SCS Challenge with Alcohol! And a FREE cutting File!

Hi Everybody!!

When I saw Thursday's challenge on SCS, I knew that I wanted to participate. The challenge from Julia for the "Way To Use It" was to use alcohol in your project. It didn't matter if you used alcohol inks like Tim Holtz's ranger inks, or your alcohol pens like Copics, or if you used images that related to alcohol, like wine glasses etc. I even think it was OK if you just consumed alcohol while you were doing your project! LOL! You just had to use alcohol somehow!

Well with a couple of masculine birthday cards in need for early next week, and with one of the recipients turning 21, I figured a bday card with a big beer mug was in order.

Here is the card I created for the challenge...

The Fine Print: DP: Basic Grey; CS: Bazzill; Vellum: The Paper Co.; Hardware: MM; Ribbon: not sure; Beer Mug die cut out on KNK; Ink: Amuse black ink, Top Boss embossing ink; Embossing Powder: Stamp La Jolla Snowy embossing powder; Paint: Heidi Swapp white acrylic; Stamp: SU Lots of Thought.

Here are the details of the foam I made for the beer. I stamped my embossing inkpad directly onto this die cut piece and then ended up adding three layers of snowy embossing powder heating it after each addition. It made the piece get very dimensional! My embossing powder is pink and for some reason it did not become clear, so I ended up having to paint on white acrylic paint to the top of it! It thought it came out really nicely!

This is the inside of the card! I used another SU background stamp that I tried to make it look like bubbles were popping to go along with the Happy "Burp"day sentiment! It was fitting for beer I thought! I am usually all sentimental, so this was a bit different for me to go whimsical and comical!

I hope the recipients will like it!

Now I have a FREE file for you....

I made the cutting file and cut it out on my KNK and that is what is attached to the front of the card as the main image. The glass portion of the mug is cut from vellum so it has that frosty glass appearance. I even scored it on my Scorepal to make the edges of the glass appear like those faceted beer mugs that you often see in bars. For the foam, I used snow embossing powder in three layers. Then I painted it with white since my pink embossing ink didn't disappear after I used it. :-(

I want to share with you the cutting file for FREE that I made for this card. It is zipped into all formats, so you guys can use it no matter what type of cutter you have. Enjoy!

Click on the beer mug image to go to the download site.

Have a great day and may your bucket be overflowing with the things you love!

Kelly :-)

CD Case Calendars

Hi Everyone!

I never got a chance yesterday to blog, or for that matter even have much time to check email. It was a very busy day at work between my two hospitals. In total I attended seven deliveries in 24 hours. My body aches today! I hope it proves to be a better day today!

Before January gets away from us all together, I wanted to tell you about what one of my resolutions is this year! It's not a new one, it is one I try (but usually fail) to do each year! LOL!
In an effort to stay in better touch with my loved ones, I have put in place a system so that I can send out birthday and other occasional cards as the need arises. I decided to make a calendar that can be inserted into a CD case and displayed at my desk that will tell me all the important dates for the month. I have highlighted all the birthdays and holidays and also included photos of my family members who have their birthday or anniversary during that month.


Here are pictures of this year's calendars that I made. I had so much fun with my daughter Leah one weekend when she was home over the Christmas/ New Year holidays. She made a calendar for herself too. Hers was all Orange and Blue in Gator themes! It was adorable!

The Fine Print: DP: Scenic Route collection; CS: The Paper Co, and Bazzill; Brads: MM, Doodlebug; Flowers: Prima, MM and other unsure ones; Stamps: Hero Arts Months collection and Technique Tuesday Shadows, Rings and Little Things; Ink: SU; Nestabilities for frames and mats and Circle Punch.

On the back of each calendar page I have listed the days of the month where I have hand written in the birthdays or special occurrences for that month. I keep the list of special dates for the upcoming month out so that I can use it as a guide to help me prepare my cards for the next month so that they are ready to deliver on time.

I have to get cracking on a couple masculine cards this weekend! I have some to mail out next week already!!

If you are interested in making your own CD case calendar,

Here are step by step directions with pictures to show you how to turn a regular CD case into your calendar stand...

http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/calendar-instructions.php

Paper Trey Ink also sells special cases that don't have the space where the insert usually goes. You might prefer to buy this type rather than use a standard CD case...

http://www.papertreyink.com/pack_cdcalendarcases.html

Here is a site where you can download calendar templates for free. Or if you would like some like mine, I can send you a PowerPoint Presentation that I have saved on my computer that you could use to print your own. Just email me or comment here if you would like that.

http://www.pbase.com/455rocket/cd_case_calendars

Here is an example of another person's sample from the Stamping Studio...

http://www.thestampingstudio.com/new/classes/class3.htm

Have a great day and may your bucket always be overflowing with things that bring you joy!

