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21 November 2016

And still more holiday cards!

As I posted on Wednesday's WOYWW post, I am working on getting my holiday cards done so I can start writing in them and getting them sent out.  I leave to have a visit with my mom on Friday, so I'm in a bit of a time crunch.  I'm using the City Sidewalks paper from Close To My Heart and various embellishments. I am actively trying not to use any card stock other than white so that people can see what can be made with one pack of paper, one pack of white card stock, some card bases with envelopes, and various stamps and embellishments.

The first few cards are all made using the two sheets of "cards" meant for pocket scrapbooking.  They come as one sheet of 12x12 paper and you cut them out.  Each is printed with a horizontal and a vertical side, so I played with that a little.  Obviously, the 4x6 cards had to be trimmed down to fit the standard 5.5" x 4.25" card blank, and I made a little boo-boo on the Merry Christmas one... I'll let you see if you can see it.
The cards are on the lower right.  You can see the "zip strip" at the top of each piece of paper is different.

Just the printed paper, a little shimmer trim, and some gems to liven it up 
I love playing with the "zip strip"
I loved these snowflakes and wanted to keep it simple!
How gorgeous are the wreaths in the background?! 
Such sweet papers that all go together beautifully

Check back Friday for the rest of the cards... I'm just getting started!

Available Products:
Item # - Item Name (and link)
Z2013 - Silver Sequins
Z2012 - Gold Sequins
Z3274 - Sparkles
Z1263 - Bitty Sparkles
Z3090 - Red Enamel Gems

18 November 2016

Paper Crafting Swappers November Cards

Since all of these have been received, I feel it's safe to post them here.  Paper Crafting Swappers is a group on Facebook where we trade cards each month in up to 4 categories.  You only have to make one of each and you get one of each in return.  This is my first month participating, but my mother has been involved for ages.

Our first category was a Thanksgiving or Thank You card.  I chose to do Thanksgiving because it's my favorite holiday. Not because of what created it, but what it's become... and opportunity for our nation to focus on what we have rather than what we don't.  It's a time for family and friends and gratitude.  I used the September Stamp of the month, Blessed Beyond Measure to create the pumpkin, leaves, and sentiments. Our Cricut Artbooking cartridge cuts out the pumpkin with leaves/stem and the different sized leaves. After I cut out and stamped the pumpkin and leaves I decided to "paint" with our wet brush and ink from the same stamp pads to deepen and spread the colors.   And, of course, I had to add a bit of sparkle with our shimmer trim and gold sequins.


 Second category was to create a Gift Card Holder.  I had seen a video on YouTube for this pop up version and decided this was the perfect time to experiment with the technique. I had some scraps left over from the Oh Deer! paper pack and wanted to see if I could make them work for this. By adding some Sea Glass and Fern card stock, along with some shimmer trim and gold card stock, I got it done! The gold star was cut using a thin cut die and I fussy-cut the card stock base around it.  The inside and outside sentiments were stamped in Chocolate ink and the inside was colored using our ShinHan touch twin markers.

Front with belly-band on

Front with belly-band removed
Inside

The third category for this swap was a Get Well or Breast Cancer Awareness card.  I tried to make a get well card that would apply to anything, but still kept the Breast Cancer Awareness at the forefront. I used the Adventure Fundamentals paper pack for all the patterned paper, some twine from the Adventure ribbon pack, and some pink enamel gems.  The sentiments are actually a peek at the December Stamp of the month, Thoughtful Flowers - but I thought they were perfect for this.

Front of card
Inside of card
The fourth and final category was Anything Goes.  I didn't send this exact card for this swap, but I forgot to take a picture before I mailed it out.  It was also a thank you card, so I figured a substitution wouldn't hurt here on the blog.  Made this using the Uptown Fundamentals paper pack, black shimmer trim, gold sequins, and some scraps of black card stock.  I love how it's so so so simple and quick to throw together, but it looks so upscale because of the gold-foiled vellum.



Thanks so much for reading this far! I hope you enjoyed the cards.  If so, please click "follow" on the right so you don't miss any of my posts in the future.  When I hit 10 followers, I plan on having a fun giveaway of Close To My Heart product.

