Weekend Creations

Just a quick post right now to be edited later. Having gallery issues at one of my sites so I'm using this as a back up.

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Metal Mania Challenge

Progressive Cards Challenge

Same Card 5 Colors Gift Set Challenge

Slider Card Make and Take

More Origami Christmas Tree Cards

This weekend I went to visit my mom and dad for Thanksgiving. My sister and her husband and my son and his girlfriend also joined us. Us girls had a couple of scrappin' sessions and I taught them how to make the origami Christmas tree card that I learned how to make at ScrapShotz during World Card Making Day. Here are their wonderful creations!

This is the tree my Mom made. I actually finished decorating the card for her while she made dinner for us. I used some Fantastic Freeze rubons for the finishing touches.

This is the card my son's girlfriend made. It was her first time doing anything like this and she really enjoyed it. Hopefully we'll get to do it again soon. She added a stamped greeting to the front of the card and inked the edges. The tree top is made from two stamped snowflakes, one pink and one yellow, layered on top of one another and then a bit of bling added to the center.

We tried putting a stamped greeting on the inside but the stamping didn't work that well so we had to improvise. We decided to line the inside with the same patterned paper used to make the tree, in part to cover up the botched up stamping, and then stamp the greeting on a peice of paper and stick it on the patterned paper. She also punched a snowflake from the patterned paper and added that to the white paper. I love how it turned out!



This is the card my sister made. She liked the look of the tree tilted. She also used punched snowflake for a tree top and decided to punch some snowflakes from the front of her card for an added touch.



She used patterned paper and then white paper on the inside of her card and added the punched snowflakes from the front of the card to the inside of the card. I the finished look!



As I mentioned in my previous post when I shared the card that I made, I played with the measurements because I like to make my cards to fit normal letter size envelopes. Here is my card again and here are the measurements I used for my card:



The card base is made from a piece of 7 x 6 1/4 card stock scored at 3 1/2 to make a 3 1/2 x 6 1/4 card, the perfect size for a normal letter size envelope. Then I adhered a 6 x 3 1/4 piece of cardstock and a 5 2/4 x 3 piece of patterned paper to the front. To make the tree I used 6 squares of patterned paper - 1/2 inch, 1 inch, 1 1/2 inch, 2 inch, 2 1/2 inch, and 3 inch. The trunk of the tree was made with a 1/2 x 1 1/2 cardstock. The ribbon is 3 3/4 inches and is tucked around the cardstock adhered to the front of the card. I also used three small Glitter Glamour snowflakes to add a little bling.

I'd love to see your creations if you decide to give it a try.

World Card Making Day Creations

I had so much fun this weekend! Even though I had a sick little girl on my hands I still managed to squeeze in some scrappin' time and I did a number of challenges for World Card Making Day.

First thing Saturday morning I checked out ScrapShotz, Creative Scrappers, Scrapbookers Clubhouse and CompuPro Scrapbooking for World Card Making Day Challenges. ScrapShotz posted 11 challenges and I managed to do 7 of them. Creative Scrappers posted 25 challenges, but you have until October 12th to complete them. I managed to complete 5 of them over the weekend. Scrapbookers Clubhouse posted 4 challenges and I completed 1 of them over the weekend. CompuPro Scrapbooking posted 9 challenges and you have until either the 15th or 20th to complete them. I have to double check the actual due date because I noticed different due dates posted. I managed to do 2 of those challenges this weekend.

Now before you go all crazy asking how in the world I managed to do 15 challenges and look after a sick little one this weekend, let me explain. I like to combine challenges as much as possible so, while I did completed 15 challenges, I only actually made 8 cards, and one box. :) Let me explain further while I show you my creations.

The first card I made is also my favorite card from the weekend. It was inspired by Virginia's Origami Christmas Tree Card challenge on ScrapShotz. Virgina posted super instructions, complete with pictures and it made this one very easy to make. I love how it turned out and will definitely be making more. Actually, I've had lots of requests from friends that want to learn how to make it. :) This card also fit the Leafy Branch challenge posted by Kristine at Creative Scrappers. She wanted us to make our own tree, making it perfect to combine this two challenges in this one card.



