The Inky Fingers

Calendar

2012-01-29T10:22:00.000-08:00

Those snow days may have been a pain in the neck to deal with but for Caryl they were a chance to craft. She made a beautiful perpetual calendar for Christine's birthday. I've asked Christine to post a picture of it. And yesterday she gave me an early birthday gift (April is my birthday) and here it is....

The supplies came from Artco with the exception of the stand. The calendar grid is an overlay with a 12x12 decorative paper that Cooper chose for me (love it) and I can change it for each month if I want. A metalic sheet stands in the back and all the items on the calendar have a magnet. Caryl made the number beads and I can personalize special days with the bottle caps she made; birthdays, holidays and other special occasions. I absolutely love it! Thank you Caryl

A Barry Awesome Card

2012-01-09T15:35:00.000-08:00

Christine received this card from Barry and to her surprise the skater started spinning when the card was opened. The skater is suspended on a string in the center of the oval. Caryl took pictures from different angles so we could see how Barry made it. I love the color scheme and the cord detail, I just have one word for it.... BEAUTIFUL!

Christmas

2012-01-06T19:20:00.000-08:00

We had a dinner get together in December and the challenge was to bring a decorated box for an exchange. Christine, our hostess, had a number at each place setting and as the bags with the boxes came in she randomly put a number on each. We matched our numbers to the bags and voila! we each had a beautiful item to take home.

Caryl and I went to Value Village looking for a suitable box to decorate, she found this horrible house shaped box with colors from the 80's, funky flowers all over it, it was so bad I tried to discourage her from getting it. Then who should get the box in the exchange? Moi, but the transformation was amazing, I love it, she even made the bird, I used it to hold my Christmas cards and it looked great on my dinning room table.

Marcia's box has a sliding lid, she covered the inside with decorative paper adding cut out poinsettias to the glass lid. Beautiful.

The flower covered lid is gorgeous, Angela decorated this charming box.

When I saw this box I really thought it was store bought and Dawn had just refinished the outside...Noooooooo - she colored the glass, added the stained glass details and antiqued the box. I wanted this one too but Monique got it...LUCKY!!

Monique's box has an "old Christmas" feel to it, I love the detail work.

Not a box but a tray, and a darn beautiful one too. Barry decoupaged the center with festive holiday colors and painted the tray. Love the colors and if it were mine (hint, hint) I would display it on my coffee table with a candle and some pretty holly.

Christine, Santa called he wants his mailbox back! Whimsical, colorful and just plain FUN.

Lupine's box tells a lot about her, no it's not that she drinks, it's the attention to color and detail. It can hold a bottle of perfume, candy, a scarf or just about anything not necessarily alcoholic.

This is my box, Cari, I ended up making two boxes. It all started with no inspiration to the point of wanting to drop out of the exchange, you know that feeling, and then creativity kicked in and I was unstoppable. Each side of the box is different, I added wood buttons found at Michael's to raise it a little and a glass knob on the top for a "classier" look.

Here is my second box which I kept.

We will be getting together at Angela's house next and the project will be calendars.....to be continued

A Thank You Card from Barry & Jerome

2011-12-11T22:41:00.001-08:00

This was a thank you card I received this past summer.

The detail & layering is wonderful!

Nice work Barry.

no inky fingers for this project.

2011-10-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

Do you crochet or knit? Got leftover yarn you don't know what to do with.... here is your next project.
Christine taught us how to make the felt flowers by cutting circles into spirals, rolling into a flower and gluing. We covered straw wreaths (still wrapped in the cellophane) with yarn and used hot glue to put the flowers on. Total cost about $5.00 and still have left over yarn and felt for more wreaths.

Christine

Cari

Caryl

Halloween Treats

2011-10-10T21:35:00.000-07:00

In a couple of weeks the Book Club will be meeting at my place and I made some Halloween treat bags for the ladies. I have two more to make but I think I've had enough candy for today so perhaps tomorrow I will finish this project.

