Love And Hugs

Welcome to the Studio!  Wow, it's been a busy few days.  This is my second card for the Card A Day Blog in a few days and yesterday I was cropping all day with some friends.  Most of the time when I go to a crop, I spend more time talking, laughing, and eating chocolate than I do working on layouts and cards.

The theme this week over at CABD is Cheer Up.  I love this little paper pack by Lily Bee Designs called Double Dutch.  The colors are bright, cheerful, and the patterns a little bit retro.  Put that together with a few hugs and some words of encouragement and you'll bring a smile to anyone's face.



This card was based on a sketch by Mojo Monday and will be entered in that challenge. 

The other supplies used for this card were CTMH Outdoor Denim cardstock, SU Poppy Parade cardstock and ink, and a new stamp set from the CTMH Autumn/Winter 2012 catalog called Words of Comfort.  It has some lovely and also spiritual sentiments.  I used the Lifestyle Crafts eyelet circle nesting die and seam binding from Really Reasonable Ribbon.  I LOVE their selection and prices, plus the shipping is wicked fast.

I hope you enjoyed your visit and look forward to you stopping by again soon.  Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

Let's Celebrate Embossing!

Welcome to the Studio!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'm today's designer over at the Card A Day Blog.  Our theme this week is embossing and there's some really great cards from the designers.  If you haven't stopped by CABD yet, be sure to visit so you don't miss out!

When I was putting this card together, the white panel helps break up all the bright colors and gives the eye a place to rest, but without the embossing and texture, it would be BOOOORING.  And who wants to give a boring birthday card anyway?

I teach a card class once a month and this was one of my more recent class kits.  I love the accordian fold rosettes.  They are so much fun and really add a lot to cards and layouts.  The embossing folder I used is Sizzix.  White Daisy cardstock, Cotton Candy ink, and Sunset ink is from Close To My Heart.  The "Let's Celebrate" is from Justrite Stamps.  The vellum "doily" was cut out using the Lifestyle Crafts eyelet nesting die.  Everything else used for this card is what I call "off-the-shelf" from Hobby Lobby.  I found everything I needed, including the vellum, in the open stock paper section.

I'm planning on having a few layouts up after this weekend.  I'll be cropping with some friends all day Saturday...Woo Hoo!  I have a ton of page kits packed and can't wait to get started.

Thanks so much for visiting.  Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

Get Your Kicks On Route 66

Welcome to the Studio!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'm today's designer for the Card A Day Blog and I have a travel-themed card to share today.  I decided to do a twist on a luggage tag.  Sooner or later, we all end up with a luggage tag on our suitcase, whether it's the Tyvek printed airline tags or showing support for your favorite SEC team - my hubby has an Alabama Roll Tide luggage tag. 

Here's my creation:

You remove the tag to read the message...

The "inside" of my card...

For my card, I used a very retired paper pack from CTMH called Route 66.  It's from ages ago, but I loved the papers and still had some hanging around even after a two-page layout.  I used a Technique Tuesday stamp set for the sentiment tag.  For the message, I found an online verses for cards type website.  It's a simple and fun card.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

Punched Friendship

Welcome to the Studio!

Thanks so much for stopping by today. If you're visiting from the Card A Day Blog, I'm glad you made it! My project for today is a friendship card that's based on a sketch by Becky Fleck of Pagemaps fame. I just love her sketches. I use a lot of them for my layouts, but only occasionally for cards. I've had this one saved on my iPad for some time now and it just hit me all of a sudden. Here's the sketch...

A Special Friendship:



My card is 8.5 x 3.75 and my base is made of kraft cardstock.  I put an ivory cardstock layer on the front and inked the edges with Stampin Up Crumb Cake ink and a sponge dauber.  I heat embossed the sentiment, A Special Friendship, with CTMH Outdoor Denim embossing powder.

My bow was made with SU denim ribbon and my peg bow maker.  (We'll have some up for sale in the Etsy store soon!)  For the punch, I used an EK Success label punch.  I inked each of the punches with SU Crumb Cake ink and a sponge dauber.  The paper I used is from Lily Bee Designs, Double Dutch.  The heart button are from Jesse James, Dress It Up.  I used the Friendship stamp set from CTMH.  Both the sentiment and verse are from the same set.  The inside is stamped in Outdoor Denim ink.

I had a lot of fun with this sketch and loved the way my card turned out.  So here is another card, same layout but different papers...

I thought this one looked cute with the mini roses and the seam binding.  This paper is Echo Park This & That Graceful collection.  What's great about this card is you can use all those little bitty scraps up! 

I hope you enjoyed your visit today.  Stop by again soon.  Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

Birthday Wishes & Butterflies

Welcome to the Studio!
If you've gotten here from the CADB, thank you so much for stopping by.

