Jawhol, Mein Kommandant!

My crafting buddy and all-around pal, Ann, and our dealer, um, demonstrator, Karen, and I were joking about giving each other challenges.  Or so I thought.  Ann was bemoaning that, while searching for a challenges,  she found many ways to spend her crafting dollars.  Thus, the challenges joviality began.

So I told her, my clean and simple friend, to create a card with at least 3 layers and 3 embellishments.  She threw in that she would do that AND make it a masculine card!  Well, she whipped that challenge off pretty quickly.  My challenge from her: pink.  I had to use pink.  I rarely use pink (except I sure did use it for a little six year old's birthday card just last week, but did I take a photo?  Why no, I did not.).  Then, the day after we discussed this challenge, CAS-ual Fridays announced this week's challenge: to use pink in honor of National Pink Day (Saturday).  Oh my.  All roads were leading to pink.  

It is my last, YES LAST, week of taking two classes at the same time (insanity).  I have two papers due this week.  Yes, that's right, time to procrastinate.  While doing very important business on Facebook and Pinterest, I get a wall post...a demand that my challenge be tended to, by--yes--Ann.  Suddenly, I am flashed back to one of my dad's favorite shows, Hogan's Heroes, where Sgt. Shultz (shown right) is known for his buffoonery and his cheery and bellowing, "Jawhol, Mein Kommandant!" to his leader, Col. Klink.  So, for you, "Mein Krafty Kommandant," here is my pink card.

I first started with patterned paper, as I figured that's where I could sneak in some pink.  I found this sheet from SEI that had pink as an accent color.  I saw a very cute scrapbook page design today using circles, but they were hand cut and full of whimsy, and I was not feeling that way, so I used circle punches.  {A side note: holy cow, do I have a large amount of circle punches!}  I decided to ink up my PTI Signature Greetings set and I wanted to do two colors of the "So Sweet of You."  That was interesting.  The SU! Pretty in Pink marker did not want to work well with that, but Baroque Burgundy did.  So,I ended up using the Pretty in Pink stamp pad and coloring over the "of You" with a marker.  I am not 100% in love with the sentiment treatment.  I was going to stamp in white without a panel, but I wanted to add that one more kick of pink.  I did an accordion fold above the sentiment panel.  If I could work my sewing machine, I would have added some stitches to that for good measure.  

So there you have it, a circuitous explanation (ha! get it?) of a pretty simple card.  Thank you for reading this far.  Challenge complete! :)  Now, back to my comfort zone...

Happy Father's Day

Bittersweet. Every year. Happy Father's Day to all fathers! This is the card for my hubs this year.

Obviously June

As of late, I have been enveloped in all things related to School Law and School Finance, the two classes I am attempting to simultaneously juggle.  However, necessity is the mother of creative time, and it's June.  Those who have followed this blog know that June is a big month as far as cards are concerned.  Many birthdays, Father's Day, my anniversary... you get the picture.

I shall start on a somber note.  The following card from Cheryl Ann Robinson...

was a pin on Pinterest.  I used it as the inspiration for this card...

created almost entirely of Stampin' Up! products.  My card was made in response to the sudden death of a co-worker of my husband and her six-year-old daughter in a car accident last week.  It is things like these that remind you how very precious life is, and that none of us is guaranteed the next breath.  

The white cardstock is Papertrey Ink, and I will strongly advise you that if you plan to use an embossing folder of any type, Papertrey's white cardstock is a must.  It's heavy enough to withstand the embossing and still be a fairly sturdy card.  Using SU!'s white cardstock, I would probably emboss, but glue a panel to a card base, as the embossing folder will substantially weaken the cardstock.  I used SU!'s Square Lattice folder for Big Shot with my Cuttlebug.  I used SU!'s wide satin ribbon in Chocolate Chip, which I am not sure they make anymore, but it is one of my favorite ribbons to work with.  I used Kraft ink for the sentiment (SU! Close as a Memory) and Close to Cocoa for the inside (SU! Thoughts and Prayers). Clicking on the photos will give you a closer view of the sentiments.  I used my Cuttlebug and a Spellbinders die (no idea which one!) for the cardstock shape for the sentiment.  I used Tacky Tape to adhere the ribbon treatment and a pop dot to adhere the sentiment to the ribbon.  I loved the simplicity of this.

On a lighter note, the hubs turns 47 tomorrow.  Woo hoo!  Here's his birthday card:

You might be asking yourself, "What's up with Edward hanging out back there?"  Well, the gift was from my Secret Santa a couple years ago when I was in a deep Edward phase.  My girlfriends and I used to discuss how it really wasn't Edward himself, but was the concept of an Edward that was appealing in the Twilight books.  Someone who would do anything to protect and save.  Someone whom you felt would love you in a way that transcends the normal "human" thing.  My card was misbehaving and would not stand up for the photo, so I enlisted Edward's help.

I had a little starter help from my dealer, Karen, with this one.  At some point, she had a Stamp-A-Stack or something that involved the patterned paper and the colors/layers, as I had them around in a Ziploc bag awaiting the right card.  Today was the day!  I then put some marker ink (SU! Brilliant Blue and Almost Artichoke) on some long neglected stamps (SU! Patterned Party and Bring on the Cake).  I topped it off with a few twists of Baker's Twine (red...what a departure for me!), and voila!  Birthday card for the man!

Two cards in one day.  Sigh.  I went through the new SU! catalog today and was greatly inspired and excited.  Now all I need are 26-hour days, and I will be set!

Challenge 4: Baker's Twine

Definitely a challenge to use baker's twine.  I like the look of it, I am just not always adept at how to make it work well in crafting without it saying, "Oh look!  I used baker's twine!!"  I dig subtle.

