C.R.S

I was mighty glad to read your comments on my post yesterday and see that I'm not alone in the blogging addiction thing. I really didn't mean to complain about it because I truly do enjoy it. I just wish that I had more time to do other things. I guess the only thing right now that I'm willing to give up would be my job, however, that is attached to my paycheck which I'm NOT willing to give up.
You're probably wondering what all of that has to do with C.R.S (can't remember stuff, although stuff is more often replaced by a 4 letter word) Actually it has nothing to do with it at all, and merely serves as an opening to tonight's otherwise short post.
I believe it was last month a made a card and can't remember if I had shown it to you or not. I used it the other day to send to someone and took a picture of it first.
This one has another one of those tea bag folded medallions on it.

I cut a piece of scrapbook paper in to 2" squares to fold for the medallion then mounted it to a plain green piece of cardstock.  The larger piece of patterned paper is the same paper I used for the medallion.

So I'm taking it slow tonight. I'm not commenting on EVERY single post I read and I may not even get around to all of you. If not I'll catch up with you over the weekend.

Another try

Remember when I showed you my Thanksgiving cards and said that I had another idea I was going to try? No? Oh well, it really wasn't that memorable of a statement anyway :)
But it did give me something to blog about today. Mainly I wasn't pleased with the last 2 cards because of the lack of color. This time I chose more fall like colors and used my own photos. I also went with a larger card because sometimes bigger is better.
So what do you think of these?

This first one isn't actually finished, or then again maybe it is. I was thinking about putting something in the blank space next to the picture but haven't decided what yet.

This one didn't need anything else.

It's just not working

There are some of my card/craft projects that turn out good and then there are some that I really don't like at all. I attempted to make a couple more Thanksgiving cards and the first wasn't so bad but the second goes right into the FAIL category. But, since the blog posts must go on I'm going to show them both to you anyway.
I grabbed a few graphics from The Graphics Fairy attempting to make something different.
This is the one that I'm not completely dissatisfied with

This one on the other hand, like I said FAIL!!!!  The graphic is black and white, the color choices were just plain drab (although so were pilgrims I suppose) and the turkey I made with my Cricut just looks hideous.

I have another idea that I'm going to work on and if that turns out as bad as these then I'm skipping right on to Christmas.
I do have a question for anyone that makes cards or does scrapbooking though. I seem to be having a slight problem with adhesives. I mainly use a tape runner for attaching the layers but they don't always seem to stick very well. The one I have now is an Elmer's permanent tape runner. I've tried other brands and get the same results. I think I have it adhered well but then a day later I have layers falling off. What the heck am I doing wrong?

A new card

No more ideas for Halloween cards so it was time to move on to Thanksgiving. I've only done one so far and then my ideas sort of fizzled out.
I was pretty pleased with this one though

I got the idea for the ripped and curled frames around the leaves from a book I have called  The Ultimate Paper Crafts Collection.
The pattern for the quilled leaves came from a blog by the same name as it's author Molly Smith. Her profile describes her as "Designer, author and instructor for the craft and hobby industry." She generously shared this pattern on her blog. I also used the leaves on another card I made HERE.
Of course my Cricut machine came into play on this one also. I used it to cut out the letters.

A quilling challenge

I found a blog called Take a Quill Pill that is doing a monthly challenge. Now I know I'm pretty new at this but what the heck I thought I would join in just for the fun of it.
This month's challenge is to make a card with at least on quilled flower and one butterfly. I really wasn't entirely happy with this card. I think the papers that I used are just a little too busy. The butterfly may not be exactly what they were looking for either but it is a butterfly, or it was meant to be anyway :)
Well enough yacking, here's my card

Birthday card

One of the girls at work has a birthday coming up. Yeah! An excuse to make another card. Like I really need one.
She's a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan and I was going to make something related to that but then I changed my mind. So this is what she's getting. A little more girly than football, but I think she'll like it.

Fall greetings

I am having so much fun making the cards. I thought that it might be time to move on from the Halloween ones though and go with a simple fall theme. I'll be working on Thanksgiving ones and then Christmas next.
This one is just an all occasion type fall card with a little quilling added for accent.

