L'Shana Tova

I finally got around to making a banner for the New Year. I had great aspirations of decorating each panel with flowers or other "prettiness" but time got away from me. Still its nice - and I used a bunch of my stash!!  Maybe 15 or so sheets of 12 x 12 paper that I had been "saving" for good - bet you have some of that too!!

The paper is from Scrap In A Snap - a now defunct company for whom I was a consultant. Everything was cut with my new Expression - I used Basic George for the triangles and the letters.

My sister should get her gift tomorrow so over the w/e I'll post the pix.

L'Shana Tova to those that celebrate and thanks to all for stopping by!

A fast card!

Here is a fast and easy card I sent to my DD this weekend. The flower stamp is one from Gina K designs. I was smart when I first got the set and stamped quite a few with memento black ink and colored them with copics in several color schemes. They've sat on my desk for months and every once and a while I decide to use one in a card. I just ran some purple c/s through the Big Shot with the SU! dots embossing  folder - I had a certainly celery butterfly cut from the SU! butterfly die in my stash so I also ran it through the dots embossing folder - put a little pearl "ribbon" from Hobby Lobby on for the body -attached with a glue dot - and had a super fast card - took me like 5 mins - but thats only cuz the "ingredients" were mostly done. Oh yeah - I also used the SU!hole punching template thingie (whose proper name escapes me right now LOL) to make the little triangle design in the corners...you know - for a nonSU! demo - I sure to have ALOT and use ALOT of their supplies LOL

. I am hoping to create a little "stash" of ingredients for future fast cards.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday Sis!

Two days in a row - can you believe it?? Although the pictures don't look like it- these are actually the same color IRL. One of these days I really gotta find a better way to take pictures of projects.

I made my sister a gift for her bday - but I think she stops by here - so you're gonna have to wait till she sees it but I'm gonna "risk" the card!

Supplies - Basic Grey patterend paper, Fiskars border punch, circle punch Ek Sucess, glitter, scor-tape, SU! always artichoke cardstock, SU! stamps  vintage labels and whimsical words (both retired Sale a bration stamps) and lace ribbon from Hobby Lobby.

Thanks for stopping by! Andrea

A card!! Yeah!!

I finally got to play with paper!!!

I made a quick card for my DD who is spending her sophmore high school semester in a semester school in the North Carolina mountains.

 Its an amazing program and opportunity for her - but needless to say I miss her - so y'all may be seeing lots and lots of cards. So far I've sent her several from my stash.

Today's card uses some retired SU! patterned paper,SU! retired barely banana grosgrain ribbon, SU! tempting turqouise cardstock. As well as punches (y'all know I love punches) I used the SU! tab punch and the two step bird punch. The I love you stamp is an oldy clear stamp from ages ago and I have no clue who made it. Oh yeah - the border is a fiskars (?) border punch - I'll have to check on that

Here is a close up on the "trio". I've noticed that many of the cards I seem to admire are grouping details together so I thought I'd give it a try.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mini Album Tutorial - Books I've Read so I won't buy duplicates anymore!

Oh how I've missed crafting! Like lots of folks - summer is a busy time here - and quite frankly - I just haven't had the mojo - till today!!

I've missed scrapbooking - I have a problem - I have two teen girls (well one will be twenty next month) who refuse - flat out refuse - to let me take their picture - kinda makes it difficult to scrapbook, no? Yuppers I have tons and tons of old photos I could do - but that would take organizing them - I'll leave that for another time.

But I do love my mini albums - my theme albums. I do think this is my favorite type of album - partly cuz its one story from beginning to end. I love to come up with different type of mini albums.

Unlike my friend, Sharon, I hardly ever like my first effort at a new technique or type of project. I learn as I go - she likes to carefully think and plan each move she makes - hence, her first efforts are great and mine are learning tools.

