Fourth Friday Challenge for August 2010

August 27, 2010 – 7:02 am

Its another 4th Friday – time for another fun challenge.

This month we’re “Falling for you” – we want to see your Fall and Back-to-School projects.  

It can be any type of project:  card, scrap page, alerted item, gift pack – we want to see them all.  The only rule is that you link up a project newly created for this challenge, although feel free to combine it with other current challenges.  

Although we would love to see all the art you care to share, everyone will be entered in the prize drawing only once.  One winner will be drawn randomly to win the prize.  You have until midnight (EST) on Saturday, September 4th to link up your project.  Just click the little froggy face at the bottom of this post to add your project.

For your prize this month, I thought we could go on one last summer picnic.  Maybe a birthday picnic with Penny Black?  The prize is this super cute Hedgehog Birthday cling stamp.

 For my project, I created a little box to hold my DD’s favorite marking pens in cool colors as a little suprize for the first day of school. 

Here is the decorated box back:

Here is the box front with the flap:

If you would like to make your own little marker box, I have a free template available. 

It is a PDF file that can be printed on the back of your cardstock.  You can download them through these links:

Download marker box with score lines

Download Marker box without score lines (in case you do not want them printed on your project)

To make the box, print the template and cut on the solid lines, score and fold on the dotted lines.  (the box is sized to hold 5 PaperMate marking pens).  Note that the template is in the bottom right corner.  The cut lines might not print to the edge on your printer.  The bottom and right sides of the paper are the bottom and right sides of the template.

 

The images on my box are from the Cute Companions Wonderful News stamp set.  (I know…. more mice, I’m really hooked).  I colored the images with copics.  Here are the colors I used:

 

I decorated my box using some cute paper from the Apple Cider paper pack.  The scalloped edges were made using the scalloped – scallop border punch.  Here are my box pieces before assembly:

 

I adhered the embellishments on to my box and then folded and adhered the box sides and bottom.  I added a couple buttons tied with Scrappers Floss colored with a Copic marker (YR-14).  I added a Magnetic snap to hold my box closed.

So that is my Fourth Friday project.  If you make a box, I’d love to see it. 

Don’t forget to link up your fall projects using cute little froggy there…

 

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By Cathy | Posted in Crafting Companions, Tutorials, challenges | Tagged , , , | Comments (9)

Zucchini Men…..?

August 26, 2010 – 8:07 pm

First things first….

 Using Random.org, the winner of the blog hop prize (2 Kraftin Kimmie stamps) is Catherine P. Congrats Catherine – I sent you an E-mail.

And now on to more foolishness….


What exactly do you do with those giant zucchini that appear in the garden just about the time you can’t stand to look at another zucchini?

I thought about leaving them on neighbors’ porches, but I want my neighbors to still like me…

So, they were about to become compost when M (who NEVER passes up an opportunity to make a craft) decided to carve them.  She enlisted her sisters and now we have a small army of “Zucchini Men” guarding out garage. (J decided to carve hers like Plankton from Sponge Bob)….

If this isn’t a sure sign that school better start soon before we all lose our sanity – I don’t know what is!

Please come back tomorrow for our Fourth Friday Challenge.  We are going to try awfully hard to have something more meaningful to share…. (really, honest…)

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By Cathy | Posted in Chit chat | Comments (5)

Festive Fall Garden Walk

August 21, 2010 – 4:50 am

 

Welcome to the Paper Garden Projects Festive Fall Garden Walk

Take a stroll through the blogs of all the Paper Gardeners and enjoy some friendly inspiration. This month we are focusing on Fall and Back-to-School projects.

While you visit,  take note of each designer’s name and their special garden walk word in their blog post. Once you finish your garden tour, send an E-mail to custserv@papergardenprojects.com with the list of designers and their garden walk word.

Everyone who sends the correct list of designers and words will be entered in a random drawing to win a prize. You need to send an e-mail to the address above; please don’t leave your list as a comment. You have until midnight (EST) on Wednesday, August 25 to send your list.

And the prize?  We may be celebrating Fall, but summer is not quite over yet.  So how about not one but 2 cute summer Kraftin Kimmie unmounted stamps!

So enjoy the garden tour. Here is the garden tour guide list:

 I decided on a back to school project for my post.  I don’t know about everyone, but by the time school starts, I’m ready for a little routine.  Not that I don’t enjoy spending more time with the kids and going on avdentures – but after 3 months of it – I start running out of steam :) .

I wanted to make a card to share with a couple other Moms who are in the same boat. 

 

I knew I wanted a back to school background.  I made the background by repeating the text “Back-to-school” with the School Script Dashed font  from the DaFont site.   This is a great site to get free fonts for personal use. 

One hint with the font – if you want the lines to go all the way across you need to include the dashes.  I just sized the font and repeated the text until I liked the the size.  If you are using Word create your text, you can  go under “view” and then click on the gridlines.  It will give you 1/4″ gridlines that can really help to size things.

