Cardabilities Sketch #58

It's time for our last Cardabilities sketch for June, and the last one for the current design team members.  Here is sketch #58:

I cut the corners of my card to make it into a tag shape. 

I trimmed the corners of my card to make it into a tag shape, then added a sentiment sticker and some punched borders to the front, along with a diecut flower and crocheted heart.

If you make a card from this week's sketch, please link it up to the Cardabilities blog for a chance to win this week's sponsor prize.  We'd love to see your work!

Fabulous Friday challenge - circles

This week's Fabulous Friday challenge @ Frosted Designs is to create a project with circles.  I have to start off by saying that circles are a little hard for me to use; I'm more of a straight line, right angle sort of person.  So, I compromised on this and used circles in a straight line.  :)

I punched 1.25" circles out of various scraps of paper and arranged them in rows on my background cardstock,leave space for the photo of my niece and granddaughter,  and then stitched through the center of each row of circles.  I slightly trimmed the left edge of the green cardstock and added a strip of white cardstock to that side, to balance the weight of the photo.   I added white stitching around the edge of the green cardstock, and some circle alpha stickers for my title.  Simple, bright, and I got to use up some pretty scraps! 

We'd love to have you join our challenge this week!  Our sponsor this week is Mold Muse, maker of silicone molds for crafting.  (Check out her button molds - they are so cool!)  Just link up your project to Frosted Designs for a chance to win or become one of our Friday Top 3!

Practical Scrappers - Using your Embossing Folders

Today at Practical Scrappers, we're exploring different ways to use embossing folders.  If you're like me, you have a little collection of these plastic folders, and are always looking for ways to use them on your projects.

For my card, I used a digital stamp from Whimsie Doodles, first printing it on my white cardstock for the card front, and then printing it again on another piece of white cardstock.  I colored both images, and then cut out the clouds and the branch from the second image.  Those pieces were embossed with my Cuttlebug, using a woodgrain folder on the branch and a tiny dot folder on the clouds, then those pieces were adhered over the image on the card front.  (I cut around some of the flower and leaf edges to get the branch underneath.) 

Embossing folders are a great way to add a little extra texture and even color to your paper projects.  I hope you check out all the ideas over at Practical Scrappers, and fine a few that inspire you!

Just had to show off our newest addition - grandson Declan William Furniss! 

Here he is at one day old.  Don't you love that little blue knit hat? 

Ideas for gift card holders

Today @ Practical Scrappers, the focus is on gift cards and great way to give them.

For my gift card holder, I layered three different papers, cutting the bottom one approx. 8x4, the second one approx. 6x4, and the bottom one approx. 3.5x4.  (Sizes are approximate, based on the size of your gift card/certificate.)  This size will fit into a business envelope.  I angled the top of the lower two strips and then stitched around the edge to make two pockets.  You can put a greeting tag in the first pocket and a gift card in the bottom pocket. 

Please be sure to check out the post @ Practical Scrappers - there are some really great ideas for gift card presentations!

Sharing our Craft Spaces Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Frosted Designs "Sharing Our Craft Spaces" blog hop, where the design team members will share photos of their scrap spaces and some of their favorite organizational tips and tools.  If you've been following along the hop, you came here from Ashley's blog.   (A full blog hop lineup is at the end of this post.)
Before I share the pics of my room, I have to share a little story about how it came to be.  When we bought our house 20+ years ago, there was a room on the side of the house that had been a study, and it quickly became my sewing room.  With windows on three sides, it was a great place to do sewing and quilting because I could still keep an eye on my kids while they played outside.   As time passed, this became my sewing/quilting/scrapbooking/stamping room because we all know how one craft leads right into another, LOL!   I added a couple of Iris carts to hold supplies, so things were still organized, but not quite as neat as they had once been.

Then in the fall of 2008, Hurricane Ike hit the U.S., causing so much damage along Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.   Unexpectedly, the remnants of the hurricane created a huge windstorm that went through the midwest, hitting SW Ohio with straightline winds from 80 - 100 mph.  We had a huge 100 year old oak tree in our front yard that was completely uprooted, falling on the house and destroying our roof, part of the second floor, and completely smashing my craftroom.   It was a very scary experience, but luckily DH and I were in another part of the house and no one was hurt.  (And we counted ourselves very lucky, after seeing all the destruction from the actual hurricane!)   So here's what things looked like after the storm hit:

It took four months, lots of work and so many trips to Home Depot, Lowes and Ikea that I lost count, but we finally got everything repaired, rebuilt and back to normal - that was a happy day indeed!

