December Daily 2013

Hola peeps! I have a surprise for you all today – a video! I am going to warn you all that it is a bit long. And, because of my health issues, my voice is definitely higher than it used to be.

This is kind of serving as the introduction to what will be a little series that will run until I am finished. As of right now, it will spill over into 2014. I am okay with that. I know that I can only do so much and I don’t want to stress out. My plan is for the videos to be posted on Sunday’s.

Like I mention in the video, I am not generally a scrapbooker, so this is going to be a learning experience for me. I have a general idea, but for the most part I am going to go with what feels like me.

I mentioned in the video that I will primarily be using my iPhone and, when it comes, my new Rebel T3i to photograph the pictures for my album. To expound upon that, I will say that my everyday photos will be with my iPhone or maybe my little Kodak point-and-shoot. I am saving my DSLR for family gatherings and maybe some of the things that I do with the kids in the family. Also, I will be providing an InLinkz list of many of the products I will be using, but here is another list of basic supplies I will be using in case you’re wondering:

Album: Simple Stories Sn@p 6”x 8” in Red. All of the inserts will be Sn@p as well. I am using a random assortment.

Photo Paper: HP Premium Photo Paper (Gloss & Matte)

Printer: HP Photosmart Premium (It’s older so I will link to a newer model.)

Cameras: iPhone 4; Canon Rebel T3i; Kodak Easyshare C1450.

Photo Editing Software: Picasa & Adobe Photoshop Elements 11.

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink.

Other Supplies (click on picture for more information):

Happy Holidays Paper - Tis The Season - Echo Park	Gingerbread Man Paper - Snow Village - Pink Paislee	Buttered Rum Paper - Snow Village - Pink Paislee	Peppermint Patty Paper - Snow Village - Pink Paislee
From Me To You Paper - It's Christmas - Websters Pages	Gingerbread Man Paper - Snow Village - Pink Paislee	Magical Time Paper - Tis The Season - Echo Park	North Pole Paper - Reflections: Christmas - Echo Park
Bundled Up 6 x 6 Paper Pad - Crate Paper	Mini Flat Kraft Colored Bag By Canvas Corp.	Mini Flat White Bags By Canvas Corp.	Red 6"x8" Snap Binder - Simple Stories
Snap Alpha Letters Stickers - Simple Stories	Snap Label Stickers - Simple Stories	Daily Clear Stamps - Snap - Simple Stories	Mistletoe Magic Brads - My Minds Eye
Merry & Bright Mini Stamp - Websters Pages	Mistletoe Magic Enamel Dots - My Minds Eye	Bundled Up Ephemera Pack - Crate Paper	Bundled Up Adhesive Badges - Crate Paper
Let It Snow Clear Stamps

InLinkz.com

That’s all I have for you today! If you don’t want to miss out on the videos to come, make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel. I decided that integrate my blog with my personal channel.

Thank you for stopping by! Have a blessed day!

Pinwheel Birthday

Hello crafty peeps! I have a super special post for today. My former DT boss, Emma, invited me to guest design for her and I was more than happy to oblige!

We’re going to think of today as a bit of a Technique Tuesday. One of the most difficult things I can think of is mixing patterned papers. So, my card today will hopefully show you how you can mix different patterns cohesively.

I’m going to throw out a disclaimer, however. I am not a graphic designer so I can’t honestly say that I have special training that makes me an expert. I studied Interior Design,  so my pattern and color usage is influenced by that.

All of the papers  used are from the Dear Lizzy Neapolitan line. I bought it LAST year at Archivers and this is the first time I used it. My overall goal was to make a fun and bright card. Something a little outside of my comfort zone -  because my style is generally very shabby and vintage inspired.

The great thing about using a collection is that the color mixing is done for you. And, generally, the patterns will have a lot of built in coordination. I decided to choose four papers from the collection. I chose the wood grain chevron, green grid, and gray dotted papers because I wanted the banner pattern to provide the pop of color. None of them work against each other. They all kind of peacefully coexist because I used the right patterns in the right amounts.