Whew, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted. Life gets REALLY nuts every now and then. I’m sure each of you can understand that. My dad had back surgery in April and stayed with us (me, my hubby, and my mom…did I mention my parents are divorced?) for about a month and a half. It was really kinda surreal. I felt like I woke one day and was eight years old again living at home with my parents. It’s strange how easily you can fall back into old routines and family dynamics.  Well, enough about my crazy life.

Here’s a card I did recently because, well, I wanted to use the paper and the cardboard butterfly. Don’t ask me why my brain said all that went together, but it works for me.   And as you can see from my April 30th post, I'm stuck on the cardboard butterflies.  I only have a few left, so maybe I'll move on to cardboard birds next;)  I based this card on a sketch by Valerie Salmon at Got Sketch.  I love her sketches. 

 I think the denim paper mixed with the vintage floral gives it a country kind of feel. I can almost smell a fresh apple pie in the oven.

I used a store-bought card base and envelope, 6.5x5. The paper is from Hobby Lobby. It’s from the 8.5x11 section. It just screamed at me and I had to buy it.  The butterfly is from Maya Road. I used a new CTMH stamp set called Just a Number.  The ink I used is Stampin Up Baja Breeze and also Baja Breeze cardstock.  The ruffled ribbon is from Stampin Up too. I used some white pearls in different sizes to embellish the upper border and the butterfly.  And I used a wisp of silver wire for the butterfly antennae.  I used three Spellbinders dies, the ivory doily and the denim frame. I also used a Fiskars border punch (top) and a Martha Stewart border punch (bottom).

Speaking of border punches, I must admit that since Mom and I share a scrap space we have A LOT of punches of all kinds, but especially border punches. Every time we go to one of our favorite craft stores and there is a sale or a coupon, it seems like we each walk out with two or three more punches. Luckily, so far, we haven’t bought the same one twice. (Keeping our fingers crossed on that one!) Well, since Dad was up here recuperating and can’t sit still, we gave him some projects to tinker with out in the garage. He made some peg bow makers in two sizes, a few ATG gun holders, and a wicked, awesome, totally fantastic punch rack for us, as designed by Mom. It’s simple and utilitarian, but WOW, we can find all our punches!  We are loving it!

In this picture you get a glimpse of what we call the "Inspiration Corner."  I found a really comfy, vintage chair at a garage sale some years ago for $5.  For my birthday a few years ago, hubby and mom had it redone, so it's now a posh lime green.  And it's still comfy and now has a black and white ottoman too.  You can't see the zebra stripe and black feather lamp next the chair for reading all those catalogs, idea books, & magazines.

Be sure to visit my mom's blog, Joanie's Classy Card Corner.  She's on the Link Up For Pink Design Team and there's lots of fun stuff going on over there!

I hope you enjoyed your visit. Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

Happy Spring!

Welcome to the Studio!  I'm the "Designer Du Jour" on the Card A Day Blog, and I have a quick post to share a "spring-y" card idea, which is our theme this week.  I needed a birthday card, but it's a great all-occasion card.  I just love those corrugated shapes from Maya Road.  The butterfly just screams springtime to me!  I think the battenburg-type lace and the stickpin give it a kind of vintage feel.

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

Easter Blessings

Welcome to the Studio!
If you’re visiting from the Card A Day Blog, thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you come back again soon. If you haven’t been to the Card A Day Blog, please stop by over there. There are a bunch of talented designers who can’t wait to share their ideas and techniques with you.

It’s springtime and the Easter holiday is quickly approaching. This is a pretty card that can be altered for birthday, Mother’s Day, or used for Spring/Easter. I really like making versatile cards that with a simple change of the sentiment and verse and you have a totally different card.


My card base is 5x7. Since I used a 6x6 paper pack {Lily Bee Designs, Buttercup}, I had to cut my paper into strips instead of just using one 5x7 piece of pattern paper and layering. My top and bottom strips are both 2” and my middle yellow piece is 3” and all are 5” wide to fit the card. The mat in the center is 3.25” square and the pattern paper is 3” square.

The rose is a stamp from 5th Avenue Floral, Stampin Up. I stamped it with StazOn on
watercolor paper from the art department and colored it in with SU Watercolor Wonder Crayons and a water pen. {I’m getting hooked on the watercolor look again.} I stamped the sentiment, “Easter Blessings” with a stamp from Just Rite using Close To My Heart Juniper ink. I then
used the SU decorative label punch to punch out my sentiment and I used it as a tab by gluing it onto the back of my mat and leaving just the portion I wanted sticking out.

