WOYWW#130, WOTT #33 and a little winter card

What's on Your Workspace Wednesday? (see link to Julia's site below...) This was my What's on Tap Tuesday, as well....

I'm still in exile. Crafting on the kitchen table. The room I moved all my stuff out of looks so nice and clean, I'm having trouble bringing out the folding table again. Hee hee. But don't worry, it will come out soon...

For now, I'm in craft fair mode again. My friend has another craft fair coming up and I thought I'd supply her with some winter holiday items. She said that tags for gifts sell nicely so I'm going to think up some of those soon. I realized that I still have lots of plastic paint cans that would be cute holders of tags so that gives me incentive to make a bunch.

What's on tap today though is a card that I made for the holidays a few years ago (with some since retired Stampin Up sets) and I kept all the extras bits and pieces so I think I can get a set of these made for her. Because I was mass producing them back then I kept it pretty simple. I'm so tempted to jazz them up a little but I'll resist.

I hope you're having a grand ol' time crafting your winter projects! Visit Julia's WOYWW site HERE and/or join in below....

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

Happy Thanksgiving and a Paper Smooches link

Hi everyone,

If you celebrate, I hope you paced yourself and didn't overeat on this day of thanks. I did not and I did. Being with family is worth it though.

I wish I'd found time to put a card together but I was responsible for this entire table of Martha Stewart recipes with the exception of my mil's apple pudding and her sweet potato casserole.

I love taking a picture of my plate. It's so colorful, even though it is my demise for the rest of the evening....

Also, just wanted to prove that I love birds so much, I invited them to my table.... Lol

While the gang was watching football, I was able to do a little internet surfing and found out that Paper Smooches is doing their November DT blog hop today and is open to comments until Friday night. There are lots of ways to add comments for the chance at prizes, so check them out. My last post used a Paper Smooches stamp and I think they're adorable all around.

Hopefully, this weekend will bring a little crafting time.

I hope for you too! Have a great weekend...

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge card, WOTT#32 and WOYWW#129

Well, mission accomplished... sort of. I got all the stuff out of the hallway (see post below). Organized about 75% of it and even converted a closet into a haven for all my stamps (using an IKEA shelf system that's been sitting in pieces since moving it out of my toddler's room in 1993....yeah, do the math on his approximate age now.) The 25% that isn't organized is in another closet I've claimed because it used to hold toys. The problem is that all the stuff I needed for this very simple card was in that 25% mish mosh. A good incentive to get back to organizing it before making the next card. So, I yanked out a few tools and worked on the kitchen table to get in one last crafty moment before the Thanksgiving cooking begins. Here's What's on Tap this Tuesday (WOTT).

When I saw the latest Paper Smooches Sparks challenge,

it inspired me to use my one and only PS stamp set. I love this little worm from Birthday Buddies. I wanted him peeking out from under the flowers to speak his sentiment. I also love this My Favorite Things stamp and die set called Say What? It has several word bubble stamps and coordinating dies and a number of sayings, to boot. The gorgeous paper comes from a K&Co series called Lotus by Amy Butler.

Funny that a card that looks so simple required a lot of tools. Still it did come together relatively quickly.

Hope you're on the verge of a lovely holiday. Ours will be a small gathering but I look forward to having our prodigal college student son at the table. A small blessing that means a lot.

Link in your What's on Tap Tuesday, if you please. And now that it's Weds, check out http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com for a world wide What's on Your Workspace blog hop that I participate in. Worm out.

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

Another Thanksgiving card and other things

I made one more version of the Thanksgiving card I showed you a few days ago. This one I mailed off to my folks. The sentiment is from a Unity Store kit called The Right Words. From now through Weds, Unity is running a pre-Black Friday sale: 45% off all stamps and $2.95 shipping.

