Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Really Reasonable Ribbon Blog Hop - March 2024

    

Welcome to the Really Reasonable Ribbon March Blog Hop! Our hop theme this month is SPRING AND EASTER. Each of the design team ladies is going to be creating a project in this theme or style, using ribbon

You should be coming to my blog from Ginny's Blog. After visiting me hop on to Kathy's Blog next! (The full blog list is at the end of the post.)

At the end of the hop, comment on the RRR Blog post, answering the question listed, for a chance to win a $10 Gift Card to the RRR Shop, plus one digital stamp set of your choice from Bonnie Garby Designs. The Design Team appreciates your comments, too!

I have been interested in playing with some of my word art stamps lately, because some friends of mine have been sharing cards for a new challenge blog called Word Power: A Challenge Blog Using Sentiments. It is such a great idea for a challenge! (Sneaky information....I am going to be a guest DT over there in May!) Anyway, I pulled out more of my word art stamps for my RRR card today!

The card is a 5" x 6" top fold card. I used an old, unmounted rubber stamp from Taylored Expressions called Graphic Greetings: Redeemer. I love this style of word art and this message is perfect for Easter...or any time of the year!
The paper is some scraps from some of the Authentique Easter collections, but I am not sure which ones. I had a bunch of scraps in a bag, and didn't feel like matching them up to any particular collection. You know how we do...just toss scraps around willy nilly. 
The ribbon is 5/8" Pearl Pink Delicate Stitched Satin. I wrapped some ribbon around the bottom of the panel before attaching the panel to the card front. Then I created a loopy bow to glue onto the circle element on the card. I sort of wish I had scooted the wrapped ribbon up a bit to be even with the center of the bow, but....ah well. 
The decorative elements are the cute doily cut using an Elizabeth Craft Designs Elements: Small  Doilies die, and the pink enamel dots. I am not sure which company those dots are from as the packaging was missing. I enjoyed making this pink card, all ready for spring and Easter!

Thanks for joining me today! Have fun hopping!

Here is the RRR Blog Hop Order in case you get lost!
Really Reasonable Ribbon's Ramblings
Ginny
Gloria - YOU ARE HERE!
Kathy
Cheryl
Bonnie
Misty
Karen
Really Reasonable Ribbon's Ramblings

I am entering this card into these challenges:
Word Power #3
Word Art Wednesday - Weeks 639-640


Really Reasonable Ribbon Supplies Used:
Bow making tools: Zutter Bow-it-All

Other Supplies Used:
Cardstock: ColorMates Smooth Brown, Natural
Paper: Authentique Easter scraps
Stamps: Taylored Expressions Graphic Greeting: Redeemer, PSX Happy Easter (1998) - inside
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa
Enamel dots: from my stash
Die cuts: Heartfelt Creations Rectangle and Basics, Circle Basics Large, Eyelet Circle and Basics Small; Elizabeth Craft Designs Everyday Elements: Small Doilies
Adhesive: Art Glitter Dries Clear Glue, hot glue, foam tape
Other tools: paper trimmer, scissors, score board

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Really Reasonable Ribbon Blog Hop - February 2024

   

Welcome to the Really Reasonable Ribbon February Blog Hop! We have a ANYTHING GOES...WITH RIBBONS AND BOWS HOP this month...each of the design team ladies is going to be creating a project in any theme or style, using ribbon

You should be coming to my blog from Ginny's Blog. After visiting me hop on to Kathy's Blog next! (The full blog list is at the end of the post.)

At the end of the hop, comment on the RRR Blog post, answering the question listed, for a chance to win a $10 Gift Card to the RRR Shop, plus one digital stamp set of your choice from Bonnie Garby Designs. The Design Team appreciates your comments, too!

I am back to my "normal" self today, sharing a standard A2 card! {smile} I love "anything goes" challenges because I sometimes get a good idea, but then I need to squeeze it into whatever the challenge theme is supposed to be, plus remember to add ribbon! My life is so hard! {giggle}

I have about 200 pounds of 6x6 paper pads in my stash. I know, it is crazy town. I almost never use it, but last year I organized all of it and made it easier to access, in the (hopefully not vain) hope that I would use some of the pads. I pulled some out for this card, and then ended up making several cards with what I had put on the desk. (Those cards are for later, so wait for them to pop up on the blog.) 
The card is an A2, made from dark brown cardstock. I don't know what paper collection this paper is from as it was with a stack at the front of the storage bin. It was something that got "lost" from its pad, I guess. But, it is pretty and reminded me of Valentine's Day or spring so I used it. I am pretty sure the papers are from different collections as well, but who knows for sure??!

The stamp is from Verve Stamps, Proverbs 31:25. I stamped the word art with brown ink and then used an ancient Spellbinders die to cut it out. I think the die set is called Romantic Rectangles and is probably over ten years old! I smudged the edges of the die cut with Spun Sugar Distress Ink. 

Now, for the ribbon part of "anything goes with ribbons and bows"! I used a piece of 5/8" Ivory Satin with Grosgrain Edge ribbon to wrap around the seam between the two different paper patterns. Then I used 5/8" Brown Diamond Satin ribbon to tie the bow. I glued the bow onto the card with hot glue, my go to method! 
I even decorated the inside of the card with some of the paper. So pretty! 
I think this card will be great to send to a girlfriend to give her some encouragement! 

Thanks for joining me today! Have fun hopping! 


Here is the RRR Blog Hop Order in case you get lost!
Really Reasonable Ribbon's Ramblings
Ginny
Gloria - YOU ARE HERE!
Kathy
Cheryl
Bonnie
Misty
Karen
Really Reasonable Ribbon's Ramblings

I am entering this project into the Word Power #2 Challenge Blog. 


Really Reasonable Ribbon Supplies Used:
Bow making tools: Zutter Bow-it-All

Other Supplies Used:
Cardstock: ColorMates Smooth Brown, Natural
Paper: unknown 6x6
Stamp: Verve Stamps Proverbs 31:25
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Ranger Distress Spun Sugar
Die cut: Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles
Adhesive: Art Glitter Dries Clear Glue, hot glue, foam tape
Other tools: paper trimmer, scissors, score board

Saturday, January 13, 2024

Really Reasonable Ribbon Blog Hop - January 2024

  

Welcome to the Really Reasonable Ribbon January Blog Hop! We have a THEME HOP this month...each of the design team ladies is going to be creating a project using Valentine's Day colors and themes

You should be coming to my blog from Ginny's Blog. After visiting me hop on to Kathy's Blog next! (The full blog list is at the end of the post.)

At the end of the hop, comment on the RRR Blog post, answering the question listed, for a chance to win a $10 Gift Card to the RRR Shop, plus one digital stamp set of your choice from Bonnie Garby Designs. The Design Team appreciates your comments, too!

I have not participated in the RRR hop since July! But, I am back now and will be posting along with the team every month on the 13th, as in the past!! 

Get ready for an even bigger shock...I created a 12x12 scrapbook layout for this month! As soon as I find my photo paper I will even add a photo to it! {smile}

I have some lovely photos from my son's wedding that might work on this layout, or perhaps one of my husband and me. We will see how I get along with printing some photos later this month. I have jury duty next week, so who knows what sort of crafty happiness I will be able to squeeze in! 

This is a 12x12 layout, created on heavy black cardstock. I used the Simple Stories Kissing Booth collection, which I purchased back in October. I made a vow to NOT buy any paper this year, but we all know my no spending vows are pretty worthless! 

I cut all the papers and chose a few embellishments from the collection pack. Then I went to my ribbon stash to see what ribbons would match. Sometimes that peachy pink color is hard to match, but I found several ribbons to work!

I matted all the paper layers with black cardstock, and also created a mat for a 4x6 photo. It was a lot of fun to try a 12x12 page. I have not made one for over a year! I do miss scrapbooking, but I still prefer mini books and cards to the large pages. Plus, It is impossible to actually put a page like this into a scrapbook. Way too dimensional! It is better as wall decor. 
For the RRR products I used, I wrapped the layout with 3/4" Pink Chevron Striped Twill. I also made a large bow from the same ribbon. Next I created two loopy bows from the 1/2" Pink Salmon Seam Binding. I glued the bows onto the layout with hot glue, shaping the loops as I glued them down. 

I decided that the bow need some roses for Valentine's Day! I used a Red 25mm Red Cottage Rose, Red and White Open Roses in various sizes, and also some Red Rose Buds. 
Thanks for joining me today! I am so happy to be back! Have fun hopping! 

Here is the RRR Blog Hop Order in case you get lost!
Really Reasonable Ribbon's Ramblings
Ginny
Gloria - YOU ARE HERE!
Kathy
Cheryl
Bonnie
Misty
Karen
Really Reasonable Ribbon's Ramblings


Really Reasonable Ribbon Supplies Used:
Bow making tools: Zutter Bow-it-All

Other Supplies Used:
Cardstock: ColorMates Smooth Black, Neenah Solar White
Paper: Simple Stories Kissing Booth
Adhesive: Art Glitter Dries Clear Glue, hot glue, foam tape
Other tools: paper trimmer, scissors, 1 1/4" circle punch

Monday, January 08, 2024

Welcome 2024!

Hello all my lovely readers and followers! It is a new year! New chances to craft and make and enjoy our hobbies! I am all about enjoyment this year. I have spent so many years on design teams, making things to a schedule and using products that I was asked to promote, that I am enjoying just making for myself! (I am not opposed to a new design team, but I will be careful what I choose.) 

My blog posting has been a bit sporadic, and my YouTube channel has been on hiatus for several years, but I am going to try to post more often to the blog, Instagram, etc. this year. I cannot promise I will revive the videos, but you never know! I have such a long list of things I wish to accomplish this year.

In fact, I have made several "bingo" boards listing "works in progress" projects (known as WIPs), and each month two numbers are chosen at random and those are the projects I will concentrate on. I hope to make progress on my stitching, coloring, and paper crafting projects this year by using this method.

Note: The stitching WIPGO concept was created by Jessie Marie Does Stuff. Visit her YouTube channel or the WIPGO 2024 Facebook page for more information. 

Plus, I want to try hand dying my own cross stitch fabric, and am joining Annette Green's group on FB to be inspired to create planner pages each week. I hope to share those pages monthly at least. I am still sorting that out. I have a lot of product to use up, a lot of things to accomplish, and I am enjoying just....crafting. Like in the "old days" before social media! That said, I do enjoy my various FB groups where we work toward a common goal or inspire each other in our makes! 

Here are a few things I have been doing the last few months.

I love to use old books in home decor. I also love to buy used books from Thrift Books dot com - to read! And the books are often hardback books. However, they are not always pretty or suitable to use for home decorating. But...if you cover them with scrapbook paper which matches your room's color palette...Ta Da! So I saved out a bunch of books from the "give away" box to cover with paper! These are for my living room. I have more that I want to cover to use for some of the upcoming holidays. And everyone knows, I have paper to spare! 

I also made about 40 Christmas cards and mailed them out. I am not sure how many more years I will tackle this job, I must be honest! I don't love making them enough to keep adding it to my list of things to do at Christmas time. As I get older, just decorating the tree and the house is a HUGE job for me. Then the un-decorating in January! 

However, I did use the Silhouette to address all my envelopes! I had tried it out by addressing my son and daughter-in-law's wedding announcements, and it worked so well that I decided to do it again for the Christmas cards! I was able to use Stampin' Up pens (which are older than my son who just got married!) to address the envelopes. It was so easy! 
Since I was on an assembly line card making kick, I also made a stack of masculine themed cards for my stash. I made birthday, Father's Day, graduation, and generic styles using my masculine papers! 

My kids informed me that I need wedding congratulations cards. My husband said I need some sympathy and get well cards aimed at men (he preaches weekly at his men's Bible group and there are a lot of older men who need a card sometimes). So I guess I have my orders!

I will be writing a stitching post and a coloring post later in the month to update you on those hobbies as well. I confess that most of my time lately is taken up with cross stitching! It was my original passion, and getting back into it after over 20 years has been such a blessing! I have some finishes to share for both coloring and stitching, so stay tuned for those posts. If I escape jury duty next week, I can work on blog posts! 

Happy New Year, my friends! My God bless you mightily in 2024!


 

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Back from My Vacation...and a Wedding!

Hello, my Blogger friends! It has been a hot minute since I have been able to post! I went on a 16 day cruise vacation with my daughter to the British Isles, and it took me forever to get re-acclimated once I got back!

We had a wonderful time together. This is us getting ready to board Celebrity Apex in Amsterdam. It was a long, horrendous flight to get there, however! I flew Los Angeles to San Francisco to meet up with Laura, then we flew together to Amsterdam. It was 12 hours of whining. (ha ha ha) 

Laura hamming it up at Corfe Castle in Portland (Weymouth), England. We had unseasonably hot weather for most of the trip! We had packed for cool, rainy weather! What gives?! 

Here we are at Blarney Castle in Ireland. We did NOT kiss the stone! There was a huge long wait time, and we needed to get back for our bus, plus we do NOT need to have more "gift of gab"! It was another very warm day!
Here we are in Betws-y-Coed, Wales. I wanted to move there immediately! Out of the 9 ports of call this was my absolute favorite day.

Edinburgh, Scotland at the Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle. Another, VERY warm day! We walked almost 13,000 steps this day! Uphill, both ways! We were exhausted. But, seeing all of this history was AMAZING! 
My turn to ham it up on Western Shetland, Scotland. What is funnier than putting bunny ears on a...bunny!??? This was our first cool day! It was wonderful. I loved our brief tour of Shetland, along with the little museum that detailed much of the WWII history of this area.
This was our last day, Dunrobin Castle, Scotland. Another cool day. Despite both of us coming down with a cold, we had a wonderful day touring the castle and grounds. 
Our visit to Dunrobin Castle was fantastic. It is still a residence as well as a museum, so many things were intact and it was such a pleasure. The grounds reminded me of Versailles! 

I adore my daughter, who is just turned 28. We love to hang out together, laughing and talking, and just egging each other on to silliness. The trip was rough at times, starting with the long flights, and with Laura getting a bit seasick and me having lots of pain from my arthritis, then both of us catching a terrible cold...but we just sucked it up and enjoyed every bit of it! We are already planning our next adventure...maybe in 10 years when we recover and save up enough cash! (smile)

The other reason that I have not been able to make or post anything new is.....
My youngest got married October 14! Jonah and his lovely wife Diana were married by my husband in our backyard in a small, family ceremony! We are so happy to welcome Diana into our family!
Laura, Me, Allana (Diana's sister), Nathan, Matt, Mike (Matt's brother), and in front Diana and Jonah. 
It was a lovely day with a lunch, then the ceremony, then cake and mock champagne while opening gifts, then a fancy dinner at a local restaurant. The newlyweds were not taking a honeymoon as Jonah's job and Diana's college classes did not permit it, but they are going to Alaska with Matt and me and Jonah's siblings in August 2024, so they can honeymoon then! (smile) 
We tried to teach our children that the wedding is not the important part, but that the marriage is what is important. Jonah and Diana embraced that philosophy by choosing to have a very small event, and instead save for their future. We wish them every happiness and the joy of the Lord in their marriage!

Now, a little announcement...I have once again stepped back from my few design team commitments. I just need some space to figure out what I want to do regarding the blog, my crafting endeavors, and so forth. My husband has taken on a new job with more responsibility and travel (and stress), plus we are both trying to lose weight. Which at my age is not easy! It is basically a full time job! I have lost 13 pounds so far, but I am trying to lose 60 pounds total before we take our vacation to Alaska in August 2024.

I hope to still be in the craft room making and  posting, but it will be for myself...just for fun. I love sharing with all of you Dear Readers, but I just don't have the bandwidth to be tied to deadlines and many projects per month. Plus, I am really working on some cross stitching projects, which take far longer than making a card, or even a mini album! 

I plan to be back soon! Stay tuned! 




 

Friday, August 25, 2023

Elizabeth Craft Designs Splendid Season Release!

Hello, friends! My lovely friend Annette Green (Annette's Creative Journey) has created another new release for Elizabeth Craft Designs, called Splendid Season from the Everyday Elements line of stamps and dies! (Find the new release at your favorite scrapbooking shop, or wait a few weeks and the product will be available in the ECD shop!)

Annette showed everything on Facebook Live on the ECD page (or see it HERE on their YouTube Channel) on August 21st. The ECD Team will be sharing their projects now that the release has been revealed! I will be sharing a few projects over the next few months.

The release contains three stamp sets and six die sets. Everything is coordinated to work together, plus the full release can work with any of the other ECD dies and stamps, too!

Full disclosure here...I am leaving next week for a 16-day vacation so I am only sharing some Christmas planner pages today. I will be working with the rest of the collection after I get back, and at that time I will be sharing some fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving projects.

I often create a December Daily or a Christmas mini album, and this year I decided I would create it as a planner album, combining the ECD Planner Essentials products with Annette's two releases. 

Note: The planner I am using is NOT an Elizabeth Craft Designs product. I only have the regular size planner from ECD, but I wanted to make my Christmas mini using the Sidekick size. I fortunately had a cheap knockoff in my craft hoard, and the rings are in the exact same spot as the Sidekick page dies! 

I recently purchased the Graphic 45 Letters to Santa Collection, which I paired with the G45 St. Nicholas collection for my pages. I think I will use these two collections, plus a few other things for the entire planner mini. 

I also recently purchased the ECD Sidekick Essentials 25 - December Day by Day die set, which was used in Annette's December workshop last year. Everything in the NEW release coordinates perfectly with the older product! 

I used the page die from the December Day by Day for all my page bases. For the cover page, I also used the page inset die to cut the Santa paper for my main page. I also added the Reinforcement Variety Pack to die cut the hole reinforcements.

For the page title, I first stamped then die cut the labels from Soft Finish Cardstock, using the Layered Labels Stamps and the Layered Labels Dies. I then die cut the letters for "MERRY" from red cardstock using the die from the Joy and Merry stamp set. I arranged the letters onto the labels. Next I stamped the "Merry Christmas" sentiment from the All Occasion Sentiments stamp set onto a scrap of white cardstock with red ink. I trimmed the sentiment to just have the "Christmas" part, which I matted with red cardstock.
To frame my Santa journaling card, I cut a mat using the Postage Stamp die set. The numbers are from the Sidekick Essentials 25 - December Day by Day die set. I created the holly element by die cutting the holly leaves and branches from the Joy and Merry die set out of printed and solid papers and layering them. I created "branches" by die cutting one of the divider elements from the Layered Labels die set out of gold cardstock, then trimming it in half. I also added the snowflake element and a red circle that was left over after die cutting the main page. (Waste not!) 
I love getting my Christmas on! Especially when the temperatures are in the low 100's! I am super excited to keep working on this mini as we lead up to the Christmas season. I have created the cover page, then pages one, two, and three so far!
I again used the page die from the Sidekick Essentials 25 - December Day by Day for my page base. I didn't care for the reverse of the cover page, so I die cut the page again and glued them together, wrong sides facing. Plus I used the circle die from the Reinforcement Variety Pack to die cut the hole reinforcements. 

