A Different Paperbag Book

I was surfing and saw this video at the Following the Paper Trail blog.  Laura does a wonderful tutorial on a different type of paper bag book.  I was surfing because I was looking for some gift ideas for Christmas and her how to video gave me the idea for the mini book I made for the best friend.  Becky and I have been best friends since high school.  When the idea came to me I wanted to be able to document our lives at different points over the last 35 years.  They would be events of significance and obviously ones of both of us for which I had pictures that I could use for the book.  This is the front of the book.  Becky loves sunflowers so I chose papers from a pad of K&Company papers I had.  Susan Winget is the designer and the paper pack was Spring Blossom.   One of the pages had a bike on it with a basket of flowers where the predominant flowers were sunflowers, just what Becky likes.  By the time I cut down the paper you mostly can just see the basket in the lower left corner and the flowers that cover the front and spine.  I used a matching green leaf patterned paper for the back that coordinated with the background behind the flowers.  I used some Tim Holtz distressed inks to ink up the edges of the pages and give them that shabby chic look.  In the spine I put a grommet to thread through the chain and charms that I added.

For the cover of the book I used the inside of a file folder.  If you have worked in an office you might be familiar with them.  They are red press board file folders with brown cardboard dividers in the middle, typically two or three dividers and are bound with really strong fabric across the spine to endure much handling and many papers in the file.  We were tossing some at work because they were starting to look pretty shabby on the outside, but the inside was still in relatively good shape.  Besides, I was going to cover it all with patterned papers.  I chose to cut the edges of the cardboard insert about 1/4 to 1/2 inch larger than the edges of the paper bags.  This provided about a 1/2 inch or so wide spine to affix the paper bags to.  The pages of the book are paper lunch bags.  I had a number of embellishments, but needed to pick up some others to make the book in its final form. For the front here I used a beautiful yellow butterfly, a metal plate in the upper right corner that says Best Friends and a remember when sticker in the lower left corner.  On the four corners of the book I used some Tim Holtz metal picture corners.  They worked perfectly and will help preserve the corners of the book and keep it from wearing out too quickly.  On the front I added a pretty glass looking button and on the back a grommet through which I tied some thin matching ribbon and affixed a small brass key to the end.  I then wrapped it around the end of the book and looped it around the button to be used as the book closure.

If you visit  Following the Paper Trail you will get the exact directions for how Laura puts together the paper lunch sacks.  I found it to be a very easy tutorial to follow and I made quick work of taping down the bottoms of the bags and attaching them together.  Then I had to choose coordinating papers from the paper pack.  I tried to coordinate colors as it was mostly floral papers that I was using. 

Once I got that done I started pulling pictures.  They start with our high school graduation pictures and proceed through our weddings, baby's, class reunions, trips back and forth, Christmas family photos, and pics of us with our families.  On the inside of the cover is a small envelope with a sentiment on vellum paper.  Our class song...Friends by Elton John was printed on vellum also and mounted to the left of our senior pictures.  The next pages mirror each other with a few pics of our weddings. I tried to mirror the photos, so one of her and her attendants, one of me and my attendants...you get the idea.  You also see ribbons sticking out of the bag pockets.  I put additional pictures on card stock and then put a grommet in the end of each card and looped an organza ribbon through it.

I also found some Jolee's embellishments for graduations, weddings, babies, etc. and added those to the pages as well.  I found that the paper bag bottoms that proved to be the short pages in between the regular sized pages were great for the embellishments or sentiments.  It allowed me to use more photos on the larger pages too.  I also used lots of different stickers and sentiments as well as stamping up and inking other sayings about friends and time and fixing those on the pages.  Additionally I stuck in some bling and more butterflies, because what flower garden is complete without butterflies.  The final two pages and the last pocket were mostly pics of Becky and me through the years.  Talk about a walk down memory lane...and boy the hairstyle and clothing changes in 35 years!  Good for lots of laughs for sure.  Great memories as well!  I hope she enjoyed receiving it as much as I enjoyed putting it together.

Until next time...Imagine, Create, Enjoy!   