So why am I boring you with this? I had an idea for a mini album and wanted to "test it" I decided to make a little booklet of books I've read so far. I don't like to read the back of the book as I feel it gives away too much of the story - and since I read so much - sometimes (often) I forget if I've read a book and then buy it twice - course most of my books come from our neighborhood used bookstore so its not as huge a mistake but still it wastes money!!

Here is the booklet I made - I didn't make the cover too "pretty" with embellishments cuz I figured they'd get ruined in my purse.

Inside Flap - I love this book stamp from my stash - I watercolored it in with SU! Tempting Turquoise.

I used the Bind It all to bind the book and index cards for the pages - I figured I better have lines to write on! Neat I'm not LOL

Here is where I had  my "new" idea. I use cereal boxes for cardboard all the time. I have tried lots of glues and like Zip Dry the best. You need to sand the cereal box first. It adheres well but what I don't like is the sides of the book - you can see the cardboard between the pieces of cardstock - I just don't like it.. So I figures since I'm making a mini album why not "wrap" the cover. Here - I'll show you what I mean.

Clean Edges!!

Sample Page

Now that I know I like how this comes out - I plan on making pages from cardstock and making a mini scrapbook album. Look at what I want to use for the cover

Whew!! I got long winded today!! Sorry about that! Thanks for stopping by! Andrea

Stash Busters!! 4 Quick and Easy Cards

Ok so I have lots of "goals" this summer - some crafty and some not - One of my major Crafty goals is to use up some of my stash. If you've seen my SB room online or in person - you can tell I have lots and lots of paper - lots  of it is from the early days and I don't love it anymore - so guess -what I'm gonna find a way to use it or give it to someone else (like a school).

Idea 1)
Personally - I think since I just got the Cricut Expression (YEAH) I'll use it - either for projects or practice cuts - I don't know about y'all - but when I cut something with my Cricut I often have to so a second cut cuz the size is wrong -

Idea 2) Envelopes for the cards I make and am encouraging myself to SEND vs Store and thus increase the STASH

So my youngest is at camp for 3 weeks and I try and mail a card to her almost everyday. Thats a good way to bust my STASH!!!

Here are 4 quick cards I made with the DCWV Green 4 x 6 mat stack, SU! kraft and SU! sahara sand cardstock.

This last one I was in the ozone I guess when I cut the base cardstock cuz it was 6 x 4.25 (instead of 5.5 x 4.25) and it won't fit in a normal A2 envelop so I made an envelop with my Expression and the Wild Card cartridge. I am putting the paper inside out so the printed side is on the inside and it will look like a liner and the outside will be white and easy for the post office to read.

Thansk for stopping by! I'm sure I'll have lots more cards over the next few weeks -

Andrea

PS note to self - another big crafty goal is to make a SB page!!

Another Crochet Purse

I love it!! This is my latest crochet purse and I gotta say - my favorite by far! I don't know if y'all are like me - but most of the time I don't really "love" what I make - I tend to see what I could a /should a done differently that would make it better. But this one - I love. I used it tonight for the first time and it works great - right size - light - pretty -

I seem to not be able to follow patterns. well - I mean I know how and all but somehow when I get involved in a  pattern my brain just veers off and starts down its own path and before I know it - I'm way off what the designer intended. Which is fine - once you are somewhat familiar with the craft and know what you're doing. Not so fine when you're first starting out with a craft which explains why I didn't like some of my earlier purses.

So after making several earlier purses - I had an idea in my head that turned into this one - I didn't use a pattern - and unfortunately I didn't write down how I did this one because I think I'd like to make another one with different colors. But maybe I can figure out how to get "close".

I did have a pattern that I mostly followed for the rose flower. Its from Fashion Flowers to Crochet by Darla Sims published by American School of Needlework. Isn't it cute?

Thanks for stopping by! Till next time - Andrea

Turtle Father's Day Card

I had so much fun making him....Isn't he cute?

So I got to use my new toys!!! The other day I purchased Make The Cut software for my Cricut. I was playing around and found a coloring book of a turtle and altered it a bit and it was so easy to cut it out! Originally I was intimidated by the thought of the product - but let me tell ya - its soooo super easy!

