World Cardmaking Day 2018 (Bonus Post)

Hey guys and gals! Yesterday was a fun day in the papercrafting world, it was World Cardmaking Day. Don't worry if you have never heard of it, I only discovered it a couple of months ago. I decided to go online and see what could be found about this obscure holiday and I discovered that it was created by Paper Craft Magazine in 2006 and is held annually on the first Saturday in October.

In order to celebrate, I decided to finish a large group of cards that I had started working on awhile back but never got around to finishing. I had previously cut an entire 8.5 x 11 patterned paper pad into 4.25 x 5.5 inch rectangles in order to be used on cards.

I spent the entire day cutting, gluing (with double sided tape), stamping and sorting so that I could finish off this large batch of cards. I even got to use up some of my ENDLESS supply of Project Life cards (I swear that those cards have a way of multiplying when I am not looking). In the end I had about 150 finished cards (I made 4-6 of each card design).

Because I made so many cards of different types (birthday, friendship, encouragement, etc.), I decided to also make some boxes so that I could sell the cards in sets. I put eight different cards into each box so that each box would contain a variety of different occasions. 

Wow, it was a LONG day of crafting. I didn't finish until around 3 o'clock this morning, my back is KILLING me but at least I got a lot accomplished! 

Let me know if you are interested in purchasing one (or more) of these fun boxed sets. Email me at thesweetscrapper@gmail.com

Celebrate Everyday with an Announcement

I have officially made a brand NEW BLOG LOGO AND BANNER!!! And, better yet, I did it all on my own! I have to take a second to toot my own horn *toot toot* because I am really proud of myself. I hope that you all like it as much as I do!

My New Logo

My New Banner

The card for today is yet another one that I made a few years ago. Every now and then I simply sit down with some new supplies and decide to 'play' by testing the limits and new techniques to see what I might like. This card was the result of one of  my 'play days' where I was trying out some new stamps, dies and ink colors to see what might look good together. 

Let me know what you think about the new banner and logo as well has the card for today in the comments below. I love to get new comments, and it helps me know what you like! 

See you again on Friday! 

You Are My Sunshine + Announcement

It is official! The Sweet Scrapper is now on Pinterest! I have been working this past week to get set up and as of Saturday, it is done. ☺ I have photo's of all of the projects that I have blogged about pinned to one board (with different sections) to make them easier to find. Here is my direct link if you would like to give it a follow, which I would greatly appreciate: www.pinterest.com/thesweetscrapper/.

Next on my list of things to do is a logo. For a while now, I have wanted to get a new logo but have been unsure as to how to go about it. Online video tutorials here I come. I have several ideas floating around in my head and now I just need to figure out what I CAN do and what looks the best. Wish me luck!!

I have made it my mission to be more focused on The Sweet Scrapper blog and 'business' (hopefully) as a whole. I want to prove not only to other people, but to myself as well, that I CAN make something of myself and by doing something that I love. So, in saying that...stay tuned for a LOT of new changes coming to the blog.

So for today's card, I used a sunburst/starburst technique that I have used before. It is a technique that I really like because it looks so much more complicated than it actually is.  For other examples of cards using this technique, check out my new Pinterest page. (wink wink)

If I were to make this card again I would probably change the stitched 'You are my sunshine' sticker to something more bright and colorful to match the papers of the sunburst, because I think that the colors in the sticker come across to muted.

Thanks for reading and I will see you again on Wednesday for a 'sweet' post. 

(Remember to check out The Sweet Scrapper on Pinterest.)

Need A Little Encouragement

So, I have been in a bit of a mood for the last couple of days and I can't seem to shake it. Why is it that the people you love tend to be the ones that can shake your confidence the most and make you doubt everything about yourself? I have pretty low self esteem anyway but occasionally someone that I love will make a comment about something that I do, such as my crafting, and it makes me doubt even the simplest of things. Several days ago my 93 year old grandpa, who I assume was "trying" to help, basically told me that I  would never make any money trying to sell my crafts because people don't buy stuff like that. To say that it hurt me would be an understatement, but I am TRYING not to let it derail me this time like it has managed to do in the past when other people have pretty much told me the same thing in just about EVERYTHING that I have attempted to do in my life.

