Traveling Down A Crafty Road

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

2010-01-30T13:03:00.000-06:00

The circles just exploded all over this page! In my last post I mentioned a Fiskateer's challenge to create a layout using CHA in the title. Lucky for me, I have a cutie pie nephew named Chase.

I created the title tiles in MS PowerPoint by drawing an auto shape box. I added the woven mat background, changed the black line to 6 point weight and added the letter--88 point Algerian font. The patterened paper is all DCWV La Creme stack and the brads are Spare Parts from The Paper Studio.

All my circle cutting tools participated on this layout. For the large, torn circle, I pulled a big salad bowl out of the kitchen and traced around it. Then I wet my tracing line and carefully tore around it. For the largest of the smaller circles, I used the Making Memories circle cutting tool and mat. I punched the remaining circles using the Fiskars Round n Round XL and L punches, The Paper Studio 1 inch circle punch and a half inch circle punch from Marvy Uchida.

I may not be finished! I'm kicking around the idea of adding a small journaling block in the lower left corner.

Thanks for visiting! Please leave a comment and let me know your opinion about the journaling block. I appreciate each and every comment received. Have a terrific day!

WHAT A WEEKEND! PLUS A LAYOUT

2010-01-25T07:23:00.000-06:00

The challenges were flowing fast and furious during this weekend's online crops at the Fiskateers and Dare 2 Dream! And guess what Chickie's? The Fiskateers crop continues until Wednesday, January 27! Can we do it? Yes, we can! Well, maybe. I have to find my craft table first! Cleaning chores are my first priority when I finish this post. Then I'm going to put together a layout for a Fiskateers challenge--create a layout with the consecutive letters, CHA, in the title. Maybe I will share that one tomorrow!

Today's layout is from one of Saturday's Fiskateer Challenges, Embellish your Embellishments. The required item was embellished chipboard. I chose to embellish my naked chipboard title (Best Occasions), Full Moon, by painting it with Perfect Pearls (Ranger). I thought I had an oops moment because I forgot to paint or paper the chipboard first--but, the Pearls covered just fine without taking the extra step.

All papers are from DCWV except for the silver portions of the triple mat which is Wausau Papers. I used the Fiskars Pearls of Wisdom corner squeeze punch on the mat. The silver ribbon is from ki Memories and I picked up the gem clip stars at Office Depot. A bit of adhesive and some dark blue embroidery floss and I was done.

The photo was taken in December, 2008 while vacationing in Aruba. There is a companion to this page but it is nothing special--just more moon photos and very basic journaling.

Thanks for dropping in. What did you do crafty this weekend? I love hearing from you so leave a comment and let me know!

FUN TIMES AHEAD & WEEK 3 of HOMEMADE FAMILIES!

2010-01-22T21:29:00.001-06:00

You know CHA is happening out in California, right? Didn't get to go, like me? Then what are you doing for fun this weekend? If you are looking for activity then join Debby Lewis on her new ning.com site (see Debby's Dare blog link on the right, in my favorite blogs, to find more info) for a terrific online crop tomorrow, 1/23, starting at 1 pm EST. The Fiskateers (once again, look to the right for the blinkie) are also having a bit of an online crop but their crop is going to be hoppin' for 5 days! It starts at 7, I think, tomorrow morning. I expect a bunch of different Fiskateers to help with crop hostess duties on Saturday plus a few of our Fiskateer celebrities to jump in after that. Don't miss out on all the fun!

My latest Homemade Families layouts are complete! This is week 3 of Debby Lewis' Homemade Families 52 week challenge. Here is my two page spread

And this is the left side, with the recipe

I used MS Office clip art for the knives and forks in the "M" of the title. The "D" is a drawing of a pastry blender that I found and copied from the internet. There is no pastry in this recipe but I couldn't think of any other D shaped kitchen tool! The checked pp is an MS Office background texture. I also used the Fiskars Apron Lace border punch around the recipe. The little birdie is a Heidi Grace "We Are Family" acrylic stamp on an EK Success 1 inch circle punch. It's layered on the 1.5 inch Seal of Approval scalloped circle punch from Fiskars.

This is the right side of the spread

It has a few more little birdies, photos of me (I'm in the blue shirt) and friends and some journaling. The photos are a tad degraded but they are 30 years old! Why not scrap the older photos? I did the journaling block in MS PowerPoint--basic shape outline with a 6 pt line and Lucinda Handwriting font.

Thanks so much for visiting. I welcome your comments. Please join our on line crops this weekend if you can and want to have a whole lot of fun!

HOMEMADE FAMILIES, WEEK 2!

2010-01-19T10:06:00.000-06:00

Remember the new weekly challenge I'm doing at Debby's Dare? Well, week three's question is up so I'd better jump in and share week two! The week two question was "What's for dinner?" This is what I came up with

My husband never asks "Whats for dinner?" but rather "Whatcha got cooking?" Sometimes, it's this soup. This is an old Weight Watchers recipe that I've changed up a bit over the years. I usually make a big pot every month or two during the winter. It freezes well and is a snap to defrost/reheat in the microwave.

I created the title circle and journaling block in MS PowerPoint and added a red dotted background to both using the same program. I punched the recipe border with the Fiskars' Lattice & Lace border corner punch.

The flowers were made using punched shapes from the Fiskars XL Seal of Approval squeeze punch, Fiskars L Round 'n Round squeeze punch and EK Success flower punch. The "wordy" patterned paper is just a photocopy of a cookbook page. I also used a big Bazzill black flower. The smaller brads are from K & Co and the large polka dot brad is from Bazzill.

Thanks for dropping in and taking a look. I'm working on week three of the challenge now! Hope you're cooking up something crafty!

RIBBONS, RIBBONS & MORE RIBBONS!

2010-01-18T12:52:00.000-06:00

Craft supplies organization seems to be THE hot topic every new year. I am always looking for a better way to store my tools and sort my pretties. I want them out of the way until I need them but I don't want to forget what I have. If you've ever made an unintended duplicate purchase, you know exactly what I mean!

Ribbon storage has been a problem ever since I started using it to adorn my projects. First I had it stacked on a shelf and that worked great for the wide ribbon that I use for floral bows and such. When I started purchasing thinner ribbon for paper crafting, I threw that in a plastic bin. Look at the mess I created! Boxed ribbon, carded ribbon, loose ribbon and spooled ribbon--just thrown in the bin or stacked on the shelf.

I had to do something because I couldn't find the ribbon that I wanted and was spending way too much time digging and putting back. Plus, I was running out of room and I love ribbon! So this is my solution, at least until I come up with something better. I've been using this system for a few days and it works for me, right now.

Six stacking Sterilite shoe drawers came to the rescue. The ribbon is sort of organized by color--one for black, white & nuetral ribbons, one for red to yellow ribbons, one for blues and greens, one for holiday and special occasions/sentiments, and one for lace and the miscellaneous stuff that didn't quite fit in the other categories. The sixth drawer was empty so it provided a home for my paints. I left most of the ribbon on the cards and spools that they came on. I picked up a couple of packages of old timey clothes pins to wrap the loose ribbon around and will wrap the carded and spooled ribbon when it becomes necessary. The cardboard spools waste space so I'm balancing a wrap time vs space issue. Most of the 3 inch wide ribbon is now in the original, before, plastic bin in the closet with all my other floral supplies.

Once the ribbon was organized, I needed to do a layout with ribbon! So here's one that I did for my Fiskateer's Liftateer circle of friends. The title is "busted!" and the journaling reads "C. found the best hiding place ever. Well it was the best until he was . . ."

