Tis the Season, Gift Card Holders

Wow,  it has been forever and a day since I have posted anything.  To say the year 2015-2016 was rough would be an understatement.
But here we are almost Nov 2016 and it is the Christmas crunch time.  Craft fairs, customer orders, Christmas cards.  Here are a few items I have been working on.   gift card holders are always needed at this time of year !!

Also had to use the punch and stamp set to make these cute Chocolate Rolo Reindeer's  

Using New product from the 2016 Holiday Catalog, The Cookie Cutter punch and Stamp set,  too adorable!!!


 

2014 Creative Blog Hop

I was asked by a friend -Rhea Skomorowski, and her blog is ReAson, to create a project and a blog post for the Crafty Blog Hop.  I knew time was a little hectic what with thew holidays upon us but I said yes.  
Fast forward to Saturday.... the day before the project and post are suppose to be ready... Am I ready??? Of course not !!! I completely forgot!!!!!
In our craft group Crop Circles, we hold a Same But Different challenge.  Everyone receives the same items in the mail and then has a month to create with them. It could be a scrapbook page, a card, tags, what ever your crafty little heart desires. At the end of the month the pictures of the completed projects are posted so we can all see everyone different takes using the same things. It is a lot of fun and really gets those creative juices flowing!  A Same But Different Challenge was held in November and due to a million and 1 things I did not get anything completed ( well actually I didn't even start anything)
Fast forward back to Saturday!  I figured I would base my project around those very same-Same but Different items  and see what I could come up with.  I sat down with them in front of me and contemplated a scrapbook page.....

But nothing came to mind.  I spied an old frame laying in the corner of my oh so not tidy craft room and decided to play around with that.

This is what I came up with.

2 birds with one stone, although one is very late lol

Creative Blog Hop Questions:

Question 1: what are you working on?

Too many things to wrap my head around. I am trying to get into the whole "Project Life" I am finding it way too easy to buy the stuff but as of yet have not even started a page. I have a list of "Candle Boxes" that someone has asked for, waiting to be made, Birthday cards for January to be put together, I have not scrapped a page in a year so I have loads to catch up on there, I also have to make a special keepsake card for a client who wants it for a Goddaughters 1st Christmas, and the list goes on and on.

Question 2: How does your work different from others in your genre?

I don't know specifically if my work differs from others or not. I encompass a number of different styles. The clean precise images and cards using my Stampin" Up projects and what I call the Stampin' Up style, but I love to get very messy with mixed media, love distressed and grunged up projects cards and pages. So I am kind of like a pendulum all over the creative crafty spectrum.

Question 3: why do you create what you do?

I absolutely love creating things. Whether my project turns out or it gets laid in a pile to re-visit later to rework, I find complete joy and happiness in crafting. When I walk into my craft room I find peace, the smell of the room, the papers, sprays, glues etc always puts me at ease and wipes away any stressors. Before I started crafting a few years ago I was very high strung, always needed to be doing something ( usually 4 things at once) I just couldn’t relax, always on edge as if I was going to miss something. Creating and crafting have taken me to a much calmer place….. not to be mixed up with the utter madness of crafting deadlines, a hurricane hit craft room, a million projects at once…. But that hecticness and madness lol is calming and refreshing. I just want to make things, give them to people and hopefully leave a little bit o myself with them as well as bringing a little bit of happiness. Crafting is my drug of choice lol …. Oh and wine  must not forget the wine !!

Question 4: how does your creative process work.

I don’t know if I can explain how my mind works lol. I usually have a 1000 idea’s swirling around at any given moment, things I want to try, things I need to make for clients or birthdays, items that I have bought or found and am just itching to use or re-purpose or alter. I can sit down with all intents on making a card needed in a week’s time for some occasion, get half way through, lay it aside and move into something else that has caught my eye or that my mind just won’t let go of.  Somehow I always get the things done that I need to along with a load of other side projects that just popped up along the way.

Unfortunately I could nbot find anyone to carry on the blog hop. They have either already participated or are very busy with the Holiday season.  Sorry!!!    But a very Merry Christmas to you and Yours !!!!

