Back from Salem

 Here is my friend and hostess Ellen.  I had a fun few days with her at her lovely home in Salem, OR.  We did a lot of shopping, eating, drinking and crafting.  She doesn't enjoy crafting as much as I do, but she's a good sport about it and I think she does appreciate getting a bit of paper fun time.  She has a Cricut machine which we used to make frames for kitty photos.  She is fostering kittens this summer so we both made an album to capture the moments. 

This is the front cover of my album as a memento for the two 9 week old kittens I adopted.  Yes, they are some of Ellen's foster family.  In these pics they are only 3-4 weeks old. 

 Here is both Precious, in front, and Rain, reclined in the back. 

Here is the back cover of my album with my cat GreyC who was waiting for us at home.  She isn't in love with the kittens...yet.  But I am. 

Crafting While Traveling

I am spending a very fun few days with my BFF on Salem, OR. She told her husband to save toilet paper rolls for me, which he did in a BIG way. There must be 2 dozen rolls awaiting my glitter & glue. I decided to make a little something for him for my 1st go at a toilet roll mini-album. There a lots of how-to's on YouTube. The theme is CATS 'cause my friend is fostering many kittens this summer.

WOYWW June 20

 This is the view AFTER a bit of tidying up.  Earlier, when I lifted my head up from some cutting and gluing, I noticed that the mess was extreme, even for me.  I had been tossing this/that onto a heap as I discarded papers or left over scraps...not taking the time between steps to put things away.  A few minutes of organization restored some order, and now my work space looks pretty much as it always does.  The pieces in front are from my current project. 

 And that project is an album to be used to document the 2 baby kittens I shall soon bring home.  They have been in foster care with my BFF since 3 weeks of age.  She has sent me photos of them from time to time; I've had the photos made into 3.5 x 5 inch prints, which shall slip into this album.  Consequently, very little is tacked down yet.  This album is made from a 3 panel vintage photo folder.  I gently separated the panels, covered them with paper, then linked them with Tim's tissue tape and bookbinder tape.  I made the "memo board" on the left inspired by Clare Charvill's Graphic 45 Correspondence Case.  I fitted a piece of foam over light chipboard, then covered the front with fabric, gluing it down with No Sew Fabric glue.  I followed Clare's design for the ribbon, using my Crop-A-Dile and hole punches at the spots that required brads.  Since my brads were plain, I sewed a button in place at the top.  This helped cover up the joining of the ribbon ends.  The memo board was then glued down to the inside front cover of the folder.  (ps here is Clare's website.  She has also got a youtube video of her incredible Correspondence Case http://mycreativespirit.blogspot.com/) 

Here is the folder cover.  I plan to feature a photo of the kittens so I've had to leave it blank for now.  I hope there will be room for the striped medal ribbon as it adds a nice pop of color.  Thanks for hopping over to my blog on your Wednesday tour of http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ 

My Sister

 June 17th is my sister's birthday.  I'm excited about my present to her (don't tell...it involves coffee); wrapped it up and was gonna call it done.  Yet, I felt I needed to make her a card, too.  After all, my family knows how much I like my paper crafting and they ALWAYS are pleased to get one of my little pieces.  For a bit of inspiration I poked around the Graphic 45 blog.  Of course I found something perfect for my Sis: a fashionable lady (HA!) with a To Thine Own Self Be True motto.  I used the same Ladies Diary collection as the inspiration piece, a doily sprayed with Lindy Stamp Gang Starburst Spray, a Tim alphabet die and my new Spellbinder's flourish die. 

Sis doesn't like to have her picture taken.  Forcing me to go into my archives.  Here she is at around 2 years old.  I'm pretty sure Mom made the dress she is wearing.  The teddy bear was a constant accessory.  Happy Birthday, Sis. 

