Veranda Sympathy Card

A dear friend of mine recently lost her sister-in-law quite unexpectedly. Since I have been out of store-bought sympathy cards for some time, I had to quickly put one together that was not bulky, so it could be mailed easily.
I took a quick picture of it before getting it off in the mail. This is what I
came up with:

I used the retired Veranda Paper Pack from CTMH, along with the matching Stickease. This set of paper and stickers sure made this really very simple to make on such short notice. I also used the RGB codes in MS Word for the matching sentiment. Sorry I didn't think about getting a shot of the inside of the card to show as well.

I really must get busy and make some sympathy cards up in advance, so I have them on hand when these unexpected and sorrowful situations arise.

Muslin Flowers

Bona, a Lindy's Stamp Gang designer, shows how to make these cute, shimmery, muslin flowers with Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays found here.

Watch on YouTube: HERE

My ScrapRoom - Paula's Space! .... part 1

Ok... it's been awhile in the making, but I'm finally getting around to posting these photos of my scraproom, that Carol (the CTMH consultant that I help) "named" for me --- "Paula's Space". This is also the reason my blog is named the same!

When my wonderful husband, Brad, was building my shelves for my scraproom, Carol secretively snuck behind my back, and got him to give her the red paint he was using, so she could match these large 8" letters she lovingly painted and decorated for my wall. What a surprise these were! (My hubby sure can keep a secret!)

A little background info: After Brad was transferred to our new town, because of his job in 2004, we started building our new home late in that year. At that time, I was finally supposed to get my own 'space' for my scrapbooking/cardmaking area! YAY!...
We were to be leaving our eldest, Josh, in the city we moved from, and our daughter, Jennifer, was half way across the nation from us, in her senior year at college in Virginia, swearing that she'd "NEVER" move back home! So.... I designed our home according to those plans, but.... as you can probably guess, it did NOT quite work out that way!

By the time the house was finished at the end of April 2005, Jen was planning on returning home after her May graduation (for a little while anyway!) She had accepted a job here in town during her Spring Break holiday in March, and they were holding the job open for her!

There went my ROOM! I didn't even get it for short time, because 3 days after we closed on the house, we had to leave for Virginia for her graduation! Oh well :( ... the time would come! Short-sightedly, I went ahead and put carpet in the room, which we have not changed yet, but eventually we will.

OK... maybe this is more like a "lot of background info"! But bear with me, I'm almost done!.....

Since we also now had a finished and carpeted basement, I was seriously contemplating moving my currently non-existent 'area' down there.... being held back by the fact that because of surgery, I didn't do stairs very well, and the bathroom was upstairs from there!.... So I started 'practicing' going up and down the stairs 2-3 times per day. Just about had myself convinced that I could do it, when our son decidied that he didn't like staying where he was anymore, and wanted to come back home, too! Now the basement idea was smashed as well! LOL! He took it over in September 2005! Now both the kids were home again! Not what I had planned at all! LOL! :)

Well finally, Jen found an apartment and moved out in May 2007. I could now have my long-awaited scraproom! My hubby got started building as soon as I had the plans drawn up of how I wanted the room laid out! (side-point... Josh moved out again in Dec '07, too!)

So, thanks for bearing with me!!... the photos of my 'space' are below:



I took a bunch... and I do mean a bunch... of photos, going around the room starting on the left side, behind the door! My space is an 11 x 15 foot bedroom with closet... nice and large! I've basically done it in red, black, and white, with a plethora of other colors thrown in, too! As always, you should be able to click each photo for a larger view.

First - a view from the door....

From the door, you can see those large letters Carol made on the wall. Every time I go in, they are such a delightful reminder that I have such a sweet and generous friend, and they welcome me into my "space"!

You might be wondering why they don't look 'centered' on the wall..... because they're not... at least not anymore! They were originally, when my room was ready for "move in" back in the summer of 2007! But since then, I've acquired quite a bit more stuff, since that was 2 years prior to me finding out about CTMH in 2009! So my hubby has had to build me some more shelves in that corner, which then made my 'sign' off-centered! It drives me a little crazy - just a little bit :) - but since I don't want to have to ask my DH to re-paint that wall, I live with it as is.... maybe one day I'll have him move them!

Behind the door, is my storage area for my larger punches. The top 4 bars are from Ikea. My daughter sent them to me, since I'm not anywhere near an Ikea store and these are not available online. They are the Bygel racks, each a 20" long bar and were only $1.99 each! The bottom 2 are just regular 24" towels racks from Walmart. My Xtra-Giga Marvy Uchida punches, as well as some other extra large brands, would not fit on the Ikea rails... they were too wide in depth, so the rails weren't out from the wall far enough to accommodate them. I keep my smaller punches and those that can't sit on a rail, in one of my drawers you'll see later on.

