Confessions of a Scrapbooking Wine Snob

CPS sketch

2010-02-13T18:02:00.007-05:00

Wow, long time no blog. I had a pretty busy end of 2009... but here's to more time to craft in 2010.

I'm a big fan of PTI or Papertrey Ink. For their 3rd anniversary they have teamed up with the CPS blog for a card sketch challenge.

Here is the sketch from the CPS blog:

I made a card for a friend's baby shower using PTI's Baby Button Bits and Inside & Out: Baby.

I hope you like it! And go check out Papertrey's 3rd Anniversary party on the night of the 14th and the CPS blog too. =)

Supplies Used (All PTI):
Dark Chocolate Cardstock, Polka Dot Parade Patterned Paper
Spring Moss Ribbon, Rustic Cream Twine
Holiday Button Assortment
Dark Chocolate Ink

My First Timeless Template!

2009-04-23T16:09:00.013-04:00

Hello All!

Have you heard of Lauren Meader's "My Timeless Templates"? They are her designs and available at PaperTreyInk and they are fabulous!

There are several available for purchase and even 2 for free - you should check them out!

One of her newer ones is called Filed with Flair. I love it. It is so cute! I used it to make a stationery set for a friend as part of her bridal shower gift. I used a combo that Lauren did herself on her blog here that combined this template with another template called All Boxed Up.

The picture below shows the base template with the 4 envelopes I created to go inside it:

Next I made the panels to decorate the sides and the back. I used my Baja Breeze CS and my swiss dots cuttlebug folder in my Big Shot to emboss dots on the back panel. As the panel is bigger than the folder, I had to get creative in making sure everything had dots on it.

Then I used the 2nd (smaller) layer to add my flowers to the holder. I used the SU! Fifth Ave floral stamp set because it is just the type of flowers and colors my friend likes. Sorry about the picture being white on white!

Here is what one of the side panels looked like after I finished it. I made 4 panels: the 2 sides and then a front and a back panel. I added a strip of SU! Designer Paper and then some orange ribbon I had that matched the Tangerine Tango nicely.

Here is what it looks like when it is all put together. Notice the back panel so it is pretty from all sides =)

Here is one of the cards I made to go with this set. I wanted to make a bunch of 1 dimensional cards for this as I wanted them to be available quickly for her to jot a thank you note and send it on its way. sorry about the scraproom mess in the background! LOL

I hope you like my creation and if you haven't tried a template - you should! PaperTreyInk is having their blog hop this weekend and everyone will be using these templates this month so be sure to look to see everyone's wonderful ideas! Lauren also has amazing ideas on her blog too!

Before I leave you, I'd like to share a quick picture of me and my hubby. This was before the Final Four weekend just before the Michigan State game. We were so blessed to have his Alma Mater, Villanova, make it to the final four and we got tickets! Isn't he cute?!? =)

Much aloha,

Stephanie

SUPPLIES:

PAPER: PTI: White, SU!: Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Basic Gray

Stamps: PTI: Everyday Classics, SU!: Fifth Avenue Floral

INK: SU!: Tangerine Tango, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Going Gray, Basic Gray

OTHER:

PTI: Classic Card Set, Filed with Flair (MTT), All Boxed Up (MTT)

Cuttlebug: Swiss Dots Embossing Folder

Free Spirit

2009-02-12T18:22:00.005-05:00

This page is one I made quite some time ago.... The kit I used was from MoshPosh and was by FancyPants I believe....

This post is about my sister. She is really amazing and I love her so much. Her friend Mark took some of these photos.

Supplies:

Patterned Paper: Fancy Pants - from MoshPosh

Cardstock: Bazzil

Flowers: Prima

Sunflower Stamp: Close to my Heart

So… a wine snob huh?

2009-02-12T18:14:00.003-05:00

So… a wine snob huh? Yeah, that what some of my friends call me. Nice friends, I know =) They say it with love!

