Off to the Scrapbook Event!

Today I'm on my way to scrap with my Mom, sister and best peep Sue. 

This is the big event I've mentioned in previous POSTS.

Here's a pic of us from last year....The Scrappin' Queens! 

Resplendant in our pink tees, sparkly tiaras and earrings

and ready to get some serious scrapping done.

I may be away from the studio, but never fear, I've worked ahead

and have a great weekend planned for all of you here on the blog!

Tomorrow, Saturday October 1st, is World Card Making Day 2011!

 Celebrating its sixth year in 2011, World Card Making Day is celebrated annually on the first Saturday in October. It's a day for the card-making community to unite and celebrate the connection and creativity that is the heart of card making

.

To celebrate WCMD, I will be participating in the

Card A Day Christmas Blog Hop.

The Hop is a two day event--Saturday and Sunday. 

I will have a new SVG freebie for you and a card sample using it each day.

Plus there will be lots of blog candy and to top it all off,

a big sale on all my SVG files and other digital goodies!

Be sure to pop back tomorrow and join in on the fun!

Just Two More Days...

Big Happenings Here This Weekend!

(catch a sneak peak tomorrow)

Crazy eBay Bidders

One of my Yahoo groups just posted a link to an eBay listing for Sure Cuts A Lot 2. 

Believe it or not, it sold for $573.99 with 41 bids!  Unbelievable!! 

See it HERE.

Just goes to show you  SCAL is such a great program 

people are willling to spend almost 10 times more than it's value to acquire it!

But I'm going to give you, my blog buddies, a buying tip and save you up to $294!!!

FORGET BAY AUCTIONS! 

You can buy a brand new SCAL compatible cutter

 and SCAL3 for much less than this!

I just went over to Craft Edge (maker of SCAL) ,

and they are offering these packages:

eCraft Electronic Cutter and SCAL3.......$279.99

Pazzles Electronic Cutter and SCAL3.....$424.99

Check it them out HERE.

And with all the money you've saved,

you can pick up a few of my SVG sets I offer for sale!  <G>

SVG: Pumpkin #1 and Pumpkin Winner

Today I'm kicking off the newest set of freebies....Jack Pumpkins!

EDIT:

Halloween files may now be found at my Etsy store:

TheCreativePointe

Now onto the winner of the painted  lightbulb pumpkin. 

This friendly Jack will be heading out to

Commenter #1...TeenaBugg38

who said...

Oh gosh.CUTE!!!!!!!!! I would love to give him a good home!! Thak you so much for a chance to win, I had never seen bulbs painted like that....such a creative idea that I gotta try!!! Like I don't hoard enough junk as it is.....lol

True Random Number Generator Min: Max:   Result: 1

So Tina, please email me your address and I will get Jack on his way to you.

Thanks everyone for playing!

Last Chance to Give a Pumpkin a Home!

This little Jack is waiting to go to a good home!

Last chance to win him.  Click HERE to leave a comment.

I'll be selecting a winning comment tomorrow (Sunday) and will also kick off the first of four Halloween Jack Pumpkin SVG freebies.

Inspiration Card Class "Homework"

I've been taking the online "Inspiration Card Class" with Jennifer McGuire and loving all the great techniques I've learned.  I've never taken an online class before and it's been great.  Plus, I have access to all the technique videos and pdfs forever. 

Today was the last day of class and I have only half of the project finished.  I did change it up a bit.  Jennifer has all her samples done with hearts and then mounted to a canvas.  As most of my studio wall space is hung with bulldog art, I thought I'd steal an idea from Jean (on the OWSE yahoo group) and put my samples on tags. 

Above are the samples that are shown on the first row of Jennifer's canvas. 

All great Resist Techniques.

On the back I put a brief summary of the technique for quick reference. 

I'll put all the tags on a ring(s) and that should make it really easy

to pull them out and get inspiration!

Here are the tags for the second row of the canvas:

Samples of the third row are done and on the tags. 

Just have to type up the directions.

Hopefully I'll be able to share those and the rest of the samples soon!



