Pushing myself for #DCWV, Inc.

     I have done very little crafting since back surgery over a year and a half ago.  I know paper makes for the best therapy, but the pain has been over the top.  Hopefully, I will be having a spinal stimulator put in soon which will replace the pain signals with "champagne bubbles" according to the patient rep from Boston Scientific!  I wanna believe that, but when I saw the opportunity to win a DCWV cardstock stack I was motivated now!
     The January challenge uses a card sketch.  That's at least 1/3 of the cardmaking process.  It requires the use of DCWV cardstock.  If you use a stack, the papers are pretty much arranged so that the prints coordinate and compliment each other, which makes the paper-pickin' much easier.  Another 1/3?  I could see that this card was making itself, so I went for it! 
     I chose three prints from the Lemon Flower Matstack. I even had a set of stamps by American Crafts that needed inking.  It couldn't come together better! 

     I'm sure back problems are behind the saying that "if you play, you pay."  I'm paying today, but the satisfaction of doing something positive and creative, maybe even encouraging to someone else, makes it worthwhile. 
     Thanks to my FiskaFriend Pam for giving me a heads up just in time to participate and to DCWV, Inc. for the fun of competing for a new cardstock stack!  And to anyone else who happens to stop by, thank you, too!  Hugz!  Suzi

#sctmagazineinsd2017

This was the sketch for International Scrapbook Day at Scrapbook & Cards Today.  I love the sketch, but, as always, I'm finishing up the last minute.  I will also enter it at Papercrafter's Corner Magazine Monday.  I couldn't find a link between the two challenges, except I did use a date on both.  And they ARE both paper projects.  I'm stretching here, I know, but I just couldn't do more!

Our little boys will be moving with their mom to Seattle soon.  It breaks my heart knowing we won't have these weekend visits.  Sequoia will miss her little brothers, too.  Now I better stop before I cry. . . .  too late. . . .

PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday #169

    Anyone who knows my scrapbooking won't be at all surprised with my interpretation of PCC's inspiration piece this week.  It was a no-brainer, which is just about what I'm up for right now.  It still took me a week to get it together.  The pain from my March 2016 back surgery continues to rule my life.  It gets me out of a lot of work 😊, but also interrupts my playtime.  Sitting at the computer is not one of my strong points right now, either, so without further ado. . . .

Inspiration

     You knew it would be a page for my granddaughter's scrapbook, didn't you?  Of course!  I hope it made you smile, too!  Thanks for looking!

A Trick with DCWV Metallic Card Stock

     This month I've been working on the DCWV Stack-a-holic challenges, always fun.  My background paper is from the beautiful Samantha Rose stack which has a lot of gold foil.  I wanted my sentiment tags to have coordinating shine, so I printed them out with my little Epson printer on card stock from the Metallic stack.

Yeah, you can hardly see it!  But I noticed how wet the ink was and how it just sat on the paper!  So I printed it out again and immediately poured on black embossing powder.  When I heated it, voila!  

Crisp, dark and clear!  I've heard of other people embossing right out of the printer, but my ink always dried too fast.  On this card stock, it didn't.  I loved the result.  I loved learning something new!

DCWV February Stack-a-holic Challenges

     So excited to be able to play in these challenges and get creative.  When I thought Sequoia was to be our last grandchild, I decided to do a page-a-month album for her.  Her two little brothers get a lot of attention, just not on paper!  I had hopes of getting current with Sequoia's album before I had back surgery almost a year ago.  Then I fell way behind.  So, yay!  Another page!  From October, 2015, but I WILL GET CAUGHT UP!  Thank you, DCWV!  You are awesome!  I needed just the incentive I got from you!
     Here are both the scrapbook layout sketch and the card sketch.  I had fun with both!
  
     I like my scrap pages to tell a story, and this one tells a lot about our granddaughter.  Can you say "STRONG-WILLED?  The paper I used is mostly from the DCWV Kidlets Stack. The scissor blades are from the Card Stock Stack-Shimmer.

     Some of my favorite cards are ones that give you a punch line inside. That's what I went for here. The background is paper from the beautiful Samantha Rose Stack.  The sentiment is computer printed and embossed on the Card Stock Stack-Metallic.  (I'm going to do a separate post on that.)  The little girl is an svg from Apex Cuttable Designs, the leaves from Cheery Lynn Designs, and the cats from a Impressions Obsession die.  

I hope you like them.  Thanks for looking.  

