He Has Risen

He Has Risen, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

And another Easter card!! Yesterday I had an hour or so of uninterrupted craft studio time so I pounded out all but one of my Easter cards.

I will probably say this for each card, but *this* one's my favorite! ;-)

I colored the stamp with Brush Markers, huffed, then stamped on a throw-away piece of white card blank.

I used a circle punch to cut the image out and then cut the bottom of the circle off, just under the sentiment.

Pop dots gave a bit of dimension and I was DONE! I made several of these because I really liked the way it came out.


Supplies:
Paper: Recollections (white card blank)
Stamp: CraftSmart (He Has Risen stamp)
ETC: Marvy-Uchida (Dee Gruenig's Brush Markers and Circle Punch); EK Success (3D Dots)


Happy Friday--we've made it to another weekend!! =D

~Cynthia

Chocolate Easter Bunny

Chocolate Easter Bunny, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

I got an email the other day from Michael's informing me that there were only 12 days until Easter! Time flies when you're scrapbooking!!! ;-)

This card is heading to my nephew. He's at that age where cute doesn't cut it anymore. But not old enough for a serious card. So I just went all plain and simple on him.

I mean...who doesn't love chocolate Easter bunnies, huh???

I stamped the bunny with Black Soot Distress Ink on brown cardstock, then cut him out.

I stamped the the sentiment and adhered the little bunny.

I might have to add a bit of sparkle to his eye. :-)


Supplies:
Paper: Recollections (white card blank); Bazzill (chocolate cardstock)
Stamps: We R Memory Keepers (Cotton Tails: Some Bunny set); Studio G (Easter set)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Black Soot)
ETC: Glue Glider Pro; Marvy Uchida/Dee Gruenig Brush Markers (Black--to color the edges of the bunny)


Have a wonderful day and Craft Happy!! =D


~Cynthia

Shimelle's Starting Point

Shimelle's Starting Point, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

I know, I know. I gotta quit goofing off with the scrapbook pages and get to the Easter cards!

But Shimelle's challenges are so FUN!

And look! I used ORANGE. I think I should get extra points for using orange in a layout!! ;-)

All the lovely orange papers came from the lovely Jenn at Studio Jenn. (Thanks, Jenn!!)

Shimelle challenged us with a layered layout. She actually used two photos; I chose to use only one.

I love how the gray-blue of the wood and the brown of the cattails just pop right off the page amidst all that lovely red-hot orange!

So that's it from me today. Tomorrow..I PROMISE...I will get going on my Easter cards. I pinky swear, even. ;-)



Thanks so much for dropping in for a look! Have a wonderful day!!

~Cynthia

Sketch of the Week

Sketch of the Week, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

I'm back again with another of Shimelle's Challenges:  Scrapbook Sketch of the Week. This time she offered a sketch. This one only took me 2 days to complete!  (**snicker**)

 ETA:  I'm so far behind!  Shimelle just posted another scrapbook challenge today!! =D

I took these photos waaaay back when I was a senior in college. I just never got around to doing anything with them, so I thought they would be perfect for this challenge.

All of the papers are Graphic 45's glorious papers. I just riffled through my G45 stash and picked out what I liked. Mostly they are from the Botanicabella Collection, with a few from the Tropical Travelogue Collection.

All the floral/writing tags are from G45 as well. The three tags I wrote on are from Colorbok and the adhesive border between the photos is from K & Co.

Chipboard embellishments are from K & Co's Sea Glass Words and Shapes Chipboard Box. One of my all time favorite paper/embelly sets.

The fabric stickers for the Savannah title are actually from a blog candy win from Studio Jenn. **Waves Hi and says Thanks to Jenn!!** I used a Brush Marker from Dee Gruenig (Marvy Uchida) to darken the color. Love that you can do that with Thickers!

I added two strips of snippets under the title because I could...and because I had a bunch of empty space up there.  ;-)

The 1991 numbers on the bottom are rub-ons from Reminisce. They did not fight me this time, but surrendered quietly.

