A quick card collection - Bookshelves Blog Hop

It's the 27th, which means it's time for the latest Club Scrap Blog Hop featuring the March kit - Bookshelves. I hope you enjoyed the previous stop on this hop - Ink Stains with Roni.  I saw her sneak peeks, and it's a lovely project.

I made this lovely card collection for this months project.

I am in desperate need of some cards, and have had no time to make any lately due to the ice show this weekend (yes, I skated in it!).  So, I pulled out my trusty Club Scrap idea deck, and got to work on a card collection.

One of my favorite things to do is to pull out a card formula from my idea deck (five of diamonds here) and double it.  This formula called for two pieces of paper, and makes four cards.  Each card would then just have two colors that alternate.  By doubling the paper, you can mix and match more pieces.  Here are my four pieces that I selected.  I love to use patterned paper - it gives every card a bit of pizzazz with very little work from you.

I start by cutting all of the pieces and separating into piles.  These are my scraps - wow!  I love when I have no scraps.  Hey.... That larger piece looks stampable - it's not a scrap!

I then start to arrange the pieces to see what I might like to see together.  Although everything coordinates, some combinations just appeal to me more than others.  This is my modified assembly using the "scrap" on my card.

I pulled out my stamps and stamped all of the panels.  Sometimes, when I find a pattern I like, I just keep doing it.  No need to reinvent the wheel, and these sympathy cards won't end up in the same family, so nobody will know my little trick. I do a lot of color testing and stamp testing on my paper blotter.

On these cards, honestly, I was too lazy to get my cutter out to trim the larger panel, so I tore it.  I like the look, but it was born out of laziness!

You can see that I'm addicted to bows and ribbon.  I have a ribbon hanger in the hallway, and like to search to see if there are any scraps I can use when I'm making cards.

On this one, I used a border punch and dimensional paint to create an interesting edge.

This formula makes these wonderful z-cards that were a bit tricky to photograph.  I stamped on one edge (hidden here) with a border stamp to give it a bit of texture.  The inside has a greeting, too.  I like to put sentiments inside my sympathy cards so I don't have to write too much.  The words are never easy then.

All of my stamps are from Club Scrap, but are sadly not available any more.  All paper is from the Bookshelves Club Scrap Lite kit.  Ribbon is from my stash - I can't remember where for all of it!

Thanks for visiting me today on the blog hop!  Do you have any tips for using the card idea formulas in your card making?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Our next stop on the hop is Deb Duz Scrappin' - she's a great crafter and I can't wait to check out what she has in store for us this month! If you missed any of the blog posts, check out Club Scrap Creates for a complete list.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A few cards featuring some of my favorite irish quotes.

These cards were inspired by a design from Stamp TV.  Instead of buttons, I used button dazzles - less bulk, and they add a nice bit of shine.

All materials and stamps are from Club Scrap.

May the luck of the Irish be with you today (and always!).

All Things Paper - the book

I've got a big secret to tell today!  Ann Martin, the lovely lady who runs the All Things Paper blog, is publishing a book to be released on May 28, 2013.  Here is a sneak peek at the cover:

Even better - I'm one of the amazing artists who contributed one of the 20 projects!

How can you support the book and the fabulous artists in it?  I'm glad you asked!

1. Pre-order the book on Amazon.com - my preferred way to buy almost anything. It's only $10, and you'll get instructions and all the details on 20 amazing projects (including mine).  Your pre-orders will help more people see the book!
2. Like the All Things Paper page on facebook to follow the newest updates on the book direct from Ann.
3. Check out the All Things Paper blog - Ann features some amazing artwork, including me on occasion.

I had a lot of fun making my project. I can't share it with you now, but it features some new techniques in stamping and collage combined with my love of bookmaking.  You won't find the details for this project anywhere else.

I hope you'll check it out, and as we get closer to release date, I'll be sharing more details about all of the artists and projects in the book.

Up, Up and Away - A Club Scrap Blog Hop

It's been a long time since I organized what I think was the last unofficial blog hop in 2011 (was it really that long ago? - wow!).  Hetty has graciously stepped up to organize us once again with Club Scraps help, and I'm happy to participate!  This month, we're all featuring projects using the newest Club Scrap collection, Up, Up & Away.

Many of my paper creations solve a problem, and this is no exception. Paul and I have started figure skating, and there are tests that are printed up in a lovely spiral softcover book.

