Crafty Saffy Paper Crafts

Java Notes

2011-09-15T09:58:00.000-06:00

I have had another productive couple of days- between long walks in the new neighborhood and a couple baking adventures, I have made a card set for a gift. I had been thinking about what types of cards people might want, and since I have been missing my crafty friends terribly, I decided that some "thinking of you" type cards were in order. Right before the move, I received my clearance order

Fall is in the Air

2011-09-13T13:56:00.000-06:00

Congrats to my Blogiversary prize winner, Tonya! She has been a wonderful blog reader and participant, and I hope she has fun with the box full of goodies I sent her! (And I hope she links us to some things she makes with them!) Well, I have begun the inevitable that comes with every move- the unpacking! And in finding new homes for my craft supplies, I have even used a few the last couple

Baby Makes 3 or so

2011-08-16T11:04:00.020-06:00

Baby Makes 3 (or 6) Scrapbook Page for a friend with a mixed and growing family! I just finished another page for my friend's baby book, and it came out great! I am loving the blues and greens, but I had some problems trying to put different colors together. I wanted to share some of the techniques I ended up using to bring it all together Here are some of the various parts- the chipboard

Recycling Wood Blocks

2011-08-14T10:00:00.004-06:00

Remember this? Leftover wood blocks after un-mounting my stamps After liberating my rubber stamps from their bulky wood mounts, I kept walking past my box of wood blocks, unwilling to toss them for the potential that oozed out of the box, wondering what I could use them for... And then it hit me: Sanding blocks! A Crafty Saffy original product! (Even my crafty helper agrees!) I

Precious Page

2011-08-13T19:49:00.001-06:00

Baby Album: Part 1 Finished page, ready for pics! A dear college friend of mine is expecting a baby this winter, and I wanted to make her a baby album. I have been gathering supplies and looking at some great samples for ideas, and this is the first page I have ready. I began by using my new sketch pad- this is something I designed for gathering and refining ideas for 12x12 album pages. I

Dismount for More Space

2011-08-02T10:00:00.162-06:00

My home has been a frenzy of sorting, packing, and trying to finish last-minute projects and homework the last few weeks. In an attempt to minimize my crafting supplies (boo!) I decided to round up all of my wood mounted stamps and follow in the footsteps of my crafty co-hort, Boho Rose, and un-mount them! She was able to condense her stamp collection to fit inside a pencil box- wow! I have a

Blogiversary Celebration

2011-08-01T10:28:00.011-06:00

In honor of this blog surviving 2 whole years, I have given it a new look! I hope you like this fun new layout! In celebration of making it 2 years, I will be having a giveaway at the end of the month, and all you have to do for a chance to win is post a comment on any of my blog posts during the month of August! The more times you comment, the more chances you have to win! At the end of

Birthdays

2011-07-29T08:05:00.000-06:00

Last night I was inspired to make this birthday card with some of the gorgeous stock I have set aside for my Hawaii album, I just love the colors! The paper is from DCWV's Taj Mahal stack, and it is glossy with gold foil accents. I don't have a lot of gold as far as embellishments go, so it took a good while of digging through my supplies to find what I did- some little gold beads to use in

Die Cuts and Distressing

2011-07-28T11:48:00.000-06:00

I have been keeping very busy lately with my craft projects! Looking through the idea book made me want to return to my Hawaii book, so here is another fun page! I had made the die cuts a while back at a club get-together, using the Cricut and the "Life is a Beach" cartridge, but I had difficulty deciding what to do with the page because my only gecko photo was a little odd. The gecko was

Tag, You're It!

