Christmas card collection...

As the holiday cards began to fill the mailbox, I wanted to find a new way to display them.  Placing them all on the half wall between our breakfast nook and the family room just wasn't going to cut it (especially with the large number of cards that are a single pice of cardstock, and not a traditional folded card).
I have been following a blog Under the Sycamore and find Ashley's use of items on hand and thrift store treasures very inspiring; and so I began my hunt around the house for my card display.  I decided that the open wall space next to our television would work perfectly for the space needed (especially since it would keep the cards high enough to be out of reach of our overly curious, and potentially destructive malamute, Drakko).

The scavenger hunt resulted in a variety of ribbons, a picture hook, an old metal coat hanger, left-over spray paint from a summer project, and reserve paint from painting the wall color (saved in case it would be needed for touch-ups). 

The steps:

1. Spray the metal hanger with the speckled brown  paint, and let dry.  (Fortunately we've had a pretty warm November and December!).  Note I only painted one side of the metal hanger since it would be laying flat against the wall.
2. Hang the picture hook as desired on the wall - I waited until the paint had dried, so I could use the metal hanger as a guide. 
3. Paint the silver picture hook with some of the reserve wall color paint to help it blend in, and let dry.
4. Cut various lengths of blue and brown ribbon, and tie them to the metal hanger.  (I hung the metal hanger on the wall and guaged ribbon lengths from there to make sure they would be high enough, then took it down to tie on the ribbons.)
5. Hang the metal hanger and wait for the cards to come in!

Of course as I'm working on the project my husband is watching and giving me weird looks.  Finally, I can't take the quizzical look on his face any longer and ask "What??!!".  His reply:  "You're hanging a coat hanger on the wall as decoration?"  I rolled my eyes and smiled,  "Yes, just wait and see..."

I have to admit that with only one or two cards on my creation it looked a little bare and out of place, but the abundance of cards on there now makes me wonder if I'll need to add more (or longer) ribbons soon.

Thanks for visiting~
~Kathy

Girlie Pink Hearts...

I've been supporting troops stationed overseas for several years now through various organizations.  In the middle of October I learned that one of "my guys" would get to come home early - woo hoo!  He had one request - would I mind writing to one of his buddies who would still be in Afghanistan.  Umm - of course! 

So I start writing to my new soldier.  Nothing special, just tales of our crazy dogs, and our adventures in learning how to ride mountain bikes.  A letter each week - nothing elaborate, or all that exciting...  then early in December I open my mailbox to find "free mail" (a letter from Afghanistan).  Lo and behold my new soldier is a chatty, writer type (even more surprising as he's 23 years old!)  {smile}

So, I thought I might surprise him with a little set of note cards that he can send home to his wife and young kids... 

I saw this swirly sheet of loose paper at A.C. Moore and thought it would be perfect for some hearts and love cards for part of the set.  Here are the two I've created so far...

The first one lets the swirly paper shine, and makes use of a new Sissix die.  The heart is popped up on foam tape.  Yes, this is pink paper and anyone who knows me is likely wondering who took over and is writing this.  But, I picked up a variety pack of cardstock, and it came with several shades of pink.  This seemed like a nice fit to use up some of the pale shade for the base of the card. 

The second one is basic and simple, and makes me think of love budding and flowering over time.  The Sissix flourish die is also new to my collection.  The small hearts were punched from scraps after I hand cut all of the larger hearts free hand.

Even though these aren't specifically Valentine's cards, I think they still qualify for the OWH Valentine challenge - pink hearts always make me think of Valentine's Day anyway... 

Thanks for visiting!
~Kathy

Tim Holtz Inspired Tag...

It's been ages since I've posted...  and nearly as long since I've played with my crafting supplies.

Last year I stumbled upon Tim Holtz's blog, and his 12 days of Christmas Tags, and I've been following along again this year.  I've been inspired to play with what I've got (mostly because I only have one pad of distress ink, and two distress stain dabbers). 

It's taken me about 4 days to create my tag, but it's done, and I'm happy with it!

Since I've only got a few dies and embossing folders I had to get a little creative.  To create the greenery for the mistle toe I did a bit of fussy cutting the scrap pieces of the green embossed piece at the base of the card.

The tag needed a bit of sparkle, so I adhered a piece of aluminum foil to some card stock using spray adhesive and then punched out several snowflakes.  Using some rhinestone stickers (purchased during a rare "girlie glitz" moment at the store), I added the red centers to the snowflakes for a bit more pop.  I love how Tim isn't afraid to go out past the edges - seeing his finished products provided the freedom to let parts of my design go outside the "box" formed by the tag edges.

I liked Tim's gift card idea from day two, so I created a pocket on the back to tuck a gift card into.  I think it'll look cute hanging on the tree, as a disguised package!

Oh, and I used the ribbon technique from one of Operation Write Home's Stars and Stamps tutorials (found here) - it adds a little pop to the back of the card and a little extra stability to hold the gift card in place.

~Kathy

Rosh Hashanah Gift Boxes

Triathon season is over for me and I have a bit more time to get crafty.  What a better way to get back into it than with gift boxes to send over to some troops to help celebrate the Jewish New Year?  Typically, apples and honey represent the holiday so I used an apple motif with a yellow accent.

I wandered the craft store looking for pre-made boxes to decorate.  The baking / candy isle had a variety of sizes, but they were pricier than I had anticipated.  So I grabbed one four pack and found some interesting, medium weight, paper in the Scrapbooking isle.  One of the pre-fab boxes became my template (which I had to modify to fit the 12x12 paper).