For this card, I used the painting mouse from Crafting Companions stamp set.  I colored him with copics and popped him up with foam tape on the background that I created.

 

For the paper I used the new Apple Cider paper pad from Imaginisce.  Since I love fall, I seriously love this paper pad – cute, whimsical fall.  The paper is Prism cardstock –  Crabapple Dark and Intense Kiwi.

 So… inside the card is a simple sentiment printed with the same font.  I added some leftover patterned paper strips to decorate the inside a little.

So that is my project.  My blog hop word is Leaves. 

Next in line is Amber - so stroll on over.

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By Cathy | Posted in Blog Hops, Crafting Companions | Tagged , , | Comments (10)

A Birthday Parade!

August 19, 2010 – 5:04 pm

I needed a Birthday card for a special someone, and decided to use my new Birthday Parade stamps. 

These sets of images are so fun!  I love making the little scenes. 

Of course I had to figure out how to use almost every image in the set.  I positioned all the parade mice on a big block and stamped them all at once to make the parade.  I colored them with Copics and cut out around them.  The “Birthday Greetings” sentiment (also in the set!) is straight – but since it is unmounted (I cling mounted my set using EZ mount) – I just bent it to fit the flag when I stuck it to the block.  Then stamped – Cool beans!

I created a background with the village stamp in the set.  I colored the houses and sky, and then masked the bottom edge of the houses.  I created the grass with Old Olive distress ink and a duster brush.

The I just attached the parade with foam tape to pop it up.  (I shortened the flag a little so the houses would show more).

Since there was so much going on in the picture, I decided to leave the rest of the card pretty plain.  This card is 4″ by 9″ (to fit some envelopes I have in my stash.  I hope the recipient likes it!

Hope everyone has a great weekend planned.  Don’t forget to stop by on Saturday for our Festive Fall Garden Walk – it should be fun.

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By Cathy | Posted in Crafting Companions | Tagged , | Comments (3)

Just a line….

August 16, 2010 – 2:44 pm

 

  I think I may have just heard a “thud” from someone falling out of their chair.  Yes!  I actually created a card.

These Cute Companions stamp sets came into the store this weekend and I just could not resist.  I LOVE them! 

I chose to use Wish Line first – but the other sets are on my desk waiting to be inked up.  I love stamps that coordinate so I can make little scenes (see my Eat Cake Graphics snow scene  here – way fun!).  So these sets are right up my alley.

I paired the stamps with Basic Grey Kioshi paper  (it kind of reminded me of those old pieced quilts).  The images are colored with Copics (lots of colors – yay!).  I popped the mouse in the laundry basket on foam tape to give some dimension.  The punched strips were made with the Parsian Border punch.

My first stamping project in a while and it was fun.

Speaking of stamping projects – the Design Team has been getting ready for our Festive Fall Garden Walk this Saturday.  Make sure you walk along with us for a chance to win a great prize.

 
Go to PaperGardenProjects.com

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By Cathy | Posted in Crafting Companions | Comments (4)

We’re back……

August 13, 2010 – 8:25 am

Hi everyone! 

We are back from our little break.  We had a great time and the weather cooperated perfectly!

(a little note about the store – we are all caught up on orders.  So everyone should see their goodies soon if they do not already have them.)

So what have we been up to?  We decided to take a little road trip to Michigan to visit family (which means none of those house projects got done… but that’s OK).

The kids spent some time swimming in Lake Michigan – awesome!  The water was actually warm enough to be “swimmable”.  The kids loved it.  The dog HATED it though.   I had visions of him splashing through the waves – but no way!

We also went canoeing, did the whole campfire dinner thing and spent time visiting family.  We went to a carnival/craft fair too – fun times! 

At the craft fair, the girls got tie dye t-shirts from Grandma.

I even bought myself a little something – an apron.  I fell in love with the funky, 50’s fabric.  The person who made it said the fabric came from Paris – ohh, la, la.  Now my french fries will be even better!  (Hey – this may be as close to Paris as I ever get!)  (If I look a little tired – its because it was at the end of the vacation, after camping.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!)

Mom and I also played around with a new hobby….  beading.  Very fun, but could be dangerous.  I really don’t need another hobby!!  (But there was this really cool bead store just 15 minutes away from my Mom’s house…………..)

Here is my first attempt – the bracelet is not finished yet

In store news… I’ve been ordering a bunch of new goodies released at CHA.  I’ve also mounted and indexed bunches and bunches of Eat Cake Graphics stamps – so they are all back in stock now.

We are gearing up for this month’s blog hop and challenges.  Stay tuned for some fun stuff.   I adore fall, Halloween and Christmas images – so this is my favorite time of the year!

