Advent Calendar

Wow, it's been a loooong time since I've posted anything here. I guess time just got away from me. I decided tonight that I must remedy this blogging dry spell and come out and post something, anything! When I was little, my Grandpa Tony would bring me an advent calendar every single year. I always looked forward to what would be behind the little doors. Some years, they were calendars with all different molded chocolate shapes and some years there were little plastic charms behind each door. Gosh I miss him and those calendars. I think what I miss most is the memory of him and how he remembered how much I enjoyed them and brought me one every year without me ever having to ask. I decided to make my own advent calendar this year. There are no chocolates or toys inside these little pockets, but it's a way for me to keep my memories alive during the Christmas season.

I used a 12"x12" piece of canvas that I painted in red acrylic Making Memories paint and then coated with a layer of glossy Mod Podge. Next, I made the little pockets 2"x2" and created 1/4" tabs to be folded under on three sides to make an envelope (I used my new Scor-Pal for this). Then I punched a circle in the top of each envelope. I used Bazzill cardstock that I matched to this KI Memories holiday paper that I think I've been saving for about 3 Christmases now! I don't know what I was so panicked for, I still ended up with alot of paper leftover :) I used a combination of Quickutz dies and shapes cut from my Cricut Doodlecharms and Christmas Cheer cartridges. I used QK Tangerine type on the "to" and QK Jolly on the "christmas". I used dimensional foam pieces to make the "Christmas" pop and also added some Stardust Stickles to add glitz. For the "Countdown" title, I cut out QK Katie type and then used the rhomboid shape on the Cricut George and Basic Shapes cartridge. I inked around all the edges and then put a coat of glossy Mod Podge. I had some very thin craft wire that I cut into 3" pieces and twisted around a pen to created the swirls and added some beads from my craft supply. I adhered one end of the wire to the back of the letters and then adhered the other end to the back of the canvas. I just used some heavy duty tape since you can't see the backside anyway. I just used some May Arts ribbon that I punched through the canvas with my Crop-o-dile and placed another bead and knotted the end of the ribbon.

Thanks for looking and for being patient with me since I've been extremely lazy in the blogging department!

Goin' Out of Town

I'll be heading off to New Orleans for a few days. I've never been there before, but I'm going for a conference so I'll have some evenings and a couple afternoons to explore the city. It's been so hot and humid here the last few days and I think it was just preparation for the weather I'll be experiencing in the south! See ya soon!

My New Toy

This is my new toy I got yesterday for cross-training and an eventual triathlon, a Felt FW40 road bike. I brought her home last night so I haven't had a chance to ride her yet, I've just been ooohing and aaahing over her and can't wait to take her out for a test spin tonight! I've also been training for this: Pasadena Marathon I'm only doing the 1/2 marathon and I managed to get my hubby to sign up with me too! He's afraid that he'll get left behind, but I reassured him that I won't be leaving him in the dust and we'll be great at motivating eachother throughout the course. This is the first year that Pasadena is hosting a marathon so I thought it would be a great experience and it's close to home to boot. On a different note, I've been doing some cardmaking but have been too lazy to take photos and upload them! After I work out, I eat dinner then poop out around 9:30pm and then it's just too late to do anything productive. If I didn't have to sleep, I could get so much more done

Words to Live By

"Run when you can, walk when you have to, crawl if you must, just never give up." - Dean Karnazes, runner and author of Ultramarathon Man

Fashionista Card

I made this everyday card for a fashionista. The stamps are from Michael's $1 bin and I stamped them onto scrap pieces of paper and then cut them out and used dimensional foam dots to pop them up. The ribbon is also from Michael's and I cut the scalloped squares using my Cricut Mini Monograms cartridge (it sure comes in handy!) and I used a Creative Memories dual square punch for the image and matte. The little yellow jewels are Robin's Nest Dew Drops. I made the little dots around the perimeter of the card with a Sharpie white poster paint pen. TFL!

Jump Start on Halloween

I'm reminded that Halloween is just around the corner when I can go to my local Walmart or Target and see aisles and aisles of Halloween candy! I'm not sure who decided to pack Swedish Fish in mini bags for my consumption, but they need to hide them from me! And with the assorted Hershey's Miniatures, I am in candy heaven :) Yum... Anyhoo, I decided to get started on some Halloween cards since I think I only made two last year! I made these 5in X 5in cards using the Stampin' Up Batty for You set and Sandy Lion and BoBunny papers.

