Sketch #185

I love the simple cards and this card Sketch is great!! 

It will be a favorite!!

My version of Sketch #185 had a cute little hedgehog and pieces from a 6x6" pad camping.

I used green textured cardstock for the bottom and matted the hedgehog on orange cardstock. 

I do want to color the teeny-tiny heart on the hedgehog before I send the cards.

I used the brown paper from Joann's clearance racks. 

I had silver nailheads left over from the VW bus 

so I added a few to the bottom of the hedgehog card.

The hedgehog is from Archiver's Exclusive Groovy card kit. 

I love the card kits but I really make the kits as they have planned. 

The kits have you make sizes that OWH can't use. 

The stamp set in the kit is by Unity Stamps. 

Here's a photo of my take on the kits. 

The kit samples didn't seem very Groovy so 

I used the included paper for the backgrounds and the various pieces.

And Silly me!! 

I was creating these paint can cards at Table 7 one night 

and didn't realize how close to closing it was. 

Just after I put the blue stickles on the cans. 

I found some cardboard in the store. 

I used 2 tiny Glue Dots on the cards and 

glued the wet cards to the cardboard.

 I then carried the card-covered box out to my car like a pizza. 

They made it home without any problems. 

No blue stickles anywhere but on the cards!!

Sketch #183

YooHoo! Got another sketch done!! I found the papers at Pat Catan's (formerly Crafts 2000) in their clearance section. I surprised to find the Doodlebug 4th of July papers in the clearance but I picked up most of the different designs. I didn't leave much of the papers for others. (Yes, I was a bit of pig but I had ideas for it all!) I loved the bike paper and I had to go into my messy scrapbook room to find the bike/sentiment stamp, which was a Studio G stamp set from Joann's. I used Viva Pearl Pen Ice White for the 3 brads on the sketch. I have plenty of red, white and blue baker's twine that I added to the card. I used VersaMagic Night Sky but it a chalk ink so the sentiment is a bit light but the color matches the paper.

Sketch #182

It has been a busy summer with lots of traveling. I have been to Memphis, TN; southern Indiana for a retreat; 2 trips to hometown; Juneau, AK; Niagara Falls (both sides) and southern Vermont. I have one more trip to go on Nova Scotia with hubby's family. Then it is back to school in the school office.

I did have time between the trips and loading & unloading the suitcase to make a few sketches. Here's #182. I used a 6x6" pad I found on sale in Joann's. It was all birthday papers so the strips for this sketches were part of the paper I cut off to make the base. I made a bunch of cards, alternating the base with the strips. I cut 6 different designed papers. I inked a border design on the sentiment block and the base. The sentiment is from a Hero Arts set, I think.

Archiver's Memory Lab and Achiver's Chapter 11

                                                


Ok, last Friday's ScrapMania, I tried the new Memory Lab. You have to set up a free account with the Memory Lab to be able to print photos. I had an email that gave me some money off my photos for trying the new Lab. I had my camera and its memory card so I easily upload some photos to view before ordering. I had selected the photos I wanted to order but I had neglected to select the quantity of the photos. So I had to select the photos again, adding the quantity this time. I didn't realize that I could choose matte or glossy so my photos were matte. The Archiver's clerk was too busy to help me with the whole process of getting to know the new lab. It is similar to the Kodak or Sony kiosks but slightly different.  But once I had placed the order, she quickly processed my order. The lab was a computer setup with several options of linking various memory cards to the computer and very similar to ordering online with Shutterfly or Walgreen's.

Here's Archiver's price list for photos. They can do scrapbook pages, cards, and calendars and more as they add more products to the Memory Lab. The photo list is below. I think the prices are about the same as going to Walgreen's or Shutterfly before their coupons and sales. Archiver's prices will be high if they don't have a coupon or percentage off. The Memory Lab will be OK for me when I need one or two photos as I'm creating a layout but I'm not sure I would use it for lots of photos. Walgreen's will still get most of my quick-need photos and Shutterfly will be my go-to online developer when I have lots and lots of vacation photos to print. The price list is longer than shown here but it included pricing for other items that I don't need right now so I didn't add the other pricing.

