Book Exercise

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is hosting their first challenge of the year. B is for "Books" Challenge. 

This background was created by inking the background stamp with distress oxide inks and then spritzing the stamp with water.  I love the watercolor look of the stamp. 

Club Scrap papers, stamps, quote, charm and wax seal sticker. Nuvo drops. Distress oxide inks.

Never Been Used Stencils

I am still on my New Year's crafty resolution and using all the stencils I've never used before.  It's a challenge I've given myself to either use or lose my neglected craft stash.

 

Before I share my stencil creations I wanted to show you how I store my blenders for the Oxide Distress inks. Originally I stored the blender pads on the bottoms of the ink pads with Velcro. It drove me NUTS that the ink pads no longer stacked well.  I now store the pads in a metal tin. 

 

Trim four pieces of heavy cardstock to fit the container and attached six round Velcro pieces to each sheet. Label the colors.

 

 

Now, on to some stencil creations. 

Club Scrap papers, Dahlia stencil and stamp. Queen & Co. pearls. 

 Club Scrap papers, stamps and What a Ride stencil.

Club Scrap papers, stamps and Turkish Map stencil. Nuvo drops.

 

Now I've used this Trattoria stencil before but I just love this little guy!!!

Club Scrap papers, stencil, charm and bow. Memory Box die.

Check Liver Light

I absolutely love the ladies over at Snarky Stampers! Their work is almost always a guarantee for some giggles.  They're hosting a Naughty Christmas challenge and I just couldn't decide which stamps to use.

I love the Holiday Spirits stamps from Avery Elle and spent an evening one rainy night in front of the TV coloring dozens of these little guys. The sentiment from Riley & Co. can be used with just about any celebration. I'm still on my "never been used" stencil endeavor and pulled out this stencil from Lagoon and heat embossed it.

Club Scrap papers, stencil and ribbon. Avery Elle bottles. Riley & Co. sentiment. Copic markers. Queen & Co. pearls.

UPDATE**These lovely ladies chose me for their newest Queen of Snark. Stay tuned for more sarcasm. :) ~1/16



I Pick You

Less is More is hosting sketch #22 challenge.  Since I had my "never been used stencils" out, I thought this would be a great opportunity to use this beauty with embossing powders.  I love the bold contrast the white and red create. 

Club Scrap papers, stencils and stamp.

 

 



Twine-Tags-Trees

Just Add Ink is hosting a Twine-Tags-Trees challenge which caught my interest. I just happen to love all three so this was an easy one for me. 

 

My New Year's crafty resolution is to use neglected tools.  I have at least a dozen unopened card kits that need to be completed so I just reached into the bin and plucked one out. I used a very neglected stencil with oxide inks to created the background. To continue using neglected items, I chose this berry branch die purchased at a recent Scrapbook Expo but never used.

How cute is little mini book on the front of the card?!  The inside of the main card says "Safe Travels".  You'll be seeing more from Literature collection. I was on a roll and created several cards with stencils never before used. Totally exciting!

Club Scrap papers, tags, tree charm and stencil. Oxide inks. Elizabeth Craft Designs die. American Craft twine.



July Card Sketch

July's card sketch is created by Annette D and I love the rounded corners and angled design. Seems like lately I've been sending out more sympathy cards than birthday cards.  I almost never have sympathy cards on hand.  I feel weird even creating them.  That sounds strange, huh?  It makes me sad to just stamp "with sympathy".  

 

You should see some of the cards that have been created. Stunning!

Frame It

Happy Monday!  I'm on the road this week so you'll have to wait a tad bit longer for some Vintage Botany craftiness. So I'm completing some of July's challenges with the Literature Greetings To Go kit. This month's NBUS (Never Been Used Stuff) challenge is to create a frame with stamps.  I'm not the best stamper so a Misti is a must for me. With a little practice and masking this frame turned out much better than expected. :)

 

 

 



Library Pockets

While going through my stash I came across these library pockets. These unusual embellishments are great for layouts and cards.  I adapted these pockets and cards from the Literature Greetings to Go to fit certain upcoming birthdays. I used my alphabet and number stencils on the pockets to personalize.

Club Scrap papers, cards, ribbon and stencil. Sizzix star die and embossing folder. Unknown clip. 

Hidden portion of card. 

Club Scrap papers, ribbons, button, stencil, pocket and card. Sizzix heart die and embossing folder. 

The Literature Greetings to Go kit and the Alphabet stencils are at rock bottom sale prices right now!

Retreat Pocket Planner

I'm totally into making small albums and journals for gifts right now. We take so many photos with our phones but no one is printing them out anymore. There is so much heartache when a phone is lost, computers crash or some other electronic catastrophe.

