Place In Time 3

Whew! Can you believe that there were almost 150 amazing entries in this month's challenge before the first winner was selected on the 15th!  My grand-daughter stepped in and said I had to increase the limitation on the number of entries....so I did which means if you haven't entered 3 times yet, you still can.

For this post I am returning with Series III of my "Place In Time Cards" project and this series was just as much fun to make as all the others. The colors for July and September were my favorites!  So without any more chatting I'll jump right in with showing them off.

 I have an announcement at the end of this post that I will appreciate you reading before you leave. 

First as usual we will take a look at the sketch we had to follow:
I just love how the sketches are all so very similar, but they each have their own cute signature with multiple layers adding to the style.

We now take a look at all three cards together.

July - August - September

JULY

The month of July is often celebrated with the faithful colors of Red White and Blue, and Graphic 45 has stayed close to those colors with muted reds blues and an ivory in their paper blend. 

Here is a peek at the inside using the same paper sheets.  For this series I wasn't as careful in my planning so I did use 2 12 x 12 paper sheets per card.

It made it so much easier to carry the theme over to the inside of the card.



AUGUST

I'm not real sure about the photos or the color palette used for August unless it signifies harvest, since the photos appear to be focused around cooking, harvesting and planting I think.  At any rate the colors and design did lend me to giving this card as a congratulations to a new home owner.

The inside came to be quite by accident.  My original thought was destroyed when it was attacked by a bottle of ink that turned over after I bumped the table.  Why did I do that you ask?

Well when your home has been totally quiet for approximately an hour or so and then all of a sudden your dog gives out one heck of a bark...it can startle you (smiles).

SEPTEMBER

I love the colors Graphic 45 selected for September!  But of course the ABC Primer collection was one of my favorites and now it has been discontinued...guess it was a favorite for lots of folks out there.  There are very few sheets still hanging around but they won't be for long I bet.

I kept the inside real simple and hope to maybe add a pocket later as a gift card or money holder.

School will end for the summer in a couple of months but will return come September, so this is one card down and three to go.

So there you have Series III of my project and of course if you'd like to try it yourself

  CLICK HERE  for the .pdf  tutorial provided by Gloria Stengel.

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ANNOUNCEMENT

As I have stated many times, Mema's Crafts consists of a grandmother, her two grand-daughters and one very supportive friend.  For the first two years it was just Mema and the two girls creating and having fun and then for the past year Joyce Owens of My Enchanted Paper Creations has been supporting us with our designs and it has been a blast.  Unfortunately, Joyce has decided to take a break due to life catching up with her so there will only be myself, Gabbi an Ari to create for you.

We're not going away...at least not this year anyway.  However I am looking for two or three designers to join our team.  We don't require anything except that you have fun and create 2-3 cards per month that follow our theme for that month and you remain on the team for at least 4 months.

Our sponsors will provide the images to us and we create the project (doesn't have to be a card). Like I said, we're just crafters having fun and trying to introduce our sponsors products to others by bringing to life their images or using their material and/or products.

  Your journey with us would start for our June Challenge.

 If you decide that you'd like to join us for a while

simply leave a comment and add the letters DT at the end of your name.

Thanks for stopping by

Hugs

~Lesia~

French Country Tag

I can't seem to get enough of the Graphic 45 French Country Collection and I tell you I feel as if I need to buy more before they discontinue it the way they did with A Ladies Diary which left me with my mouth hanging open and my brain was a ball of confusion...totally devastated me.  Well I will not suffer that pain and disbelief again.

I plan to use so much French Country that I get sick of it and with three more packs to go its gonna take a while, so I decided that tonight I would do one of their wonderful project sheets.  This one is a tag offered by Robin Shakoor.  It was really easy to create and didn't take to much time either.

I was glad it was quick because in four days I will need to post my next challenge and announce our final February Challenge winner.  Next month every Friday is a winner so get ready...its a sketch challenge and I'll give you a sneak peek to get you started but before I do let me share my tag with you.

Here is the front of the tag.  It has a little pocket and was created using scraps and one actual sheet from the 8x8 paper pad.  I didn't need to use any of the pages in the 12x12 paper pack so there is lots more projects to be made.  Maybe my next project will be either a mini, or another printer tray.  Who knows what I'll end up doing....leave it up to YouTube.

