Questions and Answers

You've got questions, I've got answers.  
Q: Do you just wing it when you print the sentiment directly on the card, or does it come out exactly where you want it? -Maria


I wouldn't say it comes out exactly where I want it every time, but some tricks help me get it good enough ("Perfection is the enemy of the good").

1) Make a rectangle the size of your card in MS Word (I draw one, resize it on the drawing tools ribbon, then holding ctrl and shift, I drag it below.  The ctrl makes another copy and the shift makes it stay aligned.  
(You may be asking why I don't make my page landscape and print on half the paper.  The answer is my printer has really wide margins, so it's just easier for me to waste some paper rather than having the bottom half of the sentiment not print.)
2) Add a shape (oval, circle, rectangle) that best represents your stamped image and resize it to the dimensions of your stamp.  
3) Add textbox and move around until it looks good.
4) Delete the stamp shape, but keep your card lines (I print them in light gray) in case your printer doesn't print straight.
Of course, I usually try it on scrap paper first, too!


Q:  I wish I knew how to make photo collages like this-Crafty Math Chick


I'm probably shouldn't show you this, because when you find out how easy it is, it will be like I told you how they saw the lady in half.
Using Picasa (free!), select the photos you want in your collage and "pin" them using the green pushpin (top left button above the red circle).  Once you have all the photos you want, press the "collage" button (3rd from left)

Tada!  It will give you some options (I chose mosaic) as well as allowing you to shuffle the pictures (you can't drag and drop them exactly where you want them, though, like you can in picnik).  Then click "create collage" and voilà.


Q: Are you seriously holding a koala bear in that top picture? - Cute Animal Lovers
A: HELLS YEAH.  


Q: What is this word, voilà? - People Who Need Some Spelling Help
A: It is the word you are thinking of when you type "wal-lah" or "viola."  In other words of note, you go shopping down an aisle and you go vacationing on a isle.  A good way to remember this is that it is a pain in the a** to go shopping. 


Q: Have any more HYCCT favorites? - No One, Really, but a Good Segue
A: I do!  These were two faves that were way outside my normal card style:

This was for the collage challenge.  I actually made one collage and it turned out like crap, but fortunately I missed reading that it had to have pink, so I ended up making another one and this I actually like!  I stamped the leaves first and embossed them using Amuse Satin Pearl embossing powder, then used some text and medallion stamps to stamp over it. I used a 1-inch square punch because I seriously cannot cut 9 one-inch squares so that they are all exactly one-inch square.  That's why God created punches.  

This one just made me happy because it so unlike me!  I mean, look how girl and flowery and busy it is but I sort of love it.  The stamp is from Waltzingmouse, the paper from Webster's Pages.


Q: Have any good movie recommendations? - Me, because I feel it is my duty to spread the word about this movie
A: Yes!  Crazy Stupid Love.  Go ahead and buy the DVD because you will want to own it after you rent it, if only for the New Balance jokes.  


Q: Did you seriously not realize that segue is the word that everyone is saying when they say, "after talking about movie recommendations, she then "segwayed" into talking about the awesomeness of Friday Night Lights" until last year? - I Though You were Smart
A: Totally.  I knew what "segue" meant when I read it and I knew what "seg-way" meant when I heard it, but I never put the two together.  Thank you, "You Were Doing It Wrong" thread on Metafilter! (also Texas Forever!)


Q: What have you been up to crafty-wise, movie-wise, or grammar-wise?  -Meg
A: Leave it in the comments! 

HYCCT Faves

Edited to add: I am a bit behind in my email, and I just read the update that Katie Renz (of the "Swimming for Katie" blog hop) passed away yesterday morning.  Such horrible news.  When will cancer stop stealing people away when they are needed here? 

The donation link on my sidebar and the fundraising items at i {heart} papers are still live-all the information is here. 