So then my dear friend ,and enabler :)  Eleanor,  (I am sooo glad she did ) sent me a link to a great price on a Cricut Expression and I caved and bought it. It arrived Friday - oh my! What an awesome machine - lots of great features vs the baby bug I had. So I had fun with Wild Card making some envelopes and cards (I'll show you another time) . I can see myself really utilizing the machine now!

The Father's Day phrase and the grass was cut with the Wild Card Cartridge...ribbon and cardstock and green fiber and circle punch are from my massive stash. Card dimensions are 3.5 x 6 and yup - it fits in a standard card envelope.

I hope y'all have a happy Father's Day. Thanks for stopping by!

Andrea

Quick post - little blog candy EDITED TO ADD GONE TO NATCHA

Helloo!!! Quick post today - does anyone like the Ranger Distress Stickles? If so I have 3 bottles to send your way - or the first person to contact me anyway LOL.

I love stickles! Mainly cuz I love sparkle and glitter perhaps. But I don't feel the love for distress stickles. I tried 'em - so yeah one of the bottles is slightly used. I don't like 'em. The glitter doesn't get the same coverage as their regular stickles - which is a "duh-" moment for me cuz its DISTRESSED!

Back later this week (hopefully)
Thanks for stopping by
Andrea

Second Card post today!!

So here I don't post for weeks and then do it twice in one day - I promised a friend that I'd post this card and I'm afraid the week will get away from me and I won't get a chance...course I bet there is a way to prepare posts ahead but I haven't figured out more than the basics here...

Here is a card for Sharon, my SU! rep and dear dear friend. I used my fav set - Friends 24-7.

The inside of the card. I masked the flower stamp so stamp it twice. The flowers are watercolored using the top of the ink pads.

I used the back of the ribbon on the front of the card to hold the check I needed to send her for my last order.

supplies: C/S chocolate chip and pink pirohuette paper. Ink is rose red, certainly celery, chocolate chip (my all time favorite ink color)

Oh and the flower - is crocheted by ME!! I love combining my two favorite hobbies!~!

Thanks for stopping by

Andrea

Father's Day Cards

So for once I made some cards "ahead" LOL - ususally the day I need a card (despite the massive stash of homemade cards I have) I'm usually scrambling to make a card. 

Here are 2 of the 3 Father's Day Cards I'll need.

Here's Hubby's Card

My Father In Law's Card

supplies: I used the new Argyle stamp set from Paper Trey Ink for the front and the inside of the cards. Oh Boy!! Do I love this set - its so easy to line up and use to make your own patterned paper!! PTI does an amazing job of making border stamps.

Don't ask me who makes it - but the Happy Father's Day stamp is from my stash from ages ago.

The little birdie on DH's card is the Stampin Up bird punch - gotta say that is one of my all time fav!! punches!!

Cardstock is SU! soon to be retired Barely Banana and Sage Shadow and the ink is SU!s Chocolate Chip - probably my all time fav ink color (and cardstock)

I liked the argyle set so much that I made a money holder card for my nephews birthday from the supplies sitting on my desk. The birthday packages are a SU! sale-a-bration set and the ink is the soon to be retired Sage Shadow.

Thanks for stopping by!! Andrea

NY City and SU! My digital Studio

Well it seems like I took another hiatus from posting and this time from crafting. I haven't really had the time to make much of anything worth sharing lately. We did take an awesome trip to New York City with the family. Believe it or not - my camera broke so I only have a few pictures that my DD took. Here we are outside of Wicked.

I just bought SU!s My Digital Studio and tried my hand at my first digital page. I know that the program can do lots more than I attempted. I plan to mostly use the digital program for hybrid projects. I still really love the feel of paper and there is something soothing to me to a paper project.But this was fun to play with and pull together while watching TV tonight with the girls. Any one watch Chuck? They've got me hooked and we're catching up on the past seasons.