 

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By Cathy | Posted in Paper Garden Projects | Comments (1)

A Little Summer Break

July 25, 2010 – 3:22 pm

We are taking a little family summer break.  :)

We are planning a few fun trips, a few family visits - and maybe tackle a few of those projects that have been hanging around the house forever!   Possibly a trip to the beach is in order.

I will be around to answer e-mail (and maybe sneak in a blog post or two…).

But…

Any orders placed in the store after Sunday, July 25 won’t be shipped until Monday, August 9th.

I hope this is not too much of an inconvenience.  I’ve found that running the store, while fun, can be very demanding.  Taking a break from it once a year keeps it fresh.  Its always exciting to dive back in after being away for a while.

Speaking of diving –  what do you think of Jack?  I think he is pretty cute in his retro swim suit.  I colored him with Copics – for some reason I was in the mood for orange.

For the blue background, I stamped the Cover-a-card Circle Swirl background stamp  in white ink.  Then I just added the sandcastle that comes with Jack as a little accent.

Speaking of Jack – Rachel H won the Jack at the beach stamp for sharing her opinions on digi stamps.  Rachel – I sent you an e-mail.

 

 

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By Cathy | Posted in Impression Obsession, Kraftin Kimmie | Tagged , , | Comments (3)

Beach Bum Penguins

July 22, 2010 – 9:10 pm

Whew!  its hot here – I think a trip to the beach is in order.  Maybe a beach in Alaska!

To cool things off, I thought I’d share a some nifty cards a couple design team members created.

Erin used the set called Beach Bum Summer Penguins.  That set has so many cute images!  I just love how Erin created the waves on this card – just too clever.  That is not patterned paper.  She stamped the “Bubbles” Cover-a-card background to create the watery look.  And isn’t the umbrella and sand bucket perfect?

Tangii used the Surf’s Up Summer Penguins   for her cute (but still very cool) card.  I LOVE the paper pieced bathing suit.  It make me laugh when I saw it!  The paper is from the Pink Paislee 365 degree paper pad – such great colors.

Just a quick reminder – you still have till Midnight Saturday to add a comment to the last post.  Give us your opinions on Digi stamps for a chance to win a very “cool” Kraftin Kimmie stamp.

Also – if you haven’t dropped by the store  for a while, pop over and check it out.  New fall and winter stamps are coming in.  New Basic Grey papers are here too!

Does coloring snowmen make you feel cooler??

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By Cathy | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (1)

A little Friday Fun….

July 16, 2010 – 11:55 am

What!?  No posts for weeks and now 2 in one day?  (Scroll down for other post).

The Paper Gardeners have the month off for summer vacation.  But we can still have a little summer fun!

How about a little blog comment drawing to win a cool summer stamp set?

How do you win this cute Kraftin Kimmie unmounted stamp? 

Just leave a comment on this post answering:

Do you or would you ever use digital stamps?  If so, what types of designs are your favorites?  Please just describe your favorite styles. (I’d love to hear any opinions about digital stamps that you care to share!!).  Please just one entry per person. 

You have until midnight (EST) Sunday, July 25 to leave your comment.  I’ll choose one random comment as a winner!

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By Cathy | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments (20)

Can we have a cup of coffee and a chat?

July 16, 2010 – 10:01 am

Well…. it has to be virtual coffee….

So here is my cup of  Joe, using the IO Latte Cup cling stamp and Basic Grey Koshi papers.  I love this stamp.  It was the one that introduced me to Leigh Hannan’s designs over at IO – and now I’m addicted (to the stamps and to coffee I think…)

And that chat….

If you are one of my 4 regular blog visitors (Hi Mom!!), you might have noticed a distinct lack of posting recently.

There are a mix of reasons.  I hurt my back and couldn’t sit for long – so blogging was tough (all better now though).  We have had a bunch of summer activities (like everyone I bet).  The garden has been keeping me busy (I’ve already canned beets, pickles and froze green beans).

But the main reason is it finally hit me how fast my kids are growing up.  J will be in 5th grade this year.   She is a great kid, but the tween attitude is creeping in.   I figure I better spend some time with her now before she wants nothing to do with me!   Ohhh…. those teen years are looming.

So I’m making a conscience effort to set aside other things to do activities with the kids this summer.  Its hard for me not to craft, blog, post tutorials, etc.  But I think its the right thing to do right now.

Oh, I’m sure I’ll still sneak in a project here and there. And I’m still adding new goodies to the store.  But I’ve given the DT the month of July off to have some summer fun too.  We’ll all be back in August with some nifty Fall and Back to School projects, challenges and contests.

(I made a digi scrap page! Another little project I’m working on this summer.  I’m taking web classes at the Jessica Sprague site.  Love her classes.  Totally not affiliated in any way.  I’m sure she has no idea who I am.  But really she does an excellent job teaching how to use photoshop for digi scrapping.)

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By Cathy | Posted in Impression Obsession | Tagged , | Comments (5)
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