Flourishes Timeless Tuesday

“It is time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC41)! The blog design team is celebrating Flourishes release week with you. We are sharing with you today, Fancy Labels, one of five sets to release this Friday! Dee Jackson is our challenge host this week! In keeping with the Fancy Labels set, Dee Jackson is challenging us to Boxes and Bags! You decide if you want to make a stamped box or a stamped bag to house anything from homemade treats to knitted mittens! We cannot wait to see what you create!”

Betty Wright

Cindy Haffner

Dee Jackson

Makiko Jones

Silke Ledlow

Today the Friends of Flourishes are getting to share a sneak peek of a new stamp set available on Friday night,called Fancy Labels. Its a fun set with wonderful flourishes and “handmade by” sentiments. I love that I could get the images to fit with some of my favorite Spellbinders die templates.

On this card, I used one of the flourishes on the bottom of my die cut square. I added in a sentiment from Holiday Greetings.

This box was made from Crystal Cardstock from Flourishes. I love their acetate!! It is thick. Thick enough to be a sturdy card base and to take score lines from my Scor Pal. This little box will be perfect for a mini card set, candy, homemade treats, or any other little trinket.

thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps (Flourishes-Fancy Labels available Friday, Holiday Greetings), Cardstock (Flourishes Crystal Cardstock, Flourishes Classic White), Patterned paper (Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses), Ink (Palette L’Amour, Landscape), Ribbon (May Arts), Spellbinders die templates (Labels 4, Classic Squares Large), Other (Cardstock (Papertrey Ink Kraft), Buttons (Papertrey Ink New Leaf)

simple Christmas

I can’t believe that I used the word Christmas on a post! Yikes! :) But, I guess it is that time…

Playing along with the Hero Arts challenge for last week (and hugely honored and thrilled that this card was chosen as the winner for the week! wow!) I wanted to create cards that were simple, classy, and easy to mass produce. For the first card, I stamped the Stunning Snowflake design block on a piece of Ocean Tides cardstock with watermark ink. On the Aqua Mist card base, I stamped the celebrate the season sentiment on the top, again in watermark ink. To cover up the line between the cardstocks, I applied a piece of ribbon.

The snowflakes were punched out of cardstock and heat embossed. Gems were added to the centers. The sentiment was heat embossed on the bottom.

Tip: If you have a watermark-inked background and you are going to heat emboss an image over the top…let it dry overnight, otherwise, you end up with embossing powder sticking to the background. (Click on my card, you will see….) I tried heating it with an embossing gun, to speed up the drying time, but it didn’t work.

This card has a watermark ink background using the Dots and Flowers design block. I also used the watermark ink to distress the edges. It adds a subtle touch. the row of little trees were stamped along the bottom of a piece of cardstock and a star gem was added to the top of one tree. Then I added a big, fun bow. Ok, so that isn’t so easy to mass produce or mail. But if you moved the sentiment to the center of the Rustic White cardstock, that would work, without the bow. :)

This last card is my favorite!! I wanted to stamp the little trees in a row again. Not wanting to use anything but stamps, I scored two lines to give the trees their own little space. Then I stamped the Designer Woodgrain design block above the top score lines and below the bottom score lines. It was easy to line the stamp up with the score lines. And another star gem. Love those!

Have you started making cards yet? Going simple this year? I confess that since having the little man, we have been enjoying picking out the photo cards. Its one of those silly things that I was waiting to get to do once we had a family! :) Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps (Hero Arts-Holiday Sayings, Stunning Snowflakes, Designer Woodgrain, Dots and Flowers), Cardstock (Papertrey Ink-Kraft, Rustic White, Ocean Tides, Aqua Mist, Pure Poppy), Ink (Palette-Landscape, Dark Chocolate) Tsukineko (Versamark Watermark), Gems (Hero Arts), Ribbon (Offray (green stripes), American Crafts (multi-stripes)), Twine (May Arts), Button (Papertrey Ink (Pure Poppy), Embossing Powder (Stampendous-Detail White), (Judi Kins), Punch (Martha Stewart)

thankful

Oooh, fun little update! This card was chosen for the Trigger Tuesday on the Moxie Fab World Blog. To see the photo that inspired this card, check out the post HERE.

Along with a photo for inspiration, this card started with me wondering if a “kissed” white pumpkin would show up on kraft cardstock, turns out, it does! :) I inked each pumpkin with Fresh snow pigment ink and then kissed the damask image to the pumpkin. The damask had Colorbox Black pigment ink on it. I tried using a dye-based ink first, but it got lost in the white pigment ink. By using pigment inks for both colors, the images were crisp, like I wanted. The grass under the pumpkins is a flourish image in Vintage Labels from Papertrey Ink, which is also where the damask image came from. The rest of the card stuck with the color palette of the images.

