Vacation, Cards, and more.

Hi all, 

I've been super busy as always but I have been crafting. I've been working on invitations for a dear friend of mine, Danielle, for her son (my godson)'s birthday. I wanted to keep them pretty simple and let the image stand for itself. This is just a stock image of the yellow-one I printed from google images. Easy peasy. 

 

I order a boat load of tags (let say I have 1,000 tags now. Anyone want some?? Just email me.) from amazon (because they were so cheap) and I've been using them on everything. Some are small, some are large, and all of them are awesome. Why do us crafters love tags so much?

Sometimes I have a tendency to get too caught up in all the details I can possibly add to a card and I can get a bit carried away. Lol. But for this card I wanted to keep it fairly simple and use items that I already have on hand. The only new purchase used on this card is the tag. This was a traditional manila tag but I colored it using Tim Holtz distress ink Worn Lipstick, and Tattered Rose. Hope you like. 

Supplies: 

Stampin' Up! - Welcome Neighbor DS paper pack (118401), Mat Stack, Paper Piercer, Whimsical Words Stamp set

PTI - Dark Chocolate Cardstock, Polka Dot Basics II stamp set, Rustic Jute Twine

WeRMemory Keepers - Corner Chomper

If you follow me on twitter or facebook then you know I just got back from a cruise vacation to the bahamas. Now I'm not a fan of being photographed but as my friends have been posting their pics of me on facebook I'm come to like a few of them. Just a few. 

Here you can see me, Jess, and Ilene all laughing at the people on stage singing karaoke. Now I must admit that all my life (all 27 years of it) I've been a bit of a work-a-holic, and this was my FIRST EVER vacation. Yes, first ever, and thanks to the girls I had a total blast and can't wait to go on my next one. 

Hugs, 

A

Invites: Your Ticket to Paradise. Finally complete.

Hi all, 

It's summer and I've been super busy. School officially ends for me next week and by then I can finallly apply for my standard teaching certificate. Yay. Right now I'm teaching on a probationary certificate while I finish up all the requirements for standard certification. After I complete these 2 courses next week I will be done. 

In the meantime my co worker Ilene is getting married to Anthony and she enlisted me to make her wedding invites. She really did all the grunt work coming up with all the wording and placement but I think they came out fantastically. It took all of 3 days of camping out at Ilene's house, hanging out with the kiddos, shopping, and drama. Nothing like a good time right??? Lol. I had a blast and now, here's the fruit of our labor. 

What do you think??

 

 The Inside: Pg. 1 The Invitation & Reception info

Pg. 2 - The Cruise Info, Seating info, etc. 

Pg. 3 - Cruise details, and FYI

The happy couple and my good friends, Ilene and Anthony. 

 

Thank you for the 3 day long crafting session, the great parties, and my very first vacation (& my first cruise). It's all love and I can't wait. 

That's all for now. Hugs, 

Angee  

 

Project Unveiled: CommemorativeWeddingGift using invites

Hi all, 

A few weeks ago I posted here about a project I was working on. My dear co-worker had a former student who was getting married and she had the super awesome idea of using this wedding invitation and save the date card as a commemorative gift. She gave me both the invite and save the date (I so was going o abbreviate the save the date but when I saw it came out to STD I decided against. lol.) And pretty much left it up to me. So off I went. 

I did have a bit of direction because the back of the save the date card was in a kind of scrap-booking format with a cute digital layout style. So I used this as a jumping off point and went from there incorporating the colors used, and a little bit of the layout as inspiration. 

Here is the layout right before it was finished. I added a few more touches to it later. 

Here it is all finished and framed. I can't believe how great the frame looks. It's sort of cream colored and distressed. The purple mat looks like velvet and then it has a small green mat beneath it. My iPhone pics does not do it justice. Linnell brought it to my classroom to let me see and I so wanted it back it was so beautiful. I wish I could say this was my idea to do this but it was all Linnell. All the papers are from a Walmart brand scrapbooking paper pack from Best Occasions punch out paper pack. The hearts were punched with the Stampin' Up! Heart Trio punch, and miscellaneous pearls and ribbon from my stash. 

 

  

Any other ideas for crafty wedding gifts?? Please leave me a comment below. Thanks.

Hugs, 

Angee

Digital Card Making

Hi all.

It's been a long time since I've last blogged, I know and I do apologize. Bad blogger, bad blogger. Today was my very last day of "official" work at school so now I will have more time for blogging & crafting for the next 3 months minus a few days for the cruise. :-D

In honor of the last day of work here is a quick little video highlighting my next endeavor...Digital cardmaking. Kristina Werner (my favorite cardmaker) did a great tutorial for 2peas on this subject. I tried to follow along and create the same card however I could not quite get it to work for me. The commands and dialog boxes were not the same when I opened my version of photoshop (I'm in CS3) and for the life of me I could not get my rounded corner rectangle tool to draw the shapes in the desired color. I guess I need lots more practice. 

Enjoy the video and I will be back very soon with more cards. 

A Layout and another update.

Hi all. 

I'm trying to redesign my blog again and it's not going so well. I was using a custom theme builder theme and just changed it to a stock theme from typepad and my blog is not updating. Ugh. On top of that I designed a simple blog header in photoshop and tried to upload it to the blog and it's not working. I also tried the CSS option found here and it didn't work either. 

Needless to say I've put that off until another day when I don't have a million and one things going on. 

