All posts by letterpressdog

I have been addicted to paper crafts forever now. I recently got into letterpress and have a Kelsey 5 x 8 and a Golding Jobber #6 from 1881. Just for fun I started an Etsy shop to sell some of my extra creations: www.etsy.com/LongDogLetterpress I hope you have fun reading my blog. Please leave feedback!
Card making, craft, Letterpress, Scrapbooking, Uncategorized

Star Card Valentine!

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I really do spend way too much time watching crafting YouTube videos, and not enough time actually making crafty things. This weekend I decided to change the paradigm. Well, maybe not exactly. I saw an excellent video from Treasure Books on making a Christmas star card. It was beautiful! I thought I could use some of my junk journaling supplies and do a Valentine’s Day star card, so I did.

The front cover is layered paper with a felt heart I cut out of a little jewelry bag. I used seam binding for the closure and added a pink polka dot binder clip to use when it is opened up.

For the first section, I used a wildflower field guide page, a faux ticket and a letter pressed tag that says love. I added a thesaurus page with the word love and a glitter heart. The next section was made with scrapbook paper and a bunch of heart cut from scraps. I’ve had those hearts forever (and I still have a million more). The third page includes “The Song of the Red Clover Fairy” from the Flower Fairy collection. Section four is more scrapbook paper, a project life card and a small gold envelope with a matching card. The fifth page is red graph paper with a wooden heart and a handmade pocket. I added a magnetic heart page marker. The final page is various washi tapes and heart stickers.

This was a super fun project as I got to be creative with all the odds and ends I had in my craft room.

Star Card Valentine Cover
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5

Page 6
Card making, Uncategorized

Long Forgotten Items

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A million years ago, I bought a box of blank cards and envelopes by My Mind’s Eye, the Union Square set. Beautiful, thick, glossy cards patterned with creams, dark orange, and grey. And there they sat for years. They moved with me to the Pacific Northwest and moved back to the desert Southwest. I think they may have been a bit sad being tucked away in the craft room closet. But today was their day!

I recently purchased the Spring Critters stamp and die set from Close to My Heart and thought the images and sentiments would be perfect for a quick card for my work colleagues. Since I was crafting on my lunch break, I wanted to make the cards simple, but I wanted them to be cute too.

Hello there, Mr. Fox!

I punched a 2.25 inch circle out of olive green card stock from LCI Paper and glued it on to the card front. Used the fox stamp with the “hello there” sentiment and a bit of water color pencils to make the image pop a little. I mounted the image on foam squares to add a bit of depth.

Quick, easy and cute!

Card making, Uncategorized

In Sympathy

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One of my colleagues had a death in the family this week, and my heart goes out to her. I wanted to let her know I was thinking of her, so I put together this simple sympathy card.

Simple Sympathy Card

I used a lilac base and layered white card stock on purple. To add a little texture I tore the edges. I used the calla lily stamp from Stampin’ Up’s retired Long Stemmed set. There are two lilies on the white piece, with a third lily that I fussy cut and put in place using foam dots. I used water color pencils to add a little color and finished it off with a bit of cream satin ribbon.

I hope this card can brighten my friend’s day a little.

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Another Pretty Journal Page

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I have loved the small flower punch from Stampin’ Up! for years. (Just a note that this is not the one that came out recently, this one has been around for awhile.) I use it for almost everything. A little sparkle in the middle adds a little awesome and makes your flowers pop. Little note cards, treat boxes, cards or whatever. For this journal page, I made a blooming tree, weeeeeee!

Blooming tree

I used pink and blue paper for the flowers, with the beautiful bling on the top layer. The trunk is from the Season of Friendship set by Stampin’ Up!, and I used Close to Cocoa ink from SU. I think there are lots of trees in my future.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Art Journal, craft, Scrapbooking

Crafty Journaling

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Since the end of March, I have been working from home and basically never leaving the house. My husband has been working from home for 10 years or longer, so he thinks everything is normal. We all know everything is not normal. I have watched everything on Netflix and Amazon Prime, so I need to get back into doing other things. One of those other things is to get more active and watch what I eat. To go along with that, I decided to journal a bit with goal tracking. For me, I want a pretty journal, so I have been doing some art pages.

