Cold Turkey #3

I've been getting really into fast and simple cards.  For instance, this one I literally made in less than ten minutes.  I found the quote and decided to make a card out of it, then realized I had less time before work than I initially thought (I misread the clock which tells you how early in the morning this was).  When I realized that I decided to make it a challenge for myself and I'm presently surprised with what I was able to pull together given the time limit.  Maybe sometime I'll make a video of myself doing this so you can see the papers flying.  It's really quite dramatic!  There are so many ways that this card could be spiced up but it's a tiny one and I kind of like the simplicity.  Plus it'd make an okay "boy card" and most of them won't hardly look at the front anyways if we're being honest...

(I also just noticed that I missed one Tuesday so I will be posting another tomorrow to make up for it, wish me luck!)

Cold Turkey #2

This thank you card will probably be one of many attempts to use up these large "thanks" felt letters.  They had come in a paper pumpkin kit a long time ago and I still haven't gotten around to using them all.  Unfortunately they are so big that there aren't many configurations that I can make with them on a normal sized card so the variation will have to be in the colors and the papers.  Hopefully I'll get through them and not feel totally sick of them.

Cold Turkey #1

December is just around the corner and I'm a few holiday cards short so I've decided to do like what I did in July and try to make a  card every Tuesday and Thursday this month.  I'll do some holiday ones but in general I'd like to just make a bunch of cards in general as I am also lacking thank you cards and birthday ones.  I'm starting out with this fun one that uses up a lot of my random scraps and pieces.  Hopefully I'll be able to do this to crank out the other "Cold Turkey" cards (as I'm so lovingly calling this series).  This one is fun and funky and not overly Christmas-y which is really isn't my style.

Meh Day

Today I thought that I'd try out a stamp set I've had sitting in my craft drawers for awhile and use the "For You" stamp because I hardly ever do.  I wanted to see if I liked it enough to hang on to it.  I'm not really sure if I did like it though.  I don't like cards that are this general but I guess it couldn't hurt to have on in my stash.  I did like that it fit perfectly on the lines of this tag that I had stored.  I can't even remember where it came from but there's a lot more like it!  This card as a whole was a good way to get rid of leftover embellishments and pieces that I had laying around though so that was nice.  I think it's important to flaunt some of my "meh" crafting ventures to remind myself that I won't always make a winner and that's okay!

My Scrapbooks Should Come With a Some Sort of Censor Rating...

This month the Scrap Our Stash challenge was to do the following:

I unfortunately did not have dictionary paper but I did have a copy of Eugene O'Neill's plays that was falling apart.  Though I was sad to have to part with the book it was time since I was losing pages every time it was opened.  I decide to rip out a couple and use them on this page.  I tried to use the colors from the book cover in my design.  Also, despite the obvious bottle of alcohol, these photos were taken the last weekend before school (university in this case) started back up for me (I want to say my junior year, but I'm not sure).   It fits the them in a weird, possibly inappropriate way, that makes me smile.

Fast Card Friday

This card wouldn't be nearly as fast except for the fact that all of the piece were pre-cut except for the sentiment.  I put it together to try and weed out some of my excess embellishments and what-not.  It's a fun birthday card and could even work for a younger girl than I'm used to sending cards to!  That being said, I could not get the black fringe to actually how up black in these photos but I'm sure you all get the gist...

Post-Flood Crafting

It's been a pretty big chunk of time since I last crafted in part due to the fact that my crafting area was in my basement which conveniently flooded.  We still haven't got everything sorted out yet or put back together, but I did manage to pull so scrapbooking items out of the clutter because I just couldn't resist the pull of the craft-kick any longer.  I decided to use one of the fun new elements that my Aunt so kindly gifted to me to do this month's Challenge Yourself challenge.  The challenge needed you to have some sort of sewing on your page.  With my limited materials and space I was lucky enough to have this embroidered "love you" element from my Aunt and I made a page around it!  I really liked that I also got to keep playing with multi-photo pages which is something I've been trying to do more of.

