A2 Card Keeper

Here is the card keeper I made for the doorprize. Its just matboard cut and covered with the Western Sky paper from SU. I used Paper Studio Cork letters too. When you open it up , it contains clear sleeves that hold A2 size cards. I didn't make this idea up myself, I was inspired by Amy Rysavy.

Chocolate Book

Here are the pictures I promised of my chocolate lovers book. I have started a small collection of stamps that represent my love of chocolate and I had the idea of making a little book with some of the little square Giradelli chocolates tucked inside. Unfortunately you can't get too many in there or it won't shut! I just realized I left off the back page photo. I will have to try and go get a quick shot of it too. Its not exciting, just another cupcake image. I hope you like it.
*here is the last page

Swapcard

Here is my swapcard for the shoebox swap this weekend. It has a lot of layers and steps but I couldn't make a card any faster LOL. Believe me, I have tried simple and I just can't do it.Most of the work is done, all that will be required is some simple stamping and glueing and piercing.

Here is my name tag for this weekends festivities. It matches my swap card!

Shoebox swap stuff

Here is a sneak peak of my doorprize for the North Texas Shoebox swap this weekend. I made an A2 card keeper using matboard and the SU Western Sky Designer Paper. Then I made a little chocolate themed chipboard book in coordinating papers. I also purchased a nice crafting book and a Hero Arts stamp set that I found at Archivers. I decorated a coffee bag to match too.I hope its a good enough doorprize.

I will post more pictures of the inside pages of my chocolate book later.

Where have I been?

I have been doing things around my home and with my family and staying busy with life. I have made a few things in preparation for the upcoming North Texas SCS gathering. I made my shoebox card and my name tag, a few little items for my door prize. I will try to get pictures posted this week. Today I am having a special treat courtesy of my hubby. I was given a gift certificate for a house cleaning service. They are here to clean my ceiling fans , window blinds and sills, dust my baseboards ect...All the stuff I absolutely hate doing! I am really hoping they do a good job in the time they have allotted. Anyway, I will get back to crafting as soon as I can. Dear daughter has 2 proms to attend and we have been shopping and stuff for that too. Its nails and pedicures this week too for her. Life is crazy sometimes!

I am no Debbie Olson.....

but I love her art and I can case it! OK, so it is not just like her beautiful card here but she inspired me to drag out the new stuff and the old stuff and make something. I have never had any luck using the Green Thumb set, it might have something to do with my brown thumb*wink* I kill all plant life. I also gave paper pleating a first time try after seeing some cute things in a Paper crafting magazine this month. I broke out the new Dew Drops too. Hope I get my groove back soon.

*Paper: Papertrey Ink Moss, Berry, and Blush, white, and Pinks Designer Papers
*Ribbon and sentiment also Papertrey Ink
*Embellishments stickles, dew drops, and Swavorski crystals, Prima flowers

I am in a "funk"

Well it has been quite some time since I blogged, you might say I have been in a funk. I have been un-inspired, un-motivated, and un- productive for the past couple of weeks. I have new rubber sitting on a shelf un-inked and un-mounted. What is up with that? I need to get busy planning my shoebox swap card, I need a door prize, and I need to get my act together. I have no idea why I am feeling like this, could be I am just burned out right now. My poor husband is having issues with his job due to our economy and the Tx DOT messing up all the transportation engineers in the state of Texas, he has had to lay off employees and is hoping he can scramble to find work to keep the rest. Then his eye problem showed up again and he can't see very well out of one of his eyes. Then I got stressed out and my back went into a spasm and had me stuck in a chair for 3 days. Its amazing how stress manifests itself physically and forces you to just shut down your life for awhile. I have a dirty house from lack of cleaning while my back is out, and I have taxes and college entrance forms for my daughter that need to be worked on. It is all very boring and I wish I had pretty pictures to post instead of all this gloom and doom to blog about. I might just make something just to get me out of this funk once and for all. We shall see if that works or not. I have new inks and paper coming from Papertrey Ink soon so maybe I will feel motivated again.