I'm working on a wedding layout for a dear friend. One of her former students is getting married and she wanted a commemorative layout made up using their wedding invitation and save-the-date card. What a great idea right??? Here's a little sneak peek. I don't want to post it just yet incase the bride or groom happens by my blog. 

 

(Please excuse the photo quality. I took this photo with my iPhone.....)

I've never really been much of a traditional scrapbooker. Being a single girl I always thought it weird to have an entire scrapbook filled with layouts all about me. But this was so much fun that I might just have to get over my reservations and just do it. Maybe scrapbook for other people? I wonder if people even do that. If you do let me know. 

In addition to all that I'm currently frequenting this particular website for reasons I can't reveal just yet. Lets just say I really love Michael Jackson and will be paying tribute to him through dance. So much fun though. You will see what happens with this soon. 

I did help a friend out with her moving garage sale over the weekend and oh my goodness it was so much fun. You can't beat great friends, helping hands, and weird garage sale junkies. Hilarious. Plus I scored a few goodies from my friend Jess. 

I got a desk chair, a Dell LCD monitor, a Canon EOS RebelG 35 mm camera, 2 XL barstools (not shown), a couple a REAL SIMPLE magazines (that I absolutely love), and loads of books, all for only $60 bucks. I offered more but she turned me down. I just love that Jess.  

Sweet hugs, 

Angee

Challenges, Mini Albums, & more.

Hey everyone, 

It's panning out to be a very long week for me. My students are TAKS testing again this week and that means restless children who are stressed about testing. 

Today I have a card that qualifies for 2 sketches, CPS 164  and 2Sketches4U. Love that. 

 

CPS 164 Sketch

 

2Sketches4U #54 

I haven't done much crafting this week so I'm spotlighting a good crafty friend of mine, Kathryn Krieger from the ScrapBeach. I met Kathryn when I was designing mini albums with a kit club hosted by Marion Smith. I had the best time participating in that kit club and met some great girls. 

Here is part one of a great mini album Kathryn is working on. I love watching these videos because she offers some great crafting tips and products. Enjoy. 

Sweet Hugs, 

Angee

Distress Ink Foam Storage Idea

Are you a grungy girl? Do you love Tim Holtz distress Inks? Have all those foam applicators stored in little baggies? Want a great storage solution? If you answered yes to any/all of those questions then take a quick look at this video by Patti Behan

Is that the cutest idea? And guess what? Stampin' Up! has a matchbox die (114890) so you can make the boxes out of your favorite patterned paper. I would also cut some acetate to put inside the box so that the box won't soak up the left over ink and get mushy inside. 

I thought this was a great idea.

Sweet hugs, 

Angee

Adobe Photoshop CS5: Previews

Hi all.

Today I'm showcasing one of my favorite {and most imtimidating} programs, Adobe Photoshop CS5. I had the previous version of CS4 {just the trial though} and loved it. It took me quite some time to get comfortable with it. I spent many hours watching tutorials on Youtube<---I probably watch Youtube more than I watch television.

In a twist of fate, I actually got a copy of Photoshop Elements 6.0 when I purchased my new wide format photoprinter earlier this year. How lucky is that?? I thoroughly enjoy working with it as well, however I'm really looking forward to the new products Adobe is rolling out, i.e., Adobe Photoshop CS5, Lightroom, and Illustrator. I've got lots of practicing to do. Here are two of my favorite demo vids to get all of us familiar with CS5. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

Awesome stuff right?? Let me know if you know of any additional tutorials that you love.

Sweet Hugs,

Angee

Tool Spotlight: Zutter Distrezz-It-All

Hey everyone, 

It's been a busy busy weekend here in the Scrap Sugar Studio. As you can see I tried my hand at some CSS coding {please forgive me if that's not the correct terminology} and redesigned the website to make it a little simpler and I'm liking it a lot. Not loving it yet so there may be a few more changes in the next couple weeks or months. 

Todays tool that I'm spotlighting is the Zutter Distrezz-it-All. If you remember this post from last week I talked all about Tim Holtz for Sizzix dies and my love of grungy things. I normally keep my cards pretty simple but I love making Mini Albums and I tend to grunge them up quite a bit. If you've attempted to grunge chipboard and the multiple papers that are included in a mini album then you know it can be a bit time consuming. Well Zutter and Donna Salazar have come up a solution. 

Description from Zutter.com:

Add antique, shabby chic look to your paper craft projects in the blink of an eye. The tool that everyone wants....the all new Distrezz-it-All makes hand sanding and filing a thing of the past. Distrezz cardboard, chipboard, wood, leather, fabric-covered projects, up to 12 sheets of cardstock at once! Hand held or desk top application. 

Demonstration:

Here is a great demo video from Noell Hyman of Paperclipping.com

Price: $39.99

    A quick google search resulted in prices around $39.99. Hopefully Hobby Lobby or Michael's will offer this product and we will be able to use a 40-50% coupon. Don't you just love coupons?? 

I think this is a great tool for the crafter who makes multiples of everything. (Um....that's me). When you have your assembly line set up this tool will cut your distressing time in half or more. Furthermore did you see how easy it was to distress that chipboard?? Awesome. 

Let me know what you think. Would you use it? Would you purchase it?

Hugs & Sweetness, 

Angee

Love Link: Photoshop CS5 Sneak Peak

My Love Links: Flower Necklaces

Here are my love links for this week: 

Click on the Photos to be directed to the sites for more info.

www.lovemaegan.com

ohsohappytogether.blogspot.com

Pretty-Ditty.blogspot.com

Mrspriss.com

The Splurge: $299 OMG - WOW!!

BejewelledBespoke