Sympathy cards can be sent to:
The Renz Family
PO Box 5913
Bellingham, WA 98227-5913
For the extra cruel twist that cancer likes to throw in, all of Katie's boys will be having birthdays soon: the twins, Nate and Will, will be turning 6 on Nov. 19th and Hunter will be 12 on Dec. 1.  Her husband Kevin's birthday is November 17.  It has been suggested that we try to shower them with cards, just like Katie would do, so if you are so inclined, maybe you have an extra birtday card you could drop in the mail. Now that y'all have piles of kleenex in front of your monitor, I'll return to my original post: 
 
As promised, here are a few of my HYCCT favorites.  The theme for today is "friends are fabulous."

 

Angela of The Paper Cupboard sent me this fantastic stamp for my birthday. For some reason she thinks I have some sort of "keep calm" obsession.  Ok, so maybe I do have a wee bit of an obsession, and that was before I stamped it in pink.  Love!  The background paper is from the old Amuse website.  The new paper is reversed (pink on white) and I must admit I don't like it as much as the solid color.  A little bit of twine from my pal Emily of Art from the Heart was the perfect touch!

Ang was also kind enough to share one her recent prize packages that included some Anna Griffin stickers and papers.  I have three words for you: FUZZY.  PINK.  HOUNDSTOOTH.  (except blogger is telling me it should be hounds tooth so I guess that would be four words, but I don't think I agree with blogger.  SO THERE!)

Book Report Time!

Book #42: The best thing I can say about this book is that it was the first book I borrowed from my local library on my Kindle!  I really thought it might go somewhere, but it didn't.  Or maybe it did go somewhere and I didn't follow it. Either way, I'm not getting anywhere.  Amazon Link

Book #43: First of all, this book is about Stiltsville (a town in Florida made up of houses on stilts surround by water) in only the most tangential way.  I was really intrigued in how one would live on a house on the water (even if it was fiction).  Second of all, not only was there minimal talk of water houses, instead it turned out to be a (spoiler warning!)  HIP!!!  (Husband in Peril, not to be confused with PIP [pet/pregnancy/parent in peril]).  I can understand how someone would like this book, but it wasn't a subject matter I needed to be reading about at this time.   Amazon Link

Book #44: FINALLY!  I think it's been at least five books since I've had one that I would actually recommend, and recommend this one I will (says yoda).  I like Bill Bryson (loved A Short History of Nearly Everything) and this book was such a treat to read!  Every page had some interesting nugget of information I was sharing with Mr Corgi.  Plus a book that you can pick up any page at any time (although I recommend them in sequential order in the evening during a hot bath) with many discussions about word origins and the British!  What more could a gal ask for?  Amazon Link

Right now I'm on page 400 of The Passage, which means I'm....halfway through.  I've gotten two good reviews of it and enjoyed most of the first half, but it's slowed down quite a bit and I'm still not sure I want to dedicate another week of my life to second half.  Decisions, decisions....

I did it!

If you've been wondering where I've been the last week or so, here is your answer:

Yup, I finished a card for all 33 of the Hope You Can Cling To challenges.

I used stamps from Eat Cake Graphics, Market Street Stamps, Waltzingmouse, Unity, Stampin' Up, Kraftin' Kimmie, PTI, Amuse, Sugar Nellie, There She Goes, The Cat's Pajamas, Maya Road, Skipping Stones, Hero Arts, WPlus9, and Rubber Soul, along with a few items cut with the Silhouette.

Pattern paper includes October Afternoon, Pink Paislee, Anna Griffin (thanks, Ang!), Stampin' Up, Webster's Pages, Aspire Petallics, Amuse, My Mind's Eye, and S.E.I.

Other items used: copics, watercolors, ribbon, twine, foam tape, PTI dies, Amuse impression plates, self-adhesive pearls, clear embossing powder, white embossing powder, nestabilities, glossy accents, homemade chocolate chip cookies, and the latest season of Psych on netflix.

Rather than posting 33 pictures here, I'll just direct you to my SCS Gallery for all of the cards, and I also plan on posting some of my favorites throughout the week. 

Now I need a nap!

PIckled Tink for HYCCT!

