Good Grief; where have I been? Scrapbooking in Melbourne, Florida

Good grief indeed!

You would not believe the internet issues I have had.  I've been trying to recruit physicians from home but my DSL service is a joke.  Then my e-mail started sending out random spam, so I changed all my passwords.  Including my Blogger one.....which I couldn't remember....tee hee!  My whole life has been a comedy of errors.

Anyway,  here are a few of my Spellbinders(TM) Christmas projects that have been posted on the Spellbinders' blog, so I can show them to you now!

First is a log cabin that I made using several different Spellbinders die templates.  The details are here on the blog.   There are additional photos and I believe a supply list as well.  It was a lot of fun to make!  The scalloped die template would make a great gingerbread house roof, wouldn't it?

I found these awesome papier maiche stars at Oriental Trading Company last year, so I decided to cover it and decorate it this year (finally - ha!)  I used the Nested Hearts die templates as well as Labels Fifteen peeking out from the back.  The paper is retired from Close To My Heart, but any vintage paper would do nicely.  Or take it in another direction by using bright and cheery colors.  By the way, you can find my rose tutorial here.

My third project features a viola made from Labels Fourteen.  And real wood paper - how cool is that!  I colored it with Copic Markers and used Doodle Parts to finish the viola handle and vents.  The 2010 Snowflake die template is covered with glitter.  What a mess I made!

Now, I usually give you all of the SKU numbers, but I am anxious to get this posted.  And I am a bit lazy tonight too.  Ha.  Suffice it to say that you can find all of them here.


I was in Gainesville last weekend to celebrate my son graduating (go GATORS)!  He earned two Bachelor's degrees - one in Physics and one in Astronomy.  He is so awesome!

Well, I'll be  back soon with a couple of more Christmas projects - can you  believe it is seriously almost here? 

Till then,

Holiday Beavers Christmas Tree from AI Scrapbooking in Melbourne, Florida

It's Sunday - must be Artful Inkables day for me!  I am so happy and honored to be a member of this fabulous design team.  Kristin, the owner and designer, has such a creative flair!  Who would have imagined cute little buck-teeth beavers would be the perfect holiday image?  Kristin did! 

Here's my favorite card that I have made thus far with this stamp set.   Do you see how the elements combine to make a Christmas tree shape?  I thought that was pretty clever, if I do say so myself!

Now, y'all know that I am a terrible color-er, so please don't judge my coloring abilities.  Imagine the little guy is brilliantly colored with Copics by some Copic-certified artist - not me! 

I am getting a lot of mileage out of that cedar punch from Martha Stewart.  I used a couple of different green cardstock scraps for the branches.  A CTMH chipboard star covered with the red paper from Everlasting.  The stripe and plaid are also from the Everlasting paper packet, which retires this year - boo hoo!  No fear, they will come up with something to replace it next year!

The ribbon that runs vertically behind all of the elements is a May Arts ribbon that Kristin is selling in the Artful Inkables store.  It's a cool variegated ribbon, so you can see the golden part at the bottom, with the greener portions peeking through in the center and at the top.

Here's a closeup that shows the sentiment (love it!).  These tiny Cranberry brads are really coming in handy!  I also used several Nestabilities to cut the panels.  This Labels 5 is my new favorite (it's the shape that both of the images are stamped on). 

The Weather Channel is showing lovely photos of leaves turning beautiful colors in South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.  I was born in the mountains of southwestern Virginia.  According to the Weather Channel, the colors are incredible there right now!  We moved to Florida when I was three, so I don't really remember them.  I did spend one fall in upstate New York, so I was able to witness the glory at least once thus far in my lifetime.  Palm tree fronds do not turn glorious colors in the fall.  And even though there is a maple tree in my yard (how did it get there????), we do not hve the proper weather patterns to create those colors.  The leaves just turns brown and wilt and trash the yard - ha!

How about you?  Are you witnessing the glories of Mother Nature this fall?

Best,

Deb

Close To My Heart's October Stamp of the Month Blog Hop CTMH Scrapbooking in Melbourne, Florida

Welcome to Close to My Heart's monthly Stamp of the Month (SOTM) Blog Hop! Woohoo!!! This time we have three groups of 20+ gals participating with dozens and dozens of great ideas to inspire you when you are using October's Stamp of the Month, "HolidayWarmth".  If you came here from the amazing Nona's blog, welcome!

Well, I went a little crazy this time.  tee hee....imagine that!!!  Instead of a card or a layout, I created three little altered items, all pretty quick and easy!

First is my Rudolph Christmas List Notebook.  As you know, I just love our Heartfelt Die-Cuts, and the new collection includes this precious little reindeer!  Cute, cute, cute!  I used the Jingle paper and Stickease (for the little ornament), a Cranberry Tiny Brad for his nose, some White Ricrac and Juniper Waxy Flax.  I used White Daisy Ink to random stamp one of the cute snowflakes from the Stamp of the Month.  Then, I used a branch punch to make Rudolph some cute little Juniper antlers!  Now to fill it up with gift ideas for my friends and family!