More Anniversary Cards

I know, I know, I'm getting a little repetitive...I've had a lot of anniversary's and romance lately!  I wanted to try my new Sizzix die that I picked up at the Scrapbook Expo a couple of weeks ago.  I hadn't seen it in the local stores and was excited to get it.  It is a Card w/Floating Frames 3-D (Pop-Up) die.  It is way cool and gives a different look for the inside of your card.  I decided to make a couple of anniversary cards with it.  Sorry for the background color, my light box and available lighting is a little off right now.

  The first one uses some of my paper from KandCompany's Susan Branch collection.  I used it for the background of the card and added my sentiment on top of solid paper in purple hues cut out with my Spellbinder's dies.  I added some bling and a sparkly ribbon in pinks to coordinate with the background paper of pinks, orangish-yellows and purple.  For the inside I used the Sizzix die to cut the floating frame out of the paper that matches the card stock used for the back of the card.  What I love about this die is the floating frames in the middle of the cut.  It folds in when the card is closed.  The die has score lines to show you where to fold the frame and you use the middle score lined up with the middle of the card as your center for mounting the floating frame inside the card.     I added solid colored lavender paper that matches the front of the card and cut it in the shape of the two floating sections.  I stamped my sentiments on them, added some bling and stamped Happy Anniversary in the lower right corner of the card.

The shot below shows a little better definition of how the floating frame part of the card works and folds in on itself. 

So I did a second card with a patterned outside and a solid inside instead of a pattern as seen above.  This one turned out nicely too!  With the solid paper on the inside of the card I think you can see the floating frame more easily.  I did it in a pearlized pink paper that matched what is on the front and stamped in purple on the floating frames.  On the front I used pearlized white on pink and stamped in purple there.



On this inside floating frame I stamped on the frame itself a little butterfly and added some bling to make it stand out.  I stamped Happy Anniversary in the lower corner of the card.

I can't wait to make some more cards with this handy little die.  It makes a unique card.  Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

More Romance

I posted some romantic cards earlier and promised a view of some more of what I sent off.  For the background of this card I used a solid red glitter card stock I had picked up to go with the craft paper from this Recollections Love Letters pad.  It is another 6 x 9 card.  For the card mounted on the front I used the corner of one of the 12 x 12 sheets from the pad with a beautifully glitter embossed flower and some swirls overlaid on music stanzas.  To make the sentiment block on the front of the card I inked up my Cuttlebug frames die and cut the block. This was my first try at inking up the die/embossing folder and I really like how it turned out.  I used Tim Holtz' Fired Brick ink.  I added the sentiment on the front along with some matching red bling on the schwoopie's.  Some of the cards I left blank inside so the sender could write their own note inside.

The next 12 x 12 sheet had this beautifully embossed word Love in the lower corner.  I used that section of the card stock and cut another 6 x 9 card.  Since the card had the word taking up the majority of the front of it I felt like it didn't require much added embellishment.  I added one large crystal bling to the end of the L schwoop and then used my SU! butterfly embosslets die to add a couple of embossed butterflies.

For this card I used the rest of the red glitter card stock for the back and the other section of the music notes paper from above.  I wrapped a gold satin ribbon threaded with a bejeweled red heart around the top of the craft card and affixed it on the back side.  I used the thank you stamp and stamped it in the small block on the faux sewn line.  It fit perfectly in the space provided!  I love it when that happens.  I then mounted the craft card on the glitter card stock.

I am really enjoying this paper stack and thoroughly loved making these cards.  I hope the recipients enjoy receiving them as much as I've enjoyed making them. 

Once again, Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Anniversary Cards

Needed some anniversary cards this month.  I had some papers from Valentine's Day so set about making a card for my BFF.  Becky and Ed celebrate their 35th anniversary this year.  I had picked up a Martha Stewart butterfly border punch and had not yet tried it out.  I started playing with it and decided that the border turned out so well that I wanted to use it on the anniversary card.  I used some pearly white card stock by Gemstones and cut it to a 6 x 9 size, scored at 4.5 inches and folded in half.  I cut the patterned paper from Little Yellow Bicycle called Love Story to fit on the 6 x 4.5 front of the card stock.  The paper had come out around Valentine's Day.  I punched the beautiful butterfly border using a pearly pink from the Gemstones paper.  I cut the tag from the Spellbinder's Nestabilities die and used my little stamp about true love stories...I added pink pearls at the top and bottom of the sentiment.  I mounted the sentiment using pop dots then cut more pop dots to mount on the butterfly border to make it stand up over the edge of the sentiment block.  To finish it off I stamped Happy Anniversary in the inside of the card and added a pretty matching pink bow with some satin edged organza ribbon from the dollar bin at Michael's.

