New Orleans Saints Layout

It's Super Bowl Sunday!

I'm not at the Super Bowl today--I'm somewhere much better in my opinion. But we did go to an NFL game while we were in New Orleans for Halloween, so in keeping with a football theme for the day, here's my layout from that game:

 

The game (New York Giants vs. New Orleans Saints in the Super Dome) was the third highest total points in NFL history, which made for a great time: lots of touchdown celebrations. My husband said both teams' defensive coordinators should be fired, but I didn't care. I like offense!  The Saints won 52-49 with a last second field goal, which was super-exciting. The fans were chanting "Who Dat!" long after the game. (If you don't get it, don't worry--it's a New Orleans thing.)

 

My layout was simple. I used black & gold (Saints colors) and white.  I had some large black tags sitting around, so I incorporated them into the layout. Here's the left side:

 

These pictures are during the pregame. We had great end zone seats!  I also used fleur de lis punches here and there to bring more of a New Orleans flair to the pages.  Here's the right page:

 

Most of my materials were CTMH, but I think they're all retired. I'll be sad when I've finally used up all the black striped B&T paper--it's been a favorite.  The top right photo is the winning field goal. The bottom pics show Drew Brees, the Saints quarterback, and Eli Manning, Giants quarterback and New Orleans native.  On top of a great game, we got to see two former Super Bowl winners.  Neither made it to today's game, although I'm sure Eli is watching his brother Peyton.

 

I used my "new" vintage typewriter for the journaling. I love that typewriter!

 

For the title, I used a CTMH alphabet stamp, punched out the letters, and affixed them with dimensional adhesive. This layout is pretty flat, aside from the title and the ties on the tags.

 

Thanks for looking, and I hope your team wins today!  I'll be watching beachside.

 



Parrotheads in New Orleans

Parrotheads on the Road Again:

Twelve best friends plus Halloween in New Orleans equals fun plus lots of shenanigans!   The picture on this layout was from during the day while we were all behaving somewhat.  We always try to get at least one group photo. This one is from the river levy looking back toward Jackson Square and St. Louis Cathedral--a standard NOLA photo op spot. 

 

I used CTMH's Nevermore paper pack after creating the background with Dylusions black paint and brick stamp. I used lots of scribbling and doodling. The lettering is all handwritten/drawn.  The three fleur de lis are punches. 

In the background you can also see in three spots where I used a date stamp repeatedly and not particularly neatly:

It makes the background have more depth, plus adds the month and year of the trip. 

Vintage Valentine

This is probably my favorite valentine I made this year:

 

The "Valentine Joys" card is actually an antique valentine that opens itself. Inside is the signature from the original sender. I forgot to take a picture of the little card open!-oops, and it's already in Colfax at the Spring City Vintage shop. The B&T rose paper is from CTMH's "La Vie En Rose" collection. All the distress and background inking is Tim Holtz's Distress Ink from Ranger (Vintage Photo). "Happy Valentine's Day!" was typed by me on my manual typewriter--love that thing! The paper flowers are from Recollections and the centers are CTMH embellishments.

 

I'm Sweet on You.

Perfect for your sweetheart for Valentine's Day:

 

 

Although not my normal style, I really like how this Valentine turned out. The background papers are CTMH's "Sangria." The stamps are all CTMH's "Sweet as Sugar." The button is from Dear Lizzy & American Crafts, and I added the baker's twice and an old CTMH charm that says "sweet." The charm is turned away in the photo, of course!

Whooo Do I Like? You!

Another Valentine!

 

 

Again, the focal point of this card is the vintage school valentine from my friend Jane. The background sky and trees are stamped with Wendy Vecchi's Archival Ink from Ranger (Fern Green, Cornflower Blue, & Veridian). The tree is a stamp designed by Wendy Vecchi from Stamper's Anonymous. I doodled around the heart with a black pen, added some little CTMH stamped hearts from the set "You're the Bomb," added ribbon, and a little sentiment typed on my manual typewriter.

Happy Camper Valentine

This card is all CTMH. I colored the Airstream-type camper with Copic markers. The B&T papers are from the "Jubilee" series of papers; the heart is from the "Soul Mates" set; and the camper is from the set "Camper Crazy."

Howdy, Valentine!

Another quick Valentine post made from another vintage Valentine from my friend Jane.

 

 This one uses CTMH & The Paper Studio B&T papers and just a couple CTMH embellishments. A very quick card, but with the masculine colors and all the edges (including a double mat) distressed with Tim Holtz's Distress Ink (Vintage Photo), I think it fits the cowboy theme.

Typewriter Valentines

I really LOVE old typewriters. Here are three Valentines I made using the CTMH stamp set "Typed Note" with it's vintage typewriter designs:

The more-modern "i love you" B&T paper is from The Paper Studio. I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink from Ranger (Barn Door) for the "type." I added a strip of washi tape and some old CTMH embellishments to finish.

 

For this card, the typewriter is the same, but I used to different CTMH B&T papers on the background and added some argyle and polka dot stamping to add dimension to the background.  I also used the CTMH border stamp "Assorted Edges" and the date stamp I've always loved from "Today's Date" with a little gem to mark the 14th.

 

Not my favorite, this Valentine has a lot going on. the background is CTMH, as are all the stamps except the bathing beauties, which is from Artistic Outpost's "Boardwalk" set. A few flowers and embellishments and a CTMH zip strip below the typewriter fished this card.

 

Little Shark Finn

Yes--sometimes I scrapbook. I plan to a lot, but in reality, I make layouts sometimes.

 

 

Here's my grandson Finn trick-or-treating for the first time at my office. Of course, Finn was a shark!--the cutest shark I've ever seen for sure.

 

The papers I used were all from my stash of miscellaneous, and I'm sure they're all retired, so I'm not going to try to list the manufacturers. It's a pretty busy layout, but then so is Finn. After the pictures, I'm especially fond of the row of candy tickets down the right side.

"Tis the Season!

. . .Valentine Season!

 

I went to the grocery store on the morning of December 26, and saw the stockers changing the candy shelves from Christmas candy to Valentine's candy!

 

Here's a Valentine I made for sale at Colfax's Spring City Vintage to put you in the mood for Valentine crafting:

The background bricks and tree are from Wendy Vecchi's Stamper's Anonymous line, as is the brown "splatter" on the tag background. I distressed all edges with Tim Holtz's Ranger Distress Ink (Vintage Photo). The little hearts within the bricks are hand drawn with a Copic marker.  The cute little couple ephemera is an old Valentine from the stash my friend Jane gave me from her own childhood.

 

 



40 Bites!

Another variation of the 30- 40- 50- sucks and blows gifts: This time "40 Bites." I bought a cheap glass jar from Wal-Mart and some Hershey's Minis (Didn't they used to be called "Bites?").  I added some black tulle and a quick monochromatic tag, and it's done!

 

To see more examples, look at these previous posts: 30 Sucks!, 30 Blows!, 50 Sucks!

 

A Banner Year So Far!

Three posts so far in 2016--only 97 to go! --so far so good.

 

I made several banners for sale at Christmastime. While the three I'm showing here were meant for the Christmas holidays, they definitely would work well for winter or Valentine's Day.

 

(Please ignore the Christmas decorations around the banners.)

 

This one has sparkly snowflakes. Here's a closer look:

 

 

This one is all winter mittens:

 

And a closer look at it:

This was a Cricut image I cut and simply punched a hole in the corner so it would hang from some baker's twine.

 

This last banner is made from felt. I think it would be cute for a Valentine's Day display:

New Year, New Art, New Plans!!!

After several years (I can't tell you how many without looking it up--almost ten, I think), I am no longer selling Close to My Heart scrapbooking products. I decided to quit because my own creativity was falling outside of CTMH's box. I will miss getting a discount on a lot of the products, and I'm sure I'll be ordering from time to time from another consultant. 

 

Just because it's no longer my main focus of crafting products, let me tell you my top three favorites from CTMH, in no particular order: (1) Cardstock. I love the weight and white core. This is one product I'll probably still be purchasing.  (2) The Cricut Cartridges. Some of the cartridges are so good, that you hardly need to own more than one cartridge--there are that many great images on them. (3) Clear Stamps. I just can hardly use the wood mounted stamps anymore.

 

So what am I going to do differently with my crafting?  Not much. I'm still going to make and sell cards and other projects on commission. I'm still going to make vintage look and holiday items for sale at Colfax's Spring City Vintage. I'm still scrapbooking for myself. I do plan to create more art journaling projects, however. I'm a HUGE fan of Dyan Reavely and her products and plan to create more art within that style. 

 

As an example, here's a sneak peak of something I'm currently working on:

 

 

It's a travel journal for our upcoming Hawaii vacation. I've used CTMH and Ranger, and many other products. I love how chunky it already is. 

 

Here are some of the inside pages. I'll add photos, lots of journaling, doodling, and ephemera while on our nine-day journey.

