Smash Book and Project Life

Smash Book!

Project Life!

How about Smash Life?

Take that journal down from the shelf…

Let the friend and creator of the journal know how much I love it.  More than just a pretty sitting on a shelf.  It is time to fill this journal.

My first attempt is a photo from 1999.  January 2013 is when this picture became more than just something shoved away in a box.  Club Scrap stamp on green card stock, heat embossed with white embossing powder.  Spirals and wheels made me think of the windmills in California.  A song from about 1968 had sort of moved itself up from the dungeon of my brain.  “Windmills of Your Mind” is the song and I wrote a bit of the lyrics on this page.

Papers are from the stash of stuff Jann Gray gave me along with the journal.  October Afternoon and 7 Gypsies are among the papers from 2010.

Pictures of my travels in our work are taken mostly daily.  Just need to be a little more creative in how to use them.  Select a representative amount for a trip/load and have them printed on 4″ x 6″ photo paper collage style.  Walgreens is printing my photos.

Cut out the photos……cut out the printed map of the load/trip….paste and glue to a page in the journal and I have a start to my “Smash Life”

I am over the flu – finally!  Now I’m in the throes of trying to conquer a 40 year pack a day smoking habit which is proving to be a bit of a challenge.  My doctor told me I  needed to quit before I get myself locked into full blown COPD.  Cold Turkey is more like “Lukewarm” Turkey.  At least I’ve cut the pack a day down to ONE cigarette a day.  Maybe that is progress.  Poor Joe.  I’m not sure if he can say that he has been carried home on his shield after the days battle.  I hope he can survive this.  I’m not sure I can but I’m going to work one day at a time at it.

Are you creating in a Smash Book or taking part in the Project Life phenomenon?  Are you venturing off on your own and making your own Smash Life journal?

Leslie

 

A night spent “Building Shelves”

A back story is necessary here. Once you know what I mean about “building shelves” you will be able to relate totally to my inability to get a simple card created last night. Without further ado, here is the back story.

My husband, Joe, and his best friend, Cliff, were building and installing shelves in Joe’s airplane hangar the winter of 1972.

These two guys are construction savvy. They have the tools and the knowledge to restore old homes or build additions on newer homes.

This one cold night, working in a heated hangar, nothing was going right. Boards were cut too short, shelf supports were not level, thumbs were whanged by the hammer head instead of the nails. Measuring devices thwarted all their efforts to get the boards marked the preferred length. Levels used to install the shelf brackets gave off false readings.

In short these two men were too tired from their day jobs to focus on the task at hand. Four hours of work to construct and hang three shelves proved to be a four hours of totally wasted effort. Both men went home with their tails between their legs and heads hung low. Both questioning their sanity.

The next day dawned brightly, as did the two men. After a good nights sleep they tackled the shelves once again and had them perfectly constructed and hung level in 45 minutes.

The quip used in our home now when things go wrong for no apparent reason is “I was/am building shelves.”

Upon arriving at our hotel room, yesterday afternoon, in Nashville, Tennessee I got out my card making supplies and started creating a card featuring another sticker.

My intent was to use the scraps I’ve accumulated thus far and make a colorful base to feature the sticker. One thing lead to another. Each addition compounded the distraction factor of the rest. The papers seemed to me to be having a war with each other.

Putting the failing creation aside I decided to apply some Glossy accents to the saying portion of the sticker. Do something else since the rest is falling apart.

We left the hotel in search of a restaurant for dinner. Upon arriving back at the hotel I began putting my supplies and tools away. Joe asked, a little surprised, “You putting your stuff away? It is only 7!” My answer to Joe was “I’m building shelves.”

Looking at the card base I was less than thrilled with the results. Joe came over to take a look and then he brightly chirped “Turn it this way. The spacial orientation is off the other way.”

This is the card front Joe was referring to.

This is Joe’s insight. I have to admit it works.

Now you know what “building shelves” means.

Leslie

Free stickers from scrapbook or card making magazines.