I was so honored when Lisa Lara, the newest member of the Splitcoast Dirty Dozen, asked me to make a sample for her Hope You Can Cling To Pickled Tink challenge, that of course I would have said "yes" no matter what the challenge.  The fact that the challenge was to make a punny CAS card (with a touch of pink) just sweetened the deal!  I started going through my stamp index, thinking maybe a bra card or a "hang in there" pun, when I came to Eat Cake Graphics's Marmie Decides to Leave, which led to the perfect card to sum up my feelings about cancer:

I printed the sentiment onto Soft Stone cardstock, stamped and colored Miss Marmie, then added a strip of Echo Park Dots & Stripes paper.  I do hope you'll play along in the challenge, or any of the HYCCT challenges!  

I've been falling behind on my book reports (and blog posts), so here's some more catch up....

Book #39: Just my Type was another birthday gift.  It is a book about fonts, which sort of made me giddy.  A review blurb on the Omnivoracious blog said it made him change the way he looks at words...ok, I think that's taking it a bit too far.  I will say it made me appreciate Comic Sans just a wee, little, tiny bit (I still don't think it should be on high school i.d. badges, but no one asked me for graphic design input on those).  I'd say this would be a library loan: fun and entertaining to read, but no need to keep it on your bookshelf.  Amazon Link.

Book #40: I had recently read The First Husband and enjoyed it, so I tried The Divorce Party by the same author, which didn't really have the same punch as Husband.  Probably another library loan book.  Amazon Link.

Book #41: This was the most recent book I've been reading to Mr Corgi as he drives.  Although a short book, I must admit it was extremely fascinating and we both have a hankering to go see the H1, H2, H3, and H4 in England.  Well written and researched, I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a bit of science or history.

What are you reading?  I have some of your recent suggestions on my wish list at the library...someone else must have read your comments and scooped them up first!  I must be quicker this time. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see some of your cards in the HYCCT gallery!

Market Street Says BOO!

Time for my Market Street Stamps post! As soon as I saw the Halloween release from Market Street, I knew exactly what I wanted to do for this post.  I even sent out an email calling dibs on the idea.  So I hope you're ready for the spookiness that is about to occur...

Yes, you totally just jumped out your seats, didn't you?  It's a Halloween tree filled with Market Street's Sweet Spooks and Night Owls, two sets that are so cute they make it hard to spook (so I admit I added some extra spookiness in Picnik).  The tree is just a discarded branch that I spray painted black.  I stuck some oasis foam in an old black container, stuck the branch into the foam, and then hot glued some moss on top.  Then I just started stamping, embossing, cutting and hanging!  Here are some close-ups:

I used some Echo Park paper for the owls (look how nice that solid one stamped!) as well as for the orange tags that I stamped the skulls onto (as well as some spiders as you'll see later).  I embossed the webs onto vellum and added a black rhinestone to each one for the "spider."  The bats were embossed onto dark gray paper, then I accented their fangs with a white gel pen.

Here you can see that cute spider hanging out on some polka dotted paper, as well as glimpse of the fancy pearl I added to the skull.  Mr Ghosty was a bit too ephemeral to catch on film, but you should be able to spot him in some of the other pictures.

I also made this sign to go with the tree.  I just love some fun fonts, don't you?  The bat paper was in a $1.00 pack at Walmart, which I used to cover an 8x10 canvas.  I cut the words out of vinyl using my Silhouette, then added some Market Street bats using glue dots.

Here's one more look at the whole she-bang:

Happy Haunting, everyone!

Sometimes there's nothing else to say

This is for Bev's HYCCT "Looking in on You" challenge to make a window card. Sometimes there's nothing else to say except life isn't fair and sometimes it just sucks, and usually dealing with cancer is one of those times. The inside of the card has one of my husband's quotes: "Sometimes you're the windshield; sometimes you're the bug."  (Alternate version: "Sometimes you get the elevator, sometimes you get the shaft.")

If this card seems familiar, I made a red version a while back for the Market Street blog.   This is some new Aspire Petallics shimmery paper I got--thanks for everyone's suggestions on where to find some metallic paper.  I will definitely be checking out Hobby Lobby and discount stores soon.  This Aspire stuff is pretty, but also pretty thin (almost copy weight).  So the good news is the Silhouette cuts through it like butter, bad news is you couldn't make a card base out of it.  This set uses Market Street's Gone Campin' set and if you've been eyeing up some Market Street, this week is definitely the time to do so!  Be sure to check out the blog for the newest anniversary deal AND sign up for the new "neighborhood" ning forum for an added bonus. 