2011-07-27T11:26:00.002-06:00

Tags have recently become a fascination to me. You might recall last year's Stamp & Scrapbooking Expo when I got a one-on-one tutorial for a gorgeous distressed tag- since then I have been playing around a bit and finally had an opportunity to make and use one of my own! I used the same technique to create this one, but I will review since it was a while ago! Supplies: Tags (I made mine

Going in Circles

2011-07-26T13:00:00.000-06:00

One of the wonderful projects that my Crazy Crafters Club cohort, Boho Rose initiated for the club last year was a Circle Journal. (You can see a sneak peek at mine back on this post here) Well, we're several months in, and have been seeing some great pages come out of this swap! I just finished working on one and I want to share it with you. What is a Circle Journal? Basically,

Tidbits

2011-07-25T21:18:00.000-06:00

Over the weekend I got together with the craft club gals for some much needed creativity. It was a wonderful day full of projects and friends, and it reminded me how much we all need to have times like this in our lives. I want to give a shout-out to my fellow Crazy Crafters and say thanks for being so wonderful! One of those amazing women is my often-times partner-in-crafty-crime, Boho Rose.

Something New

2011-05-05T22:48:00.000-06:00

Something New I'd like to think that I do new things all the time. Mosaics, stained glass, sewing, glimmer mists; I am always trying new things and sharing the pros and cons in the hopes that if you try it too, you can benefit from my experiences. Even outside of crafting, with this whole "going back to school to be a teacher" thing I am trying out- totally new to me (well, the "writing lesson

Getting Organized

2011-05-01T12:05:00.001-06:00

I decided to get organized this morning- I have been loving those Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists, and wanted to have some sort of catalog of colors for those and the Create-A-Shade Pearl Paint spritzers from Close to my Heart. I had a blank chipboard album from some scrap chipboard that I hadn't known what to do with, and it worked out perfectly! Here's what I have so far: Tim Holtz Adirondack

Glimmers of Craftiness (Part 2)

2011-04-17T23:37:00.001-06:00

I finished putting together the Mother's Day cards for the craft fair, and have to show them off! I am very excited about how they came out! I want to send a big thanks to Lindsay for letting me use her Cricut for the last couple weeks- I cut a lot of coneflowers! Here is a closeup of the pink version- cut from white, pink, and pale yellow cardstock, I used my little finger-tip dabbers from

Glimmers of Craftiness

2011-04-11T01:42:00.000-06:00

Hello Friends! I know it has been months without even a peep from me, but you all know I have been working on some very positive changes in my life, and though I miss crafting and sharing my glittery adventures with you, something had to be sacrificed for the good of the cause. I've almost made it through the semester, and things are about to get hairy as I move into the final weeks of classes.

Maui Scrapbook- Part 1

2011-01-04T22:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know that labeling this post with words like "Maui" or "Hawaii" makes a person expect tropical images and colors, oceans and critters, and I promise those will come later! But for this first post I bring you a couple of pages that I have been working on these long winter nights, and for now, not the typical vacation sights. That's right, coffee. On my visit to Maui in October 2010, I

The Quest for Matching Envelopes

2010-12-13T00:58:00.000-07:00

You might recall last December, when I made 2 gorgeous card designs, and only found the need for one? Well, this year the other card has come in handy, so it was worth storing the whole set of 15 cards all year. But the dilemma I had with this set of cards was the lack of envelopes. I made them to an odd size without thinking about the problem I would have before they could be put in the mail.

Shell Tree

2010-12-13T00:36:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty busy getting ready for the holidays around here, and wanted to take a few minutes to show off some of the fun things I have been working on! A couple weeks ago, I found a fun idea on Martha Stewart's site- glittered seashell ornaments! Having just gotten home from a trip to Hawaii, this idea was the perfect way to keep the island life in mind during the long cold Colorado winter!