Products used include: Plain Kraft and yellow cardstock, DCWV orange textured cardstock, Imagine That patterned paper, Heidi Grace chipboard hearts, Cloud 9 Raindot alphas, ColorBox yellow and orange pigment ink, Sakura Gelly Roll white journaling pen, Offray ribbon and JoAnn's rik rak, Zots glue dots and Tombo adhesive tape runner.

Tools used include the XL Round and Round squeeze punch, Hearts and Threading Waters border punches, paper crimper, #5 microtip scissors, 12 inch desktop trimmer--all Fiskars. Plus a little sandpaper to rough up the edges of the large circle so the white journaling ink wouldn't look so stark.

Do you use ribbon? How do you store it? Until next time, have a wonderful crafty week!

VOTIVE CANDLE HOLDERS

2010-01-17T12:48:00.001-06:00

So many times our hand made gifts naturally fall into the homey, shabby chic, vintage style. While I personally love that style, it doesn't fit in everyone's decor or taste. I made these for a Christmas gift with that thought in mind. I got the original idea from the FiskarsCrafts.com site but the example used there incorporated candy filled jars.

I found the two sleek vases (about 7 inches tall), two urn shaped votive candle jars and a basket of shells at the dollar store. I took a strip of three inch wide Magic Mesh and cut it in half lengthwise and wrapped the lengths around the vases, overlapping at the front. Then I took some basic twine to wrap and make a bow over the mesh. The ends of the twine have a few beads knotted on. The beads were clear so I altered with a little Latte alcohol ink from Adirondak/Ranger. Next came the simple assembly--arranging the shells in the vases and plopping on the votives. An easy, inexpensive project and a cute gift for almost any occasion.

Thank you for stopping by Traveling Down A Crafty Road. Hope your Sunday is grand!

SOMETHING NEW IN THE NEW YEAR

2010-01-14T13:51:00.001-06:00

The holidays are over and I'm slowly getting things back to normal. I was a crafty tornado between my last post and December 23rd! I worked on layouts and finished some Christmas presents and then made some last minute type presents, too! As soon as I locate the photos on my hard drive, I will share.

I'm participating in a new weekly scrapping challenge this year on the Debby's Dare blog. It's Homemade Families and it's theme is something near and dear to my heart--the moments where our friends and families gather together to break bread. Each week Debby poses a question for us to scrap and we are to scrap two pagers with that question in mind. I'm doing 8 x 8 pages and here is my answer to last week's question, "What was your first recipe book?"

The journaling reads:
The Joy of Cooking was as much a part of my mother's kitchen as the sink or the stove. She had the 1940's edition with the blue cover and it was held together with tape of various colors and types and rubber bands.
My parents gave me my own Joy about 30 years ago and was I ever thrilled! Mine is a 1970's bridal edition, even though it was to be 10 years plus before I was a bride. She just thought it was pretty. My book has changed kitchens nine different times, survived a grease fire and seems to bear my husband's title change with dignity.
The title change has nothing to do with the book and everthing to do with the cook! Gary was in big trouble then but we both got over it and think it's funny now. I believe it appeared when I tried substituting jalapeno peppers (with the seeds) for mild green chili's! Gary has always eaten everything I've prepared but I was afraid he would hurt himself with that one!
I've got a little secret. I've never used a single recipe in the Joy--at least not line by line. I use it all the time but more as a kitchen and entertainment handbook. It's a great read!

The apron border and the embellishments are MS Office clip art. The frills and pockets were colored with a Marvy Memory Series pen in English Red. I added thin black ribbon "ties" (from Hobby Lobby) to the embellishments and accented the pockets and frills with gold Stickles. The journaling block was cut with my Fiskars scallop decorative scissors and the title stickers are Colorbok.

I'm having a wonderful time working on the questions. I've already completed week 2 and will share those pages shortly. If you would like to play along, check out Debby's Dare--link in my blog list at the right.

Have a wonderful, scrappy day!

AN ATC FOR YOU!

2009-12-03T01:29:00.000-06:00

Hi, there! Welcome back to Traveling Down a Crafty Road! I've been working on a bunch of ATC swaps and would like to share the only non-Christmas one that I've done. Keep in mind that I've recently completed 4 swaps. Three were Christmas or sort of Christmas themed and involved a grand total of 63 cards! This one only required 12--one for each month and I was responsible for September.

I found the seed packet image on the internet (morning glories are the September flower) and I replaced the seed company name in MS PowerPoint. I also accented the flower with a little Perfect Pearls painting technique. The sapphire-like jewels are from Michael's Recollections brand. Stampendous Royal Blue pigment ink finished off all the edges.

Now let me send you to fabulous places!
Debby Lewis, Fiskateer of the Year for 2008, hostess of the 52 week long Dare Ya! challenges, owner of Debby's Dream Studio shop and a wonderful crafter is doing "12 Days of Home for the Holidays" on her blog (link below). The ever creative Debby has invited 12 guest designers to share their holiday traditions and creativity. It's a fun time over at Debby's Dare and I encourage you to visit and maybe learn something new. I've also signed up to participate in the Dare Ya! challenge for 2010 so you can look for my challenge layouts right here on my blog starting in January! I would love to have your company in the challenges. Find out more here: http://debbysdares.blogspot.com/

Lisa Falduto, another amazing designer and fellow Fiskateer, is hosting a Week of Holiday Cards on her blog, Paper Fashions. Lisa is always inspiring and her cards are absolutely beautiful. Please take a minute to check them out. They are really super! And she's got a giveaway going : ) Here's the link
http://www.lisafalduto.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you are having great success doing all the crafty things you do and preparing for the holidays!

LONG TIME, NO SEE--A 10 x 13 LAYOUT

2009-12-02T01:05:00.002-06:00

Hi, I've so missed being here but I haven't had much crafty time! We've had some immediate family illness and some extended family illness in the last month. I took a road trip to Chattanooga to visit my aunt--she had a little accident that turned into a rather big deal. It is an ongoing "deal" and there have been a few set backs but she is recovering. Not a bad thing since she will be 91 years old in less than 3 months! She is the sweetest aunt I could ever ask for and I love her. A BIG get well soon, Aunt Ruth! Best wishes on walking on your own!

My Aunt Margaret, here in town, celebrated her 90th birthday on Thanksgiving Day! Seventy family and friends celebrated by suprising her with a party on the Sunday before. All 6 of the "first" nieces and my sister in law got together 3 months or so ago to start the planning process. Don't worry about the women doing it all--we had lots of help! We had grand nieces and nephews creating a banner and a slide show of photos thru the years! We had help from the hubby's with set up, cooking, photography and all the stuff that gets forgotten at home during a big party! Thanks to my Gary for his patience while I made party sandwiches and cut tons of apple and pear slices!

I made this framed layout for the gift table and also as a gift for my aunt. Sorry I couldn't get a shot without the overhead lighting!

I used an old 10 x 13 frame that I picked up on sale at WalMart. I think it was $1 but no more than $2. The background patterned paper is from Heidi Grace (a pack of 20 or so sheets for $1 from Big Lots) and the photo mat is a white shimmery card stock from Wausau Papers. I also used mini white flowers from Heidi Grace, Prima pink flowers and gemstone flourishes, Floradoodles blue flowers, Offray ribbon and Recollections self adhesive pearls and brads. I dotted the dots on the polka dotted blue/white Floradoodle flowers with Stickles! I love Stickles! The larger white flowers are from a JoAnn's bush that I cut to pieces using my Fiskars Stem Cutter--it is such a cool tool!

The photo was taken at my Aunt's retirement party from the "telephone company"--think it was South Central Bell or maybe Bell South by that time. We lost my Uncle Earl about 7 years ago, he was a Fire Chief and we all miss him. Happy Birthday, Aunt Margaret!

