Guest Puncher - Marci Long - Bo Peep and Alien

Oh my, my, my, but we have some talented ladies out there in reader land.

Marci Long needed a Bo Peep and Alien from Toy Story to go with the Buzz Lightyear I had made.  I had no interest in working on them right then so I suggested she try it herself.  And what that heck was she waiting for?  Look at the awesome job she did...

Didn't need me at all did she?

Here's the link to my original Buzz for directions on him.

If Marci can design them, surely you can look at the photo and figure out how she did it.

I'm the lucky one - I got to see a DARLING photo of Marci's grand kids in their Halloween costumes of these same 3 Toy Story characters.  Marci made these characters for their goodie bags.  Now is that is a thoughtful grandma, huh?

Thanks Marci, for sharing these with me and allowing me to show them here. 

I have a feeling these will be copied many times over.  Please remember to give Marci credit for her work.

Guest Puncher - Joan Hargrove

The Blink Blog is PROUD to present another fabulous punch creation by Joan Hargrove:

She was inspired by the card on the left and so... she recreated it with punches.  I LOVE IT!!!

To see other "Joan" work look here and here and here.

She's back....

Yes, it is time for another installment of Guest Puncher, Joan Hargrove.

You remember Joan of the Pastor Punch and Nun Characters?

No?

Well, then you are bound to remember her from Back on the Beach which started the whole Little Miss Backsides thing?

Yes! 

See?  I knew you would remember our dear Joan and her cleverness!

What you all never called me on was, that in my original post about Joan, I said she sent me 6 projects. But I haven't shown you six projects, have I?

I have been holding out on you. 

Keeping good stuff to myself.

Actually, it was more a case of being disorganized and not saving all her photos to the logical spot on my computer.

So let me partially remedy this by showing you what Joan sent me for the "partial punch art" challenge I issued MONTHS ago and ONLY JOAN sent me anything.  (yes, that font is supposed to make you feel sad, blue and guilty for not even TRYING)

Joan took on the "I Dream of Jeannie" character.

I LOVE this because it reminds me of a Halloween costume my youngest wore one year...

I'd share the photos but alas, that was in my pre-digital days.  It is safely saved in the Halloween scrapbook and as I type this, it is early in the morning, and that book is in "Girl Who Moved Back Home"s bedroom.  I don't think she'd appreciate me tromping in there in the dark, tripping over an apartment's worth of stuff just to snag an old photo of her little sis.

Guest Puncher Alene Humphrey - Red Hat Lady

Didn't have a thing punched for the blog today - I've been working on some swaps instead of catering to your every need. (gasp!)  Don't worry, a dear reader came through for us. 

Alene Humphrey combined two of my past projects into a fabulous new one. 

I LOVE it when that happens! 

Isn't this great?  Thanks Alene for sharing your project with me! 

Did you recognize the inspiration? 

Chic Chick and the Little Miss Backsides Bride! 

Don't you love the face and hair and GLAM of this lady?  I happen to know a red hat lady queen that looks just like this....but I think I just missed her birthday.  Better late than never.

Guest Puncher - Jessica Bowhall - Punch Art in MDS

Family health issues popped up again so my punching and posting will be sporadic for a bit.  But I went to check my saved emails to see if someone had sent me a punch project I could share with you today and found this AWESOME idea.

Jessica Bowhall sent this to me a couple months back.  Why didn't I post it immediately?  She had the fabulous idea to try punch art in MDS - My Design Studio, which is Stampin' Up! answer for digital scrapping and calendar making and digital cards and all kinds of cool projects on your computer.

Jessica made a Lowe's man inspired by my UPS man. Isn't this fabulous?

While you can't "re-punch"  or punch around a hole, you  can layer your punches and you can ADJUST THE SIZE of the punch shape!  How handy would that be when I'm trying to find just the right size eyes? 

Thanks Jessica for sharing you awesome project.  And what a great tip for those of you who don't YET have all the Stampin' Up! punches - you can still make "punch art" if you have My Design Studio!  

I'm sorry I didn't share this with you sooner - because you have missed out on all the fun of punching in MDS.  Bad blogger.  If you can find me, you can beat me with some retiring ribbon.

Big Rig - Guest Puncher - Sue Bishop

Sue Bishop sent me this punch art and this message
"I want to share with you a card that I made for my husband - who is a truck driver/heavy equipment operator. We have been together 6 years now, and it has been the best years of my life. I wanted to give him something special for our anniversary, so I tried my hand at punching out a big rig! I think it turned out really well - and I was so glad to have the trio of small punches - the small circle was just the right size for the lights on the roof. I did make it with magnets on the back of it, so it can go on our fridge - but he wants the whole card displayed! I was lucky enough that he has mega pictures of trucks he has driven, and the red Kenworth was his favourite so that is what this is supposed to be."

