Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop Week 1: Gingerbread House

Welcome to the Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop!

Halloween is over, so Christmas is just ahead!  Ok, not really.  In fact, I have a personal rule about not decorating for Christmas until after Thanksgiving.

Except…when I saw this cute house die designed by my friend Eileen Hull, I knew I had to make it into a gingerbread house.  Oh well, rules are made to be broken, right?    Happy Thanksgivmas!

For this project, each of us started out with the following Sizzix products:

#65279;Sizzix Scoreboards Pro Die – House, 3D, by Eileen Hull
Sizzix 12×12 matboard, white
Sizzix Big Shot Pro die cutting machine

I started by assembling the house base using double sided tape and brads.  I like to assemble the Scoreboards dies before painting so I can get the edges covered without touch-ups.  I applied two  quick coats of a 1:1 mixture of DecoArt Texturizing medium and Americana acrylic paint in Light Cinnamon, leaving the tops of both roof pieces, the fence, windows, and door frame white.

To get a fun faux-snow/icing look to the roof pieces and window frames, I applied Marvy Puffy Velvet Fabric Markers and heat set the pieces when dry.  I made the peppermint candies for the roof with a quick swish of white paint on some wooden discs and some red glitter glue, with a coat of Diamond Glaze for a smooth finish.  The red glitter glue also added the perfect peppermint touch for the door frame.

Of course I can’t just leave well enough alone, I’m a detail girl.  I glued on some premade glittery candy cane and gumdrop buttons, and used one of the brad punch-outs for a doorknob.

The matboard fence made its way over to the side of the house, surrounding a lollipop tree made with white cardstock and Clearsnap’s Design Adhesives.  The fence also gets a holiday makeover with a Clearsnap Smooch garland and a tiny red ribbon bow.

I finished up with some pale yellow cardstock to give a warm glow inside the windowpanes, and an itty bitty foil and Smooch decorated tree peeking out to show some holiday spirit.   Did I mention that I love details?

To check out the next of 60 blog hop projects, use the navigation buttons at the top of the sidebar over there ————————>

or use the master list here:  Sizzix blog hop master list.

Thanks for hopping by!  Tune in next week to see Karin Burniston’s Pop-Up Cube!

Until next time…
C.

Back from the CHA Summer Show

Why yes, I do remember I have a blog!  Not that you’d be able to tell from looking at it.  The blog guilt has been eating me alive!

I took a little break to finish up the school year and have some fine family fun during the summer, but as the kids gear up to return to school (AAK! -Already?) I’m gearing up to return to the internet.

Those of you who are crafters may know that the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) held its summer trade show in Chicago last week.  I normally work the show in some capacity as a freelance designer, and this year was no different.  I had the opportunity to demonstrate the new Designer Foils, Design Adhesives, and Archival Dye Inks for Clearsnap.  Can I tell you how incredibly wonderful it is to work in the Clearsnap booth?   It is truly a great company filled with great people (and great products!).

Have you ever volunteered for something, only to think immediately “Yikes! What have I just done?”  I did that this week too.

I had the pleasure of meeting Tiffany Windsor, host of Cool2Craft, in Chicago as well.  When she had an unexpected cancellation in her Thursday show line-up and came to Clearsnap to fill it, guess who offered to help.   Yes, the person who hates the sound of her own voice volunteered to broadcast it live for 8 minutes. Many thanks to Lisa Fulmer for putting me at ease!

My Cool2Craft Clearsnap Foil Segment is about 32:00 minutes into the show.

I also taught three class sessions in the Clearsnap booth.  We created a 6×6″ mini scrapbook page filled with stamping, heat embossing, glitter, Smooch Illuminate, Design Adhesives, and a host of other things.  I wanted to make sure everyone left having experienced a variety of techniques and products.  The classes were videotaped, and will be edited down to a short demonstration to appear on Clearsnap’s website.  I’ll be sure to link when it is available, assuming I can stand to link to my own voice again.  🙂

Also thanks to Lisa for taking one of the only photos of me at the show (Demo-ing for Clearsnap at Peterson-Arne).  For the first time ever, I didn’t bring my camera to the show.  I think I took a few on my iphone, but those were mostly with friends.  I came home thinking there wasn’t much that caught my eye, and as I looked around at other designer’s blogs I realized why.  There was an influx of vintage at this show.  And while I appreciate vintage, I don’t like working with it much.  I’m more of a bold and bright girl than a soft and frilly one.