The Memory Lab printed the photos nicely. They felt differently than other photos - smoother. The colors were good but maybe could have been a bit sharper. The Lab didn't add any marking to the back of the picture, which I do like. The Lab might have an option to do that but I didn't think of when I did my first order.

Standard Prints

Product	Price
4x6 Matte	$0.29
4x6 Glossy	$0.29
5x7 Matte	$1.49
5x7 Glossy	$1.49
6x8 Matte	$1.99
6x8 Glossy	$1.99

Square Prints

Product	Price
4x4 Print	$0.29
8x8 Print	$1.49
12x12 Print	$2.99

Enlargements

Product	Price
8.5x11 Print	$1.49
8x10 Print	$1.49
11x14 Print	$2.99
12x18 Print	$2.99
13x19 Print	$2.99

 

 Archiver's Chapter 11

Here's part of an email from Archiver's. They are going through Chapter 11. I guess that is why they had been closing several stores this first part of the year. The Easton store where I scrap at Table 7 is doing well and Archiver's main office is working to fix its finances. I do hope that Archiver's will make good changes. Most of the LSS had gone out of business and I personally think that it is due to the big box stores and Archiver's. Joann's and Michael's have increased their scrapbook/paper crafts aisles and have coupons all the time. Hopefully, Archiver's can develop a competitive coupon policy and maybe more/better sales. I have noticed more sales - they have this weekend where you buy any patterned paper sheet and get one sheet free. I will be missing that sale this weekend due to some family fun.




Well, thanks for listening to my opinions and reviews. Go try the Memory Lab. Explore it before you really need to order photos.

SandyBear

National Craft Month -March 14 - Shopping for Supplies

I had to go to Joann's for some supplies on Thurs. after school. And I found these things.

 Hmmm, more stamps and, hmmm, more paper.

The little St. Pat sets by Studio G were 50% off and the other two were on clearance. The St. Pats sets are for nest year (got to remember to put them with the other St. Pat stamps). I got some for Sister M at Table 7 too. Yes, I know, the TPC Studios set has a camera in it but it has other fun items with punny sayings. The Fiskars set is smaller size stamps and they will be great for cards. They are just everyday sayings.

Since it is National Craft Month, Joann's still had the DCWV stacks on sale for 50% off. They are hanging the stacks on pegs now. I noticed that they are carrying more new ones.  I got the Juniper Berry stack - lots of blue!! It has butterflies, umbrellas, and clouds. It has foils, and chevrons. It is wonderful!!

The other stack is My Sunshine stack. It is bingo sheets, and toys, and graph paper. It is kinda a boy's stack but it will be fun for whatever I use it for.

I have about used all the Green Tea stack and I noticed that DCWV had a stack called White Ginger at Joann's. It looks just like the Green Tea stack. I wonder if they just changed the name or if they rename stacks when it is in different big box stores. 

I finally found some more owl stickers so now I can finish up my cards with the moons on them. I had made several of the design but had run out of small owl stickers. I found a booklet of sticker for $1.00.

National Craft Month - March 15 - New Punchs

New Punches!

Archivers on Friday night had a bunch of new EK Success punches and they are 40% off too. I could not resist these! Table 7 all bought at least one punch of different designs. I got the filmstrip punch, the balloon punch and the anchors one. There were a few new people at Archiver's ScrapMania. One of the new ladies at our table used the anchor punch. She punched it out and threaded twine through the little holes at the top. It was pretty cute on her baby page. I had punched the 12 x 12" edge of black paper with the filmstrip and cut a piece big enough for a picture to fit on it. I used a white pen to journal under the picture. I cut a piece of white paper to go behind the frames. You could journal there too. I saved the little rectangles for a future card. Another lady asked for a piece of the paper with the filmstrip as she was doing a page about her Girl Scouts earning a movie badge.

I used the balloon punch today to see what it looked like. It is very delicate and will definitely need to be run through the Xyron to adhere it to a page. I used the balloon bits for a card to make a flower. But the package the punch came in showed that you could pop-dot the balloons in place on the border to give some dimension.