FYI, I don't want to let "life" keep me away from the blog in the future! I usually have something creative going on whether paper, fabric, food, garden, goofy, etc. regardless of what life hands me! I do like to share and will do so with your indulgence!

BOO! HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2009-10-31T12:10:00.001-05:00

Don't be afraid of ghouls and goblins; The Dynamic Duo is on the job!

This is another layout from the Fiskateers Scrap Lift A Thon. It was a very fun and frugal layout, too, because the supply list was short! Here's what I used: 4 Recollections eyelets, Lion Brand Fancy Fur, cardstock (black and rust) from the Paper Studio, Tombow tape runner and a few All Night Media pop dots.

Everything else is from MS PowerPoint. Yes, that includes the patterned paper blocks, the bat emblem in the corner, the journaling block and the title oval. Searching MS PowerPoint for the backgrounds and clip art proved to be efficient as well. I don't have any Halloween themed paper in my stash and worked on this layout fairly late at night. It took me about 15 mintues to find and print all the images on one sheet of white card stock. I used my Fiskars 12 inch desktop trimmer to cut out the blocks and my #5 microtip scissors to hand cut the oval shapes. I used a Making Memories eyelet setter.

I encourage you to investigate everything the internet and your existing programs have to offer--might come in handy late one night!

If your heading out to do the Monster Mash this evening or have alternative plans: have fun, stay safe and take care. And thanks for visiting the blog!

BUMMER!

2009-10-28T01:12:00.001-05:00

Welcome back to Traveling Down a Crafty Road! I have a scrapbook page of my adorable, littlest nephew to share today. This layout was originally a part of the Scrap lift a thon on the Fiskateers site. Our nephew, Colton, is the star and he's 5 years old. He's also not a happy camper! The journaling is straight from Facebook and reads--"Lesa: What's up with Colton? He looks so sad! Terri: He wanted them to throw more candy! . . .Colton, Lincoln Highway Days Parade, Nevada, IA 8/29/09". He is soooooo cute!

Supplies include patterned paper from The Paper Studio by Hobby Lobby, black ink Zig writer, DMC embroidery floss, Making Memories and Colorbok chipboard letters, sandpaper, Fiskars 12" desktop trimmer, Fiskars fingertip craft knife. Photograph of Colton courtesy of Leanne Farrington.

A little tip for you: I hand embroidered/sewed the running stitch border. To make the stitches even, I placed a ruler along the edge of the paper and pierced holes with my needle at even intervals before sewing with floss.

Thanks a bunch for visiting. I love your comments and read them all. Please stop by again--LTL

ATC's

2009-10-26T08:43:00.001-05:00

Good morning! Ghosts and ghouls, and probably a few princesses, pirates and super heros will be haunting my street at the end of the week. In the fun spirit of the holiday, I have a few of my recent ATC's to share.

All Hallow's Jazz

Supplies: Wausau Paper Gold shimmery card stock, DCWV black textured cardstock sprayed with homemade glittery mist (gold PearlX in hairspray sealed with Krylon matte sealer), Fiskars Threading Water border punch, hand pieced top hat made with DCWV black textured cardstock and orange Stickles, Fiskars 12 inch desk top trimmer, Fiskars #5 Microtip scissors, Fiskars He Said She Said squeeze punch, skeleton image from the Internet, Tombo tape runner, All Night Media pop dots and Fiskars glue dots. The cane is a toothpick painted with a black Sharpie marker.

Kona

Supplies: Bazzill magenta textured card stock, Fiskars 12 inch desk top trimmer, Fiskars scalloped decorative scissors, ColorBox Petal Point pigment ink, Lion Brand yarn, Tombo tape runner, Fiskars glue dots and All Night Media pop dots. The kitty photograph courtesy of Sylvia Brown.

Crow

Supplies: DCWV black textured cardstock sprayed with homemade glittery mist (see All Hallow's Eve ATC), hand cut images from the Internet, Stampabilities black pigment ink, Fiskars 12 inch desktop trimmer, Fiskars #5 microtip scissors, Tombo tape runner and All Night Media pop dots.

These three were really fun to make. Now I need to stock up on treats, and try not to eat them all, before the big event!

Thank you for visiting Traveling Down a Crafty Road! Have a creative day!

A CONTEST & BLOOMING LACE

2009-10-21T21:57:00.002-05:00

Not my contest, but Purple Cows contest! My friend and fellow Fiskateer, Cristal Hobbs aka Pinky is on the Purple Cows Design Team and alerted me to the huge giveaway that they are having. Find out more on Pinky's blog http://blueyecicle.blogspot.com/ or the Purple Cows blog sadiepurplecow.blogspot.com/. As a DT member, Pinky has a chance to win $2000 in cash!!! Please become a Purple Cow blog follower or a fan on their Facebook Fan Page and tell them Pinky sent you! Plus, if you follow thru with a project you could win a big time Purple Cows product prize package--4 runners up ($1000 value prize) and a grand prize winner ($5000 value prize). Now that's a cool contest! Oh and Pinky has some blog candy to encourage you, too. Thanks bunches!

Now for a little something crafty. I'm participating in a homemade flower embellishment swap. I decided to make ribbon flowers but saw a 50% off sale on seam and hem tape at the fabric store. I can't resist a bargain so decided to try lace hem facing and this is how they turned out.

I used Wrights 2 inch hem facing and each flower is about 1/2 yard in length. I basted along one one side. Then I gathered and tied the thread ends off so it made a circle. I punched 1 inch card stock circles to put on the back to provide a good spot to add adhesive. Then I sewed the button to the front, thru the card on the back, with embroidery floss. The buttons are from La Mode, La Petite, and Blumenthal Lansing. I think these would look really neat as a pin, sewn onto bedroom throw pillows or on a gift or trinket box.

Thanks so much for dropping in! Would love to know what kind of flower embellishments you make so leave a comment!

AN AUTUMN WREATH & A NEW TOOL

2009-10-20T15:49:00.001-05:00

Look what I made for my front porch!

Well, actually we have a front stoop and I hung the wreath on the side wall because it was pretty, and stationary. I purchased the grapevine wreath, flowers, leaves, and ribbon at Michael's (on sale or with a coupon, Yaaaay!) The flowers and leaves are hot glued and the bow and streamers are attached with a pipe cleaner. I also made a hanger for the back with another pipecleaner and hung the wreath from a nail (in the wood trim above the rock) with fishing line. Here's a closer view.

The hardest part of this project was hanging it because I didn't measure my fishing line first and our smallest ladder is 8 feet tall! That ladder doesn't fit on the porch the right way so I felt, and probably looked, like a monkey.

Making the wreath was a snap because I used my new Fiskars Floral Stem Cutter. No more wire cutters for me! That baby cut the floral "bushes" apart with little to no effort. The individual stems cut like paper. So much so, I started cutting bunches of 4 or 5 at a time and it was easy! I did have to adjust some of the leaves to get the stems thru the cutting slot but that was no biggy. The stem cutter is a table top model, cuts up to 1/2 inch diameter stems, and is covered by the Fiskars limited lifetime warranty.

NOTE: I was a lucky monkey and one of a few that "won" this fabulous tool on the Fiskateers site. My only reward for giving a positive review is the good feeling I get by sharing a great idea with my fellow crafters.

Hope you enjoyed my wreath! Happy crafting to you!

THE SUN DID COME OUT & I'M BACK!

2009-10-18T22:20:00.004-05:00

Lil' Orphan Annie promised that the sun would come out tomorrow and it did! After a wet, soggy, gloomy week, we had the most glorious sunshiny day! It was a bit cool--appropriate for the season but a bit abrupt! The weather gurus are promising a little warm up for the week so autumn shouldn't pass us by completely!

