Cards!

More cards!

This one was quick & easy - I stamped with SU!'s Baroque Motif swirl, added the sentiment, and embossed. A quick punch with a Martha Stewart border punch and a ribbon and I was finished!

The color is bad on the next two, but they are basically the same concept. I used Basic Grey rubons and some paper from an ancient black-and-white paper pad. And I dragged out the Cuttlebug - again!

The only thing different here is the ribbon and the sentiment. I used SU!'s scallop oval punch and a paper piercer to gussy up the edge a bit.

I made this one for Jeff. Another CB embossing folder, more ribbon, a scrap of striped paper, a CB diecut, and SU!'s Birthday Wishes stamp, colored with the SU! markers was all I needed. It wasn't difficult, though I'm not sure how manly it was!

This last one did not photograph well at all - that's actually purple, and the black is not that washed out. The stamp is from SU!'s Twick or Tweet set. Are you surprised to see more embossing? lol  Oh, I also used my Martha Stewart score board to add the embossed border on the edge of the card. That is quite possible the best $20 I have spent on scrapbooking supplies - the time it saves scoring cards, the "neatness" factor, and the ability to do some cool scoring lines like I did here make it totally worth the moolah!

One Stamp, Seven Ways (and Counting)

Stampin' Up! makes this gorgeous background stamp called Bella Toile. I may not be the girliest person you will ever meet, but I looooove toile prints. They're so lovely and elegant, but dressed up right, they can be cute and fun, too. I decided to see how many different things I could do with the same background stamp. My office is a disaster to prove my efforts, too! Here's my first seven - and I'm sure there will be more to follow!

7th Birthday Letter & Scrapbook Page

Every year I write Braeden a birthday letter. This year, I'm five months late. Oops.Can I be excused, given how wild the last year has been?

More Cards

I've had great fun making cards lately. There is less of a mental block than when I try to paper scrap; perhaps it's because I don't have to worry about destroying a photo if I mess up. I really needed to be doing a million other things, but I can't seem to quit playing. :)

This is a card I made for my niece. I lurve it. Stamping, embossing, stickers, ribbon - mucho fun, this one. Plus it's nice to make a girly card every now and then.

This was for my nephew. I printed the dinosaur, did more embossing (lately I cannot get away from my Cuttlebug), a lot of distressing, and dragged out some letter stickers that I'd been hoarding for ages.

On to more serious stuff... I saw an interesting tutorial on making "patent leather" paper. It involved a whole lot of embossing powder and an embossing folder. It sorta worked... the lines were more cracked than raised, but I kind of like the look. Not sure I'll do it again, though. It's a lot of effort for a little bit of paper.

Last one... possibly my favorite. I was playing around with the Watercolor Trio stamp set from Stampin' Up. I wanted to use it for a card and had a complete mental block as to what to do with it. Tomorrow I'm going to mass produce some in a watercolor version for church, but I truly love this black-and-white one I made for my own use. Black-and-white can be so romantic and elegant and even sexy that I gravitate toward it quite often. (Notice I used another Cuttlebug folder. They just add so much subtle dimension!)

That's all the cards for now. Braeden and I went for the last round of school shopping. I bought him two pair of shoes and some clothes for the year. Gotta take advantage of Tennessee's tax-free weekend, you know. We had a good time; I let him pick his shoes and he chose these crazy Skechers that light up neon green. He loved them. "Mommy," he said, "I am going to be so cool in these shoes!" How could I have possibly said no to that? :)

Tomorrow is church, then Monday is Braeden's first day of school. As soon as I drop him off, I'm picking up a rental car and taking my car to the shop to get it fixed from its encounter with Grandma. Then I'm off to Chattanooga to run several errands before (hopefully) making it home in time to pick up B from school. Gonna be a busy day, and I am totally looking forward to it.

'Night, y'all.

End-of-Summer Project Rush

Summer vacation is fast winding down, and I find myself scrambling to get everything done before the craziness of the school year begins. May I share?

First, my dad's birthday card. He turned 62 this year, and though I've never ever teased him about his age, I decided I would this time. The inside reads "Who knew the senior citizen discount could look so good?"

Second, I am trying to get as much of Braeden's 1st grade book done as possible. I'm literally a full year behind! His kindergarten album came in a couple of weeks ago, and I couldn't be happier with how nice it looks. As it turned out, the pages did not need to be complicated; in fact, with the 8x8 format, simple looked better. This is a good thing, because I don't have to give it too much thought. My color scheme is set with green and purple, and I'm using the same fonts and calendar elements as I did for the kindergarten album. Easy-peasy! And yes, I do scrap such mundane things as school supply lists. :)

Moving on to the second grade... Tuesday night we met his teacher, Mrs. Parsons. Every single person we have talked to has fallen all over themselves to tell us how wonderful she is. Jeff & I were so impressed with how organized she was; Braeden surprised us both by remembering almost everything she said about things that would happen this coming year. (He did get a few details wrong, though - she told us there would be homework everyday but Friday, and Bebo thought she meant only Friday. The look on his face was priceless when I explained that he was a little confused!) Anyhoo, the color scheme for this year is a sky blue and royal purple combo. I like it, and I'm crossing my fingers that I can manage to keep it up as the year progresses. With a little luck, I can print a book with both first and second grade pics sometime next summer. (By the way, purple is their school color, which is why I always use it. And if you're wondering, the fonts are Learning Curve and Print Clearly, both of which can be found at 1001fonts.com.)

One more thing for now - my kitties. Jeff has taken to calling Sizz "Big Kitty," but the kittens are not so small anymore. It's actually time to get them neutered, at which point I expect them to explode in size and quickly catch up to Sizz. Incidentally, they are still trying to nurse poor old Sizzle! (You did know that Sizz is a dude, right? So are the kittens. Yeah. Who knew - cats have gender issues?)

And that, I suppose, is all for today. More to come soon, I hope. :)