inspirational pocket box mini

has it really been almost a month!!!  time does fly... 
I was inspired to create this mini one night after watching a Prima YouTube video for a mini by Steff Miller although I did not use the Prima papers.  Instead I used leftovers from a Basic Grey layout kit with the Kioshi collection and can you believe I still have enough paper left to make a few cards.  More scraps put to good use!!  The base is made from one piece of cardstock which has a "booklet" attached to the middle and is approximately 4" x 6".   I have used magnets to the keep the top and bottom closed and then also to keep the sides closed when not open.  I embellished it with some of the Kioshi chipboard and stickers and also created flowers using the paper.  A few of the journaling spots and most of the sentiments are from my stash.  The stickpin on the cover is my own. I really quite enjoyed creating the rather "untraditional" booklet which has different sizes of paper tucked here and there, pages that open both to the left and right and a couple of pockets for good measure.  thanks for taking a look and scrap happy...

Front of Mini

   

top/bottom opened up

and then the sides open to show the booklet





some of the inner pages of the booklet

the booklet open to show the bottom

carousel birthday

my sister is very fond of carousels so when I saw the carousel on CTMH's Artiste Cricut Cartridge I knew I had to have it!!  The paper is once again from CTMH's Dream Pop collection.  It makes me happy just looking at it!  I welded the front and back together attaching them only at the bottom left which means it doesn't stand very well but I didn't want to spoil the look by making the front the same width as the back.  Although it's hard to tell, the front of the card is just the upside down triangle paper and the orange base of the carousel.  I tied some embroidery cotton in bows around the horses necks and added a few gems.  The flower that is peeking out in the centre opens up so the inside sentiment doesn't show through to the front.  The white cardstock is DCWV glitter cardstock and unfortunately you really cannot tell how shiny the orange cardstock is nor the texture that it has.  Here's to hoping it is a new product coming soon from Close to My Heart!   scrap happy...

dream pop happy birthday

I spent a wonderful day on Friday, at my friend Jan Moxey's (Close to My Heart consultant), working with the Dream Pop collection - CTMH's special promotion for May in honour of National Scrapbooking Month.  It really does pop!  I love that the cardstock is shiny and detailed on one side (you can see the diagonal lines showing on the pink cardstock) but it is so pretty that it is difficult to use it..  lol   The sentiment comes from an older CTMH stamp set and the bling is from Michael's.  The flowers are all made using Martha Stewart punches.  The one on the left (large embroidery double punch) is my favourite although it is hard to see the cutout details in the picture.  I left the inside simple and instead of covering up such pretty paper, it lifts up to find the greeting underneath. I have submitted this card in the Heart 2 Heart Challenge blog's May Flowers challenge.  You will be seeing more of this paper to be sure!   scrap happy...

 

masculine cards from scraps

with Father's Day just around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to do up some masculine cards.  These were made with scraps from a mini album I made for my brother-in-law so I didn't have to look too hard to find some masculine looking papers.  I love the style of this card with all of its layers yet it is still very clean looking so I ended up making a half a dozen or so.   As there is so much pattern going on, there really was no need for further embellishing - a little bit of ink was all that was required.  scrap happy...



retirement

I was asked to do up a retirement card and I was flipping through my stamps trying to find the perfect sentiment and by jove I think I did!  This is a CTMH stamp that says "the winds of change bring treasures unknown... embrace change".  I really like that and love the way it curls around.  Along with using up my scraps I have also challenged myself to use my Cuttlebug more and have used the divine swirls embossing folder to give the effect of clouds in the sky.  The ribbon and roses are from my stash.  The butterflies I believe are all K and Company.  The stickpins I made myself after watching some great tutorials from Fiona (Jennings644 onYouTube).  They can become addicting!  scrap happy...

mini album in a box...

I thought I would share a couple of mini albums in a box that I did up a while back.  I picked up the written tutorial from Kathryn of Life on the Scrapbeach when she did a Ustream class showing how to put one together for National Scrapbooking Day last year.  I have to say that her tutorials (written and video) are well done and easy to follow along (and very fun).  As you can see in the images, when you open the box, the one side is actually the spine of the mini and it folds down when you want to look at the album.  Everything except the lid stays dustfree.  There are lots of pockets and places to tuck tags and little trinkets right along with any photos.  Please take a look...

This first one uses K & Company and Recollection papers.  I love the look of the bright blue with the black and cream.  Most of the flowers are made from the same papers. My favourite is the black fringed flower on the cover with blue centre and it is so simple to create!

 

 

 

 

This second album is made using an older Prima stack called First Blush.  I love the colour combination even if there is no purple to be found!  While the photos for the other album were taken without the tags, here you can see the tops of the large tags that are inside each of the "paper bags".  Flowers are again handmade from the papers in the collection.  Thanks for looking and scrap happy!

milestone birthday...

I think milestone birthdays should be celebrated in style and of course, should have cards that are worthy of such milestones.  I saw this card style on Pinterest and immediately fell in love with it.  The card was created by Marlene Ashby and she has a tutorial that you can find here.  The cardstock and ribbon are from my stash.  The butterlies and bling are from the dollar store (the middle one is actually metal).  The roses are a combination of Prima and Recollections.  I made the tissue flower in the bottom left.  I printed the doily on my computer and went over the "70" with glossy accents to make it stand out.  The birthday sentiment is from Close to My Heart and I embossed it with silver.  happy scrapping...

wedding scraps...

