Thanksgiving scrapbook page

Okay, not the most exciting page, but it's done. I believe I used Daisy D's products, and bazzill cs for mats. This page is of Thanksgiving 2003. Yep, I'm that far behind in my own album. Those two beauties on the trampoline (bottom left hand corner) are my twin girls, Julia & Kathryn at age 17 months.

Three weeks ago I went in my craft room to try to clean up the piles of unfinished projects and project ideas. I sat there agonizing, and accomplished nothing. Yesterday I went in, and sorted the various piles by time to complete. 5 minute tasks on top, 30 minutes or less, and lastly one hour or more. Every spare moment I had, I would run in and do a quick task. This page was mostly complete (now finished...yea me). Now what was several piles of projects to complete & project ideas is now one small tower. LOL!

Crop Circles Challenge by Caardvarks

Both cards were made from my stash :) I found the Caardvarks blog, and I remembered I had two of these DCWV cards in my stash. I was inspired to use these up and enter the challenge (my first blog challenge.) The embossed card bases are DCWV, the yellow cs is Bazzill, the dp is by Mara-mi, the orange circle dp is the back side of the Mara-mi circle paper. The white circle (left) and yellow tag (right) are QuicKutz dies and QK rub-ons. Tools used: CM circle cutters and corner rounder. For the card on the left I cut the circles from the dp and glued to the yellow Bazzill and orange dp. To color the candle I used SU! summer sun and oh! orange. For the card on the right I used my Cropadile to punch a hole in the center of each circle in the Mara-mi dp, then backed the dp with white cs. What do you think???

Before & After Spice Rack Recycled

My parents picked up our girls last Friday (and they will keep them until Thursday), so this is a great time to get that "To Do" list done that tends to get neglected. My husband and I have done yard work, gone through every drawer and closet, cleaned out the garage, etc. I feel less stressed when I know the house is totally organized. Digressing for a minute-humor me-why is it everytime the house gets cleaned out/re-organized, the stuff we want to keep but don't know what to do with ends up in my craft room? Okay, back to the clean out: I clean out drawers and closets on a regular basis (every 3-6 months), but I still tend to hoard more than my dh. So it was great to have his help, not to mention much more fun to do these chores with him rather than by myself. We did all these chores yesterday! In the afternoon we took all the clothes down to the donation center, took out the trash, and relaxed by watching a couple of shows on our dvr. I was going to get rid of this spice rack (I use and refill the basil, oregano, red pepper, but the others have been unused and unopened for our entire marriage.) Then I had this epiphany for my primas! So I opened and dumped all those old spices, ran everything through the dishwasher, and organized those flowers. So I feel great about the house being in perfect order, except for the extra stuff in my craft room...

Happy Anniversary card

Yesterday my dh & I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. This is the card I made for him. I used a scrap of Basic Grey, a "Happy Anniversary" metalic silver Class-A-Peel, and some metalic silver ribbon that I have had for YEARS and had not used until now. I used glue to adhere the ribbon, but held it down with painter's tape while the glue dried. Another quick & simple card to make...all using my stash :)

Baby boy card

I received a birth announcement today from my my previous SU! consultant (currently inactive). I needed a quick and easy card. I'm sure you have seen this baby carriage idea many times. I used monochromatic Bazzill cs, Anna Griffin dp, MM wire, and large silver brads. The ribbon was a scrap of grossgrain from my stash that happened to coordinate quite well.

Feeling Formal

I was inspired to make this thank you card (pictured left) when I passed the greeting card section in the grocery store. It had the black and white floral background, with faux black ribbon vertically down the center, with “Happy Anniversary” as the sentiment. My black ribbon was a different shade compared to the ink I used (made it look black & blue), so I opted for no ribbon. I used my SU! punch, a scrap of gold moiré paper, and lined the edges with my gold Pilot pen. I used pop glue dots behind the sentiment. The anniversary card (pictured right) was inspired by Wanda’s blog, " (My Creative Corner!)". My card involved no stamping, just Class-A-Peels and my silver pilot pen to edge the mats.

The heart/happy birthday card design is my own. I made a birthday card similar to this for Tracy last year. (Tracy's blogs are here and here.) I had saved the iris folding pattern I had drawn for Tracy, as well as the template, so this time the process was much quicker. I fell in love with these decorative papers (Daisy D’s “Attic Heirloom”), but I had never used them. The red and green are Bazzill, of course! The sentiment stamp is by wordsworth.

