Moonrise from SEI

Hi Everyone!

From the moment I first saw SEI's Moonrise paper pad I loved it. The oranges, yellows, golds, and browns which are the dominant colors in the collection remind me of fall leaves, pumpkins, and gourds. I knew the papers would be perfect for some Thanksgiving cards.

I told you that yesterday I purchased a new Fiskars oak leaf punch, the SEI 6" x 6" Moonrise paper pad, and Martha Stewart's scallop dot edger paper punch. Well, last night I "played" with my new "toys" and created the cards I am going to share with you in today's post.

I used my new Rich Cocoa Memento dye ink pad to stamp the text.

The small "Happy Thanksgiving" was stamped with a Northwoods wooden stamp. The large "Happy Thanksgiving" was stamped with an Inkadinkado wooden stamp.

Aren't the papers on these cards yummy! And elegant! Love 'em!

Please be sure to visit the first ever link party at SEI by visiting the blog at http://www.shopsei.com/

Have a great day.

Carol

More Thanksgiving Cards

Hi Everyone!
It's been a good week, but a busy one and the next two are going to be absolutely insane!  I had a little unplanned fun today.  My friend Janet and I went shopping at Absolutely Everything in Topsfield.  We both left with bags filled with fun.  I bought a Fiskars leaf squeeze punch, mitten Shapeabilities, small Maya Road chipboard cooking tools and keys, some fall rubons, dimensional cooking stickers, some Maya mists, a couple of ink pads, the 6" x6" SEI Moonrise paper pad, and a Martha Stewart scallop dot paper punch.  I want to play with my new toys, but first I have a workshop and an afterschool class to prep and Christmas cards to make before next weekend's craft fair. 

I have a few more Thanksgiving cards to share with you today.  I love this one and it was so easy to create.  I used a Sizzix tag die to create the tags.  The turkey is a Recollections sticker that I got at Michaels and the text is a Melissa Frances transfer.  It's fun to place embellishments and text on the tag cutouts and use them as the focal point of a card.

The raffia I used on this card came from a roll of raffia ribbon that I bought at Target.  It reminds me of cornstalks.  The text is from a set of clear stamps from Inkadinkado called "Filigree Fall".

The next 2 cards were stamped with stamps from
Inkadinkado's "Harvest Expressions" clear stamp set.  I am thinking of adding something else to them, but haven't decided what that something will be.  I think a strip that I create from one of my edge punches might be just what they need.

That's it for today!  Hope you have a great weekend. 
Carol

From Paper Plates to Cards

Hi Everyone!



I have been following Cath Edvalson's Moxie Fab World blog since she started writing it nearly 2 years ago. Through her blog I learn about great papercrafting products, techniques, and trends. Cath is the creative editor of my favorite papercrafting magazine, PaperCrafts. In addition to reading Cath's blog, I read the PaperCrafts blog each day, subscribe to PaperCrafts magazine, and own and treasure all of their books.


By reading Cath's Tuesday Triggers week after week I have learned to find inspiration for cards everywhere I look. A few days ago while I was wandering around Target I noticed a display of fall paper plates and napkins. However, when I stopped to study the display, I didn't see plates and napkins, I saw cards.

Although I don't use paper plates I had to purchase a package just so I'd remember what I saw.  Here are the paper plates.

Here are my cards. I used my ScorBuddy to help divide my card. I used my circle Nestabilities to cut the circles for the cards. Simply by changing the colors these could easily become note cards for all seasons.



Have a great day!
Carol

Thanksgiving Cards Day 2

Hi Everyone!



As I said the other day, "I LOVE fall!" I just cannot believe how good the air feels and how much I have been accomplishing every day now for nearly a week or more.


When I went to bed on Friday night I had finished 2 Thanksgiving cards. When I went to bed 2 days later I had 35 of them and I did more that weekend than just create cards. I made 12 hostess sets which I will talk more about someday soon. I rearranged my stamps, ribbons, buttons, and embellishments so that all things fall/Thanksgiving/Christmas and Winter are in my immediate view range.

