Christmas in July #2

I really like having this Christmas in July tradition because it's nice to know that I'm saving myself future headaches plus, this little Christmas guy is so incredibly cute, I'm so glad I impulse bought him last year!

I've really been getting into coloring with markers lately (as you can tell by the previous Christmas card).  There's something very relaxing about coloring in the lines.  Takes me back to kindergarten!

Identifiable Elements:

• Red ribbon - "Real Red" by Stampin' Up!
• Red star paper - "Well Traveled" from the Carina Gardner Collection by Carta Bella
• Stamp set - "Llamazing Christmas" by Samantha Labonte for Scraps of Love

I'm Back For Now

I'm bored, so that means I'm back!

This little hedgehog might be one of my all time favorite stamps.  There's a lot you can do with it and it's just so darn cute!

Anyways, I woke up this morning and looked through my box of cards to see what I was potentially lacking in my stash.  I noticed I have a lot for very specific occasions but not many that could be flexible in their use.  You never know what might arise in life that calls for a card so I decided to try and make some this next week that can be multi-purpose.

A bonus to this card was that I was able to use up some of my ribbon stash which is disproportionately large compared to how infrequently I use ribbon in my projects.

Identifiable Elements:

• Pattern paper - "Mac" from the Cricuit collection by Bazzill Basics Paper

• Red Marker - "Raspberry Ripple" by Stampin' UP!

• Yellow marker - "Summer Starfruit" by Stampin' Up!UP!

• Green ribbon - "Celery" Grosgrain Ribbon by Stampin' UP!

• Yellow ribbon - "So Saffron" Tafeta Ribbon by Stampin' Up!

I'm finally feeling it again...

It's been a long time since I've done anything with this blog, but that's because it's been a long time since I've felt like crafting.  I don't entirely know what it was, but I just wasn't feeling up to it.  I'm finally feeling the bug again, though, so I'm back for now!

This page was one that was made after I decided to clean out my ribbon stash.  I have a lot of ribbons that I just haven't touched in a very long time and that I know I should probably just clear out, but it's so hard to part with pieces that I think could still be useful.

I enjoy how it came out and I'm glad I was able to use up pieces that I'd long forgotten about.  I'm looking to do more projects like this, because on my break I realized the sheer volume of crafting supplies I've accumulated over the years and decided that I think I could half them and still have more than enough.  We'll see if I can ever bear to just part with things without a "proper send off" of creating with them one last time.

Identifiable Elements:

• Blue ribbon - Stampin' Up! Grosgrain Ribbon in the color "Pacific Point"
• Flower paper - Cosmo Cricket "Sunday" from the Girl Friday collection
• Green letters - Three Bugs In A Rug "Chaos & Confusion" green alphabet cardstock stickers
• Flowers - Prima Flowers

31 Days...

 It's that time of year again, my favorite year in fact, and I'm so excited!  I'm starting off with this funky (and extremely heavy weight-wise) card.  That spider and cauldron are metal and suspiciously hefty.  I used a bunch of bits and pieces I had from Halloween cards past and I love how it turned out.  

I swear these felt skulls I bought a couple years ago are going to haunt me for forever because just when I think I'm about done with them I find more.  I've always wanted a good ghost story, but this one isn't good so much as sad.

Identifiable Elements:

• Boo! - Stampin' Up! Paper Pumpkin Set
• Felt Skull - DIY Craft by FLOMO

Christmas In July #6

I hope this little Santa makes you smile just as much as he made me smile!  I had time to kill while I was at my parent's house last year and decided to play with my mom's large collection of markers.  I stamped this little Santa and after one previous "practice" Santa, I made him.  He's so cute and I absolutely love him.  I think that I did him justice and really like how he turned out.

I wanted Santa to be the star (he's a diva nd deserves it) so I kept the rest of the card very simple.  I also kept up my quest to purge the button stash as well, so that was a bonus.  I really like this card and I love that Santa gets to spread the joy he gave me.

Identifiable Elements:

• Paterned paper - SEI
• Santa - "Cookie Cutter Christmas" by Stampin' Up!
• Markers - Stampin' Up!

Christmas in July #4

This card was completely inspired by my desire to color.  I stamped the wreath before I'd even cut the card stock for the base of the card itself.  I was relaxing to color it in and add the pearlescent dots.  Afterwards, I just let the other elements fall into place.

The buttons are more from that massive stash of thousands of button I bought from an estate sale 2 years ago.  I feel like I've barely made a dent in the stash, but progress is progress.  I conservatively estimated the number of remaining buttons and figured out that I only need to make 400 more 5 button cards to be free of them.  At a pace of 7 cards a month I'll be done in 4.76 years...