Thanks for stopping by! I'm hoping to get some paper time later this week - or maybe go to a yarn store to figure out how to attractively attach the handles to a crochet purse I've made (that is so far my fav all time purse I've made - or anything I've crochet) but more about that later - when its done

Andrea

My Blog has an Identity Crisis!!!

I love to look at other creative blogs and most of them have one main type of craft as the focal point. Not here - I'm all over the place! You never know - are you gonna get a card, a crochet project or a scrapbook project?  Oh and lets not forget one of my newer passions - gift packaging and candy goodness!!

Well today we have some cards and a pretty box to present them. My dear friend, Audrey, needed some thank you notes. So I used a template for a card box from Lauren Meader's MyTime Made Easy - and the title is sooo true - super easy to put together!

The carstock is all SU! - the green is their retiring Mellow Moss :( This has been one of my go to colors since I got into paper crafting. The pink is Regal Rose. I used a spellbinders tag, some ivory ribbon, a Just rite horizontal stamp for the name and the SU! embossing folder for the dots.

You can't see it in the picture but there is a pink divider in the box so the envelopes have their own "place" as do the cards. Wanna see some of the cards?

I love the SU! set Friends 24-7 and seem to use the brocade flourishy image all the time - here it is clear embossed. Here is the inside of the card

Here are a few more I made for her. Not sure why I end up "reinventing' each card and can't make a few that are similar - but it was fun!!

Thanks for looking - who knows what I'll post next LOL - I'm making my DD some bday gifts for her 15TH so after I give them to her (Sunday)I may post them

Mom Mini Album for Sounds Easy Voice Recorder

Here is the  Mom album I made for the Sounds Easy Voice Recorder booth at CKC Manchester. See my post below - or the link in the left hand column if you want to see the picture tutorial.

I used the basic  "tube album" directions with a few tweaks along the way that I will describe in this post.

Here is the cover. I used patterned paper from Prima - Iron Orchid designs - the Steel Toe Maray Jane collection. The pretty flower on the cover is also from Prima. The green lace was included in the paper kit as well.  I stamped the title and used my Nestabilities to cut the label. I made the flower leaves by using a paper punch and embossing "veins" with an embossing tool and sponging the edges with SU! Regal Rose ink.

Here is where this album differs a bit from the basic tutorial. I decided to make a "flap" over the open edges. Judy was going to use this album to hold some memorbelia and I wanted to make it was super secure.

You can see in the picture below that I attached a piece of coordinating cardstock into the opening of the  back cover. (TIP: I made the flap big enough so that it would wrap all the way to the front of the album when it was bigger than now - you know - when you've added tags and pictures the album gets a bit fatter). I used velcro dots to keep the album closed.

This is the inside of the front cover and the first page. I decided to cover the opening/pocket of the front cover. Simple to do - I took a 3 x 6 piece of paper and scored it at 1.5. I attached it to both sides.

You will notice on both pages of this layout there is a small flower in the lower right hand corner.This will hold the number that will correspond with the audio journaling made with the Sounds Easy Voice Recorder. All you have to do is make sure the correct sound memory card is in the recorder (that also plays back the sounds) and press the corresponding number. So for example if Judy used the number 1 for the page - you would press 1 on the recorder and it would play the journaling sounds that would correspond to that picture/page.

You can also see on the left hand page my new passion of combining my two favorite crafts in one - scrapbooking/paper crafting and crochet!!

In this 2 page spread I also deviated from the standard album by making an extra pocket on the left hand page. It was really easy to make buy just cutting a piece of coordinating paper to the size you want, punching out a 1/2 circle and adhering on only 3 sides to enable the tag to pull in and out.

Here is another "extra" tag made but in a vertical position. I really like making some tags where the pretty ribbon sticks out the top of the album and adds some color and dimension when the album is closed.

Messy desk and all here is another layout in the album.

One last look at a layout in the album. I tried my hand at crocheting embellishments in this book. You can see the circle motif in the right corner with some cute pearl bling.

