by Karen Endress | Oct 16, 2016 | Mixed Media
Thought some of you might be interested in this memory box I made for my mom with several photos from our family’s cottage on the Chesapeake Bay.
I had NO idea how this was going to come together, so I just started by picking a small white 7 Gypsies shadowbox (stash). I printed three copies of each photo because I knew I would mess up and it’s a good thing, especially the boat pic. That took many tries because I had to cut four people out of the photo to make it just my mom & me 🙂 Getting the acetate positioned for the boat windshield was no picnic either!
The boat needed a background, so I took a piece of textured cardstock, masked off some clouds (MFT Cloud Trio & Simon Says Stamp Talk Bubbles) and lightly sponged some Distress ink over the background. Since the photo didn’t show the entire boat, I needed something to cover up the bottom. Head to my ScrapRack’s “Summer” section for some inspiration! I pulled quite a few items that didn’t make the cut, but did find a use for the sand and waves border stickers, “Gone to the Beach” embellishment, the flip flops and a small container of teeny tiny seashells I bought my daughter on a field trip long ago. I rescued it from a give-away pile when she was cleaning out her room. Good thing, huh?
Before surgery…
…and after surgery!
The embellishment in the right opening lost more petals every time I touched it, so I replaced the flower with a tiny starfish and shell. The middle section has an actual shell from our beach, one of maybe 20 I’ve saved all these years. Instead of stamping the date and place, I ran the vellum through my printer and carefully placed the adhesive under the flip flops and shell.
For the left-hand section I took a second copy of the photo and cut just the inner tube & feet portion to place over the full picture, using foam tape for dimension. The larger shells are also from our beach and the tiny one is from that rescued container 🙂
The last thing I did was print out the sentiment onto vellum and die-cut one of the same clouds from it. I placed it over but slightly offset from the masked cloud on the top right. I did a lot of agonizing over all the details of this project, but in the end both my mom & I loved it!
Hope you enjoy!! 
by Karen Endress | Sep 23, 2016 | Hello--Thinking of You
Hi, everyone! Here’s another card origin story for you!
Often my card ideas come from seeing a sentiment, some patterned paper, an embellishment (like the previous “Believe” card), or even just a particularly pleasing color combination. And very often, a new card will emerge from the scraps of a previous card with new elements added to round it out.
This idea came from the backdrop papers I used to photograph the last card. They looked really pretty together as they were from the same DCWV stack I used for that card. Hmmm…my mom likes pretty cards, she’d really like that floral paper & I could use another one of those words from the Color Splash pack!! A card idea is born 🙂
I double matted (DCWV) the blue floral to cover the entire cardbase (Neenah Solar White 80 lb.) and used the red dotted paper as an accent. I chose a darker red for contrast (Recollections Vintage Collector) and cut both with different sizes of the Spellbinders Labels One dies, positioning them so that the word would be about 2/3 of the way down the card. This time I used Faded Jeans Distress ink to color the chipboard word instead of Zig markers and it blended much better 🙂
I grabbed some textured light blue & vellum scraps (from the bits & pieces dishes that are overflowing onto my desk) to layer under the ‘Love’ word for contrast. Then I went to the color section of my ScrapRack for some red embellishments. Most everything in the ScrapRack is unlabeled and as old as the hills but still quite usable! I found the flower & the postage cancellation mark there–YAY! Using my stash!!
Finishing touches included some DMC floss that I wrapped around the ‘L’ and tied into a bow as well as a few coordinating enamel dots (MME Lost & Found Christmas) from my stash. Inside I stamped the Technique Tuesday Ali Edwards sentiment you can see test-stamped in the first picture. Looking back, I’m not totally pleased with the placement of that postage circle, but it is a handmade card and I’m pretty sure my 97 year old mom is not going to be critiquing her card! Have a great weekend!!
by Karen Endress | Sep 9, 2016 | Craft Room
I know what you’re thinking…she sure doesn’t have very good organization in her craft room! And I agree, throwing stamps, stickers, alphas, trims, washi tape, bling, paper & ephemera all in one canvas bin wouldn’t be the ideal organization. These items, though, will soon be in some flat rate boxes on their way to Colorado.
I recently learned from this video that a public high school teacher in Denver will be teaching a scrapbooking course in her science-oriented school and is asking for donations. They will be doing scrapbook layouts, mini-albums and cards, but only have a small budget from the school for some tools and a few other items. Many of the students come from low-income families and can’t afford to buy supplies themselves.
I had already started a small reorganization project and had set aside some punches, stamps and other items when I found out about this donation opportunity. Once I knew, I decided it would be the perfect time for a full-on craft room purge. I went through all my Iris cases of patterned paper & cardstock as well as about eight large paper pads and came up with this six inches of paper to donate.
I’m about halfway through my ScrapRack and to my shame I am still finding things I’ve never used or haven’t touched in years.
Someone may as well be using these crafty goodies and I’m glad I ran across Nicole’s video to show me a place where they can all find a good home!!
If you are looking for a good excuse to purge old items and make room for the new, please check out the video or just send scrappy donations to: DSST Stapleton High School, ATTN: Angie Turek, 2000 Valentia St, Denver, CO 80238. Angie is asking for your return address as well so the class can send you a thank you 🙂 All for now, new card post coming soon!
