A Moo-velous Birthday!

I have really been awful lately about posting. I must improve in 2014!!

I just finished a layout for a scrapbooking challenge on the Paper Wishes Message Board.  This is Leyda's 13th birthday at Chick-Fil-A.  I called it a Moo-velous Birthday!  She had quite a weekend and birthday - movies with friends, getting purple streaks in her hair, great presents, and our family dinner at Chick Fil-A (her choice - no doubt as she gets older, the venue will become more expensive!) :)

For this challenge I asked members to use teabag folding on a page.  For mine, I created a frame for a closeup of Leyda. It does lay down nicely when it's in its page protector, but to get a decent picture I needed to remove it to get rid of the glare. So, it pokes up a little and you can see some of the white back-side of the paper....

All in all, I like the layout.  It is inspired from a layout in one of Paper Wishes' Personal Shopper packs.

Paper Wishes Guest Host Challenge for September 15, 2013

Hi all. I had a good time with this challenge! I think I'm going to use it more in the future to spark my creativity.  I decided for this challenge to have folks use magazine/catalog ads as inspiration for color combinations and layout.  I used two pages from the most recent USAA magazine:

 

And here is what I came up with:

Paper Wishes September Technique Challenge

Hi all. Glad to be back to bringing you monthly technique challenges!  This time I'm bringing back an oldie but goodie! And the technique may be new to some of you - emboss resist. I particularly enjoy doing this over patterned paper, or using a background stamp on the first layer.

Here's what you'll need:
1) Some patterned paper - you don't want anything too busy - the one on the left here is borderline - the one on the right is perfect. You wouldn't want to use any large prints - they wouldn't show up properly.

2) Then you'll need a stamp or two that have large "negative" or blacked-out areas. The Flower Silhouettes set below from HOTP is perfect:

3) Then you'll need Versamark ink (or similar), clear embossing powder, a heat gun, and a colored ink - I used dye ink here but it can be pigment ink as well. Pigment ink may need to be heat set.

The first thing you will do is stamp using the versamark ink on your paper.  Then, when you have arranged the stamping as you desire, sprinkle on the clear embossing powder and melt the powder with your heat gun.  It will look something like this:

Doesn't look like much yet. But just you wait!  Now take your colored ink pad and rub it over the entire piece of paper - I like to use a circular motion - this keeps you from getting lines from the edge of the pad. You can also use a dauber or Ranger sponge applicator.  When you are done, use a paper towel to wipe off the excess ink on top of the embossing.  Here's my example using brown ink over my design:

This first one is using the paper with the red berries - you can see it's a little distracting, but not too bad.

The second paper was much better suited:

Here you can see in the close-up how the paper design shows through the clear embossing:

Try this out and show me what you create! Have fun - try different papers and different colors of ink - try using a background stamp on the bottom layer before you emboss!

Challenges

To catch you up on my creative pursuits, here are a few challenges I've participated in recently.  These are all with Paper Wishes.

The first was an ATC swap - it was to be a Halloween or Fall theme.  I used one of their small stamps and colored with colored pencils. I then added a little Stickles (gotta have some glam!)

The next was a Round Robin we did with teams of 5 people. The first person does the background, the next person adds one element and so on until the card comes back to you.  Here is my card.  I added the background paper and the pennant (plain) on the front. The rest was done by my teammates.  It's so fun to see what everyone does!

And here is my entry for a sketch challenge:

Hope you enjoyed these - the next things you will see from me are new challenges. I will begin posting my monthly technique challenges again this month and then I am providing a guest host challenge for the week of 9/15. I really enjoyed doing that one but no hints until it's posted next week!

Where has Nancy been?

Well, I am embarassed when I look at this last post and see that it was in JANUARY! I've been away for WAY too long. Let me tell you about all that has happened in my life in the last few months - it has been a whirlwind!  In February I had gastric bypass surgery. The plan was to be in the hospital a couple of days, be out of work 2-3 weeks and then back to "normal." Well, that didn't happen. I had a complication, needing a second surgery, and then ended up in rehab (aka nursing home) for six weeks!  I was out of work for over two months. We had planned for me to retire in June and move to Virginia. This put all our plans out of whack. Instead of going house-hunting together, my husband had to go alone and send pictures back to me. We had a hard time finding a house in our price range that was in the area we wanted to be in, but we finally found one. We moved to Virginia in early June. Believe it or not, we're still unpacking! I still haven't found my embossing folders, my dies, my inks, my ribbons, flowers, rhinestones, pearls! Fortunately I have found all my paper and stamps. At least it's not all MIA!

Anyway, my belly has healed from the second surgery (it took 5 months!) and life is beginning to get back to normal. I did finally retire in August. I have lost 98 pounds since the surgery in February and from my highest weight a few years ago, I've lost a total of 173 pounds - can you believe it? I've lost an entire PERSON! It's been fun trying on new clothes and finding some old things I can get back into now. Most of my clothes I've had to give away but there are still a few out there.

So, expect to hear more from me - I will begin posting on a regular basis again very very soon!

