Time Goes By... Mother's Day (Paper Hoarders DT)

Wow! I had a whole lot of stuff I was going to write/complain about, but um... got here (to Blogger) and saw there are a whole heck of a lot of changes, and that just ADDS to my crappy week. Ick!

So... let's just go with the DT challenge. We had our choice of Mother's Day or Spring. I had this BRILLIANT idea. Katy Perry was just ringing through my mind with her "Firework" song... as Marissa had a talent show (see her video at end...)today and one of the kids was singing that, so yes... it got stuck in my head... like for THREE weeks (all through the practices...) and so, I thought I'd do "Mommy, You're a Firework!" But...

My Gypsy broke. It won't connect to the computer (for an update) or to the Cricut. Neither device recognizes the Gypsy as being recognized. So sad. [Short Story: HSN is supposed to call me back with info on where to ship it. Have they called? NO!, but hopefully, they will soon...]

And so... after years of working on my Gypsy, I had to re-train myself on the Cricut machine, itself. I'm sure I could have used Cricut Craftroom, or Design Studio... but there are no computers in my craft room or near it, and the Cricut isn't on Wifi, so... ('cause gee... I wouldn't need a computer if my Gypsy was working...) Whew! It's tough. To have to make cuts on the .25 inch marks. To not be able to mix, match, weld, etc. Wow, to not be able to flip things and manipulate them to WHERE I WANT THEM ON THE FRIGGIN' MAT... um yeah... you get the picture. It was really REALLY REALLY difficult for me. You can't teach an old dog to go BACK to their old ways, once they've already advanced... but I plunged on.

So anyway, back to this brilliant idea. My intention was to have the words cut out and welded on the front of the card, with cut fireworks in the background. Did not happen. The blade was tearing the paper at the smaller size, and didn't cut through at the too big size; I couldn't cut it at the just-right size, as well... you know... (see above short story)...

So I gave up. (on that part).

I ended up finding some awesome firework paper in my scraps, cut it to fit the front of the card, wrote it out myself (yes, that's my printing, folks!) in embossing ink, sprinkled cutesy puffy purple embossing powder, and heated the sucker up. Blooop! Up it puffed. But... it wasn't enough... so...

I did firework-y lines all over in the fireworks areas and then used rainbow sprinkles (who knew they weren't just for cupcakes anymore!) embossing powder on THAT and heated it up. Now I was all sparkly and fresh on the front, but dull and not even related to Mother's Day on the inside.

I was able to cut (success!!!) a phrase from Graphically Speaking that wasn't too small, wasn't too big, wasn't just right, but, was about as good as it was going to get... So I took it. And... if you remember my post from LAST month (yes... it's been that long, folks...) you'll remember I am completely fascinated with my new Martha Stewart fraying scissors. (They'll be new to me for a long time, so just get used to it!) So, I cut out a bunch of colors, and they didn't quite fit the way I thought they would. I couldn't get them to flip and flop the way I wanted, so I just used them in the background, slapped a black oval (to symbolize the night sky... ready for fireworks), and put in my "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY". Whew.

Now if that ain't a heart-attack and a half!

There's a lot more to my last couple of weeks, including LOTS of bad-hair days, but we won't get into that just now. Suffice it to say, that... Well... I'm still here. You're still here, and life is just a little busy and complicated at the moment. I'm hoping it smooths out in a couple of weeks (when summer gets here!). Cheerio! (and if you'd like to see the rest of the ladies' challenges and JOIN IN, feel free, and visit Ms. Tanya's blogaroo... don't forget to leave some love for us. happy comments and praises [even just a smidge] are what makes our worlds go 'round!)

and here's Marissa's brilliant Magician act... kids are so cute! (btw... please don't mind the background noise [i was having horrible mommy-moments] or the idiotic recording... still learning the new phone... helpful hints and how-to's are welcome! thx!)