I have had these "Max-isms" written down for a while.  Ignatius and I added a few from 2012 as well.  This Jenni Bowlin paper was super easy to write on, and, as a teacher, I loved that it was handwriting paper.  I stitched baker's twine on the side of the journaling.  I also used to to seemingly anchor the photo to the page.  Digging the Thickers, as always, and it's been a long time since I did a picture framed with several layers.

Page Deux

This page comes from the "Reflection" challenge of the Creative Crop.  For those keeping score...it did not take me hours...I had some family/nap time in between.

This is a page of the 8.5 x 11" variety.  My photo is of my page hanging from my Ikea display rack.  I love it, and it is so underutilized!  I really love the concept of displaying scrapbook pages for a bit rather than stuffing them in a book and forgetting about them for a while.

 And here's a bit closer, for those who might wish to read the journaling and see the elements.

Love the Amy Tangerine Thickers, as well as the Echo Park letter stickers.  Yellow and gray (tones) are quickly becoming a staple of mine, too.  So cheery!  

Creative Crop begins

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!  This year, I am consciously trying to mark the event by participating in the Creative Crop sponsored by Big Picture Scrapbooking.  Here is my contribution for Challenge #2 (there's a challenge offered every hour by some of the big names in the biz).  Ali Edwards presented this challenge, which allowed me to make a page I had been thinking about for a while regarding Ignatius and running.  The challenge was to compare/contrast a photo from a few years back to a photo from today.

I chose a pic from a 2006 Fun Run and one from Ignatius's first high school track meet.  I really like how it turned out, although the asymmetry was challenging for me, that's for sure.  I had seen and worked a little with pages that have a lot of white space, so I thought I would give it a whirl.  I love the bingo card, because it had both of the ages from the photos that I stamped in blue.  I framed the page (textured SU! 12 x 12 cardstock) with some twine.  The paper ribbon that says Saints is paper that I bought at The Scrapbooking Studio.  I love that they have papers for the local schools.  The sticker "In the blink of an eye..." was from a package I got from my secret Santa this year.  I also placed the years of the photos in Thickers.  On to some other challenges.  If you have a chance, check them out.  It's free and there are prizes.  Plus you have more than just today to complete them.

Strength: February's Edition

February came and went.  I had in my head what I needed to do for the One Little Word album, but had not gathered and printed.  Lucky for me, Ali makes these months intentionally simple.  I did not feel like I would not be able to catch up.  So, here's the spread (a little grainy for whatever reason):

We were asked to focus on images that related to our one little word.  We came up with nine smaller images and one larger image.  Although the scrapbook does not require explanation (again, intentionally), I shall explain for the inquiring minds, starting with the upper left photo.

Upper left: Ignatius at a Cross Country meet in Fairbury.  He is in pain and coming in dead last.  But he finished.  He persevered.  That's strength.

Upper center: Scott and I.  I used this photo for my/our Move More Eat Well album.  Basically, it comes down to this: We must be strong for each other.  When one is weak, the other must kick in.  We must balance.  Our family stability requires it.  A symbol that relying on someone is not a sign of weakness, but rather, of strength.

Upper right: The running ladies.  All of us comes with our different histories and our different roles.  That day, I ran the first 5K in under 40 min. that I have run in years.  It was Sally's first 5K.  The run was the Autism Run, which represents a whole additional level of strength needed in my life.

Middle left: That is Ignatius.  Breaking a board.  With his foot.  The innocent bystander might think that such a task requires physical strength.  To a degree, it does.  It's also about practice and hitting the board at just the right spot with the right part of your foot.  As I stood there with my camera, I had my doubts as to whether it would happen.  Then, the camera and the break snapped at the same time.  Serendipity.  

Center: An ice storm in Central IL.  Ice storms always make my trees bend and look like they are bowing to God.  Love the symbolism.  Who else can make a tree bow?

Middle right: Max decided he wanted to climb the rock wall at the Irish Pumpkin Festival.  No fear, no second thoughts, despite the fact that I was soooo nervous.  He did not make it all the way up, but he sure did try.  Inner and outer strength was evident on this day.

Lower left: Ignatius' Confirmation night, with his godmother and grandmother.  Each of them is a multi-layered symbol of strength.  The sacrament of Confirmation bestows the seven gifts of the spirit in symbolic ways.  Fortitude is my favorite gift of the spirit.  Moral courage.  Ignatius wondered why he didn't feel differently after his Confirmation.  Little did he know that, just like the characters in the Wizard of Oz, he had the seven gifts.  Each of them is realized in its own way.  Ignatius is always the bearer of what is "supposed" to be.  He points out right and wrong.  While that can be an annoying trait of his Asperger's, I think most people (including me) are annoyed because we know he is right and what we are doing at the time, well, isn't.  

Lower center: Max and Dad.  Symbolic of my husband's strength to be the father my kids need.  Their autism pushes him out of his comfort zone at times.  It requires each day to be handled in a different way.  Nothing is for certain, and nothing is consistent, except we must he ready for inconsistency.  Takes a strong man to stay and not walk away.  He will do anything for the kids.

Lower right: Ignatius at Scout Camp.  That photo was snapped on Family Night.  Scout Camp was the first time he was ever away from us for a week with neither of us with him, no cell phone...and he was on depression meds for his anxiety.  I was so proud of him. He hated it, but he made it through.  And he learned that camping was not his gig.

Larger photo: Planking, Plato-style.  This photo represents my quest for physical and emotional strength.  When holding a plank, the entire time, I am tensing my core and telling my body, "If you don't plan to hold yourself up, whom do you think will?"  I just felt that would be the best shot representing many ideas central to my one little word.

In March we are charged with something a bit simpler.  More to follow!  I have to print some things off for Move More Eat Well!