Here's what my workroom looked like after the rebuild.  We bought a large Expedit unit from Ikea to hold all my scrapbooking supplies and baskets of quilting fabrics.  (originally, the room had built-in shelves on this wall.)  The worktable and cabinets above it were unfinished cabinets that DH bought from a local kitchen supply house.   He hung pegboard on the wall above the table so I could hand scissors, punches, and my ATG guns within reach.   The sewing cabinets were made from drawer units and tabletops purchased at Ikea. 

I had to take pictures while everything was nice and neat, because believe me, it doesn't usually look this way!  I tend to be a messy scrapper!

One item that I love for organizing small embellishments is usually found in the jewelry or bead section of craft stores, and that's the CraftMates organizer.  These binders hold rows of plastic compartments that snap closed and are great for storing small items like brads, charms, eyelets, buttons, etc.  They're a great item to pick up with your Michaels or Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon!

The next stop on our blog hop is Susie's blog.  And just in case you missed any stops along the way, here's the full blog hop lineup:

start here:   Frosted Designs

Ann http://annsnovemberrose.blogspot.com/

Teresa Jaye http://teresajaye.blogspot.com/

Anita  http://theflamingochronicals.blogspot.com/
Lynn http://scrappyhappymom.blogspot.com/
Lori http://scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/
Sarah http://scrapsbysarah.blogspot.com/
Lydia http://kiwimumscraps.blogspot.com/
Sassy http://sassymoments.blogspot.com/
Ashley http://ashleyspaperdoll.blogspot.com/
Brenda http://www.brendasscrappyblog.blogspot.com/
Susie http://www.thedieshaveit.com/
Laurie http://www.laurielariviere.blogspot.com/
Lori M http://frugalscrapper.blogspot.com/
Carol http://carolpaperie.blogspot.com/
Channa http://crafts-pieces.blogspot.com/

Cardabilities sketch #57

Hard to believe we're already halfway through June!  It's time for another Cardabilities sketch:

I used the sketch for a patriotic card for the 4th of July:

We'd love to see your cards from this sketch.  Link them up to the Cardabilities blogspot for a chance to win a prize from this week's sponsor, or be featured in our Top 5 spot next week!

It's Camp Friendzy time!

Scrap-Friendzy is hosting the 2nd annual Summer event - Camp Friendzy!  It's a summer long fun crop of challenges, games, projects and prizes!  

There are a great bunch of ladies at Scrap-Friendzy, full of ideas and fun and encouragement!   Hope you will join us this summer!

We're stitching up a storm @ Frosted Designs!

This week's Fabulous Friday challenge at Frosted Designs is to use stitching of some kind on your project.  I've been sewing since I was just a kid making my own Barbie clothes, so stitching is one of my favorite ways to embellish a scrapbook page or card.

On this page I used a combination of straight and zigzag machine stitching to create a framed effect around my photos.  I love to use a mix of these two stitch types on my project - it just gives it a fun, casual feel.

If you've never tried machine stitching on your pages, here are a couple of tips.  Use a slightly longer stitch length than for sewing on cloth; you don't want your stitches so close together that you end up perforating your paper and having it tear apart.  You may also need to slightly loosen the tension on your machine, especially if you're sewing through cardstock.   Sewing paper and cardstock dulls your needle faster than sewing fabric, so before you switch to a fabric project, you'll want to change to a new needle.  (I usually keep one or two needles set aside just for sewing on my paper projects, and then toss them out after a few projects.)

We'd love to see your stitched project this week @ Frosted Designs.  Link up your project to our blog for a chance to win a great prize from this week's sponsor - Prairie Bird Boutique!

Time for another challenge from Just a Scrappin!

Our first Just a Scrappin' challenge for June is to create an easel card, featuring some type of animal.   For my card, I used the Birthday Bash cartridge, cutting the elephant at 3", and the balloons at 2".  I cut off the string portion of the balloon cuts and used bakers' twine to tie them to the elephant trunck.

If you would like instructions on making an easel card,  here's the tutorial I used - from Beate Johns @ Splitcoast Stampers:  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/easelcard/

Cardabilities Sketch #56

This week's card sketch from Cardabilities was such a fun way to use.  It's a great way to use smaller pieces of cardstock and patterned paper that you might have left over from other projects.

The background on my card was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, and then I used papers and an embellishment block from Cosmo Cricket's DeLovely line, and some Doodlebug alpha stickers.



Here's my card for the sketch.