The next one was completed for Jess's Loo Roll Gift Card Holder Challenge on ScrapShotz. I almost skipped this one because I wasn't sure what I thought of it but it was too easy not to do, and, even though I messed up the stamping, I'm pretty pleased with it. This is a gift card holder made with an empty toilet paper roll. It's actually supposed to have a notch in the end for making it easy to grap hold of the card but I don't have a circel punch so I didn't make the notch. I may add it later if I get a circle punch or if I can borrow one. When I messed up the stamping I decided to grunge it up a bit with ink and I actually kind of like how it turned out.



Jen's Corner Pocket with Bookmark Challenge on ScrapShotz was the inspiration for the next card. This card and bookmark are made with just one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of cardstock. Jen provided us with a great graphic that clearly showed how to cut and fold the paper, making this another easy one to complete.



I used Nicole's Sketch #2 Challenge at Scrapbookers Clubhouse as inspiration for the design of the tag/bookmark that I made to go with the pocket card.



The next card is a very simple card inspired by two different challenges. At ScrapShotz, Carolyn posted "A Christmas Carol" Card Challenge to use a Christmas song as inspiration for a card. At Creative Scrappers, Deanne posted a Sing Out Loud challenge to use a song tile as the sentiment for a card based on a sketch she provided. No problem to combine those challenges! Unfortunately the picture is terrible and you can't make out the "We Wish You a" in pink ink in the upper left corner of the card.



The next card was completed for Virginia's Double Flap Card challenge at ScrapShotz. Once again Virginia posted great instructions which included pictures making this easy to complete. I like it because its not your ordinary card. I made a few changes to Virginia's instructions because I made mine to fit a regular letter size envelope and I used a ribbon to hold the flap closed. I'm going to post the measurements and supplies I used later this week.

Here's what the card looks like closed:



And here's what it looks like opened:



My next creation wasn't a card, but a box to hold cards. Jen, on ScrapShotz, posted a Hostess Gift Set Completer Box challenge to go with another challenge that was posted by someone else. This box is very easy to make and it can hold a number of 3x3 notecards.



The next three cards were inspired by Kathy's 3x3x3 Challenge, at ScrapShotz, to make 3 3x3 notecards. I planned each of the cards so that they would also fulfill requirements of other challenges.

The first 3x3 card was inspired by two other challenges, besides Kathy's challenge. At Creative Scrappers, Carol posted A Monogram challenge to use a sketch she provided to make a notecard which featured a monogram. At CompuPro Scrapbooking, Nicole posted a Faux Metal Embellishment Using Heat Embossing challenge. This is a really neat technique that is so easy to do! I will definitely be doing this again. Anyway, I decided to use this technique to make the monogram for this 3x3 card.



The design for this 3x3 card was inspired by JJ's Scraplift It! challenge posted at Creative Scrappers. She asked us to design a card based on an album cover and she posted an album as an example. I decided to use the album she posted as inspiration for the design of my card.



This last card was also inspired by two other challenges besides Kathy's challenge. At Creative Scrappers, Deanne posted a Thinking About You challenge to create a 3x3 card based on a sketch she provided. At CompuPro Scrapbooking, Tracey posted a Stamped Paper Piecing Technique challenge. I created the flower on this card using that technique. I hope to post a blog post giving more details about that later this week.



And there you have my creations from the weekend, and one very long blog post! Phew, now I'm tired. I'd better go recover. ;)

Carla's First Blog Card Tutorial

Carla, aka Moralia, posted her first blog card tutorial and I couldn't resist giving it a try. I didn't follow her instructions exactly, but I know Carla won't mind cause she hardly ever follows the rules. :)

I love Carla's cards! She's the one that got me started on cards when she was part of the DT at ScrapShotz. I always looked forward to her card challenges. Now she is DT on Lil' Scrappers, handing out card and layout challenges, but I'm thrilled that she's also decided to post monthly card tutorials on her blog.

I like to make my cards to fit either letter or business size envelopes that I have on hand or can easily pick up anywhere. So that was my first little change to this card - I made it to fit a letter size envelope. Also, I don't have any deco edge punches so I tore the edge of my patterned paper instead. Then, because my tag was a little too big for the size of the card, I decided to also tear the bottom edge of the tag. Because I don't have much in the way of bling, I also decided not to include the bling on my card. I still like how it turned out.



