Friday, October 30, 2009

Happy November (a little early)


The November Bulletin Board decoration I created for church. Got the turkey pattern from the book --- 201 Paper Piecing Patterns (and found it for mere cents on Amazon)!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Makayla's card

My 6 (almost 7) year old "built" this card for her friend Ryan out of stickers. I was busy working away and she brought me her creation --- have to say I was surprised at how neat it turned out! She used a green border sticker for grass and drew the tree limb to put the birds on.  Pretty creative for her age, if you ask me (but then I'm her mom right?!).

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Christmas Moose

The free image over at Digital Delights last Friday was this moose. I knew when I saw him that I'd have to make those legs dangle.  I have a friend who loves anything with legs that dangle so I'll probably give the card to her (maybe even make her some).

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Two for Tuesday

I was so thrilled when Cora ask me to guest design for her blog - Two For Tuesday - this week.  Using the two images she sent me here is what I made...
The first item is an altered notebook
Materials used:
  • Composition Book
  • Denim Paper (covered notebook in)
  • Star Punch (pink, white, yellow stars on the notebook)
  • Image from Two for Tuesday
    • Printed on dark blue cardstock - little lady printed on white and layered over top - sentiment on pink and layered
  • Watercolor Pencils (colored image)
  • Snow Writer - Dimensional snow  (on moon)
  • Prisma Startdust Glitter (around image)
  • Transparent Embossing Powder (on small stars and poem)
The second item - A Hawaiian Card
Materials used:
  • Two for Tuesday clip art (I printed two and cut out three flowers to slide in behind the Hawaiian scene)
  • Palm Tree clip art from here
  • Photoshop brush from here
  • Swirls embossing folder
  • Watercolor pencils (coloring Hawaiian scene)
  • Bic Markers (coloring Two for Tuesday clip art)
  • Circle Template (cutting out Hawaiian scene)

Monday, October 26, 2009

A Knight in Shining Armor

One of my daughter's friends has a birthday party next week.  I purchased his gift a few weeks ago (While shopping with his mom recently I heard him asking for a knight/horse - hopefully he still wants something along that line....cause that's what he's getting!) - I wanted a card in the same theme as his present...
The card is one of these (she gave me a couple in my birthday present!)

Knight image from here (colored with Bic markers)
Swords are die cuts (from the Kids Cuttlebug Pirate set)
Name is Bubbles die cut letters
Since this card is really an envelope card - I decided to put some Knight pictures/puzzles inside for him to color - got them here
Here's a picture of the gift --- I found these knights/horses/dragon at A.C. Moore a few weeks back (on sale too!) -- then later in the day I found the helmet and simply could not pass it up.  Ryan likes to dress up as things (At least I assume he does from all the different dress up things he has --- fireman, astronaut etc.) - so what better gift -- he can be a knight or play knight either one. Maybe I'll have to see if I can find a play sword to go with it too!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Space

A very special nephew is turning 10 later this month and I needed something "masculine."To be honest masculine cards are hard for me --- I do much better with lace and flowers.Here's what I came up with this time...
  • The astronaut came from here
  • The moon came from here (has transparent embossing powder on it to make it sparkle)
  • Stars are punched
  • Background embossed with bubbles (?) embossing folder

The inside looks like this....


Art work and word art from Microsoft Word

Thursday, October 22, 2009

More Blossoms

Same paper - different layout.  Just messing around with my Blossom Nestabilities.
I embossed each layer of the blossom with a different embossing folder and inked over it to make it stand out better.

This one was so simple, but I really like it.
This was one thing I was looking forward to - making shape cards without all the hassle of cutting it out by hand. 

Organizing!

