Teachabella

I have started getting some orders for 'teacher cards' for the end of the school year. For Mother's Day I got the endorsement to go ahead and order myself some Bella's that have been on my wish list for some time. Teachabella was one of those stamps. Here she is in her first appearance on my blog.

These papers are all from Close To My Heart. I used the my SU! punch to create the scalloped edge. My Silent Setter was used to punch the holes in the scalloped boarder. Miss Bella was coloured with my SU! crayons and an aqua painter. She was stamped in black StazOn. The ribbon is also from CTMH.


This card was created from a sketch but I can't be sure of the source at the moment. We are still in Canada, so I am blogging from my parent's house and don't have access to my notes at home. It will be nice to get home and back to my stamp room! We leave tomorrow morning and have about 12 hours to drive over a period of two days. It will be a loooong trip. With lots of, "Are we there yet?". Wish us luck!

Hopefully, the next time you hear from me, we will be safely home!


Thanks for stopping by today!

Simply Special Grandparents

I have a Paper Pretties scrapbooking layout to share with you today. This two page 8 x 8 spread was made as part of the anniversary album that I was working on a few weeks ago.

The photos depict a couple with their only grandchild. They were also the recipients of the album...it was a 40th anniversary gift. The man is French Canadian, so I made the effort to incorporate some French throughout the album as a tribute to his heritage.

On the above page I used French patterned paper from DDDesigns...a French Canadian scrapbooking company. This line of papers can be purchased at La Scrapbookerie. The stamp and sentiment are from Paper Pretties.....the set is called Simply Special. The ribbon is Dashes, Dots and Checks in blue from Michaels. I used black StazOn ink and water coloured the image of the watering can using water colour crayons. The date is written in white gel pen just above the photo. My SU! corner punch was used on the sentiment.

This page uses the same patterned paper as above. The stamp is Define Your Life from SU!. The brackets are from a Kit of the Month foam stamp set from CK Media. The brads were from an 'eyelet buffet' at a Canadian scrapbooking store. It is a concept that I love. You purchase one of several different sized containers for a flat fee and then you fill it with brads and eyelets until it is full. As many as you can fit in there, you can take. You get to mix and match whatever you want for the fee paid. I love it because then you don't have to buy a package of 24 black Mickey Mouse head eyelets when you only need 4! I used my corner rounder punch around the photo and the ink used was Outdoor Denim by CTMH.

Don't forget to pop on over to Paper Pretties to check out their new Stamp of the Month Club. If you decide to join you will have access to great stamps at a very reasonable price! Go check it out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hybrid Music Man

I have to say...this card was fun for me to make. I needed a father's day card for a friend who's step dad is very musically inclined. The challenge was that I didn't have any musical themed stamps that 'worked'. I have since corrected that problem. :)

I had a new musicabella stamp, but I didn't really feel it was appropriate for a father's day card! So, I decided to use my beerafella instead. I stamped both a beerafella image and a musicabella image on water colour paper. I cut the music note out from the musicabella image and then fastened it onto the beerafella's hand where his beer used to be! I am sure he was none too impressed about that! LOL! The new image was then coloured using watercolour pencils and blended with OMS.



The paper that I used for the background is positively ancient and I have no idea where it came from...I found it in my scrap bin...of course! The ribbon is Dots, Dashes and Checks from Mike's. The sentiment is from MFT Let's Hear It For The Boys. I cut out the oval for my musicafella with my coluzzle oval template and knife. The corners were done with my corner punch from SU! and the brads were probably from the Joann Essentials line.

My musicafella was popped up using dimensionals on black cardstock. Here is a close-up of the cute little fella.

Thanks for visiting today!

It's Nana's Birthday!

Several weeks ago my friend needed a birthday card for her Nana. I thought that the stamp set 'Happy Mother's Day' from MFT would be very appropriate. I simply left the 'Happy Mother's Day' sentiment off my card.

This was a sketch from somewhere...but we are actually in Canada right now...so I have limited access to my notes and I can't remember where it came from!

These papers are all from a scrap stack. The flowers are from Joann Crafts, as are the rhinestone brads.

