Scrappin' on a Shoestring

Stay There Forever

2012-02-12T08:25:00.000-05:00

I love this Pooh-Bear quote. It sounds like the original Pooh, not the made-to-sell-lots-of-stuff one. A boxed set of A.A. Milne stories and poetry is among the first books I remember owning. :)

This fun set is Verve's Hundred Hearts. The card is for The Viva La Verve sketch challenge at Splitcoast and a few others:

Cupcake Craft Challenge - Pink and Red

Paperplay Challenges - Love Letters

Totally Gorjuss - Lurve - Y'all snuggle up and stay warm over there!

Catered Crop - Hearts

... and, of course, use this sketch:

The rest of the recipe:

Paper is Echo Park's Yours Truly. Dies are Verve, as are the other images. Pink stamping is Memento; silver stamping is Brilliance.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope everyone enjoys their Valentine's Day (and, many, a Winter Wonderland to go with it! I am a bit jealous.)

Warm Fuzzies,

Elizabeth

Carpe Diem

2012-02-11T22:36:00.000-05:00

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! It seems that Old Man Winter finally decided, now that my daffodils are up and confused, to make an appearance. I know that the girls in Europe would LOVE to trade places with me - it will be 60F here by mid-week, so I won't whine. I'll just enjoy some time inside. :)

This is my entry for the Viva La Verve sketch challenge that's at Splitcoast every Friday:

It's also for the challenges at:
The Pink Elephant - Use Pink. It's Ella's third birthday! Way to go - you've built a blog that has really endured. No small accomplishment.
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
... and VLV - use this sketch:

The recipe:
Paper is Echo Park - Victoria's Garden. Images are Verve (I'm in looove with that 'fly!) stamped with Momento. I used a seam ripper to distress the edges of layers. Ribbons are from Really Reasonable Ribbon. That's a Nestie in the center, touched up with Rose colored Distress Ink.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop over today. Please leave a comment - I learn quite a lot from them!
Stay warm!
Elizabeth

Just! Like! You!

2012-02-11T22:14:00.000-05:00

Did your parents ever yell that at you when they were just that fed up? This, my dad's favorite curse, came at the end of many a stern lecture. "I hope you have five kids! Just! Like! You!"
Well, whoever's the Patron Saint of Parents Driven Insane by Teenagers must've heard, because between the two of us, my sister and I have four of them. Just. Like. Us.
For the record, I find that endearing.
Here's the Valentine that's going to my sister's house:

It's also for the challenges at:
4 Crafty Chicks - Love Is in the Air
Fab 'n' Funky Challenges - Love Is in the Air (Man, that stuff is going around!)
I {heart} 2 Stamp - This month's Sketch for You to Try:

What's the recipe?
Images are all My Favorite Things - Pure Innocence. Rolled roses are made using MFT's Die-namics Medium Rolled Rose. The little flags and pole are also Die-namics. Circles are all Nesties. Paper is Echo Park - Yours Truly. She's colored using Copics, and her little dress is paper-pieced.

Here's a better look at the roses. This die makes them easy-peasy!

That's a dark grey in the left panel. It didn't photograph well. I need to learn to better use the color editing on my PSE.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!
Elizabeth

... and a Fail

2012-01-17T21:34:00.000-05:00

I really liked the inspiration sample at CASE study challenges:

Isn't this fab? I love the bright colors underneath!

So, I wanted to try a sample with negative die cutting myself. Ran into problems - this is the biggest one.

See the tiny holes? They're the dots that let you line up the dies and stamps (which I'm not using.) I just couldn't come up with anything that would keep the guide dots from cutting. Grrrr.

Here's my solution:

I covered them with random itty-bitty, glittery hearts. Ups the cute factor a bit, but really screws up the balance, knowwhutimean? My 12-year old thinks it's great, so that makes me happy, but as far as challenges go, this one's a fail.

Still, it was fun to try. :)

Recipe:

Dies - Verve

Papers - Echo Park

Hearts - K & Co.

Thanks for stopping by. Please come again soon. I'll do better, I promise.

elizabeth

It Don't Mean a Thing...

2012-01-16T16:24:00.001-05:00

... if it ain't got that bling! Which is difficult when doing cards for sons, husbands, etc. That's where I am now. How to give a card enough oomph without it going girly? That's a bit of a challenge. Especially since Valentine's is, basically, girly.

So, finding this sketch gave me a case of the happies. I think it's just what I needed to turn out a masculine-enough card that's still all about V-Day. I used some red Stickles to bling up the 'flower'.

... and here's the sketch:

It's from Iwona Palomountains's Sketchbook Saturday challenge.
It's also for:
One Stop Craft Challenge - On the Spot and Ribbon
The Pink Elephant - Favorite color combo - In winter, I love red, white, and black!
Paper Issues - All We Need Is Love
Paper Sundaes - Choose your favorite challenge from the past. I'm going with #90, favorite colors.

The recipe:
All images are Verve, all paper is Echo Park - Yours Truly. Scallop die is MFT. Label die is also Verve. Picked up the seam binding on Etsy.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate your taking the time. I hope you've had a lovely weekend!
Elizabeth

Dream Big

2012-01-16T10:08:00.000-05:00

*Sigh* my one and only personal (as opposed to school) child turns 13 in about three weeks. While I certainly don't want him to be living here when he's 40, I must say that I'm getting a little weirded out by the fact that he'll only be around full-time a few more years. Have y'all seen the Disney commercial with the families and the teenage kids? One of the lines is "There are only so many mountains left to climb together." Aaaack! Yeah, that's pushing the buttons, Walt. Not cool.

So, here's his birthday card. It's got to be manly enough for him, but still kid-ish enough that I can stand it:

It's also for the challenges at:
The ABC Challenge - H is for Happy Birthday. My birthday wish for him is to continue to dream big. He's set a goal to earn a ROTC scholarship in the hopes of engineering airplanes and is already taking steps toward it. Makes the sky a good theme, even if hot air balloons don't blow stuff up.
Papertake Weekly - Die Cute Special. The big hot air balloon has a die that goes with the stamp. (I had to fussy-cut the little one.) Awesome poofy clouds are also teeny-tiny dies.
Bee Crafty Downloads - Celebratory with balloons. I think I'm celebrating. Okay, he is. Me, not so much.
Finally, this is my attempt for this week's Viva la Verve sketch challenge at Splitcoasters.

The recipe:
Balloon images, big balloon die cut, and cloud dies are Taylored Expressions
Die cut label, frame and sentiment are Verve. Edge die is My Favorite Things.
Papers are Echo Park. All stamping is done in Momento.

Have a wonderful long weekend! Thanks so much for stopping by...
Elizabeth

Birthday Wishes

2012-01-14T09:39:00.000-05:00

So, it's only January, and already I'm behind on the Viva La Verve sketches at Splitcoast. Yes, that means it took me exactly one week to fail. Stupid working for a living! :)

So, this weekend I'm catching up. This one's ready for a friend's birthday on Feb. 7, which means I still need to knock out a birthday for my turning-into-a-teen son, Valentines, and an anniversary. Yup. Plate's full. I love having pretty cards to give, but have you noticed that after you start giving these, if you do a store-bought one for someone, they wonder what's wrong? Better kick it up a notch!

As long as I'm at it, I thought I'd enter challenges at:
Crafty Creations Challenge - something new. I got the flowers/sprig stamps and dies for Christmas. Yay!
Cupcake Craft Challenges - something new. Great minds think alike!

Recipe:
All images and die cuts are Verve. I dressed up the flowers a little with some Diamond Stickles. PP is Echo Park, most from Yours Truly, though the music's from Victoria Garden.

While I was putting this together, I began to wonder, "Exactly how many zowie-patterned papers can one use before making herself carsick?" Ha! Pattern-on-pattern can be a little tricky. I'm still thinking the pink sprigs might be a bit much.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by today. I genuinely appreciate it. Please come again soon! In the meantime, I'll be face-down in a pile of patterned paper!

Enjoy your weekend,
Elizabeth

Rise Above Fear

2012-01-02T19:16:00.000-05:00

Whipped up a quickie last night. My friend, Kim, has begun a quest to improve working conditions for the teachers in our area. Last week, she arranged a meeting with a state representative for several of us, and is trying to make a difference. I'm proud of her.

It's also my attempt at the Sweet Sunday Sketch

Thanks for stopping by today! Happy New Year!
Elizabeth

Be You

2011-12-31T10:23:00.000-05:00

...what else is there to be? That's one of the themes I harp on in my classroom. If you don't decide who you are, someone else will do it for you and tell you who you are. The years from, I think, about 4th-10th grades are tough that way.

This morning, I'm posting a thank-you card for my sister. She's kind of tough to 'card' for - she's a girl, but not big on girlie. Kind of have to pull a combo, if you know what I mean.

It's for the challenges:
MFT's Wednesday Stamp Club - a sketch challenge, check it out at Splitcoast!
CASE Study Challenge - Use this (way fab) card as inspiration

The recipe:
Echo Park DP, just be and big ol' u are from Verve. The edges for the left-hand strip and the scroll are MFT die-namics. Heart die is an ancient Cuttlebug. Rhinestones and button from the stash.

Thanks so much for coming by today! Have a wonderful new year!
Hugs,
Elizabeth

Sunny Days

2011-12-30T10:04:00.000-05:00

Have been nice! We're having a stretch of blue skies here, and decided to take advantage by doing a quickie overnight trip to Atlanta's Georgia Aquarium. As my almost-teen would say, "This place is boss!" It really is amazing. If ever you're anywhere within driving distance, it's soooo worth the trip. This is said DS, mesmerized by the gigundous tank that includes, among other fish, mantas and 2 whale sharks:

He's always loved aquariums. When I watched him yesterday, I could see the three-year old version come out. The one where the wonder of the ocean kind of takes over. Here's what had him so rapt:

I was wondering if the ray was having problems with his rudder, but he would take breaks. :)

But I digress,
Getting those Christmas thank-yous done and in the mail by the time I go back to teach Monday will be a challenge!
Here's the first:

It's also for the challenges at:
4 Crafty Chicks Crazy Egg Challenge - Use something new. Used the new Verve set and dies I got from my mom for Christmas to make her card.
Frosted Designs - Something New.
Aud Sentiments - Anything Goes
Stampin' for the Weekend - Anything Goes
Mojo Monday - use this sketch:

If you scroll down one entry, I got a square one done, too!

The recipe:
Images are Verve's Sunny Days; its coordinating die set cut the greenery. Paper is Echo Park - Victoria's Garden. Lace and ribbon are Really Reasonable Ribbon, scallop and regular circles were cut with a Nestie.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have the opportunity to enjoy something amazing, as we did in ATL. Please leave a comment, and come again soon!

Hugs,
Elizabeth

Up, Up, and Away!

2011-12-27T20:24:00.000-05:00

I'm having fun with the goodies left under my tree. Yeah, I'm a dork, but I embrace that, so, technically, my dorkiness is really kind of punk. So nerdy, it's actually hip. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Dad's birthday is on Monday, so I really did need to whip something up. Masculine cards are not my forte. As in, "What, no ribbons and flowers? Now what?" Drives me nuts.

Here's what I managed:

It's also for the challenges at:
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Anything Goes
City Crafter Challenge - Make the Cut - I fussy-cut and paper-pieced the hot air balloons.
Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge - Anything Goes
Top Tip Tuesday - Anything Goes
Mojo Monday - Use this sketch:

I like these sketches! I might get a round one done, too.

The recipe:
Images: Verve (Sunny Days and Words of Wisdom) They're having an awesome sale! Makes my shoestrings a bit longer! :)
Taylored Expressions - Sky's the Limit. They've got a sale, too, but this set has a bunch of images and 3 dies for $13.95 - a steal, really. The clouds are cut with dies from this set. There's a die for making bigger balloons than the ones I used here.
Paper - DP is Echo Park, cardstock is Bazzill.
Odds and Ends - Used a Cuttlebug folder to emboss the polka-dots. Button and twine from the stash. Black ink is Momento, red is Fired Brick Distress Ink.

Thanks for stopping by today! I genuinely appreciate comments and learn from them. Please come again soon.

Happy New Year!
Elizabeth

Hang Ten!

2011-12-24T09:36:00.000-05:00

My nephew will be 10 this spring! I get that, because he's 3 years younger than my almost-13 year old, but it's hard to believe that both of them are getting so old. *sigh*

Anyway, I'm loading up the stash for the rest of the school year. Here's my favorite (only) nephew's birthday card:

It's also for the challenges at:
Embellish Magazine - Color/Mixed Patterns - Blue, Green, Yellow, Brown. I've mixed polka-dots, houndstooth, and a floral.
The Deconstructed Sketch - Here's the sketch:

Charisma Cardz Challenge - Anything Goes

The recipe: DP is from Creative Imaginations. Sanded CS is Core'dinations, Images are Verve. Stamped in Walnut Stain and Faded Jeans Distress Inks. Wavy die is from MFT. Canvas from the stash.

Oh, later today, we're going to begin a lending account at Kiva.org. It's an international group that lends microloans to people trying to get businesses and farms going in developing nations. Way cool. It only takes $25 to participate. You lend, get paid back (whether or not there's interest involved depends...) and then loan it to someone else. A crummy 25 bucks can lead to economic independence for lots of people! Yay, recycling!

Yes, I live on the shoestring, but at least I've got shoes.

Have a wonderful holiday!
Hugs,
Elizabeth

It's also a great educational opportunity for the kids in your house - geography, economics, culture, etc.

