Thoughts for Thursday - Hope

“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.”

—Anne Lamott (b. 1954), author, political activist

Tonight I found the blog of the brother of my friend, Amaryllis... He has been recently called back to Active Duty with the military... He's Navy, but they're loaning him to the Army... He's in Fort Dix, NJ right now doing combat training and preparing to make the trek over the big pond and another giant land mass or two to the Middle East to try to help with the mess going on over there. If you'd like to send some Care Mail... visit his blog where he has posted his mailing address (good through June 12, 2008).

It must be a very scary thing... going to a war zone. When I lived in Berlin, Germany during the Gulf War, we had a tank and armed soldiers around our high school for a time. I also had to show my ID to an armed soldier in order to get on my bus to go to and from high school. It was the closest to war zone that I had come, but close enough for me.

I can't imagine what he's feeling right now. I pray for his safety and comfort for his family while he is gone. I hope that he will feel God's protective arms around him..... and I hope he doesn't give up hope.

Utah Valley Women's Expo - FREE Tickets

The Utah Valley Women's Expo is here again at UVSC's McKay Events Center... It's a huge gathering of companies and businesses who provide various services and products geared/marketed towards women. (IE. Scrapbooking, Furnishings, Household products, Skin Treatments, General Crafting, Jewelry, etc.) Visit the UVWE website to view more information. (Links are at the top of their website.)

Anywhooo - I was given a slew of tickets by a friend to give away... AND some coupons for an extra 10% off of CTMH's clearance sale that is happening at the CTMH "booth" at the Expo... They had a HUGE clearance sale last year... savings up to 90% on some items. I bought gobs of stuff and passed the savings on to fellow consultants who couldn't make the sale... This year, however, I'm not able to do that, but I would like to share the love with anyone who can physically be there to go to the fun event.

If you're in Utah {or passing through Utah} on May 2nd and 3rd and would like to attend the 2nd annual Utah Valley Women's Expo, email me with your mailing address and I can pop these in the mail to you or you can swing by my place and pick them up. :)

PS - I am not affiliated nor do I receive any financial gain from this event. I'm just sharing the love.

Multi Fold {Flip, Flap, Fold} Card Tutorial

As promised, here's the tutorial for the Multi Fold Card I posted with the Sketch Challenge....

Adore Stacked Flower Card
(aka Flip, Flap, Fold Card)by Erin Grotegut 2008
web: www.inkysmiles.blogspot.com

{Click on any photo to view larger}

Materials Needed:
• 2 pieces of coordinating patterned paper (I used My Mind’s Eye- Adore)
• Coordinating solid cardstock (1 dark and a couple of lights)
• Nesting circle dies (I used Quickutz) and a die cut machine (I used Cuttlebug)
• Glitter, glitter glue or other sparkly embellishments
• 1 Photo clip with brad, 4 regular brads, 1 Jumbo Brad, 11” grosgrain ribbon
• Adhesive tape, craft glue
• Crop O Dile

Instructions:
1. Cut your CS #1 4.25 x 8”
2. Score at 2.75” from the LEFT.





3. Cut CS #2 8.5 x 3”
4. Score at 4.25” (middle)






5. Adhere CS #2 to CS #1 as shown.
6. Flip the whole thing over and lay face down.






7. Cut patterned paper #1 to 3 x 4.25”
8. Cut patterned paper #2 to 2.75 x 4.25”
9. Adhere to card as shown to the left.






10. Flip back over and fold as shown to right.



11. Cut solid dark CS to 3 3/16 x2 7/8”
12. Cut solid light CS to 2 3/16x2 15/16”
13. Mount light CS on dark CS as shown to left.



14. Create a small sentiment as shown:






15. Adhere parts as shown below. Adhere the ribbon only to the front of the card. The ribbon will wrap around the back of the card and will tie at the end.



16. Layer your nesting dies upside down on red cardstock for flower.
(You can save time by arranging them as shown and running them through your diecut machine at the same time. Run through your machine and then pop out of the dies.)



17. Lightly sand the scalloped edges of the circles.

18. Use cropodile to attach large brad to smallest flower.
19. Stack up and arrange flowers. Adhere with foam adhesive for dimension.


20. Glam it up with glitter, etc, put a sentiment on the inside, and, “VOILA!” , you’re finished. I used Martha Stewart glitter glue on the brad and then sprinkled Sugar Coating glitter by Doodlebug Designs on the glue. I used Stickles to doodle around the flower petals. Be sure to let dry thoroughly.