Because of the strips, the lace and ribbon was a little bit tricky. I used 1/8” ScorTape on the lace
and attached it flush with the top of the bottom strip. I used my peg bow maker to tie my bow and attach it to the strip of ribbon. I used 1/4” ScorTape and layered the ribbon/bow over the lace leaving it stick about halfway above the top of the patterned paper strip. I then slipped the yellow pattern paper beneath the ribbon and attached the yellow ribbon to the back of it. After all that, I glued that entire section to the card base. Clear as mud; right?

Thanks so much for stopping by. Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

Thinking of You…In Yellow & Blue

Welcome to the Studio!

If you’re visiting from the Card A Day Blog, thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you come back again soon. If you haven’t been to the Card A Day Blog, please stop by over there. There are a bunch of talented designers who can’t wait to share their ideas and techniques
with you.

The theme for the week is: Thinking of You. It’s nice to let someone know that they’ve been on your mind. It can make a person feel special, loved, or in times of strife, make them feel like they are not alone. Here’s a clean and simple card based on Mojo Monday Sketch #233.


And here's my card...

This card is 6.5x5. The base is out of one of those value packs of card blanks from the chain craft stores. The pattern paper is MME Lush collection in navy. The yellow polka dot is from Echo
Park, Dots & Stripes collection. The two blue panels are cut at 3x4.75. The center piece is cut at
5x3.5. I used a Martha Stewart border punch for the strip on the side. I then stamped my sentiment tag in CTMH Outdoor Denim. The stamp is Stampin Up, Four Frames. I then used SU Teeny Tiny Wishes and Lucky Limeade to stamp “Thinking of You.” The flower is several layers. The navy blue flowers are misc. silk flowers and the green flower is from Prima. The
yellow rhinestone brad in the center is from Making Memories.

I had so much fun with this sketch that I decided to make another card. I love the Wisteria Wonder color from Stampin Up and thought I’d make a lavender birthday card. I love the wisteria and the yellow together. The flower I made used Spellbinders dies and Heartfelt Creations Innoscents stamp.

Hello, Baby!

Welcome to the Studio!

If you’re visiting from the Card A Day Blog, thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you come back again soon. If you haven’t been to the Card A Day Blog, please stop by over there. We have a
whole host of designers who are happy to share their ideas and techniques with you.

The theme for the week is babies and the celebration of their birth. They are sweet, innocent,
adorable, little poop machines and we can’t help but coo and make silly noises whenever one is nearby. I feel the same way about the four-legged furbaby variety as well.

For this card, I simply cut an 8.5x11 piece of CTMH ivory cardstock in half lengthwise, which give me an A2 size card. I used a Martha Stewart border punch on the sides of the pink paper and attached it to the card base. Since I didn’t have anywhere to hide my “ribbon bits,” I just trimmed the brown grosgrain off even with the edges of the card base. To stop the ribbon from unraveling
or coming loose, I put Scor-Tape on the edge of the card base to adhere the ribbon.

Next, I just kind of “eyeballed” it and cut two rectangles out of ivory and pink pattern paper and green patterned paper. I matted those with Chocolate cardstock from Close To My Heart. I tucked those two pieces in underneath my brown grosgrain ribbon.

For the sentiment, I used the SU Teeny, Tiny Wishes set. It’s an expensive set, but it’s worth every penny. I find myself going to this one over and over again. It’s quite handy to have, especially when you’re making cards in a hurry sometimes. I stamped “hello, baby” in dark brown chalk ink onto a scrap of the pink background paper. I then used the decorative label punch and punched only a portion of it out so I could make the little tab. I then tucked that in behind my brown grosgrain ribbon.

I tied a double bow with my handy-dandy peg bow maker and
attached it with glue dots.

For the inside...

I basically cleaned my desk off. I took all the little pieces I had left and used them to decorate the inside. I used the same border punch on the inside of the card, just punching the top and
bottom of the green pattern paper instead of the left and right sides. I stamped the verse on a leftover piece of pink with dark brown chalk ink.

I hope you enjoyed your visit. Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

PS
Happy Birthday, Julia!
Your goodie box will be there by the end of the week!

Wedded Bliss

Welcome to the Studio! I'm today's designer on the Card A Day Blog. I've got another wedding card idea for you today. My inspiration for this card was actually two-fold. First the color. I have to admit that it's not your traditional wedding colors, but they are soft and remind me of springtime. Here is the magazine cover that started the whole color scheme...

For some reason, the pinks and aquas just jumped out at me. My second bit of inspiration came from a sketch. I have to admit that I don't remember where I got the sketch. I probably happened upon it during one of my blog-reading marathons. I start out looking at one blog and before you know it, I've clicked on 25 different links and I'm not even on a scrapbooking blog anymore. Here is the sketch I used...

Mix the two together and this is what you get...