Here's a list of the sizes of the papers I used, just in case you might want to try making one the same size.
Card base - cardstock cut 7 by 6 1/4 and scored at 3 1/2
Bottom Patterned paper - 1 1/2 by 6 1/4
Top Patterned paper - 2 1/2 by 6 1/4, then I tore the bottom edge.

Check Carla's blog for the rest of list of items used and the instructions on how to put the card together. Let me know if you try it.

Z-fold Cards

I just found out that one of the DT challenges at ScrapShotz this month is to make a z-fold card. It reminded me of the one I made just this past month. It's actually quite different, and more complicated, than the z-fold card challenge at ScrapShotz.

I found a new to me Canadian site - Stampin' Canada - a while back and they were having a VCD (Virtual Day Crop) when I joined so I joined in the fun as much as I could. One of the challenges was to make a z-fold card. I had never heard of these before and the sample they showed was so beautiful I simply couldn't resist trying it. These are z-fold cards with the added feature of being pop-ups. You can see samples near the end of the following blog posts - cute little monkey card and beautiful butterfly card.

Mine is not near as nice as those, but I'm pretty pleased with it just the same.

Mini Pizza Box Card Set

I've had some people ask me about the instructions for the mini pizza box I made for my card set so I thought I'd post about it here.

The set was inspired by the card set featured on this blog here. I found the blog a while ago and followed the instructions given to make my first mini pizza box. The instructions on that blog make a 4 x 4 box, and it suggests to use it for 3 x 3 cards. I thought the box was a little big for 3 x 3 cards.

I played with the measurements for the Mini Pizza Box I made this weekend. I made my box so that it was 4.5 x 4.5 finished and I made my cards 4 x 4. I started with a sheet of cardstock 12 x 6.5 and scored it at 1, 5.5, 6.5, and 11 on the long side, and turned it and scored it at 1 and 5.5 on the short side. Other than that I followed the instructions on the blog mentioned. It is really, really easy to make.

Productive weekend!

Boy did I have fun this weekend! Spurred on by two online crops, I decided to check out recent challenges on a number of online boards I am on and I tried my hand at creating projects that filled a number of challenges at once. I love doing that!

I started off easy with just a simple card that only filled the requirements for one challenge. This one was a challenge to scraplift a bug on the Scrapping Bug. I decided to scraplift Ally's card "Nuts About You" and here's what I created:


I managed to combine two challenges into the next creation. The challenge on the Scrapping Bug was to make a card using the bug colors - red, black, green, yellow, white. At Lil' Scrappers Michy had posted a picture of a girl, wearing red shoes, a black jacket, a green dress, and yellow belt, standing on a rock in a garden and our challenge was to take inspiration from that picture to create a card or layout. Made for an easy combination. Here's what I did:



The three card set I created was inspired by three different challenges. One of the Scrapping Bug's challenges was do pick a DT challenge from the last three months to do. I chose Ally's June card challenge to create 3 cards, each with a different theme, and a container for the cards. At Scrapbooking Fanatics Nicole had posted a challenge to make a set of cards. At Lil' Scrappers Carla had posted a card sketch challenge and I decided to use Carla's sketch as inspiration for the cards for the set. Here's what I made:



The next creation was made for a Fast Scrap at CompuPro Scrapbooking. What a fun challenge! They posted a sketch and we had one hour to create a layout inspired by the sketch. I didn't have time to try to combine other challenges into this one because I was half an hour late discovering the challenge so I actually only had half an hour to do it. Here's what I did:



My one digi layout this weekend was inspired by another quick challenge at CompuPro Scrapbooking. It was a race to see who would be the first to create and post a layout of someone in a bathing suit, preferably a bikini. I didn't win the race but I did get a layout created. The background paper is by April Staker of Digi Ape Designs and the sunglasses are from ScrapGirls. The rest is mine. Here's how it turned out:



