Fall-To Layout 103

Sooo...some recent discoveries:

• New favorite thing to do while making cards or editing photos: listening to Paperclipping.com's Roundtable sessions. Each episode is basically a bunch of people from the scrapbooking industry talking about scrapbooking. So you're probably wondering "She makes cards. Why would she care about scrapbooking?" I think there is a lot of crossover. Both craft deals with tools, paper, embellishments, color, current trends, etc. The two Roundtables that I've listened to so far had Kristina Werner as a panelist on one and then a report from the CHA Summer 2010 show, both of which I found informative.
  
  
• New tool that I'm a fan of, but should have been a long time ago: bone folder. It makes the card fold lines so much crisper. I should have invested in one (it's not even expensive!) when I first started card making, and not like 3 weeks ago. What was I thinking?!
  
  
• The purple Lifesaver (yes, the candy) is actually raspberry flavor and not grape flavor, as I originally thought. I guess it goes to show how much color has an effect on me. I only thought it was grape flavor because it's purple, but I didn't pay attention to what the candy actually tasted like.
  
  
• Juice boxes: not just for kids. I had one after the company picnic on yesterday. It was a fruit punch one.
  

I made my way over to clean&simple stamping for their Fall-To Layout challenge (#103)...I skipped over last week's challenge because I thought it was a little too plain for my tastes. I broke out some Inkadinkado stamps that I hadn't used yet for the image on the left. I think I discovered a new color combination for myself: green, purple, orange, and brown...how fall-y.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan, Warm Green
Stamp: Inkadinkado (all)
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Bloom & Grow

Company Picnic + August Sister Challenge, Day 5

The company picnic was today. The planning committee (myself included) was prepared for everything except for the weather. :P The stormy weather from yesterday made the picnic grounds very, very muddy. One of the planning committee members went to the site in the morning and thought it was doable anyway. When we go to there to start setting up, the Parks and Recreation people informed us that the site was closed! Um, what? There was no sign, and the barricade in the road was only half covering it. After some suspenseful moments, the Parks people gave us permission to use the picnic site. We didn't end up playing volleyball or doing the relay race that I planned, but people seemed like they were having fun under the circumstances. The BBQ food was so yummy! I appreciated that everyone went with the flow and made the best out of the muddy situation.

After the picnic, we were dismissed early and I basically crashed when I got home with a 4 hour nap. Heh. :D

For today's card, my sister picked out a stamp in an unconventional way ("I'll go through your stamp stash, and I'll pick something from the 15th stamp set that I come across"). So she picked out the dream sentiment stamp and the pink ornate Martha Stewart paper. I thought I'd go along with the square theme. I added the clear swirls because I thought that the white looked too empty and topped off the card with a periwinkle bow to match the periwinkle squares. Gasp! No rounded corners...it's been a while since I've made a card without them.

Card Specs:
Embossing powder: Stampendous! in clear
Embossing ink: VersaMark
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Yellow Ochre
Stamp: Inkadinkado (swirl), Fiskars- Squarely Sentimental (sentiment)
Paper: Martha Stewart

Blackout, Part 2

I woke up to some really bad thunderstorms this morning. I mean, HEAVY rain (enough to make the street look like a river, lightning flashes, and really loud thunder. I thought, "Oh, well maybe I'll just work from home today..." and then the second that thought left my head, the power went out, so I got out of bed and made my way to the office. At least the storm this time didn't do as much damage as the one from July. And the power was restored by the time I got home from work. Whoo hoo.

No card today...I wanted to watch The Prestige, which I checked out from the library. It was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I'm not sure that Christian Bale can pass for a magician. When I see him, I just think "Batman." Was anyone else kinda creeped out by the ending?