September project-completed

2011-09-19T18:50:00.001-07:00

Here is my finished Halloween project. I had so much fun putting this together. I put a couple drops of glow-in-the-dark nail polish on the cat's eyes, the window below has acrylic and the moon was inked and then I covered it with Glass Effects. The boards on the window are actually chipboard that I inked with three different browns, then used my bone folder to create groves. I put a little marker in the groves after everything dried to create a better shadow. The door knob and path are made with The Robin's Nest brand acrylic pebbles. Oh! One other little thing, I changed the owl that was resting on the tree branch in the background and initially had a shimmery, white paper for the eyes. I changed it to red - it looks a little creepier to me. Excellent project! Can't wait for the next get-together.

September Inky Fingers

2011-09-11T19:04:00.000-07:00

WOW!!! We had a great day at Barry and Jerome's- got a tour of their fabulous new house, ooohhh and ahhhhh over Barry's dream craft room, of course we talked and ate even celebrated Barry's up coming birthday, Christine brought a Cold Stone Ice Cream Cake.....YUM!!!!!
Barry and Jerome really raised the bar with their Halloween Diorama project, the creativity was flowing on this one, each diorama is as unique and wonderful as it's creator. Put on your 3D glasses these will blow your mind.

Barry

Sabine

Jerome

Cari

BarryJerome

Linda

Dawn

Christine

Work in progress..Monique

Marcia

THANK YOU BARRY AND JEROME FOR HOSTING

2011-08-26T20:47:00.000-07:00

These cards were made with the SU set Fabulous Florets. I love this stamp set and the decorative papers that match it. I also used the butterfly from the Creative Memories stamp set Find Your Style. Marcia and I got creative and these are the results.

Marcia

Cari

Marcia

Customer Appreciation

2011-08-22T10:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Customer Appreciation Day at Angela's house, our Close to My Heart consultant and friend. As always, the card samples were fabulous and Angela served a delicious chicken salad, and other goodies. And to top it all off, we made two adorable cards. Thank you Angela.

Inky Fingers July

2011-07-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

Caryl graciously provided her house for our July get together while Cari provided the projects. The first one was a Twist Card.

Then came the Tri Fold Card

and to top it off the "All In an Inch" Challenge

A star is born...

2011-06-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

I have made several stars including a Christmas one with photos and they are fun to do. My friend Bonnie came over last week and made her first star with a 4th of July theme.

Graphics 54 paper

2011-06-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

no stamping required

2011-05-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

A friend is moving to a new home giving me the opportunity to make a card. I have no "house" stamps but on a trip to Michael's this weekend I found, in the dollar bins, dimensional birdhouse stickers they come four to a package one set had the three stickers used on this card plus one more birdhouse. Easy, easy and inexpensive.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

2011-05-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers. ~Jewish Proverb

A couple of Mother's Day cards for inspiration...

Using her sewing machine Caryl stitched the word Mom and it took her several hours to get it just right. Since this may be the only stitched card she will ever make I appreciate it all the more.

Christine

INKY FINGERS APRIL CHALLENGE

2011-05-08T18:31:00.000-07:00

We met at Christine's house for brunch and each person brought a paper bag with card stock, decorative paper and embellishments. After trading bags and with three different card layouts to choose from we all set out to work and here are the results. The above card was made by Christine.

Cari

Jerome

Marcia

Caryl - Barry

2011-04-09T12:35:00.000-07:00

LOVE THE OWL PUNCH!!!

2011-04-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

During the Christmas season Christine and I went to Goodwill looking for used music books. We found lots of them some even with Christmas music and very inexpensive. We love the weathered, yellowed pages in these books they add character to a card or scrapbook page. Here is a card Christine made using a piece from a music page.

the cake.....by Christine

2011-04-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

What is a birthday without the cake? No fun!
So here its the large size cupcake with a cute Happy Birthday banner that Christine made. ADORABLE!

follow up to Caryl's birthday, the cards.....

2011-04-04T18:32:00.000-07:00

Christine made this card for Caryl's birthday

Using Stampin Up decorative paper this is Cari's card.