I'm a lover of organized things.....take my closet for example.
I organize my clothes according to color, then according to dress/casual, then according to what it is - shirt, skirt, dress etc.  All the clothes "face" the same way, and all the sweaters are folded (by color) and stacked neatly on the shelf above.  If there is one thing that gets on my nerves (at least at my house where I have to live in it) - it's clutter!  I despise clutter. (I learned a little secret several years ago --- if everything is picked up and the floor is swept -- your house will look clean even if there is 1/2 inch dust on the furniture -- well maybe not quite that much!)
Funny it's taken me this long to get around to organizing my scrap paper. 
I know some people don't save every last scrap, but I do.  I'd like to know HOW MANY cards I've made out of the scrap basket alone?!?!?
Today I got down to business with this basket that's about to be overflowing....starting with sorting out all the plain pieces of paper by color...

The printed paper got the same treatment...


I found paper I didn't know I had in this process, and now that it's all safely back in the basket according to color it won't take me near as long to find what I'm looking for next time!

Birthday Purchase

I didn't spend all my birthday money (yet!), but there was one thing I've been wanting for a LONG time....a set of nestabilities!  Originally I had planned (whenever I had the money) to get the scallop circle or oval -- I like most of them, but those two have ALWAYS been my favorites.  Well.......I didn't purchase either one, instead I got (40% off) Blossom.  I REALLY like the flower dies, and this one is pretty close to the scallop design.  I ordered it Saturday and it came in the mail yesterday (Wednesday).  As you can see, I MADE time to try it out -- just something simple to start with.
By the way, I'm not sorry I purchased this one, and have several things I want to try with it.

On a side note - that polka dot brown paper is flocked and from a stack of 15 that I got at Big Lots -- the whole stack for $1!  You pay that for one piece at Michaels!  I found six or seven packs (at least 4 were not flocked, but had 25 pieces in them) when we were there last Friday.  That's where $7 of my birthday money got spent!  I just couldn't pass up a deal like that!!! (Usually my friend Christa finds these deals before me -- SMILE... She has the advantage of living close I guess!)

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Birthday

I haven't had much time to create lately (which is a real bummer being I got some really nice things for my birthday last week - that I'm itching to use!)
Thought I'd share two homemade birthday cards I got...
The first is from my sister-in-law Lois --- she has me itching to do some more iris folding!
It's a bit time consuming, but the end result is always worth it!

The second is from my friend Christa -- just love how she stamped the rose image over the clock face!  I must try this sometime (I just found that rose stamp at Dollar Tree for $1 within the last two months).

Unfortunately, Lois doesn't have a blog (I wish she did - she does beautiful work), but you can visit Christa's blog here.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Meow!







You're thinking that I'm on an animal kick - not really.
I have a friend who has a birthday this month and has told me over and over again "Don't give me anything for my birthday!"  Knowing I won't listen to her she finishes with "If you have to get me something - give me your homemade cards!"  She's a cat lover....so a set of six kitty cards is coming her way soon. The image is from here, and in my exploring the $1 bin at Michaels the other day I found the perfect set of "cat stamps" to accent the cards with. Hopefully she'll think they're purr-fect!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Baa Baa

A paper piecing card for my daughter's friend.  She turns 4 this month, and I wanted something cute and little girlish. I have come to love paper piecing of late.  Half way through always finds me saying "I don't know --- this just doesn't look right" --- but if I keep at it the finished product always makes me happy.  I matted this little lamb on a folded piece of pink paper and cut around it to form a lamb shaped card.  I especially like how the swirls embossing folder gives it a woolly look/feel. Hope she likes it!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Thank You!

A couple simple "Thank You" cards.
My good friend (Becky) gave me this thank you sentiment earlier this year.
I wanted to try and use it on the front of a card (instead of inside where the sentiment normally goes).
Here's what I came up with

 
The stamp set I used for the image behind the embossed "thank you" is the Garden Set from Clearly Vintage.
I won it in the Journals of Love challenge!  I love the images on it - just need more time use it!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Just a Note!