Spend a few minutes today thinking about what you have to be thankful for. I know how much I have been blessed with! Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by!

Just a quick photo of our little tiger! LOL! Could he be any cuter? :) He has worn an Old Navy costume each year since he was born. This will be the last one. Tear. They are sweet and warm and fuzzy and too precious for words. :) On to Spiderman and Batman...

Supplies: All Papertrey Ink, unless noted: Stamps (Vintage Labels, Spooky Sweets, First Fruits), Cardstock (Kraft, True Black, Ripe Avocado), Ink (Palette-Fresh Snow, Noir, Ripe Avocado), Twill (Ripe Avocado), Twine (Rustic White), Button (Vintage Cream), Patterned paper (October Afternoon-Cherry Hill), Ink (Colorbox Black)

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday

“It is time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC40)! This week Kimberly Crawford is our challenge host! Kimberly is challenging us to a limited supplies challenge! Our challenge is to combine a colored image, texture or textures, and any shades of neutrals we want. You can pack on the layers and textures just make sure you include an image to color and use only neutral cardstock. Just so you know you can us any combination of whites, creams, blacks, browns, and grays! So make your cards pop with texture and a beautifully colored image! We cannot wait to see what you create!”

Betty Wright

Cindy Haffner

Dee Jackson

Makiko Jones

Silke Ledlow

Today’s challenge was my idea. I was wondering one day what it would look like to make the entire card the same color and make the image colored. It forced me to get creative with my cardstock. I started by embossing my card base with the Flourishes Impressabilities from Spellbinders. Knowing that I could not add any more color, I used my Versamark Watermark inkpad and rubbed it over the embossed parts of cardstock. I also used it to ink the edges. Its a great tip to keep in mind, anytime you need to add depth, but don’t have the right color, use the watermark ink. I stamped each leaf on Flourishes Ivory cardstock and colored them with Copics. They were foam mounted to the card. To add one last touch, I grabbed my favorite May Arts burlap twine and tied it around the top of the card. Pretty fun, I must say! :) Challenge yourself. Limit your supplies and see how creative you can be! We would love for you to play along! Make a card following the challenge and link it up at the Flourishes Newsletter (blog). Each week we give away stamps! :) Can’t wait to see your projects! thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps (Flourishes-Falling Leaves), Cardstock (Flourishes-Classic Ivory) Ink (Tsukineko-Versamark Watermark, Memento Tuxedo Black), Spellbinders die templates (Flourishes Impressabilities, Classic Long Rectangles Small), Twine (May Arts Burlap), Copics (Y21, Y34, Y38, E55)Cardstock (Papertrey Ink-Kraft)

CARDS pub for October

Good Monday Morning! I hope that you had a wonderful weekend and got more treats than tricks! We did Halloween and hockey this weekend. The little man thought it was pretty cool to wear his tiger costume to the hockey game! I also found it amusing how he was sorting out all his candy, at 3, but I remember doing the same thing. Aren’t those the moments that make being a parent fun? :)

This card was published in the October issue of CARDS magazine. I combined my absolute favorite paper line from Chatterbox called Fabulous with some gorgeous flocked paper from Anna Griffin. The tag was pre-made. I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment upon it.

Well, its time to start another week. I need to remember to approach all the same old chores with a smile! :) Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Patterned paper (Anna Griffin), Chatterbox (Fabulous), Felt scalloped trim, oval trim, tag (Chatterbox Fabulous), Stamps (Papertrey Ink-Friends Till The End), Ink (Versamark Watermark), Embossing Powder (Stampendous-Detail White), Butterfly Punch (Martha Stewart), Gems (Hero Arts)

Ghosts in the Graveyard

Happy Halloween! Welcome to my day of the Spellbinders and Tattered Angels Blog Hop! This project started with my idea to make little ghosts. I used my favorite Brownie Pop Mold from Wilton. I over-filled each spot with brownie dough, so that they would overflow and create a little ghost shape. Once they cooled, I melted a can of white frosting. Layers of the frosting were poured over the brownie, until I got the coverage I wanted. It took almost 4 coats and I let each coat set up a bit before applying the next. The goo-goo eye candies are from Target, in the Halloween section. Oh, and they taste good too. :)

My little ghost treats needed a place to play and a box base seemed like the best place to start. The little tombstones in the back were cut using the Labels 8 shape. I used my Scor Pal to score the bottom, about 1/2”, and then adhered that to the box base. Glimmer Mist was spritzed on each grave for a spooky shimmer.

The fence was created with the Borderabilities, Renaissance Hearts. I die cut strips of cardstock and adhered them to the very top of the box edges. The entire box was sprayed with Cinder Glimmer Mist. The effect is amazing. It does take some time to dry, so I set the box aside and went to work on the rest of the details.

