Christmas Card Peak

It's been too long without much posting.  It's not that I haven't been crafting, just life being too busy to craft and post.  I had previously mentioned that Brandy and I worked on our Christmas cards in September.  Well, here's a sneak peak of the work in progress.  Two months later, they are more together, but not yet finalized for me and Brandy has not only finished hers, but mailed them out.  I better get on the ball!

Andie

Second of Two Play All Day Layouts

As mentioned in the previous post here, Brandy and I attended the Embellish It! Play All Day Event here in Mesa, AZ.  This layout was the second of the two layouts that were a part of the event.  Shelby Dredge was a wonderful hostess and these layouts went together in a snap.  The fine detail on the product sold by Embellish It! makes them one of our new favorites.

I am usually not to big a fan of the black and white look- just a little too stark for me.  However, the touch of baby blue and the odd cream embellishment and I really like the final product.  If you get a chance to participate in one of Embellish It!'s events, both Brandy and I recommend it.

Andie 

Layouts from the Embellish It! Play All Day Event

Both Brandy and I had the great pleasure of attending Embellish It!'s Play All Day Event in Mesa, Arizona this past October.  I can't believe a month has gone by.  Our lack of posting about the event doesn't represent our enthusiasm for the fun we had and/or the quality of the activities provided.  Shelby Dredge, Embellish It!'s owner was our host. 

As an aside- I am notoriously naive regarding websites.  As I was trying to locate Embellish It!'s website, imagine my chagrin when I realized how in appropriate that particular website name would be (i.e., http://www.embellish**.com/).  They can be found at http://www.embellishonline.com/!

We spent eleven glorious hours paper crafting, chatting, snacking and generally enjoying each other's company.  The day was set up to revel in friendship while inking our papers (and our fingers, and the table cloths, oh my!), gluing down strips and trying to finish our Christmas card projects.  In the meantime, Shelby had some fun planned for us.  The first activity started just before lunch when we were given a layout kit.  Shelby walked us through the layout and gave some real handy tips.  I don't consider myself a paper crafting expert (that's Brandy's role in our friendship), but Shelby had a few things to teach me too.  Here's our first two-page layout using Basic Grey papers:

All page embellishments (except the ribbon) came from a sticker page or a cardstock sticker page provided with the kit.  This isn't my natural scrapbooking style, so I find it interesting how a few sheets of patterned paper and some stickers can turn out to be such a wonderful product.   

I have plans to add a couple of pictures of Katie to this beautiful layout.  Brandy finished her pages that day with pictures of family for inclusion in her mom's scrapbook (Brandy adds pages throughout the year to this scrapbook to keep her mom up to date on pictures of her, her son, her niece and nephew, etc.). 

What do you think?  We first really became enamoured of Embellish It! at this year's Creating Keepsakes scrapbooking convention in Mesa.  Ultimately, it was their selection of Basic Grey product that drew us in.  Now, we will be looking for their next Play All Day Event here in sunny Arizona.  Don't be surprised if we go again and consider this an endorsement for you as well.

Andie

Textured to Perfection Challenge in the Moxie Fab World

                                                 During our recent short trip to Newport Beach, I had an opportunity to paper craft.  We typically spend every waking hour taking trips to the beach and relaxing back at the condo.  My idea of relaxing is some ink on my fingers, paper scraps clinging to my pants, and a beautiful card as the outcome.  These three cards were made for the Textured to Perfection Challenge that is currently being sponsored at the Moxie Fab World blog. 

The first is a Thank You card.  The light green cardstock card was spritzed with yellow, green and blue Glimmer Mist to match the stensiled butterfly image that was spritzed onto some cream linen.  I frayed the edges of the linen and used some blue twine create an accent.  The Thank You comes from a foil rub-on and I'm not sure I'm pleased with the picture, but I think it works in person. 

The next card is a Happiness card.  For this card I used a cream cardstock to make the actual card.   Using a Close to My Heart boarder stamp and the Cranbury Close to My Heart pigment ink, I stamped the board and immediately smudged the edges with a sponge dauber. The linen was once again spritzed with pink Glimmer Mist.  The Happiness stamp was inked with the same cranbury pigment ink and stamped onto a piece of linen adhered with a foam square.  The pink twine is adhered with a glue dot.  The picture of this card does not do it justice by making the image look crooked.  In person, I think this might be the best of the three.

Green being my favorite color, I do like this last Thank You card.  The green cardstock card was once again spritzed with Glimmer mist, this time only using the golden yellow and the green mist. I think this stenciled image turned out the best of the three. As I have worked with the linen and the Glimmer Mist I find there is a tension between the amount of mist applied and the distance from the linen.  Different images and different cards demand different looks.  Additionally, the mist itself seems to have varying intensities with the lighter colors creating less drama, but sometimes requiring less mist to acheive a look.  The butterfly embellishment comes from the K & Company Adrianna collection I recently posted about.  The pink patterned paper was sanded on the edges and a silver Thank You rub-on was added.  The twine is wrapped around this handmade sentiment and adhered using a couple of foam squares.   

I plan to enter these cards in the Moxie Fab World contest.  We'll see how it goes, but it certainly does a body good to take time, relax, and do something that is enjoyable.  My bonus is getting to hold the outcome of that time and send these cards to deserving folks who are really quite helpful.

Andie

i-rock... OK, Not Me But My Bling Does

Brandy and I recently signed up to attend Embellish It!'s Play All Day Event here in Mesa, Arizona.  We hope to share more on our fun filled 14 hour day of paper crafting at some point (much of it is a secret as we were both working on our Christmas cards).  Even so, a fun off shoot of signing up for the event was to get Embellish It!'s spam emails.  I know that doesn't rightly sound good, but trust me, everything turned out good.  Embellish It! recently teamed with other providers to launch a new blog called My Craft Channel.  They feature daily webisodes of tips and tricks for paper crafting and more along with what they are calling the Featured Buy.  Normally, I am not a sucker for these types of tricks.  However, I've been secretly longing to join the ranks of those that i-rock.  Brandy i-rocks.  I, sadly, had not ever i-rock'ed.  Until now that is...

 

This fabulous i-rock kit was a steal at $20 plus shipping and contains all that you see in the picture- the i-rock tool, crystal bling in 16 different assortments with over 3000 individual pieces, patterned bling and even a denim tote to make your first project out of.  If you are interested in the inspiration, the tips and tricks, or an excuse to sort through amazing deals on supplies, I'd recommend you check them out.  I image myself bling-ing everything from here on out.  It's now official, i-rock!

Andie