Mom's Seventeenth Birthday

2011-12-21T16:45:00.001-05:00

... is this year! OK, I know that sounds weird, since I'm 43, but 2012 is a leap year, and that means that my mom gets an actual birthday! Woo-hoo!
I'm using my Christmas break to work on my second-semester stash. While I still can't come up with anything for Dad's birthday - next week - this one's under control.

It's also for the challenges at:
Paper Sundaes - Celebrate (Heck, yeah, a birthday every four years?! We're gonna celebrate!)
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Celebration (see above.) :)
Frosted Designs - Use ribbon (I pleated and stitched down some grossgrain.)
Totally Papercrafts - Time to Party
Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge - Use this sketch:

The recipe:
All papers are Echo Park, stamps are from Verve.Scalloped circle die is from MFT. There are sparkly dots of diamond Stickles in between the scallops, but they didn't photograph.

By the way, Mom's not the only Leap Year baby I know. My teammate has a second grader who will have her second birthday in February. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a peaceful and happy Holiday!
Hugs,
Elizabeth

A pink Christmas!

2011-12-04T09:12:00.000-05:00

... Had to! My nieces love all things pink! (Or 'pank', bless their little Southern hearts!) Couldn't disappoint. Actually, I had wanted to do something all pink and bling-y, but it just wouldn't work. Ever have a card that just didn't want to be a certain way? Weird.

Here's this morning's offering:

It's also for the challenges at:
Allsorts Challenge Blog - Going Round in Circles
Craft Your Passion Challenges - 'Tis the Season
Crafty Creations Challenge - Christmas
Fab 'n' Funky - Anything Goes
Mojo Monday - Use one of these sketches:

I hope you're having a wonderful start to your holiday season! Thanks so much for stopping by. I so appreciate comments! Come back, now! (That's Southern for 'Please come again soon' One day, I'll put together a dictionary.)
Have a fabulous day,
Elizabeth

Trees, Deconstructed

2011-11-27T20:26:00.000-05:00

Sort of. I'm still working on Christmas cards, and found a really useful sketch over at Deconstructingjen.com.
Looks like this:

Ended up with:

I finally got to use the cute Verve Plain Jane tree stamp. The sketch really worked well for creating a scene (not that kind of creating a scene, as in what a bunch of folks did on Friday) .

It also works for a few challenges. Yay!

Aud Sentiments - Use a winter sentiment

Craft Your Days Away Challenge - Buttons and Bows

Papertake Weekly - Anything Christmas

Totally Papercrafts - Christmas

and, of course,

Deconstructing Jen - The sketch above.

Slowly, but surely, I'm getting enough done to see light at the end of the tunnel. I hope you enjoy the beginning of the holiday season!

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I appreciate your comments; I learn so much!

Hugs,

Elizabeth

Let the Countdown Begin!

2011-11-13T13:21:00.000-05:00

Yeesh. I've got some serious cardmaking to do. This summer, when I was off, yes, I could have been making Christmas cards, (Heck, I even look at CSAYL every week!) but, just let me say, when it 98 degrees outside and we're swimming through the air in the infamous Carolinas' humidity, Christmas just seems sooooooooo far away!

... and then it became November. Who does the scheduling around here?!

So, here's the day's second card:

It's also for the challenges at:
One Stop Craft Challenge - Use ribbon or lace
Pile It On - Christmas
Tip Top Tuesday - Anything Goes Christmas
CCEE Stampers - Use three shapes (I've got 2 die cuts and rectangles.)
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Never Seen Ink. (These came yesterday!)
and it's my week 2 entry for Vive la Verve. Here's the sketch:

It's adapted a bit; my big bows always turn out icky.

Deets:
Both images are from Verve and are ON SALE this month! :)
Patterned papers are from a stack (DCWV?) in the stash. Cardstock is Coredinations. Lace is from the stash, too. Flowers and the border on the sentiment are stamped in Fired Brick Distress Ink and touched up with Tea Dye. The center of the flower is done in yellow Spica. There's machine stitching here and there.

Have a wonderful and peaceful (yeah, right!) Sunday. I'm so glad that you took the time to stop by and genuinely appreciate your comments.

Hugs,
Elizabeth

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

2011-11-13T09:45:00.001-05:00

... Thanksgiving! Ha! Take that, Wal-Mart!

But, seriously, it's mid-November, I'd better get it in gear and get some Christmas cards rolling. Yes, I could have done them this summer, especially if I'd kept up with the challenges at CSAYL, but when the dew point is 74 and that Southern summer sunshine is bearing down, I just don't feel it. So now I'm behind.

Mojo Monday has a great sketch this week to get me motivated, and that extra day off hasn't hurt, either. :)
Here's my offering:

It's also for the challenges at:
Papertake Weekly - Christmas
Totally Gorjuss - Christmas Traditions
Mark's Finest Papers - Speedy the Cat Challenge - You favorite technique (Embossing and sanding the emboss.)
Frosted Designs - Use embossing
Mojo Monday - Use this sketch:

The deets:
Coredinations cardstock, embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and sanded. PP is from a stack, DCWV, I think. Images are from this month's sale at Verve (On sale! My favorite words besides 'approved' and 'done'!), as is the die cut label. All images are stamped with Fired Brick Distress Ink and touched up with Tea Dye. Ribbon's from the stash.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I learn so much from comments and appreciate them. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Elizabeth

Isn't every day bosses' day?

2011-10-16T14:28:00.000-04:00

Is it beautiful where you are? It is (and I'm totally dating myself here) "absolutely mahvelous" here in the Carolinas this weekend! Fall colors are just getting started, the days are still warm, but the nights have just the right amount of nip. Think I'll mull some cider this evening.

So, I'm sharing two cards today. There's a 'holiday' I'd quite forgotten about.

Apparently, Bosses' Day is coming up soon, and each of our grade teams have to get a card each for our principal and our AP. What's the best way to stick it to Hallmark for inventing inane holidays so that they can sell cards? Make them yourself!

Not that I mind making cards for Ann and Stephanie. I don't. They're pretty awesome. I've been teaching 19 years now, and as far as administrators go, I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. These two make my good list. :)

Here's the first:

It also goes with the challenges (Hey, if I'm going to pull out my stamping stuff...) at:
Charisma Cardz Challenge - Use real or faux stitching. (Yep. It's faux. Don't think that's going to fool anyone.)
Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - "You Choose" (It's a open challenge!)
Flutter by Wednesdays - Use scraps
Mojo Monday - Use this sketch:

The butterfly is from my oft-used and much-loved Unity set of 'flies. It's stamped in Walnut Stain Distress Ink. The sentiment is a freebie digi from Paper Makeup Stamps. Papers and lace are chunks and scraps from the stash. I thought the ledger paper worked for the 'counted' theme. I should have inked the edges of the scallop just a bit. Derp.

Here's the other:

Our AP's a bit of a fashionista. Even dragging a screaming kindergartener up the hall, she looks fab. This Tiddly Inks digi made me think of her.

Also for the challenges at:
Raise the Bar - Pink and
Craft your Passion Challenges - A card for any occasion. I think this would work for any amazing person in your world.

Papers are Basic Grey. Ribbon comes from Really Reasonable Ribbon. I made the flowers using the Cuttlebug kit for making daisies. The image was colored with Copics.

Thanks for stopping by today. Please leave a comment - I learn a lot from them! Come again next time, but until then, I hope you're enjoying the weather!

Hugs,
Elizabeth

Dash to Fill the Stash...

2011-08-08T13:37:00.000-04:00

... and I'm just not feelin' it. Short on mojo today, but I'm down to 9 days off before I'm back to school, and I need to make sure that stash is loaded and ready, too. Why no mojo? Well, my husband and 7th grader are both night-owls by nature. I am strictly solar powered. The last instruction given the child before I crashed around 9:30 was, "You have a clarinet lesson tomorrow. Make sure you practice." Ever faithful, he remembered, but he remembered at midnight. Still has some work to do, too.

Part of me can't wait for school.

So, here's what I could pull together today:

Also for the challenges at

Catered Crop - Follow the Recipe - Photo Inspirations. I used the color scheme -the yellow DP is actually the flip side the the peas paper she used, the gingham ribbon and buttons. Here's the photo:

Fab-n-Funky Challenges - Friendship

The recipe: Image by Waltzingmouse Stamps, paper is Cosmo Cricket, ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by today. Here's to all the mamas of the members of the band!

Elizabeth

Carpe Cupcake

2011-08-07T13:31:00.000-04:00

Really, that's the name of this set. I love a good (bad) pun! I'm also in love with my new Die-namic scallop die, so I'm playing with it a little. Here's one I'm planning to use for my friend and fellow teacher's birthday, which is perpetually on the first day of school. (The statewide start date here is August 25 every year, unless it hits on a weekend.) Would that not stink? I'm glad mine's at the end of May. I get summer vacay for my present!

I'm also entering it into the challenges at:

Card Patterns - Use this sketch:

Raise the Bar - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Your Next Stamp Challenges - Use a die or a punch
Scrap-Creations Challenge - Use buttons, bows, or both
Our Creative Corner - Don't use flowers

Here's a detail shot. I didn't want to completely cover up my scallops, so I separated the image from its frame.

The recipe:
Images are from Verve (Last month's Stamp of the Month. I do love their sales!)
Used Nesties to cut the image circle and frame, MFT die-namic for the scallops.
DP is from Heidi Grace
Lace from Really Reasonable ribbon, buttons from Oriental Trading.
I hope the start to your week is a good one. Thank you so much for stopping by! Please leave a comment and come again soon!
Elizabeth

Birthday Wishes

2011-08-07T13:02:00.000-04:00

Summer's winding down. May not feel like it, but the calendar says so. I'm trying to finish up my stash before I get back to work. (Eeek! 10 days!)

So, here's what I'm adding today:

It's also for the challenges at:
Flutter by Wednesday - Use this sketch:

Just Magnolia - Anything Goes
Frosted Designs - Color it in. (I used Copics.)
Craft Us Crazy - Anything Goes

Recipe: (It's short!) - Magnolia image, Basic Grey DP, Prima flowers with brads and gems from the stash.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I love and learn from your comments.
Come again soon!
Elizabeth

Thank You. No, Really.

2011-08-04T16:16:00.000-04:00

Dear DT Person,

     Thank you very much for stopping by my blog today! I know you've got deadlines, a whole slew of cards to look at, and, probably, the whole-mommy thing, but you came by anyway. I appreciate it. I value your comments and learn from what you tell me.
     For the record, I do notice which challenge sites' DT members make it by and which don't. If I enter challenges through particular sites two or three times and notice that DT doesn't stop by, or we get those "Oh, sorry, we got busy" blog posts, I stop entering at that site. (Hey, I'm a working mom. I get busy, too, but I found time for you.) OK, that's not going to crush anybody, but fewer players will make you less attractive to sponsors, etc.
    So, dear DT member, you rock.

So, rant being done, (and I almost never do that) here's today's offering:

For the stash and the challenges at:

Stamp Insanity - Pick your favorite old challenge - I like SISC68 - Summer Colors!

Allsorts Challenge - Free and Easy

Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes

The Pink Elephant - Use this sketch:

The recipe:
Image - Verve Stamps
DP - October Afternoon
Cut with - Nesties
Ribbon and lace - Really Reasonable Ribbon
Cuttlebug embossing folder
Buttons -Oriental Trading

Seriously, thank you for taking the time to visit today! Please come again soon!
Elizabeth

I Know It's Kind of Odd...

2011-08-02T20:06:00.000-04:00

... but it's a good kind of card to have in your stash. I'm talking about sympathy cards for the loss of a faithful pet. A friend had to have a long-loved dog put down last year, and I didn't really have anything to fit the bill. A couple of weeks ago, Mo Manning, from Mo's Digital Pencil was offering this digi set,uber-cheap, to raise money to help local animals. Couldn't pass it up.

The melancholy look on the child's face made me think it would serve this purpose well.

The sentiment reads, "The dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself. - Josh Billings"

This also is for the challenges at:

Charisma Cardz Challenge - Four Legged Friends

Stampin' for the Weekend - Paws for Thought

Paper Sundaes - Clouds and Skies

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - Friends are Heaven-sent. Tell me your dog isn't your best friend. (Oh dear, this is a bit like Friends Are Sent to Heaven. :P )

The Paper Players - Use this sketch:

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you and your four-legged friends are doing well despite the heat. I feel so sorry for our yard bunnies that I've finally decided that they can just have the garden. It's fried anyway.

Come again soon!

Elizabeth

Happy Birthday, Girly Girl!

2011-07-29T20:07:00.000-04:00

My niece turns six this weekend. (She shares a birthday with Harry Potter. How cool is that?) My fave first grader is, quite possibly, the girliest girl in the universe. That doesn't mean she's a weenie, though. Carlie will give a kid holy what-for without mussing her coif or her manicure. That's why I picked this cute little girl from Tiddly Inks for her birthday card. She's got attitude.

It also serves for the challenges at:

Aud Sentiments - Use a sentiment to make someone smile. She'll like this one.

Tip Top Tuesday - Make it Girlie

Totally PaperCrafts - Bling it Up. Drat. Just realized I forgot to put the pink jewel on the sentiment. I'll have to fix that before I send it. I love the blingy ribbon, though.

Allsorts Challenge Blog - Free and Easy

The Play Date Cafe - Use this color palate:

Deconstructingjen.com - use this sketch:

All of this girl's sketches are way fab! Totally worth a look!

The recipe:

Images (the border, girl, and sentiment) - Tiddly Inks

CS - Bazzill

I made the flowers myself using a Cuttlebug kit. While quilling them is a bit of a pain in the tookus, it's a huge money-saver for me. I can make as many as I want, in whatever color I want, and adjust the size within reason. Definitely a worthwhile investment.