A Little Something with New Graphic 45

 I managed to drag my tired ol' self up to my 3rd story studio today. Objective was a little note of cheer to send off to my friend Josef.  I chose to use my new Ladies Journal paper collection from Graphic 45.  After cutting my paper panels, I could see it needed a little something else. 

Ah Ha, I have just the thing with these flourish dies that I got yesterday.  This is the first die I've used from Spellbinders.  I must say, that the result is nice, but there is a bit of finessing to separate the die from the paper after it runs through my Big Shot.  So, at least I had a bit of paper, scissor and glue time today.  Now, back to the kitchen. 

WOYWW June 6

I thought to expand the view to what is adjacent to my desk.  Here is a window seat where some of my supplies and tools are stored.  It would have been nice to show some of the dies in my stash, yes? Alas they are hidden by journals since I tidied up a smidge.  A good subject for another WOYWW post.

On my workdesk is paper for a paper bag mini album I am constructing; using not paper bags but 12" x 12" light weight scrapbook paper.  I got the idea from PrimaDonnaCraft on Youtube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRwsCJ3IfjY&feature=BFa&list=UUzknSueZCJez9HsMciqV_Lg  I cobbled this together with what I had on hand rather than shopping for just the right mix of papers.  A constant tool on my desk is this Fiskar paper cutter.  For this project I'm using the score blade.   

When I visit Ellen this month we want to make something to celebrate our cats and feature fancy frames from her Cricut machine.  Ellen is fostering several families of kittens until they find forever homes.  Care to guess where one of those homes might be??  Here is a temp mock-up of the front cover of the album.  Subject to Ellen's approval.  Thanks to all your WOYWW's over at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/

It's June Tag Time

Tim wasted not a day in June to post his June tag for the Tags of 2012 project.  The main theme is the use of a photo, tinting and aging it with Distress Inks. I decided to use a fav pic of me with my horse Buffy. For Tim, this tag is on the uncomplicated side.  For complicated, he made the e-Clips tag a couple days before.  I intend to make that tag, too, but on another day.  Here I used a lot of Tim stuff:  the tag is from his Kraft Resist Paper Stash, the 60 is die cut from his alphabet, the sentiment, film strip and metal leaf were all given out on the cruise, and of course his Distress Inks and paper distresser are essentials for any project.  Note:  I intended to re-ink my in-constant-use Vintage Photo ink pad while in the middle of this craft session.  I grabbed my bottle of re-inker and added a couple dropfuls on top of the pad...I wanted a good heavy soaking.  THEN I looked at the pad cover and realized I had just worked over my Peeled Paint pad!  Aargh!   

Couldn't Help Myself

Yesterday I came across the Goth/Whimsy work of artist Jasmine Becket-Griffith.  The particular illustration I first fell for was not attributed to her, and it took me some dazzling Google work to find Jasmine.  Do I feel late to the party!  This gal is seriously prolific.  My mind was so a-fire with her images that I was prowling them at 3 a.m., with the aid of my trusty iPad. After ordering $30 worth of small paper trinkets, I feel justified in using a printed copy on this little card for Josef. 

My Conscience

My hubby asked me to make a card for his great-niece's birthday, which is tomorrow.  Oh, goodie, I HAD to go to my studio.  I've known this young girl since she was born, and she has always been, uh, a handful.  For Christmas I found a doll at Target that was High School Gothish.  Perfect for this child.  And that is the mood I wanted to create on her card.  Yet, I have nothing in my stash remotely Goth (must fix THAT).  So, I Googled, and came up with a perfect image, which you see above.  However, as I thought about it, I felt WRONG to use an artist's work without permission or payment.  (even though it is really cute and I really like it!)

10 minutes before I need to head out to bring in the horses, and start dinner, I scrambled to find a substitute image that was the right size, color and agreeable subject matter.  I had printed out some bird images from The Graphics Fairy a while back, all copyright free, and of course they are laying amongst the clutter in my studio.  Whew.  It worked and now I have a clear conscience.