This second card is for Wanda's "Hang in There" challenge. I colored and paper pieced this sweet little Sugar Nellie stamp, who now looks a bit tipsy when she didn't before.  I took advantage of the two sided Amuse paper so she'd have a night sky background color.  Although now I'm thinking I should have stamped some stars back there.  But I didn't and I can't because (YES!) I mailed off 12 cards to MD Anderson yesterday.  The postal worker only looked at me a little askance when she saw I had written "LOVE ENCLOSED PLEASE DO NOT BEND" on the envelope.  They should add that to their "anything potentially fragile, perishable, liquid, or hazardous" question.  I can't tell you how much mailing that package helped lift my mood during a difficult month and I would highly recommend playing along!

Only one book today since it's almost dinner time, and don't mock me for liking it!

It's the newest Chet and Bernie mystery!  As told by Chet the dog (aka "Chet the Jet")!  How could I not love this entire series?  Oh, except for the end of the one book where Chet has a suspicious lump which is TOTALLY NOT COOL!  Why would Spencer Quinn do that?  I think he got told to wise up, though, because within the first couple pages of the next one the vets calls and everything is ok. WHICH IS HOW IT SHOULD BE.  I would definitely recommend this series if you like (a) mysteries (b) dogs or (c) dogs and mysteries.  Amazon Link.

Hello. Is it me you're looking for?

So sometimes I get something stuck in my head (like that Lionel Richie song that's in your head now--you're welcome!). The only problem is when it gets stuck in my head wrong. Like when I read the comments from this post, I had it in my head that my pal Lindsey asked for a phone instead of my pal Jessi.  So when Lindsey won some blog candy from me, I though I should make a phone card and sent it along.  DOH!  Maybe I'll make an Angry Birds card and send to Jessi, then Jessi and Lindsey can switch.  ANYWAY, here is the card!

Get it?!?!  Red phone!?!  You da BOMB!?!?  Hahahaha.  I laughed myself silly over that one. This was a Silhouette Studio file that I modified a bit to make it into a card.  I l.o.v.e. that DCWV metallic paper--does anyone know where I can buy something similar by the sheet?  Or at least in a pack with all metallic paper?

I also have been hard at work on some more Hope You Can Cling to Challenges.  Here's one based on Jimmi's sketch challenge.

I just love Eat Cake Graphic's A Scarf for Ferguson.  The holiday paper is from My Mind's Eye, and Ferguson's scarf was fussy cut from Amuse gingham paper.  I also used Amuse's "cardstock" vellum to stamp the sentiment onto. This vellum isn't really all that vellum-y, but you can at still see a hint of the gingham behind it.  The sentiment is from The Cat's Pajamas.

Ok, so now it's time for some book reports. I think I may spread them out over the next few days so this doesn't turn into a massive post! (click on the book to go to its Amazon page)

Book #36: This one was on my birthday wishlist because it was supposed to be THE book for any child of the 80's.  My mom gifted the Kindle book to me, which we both thought was so cool for her to do.  As for the book, it was definitely entertaining for a sci-fi book, but a little bit too action-adventure for me.  Plus I really didn't get a lot of the references.  I think what they meant to say was it was for any super geeky video-game loving child of the 80's.  I'm pretty sure the only video games I played in the 80's were Pong and Oregon Trail.  Oh, yeah, and Number Crunchers when our teachers were trying to be "educational" during our one hour of computer time every two weeks. I won't tell you not to read, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it.

Book #37: Have you noticed that there's a bit of a fad going on with books about women with some sort of amnesia or dementia? This book falls into that category.  I would recommend Before I go to Sleep before I would recommend this one.  Actually, that statement isn't true, because I would not recommend this one.  At all.  This is a re-enactment of me when I saw this title in my Amazon account:

Ann who? from Steven Castellano on Vimeo.

 And, yes, I am peeing my pants about Arrested Development coming back...in 2013!!