There is a new sketch at the Clean and Simple Stamping blog (see my blog roll for a link), & I actually got a card made AND photographed last night.  :-)  However, I haven’t uploaded it yet and since I really want to share the Altered Friendship Mini ALbum I will post my FTL106 card next week.

These 2 pages follow yesterday’s post, and the two tags are still in their pockets. I wish you could get a better idea of the texture and glimmer of this beautiful glitter paper. For details on the supplies, you can check out yesterday’s post (September 3 2010)

Here are the tags out of their pockets …

And here is the reverse side of both tags:

I will share the next pages in tomorrow’s post.

I got a tremendous amount of card making done yesterday — I’m so pleased! A wedding card, a sympathy card, a birthday card, the FTL106 card all done and I got almost 20 Fall themed cards ready to assemble this weekend. My realtor friend asked for 35 Fall themed cards this year instead of Thanksgiving ones.

I also got the Bridal Shower invitations started … well, all the fiddly stuff. A font chosen, the word sizing, and then the test prints — of which there were like a dozen. Lots of little adjustments here and there to make everything line up the way I want them to. This morning I need to test print a couple on the actual card stock as G wants the wording in purple and I want that to match the purple in the pansy I’ll be stamping on each one.

Sounds like a crafty weekend in store for me! Thanks for stopping by today.

I have wanted to do a Mini-Album for a long time. While I love the idea of a Mini-Album, I didn’t want to put photos in it. Also, I didn’t necessarily want to keep it for myself. So I decided to do what I’m calling an ALTERED MINI — and made one for my friend Sue. It’s what I sent her for our August ‘first of the month’ exchange.  (I’m still doing the ‘12 Tags of 2010′, but this was instead of the August tag which she will get this month). Sue doesn’t really scrapbook either, so sending her a Mini-Album wouldn’t be that appealing.

There are a LOT of photos of this project, so I decided to break it down over a few days. I used an ENVELOPE book format - where the pages are #10 business envelopes. I got the idea from Laura at Following The Paper Trail (link is on my Blog Roll). She does AMAZING Mini-Albums.

Here is the cover of my first ALTERED-MINI:

The beaded shaker frame on the cover is by K&Co, and the gorgeous ribbon was on one of H’s shower gifts.  I recycled it since it is just soooooo pretty. Patterned paper is DCWV’s ‘The Sorbet Stack’. Pretty, cheerful colours and most of the sheets have GLITTER embedded in them. Unfortunately the glitter doesn’t show well in these web photos. Oh, and it’s really HEAVY paper - more like card stock so everything is nice and sturdy. I used a heavy chipboard for the covers, and each of the ‘pages’ are actually pockets that hold decorated tags. The pockets were formed by cutting the ends off the envelopes.

The next photo shows the first pages, and the tag pockets. The envelopes are off-set so the left hand pocket is shorter than the one on the right. Everything is covered with the glitter card stock, and I used a ton of embellishments from my stash. I didn’t have the Stampin’ Up tab punch when I made this album, but I had figured out a shape and made an SVG out of it so I could Cricut-cut some tabs. The pink card stock is by Stampin’ Up, and matched perfectly. The Top Note die was used to create the flaps that hold the yellow tag.

The following photo shows the tags out of their pockets — some of them are completely plain and that is where people would normally add a photo. I would have decorated both sides of the tags except this glitter card stock was so pretty I wanted it to speak for itself.

The next photo shows the reverse of the same tags. I used some of my word-art, graphics from Lettering Delights and more embellishments to make them all coordinate.

This was SUCH a fun project — I absolutely loved working on it and want to make more of these little treasures.  (This one is about 4×6).  However not until after I get the 35 bridal shower invitation order done, and the 45 Thanksgiving card order, and then the stuff for the Christmas Craft Sale.  :-)  I will post the next page from this Altered-Mini tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by - happy Friday!

I have a very photo heavy post for you today! The first of every month Sue and I pop something in the mail to each other. This year, inspired by Tim Holtz “12 Tags of Christmas”, I decided to do the “12 Tags of 2010″. This is the tag I sent Sue for July … I tried my hand at designing a word book. Now this isn’t a mini-album - there is no room for pictures. It’s just a fancy tag that’s meant to look like a mini-album!

This first picture shows the book tag closed - the pages were designed on my Gypsy and cut out with my Cricut. I used the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge for the letters and page shapes. The back tag is about 6″ long and 3.5″ wide so it’s a nice size.

I got to use my Bind-It-All for this project, which is always FUN. Love that thing. Plus, I found the 1/2″ ‘O Wires’ on clearance which never fails to make me happy.

The “J” and the “U” pages are flipped over, and here is the “L” page — I used that sweet Stampin’ Up bird punch on this page.

Here is the “Y” page. I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder, and alcohol inks. Never tried his inks on paper before and I liked the way it came out! The dragonfly is a 3-d sticker by K&Co.

