Sunday, February 28, 2010

My FIRST Video Presentation!!

OK This is something completely NEW to me! So, be kind! LOL This is my first video demo EVER. I can't tell you how many takes it took me to finally get something that I was happy with. Let's just say it was a few.....

The technique that I am demonstrating is Stamp Kissing. Enjoy! If this is something that you would like to see more of, leave a comment and I will try my best to improve for the next one!!



Thanks for stopping by!

Hope to have inspired you to get out your solid stamps and do a little "kissing" yourself!

Jen

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Quilted Fold Technique


As I was browsing through the Close to my Heart BB for consultants, I found this beautiful page that was created by scoring and folding paper to look like a quilted page. I knew as soon as I saw it that I was going to NEED to recreate it!

I chose to use the "Felicity" papers that were the National Paper Crafting special for CTMH in January because I had extra paper packs and needed to use them up! LOL I figured if I messed up too badly that it would not be with the one and only piece of paper that I had left!


It is hard to tell in the photo, but I added a Chocolate Rub-On border on the Barn Red outer border. The center frame is a dimensional element from CTMH also. I covered it with the matching paper, cut around it and sanded the edges smooth, then inked to soften.

This page will not be going in my scrapbook though. It will be framed and given to my niece who is in the photo with her mom (my SIL). My SIL has been fighting uterine leiomyosarcoma for the past 18 months where it has moved to her liver. She is doing well and has started a new treatment that has been known to be successful in treating sarcoma cancers.

The directions for this technique can be found at DIY network.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hope to have inspired you to add a little quilting to your scrapbook pages!

Jen

Thursday, February 25, 2010

A simple 3x3 card.....

I created this little 3x3 card this afternoon to be sent to Close to my Heart as part of an art submission for a chance to teach at convention this summer. I thought it turned out sweet, but simple. Sometimes, simple is hard for me because I always feel like it is missing something.....


It is hard to tell from this picture, but I added Prisma Glitter to the little dots along the stem, each flower petal and the inside of the flower. I had tried Bitty Sparkles first, but they were too big and took away from the daintyness (is that even a word?lol) of the flower and flower stem.
The papers are from the Close to my Heart paper pack "Caboodle" and the stamp set is "Smiles". I could play ALL day with these colors and stamps! These very well could be my most favorite since "Animal Cookies". TOO CUTE!!!
Well, my laundry is creeping outside of my laundry room and is starting to take over my kitchen....not quite sure how that happened soooo fast....LOL I guess I had better go put some bath towels in, cuz drying off with a hand towel is NO fun! Ask me how I know......ROFL.....Hey, I eventually got dry after the 2nd hand towel....HA
Thanks so much for stopping by today!
Maybe you will be inspired to move out of your comfort zone and create something different than your norm..... If you do, leave a comment and link to your art! I would love to see it!!
OH and if you live locally, check out my Meetup Group, Scrappin' and Stampin' Made Beautiful but Easy. This is a place where we share our art, chat about what's new and Meetup for crops, workshops and scrapbook groups ocassionally. Just go to Meetup.com and search for my group! Like what you see? Sign up is FREE! Would love to have you join us!!
Jen

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Not a swap card??

Can you believe that I have actually had the time to sit down and create something "JUST BECAUSE"? How fun it was to create this knowing that I did not have to make more than just one!

This is going to be a quick post as I really need to go get dinner started! LOL I wanted to share my latest card that I finished this morning. I used CTMH's paper pack "Topstitch" along with the stamp set that goes with the Workshop on the Go kit and Togetherness.

Once again, I pulled out my trusty old Bernina and did a little bit of sewing on the card. Some of you might recognize this card pattern as one that I did a little while ago for the "Animal Cookie" unit swap. I really like this pattern as it has so many different lines to follow but it is not too busy.



Well off to make some swedish meatballs and rice for the fam! Thanks for stopping by!

Hope to have inspired you to do a little sewing on your projects!!

Jen

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Go Huskers!!! A couple of pages.....


