Love You Beary Much

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments.  I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

Today's card is one of four identical ones that I created for my great nieces (Landon's sisters), Makayla, Briana, Charissa and Chloe...

Inside...

Card: Whisper White and Flirty Flamingo
Ink: Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake and Early Espresso for the bear; Blushing Bride and Flirty Flamingo
Stamp sets: Baby Bear and Gorgeous Grunge
Adhesives: Tombow

Challenges...
#249 AAG at Pixie's Snippets Playground
#332 AAG at Craft your passion
#91 AG at Crafty Gals Corner

I'll be back on Friday with another creation, so I hope you'll join me then.

Look Who's Turning 1

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments.  I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

It's hard to believe that my great-nephew Landon is one already!  Of course, the little man's big day, on August 31st, deserved a very special card...

The colors and background splatters were inspired by the theme I used to create everyone's albums in honor of his arrival, which can be found here.

Card: Whisper White and Soft Sky
Ink: Bear ~ Sahara Sand (base layer), Crumb Cake (2nd) and Early Espresso; Bow ~ Soft Sky (base layer and also splatters) and Pool Party (detail and also sentiment)
Stamp sets: Baby Bear, Number of Years and Gorgeous Grunge
Tools and embellishments: Numbers Framelits
Adhesives: Tombow

Challenges...
#89 Freestyle at Crafty Gals Corner
#248-249 AAG at Word Art Wednesday
Linky Party #20 AG at CropStop

Whatever you're doing this weekend, have a great one!  I'll be back soon with another creation, so I hope you'll join me then.

Grungy Monotone Butterfly

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

Oh how I've missed you, Gorgeous Grunge! It's been way too long since I've played with what has to be an all time favorite stamp set, so I've put it right for today's card...

Card: Thick Whisper White
Ink: Peekaboo Peach
Stamp sets: Gorgeous Grunge and Designer Tin of Cards
Tools and embellishments: Bold Butterfly Thinlits, Lots of Labels Framelits and Basic Pearls
Adhesives: Tombow and Stampin' Dimensionals

Challenges...
#55 A is for Aperture at Butterfly Challenge
#234-235 AAG at Word Art Wednesday
#179 AG at 613 Avenue Create

I'll be back soon with another creation, so I hope you'll join me then.

Joyful Season Album Part 2

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

Following on from Wednesday's post, today I'm sharing the cover, insert and box lid I created for both of those albums.

Cover...

First page...

Box lid

Because they are both Christmas gifts, I'm not sharing the inside cover dedication, because I don't want to spoil the surprise! Suffice to say that it is decorated similarly to these and handwritten. 

Card: Cherry Cobbler (other album), Rich Razzleberry and Whisper White
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Rich Razzleberry and Early Espresso
Marker: Blackberry Bliss Stampin' Write (from 2014-2016 In Color pack, used for "SEASON")
Stamp set: Gorgeous Grunge and Joyful Season
Tools and embellishments: Crystal Effects
Adhesives: Tombow

Challenges...
#213 AAG at Word Art Wednesday
#291 AG at Craft your passion

Whatever you're doing this weekend, have a great one. I'll be back on Monday with another creation, so I hope you'll join me then.

Joyful Season Album Part 1

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

Today I'm sharing another couple albums that have been created recently. Yep, one of them is the one which features in my Basic Concertina Album Pictorial! For insert dimensions, please refer to Monday's post.

Both of the albums featured today use the Gorgeous Grunge and Joyful Season stamp sets from Stampin' Up!

Both of these were again a lot of work, but the result is well worth it, as is knowing how much they will be forever treasured by the recipients.

Card: Cherry Cobbler, Rich Razzleberry and Whisper White
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Rich Razzleberry (grunge on matching album) and Early Espresso
Stamp set: Gorgeous Grunge and Joyful Season
Tools and embellishments: Deco Labels Framelits
Adhesives: Sticky Strip (retired)

Challenges...
#213 AAG at Word Art Wednesday
#175 AG at Brown Sugar
#291 AG at Craft your passion

I'll be back on Friday with part 2, so I hope you'll join me then.

Beth's Album and Pictorial

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

A month ago today my beloved sister celebrated a milestone birthday. She'll likely kill me for saying it was her 50th, but as it's mentioned in the album I created for her, I think I'm safe. Least I hope so! Grin.

I was unsure what colors to use, so asked her what she wanted. I'd mentioned a while back, when creating her son Daniel's album, that I'd create one for her, so wasn't spoiling the surprise. Her reply was "Camo, please!" She's a skilled crossbow hunter, so it didn't really surprise me!

In addition to the Basic Concertina Album I shared with you on Friday, you'll need LOTS of card OR DSP for the inserts and LOTS of Sticky Strip. While this one isn't the same base as in the linked pictorial, and it's the same size as Daniel's album, it differs from that one because all of the pages in this one are photo pockets.

