Show & Tell - a couple of b-day cards

I’ve had a great response to my birthday presents for you RAK and looking forward to getting everyone’s cards. A few of the people participating also have June birthdays and I wanted to make some cards to send them. One of them even has the exact same birthday as me!! Such a small world, it’s so fun to exchange cards and meet other crafters.

Here’s a couple of the cards I put together this afternoon. All the products are SEI, except the flowers are Prima and the brad is Kimberly Polson.

Thanks for stopping by! XOOXO

I’ve got some birthday presents for you…RAK

My birthday is coming up next week!! To celebrate, I did a little shopping yesterday just for you. Let’s do something fun. Send me one of your creations…a birthday card, tag or ATC and I will do a random drawing for at least 3 give-aways and post all the creations on my blog! Email me for my mailing address.

Winners will be drawn and announced on Monday June 23rd. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the prize goodies.

Michaels 50% off coupon

Lookie what I found–a printable Michaels 50% off coupon!! Good for 50% off one regular priced item through June 14th. Print away my friends and happy shopping. XOOXO

Friday Freebie - textures

Hello and Happy Friday!! I love texture and today’s freebie is all about texture. Known as Ghostbones, this artist is very talented and generous. He has 97 amazing textures and images for you to download. Some of these remind me of the Basic Grey Periphy line, lots of worn and aged-looking designs. There are also some awesome frames, and really cool vintage books.

Get the Friday Freebie

Have a wonderful weekend!! XOOXO ~ Cathy

Show & Tell - Boho backgrounds shabby chic card

Here’s the card I came up with for the shoe box project swap I’m participating in tonight.

Yesterday I did a post showing you my altered shoe box. As promised here’s a look inside the box. Everything to create this card {see list below} are in this shoe box. I also pre-cut all the papers and ribbons needed for this project. There’s a total of nine bags, one for each of the attendees. Each baggie holds the paper, ribbon, string and mesh. Also inside the box are the supplies: stamps, inks, punches, blender pen and sand paper.

I’m looking forward to the shoe box swap tonight and will share more with you later. If you have the boho background stamps and want my how-to for this card I’m happy to share it with you. If you want to order the stamps or supplies for this, feel free to email me. Anyone who orders the Boho Background stamps from me will get the Spring/Summer 2008 catalog for free {$10 value}!

XOOXO

Products used
Boho Background stamps $15.95 {set of 4} - you can see these on page 109 Whisper White & Old Olive cardstock
Purely Pomegranate, Old Olive & Close to Cocoa classic stampin’ pads
Blender pen
White grosgrain ribbon
Craft string
White mesh
Scallop punch
Circle punch
Distress Ink {Antique Linen}
Sandpaper or distressing tool

Show & Tell - Altered shoe box

I was rather excited to hear about a shoe box swap I would be participating in. This sounded like a good opportunity to alter a shoe box! For those of you curious…a shoe box swap is where you create a card or paper crafting project and include all the supplies needed to create the item and put all the supplies in a shoe box. A group of people will get together, share their shoe boxes and create a bunch of cards and projects. It’s a a lot of fun.

Here’s my decorated shoe box. I like how it came out. I might have to make some of these for my closet! I’ll share the project inside this box with you tomorrow. Have a fabulous day! XOOXO

Products used

• Shoe box {Juicy Couture}
• Patterned paper {My Minds Eye}
• Adhesive {Xyron 900 for the paper and Ultimate glue for ribbon}
• Ribbon {Repurposed from some packaging}

Homemade portable scrapbooking organizer

I’ve seen a couple of the portable scrapbooking organizers and thought I could make one myself for a lot less. Here’s what I came up with…I went to Storables and got this 12×12 magnetic board that came with 12 magnets for $16.95. I already had a display for it to rest on and it works great! Pictured to the left is a layout I’m working on. Nothing is adhered yet just hanging on the magnetic board with the magnets.

The magnets are super strong and will hold everything I’ve tried, including chipboard and buttons. I’m really enjoying using this magnetic board for designing my pages. I can easily move photos and embellishments around the page, and it keeps my desk cleaner.

To make this portable I just slip it into my portable page/paper protector I got on clearance from Oriental Trading for less than $2. Another option is using a 12×12 box. If you order paper online or get monthly kits keep those 12×12 boxes, they would work great for this too.

Creative flower tutorials

Check out these creative flower tutorials. I love a big chunky flower and this flower is all that!! It’s so fun. Go to the Lookin on the Bright Side blog for this wonderful fluffy flower tutorial.

Martha always has such fabulous ideas. Look at this paper carnation made with cupcake liners!

Here’s a funky flower made of painted jute posted on the Scrap Magie site. The tutorial is by Marina Simakova.

These 3D flowers are really cool. Laine at the Of Photos & Paper blog has a simple how-to posted on her blog.

A book review - lots of fun scrappy techniques!

I got this book last week and it’s so awesome!! Artist Trading Card Workshop {Create Collect Swap}, by Bernie Berlin. Don’t let the title fool you into thinking this book is only for ATC crafters. There is a wealth of information and versatile techniques that can be applied to scrapbooking, cards, tags, canvas and altered items.

There are a ton of techniques in here that I have not heard of…and you know I search around looking for stuff like this all the time. There are 32 clever ideas with close-up, step-by-step photos. The range of techniques she shows is awesome. Some really cool stuff like watercoloring on baby wipes, painting on paper towels, creative ways to use magazine images and phone book pages. I’m very visual and this book is great, lots of eye candy and inspiration on every page.

Specifically for ATCs, there is great information and resources for trading, swaps, creative ways to store your ATC’s and an inspirational gallery.

This is a wonderful inspiration/reference book to have in your collection. I recommend this for anyone who enjoys experimenting with different techniques and textures. I’ve looked at this book every day since I’ve purchased it! You can check it out on Amazon. They have a {Search Inside} feature for this book and you can see the baby wipes tutorial, so cool!

To learn about the author, Bernie Berlin check out her blog. Lots of great pictures of her ATCs are posted there. She also founded A Place to Bark, a wonderful non-profit animal shelter. So much good stuff!!