Smash Book Journal

I made this Smash Book/Art Journal for my daughter for her 13th birthday. I thought that I could make her a new one for each year for her birthday.

The book is 9x6. I mostly used Rock Princess cartridge on it. I used Black Currant by DCWV. I only done 3 of the "divider" pages, and left the others blank so she could do whatever she wanted with them. One of them she could do doodling or drawings on. I was going to embellish it more, but I was running out of time and hubby decided I should just let her make it her own by leaving some of the "divider" pages blank.

She has had it a month and has not used it yet. She said it is too pretty to mess up. I told her that is what I made it for was for to mess up, that is why I did not do more embellishing to it.

The first page is a "bookplate" with the writing of that it was presented to her for her 13th birthday and other information. I used Lacy Labels for the "bookplate" and done a lot of layering and pop dotting.

New Card

Here is a card I done almost 2 weeks back. I'am still not finished with it, as I'am not sure what I want to do with it. But it is pretty all the same.

I FINALLY got to use my new cartridge Cindy Loo!! I think it turned out nice for my first card using that cart.

The card is a 5x5 and is REALLY sparkly in person.

Sorry!!

Sorry I have not posted since December!! I have not done much of any type of crafting since my last post.

Just have not felt up to crafting and been kinda busy and then the kids were out of school. I plan on making some thing when the 100 degree weather goes away.

Name Frames - Christmas Gifts

Long time no post.... huh?

Well... I finally did do something crafty and used my Cricut, my desk and all of my scrappy supplies. But I did buy more supplies. I mean you cannot do a project without having to buy new paper! LOL!!

I have been wanting to make my in-laws one of those name frames I seen on the Cricut message board for almost 2 years now. So... I FINALLY done it!!

I am really liking the ones I made. I think the paper I used is what made the name frames look so fabulous!!

I used vinyl for the words "family" and the establish year. It was pretty easy to do once I got contact paper... hahaa!! On one of the name frames I did the establish year by hand... a little time consuming, but... not like I had anything else to do.

This one is my favorite!

It is my favorite because of the 2 birds in silver foil to the right bottom corner. And how AWESOME it come out!! The "est 1977" is black vinyl on the outside of the glass... it casts a natural shadow on to the white base plate. It looks really neat!! I could not get the camera to capture it, without a glare in the glass from the flash.

This next one is for my SIL. I hope they like it. I did not put a lot of time and detail into this one, but I think it still came out nice.

Christmas in August

I decided to try my hand at a Christmas card. I have never really made a Christmas card before. I am trying to get as many cards as I can get done before September 11th; which is when our little town has its annual community trade day. I was thinking of sale-ing some of my cards and projects just to see if people would buy them. I am just not sure how much to price my creations.

I FINALLY got to use the snowflake embossing folder from the winter bundle I ordered from Cricut Rewards!

My poor little reindeer almost was not on the card, as I scalped him when I was trying to get him out of my Xyron. But then I glued him back together and flocked him, and he looks good as NEW! Now he is running and frolicing in the embossed snowflakes LOL!

I like the card. My mom liked the card. My hubby kinda liked the card. And both of my kids LOVED the card. LOL! Can always depend on my kids LOVING my cards/projects/creations. Sometimes... I wonder if my kids have bad taste ;0)  LOL!

So... here is my card!

Bachelorette Invitations

Here is a sample of the bachelorette invitations I was enlisted to make for someone I had made baby shower invitations for about a year ago. I use to make baby shower invitation sets and sell them on the internet. But... it got to much for me and my health at the time because I had had a mini stroke and it messed up my mind for a while. I have been wanting to get back to making them again, so what better way then to start back making invites for a bachelorette party!?

I have LOTS of paper I have been accummulating for my baby shower invitation sets over the year. I knew I would get back to making them sooner or later. I guess the later is now. LOL! I need to find something to do to keep me occupied while my kids are gone to school. I LOVE to make the baby shower invitation sets. It is fun to use my Cricut to help me come up with some thing so cute! I have a thing for baby showers... do not know why... but I do.

The most I had someone order from me was 98. I had less than a week to get them done too! That was kinda hecktic, but well worth the money I made from them! And I even got hubby to help me out! LOL!

This person said the colors she wanted were pink, black and white. So... here is what I came up with. I hope she likes it.

The invite is to resemble a corset. It is 5 1/2" X 4". I cut out a tag feature on Gypsy Wanderings to make the sides for the corset to lace the ribbon thru the middle. I ran the corset sides thru the CuddleBug in the Textile folder and the sanded the Core'dinates down to the white core.