The patterned paper used was mostly by Tim Holtz, although I did use up some from my scrap drawer. This next photo shows the back page…

Another shot of the back pages…

I cut the back support tag out of brown Bazzill, and added a coloured paper reinforcer to the punched hole. Pretty fibres finished it off.

Finally, patterned paper and my Scor Pal combined to make the envelope. A Tim Holtz Die and my Big Shot were used for the label on the envelope.

All in all, this was a REALLY fun project to do. I got a good feel for making a word-book mini-album someday, got to play with fun papers and a minimum of embellishments, and my BIA.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Last year, at the end of April — I did a scrapbook layout showing all the snow we had received. Today is May  4th, and it is WINDY and SNOWING. Bah. I am so ready for green growing things and sunshine and WARM AIR. Snow in April was bad enough, but I’m pretty choked about this nasty weather in May.

In case you are wondering where the pictures of the wedding are,  I have been jumping through hoops trying to get the pictures off my camera card. Yesterday’s efforts were finally successful so am working on them now & will hopefully be able to post them later in the week. Or at least a few of them. Meanwhile - the photographer has a few ‘teasers’ up on her blog, which you can find HERE. (Thanks Christina — you did an amazing job!!)

Onto today’s post … this was one of the ATC (Artist Trading Cards) I sent Sue with our last ‘First of the Month” mailing.

Thanks for stopping by today!

This is one of the ATC’s (Artist Trading Card) that I sent to Sue for our “First of the Month Mailing”.  The SWEET silhouette is from “A Child’s Year” cartridge — I know I’ve said this before, but I just adore this cartridge. So many sweet images on it.

I was happily surprised that it cut so well, considering the height of an ATC is only 3-1/2″ tall and there are some intricate details in the cut.

I kept it simple, no shadow cut, no foam tape — I wanted the silhouette to be the main focus here. The word tile is one I’ve had for years and years … they came on a sheet, so I have several of them left. Brads from my stash and the background paper is Basic Grey.

Thanks for stopping by today!

This is the February tag I sent to Sue … it doesn’t sound like she has received my March envelope yet, so will post that one later this month.  I won’t add a lot of chatter, since there are so many photos. This tag is about 6-1/2″ tall. I used the Cricut to cut the envelope … probably from the Wild Card cartridge.

I have NO ideas in my head for the April one, so will have to get my thinking cap on. Have a great week - thanks for stopping by!

I was SO inspired by Tim Holtz’ “12 Tags of Christmas” that I wanted to play along. Of course I stumbled onto his tags mid-way though, so there wasn’t time (or energy!!) to do them in December. Instead, I decided to make one each month of the year, and send them to Sue for our ‘first of the month’ exchange.

This is is January’s tag:

The tags are large - about 6″ tall! I used a bit of everything on this … my Cricut, Big Shot, Cuttlebug folders, stamping, and embellishing. It was a blast to make.  I just finished the one for March, so will take photos of it to share as well. February’s tag will be posted later next month.  (Can you believe March starts in just a few days??)

For those family members and friends reading this — thank you for making my birthday week such a great one.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Ok — this is the LAST Valentine post for this year … it’s the fabulous Valentine that I got from Sue!!! Just look at all the details on it….

Flowers with some shimmer…

A (Tim Holtz) Grungeboard key…

Copper embossed charm, dangling bead, shimmery copper textured cardstock …

Just BEAUTIFUL!!!  (Thanks Sue).

It’s looking like a winter wonderland out there today. The dogs are going to love playing in the fresh snow.

Thanks for stopping by.

This ATC trio is one I sent to Sue for our January first mailing. I used lots of different things (tools) for these … Cuttlebug embossing folders, Cuttlebug and Boss Kut dies, my cricut, 3-d butterflies, chipboard butterflies …

The three are joined together with a brown ribbon that has a loop at each end.

I used the Cricut to cut out the little envelope/holder, and the flourish embellishment. The envelope had a notch out of the top which didn’t appeal to me, so instead I used a circle punch — punching out a semi-circle where the notch was.

It was a fun project to work on!

My counters are in, the sinks are in, and the faucets too. Water in the kitchen again - woo hoo! The bathroom faucet gave the poor plumber no end of grief. What should have taken maybe an hour and it took him almost 3-1/2. Even so, it’s barely on. It works, but if there are any problems with it they won’t be able to be fixed and specialty taps wll have to be ordered. All this because of an undermount sink - who knew? Anyhow — at this point everything is working wonderfully and we are really happy with it. Hey - my back is even better today so things are looking up.

Thanks for stopping by today.

I have another ATC to share today, although not made by me … this is one that Sue sent me!

I always love the little details she adds to her ATCs - and go back time and time again to thumb through the collection she has sent me over the years.

Thanks for stopping by today!