Fun with Cork

For months now, I've been wanting to try making my own cork diecuts - but China's lack of craft stores put a bit of a damper on that idea. I finally found a set of cork placemats at Ikea - they looked a little thick, but I figured it was worth a shot. It worked! I cut off a small strip with scissors, then ran it through my cuttlebug with a 2x2 cuttlebug die (between two B plates). It cut like butter on the very first pass! 

Don't those leaves look great? I love it when an idea works out. 

On a side note, it's getting harder and harder to find diet coke around here! My friend down in Shenzhen (a city in southern China) said they've phased it out completely there and replaced it all with coke zero - I'm afraid that's what they're doing here. Coke zero's just not the same!

Card Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts "All Occasion Messages;" Ink: Stampin' Up craft "Close to Cocoa;" Patterned Paper: Miss Elizabeth (Dollar Tree); Accessories: Cuttlebug / Forest Branches embossing folder / 2x2 Leaves die, corkboard, raffia, foam dimensionals

Belated Boo & Comfort Foods

As I was putting away my Halloween decorations (all two of them, lol), I realized I had never shared this little "Boo" banner. I actually made it last year, but somehow forgot to take pictures till now. I cut the base from a cardboard box using an exacto-knife and a metal ruler; the letters were cut from kraft cardstock with my Slice. To make the letters sturdier, I cut out two of each and glued them together. The layers were adhered using lots of foam tape for extra dimension. I really went to town with my distress inks on this one; I don't do that often, but I have to say it was a lot of fun!


Yesterday I had salisbury steak on the brain. Back when I was in high school, every Thursday was "salisbury steak day" in the cafeteria - you either loved it or hated it, and it gained quite the cult following. To me it became one of my favorite comfort foods, especially in the fall - that rich gravy, a side of creamy mashed potatoes... heaven. Today at lunch I was still craving it. Alas, I didn't have the ingredients on hand to make my own - but then it hit me: Swedish meatballs might do the trick! And Ikea just so happens to have a tasty little Swedish meatball plate with mashed potatoes and gravy and a dollop of lingonberry sauce on the side. I wouldn't even have to cook! So off to Ikea we went. Oh my, it was good. So good that I even brought home a bag of frozen meatballs and a jar of lingonberry jam. 
 

Yum.

Project Supplies:

Stamps: Studio G (spiderweb); Ink: Ranger Distress Ink (Walnut Stain, Tea Dye, Black Soot), black pigment; Accessories: cardboard, Cuttlebug / Distressed Stripes embossing folder / Rectangle Nestabilities, Making Memories Slice / Just Chillin' Teen design card, Crop-A-Dile, ribbon, foam dimensionals

World Expo 2010

We finally made it out to see the World Expo before it ended; boy was it crowded! Over 760,000 visitors that day. The blue character below is Haibao (海宝), the mascot of the 2010 World Expo. His name means "treasure of the sea." If you look closely, you'll see that he resembles the Chinese character for "person": 人. 

  (Image from Expo2010.cn)

The Expo was divided into two sections, one on each side of the river; we kept to the west side, which was comprised of Asian/Middle Eastern countries' pavilions. The lines to get into each pavilion were incredibly long; some of the more popular pavilions had waits of over 7 hours!  We managed to visit two: the China Pavilion and the Israel Pavilion. At the Israel Pavilion (one of the shorter waits) we stood in line for over an hour and a half. When we finally got inside, we were corralled into a planetarium-like room, to be greeted with a (very) brief video presentation extolling the country's various technological innovations. Then the lights came back up, an exit door was opened, and back outside we all went. Um, yeah, not exactly what we were expecting. 

This is the line we waited in for the China Pavilion. We were all headed towards the opening in the back center of the picture, between the blue mural on the left and the white umbrella on the right. We had already moved quite a bit forward in line when I took this picture - there were scores more people behind us. It was a long line.

The China Pavilion (below) is one of the few structures that will be kept permanently after the end of the Expo. Inside were intricate walk-through exhibits from each of China's twenty-two provinces, which visitors could view at their own leisure. Definitely worth the time spent waiting in line.

We ended the day with some Sri Lankan street food, which was quite tasty! We tried fish balls, marinated chicken wings, and samosas. Unfortunately, it was dark by the time we ate (and we were sitting outside), so I didn't get any pics. Just believe me when I say it was all really good! 

Unfortunately, there was no time to see even half of what we would have liked. After spending the majority of the day doing nothing but stand in line with crowds of people, we were ready for some peace and quiet. Around 6 o'clock we called it a day and crowded onto the metro (with what seemed like half the city) to make our slow way home. All in all, I think the day was summed up quite perfectly by the saying going around Shanghai, "不去世博会后悔, 去了世博后悔一辈子!" which roughly translated means, "If you don't go to the Expo, you'll regret it; if you go to the Expo, you'll regret it even more!"

Moxie Fab World: Tuesday Trigger

I may have mentioned, somewhere along the way, that fall is my favorite time of year. The weather, the smells, the decorations, the clothes... oh how I love a soft, cozy sweater! So when I saw that this week's Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World was this gorgeous Anthropologie sweater, you know I had to play along!

The texture caught my eye right away, and I wanted my card to have a similar appeal. I also wanted to amp up the "autumn" feel, as well as the homemade-chic details. A slight tweak of the colors, the felicitous discovery of the PERFECT sentiment, and here we are - all the things I love about fall in paper form:

I had a light-bulb moment by embossing my cardstock with two different embossing folders - first with a Cuttlebug "Herringbone" folder, followed by Quickutz "Rings." I was really pleased with the way it turned out - I was afraid too much of the detail would get flattened by the second embossing, but it held up pretty well! 