To make this card, I used a 5x7 card blank. I cut a piece of DCWV silver cardstock for a mat for my two colors. I just kind of eyeballed it, the same with the Stampin Up patterned paper. I used Sassy Shimmer Spritz (my own mixture) in Marshmallow on the doily to give a bit of shimmery softness. (Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist works great too!) I used white seam binding for my ribbon and bow. I know you're thinking, "how in heck did you tie a triple bow?" With a peg bow maker, of course. I had my dad make a few while he was visiting (and bored) over the Christmas holidays. I got the idea/plans from Becca Feeken's blog, Amazing Paper Grace. She's selling them now if you don't want to make your own. They are a bow-tying life saver and she has many tutorials as well on how to use it and make all sorts of different bows. My felt flower is from May Arts. I picked them up on the way to the Camp Sumatanga Scrapbooking Retreat a few weeks ago. We stopped to shop at the Scrapbook Princess in Moody, AL. If you live in central Alabama, stop by and say hi. She has some great products!

For the sentiment, I used the SU Teeny, Tiny Wishes set (For the Newlyweds) and the SU punches Modern Label and Decorative Label. I added some mini pearls to the sentiment punch. I've been having fun experimenting with stickpins and hatpins. I made this one just for this card. I always like to add a little extra sparkle!

I hope you enjoyed your visit. Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

Weddings = Anniversaries

Welcome to the Studio! For my project on the Card A Day Blog, I thought I would make a card that can really be used for almost any occasion that requires a something lovely and elegant. I chose to make this card in grey and pale yellow. I love those two colors together. I used CTMH Grey Wool for my card base as well as my border punched piece at the top, which I inked in CTMH Grey Wool. The yellow paper is from Michael's Recollections line. It has kind of a linen-like texture. The yellow grosgrain is also from Michael's. I used a Hero Arts stamp with Versamark and silver embossing powder. The silver gives it a classy kind of feel. The two gems at the bottom are the Swarovski flatback crystals. I also used a Stampin Up embossing folder, Fifth Avenue Florals, I believe is the name of it.

Now, here's the particulars...

For the cardbase, I cut my paper to 4.25 x 11 and made it so the fold was on the top as opposed to the side. My white mat is sized 4 x 5 and the yellow embossed paper is 3.75 x 4.75. For the grey piece on top of the card, I just border punched it and "eyeballed" it to get the size I wanted. {Remember to stamp and emboss your sentiment BEFORE you glue the strip to the card front. It's always good if you learn from my mistakes;)} Also, I attached the ribbon/blow on the back of the strip before I adhered it to the card front.

I have a picture below of a birthday card I made for a friend using the exact same colors, etc. You can see the embossed pattern better in this photo. This is really a great, all-purpose card.

I hope you enjoyed your visit. Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

Wearing of the Green...and a bonus card!

Welcome to the Studio! Glad you stopped by. I've been sick for the last few weeks, so I'm glad to finally be getting back to normal and feeling like crafting too. If you're visiting from the Card A Day Blog, you know that it's a St. Patty's Day celebration over there. And without further adieu, here's my Irish lass...

This card is really simple. I didn't even measure anything, just eyeballed it. I downloaded the vintage picture from The Graphics Fairy. (BTW, it was FREE!) I used a Martha Stewart border punch on cream colored cardstock for the border and used a small piece of pale green satin ribbon for my shamrock to sit on. I used the Stampin Up label punches for my sentiment. The Happy St. Patrick's Day stamp is from JustRite Stamps.

Now for that shamrock...
I wanted something different. I had tons of shamrocks from foam and felt to brads and bling, but none really looked quite right. So what's an obsessed scrapper to do? Make your own!

For this technique, I mixed a few tablespoons of UTEE (Ultra Thick Embosing Enamel) with CTMH Garden Green re-inker. I did this in a plastic bowl and using a popcicle stick to stir. The re-inker tends to bead up and you just have to mush up the little balls of color, kinda like getting the lumps out of a bowl of brownie mix.

After it was mixed up good, I added some green shimmer Pearl Ex to it. I used the end of the popcicle stick to scoop a little out of the container. After mixing that in, I dumped the mixture into a melting pot. There are several brands and they are quite inexpensive if you use a coupon at one of the chain craft stores. {It's also handy for melting hot glue for dipping.}

I turned the melting pot on to the UTEE setting and let the mixture melt, stirring occasionally to make sure the color was uniform. After it was melted, I poured the mixture into a candy mold...yep, you read that correctly. I had an old chocolate candy mold of a shamrock stuck up in the top of a closet. If it can handle the heat of candy, it can handle UTEE. After the UTEE mixture was poured into the mold, I just let it sit undisturbed until it cooled. It popped right out of the mold. How easy is that! And there are tons of really awesome candy molds these days with lots of pretty flowers and flourishes. The possibilities are endless!

