Very Mary

Happy 40th, Laura!

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, Dear Laura, Happy Birthday to you!

Hope you have a wonderful day today and a great year to follow! :)

And please do hop along to the next blog to see the rest of your birthday greetings!

A quick holiday card...

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving! We celebrated in style here with a big dinner for the three of us! (Less pressure to be a perfect chef if there are no guests involved.) Besides the fact that the pumpkin pie required an extra 40 minutes in the oven and totally screwed up my timetable causing me to delay dinner by an hour and subsequently burn the bottom of my homemade rolls, all went well. And was very enjoyable. Enjoyable enough that I have volunteered my culinary services to make a turkey dinner for Christmas Day. Wish me luck!

I have some photos from the big day, but like the majority of my photos, I have not edited them, and if I'm honest, I'll admit that I probably won't even look at them until after Christmas. Such is my busy life. :)

But not so busy that I can't stop and make a quick holiday card to share:

Supplies:

• Bo Bunny Chocolate Double Dot patterned paper
  
• American Crafts Boarding Pass patterned paper
  
• Hero Arts Houndstooth rubber stamp
• Hero Arts ClearDesign Frames and Messages stamp set
• Versamark watermark ink
• American Crafts white embossing powder
• American Crafts silver mini brads
• Doodlebug Designs Lily White Flocking Powder
• Provo Craft Cricut diecutting machine
• Provo Craft Accent Essentials cartridge

A few things to note:

• This is a lift of one of Kristina Werner's cards from her class A Year in Cards: November 2009, which details three great ideas for simple, easy to make holiday cards.
• With the exception of the silver brads, the entire card is made with scraps!
• The snowflake is a diecut from the Accent Essentials cartridge. I inked it up with liquid glue and covered it with white flocking powder.

And now....to work on our family Christmas card...

WEEK 3 - DIY HOLIDAY GIFTS

Hey all! Today is the beginning of my portion of the free DIY HOLIDAY GIFT class at Two Peas in a Bucket. Here's a peek at the six card set that I created:

 

Read more, see individual photos, download instructions, and see links to all the supplies that I used right here. And be sure to let me know if you have any questions! :)

A Card a A Day

I have multiple cards in this fun book (which features a card for every single day of the year):

You can check out one of my cards and quite a few other lovelies as well on the Moxie Fab World blog today! :)

In other scrappy news, keep your eyes peeled for a free DIY Holiday gift class starting at Two Peas in a Bucket on Monday, November 9!! The class is four weeks long and features two new projects each week. I think you just might like 'em! :)

More Halloween...

Did you all get lots of cards made for WCMD? I didn't get a chance to share any yesterday, but I thought I'd pop by today and share another Halloween card:

 

Supplies: Die-cut cartridges: Stretch Your Imagination, Lyrical Letters, Cardstock: Bazzill Basics, Doodlebug Designs, Patterned Paper: Making Memories, KI Memories, Ink: Versamark, Embossing Powder: American Crafts, Other: Ribbon

It's a quick card that I made using the Stretch Your Imagination and Lyrical Letters cartridges. Both are great for cardmakers. Stretch Your Imagination, because it has pages and pages of seasonal designs from summertime watermelon to wintertime snowmen. Lyrical Letters, because it has several pages of sentiments that you can add to your cards without breaking out the stamps or the printer. Sometimes I like to simplify the process.

For the black background, I used my Cuttlebug to emboss a piece of black cardstock, which I then inked with Versamark and covered with black glitter embossing powder (this stuff is awesome for Halloween stamping projects) to make my own glittered paper. If you didn't feel like going to all the trouble, you could easily use some glittered paper from Doodlebug Designs, but I always like a chance to use my Cuttlebug. :) The pumpkins are backed with red glittered paper and attached to the card with foam adhesive. I'm addicted to that stuff! LOL!

Hope you all are having a fabulous weekend! 

Spooky things...