I'm still trying to get the hang of embellishments on scrap pages. But the challenges are helping!! My thanks to Shimelle for hosting and posting them!!



Thank you so much for stopping in today! And thanks for your comments on Shimelle's challenges too!! Craft on!

~Cynthia

Starting Points with Shimelle

Starting Points with Shimelle, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

Another scrapbook page based on Shimelle's Starting Points challenge.

I used lots and lots of BoBunny papers! Man, I love their stuff!! ;-)

The shot of the seagull in mid-flight was taken on the coast of South Carolina at one of my most favorite places to be--Hunting Island State Park.


Supplies:
Papers: BoBunny (Ad Lib: This N That, Vertigo); 3 Bugs in a Rug (Dream); Paper Trunk (Socialite Gala); K&Co (Wild Saffron pad)
ETC: Nestabilities (Labels 9); Pink Paislee (Enchanting Alphabet Stickers); Recollections (Alphabet and Number Stickers); Authentique (Petite Type Circle); Punch Bunch (Daisy punches--small, medium and large); Zig Two-way Glue Pen; Glue Glider Pro


If you find the time this week, come play along with Shimelle! Thanks for stopping by to check out my take on her Starting Points challenge!


~Cynthia

30 minute page??

30 minute page??, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

OK, so over on the Miss Fancy Pants blog, Nic Howard showed a sweet little scrapbook page she had made in 30 minutes. Nic had step-by-step photos and EVERYTHING.

It had these cute banners and some string and some paper. And Nic said I could do it in 30 minutes JUST LIKE HER.

Oh, Nic. You lie, girl.

OK, that probably wasn't nice of me, now was it?

What I MEANT to say was...Oh, Nic, it took me TWO DAYS to finish your "30 Minute Page." ARGH!!!

Ahem.

I really did have fun searching my papers and embellishments to find just the right color or item or little bit of whatever. No, really I did.

The photo...well...funny story--actually TWO funny stories on that. If you look closely at the photo background you might see what looks like a ship, enveloped in fog. That's actually the USS Yorktown and that's not fog--it's RAIN coming across the Charleston harbor, right at me! I took the picture then ran for cover. It POURED for about 10 minutes while the wind blew the rain sideways! I have no idea if that little guy in the sailboat survived or not. ;-)

Second story: When I got home yesterday after running errands, I found the frame that held this photo laying on the floor, face down. I've always hated that frame, so I decided to make a scrapbook page--then saw that Miss Fancy Pants had posted a page challenge.

Perfect!!

I chucked the frame and dove right into making my 36-hour Page! =D



Supplies:
Paper: Bazzill (brown cardstock); American Crafts (Chap: Cameron and James; The Classics: Huckleberry Finn; Peachy Keen: Fancy Free); Colorbok (kraft paper)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo, Scattered Straw)
ETC: K&Co (Julianne Adhesive Borders; Tim Coffey Cottage Die Cut Cardstock and Acetate pack; Handmade Ephemera Pack); Scrappy Cat (Background and Texture stamps); Studios Blackbird (Ephemera pack); 7Gypsies (Ephemera Pack); Me and My Big Ideas (Vintage Alphabet Small); Darice (twine); Dymo (Organizer Express); Glue Glider Pro; Glue Dots

PS: Your eyes aren't wonky. I laid the page on a bench outside and the bench happens to scoop, so that made the page bend. I was just too lazy to find another spot. Heh. I think I should be given a little leeway seeing as how this page took 35 hours and 30 minutes longer than it should have. LOL.


Thanks so much for stopping in today! :-)


~Cynthia

Iris Birthday

Iris Birthday, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

Happy Monday! We've got absolutely gorgeous weather on tap for today so I thought I'd get my post in and spend some time outside!

I think this card reflects the spring-like weather we're having here.

