Jen's SFYTT is Back!

Although my usual style is more "clean and simple" I do love to layer it up once in a while. And of course I can't resist a great sketch. Jen's SFYTT has been away for a while (Jen had a baby!), but she is bringing her sketches back in style! I plan on making all of the February designs if I can. I'm starting with this week's sketch and some romantic K & Company papers! (Brenda Walton- "Madeline").

I have NO idea why the flower doesn't seem to match in this picture.
Looks just fine In Real Life!
I've got a bunch of Valentines to post so it should be a full blog week!
thank you for stopping by!
~Angel

Specially Requested Thank You Cards

It's Monday, Monday....

How was YOUR weekend? I was a stamping machine. I made a lot of Valentines and some RAKs that I've promised to send. Hopefully I will get some photo editing done this week to share those with you!
For now, I've got a project I worked on last month.A very special friend of mine asked me to make her some Thank You cards. I would go out of my way to do a favor for this friend. She is one of a kind! VERY special.
Light Blue and Orange were the colors she requested so I went with Bashful Blue and Pumpkin Pie. Pumpkin is MUCH better than Only Orange. In fact, I doubt I have used Only Orange since Stampin UP came out with Pumpkin.

I came up with a simple design for a 4 1/4" card. And to keep from using too much of my supply of any one color, I alternated each color for the different layers. I used a stamp that was designed for a small tag punch, but it punched nicely from a circle punch as well.
I couldn't decide which Cuttlebug folder to use, so I used them all. I also used a variety of ribbons and added punched flowers for dimension.
On the orange and blue cards, I added a white panel inside stamped with a flower border. And I also stamped the envelopes with a pair of flowers. I love how these turned out. Each one was different.

Thank you for stopping by today!!
I hope you have a WONDERFUL week.
Be sure to say hi!
Blessings!
Angel

Journals Part 2

Here are a few more journals! The first journal I made was for Miss Linda (Christine's daughter). Since it was the first, it was modpodged. I added tiny rhinestones to the butterflies.Barbara requested red and the prayer I printed. To stretch the one piece of 12x12 paper (from a Christmas paper stack!) I got a little creative with the back!
The last of the journals was one I made for our Bible study leader. It matches our study guide. I love the font! Veteran Typewriter which I downloaded from DaFont.com!
Have a Blessed Day!
~Angel

Journals Part 1

Okay.... so don't pass out. I am actually updating my blog TWO days in a row! I've had a couple of inquiries into my journals. I've made about 8 of them over the last couple of weeks. A couple of them I forgot to take pics of. But I've split the journals into 2 posts. I'll show you a few today and a few tomorrow.
I LOVE making cards, but I have to admit making gifts and altered items is my favorite thing to make!
ETA- I started with Composition Notebooks. I recently found some with brown spines on clearance at Staples. A great find!
The first journal was for Sweet Eloise of my TOPS group. She liked a purple journal I had made previously. Since NO 2 journals were alike (due to the fact that I have only one piece of each paper) I made Eloise's journal different, but close to the other design.
The next journal was for Ellen. I painted the spine with white paint and made hers PAISLEY. I do love PAISLEY. Here is a close up of her name and a little paisley diecut. The next journal was for Miss Christine. She is the oldest member of our TOPS group. Somewhere between age 80 and 90. She's still spry. These lovely K & Co papers seemed perfect for her and I stamped and embossed a Psalm to go on her journal.Since I made so many of these, I learned a few things along the way! On some of them I used Mod Podge and on others I ran the paper through the Xyron adhesive. I preferred the Xyron. The Mod Podge sometimes bubbled or made the paper tear. It was hard to apply it evenly.
And at first I used my corner rounder before adhering the paper to the journals. But I learned that using an exacto knife and trimming the corners AFTER adhering worked better.
Also, filing or sanding the egdes gave the journals a finished look and helped get rid of the adhesive gunk.
I used my new Cuttlebug alphabet to personalize the journals. I LOVE having an alphabet die set! Definitely one of my favorite Christmas presents. Thank you, Jake and Megan!!!!
I'll show you the rest tomorrow!!
Blessings~
Angel

Accordian Card

I know you're having a hard time believing it, but I am actually POSTING! Sadly, I found this card in my DRAFTS that I hadn't yet posted. But, I have several projects on my memory card that I just need to get edited and save to my Blogger. I will try to do that today so I can post once in a while and not lose all of my readers.
I have decided to keep my chat to a minimum though so I've come up with a plan. My posts will contain a project and then a simple paragraph that starts with

What I like about this card:
I've never made a card like this before! I used my Ultimate Crafter's Companion and it really did make it easy! I love layering the flowers from paper flowers and punches! And of course I adore this K & Company paper- Wild Saffron!
Have a Blessed day!
~Angel

(And please do come back. I will be attempting to post at least once a week.)
I've updated my Through Angel Eye's blog today too with an explanation of what I've been up to!

Addresses Needed

A few days ago (on this post) I offered cards to the first 5 commenters.

Since there were only 8, I decided to send a card to each one!