Ribbon - Really Reasonable Ribbon

Doily - Wilton at AC Moore

Thanks for stopping by today! Hugs to all the mamas of the girly girls! You need them! (And Heaven help we mamas of the boys they will one day OWN!)
Elizabeth

Cool Thoughts: Christmas in July!

2011-07-29T17:47:00.000-04:00

Whew! It's hot! The 105 we had in DFW everyday last week while visiting my parents was still more pleasant than the 98 and humid that's in the Carlolinas. At least the wind blows in Texas. When we got off the plane, the first thing my dad said to me was, "Welcome to Hell!" He was only half-kidding. Never thought I'd see the day that they'd be begging for a hurricane.

Anyway, what better way to chill out than to do a little Christmas crafting?

This one's for the challenges at:

Craft Your Passion Challenges and

Crafty Creations who are both celebrating Christmas in July!

CCEE Stampers is celebtating summer and winter because they have a multinational DT, which is pretty darn cool. The wonders of the internet never cease!

Thanks for stopping by today. Wherever you are, I hope it's pleasant! Until next time, all hail the AC! (Unless you live Down Under, I guess...)

Elizabeth

Merci!

2011-07-09T15:56:00.000-04:00

Can you have enough thank you cards? I always run out. Which is good, in a way. It means I have way awesome friends, family, and colleagues. Can't complain about that! :)

Anyway, here's one for the school-year stash:

This photo, the Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger , got me started:

What did I steal, I mean, lift? The brown/blue color palette, the doily, and the French.

It's also for the challenges at:

Cute Card Thursday - use lace

Craft Your Passion Challenges - Anything Goes

deconstructingjen.com - Use this sketch:

Recipe: Image is from Shirley's 2 Girls. Doily is from AC Moore and inked a bit with Distress Tea Dye. The bottom DP is a Cosmo Cricket, the top, I'm not sure. Bazzill CS. Lace is from my mom's stash. (See, I told you my fam rocks!) Sentiment frame was made with a Nestie. Merci font is LD Dainty.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Please leave a comment and come again soon!
Elizabeth

Kraft-y Christmas

2011-07-06T21:08:00.000-04:00

If you own a teenage boy, you probably know what tomorrow is... July 7.... Bungie Day! AJs been going on about something odd... if you 'own' a Bungie employee while playing Halo in multiplayer tomorrow, you get sent free steak.Yeah. I think I'll wait to light the grill.

Thankfully, I've got normal holidays for which to prepare. What's odd here, is that it's July. I'm actually glad a lot of the challenge sites are doing Christmas in July. I got caught less-than-prepared last winter, and it added a lot of stress. This time around, I'm going to be ready!

Can't say I'm wild about this one. It's serviceable, though, and for the challenges at:

CAS-ual Fridays - create a masculine, CAS card using Kraft
Chrsitmas Stampin' All Year Long - Use Kraft as your base color

The recipe:
Images: Trees are {Ippity} by Unity, sentiment is an old CHF by Kim Hughes.
Embossing - a Cuttlebug folder. After embossing I inked the paper using a distress ink handle and sponge and Color Box white ink.
Ribbon - from Really Reasonable Ribbon

Happy Bungie Day and Happy early Christmas! However you celebrate, I hope it's epic! (Another of my son's favorite words...)
Thanks so much for stopping by,
Elizabeth

Blue Christmas

2011-07-06T20:38:00.000-04:00

Don't you love that Elvis song? It's sooo different from the other carols playing on the all-Christmas music channels that you always notice it.

So when the challenge at Less Is More became 'Shades of Blue' at the same time a bunch of the Christmas in July challenges were posted, I thought I'd try a non-traditional card.

For the challenges at:

Less Is More - CAS with Shades of Blue

The Paper Players - Christmas in July

Allsorts Challenge Blog - Anything goes

The recipe:

Images: CHF Scene It! winter

Cuttlebug embossing folder

Shimmery silver ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Please leave a comment, and come again soon!

Elizabeth

Stamp It! Challenge- Moxie Fab World

2011-07-04T20:47:00.000-04:00

Happy Fourth, y'all! I'm in the house crafting because God has delivered quite the fireworks show. I don't know if the regular kind are still on or not. I've spent most of the day tending the smoker - ribs and shoulder - and the smell's still in my hair. Which is funny, since my 12-year old, AJ, keeps sidling up to me saying, "Mom, you smell great!" Eau de BBQ. Should've thought to try it when I was younger. I'd have had to beat the boys off with a stick! Which makes me think of the Myron Mixon joke, "How do we know that Adam was not from the South? Because no good Southern boy would ever give up a rib!" Too true. Too true.

Anyway, I'm finally brave enough to try one of the Moxie Fab challenges! That's some pretty heavy company, so I'll be pleased simply to not embarrass myself. :) The challenge was set to celebrate the drop of Stamp It! and all of its oh-so-fab inspiration. It asked us to create a card that emphasizes the stamping.

I used a sketch from MelJen's Challenge blog. The rest of the recipe:

Images: Tiddly Inks (The girls) and Verve (The sentiment)
Papers - Basic Grey
Gems -from the stash
Colored with Copics, stamped with Memento. I inked around the sentiment with Distress Ink, Tattered Rose.

Want to play along? Click here - Stamp It! Moxie Fab World Challenge

I so appreciate your stopping by today! Please leave a comment and come again soon!
Enjoy your day!
Elizabeth

Dude!

2011-06-28T21:36:00.002-04:00

It's time to add some masculine cards to my stash. I really try to have a big ol' stash by summer's end, when I have to go back to work. If I don't, too many people who should get cards, won't. I have such a wonderful bunch of friends and fellow teachers that I ran out early this year. I'll have to work harder this summer.

Anyway, Verve has guy stamps on sale this month, so I snagged this set.

It's also for the challenges at:

ColourQ - White, Grey, Red, Burgundy, Blue (I promise, the word 'Awesome' is the darker red. My photography skills are weak.

Stampin' Bs Design Team - Have a friendship statement on your card.

{Cupcake Inspirations} - Patriotic cupcakes!

Paper Issues - Red, White, and Blue

Craft Your Passion Challenges - Use red

My Time Made Easy, LLC - Use this sketch:

You know what I just realized? I should have turned those background strips into longboards! I'll have to play with that thought tomorrow.

Thank you for dropping by today! Please come again soon!
Elizabeth

!

2011-06-28T13:36:00.000-04:00

I love this little Tiddly Inks image. It says a lot and can be used for a lot of different types of cards. Here, it's a thank-you, and one can never have enough of those! It would be awesome for a birthday, encouragement, etc. Crafting on the Shoestring means getting the most out of your budget, and this does it for me! :)

Today's quickie:

It goes with the challenges at:

Totally Gorjuss - Ribbons and lace (The lace is obvious, but there's a bit of ric-rac ribbon peeking between the two PP.)

Crazy 4 Challenges - Use this sketch:

Recipe:

Images - Tiddly Inks (main) Imaginesce - Sentiment
Papers - October Afternoon
Ribbons - Ric rac from Really Reasonable Ribbon, lace from my mom's stash

Thank you so much for dropping by today!
Elizabeth

Hello!

2011-06-26T17:02:00.001-04:00

Ah, it's time for the afternoon thunderstorm. We've been in a bit of a rut here, lately. Daytime highs in the mid-90s, afternoon crash-and-bang. Our power was out for a couple of hours the other day after a short-but-intense storm, and I can't believe I'm still married. As soon as the hubby realized that the TV would not be back on for a little while, he was useless. Freaked out. Done. I had a batch of dinner rolls on their last rise, and ended up baking them on the grill, which worked just fine. Still, he insisted that we go out to get a fast-food dinner, (because, despite the fact that we did have water, hot water, even, he was sure I wouldn't be able to "clean up" after I finished grilling the food) but, of course, they had been without power, too. I realize that there are way too many real problems in the world to have been praying for power so he'd chill his butt out, but I did anyway, and they were answered before bedtime.
Heaven help us (truly!) if there should ever be a real emergency.

Anyway, he's off doing a church-thing, and I'm using the down time for a little crafting.

This one's for the challenges at:

Craft Your Passion Challenges - Paper Piecing

CCEE Stampers - Use pink (In honor of National Pink Day!)

Paper Sundaes - Recipe (I used gems and pieced the dress.)

Deconstructingjen.com - Use this sketch:

I loooove the Pure Innocence stamps, but they are a bit expensive for the shoestring budget. No problem! The artist has an Etsy, digistampcharacters, and she's made her drawings into digis! I paid $3 for this one, $7 less than at my favorite scrapbooking store!

The rest of the recipe:

Paper - American Crafts (background), Little Yellow Bicycle (her dress)

Die cuts - Nesties

Colored with Copics (a big of a challenge with digis...)

CS - Bazzill

Hello stamp and gems are from the stash.

Embossing folder - Cuttlebug

Chalks from the dollar bin at AC Moore

Ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon (yes, it is!)

Thank you so much for stopping by today. Hope our power stays on, or I may have to come live with one of y'all! :)

Have a wonderful day!

Elizabeth

Ah, June! (A wedding CAS)

2011-06-25T09:12:00.000-04:00

It's that time of the year again! I'm at an odd age. My friends have been married (and some married and unmarried) for quite some time, but our kids aren't at that age just yet. Still, here in the South, where, until the recession really hit, there was a teacher shortage, so we still get to enjoy some of the younger girls' excitement with weddings and new babies. Got to keep some cards in the stash for those!

So, a CAS for such an event:

Yikes. I'm having such trouble with the camera. I can have decent lighting, or I can have focus, but I can't have both. Right now, it would seem I can't have either. BTW, the ribbon is white, not pink.

It goes with the challenges at:

Charisma Cardz Challenge - White + one other color

CAS-ual Fridays - "Getting Edgy" - Use a border punch

Speedy the Cat's Challenge - at Mark's Finest Papers - Make it Sparkle

4 Crafty Chicks - CAS

The recipe:

Stamps - Studio G (from the dollar bin at Michaels)

Embossing folder - Quickkutz (I think.) Dots are CB.

Edge punch - Martha Stewart

Die cut - Spellbinders Nestie

Ribbon - Really Reasonable Ribbon

Flowers, again from the Michael's bin

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and please come again soon! Enjoy your Saturday! (Maybe yours has a wedding in it! *Sigh*)

Elizabeth

Yeah. I Used to Look Like That. (I'm Lying.)

2011-06-20T21:25:00.000-04:00

When I saw the challenge at Crafty Creations - Just Imagine - I immediately thought of this stamp. If you don't know how they work together, you haven't met Middle Age yet. It and I are old friends. I was behind a cute, young woman in the checkout line at Wally World not too long ago. She had an advertisement for the Beach written across her bum. I can remember when I'd have wanted someone to read my backside. Now I'd need a billboard permit, LOL!

Anyway, here's the project:

This is for the challenges at:

Crafty Creations Challenge - Just Imagine

Aud Sentiments - Summertime

Paper Sundaes - Make an easel card

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - Fun in the Sun

Bellarific Friday - Use this sketch:

The deets:

Stamps - Stamping Bella, Verve (small sentiment), {Ippity} by Unity (large sentiment)

DP - Cosmo Cricket CS - Michaels

Embossing plate - Cuttlebug (inked with Tea Dye Distress Ink)

Flower and fuzzy brad - Making Memories

Shells - the Beach

Ric Rac - Really Reasonable Ribbon

Chalk (for the stamp background) - Studio G

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you're enjoying your Summertime!

Elizabeth

A Quickie with Those Bright Summer Colors

2011-06-17T14:07:00.000-04:00

Ahhhh! The cums. are locked up, the books packed away, some work brought home, but, at last, SUMMER BREAK! Something about it just makes everything greener and happier!

I must not be the only one feeling this way, because a number of the challenge sites are using those wonderful hot, hot, hot colors of summer! Here's my offering:

This fun little Ketto fairy (from Stamping Bella) is for the challenges at:
Charisma Cardz Challenge - Pink and green
Flutter By Wednesdays - Pink, orange, and green
The Play Date Cafe - Pink, orange, and blue
{Cupcake Inspirations} - Lots of bright colors
deconstructingjen.com - This sketch:

The details:
Sentiment: Verve Stamps
Embossing folder: Cuttlebug
Spellbinders dies
CS and ribbon from Michaels.

Thank you so much for stoppng by! Please come back soon. Enjoy your warm summer weekend!
Elizabeth

Well, she tried.

2011-06-04T19:37:00.000-04:00

I'm not good at shabby chic. There. I said it. There's always something that doesn't quite work. Still, I often tell my fourth-graders that you don't learn anything by not doing it. So I'm trying. Again. And failing. Again. Eesh.

This latest attempt is for the challenges at:
Really Reasonable Ribbon - pink and brown
One Stop Craft Challenge - Add texture (That's corrugated cardboard.)
Paper Sundaes - Vintage or Shabby Chic
City Crafter Challenge Blog - Use recycled cardboard and paint
Card Patterns - Use this sketch:

Here's the recipe:
Stamps: Border is from Waltzingmouse, the verse is a Plain Jane from Verve. The backgrounder is an old one from CHF.
Inks: Adirondack Watermelon mixed with a copper Dabber to stamp the background. Border and sentiment are stamped in Momento.
The big flower is Prima; the little ones and the center brads are from the stash.
Brown and pink ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon. Lace is from my mom's stash.

Please don't judge too harshly. :P
Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend. I still have one more week of school, but hope that those of you that are out have a wonderful first week off!

Elizabeth

A Balm of Friendship

2011-05-31T20:54:00.001-04:00

Ahhhh. Eight more days of school! With things winding down quickly, I've gotten the chance (at last!) to break out the stamps I got for Christmas. I love this set from Waltzingmouse; it goes with my Nesties!