I stitched around the stamped image with my sewing machine and then water coloured it with my SU! crayons. I stamped out extra lilies and hand cut them. I then curled them up a bit and adhered them at their bases with my Scotch Quick Dry liquid adhesive. I have to say, it is my 'go to' adhesive for anything difficult to adhere these days. It dries clear and quick....two things I like. It also has a great, strong bond and I use it for bulky embellishments like buttons or metal.


The image below shows the layering of the lilies and leaves. It gives a nice touch of dimension to the project.

I hope you all have a great week! Thanks for stopping by!

Sneak Peek and Prettie Wednesday!

I have my second sneak peek for you to see. This stamp set is called 'One of Those Days' and it is one of the three sets that will be released over at Paper Pretties tomorrow night at 8:00 pm EST. There will be challenges at the top of each hour and prizes will be awarded to the challenge winners! And......ANYONE WHO ORDERS PAPER PRETTIES' STAMPS DURING THE RELEASE PARTIES WILL RECEIVE A 25% COUPON FOR THEIR ENTIRE NEXT ORDER!!

Now, back to the card......

I decided that I wanted my little chicky friend to be wearing some feathers. Well, I remembered that my son had some feathers in his craft supplies....so I turned my house upside down looking for them. And guess what? They were nowhere to be found! I probably found them on the floor one day and threw them out....

I really didn't want to make a trip to the craft store just to get a few feathers...so I headed to our bedroom. My husband has this feather pillow that he is always complaining about. He says that the feathers poke through in the night stick him. So, I figured if they poke through the pillow, I should be able to pull some out! LOL

After I gathered up my feathers I set to work on colouring them yellow. I laid them on a scrap piece of paper, held them with my tweezers and dabbed at them with a Honey coloured ink pad from CTMH. I also coloured in my little chick with the same ink and an aqua painter.


After all of the ink was dry (this took longer than I thought it would!) I used my Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive to adhere the feathers to the image. I then gave the whole mess a good blast with my heat gun. By this point I had honey coloured ink up to my elbows. Don't be misled....this was not a tidy process! The egg was then paper pieced with SU! shimmery white cardstock. I used my paper piercer to pierce the holes around the image and hand stitched through the holes with yellow thread.

I stamped the sentiment and used my SU! punch to punch it out. The two mats behind the sentiment were hand cut. The small piece of ribbon tied on the right is from Making Memories trims and ribbons...the 'family' line. The papers are Creative Imaginations - Sonnets.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can all make it to the release party over at Paper Pretties!

Check Back Soon!

I'll be back later today with another sneak peek for you! Be sure to check back to see a new stamp called 'One Of Those Days'. It is one of the three new sets being released tomorrow night over at Paper Pretties. Be sure to join us at 8:00 pm EST for the release party. There will be challenges at the top of each hour and prizes to be won!

See you there!

Hmmm....a Serious Priest.....

I am currently working on some Father's Day cards for a customer. One of the said cards is going to her father-in-law who is an Anglican priest. He is also a very serious man...no room for humour in this one!


I went straight to my Close To My Heart stamp set called Faith. I knew that this praying hands stamp was part of that set, and it seemed very appropriate. The patterned papers are from CTMH also. I used StazOn ink in brown to stamp the image.


The wide grosgrain ribbon is from an SU! share that I just purchased. I must say, I quite like it! :) I distressed the edges of my image with a v-blade. I then used my sewing machine to stitch around the image and the back panel. It all came together with some adhesive and dimensionals.


The Happy Father's Day wish is found on the inside of the card. Although it is simple, I love how this turned out. I have to say that, in my opinion, it is hard to go wrong with browns and blues! They always look great together. I do think I am getting into a bit of a rut colour wise....I am going to have to make a concerted effort to branch out!



Thanks for stopping by!

Sneak Peek!

I have some exciting news to share......there are going to be three new releases over at Paper Pretties on Thursday, May 22nd. Join us for the online release party at 8:00 pm EST for the chance to be one of the first to purchase this adorable little guy! Isn't he just the cutest thing?!

The moment I saw him I had visions of the scrapbook pages that I could make for my son's album. But, for today, I have a card for you instead.

