Booklovers

Hello, fellow crafters!  Today's card was made for a friend who loves to read. She also loves wine and chocolates. And her birthday happens to fall on Valentine's Day. How lucky can you get??? So I decided to make her this birthday "book pop-up" card with all this in mind.

The base card was made with GKD white card stock and layered with some lightly patterned green paper that I had in my stash.The card front or focal panel was embossed with a Creative Expressions Textured Linen folder. The book worm was created using small circle die cuts in light green card stock. I added brads for the eyes. The glasses were cut from an Impression Obsession Retro Masculine die set.The book was hand created and the book title was self composed and computer generated on pink cardstock. The hands holding the book were created with small floral die cuts, cut in half to show only 3 "fingers" and then  adhered to the book. The sentiment was computer generated and then cut into a banner and matted with green patterned paper.

Here's a photo of the inside of the card.

 I hope you enjoyed this post. Thanks for visiting my blog and please come again.

 Until next time, happy crafting!

50th Anniversary

Hi everyone! Today I'd like to showcase a 50th Anniversary card I made for my dearest friend and her husband. They have shared 50 cherished years together. I wish you could see the shimmer of the champagne in the champagne glasses. It really is striking.

The base card was made using GKD white card stock. I layered it with gold glitter paper and put it aside. Meanwhile I prepared my focal panel by positioning a die cut heart, made with Memory Box Bingham Heart, and determining where to have my sentiment and their names placed. Nex,t I printed my sentiment and names via computer, positioned the heart die cut and adhered it.

The champagne glasses, cut with a Die-Namics die, were assembled using white card stock, vellum and gold glitter paper. Before adhering the glasses, I cut the number 50 from gold glitter paper and adhered  it beneath the heart. I was then able to position the champagne glasses in the manner shown in the photo.

For the interior of my card, I chose to die cut two other champagne glasses (from Cottage Cutz) and placed them around the verse. Here is a photo of one of the glasses:

That completed my project. I was very pleased with the end result. I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed making it. Thanks for stopping by and come back again and again. Until then, make it a great day!

Shopping For Your Birthday

Hello, crafting friends! My oldest and dearest friend's birthday is this month and this is the card I made for her. My creative juices were flowing at a snail's pace so I searched around the Internet and finally got inspired and created this card. I just love how it turned out!

The base card was made from GKD White card stock. It was layered with SU Blushing Bride, followed by GDK Black Onyx card stock. The focal layer was embossed with SU Square Lattice EF.

The sentiment was personally composed and computer generated and then cut with a die from Spellbinders A2 Distressed Edges. This was then matted in GKD Black Onyx.

The shopping bags were cut using Memory Box Gift Bag dies on various patterned papers from my stash. I adhered the names of major department stores and added tissue paper to make the bags more interesting and give the card more appeal.  Both the sentiment and bags were adhered with dimensionals.

I didn't post a photo of the inside of the card but would like to share the inside verse.....

....and found tons of gifts,

ones that can't be gift wrapped

because they're all 

birthday wishes

that come from

 the heart.

  I added an image of a gift bag with the words "wishes" floating out of it. 

Hope you enjoyed this post and will be inspired to create something awesome today!

It's Your Birthday, Sport!

Hello, everyone! It's been a while since I posted any of my cards. I was busy with appointments and household stuff that needed to be taken care of. I don't know where the time went. Tomorrow will be February 1 already and you'd never know it by looking outside. We have spring-like weather here in my neighborhood. It is currently 57 degrees. It should be in the teens or low twenties. I could learn to love this kind of winter weather,. But I'm sure we'll be paying for it sooner or later.

This is my first card of the year. I made it for one of my nephews who had a birthday this month. Please forgive the quality of the photo of the card. It was taken at night and the lighting was poor. I was planning to take another photo in daylight but I mailed the card out before remembering to snap a picture of it again. 

Basically there were only 2 types of products used in creating the card front:  card stock and dies. The sentiment was personally composed and computer generated.

