i'm a SLOW runner! And Yay for Teresa!

A little late with this post, sorry. We were on the road and
computer-less for the last couple of days (not to mention
crazy like chickens with our heads cut off!)



I have the honour of passing the
orange torch today to the new Amber Ink Orange
Team member: the fabulous Teresa!



You can see all the gorgeous creations on
Teresa's blog Mama Pickle here. Her style
is SO versatile and her work is so lovely!
&
You can read more about Teresa & all the new
Amber Ink Torchbearers here
(Gotta love the way Pam writes!)

And I wanted to say a Thank You ever so much, to Amber & Pam.
It was a joy & a thrill to work with you both and your gorgeous artwork.
You're lovelier than words can say. And last but not least,
thanks to my fellow torchbearers for the fab inspiration!

On a personal note, Boy, are we relieved and grateful chez nous. Even though I've messed up a fair bit blog-wise lately--which would normally be tragedy beyond measure ;). I can't help but feel that everything seems to be perfect now that C's Dad is out of the hospital and out of danger. Of course, a scare like almost losing someone you love makes you realize how blessed you are to have your loved ones & to be lucky enough to love them so stinkin' much you can hardly believe it!

Hope you are all safe and well and ever so happy.
Love,

new 3x3 envelope & liner templates

Update on pop-ups: I'm still working on a fix. I'm hoping that as of today, Saturday, they are gone. Sorry for the annoyance.

ACK, I've been hacked! Found a pop-up hack here on the blog, my Giant apologies if you've been seeing pop-ups. What a horror.

Concerned your blog might have a hack? Allow pop-ups on your blog (to check it out). I had to get rid of stats counters & other 3rd party things & delete history and cookies...

The hack required some emergency blog-house-keeping to remedy, and then, in trying to revamp the 100+ envelope projects post, I noticed there was no new template for a 3x3 envelope (one of the best sizes, methinks.)

So, here are some new...

Envelopes for 3x3 inch cards
(or 7.62 cm square cards)

Finished envelope measures 3-1/4" square (or 8.25 cm)
Assuming I have the conversion to cm right(?)

Download the 3x3 ENVELOPE
as a PDF on Acrobat here
---
or click this picture, then
right click & select "save as PNG":


or go download the JPEG on flickr here


Download the 3x3 envelope LINERS
as a PDF on Acrobat here
---
or click this picture, then
right click & select "save as PNG":

or go download the JPEG on flickr here

---
How to Download files types
& terms of use here

Happy weekend crafty people!

One last Summer Fling? Polaroid box - beach diorama (template)

First, Congrats to 'kksb' on being the winning bidder in the
Blogs 4 Boobies auction. Thank You ever so much!

And thank You all, more than I can say, for your kind comments & bids. You are the sweetest blog buddies ever! Another big thanks to Heather at Skipping Stones Design for all of her hard work organizing it.

And since Polaroids seem to be taking the crafty world by storm, I
wondered if you might enjoy one last little summer fling
with this new template...



...a Polaroid Beach Box.



I can just imagine making a diorama of the family by cutting out
some photos of kiddies & having them playing on the beach...
or
adding sand or little shells & stuff as a vacation memento box...
or
putting a photo inside the lid of the box & putting treats in there...
or
making a little Polaroid scrapbook book for inside the box.




The box measures just over 3-1/4" square.

The box & lid are both printed on 140lb watercolour paper, so that the
thin Polaroid frame is not too flimsy for a diorama box:



But you could put acetate inside the lid of the box, instead of leaving it open.

The clothesline was made this way:

Step 1) Cut a piece of thin silver wire-about 5 inches long.
Step 2) Cut the bottoms from 2 mini skewers/toothpicks (to get the right length.)
Step 3) Wrap the wire around the toothpicks (eye-ball distance between them by wrapping one & holding it to the box.)
Step 4) Adhere the clothes to the clothes line with a nice strong glue.

...and to add the clothesline to the box:

Step 1) Pierce 2 holes in the sides of the box at the height of the wire.
Step 2) Thread each end of the wire into the holes.
Step 3) Adhere the ends of the wire to the outside of the box.
Step 4) Add a wee dab of glue to the toothpicks bottoms to hold them in place.
Step 5) To hide the wire ends, stick some cardstock panels on the outside of the box.

The 'itsy bitsy teeny weeny' swimsuits are just
1/4 of an inch to 1/2 an inch high:


(I'm obsessed with mini things lately)

I coloured retro patterns on them with Prismacolor
pencil crayons & then used an eraser to try
to make them look sun-faded.