Sketch Challenge {009} plus artwork!

Here's Sketch Challenge {009} for you! Use some patterned paper, a horizontal element or two, TWO stamps only (sentiment and something else) and some dimensional pop dots or something to give dimension to your art, oh and don't forget... add something sparkly!

Feel free to post a link to your art here on the blog! We'd all love to see what you come up with!

IMPORTANT TIP for Posting URL's:

Blogger tends to cut off long URL's. Here's a nice way to make a comment friendly URL to paste into your comment - It's great for using in emails and such, too.

1.) Go to wherever you've posted your project and copy the URL (http:.....)
2.) Open up a browser and go to http://www.tinyurl.com and paste the URL to your art in their converter.
3.) TinyURL will spit out a nice short n tidy URL that you can paste into your comment.
4.) If you want to view the projects... copy and paste the tiny url from the comment into a new browser just like you would any url.... voila! you have art!





Here's my take on the sketch! It's a multi fold card.... I'll upload the tutorial sometime in the next few days or so. :)

Thoughts for Thursday - Try Your Very Best

I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my
very best each and every day.
~Abraham Lincoln

Tonight I am trying to stay on top of things and do my best to keep my head above water. It's been a busy day... I went to work an extra day again today and tonight I am working on a fun project with my friend's daughter for a present for an upcoming special day. My friend reads my blog, so I can't really say what it is or even post a sneak peak! LOL!

BUT.... Tomorrow I will have a fun project to share AND a sketch challenge... I bet you thought I'd forgotten about those, eh? Nah, just sorta got off track.

Inky Smiles!
Erin

PS... I'm not an Idol-Junkie... but I have been following this fellow via Kristin's blog specifically to keep up on how this young man has been doing..... and today I was so excited to see that David sang one of my all time favorite Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber hits.... "Think of Me"... Enjoy!

Best of Pals

WOO HOO & BOO HOO! Lesson 4 (our final lesson) is complete!! YAY! I spent some time this morning working on the lesson and learning some new skills. We learned to create the word and letter stickers straight from plain typed text, made a trapezoid shape to create masks and cool designs, extracted people from a photo with a white/solid background and all sorts of other fun things.

I had a blast taking photos of Brent and Sadie yesterday afternoon. (I shot about 100 photos when all was said and done...) We hung an off white sheet over our fence and I had them playing and goofing off while I shot pics. It was a totally fun photo session.

Here's the layout:

{Click on photo for a better view}

Here is how you get your dog to perform for the camera:



And here are some of the fun outtakes:

Paper crafting {Goodness}

{Pics of our trip coming soon}

{If I don't stop coughing soon I am going to FREAK OUT}

{I updated the layers answer on the This Is Me Digi Layout}

{I got my much anticipated Threading Water border punch from Fiskars FINALLY!!! I went right to work punching papers and playing around with it.... }

{I found a WAY FREEKIN COOL new set of embossing folders and a die for the Cuttlebug - Build a Flower}

{I GOT TO PLAY}








Tuesday night I was up late finishing this "Family Favorites" Cook book project for my new sister in law, Jill, (Brent's brother, Jared, is getting hitched!) and made quite the mess! A few years back I started making this cookbook for some family and friends' bridal showers and weddings. I made one for myself ages ago and it's come in quite handy when budgeting for groceries, staying on budget, and planning meals. I think I have shared this idea of the cookbook (my original is way uglier... lol... and I'm gonna re do it and make MINE cute...) but I don't think I have shared it on the blog... this one's a new version of it and I think it's way cuter!!



You know sometimes when you're asked, "what's for dinner?" and you get stumped.... You've had tacos twice this week, spaghetti three times last week, and grilled cheese or mac n' yac several times this week.... OK, Ok, maybe YOU don't have these issues, but I sure do. LOL! Anyway... I keep blank 2 week menu planner forms in it and a list of all the meals we like to eat (which makes planning out the menu easier than pulling ideas out of your... crockpot), some of our favorite recipes (so I don't have to hunt through cookbooks), and other misc odds n ends that relate to making my life as a chef EASIER, TASTIER, AND ...well just mo bettah.