I managed to combine four challenges in the next creation. At the Scrapping Bug there was a challenge to do a layout with no humans in the photos used on it. At Lil' Scrappers Aimee's July challenge was to do a layout about a favorite thing of summer. Based on these two challenges I decided to do a layout about my parent's summer cabin and boat. I found the perfect picture for it. I decided to use Kristine Davidson's sketch posted in the 72hr sketch challenge at CompuPro Scrapbooking for design inspiration for the layout. At ScrapShotz Neisey's July challenge was to choose one inspirational element and repeat it three times. I decided to use one of the patterned papers three different ways in the layout. I used one of the patterned papers that I used in the layout to make the letters for the title and also to make a flower. In her Blurfing Friday post, Deanne had posted a link to a Little Plaid Flower Tutorial and that inspired me to make the flower. I didn't have the punch used in the tutorial so instead I traced around a chipboard flower onto the patterned paper and cut it out. I used the trick in the tutorial to give the flower some shape. I used a smaller prima flower as the center, and then a brad. Here's the end result:



My next creation is really different. At CompuPro Scrapbooking I was given a challenge to create a layout about a moment without a picture. If you're a regular reader of this blog you know that I have ben cameraless for over a year now. There have been many moments during the past year that I wished I had a camera to get a picture. This challenge inspired me to pick some of those moments from the past couple of months and journal about them and turn the journaling into a layout. Sounded crazy at first but I really like the idea now and I may do it some more. I managed to combine three other challenges into the layout. I decided to use Sheri's sketch in the Bug Sketch challenge at the Scrapping Bug as inspiration for the design of the layout. One of the moment's I was journaling about was Canada Day so I decided to use Martina's Scrapbooking Fanatics July DT challenge to use red and white and/or a maple leaf on a layout as inspiration for the colors of the layout. I even used a maple stamp on the journaling circle for the Canada Day moment. Nonie's July DT challenge at ScrapShotz was to use something that isn't a typical scrapbooking supply on a layout or card. A certain kind of icecream that we buy has a scalloped circle cardboard inset in the cover and I had been eyeing it for a while thinking it would make a great addition to a layout. It fit perfect with the sketch so I covered one with patterned paper and used it as one of the journaling circles. The end result of all of that is the following layout called Missed Photo Ops:



The last layout I completed today and it was inspired by four different challenges. At the Scrapping Bug there was a challenge to make a title from letters provided. I really struggled with this one but I finally came up with one. I decided to use Kristin's Davidson's sketch in the "Just 'Cause" contest at Creative Scrappers as inspiration for the design of the layout. Inspired by the CompuPro Scrapbooking challenge to make your own polka dot background paper I used my versamark ink pad and a sheet of paper hole reinforcement circles to make my own background paper for the layout. Carla's June 25th Layout challenge at Lil' Scrappers was to use four rules to make a layout - no paper layering, one color scheme, bling, and at least one sticker. The sketch didn't involve paper layering so I thought I could incorporate this challenge into the design too. Here's how it ended up:



There were six challenges posted for The Scrapping Bug's "Last Minute Crop" this weekend and I managed to do them all! There were a nine numbered challenges posted for CompuPro Scrapbooking's "Yellow Polka Dot Bikini Crop, but there were a number of other challenges thrown in too, including 4 fast scrap challenges. I managed to do a number of them, but we have until June 20th to do them all so I'll probably get more done yet.

I managed to get pictures of my creations to upload for this post because I borrowed a camera. I also took pictures of other creations that I've made but haven't posted yet so I'll probably post them in the following days. It feels so good to be able to do that!

Hope you enjoyed checking out my creations and finding out how I combine challenges. It's fun to do.

Crop Cards

I'm finally getting around to posting the cards that resulted from this weekends crops.

There were two card challenges at Scrapbook Heaven - Holly challenged us to create a Birthday Card and a Fall card. Meanwhile, Jen, at ScrapShotz, gave us a challenge to make 3 cards from on 12x12 sheet! I loved this challenge. I decided to use two of these cards to fulfill the other two challenges. The picture shows the three cards made from the one sheet of 12x12. The birthday card is on the left and the fall card is on the right.



Carla, the card queen of ScrapShotz, posted two great challenges with great instructions. The first one was to create a unique pop-up card.



The second one was to make a cool shaker card. You can't really see it but the image is in a shaker filled with glitter that you can shake around.