Next up I worked on an anniversary card for my sweetie.  I used embossed craft paper from my Recollections Love Letters pad previously mentioned in my blog. I cut another 6 x 9 inch size card scored at 4.5 inches and folded in half.  I then cut one of the embossed papers from the collection to fit inside the 6 x 4.5 front of the card.  I used the Spellbinder's Nestabilities die mentioned above and stamped in horizontally with another one of my love stamps.  Since I was working with red embossing on the craft paper, I stamped the sentiment in red and then inked around the edges of the sentiment tag; at the top of the sentiment I added light grey pearls.  I used a pearly grey Gemstones paper and cut a butterfly border for the bottom of the sentiment.  I used pop dots to lift it over the bottom edge of the sentiment.  To finish it off, I added a sparkly red ribbon bow to the front and stamped Happy Anniversary inside the card.  Happy 30th Anniversary dear!

I think they both turned out very nicely.  Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Romantic Kraft Cards

A few weekends ago I was browsing Michael's aisles and found this wonderful kraft card paper pad from Michael's Recollections line of supplies.  It is called Love Letters.  It has some beautifully embossed papers that are wonderful for making Valentine's cards or love notes for your spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, well you get the idea.  I decided to make this as a gift for someone so will only share a couple of them here.  I'll share the rest once I've sent them off...so stay tuned.  This paper for the first card was patterned with writing and flowers, music, etc.  Additionally it had these two pretty birds perched on the front and they were overlaid with a burnished copper embossing.  I found the beautiful matching ribbon in the Thanksgiving decorations at Michaels on sale and knew it was a perfect match.  The other nice thing about the paper pad is it had two page of tags/embellishments in it.  The tag across the bottom is one of them.  It is kind of hard to see, but it is raised with foam stickies, it says For My Love in the same burnished copper and I stamped a love sentiment next to it in copper.

For the second card, I chose to highlight the perfect block on the left side of the page and use it as my sentiment location.  In the lower left corner there are two flowers that are embossed with a glittery red as is the word Love and the No. 206.  I used my Martha Stewart embossed heart punch and punched a small red glitter embossed heart for the upper right corner of the box and used the Butterflies Sizzlet from SU! to add a butterfly in the lower right corner.  Then to finish it off, I stamped the love sentiment you see in the box in red and added a glittery red ribbon from my Christmas ribbon stash.

I can't say enough about this paper pack.  It is really wonderful and has some beautiful patterns and embossing on it.  Check it out the next time you're in Michael's!  Great for making Love Notes for your sweetie!

See you next time.  Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Gift Sets

Earlier this spring my co-worker Tamara asked me to make her a prayer journal gift set for the ladies retreat at her church.  She wanted to give it as a raffle gift at the retreat.  She wanted a really pretty prayer journal so we set off on a lunch hour for a Jo Ann's supply run.  She found this beautiful set of papers from KandCompany, their Susan Winget Botanical Speciality Paper Pad. I found the matching stickers and other dimensional embellishments so we were all set!  The first picture is the Prayer Journal.  I pulled two of the beautiful floral papers from this pad and trimmed them down to fit the journal.  On the top I added some of dimensional stickers including one of the word Faith.  I had some pretty pink satin ribbon in my stash and for the tag on the front I cut an oval shape on my Cricut.  I believe it was from Merry Tags cartridge.

I printed on an off-white piece of card stock the words Prayer Journal, cut it in a smaller oval shape using my Creative Memories oval shape cutter and mounted that on the pink tag and added some more of the dimensional stickers along with some pearl bling.  I then hooked a small heart clip through the tag opening and tied it on in a bow with the ribbon that was tied around the front cover of the prayer journal.
Since this was for a raffle gift I wanted to make a complete package so with the scraps I had left I made the small matching notebook that you see here.  I used the same matching satin ribbon and I punched a heart tag with my Creative Memories heart punch.  I punched a grommet hole and added a pink grommet, threaded it with white cotton cord, stamped the word notes and glittered it up.  I added a small butterfly sticker to mirror the one on the notebook and three pink pearls above the word notes.  I also added a little dimensional sticker to the bottom of the notebook.