I had so much fun messing with the UTEE, I plan on digging out a few more of my old candy molds to play with. I have several set of monogram alaphas that would look really cool. There's also a few other UTEE techniques I'm getting my nerve up to play with!

And here's a bonus...

I couldn't let Valentine's Day pass without putting up a Valentine's card, so here is a simple, French-inspired bit of Ooh La La!

I hope you enjoyed your visit. Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

An "Ornamental" Christmas Past

Welcome to the Studio!
If you’re visiting from the Card A Day Blog, thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you come back again soon. If you haven’t been to the Card A Day Blog, please stop by over there. There is a bunch of talented ladies doing some awesome creating. I’m so excited to be a part of it.

For this week, the theme is Christmas and Ornaments. I’m back on my vintage kick again, but I wanted to do something easy that could be recreated quickly for those of us who have LOTS of Christmas cards to make and mail out every year.

The card base is 8.5 x 3.75 (8.5 x 7.5 and scored at 3.75) The next layer is Cherry Cobbler cardstock, cut about a quarter of an inch smaller with the bottom edge border punched. It give a little pop of color next to the ivory cardbase. {Hint: Trim the width of the strip first, leaving it longer than 8.5. Border punch the bottom, then measure and trim excess from the top.}
The green pattern paper layer is cut about a quarter inch smaller than the red. I used a cut file from Silhouette for the ornament and cut it out of gold cardstock with an ivory shadow for a little extra pop there too. I glued the green patterned paper to the Cherry Cobbler. I then attached a short piece of Cherry Cobbler seam binding to the back of the Cherry Cobbler cardstock before attaching it to the ivory base. Using the seam binding, I looped it so it would look like a double bow and used a brad to cinch it together. For the sentiment, I used scraps and Spellbinders dies. I stamped “Merry Christmas” first and then cut it out so that I could have the sentiment centered as I wanted it. For attaching the ornament, I found it quicker and easier to run both pieces through my Xyron Sticker Maker (2.5”). I layered the gold on the ivory shadow first and then attached it to the card front and popped the bow on top with a glue dot. The sentiment is on a bit of foam tape as well.

Another tip...use what you have on hand. I have a bunch of Christmas-themed chipboard cutouts that would work great as well. You can also make an ornament, wreath, etc. a bit more elegant with pearls or a lot more eye-catching with bling. I hope you enjoyed your visit!

My Supply List:
Cardstock: Colonial White, CTMH; Cherry Cobbler, Stampin Up; DCWV Gold Pearl.
Patterned paper: Green tone on tone, Anna Griffin.
Stamps: A Merry Christmas, Stampin Up.
Ink: Chocolate, CTMH.
Dies: Spellbinders, scalloped ovals and ovals.
Ribbon: Cherry Cobbler seam binding, Stampin Up.
Bling: Pearl Brad, Paper Studio, Hobby Lobby.
Adhesive: Glue Glider Pro High Tack, Glue Arts; Xyron Sticker Maker; foam tape.
Tools: Border Punch, Martha Stewart.


Thanks for stopping by. Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

Winter Wonderland

Welcome to the Studio!

If you’re visiting from the Card A Day Blog, thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you come back again soon. If you haven’t been to the Card A Day Blog, please stop by over there. There is a bunch of talented ladies doing some awesome creating. I’m so excited to be a part of it.

For this week, the theme is Christmas and Snow. When I think of snow, the words to White Christmas come to mind and I get that old-time movie scene in my head of frosted windowpanes, roaring fires, and snowflakes gently drifting by outside. It’s definitely all in my imagination. I grew up in Louisiana, near New Orleans. I remember swimming in the backyard on Christmas Day, and New Year’s for that matter, for more years than I care to count. I also remember standing out on Veterans Highway in Metairie, Louisiana in the pre-dawn darkness freezing my buns off, teeth chattering, dressed in some silly costume (ballerina, Indian, Wonder Woman, etc.) with all-weather coat and gloves too, waiting for the Mardi Gras parade to start in late March. Needless to say, the weather down there is unpredictable at best, but I digress. Let’s get to the good stuff…stamped snowflakes!



I used a past sketch from Mojo Monday for the layout of this card. I used a transparency with Staz-On to stamp the individual snowflake “petals.” The stamps are from Heartfelt Creations as well as the die. The hardest part of this technique was waiting for the ink to dry. After it does, however, the fun begins. Using the Heartfelt/Spellbinder die, you just line up the die over the stamped image. Yes, it sounds hard, but remember that your paper is clear, so it’s super-easy. I ran it through my Bigshot and got ready to play with glitter and bling. I used 3-D Crystal Lacquer (with a fine tip) on the unstamped side of the flakes to “draw” where I wanted the glitter to go. Some sections I filled in with glitter and other sections I just traced some of the swirls. I used MS aquamarine glitter for the bottom layer of flakes and MS white gold glitter for the upper flakes. I attached the flakes together with a foam dot, thus giving it the upper and lower levels. To hide the dimensional, I added a huge chunk of “ice” on top. A Stampin Up “Season’s Greetings” and a silver organza bow finish it off. It was fun to make and looks even better in person…and a lot more sparkly!

