A Birthday Card for Colby

I made this birthday card for a good friend's son.  He is turning twenty-five soon I believe and she asked a group of her friends if we would make cards because he would really get a kick out of it.  Cards for guys are so hard!  But thankfully I had something to go on - he's a gamer, so ha, I went with that theme.  I picked out my Geneneration Tech DCWV stack and used a sketch from a new sketch challenge blog I've found called The Paper Players. I didn't do any stamping, you guys know I am loathe to buy any new stamps when I can just print and cut with my Cameo.  So, this cute little robot you see is a Silhouette image, and here's something new - I used the sketch feature to transform it from a solid robot to the sketch one you see here.  That tool is really, really, cool and I'm getting excited thinking about all of the things I'm going to do with it.   But you want to see the card right?  Here it is:

Here is the inside of the card - you know I like to finish them.  I just need to add a small gift card and it's all ready to go!

Recipe:

Paper:  DCWV Generation Tech stack

Silhouette:  Robot image - sketch tool

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

In The Garden ~ DCWV May Stack-a-holic Sketch Challenge

I am getting this one in just under the wire.  DCWV's Monthly sketch challenge has become one of my favorites.  I love sketches and I own a ton of these stacks so I look forward to this challenge every month.  For May Erin picked a sketch from one of my favorite scrapbookers, Jana Eubank.  I have been using Jana's sketches for quite some time so this one wasn't too much of a stretch.  I did use a new DCWV stack that I recently picked up though - the Mariposa stack.  I'm not sure what took me so long, there are some really gorgeous papers in this stack.  My pictures are from my boys most recent trip up to their Auntie's garden.  They had some work to do on the corn they planted a few weeks ago.  My favorite moment - well there were many because my husband actually took this trip with the boys leaving me home alone for some me time (yes!) - when they got back I asked my youngest what they did and he looked at me sand said, "The corn growed!"  It was so sweet he was so excited to see the fruits of his labor.  I love that kid.  Okay, you see the sketch, here is my page.

I really like this page.  It didn't take me nearly as long as I'm used to.  I think I am finally leaning how to be a more efficient scrapbooker.  It's only been years right?  I love the butterflies in this stack.  You can see that my journaling block is actually a cut out from one of the pages.  I just loved it so much and it fit in with the overall design of the page so very well.  All of the shapes are Silhouette of course, and the darling children are MINE.  I'm not sharing.

Recipe:

Paper:  DCWV Mariposa Stack

Silhouette:  Title and die cut shapes

Misc:  Butterfly - Recollections; Snail - Pebblies

Thanks for stopping by:

Project Life Weeks Nineteen through Twenty-Two and Scrapbook Divider Bookmarks

Apparently this is the time of year that we Project Lifers get behind in this project.  I thought I was the only one, but every craft site I've visited recently is chock full of folks just like me - caught up in the end of school year frenzy and probably getting a bit burned out by this.  It's not new anymore!  But, I made this commitment so onward we go.  There was a week where I took like, two pictures, and other weeks where one picture just wouldn't be enough, so I've come up with this.  I combined three weeks into one week and added four inserts.  Crazy huh?  The great thing is that the rules are there are no rules so I figured out what works best for me.  As of right now I am totally caught up!  Hallelujah! 

Don't you just love that photo progression?  I adore my boys, they had so much fun doing this.  In fact, cushion diving from the table has become the new black in our household. The next week is my three in one week.  I really am okay with how this turned out.  I still got all of the essential photos in there, and as always I love an insert!

Insert # 1 - this is a Design E page - four 6 x 6 photos.  The front pockets are filled with photos from my father in law's motorcycle race.

The back covers my son's Field Day.  Yes, I'm playing with Photoshop Elements here, but I made the journaling card in the Silhouette Studio software.  I thought he had a great time, but as you can see from his journaling he thought it was just okay.  I have started to include more and more burned DVDs of videos that I'm shooting.  Let's be honest - would they ever make it out of the computer otherwise?  The video is of Field Day and some of the events he took part in.  I am sure this is going to be a hoot in another 4-5 years.  Let's hope DVD players aren't obsolete by then! 

My husband's band played a charity event the same week so the next insert belongs to him.  This is actually a WRMK insert.  My first 6 x 12 horizontal photo. Again, another DVD which will make my husband happy because he never gets a copy of these things and he will watch it over, and over, and over again.  