And finally, with the remaining scraps from the two original 12 x 12 papers that I started with, I made some clothes pin magnets.  I originally saw this idea over at Scrappin Cat's blog here.  I loved the fact that it was such a great way to use up scraps from your paper projects.  In this instance it worked perfectly to complete this gift set. The embellishments I had for this project had some great small ones, butterflies and dragonflies that were the perfect size to fit on the magnets.  To showcase the magnets and keep them all together, I copied Cathy's idea of mounting them on card stock.  I used plain white for the background and embossed the paper with a pretty swirls Cuttlebug embossing folder.  I then used some of the remaining scraps from the project and made a topper and the band that the pins are anchored on.  I then enclosed the whole thing in a cellophane envelope.  Here they are.

And finally, the complete set ready for the raffle. 

Hope to see you again soon!  Until then, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Christmas Mini Clipboard

While in the Dollar Store over the weekend I was wandering around, after picking up what I'd gone in for, and happened upon these little 6" x 8" clipboards.  I thought it would make a really cute gift idea...didn't know what exactly but picked it up to give it a try.  Today I took a vacation day to extend the long weekend just to play and craft, and so decided to work on the clipboard.  I pulled out different paper pads, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with it.  Well with Christmas approaching, my mind is on what to do for Christmas gifts.  So...I marched over to my paper stash and grabbed my Christmas paper pads from last year and started leafing through them.  I found this cute paper in my DCWV Winter Wonder paper pad and got started.  I chose the patterned paper with the polar bear because I thought it was cute and appropriate for the person I'm thinking of gifting this to.  I cut it down to size for the front of the board and on the back side I used one of the other silver and white sparkly snowflake papers from the same package cut down to size.  After adhering the paper to the front and back, I took 1/8" wide blue ribbon edge with silver that I picked up last Christmas from Michael's and adhered it all the way around the edge of the board.  When I had picked up the Winter Wonder paper at Jo Ann's, I had also found a package of matching stickers and embellishments to go with the paper.  I pulled some of those from the package and added to the back of the board.  I also added some Jolee's snowflake embellishments with bling and added some additional blue bling I had in my stash. At the top of the board on the clamp, I added two pieces of silver ribbon on each side of clamp.  To finish it up I added a small pad of plain card stock stamped with Christmas words in the lower right corner.  On top of that I tied a small framed Christmas sentiment "May the magic of Christmas be yours this season."  I cut the frame using my Cuttlebug fancy tags die and threaded it with 1/8" white with silver edges ribbon and tied it around the clamp, centering it over the small notes. 

Since I had leftover paper from the front and back of the clipboard, I used the other side of the polar bear paper to create a small matching photo book.  It it is very simple, I had two good corners of the original paper left with snowflakes, so cut those down to a 5 3/4" x 4" front and back cover.  For the inside pages of the book I used some matte silver card stock which I cut down to 5 1/2" x 3 1/2" wide.  I didn't add embellishments to the pages as I didn't want to limit what the recipient could do with the book.  On the outside I added the Let It Snow sticker and a Jolee's snowflake with some bling.  I punched two holes in the left side of the book and used snowflake brads for the holes.  I then added a couple of rings through the brads and covered them with ribbon in blue and silver.  To make the book a little more sturdy, I used my EKSuccess corner punch to punch some corner reinforcements from the silver snowflake paper used on the back of the board.  I then used them on all of the corners, front and back, inside and outside.  Once pictures are added to the book I'm sure it will stand up nicely.

Finally, the finished product with the plain stamped card stock in the middle of the clipboard under the framed sentiment.  All in all, I'm satisfied with the finished product and will probably pick up a few more of these dollar gems to do up some more Christmas gifts.

Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Sizzix

Last Christmas I used some gift cards I received and purchased a Sizzix machine.  I've played with it here and there, but nothing serious until this past weekend.  I've been seeing a lot of cards with embossed layers and find they are beautiful, fun and unique!  I needed a birthday card for my friend so last Sunday my sole purpose was to use my Sizzix and come up with something pretty!  I think I've succeeded!!  This first card is my friends birthday card.  I used one of my Sizzix folders (didn't write the name on it and threw away the packaging!) and chose a pale blue for embossing.  I added a darker blue background as contrast.  I then pulled some ribbon from my stash.  It has wired edges and is actually a series of variegated purple hues, but I think it went quite well with the blue card stock.  I added a lavender butterfly with some bling in the upper right corner using my SU! Butterflies Embossing Sizzlet. On the bottom right I used my Cricut to cut my sentiment piece and background, then inked, stamped, blinged up and mounted my sentiment.  I added a matching sentiment inside on white card stock. 