Back in September my Aunt Judy and Uncle Trey came to visit from Oklahoma. While they were visiting, my sister had us all over to watch the Nebraska Huskers game that was on that weekend. Now, I am not a huge Huskers fan. Don't get me wrong, I like to watch a good game.....BUT I like getting together for the conversation, food and drinks that go along with the game!

My Aunt, like my grandma did and I do, LOVES taking pictures. So, when she was visiting she took a TON of pics not only during the football game but of her entire visit with my parents too. As she was leaving I asked if she would please put the pics that she took on a disk when she developed (she still has a 35 mil. camera) the pics she had taken and mail it to me. WELL, much to my surprise, she printed and snail mailed the whole 2 rolls that she took while she was here!

So, this last week I worked on putting the pics from my sis's on some scrapbook pages. These were a work in progress.....I would work on them for a little, then leave them for a night, come back to them the next day and add a little something else.....until I had the result that I was looking for.

Without further ado.......here they are! So sorry about the glare.....I usually don't take pictures of my scrapbook pages with the Memory Protectors on them, but I had to since I had the flip flaps added to the top of my protectors.




I used Close to my Heart's Flip Flaps to create the flappy things at the bottom of the pages. They come in a 4x6, but I wanted to fit one over my 4 inch square photo. So, I took my faithful old Bernina sewing machine and sewed around the photo to create a 4x4 Flip Flap! I then added a little ribbon and brad for a tab to open them and added cardstock on the back to cover the back of the brad.




The lettering is created with Close to my Heart's Dimensional Elements Monograms. I covered them with Cranberry Cardstock and filed them down with CTMH's Finishing Files. If you cover any chipboard items with paper, the Finishing Files are a MUST own! There are 3 different styles, a square shaped file, a round one and one that is flat on one side and curved on the other.

Lastly, I used the Game On paper pack with Cranberry Cardstock added for color! I am really TRYING to use what I have.....SO as I was trying to figure out which paper to use with these pics I remembered I had quite a bit of the Game On paper pack left. I LOVE the way it turned out!!

Hoping to have another couple of pages finished this week using more pictures on a page than I ever have! Here's to trying out new things!! LOL

Thanks for stopping by!

Hope to have inspired you to add some extra dimension to your pages by either adding Flip Flaps to add more photos to your layout OR by getting some chipboard letters or frames to decorate.......

Jen

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

WOW It's been 2 months since my last post!

HOLY SMOKES!! Time sure has flown this past 2 months! And I am ready to slow down and start crafting again. As of next week, I will be a SAHM AGAIN!! WOO HOO!! I have been working 15-30 hours a week for almost a year at our Chrome Enhancements business and have realized that where I really want to be is at home with the kids......Funny how what I thought I wanted turned out to be NOT what I wanted after all!! LOL

SO having said that......I had a chance to create yesterday and wanted to share my unit swap project with you all. I ended up with a dimensional item as my swap item for February. I set out in search of a super cool project as soon as I had my assignment. WELL, 5 weeks sure fly fast when things have been turned upside down and inside out in my life over the past month or so. So here it was Monday and I have to turn in my swap of 12 dimensional items on Tuesday night. What can one put together in that short of time?? I will show you!!

The only difference between these 2 bags is the flower that I used. I did not have enough of one or the other to create 12 bags, so I used what I had. These flowers are new to the Spring Idea Book and are SUPER COOL!! They are the Spring Blossom Just Blooms and I just can't get enough of them right now! I had actually ordered 2 packages of these right away cuz I knew that I would want as many as I could get my hands on! SOOO glad that I did!

The back is fairly plain, but thanks to my daughter, looks better than it did. Originally I had just put Creme Brulee Cardstock distressed with Cocoa ink. Rachael thought it looks a bit plain. So, I took her advice and added patterned paper to match the front paper.

If you like the paper, check out my website for the whole kit! It is called "Veranda" and I think is just beautiful!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hope to have inspired you to give these little paper sacks a try!

Jen