Thursday, April 25, 2013

Halloween....in April?!??

Hello all! I have a confession to make....I have a problem. It is called Halloween-craft-supply addiction. I absolutely canNOT resist anything with bats and spiders and skulls and orange and black and purple.... (although not necessarily all at once =P) I'm not sure why, because I don't really CELEBRATE Halloween, at least not in the dress-up-and-party sort of way. I put up some decorations, maybe carve a couple pumpkins, and eat some candy corn. That's it! But for some reason, any craft supplies with Halloween motifs are irresistible. I really need to be going to meetings or something...
Also, I have a new, more general obsession, and it is called Pop N' Cuts. After seeing some amazing creations made with these dies (like this....or this) I went to the Sizzix site and watched some videos by Karen Burniston and absolutely fell in love. I immediately decided that I need to get in the business of pop-up cards and purchased a couple of dies. And while shopping, I found...surprise! A SPIDER POP-UP. Are you kidding me?!? At almost 50 percent off?!? YES. MINE. =) And as soon as I got it, I had to try it out and make a card. I dug into my somewhat ridiculous stash of Halloween themed supplies and came up with a very spidery card. =)



The front features some Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers dies I was really excited to get last year (it's a wee spider! And a 31! =P). I accented some of the web on the patterned paper with Stickles...aside from looking glittery and cool, it helped my little spider stand out on the black paper. Both the spider and the 31 were colored with Distress Inks and then covered with Glossy Accents.



And here's the inside, in all it's popped up glory. Isn't it cool?? =) These pop up dies are way too fun.




Hopefully you can see in this close up that my spider is a little bit sparkly. He's covered in Black Soot Distress Stickles. After I edited this photo, I thought maybe it wasn't scary enough, so......


Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!!!

Also, I had to make a little video to show off the pop up. I took this video with my phone using the Super 8 app, and I had one hand on my phone and one hand on the card, which is why it's a little shaky. Music provided by my iPod. Goofy sound effects provided by me. =P



That's all I have to share today. Thanks so much for looking! Any tips on curing my Halloween addiction would be greatly appreciated.... =) 

*~M~*

Thursday, April 11, 2013

First Kit Page Ever!

So, I have to admit, I got a little excited about my Best of My World kit. And I had to make a page with it RIGHT NOW. And since I'm on vacation right now and can do whatever I want (woohoo!), I did. =) I looked through my pile of photos-to-scrap and found these adorable/hilarious/ridiculous photo booth photos of me and my partner-in-crime and thought they would work great with the kit. Here's the page:


 I decided to go straight to the 6x6 pad and make a central area of layered papers for the photos to sit on. And just like that this pad went from being never used to having three sheets used out of it! Woot! (Hooray progress! =P)


I used my pinwheel punch and my scrap of Basic Grey paper to make some pinwheel embellishments. I actually was able to make my own little enamel dots for the center of the pinwheels. I just used a hole punch to punch a tiny circle from white cardstock, glued it on, and then covered it with Ranger's Enamel Accents. They actually looked quite cute with just the cardstock if you don't have Enamel Accents, but I wanted to add a little dimension and shine.


I was super excited to be able to cut into that Dear Lizzy cut apart sheet and use this little camera image for embellishment. It needed a little something at the bottom and lo and behold, a bit from the transparency worked perfectly. I love it when a plan comes together. =) The only things I used that were not already part of the kit were the small letter stickers and some gold Color Shine mist from Heidi Swapp. However, one of the goals Shimelle put forth for this month's kit was to use up some letter stickers that we already have, so I don't feel guilty about those. As for the mist, well......what can I say?? I'm a mist addict. I figured I would be sneaking some of that in. =) Oh and I can't forget that I also snuck in the white cardstock for the background. I meant to mention in my kit post that I would probably be adding either white or kraft cardstock as needed because those are my go-to backgrounds.

I think that's it for today! Thanks for stopping by!

*~M~*

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

The Best of My World

Hello, all! Here I go, trying once again to get this blog up and running. I'm on vacation from work right now, feeling inspired and productive, so here goes. =)

At the beginning of this year, Shimelle started a new monthly feature on her blog which I was really excited about. It's called the Best of Both Worlds kit, and it's a really cool concept. Here is her blog post with video explaining this awesome idea. Here is April's kit and video. Despite really loving the whole kit concept, I haven't been participating at all because I've been trying not to buy any more stuff! Suddenly, this month, I had an idea. Taking some inspiration from the Counterfeit Kit Challenge, I decided I would try to counterfeit Shimelle's kit, and then try to make pages based on some of her kit posts throughout the month. I will obviously take my cue from the items in her kit, but I really want to focus on using some of the (many!) items in my stash I haven't even touched. So, here is my version of this month's kit, which, in an attempt to be cheeky, I have named the Best of My World kit. =P


First, the paper. I have more paper in my kit than Shimelle does this month, which just sort of happened since I kept pulling out pieces so I could have a choice of colors. Shimelle always has a cut-apart sheet in her kits so I included the Dear Lizzy sheet that I've been wanting to use for ages. I also pulled out the pieces on the right from my scrap basket, since they also matched and I figured if the goal is to use up stash, I should probably make a dent in those scraps as well. Most of the whole sheets are from Studio Calico kits that I never used (!!!).


It seemed that the key part of Shimelle's kit this month was the 6x6 paper pad, so I actually started my kitting process by choosing this Studio Calico pad that I have NEVER USED (sheesh!) and based everything else on the colors and themes in this pad. There was also a cut-apart transparency sheet in the kit and I had this beautiful transparency sheet hanging on my Clip-it-Up (again, never touched. what is wrong with me?!? =P).


Aaaaaand the embellishments. I may have gone a little crazy with these. One of the things that makes me nervous about using kits is I'm afraid I won't have enough embellies. Shimelle has washi, chipboard pieces, a stamp set, and Thickers, which I have replicated here. (Hers are even woodgrain, and I LOOOVE these woodgrain Thickers. I have two sheets!) She also has a sticker sheet, which I don't have, so I chose these Jenni Bowlin stickers and the turquoise labels from my stash. Whatever doesn't get used from these sheets by the end of the month is being given away. They are also from Studio Calico kits and I'm getting tired of looking at them! The butterfly sticker sheets are just there because, honestly, I can't scrap without these. =P I included the feather wood veneers because I found them sitting on my desk, unopened, when I was looking through my stash. I figured I might as well throw them in and get them used! That little box also has some other little odds and ends that need to get used. Shimelle doesn't include tools in her kits, but I put the Jenni Bowlin pinwheel punch with mine because I just got it and reeeeaally want to try it out!

So, that's my kit! Hopefully I will actually *make* something with it. I may have just made a pretty pile of stash. =P But either way, it was fun making the kit and I'm looking forward to some scrapping. Keep an eye on Shimelle's blog this month for her ideas and tips for using this month's kit!

*~M~*

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