Valentine Star Mini Album

This is the Valentine I made for my Sweetie. He probably won't totally appreciate all the effort(he is not much into my stamping...but he will display it and maybe even show it off at work ?...

Do you know how hard it is to get pearls to stick to velvet(or velvet to stick to anything)? Almost impossible...after trying tape gun, glue, glue dots and crystal effects I was ready to give up...but I finally made Crystal Effects(SU!) work, it just took lots of patience! This black velvet ribbon is just so pretty, it was well worth the effort.

I used my nesties to cut the classic and scallop heart shapes and my cuttlebug folders to make designer texture. I googled "star album" to learn how to make a star album and went from there.

This is what it looks like opened.

A close up of one of the pages so maybe you can see how it is put together. If anyone is interested in seeing how this is made/put together, just let me know and I can put together some instructions for you.

Page 1... my valentine


Page 2.... I love you the most

Page 3... all you need is love

Page 4... there's only one you


Page 5... the best is yet to be

ETA:
I will be posting a picture tutorial of this album in April 2009. Hopefully around April 4th.


Edited: You can find a tutorial that I posted to this album HERE!

Stamps: All sentiments by Stampin Up! Painted Posies(maybe a past celebration set?) and Love Matters...both are retired I think. Everyday Flexible Phrases (my Valentine-first page)

Cardstock: Real Red, GP white, Basic Black and Brushed Silver (all SU! except the white)

Ink: Memento black (heat set so it won't smear on the silver)

Misc: 3 cuttlebug folders ---swiss dots (white), swirls (red)and the one that looks like woodgrain or house siding LOL(black)

Classic and Scalloped Nestabilities, Misc embellishments, crystals from $1 spot at Michaels, closure clasp is SU!, silver heart clip is from the Paper Studio, black velvet ribbon is made by Dashes, Dots and Checks that I bought it at Michaels, white pearls by Kaiserscrapbook, misc heart brads.

Valentine Mini Album sneak peek!

I wanted to share this sneak peek of the mini album I was talking about over a month ago! It is so pretty but there is a lot of editing and pics to go with this post. Hope to have it posted no later than Sunday...and maybe tonight if I can.

After that...stayed tuned for a special From Courtney's Closet Challenge on Wednesday! Now is the time to join in and make this a special Inspiration Challenge for little Courtney!

And then I will post #2 and @3 of my stair step cards...oh I so love making those darn things...I love making mini little scenes. Now I have to part with them and stick them in the mail to complete my swap!

And then it is time to start playing with my new Bind It All that I got from Ellen Hutson's store....so much to do and so little time!

From Courtney's Closet Challenge-Love Bug

My...where has this week gone? I almost ran out of time to make a card for this week's From Courtney's Closet Challenge. This is about as close as I could find to Magenta Libby! This is the retired Purely Pomegranate paper from Stampin Up.

I used a sketch designed by Stephanie for Taylored Expression's sketch challenge (TECC52SH). You can see Stephanie's sketch here.

Be sure to visit Taylor's blog here and see all of her fun sketch challenges going on for the one year anniversary of her Cupcake sketch challenges!

Stamps: Studio G dollar stamp from Michaels- Love Bug

Cardstock: Pomegranate, Certainly Celery, SU! DP

Ink: Mememto Black, image colored with Prisma's/OMS

Misc: Misc ribbon, paper piercer, Martha Stewart border punch, nestabilities

Card Size: A2

Snow Angel Stairstep card #1

I love making these stairstep cards. I joined a swap on my Yahoo stamping group and I have to make 3 cards. This is card # 1.

I woke up Sunday morning to this wonderful snow surprise and felt inspired to get out this set to commemorate our snow storm! Although this stamp set is retired, it is still one of my favorites!

I stamped the set of mittens in a line to use as a border. The images are colored with SU! markers and highlighted with my Sakura glitter pen...wish you could see all the glitter on this card!

I am putting the finishing touches on a cute Penny Black stairstep card and have a Gruffie stairstep floating around in my head (somewhere LOL). Stayed tuned.

To make a stairstep card, cut your carstock 5 x 10 1/2 inches and score at 1 1/4, 2 1/2, 4 1/4, 6, and 8 1/4.

Stamps: Snow Angels (SU! retired)

Cardstock: Real Red and Brilliant Blue, DP is DCWV

Ink: Mememto Black, SU! markers

Misc: Snowflake punches from Marvy and Emaginations, Bling clear dots from Hero Arts

Card Size: Standard A2

Thank You Jenny Gropp!

I received this beautiful RAK from Jenny Gropp. She is an amazing stamper and a nice lady too...a wonder with layouts, DP and embellishments. Go visit her blog, One Krafty Kat, and make sure to leave her a comment so she knows you were there! (don't miss Maude and her House Mouse cards)

When you look at Jenny's creations, you just keep seeing all these fun little details she puts into her cards. I love the little gold blings on the corners of this card. She also incorporated some shiney gold papers/stickers on one of the SEVEN layers of this card.

Thanks Jenny!

RAK's and Swaps I have Received!

