2014 Flip calendar project

 It's that time of year for our monthly 'shoebox' group to think about the 2014 flip calendar.  Each of us takes 2 months of the year and creates 12 pages of each month.  My month's are November and December.  I had to complete my pages early and that is why they are shown here without the calendar sheet attached.
For November I used a cuttlebug embossing folder and a cuttlebug die to create the pumpkin theme.  The 2 acorns in the right bottom corner are made of felt and I found them at a craft store.  I typed the 'give thanks' and printed on card stock.

For December I used a set of clear stamps from Close to My Heart to create the snowman including his hat and arms.  I used a cuttlebug embossing folder to create the snowflake background.  And on the bottom of the page I tore a piece of Ice Silver Text paper (Curious Metallics from The Paper Cut) and then brushed on some glitter glue to add to the sparkle.

Calendars for 2014

It may only be August, but the sooner I get the 2014 calendars finished the better.  Since the summer weather hasn't been so great this year I have more time to craft indoors.

 I created 49 calendars in total and here are pics of the various styles that I made.  I think I would get too bored making all of them the same.  And besides.... this way my friends have a choice.

 I used the Tim Holtz clock die for this group along with a sentiment from one of Tim's Stamper's Anonymous stamp sets.

 In this group of calendars I like the extra pizzazz that the punched border gives.  I'll have to remember that for other projects and cards.  It is also a great way to use up pieces of scrap paper.

 The saying is from a set of Birthday sentiments made by Fiskars.

 The paper is from a 6 x 6" Bo Bunnie paper pad.  I had a difficult time parting with it... but I don't know why I was hanging on to it anyway.  I need to use up more of my stuff!!!

 I was using some of my ribbons before I had the idea to use my punches to create an embellished border.

 I wanted to make some calendars that did not have a clock or time theme.  I used a brass stencil and momento inks to color the cattails on the decorative scrapbook paper.  I had a bunch of die cut butterflies in my stash so I used them also.  The sentiment is from Sweet Pea Stamps.

 I just love this frog; I have used this stamp so much (Sparkle N Sprinkle).  I like to stamp it in black and color with Twinkling H2O's.  The sentiment is a $1 from Michael's.

 I was attempting to use up some of my wide ribbon and found several pieces that worked well with the colors of the paper I was using.

I used my oval spellbinders to cut the frog and the mats that I used with him.

Happy 60th Mary!!!!

 This is it!!!  Mary is the last in our special group of friends to turn 60. Following is a picture of each page of her book.  She won't get this book until August when our group gathers for our annual picnic at the lake.
Pictures I had from Mary's 40th were perfect to use with the saying... "They say that 60 is the new 40".  Also, this picture was taken at the lake where we will be celebrating Mary's 60th this year.




If you didn't notice the horse charmed tied to the balloon on the cover,  you might guess by this first page that Mary is into horses.  In fact, she owns a horse.  So my new set of Stampin Up birthday stamps that center around shoes and boots were the perfect addition to Mary's book.

 On this and the next page I included more pictures taken at 2 different 40th birthday celebrations for Mary.
I used some decorative card stock that was in a pack of birthday specific papers.  This set of papers gave me the idea to go with the balloon theme on the cover of the book.

 I had a set of birthday related stamps that happened to have a balloon!!  And do you see the balloons that Mary has 'growing' out of her ears?

I have been collecting pictures from our group of friends and storing them on a disc so that I could make this and all the 60th birthday books I've made in the past for this group.  I was so glad to have them.

 I love the picture at the bottom of this page.  This was a belated, by about 20 years, bridal shower for Kathy.  I am sure I must have included this picture in Kathy's birthday book. 
We all, except for Kathy, wore old bridesmaids dresses.  Are we crazy, or what?

 We have lots of Christmas pictures together.  It has been a tradition to get together in late November.  We did try baking Christmas cookies for a couple of years.  In fact we still call it the Christmas Cookie party, but we either go to craft fairs or just sit around eating, drinking, and talking.

