IOU...

...a post about myrtle beach...but i haven't finished editing pics yet. i wish i had a stunning new card or completed crafty project...but nooooooo...i've got none o' those, either. all i have for you today is a second-hand cheezburger. but it's a GOOD ONE!

see??! told ya!

new stuff soon.

hopefully.

wellllll...soonish.

happy almost-july, darlings!!!

ps: are any other blogger-users having trouble getting stuff to AUTOPOST??! because i am...not all the time... (which is what's so puzzling!) ...but often enough that it's really starting to bug me! i set up a post the night before, it reads "scheduled" in my post list, then the next day, it doesn't post on its own, but when i open it and press "publish" it's FINE! (and yes, i've checked my time zone, it's set to eastern USA, which i am.) any thoughts??! enneebuddee????! :)

get yer souvenirs, here!

so you bring home little presents from vacation: silly things like bookmarks...and those little souvenir cloisonne pins...and then what? just hand them unceremoniously over to the recipients? bit of a let down, especially if you are a devotee of cool giftwrapping such as myself.

usually i save the little bags from shops and pretty them up a bit, but this time there weren't any. i thought about making teeeeeeeeny tiiiiiiiiiiiny shopping bags. then it hit me: i had a brand new set of fancy pillow box patterns from the cutting cafe which i had never even used--time to break those babies out!

the most brilliant thing about these is the fact that they aren't templates, they're print-n-cut patterns. what's the difference? instead of having one example which you have to trace and measure and follow a number of times, you just print out as many full-sized patterns as you need, glue them to the back of your desired paper or cardstock, and cut & score on the right lines. i knocked out three of those babies in about 20 minutes.

i used pages from a south carolina travel brochure book which came free from the tourist bureau (reinforced with index stock) for the boxes and scraps of patterned paper for the fancy frames. i printed "greetings from south carolina" over & over on an inkjet transparency and cut it to fit the windows.

i also had some slightly bigger gifts (pralines, as a matter of fact) for other folk. i used the leftover bits of transparencies and a k&co chipboard label to make larger frames to decorate small plain giftbags from michaels.

...but somehow...they just needed one more thing. i was going to make my usual grunge flowers, when the lovely and quite prescient stephanie sent me a link to these fabulous flowers made from catalog pages! i made a rather less complicated version than the gorgeous blooms in the example (for example i used a lot fewer layers...and there was NO modge podge involved!) but i think they came out really well and i'm so pleased to have a truly unique way of presenting gifts from our trip!

(materials used: pillowbox pattern from the cutting cafe; 5 or 6 pages from a south carolina travel book; scraps of junkitz & imagination project patterned paper, plus a bit of blue suede paper packaging from...somewhere... inkjet transparency formatted in roughstone font using broderbund printshop; epoxy circles from michaels $ spot; prima glass pebbles; making memories brads; ek success circle punches; colorbox inks; zig pen; adhesives: uhu gluestick, gluedots & tombow monoadhesive runner)

look what followed me home...can we keep him??!

shhhhhhhhhhh...don't startle him...

...but if we're very quiet...and a bit patient...

...maybe we can get this little guy to turn around and say hi...

HOORAY!!!

ok, technically he didn't follow me home. in fact, i brought him along on vacation... (at that point he was a head with 2/3 of a trunk) ...and much to the bemusement of LHJ's family i proceeded to make, stuff and attach ears, feet and a tail over the course of our week in myrtle beach. it's been pointed out to me...more than once...by more than one family member...that said amigurumi elephant doesn't have a *BODY*...he's basically a head with legs on. to which i say, respectfully, and in the nicest possible way,

"PFFFFFFFFFFFT!"

actually, once he was entirely assembled, said crochet-based pachaderm was universally adored by all, and i began to have a few small worries that he wouldn't make it home without being elephant-napped. luckily, we had a safe trip, and now he getting ready to pack his trunk and go to live with baby isabel and her minions. it's a bit sad, really, but i shall have the consolation of visiting often to check on his progress.

anyone know where i can find a pattern for crocheted peanuts??!

those of you interested in these sorts of things, the amigurumi elephant pattern was free from lion brand yarn and can be found here. the yarn is lion brand's wool ease, available everywhere, including michaels.