The end result, a dozen red boxes filled with red apple and honey Jelly Belly beans and some cherry-pomogranite drink mix packets.

A fun project that I hope brings a smile to a few faces far from home.

Thanks for visiting!
~Kathy

Flag Card for Flag Day

Quick post today - I found a little time to play with paper!

The OWH starburst tutorial today made me think of a blowing flag - maybe it's the flag day influence.

Such an easy card to create - red, white and blue card stock and some stars die cut with the cuttle bug.

And the inside:
 

Thanks for visiting!
~Kathy

A Milestone Birthday

Wow - it's been forever since I've gotten to do anything crafty and post it!  Ironman triathlon training has pretty much taken over, and it will likely stay that way until the end of July.

But - when a friend emailed and asked if I'd send a card along to a WWII veteran turning 90 this weekend I couldn't resist getting out some ink and paper!

I made it clean and simple, and finished the whole thing in about a half an hour - including a little sentiment on the inside of the card as well!  And look!  I used the cuttlebug I have on loan from my mother to add a little texture to the background.

Thanks for visiting!
~Kathy

Happy Spring!

I made this card in January, but didn't get to post it.  Since today is officially spring I thought it was appropriate.  While helping my mother-in-law decorate her new snowbird home I picked up some adorable K&Company butterfly stickers to use for cards while in the south - apparently people don't hand write much more than Thank You notes any more because that was the only type of stationery around!  I found the stickers (without glitter!) at the local Michaels.

 I paired one of the larger butterflies with design paper from the DCWV wintercombo matstack. 

Look closely and you'll notice that the flowers in the design paper are actually snowflakes.  I paired it up with some handmade fiber paper (no I didn't hand make it), and a scrap of gray cardstock.  This was so quick and easy!  Hopefully I can find design papers to match all the butterflies and whip up a few cards for my stash.  (Note:  these butterfly stickers are a little bulky, so mailing them may cost extra postage.  Since I didn't have a post office close by, I stuck two stamps on the envelopes just to be on the safe side.)

Thanks for Visiting!
~Kathy

The Versatile Blogger Award

I think my crafty neighbor Carol is trying to influence me into blogging more by selecting me as a recipient of the Versatile Blogger Award!  It's a good thing I love checking out her blog for inspiration and ideas, or I might have missed out on my award...

Based on Carol's post it looks like I am supposed to reveal 7 things about myself... 
1)     I am currently training for my second Ironman distance triathlon.  For those who have no clue what that means (and mom in case you've forgotten...  {grin}), it is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run (yes a marathon) all within a 17 hour time limit.  My husband and I have been told we're a little crazy.
2)     By day I'm an engineer...  at night (once my training is done) the little kid that loves to color comes out to play.
3)     As a child I had nightmares about wolves - as an adult, my favorite breed of dog is the Alaskan Malamute.
4)     I love to play in the snow (shoveling or driving in it are another story).
5)     I've tent camped in the jungles of Belize and Costa Rica for vacation.
6)     I have a tendency to talk to my computer - when it talks back I'll start to worry!
7)     I do not own an i-pod (or any device that digitally stores music)...  if I dig around I think I might be able to find a portable cd player, and maybe even a walk-man! 

Whew - that was harder than I expected.  Now I'm supposed to pick 8 bloggers to pass this on to, but since I'm still quite new to the whole blogging thing I'm going to leave it open to anyone who feels the urge to reveal 7 things about themselves to the world!  {smile}

Thanks for dropping by!
~Kathy

Shamrocks

My ironman triathlon training is forcing me to take advantage of design paper - so last night I made a half dozen of the tri-folds for any hero cards.  I found the Irish Blessings on the internet, and printed out four of each.  Unfortunately, my sheet of shamrock DP was only large enough for six in this design.  I'll see what I can do with the scraps and the last two sentiments another day.

~Kathy

Craft Party - Follow Up

It took a week to get the photos taken, but here's what happened last weekend when I got to meet a group of talented ladies (and absorb lots and lots of knowledge to boot!).  Check out Carol's blog here and here for some great pictures and lots of details! 

During my time there I managed to finish three CAS cards as well (it helped that my one colored image was already half done before the day began!). 

My first card was inspired by Sandy's card and is perfect for those of us who have more to say than will fit in a standard A2 sized card, but not enough for a full 5x7 one!  LOL  Plus it's great for that 12x12 cardstock that I've got with minimal scraps left behind!

Next is my Sarah Kay image with some design paper from Carol's scrap stash gathered at a smaller get-together way back in the fall of last year!  I had a blast pawing through her box, and found the fabulous bright yellow flower paper.

Finally - I must have been channeling a little Tim Holtz as I used my Distress Ink pad and TPC Studio stamps to create this collage.  I also tried out some rub-ons for the first time.  They took a little getting use to, but I was thrilled that I didn't destroy my card in the process of experimenting!  I think I'm also going to love all the papers in the DCWV Old World Stack.

Thanks for the great afternoon ladies!
~Kathy

Still around and crafting...

Thought I'd pop in quick to say Hi!  and let my few followers know that I have still been creating a bit, but just haven't been able to snap any photos and get them posted.  I'm hoping to at least get a small group shot to put up here this weekend to prove that I have indeed been putting adhesive to paper for the past couple of months. 

Thanks for stopping by!
~Kathy