Calling all Dads & Grads:)

I am excited to share some awesome Dads & Grads cards I have made for a "Frugal Tips, Tricks, & Techniques" class I will teach at EA on June 11th.

These card turned out sooooo great! Of course, these cards are based on some of my FAVORITE T!m Holtz products....you guessed it...alcohol AND distress inks!!!

I am calling this class "Alcohol & Distress Inks, Part II" and is 3rd in my series of frugal classes I'm teaching at EA.

The technques used in this class are different from those I've taught before, so if anyone took the last classes, these are the perfect compliment to those looking to add even more reasons to why distress inks AND alcohol inks are such "frugal" purchases.

I wanted to showcase some of the cards I am MOST proud of. On this card, I used alcohol inks to "paint" a picture of a beautiful landscape. I can't wait to teach this technique:)

Below is a close-up of the "painting" I made using alcohol inks over glossy cardstock.

This card was made using some glossy paper I found at EA. The squares started out as a "pearl" glossy paper that I "marblized" with several colors of alcohol inks.

Below is a close-up of these "marble tiles".

Enjoy. I'd love to hear your comments:)

Lori McCausland

Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire:)

Getting my PA visitors hooked on 365 Cards:)

My stepmom, Pat is visiting from Sunny PA....yes, sunny California has eluded us since last Wednesday...

I have been having a BLAST scrapbooking and card making with Pat. I even introduced her to 365 Cards and she made this card for the Sketchy Sunday challenge.

I'm sorry to say, I haven't had time to work on the challenge myself (busy working on card samples for an upcoming class I'll teach at EA on June 11). so I'm happy to post Pat's card. She loves to work bright sunny colors and this card turned out just great:)...oh, I also took her to EA where she bought a Slice. She has had a blast making diecuts and has included two flowers, and two florishes made by the Slice on this card.

Enjoy and thanks for visiting:)

Lori McCausland
Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire:)

Under construction...

You may notice some dramatic changes over the next week or two as I make some changes to my blog layout. I appreciate your patience during this "creative" process:)

Thanks for visiting:)

Congrats Card:)

I made this card a few weeks ago for my son. He just bought a house last week and I was getting ready to send it to him when I saw today's challenge on 365 Cards.

The challenge was to make a card with a matching envelope. I immediately thought of this card and how it would be a great choice for this challenge. I love the way this house paper from American Crafts makes it so easy to layer it.

Thanks, 365 Cards, for this great idea:)

Have a most wonderful day:)

Lori McCausland
Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire:)

365 Cards Day 82

Another card for 365 days...let's see how long I can keep this up, lol...I do have to say this one was a stretch...as it didn't come to me easily. I started by using the scalloped edges, but then also distressed 3 sides of the pp...oh well, it's done. I LOVE these colors together...teal/aqua and rich red...these are my colors for the moment...

Enjoy:)

Lori M.
Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire:)

365 Cards, you've inspired me again:)

So have you been lucky enough to have a vision of what you wanted to create AS SOON as you saw a challenge? Well, this is certainly what happened to me over at 365 Cards when I saw the challenge for Day 81.

This doesn't happen to me often, but when it does, I am SO focused until I finish the project. This was more awesome for a few reasons...

1. I've been working hard to use ONLY my scraps when making cards (except for the occasional brand new sheet I use for my card base).

2. I've been trying to make masculine cards since Father's Day is right around the corner AND I am trying to make some samples for a card class I want to teach in June at EA.

3. I just LOVE this old pp I've had in my stash forEVER, lol...

I just used my 3/4" EK Success square punch (one of those deFINite frugal purchases I made many moons ago) to punch out my 5 squares. I then inked them with one of my cat's eye chalk inks. I stamped on some layered cardstock, added a bit of ribbon (also from many moons ago) and viola, my card was complete:)

Hopefully, you are getting the inspiration you need to complete all of your creative projects:)

Thanks for visiting:)

Lori McCausland, Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire:)

Cards, Cards, and more Cards...

