The Inking spot of Crain Creations

Mojo-licious Monograms

Yesterday I spent a wonderful and heart-warming day with my family (extended)!  This isn't something I get to do often, and it was just a wonderful, wonderful afternoon!  Now today, the house is all cleaned up and I got some time to play today, just for the sake of playing.  I decided to start of with some "Mojo Inspiration" and some Jenni Bowlin paper that I absolutely LOVE!!! I got my card all together and it just really needed something else, and I am really trying to "step-up" my papercrafting creations these days.  I was stumped... so I went looking for some inspiration and I found it in this card by Jackie Pedro.  I love the button and twine!!  Thanks Jackie!!  Well here's my card for last week's Mojo challenge, thanks for stopping by :)

Monogrammed Card set

Every month a few friends and I get together at my house for a stamp night.  Most of the time we do a "shoebox" card type type thing but this month they all had the month "off" and I decided to have a project for them.  We made a "Memory Keeper" and a few "Journaling Cards" (click on the link and then scroll down until you see the correct pdf's.  These were suer quick and easy to make!  I also came up with a set of 4 Monogrammed Notecards.  I am so in love with this paper!  And I think I didn't much care for it until putting it all together for this project.

The cards were also fairly quick and easy to put together, though there are a handful of "pieces".  I think this would make an awesome little gift set!  That's all I've got for ya today, thanks popping in.  Hope to see you again soon!  My TIme Made Easy peeks start on Thursday :)

Christmas Tag

Last week when my stamp group met we made Christmas tags!  I NEVER make and use my own tags, how horrible is that???  This year I've decided to get on it, and make my own tags!!  This is the tag I made for group night.  The base of my tag (the brown and red) were cut using the Trendy Tags set 2cut file from My Time Made Easy.  MTME has been including 3 layers for their tags... this is AWESOME for those of us obsessed with layers!  So I made mine larger (keeping the proportions because I LOVE the shape).  Add a loop, a bow and a button... voila!  This is easy peasy to make a stack of!  Using a cut file form MTME allows me to quickly cut out multiples, instead of many turns of the crank on my Calibur!  Thanks for peeking in, hope to see you again soon!

Mojo Sketch with a JUGs Techinique

I LOVED this week's Mojo Monday sketch!!!  And this week, JUGs has a Technique Challenge... the creative juices started flowing and voila!  I have always loved the way the Cracked Glass creations look, but I've never tried it myself...OMG is it ever easy peasy!!!  I used the Old Fashioned Christmas set from JustRite (I won it from the Dare to Get Dirty challenges on SCS!!).  The Figi Pudding papers have that perfect old fashioned look to with the image!  This is still one of my favorite Christmas Paper packs!  

Stamps: Old Fashioned Christmas(JustRite)  Paper: Figgy Pudding (Basic Gray)  Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Coffee Bean (Vivid)  Accessories: Chocolate ribbon (PTI), brown glitter dots  Challenges: Mojo154, JUGS49

Jugs & JustRite

 

 This week's JUGs challenge was to use the sketch and some Justrite stamps.  While I LOVE my Justrite stamps, the only ones I have are kinda old :(  I LOVE, LOVE , LOVE almost all of their stamps, but so far the monograms are all I have.  The sketch was fabulous!  This is a horrible picture (the reason I am posting this so late is because I've been struggling with the picture), but I think you can get the idea.  Thanks for popping in.  Have a fabulously inky week!

Stamps: Special Occassions font & Damask Border (JustRite), "Just a Note" (Paper Makeup Stamps)  Paper: Wisteria (Basic Gray), Plum Pudding (PTI), SUgar Cream (Prism)  Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine), Violet Mist (Vivid)  Accessories: Ivory Satin ribbon (PTI), Plum Pudding buttons (PTI), border punch (Martha Stewart), large scalloped circle Nestie  Challenges: JUGS40

  

A little goodie and a submission...

I am just giddy, I am so excited at how this turned out!!  For many reasons... first of all it is a gift for someone, but I am also submitting this project for the DT call over at the JUGS challenge blog.  You can view the DT Call here.  Even if you choose not to submit for the call, I highly recommend their weekly challenges (posted every Saturday)... they truely rock!!! ok, back to business, lol.  So I needed to come up with a little "Thank You" giftie something for a gal at work, and one idea lead to another and Voila!  I ended up with this...

As soon as I saw this tote from Lauren at My Time, I knew it would be great fun to make.. and the ideas of what to put in it are endless!  I loved the gardening ideas I'd seen, but I wanted to do something a little different so I made some Blackberry and Strawberry syrups (for waffles, French Toast, Ice Cream, etc.).    I will also be including some recipe cards for a few French Toast and Home made ice cream recipes I have (the cards will go in the gap area in the tote).  The cards will match the Recipe Box I made for her for Christmas.   To decorate the jars I printed out the syrup names, then punched them out and sponged them before adhering them to my "labels" (stamped from the Lovely Labels stamp set).  Then I tied a little ribbon around the lid, covering the knot with a button.  The little flower on the label is from the Rambling Rose Pretty Pieces from Lauren, My Time Made Easy.  The labels are just adhered with some glue dots so that she can easily remove them before she puts the jars in the fridge.

