A Little Late - But Better Late Than Never

I ended up making a second Father's Day Card (the day before Father's Day) because each of my kids needed a card and neither had the time to make them.

Previously I posted one of the cards and just to show you what I did. The die I used on the front of this card is a custom die from The Scrapping Cottage. All of their "Cottage Cutz" are manufactured by Dies Direct. That is what Dies Direct really excels at! (The owner of Dies Direct used to make all of the QuicKutz and Spellbinder dies before they took their business over seas.)

The die that I used is the Bait Shop Die. This is 2 - 4x4 dies and there are lots of little pieces to this but a with a little patience and time it makes a beautiful piece. I love this. I used an exclusive QuicKutz die (the scalloped A2 Rectangle - available at Archiver's) to back the shack. Of course I also used some ink to distress the piece.



For the inside of this card I used the Karen Foster "Giddy" Font. (These small dies work in not only the little Karen Foster Tool (which I do not own,) but also in the Big Shot, Epic 6, and Boss Kut machines.



While I was making the card I made a second Bait Shop to use later on the Father's Day Lay Out or on one of his fishing lay outs.

So while you are making a card for that special someone, think ahead and make two of a die (especially when there are lots of little bitty pieces) for future use.

Happy Scrappin' ! ! !

Brenda

In "Baby Mode"

So many friends and family are announcing new arrivals so that puts me in "baby mode"

A little gift here and a little gift there. So I made several of these 3D baby frames to have on hand. The frame is a dollar store frame that I have emptied and painted with white and then sponged with shiny acrylic dry paint. I then used some of my Dies Direct dies to make a 3D picture that the parents can either hang on the wall or easel on a table or dresser. All of the items in the frame are pop dotted so that they stand out.

I used the following dies: Grunge Series (G42) Oval Frames, Rocking Horse (C108), and Grunge Frame Series (G40).

I also used a little bit of Tim Holtz distressing ink and a white gel pen.





Like I said I made several of these in various colors so that it could be used for either a boy or a girl. I am only showing you one example.

My challenge today is that you pull out some of those dies (or order some new ones) and make a few gifts ahead of time.

Happy Scrappin' ! ! !

Brenda

Take A Message Please

I have seen these little message centers all over the Internet and I love them. I have seen them done as calendars, with a Post-It Notepad, and also accented with pictures. I've always wanted to do one but never had the die that screamed "message" until Dies Direct came out with a new die called "Message In A Bottle."

That was all it took for me to get out that dollar store acrylic frame and get to work.

I cut a piece of cardstock the size of the frame, decided where the note pad should go, and then the die came to life. I also used the 3/4" Optimistic Font. A pen that can be taken apart so that a small cylinder of cardstock can be inserted so that the pen matches the scene pulls it all together. Now the secret to this is that the artwork goes in the frame and the note pad goes on top. I used a Crop-A-Dile to punch a hole in the back of the frame to attach the pen.








These are cute gifts to welcome new neighbors, for teachers, bosses, or secretaries OR you don't have to have a reason make it a "just because" gift. While you are making someone else one make yourself one as well and put it by the phone so the teens have no reason to say they forgot to take a message.

Happy Scrappin' ! ! !

Brenda

Father's Day and Fishermen

There are two things that my family loves, a celebration and my men love to go fishing. This next weekend they will have a little of both. It is Father's day on Sunday, June 20th. I can't believe that the year is half over already.

Father's Day, at my house, always means a BBQ and that the men will get up at the crack of dawn and go to their favorite fishing hole. When the men get home we will fire up the grill and country ribs will go down, they will drink a couple of cold ones and gifts will be given.

I have busy making the cards, which is what I want to share with you today.

I took a different approach to my cards this year and incorporated the fishing theme into them. Dies Direct had the perfect embossing plates for this. These are new plates and they work flawlessly. After embossing the image from the plate I grabbed a grunge plate and tore the edges and then inked the edges and the image for some distressing effects. I layered the embossed cardstock on a printed fish paper and then that onto a card blank. I left the inside blank so that the kids could write their dad a personal note. A gift card to Cabela's and Bass Pro Shop complete the gift!



Throw a themed Father's Day for the big daddy in your life.

Happy Scrappin ! ! !