{Did I mention that I LOVE my Threading Waters punch??? *sigh*}




Supply List:
Paper Trimmer
Threading Water Border Punch - Fiskars
Patterned Paper - American Crafts,
Solid Textured Cardstock - Bazzill
Build-A-Flower Embossing Folders & Die Set - Provo Craft
Cuttlebug - Provo Craft
Foam Tabs - American Crafts
Pewter Brads & Photo Hangers- CTMH
Ribbon - American Crafts
Adhesive, misc buttons & ric rack

Today's Thought Is Brought To You By The Word "Pigsty"...

“Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find that you have crossed the mountain.”

—Unknown Author

Today's Thoughts for Thursday is brought to you by the word "pigsty"......



I will pick up the pebbles in this mountain and find new homes for them and eventually tonight I will get over my mountain of junk so that I can get back to creating. It may not look so bad in the pics, but there are tons of little pieces of paper and odds n ends of things that need to find homes, not to mention the hoards of goodies still in my CH tote (from my trip) that need to go back to their homes.... and the front wheels fell off my rollie cart in the background and it tipped and all the goodies in the drawers got all jumbled up and now need to be sorted again... and.... and....

I'm just gonna cross that danged mountain.... pebble #1, pebble #2.......

Digi In Deep : Digital Layout - This Is Me

Heya friends!

I went out of town last week (I will share pics tomorrow) and haven't had a chance to play on the blog yet this week. I've got some fun {paper crafting} projects I am working on after I get work tackled today and will share with you as I finish them.

In the meantime, I have this fun layout I just completed for my Digi in Deep class with Jessica Sprague. It's called "This Is Me" and is LOADED with layers of digital fun! I actually had a BLAST with this lesson and can't wait to have a little time to work on practicing the skills from the lesson.

There was really no "primping" for this pic... Thank you Jessica! She instructed us to take our photo in the bathroom mirror and "don't worry about looking hot, you're going to be blurry anyway." (....or something to that effect.) I quickly pulled on a bright shirt and threw a headband on to tame the "morning mane" and probably shot 60 pics until I got one that would work. Took some really fun shots, too. I might have to scrap them later!

Some of the skills we learned were: making the scalloped circle frame, adding grungy text as a texture layer, making ghosted (acrylic) flower images, FAKING OUT aperture in Photoshop (the clear finger and blurry me), layering a colored photo over a b&w photo and picking up the color from under neath with a ZILLION layers, scanning your fingerprint, etc... WOWZA! So Fun!


The quote for the inspiration of the "caption tags" is:

"The grand essentials to happiness in this life are somethign to do, someone
to love, and something to hope for." ~Joseph Addison

{Click on photo to view larger}

Can you guess how many different layers are in this layout? Like I said, there are TONS of them. See if you can figure it out - err, I mean guess - and I will let you on Friday morning. (Jeanne T and others in the class... shhhhhhhh... please don't share, yet.)

Inky Smiles!
Erin

4/18/08 - UPDATE:
There are two documents in this layout - a photo document (the focal photo and the frames) and the main scrapbook layout page.

The layers are as follows: Photo document - 53 layers, Scrapbook layout page - 46 layers, Total layers = 99 layers!

Happy Friday!!! Mini Calendar Art Share

This is the project from the sneak peek I posted yesterday. I am still searching for the perfect photo of Brent and Sadie to put on the inside left page above the paper strips and then it will be finished. I am thinking that I might have to hope for some nice weather tomorrow and take a photo of my two favorite people together. :)

Had some time to create while resting up and I made this little mini calendar using a free downloadable program from www.red-castle.com. The download took a few seconds and I opened the program and played around a bit to figure out the dimensions that I wanted for my calendar and then printed and cut out the calendar pages. I started with March 2008 and it goes through March of 2009.

I just LOVE this paper from Crate Paper and have another monogram project that I am working on to share later. It seems that I can't get enough of rhinestones, either... hehe!

Supplies Needed:
Bind It All Machine
Bind It All 1/2 OWires
4x4 Kraft Covers from BIA/Zutter
American Crafts Ribbon
Papertrey Ink Ribbon (5/8" pink grosgrain)
Maya Road Philadelphia (?) chipboard letter
Pink Rhinestones from Me & My Big Ideas
Double Sided Cardstock from Crate Paper (Twirl Collection)
Fruit Punch Stickles
Embroidery Thread
Paper Piercer & Needle
Adhesive
Liquid Glass (CTMH)