The pull card will have all the information and details printed on transparent vellum and placed over the pink and black polka dot paper.

My Interpretation of Pink, Brown & Forest Animal Theme

Both times I have worked on this name banner has been at 3am. So... I am beginning to believe that my interpretation of things like pink, brown & forest animal theme... are not something I should tackle at 3am and not feeling well LOL! I think it has more to do with it being 3am. Might as well work on a name banner... hubby would definantly kill me if I won another Gypsy at 3am LOL!

If you cannot make out the name... it says Hazel. I really think it was the name that threw me off. I wanted to make the banner a lil more girly more of a punk rocker tone, but they thru me for a loop when they said pink, brown, & Forest Animal theme. Oh and it did not help that I forgot I had brown with pink polka dot paper I could have used for the background UGH! I thought of that like 5 days too late *slaps forehead*

Hubby looked at it and had nothing to say. Not sure if it is because it is pink, or because it is just *THAT* bad! Or that all the animals have pink eye LMBO!! BUT all the animals are all nice and soft and flocky! AWWWWW.....

Updated Picture - I decided to outline all the letters in Dark Chocolate cat eye fluid chalk. To me it looks MUCH better. I think to me it just needed some distressing of some sort and the Core'odinates being sanded did not do it for me LOL!

Winner Is...

Winner is KreativeKarla!

Send me an email with your info to may_june_july [at] hotmail [dot] com !

Thanks everyone who entered and your lovely comments!

It's Official...

It's Official...that I will be as old as hubby starting tomorrow LOL! My birthday is Saturday... I will be 31. Hubby has been 31 for almost a month now, and I have been bothering him about being over 30. Now I cannot do that anymore after tomorrow.

I kinda feel old now LOL! At least I do not have gray hairs like hubby does HAHAAA!!!

My birthday present was my Gypsy, but it still has not been shipped yet! Hopefully it will be here before my next infusion, that way I will have something to do during the 2 hour infusion if the Benedryl does not make me loopy. Some times the Benedryl makes me loopy, other times it just wires me and makes me feel a lil hyper. I mean 100mg of Benedryl wires everyone right? ;0)

Card Give-Away!

Ok... so, after I showed my mom the card I made last night, she asked what I was going to do with it. I told her I did not know, just keep it I guessed. But after I got home I decided I would do a card give-away off my blog.

So, if you would like the card below, just leave me a comment on this post and I will randomly choose one lucky winner on Sunday at midnite!

The card is a 5 1/2" X 5 1/2". The papers are from the DCWV Far East stack. The inside is also finished, but my camera batteries died after taking this pic. So... I will see about uploading a pic of the inside when my batteries are at full charge.

Ok... I have added a picture of the inside.

First card with Pagoda & Lacy Labels

Here is a card I done last night. I just got the carts Pagoda and Lacy Labels, so I had to use them!

I used my "Homemade Nestibilities" technique on the Lacy Labels cut, which is blue paper that has the temple on it. I charcoal ink chalked all the edges and I also dry brushed some antique gold acrylic paint all over to tie in the roofs of the temple that I had painted antique gold.

I really like how this card turned out. At first I was not sure how it was going to turn out, because I did not have a plan or any idea... I was just winging it. I just wanted to make something LOL!

Thanks for looking!

My finished mini album!

I FINALLY finished my mini album. I have been working on this since end of April. But I had no reason to get in a hurry to finish it. I was just working on it to have something to do when I felt like being crafty.

I gave this mini album to my oldest sister Tuesday. She was surprised I made it for her. She was afraid to look thru it for fear that she would mess something up or rip something. She said I made it look really old too good LOL! She asked how I made it look so old looking and I told her. She thought it was all old papers I used. I was like nope, just vintage images I printed off the internet. She said she was going to keep it sitting upright in her curio cabinet.

This little sucker turned out to be a fatty of an album LOL! It will not lay closed. LOL! I did not mean to make it so fat. But oh well!

My sister said her favorite page in the mini is the cover of the album. She said because of the indian picture. She has a thing for indians, probably since we have some indian in us from our mom. Our grandma was native american.

My favorite pages in the mini album are the first page with the frame from Sentimentals and the sewing themed page.

I did not make a lot of tags for this mini, as my sister will not journal so... no use for them. If I make my other sister a mini album I will probably make her more tags for hers, as she will journal.

Without further ado... all the mini's pages completed, in order and in one spot LOL!

Making of a Mini Album - Page 10

Here is the last page of my mini album. I also actually FINISHED my mini album! WOOHOOO!!