Also, I left a lot of white space around the sentiment. Even though the pinwheel is a rather large embellishment. It doesn’t take the eye away from the sentiment. I think a lot of people would have used ink to splatter the sentiment card because the pinwheel had splatters. Doing so would have been a mistake because the pinwheel would have disappeared into a sea of ink splotches. Instead, I took some enamel dots and placed them around the sentiment to further define it and draw the eye in. And, in a way, you could imagine them as extensions of the ink spots flying from the pinwheel.

Supplies

Patterned Paper: Dear Lizzy Neapolitan by American Crafts.

Stamps: Journal It and Floral Sentiments from My Creative Time.

Cardstock: Stamper’s Select White.

Ink: Versamark. Mister Huey spray ink in Taxi, Water Cooler, and Boss Lady.

Embellishments: Rustic Twine from Papertrey Ink. Enamel dots and decorative brad from My Mind’s Eye.

Other: Corner Chomper by We R Memory Keepers. Apricot Zing embossing powder by American Crafts

Alrighty, before I let you hop away, I have a giveaway sponsored by Ms. Emma! I have a set from Emma’s last release that I just love! It’s called Life is Good, and I plan to use it in my Project Life album. All you need to do to win is leave me a comment here with a way for me to contact you. You’re not required to follow me or anything else. I will take comments up until 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, June 13th. Easy peasy!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I wish you all a very blessed day, and good luck!!

Boo! Three Ways

Hello crafty people! So, I will admit that I have been a rather bad blogger lately, but I’ve still been working on things and I have THREE cards to share today!

Two noticeable things, I used my Cricut and I used some new photo editing effects to play up the Halloween theme. I really like the fading effect, but it does make the photos darker so by all means, let me know if you don’t like it.

My good friend Norma and I were chatting one night and she pretty much told me I should make a card using my Cricut. Well, I decided that I wanted to work on my design skills, so I used the same image and sentiment in a series of cards. I started with something simple, and worked my way up to something more involved. I have to be honest and admit that if I were just going to make one card, my first inclination is to always make it very involved.

What I ended up doing was using a few select patterns, textures, colors, and embellishments in different ways. The chevron from the ribbon the first card inspired the use of the chevron paper on the second and third cards. The first card had a black base, but instead of using a black base on the second card, I used a pattern that was mainly black. And, on the third card, I used the same patterned paper (stars) to punch out the pattern, to tie is back to the second card. Lather, rinse, repeat!!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a blessed day!

Thank You Blossoms

Hello everyone! I had to pop in and share a card with a warm weather card before Fall is full blown. I think if I went with the ideas that pop in my brain, I would be making tons of Halloween and Christmas cards.

I wanted to make a card using my newest favorite color, Wisteria Wonder, and this the result:

I have never thought of myself as a purple person, but I am in love with this color. Anyway, I started by stamping my roses from Stippled Blossoms (My first multi-step stamping set, and it’s divine!) from Stampin’ Up. The base layer was stamped with Wisteria Wonder, and the top layer was stamped with Elegant Eggplant.  I stamped them on Vintage Cream cardstock and I cut them out with my detail scissors.

From there, I matted a sheet of woodgrain patterned paper from the My Mind’s Eye Miss Caroline Howdy Doody paper pad onto a piece of Vintage Cream cardstock that I inked with Antique Linen and Vintage Photo. I swear, I use those inks like they’re going out of style. I digress! I took the card front to my sewing machine and did a simple perimeter stitch. I wanted to use a big sentiment with this card, so I pulled out My Creative Time’s Floral Sentiments. I embossed the sentiment with White Zing embossing powder from American Crafts.

Okay, pulling it all together now! I used my Expression to cut a large scalloped border from a piece of script patterned paper from the My Mind’s Eye The Sweetest Thing Lavender pad. If I recall, the scallop is on the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. I adhered it directly to the card front. I then added some Victoria Trim from Stampin’ Up. Love this stuff, you will be seeing lots of it. And then, I took my flowers that I had stamped and cut out, and some leaves that I diecut from Simply Chartreuse Felt using my Sweet Life dies and layered them onto the card front. I used a combination of dimensional adhesive and hot glue.