DCWV January Stack-a-holic Challenges

     Oh, yes, I am slow!  But sure!  I'm finally ready to post my Stack-a-holic challenges, both the card and scrapbook layout challenge.  Yay!  That's two things I got accomplished this month!
     I had to take two pictures of my card.  It wasn't complete without the inside!  The red bordering the pictures is just the table it was sitting on.  Sorry.

     Of course, it's too late to play along this month, unless you are really speedy, but do check out the DCWV challenges.  Great fun!  Thanks for checking me out!

New Year's Eve at Our House

    December 31 is a special day at our house, Sequoia's birthday!  Number 7 and counting!
    I took ideas from PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday 166 for an easel card I made for our girl. The jester in the inspiration piece was decked out in bright colors, just like my cat!  Sequoia is definitely a cat lover.  When she opened the card, she and her little cousin both said, "Awwww!" in unison.  It was pretty cute!  She was also pleased with the gift card to the local movie theater that was attached inside.  😊
     Steph of PCC also mentioned the "pure joy" of the magazine image.  I can easily relate that to Sequoia, too, most of the time!
But I did make a scrapbook page which I also entered in DCWV's December Scrap-a-holic Challenge of something that brings a lot of joy to my family Christmas morning.

    Well, I've completely erased/deleted this post once.  I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.  Thanks for visiting!

DCWV November Card Challenge

     I liked the DCWV card stack-a-holic challenge sketch so much that I used it for four cards, three different occasions.  The Linen Closet Stack is full of wonderful patterns and colors, half of them glittered.  I ended up taking the stack apart, so I could spread them out to mix and match all the beautiful combinations.  I added a button and twine from my stash and a fussy-cut flower from a scrap of the same stack.  The card shown uses a stamp by Technique Tuesday.  You can be sure I will be back to play with these papers again soon.

   

Two November Challenges: PCC & DCWV

     PaperCrafter's Corner's Magazine Monday and DCWV Stack-a-holic challenges are my favorites.  Both have wonderful inspiration.  I saw the long thin photo mats on DCWV's sketch and long thin ladies on the Harper's Bazaar magazine cover.  I have just the photos I've been waiting to scrap that fits "long thin!"  But not the cute kids or party themes this time. . . before and after x-rays!
     Let me explain my title.  I do believe in angels, but doubt they are tiny little things that can inhabit our bodies.  Still, when I saw the before x-ray, it sure looked like a little angel holding my deformed spine together, right where I have had (They took it completely out!) the triangular shaped vertebra.  Apparently it was very unstable.  I know the Lord was looking out for me and kept it from slipping all these years, and He gave me a grin when I saw the picture, a probable artifact, I'm sure.

    There was so much story I wanted to record, I decided to put it on paper strips rather than using designer paper.  The words were cut on the Cricut.  The paper is from DCWV's Confetti and Metallic stacks.  I thought those stars were the perfect celestial backdrop for my "angel."  Can you see it?  :o)  

     As much as I'm still hurting 8 months out, I am very thankful to God and for modern medicine that was able to fix this before it gave way and paralyzed me!  I "think" I'd do it again.  

PaperCrafter's Corner and DCWV Challenges

     Stranger things have happened.  When I saw the inspiration piece for PaperCrafter's Corner Week Magazine Monday Week 164 challenge, the DCWV Confetti Stack was open on my desk.  The bright colors in the stack were a match for the ones in the PCC inspiration piece!  Yippee!  Isn't picking the papers the hardest part of a challenge?  Now I could combine two, Magazine Monday and the October Stack-a-Holic Challenge (Scrapbook part)!
  

     I love the paper I used here!  I love this stack!  And I'll tell you more about that in a minute.  All the prints, including the striped vellum were from the Confetti stack.  The solids were from the DCWV Christmas stack.  Instead of stars as embellishments, I obviously went for teddy bears, including cutting teddy bear shaped holes in the one paper.  I did that on the Cricut, as well as cutting the title.  The only other thing I used was the little Sizzix teddy bear die and a piece of ribbon.  Still on the mend, I'm all about "easy," and this was, yet I love it!  Hope you do, too!
     But hold on!  I wasn't through with this stack!  It has little packets of confetti right in the stack.  They leak everywhere, but that's okay.  It gave me an idea!  I checked out the DCWV October-Stack-a-holic card challenge.  Everything I needed was right there in that one stack, even the sentiments.  Easy peasy, and so much fun.  Okay, it took a couple of days, but that's only because I can only sit at the desk for short periods of time.  To think I got all of this done in one week, though, shows it was easy.  So much inspiration in one stack of paper!  Thank you, DCWV!  And thank you, Steph, for choosing just the right magazine cover this week!

