Project 92 of 365: Haunted Mansion September 23, 2010

How excited was I this morning when I received a note from Kim Score over at Paper Punch Addiction saying that she would be using my Pumpkin Patch card (project 91) as one of here inspiration links on her blog today?!  I’m telling you there is nothing better than when one of the “WOW” crafters stumble on to you, and like what they see  So if you get a chance click on the link above and check out her blog, she has some awesome stuff over there and is a whiz at making great creations from the basic shape punches used by Stampin’ Up!

More excitement….if you can handle it…..I’m having a hard time typing this up because I know I have a box full of new stuff from the Holiday Mini catalog just waiting for me to go start experimenting for upcoming workshops!  (I know…I gotta get that catalog posted up here already so all of you can drool over all the great new stuff.)  I literally wanted almost EVERY thing from that catalog, so Stampin’ Up! definitely did good with this one.  In fact, all the stuff I can’t afford right now is going on a Christmas wishlist to be distributed to all the people who ask me what I want for Christmas  LOL!  Most years when people ask me what I want for Christmas I usually refuse to answer or make up jokes (except for my husband who gets many specific requests…hehe….) because I hate “asking” people to buy me stuff, and I’m worried of someone buying me something that maybe they really couldn’t afford, but thought I would be disappointed if they didn’t get me whatever ridiculous thing I wanted.  But this year I think I will put together my Stampin Up wishlist, because there is stuff in EVERY price range.

Well I gotta hurry up already, and get this thing finished up so I can go play!!!

This haunted mansion came from the new Cricut Cartridge- Happy Hauntings. This is the FIRST year I have ever done anything decorative or crafty surrounding Halloween.  I am probably one of the few people who have never really gotten into the “Halloween Spirit,”  but there is just something about all the great stuff out there this year that I can not resist.  This Haunted Mansion is currently the centerpiece on my table as my FIRST EVER Halloween decoration (that’s right, even as a child I have NEVER had a Halloween decoration in my house.  A few years I dressed up and did the trick-or-treat thing, but we lived so far out in the country that no one came by our place to trick-or-treat anyways, so there was no need for decorations.)

I also purchased my first Halloween stamp sets, so I will soon be showcasing my FIRST halloween cards that I will be making.  What a year of firsts for me…  LOL!

Project 92 of 365: Haunted Mansion

92 of 365: Haunted Mansion Front

92 of 365: Haunted Mansion Side

92 of 365: Haunted Mansion Back

Can you believe that this whole thing is just made out of card stock?  It is surprisingly sturdy!!  When I picked it up to move it from my craft room to the dining room (downstairs) I was worried it would fall apart, but to my surprise it was heavier than I thought it would be, and while the walls did move a bit while carrying it they quickly put themselves back in place when I set it back down.  I made this about a week ago, and have moved it to different rooms, up and down stairs, in and out of the photography booth, yet nothing came apart…..Yay!!!

I was thinking about offering this haunted house as a kit to purchase, but it does take at least an hour to put together (and that was after it was all cut and removed from the Cricut mats), and it can be a bit trying on your patience….but once it is done it is awesome, and if you stored it in a  sturdy sided plastic box you could use this as a centerpiece year after year (since it needs to be glued together to make it sturdy, you can’t fold it up to store after assembled).

If this is something you would be interested in please let me know and make me an offer of what you think I should sell such a kit for.  This house stands more than a foot tall once assembled. (shipping is simple and cheap as it is shipped flat and you assemble it.)  Just leave me a comment with your email or email me at betty.ray020  at  gmail.com

(of course you know to replace the spaces and the word “at” with the @ symbol…just have to type it in this way due to crazy spam creating software that read blog posts to get your email address and fill your inbox with nonsense….the new age of telemarketing….LOL)

You can also create this on your own if you have a Cricut Expression and the Happy Hauntings Cartridge, but you will need the special 12×24 paper to make one as large as this one I made (putting two 12×12 sheets of paper together will not work).

Hope you enjoyed this one….I know I had fun making it!!

StampinBetty

Project 91 of 365: Pumpkin Patch

One more card in my texture folder adventure…

This one is based off a card made by Geraldine Andrade.  I found her card while browsing samples at the Stampin Up demonstrator only site.  Her card uses the same basic layout, but I changed up the colors, and since I didn’t have that fabulous new punch from the Holiday Mini catalog I just used rectangles and the ticket corner punch for the greeting.  I also added some large brads in the upper right to help balance out the layout.

