A Little Showing Off

The last project we did with my Stamp Club was a calendar for 2008. We each took a month and we had only one rule: The page must be 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, or half a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 card stock. Other than that, we were free to do whatever we wanted to! Being realistic people - i.e., we have lives - we gave ourselves several months to complete our pages, and we got together at the end of December for the assembly process and to feed our faces.

We had most of the people in attendance, and all of the completed pages. Not all of the pages, but all of the completed pages. We were short one of the pages. And of the actual completed pages, two people did half a sheet of card stock in the wrong direction ... one of them was the right width but the wrong length (we are still trying to figure out how she did that), and one of them was exactly half, just the wrong way. We did some minor surgery on the too-narrow-and-too-long one and it was fine. One of them needed more time for its transformation, and since we were short one of the months anyway, we opted to collect our stacks, including the lovely cover and the chipboard backing provided by our gracious hostess, our coil for binding, placed the unbound items in our protective bags, and commenced to feed.

Let me tell you, these ladies can COOK! Not only are the calendar pages awesome, they are not too bad in the food arena, either. Everything was YUMMY!

At my workshop this past weekend we received the rest of the pages, so I assembled my calendar so I can take it to work and admire our handiwork every day! Since I only did one page, that's all I feel right showing you, so here we go...presenting .... March 2008:

Why yes, it is a little different than your average calendar page. The problem started when I was given no guidance in the form of rules, so once I was sure I'd cut the card stock in the right direction, I went to town.

March is a sweet month because so much happens in March! You have your obvious holidays - Easter, First Day of Spring, the Ides of March, St. Patty's Day, etc. How boring. So I searched for less-obvious days to celebrate...we'll get to those in a minute.

First to decide on a layout. I tried a tri-fold calendar that would give me a full 11 inches of width to let me decorate each important day, but that died on the vine. There was just not enough room on the page. We needed to leave the top 1 1/2" of the page unembellished so it would fit into the Rubicoil, so this only left 7" to work with, seriously limiting my decorating area. Then I decided to just do an image for each holiday along with the date, and not make it part of the actual calendar. After my mockup was done, I liked it, but *I* knew what the images were meant to represent...it would not be so obvious to others.

Some important dates I felt compelled to include: March 3rd is "What if Cats and Dogs Had Opposable Thumbs? Day", and since we all have furry pets it was a must to be included! The 12th is "National Workplace Napping Day" - gotta include that one!

What to do, what to do. Ah-ha! A cheat sheet! I placed a pocket of DS paper on the back of my page and made up a Cheat Sheet on the 'puter with all the dates listed, plus a few more, like "Swallows Return To San Juan Capistrano Day" and "As Young As You Feel Day". Not only was this Cheat Sheet a very clever way around my little predicament, it also decorated the back of my page! A bonus!

Some of the features on my page I am particulary proud of are the following: (1) the cat and dog are fluffy - they have flocking on them; (2) the spring (first day of Spring, get it?) is made by wrapping some wire around a wooden skewer - an idea from one of my fellow conspiring stampers when I whined about not being able to find any I liked at the hardware store; and (3) I did not include my birthday. Okay, I noted the day after my birthday, just so they'd know they missed it, but I certainly do not expect any flood of cards or anything like that ........

So here is how I did the cheat sheet:

And here is the Cheat Sheet up close:

I managed, via poor photography, to hack off the holiday listed for the 31st. It is "National She's Funny That Way Day".

The project was a success, and we are all very pleased with ourselves. We have our annual meeting in February to decide what we plan to do for this year, and I am sure it will include another Chunky Project of some kind. This is just such a great way to get a little bit of art from everyone!

Well, tomorrow evening I have a workshop, so no playing tonight - gotta keep the stations clear of clutter, and once I start on something, well, it's just best not to start at all. Then Wednesday I pick the winner of my Blog Candy! YAY!

Gotta go do some laundry so I can go to work tomorrow. :-)

Projects Galore!

Continuing on my quest for suitable projects for my Holiday Stamp Camp, I cranked out some prototypes this past week. First up is a double-pocket card I have seen on SCS. I thought I'd try it with some of the new SU wrapping paper, but I think they came out a little too busy for this particular use.




I even tried to put the pockets on the inside (the right-hand image), but it still seemed too over-powering.




Someone posted one on SCS using a very subtle patterned paper, so I tried that next, and I think it has a bit more potential than the bolder patterns.







This is a tote bag I made last year, and decided to make it for this event using some of SU's new card stock and DS paper. This one uses the new Basic Gray card stock and Charbon double-sided paper.

This bag can be gussied up in oh so many ways, but to keep things simple I decided to just use different papers from the Charbon paper pack. This tote would be perfect for giving someone a bunch of cards, and the cards could be made to match the tote. It would also be cute stuffed with tissue paper to use for a regular gift.

Next up I found the template for this project on SCS and thought it would be a great Stamp Camp project. It is made out of a piece of card stock cut 4 x 11, so you can get 2 out of one piece of card stock. A little cutting, a little adhesive, some stamping, and voila! Just imagine the 'open' version of this sample filled with candy corn. ;-) So many possibilities!






And I finally used my SU Sweet Sampler set. ;-)







Enough creating for one day!

And now for something completely different ..... Chunky Books!

This afternoon my stamp club had their monthly meeting, and today was the end of our Alphabet Chunky Book adventure! Here is what the book looks like bound, both the front cover and a view of the pages. I have not trimmed and finished the coil, yet, but I thought I'd take a photo of the project in case the coil never gets finished.












This one is truly chunky! I will say it was pretty easy to assemble - we knew the order of the pages!

I cannot show other people's pages - it's just not right - but I can show you my pages and tell you about some of the other ones.

Here is my 'C' page, front and back:












Obviously, I could not decide on one word for a theme, so I went for whatever would fit on the page. as long as it started with the letter 'C'. Very original, I know. There is actually some stuff in my first mock-up that did not make the final cut. The cork letters on this final version were the result of me following yet another SCS enabling post that had me rummaging through the Target dollar bin. I think I have enough cork letters for several more alphabet books! Hey, they were only a dollar!

And may I take this opportunity to point out the importance of good lighting when taking a photograph. Check out that right-hand photo of the 'C' page. It really is the same color as the front of the page (SU's Really Rust, that I called 'Cinnamon' for the 'C' page) ... just bad photography ...

Here is my 'P' page, front and back:














I was still in 'busy' mode, so this got all the starts-with-P stuff: pink paper, a pink pick-up, a P with pink paisley paper, a pink ribbon with a pink pin, a padlock and a piano. And that's just the FRONT. On the back we have a pocket (a picture of my blue jeans' pocket!), with a puzzle piece and a penny, a paw and a purse. I was pretty thorough, huh?!

And my 'H' page:











By the time I got done with 'C' and 'P', I really needed to cut back on the 'stuff' and focus on one word for a theme. I went through my stash (oooh, this might count as a Stash Dive entry!) and found this Red Hat (focus on the HAT for 'H') paper. It was a 12x12 piece of these stripes, so I cut them out and made them the tops of my pages. I have had the hat stamp forever, and I used the SU Spring Flower Bouquet punch to make the flowers for the hat band. The back has the flower from Bodacious Bouquet stamped in Versamark (I think) and the lower-case 'h' from the SU Big Deal alphabet is stamped in Elegant Eggplant craft ink on Real Red card stock, then clear-embossed and cut out. The Hats Off sentiment is from the retired SU Going Out in Style set.

Some of the other creative ideas (more creative than mine, I think, mostly because they had a theme and focus) ... the 'Y' page was a View-master of all things 'Y'. The top window had a picture and the bottom window had the word to describe it - how clever was that?!?!?! And it was two-sided! There were views of the wheel both front and back! I was humbled.

And the 'M' page was in the shape of an 'M'. VERY creative! It had musical score paper and an image of a Muse. We had 'G' is for Giraffe, 'I' is for Ink, 'F' is for Feather (full of fluffy Fushia feathers!), and I could go on, but I will not. These are just so much fun to do!

We had a great time today assembling the books and planning our next project. We decided to do a 2008 calendar, due in December We will each get one month (I picked March) and we can do anything we want - ANYTHING. We just have to stick to a 1/2 sheet of card stock - 8 1/2 x 5 1/2, vertically-oriented, and have a calendar with dates somewhere on the page. I think I can do that!

Later this week I leave for Florida, and I'll be there for two weeks. I know, it's rough, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I go every year and other family members have the same weeks in the same timeshare complex, just different units. My biggest decision every day will be Beach or Pool. Hmmmmmm...and my Dad will want to start planning dinner around late morning.

Other than those mind-bending decisions, I will have NOTHING to do all day. I have learned over the years how to pack my stampin' stuff, and I think I got it right last year. I took two pieces of every color card stock, plus some patterned paper and a lot of white and vanilla. And all my spots. And the In Color inks. And some punches. And the last wave of must-have stamps so I would USE them. And some accessories.

Then I create a little each day, and I limit myself to a 1/4 sheet, basically making card fronts, to stretch my supplies. I act on ideas in my head, and I also take the time to do some of the daily SCS challenges. I am sure I will forget something very important, but I will either make do, or cross back over to Ft Myers and go to Mike's. But only if I HAVE to. I lived without brads one year and just added them when I got home. I think I forgot sentiments one year, too, which made things interesting ... We'll see how I do this year.

Now I must take my leave and do some laundry so I can go to work tomorrow. Three more days and I'll be outta here! Man, I need this vacation ....

Purple Chunky Book - Complete!

Today we met to assemble our Purple Chunky Books. For our Fearless Leader, this was the culmination of a massive training experience - how many different ways can you explain things to 12 women until they all get it? ;-)

For the rest of us, it was a really neat project to do. We each (well, most of us) made 2 4x4 pages, front & back, 12 copies of each, with the common theme of "purple". What we ended up with was a 17-page book (don't even try to figure that one out!) with samples of each person's art and their interpretation of "purple". It was REALLY a fun experience!

Here are the two pages, I came up with:

Page 1, Front & Back















Page 2, Front & Back












As we arrived with our pages in hand, our Leader punched them all for binding. Then we strategized the assembly - which pages would work best next to each other, either by theme, color, or lack-of-embellishment-infringement (would one page's stuff interfere with the previous page's stuff.) It all went amazingly smoothly, and within a few minutes, we had it all laid out.

We set up a collating line, where we each took a cover, then successive pages, followed by a back cover and a coil. Then we got to learn the art of getting the coil to line up with the holes, making sure to catch all the pages. Some people got it right away, some of us had to redo our books because we missed a page, or one page was upside down, etc. ALL of us learned a new respect for anyone that volunteers to do the binding for a group.

After the coils were trimmed and crimped, the embellishment began! We took extra ribbons, fibers, beads, really whatever we brought with us, and decorated the coil of the book.













This is my final embellished book (left) with one of my pages showing (right). Yes, the cat decided to investigate the new object that had appeared in her realm, so I included her here for posterity. [I really tried to align these photos in the post, but Blogger was having NONE of that! ;-(]

We all voted, mostly democratically, and our next project will be an Alphabet theme. We will each take 2 or 3 letters and do a page for each. We gave ourselves the Summer to make it through, and we are all really looking forward to it.

The Chunky Book Experience

I am home today with a version of the Creeping Crud. At first I thought it was poison ivy, and it may be, but this time around it is on my face, too. For that, I have to thank the cat. I was out of town last weekend, and when I got home early on such a bright, sunny Sunday afternoon, I treated her to an outing in my fenced, postage-stamp back yard. I am sure she thinks it is heaven.