Paper Hoarders Design Team Challenge: Boni's Butterflies

So... I've been awarded another stint with the Paper Hoarders Design Team. Woohoo! And today's challenge is Boni's Butterflies... you see... Boni is a fabulous artist. She does all kind of neat-o stuff and is especially fabulous with all things steampunk. (You can see her work HERE! You'll see what I mean!) Well, anyway... Boni thought she'd be really cute and "assign" a challenge as a surprise to our head honcho. The challenge? Butterflies and joy.  What is more joyful than a butterfly, flying freely through the blue sky on a clear Spring day? I don't know... but I tried!

Here we have it... a butterfly done with Hannah Montana (on the Cricut, of course... because I have no other type of cutter 'cept my two hands and scissors...). The butterfly is custom cut in bright orange, then in textured yellow (a little bit smaller), and yellow-ish-orange vellum (ya'll know how much I love vellum, right?). I cut the wings off the body (didn't have a cut for just the wings...) for both the yellow and the vellum, but with the vellum, left a larger lip to apply adhesive and fold under the yellow wings. The yellow wings are inked with Persimmon (from Ranger's Distress Inks). The vellum... adhered with my ATG just where it touches the body, then folded under the yellow wings (to appear to float and to fly).

Then we add the glitter... Stickles in a bright orange and sunkist yellow around the wings, and a dark brown Studio G glitter glue for the body and antennae (I don't like it as much, it's not as smooth-going...).

So... I wanted the card to stand, but not be "on" something. Voila! In steps the 1/2-card! The 1/2-card is done in a vibrant lime green, textured cardstock (Colorbok), which I frayed with my new Martha Stewart shears. LOVE THESE and was so glad I finally had a chance to use them! Now... I'll admit, maybe I should have frayed the green up a bit higher... but, I was trying to maintain stability on the card. (I did/do want it to stay standing!).

Now, the pics kinda suck still... still learning the iPhone, and nobody seems to have any tips to hand out to me... so, until then, you're going to get the learning in progress. And yes... that is a cubbie... My craftroom in in shambles right now, and I can't seem to find the time to clean it up. So, since I was out of room everywhere, I simply emptied a cubbie that only had empty notebooks, and voila! a light box arose from debris of craftroom... hmm... a new type of Phoenix? We'll see. Hopefully, I'll get some time this weekend to fix it all up again.

Oh and a yeah... the Stickles were taking forever to dry, so... it'll look a lot better (less folding on the wings and more fluttering) when it's dry. So just ignore that for now.

And now, without further ado, if you'd like to join our challenge and/or see what everyone else on the DT did, please go and visit Tanya's blog, where you'll find lots of fabulous ladies showing us what they've got! and... thanks for stopping by!!!!

Gina's Anniversary!!! (Becky's Sweet Creations DT Challenge)

I'm back with a challenge from Becky's Sweet Creations... Our challenge was purple and gold... an anniversary card. So. to the point.  Gold foil (embossed w/Tim Holtz!) in a "timeless" pattern, layered over a deep rich purple, then stamped and heat embossed with "love". Pretty much sums it up! lol! Love is timeless...  Happy Anniversary, Gina! (yes, i know the pictures suck... learning to work my new phone and can't figure it out. but... there IS hope. i've seen TONS of people take AWESOME pics with the iPhone. wish me luck!)

Paper Hoarders Design Team Challenge (Guest Designer) - Love/Anniversary Layout

Howdy there! Omgosh! It's been over two months. I know I've been busy, but... yeah. I've been floating around the internet, on Facebook, and my newfound time waster addiction, Pinterest!  So many ideas and so little time... Time has flown!  Then, there's the usual busy-family-kids-everyday-life things. And I got taken away... overwhelmed... You know...

But, Tanya, at Paper Hoarders, pulled me outta my funk and let me be a guest designer. Um... because of the shortened week, I'm a day off. I thought today was 2/22... and I was gonna be on time and everything! But... as we you can see, today is 2/23!!!! And so, I'm posting it a bit late. Silly me! It was done and everything! I was just taking my time loading it all and writing about it!

