Scraps From My Heart

Squeaking this Tutorial Tuesday in at almost exactly midnight… since it’s still Tuesday in most of the world, I’ll only count this as slightly late… LOL.  I’ll share details tomorrow on where I was that caused this lateness Welcome to Crafting 101 — where the best artists in the Blogosphere share with you the basics of rubber stamping, paper crafting and scrapbooking. We’ll even teach you how to use that Photoshop program you have sitting under your desk right now! All this for the bargain price of FREE! Read on… Best of the Blogosphere Crafting lists. Remember these lovely little boxes don’t show up in Google Reader, so if you can’t see them, click on over to my site and they will magically appear. (When you see the boxes, there is a small “read more” in the bottom, right hand corner… click it and you can see the list with pictures as a web page!) All the Best Tutorials: How To Videos: Tips You Shouldn’t Miss: Templates To Help You Make Stuff: Photoshop Tips and Tricks: Please remember that my site is powered by YOU. Please comment here if you’d like me to read your blog or if you have seen some amazing blog art that I’m missing! Thanks!

I made this welded frame, bird and “You’re the Best” design in the Cricut Design Studio since I thought it would make a handy front for a card. All the pieces are from the Lyrical Letters cartridge. The card I made is actually 6×6 but you could get away with 5×5 or even 5.5×5.5, if you prefer. I would probably give this to someone by hand, rather than mailing, since square cards are more expensive to mail. Another choice is to make a rectangular envelope instead to save on postage. I am not normally too concerned with postage but a square card is almost TWICE the price to mail. I used My Minds Eye papers - love that they are two sided and coordinating. I inked the edges to distress it even more. Then, I pop dotted the front from the base. All in all, though, a very simple card. I made the cut file in two sizes, for Baby Bug/Create owners and then for Expression owners. For the Expression owners, click HERE to download the cut file. For Baby Bug/Create owners, click HERE to download the cut file. Enjoy and let me know if you make anything with this!

If you’ve been on the fence about getting Sure Cuts A Lot (SCAL) software to work with your Cricut, now might be the time to take the plunge! Here’s some info from Candacraft.com and their sale this week on SCAL! Sure Cuts A Lot is in stock and on sale with coupon code (JULY4) for $53.99 at CandaCraft.com . Choose from Download Only (Serial Number is emailed) and/or CD Version. Shipping is only $2 within the U.S., but we do ship globally. Feel free to email them HERE if you have any questions. Just remember to use coupon code: JULY4 when you check out. This coupon expires at 11:59pm on July 4th.