It's also for the challenges at:
One Stop Craft Challenge - buttons and bows
Tip Top Tuesday - use ribbon
Card Patterns - use this sketch

Here's the recipe:
Papers - Cosmo Cricket - Garden Variety
Ribbon - Really Reasonable Ribbon
Stamp - Waltzingmouse (I'm too lazy to go downstairs and look for the set's name. Just look under 'Nestie Friendly' on the website. It's there.
Die - Nestie

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop over today. Come again soon!
Elizabeth

"Mom! You made a card again!"

2011-05-28T22:14:00.001-04:00

How about that? The school year is winding down, test scores are in, lesson plans are sketchy but managed, and I finally, finally have time to craft! My soon-to-be-a-seventh-grader (are you kidding me?!) son saw me photographing for today's post and was surprisingly pleased for me.

I do love papercrafting, but I'm also a big fan of paying the mortgage, and the two just don't seem to work together. When I scrap and make cards during the school year, it feels like work. I've learned to relegate it to the summer months when I can genuinely enjoy it.

Which is why the challenge at Flutter by Wednesdays looked like a great place to start my summer crafting. This week's challenge was to create a CAS card using a fairy of butterfly image. Ahhh here's a chance to get the wheels turning again without going too crazy.

This also flies (No more bad puns!) for the challenges at

The Play Date Cafe - It's color splash week! My favorite! This time it's add a splash of green.

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge - Gave me a sketch from which to work. It's adapted a little. check out this challenge blog; their sketches are easy and oh-so-cute!

To better match the sketch challenge, I tried inking up the embossing folder with black, hoping that I could make the notes pop. Fail. It kind of turned out in reverse, but just didn't work with the card.

The recipe:

The flutterby is from Unity, the sentiment is Verve's stamp of the month (for another couple of days), the ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon, and cardstock from my long-neglected stash. Sentiment was cut out with a Nestie, and the music embossing is from a CB folder.

Thank you sooo much for stopping by today! Enjoy your holiday weekend!

Elizabeth

I Don't Know About You, But...

2011-01-12T12:48:00.000-05:00

... I'm starting to feel like I'm stuck in a bit of a loop. Like that movie Groundhog Day where Bill Murray had to keep living that same day over and over. The snow days are adding up, and, being housebound thanks to 4 inches of snow with a half-inch layer of snow on top of it, the days are kind of running together. (Stop laughing, Yankees. I used to live in the mountains and can drive in snow just fine. A half-inch of ice is no joke!)

Anyway, gone are the days of snowmen and sleds, as AJ has become a middle-schooler. This is what a snow day looks like around here now:

It's entirely possible that the XBox controller has grown into his hand. Yeah, good luck scrapping that. If anybody happens across him on Planet Reach, tell him his mother said, "Hi."

Oh, well. At least that leaves me with some uninterupted craft time. :) My niece, Andie, cutest kid on the planet (and rather a big fan of snowmen and sleds) turns two at the end of the month

This is also for the challenges at:

Charisma Cardz Challenge - Make a birthday card

colourQ - Use Aqua, orange, green, and pink

Get Sketchy - Use this sketch:

One Stop Craft Challenge - Make a card for a child

{Cupcake Inspirations} - Bright colors: Aqua, orange, green, and pink

The Pink Elephant - Pink, orange, and aqua

Aud Sentiments - Two Words

The recipe:

Bazzill CS, small circle punch, Nesties circles and scalloped circles, the 2 is a Thicker, happy is cut using Cricut cartridge, 'Doodletype'; grossgrain ribbon from the stash, K&Co felt butterfly, Stampabilities stamp, Prima flower with Making Memories fuzzy brad in the center.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Come again soon; until then, stay warm!

Oh - did you hear the news? Snow is in 49 of the 50 states today - yes, even on a couple of Hawaiian mountaintops. The slacker state? Florida. C'mon now, Gators! Put a little effort into your snow dances!

Have a wonderful day!

Elizabeth

Warm Winter Wishes

2011-01-12T09:41:00.000-05:00

... and we need them! The South is still in a deep-freeze, even if it has finally stopped icing, and I'm on my third snow day this week. Well, two of them are more like ice-days, but you know... I've given up adapting my lesson plans. We'll do what we do when (if) we get there.

Oh, BTW - sorry, Northeast. We sent y'all that little blizzard y'all are dealing with today. Couldn't keep it all to ourselves, now, could we? Wouldn't be sporting.

Anyway, with everything out of the way and we strictly housebound, (Even my little Subaru won't travel on ice.) I've got some crafting time. Yes!

It's actually a thank-you card for my parents. They still take care of me at Christmas. The message is tucked in on the top half of the bottom piece.

It's also for the challenges at:

Card Patterns Use this sketch:

...and:

Cute Card Thursday - Use up your stash (Like I could go buy something right now, right?)

Paper Sundaes - Circles

Really Reasonable Ribbon - Something new (OK, well, the digi is.) and ribbon

Pile it On - Cute children

Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge - Embossing.

The Recipe:

Ribbon is from my mom's seemingly endless stash that I get to raid each summer. (Thanks again, Mom!)

Glitter CS is from My Mind's Eye, other CS is Bazzill.

Cuttlebug embossing folder, Nesties to cut the circles, Copics to color.

*Shoestring alert!* - Yes, that's a Pure Innocence stamp, but I got it from the artist's Etsy shop as a digi for a measly $2.50! Here's the link to her store: :Etsy store

Have a warm, safe day! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Elizabeth

... I wish!

2010-11-21T21:24:00.000-05:00

Ah, snow. Around here, we can't buy snow before mid-January. My parents, who live in Texas, occasionally have a white Christmas. We caught one there once. In Texas. Yeah.

Last winter, we had record cold, but it didn't help. The storm that became Snowmageddon #1 at my sister's (in the DC area) sat here the day before and poured a cold, miserable 33-degree rain.

So, only a fool would go looking for an early snow here, but, you know, I'm just that kind of fool. A girl can dream, right?

With that in mind, here's today's entry:

This one's for the challenges at:

One Stop Craft Challenge - snow people

Tip Top Tuesday - Buttons Galore

Fab N Funky Challenges - Forget Me Not (Use a stamp that hasn't gotten any love in a while.)

Pile it On - Winter

Paper Play Challenges - Let It Snow

Really Reasonable Ribbon's Challenge - Christmas Theme

Stampin' B's - Snowflakes

Totally Papercrafts - Snow and Snowflakes

Stampin for the Weekend - Winter

So, how's I make it?

This is a side-step card! You can find directions at Splitcoast.

Stamp: Penny Black (One of the first ones I ever bought! I had forgotten about it!)

I used a Cutlebug folder to emboss the white and red cardstocks. (CS is Bazzill)

Paper on the bottom rung is The Paper Studio, green print is K&Co.

Letters are cut on the Cuttlebug, "You're Not the Boss of Me"

Snowflakes are Jolee's; buttons are Oriental Trading. Ink is Brilliance in Graphite.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I appreciate your visit and your comment!

OK, now, y'all. I know it's 70-something out today, but let's hit it anyway! "The weather outside is frightful, but the fire's so delightful..."

Have a wonderful week!

Elizabeth

Winter CAS

2010-11-20T15:05:00.001-05:00

Wow!
Happy fall, y'all! I've been crazy-busy with a new grade level (fourth), doing the team-mom thing for AJ's tae kwon do team, getting him settled into middle school, and now wrestling's started. That hasn't left me any time for crafting, and it feels good to get something done!

So it makes sense to start back with something simple. I needed a winter card in which to tuck a Dallas Cowboys ornament that AJ picked out for my parents while we were at the Southern Christmas Show. I'm not quite ready to do actual Christmas cards yet - even if I'm listening to the radio channel that's already switched over to Christmas music!

This also is for the challenges at:

Paper Sundaes - Choose your own Sundae Toppings
Speedy the Cat's Friends' Challenge - use circles
Crazy 4 Challenges - use circles (Great minds think alike!)
Stampin for the Weekend - winter

(Ugh! I forgot this part!)
Supplies: The stamp is from a CHF Scene It! set
CB embossing folder, Bazzill CS, Distress Ink (Broken China and Faded Jeans)
Glittery ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I appreciate your taking your time to visit. Goodness knows I don't have enough of it these days...

Have a wonderful weekend,
Elizabeth

Charge!

2010-09-08T21:10:00.000-04:00

Well, not really. I don't just scrap on a shoestring, I've got to do the other stuff that way, too. Still, I love me a good sale! Men have rifle season, we have shopping. Same thing -the thrill of the hunt - but without the whole guttin' the carcass and storing the trophy in the freezer deal.

Ohhhkay, so we'll switch from that lovely metal image to:

something a little more female-friendly! This one's for the challenges at:

Raise the Bar - UR Looking Good! (Use your blog header/layout as inspiration.)

Bee Crafty - Anything Goes

Speedy the Cat's Friend's Challenge - Five of Something - I've got five layers (Base, blue, pink scalloped circle, white embossed circle shoes)

Stamps R Us - Stitching

Paper Play Challenges - Stitching

Pile It On - Layers

Card Patterns - Use this sketch:

Here's the recipe:

DP by Piggy Tales, CS is cheap stuff from AC Moore.

Shoes images from a set from Digi Sparkle

Who's That Girl image from My Favorite Things (It's a digi! So much less expensive!)

Lace from my mom's stash.

Blue CS and white CS in the circles embossed with Cuttlebug folders. All circles cut with Nesties.

Colored with Copics - chalk in background didn't photograph well.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Please leave a comment and come again soon!

Elizabeth

AJ - and food - again!

2010-08-15T10:27:00.000-04:00

Too many of my pages involve my eleven year old and what he's eating! He's been growing like a weed, though, and food is what he's mostly about right now! :)

I've still got to scrap his trip to Junior Chef's Camp at the Gaylord Texan. He loves to cook as much as he loves to eat. All of which is funny because of his insane food allergies when he was little. The first three things on his 'no' list were milk, eggs, and wheat - and it went downhill from there. I can't even remember the whole list anymore. He's down to just peanuts, tree nuts, and shellfish. Occupational hazards for a junior chef!

Here, he's feeding his face with an ice cream breakfast at a Friendly's at Myrtle Beach.

This is a 12x12 page; I had to photograph it at an angle, so it looks rectangular.

Here's the sketch from Scrap and Stamp Saturday's challenge:

I wanted to use a chipboard swirl, but I've blown my scrap budget this week, so I made do by fussy-cutting the swirl in the paper.

The rest of the recipe:
DP by Quick Quotes
Font from dafont.com (A gazillion free fonts here!)
Stamps are from CHF's GM collection - The Beach.
       Surfboards are stampd in Distress Inks - Fired Brick, Faded Jeans and Broken China
       The car is stamped in Brilliance and colored with Copics B02, B05, C05, C07, YR 18, and black. Added
       a little silver glitter gel pen to the chrome, and used Glossy Accents to make the hard top a hard top.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I'm heading for the kitchen next. French toast. Now.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Elizabeth

AJ's First Belt

2010-08-06T22:00:00.000-04:00

Looking for my FWF card? Scroll down one entry!

The Friday Challenge for their Anniversary Celebration at Practical Scrappers asked us to scrap a 'first'. Here's mine:

I'm not sure digiscrapping's legal here, but I thought I'd find out. :)

This is AJ, years ago, getting his first taekwondo belt. One of his instructors found the big picture on an old SD card not too long ago and emailed it to me. I was really pleased, since my in-the-dojang pictures from that day really didn't come out well at all. He's come a long way on that journey; he's a deputy-black now and will be testing for his first poome in October.

The recipe:

Frame and brush set are from Two Peas in a Bucket.

Bottom cutout template is ScrapGirls.

Paper - Digitals, I think?

Quote is from Designer Digitals.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Please visit again soon!

Elizabeth

Kiss It Goodbye...

2010-08-06T08:19:00.001-04:00

summer, that is! I head back to work week after next, and I send my baby off to middle school the following Wednesday. Forget where did summer go - where they hey did eleven years go?!

Between now and then, though, I've got a little time left to squeeze in some crafting. Not as much as I'd hoped (Well, the scrapbook's caught up to April. Sort of.) but some...

This week's project was inspired by the Color Splash challenge over at City Crafters. This time, it was a splash of green:

This bee-yootiful Unity butterfly is part of a set of four - and they're all big, like this - that has been the best investment! When you're living on the shoestring, it's not all about cheap; it's about getting a good value, (Yes, I'm still turning into my mother.) and at Unity, you can often do both! I got this set of versatile stamps on sale! :)

The rest of the recipe:

Green leaf ribbon - from Really Reasonable Ribbon

CS - all Bazzill

Sentiment - Verve, cut with a Labels 4 Nestie

I made the swirly paper by inking up a Cuttlebug embossing folder with white Color Box pigment ink and running black CS through.

Organza ribbon - from the stash.

Have a wonderful weekend! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Please leave a comment and come again soon!

Elizabeth

Five Guys' Divine Fries

2010-08-04T20:17:00.000-04:00

... and burgers! It's one of AJ's favorite haunts. Here, he's enjoying one with grilled onions and mushrooms. That boy does loooove to eat. He's in his old taekwondo uniform - I'm still catching up this year - because we're celebrating his earning his deputy black belt. He'll test for his first poome this fall. The breaking part of the deputy test required him to break a thin cinder block with a hammer fist. That means with the side of his fist, pinkie-side down. When he struck it, he hit the sticky-outy bones in his wrist against the corner of the block. It didn't break, but it sounded like his wrist had. He shook off the adult instructors and, sobbing, struck that (add your own expletive) block three more times before it finally broke. It was very difficult to watch.

