PagesPat's Ponderings

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Happy Spring Birthday

My one and only niece is having a birthday in April. She loves to play outside and get all muddy and friendly with bugs, so I thought the new caterpillar digi from Hambo Stamps would work perfectly on a card for her. They’re offering a challenge over at the Hambo Hoedown blog. You can use any of their images and the colors HOT PINK and BRIGHT GREEN.
I used a patterned paper from one of those 365 Days of Scrapbooking calendars for the card base and cut out the sentiment. The caterpillar is a cross between paper piecing and Copic coloring. I printed the image onto We R Memory Keepers Tiffiney’s paper line for the body, and colored his shoes and head with Copics (G14, YG05, Y17, R29, B04, V04, RV04). I popped him out with dimensional dots, after I messed up adhering his shoes to the card---it went on crooked with a lump in the middle, so I thought use the error, don't cry over it, so he's got dimension as an afterthought! I also used a black glitter Spica pen and some CTMH Liquid Glass for shine. His antennae were too difficult to cut out, so I made some from green wire. Finally, I embellished (just a little) with some sequin flowers.
The challenge at Hambo Hoedown has just started, so get over there and get your game on. Each time you enter their challenge, they will send you a free digi image—how cool is that?!

Monday, March 28, 2011

New Stamps from Queen kat

I received some blog candy from my crafting friend, Holley, via Queen kat Stamps. They generously sent me the one I used for this card that I am putting into a few challenges. These are the first stamp I own from Queen Kat, and they have a delicious assirtment of images I am craving right now!
I got the idea for the card over at the Corrosive Challenge Blog. Their newest challenge is to make something with STARS.
Except for my new stamp, I used everything from my stash! I had glitter cardstock that I used for the card base (that deep copper red peaking out on the sides); white cardstock to frame the star-studded patterned paper from my paper pieces; one scallop circle diecut that i cut in half for a snow bank; stamped sentiment from a sentiment swap last year; Queen kat stamp; dimensional dots for that 3D effect; Liquid Glass from CTMH and STickles for the shine!
I colored my snowboard boy with Copics (twice, in fact) so that his board and his glasses could have some dimension.
Can't wait to try out my other new stamps from Queen kat, thanks to Holley and her extreme generosity!!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Never Ending Card for SBP Blog Hop

I just discovered the Never-Ending Card, and thought it would be a perfect project to share during Scrapbook Place's Blog Hop! If you're a hopper, and haven't been directed here from Anna's Blog, then you probably need to start at the beginning, Your Scapbook Place blog.
Now, I’m sure this card has been out there forever, but I just discovered it and wanted to share it with you, just in case you’ve never seen one of these before. The card consists of only four pieces of cardstock, cut at 3”x6”. I used double-sided My Mind’s Eye Bohemia line Bella “Pretty Little Girl” patterned cardstock.
You simply score 1-1/2” from each end while placing the pieces of paper horizontally in front of you. How east is that???

Then, laying the first two pieces side by side horizontally (makes a 6x6 square), place dbl-sided tape in each corner and attach the other two pieces of paper, but laying them vertically on top of your first layer.

Far be it for me to tell my crafting buds how to embellish their own cards! The real beauty of this card is all in the way it’s folded! Here is a video of folding a card after it's been embellished. Each time you fold it, the card reveals a new "face" with a totally different look:

There are lots of YouTube tutorials out there for any and all to watch and learn. Just type in Never Ending card in the YouTube search bar and prepare to be amazed. I love this new (to me) card, which I hear is from Stampin Up originally!
Now that I have amazed you with my new card, it's time to go on to the next stop on the hop! That would be _______'s. Don't forget to leave some love!!
Btw, if you get stuck and need a blog roll, here it is:
Linda
Annette
Allie
Donna
Lindsy
Anna
Pat




Saturday, March 26, 2011

Here's to Blog Challenges

Every week brings another Hambo Hoedown

! This week the challenge was to use a Hambo Stamps image (I used Coffee Girl digi image) with its sentiment AND a sketch. I played again with paper piecing, using up some of my smaller pieces of leftover patterned papers, to decorate her dress, the coffee sleeve and the background (on which I printed the sentiment).
Putting the image all together and popping her out with dimensional dots was quite an adventure, but I think she’s kinda cute, in a crazed kind of way. LOL I added a second sentiment from a rubber stamp I found at a garage sale, and I distressed the edges of the card base by sanding the core-dinations paper and then inking them with purple ink. I cut the circles with my Creative memories circle cutter, colored with Copics, and stamped a few coffee beans with a stamp set from Stampin Up (let’s give credit where credit is due!).
For your chance at this challenge, go to Hambo Challenge Blog. Every time you enter a challenge, they will send you a free digi image for the next week. Cool beans, huh?!
Other challenges:
Crafts & Me ANYTHING GOES, handmade/papercrafted.
Craft your Days Away Ac ard for mom or a special friend
My Time to Craft chaLLENGE BLOG ONE FOR THE lADIES!
Penny's Challenges A kitchen/food themed card

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Party Elephant!


