I just made the Design Team over at Practical Scrappers!

Hi Everyone,

I just found out that I have been chosen as one of the new design team members over at Practical Scrappers! Every week there is a new and exciting challenge to help us all use up our ever growing stash. I hope that you can join us and check out some of the wonderful projects featured there.

Happy Crafting,
Cat

Another layout from my 2010 calendar

Here is another layout that I created using Creative Memories Storybook Creator 3.0 (SBC 3.0). For this layout I used Stampin Up digital elements. This was the first time I had used SU elements in SBC 3.0 and they were just as easy to use as the Creative Memories elements. I am a big fan of both Stampin Up and Creative Memories so I am really happy that the SU digital elements are so compatible with the CM software.

Enjoy,
Cat

SBC 3.0 12 x18 Calendar

Hi Everyone,

I have been working on creating a calendar for my mom for Christmas. Creative Memories has just added a new project to their wonderful digital line up. Starting November 1 you will be able to order a 12x18 calendar from the CM photocenter. This calendar is great because once the month is over you can tear off the calendar portion and put the remaining 12x12 layout into an album or display it in an everyday display.

I am looking forward to seeing the final finished product. I have only ordered a few storybooks from CM photocenter but have not been disappointed.

I thought I would share some of the layouts I created for the calendar over the next few days. Some of these pages were created with CM digital products, some with Stampin Up Digital Studio products, and some layouts were CM predesigned templates that I dragged and dropped my pictures into.

This first layout is my favourite! As you know I love bright, bold colours and this digital package really is fantastic at delivering bold bright elements. This was created with the Creative Memories Disney Vacation Power pallette. It is a collection of pictures of my family celebrating Canada and Heritage Park. The inspriation for the layout came from the latest Close To My Heart Catalogue.



I hope you enjoy them and please leave comments or questions as I always love to hear what you have to say.

Happy Crafting,
Cat

Practical Scrappers Punches Challenge

Hi Everyone,

The challenge this week is to use our punches. We have the option of using border, fancy, basic shapes, whatever we have in our stash.

I received a card from a stampin up consultant that had an owl on it made with various SU punches. I decided for this challenge I wanted to try making my own owl. I didn't have all of the punches so my owl is a mixture of cricut and various punches both SU and Creative Memories.

In total I used 3 different sized circle punches (1.25", 1", and 0.75"), the scalloped circle punch, and the photo corner punch for a total of 5 different punches. The rest of the owl was created with my cricut and cuttlebug.

Recipe:
Paper: Tangerine Tango Cardstock from Stampin Up, Bazzill brown Cardstock, Light brown cardstock from Creative Memories, Stampin Up Black, Stampin Up Whisper White, My Mind's Eye Star Bright Paisley Pop.
Ink: Jumbo Java Versamagic Chalk Ink, Archival Black Ink
Stamps: CTMH Playful Lowercase and Upper Case Alphabet
Accessories: Stampin Up Top Note Die, George Basic Shapes Cricut cartridge, Mini Monograms Cricut Cartridge

Thanks for visiting and have fun creating,
Cat

Halloween Birthday Card

Hi Everyone,

Here is a card I made for one of my daughter's friends. It is his birthday tomorrow and my daughter wanted to use the skull embellishement that I had made awhile ago and just had never used.

I turned the skull cut from the Paper Doll Dress Up Cartridge into a "shaker embellishment" I was pretty pleased with how it turned out but hadn't found a use for it until now.

"Shaker cards" are really easy to make and they pack a lot of WOW factor.

To make this card;
- Cutout the skull from the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge
- Attach a piece of acetate (Old protective covers for the cricut mats work great!) to the back of your skull so it covers the eye and nose openings
-Use the Outside Edge pieces of your Stampin Up dimensionals (Foam tape would work too) to create a "box" of dimensionals around the eyes and nose of the skull. Make sure you don't leave any spaces otherwise your glitter will fall out.
-Fill your "box" about 1/2 to 2/3 full of chunky glitter
-Adhere pop dots to the extremities of your cricut cut
-Take the paper backing off of your pop dots
-Adhere a piece of black cardstock to your cricut cut
-Turn your skull cut over. Freehand cut a shadow around your skull.
-Now your piece is ready to add to your card front or scrapbook layout.






Recipe:
Paper- Basic Grey patterend cardstock (not sure of the name), Stampin Up black cardstock for the shadow, white textured cardstock from DCWV for skull, cream card base from Micheal's, Orange cardstock from Creative Memories for the insert.

Ink- Jumbo Java versa magic chalk ink

Accessories- Making Memories Tiny Alphas in black and white, Paper Doll Dress Up cricut cartridge for the skull, Lyrical Letters Cricut cartridge (Jack Sprat), Chunky gold glitter, Gold eyelets, Stampin Up dimensionals, acetate

More Practical Scrappers Office Supply challenge

Hi Everyone,

It is late here and I really should be going to bed but I couldn't wait to share this card with you. Earlier this evening I was hit with an idea, and I just had to take the time to create or I knew I would be sneaking down in the middle of the night to make this card. I know that many of you have had the same thing happen to you and can relate.

Well here is the result. I know it is a very simple card but I must say I think it is my favourite one that I have made so far. I love everything about it. The colours, textures, and accessories just came together perfectly. I am planning on saving this card for one of my daughter's teachers. I may just have to make a few more so I can keep one for my card stash. I hope you like it as much as I do.