Well Sue, I think it turned out really well too!  And thanks for letting me share - in case there are some other punchers who love "truck drivin' men"

Sue also sent this information to help you if you need to make this project:
Everything on it is Stampin' Up!, except for the words - they are computer generated. The tires are the round tab punch, but the edges have been left off - I punched a piece of paper that was fitting just inside the two notches that show you where to fold the tab. The silver pieces are the Brushed Silver card stock, and the big red pieces were cut, and then corners rounded. The windows used the small tag punch.

Back on the Beach - Guest Puncher, Joan Hargrove

Remember Joan Hargrove?  She was the guest puncher that brought us the Nun and Priest a few months back.  Well, that wasn't all she sent me - I have been holding out on y'all.  She had a couple more great ideas. 

Joan took my butterfly blog babe and had her face the other direction.  Then she added two more girls for a trio of beach babes. 

How cute is that?   Don't answer, I already know that it is darling!  Joan is one clever girl.  I just held up on sharing because this is a summer theme - perfect for Memorial Day Weekend and the unofficial start of summer.

Tune in next time to see what I did with Joan's back of a butterfly blog babe idea.

Guest Puncher - Pam Findlay

I can only claim a little inspirational credit for this one...

Pam Findlay needed a card for her daughter's tennis coach so she combined my Opening Day baseball with Set to Serve Love tennis player.

I love her idea to combine these two characters and I LOVE her idea to use my FAVE embossing folder (new Square Lattice)  for the strings on the racket.

She reports that her daughter wasn't that crazy about this because she wanted a spinner card.  Oh well, can't please everyone, can we?  The rest of the team loved it.

Great job Pam!  Thanks for sharing your improvements.

How about you?  Have you fixed, combined, altered or improved some of my ideas?  I'd sure love to see what you have done...  You know where to find me!

Guest Puncher - Belinda Johnson's Eeyore

You all are in luck - Belinda let me share her Eeyore!  Isn't he fab?

No directions - but you can figure it out.  You can!

Guest Puncher - Joan Hargrove

I almost used an idea from one of my readers for yesterday's soup  page.  Joan Hargrove sent me several (six to be exact) FABULOUS punch art projects that she says she was inspired to make because of moi.  (BIG GRIN here)

So what did Joan send that I could have used on the tortilla soup recipe? 

A soup pot?  No

A veggie conga line? a dancing tortilla?  No and no!

She send me Pastor Punch!  And she has already confessed that she got the idea during a sermon.

The only reason I didn't use this was that I found that video and KNEW Pastor Tom, of Pastor Tom's Tortilla Soup, didn't look like this.  But Pastor Punch is pretty darn clever.  Thanks Joan!  You did a great job. 

Oh, as long as I'm sharing Joan's cleverness, let me show you this one that goes with it.

Isn't she just fab?

Thanks Joan!

Tune in next time for more from the recipe swap - Ohhhhhh the girls did good this month!

"Tune in next time".... how many decades has it been since anyone (besides me) said that?

Lazy Blogger

I am a lazy blogger today -  I have several things in work but nothing finished so I'm just going to point you to some AWESOME punch art that you are going to FLIP over. 

Nicky Foden says seeing some of my stuff made her feel up to the challenge of punching Cinderella and then she was hooked.  Punch art will do that to you!

She doesn't have a blog, but she has shared on Splitcoaststampers.  Here are the links
Cinderella
Jasmine
Belle
Ariel
Sleeping Beauty

EDIT to add
SNOW WHITE

AMAZING huh?

And I know she has Snow White in work - so keep checking her splitcoast gallery.  You can put Snow White with the dwarfs!

Which one is your favorite?  I'm kinda partial to her Jasmine...

Guest Puncher - Realistic Birds

I'm guessing that you've noticed my punch art has a cartoon feel to it.  That is just how I roll.  Even the things that I draw are "cartoonish".  But some people have the ability to do punch art with a realistic feel.

Lucia Dawe's mother (I am sure she has a name, but all I know her as is Ink Me Baby One More Time!'s Mom) has been a faithful reader and 'caser' of my stuff for a few months but she has moved on past me and done two fabulous birds (quail and pheasant) on her own and you can see them here.

Then I got an email on Friday where Alene Humphrey used the Two Step Bird punch and her Field Guide to make realistic birds.  I'm sharing them here with her permission because she has no blog for me to link to.

Realistic looking punch art is really impressive - so when you are looking for a challenge - give that a try!