POD: cherish memories

this is the card that took me the longest to make for our special CAARDVARKS purple onion designs gallery. it took about a week. ok, i was not actively working on it the entire time. in fact, in active time, i probably only spent 45 minutes or so.

this happens to me a lot, actually: i start making a card, in this case i was playing with this great line of little arched windows (POD calls them "scallops") i stamped & embossed several times and colored them in various ways and finally came up with the little panel at the center of this card. i loved it, but how could i make it into a card??!

at times like these, i always remember the advice we were given for taking tests in grade school: if you're stuck, move on to something else and come back. so i put the pretty panel off to the side of my worktable, and made other stuff, intermittently coming back and trying the kraft & aqua with various papers and embellishments. i came up with some interesting combinations, but nothing really "clicked"...until quite by chance i happened to see a discarded piece of prima angelique paper sitting next to the panel. then i found the heidi swapp "diamond drama" rub-ons (while looking for something else!) --et voila--i was stuck no more! the rest of the card came together in about 10 minutes!

(rubber stamp: purple onion designs; patterned paper: prima, hambly, hobby lobby kraft cardstock; black glossy cardstock: ranger; florals & gem flourish: prima; chipboard border sticker: my mind's eye; rub-ons: heidi swapp, basic grey; fancy brad: marah johnson, creative imaginations; ink & embossing powder: psx; markers: tombow; ribbon: michaels; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner)

ok, so i know what you're thinking. you're thinking, "silly, silly lauren! you could have made something perfectly nice on the very first day and *saved* a week!" and you're absolutely correct. but that's not really my point. my point is that you can MAKE STUFF HAPPEN or you can LET STUFF HAPPEN...both are good ways to accomplish a creative goal, but i kind of like the latter, because it often leads somewhere i would not have thought to go on my own. if i my deadline had been closer...sure...i'd've mounted the panel right away (probably on solid black or one of the many b&w prints i considered) and embellished it and called it a day. since i had extra time, i elected to set it aside and hope for an unexpected "epiphany"...which rather wonderfully did eventually decide to show up and surprise me.

dontcha just love it when that happens??! yeah, me too. here endeth the latest lesson.

♥ happy creativity, darlings! ♥

POD: birthday cake

today's card for the CAARDVARKS special design team gallery featuring fabulous rubber stamps from purple onion designs uses only one stamp...but it's my favorite: the vintage ornate frame can be had on its own, or as part of the flea market set. either way, it's gorgeous and sooooooo versatile. when we were very generously allowed to select our own stamps for this challenge, it was the first one i chose! here i've embossed it in white on a piece of patterned paper which already had a white curly-swirly design. because you just cannot *ever* have too many flourishes, imo!!! :)

(rubber stamp: purple onion designs; patterned paper: basic grey & the new adrienne looman line for prima; white glossy cardstock: ranger; blingy dimensional chipboard cake sticker: k&co; chipboard word: ek success; corner punch: all night media; extra stick-on gems: michaels; inks: colorbox; embossing ink & powder: psx; adhesives: tombow monoadhesive runner, judikins diamond glaze)

POD: congratulations

today's card for the CAARDVARKS special design team gallery featuring fabulous rubber stamps from purple onion designs is for our eldest nephew, richard, (aka "RJ") who's just graduated from the police academy. (which is REALLY freaking me out, b/c when LHJ and i got married, he was the age young matthew is now...how can he POSSIBLY be old enough??!?!?)

believe it or not, i used *three* stamps on this card--can you see them? look closely...ok, down a bit...check out that line of tickets! contrary to my usual status as a "technique free zone" i have actually MASKED and stamped more than once in the same area: first the ticket outlines, then the dandelions, then the text. (go, me!) ok, it's sort of a subtle effect, but i really love how that border element came out. i like the whole card, actually, though i freely admit it's a bit odd; at least i can be sure that RJ will not receive *two* of these, eh??! :)