The finishing touch was some scrunched seam binding from Liz’s Paperloft Boutique and an Antique Brad from Stampin’ Up. OHH! I also misted the card with Mr. Huey Calico Shine, but I don’t possess the photography skills to show you all. But in person, it has a really nice shimmer. Love that stuff!

Thanks for stopping by! Having a bit of a busy work week, but I do hope to find some time to craft. As always, I wish you a blessed day!

Birthday Wishes

Hello crafty people! I hope everyone is having a good week! I’m popping up today to share a number that I made for my mother’s birthday a few weeks ago.  I got to use some new to me goodies on it!

Okay, so there’s a lot going on here, as you can see. I would like to think that it’s organized and well put together, but I will let you all be the judge!

The base of the card is Kraft. However, I did something that I rarely do – I covered the entire base with a piece of patterned paper from My Mind’s Eye. For this card, I used paper from the Miss Caroline Dilly Dally 6” x 6” pad. I did quite a bit of inking. I used Antique Linen, Tea Dye, and just the tiniest bit of Walnut Stain Distress Inks throughout the card. I sewed the patterned paper front directly to the Kraft base with a perimeter zig-zag stitch.

Next, I cut a 3.75” x 5” piece of Kraft and embossed it with my Sizzix Square Lattice folder from Stampin’ Up. I’ve had this for a while, and just never got around to using it. I bought it during my style transformation, so it kind of sat in my little embossing folder crate. Anyway, I *think* I used the debossed side, and I sewed another piece of patterned paper to it. I then used my edge distresser to rough up the edges. This was adhered directly to the card base.

For my stamping, I used Teeny Tags from My Creative Time, and the Strawberry Patch dies and a Mat Stack 4 diecut from Papertrey Ink. The stamps I used were Strawberry Patch and Teeny Tag Greetings. The Strawberry Patch stamp set is kind of a double use set, it has stamps for those that like to color, and stamps for those that just like to stamp. Personally, I’m kind of in the middle. I would like to attend a Copic class, but they seem to avoid the South! Anyway, I used the leaf outline stamps, and stamped it on the diecut with Always Artichoke ink. I went back in with the large flower and stamped it with Paper White Fresh Ink. I colored in the center of the flower with my Spanish Orange Prismacolor Marker. After all of that, I used my Woodgrain Impression Plate to give it something a little extra.

This is where I am going to digress and let you all know why I tend to not video myself making cards. More often than note, they are very involved! But, I do have plans to make more tutorials! Back to your regular scheduled programming . . .

I diecut the the strawberries from Kraft and stamped them with Real Red and Always Artichoke inks. Then I adhered them to the Mat Stack with dimensional adhesive.

Now, putting it all together! I pulled out a doily and inked it really good with Baja Breeze ink. I did this to pull out the blue from my pattered paper. I adhered the mat with my strawberries with more dimensional adhesive. It wouldn’t be a card from me if I didn’t tie a bow. For that, I used some May Arts Chevron Twill ribbon. And, I secured my sentiment to it with a vintage button from Papertrey Ink, and Maraschino twine from The Twinery. Lastly, I added some Lime Green Stickles, cause you know I loves me some glitter.

Before I go, I have a little announcement. I have decided to step down from the My Creative Time Design Team. It was a really hard decision, but it was something that I thought over for a while. I sincerely love Emma and the ladies on the DT more than I can express. There aren’t many guys in this craft of ours, but they welcomed me with open arms. This doesn’t mean that I will stop using My Creative Time. A lot of my most favorite sentiment sets have a special place on my craft table.

As always, I thank you for stopping by, and I wish you a blessed day!

My Creative Time Designer Challenge

Happy Thursday everyone! September is off to a great start, and I am here with a really sparkly Christmas card to share as part of our new Designer Challenge.

Emma has decided to replace Throwback Thursday in favor challenges that members of the Design Team come up with. This week, Veronica, from VK Create, challenged us to recycle or reuse a product that wasn’t intentionally made to craft with. I decided to incorporate wrapping paper into my card (thanks to the lovely Shar!).