Oh sweet friends, today brings such gladness in that I’ve got so many winners who will receive so many amazing prizes! If you see your name, please make sure that you put the post you won in the subject line , send your address to me at cedvalson@ckmedia.com , and if it’s a first-come, first-serve prize, make sure you let me know your order of preference. Now let’s see who won! The winners of the Moxie Monday post featuring the Sweet as Cherry Pie collection from Websters Pages are: Erika who said… Oh me, oh my, I LOVE that cherry pie! What a gorgeous collection…soooo moxie fab! Thanks for the opportunity! Beth who said… I love, love love everything that is Webster’s Pages and Paper Crafts! Thanks for all the great inspiration you share on this blog! travelingmama who said… I LOVE this collection! It’s so AMERICAN! I really miss that sometimes! I can totally see these papers being used for a July 4th page or some summer baking! The winners of the What’s Your Style? blog post including your choice of a collection from either Mind’s Eye, Graphic 45, KI Memories, SEI, or American Crafts–(first-come, first-serve!) are: StacyC who said… I am kinda all over the place with my style, love grunge, vintage, retro, then clean and simple too.. Nikki who said… Humm I Guess my style is all over the place. It depends on my mood and what I need to create/make at that givin time.I do love vintage and tons of details, aging a card too Nikki Pat S. who said… My style is definitely classy & elegant. I like clean & simple layouts, letting gorgeous designer paper be the focal point. Michelle (mla1111) who said… I dont think I have a set style… all of these styles appeal to me & I think I wind up creating different types of projects depending on my mood or latest inspiration. awendybird who said… My style depends on my mood! thanks for a great in depth look at the creations Ladies, please list the collections in order of your preference. The lucky winners of an American Crafts prize package for The Trends Within Its Folds blog post are: Gracie Ann Tan who said… I love the stamping trend. Also the stitching. Those cards are all gorgeous! Megan A. said… I am not the greatest with stamping, so anything stamping inspires me to try harder and learn more about it. Helen F. said… Ooohhhh! I’m lovin’ the card with stitching on it. It has inspired me to make one like it for a friend’s Mom who is not doing well and needs a “Thinking of You” pick me up. The winners of the Everyone Can Play blog post are: Zarah who said… Those cardsa are stunning!! Such great touches! Tiffany Heilman who said… Thanks for the publishing tips! Sharyn who said… Thanks for the tips! Maybe I will be brave enough to submit! Corey who said… thank you for sharing those cards! gorgeous!and thank you for the submitting tips - I really needed those as lately I’m wanting to try and get some cards published! and Lexi who said… I didn’t realize hte judging was “blind”! Good to know! Ladies, you have a choice of the following collections from Teresa Collins Design: Documented, Family Matters, Haute Cuisine, Crush, or Journal-It Girl. Please list the collection in order of your preference in your email to me and I will honor them on a first-come, first-serve basis. AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, the following winners of the Card Creations 7 Week Blog Tour will receive collections from Fancy Pants, My Mind’s Eye, KI Memories, Imaginisce, and Pink Paislee! resmith who said… I just love all of the cards! Such great inspiration. I would have to say that Kim Hughes’ card really did it for me. joy who said… I like Beatriz Jennings’ card because it combines vintage items (which we all have if we look thru our “stuff” or can be downloaded from the internet) with new papers and new techniques. Christy who said… I don’t know that I am all that trendy, but I thought the color schemes used by Carla and Sherry seemed trendy to me - the blue and lime green - I feel like I see that a lot these days. Char- The Mad Shopper who said… The trendiest card was Carla’s with the trendy bird. and Mary who said… I like Ashley’s card. I love using old photos and put them on almost every card I make for family members . To see if you were a winner of the Blog Tour Prize on Paper Crafts Connection, click here . Oh my goodness! That is a lot of winners! More to the point, that is a lot of prizes! PLUS, each winner wins a copy of Card Creations 7 as well! Wooty wooty woot woot woot! Thanks to everyone who played in the Moxie Fab World last week! We sure did have ourselves a roarin’ good time, didn’t we? Loving our promotional weeks, ~Cath

I decided to use Design Studio to create some baby word art to go on a card. The cartridge already had the “Love” with a Heart on it so I just added the Baby and the diaper pin. I made the cut file of this word art, including the shadowing around it, for both Expression and Baby Bug owners. I used some American Crafts cardstock for the purple and pink areas and then the Glitter 4×6 Mat Stack (seen below) for the rest of the card. That little mat stack has a TON of cute papers that are just perfect for card making! I added some Stickles on the Baby Love and diaper pin in white (can’t remember which white, though..oops!). I also inked around the edges with purple (wisteria) chalk ink and popped up the word art layer. Want to see something interesting? Here is the photo enhanced with my photo software (see below). I think it looks much different. The real card looks more like the first picture. Unless, of course, you prefer this one…ha ha! I had trouble getting a good photo since it’s been so dark and stormy here today. In fact, we had a ton of hail and a tree in our yard almost got hit by lightning! YIKES!! So, for Expression owners, click HERE to download the cut file. Baby Bug owners, click HERE to download the cut file. Coming up this week will be more cards and cut files as well as a summer themed word book with cut file! So, stay tuned and stay cool! Whew! It’s hot out there!

Sorry, no pictures to post as of right now, but hopefully sometime later today. I’m in a card-making mood, so I’m hoping to play in the loft. Today Ali was giving an update on her word for 2009, and then she asked where everyone else is with their word. I think about my word often. My word is “relax”. Have I been relaxing? It depends on who you ask. But for me, I think I reach that goal more than I have in the past. We are hitting the peak of the hustle/bustle with moving and here I am, still scrapping, still stamping, enjoying friendships, and just taking everything one moment at a time. When we moved from Wisconsin to Alaska, I wasn’t this relaxed…no way! I was very stressed, but I didn’t have to be. I had a stamping party yesterday! I was the hostess, not the demonstrator. That’s like the first time ever! I’ve hosted candle parties, Pampered Chef, but hosting a Stampin’ Up! party was much more fun because it’s something I am passionate about. And everyone who came enjoys stamping, so it was fun to have all of these people with the same hobby together laughing and having a great time! My friend Laura is the new demonstrator for our town. I’m excited for her! Enjoy your Monday, everyone!