Next up is a super inexpensive little Holiday Recipe Box!  Now, don't you have a collection of family recipes that you pull out just for the holidays?  Green bean casserole....sweet potato casserole (good grief....lots of casseroles!)      Gingerbread....Granny's peanut butter fudge...you have your own to add to the list.  Well, I found this little recipe box in Michael's $1 bin (gotta love that!).  I used CTMH's Everlasting Creative Basics Paper, Cranberry Ribbon and a sentiment from the Stamp of the Month stamped with Ponderosa Pine ink.  Now, I actually just inked up part of the sentiment.  I could have cut it apart, but I was too lazy.  HA! 

Here's a closeup of the top.  I used Pewter Designer Brads and the super-cute crocheted flowers from the White Mini-Medleys, plus a bit of Cranberry Ribbon to make a handle.  So easy!  The hardest part was covering up the Halloween-ie paper on the box.  Bonding Memories Glue makes it really smooth. 

Oh!  The doilies.  Good grief.  I bought these little guys in the cake decorating dept. for the card that I posted last Thursday (remember the little skirt?).  So now it appears that I will be using a little paper doily or two each week until they are gone.  HA!

Finally, here's my last project.  It's a poorly-lit (sorry!) Christmas mug filled with hot chocolate mix (YUM!).  The mug was a $1 store find. I stamped this yummy sentiment from the Stamp of the Month with Tulip Ink, cut it out, mounted it on Juniper Cardstock, cut it again, smushed some Tulip Ink on, added some polkie dots with a Tulip Marker.  The snowflake is actually one of CTMH's white chipboard Dimensional Elements.  I could have left it white (rumors have it that snowflakes are white...I wouldn't know, being as I'm in Florida - ha), but I decided to rub in some Juniper Ink (just use a sponge...it absorbs real nicely and evens out as it dries!).  Tied it all together with some Tulip Ricrac and Juniper Waxy Flax.  It's so true.....having everything that matches makes it go together so quickly!  Faster.  Simpler.  Easier!

Now, I'm sure you've seen the cute images that accompany these sentiments as you've hopped along the blog hop - a festive Christmas tree, a big ol' pile of gifts and more!  Want to own this Stamp of the Month yourself? Ask your consultant how, or e-mail me for details!

Now, hop on over to my friend Terrie's blog for some more ideas on using "Treasures"!

Thanks for stopping by!

See you tomorrow,

Deb

Beavers like Candy Canes, don't they???? Scrapbooking in Melbourne, Florida

It's a fact that every year, the stores bring out their holiday displays earlier and earlier! I remember my mom saying, "Good Lord, I can't believe that they are puttin' out the Christmas decorations and Thanksgiving isn't even over!" And the family wholeheartedly agreed with her.

So here it is mid-September and I am presenting to you a Christmas card. HA! Thankfully my mom will never know.......a computer is not her friend ;-)

So here's my Sunday post for you as a member of Artful Inkables' Design Team. How can you resist this little beaver? What a cutie-pie! Now, you all know that I am not the best color-er. Leslie and Cibele will claim that it is because I have not succumbed to Copic markers. Well, in any case, this little guy is just happy to have a big ol' candy cane in his mouth. Cute, cute, cute! He is not the only little guy in this set.....check out his friends!

I made this card for Jackie's challenge to use one image, two different ribbons, three layers and scallops. It required real thinking, I tell ya! I started with a Kraft paper base (now I am addicted to it - good grief!). I added scallops with my corner rounder using CTMH's Everlasting paper and Tulip Cardstock. I finally pulled out this Cuttlebug embossing folder that I had never used. I thought it would be a cute background for Billy Beaver (tee hee), as well as adding my second layer. My third layer is the ground behind Billy (it's the plain backside of the floral scalloped B&T paper). As for the two ribbons - CTMH plain twill and Tulip ricrac twill. Now, she didn't say I wasn't allowed to add a matching Tulip photo hanger, so I snuck it in to pull my twills together. Doesn't Billy look like he just snitched the candy cane from one of those little houses and is now hauling bootie back into the woods to hide it? Gotta love him ;-)

You can join in the challenge and win a goody bag from Artful Inkables! I'll be back tomorrow with photos and stories from last week's Open House. It rocked! I just love my friends.

Good luck with the challenge!

Deb

Not every card is a winner!!!! CTMH Scrapbooking in Melbourne, Florida

Greetings! No, I am not dead. tee hee. But Alan and I have been sick ever since I came home from Long Beach. I attribute it to the croopy elderly lady in the wheelchair who was sitting at the gate coughing up a lung. The other passengers were giving each other scary glances (including me). Sure enough, I have the worst sore throat and crappy heat....well, you know what I mean. And my poor baby does not feel well, either. Even Target (kitty kitty) is sneezing! Good grief.

Well, here is one of the three cards that I submitted for the card contest at Leadership. We had to use the same pattern ('Top Band' from Wishes) for all three cards. I wish you could see the cards that were selected for the top five. They were incredible!!! Some of them were the most creative, cute cards I had ever seen. And I have seen a lot of cards on the www!

I will save you from my nonsensical ramblings since my brain and fingers are not in sync.

Cheers,