Sketch Book

I bought this little 3.5"x5" sketch book some time ago and have been slowly adding card sketches to it. I decided to alter it with all K&Co pp scraps. I cut the scallop part with my scallop edge scissors and the letters are QK Studio Skinni Mini.

Caardvarks Music Theme Challenge

I created two cards for the Caardvarks music theme card challenge because I had two different ideas floating around in my head! The top card is inspired by that song, Rock Steady by Gwen Stefani and I made using Pink Paislee stamps that I stamped in Brilliance Graphite Black on Bazzill cs and then I cut out the components of each skull and popped them up on dimensionals. I free handed and cut out the arrow, traced it in white gel pen and also handcut the scallops at the bottom of the card. I even used some very old Making Memories rub-on letters and Quickutz Abigail. The pp is Cherry Arte. I made the bottom card using Chatterbox, American Crafts, and Scenic Route pp. The stamp is from Pink Paislee (formerly Pink.Sugar.Pop). The letter stickers are Basic Grey and the letter rubons are TLC Quik Letters. The red rhinestone is from a bag of assorted rhinestones that I bought. Thanks for looking!

Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #30

This is my entry for Taylor's weekly sketch challenge. I decided to get a jumpstart on some Christmas cards so I used an Elzybells stamp that I colored in with Copic markers. I added some lime green Stickles to the tree and some dimensional snow writer stuff for the girls' hat, collars and gloves. The border stamp is from 7gypsies and stamped in Brilliance Graphite Black. The pp is from a holiday DCWV stack. The sugar coated brads are from Doodlebug and the ribbon is from Michael's. Thanks for looking!

Chipboard Date Book

I've been slowly trying to break out of my "normal" creating box and trying different styles. I made this dates to remember book with bright colors in mind and lots of little elements. The book measures 3.5"x8" and I cut it out of chipboard. I used American Crafts, Rusty Pickle, My Mind's Eye and K&Co pp. I made the scalloped rectangle on the cover using my Provo Craft scallop scissors that I haven't touched in years! The dates type is QK Fiesta (I love that type!) and in the lower right corner is a green Hambly screenprint. The little letter stickers are Provo Craft. I hand cut some flowers from a sheet of Me & My Big ideas paper and popped them up on dimensionals. I used my Cricut Mini Monograms cartridge to create the scalloped tabs for the pages and just used Microsoft Word to make the monthly date lists where I can keep track of birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

Vintage Card

I handcut the trees on this larger 5x7 card and used K&Co pp. The border punch is from Martha Stewart and I cut the border into segments so that I could pop the section in front of the trees up on dimensionals. The corner punch in the upper right corner is Marvy and the thanks type is QK Zoe. Thanks for looking!

Hoppy Birthday

My dad and I both love frogs so for his birthday this weekend I made him this card with the Cuttlebug frog die. I glued little googlie eyes on the frog to make him look more playful :) The paper is DCWV and I embossed the paper behind the frog with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The letters were cut out of QK Moxie and Calvin.

Simple

I lifted the design for the card from a manufacturer's blog, I just can't remember which one! Anyway, I used some new pp from a Me & My Big Ideas stack, the stamp is A Muse and I cut out the scallop part and used a circle punch to create the embellishments plus some cord and eyelets. It's a little too simple looking for me, but I figured I can always make another with more "stuff" on it later!

Shabby Chic Card

This is my first attempt at a shabby chic type of card. I used a bunch of mismatched scraps and sewed around parts of the card. I cut the brackets out after tracing them off of a chipboard piece (I tend to use the chipboard pieces as templates instead of actually USING them, just like the scallops at the bottom of the card!). I used an art paragraph text stamp from Purple Onion Designs to stamp over the paper flowers and then sewed them on with embroidery floss and buttons. The sentiment is QK Lucy. Thanks for looking!

Smile Card

This card was fun to make because of its size and the colors and elements I chose to use. It's only 4"X7" but the fun part was putting all the little details together. I punched out a circle in the bottom right corner and layered some scraps in there with a little flower. I covered a chipboard frame in cardstock and layered it over another scrap. The font is Sizzlits Tina Thinks You're Cute. I cut out the fluorish in the same color as the cardstock background to create a different look and then wanted it to pop out a little more so I used some Lime Green Stickles on it. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out since I didn't really pre-plan the design, it just kinda came to me as I started matching up the scrap papers.