Scrapbook Sunday

Last week was the online Fall Crop at Inspired to Scrap.  This is the first page I made for that challenge.  Mostly I was trying to feel my way through the MDS2 program.  Sometimes the best way to figure something out is just to plunge in.  :)

  

 

 

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

SU Regional Swap

Today I am headed to Tacoma, WA for Stampin' UP!'s regional convention.  I have no idea what to expect.   Scott and the boys will be staying home and taking care of our kitty who just had surgery, so I'm driving in the "city" alone. 

These are the swap cards I made.  You can see the sewing stuff I have pushed to the edge of the table so I could work on these.

On SCS they say that people swap at these things.  I've never been, so I have no idea what to expect.  They said to make 50-100 cards, but I didn't have the time to come up with that many.  I made 25.  I figure if people do want to swap with me I will have something to share, and if they don't I can use them as my October thank you cards for ordering with me. 
The first set of cards is from a Mojo Monday sketch I made recently.  You can check it out HERE if you want to see the supply list and sketch.

The second set of cards is one of my favorites.  You can check out the original posts HERE that have videos and variations on how I made this card.  Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page, because there are 3 posts featuring this basic design.

For the swap I decided to pull out 4 InColors and make four different, yet similar, sets.  Calypso Coral, shown below, Primrose Petals, Wisteria Wonder and Summer Starfruit, were the four I chose. If I had more time I might have bought a pack of Wisteria Wonder CS and made them all in that color, but I'm actually glad I didn't.  They are so pretty in all the colors.  (even Summer Starfruit)

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Getting Ready

Have you missed me?  I've missed you.   It's been a fun week of crafting and creating.  My son's curtains are almost done, but I had to take a break to get some swaps ready for Stampin' UP!'s Regional Convention.  Yes, I decided to make some swaps.  I'm still not sure what to expect.  I only made about 25, and they are copies of cards I made previously.   

Here is a snapshot of some of my work in progress.  I'll post my swap cards tomorrow, and I have a digital layout to show you on Sunday.  Yippee!  I'm posting again. 

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

P.S.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!  I LOVE YOU!  I'll post your card after you get home from your vacation so I don't spoil your surprise in case you get on my blog.  

Blue Flame

This week I have a lot on my craft plate.

1) Play with my new sewing machine... I mean make my son some curtains for his room.
2) Make 4 more cards for mom's birthday week.
3) Finish part 1 of my 2009 scrapbook.  (only 3 pages to go! Yippee!!!)
4) Work on swaps for Tacoma Regionals.  I didn't know if people swapped or not, it's my first SU event.  Apparently they do, so I don't want to go empty handed.

Plus I still have daily life stuff like...
a) Doing my workout, having lunch with hubby, picking up the kids from school, making dinner, grocery shopping, cleaning house.  (actually that last one will be minimal, I cleaned on Monday so now it's just maintaining a level of live-ability. lol)
b) Meeting my friend in Olympia for some long overdue girl time.  (haven't seen her in months!)
c) Working 2 nights this week
d) Taking cat to the vet on Thursday and taking care of her on Friday if she needs it after her surgery.

What does this mean for my blog?  Well, I will have lots of pictures to show you....

next week.  :) 

Blogging takes time, and I get easily distracted when I get on the computer.  I may be too busy to post on my blog much this week, but I should have loads to show you next week.  Here is a picture of what is on my dining room table right now. 

P.S.  Thank you, Louise, for helping me figure this out yesterday.  I'm loving the combo you came up with!  :)

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Enjoying Life

My mom's birthday is coming up.  She is going to her favorite place for a week so I think it is safe to post one of the cards I made for her.  I think I will send her a few cards to make her birthday week last longer.  <3

I have to admit this card took me forever.  Lots of trial and tons of error.  It turned out pretty, but still not "right".   I tried to use an Edgelit to cut out the stamped image.  It worked well, but I couldn't get the side ends to look right. 

My Grandma (mom's mom) loves hummingbirds.  Whenever mom or I see a hummingbird we think of Grandma.  I think perhaps I will make another card similar to this and send it to Grandma.  :)

I tried to capture the shimmer in the sunlight, but it is difficult to do.  To get shimmer I made some shimmer mist spray.  Below is a video I made awhile ago on how to make your own.  :)  One tip, it doesn't take as much shimmer paint as I added.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North



From My Heart

Very Vintage Jumbo Wheel

Fan Fair DSP

ACAD CASE

For those of you not on SCS (Split Coast Stampers) that is A Card A Day Copy And Share Everything.  For our challenge this week we are supposed to pick another CAD stamper and CASE one of her cards.  There are so many GREAT cards to CASE, just check out my CAD blog roll on the right side of my screen.  It just so happens I had already a card printed out from Laurie's blog that I wanted to CASE. 

 

As you might already know I struggle with CAS (Clean And Simple) cards.  When I saw Laurie's card below I knew I could copy hers. 



Laurie's Blog

Since I am using this as my ACAD challenge card I decided to change a few things to make it my own, but still keep it a lovely CAS card like Laurie designed.

Here are some of the changes I made.  First I changed the Island Indigo to Raspberry Ripple.  I used the Fancy Fan Embossing Folder on the bottom 2/3 of the card.   I also changed the square and greeting.  Wow, I guess I changed a lot about my card, but I think it is still fairly close to the original.

