Thinking Of You

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope you all had a nice weekend.  I have been working on a few projects at home that are not quite ready to share yet, but I do have a card to share today.

I saw this paper pack in Michaels and I knew I just had to have it and couldn't wait to make a card with it.  It's their Recollections brand and it has all these brightly colored patterns and some coordinating solids.  YAY!!!  I'm always trying to find the perfect solid paper to match my patterned paper.  I was thrilled to find this pack.  I hope they make more like this.

This card is a 6"x6" card.  The corner pieces, scalloped circle and flag pieces were all cut using the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.  The flowers are also by Recollections.  My sentiment was made using a Close to My Heart stamp and CTMH Gypsy ink.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great week!
Hugs,
Paula

Musical Layout

Good afternoon!

I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend.  I'm sure some of you are also enjoying a day off today for Columbus Day!

Today I'd like to share a lay out I did for my sweet boy Jackson's memory book.  (Jackson was my Yellow Labrador Retriever who died February 5 of this year.)   When he died his book was pretty up to date, but there were still some photographs that I wanted to include in the book.  This is one of them. 

My big guy liked to have his presence known.  He was not a quiet boy by any means, LOL!  I used to laugh and ask him if he was singing me a song.  This picture reminded me of just that so I just had to make my layout with a musical theme.

Here it is again a little closer.

The music notes along the top are by Queen & Co.  The background paper and the black layer are from Recollections.  The patterned paper and the embellishments are from the Kaisercraft In the Attic collection.

Thank you for coming by today and I hope you'll stop by again soon.

Hugs,

Paula 

Twisted Easel Halloween Card

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.  Here in New York the weather has been pretty warm. It's kind of strange to have such warm weather in October. While I'm thinking about Halloween and Thanksgiving and the holiday season and the weatherman is telling us that the temperature today will be 73.  REALLY??? Anyway, even though the weather is unseasonably warm, I'm still focusing on Fall holidays. So here is another Halloween card. This one is in the twisted easel style. This is another first for me. I've made plenty of easel cards, but never tried the twisted kind. It was fun to make and I hope you like it too.

I started with black cardstock - I can't remember who the manufacturer is, sorry!  My patterned paper is by K&Company as are the embellishments on both the front of the card and on the inside.

Here is a picture of the card in the open position.  If you would like instructions for making a twisted easel card, please leave me a comment and I'll be glad to send them along.  Thank you for coming by today.

Hugs,
Paula

Halloween Card

Hello Everyone! 

I hope everyone had a nice weekend.  Things have been kind of crazy in my life lately, but I did find a few minutes to make a card.  I'm excited to share a Halloween card I made.  It is a side step card.  I've never made one before, so I had fun trying something new.

I started with black cardstock.  My first layer was a piece of Recollections orange paper then for my next layer K&Company patterned paper.  My little monsters are Recollections Dimensional stickers.  On the bottom of the long panel below the Mummy and on the top corner next to the Pumpkin head I used portions of a candy banner that was by K&Company.  For my sentiment I used a Craftsmart stamp (from the Michaels $1.50 bin) and Momento Tuxedo Black Ink.  I'm going to send this card to my little niece Sophia.  She's 2 years old and I think it will make her smile.

Thanks for coming by and I hope share some more projects soon.
Hugs,
Paula

Knitting Project - Baby Blanket

***THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN FEATURED ON WWW.PINKCRICUT.COM***

Good Morning Everyone!

Today I'd like to share a little something different.  I've been working the last few months on a knitted baby blanket.  (I'm not that good so it has taken me a while.)  I know several people who are having little boys in the near future, so I'm trying to get a head start on their gifts. 

Below is a picture of my checker board patterned baby blanket.  I used a pretty pale blue.  This pattern was pretty easy, just time consuming.  It is pretty big, so I couldn't get a good shot of it opened all the way, but you get the idea.
 

 This next picture shows the pattern a little better up close.

If anyone is interested in the pattern details, leave me a comment or send me an email and I'll be happy to provide them.  Have a great week!

This project is going to be Linked Up at the Pink Cricut Link Up Party.