Available Products:
Item # - Item Name (and link)
Z2012 - Gold Sequins

16 November 2016

What's On Your Workdesk? Wedneday 389

Welcome to my desk on this beautiful Wednesday! I'm feeling much more upbeat and positive about life this week - I've been brainstorming and planning and I think I've set upon a course of action that will help me see the light in the darkness after last week's election debacle.  It is up to me to be a catalyst for change, and the only way to make change is to DO something.  So I'm going to become more of an activist for the things I am passionate about... Enough of serious topics! You're here to see my desk!

Finishing up my Holiday cards... all from one paper pack

So it's not as messy as some, but not nearly as tidy as last week.  I really am lucky that I have the space and organizational talents I have... I've found that while I am in the act of creating, clutter is perfectly fine and unavoidable, but when I'm not currently creating anything, it just stresses me out and makes me less likely to get anything done.  It's good to know ones self.

If you're curious about What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday, check out Julia's Stamping Ground for more information or to join in on the world-wide blog hop! It's fun to see other creative spaces every week!

I'm also starting to journal in a bullet journal, trying to track any number of things about myself in a way that I'm more likely to do than writing in a traditional journal.  In my feeling of motivation to change things, I am starting first with myself - so there are habits and activities that I have chosen to work on. One of which, first and foremost, is taking care of myself.  So many of us take care of everyone around us without a thought for improving ourselves or taking time for us. Or if we do, we feel guilty.  Once I get the layouts I'm using finalized, I'll share some pictures of my journal... but if you want to know more in the meantime, check out my Pinterest Journal Board.

Off to read blogs and drink a cuppa. Have a great week, WOYWWers!

14 November 2016

More Christmas Cards?

If you remember my WOYWW post from a few weeks ago, I was working on some Holiday cards. I must say that I'm happy with how they turned out! They're unique and used techniques and thin cut dies that I've been wanting to play with.

The first card design was made by using our watercolor palette to "wash" different shades of blue onto our watercolor paper. This allowed me to make a gradient sky that doesn't look too flat. After the paint had dried completely, I used Slate ink to stamp the tree line on the background. This neutral backdrop allowed my tree to really stand out when I cut it out with the thin cut die and popped it up with foam tape. The sentiment is stamped in the same Fern green ink and matted with Sapphire card stock. Because I love sparkle, I had to add a sequin "star" to the tree and some rhinestone sparkles.



The second card came about as a way to use scraps.  I had cut the winter out of our silver glitter card stock for another project and I couldn't just leave the negatives alone. Mounted the silver glitter on Sapphire card stock base with our dual action Bonding Memories Glue Pen and covered the raw edge with silver foil tape.  The snowflakes were cut from white daisy card stock and glued down the same way. I LOVE how this glue pen can secure even the thinnest paper strips without leaking out the sides or getting messy. Finished off the snowflakes with a few rhinestone sparkles because, well, sparkle.



I'm really happy with how both card designs turned out and I got about 8 cards of each type out of the materials I had. And since the "winter" sentiments were technically scraps, I feel very thrifty.  Please let me know what you think of the cards in the comments! 

Available Products:
Item # - Item Name (and link)
Z2012 - Gold Sequins


10 November 2016

What's On Your Workdesk? Wedneday 388

 So I know I'm running quite late for all of you in England… But it is still Wednesday here in California as I write this! I had a really hard time motivating today, because of the results of the American presidential election yesterday. I am stunned, blown away, disgusted, and quite frankly scared. But this too shall pass, and we will muddle through.

If you're curious about What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday (WOYWW), head over to Julia's Stamping Ground to look about and maybe think of joining us in our world-wide blog hop.

The desk
This is my work desk today, pretty pristine. I am working on some things that are  secret projects, so unfortunately I can't show you work in progress. But, I did get a Close To My Heart shipment in today, so what is on my desk right now are display boxes and a chalkboard that will go with our Happy Happy Christmas Workshop kit that is on special this month.  Also on my desk is the current Planners Gonna Plan bundle with the 2017 calendar. I actually filmed a video so people could see the inside  and hear my review of the new album that holds it.

The cover of the Mini Album

Each month has a different design to color


Sorry I've missed a couple weeks, I'm hoping to get around to everyone's WOYWD posts this week. Have a great week!

19 October 2016

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday #385

This week has been a busy one for me - between getting stuff done around the house and running errands, I feel like I haven't had much time to just sit down and make art. I have stolen moments here and there though... this is what my desk looks like this morning:


I'm still having fun creating holiday cards, but I've moved on from the kits and into doing my own thing this week. I've gotten to play with some new Close To My Heart dies and stamps and broke out my trusty watercolor palette. And see, not so tidy when it's not all laid out for me. 😉 Creative chaos reigns. 

