Memories Convention weekend

The group has been attending the Memories Convention in Orlando every year. We used to go and stay at the hotel and attend classes and crops. Now, we ride over and shop, come back and crop for two days at my house. We have a ball..sometimes we get stuff done, sometimes we just "experiment".
This year, we focused our shopping on embossing folders to compliment our Sizzix Texture Boutique Embossing Machines and on some new stamps for cardmaking. Everyone seems to like butterflies and we found both stamps and folders for our addiction. Here is some fluttering cards from our first day.

A few more cards made at our meeting yesterday. Still experimenting with some of the Cuddlebug embossing folders and some EK punches.

Crib Bumper Pads Aren't What They Used to Be

Nursery bedding sets all come with bumper pads. Today's mothers, guided by safety issues, no longer use bumper pads in their infant's cribs. When my daughter was ready to decorate the nursery for her second son, we brainstormed on how we could repurpose those pads. This is what we came up with. First, I cut the fabric squares off ,except those that had an applique on them . These fabric squares were stapled over canvas frames. Then, we painted wooden letters (with the baby's name) and glued them to the front. His name now hangs over his crib and matches the room perfect!

I reseamed the open edges of the appliqued sections (the lion and the monkey), saving the ties to hang them from. The little pillows are hanging over his changing table. For some reason the monkey makes him smile every time he has his diaper changed.

The nursery bedding set that this was part of is "Jackson" by Cocalo (shown below)

Sizzix Texture Boutique Embossing Machine



Tiffany Frame by Cuttlebug

Ok, so one in the group found this machine and now three out of four of us have it. We have all bought 25 embossing folders for them. Various brand folders work-Sizzix, Paper Studio and Cuttlebug seem to be the easiest to find. Here are some simple embossed cards we have started with. Next time we should have some more unique ones.

Owl Flourish by Cuttlebug

Tiffany Frame by Cuttlebug

Cricut Disney Christmas Cards

My grandson was in love with both Mickey and Donald at Christmastime so I made these cards with the Cricut "Mickey and Friends" Cartridge. The  glittery star and ornament stickers really dressed up the cards. Of course the inside of the Mickey card should read "Whatcha waiting for" but I just realized the "a" was missing. Good thing a 15 month old can't read!

Inside of Mickey card

Thinking of You

People these days are out of the habit of sending cards through "snail mail".  However, the arrival of such cards can really make someone's day. It tells them that you took the time and effort to think about them and that you really do care. Here are some examples of  these cards which our group has made recently. They are simple and easy to copy.

Accordian Fold Card

The August, 2011 edition of Scrapbooks Etc Magazine had an article entitled "Create a Pull Tab".  It started with an accordian-fold card.  Thinking it was a very different approach to card making, I suggested that we give it a try. The folding part took a few tries but wasn't too bad. Figuring out where to place embellishments and paper on each section was trickier because you didn't want to hide anything behind something else. Using my Silhouette Die Cutter to cut the cupcakes and Susan Branch birthday stickers,  I was happy with the results. The pull tab is easily made into a bookmark. Instead of a tab, I put ribbon on mine to dress it up a bit.