Last spring I was in Barnes and Nobel booksellers with Joe. While he hunted and gathered his reading materials I looked at the selection of magazines for paper crafting. One I purchased had some stickers inside, like the Cracker Jack surprise in the box. I wasn’t all that impressed with them and stuffed them away in a cupboard in my craft room.

In my attempt to keep my portable crafting kits down to a minimum I have been trying to see how creative I can be with just a few items. This time my card kits were put together with the stickers being the main feature. The card insides are blank. A light colored off white piece of card stock is attached inside so the person sending the card has room to write.

I attached the stickers to colored card stock then found papers and other card stock to use as the base, mats, and decoration.

I created two cards tonight in the hotel room in Memphis, Tennessee. The first I used some Stampin’ Up! decorative paper, colored card stock also from Stampin’ Up!, some Liquid Pearls for a bit of texture, a bit of bling with some tear drop rhinestones, and I doodled in black ink around the sticker and the outer edge of the card stock the sticker was adhered to.

I forgot to mention I used a Martha Stewart punch to add a bit of lacy trim.

My second card was quick. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder to impress a filigreed frame to go behind a sticker that I fussy cut around to show a smidgen of the card stock it was attached to.

That is all I created today. I do have to say that stickers can be useful on cards. Takes a bit of thought since my stash is pretty minimal. More so since I forgot to add ribbon to the kits. Drat.

Leslie

Puffy scrapbook stickers can be used on cards.

Puffy stickers, sometimes called dimensional stickers, can be found at your local craft/hobby stores and at online sellers. The stickers I have used on this Father’s Day card are made by Recollections and can be found at Michaels.

The stickers come on an acetate sheet.

These stickers are die cut and embossed vinyl. They can be used on a scrapbook layout as emphasis, or embellishments, for photos of a fishing trip taken by the family over the summer.

The brown matted squares are: 2″ x 2″ and 2-1/4″ x 2-1/4″. The long brown piece is 1-1/2″ x 4″. I’ve used the Tim Holtz “Chitchat” word stickers to create the words “For My Father” since I have not brought any rubber stamps with me.

This is the final Father’s Day card in the kit I put together a couple weeks ago. My next set of cards will be “Love” cards that can be used as Valentines or just to convey a message of love to someone. Hopefully I will have one ready tomorrow night when we stop somewhere on the highway.

Look through your stash of stickers. How can you use them other than in layouts?

Leslie

Vellum stickers for cards

Before I get into today’s post I want to express my heartfelt apologies to my blogging friends who use the Blogger and BlogSpot platforms.  I have been reading all of your blogs….I just can’t comment on your fantastic creations.  This problem has been fixed I HOPE.  While home on this recent “dump and run” I got into my WordPress utilities and included the two platforms so that I can have easier access to your blogs and I can leave you some “Love”.

With that said, I have a half baked idea for a card that I made using some stickers.

I have a couple of “books” of card stickers from K&Co that I purchased from my local craft/hobby store last year.  Each book has a page for birthday, get well, marriage/anniversary, thinking of you, and thank you.  The stickers can be used inside the card or on the front – layered or just stuck on.

I made a “trial” card to test out a theory.  It is a card that can be used for Valentine’s Day or just an “I love you” card.

Everything looks crooked, while the Tin Man tag is the only thing I did put off kilter.

• Papers:  Colorbok textured card stock (behind vellum sticker and the card base); pink card stock is from Stampin’ Up!; the brown designer paper behind the sticker sentiment is also from Stampin’ Up!
• Embossing Folder:  Cuttlebug Swirls
• Tag:  Graphic 45 chipboard tags from Wizard of OZ
• Liquid Pearls from Ranger or Tim Holtz
• Ribbon:  My stash

One of the embossed swirl designs resembled a heart so I used that bit to layer on some Liquid Pearls to define the heart better.  I am learning how to allow my imagination to work things out with the limited amount of stuff I bring along with me.  At times this is more of a challenge than I am prepared for

I have wanted to get myself trained to put things away when I’m finished using them.  At  home it is easier to just pile things up until I have an avalanche off to one side before I even consider putting things away.  Crafting in hotel rooms as we travel is kind of a “forced” training

If I don’t put the stuff away as I’m finished we won’t sleep very well and I run the risk of leaving something behind that has been wadded up in the bed clothes   This is not a New Year’s Resolution or anything like that.  I’ll just call it “Self Improvement”   The other thing I am attempting to do is quell the whining and misery I put Joe through wanting to be home to get into my crafting.  Taking it along with me and being able to be creative has helped a lot, so far, in our day job.

