Give It Away, Give It Away, Give It Away Now.

Super Awesome Contest Thing

My hubby is having this amazing giveaway in August,

and I'm excited to share it with you as well!

Here are the goodies being raffled:

A handmade canvas frame (courtesy of yours truly).

Here's an example of what it will look like with a 5x7 photo.

I have also made five greeting cards. 

Each of them highlight fun, typewriter-themed ephemera.

Why stop at paper? 

Here is a one-of-a-kind embroidery piece that I made using various fabrics and buttons.

This hoop adorned the wall of my office before Mike saw it and asked me to donate it to his cause.

He is also giving away a copy of his short-story anthology, although you don't have to wait for the contest to have a copy for yourself.  You can check it out here, too.

Go visit Mike's blog here to learn more and enter to win.  Good luck, friends!!!

xoxo

Genevieve

A Birthday Cocktail For You!

Happy hour cocktails for a happy birthday!

My work buddy loves the retro and Vintage style cards I make,

so I wanted to do something extra special for her this week.

I started with this fabulous balloon/music note sheet from Glitz Design

(I've been waiting to use it for over a year!)

I found some of these chipboard frames a little while back and painted this one a yellow gold to match the tones in this Vintage image.  The frame was a perfect fit!

Clusters of embellishments really make a card (or layout) stand out. 

Here I used several crocheted flowers, a fabric brad, hand-tied button and two pins.

Inside the card, I used a journal frame from Cosmo Cricket and stamped "Happy Birthday" on it, along with some flowers (there are tiny rhinestones in the center of each one, too).

Thanks for stopping in!  Happy Crafting!

xoxo

Genevieve

Pin-Up Promotion

My friend Callie and I share a passion for pin-ups!  When she was recently promoted to Catering Manager in my sales office, I wanted to make her an extra-special card to welcome her.

This image was perfect, since it mixed a lovely retro pin-up girl with office supplies!  lol

I love embellishing inside the cards, too.  I think it adds 87 points to the fun factor (this card, for example, has a fun factor of 132, of course).  :)

Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

Genevieve

Wonderland Chipboard Album

My project of the week has been this wonderland of a mini-album.  It took about 3 1/2 days of sanding and inking, but I'm so delighted with the results!

I used almost every sheet of the Hallowe'en Alice in Wonderland line from Graphic 45 on this baby.

On the front is a HUGE sparkly flower (3 layers deep) and a glazed brad by Basic Grey.

Upon opening the chipboard album, you're greeted with LOTS of fun ephemera to look at ~ hanging tags, hand-cut 3D embellishments, stick pins and ribbon! Each piece has been sanded and inked with brown and black. A photo will neatly tuck under the corner tear of beige paper.

The next page reveals a VERY merry un-birthday tea party!  I made room for a larger photo here (you can tuck it underneath the strip) and a 3D pop-up title label with more of the glazed brads.  Adding the black glittery flower at the bottom was my 4-yr-old's idea.  Great eye, Jackson!

This next page is my hubby's favorite.  He loves the rabbit tag with key charm at the top of the page.  It pops up with lots of 3D foam adhesive.  I've also tied it with brown string.

There is room for 2 more photos (you can tuck them under the ribbon) and a hand-cut Mad Hatter.

Finally, the back has more fabulous cardstock, all inked with several colors to give it an antique, burned look.  The album is about 5.5x9 inches.  Enjoy!

Death Valley ROCKS! - So To Speak

Jackson with his cousin on the mountain top.

Spent all of yesterday (and I mean ALL) hiking in Death Valley with the family. The weather couldn't have been better ~ flowers in bloom and rocks....well....still rocks.

The sand dunes are always my favorite part (plus, they are the gift that keeps on giving ~ when you bathe everyone, you are left with a beach for a bathroom! I see an inexpensive design episode on HGTV in my future!)

My little one and his cousins even became Junior Rangers! It was so cute! They looked for local plants and animals, picked up trash, learned about survival (well, at least a little bit. I'd still rely on a GPS and bottle of water over the advice of my 3-year-old).

Here is the layout I made from when we went in December (not much has changed), along with some pictures from this weekend.

Here is my dear hubby ~ always finding a time and place to write.

Pack Animal

Late last night, I received a custom request for a sexy Jacob (Twilight) card that says:

"Once you go pack...you never go back!"

Hilarious!  I couldn't wait to start on it.  I have been thinking of ideas for color and design all morning!  Finally, when both boys went down for their nap (hubby and son), I had a quiet house.  The fire and ink flew as I tore this and burned that.  Stitch here and distress there.

I still have ink on my nose, but here is the finished product.  I'm SO happy with it!

I Think, Therefore I Scrap.

One of the things I like most about making cards is that the themes are unlimited!  I find that happening often as I become a more "experienced" crafter. 

A few years ago, if my hubby had come to me one night and said:

"My buddy at work is having a birthday in two days.  Can you make him a special card?  He's a philosophy major and loves Descartes.  Go!"

I would have had a panic attack and threw together a birthday card featuring a duck and some left over glitter.

This time, however, I went with it.  I took a few minutes to think about what I wanted and made it happen (vs. making something happen around what I had on hand).  I'm totally into printing my own papers and images now and it has really expanded my creativity.

This card in particular, features Descartes (I think, therefore I am) and I did a play on it with this birthday greeting:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42839475

 

He took it into work last week and everyone went nuts over it (I love it so much when that happens.  It makes me feel all warm and squishy inside), so I decided to list it in my various stores as well. 

Wish me luck!  :)