Quick & Easy/Using My Stash

With tomorrow being Father's Day I need to replenish my basket of cards at the tea shop. Hopefully all the Father's Day cards will have sold:) Since birthday cards are always good sellers, I'll put in those 5 Bazzill Chip Topper cards (June 12th post). I will also put in these two cards. Quick & Easy! I made these with two DCWV card bases, QK balloons and present slide, scrap grossgrain ribbon, and rub-ons. Not the best cards in the world, but I am thrilled to have used up the last of these sets of cards. I want to clean up my little craft room, but I can't seem to part with anything (I am such a hoarder.) See, I have things I don't necessarily like (like the card base on the left), but when I use it to make a card it feels so rewarding. I've sold 166 cards to date from that little basket, all using scraps and stash. I'm trying desperately not to buy more stuff. I've barely made a dent in all that stuff. Scary, huh? But I really like the new Stampin' Up! stuff other bloggers are using, like the three for you flower punch, those gorgeous new cs colors, and those Baroque Motif stamps. I don't have room! I need Oprah to come in and have Nate re-do this little room...

More Father's Day cards II

Tuesday the tea shop was down to 3 cards again, so I wanted to get something in there fast. I did not have enough of the Basic Grey Motifica scraps (see June 8th post), so I used Basic Grey Aged & Confused Phresh & Phunky papers. Notice I did not use the QuicKutz Revolution "happy birthday" die this time. Why? These papers aren't as rustic/old world. I wanted to keep it simple and "phresh." Less is more. I typed "Happy Father's Day" in microsoft word, and ran the paper through my printer. I distressed with black ink. Done, done, done. I dropped them off yesterday, and today I am making my husband's Father's Day gift.

Bazzill Chip Toppers & chips

I fell in love with the Bazzilll chip toppers (cs stickers) and chips the first time I saw them. I had to have them! I purchased from Heather Jones, who has an ebay store called "What We Found". She ships super fast! (Ebay Item # 160118187204).

Anyway, I made these cards from scraps of Bazzill cs, scraps of grossgrain ribbon, some MM flowers (teal colored), and some Queen flowers (bottom left card). The "Make A Wish","WISH", and medium sized white daisy are all QuicKutz.

Almost two weeks ago I got to play with two girlfriends, Tracy and Mary. We all brought card ideas, and these were the cards I brought. Tracy made a great card with her Bazzill Chip (click here).

Agonizing again

Why is it that some days I have see an idea/have an idea in my head and I can go through my stuff and make it? Other days I go through my stuff and it does not come together, so I find more stuff, and the cycle continues and I agonize, agonize, agonize. Then my craft room is a big mess. After two hours of this last night, I managed to make the card you see with the 3 Bazzill flowers, ribbon from Michael's, and DCWV mini brads and card base. I edged the 3 white squares and inked the stamp with an SU! many marvelous marker called rose passion. The yellow card is actually much brighter than the picture shows. This morning I got up, and made the card on the left in 30 minutes. Go figure. It was a bit easier, though. I had purchased the stationery set from a scrapbook store in Harrisburg, NC last summer. It is a Bazzill Basics set that includes the leapfrog envelope, the orange Bazzill card base, and the pink scalloped Bazzill. I used my CM circle cutter and leapfrog Bazzill for the circle. The sentiment is my QK revolution die. The pink flower circle is a DCWV envelope seal (cs sticker) that I stuck to a white Bazzill circle. Lastly, whit gel pen on the scallops.
I don't usually use such bright colors, but I was motivated by a fun challenge. Let me know what you think! Look HERE!!!

More Father's Day cards

My in-laws are visiting and my m-i-l asked if I had 4 Father's Day cards she could send to her father, brother, nephew, and for her to give my f-i-l.

I was tired of looking at those other masculine scraps I used to make cards in 2 previos blog posts, so I pulled out some Basic Grey scraps. The pic came out too washed out (sorry...I'm new at this). I think I used all "Motifica" Basic Grey papers. The large "f" is a trace of a Stampin' Up! chipboard letter. (I'd already used the actual chipboard letter on another card, so I used the outline and my xacto knife to cut this "f" out of Basic Grey. The black "FATHERS" is MM rub-ons (providence font). The words "happy" and "day" are QuicKutz revolution die cuts (actually it was "happy birthday", but I cut off "birth"...get it? I was feeling pretty clever when I came up with that idea. Think smarter, not harder, right?) I got the idea for this card from and old issue of PaperCrafts magazine.

basket of cards and scraps

For those of you who don't know me well, I started to sell my cards at a local coffee & tea shop 4 months ago. I have a little 6"x6" basket at the register. So far birthday cards sell better than thank you, get well, thinking of you, or friends cards. It seems everyone has a birthday. (LOL) Anyway, about 5 days before a holiday (e.g. Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Mother's Day, etc.) the holiday cards sell really fast. I took my 14 Father's Day cards over on May 31st. I figured a few may sell in the first 10 days of June, but when I went to check yesterday morning (June 5th), there were only two cards left! A good problem to have, right?

