Final Friends with Flair for 2013

 

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! Christmas morning is always a quiet and simple affair at our house, which is the way we like it. The girls are considerate (not waking us up at the crack of dawn) and very appreciative of what they receive (big or small). For instance, they were very excited to get some soccer sliders - hopefully now, they'll STOP stealing mine!

 

As a scrapbooker, it's fun to compare how people change over the years - both in looks and fashion sense. Christmas morning, I looked at the girls and exclaimed, "Could you NOT wear matching socks?!" They chimed back, "We ARE wearing matching socks!" I really don't understand why they like to dress alike, but I guess I have no reason to worry... unless they blame ME for it later!

 

 

Here are the girls back in 2005 - they've both stretched out a bit. :)

Today is the last Friends With Flair posting for the year - it's hard to believe I've only been a fan/customer for about one year. Next year, however, I'm going to follow my friend Julie O.'s example and resolve to post every week in 2014. We'll see how that goes...

I made two different thank you cards for some friends who surprised us with a gift, showcasing one of Jos Nielsen's stamps at Unity, Kindness Matters. Even with a simple background, this one stamp says it all. :) Patterned papers are by My Mind's Eye - love that sparkle!

 

This is based loosely on this pin...

And this was based on this pin...

Thank you for visiting my blog over the year and a big thank you to my fellow FWF for all the inspiration. I wish you all nothing but the best in 2014. See you all then! May it be a wonderfully crafty year! :)

The Beauty of Using Sketches

Last Friday, DaddyDude's colleague asked me if I'd be willing to make seven cards for their office staff and - oh, could I make them by the following Monday? I was looking forward to a reason to use up more paper (I had purchased a ton of Christmas paper before Cropcholate.com shut down) and knowing I could find some great card sketches on Pinterest, I said, "Sure!"

As most of you know, I'm a big fan of Unity Stamp Co. So, I used one of their most recent releases as the cornerstone of my cards... Everything Christmas. I searched and pinned from Pinterest and whipped out these cards Sunday afternoon. All of the patterned paper is from Echo Park's "Seasons Greetings" and the brads are from Making Memories.

I don't know about anybody else, but I had to practice A LOT before I could get the images where I wanted to within the frame. There were times when I was just about to put it where I wanted, and then my hand would jerk slightly. And it'd been hours since my last cup of coffee! Does anybody have any advice on perfecting the "stamping within" technique...?

Inspired by this pin...

Inspired by this pin... and I'm linking it up to Deconstructed Sketch 130. Love this site that I just found - check it out!

 Inspired by this pin...

Inspired by this pin...

 Inspired by this pin...

I don't scraplift a card so closely, but I really loved this card... (you should check out her blog!), that I almost made a carbon-copy (different papers and I had no bell/ribbon). This Echo Park sticker is PERFECT for holiday cards and well, so is their paper! Simple but sweet!

And finally, I decided to tackle one of this month's "Be Inspired" challenges at Unity...based on the card sketch... you can check out the details here! Washi tape is from Pick Your Plum. :)

A couple of days later, I went to clean up my craft room and can you guess what happened? I decided it was easier to make a couple more cards than to clean! Ha ha! So, here are my final two cards...

 

Based on this pin (one of my favorites, because it's a fantastic way to use scraps!)... you can find the Unity stamp here.

And here's another one for Deconstructed Sketch 130. LOVE this stamp from Unity Stamp Co!

In case you were wondering why I didn't craft Saturday night... the girls and I participated in the city's first annual 5K Glow Run.

DaddyDude has been having fun with the new camera  - it'll take me awhile, I still need to read the manual! It was a fun run, but man oh man was it DARK! We were near the head of the pack to run (most walked it), mainly because the city's Christmas Parade (re-scheduled from the previous week because it rained) was going on at the same time - and she wanted to join her summer All Star softball team on their float. What a commotion - I was texting her coach (while running) to find out where their float was (it took almost 45 minutes for their float to start rolling in front of the crowd, since they were #71). With each update, Marika would run faster (we let her set the pace), which upset her big sister (who had eaten a bunch of food before the run, not smart!), who was started to freak out on me. By the end of the race, DaddyDude took the final picture... two of us are very happy and one is crying. :( I was just glad I didn't fall down and hurt myself (a couple people did - darn potholes!).

Anyway, it was a fun weekend. It's finally Thursday evening (late) and I've finished writing all of my Christmas cards so they will go in the mail tomorrow. I feel very relieved. :)

Hope you all have a marvelous weekend! Thanks for visiting!

Christmas Card - Working Around a Photo Collage

Patterned paper (Echo Park), cardstock (The Paper Co), stamps (Unity Stamp Co), ink (Memories, Inc.), colored pencils (Prismacolor)

For the last two years, we have sent out Christmas photo cards from Walgreens (my favorite place to get my photos developed). I'll admit it, it's because I procrastinated or was suffering from lack of creative mojo. This year, we are compromising - we have 20 photo cards and 20 handmade cards. Oh, come on, let's all admit that we have WAY too much paper! It's best to try to use up a little bit. :) Of course I wanted to use my Unity stamps on it... but I really struggled with working around a photo collage. It's not just a size/proportion thing, but a "how do I add embellishments without making this look too busy?" thing as well.

So... I finally decided that it was okay to allow the focus to be on the photos... and just used a simple holiday sentiment (Unity grab bag! Snowglobe Wonderland) for the outside, and a larger decorative sentiment (Peace & Joy) for the inside (asymmetrically set). I like how clean & simple it looks!

However, I was very disappointed that I really didn't use much of my paper up. Maybe four sheets??? What the heck is wrong with me? Why did I ever buy so much paper???

*sigh* I figured at least half of you would understand how I feel. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Thank you for visiting! Don't forget to shop at Unity this weekend - for yourself!

Attempting the One-Layer Card

Hello! It's Friday and time to participate in another "Friends with Flair" Friday with Unity Stamp Co. I've been hearing a lot about one-layer cards and wanted to give it a try... so I used "Create Your Life" as my focal point first, and then masked it while I stamped Wild Poppy Silhouette as the background. I also wanted to incorporate sequins, since that seems to be a hot trend lately and I had received some gold and silver ones from Unity in my free goody bag.  

Now, that would have been that, but since one of my photo corners did not get inked up enough, I decided to cover that imperfection with some UmWowStudio chipboard (check out the heart confetti here).

Stamps (Unity Stamp Co), distress ink (Tim Holtz - Worn Lipstick), black ink (Memories, Inc.), markers (Spectrum Noir),
sequins (free gift from Unity), chipboard hearts (UmWowStudio)

And all was well with the second card, until I forgot to discard a stray thread from an ink pad. One thing led to another and well... then I had to cover up a long thin smudge with some glittery chipboard.

 

Stamps (Unity Stamp Co), distress ink (Tim Holtz - Tumbled Glass), black ink (Memories, Inc.), markers (Spectrum Noir),
sequins and glitter chipboard (Making Memories)

 

So, I guess I still need to get used to the look of a one-layer card (it's difficult NOT to reach for embellishments) and I also need to remind myself to clean my workspace more diligently! Sometimes, however, the fixing a booboo can improve a project, too.

 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! :)