My Supply List:
Cardstock: chocolate, CTMH; white, CTMH; Bazzill Bling, Bazzill.
Patterned paper: Brown Polka Dot, K & Co. Christmas Paper Pad
Stamps: Season’s Greetings, Stampin Up; Snowflake Medallions, Heartfelt Creations.
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Stampin Up; Timber Brown, Staz-On.
Dies: Snowflake/Medallions, Spellbinders/Heartfelt Creations; scalloped circles, Spellbinders.
Ribbon: Silver Organza, Offray.
Bling: Jolee’s Boutique
Adhesive: Glue Glider Pro High Tack, Glue Arts; 3-D Crystal Lacquer; foam dots.
Tools: Border Punch, Stampin Up.
Glitter: Aquamarine and white gold, Martha Stewart.

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

Christmas Card Blog Hop by CADB

Welcome to the Studio!


It's World Card Making Day, and to celebrate, the Card A Day Blog is launching a Christmas Card Blog Hop, but this is no ordinary blog hop. It will start today and continue tomorrow as a traditional blog hop, with some amazing blog candy being given away by everyone in the blog hop. We will have a wonderful grand prize that will include something from everyone in the hop. Each of our blog hop designers will choose something new from their stash {or handmade especially for the winner} for this grand prize that will be given away to the random winner of our blog hop challenge.

After that, we will continue by bringing you all types of Christmas cards {and gift card holders too} all the way to just before Christmas. We are doing this to give you lots of ideas for Christmas cards for you to be inspired and get those creative juices flowing in time for this wonderful, and hectic, time of year.

Thank you so much for hopping along with us! I’m excited to be a part of the CABD Christmas Card Blog Hop. This blog hop is a great big circle, so you can start wherever you want and continue through to see all the fabulous cards. If you would like to start from the beginning, please visit Karen's Blog. Also, at the bottom of this post, you will find a listing of all participants and their blog addresses if you should get lost or want to reference a blog along the way. If you are coming from Janet's Blog, you are on the right track.


I was cleaning out my Christmas pattern paper scrap bin and found some little strips of striped paper. I love the CTMH Mistletoe line (it's retired, sniff) and I didn't want to let any of it go to waste...and this is what I came up with.


This is just your standard A2 card. When you're making a bunch of cards, like for Christmas, it's a fast and easy size, just cut an 8.5 x 11 piece of cardstock in half lengthwise. Another tip for "bulk" handmade cards is to do them in an assembly-line style. Cut all your bases first, then cut all your pattern paper strips, punch all your border pieces, etc. until you have all the pieces ready to go, then it's just an easy, slap-them-together session that can be done in no time while at a crop or during a scrappy playdate with friends.


For my card, I rounded the edges with a corner rounder and I ALWAYS ink the edges. I don't know what I did with myself before I discovered sponge daubers and ink pads. I used CTMH Topiary and Cranberry for the inking. I embossed the Topiary cardstock with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I cut the border strip from Cranberry cardstock with a Fiskars border punch. I made sure to attach my crocheted lace to that piece so I could hide the "ribbon bits" behind it. The "Happy Holidays" was heat embossed with CTMH Cocoa embossing powder. That stamp is from a set that came from Oriental Trading.


Now, for the holly. If you've been visiting my blog for any length of time, you've probably realized there's usually something "wonky" with some part of the projects I share. Well, the "wonky" is that I wanted to use these little dew drops that I found on clearance at Michael's a while back. They were REALLY cheap and I bought a BUNCH; however, they did not have any in red. These started out clear. So how did they end up red, you say? I used a standard size hole punch and punched out lots of these little red circles. I then used Diamond Glaze (just a teeny, tiny drop) to attach them to the bottom of the dew drops...and viola, shiny, round holly berries. The holly leaves were really easy. I cut them out using Make the Cut and my Cricut. The shape was downloaded from the Silhouette store, and of course, I inked them;)


My Supply List:

Cardstock: Kraft cardstock, Michaels; Topiary cardstock, CTMH; Cranberry cardstock, CTMH; Garden Green cardstock, CTMH.
Patterned paper: Striped from the Mistletoe Collection, CTMH.
Stamps: Christmas Carols set, Oriental Trading.
Ink: Versamark; Topiary, CTMH; Cranberry, CTMH.
Ribbon: crocheted lace, misc.
Adhesive: Glue Glider Pro High Tack, Glue Arts; ScorTape, ScorPal; Diamond Glaze, Judikins; Fast Grab Tacky Glue, Aleene's.
Embossing powder: Cocoa, CTMH.
Electronic cutter: Cricut Expression, Make The Cut Software (MTC).
Cut files: Holly, Silhouette.
Embellishments: dew drops, Recollections.

