Background

Friday, January 31, 2014

A Vintage Floret Hello Card



I was playing around with my paper pads and trying to come up with unique card ideas.  I simply love the papers from Prima's Madeline paper pad.  It's been in the stash for quite a while and the papers last through card/project and after card/project. Here's the details:


  • The frames were cut out of cardstock using my Imperial Gold Labels 4 dies and edged with Vintage Photo Distress ink.
  • The flowers were cut using my Heartfelt Creations Vintage Floret dies and shaped.  They have pearl centers.  
  • The sentiment was stamped in brown Archival Ink using a Fiskars cling stamp. 
  • I've forgotten the manufacturer of the floral swirl.  They are a matching set- two different sizes and die cut from green cardstock.
On the inside, I stamped a short sentiment and added a die cut piece from the scrap heap and another small flower.

This one was fun to put together.  Thanks for checking in.

ETA:  I'm linking this up over at the Inspiration Journal's January Challenge: Dieing for 2014.  Hurry, the deadline is February 2, 2014 to join the fun!



Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Welcoming a Wee Little One


This little beauty was inspired by a Pinterest pin.  I think that the card may have been perfected by the patterned paper choice of using my MME Ooh La La 6 x 6 paper pad.  Here's the details:

  • Flowers were cut using my Heartfelt Creations Vintage Floret dies.  I shaped each one and added a pearl accent in the center.  I made many different flowers with different papers, sizes, etc.
  • I die cut various scraps of green cardstock.  There are different shades of green, though the photo doesn't do this justice.
  • The white cardstock frame was cut using my Cricut cart Fancy Frames (<Frame1>).  I think it was on 4.5 inches. 
  • The white card stock card base is actually white.  I played a little with the color settings on the picture to get a little contrast between the frame cut and the card so you can see what is underneath.  In person, the two whites don't "clash" or "offset" quite that much which more closely matches the inspiration.
  • I stamped the sentiment in brown Archival Ink using a cling stamp from a Market Street Stamps set.  They've since gone out of business, but these small sentiments come in handy.
On the inside, I printed a Bible verse and a sentiment to send to our friends.  I'm really pleased with how the card turned out.  I hope Dale and Pat are more pleased with their new grandson.

ETA:  I'm linking this up over at the Inspiration Journal's January Challenge: Dieing for 2014.  Hurry, the deadline is February 2, 2014 to join the fun!

Monday, January 27, 2014

Happy Birthday Card


Popping in for a quick post of a birthday card made with my new favorite stamp- Papertrey's Rustic Wreath die and stamp set.  You'll remember this was a gift from Brandy for my birthday and I simply love it.  Here's the details:

  • I stamped the wreath with brown Archival Ink onto white cardstock.  I then colored the leaves with my Peacock Feathers Distress Marker and die cut the wreath out using the die.

  • I then stamped the sentiment using the Peacock Feathers Distress Marker to color the stamp.  It created this great mottled effect which I was at first extremely disappointed in and then realized what a stylized result it created.  Happy accident, love it!
  • I used a scrap of purple twill ribbon and some leftover chipboard flower elements from the Scrappy Calendar
  • Inside I stamped one of my Hearfelt Expressions sentiments in brown Archival Ink.
A quick, easy card to put together that I really like in the final result.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Engagement Card


I had great occasion to help out a co-worker with a card.  You'll remember my coupon book gifts at Christmas- this card was made when honoring the very first coupon from Wendy.  I purchased Heartfelt Creations Burnished Key stamp and die set with some birthday money last month.  When they arrived, I just loved them.  The stamp is a background stamp that ultimately can be die cut with the die to cut out key, lock and sentiment images from the stamped background.  Here's the details:

  • I stamped the background using a Brilliance silver ink twice.  You really have to let this ink dry thoroughly.  I tried to hasten the process with my heat gun, but it still took a little while to dry.  The finished product is spectacular though.  
  • I die cut one of the stamped images and received 17 separate die cuts.  I chose the most love inspired pieces to add as embellishments, the love lock and key.
  • The swirls were cut using my Heartfelt Creations Decorative Lace Swirls cut from plain white cardstock.  These are just fabulous in person- newly purchased with birthday money and quickly becoming a favorite.
  • The sentiment was printed from Word and then die cut with my Spellbinders Labels-Seventeen.  I made the sentiment using text boxes again.  The "As the     has loved..." words uses Baskerville Old font, the "abide in my love" uses italicized Garamond font, and the "Father" uses Lucida Calligraphy font.  I made this using two text boxes as identified in the image below.  I change the text box Wrap Text setting to "Through" so that I have the freedom to move the Father text box into position.  This takes a little skill with Word to figure out.  Here's a Text Box tutorial that covers most of the instructions you would need.
Here's the sentiment as a picture.  Hopefully the quality is good enough for you to use it.