 I took the Rambling Rose  set and just cut the whole set out about 4 times (twice each on 2 different papers), then I just picked pieces to put together on the various places on this project (see there is another just a little larger on the corner of the tote...with a button center).  The large flower on the Tote handle uses all of the pieces, and I used a Corduroy brad for the center.

And last, but certainly not least, here is the card.  The sketch for the card was part of the DT Submisson requirements (you can see that post here).  I wanted my card to coordinate with the gift, but not to look exactly the same, so I pulled some different paper from the same line that I used for the Tote.  I also pulled in the gold brads, and added a little gold cording to the button just so the brads didn't look totally out of place.  This was so much fun to make, I can see me making MANY of these totes in the future!

Tote Supplies

Stamps: sentiment from Fairy Tales (PTI), "Fun" Borders (JustRite Stamps)  Paper: Lemonade (Basic Gray), Wine with Everything cs (Gina K), So Saffron (SU), White (PTI)  Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine), Victorian Velvet Distress (Ranger)  Accessories: Trendy Tool Tote template (My Time Made Easy), Rambling Rose cut file (My Time Made Easy), So Saffron ribbon (SU), Yellow Corduroy Brad (SU), Sweet Blush Button (PTI), Brads (Basic Gray), Circle Nesties, Scalloped Circle nesties

Jars Supplies:

Stamps: Lovely Labels (by Nina Brackett for Gina K)  Paper: Lemonade (Basic Gray), White cs (PTI)  Ink: Victorian Velvet Distress (Ranger)  Accessories: Rambling Rose Cut File (My Time Made Easy), Oval punch, Razzleberry Ribbon (SU), Labels 8 Nesties, Gold brads, Lemon Tart Button (PTI), Twine

Card Supplies

Stamps: Everyday Thanks (Paper Makeup Stamps)  Paper: Lemonade (Basic Gray), Wine with Everything (Gina K), White cs (PTI), So Saffron (SU)  Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine), Antique Linen Distress (Ranger)  Accessories: Labels 3 and Oval nesties, White Satin ribbon (PTI), Sweet Blush Button (PTI), Gold Cording, Gold Brads, Dew Drops

A couple of presents to share...

Cat Dubail has done it again!  About this time last year, Cat designed my "created by" stamp (you can see it here).  I am so in love with it, she did such an amazing job.  Anyway, one year ago yesterday my friend Katie started her own stamp company, Paper Makeup Stamps.  I am so proud of her and frequently impressed by her.  So for PMS' first birthday, I wanted to get Katie a little birthday present... here's what Cat & I came up with...

 

 So what do you think?  Thanks Cat!  And for the rest of you if you are in need of a Created By, address or any other type of stamp, make sure you visit Cat... she rocks!!  

No for some eye candy of the paper variety, lol!  My Mom emailed me the other day in need of an emergency gift and she asked for a set of note cards for her friend.  Here's what I came up with.  This is the finished package (8 notecards & envelopes).

 

My mom also asked for a "reddish" theme.  I didn't have any reddish pp that inspired me, so I got out my PTI stamps and found a flower that I thought would be fun.  I punched out a small circle of pp for the flowers center.  These are plain and simple, but I think she will like them.  Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to leave me a comment on yesterday's PMS Happy Birthday post for a chance to win a PMS stamp of your choice (you have until tomorrow, Thursday, night at midnight).  Thanks for stopping in, hope to see you again soon. 

Monogrammed Note Cards #2

 

  These are the note cards I made for my MIL.  The design for these is NOT one of my own either (I can't believe I CASE'd twice in a row, lol).  The design for these was inspired by Holly McMillan (thanks Holly).  I love the embossed swirly at the top... such a fun idea!

Stamps: Special Occassions set (Just Rite)  Paper: Bella Birds (SU), Chocolate Chip & Whisper White cs (SU)  Ink: Bordering Blue (SU)  Accessories: Brown Candy Dots, Iron Works Embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Chocolate Chip ribbon

 
 

Monogrammed Note cards

 

My Mom loves sending homemade cards!  I got her addicted :), but I do a horrible job of keeping her well stocked with cards!  My brilliant idea?  I'll be sending her a boxed set of cards every month on or about the 25th starting with December.  Along with her cards I'll send her some homemade yummy too, for Christmas it was Buttermilk Syrup (yummy!).  These are the notecards I made her.  The centered picture is the whole boxed set w/Belly Band, the picture to the left is an actual notecard.  I love the design, simple but not!  Of course I did not come up with this beautiful layout, Becca Feeken did.  I REALLY have a hard time CASEing, but when  you are brain dead and you see such a gorgeous set, well...  Thanks for stopping by, I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Stamps: Damask Monogrammer (JustRite)  Paper: Throughly Modern dsp (SU), Soft Suede, Whisper White & Baja Breeze cs (SU)  Ink: Soft Suede  Accessories: Soft Suede polka dot ribbon (SU), Square scalloped nesties, Lace border punch (SU!)