Card stock:  GKD black onyx, ivory and Stampin Up Crumbcake

Dies:  IO Die 224-O

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'll be posting more on a regular basis now that I'll have some time. Please come back or sign up to follow my blog.

Make it a great day!

Christmas Cards 2015

Merry Christmas to all!

Every year, I like to make my Christmas cards with each one being different from the one before it so that no two are alike. This year I got a really late start and was only able to make a few different ones. Fortunately, I was able to complete them by my mailing date. So, here are my 2015 Christmas cards.....

Candle Trio

Pine Bough Greeting

Holly Ornament

Twig Wreath

Gold Ornament Wreath

Small Poinsettia in Frame

White Wreath

Thank you for stopping by. And I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and all the best in health, wealth, and happiness in the New Year.

Thinking of You in Wisteria

I have been busy making boxed sets of cards for a client. Here is a card from one of the boxed sets.

The products used were:

Card Stock:  GKD pure luxury white; SU Wisteria Wonder
Ink:  Versamark, SU Wisteria Wonder
Stamps:  HFC Sun Kissed Fleur Swirls, Chocolate Baroque
Dies:  Spellbinders A2 Modern Stationary
Other:  CB Chicken Wire EF, white EP, foam dimensional panel
Technique:  Emboss Resist

I wish my camera had caught the beauty of this card.  The wisteria is so soft and pretty. I just love it!

Thanks for popping in! Hope you stop by again soon. In the meantime.....

get CRAFTY!

Pocket Tissue Get Well

A friend of mine had foot surgery last week. Last year she had surgery on her left foot and I made her a card with foot die cuts. This year she had surgery on her right foot and I didn't want to use the same theme so I decided to make this cute card, which I gave to her with a little bottle of wine and some Belgian chocolates. My inside verse referred to her foot surgery and said the wine and chocolates would make her feel better. (I think it worked)

The base card is GKD pure luxury white and layered with GKD Blue Denim and SU Soft Sky card stock. The pocket was made using a Spellbinders Hexagon die on patterned paper. The lacy border was cut with a Martha Stewart edger punch. I adhered the tissues to the back of the pocket before adhering the pocket to the card. The sentiment was computer generated and cut with a die from Spellbinders Opulent Ovals. Before removing it from the die it was sponged with Memento Summer Sky ink. The dark blue little flowers around the sentiment were cut from the blue denim card stock using Leane Creatief Small Flowers and Leaves dies. I added a small blue ribbon as a final touch.

This was really a fun card to make and could be used for any illness for either maIe or female depending on the colors and paper patterns used. Hopefully it adds a little humor for someone who is a bit under the weather.  Adding some wine and chocolates would help too (chuckle).

Thanks for visiting! Hope you enjoyed this post. 

And remember to make it a great day!

Soccer Birthday Card

Hello, crafters! One of my nephews turns 31 this month. When he was a young boy he played soccer and that gave me the idea to create a soccer themed card for his birthday. 

The first thing I did was to create the soccer ball image. This was made by cutting several hexagons in black and white card stock using the smallest die from Spellbinders Hexagon dies. I assembled the hexagons in a circle to determine how big the soccer ball would be. Next I cut a circle smaller than the assembled soccer ball using a Spellbinders Standard Circle die and adhered the black and white hexagons to the circle. The black hexagons on the outside of the circle overlapped so I clipped them off to fit the circle. I put this aside to work on the focal layer. 

I cut a panel in GKD Grass Green card stock and embossed it with a Stampin' Up Square Lattice folder. This would represent the grassy playing field. Next, I used a Cheery Lynn French Lattice die to create a "net" in white card stock and adhered it to the green panel. 

The score board, as well as the sentiment, were created on my computer. The soccer shoe, which is a graphic image, was printed and cut out. I added some green color to the shoe stripes with Copics. This was all adhered to the focal panel which was matted in black and then layered over  GKD Creme de Menthe card stock and adhered to a white card base. This completed my project. 

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you were inspired to create something today. 

Please visit my blog often. And please feel free to leave comments. They are always appreciated. 

Until next time, make it a great day!