The first thing she does when released into the wild is roll on the flagstones. I think she likes the warmth, or maybe she is marking her territory...who knows, she is a Cat. I took the time to fill the bird feeders, and to pull a few weeds from between the stones and from the planting area. Hopefully this weekend I can put in some annuals, followed by mulch. At least it will look like I tried.

Come bedtime Sunday night, once I got horizontal in bed, the cat took her usual position atop my chest. This is our nightly ritual - she gets her daily dose of scratching and then settles down for a snuggle while I read for a while. But this past Sunday, after having been abandoned and left to the whims of the Cat Sitter (oh, horrors!), she was overly squishy, so she over-snuggled by pushing the side of her face against mine. She then let out a most contented purr-sigh, and settled in for a nap.

At first I was all squishy right back - she is a wonderful cat. Then a few days later, I noticed the poison ivy between my 3rd and 4th fingers on my right hand. That's where I always get it, if I get it at all. But I also had some bumps on the left side of my face. THAT's when I made the connection between the Snuggle and the Creeping Crud. Poor kitty has not been allowed near my face since. ;-(

Have you ever tried to put that lotion on your eye-lid? NOT fun. So I have sufferred through a few days of worsening conditions, and the ever-popular suggested solutions to my plight. My favorite one was to scrub all the bumps off until they were open and raw, then apply a diluted bleach mixture. Once the screaming stops, your problem should be gone. Er ... no, thanks.

So I took my chances, and Fate won. I woke up this morning with swollen eye lids - not comfortable, and NOT pretty. I called the Doctor to see if they could fit me in and provide me with some good drugs, but they do not open until 9:00 on Friday's, so I had to wait.

To kill time, I started on my Chunky Book pages. For those uninitiated in the ways of the Chunky Book world, here is how it works. First, a most esteemed Team Member volunteers to be the coordinator. She shall be blessed, and maybe even sainted. A theme is selected - in our case it was the color Purple. Each of 12 people is supposed to make 12 copies of 2 4x4 pages using at least 85% purple. Each 4x4 page has two sides, and you have to decorate both sides. Times 12. Times two separate pages. Get it? Each of us has to make 2 pages for a book that will have 24 pages total, one book for each of the 12 players.

The only rules are (1) the page must be 4x4 EXACTLY so they are all the same size once bound, (2) you must follow the theme (Purple here), you must have 85% of your page meet the theme, (3) no major embellishments within 1 1/2 inches of the left side of the page (so it can be bound), (4) 'things' hanging off the outer, non-bound edges are very cool, and (5) sign the back.

The Esteemed Leader is in charge of getting all the book pages together and binding them. She has a RubiCoil, which is why we need that sacred 1 1/2 inches free of embellishments - so it can fit under the puncher. She is also in charge of creating the covers for the books.

The Group is all a-buzz with all things purple. One of my Stampin' Up! customers recently ordered all the purple card stock to replenish her supply. Hmmm ... wonder what she's doing with that! ;-)

ANYway, have you ever had to restrict youself to using only one color in a project? Have you ever found yourself looking at everything purple in the stores? Have you 'discovered' purple embellishments in your stash? It is amazing what you do not see until you look for it!

Then there's the pesky "EXACTLY 4x4" rule. Well, I sure hope I am not disqualified from the book, since I cannot cut anything straight. I started using coasters, since they are (gasp!) 4x4! Turns out they are too thick, and they do not have an 'inside' to give you the option of wrapping ribbon and punching windows, etc., that a folded 4x8 piece of card stock will give you. So I cut. They are close ... people will just have to deal.