The pumpkins were die cut and then embossed with a Floral and Stone Impressabilities. I sprayed each pumpkin with Golden Terracotta Glimmer Mist. The twine was colored with a Copic to match. The grass was created by embossing Core’dinations Black Magic cardstock and then snipping the ends.

The above photo is a close-up shot of the Glimmer Mist. Please click on the photo so that you can see, in detail, how amazingly Glimmer Mist covers!

thanks for stopping by and Happy Haunting!

Supplies: Spellbinders die templates (Pumpkins, Renaissance Hearts Borderabilities, Labels 8, Floral and Stone Impressabilities), Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist (Cinder, Golden Terracotta), Patterned paper (Basic Grey-Eerie Tombstone, Cauldron), Twine (May Arts), Copic (YG25), Cardstock (Core’dinations Black Magic Wizard)

Halloween

Last night we decorated and carved pumpkins. The little man loves his Mr. Potato Head clown and pirate.

My husband got artistic and created this ghost from a pattern we found online. This was the first year we carved a pumpkin and the little man was not willing to stick his hands into the pumpkin. :) He did try the pumpkin seeds we roasted and wasn't too sure about those either! :)

We lit a candle (in a jar) first, so that the little man could see a candle-glowing pumpkin. But then I went and got a battery-powered set of LED lights from IKEA. We wrapped the lights around the candle jar. Safe and no worries about fire.

I cannot wait to share this project with you tomorrow!! It is my contribution to the Spellbinders and Tattered Angels blog hop that is going on this month. Make sure and stop back! thanks for stopping by!

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday

“It is time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC39)! It is the last Tuesday of the month so we have a guest challenge host this week. Our challenge host is Kathy Jones(wattle) all the way from Australia. Thanks so much, Kathy for hosting a challenge with us. Kathy is challenging us to use border punches or Borderabilities. You decide if you want to use just one border, different patterns, or layer several for a fanciful look. Whatever you decide, we would love to see what you create! Have fun with this one! The skies the limit!”
Betty Wright
Cindy Haffner
Dee Jackson
Makiko Jones
Silke Ledlow

Today’s card started with me grabbing two things, my new Basic Grey Nook and Pantry paper and my Spellbinders Lattice Borderabilities. Ah, shabby chic heaven! :)

Well, the papers just screamed for the Strawberries stamps. To keep everything very shabby and aged looking, I used a couple different colors of my favorite products. The image and sentiment were stamped in Rich Cocoa Memento ink, instead of Tuxedo Black, and grey-er tones of my Copics were used for coloring. (Remember the larger the number on the marker, the grey-er the color. R81 is a pale pink, but a grey-toned pink.)

I hope that your week is off to a fabulous start! Thanks for all your prayers and support-things are starting to look up here! thanks for stopping by!



Supplies: Stamps (Flourishes-Strawberries), Patterned paper (Basic Grey-Nook and Pantry), Ink (Tsukineko Memento-Rich Cocoa) (Clearsnap-Colorbox Chalk Creamy Brown), Twine (May Arts), Cardstock (Papertrey Ink-Rustic White, Kraft), Copics (R81, R83, R85, W3, Y11, Evergreen Collection(YG91, YG95))Spellbinders die templates (Lattice Borderabilities, Classic Ovals Large, Classic Scalloped Ovals Large)

Etsy and a card!

So, I noticed the other day that my Etsy was empty. I loaded quite a few cards in there yesterday. All the cards are priced from $2.50-$3.50. You can check it out here: My ETSY.

And, can I ask a favor? Can you please turn your profiles and emails on in your Google profiles? You all leave the nicest, sweetest comments, and good questions too, but I have no way to continue the conversation. I would love to talk more with so many of you, but without the profile on, I cannot even find you. And email would make it very quick to chat. Thanks SO much!!

And, because I am feeling guilty about no cards lately, here is one from last Halloween. I love the little witch and coloring on kraft.

Hope that you have wonderful weekend plans. Life around here is insane, my sister has the H1N1 flu, my mom has the shingles, my grandmother is deteriorating quickly and is struggling with dizziness, and we continue our job worries. Such is life. A little less stress would be good, though. :) thanks for stopping by!!!

Supplies: Stamps (Heidi Grace Halloween), Patterned paper (My Mind’s Eye), Cardstock (Papertrey Ink-Kraft), Bazzill (Black) Ink (Memento Tuxedo Black), Twine (May Arts), Prismacolor pencils

Fall Fun

This past weekend, we rode the North Shore Scenic Railroad’s Pumpkin train. The train ride takes you to a pumpkin patch and everyone gets to pick a pumpkin. The weather could not have been more perfect! And while everyone had fun riding the train, I had fun taking a million photographs. :) Don't worry, I narrowed it down to only a few. :)

The little man was very particular about the pumpkin he chose. It was funny how he wandered all over, checking each pumpkin, but when he found the perfect one, he grabbed it.