Thanks for stopping by! Please continue onto Michelle's Blog where you will find even more ideas and awesome artwork! Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you thought of my card.

Wanna win some blog candy? It's easy. All you have to do is follow me and leave a comment. A winner will be chosen at random. Thanks again for stopping by and happy hopping!

More chances to win even more blog candy:
CABD CHRISTMAS CARD BLOG HOP CHALLENGE
Join in the fun and submit your own Christmas card for our challenge. The challenge will run from now until midnight October 3.

A two-day extravaganza of Christmas Cards and prizes.
Each of our designers will be choosing something special for our followers and adding it to the grand prize package. You will receive something from each designer.
To join in the challenge, create a Christmas card and post it on your blog.
To qualify, you must be a follower of our blog and you must then include a link to our blog in your post. Please link to http://cardadayblog.blogspot.com (if this text is not included in your post, your submission will be rejected).
The winner of the prize package will be selected at random at midnight on October 2. Check back here on October 3 to see if you have won!!!

As promised, here's the hopping order in case you get lost along the way or want to refer back to a blog…
Karin Adamczyk, ScrapperCreations
Adele Robbetze, Nogards Creative Cave
Christine Patton, Creative Genie-ous
Cindy Foster, Cindy's Creations
Cindy Pointe, The Creative Pointe
Janet White, Stamping At The White House
Kelly George, Sassy Scrapper Studio (You’re Here!)
Michelle Hessler, Paperthreads
Patricia Logan, MDN Creates
Shelley Bordeleau, Gardens Crafts 'n' More
Tina Campbell, Tina's Scrap Corner
Vicki Schram, Paper Squirrel

Hope to see you again soon. Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

Feeling Wicked?

Welcome to the Studio!

If you’re visiting from the Card A Day Blog, thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you come back again soon. If you haven’t been to the Card A Day Blog, please stop by over there. The holidays are getting into full swing over there and there's lots of cool ideas.

For September 25th to 30th, we have a theme to follow, which is Halloween. For me it’s a wonderful time of year. The air gets a chilly nip, the trees are ablaze with color, pumpkin patches and jack-o-lanterns abound.
I’ve been itching to try out some “vintage” style lately. It all started in Nashville at the vendor hall. I kept passing this one booth that had the most awesome paper ever, a new line called Authentique. I’d drool and swoon every time I passed the endcap where the paper was. I was trying to be strong and not break the promise I made to myself before I left home – NO MORE PAPER!

On the last day, minutes before the vendor hall was to close, I snuck out of class early because I just couldn’t stand to leave without this awesome, vintage Halloween and Christmas paper. I sprinted to the vendor hall, went right to the booth to buy the paper. To my utter shock and bafflement, ALL the paper was GONE! There wasn’t a sheet left anywhere in their booth. With a quivering lip, I asked what happened to the pretty paper, I must have some. The show was ending and they had already started packing up. Julie Creek, being the sweet, awesome lady she is, unpacked a huge crate of paper so that I could pick out everything I wanted. We must have spent 20 minutes sitting on the floor digging through paper and chatting about all the scrapbooking gossip as if we’d known each other for years!

If you’d like some of this lovely paper or hundreds of other cool items, please visit Julie at Creek Bank Creations!

And thanks to Julie and Creek Bank Creations, here’s my vintage Halloween card…



Supply List:
Patterned Paper, Authentique, Glowing Collection
Vintage Halloween Postcard, downloaded from internet
Seam binding, crinkled
Pearls, Want 2 Scrap
Glimmer Mist, Black Magic
Martha Stewart border punch
Coredinations cardstock (grey)
Close To My Heart cardstock, Taffy, Ivory and Crème Brulee
CTMH ink in Sunset, Grey Wool, and Black
CTMH Stamp set, Wicked

My card base is 5x7 and made with CTMH ivory cardstock. I inked the edges with Grey Wool ink. I cut the spooky music paper about one-half inch smaller than my base and also inked the edges with Grey Wool and I attached it to my card base. Next I cut the harlequin paper and matted it with crème brulee card stock. I inked the harlequin with Grey Wool and the crème brulee with Sunset. I just kinda “eyeballed” the size, so I can’t give you the exact dimensions. {I do that a lot. Math is not my strong suit, so any time I can “eyeball” something, it’s a good thing.}

Next, I matted the orange spooky handwriting paper with black cardstock. I used a MS border punch to cut my grey cardstock and then sprayed it with Black Magic Glimmer Mist. {The name of that color begs to be used on Halloween projects, huh?} I used an edge distresser to “chew up” the edges of my vintage postcard and then matted it on ivory cardstock inked with Grey Wool ink. For my little banner, I stamped “I’m Feeling Wicked” in black on taffy cardstock and inked it in Sunset ink.