Happy 40th Birthday

 Hello, crafting friends! My daughter has a milestone birthday this week.........she turns the big "40" and this is the card I made for her, along with a 3.5 x 2.5 inch mini paper purse which, when opened, can hold a small gift. It is so darn cute!

 For the card here are the products/materials I used:

Card Stock:  GKD white, GKD grass green, vellum
Dies:  Spellbinders Opulent Ovals, Memory Box Floral Delights, HFC Sun Kissed Fleur, Provocraft Numbers
Inks: (for sponging) Memento Bamboo Leaves and GKD Ocean Mist
Stamps:  HFC Sun Kissed Fleur
Other:  embossing folder (unknown), white EP, glitter, sponge daubers, adhesives

(Wording on front of card was composed and computer generated)

For the mini paper purse, here is a link to one of many videos out there....Paper Purse.  It is not difficult to create and lots of fun.

Hope you enjoyed this post and will find time to create.  

 Remember to make it a great day!

90th Birthday

Hello! Today's card was made for a friend who asked that I make a card for a neighbor lady who was turning 90 years old in August. I was inspired by a card I came across created by Debbie Stevens, whose cards are amazing! 

I began with creating my focal panel. On a 5x5 inch panel of white card stock I cut out my leafy image by using a Cheery Lynn Ivy Corner Flourish die to create a negative space. The cut-out was put aside to be adhered later.  I added a piece of GKD Ocean Mist card stock behind the negative space. Next, I used a rectangle die to create an opening on my panel and then created a frame for the opening using 2 rectangular dies, one larger and the other smaller. This frame was positioned and attached over the opening. At this point the actual cut-out of the ivy corner was adhered to the card on the right side.

Next, I prepared another white panel about an 1/8 inch larger than my focal panel and determined where I needed to stamp my sentiment in order that it could be viewed through the frame on the focal panel. Once it was stamped, I layered the focal panel over the larger panel and adhered it with dimensional tape.  This was then matted with GKD Ocean Mist card stock and adhered to a white card base.

The flowers were cut and embossed using Marianne Floral Fantasy dies and then colored around the centers and outside edges of the petals with Copic markers. I added some microbeads and some glitter to the centers. I needed to put these aside for them to dry. When dry they were adhered to my focal panel. As a final step,  I added the "90" numerals to the card. This completed my project.  

Thanks for stopping by! Until next time, happy crafting!

Tissue Technique Rose

Hi there, crafting friends! Have you ever worked with tissue paper in any of your card projects?  Facial tissue, wrapping tissue, even bathroom tissue?  I never have......until today. That was this week's challenge at Stamp TV.

I chose to use white wrapping tissue paper in my project. Never having done this before, I found a few videos demonstrating how it's done. Here's a link to one of the tissue technique videos.

 I selected a rose image from GKD Pressed Flowers and stamped it on the  tissue paper with GKD Peach Belini ink. Next, I used an outline image of the rose from GKD A Year of Flowers and stamped it over the image on the tissue paper using Memento Potter's Clay ink. I added a stem and leaves from the same sets using the same method,  stamping with Memento Bamboo Leaves and GKD Grass Green inks. My sentiment is from GKD Flowers Bloom and was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

Having completed the stamping, in the next step I crumpled the tissue and then opened it up and gently adhered it to a white panel without smoothing it out. Any excess on the edges was cut off. This created that wonderful looking texture.  To make the rose flower really stand out, I repeated the technique on another piece of tissue paper, cut out the image and then adhered it with dimensionals over the rose on my panel. 

To complete my project, the focal panel was adhered to a layer of GKD Tomato Soup card stock which had been embossed with a textured linen embossing folder and then adhered to my base card which I prepared in white. I just love how this turned out. The texture the tissue paper created looks like an embossed background. I will have to use this technique more often.

Thanks for coming by! Don't be afraid to try this technique. It is not difficult and really a great way to add a little something extra to your card.  

Til next time, make it a great day!

