Has it really been that long?

It is a new year and I am afraid I have neglected this blog immensely. I started it for personal motivation purposes and that soon fizzled out. I am now going to attempt to try this again and see if it works.

I think I will start with some of the things I made in December. The month was insane because I had to get all my Christmas shopping done and presents wrapped, my baking done and all my cards sent out before I had surgery on December 22nd. I think I was off my rocker to book that date but everything worked out for the best.

One of the first things I made was this snowman card. The stamp is by Unity Stamp Company and I had fun coloring it in with my Copic markers. I used diamond stickles glitter glue to give it some sparkle. I have to admit that I was surprised that it came out so well. Using Copic markers in tiny areas is not my specialty!!

The next three cards I made were hand stamped using Paper Trey Ink stamps. I love this company so much. The design team is amazing and I they have dies that match a lot of their images so you get a perfect cut.

I think my favorite is this reindeer card. I love the fun accents on the antlers!!

The next few cards I created for Scrapbook.com and Scrapjazz.com. I used the Christmas Eve Chowder stamps to create these adorable penguin cards and embellished with Basic Grey's Nordic Holiday patterned paper. I even think I might use these stamps again for Valentine cards but I will post more about that later!!

The last card is stamped with a Kaisercraft acrylic stamp and colored in with Copic Markers. I will definitely be making some tags with this stamp for next year. The image was a lot of fun to color in!!

I hope you enjoyed looking at all my Christmas cards. I know it is January but it might inspire you to make some cards ahead for next year. Have a great night!!

Nora

Happy Hump Day!!

It is Wednesday, the middle of the week and the day I think that is hardest for me to get through. Monday I know I have 5 days of work to go but Wednesdays just seem to drag even though I know I am am half way to the weekends. I miss my summer days of just doing anything I wanted! (But I don't miss not getting a check!!)

In honor of my lazy days of summer, I thought I would post four layouts that I created with a summer theme. The photos are from summer 2010 but the pages are ones that I created in July.

The first page I created was for Scrapjazz.com. I decided to play around with using mist for a title. I die cut letters out, stuck them to the page with temporary adhesive and then misted blue around them. I lifted the letters off after they dried and this is what was left. I love the effect and will be doing this again. I mixed goodies from Echo Park and Jillibean Soup to complete this page.

(If you want to know the specificsupplies I used, see this link. I was too lazy to list them all out today!)

The next two pages I created for an article over at Scrapjazz.com that reviewed the Splash Collection by Echo Park. These photos were taken on our vacation with my family in PA. Excuse the scan. I couldn't

get the blues to match on top no matter how I tried.

This page was really simple and fun to make. The papers were perfect for this photo of Charlotte and her cousins.

The last page is about how my two nephews loved to be buried in the sand. How cute are they? Again I had fun mixing Jillibean Soup products and Echo Park goodies. It is a bit bright but I like it!!

(Again, I am too lazy to post the supplies. If you want specifics, go to this link which will bring you to this page at Scrapjazz.com. All the supplies are listed there with links.)

I hope these bright and cheerful layouts will make you have a Happy Hump Day!!

Nora

Painting Our Room and Being a Horrible Aunt

I love summer. It isn't the weather, because I prefer color over heat, but the free time I have to do things that I don't have time to do in the summer. One of the big projects we tried to get done this summer was to paint our bedroom. It was the first room we redecorated when we moved into our house 14 years ago but we haven't redone it because we knew getting the crackle paint of the trim was going to be a nightmare. Yes, you read it right. I was in my faux finishing stage when we first bought the house and crackle painted my bedroom trim under protestation from Chris. He gave in and 14 years later, he was cursing me for it. Partly because I only partially stripped one window, which took 4 1/2 hours to do!!

My bum shoulder kicked in so Chris wound up having to strip it all. In frustration, he started ripping trim off rather then stripping it. I don't blame him either. Par for the course, we still are not done with the room but I thought I would post my hard work that I did one afternoon.  (I actually like this look but knew that it would never fly with Chris so I didn't mention it!!) Learn from my mistake-if you ever want a piece of furniture to be painted a different color, don't crackle paint it because it is not fun to strip!!

As for the bad Aunt part...I made this card 2 weeks ago for my nephew's birthday, and I still haven't sent it out. I have even had the present since the beginning of August! For some reason, I have trouble sending Birthday cards out on time. I make them on time, waiting to be filled out and then I never send them. Now I have a stack of extra cards.

Supplies: Paper-Diecuts with a View, Basic Grey and Creative Imaginations, Stamps-Paper Trey Ink, Embossing Folder-Cuttlebug, Punches- ALL byEK Success, Inks-Stampin Up!, Dies-Paper Trey Ink and Glitter Glue-Stickles.