Guest Puncher - Annette McKillop (Mechanic card) and I got a gift!

Remember me talking about the darling Mechanic Card and giving you the link?  Well, Annette McKillop read my post and sent me the picture so I could share it directly with you.  I don't want you to miss this because I LOVE this card - I love the little wrench and the way she put her sentiment on little nuts.  TOO clever!!!

Thanks Annette for letting me show off your work!

Then my sideline. Eileen - the one that is the fabulous cook and the glittery stamper - shows up at my door with Egg Rolls (yum) AND a gift for me.  Wanna see?

How cute is this little supply holder?  She added the paper and cut it strategically so I would get the piece that said PUNCH.  I just love it!!!!

(Of course she is really sending me subliminal messages -it says "glitter" on the same side)

I said I'd get  back to punching after yesterday's scrapbook share - and I did.  I have two CUTE things in work but they just aren't ready to be revealed yet.  Soon, very soon.

Guest Puncher - Sheila White

People have started sending me original punch art that they were inspired to make because of this blog;  That just makes me grin from ear to ear! 

When I receive something fabulous from now on, (and if they give me permission), I'm going to share it with you.

Sheila White lives in North Carolina and sent me two great projects. She admits their might be a competitors punch in these somewhere but we will forgive her for not being an SU purist.  I mean, if you own a punch you HAVE to use it.  You wouldn't want any of them feeling neglected, would you?

On to the good stuff. 

First we have Woody from Toy Story by Sheila

How cute is that?

Then we have some kids playing soccer by Sheila - the net was done on an electronic cutting system not punches.

Thanks Sheila for letting me show off your work.  Keep on punching!

Get a Ton Done - Part 4 - Secret Weapon

First - before I bore you with more scrapbook talk, I want to share a punch project that was emailed to me Monday.  Valarie Williams in Kansas said I had inspired her to play with her punches - well, I'm really proud of that because look what she did!  She came up with this darling sock monkey...

Isn't he fabulous?  Great job Valarie and I really appreciate you sharing this.  Ladies, you can use him on a scrapbook page now that Santa time is over or just remove his hat and use him for anything you like.  Punches!  Gotta love them!!!!


Now back to the final installment of Get a Ton Done...
Today I reveal my 'secret weapon' for productive organized scrapping- it won't be a surprise (or a secret) to many of you card makers, but I found that many scrappers don't use it.  The secret weapon is SKETCHES.  That's right, they aren't just for card making!

I take several books/folders of sketchers and layout ideas with me.  They are great inspiration when my pages seem to all look the same or I need a starting point.  And BOY! do my sketch books get borrowed at crops!   I always meet someone at a crop who has never used sketches.

I tear sketches and photos of layouts I like from my scrapbook magazines and glue/tape them in a spiral notebook before I pass on/recycle the magazine.  I also regularly print sketch ideas from various web sites.

Of course you know me - I don't like to use things "as is" so I am apt to alter the sketch - flip it, add to it, change it, etc. but sketches give me a place to start - they narrow my choices and that frees me to get started and not have to try every possibility before I adhere my elements to my page. 

And yes, it is OK to tear up your scrapbook magazines.  It is just paper.  Why keep all those ads for products the stores don't even carry anymore? 

I had SHELVES of magazines and whittled them down to one huge file folder and I'm working on getting that down to a couple of spiral notebooks - just keeping the stuff that really appeals to me. 

I accomplished this by taking a stack and giving myself a deadline.  I had until X day to weed through the magazines and then I had to recycle them.  Then I'd do another stack with another deadline. 

I confess I kept a few magazines intact as a record of the early scrapping styles and a couple of my favorites but the rest are gone and HONEST, I don't miss them at all!  I can get plenty of ideas from current magazines and blogs - I don't need to dig through magazines from 6 (or ten) years ago.

If you really get into pre-planning your scrapping, you can select your sketches ahead of time too.  (Not just take the sketch idea books with you.) This would really make the most of your cropping time.  As you are reviewing your photos and picking your paper and embellishments, you could also be choosing a potential sketch for your layout.

I know after reading this mess for the last few days, it sounds like a lot of work but by planning in little bits of time it will add up to GETTING a TON DONE when you actually sit down to scrap!

Here are some sketch links:

http://pagemaps.com/
http://sketchesbytamara.blogspot.com/
http://www.scrapsuzy.typepad.com/sketches/
http://www.scrap-maps.com/
http://sosketchy.blogspot.com/

There are MANY more available, but SU says it is naughty for me to link you to any site that sells something other that SU, so look around and see what you can find to get you going on your 2010 scrapping!

Have fun!!