Holiday Mini Album

2010-12-02T22:37:00.000-07:00

Well, the crafting bug remains with me, and I came up with another fun project. In my cleaning, I came across some mini albums, and thought that would be a really fun winter project. It has so many possibilities- 12 Days of Christmas, Advent Calendar, or just photos or journal entries. To make this mini album, I used 1 sheet of blue/snowflake stock ("Tis' the Season - Snowfall" from Fiskars),

Catching the Tag Craze

2010-12-01T20:13:00.002-07:00

Tags have been popping up more and more lately in the blogs and project sites I follow, and recently I saw a demo for a gorgeous fall leaf tag that finally got the whole "tag" idea stuck in my head. In my recent cleaning and organizing escapades, I happened upon an opportunity to make tags for holiday gifts. Here's what I whipped together: Pretty simple list of supplies, I brushed

Filling the Empty Spaces

2010-11-29T21:30:00.001-07:00

I know it has been a while since I last posted. I am sure you all know "life", how it just "happens" all of the sudden, catching you unaware. But I have been trying to get my craft stuff organized, and I scored some great doorbuster deals on craft storage furniture (I will post pics once I figure out where it is going to be!). Since my birthday in October, I have been trying to decide 1) what

Inspired by Story or Song

2010-09-01T03:13:00.000-06:00

Hello friends! Today I bring a fun post with some card samples and if you look at the very end of this post I will announce the winner of the blog candy from the Expo posts! The September challenge for the Crazy Crafters Club is to create something with a little help from a story or song. For my samples I decided to let both be my muses! Here's what I came up with: Inspired by a story One

Stamp and Scrap Expo Day Two

2010-08-29T23:55:00.001-06:00

It was another exciting day today in Greeley at the 18th Annual Rubber Stamp and Scrapbook Expo! We got a chance on the way in to talk to one of the organizers of the expo; she was very helpful with my questions about the upcoming expo stop in Denver in November. You can find out more about other locations, schedules, and vendors at the expo website. Today I got to see some more really cool

Stamp and Scrap Expo Day One

2010-08-28T17:23:00.000-06:00

Hello dear crafting friends! Today and tomorrow, everyone in the vicinity of Greeley, Colorado has the amazing opportunity to attend the 18th Annual Rubber Stamp and Scrapbook Expo! I went today with my crafting pal, Logan, and we had a great time! What an exciting array of stamp vendors, and loads of fun make-n-takes for everyone to try out! We saw some really neat techniques and

Sewing Machine Day

2010-08-13T01:10:00.062-06:00

In the long, long list of obscure holidays, this one certainly caught my eye. Not only is today Friday the 13th, it is also "Sewing Machine Day." There is not a lot about this one on google, but I did find a bit about the history of the sewing machine, here. In honor of this exciting day, I'd like to tell you a little about my sewing machine. Now, you might recall from my post about the

Inspired by Every Day Objects Challenge

2010-08-01T01:04:00.087-06:00

This month's challenge for the Crazy Crafters Club is to design something based on an every-day item. This is a metal art piece I found (can you guess? Yes, on clearance, at JoAnn’s) that I have hanging in my bedroom, and absolutely love. The colors are so calming and peaceful, and match my bedspread. Even though the stars, by definition, have points, these are not tension-building points.

Hawaiian Birthday Greetings

2010-07-30T10:04:00.044-06:00

I found an open stock pack of Pressed Petals "Tropical Life" paper, and I am in love! What a fun combination of blues, pinks, and browns, all with a glittery hawaiian flowery feel! I have a feeling you will see more of my work from this stack very soon! Unfortunately I found it at Big Lots, and I cannot locate any more info on this collection of papers - I think it is no longer available!

Party Penguins

2010-07-08T21:48:00.000-06:00

Whenever there is an event coming up, I like to surf the web for fun food, drink, and decoration ideas. When my sister decided to reschedule her rained-out birthday party for the 4th of July, I thought that would be a fantastic opportunity to try out some fun new recipes. Thanks to obsessive repetition of his favorite website by a colleague of mine, I ended up looking at the instructables

Changing Our Ways

2010-07-02T17:14:00.000-06:00

My very first Chocolate Frosting Flower!Hello crafty friends! I have been gaining craft momentum lately, but not necessarily in the paper department. I have decided, therefore, to change my blog to encompass not only paper crafts, but the plethora of other projects I work on and want to share with you all. Over the next couple days I will be changing the look of things around here, and have