Continue reading Crafty Journaling →
Card making, craft, Scrapbooking, Uncategorized

Snow Day – Stash Day

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Today was a snow day, so in between work emails, I went upstairs and played with my stash. I have a huge stash of stuff. Card stock, patterned paper, and more. I am sure I have told you about my obsession with die cuts, Stampin’ Up, and Project Life cards. I love them all. I buy new and used Stampin’ Up, much to my husband’s consternation. I must have a couple of hundred stamp sets. Many of which I haven’t used yet.

So thinking about how to best use what I have, I got an idea. I could use my Project Life cards on the front greeting card. A while back I ordered a grab bag of envelopes from LCI paper (a great deal of 1000 assorted envelopes, for $40, you don’t know what you’ll get so it’s a surprise). Unfortunately, they sent a grab bag of card stock instead. When I called to let them know of the issue, they told me to keep the paper and sent me the envelopes. Yay for good customer service. So I found some A1 sized pieces in a moss green and looked through my gazillion Project Life cards and found a few I though would coordinate and got started. I used a Sizzix label die cut, pulled out a few random Stampin’ Up stamps and got to town:

I am pretty sure when my mini dachshund barks, she is saying “I hate the mailman!”

I used watercolor pencils for the car. I loved the little puff of smoke with this stamp set. It reminded me of my first car.

These little love birds are precious!

Now I need to find a few stamps and send them off to family and friends. Happy Tuesday to all!

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Day 6 & 7

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The weekend was way harder than the weekdays. Probably, because I was home near all my food! Eggs came to the rescue again. Saturday we made a tasty potato and egg salad with carrots and celery. Sunday was waffle night. My final count was $24.84.

Overall not too bad, but I did eat free food, you know when someone brings cookies to the office, etc. I also wasted some food, about a dollars worth of ham, two of tomatoes. To really do this right, I would need more planning. Definitely more planning.

So what is my takeaway from last week? I can spend less on food, but I want a bit more flexibility. $3.50 a day is quite restrictive – no coffee or soda, no going out ever, less cheese and less fresh fruits and veggies. I think I will keep up with the home made food, but allow an occasion dinner or lunch out. And I will bring back coffee in the morning, made at home. Wish me luck!

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Days 4 & 5 – Eggs are your budget friend

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Eggs are one of your best friends when talking budget. A very good source of protein and very tasty. Potatoes are also your friend. Very tasty whether boiled, or fried or roasted. On day three I went over budget with the cookies (they were taken to work where others could partake in their delightfulness), so I needed a few cheaper meals to get back on track.

Extremely cheap dinner 1: Roasted potatoes with dill and salt and a fried egg – $0.40

Extremely cheap dinner 2: Waffles -$0.30

Pretty cheap dinner 3: Home made corn tortillas with homemade black beans, onions and green pepper, and a little cheese and salsa, and an egg – $0.95

So for five days, I have spent $18.13 and I am only slightly over budget. Not bad.

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Day 3 – Foiled by Valentine’s Day Cookies

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Day three started really well, $0.75 for breakfast, $1.00 for lunch, a couple of snacks, and a really cheap dinner, roasted potatoes and a fried egg. What threw me was the cookies that ended up in my cart at Trader Joe’s. Heart shaped shortbread cookies with jam. Per cookie, $0.28. Three cookies were a whopping $0.84. (They sure were tasty though).

Although I was trying to spend less yesterday, to make up for the over spend on Tuesday, it did not work. My day three total was $3.70. Day 4, here I come!

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Day 2…

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I was really torn yesterday about trying to stay in budget or to not waste food. Since part of this experiment was to better use what we buy, I went with use the food. I had one of those really tasty chopped salad mixes, the Chipotle one. Yum! It was at its expiration date, and even though it cost $3, I thought it was better to eat it than waste it. So I cooked up a chicken breast and had it for lunch. I shared with my friend, so the lunch cost $2.25, more than I wanted, and put me about $0.80 above what I wanted to spend, but I am happy with my choice. I have about $1 cushion in the weekly budget, so all should be good!

Day 1 – $3.40

Day 2 – $4.55

Day 3 – We shall see