ZipStrip - zipper pouch

I made this cute little zipper pouch for a birthday gift. The pattern shows decorations of either oversized ric rac or buttons. I liked them both and couldn't decide which to use. So I put buttons on one side and ric rac on the other! This zipper pouch is about 9 1/2" x 7 1/2". I'm a fairly new quilter, and I don't do any other sewing, so this is a bit of a challenge. But the directions, by Terry Atkinson, are extremely easy to follow. I would recommend her patterns to anyone interested in making anything from large shopping  bags to small zipper pouches for cell  phones or glasses. http://www.atkinsondesigns.com/patterns/

Jazzy Musical Card

Here is a fun card I made to wish someone well. This is for our choir to give to the person, so the musical theme is appropriate. I used wood mounted and unmounted stamps from Club Scrap, All That Jazz kit. They are very cool images, fun to color in with markers, or leave plain.  The paper is from Club Scrap also, various kits. On the envelope I colored the images with markers. On the card, I used glossy white cardstock and applied alchohol inks from an applicator to create a plaid effect using a technique I learned from the Tim Holtz website (timholtz.typepad.com.)

Another Valentines Day card

One more card. Nothing fancy. Just using some paper scraps.

Valentine's Day cards

Here are a couple of cards I made last night for sending to family members for Valentine's Day. I just used various bits and pieces of paper and embellishments from my stash. The base card is tan/kraft paper. I used some vellum to overlay the card base. In both cases the vellum design is a mix of envelopes. 

Even when I use my brad template from Stampin' Up, my brads are crooked. I wish I coul find a way to line them up better.

Whoo's having a birthday?

I made this birthday card for my sister who is into owls right now. Although this is definitely not my normal style of cardmaking, I actually had fun doing it, and I even got a little creative with it. I used a coloring book owl as a template for the card. The paper all came from Club Scrap kits. I used a Martha Stewart punch to make the Double Arches to simulate owl feathers. I used an embossing folder to make the tree trunk along the bottom.

Have you heard of Zentangles?

These are my first zentangles. I think these are so cool! I heard about these maybe a year ago, but didn't investigate them at the time. This weekend I was checking out another paper crafter's blog, and she had just tried zentangles herself. She linked a website that had a video showing you how to create one particular pattern. I watched the video, tried out the pattern they were describing, and I was kind of hooked. I zentangled until late into the night. And I did more the next day. And the next. Very fun, and addictive. I like the way they look - just simple black and white art. I will see if I can incorporate them into cards.

I'll try to describe zentangles here, but you should go to http://www.zentangles.com/ for more info. They are little pieces of artwork made up of doodles. I don't think they're supposed to be called "structured" doodles, but there can be some structure to them. You draw repetitive patterns within a defined space. You use white paper and a Sakura Micron 01 black pen. (I tried it with a black gelly roll pen, and that was too gloppy.) If you really want to know more about them, check out the zentangles website. You can get an overview, you can see lots of samples, you can see some easy to follow instructions on how to create various "named" patterns. Give it a try!

Mini-scrapbook - My Cats

Here is the mini-scrapbook I made several years ago, which gives you an idea of what the ones below will look like when photos are added to them. This is a great little project to make for yourself or give as a gift.