Identifiable Elements:

• Washi tape - Zakkalover Etsy
• Pearl puff paint - Perlen-Pen by Viva Decor
• Green marker - "Gumball Green" by Stampin' Up!

Christmas in July #3

This Christmas in July card is very simple, but I like it because of how versatile it is.  Simply swapping out the greeting and perhaps the color palette, and you could have a pretty quick and simple Valentine's Day card.  I try to not duplicate cards often, because I really do enjoy the creative process of coming up with something new, but sometimes I don't have a choice and any card that I can quickly replicate appeals to me.

Working through these cards, I have come to realize that I don't have as many holiday themed stamp sets as I thought I did.  I could've sworn that I had more, but I took all of my sets out and dug through them and came up shorter than I thought.  Because of this, I'm glad I had these chipboard hearts that look vaguely seasonal to help pick up the slack.

Identifiable Elements:

• Chipboard hearts - Bo Bunny
• Ribbon - Stampin' Up!

Christmas in July #2

Today's card was an unexpected struggle.  The stamp I used for the red pattern on the white strips absolutely did not want to cooperate.  It was patchy every single time I stamped it so eventually after trying and failing about 6 times to get a clean image I just decided to cut some of the "better" parts out to make the strips.  This is definitely one of those times where mishap turns into "artistic choice".

Despite not being my first choice for card design, I do like how it turned out.  It was quick and simple to make which means I can make a few duplicates rather quickly if I find myself in a pinch come December.

Identifiable elements:

• Red ribbon - Stampin' Up!
• Red ink - "Real Red" by Stampin' Up!

Crazy Love #1

We're kicking off this year's Crazy Love event with a pretty funky Valentine's Day card!  Last year I accidentally missed one day of this series so hopefully I keep on track this time around.  

I'm always looking for ways to use non-traditional colors for my holiday cards and when I was looking at my stash for inspiration the yellow heart gems I've had for years really jumped out at me.  I paired them with some scrap paper I'd had saved for quite awhile as well and this lovely card was born. 

Identifiable Elements:

• Ink- So Saffron by Stampin’ Up!
• Sentiment- “Wacky Wishes” by Stampin’ Up!

Thank You January

 The start to the New Year has been a chaotic one for me as I just started a new job in a tax office for the tax season, but I still managed to make this lovely thank you card.  I didn't realize how low my stash of them was until I needed some and I now only have one thank you card left in my arsenal.  January might be my month of churning out thank you cards for the peace of mind.

I was able to use a lot of scraps from my scrap bin for this card as well as some ribbon I picked up from a scrap bin at my local craft store.  I used more buttons from the large lot I bought at an estate sale and I think they really helped pull this franken-card together.

Identifiable Elements:

• Sentiment - "Something to Say" by Stampin' Up!

28 Days...

The countdown to my favorite Holiday continues with this cute little card.  It's not as spooky as some of my other efforts, but it's perfect for some of my more wholesome friends.

You may notice the large amount of buttons and that is because, as is becoming a theme on this blog, I am STILL getting through the button stash.  At least this card really put a bit more of a dent in the situation than others.  I also used a bunch of scrap paper and helped clear up a bit of that bin as well.

Identifiable Elements:

• Greeting - "Wacky Wishes" by Stampin' Up!

Fast Card Friday

It's been awhile since I've done a Fast Card Friday, but here we are.

The card I decided to make today was mostly an excuse to use up some of these postage stamp stickers I had laying around.  I thought a card would be a good way to display them all in their glory, and I also was running low on thank you cards in my emergency bin.

I think it turned out pretty cute and it was fast to make which is always a bonus for me.  As much as I love crafting, sometimes I don't have much time to do it so quick projects are great.

Identifiable Elements:

Greeting - "One Big Meaning" by Stampin' Up!

19 Days

 I fell a little behind with posting cards these last few days/week thanks to an unexpected colonoscopy procedure.  So fun.

Hopefully I'm done with all that and back on my cardmaking game.

I had some major problems photographing this one on my phone, but I think you get the idea.  I really liked using up some bits and scraps and breaking out twine.  I haven't used twine in a long time and I'm quite pleased with it.  It was a fast card to assemble and get in the mail which is another added bonus.

Identifiable Elements:

• Sentiment - "Wacky Wishes" by Stampin' Up!

26 Days

The Halloween card I have for today was once again a very quick one to piece together, but it definitely still fits with the spooky theme of the month!