Caryl's Birthday

2011-04-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

March 1st was Caryl's birthday and her sister Christine made her some mini gifts that I think you will all enjoy seeing. These items are made of wool yarn, the technique is needle felting. She made a cupcake pin cushion and a tiny ring pin cushion, an owl and a partridge. The pins she made using the sculpty modeling clay. The birthday theme was sewing because Caryl recived a new sewing machine for her birthday and we are expecting some fabulous quilts and table runners coming our way. Christine never seizes to WOW! us with her creativity.

The Inky Fingers February Craft Day

2011-04-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

The Inky Fingers and guests had a wonderful time making 3x3 mini scrapbooks.

2011-03-31T09:07:00.000-07:00

Marcia gave me this beautiful card and I want to share it with you.

Close to My Heart Workshop

2011-01-22T20:40:00.000-08:00

Close to My Heart has an Inspirations mini catalog and today I went to a workshop where we made cards with the Stamp of the Month - Find Your Style. I bought the stamp set! When you see these pictures you will agree there was no way I could pass it up.

To make the skirt we sprayed a strip of decorative cardstock with water, wrinkled it into a ball stretched it out and pleated.. Little sparkling beads make the necklace. Adorable!

The background is stamped, notice the button brad on the shoe.

Homemade with Love

2011-01-22T16:00:00.000-08:00

Once in a while the family decides to have a Homemade Christmas and 2010 was one of those times. I used the Ikea framed mirror to create my homemade craft by covering the frame with decorative paper from the Graphic 45 line, doing some creative cuttings here and there, pop up dots and a little bling.

Quote: Well behaved women rarely make history - Ulrich

Quote: Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

-Picasso

A VERY MERRY DAY

2010-12-15T11:44:00.000-08:00

'Twas days before Christmas when from towns far and near the Inky Fingers gathered filled with laughter and cheer.
Most lights they came on, and the tables were set as we all settled down for a nice winter fest.
When what to our wondering eyes there appeared but a nice little treat full of warm winter cheer!

With dishes to share and tags yet to make we were all ready of this fun to partake.

Since I am not a poet I'll just end it here and wish you all a Christmas full of Good Cheer.

************************************************************************

Here at the dishes and recipe cards.

Barry

_______________________________________________________________________

Marcia

_______________________________________________________________________

Monique

______________________________________________________________________

Cari

________________________________________________________________________

Dawn

__________________________________________________________________________

Claudia

A long distance Inky Finger

______________________________________________________________________

Christine

________________________________________________________________________

Caryl

______________________________________________________________________

Thank you Barry and Jerome for hosting our gathering. The Potato Soup was fabulous!

***************************************

Sneak Peek....

2010-12-13T15:20:00.000-08:00

Here is a sneak peek at our Inky Fingers December fun where we each brought a gift tag for everyone to make. Christine made a garland of the tags and hung them on her fireplace. Double click on the picture to see it larger.

More pictures to come.......

Ta-dah!

2010-12-07T14:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, my necklace is not as clean as Angelas you can see bubbles and rough edges but the idea is there for you all to see. All you need is a washer, a punch the size of the washer, pretty paper and Crystal Effects, both Stampin Up and Close to My Heart sell it. When making it be sure your tape covers the whole washer otherwise the edges will lift when covered with the Crystal Effects. The cord and bead you can find at any craft store. So get to making......

Sunday Fun

2010-12-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

Sunday was Customer Appreciation Day at Angela's house, our Close to My Heart consultant,everyone made four free projects I am posting two of them I am still working on the necklace and will post later depending on how well it turns out, I know Angela's was beautiful. The gift card holder is specially cute and very easy to make. The picture does not do justice to the peacock card it is embossed in white and it sparkles in just the right places

2010-11-27T14:44:00.000-08:00

What to do on a cold and rainy day? Craft! Decided to play with the Stampin Up punches and the Cuttlebug and here are some simple cards I made. So come on Inky Fingers where are those holiday crafts you've been making?

FROSTY DAYS AHEAD

2010-11-17T15:55:00.000-08:00

Once I get inspired I just roll with it and after the Give Thanks banner I made this one. The papers are SNOW MUCH FUN by 3bugsinarug and I absolutely love them. Didn't have any letters so I ran to Michael's got lucky and found these Martha Stewart letters that are perfect for the theme. The ribbon has shiny silver snowflakes.