I also punched the anchors out today too. I was afraid that the anchors would be very fragile but they punched wonderfully. No bits to save from this punch. I have a few projects in mind for this punch but none done yet.

The last punch in the photo is a Fiskars punch I found on clearance at Joann's. Little scissors! Not sure what I'll do with this one but it jumped in my cart.

National Craft Month - March 2 - new washi tape dispenser, Dear Jane stack, and a book review

I usually go to Joann's and Michael's without my hubby as he gets bored there easily and he doesn't need to know exactly how much I spend in the craft stores. Imagine my surprise when today Hubby wanted to go to Michael's and did I want to go with him??? What!!! I had mentioned to Hubby that Michael's had little foam paint brushes 14 for $1. He has been redoing some woodwork and needed the small size. 

Of course, while he looked for the paint brushes, I found a few things at Michael's, papers on clearance, and a new dispenser for the washi tape explosion in my scrapbook room. I have the We R Memory Keepers dispenser but this is a stackable one. The one I purchased has 2 dispenser. I think they had packages with just one too. Fortunately, it was with the white storage cubes and matches the cubes' white finish. And the best part it was 40% off today on the last day of the sale. The paper labels covers the cutting edges. It has holes in the bottom and pegs in the dispenser so you could stack as many as you need. 

Hubby was still looking for jars so we went across the street to Joann's. He wondered around while I looked at the scrapbook aisles. I hadn't realize that almost all of the scrapbook items were 50% off. So I had to buy this new DCWV stack  Dear Jane. It is so pretty!! I loved the paper with the books and wish I could get more of it without buying the whole stack again. Half of the papers have foil on them. They have 2 or 3 designs that are in 2-3 different colors. Lots of pale pinks and pale greens and some that look like red work in embroidery. I think that the cards I make with these papers will have an elegant feel and will probably need lace/ruffly ribbon and doily paper too.

These papers remind me of a more recent book about Jane Austen. The Death of a Schoolgirl is written by Joanna Campbell Slan. The author has read a few reference books about scrapbooking, which deal with journaling and having your scrapbook tell a story. Then Slan started a mystery series about Kiki, who works/owns in a scrapbook store and solves mysteries too. Now the author has started another mystery series, using Jane Austen and her husband as the characters. Her books are good, the characters are fun, curious.  You can found the author's books on Amazon and her website. Here are some of her books. Hope you'll check a few of her books out.

Happy Dr. Seuss Day!!

OWH VCMP 2013 Challenge #9

Challenge #9 is a bit of a hard challenge. I use white on my cards for accent or for the sentiments but to create an all white card. Yikes! It is a scary thought for me. I mean, I'm the kind of person who can't wear white clothes as something always happens to the wonderful white. You know, red spaghetti sauce down the front of the new white blouse or the only mud puddle in the parking lot and, yep, you walk through and spatter mud on the new white pants. So, to complete an all white card with layers could be a card making nightmare. I cleaned off the table and started with clean mats on the table. I put all the ink pads away and all the glittery ribbon left over from the 3-4 Valentine's cards I had created.

Challenge 9: My theme for today is All White/Cream with 3 Layers. The challenge:   Create a card using white and/or cream card stock with the exception of the sentiment.  The sentiment (if you choose to have one) may be any color.  Also there should be layers -- at least three (3) layers of something, i.e. any combo of card stock, lace, ribbon, fabric, or some sort of fiber for texture and interest.  Any embellishment must be white or cream.

http://desertroseoutpost.blogspot.com/2013/02/owh-presidents-day-virtual-card-making.html

OK, the challenge is accepted. I have the bits and pieces cut for the 12 cards but here's the first one.