I'm starting to realize that I don't have quite as many Halloween sentiment stamps as I thought I had and I might need to remedy that soon...

There aren't too many bits that I can identify on this card though I do know that the trees came from an unknown Stampin' Up! subscription box from years ago that I don't know how to accurately list below.  Otherwise enjoy the following list of one.

Identifiable Elements:

• Sentiment - "Wacky Wishes" by Stampin' Up!

30 Days

This Halloween card was really exciting for me to make because it's the first time in a long time that I've broken out the embossing powder.  I forgot how much I love watching it gild itself under the heat gun.

I started out by just cutting the background triangles out of some of my Halloween paper, then the rest just unfolded from there.  The scissors I used for all of my cutting were also old ones that my mom used to use way back when our family first got hit with the scrapbooking bug.  Between them and the embossing powder I really felt transported back to that time.

Identifiable Elements:

• Black embossing powder - Stampin' Up!
• Halloween paper - 

31 Days

It's that time of year again, my favorite time of all, SPOOKY SEASON!  I'm kicking off this Halloween countdown with a fun little pumpkin duo.

I mostly aimed to use up some scraps when I designed this card, but I absolutely love how it turned out so I might try to emulate it in the future with what scraps I can scrounge up.

I of course made sure to have bling in my design because we all know by now that I can't live without it but I like that it doesn't completely distract from the other elements.

I'm looking forward to bringing the spooky feel the rest of this month!

Identifiable Elements:

• Sentiment - "Wacky Wishes" by Stampin' Up!

Last Minute

Today I made a last minute birthday card.  I accidentally missed a fairly important birthday, but I figured better late than never!

It looks pretty simple, and that's because it is, but I really wanted to keep it easy to mail and use washi tape.  I don't tend to use washi tape as much as I want to (or that my collection implies I should be) so getting to play with it and being reminded of how much I enjoy it was nice.

Identifiable Elements:

• Washi tape- Create 365
• Bling - Jolee's Boutique
• Greeting - "Wacky Wishes" by Stampin' Up!
• Feathers - Architextures

Cat Bath

 I love this picture of Big Kitty, because sitting by my baths is one of his favorite things to do.  The water is a funky color from a bath bomb I was using, not just bad pipes.

What makes this page unique is that all the papers and the buttons were actually things that I picked up from garage sales.  I bought about 7 lbs of scrapbooking papers for $10 and now I'm just working my way through them.

Something that you can't tell from the pictures of this page is the texture of the background paper.  It's actually fuzzy which made it seem that much more appropriate for framing a cat picture.

Identifiable Elements:

• Cat stamps - "You Little Furball" by Stampin' Up!

Christmas in July #1

I am super determined to get ALL of my Christmas cards done this year.  Last year I got most of them sent out in time but unfortunately not all of them and I feel really bad about that.  Hopefully starting this early with my annual Christmas in July undertaking will help me out.

I was pretty excited to make this card with a new stamp set from Tuesday Morning.  I thought the little snow globe was super cute and perfect for my friends who might not celebrate Christmas but who I want to wish a happy holiday season to anyways.

***I'm just now noticing a very distinct cat hair on the card in the photo...sorry***

I was also pretty stoked that I got to clear out some scrap papers and some scrap twine as well (though I still have a ton of this one in particular so I might rework this card to mass make a few and use it up).

I decided to use a silver marker and add in extra "snow" to the snow globe since I thought it was looking a bit sparse.  After I did so, I couldn't help myself and I added some to the rest of the card as well to jazz it up a bit.

Identifiable Elements:

• Stamps - Merry Days by Crate Paper
• Blue ink- "Night of Navy" by Stampin' Up!
• Silver marker- Metallic Marker by American Crafts

Cruise Album #10

This page will probably end up getting moved to the end of the album because as I was making it I realized it would make a nice little end cap to the project as a whole.

Once again, this photo was taken on the Goth Night of the ship and they super imposed us in front of the crowd for Bowling For Soup from the first night.  In person I can point to where we are in the crowd so technically we're in the photo twice.

I like the rock on sentiment being the end of the album since it encapsulates it all pretty well.  It also is very typical of the other pages so it really does wrap it up nicely.

The song I'm using for today is actually from Yungblud, an artist that I saw for the first time on the very last Warped Tour festival in California.  I feel like it's appropriate because the idea of still finding new music and new artists to love after all these years I've spent with Warped Tour is truly my way of rockin' on.



Identifiable Elements:

• Music notes- Jolee's Boutique
• Red paper- "Poppy Parade" by Stampin' Up!
• Yellow background- Bazzill