Next I played with the Allegro Cuttlebug folder.  I love music, if there isn't a movie I'm watching while crafting, the music is on!  This card stock was a kind of rustic red or country red.  I mounted it on a cream card stock.  I liked the look and decided to make it a little elegant with some gold ribbon along the edge.  I cut a sentiment block with my Cricut out of cream and added a pretty sentiment with a butterfly in the corner from one of my stamp sets with a touch of bling on the butterfly and along the bottom of the sentiment.  I inked up the edges with the Tim Holtz Fired Brick ink pad.  I left the inside blank so the sender can write a personalized note.

This card is a birthday card, with the flowery look to it I'm thinking it's a girl's card.  I used the Happy Birthday Cuttlebug folder with a burgundy colored card stock mounted on white.  I add a sentiment square in white card stock in the lower right corner with a small stamped flower and some matching bling. I then added some flowers in the upper left corner with a heart brad in the middle and a little bling on top.  The inside is stamped with Happy Birthday.

Finally, I did a thank you card using the Thanks Cuttlebug folder and burgundy card stock, again on white.   Using the Tim Holtz small rosette die, I added a mini paper rosette on the front with a gold patterned paper from the DCWV Tradewinds paper stack.  I think it punches up the burgundy a little and gives it some dimension.  Inside I stamped "thanks a million and added a schwoopie in the lower right corner with a little bling.  I stamped it with Tim Holtz Fired Brick ink. 

I think I'll be using my Sizzix a lot more in the future!  Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

New Baby Card

I recently attended a baby shower for a friend and former co-worker.  She is expecting her first child, and she knows it is going to be a boy.  I wanted to make the card for the gift but struggled with what/how to make it.  I was flipping through my Cricut books looking for an idea and came across this idea.  It uses the Graphically Speaking Cricut cartridge and actually turned out quite nicely.  Sometimes it's hard to know how to pull some of the different elements together into a nice card, at least I struggle with this.  The idea was in the front of the book, the sample they give in every book and I just went with it.  I had recently purchased some "boy" papers for a project, K&Company's Hopscotch Boy 12 x 12 pad, and pulled one of them for the background paper, a mixture of blues, ivory, and greens. The plain card stock I pulled from my stash, a pretty sky blue, a light olive green and an ivory color. I used an olive ribbon I had on hand as well.  I then followed the directions from the cartridge booklet almost to the letter.  I used my Xyron to add adhesive to the frame and to the baby stroller and the word precious.  Love that Xyron!

The only difference in my design was my selection of the word for the front of the card.  The example showed the jumbled word innocent and I chose the word precious.  It turned out really precious!  I then added an appropriate stamped sentiment inside.  Since it was for a boy, I resisted the urge to add some bling.  Here it is.  It is definitely a card design I would repeat.  In fact I can see some very dainty girl cards in pinks, purples, maybe some yellows!  Until next time!

Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Scrap Birthday Cards

These scrap cards have been in the works for a little while.  I had seen the banner idea in a card making magazine earlier in the spring.  I wanted to recreate it and here is my attempt.  I've added two small brads at the corners and used sewing thread as the string to hang the Party banner.  I then stamped the birthday wishes on the front of the card and added another birthday wish inside.

The second card started out as another banner card attempt but I changed my mind once I started working with it.  The scraps are leftovers from another project and I used part of the patterned paper with the sentiment in the lower right corner of the card.  I stamped the Happy Birthday on the matching pink cardstock and added some pink pearls underneath it.  Inside I stamped a different birthday wish.

Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Mini Covered Note Books

I have shared here before a smaller covered note book that I made as a gift for a co-worker as part of a matched set.  Well I picked up a stash of these mini notebooks at the dollar store and in my quest to use up my abundance of paper scraps, I spent some time on these little books this weekend.  These all have themed Christmas papers, leftover scraps from the larger organizer's I made last year before Christmas.  I thought these would be great little gifts.  They are the perfect size to fit in a purse or a pocket and the perfect size to jot notes or make grocery or shopping lists or keep your different lists of your craft supplies in.  I attached the patterned paper to the front and back of the books and added a small tag to the front of each book and labeled it notes.  I secured them to each booklet with a coordinating thin ribbon from my ribbon stash.  I've also added a little bling to each one as well.  I think I'll donate these to my friend at church for her fundraiser for stroke awareness.

Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Scrap Cards

Since moving again this last June, I have struggled to find time to craft.  Partially due to our son having moved in with us, we have down sized once again, and the main factor: I'm still getting unpacked.  We've unpacked the majority of our stuff...but since downsizing we have a smaller space, about 300 ft. smaller and my son is now living in what is supposed to be my craft room.  This weekend though, I pushed him out of his room and out of the house, set up my craft table, and set to work.

I've been trying to use up scraps and had started a couple of different cards.  This set are general notecards in a Disney themed set.  I used the paper scraps from the patterned Disney papers and matched them up with red, black, and yellow.  I used a side open orientation and a standing orientation on the cards.  I also used a decorative border punch to add a little variety to one of the cards.  I have a Mickey head punch and used that to spruce up the cards and as my signature spot on the back of the cards.  I added white cardstock inside and left them all blank inside so the recipient can use and personalize them as they see fit.

I then made a card holder with bright yellow paper and one of the other Disney patterns mounted on the top.  I added bling on the corner which is a little jeweled Mickey head in red and used some Mickey grommets for the edges of the folder to add ties for the folder.  The folder holds five note cards and five envelopes.  I chose not to label the outside which will allow the recipient to reuse it for anything they want.

Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Well, not exactly a chicken dinner, but I did win some free stuff!!! Love free stuff!  Over on the Everyday Cricut blog site they celebrated their two-year blogaversary last week with product giveaways every day!  All you had to do to participate in the drawings was to post a comment each day; easy enough...but you know, you look at those contests and the number of entries they receive and you figure you probably won't win anything!  At least that's what I figure, you know, like winning the lottery, the more people who enter, the lower your chances of winning.   So, when I opened my email this morning and was reading through today's blog entry, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I had won the drawing for Day 2 last week.  My prize, five, count them five new stamp sets from Creative Time! I can't wait to get my new stamps and use them.  They have such cute stamps, a little retro, but so applicable and up to date!  Thank's to Melanie and Joy and Everyday Cricut!  Love your stuff! 

Father’s Day Gift

I know, I know…Father’s Day was last month; however, we celebrated a little late this year so we could gift this particular item to my husband Rich while all the kids were here in town this past weekend.

Back in May my co-worker Jayne gifted me for my birthday this lovely bargain bag package we had seen at one of the local stamp stores.  They were having a sidewalk sale and we had gone over to check it out one Saturday morning.  I must admit here that I passed over this particular item because of the way it was packaged.  I also didn’t see the Dad board book in the packages I looked at.  The papers are all by BoBunny from their Cambridge Collection.  There were also some dimensional as well as conventional stickers in the same line.  The line reminds me of King Arthur and the knights.  While looking at the paper my mind immediately went to children dressing up as knights, etc., so I passed up picking the package up.  I wasn’t thinking outside the box on this particular day!  Well, when at work the next week I saw the packet Jayne had picked up and the Dad board book in it, I was bummed I had not spent more time searching through the packets at the store.  I could immediately see that I wanted to make a gift for my hubby that would be from the kids for Father’s Day.  Jayne had bought extra kits for her stash and graciously gifted me one for my birthday.  I was off and running.

 

With four children I wanted to make a book that would reflect the kids and their relationships with their Dad.  I added a page or two in plain double-sided card stock in between the cardboard letters and came up with enough pages for each kid to have a page of their own.  I also went back in my picture stash and pulled pictures of each kid as an infant or toddler.  I then paired those pictures with a current picture of each child.  Additionally, I added some group pics throughout the years as well as some individual shots of each kid with their Dad.

Finally, I asked each of the kids to come up with 2 or 3 things they loved about their Dad.  I then took 3 of each of their statements, printed them on a linen colored paper and inked up the edges to give it an antiqued look.  Those statements filled one of the pages. 

He couldn’t finish reading it when we gave it to him…I think I saw a tear glinting in his eye!  I think it was a hit.