Alrighty. Let's get down to buswhacks! First... I don't have very many pics of me. And I most certainly don't have very many pics of me and the hubster. But... since Photoshop wasn't working for me all this week (it wouldn't save, wouldn't print the right size, and was just plain acting wonky [yes, that's a word... at least to me, it is!]), I switched to my trusty-ol' Fuji program and found THESE pics you see posted here.

I decided to do something a little different. I was looking for that edgy-distressed-type look... so... I printed them (via my own printer) on pearlescent textured paper, to get a silvery sheen. I love the way the pics turned out!!!! (Can YOU see the texture and the sheen?)

And me? I love playing with textures and mediums of all sorts. So... I even made my own vellum lace. I border-punched two different strips of vellum (two different punches - Fiskars Threading Water and Martha Stewart Embossed Snowflakes), one was white, and the other ecru. I sewed them together with a navy thread (to accentuate the background paper), crumpled them all up really tight!!!, sprayed them with Walnut Ink Stain, then misted with water, mashed them around a bit more... and

here's the REALLY good part! Hey! you know how you "lose" things or "forget" you have things, and then you find them, and they're all dried up (we're talking baby wipes I bought for my stamps... years... ago...) and you think that the only way you can do something with them is to either throw them away or re-moisten them and hope for the best? (Whew! THAT was a long sentence!!! My English teachers wouldn't be too happy with that!) Um, yeah... Guess what? I used those old, dried-out, newly found baby wipes to blend the stain and water and move it on down to semi-saturate my homemade vellum lace and "squeegee" off the remaining amount of stain. Woohoo! {flips hair over the shoulder, because I know I'm good now!}

And so... I adhered my pics to this awesome blue-ish toned and distressed paper with flourishes, painted a little Robin's Egg Blue around the bottom pic, cut the strips of the vellum lace (so it would form better to the curves of the heart I was gonna adhere it to), and adhered it all around the pics in the shape of a heart.

The Heidi Swapp Ghost Letters (LOVE) are painted Robin's Egg Blue on the back, then adhered with (get this) silicone glue, to add dimension, since pop dots would have showed through. I love the use of silicone glue (aka: silicone caulking - found in your local hardware store) to add a "ghostly" dimension. It's awesome!

And then, as a finishing touch, I stamped "forever" (a Studio G stamp) in the bottom left corner. I was going to add more... but... thought with all the pics (yes, I used FOUR of the same-type pose... because... well, we can never seem to get them right. but the point is... we do so many other things GREAT together!), that it was busy enough. Simplicity is key.

Anywho... I hope you like it. I had a blast making it. And thank you, Paper Hoarders for letting me join in again. I missed you so!

Tomorrow is Design Team day, and YOU can join in the challenge, too! Just go on over to Tanya's Blog and check out each of the DT members. Comment on them... please!!!! And you can link to your challenge result.

Oh yeah... the challenge was... Um... Love/Anniversary, using NON-traditional colors (no red, pink, or silver). I think I made it! Woohoo! (and this makes me first layout of the year! um... I've never even scrapped a pic of me and the hubster, so... that's a whole heck of a lot of challenges for me today!)

oh, and... PLEASE! don't forget to leave a comment for me, too! I'd love to know what YOU think about it!

And Other Christmas-sy, Winter-y Cheer!

I know everyone's been busy. That's not an "excuse", it's just real. I haven't been taking pics of everything, but have been taking pics of some... and here's just a bit that isn't DT stuff...

If you follow me, you know that I make photo spots for the kindergarten classes (um... I guess I've never posted these either?)... Let's start over.