He was bruised, but no real damage.

This also is for the challenges at:

Practical Scrappers - Use just one photo

Scrap and Stamp Saturday - Paper piecing (The burgers and fries are pieced.)

City Crafters Challenge Blog - Yum!

Scrap Tiffany - Use this sketch:

The rest of the recipe:

Bazzill CS

I used Nesties to cut the circles for the burgers and the scalloped circle for the lettuce. I also used labels 4 to make the back of the fries container. Burger and fries are inked with Tea Dye Distress Ink.

Thickers letters and some cheapies from AC Moore

Deckle scissors for the center circle.

The 'ketchup' and 'mustard' splotches are done with a CHF stamp from one of the GM sets. I used Fired Brick Distress Ink and a yellow Stampabilities pad from deep within the stash.

Oh... and here he is in his snazzy new black belt uniform (It's got red, too, because he's under 12.) and without a food item being inhaled:

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Please leave a comment and come again soon!

Happy hump day!

Elizabeth

Bee Thankful

2010-08-01T18:08:00.000-04:00

... for my friend, Jennie! This is a thank-you card for her. The sentiment makes me think of her; whenever she calls, she always starts the conversation with "Hey, honey!" I think she does that with everybody.

This also is for the challenges at:

Paper Sundaes - Use stitching

EtsyInspired Challenge - Becky Kazana's store

One Stop Craft Challenge - Patterns

Stamp, Scrap, and Doodle Saturdays - Create a CAS card

Get Sketchy Follow this sketch:

The recipe:

All DP is from Cosmo Cricket's Garden Variety collection.

Stamps are The Birds and the Bees by Kim Hughes - CHF

Nesties to cut the scallops, a Cuttlebug folder to emboss the hive's background.

I paper-pieced the bees, but Copic-colored the hive. Machine-stitched the sections.

Green grossgrain's from the stash.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Please leave a comment and come again soon!

Have a wonderful week,

Elizabeth

Summer Romance

2010-07-30T17:13:00.000-04:00

... at least in my imagination!

Several challenges this week revolve around love and summer, and well, those two do go together nicely. Ahhhh, to be a teenager again, with a summer fling... (And now, looking back, remembering how badly I wanted to be grown so I could go off and do whatever I wanted to... Weren't we silly?)

This cute couple is from Bee Crafty Downloads. All DPs are K & Company's Urban Rhapsody collection. Flower are Prima, rhinestones are from the stash, and the ribbon is some old seam tape my mom had lying around. The DPs are all machine-stitched, but it doesn't show. Used nesties to cut the shapes on the sides.

*Shoestring Alert* - The vintage Paris pic is from The Graphics Fairy. She posts tons of vintage clip art, etc. for FREE on her blog. She's also on Facebook, I think.

For the challenges at:

Bugaboo Stamps - Sweet, Sweet, Summertime

Stamp, Scrap, and Doodle - Use a Digi

Pollycraft Monday Challenges - Love and Marriage

Crafty Creations - Summer Lovin'

Card Patterns -Sketch 74

I took a few liberties with the sketch, but it was a great inspiration!

Thanks for stopping by today! Please leave a comment, and come again soon!

Elizabeth

Fry-day Fluttering

2010-07-30T08:37:00.000-04:00

I don't know about y'all, but I miss that lovely 85-degrees-most-days summer we had last year. We've been close to 100 day in and day out for weeks. Even here, in the Carolinas, that's hot! So, happy Fry-day everyone. If AJ gets out of the bed before noon, we'll head to the pool before it gets too wicked out.

But, hey, the AC is working (Thanks, Morris Jenkins!) and more time in the house means more time to papercraft. That, and finally watch all of those episodes of Lost I never got to see.

But, I digress...

This 'fly is for Color Splash Week (My favorite week of the month!) at The Play Date Cafe. This month, the splash is green. Perfect with a fluttery creature for Flutter by Wednesday's open challenge.

All cardstock is Bazzill. (The squares are backed in a celery green. It just didn't show up well.) I took a bit of the black, inked a Cuttlebug embossing folder with white Color Box pigment ink, and ran it through. The butterfly is from a Unity set and the sentiment is Verve. The organza is from Michaels, and the green leaf ribbon, came from Really Reasonable Ribbon, a store I adore! (Hey, that rhymes!)

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Please leave a comment, come back soon, and have a wonderful weekend!

Elizabeth

Scrapping a Duel

2010-07-26T22:47:00.000-04:00

I'm still trying to do more of AJ's scrapbook layouts "by hand" rather than digitally- something he asked me to do more often, much to my surprise.

This is a page of his first Yu-Gi-Oh! duel, a regional tournament in Charlotte. He really worked to prepare for it, but didn't meet his own expectations. Still, it was quite an experience, and the people couldn't have been nicer.

This is also for the challenges at:

Ella's Pink Scrapbook (The Pink Elephant) - Use items or memorabilia from an event

Practical Scrappers - Use Seven or More Items

Scrap and Stamp Saturday - Add Buttons to Your Layout

And Uses the Sketch from:

Pamela's World of Scrap - Sketch 209

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Please leave a comment, and come back soon!

Elizabeth

A {PANK!} Birthday

2010-07-25T13:06:00.000-04:00

My niece is turning five this week, and *sniff* starting kindergarten in the fall. She is a pistol, but the girliest thing our family has ever produced. Her mom - one of my sisters - has always been would-look-great-in-a-potato-sack attractive, but not girly. Go figure.

Anyway, my favorite about-to-be-five year old, has loved all things pink since, oh, birth. Being Southern born and bred, it comes out, "pank". When she was really little, she would shout it at the top of her lungs when she saw something, well, pank.

I popped this little pocketbook
together using a SU template I found on MelStampz. She has a ton of templates for everything imaginable (The blog says she has 187 purse templates! I didn't count...) that you can download.

I'm going to have to put a dot of Velco under the flap so that it will stay closed.

It was easy-peasy and quick to make - even with the machine stitching.

The recipe:

Template

Bazzill CS

Prima flowers, Making Memories brads

ribbon from The Stash

DP is Cosmo Cricket, Girl Friday

Turns out it's Template Week over at Just Us GirlS challenge. Check out the way-cool work over there!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! May your day be pleasant and PANK!

Elizabeth

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas?

2010-07-24T16:29:00.000-04:00

Depends on where you're from, I guess. I've got ribs on the grill, it's 100 degrees out, but my friend, Eugenie, a Saffie from Capetown, tells me that her childhood Christmas usually included a cookout on the beach! So what the heck? Grillin' out and chillin' with some Christmas crafting in make a good combo., anytime, anyplace!

So, this one's for:
Fluter by Wednesday's - Make a Christmas card using a butterfly, fairy, or angel.
Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog - Choose your own Christmas Sentiment
Sketch for You to Try - It seems I'm late, though Mr. Linky says I still have a week. :(

Ugh. The shiny paper photographs horribly.

I happened to have this cute little ice fairy and Christmas sentiment from The Pink Cat Studio already in my digi stamp collection. I love this Heidi Grace flocked and shiny paper! While I was in Texas last week, my mom sent me through her fabric scraps, and I found some floaty crinoline-like stuff, which I ruffled and held in place by stitching down a piece of silver ribbon. Here's the detail shot of that:

Well, sort of. It just isn't showing up well. The snowflakes are Jolee's, and the blue ribbon was something in my stash. The blue CS is Bazzill run through the Cuttlebug in a snowflake embossing folder. It's on top of some white CS punched with my MS doily punch.

I sooooo need to save up for a new camera. This thing's great for life, awful for photographing cards and layouts. Any suggestions?

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Please come back soon.
Have a great Saturday, whichever end of the planet is yours. :)
Elizabeth

Surf's Up!

2010-07-23T16:58:00.000-04:00

I wish, huh? It's sooooo time for a beach trip! I'll just have to settle for beach-y stamps. At least the laundry won't get backed up! :)

Anyway, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things - it's so nice to abdicate that grown-up role for a little while - and get some crafting in. Found some great challenges and came up with this:

It's a side-step card - my first-ever! Found great directions at juliedavison.com .

Some Odd Girl - Spots, Stripes and a Big Title

Charisma Cardz - Anything But Square

Crafty Sentiments - Use Three Designer Papers

Alphabet Challenge Blog - M is for Men

Color Throwdown - Use these colors:

Recipe:

Papers - Little Yellow Bicycle

Stamps - Surfer Kody from Some Odd Girl Digital Stamps, Other surfboards are CHF, Font is LD Jumpy from Lettering Delights.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Please leave a comment; I learn a lot from them! Stay cool...

Elizabeth

Mothra Attacks!

2010-07-08T17:26:00.000-04:00

*Yawn* It seems everyone I've run into today is sleepy! Maybe it's the heat. Maybe it's just Thursday. Either way, it's on that I'm going to blame my latest fail. I swear, I think I could do a blog just on those!

I'm sooo excited that Flutter By Wednesday is back! I really did miss them, so I wanted to really do one up for it.. y'know, try something new. I've never done an easel before, much less a round one. I ended up with:

I liked it, and then AJ walked in while I was putting on the butterflies. He looked around my shoulder and said, "Mom, I think you'll need to change the size on your girl. The butterflies are huge. It looks like Mothra's attacking."

Drat. He's right. And then, just to prove he's getting older, he added, "Do ya think State Farm would cover that, or would they tell you they don't do Japanese monster attacks?" Yeah. Remind me to call my agent. Probably does need a separate rider.

So I started to resize my uber-cute digi girl from Bee Crafty when I decided, I'm just going to go with it . I know it's out of proportion, but then again, how many of y'all have ever seen a Mothra card? Definitely something new!

This is for challenges at:

Flutter by Wednesdays - open

Bee Crafty - 3D (and using at least one digi)

Craftalicious Challenges - Make something cute. (I tried. Maybe Mothra's cute to his mother.)

The rest of the recipe:

DP Green - Little Yellow Bicycle

DP clouds - My Little Shoebox

Flowers - Prima (pink) and the white one's from Making Memories. So are the brads in the center of the pink flowers.

The sentiment is an acrylic stamp from a set I can no longer identify. (I know, bad job.) Cut with a Nestie, stamped in Brilliance.

Butterflies are Verve and are stamped in Adirondack Denim and Watermelon (hot pink - the photo makes it look red.)

Have a wonderful day. Thank you so very much for stopping by; please come again!

Elizabeth

Red, White and Blue... Through and Through!

2010-07-06T16:57:00.000-04:00

Aaaah! We're still eating leftovers from Sunday's big ol' cookout, so that left me some time to knock out something for a few of the week's challenges.

It's a window or an aperture card, one that has the main image inside.

I used stamps from the {Ippity} set, Straight from the Heart. (Which, of course, means I'm singing Bryan Adams to myself, now. Badly. Child of the '80s thing.)

The wings on the heart are a graphics set from Lettering Delights. I used a Nestie to cut the window (Labels Two) Embossing on the inside is a QuicKutz folder. I inked up a Cuttlebug folder with white Color Box pigment ink and ran a piece of Red Carpet Bazzill CS through to make the front paper.

This is for the challenges at:

Paper Makeup Stamps - make a window card.

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - aperture creations

Raise the Bar - colors of your flag

Oh, Alice! - red, white, and blue

The Shabby Tea Room - embossing

Whew! I hope your holiday was a good break for you. We enjoyed the fireworks at Carowinds. I managed to get bitten twice by a fire ant while watching - I made AJ put on sneakers, but I wore flip-flops. Should have followed my own advice. I'm still itching!

Have a wonderful week. Wear your tennies, y'all!

Elizabeth

Chillin' (at last!) Happy Friday, FWF!

2010-07-02T08:45:00.000-04:00

What a relief! Big storms (by our standards - my family in Texas would laugh) rolled through a couple of days ago and it's suddenly bee-yootiful outside! (Yes, in the South, that has four syllables.) Hooray for laptops - I can enjoy the morning sun and relax with some Friends with Flair fun!

I'm sooooo glad you're here! Been on an old-school {Ippity} kick this week, digging out two of the original sets.
Popped these together using stamps from the Because of You set:

A thank-you card for a dear friend.

A layout of our trip to The Beach (which, if you're in the Carolinas, means Myrtle. If we're going to another, we'll name it. Aren't local-isms fun?) AJ surprised me lately, asking if I would scrap a particular event "by hand". I usually digi-scrap while I'm working during the school year, and I didn't think he noticed, much less cared. Who knew? So, I'm making an effort now that I'm free for a while to do more paper LOs. That bottom picture is his footprints. Looking more like mine every day. *sigh*

This is a card I did for a couple of challenges using the same set:

and one using 'Simply Home'

Thanks again for coming over! I hope your holiday weekend is fun and safe!

If you've misplaced yourself, the hop's back here

Y'all come back!
Elizabeth

Christmas in July

2010-07-01T17:18:00.000-04:00

Hello, again!

A couple of the challenge sites are thinking Christmas early. These are probably the same people who did most of their shopping for this year last year, but we'll forgive them.

This one's for:
The Alphabet Challenge Blog - Icy Colors
The Sweet Sunday Sketch

Lots of possibilities here. I'm thinking of using it again with another card that's flitting around in the brain.

Anyhow, my offering:

Shoestring Alert! - The snowflake is a freebie on the Fred She Said website!