Next up, is my computer armoire and printer stand/storage.... above it hangs a very old painted window frame, from an old house in Virginia, that is only half visible in the photo (my walls are 10 feet high!)

In between the printer and the closet, is a storage center of drawers with a rolling paper cart underneath and a magnetic bulletin board above. This was one of the later items my DH made... a table-topped shelf sturdy enough to hold the side-by-side drawers I had to add. (notice... "had to"! lol!) And the top had to be tall enough off the floor to accommodate easy access to my 4th paper rolling cart I had to add as well. (You'll see the other 3 soon!)

The drawers hold everything from chipboard, slide mounts and alphabet sets to grungeboard, vacation and Basic Grey embellishments! Photos of the kids when they were 3 and 5 are in frames on top.

I need to set aside some time to re-label my drawers. Just inside the front of each drawer, I added black cardstock with a patterned red-floral piece on the left side, so that all the drawers were uniform and hid the contents clutter inside. I had attached the labels long before, and I think they look so willy-nilly now with the black background, and need to be attached in a more dignified and orderly manner! (Can you tell that I'm a little OCD!)

The paper rolling cart, below the drawers, hold my pre-CTMH paper sets from other companies like Paper Loft, Basic Grey, etc.

Next is my closet... nothing special since it's a normal bedroom closet, but it does have some shelves that hold stuff like all my extra CTMH Cardstock Paper Packs I stocked up on! Containers (yes, plural!) of extra adhesives... I keep a lot of that on hand at all times. Also has my albums that are in process, all of my packages of card bases and envelopes, and a slew of other miscellaneous items. The closet also houses my

Crop-n-Style XXL rolling carrier tote for crops!

My favorite feature of the closet is the hanging beaded curtain where the door should be!

I had my hubby remove the closet door so I could hang these up! They are black teardrop beads, formed in a cascading pattern. So retro! I love them! From the '70's, which is when I was a teenager and I so badly wanted them back then, but Mom said no, because they were for hippy's, you know... 'flower children'! LOL!.... Well I'm now rebelling! :)

This is a view of my desk:

It's only clean because I moved stuff off of it for the photo shoot!

Next is how I arrange the workspace for myself and 2 guests:

When the black chair is at the end of the table like this, there is still enough room to walk between it and the double-drawer stack/rolling cart against the wall behind it.

This next pic is a close-up of where I sit, with my Ott-Lite above me and everything within easy reach:

My tool caddy is from Pampered Chef. You can see the CTMH ink pad and marker tower in the middle. On the right is another of my hubby's creations.... I bought 3 extra marker towers and he built a box around them (laying horizontally). I store all my pre-CTMH markers in this, as well as Slick Writers, Millenium Pens, and all my Sakura Gelly Roll sets!... very handy!

Of course this is the front of the tower:                    and this is the back!

I have a 1/4 of a sponge for each of the 60 CTMH colors! I used a SU label punch and the cardstock swatches, punched out each color where the name was printed on it and attached with staples as my fingerhold for each sponge. Then I used velcro adhesive-backed dots to cover the staple ends and attach them to the caddy, making sure I put the soft-sided piece of velcro on the sponge tab... no need to have my fingers hurt after using them! The opposite side of those little velcro pieces are very rough!

The tray on top holds the mini ink pads and my Smooches!

Continued in Part 2 .... I promise, it's not as long, and shows most of the storage areas!

My ScrapRoom - part 2

Apparently the first part is too long, so I must break this "room" in half! :)

Moving on around to the right from the closet is the shorter wall with the window and my "Paula's Space" sign. Then on around is this:

This section of shelves from the corner to over my table (next photo) was the last thing my DH installed for me! These shelves hold binders of templates, my embossing gun holder my hubby made me... for hands free embossing!... lots of ribbon containers, my Creative Cafe embellishments, the bling box I covered with Magnifique (see here.), and my cardboard spritz box with my Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays. The red baskets up top hold embossing gun, powders, and supplies, and the other holds all my non-CTMH ink pads and reinkers, like Versamark and Stazon. On the floor are side-by-side racks I purchased from a LSS when they went out of business. I use it to store my 12x12 chipboard, all my CTMH Idea Books, and a few other miscellaneous flat items.