I'd like to keep this in my skating bag, but I'm worried that it will get a bit rough over time.  I remembered that the quick jot journal from Club Scrap had a lovely wrapper for a book, and I've adapted that before for a different spiral book, so I decided to use that design for this book.

I started by making a pocket (see my tutorial) out of some scrap paper and making sure it was the right size.  Because of the size of the book, the back of the pocket is only a partial back, so I wanted to make sure that everything slid nicely and fit before I did it for real.

Then, I made a prototype of the book using papers from the Bistro kit.  I used an elastic closure (see my tutorial) to keep the book neat and tidy.

I like this prototype (the Steppin' Out stamp makes such a cool background, although I did a bit of double stamping by accident on the front!), but the spine is a bit too large, making the overall book a little "floppy."

Finally, I made my real book with Up, Up, and Away paper.  The blue ribbon is a bookmark so I can mark my place when I'd like to.  I was inspired by Lisa to mix and match my kits.  The red paper is from the Study in Red collection (I wanted to use a cardstock rather than the text weight red in the kit), and the stamps are from Stratosphere.  It's a little tough to see in the photo, but I used versamark ink to stamp the swirly pattern all over the red paper. I really like how they pair.

The spine is nice and snug now and the book opens so nicely.  I used the bright blue paper from Up, Up, and Away for the pocket and inside cover, although you only see a peek of it in these photos.

I hope you enjoy all of the inspiration from the rest of the Club Scrap bloggers this month.  I hope to see you next month for another installment.  Come back next week for a very exciting announcement!  I've been keeping a secret for a while now....

The exciting news for this week is that I passed two figure skating tests this weekend for the Dutch Waltz and Canasta Tango. It was a fabulous experience!

Visit Deb Weller at Deb Duz Scrappin' for the next blog in our hop, and here is a list of everyone who is participating.  It's going to be a fun day!

Club Scrap Creates starts us off at http://clubscrapcreates.blogspot.com

Pat Huntoon at http://www.patstamps.blogspot.com 

Julie Heyer at www.capecodscrapper.blogspot.com  

Ron Perry at http://randomdoorways.blogspot.com 

Roni Johnson at http://inkstainswithroni.blogspot.com 

Deb Charlesworth at http://liftbridge.blogspot.com/ 

Deb Weller at http://debduzscrappin.blogspot.com/ 

Jill Pechauer at http://jmp1022.blogspot.com/ 

Tricia Morris at http://theefficientcrafter.blogspot.com   

Hetty Sanders at http://craftchaos.blogspot.com 

Kay Williamson at http://kayskeepsakes.blogspot.com 

Cathy Gray at http://cathyjgray.typepad.com/the_artful_gamut/ 

Anne Marie Healey at http://artfullybalanced.blogspot.com 

Anne Hunter at http://crzymomstidbits.blogspot.com/ 

Shona Gibson at shonascraps.blogspot.com

Spark your mojo - make a card for someone you love

Even when I'm not feeling very crafty, thinking about my sweetie sparks me to make something special just for him.

I like to try and use new things for him, especially since he sees a lot of what I buy.  This Christmas card uses a new stamp that hadn't seen ink yet (Snow Buddies from Crafter's Companion), and little jingle bells from Stampin' Up!

I usually use a lot of paper on Paul's cards, since I'm not trying to mail the card or make the card meet a price point to sell.  It's fun to see how much paper I can use!  This one mainly uses paper from the Academy kit, green paper from Retro, and various love themed stamps (no longer available - My Funny Valentine, and a special release from Stampin' Up!) on the tan paper.

Paul always takes his turn making cards, too.  I just love how this looks like a stained glass window, and celebrates our recent trip to Disney.

This week for Valentines' day, I had an idea while watching the Paperwishes video show - since he's my sweetie, how about a sweet cupcake as an image?  This cupcake is a Dazzles Mix 'Em Cupcake - mix and match the shiny pieces to make your own unique cupcake.  Add a paper doily, some heart banners (still trendy!), and again lots of layers, for some Valentine's fun.  There are lots of pearls on the inside - I can use as many as I like since it won't be mailed!

Paul did another quilled masterpiece for me, as well.

So, spark your creativity this week by making a card for someone you love!  And, check out our other cards to each other here:

• Anniversary 2012
• Christmas 2011
• My Christmas card for Paul in 2010 - a tag tutorial
• Anniversary cards in 2010
• Anniversary cards in 2009