Mini Books for all occasions!

     Well, I haven't taken the summer off, on the contrary, I've been making mini books! This is a cute little one for a baby boy. Believe it or not its made from small envelopes that are covered with a heavy printed card stock. These are so easy to add pockets to hide journal tags and additional pictures.

     All pages are matted and this particular book is embellished with vehicles, boats, planes, cars, you get the idea!

     You can see one of these tags I was talking about: "Prince Charming".  I have decided to start selling these on my etsy store. It also motivates me to start making albums of my kids, grandkids etc.lol. I have more books to come!!!!

Sure Cuts A Lot 2

     Sorry its been so long since I posted but I had to help welcome our newest grandson Charles Francis Haskell. He was born July 20th and is the 3rd son for our daughter Joelle and her husband Mark. Charlie makes our 5th grandson out of now 8 grandchildren! I guess I better get going on some baby albums!!
     I love all the tools available for the paper crafters out there however, it can be intimidating to use all the products I have, lol, or should I say learn to use. I am so glad I found My Creative Classroom. Its an on line "school" for crafters and they offer some wonderful classes. So far I have taken both sessions on the Bind-It All for mini books and the alcohol inks classes.
     Several years ago a program came out that works with the Cricut (although it is not sponsored by Provo Craft that makes the Cricut).Since I am so computer savvy (LMAO) I don't know what I was thinking when I ordered the program. Well MCC is offering a summer program on the SCAL 2 so naturally I jumped on it.
     All the little quirks about the program are finally beginning to make sense, yeah! The above screen shot is from lesson 4. The bug is Cara's and we have to use markers (yes I have the cri-kits sparkle pens) and cut it out. However the image that is traced with the pens and the outline image did not quite match up so I learned how to fool with the measurements. It came out perfect, yeah!!!! Can't wait for the next class on Wednesday. I'm beginning to feel smart!!!!

Thank You

Wow I love how this turned out! The color inspiration comes from the color palette for C4C45
(Crazy 4 Challenges). It was to use  red, black and white. Considering I have been weeding thru scraps that are hanging around, I knew just what I was going to do when I came across this nice black and white print.
     The lovely medallion is from the new cricut lites cart "Lovely Florals". I actually cut this twice on the shadow feature in white and black card stock and then once at regular feature out of red card stock. I used some copic spica markers to highlight the details on the medallion and stamped the sentiment with versamark ink.
     I used red card stock as the base, then, added a solid black mat followed by the printed paper. It is finished off with a paisley black and white satin ribbon and, of course, red rhinestones around the center of the medallion and on the ribbon.

Our Own Food Network!

     Well, we had a lazy, rainy Saturday last weekend and there are only so many movies, and miniature golf to occupy your time. Both my son Steve and his girlfriend Renee love to cook. So, I suggested we make some homemade kielbasi and fresh pasta. While they went to the store to get some meats, I assembled the remaining ingredients and quickly made some plain macaroni.

     It didn't take long at all for her to learn to do the stuffing. ( I know she enjoyed this part better than the grinding of the meat, lol). Steve was busy loading the hopper while she guided the casing. It smelled unbelievably good! We made 10 lbs. now on to the pasta.

    Next up was making fresh sun dried tomato pasta. We finished it off with a wonderful pesto sauce. In just 4 hours we made the fresh sausage and pasta. Naturally we froze some and sent some back to school with them. Incidentally, the pasta attachment was a Mothers' Day gift  from Steve and my husband. Fran said "What does she want that for? She'll never use it". Wrong again dear!!!

Rainbows and Jugs 41

    

     It is so much fun to make your own paper, well, sort of. The challenge over at Jugs 41 for the technique this week was to use re inkers and do the drop, spray and smash technique. I wanted to do something to really show off how beautiful a simple strip of the right paper can be.
     Just a few tips about the re inkers. First there are 2 types that I am aware of. One is the water based ex. Inkabilities by Posh Impressions which uses water for spritzing and working with the inks. The other is alcohol inks and uses an alcohol blending solution to spread your inks. The ones I use are the Adirondack alcohol inks. Both produce great results when used on a glossy card stock, paper or velum. My Creative Classroom has some great on line classes to learn all sorts of techniques and fun projects. I highly recommend them.
     Now back to my card. I started with a 4.25 x 11" piece of card stock and then adhered my "designed" card stock. The fun part about using inked paper is you never know where it will take you. After looking at the patterns I created it reminded me of a beautiful sunrise so I decided to use it as a sympathy card. Since I used the smash technique, my other piece of card stock reminds me more of floating balloons so that one will more than likely become a birthday card. That's the real beauty of using this medium.
     The sentiment is from a wood stamp and I used a color box purple ink.The "books" were cut from a nestabilities label with a coordinating card stock and inked with chalks. I used a grass strip rub on to add some interest on the bottom.  For finishing touches I added a nice purple satin ribbon and a few rhinestones.
     Off to do some more creating, lol.