A view of the train from the pumpkin patch. Its a gorgeous train, with refurbished cards. It has a dining car, bud car, double-decker cars, and in the summer, a couple of open cars.

A view of the sunshine through the trees and through the window of the train.

The tracks run along the shore of Lake Superior. The paved pathway you can see is called, The Lakewalk. There is a wooden (just along Canal Park) and paved path (most of the extention of the path) that everyone can use. In the summer it is packed. The scenery is spectacular and reminds me how lucky we are to live here. That is the Arial Lift Bridge in the background.

The highlight at the end of our journey was the Conductor letting the little man wear his hat. E was so excited! (like how he is guarding the pumpkins? :))

Once again, I apologize for my blog not being very active these days! Once October is over, things should get back to normal. One deadline is down and now I am working on the second one, which is for Stampendous. I also have a Tattered Angels and Spellbinders blog hop project coming up, make sure and head to the Spellbinders blog to see the projects already revealed. Have a super day and thanks for stopping by!

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday

I have to start by wishing my super-sweetie friend and fellow FOF'er, Silke, a Happy Birthday!!! Make sure and stop by her blog and send her birthday wishes! :)

“It is time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge(FTTC38)! Dee Jackson is our challenge host this week. Dee is challenging us to a water-colored card. We are to make a card and watercolor the image. Pretty simple and straight forward. Looking forward to seeing what you create with this very festive challenge!”

Check out the rest of the team:

Betty Wright

Cindy Haffner

Dee Jackson

Makiko Jones

Silke Ledlow

Good Tuesday morning! It always seems like I am cheating on all these challenges…*blush* Today’s challenge is to watercolor, but I did it with my Copics. *blushing*

I started by coloring each marker on some left-over pieces of Crystal Clear Cardstock that I had. Color quite a bit in the same area, so the color shows up. Yes, that is a water brush on my desk, but I filled it with Copic Blending Solution instead. (PLEASE be sure and mark this pen, so you do not confuse it with water. I have used a black sharpie and colored the top and bottom, along with the clip part of the cap.) Use the water brush the same as you would with watercolors. Pick the color up with the brush and have fun! Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps (Flourishes-Dove and Holly), Patterned paper (Cosmo Cricket-Jolly by Golly (Red Music), Earth Love (Brown), Cardstock (Flourishes-White, Crystal Clear)Papertrey Ink (Ripe Avocado), Twine (May Arts), Ink (Memento-Tuxedo Black), Buttons (Papertrey Ink-Rustic), Copics (The Fields Collection, E55, E57, E59, R27, R59, Y11), Spellbinders die templates (Squares Large)

BOO!

I love this little treat holder that I made and here is why. I was never good at geometry. In fact, I have nightmares about it. This straight A girl will not even speak of the grade she got in it during her sophomore year. So, when I can come up with my own design for a box or bag like this, I think, hey, I get it, in my own little way! LOL! :)

I started by making a box, but instead of folding the sides like a box, I ran a score line down the middle of each side. I stopped about an inch above the bottom of the bag. Then I scored from the bottom corner to the bottom of the side score line, on each side. Pushing the sides in at a little bit of an angle, lets the box become a bag. Hopefully the photo helps that make more sense.

To create the window, I die cut a Long Rectangle Nestabilities from the center of the bag before assembling. Using the same die template, and the next size up scalloped template, I cut the orange frame from patterned paper. The inside window is a piece of Clearly Cardstock. I stamped a spider web in StazOn Jet Black in, an adhered the window to the inside.

The tag was made from the JustRite Stampers set, Favorite Occasions. I only used the outside and let the button take the center. I love the options!! And finally, the ghost and little pumpkin are Hero Arts images and were colored in with Copics.

We are going to ride the North Shore Scenic Railroad this weekend. They have a pumpkin train on Saturday. We will ride up to a pumpkin patch and all pick our own pumpkins. It should be fun, especially because the little man ADORES trains! Have a wonderful weekend! thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Stamps (Hero Arts-Owl-Oween), (JustRite Stampers-Favorite Occasions), Patterned paper (My Mind’s Eye-Free Bird), Cardstock (Flourishes-Clearly Cardstock), Ink (Palette-Dark Chocolate), (Memento-Tuxedo Black), Twine (Martha Stewart), Twill (May Arts), Button (Basic Grey-Ambrosia), Copics (W3, Yr04, YR09, Y13, Y15). Spellbinders Die Templates (Long Rectangles Small, Scalloped Long Rectangles Small, Classic Circles Large, Classic Scalloped Circles Large, Label Trio)