Saturday, April 30, 2011

My Ooops! card

Well, I don't usually post on the weekends since they tend to be busy with Paul home. I thought I would make a short post with my Digital Tuesday Challenge Oooops! card, which you can read about here.

The image is from Spesch Designer Stamps and I absolutely love it. You can find it here and check out all the other wonderful stamps they have in the store too.

It really is a simple card, though I don't think it would be called CAS since it have some layers popped up with dimensionals. I made it simple so as not to distract from the image.

As you can see here, I added some glitter on the crowns, the layer edge and some sparkly spots around the princess. The paper came with the sparkly glitter already on it...love that kind of paper :o)

Of course, I have to show this to cute for words prince again!


I hope you all have a super weekend. I will be drawing the number for the blog candy tonight and post tomorrow. I did hit 200 so will be drawing 2 numbers, the second for a smaller surprise box. I so wish I could make some for everyone!!! Good luck to all my wonderful followers. I will post the winners tomorrow.
Hugs,

Friday, April 29, 2011

Vintage Fairy

Yesterday I wanted to make a card, but just did not feel like coloring. Has that ever happened to you? Looking through my gazillion digital images, I found this one from Far Far Hill. You can find loads of wonderful vintage images and beautiful paper for free on the website. This one is from a set called Flower Fairy Cards.

Isn't she pretty. I used my Sakura glitter pen to bling up the image, otherwise it is kept as is.

I have been watching the prices of the pretty pearl and gem flourishes I see everywhere. They are just to expensive for my budget. I did find a great sale a couple of weeks ago and got a set of 4 pearl swirls and 4 gem swirls at a super price. I added one set to my basket, then tried updating it to 2, but there was not enough in stock! So I guess I got the last set...yeah for me, lol

After finally getting the lovely flourish, I ended up cutting it up into parts anyway.  Partly because the full flourish would not fit on this card (and I just HAD to use them right away!) and partly because I do not seem to be able to leaves things just as they are. All of the swirls and pearls on this card came from one flourish, nice.

For some reason the swirls look like they are a pale purple, but they are acutally a soft pink color. Not sure why the camera picked up the wrong color.

I used a Fiskar border punch that I keep forgetting I have. Strange, since it is such a pretty punch. I went over the embossed part with a colored glitter gel pen and added a single tiny pearl in the center of the the swirls.
I am going to enter this into the following challenges:
A Gem Of A Challenge: pearls and swirls
Wee Memories: anything girly (they have a maximum of only combining their challenge with 3 others)

Hugs,

Thursday, April 28, 2011

My Profession

Well, I basically was a stay at home mom while my kids were growing up. I did, now and then, work part time for a few months. Working always seemed to get in the way of my true heart, my kids. So I guess you can say I was a professional mom, lol

When I saw the Daring Cardmakers challenge, "Speaking Professionally", that is what came to my mind right way. There is a story behind the image I chose to use.

These are my 3 lovely kids (now ages 26, 25 and 24) who decided one early morning to get up and eat all of the cookies in the cookie jar. So....I figured if they wanted cookies I would give them cookies...for lunch...for supper. Here is a picture of supper, lol. My daughter is not to happy right now. The boys...well...they are boys and were quite content until, just after this picture was taken, my daughter started to cry.  Of course, if older sister was crying, there had to be something wrong. So down went the cookies and they all started crying for a real supper! Needless to say, they never ate all the cookies out of the cookie jar again.

When I saw this image, I just had to use it. Ahhhhhh....such memories!!!  I will have to show this one to the kids and see if it sparks their memories too!
This is a 3D precious Moments image with 4 layers. If there were 2 boys and 1 girl instead of 2 girls and 1 boy, this would have been perfect! Bwaaaa ha ha ha.

I decided to use the wonderful shimmer card stock and paper pierce around the image. You can see in the above photo just how shimmery the card stock is.

I used 2 different corners to make the kind of corner I actually wanted. The top one is popped up with dimensionals to give more of a 3D look like the image.

I added lots of pearls and a strand of pearls is added to the bow.

 The pearls are smaller on the inside to make sure the card would close and to not bother the person who would be writing the sentiment.


With my husband on vacation this week, I have not had a chance to check out all the challenges. I am entering it into the following:
Card Makin' Mamas: spring colors
Totally Gorjuss: bling it on
Daring Cardmakers: speaking professionally
Little Miss Muffet: Die Cuts or Punches (I used both for this card)
Do You Stack Up: make it pop

Hugs,

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Totally Ruffled

I made this card last February and finally decided to be brave enough to share it ;o)

I have seen so many cards with such pretty "crooked" ruffles, I just had to give it a try. Bwaaa ha ha ha...See how "crooked" mine is! You should see me trying to make a flower bouquet, all the flowers are in color and height order, not so pretty! But...very orderly. I really need to work on being "messier", it is such a pretty look (especially with flowers {wink})

The ribbon is really pretty, but this card would never fit into an envelope. I am going to look up how to make those box envelopes and give a go at it.

