A Note from Brit

Thank you for stopping by my blog! I have now moved over to my own domain for more room to grow, so make sure to check my new site and blog out at brittaswiderski.com. :)

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Me = Ecstatic.

Hey there scrapworld! It's Brit here once again, and I have sooo much to share with you from these last few busy days. First of all, let me start off by saying that I have an incredibly good chance to have a job by the end of this week thanks to one of my friends that I used to work with. I'm excited! I'll keep you updated. :)

1. We had a garage sale from Thursday to Saturday this week. All we did was post an ad on craigslist.org, and we had scrapbookers practically knocking down our door at 8 am. Ha! Okay, not really, but a a lot of scrappers showed up and almost everything that I put out sold. Crazy. So what's a girl to do? Oh right, go shopping. Here's the loot:

Everything that I bought was on sale (or a really good price), so I don't feel one ounce of gilt. I got: two sets of neutral thickers, a pack of white cardstock, a Sassafrass paper pad, a stamp, a swiss dot cuttlebug embossing folder, and some Basic Grey goodness. Oh, and I just readlized that I forgot to photograph my new Hero Arts Cute Critters stamp set. They are adorable! I also scored some cute vintage finds- a couple slips and a sweater.
One of my favorite finds- a Sassafras Wale of a Tale paper and sticker pad from Michael's for about 15 dollars. I love every single sheet of paper in this pack. A lot. I didn't even know they had pads of this! To see all the gorgeous sheets, check it out here.

Also, this nice damask stamp. Pretty:

ANNND look here- Archiver's has two Basic Grey 6 by 6 pads (Recess and Obscure) in the 1.99 section. I practically squealed when I saw these!

Oh yes, yesterday was a good day. That's if for scrapbooking shopping for me for a while though- at least until I get a job and save up enough money for next semester. Well, at least until the two new Basic Grey collections come out. All bets are off then...

2. So here's what I made. The first one is for Kristina Werner's Color Inspiration #54:

My take (and a before and after using Lisa's "Get Rid of Grey Gloom" Tutorial):

Close-up:

Supplies: Cardstock- The Paper Studio (White), American Crafts (Orange) and Archiver's (darker blue, lighter blue, and green), Stamps- Hero Arts, Ink- Hero Arts and Tsukineko, Embossing Ink and Powder- Ranger, Embossing Folder- Cuttlebug.

3. A grad card for my neighbor. I hope he likes it! I put a little pocket on the inside for a gift card that we're giving him, too.

Close-up:

Supplies: Cardstock- Archivers (Grey and Red) and The Paper Studio (White), Patterned Paper- Basic Grey (Recess 6 by 6 pad), Background Stamp- Hero Arts, Corner Rounder- The Paper Studio, Ribbon- The Paper Company, Embroidery Thread- DMC, Border Punch- Fiskars, Ink- Tsukineko, Embossing ink and powder- Ranger, "Congrats" Stamp- Studio G.

4. So about that Cuttlebug embossing folder- I love it. I, however, do not own a die cutting machine. I bought it on a whim with my 40% off coupon and figured I could make it work somehow. Lo and behold, a little google search brought me to this site that told me how. :) Here's how I did it for the first card I shared. It's really simple!

A. Grab your cardstock, your embossing folder, a rolling pin, and a spray bottle with water in it.
B. Spritz the paper very lightly on both sides. I should be very damp but not "wet". Align the embossing folder and close.

C. Set your paper and embossing folder sandwhich on a flat, hard surface (I used a desk) and roll over with the rolling pin several times, applying even and a fair amount of pressure.

D. Take the paper out and admire your handywork. If you need to cover a larger surface area, position the embossing folder again (using the previously embossed pattern as a guide) and use the rolling pin again. If the paper is starting to dry, spritz lightly with water once again.
E. Continue positioning the folder and rolling over it until you have the pattern in the desired places. If the pattern didn't show up very well, you just need to wet your paper a little more. It's all trial and error- so give it a try and see what happens.
F. When you're done embossing, place the paper under notebook or other flat surface. You don't want to swish the pattern out, just hold the paper flat while its drying, so keep that in mind.

Let me know if this works for you! I love that I bought the folder for about 3.50 and that's all I need to have my beloved swiss dots. :)

5. Pandora is awesome. I know I'm behind the times, but it keeps playing more and more songs that I love, and it's wonderful (like magic... hehe).

6. Five-Minute-a-Day bread. This idea is genius. I'm going to have to try this soon. Wouldn't you love to eat this every day?

7. The Brewers game was awesome. Me + 10 awesome guys + brats and ten bags of chips + baseball = a great day.

The guys planned it all themselves, and I was pretty impressed that they pulled it off. Well, we didn't have plates, napkins, or anything to go with the brats besides buns and ten bags of chips, but do you think they cared? No. Ha. I love boys- they're silly. Here's the group:
And Miller Stadium:
We lost, but I still had fun. It was probably Greg's and my fault collectively- we've been to about 5 football games, 4 hockey games, and two baseball games together, and our team has one once in overtime. We're a curse. :)

8. Thanks for stopping by, loves. Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon! Let me know if you have any questions.

Love.

Brit

5 comments:

Winter said...

Cute cards! Thanks for the tip about the embossing folder, alot cheaper than a Big Shot, I'll have to try that! :)

Unknown said...

Fabulous cards! I so love the one you created for the color challenge, the little animals are adorable!

Windy Robinson Life Handmade said...

Yeah!! Thanks for the tip about the embossing folder:) Love the card for the challenge.

Windy Robinson Life Handmade said...

Yeah!! Thanks for the tip about the embossing folder:) Love the card for the challenge.

Dishtowel Dame said...

The graduation card is adorable! Is that Studio G stamp one of their clear stamps, or a wooden stamp? I thought I had enough grad stamps, until I saw this one! You made a really cute card!
Ann
ann@dishtoweldame.com