GIVE THANKS

2010-11-17T15:42:00.000-08:00

Just a little something I made for our Crafty Ladies group that meets at the Fircrest Community Center. Making a paper craft was a first for some but everyone did wonderful and added their own creative touch.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

2010-10-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

The Challenge: Working with your assigned letter create a panel for a Halloween banner that will read TRICK OR TREAT. Bring material to make another panel with the word OR.

Participants: Dawn, Monique, Lupine, Christine, Caryl, Marcia, Cari, Barry, Jerome and Danielle.

RESULTS.... (the photo was pieced together from three separate ones so the panels don't appear to be the same size, but they are. Double click to see it larger.)

And now for a view of each panel and the name of the artist.

Christine

Barry

Danielle

Caryl

Monique

Cari

Jerome

Lupine

Dawn

Cari

Marcia

Here are some of the OR panels we each made.

Jerome

Caryl

Christine

Danielle

Barry

What a fabulous banner we brought home. Having a banner that everyone contributed to will always remind us of the friendships we have found in the Inky Fingers and the fun times we share.

GREAT WORK EVERYONE AND A WARM " WELCOME"

TO JEROME AND DANIELLE.

Alina Name Frame

2010-10-02T23:57:00.000-07:00

Tonight I made a name frame for my friend Fred's daughter Alina, who will be turning 1 year old next Saturday.

In the past we used a different alphabet to make our name frames, something more shabby and vintage-looking. Because this was for a baby, Caryl loaned me this Stampin' Up! alphabet that she saved from the "sell" pile - and thank goodness, because it's whimsical and perfect for a little girl's name.

Fred told me that Alina's room is purple and white so I knew what the color theme would be. I checked out the button section of Joann's and found the little flowers on the letters as well as the purple lady bugs. The ribbon with fabric flowers was a great find because it fit the color scheme and filled in the lower section of the frame. Thanks to Caryl for reminding me of the bird punch, which ended up perfect to fill the upper left corner. The shadow-box frame was $10 at Joann's, so the total cost of the name frame is under $20 - not bad for a birthday gift!

CLOSE TO MY HEART CARDS

2010-09-19T19:04:00.000-07:00

Attended a Close To My Heart workshop on Saturday and here are the cards we made. The bag for the M&M treat can be ordered from http://www.GTBags.com/ they are 1x8, we filled them by inserting a rolled piece of paper about the length of the bag, creating a funnel, the candy fell right in, but we had to insert a skewer to make the first candy sit flat on the bottom it was easy after that. I like the simple layouts, they can be used with any stamp set.

Message Board

2010-09-05T12:15:00.001-07:00

We need a way to communicate when the baby has eaten and napped so I made this message board. I took a large Ikea frame, painted it and put some scrapbook paper in it. Now we can write on it with a dry erase marker so we are all on the same page! It's also fun to write notes to my girls:-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thank you Monique

2010-09-04T18:02:00.000-07:00

Not to toot our own horn, but DANG we are creative and we can cook!

The challenge for our August get together was to make a 6X6 scrapbook page (enough for each Inky Finger to get one) and include the recipe of the dish we were bringing , Monique's great idea, we then together decorated the cover of our recipe book and filled it with the pages. The results were FABULOUS!!!!. We will have pictures in the near future.

We loved the idea of the recipe book so much that everyone agreed to make another scrapbook page for December.

Ciao

2010-08-24T17:26:00.000-07:00

My grandson Quentin is celebrating his 10th birthday with a camping party so mom Caryl supplied the stamps, aunt Christine cut the tent pattern and nana put it all together.

WE HAD FUN!!!!

2010-06-29T16:22:00.000-07:00

Well, Marcia and I had a blast making cards, drinking coke and eating M&Ms and here are a couple of our creations. Marcia was in a pink mood and her cards reflect it, I was a little blue. We used the new Stampin Up Smooch Spritz, Vanilla Shimmer and LOVE IT!

2010-06-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

Surprise! It's Marcia! Cari convinced me to bring some cards over and post them on our web site. So here are some new ideas to try. On this first card, I used scraps of paper, taped them together and ran them through the Cuttlebug (what a great toy). Then I added a birthday cupcake. The "icing" of the cake is printed paper which tied into all of the colors on the card.

