Halloween Mini Album/Altered Cricut cartridge box

In September, I began a Halloween mini-album in a box (altered Cricut cartridge box), but due to illness that turned into pneumonia, I just haven't had the energy to do anything more on it. Since today is Halloween, I'm posting a little of what I did get done before getting sick.

First I took apart a Cricut cartridge box and covered it, then glued the

inner box section back on. The rosette and the iron gate edging are both Tim Holtz

dies. I mainly used a K & Company paper pad and coordinating

embellishments, but I did throw in a few other things from the LSS and

from JoAnn's. The spiderweb edging on the bottom of the

front flap is a Martha Stewart punch.

Below: the open box. I will probably put something inside the lid.

I just didn't get that far yet. The unfinished mini-album is inside the box.

The front cover of the unfinished mini-album.

There will be ribbons on the rings eventually.

The first couple of pages. The apothecary bottles on the right

page are large enough for small photos or journaling on the back.

The labels from the bottles came from the internet.

I was already sick when I found them, and I thought I knew where

I got them, but my head must have been in a fog.

If I figure it out, I'll post it later.

There's a little more I got done, but not enough to show.

At the rate I'm going, maybe it will be done for Halloween 2012.

I'm still sick. The doctor gave me a different antibiotic to try.

Now I'm going back to bed.

Happy Halloween!

October Make & Take Treat Bag

The die cut box is from Accu-Cut. The ticket stamp is by Tim Holtz. The little Jack-o-lantern and Crow landscape (background) are Stampendous Cling Rubber stamps. To do the background I had to mask off the parts I didn't want stamped, because the stamp would have spilled over slightly onto the sides. The little bow is crochet thread that I've had in my stash for years.

Oct. 5th Wednesday layout sneak peek

When I went in to the LSS a couple of days ago, the owner asked if I would do another layout for their Wednesday Make & Take. It's a Make & Take where the customers purchase the supplies, and they get the instructions and a free element. They can put together the layout in the crop room, which is why it's called a Make & Take. Since I was already planning to do a leaf jumping page for photos of these little cuties, I said yes and spent some time doing up this layout. One of the papers is a Karen Foster (left side, base page), the other patterned papers are new ones by Reminisce, from their Harvest line. The 3D stickers are Reminisce, too, and the paper leaves are by Bazzill. The free element is the little ticket shaped tag in the lower right corner. It's actually a "topper" from the Cricut Cupcake Wrappers Lite cartridge.

Back to doing Make & Take projects--here is September's

The gal who took over doing the monthly Make & Take projects during the summer won't be doing them anymore. So I'm back to doing them again. Above is the one I designed for September. The shaped card was made by folding the paper in half and die-cutting it with the fold just INSIDE the cutting line on one side. It's a Tim Holtz die, and the center is the matching Movers & Shapers die which was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder. The leaf is a Spellbinders die. I have no idea who made the stamp set that I used for the sentiment, and that is strange. Normally I keep the package header with the stamp set, but it wasn't there. I also have no idea who made the paper used to cut the card base. It's some kind of map style paper, but I liked the colors and the pattern gave it a textured look. Pumpkin Spice colored chalk in was used to chalk the leaf. Chestnut Roan was used to shade the edges of the center shape and stamp the sentiment.

I was asked to design a layout for the weekly Make & Take page that customers can come in and do at the LSS. The new layout is available each Wednesday, and this one is for tomorrow. I used the Kaiser Blae & Ivy collection. The die-cut flourish was a Sizzix die. The flowers are a mix of Kaiser and Bazzil, with Pebbles Pearl Candy Dots at the centers. Thickers were used to do the title.

I designed the layout using photos of my son and his girlfriend, which will be added after I get my layout back in a week.

2010 July 4th layout, tweaked and finished

I did some tweaking to the cluster (shown in the July 23rd post), as well as the rest of the left side of the layout. The title is my own creation, as is the label that backs it. However, the cut label is very similar to the printed label that I was originally going to use for journaling. I ended up doing hidden journaling again. The heart shape just above the top left photo of the right page is actually the top of the journal tag. The photo corners were punched twice: once with the corner pattern of stars, and once with the corner punch centered over the corner stars that had been punched. I hope that makes sense. The firework die cut added to the cluster is a Cricut design from the Stand & Salute cartridge. I used Stickles on it to glitz it up. I added some stars cut from my graphics design program, some buttons, and a little more journaling to finish it off. There are an additional two pages that are part of this four page layout, but I'm not sure if I'll post them or not.

Playing with Mudd Puddles

At least a couple of years ago at GASC, I discovered an interesting product called Mudd Puddles. Basically, it's a little jar with sand in it, with glue mixed in. There are different colors of sand you can buy, because beaches can vary considerably in color and makeup.

You spread Mudd Puddles on your chipboard/cardstock (or whatever you want) for texture. Now you can get it with tiny seashells, too. Above is a title I made today for a beach layout. The layout is still in progress, but I'm pretty happy with the title. Besides Mudd Puddles, I used Glossy Accents to give a shine on the upper part of the letters, to make one think of water, like waves lapping on the sand.