I embossed the first layer of white paper, using the Wicker Weave folder in my Cuttlebug. I told you that  little Cuttlebug got a lot of use the other night at Archiver's on Friday night. I had gotten just the Wicker Weave embossing done at Archiver's. I finished the card today when I am playing in my scrapbook room while the hubby watched the race.  I layered the cut pieces of paper from Making Memories's doily 12x12 paper on top of the embossed paper. Then I added a scalloped rectangle with a sentiment using VersaMark Dazzle and silver embossing powder and using pop dots on the scalloped piece. The sentiment is from a wedding stamp set by Inkadinkado I found on clearance at Joann's. This sentiment I used was covered up by a tag so at first I didn't realize the Happy Anniversary was even in the set.  The silver and white flowers are from the recent stop at Pat Catan's. I wish I had gotten more of the flowers but you know how it is. I used some white ruffly ribbon from my ribbon storage and, ta da, I did it. A white card! No mishaps!! 

I don't have enough of this ribbon and lace ribbon for all 12 cards. Some of them will have a butterfly lacey ribbon on them. I do hope the silver on the flowers won't disqualify my card from the all white with layers challenge but the plain one flowers I have are too big for this card.

I have 2 more challenges to do for the OWH VCMP 2013. I have paper cut for the second challenge and I'm not sure how to do Challenge #3 so that one will take some time. I have made:

Challenge #1 - 12 cards

Challenge #2 - 0 card

Challenge #3 - 0 card

Challenge #4 - 12 cards

Challenge #5 - 12 cards

Challenge #6 - 21 cards

Challenge #7 - 2 designs x12 cards = 24 cards

Challenge #8 - 12 cards

Challenge #9 - 1 card + 11 pieces for 11 more

Challenge #10 - 12 cards

Total cards so far for OWH VCMP 2013= 106 cards. 

I am getting close to my goal of 10 challenges with 12 cards per challenge but the clock is ticking loudly. Gotta go and make more cards!! Later.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Sketch #151

Sketch #151

I thought this design was challenging.

 The elements were simple 

but I wasn't sure how to make it work.

 I used some envelope liners from a card kit and a paper white doily. The bigger Thank You is from Joann's and the 2 smaller scalloped circles are from a freebies from one of my magazines (Papercrafting or Creating Keepsakes). The card came together much easier than I had thought. I made a few more cards using the same papers but used some heart-shaped buttons.

#152

Sketch #152

I am catching up with some of the newer Sketches. There is a new sketch designer for OWH and the designs are getting a bit more complex. 

Here's my card using the Sketch #152, using pieces from the scrap corral as I tried to wrangle my scraps into a more user-friendly storage. I don't know any of the papers I used but the stamp set was from JoAnn's $1.00 bins- Studio G ?. I used a smaller circle and scalloped circle than in the sketch as mine were in the corral. I added a couple of gems to the card. I made only a few of these cards, as that was the parts I had. The card seems to be missing something but.....

It is on a pale grey base as I couldn't reach my white ones.

Crafting at my sister's houes

 I spent a few days at my sister's for the Thanksgiving holidays. We went Black Friday Shopping, mostly Michael's on Thanksgiving and Jo-Ann's and Staples on Black Friday. Hubby went with us. He was helpful in getting stuff down from the top of the shelves for my sister.

I usually scrapbook at Table 7 on Fridays at Archiver's but this Black Friday, I crafted at the end of my sister's table. She moved some of her quilting so I had the end of the table for the cards. She has been making Christmas quilts and had lots of fabric scraps but not much scrapbook stuff.  It was a minimal stash of stuff - a cutter, scrapbook glue, and 8 1/2 x 11 1/2" paper.  She had a package of Michael's Christmas paper and I used about all of it to craft the cards. Each card has a bit of fabric on it as a bow, a stripe or an embellishments. I cut out a few Santa's too. I created about 45 cards for her upcoming quilting retreat. I had to stop by Jo-Ann's on Sat. AM to get the envelope/card bases and some glitter glue to finish the cards.

I made some other cards using her only stamp set of cats - they were Hero Arts - but I didn't take a photo of them. She did have an embossing gun and powder and so the cats are gold embossed. My oldest brother was busy doing a crossword puzzle at the table too and kept asking why I didn't use a hot glue gun on the cards. sigh.