Card Kit Creations

At ScrapShotz I've been introduced to the concept of Card Kits. They are so much fun! A card kit is an envelope with everything in it to make a card. There are a number of different ways they come into play.

One on one Card Kit Swaps
Sometimes someone will set up a one on one card kit swap where everyone that signs up to play is paired with someone else. Each person must make two card kits - one for themselves and one to mail to their partner. Everyone posts thier creations when they are done.

Card Kit Swaps
Sometimes someone will put out a call for a card kit swap with a particular theme. Everyone that signs up for it has to make a card kit for everyone else that signs up.

Card Kit RAKS
Every once in a while someone will post on the board that they have x number of card kits ready to go in the mail and the first people that sign up will get one, or everyone's names will be put in a draw for them.

I loved watching the creations people made with thet card kits they got. It was so much fun to see what different people did with the same materials. Soon watching wasn't enough and I wanted to play too. :)

Here are some creations I recently completed with card kits I've received:

The very first card kit I received was from a Stampabella Card Kit Rak offered by Carla. It took me a while before I got up the nerve to actually do something with the kit, but I finally managed to do it.



This one was from a Christmas Card kit Rak offered by Virginia:



Here are my creations from a one on one swap put off by Carla. My partner was Wendy. The first card is from Wendy's kit and the second from mine:





Card kits are so much fun! I hesitate to sign up often because I don't have much to offer anyone else in way of stamped images or nice paper but I'm thinking I'm going to have to invest so that I can play more. :)

Christmas Card Crop

Thanks to the two great crops I participated in this weekend, I had a very productive scrapping weekend. I made 9 Christmas cards and 3 layouts. I also started one mini album and have plans in my head for more mini albums, cards, and layouts, but I didn't have time to do any more this weekend.

The 9 completed cards are thanks to ScrapShotz's "12 Cards of Christmas and a Mini-album in a Pear Tree" Crop. At first I wasn't sure how much I was actually going to get to do because my one and only Christmas/Winter related stamp is a snowflake. I have absolutely no Christmas sentiment stamps and the alphabet stamps that I have are really too big to make them to fit the cards, but I came up with an alternative that I hadn't thought of before and I was quite pleased with how it turned out. I printed what I wanted using a program on my computer! Anyway, here's my cards:

This one was inspired by Julie's CrissCross Card Challenge. Julie posted great instructions for making this unique card style. I used yummy paper that Carla sent me in a wonderful Rak last week. Thanks again, Carla! The card is actually like a little pocket into which you insert a notecard type thing. The picture shows the card tucked in the pocket and then out of the pocket.



Jen's Whimsical Monochromatic Card challenge was the inspiration for this one. The stamped image was part of teh RAK from Carla. I colored it using pastels and added some glitter to it.



Carla's 5 Step, 5 Minute Christmas Card Challenge took me way more than five minutes to created but I had fun doing it and will probably do more like it, especially after seeing all the great creations others came up with for this challenge. The top picture shows the card closed and the bottom picture shows it opened. Once again I used papers from Carla's great RAK.



This was a fast, easy one inspired by Nonie's Scraplift Challenge.



Another fast and easy one was inspired by Wendy's Card Sketch Challenge.



Amiee's Trimming the Tree Challenge had me stumped for a while but I'm pleased with what I came up with.



I had great fun with Carla's Non-Traditional Christmas Card Challenge. I used another of the many stamped images Carla sent me in the RAK. The top picture shows the front of the card and the bottom one shows the inside.



Had great fun with Aimee's Frosty Footprints Challenge! The challenge was to trace a child's foot print and to use the trace to make a snowman for the front of a card. I also used a technique my sister told me about. I glued a used dryer sheet onto the footprint and sprinkled it with glitter. I used some bling for the eyes and buttons, some ricrac for the scarf and cut out a hat. I also cut a piece of white paper to make a snow bank and cut out a couple of trees from another paper to put on the snow bank.



Here's another fun one inspired by Carla's Pop-Up Christmas Card challenge. I cut a tree out of a patterned paper to use as the pop-up and made a fun card to give someone who had their tree fall over on them last season. The picture on the left shows the front of the card and the right shows the inside.



I'll post about the other crop and my creations for it tomorrow, hopefully, right now little one needs my attention.