Until next time!

Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Motorcycle Bag

Recently my neice gifted me with a book bag she had made with fabric scraps she inherited when my Mom, her Grandma passed away.  I was so impressed with the bag I asked her to make one for my co-worker Jayne for her birthday.  Jayne and her hubby Jim ride motorcycles, Harley Davidson motorcycles to be exact, so do my neice Teri and her husband Dan.  I knew she would be able to make what I was looking for because she had the practical experience and knowledge of Harley Davidson's and would be able to get the dimensions for the bag down.  Jayne loves bling.  She is the Queen of Bling (love ya, Jayne!) and she is the first to admit it. I wanted something that Jayne could put in the buckets on the bike, so it had to be functional as well as cute.  I think Teri exactly captured what I wanted in this bag.

It has a quilted solid bottom in a grey-black color and patterned sides with pink pockets on the outside.  The patterned fabric is Betty Boop on her motorcycle.  She coordinated the colors on the outside and added bling to the pockets and the outsides of the bag.  This pocket is a double pocket, one next to the outside of the bag and under the striped flap is another pocket.  Teri also added a coordinating purple pink fabric around the top of the bag. It has a zippered top and shoulder handles.  The shoulder handles go down the sides of the bag next to the pockets on each side.

Inside fabric

Inside pockets







The inside of the bag is a different patterned fabric, again Betty Boop on her motorcyle but it is in black and white with pink outlined hearts.  Teri used the striped fabric used on the outside pocket to make a series of pockets around the inside bottom of the bag.  All in all I think it turned out fabulous and Jayne seems to like it which is the important part.    

Thanks for stopping by today.  Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Graduation Cards – Part 2

So after I completed the previous post I whipped up this little graduation cap in my neice Natalie's school colors.  Here is the one I did for her. 

This is what it looks like when closed, I used embroidery thread for the tassel and attached it with a black brad.  I had these graduation stickers so I cut down the strip with the caps and diplomas to fit on the bottom which you can see when you first take the card out of the envelope.  Once you open up the hat you see the following:

I folded it back so you could see the full length of the card.  On the inside of cap I stamped You Rock! and Celebrate.  On the bottom half of the card I added Graduate and Congratulations.  The stickers on the bottom half of the card have pop dots behind them to add dimension.  These graduation caps were actually very easy and quick to do up.

When I started making graduation cards this weekend I had the cap idea in my head for the cards, and found the great idea/tutorial noted in my previous post.  I had also been kicking around how I could make a card that was shaped like a graduation gown.  I had some Jolee’s Stickers graduation embellishments that I could have just thrown together with plain card stock and would have produced a nice little card, but I wanted something more.  I mulled it around for a while and kept looking at the embellishments and decided to do some free-hand drawing.  Now mind you, I have never considered myself to be an artist.  In fact that would be the least likely word I would use to describe myself, but artistic I became.  I freehand drew the likeness of the graduation gown from the Jolee’s package onto card stock.  


 I used that as my pattern and traced it on to the light blue cardstock.  Since my niece will graduate from UCLA I wanted to use their school colors and I also wanted the gown to have that sheen associated with finer materials.  I chose a solid matte finish Bazzil light blue card stock and cut the card out, but I wanted to add dimension to the front of the card so it would look like the folds on an actual gown.  I traced the front of the gown onto copy paper, cut it out, and traced it onto Bazzil’s line of shiny papers.  After cutting it out I proceeded to cut it apart, into the individual pieces for the front of the gown.  I also wanted to add in the UCLA yellow on the gown somewhere, so I cut a V shaped insert to go around the neckline and then layered the shiny blue bodice part over it.  To achieve the dimension for the flow of the gown on the front I set the outside folds directly onto the solid blue card stock and then the next two folds on each side I used pop dots to bring them up off the card stock background.  For the middle fold I used fatter pop dots to make it stand up just a bit higher than the sides. 

When you open up the gown I have mirrored the yellow from the collar for the inside of the card. 

Then to add a nice finish I used my Cricut machine to cut the UCLA letters in yellow and ran through my Xyron to apply adhesive and put on the bottom of the front of the gown.  I think my niece will enjoy it! 



Thanks for coming by…hope to see you again soon!  If you’d like to let me know what you think of my creation, feel free to leave a comment!  Imagine, Create, Enjoy!