Little Cooper is part of a set called 'Look Out World'. He comes with a sentiment that says 'Look out world, here I come!' Instead of using that sentiment for my card, I used 'Thanks For Your Support', which I purchased over at Gina K. That sentiment suited the thought that I was trying to get across.

The patterned paper was from my scrap bin. I believe it is from SEI. I loved how the random letters tied in so nicely with the school theme. The brad is from Making Memories (tropic minis). Cooper was coloured with water colour pencils and then blended with OMS. The 'teacher' part of the sentiment is made from letter stickers by Generations Now. The ribbon is Simply Grosgrain from Joann Crafts.

A bit of paper piercing around the edges of the main image, some dimensionals, and I was done!

**So, don't forget to pop over to the Paper Pretties Forum on Thursday night! The time is 8:00 pm EST. There will be challenges at the top of each hour, and prizes will be awarded to the winners! I can also tell you, that the other two stamp sets are equally cute! Be sure to check it out!

**Oh, and I forgot to mention that this sketch was from Cupcake Challenge #16 over at Taylored Expressions!

Thanks for stopping by!

Organization Needed!

I have to tell you....I am a very organized person....most of the time. My scrap/stamp room is very organized....however, I am having some problems with my photo organization!

I have project photos all over multiple memory cards, on the hard drive of my PC and on my blog. Most of the time I completely forget to use a watermark, and when I do, I then save those photos in yet a different location! I need to get organized and develop a system for my project photos that is going to work for me!

My main purpose for starting this blog was to keep track of my projects, because otherwise I would never take photos of them! I have made countless things...and not photographed them. I have made and given away at least three entire scrapbook albums without ever taking photos of the hard work I put into them! I kind of wish I could ask for them back in order to photograph them at this point....

Well, you live and you learn, right?!

On a positive note, we will be traveling to Canada soon. On that trip we will see my parents and hopefully I will get a chance to photograph the album I made for my Dad for his 60th birthday.


This card was a card that I made last month for my Dad's birthday. It got lost in one of those many files that I mentioned above....and I forgot about it until I found it recently. It even has a watermark!

The image is MFT Let's Hear it For the Boy. It was water coloured with water colour crayons. The papers are from my scrap bins. I used a corner punch and staples on the upper left corner. The metal hardware is from CTMH. Metal seems to be something that I have been using on my masculine cards a lot recently. It just screams testosterone to me! LOL

Thanks for stopping by today!

Two Step Stamping

I'm on a roll with the Anna Griffen paper lately....so I decided, why change it?!

The floral stamps I used on this card are from Close To My Heart. It is a two step stamping set and I really enjoyed using it. I haven't done much of this technique lately, so it was nice to get back to it! The stamp set is called Simple Blossoms. The sentiment is from my MFT Simply Said set. I find I go back to this sentiment over and over again. It always seems to be the right size for the card that I am working on!

I stitched around the white cardstock with my sewing machine. The flowers and leaves were stamped and then hand cut. Some of the leaves are flat and some are layered for dimension. The blooms are all popped up with dimensionals. The ribbon is shear and such a close match for the card that it almost gets lost. It is from Close To My Heart also.

The inks that I used on this card are all from Close To My Heart too. I don't have the colours at hand right now...if you really need to know, just leave me a comment and I will get them for you.

Thanks for stopping by!

Prettie Wednesday!

It's time for my weekly Prettie post! And, in an attempt to turn over a new leaf as far as challenges go, I used acetate on the scrapbook page that I have to share with you today! :)

This page started with two Paper Pretties stamps. I had the idea of using Luke from Sealed With a Kiss along with Sophia from Cuddle Me. Lexi got the axe for this layout! LOL! I thought that using Luke and Sophia together would make a cute father/daughter themed scrapbook page. So, I went digging for photos of Kevin and Rebekah together to see what I could come up with.

I started with patterned paper that I adore. It is from Creative Imaginations and it is called 'strength'. The words on the background of the page are all about fatherhood. There are words like leader, wisdom, strength, devotion, loyal and guidance. What I love even more than the sugary sweet words are the colours. Blues and greens...my favourites!