Hugs, Paula 

Birthday Card

Happy Labor Day Everyone!

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday.  It is so nice to have an extra day off from work.  Every week should be a four day work week don't you think!  LOL!  I can dream can't I?  Anyway, I'd like to share a card I made for a friend and co-worker.  It's an easel style card.  I haven't made one of these in a while, so I thought it would be fun.

To make an easel card you take a card that you have scored and folded in half as usual, but then you take the front half of the card and fold it in half again back up on to itself.  This fold should be open to the outside.   Like this

Once you have done this, you can take what ever you want, in my case I used another piece of the same color paper and attached the top half to the flap.

I began with an A2 size card cut from Bazzill Calypso Blue cardstock.  I cut another piece of the same paper at 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 to attach to my flap.  Then I layered a piece of black and a piece of white cardstock. 

Here's the view from the side so you can get a better idea how the card is put together.

 

After I attached all my layers, I stamped my sentiment using a Close to My Heart stamp and Momento Tuxedo black ink.  I added a double bow made from Michael's Celebrate It ribbon and some black pearls by Recollections.  For the inside I layered black and white cardstock and used the same black ink with a Fiskars stamp for my sentiment.  Again I used black pearls but on my bottom half they are used to keep the front flap in the upright position.  Here's a look at the finished card.

 

 

I love to try different types of folds for cards and this one is a particular favorite.  I hope you like my card and I thank you for stopping by.

 

Hugs,

Paula

 



Quick card!

Good Morning!

I hope the weekend was good for everyone.  Mine was quiet, which is a good thing.

Today I'd like to share a quick card I made.  It was part of the group of cards I made for a co-worker to send to her daughter at camp. 

For this card I started with white card stock cut to make an A2 size card.  Then I added the frame which I cut using black card stock and the Art Philosophy Cartridge.  For the sentiment I used a Close to My Heart Stamp and Momento Tuxedo Black ink.  For an added pop of color, I used an Offray red polka dot ribbon flower.  This simple card came together quickly and if the sentiment were changed could be used for all kinds of occasions. 

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you'll come back soon to see what else I'm up to.

Hugs,
Paula


Thanks

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope you had a nice weekend, I know I did.  This weekend we celebrated my niece's 2nd birthday.  It is so amazing watching her grow and learn.  I just had a birthday as well and I was lucky enough to receive the new CTMH Cricut Artbooking cartridge.  YAY!!!  What a great cartridge.  It's packed with so many great images, shapes, layouts, letters and phrases.  I'm so excited to try them all.  As with the Art Philosophy and Artiste cartridges, this is a CTMH exclusive and when you purchase it you get three amazing stamp sets and three sheets of chip board cut outs that all coordinate with cuts from the cartridge.  It is a little more expensive, but with all you get and with so much on the cartridge, if you can swing it, it is soooo worth it! Anyway, on to my card.

Today I'd like to share one of the thank you cards I made to acknowledge my birthday gifts.  I used the Artbooking cartridge to make it.

This is an A2 size card.  I started with Georgia Pacific white cardstock for my base.   I used Bazzill Basics Calypso Blue paper for my next layer.  Then using the Artbooking cartridge I cut out one of the amazing photo mats to frame my sentiment.  I cut it out on paper from the Simple Stories Snap! Color Vibe collection.  Then, I stamped my sentiment using the Close To My Heart Thanks stamp and Dew Drop Versa Magic Turquoise Gem ink.  To finish off this simple little thank you card, I added four Close To My Heart Aqua dots.  On the inside I layered the Calypso Blue paper and then a white mat to write my note. 

That's my card for today.  I hope you enjoyed it and I plan to show more of the great features on the Artbooking cartridge in the near future.

I'm linking this card on the Tuesday Link Up at www.pinkcricut.com,  BTW, my Thinking of You card, see two posts ago, was featured on last week's Link Up Party.  YAY!!! Thanks so much Sarah.

Hugs, Paula

Hello

Good Morning and Happy Wednesday!

Today I'd like to share a quick card.  This card was part of the card order I mentioned in my previous posts. 

