I cut the journaling tag and the title, "What Means The Most" with the Cameo.  One thing I do like about Silhouette is that you can buy individual images and aren't stuck buying an entire set if you want just an image or two.  And, their phrases are lot less cutesy and definitely more grownup, more reflective, than those I've found on Cricut cartridges. So a little about this page.  The paper is from Bo Bunny - VickiB to be exact.  You  know how much I love this paper - I unknowingly bought it twice! Been there, done that.

I cut the frame from Elegant Edges and I believe I've used this frame before, but I added a little stitching to it this time.  The scallop square was cut out on my Cameo, and inked with Stampin' Up's Chocolate Chip, actually all of the inking here with was done with Chocolate chip.  The flowers were cut from Spellbinder Anemone Flower Toppers. And the circles underneath from Lacy Circles and Beaded Circles (in vellum).  The butterflies were cut using Everyday paper Dolls & Designer's Calendar.  I added a little bling, pop dots and walla!  An embellishment that I like a lot.  After that I stopped because, well, the page is super busy as it is.  I don't think I realized how busy the paper was until I had already completed the stitching around the top.  And if I had to do it over again, I would have chosen a different, darker color for the frame and made a few other changes as well.  But overall, it's pretty and I think Brandy will like it.  Or she better.

Recipe:

Paper:  BoBunny's VickiB, various pieces of scrap paper from my stash

Cricut Cartridges:  Gypsy Wanderings (circles), Elegant Edges (frame), Everyday Paper Dolls (butterfly), Designer's Calender (butterfly)

Silhouette Cameo:  scallop background mat, title

Spellbinders:  Anemone Flower Topper, Lacey Circles, Beaded Circles

Thanks for stopping by!