It's been colored with Copics and the center has a blue rhinestone. Middle is up on pop dots. The embossing is done with a Cuttlebug folder. Silver buttons are American Crafts and the blue buttons are from Oriental Trading. CS is Bazzill.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I hope your holiday weekend is a (safe and happy) blast!
Elizabeth

It's Not Easy Bein' Green

2010-07-01T13:42:00.000-04:00

Happy Thursday! The temperature is finally *not* nine zillion! I'm so excited! We'd hit the pool, but AJ's taekwondo team has a demo tonight at the movie theatre for the opening of The Last Airbender. I love the Avatar series on Nick, and hope the movie is as good!

Ever have one of those projects that has driven you so nuts you just want it done. I'm there today. Several of my haunts have green-related challenges up this week, and I've been wanting to ink up this {Ippity} set I've had around for the longest. I started with a gorgeous-but-killer sketch at Card Patterns

I turned it and ended up with:

This is also for color combo challenged at:

Our Creative Corner (greens and blues)

The Color Chef (green, brown, and white) and

City Crafter (shades of green)

Since my shoestring budget doesn't allow for new dies right now (oh, how I'd love some of the new ones at MFT!), I had to get a little creative to manage the scallop. I cut three scalloped squares and played Frankenstein with them until they (mostly) fit, I had to use a bit of lace to cover up a gap.

The hard part was getting it together and photographed! Adhesive came undone. Twice, DP tore when I tried to reposition it. Shelf fell when I was taking the picture. Something jinxed this thing!

Oh, well. At least I've got a new house card in my stash.

Have a great day!

Elizabeth

Warm Colors, Cool Beach

2010-06-27T21:23:00.000-04:00

Woo-hoo! For me, summertime is scrapbooking season. Summer vacation allows me two things - time to have a life and time to scrap it. During the school year, we don't do a lot, and what we do, I tend to digi scrap so as not to get hopelessly behind. (I like digi-scrapping! I've picked up some pretty cool stuff at Two Peas and The Sweet Shoppe, among others.)

I was surprised not too long ago when my going-to-middle school son, AJ, asked about the pictures froma particular event and if I would "scrapbook it by hand." I didn't think it made a difference to him. I was wrong.

So, anyway, it's time to get with it again, and a couple of challenges at some of my favorite cardmaking haunts gave me some inspiration:

This is from our spring break trip to the beach,which, if you're in the Carolinas, generally means Myrtle. The bottom picture doesn't show well - it's AJ's footprints, which, sadly, are looking more and more like mine.

The striped paper is from K and Company. CS is Bazzill. The sandy paper is from the scrap pile. The stamp is one from an {Ippity} set (by Unity) and is stamped in Fired Brick Distress Ink. I also used Tea Dye Distress Ink to touch up the sanded blue CS and the sentiment oval. That's canvas quickly tied into three knots along the bottom. Stickers are Jolee's.

This, I hope, counts as a 'project' for:

The Shabby Tea Room - warm colors/stripes

The Play Date Cafe - brown, turquoise, red, orange

I'm so glad that you stopped by! Please come again soon!

I hope the start to your week is happy!

Elizabeth

Good Times! (Ain't We Lucky We Got 'Em?)

2010-06-27T13:41:00.000-04:00

Okay, so that totally dates me. I was a kid when the show Good Times was on. I didn't understand that theme song then - I was young enough to not wholly 'get' the recession in the late '70s - but now, well, yeah. A lot of us are there.

But, like the show taught, you don't have to have a lot to be somebody and to enjoy those good times. I am lucky to have so many kind friends. This is a thank you for one of them.

This is also for the sketch challenge at Tuesday Morning Sketches.

The sentiment and the flower are from one of my favorite {Ippity} sets. Paper is Cosmo Cricket; CS is Bazzill. I used Tea Dye Distress Ink to touch up the sentiment oval and tone down the white stitching on the ribbon. I ran the red CS backing the oval through the CB with a swiss dots folder before cutting it with a Nestie.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I hope the rest of your weekend is - say it together now -

DY-NO-MITE!

Elizabeth

Just a Quickie

2010-06-26T19:01:00.001-04:00

Yay, Saturday!

I'm posting quickly as I'm supposed to be fixing dinner, and I'm just sliding in under the deadline at 2S4U (Two Sketches For You). This also goes with The Color Challenge at the One Stop Craft Challenge, pink and brown and the Aud Sentiments Challenge, put the word 'love' on your card.

The stamps are {Ippity} by Unity, the birds are done up with StazOn and the sentiment in white Color Box. Cut the scallops with Nesties. The paper is punched out circles.

Thank for stopping by! Gotta run - porkchops are calling!

Hugs,

Elizabeth

Why Roast at the Pool? We're Crafting in the Cool!

2010-06-25T08:03:00.000-04:00

Hey, Friends With Flair! What's up? I don't know about where y'all live, but it's *hot* here, even for the South. We've been pushing 100 daily for more than a week, and it's crazy humid, too! My parents live in the DFW area, where it's been way hot even longer, but their 100 isn't the same as an East coast 100, and I'll take theirs any day!

So, what better excuse to hide in the house and stamp?

My project actually was a FAIL! (as my eleven-year old would say.) I was putting a card together for color splash challenge at The Play Date Cafe. When I went to drop it onto Mr. Linky, I wondered, "Why did everyone else choose blue?" Then I read the directions more carefully. Duh.

I am crazy about my set of Unity buterflies! They're very detailed and versatile - some are frillier than others and - since I'm on that shoestring - useful in so many situations! With their size, they're also great for scrapbook pages!

The backgrounder is from CHF. The 'fly is inked in Adirondack Watermelon. CS is Bazzill. I did re-do it in blue, which is a couple of posts down. This one turned out better, though.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I love to learn from your comments, and I'll look forward to visiting your place, too!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Elizabeth

Pretty (for) a Princess

2010-06-23T10:05:00.000-04:00

Ah, to be a princess. Did anyone else see that the Crown Princess of Sweden just married her personal trainer?! Really?! I guess times have changed. Which is good - let's face it, to be a princess back in the day was to be a pawn. Women's rights have extended themselves to royalty, and a princess can choose a common Prince Charming with a tight set of abs (and glutes!)

So, it's not surprising that a few challenges have popped up that would go with a princess theme. Here's my offering:

This goes with several challenges:

Paper Sundaes - Pretty as a princess

The Pink Elephant - Pink and Black (I soooo want a pink Ella stamp! Too cute!)

Sketchy Thursday - Well, a sketch.

Caardvarks - Embossing

Bunny Zoe - Nice and Girly (Hey! It's a new challenge blog!)

Bee Crafty - Pink and Girly

The crown is a digital image from Lettering Delights. The letters are Cuttlebug. There is an acetate frame underneath the crown by Colorbok. (It looks funny in the first picture thanks to the flash.) The embossing folder is a QuicKutz,and the CS is Bazzill.

So, this one's for my niece, Carlie, who is our family's princess. She plays her role well.

Here's Carlie getting her way: and not:

Truth, she's a lot of fun - very worldly, and just a hoot. Takes forever getting dressed for preschool. She's wicked smart, too, and that should make for a very interesting combo. down the road!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope the rest of your week is fit for a queen!

Elizabeth

Sonshine!

2010-06-22T12:27:00.000-04:00

Good Tuesday afternoon! I worked this morning on an all-purpose card for the challenge at Card Patterns. Really cute sketch! It would be useful for a lot of cards!

Here's my take:

The background DP is from American Crafts. I cut out a couple of small clouds to pop up and make the bellie for the sketch. Tossed on a couple of buttons from Oriental Trading; CS is Bazzill. The verse image is a Plain Jain from Verve.

*Shoestring Alert!* Verve Plain Janes are image singles and are really inexpensive. The good folks over there are kind enough to adjust shipping to the package, so I can snag some lovely stamps without stretching the shoestrings too far!

Thanks so much for stopping over today! Y'all come back!

Hugs,

Elizabeth

A Splash of Blue

2010-06-21T17:52:00.001-04:00

Happy Monday! I'm working into that it-doesn't-really-matter-what-day-it-is that is the teacher's summer. If only the cat would figure out that it's OK that the sun is up and I'm not...

The Play Date Cafe had a fun color challenge this week. Black and white and a splash of blue. I had to take a fail at first because I did it with a splash of pink! How many times a day do I say, "Read the directions!"? LOL! So, back to the drawing board, and here it is:

The backgrounder is from CHF. I loooove this Unity butterfly from a set of beautiful 'flies! The sentiment is from Verve. (Gee. That's most of the major companies. Too bad I didn't have a Bella or something from MFT!)

The 'fly is inked with Broken China Distress Ink. I used Briliance for the black background. Ribbon is grossgrain.

Here's the original. I think I'll save it for Unity FWF this week.

The only difference is that I stamped the butterfly with Adirondack Watermelon and pink CS.

Have a wonderful week! Thank you so much for stopping by!

Elizabeth

An Explosion for Dad

2010-06-17T15:34:00.001-04:00

Yeah, I'm running a little late. In fact, as soon as I finish this, I've got to hustle over to the Post Office to send this little project off to Texas!

It's an explosion box. I saw one on a challenge a few weeks ago and thought it looked like a lot of fun. It is for my dad, so I kept it simple.

The bright DP is from Little Yellow Bicycle. CS is Bazzill.
I used two different digi stamps. The circle on the top is from The Cutting Cafe and the dad and daughter are from Shirley's 2 Girls. I must have gotten the font from Dafont.com , it's called Calvin and Hobbes. The little sun, etc. images are actually Doodlebats from SNF.

This project goes with two challenges:
Just Us Girls - Try a digi stamp. I'm a huge fan of digis. I can afford a lot more stamps!
My Time to Craft - Extra Special. Whose dad isn't?

Thank you so much for stopping by today. Please leave a comment. I love to learn from them!
Have a great week!
Elizabeth

No More Bad Puns!

2010-05-31T15:23:00.002-04:00

I've been hearing a lot of that around here lately. The punning at our house is getting worse and worse. Of course it had to run over into my crafting!

This one's for three challenges: Embellish (color), City Crafter (recipe) and Card Patterns (sketch).

The stamp is a digi from Pollycraft (Love them!) that I paper-pieced. There's a little chalk behind her for a sky, which didn't show up well. The CS is all Bazzill and the swirly cut-out paper is, I think, from KI Memories. Flowers are Prima, brads American Crafts and the ribbon is from Michael's. The font is LD Dainty.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I do love comments - I learn so much from them!

Elizabeth

Butterflies for Mandy

2010-05-29T21:11:00.000-04:00

She is a genuinely wonderful teammate and a crafty person herself. This is a thank-you to her for the crafty birthday basket she put together for me.

This is also for challenges at Flutter by Wednesday (anything goes) Just Us Girls (dry embossing) and would have been for the Sweet Sunday Sketch, except I'm late to that dance. Oh, well.

The DP is from the DCWV Garden Party stack that I found in my birthday basket. :) I used a CB folder to do the backgrounds for the butterflies. Butterflies were cut with my Cricut (Indie Art). Pearls were in the stash.

Here's a somewhat better picture of the embossing:

Anyway, thank you so much for stopping by! I hope you're enjoying your holiday! Please leave a comment - I learn a lot from them!

Playing in the Treehouse

2010-05-29T20:49:00.000-04:00

Found another fun challenge place this week while blurfing. The Tree House had a way-cute sketch that worked just right with a new stamp I got for my birthday!

I love this little guy. He's the King of the Wild Things from Stamping Bella. I tried to color him as much like Max as I could without making him too dull. The stamp is really just for fun - my only child is off to middle school in August, and even my nephew is 8 now. I need more young boys in my world again.

The DP is Line Up from the Orbit Collection at Papercrate. It's been sitting in a folder for a long time waiting for the right idea. The font is CK Storybook,

Thanks for stopping by today! If you have time, I do love comments. I learn so much!

FTL 92 - CAS-tastic and boyish

2010-05-29T20:38:00.003-04:00

I do love the CAS sketch challenge blogs. They really help me make use of my stamps in a way that keeps me in line with that shoestring budget! This covers two of them - FTL at Clean and Simple Stamping and A Touch of Green at CAS-tastic. This also is 'One for the Boys' over at Dare U to Digi Stamp.

This is for my fifth grader's promotion ceremony next week. *sigh* I can't believe he's going to middle school in August! I swear, I just had him!

The stamp is rockstar Ethan from Pollycraft. He's colored with Copics. The paper is Reaper from Basic Grey's Eerie collection. The font is Angellic War.

Shoestring Alert! - The font is a freebie at dafont.com !

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'm still learning this craft, so I truly love comments!

Fairy Flowery

2010-05-22T17:40:00.000-04:00

My husband was nice enough to go on a field trip to Charlotte with me and visit Family Memories while AJ was at Tae Kwon Do Friday night. *Sigh* I wish they were closer! I could live in that store! While I was there, I found this cute Cosmo paper and this sweet little Ketto stamp from Stamping Bella! It's always a surprise to me that without shipping - and they'll take a Michael's coupon - my shoestring budget can do a few new bits of rubbah! Woo-hoo!

So I inked her up this afternoon for Flutter By Wednesday and Get Sketchy. We were challenged at FBW to add flowers to our flutterings. (Say that 10 times fast!)

I used a labels four to background her and a scalloped circle for the sentiment. Red flowers are Prima, their centers and the white flower are Making Memories. I used a MS punch and a pattern from Fred, She Said to paper pierce the center bit.

Shoestring Alert! - The pattern is a freebie at the Fred She Said website!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you're enjoying your weekend!

A List of Reasons...

2010-05-22T17:22:00.000-04:00

... I love my teammates! I got moved from fifth grade to kindergarten this year - due to serious overcrowding issues - and had no idea what I was doing! Thankfully, my team and the first grade team pitched in to help do up my room and figure out what to do with a crop of five-year olds! I've been working on thank-yous for them this week. I think I'll order in pizza one day soon and throw them a party.

