Cranking out the crafties

I have this newly acquired bad habit of proclaiming that I will be crafting, but, instead, finding 20 other things to do before I craft, and, therefore, run out of time in my day.  Well, technically, I am writing this the NEXT day (after midnight).

Today I caught up with some Move More Eat Well February printouts and such.  Then, after having this frame sit and stare at me for months, I have finally created a mantle-piece with it.  The photo I have is from Christmas 2011.  Today, I picked up some delightful yellow and gray patterned paper and decided to use it and a few other embellishments I had hanging around here and there in the craft room.  I dig it.  And I have the larger frame, also, so who knows what will come next?  I am showing a couple different angles, as the lighting at midnight is not very helpful.

OCD and the Torture of Pinterest

Here you have it, craft fans.  The reason why I don't run out and do everything I see on Pinterest: it inevitably takes me MUCH longer to do than the average human being.  Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I offer you Exhibit A:

Gotta tell ya, many parts of this fell together nicely, but none of them went together easily.  First, there was my Cricut, which I am about to violently throw against a wall.  The mats I have just do NOT want to hold cardstock, so redoing these numbers was something that occurred quite frequently.  Then, there was the issue of font. I used Jasmine, after trying George, and realized that honestly I might defect to the Silhouette, where my font choices are far more expansive because I can use the fonts on my laptop.  Then, when it finally did cut, it just wasn't clean.  I probably should be looking at a new blade before I defect completely.

After that craziness, I needed to adhere these very skinny letters.  Not sure if the Tombo adhesive will stay, but I wanted to use something I could move around.  As I look at the pic, I still am driven a little nutty by the number placement.  I wanted to make the date of our wedding stand out, and found these brads that I had from Stampin' Up!'s Hodgepodge Hardware.  You might want to click on the pic for the close-up.  They say "Genuine" on them.

Then, I was left with doing something at the bottom.  I looked through all of my fancy swirls (man, I have some cute stuff, especially chipboard).  All too big. I thought about paper punching or sewing, but it just did not work with this.  So, I opted for linen thread wrapped around the paper.  Loved it!

I thought it needed a "P"  of some sort to tie it all together.  I had these Scrabble letter stickers...how delightful that the P is 4 points, eh?  Total luck.  And the paper clip is from a different alpha set, from which I had already used the P.  I loved it.

So, then, I go to frame this sucker. Crafters reading this know what happened...the glass in no way, shape, or form wanted to work with me.  I was using some bulky accessories.  So, I left the glass off, and I am A-OK with that.  I worry about what that will do for this piece in the long haul (dust, little curious fingers, etc.), but for now, it works.

I used my 7 Gypsies easel that I bought for a completely different project to display this for now.  Perfect fit!

Here is the "pinspiration" piece:

Source: ourdailyobsessions.blogspot.com via Ginnell on Pinterest

Officially "On Crack"

For this second sketch of week 11 in Cathy Zielske's Design Your Life class, we focus on type. She discusses her attempts to match alpha stickers with her journaling font as closely as she can. She also uses size as emphasis more than differing fonts.

I started this layout with an idea. The idea was the pain I am feeling in my legs right now as a result of starting a new workout program. So, this page is an ode to my husband and I thinking we are still in our 20s. I chose the letter stickers first, and tried to revolve most of my judgments around them. The word "crack" is from a sheet by Polar Bear Press called "Rustic Retreat" cardstock stickers. I got them on sale somewhere... woo hoo! I loved the colors... there is also a red that goes with the cream and gray.

The font that I chose to go with this is Berlin Sans. I think they match up pretty well. I chose some old metallic sticko alphas (from back in the day when I believed I might do the shabby chic thing) for my year (at the top) and the words "officially on." These show up much better in person, or if you click on this image.

I was so proud that I had used almost all of a 12 x 12 piece of Tinkering Ink patterned cardstock (Seasonal Stripes - Black from the Yuletide collection). Got this on sale, too. The stripes are on the flipside of the deep green solid. I love how the colors blend with each other.

Notice how in my journaling, I keep saying, "we like it." Totally, subconsciously trying to convince myself that, if I like it, my body won't hurt that badly. Yes, "on crack."

Scrap Your Walls

We finally celebrated Christmas with the in-laws yesterday. I decided to venture into the world of framing scrapbook pages. I bought some great frames at Micahels (today they are 40% off... grrr). I knew what pics I wanted to use, but I had to think of their homes for papers and embellishments. I like how they both turned out. Similar, but slightly different, yes? I also gave them these ornaments, previously showcased on Karen's blog.

Left Frame:
Matting: Chatter Box Scrapbook Walls - Courtyard Flowers; SU! Mellow Moss cardstock
Base: Bazzill brown textured cardstock
Lettering: Basic Grey Periphery punch out letters
Brads: American Crafts copper mini brads

Right Frame:
Matting: SU! LeJardin Designer Series Paper and SU! Baroque Burgandy cardstock
Base: Bazzill (can't recall color) textured cardstock
Lettering: Cricut Alphalicious (used LeJardin paper and Baroque Burgandy cardstock for shadow)
Brads: SU! Build a Brad