Inexpensive Paper Storage

A while back I posted on the Cricut MB how I used some recycled Priority Mail boxes to store my 12 x 12 paper.

Here are a couple of photos of one of the boxes.  The measurements I used are shown on the Post-it notes.

They work just as well as the Cropper Hoppers and they're free!  LOL!

Before Okie bought her Cropper Hoppers she had a lot of paper stored this way.  After I was able to buy my Jetmax cubes this was the cheapest thing I could come up with to hold mine.  I have since purchased several of the Cropper Hoppers but still have eight of these in my cubes.

Three Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm grateful that I slept well last night, made it to exercise class on time and feel much more energized having done the class; that we're having beautiful fall weather and that DH made it home from his hunting trip just fine.

Cards Magazine-December 2010

This butterfly is from a sheet of wall stickers that I found at the Dollar Tree!  I got several sheets of them because I thought the butterflies were so pretty.  When I saw the card in this month's magazine I dragged them out and came up with this.

The butterfly was put onto cardstock and then cut out and pop dotted.

The ledger paper came from a DCWV Farmer's Market stack and I computer printed the sentiment. The background paper is Imaginisce and the card front is SU mellow moss.  The colors in the stripes are actually kind of muted; they show up much brighter in the photo than in person.

The edges were rounded using my new Crop-O-Dile Corner Chomper and inked with Chestnut Roan ink.

The second one is done with some of the double sided cardstock that Okie bought online and split with me.  It's a really nice weight and cuts like butter!

Circle Ornament Card

December issue of Cards magazine has a card like this on page 31.

I measured 1/2" from each edge of the card and drew the lines to within 1/4" of the edge.

Cut 1 1/4" circles from patterned paper and cardstock and adhered them together.  Added some pre-tied bows,  pop-dotted the circles on the card front and then drew the lines for the "strings".

Computer printed the sentiment.

Four Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm most thankful for my good friends.  It's a blessing to look back and remember all the fun times we've shared.

Monkey Birthday Card

I used a Dustin Pike digital image for the monkey, colored it with my Promarkers, Accent Essentials for the scalloped square.  Added some glitter stars on the corners of the digital image and printed the inside sentiment on my computer.

Five Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm thankful that the good Lord has been generous with my family.  We are blessed to live in the United States in a nice home, with plenty of good food to eat.  Our health is okay.  We have the freedom to come and go as we please.

Martha Stewart Christmas Cards

These were done on some Martha Stewart thank you notes that I found on clearance.  I liked the scalloped edge and the weight of the paper and thought they'd look great if I embellished the fronts.

I used the MS branch punch, colored some of the wedding flowers from Michael's, the flower center is one of the pearls from my trip to Arlington,  computer printed the sentiment and just added a bow. 

Six Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm most thankful for having been shown how to manage money by my parents.  It allowed me and my husband to retire early and have sufficient resources to live comfortably.

Recipe Album

Mary at CardzTV has a couple of videos up this week with full instructions on how to make these.  I'm debating turning one of them into a receipt folder to keep handy in my kitchen to tuck my cash register receipts inside when I come in from shopping.  That way if I need a receipt to return an item it will be easy to find.

The pockets are cut large enough to hold standard sized recipe cards.  Each pocket should hold 2-3 cards.

This one is done with Paper Studio Sugar and Spice stack from Hobby Lobby.



This one is done with DCWV Berry Street Farmer's Market stack that came out several months ago. This is the one that I'll probably turn into my receipt holder.



I used light weight cardboard and covered it with cardstock.

Cover is cut at 4 1/4" x 7"

Pocket for cover is cut at 2" x 7"

Inside pages were cut with From My Kitchen cartridge at 4".

Pockets for pages were cut at 2" x 6 3/4"

I used my Bind-it-all to assemble it.  I will be adding Cricut cut embellishments to each page too.

For each album I cut 2 fronts, 2 front pockets, 3 inside pages, 6 pockets for the pages.  I was able to make both albums using 3 sheets of 8 1/2" x 11" cardboard.

It took less than two hours to completely cut and assemble these so they're quick gifts.  It will take me much longer to decide what embellishments to use to finish them up!