Although the project sheet doesn't include decorating the reverse side, it felt incomplete so I decided to decorate the back with a sentiment.
I added more scraps and then used one of the cut out pages to stamp my message.  I'm not sure if you can read it or not but here is what it says:

life may not

always be

the party we

hoped for,

but while we're here

we might as well

dance!

If you'd like to try creating this little tag for yourself, click the link below and keep your fingers crossed.  It should take you right to the tutorial. 

French Country Tag.

Well this is pretty much all I have to share with everyone.  Remember next month there will be four winners and below is the sneak peek I promised.

 March Challenge "Sketch Your Way"

You choose the sketch to follow

(1 or 2)

Thanks for Stopping By

~Lesia~

Place In Time

Lately, the weather here in Texas has been on a roller-coaster with no signs of normalcy on the radar.  Two days ago the temperature was 70% then today it was below 32% and will stay the same through Friday, and then an expected jump again on Saturday.  We're lucky if we can go a week without the sniffles or a cold.

This year I decided to make a monthly calendar and I would track birthdays and anniversaries on it.  I've gotten two months completed and I want to share with you those months.  I didn't fill out the dates, so this calendar will be usable for me year after year until I tire of it or do another one.

First up is JANUARY.  This is my favorite month because it starts a new year with new possibilities and more importantly it's my birthday month.

Its nothing fancy but it was fun to create and I still have room to add birthdays as I discover them but for now just the two have been recorded.  I created the little journal area using brads and twine.  Did just a little fussy cutting and created a pocket to add a couple of tags.

So moving on to FEBRUARY! This is the month of romance, and it is also referred to as Black History Month.

I did add just a little bit more embellishments and it turned out really nice.
I loved the reds and the red poppies were perfect for this layout.  Two family members have birthdays in this month and I won't forget them now.

Well that's all I have to share about my yearly calendar.  Don't forget my February challenge is open and we will be drawing our first winner next week.  Neat prize for Valentine's Day.

Supplies:
Graphic 45:  12x12 Easel Pad, A Place in Time Paper Collection
Wild Orchid: Roses and Poppies
Lace from Crafty Scrapper our local crafts store (store is online)
A Place in Time Chipboard Sheets 1 and 2, Tags and Pockets

Hugs

~Lesia~

Printer's Tray

Hello my lovely followers and friends.  I know I haven’t posted in a bit but I have been working on a project that is a first for me.  It is my first ever Printer’s Tray and it was such fun to create.  I’m pretty sure that I will do another one but fair warning about the measurements....there aren’t any and what you see on 7Gypsies site isn’t much help unless you can figure out what measuring system they are using. 

I had to painfully go through the trial and error method with each little window to determine the size I needed for my pattern paper and I couldn't share my measurements with my Crafting BFF because even if you buy the same model tray, the little window sizes aren't quite the same. I guess its the same logic that is applied to paper trimmers, because the rule of thumb is not to change trimmers once you start cutting your paper because they are calibrated just a wee bit differently which can have an impact down the road somewhere.  

Anyway I love the way my printer's tray turned out although little hands can create chaos if you're not watching.  There is a story behind the word "note" but today is not the day for telling the story...sorry, I'm just so tired. But check out my printers tray with all my little trinkets I added here and there. My inspiration to do this tray came from "Butterflies Kisses."

Now that you've checked out my little printer's tray it's time to remind you of our upcoming February Challenge, so start early with those creations. Create anything with hearts, or the words love, be mine or anything else that represents romance and love.

The theme isn't Valentine's Day, instead it's whatever you can create to answer the following question "What or Who Makes Your Heart Smile".

Talk about a broad range of ideas...so my friends...go have fun and join us next month AND if you haven't joined in this month's challenge, you still have a couple of days to get those projects in for a chance to win 5 Precision Dies from Frantic Stamper.

Well guys this is Mema signing off

Hugs

~Lesia~

Graphic 45 Release

Hello everyone.  After fighting the war with the flu I think I am finally winning.  It was such a blessing to be able to take a full shower without the fear of passing out and to sleep through the night for 5 hours without the fits of coughing.  Life is beginning to look good again, and my heart is filled with joy and peace once again.

Sounding a bit dramatic but I truly felt like I needed to call my attorney to go over my will.  The worse flu I have ever had!!  But I am winning this fight one cough or germ at a time (smiles).

Now that I'm up and on my PC again, I have to say I am real excited about all the new releases coming out next month.  Have you seen the new releases coming from Graphic 45?  They have done it again with three new collections and of course I am anxiously waiting for them to hit the shelves, although I will limit myself to just one (maybe two) complete collection.