Next photo is of the other half of the newest shelves which are located over my table end above the extra box of markers on my desk. These shelves hold all my CTMH stamp sets and Acrylix Block Organizer Case, as well as my 8x8 papers and border CS strips.

You may be able to tell by looking at the bottom shelf, that these shelves fit 2 deep of the My Acrylix Organizer boxes... and yes... all but one of them are 2 deep and all are full or almost full.... 15 boxes with over 200 stamp sets and counting!! Am I insane or what! LOL!

In this next photo, you will see the first shelving unit my hubby built for me:

It was too wide to get a straight-on shot, so I had to take it at an angle. It stands 7 feet high and over 5 feet long! My chair sits right next to this, so everything low is within hands-reach! I store all of my larger tools like paper cutters, Crop-A-Dile and Big Bite, and smaller ones I don't keep in my desk caddy, in the wider drawers on the bottom left. Adhesives go in the 3-drawer middle section, and more tools I don't use as often and my smaller punches are in the 3-drawer right section... then my paper shredder!

Storage on the shelf above hold stickers, rub-ons and other embellishments. The next shelf up holds 4 containers full of photos waiting to be scrapped, my E-size SS, a zippered decorative scissors case, an extra stamp pad tower, and 6 of the CTMH little jar cases with... what else?... CTMH embelly's!!

The two skinny shelves above that hold sectioned boxes of all the other brands embelly's - brads, buttons, and more! Top shelf has more storage drawers, chalk box, and 2 boxes for card-making supplies and finished cards. I actually have an empty space about 8 inches wide for growth! LOL! :)


Next is an old cd holder that Brad painted to match. It holds two storage tins for CTMH items too large for the little jars like waxy flax (one decorated in Bella Paper - see here), all 60 reinkers in 4 different boxes (see two of them here), 6 clear jars of all my CTMH buttons, some paint daubers, and stamp sets from other companies in the pink box on the bottom shelf.

Above this little shelf, are more shelves that stretch from the large shelving unit to the corner. They hold my Cuttlebug and supplies, my Distress inks and paints, dimensional paint, Mudd Puddles, binder of brass stencils, idea catalogs, metal impress set, and all 6 of the CTMH Books.

Then on the side wall, also up in that corner, is the 'tall' work station table/storage unit my hubby had first made when he made the large shelving unit:

This is angled more so you can see the beautiful wood top he made!

This is also my major paper storage area --- Brad made this tall enough for the 3 rolling paper carts to go easily under it, and it is almost 4 feet tall... which is perfect standing work-level for me since I'm 6'1". Those carts hold all non-CTMH cardstock and loose patterned papers, as well as all my specialty papers.... mulberry, vellum, mosaic, overlays, etc. All 4 of my carts are stuffed, and I can't fit anything else into them!

On the shelf above the carts, are all my CTMH paper packs and cardstock! To put this in perspective, this unit is 6 feet long! Starting in the middle of that shelf, I have a few sets of more specailty papers I could not fit in the carts below.... these have windows pre-cut in them for custom matting of photos!

From the center to the left, are all the CTMH Level 1&2 Paper Packs I've acquired over the last 2 years.... many older ones through Carol off the Buy/Sell Bulletin Board (pre-2009 sets!) I have these separated by Cropper Hopper Paper Files. I love these because they are actually tabbed pockets, 3 per set, so I can put the paper set name on the tabs, and each pocket holds the scraps! I have these alphabetized from Bella to You Rock!

From the center to the right, are all 60 of the CTMH cardstock colors, separated the same way. I did use another of the CS color swatches and cut a strip of each to fold over each tab, so I can see the colors from both directions without having to look at the color names. I did not use the swatch part with the color name on it this time, like I did for the sponges, because the words are too small to see, so I wrote the color name on them in large print.

Above this workspace is another Ott-Lite attached to a wall-mounted board housing 144 embellishment bins that are about 3"x3".

If you look closely, they all have something in them!

Not an empty one!

And as you can see by the light switches in the photo above, we are finally back at the door! But one final photo I just can't leave out....

This is Bear... our daughter's Rotty that we gave her just before

her final semester of college. After she graduated and came home,

he's been with us ever since! Apartments won't take

120 lb Rottweilers! Even a sweet boy like this!

So even though she's lived in 3 different states since then,

Bear has been my scrapbooking companion!

I hope you've enjoyed the 2-part tour of my scrapbook room. And maybe, just maybe, I've given someone a storage idea they can use as well!

