Happy 2nd Anniversary Practical Scrappers!

Wishing a very Happy Anniversary to Practical Scrappers!  This week we turn two years old ( I cannot believe it)!  We have lots of fun in store for you all week long.  We kicked things off today with a feature of all of designers picking their two favorite projects that they've created for Practical Scrappers.  I had a terrible time picking (but I did narrow it down to three).  Hey, I when you've created over a hundred projects ( I think my actual count was 147 not including what's in store for this week) you try to pick only TWO!

This card was created for a birthday party that we went to this weekend.

cardstock:  The Paper Company

pattern paper:  Crate Paper Snow Day Collection

Ink: Martha Stewart

Stamp: Scrappy Cat "Happy Birthday"

Ribbon: Offray

Tools: Paper crimper, Fiskars large scalloped circle punch, McGill cupcake punch, Fiskars paper crimper 

Some things to look forward to during the week, a Challenge ME Tuesday "BINGO" board challenge, an online recipe challenge with new items being added each day then having two hours to complete and put the finishing touches on at the end of the week, some speical appearance and projects created by past design team members, and to end our week we have a special PS design team blog hop with lots of chances to win RAK's.  The blog hop begins on Friday at 12:01 am and end Sunday at 11:59 pm EST! 

Thanks for stopping in!

Circle Shape Cards!

I saw a card like this awhile ago and thought it was the greatest thing ever! Well, it just so happens that today we were having a feature at Practical Scrappers using circles in cards. It gave me the chance to try our my own version of what inspired me. Whether your card be circle shaped, circles on your paper, embossed circles, whatever....just as long as circles are involved we wanted to to see what you had that was "a- round".
So I designed this card using my Gypsy (Storybook and Plantin Schoolbook carts).
Basically, all there is to this the base is a scalloped circle (folded in half 5.5". The circle is 4.75". The next scalloped circle is 3.5" and the inside circle is 2.5".

Product List:

Cardstock : Kraft--The Paper Company

Pattern Paper: Restoration Collection --Crate Paper

3-D Embellies & border stickers: Restoration Collection-- Crate Paper

Stamp: Precious Friend-- Kolette Hall

Ink: Chocolate--Martha Stewart

Bling: Studio 18

Lace

Gypsy (Plantin Schoolbook & Storybook cartridges)

Cricut Expressions

Thanks for stopping in and happy scrappin'!

Wood Grain Paper

Today at Practical Scrappers is the "Challenge Me Tuesday" feature and this weeks challenge was wood grain paper. This was one type of paper I did not own (can you believe it). So, me being the practical lady I am, I made my own using Ranger alcohol inks and some glossy cardstock. I used the earth tone colors carmel and ginger as well as my blending tool and solution. It's not my best card but I've been playing around with my alcohol inks on the side and this is the first project I am willinto put on my blog...hehe! I also used the alcohol ink (ginger) to change my white vinyl thickers to brown with some texture. The image I stamped is actually a cuttlebug embossing folder that I inked up and stamped with. What can I say, I was having all kinds of fun experimenting.

Thanks for stopping in!

Creating the Perfect Bow!

I was introduced to this wonderful blog a little while back from "Red", Karen, at SAS when I hosted a little online crop and she created this beautiful bow on one of her cards. Her little secret was this blog called "The Amazing Paper Grace". Becca create her own little peg bow maker to help create her perfect bows every time. I finally got around to making my own peg bow maker. Now I changed mine up a little different from her directions, but that was because I found some decorate shelf brackets on clearance for $1.97 each, the other piece I wood I stole from scraps lying around in the garage, and the dowel was in the closet, all hardware and paint was on hand as well. So bottom line this cost me $3.94 to make and it is work every penny.

I have one less hole than Becca did (my piece of wood was smaller), but I can create bows from  1 inch up to 5 1/2" inches.  I used my husbands drill with the spade to do my holes.  The other thing that was different was since I used shelf brackets all I had to do was add 1 screw on each side ( I used a 3/4" wood screw) and lined it up with the slot on the bracket.  For those of you who have never used shelf brackets before the tighter you put your screw into the wood (wall) the tighter the fit it will be (which means it won't wobble side to side).  Finally to finish it up I gave it a two coats of my favorite color (purple) spray paint which was left over from mother's days projects I did two years ago.   I can honestly say this is one of the best tools ever-- now more uneven bows for me!
To check out Becca's process here's the link again... also she has some fabulous tutorials listed on her blog on how to create different bows using your peg bow maker!