Do you take along creative things as you travel?  Knitting, crocheting, altered journals, scrapbook projects, card making stuff?  What are the things you have found helpful in your travel for organizing your stuff?  I’d like to know.  You may spark inspiration in me, and others, to keep my stuff organized and undamaged during my travels.

Thanks for stopping by.

Leslie

Tools Rule!

Last winter I made a whole bunch of Post-It-Note holders for a friend to give as Christmas presents to his family and friends. I bought a bunch of different types of sticker sets from my local craft/hobby stores. While assembling kits for the cards I’m making on the road I found some Jolee’s stickers in my stash of stuff.

Generally, these stickers are used on scrapbook layouts. Since the card sets in this bunch of kits are for Father’s Day I figured “Why not?” and stuffed them in along with some Stampin’ Up! paper with jumbled numbers from a set several years old.

Using a sketch, loosely, from Operation Write Home I figured these stickers would be great to use in the four rectangles of the sketch. It is Sketch #6 if you are interested.

The “Tools Rule!” piece is from a paper I picked up at my local scrapbook store several years ago and have cut out bits of it to use on numerous projects. I do remember the name of the paper is “Be A Man” but I don’t remember who made it, sorry.

Poor Joe. He sees these finished Father’s Day cards and they all, pretty much, have his name written all over them. I will have to make him a very special one.

This kit idea, thanks to my friend Maureen, has been working for me. The hard part of paper selection, theme, and embellishments is done at home. Making cards on the road has become easier for me.

One day I may be able to unabashedly say “I’m a card maker”. Until that time comes I going to keep practicing

Leslie

Remember When? A road trip with Dad.

Who remembers a family road trip with Dad driving?

I only remember one long trip with my father and it started, for him, in Denver, Colorado as he traveled north to pick my sister and I up at the foster home where we lived in Greeley. The three of us were going to Mount Rushmore in the Dakotas. South Dakota to be exact. That was a long and mostly silent trip.

When I met Joe, back in 1989, he took his kids on lots of road trips. He just loved traveling somewhere, seemingly anywhere, away from home. 50, 100, or even 1,000 miles didn’t give him a minutes pause. Get in and let’s go.

Road trips with Joe, then with the family and now in our day job, always had a ticking clock. Time to leave home, time for gas stops, time for the unscheduled roadside pee stops for one of the kids, meal time stops. Joe planned in advance how long it would take to get there. He planned how long the stay would be. He planned how long it would take to get back home.

I’ve created a Father’s Day card for the “Road Trip Dads”.

Tim Holtz Alterations embossing folder with watches was used on some khaki paper (unknown) to represent the ticking clocks in our Dad’s heads.

The map paper bits are from Stampin’ Up! and I don’t remember what pack. Maps of the roads, whether real or in their heads, are a feature of traveling with Dad.

The “Road Trip” images are from Club Scrap. I think from the Journey collection.

I only had enough room for two of the images. I used the Mica water colors in place of shimmer spritz stuff. It is cold and freezing now as we travel and not good for water based fabulous sparkle sprays.

The “Remember When” is a Stampin’ Up! stamp from the Word Play set.

I had to use Glossy Accents to adhere the map pieces atop the embossed paper. The deep impression didn’t play well with the ATG tape. You might want to keep that in mind if you are having trouble getting papers to stick to the bumpy texture left behind after embossing.

Do you have a favorite “Road Trip” memory? Hopefully it didn’t include many “Do I have to stop this car?!” threats to you and your wiggly siblings.

Leslie