I had high hopes of photographing the crafts I had worked on during the gloomy days but I frittered this day away! Maybe I was just crazy from the sunlight! It was pretty childish of me but who doesn't like reverting to childhood every now and again? I am trying out lighting alternatives in the scrap room, though, and shot these cards this evening.

At the beginning of the month we celebrated World Card Making Day. I made these and a few others to send to Scrapbook Royalty's Cards for Troops campaign. Please consider joining us in this endeavor. Scrapbook Royalty will receive cards until November 1st--time is short! You can check out the details on their blog: http://scrapbookroyalty.blogspot.com/2009/10/cards-for-troops-update.html

Please keep in mind that the inside of the cards are blank (or have a smallish sentiment) so the soldiers serving us can send their loved ones at home a little note or message of their own. The whole purpose behind Cards for Troops is to provide an avenue for the troops to send their greetings.

Supplies used include EK Success heart punch, Fiskars All a Flutter punch, Fiskars 12 inch Desktop Trimmer and scraps from the scrap bin.

For those of you who would like to send your personal greetings and thanks to our troops, well, I've been doing a little research and am having a hard time (I know, I can't believe it!). The best advise I've heard or found so far has been from my own Fiska Sister, Lisa Simpson. She suggested, after seeing a recruiter on the street and asking--contact your local recruitment office and ask for a name and address. If you google, "sending thanks to US troops overseas", you will find lots of options to send on line messsages. Not so personal but still a worthwhile endeavor.

Thank you for visiting Travelingdownacraftyroad@blogspot.com. Send cards or a message if you feel moved to do so. I have a backlog of crafty items made during the gloomy days to share with you so check back in often. Leave a comment and sign the guest book at the bottom of the page if you haven't done so, too!

FISKATEERS!

2009-10-12T23:17:00.003-05:00

Hello, everyone!
It's raining here and I have several craft projects to post--but I want to get good photos of them so stay tuned! Love the rain after our drought but I think I'm growing gills! I've got cards, my ATC box, layouts and a sewing thing to post when the weather cooperates for photos. Think the weather is breaking tomorrow.
In the interim, I thought I would share a photo of me at the Fiskars 360 Celebration! Yes, Fiskars has been in business for 360 years! Can you believe that? Fiskars started in Fiskars, Finland 360 years ago in the steel business. Their return policy and customer service has no equal in my opinion or knowledge.

It was an honor to attend the Fiskars 360 Birthday Celebration at Epcot in Orlando. I got to meet a bunch of my on line friends, all the Lead Fiskateers and some of the home office Fiskars folks. I met Maxine from WV and watched as she was crowned FOY of 2009 (Fiskateer of the Year for 2009! YaaaaaaaaY Maxine!). All I can add is that it was fabulous and it was hot and humid while running around the park doing Scavenger Hunt. BTW my hair gets a bit wavy/curly in those conditions.

Fiskateers are brand ambassadors for Fiskars products--paper crafing, gardening, sewing, jewelry or floral. If I didn't list a crafty item (like ceramics, knitting, crotchet, etc.), I didn't do it on purpose because all crafts are represented on Fiskateers.com.

Come join in the fun! We have a fun, and short, on line crop scheduled for 10/17/09 for Breast Cancer Awarness. Click the Fiskateer blinkie on the left or go to http://www.fiskateers.com/ and follow the instructions.

I would love to see and welcome you as a new Fiskateer!

SO YOU WANNA SCRAPBOOK?

2009-10-08T00:58:00.000-05:00

Recently, I've had several conversations with folks interested in scrapbooking but they've never done it. They want to know the how and why I got into it and what they need to get started.

About six or seven years ago, I attended a home party type crop to benefit a charity. I created one 12 x 12 page with a 5 x 7 photo, 2 balloon stickers and a metallic gold pen that night. I was hooked! I went to Michael's armed with coupons and credit card the very next weekend. I picked up some mini albums, two cardstock value packs, a package of pens in fall colors and some Thanksgiving stickers. I was going to knock out a few Christmas gifts! I got started on them but all of it ended up in a box where it sat until 2007. I got the box back out and completed those books for Christmas 2007 and have been scrapping ever since. Scrapping makes me happy!

I started with scissors, pencil, ruler and the few items previously mentioned. I then added more consumables and a trimmer. Then I added some decorative scissors and punches and more consumables and a better trimmer and I really could go on and on. BUT, I'm pretty sure I could go back to the scissors and ruler and make a decent layout.

This is one of my earliest 12 x 12 layouts. (Not THE earliest because I don't know what happened to the one with the balloons!) The title and the sand dollar (MS Office clip art) were printed on vellum. I used a small set of nesting bowls to draw a circle around the sand dollar and the gray card stock mat and cut them out by hand. I used a pair of deckle edged scissors to cut the title. The photo, from our 2007 vacation on the lovely island of St Kitts, is triple matted and the journaling was done with a white Sakura gel pen.

How did you get started down your scrappy road and what was in your little kit bag? I would love to know so please add to the comments. Thanks so much! Have a wonderfully creative day!

MEET THE COFFEE CATS!

2009-10-03T17:58:00.004-05:00

Starbucks, Kona and Java came to live with us about 11 years ago. They got their names when Kona found a coffee bean under the kitchen sideboard and started batting it around. The vet's office called them the coffee cats on their first visit and they've been the coffee cats ever since.

I put together the layout of my fur babies for a weekly scrap lift challenge that I've been participating in with the Fiskateers. Cat photography credit goes to our fabulous cat sitter and professional pet photographer, Sylvia Brown. She is wonderful and life without Sylvia would be difficult for our little family.

I wanted to use coffee themed embellishments but I didn't have any! What's a scrappy crafter to do? Make them yourself! The coffee bean border came first. This is what I used:

No, this is not a medical tool, ha ha! This is a stamping tool. I cut a piece of fun foam into an oval. I then bent the oval in two and cut a shallow slit down the middle, taking care not to cut it into two, separate pieces. In order to work with such a small stamp, I stuck it on a craft stick with a mini glue dot. I practiced a bit on scrap paper. By varying the amount of ink and pressure, I made the solid and split side coffee bean images with the same foam stamp. I used Anna Griffin chocolate pigment ink.

The little hearts on the right side are paper scraps stuck to some Dollar Store stickers. I cut them out and adhered them sticker image down.

The cups are homemade paper piecings. I found some images that I liked on the Web and copied them to MS Power Point. Then I resized them, printed them and created the different pieces. I would share the templates but I sort of destroyed them in the process of creating! The rising steam tendrils were created with Autumn Leaves Flourishes stamps and white Stampendous pigment ink. Please note that I printed the photos on matte photo paper to make sure that my pigment ink would work.

Other than scraps of cardstock and bits of patterned paper, I used one sheet of DCWV textured cardstock for the background, Making Memories Alpha Stickers (CATS), Heidi Grace Satin Letter Stickers from the Harvest Row line (Java), Cloud 9 Rub On Alphas, Outdoor line, (Kona), a black Zig writer and a Marvy Uchida gold opaque pen for Java's cup doodle. This was a frugal layout!

Today is World Card Making Day and I have a scrap table with a few new cards in process. Hope you are making cards today, too! Scrapbook Royalty is accepting cards for their Cards for Troops campaign until November 1. If you would like to help, details are on their site (link is on this blog to your right).

Thanks for looking--and meeting my kitties! Have a wonderful weekend!

EXCITING NEWS!

2009-10-02T17:53:00.000-05:00

Hi, everybody! Take a look at my sidebar. Notice anything different? Right! Scrapbook News and Review, an online, subscription only magazine, has chosen to publish two of my Artist Trading Cards in their October issue! I'm over the top excited and bouncing off the walls! I love this magazine!

Thanks for stopping by! I'll have crafty stuff tomorrow so please come back. Enjoy the weekend!

LET'S ROCK!

2009-09-30T13:12:00.001-05:00

My youngest niece, Jessica, has a new PINK electric guitar! As soon as I saw this picture, I knew I had to scrap it. She’s so cute with her new “axe”! Looking forward to the concert the next time we see her.

A few days after I got her photo, the Fiskateers were having an online crop. It was also National Talk like a Pirate Day and one of the challenges involved creating a layout of someone or thing that you treasure and using a skull and crossbones on the layout. Perfect! Here’s what I did.

Now you know I revisit and tweak layouts on occasion. The ROCK portion of the title has been tweaked on this one. I originally used one inch alpha stickers in the blackadder font. They were okay but I felt they just weren’t heavy enough. I carefully removed the stickers and stamped ROCK with Making Memories foam stamps and Liquitex black acrylic paint. The letters are intentionally out of line. I wanted them to look like they were rocking out! Other products used to create the layout include DCWV textured cardstock (background), Inks by Steph Fletcher Cove stickers (photo corner, stars, skull and crossbones), Me and My Big Ideas adhesive rhinestones (princess and flowers), Bazzill (black) and Heidi Grace (pink) flowers, Making Memories medium star brad, Colorbok journaling block, Michael’s and Hobby Lobby brands ribbon. Photography by Christina DePalma.

Thank you for taking the journey with me. Rock on!

A NEEDLE CASE for National Sewing Month

2009-09-27T20:26:00.001-05:00

Long time since I did any embroidery and it shows! I copied this piece from an old needle case that I have had for a very long time. My mother gave it to me and told me that my Aunt Eva had made it from hat felt and a scrap of flannel. I had been using it for almost 40 years and was heartbroken when I tore one of the bonnet ties trying to retie the bow. I needed a project for a sewing challenge on Fiskateers.com and decided to replicate the original needle case. Here's a shot of the original

My Aunt Eva was born in the late 1890's and I love her precise needlework. I updated my needle case in a few ways. I added additional slips, for a total of 3, on the inside

I also added a back pocket to hold a needle threader, extra floss or tiny embroidery shears.

The materials used were just the odd bits at hand--an orange felt square (dyed with coffee), some floss and thread, a bit of muslin and lace.

I love vintage and I love my family heirlooms. I promise to take better care of our heirlooms in the future so that future generations can enjoy them as much as I have.

Now, I have a guestion for all of you! I think the pattern for my little case is a quilt piece named Sunbonnet Sue but I'm not sure. I remember my mother calling it something but don't remember exactly what it was--wan't Sunbonnet Sue, though. Anybody have any ideas?

Thank you for helping out my tired old brain! And thanks for visiting Traveling Down A Crafty Road!

SO HAPPY IN LOVE, A Not So Christmas-sy Layout

2009-09-25T16:46:00.000-05:00

Our oldest nephew is getting married next year! I know its been said many times before, but it really does seem like yesterday when the call came that he was ON THE WAY and his momma and daddy were headed to the hospital. Now he's all grown up and engaged to a lovely young woman. They are very happy and we are very happy for them! Take a look at the double layout I made from a few of their photos.

Their photos don't shout Christmas. The wreath in the large photo is the only indication of the season. The papers are from DCWV's Christmas Stack but only one is specifically Christmas themed. It's used on the flowers and is printed with Christmas related words. I thought that one litle bit of definite holiday themed paper balanced with the photographs and didn't detract from the layout's theme of love and happiness.

I punched the top and bottom of the red dotted paper with the Fiskars Threading Water border punch and threaded natural colored twine through the holes. This was a little tricky because the twine was stiff and I had to be careful not to break through the holes. A little slack will keep the paper from curling, too. For the title, I printed the SO and IN from MS Word. HAPPY is cut from the DCWV Christmas word paper and LOVE is spelled with Heidi Grace alpha stickers from the It's My Party line.

There are a number of sites on the Web that provide step by step instructions for the construction of torn paper flowers. I find it easiest to pencil circles in on the back of my paper, wet the pencil lines and then tear the circles. I also find it helpful to label the back of each set with a number; i.e., for the four layer flowers I had a set of four circles labeled 1, a set of four circles labeled 2, etc. It makes assembly much faster when you don't have to search for the appropriate sized circle.

The pine like sprigs were a bit serendipitous. Since my paper had a herringbone pattern, I cut strips and clipped little "needles" along the pattern. I also drew a brown line down the center and inked the outside edges.

Be happy, my readers! Make me happy and leave a comment, LOL! I appreciate all your comments. Thanks so much.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

2009-09-23T11:13:00.001-05:00

Are you ready? If you wait to the last minute, like I usually do, you have 92 days left! "We" still have a bit of time to get crafty though. Take a look at this little quickie gift card holder/bag I made.

Here's my template.

I cut and scored plain white cardstock then punched the top with the Fiskars Threading Water border punch. Next, I stamped snowflakes (Making Memories acrylic stamps) with Colorbox silver pigment ink. Once the ink was dry, I added Terrifically Tacky tape strips as indicated on the template and assembled. For the ribbon handle, I punched holes with a hand punch and threaded Heidi Grace pink velvet ribbon through the holes. I knotted the ends of the ribbon to hold the handle in place.

The tag is just a little rectangle of scrap white cardstock, folded in half, with a snowflake stamped on top.

I'm looking forward to using this silver ink on navy blue cardstock and gold ink on dark green and maroon cardstock. The possibilities are only limited to your imagination!

Thank you for checking in and best wishes for all your holiday projects. Until next time, my stamps are calling!

HEIRLOOM SCRAPBOOK PAGE Part 2

2009-09-21T11:22:00.003-05:00

Finally! The second page of my double layout is here. It's been ready but I had hoped to get a better photograph for you. Our weather has just not cooperated. If the rain keeps up much longer, I'm getting the snorkel gear out!

This is the right hand companion to the page posted on 9/19/09. It is the reworked version. In the original (and you have to be a Fiskateer to catch the before shot, Ha, Ha!), I used the invitation along with a copy of the actual newspaper announcement. I didn't like the way they were displayed so I played around with those elements. The gray patterned paper mat and the three bejewed inchies are additions. I also took a few sentences from the newspaper announcement and typed them in MS PowerPoint--"The bride wore a dress of Copenhagen blue crepe, with sweetheart neckline and draped skirt. Her hat was of matching blue crepe." Don't worry, I'll add the copy of the entire announcement elsewhere in the album. I didn't change the patterend paper border (the "rest" of the Fiskars quilted corners border corner punch from the left side) or the ribbon with the inchie and oval photo. One more thing to note--I used white paper for the newspaper lines for the sake of album continuity. All the journaling blocks in the album are printed on white paper.

Here's what they look like side by side. Trust me; I do believe the right hand page is a bit more elegant in the reworked version.

Thank you for swimming by! Now where did I put that snorkel?

ANOTHER HEIRLOOM SCRAPBOOK PAGE Part 1

2009-09-18T20:00:00.002-05:00

Would you like to see another layout from what will be my mom and dad's wedding album? A little background--I posted a double page version of this one in my Fiskateer gallery last night for a border challenge. I wasn't happy with the right hand side of the page and am reworking it. NOW, I like what I'm doing with the right hand page and will share that side with you in my next post.

Do you ever go back and rework a page that you're not happy with? Wish I got each one right the first go round, but I don't! Those not quite right pages nag at my serenity. I go to bed at night thinking I can do better. Sometimes I have a Eureka! moment before sleep claims me. Sometimes I even remember that moment when I wake up!

Here's the left hand page. Please know that my borders are straight, my photograply is crooked. The photo is a solo shot of my mother.

I used the Fiskars border corner punch, Quilted Corners, around the mottled gray patterned paper (The Paper Studio) and carefully cut the outside edge off (more on that in the next post). The photo is matted on the same gray cardstock but I left about two inches on the left side. Punched that side with Fiskars Diamond border punch. On another piece of gray cardstock, I used the Fiskars Leave it to Weaver border punch and threaded pink organza ribbon through the punches. Then I poofed the ribbon. Not sure who made this ribbon--it's labeled Decorative Ribbon, made in Taiwan. I'm sure it was a bargain! The ribbon bedecked piece is adhered to the mat with medium sized glue dots. To complete, I made 5 inchies with cardstock and square rhinestones to place along the far left side.

Thanks for visiting! I would love to know the if, when, how, and why's of reworking your own pages--leave me a comment. Come back around for part 2, round 2, page 2, whatever you want to call it!

IT'S NATIONAL SEWING MONTH! DO YOU SEW?

2009-09-17T10:34:00.001-05:00

Looking back, I realize that I sew in fits and spurts! My mother actually sewed that way, too. As a child I remember my mom sewing me clothes that I absolutely hated and wouldn't wear! She eventually stopped and kept her sewing skills well honed with mending and the odd home decor or gift piece. My mother actually cursed at her sewing machine, so I didn't want to go anywhere near the evil thing!

My school system didn't offer home ec classes until high school but I decided to brave the evil sewing machine thing and take Sewing 1 as a freshman. I loved it! Even after the thread take up arm bonked me in the forehead, and left a giant, zit like, red mark that lasted for days (don't ask me how because I still don't know what happened), I signed up for Sewing 2!

My original sewing fit continued until I moved away from home after college. My mother's evil machine and I had become friends but she wasn't going to let me take it. My mother acted like she hated her machine but she really loved it. So, I ended up making a few things on weekends here and there until the rest of life got in the way.

About 20 years ago, I bought my own machine. Well, my machine hated me and I finally understood my mother's love/hate relationship with her machine. Most of the time, my machine hung out in the closet but it helped produce curtains, a few dresses and got me through the mending.

Not long ago, I bought a Singer Futura--a late Christmas present. So far, we've collaborated on an apron, some mending and the valance shown here.

It's a simple rod pocket valance. All straight lines, no pattern required. I lined it with unbleached muslin because I just happened to have some on hand.

Please note the finials. They are Styrofoam balls that I painted with Modge Podge and wrapped yarn around. I stabbed the balls with a bamboo skewer first to make them easier to work on. Then I used straight pins to keep the yarn in place until the adhesive set. Most of us have paper scissors and fabric shears? I now have fabric pins and craft pins (complete with dried glue blobs!) I finished the finials with bits of blue silk flowers. I nailed a long thin brad into each end of the rod (actually a closet rod, $0.68/foot) and stuck the finials onto the brad, flush against the end of the rod. There's probably a "right" way, but this worked for me.

I like my new machine and it seems to like me. I have several new projects lined up and I still need to try out the embroidery function. I think the two of us can go places!

Happy National Sewing Month! Thanks for stopping by Traveling Down a Crafty Road.

READY FOR AUTUMN

2009-09-15T17:50:00.002-05:00

I'm not ready for summer to be over but I love the colors of fall. I like the change of the seasons, especially summer to fall. There's just something about wearing sweaters and closed toe shoes again that makes me happy! I'm looking forward to cooler, crisper weather, raking leaves and making soups and chili.

I created this layout using the Fiskarscrafts.com September '09 sketch. The photos were taken during one of my "tagalong with working husband" visits to New York City. It was a lovely, late October day, a perfect day to be outside enjoying the scenery. I had decided to explore Greenwich Village and found myself in Washington Square Park. This squirrel was not afraid of me or anybody else. Must have been a native Manhattanite!

All pattered paper is from Cloud 9 Outdoors Collection. The NUTS title is Heidi Grace Harvest Row adhesive alphas. The rhinestone leaves (on vellum paisley shapes) are from the dollar bin at JoAnn's. I used Fiskars Leave it to Weaver, Threading Waters, and Diamond border punches, Comma, Comma Chameleon squeeze punch and scallop paper edgers. The journaling block and Got part of the title were created in MS PowerPoint with the stationary fill background and Bradley Hand font.

Thank you so much for checking in. Enjoy the last little bit of summer!

BIRTHDAY BLOG CANDY WINNER!

2009-09-13T15:46:00.003-05:00

We have a winner! There were more than 100 entries for the prize and I had an independent, unbiased person go to random.org to select the winner.

Drum roll, please . . . and the winner is Barb Fiskateer 2975!

Congratulations, Barb! Please forward your mailing address and phone number to me at travelnlesa@gmail.com.

Thanks to each and every one of you for making this giveaway, and my extended birthday celebration, so much fun. I hope you’ve enjoyed this leg of the trip as much as I have. My brother and I both thank you for all the birthday wishes, too.

Please check back in on Traveling Down a Crafty Road soon. I’ll be back to posting about crafty things in the next few days.

A TEENY HOME DÉCOR ITEM

2009-09-12T11:07:00.001-05:00

Like many crafters, I started out on my kitchen table. For scrapbooking, I had a Rubbermaid open tote and a shirt sized gift box of “stuff”. The sewing machine, sewing box, and a few other baskets and boxes for other crafts were stuck in closets here and there. I was so unorganized!

The room that started out as a home office, but evolved into a junk/storage room, became my crafty space. For the last few years it was an okay space but wasn't very pretty or inspiring. Last month, we started a redo of my craft room. It has new paint, carpet and a new window valance. I’m still working on a few storage and decorative things and will share all when complete. Until then, this is my switch plate cover.

It's wooden; painted with antique white Krylon spray paint follwed by Krylon matte sealer. I dipped blue yarn into Modge Podge and shaped into flourishes. The yarn dried hard and fast but a bit darker. The flowers are from an ancient arrangement that I'm slowly deconstructing. I must have had that one for at least 25 years but the colors worked for this room.

The birthday RAK winner will be announced sometime tomorrow, 9/13/2009! Thanks for your participation and best of luck! Contest rules listed in 9/5/2009 post.

Thank you for visiting Traveling Down a Crafty Road and for celebrating with me!

BIRTHDAYS = GIFTS!

2009-09-10T21:47:00.018-05:00

Since it’s still my birthday week, I thought I would write a bit about gifts. I love giving and receiving hand made gift items. Don’t you?

Not long after I started scrapbooking, I saw a sweet photo cube gift idea in a 2008 issue of Scrapbooks, etc. magazine. I loved it and decided to “lift” it to suit a specific purpose. My purpose was a Mother’s Day gift for my wonderful mother in law, Arlene. Now keep in mind that during our 2007 Christmas visit, she casually mentioned that the only photos she had of us were from our wedding, GASP, 18 years before. I guess we had been too busy behind the camera to get caught in front! Well a star was born (my husband) and I think the cube turned out pretty well.

Now it's time to let you in on what I did, how I did it and what I used. The original magazine project called for a Memory Makers brand photo cube but I couldn't find one in my local shops. I improvised with an upside down chipboard box, top removed (now holding post it lables and notes on my desk). Lightweight enough to ship but stable enough for tabletop display. You could also use a 4 inch section of a 4 x 4 post with edges sanded and corners filed off, especially if your not concerned with shipping fees. I had to ship and the only 4 x 4's at my house are supporting a deck!