You are My Sunshine

Today's card was inspired by this one that I found on a fellow cardmaker's blog that I ran across this past weekend. I think it's cool that she films the card from start to finish (similar to Kristina Werner, but without the narration). Instead of saying "You are sunshine," I switched it up by stamping "You are my sunshine." The flower dies kinda reminded me of the sun's rays, so I ran the die through the Cuttlebug and then cut them in half to make a sun. I thought the green cardstock needed something on it, so I did some tone-on-tone stamping with some olive green chalk ink to create a grassy field.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Olive Pastel, Prussian Blue, Blue Iris. StazOn in Jet Black
Stamp: Inkadinkado (letters, birds), Fiskars- Kids Birthday (grass)
Die: Sizzix- Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Flowers (flowers)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, EK Success Circle punch (1 3/8 inch)

On the drive back home from the gym, I saw someone checking his phone as he was riding his bicycle. I can't decide if that's hazardous or impressive. Perhaps it's a little of both. Do we need a no texting law for riders too?

August Sister Challenge, Day 4

Today is the last day of my long weekend. But the upcoming weekend is in sight! I have two full days of work and then the company picnic on Friday.

I made about 15 origami owl cards for the upcoming craft fair season this afternoon. Whoo hoo! It was really too hot outside to be going anywhere today. Might as well be productive inside.

My sister picked out the sentiment and bird stamps and the paper for tonight's card and this is what I came up with. The first version of the card, the brown bird's tail didn't stamp completely, so I used the other half of the card to do the layout again. No sense in throwing out a complete card base, right? I normally don't do white cardstock on white cardstock, but adding some brown faux stitching allows the space to be a little more defined.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Chestnut Roan, Tangerine
Stamp: The Paper Company Studio- Whimsical Birds (birds), The Paper Company Studio- Whimsy Greetings (sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Threading Waters border punch, EK Success Scalloped Circle punch (2 inch), EK Success Circle punch (1 3/8 inch)
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Bloom & Grow
Other: Brown Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker
Foam Adhesive: EK Success

August Sister Challenge, Day 3 + Giveaway #2

I posted my 200th blog post on Saturday, so to celebrate, I'm doing another giveaway, just like I did for my 100th blog post. The prize will be a set of 9 origami and non-origami cards (see picture below...you might want to enlarge the image to see the sentiments), so if you are interested, please leave a comment on this blog post by SUN, August 22, 11:59 PM EST and I'll pick a random commenter the next day to receive the prize (one comment per person, please). Each card is blank inside, and I'll include an envelope for each one. Good luck!

In exchange for making a wedding card for her and prompt service, my sister offered to trade me a movie ticket. So today, I took off work and we went to see Inception. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I had heard from several people that it was a great movie. Yep, it was. It definitely had some twists and turns, which forced me to pay attention so I wouldn't leave the theater going, "What just happened?" The concept about going into someone's dream sound really invasive, but I guess if you want to do some damage or manipulate someone, I suppose the best place to tackle would be the subconscious. The special effects were really cool, but I wouldn't want to see them in 3D or IMAX. All that revolving might cause some motion sickness.

For tonight's card, my sister picked out the word stamps and floral paper, and this is the card that I came up with. I used this as an opportunity to use the Tim Holtz die that I got last week and created my own flower embellishment for this card.

Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Green
Stamp: Inkadinkado (sentiments), Martha Stewart- Patterns (criss-cross)
Die: Sizzix- Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Flowers (flowers)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Scalloped Sentiment border punch, EK Success Scalloped Circle punch (2 inch)
Brad: Making Memories Brad Value Pack- Chelsea's Place collection
Paper: Making Memories- Chloe's Closet (green floral)

August Sister Challenge, Day 2 + CPS #179

Even though I had intentions of going to the gym this morning, I slept in instead. Oops. I went to the mall with my sister to get some birthday gifts, did some laundry, took a nap in freshly laundered sheets (ahhh), and then finished off the day with a family BBQ.

Today's card suffices 2 challenges today: a sister one and CPS #179. My sister picked out the orange My Mind's Eye paper, the sentiment, and the hearts. I saw that CPS posted a new sketch challenge, so I figured I'd use it as inspiration. I think the color palette is a little off, but I think it can be fixed in a future card by switching out the orange paper.
Card Specs:
Ink: StazOn in Jet Black, Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Green, Warm Red, Prussian Blue
Stamp: Fiskars- Petals From Scratch (leaf/stem), Fiskars- Sentiments (sentiment), Fiskars- Friendly Flowers (ladybug), Fiskars- Romance (border, hearts)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper
Brad: Recollections- Silver Circles
Paper: My Mind's Eye- Bloom & Grow