So, this time I decided to take a deep breath and respond to these hurtful remarks by resuming my blog, as well as looking into avenues to sell my cards and other projects. So if any of you would be interested in buying cards, scrapbook layouts, albums or other projects please let me know by emailing me at: Thesweetscrapper@gmail.com.

For today's card I decided to post an encouragement card to help not only just myself but to give any of you who need it a little bit of extra encouragement as well.

It is a bit hard to see in the pictures but the sentiment stamped onto the inside of the cards says:

           - Until you spread your wings you have to idea how far you'll fly

Scraps to New

Hey guys, so in Tuesday's post I talked about a challenge that I created for myself to spark some inspiration. Well, as I was putting things away (I like to load down my desk with the supplies that I am using and then do a mass cleaning by putting everything away at once) the leftover scraps of paper that I had made my previous cards out of started speaking to me and 20 minutes later I had three new cards to add to my collection; two standard sized 4.25 x 5.5 inch cards and one 3 x 3 inch note card. I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself. By the time I was finished making all five cards there was barely any scraps remaining.

Challenging Myself

When I am feeling uninspired, making a card or scrapbook layout can seem almost impossible, which is why many a time I turn to Pinterest for help and ideas. But, today I thought that I would try something new, a challenge for myself. I randomly picked out one stamp set, one 6x6 paper pad and three new dies to work with and told myself that that was ALL I could work with (I added some bling in the end just to jazz the cards up and to make a small dent in my never ending supply of crafty goodies). By creating this challenge for myself it really got the creative juices flowing.

I sat down to create one card using the randomly selected supplies shown below and then ended up making two different cards. I loved this challenge so much and I will definitely be doing it again. It forced me to look at my supplies in new and interesting ways and it is also a great way to use up some of the hoards of supplies that I have amassed.

Sending You Happy Thoughts

Hi guys, I want to start today's blog with a prayer for all of you who live in or who have friends and family in Texas and Florida. My aunt Carla lives in Florida and I know that it has been a super stressful time for her trying to figure out the best course of action for evacuating due to the Hurricane. She and her boyfriend are planning to leave Florida in the morning and head towards Georgia in search of safety and refuge. I pray that they, as well as everyone else fleeing this powerful Hurricane, have safe travels and know that we are thinking of and praying for them.

I decided to keep today's card simple and light. So I used some paper strips I had leftover from a previous project to cover the background. I left the inside of the card completely blank so that there is plenty of room to write a message.

I wish you all good luck, safe travels and God Bless!

The Sky Is The Limit

A couple of weeks ago, two ladies that work with my mom, celebrated their lasts days working at the Church. One retired to travel with her husband and the other decided to move on to another phase in her life. The plus side for me is that my mom 'hired' me to make cards for each of the ladies.

I talked to my mom about what she was looking for in a card and she said that she really didn't know. The only thing that she said was that she didn't want the cards to be focused on the fact that they were leaving but to instead focus on what lies ahead for each of them.

Like I did with the masculine Father's Day cards from last week, I decided to break each card down by the recipient. The first was retiring after working there a number of years and planned to take some cross country trips with her husband. When I came across this hot air balloon stamp in my stash I felt that it would be fitting for the occasion and the freedom that she would now have to take the trips that she wants to take and has dreamt so long about.

Psst... I will post the other card on Friday, be sure to check it out. 

Same Design, Different Sentiment

Hey everyone, I hope that you all had a great Mother's Days! Mine was wonderful, I got to spend it with my amazing mom and aunt. We had lunch together and then did some shopping and topped it off with a trip to get some delicious ice cream. I am truly blessed to have such an amazing mom!

Today, I thought that I would share with you some cards that I made using the same design. But, by changing the focal image or sentiment each card turned out looking slightly different. There were a couple of things that inspired me to do this set of cards. The first, I found a great sketch (from cardztv.blogspot.com) that would make it easier to make multiple cards at the same time. The second reason, is that I have way too much patterned paper!

Anyway enough with the talk let’s get to the pictures: