Friends to the end

     I am so thrilled to be asked by Cec and the DT girls at Phindys Place to be their Guest Designer again for this weeks challenge.  The challenge itself is to include handmade embellishments on your card.  I chose to make some little seam binding flowers.  I used Glimmer Mist to color two of them and left the large one white.

     I've used more of my My Mind's Eye papers, a paper doily, a few punched flowers and leaves and a cute little laser cut chipboard corner.

     My image is called "Squeezes" and it's colored with Copic markers.  You can find this image and a lot of other cuties at the Phindy's Place store.

     So pop over to The Phindys Place Challenge Blog and link up a card using some handmade embellishments.

     I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges:

Craft Us Crazy--anything goes

Digi Doodle--anythings goes

Aud Sentiments--anything goes

Paper Crafting Journey--anything goes

Digi Stamps 4 Joy--handmade flowers

Creative Card Crew--handmade flowers

Happileigh Scrappin'--girly

Heart Song Inspirations--shabby chic and/or pearls

House of Gilli--sketch

Stamptacular Sunday--apricot. bling, and cute critter

     Have a fabulous weekend!

Supplies

Papers:  My Mind's Eye, Recollections, Bazzill, Copic X-Press it Blending card
Stamp:  Phindy's Place "Squeezes", Papertrey Ink "Mixed Messages"
Copics:
            skin E000, E00, E11, E13, R20,
            hair E21, E25, E27, E29
            clothing BG72, N5, RV11, RV13Y35, YR68, YG93, YG97, YG99
            cat W1, W3, N3, E01, B93
            shadowing E41, E42, E43
Tools:  Nestabilities Lacey Circles(S4-293), Standard Circles Large(S4-114), and Classic Scalloped Circles Large(S4-124), EK Success 1" circle punch and small Retro flower punch, Martha Stewart Frond punch
Miscellaneous:  Hug Snug seam binding, Candlelight Glimmer Mist, Studio 112 pearls, The Paper Studio pearls, Cotton Candy Stickles, paper doily, Celebrate It ribbon, Make It Crafty decorative laser cut chipboard corner, Picket Fence Distress Crackle paint, Inkadinkado Blending Chalk

A Baby Girl Mini

WARNING!!  Photo heavy!! ☺

    If you're a follower you probably remember the card I made a few weeks ago for my daughter's boss who is expecting her first child.  Well this is the mini album I made to go with the card.
     As you can see it's a girl and her name is going to be Ansleigh.  The entire album is made with DCWV's Nana's Nursery papers.  I used a chipboard album for the base.  All the pages have hand stitching and inking around the edges.
     For the cover I made all the flowers.  Some are inked, some are Glimmer Misted and rolled, and some are Glimmer Misted seam binding.  The ribbon slide is chipboard covered in Crackle paint.  I crocheted the butterfly and gave him a bling trail.  The baby shoes were created from a pattern I found here.  I resized them for the cover.  There are some bead charms I made and some pieces of fun fibers tied to the book ring.

     For the first page I cut stars with a Sizzix die from a sheet of fleece I found at Hobby Lobby.  I thought it was felt at first.  It's soooo soft.  I added some buttons with embroidery thread, some fibers, and a cute ticket stub.

     Page two has double postage stamp frames cut from a Sizzix die and covered in Crackle paint.  There are some more rolled roses and a couple of little chipboard pieces covered in paper and decorated with some Cosmo Cricket rub ons.

      For this page I found the dress image online and printed it out to make a template.  The flowers are punched and inked and the sentiment is on another little chipboard piece.  Isn't that little duckie by the flowers cute!  He's a button I cut the back off of.

     Page four has a large photo mat tucked behind some fleece flowers.  The banner was created with a Nestie die and strung on some embroidery thread with pearl spacers.

     Page five is a punched flower frenzy.  I made the bib by cutting out an oval with a Nestie and then cutting out the neck with a circle Nestie.  I ruffled some pink ribbon and covered the neckline with some more of it.