The Postage Stamp die set makes a wonderful photo mat cut from gold cardstock. The Layered Labels Stamps and the Layered Labels Dies make the perfect journaling spot.

The number "1" for page 1 of the December Daily is cut using the number dies in the Sidekick Essentials 25 - December Day by Day die set. This die set is really a MUST companion to the new Christmas sets in the new Splendid Season release!

Tip: I die cut several of each number and stack them together to give them more dimension on the page.
To create the greenery I used the large fern die from the Mushrooms and Ferns die set. The fern can be cut apart and layered to look just like pine branches!  I created "branches" buy die cutting the divider element from the Layered Labels die set and one of the flourishes from the Fancy Flourishes die set out of gold cardstock.

I added the "Joy" die cut from the Joy and Merry die set, which I cut from red cardstock. I added some of the berries and also some leftover gold circles. 

Note: I always save the little "cast offs" from when I die cut things. I place them in a small container on my desktop - thinks like the hole centers. That way I can scrounge around in there for odds and ends while I am working.
For page 2, I once again cut a base page from the printed paper. I also used the Slimline Adventure Edges to die cut a snow bank from Soft Finish Cardstock. I used the Festive Season stamp set to stamp the music notes in red ink along the bottom of my snow. I then die cut the deer from gold cardstock using the Joy and Merry die set.

Once again, the  Postage Stamp die set makes for a great photo mat and a spot for my page number. I also stamped the postage cancelation in red ink onto the photo mat. The Festive Season stamp set has so many lovely stamps for the season! I also die cut a music note from red cardstock to add to the top edge of the photo mat.
For the page title, I wanted to make sure to add some gold, so I die cut the words from gold cardstock using "Christmas" from the Joy and Merry die set and "wishes" from the Everyday Words 2 die set. I love that Annette has made these sets useful in so many ways! 

I die cut the words several times and glued them together to make them pop up off the page a little. (I confess, cut those words from a number of colors and I am still not 100% happy with how the gold looks. But...at some point you have to stop fussing!)
For page 3, I once again cut a base page from the printed paper and glued it to the back of page 2. I know some folks worry about their planner getting too thick, but I don't mind that. I will probably bind it somehow in the end rather than keeping it in the planner.

I used tiny gold hole reinforcers cut with the Reinforcement Variety Pack. I was trying to create a sort of polaroid photo looking photo mat, but think I was less than successful. But I like how the "Merry" inset looks, and I like the Layered Labels journaling spot! Keeping my papers to the red, gold, ivory, green palette will help this mini to look cohesive.
I hope you check out Elizabeth Craft Designs' and Annette's socials to see more of this collection! You will not believe what the ECD team and Annette herself has done with these amazing stamps and dies! (Annette's YouTube is HERE.)

Note: All the product links today are for Everything Mixed Media online store, which has a physical location in Florida. I have never shopped with them, so you are on your own there. Feel free to source product at your favorite stores. There are sure to be lots of stores carrying (or going to be carrying) these products. Shop where you like to shop for Elizabeth Craft Designs products the most! 



Elizabeth Craft Designs Products
Splendid Season Release

Everything's Blooming Release
Fancy Flourishes

Planner Essentials

Joset Van De Burgt

Other Products
Cardstock: ColorMates Natural; Elan Metallics Cover Antique Gold
Printed paper: Graphic 45 St. Nicholas, Letters to Santa
Patterns and Solids: Graphic 45 St. Nicholas
Ink: Ranger Distress Old Paper, Close to My Heart Cranberry
Tools: trimmer, Big Shot Plus, MISTI
Adhesive: ATG, foam squares, Art Glitter Glue, foam tape