After I had all my pieces ready, I moved them around until I got it just the way I wanted it and I glued everything down. As a finishing touch, I took one of those really big, fancy pearl swirlies and cut it to the size I wanted for my card and stuck it on. I really enjoyed working on this card and I hope you liked it too.

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time, Scrap Sassy!

Something To Hoot About!

Welcome to the Studio!


If you’re visiting from the Card A Day Blog, thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you come back again soon. If you haven’t been to the Card A Day Blog, please stop by over there. There is a bunch of very talented ladies doing some awesome creating. I’m so excited to be a part of it.

For this week, we have a theme to follow, which is owls. I adore owls. You’ll get to see my creation, Olivia the Owl, below. We also had an optional sketch to use by one of my all-time favorite sketch/scrapbook artists, Becky Fleck. So how could I resist? I use her sketches all the time for my layouts and just adore her. She’s a sweetie, and oh so talented. You can find her and all her cool sketches for both cards and scrapbook layouts over at Pagemaps.

Here’s the sketch my card was based on…

And here’s my card…




Supply List:
(All products are Close To My Heart unless otherwise noted.)
Cardstock: Colonial White, Crème Brulee, Desert Sand, Cocoa, Sorbet, Olive, Sunset
Inks: Chocolate, Desert Sand, Sorbet, Sunset, Crème Brulee
Patterned Paper: Elemental Collection
Cocoa grosgrain ribbon
Other: White gel pen, Alene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue, Thank you stamp (Stampin Up),
Tools: Bigshot, Quickutz scalloped border die, Spellbinders scalloped circles, EK Success oak leaf punch, Electronic Diecutting Machine, Make The Cut Software

When I do a project, I like to start by cutting out all my pieces first, laying everything out and glue them down last. That way I can move everything around when I’m adding embellishments, etc.


My card is 6x6 (card base cut at 6x12) out of Colonial White cardstock. I inked the edges in Desert Sand using a sponge dauber. The next layer is Crème Brulee cardstock cut at 5.5 x 5.5. I inked the edges in Chocolate. The patterned paper is from the Elemental Collection. It is cut at 5 1/8 x 5 1/8. I inked the edges in Desert Sand as well. I used Sorbet cardstock cut at 4.5 x 4.5 and inked in chocolate for the last square layer. I again used paper from Elemental to cut out a scalloped border strip. The scalloped circles are cut out of Colonial White and Cocoa cardstock. I left the Colonial White scallop in the die and colored the edges using a sponge dauber and Crème Brulee ink. The die acts as a stencil. I like the extra dimension it adds without any bulk.

I attached the patterned paper to the Crème Brulee cardstock and then the Sorbet cardstock on top of the patterned paper. Then I attached my scalloped strip and ribbon. Fold the ribbon over onto the back of the cardstock to hide those pesky “ribbon bits.”


{NOTE: I have not attached anything to my card base yet.}


I then glued the two scalloped circles together and got ready to put my owl together. She is 14 separate pieces. The bottom layer was cut out in Cocoa and is the entire owl shape, like a shadow. The rest of the pieces were cut out in various colors and inked with chocolate. The branch was cut out in Desert Sand cardstock and I used a woodgrain background stamp and Desert Sand ink to give it a tone-on-tone “woodsy” effect. For the leaves, I went totally old school and used a EK Success punch.

Remember these?!? I still have decorative edge scissors and I use them too!

I used my Xyron sticker maker for most of the owl pieces and put her together just like you would a paper piecing. I attached the branch to the scalloped circles and sat my owl on top. I used Fast Grab Tacky Glue to attach the leaf punches. When it was all together, I put adhesive on the back of the branch and the scalloped circle and attached it to my card front. After I had my entire card front together, I used my glue runner and put glue on my card base and then attached my card front.

Olivia The Owl:
She is a cute little piece of free clipart I found on the internet. Using Make The Cut (MTC) software, I pixel traced the image several times in order to make layers. I was then able to cut her out in several different pieces/colors. The branch is a file from Silhouette.

If you’d like to make your own “Olivia the Owl”, please email me at SassyScrapperAL@gmail.com. I’ll be happy to send the cut file to you in either .mtc (Make The Cut) or .svg (Scalable Vector Graphic). If you need it in another format, let me know and I’ll try to convert it;)

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time, Scrap Sassy!