There is the Botanical Tea Collection, All Sports Collection and By the Seaside Collection.  The colors aren't as bold as French Country and not quite as pastel as Secret Garden or Sweet Sentiments.  These new colors are rather mute and subtle so I'm not sure how I feel about them.

I decided not to do any pre-ordering this time, and my hope is that I won't later regret that I made this decision.   After looking at the new releases and the projects the team created I decided to expend the rest of my newly found energy on a project/tutorial offered by Graphic 45.

Now I am ready to share it with you.  The card is only 5.5 x 4.75 but I like how it turned out.

I used the gorgeous "French Country" paper collection and matched it with Tim Holtz's postage stamp die to create the frame.  I then layered my paper and added a border punch on one of the layers.  The center of the card I have a pocket tag from the French Country chipboard sheet.

I fussy cut the big sunflowers and used foam tape to pop them up and then I cut the words out from one of the sheets and popped them up as well.

I followed the tutorial pretty much but as usual I started making my own little changes along the way.  The inside I created using the negative of the die cut from the front and added a few leftover scraps to finish it off.

Now I'm off to bed...still trying to make sure I get enough sleep to allow my body to finish healing.

There's still time to enter our challenge to be eligible for our first prize winner, selected on the 15th as well as our monthly prize at the end of the month.

Until our next rendezvous, be safe and allow your creativity to flow.

Hugs ~Lesia 

Skinny Mini with Card

Whew!! The joys of Christmas...it takes a year to get here and then within 24 hours all the hustle and bustle is over and our lives return to the ordinary and the daily routines slowly pokes its head back into our lives.

For me it was time to finish a project I was working on right before Christmas and now that the little ones are resting I managed to finish it and now it is time to share.

WARNING: This post is photo heavy! Although there were lessons learned with this project, I am still quite pleased with the way it turned out and hope you'll enjoy seeing it (or them). So if you're ready for a lot of photos...then here we go.



To start I decided to show the skinny mini along with a matching card that was made using the leftovers from the skinny mini.

Just another tutorial I found on YouTube and decided to give it a go.

Here is the set again but with the inside of the card showing.

The paper for the entire project is Graphic 45 Secret Garden. This paper is so gorgeous that I used very little embellishments and they were mostly on the cover of the mini.

The flowers are as usual Wild Orchids and then lace I picked up at my local crafting store "Crafty Scrapper" which has a little of everything.



The ribbon is Stampin Up and I inked my edges with Walnut Stain distress ink (I need a refill).  Next up are photos from the inside of the skinny mini.  I've tried to keep them in order.

The first page has a flap on the left that is held down with a magnet.  On the right you have a pocket that will hold a 4x6 photo if you'd like but I created a little pocket and inserted it in the pocket.

On the left when you open the flap you have another pocket for tags or whatever.  I added a tag using the paper to cover the tag and created a space for journaling on the reverse side.

The second has two flaps that lift upward.  On top of the flaps I created corner pockets for whatever you want to tuck away and added a couple of embellishments.  Then we lift those flaps to show belly bands that can be used to hold photos or other sentimental objects.

On the base there are two holders that hold a mini pocket album in the open position.  This pocket mini is perfect for holding 4 photos.

On the last page I have another pocket on the left and on the right a smaller pocket that is tucked in two bottom corner pockets.  I really love how this paper just seems to bring everything together.

And finally we have the back of the Skinny Mini where I added ribbon to try and add a bit of interest.  Lastly I added my signature block.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check and see if you're a "Friday Winner".

Hugs

~Lesia~

Mema's Challenges Update

Hello Everyone

This is a quick post to let you know that beginning April I will be changing my challenges to post on the first Monday of every month and run until the end of a month with a winner on the 15th and the 30th  of the month (almost every two weeks).

So the earlier you post the more chances you have to win.  A winner will be chosen on the 15th and then again on the 30th of the month.  Hope you will join in the fun and share your talent with us.

Additionally, my challenges will always be "Anything Goes" with an optional twist so if you feel like a twist take the plunge but if you're not up to it then share with us your style...its your choice.   I want my challenges to be a way for you to have fun, win prizes and share your passion for crafting with others that have the same passion.

So look for this change next month, but for now I have a couple of cards to  share with you.

For this card I used Glitz Pretty in Pink paper collection along with the layered sticker that came in the collection.  The flowers and the crystals are Recollection.  I used a piece of ribbon from my stash and a few buttons.  I inked and distressed the edges.

