TIME FOR A DIFFERENT STYLE

Once again I have need for sympathy cards. I think there must be something connected here with the age I and my peers have entered into...........So far at least most of the cards have been for parents of friends and not friends themselves. I guess that will be the next stage.

But enough of that talk. This card makes heavy use of white and gold with just a touch of black as the layer between the two brushed gold scalloped rectangles. I used my Scor Pal to emboss the lines a little over halfway down the front of the card stock. Using the ribbon helps hide the slightly uneven ends of the score lines.

The ribbon is a piece from my stash. No idea where from??? All the card stock is Stampin' Up. I especially love their brushed gold card stock. The inks and Gold Embossing Powder is also from SU. The stamps used are from Papertrey. I can't right at the moment remember the name of the set.

For as easy as this card was to make I really like the way it turned out.

I just checked on Papertrey's site. The stamp set used is Everyday Blessings.

ANOTHER QUILT CARD

I did get my Belli Challenge card done tonight, but haven't had a chance to photograph it yet so I will post it tomorrow. Instead today I am reaching back into my photo file for another of my quilt cards I made. I found a scrap of designer paper in my pile....we all have piles of scraps don't we???? I hope I'm not the only one. Anyway this scrap was perfectly spaced to fit under a row of the quilt blocks stamped side by side on a strip of vellum paper.

The old olive scalloped strip underneath the quilt blocks was made using my scallop border punch and then paper pierced. Add a couple of flowers stacked an attached with a brad and a few other images and a note card is born.

The quilt block images are from Papertrey and the "Note for You" and sewing machine are from Stampin' Up sets.

Tomorrow not only will I photograph and post my Belli Challenge, but I also hope to figure out a card design for the Copic Colour Challenge. I tried it tonight, but nothing worked........maybe after a good night sleep my mind will be better challenged.....so till tomorrow.....pleasant dreams. It's way past my bed time and I am off to crawl in.

ALTERED JOURNALS WITH A TWIST

Another couple of projects made in preparation for the boutique at our Quilt Show in April. On the outside these look like quilt jjournals I have made before by altering composition books. But inside these are different. They are actually comp books with quarter inch graph paper rather than regular lined paper.

Why is this important you might ask.....well for quilters this is the type of book that can be easily used to sketch out quilt blocks or quilts. The usual scale would be 1/4 inch equals 1 inch when sketching a block. Using this scale you can sketch a 12 inch block using only 3 inches on the page.

Altering the first comp book went well. The second book not so well. I had a problem with this one that I often have....small sliver size gaps that let some of the comp book show through. I can't reposition the paper since I use either sticky strip or adhesive from my xyron to adhere the paper and those adhesives are not forgiving.....one they are down they are down for good! Can you see my solution???? Ribbon! Though I used it in four places it actually only covers up two oops spots. I just thought it would less like a oops cover up if I made it into a design element.

Other than the alphabet set which is of an undetermined origin all the stamps I used for both of these books are from Papertrey Ink. They are part of the Quilter's Sampler series with the exception of the images embossed in white on the Brilliant Blue. It is from the new set Background Basics: Retro.

I think composition books of all types are one of my favorite alterable items. Do you have a favorite thing you like to alter??? Do you even like to alter items?

BACK TO QUILT RELATED PROJECTS!

Its now the time of year when I am picking up speed in order to get ready for our annual Friendship Star Quilters quilt show.

Sadly I have not done any actually quilting, well at least haven't finished any quilting projects to display in the show this year. Happily that's because I have been focusing on my papercrafting this year and learning and perfecting new techniques and skills. I will get back to quilting, I promise, I enjoy it too much to totally give it up, but fabric has gotten so expensive papercrafting is just more affordable at the moment.

Even though I haven't made any actually quilts to hang in the show and don't have time to do so at this point (registration for items to be hung was Monday night) I do have time to get things together to display and sell in the boutique. Those items don't need to be completed till the show itself which is April 24-26. (Hint: if you live in the Gaithersburg are come and visit I'd love to meet you and I am pretty much there the entire show! We are at the Montgomery County Fair Grounds.)

I am working on quilt related craft items; some fabric some not. Here is a sample of my current creations. Post- it-Note memo holders with a matching pen. I received this idea from a FLYBaby Stamper on Splitcoaststampers and love mine she gave me. I've made a variation before using 4x6 acrylic picture frames, but didn't like them as well because the frame is thicker and the pen doesn't fit on as well, but this Christmas I found the metal 4x6 frames at AC Moore and purchased a whole bunch of them so I am ready to go!

I love how the Papertrey Inks Quilter's Sampler set blocks can be used for these holders. Just another use for them other than cards. Here is a picture of all three designs I have made so far. On the green and the blue ones I also used Papertrey's 2008 Bitty Dots Basics patterned paper. I love it! Its such a wonderful weight paper. The pink is a patterned paper from a set I purchased at Costco. Lots of lovely paper for a ridiculously cheap price. It is a double sided paper but a much lighter weight. Still the price was right and the colors and designs are beautiful.

I used my Copics to color the quilt blocks. They give such nice vibrant colors.

I also get my Post-it-Notes at Costco as they are much less expensive in bulk quantities than at the office supply stores. Right now my main problem is finding the RSVP Pens that I usually use for these.......

That's it for now. I will also make some of these in non-quilt related designs, but those are for another day.... Today is Wednesday and that means its 'Belli challenge day so I am off to see what today's challenge is about. Then off to work and hopefully back in time this afternoon to do the 'Belli Challenge.

