March Shoebox Gathering

Hi folks,

well today we went ahead with our March Shoebox Gathering with just two of us able to attend. Life's mishaps got in the way with a dislocated shoulder for one of the girls and a very sick child for the other. But not to fret! The two of us that went ahead are keeping the supplies set aside for our fellow crafty girls for the next gathering!

But I'm going to show you what the two of us made anyway - we decided to double-up and each brought two cards for the other to make.

Care to guess what our theme was for this month? Yep - grown-up masculine cards.

Here are close-ups of the two cards that my friend Dominique brought for me to make. Feel free to ooh and ahhh over her designs.

This first card uses papers from a wedding stack that she got at Michaels. I might have to track this one down - good masculine papers don't you think? I'm pretty sure the gears are Tim Holtz and the stamp (not sure of the manufacturer) but she got it at Heather's Stamping Haven here in Ottawa. The image was stamped twice, with the pocket watch cut out of the second image, accented with some really nice metallic paint and then popped up on dimensionals.

This second card uses more papers from Michaels. I have these in my own collection and are faves for masculine cards. I believe they are Gartner Studios - Bon Voyage. Love the old style sailing ship image. Reminds me of a replica ship called "The Matthew" that visited my home-town in Newfoundland a few years ago. I believe she also got this one at Heather's Stamping Haven. I see I am going to have to add this one to my collection (even though I have a more modern sailing ship in my own stamp collection). And there's another Tim Holtz gear...kind of looks like a ship's wheel!

I'll do separate posts for the cards I contributed for today's Shoebox Gathering - since I did them using a couple of sketch challenges that were posted this week.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Shoebox Gathering #1

Hi folks,

as promised,  here are some photos from our first shoebox gathering at my house yesterday! Dearly beloved grabbed the camera and snapped a few pics of us getting our crafty on!

Intent on creating....

Me on the left, Chrissy on the right - we're working on the card that Dominique designed.

Dominique on the left, Tanya on the right....

The four cards we created....mine is by far the the simplest. Going to have to up my game for the next gathering!

And close-up photos of everyone's card design....

By Tanya.....Look at all the detail!  Pretty ribbon, pin, charm and brad. Not to mention the stamped and embossed bird! I'm really going to have to take out my embossing powders and use them more.

By Dominique.....oh my! Those hearts are hand-painted. Very cool with pewter metallics mixed into the red. And that little key charm.

By Chrissy.....isn't that heart-filled mini-envelope the cutest? I'm going to be using this idea again I think. I can see it with hearts, flowers, shamrocks, cupcakes.....

And mine..... looking kinda ho-hum after the other three I think.

oh and this photo made me realize that my sample card has the heart locks upside down - and I thought the paper was omni-directional. doh! This is going to drive me crazy so I am going to have to try to fix the other card. sigh.....

So the great thing about today's get-together? I'm heading to Newfoundland again in late February to spend a week with my Mom when my Dad goes back out to sea. If I have time, I like to have cards prepped ahead of time for my sweetie. So....after today's get-together I'm off to a running start with four  cards!

Thanks for stopping by - hope you are having a wonderful day!

My Shoebox Gathering Creation

Hi folks,

Before Christmas I asked some of my crafty pals if they would be interested in having a little "shoebox" get together from time to time. If you are familiar with the idea of a "shoebox" get together it goes something like this - everyone makes a sample card and brings enough supplies for everyone else who is attending to make the same card. Since I've never done this before, I suggested we keep it fairly simple since we are all of different skill levels and experience when it comes to making cards. Then there's me -- "Miss slower than cold molasses running uphill" when it comes to CERTAIN aspects of card-making (seriously,  I am the slowest person I know when it comes to colouring) and not everyone likes to colour or has the supplies for colouring.

Anyways, taking all of that into consideration, I came up with this fairly clean and simple card.

As you can see, I did two versions of it so the gals can choose for themselves which version they prefer. The papers are double-sided so it makes it easy to pick one or the other. The only thing I  had to cut extras of were the hearts since the die is not symmetrical and has a different orientation if you flip over the die cut. I'm also going to leave it up to the gals to decide which sentiment they want to put on their cards - I do have a LOT at my disposal so.....

I've even got the bows already tied and ready to be attached to the cards -thank goodness for my Bow Easy!

I'll share with you tomorrow what the other gals had for us to create - the other three cards were just fantastic and VERY creative. Mine was definitely the simplest of the lot. I'm going to have to up my game for the next gathering!

card details:

• finished size: 4.25 x 5.5 inches, kraft cardstock base
• patterned papers: Martha Stewart Mat Stack
• stamps: Verve Love Notes
• die cut: Verve Jotted Heart
• rhinestones: Stampin' Up 
• brown satin ribbon from my stash (Fabricland). I finally used it ALL up for the shoebox supplies (I've had it for a year or so at least, so now I get to buy more!)

challenges for these cards:

• There She Goes Clear Stamps #140: Love is in the air
• Use it Tuesday Challenge #24: All about love
• Anything Goes Challenge #59: To the one I love
• Oldie But a Goodie: Have a heart
• Pixie Cottage #105: Love and Kisses (theme)
• DYSU #56: Ribbons
• Secret Crafters Saturday Challenge #170: Ribbon