...like spending lots of money on Halloween decorations. We're decorating around here. Sadie is thrilled. But truth be told, it's rather difficult to find any decorations that are a) not battery operated, b) dripping with plastic blood, 3) not cheap plastic and about to fall apart, and 4) classy with a spooky appeal. We went to Pier 1, Michael's, and IKEA. IKEA was a last resort for a few DIY decorations. We'll see how that goes. :)

In the meantime, here's a little card to spread the ghoulish charm:

I used Provo Craft's A Child's Year cartridge for the card and the witch silhouette.You could cut the witch from glitter paper, but I didn't have any, so I inked her with a glue pad and sprinkled her with black glitter. An easy technique that is little messy, but eye-catching. And who really minds if you have black glitter stuck to your face for three days or so? All in the name of handcrafting... :)

Supplies: Cartridge: A Child's Year by Provo Craft; Yellow Patterned Paper: Basic Grey, Dotty Black Patterned Paper: Bo Bunny, Sticker: 7Gypsies; Glitter: Doodlebug Designs; Gemstone: Hero Arts

World Card Making Day (and a RAK from Banana Frog)

Are you making cards this Saturday? Well, you should! It's World Card Making Day or WCMD to the paper junkies of the world.

Here's my contribution to the celebration:

Supplies: Patterned Paper: October Afternoon, Scenic Route Paper Co., Stamps: Raindrop Background, Thinking of You Makes Me Smile by Hero Arts; Ink: Colorbox; Ribbon: American Crafts; Stickpin: Making Memories; Die-cut: Home Decor Solutions by Provo Craft

I bought that stamp from Hero Arts specifically so that I could color it! I used colored pencils, but you could easily use watercolors or copic markers. The possibilities!

You can find more fabulous cards and great ideas for how to celebrate WCMD on the WCMD blog and the Moxie Fab World blog. And while you're there, be sure to leave a comment so that you have a chance to win some scrappy goodness!

And right here on my blog, I'll be giving away a set of Banana Frog stamps perfect for using on your next card! Beverley - the owner of Banana Frog - has generously given me several sets to share, and today, I'm going to be giving away It's All About...Arrows:

This is only open to North American residents. Leave a comment here (by Sunday midnight MST) and I will draw a name on Monday, October 5th.

Happy cardmaking! :)

Fabulous You (a card)

I just discovered the "hold" feature at the library. This glorious service is perfect for bookworms. Did you know you can actually search the catalogue on-line and reserve your 18 books and the library staff will pull them all and pile them up on a shelf with little paper booksmarks that say "hold for Mary MacAskill?" And to top it all off, they actually phone you when everything is ready. Combine this with goodreads and it's a little bit of bliss on a Tuesday. Ahhhh, the wonders of modern technology never cease to amaze.

So as you may have guessed, I have a few books to read, and therefore, I will keep this short. Another piece of my AC DT submission. The card:

Everything is AC except the stickpin (Making Memories) and the die-cut (Provo Craft's Graphically Speaking cartridge).

Have a good night. I'm off to read a few chapters....

Home (a card)

I just shared my stamping school project over at the Banana Frog blog! Click here to can find instructions to create this sweet, homespun card using the Backgrounds, Greenwich Park and Funky Paisley stamp sets:

Enjoy!

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill Basics; Patterned Paper: Bo-Bunny, Die Cuts With a View; Stamps: Banana Frog; Die-cut cartridge: Going Places by Provo Craft; Button: The Paper Studio; Punch: Fiskars

Miracle (a card)

A quick card share to prove that you need the Home Decor Solutions cartridge:

 

I think I've mentioned before that it's one of my favorites, and I made several projects with it for Provo Craft. Once I got going, I couldn't stop, so I made a few cards of my own and I've got a layout in progress too. At my current rate of production though, who knows when that will get done? The outlook isn't promising.

For this card, I cut the word "miracle" three times. Once plain, once in blackout, and once in shadow, and then I layered them all together for this dimensional look. I also cut the frame twice, and layered them, lifting the second one up on foam adhesive. I love attaching die-cuts with foam adhesive; the extra dimension adds visual interest, and I'm a sucker for those little details. :)

Supplies: Patterned Paper: KI Memories; Die-cutting cartridge: Provo Craft