Brenda

Family News

Normally I don't post family news on my blog, but this has a crafty edge to it so I am doing it.

On May 11, 2010 my sister-in-law, Susie, and her husband, Shannon blessed our family with a beautiful baby girl, Karen Rosemary. She weighed in at 4 pounds, 9 ounces and was 17 inches long. She was a little early but perfect in every way.

Here is a picture of Baby Karen with her parents and then one of just her (these were taken on May 12.





Susie's girlfriends gave her a shower and I was still working on her real gift so for a shower gift I gave her a diaper wipe warmer, which I think every baby deserves! I continued to work on the crocheted afghan and got it finished just 2 days before Karen came into our lives. Susie did Karen's nursery in pinks and browns with a butterfly motif theme. This is the closest thing I could come up for her themed nursery. They seemed to like it.



So today I don't have a scrapbooking challenge for you (those pictures of baby Karen and her momma and daddy will be scrap-booked but it may be a while before I get to them.) I just wanted to share this wonderful news and show off our new family member and another craft that I do.

Until next time Happy Crafting ! ! !

Brenda

So Much Has Happened

My last post was around Mother's Day. Wow time really flies. I guess I should be more faithful about getting posts up and keep everyone informed.

I am going to show you a few projects that I made and sent in for the Dies Direct Design Team. These don't really have any rhyme or reason as to why I am using a snowflake or Easter Bunny die in the middle of summer other than I was sent the dies and wanted to use them.

The first project is a candle. I used the Dies Direct Snowflakes, along with 2 colors of tissue paper. After I cut the tissue into shapes I used a regular blow dryer to slightly melt the outside of the candle, working quickly place the snowflakes on the candle and then melted the candle again so that the wax engulfed the tissue paper and it became part of the candle. This is very easy to do and you can make several at one time.





The second project is a basket made from a 9x9 inch piece of cardstock with a 1 1/2 x11 inch piece for the handle. The 9x9 is scored in thirds both ways, and then cut 1/3 in on the score lines on opposite sides. One brad on each side holds both the basket sides and handle into place. Then it I used the Dies Direct Pretty Petal 4x4 die for the 3D flowers around the edge of the basket.





The third and final project for today is a 6" metal bucket that I used the Dies Direct Bunny in a Basket and a product called Modge Podge. I first prepared the bucket with alcohol inks, then cut the pieces to the die cut out, used various inks and chalks and the assembled the die cut, coated one side of the tin with the Modge Podge, added the die cut to the tin and then coated the entire piece with Modge Podge two more times. This piece can be cleaned with a damp rag and would be a little more child friendly. This would be perfect for a child's mini Easter Treat basket.




I hope that you will check out the Dies Direct Website as they are coming out with new dies everyday.

I will try to have a few more pieces to show you soon. Dies Direct has some really cool new products that I just got my hands on a couple of days ago and the wheels are turning and I am itching to scrap some of the things that I immediately sketched.

Happy Scrappin' ! ! !

Brenda

Mother's Day Already?

To my mom - Happy Mother's Day and to all of you out there are Mom's as well.

I've said it before and you will hear it time and time again, I am 3 years behind on my personal albums.... and I am trying to do a little here and there as I can. I am always so busy though that I just keep getting farther and farther behind.

With the help of Susan at the ScrapyLand Blog and her Starting Blox, I threw this lay-out together in no time and I love the finished result. This is a picture of my mother-in-law, Karen, who has since passed away and my own mother who since this picture was taken has struggled with getting well after suffering some bone crushing injuries as a result of a car accident. She is now doing remarkably well.

I used several techniques/products to get this lay-out finished. I used my Gypsy to make the scalloped circle that I cut in half and used a piece on each page. (I hate paying $1.50 or more for one of those specialty shaped papers when you can make your own for the price of a 12x12 piece of cardstock.)

I used a new program called Make-The-Cut to cut out our mom's names. I am still learning how to use that program but so far I love it. It allows you to cut any True Type Font, that you have stored in you computer, using your Cricut Machine.

I used only one QKs Dies, the font is Stardust Cookie Cutter. A Martha Stewart punch set was used to make the lacy doily and a Dies Direct Pretty Petal die was used to make the flowers.

