Halloween Fun!

     What an unusual October we have had in the Pacific Northwest this year. We started with rain and then the fog came.   It gets sunny during the afternoon and then the fog comes back. Now, we can't get rid of it.    Most days, it's been foggy all day with a few days getting sun by the late afternoon.

     However all the fog  and damp air has given  me a great excuse to stay in the house  and craft instead of working in the yard.

     My friend Joyce and I have been busy making Halloween Cards and trying to use up all that paper we bought last year.   So here's a sample of some of our cards.  

 This card is so fun with the little monster stamped across the card  and colored in different colors. The stamp is from Sweet Stamp Shop's   "Out in Space"  Set.  The paper is from Jillibean Soup from a few years ago.  Love how this card is so fun and I decorated then envelope with matching little monsters.


   
 As I didn't have a lot of the DCWV green & black polka dotted paper left over from the Bewitched collection, I decided to stretch it out by using it with some other papers from that collection and I weaved plaid backgrounds for several cards.  Again the little monsters are made from the Out  In Space Set from Sweet Stamp Shop.  However their antennas and feet are the left over pieces from a punch a friend had.


 
My last two cards are made with Sweet Stamp Shop's Haunted House set  and Clear Snap's Color Box Frost White Archival Pigment Chalk Ink.   I wanted this card to have a soft chalkboard look so that it wouldn't scare a two-year old.  She's going to love this card with it's haunted house and picket fence.


      






Along with the cards, I've been buy decorating their  envelopes for  mailing to my favorite little monsters.





Until we craft again!

Aunt Dee

POSTAL FUN............

 

      I can't believe I'm going to say this, but, I'm actually excited to write this blog. This is one of my most favorite things to do when I mail cards, letters and packages. 

 

 

      Don't you just love to receive cards and letters in the mail. It is SO EXCITING to receive a card that someone felt was just right  for you………….. Besides, the USPS needs our business.

      After reading my card making blog, my niece called me up saying  “Aunt Dee, the cards were great, but you have to blog about the envelopes, too. And the last envelope you sent was so disappointing ............ it was just a PLAIN addressed envelope.   Half the fun of getting your card is the envelope.”  

      Every month I mail a card to family members (nieces and nephews, young cousins)  Some months it's a holiday, birthday or anniversary card and other months just a fun card . They love getting mail, especially the 5 & 6  & 9  year olds.

   
     Anyway, I needed to make a card for my 2 yr old niece who's birthday is coming up soon and her mother told me that  the “Mouse” was her favorite carton. So, of course, I had to make a card of her favorite cartoon character. That was easy part, but I still had to address her envelope. So I turned the O in her name into a mouse. 

    It came out so cute. Every little girl (or boy)  will love getting that envelope in the mail. In fact, when it's the parents birthday, and a decorated envelope arrives, the 6 year old is sure it's for her because "Aunt Dee" makes her envelopes special. She was  so disappointed, because her dad and sister got the cards, not her. She'll just have to wait for  her “Back to School” card .
 

      Now, how did I learn to decorate envelopes?  Well, I'll tell you. A while back I took this fun class at my LSS Stampadoodle, taught by my favorite calligrapher, instructor and friend, Christy Schroeder, of Pilgrims Quill Studio.  She taught us how to decorate envelopes for any occasion and the envelope will go through the mail without being returned.

    Christy's class is full of fun lettering techniques, ideas, colors, designs and her encouragement to use your imagination in making your envelopes just as much fun as the cards and letters that go in them. You'll be amazed at how easy this is and how much fun you will have.  It’s addicting.

   

   In fact, it's so much fun, it is easy to get carried away. After taking the class I made Halloween cards with decorated envelopes for everybody in the family as well as my classmates in my Calligraphy Class I was taking.  I think every relation in the US & Canada got a Christmas Card  with the fancy envelope that year. My postage bill was huge. But boy, did I have fun.  What's more, once you create a master design you can reuse that design as many times as you want or you can  freehand the envelopes as needed.

     Here are some fun envelopes that I created for upcoming birthdays, holidays and more. 

 




     
 Stampadoodle is offering this class as well as others this fall. So take a moment and check out their fall class schedule.  They have some fabulously fun classes scheduled as well as lunchtime  demos,  along with the best instructors. 

You know you want to try it, so go for it!   It'll be fun!

Happy Crafting till next time!

Aunt Dee

 

 

Enhancing Your Layout!

Hi!

      Welcome back!  Today I've been putting into practice some of the techniques I've learned from various classes I've taken.   Making a layout is simple, but have you ever completed a layout and think something is missing when you were done.  I've done it several times lately.  The pages look OK but not GREAT.

      I love this picture taken by my niece Shae of her son and his cousins.  I wanted to showcase the fun the cousins were enjoying while playing with each other.
 

     So today, I decided to approach my layout a bit differently and instead of doing a quick layout and  attaching the photos, I laid it all out (like I usually do) and  took a picture of it.  After looking at it on the camera screen. I found it looked so boring that I knew I had to add some more dimension to the layout.