Yesterday I had a million things to take care of and I would not have time to make more cards. (I collapsed into bed at 9pm last night. I could not have made a card if I'd tried.) I knew today I had to take my cat to the vet in the early a.m. and I needed to prepare my class kits for a scrapbook class I am teaching on June 16th. I am a very organized person. My husband says I am a little "Monkish" (for those of you who watch the tv show "Monk", you know what he means.)

So what happens to me when I feel overwhelmed? I wake up at 3:30a.m. thinking that I need to make more cards for my basket. I got up at 4a.m., pulled out my rub-ons, chipboard letters, and the scraps from the 14 Father's Day cards I'd already made. Believe me, I was worried what cards made at 4a.m. would look like! By 6:30 a.m. I had created these 6 cards. I started with the chipboard letters I had originally purchased these alphabets in 4 colors for a project I made 18 months ago, then never used them...until now! (See top middle card and bottom 3 cards.)

The top left card has a Basic Grey rub-on "D is for DAD". The top right card has an alphabet I purchased at the Great American Scrapbook convention 2 years ago, but had never opened. I also had some Magenta square cards that were a very dark gray color that matched the polka dot paper perfectly. I've had those two cards for years and never thought I would ever use them (Magenta sold them in a multicolor pack, and I'd used up all the other colors.)

I get so excited when I use things that have just been sitting in my craft room and when I make cards completely from scraps. It gives me a "high". Is there a scrapbooking term for this? I'll have to think on that one.

I need to get to bed now. Tomorrow is another big day. Tomorrow my twin girls turn 5 years old!

I'm back!

It was a fun filled busy weekend at the Houck house. Our girls attended a fabulous birthday party which included a moon bounce, water slide, and pony rides. I also had my tap dance recital this weekend, and we celebrated my dad's birthday :)
Today I should have been at the gym, but after checking out some blogger posts, I decided to skip it and try to clean up my table in my stamp room. After 90 minutes, I had little to show for my efforts. I decided to start something new. Inspired by a sketch I saw on Jennie Harper's Stampin' Away the Day (Hope) and Vera Matson's Southern Style Stamping (8 hour card) I pulled out scrap papers from previous projects. At first I thought my muse had forgotten me, but then I was pleased with my final results. I used 2.75 Bazzill white blossoms and DCWV brads, but all other products are Stampin' Up! I'll have to go to the gym tomorrow...

A little bit about me...

This is my first blog entry!! My husband and I have created this blog so that I can share the stamping and scrapbooking crafts that I love.

I made these Father's Day cards using Making Memories latch cards and rub-ons (left card). The papers are scrap papers from previous projects. The "Dad" is a QuicKutz font and black Bazzill and the "Happy Father's Day" sentiment is a Hero Arts rubber stamp. I used my Xacto knife to cut the window (card on right.)

My mom introduce me to rubber stamping. I was hesitant because I already had other hobbies I enjoyed; reading, cross-stitch, knitting, and painting pecan resin. My mom asked me to meet her at a stamping convention, I went, and was hooked! After taking lots of classes at stamp stores, I began to create all of my holiday cards, and I began teaching stamping techniques classes. Then a stamping friend convinced me to cross over into scrapbooking. I met her at a local scrapbooking store, saw the gorgeous 12x12 page displays, and realized how similar it is to creating cards. I took several classes at that store, then began to teach scrapbooking and card making classes.

I have serious paper issues. To quote a very wise friend of mine, "It's about collecting." I have collected so much stuff in my little craft room that I have a very difficult time making room for the new supplies that I just have to buy! My mantra is,"Cheaper than therapy." I get my inspiration from my girlfriends (paper craft enablers), but also from my current favorite publication, PaperCrafts magazine. What are my favorites? I love Bazzill cardstock and Basic Grey.