Homemade Paper and Sea Shells

2010-06-16T21:59:00.000-06:00

For my sister's birthday this year, I decided to make a unique new card! I have been hoarding some fun blue stripey papers that just call out "tropical!" and a fun set of Stampin' Up! stamps with a sea horse and fun seaweed. These came together great! Here's the scoop: I used an artist trading card as my paper stock for this part. (I had picked up a couple packs and hadn't found a use yet,

Washcloth Duckies ala Martha Stewart

2010-06-12T02:12:00.000-06:00

Ok, Martha. While you are my Guru for almost all things of home and craft, I have 2 concepts for you to wrap your head around: 1. Towel material is available by the yard, not just in finished towel form. 2. Seam Allowances. 'nuff said. When I saw this adorable craft pattern on Martha's site, I knew it was the perfect home-made gift for my friends who all seem to be having babies right

Fun With Mosaics, Part 2

2010-05-13T11:38:00.004-06:00

Welcome back! After a week full of not feeling well and a couple of sick days, I finally got the energy last night to finish the mosaic birdbath! And I love how it turned out! Here's the scoop: When we last left off, the glue was drying, but the glass pieces were down and looking good. The dark greens and blues of the water and seaweed blend together a bit, but if you really look at it you

Non-Paper Mosaic Fun Part 1

2010-05-03T20:50:00.000-06:00

As most of you know, last month was a very challenging month for my creativity. As I gather pieces and parts for certain projects, slowly rearrange and reconsider, and finally wander off in disgust with my lack of decision-making ability, I have been collecting thoughts on how to overcome this block. In the past, my 2 best ways to overcome this much of a creative block have been these: 1- take

Poem in your Pocket

2010-04-29T00:03:00.003-06:00

Hello crafty friends! I know it has been far too long since my last post, and I apologize. I have lost my muse this month! Luckily I surround myself with very crafty folks, so I have something fun to post today for "Poem in your Pocket Day"! What better pocket-sized poem book than one for Haikus? These adorable little matchbook notepads were the idea of my crafty friend, Logan. (Check out

Fun with Embossing

2010-04-09T23:58:00.003-06:00

I've had kind of a slow week, as far as crafting is concerned. I think the end of last month got a bit overwhelming, with all the deadlines on my calendar! I did get to relax with a crafting buddy last weekend and play with the embossing tools a bit more (and finally get to play with a couple of my new Close To My Heart stamps! Woohoo!) So here is a little card I whipped up: I used the Sand

Tiki with Metal and Wood

2010-03-30T23:19:00.003-06:00

Hello crafty friends! Today I bring you a different project than my usual, as I signed up for the Bombshell Stamps Metallic Art Blog Hop! This is my first hop, so bear with me! Having just received my very first set of Bombshell Stamps, "Tiki Party," I brainstormed what projects I could use them on (or with) metal. I have been hauling around a sheet of aluminum since 2003, when I found

World Folk Tale and Fable Week - Part 2

2010-03-27T19:34:00.001-06:00

The week is not over yet! I hope you enjoyed my Fairy Princess spread from my last post! Today I am showing the other side... with a Wicked Witch layout! The paper is from that same stack I love, DCWV's Once Upon A Time Stack. Yet another Halloween theme, I just love how adorable my niece looks as the Wicked Witch! The "Wicked" letters are metallic silver chipboard (sorry, they didn't scan

World Folk Tale and Fable Week - Part 1

2010-03-23T14:31:00.000-06:00

Welcome to World Folk Tale and Fable Week! This week (March 22-28) is dedicated to exploring the various world cultural backgrounds and lessons from folk tales, fables and fairy tales. I have been wracking my brain trying to think of fun things to fill the blog with this week, so hopefully you all like what I have come up with! Today I'll start out by mentioning my favorite "fairy tale" paper