On the second card, I decided to stitch the stem for the flower and added a piece of ribbon under the stitch to form the leaves. The leaves are a little droopy from storing them in a bag. You could use a glue dot to position the leaves upward.

GO SPAIN!!!!

2010-06-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

I am spending way too much time with my TV the World Cup is starting to dominate my life (GO SPAIN!!!) I knew I was in trouble when I found myself setting the TV coverage on mute while I sat with my laptop streaming a radio station from Spain during the Spain game last week, and today I was tempted to seek out an Argentinian radio station while I watched the Argentina game but I restrained myself from taking it all too far. Sooooo... instead today I decided to become more productive and, in between games, I made a couple of cards with flower photos I took at the Conservatory in Tacoma. I used the Cuttlebug to create the embossed backgrounds, Stampin' Up cardstock and bird punch.

Inky Fingers in June

2010-06-18T10:15:00.000-07:00

LOVE THE BIRDS!!! The Inky Fingers and special guests met at Christine's house where, after a delicious lunch, we made this mini scrapbook. Isn't it adorable?

Here are a few more pictures of our little get together.

MOTHERS DAY

2010-05-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

Here is my Mothers Day card from Christine.  She found the layout challenge on Splitcoaststampers and created this most beautiful card. I hope all the mothers had a wonderful Mothers Day.
   "The angels, whispering to one another,
    can find, among their burning terms of love,
    none so devotional as that of Mother"
                               - Edgar Allen Poe

MAGENTA CARDS

2010-05-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

During the Northwest Paper Chase Christine and I (Cari) fell in love with the MAGENTA line of stamps and decorative papers and with the sample cards we saw displayed at the shop Art 'n Soul. Last Thursday we took a class with the artist and here are the results. We used the Versafine Onyx black ink pad to stamp the images, colored pencils and chalks created the beautifully soft effect.

NORTHWEST PAPER CHASE 2010

2010-04-12T13:51:00.000-07:00

Here we are on Sunday, March 21 at one of the many stores we visited during the Northwest Paper Chase event.

MEMORIES

2010-04-12T13:24:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the framed scrapbook pages I saw at Sharin Memories in Olympia I created and framed this page using my mother's wedding photo. It was fun to make and a beautiful way to display a favorite photo.
Visit - http://www.sharinmemories.com/ to see many of the framed pages she has in her store.

Paper Chase Part 1....

2010-03-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

On our first day of the Paper Chase experience, loaded with enthusiasm and our credit cards, Christine and I went South to Olympia and Centralia. Little did we imagine what surprises awaited us in every shop we visited they all had something new and unique to offer, at the very first shop Art and Soul we discovered MAGENTA and her beautiful cats and bird stamps, we loved the samples and technique so much we signed up for a class. This line also has self adhesive peel off Autocollants if you are not familiar with these check out the delicate silver details in the cat card that appears to be embossing.

MAGENTA also has beautiful decorative papers. The bird card is done entirely with the Autocollants.

Our next discovery was at Sharin' Memories where the owner has a very unique style using flowers and a new product (to us at least) GLIMMER MIST. She had several scrapbook pages displayed in shadow boxes, a great selection of papers and flowers at this shop and the owners were very friendly.

We also saw great project ideas, one was made with a large crayola box and another with small manila envelopes.So those are just two of the four shops we visited on Saturday. More to follow about our Sunday Paper Chase adventures from other members of our Inky Fingers Group. You can tell I am the retired one in the group with lots of time on her hands to do postings. Happy Spring!!!

Wedding Shower Invitations

2010-03-15T19:34:00.000-07:00

A former co-worker and fellow traveler Joanne, we traveled to London and Italy together, is getting married and I offered to make the shower invitations. Caryl, Christine and I got together on Saturday and with paper, ink, stamps and a little brainstorming - VOILA!!! Fun and fabulous cards.
We used Stampin Up paper Petite Rose, the stamp set Be Yourself from Close to My Heart and the stack pad All Dressed Up.