(POD stamps: vintage blank ticket , dandelion from the blossoms set, music definition from the humanities set; patterned paper: a page from an old phone book plus a scrap of pale green that i think is fancy pants; 8" cardstock ring sticker: memories complete; letter stickers: basic grey; birds rub-on: hambly; chipboard stars: ek success; inks: colorbox, ranger; other: paternayan persian needlepoint yarn; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner...something i have only just realized as i write this: there is NO FOAM TAPE on this card...i think that maybe a first...and probably also a last!!!) :)

ps: hello darlings!!! yes, we're back and today we return to work...so it's sort of a super-monday for us... (i mean "super" like "supersized" rather than like "superfantastic", as i'm sure you'll've realized!) ...i have a couple more POD cards autoposted and then later this week i'll show pics from the trip...a little project i finished whilst travelling...and a cool way to present travel souvenirs!

POD: (musical) note card

being as how you really could not see the gorgeous purple onion designs "rouge & noir musical clip" stamp properly in yesterday's card, i really had to make another one that better featured it. this time i stamped the whole thing... (on some inked & distressed notebook paper on which i lightly stamped a POD music definition stamp) ...and then i covered the title and stamped just the notes a second time to make a longer piece of music to fit my card. i used the notes again to enhance some fun handcut flower shapes, and made little cardstock "buttons" (using circle punches & a tiny hole punch) for the centers.

(rubber stamps: purple onion designs; patterned paper: sei, basic grey, adrienne looman for prima; kraft cardstock: hobby lobby; kraft tag: k&co; circle punches: marvy, ek success; inks: ranger, colorbox; pen: zig; other: needlepoint yarn; adhesives: uhu gluestick, xyron, 3m foam tape)

sorry, i don't do windows!

well, not usually. but i think i'm going to have to make an exception for the current CAARDVARKS challenge, because this time we're making window cards! oh, and did i mention we also have a very special design team gallery? yepper, the lovely and amazing folks at purple onion designs graciously supplied m'colleagues and m'self with some of their completely magnificent unmounted rubber and we went to town!!!

here is my window card, and please let me apologize in advance for the photo, it is BY FAR the best of the many, mannnnnnnnnny i took...and it's still really rotten. what can i say? i am soooooooo not a photographer...and window cards are HARD to capture, anyway. but here ya go:

(stamps: purple onion designs; patterned paper: basic grey, ki, iod; border sticker: basic grey; gem flourish: prima; rub-on: my mind's eye; inks: ranger, psx, colorbox; pen: micron pigma; other: vintage postage stamps, psx embossing powder)

i've used *THREE* purple onion stamps on this thing...can you see 'em? ok, i know you've spotted the gorgeous vintage ornate frame, but do you see the antique ledger background? you know how i love ledger and graph patterned papers, so of course i was thrilled to find a nice big stamp to make my own! i've stamped it a couple of times in distress ink on basic grey background, to get a nice faded look. you could totally be forgiven for overlooking the rouge et noir music clip...i've used it rather untraditionally, as a sort of distressing element, by stamping lightly (a wholllllllle bunch of times) all around the edges of the card. i LOVE the effect and i cannot wait to see what other stamps i can use in a similar way!

be sure to head over to CAARDVARKS to see the design team's even more than usually stellar work, and read the full details of the challenge and prize, and don't forget to check out our flickr group to see the expanded gallery of purple onion beauteousness!

the view from here:

is rather nice, actually!

we are having an *AMAZINGLY* great, lazy, beachy, wonderful time! we do not have constant/reliable internet access. we are surprisingly unconcerned by this. we are considering applying to the north myrtle beach chamber of commerce for the positions of executive beach bums #1 and #2. we are confident we can ACE the interview with our superior lazy sprawling skills!

