LCWC #11

I know I've been MIA for a bunch of days, but after prepping for my 50 Christmas tag class, I feel so drained and have been dragging my butt to do anything crafty so I've been just doing what I need to do and nothing more. But to keep me a little motivated, of course, I had to participate in the weekly challenge. There is a problem with this week's challenge though...I hesitated about posting what I made because lately, I have been a bad girl and have NOT followed instructions! Remember week 9? I was supposed to use buttons! Well this week, we were supposed to make it a Christmas theme...what can I say?? I will make another one tonight and post just so I don't lose the faith of my friends - oh brother!! I promise, I can follow instructions when my brain is working :) Anyway, here's the sketch we had to follow this week (and a lovely sketch I might add!)And here is my non-holiday themed card. I think it was because all I had on my mind was to use this CUTE stamp I got from Little C's that I wasn't able to ink up since it arrived...talk about one track mind eh? Cannot help!! You all forgive me? Sorry Jen, I hope you don't think I've totally lost it...

Anyway, I you would like to play along this week, find out all of the details on Jen's blog - Pieces of Me. Remember, there is a prize for the player who is selected!!
Please visit each of these design divas to see their creations this week using Jen's sketch. Note: they all followed directions - haha!!









I hope to get my mojo back soon. I will be posting the tags we made at the 50 Christmas tag class...Happy Tuesday!

Simple Candy Bar Wrapper

Yesterday, we had our service awards ceremony to honor the employees of our department. I can't believe it's been one year - last year, I was lucky to be the recepient of one of the awards for my 10 years of service and also lucky to be nominated by my co-workers as a nominee for employee of the year. Anyway, for this year, I wanted to give small gifts to my friends who were receiving their awards this year and I decided to give those huge candy bars and either a starbucks or jamba juice giftcard with it. Anyway, here is a mini tutorial on what I did.

Cut cardstock (Pink Pirouette) at 7 1/4" X 9 1/2". Score at 2 1/2", 3", then at 6 3/4", 7 1/4".

For the band. Cut cardstock (Close to cocoa) at 2 1/2" X 10 3/4". Score same as above. I stamped the words Congrats from the Say it with Scallops stamp set in chocolate chip, punched out with the new scallop square punch and mounted it on a a square (chocolate chip) using my marvy mega square punch. I added a tiny rhinestone in the star.


Wrap around candy bar and adhere end.


Wrap band around and adhere.

Here's the close up of the sentiment with the bling.


Finished wrapper.

Happy Wednesday everyone! I'll be finishing my cutting of paper and making the rest of the kits for Saturday's class...if I have time, I'll post some really nice raks I received! Take care!

September update

Hey All... Of course I haven't updated this blog in a long time, I'm so bad at keeping up with any responsibility that isn't drawing... Although I think I'll get a chance to update it much more often now; I deleted my facebook and myspace accounts recently... It kinda hurt, I had a lot of contacts on there and it was great for sending out show invites, but in the end they ate up a lot of time, time that I should spend drawing because I have such a busy schedule coming up...

A lot has happened since my last update, the biggest event being my move from Toronto to Brooklyn... I don't think I'll be here for very long, until the new year I think, but no longer... depending on how I like it, I may move back more permanently, or I may stay in Toronto, I haven't really decided yet...

Also, I have a group show coming up in Oct, Zak, Shawn and I will be displaying what we have done so far with "On the Road of Knives" in the back room of Zaks solo show... did that make any sense? I can't tell, I'm really exhausted and I sorta feel that nothing I write is making sense right now... Um..ok, I'll make everything quick: I also have a fair in October and right now I'm working on an upcoming solo show.

ok, I'll leave you with a few flicks of the book signing at Magic Pony back in August... Thanks to Magic Pony for putting the whole thing together, and to everyone who came out... I was really happy cause I thought no one would show and it would become one of the saddest nights of my life, but luckily that didn't happen...

Next update I'll put up flicks of my little studio in Brooklyn, info about the group show and all that... bye!













The last photo isn't of my book launch at all, its my friends and I on a roller coaster at the fair...