Sharing: "Gal Pals" Hanging

Today I'm sharing a new piece of artwork.  It started with a blank coaster.  I thought the image of the fun loving ladies would be perfect on it.  I inked the coaster blue and fussy cut out the image.  Behind that is a round piece of green textured paper that has Rock Candy Distress Stickles added for sparkle.  I also used various Distress Stickles on the image flowers.   All around the coaster are beaded wires.  I placed three coordinating beads on silver wire, used Glossy Accents to hold them on and inserted between the coaster and paper layer. 

I created a large rosette to use as the base. 

The saying was printed on white cardstock and inked with DI. 

I punched holes at the top, added jump rings and ribbon to hang. 

The beads on the bottom were added the same way.



This piece is entered into the following Challenges:

Gingersnap Creations--Gal Pals

Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium-Sept-Use Stickles

City Crafter Challenge Blog--#75--Let's Face the Music

My Time To Craft Challenge-158-L is For

(L is For "Ladies"!)

Crafty Ribbons Challenge #2-Anything Goes

Just For Fun-Any Shape With More than 4 Edges

Southern Girls-#28-Anything Goes

Pumpkin Wreath & A Give Away!

I've mentioned that I'll be attending a very special SCRAPBOOK EVENT at the end of the month.  All the proceeds from the registration and auction items go to help fund "Mary's Dream", a non-profit that works to prevent

--and assist those who are touched by--domestic violence. 

I usually take a few things I've created for the auction. 

This year one of the items is this wreath:

I actually painted the lightbulb pumpkins a few years ago (when I was still doing craft shows) and had six guys left.  I thought they would be great on a wreath so that's what I did.  I found ribbon, felt leaves and fall sprays to match

and put together this wreath.

Here's what the individual pumpkins look like.  The design is from Sandy Holman:

I still have one pumpkin left and he's lonely! 

He has a little round hanger at the top so you could hang him from a peg. 

Or just display him in a little cup. 

If you can give this little Jack a home,

leave me a comment (by Sunday night)

and I will have Mr. Random pull a name and I will send him to you. 

Sharing: Scrap Organization

I spent part of the weekend straightening up the studio from my last "play date" and finished this reorganization project.  When the Paper Squirrel was visiting, she showed me her new way of organizing scraps.  It's probably not new to some of you, but it works so well for me that I thought I'd share.

Being the thrifty crafter I am, I saved every scrap of paper.  That worked well until I started designing SVGs (and cutting each and every file).  Suddenly I had a TON of scraps.  Here's how I had my scraps organized

They were in ziplock bags, sorted by color.  At first I saved it all, even weird shapes and sizes and pieces with punches.  Lately I'd been cutting each scrap piece down to a square or rectangle.  It fit better in the bag and was neater.  But as I said, the stash started growing and it was hard to see what I had and keep it all in the bag.  So, I "stole" the Paper Squirrel's method  (actually, I stole her ziplock bag method too...hehehe):

I bought an inexpensive file crate from Wal-Mart and used hanging file folders to hold my scraps.  The white tabs hold solid colors, the red tabs hold patterns, the purple special papers (such as birthday, Christmas, etc.) and the back yellow tab is for velum.  I's now so easy to take out a folder to see what I have and I just slip in the scraps as I go.  Having it portable is great too.  I set it by the Cricut as I'm cutting and on the floor when I'm making cards or layouts.

SVG: Turkey & Thanksgiving Card

If you've clicked over from the "Card A Day Blog"....Welcome! 

I hope you'll stay and see what else I've got to offer. 

If you're a follower, love to make cards and haven't visited

the CARD A DAY BLOG, you really should. 

Loads of inspiration over there!

Today I am the featured designer and I created this card

using a sketch from the Card A Day Blog.

I also created the cute turkey diecut element,

and I will be sharing the SVG file with you below.

Card details:

I wanted a large card so I took a piece of 8.5" x 11" white cardstock and folded it in half.  I then found two pieces of designer paper that had a nice autumn feel to them:  "Pin Stripes" from Rita Marie & Co. and "Lost & Found " from My Mind's Eye.  Where the two pieces met, I added a punched border (Martha Stewart) made out of a scrap of coordinating green paper.  Above that I glued a wide piece of beige ribbon and a narrow piece of green ribbon.  Next I created the turkey.  I used all scrap pieces...which is one of the best features of Sure Cuts A Lot, the program that uses SVGs and allows my Cricut to cut them.  Here is how I laid out my papers and with one pass, they all cut.  Very quick!