 

I made this pocket planner/album that came in the Literature deluxe kit for my dear friend Tracey for her 39th birthday ;-). I filled it with pictures from retreat, our short road trips throughout the week and some fun quotes. The pockets and enclosed pages will let her keep ticket stubs and small mementos from our trip.

 

 The gorgeous stitching and binding.

 

 

A glimpse inside...

 

 

Sometimes I don't want to part with these great mini albums but I get so much joy from giving them!

 

Love Makes the Ride Worthwhile

I'm sure you want to see some creations from the newest kit but I just had to share these beautiful cards.

I found this brown and gold paper so elegant and chic, especially pared with the bold red.

 

This set of cards were created for the Idea Deck Challenge over at the Club Scrap forum.

Club Scrap papers, stamps and ribbon. Prima sequins. Martha Stewart punches.

 

How do I get all those sequins glued down?

This glorious creation!

 

Needle-tipped applicator.

 

 

Dscover Rome

Yes...I'm still scrapping vacation photos. But you're in luck...only a few more pages and then I'm done!

 

This layout was created for October's Idea Deck Challenge.  At first the layout sketch with all the squares scared me a bit, but I realized that I could just make that part of the background. The colors are neutral and they almost blend in. This also gave me an opportunity to add some cute tags. If you look real close...you'll see some journaling!   I'm trying to get better about the journaling...I really am.

Club Scrap papers, tags and stamps. Cricut titles.

You are Thoughtful

I love a good craft challenge. I love it even more when I can use my scraps!  This month's Card Sketch Challenge is a great inspiration for just that. I did several different versions of this sketch: paper (with scraps), paper (using quad prints) and digital.

 



Here I used scraps from other projects.

This card was created by totally cheating and using the quad prints from The Blues.  The paper already comes with four different prints on one page.  I just trimmed the center out to fit the panel.

 

 

 

I even created a digi version to the sketch.

 



 

If you ever lose your crafting mojo...challenges are an excellent way to get back on track!

Holiday Spirits

I've mentioned this before, but I just can't help it. These are my new favorite Christmas stamps! They make me giggle every time I see them. You're probably shaking your head thinking I'm nuts, but these stamps remind me of my Grandpa. 

 

Wally was quite the trouble maker which instantly made him loved by all his grandkids. He was also the rock of our family. I was going through old photos from the 80s and came across one of my dearly missed Grandpa.  He was spiking the punch at Christmas dinner! Yep...that was my Grandpa :)

Club Scrap papers. Avery Elle stamps. Stickles. Copics.

 

 

Merry Christmas Literature Style

I hope you were able to take a look at yesterday's Blog Hop. The rest of this week I'll be sharing some more cards from the Literature Greetings to Go kit. At first I was hesitant about doing these cards with the multiple folds, but then I really started to love the different layers.

 

I misted white paint onto green cardstock and then die cut these trees. I placed then on all the layers in different places to give depth. I wanted to add some other bling to it, but decided the trees were beautiful on their own.  

 

Club Scrap papers and stamps. Stickles. Washi tape.



Inside last fold of card.

 

This next card I used one of my favorite Christmas washi tapes, reminds me of a flannel shirt. That look went perfect with the stitched die cuts I bought over the weekend at the Scrapbook Expo.

 

Club Scrap papers. Prima sequins. Elizabeth Crafts Designs die. Washi tape.

 

 

 

Come back tomorrow for some more Literature Greetings to Go!



Literature Blog Hop

Welcome to the Club Scrap Literature Blog Hop. Join us on the hop to see what this talented group has created using this beautiful collection.  If you've arrived here from the very talented Tina's blog you're in the right spot. If not, make sure you start at the beginning to see what Karen has created for you.

Club Scrap papers, charms, stamps and stickers. Cricut title. Sizzix embossing folder. Sticker tiles. Cork Circles.

 



This layout was created using the layout card provided with each deluxe kit. I made a few size changes to accommodate larger photos on the left hand side. To add interest to the white panels I inked a brick embossing folder and then ran it through my Big Shot. A very cool trick I learned from Pam at the October Technique challenge.

I couldn't just stop there and thought I'd share this Christmas card that I absolutely fell in love with. I'm not even sure it will make it to the mail.  It might end up on the mantel with the decorations. 

 

The card is one of the multiple fold cards in the Greetings to Go set. I saved these for last, not really sure if I was going to do them as is or not. I finally went with it and was really happy I did.  I found this red velvet from a kit a loooooong time ago and die cut flowers from it. Lots of texture and shine! 

 

 Club Scrap papers, stamps, ribbon and velvet. Embossing powder. Gems.

 

Thank you for joining us today. Please continue on to see what spectacular project Donna has created for you using this kit.