Joann's Memorial Day Sale #2

Let me tell you how screwed up I am... I DON'T NEED PATTERNED PAPER! But, I went to Joann's today to check out the box of K&Company patterned paper they have on sale for $19.99 for their Memorial Day sale. Well, guess what? They never got any of that paper. And, you think that's a sign that I definitally don't need it. Yay, I'm off the hook, right? Nooooooo.... not me! I asked if they could special order it for me. No, they can't because they have to have the number (WHICH IS STUPID--THEY SHOULD HAVE THE NUMBER SINCE IT'S IN THEIR SALE FLYER AS BEING ON SALE). So the sales lady very flippantly told me to "just" order it online. I told her the reason I didn't want to "just" order it online is because I didn't want to pay for the shipping. And she said, they have coupons for free shipping. And I said yeah, for $50 or more. Absolutely NO help at all (what's new???--their customer service is ALMOST as bad as Michael's, but not quite).

So... you may ask yourself: WHY does she continually shop at Joann's if they suck so much? Well... I ask myself that, too, and the answer is because I LOVE A GOOD SALE, and as long as I don't have to ask for help, I'm fine shopping there.

But... it gets worse; guess what I did when I got home? I fired up the computer and ordered a not one but TWO boxes of that paper plus two 8x8 pet-related paper packs to make it to $50 so I could get free shipping.

I am REALLY nutty in the head (but, I LOVE getting packages so this will be fun to get!).

My New Swap Partner!

Yesterday, feelix assigned swap partners for the De-Stash swap I'm in. I was soooo upset because my partner asked for a doll blanket or stuffie for her 2-year-old, a reusable grocery bag, polyclay stitch markers or resin jewlery! OH NO! I can't make ANY of those things for her!

I PM'd her last night and told her I was destashing paper, and I can make her handmade cards. Fortunately, she's "quite pleased" with this because she sends her grandmother cards/letters all the time. Oh, YAY! I was really nervous.

I've already made a few cards I know I can send to her, but I'll make her a few more. I think 10 is probably a good number to send plus some mini cards.

Poetic Artistry Sketches

Yesterday, I found a set of card sketches by Poetic Artistry called "Mojo Monday" sketches. I played around with them some yesterday. I'm really impressed with the cards people make from sketches, but I'm just not that good at it. My results end up looking cluttered and/or cram-packed on the card.


This first card is almost exactly like the sketch. I think (in the sketch) the little square is more in the center on the right side of the bigger square, but I felt it took up too much space there so I moved it up. Except for the card base and ribbon, this is all scrap materials. I embossed the numbers with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, and I laser-cut the "Make a Wish" and scallop.



The first card in the photo below is also from one of the sketches. I used my new K&Company patterned paper, an Offray brown polka-dot ribbon and more recycled cardboard. The bird stamp is K&Company and the "Hello" stamp is Studio G.


The second card is my own design (though with all the sketches floating around out there, I'm POSITIVE there's one that looks like this, and someone will be PO'd that I stole their idea when I certainly didn't!). Again, this is a K&Company stamp and patterned paper. I love using recycled cardboard now!



I will probably use all three of these cards for the De-Stash Swap I signed up for on Craftster.org.

Cardboard Card

I made the little cutie below out of the cardboard I recycled from my new Mary Engelbriet calendar. The piece of cardboard behind it is from a fat quarter I got at Joann's. The dove is a K&Company stamp that I embossed white. Also, the cardstock is from PaperAccents. It's recycled, too.

I submitted this card for publication consideration in the June 2009 issue of Cards magazine. The call is for "stamping" and "birds," and this card fits either category.

Little Squares Mini Cards

Who's getting sick of my cards!? Sorry, not me! I'm having a ball cranking out mini cards. Here's another set that's going to my mom. They're blank inside so she can use them for anything (well... at least I hope she likes them well enough to use them).

These are truly scrap cards. I used up the last tiny little bits of K&Company paper for the little squares. Even the bases are left over art paper I had from some project I made eons ago. The eyelets are also K&Company.

More thank you mini cards

Mom told me she needs to send some thank you cards out. I told her I'd make her a batch of them, if she doesn't mind mini cards. Mini cards are the PERFECT way to use up all the scraps of cardstock that I've accumulated. Here are the cards I've made for her so far:

Most of this paper is from K&Company, the cardstock is Paper Accents, the ribbon is Offray, the "Many Thanks" stamp is Studio G and the rhinestones are Darice.

The picture is kind of dark because I got up WAY early, and was in the shop at 5:00 in the morning.

Owl Birthday Cards

Here are some more masculine-looking birthday cards that I made yesterday. The owl is a stamp from Sassafrasslass. I think these little guys are WAY cute!


Also, the cardstock is PaperAccents and the eyelet is K&Company.