Marie's best friend, Allison, celebrated her 22nd birthday on Saturday. Friday afternoon Marie asked me what she could make for Allison that was made with fruit, but was fun and special. I thought for a few minutes and then suggested that she make a watermelon basket. Marie didn't know what that was so I explained it to her. She liked the idea, but disappeared into her room. A short while later she came back into the dining room and said she wanted to make a watermelon turtle. She had gone onto the Internet to see what things you could make with a watermelon and loved the turtle. I won't bother telling you the whole long story, but I will tell you that my driven daughter and I accomplished a multitude of tasks before we finally went to bed around 1 AM. Here's the turtle! It was fun and special and everyone, especially Allison, loved it!

Here are some of the Thanksgiving cards I created over the weekend.

I used a Memory Box stamp to create the wreath on this card and a Marvy Uchida oak leaf punch to create the leaves.

Pumpkin nestabilities, rub-ons, and some Recollections stickers were all I used to create this card.

I found these felt turkey stickers at Michaels. I think they're adorable, but these cards will need extra postage because the turkeys are plump!

"Thanks" was cut with a Sizzix Die. "Happy" and "Giving" were made with Mrs. Grossman stickers.

Will share more Thanksgiving cards with you soon. Have a great day!
Carol

Thanksgiving Cards Day 1

Hi Everyone!

I have removed all things "Halloween" from my worktable. Everything is packed in a clear storage container and is ready for my classes. I have created all of the Halloween cards that I need and it's time for me to move onto Thanksgiving.


Thanksgiving has been on my mind for a while now so this year I have already purchased a set of clear stamps called "Gobble Gobble" from PaperTrey Ink, a Quickutz turkey die, a Northwoods "Happy Thanksgiving" stamp, and an Inkadinkado "Eat Ham" stamp.

In my Thanksgiving storage container I found leftover fall leaf brads and some turkey and fall Recollection stickers, I also already have turkey, Happy Thanksgiving, pumpkin, leaves and other Thanksgiving stamps. Happily, I also have twine, ribbon, and lots of paper for Thanksgiving cards.

I started my day by rereading posts and studying pictures on the PaperTrey Ink site about their "Gobble Gobble" stamp set. Then I flipped through a few of my books and magazines, jotted down a few notes and got to work.

I decided to cut some red tag into 4" x 11" pieces and score and fold along the 11" side at 5.5" to make today's cards. This means 3 cards came from one sheet of 12" x 12" tag. The tag is red on the inside and the outside so I lined the inside with a piece of white tag to make it easier for the sender to write a message and stamped a little wheat image in the bottom right hand corner.

The idea for using the brads to fill in the circles in the word "gobble" came from papertreyink.com After I stamped, embossed, and cut out the turkey's body I attached it to the card with foam tape to give it dimension.

I used an EK Success maple leaf punch to create the feathers for this turkey. Wouldn't that be a great way to make napkin rings for Canadian Thanksgiving and for Canadian Thanksgiving cards! Come on, Su, I know you can do that!

Here are a few tips for today's cards...Wrap twine around the layering paper before you add it to your card so that the back of it doesn't show. Same suggestion for brads-put them on the layering paper before you add it to the card.

Try using some silk leaves for the turkey's feathers. I will do that when I have some! The rectangle that I mounted my turkey on is 2.5" wide by 3" long.

Will be back in a day or two with more Thanksgiving cards. Have a great night!

Carol

Spooks from SEI

Hi Everyone!

There's no question about it.  I am definitely a huge fan of Fall.  I am so much happier and more productive in this cool weather.  I sit here and hear acorns dropping onto the shed's roof.  There's the tiniest hint that the leaves are starting to change their colors too.  My "summer" dishes have been packed away and everything fall and Halloween is working its way into the kitchen cabinets and on the shelves around me. 

I cannot believe how "into" Halloween cards I am this year.  I'm addicted to them.  I know I should be working on Thanksgiving cards and most definitely should be working on Christmas cards and every now and then I create a Thanksgiving or Christmas something, but then I drift back to Halloween.

If you have been following this blog you know by now that SEI is one of my favorite paper companies.  Over and over again when someone looks at a card that I created with SEI paper, the first word out of their mouths is ALWAYS "elegant".  Usually followed by rich looking, beautiful, etc.

Well, I am not sure that I would use the adjective "elegant" to describe SEI's "Spooks" line, but it is fun, rich looking, and warm and I totally LOVE it.  A few weeks ago SEI had this great deal going that if you ordered $25 worth of products you could select one free paper pad from their newest paper collections.  Well, it was easy to spend $25 and I selected a "Spooks" 12" x 12" paper pad as my freebie. 

You may recall how much fun I had when I purchased SEI's "Happy Day" line and decided it was time to treat myself to some more fun.  So yesterday the mailman arrived with a package for me from SEI.  Among other things the package had the Spooks paper pad, Spooks cardstock stickers, Spooks alphabet stickers, Spooks elements, Spooks sparkling ghosts, and Spooks borders. 

I "played" with my new toys last night and all morning and so far I have added 8 more Halloween cards to my stash.  All of the layering papers used on these cards are from the Spooks 12" x 12" paper pad.

This first card is my favorite.  The ghosts, candy, and jack o'lanterns were cut from the borders.  I cut 2 of each and put a strip of mounting tape between them to add dimension to the  card.  The haunted house is one of the
Spooks elements.

This card is a reflection of my role as an early childhood educator.  It reminds me of the word walls I used to create with my students.  The words were cut from a strip of border. 

The small ghosts on this card are just too cute.  They are from a package of 24 sparkling ghosts.  The pumpkins are from one of the borders. 

The ghosts on both of these cards are from that same package of ghosts.  The graveyard, fence, and pumpkins are pieces of border. 

I used SEI paper and some Sizzix dies to creat the pumpkins and picket fence on this card. I ran the layering paper through an embossing folder.  The gingham ribbon is from my stash.

Used pumpkin Nestabilities and SEI paper to create these pumpkins.  Don't you just love the little photo corners!  They are from the Spooks stickers. 

This last card is a combination of borders, elements, mounted on a very cool sheet of boo foil paper from the Spooks paper pad.
I still have lots of "Spooks" left to work with, but I must stop for today.  Have a great night!  Carol

Home Sweet Home

Hi Everyone!

I have decided that one of the things I like most about papercrafting is that it gives me the opportunity to "play" and create and be productive at the same time.  I have a friend who bakes chocolate chip cookies when she needs a break.  She doesn't eat them.  She bakes them and gives them away.  I'll bet her neighbors love her! 

Another friend meditates.  My daughter walks and goes to the gym.  One of my sisters does yoga and many of my friends papercraft.  From time to time Toni will call me to say, "It's been a rough week.  I need a card night."  My friend Susan needed to reconfigure her workspace and said if she got it all done by the beginning of September she'd reward herself with a trip to Massachusetts on Columbus Day weekend so that we can spend the entire weekend papercrafting together.  Happily she achieved her goal.  Susan is the owner and artist of Shapes, ETC. and I know she will teach me all sorts of new tricks. 

I've told many of my friends that I feel as if I am taking a really fun graduate class as I teach myself and try out papercrafting ideas and techniques.  I've learned that if I "mess up" sometimes I do the project a different way and sometimes I just take a deep breath, toss the card in the recycle bin, and start all over again.

I sit at this table and have fun.  A lot of fun.  From time to time someone asks me to create a theme of cards that I haven't done previously and I love to rise to the challenge.  A few weeks ago my sister Jeanne asked me to make a "new home" card for her to give to a friend.  I thought that "new home" cards would be a great theme to add to my collection.  I decided to have some fun and play around with the "home" theme.  I ordered a set of clear stamps from PaperTrey Ink called, "Boards & Beams."  They arrived in the mail the other day.  If you check them out you'll see that there are all sorts of great "home" messages included in the set.  

I decided that in addition to giving her friend a "new home" card, Jeanne would probably love to give her friend a set of "home themed" cards as a housewarming gift.

Today I received a "spooky house" die from Sizzix in the mail.  This die is on clearance in the Sizzix outlet.  I ordered it to use for Halloween cards, but today I decided to turn it into a Halloween/new home card.  I used part of a piece of dcwv's spider web paper for the house.  I had picked up a package of Creatology felt ghost and boo stickers at Michaels and knew they'd work perfectly for my card.  I used a Quickie Glue pen from Sakura of America to outline the spider web and then sprinkled some fine white glitter on the glue.  "There's no place like home" was stamped with a clear stamp from the
Boards & Beams stamps.  The finished size of this card is 4.5" across and 6.25" down.

I still have lots of birdhouses from dcwv's Songbird 12" x 12" paper stack and thought it would be fun to include them on some "home" cards.  Today's card is a Congratulations one, but I will use some of the birdhouses and some of the other stamps for additional cards.  The background paper is from K & Company's Citronella collection.  The message was stamped with a stamp from the Boards & Beams set. This card opens from the top and measures 4" across and 5.5" down.

So that's it for today!  I hope that these cards inspire you to create some Halloween or new home cards of your own.  Enjoy your day!
Carol

A Fall Hello

Hi Everyone!

Today was such a gorgeous day. I LOVE the fall. A few weeks ago I went through all of my paper and put everything "fall" in one paper drawer. I took all of my orange scraps and put them in that same drawer.

I wanted to create a fall note card for a friend today so I looked through that drawer and found a piece of brown paper with fall leaves on it and a variety of orange scraps. I used my Sizzix small pumpkin die to turn those scraps into pumpkins. Used some white paper and a Sizzix picket fence die to create the fence.

I looked at the pumpkins and decided they needed a little something to spruce them up. Looked through my collection of "fall" ribbons and saw some orange gingham ribbon. Perfect!

"Hello" was stamped with a wooden stamp from A Muse Artstamps.

QED!!! Quick! Easy! Done!

Have a great night.
Carol

Date Book

Hi Everyone!

In addition to cards lately I have been papercrafting notebooks, mini photo albums, and cookbooks. Last night when I was jotting down a reminder that one of our favorite neighbors is turning 82 next week a memory flashed into my mind.

My father kept a date book in his top bureau drawer.  It was small and thick.  The cover was made of soft brown leather, the pages were edged in gold and there was a thin ribbon attached to it that you could slip between any of the pages.  Someone from his family had given it to him and had recorded the birthdays and anniversaries of his brothers, sisters, and brother-and-sister-in-laws in it. There were also short quotes scattered throughout the pages. I decided that a date book is just what I need so last night I made myself one. It was so easy to put together that I've decided to make more of them for some of my friends.

I wanted the book to be small and light enough that it could fit in a purse, but I also wanted to be able to read the dates easily and have enough room to jot down names in it. I designed and redesigned the pages until I was comfortable with the size. Originally I planned to stamp in the months of the year or use some months of the year stickers that I noticed in a store the other day, but I decided to just type them in along with the numbers so that I could plan the rest of the book. When the pages are trimmed they are 4" across and 6" down. The numbers are in 2 columns which leaves enough room to jot down a name or two next to a specific date.

I cut 2 pieces of chipboard that measured 4.5" across and 7" down. I deliberately made them a little longer than the calendar pages so that I could punch some holes at the top. I inked the side edges and edges on the tops and bottoms of both pieces of chipboard. I went through my paper drawers and decided that papers from the SEI Moravia collection would be perfect for my book.  I used Scor-pal tape to adhere paper to both sides of the front and back covers.

I decided to just use scrapbook paper for the pages without any chipboard sandwiched between them. I cut 12 sheets of paper that measured 9" x 7". I used my Scor-Pal to score a line at 4.5" along the 9" side. Then I folded the paper along the crease so the pages now measured 4.5" across and 7" down. I used Scor-pal tape to keep the pages folded.

I punched holes in the tops of each page and glued one of the calendar papers to each page. Then I slipped a chicken ring from Creative Teaching Press through each of the 2 holes to bind the book together.  I adhered some SEI blueberry alphabet puff stickers that simply say "Date Book" to an SEI accent on the cover of the book. I also added a flower from my stash. The brads are from SEI. I added a rub-on from the SEI Moravian collection to each of the calendar pages to embellish them a little.

Changes I will make when I create more of these books...

I originally planned to add a seasonal embellishment to each calendar page so I typed the name of each month in a color that I thought would coordinate with those embellishments. If I use the SEI Moravian paper for additional date books I will type the names of the months in navy blue or dark brown. I think that I will type the numbers in those same colors instead of using black.
 
That's it for today!  Talk to you soon.
Carol

Papercrafting a Cookbook

Hi Everyone!

It's been a few days since you have heard from me. I actually took some time off from papercrafting to visit with friends, bake zucchini bread and zucchini chocolate cake, and fill 2 large Dutch ovens with soup. While I was making the soup I had an idea. I decided to create some cookbooks with recipes for 6 of my family's favorite soups in it and give them to some of my family and friends for holiday gifts.


I recently ordered sheets of 8.5" x 11" chipboard from http://www.ckresale.com/ to use to create mini albums, but decided to also use some of it for my cookbooks. The company shipped quickly and the heavy package was packed very well. My only "complaint" is that many of the sheets of chipboard measured 8.25" x 11" instead of the 8.5" x 11" that I ordered.

I used my paper cutter to cut the chipboard so that it measured 8.5" x 5.5" which means I got 2 pages from one sheet of chipboard. My paper trimmer struggled when I attempted to use it to cut the chipboard, but the paper cutter cut it easily.

I cut 4 (8.5" x 11") pieces of chipboard so that I would have 8 (8.5" x 5.5") pages for my cookbook. I rubbed a dye ink pad along the side edges of the chipboard to give them some color. I also brushed that same dye ink pad along the front and back edges. I used Scor-tape to affix 8.5" x 5.5" sheets of paper from dcwv's Nana's Kitchen 12" x 12" paper stack to both sides of the 8 pages. Then I used a 2-hole paper punch to punch holes at the top of each page.


I typed, printed, and trimmed the recipes I wanted to use and glued them to just one side of 6 of the pages I had covered with paper. I didn't glue a recipe to the page that I am using as a back cover. I decorated one page to use as the cover of my book.

I wanted to use cooking tools, aprons, chef hats, and vegetables to embellish the cover and the pages in my book. Die cuts, rubber stamps, chipboard pieces, and stickers are just some of the products I could use to create those embellishments.

I have a Sizzix apron and oven mitt die. Jolee, Recollections, Mrs. Grossman, SandyLion, and Maya Road are among the companies that have the products that I had in mind. I decided that some of the layered embellishments that I love to use on my cards didn't work for me in my cookbook so I peeled the ones I had down to one layer. I wanted the look of dimension without actually having dimension so I coated most of my embellishments with Glossy Accents. I was thrilled with the results. By adding a coating of Glossy Accents to ordinary stickers I transformed them into epoxy stickers.  If you study this picture you will see the difference between a spoon that has been coated with Glossy Accents and one that hasn't. 

I used plastic chicken rings from Creative Teaching Press to bind my book together. Metal book rings would of course also work, but I have lots of chicken rings so I decided to use them. The letters I used on this first book are Maya Road chipboard letters. I sprayed them with Maya Road's red metallic mist and let them dry before I adhered them to the book cover.

I designed the cookbook with the rings at the top so that the pages could be flipped over until you reach the recipe that you want to use.  The cookbook will stand up on its own. 

It took some time to figure out how I wanted to create my cookbooks. Now that I have done that I have decided to make one for our favorite Christmas cookies.  While I was shopping for embellishments for my soup cookbook, I picked up others for the cookie cookbook.  Once it is created I will share photographs of it with you. 
 
When Robbie and Marie were young children most of my family lived in the area and often joined us for Thanksgiving dinner.  In addition to the turkey and stuffing our meal included a multitude of vegetables and a vast selection of pies and breads.  Marie insists that we include all of those foods year after year even when it's just the 3 of us having dinner.  I am planning to create a cookbook called "A Hartery Thanksgiving" especially for Robbie and Marie so that they each have a collection of the recipes for our traditional meal. 
 

My life is especially busy these days as I plan the trainings and classes I will be teaching this fall so I may not be posting quite as often as I have over the past 5 months, but please stop by to check for a new post and please leave a comment so I know you've been reading the posts.  Talk to you soon! 

PS....I am adding this message 2 days after I created the cookbook.  Today was the day that I made the date book which is in the post that follows this one.  The pages in the date book are made from heavy scrapbooking paper that was folded in half which is the equivalent of 2 sheets of paper backed together.  I have decided that when I make future cookbooks including the cookie one I have been working on tonight, the front and back covers will be made with chipboard that is covered with scrapbook paper.  The pages will be made with 2 sheets of heavy scrapbook paper that are glued back to back.  The pages will still be able to flip over the top of the book and the book will still be able to stand because the covers will support the weight of the pages.  If you decided to make cookbooks you may want to try them that way.  Talk to you again soon.

Carol