I received this stair step card from Judy Parlin. Our Yahoo group had a stairstep card swap!

Looky, Judy sent me two!

Barb Nesta made me this calender card for my birthday! You can find a tutorial by Nancy Morgan here.


I received this Valentine surprise RAK from Linda Hanson. She and I go way back to the House Mouse Yahoo group. You can't tell from this picture, but the pink cardstock is all glitter! Linda also send me some images as well as one of the fun frames she used to make this card...thanks Linda!

A Christmas thank you card from Charla. I love these guys! Stampin Up! set Holiday Lineup with background design made with her Scorepal.

Another card by Barb Nesta. Stampin Up! set Happy Harmony.

Sending You My Love, Charlie Brown

I made this card over a month ago...and just got around to finishing it up. You all know how much I love the Peanuts Gang! I had made this as a dimensional card with Charlie up on pop dots(what a wild guy!) and also the mail box and flag. Fun to see IRL. (in real life). The sentiment is also on dimensionals. The inside was finished off with a trail of glittery little red and pink hearts.

One of my new toys that I used on this card is the new Versa Mark Dazzle Frost ink pad. You can't tell in this picture, but the light pink cardstock is stamped with little heart dazzles! It has this very pretty and subtle shimmer. I bought mine from Ellen Hutson's store here. There is also a Champagne color that is so pretty. Ellen made this card using the Champagne ink pad.


I spent last night finishing up a couple projects I started over a month ago...I can't wait to show you the Valentine mini album I put the finishing touches on. I need to take a picture of it during the day...too awkward to photograph in my little light tent, so you will have to be patient! Watch for it hopefully this weekend.

I also have received some very pretty RAK's that I plan to share!

Here's the scoop on this card.

Stamps: l1053 Mail Time by Stampabilities, Circle of Friendship from SU!

Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Real Red, misc DP

Ink: Real Red, Black, Frost Dazzle inkpad, image colored with prisma's and copics

Misc: Nesties, little heart punch, dimensionals, circle punches, SU! mat pack for the paper piercing on the corners.

Card size: 5 1/2 x 5 1/2

Courtney's Challenge is back! It's a zoo...miss you.

From Courtney's Closet Challenge is back!...Actually it was back last week, but I missed it! I don't know how that happened, but by golly I was not going to miss this week. After about 500 million tries at this card, this is what I finally came up with. As Libby probably doesn't know...I like animal prints about as much as I like ORANGE! So what did I do???...yeperoonie...I put the two together in this card.

No stamping, just a couple cuttlebug animals and a computer generated sentiment. I did stamp "miss you..." on the inside.

I made this card for my former coworker and good friend Janet (aka Jane Brain). She used to work in our office and was our humor and sunlight girl. Due to the economic recession...our department was recently downsized and now Jane is looking for a new job. We miss her terribly as she always made us laugh with her crazy views on life situations (besides keeping us all organized!)

Note to Libby: I would have rather started with the cute little bunnies LOL! And looky how baby girl is growing!

"Hanks" for everything.

Okay, here is the finished card I made from the ATC I posted here. Since this is a thank you card to Erin, it is fitting that I used the new Martha border punch little Cole so thoughtfully shopped for and gave to Gwamma for Christmas. This punch is a little tricky to line up, but after much practice...I think I got it LOL! This is a 5 x 5 inch card. I layered the ATC on Barely Banana cardstock and added some blue Bohemia DP and some very glittery ribbon I bought several years ago at Target. The stamp info is posted under the ATC.

House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge

The Challenge on the House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge is to make an ATC card. This is the one I chose to make...planning on putting it on a larger card to finish it out.

I know that the sentiment says "Hanks"! That is kid speak around my house for thanks. That it how my son used to say thanks when he was little...another one of those funny little sayings that has stuck with me all these years! I made this ATC to go on a card to send to my daughter as a "hank-you" for the new tennis shoes she bought for me.

Sorry to make this short, I am out the door to go see a movie...I will post finished card later!

Stamps: Big Foot a house mouse stamp by Stampabilities. sentiment from Flexible Phrases SU!

Cardstock: Choc Chip and Bohemia DP

Ink: Choc Chip

Misc: Punch, sewing machine

Penny Black Baby Girl Waterfall Mini Album

My first Waterfall Mini Album! (Stamp: Penny Black 2073J Baby Hammock) colored with prisma's and H20's. I haven't gotten my H20'se out in a while and they added such a nice shimmer! Cardstock is Pretty in Pink and Rose Romance (?)from SU!

I made two of these darling little girl mini photo albums for two special new little baby girls. One is for my little grand niece Ava...an overdue baby gift. Although her mama doesn't craft, I am sure if she lived close by, I would have her stampin and a scrappin in no time!

I bought this video tutorial from Jana at 2 Worlds. I can usually look at a project and figure out a close CASE...but coming off the holidays, my brain just could not handle this one...and it looked like so much fun! I finally found Jans's blog after a google search...I am a pretty visual person, so the video helped me out alot! Thanks Jana! You can find the scoop on her video on the right hand side of her blog.