Another WRMK insert for my nephew's college graduation photos.

What's up with all of these WRMK inserts?  Nothing other than my attempt to mix it up and keep it fresh.  Again, easily bored here!  This last one covers my other son's Field Day.  I also played around with PSE to create a 4 x 8 title card.  I love digital scrapbooking.

And last but not least - my monthly dividers. Now, I ordered all of my Project Life supplies early enough that I didn't get caught up in the mass hysteria once everything was sold out.  I did, however, have my eye on these scrapbook dividers and they weren't available until this past April.  I waited patiently and ordered a pack as soon as they were stocked.  When they arrived, I was a bit underwhelmed.  I thought they were going to be the decorative set that came with last year's kit.  So, I stuck them in the album, unadorned, and thought I would get around to jazzing them up at some point.  A few days ago, I was checking out Becky Higgins blog and I came across this post. Ooooh, I could just use snippets of my favorite 6 x 12 photos that I love!  But then I got to thinking, I really want these to be bookmarks to divide months so why don't I just go ahead and make bookmarks.  Sounds good to me, something new (which I am desperately in need of) and an excuse to play around with a bunch of of my new digital kits.  These are the bookmarks that I've come up with. I printed these out on Super B Photo Paper.  Yes, I know I didn't need to use photo paper, but truthfully it's the only paper I own large enough. These babies measure 3 x 12.125.  I printed out two copies, one for each side of the bookmark, and was able to get three full sets on one Super B page.  So, I actually feel okay about using my photo paper.  What do you think?

This is what one looks like inside of the album.

So that's it!  Caught up, on schedule, right on time.  I used a ton of different kits here, too many to name, so if you're interested in any particular one, please send me an email and I will get back to you with the information.

Thanks for stopping by!

Another Thank You Note Card Set

What can I say!  You haven't seen all of them yet.  I'll keep this one short.  This is my second to last set I created for my son's team.  I did pull out some stamps though (go me) and some of my spellbinder dies.  It had been a while so that felt pretty good.  Anyway, here they are:

Recipe:
Silhouette Studio: card shapes and shadows
Paper:  Bazzill basics, Stampin' Up bright white, The Paper Studio Everyday Kraft
Spellbinders:  Circles, Lacey Circles
Stamps:  Verve, Waltzingmouse Vintage Circles, Fiskars "Thanks"
Misc:  Punch - Martha Stewart, Ribbon - My stash

Thanks for stopping by!

Teacher Appreciation Thank You Card Box Set

Hello Everyone!  I know it's been a while.  There is so much going on here, but I know that's not why you stopped by - you want to see what I've actually created!  Yes, it's another note card set.  I've been going pretty hard at these for the last month.  My initial plan was well, there really wasn't a plan, but I thought I might use these for my son's end of the year teacher appreciation gifts.  Turns out I am making them for the class gift, so I've been busy this weekend trying to finish up the last few sets.   Here is one of the two I worked on this weekend. This is for my son's general education teacher who has got to be the most wonderful teacher on the planet.  He simply could not have had a better teacher this year and if anything, I'm afraid for him next year because she set the bar so high!  She mentioned to me in passing that she is thinking of working an owl theme in her classroom next year so I though it was only appropriate that I make her some cards with owls on them.

Too cute right?  Tomorrow is the class party and presentation of gifts.  I really hope she likes them!

Recipe:
Paper:  FancyPants Off To School, Design House Digitals Cherry Limeade, Silhouette Studio Store pattern designs
Silhouette:  Print & Cut images and all shapes, sentiment, and banner
Misc:  Bling - My Stash

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Patterns No. 164

I saw this pin on Pinterest and was really touched by it.  I wanted to make something with this idea, or theme in mind and tonight I settled on a card. This Week's CardPatterns sketch worked fairly well so there you go.  Here is this sketch:

And here is my card:

I created the word cloud using Tagxedo's free word cloud generator and then I imported the jpeg into the Silhouette Studio software and used the weld intersect feature to get it to fit into the rectangle I had already sized for my card.  I printed it on My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose paper and cut it out using the print and cut feature.  It's been a while since I printed on pattern paper and I had forgotten how great it looks.  It truly looks like stamping  and this is paper that you just can't stamp on because of the texture.  I used the same technique for the card's focal point, only I cut it out using a spellbinders die as I wanted to give it a bit more dimension.  A little ribbon, and a three dimensional flower cut out using a Silhouette store shape, and I am calling this baby done.  I really love the idea behind this card, I think there may be some note cards with the same theme in my future.