Thanks for stopping in!

Single Layer Card

Today at Practical Scrappers we are featuring some single layer cards. This challenged me and was a first attempt not to layer pattern paper after pattern paper. I am in the process of preparing for fall/winter craft fairs and this is note card set I created (envelopes and all) that are 3 1/2" x 3 1/2". I used two different stamps on this and kept it simple with just two different inks as well. I also made the folder (which is behind the card) to hold both my note cards and envelopes for easy display at the craft fairs.

cards and folder (closed)


card and folder (open)


Thanks for stopping in and make sure you head by Practical Scrappers to check out the other single layer inspiration!

Nothing Says Summer like Strawberries & Popsicles!

I made this card for the CARDS challenge over @ the Create blog. & I combined my two favorite things about summer; strawberries and popsicles. The challenge this week was t use twine. I drew my own strawberry shapebon a piece ogres cardstock, cut it out, covered it in glue, then used a pair of tweezers to place my twine (working from the outside in). I really like how this turned and have decided i'm going to create some more using other fruit/flavors and make it a gift set!
You will also see this card coming up on a special feature this coming weekend on Practical Scrappers so stay tuned to find out all about it!
Thanks for stopping in!

Bring on the Crate Paper!

Today at Practical Scrappers we are featuring my favorite manufacturer, Crate Paper. I became a huge fan when I first saw their "Snow Day" Collection in an LSS in November and couldn't believe I'd never heard of them before (small town, not a lot of choice). I picked it up, created a cute little snow globe card with it, and submitted it for their Customer Appreciation Week. Well, some how I managed to win a huge prize package that had like 12 different lines in it (the box weighed 16 pounds) and I haven't stopped creating with Crate Paper yet (and I won't be after seeing the fall preview of their three new lines, Farmhouse, Random, and Peppermint).

In the meantime, here's what I did with my Little Sprout Collection for a very dear friend of mine, who's baby shower I just went to over the 4th. She's due in September, but shooting for August:) She's promised me that she's not changing his name either (otherwise she get to send the frame back me to fix). I've got lots of pictures of this one to try and share the hole thing...

 Frame, card, and mini album

Card

Altered Frame

Mini Album ...as I'm calling a Milestone album. This is 6 altered 5x7 card envelopes put together. I created tabbed cards to pull out for each baby milestone plus a journaling card for each month.

front of album

front album

back of album

back of album

0-2 month tabs ( there are also some on the back of the cards as well)

7-8 month tabs

3-4 months tab

Milestone cards/journal cards what they look like when you pull them out (this is the 0-2 months cards).

Product List:All the pattern paper, embellishments in this projects are from the Little Sprout Collection
Ribbon/Trim-- Crate Paper Stactic & Blue Hill Collections; Sheer Creations (Brown) ribbon distibuted by Michaels Stores, Inc
Cardstock -- Core'dinations, DCWV, The Paper Company
Stamps- Hampton Art "Woodland Friends" & "Doodlebug Memories", Fancy Pants "Little Star", Studio g
Ink- Tsukineko VersaMagic Chalk Ink (Jumbo Java); Studio g pigment ink (orange), VersaMark
Bling-- Studio 18 Rhinestone Accents
Cuttlebug and Spots & Dots Embossing Folder
Cricut Expressions used with SCAL 2.0 to create tabs for journal cardsThank for stopping in and make sure you head over to Crate Paper to check out their new fall lines....I even made it easy for you and linked them up above!

Fabulous Fireworks!!

So over the past three year I have become obsessed with taking photograpghs of the fireworks for the 4th. Each year I get a little better (maybe some day I'll be a pro)! For now I hope you enjoy my favorites from the firework show on Saturday, July 2nd here in my gated community of Treasure Lake, Dubois,PA.












Hope you enjoyed!

Accordion Paper Flowers Challenge!

This week's CARDS challenge on the Create Blog was to create paper accordion flowers. Hoping my entry isn't to late (again this week--never got last week's in), but here is my card....




Thanks for stopping in!

Kerri