Project 91 of 365: Pumpkin Patch

91 of 365: Pumpkin Patch

This card is definitely full of texture…you’ve got the embossing folder, the torn paper, the layered pumpkins, and the the big brads…how much more texture could you ask for in one card?

Supplies:

Paper:

• Chocolate Chip
• Very Vanilla
• Pumpkin Pie
• Old Olive

Stamps:

• Holiday Best

Ink:

• Chocolate Chip

Accessories:

• Tag Corner Punch
• Five Petal Punch
• Scallop Border Punch
• Medium Vanilla Brads
• Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions Emboss Folder

It’s time for bed now….But come back tomorrow when I hope to post the AWESOME haunted house I built using the new Happy Hauntings Cricut Cartridge!!

StampinBetty

Project 76 of 365: Baby Blanket Shower Card August 17, 2010

This card is the card I made for a Baby Shower I attended on Sunday.  The inspiration for the card was the baby blanket I had bought as a gift from the mother-to-be’s registry.  It was so cute, and I soon as I bought it I knew I had to make a card based on the design of the blanket.

Project 76 of 365: Baby Blanket Shower Card

Inspiration for card:

Thanks for stopping by!

StampinBetty

UPDATES (9/1/2010):

I had a request for more info on the items used to complete this card….

I used the Cricut Animal Kingdom, New Arrival, and Create a Critter Cartridges to get all these shapes, and I drew extra lines on the zebra and lion (yes, I made a yellow and brown zebra….but that is the colors they used on the baby blanket I used for inspiration).  Then I also hand cut away some of the head on the monkey layers so that it would have that multi-color look like on the inspiration piece.  I believe this monkey is from New Arrival, and I also cut it so just the head and hands showed, as well as cutting off the tail and attaching it so it would show behind the monkey (as in the inspiration piece.)

If you would like me to make this same card for you it would be $5 plus shipping (this card does take a long time to put together.), just drop me a note with your email so we can discuss : )

Hope this helps!!

Have a great night

StampinBetty

Project 74 of 365: Slot Machine Birthday Card

First of all, the Bret Michael’s concert was awesome!!!  I am so glad my friends offered me their extra ticket.  I was able to get up to the front row and snap some close-up shots (of course security shoo-ed me back to my seat after my “allotted” 10 seconds of photo snapping was up.  LOL!).  Our tickets were in row 13 right in the middle area, so we had a great view, unfortunately this also meant that my ears were ringing so loud that even though I was totally beat and wanted to fall asleep as soon as I got home I couldn’t, because all I could hear was the ringing

Who knows….maybe my friends and I will even end up on VH1.  The Milwaukee concert was supposed to be part of the first Episode of Bret Michael’s new VH1 reality show (called something like Life as I Know It) set to air in October.  Hopefully it will be as mindlessly entertaining as Rock of Love or Charm School. : )

The card posted below is the Birthday card I made for my Father-in-Law.  He loves going to the casino with his uncle, sometimes even in those big groups on tour buses.  He’s not some big gambler or anything, he mostly just goes for fun, and this is a good thing since he is a widower, it gets him out of the house and keeps him from being as lonely.  He is such a GREAT guy, I would hate to think of him unhappy!

I wanted to use a slot machine as the inspiration for the card, unfortunately I didn’t have any Cricut cartridges with a slot machine, and I couldn’t find any vector images that would have properly cut with my Sure Cuts A Lot, so I decided to just make the front of the card look like the windows on the slot machine with the winning 777 showing.  I think it worked out pretty cool.

Just a hint…..if you have super tiny, intricate cuts that you need to layer, the best way is to use a Zyron sticker machine.  For the “Happy Birthday” I just used the cheaper 1.5″ sticker machine.  It worked great because I didn’t have to try to use (and clean up) glue on these TINY slivers.

…And I finally was able to pull out at least a couple Stampin’ UP! stamps for the inside of the card.  I used the “Game Night” set and a really old retired set for the “Happy Birthday.”

Project 74 of 365: Slot Machine Birthday Card

74 of 365: Slot Machine Birthday Card

74 of 365: Slot Machine Birthday-Inside

Check back soon as I plan on getting back in my craft room and back to some Stampin’ UP! stamping.  Let me know if you have any requests for a stamp set I should concentrate on.

StampinBetty

Project 73 0f 365: Jungle Baby Card August 14, 2010

This card was also a special request from my Sister-In-Law.  This card is for a Baby Shower where the theme is jungle animals.  Another request, from the mother-to-be, is that she doesn’t want any gender stereo-type colors or themes for the baby/baby shower.  They know that they are having a girl, but want to avoid the stereo-type of all pink and things like “princess” or “spoiled”.  I completely understand where she is coming from….but….I can totally see myself going pink-crazy if I were to have a baby and it were a girl   I, too, don’t like those “spoiled” or “brat” type themed clothing either.   Unless, of course, it were from the grandparents and it said something like “my grandma/grandpa spoil me rotten”  because grandparents get to spoil their grandkids….at least that was always what my grandparents always said about all the grandkids they didn’t raise themselves.

Well, I think I  succeeded in no gender stereotypes on this card.  When I first completed the card I didn’t really like it.  It just looked so plain and 2D.  So I went back with my Stampin Write Markers and gave it more depth with shadows, and definition on the leaves and such, and then highlights from a white gel pen.  It made a world of difference.  The card was “OK” when it was just paper, but so much better with the added dimension gained with the markers and white pen.

Project 73 of 365: Jungle Baby Card

73 of 365: Jungle Baby Card

Well it’s time to get ready for the concert, and tomorrow afternoon I will be going to that baby shower with my Sister-in-Law.  So hopefully I will find time tomorrow night to post some more of the projects I have sitting here waiting to be blogged about

StampinBetty

72 of 365: Birthday Movie

Where to start, where to start…..the dentist visit or the concert????  Well obviously the concert

I am so excited.  Tonight I am going to the Bret Michels concert at the Wisconsin State Fair!!!  So actually 2 exciting things:  I have never been to the State Fair and, well… its Bret Michels.  Why, you ask, am I so excited over Bret Michels?  Well, that comes with a story.  It either starts with my brother and I constantly listening to an old Poison TAPE (thats right, a cassette tape, google it if you are too young to remember those LOL!!) and singing along when we were kids…Or more likely it comes from my guilty pleasure of watching that ridiculous VH1 show Rock of Love.  Because, even though I know every word to all the old Poison songs, my brother and I grew up without cable TV, so no MTV to actually see the band or the trouble they got into.  I honestly, did not know who Bret Michels was until the Rock of Love.  Too funny Today kids would try to make claims of child abuse if they didn’t have cable TV, but back then it was just a thing for city kids to waste time on.  We lived WAY out in the country growing up, and it didn’t seem like we were missing out on anything….  Wow how the world changes (btw…I’m not “old,” will be 32 next week.)

I LOVED watching that completely ridiculous show…  All three seasons, thinking/knowing he was never really going to find that special someone on that show.  Heck, I probably would have continued watching and laughing my a$$ off even if it went to 10 seasons.  I think it was a way to wind down, and let my brain go numb since ,at the time, I was DEEP DEEP DEEP into my graduate studies and visions of statistics and patterns even haunted me in my sleep, so watching something completely senseless probably helped reduce stress.  LOL!

Well, there you have it…I’m going to my first concert in probably over 10 years (Last concert I went to see was Bob Dylan, on some kind of come back tour,  in Green Bay), and since our seats are pretty close to the stage I will probably behave like a star-struck teenager.

The first project I am posting today is a Birthday card my Sister-In-Law asked me to make.  It was for her friend whom she regularly goes out to movies with.  Her only real request for the card was for it to have a tub of popcorn on the front.  In many ways I actually like the inside of the card more than the outside.  Plus I personalized the inside message with an inside joke the 2 of them share.  To do this I just made some word art in photoshop.  All of the paper piecing is from my Cricut and Gypsy

Project 72 of 365: Birthday Movie Card

72 of 365: Birthday Movie Card

72 of 365: Birthday Movie Card Inside

I have quite a few things to post for you, so we will see how far I get today

StampinBetty

Project 70 of 365: Grandma’s Memory Board August 11, 2010

Do all my home improvement projects count as crafts??  LOL!  If so I could show you what has been keeping me from the wonderful world of projects I usually post here  Actually, as I have time I probably will post some of the home improvements we have done this year.

As promised last week this is the photo display I made for my grandmother’s funeral.  I wanted something more than just pasting pictures to a board.  I wanted a theme….something that would make everyone smile as they browsed over the pictures…and their own memories of grandma.  My grandparents owned several concessions that were regularly booked into fairs, and they LOVED all the travelling.  So the best fitting theme I could think of was the Carnival.  Armed with my Cricut, Gypsy, and pile of textured cardstock I went to town.

Project 70 of 365: Grandma’s Memory Board

70 of 365: Grandmother's Memory Board

I know I have been moving away from concentrating solely on Stampin Up!, but I think this is an appropriate move.  While I am sure the majority of my projects will still be Stampin’ Up!, as I am so completely in love with their products, there are so many other crafts that I also love and want to share with you.

Check back soon!

StampinBetty

Projects 56-66: New Baby Girl Scrapbook Kit July 20, 2010

Hi All,

You’ve probably been wondering were I disappeared to for the past week….Well I have been cooking up some really cool stuff for you.  To start with I am going to slowly start adding crafting kits for purchase to this blog (like the album kit posted today.)  My goal with these kits will be to make great projects which you can complete at home in about an hour or 2 without any special tools or supplies!!!  How cool is that?

The album kit I am posting today is designed for new born baby girls (I am working on a VERY similar album for new born boys, I just need to find paper with the “right” colors.)  This album is a 6×6 album, designed to stay as THIN as possible (less than an inch thick even after you add photos) so you can just slip it in your bag or desk, and you will have the perfect Brag Book for any time someone asks about your beautiful baby.

For $19.99 you will receive:

1. A very nice 6×6 album with 10 page protectors (20 pages).  This album cannot be expanded, it is designed to stay thin, so all pages are permanently inserted with no posts or rings.

2.  All the die-cuts shown in all the pictures below.  Plus, any die cut made of multiple layers is already assembled for you!!!  So no need for you to try and solve the puzzle of how/where to attach the tiny layers

3.  All the patterned and solid CARDSTOCK (not thin paper) used.  Again, to keep this album as thin as possible, both sides of each sheet are used.  This is very high quality (non SU) cardstock which is solid on one side and patterned on the other.  Since it is very sturdy you can use both sides, saving you from an unsightly over-bulging album.

4.  You will also be emailed a PDF of all instructions (including photos) to complete the album.  The BEST part is that all you need to complete the album is the adhesive of your choice and a couple markers, and you can complete this album in 1 hour (maybe 2 hours if you add photos right away.)

While this will be presented as several projects (for the purpose of fulfilling my 365 in 365 goal) you will receive EVERYTHING in this post as part of your KIT!!

Buy it now for 19.99 plus shipping by clicking HERE

Project 56 0f 365: Page 1 of New Baby Girl Album

56 of 365: Page 1 of New Baby Girl Album

(in your kit the hand written portion will not be done for you….this way you can write whatever you want to here.)

Project 57 of 365: Pages 2-3 of Baby Girl Album

57 of 365: Pages 2-3 of Baby Girl Album

Project 58 of 365: Pages 4-5 of Baby Girl Album

58 of 365: Pages 4-5 of Baby Girl Album

Project 59 of 365: Pages 6-7 of Baby Girl Album

59 of 365: Pages 6-7 of Baby Girl Album

Project 60 of 365: Pages  8- 9 of Baby Girl Album

60 of 365: Pages 8-9 of baby Girl Album

(I just love the above page …)

Project 61 of 365: Pages 10-11 of Baby Girl Album

61 of 365: Pages 11-12 of Baby Girl Album

(this one looks better in person)

Project 62 of 365: Pages 12-13 of Baby Girl Album

62 of 365: pages 12-13 of Baby Girl Album

Project 63 of 365: Pages 14-15 of Baby Girl Album

63 of 365: Pages 14-15 of Baby Girl Album

Project 64 of 365: Pages 16-17 of 365

64 of 365: Pages 16-17 of Baby Girl Album

(yours won’t have the messy glue….LOL….and the color here is a bit deceiving, the polka dot paper is more of a rose red with light pink dots, than the red red it looks like in the picture)

Project 65 of 365: Pages 18-19 of Baby Girl Album

(

65 of 365: Pages 18-19 of Baby Girl Album

(so cute…)

Project 66 of 365: Page 20 of Baby Girl Album

66 of 365: Page 20 of Baby Girl Album

So there you have it everyone!!! If you like this kit buy it HERE for just $19.99 plus shipping.