Okay! The really cute paper that you see on the bottom portion of the card is actually wrapping paper. I bought it at Hob Lob . . .  2 season’s ago, I think. I love their paper, it’s really thick and the rolls have so much paper on them.

The top portion of the card is covered in patterned paper from the original My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found collection.  It has glitter, and y’all know how I lurve my glitter! I did a perimeter zig-zag stitch around the top of the card with my sewing machine. I then diecut a border using my Super Star dies with Aqua Mist felt. I sewed that directly to the card (VERY SLOWLY!) where my to papers met.

I used Expression to diecut some snowflakes using the Christmas/Noel Solutions Cartridge. The red snowflake was cut at 2.59” x 2.18,” the aqua and vellum ones were cut at, 1.79” x 2.18.” I used the base snowflake for the red, and the other two are actually the shifted image. I used my spray adhesive to coat them, and I covered them with Martha Stewart Glitter in Garnet & Blue Topaz. SPARKLES, yeah!!!!

For my sentiment, I used one of last new releases, Warm Holiday Fun. The sentiment is what actually inspired the card. Personally, I fell like sentiments should fit in with the design of the card. It’s an integral part, so that’s where the glitter and shiny paper come in.  Anyway, I stamped the sentiment onto a strip of vellum with Versamark Dazzle in Frost, and I embossed it with Pewter Zing embossing Powder from American Crafts. Cut a notch in the end, and adhered it with red line adhesive. I put a glittered brad from Hob Lob through the snowflakes, and adhered it to the card with red line dimensional adhesive. Super cute right?!

Anyway, thanks for coming by. I adore you lovely people. I wish you all a blessed day! Oh, a while back someone wished I would do a layout . . . Monday!!! I’m not a scrapper so wish me luck!

Edited to add: If you want Warm Holiday Fun, I would suggest you order it now, because I talked with Emma, and she mentioned that they keep selling out!

1031 Candy Corn Lane

Okay ladies and . . . more ladies. this is it, the big finale. I’ve had a blast sharing and creating for you all this week. I cannot stress that enough. Just had so much fun. And I have to thank Joy and Melanie for having me one more time.

My last project to share with you all is a 3D/altered Halloween project. Some of the ladies at My Creative Time have been doing these kinds of things for a while, but as I mentioned, my passion is cardmaking. Anyway, I present to you all what I’ve dubbed, 1031 Candy Corn Lane:

Oh my, I don’t even know where to start! The house itself, I bought from Hob Lob. There are three sizes, and I got the medium size. The very first thing I did was paint the roof and the eaves of the house. I used Black Forest Green by Americana. I knew I was going to cover the front portion of the roof with Pinefeather Vintage Buttons, so that’s why I painted it green. Love this color and I have more than enough to do another Halloween house and some Christmas houses.

Next, I covered the house with my patterned paper. I bought both papers at Hob Lob. The black & cream is by Paper Studio, and the orange and yellow dot is My Mind’s Eye. I coated the house and the pieces of paper with Mod Podge and adhered them. I used my heat tool to speed up the drying process. Then, I used my Basic Grey Precision tools to clean up the windows and doors on the front of the house. The sides do have windows, but frankly that is the most time consuming part, and it’s messy. However, I left the sides covered intentionally. I painted over the patterned paper with Folk Art Vintage White paint. I watered it down because I didn’t want to completely cover the patterns. I just wanted to create a whitewashed – vintage look.

The next thing I did was create the scalloped siding under the eaves with my Fiskars Scallop Sentiment punch. I used Butternut Cream cardstock by Core’dinations. This was something I had it my stash, and I liked that it had texture. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. The first strip went across the entire roof, the others I cut as I went. There are no exact measurements here. The only guideline is that I tried to keep the width to 3/4.” I adhered the strips with Mod Podge. When I reached the apex, I actually used a small heart punch because it fit perfectly. My punch is by The Paper Studio. I added scalloped borders under the eaves on the side as well. Lastly, I used some craft pearls to covered the seams. Not really necessary, but it’s all in the details.