I found a set of background stamps on sale at Joann Fabrics. I got eight of them for less than $2!! And they're really cool! I love this swirly one. :-)

I used markers to color the flower stamp. This iris is so painterly--I love that it's airy and almost translucent.

I stamped the sentiment just a bit too close to the background. I think I'll make this one again and move it down a bit.



Supplies:
Paper: Recollections (white cardblank)
Stamps: Penny Black (O March); Scrappy Cat (Background and Texture Stamps set)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Bundled Sage)
ETC: Dee Gruenig's Brush Markers (Tropical Set)


Monday always means a big To Do List around here. Guess I'd better get at it!

Have a wonderful day!!


~Cynthia

Quick Thanks

Quick Thanks, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope you are gettin' your green on! ;-)

I had to whip up a quick thank you card for a friend who sent me a cookie as a thanks for sending *her* cards! I thought that was sooo sweet of her that I had to send another card just to thank her! =D

I love the yellow/blue color combo a lot. Here I used two different thank you stamps to make sure my friend got that I was thankful for the cookie!!

I stamped the thank yous on a piece of leftover white cardblank then adhered that to another white cardblank.

Very simple!


Supplies:
Paper: Recollections (two white cardblanks)
Stamps: Inkadinkado (Expressions); Hero Arts (Classic Messages)
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mustard Seed, Stormy Sky)


And THANK YOU for visiting today!!

~Cynthia

Wearin' o' the Green

Wearin' o' the Green, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

Super simple card today! Two stamps, one ink, two pieces of cardstock.

I stamped the shamrock on the green cardstock and the sentiment on the light green cardstock, which had been cut with pinking scissors.

The end. =D


Supplies:
Paper: The Paper Studio (kraft cardblank); Bazzill (green and light green cardstock)
Stamps: Hampton Arts (both stamps)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Forest Moss)
ETC: Fiskars Paper Edgers (Pinking); Glue Glider Pro



I've already mailed off the St Patrick's Day cards....without photographing several of them. Oops. ;-)



Thanks so much for stopping in today--I love it when you visit!!

~Cynthia

Starting Points Sketch

Starting Point Sketch, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

Today I played along with Shimelle Lane on her Scrapbook Starting Points sketch challenge.

The black and white photo (yeah, it looks weirdly blue here, but in real life it's quite black and white!) was taken when a friend of mine took me to her dad's hunting club.

You know...one of those kinda scary places waaaaaaaay out in the backwoods. Heh heh.

My friend and I enjoy photography and I spent most of my time at "The Property" taking photos of the old house the hunters stay in during deer season. My friend's dad was plowing the land around the house to plant deer food and a garden for people food. ;-)


Supplies:
Paper: American Crafts (Chap collection: Cameron); Graphic 45 (Curtain Call: Tour de France for Eiffel Tower stamp; Botanicabella Collections: Botanicabella Tag--butterfly strip at top); Glitz Design (Olivia Roses--small flower top left); gcd studios (Artsy Urban Collection: Postcard Two for large black circle die cut); Shimelle Lane (Colourful Library Cards freebie); Wedding Style Guide (freebie Cordial download here); Explore tag (unknown freebie--it might have been from Two Peas in a Bucket)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo); Distress Stain (Mustard Seed, Scattered Straw for flower coloring)
ETC: Spellbinders (Nestabilities--Lacy Circles); K&Co (Tim Coffey Cottage Garden Warm Die Cut and Acetate pack--dragonfly); Making Memories (Tiny Alpha Stickers); Studios Blackbird (Ephemera pack--small numbered label); Prima (Calypso Tin--paper flowers); Tonic (Ticket/Tag Punch); Fiskars (1/8 inch punch); The Paper Studio (black brad)

Yeah and pretty much the kitchen sink to boot! ;-)

Putting this page together was kind of fun. Normally, I'm the instant gratification type and I stick to cards, but it wouldn't be a challenge if it wasn't challenging, right?? =D


Thanks so much for stopping by today!!