Thanks for stopping in! :)

Penny Slider Card

In this video, Christine from Card Making Magic, shows how to make a very cute and easy roller card called a Penny Slider Card. I just love her video tutorials! She makes it all so easy to follow. I hope you like this one, too :)

Watch on YouTube: HERE

Add Sentiments to Cards Using MS Word

I'm so glad I ran acrosss this video from Linda Kaiser (Paper Boutique)
on how to use MS Word, instead of Photoshop, to add sentiments inside
of shapes for your cards.... even printing out on patterned paper! It's
really very easy and I had no idea Word could even do shapes...

I am Word 'challenged'! I actually need an instructional book on

MS Word for Dummies :)  Do they publish that? LOL!

Click HERE to watch on YouTube

Hope this helps you as much as it does me!

Painting with Starburst Stains

Arlene, one of the Lindy's Stamp Gang designers, shows how easy it is to paint with their shimmery Starburst stains! Oooo pretty, pretty!.... She includes a tutorial on an absolutely beautiful card she made using this technique. I've got several of these stains already, but of course none of them are the ones she uses, so.... I guess it's time to go shopping!

Watch on YouTube: HERE

Shop Lindy's Stamp Gang here!

Another Gel Card!

In this short video from Splitcoast Stampers, Beate shows another
"version" of a gel card... just some slight differences from Tresa's
gel card - shown here.

One difference is that this one has the image in 'water' - aka gel - on
paper behind the opening, instead of on the inside of the card. The
whole gel part is then attached to the front of the card base using
pop-up dots to accommodate the depth of the gel pack!

So now I have a couple choices on how to make these gel cards!
It just depends on what I want the inside of the card to look like!
Enjoy the tutorial:

Watch on YouTube: HERE

Make Gift Bows from Cardstock!

Linda Kaiser, from the Paper Boutique, shows how to make your own gift bows using cardstock! Don't you think any double-sided paper would work nicely for these bows? Or random-stamp on cardstock, even tone-on-tone, would make pretty ones.... or run the pieces through your embossing machine before assembling for a wonderful textured look! Aren't they gorgeous?



Think of all the scraps you could use up! And all the money you could save! Watch the tutorial video HERE

Vintage Ephemera Freebies!

I recently found a fairly new blog with wonderful vintage ephemera freebies:

After the Rain - on a 1900 Calendar

 

                                                                                               1909 Postcard

    

1927 Grandma Is Still Dancing by Corinne Boyd Dillon

used in a Feen-a-Mint Ad

            1897 Worcester Bicycle Ad

1930's Pocket Note Book

Check out ALL Bonnie's ephemera here at Collage Candy! 

Make Your Own Wobble Springs! Add Motion to Embellishments!

Linda Kaiser from The Paper Boutique shows us how to make our own wobble springs,
so we can add some wiggle to cards and scrapbook pages! I'm glad I have lots of very
thin wire that I can use to make these little springs. :)

Click HERE to watch on YouTube

Ooo-La-La!!... Fancy Paper Rosettes!

Thanks to Ms Pamela Thorn's post to check out these flowers, along

with the link to a blog I had not seen before, I found these absolutely

gorgeous paper accordian flower rosettes made by Beverly Tiemann!

(With her permission, I've posted a few here - thanks Bev!) As usual,

you can click on the photos to see them in more detail.

Beverly used the Martha Stewart spider

web punch on this one:

On this Sonoma one , she used a Fiskars

rotary blade called Squiggle!

And on the Mischief, Beverly used a Fiskars

decorative scissors and the center is layered

with Tim Holtz' sprocket gears and CTMH

spiral clip and brad!

Check out a 4th flower on a 'Button' in my sidebar, too!

See... I told you they were Ooo-la-la!

But, you don't have to take my word for it...

check them ALL out here. 
(just scroll down a little bit on that page)

Let's see... How many of those decorative scissors do I still have? I think I started with around 22 or 23 of them more than a decade ago! LOL! I know I've gotten rid of some over the years, but I still have probably half of them left. I wonder if I could make some rosettes as pretty as Beverly's?

I'm starting on my yearly Anniversary Cards (my fiscal year of Oct-Sep, lol) and I could definitely use these 'lovelies' for the embellishment! If I do, and they turn out OK, I'll post them!

Tutorial - a Square-Triangle Tri-Fold Card.... (an oxymoron??)

A square-triangle? "Isn't that an oxymoron?" you ask.
NO!.... not when we're talking about the Square-Triangle Tri-Fold card!
I even put a diamond on top...

This is my first tutorial, so I hope you like it. It's really pretty easy
to do. (You can click on each photo to enlarge it.)