I haven't had the time yet to fiddle with Microsoft Paint and my scanner...so you'll have to settle for photos of my 12 x 12 pages for now! I hope to be able to scan them in the near future......

Here is a close up of Luke and Sophia with the acetate frame I used as part of the challenge. Thanks to Joanne for giving me the frame! When I was on the phone with her one day we discussed the acetate challenge posted by Christie...she was kind enough to offer up this frame that she already had on hand... It helps to have friends who hoard stuff too! LOL!

Sophia's dress was paper pieced and Luke was coloured with water colour pencils and blended with OMS and a blending stump.

The frame was treated with two colours of ink....StazOn Stone Grey and a brown that is part of my Making Memories Distressing Kit. I also used fine grain steel wool to distress the surface of the acetate a bit. The last step was a layer of Mod Podge to set everything and to make sure that the buttons on the corners wouldn't fall off!

The 'Daddy's Girl' title is from EK Success. I used Marvy punches and paper scraps for the hearts. The journaling is done on notebook paper that was in my recycling bin, with a CTMH Legacy Writer in black. The edges of some of the hearts were inked with Outdoor Denim ink from CTMH.

Behind the journaling there is some vellum that was torn and then crunched up. I love the texture it gives to a page. I find myself cruching up lots of things lately! :) The edges of the cardstock were also distressed using a 'v' blade from CTMH.

Some of the cardstock was from my scrap bin and some was from DCWV. The mini clothes pins are from The Card Connection and have been in my stash FOREVER. I was so proud of myself for having used them!

Make sure to pop on over to Paper Pretties today. Jules will have a product review there for you to see. You can find it on the Paper Pretties forum under Product Reviews. The product she will be reviewing (Maya Road Chipboard Blossoms) and all chipboard in the Boutique will be discounted from now until Saturday at 11:59 p.m.!

Have a great Wednesday!

Girlfriends

When I made this card, I did several different variations of it. All of the girls are wearing different clothes, but the nitty gritty of the card is the same. So, I won't torment you with looking at all of them!

I have had this stamp set for a while and hadn't even used it! It's a sin! It is Meet Me At the Cafe by MFT.

The cardstock comes from a scrapstack that I got at Costco. The floral patterned paper is from Anna Griffen (I think!). The striped paper used on the cafe awning was from my scrap bin.

The ribbon is Dots, Dashes and Checks from Michaels. The images were coloured with a combination of water colour pencils and crayons.

This card is a variation of one that I saw on someone else's blog...but I can't remember who! In an attempt to give these ladies the credit they deserve, my best guess would be that I found it here or here. Having said that, I am getting much better about writing down where I find things now. :)

I hope you all have a great day!

Challenges

I have been totally out of the loop when it comes to challenges over at Paper Pretties. I am just now figuring out what is going on! LOL! I think part of the problem was that I post my weekly projects on Wednesdays....the same day that the challenges are to be posted. I have been so focused on posting my weekly projects, that I have been missing out on the challenges. I am going to attempt to change that!

So, from what I can tell (after the fact!) the last two challenges were issued by Danielle and Joni. The were to create a masculine card and to use paper piecing, respectively. I decided, in the interest of getting caught up (albeit a bit late!) that I would kill two birds with one stone and make a card that met both criteria!

So here is my masculine paper pieced card! And, it was for a customer order to boot! How great is that?!


I used MFT set Let's Hear it for the Boy. The rug and recliner were paper pieced with scraps from my scrap box. The rest of the image was coloured using water colour crayons and pencils. The image was then fastened to a piece of cardstock which was distressed with a distressor from CTMH. The card base is generic brown cardstock and the patterned paper behind the main image was from my scrap box. I scrunched it up and then smoothed it out to give it a messy, distressed, rumpled, manly kind-of-look. LOL. I used staples on the corners, and yes, that is the tab from a pop (a.k.a. 'soda') can on the top corner! Lately, my masculine cards have all been adorned with assorted metal things.

From what I can figure out now...the next challenge was issued by Christie and it is to use acetate.

I think it is due on this coming Wednesday.......I think.....