This card was entered into the following challenge(s) 

StampTV  -  STV15MON29 - Get Out the Tissue
613 Avenue Create  -  Challenge #133 - AG
Crafting from the Heart  -  Challenge #69 - AG 
Fan-Tastic Tuesday  -  Challenge #95 - AG

Sister Act  -  Challenge #115 - AG
TTCRD  -  Challenge Jul 21   -  AG

Word Art Wednesday  -  Challenge #192 - AG

Favorite of the Bunch

Hello everyone!  I know, I know, it's too early to be thinking of autumn. And we all know what comes after autumn. Here in the states summer just began about 3 weeks ago. But this card was made for a challenge at Stamp TV where this week's theme was to "put your mask on".  So I chose the pumpkins and wheelbarrow images for my masking project. 

In the first step I die cut and embossed a piece of white card stock that I would be using for my focal panel.  The dies used were Lil' Inker Stitched Rectangles and Sue Wilson's Kefalonia die.  Before removing the dies, I sponged around the edges of the center die with Memento Cantaloupe ink. I put this aside to work on my images.

I used 3 different images for my focal point. The wheelbarrow image is from GKD Beyond Baskets stamp set, the pumpkin trio from GKD Heartfelt set and the single pumpkin is from GKD Autumn Splendor STV Kit.  I began with first stamping the single pumpkin on white card stock and stamped it again on another piece of card stock and then cut this one out to use as my "mask". The purpose of "masking" is to cover a stamped image in order that other images can be stamped around it. I used the mask to cover my pumpkin image and adhered it with repositional adhesive. I then stamped the wheelbarrow over the mask so that it would appear that the pumpkin is sitting in front the wheelbarrow. Next, I stamped the wheelbarrow image once more onto a piece of card stock and cut it out. I used this cut-out as a mask to cover the  wheelbarrow on my focal panel. I then positioned and stamped the pumpkin trio over the mask. This made it appear as if the pumpkins were sitting inside the wheelbarrow. After all the masking, I colored my completed image with Copic markers, cut it out and put it aside. The hard part was done.

For my card base, I used PTI Dark Chocolate card stock. My focal panel was then adhered to the base. At this point, I positioned and adhered the cut out wheelbarrow image to the focal panel using dimensionals. I stamped my greeting (from GKD You're My Favorite stamp set) using Memento Rich Cocoa ink and this completed my card. 

If you haven't tried the masking technique, have a go at it. I know you'll be pleased with the results. There are several video tutorials for those of us who, like myself, like to see techniques visually in lieu of reading "how to" tutorials.

Thanks for stopping by!  Until next time, make it a great day! 

This card was entered into the following challenge(s):

Stamp TV  -  STV15MON28 - Put Your Mask On
Crafting from the Heart  -  Challenge #68 -  AG
Creative Moments  -  Challenge #78 - AG 
Fan-Tastic Tuesday  -  Challenge #94 - AG
Papertake Weekly  -  July 14 Challenge - Don't be a Square
Sister Act  -  Challenge #115 - AG 
Word Art Wednesday  -  Challenge #192 - AG

Cloudy Skies

Hello! I hope every one has had a fantastic week and is looking forward to the weekend. BBQs, visits to the ocean or pools, outdoor band concerts, carnivals and festivals and all sorts of activities are happening. Hope you'll be taking part in some of these fun things.

The sky is just beautiful this time of year (summer here in the states), bright blue even when there are clouds. And that was one of the themes for this week's challenge at the Mod Squad.  We had a pick of either water or sky. I chose sky for my project.

I began with die cutting my focal panel in white card stock using a die from Sue Wilson's Ornate Pierced Squares. Masking the edges of this panel, I created the clouds using a cloud template and Memento Summer Sky ink. In the next step I stamped the floral image, from SU Serene Silhouettes stamp set,  in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and added the fern image (from GKD Triple Play Frame set). The butterfly image is from GKD Sending Sunshine, the mountain from GKD Mountain Wilderness, and the birds and geese are from Stampscapes stamp sets.