New Storage

This is my new Cuttlebug Binder. I decided to get one of these and get myself organized. I guess using the box that my CB came in has lost its appeal to me, especially after seeing this cute turquoise bag to put my accessories in. It doesn't come with enough pages and that is my biggest complaint. I think that ProvoCraft was trying to make it easier for you to customise it yourself or something. I really don't know. All I know is I didn't get enough of the pages and I am kicking myself for not just getting more in my order to save on postage. *sigh* Live and Learn! I am able to get everything thing in it , but I am using the embossing folder pockets for 2x6 die storage for now until I re-order. They fit if you put 2 in the slot. I only have 2 alphabet die sets but they had extra plates with them so there was more of them than I thought. I guess my un-scientific way of guessing about how many I would need didn't work out this time LOL. Anyway, I like it. I can flip through the pages and see which die/folder i need at a glance instead of riffling through a box of them.

*PS ......Blogger won't let me add my images so I will post them later grrrr

A Muse weekly challenge

I was inspired this week to try the weekly challenge....."Get Around". Jennie used the same set on her sample and it gave me an idea. I got this embossing folder with the musical notes on it specifically to make cards for teens using the rock star and the iPod, and for "notes". Bordering Blue and Saffron CS seemed more masculine to me so I went for it. I had to use my Creative Memories cutting system to make this and I wasted no less than 3 pieces of card stock trying to get it right. LOL. Circle cards are a real challenge for me. Oh what I wouldn't give to have the circle nestabilities. I have the rectangles but that would not meet the challenge rules. *sigh* Hope you like it!


*PS....I need to give Katie the siggy credit! Her blog "Listen to This" is where I got the great instructions and link to the website

Target Mailbox

I forgot all about this little valentine mailbox. I finally was at Target on the right day and was able to pick up a couple of the 1$ mailboxes. I made this one for valentines and never gave it to anyone(I do things like that...I am lame).

Another little something

Here is another card I forgot I never posted. I really liked this paper from SU and wanted to make it stand out. Its a little busy so I decided that a sentiment as the focal point would be better than a lot of images. It looks a little crooked in the photo, Just pretend its straight LMBO! I didn't notice it was crooked until I took a picture, I hate when that happens.

Thank You Set

I needed a set of 8 thank you cards to give to my daughter to send after her recent birthday. I spent a couple hours working on simple cards using the A Muse small dotted alphabet clear stamp set. I also wanted to use my new Papertrey Ink papers and Ink. I love the Aqua color! I came up with multiple designs and then repeated 3 of them after I got tired LOL.

Enhanced red card

So this is a enhanced version of this card. I am not sure it helped LOL

Just out of curiosity

I decided to see what this looks like enhanced using the Jasc 8.0 photo software I have and never use. Its not user friendly IMO. It makes it hard to figure out if I should use it or not. Some colors look so much darker than they really are. What do you think? I really should try it using red paper.....red is my hardest to photograph.

Papertrey Ink B-I-A book

I love my BIA! I could make notebook all day long! It's so fun! I got these blue coils in El Paso and thought they would look good with the new Papertrey Ink Aquamarine and Moss colors. The chipboard was covered to match. I am very pleased with how it came out.

Hey Sugar valentine booklet

Here is another project I made while in El Paso. Its a pre-printed booklet for your sweetheart for valentines day. I still haven't finished the inside pages yet. I started the journaling but haven't gotten very far. I need to locate some photos to include in it too.

Bind-It-All Birdie Book

Here is another one of the projects I made while visiting my friends in El Paso. Its a 4 x 4 chipboard book, bound using a Bind-it-all. I have my own BIA now because of these little chipboard books that I love so much. I used the Always stamp set by Stampin Up, I can not remember the name of this paper and I used a bunch of it and should remember, but I can't. I want to say its Crate Paper.

* Okay....Jody says its Cosmo Cricket hey Sugar paper, thank you Jody

The "Jody" Basket

Well, here it is, the Jody basket from Jody . Mine is not as neat as hers is, not as tight, and my brads don't have perfect placement, but I did it! I plan to tie ribbon on it and decorate it up a bit. It was very easy to follow her directions and didn't take me all that long to finish. I was interrupted a few times so it took me a little longer than it should have. Its very cute.

What is the hidden meaning of my name:

I got this off Amanda's blog and thought it was kinda cool

What Karen Means

You are a seeker of knowledge, and you have learned many things in your life. You are also a keeper of knowledge - meaning you don't spill secrets or spread gossip. People sometimes think you're snobby or aloof, but you're just too deep in thought to pay attention to them. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?