November 09-new members

2009-11-23T15:04:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of our newest members-Ruby and Cooper! As you can see they had fun and worked hard at our last meeting.

laughing, eating, talking, stamping...

2009-10-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

Our evening started with a meal of baked potatoes with all the trimmings, salad, cheese, crackers, and two fabulous desserts. After all the eating, laughing, talking, and with happy tummies, we were ready to stamp. Our new Stampin Up representative Julie brought three card projects to make using new stamps and products from the mini catalog. What a great time we all had!!!! Thank you Marcia for hosting.

Christmas cards already!

2009-09-24T20:34:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I went with Marcia to our favorite shop Toadilly Scrappin where they have the best selection of Halloween and Christmas decorative papers I have seen anywhere. Found my inspiration with a couple of papers that go perfectly with my old Stampin Up stamp set Polar Bears and here are a couple of cards. I now have a jump on Christmas.

Stampin Up mini sneak preview

2009-08-24T17:38:00.000-07:00

Here is a great website that Marcia found showing card samples using new stamps from the upcoming mini. Have fun!

http://www.stampinpretty.com/

Scrappin' Shop Hop

2009-08-18T15:47:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of additional photos from our Shop Hop.

2009-08-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures from our June swap. Grab your tub-o-popcorn... we made it into a movie!
Enjoy!

STAMPIN UP BEAR

2009-08-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

Adorable!!! Stampin Up and Build a Bear have joined forces to create this cute bear that comes with a stamp...available in the next mini catalog. Go to this site and check it out, be sure to scroll all the way down the page.
http://blog.stamperdog.com/

Sister Birthday Card

2009-07-23T19:33:00.000-07:00

My co-worker Mechelle's sister is turning 40 and they are going to the "Pink" concert to celebrate, so she wanted to make a special card to present her with the concert tickets. Here is the finished product - note that it resembles a clutch purse! The card was made with a 12x12 piece of pink paper, so it turned out actual clutch size as well...so cute!

Close-up of the front, complete with "Diva" button!

The top center portion of the card is where the concert tickets will go, adhered with black photo corners. On the left side of the center panel Mechelle is going to put a picture of the two sisters, which can be updated with a photo of them from the night of the concert. The space below was left blank for Mechelle's personal birthday message to her sister.

Inky Fingers on the GO

2009-07-23T18:58:00.001-07:00

Our first "Scrap Shop Hop" on July 11th took us to three local stores. Dawn, Monique, Caryl and Cari piled into Dawn's car and enthusiastically headed out-first to Toadilly Scrappin' in Gig Harbor. A first visit for Dawn and Monique and they loved it!!!. This store has a great selection of decorative papers and embellishments, the staff is very friendly(in fact, the owner even took our picture and entrusted us to watch her store while she visited the restroom!) and their scrap page samples are beautiful! We took LOTS of pictures and basically spent our wad of cash there.

Our next stop was Artco on 6th Ave in Tacoma, and after Toadilly Scrapin', this was no big deal. Of course, by then we were hungry too, so we were not quick to impress regardless.

So off to South Hill and Red Robin where we had nice sit-down lunch filled with chatting, giggling, reviews of the previous stores we had visited, and some yummy food. The last stop on the tour was Scrap'n Book. While we were impressed with their selection (still not as good as Toadilly though!)the prices are higher and the store is not as nicely laid out. Can you guess which store we prefer?

It was a full and fun day and we are looking forward to having ALL the Inky Fingers join us for our next "Scrap Shop Hop" when we venture forth to the scrappin' territory to the north.

Bachelorette Party Invite

2009-07-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

My co-worker Mechelle is the Maid of Honor in her friend Heidi's wedding and the Bachelorette Party is a camping trip that a group of them are taking in August. Mechelle wanted to make some cute, camping-themed invitations for the trip, so she came over and we transformed my dining room table into "Bachelorette Invite Central" (see photo above). It was a lot of work (turns out she is an over-achiever, too!) and lots of creative fun. As you can see, the invitations are super-elaborate and very adorable. So many personal touches were included, I will note some below with the pictures. Hopefully you can click on the image to see a larger version of it, but I've had a problem posting photos lately, so keeping my fingers crossed:

The champagne bottle (which we MADE, complete with tin foil topper) has a "couple's name" made up of Heidi and her fiance's last names along with the date of their wedding.