Seven Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm most grateful for having a good home to live in.  We're fortunate that we have everything we need to keep us comfortable.

Monkey Card

A neighbor asked me this afternoon to make a new baby card with a monkey on it.  I'm not a big fan of the monkey on New Arrival cartridge but here's what I came up with.

Since the baby's nursery is being decorated with monkeys I thought the sentiment would be okay.

The monkey was cut at 3" and the words came from Wild Card cartridge.

Eight Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm most thankful for having the opportunity to spend the day with my family.  We'll gather and have a wonderful dinner together.  I'm thankful that we're safe and well.

Botanical Blooms Card

This card uses the SU set Botanical Blooms.  It's a two step stamp set so having a Stamp-a-ma-jig makes it easier to line up the stamps when you do the second inking.

The embossed lines were done with the Scor-Pal.  Elegant Eggplant ribbon from SU for the bow.  I pop dotted the center piece.

Kraft Paper Birthday Card

Tammy Mayberry graciously shared her concept for this card.  She used kraft paper in layers for hers.  The striped paper I used is lightweight.  I used my Expression to cut the stars and the red squares for the mat.
Heat set some small gold circles on the corner.

Kids Birthday Cards

The card with the puppy has a clip art image on it.  I use SU punches for the scallops and added some doodledots.

I like the brick printed paper for the skateboard card.  The skater image is also clip art.

Masculine Birthday Card

In the Tim Holtz Lost and Found stack that I picked up at HL on Saturday there was a sheet of grungy looking calendar pages.  After studying them for some time trying to decide how I could use something that big on an A2 card I decided they'd make great masculine birthday cards.

I just cut off the names of the months, matted them with black and put them onto the center of the card above the computer generated sentiment.

There are score lines above and below the calendar page done with my Scor-Pal.  They don't show up too well in the photo.

Added a ribbon and textured button and I think this makes a pretty masculine looking card!

Butterfly Wishes

Martha Stewart butterfly punch, run through Cuttlebug,
Fiskars border punch
Computer generated sentiment
SU marker for dots on background to match printer ink

Index info:  Card saved in Birthdays as wishes.hmk

                  Regal Rose marker used to match printer ink

Quick Birthday Card

Cut Out Flowers

These were made with some of the two-sided paper that Shirley ordered and shared with me.  The layout was inspired by a card on Splitcoast Stampers.

The Swiss Dot Cuttlebug folder was used on the white background.  I cut out and pop dotted the flowers and used a SU border punch for the scalloped piece.  The sentiment is from a set of Studio G's.  I added some bling with a Gelly Roll pen on the flower petals and the sentiment.

Nine Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm thankful for my card making hobby.  It's something I really enjoy doing and it's allowed me to meet so many nice people. 

Ten Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm most thankful for my friends and family who give me support and encouragement.

Eleven Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm thankful that my husband took the opportunity to go on a hunting trip with some of his friends.  It's good for him to have their fellowship and I enjoy having the house all to myself for a few days.

More Cards for Soldiers

Very simple cards using some of the paper that Okie ordered and shared with me.  She has some cards like these on her blog using Graphic 45 vintage images.

The old photo came from a Tim Holtz Lost and Found stack I picked up yesterday on our shopping trip. The button was made with the MS button punch.  I finally used my Just-Rite Stamp to print the sentiment.

Those stamps are some of the most useless things I have in this room to use!  What a pain in the behind to try and force those letters into the slots on the slippery round stamp base!

I decided to add some black photo corners onto this one.  Mama's old photo albums all had these on the pictures.



My old Martha Stewart butterfly punch gets used quite a bit.  Using the Cuttlebug on the butterflies really makes them stand out.  The edges of the papers and the butterflies were inked.

The sentiments on this one were just cout out from the paper.

A digital stamp was resized in my card maker software and punched out for this one.  I used two sizes of SU scallops for the base.



Twelve Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm most thankful for my grandaughter.  She's very sweet, tenderhearted, a good student, excellent musician and has not given her family any problems. 

We made it home one more time!

Shirley, aka Okieladybug, and I had another of our retail therapy trips today to Oklahoma City. I even managed to pick up some Christmas gifts for my grandkids inbetween craft shopping.