LCWC #10

Here we are at week #10! I just love these weekly challenges because it gets my mind thinking and creating. Of course, I just finished this card Monday night! Everyone who knows me, knows the drill...I work better under pressure! Talk about thriving on stress! Haha! This week's challenge was to make a card that would fit in a #10 size envelope. The card dimensions should be around 4" (mine is 4 1/4") X 9 1/4". Here's what I came up with:

I'm finally getting into the Halloween themes now. I know most of you have 'been there and done that' already, but I'm behind, you know, on Hawaiian time. Here's a closer view of the spider web. I wanted you to see that I put some pretty bling on the web, can you see it? After I embossed the web on the cardstock, I sponged black over it to add color. I added a deeper black color over the area that I placed the spider. I'm getting better in my coloring with copics, but still at the elementary level!

If you would like to play this week, create a card that will fit into a #10 envelope (4" X 9") and post a comment on Jen's blog, Pieces of Me, with your link to your card. She will post it and pick a winner next week!

Meanwhile, get inspired with this week's creations by
Jen
Risa
Jean
Ellie
Maria

Supplies for this week's card:
Stamps: Booglie Eyes (spider), Tasty Sweet (sentiment)
Cardstock: Basic black, Kiwi Kiss, Very Vanilla
DSP: retired SU
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Encore silver,
Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder (Spiderweb - new one!), silver mini brads, Halloween ribbon, crystal stickers (bling).

Have a great day everyone! Thank you for dropping by! Hopefully tomorrow, I will have a cute candy wrapper to show you and a mini tutorial just in case you don't know how to make one!

Want some candy?

My GF Joy who recently started a blog called "A Place to be Me" is giving away her first blog candy!! Yippee! All you gotta do is sign her guest book (she loves making new friends!) and post a comment on what you look for when you visit a blog...easy! hop on over right now to Joy's blog HERE! She will pick a winner on Friday! Be on the watch for her post of what she's giving away too!! Good luck to all!

50 Christmas Tag class!

A new week! Happy Monday!

I had my first 50 Christmas tag class yesterday. The ladies all did super making 50 tags!! I think this was the first time I was proud of my self that I didn't cut those tiny strips and didn't have everyone cut out little images. The only one that the ladies thought was a little challenging was the tag with the bell. I will be posting all of the tags and the complete view of the bucket when the 2nd class is done on Saturday 9/27. Don't want to spoil it for the ladies who are coming, which are mostly my DL gals. I did want to share a pic of the cover of the bucket. This stamp set will be released on October 1st, but demonstrators were able to preorder - for those who know me, know that I have a soft spot for snowmen! When I saw Mr. Twigster (such a cute name!) I knew I had to buy this set!! My sizzix circle die arrived just in time for the class - cut that out in Riding Hood Red and stamped the border with the stamp from Mr. Twigster set in Very Vanilla craft ink. I love the way the border turned out! After stamping and coloring Mr. Twigster, I punched out the circle using the Marvy Giga circle punch and sponged the edge with old olive. This time, I remembered to take pics of the ladies in action, so here they are! You guys knew I would be posting this or did you?? We all had a fabulous time stamping and of course, eating! Pizza and salad was served as well as the brownies! A big Mahalo to the ladies who added a few dishes to my snack table! And BTW, here is the salad dressing recipe for those of you who asked...
1 cup mayonnaise (regular mayo only, fat free does not work!), 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of raspberry vinegar (I bought mine from Safeway). That's it! I used a whisk to blend it.

Judie and Sherry (welcome back Sherry!,so good to see you!)
Pearl and Lisa S. (welcome Lisa!, it's been years!)
Carole (good to see you too!), Linda and Kyoko...glad you were able to make this class!
Becky and Lisa...fab pic girls! Thanks for the extra company after class :)
Kelly, Kristy and Margie...thanks for coming!
Long time I didn't get to post a pic of my little rascal. She took over my table after I "borrowed" her basket to put the supplies in. She was wiped out which is how I feel! haha!
Finally, if you like trying your luck for blog candy, Joy and Jen are giving some away! Check them out! Come back tomorrow for LCWC #10!