The shooting star above says, "...and then the heavens smiled..." in honor of Heidi and her fiance's Moms who have both passed away.

Internal shot of the complete camping scene. We had to cut out and color everything except for the fire, skillet and marshmallow stick. Note the couple's initials "stitched" on the tent.

The open invitation with pull-out extended...

A close-up of the camping scene - love the sleeping bag and plaid blanket!

The pull-out, with postcard-style instructions that Mechelle printed on the computer. Notice that the camper has little cans trailing behind, like a "Just Married" vehicle.

Quick Little Notecards

2009-07-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

Here are a few 3 x 3 note cards I made today using one of my favorite color combos (Red, Black and White - so 1980's) and a few new stamp images that my sister Caryl gave to me as a get well gift. Sorry for the blurry photos...

Sick Time Thank You Cards & a Completed, Long Overdue Halloween Project

2009-07-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

This is the cover of the Exploding Scrapbook...that is an actual photo of the pumpkins we carved, all lit-up!!!

So, being that I am home sick for the next few days I have taken to crafting - yay! I have completed two thank you cards (one for my co-worker Hye and the other for my boss, Donna) and also managed to finally finish the exploding scrapbook I started for Halloween 2008...quite an accomplishment, and only 9 months late. Here are the pictures:

This is the card for Hye...Caryl loaned me the Close To My Heart Stamp Set "Be Yourself". I chose the funky, go-go boot wearing girl for Hye's card as it goes with her personality. Young and fun!

This is the card for my boss, Donna. I chose the more sophisticated "party girl" image for her card - and the shoe definitely fits!

This is the inside (left) of the exploding scrapbook - it documents our visit to the corn maze and pumpkin patch, and then later in the day when we carved the pumpkins and proudly displayed them.

Here is the inside (right) side of the exploding scrapbook.

Included this because I love the look on Beckett's face, and the expression on Felipe's (the cat's) face!!!

A 1-minute video

2009-07-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

I got this neat video from my Mom. She always finds the best tips. Enjoy!
http://www.valeriestangle.blogspot.com/2007/05/tying-ribbon.html

Dawn

2009-06-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

Here is a blog to check out, this gal is in Scotland.

http://scrappanic.blogspot.com/

almost 365 project

2009-06-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

Ok girls you can tell who has too much time on her hards, here are the first two pages of my "almost" 365 project. I just can't bring myself to take a picture a day, for pete's sake of what? But it makes me look at my days a little differently and I found they are too boring to catalog. But there are days when boring is good. I promise not to post all my pages so as not to bore you all.

A Few Crafty Links...

2009-05-22T14:02:00.001-07:00

With this link, check out the Square Around and File Folder: http://www.making-mini-scrapbooks.com/index.html

and check out this site (very cool for altered books):

http://www.artellawordsandart.com/index.html

Scrap 365

2009-05-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

Howdy Y'all! Just wanted to invite everyone to join me in a challenge.....a couple of months ago, I read about this thing called, "Project 365" in Creating Keepsakes magazine. What it is......well, in short, you take a photo (or obtain a photo on-line) and journal something about your day, everyday, for a whole year. Yes, that's 365 days. Sounds like a lot, eh? Well, the more I thought about it and read about it, the more curious I became.....could I really do ONE pic everyday for a year? How can I focus on just ONE thing from each day? will I run out of things to talk about? Will it just prove what a boring life I have? Well, I went on-line and found divine inspiration....now I think...."if those yahoos can do it, so can I!" It actually looks really cool! Looking back on your year in photos and journaling will really make you appreciate the little things in life and all the blessings each of us has. BTW....they, of course, sell a kit for project 365.....well, they are sold out, I should say. Some psycho on Ebay has bid $122 for the kit and it still has 3 more days to go!! Anyways, I want to invite you guys to join me in this challenge. If you can't take a photo a day, just do a photo a week. The photos are not big and the journaling is not long. In fact, if you go onto the Creating Keepsakes website, you will see that they fit an entire week of photos and journaling onto a 2-page 12x12 layout. You can make yours any way you want...be unique! Whether doing a scrapbook, writing it in a journal, or whatever! Let's challenge ourselves to see all of the fun things, funny things, mundane things, and all the blessings in our everyday lives! I will be starting on June 1st......and will finish out 2009 this way. Please join me and post to our blog some of your pages and ideas! I look forward to seeing them!
Caryl PS check out Becky Higgins blog for her Project 365 ideas and samples: http://beckyhiggins.com/ also, if you go into her Products area, you can download a CUTE, FREE handwriting font-too cute!

