Beautiful Garden

I have been thinking about how to use a specific image for a few days and finally came up with something. It really is not to different from the last card I posted. I guess it is probably because the image came from the same set from Nicecrane Designs.

To make it a bit different I decided to frame the image by distressing the bottom layers. I also have been wanting to use one of the cameos that I purchased a while ago and thought this would be a good time to use one. I am not sure if it really looks right, but I put it on anyway, tee he he.

I added some machine stitching to the front, something I have not done in a while. I own one of the Janome Mini machines and it has not light at all so I need to put a lot of lights on around it. This really doesn't help much since me being there casts a shadow, but it makes me feel like it helps.

Here you can see the pearl swirl I used and the pretty cameo I wanted to use. I added the blue flowers to help the cameo match. The dress is kind of blue as well as the butterfly having blue gems on it, so I think it kind of matches.

This is one of the butterflies I have purchased from Penny Duncan at her Etsy store which can be found here. Not only does she sell these, she has wonderful tutorials on her blog to show you how to make the butterflies and dragonflies she makes. You can find here blog here. I much prefer to purchase them since I am not sure about cutting the clear paper she uses. You may want to check it out and give a try though.

Here is the card front. See what I mean about the cameo. It is a pretty one, but I am not exactly sure if it really looks right. What do you think?

The inside is basically the same but simpler. I still stiched the edges, though. I thought about not stitching it and felt like I was just being lazy, lol

I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Hugs,

Garden Delight

I know I have not been posting everyday as I have been. Things have gotten so busy. I am now babysitting my grandson again, though only 2 days a week. I go to my mothers on Fridays to work on those itty bitty flowers to sell at the Egg Show in October. Finally, Sundays are busy with church activities. I need to revamp my schedule so I can get in my craft room more between all this.

Anyway...I do have a card for you today. Can you believe it took me 3 days to make this! WOW...it is hard to get my brain into crafting between busy days :o(

I really like this Nestie set. I have been having trouble getting it to cut properly and have had to cut some of the triangles with my craft knife. Finally it dawned on me to try new Big Shot plates (I try to make them last a long time, lol) and they came out perfect! So if you are having the same problem as I have had, you may want to try new plates.

This beautiful picture is from Nicecrane Designs and comes in a set of 8 called Women's Paintings Vol II . They are so pretty I could hardly wait to use one.

I was able to use one of my homemade butterflies using the Colorful Butterflies Collection, also from Nicecrane Designs. I have a tutorial on how to make them HERE. I really would love to have you try them out. They are really easy and I would love to see yours.

It seems that no matter what I did, the picture of the inside kept coming out crooked. Sorry about that.

Thank you for stopping by today and spending some of you time with me :o) <<<wish I knew how to add real smileys, lol

Hugs,

Water Baby

I am so excited I just have to share. Not only have I been able to walk without pain the past 2 weeks, but yesterday I was able to take large (actually normal) steps again. YEAH! Considering I was very close to loosing function of my body from the waist down and the Dr said their may be permanent damage to the spinal cord I could not be more happy. Maybe I will be able to bring the dogs for short walks now :o) Anyway...thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who comments on my creations. I am trying to catch up on leaving comments on yours as well as the other ones that I follow. If I have not gotten to yours yet, rest assured that I am still reading them and will be leaving comments soon :o)

There are 2 blogs I can't seem to access, so if Jaspere and Best Web Hosting are reading this, I am so sorry I have not been able to leave you comments.

OK...on to my card, lol I use one of the the new images from the Water Baby set at Nicecrane Designs. Ignacio is always working on new images so it is well worth bookmarking his store and checking back often.

I decided to layer the baby and paper tole the body for a more dimensional look. It is kind of hard to see here, but the paper toling gives it a nice raised look and feel.

Isn't this seaweed great. It is actually used for designing eggs, but I thought it was so perfect for this image. The tiny shells are actually shells that I collected back in high school. My boyfriend (husband now) and I went to the beach for the day and I collected tons of these because they were cute, lol, and to remember out day together. They are the perfect size for this card. The tiny sand dollars I did get from the local craft store. They are real and so cute too.

I colored the image with my copics and found that I lost my beloved C1 marker! How could I have done that, they never leave my desk. I looked everywhere and am so sad as it is my most used marker. I hate to pay shipping for just one marker too! Wish we had a store locally that sold them.

The inside of the card matches the front. I am not sure who I am going to give this to (if I give it away {wink})

Thank you for stopping by today. My long haired doxie is going to the groomer to get shaved. Not naked, lol, but he will look like a short haired doxie. Much more comfortable for him the in summer. Other than that (well...and the dishes) I am planning to spend the rest of the day in my craft room (and hope my lost marker will suddenly appear, lol)

Hugs,

Trilliums and Morning Glories

My mother and I finally finished some of the itty bitty flowers we have been working on...phew...they are a bit of a challenge to work on since they are so very small. I have to wear magnifying glasses, lol. They are technically made to decorate eggs, but are the perfect size for inchies too.

Here are our first 2 Morning Glories. As you can see from the dime, they really are very tiny. We actually made 5 vines, but I took pictures of the first 2. The one on the left still has some glue to dry, but when it is dry, you can not see it.

These are the Trillium's we made. A dear friend that we met at the egg shows asked us to make them for her.  We never heard of them before so had to look them up on Google Images. There are a few varieties, so we ended up making 3 different sizes. It took us quite a while to figure out how to make them, which sizes, which punches to use and which paper worked best. She wanted white ones, so that is what we made for her.

Smallest size.

Medium size. 

Largest size is on the left.

Funny that my mother likes the smallest ones, while I like the biggest. We ended up making 110 of them.

You can see more of my itty bitty flowers by clicking the flower link in the left column. I made Lilly of the Valley and Dogwoods. The are smaller than these, lol, but I loved making them. They are my very favorite flowers after all ;o)

This is quite a different paper craft, I hope you like them.

Hugs,

Finally Got To The Craft Room

Phew...I was finally able to make a card this morning. It is actually the first card in a while that came out exactly the way I pictured it.

I don't know where the paper came from...sooooo nice to have paper match up so quickly. The main layer is actually an image from Nicecrane Designs called Distressed Spring. I stamped the sentiment from one of my Stampin' Up sets. The butterfly and dragonfly I got from Penny's Etsy store where she sells handmade butterflies, dragonflies and flowers. I think they are so pretty and quite a bit different from the ones I made. They went so perfectly here.

See those wonderful tulips. They are from Pizzazz Aplenty. She has some really small ones too, which I am excited to use on some of my eggs. I also used her cord to tie you tulips and chocolate pearls.

Here is the whole card front. This was such a quick card to made since there was not coloring to do. I have some more of her images that I will be working on later today.

This is the first time I used this nestie label. I have had it for a while, but just never seemed to have a card to use them on. The Stampin' Up sentiment fit perfect.

What a wonderful morning in the craft room :o) I really needed a project to just fall together to encourage my mojo. Don't you just love when that happens :o) !!!

HUGS,

Blog Award

I was blessed to recieve this blog award from the following blogers. Thank You! so very much ladies.
Kelli
Elizabeth
Cathie
Susan

Thank you so much ladies :o) >>> big hugs

7 things about myself
1. I am getting into, not only egg art, but making itty bitty paper flowers (about the size of 1/5th a dime) will post some soon

2. I have 3 pup, 2 chihuahua's and a doxie (who is vcery active and keeps me busy)

3. I married my high school sweetie and we have been married for 26 wonderful years

4. ummm...I am currently trying to think of 3 other things to share

5. I love flowers but and terrible at growing them. Finally decided on a Day Lily garden since they need very little attention but bloom beautifully

6. I am recovering from a 2 month hospital stay and, as of last week, can walk normal and walk up and down stairs without pain meds >>> Yeah!

7. I am blessed to be able to babysit my 19 month old grandson 2 days a week (Tues and Wed) and have not been able to craft like I want to. I have to rest on Thursdays, he is soooooo active, lol

I am passing this award to the following blogs:

Lisa
Ellie
Amy
Lorraine
Laurie & Kel
Tracey
Ettan (fantasic designer, he offer most for free, and a wonderful person)
Theresa

Please check out all the wonderful blogs :o)

Will be back later with a card I was able to finally make, lol

Hugs,

Birds and Butterflies

(WARNING: lots of pictures for you to see what I am talking about >>>big smile, and lots of links for you to check out!)

I know I don't usually post on Saturday, but I just HAD to share with you a new blog and store I found. You are going to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. The blog is Nicecrane Designs. WOW, what stunning creations she has, what talent. She also has a store Nicecrane Designs you will not be disappointed when you check it out.
The designs are like no other I have seen and her prices are so fantastic. I could not decide what to buy, since everything is so lovely.

Here I am sharing some of her pre-colored images, but...she has the most beautiful digi stamps I have ever seen and I have seen a lot! After looking at her blog and store, I found my mojo, YEAH. I did not color any of the digis I bought yet because my mother had emergency surgery on her appendix last week. So...I made some simple projects to share with you.

First, I just had to make the pretty butterflies that I shared a tutorial for you >>> HERE. In the tutorial the butterflies are about 1/2". These I made a bit larger, between 1- 1 1/2". So much easier and perfect for adding to paper crafts.

I hope you can see the dimension of the paper tole used for the wings.
These butterflies have such beautiful detail. You can purchase the set of them HERE and make your own. They really are simple and if you have any questions about them you can always email me.

The wonderful thing about these butterflies is the detail they have. Much better than any clip art you would find. Here are some close ups for you to see what I mean.

Next I made some super duper fast bookmarks using the stunning Audubon Bookmarks. All you need to do is print out the bookmarks, cut (of course, lol) adhere to paper and add ribbon. She adds tastles to hers and they are fantastic you can see one HERE. I do not have tastles, so I used silk ribbon. To make sure the ribbon did not rip the holes, I added some of the Aleene's quick dry tacky glue around them.

Aren't they stunning. I simple love the sentiments on each of them. Here are some close ups for you to see the details.

For the base, I used the fantastic Ruche paper from Paper Temptress to add some texture and interest to the back.

 I hope you like these and check out her blog and store, but...make sure you have some time, there is so much to see and you won't want to miss any of it.

Enjoy your holiday weekend.

HUGS,