Below are some pics of the inside pages. I went with a monochromatic pink theme on the inside and kept it fairly simple. I didn't get pics of all the pages, but most of them. This little book is hard to photograph as it really is meant to be flat on the table, not standing up!

You can see the little cuttlebugged white tab on the right side of the album...just pull that and the pages will flip over...lots of fun! It works just the same as the waterfull cards you might have made before, this is just a larger version, with the album cover measuring 4 1/2 inches tall. I think I might try messing around with the measurements and make a 6 x6 album.

I used whatever baby stamps I found to embellish the pages...one page for journaling and one page for a picture.

Retired SU! Baby's Firsts

Marvy Mega Flower punch with a cute little button brad.

Heart shaped nestabilities and You stole my heart sentiment from Stampabilities.

Penny Black Zoophabet Letter "A" and oval nestabilities. Misc DP

Photo Wallet Brag Book

This fun little photo wallet brag book was featured on a blog named live.life.create.art . You can see Jen's version here. I had such a great time making this I decided to make a few more so baby Cole can send them out as Christmas thank you notes...what's better than pictures and a little journaling of your grandbaby?

Picture #1 shows the little wallet folded up...it is about the size of a credit card.

Picture #2 shows the book band off and the album folded out.

Picture #3 shows all little pages opened up and ready for pictures and journaling to be added.

Working dimensions.

Cut as follows:

1 piece @ 4 x 11 scored at 1- 3/4, 2,5, and 8 inches

3 pieces @ 7 -1/2 x 2 -3/4 scored at the half way mark of 3- 3/4 inch

Designer paper (whichever section you decide to put it) would be
3- 1/2 x 2 - 1/2 . I used three inside and three for the top pieces should you decide you want to put DP there.

Belly band: 1 x 8 (plus misc paper to decorate outside of album).

I would suggest that you glue your pages in alternating positions on the album spine so you can then add your DP in the correct positions. (I learned this the hard way LOL) It is easy to get the little pages mixed up.


I love making little mini albums and have also been working on a couple of pink little girl waterfall mini albums this weekend. They are almost done and I hope to get them posted this weekend or Monday at the latest. Make sure to stop back by to see these fun little albums!

Stamps: The santa hat is from the SU! sock monkey set, Journaling Block from Apple Blossum

Cardstock: Real Red, Certainly Celery, DCWV glitter Christmas paper, shimmer white

Ink: Certainly Celery, Black

Misc: retired SU! snowman punch, snowflake punch, circle punches, sizzix alphabet

Snoopy Mail!

I made another Peanuts/Snoopy card...I guess this is my Snoopy phase LOL! I used Mary Jo's Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge #51 here. This sketch made for an easy and quick card. I did try to keep it simple and not layer anything...but I just couldn't help it!

Stamps: Snoopy Mail by Stampabilities, Sentiment-Just a little note...(Ko28)by Stampendous

Cardstock: SU! Pink, brushed silver cardstock, GP white

Ink: Mememto black.

Misc: oval nesties, brushed silver brad, 3/4 and 1/2 inch SU! punches

Charlie Brown's GOoFy StUfF

We are still stuck in the cold and snow here in Oregon so I had to use this stamp! I must be stuck on Peanuts and the Gang this week! I got a couple of new Stampin Up sentiment sets I wanted to use also.

This is a pretty straight forward card, nothing fancy to describe so I will just list the products I used.

Stamps: Snow Fun GR1108 by Stampabilities purchased from RK Stamps (listed under my favorite places to shop) sentiment by what it's ALL about by Stampin Up!

Cardstock: SU! Bashful Blue, Real Red

Ink: SU! pastels for the sky, copics (all three of them!) and prisma pencils for red jacket.

Misc: Nestability label set, Bo Bunny ribbon, Emagination snowflake punch,Snowflake Cuttlebug embossing folder, fine glitter for the snow, inkssentials white pen, misc brad.

Snoopy Celebrates 2009!

This is one of the first detailed cards I have made in a couple months...boy was it tough! My stamping brain is not in gear yet...but I am working on it! I started out with a whole different plan for these two images...and ended up pulling out my Martha punch and my Sizzix confetti die.

The only coloring on these images is a little prisma pencil coloring over the sentiment and the grass under Snoopy.

I glued little pieces of confetti all over this DCWV green cardstock(inside the card also). My Sakura Quickie Glue pen came in handy for that!

This card is my 2009 hope for you all...a happy and healthy year! I hope we can all be as happy as this little beagle in his "dance of joy"! This card was inspired by the motivational message on Gina K's blog posting... see her card here.


Inside of card...I was on a mission to use my confetti die...something I have had for YEARS!

Stamps: Dance of Joy by Stampabilities A408C, Count your Rainbows by Inkadinkado

Cardstock: DCWV green for base of the card, S.E.I. DP, SU! Purely Pomegranate, Bashful Blue, Choc Chip

Ink: Memento Black, Prisma's

Misc: SU! ribbon, nesties, Sizzix confetti die, Martha border punch

Card Size: 5-1/2 x 5-1/2