Today's card is one for my nephew, who will be turning 9 next week. He loves the zoo, so I thought this cute digi image from Hambo Stamps was perfect. Their challenge at the hambo Hoedown is to use the Party Elephant digi image (or any others of theirs) and create a project with BLING!! How easy is that?!
For my papers I used The Paper Co. Cardstiock in pine greenand a sheet of paper from DCWV's patterned cardstock Boy stack.
I colored my Hambo image with Copics: Elephant=C1,C3,N3,R11,RV11; Hat=B034,BV04,G14, YR16.
The sentiment is my own that I typed on Word with LB Marci font and diecut with my Nestabilities Label Four set with my Epic Six (Hope your birthday stacks up...to be unforgetable!")
Now for the glitz! besides an embossed patterned paper, I used CTMH Liquid Glass for shine, and Stickles in Lavender, Magenta, Yellow, Lime Green and Waterfall.
The ribbon is a leftover piece from a garage sale find.
Once I decided to use multiple elephants on the card front, the sentiment fell into place. I actually colored FIVE elephants to get a 3D look that never comes across well in photos.
So what are you waiting for? Go Hoedown at Hambo and receive your own free digi for entering!!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Spring is Sprung!!

SPRING Layout

While visiting my mom, I noticed her crocuses struggling to wake up from their winter nap. What a great photo that would make, I thought. And my thoughts led to this layout! Of course, I was asked to design something with the word SPRING in it for Your Scrapbook place Challenge blog, so everything feel into place nicely!!
The base is patterned paper from a DCWV Stack; Cardstocks from Paper Trey and WalMart and leftovers; Title from Studio18 Alpha Stickers; Journaling was on computer and from The Quote Garden; Misc embellies were punched with the Paper Studio 1-7/8” scallop circle punch and 1” circle punch from Cosmo Cricket Earth love Stack.
I can’t wait until they bloom! Don’t you love Spring? Then scrap it! LOL
Spring card

I love the colors of Spring! This card was put together in about ten minutes using leftovers from my stash drawer, as well as Core-dinations paper for the card base and lovely handmade quilled flowers from Anna Nikander (thanks, Anna). Can you tell that I love to distress my paper, especially Core-dinations??? I used a sanding block from CTMH, one of my fave tools.

I hope you will be inspired by my Spring projects to create your own. If you do, please head over to Your Scrapbook Place and show it off!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Spring is in the Air


And with Spring comes Spring cleaning, and lovely leftovers from which to create Springtime cards. Here is my card, which I am offering in the card challenge over aT Joan's Creations blog
Here is what you need to do for Joan's Gardens Weekly Challenge #9:
Use the colors orange and blue
Create a card with a spring theme
Use a die cut
Use a circle
I truly found all the lovely materials used for this card from my stash, well, all but the besutiful quilled flowers I received from the very talented Anna Nikander! Even my image was already colored by me a long time agho, then put away for a rainy day.
For this challenge, A winner will be chosen from the Random Drawing for week #9 challenge will receive apackage of Tim Holtz NEW Idea-Ology Accoutrements -Shabby Buttons
And will also be entered in the end of the year $100 gift certificate drawing.
So go on over there and check out the inspiration created by everyone, and post your card!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Oh, There They Are!?!

Have you ever started a project with a specific embellishment in mind, and spent precious time searching for that elusive embellishment? Time that could have been spent creating your card, or layout, or altered art. Time spent longer on looking for that embellishment than it took to create your art!
After "losing" supplies and frantically wasting time looking for them, I finally made up my mind to Organize (with a capital O) my embellishments. The difficulty was in choosing the type of organization that would work for me. I finally came up with nice, inexpensive clear plastic boxes from JoAnn's.

Each lidded box comes with five smaller boxes. I keep my small embellishments in these boxes, sorting and storing by color, so that if I need a brad, eyelet, jewel, pearl, clip, button, staple or such in, let's say, the color family of BLUE, I know exactly where to find it all. In fact, I had so much success with saving time finding them, that I used the same method of storage for my smaller flowers!
In sorting through these containers, putting away some new bling, I came across the dreaded sequins. Now, sequins on a whole are pretty harmless, but in crafts, I need two brains to come up with needs for them, yet I can't seem to part with them! The challenge over at Your Scrapbook Place is to find those neglected embellishments that never seem to see the light of day and DO something with them, whether it be a project, or a gift to someone in need of sparklies. I found a simple cardboard frame with adhesive already on one side, and I crammed onto it as many sequins as fit. To fill the gaps, I added some Flower Soft in Kelly Green.