(i have autoposted my cards for the new CAARDVARKS challenge which starts on saturday, do be sure to check in then b/c the DT have waaaaaaaaaay rocked the casbah!!!)

life's a beach!!!

myrtle beach, south carolina, to be specific.

for a whole entire week.

this week, actually.

and for the first time in two years, i've decided not to blog as i go. for one thing, i'm not sure how much internet we will have...for another (ARRRGH!) the laptop has been acting a bit freaky... (though i think* i have it fixed now!) and for a third thing, i'm wondering if i even know HOW to live internet-less for a week...which i feel is a bit of a sign of hardcore dependency...so i think a little "unplugging" is in order.

as i write this, i owe everyone in the universe--with the exception of the dalai lama and bruce willis--an email; and don't even get me started on the subject of my recent performance with regard to blog-visiting!!! ...but...und ziss iss a beeeeeeeg "but"...it ain't gonna happen this week. sorry, folks! however, upon my return i promise, i shall be a wholly reformed character!**

happy vacation, darlings!!!

*if your windows-based computer wants to download "service pack 3" consider taking the following steps FIRST:

1. make sure you've done everything computery you need to do for the next few days

2. back up EVERY SINGLE FILE. every. single. file.

3. download the instructions for un-installing it (in case of the ludicrously absurd scenario that it somehow DOESN'T WORK & refuses to let you start up windows ever again!)

4. refill your antidepressant prescriptions

5. go to church and make a novena

6. boff yourself repeatedly on the head until unconsciousness ensues

7. repeat steps 1-6 as many times as necessary

(not that i think you will have trouble or anything...so sirree bob! i mean hey, if you can't trust those adorably sweet & fluffy folks at microsoft, by golly, WHO CAN YOU TRUST??!??!)

**WHAT??!??! it could happen. no, seriously. why are you laughing in that funny way and snorting coffee out of your nose??!

52Q: 21

here's another 52Q. this one was a goodie, too: fun to think about, fun to make, and i got to use a bunch of teeny silly stickers that i have no idea where they came from or why i've held on to them, except i think they are hilarious. oof...and actually...i guess it turns out I DID USE THEM...so maybe it wasn't so silly afterall! :)

question 20: if you had a free day with NO restrictions...what would you choose to do?

(materials, front: bit of a subway map; frances meyer & mrs. grossman stickers; dymo labels (trimmed--a bit wonkily--for a different look and also to fit better); colorbox ink; materials, back: bit of a different map; ice cream & empire state bldg. cut from a magazine; fortune from a cookie; visitor's badge from the metropolitan museum of art; cavallini, hello kitty & mrs. grossman stickers)

since we're lucky enough to live only 90 minutes outside of manhattan, i almost always choose to spend a "free day" in the city. i go to a museum...or two... (the met is my all-time fave, but in nyc you're spoilt for choice!) ...i have a nice lunch...i walk around and take pictures...and generally just soak up the vibe! truth be told the "free" part of a free day is nearly as exciting as the "city" part...but the city part is quite nice, also! which reminds me...i haven't had a free day in far too long...hmmmmmmmmmm...

hoppy days are here again!

around christmas time, when i was sorting through my sticker stash, i came across a couple of sheets of girl-themed memories complete circle stickers that i must've bought......well let's just say i must've bought them long enough ago that i have no idea when that would've been. or where. or what i intended to do with them. :)



a lot of times when i find very old product that i still haven't used my reaction is, "hmmmmmmmm...wonder what i was thinking THAT DAY??!" but these still looked good to me and started me off on a little mini-fad of making round cards. and then, last week, a found a sheet of the same stickers, but with a boy theme. and the mini-fad returned.

see??!

(patterned paper: basic grey, scenic route, american crafts, ki; ring sticker: memories complete; bling sticker: heidi swapp; alphas: making memories, doodlebug; adhesives: tombow monoadhesive runner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

yes, it's a birthday greeting for my young friend carlos (isabel's big brother) who's just turned two. i am happy to report that he enjoyed his card quite a bit, which he let me know by pointing to the frog and saying, "FWOG!" a number of times and making quite a creditable ribbetty noise. what more can a cardmaker ask for, eh??! ♥

very possibly no one else...

...will find this funny. which is fine. trust me, *I* find it funny enough for all of us! and it's my blog. so there.


i hasten to say, sadly, this is not my caption, it's just one i saw on i can has cheezburger the other day and over which i am still chuckling intermittently. so if you're driving to work in new jersey today, and you see a woman in a black impreza laughing at--seemingly--nothing...do be sure to wave...that'll be me! :)

ddedwydd Dydd Mercher, anwyliaid!*

*which according to inter-tran is welsh for, "happy wednesday, darlings!"

inside matthew's book (part two)

does anyone else feel like it's nearly taken longer for me to tell you about my club scrap wired book project than it did for nephew matthew to experience the 20 months covered in the photos? luckily he's a rather handsome young lad, and i, for one, *NEVER* get tired of looking at that sweet face!

in any case, here are the rest of the pages of his book, which i made for the the current CAARDVARKS 3-D challenge, depth perception. the cute poem came from this site; (no author was listed, but if anyone knows, let me know; i'm happy to give credit!) the font used throughout is called "fishbowl" and was free on an internet font site. (sorry, i don't remember offhand which one.)

Little Boys

Little boys come in all shapes and sizes,
Shy and adventurous, full of surprises,
With misshapen halos and mischievous grins,
Small dirty faces, and sweet, sticky chins.
They'll keep you so busy, and yet all the while
Nothing can brighten the world like their smile.
And no greater treasure has brought homes more joy
Than a curious, active, and lovable boy!

matthew on his first birthday, september 2008

(patterned paper: basic grey, sei ki, cardstock frame sticker: sassafras; rhinestone star: mambi; other: colorbox inks, zig pen; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

matthew and daddy, october 2008

(patterned paper: fancy pants. basic grey, creative imaginations, sei; cardstock arrow: basic grey; circle elements: sei epoxy, heidi swapp ghost clock, imagination project coaster ring; other: colorbox inks, zig pen; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

matthew and mommy, xmas 2008

(patterned paper: basic grey, american crafts; epoxy sticker: love elsie; plastic flourish sticker: sandylion; other: colorbox inks, zig pen; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

matthew and nana (my mother) easter 2009

(patterned paper: bampop, prima, sassafras, creative imaginations; mouse sticker: sandylion; other: colorbox inks, zig pen; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

matthew climbing up on something he was specifically told not to climb, may 2009

(patterned paper: creative imaginations, sei, sassafras; cardstock photo corners: ki; arrow sticker: kelly pannacci; rhinestone corners: cut from a heidi swapp square frame; other: colorbox inks, zig pen; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

matthew playing with one of big sister maddie's toys, may 2009

(patterned paper: basic grey, creative imaginations, ki, sassafras; epoxy tickers: love elsie; chipboard heart: heidi swapp; dimensional border sticker: provocraft; other: colorbox inks, zig pen; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

eta on tuesday 6-9: many thanks to CHERYL for pointing out my un-noticed spelling error in "brought"!!! luckily, with such simple page design, it should be easy enough to print out another copy of that photo and replace the embellishments. i am *very* happy to have caught this error BEFORE presenting the book to matthew and his mama! ♥

inside matthew's book (part one)

ok, so yesterday i showed you the outside of the club scrap wired book project i made for nephew matthew as part of the current CAARDVARKS 3-D challenge, depth perception. today, let's take a peek inside. (since there are 12 pages of big honkin' photos, i'm going to split this over two days, lest we all get carpal tunnel from scrolling ever downwards!)

matthew on his first birthday, september 2008

(patterned paper: sassafras, imagination project; metallic name sticker: mambi; decorative cloth tape: imagination project; ribbon: michaels; other: colorbox inks, zig pen; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape; see closeup below for circle ingredients)

when i started choosing photos for the book, i realized that i had a few really excellent shots from all different occasions over the last 20 months, and i thought it would be fun to put them all together in a sort of *favorites* album. rather than do traditional/specific journaling for each one, i found a cute little poem on this site, and used it as a framework to tie everything together.

Little Boys

Little boys come in all shapes and sizes,

Shy and adventurous, full of surprises,

With misshapen halos and mischievous grins,

Small dirty faces, and sweet, sticky chins.

They'll keep you so busy, and yet all the while

Nothing can brighten the world like their smile.

And no greater treasure has brought homes more joy

Than a curious, active, and lovable boy!

since the book itself is so very colorful, i used b&w photos, which i photoshopped a bit and framed before printing out. for additional consistency, i also matted every picture on black patterned paper, inked the edges of every page and every bit of patterned paper in black, and outlined and or doodled on most of my patterned paper. i tried to keep my pages quite flat (always a challenge for me!) so i mostly stuck with strips or elements cut from patterned paper, with a just few embellishments here and there.

before i show the pages, here is a closeup of the circle embellishment from the front cover, by special request of miss stephanie! i didn't happen to have a pre-made embellie i loved, so i just took bunch of small circle elements and layered them on top of each other. i think it's pretty...as the button says...fun! :)

(stacked circles, from center out: love, elsie epoxy sticker; scrapworks metal concho; provocraft cardstock bullseye sticker; heidi swapp ghost clock; imagination project coaster ring)

and now the pages:

matthew on the day he was born, september 2007

(patterned paper: basic grey, creative imaginations, sei, cosmo cricket; decorative paperclip: tingaling; cardstock bracket stickers: kelly pannacci; rhinestone heart: mambi; plastic flourish sticker: sandylion; other: colorbox inks, zig pen; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

matthew a week old, with daddy and big sister madeline, september 2007

(patterned paper: basic grey, creative imaginations, frances meyer, bampop; other: colorbox inks, zig pen; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

matthew and mommy (my sister, amie) october 2007

(patterned paper: basic grey, creative imaginations, sei, sassafras, bampop; dimensional foam & fabric heart sticker: american crafts; rub-on hearts: love elsie; other: colorbox inks, zig pen; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

matthew's first christmas, 2007

(patterned paper: basic grey, creative imaginations, sassafras; cardstock arrow sticker: kelly pannacci; other: colorbox inks, zig pen; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

matthew on christening day with godfather bill (my brother) june 2008

(patterned paper: ki, creative imaginations, sei, scenic route; cardstock dimensional sticker: provocraft; other: colorbox inks, zig pen; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

matthew with mommy daddy and cousin lindsay in nana's pool, summer 2008

(patterned paper: bampop, creative imaginations; rub-on: autumn leaves; other: colorbox inks, zig pen; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner, uhu gluestick, 3m foam tape)

i'll be back tomorrow with the final installment in the matthew trilogy! in the meantime, be sure to check out the DT projects over at CAARDVARKS...and think about what *YOU* will make for a shot at scoring all that fabulous club scrap loot that's up for grabs!

CAARDVARKS: now in ***3-D***

that's right, we're doing something slightly different this time at CAARDVARKS. the current challenge, sponsored by club scrap, is to make a new 3-D papercrafting project of your choice and submit it by midnight, june 17th. i know what you're thinking. you're thinking, "hey lauren! that sounds like it'd be a bit more work than the usual cards we make for a 'varks challenge." and you're quite right...which is why the prize is a bit more fabulous than usual, too! check out the full details on the loot, the submission procedure, and other essentials over at CAARDVARKS. while you're there be sure and feast your eyes on the amazing array of DT projects, all courtesy of club scrap!

i made the CS wired book project. since it was a pretty large undertaking, and resulted in twelve pages of photos & embellishments, i figure the best thing to do is show you the cover & talk about the method today, and then spread the inside pages (with materials, etc) over the next couple of days. so let's get started, eh?

club scrap provides literally every thing you will need to complete a project from start to finish, with the exception of adhesive. for books, they recommend their special bookbinding glue (of which my colleague nathalia is a MAJOR fan!!!) but i found that aleene's tacky glue worked well, also. here is the kit as it arrived:

the method for assembling the wired book's pages was very precise, but the directions were extremely clear, and even i (quite famously "written instruction impaired"!) had no difficulty in understanding them. i was happy to have my trusty scor-it board in order to ensure perfectly parallel folds, and even happier to have a willing minion (aka lovely husband jeff!) as a second pair of hands for aligning the wired beads in their correct placement. here are the assembled pages. i've inked the edges black, but not yet decorated or bound them:


i did all of my decorating and embellishing *BEFORE* i bound the book together, but the finished product is really quite sturdy, and if you are generally a neat worker, you could probably bind first and then complete the interior. finally, here is the finished product, complete with nephew matthew as my adorable cover-model:

i decided to make a book for young matthew since he has not yet been given a "big project" as a birthday or xmas gift, and also because the bright primary colors of the project seemed well suited to an active little guy such as himself. i thought it would be fun to show an overview of the wee lad's life so far (from birth to 20 months) and rather than include a lot of journaling, i found a cute poem about little boys to spread over the pages and connect them thematically.

since there were so many bright hues already, to tie everything together and give it a bit of consistency, i decided to convert my photos to black and white, bump the contrast up a bit for a funky look, give each picture a little bit of a distressed photo frame, and then mat them all on imagination project's black graph paper to ground them. since i wanted to use as many photos as possible, and have them be as big as possible, i printed the poem directly ON the pics...in colors which coordinated with the blank pages.

when all of my pages were completed, i followed the directions to bind the spine with waxed floss. this was the most "fiddly" of all the steps, and it's where the precision of your method in carefully assembling the individual pages really pays off! again, the written instructions were admirably clear and easy to follow. finally, i added a few finishing touches, et voila!

tune in tomorrow and sunday to see the inside pages, and be sure to check out all the action over at CAARDVARKS!!!

eta to address several questions about the book's binding: the full instructions for the technique come in the club scrap wired book kit. basically, the album is built from the ground up: you create the pages by folding the cardstock half an inch from the spine's edge, you cut three small notches in the fold, and you glue the beaded wire securely into the fold using bookbinding or other very strong tacky glue. here is CS's video tutorial on the procedure.

52Q: 20

ok, so i'm very slightly behind on 52Q again...such is life. my life, anyway. this one is from a couple of weeks ago, but hey, there's no statute of limitations on papercrafting, is there??! :)

question 20: what is your latest obsession?

(software: broderbund printshop; rainydays paper: dianne rigdon, scrap artist; ledger grid & butterfly: katie pertiet, designer digitals; eiffel tower & music notes: french kiss, anna aspnes, designer digitals; corner flourish: hipster plumes korners-n-edges #4, anna aspnes, designer digitals;fonts: susie's hand & sidewalk, fontfreak.com)

this was another easy one. for the last couple of months i have been having a BLAST looking at, buying, and playing with digital elements. it's not like i NEED 'em...but i guess i just always want new things to play with and explore.

text reads, "latest obsession...digi stuffs: because i don't have quite enough art supplies in real life...i need *virtual* ones, too!"

Merci, ScrapStreet

have you seen this online magazine, yet: ScrapStreet.com?! it's extremely cool, and well worth a look. and i'm not just saying that because the june issue, which published today, contains a rather fabulous feature on CAARDVARKS...although as a matter of fact...i believe it DOES contain a rather fabulous feature on CAARDVARKS, actually!

(yeah!!!)

there are specially-made, brand-spankin'-new, utterly jaw-dropping thank you cards from every single one of the 'VARKS crew in there. and then there are pages and pages and pages of other amazing stuff you could look at too, if you wanna. :)

here's the card i made:

(patterned paper: the paper company & a page from a vintage french dictionary; glossy black cardstock & stickles: ranger industries; eiffel tower & houndstooth stamps: hero arts; chipboard letters: heidi swapp; journaling card & jewel brads: making memories; gem flourish & paper flowers: prima; glossy bird clipart image: anahata katkin, papaya!; scalloped cardstock border sticker: my mind's eye; cardstock frame sticker; scenic route; diecut circles: k&co; ribbon: offray; inks: colorbox & ranger; adhesives: xyron, tombow monoadhesive runner, gluedots, 3m foam tape, staples)

howsabout some links, in case you'd like to go and check it out? you can access the magazine from its very cool cover ...or head right to the 'VARKS article...either way, i think you might be there a while, so best to get a cup of coffee first, eh?!