If you're curious to know more about What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, head on over to Julia's Stamping Ground to learn all about it and to check out other desks from around the world  

13 October 2016

Oh Deer!


Yesterday I gave a peek at my desk as I was just getting started on a new workshop from our Seasonal Expressions catalog called Oh Deer!  This workshop was so fun to do that I finished it yesterday evening between cleaning house and cooking dinner.

I don't have many pictures at all from last winter, so these layouts are going to have to wait to be filled with pics from the coming season.  I'm sure that with a new home and a new place there will be more than plenty of pictures taken!  I'll update the pictures on the blog as I complete the layouts - but here they are sans pictures.

The Oh Deer! Workshop kit comes with all the paper and embellishments you need to complete three two-page layouts and two-page pocket layout (not shown).  If you add the card bases and envelopes, there's more than enough paper to also do eight cards!  The layouts don't require any stamping, but the cards do.  The stamp set they recommend for this project is Season of Magic and I second that wholeheartedly! This set is so pretty! I've already got ideas for several other cards that will be coming shortly with this stamp set and paper combination.
Season of Magic My Acrylix Stamp Set

The workshop's all finished!

The cards

I love the simplicity of this one... and the pinecones on the paper are perfect.

My favorite! I deviated a little from the directions and added red berries.







These stars are actually made of wood!!




Available Products:
Item # - Item Name (and link)

12 October 2016

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday

This is my first time posting for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, something I've been hearing  my mom tell me about for ages now.  I decided I was tired of hearing about all the fun instead of participating in it! If you're interested in learning more, visit Stamping Ground to get all the details.

Welcome to my desk, WOYWWers! My name is Heather (aka: Waywardgypsy) and I'm Vickie (aka: Okienurse)'s daughter.  We recently moved to San Jose, California and I have finally gotten my space all organized and set up... felt like forever (even though it was only 3 months).  You can see more pics on the blog I posted last week.  I'll post the pics of my desk now, and then there's a bit of an introduction for those interested after!

I'm getting ready for the holidays already and starting my Close To My Heart Christmas workshop and party crafting.  I love to give stuff away, so it helps to have loads done ahead of time so I don't stress during the holiday season. You can see the workshop cutting guide on my laptop, and I've already started cutting.  There's some pretty stuff hidden under those papers too!

Just starting a scrapbooking workshop

One of my favorite parts of CTMH paper - the "zip" strips

The papers in the workshop kit
The pretties under the paper - die cuts, stickers, wooden stars and trees, and sparkly twine

As a bit of an introduction, I'm a Close To My Heart consultant and an avid crafter/artist.  I have a degree in painting and drawing from the University of Oklahoma and I'm looking forward to getting a masters in either Fine Arts or Art Education so I can teach. There's nothing I love more than sharing my excitement and passion for art.  I have been married for 10 years to Michael, the sweetest and most supportive man alive (he puts up with me and my artist temperament, not sure he shouldn't be canonized).   We have one African Grey Parrot, Nyassa.  He is almost 21 years old, and is a lot of fun... getting him to shut up is the hard part most of the time.  We've got two kitties, both of which are rescues, and both American short hairs.  Horace is a piebald stray we picked up in Pennsylvania and Inara is part Siamese and we couldn't resist her sassy personality.

We also have three dogs, who are our babies.  Mocha is a black lab mix and is about 4 years old.  She threw herself at our door one night and told us "Hey, I live here now!"  She is a diva and very much daddy's girl.  We got Wesley, a lab/pitbull/mutt, from a rescue when he was 4 months old.  He's my sweet boy, and loves to cuddle up on the couch and chill.  Leo is the baby of the family, a yellow lab mix, and only 10 months old.  We rescued him at 6 weeks old when he was left with his siblings outside of a PetSmart in the middle of winter.  He's goofy and lovable, and I can't wait until he calms down a bit!

And now for pics!

Hey look, it's me! 

Michael - my love

Aren't we cute together? 

Nyassa
Horace

Inara

Mocha

Wesley

Leo
Me and my mom... my favorite person in the world.

That's a lot, I know! Hopefully if you made it this far, you'll come back next week to see what's cookin' at Wayward Gypsy Studios.