Remembering

Today I share this video that I saw on the Archiving Angel blog.  I post this in memory of those who served in the past and those fall in the past. To my sons Peter (USMC) and Patrick (US Army) who both served in Iraq and to their friends who fell during their tour. Remember!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day. Hugs,

Finished Window Card

Earlier in the week I posted a Flower Soft window card topper card that I had no ideas as to how to finish it off and asked you all what you would do. I received a reply from Kelli at favor8favors that I thought would work wonderfully on this card. Vicki from stamped smiles also commented with a great idea that I am going to try on my next FS window card.

Thank you Kelli and Vicki for the ideas. AND thank you everyone who left sweet comments for me :o) your comments always make me smile :o)

Here is what I did with Kellis' ideas.

I added stickles around the curtains, pearls on curtains and window, a butterfly and stickles on the flowers to look like there is morning dew on them. I am not sure how well you can see the stickles on the flowers, but you can click on any of the photos to get a better look :o)

The layers are the same. The butterfly is hand made. I made a tutorial on how to make these here. They are much easier than they look.

For the inside I decided to use the other card topper sheet but only the first layer. I did add the stickles around the curtains and on the flowers on the inside too. I think if you click on the photo you might be able to see it. 

The sentiment is from my stand by SU set called Elegant Cheer. I just love this sentiment. I am not sure if it is retired, but I did not see it in the current catalog. Although the set comes with 6, I always use this one. The "Just a Note" makes the card usable for just about any occasion. This left plenty of room for a personal note.

I hope you like the finished card. I think Kellis' ideas were perfect for this one. I did think of adding pearls to the corners on the card, but decided not to. I am not sure why, I am still thinking it may have looked nice that way. I might go back and try it anyway. 

Have a super wonderful holiday weekend everyone!!!

Hugs,

Flower Soft: What I Have Learned So Far

Well, I spent yesterday playing with my new flower soft. I just received my flower pot kit and decided to "practice". I learned a few things I want to share with you in case you are wondering whether to purchase some or not.

• When fluffing, do it very gently. If you press to hard, it will not fluff and will ball up.
• The kits come with a white sponge to hold the wire flowers while they dry. It really doesn't work well. Green floral foam works much better.
• Their glue gave me hand cramps trying to squeeze out. I switched to Clear Gel Tacky Glue by Aleene's and it worked fine. It did take longer to dry, but my hand was happy.
• To add glue to card toppers, use a VERY small paint brush with a pointed tip. The smallest one I had was still a bit to big and it is really small!
• Squeeze glue directly to wire when making flowers. I wish the wire came in green instead of white.
• The FINE flower soft is perfect for the card toppers. The REGULAR is perfect for making flowers on the flower soft wire.
• REALLY let it dry well, lol
• You can burnish the flower soft on the cardtoppers gently, but not on the flowers made on wire
• To make a bouquet, make the flower wrap first. Then measure the wire a bit longer than the wrap before making the flowers. It is easier to fit them in that way.
• For card toppers, it is better to put the greenery on first, then the flowers. It is much messier and less pretty the other way around.
• Don't rub the glue on with the brush, dab, even for the greenery. It gives a more realistic look.
• White does not work well as a flower color for a card topper. I am not sure why their toppers have daisys on them but the white seems to get lost with the white paper. Even with the greenery. Maybe if there is some "fine" white it would work better but the regular white does not.
• You don't have to use the same color flower soft as the flowers on the printed topper. The flower soft covers the print anyway.
• It requires more practice than I thought. It is not as easy as the directions make it sound, lol. The flowers on the wire are easy to make though.
• It gets everywhere! Kind of like glitter. At least it did for me.
• I would never make my own with the styrofoam balls like some people do. To messy and would take up to much room to store. I also think it would be to chunky if I made it.

First toppers I made with white flowers. Here I made flowers first and then added greenery.

White flowers don't show up well.

Here is the one I added greenery first, then different colored flowers.

The next time I will make bigger spaces to make the flowers, I think the bigger flowers look prettier.