 I'm sorry to say that I have missed quite a few of these parties as we have been gone visiting relatives and friends.

And then there is the annual summer picnic held at our house at the lake.
We have been doing this since ... I don't know when... a long time!

 

 

A

 The photo in the upper left on this page is the most recent.   Over the years we've gone from swimming and tubing... to sitting and talking.  Not many of the group get in the water anymore, but everyone still loves the pontoon boat ride we take just before we eat.

 And at the summer party we usually celebrate the 3 summer birthdays.  Cara's is in July, and Kathy and Mary's are in August.

 We've done a couple of trips... whether they are day trips or weekend.  It would be nice to do that again, but it is amazing how difficult it is to plan based on everyone's schedules.

 Mary is a very creative person.  This picture was taken at my house as Mary and I help Laura become addicted to rubber stamping like we are.  Bert joined us for the day and did a great job of spoiling Bella, my niece Paige's dog.

 We got into hats a couple of times.  One time we had a special birthday party for Cara and we all created 'garden party' hats for the occasion.  Then another time we all viewed the movie "... Ya Ya  Sisterhood'" and stole their idea by creating unique hats for ourselves.  What a hoot!!!

 We sure do know how to have a good time and have a lot of laughs.

 These great pictures were taken at Susie's surprise birthday party.  Dick payed for it, but Cara did all the work.  Then we had this great idea to put on a 'fashion show' with some goofy looking outfits.
That is Bob and Mary is the lower left photo... boy, did they make great 'old' people.

 And finally the inside back cover.  Nothing special, just a simple birthday wish from me.
I hope Mary likes it!!!

Clock themed purse and gift card set

I feel good now and can move on to some other projects.  I finished the last set of gift cards and matching purse (card holder) that I was working on.  This double sided scrapbook paper is one of my favorites.  I've made a gift card set with the same paper a while ago.
Here are a front and side view of the purse.  I'm sure the ribbon I used was a leftover from some gift I received a while ago, but it worked well with these colors.

 The left side is a piece from the scrapbook paper and the right side piece is from another packet of clock-themed paper I have.  I simply placed a brown ribbon down the center where the 2 pieces meet.  The 'Time' was stamped and then cut with a spellbinders die.
For the other card I cut out one of the clocks from the scrapbook paper and again used a piece of paper from a Bo-Bunny packet as the background layer.  A friend of mine has the Tim Holtz clock die and months ago we cut out several of them.  I found the die cuts hiding in my stash and thought it would work well with one of these cards.

 On the left I ran a layer of burgundy card stock through the cuttlebug with the sizzix 'pocket watch' texture fade.  Then, using my finger, I applied metallic rub ons to the embossed surface.  A piece of the scrapbook paper covers the bottom half of the card with some decorative ribbon attached where the 2 pieces meet.  The phrase is from a Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous set that I cut with a spellbinders die after stamping on a piece of card stock.
The right side card is simply cut from the scrapbook paper, layered on black, and then placed on a burgundy card.  The phrase was stamped and then cut with a spellbinders fancy tag.

I also found some '7 gypsies' paper that I had to use with these cards.  Each of these cards is using some of that paper to compliment the scrapbook paper I was working with.  The words I used on both these cards come from a set by Cornish Farms.  And once again I used spellbinders dies to cut and layer the words I stamped for the cards.  The little corner embellishments are small square and round pieces that I've had for a long time.  I don't even know where or when I got them.

 This card uses a sizzix texture fade called 'steampunk'.  It came in the package with the 'pocket watch' texture fade.  Seeing the gears gave me the idea to attach the 'gears' in the upper right corner.  Those metal pieces were found in the jewelry area of Michael's.  One package of them includes a whole bunch of both large and small gears.
The words stamped on this card are from a set from Stampers Anonymous. 
I attached a very thin decorative ribbon where the scrapbook paper meets the embossed layer.