~Cynthia

St Patrick's Day

St Patrick's Day, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

Saturday is St Pat's Day! I love being able to use those stamps that only see the light of day once a year. :-)

So here's the first card.

About a year ago I saw a crafter make these cool medallion shapes using a small square of cardstock and a Martha Stewart corner punch. They reminded me of a Family Coat of Arms.

And since St. Patrick's Day is all about the Irish in each of us, I decided to go the Irish Clan way with my cards! Yeah, even though my family is nowhere near Irish! ;-)

I cut a two-inch square piece of green cardstock and punched each corner. Smaller or larger squares give a different look. This size gives that chalice look on the sides, which I think is very cool and very Irish!

Then I stamped the clover on a piece of white cardstock and punched it out with a one-inch-square punch. I like that it didn't quite get all the stamped image--as if you're looking through a window.

Then I adhered both pieces and I was done!


Supplies:
Paper: Bazzill (green and white cardstock); Recollections (white cardblank)
Stamp: Hampton Arts/Studio g (Irish stamp)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Peeled Paint)
ETC: Martha Stewart (Iron Gate Corner Punch); Marvy-Uchida (one-inch punch)


Where I used to live, the city went all out on St Patrick's Day. Part of the city was closed to traffic and they had bands, games, parades, contests--green everywhere!! Do you have any plans for St Pat's??


~Cynthia

Starting Point

Starting Point, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

Today's offering is a scrapbook page based on a challenge over on Shimelle's blog: Make a page with four quadrants and three ribbons.

I found three different papers with green tones and used one of them twice. That started a kind of "diagonal balance" theme with which I totally ran.

I've got flower-type pieces in opposite corners, lines of type in opposite quadrants. I punched out the little circle flowers and popped them up, then adhered them in opposite quadrants. I've got the little name plates for Destination and Travel in opposite quadrants too. And then the photo and main journaling die cut are kind of balanced as well.

The picture is from a trip I took in 2002 when I camped at Little Pee Dee State Park here in South Carolina. The journaling is about rising early to catch a shot of the lake before I continued my trip into North Carolina.

Some of the Supplies:
Paper: Bazzill (blue and green cardstock); WeR Memory Keepers (72 Degrees and Sunny: Flower Patch); Jenni Bowlin (Green Crosshatch); KaiserCraft (LaDiDa Collection: Sing); K&Co (Par Avion Adhesive Borders)
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo)
ETC: And a bunch of other stuff too. :-)


So a big welcome to my new followers!! I'm so glad you're here! =D And thanks for all the comments!!

Happy Crafting!



~Cynthia

PS:  I just saw that this is my 600th post!!!!  Gracious, I should get a party for that....or at least a cupcake, right???  ;-)

Weird Circles

Weird Circles, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

OK, sooooo waaaaaay back in February, Gina from Inkybitz posted a seriously cool card for the Less Is More challenge, which was about using aqua on the card. I loved Gina's layout and decided to go in that direction--without the aqua. ;-)

And that's pretty much where the weirdness set in. Check it out.

I punched circles out of a piece of scrap paper to use as a mask. I brushed color into each circle, then stamped a large crackle background stamp over each circle.

I removed the mask and stamped the wheat image several times.

Totally weird.

It didn't look happy enough for a birthday card so I stamped "With Sympathy" and called it a day.

I...just...don't...know...about this one yet. Some days it seems like it's growing on me and other days I just want to trash it.



Supplies:
Paper: Recollections (white cardblank)
Stamps: Endless Creations (sympathy stamp); Inkadinkado (wheat #97205); Rubber Stampede (Crackled Background)
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Bundled Sage, Vintage Photo)
ETC: Marvy Uchida (circle punches)


Happy Wednesday! We're halfway to the weekend! =D


~Cynthia

Tim Tag #1

Tim Tag #1, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

Still trying to catch up here. On tap today is Tim Holtz's Tag #1.

