happy valentine's day 2023

Lordy, lordy look who hasn't posted for two months! Not sure anyone cares, but if nothing else but to remind myself sometime down the road here's why... I'm not making as many cards lately. I make the occasional one that is necessary (Valentine for example) and otherwise use up ones from my stash. More on that later.

This was the Valentine I made for DD this year. I was inspired by something Heidi Swapp created. Did you see this fun piece in her reel? I love the little interactive window elements. I used another of Heidi's ideas from another piece and included "5 things I love about you." Three in the windows on the front and two on little pull out tags in a pocket inside.

I pulled out all kinds of supplies from my stash - PP to stamp on, stamps, dies, inks, colored pencils, twine. All the things. Loved the process. Hated the clean up :) 

On a side note, something keeping me busy lately is getting my stamps and dies into the Evernote app so that I have an overview of what I actually own. And for a project like this it would have been very helpful to use Evernote to see which Valentine/love/vintage etc stamps I own instead of flipping through everything.  I own a shitload, actually, but alas they're not all in Evernote yet. 

When I have everything inventoried, I aim to destash about a third of my shitload. Just keep watching ;) 

Here are DH and DS versions.

What has actually been taking up my time more recently is a foray into the world of memory planning. An oxymoron if I ever heard one, but I'm learning to live with it ;)

Are you a planner? I am the world's worst planner. Ever. So why would I get into memory planning? My cousin introduced me on to the Heidi Swapp memory planner world and by golly it's a great idea. It's basically scrapbooking daily life in a simple format - photo driven with some journaling to record the memories and some decorating just for fun. Heidi calls the process "Stop the Blur" as in keep track of everday life so when people ask you what you did last Tuesday you can actually answer. You can check out the idea here. 

So before jumping into it (and buying all the things) I decided to give it a try using a notebook from the dollar store and supplies I already have. I print photos at the drug store and pop them into my book often hidden in interactive elements. Here's a peek. 

Full disclosure, I just recently did buy all the things :) I've been enjoying this process this since last fall so I'm gonna make the switch to Heidi Swapp's memory planner format. If you are a memory planner, I'd love to hear any of your tips for a newbie!!!

mini accordion album - nordsee

Another mini album in the books. And another craftermath.

So did you see my last one? I was inspired by Andrea L to give a mini album a try. Because it was SUCH fun, I decided to make another one for DD after we took a trip to the North Sea.

I'm just gonna show you the pages. There's so much product. So many fun, interactive elements. And so many dog photos ;)

Action Deutschland PP

STAMPlorations tag die

Waffle Flower alpha die

 inks, vellum, stickers, washi, ribbon, staples

It's all there - flaps, pockets, tags, tabs, vellum, stickers, hidden journaling, hidden photos. FUN! And the best part? DD loved it!

LEARNED:

Got reacquainted with some really old stash.

You need to know your adhesives when constructing a book with them.

Cutting things up/apart to make them fit your design really works.

Don't make pockets/sleeves too tight or impatient people won't be able to use them ;)

I'm playing at:

Creative Friday - Use your Stuff (I sure did!)

 

STAMPlorations - christmas bundle (2)

Guten Tag. I'm back with more Christmas cards I made with another bundle being offered at a super price over at STAMPlorations right now. Check out all the bundles on offer here. Shery's put them together and is offering them at a great price.

In this post I worked with a cover plate included in the Christmas Bundle - 2 cover plates and 8 phrase dies for $65 and got a threefer out of my crafting session!

So first I die cut the cover plate from black CS, added it to a black card and filled in a few colored pieces. These were from a cover die cut from Neenah white and colored with alcohol markers.

Then I took the white piece (the positive) and used it as a stencil to make this card. I first traced the main images with my alcohol markers again and colored them in, then pounced Antique Linen oxide through the other areas.

So after I'd pounced the oxide through the "stencil" for the previous card I decided I kinda liked the look of it so I took my markers to the main images again to add the pops of color, then softened them a bit with some oxide left on my dauber and voila! Card number three.

STAMPlorations dies

Little B dies

Flora and Fauna sentiment

alcohol markers, embossing powders, gold thread

I'm taking card #1 to Happy Little Stampers November Christmas AG challenge as well as Die Cut Divas November AG challenge.

Appreciate you stopping by. Have a great day. 

STAMPlorations - christmas bundle

Hi there friends. I'm sharing a few Christmas cards I made with another bundle being offered at a super price over at STAMPlorations right now. 

You're probably aware that STAMPlorations owner, Shery, is battling cancer at the moment. To help bring a bit of revenue to her family while minimizing the amount of energy she has to put into packing and shipping, Shery has bundled some products at great prices. You can check out all the bundles on offer here.

