I'm here!

No really, I am.

Things have been B-U-S-Y as you may have already guessed.

I'm so sorry to say that I am no longer working with the OCC team. It's still a great group of ladies doing some really awesome stuff in paper so I hope you'll still participate and have fun there. It just became too much for me to juggle single-momhood and a full time job while papercrafting for the OCC, blog and post every week.

Well, and there's been another thing taking my time too. And that leads me to something I'd like to share with you.

Its been more than a year in the making and I'm excited to be selling my papercrafting goodies at the Spanaway Lake High School Holiday Craft Fair coming up, November 3-4. If you are in the South Puget Sound, its one of the best craft fairs around. The show boasts all handmade items, lots to pick from and it's always hopin' with holiday excitement. I love to kick off the holidays by shopping but this year, I'll be on the other side of the table!

Here's a sneak peak at a few things I've been working on.

First up, a fairly large pillow box which has been decorated with one of my favorite holiday icons - HOLLY!

This one could probably fit a scarf, some large-ish jewelry or certainly a gift card. I love the lacy red accent on the outside edges.

And isn't that holly just sweet?

I'm in love with these little tiny "to" tags. I'm putting them on everything it seems.

Here's another pillow box, this time one that's a little smaller.

And a cute little sparkly snowflake finishes it off.

Here's another fun item I've been making in large quantities - a paper purse that holds a gift card.

See? Sweet too, huh?

There's that little snowflake again. Dainty, white and glittery. I love it!

If any of these have your attention, I'll be posting more of my featured items in a few days so check back. 

And if you are looking for something fun to do with your girlfriends, sister or mom, stop in at the SLHS craft fair and get your holiday season started! Stop in to say hi!

Holly

OCC: Denim Day

Hi all and happy Saturday to you!

This week at Our Creative Corner, Paula is hosting again and this time she's challenging us with denim!

I chose to try creating a faux denim stamping technique. And for the most part, I think it works. I really liked it when it was wet but when it dried, it was a little more filled in than I wanted. But I think all in all, with the way I used it, you get the picture.

After I had created my denim treatment and let it dry for a day, I cut a pocket from one of my pieces.

I had a flourish stamp that I used as the pocket detail. Its been embossed with white embossing powder. I also happened to have a stitch stamp that worked wonderfully for the pocket stitching. I just stamped it in white over the "denim" stamping.

A few different types of twine, a few buttons and a little tag, and I have a gift and a card all combined in one.

So use those old jeans you've been meaning to throw out, maybe the kids have a pair that's seen better days or try your own faux technique and play along with us this week. Just make sure to include three twines or ribbons and three buttons or brads to make sure you meet the challenge requirements. Take a look at what the other OCC designers have stitched together this week:

Linda Coughlin The Funkie Junkie

Sue Butler Scrumplescrunch

Anne Marie Hile Stampin' Anne

Wendy Janson It's All About Stamping

Marcy Kaminski En Papillote Arts

Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) Love, Life and Crafts

Meihsia Liu Simply Paper Crafts

Lori Rider The Diva Stamper

Sharon Wheet Designs by Sharon

Lisa Minckler You Made Me Ink

Kim Price Inkcognito

Paula McClane Scrap Addict's Attic

Liliana Inguanti Stampin' From Home

Chris Barnes Dot Dot Stamping Designs

Happy stamping, stitching and creating!

Holly

OCC: Bling Bling

Holy cow, its August! 

Today I'm looking forward to some fun in the sun because it is supposed to be a beautiful weekend here in the Pacific Northwest.

Considering that it is still summer, the kids haven't started school and the pumpkins are still just buds you're probably not thinking Christmas. But I am! I love Christmas and I am always up for some holiday projects.

This week's challenge from one of our new OCC designers, Paula, is asking for a little bling this week. As a part of the challenge, we're including a natural element. Enter this beautiful pyramid box with a glittered snowflake embellishment and mini circular tag.

