Random on Purpose

'Tis the Season

...to be frantic!  I'm sure all of you are busy, busy too!  I spent the weekend and today getting gifties purchased and packaged and postal - whew!  All of my children (all six of 'em!) are getting this gift:

 
because I'm a frugal, scheming kind o' mom...  They (the kiddoes) are at various levels of financial okay-ness, and there is a fee involved to reserve the campsites.  Since I want them all to attend our reunion this June, I paid all of the fees for them (I asked first if they were okay with that being part of their Christmas, and they all were).  I wanted them to have something tangible instead of just a verbal "I did it", so I made up these little gift certificate thingies, and packaged them like this:

My younger brother is the "editor-in-chief" of our family newsletter, and a very, very clever boy!  Our last name is (or was, in my case, in the 'maiden' days) Shumway, so he titled the newsletter "The Shum-Way", and sends it to us in an email every other month.  He published a "special edition" to inform us all about the reunion details, so I printed it off for each of my kids, tri-folded it, and put it in a pretty holly-print envelope with the gift certificate.

The grandkids all got 'real' gifts.  The grandsons all had this paper:

and the coordinating stripes.  This package is Ethan's.  Under the gift tag is a gift card holder tin.  The tag is made from a snowman cut from the paper glued to kraft cardstock, then punched into a scalloped square and matted with green cardstock.  I stuck the giftcard holder tin to the gift with redline tape, then wrapped the cord around the gift a couple of times and through the holes punched in the tag and tied a bow.  My solution to this-has-to-go-through-the-mail-without-getting-the-bow-squished.  I'm noticing in this pic that I didn't get it centered (quite), but I'm thinkin' Ethan won't notice or care...

Ryan and Noah got the same paper, but time was running short and there were four separate parcels going to them, so that was too many tags to make, and I short-changed them by just writing their names directly on the paper - bad grandma!

The granddaughters - Ava and Mia - got this adorable paper:

 
but I didn't take pics before they went postal.  For their tags, I punched scalloped circles out of aqua cardstock, and a large Martha Stewart snowflake punch out of pink, then glitter-fied the snowflake and added an epoxy clear sticker over their name in the center of the snowflake.  For the gift that was for both of them (they're sisters), I punched a larger scalloped circle and layered the snowy hill and reindeer on part of it, and popped up a cutout reindeer over the glued-down one for dimension.  And that's my tale of gifts so far...

In other news, I got a proud email from my brother (the same afore-mentioned one), with a link to video of his daughter's performances at her harp recitals.  She's only been playing for three years (she's 13 years old), but is apparently something of a prodigy.  I'm beyond proud, and asked David if I could share the link with all of you.  He said yes, and here it is:

http://gallery.me.com/davidshumway/100081

Enjoy!  I'm going to go clean up the disaster area that is supposed to be my worktable, but was recently Giftwrap Central...  Have a great night, and thanks for stopping by!

Just a Note Before I Go

...to bed.  I was getting ready to shut the computer down for the evening when it occurred to me that I made a card this morning and failed to share it here.  It's for the CAS (Clean And Simple) challenge to use curves on our card:

Stamps: Stampin'Up! Whimsy Jumbo Wheel;Ink: Close to My Heart Whie Daisy pigment ink; Paper: SU! Pink Pirouette, CTMH Spring Iris; Accessories/Tools: Heat 'n' Stick powder, Prisma glitter, Martha Stewart, Marvy and EK Success snowflake punches, Crystal Stickles, unknown bling, silver thread

I purchased the Whimsy wheel from Stampin'Up! with a snow flurry in my brain to use it for, so I decided today was the day - it has curves and it would be quick and easy, and why not?  I masked off some of the peripheral dots and all so t would be curvier, inked it up with white pigment ink and covered it with Heat 'n' Stick powder to emboss it.  The dealie-o with Heat 'n' Stick is that it holds glitter REALLY well (as in, it's not gong anwhere!).  I tried it before and was unsuccessful, but I overheard conversation wherein I learned that if you overheat it, it doesn't work.  "Ah, ha!" says I to myself, "That was your problem!"  True, true - I was guilty of overkill...  This time worked beautifully...

When I was putting the card together, there seemed to be too much empty space in the cornere, so I thought maybe stitching would be the way to go.  I didn't want to rethread my sewing machine or take the time, so I did a "cheater" method:  I poked a hole in the same place in each corner, then just put the silver thread through them and taped it on the back.

There's probably more I was gonna tell you. but I keep dozing off, so I'm going in search of my bed now...

Work? Me? Now?

Yeah - that's what I should be doing, but I'm so not motivated.  I've been doing that already today, and I'm over it (even though not one item that I started is finished yet).  Part of the problem is that I'm very, very tired (sleep issues) and the rest of the problem is the need for a career change (no new information there, right?)  Oh well, it is what it is...