     For page six I used some more punched flowers and cut the frame out with a Nestie die.  The butterfly is a MS punch and I gave him a pretty bling trail too.  He has embroidery thread antennae.

     You can't have a baby album without a diaper in it!  I found the pattern here.  I wanted it to have the feel of a cloth diaper so I covered the paper with some thin cotton fabric which made it so easy to add those little "diaper" pins.  The lace has a pretty white ribbon run through the middle, but I found some matching green fiber in my stash and ran that through on top of it.  There's another handmade flower too.

     Page eight was the hardest page.  Not because it was all that difficult, but because I kept cutting it wrong.  I wanted to keep the little animals from being covered so I decided to make the page a pocket.  I cut the paper along one of the pattern lines and added a little lip of cardstock to help make the pocket opening easier to find.  The two tags just slide right in.  I added some ABC buttons on some little fleece flowers and ruffled some more ribonn which I added on top of a pretty piece of lace.

     And here's the back cover.  I found a sweet Helen Steiner Rice poem and added my name and the date by gluing on a piece of acetate I printed out the info on.
     I hope you like the album.  I think I'll give it a whirl in a few challenges.
Top Tip Tuesday--one for the kids
Digi Design house--anything but a card
Inspire Me Fridays--anything goes
Divas By Design--one for the girls
My Mum's Craft Shop--anything but square
Have a blessed day!

A card for friends

     I needed to make some cards for some very special friends and this is what I came up with.  I'm using the Friday Sketchers sketch for this week and colors from The Play Date Cafe.

     I stamped the music score on some French Vanilla Bazzill.  There's lots of layering and that pretty pink DP is Anna Griffin.  I made the little pink seam binding flower using a tutorial by my sweet friend Geri, at Paper Wishes.  You can find a link for it and one for how to make a rose too on her blog.  Take a look around while you're there.  She makes the most beautiful cards.

     I also used one of my new toys--a Spellbinders Lacey Circles die!  We have two Michaels near me.  The newer one, which is closer, is now carrying a great selection of Spellbinders dies but the other one has none.  Hmmmm?  Let's just say I didn't let that 50% off coupon go to waste today.  I don't think they have the Lacey Circles (I ordered that online), but they had the Lacey Squares (got that last week) and today I got some ribbon tag dies.  Can't wait to use those.  I'm still looking at a few other sets to add to my collection too.  I love dies.  Can you tell? {grin}

     Thanks for dropping by today!

Supplies

Papers:  Bazzill, Anna Griffin, Georgia Pacific Photo paper
Stamps:  Papertrey Ink "Mixed Messages", Stampendous "Music Score"
Ink:  Versafine Vintage Sepia
Tools:  Nestabilities Lacey Circles (S4-293) and Standard Circles large (S4-114), EK Success Scalloped edge punch and 1" circle punch
Miscellaneous:  Hug Snug seam binding, Vintage pink Glimmer Mist, some pre-dyed seam binding from my stash

Lacy Flowers and Butterflies

The colors for this card come from this week's #43 challenge at the Play Date Cafe--dark green, light green, and turquoise blue. There is lots of layering and a great Penny Black stamped image. I had ordered some seam binding and it arrived just in time to add a little to this card. I also added a couple of my handmade butterflies, which qualifies this card for the challenge at Crafty Creations.
Thought I'd try out a few other new challenges too. I'm always looking for somewhere fun to play.
For Fun Challenges--1 ribbon, 2 DP's, 3 embellies
Stampin' for the Weekend--Anything Goes
Craft Your Days Away--With Wings
Flutterby Wednesdays--1 part sparkle, 2 parts DP, 3 parts buttons or gems

Supplies
Paper: Recollections Summer Flower, Coordinations cardstock, My Mind's Eye 29th Street Market, White cardstock
Stamp: Penny Black Lace Flower
Inks+: Memento Bamboo Leaves, Summer Sky, and New Sprout
Tools: Martha Stewart Arch Lattice Edger punch, Cropadile
Miscellaneous: seam binding, Kaisercraft adhesive pearls

Not sure what's up with the photo. I took a ton of pics and everyone of them made the card look like it's bowed out in the middle at the top and bottom, but it's straight as it can be. If I knew more about cameras I could probably fix this. ☺ Hope you enjoy the card anyway.
Blessings,

Tag Tuesday

No paper tags. That's the challenge this week at Tag Tuesday. Well, the only paper on here is the tiny little tag. :) When I read no paper, I immediately thought of sticky back canvas so that's what the background image is printed out on. It's a beautiful antique rose image that I got from Magic Moonlight Studio. The base of the tag is a piece of 4 x 6 chipboard which I painted with Tattered Rose Distress crackle paint and inked with Vintage Photo Distress ink. The butterfly is one of my dryer sheet butterflies that's embossed and colored with Glimmer mist.
Thanks for stopping by for a visit. I'm looking forward to checking out all the other Tag Tuesday players. :)
Don't forget Papercraft Star's brand new challenge starts today. It's a clean and simple card sketch. Everyone is invited to come play! See ya there.
Blessings,

Quilted Hearts

This was not my original idea for this weeks challenge at City Crafters Challenge Blog, but I like it a lot better. :) The theme this week was "I Left My Heart in San Francisco", focusing on the heart part. The color palette and tone of the card come from the new challenge at the EmbellishMagazine.com. Color Challenge. They wanted a "quirky-cutesy, clean style" card using sea foam, peach, cream and kraft colors.

Lots of hearts, and though this may not qualify for quirky, I think it qualifies for cutesy and clean. LOL The colors are beautiful together and I love quilts. This card made me think about some doll quilts I made for my daughter when she was little.

For a little extra something, I made some little seed bead daisies to add along the bottom of the card.

Supplies

Paper: Recollections cardstock, Kraft cardstock, Provocraft Mini Stack, October Afternoon Fly a Kite and Thrift Shop, Iron Orchid Designs

Tools: Cricut, needle and thread

Miscellaneous: The Robert Stanley Collection ribbon, seed beads

Thanks for stopping in today!

Papercraft Star Challenge #6

Challenge #6 at Papercraft Star Challenge Blog this week is a card sketch. I used some more of the beautiful October Afternoon paper I got recently. I was going to offer some of that for my Blog Hop candy last weekend, but my buddy Jen had packed up her store for a huge crop in Natchez and it all went with her. I also broke out a new Penny Black stamp I picked up on clearance at Hobby Lobby. I haven't made any of my dryer sheet butterflies in a long loonnnggg time so I created three of those for the bottom of the card. They're colored with Olive Vine Glimmer Mist, one of my favorite colors. You can find a tutorial for how to make them on my YouTube channel.
Once this idea took root, it all fell into place and I had a lot of fun making it.

Supplies
Paper: Recollections cardstock, October Afternoon Thriftshop
Stamps: Penny Black Lace Flower, Stampabilities Felt With the Heart
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia, Olive Vine Glimmer Mist
Miscellaneous: Offray Dark Brown Satin Ribbon

Hope you've decided to play along with us at Papercraft Star this week. There's still time to get your entry in before the noon Saturday deadline. Make sure you pop in there after noon and before Tuesday to cast a vote for your favorite project.

Hope you like the card. Have a great day!

Paper Shoes

A few weeks ago I made a paper shoe for my friend Rina as a thank you for some goodies she sent me. I searched and searched for something unique to make for her because she is definitely a unique person. :) I lost the pictures I took of her shoe when my computer crashed, but you can see it if you're interested on her YT channel here. After she posted her video several comments were posted wanting me to do a tutorial. Wish I could take credit for this idea, but I'm not that talented. I got the idea from a blog called Artful Affirmations. She has a tutorial on her blog for the pattern and instructions for the shoes. I went ahead and made a tutorial too and created the shoe on the left (the one on the right was my practice shoe for the video). You can find my tute (parts 1 & 2)on my YouTube channel if you're interested.

I'm making several posts to my blog today so make sure you scroll down.

Have a great day!

Bloom Mini Album

Finally! My latest mini album is finished. This album has been one of the reasons that I haven't been playing all my usual card challenges lately. Minis take me a long, LOONNGG time. I'm really picky about how I put things together so i go through lots of ideas before I finally setlle on what each page is going to contain and look like.
I had decided that I was going to make a mini album as a giveaway prize once I reached 500 subscribers on YouTube. Well, 500 came and went and I still didn't have the album made. My friend Rina kind of summed up the way I feel about making minis. Basically she said she didn't want to just slap something together. She wanted it to have purpose and meaning. This mini had a purpose--a thank you to one lucky person who liked my work enough to subscribe to my channel so they could see more of it. I wasn't just going to throw something together willy nilly. Now I'm not trying to say I'm some spectacular crafter. I can name off quite a few ladies out there who are. Everything they make is just incredible. I just enjoy working with paper, I love to share ideas with other people, and I felt the need to make something to give back as thanks for all the encouragement and support I get. Don't get me wrong. Who doesn't love to get goodies like TH stuff, or cool papers. I just felt compelled to make something handmade to giveaway--something personal from me.
The album idea finally came together after I watched someone I subscribe to on YouTube make the flowers I used on the cover of this album. I absolutely adored the combination of Distress inks she used to make these daisies and lo and behold, when I went to Michaels (one of the numerous trips I make there each week LOL) I saw this We R Memory Keepers paper that matched perfectly. I also knew right away that I was going to use the brand new Cricut Lite Bloom cartridge that I had just bought at Wally World on this album. My Cricut has definitely been underutilized since it was bought, but I gave that little bug a work out on this album, even learned how to do some new stuff with it. :)
So here are a few of the pages. This is not the whole album. If you'd like to see the whole thing you can check out my video for it here. If you'd like a chance to win it, all you have to do is be a subscriber to my YT channel and leave a comment on the video.

For those of you who don't do YouTube and are more into card making, don't worry. I'm going to come up with a special giveaway in the future for you too. YouTubers aren't the only ladies I've learned from and been encouraged by. I follow some awesome cardmakers who are teaching me about art without even knowing it.

I'm ready to make some cards, but I also have an itch to make another mini so we'll see. At least this one won't have a time constraint on it. Whew! LOL

My new Sarah Kay and Penny Black stamps came yesterday and today I dropped by my LSS and my buddy Jen had gotten in some of those scrumptious October Afternoon Thrift Store and Fly a Kite papers. YEAH! I'm ready.

It's the start tomorrow of another challenge at Papercraft Star, so if you haven't already, check out the blog AND the Forum and give it a look see. This week's challenge is a sports theme. There's so much you can do with that theme so come on over and play along with us for this weeks challenge.
Have a blessed day!

Stitched Flowers on Vellum

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #36 for this week is pink, white and red. The focal point of my card is a panel of vellum with a floral pattern stitched into it. So my card also qualifies for the challenge at Papertake Weekly Challenge where they're looking for stitching on your card.

When I saw this color palette for PDCC, I thought "no problem!" NOT! My brain just refused to work with red, pink, and white. I'd almost decided not to try when this idea popped into my head. I just used this stitch pattern on another project and loved the look of it. It was a freebie I found on a UK online shop called Stitching Cards last year. It's still there if you'd like to grab it. Can you tell I love to try out new techniques? LOL

This is a large card. It measures 5 1/2" x 8". If I did it again I would probably shrink the stitch pattern down some, but after stitching for a couple of hours late last night, I was not about to start over again. Stitching is not hard just time consuming, but I have to tell you, that punched border was a headache. I'm not sure if that punch has a matching corner punch or not, but I don't have it. So I had to figure out how to get the sides to line up evenly. I think it took me about four tries to finally get it even on all sides. I'm happy with how it turned out. Hope you like it too.

Supplies

Paper: clear vellum, white cardstock, Bazzill Tutu Pink

Stamp: Stampendous Orchid Greetings

Ink: Fired Brick Distress Ink

Tools: Martha Stewart Modern Border Punch

Miscellaneous: DMC Embroidery Floss, Recollections Adhesive Pearls

Have a blessed day!

Go Vote! and a recent project

Just a little reminder that voting has started over at Papercraft Star. Hop on over there and cast a vote for your favorite between now and Monday night. You'll notice something a little different this week. The Design Team members were allowed to enter their projects for this week's challenge. We are NOT in running for the prize. That will go to one of our non-designer participants. You can vote for one of our projects if it's your favorite though.

Also wanted to let you know that I have added a gmail address (see top of my sidebar) here on my blog just in case you need to send me a personal message or have questions you don't want to post as a comment.

Besides cards, I've been making a few little projects lately that were sent to some friends as thank you's. Below is one I made for my friend Alee'. She is one of the sweetest people I know and best of all . . .she's my prayer warrior! Alee' and I met via our YouTube channels and just hit it off. She has two beautiful girls and a husband who is very supportive of her hobby. She just started her own etsy store (Jentaleigh's Shop) if you'd like to check it out. She has some yummy flower embellies and some absolutely gorgeous jeweled stick pins.

I decided to make a banner for her. She'll tell you straight off that she's blessed, so I knew exactly what the banner was going to spell out. I used some Basic Grey Bittersweet DP (love BG!). I did not have a single triangle shape on any of the Cricut carts I own so I had to make my own template. I added lace, ribbons, buttons, silk roses, pearls, bling, and punched paper flowers. The letters were covered with acrylic paint and sprinkled with embossing powder when still wet. It gives a cool effect when melted with a heat gun. You can see it in this photo.
My mini album is coming along well so I should have some pics and a video of it up fairly soon. I'm famously slow on my minis so be patient. I'm a bit OCD with them. LOL

Have a wonderful Fourth of July weekend and don't forget to go cast your vote!
Blessings,

City Crafter Shades of Green Challenge Week 11

This week's challenge at City Crafter Challenge Blog was to create a card using shades of green. I was determined to use some scrap from my scrap box to make this card. My scrap box is getting so large I may have to give it a name. :) Anyway, I dug out all the green scraps I could find to see what I could match up together and this is what I came up with. The DP is from the Scenic Route Sonoma collection. The medallion is supposed to be mimicing the DP. I wrapped the Nestabilities scallop die cut with embroidery floss for my version of Spirelli. There are actual punches you can buy to do this technique and various ways you can wrap the scallop, but I just kept it simple. The bling in the corners and around the medallion were clear to begin with. I colored them with alcohol ink so they could be green too. Finally at the bottom I added some pretty ribbon threaded through a little beaded ribbon slide. I learned how to make this on one of my favorite card blogs, StampARTic.

Supplies
Paper: Bazzill cardstock, white cardstock, Scenic Route Sonoma
Ink: Walnut Stain Distress Ink, Oregano Alcohol Ink
Tools: Nestabilities Classic Scallop Circles Large (S4-124), Martha Stewart punch
Miscellaneous: acrylic rhinestones, beads, embroidery floss, ribbon, Prima flower

Thanks for stopping by!

A Few of My Favorite Things

This week at Tag Tuesday Challenge #55 Louise challenged us to use our favorite things or things that are kind of signature items in our creations. I love making tags. They may be small but they open the door for a lot of creative imagination. This one includes some of my handmade flowers and one of my dryer sheet butterflies. You can find a tutorial on how I make these on my YouTube channel.

Here are the favorite/signature things that I included on my tag.

1. a vintage image--I LOVE any and everything vintage

2. wrinkle distress--gotta make it look old and worn

3. pink and brown color combination--these colors just make me think of something that has been loved and well worn from repeated use, like a love letter that you read over and over

4. distress ink--nothing compares to the look of distress ink

5. ribbon--love the soft touch it adds, most of my stuff has a definite feminine element to it

6. French script--this just adds a little romantic flair. You can't go wrong with anything French

7. butterflies--they just always seem to add the perfect little accent

8. my handmade flowers--anyone who's looked at my previous work knows that I LOVE to make my own flowers and I incorporate them a lot in my work. They take a lot of time but I never regret putting them on a project.