The felt leaf was cut using a Cuttlebug 2x2 die, and the window and label were cut with Labels 9 Nesties. I have to say, this has turned out to be one of my favorite fall cards yet!

Card Supplies:
Stamps: Hero Arts "Everyday Sayings;" Ink: SEI "Cocoa" chalk ink, Stampin' Up "Creamy Caramel;" Accessories: Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug 2x2 Leaf die, Cuttlebug "Herringbone" embossing folder, Quickutz "Rings" embossing folder, Labels 9 Nestabilities, felt, corner rounder punch, button, embroidery floss, foam dimensionals

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins!

The days here have turned deliciously chilly, the kind of weather that simply must be accompanied by lots of hot coffee and pumpkin bread. I broke out the can of Libby's pumpkin puree I've been hoarding since my last trip to Hong Kong; oh my, was it ever worth it! (Fun Fact: Over 80% of the world's pumpkin is canned at a factory 10 miles away from my Illinois hometown!) 

Continuing with the pumpkin theme, I came up with this fun little trio of cards. The jack'o'lantern stamps are all from last year's Studio G fall release; I combined them with some SEI polka dot stamps and an Ellison tag die to create my own little Halloween tags. Here's a closeup of card #1:

Card 1 Supplies:
Stamps: Studio G (pumpkins, sentiment), SEI "Mimosa" (polka dots); Ink: black pigment, Brilliance Graphite Black, Ranger Tea Dye distress; Paper: My Mind's Eye; Accessories: Cuttlebug, Swirls embossing folder, Ellison Scallop Tags die, corner rounder punch, Dymo labelmaker, foam dimensionals
 
Card #2:

It's hard to see in this picture, but the black layer under the tag was stamped with small polka dots using black pigment ink. The keyhole shape was created by centering a 2" strip of cardstock inside a circle nestie and cutting.

Card 2 Supplies:
Stamps: Studio G (pumpkin), SEI "Mimosa" (polka dots, small and large); Ink: black pigment, Ranger Tea Dye distress; Paper: My Mind's Eye; Accessories: Cuttlebug, Swirls embossing folder, Ellison Scallop Tags die, Circle Nestabilities, corner rounder punch, foam dimensionals
 
Card #3:

Card 3 Supplies:
Stamps: Studio G (pumpkin), SEI "Mimosa" (polka dots), Making Memories "Spellbound" (sentiment); Ink: black pigment, Ranger Tea Dye distress; Paper: My Mind's Eye; Accessories: Cuttlebug, Swirls embossing folder, Ellison Scallop Tags die, corner rounder punch, foam dimensionals

Even though I used  the same basic supplies for each card, I was able to create three very different looks. So fun!

Ready for Fall

Whew! I'm a teensy bit tired. I was away Wed-Fri on a spur-of-the-moment solo trip to visit some friends in another part of the country. Seeing them was great, but the travel always wipes me out! My flight home ended up getting delayed almost three hours, made even worse by the fact that we boarded the plane on schedule and then proceeded to sit there for 2 1/2 hours waiting for takeoff clearance. But in the airline's favor, the drink carts came out right away, followed soon after by our meal (Chinese airlines still provide in-flight meals), which made the wait tolerable. Not to mention the fact that my seat-mate and I had the chance to become very well acquainted!

The rest of the weekend was spent in comfy clothes, watching dvd episodes of NCIS, eating taco chowder, and crafting. I'm a pretty slow papercrafter, but I managed to finish two cards plus brainstorm designs for a few more. This particular card all started with the felt leaf, cut with my Cuttlebug. {I've found that when cutting felt with my Cuttlebug, whether with Provocraft dies or Nestabilities, adding a layer of cardstock behind the felt (die, then felt, then cardstock) helps to ensure a clean cut.} After cutting my leaf, I chose a nice fall patterned paper, then used various Nesties to cut my layering pieces. The white circle was a little stark on its own, so I added some stamping and light distressing. The leaf was attached using glue dots, and the circle layers were adhered with foam dimensionals. 

Side note: Provocraft offered the same basic leaf dies in a set of four 2x2 dies (one leaf per square) or a set of two 2x6 dies; I opted for the 2x2 dies which leave a nice, even, "negative die" that can be used on other projects. So don't be surprised to see that negative piece showing up soon!

I'm off to set out a few more fall decorations around the house. Have I mentioned this is my favorite time of year? 

Card Supplies:
Stamps: Basic Grey "Fauna;" Ink: SEI chalk "cocoa," Ranger "Tea Dye;" Paper: My Mind's Eye, kraft; Accessories: Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug leaves 2x2 dies, Labels 9 Nestabilities, Circle Nestabilities, felt, foam dimensionals, corner rounder punch

Long Time No Post...

So apparently I just took a 3-month hiatus from the ol' blog. Oops! I guess I just needed a bit of a break from all things bloggy/crafty. I finally decided that my desk had been tidy for far too long and pulled out a few stamps. A little music on the ipod, a cold diet coke, and 20 minutes later this little card was sitting on my desk. It feels good to be crafting again!

Card Supplies:
Stamps: Prima Marketing "Cantaria" (small damask flourish), Studio G (sentiment); Ink: Brilliance "Graphite Black," ColorBox pigment "Amber;" Accessories: Corner rounder punch (small), adhesive rhinestones (black, clear), foam dimensionals