     Starting  again with the blank Kraft paper, I found red and green mists that complimented the colors in my layout and sprinkled  drops of the two mist colors over the paper.  Then using my circle stamps and stamped the paper  above and below where the photo would be. 

 
    The I added back my original layout and some enamel dots and created this fun layout of the nieces and nephews  playing together for the first time.

 What a difference adding the sprinkling of color, stamps and glittery enamel dots made to the layout. So much more dimension and depth. 

    My only problem now is that I need to do two more layouts using this wonderful photo. One for each of their albums and I usually don't like duplicating layouts, but I think this time I'll change the papers and do something similar for each of their individual albums.  The pages won't be identical, but they will be similar. 

Until we craft again.........

Aunt Dee

  Products:  Core'dinations Kraft paper,  Ditto red & green mist, Simple Stories, Gel-a-tins Circle Stamps, My Minds Eye enamel dots.   

"Use What You Have Challenge"

Hi there,

     You'd think by now I would be comfortable writing  this blog, but I'm still working out of my comfort zone. It is getting a bit easier, but I'm still learning and it still takes hours (or at least it feels like that) to compose each blog.

     So, for  today's blog I decided to try something else out of my comfort zone & take the Sweet Stamp Shop's "Use What You Have Challenge".    I pulled out some papers I 've had for over a year and other supplies as you an see in the picture.   After pulling out the supplies, I grabbed my folder of pictures and found this adorable picture of my nieces having their first ice cream soda. 

     From these supplies, I created my layout. I have to admit it took a bit of time with fussy cutting and numerous arrangements of the layout, before I came up with this fun layout.

First, I misted my Kraft paper with  Vanilla Mist and let it dry.  I then fussy cut the soda glasses from my paper, and using scraps from the same  paper I used to mat the photo, I cut several strips of paper, rounded the ends, used my white gel pen and added dimension at the top and stripes to make them look like straws and added them to the layout.  To achieve the foaming  soda effect, I then added some faded stamped clouds over the top of the picture and straws and added Snow Flower Soft to the clouds to give them a soda effect.  I used the Snow on the Soda Glasses to make them look full, foaming and running over.  I then added the Journaling beneath the picture about their very first Ice Cream Soda. 

This was a fun challenge and a great way to use up old papers that I wasn't sure how to use.  So, now I  think I'll go one step further and actually enter the layout in Sweet Stamp Shop's "Use What You have Challenge".

Of course, now I have to figure out how to link to their blog and back to this one.  So.............

I'll let you know next time if I "did it right" and got my entry in on time.

Happy Crafting till next time!


Aunt Dee

Products used:  Nikki Silvis You are my favorite collection, Colorbox Vanilla Misting, Core Kraft Paper, White Gel Pen, Flower Soft "Snow" and adhesive, unknown scrap paper for matting, Reflection letter stickers, Lawn Fawn Blue Skies Cloud Stamp, Xyron Mega Runner

 

Trying Something New!

       This is my favorite layout so far this year. I received this wonderful picture of my great niece imitating a fisherman on the beach last year. It took me the longest time to scrap this picture as none of the paper worked well with the picture and after several different attempts, I actually tore apart my first layout. It just didn't work and I really disliked how it looked. So the picture (matted on brown) just sat in my pile of pictures to be scrapped.

 

     Then, earlier this year, I had the opportunity to meet Cathy Allen (from Canadian Scrapbooker Magazine) at the Great Canadian Scrapbook Festival in Abbotsford, BC and watch her demo stamping techniques. She also showed us how to create background papers from a plain sheet of white paper with inks and stamps. So I decided to try her technique.

 

      I took a piece of heavy weight plain white 12 X 12 paper. Then taking my blending tool and tips and two colors of distress inks in blue, I started coloring on the paper. I worked a small section of the paper at a time with the light blue (stormy skies). I didn't try to be perfect and left lighter areas on the paper on purpose. After covering the paper with the light blue, I then switched tips and blended in the dark blue (faded jeans) over my previous work. Again, I worked from the corner in towards the center. Knowing that I was going to cover the center of the paper with a picture, I wasn't too worried about covering the very center. 

 

     After I finished all the color work, I dug out my stamps from Sweet Stamp Shop. Using  Tim Holtz's Distressed Faded  Jeans  and Vintage Photo Distressed Ink, I stamped starfish and sand dollars in random patterns all over the paper.

 

      Recycling the netting from a bag of Baby Bell Cheese, I placed it under the matted photo for added texture.    Then I added a sentiment to the picture from a Quick Quotes Rub-on that also included the flip flops and small brown flowers. 

 

     To add more dimension to the layout, I fussy-cut several starfish and sand dollars stamped on water-color paper with Vintage Photo Distressed Ink and layered them using pop-up squares in the upper left corner of the paper and around the lower right corner of the photo. 

 

      All in all, the layout came together so easy using this technique. I can't wait to try it on cards.

Well, that's all for now.   Happy Crafting till next time!