The black boarder is a cut from Storybook Cart. I welded it together. I also used the M's $1 bin flock on that black boarder. It is all nice and soft and pretty! LOL! I added a piece of doilie in the upper right corner and distressed it with weathered wood distress ink with a touch of frayed burlap.

The folio in the middle will house 6 pics.

Making of a Mini Album - The REAL Page 9

I shared page 9 four days ago. BUT I was not happy with it. I liked the paper dolls and all, but it just did not work well for being the "first" page of the mini. I am going to incorporate the paper dolls some where in the mini, but not on the page they were on.

I have revamped page 9 and it looks GREAT! I guess I was just having a non-crafty week when I started working on page 9, but... it has been raining and I have been flaring... I seem to do my best work when I am in a lot of pain and not doing well. Like someone told me... spoken like a true artist!  LOL!

On this page I used my NEW Sentimentals cartridge! WOOOHOO!! I used one of the frames from the cart. I also used my "homemade nestibilities" technique on the frame. You see those dark brown spots on the frame? That is embossed. I cut out the layer for the frame in chipboard and then I lined the frame and the frame layer that was cut out of chipboard up and ran them thru my CuttleBug. I wanted the embossed areas to show more so I ran my distress ink tool over the tops of the embossed areas.

I also used Sentimentals for my tag. Pretty nice tag cut! I printed out an old vintage peacock label and cut it out and distress inked it and then added it to my tag. I did try to cut the tag out with the peacock printed on it, but the peacock was too big and did not show in the frame hole like I wanted. So... I had to do it the way I have it now.

I wanted something in the bottom left corner of the page. Iwas going to cut out a bird and put it on a branch and have the branch stem across the bottom of the page, but... I just could not get my bird to look like I wanted LOL! I think I was wanting too much from that little birdy on the Home Decor cart. SO... I remembered I downloaded a vintage bird image that was a circle. So... I resized it and printed it and cut it out and then pop dotted it on to a piece of circle cardstock and pop dotted that as well.

I just LOVE the frame on this page! It came out looking better than I imagined. I was going to dry brush antique gold acrylic paint on the frame, but I forgot to. I might do it later, not sure.

Well... here is The REAL Page 9!

Making of a Mini Album - Page 8

I worked on this page yesterday. It came out alright. I did get to use my new technique "Cricut-made Nestibilities". That is what I am calling it now LOL!

I used the "Cricut-Made Nestibilities" on the gray/blue topnote. It embossed around the edge just like a Nestibilities would do. It is sooooo cool!

The photo mat on this page has ribbon to 2 corners to hold the photo on to the photo mat.

The blank space to the right of the page, is where the tag will tuck behind the top-notes area. The tag I am planning on the part that sticks out saying "Adore". I am going to make it in Design Studio. I already made the tag just need to get it cut out.

I also added a butterfly to this page. I mean it is a page full of flowers after all LOL! The butterfly was cut from one of my new carts I got a couple of months back - Home Accents. I really like this butterfly, but not as much as I like the butterfly off the Indie Arts cart. I would have used that butterfly, but it did not look as "vintage" to me as this butterfly does.

Making of a Mini Album - Page 7

I FINALLY got around to working on my sisters mini album again. I finished this page this morning. This page has a lot of things that have to do with sewing. My sister use to sew  ALOT. It was her hobby. But she has since not had time to sew like she use to. All she does now is work, work, work.

This page was actually page 4... the page with the double slider on it, but I took it apart very carefully and replaced it on another page. I wanted it on the page the double slider was on because the background paper was like a "quilt" pattern and I thought it would be perfect for the sewing page. If I had made a page theme for all my pages before I attached stuff, I would not be doing the ole switch-a-roo later LOL! Note to self... plan themes for pages before hand LOL!

I actually did not think of doing a sewing themed page in her mini album until my mom mentioned something about how my sister use to love to sew and how she had been sewing since she was a teenager making her own clothes. I just thought that it would be neat to have a page that was dedicated to something she loves.

Even though I was not working on my mini album, I was, however... doing a lot of research LOL! I did a lot of searching for graphics for this page and learned a lot about old sewing notions. On this page I made good use of my new printer! I downloaded and printed off a bunch of old sewing ads and notions scans.

So... on this page there is a "needle book" with a vintage Singer Sewing Machine ad on the front & some lace along the bottom. The "needle book" is actually an "album" that can hold 6 - 3X3 photos on the inside. I made the "needle book" using a card cut from A Child's Year. The "needle book" is held closed by the mini clothes pin to the left.