Linen and Silver

2010-03-18T10:00:00.002-06:00

Just a quick post today, I realized I hadn't posted anything since the club challenge samples (of course I have posted a couple articles on the club site...) Today was a pretty productive day for me, card-wise! To thank a friend for a gift I decided to try out my new paper stack, DCWV's Linen Closet (LOVE IT!! Such wonderful colors and patterns, it reminds me of my grandmother's house!) and a

Lucky Layouts

2010-02-28T23:01:00.001-07:00

And now for the 3rd challenge for the Crazy Crafters Club... The Challenge: I thought this layout would be great for a scrapbook page as well as a card, but I decided to go with a card and modify it to be more horizontal. I have rounded up several envelopes in various sizes, and thought that I should start taking those in consideration when I create a card. The envelope I wanted to use for

Spring in the Air

2010-02-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

And now for challenge 2 for the Crazy Crafters Club March madness challenges! The Challenge: For this color challenge, I decided to make a scrapbook page layout, as it has been far too long since I worked on my Niece's book! How fortunate I was to come across these adorable pics of her twirling in a new dress that just happened to be one of the colors of the challenge!! Matching it up with

A Touch of 3-Dementia

2010-02-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

When Boho Rose asked me to be on the design team for our local craft club's new blog, I was very excited! She has been instrumenting some very positive and motivating changes to our club, and is really taking it to the next level with the blog and monthly challenges. What I didn't realize was that I alone would be the design team, and would have to be the first in line to keep up with her

Floral Notes

2010-02-14T12:19:00.002-07:00

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone! The Year of the Tiger promises to be fast-paced and exciting! I thought I would start the (2nd) new year off right with a fun little project I worked on this week: At my craft club's last Stampin' Up! party I ordered some pre-die-cut cards with envelopes that were adorable- they are called Pendant Notes. They are a natural/brown color, and one of my

Designer Owl Paper

2010-02-02T22:42:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post to catch up- I am hoping to have another challenge done by the end of the week. In the mean time, here is a little something I came up with for wrapping paper for a friend's (Boho Rose) birthday gift. I was shopping at Michael's (those 40% off coupons DO burn a hole in my pocket every week!) and saw this roll of "Crafty Kraft" paper, and I thought "what a great idea!" So I

Sentimental Wishes (SSS39)

2010-01-19T23:11:00.001-07:00

This week I have been focusing on birthday cards. I have several Aquarian friends, who of course are great supporters of my crafts, with birthdays over the next few weeks. For the first card, I decided to follow the challenge layout from The Sweet Stop this week (#39): The main focal area in this challenge is a sentiment. Since I have very few (and mainly small) text stamps

Year of the Tiger

2010-01-13T21:22:00.001-07:00

It is January. A new year when we all have to re-train our brains how to write the date. I thought it was a great time for a new look for my blog. Amidst all of the lists of things I hope to accomplish this year, there was the hope that I would stay ahead of schedule for my cards and keep up with my blog. This card does, in one way, mean that I have managed that so far (except for the fact

Store Shelf Magical Trick Paper (MOJO120)

2010-01-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

Part 1Mojo Monday #120This week's Mojo Monday challenge was indeed a challenge for me. In an effort to complete a personal challenge (see Part 2 of this blog posting) in addition to the Mojo sketch, I stumped myself a bit! The sketch included several layers is a bit busier than I like, as I tend toward more simplistic designs. I found that, of the challenge samples already posted, the ones I

New Year Challenge

2010-01-01T23:28:00.010-07:00

Happy 2010 Friends!Well, it is a new year, and my resolution is to stay on top of my blog and keep it active! Luckily I have been introduced to many wonderful resources to help with ideas, and I have another challenge that got those creative juices flowing!New Year Kick Off Challenge from CaardvarksSponsored by JustRite StampersThe LayoutThe CardI have been trying to decide on what to do for my

