New Stuff at Summer CHA - Part 1

Summer CHA is going on now and I would never be able to attend but I always like to see the new stuff before it hits the stores. On occasion I have ordered from Two Peas In A Bucket and they are a wonderful online store that carries a lot of variety so you can shop from the comfort of your own home. I also follow them on twitter. This week, they are doing videos of several companies and their releases for CHA. I wanted to share some of my favorites. They state that they are going to do this for 3 days so that is why this is Part 1, if I like anything on the next two days, I'll share those as well.

Basic Grey is one of my favorite paper lines and I was SO EXCITED to see the Eskimo Kisses line. I really loved the paper with the little deer on it. There are actually 2 videos to showcase the Basic Grey lines.






Little Yellow Bicycle is fairly new company, they haven’t been out very long and I was REALLY surprised at all of the embellishments they do for their lines. My favorite is the Autumn Bliss so I will have to be watching for that paper.




Pink Paislee is another fairly new company and I really liked their Amber Road line. I don’t do Halloween so having the leaves and anything for autumn along that line is great.




Bella Blvd has a really cute camped out collection that I liked.



There are several other videos that they shared today and if you want to see them on the YouTube site after watching one of these videos, along the right hand side there is a section “More From TwoPeasInABucket” and there are videos for Prima, American Crafts, Maya Road, Anna Griffin, Jillibean Soup, Hero Arts, and Fiskars.

Cards

Another thing I have been remiss about keeping up with is posting the cards I have done, but again I don't want to post them until they have been given to the recipients because I don't want them to be seen on here before they get them in person.


The first one is a card I did for my sister & Dad & stepmom since we were all having a Maui vacation together. All of the stamps are from DeNami and they are ones I already had on hand...I didn't buy anything new just for the card. But I also figured since I had the stamps, it would be opportune to use them for such a card. I also did one like this for my step-daughter Witney for her birthday coming up in June, but it has "Happy Birthday" on it instead of "Aloha". It is perfect for her and her personality.


The next one...I 100% lifted from this gal. I love a lot of her cards. She does a really good job and when I was looking for an idea on my Easter cards and I came across this one....I knew I had to copy it. Most of the stamps used are by Verve and the swirl inside is an Autumn Leaves. I had to create my own "background" paper of sorts on the lighter blue paper (with my Versamark stamp pad and some Pearl Ex) because I couldn't find something that would match but it was fun. I thought it would take a long time to do them (I think there were 10+ layers of cardstock) but I cut out all of my papers first and it went pretty smoothly, thankfully since I did 8 of these.


The next one I did for my stepmom's (Terry) birthday. Her favorite color is yellow so that was the only thing I was going for in this card was to incorporate that color, but I did start out by trying to match everything to the patterned background paper. The stamps I used on it are Magenta and it is a stamp line I really like and have several of their stamps but I haven't used in a long time. I colored it in with colored pencils, used my Nestabilites to cut out the scallop rectangle and a friskars border punch on the green piece. The patterend background paper is by Basic Grey.


This next one is one I threw together really quickly because it was our Anniversary and I realized I hadn't gotten a card for Scott. Since I've been trying to make all of my cards for the year, I figured I run down to my room quickly and put one together before he got home. The stamp I used is DeNami and I've always liked it but never had an opportunity to use it before. I also used my Nestabilites to do the scallop circles and I used my Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirls embossing folder. I put stickles on the swirls and the cardstock colors I used were the actual wedding colors we had. I think I need to make sure to put some of that paper aside in my "Wedding" box of all the papers, embellishments, etc...I've been collecting for when I FINALLY decide to scrapbook our wedding photos (come on...it's only been 8 years).


For the last one, I did a birthday card for my friend Amy (I also did one like this for my friend Nichole last November for her birthday and for my step-daughter Witney's birthday last June). I love these colors together they just "pop". The stamps I used are mostly DeNami (you can see why I label them as my favorite stamp line...I have a lot of them & use them a lot). For the background & sentiment I used some Studio G (cheapie $1) stamps. The background I used my Versamark stamp pad to get the watermark look and I created my own border around the sentiment with some decorative scissors to make the box and just traced around it.


That is all I've done, but I was pretty busy in February & March trying to get them all done before we went to Maui. I really wish I would have done my Mother's Day cards before we left but I figured I would have several weeks to get them done...I just didn't realize I'd get so sick and wouldn't have a chance to work on them after we got back. Now if I could just get better so I can do them (yes, I know Mother's Day is over and I've explained to my mother's that they haven't been done but they are okay with that and worry about my health more) and I have a couple of graduation cards to get done. Oh mercy.

The rest of my cards

Here are the other 2 cards that I made.
First up is Aydann's Birthday card. She was having a Tinkerbell themed birthday party and since Tinkerbell is one of my personal favorites...that is what we went with.

I stamped and embossed the flower background with one of my many DeNami stamps and the rest is stickers. I have a Tinkerbell cartridge that I would have used, however, someone else has been borrowing it and it is over a hundred miles away, so I went in search of some Tinkerbell stickers.
I used my Nestabilities Scalloped Rectangle die to cut out the piece Tinkerbell is posed on. She really is our little Princess.
This is the inside of the card which I used my Cricut to cut out the "Happy Birthday" with my Calligraphy Cartridge. The crown and Tinkerbell are stickers.

Here is my main Valentine card (I made 9 of these). Here again I used the Basic Grey-Bittersweet Line-Mousse paper. I cut out the hearts on my Cricut with the Calligraphy cartridge and my Design Studio. It is normally one heart facing in one direction and I welded them all together and flipped a couple of them. I learned a really cool tip and used it to cut out the different colors. The pink hearts I ran through my Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots embossing die. This card was too plain without the little addition in the lower left hand corner and trying to decide what to do there was the most difficult of this whole card. It was at that point I realized I needed more embellishments...so I went off to Michael's with my card to see what I could find. *Just a little side note: Our Michael's really sucks and needs to get with the times on their scrapbooking and stamping stuff. I finally decided on these little wooden hearts that I painted with the Making Memories "Chocolate" paint. I added a little dot of pink hot glue (believe it or not I found my glue sticks in a fishing shop down in Boise). I've been invading on some of Scott's materials he uses and coming up with other ideas you'll see in the future for some of the fly tying stuff that can also be used in card making. I used the Martha Stewart "Branch" punch for the twiggy stuff coming out from the back of the heart. I have to say I think they turned out super cute. I think I may submit this one to the Cricut message board. Try to win myself a new cartridge.

I've been busy crafting

I feel as if I've been living in my craft room lately and here is most of the evidence of it. I can't show all of them yet (until my Valentine's reach their recipients...I don't want to spoil it for them).

A friend that I've known for like 19 years lost her father a couple of weeks ago and since I've been close with her and her kids and all her sisters and her parents...I made sympathy cards for them all (I made 7 total of these). This is the first sympathy card I've ever made. But I think it turned out good.

I used my Nestabilities Scallop Rectangle dies and I just LOVE them and my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder. I stamped it with Autumn Leaves Flourishes stamps. I had to print out the sentiment on the computer since I didn't have any sympathy stamps, with the exception of "With Sympathy" which I did stamp in the inside.

Next up, I made a birthday card for a friend of mine that I will be seeing this weekend in Lewiston (she is actually my step-daughter's mother-in-law but we hit it off real great and are friends). Her Birthday isn't until Monday the 16th.

Again...you see the Nestabilities (this time) Scallop Circle die. I used my Cricut and Design Studio to create the large black scalloped edge. I used my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and a Sizzix die for the cupcake.

This one was a little harder for me to do mainly because I don't have a lot in these colors so I was limited in what I did. However, the silver strip in the middle (don't gasp when you hear this) but it is from some wrapping paper that was on one of our wedding presents. I have several big chunks that were in good condition and SEE I did use it again.

And lastly, for now, is the Valentine card I made for Scott. It has literally been years since I've made my Valentine cards and I figured since I was home and had the time, I would make all my cards this year.

Well lookie here...another card with the Nestabilities Scalloped Circle die (I'm gonna get my money's worth out of these and like I said, I LOVE them). I also used the much sought out Basic Grey-Bittersweet Line-Mousse paper. When I finally found it in Boise at Archiver's I bought out the 7 sheets they had. I just think it is so pretty. I also found I really like the way Basic Grey's paper distresses, it is very workable. I stamped the mice from one of my Penny Black stamps and altered it a little (it has a big flower above their heads that shields them like an umbrella). I used to make cards for Scott when we were dating that had these Penny Black mice, hedgehogs, cats on them but haven't in a long time. I stamped the "Love You" at the top.

Well that is it for this post...my next one will show 2 more cards but I will have to wait until Saturday to post that one.

I've been having a lot of fun. I spent all weekend in my craft room and Scott spent all weekend in his man cave (across the hall from my room) watching movies and doing his craft of tying flies. I asked him who he thought made a bigger mess when they were creating...he definitely thought I did but that I could control it better than what I do. (I will have to take a picture next time it is in such disarray and show you...maybe one day a short little video on my craft room). He said he will usually pick out a fly from his book and pull out those materials to make it and that is it. I told him it was impossible for me because I didn't have a book I could just duplicate a card from. I am creating...trying to find if one thing looks good to find that no not really but lets try this. I usually only have the for sure thing of my paper colors decided, the type of card and MAYBE a particular stamp. I am finding though that I need more embellishments. And I think I can honestly say that since I've moved up here, away from all my stamping buddies, that this is the first time I've spent this much time in my room doing my thing. It was a blast. I think I will try really hard to do all of my cards for the year, handmade. So next up would be my brother's birthday card. Paper already sitting on my table waiting to be used.