 The decorative edge on the top card was created with an EK Success border punch.  I attached a thin ribbon down the right side also.  I used corner punches on the 2 left side corners and added a gold brad for a little color.  It may be difficult to see, but there is a clear sticker on both of the cards.  I've had these stickers forever in various sizes and decided it was time to use them.
The right side of the bottom card uses a piece from the Bo-Bunny pack I have that matches this scrapbook paper so well.  The 'time' stamp is from Stampers Anonymous.  It is stamped on the Bo-Bunny paper and then layered on gold metallic and brick red paper.  The decorative ribbon is attached where the 2 decorative papers meet.  A decorative corner punch was used on the 2 right side corners of this card.

 And here are the first 2 cards I made when doing this batch of cards.   Both of these cards have a layer that is from a core'dinations pack.  I ran both through the cuttlebug.  On the left I used the 'pocket watch' texture fade and on the right I used a cuttlebug embossing folder.  Each piece was then sanded so that the core of each paper could be seen.  Just a corner of the scrapbook paper was attached in the left lower corner of the cards and then each was embellished.  On the left I ran a ribbon through a buckle that was created with a spellbinders die.  On the right I used the EK Success border punch to create a decorative piece that was attached to the top of the card.

Flourish gift purse with cards

 I just completed another gift purse with matching cards.  For this project I used 2 sheets of decorative scrapbook paper that had a flourish design on one side and a solid blue/green color combination on the other.
Here is a picture of the front of the purse.  The colors I would be using to make the matching cards would be browns, blues, greens, and yellows.

 Here is a side view picture of the purse.  The cards are not in it yet.  I have to choose 6 cards from the 8 that I created with the leftover decorative paper.
I found this color scheme and flourish pattern the most challenging of the purse and card sets I have made to date.

 I really like these 2 cards.  The bird cage is embossed on the blue paper with seafoam white embossing powder.  The stamp was part of a $1 find at Michaels.  The birds on a wire are a Martha Stewart punch.  The cage is mounted on 2 pieces cut from spellbinders dies.
I wanted a 'masculine' themed card in this set so I stamped the car, cut with a spellbinders die, and layered onto 2 more spellbinders die cut pieces.  I used a fancy corner punch on the decorative scrapbook paper layer.

 Everyone can use birthday cards so I created 2 of them.  On the left I created the trim pieces with an EK Success border punch and the solid side of the decorative paper.  The card looked very 'blah' without those pieces.
On the right I used a spellbinders die for mounting the phrase and an EK Success border punch on the left side of the dark green layer.  A piece of sheer ribbon was placed down the left edge and a couple of fancy embellishments were glued to the corners on the right side of the card.

 I love clock/time themed cards.  On the left I stamped a clock face and mounted to a spellbinders fancy die, inserted a brad and some clock hands I found in the jewelry section of Michaels.  The fancy flourish corner in the lower right is also a spellbinders die, as well as the fancy label I used to mount the saying.
For the thank you card I ran a piece of core'dinations paper through the cuttlebug with the batik embossing folder and then sanded.  I layered  a piece of the decorative paper onto a piece of blue/green card stock and then onto the core'dinations layer, which is mounted on a yellow card.  I stamped the 'thanks' greeting onto a yellow scrap piece, cut it to fit inside the spellbinders die I cut from the decorative paper and sponged on some broken china distress ink before attaching to the fancy die.  I also mounted that fancy die onto a piece of blue card stock before applying to the front of the card with dimensional foam mounting tape.

