Paperthreads Blog Spot

...ok, so I haven't forgotten about you all!

I'm still trying to get like a 1000 things done, including getting ready for the movers to be here on Monday! Whew...I can't believe the time is here already. I have been taking a lot of time away from the computer, as I have been visiting with friends and family, getting as much quality time with them as possible! In fact, I've got 2 nephews and a niece staying here this week, so my kids can bond a bit more with them!

Anyway, here is another file (belated) for the membership club! I call this one my Paper Friends - Chris Moose!



For those in the membership club, it will be in the forum for you to grab!!

Ok, first and foremost....thank you so far to everyone that has participated in the fundraiser for the family of Scott Schwartz! Carrie is one of our family here at Paperthreads, and I'm so glad to be able to say we have almost met our halfway goal point for the funds!


Now, when it rains...it pours! Ain't that the truth! We are getting down to crunch time on our move to the middle of the country. We finally had the "official" orders drop from the Air Force, so tomorrow we are going to call and make the arrangements for the movers. We think they will have us all packed and out of here no later than July 8th. So, you know, there is a lot of stressful things going on around here! We have a big party to do on Saturday, we have a couple "sight-seeing" trips to a couple places we promised the kids we would visit before we moved from here and hadn't gotten to yet (as we are reminded faithfully by them, a promise is a promise!).

So....we are set to do one of those trips on Tuesday....Monday evening, my 16 year old finishes her level 2 drivers training...and is home playing with her friends. They were playing a good old game of street hockey....when she did this FABULOUS clutz-o move, she went one way, her leg went the other....and CRACK.....yep, she broke it! Now, it's not a bad break, it's a fracture of the fibula, there is nothing they can do but rest, ice, elevate...which we did. She has a knee brace and crutches, to keep it stabilized. We went to orthopedic, he took more xrays, and he said there isn't much...she is to have physical therapy, and go back in 3 weeks.

Ummmm....we have a problem...in 3 weeks, we are supposed to be heading for Nebraska.....so Dr agrees to meet us in 2 weeks instead....and to push through PT. He then tells her he wants her to walk on it, with the knee brace in place, that she needs to start bearing weight on it. So, she tries...and decides she doesn't like that feeling too much. He keeps on her, working with her, and finally, got her to walk across the room without the crutches. So, she is now to bear a little weight, no running, no fast walking, no blading, no biking, etc etc. Well, at least she can walk on it, albeit, very slowly! He was a little concerned that she has damaged some cartilage, but wants her to come back in 2 weeks, if it's still very tender and her walking isn't better, then they will do an MRI....but after an afternoon at home, and continued walking on the leg, she seems to be doing ok, and just needs to take it easy and let the fracture heal itself!

Whew....we seem to have had one thing after another strike us these past few months! It's funny, but in actuality, it has taken some of the stress of the move OFF of me :) Puts things in more perspective!

So, that's my tale of the past 3 days....we have our friends & family beach party this Sat....I've got most the shopping done for it, and the forecast is for rain...but we will have fun, rain or not!! lol....we might all look like drowned rats by the end of the day!!

So, until next time....I will not say........break a leg!

Yep, it's a BEACH PARTY!

We are planning a BIG get together with all our family and friends....next Saturday. We are celebrating my DD's 16th birthday and also a "fond farewell" to everyone, as we are coming up on less than 30 days until we move!

So, we decided to go out with a bang! Lol...and me, being the crafter, decided I wanted to make the invites, even with my already overloaded schedule! Besides, I get to sell all this fun stuff, but a BARELY get to play with any of it anymore....