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Sketch #62

Sketch #62

At Table 7 the other night, I was scrapbooking a dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Russia and had some papers and stickers left over. Just enough for 3-4 cards. Here's one of them, using Sketch #62. I may go back and redo the Let's Party sentiment (Paper Smooches) as the Distressed Green Ink is not quite dark enough on the green background. The pinata was from a sticker set by Sticko (EK Success). I didn't keep track of the various papers - cardstock from Archiver's, and the green checkers are American Craft's travel paper pack. The green peppers paper is from Archivers too but I have seen it at Hobby Lobby and maybe Joann's but I can't think who makes it. The Baker's Twine is from the big roll I got at King Arthur's store in Vermont.

Sketc h#111

Sketch #111

I turned the Sketch on its side to make my card. The floral paper is from Market Street stack and the pink and green are cardstock from the Archiver's cardstock sale the other day. The gold Thank You seal was from Joann's Clearance bin - 20 seals in package for 5o cents. The bears stamp is a wooden one. I inked the cardstock in white ink but I'm not really sure I like it. A few bling bits and Sketch #111 is done.

Sketch #130

Sketch #130

 

Here's the latest OWH sketch. I don't have a card made yet with this sketch as I have been traveling to Vermont and back for a week. I plan to use the Riley parade stamp and bunting. I had tried to put a new post on this blog but the wilds of Vermont doesn't like new technology. The WiFi worked but it won't allow me to post. Of course, my cell phone rarely got a signal when I was in VT, ME, and NH, much to the hubby's chagrin.

The younger siblings had a milestone birthday and the siblings minus one were there to celebrate. Then my older sister and I stayed a bit longer and toured around a bit, traveling up to Maine and New Hampshire. Our hubbies are both happy we are finally home. My older sister and I visited 2-3 quilt stores, buying fabrics for some future quilts or her stash. Unfortunately, I didn't find any scrapbook stores, having to buy some items on sale at WalMart and Joann's. I believe that the bigger stores have carried scrapbook supplies till finally the LSS went out, now the bigger stores are clearancing more of their scrapbook areas. grrrr. It is hard to find papers of places or milestones at the bigger stores. They have to carry the same things in every store. However, I did just place an order for a variety of travel papers online, as I couldn't find any VT, ME, NH, and NY papers/stickers around here. I love to go to a LSS in Michigan but I am done traveling for about a week. If you are in the Detroit area, stop by Scrappy Chic in Livonia, http://scrappychiclivonia.com/ which is a great store with a wonderful travel section. I should go down to Red Letter Journals in Grove City http://www.redletterjournals.com/ as it is one of the last LSS in the area and it used to have a great travel section too. Hmm, maybe on Monday.

I'll be back later with a card using the latest sketch. Hopefully, before OWH posts another sketch.

Thanks for stopping by. Later.

Sketch #5 for Wednesday

I have another one done. Here's the Sketch #5. 

I did a patriotic version of the Sketch. I used another Dearie Dolls, red and blue starry paper from the stash, and a stamp I bought at a garage sale. I used my ribbon cutter by Imaginisce to cut the red, white, and blue ribbon and a EKSuccess punch for the sentiment.

I added the raffia to the card. The raffia at Joann's is a bit green in color, not the typical little brown. The raffia matched the card fairly well. I wonder if the raffia will lose the green color after time.

Tuesday Two

I got 2 more sketches completed for today Tuesday. I am making some headway with the challenge of making cards using the 128+ OWH sketches but I'm not completing them as quickly as I thought I would. But I am making 12-30 cards per sketch as I complete each sketch so I am going the OWH box filled up. I am also using some of my paper stash and a variety of adhesives out of the storage box. I am also finding new freebie digi stamps to use as well as my own stored stamps. I am having a fun summer making the cards. 

I have been doing the Sketches in no particular order. I can't get my computer to allow me to check the sketches on the PGF checklist so I had to print it off to keep track of the sketches I have used.

Sketch #15

Here is the Sketch #15.

I used the Fiskars stitches border on this sketch. I ordered the border online from Joann's. I had some problems with the punch not releasing the paper after punching. Punches don't seem to like me as they do this frequently. I wish I know why the punches capture the paper like that and how to stop the punches from doing this. The foil and the wax paper don't seem to help and this particular punch is new.