40th Wedding Anniversary

I have been working away on a 40th wedding anniversary album for a friend recently. It is a gift for her parents, and her father happens to be French Canadian. I was excited to be able to incorporate some beautiful French papers that I have had in my stash since I lived in Geneva. They are from a company called DDDesigns that operates out of Quebec, Canada.


I had some photos...but many of them were not great quality. I was trying to figure out how to make the most of what I had to work with. One of the photos is from 1968...and it is of the car that the bridal couple rode in on their wedding day. I wanted to incorporate the photo, since I didn't have many to begin with, but it wasn't a strong enough photo to carry a layout on its own. I knew I would have to be pretty creative with the layout.


Luke and Lexi (Sealed With a Kiss) is one of my favorite stamp sets from Paper Pretties. I am always trying to think of new and creative ways to show this cute little couple off. I had been thinking of portraying them kissing in a car....so when I received the old photo from my friend, the pieces came together.


I did a two page 8 x 8 layout. First, I sketched the car on bronze shimmery cardstock and then cut it out. I then stamped Luke and Lexi in StazOn and coloured them using SU! crayons and an aqua painter. They were then attached behind the windshield of the car. Rhinestone brads made cute headlights and a silver gel pen provided accents on the hood of the car and bumper.


The French phrase you see on the page is the equivalent to what we would say in English when pulling the petals off a flower....'he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me', etc. The more literal translation doesn't mean much in English....it is, 'I love you a little, a lot, passionately, like crazy'.

On the opposing page I used the old photograph. I made a black cardstock frame to help draw attention to the photo. I then covered a chipboard arrow with the same patterned paper used on the opposite page. Some heart shaped brads from Making Memories were fastened to each corner of the chipboard. The swirls next to the photo were made with a foam stamp from a Kit of the Month by Creating Keepsakes. A bit of black dashes, dots and checks ribbon was the finishing touch.

Well, I am just about finished this project. I plan to get it in the mail tomorrow. I hope the recipients like it!

Have a great night!

Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday to You!

I got an email a little while back from Julie Masse over at Paper Pretties. The email was to let us know that May 1st was Christie's birthday. So, I got hoppin' on a card. I actually started out with a sketch, but my card ended up looking nothing like it. That is often the case with me and sketches!


The stamp set that I chose is from CTMH. It is a really fun set....with four different shoes and 'pocketbooks' (known as purses where I come from!). This sexy, slinky dress is the main image in the set. I used red ink...ColorBox Chianti, to be exact. It is nice that the images are solid ones, alleviating the need to colour them in!



The papers are from K&Company...the K-ology line. The flower came in the same kit as the papers. It is one of those kits that has been in my stash since forever! I decided that with Christie's birthday on the horizon, the time had come to cut into it!

I can finally post this card....since Christie should have received it by now....although, I have to say that my mail to Canada seems to be taking longer recently....

Oh well, happy birthday Christie! I hope you are enjoying your cruise!

Happy Mother's Day....Sort Of....

I had a card club customer (try saying that 10 times fast!) recently who needed a birthday card for a friend. I really wanted to use my new stamp set from MFT...Happy Mother's Day. The little hitch in that plan was that the card wasn't for a mother!


I decided to go ahead and use the stamp anyways, and I just masked the wording that goes around the perimeter of the image. A woman holding a flower pot can be appropriate for a friend, right?


I think the blue patterned paper is from Anna Griffin. I stitched around the perimeter of the image and the background with the zigzag stitch on my sewing machine. I used a bit of dashes, dots & checks ribbon to make the little tabs on the right hand side. Rhinestone brads hold the ribbon in place.



The left side looks a little plain to me...but I really love this patterned paper and I didn't want to cover it up with another embellishment. So, I decided to leave well enough alone!

The image was coloured with SU! crayons and an aqua painter. I stamped a few extra lilies on a scrap piece of paper and then coloured and cut them out too. I then used some Scotch Quick-Dry Adhesive to layer them on top of the flowers in the main image. I curled the flowers upwards from the stem and tried to show it in this photo....although, not very successfully. I seem to have problems with close up photos being out of focus sometimes... If anyone out there has any tips, feel free to share! I am not above advice! :)

Have a great day!