ISSC#42

Another card from my scrap drawer, inspired by this week's sketch at  iSpy Sketches. It's a simple sketch that works.

The stamp is from the CTMH Friendship Word Puzzle set. A nice alternative to "Love".

I made the bow on my hand made Bow Easy Style bow maker. The Bow Easy is the greatest invention ever for those of us who are bow challenged. I left the tails long and wrapped them around the element. It lays as flat as a plain knot but gives a little "dressier" look to the simple card. I love that I have a choice of nice bows or cutesie knots. Maybe if I'm a good girl I can talk Santa into bringing me a real Bow Easy for Christmas.

Lucky to Know You

This is the I Spy Sketch this week. It's simple but they have done some lovely things with it. Check it out HERE .Then grab a bundle of scraps and make a card. Easy! It's a nice sketch to show off your cute paper and a fun element.

I think Leprechauns should have as much gold as possible so I heat embossed the clover for good measure. I'm loving this ribbon for OWH cards. I got it at JoAnn's. It's metallic so it sparkles, but it doesn't flake because it's not glitter. Love it.

Pemberly Done

I finally got my CTMH Pemberly kit done. It only took 4 months. Sadly that may be a record for me.

I didn't ink any of the cards. I thought the paper was busy enough that it wasn't necessary. I inked the layouts and didn't think it added enough interest to justify the extra effort. What do you think?

WMD - Lo-tech saves the day

NASA spent a billion dollars to develop a pen that could write in space. The Russians used a pencil. I think sometimes we just make things too hard.

We, that is to say Ju, J9 and I, ordered this Pemberly class from CTMH in July. I've only completed one layout so I have the other layout and card set on my desk staring me in the face with an accusing look. I'm really not neglecting them. I just can't find my Paper Blossoms tools. I finally broke down and used the back of a pen to shape my flowers.

CTMH - Pear and Partridge

It was love at first sight for me and this card kit in the Autumn/Winter 2012 CTMH Idea book. The kit comes with everything you need to make 5 cards of each design, including the stamps. It's the only way to get these stamps which I LOVE. I wish I had thought to make sure I own the coordinating CTMH ink. I don't, I had to substitute, so my brown isn't as crisp as I would have liked. I love the ribbon which you can't feel in a photo but is super soft and easy to tie and glue. The gems are glittery so they sparkle, you can almost see the effect on the white card. I hit a snag when the instructions said to second generation stamp the background of the white card with a teeny sentiment stamp that would have required 53 stamps per card. THAT was not going to happen, EVER! so I whooped out my Inkadinkado script background instead. Problem Solved.

Card Worksop Part 2

 Once again I apologize for the pic being sideways. One day I'll figure out how to fix that, but apparently not today.

Anyway... here is the second set of the CTMH Just Because card workshop. I thought they turned out nice.

I learned quite a bit along the way. First thing I learned is, while I enjoyed doing this workshop on my own, I would NEVER, EVER recommend doing it as an actual workshop. You would have to do all the cutting, which would take weeks, or schedule several hours on several days to have "them" do it. It would take forever and someone would cut theirs wrong and you would end up redesigning cards to fit the pieces. UGH!

The other thing I learned is, for the OWH project I'm working on it would have been MUCH more energy efficient to have made 20 cards all alike of each design and it probably wouldn't have used any more paper per card.

The patterned paper I used was from the BoBunny Father Christmas collection. LOVE IT! I wish you could see it better. Maybe when I learn how to rotate the pic I'll retake it too (insert rolling eyes here). Stamps are CTMH.

Just Because Card Workshop

I've been working on the CTMH Just Because card workshop published in the CTMH Wishes book. The idea is to make 20 cards (2 each of 10 designs) from 6 sheets of cardstock + bases. This is my analysis:

It took a couple days to cut all the bits but I did it on the first try. Go me! I had to use a magnifying glass to see the measurements. I tried to enlarge it on a copier but they didn't copy well enough to read. I blame the old eyes, not the new copier.

I don't know what brand the white paper is that I'm using but it does not stamp well. It doesn't absorb the ink so it kind of runs and can smear if you don't let it dry for a few minutes. That slows the process down. The cards are turning out nice. I'm only half done but here is a view of the first 5 designs.

WMD - A Happy Mess

One of our scrappy friends moved to Missouri several years ago. She is in town this week to deliver her 2 oldest kids to college. Last night we had a par-tay with her as the guest of honor. Today's Where's My Desk is the aftermath of a fun evening with friends I haven't seen in a while.

At the back of the desk you see my growing boxes of cards for Operation Write home. The blue shoebox contains the cards that were made and donated last night. I borrowed the CTMH Wishes book, it contains a card workshop of  A2 cards that I want to do. I think you end up with 20 cards from 6 sheets of paper. I'm looking forward to trying that out. Under the book is a bag of embellishments I got on clearance at JoAnn for 97 cents a package. The foundation of all the other stuff that needs to be put away is the stack of Christmas paper I've been using for cards and other projects. I have big plans for it all!

CTMH 2 sheet wonder

Remember this fabulous CTMH kit from 2007? Two sheets of cardstock, a roll of ribbon and some stamped embellishments. *POOF!* 16 cards in a flash.

I switched up the paper, added embellishments I've hoarded since at least 2007. And *POOF!* There they are again. This time in a Christmas motif.

WMD - Where's my desk?

You probably thought I forgot about Where's My Desk Wednesday. Nope. My computer was just ill yesterday. But I turned it over to the loving care of Dr. Hub and he fixed it. Well, he put it in a splint for now and ordered a new power cord. Thanks Dr. Hub! You truly are the amazing Mr. Fixer Man!

So here is my desk. I'm trying out a "sketch" found on Pinterest originally published by Jill Rancourt in 2011 at TheScrapoholic.blogspot.com. Which blog is, btw, chock FULL of sketches, svgs and other fun stuff. I'll be adding her to my web hangout list. Jill calls these "5pc emboss cards". Two sheets of solid colored cardstock and an embossing folder makes 6 cards, three of each style, with almost no waste. Easy, fun and 6 more cards to add to my OWH box. I'll be making these again and again.

I love the paper lace on the blue cards. I've had this piece in my box of orphaned embellishments for a while. I didn't want to use it because it is all I had and it was so pretty. Imagine my delight while rummaging stamps to discover I actually own this set! It is called Lovely Lace from CTMH.