Ghost

I'm running out of ideas for Halloween cards but I did make one more.

I cut the trick or treat bag using my cricut machine. The ghost I just cut by hand. I cut the arms separate then taped them to the back. Then I took a gray colored pencil to highlight the edges, the bottom and around the eyes and mouth. I added the cute little rosy cheeks with a colored pencil too. I just used a regular hole punch to make the eyes and mouth and then glued them on.
I'm betting that some of the more serious card makers would cringe at some of my methods but no matter, I have fun. Isn't that what it's all about?

Is it too Early?

Certainly by retail standards it's not too early to start preparing for Halloween. Some of the stores have already condensed the Halloween stock to make room for Christmas, which totally drives me crazy. That's most likely the reason for the decline in my enthusiasm for the holidays. Don't get me wrong, I still love them, I just hate the way the stores seem to push it out there earlier and earlier all the time.
When it comes to crafting, I don't think it's ever too early to get started on holiday projects. With that being said, I've been on a roll with a few Halloween cards.

 My Cricut has been getting quite a work out the past few days. I did cheat on one of them however. The card with the haunted house and the ghosts I used store bought die cut stickers. I left them on the original backing and covered the edges with strips of paper. That way the recipient of the card can use the stickers in their own Halloween project.
So do any of you have any Halloween projects in the works?

The boss's birthday

The owner of the store I work at is 74 today. He's pretty much turned over running the store to his son but he still comes in every day and takes care of the produce department. Whenever I have a question or a problem I usually go to him first. Sometimes it's just to see if I'm overreacting to something or not but 9 times out of 10 he agrees with my opinion.
No one had started passing around a birthday card yet for him so I took in one that I had made for everyone to sign. Nothing fancy but I don't think he'll mind.

I used my cricut to cut out the cupcake. I'm really enjoying that machine and I think I might finally be starting to figure out how to use it.

Working my way back

I'm slowly but surely working my way back into the creative mood. I've been pouring through magazines and scouring the internet for inspiration. I've also been picking up the camera a little bit more. I have a bazillion ideas running through my head which is probably how I ended up getting burned out the last time. Can't help it though. The most recent things I completed were two cards. One you saw yesterday that I decided made the perfect get well card for Ratty. The other is a Halloween card that I did some quilling on.

I even decided to make a matching liner for the envelope.

A special message (second post for the day)

I have a very special message to deliver today. Those of you who read The Everyday Adventurer or Nature Center Magazine have probably already heard that our friend Ratty was in an accident on Friday. His truck was hit from behind while he was stopped at a traffic light. He was even taken to the hospital.
Today's post is to send Ratty well wishes for a speedy recovery and to let him know that his blog friends are thinking of him.
Since they say that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, we're sending you a bushel basket full of them Ratty.

I just happened to have made this card shortly before I read about the accident and thought that it would make the perfect get well wish. I think my crafting inspiration is starting to come around again. YEAH!
Before I forget I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend.

Practice makes for a lot of mediocre projects

They say that practice makes perfect. I'm not there yet. But it's ok because I have fun practicing. I made a couple of cards just for fun the other day.

Here's one with a close up of the quilled pieces blended together in one picture.

 Let me tell you, that hummingbird was a real treat. That sucker has some really, and I mean REALLY small pieces. He's far from perfect but I couldn't just throw him away so I plopped him on a card. The other bird is supposed to have one of those little google eyes on it but I didn't have any so he didn't get one. Although I noticed after I glued him down that there is a little speck of white on the picture underneath him so my story is that I purposely placed him there so that the speck could serve as his eye. Yep that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Something for Sunday

I just have a quick post this morning. It promises to be a beautiful day and I want to take advantage of it since we haven't had nearly enough of them this summer.
Wade's birthday is this month so I was working on a card for him. He's a bit of a music buff so of course it had to have a musical theme to it. It's been awhile since I've posted any freebies so today I'm going to share this card with you. It was made on an 8 1/2 x 11 canvas so it can be printed out on a standard size piece of paper or card stock. I've included the psd and jpeg files

If you like it and can find a use for it you can grab it HERE