I've worked with some Christmas phrase dies included in the Christmas Bundle - 2 cover plates and 8 phrase dies for $65.

I've used a favorite technique - repeat heat embossing - to pimp the phrases. On this first card I gave the sentiment three coats of embossing powder and adhered it right onto a card front covered with PP.

Then I took it up a notch by adding a vellum mat behind a gold repeat-embossed die cut.

For the last two, I added not only a vellum mat but also some little die cut embellishments for more color and fun.

STAMPlorations dies

Little B dies

 patterned paper, vellum, embossing powders

I'm taking card #3 to Daring Cardmakers Holly challenge, Happy Little Stampers AG with Dies for November as well as Die Cut Divas AG challenge.

Appreciate you stopping by. Have a great day.

STAMPlorations - gratitude bundle

Guten Tag. I'm back with some cards I made with another bundle being offered at a super price over at STAMPlorations right now. 

You're probably aware that Shery is going through cancer treatments right now, but she's still finding time to do some work in the shop. You can check out all the bundles on offer here.

In this post I worked with some dies included in the Gratitude Bundle (I love this bundle!) - 1 cover plate, 1 modern trees stand-alone die plus 2 phrase dies all for under $34!!  If you love ephemera, Shery's got a bundle for that too, check out this post.

First I had a play with the phrase dies. I'd picked a color palette of alcohol markers for some Christmas cards (coming soon) so since they were still out I decided to color some strips of paper and play with some stripes.

One on a stenciled BG.

One on PP.

Then I took one of the modern trees, colored more paper scraps with my alcohol markers and die cut the solid pieces from them. Die cut the outline pieces from black, adhered them all plus a sentiment and voila! Super CAS.

STAMPlorations dies

STAMPlorations sentiment

alcohol markers

I'm taking card #2 to Timeout challenge because of the "grateful heart" sentiment, Cut it Up Thanks or Thanksgiving as well as Double D where it's a Grateful theme.

Thanks for coming by.

STAMPlorations paper goods bundle

Hi there friends. I'm sharing a few cards I made with a bundle being offered at a super price over at STAMPlorations right now. 

You're probably aware that STAMPlorations owner, Shery, is battling cancer at the moment. She's always been an inspiration with the energy she puts into her work and she's amazing in her battle now too. Her faith is amazing. Lots of virtual hugs and prayers headed Shery's way as she fights the fight.

To help bring a bit of revenue to her family while minimizing the amount of energy she has to put into packing and shipping, Shery has bundled some products and is offering them at great prices. You can check out all the bundles on offer here.

I've worked with some ephemera which just might be included in the Paper Goods grab bag - over 100 pieces for $15.

First up a hers and a his using some cool retro ATCs in a freestyle collage fashion.

STAMPlorations stamp and stencil

Funky Fossil stencil

STAMPlorations ATCs and ephemera

 patterned paper

inks, stickers, washi

Can you tell I'd been watching some Jamie P. videos? A bit of this. A bit of that. All the things ;)

Next up...

STAMPlorations ATCs and ephemera, border die and stickers

embossing powder

More inspiration from the memory planner world here... cut apart sentiments. And if you can cut apart sentiments, why not ATCs too? This time I've used the watercolor ATC pack.

I'm taking card #2 to Happy Little Stampers November Stencil challenge as well as Creative Friday's Masculine Cards challenge and  #4 to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge where it's a Thinking of You theme.

Appreciate you stopping by. Enjoy your weekend.  

support for shery

Hi there friends. I'm sharing a card I made with a couple challenges in mind. 

Over at Timeout Challenges they are having their cancer awareness challenge. And to quote:

"We want to give a special shout out to our friend Shery at STAMPlorations. She has been fighting a cancer battle this year and she has been heavy on our hearts here at Time Out. Thank you Shery for all the years of support and creativity.  We stand with you as you walk through this journey." 

My sentiments exactly. Of course I had to jump right in. Lots of virtual hugs and prayers headed Shery's way as she fights the fight. I know the quote is "hope is the thing with feathers" but in my head it always translates to "the thing with wings" and thus...

Ali Edwards stamp

 STAMPlorations Fluttery Zen and MFT label die

Altenew stencil

inks, embossing paste, embossing powder, foil, washi

I was following the sketch at FMS #557.

Super CAS over here.  Used the stenciled area to represent the large square and the butterfly cluster to represent the small square. Of course, a touch of washi is always a good idea. Did you notice it?

I tried  technique I'd seen Heidi Swapp do on my butterfly. I dabbed a glue pen around on it once I'd inked it. Let it get tacky and then rubbed a foil scrap over it with my finger. Ta da. No laminator. No Minc. But foiling!

Appreciate you stopping by. Enjoy your week.