I lean more toward the bright geometrics of the new Echo Park collections and Jillibean Soup’s Atomic Soup collection.  These two companies managed to stop me in my tracks and take a second look.  And frankly, Atomic Soup is the kind of line a nerdy girl with two biology degrees and a career in crafting can really get behind!

And of course, I loved seeing all my designer buddies again.  The show is never long enough to really catch up the way I’d like.  And thanks to all those wonderful designers who taught the Monday education classes, I’m excited about taking a new fork in the road!

That’s it for now,

Until next time…
C.

Sizzix ScoreBoards Blog Hop–Rectangle Box

It’s Sizzix ScoreBoards blog hopping time again, this time featuring an adorable rectangle box with a lid!  My friend and ScoreBoards designer Eileen Hull sent me this sweet little box to work with and my brain started racing with possibilities.

The box measures 3 3/8″ x 1 3/4″ x 1 7/8″ when it is assembled, which makes it a great size for all sorts of things.  While I could have filled it with candies or other treats as a favor box, or kept it for the doodads that collect on my dresser (I was tempted!), I decided it would become an extra-special gift box for the earrings I made for a friend’s birthday.

I wanted to give the box a metallic look with a little bit of texture, so I used Watermark ink, a stamping wheel and clear embossing powder from Clearsnap to emboss a circle design onto the box.   After heat setting, I used a paintbrush to rub in Antique Silver Pearl-Ex powder and give the metallic sheen.  What I failed to consider, however, is how the metallic would photograph.  Whoops!  It looks fantastic, trust me!   The feet are beads, attached with glue to each corner, and the sentiment is stamped and embossed.

I was super-happy with the dry embossing on the lid that I did using the Sizzix Dots embossing folder and my Big Shot. I’ve never tried dry embossing mat board before, and the results were fantastic.  I love it when that happens!  A quick embellishment cluster of a printed sentiment, a glittered bookplate and leaf, and a Prima flower finished off the top of the box perfectly.  I used a small velcro dot to secure the lid closed.   Voila!  A special gift box for a special friend!

Don’t forget to hop around to the other artists’ blogs to see the other fabulous takes on Eileen’s ScoreBoards design!  If you enjoyed seeing these ScoreBoard projects on the hop, please leave a comment here or on Eileen Hull’s blog so we know you stopped by.   This makes you eligible for a random drawing for a ScoreBoards die!

See more projects here:

• Ann Butler
• Candice Windham
• Carla Schauer–“Gift of Friendship” Jewelry Box
• Cindi Bisson –“Unexpected Jaguar” Gift Box
• Eileen Hull
• Einat Kessler
• JGoode Designs— Little box of sunshine filled with hugs
• Julie McGuffee –Life in the Craft Lane
• Veronica Goff
• Laura Bray— Moulin Rouge Theater Box
• Lisa Rojas
• Lorine Mason
• Madeline Arendt
• Melony Bradley
• Michelle Cummings
• Modern Surrealist –Girlfriend’s Gift Box on the Sizzix Blog Hop!!!
• Niki Meiners— Rectangle Box
• Sandy Laipply — Pink Rose Jewelry Box
• Sparkle’s Studio

Stop by again for our next hop on May 12, we will be making cakes!

Until next time…
Carla

Perspective

I love downloading photos.

Well, let me rephrase that.  I love looking at the photos I’ve downloaded.  The actual downloading process is, frankly, less than exciting.  And because of that, I don’t do it as often as I should.  Coupled with the fact that I most often use 4gig cards, it may be several weeks before I fill up a card enough to bother with the download process, and often makes the subject matter a bit of a surprise.   Which in a rather circular manner brings me back to my original thought:

I love downloading photos.  🙂

Today’s long-overdue downloads are brought to you today by my oldest child, who inhereted my old G3.   Nearly nine, he loves snapping photos almost as much as I do, and I love looking at the world through his eyes.  In this case, his eyes were taking in this summer’s Disney vacation.