Thank you for stopping by.  I'd love for you to leave a comment.  :o)

P.S.  Just read that the PCC entry this week is supposed to include a winter holiday.  Please note the sentiment on some of these cards say, "Cue the Confetti!"  Now isn't that perfect for New Year's?  New Year's Eve is also DGD's birthday, "Happy Day!"  She's a holiday everyday!

PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday #163

     Everything came together nicely this week.  I saw my first z-fold pop-up box card, and fell in love with the new fold.  However, the one I saw was cut and folded mostly from one piece of cardstock, and I didn't feel up to that much measuring and cutting.  I went looking, and with some help from a FiskaFriend, found a template by Lori Whitlock.  She has several, and because they were on sale, I bought several!  Makes sense, right?  She even had one with a pick-up truck.  Perfect in so many ways!  A Christmas card for my oldest grandson who restores old cars!  And a pick-up for PCC's Magazine Monday theme! 
     With Granddaughter by my side pushing buttons and peeling cardstock off the mats, we cut it out on the Cricut.  With a new lock on the inside of my craftroom and two toddler grandsons outside the door, it came together perfectly!  :o)
     I didn't take many liberties with the template, and what I did doesn't show much in the photo.  I cut a window for the pickup out of a scrap of acetate.  Looks so cute!  I used the write feature for the greeting rather than cutting it and inked it with a glittery red gel pen.  Rather than cut snowflakes, I punched them out of glitter paper for more detail.  I used Wink of Stella on the tree in the back of the truck, and embossed the other two.

     This was a totally awesome card to make (maybe because of the help I had outside the craftroom and didn't have inside the craftroom!).  Now that I can see the dimensions of it, I will easily replicate it in an A2 card, but first I will probably have fun just doing the other Lori Whitlock ones I bought. Way fun!

My Bobble-Head Munchkin!

     Last week I had a hard time with PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday.  This week, #152, was much easier.  A pretty girl as the centerpiece!  Ta-da!  Sequoia's mom asked me to make some thank you cards for people who especially helped Sequoia at "The Wizard of Oz" production, so I found my pretty girl!

  With her help, I made bobble-head easel cards of Sequoia in her munchkin costume.  It was fun teaching my DGD to make the yellow brick road with an embossing folder and clouds with a scalloped circle die-cut. We added red flowers because she also played a poppy.  I tried to include my video, but it wasn't playing in the post.  Sorry, it was pretty darn cute!

Thanks for stopping by!

PaperCrafter's Corner's Magazine Monday #161

     Each week I am inspired and/or stretched to come up with a project for the challenge at PaperCrafter's Corner.  This week "stumped" was a better word.  I ended up with a card that has been coming together in my head for awhile, but I'm not happy with it.  The only thing I could take from the magazine cover was the colors and borders, but, frankly, I don't think it fits well with my idea.  I still have more "Dearie Dolls" and more of the sentiment cut out, so I think I will rework this next week.  Not feeling well and trying too hard, I think.                                    

The sentiment is an svg from Apex Cuttables, a freebie that I love.  I used the negative space after cutting it out on my Cricut.  Please check out Free Dearie Dolls Digi Stamps, too, where you will find great fun (and free!) clip art.  

PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday #160

     "A World Away from the Everyday!"  Isn't that where the Land of Oz is?  I have several (many) themes to scrap, but this one instantly came to mind when I saw the PCC magazine cover, and it's very current since the play runs a couple more weeks!  I'm so pleased with the results.  I hope you will like it, too!

     A special shout out to Mary Ellen Smith.  She is the talented and generous artist who offers her fun clipart at Free Dearie Dolls Digi Stamps.  I'm still thinking I should have used those flying monkeys! Thank you, Mary Ellen!

Magazine Monday Inspiration

     And thank you, Steph, for keeping me busy, even when I'd rather go to bed!  :o)  Also, it's because of you that I have a Cricut to use on these projects.  I didn't have to fussy cut the digi stamps.  I did a print-and-cut which does a much better job than I can.  The title took me all of about 10 minutes to layout and send to the Cricut.  Love it!

 

A two-fer

        This week I got the idea for my subject from the inspiration at PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday #159 and the layout from the September Stack-a-holic Sketch Challenge at DCWV.

