Mojo329

This week slipped away from me...I just completed my Mojo Monday card this morning... which would be Thursday... hmm... been a little busy. However, the crafting must go on.

I was able to create a card using the papers that I've been working with for my friend's daughter's baby shower.

My new E2 internal alphabet cartridge has a beautiful doily in it so I cut it out on the Cricut.

On my first try I am embossed it with and black embossing powder, but then decided that the chestnut embossing powder would go with the papers better, so I redid it.
I used a favorite Stampin ' Up stamp from the retired Illuminations set and a Martha Stewart border punch. 
Not a complicated card. I could easily change up this sketch for other purposes.
Thanks for visiting today!

WOYWW#242

I'm a little late today but it's still Wednesday here, so I've just made it.

A pennant for baby...following the cowgirl theme. (ps - the invitations are done on another post).

I figured a mini-banner was PERFECT for the baby shower!!

The  Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge has shapes that fit the chipboard banner. They were easy to cut and have layers that coordinate. The scalloped circles are also on the cartridge, and the letters are in the Cricut alphabet cartridge that came with the E2. I think I'm loving my new Christmas toy.  I never thought I would make a banner, much less one that coordinated. I don't think I will sign up for the Cricut craft room, though.  It seems like too much work and some part of the creativity is getting away from the computer.

I didn't like all the brown pieces so I cut some coordinating pink (which I selected last week).  You could make this banner easily without the pre-cut chipboard kit that I got from CTMH. I wish I could just have hours to work on the project non-stop.  Durn work, laundry and cooking dinner. LOL.

So, in its halfway state, this is on my workdesk today. I think it will be so cute!!   

Now the shower-committee wants a menu for the lunch at the winery, so I'll be busy this week!

Have a great rest of the week and have fun on the WOYWW blog hop!

Cowgirl Baby Shower

The invitations are complete!  I made 37 of them. One I kept for myself, and I created a generic example without personal or location information to protect my friends.
The flat 5x7 card is heat-embossed with pink glitter powder. 

I may never de- glitterize my craft area :).

I used CTMH Paisley Perfect stamps with Versamark ink. The layered center is die cut on my Cricut using a shape in the CTMH Artiste cartridge at 3.75" for the brown,  3.5" for the pink and 3.25" for the white.

The flourished boot came with the internal Alphabet cartridge in my new Cricut E2.

I created the invitation words layout on my computer and printed them on white cardstock. It took a little while to position the words correctly on the Cricut mat, but once I got it lined up with test sheets it was easy to do 40. I always cut a few extras for mishaps.

So here is the final product (with generic information) ...drum roll....

WOYWW#241

Good morning!!!! Today's WOYWW post is unusually long and provides a backstory :)

 

Do you notice ANYTHING?

Of course you do....

I cleaned ALL areas of my extended workdesk! Yay! 

I cleaned not only my "original" desk...but the extension table for group work AND my stamping tables. Impressive, no?

I was in such danger of being buried under the piles of projects...and due to some ahem...comments. So that was my Friday night project.

Yes, I know...the real what's on my worksdesk this morning is coming up in a few pictures.   Today's post is LOADED with pics!

The cleanup was good because I was ready to get started on putting together the baby shower invitations that I previously posted. 

The Baby Cowgirl Invitation Sample

The new mom selected the pink glitter Paisley background on a deep chocolate brown. 

Coordinating Paper Selection - See the Paisley Perfect Stamps in the bottom right corner?

My dear friend came over with her mother.

We worked on her daughter's baby shower invitation and due to the cleanup, we had plenty of room to work. Before we started [Sunday], I was selected some coordinating papers for the mini-banner.  I quickly put all of the papers to the side and we commenced invitation making.

WHAT IS ON MY DESK THIS MORNING.

I taught great-grandma-to-be how to use the Cricut. She cut out the pieces while mom cut the paisley background paper and card bases.  Then Mom and I stamped and embossed. We finished 36 base cards before they left on Sunday.  We were still playing with the layout a bit, adding a ribbon bow and perhaps a stamped rope on the right side of the wording layer.  We'll see how it turns out in the end.

With the complicated parts done, now its just assembling the little boots and the backgrounds for the actual invitation wording.

You can see all the little pieces ready to go in my "parts tray". 

And the left corner is the sleeve of my robe this morning. LOL.

I will finish tonight. 

Side note:

Boot Parts Awaiting Assembly

I saved some portabella mushroom grocery trays to hold Cricut pieces when I am working a project.  Using trays also lets me tote the pieces into the living room if I prefer to watch TV with DH and continue assembling the pieces, rather than being downstairs in the basement.

The Boot - Cut from the Cricut E2. 
Not glued together straight yet, just stacked for right now.

Wording Layers awaiting assembly

Thank you for stopping by and hanging in there for the whole post.  Check out my fellow WOYWW at The Stamping Ground...I'm off to work!