There were a few shots remarkably similar to ones I had taken

and some that were close, but taken from kid-height:

There were some that were better than the ones I took with my DSLR:

and some that captured moments I missed:

Of course, there were multitudes of photos of his favorite subject:

himself.

He took 216 photos over the week we were there.  Yes, several were blurry (he’s an impatient boy and it’s a slow camera), and some are unflattering, to say the least.   But he had some great shots and, most importantly, a record of our vacation through his eyes.  From his perspective.

Until next time…
c.

Creating frenzy

I mentioned last week that I was on a massive creative streak, spending night after night in the craft cave pulling my Designer Showcase table display together.  After late nights and buckets of caffienated beverages I’m almost there.   Two more projects left.  Sleep is overrated, right?   The creative binge is fun, but the aftermath leaves a little to be desired.

Here’s one of the late-night projects made for Helmar Adhesives:

I finally got my gallery up and running this weekend.   To see more projects, click on the “Gallery” tab up top.

In other news, while preparing for our upcoming adventures, I made sure all the memory cards from our cameras are empty and ready to go.  In the process, I found quite a few photos I had forgotten about.  Here’s a little gem from our recent NASCAR race at the Kentucky Speedway.  Kid #1 was super-excited about being able to stay up late and go along.   He was fun to watch.

I’m still lamenting the lack of photos from the NKOTB concert last weekend.   We got a random upgrade to pavilion seats.  Total retro cheesy fun.  Completely different from *coughcoughtoomanyyearsagocoughcough* when I was 13 seeing them the first time.  It was a ball.

Off to head back to the cave.  Those projects aren’t going to make themselves!

Until next time…
C.

Wait…what? July?

I turned the calendar page to July yesterday.

Usually, I enjoy turning the calendar.  A fresh new page of possibilities before the commitments get scribbled all over.  But today I’m wondering where the summer has gone.  I’d swear the last day of school was just yesterday, and here it is almost mid-summer already.   Between chasing the kids and craft assignments, it has been a busy month already.

The CHA summer show in Orlando is just a few short weeks away, and I’m waist-high in preperations.  My friend Niki is visiting from North Carolina, and we’ve been crafting fiends over the last week.   Because of some other prior commitments, I have to have everything ready for the show by next week.   My usual pre-show panic has set in early, and I’m scrambling to make sure everything is in order.  It doesn’t matter how early I start prepping for shows, I always end up finishing 5 minutes before my deadline.   Luckily, my deadline is earlier this year.   I’m imagining the night before the show to be relaxed and calm.  I won’t know what to do with myself!

I wanted to share a project I did a few months ago that became a product header.  The layout features “Smooch”, an accent ink from Clearsnap.  I love that ink, the brush lets me color even the tiniest spaces.

I’ll be sharing some more of the work I’ve been creating for the show as I photograph it this week.

Until next time…
C.

The bear hunt proves fruitless

Again.

Each fall we try to carve a few days from the crazy family schedule to spend in the Smokies with the in-laws.  Each fall we hope to catch a glimpse of a bear.    And each fall we leave without a bear sighting.   It has come to be quite the joke in the family, since everyone who has ever come along on this trip has managed to spot one except us.  This year, my sister-in-law managed to catch a cub (a peek, not the actual bear!) near Laurel Falls.

We, on the other hand, were treated to views of that rare woodland creature known as the ground squirrel.   Fascinating!

Oh well!    Next time it has to be us.    We’re the only ones left!

With the kids in school is gets harder and harder to get a few days away, so we ended up with a long weekend trip this year.    It wasn’t a long time to take in the sights, so we had to chose a few specific spots to see.   In the end, we stuck with some old favorites – a few kid-friendly trails, the Dixie Stampede, and driving the Cades Cove loop with a few thousand of our closest friends.    Despite the Cove being packed (though not nearly as bad this year as some previous years), the kids always love exploring the cabins.    They also had a great blacksmithing demo we hadn’t seen before.    The light inside the cabin was fantastic.   I’m hoping I got some good photos, but I haven’t downloaded them from the camera yet.

I did realize that I’m still not over the near-squishing of my car by a semi-truck a few months ago, though.   The highway driving made me shaky.    Worth it though, to have a great family weekend, bears or no bears!

Until next time…
C.

Moving on from Muppets!

All right. Now that you have wasted more than a reasonable amount of time watching vintage Muppets videos (yes, vintage! To call them old, would be like calling me old. I know you wouldn’t want to insinuate such things, right?), we can move on.

The past two weeks have been filled with all kinds of real, ordinary life. The kind of life that doesn’t translate well to fascinating, must-read blog posts, but is nonetheless life worth living.

We replaced the basketball hoop the neighbors’ friends knocked down 5 years ago. With the kids being little, we didn’t miss it much, but it’s nice to have again now that the little people are outgrowing the Fisher Price model.

The grownups of the family went to “The Shoe” for the opening Buckeye Game. In the 12 years since we graduated, we have never once gotten a decent game, or good seats for that matter. 12 YEARS! Ah well, the experience was great once again, we won, I realized I should have applied a bit more sunscreen, and we followed it up with a fabulous meal at Schmidts. Can’t beat it, even if the game was a gimme.

*An amusing note: As we were driving to Columbus, passing cars with window flags, bumper stickers, and license plate holders, all bearing the Buckeye scarlet and grey, we noticed that all the passengers in those cars seemed…well…vintage. The realization that these are now our peers was both humorous and disconcerting.

The last weeks were also spent with such captivating tasks as garage cleaning, tree trimming, doorknob replacing (see I told you it was fascinating!) and our annual visit to see Thomas the Train, which may become the blog post of another day. All in all, everyday life happening.

Hope your last couple weeks were also filled with life!

Until next time…

C.

Gone fishin’: Life uninterrupted

I’ve always loved that old “Gone Fishin’ ” sign I always used to see hanging on the door of quaint shops in old TV shows.   That little notice that life was too much fun and needed to be lived in the moment.   Last week, I hung one of those little signs on the scrapcave door and went out to enjoy life.   It seems like summer ends earlier and earlier each year, and as much as I love fall, I wasn’t ready to bid summer goodbye just yet.

The kids and I spent a long weekend in North Carolina with my friend Niki, and let the kiddos play.   They hadn’t seen each other since Niki moved in May, and had a ball playing together.   Surprisingly, the kiddos were fantastic. I had been dreading the drive alone with all three, but they were amazing travelers.   Aside from the logistics of getting all of us in and out of the bathroom for necessary stops, the drive was great.   Except for the 50 minutes I spent parked on the expressway for construction. EACH WAY.   Oh, and the swerving truck I had a bad feeling about colliding with the cement median barrier right where I used to be before I passed him.   But the kids?   Perfect.   Amazing.

Found all necessary school supplies at great prices. I’m not sure why I get such a sense of satisfaction from buying 22c crayons and 5c notebooks, but I do.   I now have enough to last us until the last one graduates, even after donating more than 2/3 of it all.   We’ll see if I can resist the free glue that I don’t need this week.

Made a batch of homemade salsa from tomatoes and peppers fresh from the garden.   Oh so tasty with whole grain tortilla chips from Trader Joe’s.

Drove to Lexington on Saturday, when a wonderful friend’s daughter tied the knot.   The service and reception were beautiful, and the bride stunning. Though I felt a wee bit ancient when I realized this was the first wedding I’ve attended where I’m friends with the bride’s mother rather than the bride herself.   EEK!

The wedding also gave me a chance to chat and catch up with another scrap friend, Barb.   I’m a regular follower of Barb’s blog, as she’s a fantastically funny writer and a heck of a photographer to boot.   Though I felt woefully inadequate having chosen to pop the pocket camera in my purse rather than the dSLR, I got to watch the photographers (Deb and Grant) and Barb talking shop, trying lenses, and figuring out they probably hung out in the same room at the same time in college and never met.    Small world.    Cool stuff.

Check out Barb’s link for some better photos of the wedding.

While the calendar says it’s still summer for a few more weeks, our summer officially ends tomorrow, with the arrival of the big yellow bus to the driveway.   School begins, and my nose must be replaced back to the grindstone.

Until then, I’m going to nibble on some Ikea hazelnut chocolate, sip an icy cold diet sundrop I brought back from the Carolinas and hop outside to enjoy the sunshine.

Hope you are enjoying it too!

Until next time…
C.

Sorry, please try again later.