Kelly :-)

Our Wedding Day and my first Wedding Album Layout!

November 15th, 2008 was one of the happiest days of my life! I married the man I have waited a long time to find... the one I feel I was destined to spend the rest of my life with. Despite the fact that my dad couldn't make it to the ceremony or reception because his wife was very ill, and despite the fact that the weather was cold and windy, it was still a very beautiful ceremony!

We were married on Honeymoon Island in Dunedin, FL at sunset. Thankfully we had taken pictures for the wedding the week prior, when the weather was cooperating and the sunset was breathtaking and not obscured by clouds! You will see below a sampling of photos from both the photo shoot day and the actual ceremony below!

This shot was taken the week before the wedding.

What a beautiful sunset it was!

I should mention here that our good friends John and Brenda took these and most of our wedding photos for us. It was their gift to us for our wedding and we can't thank them enough. John is an accomplished photographer and his wife proved to be very talented at photography as well!

Another pre-wedding photo without the sunset behind us! We 'borrowed" the arch that was left there by a previous wedding! The torches were ours.

The actual wedding day getting ready to walk down the aisle!

See my dress just blowing in the breeze?

In attendance were our family (even Tom's kids from the other coast of FL and my aunt Cindy who surprised us all the way from MI), and many of our close friends. There were approximately 200 guests invited so it wasn't small, but still felt quaint and personal.

Standing at the altar during the ceremony.

Here is a shot of the decorations for the beach. Notice how windy it is!!

Along with the help of my daughter Leah, Tom and my friend Tiffani, I painstakingly made all the invitations and decorations for the beach. (See I told you I have been busy! LOL!)

We bought the arch from Michael's and wrapped it in organza and attached the wreath I made for it. We added two palms and two tiki torches that were decorated to match and also had tables for the sand ceremony and blessing stones (to be explained in a later posting.) Ricky and Tom's nephew Dustin raked the sand into a path for us and we added some conch shells to the base of the torches. It was very tropical!

As promised, I have a layout to share with you. I am very excited to make my wedding album! While in Vegas Tom took me to a LSS where I bought a zillion things to have for the honeymoon portion of our album. And then recently, Tiffani and I went to Whimsodoodle and bought tons of things for the album too!

Here are the colors that the album will have in it. I wanted to keep everything in the subtle colors that you would find on the beach, around the water and in the sunset. So the album will be using tans, peaches, oranges, blues and greens.

These colors are so yummy!!

Here is the first layout I made for our wedding album.

The large embellishment on the right side uses actual pieces from the arch decoration we used in the wedding.

Title: Decorating the Beach

Journaling:

"Driving to Honeymoon Island to prepare the beach for the wedding, the rain clouds were looming over us. As it rained briefly my stress level hit the roof. I realized that I had no control over the weather, but I could control the placement of the handmade decorations I had so lovingly prepared for our union. We were so thankful for Chad and Tiffani, Steve and Susan and Leah, Dustin and Ricky who braved what felt like hurricane force winds to drape organza, anchor the arch and torches and sweep a beautiful aisle. Despite Mother Nature, we created a beautiful tropical paradise for our wedding!

Fine Print: PP: Basic Gray; CS: Stampin Up (Sage Shadow and Barely Banana), Bazzill (Orange); Dried flowers and silk leaves from Michael's; Paper Flowers: Bazzill, Kaiser, and Prima; Brads: Creative Cafe; Ribbon: May Arts.

I'm Back! I have been a very bad blogger!!!

I can't believe that over six months has passed since I last posted a blog here! I told you from the very beginning that I have a problem with moderation! It seems whenever I get interested in something it consumes me to the point of not being able to keep up with everything else.

It (again) is one of my New Year's Resolutions! I will try and do better at being moderate in all things I do. Please hang in there with me as I keep working on this one!

There is so much to tell you about! A lot has changed since we last chatted! Let me give you the run down and then in future posts I will share some more details! But suffice it to say that it has been a whirlwind during the last quarter of 2008 and I am so thankful that 2009 is proving to be more relaxed and allowing me time to do some of the things I love like scrapbooking and card making!

If you have gotten here from The Wishblading Well site then thanks so much for visiting. You know that one of the things that happened is that Tiffani and I decided to close our online store selling cutting files and sell them at Paperthreads. This move in itself has allowed us a lot more free time to do all the things we love to do. See for yourself what I have found time to do!

Since my last post...

I trained for and finished my first Triathlon! I even placed third in my age group! :-)

I ran in my second triathlon!

I got married to Tom! My match.com made in Heaven!!


We honeymooned in Vegas baby!!

We got back right in time for Thanksgiving!

Then of course Christmas followed three short weeks later!

I don't know about you, but I have been exhausted!!

I hope you will find the time to keep up with me as I try to moderate my life and enjoy the things that keep spilling out of my bucket!!

Have a great day!!