I had a play date yesterday with a good friend of mine, Paula. We had lots of fun making cards based on card challenges over at 365 Cards and Card Patterns.

With this first card, we came across the scrap from the "negative" space left from the Top Note Sizzix die cut. When I looked at it, I decided that Paula and I could issue ourselves a challenge of our own...like we needed yet another challenge, hee hee...anyway, I decided that if we cut this "scrap" in half, we could "make" something out of it...at first, I thought it looked like a table, but then decided to add some lace ribbon and make it into a valance for a window.

Since one of the challenges I hadn't completed yet was the "coffee" challenge at 365 cards, I used this format to complete this card. I even used my own handwriting which counts toward another 365 Cards challenge...if you haven't visited their site yet, you should give it a try. It's loads of fun!

BTW, the inside of this card says..."when shared with a good friend". Below is another card for the 365 Cards challenge. It too, can be used for several of their recent challenges. Day 77 was adding a "note" to your card...Day 72 was using your own handwriting on the card...and challenge day 80 was to use plaid on your card...would this qualify as a "trifecta"?, lol...I love the 365 Cards site, but haven't worked up to being able to do every challenge every day...until I can do that, I'll continue to use several challenges on one card so I at least feel like I'm doing each challenge:)

This card below I started to use for the 365 Cards "manufacturer" challenge (day 79). My original thought was to use Basic Grey as my manufacturer, but then realized I only used one piece of their paper...with that in mind, I've decided to use Bazzill as my manufacturer of choice, lol:)

This sketch also came from the most recent sketch challenge for the Card Patterns blog.

Enjoy, and thanks so much for visiting!

Have a scrappingly great day!

Lori McCausland

Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire:)

T!m, You've Inspired me....AGAIN:)

How long has it been since I said I want to just absorb ALL of T!m Holtz' creativity???? I want to teach a "frugal" card class at EA and have decided to use a masculine theme...Father's Day, Birthday, Thinking of you, etc...

This is my first sample.......LOVE IT!!!!! Whoo hoo.

Enjoy!...I'm off to make more samples for this upcoming class at EA! (More on that later)...

Lori McCausland

Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire:)

Relaxing with Cards:)

I'm finally finding time to visit some great card challenge blogs again and was inspired by two sites to make this card. First I was inspired by Day 70 from 365 Cards. This challenge was to use an ad for inspiration. The ad chosen included a quilt in light airy colors, perfect for the season. The quilt in this ad really went well with the weekly sketch challenge from Card Patterns sketch 14.

Even though I'm a bit late for the 365 Cards challenge, I still wanted to complete and submit the card to both sites.

Thanks so much to both sites for inspiring me:) It's been a while since I was able to make any cards, so I appreciate the inspiration:)

Enjoy and thanks so much for visiting:)

Lori McCausland
Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire:)

I am having the Time of MY LIFE:)

I was soooo inspired by an article I recently read in the April/May issue of Somerset Memories Scrapbook & Heritage Art, that I had to make a book for myself AND use this article as inspiration for the May challenge for the LSS TNT book club I lead. I was thrilled to see that this book gave you the e-mail address of the artist so you could e-mail them directly with any questions you had. I did send an e-mail to the artist, Lisa Super, and she was gracious enough to respond right away and was able to answer all of my questions about her project. THANK YOU, LISA:)

Now I should probably tell you that our TNT "book" club had been run WITHOUT an idea book for some time because there just weren't any idea books that "spoke to me". We've had some really awesome idea books in the past, but had resorted to on-line inspiration for the last few months. We did have some great challenges based on what was found on-line, but since I missed having a physical paper idea book to use, I was thrilled when EA ordered in many of the Somerset books. Furthermore, it was great to see that the book was a very frugal price at only $6.99! Whoo hoo!