2009 Birthday Cards

This morning, I made a nice little stash of birthday cards for 2009 birthdays. Everybody's getting the same card this year! The cards are cute. I just hope the ribbon isn't too girly-ish for a male card. Well... I may make another set without the ribbon, just because I'm not sure. Anyway, it's a tag card with a silver eyelet through the top. I pop dotted the "Make a Wish" off the card for extra dimension. Here they are:

The cardstock is PaperAccents and Folia Papers, the eyelet is K&Company, the ribbon is Offray.

Buy-Buy!!!

I ordered two really cute clear stamps sets from Oriental Trading Company. They arrived today:

The first set is called "Build-a-Cake" and has all kinds of cakes and icings and cupcakes. That should be fun. The second set is a baby set that I thought was too cute to pass up. I love the little faces.

This is really hard to see in the picture below, but instead of a "Bye-Bye" stamp, my set says "Buy-Buy"! Ha! Ha! I got a big charge out of that! I called up ol' Orential Trading Company to let them know mine is WRONG. I don't want to return it because I think it's such a cute set, and that's only one tiny little stamp. However, they probably should know they're selling defective sets. The rep. looked it up on the internet, and it says "Bye-Bye" on the internet (and I just checked and it DOES say the right thing on the internet picture)! However, because I had a problem with it, she issued me a $20 coupon to be used sometime within the next year.

Now I need to figure out what I can use a "Buy-Buy" stamp for--surely there's SOMETHING!

I'm drowning in paper!

I'm sick in the head. I bought more paper yesterday at Michael's. I couldn't resist because #1. it's so pretty and #2. it was on sale. I bought two sets. One is French country-looking and the other is Modern/Contemporary.

Bookmark Tutorial

Ibisisis on Craftster.org asked for a bookmark tutorial. I don't know of any so I thought I'd post my own. These are very easy to make, but they look nice. Here goes:

1. What you need for these bookmarks:

• 1 piece of cardboard 1.5 x 6"
• 1 piece of paper 2.0 x 6.5" (the sky's the limit on what kind of paper. Recycled magazines or calendars are cool as is a plain old newspaper; I'm using handmade paper in the example below. You can also use fabric--see the last photo for an example)
• 1 piece of paper 1.25 x 5.75
• White glue (I love Aleene's Tacky Glue, but any kind will work)
• Foam brush
• A hole punch
• Pretty ribbons or fibers (not shown)
• Eyelet (optional)

2. Cover one side of the cardboard with a layer of white glue:

3. Lay the glue side down on the larger piece of paper, trim out the corners like this (I forgot to photograph this step so I used a scrap piece of paper to demonstrate):


4. Cover the opposite side of the cardboard with white glue and fold the edges of the paper up to the top:

5. Next, place the smaller piece of paper on the glue-covered cardboard:

You can see I went a little wild with the white glue, however, Aleene's Tacky Glue dries clear so it won't be noticeable when it dries.


6. Punch a hole at the top. Add an eyelet if you want:



7. Tie fibers and ribbon through the hole, and you're finished!


Below are some bookmarks I made this morning. The orange one is some cool batik fabric.

First De-stashing project: mini cards

Yesterday, I worked some on de-stashing my scrap paper. This is what I came up with:



I made mini cards! Very, very cute. My goal was to use as little new cardstock as possible and not create any more scraps. The "many thanks" cards above are different sizes because I used up an entire 12x12 sheet of cardstock to make all 5 cards. If I'd been smart, I would have measured better so they were a consistent size! The good part is, though, that I had no waste at all! I need these cards for all the beautiful gifts we've received from our friends.

The mini cards below are just random scraps I had. Again, I didn't make any new scraps when I made those cards! Good for me!

Garage Shop

I've joined a "De-stash-a-long 2009" craft-a-long on Craftster! I hope that sharing my paper crafting addiction will prompt me to use up more of my stash of cardstock, patterned paper, vellum, transparency film, handmade paper, rhinestones, ribbon, eyelets, brads, beads, rubber stamps, glitter, buttons, punches, stickers, wire, flowers, embellishments, paint, etc., etc!

My first goal is to make a huge dent in the amount of scrap cardstock that I keep accumulating. I just can't throw away any scrap cardstock, no matter how small a piece it is. I keep telling myself: "I might be able to use that on someting else" and so I save every little scrap! Not good!

Second goal is to figure out how to use up all that patterened paper I have. I'm just not good at using that, but I keep buying and hoardng it (along with all the other supplies I have). The good news about hoarding is that I don't buy ANYTHING unless it's on sale, and then I buy it even if I don't need it (thus the addiction!).

Anyway, here's a photo of my garage shop that's LOADED with paper crafting stuff. I'm totally cringing as I post this!