Halloween Cards

Well before I knew it September is almost over and autumn is upon us. I've started making my Christmas cards but I also found time to make a few Halloween cards.

There are cards I made this afternoon.

 I love the Stampin' Up! Bite Me Polymer set.  I also used  The Bootiful Occasions and Fang-tastic sets.
The Witch is made using Stampin' Up! punches and the Dress Up framelits. The punches etc can be found here at Patty's Stamping Spot.

 The Frankenstein's are adorable. I came across them on pintrest and Paper Ecstasy is the blog with the samples. She also made a vampire, ghosts, mummy and monsters. I will definitely be giving them a make as well. !

Negative Butterfly

Where has the time gone, A month since my last post, but I have been busy in the craft room and will try to get some posts up soon.
Catherine and Cathy Create is a great blog full of wonderful ideas and inspiration and challenges.

This month one of the challenges is:  March Tags Challenge: Use the Negative

I had to create a card for a friends upcoming birthday and figured this would be a great opportunity to play around with negatives.

The front of the card is the negative of a die cut butterfly( my friend loves butterflies) and the inside shows the die cut butterfly ( of course I glued it on backwards, the white back showing rather than the yellow polka dot side but I'm not going to stress to much about it lol) 

Added some gold sequins, using the Viva Decor Pearl Pen, added some little pearl sin the sequins, and some blue, gold and yellow rhinestones for bling. The butterfly tag was punched with the Large EK Success Butterfly punch . The inside sentiment is from Tim Holtz and the Happy Birthday is from Close to the Heart.

Here is the card I created.

Thanks for stopping by !!!!

Altered Blue Frame

 I've mentioned before that I am a paper hoarder, however it doesn't stop with new collections or new papers. I hoard all my scraps of papers as well. Boxes and plastic container fulls. Little pieces that could and should be thrown out I tell myself somewhere, sometime I WILL need that and into a box it goes. The same with bits of ribbons, buttons, pearls and well basically everything.

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge # 2 is "Let's See That Hoard".  This challenge had a color scheme to go by, Blues.  The challenge was to pick the thing or things you hoard the most and use them, but only things falling into the color scheme.

Well paper is really my downfall so of course once again that is the main hoarded item that I used in this project, but not new papers. I delved into my precious hoard and stacks of paper scraps
I had an old frame that was fit for the trash, no way to keep the glass in, the back didn't attach ( of course it never made it to the garbage but to my shelf where it sat until today)
Using bits of torn paper I covered the frame changing it from basics white to a patchwork of blues and patterns. I use spare bits of ribbon to fill in empty or not so great looking spaces.
Below is my Altered Blue Frame

Off The Rails Scrapbooking Challenge

 I needed to make a Thank You card for someone so I figured the card making challenge "Calling All Card Makers" at Off the Rails Scrapbooking would be a great way to get the creative jiuces pumping.  
It was a sketch and a color challenge.  Aren't those colors just awesome !!!

This is what I came up with 

Paper hoarder

I have come to realize that I am a paper hoarder. I love scrapbooking papers and collections and I love shopping for them just as much. The only thing I have trouble with is bringing my self to break into my guarded hoards and actually using them.

For this layout I broke out my Teresa Collins Timeless which I have been holding onto for over a year now. I also used a picture of myself from high school. I don't have many pictures that I have kept from my younger years (silly teenage years and all I threw out most because I didn't like them.... of course now in my ummmm later years lol I am regretting that because I miss those memories.)

A perfect reason to get myself motivated enough to break into my stashes are challenges that well challenge me to do so.
Crop Circles a facebook group I am in held a "Throw Back Thursday" day.
Craft Hoarders Anonymous have a "Show Us Your Style" Challenge while urging one to use up their hoarded items. As I mentioned I have hoarded this Teresa Collins Collection for over a year and have used them in my layout using my style of shabby chic meets distressed grunge.

Off the Rails Scrapbooking is also hosting a challenge "Use a photo or memorabilia of a loved one" and this photo is definitely a piece of memorabilia.