They come from this cute
accessory digi set at Amber Ink:

Day At The Beach Clothes set

The photo I used is from WikiCommons here
(a great resource for photos etc. that are in the public domain)
[Other public domain beach postcards available here]






Polaroid Box BOTTOM:
(with the vintage beach postcard pasted &
primped & preened in Photoshop) ;)

Download the 'Polaroid Box BOTTOM'
as a PDF here on acrobat.com
or
To save this file:

In Firefox/Chrome: right click on the image & choose "save link as"
Explorer: right click on the image & choose "save target as"

or
you can find this Polaroid Box BOTTOM as a PNG on Flickr here





Polaroid Box LID:

Download 'Polaroid Box LID'
as a PDF here on acrobat.com
or
To save these files:

In Firefox/Chrome: right click on the image & choose "save link as"
Explorer: right click on the image & choose "save target as"

or
see Polaroid Box LID on Flickr here





Polaroid Box BOTTOM:
(NO score lines-just tick marks to show where to score)
Download the 'Polaroid Box BOTTOM
(plain no score lines)'
as a PDF here on acrobat.com
or

To save these files:
In Firefox/Chrome: right click on the image & choose "save link as"
Explorer: right click on the image & choose "save target as"

orsee Polaroid Box BOTTOM plain
(no score lines) on Flickr here





Polaroid Box BOTTOM:
(with score lines)
(left plain for your own photo)

Download 'Polaroid Box BOTTOM plain'
as a PDF here on acrobat.com
or

To save these files:
In Firefox/Chrome: right click on the image & choose "save link as"
Explorer: right click on the image & choose "save target as"

or
Add see Polaroid Box BOTTOM plain
(with scorelines here) on Flickr here

How to Download files types
& terms of use here

Hope they're fun for You,

Last day for Auction (added items) & personal note

On a personal note: I'm so sorry to left things hanging, here. It's been on my mind more than I can say. Last week, we had to grab 'Mouse' the cat & the dirty laundry and head out of town to help with a serious family illness. I thought I had until the 28th to update you for the auction but I got it wrong (more about that below). It's been an emotional time, so please forgive my scattered brain.

Possible blog break, for the next couple of weeks: I did bring some projects with me, but I'm not sure if I will be able to get them blogged. I'll keep you posted. I hope to finish up my last 2 guest posts with Amber Ink this week.

An important update on the
Skipping Stones Design breast cancer auction:

I got the date wrong in my auction post. I feel like such a complete jerk! (Isn't it crazy how severe stress seems to cut off all of your regular brain functions?) So sorry, it's not the 28th as I had posted but the August 23rd. But there's still a little time to bid until midnight Mountain Standard time tonight.

The additions to the canvas:

First off, here's a photo of the secret box
that I built into the back for ya:


(Sorry about the photo quality; I'm away from home...)

It's a panel that slides out:


And here are the other 4 little flower sets
(There will be 9 of each style, 5 styles in total. You can change them out
for a different look to the canvas or use them for whatever your heart desires)

Book page flowers:


Black flowers:


Pale turquoise flowers:


White with Black flowers:

And some "little smiling camera images":

(as a non-flower option for you)

You can display them on the wooden canvas:

...or I could make them into tags, if you prefer:

The winner will also receive these 3 large
shabby chic flowers:


(hand cut from a new template I drew
that I'll be sharing with you all soon)

a white one:



a black one:



a fringed white one:



[The white flowers have a soft flocked texture because they're
made with cardstock that I covered with Golden Light Molding Paste
and then texturized with a wooden Batik block.
The black one is made from Core-dinations cardstock.]

And you'll also
win these three notebooks:



One notebook with a teeny tiny envelope & letter:


(Measuring just under 3" wide x 5" tall)
It's got hand-coloured embossed canvas,
lots of hand stitching,
& a vintage black taffeta label:



One notebook with cut out shimmer sprayed poppies:


(Measuring 4-1/2" x 4-1/2")
The poppy background is one I made by copying & altering
the Wild Fall Poppy image from A Day for Daisies.
There are real poppy seeds in the flower centers.

And a third one with shimmer emboss-resist
using my fave Skipping Stones Design pattern:


(Measuring close to 3-1/2" wide x 4-1/2" tall)

It has stitched panels & a little hand-stitched
"notes" sentiment up top:



And that's it.
The whole shebang goes to today's winner.

The highest bid is currently $55.00.
Thank You Ladies, you're amazing!

If you'd like to add a bid, please just say
how much in the comments below.

PLEASE include your email address with your bid, so we can contact you.
Remember 100% of your bid will go to the Komen foundation.
If you are the top bidder, you will receive a
PayPal invoice for the amount that you bid.

& there's still time to shop until midnight too,
$2.o0 from every set sold until then,
goes to the foundation as well.

Thank you for helping to make a difference!