Michelle Zindorff Brayer Class

I got the chance last month to do one of Michelle Zindorff's brayer classes in Moore, OK. I live in Broken Arrow near Tulsa about 2 hours from Moore but my sister lives in Moore. It worked out that the weekend I was going to my sisters was the same weekend Michelle was having one of her classes there. It was only about 2 or 3 miles from where my sister lives. I was able to get in at the last minute to her beginner but all the advanced classes were full.

The class I took was on Sunday morning. It just so happened that there were only 3 of us in the class. Michelle said that it was very unusual for a class not to fill up. I'm guessing it was because it was on a Sunday morning and Oklahoma is in the Bible belt so probably everyone was a churh. Which is where I would have been if Ihad been a home. : ) The other 2 ladies that were in the class were also from Tulsa. Having such a small class meant Michelle could just sit there at the end of the table and not have to stand and walk around to everyone. We got individualized attention and she had 3 giveaways which meant we each got one. What we got were her demo cards that she made or the class. So I have an original Michelle Zindorff picture. : ) I may have to frame it and hang it in my craft room.

So here are the cards that I made in class. This is the order that we made them.
Not bad, huh? It's basically learning the technique that Michelle has perfected in using the brayer. Now I need to practice, practice and practice some more.On this second card I ended up having some black smudges on it so that is why the birds are there. Michelle didn't have birds on hers. The birds looked bette then the smudges. ; )
Now as of yet I have not tried to make any more using her techniques but I really hope to VERY soon. Michelle called me the "Whimpy Stamper"! Well, I kind of was too. After just a short time of using the brayer my arm/shoulder was hurting. I asked if we would be sore from this and she looked at me kind of funny and said "No". I asked the other 2 girls if it hurt them and they said no also. So that is where I got the label "Whimpy Stamper". My shoulder has been hurting for a long time when I do activities that move my arm back and forth like that. I finally went to the doctor just yesterday and she thinks it's my rotater cuff. I got a steriod shot in my arm, some anti-inflamatories to take every day and a couple of excerices to do to strengthen the rotater cuff. I go back to the doctor in about 4 weeks. I hope this helps because it has really intereffered with me doing thing. Cooking, cleaning and even scrapping hurts so I knew it was time to do something.

It's Christmas Eve and I wanted to wish everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

SSDS - Sketch Challenge

At Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturday blog this week is a sketch challenge. Because of the Christmas holiday this week's challenge will be open for 2 weeks. All you have to do is follow the sketch and make your card. This is my take on the sketch. I used Copics to color the image and I think the paper is Bo Bunny but not 100% sure. I used Dew Drops on the bottom edge.

Here is the sketch to use for the challenge. It was designed by our very own DT - Carlie.

You have 2 weeks for the challenge so go on over to SSDS and check out what the other DTs did and enter your own card. The sponsor for this week's challenge is Paper Temptress.

SSDS - Shaped Card Challenge (Ornament Card)

Not that you probably missed me but I was unable to participate in last week's challenge over at Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Saturday challenge blog. My computer got a nasty virus and my hubby took it in but just for the "free" cleaning and didn't clean the virus off. It's really strange when I try to Google something it gives me the list of sites to check and then when I check them it gets hijacked and goes to these weird places. Anywho, enough about my computer problems let's get on with the challenge this week at SSDS. The challenge is to create a shaped card any shape except square or rectangle.
I will show you what I did that worked first then I'll move on to the diaster. : O I made an ornament card.
This wasn't my intention. At first it was going to just be a round card or roundish. There had to be a flat side where the back could stay attached. So what I did was take my very old Creative Memories circle cutters system and cut a large circle on a folded piece of white cardstock. I hung the circle pattern over the cut edge of the paper so there would be an area that stayed together. I hope that makes sense. I didn't take a pic of what I'm talking about. Then I cut the smaller size circle in red and layered it on top.

I had already colored the image (Lilly from The Pink Cat Studio) with Copics. Added the background paper and sentiment then went to put it on the card. It ended up fitting better having the opening at the top. When I held it that way I thought hey that looks like an ornament. So I made it into an ornament.
I had this golden yellow paper that already had a scalloped edge so I just cut it off to make the top of the ornament. Then I took 2 circle punches and punched out what looks kind of like the ring to hold the hanger and attached it to the back of the card. I think I did pretty good considering I changed plans in the middle of making the card. : )

Now on to my diaster! I had printed out a ginerbread and snowman digi to the far right of my page then folded it in half and cut it out. It looks ok but I could tell I should have used thicker paper. I colored it with Copics and then added white Liquid Applique to make it look like fluffy white trim. So this doesn't look too bad right?

Well open up the card and see the diaster inside!!! ICKY!! Of course, Copics bleed through so why wouldn't you see this on the inside then the back side of the card I tried to outline to make it look better and well as you can see that didn't work.

I'll probably just cut off the back and use the front on another card. Here is the snowman I made and cut out but didn't end up coloring. The concept is good but my execution didn't quite make it.

Now back to the challenge over at SSDS, go over and check out what cool shaped cards the other DT's made then go make one yourself and enter it in the challenge. The winner this week will receive some goodies from Victoria Case who is sponsoring our challenge.

Baby card and Gift

I've had people ask me many times if I sell the stuff I make and the answer has always been no. Well I finally decided I'm going to start selling some of my things and take specific orders. I already have sold some cards and have an order for some Christmas cards and I'm making 2 scrapbook albums for Christmas gifts. I may have gotten in over my head on those but I'll let you know when I'm done.

This is a card and paper bag album for a baby gift. I made it for the lady who cuts my hair. It's for one of her customers and in exchange she will give me credit towards the services she gives me. I'm also going to be doing a scrapbook album for a trip she is going to be taking.

This is only the second paper bag album I've made but I enjoy doing these. I think they are fun and pretty easy to make. All the paper in this project and for the card is from Fancy Pants, it's called "Little Sprout".

She knew the baby was going to be a boy so when I found some pink in the paper I tried to cover it up. Like with the brown flower at the bottom. Yes you can use flowers on boy's pages, especially when they are babies. It may get harder as they get older but when they are young, go for it.

I just used 2 paper bags for this ablum so that made for 2 opening that I had for pull out tabs.

I used ribbon to connect the bags together instead of rings because it made it less bulky and that way she could toss it in her purse for a take along brag book.

I have thought about opening an Etsy shop to sell my cards but I just don't know if I want to deal with shipping or not. I like doing thing local so there is no shipping involved. Who knows maybe I can make enough to support my own scrapping addiction. ; )