I made my own "vintage" sewing pattern by downloading a vintage sewing pattern in black & white and printing it on vellum and then taking Tea Dye distress ink all over the vellum to give it more of the tissue pattern affect.

I printed off some vintage ads for sewing and collaged them in the bottom left. I printed off a vintage button card and added some buttons to it for more dimension, and distressed inked the card to look worn. I then printed off a vintage thread label and distressed it and added a safety pin with a scissors charm to dangle from it. Then I thought... I need a dress form on this page some where! So, I found one and printed it on vellum and cut it out and added dimensional glue dots to make it stand out a little more.

I then decided to "pleat" my ribbon along the bottom of the page. The ribbon looks like a measuring tape. I found it at Big Lots for 75 cents a couple of weeks back. I wanted to add another sewing charm to the page, so I took a pearl headed straight pin and added a few glass beads and a sewing machine & key charms. Then I wove the straight pin thru the "pleated" ribbon.

I think I am actually done with this page. Minus the tag which will be going behind the "needle book". Yeah... I remembered to leave a side open for a tag this time LOL!

Thanks for looking!

New Printer!

I got a new printer today! WOOHOO!! Now, I can make the tags and other things for my mini album.

My old printer... the ink would smear and turn green when I would use my distress inks and the techniques for distressing... like spritzing water on the inks to make a cool effect. And the resolution and printing was grainy and not very good.

I wanted an Epson wide foot printer... which could print 12X12 sheets of paper and the inks are water resistant, fade resistant and smear proof. SO COOL! But I just could not bring myself to spending that kind of money on a printer.

The printer I did get is an Epson WorkForce 310 and cost only $69 and was on sale. I noticed that most of all the Epson printers took the inks that was water resistant, fade resistant, and smear proof. So... I got this one after I had the guy scan and print me a picture from the demo printer. This printer also scans, faxes, prints, and copies... AND BEST OF ALL... it will wireless print! Which is EXCELLENT for being only $69 on sale. It also has a very high resolution in and out. It is pretty COOL to lay in bed and print things from my bed and not have to get up and lug my laptop to my desk to connect to the printer and then lug it back to bed after my document was finished printing.

So... I am a happy camper and in just amazed at how nice my new printer is and all that it can do and for the price I paid for it! :0)

Making of a Mini Album - Part 6

I am on a roll TODAY! I got another page done! I might add more embellishments to the page later, but I did get the main focus of the page finished.

It is like a waterfall card. Same mechanism. It is designed to hold 4 - 3X3 photos. There is a sterling silver heart charm for the pull.

Making of a Mini Album - Part 5

I have been working on this page for a couple of days, and FINALLY finished it this morning! It was taking me so long because I was trying to get my cuts all laid out in Design Studio and decide on which papers to use and where. I only have an 8X8 stack of this paper, so I have to make sure I have enough for everything and use every piece of scrap I have. I even used a 2X2 inch piece of scrap on this page LOL!

So... here is my page. It is a single picture layout. That ornate glittery bracket at the top is the hidden journaling spot. Just pull up on it to reveal the journaling. The photo mat takes a 3 X 2 1/2 inch photo.

I used a lot of distress inks. I even did some new techniques... like distressing the edges with scissors & running ribbon thru the paper.

Making of a Mini Album - Part 1 UPDATED

Here is the update of my 1st page I done of my mini album. It is now complete and I am happy with it. I made 2 more postcards to go into the top pocket. On the back of each postcard is a photo mat.

I had a 12X12 sheet of paper that were all postage stamps. And there was a row of like vintage looking ones. So... I cut them out and distressed them to look old, but I think I over done the distressing a bit LOL!

I also made a fan out of some music sheet that I printed out and was not happy with so, I was using it to clean my dauber and it distressed it LOL! So... I picked the best looking part of that paper and cut me out a 1 1/2" strip and fan folded it and added a pearl brad and some ribbon and I had a fan HA!

Making of a Mini Album - Part 4

Here is another page of my mini album I have been working on. It is a double slider "card" where a photo can be put on the front and then 2 more photos on the inside when the tab is pulled up.

My sister REALLY loved the double slider "card" I put in my niece's mini album. So... I knew I HAD to put one in hers. :-)

At first I was at a loss as to how to incorporate this on to this page with that background. I just wanted to put it on this page, because the background paper was not may favorite and second because I knew the double slider would take up a lot of space and I did not want to cover up the beautiful papers that are on the other pages I have to finish creating.

I forgot to leave a place for journaling, but I do not think my sister is much into journaling LOL! At least I hope not. ;-)

So... here it is!

The pull tab pulled to reveal the 2 photo mats on the inside. I had to turn the camera sideways because with the mats extended out it was too long for me to take a picture with it in the upright position.

Making of a Mini Album - Part 2 of 3

Here is another page I just got finished doing. It is a page of criss cross pockets with pull out photo mats.

I HEART this page!

3 pages down only 5 more to go!

Making of a Mini Album - Part 3

I have been working on my mini album, but have not been posting pics of it. Mostly because I am just doing little things on pages here and there. BUT.... tonight I actually finished one side of one of the pages. I am satisfied with it. I am so satisfied with the page I even put the eyelets in for binding LOL!

I made the frame with my cricut. It is a cut from Winter Woodland with an oval cut out of the center to make it a frame. The frame is made from chipboard. I ran the chipboard thru my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots embossing folder. The chipboard was painted with metallic pearl white acrylic paint and then I rubbed Dark Brown fluid chalk over it. I then sanded it to take the paint off the Swiss Dot embossing, and then I hit it with my Walnut Stain Distress Ink. That made the Swiss Dots that dark looking brown. Then I put on 2 layers of Glossy Accents over it. Looks pretty good I think! :-)

The frame is on top of a envelope pocket wallet thingy I got off of YouTube that RoseS915 made a tutorial of. It had many pages in it, but I am not showing the pics of them all right now. I did use Cricut cuts for photo mats on the inside.

The page also has a lace doily I distressed with Antique Linen & Vintage Photo Distress Inks. It came out ok. I just needed something to keep the page from looking so bare up at the top.

Thanks for looking!

Making of a Mini Album - Part 2

Thursday night I stayed up all night and worked on a "real" page of my mini album. I did not get a lot done, because my son was still awake with me at 4am. UGH! And he wanted to help me and have me cut him things out for his card. So... I only got the basics of my page done. BUT... at least my 5" long post card now has a home LOL! WOOHOO! Creative I be!

I am not sure what all I am going to add to this page yet, but... I think it came out quite nice, since my inking around the edges on the page before I added the pockets papers was a bit messy and looked green when the distress ink was Vintage Photo!? I have now solved that problem with a new sponge dauber!

I added lace to the bottom pocket, and I might add ribbon to the top pocket. And I am going to make another post card or 2 for the top pocket. I am still working on the layout for the page, but at least I done something with an actual page, other than make more pages like the multi-pocket page I showed in another post LOL!

The papers I am using are the DCWV Linen Closet. I just loved this paper stack and thought it would look nice all vintaged and distressed up.


Page with nothing in the pockets

Page with the 5" long postcard, I printed and distressed, in bottom pocket

Page with Postcard in the top pocket

Woohoo... Success!

I went 50 miles north of me to go to Michael's just for the Tim Holtz Distress Ink Foam Applicator tool and pads. Well... they only had the alcohol inks applicator tool there and then I went to Hobby Lobby and all they had was the alcohol inks applicator as well! GRRRR! Both stores did not even have a sticker or place for the distress ink one. AHHHH!!!

But while I was in Hobby Lobby, I found these finger sponge daubers for stenciling by Tsukneko. There are 3 to a pack for $2.99. So... I decided what the heck!

OMGoodness! What a difference it is from the cosmetic foam wedge sponges I was using. I noticed that the cosmetic foam sponge was leaving me with a lot of green tint. It was like it was sucking up all but the green part of the inks. I mean every brown color even Walnut Stain was left with a really green hue to the paper.

I thought I was just no good at using ditress inks LOL! Now, I know it was the sponges I was using! WOOHOO!! I spent a lot of money on these ink pads, to just suck at the technique LOL!

Tonight when I used Vintage Photo with the new sponge dauber, it was actually brown and no green to be seen! I was shocked! I then got out a cosmetic foam sponge and as soon as it hit the page it was showing green.

I am hoping one day to find a real distress ink foam pad applicator. BUT for now these sponge daubers will do!

Here is a picture of my doily I used all my brown colored distress inks on using the sponge dauber. I did patches of each color and then went back and filled in areas with Antique Linen. Then crumpled it up and then uncrumpled it and ran Brushed Corduroy over the wrinkles and then spritzed it with water and then dried it with my hair drier LOL! Next on my list is a heat gun. I want to try my hand at heat embossing sometime in the future. But for now my hair drier and iron will do. ;0)

This is what the sponge dauber looks like. I actually used this same sponge dauber on all my distress inks in the brown family and it hardly looks used and I did not even wash it out or anything.