This is also for two challenges - The Pink Elephant (a sketch) and The Color Chef (black light red, and tan). I found this cute lists at the Cutting Cafe. The set comes with a bunch of these for different people and occasions.

The background paper is Bazzill CS, inked up with the Pinwheel backgrounder from CHF. I used Brilliance Graphite on the top and Adirondack Watermelon on the bottom. The flowers are Prima with American Crafts brads in the center. Pearls were in my stash.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Elizabeth

C is for Chocolate Cat!

2010-05-16T13:44:00.000-04:00

I hope you're enjoying your Sunday!

This week at The Alphabet Challenge Blog, we're working with the letter C. As in Chocolate. I threw in a few Cs of my own - cat (chat) and Cosmo Cricket.

Sorry it's shadowy - it's threatening to storm.

While I'm typing this, Chloe the cat (my own tabby) is trying to capsize my computer!

This image is from Shirley's 2 Girls April in Paris release. She has a bunch of really cute and tres chic digis with this set. The frame is a QuicKuts embossing folder touched up with Distress Ink. I cut the sentiment with a Labels Four Nestie. I paper-pieced the skirt with the Cosmo paper.

Thanks for stopping by!

Elizabeth

Home Tweet Home

2010-05-16T13:05:00.000-04:00

Cute, huh? Mo's challenge this week was to use your favorite image and add flowers. Here's my offering:

So many awesome images there! It was hard to pick my favorite!

I used a sketch from Card Patterns and the colors come from the challenge at Raise the Bar (Yellow, Grey, White) .

I used a sunflower backgrounder from CHF to stamp the mat for the image. The yellow CS was run through the Cuttlebug with an embossing folder. Flowers are Prima and the edge was done with a MS punch, Doilie.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a wonderful week!

Elizabeth

Paper Piecing and Cussing Creatively

2010-05-15T20:24:00.001-04:00

Happy Saturday!

The challenge this week at Flutter By Wednesday is to paper-piece your image. Obviously, whoever thought this one up doesn't wear bifocals. (LOL - sort of.) I did like how the color worked out on my fairy (from MelJen Designs). As much as I love my digi stamps, I have found their shortcomings this week. One, you can't always easily stamp under an image for details (like for BF antennae, here, it's the curlicue at the end of the stick she's using to hold up her lamp). Two, you'd better save the file on which you sized the image, because if you don't and you're paper piecing, you'll never get them to match up again. Oh, well. At least I learned a few things. :P

The font is Lavender (from SNF, I think) and I used a MS punch for the edge. The middle's a Nestie Labels Four. Paper is Sarah Griffin. (Last night's post was wrong. Good thing I looked.)

This is also for the challenges at Get Sketchy and the Cupcake Challenge at Hope Stamps Eternal (Zowie colors.)

Shoestring alert! - Sadly, Hope Stamps Eternal is closing her web store. She's running a sale - everything is 45% off!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Elizabeth

Another Leah for Friday

2010-05-14T20:43:00.000-04:00

I do love this little girl. Her name is Leah and she's a Whimsie Doodle digi. Aside from her cute factor, I can size her up or down, another feature I adore in digis.

Here's one for SFYTT (Sketch for You to Try.)

The Bingo card came from The Cutting Cafe (another of my favorite haunts.) Flower is Prima with a brad from Making Memories. Ribbon is from Michael's,and the DP is (I think - It's Friday night and I'm too lazy to go downstairs and look - My Mind's Eye.) Circles are Nesties (which, to my delight, AC Moore is beginning to carry.)

Have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

Elizabeth

Getting Sketchy with The Cutting Cafe

2010-05-12T18:55:00.000-04:00

One of the best ways of keeping my stamping habit affordable -even for a teacher - is using digi stamps. The Cutting Cafe was sponsoring a challenge (or two?) on one of the many blogs I love to read, and I thought I'd stop by. Good stuff. Cheap. Three of my favorite words...

So, anyway. Here's for this week's Get Sketchy. This thing gave me fits! Could not, not, not(!) get the background right and the flags to stay put in a way I like them. Maybe that's the Zen of cardmaking. Some things you can't control. Move on. :)

The trees and flags are from The Cutting Cafe and this is Leah, my favorite from Whimsie Doodles. I Cuttlebugged (Is that a verb?) the grass and pink background. The font is Lavender (Apparently, it's Kim Hughes' handwriting.) from SNF.

Thanks for stopping by! Testing week(s) for many of us teachers. Bubble on, Sistahs! Bubble on!

Elizabeth

Ahhh. Saturday!

2010-05-01T19:13:00.001-04:00

Got up waaaaay too early this morning! The neighbors had a yard sale, which meant they were clunking around at about 6:15. I love my neighbors - they're great - but come on, now!

Used my time to cruise some of the challenges and found a Clean and Simple Challenge at Flutter By Wednesday and a color challenge -aqua - at The Pink Elephant.

I came up with this:

I cut the mask using my Cricut (Stretch Your Imagination) and mixed Pool and Silver Dabbers to cover it. I stamped the Verve butterfly with Graphite Brilliance. Flowers are Prima, ribbon from Micheael's and the button from Oriental Trading. The scalloped circle was cut with a Nestie.

Shoestring Alert!

On my web-travels this morning, I found a new digi-stamp site I'm all excited about. The verse is from The Cutting Cafe, which had a BOGO today to celebrate {i}NSD!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Please come again soon - leave me a link so I can blurf in your direction!

Elizabeth

Friday!

2010-04-30T07:04:00.000-04:00

Hello, again! Woo-hoo! It's Friday - I've got a workday - and it's time for the festivities to begin!

So, were any of you as surprised as I am that Mothers' Day is a week from Sunday? Seems early. I think the way-cooler-than-average weather has messed up my concept of time - that, and for the first time in years and years, I don't have to care about state testing. Strange.

Anyway, Unity has this oh-so-cute image, which I got on sale last winter, and for which I paid a grand total of $6, including shipping. Scooore! I told you Angela has some good sales!

Anyway, using a sketch from the Mojo Monday archives, I popped together this:

DP is Basic Grey, CS is Bazzill and the ribbon is from Ellen Hutson (my fave online store!) The image are heat embossed with Zing! powder. A MS edge punch to give a little texture, and there we go!

What a week! Thank you so much for coming by! Up next week, Paper Addict Catherine! She's got some great work - fun and unique - already on her blog, and I'm looking forward to her Growing in Unity week!

Find her at: http://paperaddictcatherine.blogspot.com/

Enjoy your weekend!

Elizabeth

Butterflies for Thursday

2010-04-28T20:38:00.001-04:00

Welcome back, Unity friends! Today I've got a 'something old, something new' going on using one of my favorite Unity sets, Butterfly Beauty.

Here's my something new! I used a Nestie to cut the scalloped square and set inside of it a piece of 'lace' paper from K&I. Underneath that is a piece of PP from Anna Griffin. It's all layered on Bazzill CS and topped off with a heat-embossed butterfly.

Now, something old - I did this for the challenge at 2 Sketches 4 You last week, I think. It's actually a couple of posts back, but I've added a couple of Prima flowers since that left corner just felt naked. This butterfly is heat-embossed with Tinsel. The center of the white flower is a purple crystal brad from Making Memories (It didn't show up in the photo well. I sooo need a better camera. Not likely, but just sayin'...)

Anyway, with National Scrapbooking Day coming up, I'd like to try to get a LO done. We'll see.

Thank you sooooooo much for visiting today!

Elizabeth

Well, it's Wednesday!

2010-04-27T21:00:00.001-04:00

Usually the scary day of the week, since my kindergarteners have no special classes today, but with the teachers' meeting after school canceled, hey, things are looking up!

For my Growing in Unity post today, I'm sharing a card I made for the SCS Try a New Technique a little while ago.The technique is called brick wall - here's a link to the tutorial. http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/brickwall It was a little time-consuming, but I really like how it turned out.

The Unity stamp is "My, What a Beautiful Tree!" I really do love it. It's really versatile, and I use it a lot. The cardstock is Coredinations, which I sanded with 120 grit paper. CS is Bazzill, the sentiment is something I had lying around cut and embossed with a Nestie. The button's from Oriental Trading. The image is stamped with Staz-On.

Sorry the picture is so shadowy. It's been a little dreary around here lately.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I really appreciate comments and links!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Elizabeth

A Template for Tuesday

2010-04-26T21:05:00.002-04:00

Today for my Growing In Unity project, I've quickly popped together a set for a baby shower. The little pocketbook is a template and tutorial I found on one of my very fave blogs, Mel Stampz. http://www.melstampz.blogspot.com/
She's got tons of really cute freebie templates and a bunch of technique tutorials. Kind of a one-stop, everything you needed to know, cornucopia of crafty knowledge. She rocks!

These images come from Unity's Little Me set. Used the CB to emboss the paper for both of them. The DP inside the handle is Cosmo Cricket - Girl Friday Collection. The little bellie on the flap is K & Company, the buttons are Oriental Trading. I hand-stitched the sides of the handles with pink DMC floss and inked the edges of the tiny tag with Tattered Rose Distress Ink.

I'm still having a lot of fun playing with the scoring board. I could never have made this work without it, but this was really easy-peasy!

The white-on-white just didn't photograph very well. It's sooo time for a camera that does a better job on these close-ups. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Please leave a comment and a link so I can come visit you, too!

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Elizabeth

Score!

2010-04-25T19:21:00.002-04:00

Yep. I can do that now! I'm so excited! The Michaels in our end of the world are finally, finally carrying the Martha Stewart scoring board! I had been wanting a Scor-Pal for the longest, but at close to $60, it's just out of my price range. With my 40% off coupon, I picked up this bad boy for a measly $12.98. I'll say it again - pun intended - scoooooooore!

Welcome, my Unity peeps! This is the first of my Growing in Unity posts. Can I gush for just a second? Unity and {Ippity} are an incredible value. My mom is one of those "if it's good quality and has style, it's an investment" people. Unity stamps fit that perfectly. While I do live on a shoestring budget, having qualtiy stamps and ink make a huge difference in how projects turn out. And Angela does run a mean sale from time to time.

Anyway, I got the chance to work with a sketch I saw last week at Get Sketchy. Couldn't do it then, since I would never have gotten the flaps to work without the scoring board. No such limitations today.

I started out by cutting a 6x6 piece of DP. All of these are from Cosmo Cricket's Girl Friday collection. I used the Cricut to cut two hearts at 5 1/2 and 5 inches. The other papers were cut, and I inked up these images from Ippity's Straight from the Heart set. I deckle-cut and Distress-inked the edges of the bottom sentiment. Popped a Making Memories velvet brad into a Prima flower, and scored the outside edges of the hearts.

I attached the heart pieces and the grossgrain ribbon to the back and covered them with a piece of cs that won't show. I colored the tree with Copics, popped most of the red hearts up on pop-dots, and used a bit of cheap Studio G chalk on a Q-Tip to shade the grass and sky.

Here's a better look at the inside, though I'm not wild about the picture. It was a fun project!

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Please leave a comment and a link so I can visit you, too!

Fluttering By...

2010-04-10T17:01:00.001-04:00

Wow! The work being done for the Flutter By Wednesday Challenge is amazing! I'm definitely going to have to up my game, but that's what challenges are for, right?

Therefore, my feeble attempt:

The butterfly is heat-embossed in Ranger Tinsel, and I promise, it's quite sparkly - just doesn't show well in the photo. Something else at which I need to improve...

The letter of the week at Something Completely Different is B. Sorry to go with the obvious. With any luck, I'll get a Bella at the Beach done.

I'm also working with the sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You. Love what they do, too! Without sketches, I wouldn't get much done, and these folks really do them well.

Thanks for letting me learn from you!

I'm so glad you stopped by!

Elizabeth

Quelle Fete!

2010-04-10T16:36:00.000-04:00

Love, love, love the April in Paris release at Shirley's 2 Girls! I thought I'd play along with their Twisted Thursday Challenge this week, and using the SCS sketch this week, came up with this:

The paper is Cosmo Cricket, lace is from the scrap pile, and the 'merci' is a SU I had lying around, The embossing folder is a quickutz run through my CB and then the fram is inked with Tea Dye Distress Ink.

One of the many things I love about digi stamps is the versatility. I could size this to work with the frame, easy peasy! I even just used Word, not the PSE.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Elizabeth

White? Before Memorial Day?

2010-04-05T21:14:00.002-04:00

Definitely!
I'm lovin' the new challenge blog at The Shabby Tea Room! This week, Debbie (just up the road in Chapel Hill) challenged us to create using white and/or cream and only one other color. The DT's samples were amazing! Using the Sweet Sunday Sketch, and with the challenge at Something Completely Different in mind, I gave it a try:

Recipe:

Image - Rusty Pickle Digital Images

Paper Piercing Pattern - Fred, She Said

Cuttlebug folder

Martha Stewart punch

Making Memories Flowers

Buttons - Oriental Trading

Ribbon to make the tutu - from my scrap pile

I swear, the buttons match the tutu, but they look orange-y, no matter what I do with the PSE.

*Sigh*

SHOESTRING ALERT - The pattern for the paper piercing was a freebie from the Fred, She Said blog!

Thanks so much for these challenges, ladies! They really do push us to try new ideas!

I'm so glad that you stopped by!

Elizabeth

Nate is Eight (Celebrate!) and a Fail...

2010-03-24T20:02:00.000-04:00

74 and sunny! Aaaaaah! Of course, Friday, it will be 52 and raining, but that's spring in the South. At least it isn't snowing like it has been at my parents' house in Texas (?!)

So, I've been playing with the fabric challenge at Embellish Magazine. I needed a card for my nephew's eighth birthday, and I wanted to join in on the sketch challenge at PCP and the Try a New Technique over at SCS. (Last week - make your own DP.) I made the red paper by cutting a few biohazard signs with my Cricut - the cartridge was Indie Art - and using them as masks. The image is from Mo's Digital Pencil. The number/letters are from the Cricut, too.

So, now for the fail...

I stamped this Unity (My What a Beautiful Tree) on canvas and used some Dabbers and a brush to color it in.

I really do like how it turned out. It's a little big, though, (4x4) and, for the life of me, I can't get it onto a card in a way I like. The idea was to put it with a bit of map (for the Cinema challenge) and the other colors for the fabric challenge and add "Life's an amazing journey" for the sentiment, but that's as far as the mojo goes today. Oh, well, maybe later...

Thanks for stopping by!

Optional work day? Well, there's a no-brainer!

2010-03-05T16:23:00.000-05:00

Especially when there are challenges requiring my attention! (Or, so I tell myself...)

Verve is having a release party today! They've got some sneak peeks of their Spring releases, and challenges every hour! I played along with the CAS challenge - create a card using flowers, and came up with this:

The background is stamped using CHF backgrounder, Pinwheel, stamped with Adirondack Watermelon. I heat-embossed the flowers (a Verve stamp) on black CS using Tinsel embossing powder. The ribbon is silver grossgrain and Paper Studios pink ric-rac.

Once I get back from taking AJ to Tae-Kwon Do, I'll see what other challenges are waiting!

I also got a couple of cards done with the sketch at Mojo Monday:

This stamp is from Line of Pansies from Mo's Digital Pencil. Two bucks! No shipping! How's that for keeping it on the shoestring? The crazy green lace is something I found on sale at Ellen Hutson.

I tried to do something a little more masculine with the color challenge at SCS:

I'm not so crazy about it, but AJ likes it,

Anyway, time to get out the door! Thanks for stopping by!

Elizabeth

Workin' on That Mojo! (FWF post is just below!)

2010-01-01T19:33:00.000-05:00

I hope your New Year's celebrations were happy (and without serious consequences :) ) We enjoyed our evening, and before dropping AJ off on his all-nighter at TaeKwon Do, I got my card done with this week's sketch.

Yes, one of my resolutions is to get better at photographing...

Thanks for looking!

Elizabeth

"Nothing is hopeless; we must hope for everything." Madeline L'Engle, A Wrinkle in Time

Happy Stampin' New Year, FWF!

2009-12-31T18:36:00.002-05:00

I hope everyone has a prosperous and joy-filled 2010! I've been having a blast on the WiiFit that I actually bought for ds's Christmas (He loves those snowboarding games. Good thing, too, living in the South, that's about how close he's going to get...) but have discovered that it's not nearly as painful as I'd feared. Maybe I can make that resolution stick, even once school starts back Monday.

So, what do you fix for New Year's in your part of the world? Here, pork (we're having smoked babybacks), collards, and hoppin' John (blackeyes with rice) are requirements! I've got some cornbread and sweet potato pie, too.

Anyway, here are my offerings for the week:

Did this for the SCS sketch challenge last week. The Unity stamp is "My, What a Beautiful Tree". The cardinal is from CHF.

I also had to suddenly whip together a gift bag, so I turned to my Ippity:

*Sigh* I hate it when Christmas is over! DS has begged for his small tree to stay up until Epiphany. I was happy to give in.

Thanks for stopping by; y'all come back!

Here's the whole hop, just in case you missed the beginning http://theunitystampco.blogspot.com/

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!

Elizabeth

"Oh, my ears and whiskers! How late it's getting!" Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, ch. 1

Whew! Chasin' those Sunday Deadlines!

2009-12-27T22:09:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone has had a lovely holiday. We certainly did! (She said as she attacked yet another serving of rice pudding...) I really should be working on getting word games ready for the new semester, so, of course, I'm making cards!

I knocked out a couple for two challenges:

Here's my Paper Hugs entry!

Should have used the bigger cupcake, but I like seeing the pp, too. The pinks are from Basic Grey.

And here's for Mojo Monday:

Stamp by Verve (Shoestring Alert! - Verve, Unity, Bella, and some others are having a big ol' sale through SCS!)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Have a good week!

"Hey! Unto you a child is born!"

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Why go shopping, when you could be 'hopping? What's up, FWF?

2009-11-26T20:07:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was happy and safe! Now... it's time (at last!) for some fa, la, la, la la! If you, like me, spent this early morning in the mosh pit that is Black Friday, there's no better way to unwind than a little crafting inspiration! If you arrived here from elsewhere, be sure to catch the whole hop through the Unity blog: our Friends with Flair hop

So, here are my projects for the week. I got three cards done after the big meal! (Well, the fronts...)
I try to make sure a few of my holiday cards aren't green and red- my brother is red/green colorblind!

I don't know if you can see, but I did an emboss-resist using clear embossing powser and a silver Dabber. The stamps are Ippity's Kissmas and Mistletoe; I embossed the trees with silver tinsel from Ranger. I used a Martha Stewart border punch - doilies - for the bottom and a bit of lace from The Paper Studio. I used a Spellbinder Nestie to cut the white CS.

Gosh, I wish I was better at getting the photos of these. Maybe one of you all, whose photographs always turn out so prettily, could do a tutorial?

Here's a quickie. I did the background paper by inking up a Cuttlebug embossing folder with silver ink. Used another Nestie to cut the white and popped on some making memories brads.

For the Splitcoast sketch challenge:

Still using that Kissmas and Mistletoe! It's such a versatile set!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Elizabeth

"After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working."

The Wind in the Willows
Ch. 1.

Hooray! It's Friday! Welcome, FWF!

2009-11-19T19:32:00.000-05:00

I'm sooo excited! My new Kissmas and Mistletoe found my mailbox today... First, I'll get my report cards under control, then... woo-hoo! Stamping Saturday!

Here's this week's project:

This is done with "My, What a Beautiful Tree!" I played with the cracked glass technique using Distress Ink. The blue is embossed using a Cuttlebug folder. Basic Grey paper, Bazzill CS. Sentiment is SU and the scalloped circle is cut with Spellbinders. Lace is The Paper Studio.

My favorite Ippity Dude, my fifth-grader, AJ, had been planning a kids' challenge, but it'll be next week. I've got a case of bronchitis, and we need to pick up some kid-friendly blog candy.

Have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

We Have a Winner!

2009-11-17T10:10:00.000-05:00

Way to go, Gwen! She's got the cutest card for a 'totally random' holiday - No Socks Day! Drop me a line at egtclarke@yahoo.com to send me your address. Blog candy for you!

Here's the link to Gwen's project: http://windchimesandlilacs.blogspot.com/2009/11/random-holiday-challenge.html

A.J. has promised a kids' project challenge. I'll get it posted with my Friends With Flair project this Friday!

Woo-Hoo! It's Friday! Welcome, FWF!

2009-11-12T20:51:00.002-05:00

Happy Friday, y'all! What a wonderful week... a break in the middle, joining the {Ippity} chicks; life's good! I'm especially excited about {Ippity}! I work on a shoestring budget - I'm a teacher in a non-union state - and this line brings Unity's quality at a price that works for me. (Those sweet sales that Unity's been having lately are working for me, too! Keep 'em coming! :) )

Oh, and while you're here, look at the entry below. We've got a challenge posted, and an {Ippity} set is the blog candy!

So, "Let the wild rumpus start!" There's no better way to start a weekend than with a Friday FWF hop!
Here's my project:

I heat-embossed using black Zing! powder Unity's "Love Ewe" sheep and sentiment. Papers are Basic Grey; cardstock is Bazzill. Stitching with DMC floss, ribbon is grossgrain (it just looks leathery in the photo.)

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you'll come again soon!
Elizabeth

Shoestring Challenge - Win a set of {Ippity} stamps by Unity!

2009-11-09T20:05:00.010-05:00

I've been so crazy-busy with the grade level change, that I've had exactly zero time to scrap, make cards, etc. I've so missed it - I didn't realize how much I really do love doing all of that. I'm finally caught up, and I want to celebrate! I thought I'd do that by posting a card challenge. Here goes:

OK - so I love the Christmas stuff, but, ahem, it's not Thanksgiving yet! (Yeah, you, Wally World!) What we need is a little holiday action between the two...

So - here's the challenge: Create a card for a nontraditional holiday! (I'm feeling International Talk Like a Pirate Day!) Leave a comment and a link to your project by Monday, November 13 at midnight EST. We'll post a winner on Tuesday.

Here's your incentive - I'm giving away one set of the new Ippity stamps by Unity to a random poster. These are sooo sweet! (Look below this post for their pix and descriptions.) Up for grabs is a set of Kissmas and Mistletoe, just in time to get on those cards. (I've got a design for most of my cards, but I'm tired of it already... bring on something new!)

Next week, AJ, my ten-year old, will be adding a kid's challenge!

I've been busy this weekend - here are a couple of projects, using Unity, of course!

A friend of mine just found out that she's having a girl. She's been called "Little Peanut" since we've known about her. When I saw this set, Shoestring or no, I had to have it!

For the pub call at PaperCrafts. Yes, I know I'm going to get rejected, but I'm a glutton for punishment...

Ippity is Here!

2009-11-09T18:52:00.017-05:00

We are sooooo excited to offer Ippity, the new, affordable line from Unity Stamp Company! Since we are on the Shoestring, we've got it at the lowest available price! Better yet, if you buy three sets or more, shipping is free! (Just want one or two? Shipping's a low flat rate of $5.)

I love the quality of Unity stamps! They make a real difference in my projects. The problem has always been the price. I just can't spend $24 or $35 for a set of stamps. It doesn't fit in the budget...

All stamp sets are 1/4 sheet.

First up is Kissmas and Mistletoe. This is such a fun and fresh set, and at $12, it's a real value!

Is this cute or what? There are so many possibilities with these primitives! The detail, especially on the ewe, is the difference between cheapies and Unity stamps! The deep-etching ensures that the image will stamp clearly, every time! $12

This oh-so-useful set is called "Because of You". When I invest in a set, it's got to be good for more than one holiday, etc. Definitely a lot going on here! $15

What a great tree! Again, the deep-etching will
make coloring with my Copics a breeze and make
my colors pop!

$12

Verses for so many occasions! $15

I'm bad about trying to use computer fonts for my sentiments to save money. They're not awful, but my cards always look better when the sentiments are stamped! $15

How's that for a preview? I've still got a couple of sets to get posted...

2009-11-07T07:52:00.002-05:00

Wow! It's been a crazy month! Got a huge shock when, in the middle of teaching fifth-grade reading, Central Office called (into my room! Egads!) to tell me that I was being reassigned to an overcrowded school just around the corner. Here's the kicker - I'm teaching kindergarten! Needless to say, I've been crazy-busy figuring out how to do that. Thanks to fab teammates and friends, it's finally getting under control, and I've got some creative downtime. This weekend - a card for my friend Jenn's Peanut-on-the-way and I've got to put some thank-you cards in the bank. With so many people being so generous lately, I'm running out!

Working on that Mojo...

2009-09-27T21:04:00.003-04:00

Here's my submission for this week's Mojo Monday. The stamp is Penny Black and the background ink is Distress, Broken China. The Cricut did the snowflakes and the square for me. CS is Bazzill.

I love sketches! They make cardmaking so much easier, and Mojo Monday is a great place to find them!

Scrappin' on a Shoestring

Stay There Forever

Carpe Diem

Just! Like! You!

... and a Fail

It Don't Mean a Thing...

Dream Big

Birthday Wishes

Rise Above Fear

Be You

Sunny Days

Up, Up, and Away!

Hang Ten!

Mom's Seventeenth Birthday

A *pink* Christmas!

Trees, Deconstructed

Let the Countdown Begin!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

Isn't every day bosses' day?

Dash to Fill the Stash...

Carpe Cupcake

Birthday Wishes

Thank You. No, Really.

I Know It's Kind of Odd...

Happy Birthday, Girly Girl!

Cool Thoughts: Christmas in July!

Merci!

Kraft-y Christmas

Blue Christmas

Stamp It! Challenge- Moxie Fab World

Dude!

!

Hello!

Ah, June! (A wedding CAS)

Yeah. I Used to Look Like That. (I'm Lying.)

A Quickie with Those Bright Summer Colors

Well, she tried.

A Balm of Friendship

"Mom! You made a card again!"

I Don't Know About You, But...

Warm Winter Wishes

... I wish!

Winter CAS

Charge!

AJ - and food - again!

AJ's First Belt

Kiss It Goodbye...

Five Guys' Divine Fries

Bee Thankful

Summer Romance

Fry-day Fluttering

Scrapping a Duel

A {PANK!} Birthday

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas?

Surf's Up!

Mothra Attacks!

Red, White and Blue... Through and Through!

Chillin' (at last!) Happy Friday, FWF!

Christmas in July

It's Not Easy Bein' Green

Warm Colors, Cool Beach

Good Times! (Ain't We Lucky We Got 'Em?)

Just a Quickie

Why Roast at the Pool? We're Crafting in the Cool!

Pretty (for) a Princess

Sonshine!

A Splash of Blue

An Explosion for Dad

No More Bad Puns!

Butterflies for Mandy

Playing in the Treehouse

FTL 92 - CAS-tastic and boyish

Fairy Flowery

A List of Reasons...

C is for Chocolate Cat!

Home Tweet Home

Paper Piecing and Cussing Creatively

Another Leah for Friday

Getting Sketchy with The Cutting Cafe

Ahhh. Saturday!

A pink Christmas!