Time flies

My, how the time has flown.  I didn't realize I haven't posted in such a long time.  I have been creating but not thinking about posting.

My year started out with a huge (almost disabling) event for me.  My older sister had been battling cancer for about 3 years, and the end of January she called me to tell me that her liver was shutting down.  2 short weeks later, she passed away and went to live with our Lord.  Even though we did not talk often, we frequently emailed.  She lives in NY and I am in WI, so we didn't see each other often (and now I realize not often enough).  This has truly shaken me to my core.  I have been trying to throw myself into my card making and Barb always told me how much she loved my cards.  Every year for her birthday, I would make her a packet of 12 cards or so that she could use to give to friends.  Barb always told me she had a hard time using them as she enjoyed just looking at them.

Here are some of the cards I have been making to help me deal with this huge hole in my heart:

You should know that Barb left us full of grace and dignity.  She was not afraid of dying because she knew she was going to be with her Lord.  She was a wonderful woman, sister, mother, and friend and I miss her more than I can express.

Hold your loved ones close and never...ever...take them for granted.





Newest Cards

I was hoping to be able to post once a week starting at the first of the New Year, but time has a way of getting away from me and already I am behind.

But, here are some of the latest cards I have made:

This one is called a double zig-zag card and I just love how easily it goes together.  The hardest part is deciding how to decorate it.

 

This is the card with the belly band on to help hold it closed.

Take the band off, and it opens up.  There is another flap on the inside and it lifts up.

Opened up, it reveals the sentiment.

 

And here are a couple more that I have made:

 

             

       

 

 

The sentiments shown came from Create with TLC.

 

The instructions for how to make this card can be found on this blog:

http://mariannespapir.blogspot.no/2012/06/double-zig-zag-card-tutorial.html

 

Here is another card I made for a challenge that required the use of a digi image of my choice from her store, blue, snowflake, snow, and twine.  I did meet the requirements and I am pleased with my result.



I hope you enjoy these cards and that they inspire you to be creative.  Stay warm!



A New Year! Happy 2012

I hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season.  Ours was great - quiet, but great.

I have had some time to make a few cards again.  YAY!  Gotta' love that.

Here is a card I made after making the mushroom paper.  It turned out pretty good, but was stiff.  I used it as a backing for my medallion.  I may have to try die cutting some of this paper in my Cuttlebug to see if it will cut.

This card is done with a flourish clear stamp onto paper that I inked up with my brayer.  I cut them out, and adhered them to rectangles cut from white card stock that I ran through my Cuttlebug first.  I inked the edges of the embossed pieces before adhering them to patterned paper.  Little yellow gems finished it off.

 This card was really fun to make!  It is folded accordian style and attached to a backing card.  Before folding it, the butterflies were stamped on the ends of a long strip of cream paper along with the flourishes and flowers.  I cut out the edges of the butterflies in certain areas so they can overlap on the front of the card.  This is what it looks like open!

It wouldn't be complete without a tea bag medallion, so that went on the inside.  The first card I made like this took FOREVER, but the second, third, and fourth went much quicker.  LOL!

This one I made for a friend that recently moved.  In the process of moving, they found a sketch of what the house was going to look like when built.  I used a Spellbinders die to cut out the opening so that the house would show through the front of the card.  I did this after attaching paint sample strips to the front of the card.  When opened, it looks like this:

FUN! 

I hope you all have a good day and are having good January weather.  Thanks for peeking in!

Butterflies

Well, it will be some time before we see the real thing here!  We just got another 16 inches of snow on Monday.  At least we think that is how much we got, with the blowing wind all day, it is hard to tell!

So, I made this card using the Bleach Technique to bring a little spring to the air.

I stamped the image from Northwoods Rubber Stamps with Versamark and then embossed with clear embossing powder.  Then, using an old paint brush, I applied bleach to the petals of the flowers.  I stamped the image again using Versamark (just the butterfly portion) and embossed in black.  This time I stamped it on paper I had painted with Twinkling H2O's so it has some glimmer to it.  Then I cut the butterfly out and glued it over the original image.

Not being done playing with this stamp, I also created this card:

For this one, I heat embossed the same image in black.  I created the big butterfly using the same method and also made the smaller butterfly using a stamp set from Stampendous!  I popped the wings by cutting a piece of clear stiff plastic from packaging of a Cuttlebug folder and creasing it in the center.  I glued it to the back of the butterflies.  When dry, I glued it to the card front.  These fold flat for mailing, but pop up when removed from the envelope!



Thanks for peeking at this one!  Have a great day.