Happy New Year!!! Sundays With Crissy Challenge #25

Howdy and Happy New Year!! It's challenge time again over at Sundays With Crissy and this month we want you to Beat The Mid-Winter Blues!!! That means you can use anything on your card or project that screams beach, seashore, underwater, sunny, tropical...you get the idea.

Now this challenge has special significance for me as I have just returned from a wonderful cruise in the Caribbean. Now I really can't complain because of the snow because, well, here in Ontario, we haven't really had that much and we ended up having a very green Christmas to boot. The snow can stay away as far as I am concerned!! I wouldn't mind a green New Year either...I can dream can't I??

Anyway, back to our challenge...I decided to keep the sea theme alive for this one. Although I didn't see any mermaids at sea (oh I love homonyms) I know they were there. I inked up this little rubber mermaid Crissy did for Whimsy stamps and put her on the front of a travel journal. The image is called "Journey Into The Sea".

 

The Front





  The Art





The Back--I wish I had bought a crate of this paper--one of my life's regrets LOL!!

  Now if you're interested, this is how I made my journal. First I went on a hunt for cheap-o (NON SPIRAL) journals at the dollarstore, Staples, & Michael's. I bought a bunch of different ones but the one I used for this project was a "Sustainable Earth" journal from Staples. I liked it because it had a chocolate brown binding (anything chocolate is good) and the lines were brown inside. I then purchased the biggest Xyron machine I could find (Xyron Creative Station). It's a little pricey (not so bad with a 40% off coupon) but necessary for this project as you need a strong and consistent adhesive to stick the paper down. I cut my paper to size leaving a bit of overlap, ran it through the xyron and adhered it to the journal. I then trimmed the overlap with scissors and then sanded the edges with 220 grade sandpaper. This works best if you sand the edges down towards the inside of the journal or along the edges so you are not going against the adhesive. Sand until the edges are flush and smooth. It makes a BIG mess so be prepared for some clean up. The rest is up to you.

Well, now it's your turn!! Show us how you Beat The Mid-Winter Blues!! Click HERE and you will be taken to our post outlining how to enter your own projects!! You can also win our monthly prize of 5 free digi images by our beloved artist Crissy Armstrong--details on the above post as well. Don't forget, our talented design team will be struting their stuff all thoughout the month just to keep you inspired, so don't forget to come back to the SWC blog often to see what they've come up with.

Thanks for popping in today to take a look!!

New Year Blessings,

Sarah ☺

The Rest of The Dirt:

Designer Paper: Magenta--Bon Voyage--Travel Text

Cardstock--Bazzill Papers

Image Printed On: Neenah

Media: Copics

(BV000, BV00, BV02, BG10, BG15, BG23, Y02, Y11, Y15, Y18, G12, G20, YG03, YG23, E0000 E35, E50, R20)

Gems--Zva

Sundays With Crissy--Challenge #21--Friendship

Hello everyone!! Just wanted to tell you the new challenge is up over at Sundays With Crissy and it's all about FRIENDSHIP this month.

Right up front I have to apologize for my poor photography. I spent 3 hours trying to get a decent shot and finally gave up...anyway here's my "F" is for Friendship page that I intend to put together into an ABC Book using all Crissy Armstrong images...so stay tuned for more pages coming soon.

I used Crissy's image "Great Day To Fish" from Whimsy stamps. I corrugated the background paper with my Corru-Gator Crimping Tool. The "F" card is from 7 Gypsies, which I chalked with Colorbox Fluid Chalks--Dark Moss. The eyelets are from Michael's (Recollections line), the metal clips are from Spare Parts and the twine is from my stash. The image is printed on Neenah paper and all the papers are from Bazzil.

I have seen a lot of crafters use Prismacolor Pencils on kraft paper and wanted to try it myself. Long before I used Copics to colour with I was a die hard Prisma/odourless mineral spirits girl, so it was nice to go back to this media for a change. Not sure how many brain cells I killed off using the OMS (LOL) but hey...

I made my own bobber lure using a Quickutz circle and looped tag die cut. The "Friend" font is also from Quickutz. I believe it's called Empire (and probably LONG retired).

Now it's your turn to show us your FRIENDSHIP cards!! See upload instructions on my post here!! There will be five free digi's given to one lucky challenge participant who will be chosen by Random.org at the end of the month! You may now use images from any company and still be included in the draw for the blog candy prize! Those who use one of Crissy's images, either from her rubber or digital collections will be entered twice in the draw. But please respect the rule of no more than three entries per month. Otherwise your entries could be deleted.