Next I glued the bottom and the top layers (turkey body) together.  I got out my Lumin Arte pots and spritzed them lightly with water.  Then using a paint brush, I colored in each feather and the turkeys body.

I used these colors on the feathers:  Wintermint, Tanzanite, Mandarin Blush, Northern Lights & Plumeria.  The body was painted with Terracotta Rose.  The Lumin Arte's gave a beautiful shimmer to the paper but they were a little bright for the papers I had choosen.  So...next thing was to take Vintage Photo Distress Ink and go over everything

Once everything was dry, I glued the beak and waddle on.  I used foam tape to add the turkey to the card.  The sentiment was stamped onto a piece of the same scrap I used for the punched border with Coffee Archival Ink.  I matted it with a piece of brown scrap and adhered to the card.  Finally I went over the entire card shading with Vintage Photo DI.  The turkey's eye and the dots on the punched border are Vintage Photo Distress Stickles.

EDIT:
The free file has expired.
The turkey SVG can now be found at
CUT & CREATE
I've entered this card into the following Challenges:
CUTE CARD THURSDAY #182-ANYTHING GOES
PAPERCRAFT STAR #62-ANYTHING GOES
MY TIME TO CRAFT-#157 KALEIDOSCOPE OF COLOUR
PAPERTAKE WEEKLY-THINGS WITH WINGS
BY THE CUTE & GIRLIE SEPTEMBER CHALLENGE
(All Things Bright & Beautiful)
REALLY REASONABLE RIBBON-RRR32-AUTUMN

Sharing: Pet Sympathy Cards

Yesterday marked three months since I lost my Louie. 

For new followers, Louie was my 12 year old bulldog and we adored each other. 

Not ever having had kids, he was my boy. 

Luckily I still have my girl...Millie...another bulldog who is almost 10 years old.

Unfortunately the sad day of parting arrives for all of us who love our pets.

It helped that I received so many beautiful sympathy cards and even flowers. 

It meant the world to me.

Today I want to share three very special cards that were created especially for my loss.  I hope their creators don't mind that I'm posting them.   I hope that they will remind you that people who lose their pets need a sympathy card too.

I've also included the special "Thank You" card I sent out.

This card was made by my BFF Sue. 

She loves all things old and vintage so it didn't surprise me that she found this old leather collar to add to the card.  The Tim Holtz "tag" was perfect and all the paper textures really made the card unique.   I also love that she included Louie's name on the front.  Such a beautiful card!

This card was a collaboration between my sister Jen and my niece.

Jamie did the pencil drawing of Louie.  It has foam tape lifting it off of the distressed background.  They used a Cricut to cut out his name.  Simple, but oh so special!

This card was made by my sister Vic (the PAPER SQUIRREL herself). 

She used a printed photo of Louie that she popped off the card with foam tape.  She printed the "Rainbow Bridge" poem directly onto the kraft card paper.  The black and white gingham ribbon and dog paw tie it all together.  Another wonderful card! 

All the cards I received will be going into Louie's scrapbook.  This book is huge!  I have pictures of him from the time he was a few weeks old up until the day before he passed.  He LOVED having his picture taken and would actually pose...because he got paid with biscuits and he LOVED biscuits!

He even won a few photo contests and come Halloween time, I will share a very special picture of him with all of you.

Finally, I wanted to thank those who sent flowers and cards, the vet and the crematorium.  So I created this card:

I used PhotoShop to create the picture, printed it and attached to black cardstock.  I punched the little paw print out and it showed white from the insert inside:

I found the quote from Sir Walter Scott and thought it was so appropriate.

SVG: Fall Rake and Leaves

Here is an element that would make a great heading to a layout. 

It goes perfectly with the Fall Leaves SVGs I shared previously. 

Get the file HERE.

And if you grabbed my basket (either SVG or Print & Cut) from this POST,
the Paper Squirrel has another basket fill digi she's giving away.
(grab it free until Friday)
A great stack of pumpkins to go into the basket can be found HERE.