This one is a whopping 18, yes, EIGHTEEN concertina pages, the thinking behind that originally coming from Daniel's birthday being his 18th.

Card or DSP
To cover every page you'll need 57 pieces cut to 4 3/4" square, plus a few extra for the cover. AND 17 pieces cut to 4 3/4" x 3 1/8"
Inks: Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz and Old Olive used for the background, and Early Espresso
Marker: Mossy Meadow Stampin' Write (from the 2014-2016 In Color pack)
Stamp sets: Gorgeous Grunge, Joyful Season, Butterfly Basics and Me = Grateful
Tools and embellishments: Deco Labels Framelits, Stamping Sponges and Crystal Effects
Adhesive: Sticky Strip (retired) and Tombow

Using the second largest die from the Deco Labels, cut apertures from all the squares of card/ DSP and using the smallest die, cut apertures carefully in the smaller pieces

Stamp the pages as desired. For these I sponged on the inks then added Gorgeous Grunge to complete the camo look, before stamping the branch from Joyful Season onto the squares.

Carefully add tape to 3 edges of the photo pockets, having decided on the orientation of the aperture. Here each double page has a horizontal and vertical aperture

For the smaller pieces, attach them so that the edge is flush with the tab used to join the pages. Stamp the tab if desired

For the cover, I stamped the sentiment from Butterfly Basics in Old Olive and randomly added Crystal Effects to mimic raindrops

For the top page I stamped a sentiment from Me = Grateful in Early Espresso and colored the letters with the Mossy Meadow Stampin' Write marker

For the inside of the cover I added a handwritten dedication

I also created a box for the album and decorated this the same as the album cover

While there is a heck of a lot of work involved, I know this and indeed Daniel's albums will be forever treasured. It is well worth the effort and I hope you'll agree

Challenges...
#153 AG at 613 Avenue Create
#175 AG at Brown Sugar
#291 AG at Craft Your Passion

I'll be back on Wednesday with another creation, so I hope you'll join me then.

EPB Coffee Pot Pictorial

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

I absolutely LOVE Linda's teapot and while creating the one I shared with you here, I thought how I could adapt it for those of us who can't do without our coffee! Here's what you'll need to create my coffee pot body...

Card: Tempting Turquoise measuring 10 3/4" x 8¼" and Whisper White measuring 4¼" x 1½" (6 pieces) OR DSP
Ink: Tempting Turquoise and Rich Razzleberry
Stamp set: Gorgeous Grunge
Tools and embellishments: Envelope Punch Board, Simply Scored and stylus
Adhesives: Tear & Tape and Sticky Strip (retired) OR Tombow

Score the card on the long side at 1½", 3", 4½", 6", 7½" and 9". Turn and score the short side at 1¼" and 6". Fold and burnish all score lines, then use the Envelope Punch Board to punch along the 1¼" score line

Attach your stamped card or DSP panels after rounding the corners with the reverse punch on the EPB, notch in and apply tape

Flip the card over and add tape

Fold the upper section down and secure the short edge. Snip up the bottom scorelines. Doing it this way is a lot less fiddly

Up end the piece and secure the first two opposing flaps, starting either side of the untaped one. Remove the tape from the second flap (seen horizontal here)

Repeat the above with the second set of opposing tabs

Secure the final set, finishing with the untaped tab

Turn it the right way and you should have something like this

For the spout, I changed the dimensions given in Linda's teapot tutorial a bit. Start with a piece of card measuring 2½" x 5 3/4", then score on the short side at ½", then follow Linda's tutorial. This makes for a shorter spout, echoing those on real coffee pots. The lid is the same as the one I used for the teapot. My pictorial is here. I used two Deco Labels Framelits to create the handle...

Note, the photo above makes the coffee pot look a bit shorter than it is.

Challenges...
#203 AAG at Pixie's Snippets Playground
#150 AG at 613 Avenue Create
#288 AAG at Craft your passion

I hope you're loving these EPB creations as much as I am? I'll be back on Wednesday with another, so I hope you'll join me then.

Marble Magic ~ Daniel's Invites

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

In this post last month I gave you a sneaky hint of some marbling I'd done for another project, but I didn't tell you any more about it. Well, the wait is over and I can now reveal that the pieces used in those cards were left overs from those I created to mark my nephew Daniel's 18th birthday this Wednesday.

Dan absolutely LOVES tie dying shirts and when my sister, Beth, commissioned invites for his party, I knew I wanted to try and get as close to a tie-dye effect as I could. Years ago I remember seeing a marble effect created using shaving creme as the ink carrier, so decided to go with that.