This first page is my Mother-In-Law:



The second page is my mom:



This is a view of the two pages side by side (I used the same starting blox for both pages but flipped the design on the second page.)



I am hoping to scrap more in my personal album in the coming weeks. I just have to get motivated.

Happy Scrappin; ! ! !

Brenda

Happy Cinco De Mayo

I have to admit I don't celebrate Cinco De Mayo but a few years ago we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant and it happen to be May 5. So I took out my camera and shot a few pictures since everyone was celebrating. I think my camera got passed around because there are even pictures of me, which almost never happens.

These pictures are from 2007 so I am exactly 3 years behind on my personal scrapbooks.

I took a Starting Blox from Scrapyland.com's Blog and used that as a guide and then used several of the dies that I bought from the ScrapLand.com store including the Paper Doll (and I also used the boy hair and boy clothes,) Mexico Collection, 4x8 License Plate Font, Triangles (Retired,) QK Tangerine Classic Font (retired,) and then I also reached for a Dies Direct set called Optimistic 1/2" Font, and I also reached for a stamp set from a company called Peachy Keen.

Every one of those peppers is two pieces and layered. The triangles are also each cut and layers.



To pull the two pages together a few peppers found their way on to this page.





I have to say I love the way my little Mexican dude turned out,



I guess even holidays that aren't holiday's in the U.S.A. can be celebrated. So with that I will say Happy Cinco De Mayo and let it go at that and my challenge is that you carry your camera with you because you never know when a holiday might present itself.

Happy Scrappin' ! ! !

Brenda

Rich In Tradition

Sometimes a holiday isn't a holiday at all. Sometimes a holiday is a memory of a tradition that has been passed from generation to generation. You don't hear of May Day very much any more nor do you see the little signs of May Day sitting or hanging on a door but I still love to surprise a few people (family, friends, and neighbors) with a little something to keep May Day alive.

For me, today is all about my mother's memories. She tells stories of her childhood, making a little basket and picking wild flowers and weed flowers, putting them in a little basket and adding a piece of candy or two, knocking on neighbors doors and running to hide to have the person answer the door and a little treat being there.

As a child my mom would help us do this to our favorite neighbors, Mrs. Zoe Witt and Mr. Gus "Doc" Greer and others. Those two would come looking for us because they would see us going back into the house laughing. For me, this day also brings back very fond memories of those two neighbors.

I always remember the stories that my mom tells and then think back to how much fun it was, as a child, to do this. So a couple of weeks ago I got busy and dug out some dies and made a few little door hangers for my family, friends, and neighbors but I did not add the candy nor am I going to ring bells and run. Early this morning I walked the neighborhood and left the little anonymous hanging cards on door knobs and then drove to my mom's to leave her one. Twelve little gifts in all were left and a feeling of happiness will stay with me all day thinking that I might have brought a smile to their faces and reminded them of childhood memories.

Here is what I left them:

This is the hanging card open:



On opened and one closed and tied with a ribbon:



A this one hanging on my bedroom door just to make sure that it would hang on a standard door knob.



I do not know where May Day originated, what culture welcomed spring with gifts for those you are fond of, but it brings back some wonderful memories of my mom and of my own childhood.

So I challenge you to make a little something for a friend, family member, or neighbor, if for no other reason than to brighten their day!

Happy Scrappin' ! ! !

Brenda

Honored To Say Yes

Recently I was able to attend CHA and represent a company called Dies Direct. Months have passed since I traveled to Arizona to meet them and travel on to California to CHA. During the time that we were preparing for CHA I used some of their dies to make cards for the booth. I posted them previously here on the blog.

I was recently contacted by BJ, one of the owners, and invited to sit on their Design Team. I accepted the position and I have recent received a box of their new dies. Can I just say I am blown away by some of the new designs.

When I opened the box the first one that caught my attention wasn't a die at all, it was an embossing plate. The thing that is unique about their embossing plates is that they are two sided so you get a little more for your money.

I could not wait to play with this plate. First embossing with it and then sitting down and colorizing the image. This is what I came up with:



This will make a beautiful card for Mother's Day or a Get Well Card.

I hope that you will take time to go over to the Die Direct website and look around. They have a line of dies, grunge plates, double sided embossing plates, and accessories.

Happy Scrappin' ! ! !

Brenda