 

Aunt Dee

 

PRODUCTS USED: 12 x 12 plain white heavy stock paper (unknown source), Tim Holtz Distress inks - Vintage Photo, Stormy Skies and Faded Jeans, Sweet Stamp Shop Dream Ocean Stamp Set, Quick Quotes Rub-Ons,  Clear Snap's Stylus and white foam tips and Core'dinations Chocolate Lover Stack., "Canadian Scrapbooker Basics Volume 6: More Stamping   for more details on Cathie Allen's techniques.

 

30 Minutes or Less Cards!

     Don't you just love receiving handmade cards. They can be so much fun to make or receive. I discovered that I enjoy making cards for special occasions for family and friends. Especially for the nieces and nephews. 

     Earlier this year, I attended Scrapbook & Cards Today's Crop & Create in Burnaby, BC.

While there, a group of us were discussing how to store scraps and what did we do with our scraps and a card maker told us after she's done making cards, she takes an additional few minutes and makes card bases from those scraps and stores them. Then when she needs to make a quick card, she just pulls out that base, adds embellishments and sentiments and viola! You have a card in just minutes.
 

     I thought this was a great idea, so in June while making cards for upcoming birthdays, I took all my left over scraps (including those from scrapbooking) and made a couple dozen card fronts. (I kinda got carried away trying out different colors and designs.)

 

So this month, I realized the day before my sister-in-law's birthday, that I hadn't made and mailed her birthday card, so I quickly went through the card fronts in the box and grabbed a very simple base front of blue & white with a simple pattern and attached it to a David Tutera 4.25 X 5.5 card base.

      I added a blue flower with green rhinestone leaves to the front, leaving enough room to add a Happy Birthday sentiment inked with Tahiti blue Powder Chalk Ink along the sides. (I trimmed the quote to fit the location) .

 

 

For the inside of the card, I inked another sentiment with the same color and attached it with brads, placed a back on the card due to the brads poking through and completed a birthday card in about 15 minutes. As you can see, it came out quite well. 

    So have a fun summer till we Craft Again!

 

     Hmmmm.... guess it is getting a little bit easier to write this blog.  

 

Aunt Dee

 

Products used: David Tutera 4.25 X 5.5 cards, Quick Quotes Vellum Sentiments, Quick Quotes Tahiti Blue Powder Chalk Ink, Reflections Green Rhinestone crystals, Doodlebug brads.

LUCKY DAY!

     Scrapbookers are always looking to scrap major events in their lives and nothing could be bigger than being just plain “lucky”. This layout was my “Lucky Day”.  

     I happen to live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest in the wonderful Skagit Valley. Home to the 2^nd largest salmon river in Washington State as well as fertile, productive farmland, mountains, hiking trails, parks and communities that pull together.

     On May 23^rd, our beautiful Skagit River made international news when the I5 Skagit River Bridge collapsed shortly after 7 pm. What could have been an awful tragedy, turned out to be a very lucky day. Only 3 people and 2 vehicles ended up in the river atop the bridge that carries over 71,000 commuters daily between the Canadian Border and Seattle. No serious injuries and NO LOSS OF LIFE! Now that's lucky. 

     Even luckier for me as I crossed the bridge about 10 minutes earlier than usual on my way home due to getting off work a few minute earlier than normal and I wasn't the only one.  My brother and his wife decided to go home a different way, a friend's daughter-in-law crossed just minutes before it collapsed and there are many other stories of why the bridge was almost empty at that time of night. In other words, it was a very lucky day.
 
  
 To create this layout, I drew a small sketch of the collapse of the bridge. Then I added the characteristics of a bridge such as the bolts, rust, twisted and bent metals. Then I recreated it on a piece of 12 X 12 paper and traced it on my background paper. I cut and distressed each strip, then added adhesive, twisted and folded the strip and attached to my drawn design.
 


 
       Then with a black marker I added the bolts and with a q-tip added copper accents  to create the rusty parts of the bridge from copper mist bottle.  Matted my picture on black and added it the center of the “collapsed” bridge.  

     Across the bottom, I  cut a film strip die using a QuiKutz die and added it to the bottom with journaling and pictures of the bridge. I also edged the layout with 1/4” strips of black to complete the polaroid effect.

      The title was created with American Craft Thickers  sprayed with Copper Mist until the color was dark enough and added to the layout.
 
     Page 2 of this layout was again designed to look like a polaroid with the edges and the film strip across the bottom with pictures of the bridge through reconstruction. (The last picture is from the DOT web  showing the bridge's progress). The before picture is  taken on the east side of the bridge,  the collapsed picture is taken the day after it collapsed from the west side and the after picture is taken from the NW side of the temporary bridge two days after it re-opened. The bridge was re-opened on June 19, 2013, just 26 days after it collapsed.
 
     The permanent bridge is being built right beside the temporary bridge and will be rolled into place and operational by October 1 according to the WA State Department of Transportation and before it's in place, we'll spend another month without the bridge and lots of traffic until the permanent one is installed.
 
    Happy Crafting till next time!
 
                                                                                           Crafty Aunt Dee

Products used:  Core'dinations, American Craft thickers, Reflections lettering stickers, Quickutz Die, Americian Craft light grey paper, Illuminaire Copper Mist, Quick Quotes Midnight Magic Chalk Ink and Xyron adhesive.