For this card I started with another Die Cuts With A View Textured card for my base.  I added a piece of checked paper for my first layer (again, this paper was one I received in a paper swap so I don't know the name of the manufacturer).  I used the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge for the corners and the Cricut Artiste cartridge for the sentiment.  I added an adorable little lady bug brad from K&Company.  I received the brad from my sweet friend Lori of www.craftinblind.blogspot.com.  Thanks again Lori, it was just the finishing touch this little note card needed.

I hope you liked my card and I hope to post another one soon.
Hugs,
Paula




Thinking of you

***THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN FEATURED ON WWW.PINKCRICUT.COM***

Good Morning!

I hope everyone had a nice weekend.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was asked to create some note cards for a woman to send to her daughter who is away at camp.  I posted a picture of one of the cards I made last week.  Today I'd like to post another.

For this card I started with a DCWV Textured Card for my base.  Then I added a cream layer then a patterned layer.  The cream paper is from Recollections.  The pretty patterned paper was something that I got when I participated in a scrapbook paper swap so I don't know who the manufacturer is.  I added two different strips of ribbon, both by Nicole Co.  I cut out the shape for the sentiment and a little frame around it from the Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge.  My sentiment was stamped using a Fiskars stamp and CTMH Gold Rush Ink.

That's my card for today.  I hope you like it and I hope the recipient will like it too.  Please check back again as I hope to be posting more of the cards I created during the week.

This card has been linked up at the Tuesday Link Up at www.pinkcricut.com.

Hugs,
Paula

Happy Monday!

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope you all had a great weekend.  I know I did.  Beside the fact that the weather was a little bit cooler, I got to spend a good bit of time in my craft room!

I work with a woman who has a daughter that goes away to camp each year.  The woman tries sends her daughter a card every day.  Each year for the past three years she has asked me to design the cards.  I usually make her 10 - 12 cards.  I got a good start on making the cards this weekend.  Today I'd like to show you the first card I made.  It was inspired by a card I saw Mary make on www.cardztv.blogspot.com.  Mary makes some really great cards.  Her blog is one of the first ones I started following and I still do.  If you get a chance you should visit her blog and see her work and check out her amazing stamp sets.  You won't be disappointed.

So here's my version of one of Mary's cards.

I started with a white cardstock base cut at 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.  The green layer was cut at 4 1/8 by 5 3/8 then another white mat cut at 4 x 5 1/4.  I embossed the top of the white mat with my Cuttlebug Divine Swirls embossing folder.  Then I started layering patterned papers.  The yellow and polka dot strips were cut at 4 x 1 and the green dotted piece was cut at 2 x 4.  I then cut a shaped mat in white and the shadow in green using my Cricut Elegant Edges cartridge.  The flower was cut using my Gypsy and the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge.  I put a rhinestone in the middle of the flower it's from Michaels.  I cut a white rectangle and a green slightly larger rectangle to put my sentiment on.  My sentiment was stamped using a Close to My Heart stamp and their Olive ink. 
Well that's it for today.  I hope to be posting some of the other cards I made soon.  I hope you'll come back and take a look. 

Hugs,
Paula

Twinchies!

Hello Everyone!

I know it is shocking, two posts in one week - LOL!!  I'm really going to try hard to post more often. 

Today I'd like to share a project I made for a swap with my favorite swap group http://www.swappinscraps.blogspot.com.  For this swap we were asked to make something called a Twinchie!  I had never heard of a twinchie, so I thought what the heck.  I was told a twinchie is 2"x2".  The theme for the twinchie swap was travel and you had to use arrows.  Sounds like a lot to fit into a two inch square right?  Well here's what I came up with.

I started my project with a two inch square of black cardstock.  Then I took a white marker and drew a dashed line all around the square which is supposed to represent the lines in a road.  My next layer is a piece of a local road map.  I thought it would fun to use a map that had local streets that my fellow swappers might recognize.  Then for my arrow(s) I found this Which Way To Go? sign online and thought it would be perfect. 
Well that's my first twinchie!  I hope my swap group likes it and I hope you do to.  I'd love to hear what you think. 