When ordering your kit you will also receive a matching album (as pictured below)….If you request a specific album I will do my best to get you that one, but it is first come first serve.  If no request is made I will randomly choose an album for you

6x6 Albums for Baby Girl Scrapbook

Copyright notice: This kit is the original design of StampinBetty.  You can replicate this item for your personal use, but it is not allowable for you to use these designs for your profit without my consent.  Thank You

Hope you like this kit!!

StampinBetty

Projects 42-45: Eclipse Movie Hats July 3, 2010

Hi all!

Tis true, I am slightly behind on my 365 project goal.  It has been a sad time around the house… My grandmother, who was the closest thing I had to a “Mom” growing up has fallen very ill and has “temporarily” been placed in a nursing home.  Personally, I’m not so sure this is a temporary move for her.

First, I should clarify, that I have a VERY lovely, kind mother, unfortunately I did not know how wonderful she was until I was almost 30 years old, as unusual events resulted in my brother and I being raised by our grandparents and ill father.  This is why I say my grandmother was my Mother-figure growing up, and I have to say Grandma did an AWESOME job raising us!!!!!  My brother is now an Electrical Engineer, with a wonderful wife, and beautiful daughter, and they live Charlotte, NC.  I have a Master’s Degree, the best husband in the world, and the two coolest Bullmastiffs ever, here in Milwaukee.  Who could ask for more???  I know sooooooo many others who grew up in situations like ours and took such a drastically different path than we did, and I can only believe that my grandparents must have played a BIG role in this.  They never gave us anything for free, we had to work hard for everything.  They never babied us because we had unfortunate childhoods.  They didn’t have a lot of money, but what they did was make sure we knew we could do anything we wanted as long as we worked hard at it.  They made sure we knew life was not supposed to be easy…to get somewhere in life you had to fight for it, and never give up.  They reminded us that if someone told us we couldn’t do something because we didn’t have the “right upbringing” we had to stand up and SHOW them we could.  Because of our grandparents we knew the world did not OWE us something just because we had it harder than others, and that the only way someone was going to get us down was if we let them.

Four years ago today, grandfather passed away.  Now it seems as though grandmother wants to give in and join him.  I visited her 2 days ago (her nursing home is 2 1/2 hours away).  After spending the day with her it was clear that she misses grandfather terribly (they were married well over 60 years, and since they owned and ran a business together they never spent more than 24 hours apart.)  I thought about how hard it was to think of her being gone, but I also thought about how unfair and selfish it is to continue to beg her to fight and stay here.  She is 86 years old and in constant pain every day.  She has had so many surgeries, and there is no way her life will ever be comfortable again.  Yet family members insist on more and more treatments and surgeries to keep her alive.  It hurts me to think of the pain she is in and the fact that she will never be well again, yet is forced to endure more and more pain, instead of accepting the fact that no one lives forever and it is not fair to “torture” someone.  How could they even agree to giving a frail 86 year old chemotherapy????  When our pets are in pain that we know we can not make better, putting them to sleep is considered the only humane thing to do.  Yet, when our parents and grandparents are in torturous pain, and begging to “go home” after having lived a very LONG and FULL life we pump them with poisonous chemo, and further surgeries just so we don’t have to say good-bye.  SHAME on us!!!!!

I would not wish her agony on anyone, which is why I kneeled beside her bed with her almost lifeless hand in mine and told her how much I loved her, and how thankful I was that she raised me to be the person I am, and with tears in my eyes I told her that if she was tired and if she felt she had waited long enough to be reunited with grandpa that it was okay to go to him, that everyone was taken care of here, and no one would be upset at her for her for going.  She grasped my hands with more strength than I had felt from her in a long time, looked me in the eye, with tears in hers, and said thank you, I love you so much.  It was the hardest thing I have ever said to anyone, I only wish the rest of them would tell her the same and let her go peacefully.