They really are the right words for this holiday. We usually have visitors for Thanksgiving but this year its just my immediate family and my in-laws. My mother-in-law makes the best apple pudding casserole and sweet potato casserole and, at 87 years old, I'm lucky that she still whips them up for us! Still, I wish my mom was by my side in the kitchen on Thanksgiving morning because I turn into a little girl and have her prepare my turkey for me and she makes her killer mashed potatoes. Lol. Its just a kind of Hannah and Her Sisters experience that I love. (Have you seen that movie? It has a great scene where there's all kinds of family camaraderie in the kitchen on Thanksgiving.) I'm working on her for next year. She and my dad just have to come! *smile*

Yesterday, a friend and I went to see Breaking Dawn, Part I. We went to one of those dine-in theaters and I should have been more surprised that we scored reserved tickets so easily because we were placed in the second row! We spent the whole movie leaning as far back in our chairs as we could to look up a screen that felt inches away... Lol. Still being that close to Edward's face wasn't all bad. *smile* I found a set of these dessert plates back during the Eclipse marketing campaign. I think I'll put a trimmed-down version of this one in a Smash book with my movie ticket, to document this Twilight era we are going through. I have 4 of Jacob and 3 more of Edward if anyone wants one.... (Seriously, I'm not using them and I don't need 7 more plates...)

Lastly, since he didn't sweep me off to Rio (see my post on Thursday), I guess I'll just turn back into Cinderella and get to pre-Thanksgiving-matters-at-hand. Like taking all this stuff that came out of my satellite studio and putting it all back where it belongs. I'll look on the bright side, it'll be a little like shopping my stash... *smile*

I hope to be back with more posts before Thanksgiving but if I'm not, or you're not, have a wonderful Thanksgiving (if you celebrate) and have some pie for me...

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

Shake, shake, shake for Friends with Flair

Wasn't Friday just yesterday? Wow. Sometimes I feel like I'm in a time warp.... But since the calendar says Friday, it's time for another contribution to Unity's Friends with Flair blog hop.

I bought this Itty Bitty stamp set called What's Shakin'? a while ago and its been sitting waiting for inspiration. That came when I saw this sheet of patterned paper in, yes, the Domestic Goddess paper pack from Stampin' Up. I love that this particular sheet has two patterns on it so I didn't need to do any layering. It needed a little something extra though so I punched two holes in the card and added the Mandarin baker's twine and those cute nail head thing-ies in the corners.

That's it for me.  Enjoy the blog hop... who knows, you could win a random prize just for commenting along the way!

Hope you're in for a little shakin' this weekend...

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

Breaking Dawn fun

I'm a big fan of Broadway, so I l-o-v-e Sirius/XM Broadway. I listen to it while driving ds to and from school (Christine Pedi in the a.m. and Seth Rudetsky in the p.m. -- I enjoy their back stories about Broadway shows.) So one morning, I hear Hugh Jackman singing "I Go to Rio" from The Boy from Oz, Peter Allen's life story. My warped mind immediately made the association to the last Twilight book, Breaking Dawn, because Bella and Edward go to Rio for their honeymoon. I knew I had to make a card.

I picked up this stamp set in Barnes & Noble back when Twilight first came out -- notice Jacob's long hair. (Don't know if you can still find it, but the website of the company that made it is listed as www.necaonline.com)

I decided to print an image of Rio and put a little scene together.

I found the cottage from Stampin' Up's retired Woodland Cottage set and a Unity sentiment fit nicely with the two lovers. (Especially since a cottage is featured in the book as well.) I kept it black and white except for the addition of a little blood red matting. (Cherry Cobbler to be exact...)

So that's my homage to Breaking Dawn. (I think I'll submit it to Somewhat Simple's link party today. See icon in left sidebar, too.)

Thanks for dropping by. If you're one of the lucky people that is going to the midnight premiere tonight, don't tell me how Part One ends! I hope to see it sometime this weekend.

See you tomorrow for Unity's Friends with Flair blog hop...

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

What's on Your Workspace Weds and Thanksgiving cards

I guess Wednesday has now snuck up on us, huh? (Is snuck a word?) For WOYWW (run by Ms. Julia), I've got two hot messes to show you today. First, the kitchen table where until lunch I was frantically adding finishing touches to some hoarded cards that were going to my friend who is going to sell them for me at a craft event. It was fun just adding stuff to cards rather than work on them from scratch, for a change.

Second is the regular desk-away-from-desk (you know this isn't really my alotted craft area, right? I just kinda snuck in little by little and now I have squatter's rights... an argument that won't fly if I'm ever confronted, I'm afraid...) This desk has the start of a Thanksgiving card for aforementioned friend. She wanted a few considering the season. I used Lesley Langdon's card on the cover of that Take Ten magazine as a jumping off point. That DCWV Fall Mat Stack actually has squatter's rights in my stash because I've had it a very long time. Funny how it remains perfect one season a year. A couple of different papers, some Mandarin baker's twine, some bling, a Stampin' Up punch, and an Ippity sentiment (from a set called Sing a New Song) equals a quick and easy card.

You know that my handle is "Scrapcollectr" most everywhere, right? Well, that's because I have a hard time throwing the scraps out. In fact, I was about to throw out the trimmings leftover when my cards were made when I looked at that cute text paper in the trash and it just looked like an unborn card. So I fished it and another strip out, slapped it over another sheet, twined it, blinged it and here's the result.

Do you see what I'm up against? Lol.

Thanks for dropping in. If you feel inclined to share your work desk here, link in, by all means. Mr. Linky is back. He couldn't stay away. If you'd like share at Julia's blog, click HERE, too.

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

Friends with Flair and Housework Made Cute

Friday again.... here's a late entry to the Unity blog hop (visit and leave comments and you just might win big!)

I just love this Domestic Goddess paper by Stampin' Up. I paired it up with a recent Ippity stamp set called Loads of Love. A set that is so adorable you can almost smell the Downy. *smile*

Michaels had a Spellbinder discount the other day so I scooped up this Lacey Oval set. Aren't the open areas a nice touch to a normal scallop edge? The frilly ribbons are from an old EK Success Adornaments set.

Hope you are having a nice end to your week. I'm looking forward to back-to-back lacrosse tournaments this weekend and maybe a little crafty time making cards that a friend is going to sell for me at a craft fair next week. Nice friend, huh? *smile* If I come up with a card that hasn't been posted before, I'll upload it.

Til then.... Heartfelt thanks to all the veterans today and Happy 11-11-11. (Make a wish at 11:11pm!)

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

Ten Things on the Tenth - My Take

I stumbled across two interesting blogs recently. Both are great to read on a daily basis, but what captured my attention was an event one does every 10th of the month and a linky party one does every Thursday. The first is "10 Things on the Tenth" and the second is a fun way to get "somewhat simple" inspiration across all crafts. I'm posting my 10 things to share with both blogs.

I decided to review my homemade cards in 2010 and come up with my 10 favorites. It was hard but I settled on the ones that made me smile or laugh out loud (... yeah, I crack myself up sometimes.... ) So here they are, my ten favorites...

1. A card using lots of patterned paper, a few Unity stamps and a hand drawn hose....

2. A card I made for a Lawn Fawn call for their 2011 CHA catalog.... didn't make it in, but I loved it....

3. One of my first Little Owl cards. Stamps are from Unity. I slit the trees so that the owls could hide behind them...

4. Here's Little Owl again, promoting funky-ness... I finally found a use for that 7 Gypsies metal bar... and used Unity and Ippity stamps.

5. Another Little Owl, this time trick-or-treating. It was fun making his candy bag. For the sheer love of free candy, he plopped a pumpkin on his head by way of a costume...

6. Ahhh, Maddie the cat. A stamp sprung from the mind of UnderstandBlue.... Maddie's look inspired this card of mischief gone wrong....

7. When I saw these sock stamps by Unity, I envisioned the clothesline and don't get me started about those bluebirds... an Ippity stamp that I use ALL the time....

8. On to the Unity-retired girl stamps of Suzi Blu.... this lovely was an experiment with a 3"x6" card size, paper scraps and my trusty Copic markers... love it...

9. A card inspired by this Suzi Blu princess stamp, Unity sentiment and the lovely "Once Upon a Time" paper stack by DCWV...

10. This Suzi Blu cutie was made for a Stampington call for a project that used tape in an unusual way, so I twisted it, made it a hula hoop and they published it. *smile*

That's it. Although I hope to contribute to next month's 10 Things post, I think I'll give my 2011 cards equal time in January because there are at least 10 that I'd love to share with you. Until then, feel free to peruse my recent blog posts. Most every post has a new card to share.

Thanks for dropping in! If you'd like to see other 10 Things entries, HERE is the secret passageway to Shimelle's blog. And Stephanie's Somewhat Simple blog of inspiration is HERE.

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

What's on Your Workspace Wednesday #127...

I call this Welcome to My Mess Wednesday... Lol.

I was able to make 14 cards for the Hope You Can Cling To challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers and before they sat too long, I boxed them and mailed them out yesterday. My desk is evidence of the tornado of activity up to this point. I even picked up the latest issue of Take Ten thinking that I could bang out a few more with the easy design ideas in this book but I just plumb ran out of time. Looks like time for a cleanup before I attempt something new. The little manila envelope under the vintage closures on the bottom left is my blank sketchbook for the next Sketchbook Tour by Art House. The Stampin Up wooden stamp set that's out on the right was used for the butterfly card I made and displayed on my last post. I love how different that little butterfly is.

Since I like to show you a card to offset the madness of the desk photo, below you'll find one of the cards I submitted to Paper Crafts World Card Making Day contest. It wasn't chosen, so I can finally unveil it here. I'm just venturing into the world of Paper Smooches clear stamps and this little gopher/ground hog is one of the cuties in the Birthday Buddies set. (I posted a similar card with another cutie from this set HERE.) I'm beginning to really like good quality clear stamps because they are so easy to place where you want them. Just a little more info about the card: the little guy was popped up with a foam dot and placed inside a hole that I punched in the card so that he really does look like he's coming out of the ground. I also used a My Favorite Things Sheltering Tree die and Tim Holtz' Idea-o-logy paper. See how the paper says "Amusement" on it. Just a little stealth humor.

The inside came out so cute with Mr. Gopher popping in sideways to say hi. *smile*

Anyway, thanks for dropping by. If you have a desk to share just let me know in the comment field and I'll come look. I'll dispense with Mr. Linky from now on.

Have a great day and if you'd like to link in to Ms. Julia's worldly What's on Your Workspace Weds. Here's the portal... 

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

A race against time....

More Hope You Can Cling To cards.... I wish I'd started earlier because these challenges are really inspiring me and I wish it was possible to complete them all. I'll try to get a few more done tomorrow. For now, here are three more.

HYCCT1115 - P-I-N-K elements
Use things that start with P, I, N & K
I used Paper piecing, Inked edges (on the label), Natural cardstock & Kites
I saw this technique of creating your own lined frame with a marker and love how it turned out. The stamp set is Unity's A Little Playtime. Fun set.

HYCCT1120 - A Pink Drink
The paper is from K&Co. The drink is from Deadbeat Designs. I used a pink marker topped with stickles to create my pink margarita. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado. A good match, don't you think? Wide ribbon from Stampin Up and pale ribbon from EK Success' Adornaments.

HYCCT1113 - Use a butterfly
Paper is Brenda Walton for K&Co. Butterfly from Thanks for Caring by Stampin Up. Ribbon and hardware is SU also. Sentiment from Wordsworth. Flower from The Girls Paperie. Bling by Recollections.

Thanks for stopping by.... Like I said, there may be more tomorrow....

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

Better Get Better - a Hope card

I've got one more day to make these Hope You Can Cling To cards and I'm enjoying the process. If you haven't been involved and would like to bookmark these 31 fun challenges for those moments in the future when you need a little inspiration, check out this LINK.

This card is for challenge HYCCT1129 - Words of Encouragement. I just think this image by River City Rubber Works works perfectly with this retired Quick Thinking sentiment by Stampin' Up and their adorable DP called Domestic Goddess, don't you? (If you don't have an SU demonstrator of your very own, you can find the paper HERE on my friend Brenda's site.) The domestic goddess pictured in the card looks like she could use a little help. Lol.