Recipe:

Paper:  My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose

Tagxedo:  Word cloud

Silhouette:  All shapes, Print & Cut

Ribbon:  Bazzil Basics

Brad:  My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life Weeks Sixteen through Eighteen

I spent my National Scrapbooking Day getting caught up with Project Life.  Sometimes I title the weekly cards by Week No, and sometimes not.  As I was designing the last few, I couldn't believe that we are already up to Week 20!  I have been doing this for almost five months! It's also become increasingly obvious that I won't be able to fit the entire year in one album.  I picked up a second one and I am going to try my best to keep the year in just two albums.  But then again, if there's a story to tell . . .

Those of you who are regular followers know that I have ever so slowly been dipping my toes into the digital world.  It's probably more apparent with these last few weeks of Project Life than anywhere else.  I actually designed the last two Weekly title Cards in Photoshop Elements instead of my usual Silhouette Studio.  Photoshop can do some things Silhouette can't and there's always the issue of Silhouette crashing when you are working with one too many digital papers.  What you see is really just the result of me playing around and feeling my way around the software.

Week Sixteen

I am a big fan of inserts.  Especially the 6 x 12  size.  I just like an over sized picture! This week I used one for a photograph of my son's school project.  He worked really hard on it and I was very proud of him.  The back of the insert is a photo collage of him working on the project with his Grandmother.  I used one of Cathy Zielske's photo templates to create it.  Those are so worth the few dollars they cost.  It's so much easier to drag and drop and mask than to create my own from scratch.  I also used an oversized photo in the later part of the week.  Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to fill those slots up (I was incredibly light on photos this particular week).

Week Seventeen

I created this week's title card (and the next week's as well) in Photoshop Elements using K. Teague's This Life digital kit.  I could have created the exact same card using the Silhouette Studio software, but I am really trying to get the hang of photoshop and the only way to do that is to use it.  Also, it does have the advantages of being able to add shadows, bevels and other some other things that aren't available in the Studio software.  I also added a collage that I put together using an IPhone app called PicFrame. It's a great app - you can make square or 4 x 6 photos, there are a ton of background papers, and other effects. I am going to try to use it more.  

Week Eighteen

There are two 6 x 12 inserts in this week!  What was I thinking?  That I needed to display all of these pictures and include this DVD of my son presenting his project to his class.  His presentation was truly a sight to behold.  This 6 x 12 insert is actually a cut down Design E page.  I wanted to be able to put the DVD in a pocket without disturbing the other pictures.  The day after the presentation everyone dressed up as their presentation characters and they had a parade.  My son of course is dressed up as John Henry.  As you can see, his hammers are in motion.  That was very important, I was told.  The next insert is a true 6 x 12 insert and that covers the trip my boys and I took up to their Aunt's house to do some planting.  In case you missed it, I made my first ever digital page using pictures from that same trip.  You can see that post here.  I love the big 6 x 12 photo of my baby!  Again, I am nothing but a sucker for over sized photo.  The back of the insert is another I created from a Cathy Zeilske template.  Instead of using three photos, I decided use one of the photo spaces for my journaling.  I imported some digi paper from Lori Whitlock for Echo Park's This & That Charming set.  I wish some of my other favorite companies would make their collections available digitally (are you listening My Mind's Eye?).  

So that's it.  Three more weeks in the lives of my family. Project Life is moving along, moving along. 

Recipe:

Software:  Photoshop Elements 10, Silhouette Studio Designer's Edition

Digital Paper & Kits:  K. Teague's This Life; Lori Whitlock for Echo Park's This & That Charming, Lori Whitlock for Echo Park's Note To Self; Echo Park's Orchard Lane; Cathy Zeilske's 6 x 12 Photo Templates; The Sweet Shoppe's Monsterific; Silhouette Studio Shapes

Stickers:  Amy Tangerine Wanderlust and my stash

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a fantastic Sunday!