 And the last 2 cards...
I ran a dark blue piece of card stock through the cuttlebug with the flourish embossing folder.  I used the EK Success border punch to create the flourish border for the top of the card and I used the pieces that were punch out (the tiny flourishes) and applied them to the tops of some of the embossed flourishes.
The phrase was stamped and embossed with seafoam white embossing powder onto the dark blue piece and then cut with scissors.  I layered that onto a piece of yellow card that I cut following the same cutting pattern on the blue piece.
The card on the right was created by running the light blue layer through the cuttlebug with the sizzix texture fade (Ray), but only on the top half of the card.  I happened to have a piece of brown and blue ribbon that went well with this color scheme.  The phrase was stamped onto yellow card, die cut with a spellbinders oval and then layered onto another spellbinders scalloped oval.
I'm glad to be done with this set.  I have one more to do, but it will be fun... clocks!!

Gift purse with matching cards

 I learned of this project a couple of years ago when a group of my crafty friends spent a weekend sharing ideas.  You start with 2 - 12 x 12" sheets of double sided scrapbook paper.  Most of 1 sheet is used to create the 'purse', and the leftovers of that sheet along with the other sheet are used to create as many cards as possible that match the purse.

 The sheets I used were striped on one side and had a flower design on the other.  This is a side view of the purse with the cards inside.  The purse is made up of 4 pieces of the paper.... body, top flap, and 2 side panels.
I used a decorative edge punch on the front flap.  And I use eyelets in the top flat and some white cord to create the handle.

 I used the striped side of the paper to create this 'cabin-themed' card.  I added some dark brown and red card stock that matched well with the colors in the stripes.  I ran the red card through the cuttlebug with the 'distressed stripes' embossing folder.  Spellbinders oval dies were used to cut the stamped image and the red and brown layers.  The copper tree brads were added to the bottom corners.

 On this card I used the floral side of the paper.  This side of the paper allowed me to work with an entirely different color palette.  I stamped flourishes on the yellow background and attached a fabric flower created with 4 pieces and a gem brad.  The word stamp is from 'Dylusions' (Ranger).  I stamped and cut out with spellbinders dies adding the gems in the corners of the orange layer.

 This card also used the floral side of the paper.  The bloom stamp, a $1 purchase, was layered on brown and orange pieces cut from Spellbinders dies.  My Momento 'Ruhbarb Stalk' ink seemed a perfect match in this color scheme.  I used it to stamp the flower on the yellow layer.  Three types of fiber were tied around the top layers to add interest.

 I used the stripes side of the paper for this 'coffee-themed' card.  The coffee cup was stamped and cut with a Spellbinders die as well as the blue and brown layers that it was attached to.  The blue ribbon and brads were attached before the coffee cup image.  The saying was stamped on an off white paper and cut into a rectangle, and then layered onto brown and blue.

 Everyone can use a birthday card.  This one is very bright and cheery with the red and blue colors.  The medallion under the birthday stamp is cut from the striped paper using a spellbinders die.  A couple of square red brads add a little interest.

 Back to the floral side...  The floral piece was passed through the cuttlebug with a floral embossing folder to add some dimension.  I'm not sure if I achieved the look I was expecting, but it's okay.  I stamped the flower on pink card stock by applying my markers directly to the stamp and then lightly misting the stamp with water.  I love the watercolor look it creates.  The words were stamped in pink and cut with a spellbinders die.  The pink ribbon with brown polka dots was attached to create a border between the pink and floral card.  I used a marker to draw the dots and squiggles around the right side of the card.

 Red and pink made this floral themed card very bright.  The pink and red floral pieces are cut with cuttlebug dies, and a rhinestone-like embellishment is attached to the center of each with a glue dot.  The green leafy branch is a sizzix die.  The red layer was passed through the cuttlebug with a floral embossing folder before attaching to the pink card and adding the striped piece to the top.

I think this is my favorite card.  I love the pink and olive green.  The bicycle was stamped on white, cut with a spellbinders oval and layered onto an olive green scalloped oval.  I ran the pink layer through the cuttlebug with the dots and spots embossing folder.  And I found some pink and green ribbon in my bag of ribbon that was the perfect finishing touch.
Now,  I will take 6 of these 8 cards and put them into the purse... which should I choose???