Remembering

There isn't a September 11th that passes

that I don't remember the lives lost in this tragedy. 

Since today is the 10th anniversary of that event,

I thought I'd share some personal thoughts.

On that day, even though I was far from NYC (in Michigan, just south of Detroit), my life changed forever, just as all of yours did.  Unsure of what was happening or what was coming next, I gathered with a group of coworkers in our office and we prayed for the victims and our country.  I left the office to gas up my vehicle in case I would need to evacuate the city.  We had a second home "up in Northern Michigan" and should need be, we could head there.  That day I became a talk radio junky...wanting to get all the news I could.  For days afterwards, I laid on the couch crying as I watched the heartbreaking news coverage on TV.  I can't ever remember being in such a depression as I was in those following days.  The whole country was in mourning and depression.  But I also have a deep faith in God and believe that through it all, He was in charge.  I'm on a bible reading program and the day after

 9-11, Psalm 27 was the reading, which let me know that things would be okay. 

Here is a portion of that Psalm:

The Lord is  my light and my salvation--whom should I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life--of whom should I be afraid?

When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. 

Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident...

For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling....

In 2006, my sisters and I took a trip to NYC and we visited Ground Zero. 

I scrapped a few pages on that visit and am sharing them here

I can't describe how it felt to see that huge hole in the ground...still a gaping wound.

I hope that I can go back to see the new Memorial someday.



Challenge Entry: "Give Thanks" Card

Having more fun with Challenges.  

I put this card together using the pumpkin SVG file from my "Fall Set"

(available for sale--click on tab above or to the right for link to stores)

I cut the pumpkin using the file, SCAL and my Cricut and then added

a good coat of Mod Podge Dimensional Magic on the orange parts.

Once it dried I bent it and cracked it. 

Then added Vintage Photo Distress Ink to make the cracking stand out. 

I borrowed the 7 Gypsies Border Punch (from the Paper Squirrel while she was visiting) and followed her example to use it to add the ribbon.  Pretty cool!  (saw the punch set offered on Peachy Cheap today and went to get it but it was sold out--bummer!  I'm sure I can reproduce the punches using what I have)  I stamped the sentiment with brown ink and then went over it with clear embossing powder to make it pop.  Hand drawn stitching on the sentiment paper.

This card has been entered into the following challenges:

Mark's Finest Papers-Use a Punch

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C104

Crafty Catz #99-Ribbons

Paper Cutz #108-Going to the Pumpkin Patch
Craft Us Crazy-#16 Autumn Colors

Halloween Files

If you're ready to do Halloween cards or scrapping,

I have two new sets and two individual files that are now available:

Halloween Set One

Halloween Set Two

Haunted House

Candy Corn Halloween Heading

You can find the files at TheCreativePointe 

Challenge Entry: Birthday Card

Oh what fun I've had playing in the studio today.  

Off from the regular job (except for email checking) means I can make a big mess...

and believe me, I did!  Finished this card for a few challenges:

I used the sketch from the "Stampin Daisies" challenge as I thought it would be a great way to use up those scrap strips that I just can't seem to throw out.  First I took sienna colored card stock and scored and folded for the card.  I used my new CTMH music stamp for the back ground on the base card, stamping with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  Next I layered in a book page and a scrap of green textured paper.  The right edges were torn.  I distressed both with Vintage Photo and Tea Dye Distress Inks.  I grabbed six coordinating strips and placed all the strips in a color arrangement that I thought looked best.  I admit...I had to keep looking back to the sketch to be sure they were layered correctly!  I trimmed the ends down AFTER I had placed all the pieces.  Then I stamped the sentiment and bird with Cocoa Archival Ink on a piece of beige cardstock.  I punched the sentiment out with my Fiskars scalloped circle punch and hand cut the bird out.  Finally I added the three brads.

A quick card and a great way to use up scraps! 

I'll be using this sketch again.

Here are the Challenges this card is entered in:

STAMPIN DAISIES-CHALLENGE #2

PAPER PLAY CHALLENGES'-USE 2 OR MORE STAMPED IMAGES

SOUTHERN GIRLS CHALLENGES'-LAYERS/BIRTHDAY THEME

New in Store: Pumpkin Patch

Yup, the air has changed...it is crisp...and we've had frost warnings. 