Hugs to all and have a great weekend!
Paula

Craft Room Makeover

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. 

Today I'd like to share some pictures of my craft room makeover.  Please bear in mind that the room is really small so it was hard to get good pictures.  I had to get into some pretty awkward positions to take some of these shots with my cell phone. 

This is what you see when you walk into the room -- my book case straight ahead.

And my desk to the right.  I'm so loving the sections for paper storage.  I have assorted patterned papers in the slots and my 8 1/2 X 11 and smaller paper pads on the bottom.

Here is the rest of the desk and my chair. 

The desk has tons of storage.  I keep my laptop in the center drawer.  My adhesives on the top right, ink pads and markers on the bottom right.  To the left on the top shelf I have my longer Sizzix dies and the box with the Eiffel tower holds all my wood mounted stamps.  Also on that shelf is my Art Bin container holding all my Nestabilities.  The drawer on the bottom has a pull out shelf which holds all my decorative paper bags and I usually keep a roll of paper towel in there.  On the very bottom in the actual drawer, I have some punches and a hot glue gun. To the left of the desk is my TV and some more storage.

Continuing to the left more shelves and storage.  On these shelves I have my Cricut cartridges, ribbon storage boxes, Gypsy, Crop-a-Dile, Corner Chompers, Smash Book, and other assorted items.  Down below is a rolling cart and on top of the cart I have my acrylic stamps, Big Shot, a container with some special paper collections and some miscellaneous stuff.

Continuing around the room I have a small Futon.  It is the kind that the arm rests fold down to make it a twin size bed.  This picture doesn't show it, but I put a dust ruffle on the frame of the futon and used the space underneath for storage.  The banner that is hanging on the wall was the inspiration for the color scheme in the room.  I fell in love with the shade of pink on one of the flowers I used on the banner.  I took the flower to Home Depot and matched the paint color. 

Well that's the end of the room tour.  This room makes me happy and I look forward to spending many hours crafting away!  Thanks for coming by.

Hugs,

Paula

Birthday Card

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend.  Mine was good because I got to spend some time crafting.  I spent some time working on a swap project and I made a birthday card for a friend's birthday.  Today I'd like to share the card.

My card is a 5x7 card.  The card base is GP white cardstock, then a black layer - I can't remember the name of the manufacturer of the black cardstock, but I get it at Walmart where I get the white cardstock. 

My next two layers are from the fabulous Kaisercraft In the Attic collection.  This collection has all kinds of fun elements.  I fell in love with this collection because it depicts a lot of things one might find in an attic.  One of the items that are featured in the collection are records.  There are so many people who never had a vinyl record, but growing up they were a huge part of my teen age years, so I had to have the collection.  While I'm saving the records and other elements for some scrapbook pages, this collection also has some lovely patterned paper.

I just adore the red paper from the collection.  It has little tiny tan hearts and lines running through it and I thought it coordinated beautifully with this gorgeous floral paper also from the collection. 

My sentiment stamp is from Close to My Heart and I stamped it with Momento Tuxedo black ink.  The flower is by Recollections and the black pearls are by Queen and Company. 

I'm really happy with the way this card came out and I hope my friend will like it too.

This card has been "Linked Up" on www.pinkcricut.com.

Hugs,
Paula

I'm Back!

Good Morning Everyone!

I know it has been forever since I've posted anything.  I apologize.  Sometimes other things have to come first.  Hopefully I'll start posting a little more regularly.  While I've been away I did manage to do a partial room makeover on my Craft Room.  I am so happy with the way it turned out.  I promise to share some pictures soon.  Here is a sneak peek of what I've done.

The room is really small, but I've managed to pack a lot into it.  It used to be a really dark burgundy and there was carpet on the floor.  I primed and painted the walls a lovely light pink and removed the carpet and put down the black and white floor tiles.  I did it all myself and I'm pretty happy with the way it came out.  More pictures to come. 