OVER THE RAINBOW CHALLENGE

Papertrey Inks is celebrating its 2nd Anniversary the first two weeks of this month. There is a lot of fun stuff that has been going on on Nicole's Blog {capture the moment} in connection with this event. Today's fun is a color challenge called "Over the Rainbow". You can find the instructions for this challenge on her BLOG here. But be quick as the entries are due soon....like 3am February 7 EST which is midnight tonight PST! There is a wonderful prize for the winner of the drawing for this challenge, but I will let you go to Nicole's BLOG to read what it is for yourself.

So here is my card for the challenge...


Since I don't yet own any of Papertrey's papers or inks....just some of there stamp sets I had to go through my supply of inks and card stock to find things that were close. I used all SU colors since that is what I have. All the colors I ended up using are In-Colors from various years. I used Riding Hood Red for the base of the card which is current and then retired In-Colors Marigold Morning, Cool Caribbean and True Thyme for the pieces. The green was the hardest to match....I did the best I could. The flower is a retired SU stamp and the butterfly and square of flowers are Inkadoo stamps I recently found in a set at Costco.

I have been wanting to try Papertrey's colors of cardstock and inks, but didn't know what to start with so I was very pleased to read today that beginning Feb 15 you will be able to purchase sampler packs of the card stock. From there I can move into the colors I can't life without!

QUILT CARD AS PROMISED

I did say you would be seeing another quilt card today.......Yes I do love this set. For this card I got to use my "bug" in several ways. I made the YoYo Yellow background using the Swiss Dots embossing folder and then I also used the "bug" to cut out the scalloped rectangle using my new rectangle Nestibility set. So much easier than making a rectangle with my scalloped border punch.

I still need to work on on ribbon tying. I blame my bad tying skills on being left handed. Even when I try and follow the directions for nice ties they just don't tun out right for me.

I will be back in a moment with another post. Yes its going to be a two post day!!!!!!!

Earlier I said I was going to show you a project I am working on to be a bit more organized. It is also a project that will hopefully teach me a few things in the process of setting it up. But it is getting to late tonight for explaining it so instead I will just share another quilt themed card.
Have I mentioned I LOVE these little blocks...... I thought so! So much can be done with them........Tomorrow I will try to get my project up here!

THIRD TIME IS A CHARM!

I finally got it right. That is my challenge card for the Belli Challenge of the week; CBC52 . This card has all five ingredients for my "cake".....no more no less!
There is...

1. Sugar: designer paper (hard to see in this photo but it is the layer my little quilt is places on and the layer my tag is placed on. Not much but it's there!)
2. Butter: vellum
3. Eggs: scallops (The border on the vellum)
4. Vanilla: ribbon
5. Cocoa Powder: hardware ( the metal buckle the ribbon is going through)

This card really did not photograph well. Its much prettier in real life. I must say however though it meets all the requirement for the challenge and the other two don't. Of the three this is my least favorite card. Oh well! I guess that's life in my stamping room! I need to once again give credit to Papertrey Inks for my wonderful little quilt blocks. They are from their Quilter's Sampler set. The rest of the materials except for the flowers are from Stamping Up.

I have one more card that I've made using my quilt blocks. It is one that came out of my head. My most common way to make cards is I start with a stamp set I want to use and go from there. They just seem to spring up on their own. Not a whole lot of pre-planning other than the kind of card I'm making; birthday, get well, sympathy etc.....I will explain the process I often use in "birthing " a card in my next post. Till then...bye bye!

PAPER QUILTS

i am finally breaking out my Quilt Block sets from Papertrey. It's definitely time....they have been feeling totally unloved I'm sure, but no more. I am in love. These little stamps are so much fun.

This afternoon I stamped three sheets of white card stock full of various quilt blocks which are now waiting to be colored. That's a lot of quilt blocks since they are only 3/4 inch in size! So far I've only colored my blocks using my Copics. I am somewhat limited in the colors I have for this because I need to use my Original style Copics which have a fine point nib on one end. I feel I have greater control in filling in the tiny spaces using a fine point than the brush point. I want to try colored pencils and Gamsol, but am not sure it will work with the small spaces without blurring. I don't think I would have much success with water coloring either. I will also try my SU markers since they have a fine point on one end and I don't think I will have a problem with a streaky look because of the small spaces being colored.

After coloring each block I punch them out using my Creative Memories 3/4 inch punch, but any brand punch of this size would work. If you don't have a punch you can cut them out with scissors. I am glad I have a punch though because that means all my blocks are exactly the same size so they fit together perfectly. (In this respect I guess paper quilts are no different than fabric ones!) After I have finalized the "quilt" layout I want to use and what it will be adhered to I run my blocks through my Xyron Create a Sticker machine. I love this little tool for things like this. It's so easy to use.

The borders on my quilts for these cards were all created through layering of different colors of card stock. For the first card the scalloped square which is behind the little quilt was easy. I have a Marvy scalloped square punch that is the correct size to be used with the four block quilt. The second card drove me nuts trying to get the scalloped square the right size with good corners on the square. I had to make it using my SU Scalloped Border punch. NOT FUN!!!!! I am now saving my nickles and dimes for a set of both scalloped squares and rectangles from SpellBinders. I definitely need nesties for these........

In all fairness I must say that the first card shown here was cased. It is not an original concept though I did make a few minor modifications. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I cased it from. I was searching through several BLOGS as well as Papertrey's gallery to get some mojo going on how to use this set and I just don't remember where I saw this idea. The second card is my own design. Right down to the felt flowers which cover up a boo boo.....but we won't tell the birthday girl about that.....will we?