Nancy

Here are some pictures of me "Before."

And here are some more recent pictures:

First Mosaic Moments Challenge of the Year

Our first challenge for 2013 was to do a page about ourselves - boy, is that challenging!  Well, rather than do a regular page about my interests, etc., I decided to do a page about the biggest thing going on in my life right now and be brave by posting it publicly!  I decided this past summer to pursue weight loss surgery and actually have an appointment this afternoon with the surgeon to set the date. Here is the result:

 

You can read all about the story and a step-by-step view of how I created the page here:

http://www.journella.com/storyboard/fullview/id/10372/Other-I've-Got-a-Secret

New Cards

Went to a fun webcam crop with my buddies at Paper Wishes this past weekend and made a couple of cards:

I love this format for a crop. I've done online crops but this is the first group I've done webcam crops with - it's so fun to SEE what everyone is working on and see the faces of the folks you talk with online all the time!

December Mosaic Moments Challenge

The first challenge for December was to use Pewter Mosaic Moments grid paper and Page Pattern #26.  This worked out perfect for Gavin's first day of school:

Mosaic Moments Cards

Our second challenge this month was to make cards using the Mosaic Moments RTC (ready-to-cut) grid papers.  I made six cards in a combination of black and white grid RTC paper, and tried to make each one a little different.  You can see the full explanation and more pictures of the technique to make the snowflake at http://www.journella.com/storyboard/fullview/id/10295/Holidays-Cards!-Cards!-Cards!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thankful For You

 





For this month's first Mosaic Moments challenge, I did something a little different. We were to create a layout about things we were grateful for. I focused on people and instead of showing the pictures, put them in little covered booklets, that you then could lift up. I used a new product to me called Flip Flop Fasteners from Paper Wishes to make the little books open and close. The journaling tells what each person has done for me.

 

 

 



 

My Little Budding Musician

Our assignment this month for Mosaic Moments was to use 8 1/2 x 11 grid paper applied to a 12 x 12 page and then add stitching or felt. I chose stitching.  To bring out the gold and purple in the photo, I used Paper Wishes Color Me Paper and colored it with chalk inks. I then added stitching around the flourish in the print, and added music Dazzles, also from Paper Wishes. 

I'm so excited Leyda is taking band this year! Neither of Tony's kids got into music and now, once we move back to Virginia, I'll be able to go to concerts!  I just hope she sticks with it. So far she's loving it.

Winner of the Drawing for My Site - World Card Making Day

Here is the result of the random drawing!  Kim, I will send you your items from my Paper Wishes stash! Congratulations!

List Randomizer

There were 12 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Kim
2. Fab
3. CarolJ
4. Kitty
5. MsPat
6. Precious Thoughts
7. Cheryl
8. rgcarr
9. Eomen Hisf
10. Crafty Patti
11. pennyd
12. Rhonda Lynn

Timestamp: 2012-10-07 20:04:57 UTC

Baseball AT LAST!

Just finished a challenge layout of my grandson, Gavin, playing baseball for the first time. He's been watching his brother and sister forever and has been dying to play - it's finally his turn.

This layout challenge was a scavenger hunt - we had a list of 33 things - we were to put as many things as we could on one layout! I got 24.....can you find 24 elements?

Paper Wishes Blog Hop

Welcome to the Paper Wishes*BLOG HOP - we are so glad you are here to help us celebrate World Card Making Day! This year's theme for the blog hop is gardening.

Below is my flower-themed card for the day. I used the new Ebony Color Me Card Toppers from Paper Wishes. I love these so much - you can coordinate them with any paper you may have! I colored this one with colored pencils, blending with Gamsol.  I popped up the sentiment in the middle with foam tape and added the small flower with a brad.

Some card making day trivia for you:
Today, card making is a worldwide hobby, especially popular in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
1 in 6 U.S. households participates in making cards
86% of scrapbookers also create handmade cards
92% of paper crafters create cards more than any other type of project

Be sure to check out all the blogs in this blog hop, as well as visit the Paper Wishes message board*as there are lots of things going on there today, all sponsored by Paper Wishes, with some great prize packages! You don’t want to miss a chance to win!

To win a prize package of Paper Wishes products: leave a comment on ALL THE BLOGS and a random drawing will be done to choose the winner. You also must be a registered user on the Paper Wishes Message Board. It's easy! It's free! Just go to www.paperwishes.com and look for the Message Board link on the bottom right corner of the screen and register. I will also be giving away some Paper Wishes goodies to one lucky commenter!

So on with the fun – it doesn’t matter where you start the blog hop, just see where you are on the list and make sure you visit them all and leave some sweetness behind!

Participants:
Penny at Penny's Page
Nancy at Nancy's Creative Space ----------you are here!
Michelle at Precious Thoughts
Patti Prince at Crafty Patti's Cards
Robin at Red Robin Lane
Jackie at Jackie's Cards & Stuff
Cheryl at Cher-ing Paper Memories
Sam at Never try to teach a pig to sing

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to leave a comment on all the blogs for a chance to win!

