This weeks sketch @ Let's Scrap

Good morning all! I hope everyone is recovering from the holidays!
Well, it's Wednesday, so that means a new sketch at Let's Scrap. Here is the sketch for this week

This sketch is great for a Christmas page or any page that you have a lot of pictures for, but only want to do one layout for it. If you tape or tie or whatever you would like on the right side, you can "hide" 6 more photo's on to one layout! So here is my take on the sketch

and here it is with the right side open (sorry for the camera glare, it is very overcast here, so I had to use the living room lights!)

Isn't that an awesome way to add extra photos!!

I used DCWV Harvest Gathering stack for all my pp's. I sanded the tan cardstock background. I used a banner stamp that I got from a yard sale for 25cents that I have had for months and never touched! Instead of using regular ink, I used VersaMark and embossed the banner gold. I really like the way it turned out!
Here is a close up of it and you can see the polka dots shimmering from the pp.

So, I hope this sketch inspires you to grab a stack of photos and get scrappin!
Cheers!
~Mindi

Challenge 125 @ Let's Scrap (picture heavy!)

My dear friend Cathy van de Bruinhorst posted the Design Team Challenge for this 2 week period at Let's Scrap. The challenge was to use a song title or part of a song as your page title. Click here to go check it out. So here is my submission

Of course the song is "Still the One" by Orleans. It fits with the pictures, as the older ones are from my folks' first couple years of marriage and both pics on the left are from their 40th anniversary, 12/25/1992. Even though my Dad passed 8/17/1995, he is still the only one for my Mom. He was the only man she was ever with, and they were faithful and loving to each other for over 42 years. Of course they bickered and had the occasional "disagreement" but they stood next to each other through thick and thin. I think it is funny that in the pic that has the 1953 corner on it is dated June 1953. They were married 12/25/52 and she is already "glowing"! LOL My sister, who was the oldest, was born November 1953 teehee!

The bottom left picture is my Mom and Dad kissing 12/25/92. My Dad bought my Mom a ruby ring for their 40th. It is the ONE and ONLY piece of jewelry my Dad EVER bought my Mother. I turned it black and white which I thought I did for the flow of the pages, but in hind sight, I wish I would have left it alone. Oh well.

Just for fun, here are the other pics from the pages. Some of them are not the greatest, especially the one where you can barely see my Dad's face, but this is all I had to work with.

                                                                    1955

                                                               
                                                                    undated

                                                                  June 1953

                                                                       undated

Here are some close-ups of the page

First, I just got an EK dimensional flower punch "Dahlia" and I had to play with it. I gotta say, it is cool! Esp using the gold metallic cardstock! I put a little piece of the lace in the middle, just for funs.

Here is a closer pic of the lacing I did. Used eyelets from my stash and green and gold DMC embroidery floss. I also used the gold floss for the french knot centers of the smaller flowers. NOTE: it really sucks trying to make a french knot with the metallic floss!!! The buttons are also stash from stuff I got from Granny's house. The smaller flowers were made for my MS punch.

All the papers I used are from The Paper Studio's Bella Bohemia stack.

It wasn't the easiest thing in the world doing this page, but I really am glad I got it done before Christmas. In my heart, it will be their 59th Anniversary. <3

Cheers!

~Mindi

This weeks sketch at Let's Scrap

edit to post~ I forgot to bling the tree, so I changed the close up pic, which now has bling!!

Hello fellow crafters! Since I am on Design Team A at Let's Scrap, I don't HAVE to do this weeks sketch, but it's so cute, how could I not?

Anyone is welcome to join and play along! Just click here to get to Let's Scrap!
So here is my jovial take on the sketch

First and foremost, I always want to give credit where it is due. I saw the idea for my Christmas tree SOMEWHERE blog hopping in the last few days. I wish I could remember where, but unfortunately, blog hopping has became a new disorder that I have to cope with. So if it is YOU reading this, please let me know so I can give you proper credit. :)

So here is the products I used, in no particular order
red cardstock is unknown stash. (I find it really hard to keep up with the makers of my solids)
All of the different pp's are from Cloud9 Seasonal 180 sheet paper pack (including the tree which is strips of the paper wrapped around a pencil then glued)
gold cardstock DCWV Glitter Stack-Metallics
white cardstock Colorbok
ribbon - found in a Christmas decoration box (and yes, I took it and ran!)
ink around 2 ovals - Colorbox Cat Eye Gold Brocade
"Merry" stamp  - Recollections
"Merry" stamped with Colorbox Cat Eye Silk Green
title cut with my Cricut using SCAL and Gawain font (found online for FREE!)
bakers twine is unknown maker as I bought just a few yards at a LSS



So, this was Mike's Company Christmas party last weekend. It was in a ballroom at a local hotel, so sorry for the poor lighting on the pics. We did a White Elephant gift exchange and were told to bring something free/cheap and funny. So I will explain the pics. The small pic with the 2 guys is Mike and his co worker. Mike got himself a boot ornament. He was incredibly impressed with it at the time. As the Crown Royal wore off, he was slightly less impressed! LOL The gal top left got an aluminum foil bikini, the gentleman got some groovy sunglasses, the next guy got a plate of sausage made to look like poo, the next gal got a rather large pair of men's underwear with prison stripes that say "most wanted", and the best for last. The guy on the bottom got a deck of cards wrapped just perfectly so when he opened it, he had to play 52 card pick-up, whether he wanted to or not!! LOL A great time was had by all, especially my DH Mike. He may have taken too many trips to the open bar, but I have to forgive him. We never go to bars downtown so this is his one time a year for letting loose. I was apprehensive of what he would think of me putting the pic of him on the LO, but he just laughed at himself. So with that,

A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL,

Cheers!
~Mindi

Creating from the Heart Blog Candy!!

So my friend from Creating for the Heart * Keepsakes by Melissa is going to make someone's holiday cheery and bright!! Below is listed what her blog candy is, you REALLY need to check this out! Click here to go to her blog!!




~ A $150.00 Gift Card to Michael's Craft Stores

~ 1 Copic Air-Brushing Starter Set System

~ 1 Copic Color Swatch Book

and finally....

~ 36 Copic CIAO Marker Set!

Are you kiddin' me, WOW!! Good luck to all and thanks to Melissa for such an awesome giveaway!

Cheers!

~Mindi

Blog candy @ Scrappingmamma

My friend Deb @ Scrappingmamma is giving away this awesome blog candy! While you are there, you should really check things out. She is super talented and creative!





http://www.scrappingmamma.net/2011/12/hello-my-friends-its-december-only-22.html

Cheers!
~Mindi

Stack-a-holic time again!!

For those few of you that follow me, you have probably figured out that I love to participate in the monthly challenges from the DCWV blog!!
Here is the sketch this month from Susan at Sketch Savvy


Super cute huh? So, this is what I did

If the title looks familiar, then you know of the Fray, since this is the title to one of their hits. I used Roulien's awesome tutorial from Let's Scrap to use a corner punch to make the beautiful circle. I ripped the edges of the cream cardstock and inked with Tim Holtz Vintage Photo distress ink just a little to make them pop. The flower is 4 circles cut from the corners of the sheet from the Once Upon a Time DCWV stack that was left after making the big circle. I chalked the inside of the flower since it was not a double sided cardstock. The button is vintage from some stuff I got from Granny's house. I also put a little glitter on 2 of the petals and a smidge more on the edges of the mat of the kitty picture. The title was cut with my Cricut using my SCAL and CK Beauty font that I got on Free Font Friday from Creating Keepsakes. Here is a closer pic of the flower and circle.

So, the touching story that goes with these pictures. The little kitty Queso had to go to the vet and have her girly bits taken care of. She was knocked out completely for a couple hours after she got home. The vet reccomended that since there was a dog and another cat in the home, to leave her in the carrier until she was moving around on her own. Our boxer Aoife (pronounced EE-fa) was very concerned about her little friend. She layed there for hours. Every time Queso would wiggle, she would jump to attention and make sure everything was alright. When the other cat Floki came within 10 feet, Aoife chased him away. It was the most precious show of affection and concern between animals. In my opinion, completely worth scrapping!

Thanks for looking and have a great evening!!
Cheers!
~Mindi

Finally got my hubby's surprise done!

So a couple of days ago I promised I would show you what I was planning to surprise my DH Mike with. Well, here it is

Mike and I are both big Raiders fans, so we have Raiders tree! I made paper ornaments with black, white and  Raiders cardstock. I used my SCAL and Cricut to cut black vinyl "Raiders" and shields for the glass balls, (which were only 1$ for all at a thrift store!) and silver and white vinyl and black cardstock for the topper. I was lucky enough to find 70 count lights on white cord at a yard sale this summer for 25 cents each! I may be slightly biased, but I LOVE our tree! Partly because of the Raiders, partly because it is something different than traditional.

Been a long day, good night all!
Cheers!
~Mindi

No longer a secret!!

Here is the sketch that I submitted for the Design Team at Let's Scrap

I am very excited to see it on the main page, along with my pic under DT also!!
If ya have a minute, you should go see what we are up to over there ;)
http://letsscrap.ning.com/

As far as the secret project for the hubby, he caught me! I am making Oakland Raiders paper ornaments for our Christmas tree. I will post pics as soon as I get some done.

Happy Hump Day all!
Cheers!
~Mindi

8 Years Straight

So, with craft shows over (and being total wash outs!) and my new-to-me corner desk is in my room and everything is tidy for now, I have scrapped! It seems like with everything going on and all the cards I made that I haven't done a layout in forever! So this is what I did with this weeks sketch at Let's Scrap

These pictures were taken at the Birdcage Theatre in Tombstone, Arizona on our honeymoon. This is the card table that is in the basement. It is exactly as it was in the late 1800's when the game stopped. Minus the rude people who have no respect for history and thought it was a good idea to throw coins over the barrier. Sorry, but being someone who enjoys history, I didn't find it in good taste. So, I will now jump off of my soap box and move on. It is said that Doc Holiday and Johnny Ringo both played faro at this table at some point during the game. Of course, not at the same time :) It is said to be the longest running poker game in history, playing continuously for 8 years, 5 months and 3 days non-stop. If someone went broke, or was shot (which happened a few times) a runner would immediately find the next player on the list. I find this absolutely fascinating!
  The center "straight" with the cards is a mini poster I bought at a yard sale for just this page. I started this page in August and could never quite get it how I wanted it. When the sketch for this week came out at Let's Scrap, everything just fell into place. The red stripes are fiber paper that was crumpled and inked with distress ink. The "8 years" was cut with my Cricut. I really liked the way it FINALLY turned out!

Stayed tuned tomorrow, I have a special "secret" project that I am going to do for my honey and I will share with you ;)

Cheers!
~Mindi