I scoped the Limited Supply challenge on Splitcoast this morning (at 5:30 because, yeah, I was up), and it was to use a star on our creation.  A few weeks ago the challenge was to make a long, tall card and I never got around to it.  The card in my head for that challenge had a star in it, so I decided to do a two-fer:

Stamps: RandomBliss snowman (digital); Close to My Heart December Word Puzzle (sentiment);Ink: Versamark, CTMH Outdoor Denim; Paper: Provo Craft dp, white, pale yellow; Accessories/Tools: ScorPal, Basic Grey magnetic cutting mat and ruler, Fiskars craft knife; Ranger Enchanted Gold embossing powder, Martha Stewart radiant punch, Fiskars and $1 bin star punches, Bic and Prismacolor markers

The snowman is another one of my little drawings (still haven't come to terms with the Bamboo in any kind of useful way).  I decided to cut around him and the rest of the panel to get the effect of several mats without all of the layers.  The whole panel that he's on is popped up on foam tape.  I don't have any foam tape or dimensionals small enough for the little stars, so I got tricky: I took mini-glue dots and rolled them into little balls and stuck them on the back of each star so they would be raised up a bit.

I smeared Versamark ink on a scrap of white cardstock and a scrap of pale yellow cardstock and embossed both with sparkly barely-gold embossing powder before I punched the stars and radiant shape from them.

That's pretty much all there is to tell here, and I'm doing major guilt on the ditching out on work thing, so I guess I'd better haul myself back up the stairs to the workroom for a couple more hours...  Have a great afternoon, and thanks for stopping by!

One Down, ??? to Go

Sorry about my absence this week - busy, busy girl!  Tonight was the annual Fabric Mill Christmas party - just the girls that work together there and me.  I used to work there, and still subcontract for them so they still include me, bless them!  In years past we each gave each of the others a gift, but given that there are more of us now and time and money are at a premium, we drew names this year.  I drew Jackie, and this is what I made for her:

It's a boxed set that includes four monogrammed note cards with envelopes, four magnets, two jumbo binder clips, two fleur-de-lis wall hooks and a note pad.  Not pictured are eight file folders (four of this design, four houndstooth).  The magnets, note pad and file folders were all Michael's $1 bin items.  I used another set of file folders to make the box, note cards and binder clips.  I didn't get a picture of the note cards outside of the box, but here's what they look like a little closer up:

I cut a 4" x 5 1/4" piece from the file folder, matted it with black and adhered it to an ivory card base.  I also cut and embossed a 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" piece of the ivory and matted it with black, wrapped a strip of ribbon around and adhered that over the patterned piece.  I stamped and embossed Jackie's initial on a small Nestabilities Labels Four matted with a black one the next size up.  I added tiny little red gems on the letter (Inkadinkado Maison Alphabet):

 and popped up both layers of the monogram and mat.  On to the magnets:

I contemplated adding monograms to these, as well, but decided against it.  All I did was add some red bling in strategic spots in the motif.  These two fleur-de-lis wall hooks are widely available at home improvement and hardware stores.  I cut two pieces of thick foam pad and glued them together to make them thick enough to sit inside of the box at the same level as the magnets and cards, and poked the sharp ends of the wall hooks into them to keep them from doing damage anywhere.  Next up, the binder clips:

I just wrapped them with a 2" x 3 1/2" strip from the file folder.  I attached them with redline tape just under the "lip" on each side.  The bows are just scraps of ribbon cinched in the center with a gem brad and attached with a glue dot (the thick super-sticky ones)  The note pad is under everything in the box, and I forgot to get a shot of it separately, so oh well and I'm so sorry and all the rest of it...  Here's what it looks like with the acetate cover and a red ribbon:

I also included a fun set of three faux leather photo albums in a little faux leather tote - one for each of her nieces: Natalie, Emily and Katrina, and a little round tin that matches the ensemble above (for paper clips or mad money or whatever).

Okay - long day, long week, tired girl...going to bed now - g'night!
  

   

Punchy in the Middle of the Night

...and I mean that literally and figuratively!  I'm still playing catch-up with work, so I can't really justify stamping/crafting instead, so I have to wait until "the end of the day" to do anything like that, and there's always so much other "stuff" to do then...

I did try the tutorial I'd been brainstorming, and - while not a complete loss and/or waste of time - it needs some tweaking and I lost interest and ran out of time.  I did make a card for today's challenge, though, and it produced a "mini tutorial", if you will...really more of a tip or trick, actually...  The challenge today was to make a thank-you or Thanksgiving card (hmmm...wonder why?), and I made this:

The trick is the acorn I punched - it's my new ornament punch and old scallop circle punch, tweaked like this:

TA DA!  I added a button with some twine threaded through it, and curled the ends of the twine, gluing it down in strategic spots, so the curls would stay...