Quilled Calendar Class

I'm taking a quilled calendar class on www.mycreativeclassroom.com.  Just finished my first page - this series is really beautiful - takes a lot of work but worth it! It's really a combination of quilling and punched flowers. My favorite month is March - lots of months to go before I get there, though!  :) The stamens in the flowers are starburst punches with brown Flower Soft on the ends!

Starting on Christmas Cards!

I went to a crop this past weekend and started making my Christmas cards.  I have two beautiful stamps I bought from Outlines Rubber Stamps before they went out of business.  This partridge in a pear tree was one of them. The other is a cute reindeer - when I make a few of those, I'll post them.

 

 Of the three this one (below) was my favorite:

 

I also made a card with the new snowflake template from Paper Wishes. While it takes a little tedious cutting, I love the effect! The snowflakes are made from a vellum with gold script, and I outlined them with gold Stickles, and put a Dazzle in the middle.

 

 



World Card Making Day Is Coming!

We are planning a great day on the Paper Wishes Message Board for World Card Making Day (October 6). If you have never visited the Message Board on the Paper Wishes website, you ought to plan to come visit!  It's easy and free to join.  Go to www.paperwishes.com and then click on the bottom right hand corner of the screen where it shows Message Board.  Then click on register!  We have all kinds of weekly challenges and fun exchanges all year round, but for World Card Making Day we turn up the heat!  Our theme this year is gardening. Here are the activities we have planned - and oh, did I mention - there will be prizes!!!!

1. Blog Hop - members of the Message Board will host a blog hop. Those who visit all the blogs and leave a message at all the blogs will be entered into a drawing for a prize.

2. Challenges - throughout the day we will post various challenges using our gardening theme for projects to be completed. Each challenge will last for 75 minutes with a new challenge every 90 minutes. Once each challenge has ended a random winner will be drawn - there will be lots of chances to win throughout the day.

3. Trivia - Every 30 minutes the swaps team will post a trivia question on the topic of gardening. The first correct response will earn 2 points, the second correct response 1 point. We will tally the totals and award 2 prizes, one larger than the other for the 2 top gardening "experts".

4. Container Gardening - this will be our "anything but a card" project and you will have from 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 6 until 12 midnight (EST) on Sunday October 7 to post a picture of your project.

5. Window Box - will be to make a card with the same time frame as container gardening.

6. Bouquet - this will be a scrapbook challenge with a twist.

 

7. Scavenger Hunt - will be a scrapbook project again with a deadline of midnight (EST) on Sunday 10/7. You will be given a list of things to "find" on a scrapbook page and the person who includes the most on their page will win a prize.

8. Garden Journal - this year our group project will be creating a journal for each participant. Similar to the cookie recipe exchange we did last year. Those participating will create the same journaling page for each person. I.e. if 10 people sign up, you will create 10 of the same page using a gardening theme. All the pages will be sent to me (Penny) and I will collate all the pages and mail them back out so each person will have their own copy of everyone's page. There will be a separate post with complete info and sign-up info later today. There will also be a prize for this activity - so check out the other post - this is the perfect project for anyone who can't participate on the actual day itself - although we want as many people to sign up as possible!

9. Bingo - We will be sending out a Bingo card. Each of the spots has an element such as a color, or an embellishment, or a technique to use. You will need to complete a project using all the elements in that bingo row. You can do more than one project, but you must use a different row for each project. Prizes are to be had!

__________________

September Technique: Seamless Tiers

For my Paper Wishes Message Board Technique Challenge this month I chose to share the seamless tiers technique. I saw this recently on Splitcoast Stampers as well as a couple of Stampin' Up! blogs. It's an easy technique that leaves people wondering how you did it and is good for any type of card - birthday, get well, even Christmas!

Cut three panels of white or light-colored cardstock:
5 1/4 x 4
4 1/4 x 3
3 1/4 x 2

And then 2 panels for your mattes and your base card from a colored cardstock that will coordinate with the inks you plan to use on the card:
5 1/2 x 8 1/2 (folded in half for A2 card)
4 1/2 x 3 1/4
3 1/2 x 2 1/4

Next, take your light colored panels and put a very small amount of repositionable adhesive on the back - just enough to hold them in place temporarily. Stack the three on top of each other, centered:



 

Now you will begin stamping. First place your sentiment where you would like it to be. The example I was following used the lower right corner of the top panel.  Then begin stamping other designs around your sentiment.  You can use one color or more than one as I did. I liked the idea of using a more subtle background color with one shape and then a more vibrant color with another shape.

 



Once you have everything stamped, you will separate your layers and matte them with your colored cardstock, placing the largest panel on the base card.

Then we will begin re-stacking the pile!

Put your smallest matted piece on top of the middle-sized matted piece:

 



If you want to place a ribbon around this section now is the time to do it before you add these panels to the base.

And here is the finished card!

Here are two more ideas to get your creative juices flowing.  Notice on the 3rd card, I changed the stacking - instead of centering the panels, I moved them to the upper right corner: