PaperCrafter's Corner: Magazine Monday #127

     Right here you are supposed to see PaperCrafter's Corner inspiration photo for week #127.  Try as I might I can't copy it and paste here.  I rebooted, upgraded Mozilla, upgraded Yahoo and still can't get it to work.  The hot link works, though, so please check out this great site if you haven't before. 

     The magazine cover shows an assortment of pretty, vintage Christmas ornaments.  That's the part I jumped on.  I have an assortment of classic Christmas characters.  Almost at the last minute, I needed something to put gift cards in.  I made these cute boxes with the Winter Paver Favor Boxes svg files from My Scrap Chick.  I hid the gift cards under an assortment of Hershey kisses.  I used a lot of glittery, blingy stuff, but I rarely get photos that show that fun stuff. 
     Thanks for looking! 

PaperCrafter's Corner: Magazine Monday #126

     I am finally finishing up a few Christmas projects!  I packed up my supplies and took them with me to Stanford last week where Hubby had a TAVR procedure, a Transarterial Aortic Valve Replacement.  He had the choice of having open heart surgery locally or going to Stanford and participating in a trial in which the aortic valve is replaced via a femoral artery.  Chest cracked or arteries poked?  He chose the latter.  The procedure was done last Tuesday.  He was released Thursday and went to church this morning! 
     So in that whirlwind, I didn't have time to sit long enough to do any crafting!  :o)  But having our calendar cleared gave me time to play along with PCC's Magazine Monday this weekend. 

     I'm making cards for the sweet ladies who clean our home every other week.  I had cut the greeting out with the Cricut before we left, but took inspiration from the magazine cover to put it together.
My printed paper is similar to the gift wrapping the man is carrying, I have a bold title and a red border, Christmas colors.  Inside I used Wink of Stella on the "gracias," but that's hard to see.
     So glad to be back in the mix.  I hope I can start playing along more.  Babysitting DGD Tuesday through Friday, only leaves me Saturday to play.  Sunday is busy and Monday, too late.  DIL's schedule should change after the first of the year, and I'll have Friday and Saturday again.  Yay!  Merry Christmas to all!
    

PaperCrafter's Corner: Week 124

     My, oh, my, I can't believe it has been so long since I posted!  A schedule change meant I didn't have two days in a row to craft.  I can't manage to get very creative without that.  Maybe it is because I'm old.  Maybe if I left myself notes I could remember what I had planned to do the second day.  Now I'm so far behind I hardly know where to start!  But I did manage to make my daughter a birthday card! 

     This is an easel card using a free svg file from Miss Kate Cuttables.  She has adorable svgs!  My daughter, a teacher, is Mrs. Howell.  When she got married some of the little girls in her class misunderstood and drew wedding pictures of Mrs. Owl.  It stuck!  Owls are her thing now.  They celebrate their 5th anniversary next month.
     The "Happy Birthday" is a gift card packet.  It had a little music button to push.  On the final version, which I forgot to photograph, I put an "x" near the owl, over the button, with a tag saying, "X marks the spot."  If the x was pushed while the card was still folded up, the music played.  She was quite tickled.  My son-in-law thinks I'm a genius!  HaHa!
     I have a lot of Magazine Monday covered: pumpkins, fall colors, leaves; and something I'm thankful for, my sweet daughter, "Mrs. Owl."
     Thank you, PCC.  I've missed you!

PaperCrafter's Corner: Week 99!

    I love this magazine cover!  I was even tempted to do a big quilled letter.  Then I got my Quick Cards magazine from the UK.  Next month's gift is a quilling set, so no point trying to find the right stuff now.  I'll try quilling next month!  Maybe.  LOL!

PCC inspiration

     I think I would have saved time if I had gone with quilling for all the starts and stops I did.  I completely gave up yesterday, but today I remembered a project I have had in my head for several weeks.  The frame was ready and waiting.  I needed to put it together.  A big M for our surname was the perfect addition.  I die cut that twice, once with an upcycled manilla folder for stiffness and once with printed paper.  I stapled red and blue bakers' twine across the opening from the backside.
   

   

     It was fun designing the M, finding the right font and slicing out the letters for "family" in Cricut Design Space.  The learning curve isn't nearly as steep as I expected. 
     I printed out a few pictures I captured from Instagram of the grandkids.  Have several more I want to add to this frame.  Tomorrow.  Maybe.  LOL!  But now that it's done, I can change up the pictures regularly.  Maybe. 
     Thanks for helping me get this done, Steph!   Can you believe next week is number 100?!!

PaperCrafters Corner Magazine Monday #98

     Okay, I made them pose for this one!  But I needed a May page in DGD's page-a-month scrapbook, so decided this would be great.  I will add a journaling block with the confession that it was staged. . . just in case we forget.  :o)
     Besides the photo, I used a red and black heading, a large circle (all of which I cut with the Cricut!) and, of course, the Mother's Day theme from the inspiration piece.  It wasn't long ago I was complaining about not being able to cut large letters.  Now I can cut them up to 24" tall!

     My background paper is beige with tiny hearts.  The wall in front of which my lovelies are standing is kind of tan.  The 2015 tag is from an upcycled manilla folder.  I think it makes the photo look a little underexposed.  It looks much better in person!  And this week I will get that light box put together!  Better photos are ahead, I hope!
    Thanks for the fun, PCC!

PaperCrafters Corner Magazine Monday #97

     I was asked this week to make more thank you cards for the veterinary ophthalmologist my DIL works for, so I had pets on the brain.  I decided to use the layout of six panels taken from PCC's inspiration piece.  I also used some similar patterns.  I love this Impression Obsession die that cuts out six different cats at once.  I also have one that cuts five dogs.  Love the different positions they are in.

     The bottom left cat was cut from orange DCWV glittery paper.  Since I still haven't put the light box together the photography isn't what I'd like.  That's a must-do this week.  I printed my sentiment on an upcycled manila folder, separated the words and inked the edges with Antique Linen Distress Ink.  I made several of these, so was able to show the inside of one in the same pic, a simple thank you.  And thank you for looking.  :o)

Papercrafting Challenge: Earth Day 2015

     PaperCrafter's Corner issued a second challenge this week, and I just had to bite.  This one was especially fun.  Can you see what I did, Steph?

     I re-recycled!  The red paper background of this card was the wrapping paper from Package 12, the Cricut I won on PaperCrafter's Corner at Christmas.  Stephanie recycled a bit of it to make a little enclosure card.  I couldn't toss that little piece of paper.  I saw it first online for days.  Then it came in my mailbox.  It had sentimental value.  And it's pretty, too. 
     I printed and cut out (with the Cricut) several of  this Sassy Cheryl graphic.  I used one on my Magazine Monday card, but this little girl just called out to be used on another card.  The background on the other card was recycled from a magazine, so I guess I did a tiny bit for Earth Day. 
     I used Stickles and Wink of Stella for a bit of sparkle.  The "hello" is an early Cuttlebug die, and the white rectangle was cut with a stitched edge Lawn Fawn die.  The ribbon is very sparkly, too, but I couldn't get that to show up. 
     I'm in the process of making a light box.  Hopefully, I'll get better photos then.  In the meantime, thanks for looking.   And don't forget to recycle, recycle, recycle!

PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday #96

     A schedule change in babysitting DGD means fewer days to craft before challenge deadlines.  So I've had to think and work faster!  Ha!  But I did get a few things done and, as always, enjoyed every minute of my play time.
     I wish I could do mixed media like in the PCC inspiration piece!  Love it! 
     I picked up on the green print background.  To honor Magazine Monday,  I used a paper I found in a Quick Cards magazine, a UK publication that I love.

My image is by Sassy Cheryl to which  I added Stickles and Wink of Stella for a little sparkle.  The "hello" is cut from a very old Cuttlebug die.  The white panel was cut with a Lawn Fawn stitched edge rectangle.  I colored white pearls with a red Sharpie to match the ribbon.   

     I love making generic cards like this.  They work for so many occasions.  Just plain fun, too!  Thanks for looking!

PaperCrafter's Corner's Magazine Monday #95

     Horror of horrors!  I missed week #94!  It was the first PaperCrafter's Corner's Magazine Monday I missed since I started playing there.  We are getting a nice refund, so I guess the time spent doing taxes was well worth it, just not nearly as much fun as papercrafting! 
     This week's inspiration showed lots of colorful dots, so I did the same.  I've gone through my files looking for the card I CASE'd for the outside, so I could give credit, but can't find it.  Sorry!  The inside was actually my own thought, rare, I know.  :o)

 Thanks for looking!  Thanks, PCC, for the fun!   

PCC Magazine Monday #93 in 20 minutes or less?

     Always fun things at PaperCrafter's Corner.  This week there is the Magazine Monday Challenge and a 20 minute or less challenge.  I think "we" did both at once.  Here's the inspiration for Magazine Monday:
     My challenge was papercrafting with my 5 year old granddaughter.  So we came up with these:

Easter eggs!  We made ten cards in 2 hours.  We cut the egg layers on the Cricut and ran the top layer through the new Xyron sticker maker (It's wider than the X).  Sequoia enjoyed using the multi-bladed fringe scissors to cut "grass."  We used her favorite purple ink to stamp.  Tap-tap-tap-stamp-let it set-lift!  And always clean your stamps!  I'm raisin' this girl right!

An Oldie but Goodie

    This exploding box was one of the first papercrafting projects I ever bothered to photograph.  That was almost seven years ago. I still like it.  I may do it again now that I have been reminded of how much fun it was.  Thanks, Steph!  PCC rocks!

PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday #92

     This is going to be a rough week.  I only got in about an hour and a half of papertherapy this weekend, not nearly enough!  Then I was torn with how to spend that little bit of time, hopping with my FiskaFriends or doing my favorite paper challenge.  Steph, you won!  LOL!  I really wanted to be able to do the Fiskateer Blog Hop, but I desperately needed some hands-on time in the craft room.  I feel better now.  :o)
     This week's challenge was an easy one:  a red border and a birthday theme.  I am so behind in sending out birthday cards that this is something I really needed.  I cannot imagine sending out a store-bought card at this point, and I think homemade is what is expected.  But when I don't get craft time. . . .  

PCC Inspiration

     Yes, moving on. . . .  I lifted my sketch from Dawn Olchefske, a talented Stampin Up dealer I follow.  If you are looking for inspiration, she has lots to offer.
I used up some scraps.  The sentiment is by Die-Mensions.  Love the swirls! 

Thanks for stopping by.

PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday #91

     Well, here's the inspiration piece from PaperCrafter's Corner.  I couldn't quite connect with sexy native girl.  I'm more Gramma Church Lady.  LOL!  I went more with the layout for my card.  My main graphic is large and extends over the heading, as does the one on the magazine cover.  I also put a smaller sentiment on the bottom.  You can't see the best part.  I used an Action Wobbler.  Love those things. 

     Since the card is for my very rough-and tumble-two-this-week grandson, I decided to distress the edges a bit.  Once I did, I was sorry, but with the googly eyes and the wiggle of the wobbler, it's still a fun card, I think.  The graphic is once again from the very talented Mary Ellen at  Free Dearie Dolls Digi Stamps.  I used a white background, cut on my new Cricut, over the white cardbase.  I let the Cricut do the writing, too. 

     Although I have put movies on my blog before, I can't remember right now how to do it, so I'm adding a still shot of the wobbler in motion. . . as though that makes any sense!  Anyway, thanks for looking!  :o)

PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday #90!

     Congratulations to Stephanie Hackney for 2 years at the helm of PaperCrafter's Corner!  I've only been following about a year, but I have learned a lot, had some great fun, and won some terrific prizes, so I encourage everyone to come play!  You won't be disappointed!
     Steph says that the only real requirements for Magazine Monday are that your project must involve paper and it must be submitted before the deadline.  That's a good thing, because I got a little far afield this week.  We did a lady in green last week, but I went through my stash looking for similar this week.  I came up with a lady in purple!  Well, it is a lady, kinda!  :o)  And it so me.  Okay, I don't have a tree house.  The rest is pretty true. 

     Well, I started making my card and left it overnight.  I used the wrong glue to adhere foam between the layers and it caused some of the ink to blur.  We often say, "No mistakes in papercrafting, just opportunities to embellish.  So I went all "Kristina Werner" on it!  (Yes, I give her credit and will link her to this.)  She is big on playing with inks and inks with water.  That's what I did.  And I love it!  Just glad I have a door I can close on my craft room.  I left quite a mess.  :o)

PaperCrafters Corner Magazine Monday #89

PCC Week #89

     Since I had already downloaded the cutest little St. Patrick's Day Granny from Free Dearie Dolls Digi Stamps, I knew exactly what I would do for this week's challenge.  My Granny is dressed in green and wears a hat, too!  I made an easel card and a gift box for a special friend.  It was such fun to be able to give it to her when she came to visit this week!  Thanks for stopping by.          

PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday #88 in 20 minutes

     This one was fun and easy.  (They are always fun, but not always easy!)  As soon as I saw this week's inspiration piece from PaperCrafter's Corner,  I knew what I would do.  I cut out a couple of suitcases using a Sizzix suitcase die, and put them together with brads and a little double sided tape.  I printed out a few tiny travel stickers I found in Print Shop.  Now I have some treat boxes to share with DGD and her friend when I pick her up from preschool tomorrow.  This Gramma knows how to score points!  :)  Thanks, Steph! 

PaperCrafters Corner Magazine Monday #87

     Well, first I'll show you the inspiration from PaperCrafters Corner, then the longer than usual story as to how "we" arrived at our finished project.
     DH, dear hubby, and I provide child care for our DGD (Dear Granddaughter) four or five days a week, usually.  But with Mommy and Daddy both working out-of-town for a two week stretch, Gramma and Papa were kept extra busy entertaining our recently turned 5-year-old.  Okay, it works both ways.  She entertains us, too.  We are all tired at the end of these days.
     Before her mom left, she asked if I might figure a way to come up with some game pieces for a Disney game she purchased at Savers. It was all there except for the little marker things.  She knew she could print out characters, but needed a way to make them stand to move around the board.  No problem.  I have a box of wooden blocks from rubber stamps that I altered to be cling stamps.  That was a couple of years ago, but I knew I would be able to use the blocks eventually.  (Side note:  these were the blocks that fell through a toilet paper tube.  That's how you can tell whether or not they are save for a toddler to play with.  Those that didn't fall through, have been in a toy cubby and seen much love as roads, houses, cars, etc.  These were the toddler rejects.) 
     I figured out the size, and DGD and I decided which characters we wanted from free Disney clipart we found on the net.  I printed out a separate sheet for DGD, so she could craft with them, too.  And craft, she did!  She made a game!   

 Well, after a time of basking in my preschooler's brilliance, I saw the similarities of her game with the inspiration piece, circles and people. . . I hope you see it, too.  Because hers was made on computer paper, I tried to get DGD to draw it on cardstock, but she assured me she was tired of drawing shapes. 

 

      We moved on to Mod Podge.  We adhered  printed cardstock to a thin cardboard, then used more Mod Podge to cover the board before and after sticking down punched squares.  All the characters are MP'ed front and back of the stamping blocks.  DIL, daughter-in-law, needed 12 game pieces, but we made lots.  DGD numbered small pieces of paper to draw and determine how many squares to move, but I think she figured out how to cheat with those.  "Elsa" always won.  So I found some dice to use when she comes back this week.  :o)  

     I warned you it was longer than usual.  Thanks for looking. 

Crafting in 20 minutes or less with PaperCrafters Corner

     Once again, DGD  (DearGrandDaughter) and I made Valentines for her preschool class.  Her part was mainly signing them, which took much longer than making them.  I used a large Spellbinder Spiral Blossom die, like this one:

     I punched a hole in the center, curled the paper around a pencil starting on the outside part, stuck a Tootsie pop into the center hole and let the paper uncoil into a flower.  Putting Sequoia's tag on the bottom of the flower kept it all in place.  Pretty fast.  I can make quite a few in 20 minutes.  :o)

 

                                                                                              

PaperCrafters Corner Magazine Monday & DCWV Stackaholic Challenge!

     Once again I started with one idea and ended with another for Magazine Monday.  This is #86, if you are counting!  I have some very sweet old Valentines that belonged to my husband's grandmother.  I was going to use them on a scrapbook page, but ended up going in a different direction:  Playing with my new Cricut!!  Kinda elaborated on the DCWV challenge, too, because those cute little critters that I cut were crying out to be used!

Magazine Monday #86

     The big red heart fit (accidentally!) both the DCWV Stack-a-holic Sketch challenge and PCC's inspiration!  The titles were both in the same place, too!  I didn't have to think too hard to combine both challenges!  Way cool!  I cut the heart, the title (using the negative space), and the critters all on the Cricut!  Great fun! The papers were from DCWV Bright Cardstock Stack.

DCWV February Sketch

     It doesn't show well in the "picture of the picture," but DGD has a black eye from a tussle with her little brother over some bongo drums.  Thanks for stopping by!

More PaperCrafter's Corner Week #85

Week 85 Inspiration

     PaperCrafter's Corner has the one challenge I follow weekly.  When they threw me a curve and extended last week's challenge, what was I to do?  Well, I did it again!  I took the challenge in a totally different direction, making a card this time. 
     I'm becoming obsessed with Mary Ellen's Dearie Dolls digi stamps.  They are just the cutest things, and I totally relate to the Gramma she has been drawing lately.  I knew I wanted to use the one of DH and I the old couple sitting on the park bench.  I tried to find a suitable background and finally decided to go into my own photographs.  So that's what this is, an old couple, DH and I, in love and enjoying London.  Love and London, that's what I took from the inspiration!

PaperCrafter's Corner, Magazine Monday #85

PCC Inspiration

     I love the inspiration piece!  I want it blown up to a full-size poster, maybe wall-size!  It doesn't have any magazine info on it, so I'm not sure where it's from.  I guess I'll have to ask Steph for the source.  Maybe I can get a poster of it!  In the meantime, I'll settle for my the wall-hanging I did. 
    My project may seem pretty simple, but I won't tell you how many times I had to print it out to get it right.  The simple facts are that I right-clicked on the inspiration piece to save it, then printed it out at 8" x 10".  I had a old picture frame with a mat it in.  I used the mat as a template to cut the center of the picture out.  The outside was glued to the mat and the center was recessed into the center.  I used a black marker to go along the inside edges of the mat to get it to stand out more.  All-in-all, I wish the mat was thicker, so there would be more of a difference in the two sections.  But, until I get a poster, this will do nicely.  I love London!!!

January DCWV Stack-a-holic Card Sketch Challenge

     Well, I'm just under the wire finishing up this one.  Life got in the way this month.
     I found the sweetest graphics at freedeariedollsdigistamps.blogspot.com.  I knew right away that I wanted to use one on the tag of this sketch.  Isn't she the cutest little gardener?  Looks just like me!  I can see using lots more of these.

DCWV Inspiration

     All my papers are from a very old DCWV matstack, Bright Prints and Cardstock.  I bought two of them.  They are very dependable when I want to play with primary colors.  The "Hello" is a Spellbinders Inspire Celebrations Two die.  I used a little Wink of Stella to highlight some parts, but it doesn't show much in the photo.
     Thanks for coming to visit me.

DCWV January Stack-a-holic Challenge

     When you know you need to choose papers from a limited supply, not the entire stash, and the sketch is already determined, the hardest part becomes choosing the pictures.  In this case, that wasn't too hard either.  I'm filling in the missing months in DGD's page-a-month album, and for some reason I only had three pictures from which to choose.  And they were all a little blurry!  :o(  Every other month I have scads of pictures.  I think I was pretty sick back in September 2010. 

DCWV Stack-a-holic Challenge

     I used DCWV Kidlet Stack for almost every part of my layout.  I used the Fiskars notebook border punch with a sheet from DCWV Christmas Letter Stack for one layer.  DCWV did most of the work for me on this one.  Thanks for the fun!  :o)

PaperCraftersCorner Magazine Monday, #84

     I can't begin to tell you how many times I changed my mind about this challenge.  I was going to go with a favor box, but nixed that.  I was going to go with a card using kraft as the background, like the PCC inspiration.  I really liked that idea, and still may do it, but in the spirit of Magazine Monday, I decided to use a page from a magazine as my background. 
     I did know from the beginning what I wanted to say on my project, whether it be a favor or a card, but wasn't sure how I would get it there.  My FiskaFriend Tona sent me happy mail some time ago containing Tim Holtz mustaches.  That solved one problem.  So now I had to get brave.  LOL!  I've been reading and watching  tutorials on the Cricut Expression since I won one from the dear gals at PaperCraftersCorner, but I've been afraid to actually try it.  I did it!  And it worked! 
     I love die-cut words, but needed another option than buying a metal die for each word.  Now I have it!  It was very easy to weld the letters and cut words using the Cricut Craft Room.  I think I will use a thinner font next time, but I hadn't found one when I did this.  Still, I think it turned out fine, and I can't wait to cut more.  I bought a couple of cartridges on eBay and DGD can't wait to cut out Disney Princesses.  Tomorrow. . . .
     Back to the challenge, I was inspired in one direction and took another.  But Valentine, magazine page and my new Cricut, all with inspiration from and thanks to PCC.  Hope you like it.  Thanks for looking.