Our first stop was Hobby Lobby.  Having printed out four HL coupons for us to use, I knew we'd be in there a while trying to find something that we felt was coupon "worthy".  Shirley had told me that their paper packs and stacks were already on sale 50% off so we knew we'd have to save our coupons for something else.

Like every other shopping trip we've taken, I told her I could not buy any more paper!  There's no room left in here for any additions to my already packed full cubes.  So, I wound up only getting five stacks this time!  LOL!  We both picked up a Tim Holz stack that we've drooled over a couple of times.  I gave Shirley instructions to get home and make something out of it so I'll have an idea to steal.

While Shirley was checking out the embellishments that were on  sale 50%  off , I turned my back to look at something on the other side of the aisle.  Then I hear her say "I'm pregnant".  It was said very calmly; I turned around and said "You're what?  What do you mean you're pregnant?"  thinking that she was being pretty cool about the situation.

Turns out she was reading the heading on a page kit that was hanging beside the brads she was sorting through!  LOL!  We had a good laugh about the fact that I thought she meant she really was pregnant.

A couple of aisles over she found some feather boas and had to strike a pose wearing several bright red ones.

We left HL and went to Olive Garden for lunch.  The food was really pretty good but we had a waitress that must have been absent the day they had their wait staff training!  LOL!  Let's just say that when we paid the tab, she didn't get much of a tip!

Shirley had never had any of OG's bow tie pie so I generously ( and I don't care what she says about that!) shared my slice with her.  If you haven't tried that pie and you're a chocolate lover, you don't know what you're missing!  Chocolate cake crust on the bottom, the side crust is chocolate chips! , dark chocolate cheesecake with layers of vanilla and chocolate creamy pudding on top.  Yum!

After lunch we took a roundabout trip back to Michael's but I think we were so full from lunch and so overloaded from shopping at HL that nothing looked like we had to have it.  I wound up picking up some clear embossing powder and Shirley left empty handed.

Shirley wanted to pick up a few more Cropper Hoppers for her 12 x 12 paper and she bought the only ones they had at the HL on I-240 so we drove up to Midwest City to check the HL there to see if they still had some in stock. She was able to get what she wanted and I had to buy two more myself for the paper I picked up at HL.

While I was checking out their selection of EK punches, I overheard a young girl with the cutest little 2 year old boy talking to another woman in the store about a corner punch.  She's wanting to start making her own cards.  We struck up a conversation about the different punches, papers, etc. and I wound up spending quite some time explaining the different things she might want just to get started. 

At one point, as we were walking through the store I assured her if she had a Platinum American Express that I could help her max it out!  LOL!  By the time we got through talking and showing her some items in the store I think she left with what she'd need to see if she's going to like card making.

Would you believe that we were next door to Big Lots all afternoon and never set foot inside their door? I was shocked that Shirley had let me escape going there this time.  She was starting to run out of steam because she'd only had about 4 hours sleep last night.  That girl was just out having too much fun!

Since she did show up this morning with my paper, we did our "ransom" exchange and she got her markers. Not only did she leave with those, I also sent her home with a container of homemade salsa, posole and a bar of my homemade soap for her to try.

We had a good time today!  I bought way too much paper, Shirley spent money, we had a great lunch and a lot of laughs.  Another fun day with a good friend!

Now I just have to figure out where I can put the new paper in my Jetmax cubes!  But, that may have to wait until tomorrow!  LOL!

Thirteen Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm most thankful that I am still able to do physical work.  That I'm healthy enough and strong enough to take care of myself and my husband.

Tuxedo Card

This one is called "tuxedo" because that's what it reminds me of!  I like the black, red, white combination.

Once again, it was inspired by a card I saw on a blog; imagine that!  LOL!

The placket with the buttons on it was cut 1.5 inches wide, then scored lengthwise .25 from the edge and folded under.  I made faux stitch lines .25 inches from the edge of the folded placket using a marking wheel from my sewing supplies . The stitch lines don't show up in the photos very well.

The shirt style buttons were attached using some pop-dots and I was finished!  They're pearlized buttons and show up sort of ivory colored in the photos but they're white.

Fourteen Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm most grateful for the doctors, nurses and other caretakers that we have available.  I appreciate the time they spent learning their jobs and their dedication to helping others.