Our challenge did come with a twist, of course...If you want to give this challenge a try, see the rules below (note: read ALL the rules before beginning):

1. The project is to create a mini book that displays your "style".

2. Select just 2 colors in addition to the "free" colors of black, brown, white, and cream.

3. As you complete each page, do it without worrying about the next page.

4. Don't over think this project, but rather UNDERthink it.

5. Use photos....or just journal...or just display your "style" through your art...or do all three:)

Yes, there are probably "loopholes" in these rules, so let your creativity flow!

Here is a sneak peek of my take on it:

As you can see I love to change up the sizes of the pages in my mini books. I also like to alternate between acrylic and chipboard/cardstock pages. I just love the layering effects that can be created with acrylic pages:) To see this complete project, check it out here.

If you have specific questions about this project, feel free to leave a comment with your e-mail address. If you want to try this challenge, feel free to share a link to your project via a comment on this post.

Playing with Alcohol Inks

I finally got a chance to finish and photograph the mini book for my next Frugal Scrapbooking class at EA. For more information on this class, check here.

This is the perfect opportunity to get some "hands on" experience using this awesome product. Many of my techniques have been taken directly from the king of alcohol inks himself...you know it, it's Tim Holtz!

I've also been fortunate to be surrounded by some pretty awesome scrapping buddies, too, and you will find one of the techniques used in this class is a frugal idea that I got from none other than Gloria, who's Scraps of Life blog is awesome!! Gloria is also the cuttlebug expert over at Cropstop.com. Her technique (used on the back cover of this project) was the perfect "bonus" ending to my alcohol inks class.

Without further adieu, pictured below is the sample for my class. I have decided to give a short description of the techniques on each page. This book is the perfect way to jot down the in's and out's of each technique so you can try it on your own with ease.

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by:)

As always, scrap responsibly and go green as often as you can...it's both economical AND it saves our earth:)

Lori McCausland

Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire:)

A Frugal Scrapper Burns Out, lol:)

Wow, what a week I just had...I think this is the longest I've gone without doing ANY paper crafting in a LONG time! (My longest "non" scrapping period was in 2005 when I moved to sunny CA)...just coming from PA where (nice sunny days are at a premium) every day in CA it was sunny, I thought I had to spend my time outdoors...after all, that's what we always did in PA, right???? Well after about a year of "playing" outside almost every day, I finally realized it REALLY IS called "sunny" California for a reason, lol...and I was finally able to open all those crafting boxes I brought with me so I could get down to business again....ahhhhhh...what fun that was!

Now, back to this past week...I had an AWESOME National Scrapbooking weekend:) Last Thursday I assisted a vendor setting up their booth at the SD Scrapbook Expo...boy did I get a workout! My legs were stiff all the way through the weekend...I went from there to teach my first "Frugal Scrapping" class at EA. It was a HUGE hit!!! My next frugal scrapping class is on May 18th. I plan to make the frugal scrapping classes a monthly series. Check here for details on the May class:)

Friday morning I was back at the expo at 6:30 a.m. to "volunteer" at will call. That was loads of fun, too...from there I went to EA where I worked well into the evening at EA's National Scrapbooking "fiesta-ivities". They had an awesome crop where loads of fun was had by all. I then returned to EA on Saturday afternoon for an afternoon/evening leading the mnt's for the Saturday crop. By Sunday I was exhausted....and...all scrapped out!

I did place a HUGE order with SEI...they had soooo many $1 items available, so what's a frugal scrapper to do????? Shop, of course! My first shipment arrived today, whoo hoo! The first thing I worked on was a MOTHER word book for Mother's Day. I never really got into the word books before, but when they are only a $1, how can you pass them up? I just checked the site and don't see the $1 items anymore, but you should bookmark their site. They have great stuff and I'm sure they'll have a sale like this again:)

As soon as I empty the memory card on my camera, I'll share some pics with you:)

Boy am I glad my "burn out" has passed...Happy Scrappin' days are ahead, I can just feel it:)

Thanks for visiting:)

Lori McCausland
Frugal Scrapper Extraordinaire:)