Swap Cards

I find that its hard for me to switch "hats" from scrapbooker to cardmaker. Funny how that is. I get in a mode and go with it. Here are some cards that I've done for my swap group that I'm finally sharing! (Thanks for the reminder Barb!)

Our swap cards for February were for Female Birthday, and to use SC 98 in our design. I knew of course that I just had to use the cow from the retired Birthday Banter set. I love the saying, "I know how much women your age enjoy a floral moo-moo!" and that is stamped on the inside, along with the "Happy Birthday" stamp.

Supplies:

CS: Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Whisper White, Cutie Pie DSP

Ink: Basic Black, watercolored with Regal Rose and So Saffron

Stamps: Birthday Banter

Misc: Celery grograin, flower punch, regal rose brad

Our swap theme for March was Kids Birthday. Waterfall cards are one of my personal favorites! I miss this stamp set too, for some reason I hadn't realized it was already retired! Glad I got it when I did! When the waterfall tab pulls out it has the saying with this set "Sending warm wishes on your bug day!" This sort of goes with the sketch we were challenged with, SC 80.

Supplies:

CS: Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Lavendar Lace, So Saffron, Whisper White

Ink: Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Lavendar Lace, So Saffron

Stamps: Bugs & Kisses

Misc: Scorer, white eyelet, lavendar brads, silver cord

(Previously uploaded to SCS)

Our swap cards for April were Sympathy cards. I did a really simple card, and I was blown away by the other girls' cards...they really put mine to shame! I love all my new cards! :) We were supposed to use SC71, which I totally didn't, but at least I did the tearing part!

Supplies:

CS: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Whisper White, Mellow Moss

Ink: Pale Plum, So Saffron, Bordering Blue, Mellow Moss

Stamps: Springtime Stems, Warmest Regards

Misc: Silver coil embellishment

(Previously uploaded to SCS)

Now the next little thing all the girls in my swap group received with their order from my party. Just a small 3x3 thank you. I think those are so fun to make. It doesn't need a lot added because its already so cute and tiny!



Supplies:

CS: Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip

Ink: Baja Breeze, Always Artichoke

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes, Cute & Curly

Misc: green buttons from misc pack, hemp twine, curly label punch



This last card I did tonight for fun, and to trade with a friend to add some to our stash. I loved the DSP from the SAB so I wanted to use those same colors in these springy, fun cards. I think this also fits in the CAS (clean and simple) category!

Supplies:

CS: Whisper White, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, DSP from SAB

Ink: Certainly Celery, Brocade Blue, and So Saffron for watercoloring

Stamps: Sentiment from All Holidays, Flower from Ever After

Misc: Celery grograin

Be Inspired!

I've been seeing a few challenges where you are to be inspired by things around you, or pictures. I decided to challenge myself with my own picture find!

You can find inspiration for a card just about anywhere, but its all about keeping your eyes and your mind open to see the possibilities. Maybe I'll see a skirt, or a fabric swatch that has an amazing color combo, or maybe the print of a bedspread makes me think of a stamp set or background...Wherever you can find inspiration, take it!

Here is a card, and my "inspirational" photo!





I wanted to spotlight the flower pillow. I love those circle flowers, but I didn't want too much on the card. I cut the circles and leaves on my Cricut, and then cut strips of greens for the stems. Added some ribbon and a sentiment, and ta-da, done!

Supplies:
CS: Whisper White, Garden Green, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Pixie Pink, Pink Passion, Only Orange, Real Red
Stamps: Sweet Little Sentiments
Ink: Pink Passion
Misc: Red grograin ribbon, Doodlecharms cricut cartridge

Witty Title Goes {Here}

I have to say upfront, I'm so lucky to have my family! My husband is ok with (and understands) the fact that on our free weekends he looses me to my craft room. The kids will pop in every now and then just to say hey or tell me they love me. Its awesome! :)

Ok well, I get a few more pages done today, but I lied last night. Apparently, I still had some soccer pics of Gwynie from 04. I had packed them for the expo and had the pics and papers all together so I missed them when I was going through my stack of photos. Anyways, they are done now!

The first ones are for my wedding book, that yes after almost 8 years, is still not complete! The pages were done at a monthly crop I used to go to. Our stamp demo would make up the page ideas and for $10 we would make 3-4 pages with everything already pre-cut for us. I loved going, but I still haven't used every page we made. So, I didn't do it this year, but I was able to use 3 to complete these ones. I'm counting them in my totals because I actually "completed" them and added a few things here and there.

On these gray pages, I added the gray flowers and the vellum quote. In case you can't see it right off, it says "Marriage is our last, best chance to grow up." We had all of these goofy (lol and disturbing pics...the top one is Jake's aunt Shelly with a book of a pig umm getting friendly with a sheep) pics so I wanted something to bring them all together. That quote fit pretty nicely!

And not much to say on these next few. Basically the same old, same old! But I have to say, I really love this first one. It's so soft and delicate, I can't think of the last time I did something like this.

Running Total: 64 pages
Completed tonight: 8
YTD: 72 pages

Update...64 Pages Complete!

I'm still trying to plow through my old pics. I have a few more from 2005 done, yes finally! I finished up 04 a few weeks ago, and I think I only have one set for each of the kids from 05...yay! I just have a hard time doing pages in order, I only want to do them as I get inspired! My goal is to get up through 2008 by the end of this year so I better hurry up! Really, I just need to finish a handful of pics from 06 and 07 and then I can say I'm into 2008! Couple more months maybe, whew! Anyway, here are the ones I worked on today.

I just couldn't get the right light on this one, probably because its so late and I'm up taking pictures. I should have waited until the morning, but meh...I wanted it done now! I'm an instant gratification sort of person. So, not perfect, but I think you can still see the detail. All the supplies on these two pages were from a kit I bought at the Expo. They are all the My Mind's Eye Bohemia line. I love these transparency things! I cut some of the leaves and blossoms with an exacto to pop out the page a little.

The next two pages are also from a kit at the Expo. It was $1 for two sheets of decorative paper and the chipboard elements. What a deal! I wish I had grabbed more of these things!

These next few pages...meh...not much to say about them. These are my 2005 (and the ones above) ones that I have never been able to scrapbook. We took the kids to the Childrens Museum, the Living Planet Aquarium and the Planetarium over Memorial Day weekend. So...how to scrapbook that all into one day? Well the ones above are for Brady's book for the aquarium, but I ended up with more pics of Gwynie at the other places...So what to do, what to do... I finally just did a really basic spread with 3 pages for her and 1 for him. Same basic layout for the page they share. I found these stickers and robot thingies at the expo, but they felt so busy that I wanted to just tone it down with a white back and coordinating cardstock. Still ended up busy, but not entirely overwhelming. I'm ok with them as they are.

Running Total: 56 pages

Completed tonight: 8

YTD: 64 pages (still around 30 pages behind of my 365 goal...)