     Instead of a little girl with a cat, I went with my little girl and her dog, Nigel.  He lives at our house, but is technically her dog.  They just don't have a place to keep him right now, and we are quite happy with that arrangement.  Nigel is one of those dogs with a perfect temperament.  He barks at every stranger who comes to the gate, but lets the grandbabies crawl all over him.  Sequoia would literally ride him when she was tinier!  She still dresses him up and wraps him in blankets, and he never complains.  I need to do more layouts of Nigel.

     All the paper, except for a few scraps, are from DCWV's Summer Dream Stack.  I used a Sizzix alphabet to cut out the letters, and the stamp set is from Stampendous.    

     Thanks for stopping by.  Still lots of time to join the DCWV challenge!

DCWV August 2016 Stack-a-holic Challenge

       With granddaughter in first grade now, I have more time on my hands, and everyone knows that paper crafting is good therapy.  Still in recovery, it takes me longer to finish anything, but with that additional time, I'm getting some fun things done.  

     Usually I try to avoid glare in my photos, but I wanted to show off the foil bling in this beautiful DCWV cardstock from the Fall & Halloween Combined Mat Stack.  Surprisingly the best matching blue I found was in the Christmas Stack.  Don't wait till holidays to look in those stacks!  There is a lot of pretty paper that can be used year-round.  I especially was yearning for plaids this go.  Love this one! 

     I embossed the tag with a Cuttlebug folder of tiny hearts, covering each one with Glossy Accents.

     I used the Poppy Stamps Hello Word Balloon to die cut the hole and then used the coordinating brown cardstock to die cut again for the insert.  

    To add more bling I added a strip of Treveni Craft Diamanti colored with a Bic permanent marker.  This is the DCWV challenge sketch.  Fun!  

     Thanks for stopping by. 

PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday #158

   

      I love clipart.  For several years I belonged to Provocraft's HugClub, a monthly clipart club, so I've accumulated quite a bit.  Because I still haven't learned to color, this is definitely another way to go.  The focal point here is from "A Bird's Life 1."  She's in an office which fits the bill for this week's PCC challenge!  Besides patterned paper, I used #DCWV adhesive cork and a die-cut using one of my favorite Poppy Stamp dies.  Once I decided what to do, I added to my stash:

     Steph at PaperCrafter's Corner comes up with the best magazine covers for inspiration.  Here's this week's:     

Thanks for stopping by.

PaperCrafter's Corner Magazine Monday #157

    Yesterday I decided this wasn't going to get done.  This morning I woke up with a simpler idea that just maybe I was up to completing.  And I did!

     My first thought from PaperCrafter's Corner's inspiration piece was the obvious:  children going off to school.   I only got this one picture of Sequoia's first day this year. . .and I think it's the same view I got last year, her standing by the chalk drawing of the school's puma mascot.  The title piece and slide are svgs from the generous #misskatecuttables.  Where I got discouraged was putting them into Cricut Design Space and finding it was going to take about 20 mats.  I'm physically not up to that this week, especially after taking a fall (in that messy family room I scrapped last week!).  But this morning I came up with the idea of doing a "print and cut."  That took all the work and worry out.
     The background paper, which looks like school paper, is from #DCWV Magnolia stack.  To fill the page, I had to stay simple so I went with the stars in the title, punched a bunch and scattered them around.  It looks better in person.  It actually turned out pretty cute.  :o)
    Edited:  While I was working on the cut-and-print part of this, my 20-month-old grandson turned off my computer.  I gave up for the day.  The next day when I tried again, I somehow switched the cuttable from Miss Kate to the kindergarten one!  This is first grade!  It hit me hard the day after I posted.  It all got fixed before it went into her scrapbook.  :o)

Two Challenges in One

     Amazingly, I was able to bring together DCWV's August Stack-a-holic challenge and Papercrafter's Corner's Magazine Monday.  Without thinking!  If I would have had to think about it, it wouldn't have happened.  I just immediately knew what I wanted.

     PCC made it easy.  This week's inspiration showed a messy house which looked a lot like a picture I took last week when "Los Tres Nietos," the three small grandchildren were here.  The rays of sun in the DCWV sketch reminded me of where I wanted those little ones to play: Outside!  The Kidlet stack had the perfect paper with words describing the day Outside!  

    Steph, do you remember how excited I was that the Cricut allows me to cut any words and just the size I want them?  That's what I did!  The font I used for "Outside" is a freebie called Black Fat.  I like that it doesn't have thin areas that might get messed up in the cutting.
     The sun was a free svg from the talented Juliana Michaels at 17 Turtles.
     With a quieter house once again, I was able to work on this for short periods each day.  Very therapeutic and great fun!  Writing this blog may have been the most difficult part!  :o)