 

watercolor on left & "accidental page" on right

Dylusions inspired

journaling page & spray-ink page

 

B&T paper with tags

 

I got the cute new Ranger bag in the Dyan Reavely style for Christmas. At first look, you might think this tiny, odd-dimensioned bag is not very useful.

 

It's going with me to Hawaii. It will hold all my pens, glue, and little journaling spots and embellishments perfectly. I'll probably work on the journal on the planes, when I get up at the butt-crack of dawn because of the time change, and just when I feel like sitting on our ocean front lanai and being creative. More photos later of it completed, or at least further along.

 



New Year's Resolution: More Posts

Like the Hawkeyes in the Rose Bowl, my blogging has certainly been disappointing. (See how I'm not over that awful football game?) 

 

No posts since late October and only 50 posts all of 2015.  Again, I hope to be better in 2016. I'm already at 1 with this post, and it's only January 2, so I'm on track to hit 182.5 posts for the year--not likely. I'm setting a goal of at least 100 posts in 2016.

Anyway, here's a super fun gift I got for Christmas from my family that was totally a surprise:

 

A portable MANUAL typewriter!!!  I've been wanting one every since I read an article about how much Tom Hanks enjoys old typewriters (he owns several).

 

I can't wait to type sentiments for my cards and little quotes for scrapbook layouts and art journal pages with it.

 

And it came in this cute, perfect-condition case:

 

Watch for crafts from help with this little guy soon!



Baseball Party Decorations

We hosted my grandson's first birthday party at our house--out of necessity, we have wheelchair access, and my daughter Jess wanted to make sure her brother Nick could attend. 

 

Jess did all the planning and designing of the party, and I just helped her make it happen.  Here's a cute pic of Jess and Finn before the party:

 

That hat!

 

Jess made the birthday boy's cute hat from felt.  Here's a closer look at it:

 

Jess used felt that had been treated with fabric stiffener, cut out a "1," added a fuzzy pompom tot he top, and a bit of elastic. The back had a seam covered in cute red ribbon. It must have been comfortable, because Finn didn't mess with it at all and wore it for the whole party, even while enjoying his cupcake.

 

The party was baseball themed with colors being dark red, navy, and white. Because our beloved Cubbies were in the playoffs, it turned into a a Cubs theme too. This is before they broke our hearts in the NL playoffs--Wait 'til Next Year!

 

Because we are Cubs fans, we have a lot Cubs paraphernalia, so I took down all my regular decorations in the dining room and replaced them with Finn/Cubs/baseball themed items, costing very little to do.  Here's the mantel:

 

The two canvas photos on the far right and left sides are all pictures from Finn's newborn photo shoot. The Wrigley Field replica "Be Alert for Foul Balls" sign (signed by two Cubs players) and the Rizzo doll belong to Finn. The book with Harry Caray on it was a gift several years ago, the brick is leftover from Jess's high school graduation party, and the bat is a wedding gift from Jess to Neal with their wedding date wood burned into it.  The only new item is the banner.

 

A closer look at the banner:

It was made with my Cricut, CTMH cartridges, and baker's twine. Easy!

 

We added balloons (cheap) to the opening between the living room and the dining room. Tom was in charge of this project, which he accepted since he could use his air compressor--and he'd do anything for Jess and Finn.

 

Here's the whole string:

 

Jess picked up some inexpensive baseball lanterns at the local party store, and we hung them over the kitchen peninsula:

 

And we made another banner for over the buffet where the presents were stacked

 

 

More pictures of Finn clustered together for decoration, along with a brick and antique blocks spelling "Go Cubs." Cost = $0.00

 

 

More baseball themed decorations for the table:

 

 

I use this leftover glass container from Jess & Neal's wedding for EVERY occasion and holiday.  I consider it magical. Anything I put it in becomes a decoration.  This time I used baseballs.

 

 

I used a cheap platter and hot-glued baseballs to the bottom to make a stand for the baseball cup cakes we served.  After the party, I removed the baseballs from the platter and the glass container. They're now in the garage waiting for a future game of catch. No waste and little cost.

 

 

I used one piece of cardstock cut into the shape of home plate for a mat for the glass container. Too easy.

 

Here's a good look at the high chair (& Finn!):

 

The banner is three felt triangles with cs letters cut from my Cricut. Scraps of every red, white, & blue ribbon I had are tied to the ends. The whole thing was taped to the high chair tray. I'll reuse the ribbon pieces in future projects.

 

Here are some pics of the room all decorated before the party:

 

 

 

It turned out great and everyone, especially Finn, had a wonderful time. The decorations were fun even though they were really inexpensive.