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Finally back online!

We're moved in, and I just got the internet hooked up an hour ago! Unfortunately the crafts room is still in boxes, and I no longer have a desk, but hopefully that will change this weekend!

Stay tuned...

A (not so) mini album

I've want to try making a mini album, so Danielle's calendar over at Fat Cat Stamper is bookmarked for future inspiration! She used a Bind-it-All and thick chipboard for the cover and binding, and then prettied it up with some paper, ribbon, and thickers.
Here's what one of the inside pages looks like. Each page uses the same layout, but with different images, paper, and colours.
(photos courtesy of Danielle Lounds)

Head over to Danielle's blog to see more photos of this adorable calendar!

Blog template ideas?

I think it's time to update the look of my blog, but I don't know if I want to do it all myself. I like the idea of changing it up every so often, but I just don't have the time right now!

If you use a template, from where did you get it?

If you designed your layout/theme yourself, can you give my any ideas for some quick and easy looks?

Altered Apple Box

When I saw Julie's project on her blog, Paper Pleasing Ideas, I was totally inspired. Too bad all my stuff is packed! Oh well, it's filed under "things to try". Hmm...maybe I should make that a label category!

Anyway, dollar stores are a great place to find alterable items, just like this apple box. And check out how she made the "lined" paper! I love how the 'a' looks like a chalkboard piece.

Go to Julie's blog to see more details about her Apple Box Creation (hee - get it? ABC).

(photo courtesy of Julie Buhler)

The new catalogue - what are your picks?

I just ordered:

- Eastern Blooms (on sale right now, 15% off!)
- Hawaii Papaya DSP
- Wide Oval punch
- Hemp Twine (in natural)
- Chocolate Chip 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

Also on my wishlist:
- Pocket Silhouettes (on sale)
- Inspired by Nature
- Snow Swirled (on sale)
- Washington Apple DSP
- Haiku DSP
- Urban Garden DSP
- Green Tea DSP

I have a hard time with wide ribbon, so I'm holding off on any of that!

More shrink plastic

Check out what Debbie at Thinking Inking did with this cute pineapple topper for a pen! It's part of a Blessings Journal that she made using the PaperTrey Ink First Fruits set (just released today!). I love how it coordinates perfectly with the journal. Check out her blog to see all the details about the project, including recommendations about using ink with shrink plastic.

(photo courtesy of Debbie Olson)

I need some PolyShrink

Remember Shrinky Dinks? The little plastic shapes that you baked and they shrunk to 1/3 their size?

Well shrink plastic is a perfect fit with stamping! PolyShrink is a popular choice with any crafsters. Check out what Niki did with shrink plastic - I LOVE these little black cat charms!

Be sure to stop by Niki's blog and check out the entire project.

(photo courtesy of Niki Estes)

Whiff of Joy Blog candy!

Creative Ideas by Katharina is giving away some yummy blog candy! As a fun twist, not only do YOU get a free set of four stamps, but you get to give away another set on your blog!

From Katharina:

Here is the deal:

• The winner of my blog candy give away gets the complete Whiff of Joy Guardian Angel Collection by Elisabeth Bell ( 4 stamps ) for free
• AND I (or better Whiff of Joy Stamps ) will host a blog candy give away on the winners blog. You can choose the terms and I will sponsor your blog candy with another complete set of the Guardian Angels

What do you have to do to qualify for my blog candy?

• Subscribe to my newsletter or RSS feed (you can find it in my right sidebar). I know a lot of you already did this (Thanks so much!!). So if you are already a subscriber you already fullfilled this requirement :)
• Post a link to my 100 000 hits blog candy on your blog
• Come back here and let me know that you want to enter the draw

I will draw the winner with random.org on August 16th 8pm central European time - enough time to participate!! Good luck everybody!

Stamps: not just for cards!

I've only been stamping for a couple years, and haven't really tried anything other than paper crafts (cards and scrapbooking). There is, of course, an entire range of possibilities. While my crafts room is packed up and ready for moving, I thought I'd share some of my favourite non-card projects made by other craftsters.

Today is Nichole's paper bead bracelets. I've never tried this technique, but it's apparently popular with the elementary crowd ;)

I happen to have a large (unused) bottle of Mod Podge, so this project will be one of the first on my list after I unpack!

Rustic Branches

Another set I must have: Rustic Branches from Papertrey Ink. The set is being released on August 15th. I can't wait!

Check out what Nichole did with this set - lavender sachets!

And Heather (the designer of the stamp set!) has several samples using her set. Wow, how cool is that, using your own stamp set on projects!

The new Stampin' up Catalogue is online!

Check it out!

Oh gosh, where to start? The wide oval punch, Hidden Garden rub-ons, designer buttons, Eastern Blooms & Pocket Silhouettes stamp sets. Oh, and the new Flower Fusion. And Hawaii Papaya DSP. Ack, I better stop!

Working outside my comfort zone

This card is for the first challenge on Stamping Links to Love (SCTL1), which is to create "outside of the box", aka your comfort zone. Well this card definitely fits in that category!

1. It's round.
2. I sewed on it.
3. The circles aren't all symmetrical (if you know me, you know this is a huge deal for me).
4. Aside from the ribbon and thread, there's no embellishment. No brads, eyelets, stickers, glitter, anything!

I started with one of the Carousel Notes from SU, and cut three smaller circles from cardstock and DSP. I stamped the image from Summer by Sea, and used my ink pads and blender pen to watercolour. I need more practice with watercolouring. I used my Marvy Giga scalloped circle punch to punch out the image, and then coloured the edge with my Chocolate Chip marker. Did I mention I just ordered 10 SU markers?

I really wanted to center all the circles, but it just didn't look right, so I moved them all to the side. Then I pulled out my mother-in-law's sewing machine (I'm borrowing it, but I need one for myself!)sewed them together. Then I sewed a couple times around the scalloped circle.

The green scalloped circle is the back of the card, and the brown circle forms the front of the card. I scored a line just off the edge, and sewed the two together, adding some Soft Sky ribbon for a bit of embellishment.
Stamps: Summer by the Sea
Paper: Wild Wasabi Carousel Note, Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, & Whisper White cardstock, Afternoon Tea DSP
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip, Groovy Guava, Soft Sky (SU), Timber Brown (Staz-On)
Accessories: marker, ribbon (SU)
Techniques: sewing, watercolouring

Tap. Tap. "Is this thing on?"

Um, hi. From the hit counter, I know people are visiting, but no one leaves me any love anymore! So yeah, just checking to see if this thing is working. I realize I won't have much in the way of new projects to share (although watch tomorrow for the second card before the big pack), but I hope you'll come by for a visit over the next few weeks. Feel free to say "hi" anytime :)

It's all packed up.

Yup, my crafts room is all packed. I want to cry :(

For a Friend

I just couldn't pack up the crafts room without one more card. Okay, two more! I stayed up until 2am last night, pushing myself to actually use my supplies, and enjoy it while I can! We move in exactly two weeks, so I imagine it will be at least three before I'll be able to dirty up my stamps again :(

Here's the first card, based on Heather's Color vs. Sketch challenge (HMSC5) and (HMCC2). I tried to follow both, although I varied the colours just a bit (white instead of Vanilla, and I don't have a Taken with Teal marker, so I used Tempting Turquoise).

The card base is embossed with the D'Vine Swirls CB folder. I used my markers to colour the stamp, and then "huffed" to moisten the ink before I stamped it. I hand drew a little border, inspired by Mary's border on this card.

I punched a small hole on either side of the sentiment, and ran the ribbon behind it. The ribbon is not SU, but I think it matches Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink perfectly! The green layer needed something, so I added a few white rub-ons. Three brads in the top right corner complete the look.

Stamps: For a Friend (SU)
Paper: Chocolate Chip & Whisper White, Summer Picnic & Bali Breeze DSP
Ink: none
Accessories: Love & Happiness rub-ons, markers, brads (SU); corner rounder punch (EK Success), 1/16" hole punch (Fiskars), D'Vine Swirls CB folder, vine rub-ons (Kaiser), ribbon (American Crafts)

Win free stamps!

All That Scraps is previewing their new August stamps. Check out the blog to win:

Bear Hugs
Olivia's Birdies

Good luck!

Altered Brads, courtesy of Mel Stampz

Looking to add some "wow" to your brads? Check out Mel's tutorial on altered brads!

Funky trees

Pink Cat Studio has just released Limitless Limbs. I'm going to need this set. I love the curly tree! And the monkey, and the ghosts, and the fruit, and the cat, and the... The best part is that Pink Cat Studio is a Canadian company (located about 30 minutes from my house, actually!). The set is only $14, and shipping for one item is $1.26 (CDN)!

Check out what Lauren has done with it, here and here.

Packing up the crafts room. Sniff.

Yup, the time has come. I need to pack up my crafts room! We are moving in SIXTEEN days, so I can't put it off any longer.

To make up for my lack of new projects, I thought I'd share some of my favourite craftsters, their blogs, and their awesome projects. So please stick around!

Another use for rub-ons

I bought this shadow frame before we were married. I'd originally put in some of the decor from the wedding, but didn't like it. These white SU rub-ons look much better!

Nothing much to describe here. I used a bunch of the rub-ons from the Love & Happiness set.

Cherry Suspension

For this card, I embossed the DSP (rather than cardstock) for a different look. The first time I embossed it, I realized that you can sand the top of the embossed image to give it a different look, but it didn't really go with this card. Of course I saved the piece for next time!

For this card, I wanted to use the suspension technique, which Beate describes in this tutorial. I used a large square scalloped punch for the window, so I could use my scalloped circle punch as the suspended image.



One thing I realized is that the floss doesn't stick to the tape very well, even if it's sticky tape. I'd use regular scotch tape to adhere the floss to the cardstock, and then sticky tape to adhere it all together.

I stamped the sentiment with Whisper White craft ink, and embossed it with clear powder. As you can see, I still have embossing issues :p

Cherry Suspension
Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Polka Dots and Paisley (SU)
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Real Red, Summer Picnic DSP (SU)
Ink: Old Olive, Real Red, Only Orange, Whisper White craft (SU)
Accessories: Scallop Punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, Whisper White grosgrain ribbon, brads (SU); D'Vine Swirls embossing folder (CB), scallop square punch (Marvy), clear embossing powder (unknown), heat tool (Marvy)

This is the final post about the contents of the stationary box. I hope you've enjoyed it!

Lots of Squares

Another simple card, this one relies on punches for almost everything! I punched the sentiment out with the Word Window punch, then wrapped the end around the back of the blue layer. A green rhinestone (is it a square or a diamond? those diamond Shreddies make me laugh) anchors it to the orange panel.


Lots of Squares
Stamps: Lots of Thoughts (SU)
Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Summer Picnic DSP (SU)
Ink: Real Red (SU)
Accessories: Word Window punch, 1" circle punch, 1 1/4" square punch, 1 3/8" square punch (SU); blue ribbon (unknown), clear button (Making Memories), green rhinestone (unknown)

Cheery Cherries

This is a very simple card, so I won't bore you with a long spiel. If I were to do it again, I'd round the corners of the sentiment/mat and the actual card. Oh well, next time!

Cheery Cherries
Stamps: Tart & Tangy, Lots of Thoughts (SU)
Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Summer Picnic DSP (SU)
Ink: Old Olive, Only Orange, Real Red (SU)
Accessories: Scallop Punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" square punch, 1 1/4" square punch, Old Olive poly-twill ribbon (SU); orange rhinestones (Kaiser), D'Vine Swirls embossing folder (CB)