My scrapbook club

2009-05-10T19:29:00.000-07:00

I recently joined a scrapbook club through my friend, Angela Tutton, who is a Close To My Heart representative. Each month, we pay for the level of kit that we want. We all do the same kit, but there are 3 levels to choose from- Basic, Better and Best. I am always excited to see what the theme for the month is ahead of time, so I can plan the photos I want to bring or decide if I just want to leave them blank. Here are the two pages from April (and yes, I know I have not journaled on them yet!). This month we are doing a camping theme and I can't wait! If anyone would like more info on our group or would like to come to our next meeting, just let me know!

Mother's Day gifts AGAIN......

2009-05-10T19:27:00.001-07:00

These are the "Nana" scrapbook pages (12 x 12) that I made for my mom at my monthly CTMH scrapbook club. I also gave her the rest of the kit to complete more pages too. I didn't journal, cuz I wanted to let her have control over what they say. I just LOVE their kits-too cute!

More Mother's Day gifts.....

2009-05-10T19:23:00.001-07:00

This is a little scrapbook made for my mom for Mother's Day from a set of Vera Bradley cards that I bought. I used both the cards and envelopes and made lots of slides for each. It is blank, as it is ready for HER to fill with her favorite photos! This is also fast and economical cuz I can get 2 books out of each card set and still have 2 cards and envelopes left over to give each gift recipient a matching card to go with it!

2009-05-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day toilet paper roll mini scrapbook

2009-05-10T19:10:00.001-07:00

This is the toilet paper roll mini scrapbook album that I made for my mom for Mother's Day. I used 3 empty toilet paper rolls and scraps of paper and embellishments left over from my scrapbook club. I made this in less than an hour and a half last night-just a last minute thought to make it. The thing that took the longest was cleaning off and covering the dang rolls!! Luckily though, it goes together quick cuz you CAN'T add tons of embellishments or the book won't close! I saved time and money by converting all the photos to black and white and making them into a photo collage on Walgreens.com. This way I got lots of little sizes-perfect for fitting more than one on each page if I wanted. My only problem....I didn't have rings quite large enough and didn't want to go back out last night. My mom says that she will switch these out though so the book will close better. A very fun, fast project!

April 09 Get Together

2009-04-28T21:52:00.001-07:00

Posted by Lupine
The Inky Fingers got together this past weekend at Marcia's house. The challenge was to bring a box or container that we liked the looks of and some paper or cardstock in a bag. We traded the bags until we each had one -- thanks to Caryl for the "left right" story! -- and then we had to make a card inspired by the container. Caryl, though in attendance, did not make a card but she did provide laughs and encouragement! Here are the fruits of our labor:

Dawn

Monique

Christine

Lupine

Cari

We also traded a bunch of stuff we no longer wanted (score!) AND we had a delicious dinner. We started off with some amazing appetizers from Christine -- a fruit & nut crostini with goat cheese, a caramelized pear, arugula and topped with a honey white balsamic vinegar sauce (yum!)-- delicious stuffed shells and a nice leafy salad. We ended our feast with fabulous incredible red velvet cupcakes. Not only do we make great crafts, we eat well too!

We also floated some ideas for the future of our group:

Start a blog (hello!)
Have some get togethers to just work on our own projects
Monique and Dawn are thinking of becoming stamping up reps - sweet!
Do some kind of donation of our time or our products.

Here's to the Inky Fingers and thanks Marcia -- you are a wonderful hostess!