Peace

Last weekend, I mounted my "create" definition in my craft room, and Scott and I mounted the Thoughts & Prayers tree from Stampin' Up! in the dining room. We have been hemming and hawing about what sentiment should go with it. Today I took several plunges. First, I had never cut vinyl lettering with my Cricut. Let me tell you, it was like buttah. It was so easy I want to use it on cards and scrapbooks. Seriously. I also had not yet used my Jasmine cartridge for the Cricut. What a pretty script!

I cut out "Peace" at the 5 1/2 dial size, and I took "to all who enter here" to the 2 dial size. I used Provo Craft's vinyl and transfer tape. They say you can hang it without the transfer tape, but that would have been a recipe for disaster with this script. You have to line up the letters once you cut them out, and the transfer tape was indispensable in that task (as was my hubby's level app on his iPhone).

I really like this very much. When you enter my home, it greets you on my dining room wall.

Now, what else needs some vinyl...?

create

My first experience with vinyl wall-hangings. Let's just say that, if you want to experience these, choosing something with fine print is a challenge for the first time. It was much like a giant rub-on, and a lot of the same principles apply. You just have to have a patient hand. I was glad I bought the Stampin' Up! scraper, as that came in very handy. This particular wall cling is produced by Stampin' Up!. It's in my craft room above the bar and decorative hooks I purchased at Ikea. You can't really tell, but the cling is a chocolate color. They do not recommend hanging it on a textured surface, but it worked fine clinging to our wall, which has a texture. We'll see how it does in the long run.

CathyZ has gone digi

Check it out:

http://cathyzielske.typepad.com/my_weblog/digital-scrapbooking/

Love her!

Still here

Life
making priorities
having fun
doing work
sleeping long
sleeping short
eating lots
widening pants
paying bills
laughing well
living much
now
and finally
getting my craft on
it's been lacking in
Life

Paper Craziness

For months (yep, months) now, I have been involved in paper procrastination. I needed some reorganization of my scraps, and I just didn't know quite where I wanted to go with it.

I am happy to say, today was scrap paper day in the JoLynn craft room. Here's what I did:

- In 6 of my 2" craft organizer drawers, I have scraps of paper in the following categories:
~red and pink
~orange and yellow
~blue, green, and purple
~neutrals
~patterned paper
~card pieces (things that can be used as card parts)

I used to have these in large Ziploc bags, but that was not the most efficient use of space. I'm not sure this is, either, but it's a step up. Plus, in organizing, I also purged quite a bit that I knew I would not use.

-In one of my black cubes, I have a hanging file folder drawer. It used to be just for 8-1/2 x 11" cardstock in its entirety, but I added 5-1/2 x 8-1/2" cardstock to these files as well. I realized that I need another one of these drawer cubes, as this one is packed now.

-I filed patterned paper packs that were sitting around, too. These I keep in vertical Cropper Hopper (or Cropper Hopper-like) transcluscent paper organizers. These are housed in some of my black modular cube shelving.

Still on today's docket: finishing some of the shelf trays that I bought from Hobby Lobby ions ago. I want to Mod Podge them with patterned paper so they look a little cuter. Once I'm done, I'll post pics. I realized that it's been a while since I posted my scrapbook room in photos, and I have changed it quite a bit since it's debut on my blog. Time for an update!

Simply Sent: For You Phrases

Well, I broke down and purchased a Simply Sent kit from Stampin' Up. SU! started these kits a few catalogs back. Marketed for neophyte stampers, these kits come with everything you need for several really nice cards.

In the past, I liked one or two things about the kits, but did not like them enough to pay almost $50 for a lot of things I didn't need. This catalog's For You Phrases kit was one that had enough things that appealed to me that I found it was worth the cost.

Now I will say that I broke the kit apart to place materials where they fit in the organization of my craft room. But, in taking these photos, I can recall what came with the kit should I want to assemble the cards as suggested. I may try one or two that way, just to not recreate the wheel. In all, this kit gets two thumbs up from me! I have created captions with the slide show below so you know what you're looking at.

Shoebox Swap

One of my favorite things is coming up next week: a shoebox swap. Such a celebration occurs when a few of us get together and bring a shoe/craft box with materials for the participants to make cards. This blog entry is my teaser to my people.

Not that I wanted to be morbid, but I decided upon cards that people may not have a lot of in their stash... get well, praying for you, sympathy-type cards. I also have a growing pile pf perfectly good scraps that I tried to use as a limit. That worked fairly well, although I have to say I was not 100% "scrapped" in my creations.

Praying for You Card:

This card is mounted on a 4.25 x 5.5" SU! Basic Gray base. The next panel is a piece of textured paper in a sunflower-type color. The patterned paper is Bella Birds DSP from Stampin' Up! The sentiment (Thoughts & Prayers) and its frame (Great Friend) are also form SU! I found some very cool ribbon in my stash, and I had enough for about 4 of the cards. The others have a substitution of sheer white ribbon. I used a gray brad from Spare Parts to mount the sentiment. I used SU! Basic Gray ink and Going Gray marker.

Earth Has No Sorrow Card:

This card is mounted on a 4.25 x 5" Kraft cardstock base. The three layers of SU! DSP are punched with the SU! Scallop punch and then inked with the SU! Going Gray Marker. I think the DSP is from the SU! Spring Mini-Catalog... I can't really remember. Faux stitching was added to the top panel as well. The sentiment panel was stamped and inked in Cameo Coral using the Close as a Memory set. I then added a square piece from Tim Holz Fragments. I Mod-Podged this to a piece of the top panel of DSP, and then I cut and sanded around the sides. It is affixed using Memory Mount.

The box shown gives a little idea of a way to organize for a swap such as this. I took a cue from Karen and put most materials needed in a Ziploc bag. This helped me with knowing whether or not I had enough materials for all participants. Other, more general needs are just placed in the box. I am so excited to see what cards my buds make!