Just another Manic Monday

2009-12-28T12:18:00.008-07:00

"Wow," I know you are all saying. "She goes almost 2 months without posting, then 2 in one day!" Well, I have a renewed interest in sharing my ideas, thanks to my friend Boho Rose and her new blog! She has pointed out a fun site with weekly card design challenges, and we have decided to try it out. The challenge (and all previous layout sketches) can be found at Mojo Monday. Here is this

Of Seasons and Snowflakes

2009-12-28T11:29:00.012-07:00

Well, yet again I have put off posting the wonderful projects I have been working on of late. I made some gorgeous cards to send out to my friends and family this holiday season, but wimped out at the critical moment, my pen hovering precariously above a card, some random holiday sentiment about to become permanent on its so far unblemished internal surface... and I just couldn't do it. I

Custom Card to Match Wrapping Paper

2009-11-16T15:19:00.011-07:00

I know it has been a while since my last post. These days have been so full of various crafts, but not many have been "paper" based, so I haven't had a lot of time to focus on what to blog about! Last night presented a great opportunity:The Challenge-My mom needed a card for a small gift for her friend's birthday. We found some adorable green and white wrapping paper, and beautiful white

Pressed Flowers and Leaves

2009-10-13T20:47:00.006-06:00

One of the most beautiful elements you can add to a card is a pressed flower or leaf collage. Fall is upon us, and though flowers are becoming harder to find, there are brilliant colors available in the changing leaves. Years ago, a friend told me of a teacher who gave him a poor grade because she didn’t believe his story about driving to the mountains to see the fall

Digital Printing Tips: Color Calibration

2009-09-24T07:54:00.005-06:00

In honor of my upcoming trip to Las Vegas for the Photoshop World Convention and Expo, I thought we would delve a bit into the digital side of scrapbooking. One of my most important digital tools is a print calibration sheet. When you are trying to match color themes and need to print elements for your project, it can sometimes be hard to get the colors just right. Every printer is

Beaded Butterfly Card

2009-09-02T20:53:00.012-06:00

One of the most unique things you can do in paper crafts is mixing up the mediums a bit. Adding embellishments like beads and faceted acrylic jewels to the standard cardstock and ink brings on a whole new dimension to the project. You have taken something flat (though beautiful, don’t get me wrong) and turned it into a sculptural piece. Although it may no longer be easy to send through the

"Made By" Personalized Rubber Stamp

2009-09-01T19:32:00.004-06:00

Add that personal touch:One of the best things I ever did for myself, and for my craft, was to design a “Made By” stamp. While not many of my projects involve rubber stamps, I do have a small assortment of stamps and fun colors of ink. I never wanted to get too excited or involved with stamping; I have seen how much space they can take up, and how much money friends have invested in the

How To- Epoxy Stickers

2009-08-31T15:32:00.008-06:00

You know when you stand on the sticker aisle in your favorite art supply store and start to get a bit overwhelmed at all of the choices? When you are just browsing and don't have a page or project in mind, that overwhelmed feeling can sometimes lead to over-spending. There are so many variations: alpabets, animals, travel headers, flat, 3-D, and the list goes on! There are so many project

Wordle web resource

2009-08-31T00:13:00.000-06:00

If you have been trying to make a word collage, but just can't figure out how to get it started, I have the perfect website for you!go to www.wordle.netclick on "create your own"Type in whatever words you want to appear; the larger you want words, the more often they should repeat. (We found it is best to open a word doc along side wordles so you can copy and paste, because once you create a

Welcome!

2009-08-31T00:04:00.001-06:00

Hello! I have been wanting to start this blog for quite some time now, and I can finally check it off the "to do" list! Welcome!It is my intention here to offer tips, tricks, and general neat ideas for scrapbooking, card making, and various other paper crafts. I might occasionally sneak in a few digital processes, as I am also a digital artist, and there are many neat ways to augment paper