So being an over-achiever, I had mocked up a few pages last month. It impressed the heck out of everyone - soooo much detail! Here are a few of my mock-ups:

This first one uses a coaster, obviously prior to my learning the wisdom of using card stock. The dress on the front was made with a combination of things. The top part of the dress is part of a stamp from Renaissance Art Stamps, which I embossed with purple, glittered embossing powder. The bottom of the dress is made up of individual fan parts (set is from www.geminicrafts.net), stamped and embossed on vellum using the same purple powder as the top, then carefully cut out using very sharp snips. The belt is made from a piece of scrap velvet ribbon.

That weird thing hanging from the brad is a string of very light-colored purple beads strung on a piece of purple wire. I plan to not use that - this was just a mock-up, remember.















The background of the back of the coaster (to your right) was made using the alcohol technique. I dabbed some Encore silver reinker on some glossy card stock, then dropped two colors of Stampin' Up!'s purple reinkers on an alcohol-soaked cotton ball, and dabbed until I got the coverage I wanted. I then covered the whole thing in Versamark (yes, my pad was destroyed - use an old one!) and clear-embossed the whole thing. It came out with a very neat, rough texture.

The metal strip was made using the Cuttlebug, and I just cut a strip of it off to fit the card. As you can see, this was a lot of work, and I did not relish the idea of making 12 of them, so I set it aside.

This next one was made with a 4x8 piece of card stock instead of coasters, and I took full advantage of the inside to hide the backs of the brads and to tie the ribbons.

This is what it looks like folded, front view. The purple fibers were tied along the edge of the fold.

First I stamped the background, front and back, with stamps from Stampin' Up!'s Looks Like Spring set.

Then I used Stampin' Up!'s Collage Alphabet to stamp the word 'Purple" using Versafine Purple ink, then embossed the letters with clear embossing powder.

The paper is a piece of scrapbook paper I had, and since it had mostly purple in it, it met the qualifications for inclusion in the project. Hidden under the purple fibers is a stack of Cuttlebug-die-cut stacked flowers. I inked them against the SU Aida Background stamp, then stacked them up and used a purple flower brad to hold it all to the card front.

I also used the SU Spring Bouquet Punch and made some other flower stacks to busy it up, and added a purple grosgrain ribbon - you can kind of see it peeking out from under the purple fibers.

This is what the whole thing looks like opened up:

You can see the background I stamped over the whole thing before I folded it. I used the same Alphabet to stamp and emboss "Flower Power" on the back. Then I stuck on some flowers from a ribbon I got at a local stamp store, and called it 'done'.

My last mockup was a bit much, and I did not get too far, either. I started with a piece of that same alcohol-technique card stock used above and just stuck it to the card, but it was a bit too busy. I then got the idea to punch out a window to remove some of the 'busy', and I used SU's Key Tag Punch. I punched once, then moved it up and extended the opening by punching again. This gave me a window, and people who know me can see the wheels turning. ;-)

The great thing about using the folded card stock for the 4x4 card is you have that inside to work with, too! So I stuck a piece of acetate behind the opening and tried to make it into a window. You can barely see the lines I drew to make it look like a real window, but I am not so sure those will work.

I stamped some flowers on the background of the card stock so they show through the window. Then, I had A Moment. I stamped the Gnome from No Place Like Gnome, cut him out, and had him peeking through the window! It was hillarious! I took him out because I could not figure out how to make him purple, but I may figure out a way and put him back in. ;-)


We are scheduled to gather next weekend for the book assembly and the post-assembly embellishment to-do. (We are allowed to add embellishments to the pages after they are bound, which allows us to creep into that sacred 1 1/2 inches near the binding.) So we have one week - ONE WEEK - to make all our pages. Yikes!!!

So my actual pages are under construction, and I'll eventually post an update with the finished products. On the off-chance that some of my fellow Chunky Bookers read this, I may wait until next weekend to post them. We'll see!

Back to the Creeping Crud - I cannot get into the Doctor until 3 pm. Drat! I guess I will have to keep busy somehow. ;-) I am off to replicate Chunky Book pages.