So, I peaked in the store, and found Carrie's "At the Beach: Seagull and Pelican". I cut out all the various pieces...there are about 19 pieces per card...and I had to make 30 of them....so that was a LOT of cutting! While I was cutting away, I decided to do the background for the cards. Now, recently, I have started collecting the Copic Ciao markers....and they are a bit pricey, so for now, I only have two of the 36 marker sets...Set A and Set B....so for the background, I cut 8.5"x11" sheets of light ocean blue (colormates) from my dreamkuts, making perfect card blanks. I then folded them in half, using my scor it board scoring tool. Once all cut and folded, I then took all my blues and teal greens from my copic sets that I had available and started swiping across the cardstock, filing it in...and hoping the effect I got was calm ocean waters....don't know I achieved that look but it still looked good enough for me :)

I then took all the pieces and started shading them in, taking my light browns and creams and filling in the sandy beach base and filling in the "logs". I used some light and medium grays (C-1, C-2, and C-3) to color in the birds and fence posts, and some yellow to shade the pelican beak. I then used the Spica Set A pens to ""speckle" the birds, white fence, green grass, wood posts, and also the sand base.....I did it in speckles, by dotting my pen tip where I wanted a little more color and sparkle, and hoped that it made the sand more realistic.....

Then, it was time to run all the pieces I could through my little X box (my Xyron 150, which I call the Scrappers XBox 360!) The other pieces I glued together with my ATG gun....assembled...and then SEARCHED and SEARCHED for a simple "You're Invited" stamp....you would think, out of the hundreds of stamps that I have, that I would have one...but I could not find a single one, so I called me neighbor and fellow "scrapbooking hoarder" as she has just about as much supplies as I do...and in her hundreds of stamp sets, she too did not have a single "you're invited" type stamp.....so I then decided to put in a Sakura Gelly Roll Pen into the machine (on of the midnight series colors...the green), and going back to my KNK machine, I made a rectangle the size of my card, measured the "open spot" on the card where I wanted the words to go, and then made a text box exactly that size. Using an engraving font (included in the clipart and fonts CD, I typed out "It's a Beach Party". Then, I placed each card base on my mat, positioned the pen in the bottom right corner of where I wanted the words (changed my tool from drag knife to pen in the software, so I didn't get any little curly q's at the end of the pen work) and let the machine "write" the greeting on each card! It took about 30 minutes to load and unload all of them....I used the long mat, put card bases 4 on each, set blade origin on one, had it write it, then moved blade origin and repeated the process!

And.....FINALLY....I was done!! lol!! It took me, in all, about 5 hours to make 30 cards...so I worked on them about an hour each night for 5 nights.

Here's the finished project....I took two pictures, tried to get to different angles, so you can see the "sparkle" on the card!!

Hope you like!

Hi everyone!

The designers at Paperthreads wanted to do something for our fellow designer and family member, Carrie Schwartz.

You haven't seen or heard much from her lately, and that is because they are currently finding their way through a family crisis. You see, last month, Scott (Carrie's husband) was "re-diagnosed" with cancer. He is currently undergoing treatment, and as such is unable to work and provide for their family.

You can read more about it here: http://scottschwartz.blogspot.com/

As they struggle with dealing with this, and with getting their seven children to have some degree of normalcy in their home, we decided as a team that we could put together a list of files that we could offer up in a membership club, with all proceeds going to help the family.

So, team members:
Eddita Cain
Jennifer Adkins
Ginny Harvey
Ileana Russell
Barb Murray
Diana Weber
Shelly Sweigart
Jennifer Cornwall
Tina Fitch
Jenette Carson
Shirley Clark and
Michelle Hessler

Have all pitched in, and between us, we are each providing 5 or more files under the theme "Vacations & Getaways".

We will be offering them over a 3 month period in a membership club format her on the forum!

You can purchase this for $15, and there is also a donate button set up where you can donate any additional monies that your heart feels you can spare. We know it's a difficult time in our economy, and many families are under a lot of stress and duress, so please find it in your heart to at least purchase the $15 membership! You will get such an AWESOME DEAL from all the great files that will be included!

HERE IS WHERE YOU CAN PURCHASE THE CLUB: http://www.paperthreads.com/store/in...oducts_id=5475

Here is a taste of the first couple files we will be putting up in the club!






I'll be updating this thread as we open up the membership in July, and will be updating with new pictures of files as they start to roll in from the designers!