While Beth and I talked about it, she asked if I'd personalize the invites and because of the technique used, I suggested the only way would be if I were to handwrite them once they were dry. I actually asked her if she trusted my writing! Luckily she said she does, so I set about creating the 100 pieces of marbling. because by that point the commission had grown from invites to an album and banner too. After a couple of failed attempts using multiple Stampin' Up! reinkers, to try and recreate a tie-dye effect, I settled on 3 individual colors, Pool Party, Soft Sky and Tempting Turquoise...

Card: Whisper White and Crumb Cake
Ink: Pool Party, Soft Sky and Tempting Turquoise (pads and reinkers)
Marker: Black Sharpie
Stamp set: Gorgeous Grunge (envelopes)
Tools: Paper Plates, Shaving Creme and Paper Towels
Adhesive: Tombow

Just as with tie-dying, the look of each individual marbled piece is totally unique. It's a LOAD of fun and doesn't take long at all to do, but you need to allow for drying time (I left them all overnight).

Challenges...
#201 AAG at Word Art Wednesday
#142 AG at 613 Avenue Create
#140 AG at Aud Sentiments

I'll be back on Wednesday with another Marble Magic creation, so I hope you'll join me then.

Project Landon Part 3 ~ Keepsake Blocks

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

The project I'm sharing with you today is the final part of "Project Landon" that was created to celebrate the much anticipated arrival of my great-nephew, Landon Ryan. If you missed the first two posts, they can be found here and here.

While I was creating all the other elements for the project, I wondered what I'd create as my gift for the little man. I originally thought about creating a mobile for his crib, but that wouldn't be much and I wanted something more substantial. Within seconds I realized that keepsake boxes styled as toy blocks were the way to go.

I used the same elements I'd used for everything else to create the blocks...

And added in die cut letters with the Little Letters Thinlits and a star from the Stars Framelits set...

I designed them to fold flat and so also created a box for the blocks...

Box lid, similar to the brag book box lid detail

Card: Whisper White and So Saffron
Ink: Lost Lagoon, Pool Party and Soft Sky
Markers: Coastal Cabana Stampin' Write (retired) and White Gel pen
Stamp sets: Celebrate Baby, Baby We've Grown (both retired) and Gorgeous Grunge
Tools: Simply Scored, Corner Rounder Punch, Little Letters Thinlits and Stars Framelits

The entire project was a total LABOR of LOVE. Yep, pun intended! Here are some of the stats from it...
13… Brag books, I LOVE YOU’s and mobiles
33… Sweet BABY stamped and colored images
39… Photo pockets
47… “Created with love” labels
119… “Landon”
133… Bunnies
179… Pairs of shoes, including 85 cut out
1328… Rounded corners

Challenges...
#201 AAG at Word Art Wednesday
#141 AG w/ optional twist Love Me Do at 613 Avenue Create
#37 AG at Crafty Gals Corner
#164 Anything but a card at Brown Sugar Challenges
#194 AAG at Pixie's Snippets Playground (LOTS used)

Whatever you're doing this weekend, have a GREAT one! I'll be back on Monday with another creation, so I hope you'll join me then.

Project Landon Part 2 ~ Brag Books

Hi everyone,

Thanks for stopping by and for all your wonderful comments. I'm honored to have you here and I truly appreciate each of you more than you know!

Following on from Monday's post, when I shared the birth announcement cards I created for the arrival of my great-nephew Landon Ryan, today I'm sharing the first part of the project to have been created; brag books.

Although only one is shown here, in a VERY image heavy post, there are indeed 13 that were created... One for each of Landon's 4 sisters, Brianna, Makayla, Chloe and Charissa; parents Tosha and Josh; his cousin Tristan; Uncles John and Daniel; Aunt Alicia; grandparents Beth and Wayne and also one for ME too...

Cover to cover...

Last but not least, the box lid detail...

The books were created over several months, just like the little man who's arrival they celebrate :)

Card: Whisper White, So Saffron and Coastal Cabana (retired)
DSP: Lullaby (retired)
Ink: Early Espresso, Soft Sky, Pool Party, Lost Lagoon
Marker: Coastal Cabana Stampin' Write (retired) and White Gel pen
Stamp sets: Celebrate Baby, Baby We've Grown (both retired), Gorgeous Grunge and Back to Basics Alphabet
Tools: Simply Scored, Labels Collection Framelits, Envelope Punch Board (for file pockets)
Adhesives: Tombow and Sticky Strip (retired)

Challenges...
#201 AAG at Word Art Wednesday
#216 Super Scraps Saturday at HIMCR (lots of snippets/ scraps used for all the shoes)
#194 AAG at Pixie's Snippets Playground

I'll be back on Friday with another creation from "Project Landon", so I hope you'll join me then.