For this particular card, I'm using the retired paper pack - Floral
Impressions - and cardstock in Amethyst, Olive, Grey Flannel and
White Daisy.

Now, on with the tutorial....

The Card Base:
The finished card must be a perfect square. For this tutorial, we'll be
making a 6x6 card. The card base needs to be three (3) times as
long as it is high, so we'll need to start with a piece of cardstock that
is 6" x 18"...

To achieve this, an entire 12x12 piece of cardstock is needed for the
base. Take cardstock and cut it in half, then score each half at the
6" mark..... like this:

Using a very strong adhesive (I used Provo Craft's Terrifically Tacky
Tape), glue one 6x6 section of one of the pieces to a 6x6 section of
the other piece, to end up with this:

Now score both outside sections diagonally in the same direction:

(I used my cutter and the embossing stylus to score)

(I just bent these scored marks to be able to see them better)

Now fold the scored 'triangles' like this:

(Oops! The card base in this photo is upside-down ---

I had just turned it over to use the bone folder

to crisp the folds.... sorry... turn it back over to continue!)

Then fold each side in, like this:

Use bone folder to crisp folds. The finished card base will look like this:

Make Your Focals:
The base of your 2 focals need to be exactly the same. You can make
them anything you like. I used my Cuttlebug and diamond-shaped
Nestabilities to create mine.

(you can see my focal bases 2 photos down!)

Time to put card together: 

Now cut 2 squares out of chosen patterned paper - one 5-1/2" x 5-1/2"

and one 5-5/8" x 5-5/8". (I cut my 5-1/2" square from the matching

Level 1 Kit I had - also retired, and the 5-5/8" square from the B&T
paper that matched from the Level 2 PP.)

Then cut the 5-5/8" square piece diagonally to form 2 triangles. Ink
all the edges of papers and card base if desired. Adhere to the triangle
sections of the card base. Next, adhere the 5-1/2" square in the
center of card base, as shown:

(see my focals now?... just not decorated yet!)

Now it's time to finish decorating the 2 focals, so we can add them to

the card! My sentiments are just printed in Word on my computer,

and popped-up with very thin (1/16th" thick) double-sided pop-up
foam dots for a little extra dimension. I edged the top diamond with
Lavender Flower Soft!

For the card to open and focals to be in the right direction, it's much
easier to close the right side of card first. Add middle focal by one
edge unto the folded triangle, leaving the bottom left side of focal
loose, like so:

(This is what it looks like open, after attaching the focal... see how the
focal is sideways? Very easy to get it glued down in the wrong

direction, if you don't close the side in first!)

Now close the left triangle over top of the middle focal. Attach front
focal piece. Only glue bottom left edge unto the triangle and make
sure that it's completely lined up over that middle focal, like this:

Now open it all up, and finish the center square.

I used Word again for my inside sentiment (not shown here), and

printed it out on cardstock. I cut it smaller, leaving enough space

on it for our signatures, and attached it on the

center square in the middle. Signed it, and...

Viola! All done!

Make a Wish - A Pop-Up Interactive Scrapbbok (Storybook) - by Tresa Black

CTMH's Winning Album!!! But I'm not surprised... Tresa is so Fabulously Artsy!
This album storybook is just wonderful, and so awe-inspring, that I'm glad to be finally
getting it posted to my blog to save for future reference. Enjoy!

Tresa - Thanks for all the inspiration you shower us with!

(if you'd like to visit her blog, click here)

CTMH - Base and Shade Stamping Technique

Create beautiful multi-colored images using the base and shade technique! This
really short video from CTMH shows this very easy stamping technique.



Click HERE to watch on YouTube.

See... that WAS really easy!

Many of CTMH stamp sets have these types of images to layer.

Techniques and Tutorials

Instead of having all the techniques and tutorials that are posted on my blog labeled
separately in the sidebar (as of today, Sept 1, it's 58 and counting!), I've decided to
put the links for them all in one place...
on their own PAGE!.

(And "58" doesn't include the Studio J and CTMH video tutorials! You can still find
those on the sidebar, under the "labels" section!)

Just click on the TAB at the top of my blog (just under "Paula's Space") that says
"Techniques & Tutorials". (Or just click the link here) Then look down the list and
click on the link to view that individual post. I have put them in catagories like
"Cards", "Flowers", "Stamping", etc., to easily find and access. Plus, each catagory
is alphabetized as well!...... (Help!... I think I'm OCD! lol!)

I think this will make it a lot more user-friendly for everyone.... including finding
them for myself!