Not this week, though. Paul is on vacation this week. I suppose that is why my mojo took a hike. I just can't seem to do anything in my craft room (not even clean it up, ha ha ha) So hard to work around the clutter. Maybe if I organize it into neat piles by color and size, tee he he

I love this gold paper with the "waves" in it. I got it from Paper Temptress (who else!) and this was my last sheet. Paul said I used up my "tax return" budget already! Now, how could THAT be??? So an order will have to wait. One of the best things about it is that the reverse side is white, so it can be used as a card base. That is what I did here.

The pleated ribbon took forever for me to do, but it really would be a fast and simple card for those who are ribbon literate. The top layer is adhered with dimensionals, which completes the look I think.

Well, I am finished with my second very large cup of coffee and NEED to get moving! Have a super day everyone.

Hugs,

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Digital Tuesday and an OOOOPS!

This week it's Natascha's turn to challenge you, and she designed a gorgeous sketch.


Our Sponsor this week is Spesch Designer Stamps.


The very lucky winner will be able to choose any 3 digital images from the store! They offered the DT an image to use this week. I had such a hard time deciding, I ended up purchasing some, lol.

I was so excited to use the image and had such fun making the card I envisioned for it in my head. Of course, it did not come out exactly like my vision, but there is not way to ruin a card with these images. They are just that perfect.

As I cleaned off my desk...guess what I found??? This weeks sketch...OOOPS!!! Did my card match the sketch? NO! YIKES, and it was already late last night. To late to make another card for today, sniff :o(

I do want to show you the adorable image though. It is called Princess and the Frog.
 
And just look at the so adorable there is no word for it prince.
I am sorry I dropped the ball on this one and don't have a card to inspire you for this challenge. The rest of the Digital Tuesday Design Team does. They have worked hard and remembered to use the sketch, lol. So please stop by the Digital Tuesday Challenge blog and them all out! You also can go to each blog by clicking on the DT names in my right side bar :o)
HUGS,

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Some Iris Folding

I made this card a few weeks ago and haven't had time to post it yet. I made the iris fold using shimmer paper from Paper Temptress. What I like about her paper is that you can get it in text and card stock weight. Here I used the text weight for the iris fold and the card stock weight for the base.

I was trying to make it look like a stained glass window. When I cut the corners, though, they did not come out uniform. I need to practice getting my slanted cuts more even, lol. The 'window" is adhered using dimentionals.

The ribbon on the edges is also from Paper Temptress. She was clearing out her ribbon from an older ribbon supplier which was giving her some trouble. I stocked up quite a bit on it and am happy I did since it is all gone. She does have new ribbon though, from a different supplier.

The flowers are from the wedding section of my local big box craft store. To dress it up a bit all I used were some of the gold outline stickers.

Have a wonderful and blessed Easter!

Hugs,

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Back When

There is a fun challenge this week at Flashback Friday. We are to enter our very first paper stitching that we posted. I made this card back in February 2010. It is the very first hand stitching I did and I was not happy with how it came out. The stitching was pretty good for my first time. but I was not happy after I cut out the butterfly.  It doesn't look so bad now, lol. I have since learned how to add the image without having to cut it out, lol.

I am not sure what happened to this card, lol. I am pretty sure I did not decorate the inside! If you would like to see some I made later one you can click on either "sewing on paper" or "paper stitching" from the categories in the sidebar.
Since this is an older card I am only entering it into the Flashback Friday Challenge.

Hugs,

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Sparkling Egg

WOW, Loved everyone of the comments on my Poor Man's Nestie Storage. Thank you for sharing how you store yours. Some really great ideas. If you are looking for ideas to store your nesties, check out the comment under the post!!!

I made this card using the digital image Ornate Egg from Stitchy Bear. I am not sure if you can see from this picture, but I used my Sakura Glitter Pens to color it. It really shimmers nicely in real life. It is the first time I thought to color with them. I have always just used them to embellish an already colored image. I am happy with how it came out, so hope to use them this way again.

I used all shimmer paper from Paper Temptress for this card, so the paper would match the shimmer of the egg. I really need to place another order with her. I tend use this pretty paper the most and run out so fast. I usually put it off because I don't know what colors I will use next, lol. Then I just want them all!

For the corners I used the same nestie corner die, then cut them apart to fit where I wanted to place them. I hope it does not look like to much. I think I could have made this card smaller, but am so used to the 5 1/2 square cards that any smaller is not fun to embellish, lol. After all, embellishing is the funnest part :o) I added lots of Stampin' Up gems to this one. On the inside too.

Though it is not my norm, I stamped the inside with a "Happy Easter" sentiment so it would match some of the challenges going on right now. I don't usually win, but they are fun to enter anyway.

I am going to enter this card in the following challenges:
Little Miss Muffet: glitter & shine
Do You Stack Up: scallops (the corners have scallops on them)
Stamping For The Weekend: Easter
Card Makin' Mama's: embellish it
Floweret: Easter
Totally Gorjuss: no pattern paper
Sweet Stampin': diamonds are a girls best friend---bling
Easy Craft Project: Easter
Craft Your Day Away: Easter
Dream Valley: Easter
Scrappy Frogs: Easter
I Did It Creations: Easter
Sentimental Sunday: Easter with a sentiment
Kaboodle Doodle: Easter/spring
Woodware USA: die cuts/punches
My Time To Craft: Easter
Creative Belli: eggs/bunnies
For Fun Challenges: Easter
ABC: "S" is for sparkle

Hugs,

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Flower Girl

Hi Everyone. Today we have a new challenge for you at Digital Tuesday Challenge. Our sponsor this week is the wonderful Digital Delights.
The winner will be able to choose 3 digital images. I have browsed their site several times and the last time I saw the cutest images of children sitting. You know, like the Magnoilias do. I love them and wish I could win this challenge, lol. I will certainly be purchasing every one of these images as they are so cute.

The challenge this week is to use your punches.


For this weeks challenge I decided to use Birley. Isn't she adorable.

I used some of the glitter paper I just got in and have her standing in a flower field.

This is a Thank You card. I punched out the sentiment using my Stampin' Up oval punches. I have to admit that I have quite a few punches that are getting dusty since I purchased my Nesties. It was nice to pull them out and use them again.


I hope you can participate this week. What a fun and easy challenge. I look forward to seeing all the wonderful creations every week and this week is no exception :o)

Hugs,

Monday, April 18, 2011

Poor Mans' Nestie Storage

I have quite a few Nestabilies, though I tend to use the same ones over and over, that I needed an inexpenive way to store them. AND..., of course, did not want to spend my precious craft money to store items, lol.

I have not seen this else where, so I thought I would share it with you. I took these photos after I made my second one with all the new Nesties that I got recently. YEAAAY for tax and bonus time (big smile here)

What I did was purchase a zipper binder on sale at staples and some magnetic strip tape from Amazon. I find that the magnetic tape at the scrap store does not hold much of anything well. Amazon has much better tape at an inexpensive price. The one I purchased you can find HERE.

For each page, I taped together 2 sheets of Walmart card stock to make the pages sturdy enough to hold the weight. All I had to do was add 2 strips of tape per side. Each side hold 2 sets, that is 4 sets per page.

To prevent the pages from sticking together, I used some of the USPS flat rate envelopes I had hanging around. These are free at your local post office :o) Each envelope makes two pages.

There is even room for the Spellbinder embossing sheets, one of which I think I ruined putting it through my Big Shot wrong, but kept anyway just in case it will work "good enough" next time, lol.

This binder is already holding 14 sets of Nesties. As you can see, there is still loads of room for more! The first is home to 26 sets, but for this one I used corrugated packaging sheets (I think that is what they would be called) which are much thicker than the USPS envelopes. Next time I go to the post office, I just may pick up more and change them.

Each binder only cost between $20-$25 depending on what each zipper binder cost me.  That is so much less than the magnetic folders that they sell just for the nesties. They take up very little room too.

Well, I hope that gives someone an idea of how to store these. If you have a unique way of storing yours, I would love to hear it :o)

Have a super day, Hugs,

Blog Award

Today I am sharing a blog award I recieved. These are so wonderful and I am thrilled that other bloggers have thought of me.
This was awarded to me by Susan aka Cricut and Grasshopper. She has fabulous cards and layouts that she makes using here cricut. I am just learning how to use mine and have gleened some wonderful ideas from her. Her blog is well worth the time to check out.

I was also awarded this by Elizabeth at Visions Of Paper. Don't you just love that name! I guess I am far from the only one who has a love affair with paper, lol...like we all don't, tee he he.  She does such wonderful work! Another blog worth the time to check out.

Rules for this award.
1. Post about award on your blog with a link back to the sender
2. Pass onto those who visit your blog and leave comments regularly.

I am passing this along to:
Lisa   Crafting With Princess Lisa
Pops   Poppet's Place
Vicky   Stamped Smiles
Ellie   Live Laugh Stamp

If you have not seen their blogs, hop on over and check them out. I am humbled that they take the time to visit and comment on my blog.

Hugs,