Recipe:
Paper: Card base is Stampin Up pacific point, Green for the stem is Palm cardstock from Creative Memories, Apple is Bo Bunny Wild Berry Dot double sided cardstock, Brown is textured bazzill, grid paper is DCWV Grade school stack, Black for the font is Stampin Up.
Ink: Jumbo Java chalk ink
Accessories: Green paper clip, Red stitched ribbon from Micheal's, Graphically Speaking Cricut Cartridge for the note paper, Lyrical Letters Cricut Cartridge for the font, Doodlecharms Cricut Cartridge for apple, pop dots, crystal effects

Thanks for visiting. As always, comments are very much appreciated,
Cat

Practical Scrappers Office Supply Challenge

Hi Everyone,

This week at Practical Scrappers the challenge was to use any type of office supplies we wanted.

Again, this was a challenge that stretched my limit. I loved all of the ideas on practical scrappers but didn't want to copy them. The decorative paper clips were by far my favourite. If you haven't checked them out you definitely should take the time to do so.

I didn't have very many office supplies on hand and I wasn't sure how photo safe they would be for my scrapbook page. So this page doesn't actually use office supplies but I did alter scrapbooking supplies to look like office supplies.

First of all I decided to use "notebook" paper for my journalling box. I found a piece of grid paper from the DCWV grade school stack and cut out a journalling box using my Provocraft Graphically Speaking Cricut cartridge. Then I recreated manilla tags using paper from my stash and my Stampin Up tag corner punch. Then I used the Stampin Up small circle punch to make the "reinforcements" that go around the hole of the manilla tag. Finally I used my large hole punch to punch the centre hole.

I inked up everything to add dimension and this is the end result. I do quite like the look of the layout even if the look is office supply inspired as opposed to actual office supplies.




I apologize for the photo quality. I seem to be photo challenged today.

Recipe:
Paper: Patterned paper from my stash (not sure of name), yellow, blue, and green (palm) cardstock are all Creative Memories, Bravo Burgundy Cardstock from Stampin Up, Grid Paper from DCWV Grade school stack
Ink: Jumbo Java versamagic chalk ink
Accessories: Cricut, Lyrical Letters cartridge for title, Graphically Speaking for Journalling box.

Decorative box for Greeting Cards

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would share my latest creation with you. My friend's birthday is coming up and I wanted to give her a bunch of handmade cards for her birthday. The only problem was I didn't have a pretty way of presenting them to her.

I went onto splitcoast stampers and found some directions on how to create a box that would hold A2 greeting cards. However, I had a few cards that were 6x6 square as well as some 5x7 cards. With a few quick adjustments I created a box that was 7.75 x 7.75" and 2.25" tall. This box holds 20 cards in various sizes ranging from A2 up to 5x7. For step by step instructions click here.
If you would like to create a box that is the same size as the one I made then you need to make the following changes;

-Start with a 12x12 piece of cardstock for the base. Score the cardstock at 2.25" on each of the four sides.
- Follow the directions as per splitcoast
-For the lid I started with a 9.75"x9.75" piece of cardstock and followed the instructions as per splitcoast.




Recipe:
Paper: Stampin Up Night of Navy cardstock, Coordinations cardstock in red, DCWV textured white cardstock
Ink: CTMH Denim ink, Stampin Up Ruby Red, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Iridescent Gold
Accessories: Stampin Up Photo Corner punch, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Texture Folder, Creative Memories Oval cutter, Blue and Green Creative Memories Blades, Fiskars Threading Water Punch, Terrifically Tacky Tape, Creative memories Taper runner, Stampin Up Dimensionals.
Stamps: Stampin Up Inspired by Nature, Autumn Leaves Big Swirls, Heidi Grace Daisy Stamp set (sorry I can't remember the name).

I hope you enjoy. Thanks for visiting,
Cat

Warmest Wishes Practical Scrappers Challenge

This week on Practical Scrappers the challenge was to use lace cardstock. Well here is my take. I purchased a piece of lace cardstock a couple of years ago and I am still trying to use it up. I love the look of it I just can't seem to find a use for it. This challenge was defnitely out of my comfort zone. I also wanted to try and use up my scraps and embellishments left over from other projects as well as include my newly purchased Felt Flurries. These felt snowflakes are from last year's Stampin Up holiday mini but are on clearance right now.

I decided to use the lace cardstock as a way to add texture to my card. I cut a piece of the lace cardstock the same size as the square of baja breeze blue cardstock. Then I used pop dots on the back of the lace to give even more dimension. When the card was all finished I still thought it needed some sparkle so I added crystal stickles to various sections of the lace cardstock as well as to the felt snowflakes.




Recipe:
Paper- card blanks from Micheals, Stampin Up Chocolate chip and Baja Breeze cardstock, Stampin Up ski slope DSP, White lace cardstock (not sure of company)
Ink- Gingerbread Versamagic Chalk Ink
Accessories- brad from Stampin Up Hodge Podge Hardware, Crystal Stickles, Stampin Up dimensionals, Sentiment is a sticker from the Creative Memories Candy Cane Paper Album, Stampin Up felt flurries

Thanks for looking and happy crafting everyone,
Cat

I completed my first marathon this weekend!

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Things have been pretty busy lately. My family and I just got back from Kelowna this weekend.

I have been running off and on for about 10 years and have ran a number of road and trail races. Well this weekend I ran my first marathon! It was a fantastic experience and I am looking forward to running a second one in May. I managed to complete the 42.2km (26.1 mile) course in 4 hours 35 minutes and 11 seconds. I was hoping for a 4:30 finish time but am very pleased with my results.

I couldn't have been as successful as I was if I wasn't surrounded by so many wonderful people. My family and friends have supported me in my marathon journey and I will be forever thankful for their love and support.

Talk to you all soon,
Cat