All the papers are from Stampin'Up!'s "Autumn Vine" collection - beautiful!  I didn't have any ribbon the right color, so I ran some white grosgrain across my Sage Shadow ink pad to dye it.  I also cut a little motif out of one of the papers, but glued it down with the flip side showing, 'cuz I liked it better that way.

And that's the end of the story!  Good night - sweet dreams - and thanks for stopping by!
 
  
 

Good Morning to You, Good Morning to You...

...we're all in our places, with bright smiling faces - good morning to you, good morning to you!  (Another little ditty from my childhood - pretty perky, huh?)  I know - it's Monday, for crying out loud, so why am I so enthused already...?  Just 'cuz I wanna be, that's why!  AND - my previous sentence just reminded me of a standup bit by Norm MacDonald:  "That sounds like a pre-school award: Little Jimmy, for Crying Out Loud.  Suzy, for Crying Over Spilt Milk..."  I love that kind of humor...*sigh*...

ANYway - I said yesterday that I was going to do something I wanted to do, even though I'm swamped with work.  I did some work schtuff this morning (picked up a chair, cut the foam for all its pieces/parts, took some button thingies to my upholsterer friend to recover for me, went to a design appointment), and when I got back and sat quietly sipping a toasty beverage (Oreo mint double chocolate cappucino - can you say "decadent"?), I scoped the CAS challenge for today, and that's what I ended up wanting to do!

It's a color challenge today - white and ONE other color!  You can't even stamp in black and color it with your second color, because today black is being considered one of the colors!  I did this:

I've wanted that Santa Collage stamp (Rubber Stampede) for two years, but was unable to find it until last month!  I stamped him on white cardstock with Faded Jeans distress ink (Ranger), then cut him out with a Nestabilities Labels Four die.  I also stamped just his starry beard in two of the corners.  I used a Close to My Heart stubble tool (one of the best inventions EVER!) to add some speckles to soften the edges.  A stamped Inkadinkado sentiment (Warm Holiday Wishes set) and some sponging around the edges of things is all the rest of it!

Speaking of Nestabilities, I'm starting to acquire just a few select ones, and needed a good storage system for them.  Here's my solution:

Yup!  A CD case...  These dies will stick to a magnet, so I got some magnet poster sheets that I've had forever, cut them to size, and stuck them into the CD case with a bit of adhesive (I used AdTech).  I know the poster sheets are still available, but I'm not sure where I saw them.  The package looks like this:

Well, that's what it looked like when I bought it years ago, and after it's been moved and abused umpteen times...  Two Nestabilities sets fit very nicely in one case, as you can see!

Okay, the week is off to a roaring start!  Hope yours is, too, and thanks for stopping by!  Go smile at someone (especially if they're cranky) and pass it forward!  Ta!
 
 
 

Creepy Crawly CAS

I don't usually do the CAS challenge on Splitcoast that happens every Monday - usually because I forget that there is one until I'm well on my way with other things - but I checked in this morning while stalking the technique challenge (not interested in that one today...)  The CAS challenge was to use brads or eyelets, and I made these:

Stamps: Studio G; Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Stampin'Up! Groovy Guava; Paper: SU! Vanilla and black, Making Memories guava and dp;Accessories/Tools: SU! Wide oval and tag punches, Marvy scalloped Square punches, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, brads and mini brads, white gel pen

What?  You don't think they look Clean And Simple?  Well, if you're a li'l cheater like me, they most certainly are!  I started with this cool paper from Making Memories:

and cut a 2 3/4" strip straight down the middle of it, then cut 4" off each end of the strip to make two cards.  I also cut the same pieces from the "side" strips leftover from the initial cut.  That way I had four cards, and four corners leftover for another project:

The rest of the cheating is using punches to make quick work of getting some layering going.  There's minimal stamping, NO coloring, and just a bit of sponging around the edges of things for interest.  I inserted brads or mini brads over the stamped spiders to make dimensional bodies, and added white gel pen eyes.  Ta da!  CAS spider cards!  They're also "postcards" - they don't open - so even MORE simple!

Here are "closeups" of the individual cards:

Okey-dokey, kiddoes!  That's it for me today!  Thanks for stopping by, and have a FABULOUS Monday!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Butterflies to Bats

I decided this morning when I saw the technique challenge on Splitcoast that it was a good thing I didn't finish my card yesterday!  By tweaking the card base a bit, I managed two challenges in one card:

The title of this post reflects one of the changes I made to the card I CASEd.  The Featured Stamper was dancerriley, and I selected THIS CARD to CASE.  Riley's has butterflies, but - since I was doing Halloween - I switched to bats!  I also made a wiper card instead of a gift card, and added some layers and punching.  Here's what a wiper card looks like open:

Super easy to make, and kind of fun!  There's a tutorial (pictures and video) HERE.  I used some fun new toys (Martha Stewart corner and border web punches, horizontal slot punch) and some oldies, too (Provo Craft dp, Martha Stewart bat punch and ribbon).  I did do something new with the bats, though.  I wanted to add texture with my textile embossing folder and Cuttlebug, but I wanted symmetrically embossed bats, so I punched them first, then put them into the folder where I wanted them:

It was a little tricky, 'cuz I had to hold the folder over my head so I could see where I was putting them!  Here they are all texturized:

And on the card:

Some fun, huh?  The only other things to tell you about this card are that I used a witch's feet stamp from Recollections, a "Boo" stamp from Studio G and a "Happy Halloween" stamp from Inkadinkado.  Ta da!

Okey-dokey, I've blown off work for as long as I dare, so I'd best get to it!  Hope your week is WONDERFUL, and thanks for stopping by!
 
 
  
   
 

Reruns

At my house, when we have "leftovers" for dinner, we call them "reruns" - just a little more fun, I guess...  Anyway, I had some random-stamped kraft cardstock and bits of the other colors leftover from my color challenge card, so I decided to use them for the sketch challenge, too:

Stamps: Stampin'Up! Season of Joy; Ink: Stampin'Up! Mellow Moss, Close to My Heart White Daisy pigment ink; Paper: Stampin'Up! Pink Pirouette, Mellow Moss, Kraft, white; Accessories/Tools: Snowflake border punch, Fiskars and dollar store star punches, Cuttlebug w/snowflake and swiss dot embossing folders, ribbon, sewing machine, Sakura Stardust glitter pen, pearls

Obviously, I added a touch of pink just for a little somethin' somethin', ya know?  Also, although the camera didn't pick it up, the ornaments, snowflakes and stars on the trees all have a touch of sparkle.  I scribbled on the cardstock with my Sakura Stardust glitter pen before punching out the shapes - much easier than trying to color the shapes after they're punched (the circles are only 1/8")!  Just a little tricky tidbit for ya...

I'm functioning (or trying to) on two hours of sleep, so we'll see how the day goes - I'll either revive and get a lot done, or crash and burn!  Hope yours goes fabulously, and thanks for stopping by! 

Graffiti #1

Good morning, all!  I hope you had a great weekend and a good start to the week yesterday!  My Mondays are generally chasing days and not much gets accomplished outside of the "gathering" I do - groceries, orders and materials for work, etc...

I've been carrying two different cards around in my head for weeks that were both inspired by graffiti.  I may get around to making the other one later, but the first one got put together for today's color challenge on Splitcoast:

Stamps: Stampin'Up! Priceless and Season of Joy, Paper Company Studio Eco-Friendly stamp set, unknown tiny snowflake; Ink: Close to My Heart White Daisy pigment ink; Paper: Stampin'Up! Kraft, Mellow Moss, white; Accessories/Tools: Sewing machine, Martha Stewart snowflake punch, snowflake border punch, Sakura white gel pen, brads

The colors were Mellow Moss, Kraft and white.  The graffiti involved here was some of the scribblings the girl who lived here before us did on her bedroom wallpaper.  "Back in the day" we used to put all of our school papers in PeeChee folders (yes, sadly, we were deprived - the HUGE variety of fun folders available now were not around), and we used to doodle all over them.  One of our doodlings was what you see on this card, and I was reminded of it because the aforementioned young girl had drawn a peace sign, the word "on", and what was supposed to be a globe (she was young and geographically challenged).  "Oh yeah", I said to myself, "I remember that..."

I was originally going to do a very 70's-vibe version with psychedelic colors and all, but when I saw the color challenge I decided to re-gear and do a subtle version instead.  Last Thurday's "ways to use it" challenge was to Say it With Pizzazz - bling up a sentiment or substitute images for words, etc., so this card very handily qualifies for that challenge, too!  Quick little tricky tidbit:  I didn't have a punch or die to make a larger snowflake, so I cut up several of the smaller ones and reassembled them using plain old Scotch tape on the back of the peace sign and globe circles.  You just sort of have to fiddle with them until you get a look you're happy with.

Well, there is a gigantic stack o' stuff out in my garage requiring cutting and sewing and delivering and all, so I guess I'd better sign off and go be a little sew and sew  (*groan* - really bad pun - sorry!)  Have a great day, and I'll post Graffiti #2 when it's done.  Thanks for stopping by!