My focal panel was matted in GKD Black Onyx card stock which had been cut and embossed with a die from Spellbinders 6x6 Matting Basics A.This was then adhered to a panel of SU Spring Rain card stock which had been embossed with a Sue Wilson Tartan Trellis embossing folder. Adhering this to a white card base completed my project.

Hope you'll find time to create this weekend amid the cookouts and swimming or any other fun thing you plan to enjoy. Whatever you do, make sure you make it a great day!


This card was entered in the following challenge(s):
Mod Squad  -  July 15 Challenge  -  Water or Sky

Let's Party!

Hello everyone! Today I'd like to share a card I made for my sister-in-law's birthday. For some odd reason, the last several cards I've made have been huge ones. I ended up having to make my own envelopes and adding additional postage to make sure they were not returned to sender....that's me!

Anyway, today's card  is one with a "party" theme. I created the dress and then added some various drinks to give it the "party" look. It was a fun card to make. I used a die from Spellbinders A2 Scalloped Borders to create the dress. Vellum was used to create the various colored drinks. The sentiment was computer generated along with the balloon graphic within the sentiment.

Below is a complete list of the products used:

Card Stock/Paper:  GKD ivory, GKD Wisteria Lane paper pack, GKD Garden Tour paper pack, vellum

Embossing Folder:  Creative Expressions Textured Linen

Dies:  Spellbinders A2 Scalloped Borders, Spellbinders A2 Distressed Edges, IO Mixed Drinks

Other:  ribbon, adhesive, dimensionals

Thank you for stopping by! Until next time, make it a great day!


(PS: I was honored to find out that this card was a Design Team Favorite at Crafting from the Heart Challenge)

This card was entered into the following challenge(s): 

613 Avenue Create  -  Challenge #132 - AG
Crafting from the Heart  -  Challenge #68 - AG
Creative Moments  -  Challenge #72 - AG
Fan-Tastic Tuesday  -  Challenge #93 - AG
Inspiration Destination  -  Challenge #41  - AG
Papertake Weekly  -  July Challenge - AG
Sister Act  - Challenge #114 - AG
The Sisterhood of Crafters  -  July 8 Challenge - Happy Birthday
TTCRD  -  Jul 7-13 Challenge -  AG
Word Art Wednesday  -  Challenge #191 - AG
V's Sweet Ideas  -  July Challenge - Celebrate

 

Pergamano Project

Hello, crafting friends!  I'd like to share with you all my very first Pergamano attempt. I happened to run across some absolutely beautiful Pergamano craft card project ideas on line and decided to try it out. I purchased a starter kit which came with instructions, patterns, parchment paper, perforating mat and a few basic tools

Before I did anything else, I watched video tutorials on how to do this parchment craft. My favorite tutorial is by Craft Academy which has a 5 part series. Here is a link to Part I - An Introduction to Parchment Craft.  Even though the kit came with instructions, I am a visual person and like to "see" how techniques are done. I learned what tools to use for various Pergamano techniques. And there are many, many tools out there each having a different purpose or result. As I master this craft, I will probably purchase more tools.

I began by selecting a pattern from the kit that I felt would be an easy one. I placed my pattern on the perforating mat followed by the parchment paper over the pattern. Next, I traced the pattern with the white gel pen provided in the kit. In the next step I embossed the areas marked on the pattern with the embossing tool. Then the flower petals and the butterfly were embossed using the "feather" technique (which is similar to feathering with Copic markers). The final step was to perforate around the entire image using a 2-needle perforating tool. This is where it became a challenge for me. I could not do a neat perforation around my image. This will entail lots of practice. I ended up cutting the image out, also a challenge for me around curves. Straight lines I can do just fine.....curves give me problems.  LOL

Anyway, although it's not the best job, I hope that with practice, I will get the hang of it. I gave myself a grade of B-. What do you think? Was I fair? 

There are some beautiful patterns out there, some you can download free on line. If you haven't tried this beautiful parchment craft, I encourage you to do so. I promise, you will fall in love with it just as I have.

 Let me know what you think of my first attempt. I would love your feed back. See you again soon with another card project. Have a wonderful day!