Sorry for diverging from the goal of the blog, but let’s just say writing it out and posting it for others to read is my budget-friendly therapy.  Isn’t therapy all about getting it out and telling someone else so that you don’t hold it all inside.  So thank-you for being my therapist….just don’t send me a bill.  LOL!

Today’s projects aren’t Stampin Up, but they are too cool to not show you all, plus they were the other time consumer that has put me behind on my 365 goal (luckily I am only a few projects behind, and there are still 10 1/2 months to get them all done).

In total we made 12 of these hats (I think there was one missing when we took the photos.)  There are 4 different “designs” in these hats (hence counting them as four projects.)  There is my hat which is totally different from everybody else’s (completely covered with black and white photos with red satin ribbon.) There is Tina’s hat which has the basic design of the rest, but then I cut some really cool stuff on my die cutter for her to add, and she used red and black tulle ribbon.  Then there are Team Edward, and Team Jacob hats.

I should also be clear that I did not make all the hats.  The design for all the hats (except mine) was a collaborative idea from Tina, her two daughters, and me.  And everyone helped put the hats together.

Projects 42-45:  Eclipse Movie Hats

42-45: Eclipse Hats

Project 45 of 365: My Hat

45 of 365: My Eclipse Hat

44 of 365: Tina's Eclipse Hat

44 of 365: Tina's Eclipse Hat

The reason I am including Tina’s hat as project 44, even though she assembled it, is because I made the die cut Edward profile, and Cullen Crest for her, and making these die cuts was quite a “project”  But aren’t they awesome??

More photos of the hats:

If anyone is interested in purchasing a hat like one of these please let me know and we can work out a price and details for you.  I can make hats like these for ANY occasion!!  Email me at betty.ray020@gmail.com or leave a comment below with your email asking me to contact you.

StampinBetty

Project 14 of 365: All Star Birthday May 31, 2010

Today is my husband’s nephews’ birthday.  He has twin nephews who are very into baseball, and play on a little league team.  So when my husband mentions to me an HOUR before their birthday cookout that we needed birthday cards I was like what the heck am I going to be able to whip up in less than an hour (plus I still needed to get ready to go.)  I almost went to the store and bought cards….but I realized that would just not be right since I am trying to show everyone how easy it is to make their own.

As I thought about it I knew I had recently purchased the “Just Baseball” stamp set, but I wanted more that those 3 simple stamps, so I pulled out the trusty Cricut as I have tons of cartridges, and even the Gypsy, that have not seen their fair play time since I started on this self-imposed Stampin’ Up! Challenge.  I decided I was still going to post the cards here on my blog, even though I used my Cricut, because the paper, and the stamps inside are Stampin’ Up!  And since I’m the boss here I win

Jason and Brian play on a little league team called the Red Sox, and their jerseys look like the Boston Red Sox, so I decided that would be the theme for the card.  I cut the words “All Star” from the Baseball Cartridge, Their initials from the “black letter” cartridge, and “birthday” from the “Stamping” cartridge.  I had also cut out baseball player silhouettes, but I decided not to use them as the card was getting crowded.

Inside the card I stamped “Happy Birthday” from the “Birthdays Count” stamp set, and then stamped off with all the images from the “Just Baseball” stamp set.

Project 14 of 365: All Star Birthday

14 of 365: All Star Birthday

If you look close enough you will see that the glue is not even dry yet….but I had to get the pictures snapped, and get on the road because we were about to be late for their birthday cookout, so excuse the messy glue

Inside of the All Star Birthday Cards:

14 of 365: All Star Birthday inside

Supplies:

Paper:

• Whisper White Textured
• Night of Navy Textured
• Real Red Textured
• Yoyo Yellow Textured

Stamp Sets:

• Just Baseball
• Birthdays Count (retired)

Classic Ink:

• Real Red
• Night of Navy

Other:

• Cricut
• Baseball Solutions Cartridge
• Blackletter Solutions Cartridge
• Stamping Solutions Cartridge

I’m happy with the results since I only had an hour, and the boys thought it was pretty cool that their baseball birthday cards were homemade.  Even their mom liked the cards and she’s not into crafts….

Well I still have another project to post today, so check back soon!

Hope Everyone had a Great Memorial Day weekend!

StampinBetty