I make photo spots for the kindergartners and their parties. I began last year with our little Leprechaun party. Ok... so apparently I did post it but don't know how to label or had a brain fart or whatever.  So, since I had some JW's in the class, and their mommas wouldn't let them take a pic because they told me, "We don't worship Leprechauns..." (I put that italicized schtuff in there... they didn't emphasize it...) GASP!!! "I don't either..." I said. And thus began my research into things that had NO religious symbolism WHATSOEVER!!!! The "Spring" party came... and I made a Spring Chicken... no eggs, no crosses, no pieces of egg(shells), no bunnies... Ha!

And now onto Winter (in other words... Christmas... Shh...)

Now... let's get this into perspective. It's not that I am dissing the JW's. Or any other religion or non-religion. I respect them. All of them. I firmly believe that we should learn and glean information from ALL religions so that we each understand one another and uphold that respect. I do not believe that we should be ignorant on any level. For those of you who are "older" like me... ahem... You might remember studying the various versions of Santa Clause in other countries. You know... what he was named, their Christmas or other holiday traditions, etc. I remember making dreidels and Menorahs and singing Dreidel songs. I remember singing an African song in the Winter Commemoration. And I am NONE of those religions.

I also believe that kids should be kids. And when the 5 and 6 year-olds are having a party, where all they do is eat, sing songs, make a craft or two, and take photos, it's just another day celebrating LIFE. The classes are a bunch of combined religions, and as a public school, we're not putting religion into it... or politics... we just want kids to be kids and enjoy the fun and fantasy of "fairy tales". Life is magic, too. And so here we all are.

Stepping off my soapbox... WAIT! It was a HIGH platform!!!


Ok, enough with that.

And so... instead of a Santa cut-out, or an Angel cut-out, I made a SNOWMAN. Yes, I did. He comes with glitter and all...

Here's my kid in it. She wanted to take a pic, because she is not in kinder anymore...

Isn't that background just AWESOME? I know!!! It was achieved with a can of spray paint and me moving closer and backing up and over and backing up and... just totally having a blast. I did it out on my driveway and you should've SEEN the cars slowing down... I'm sure I totally looked like a tagger, sweats and all!


Here's just the background...

Now I'm kinda thinkin' I might want an airbrush system... hmmm... another "toy" to play with!

So, I painted the snowman and hills a white, then sprayed them with adhesive and sprinkled glitter. While that dried I painted on the trees and sun. I had originally started to sponge it all, then I had a VanGogh moment and Starry Night appeared in my brain, so I brushed over the sponging and let the streaks show... Loved it! When the gluey business was dry, I sprayed a glaze over, to seal the glitter, because WHO wants glitter all over the place?

The hat is cardboard, coated with adhesive then covered in black construction paper and cut. ribbon added, and VOILA! He's all done. (Since then, I've stapled a little ribbon scarf to match the hat on the outside of the snowman. It's all good. It's a work in progress. And I'm not perfect. Did I really just say that?


And on to my 1st grader's "gifts" to everyone in her class... Reindeer Noses!!!

Aren't they just too cute? I got the idea from Craft Gossip's posting on them... But... I didn't "feel" like drawing each and every one and HECK! if I was gonna do all the work, so started looking for a digi stamp (free, of course!). And I found one, HERE! at Bits N Bobs! I went through a lot of them (stamp links and sites), and finally found the one that would be perfect for a 6yo to color. (and also one that was not "Christmas-sy" and a JW could eat without feeling guilty for not telling his parents!)

Those are malted milk balls (Whoppers). The original poster (Zoe Robson @ A Personal Touch) used red gumballs for the Rudolph noses. However... first off, Walmart didn't have any, and second off... I wasn't gonna spend over $7 a pound to go to the Candy Store. Ugh! I was going for inexpensive and simple. So... I picked up the Strawberry Shake malted milk balls (Whoppers, again!), as they appeared bright pink on the outside of the box. You know... Rudy probably burned it out a little... However... they are NOT very bright pink and are truly "fleshy" colored. So... I told my 6yo to just say that Rudolph had a busy night and his nose was a little tired. First-graders love a good story!!!