The inside needed to be special too.  I created the sentiment using Word as well.  Here's a picture that you can use:





I cut out the sentiment with the same labels dies of a different size and adhered with foam squares to add a little depth.  The bling came as a sticker so I just had to put it on.  I'm really please how this turned out.  Wendy used it for her son's engagement party at the end of December.  I'm really behind posting.  I promise to catch up someday!




Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Paper Crafting with my Grandma

I promised to write about and share the crafting that I finished during my trip to recent trip to visit my Grandma in Colorado.  Getting to it "this weekend" ended up being a "getting to it this week".  Sorry! 

My grandma has asked for my help scrapbooking specific photos for the year for the past 4 or 5 years.  She keeps a 8 1/2 x 11 book, so the shape and style are different that I normally do.  Additionally, she is not interested in complex, intricate works of art- simple pages that get key photos together and capture memories.  Here's a sampling of the best out of the more than 23 individual pages we completed during my very short visit.




















Mostly embellished with stickers that my grandma has collected, the pages are simple.  However, the key for me has been to keep the photos the star and try to capture the flavor of the event.  Excuse my poorly lit photos- all I brought was my cell phone camera and the light through the window wasn't the best help either.











































Another key part is to capture a good assortment of the family that is involved.  As such, sometimes the pages get busy, but my grandma just loves seeing each of the kids, grandkids or families represented at an event. 

As the years go by and we think about time passing and the things that are precious to us, I often think of these pages I have helped my grandma make.  These are not the most developed and artful accomplishments of my crafting skill.  They are not the best moments that I spent with my grandma.  However, they are precious and I cherish them as if they are both the best of my accomplishments and the best of my time with her.  Such is what life is made of.

I'm linking this up over at Our Beautiful World: Time Passing.  Come see what others have shared from their word prompt this week!





 The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.
GEORGE ELIOT, Janet's Repentance



IThe golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.
GEORGE ELIOT, Janet's Repentance

Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/l/life_quotes_v.html#py3EYbCowmwKpHJH.99eu
The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us, and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know them when they are gone.
GEORGE ELIOT, Janet's Repentance

Read more at http://www.notable-quotes.com/l/life_quotes_v.html#py3EYbCowmwKpHJH.99

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Grandma's, Thank You Cards and a Rustic Wreath




I had mentioned at the end of last week that I was planning a trip to visit with my grandma in Colorado.  It's a snowy time of the year for that kind of trip, but she has been ill lately and is facing major surgery.  We didn't get to see enough of each other during her visit in November because she spent the majority of her time here in the hospital.  All that and a $97 plane ticket was sufficient motivation to hop a plane.

Since we knew that she was going to be having surgery, I packed 1/2 a suitcase full of crafting tools and supplies with the intention to make her some Thank You cards.  In the end, these five duplicate design Thank You's were the only one's we made.  Not to be sad or anything, I've a post to put together to show you the crafty goodness that was our
 substitute. 



Here's the details:

  • I stamped the wreath with brown Archival Ink onto white cardstock.  I then colored the leaves with my Peeled Paint Distress Marker.  Stamping off the page can be tricky- I had to be careful with firm even pressure all around.


  • I then stamped the sentiment using the brown Archival ink as well.  




  • I had brought with me a set of bling, so I added a few pieces strategically around the wreath.
  • I had cut and shaped the Vintage Floret flowers for another project and brought them with me.  I added a piece of bling to the center and glued it in here. 
  • Inside I stamped one of my Hearfelt Expressions sentiments in brown Archival Ink.




















My grandma doesn't actively participate in my crafting, but mostly sits beside me and we chat while I work.  The BEST!  I left these five cards with her for use in the coming weeks as others are kind to her. She is a letter writer/sender and so I think will truly send them out.  Yay!  I'll be back later this weekend with a view of what distracted me from my card making.  Good stuff.


Wednesday, January 15, 2014

12 Days of Christmas 2013



I've shared a couple times before that one of our family traditions is to make and gift the 12 Days of Christmas.  It started because friends of ours dropped off a gift every day for the 12 days before Christmas.  Each gift came with a sweet tag, a poem and kind words.  We'd no idea who was doing this until Christmas Eve when the last gift arrived.  It was so very touching and thoughtful that I immediately craftied the idea up and have been doing it every since. 









I typically make one set for my nephew, one set for my niece and nephew and one set for good friends of ours, the McCleary (mamma McCleary being the one of Bubble Guppies crafty fame who is featured occassionally).









I am not nearly organized enough to get everything made and decorated and wrapped for the 12 days before Christmas, but instead gift the entire set on Christmas Eve or Christmas day with the intention that they open one each day til the Epiphany.  This year, I came across Graphic 45's stamp set and said- "That, my friend, belongs to me".  I really did say that out loud because Brandy was shopping with me!