The first step was painting the box with celery green acrylic from Americana paints by DecoArts. I then cut rectangles and a square of Provo Craft patterend paper and inked the edges with gold pigment ink from Rubber Stampede. I attached the rectangles and square to the box with Modge Podge and sealed with several additional coats.

The cute shaped frame was part of a set from Martha Stewart brand mats that I bought on clearance at Michael's. I covered this one with patterned paper from a Paper Impressions paper pack. All of the other mats were made from coordinating paper from the same pack. The initials are naked chipboard from Making Memories painted with gold acrylic from Plaid. I'm not sure who manufactured the butterlies or the ribbon but know that I picked each up at Hobby Lobby. The silk flowers were a gift and I dyed them with a bit of tea before adding the Spare Parts round metallic mini brads and adhering with Fiskars glue dots.

Hope you have enjoyed my little photo cube. It could be "re-lifted" and adapted to any holdiay or other gift giving occasion. You could also flip it upright, line the inside with archival paper and decorate the lid for a mini photo storage box.

Thank you so much for stopping by! I will post once more (late on 9/11 or early 9/12) before the big drawing for the Birthday goodies.

Don't forget! I have a guestbook at the bottom of the page so please shout out your location! Thanks again.

WHERE TO PUT ALL THE ATC’s?

2009-09-09T13:44:00.003-05:00

ATC’s are really mini works of art and I find them very inspiring. When I receive a package from a swap, it’s like opening a birthday present! Incredibly thrilling! I look through them and am amazed at the creativity. The conversation with myself usually includes “Wish I had thought of that!”, “Wonder what adhesive was used?”, “How did they do this technique?” and on and on.

After participating in a few swaps, display and storage questions arose. The precious, little cards are too pretty to hide away in a drawer or box and they stimulate my own creativity. I thought and thought—maybe a tree type thing? Nope—too big for my space. Maybe a clothesline? Hmmm, that might work. Or what about a teeny tiny shelf? So off to the hardware store and this is what I ended up with.

I found plastic ceramic tile starter strips and screwed them into the wall. They have a little groove along the horizontal edge that most of my ATC’s fit right into. A few of the ATC’s in my collection don’t fit exactly—they are thicker and made with multiple layers of cardboard or include fibers or top heavy embellishments. For those, I added a little rolled up painters tape stuck to the back of the sleeve and the wall to hold them upright. (I was concerned about the tape pulling the paint off the wall but after a month, it’s still intact.) The best part of this project: it was CHEAP! An 8 foot length was less than $5. I just cut the strips with a hacksaw to the desired length and cleaned up the cuts with a bit of sandpaper.

Since I only have a few free feet left, I started thinking about long term storage. I visited a local sports card store and found bunches of cardboard storage boxes—all different sizes and price points! I bought a midsized one for $4. As soon as I personalize my plain white box, I’ll share a picture with you! I don’t want to put any of my treasures in a box but my wall space is limited. I plan to rotate the display and am anticipating how much fun that will be. Just thinking about it brings back memories of playing with dress up dolls. I’ll just be playing dress up the wall!

If you’ve joined the ATC brigade, let me know how you display and store yours! The birthday RAK is still up for grabs so leave that comment, or another, here and become a follower if you aren’t following yet. Thanks for stopping by!

THEY WANNA MAKE ME GO TO ATC REHAB

2009-09-07T10:53:00.005-05:00

But I say NO, NO, NO! Anyone who has ever crafted an ATC knows exactly what I mean. They are super addictive. I’m participating in four swaps this month!

For those of you who haven’t succumbed, they are 2.5 by 3.5 inch Artist Trading Cards meant to be traded among an ever growing community of artists and crafters. Yes, traded--not sold. It’s a sharing thing!

Any arts and crafts media is acceptable—collage, watercolor, rubber stamping, fabric, photography, embroidery, oil paints, etc. Whatever makes your heart sing is okay as long as you adhere to the size rule. I save cereal boxes and cut those for my card base but you can buy precut cardboard ATC bases or even use old playing cards. The front is your artwork and the back provides the space for the title, edition or series number if any (1 of 20, etc.), name of swap, your name and contact information, date created and any other information the swap host requests or you want to include. A few that I’ve received have cute little poems or personal notes on the back.

This is one of my earlier efforts and is titled Hunka, Hunka Merman. It was part of a mermaid swap hosted by another blogger. “He” came from a magazine ad for watches, photocopied onto matte photo paper. The watch is why he has an embroidery floss wrist band. I added little beads to the band as I sewed it on. The background paper and his tail are from a ProvoCraft slab. His hair is made from unraveled twine with a little peat moss glued here and there. The hair was rather unruly so he ended up with a ponytail holder made from a bit of jewelry wire and the Fiskars Itty Bitty Cassette Punch sun shape.

A wonderful resource is Bernie Berlin’s Artist Trading Card Workshop. Her book is full of techniques, trading information, and inspiration. She recently shared her art on FiskarsTV (http://www.fiskarscrafts.com/tv/). It’s Episode 99 and definitely worth viewing.

A big THANK YOU to everyone participating in the Birthday RAK! Your comments warm my heart. I’m thrilled that you have joined the celebration. We are still celebrating so leave a comment for a chance to win the RAK. Become a follower for another chance. Thanks, Amy Winehouse for today’s post title.

Gotta run! My ATC addiction is calling.

THE CELEBRATION CONTINUES WITH A LAYOUT!

2009-09-06T13:49:00.006-05:00

Welcome and welcome back to Traveling Down A Crafty Road! Thank you all so much for the birthday wishes and comments. The RAK winner will be chosen on 9/13/2009 so keep them coming.

I made the following layout to honor my parents and there’s no better time than my extended Birthday Celebration to share it with you. They have passed on but left us with wonderful, loving memories and many boxes of photographs and keepsakes. While attempting to sort through the myriad “stuff”, I came across their Bride/Guest Book and all six of their wedding photographs. Buried treasure!

The background patterned paper is from The Paper Studio. The gold charms are Favorite Findings from Blumenthal Lansing Co. Fiskars lace border punch was used on one side of the cardstock mats. I used two different ribbons and added some floral embellishments I put together. Here’s a close up of the flowers

The flowers were very easy to make. I used an EK Success flower punch and outlined the petals and center with Stickles. A self adhesive rhinestone went in the center and some fun fiber was adhered to the back in pinwheel fashion.

Thank you for visiting. Have a wonderful Labor Day! Until next time, happy crafting!

CELEBRATE WITH ME!

2009-09-05T10:35:00.008-05:00

Today is my birthday! I am now 50 something—at least for the next nine years, LOL! This photo was taken at our first birthday party. I’m on the right and that cutie pie on the left is my twin brother. Happy Birthday, Bubba!

I want YOU to help me celebrate! No cards, mini books, or layouts today. I have something else “sweet” in store—blog candy! I want to give one of you a birthday present—straight from me to you! It’s a bit progressive but so easy. I know you will want to do it. Here are the rules—

* Become a follower of my blog—you get one chance to win,
* Comment on this post—you get another chance to win,
* Comment on additional posts from this one forward until 9/12, midnight CST—you get one chance to win for each post you comment on. I can promise at least 5 additional posts between now and 9/12/2009.
* A winner will be drawn on 9/13 and announced on the blog.

So you can have at least 7 chances in the “birthday bucket” if you want. Go for it! A little spreadsheet will keep up with your entries and I’ll rely on random.org for the winner. I’m looking forward to giving away . . .

NOTES: Because of the size and weight of the package, I must limit this prize giveaway to US residents only.
The quality of the photo does not accurately reflect the quality of the prize. Argh! Lighting issues here--it's raining!

Thanks for joining my birthday celebration! Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of the page to sign my guest book.