If all goes according to plan, I'll have a few more cards to post tomorrow and then I do have something in mind for Monday, so be sure to drop by!

Have a great Saturday.

Here's hoping you have help with the housework.

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

FWF and a Happy Retirement card

Friday, friday. Time for Friends with Flair fun. If you're looking for inspiration, you can find the blog hop HERE (check it throughout the day because new links are constantly being added).

A colleague of dh's is retiring and moving to California to be closer to his kids so I put together a little easel card for him with Unity's A Little Destination stamp set. I was able to use the plane's banner to customize it with his name, and the signs had room for me to customize also. I jazzed up the labels on the suitcase, too. I wanted more than just a blue sky for the plane to be flying through so I used postcard paper that I had laying around and more of that DCWV green bling paper from the Songbird stack.

The fun continues inside the card. DH's office took up a collection and wanted to include a gift certificate to Golfsmith so I alluded to the colleague's retirement plans by adding the cute vintage golf clubs and made the journaling square a pocket that can hold the gift card as well as provide a ledge for the easel card to stand with. I'm hoping it will be a fond remembrance of the friends he's leaving behind.

Thanks for dropping by... always good to have you....

I'm germinating more ideas for cards, including one which will use a recent Ippity purchase, so check back.....

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

I couldn't stay away....

I thought I was done with the Hope You Can Cling To cards, but I wasn't. As long as I can eek a little time out before the upload deadline, I may keep trying to crank them out. It's for a great cause after all.

The challenge I went for is one that asks for girlie embellishing (HYCCT1111). I started with My Favorite Things (MFT) weekly sketch and their adorable Because You're Special stamp set, tossed in some fun girlie paper from The Girls Paperie and a little green bling paper from the Songbird stack by DCWV. Added a scalloped oval nestie from Spellbinders and topped it off with a very girlie velvet-tulle-buttoned flower also from The Girls Paperie. Mission accomplished, I think.

Tomorrow is Unity's Friends with Flair and I already have the card ready, so y'all come back, now. Ya hear?

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

WOYWW#126 and a Hope Card

**** Photo of satellite desk can be seen on previous post****

This may be my last Hope You Can Cling To challenge card (although I do have until Nov 7th to upload any others.) I decided that I just had to make one for Lydia's last challenge (HYCCT1131) which entailed doing something you don't normally do. I don't normally use a corner rounder so I braved it here. Lol. The sketch is from a cool site that you must check out called Card Positioning Systems. They post weekly sketches and you can link up your card for a chance at a prize. I just love sketches. Half the work is done when I've got a sketch.

The cute girl and her cat are from the mind of Suzi Blu. She created this stamp for a drive to raise money for a pet cause and I was lucky enough to snap it up from Lydia's blog while it was still available. The sentiment is from a special stamp and die set by My Favorite Things. Using cool paper speeds my work up, too. The glittery leaves paper is from a much used favorite DCWV stack called Songbird.

Thanks for dropping by on What's on Your Workspace Wednesday. If you'd like to see what's going on on desks around the globe, link in to Julia's blog for a fun weekly hop.

Grateful for you, friends....

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)

What's on Tap Tuesday #29

I thought that this would be what my desk would look like for at least another few days based on the estimates of our esteemed power company. (See storm story below.) But around the time that I took this photo, I got the word from a neighbor that our power was back on. Yay! Except, that we missed Halloween. (Luckily, I don't have kids young enough to be bothered by that so I'm the only one who's sorry I didn't get to see this year's parade of costumes at my door.)

I figured this is still a more interesting desk that my ice-covered train wreck of a desk this week. (Don't tell the librarian that I was eating a Nestle's crunch at my carrel, okay? And no, you do not see Twitter up on my screen. I swear, I was working hard! Lol.) I worked on yesterday's card at this carrel, then did all the uploading etc. here too. What I'm showing below though is the first prototype of the card. I made it a day earlier when I had the wrong paper with me as I played nomad from the cold of our house. I think I like this version, too. What do you think?

If you are so inclined, link in your desk below so we can all give a good look.

Ahhhh... a warm home again....

*smile*

Cindy (aka Scrapcollectr)