Where the time goes?

Life's been really hectic for me in last couple of months and between work, trying to finish book I started to read (Blink by Malcolm Gladwell), organizing trips for my hiking group, and training for two big climbs that are aproaching really fast (Mt. Adams and Mt. Baker), I hardly had time to scrap or make any new cards so when today came and offered few extra hours I took advantage of it.

This is a card I made for a birthday swap at scrapbook forum. The weather was really nice today with plenty of sunshine and with this great spring weather I opted for some happy brighter colors.



Stamp: Sugar Nellie - Daisy
Colors:
Copis Markers: E00, E02, YR04, B000, B01, G000
Twinkling H2O's:sandollar, Rich Cocoa
Patter papers: Doodlebug Design

Happy Birthday

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I had a chance to make a card. Where the time flies? Between hiking, learning to be a better photographer, and writing articles for a travel web site back at home, the time seems to fly by way too fast.

Creativity started to pinch me though and my stack of paper screamed at me every time I walked by. I had to sit down and make at least one card or I'd surely get crazy.

Best Wishes

I really felt like playing with circles today, perhaps because I didn't really used them for a while. I also used flowers, and I mean quite a lot of flowers which is so much not like me, but they simply matched the image so I couldn't resist.



Stamps: Sugar Nellie, Technique Tuesday
Colors:
Copic markers - E00, E02, B000, B01, G000, V000, YG91
Twinkling H2O's - Sandollar, Rich Cocoa

Gift Bag

I found this idea while I was browsing crafty web sites and immediately fell in love with it. Relatively simple to make, this little goodie bag sure catches eye fast. I had few people asking me for instructions so here is how you can make your own.

Start with 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 cardstock. It will be covered with the pattern paper so it doesn't have to be any fancy stuff, regular single color square is just perfect. Ccore 1 inch along each side and then score diagonal lines in the squares that were created by the first scoring. I know it sounds weird so here is a diagram I created as visual aid. All the lines are scored.



Once you have all the scoring done, crease the box along the 1 inch lines and then fold the corners in. I used glue dots to stick the pointy corners to the the sides but other type of adhesive will also work fine. This will create a small box, the foundation of your bag.

As the next step cut a pattern paper (or plain paper if you desire) to be 5 1/2 x 11 inches.

Add adhesive to the very bottom of one of the longer sides. You want something with nice strong hold. "Sticky Strip" or double sided tape seems to work well.

Now take your premade box and wrap the pattern paper around it. Keep the egdes of your box and the bottom of your paper even. Pretty much you don't want to overlap the paper since it would decrease stabily and you don't want to have the paper too high since it would show part of the box underneath.

Just before you are ready to wrap the last part apply same adhesive to one of the shorter sides of you pattern paper and bring the edges together.

This gives you the base for your project that you can decorate to your liking. I used 11 x 1 inches edges strip and a flower.

To close the top I punched 2 File tab punches, folded them and then punches little circle in them. I attached them to the front and back of my bag and tied them with ribbon; however this step is not neccesary and in case you want o simplify the project or if don't have tab punch on hand, you can punch circles on the upper part of the bag itself and run ribbon through them.

Roses on Paper - Chalenge #2

This week's challenge was to follow a sketch. I used my Magnolia Traveler Tilda stamp that and for a change worked with my Ranger Distress Inks to color majority of the image.





Stamp: Magnolia, Autumn Leaves
Colors:
Distress Inks - Faded Jeans, Walnut Stain
Copic Sketch Markers - E00, E02, Y06, C2, C3

Triangle Box

I played with an idea of creating a triangle gift box for a while and my husband's upcoming birthday provided just the perfect opportunity.



I really liked the polka dot green paper and my scrap pile hold just enough for the inner triangles. Since this box is meant for my husband I tried to keep the design simple and somewhat masculine by adding only the lace border, Edwin image and some ribbons.

Stamp: Magnolia
Colors: Copic Sketch markers - E00, E02, E57, N0, N2, B000, B01
Pattern Paper: Bo Bunny

To create the box itself was relatively an easy task. It's very symetrical and all that needs to be done is to draw lines evenly on 12x12 cardstock and cut it out. The ribbon holds the box closed. I punched holes with a small circle punch on the top of each triangle and reinforced them with an eyelet.

Here are dimensions I used for my box. It's a great size to hold bag of candies, gift card or any other smaller gift.

Friday Sketchers #29

I usually work with square cards and this sketch gave me opportunity to play with different format. I felt little uneasy at first but soon overcame the feeling and found working with the sketch very enjoyable.





Stamps: Whiff of Joy
Colors:
Copic Sketch markers - E43, E59, G20, G99, E00, E02
Distress Ink - Antique Linen
Pattern Paper: BoBunny

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #36

This weeks theme was RED + GREEN. I considered Christmas card but I usually do poorly trying for traditional colors when it comes to Christmas card making so I decided to create thinking of you card instead for a friend I haven't seen for a while.



Stamp: Sugar Nellie
Colors:
Copic Sketch markers - G20, G99, E00, E02
Twinkling H2O's - Cedar wood, dandollar
Ranger Distress Ink - Fired brick

Naughty Ladies

It's always hard for me to come up with birthday card ideas for my male friends. With girlfriends, it's easy - the cuter, the better but with guys it is a completely different story.

I was fortunate to still have some scraps of BG Archaic papers in my pile. They have wonderful masculine feel. The next thing was to search in my stamp collection to find appropriate stamp. I was sure cute Charlotte, Tildas, or Willow won't cut it this time so I had to dig deeper... and I found this naughty ladies stamp that I got for a project a while ago and completely forgot about it. Seemed pretty suitable.



Stamp: Abracadabra
Pattern Papers: Basic Grey

Sarah Kay Challenge #16

This is exactly what I had in mind for my sister in law's birthday. I had all the supplies sitting by my desk for about a week as I procrastinated to start this project.

This challenge helped by giving me the final push I needed and I have to say I haven't had so much fun creating a gift for a very very long time.







Stamp: Sarah Kay
Colors: Copic sketch markers
Face - E00, E02
Hair - E09, 0
Browns - E51, E55
Pink - RV04, RV11, 0
Patter paper: s.e.i. - cherie
Rusty Pickle - Pirate Princess

Happy Birthday

I was really excited to get my very first Tilda stamp and off I went to see what I can do with her. The very first card I created was a birthday card for a friend of mine. I had a bit hard time coloring her face. Not having any other medium of suitable colors, I used chalks by Pebbles. with set of new copic markers I purchased recently it will be way easier.

Stamps: Magnolia - Tilda
Great Impressions - branch
Colors: Blue - Tombow marker 452
Yellow: Zig MS-6600 Pure yellow
Border: Fiskars border punch - Threading Water
Title: Quickutz Revolution - font Lemonade