Starbook Tutorial - 2008 Version

Happy Aloha Friday! Yay! I made it to the end of the week!

A while back, I did a class on two sizes of starbooks which I got the idea from a WOW swap I participated in on the SU cruise to the Panama Canal. These cute books just amaze me and so, when I saw this version, I knew I just had to make one! The tutorial follows after the photos of the front, and of all of the pages to make this star book.


I started on this tutorial right after I had my monthly class for the gals who purchased the kit from my class and I apologize from the bottom of my heart that it took me soooooo long to complete. (Lynnelle and Kacie). The tutorial was actually half way done, but I just needed to sit down and put it all together (edit photos, add arrows, type up instructions, upload.... you get the idea). So, finally...here it is, the tutorial for the 2008 version of the starbook with dangles.

I adapted the basic pattern from a kit made by Pinecone Press. The cardstock, design paper, stamping and the following instructions are my own take on creating this book and all supplies used are by SU.

Here's a list of what you will need:

10 Sheets of whisper white cardstock 7 1/2" X 10"

10 strips of cardstock cut into 1/2" X 7 1/2”

5 strips of cardstock 2” X 7 1/2" fold in half

5 strips of cardstock 1/2" X 2”) fold in half

10 pieces of designer paper 2 1/2" X 7 1/2"

EyeletsScallop circle punch (SU)

1 1/4" and 1 3/8” circle punches

Thread, scotch tape, paper piercer, coluzzle circle template, cutting foam and blade

Base pages of the book.
Step 1. Fold 5 sheets of white cardstock in half. Add a 1/2" X 7 1/4" strip on each to the two outside edges of the cardstock. Repeat for the other 4 sheets.

Step 2. Attach 2” X 7 1/4" strip to the center of each sheet (on the fold). Repeat for the remaining 4 pages.

Inside pages with circle.
Step 1. Make the following score lines on the remaining five sheets of white cardstock – 2 1/2", 5” and 7 1/2" (using the scor-pal makes it easier).

Step 2. Fold on the scored lines to form a valley, mountain and valley fold.

Step 3. Cut out a circle with the coluzzle circle cutter in the center of each piece (I used the companion circle template and followed the 3rd circle from the outside). Note: if you are using the class kit, I have already cut these circles out for you.

Step 4. Next, roller wheel each of these five pieces. (I used the jumbo wheel So Swirly for the sample). Attach designer paper to each side.

Step 5. Stamp five images and punch out using the 1 1/4” circle punch. Punch out five circles using the 1 3/8” circle punch and punch out five scallop circles. Assemble to create your dangles. Add an eyelet to each dangle. Using sewing thread (this is what I used) loop through the eyelet.

Step 6. To attach a dangle to the page, make a hole with paper piercer on the scored line right above the cut out circle. Insert the thread in the hole (you may want to use a needle threader) and secure the thread with tape.


Step 7. Attach the folded 1/2" X 2” piece to hide the thread and reinforce the area. Repeat this four more times to attach all of the dangles to each cut out page.

Step 8. Add adhesive to cut out page as shown


Step 9. To assemble, butt your cut out page up to the 1/2" cardstock strip on base page on the left side and then the right side. Repeat this step four more times to create five completed pages.

Step 10. Putting it all together. Put adhesive on the back of each book section as shown. Remove tape and adhere the pieces together by placing the front of one to the back of another. Join all five pieces together like a book.

Step 11. Front and back covers. Place a length of ribbon on front and back of the book


Step 12. Attach front and back covers to the front and back of the book covering the ribbon. Decorate as desired.

You can create a star shaped book by tying the book open.

What do you do with this you're thinking...add photos to it! Of course, I still have yet to add photos in my book! Hope this wasn't too complicated to understand. It looks more complicated than it really is. Please feel free to call me or email me with any questions you may have on making this star book. I'd love to see what you come up with if you decide to give it a try! Post a comment and send me the link...I will post your project here!