Here is how I stored/displayed it in this album. I used some 1 1/2 inch wide lace and score tape to make a pocket for the memory card. See how small they are? They are about the size of a camera memory card - very easy to store in the album without bulk.

Thanks for stopping by! Please let me know what you think or if you have any questions about how to make these albums!!

Andrea

Mini Album Tutorial for Sounds Easy

                                                          Mini Album Tutorial
By Andrea Merlin for Sounds Easy


Here is a quick and easy mini album that can easily be made with our stash supplies. To me the best part of this album is the audio journaling created with the Sounds Easy Voice Recorder.

Depending on the paper and supplies you use - you can get a totally different feel to your album.

Here is how to make the album:

Supplies:

-12 x 12 cardstock or heavy patterned paper (I like double sided) – quantity varies depending on size of album

-coordinating cardstock and/or patterned paper

- Ribbon

-Binding: binder rings, brads, ribbon or Bind It All Coil

-Circle punch
- Adhesive - I prefer scor-tape
-bone folder (optional)

Directions:

1. Take a sheet of 12 x 12 cardstock/patterned paper. Have the side you want to “show” facing up.

2. Put adhesive along the entire bottom edge – I run a strip of ¼ scor-tape along the edge.

3. Carefully fold the paper so that the wrong side of the opposite edge gets adhered and you end up with a “tube” of cardstock with the correct paper showing.

4. Flatten and score your edges well – I like to use a bone folder.

5. You will now have approximately 5 ¾ inch by 12 inch piece. Fold and score in half lengthwise at 6 inches so you have a 5 ¾ x 6 inch piece with 2 pages and 2 pockets.

6. Create as many of these as you want pages in your album.

7. For interior pages (not the cover) I often use a circle punch to make a half circle along the open edge. This allows for easier pulling in and out of the tag. But this is optional.

8. I like to bind the book at this time. I’ve found that if I wait and bind it when I’m done I sometimes end up binding the tag inserts so they won’t come out!

Stack your pages together

You may have to trim a few of the inner edges.

Once you decided how you’re going to bind the album – just punch the holes (with a hole punch, crop-a-dile or binding system) and use the ribbon, brads, rings or coils to bind.

9. Cover treatment – I don’t like my covers to have a pocket (not sure why). Take a 6 x 3 inch piece of coordinating cardstock/patterned paper. Score at 1.5 inches and adhere to cover the opening in the “tube”. Trim as needed.

This isn't the easiest picture to see what I mean - but look at the left hand page and see the pink strip? Thats the 3 inch piece scored at 1.5 inches. I wish I had taken a better picture for y'all but I've already mailed the album to Judy at Sounds Easy for the CKC Manchester show.

Also in the Mom album pictures above - I decided to make a flap that goes from the pocket on the back cover all the way over the book and closes onto the front cover with Velcro

Super easy to do - Just take a piece of coordinating cardstock as wide as you think your album will be thick - adhere it well to the inside of the back cover pocket and fold it over to the front and press the Velcro in place.

10. Tags – make as many tags as you have open pockets. Depending on how you adhered your base page together – your pocket size may vary in size a bit. I usually cut my cardstock/patterned paper to 5 ¾ x at 6 inches and trim till it fits right. I put ribbon on the ends of most of my tags to look pretty as they stick out of the album.

11. Have fun decorating the pages and tags!

12. If you're making this for use with the Sounds Easy Voice Recorder you need to put an envelop to hold the memory card. I usually put mine on the back cover. Also, on each page with a sound you will put the number that corresponds with the sound for that page.

The Sounds Easy Recorder comes with an acrylic envelop but sometimes I like to make mine out of paper or in this case - ribbon. You can put a ribbon inside the slot of the card for easy access.

 Some ideas for mini albums:

School Days or Teacher Gift• Graduation • Favorite Things • Brag Book • Heritage • Vacation •Birthday • Holiday

Thanks for visiting!! Please drop me a note if you have any questions!!

Andrea