Supplies

Images: ballerina from The Graphics Fairy; French script letter from

Paper: manilla folder, copy paper, photo paper, black and white cardstock

Ink: Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain, Peeled Paint, and Tattered Rose Distress Ink; Tsuninko Galaxy Gold; Vanilla Breeze and Creme de Rouge Glimmer

Tools: Nestabilities Classic Ovals Large (S4-110)

This was a really fun challenge. Thanks Louise!

And thanks to everyone who left me a sweet comment about my place on the Papercraft Star Design Team. If you don't know what I'm talking about check the previous post for today.

Thanks for popping in.

Remembering Our Fallen Heroes

The Shabby Tea Room Week #10 challenge was to use red, white and blue on a card. Memorial Day is coming up at the end of this month so a little Patriotism is called for. This holiday is supposed to be a day of remembrance for the men and women of our military who have given their lives in service to our country. This is a very simple and humble gesture so I made a pretty simple and humble card.

The base is plain white cardstock. The designer paper is from the All American Collection by Adornit Carolee's Creations. I used Frayed Burlap Distress Ink to give everything an aged look. The stars are chipboard that I painted with Picket Fence Distress Crackle paint and then inked. A little hemp twine, some buttons, a baby Prima rose, and some yummy shabby seam binding from Debbie's etsy store finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by!

Double Up

A double post today and my first double challenge card. This card will be submitted for City Crafter Challenge Blog and The Shabby Tea Room. CCCB's challenge #4 was a color challenge using soft pink and TSTR's challenge #9 was to use chipboard on your card.

The base of the card is a pale pink sheet of Bazzill cardstock. The first mat is white cardstock edged in Tattered Rose Distress Ink and cut with some deco edged scissors. The top mat is from DCWV's Luxury Stack. I LOVE LOVE these papers! The heart die cut is my chipboard piece. It's painted in Picket Fence Distress Crackle Paint.

The flowers were an experiment. I think Parchment Craft card work is absolutely gorgeous. If you've never seen this, you can find some incredible examples of it here. I don't have any of the tools needed to do this type of card making, so I had to make do with a regular sewing needle. I traced out each of the flower petal layers onto pale pink vellum and then went around the outline poking through the vellum with the needle. They would have punched out better with the correct tools, but it all worked out. I layered them and added some pearls for their centers. A few leaves punched from some Bazzill paper with my favorite Martha Stewart leaf punch, a little ribbon, lots more pearls, and a sentiment from Cloud 9 Design finish it off.
Hope you all have a blessed Sunday!

Shabby Tea Room Week #8 "Get Your Bling On"

This weeks challenge at The Shabby Tea Room was to use lots and lots of glitter.

The base of my card is Bazzill Basics Sugar Daddy and the mat is Bazzill Basics French Vanilla. I created the background by using a piece of white cardstock which I inked with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. I used Versamark, clear embossing powder, and a background stamp by Stampabilities for the pattern, and then sprayed the whole piece with Tattered Leather Glimmer Mist. The base for the flowers is a Nestabilities Labels Two die cut which I ran through a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder and then colored with Inkadinkadoo chalk. The flowers, leaves and scallopped border were all punched out of Avery Diskette labels. Once you peel off the backing all you have to do is rub your glitter into the adhesive. Voila! Glitter flowers. I used some puff paint and stickles for the flower centers. The tag was cut on my Cricut. Finishing touches are some yellow bling, orange and brown ribbon fibers, and a pretty yellow bow I made with my Bow Easy.

Glitter, glitter everywhere . . .literally! ha ha

Thanks for stopping by,

PDCC27 Card Challenge

I found a card challenge blog that looked interesting to me this past week, so I'm going to give it a shot. The Play Date Cafe offered up the following color challenge for this week.




Here's my card.

My card base is Bazzill and the designer paper is from the Basic Grey Periphery Collection. I stamped the heart and sentiment with Memento London Fog Ink and embossed the heart with clear embossing powder. I used some distress inks, ribbons, buttons, and Kaiser pearls.

Thanks for stopping by.