Seriously though, I was one of the first of my friends to get into wine. Not that they are all converts now, but some are learning as they go. My friend Amber and I used to watch Alias every Sunday and we start with Beringer White Zin, oh yes we did!

It didn’t take long for us to get out of that phase and then we moved on to bigger and better (and more expensive) things.

I have always loved France and Italy and had always wanted to go there as well. I loved the wines I had tried from there at restaurants and such, but never really branched out and bought my own until one night I met some friends at a wine bar called Nectar’s. They had a fabulous 1997 Bordeaux made by Chateau LaGrange. Here is the label from their ’98 vintage. After that, I was in love with all things Old World….

From there I started to go to some tastings here and there, and I kept moving in the old world direction for wines while my Mom and Amber were also growing their love for wine, but in a different direction – West. They fell quickly in love with many wines that Napa had to offer. Meanwhile, most of our friends were drinking beer and were boggled by two things: 1) why didn’t we like beer and 2) Who would order wine at a dance club? And although, I have to agree with them on the second one, the era of the wine snob began.

I view wine as not only a delicious beverage, but a learning experience. I love to learn about wine, the wineries, the grapes, the winemakers and their inspirations, their labels, the distributors, the wine glasses and crystal... all of it and above all of that I love to learn what everyone else thinks of it. It doesn’t have to be snobby. It doesn’t have to be expensive. I love the debate of who likes what and why (without having to bring up politics or religion!)

So, tonight I am resuming my attendance at the wine tasting at my local WineStyles. I wanted to share with you my love for wine so you could understand why I will post my reactions on my blog and share my thoughts on some wines with you, and maybe by sharing them with you, you’ll be inspired to go try something new.

Ribbon Lei

2009-02-01T20:02:00.009-05:00

I just returned from Hawaii from Grandfather's funeral and in putting together a scrapbook for the funeral I came across a ribbon lei at a craft supply store. I bought the pattern thinking it would something interesting to try back home.

Well here is my first try at it. I used 3/16" feather edge ribbon in purple and green which were our wedding colors. This is currently hanging on one of our picture frames of our wedding photos. It is surprisingly easy to make and is almost like braiding so it is easy to do while watching a movie (but no wine drinking - LOL).

Let me know what you think!

Each of the pictures can be clicked on for a larger view. I also included two details of what the front of the lei looks like and what the back looks like.

Thanks for looking,

Much Aloha,

Steph

SUPPLIES:

RIBBON:

3/16" feather edge ribbon in green and purple

1/4" satin ribbon for finishing bowin green and purple

MISC:

Sticky strip

Will You?

2009-01-31T19:48:00.005-05:00

This is a post for my friend Kelly. She came over for a scrap night (and some wine - funny how those can go together) and I started this page. She never saw it finished so I wanted to post it to show her how it turned out.

It is also a page I am proud of and wanted to share. I'll be honest, I don't keep track of my supplies but I know some. If you are curious, ask in a comment and I'll dig it up :)

This page is an adventure in a one picture page for me. I don't usually do one picture layouts and I usually only do two page spreads. I wanted to try something different and this is what came out. The theme is the night of our engagement and the picture is from a cruise we took a year before we got engaged for his 30th birthday.

I wanted to page to be neutral so I printed it in sepia, although hard to tell in this picture of the page. I'll have to work on my skills of uploading pictures of my work, but I hope you like it!

Much Aloha,
Steph

Welcome!

2009-01-31T19:22:00.004-05:00

I created this blog to share some of my life with you....

I am a lover of scrapbooking and crafting as well as wine, much to the chagrin of my friends. I have shared my loves with them and for some it has taken hold of them as well. There are those who share my love of a great Meritage and those who get giddy with excitement over a scallop punch. I'm sure you know which category you fall into! =)

My hope is that you enjoy your reading, but also to hold me accountable to sharing my crafts with you.

So enjoy (with a glass of wine if you like) and please leave your comments as to your thoughts about my posts.

Much Aloha,
Steph