2011 - one little word

It's been TOO long since my blog has had any attention; poor blog!! I've been crafting, but just haven't had: time or energy or simple inclination to post. The fall and early winter were challenging for me; my 84-year old mother moved in with me & my health has had moments as well.

But 2011 is a new year and I've come to appreciate how much I enjoy being a part of the online community of crafters/scrapbookers. So, I'm resolving to post at least once a week. (And thanks for not pointing out that I've missed the first week of the year!!)

I've followed Ali Edwards' lead for several years and have chosen one little word (OLW) to be my guide. I've decided that one of the things that I've missed most in my crafting is: scrapbooking. So, my first post for 2011 is my OLW resolution.

Materials: digital template (Cathy Zielske's The Monthly, template CZ_4)

I've really come to accept that I'm a simple scrapbooker. I admire those who can embellish a page (either digitally or hybrid or paper) to within an inch of its life, but I don't have those skills. So, I'm grateful for designers (yeah, that's you Cathy & Ali) who design simple linear templates that focus on the words and photos. All the colors on this digital page come from the photos; maybe toned down a wee bit, but in keeping with a simple design.

So, here's to being active in 2011. As always, thanks for looking.

Best Wishes, Veronica

On of my co-workers has taken a new job and will be leaving us this Friday. I made this card for her as a farewell. I'm hoping that she doesn't read my blog; I don't think she does.......

The flower was made for the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge, but I didn't get it photographed and uploaded in time to link it for that challenge.

The flower was cut using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Sizzix die; the largest flower is a page from a old book, glued to grungepaper. The black background piece is Amaco metal which was first embossed using the D'vine swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder, then was die cut using the Tim Holtz Ornamental Sizzix die. The swirl flourishes are grungeboard from Advanatus/Cropper Hopper. The oval was die cut using one of the Nestabilities oval dies. Lots of Ranger product was used as well, including distress ink and Perfect Pearls.

Materials: card (stash); black metal sheet (Amaco); black and kraft cardstock (Bazzill); grungepaper (Advantus/Cropper Hopper) music paper (the Paper Company); ink (Ranger, vintage photo); gold glitter (Ranger Perfect Pearls - both direct to paper and made into a mist applied using Mini Mister); adhesives (Xyron, Pioneer double sided mounting tape, mono-multi, pop-dots); embossing & dies (Sizzix Tattered Florals, Sizzix Ornamentals, Cuttlebug D'vine swirls, Spellbinders Nestabilities); die cut machine (Cuttlebug).

As always, thanks for looking.

CCC #5 - distress powder

My first time to complete a challenge for the Compendium of Curiosities challenge. The details for #5 can be found here.

I was surprised to find that in my supplies of stamping materials that I only had 2 colors of distress embossing powder -- black soot and antique linen. I might have to do something about that!

I initially embossed only the birds with black soot, but added black soot to the spider as well.

I'm not entirely happy with the bottom right corner of the tag; I had used dried marigold for the orange color in the left hand corner and brushed corduroy in the right hand corner. I over stamped Trick or Treat with the dried marigold again and clear embossed it.

I might have to try a variation of this tag again and see if I can make that sentiment pop more. Linda Ledbetter the sponsor of the CCC blog posted this week that folks either love distress powder or they don't. I have to confess that prior to this tag, I hadn't felt like I knew how to really use distress powder to its best. I'm thinking now that maybe this is something that I can play with and really ENJOY more.

Materials: ink (Ranger distress black soot, clear embossing ink, distress antique linen, distress brushed corduroy, distress dried marigold); embossing powder (Ranger distress black soot; Stamp 'n' Stuff clear); stamps (birds -- Tim Holtz; others -- Inkadinkadoo); adhesives (Pioneer double-sided mounting tape; pop-dots); tools (Inkssentials blending tool with foam pads; Making Memories edge distresser); shipping tag; black sheer ribbon; black cardstock (Bazzill); corrugated card (stash -- maybe Paperbilities???)

As always, thanks for looking.

Happy 4th

Our Creative Corner posted a fun sketch challenge this week here. Hero Arts posted a red, white & blue challenge at Facebook.

I've had the designer paper for several years and knew that I wanted to use it for a 4th of July card. And here is the result of all this inspiration.......

Materials: cardstock (Stampin Up); designer paper (red--ScrapEase) (blue--BoBunny Press); ink (red--Colorbox cranberry) (blue--Ranger broken china) (light blue--Colorbox French blue chalk ink); stamp (Hero Arts CL054 Clear Design July); die cuts (Grungeboard shapes); adhesives (Xyron; All Night Media pop-dots; Scotch pop-up foam squares).

Thanks for looking.

Happy Birthday, Cindy

This card was made in late April for the April birthday of my co-worker, Cindy. She only received the card a few days ago. Can you say timely? NOT!!!

The card was inspired by this card sketch. I really liked this sketch and will probably use it again. In keeping with my goal of reducing the amount of stuff that I have in the stash, all of the materials are from the stash. I liked using the matstack because it made "matching the papers" easy; all the spring colors were "related".

Materials used: paper (Die Cuts With a View spring matstack); cardstock (DCWV Spring cardstock matstack & SU white c/s); ink (Colorbox); stamp (Hero Arts); adhesives (pop-dots on ALL the squares and Pioneer double-sided mounting tape for other layers). Tools used: Cuttlebug machine, Nestabilities (square die).

Thanks for looking.

Happy Birthday, Rubi

I've been wanting to purchase the Tim Holtz Birdcage die for quite some time and finally found it this weekend at one of the LSS.

My co-worker, Rubi, likes birds almost as much as I do, so I thought that it would be nice to use the die cuts for her card.

Since I'm still trying to "use it up" with old materials that I have on hand, the die was the only thing new purchased for this card. I'm going to be a little depressed when I finally use up my supply of Amaco Art Emboss metal (which supply I bought with coupons at Michaels in Florida). I think Mike's has discontinued carrying the product and I'm not sure which will be harder: living without the Art Emboss or paying full price at the stamping store.

The bird cage was die cut from Art Emboss. The bird and wing from scrapbook paper. The background paper is an ancient piece of scrapbook paper that had very faint images of postage stamps on it. With the embossing and distressing done to it, you can barely make out the already faint images. The cage was distressed with Tim Holtz alcohol inks; the bird and wing were distressed with Tim Holtz distress inks. All the details are below.

Materials used: card/envelope (Canson All Purpose Greeting cards); cardstock (white, SU; brown, Bazzill); paper (background - stash & Provo Craft - bird); metal (Art Emboss medium pewter); inks: alcohol (slate, meadow), stamping inks (TH antique linen, walnut stain & Colorbox black); flowers (primas); brads & tag (Making Memories); ribbon (1/8-inch black satin from stash); stamp (Hero Arts); adhesives (Diamond Glaze & Pioneer double sided mounting tape & pop-dots under the wing). Tools used: Cuttlebug machine & Script texture folder, Tim holtz inking handles, Making Memories Tag Maker.

Thanks for looking.

Kamakura 2010

I guess it's time for me to come out of lurk mode. I've been back from my adventure to Japan for more than 6 weeks. I've just stayed busy with some health issues and haven't really done much/any cardmaking -- so nothing to show on the blog.

I did start a digital scrapbooking class online and thought I'd start showing off some of my photos from Japan.

For my cardmaking friends I'll start posting again. soon. I hope.......

Thanks for looking.