The roof, the roof is on fire . . . no, not really, but you have to have patience on this part. Buttons are great because they come in all shapes and sizes, as you can see above. I did a rough layout, but honestly, I just took my glue gun and started adhering buttons. For the back, I used Pinefeather Cardstock and I punched 1” circles with my Fiskars punch. I basically started at the bottom and ran a line of hot glue and started placing circles, slightly overlapping them. You’re not adhering the entire circle, just the top half, this will allow you to”curl” the tiles when you’re finished. When you reach the peak of the roof, adhere circles that have been folded in half. Gives it a finished look. When I covered the roof and curled my tiles, I sprayed it with Krylon adhesive and dusted it with Doodlebug Lilywhite Sugar Coating & Martha Stewart Hematite. Sparkles like a rock on a rich ladies’ finger doesn’t it? My obsession with glitter will not be stopped!

The next thing was embellishing the house, basically the finishing touches. I added the picket fence, and I pulled out some of the posts. I glued some of them back on to make it look like they fell. I cut the ghost from Simply Charmed and I stamped his face with a Peachy Keen face. The set I used is Everyday Character Assortment. He’s inked with Pool Party ink from Stampin’ Up, and his cheekers are Regal Rose. Generally, I am not into cutesy, but I think it was appropriate here. Isn’t he cute?  My pumpkins are from Create A Critter, and again, I hid the smiling face with my Gypsy. To give them some definition I inked the edges with Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress Inks.

I wanted it to look like hay was on the ground, so I took some shredded packaging and glued it here and there. Making sure to pull it through the fence. My favorite candy EVER is candy corn, so I decorated the posts with some embellies I found at Hob Lob. On the front corner post, I used more harlequin ribbon and tied some double bows, and I placed candy corn in the centers. I have no idea what to call the things I put on the roof, but I thought they were cute, so I went with it. Let’s just call them orange halo balls.

Very last thing, flickering tea lights on the inside. It makes for a nice subtle glow.

I know this is like a marathon post and I tried to be concise as possible. If there is anything you want to know, by all means, shoot me an email. I don’t mind! Thank you all for welcoming me this week. Have an amazingly blessed weekend!

Best Witches

Hello beautiful people! I hope your week is off to a great start. Mine definitely is, thank you the the awesome comments yesterday, I really appreciate them!

How about a little vintage Halloween number today? What’s that? Yes? Well, I will surely oblige!

Believe it or not, I don’t really celebrate Halloween. I do love Thanksgiving and Christmas though. Anyway, this came together better than I could have ever imagined. I am in love with silhouettes. I think they are classy and elegant, and when I was planning my projects, I knew I wanted to cover the witch with some Martha Stewart glitter.

I was shopping around for vintage/shabby crafting supplies and I came across some crepe paper trim. So, a light bulb went off and I thought, I bet I could make my own. And that I did. Super economical. I bought five colors for $6.45 – a total deal. I do regret not picking up the purple though. But, I will be making a trip back to Hob Lob this week so I might pick it up then. I used my sewing machine to stitch six strips of crepe paper together, and then I just cut it with my scissors. Really easy.

So, my card is a standard A2 – True Black from Papertrey. I adhered some of that star paper that I printed from the Teresa Collins Black & White Pattern cart to the bottom. It measured about 4.25” x 2.25” – the width matters more than the height because it will be covered. The top portion of the card is a piece of Stampin’ Up! Wisteria Wonder that I stamped with my acanthus background stamp. I inked up with Versamark Dazzle in Frost and embossed with clear embossing powder. It measures 3.75” x 2.25.” I cut a 4.25” x ,” strip from a diagonal stripe I found in the My Mind’s Eye Mischievous pad. And the vintage bingo card is a printable that I purchased on Etsy. It comes as a 8.5” x 11,” sheet and I trimmed them out. I inked it with Wild Honey & Black Soot Distress inks. I should mention that everything is sewed to the card, with the exception of the bingo card, I used some red liner tape to adhere it.