This card is exactly like the card I created in Stamp-Affaire-Challenge #2 Post. I just changed the colors to make it more masculine. I tend to design cards and then create them over and over using different products once I find a design I like.

So that is my post for today. I hope you have a great Monday!!

Nora

September 10, 2011

I seem to have really dropped the ball on my blog. It isn't even that I am not creating projects but it takes so much time to write and upload them. I need to make a pact with myself to blog at least two entries a week. What keeps you motivated?

For this post, I want to focus on the circle journal pages that I scrapped two weeks ago during Hurricane Irene-before we lost our power for SIX days!! I finally finished them and will be sending them on their way on Monday.

For those of you who don't know what a circle journal is I will try to explain it. Usually you have a group of friends that you are doing it with. You each create a journal with a specific theme. You send your journal to one of your friends, they create a scrapbook page (or art journal page) using your theme and then send it on to the next person on their list. You get another members journal as well and do the same thing. It is really fun when it works but we had a little glitch with our group, part of me being sick for 2 months and getting three at the same time!! I am very excited that I finished the pages and will be happy to forward them on to the next member. Look out Lin!!

The first theme I completed was "A Typical Week in My Life." Since I don't take photos every day, I chose a week in July and used photos from that. However, it really couldn't be considered "typical" because I have summers off and my days are filled with a different kind of "busy" then when I work.

Supplies: Paper-Bazzil Cardstock, Pink Paislee (Think Big), Studio Calico (Pie Contest), Echo Park (Big Stripes) Alphabet Stickers-Paper Studio, Cosmo Cricket, Doodlebug Design, and Basic Grey, Stickers-Crate Paper, Stamps and Die Cuts-Paper Trey Ink, Ink-Stampin Up!


The next journal I conquered had an astrology theme. We were to create a page about our astrological sign. I am an Aquarian and it was fun to see what "typical" traits I show that are Aquarian in nature and others that I don't. The best thing about this page is that I used mostly scraps or older products that I was thinking of throwing away.

Supplies: Paper-Bazzill, Basic Grey, Ruby Rocket, Alphabet Stickers-Creative Imaginations, Borders-Paper Frills by Doodlebug Design, Ink-Tim Holtz Vintage Photo by Ranger Industries, Punch-EK Success.


The last theme that I had to create a layout for was  "My Dirty Little Secret." We had to use black and white papers/embellishments with a "splash" of any color we wanted. The instructions also stated that we had to use only a photo of ourselves, with the journaling being the primary attraction to the page.

Supplies: Paper-My Minds Eye (Meadow Lark Collection-"Dawn" White Polka Dot), Ink-Memento, Blue Border-Bazzil, Flowers-Prima, Brad-Doodlebug Design, Corner Rounder-EK Success, Alphabet Stickers-Scenic Route Paper Company and Cosmo Cricket.

My "secret" isn't really dirty in nature but is about how I love books, movies and television shows about vampires, witches and magic. I also used the same photo that I used on the astrology page that Charlotte took of me a few years ago. Wish I looked that good in real life!!

If you ever have a chance to be part of a circe journal, take it. It is a lot of fun to find out random things about your friends!!

Nora

Paper Trey Ink July Blog Hop

I have never had time to complete one of these challenges but I was home without Charlotte today and was able to play. The challenge was to use the photo below as inspiration for a card.

I would love to have a room this color!! My favorite are the red/orange curtains. I wonder if Chris would let me get away with something like this? Here is the card I created:

Supplies: Paper-Basic Grey (Dark Aqua and Red), We R Memory Keepers (Green), Lemon Tart and Aqua Mist Cardstock by Paper Trey Ink, Ink-Versamark Embossing Powder: Personal Stamp Exchange-Holographic Powder, Stamps-Mehndi Medallion by Paper Trey Ink, Punches- Circle Punches by EK Success, Martha Stewart Butterflies, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Dies-Paper Trey Ink Victorian Lace Border and Love Lives Here, Gem-Basic Grey

The first thing I did was die cut the border out of different colored patterned papers with a PTI border die. I then stamped the Mehndi Medallion stamp with Versamark Ink onto a Lemon Tart Card. I embossed the image using holographic embossing powder. I had to blow the dust off my embossing tool it had been so long since I used it!! I repeated this process on the blue and red paper and punched the circles. I layered the borders onto the side, added the butterflies and I was done!! Hmm, it all sounds so simple but it took me a long time!!

Thank you for visiting!!

Nora