SO, sometime in the next couple of weeks, Scrappingdragon, Chery, Rose Ann, Peggy Maier, Missy, Cindi, Tami and Dragonfly can expect a card.

But, I do need your addresses, ladies.

If you haven't sent it to me yet, my email address is to the right.
AND, if you are not one of the above people and you'd like a card from me sometime in the next couple of months, Email me YOUR address and I'll RAK you when you least expect it!

Year in Review

I saw this idea on Rose Ann and Sharon's blogs and decided to browse through my own year of projects.
Here are my personal favorites of the year 2009.

January

I love the crocheted flowers and paper piercing on this ODBD card.

February

Sellabration.....I used the heck out of this SAB set and matching DP. SO springy!

March

*sigh* This framed art piece with FlowerSoft bouquet was so pretty IRL. I knew it had to go to a good home.

AprilAnother ODBD card. I love layering flowers like this and the SU DP is so pretty!

MayI do like my butterflies! This was my May Divine Design project. It makes me happy to know it's in a book full of amazing scriptures that I can look at again and again.


June There was so much detail in this card. I really like how the sunset turned out.

July Again...layering flowers. But this was SO sparkly and the CAS design became my favorite stamping style this year for sure!

August Layering again, but this time with Spellbinder dies and pearls. One of my all time favorite cards. This one went to my son and his wife for their 2nd anniversary.

September More butterflies and pairing them with K & Company DP "Urban Rhapsody" was like magic.

October My Top Note die saw it's share of action in 2009. I really liked this Halloween card. Funny thing...I am not sure how I feel about Halloween, but I enjoy making cards for the occasion. LOL

November I made a few cards with a small scrap of this shimmery brown cardstock and stickers from the clearance section at Walmart. The pic is dark, but the cards were SO pretty. And I fell in love with that shimmery paper. I am thinking it will be what I use for my son's wedding invitations!

December

I know it isn't a card! But there is paper wrapped around the TP roll so I can call it a paper craft project. Seriously, I had so much fun making these little party favors and wish I would have had one left for me.

There you have it... time for a new year and a new batch of cards!
Happy Stamping!
~Angel

On the Subject of Christmas Cards.....

I nearly forgot about my survey. I was curious about how many people still send out cards. The numbers are probably a little skewed on this card maker's blog, but....
The results?
Most people (58%) say that they send cards to ALL of their friends and family.

36% say they send Christmas cards to their family and a few close friends.
One person said they have never sent cards and another said they send cards to whoever sends them one.
I really think that more and more people are choosing not to send cards these days. The reason is probably the cost of postage. And the time it takes too. We are SO busy these days.
I sent over 130 and received 49. A few were stamped and several were my personal favorite... the picture cards. I just love those. There were some gorgeous cards too. One had a packet of seeds inside with the cutest poem about how they planned to send a tree.
So, what do you do with those cards?
I love my friend Shelley's idea of having a basket of cards near their dining room table. Each night they pick a card and pray for the sender(s) at their evening meal.
I save my cards from year to year and usually put them with my Christmas decorations with a band around them labeled with the year. One of these days I will make something cool with them. Any ideas? When I was in the 4th grade (I think) we made placemats by cutting circles out of the pictures on the cardfronts and gluing them together and laminating them. Kinda cool.
Here and Here are a few ideas I found on Google. Gotta love Google!
Back to the survey and a winner......
Only 8 comments so I had my hubby pick a number between 1 and 8 and he chose 7.
The winner is Chrystal. I'll get your RAK out this week, my friend!
Blessings~
Angel

A Simple Thank You

Super Simple card, but I REALLY liked it.
Baja Breeze and Black, pretty ribbon, an elegant embossed panel and Spellbinder die with rub-on. SO easy.
So, where is everyone? Comment on this post and I'll send you a card. (First 5 comments).
I want to see if anyone is stopping by. LOL

~Angel

ETA-I am almost positive that the ribbon came from Michael's Dollar section.

Box of Top Notes

At TOPS we have a special day for each member and it's always a surprise to them. Everyone brings a card and gift. I thought and thought of what to bring and since this member was also a new stamper, I looked around my stamp room asking myself "if I could have one thing as a new stamper what would I like?" And I decided it would be the Top Note die of which I have been in love with since I purchased it. I proceeded to die cut one Top Note die in each of the 48 Stampin Up colors. And when I finished I made a box for them with My Creative Companion.
I think she liked it.

Fleur de lis

Masculine cards.... us girls have a hard time with that, don't we?
I think that one way to make a card masculine is to make it less colorful. With this card I stuck to Kraft brown (always a good choice) and black with white, no ribbons or do dads and a simple layout. I am REALLY loving fleur de lis recently! Funny thing is every time I use it, my hubby asks if the receipient is a Saints fan. Oh well.
I haven't stamped much since Christmas. I hope to make time today. I need a sympathy card for a sweet friend and then I am thinking journals are in order for my TOPS friends for the new year! AND of course I need to start thinking of my son's wedding invitations.
Hope you are having a blessed day!
~Angel