Won't be long now and the pumpkins will be ready for picking. 

So it's a great time to show you my newest SVG file:

This is a very versatile layered SVG file. 

The banner can be personalized with the year or wording

such as "Our visit to the" or even left off entirely. 

The heading is one piece and a separate layer.

And it's at a great price of just $1.

You can purchase it at:

CUT AND CREATE
I've just completed two Halloween Sets, a Haunted House

and a Halloween Heading that will be available soon....so stay tuned!

Sharing: Challenge Entry/ Altered Ink Box

As if you need another reason to enjoy Gray Goose vodka....

...the wooden box makes a perfect Distress Ink holder!

I'd been hanging onto this box for a while, it was just too nice to toss and I knew that someday I'd use it for something.  Then I saw others making boxes for their Distress Inks and the lightbulb went on.  I dug around in the storage room and yup...the DIs fit in it perfectly!  Time to alter it!!

First thing I did was get out my new Distress Stains (Vintage Photo) and using a foam brush, stained the inside of the box.  Next I broke into the "Lost and Found" paper stash and measured and scored and folded so that the paper would wrap around the box.  It wasn't quite long enough so I centered one pattern and then added another pattern to the top and bottom.  Squares of complimenting paper was cut and used for the top and bottom.  I used Matte Medium to adhere the paper.

I used the Distress Stain on a measuring tape ribbon and added it at the bottom, just above the paper strip.  Tim Holtz Idea-ology Foundations Box Feet were attached with Glossy Accents. 

The top knob is a Tim Holtz Idea-ology curio knob.  I did have to add a longer screw to go through the thickness of the box, but it was easy to find a replacement in my stash of screws.

Next I worked on the plastic sliding cover.  I used paper from the same stash but the plainer side as I wanted to embellish and didn't want to fight the pattern.  I also made sure that the paper did not extend all the way to the edges as that part of the plastic would get wear from sliding.  Using pieces of the Lost & Found paper, I added the bottle cap border to the top and bottom of the cover.  An Idea-ology Philosophy Tag was glued to the top of the cover with Glossy Accents and makes a "handle" to pull up the cover.  From that Tag I attached a length of chain with a jump ring and then added a Sprocket, a Muse Token, and a charm I created using spare pieces of the bottlecap paper and a round fragment charm.

The ticket and bottlecap stickers came from Tim's Lost & Found Salvage Stickers pad and the letters from the Salvage Stickers pad.

The box holds 24 Distress Inks.  I guess if I want any more DIs, 

someone will have to drink more "Goose"!

The ink stack is a little wobbly when you have the box full and take the lid off.  I think it's fine to store standing upright, but when I'm going to use the inks, I will lay the box down so I don't have an inky disaster!

I'm entering this Altered Box in the following Challenges:

The Cheerful Stamp Pad's Challenge #25 "Let's Reuse"

Creative Craft Challenges' "Just Charming"

Outlaw Women Scrapbook Emporium's "Altered Box"

Paper Creations Ink's Challenge #8 "Vintage or Distressed Look"

Sugar Creek Hollow's "Trash to Vintage Treasure"

SVG: Grapevine

Happy Labor Day to my US readers. 
It is cold, overcast and a really "blah" day here in northern Michigan. 
While it makes me sad not to get into the lake one last time,
I don't feel like I'm missing out by being in the studio!

This file is in response to a special request. 
I will try to honor any request that is emailed to me,
so if you have something special you are looking for,
please let me know.  Hope you like it Lorie!

I thought that this design would make a great "long" card...

the size to fit into a business size envelope

I took a piece of lavender cardstock and ran it through the Texture Boutique using an embossing folder.  I then hit the raised portions with Distress Inks to match the colors of the grapevine diecut.  I used a water pen and DIs to shade the elements of the diecut and then accented with Stickles.  The oval "Celebrate" is simply stamped on cardstock, colored with DIs and then the center oval was given a coat of Glossy Accents to make it pop out.  I used foam pieces to attach to the card over the ribbon.

I also used Glossy Accents on the grapes to give them dimension.  A very easy card and I think it would be great to attach to a bottle wine for a gift.

You can get the free SVG file HERE.