Even if your family isn't taking a vacation this year, these files will also work for those short little jaunts to the beach, lake, park, or even local amusement events!

I've said this many times through the years, but it was never more true for me until just a couple weeks ago. As I got the call that dad was not doing well and was having some small strokes on top of his other illnesses...I made the decision to catch the next possible flight out of here, so I could be with family and help in any way I could.

Since it was a last minute flight, I barely had time to pack anything, and at the very last minute, I threw in my ATG gun, an extra roll of tape and one of the SEI Scrapbook in a Box kits. (I used the Dill Blossom Kit)

Then, during Thursday, at the hospital, as we sat by his side, I pulled that Scrapbook box kit out and my tape gun, and started assembling. While I did it, I talked with the family, as we remembered different stories in our life with him, reminiscing about the funny times, the important times, and even some of the more treacherous times.

I got the book done in a couple hours (it's a one hour book, but I was busy "yak-yak" with everyone, so it took me a bit longer!).

On Sunday, the day after Dad passed, I then went through all the old photo albums and finished the book by adding pictures from when he was a young child on through his last Christmas. I left the journaling for mom to finish, and because it's something she wants help with, I think this summer when I visit, I'll sit with her, and help her with the final journaling on the book.

It was nice to have a quick and easy kit to put together, and especially nice to be able to sit and put it together in a room filled with loving memories, as family and friends visited throughout the days there....

I'm sharing the book here with you today, as we celebrate National Scrapbooking Day, as a reminder to why we got involved in this crazy craft to begin with!

God's Blessings!

as many of you know, we have lost someone very near and dear to our heart.

On Saturday, my dad passed away from a long illness. He was actually my Grandfather by blood, but in my heart, he was my father. He and my Grandmother raised me with my brother and baby sister. We are going to miss him very much. I am so thankful to have been able to fly home to be with him and my Grandmother in his last days, as well as with my Aunt and Uncle.

The funeral services are tomorrow, in just a few hours, and right now, I'm just working on getting through the day. We are staying on an extra 2 days to help with all the after funeral tasks. It's been a long, exhausting week, but I wouldn't trade those last moments here with him in his earthly life for anything in the world. I only wish it could have been longer, but know that it's in God's plan that he is now our guardian angel watching over us in death as he did in life.

Please take a moment today, and hug your loved ones. If they are away, pick up the phone and make that small connection....if they are "estranged" take a moment to try to bridge that gap, because one day you won't be there, or they won't, and then it will be too late. I was able to give him my love, and I will always know that he passed knowing he was loved beyond any imagination.

God's Blessings!

Alright, so the other Doodle Gems went up to the membership group yesterday, and today, we are doing another doodler for you!

With this one, you can see in the picture that I did TWO different projects.

In the first project, I once again used my Quickie Glue pen, and I drew the doodle lines. I then replaced the pen with the blade tool, and cut around the doodle lines.

I removed it from the cut mat, and sprinkled pink flock on it. I then cut out the mat from a light pink paper, and mounted it onto that mat.

In the other image, I took the doodle line, and place several of them on the page area, rotating here and there, so as to fill in the space a bit. I filled in about an 7"x7" area on the page.

I then drew a 6" square and place that in the middle. I put the pen tool in, and let it draw out all the doodles, then I replaced it with the blade tool, and had it cut out the 6" square. I ended up with a 6" x 6" square piece of cardstock with my doodle as my background! This would work GREAT with a souffle pen, or other gel pens! Great way to make a coordinating background!



ENJOY!

I'm trying to do some different things for the membership group, that provide a bit of variety!

This file is made specifically so that you can use other tools like your pen tools, and a glue pen if you want, with flocking or glitter!



I'm putting together a few other Doodle Gems, so I hope you like the concept!

Here is the Lazy Dazy Card, that would be great to send out as a thinking of you, or other greeting card! It makes a perfect wedding invitations too, and coordinates with the other Lazy Dazy files!

Hope you ENJOY!