Thanks to everyone who entered last month's K.I.S.S. challenge!! If you haven't met our new DT Members go on over and scroll through the posts last month!! We've got some hot new talent on board!!!

Thanks too, for stopping by to visit me. Hope you'll join in on the challenge this month!!

Hugs,

☺ Sarah ☺

High Hopes Challenge #81--Anything Goes

Happy Sunday!! Wow it's been a whirlwind this week over at High Hopes with sneakie peekies and blog hops!! Hopefully you all had a chance to take in Dustin Pike & Melissa Jenkins' new rubber designs!! Now that the dust has settled it's challenge time and this week Lovely Lacey has told us "ANYTHING GOES!!!" I decided to do a scrapbook layout this time and thought I would use one of Melissa's designs called Free Kittens.

This stamp has special significance to me because that's what my kitties were--FREE!! Back in November '08 we lost our beloved white cat, Molly. She had been with us close to 20 years and I have to say she left a hole in our home and in our hearts. 3 weeks after she died, I was at a school fundraiser where I met this very kind man named Gerry. He had a sign at his booth advertising free kittens--2 Black, 2 White & 1 Grey. I knew it was a "sign"!! ☺

To make a long story short we met the kittens and Gerry gave us the pick of the litter!! With that came an added bonus--the mother cat needed a home too!! She had been a stray to begin with and was in dire need of some fattening up. She ended up being adopted by my parents who were in need of some feline company! She lovingly became known as Holly--the Christmas Cat.

We named our grey kitten Willow and our white kitten Yuki (Yoo-Key--Japanese for "snow") and slowly and surely they started to fill the hole Molly had left. These two are sisters but couldn't be more opposite. Willow is the uptight, talkative, scaredy-cat who goes crazy for reflective objects--especially my iPhone. She's curious and loves to watch me while I scrapbook. Yuki is kookie--she's laid back and a lot more cuddly than her sister. They both love catching and eating bugs, watching the birds, begging for chicken and cuddling up with each other. I am so thankful to have their company! Not a day goes by that they don't make me laugh!!

Well there you have a little history of Willow and Yuki--the crazy cats you see on my side bar! Here's my layout...☺

And a closer look at the art...

Yuki Doodle...

Willow Boo Boo...

Thanks for popping by today!! There is still time to join in the hop for Melissa's release so if you missed it click HERE and you'll be taken to the appropriate spot to begin your journey!! The hop closes tomorrow at 7 a.m. EST (12 p.m. GMT) so don't delay--you could win yourself some free rubber from the new release--see post for details.

Have a blessed day...be back later with another project!!

Sarah ☺

High Hopes Challenge #73

Good Morning!!! It's time again for the challenge of the week over at High Hopes Stamps and this week Design Team Diva Alex has charged us with making bookmarks. I am not a huge fiction reader but when I do read it I like mysteries, so I thought, why not make a mystery themed bookmark...?



The Little Slueth and his faithful companion Watson are hot on the trail to solve a crime!!

After I coloured and mounted my artwork I took my VersaMark Watermark ink pad and went over my intire image with it. I then took fine, clear embossing powder and heat embossed the whole image. This will protect the artwork from getting ruined--giving it a "plastic" covering. Most stampers know what ink I am talking about but just in case you don't there is a picture of the ink pad below!! It's such a cool product with a lot of different uses!!
Well there you have it!! Thanks for coming by today to check out my site!! Hop over to the High Hopes Challenge Blog for some more cool ideas from the rest of the Design Team. Join in the challenge!! We would love to see what wonderful ideas you can come up with. Enter your bookmark and you could win a free High Hopes Stamp of your own!!

Toodle Loo!!!

Sarah :)

Stamps: High Hopes
Stamped On: Neenah
Ink: Memento--Tuxedo Black, Copic--Black Multiliner
Media:Copic & Prismacolor Markers
Cardstock: Bazzil Papers
DP: Graphic 45--Shutter Speed
Die Cut Letters: Quickutz--Sunshine Font

How To Help Your Kids Study!!

As kids move up into the higher grades in elementary school & high school good independent study habits are crucial for academic success. My daughter Jules has always been a great student but this year she's having to learn how to study more indepently with final exams fast approaching. She had a science test a few weeks ago with definitions galore and she was feeling very overwhelmed!! Together we came up with a solution that not only solved the problem of that particular test but set the pace for her to study for final exams! I only wish I had thought of this idea at the beginning of the school year because she would have had all her study notes already done for her finals. Oh well--there's always next year!!