I cut the two pieces of the snowflake from a Spellbinders die and inked the edges a little with some Tim Holtz Walnut Stain ink and then set them aside to dry a little.

Then I covered the snowflakes with a thin coat of glue, spreading it relatively thin with my finger. Then I threw the glued up pieces in a small Ziplock container filled with glitter. I like to keep my glitter in this little container and then toss my pieces around in it to coat them - it contains the mess a bit. Sometimes I just bury the glue side down and leave them in there to dry. This keeps the most glitter on the piece as possible. 

After about a day, I adhered the glittered pieces together with a small foam adhesive, looped some string through and added the small tag. The pyramid box came from a kit by K & Company called Christmas Cheer. I just assembled it according to the directions.

I love wrapping gifts like this. So unique, so unexpected, so simple. And glitter on a snowflake is just so...Christmas.

So have some fun with us this week. Combine a little bling and a little nature and see where it takes you! Get some inspiration from our OCC designers:

Linda Coughlin The Funkie Junkie

Sue Butler Scrumplescrunch

Anne Marie Hile Stampin' Anne

Wendy Janson It's All About Stamping

Marcy Kaminski En Papillote Arts

Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) Love, Life and Crafts

Meihsia Liu Simply Paper Crafts

Lori Rider The Diva Stamper

Sharon Wheet Designs by Sharon

Lisa Minckler You Made Me Ink

Kim Price Inkcognito

Paula McClane Scrap Addict's Attic

Liliana Inguanti Stampin' From Home

Chris Barnes Dot Dot Stamping Designs

Looking forward to what you cook up this week!

Holly

OCC: Color Challenge

Happy Saturday to you all!

Quick post this week. Our challenge is hosted by Lori Rider this week and its a color challenge! 

Here's the inspiration for this wild set of colors from Lori's post on the OCC blog:

I wish I could have squeezed more lime into my design but the paper I had didn't have any pink in it so I had to find a way to pull in the pink.

So if you have a wild hair, join us this week and design a papercraft that includes all five colors. To get inspired and motivated, take a look at the other OCC team projects:

Linda Coughlin The Funkie Junkie

Sue Butler Scrumplescrunch

Anne Marie Hile Stampin' Anne

Wendy Janson It's All About Stamping

Marcy Kaminski En Papillote Arts

Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) Love, Life and Crafts

Meihsia Liu Simply Paper Crafts

Lori Rider The Diva Stamper

Sharon Wheet Designs by Sharon

and while you're out and about, say hello to our new team members:

Lisa Minckler You Made Me Ink

Kim Price Inkcognito

Paula McClane Scrap Addict's Attic

Liliana Inguanti Stampin' From Home

Chris Barnes Dot Dot Stamping Designs

As you may have noticed, four of our OCC designers are moving onto other papercrafting pursuits and leaving our team. Thanks, ladies for your contributions and I wish you all the best in the months and years to come!

Vicki Burdick

Anita Houston

Tui Nathan

Kristin Tierney

I'm excited to see what your color challenge creations look like!

Holly

OCC: Card Makeover!

Hi Friends!

In my job as a marketing manager, one of the things I do very often is challenge the graphic designers who work on my team to improve their skills. Most of the time, their growing relies on trying something new. But sometimes it comes in reworking something done previously using new techniques, freshly re-honed skills and a wider scope of inspiration. And that's what I like about the Our Creative Corner challenges as well. Sometimes we just need to start with something we did in an earlier time and see how we might improve on it.

This week at Our Creative Corner, we're doing just that. Our host, Lori Rider, was inspired by TV makeovers and has adapted the makeover concept for this week's challenge. As she puts it, "When I look back on those cards I made when I first started stamping, I cringe... what was I thinking?" 

My hobby only started a few years ago, so I have a lot of material to draw on! First, here's the "new" card - the one I've created for this challenge:

and here's the card I made in September of 2011 (insert "yikes" here):

I took the layout, rotated it 90° and kept the light blue/pink color scheme.

I distressed all the paper pieces, adhered the ribbon and bow and then added a few BoBunny chipboard butterflies with some glitter and WOW what an improvement. Don't you think?

I hope you're inspired enough to get working on a project and submit it to this week's challenge. Take a look at what the other OCC designers have put together for us this week:

Linda Coughlin The Funkie Junkie

Vicki Burdick It's a Stamp Thing

Sue Butler Scrumplescrunch

Anita Houston The Artful Maven Haven

Anne Marie Hile Stampin' Anne

Wendy Janson It's All About Stamping

Marcy Kaminski En Papillote Arts

Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) Love, Life and Crafts

Meihsia Liu Simply Paper Crafts

Tui Nathan Stampin Time

Lori Rider The Diva Stamper

Kristin Tierney Lilly Beth Boutique

Sharon Wheet Designs by Sharon

To play along with this challenge, you'll have to do a little bit o' homework. Hunt through your photos and find one of those old cringe-worthy cards – but then choose one or two things about it that you do like and use those elements on a new card. Think of it as CASEing yourself. Maybe you keep the layout, the colors, a technique you used... anything is fair game. You have to show us the old card so we can see how far you’ve come!

A Reminder About Posting:

We ask that you read the challenge requirements carefully and not submit work that does not fit our challenge.  Any submissions that do not follow the challenge requirements will be removed.  

We do require that your project be a new project and not back-linked to a project made before this challenge started. Please be sure you link back to the OCC blog post in order to be eligible for our Top Talent award.  This challenge closes at 11:59 p.m.Eastern Time on July 27th.

I can't wait to see what you chose and how much better you were able to pull it off!

Holly

OCC: Blue, Red and Pink

Hi Paper Crafting Friends!

Lots of fun stuff happening at Our Creative Corner. First let me say welcome to a few new team members who will be starting their place on the team in a few weeks:

Lisa Minckler - You Made Me Ink

Kim Price - Inkcognito

Paula McClane - Scrap Addict's Attic

Liliana Inguanti - Stampin' From Home

Chris Barnes - Dot Dot Stamping Designs

I can't wait to see what they add to our challenges each week!

Now onto this week's challenge. Today, Sharon is throwing a color challenge your way with Navy Blue, Red and one additional color of your choice (not including neutrals). To give a little inspiration, take a look a this: 

And for a little more inspiration, a quote:
"I'd rather be doing nothing with you than something with anyone else."

This week I'm showcasing a project with blue, pink and red. 

I cut strips in 1" pieces and adhered them to a thin piece of paper at an angle. Then I trimmed them to 4.5" x 4.5" to fit on my 5" x 5" white card base.

Then I stamped the sentiment on a piece of white card stock, trimmed one corner with the little banner angles and adhered it to the card with some foam adhesive dots. Truth be told, I did have a little floofy ribbon embellishment to add but it looked a little out of place so I decided to leave it off. 

I hope you're inspired enough to get working on a project and submit it to this week's challenge. Take a look at what the other OCC designers have put together for us this week:

Linda Coughlin The Funkie Junkie

Vicki Burdick It's a Stamp Thing

Sue Butler Scrumplescrunch

Anita Houston The Artful Maven Haven

Anne Marie Hile Stampin' Anne

Wendy Janson It's All About Stamping

Marcy Kaminski En Papillote Arts

Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) Love, Life and Crafts

Meihsia Liu Simply Paper Crafts

Tui Nathan Stampin Time

Lori Rider The Diva Stamper

Kristin Tierney Lilly Beth Boutique

Sharon Wheet Designs by Sharon

A Reminder About Posting:

We ask that you read the challenge requirements carefully and not submit work that does not fit our challenge.  Any submissions that do not follow the challenge requirements will be removed.  

We do require that your project be a new project and not back-linked to a project made before this challenge started. Please be sure you link back to the OCC blog post in order to be eligible for our Top Talent award.  This challenge closes at 11:59 p.m.Eastern Time on July 20th.

And for this challenge, please make sure to post in your blog which color you chose to add to the challenge.

I can't wait to see your talent!

Holly

OCC: Papercrafting for a Party

Hi Friends!

Summer is here! The birds are chirping, the sun is (finally) shining in Washington and its the perfect time for parties of all types. This week on Our Creative Corner, we're working on things for the perfect soiree. I've put together a little favor for a housewarming party - a little clear plastic bottle filled with individually wrapped Lifesavers.

I started by wrapping a strip of red Bazzil textured card stock around a clear Making Memories bottle.

 After cutting out a section of a small paper doily, I folded it several times to make it smaller and put it behind the little brown flowery scalloped circle.

 Then I added the die cut house stamped with a sentiment that just fit that small space perfectly. A little brown and white baker's twine and an orangy-pinkish brad top it off.

Do you have any special events coming up this summer that you could papercraft something for? It could be as simple as an invitation, a nice favor or a hostess gift. Stretch yourself a little and think about how you might jump in on this week's challenge and then get to it! To get your creative juices running, take a look at what our OCC designers came up with this week!


One quick note, please, please, please remember that the whole purpose of our blog is to challenge you so please read each challenge carefully to make sure your entry lines up with what we're asking for. It breaks my heart to see entries from people who didn't pay attention to the challenge criteria and have to be removed from playing because of that.

Linda Coughlin The Funkie Junkie

Vicki Burdick It's a Stamp Thing

Sue Butler Scrumplescrunch

Anita Houston The Artful Maven Haven

Anne Marie Hile Stampin' Anne

Wendy Janson It's All About Stamping

Marcy Kaminski En Papillote Arts

Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) Love, Life and Crafts

Meihsia Liu Simply Paper Crafts

Tui Nathan Stampin Time

Lori Rider The Diva Stamper

Kristin Tierney Lilly Beth Boutique
Sharon Wheet Designs by Sharon

Have a great week and stay cool!

Holly

OCC: Bakin' Beauties

I just can't believe it's the day before July and the summer Olympics are just a few weeks away! I'm not particularly glued to the tv during the games but I do love to hear the stories, see the perseverance and root good ol' America on! Go Team USA!

This week, Kristen is following up her anniversary challenge with another fun one she's called "Bakin' Beauties". (Makes ya smile, doesn't it?). The theme this week is to use something from your baking cabinet in your project - food coloring, baking papers, foil, sprinkles, even flour or sugar! I tried the food coloring but here's something I learned. Red food coloring on white card stock looks like someone cut their finger and bled all over your card. Not good. So I swiftly ditched that idea and moved to my little mini cupcake papers from Martha Stewart. I just love these dainty little pink and dark pink scalloped cuties.

The funny thing about these papers - I bought them just for paper crafting. They haven't seen my kitchen! (They're just too cute!) I decided on a tag this week. This paper from BoBunny is so fun and summery and goes well with the colors of my paper flowers made from the cupcake liners.

After I cut the bottom off the papers, I cut in at each scallop so the flower "petals" could spread out a bit. The fun thing about these kind of flowers, the more you smoosh them, the better. I ended up making a smaller flower from the light pink and just glued it into the center of the larger one.

 For a little asymmetry, I added a little shoot of some white tulle ribbon. I think its a phase. I've been adding it to everything lately.

