Artful Avocations

World Card Making Day

Wow!  Time sure goes by fast these days.  Now that school is back in session, I'm back to trying to squeeze in a little time to post here. 

I know many of you have scheduled events for World Card Making Day and I hope they are all fun and successful for each of you.  I am planning an event along with our school secretary too.  She's handling the administrative end and I'm designing and preparing for all the projects.  If any of you are in the Southern California area and looking for a fun card making event, please consider joining us.  We are doing this as a fund raiser for the Washington, D.C. trip for our 8th graders.  These students do not come from families that can just dish out the money for a trip like this.  They work hard during their 7th and 8th grade years to raise funds and save up for this trip.  I like to help out with events like this one.  Several of the 8th graders and their parents will be helping during the day by manning the project tables to help with project directions and also helping in the kitchen preparing a delicious lunch.  The event is for everyone age 8 and up.  The admission fee is $5 and each project is priced from $1 to $5.  You can make as many or as few as you'd like.  Send me an email if you are interested in more information or to register.  SharonSRivera@aol.com.  Please write WCMD Fund Raiser in the subject line so I know it's not spam.

I will try to get the projects posted soon.

Have a great FALL weekend everyone!

Holiday Boutique Anyone??

I do have some projects to post for you, but not tonight.  I still have to photograph and watermark them, so I'll get them up later in the week.  Tonight I'd like to invite you to participate in a Holiday Boutique that my school is having.  I'm looking for crafters who would be interested in renting a space to sell their hand crafted items and demonstrators/consultants of direct sales/home party plan companies (only one vendor per company will be allowed on a first come basis).  If you are in the Los Angeles or Orange County area, we'd love to have you join us.  The event will be held in Whittier, CA, on November 15, 2008.  It is indoors, so it will be held rain or shine.  A 10' x 10' space is $60 and there are no requirements to donate a door prize or a percentage of your gross sales. The event will be advertised in the local paper and a variety of other local media.  School children will be providing entertainment throughout the day and food and beverage items will be available.  Please contact me if you would like further information about renting a space as a vendor or just attending as a shopper - we will need those too!! 

Have a great week ahead and thanks for stopping by! 

Pumpkin Picking

Your eyes are not deceiving you!  It IS another scrapbook page by me.  I rarely get a chance to actually make any of the pages that are floating around in my head.  Last week I thought I would take the opportunity to do this page before school gets into full swing and my stamping time becomes a premium again.

I really love how cute these kids are with their pumpkins and smiles from ear to ear.  I'll be taking this year's class to pick pumpkins in a couple of weeks and I'm probably more excited than they are!  I just love this field trip because it's always so much fun to see the excitement on their faces while they run around the pumpkin patch trying to find the perfect pumpkin to pick.

When I do make scrapbook pages, I like to keep the layouts simple and uncluttered to keep the focus where it should be - on the pictures!  That being said, I kept the embellishments to a minimum on this page because I had several pictures I wanted to include and didn't want it to become too busy.

I used ACWP's Autumn Picking set for this page.  I created the background by stamping the maple leaves (there are two, one facing left and one right*) all over in a random sort of way.  The designer paper and card stock layers are sewn on to the page with a zig-zag stitch.  The pumpkins were stamped and watercolored with SU! classic inks.  I used a stylus and a foam work mat to emboss them to make them a little 3-D.

Stamps used:  A Chemistry With Paper - Autumn Picking
Supplies used:  Stampin' Up! card stock, designer papers, classic inks, dimensionals

Save now on ACWP's Autumn Picking!  It's on sale for 20% off.  Check out their site and enter the coupon code at the checkout.

*One of the things I like about the ACWP's designs is that images that can be directional are usually done facing two directions, take for instance these maple leaves.  This set also includes two apples, with the leaves on opposite sides of the stem.

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Fall!

Back[pack] to School

I made this little backpack a few weeks ago for Sam's daughter, Savannah.  Sam was so proud in telling me about what a good student Savannah is, so I thought I would reward her for a job well done and hopefully provide an incentive to keep up the good work as she begin's a new school year.  Sam posted this on her blog, but I wanted to post it here too.

I used the new SU! Sizzix Bigz Top Note die cut for the top flap and the bottom part of the backpack is just a piece of card stock cut and scored with a bottom wide enough to hold whatever contents to want it to hold.

I used all SU! papers, embellishments, punches, etc.

The letters are also die cut with the new SU! Sizzlets Naturally Serif die.

The "Happy day" sentiment was made by using a marker to ink up a Happy Birthday stamp from A Chemistry With Paper and omitting the "Birth" part.

Here are some other views of the backpack and the card insert for the front pocket.  Click on them for larger views.

Don't forget tomorrow, September 5, is the last day to use the 10% off coupon at A Chemistry With Paper!  AND Don't forget to get your entries in for their contest.  Read about it at their online store.

Thanks for stopping by.  It really makes my day to receive e-mail and comments from you!  Love you all!