I tied a bow with some seam binding that I purchased from Liz’s Paperloft Boutique. I like mine crinkled. I found the frame and silhouette on the Happy Haunting Art Cartridge. Again, I tend to use my Gypsy whenever I cut, so shoot me a line if you want the file, but they were cut at 3.75.” I sprayed them with adhesive and covered them with Onyx and Sterling glitter from Martha Stewart.

Confession, I made a bit of an oopsie when I was sewing, so that is why there are buttons on the card. They are Papertrey and are stitched directly to the card with orange embroidery floss.

My sentiment is from My Creative Time’s new Treats For My Sweet stamp set. I stamped with Onyx Black Versafine ink. I stamped it on one of my favorite Cricut cuts from Plantin Schoolbook. I just love the shape of that tag. The pointed end helps it tuck nicely under the button when I secured them. Last touch was a little inking with my Slate inkpad from Impress.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a blessed day!

Christmas House–MCT Sneak Peek Day #2

Hello crafty friends! I know I have been around, but I kind of needed a bit of a break to get the creative energy flowing again. But, I think I am good for a while now, and it couldn’t be a better time – it’s release week at My Creative Time!

I have a card to share with you using the new Christmas House stamp set. Keep in mind, I do not consider myself an alcohol marker expert, so go easy on me! I’ve recently started acquiring Copic markers, so we will see where this all goes.

 

When it comes to Christmas, I consider myself a bit of a traditionalist. So, I knew that I wanted to stick with a red and green palette.

I started by stamping the house image onto Stamper’s Select White cardstock with Onyx Black Versafine ink. I cut it out with the second to largest rectangle from my Spellbinders Classic Rectangles Large set. I loved that embossed border, makes it look like an old painting.

Next came the coloring, and believe it or not, I used six markers – three for the door alone! I used a combination of Prismacolor Markers and Copics. I started by adding a small amount of color to the snow covered roofline with PM-193 Mint Cream. Then I used B000, Pale Porcelain Blue, to color in the ground snow. I made very light flicks with the brush tip away from the house. For the door, I colored it in with R24, Prawn, and then I added shading to the right corner with PM-5, Scarlet Lake,  and PM-4 Crimson Red. I also added one little dot of PM-167, Apple Green, to the door handle. That probably sounds way more complicated than it really was, but, I try to give all pertinent information!

I inked the colored image with Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, and Walnut Stain Distress inks. Basically working from lightest to darkest. I added some dimensional adhesive to the back and mounted it on a small block of Scarlet Jewel cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I also used my trusty edge distresser to rough up the edges.

My patterned paper if from the My Mind’s Eye Lost & Found Christmas pad. It measures 4.25” x 3.” I adhered it temporarily to my Kraft base. Then I trimmed a piece of Ripe Avocado to 4” x 2.5.” and embossed it with the Candy Cane Stripes Cuttlebug folder. I adhered it with some Tombo Mono Multi glue and took the base to my sewing machine for some perimeter stitching.

I tied a bow with some Scarlet Jewel satin ribbon. Let me say that this was probably one of the fastest bows I have ever tied. I only mention that because normally it takes me ages to tie a bow with satin ribbon. I threaded a Vintage Cream button with some button twine and tied it around the knot.

I stamped the sentiment from Christmas House with Cherry Cobbler ink from Stampin’ Up. I LOVE that color. Instead of my usual banner end, I opted to trim at a diagonal.

Sneak Peek Giveaway Time!
With all of our Sneak Peek weeks, I love to do FUN giveaways!

All you have to do is leave comments on our blogs! You do NOT have to comment on every blog, BUT if you do, you will just have more chances to win!

SPREAD THE WORD TO THE WORLD ON FACEBOOK about this release & whatever connections you may have! Let us know on "My Creative Time's" FB page here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Creative-Time/364568506334 that you spread the word!

I will randomly pick & announce all winners on Friday, August 17th during the blog hop release happening @ 12:01am PST in my video! GOOD LUCK!

That’s all for today! Thanks for coming by and I wish you a blessed day!