Today I also want to share a picture of a card I made for a crafty friend.  She is an amazing crafter and a sweet, kind friend.  She recently sent me a huge package of crafty goodies too numerous to show here, but I was totally surprised and overwhelmed by her generosity.  She has a blog www.craftinblind.blogspot.com.  You really must go check out her work.  Her projects are awesome!  To thank her and to enclose with a package I sent her, I made this card.

My card base is Bazzill cardstock, then a white mat which is Georgia Pacific white cardstock, then a patterned mat which was cut from the DCWV Primrose Stack.  I used a Martha Stewart punch to create a border using the same GP white cardstock and added some sheer pink ribbon and a pink rose from my stash.  The shape at the top was cut with a Sizzix die and my Big Shot and the stamp is an old Fiskars stamp.  All edges were inked with Tim Holtz Tea Dye Distress ink.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope to post again soon.

Hugs,

Paula

Inspirational Project Life Card

Hello Everyone,

I know I've been missing for a while, but unfortunately, sometimes life just gets in the way.  This year has brought with it many challenges and changes.  I've been involved in caring for my Father who has been in and out of the hospital since the beginning of the year.  There have been many doctor appointments and hospital visits that don't leave much time for anything else.  And, sadly, in February I had to put my beloved dog Jackson to sleep.  He was a wonderful, sweet, loving boy who is greatly missed. 

So I've not had too much time to myself lately.  However, every once in a while I've been able to squeeze in a minute or two in the craft room.  Most recently, I participated in a swap of Inspirational Project Life Cards.  We each picked a word and had to create a card.  My word was DREAM.  Here is what I came up with.

My card base is GP white cardstock.  For the word Dream, I used the Home Accents Cricut cartridge and cut it out of Bazzill Basics Textured paper.  I don't know if you can see, but the cloud has little raised dots.  The blue metallic layer as well as the stripped paper I used for the hat on the Moon was made by Recollections.  The stars I used were from Recollections too.The Moon was cut from the New Arrivals Cricut Cartridge.  Everything was inked with Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap Distress Ink.  I typed out the quote on the computer.  I thought it was a great inspirational saying.  Unfortunately, I was not able to find a name of a person to credit the quote to.

That's it for today.  I hope you liked my card and were inspired by it.

Hugs,

Paula

I will be linking this project on the Pink Cricut site.

Swap Pages

Good Morning Everyone,

I hope you all had a great weekend.  Part of my weekend involved shoveling a lot of snow!  It was ok though because after shoveling, the roads were still not great to travel on so I spent the rest of the day in my craft room.  So this time I was actually glad to have all that snow!

Today I'd like to share a project I did for a swap hosted by Sarabeth at Swappin Scraps http://www.swappinscraps.blogspot.com/.  For this Swap we were supposed to create two 8X8 pages,  Each person was assigned a month and you were supposed to include a calendar for that month, photo mats, journaling space and list any interesting, fun, quirky dates that fall in your month.  Here are my pages for the month of May.

Here you can see both pages. 



This page has fun pictures for National Scrapbooking Day, No Socks Day, Mother's Day and Memorial Day.



I chose to make my photo mats in the shape of flowers and I included a template for the opening.  I was going with the flower theme because as it says up on the top April showers bring May flowers.  There is also room to add personal dates to remember on the journaling card in the corner of the page.

I had a lot of fun preparing these pages.  If you want to participate in one of the many swaps Sarabeth has going head on over to the Swappin Scraps blog http://www.swappinscraps.blogspot.com.

Have a great day!

Hugs,

Paula

Happy New Year and a thank you card

I know it is a bit late, but Happy New Year to Everyone!
I hope 2013 is proving to be a wonderful year for all. 

Today I'd like to share a quick little thank you card I made to acknowledge a lovely, unexpected Christmas gift I received. 

This is the first time I've tried making a card like this.  It was fun trying something new.

The red and green papers are scraps from my stash.  The cream cardstock is from Recollections and the paper with the writing on it is from an old DCWV Christmas stack.  The ribbon is from Michaels and the gems are by Queen and Co.  The Thank You stamp is by Fiskars and green ink is from Close to My Heart.  I inked all the edges with Tim Holtz Frayed Burlap Distress ink. 

Hugs,
Paula