This masculine card was created using  "The Craftsman" a new paper pack from Prima that I just received.  I stamped the sentiment twice and then popped it up using foam dots.  I also added stitching around the outside of the card and cut out a gear from a sheet of the paper.


I think I'll enter this card in:
Penny's Paper Crafting Challenge - Stitching or Faux


Both of these cards were inspired by other designers who are a bit more talented than I am....so big kudos and thanks for keeping me inspired.

Well I hope everyone is having a great weekend and I look forward to seeing your creations.

Take Care Until Next Time

Lesia

Tic Tac Toe

Hope you had a good week and have fun plans for the weekend.  I am real anxious for spring to step on up to the plate so we can stop playing the game of 45 degrees one day and then 75 the next.
Anyway, I am here to share my DT card for this week's challenge over at 613 Avenue Create.  It's our first challenge for the month of March and we're playing "Tic Tac Toe" so get ready!

My card base and mats are Recollections and the patterned papers are from Authentique Essentials Collection 6x6 pad. The image is The Vicarage Scene by Rick St Dennis.

I printed my image on Neenah paper and colored it with my Copics. I cut it out, added a mat and then used foam dots to pop it up on my card. I added green stickles to the bushes around the house for a little glistening effect.

I punched out a few pennant flags using my Paper Studio 2" pennant punch and then outlined it with my white gel pen. I also included a couple of brads and some bling. Lastly I stitched around the outside of the top layer to box in my image. The sentiment is by Poly Cling clear stamps.

Tracing my tic-tac-toe three times finished my card. I am entering this card in the following challenges:

All That Stickles - Use Green Stickles

Catch the Bug - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and while you're here don't forget to enter our March "Anything Goes" challenge by clicking the tab above, and then hop over to 613 Avenue Create.

March Challenge

Hello everyone and welcome to this month's challenge!  I hope everyone that participates will have fun and spread the word about Mema's monthly challenges.

This month our challenge theme is "ANYTHING GOES"!!!!!

 Yep its the one we all love, but this time I've added an optional twist to the challenge.  The optional twist to the challenge should you decide to accept it is "Pockets Inside 'N' Out".  If you can tuck something, hide something, or give something then its a pocket.  So come on and let's play the pocket game.

You have until March 28th to enter your project, and it doesn't have to be a card.  Anything Goes!  There are several ways to win and multiple prizes to be won.

 Digi and rubber stamps from KennyK are a fun and edgy way to add the perfect dose of attitude and style to all your creations!  

The winner of this challenge will receive 5 Digi images of their choice from KennyK Downloads.

NOTE 1: Your entry does not have to contain pockets but if it does and you win...I'll add a bonus prize in addition to your KennyK digis.

NOTE 2:  If you use one of our sponsors images your entry will count twice, plus add a pocket and win an additional bonus prize.

A minimum of 10 entries is required in order for me to award a prize so tell your friends to join us.

Don't forget to follow the rules located in the Rules Tab above.  That's all there is to it so lets play.  Here is what my girls and I have created.

Ari

The first card made with Graphic 45 paper has a pocket where a tag is tucked with a message.

Clean, simple and very masculine.  The inside uses the same paper and is layered with a space for a personal message.

The next card is a concertina card that has lots of pockets on both sides offering lots of hiding space for tags, candy and other small trinkets.

If you'd like to give it a try check out my tutorials.

Scrap paper was used for this card and a belly band is used to hold the image, and keep the card closed.

Here we see one side of the card opened.  Notice the many pockets.  This style card is perfect as a mini-album to hold all those wallet size photos.

Lesia

The next card we'd like to share is a hiddden pocket behind the image.  Here we use this pocket to stuff the sentiment.

The paper collection "The Craftsman" released by Prima.  The image is courtesy of our sponsor KennyK.




Inside is a larger pocket that can be used to hold money or a gift card.  Several other items could be placed in this pocket with a little creativity.

Our next card is indeed a pocket card.  Shown here, this card comes complete with the assembly of an actual pocket, stitching and all.

This pocket seems to be holding a lovely floral arrangement and is home for another KennyK design.

We've shown you our pockets,  and now its your turn to show us how you pocket stuff.  So let's get this party started.  Enter your creations below and show us your style.

We can't wait to see your creations!

Thanks for stopping by and playing with us.

Hugz ~Lesia~