I needed some easy to make (since I was mass producing) thank you notes for this week.
(We're entertaining guest speakers and the wonderful ladies at church are a HUGE help with meals! The very least I can do is thank them!!)
Here's what I came up with - "Just a note"

  • Paper - White cardstock, Misc. Red scrap paper, old music
  • Black Ribbon
  • Die Cut - note
  • Embossing folder - music notes
  • Red Glitter (one note)

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Fall Sympathy

I don't like the occasion that necessitates this card... the death of a friend of ours.
What I do like is:  I can customize my sympathies both to the person I'm giving it to and to the season.
Here is the simple sympathy card


  • Paper - Misc. scraps 
  • Punch - Martha Stewart lace punch, small flower
  • Embossing Folder - Textile
  • Die Cut - lg. flower
  • Scissors - small scallop

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Ruffled Dress

I (loosely) used the sketch from 365 cards as inspiration for this card.
I'm not really sure I like how it turned out, but here it is anyway.

Cuttlebug Challenge #51 - Thank You!

The last of the birthday challenges over at Cuttlebug Challenge!
It's taken me a while to get this last challenge completed.  I'm of the personality that doesn't do well with the same theme for too long! (I think I must be ADHD! smile)
I seriously considered skipping it altogether, but then thought I should complete what I started.
Inspiration was a little slow flowing though, and I'm not 100% satisfied with what I came up with.
Guess I should have seen that one coming though --- it has been a whole month since I started on the birthday theme (and I have a VERY short attention span!).
I've enjoyed participating and gained lots of new/fun ideas from the DT of C.C.
So once again it's "Happy Birthday Cuttlebug Challenge" and "Thanks for a fun month!"

My thank you note:
In keeping with the baby theme - I used green and pink cardstock.
Embossed with swiss dots embossing folder.
Inked the embossing with pink ink
Added the sweet baby clip art from the invitation (only smaller this time).
Embossed the flower with transparent/glittery embossing powder
Here's the inside of the thank you - you can see the sparkles on the flower better in this pic.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Scarecrow!

365 Cards challenge for Saturday:  Stamp a background pattern that is the same color as your card stock.
I've had this "My Mind's Eye" Scarecrow for ?? years (at least 5 or 6), and decided to use it today.
I used misc. scraps of paper to decorate the bottom - Martha Stewart ribbon.
I hand cut the leaf, embossed the saying, crumpled it and inked it with brown ink to age it.
 I used Royal Blue VersaInk on Royal blue paper, but the picture doesn't show it up real well. Here's a closer view so you can see there are leaves stamped on this paper! (You can also click the picture to enlarge and see them a bit clearer.)

Friday, October 2, 2009

Autumn Bird

365 Challenge today is Ad Inspired.
We're to use this image to create a card.

It took a little thinking (but that's why it's called a "challenge" right?) but I finally came up with something. 

I chose the colors black, white, and orange and the birds and polka dots (in the form of an embossing folder) for my inspiration and turned it into this card:

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Masculine Card

365 Cards Challenge for today: Divide your card into 4 parts representing the 4 basic elements: water, fire, earth, and air.
Not sure if I missed something (I probably did), but here's what I came up with.

While I loved the card Amy made this week, I couldn't carbon copy it for the challenge.  No other ideas came to mind except to use a photo of the elements themselves.   I wanted something I would actually use, not just a card for a challenge so....

I made a mosaic of a camping  picture and matted each corner with coordinating (to the elements) card-stock.  Added a button in the elements colors to the corners and colored the button in the middle to match the corner buttons.

October Bulletin Board

Happy October!
Time for a new decoration for the church bulletin board.
Every month I think "I've run out of inspiration, what in the world will I make!"
And every month I come up with.......something!
Here's for the month of my birth - October

Here you can find the pumpkin
Here is the scarecrow pattern
Here is the pretty sentiment frame
I printed my pumpkin on orange paper and added brown, yellow, orange colored pencil marks to my liking.  Colored the stem and leaves with marker. Actually I colored the leaves with colored pencil first and then added marker on top.  It gave it a glossy sort of look.
The scarecrow is stitched around and all edges inked with brown ink....right down to those little paper buttons!  To think I made him entirely out of my scrap basket......little pieces of left over paper ARE good for something!