Embossed Butterfly Card

Making as many cards as I do, I tend to get into a routine of using the same types of materials and techniques.  There are a lot of digital images that I color and then mount onto cardstock to apply to card fronts, lots of edges cut with shaped scissors or shaped blades, etc.

Sometimes I just can't come up with ANYTHING different to do.  That's when I log on and start looking around at different blogs and websites for some inspiration.

This has to be one of the prettiest cards I've done in a long time.  It was inspired by one I saw at Splitcoast Stampers.

The stamps I used are from a SU set called God's Beauty.  I stamped the butterfly using Versamark ink onto black cardstock and used black embossing powder on it.  There are some faceted shapes on each corner.

I'm a terrible photographer! The card base is black, first mat is a light grey, patterned paper is from a stack I've had on hand for some time and it's silvery grey and white.  None of the colors look true in the photo and after taking numerous photos of the card, this is the best one to see the shiny embossing on the butterflies.

It looks sort of elegant in person with the embossed shapes on it.  This is a technique I'll use to emboss on other colors of background paper using embossing powder to match the paper.

The inside of the card is blank.  Maybe it's the colors I used but to me, it looks like a sympathy card in the photos.  In person, where you can truly see the glossy butterflies it could be used for just about any occasion.

Anyway, it's unique and I think the soldiers will be proud to send it to someone back home.

OMG! Thanks to Tr1221, who graciously photoshopped my picture!  I don't know beans about using a photo editing program but whatever she did makes the glossiness really show up on the card.  Here's her enhanced photo......

Fifteen Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm thankful for the trained technicians that are here putting in new central heat and air units.  They're doing a great job and getting it done quickly with very little mess or inconvenience.  They showed up when they were scheduled and will be finished in just two more days.

Same Santa with different paper

I like these stripes! The holly leaves came from the clip art CD that the Santa face is on.

Sixteen Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm grateful for my fitness trainer.  She's helping me to learn how to keep myself active, strengthen my muscles and stay more flexible.

Christmas Card

Another CFS card.  The Santa image is from a clip art CD.  I imported it into my Hallmark Cardmaking software and dropped the green plaid background behind it, printed it, then colored the Santa with a combination of BIC and SU markers.

The sentiment was computer printed, punched with a 1.75" x .875"  SU oval punch and mounted on a red scallop oval that measures 2" x 1.125"

Inside sentiment:  "Christmas to you!" printed using the Hallmark software.

I added some doodledots and used the SU tag corner punch on the Santa cutout.

This Santa is one of my favorite images to use for Christmas cards.  It only requires 4 colors of markers and  a white pen for accents.

Okay, I totally stole this from Okieladybug!

I was beginning to wonder if Okie was EVER going to post something on her blog for me to steal! LOL!

She knows I have no original ideas and I depend on her and other bloggers to point me in the right direction!

The printed paper is from a pack I found last year at Big Lots and the stamped images are some of the $1 Studio G's I've picked up at Michael's.

These are going into my Cards for Soldiers box.  I had to make something besides Christmas cards for a while!  LOL!

Hey, Okie! This is for you!

Ransom Note

I have your markers if you want to see them unused, intact, and still in pristine condition you will contact me to arrange a trade for my Share of the paper. Put the paper in a plain brown bag and Come alone!Do not contact the Message Board police or else!

"Sincerely,"

Lguild

Seventeen Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm most grateful to the farmers and ranchers for our abundant supply of food and that we have safe, clean water to drink.

Eighteen Days of Thankfulness

Today I'm most grateful for my home, that we have a place that's safe, dry and warm to live.

Promarkers

Okieladybug and I combined an order of Promarkers to save on the shipping costs.

They arrived a couple of days ago and once I got them sorted I wanted to be absolutely, positively certain that she got the ones she ordered and I got mine.

Since I'm always concerned that I'll get things that I borrow mixed up with my stuff I like to have the lender's name on whatever I borrow.  Okie, aka Shirley, didn't want to write on her CB folder she loaned me so she made a label that said "Shirley's damn folder" and stuck on it.

Here's how I know which of the Promarkers belong to Shirley!  LOL!