A Wedding Card

I was asked to make a card for a wedding reception that is being held a month after the wedding took place.  Here is my result.

This card is done in 3D so that the swans pop off the page.  I used a Cuttlebug folder (Kassie's Brocade) for the embossing and a Martha Stewart hearts punch for the band over the front.



Flowers Box card

Good morning from another snowy day in northern Wisconsin!

I wanted to share a box card I recently made.  This is the card closed.

The background is made with white tissue paper on tan card stock.  I then stamped the flowers with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and colored them in with water color pencils and blended with water.  This card is held closed with a punched border strip that has small pieces of Velcro on the back.

 

When the card is opened, the box is revealed!

I used punched circles to create the birds and their wings are made with stamped flower parts cut out and attached to the back of the birds.  The fence is made using a Martha Stewart border punch and then scored on my Martha Stewart score board.  Using my Cuttlebug and a die, I punched the sentiment from a paint chip.  I finished it off by adding some flowers that I received from a new friend.

I am entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge APRIL SHOWERS AND/OR SPRING FLOWERS

 I wonder if SNOW showers would have qualified...?

 





First Day of Spring

Today is the first day of Spring, but here in northern Wisconsin, I think Mother Nature has forgotten us.  I woke up to 3 degrees but sunny.

I have been working on a few new cards and here is one of them.

I love this little gal on the trike and she looks like she is on a great journey.

This is a card I made for a Bunny Hop swap.  Don't you just love this little bunny?

 

Both of these images were colored with colored pencils.

 

I hope it is warm where you are.  I am sure Spring can't be more than a month away...







Colored Pencils and Mineral Spirits

I have been playing with colored pencils and mineral spirits.  The image I started with was one from Digi Darla.  I printed it on my printer and then went to work coloring and shading.  It is not the best, but I am proud of it for my first time!  The blending is done using paper stumps and mineral spirits.

The left edge of the card was done by using a Martha Stewart Punch along the Edge punch.  I then added a peel off sticker in silver to the edge of that.

This one took me a long time to do, but it was my first time so I expected that. 

I have now done another one like this and also this one:

I hope you like my newest projects.  Now I am off to color more.  I got a larger set of Crayola Colored Pencils at WalMart yesterday so I have even more colors to play with.

Getting ready for Mother's Day

I have started making some cards for Mother's day.  Some of my friends have requested some so I am making them.

Here is one of them:

I used my Martha Stewart punches to make the background layers.  My Cuttle bug with Curls and Swirls Alphabet dies made the letters.  And of course a tea bag medallion to top it off.  A little bling in the corners to set it off.

I made a few in the same style.  I have various colors made like this too, and if you are interested in purchasing one, contact me and let me know.



I have also been making other cards too.  Just have not time taken to show them.

I made this one for my granddaughter's baptism.  I used a digi stamp from Create with TLC.  She has the most beautiful sayings and quotations for cards.  You really need to sign up to be a Follower.  Paulette is very generous with her creations.  The fold is from a dear friend of mine - The Leo Fold. 

And this one also made with a digi from Create with TLC.  This saying is so appropriate.  I love it.  I used a Spellbinders die to cut it out and shaded it in with Distress Ink in Broken China.

I hope you are all having a great day.  We hit 76 here today - totally unheard of here in northern Wisconsin in March.  I am not complaining about it.  I have seen my first robins of the year and the sand hill cranes are back with their noisy calls.  Someone told me today that they saw a flock of bluebirds yesterday.  Could it be?  Is spring really here?

We have had issues with a bear for the past 3 weeks.  It likes our deck.  This photo was taken on March 5 - see we did have some snow:

This bear has burdock's stuck to the fur on her back and face.  It has no fear of us.  I took this photo through a closed back door as she was less than 8 feet from the door.  I say "her" but do not know for sure.  When it stood up on it's hind legs and looked at me, I didn't think to look at the down side to determine gender!  I did notice that there were no "nursing" marks on it, so it does not have cubs.  Whatever - but it came out of the den early and decided to stay up.  It has been paying us regular visits so we are very aware of our surroundings when we leave for work in the dark and any other time as well.  In this photo, it was 4:30 in the afternoon!



Happy February!

We have had such a nice weather pattern going lately.  Whoever heard of 50 degrees in January in northern Wisconsin?!  Last week we were in the 40's all week too.  I know it won't last, but it sure is a nice change.

I have made a few more cards since I was last here.  This one is iris folding.  I have not done this technique in quite a while, but I like how it turned out.  I used tissue paper for the vase and tore apart some silk flowers I had to put in the vase.

This is one I made for a valentine.  The clip art came from TLC Creations.  You really need to check out what she has available.  Lots of goodies for your card making and scrap booking pleasure.  And be sure to become a follower so you can get even more goodies!  I used my Martha Stewart heart border punch for the edges and an embossing folder from Darcie (hearts) for the background.  I made a medallion for the front, inked the edges with Distress Ink in Fired Brick, and tied on some eyelash ribbon.

This one is made with with Spellbinders Elegant Posts for accents.  Of course a medallion made from a tile I made.  The background is made using the bubble wrap technique - paint bubble wrap with acrylic paint, press your card stock onto it and let it dry.  When dry, I lightly inked it with Fired Brick Distress ink.  The original color of the card stock is what I call paper bag brown.

I hope you are having a great day!  Feel free to leave a comment if you have time.  I like feedback!





Something New!

Sorry I have been missing.  We have something new in the family!  A new member, but NOT a baby.  LOL

We have a new Mr. & Mrs.!!  My step-son married the love of his life on Friday.

Yes, it was cold!  14 degrees.

It was a beautiful wedding.  I helped the new Mrs. make her invitations and RSVP cards over the past year. 

I also did some (60+) favor boxes for the shower as well as the wedding.  Here are the shower favor boxes.



Here is the card I made for them.

I used the Martha Stewart hearts punch around the page, Snowflake embossing folder, Spellbinders classic hearts (which I glittered), satin ribbon, and sticky pearl embellishments.  The wedding colors were blue and yellow and they had a snowflake theme. 

To make the hearts, I did not use the Spellbinders in the normal way.  I drew around both edges on white card stock twice, overlapping them to entwine them.  Then I cut them out with my craft knife.  With the addition of some glue and glitter, I then ran them through my Cuttlebug between layers of wax paper to set the glitter into the glue.

I think it came together almost as well as this lovely couple did.

Congratulations to Cass & Casey.  I know you were meant for each other and your love will only grow stronger day by day.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!  Ours was great. 

I thought I would share more of my Christmas cards today and some of the other things I have been working on.  I have been playing with making tiles for tea bag folding and also trying them in a medallion.

Here are 2 of the tiles I created.  Feel free to try them and let me know what you think!



If I don't see you here before then, I wish you all a very Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year.

Be safe!

Punch and Spellbinder Storage

I thought I would share today the way I store my punches.  These are the Martha Stewart punches as well as some of the smaller shape punches.  I do not have a lot of these (yet) but here is what I have done.  Go to the dollar stores and find the cafe rods.  These can be purchased for under $3.00 generally.  Put them on your wall and rest you punches on them.  I have mine in order with the corner punch on one and the matching border punch below it.  This works great for me.



I also took my punches and made a guide for what they look like.  I cut strips of card stock at 1", 1.25", and 1.5" and punched both sides.  Then I attached them to another sheet of card stock.  I make my own "lace" for my cards this way.  I have the sheets hung next to my punches and store my ribbon underneath them.  If I want to see what a piece of ribbon would look like run down the middle, it is easy to hold it up to it and see.

I also took all my fancy cutting edge scissors out of the shoebox I kept them in and put cup hooks in the bottom of the shelf above the punches.  I hang the scissors from them.  I can easily grab the pair I want and find that I use them more now that they are out in the open.  Some day when I have nothing better to do(LOL - in an different lifetime), I will punch the different edges they cut the same way I did with the punches, but for now I have a guide that the Fiskars paper edgers had with them.





Also, here is how I store my Spellbinders.  The magnet sheet is what they use to make the magnetic signs for cars.  If you can find a sign shop in your area, you can probably buy a piece from them.  I stapled it to the back of my craft room door and put my Spellbinder dies on it.  I took a metallic marker and wrote what the die is next to it.  I am going to go back and put how many are in each set as well so I make sure I have them all rounded up when I put things away.  The smaller ones are so easy to get lost in stacks of paper when working on projects.

Don't tell my husband, but my dream is to cover the entire door - BOTH sides!  I have told Santa that I have been as good as can be expected, so maybe that will help...

Weeknight cards

With the storms I was able to get some card making done.  Here are a few that I finished this past week.

Made with Martha Stewart Punches

Using the Brocade window embossing folder and Poinsettia from http://www.prettiesbybonnie.blogspot.com

Here is a close up of the poinsetia.  It has a shimmer to it that the camera never shows!

A fall card made with Spellbinders Label 7.  This one I used a lot of foam dots on and it is quite thick.  The post office said $1.22 to mail it, so I guess I will be keeping it and using it to hand deliver to someone!

Because it is the season, I thought I would share this one with you as well.

I hope you are having a great safe day.