Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Movies, Weddings, and More

So I had to head south for a few days to keep a tradition alive of seeing the midnight showing of Eclipse with some friends and attend a friends wedding so I am staying with my sister. Since my sister has Monday off due to the Fourth of July holiday I think I may have convinced her to come back up to my place the end of the week to spend the weekend card making! My sister is one of my favorite people to craft with, so this weekend there may be some new uploads with a special guest!!! =)

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Better Late Than Never

So I finally am updating with projects that I made about two weeks ago...I may have to either give myself deadlines too meet, or stop giving myself deadlines, lol. Anyways I have begun summer classes for my Masters degree so crafting time is going to be a treat when I am able to do it. I'm going to try and keep up but for some reason life seems to catch up with me from out of nowhere a lot of the time!

All right a few non-crafting things first...I'm not kidding when I say life has a way of catching up with me all at once. I got a new glasses and I'm still getting used to them so I've miss judged steps a few times, but the other day I miss judged a step and slipped down spraining my ankle. I don't think there is major damage, but I bandaged it up with an ice pack and thought it looked funny...kind of a club foot!


So on another non-crafting topic I harvested a huge amount of herbs from my container garden the other day, and even had a few ripe strawberries too! It really is true that things you grow yourself taste better! I froze a lot of the herbs so that I still have some "fresh" herbs to use during the winter, but I used some in dinner the other night and I'm super excited about how good it was! I'm still waiting for ripe tomatoes, close but not quite ripe yet, and green peppers, which just began to flower.


All right the crafting stuff, I know that's the point of this blog! I'm going to skip the materials list this time and just show you pictures. If you have any questions let me know and I'll let you know what I used.

This is a two page layout that I made with pictures, the invite, and program from a friends recent wedding. Although not my favorite layout ever, I was able to keep things rather elegant and simple I think. I like to try and use the wedding colors, blue and yellow in this case, in the layout.


Next come the cards. There is no rhyme or reason for some of the cards other than I wanted to try out new materials, but others, like the Thinking of You and Miss You cards, I made specifically for someone I had in mind when I made them. Again I'm a kind of decide as you go type of crafter, so I often just start making and see what comes!


Just a nice summer fun kind of card


All right this is one of those cards that I made specifically for someone. I haven't sent it yet, and I think she reads my blog so I'm not going to say who is getting it, but I thought it's just a nice simple look.


I keep long pieces of leftover ribbon and have been trying to think of what to do with them since some are too short to wrap around a card. For this I simply wrapped the ribbon around a piece of cardstock and then attached the cardstock to the card to make kind of a "3-D designer paper" look.


All right I admit it, I just wanted to try out my new Medallion stamp from Stampin' Up.


I still think that this one needs something, but I just can't put my finger on it yet. When I figure it out I'll post an updated picture then. Any suggestions?


This is one of my go to card layouts when I need a card fast and don't have one ready-made that fits the bill. I think it's elegant without a lot of work or fuss, and it can work for may occasions depending on the papers, stamps, punches, and ribbons that you use.

So there you go, the promised layout, cards, and various other things that you didn't really care about but got anyways, lol. I'll be sure not to promise to post things and then not do it again.

Oh and on a totally unrelated fun note...that 91st minute goal from Landon Donovan in the USA vs. Algeria World Cup game was nuts! I didn't think that the US had it in them, but I'm beginning to wonder if they are a force to be reckoned with this year. The team is a lot better than I thought they were! I'm still betting on Spain to win everything, but I wouldn't knock the US out any time soon...maybe quarter or semi-finals. =)

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Silhouette

I am a Silhouette die cutting machine user, and in the past had not had any problems with them. Recently though my subscription for new designs expired and I was forced to renew if I wished to continue to get new designs without paying individually for them, which can cost more money with how many designs I buy. When I did this though I discovered that the subscription that I used to have was no longer an option. Deciding that I did in fact wish to continue with this machine rather than starting over with a new product and losing all the designs that I had already accumulated I get a smaller subscription wishing that it would be enough...it isn't. See my old subscription allowed me to get as many designs as I wanted a month for a flat rate that I had prepaid, the price of the individual designs didn't matter. The new subscription on the other hand instead gives me a dollar amount at a reduced price to use in the online design store. I wouldn't have a huge problem with this is the individual designs prices seemed to be regulated, but they don't. I had never paid much attention to price of an individual design in the past since it didn't matter with the old subscription, now since I am I'm seeing two designs that are the same except for the wording costing two different prices. I don't understand why. Needless to say since I have had problems with my actual machine for a while now I am not happy with the company, who is now independent from QuicKutz, and I have sent them an e-mail stating such. I don't expect much to come from it, but since I'm now locked into another year with the machine I felt the need to let them know they had an unhappy customer.

If you are looking for a die cutting machine I would NOT recommend the Silhouette. I have had problems with my mat sticking since the second week I owned it. To get a new mat costs $25 which I think is insane! I also have problems with it getting jammed since the mat is less sticky and the machine moves the paper through the machine about a dozen times before it actually begins to cut. This is both frustrating, and problematic if you are cutting something in a hurry or don't have a ton of space to set the machine up. Finally with the subscription problems I'm now having, I would recommend looking at other machines rather than the Silhouette. I can't say anything about the others since I have never used any other digital design cutter but I hear great things about Provo Crafts Cricut, at least they don't lock you into a year long subscription with cancellation fees if you are dissatisfied with their service!

I'll post later with the promised cards and layout, I just had to vent first!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Unplanned Vacation

So last Thursday I rather unexpectedly went out of town and didn't get back until the other night. Really I kind of looked at it as an unexpected vacation, although I was with my family so I wasn't completely relaxed I did get a break before I begin summer classes next week...yuck! Between that and the World Cup (HUGE soccer fan!) I just haven't had time to update the blog, sorry about that. I still have a two page layout and a ton of cards that I need to take pictures of and post up for you viewing pleasure. I'll see what I can get done over the weekend. =)

Monday, June 7, 2010

Weekly Card - Monochromatic Thank You

A monochromatic thank you card this week that is all stamping, so it's perfect for mailing. I'll have more cards and a two-page scrapbook layout up soon that I did over the weekend.



Oh and in case anyone was wondering, the bug problem in my apartment still hasn't been resolved which is why this card is a little late for last week. I feel like a superhero who's arch nemesis are flying ant-like bugs! The only problem is that I am loosing! =)

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Memorial Day weekend

Sorry there was no weekly card video this past week. I thought over the weekend I would be able to get caught up on housework, crafting, and various other tasks I knew needed done. Unfortunately I instead spent the weekend fighting a bug invasion in my apartment. Because it was a holiday weekend as well maintenance didn't take care of it until this morning, so I'm hoping that the bug invasion is over and I can get back to my life!!!

I did get a bit of crafting done, again not as much as I had hoped, but at least I got some done! This is a scrapbook page for a book I'm making for my father. In 2007 after years of saving I planned a trip to England, somewhere I had always wanted to go! My dad and I love to travel together so he came along too and we had a blast for eleven days! Now I want to go back!! I used various ribbons, buttons, and paper that I don't know who made. The letters are American Crafts Thickers, and the metal plate and dad sticker are other old item I had sitting around my craft area.


I did some card making as well! This card uses an American Crafts 5x7 card base, paper from The Paper Company's Seaside cardstock pack, and Prima's Sasha paper collection. I also used the largest punch in history, Martha Stewart Crafts Garden Trellis punch. The butterfly is by Forever In Time, and the stamp is Hero Arts sparkle clear Bunches of set. The ribbon and brads are just random stuff from my stash that I have long forgotten who made.


Finally I made a Father's Day card that is serving double duty. I'm entering it in The Pink Stamper Father's Day Challenge, with a giveaway for a Cricut Expression! Although I have a Quickuts Silhouette SD, it is difficult to get it all hooked up to my computer for just one card, so it would be nice to have options, not to mention I'd trust letting my sister use an Expression more than my Silhouette since they seem to be more temperamental. Anywho, the card uses die cuts I made on my Silhouette. I used my favorite K & Co. Recycled 5x7 card base. The stamp is from Hot Off the Press's Delicate Patterns clear stamp set, stamped in ColorBox Chalk ink in Ice Blue, and Stampin' Up's Classic pad in Brilliant Blue. The heart is a chipboard piece from Maya Road painted using some paint I had around. The gems and sailboat charm were ones again that were just in my stash. I used scraps to cut the sailboat and phrase. I added some Faded Jeans Distress Stickles to the boat to call it done!


Hopefully this week I can get some more scrapbook done since that had been my goal for this weekend! =)