So take a peak in your kitchen, find something to test your paper making skills with this challenge. To get your mind baking with ideas, take a look at what the other DT members have constructed:

Linda Coughlin The Funkie Junkie

Vicki Burdick It's a Stamp Thing

Sue Butler Scrumplescrunch

Anita Houston The Artful Maven Haven

Anne Marie Hile Stampin' Anne

Wendy Janson It's All About Stamping

Marcy Kaminski En Papillote Arts

Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) Love, Life and Crafts

Meihsia Liu Simply Paper Crafts

Tui Nathan Stampin Time

Lori Rider The Diva Stamper

Kristin Tierney Lilly Beth Boutique

Sharon Wheet Designs by Sharon 

And while you're getting crafty, don't forget to catch some of the Olympics. Maybe there will be some inspiration there for you too!

Holly

OCC: Time for Tim!

Happy Saturday!

I hope you have some relaxing/exciting/fun/productive things lined up - whatever it is that makes you happy.

This week, our fearless OCC leader, Linda has an interesting challenge for us - to use a Tim Holtz technique in your paper crafting this week! Don't be fooled! Tim's techniques aren't just for the mixed media, eclectic, grungy style that you might think of initially. These techniques can be used for any type of papercrafting.

I use some of his techniques often and have watched several videos. (Admittedly, I spent some time at Jo-Ann's cruising through his book "A Compendium of Curiosities" and found some new and interesting approaches I'll have to test out on my own). 

The one thing to keep in mind about these techniques - they take some practice and some tinkering. You will probably not get it the way you see it in your head the first time. But that's ok! That's part of the fun of papercrafting. Enjoy the journey!

I'm going to share a step-by-step of how I made this card using a paint resist technique.

First I gathered up my stamps, ink, paper and  paint. I did test my colors on a test sheet to see how they blended together because I wanted to be sure I liked them all together before I got going.

I trimmed a piece of white cardstock to 5" x 3.75". Then taking the paint dabber,  I covered my large peony stamp. The paint dabbers by Ranger are perfect for getting stamps inked up - no mess with even coverage and not a lot of waste.

Immediately after I stamped my image, I took my stamp to the bathroom and ran it under water while running a foam brush over it. One thing about paint - you want to get it off your stamp as soon as possible otherwise it will dry in all the little crevices and will make it hard to stamp good clean crisp images in the future.

After the stamp was clean, I ran my heat gun over the stamped image to get the paint dried completely.

When it was completely dry, I got to inking. I started with the darkest color in the lower right hand corner.

Then I layered with the medium shade moving up and to the left.

And then the lightest color in the upper left hand corner.

To blend the color even more, I lightly sprayed some water over the top of the whole thing. Since I didn't use watercolor paper, I had to make sure I didn't add to much as to keep the paper from getting bubbly and warped. This mini mister from Ranger is perfect for these little misting techniques.

Then I broke out the heat gun again.

I decided at the last minute my sentiment was too long so I cut it apart so I could stack the words. The picture shows them together but I ended up stamping the THANK and then the YOU afterward so I could have more control over the spacing.

One thing I like to do when I stitch cards is to leave the ends sticking out a little. I just like how it looks.

And the way the Pearl metallic paint picks up some of the ink is just beautiful. I love this technique - especially with the pearl paint. 

So watch some Tim Holtz videos, visit his website, peruse his books, check out some of his product at your local craft store. There's a lot there to try. And remember, trying some of these techniques is some of the fun. Don't get frustrated with it if it doesn't come out how you want it to the first time. 

Get inspired! Check out what the rest of the OCC team has worked on:

Linda Coughlin The Funkie Junkie

Vicki Burdick It's a Stamp Thing

Sue Butler Scrumplescrunch

Anita Houston The Artful Maven Haven

Anne Marie Hile Stampin' Anne

Wendy Janson It's All About Stamping

Marcy Kaminski En Papillote Arts

Irena Kowalczyk (aka Rudlis) Love, Life and Crafts

Meihsia Liu Simply Paper Crafts

Tui Nathan Stampin Time

Lori Rider The Diva Stamper

Kristin Tierney Lilly Beth Boutique

Sharon Wheet Designs by Sharon 

I hope you really challenge yourself this week and play along!

Holly