Some people think that CASEing is a rip-off of their original art.  Personally I think it is a high form of flattery.  If you could possibly find something you would like to CASE on my blog I would be thrilled and love to see it.  Please let me know if you do and share your link with me.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Stamps: Vintage Vogue (retired) Blessings From Heaven
Paper: Twitterpated DSP, Sahara Sand CS, Raspberry Ripple CS, Whisper White CS
Ink: Island Indigo, Pink Pirouette
Misc.: Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Postage Stamp Punch, Square Punch, Glimmer Brad

Blessings From Heaven

Twitterpated DSP

Fancy Fan EF

From My Heart, Thanks ~ Mojo#259

Continuing on with my (personal) fall challenge this week.   I made a thank you card with some non-traditional Fall colors.  I think it still has a fall feel to it though.  Perhaps it is the Early Espresso sponging.  :)

Once again I used a sketch for my jumping off point.  This time it is a Mojo Monday sketch.  I usually love their sketches, but have a hard time finishing them in time.  Thankfully they do stay open forever and some day I just might get to all the ones I have printed off.  :)

I pulled out my much loved and yet often neglected Top Note Die for this challenge instead of using a circle.  I REALLY like how it turned out.

The sentiment here is lovely.  I decorated it simply by coloring in the heart with a blender pen and Raspberry Ripple ink, then added some small pearls.  Once the card was complete I added some Dazzling Details Glitter glue to the heart so it could sparkle.  I think it would look good with Crystal Effects too.

My second variation on the sketch was to add some linen thread to the banner.  For some reason I really like thread, twine, or ribbon on my banners.  I curled the end a bit to give it some more dimension.

Like I said, not your typical fall colors, but the Harvest Orchard DSP does give it an Autumn feel.  Now I have a thank you card to send to the next person who places a Stampin' UP order with me.  :)

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Stamps: From My Heart
Ink: Early Espresso, Raspberry Ripple
Paper: Harvest Orchard DSP, Crumb Cake CS, Lucky LimeadeCS, 2011-2013 In Color DSP Patterns Stack, Naturals White CS, Early Espresso CS
Misc.: Linen Thread, Top Note Die, Dazzling Details

Retro Well Wishes ~ rs#29

As I said on my post on Monday, one of my Father-in-laws is having surgery soon.  (Yes, I have two father-in-laws. That makes me extra special!)  I made another "get well" card to send to him while he is recovering.  It's not completely masculine, but I think the colors make it work so that I can send it to him.

As you can see, I am having fun playing with more autumnal colors this week.  The design is from this week's sketch at Retro Sketches.  Such a fabulous sketch, as always.  I'll be using this one again and again!

http://retrosketches.blogspot.com/2012/09/retrosketches-29.html

Nothing about this card was difficult for me.  For some reason it seemed to come together very easily.  Doesn't that butterfly look like it just landed on my card?

The only snag was that my only corner rounder is a Creative Memories one and it is too big for the little squares.  I wanted a slightly rounded corner on each of the squares, but the CM made them almost into a circle.  Instead I just rounded 2 opposite corners, and it turned out fine.

I wonder if the SU corner rounder is an smaller???? hmmm.... if you know, please leave me a comment. 

Let me know if you make a card for Retro Sketches this week.  I would love to see what you do with it.  :)

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Stamps: Papillion Potpouri, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Basic Black, Early Espresso
Paper: Orchard Harvest DSP, Newsprint (retired), Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze
Misc.: Brushed Bronze Button, Linen Thread, Punches

Feeling Like Fall

Well, I hope it starts to feel like fall soon.  :)  It feels like Fall in the morning, but we're supposed to get up in the 80's all week.  Very unusual for where we live.  I'll soak up the sun while I can, but I decided to start making fall cards last weekend.  The Colour Q challenge helped.  When I pulled out those colors they looked like Autumn sunsets to me. 

The challenge included Cameo Coral.  I don't have that color, so I pulled out Calypso Coral and Primrose Petals.  I LOVED Calypso Coral with this, but Primrose Petals seemed like a closer match to Cameo Coral and I actually had that stamp pad, making it easier to do the sponging I wanted to do.  :)  Both are lovely in my opinion.  Thanks Colour Q for a FABULOUS color combination.

Which card do you like best?  I couldn't decide if I wanted a butterfly *or two*, which color it should be, or where to place the butterfly.  :)  I like all the different combos so I think I will make a few more, put different sentiments on them and have some notecards to send.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

 

(6)

Another shot of 6

So, which one is your favorite?  I can't believe I made a one layer card that I actually like and would be proud to send.  Clean and simple is never simple for me, but I feel so proud of myself when I am able to accomplish it.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North



Blooming with Kindness

Papillon Potpourri

Stampin' Sponges

Masculine Monday ~ Get Well ~ TSOT#83

My Father in Law is going in for knee surgery soon and I wanted to make a couple of Get Well cards that we could send him while he is recovering. 

It's nice to have masculine get well cards on hand.  I've found it difficult to find them in the store.  The stamp set I used was Friendship Preserves, then I used a stamp from Perfectly Penned to cover up the "yum" with "Get Well".  Of course this card was completely inspired by this week's sketch from Try Stampin' On Tuesday. 

All the papers are from the Festival of Prints DSP stack.  It's not just for Christmas, as you can see.  This is a great pack of papers.  I've made several cards with it, and have barely made a dent in it.  :)  I love stacks like that!

I made another Get Well card over the weekend that could easily be sent to a man or a woman.  I'll be sharing it later this week, so if you want more masculine or well wishes card ideas be sure to check back in. 

Creative Blessings,
Heather North



Friendship Preserves Bundle



Festival of Prints DSP Stack

Perfectly Penned

Island Indigo Ruffled Ribbon