BRICKA, BRICKA FIRECRACKER SIS BOOM BAH - FOOTBALL, Part 2

2009-09-03T20:12:00.006-05:00

Did you enjoy the mini cd album from my last post? I enjoyed making and posting it! One of the sweet benefits of scrapbooking is the opportunity to relive treasured memories again and again.

Remember this from my last post: “Everything is held together with a jump ring with pretty ribbon attached (more about that in Part 2, stay tuned!)”? I didn’t tell you how I got the jump ring in there, did I?

There are quite a few web tutorials on this type of mini album so I won’t bore you with all that. I learned two things from the web:
1. Save the unsolicited advertising and obsolete user guide type cd’s.
2. Save/rescue : ) a spindle from some new cd’s to use when drilling the hole for the jump ring. That’s right, folks, get out the power drill! Gather all the cd’s you will need for your album, stick them on a spindle and drill them all at once so the holes all match. Just hang the spindle a good third off your surface so you don’t drill through anything important like your kitchen counter or dining room table.
Something I encountered but never saw any warnings about anywhere was the Mylar coating usually on one side of the cd. Some of the Mylar coatings are very easy to remove. If they are, go ahead and do it. You may need to use a bit of sandpaper here and there. I encountered a problem with this and had to redo a page or two because of peeling Mylar. Go ahead and get rid of it if it's peels easily.

Now let’s move on down this road. I guess it’s Part 2 of Part 2? What should I put this little mini album in? I needed it to go in something structured since there were no page protectors and I didn’t want it beaten about. Besides I needed to ship it to Iowa!

I found a plain, round chipboard box at the craft store—not too expensive, a little wider than the cd’s and a good 3 inches taller. Perfect! It gave me the room to cushion the cd’s with extra tissue and bubble wrap for shipping and would give him room to add tickets and other ephemera afterwards.

This is what it looked like once it was completed:

I painted the entire box, inside and out, with red acrylic. The stadium photo and Alabama Crimson Tide (MS PowerPoint Word Art) are adhered and sealed with Modge Podge. That’s hounds tooth check ribbon around the rim of the top part--homage to Bear Bryant and his hat.

Thanks so much for coming along on this journey with me. Next post will be extra special, so do check back!

RAH, RAH! SIS BOOM BAH! aka FOOTBALL, Part 1

2009-09-02T13:07:00.009-05:00

Football! Hard to believe but it is that time of year. Whether your team consists of peewees or professionals, I wish you a successful season!

Most of my extended family loves University of Alabama athletics, especially football. Last season one of our nephews and his friend came down from Iowa for a whirlwind weekend visit of football fun. Christopher is definitely a devoted, enthusiastic, and passionate Alabama football fan! And this was his first “live and in person” game.

To commemorate the weekend, I made a cd mini album for him.

I used Provo Craft patterned paper scraps and card stock as a base for the cd’s, adhered with a Xyron adhesive tape runner. Then I added photos, stickers and word strips created in MS PowerPoint. There is a pocket page for some nifty little tags. The tags are card stock and include the fight song, a map of where we parked (it was a long walk, LOL!), coach info, and other cute stuff. Everything is held together with a jump ring with pretty ribbon attached (more about that in Part 2, stay tuned!).

Having our nephew as a guest in our home was wonderful—it had been more than 5 years since he had been here! Sharing time before, during and after the game with him, seeing all of that through his fresh eyes, made it a special moment in time for us.

I hope you will drop by for Part 2 of this post topic. Thanks for taking a look today and why not sign my guest book! Just scroll to the bottom of the page. Please feel free to leave a comment—I read each and every one of them.

CROP CRAZY

2009-08-31T17:05:00.006-05:00

Wow, what a Fiska-fabulous weekend! The Fiskateers hosted an online crop and the challenges were flying at fever pitch. The message board was hopping, the gallery was popping and the chat room was, well, chatty. The crop started mid morning on Friday and the majority of the challenges were due by Saturday, 10 pm CST. I spent most of my free time on Sunday commenting on my fellow Fiskateer’s lovely projects. Here's one of mine.

We were challenged to create a scrapbook layout, card or other project using a “sacred” paper or embellishment. You know, that paper that you fell in love with at the store, just had to have and then were too taken with it to use? That’s my background paper! I just love the soft, warm tones and the subtle paisley and floral pattern. It’s Terra Cotta Paisley from the Sonnets Studios line from Creative Imaginations, LLC. The bird is from Prima and the brads are Spare Parts. Photos are from a trip I took to New York City in 2007.

Cropping and sharing the creativity with my Fiskateer friends is always special. Click the Fiskateer blinkie on the right for more details about this super group.

Thank you for visiting Traveling Down A Crafty Road! Please sign my Guest Book at the bottom of the page. Comments are always read and welcome

AN OASIS OF BLOOMS!

2009-08-27T17:29:00.006-05:00

My husband often travels for work. When I have the opportunity, I go with him. While he’s working, I’m off gallivanting--enjoying the sights and getting the lay of the land. I shop, too! I search for arts & craft stores before I even leave home. I don’t think that’s unusual, do you?

This double layout is from a trip to Washington, DC. I stumbled upon this lovely garden while walking The Mall from The Smithsonian Castle to The Air and Space Museum. When I saw the pocket garden with its cute little birdhouses, I knew I had to stop and see what else it had to offer. I didn’t know if I would ever have a chance to visit again, so I thought "Why not now?"

I used Paper Reflections patterned paper. The paisley embellishment squares were punched with the Fiskars Comma Comma Chameleon squeeze punch and edged with Stickles. The circular spirals are Colorbok Sticky Stitches. The folded ribbon (unknown source) is just stapled onto a square of the patterned paper.

Note to self for lone sightseeing jaunts: Improve the long arm, self portrait photo technique or just start asking all those other charming tourists you end up chatting with to take your picture.

Thank you for visiting Traveling Down A Crafty Road! Please sign my Guest Book at the bottom of the page. Comments are always read and welcome.

CARDS

2009-08-25T12:12:00.009-05:00

My craft space has been card central lately! First, I needed some Thank You notes but my cupboard was bare. Time to make a few.

These are really multi-purpose notes. They are 6 inch square, which requires extra postage, but I love the look of a square card. The white and yellow card utilizes the Fiskars Pearls of Wisdom corner punch, two Prima flowers, and a square mini brad from The Paper Studio. The green and white card has a scrap of Provo Craft patterned paper and Heidi Grace flowers and brad.

Next step in the card making marathon was a Fiskateers.com challenge to make 38 birthday cards to help celebrate lead Fiskateer Angela Daniels’ birthday. I liked the simplicity of the cards shown above so I decided to duplicate some for Birthday cards by stamping Happy Birthday inside. I made some 4 by 5.5 inch cards, too. Here are two of my favorites:

Provo Craft patterned paper from the scrap bin, a little ink, some chipboard flowers and a bit of acrylic paint were used on these. The flower stems are Martha Stewart Happy Birthday ribbon. I added a little self adhesive pearl to one and the other has a pearl and metal brad from Déjà Views.

Thank you for stopping by and taking a look. Comments appreciated.
Happy Crafting!

WELCOME!

2009-08-24T11:51:00.003-05:00

Welcome to Traveling Down A Crafty Road! Thank you for visiting. I hope you will join me for the journey. Along the way, I intend to share my crafty art so be on the look out for scrapbook layouts, mini albums, artist trading cards, greeting and note cards. Sewing projects, altered items, and crafts I haven’t tried yet will make an appearance, too. Every journey has the potential for the unexpected so count on a few curious tidbits occasionally.

Traveling Down A Crafty Road is like an eagerly anticipated vacation for me. Bags packed; GPS in hand; LET’S GO!