Flower bouquets. The one on the left is the first one I made. I had the darndest time making the paper tube thing. Certainly need more practice. I really think green wire would look much better. I did not make paper leaves yet which may cover up the wire, hopefully. They add some really thin ribbon in the kit which will be perfect for making a bow to add. I am not sure how I am going to use these since they are really small. Maybe make a tag with them and then add the tag to a card.
I hope this helps someone who may have the same questions I had about flower soft. It is definately addictive and I will definately be practicing using it.

Hugs,

Stitched Butterfly With Roses

Well, today (which is Tuesday as I write this) here in NH is another rainy day. After last week being rainy everyday :o(  I think the gardens are well watered and I am also, lol. Monday, the day I made this card, was another rainy day. I did not feel like doing anything, even play in my craft room.

But I forced myself, tee he he and this is the card I came up with.

I am not sure what I was thinking since I was just not in the mood at all, but I chose to do not only stitching, but coloring too.

I used DMC floss for the butterfly and DMC metallic floss for the antenna and flown path then added some Stampin' Up rhinestones. I chalked the background and adhered both layers with dimensionals.

This rose image is one of my all time favorites from Stampin' Up, which is long retired (So thankful for Ebay). It is called Stipple Rose. The stipple line has a few flowers including orchid, gardenia, hydrangea and a set of 8 smaller flowers. I own these 5 and am not sure if there are more, but if there are, I hope I find them some day. They are so easy to color. Especially on this Paper Temptress shimmer paper. The copic ink does not dry very fast giving you plenty of time for blending.

I finally found this Tonic Studios butterfly punch which I bought from Amazon. I have been seeing this butterfly everywhere and wanted it so badly. Since I just got it in, I simply had to use it, lol

On the inside I paper pierced the butterfly. It looks so pretty stitched or just paper pierced. I bought this pattern from Crafts U Print. They have just about everything one could want for paper crafts including digi stamps, iris folding patterns, teabag folding, paper piercing, printable 3D images, card fronts, templates and more! WOW, I love that site.

Well, I have a full day of freedom to play in my craft room and, being rainy again today I don't really feel like playing. I can't even think of what to do! Wonder what I will come up with. I think I may make some CAS cards today. They go so fast and it feels like I accomplished so much, lol

I am going to enter this card into the following challenges:
Daring Cardmakers: Song: Chasing Cars-Snow Patrol The lyrics can be found here
Terrifically Thrilling Thursday: Show us what you got: anything goes
Crafty Catz: Anything goes
Inspire Me Friday: Anything goes
Sweet Stampin': In the garden &/or sketch (must use stamp)
Dream Valley: Something old with something new
I Did It Creations: anything goes
Stamp & Fun =Creativity: Flower power
Woodware USA: Anything goes

Have a super day yourself :o)

Hugs,

Fluttering Fairies

It's time for a new Digital Tuesday Challenge. This weeks challenge is chosen by Amy. She would like us to add dimension to our project. Any kind of Texture: embossing folders, embossing powders, glitter, you name it...as long as it adds texture to your project.

Our wonderful sponsor this week it The Stamping Boutique. They are offering 5 digital stamps to the lucky winner. I was lucky enough to play with one of their fun images this week. I chose the stamp called Fairy and Butterfly.

I don't usually use silhouette images, but this one just grabbed me. Another thing I did that I don't usually do, is make a black and white card.

Isn't this so pretty. For the white paper I used my old stand by, white diamond from Paper Temptress. I printed the image on text weight and I just love how the shimmer shows through the ink.

Isn't this fairy cute, she looks like she is coming in for a landing, lol. Can you see all that shimmer!

WOW, it seems I am short on words today, lol. So unlike me! I hope you can join us this week. I really love to look at all the wonderful creations.

I am going to enter this into the following challenges:
Scrapbook Sisters: black & white
Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe: flowers, ribbon, bling
Word Play Weekend: wings
Paper Play: sparkle galore
Rainbow Lady's: lots of flourishes
Sparkles Forum: something metal
Paper Playtime: use charm
Stamps R Us: something digital

Hugs,