Clean and Simple Cardmaking #1

One of my Christmas presents to myself was the online class Clean and Simple Cardmaking by Jennifer McGuire, Kristina Werner, and Julie Ebersole. It's a two week class, which is perfect for me as I have exactly two more weeks before the spring semester starts and I have to go back to work. Today is the first day of class, which featured a card and video by Kristina.

Here is my take on her card:

A little masked stamping, a little embossing, super quick. I need to work on my precision with the background stamp, but I love how the embossed sentiment came out! Definitely a technique I will try again!

Counterfeit Kit Challenge

It's been a while since I've played along with the ladies over at Counterfeit Kit Challenge. I love the concept (use the supplies and stash you have on hand to counterfeit a kit from a kit club), but I haven't been able to participate in the last few months.

This month, they challenged us to counterfeit a December kit from Cocoa Daisy. I was inspired by the vintage feel of the Amber Snowflake kit, so I decided to build my kit around some newer papers in my stash, Echo Park's Times and Seasons.

Original Kit:



My Counterfeit Kit:

Contents:
Paper and Stickers:

• Echo Park Times and Seasons (Fancy Free, Fancy Damask, Sweet Stripes, Lovely Notables, Alpha Stickers, & Element stickers)
• Treehouse Memories Main Street (Soda ya wanna go out?)
• Basic Grey Picadilly (Blue Plate Special)
• My Mind's Eye Signature Life (Cherished Flowers)
• My Mind's Eye Bella Bella (Bellezo Paradise)
• Sweetwater (Classic paper collection)
• Bazzill cardstock (kraft, black, guacamole)

Embellishments:

• Assorted black & white buttons
• Making Memories metal brads
• Green brads
• Tim Holtz tissue tape
• Bling flourish
• Assorted white flowers
• Jillibean soup bean stalks ribbon (flour tortilla)
• Little Yellow Bicycle paper doilies
• Basic Grey Basics journaling spots

I also had some leftover Echo Park "For the Record" paper scraps, so I'm hoping to use those too. Thanks for stopping by! Check back in a few days to see if I've actually started using my kit!

Storytelling Sunday 1/1/2012

Happy (almost) New Year!

Last year, lots of the bloggers I follow participated in Sian's "Storytelling Sunday" series.  I read lots of your stories, but I never shared one of my own! So, in the spirit of trying something new in the New Year, here goes!

New Year’s Eve, 2001

In 2001, P. and I were newly dating, and he was living in Manhattan, just a few blocks from Times Square. Neither of us had ever seen the ball drop in person before, so we thought we would check it out. Being a spur of the moment decision, we headed out about 7 pm, thinking we could just walk into the crowd! Silly us! When we got to the end of the block (46^th St), we were faced with barricades and police officers who kindly told us we didn’t have a chance in h@#$ of actually seeing the ball drop…we’d have to walk uptown 10+ blocks to even get into the area. We both looked at each other, and knew this was more than we were up for!  We made the quick decision to head back to his apartment, change into sweats, and watch the festivities going on from the comfort of his sofa! I think we were both somewhat relieved, as 9-11 was still fresh in our minds, and everyone was a bit fearful of what might happen in such a large public gathering. I don’t remember if we toasted with a glass of champagne (more likely a bottle of beer!), but the photographic evidence shows we did enjoy some crackers given to us from our friend Rutger! 

Clearly the pre-digital era, as this one most definitely would have been deleted if I could have seen it in advance!

A lot of things have changed in 10 years (we got married, left Manhattan for Queens, then Connecticut), but we still tend to celebrate New Years in the same way...at home, just the two of us!

Thanks for stopping by!