My pieces for the card, using Sketch #15. I drew the Sketch on the back of one of the pieces so I could refer to the sketch often as I worked.

My completed card designed from Sketch #15. The papers are from DCWV's 2012 Summer Stack and I punched them with the stitches boarder punch from Fiskars. The cute little girl is from Dearie Dolls at deariedollsdigis.blog.com. She had a cute Pirate Pig freebie today in colored and black-and-white versions. The card I did needs something else so I think I'll go back and add a bit of raffia to go with the "wings" of the girl. Or maybe buttons. Hmmm.  

Sketch #14

I used Sketch #14, using with the Ballerina Bunny, another Dearie Dolls freebies.  I had printed the bunny too big the first time and the sentiment wouldn't fit with it. So the bigger size one will be on a card later. I used a variety of purple papers from my stash. The little sentiment "Gettin' My Happy Dance On" is from Create With TLC at http://createwithtlc-createwithtlc.blogspot.com/, where she posts a freebie or 2 daily.

I followed the Sketch but again I think the card needs a bit of something. Maybe ribbon bows?? 

Thanks for stopping by. Later.

Sketch #2 and #19

The heat is keeping me inside though my craft room is still a bit warm but I'm busy crafting. Fortunately, we have power as many around the Central Ohio area doesn't have power due to the storm that went through on Friday afternoon. Some areas are predicted to NOT get power back till after the 4th of July or later. Again, I feel lucky we do Have power. The City of Westerville worked really hard to get the power back on for us citizens.

Anyway, my time in my craft room produced the following 2 birthday cards.

Sketch #2

I used the star paper by Making Memories that I had found at Tuesday Morning a while back. The little guy was a Freebie at MelonHeadz. Love her freeebies! Here's her link if you haven't checked her website out. http://melonheadzillustrating.blogspot.com/  The little guy was going on another design but he just didn't fit on it. I used some ribbon from Hobby Lobby and since I used it down the side, I didn't want to use more ribbon as on the sketch so I added some star brads from the stash. I haven't put a sentiment on it with the ribbon printed with "Birthday Boy" as I kinda like it as it is but maybe it needs one. I didn't have any pink ribbon to make a girly version.

 Sketch #19

I did Sketch #19 as another birthday card. I have birthdays in July so birthday cards have been on my mind. These 2 designs might be a bit young for my personal birthday card needs but I think they will be great for my box to OWH. The black paper with the candles was a clearance item at Joann's and the sentiment stamp was from that set by Stampendous! that I bought at Tuesday Morning. I had to use this sentiment with the candles on the paper. I added a scallop cut rectangle and a party hat by K & Co. ( on sale at Meijer's), and a silver "Happy Birthday" from the stash.  I added a thin strip of black ribbon to cover the paper edge. I love the rectangle punch by Marvy and I found a smaller one by Dovecraft. I use them frequently, either together or separately.


Well, I'm back to crafting. Still have lots and lots of OWH sketches to do. It's my personal summer challenge to see how many sketches I can use before school starts again!

Thanks for dropping by. Stay cool.  Later!

Few more Cards Today

No sketches were used for these cards. 

They just came about as I crafted.

I started these cards at the Retreat and didn't finish them. I did finally get the MS branch punch I wanted (ordered it from Joann's Online, surprisingly). I used the paper smooches green spritzer and got a bit carried away.

Art Impressions makes great stamps. This is one of their Girlfriends line. I found the Making Memories paper tape from a trip to Ollie's (a discount store like Big Lots but bigger) 

but it was hiding in my supplies for a bit.

 I colored the images with colored pencils. 

Inside the card says Happy Birthday.

 I only made a few of these so only a couple of them will be in the next OWH box.

Another pixie from the sticker sheet at Joann's. Yup, I like pink and green and this pixie is pink and green. I really like this card and wish I had gotten more of these pixies! Flowers are Michael's Recollections floral embellishments and I added pearls to the flowers. I had stamped the Happy Birthday from the Girlfriends' set above.

I need to get going to the crop so later for now.

Thanks for stopping by.