The tricky part was making time to create with the stamp set and 6 x 6 paper pad.  In the end, these tags were made for the outside of each bag on the weekend before Christmas- terribly late.  However, my husband and the kids were away for two days visiting his mom and dad so it was craft heaven around our house.  Just me and the saints a craftin' away to Christmas tunes. 

























As a reference, I'll connect in to the two other posts I've made regarding the 12 Days of Christmas.  The first post shows how I made a set of 12 Christmas cards as a gift to a few of my Bible study friends.  I found a list online that linked Bible verses to the 12 Days ideas and used the same layout for each card varying the patterned paper layers in each card.







The second post outlines a few ideas for a 12 Days of Christmas gift like this one.  I used the exact same idea this year- 12 paper lunch bags with the gift and tag inside telling our friends of the connection to the 12 Days and a tag outside the bag to tell you which bag to open on which day.







This year, the tags for the outside were very simple.  Here's the details:

  • Each tag was cut using my Accent Essentials Cricut cart from the Graphic 45 6 x 6 paper pad.  The paper is double sided with one side solid and the other side patterned.
  • I stamped the Graphic 45 stamp for each day using brown Archival Ink on the solid side of the tag.  I edged the tags with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.




  •  Each tag is embellished with FlowerSoft, glitter, and/or bling accents.  I used Crystal Accents to clue on the FlowerSoft (Delphinium Blue, Christmas Green and Heather) and the bling accents and a glue pen to accurately place the glitter.  Please forgive the poor glitter photos.  I just tried to get an exposure that would highlight that glitter was used!










I didn't have a whole lot of time and I envisioned a much more beautiful, intricate and detailed final product than what I made.  Yet, I am so pleased with how they turned out.  Sometimes, simple is just beautiful and I think these tags ultimately hit the mark!






















Here's a photo of the supplies before we began bagging everything up.  I'll confess that the cost of filling the bags varies greatly.  I look for low cost, high impact items like candy and slippers, etc.

ETA:  The whole Google Plus thingy didn't work.  I've included the copy here though you'll have to delete the parentheses which identify what I gave as a gift:



On the first day of Christmas…

The partridge dropped off an ornament for you!
(a bird ornament)
On the second day of Christmas…

The turtle doves thought
 you might enjoy these
little Cuties.
(Cutie oranges)
On the third day of Christmas…

Those French hens are talkative, so they gave you these cards to write someone a note.
(handmade cards- look below)
On the fourth day of Christmas…

The calling birds are always
talking.  Everyone has been
going on about this treat. 
What do you think?
(Chocolate Covered Pretzels
a new favorite in our house)
On the fifth day of Christmas…

Search through these rolls
to find the elusive gold (pineapple!) ring.
(Rolls of Lifesaver candies)
On the sixth day of Christmas…

The geese a-laying made
a huge mess so they
kindly left these to help
you clean up.
(washrags)
On the seventh day of Christmas…

When you get done swimming with the swans, sooth your
dry skin with some
peppermint lotion.
On the eighth day of Christmas…

The maids thought you
might enjoy making some
muffins to go with all that milk.
(muffin mix)
On the ninth day of Christmas…

The ladies recently started dancing by candlelight.  Light this candle and see if they visit!
On the tenth day of Christmas…

The Lords find these socks feel real good on their tired feet.  They even agreed to share with you.
(I made them wash their feet first!)
(fuzzy socks)
On the eleventh day of Christmas…

The pipers find they suffer from dry mouth – all that piping.  Here’s some of their favorite gum to wet your whistle.
(a pack of gum)
On the twelfth day of Christmas…

The drummers like to celebrate- enjoy a fizzy
cup on them.
(sparkling cider)




This year, I printed the cards out on my printer and then cut them using my Spellbinders Labels 18 and my Spellbinders Labels 17.  I then stamped the corners of some of the cards with the corner stamp from the Graphic 45 stamp set.









You'll notice that I got my craft on making some thoughtful cards (those French hens- always communicating) as one of the gifts.  This card was made by stamping a kraft card using my Papertrey Ink Rustic Wreath stamp using brown Archival Ink and coloring in the leaves using my Peeled Paint Distress Marker and finishing it off with a brown Archival Ink sentiment stamp right in the middle.  Quick and easy but highly effective, don't you think?








In process picture>>>>>>


I ended up stamping white cardstock with the title stamp from the Graphic 45 stamps and accented with the corner stamp.  I then cut out this image using my Imperial Gold Labels 4 die.  I simply glued this to a cardboard box top that I had wrapped with some plaid Christmas colored wrapping paper. 





The finished product.  I have so much fun doing this, I'm convinced that no one enjoys the gift as much as I enjoy making it.  They assure me this is not so, but I can't imagine that.  Thanks for sticking with this very picture heavy post.  Hope you enjoyed the trip.