Christmas in July #7

I decided to go very minimalist for this card.  I really wanted the Santa die-cut to be the stand out item so that required that I do very little else.  It also meant that this card was a very quick one to make which will be something to keep in mind come December!

Fast Card Friday

I really love how this card turned out.  Considering that none of the pieces came from the same kit (not even necessarily the same company), the papers really coordinate super well together!  I can't wait to send this birthday card out to someone.  Now I just need to restock on envelopes to fit...

Christmas in July #5

I actually debated posting this card at all.  I don't really know how I feel about it, but I ultimately decided to put it out there any.    I like the papers and the Stampin' Up greeting and the tree but I'm not sure how I feel about them all together.  That being said, it took me awhile to even come up with this so at some point I decided to call it a day.  Sometimes you just need to commit!

Fast Card Friday

The part that took the longest on this Fast Card Friday card was poking the tiny holes out of the center of the pink circles!  The pink circles came from an old Paper Pumpkin kit and the stamps from Stampin' Up as well.  Other than the little pin holes, this was a fast birthday card to make and definitely one to keep in mind for when you need a last minute birthday card! Sidenote: the inside says "You" so don't worry, the greeting does make sense...

Christmas in July #4

This card was a fun one to make and I actually really liked the Project Life card.  I might consider looking to see if they have a whole Christmas set or not.  I never thought I'd be purposely seeking out Project Life product but the season is making my heart grow 3 sizes bigger I guess!  There's so many shiny pieces on this card but I think they're not too overwhelming.  Plus this was a super quick one to make.  I might have to make a few more like it if I don't make enough Christmas cards come December.

Christmas in July #3

I'm finding that this Christmas in July challenge that I have set forth for myself is a great way for me to use a lot of the old die cuts that my mom gave to me a long time ago.  These ornaments were just what I needed for this layered card!  I also managed to use up yet another Project Life piece.  I'm quite pleased with myself.

Back When I Enjoyed Snow

This month's Pixels and Paper Challenge was to use this image as inspiration:

The funny part about this challenge coming up this month is that I had already planned on doing my Christmas in July theme when I saw that this too had a snowy feel. I chose to use the obvious white theme and then also pull in some of the blacks, navys, and browns that I saw.  I also thought the picture of me all bundled up in the snow seemed fitting for the inspiration photo as well.  I got to use a lot of pearl bling that I had been holding onto and had a lot of fun creating this page!

Patriotism At It's Finest

I'm still coming down from last weekend's 4th of July excitement so it only felt right to try the current Paper Girls Challenge which was to make your page patriotic.  I used these photos of my mom from a couple of years ago because she was just so festive!  This was a well-timed challenge and I really enjoyed participating.  I couldn't get the true colors to come quite right on my camera today so there's a slight blue tint but it almost works with the page!

Fast Card Friday

Another Project Life piece was put to good use today!  I also managed to use this glitter foam heart from children's Valentine's Day kit that I had left over.  You might notice that it's where I got the glitter hearts for yesterday's Christmas card from as well.  I'm slowly clearing out my stash but I have been looking at some fun embellishments on Etsy lately so hopefully I can hold off at least through August.   Two months should give me some time to clear out even more of my hoard!

Christmas in July #2

As promised, here is another Christmas card!  I chose to make this one a card that represents Christmas since I celebrate it, but is generally a nice Holiday-season card all around.  Plus, I got to use some funky red hearts without it feeling too Valentine's Day-ish.  Win-win.

Christmas in July #1

I've decided to try something new this month and make a little theme for myself.  Every Tuesday and Thursday for the rest of July I plan on posting a different Christmas card.  Not only will this help me stock up for Christmas and make December a little less stressful but it'll be something different and fun for me to do.  To kick things off I'm posting this card featuring the really cool gold striped cards that came in one of the past Paper Pumpkin sets from Stampin' Up!  It worked perfectly for this Christmas theme and I can't wait to send it out!  It was pretty hard to photograph since it's as shiny as it is but alas, someday I'll get the hang of it...

Fast Card Friday

The Fast Card Friday for today used up another left over card from an old Paper Pumpkin set.  I'm using these up pretty fast so hopefully soon I will have more space in the drawer I keep pre-folded cards for more things.  My mom has been doing the Paper Pumpkins I've been getting in the mail which has been keeping me from accumulating any more unnecessary stash.

So Many Patterns

Today I woke up and thought about how I haven't done a contest for cards and not scrapbooking in what feels like forever so I checked out the latest Paper Girls Challenge and decided to do it.  I'm constantly saying on here that I'm just trying to use up my scraps which happened to be the challenge this week.  I used an extra gray card I had then threw on four different scrap papers from four different kits and companies that I only had tiny bits of left.  I really like how it looks and even though it's got some glitter, if I ever made this card again, I could just use not glittery embellishments and it'd make a great guy card.  I'm always keeping my open for guy cards since I definitely have more trouble making those.

Fast Card Friday

I still am trying to trudge my way through using some of my Project Life pieces without having to actually do a Project Life book. I don't know why, but I don't really like them that much.  I do, however, like the way that one of the pieces fit with this quick to throw together card.  All the other pieces were either scraps or left over bits from Paper Pumpkin kits too.  Now I just need it to be someone's birthday to send it out!

Who Would Ever Actually Put These Buttons On Clothing?

This page is a very heavy one.  Literally.  I found these cool bright pink buttons at an antique store and thought they would look great on a page, which they do, but it took about seven mini glue dots to hold each one on!  I'm liking the finished product so I'd venture to say it was worth it, but let's hope the next buttons I find will be a bit lighter...

Fast Card Friday

I used another foil heart for this one.  It's hard to capture how shiny and cool the foil looks in real life, but trust me, this one shines!  This card almost has a Valentine's Day vibe but it really could be sent just about anytime.  Talk about fast too.  Even with stamping the sentiment and cutting the pieces it only takes about 10 minutes to assemble.  You can't beat that!

Perfect Match

This month's Challenge YOUrself challenge was to use geometric shapes.  I decided to also challenge myself by only using paper from Colorbok's Paper Plus+ Fresh Linen collection.  I had bought the set a long while ago because I loved the colors but it got pushed to the back of my paper cabinet and I totally forgot about it.  I think with the help of some Thickers and a bunch of different embellishments it turned out pretty good.  I cut squares out of different patterned papers and I really appreciate how the busy quality they have help disguise my less than perfect square cutting on some of the swatches.  Another bonus: the papers matched mine and my friend's outfits in the photo (you're only truly stylish if your clothes coordinate with your scrapping materials!)

A Real Challenge

This month's Pixels and Paper challenge I realized I had paper that was almost the exact barn door in the picture (I used one side of it on my last scrapbook page) but I decided to try and push myself and not use it because it didn't really feel like a challenge if I did.  I instead used some old scrap paper and a bunch of bits I had stored away to make this page.  I kept the wood aspect with the lettering, used the green of the grass in the photo, and I made sure that I had a few distressed elements to match the photo as well.  I'm pleased with how it turned out.  Below is the inspiration photo and my page.  It was extremely hard to take a photo of the page because so many elements had an iridescent quality so the colors are off a little.  Sorry.  Otherwise, enjoy!

Fast Card Friday

Another Project Life piece put to work!  I also managed to use this glittery foam heart that originally came from a little kid's Valentine's Day craft kit that I had left over.  You might notice that it's also where the glitter hearts from yesterday's Christmas card came from!  I'm making progress on clearing out my stash but I've been on Etsy looking at some more embellishments so hopefully I'll be strong enough to make it through at least August without buying anymore.  I think two months should give me enough time to do some serious damage to my hoard.