We decided that flash cards were the way to go--that way my husband & I could test her too. So we had her write out all the info on 3X5 index cards (which is a great form of studying too).

We then went on the hunt for a box to keep them in!! I think recipe boxes, at least around where we live, have gone the way of the dinosaur. We hunted and hunted and finally found some at our local Staples store. They were a little pricy and not that portable. In the same section we found these plastic & portable file card holders that hold about 100-150 cards that were just perfect for this project and they only cost $2.50 Cdn!! So we were set.

I thought I would jazz up the folder a little bit for Jules by adding a title card to identify which set of notes were in the box. The plastic is thin enough for you to see the title card underneath.



Dustin Pike, High Hopes new artist, came up with some really brilliant alien images for their last release and I thought Alien Intrigue would be a perfect image for this project!

So there you have it! Hopefully this helps!! You can use this idea for any subject, especially those ones that have memorization involved. Definitions, formulas, math tables, schematics, etc. they all can be put on these cards!!!

Thanks for dropping by & have a great day!!

Blessings,
Sarah :)

Stamp: High Hopes
Stamped On: Neenah
Inks: Memento--Tuxedo Black & Colorbox Fluid Chalks--French Blue & Lime Pastel
Media: Copic Markers
Cardstock: Bazzil Papers
DP: Scraps from Stash
Die Cut Scallop Circle: Nestabilities
Brads: Doodlebug
Letter Stickers: Provo Craft--Alphabitties (Wedge White)

High Hopes Challenge #70

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!!

Good morning everyone!! This is an exciting day for me because this is my first official design team project for the High Hopes Challenge Blog! I will be a guest designer with the team from April to June which is a tremendous honour for me since High Hopes Stamps are my favourite stamps!!!

Now on to the challenge!! This week design team diva Jeanette has challenged us to make "Anything But A Card!" I racked my brain trying to think of a debut project and I found a really cool tutorial on Splitcoast on how to make nugget boxes. Click here if you are interested in seeing the tutorial.

When I first made my box using the dimensions in the tutorial I ended up with a "nugget box"--I mean it was so small I could have put a sentiment on it or a very small stamp but that really didn't excite me and I am sure it wouldn't have excited you much either. So, I decided to see what would happen if I increased all the measurements by 2X and voila, a box big enough to put a fair sized stamp on and big enough to hold some candy. Being Easter I thought it would make a lovely box for easter eggs.

Here it is...

And the inside & side view...

The stamp I used is called March-ing Hares. The sentiment Egg-stra Special is also from High Hopes and is actually just two lines. It didn't quite fit on the banner so I used my Stampamajig and split the words up to make it fit. I stamped my image on Neenah Paper using Memento--Tuxedo Black Ink. The designer paper from American Crafts--Letterbox Collection is actually two-sided which I thought would be great for the inside of the box. I made the outside cover from the decorative side of the paper and the actual box with the plain side showing. It gave it some constrast on the outside and then left the decorative pattern on the inside as a liner.



I coloured my image with Copics (E33, E35, E50, E53, R00 & R20). The ribbon is from Michael's, Brads from Doodlebug, Pink Flowers are from Bo Bunny & Prima, & the white flower was punched with an EK Success punch. I really enjoyed making this project, especially sampling the eggs as I worked :) Thanks for coming by today to visit!! Check out what the other divine divas made for this challenge and be inspired!!

Have a Happy Easter!!

Blessings,

Sarah :)

High Hopes Challenge #28

Diva Amy has asked us to "think outside the card" for this week's challenge and I wanted to make something I have never tried before. I decided to do a twist on a garden journal by using a lunch box tin instead of an album. As spring is upon us, it is now time for hubby and I to start our annual vegetable garden. This year will mark number 5 for us planting our garden and we're both looking forward to getting out into the fresh air and sunshine.

My plan for the tin is to store by year--the photos I have taken, a blueprint of what I have planted, and a card telling when and what we planted, what kind of yeild we had and what our favourite things were about the planting year. I always think I am going to remember these things from year to year but as they say "a short pencil is better than a long memory."



Here's my tin...

I used a new stamp from the High Hopes April release called "Sweet Dreams". I stamped the image on Strathmore Smooth Bristol 100 lb. paper--which is my favourite paper to use and is quite reasonable to purchase. I used Prismacolor Pencils and mineral spirits to colour the image. The tin is from Provo craft, the ribbons from Michael's, the flowers from Prima and the brad is from my stash. The patterned paper is Providence Greene Street from Scenic Route. My cardstock is Bazzil Swiss Dot.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look! Have a blessed day!

Sarah