MOJO328 - Sew Special

For today's sketch, I selected one of my CTMH stamps, but wanted to use it with a different paper. The SOTM is Cross-stitch Wishes. 

I used a card base out of my new Paper Studios box'o'cards. I chose a matching navy cardstock for layering and dry embossed it. Of course, with sewing items I had to use the Tim Holtz tape measure embossing folder for a little texture.  I layered that with *matching* Paper Studios patterned paper. Why did I say *matching*? Well, I went to my paper shelf in search of a good sewing type paper, and viola...there it was, the paper stack that coordinates with the card bases I received last month for Christmas.

[Now I know I have too much paper. ]

I put a little tiny piece of washi tape on the patterned layer, then stamped the sew special box in Pacifica ink. Cute, but then I decided the card was too blue, so I stamped it again in SU Real Red. My mother-in-law's pinking shears put a perfect edge on the layer. (Now I feel guilty for using high quality sewing scissors on paper. My mother raised me to know better). 

A little ribbon and a button tied with WeRMemories twine finished the card. 

It took a little longer than I thought it would.  That's why I generally think the patterned card bases are harder to create from. It's usually too hard for me to select papers for the best effect. I just got lucky with having the coordinating stack. 

I think this card also illustrates that you can use any company's stamps with any other products and have a beautiful finished product.

Thank you for stopping by and have a great week!

WOYWW#240

Well...between the deep freeze, snow, working from home and proposal deadlines (worked 12 hrs yesterday),  what's on my work desk is a mess. I'll show the big mess today...so embarrassing!  I seem to have migrated off of my wood work table onto my extension table -- must be expanding to fill the space! 

I was happily crafting away on my Mojo Monday card yesterday before work and made this huge mess on top of my baby shower invitations parts. 

But that's okay, because that just means that I still have Valentine pieces - scattered and in the black "parts tray" that I can use to put together more cards!! And the bonus is that it's all still at my fingertips!

LOL! 

{That's one way of looking at it that doesn't make you go nuts for having such a mess.}

In the top right you might make out a stack of white chipboard pennant pieces, kind of under the glue dots box. That is the CTMH mini-banner from last summer. I plan to make that banner for the shower, with the baby's name on it.  Watch for that project -- it will probably be on my Stamping Garden blog and FB !

Actually, I will need to move the valentine cards supplies to the side (i.e., my other table) because I need to mass produce 30 baby shower invitations in the next 4 days. And work. And commuting in the snow. (I must go in to work today...I've been able to work at home for 4 days but the main roads are passable, so no excuse).

Fitting all that in will be my challenge! Thanks to Julia at Stamping Ground for the WOYWW fun! Stay tuned, keep warm & craft away!

Hasty Thanks

One of my Christmas gifts was 2 boxes of pre-printed cards by The Paper Studio, along with matching tags and some rubber stamps. I usually don't know what to do with such cards...Although it's supposed to be easy. But the matching tags gave me an idea and I made 2 of these cards.
I punched a pretty Ruby cardstock border and heat-embossed the birdcage with red embossing powder.  I used the same embossing on the large sentiment. Then I inked the edges of the birdcage layer with Tim Holtz distress ink in Worn Lipstick. I layered it on the matching tag, which was inked around the edges with CTMH Pacifica ink.
I stamped random flourishes on the card and tag without heat-embossing to give a bit of depth.
Then it was only a matter of tying ribbon on the tag and sticking everything down.
Perfect for a handwritten thank you note!

STAMPS
Birdcage - Prima
Thanks - Oriental Trading Co.
Flourish - My Mind's Eye

Input for Baby Shower Samples

Howdy!
I've been working on a sample for our friend's daughter's baby shower. She has some pink and brown cowgirl bedding selected for their daughter...so I thought for a while today and made these 2 samples.

The card is a 5x7 flat.  One has paisleys stamped in the background and heat-embossed with pink glitter embossing powder. But I also tried them in versamark with clear heat-embossed for subtle texture.

I cut the label on my Cricut except the white,  which I hand cut because it's just a sample piece.  The boots are also cut on my new Cricut E2.

Which do you like? Leave me a comment!

The vote is out now with the mom-2-be. :)

WOYWW 239 New Year

This Wednesday, the FIRST DAY of the YEAR, I'm making a couple of cards I had lying about to get them off my table and prepare for the NEW batch of projects for 2014.  I picked out the ribbons last night but ran out of time before we went to our friend's home for our traditional New Year's eve fest.

These are pieces left from my niece's birthday card in September. I had cut and stamped extras because I know some other girlies who will LOVE purple butterflies.  Then I will move on to a daughter-in-law birthday card (for Monday) and my Christmas thank yous!

I wish all my friends at WOYWW via Julia's blog a very prosperous and happy 2014 and I look forward to sharing the year's events with you!

An update on the final cards...