Tim made a super cool Valentine's Day tag for the month of February. Since I didn't get to the tag until March, I decided on a different theme.

That and I have a limited number of die cuts. ;-)

First I dry embossed the tag with a music themed embossing folder. I couldn't replicate Tim's exact method, but I tried to highlight the raised parts with Picket Fence Distress Stain. That didn't work out very well, so I went off on a tangent.

I mooshed various blue Distress Inks into the "unraised" parts, then distressed the edges and the raised parts with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I think that worked better than just the Picket Fence. Now you can see the music notes easily.

I die cut the star from Grungepaper, inked it with yellow inks, then covered it with Rock Candy Distress Stickles. I dyed a piece of seam binding with the same yellow inks. (I know it looks brown here, but it actually matches quite well in real life.) I did tone it down a bit with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

I die cut the two borders from a snippet of faux leather I made for another project.

The letters are from Tim Holtz's Salvage Stickers.

For a final bit of crazy-cool bling, I ripped up some old costume jewelry a friend had given me some time ago. The pearl on the seam binding knot and the wire leaf used to be a clip-on earring.

When I first started this, I had no particular direction. Now the tag reminds me of "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star" and that's kind of cool. =D


Supplies:
Paper: Bazzill (kraft paper); manilla shipping tag; Tim Holtz (Grungepaper)
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Mustard Seed, Wild Honey, Walnut Stain, Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky, Vintage Photo); Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Picket Fence)
ETC: Cuttlebug (Allegro Embossing Folder); Tim Holtz (Salvage Stickers); costume jewelry; seam binding; Scotch Quick-dry Adhesive; Ranger (Rock Candy Distress Stickles); MFT Die-namics (Faux Crochet Border, Little Open Scallop Strip)


So in the "I'm Still Playing Catch Up" department...Bonnie asked what Eclipse Paper was. It's paper that has a low-tac glue on it--like Post-It Notes, only a bit stronger. You can ink it, die cut it, print on it, and use it as a mask. It comes in sheets (8x12) and rolls. The coolest thing about Eclipse is that somehow or other, it flattens when you stamp on it. So when you're using it as a mask, you don't get that funny white space between the Eclipse and the paper being stamped on--which happens a lot to me when I'm using Post-It Notes as a mask. You can check it out here on the Stampland Chicago website.


Thanks for stopping by today! And CRAFT ON!! ;-)


~Cynthia

Tim Tag #2

Tim Tag #2, a photo by HikerCynthia on Flickr.

I was kinda bummed that Tim Holtz decided to quit doing his 12 Tags of Christmas and instead do one tag each month. I know that's a lot of work and stress for him right before Christmas, but still...I'll miss the craziness of trying to make a tag a day and upload it. It was fun.

*sigh*

So I decided to make a tag along with him anyway. Here's March's tag.

I used lots of inks to create the background, stamp the sentiment and distress the tag. When that was dry, I sprayed it with Smooch Spritz.

I die cut the leaves from grungeboard adhered to Scor-tape. Then I cut small pieces from 3 paper snippets. I pressed the snippets to the Scor-tape, giving the leaves a stained glass look.

I used embossing powder for the grout, then covered the paper bits with Glossy Accents to give them a glassy look.

I deconstructed the clip, adding a different bit of paper, then covered that with Glossy Accents too.

The seam binding was moistened, dabbed with Distress Stains, then dried.

Finally I added the claim check and adhered everything.



Supplies:
Stamps: Stampin Up (sentiment); Rubber Stampede (Crackled Background)
Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Walnut Stain, Vintge Photo, Antique Linen); Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Forest Moss, Walnut Stain); Ranger Archival Ink (Coffee)
ETC: Basic Grey (clip); Cuttlebug (Leaves die cut); Smooch Spritz (Gold Glow); packing tag; seam binding; Judikins (Diamond Sparkle Embossing Powder); Ranger (Glossy Accents); Glue Dots


Have a great weekend!

~Cynthia