Having a frame with nothing to go into it is pretty pointless, if you ask me, so I colored up a Magnolia Tilda with my trusty Copics, cut her out and dimensionally adhered her to a piece of patterned vellum, whose violet flowers complement the frame. I used CTMH Liquid Glass to give her shoes and cheeks some shine.
And now that I proudly used up some of my many sequestered sequins, I'm giving the rest away to the first person who comments on this posts that she would like them! I am being totally ruthless in my simplification and organizational goals of 2011. Halleluiah, and the purge will set me free!!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Stashing My Stash


I can’t abide throwing away a piece of paper. If it strikes my fancy, I’ll save a 1 inch square of it! I am so-o-o-o into paper. Might as well face it I’m addicted to it!!
So for me, the best way to stash my stash is in my trusty (and roomy) five-drawer file cabinet.

I try to stash by color. Obviously, some of my favorite patterned papers get thrown into one of several MISC folders, and I’ll happen upon them when I am in the throes of creating. For this week’s challenge over at Clearly iStamp they require the use of three specific colors of cardstock: Soft Mint, Cotton Ball White and Porcelain Pink. I don’t have exactly that same brand of papers, but I think my hands came out of my stash files with colors very close to what is desired.
Everything I used to make the card below came from leftovers!

I used the white paper for the card base and the image base, then cut the image with My Epic Six, using Nestabilities Label Four. The Green and Pink papers were used in contrasting cuts to frame my image, even down to the diecut frame around the image. I used the following Copics to color the cute little bunnies, an image I received in a swap package a LONG time ago: RV09,11; E00,35; B04; G21; YG03; 100, and Zig Brushables English Lavender.
I touched up the leftover flowers with Lime Green and Cotton Candy Stickles, and sorted through my loose jewels to finish off the page. The decorated circle at bottom left is card candy I received in another swap on my yahoo Group, Scrapbook Place.
If you’ve got some time, you can find the deets for this color challenge HERE For every 20 entries there will be a $10 gift certificate for stamps or digis up for grabs!
Over at Your Scrapbook Place you will find all sorts of cool tips for stashing your leftovers.
Other challenges I've entered with this card: Corrosive Challenges
Blog
CHallenge requires a GREEN creation and they're offering An Elzybells Stamp, 5 card kits and $10 Gift Certificate to spend on Digi images from Digis with Attitude!


Happy Crafting!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

In Like a Lion...


Brrr, let's hope that since March cam ein like a raging lion, then it will go out like a gentle lamb, all warm and cozy. Wait, what am I thinking? This is Chicago, where the weather waits for no lion nor lamb! I've seen snow in April, and shorts in December!
And to celebrate the weather that is Chicago, I have a (N)Ice offering here. This layout is of a trip we made to our local mall, where Ice sculpting had gone on throughout the night, and crowds were voting on their faves the next day. Pretty cool stuff, eh? But I prefer my nice cozy warm craft room!!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

New Card is Sweet, I'm Not Lion!


Okay, so no one likes a good pun (nor a bad one, either)! But I did make a nice card, using a new digi image from Hambo Stamps called Digi Lion. I got him free for joining in their weekly challenges, and you can to. Just go to Hambo Hoedown and using ANY Hmabo image, create a card using the challenge guidelines. This challenge called for using Digi Lion, its complementing sentiment and stripes anywhere in the design. I drew my stripes on the black cardstock.
I used DCWV cards from a box and I tried a new technique, at least for me. I've never paper-pieced an image before (I know, cavegirl, right?). But I decided to try it out on Digi Lion here, so I printed my image several times on a creamy yellow textured cardstock (his body), on brown cardstock (his mane and tail) and used a leftover piece of patterned paper for his shirt. I used my Copics for the can in his hands, and for shading of his entire body.
I gave his shades and the can a little shine with Liquid Glass from CTMH and Black Twinkling Start gel pen from AtYou Spica. I printed the sentiment on patterned paper to match his shirt, and then framed it several times with black, white and brown cardstocks. Finally, I drew in the stripes and added a few adehsive-backed gems to finish off the card.
I plan on giving it to my son when we grive down to Missouri to see him graduate from M.P. school in four weeks. I am so proud of him!
Don't forget to go to the Hambo Stamps Hambo Hoedown for your chance to win a prize and get your free digi image!