A moxie Monday to you friends! It’s awfully nice to get it started all right here, isn’t it? After all our excitement in Card Creations 7 Week last week here in the Moxie Fab World and on Paper Crafts Connection , I didn’t want today to feel like a let-down. (Psst–ALL the Moxie Fab prizes will be announced here first thing tomorrow!) Soooo, I’ve been saving one of the moxie fabbiest lines from CHA Winter for an occasion such as this one, and to say that I’m stoked to bring it to you is an understatement like no other. What strikes me most about this line is that it brings in everyday motifs like flowers, plaids, stars, and butterflies and gives them an unexpected, trendilicious twist. And while it’s meant to be a teen line, kids of all ages will crank up the volume by using these papers in their projects. Chillax with me for a moment as I bring you Just Chillin’ from Making Memories ! I am ga-ga over these gradient color stars in Just Chillin’ Boy : Star Same with these awesome crowns: Crown Brocade I superlove these bold checks: Checkers …and this rockin’ awesome patchwork: Patchwork And these wicked guitars superimposed on this ultra plaid? You guessed it, moxietastic! Varnished Guitars Not to leave the Just Chillin’ Girls out, of course. Check out this gradient brocade: Brocade I love these doodles almost as much as I love the plaid on the other side: Doodle While these big, bad stripes say, “I dare you!” Girl Multistripe This floral reminds me of the old tablecloths of my youth: Oilcloth Green And this? This my friends, was one of my top 5 pieces of paper at the ENTIRE show. LOVE the woodgrain background! LOVE the hand-stitching! MOXIE LOVE the woodgrain butterflies and florals in silhouette! Wood Butterflies You likey? Let me know which is your favorite by midnight MST on Sunday, July 5 and I’ve got 2 collections of each to give away to 4 lucky winners! I’ve still got so many of my favies to squeeze in between now and CHA summer, friends–so be sure and stay tuned! Just chillin’, ~Cath PS Did you see? The Top 20 Gallery Idol winners were announced today on Paper Crafts Connection! Click here to see who our contestants are and what their first challenge will be!

Do you remember how I said I was finished with my 2008 Alaska trip photos? Well, I wasn’t! I usually have my pages printed with Good Life Photo. They have amazing quality and service! But since I want to have all of the pages printed at once, it will be about $150.00 at $3/page. So…then I looked at Shutterfly to see about having a book made instead. It will be cheaper in the long-run (so far anyway) because I won’t have to buy a $30 album for it. Plus it will be easier to store. There were three pages that I had made that were hybrid/traditional. One of them I scanned, and the other two I trashed since I thought they were, well, pretty dorky. Ha! The pages in this post are the redos, which I created digitally. Seriously, I think I’m a digi-scrapper all the way! I love the worn, textured look on this page. The “Adventure” sticker is part of a set of freebie words that Jessica Sprague had on her site yesterday. I created the background fish paper first, and then added the pictures and words. Dr. Suess inspired this one.

A lot of brilliant scrapping ideas floating out there this week and you’ll find yourself really inspired reading the list.  Please comment here to nominate your favorite.   If you find something I missed, or if you have a favorite, please add it’s URL here You can now follow me on Twitter — check out the feed for tips and things I find while doing the daily blog surfing, not to mention my picks for Scrapbook Page of the Week and favorite mini-book. Now, onto the Best of the Blogosphere Scrapbooking lists . Remember these lovely little boxes don’t show up in Google Reader, so if you can’t see them, click on over to my site and they will magically appear. (When you see the boxes, there is a small “read more” in the bottom, right hand corner… click it and you can see the list with pictures as a web page!) Scrapbooking Inspiration Scrapbooking Mini-Books Hybrid (or “Fusion”) Scrapbooking Ideas: Fun with Photoshop: Please remember that my site is powered by YOU. Please comment here if you’d like me to read your blog or if you have seen some amazing blog art that I’m missing! Thanks!

Stamps Alive, who has been in business since 1993, is offering a deal on the new folders! Her Cricut board name is terrikrafts and she sells all the time on the Cricut board! First of all, to see the new Cuttlebug Christmas folders, look at this post HERE! Please note which are the large size (5×7) versus smaller size. That was not obvious when I raced through reading it the first time! Then, here is the info (just for Christmas folders): 2 Bundles - 2 prices First - All 7 Christmas folders $32.00 Second - All Christmas folders EXCEPT the Lace Tree $28.00 Or buy individually If you want to be put on the pre-order list please email terrikrafts at: stampsalive@cox.net No money until they are ready to ship! They will start to ship from Provo Craft Late September or Early October.