When I pulled out my scraps this past weekend, these particular scraps just felt like wedding material and the sentiment literally popped into my head.  It is hard to see but the two larger pieces are both popped up from the 5.5" x 8.25' card base (sized for envelopes that I have).  The flowers actually had orange gems in the middle which didn't quite go and so I carefully removed them and added the pale green pearls instead. Never be afraid to alter  your embellishments to fit your project.  I also didn't have enough of the pattern paper for the inside but I quite like how it turned out just by adding a little bit of blue card stock with the lace on another piece of white card stock.  I apologize for not remembering where online I found the verse but have had it for quite some time.  I did try to google it without any success.    happy scrapping...

 

a surprise birthday

My sister came to visit for Easter and I took the opportunity to surprise my brother-in-law with an early birthday celebration.  Masculine cards can be difficult to create as  you don't want to pretty them up with flowers and bling but you still want them to be showstoppers.  I scraplifted the design from Tara Orr who is on the design team for Graphic 45.  The papers are from my scrap stash (one of my resolutions this year was to go to my scraps first) and the stamp is from Close to My Heart.  The glitter ribbon is also from my stash and the butterfly is an acrylic die cut from K & Company.    happy scrapping

welcome home...

I love the colours in this card that was made with some older CTMH papers and a stamp by Karen Ellis of The Art House Studio which I paper pieced.  Of course I had to add some butterflies!  happy scrapping...

alive and well and happy to be back!!!

wow, it has been a very long time...  not that I haven't been scrapping just not blogging...  I have been wanting to get back to my blog for quite some time but just wasn't sure how to go about it (sounds silly I know... but there you have it).  Back in January I signed up for Ali Edward's One Little Word class (my word is BE) at Big Picture Classes and March's prompt is to "take action" - this is my action!!   so here I am happy to be sharing once again!  For anyone that is looking for motivation/direction/assistance in creating change in their life, I highly recommend this process.  Whether it is coincidence, mind over matter, or that I was just ready, since I chose my word and put my intentions out there - things are happening!  Here is my layout introducing my word and my intentions for the year...  The idea was to use an 8.5" x 11" album and divided page protectors which I don't have; instead I will stick with doing 12" x 12" layouts.  The papers are all pulled from my stash and the monthly intentions were found on Pinterest.     scrap happy and just be...


BE - One Little Word 2013

Blog Candy Winner and then some...

omg.... thought this had posted a couple of weeks ago!! 

I was delighted to find I had a parcel to pick up from the post office and even more delighted to find a box of ribbon from Elizabeth of 217 Creations!!!  I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened the box... it was stuffed and I do mean literally stuffed with ribbon from her stash which I was lucky enough to have won from commenting on her blog!!!  I do encourage you to visit Elizabeth if you have not already - she does some really awesome creating and has video tutorials as well as gypsy files...   thanks very much Elizabeth!   scrap happy...

not sure how she managed to get it all in that tiny box...

all laid out - it's at least 3 - 4 layers deep...

Round Five - Thanks Very Much!!

Well, I went over to Practical Scrappers yesterday morning and to my dismay, I did not make it through to the top five...  :(  I do want to thank everyone who voted for me over the last month as I really do appreciate it very much - it has been a fun experience!  Here is the card I submitted for the next challenge which was to use rainbows and dry embossing (raised imprints on the cardstock).  I found this beautiful starburst rainbow image online and unfortunately forgot to save the site I got it from (it is a wallpaper image).  The French Ladies I found at *The Graphics Fairy* Vintage Images.  If you love this kind of ephemera, you have to check her blog out!  I printed the rainbow paper and ran it through my Epic 6 with the "Happy Birthday" embossing folder.  The metallic purple cardstock is from a DCWV stack.  The ribbon was given to me from my friend Anne (incidentally, she was awesome in rounding up votes for me) and I have been hoarding it but this seemed the perfect place to use it!  The bling is from the dollar store.  I may sound like a broken record, but the picture does not do this card justice!  scrap happy!

 

Round Four and still going!!

I cannot believe I forgot to post this!!  I was at Scrapfest with my friends when it was posted and was so tired that I didn't get it posted on Sunday and now it's almost Thursday!!  Wow, time flies doesn't it!  Anyways, thanks yet again to all of my wonderful friends for voting for me over at Practical Scrappers in their Huge Cardmaking Contest - this week they will be whittling it down from ten to five cards with 4 being chosen by popularity and the 5th being their choice.  I really hope I make it through as I love the card I made for the next round...  For this card we had to use chevrons and do some stitching.  I was able to use up more scraps and although you cannot tell from the picture, the flower has 3 layers from each of the 3 different papers I used.  It's a little different than I normally do but I like it because it is still clean and simple.  The label is from the new Art Philosophy cart and the stamp is CTMH.  scrap happy!

Round 3!!!

A huge thank you to everyone out there who is taking time to vote for me over at Practical Scrappers in their Huge Card Making Contest - I have made it to Round 3!!!!!   The challenge for this round was to create a card using either a flag or banner and the word "happy".  Now last time I didn't follow the directions so well (forgot about the twine) so I thought I made sure to pay close attention this time to what was required.  But then I got so excited about the idea I had for the banner and added the sentiment Merry Christmas instead!  Of course I did figure it out before submitting and once again fixed my error...  and am thinking I need to post the instructions on the wall in large print!!  Anyhow, I used my most favourite Bo Bunny papers and cut the banner using Wrap it Up and Lyrical Letters.  I fussy cut some of the trees and used Bo Bunny rub ons for the others.  The bling is from my stash as well as the green wire I used for the banner.  So now you have to go over to Practical Scrappers and vote once again all week for me!!  scrap happy...