They were a total hit! She was so excited that everyone loved them. And were like, "Whoah!" "Awesome!" "Can I open them?" And I'm sure her teacher was pleased there wasn't "too" much candy in them...

Whew! That's just a bit of what's been going on here. Hope you enjoyed it. And please! PLEASE! pay homage to those that originally posted some ideas. I always give credit where credit is due, and if you stop by and say, "HI!", those wonderfully creative peeps will feel the appreciation they deserve. Thanks and have a wonderfully hectic Week BEFORE Christmas!

Paper Hoarders Design Team Challenge: "Christmas" Layout

I've not been doing so many layouts lately. My main focus has been on gifts and cards and kindergarten projects. There have been LOTS of school projects. LOTS of birthdays, too! I haven't been taking pics of all my work, as me... the procrastinator that I am... doesn't seem to quite find the "time" to take the pic before I have to rush off and give it to the intended... Guess I could take the pic while the glue is drying, hmm?


Anywho, our special DT challenge was to do a Christmas-type/Winter-type layout. And while I "forgot" to order pics and I'd probably forget to pic them up, even if I ordered them! I was going to post this sans photos. However, we (at a restaurant table after a busy busy Elementary School sing-along) were talking about the Mission Inn, and I decided to dig out some old photos to go in my layout. Ok, so I added a little bit of hand-written captioning, but hey... the layout is done, and I'm happy. By the way... I hate dislike glossy prints. And hate dislike the old camera these came from, but I was able to capture the memories AND use up these pics that have been sitting in a box for more than 12 years... ha!

Hmm... Blogger's being "weird" again. This pic was taken landscape, shows up landscape, but isn't loading landscape. And YES! That is my kitchen floor!

The left side... see my shadow?

The right...

And a bit of detail. I LOVE Doodlecharms, and I LOVE Stickles!!!

Boop-boop, be-doop! Whoop!

And no... I didn't procrastinate in the layout, but just the photos...

And now, if you'd like to participate and see everyone else's layouts, head on over to Miss Tanya's blogarooni and see what every one else has got... and HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Paper Hoarders Design Team Challenge: Christmas Card

Yes... I know... it's been almost a month. No excuses, just no mojo, and no battery... and no... and no... (enough with my excuses already... ON! with the challenge!)

So, last year... at the Day After Christmas Sales... I found myself at Target. Going through their clearance stash and came across a couple of bolts of white feather boa "ribbon" for $1.99, marked at 1/2 off LOWEST price. Ya think they might've miss-marked THAT? And so... me, being the totally frugal hoarder person that I am bought them all up! With a card in mind... for this year...

And it took me MANY challenges to finally DO it!

So here I am, presenting it to you...  I mean... What's more Christmas than a little Santa Claus?

How did I get here?

Here's some things NOT to do:

Do not cheat simplify by trying to glitter over the red... it shows through. So, instead, glitter over a black cardstock strip, and you'll be good.

Do not try to heat emboss a plastic slide thinking it would act just like a shrinky-dink to make it look like a belt buckle. It morphs into something utterly at the bottom of a volcano. Ugh. What a mess! And a waste of my precious metallic embossing powder. Instead... Cut the dang thing out of REALLY thick chipboard, instead.

Just another note... when using a really thick "ribbon" like this white feather boa... cut slits to tuck the boa in. DO NOT try putting the belt and the buckle over the ribbon... it makes Santa more fat and bumpy than he really should be...

And another note... DO NOT WEAR BLACK WHILE DOING THIS PROJECT! Unless you want white feather fluff to show all over you... my fleecewear is still recuperating.

Hope you had a fun time and enjoy it! Now... if you want to check out the others for our December Challenge, go on... and go to Miss Tanya's blog! Leave a little love for each of our designers, and join in the challenge, too! Mwah!