Get Well Card

I have a church friend who is most awesome about sending cards. She sends them to everyone! (My grandchildren have received many!) She is so diligent about it. Lately she has been feeling rather poorly, and I wanted to make something "over the top" for her.
I started with a base made of PTI Vintage Cream. I layered Girls' Paperie paper on top of that. This is my first time using the Girls' Paperie paper, and I simply LOVE it!!! I used PTI Button card and "swatch" dies on which to mount the crepe paper flower that I made. Easy Peasy! I embellished with some ribbon, a couple of embossed borders using an EK embossing border punch, and a doily made from a PTI die. I didn't photo the inside, but I used PTI's Big Bold stamp set, and stamped "Sending You" "get well hugs and wishes". I hope my friend is uplifted!

Thanks for looking! Your comments are welcome!

Alice in Wonderland Tea Party

This project was commissioned for a girl scout troop's Alice in Wonderland Tea Party. Sounds like such fun, doesn't it?! And in sunny Florida!! The set includes tags that say "Drink Me", "Eat Me", "This Way", "That Way", "I'm Late! clocks", and creped medallions with the characters from the book. What fun I had making these. I even had to watch the movie! I'm kinda sad to see them go, but the girls are waiting for their arrival. My apologies for not being a better "after dark" photographer! Click on any photo to enlarge.

How Does My Garden Grow?

Maybe a more appropriate title would be, "Why WON'T My Garden Grow?" Because, in the words of Elmer Fudd, there's a wascally wabbit living here! Last year I planted the most scrumptuous dahlia bulbs that I bought at Historic Biltmore in Asheville, NC. They were amazing colors and sizes up to 13"! I was so excited! I planted the bulbs and they began to peek through the soil very quickly. They continued to grow, and when they would get about 8" high, this little pest would sheer them to the ground again. I tried repellants, to no avail. Each time the flowers would recover and start sprouting again, this little fella would show up. I tried EVERYTHING!! Nothing worked, and I truly realize how Elmer Fudd felt! He and his partner are so brave now that they actually come right up to our back door. Isn't he adorable?

My New Storage Cabinets

This post may be quite long, so please scroll down to be sure you see all the pictures. I'm so excited about my new custom made cabinets. There is a group of extremely talented men in my church (one of which is my Dad), known as the Pout House Gang. There or 5 or 6 of them. They are all retired and all extremely talented craftsmen. In fact, they recently built new chancel rails and altar for our church and actually won a national competition sponsored by Sears for their work! They are constantly doing good works for our church family. And they are always looking for new projects to keep them busy. What a stroke of luck for me, huh?!!!! I began talking to them about the fact that my crafting space needed a better system of storage. Yes, I AM A HOARDER. There, I said it! I explained the kind of storage I was in search of, and they did the rest.
Each cabinet is about 4 1/2' tall and about 30" wide. In each cabinet there are 16 drawers, each drawer about 14" x 27".


The cabinet on the right holds all my rubber stamps. I was able to organize them by holidays, birthday, backgrounds, etc. The other cabinet holds all my Spellbinders dies and my stash of crepe paper.



I LOVE working with crepe paper and a few years ago, I lucked up on a stash (about 40 packs) of vintage Dennison crepe paper. Crepe paper folds are so hard to store because of their size. They're too long to fit into a regular drawer, so I was always moving them around in search of a good home. Well, now they have one! The bottom drawers in this cabinet hold all of my paper as well as all my crepe paper streamers! Oh, I think I'm in Heaven!




The drawers are all mounted on glides which allows them to be pulled all the way out to see their contents. The drawers are very shallow - only about 2" deep - so that everything can be placed in single layers, thus allowing me to see everything in them. NO MORE DIGGING!!!! The drawers remind me of a fine department store that we used to visit when I was a child. The men's shirts and the ladies' gloves were stored in these wonderfully, smooth gliding almost tray-like drawers just like this!




My disorganized craft room is rapidly being transformed into a beautiful "studio"!!!! Only because of these wonderfully talented, generous men!

Alice Tags

Alice in Wonderland Tea Party anyone? Yes! A fantastic group of Girl Scouts in Southern Florida. These girls have the most awesome leader who is constantly planning wonderful events for them. The next one up - an Alice in Wonderland Tea Party. It sounds like such fun! These tags will be used on their food tables, attached to their drinks and snacks - in keeping with the Alice in Wonderland theme, of course! The "Eat Me" tags are about 3", the "Drink Me" tags are a little larger, maybe 3 3/4". They are stamped, embossed, and distressed.

Alice in Wonderland Shoe

If you've ever looked at my blog, you know by now that I have a passion for paper shoes! This shoe is made from a pattern I created last year and have used it many, many times - for every Holiday and theme imaginable. I use them for treat boxes, since they hold a good little amount of candy. I have also used them on Mother's Day and filled them with cosmetic samples and mini manicure sets. (So, girls, save those samples! They make great little favors!)However, this is the first time I've used it with an Alice in Wonderland theme. This one is a prototype for a request I've gotten for an Alice in Wonderland themed tea party. How fun does that sound?!!!!! Since I'm not really up on children's literature, I did have to do a little research. And I plan on watching the movie next time I catch it on TV. I can think of all kinds of possibilities for color combos and medallions to decorate!




Thanks for looking! Your comments would be most welcome.

Week #55 Flower Palette

It's still so Wintery here, but this card gives me hope for Spring! I'm entering this card in the Shabby Tea Room's challenge #55 - Flower Palette. I LOVE crepe paper, and I LOVE sweet peas. I combined those two loves and came up with this crepe paper sweet pea. The crepe paper is actually vintage - so stretchy and yummy! I mounted it on a button card using a PTI die. The felt leaves and doily are also PTI dies. They are such fun!



Here is a close up of the sweet pea. It gives me Spring Fever!! Thank you for looking. I'd love your comments!

Happy Birthday Turkey

My son recently celebrated his 33rd birthday. Wow! Where does the time go? That must make me ancient. Not really - I was a mere child when I had him. LOL! I think a masculine birthday card is always a challenge. Since he is an avid turkey hunter and a champion turkey caller, I felt it only appropriate to try and produce a birthday card that reflected that interest. The stamp I chose actually comes from a Thanksgiving set from Crafty Secrets. Love that stamp company! I first stamped the background on cream colored paper, then overstamped and embossed the turkey. I colored in just a hint of red on his face. I cut that using a circle nestabilities and mounted it in brown using the next size up. That, in turn, was mounted on a large scalloped circle using some camo paper that had been in stash for years. The background is simply a blue cardstock and a green textured paper. I machine stitched using a zig zag for a little added texture.



I stamped the inside using my old faithful Making Memories Magnetic Alphabet set. I've had it for years and still love it! All in all, I was pretty pleased with the card, and Andy loved it! Thanks for looking, and I'd love to hear your comments! What's your favorite masculine card idea?

Graphic 45 Once Upon a Springtime

I fell in love with this paper collection by Graphic 45 the moment I saw it. I've really been into the birthday card making lately and chose this paper for a 3 year old girl who loves fairies. The paper is simply gorgeous on its own, so I chose not to do a lot of embellishing. I wanted a lot of the paper to show. I cut the front of the card using a Grand Nestabilities die and adhered it to my card base, allowing it to "sit up" above the card. I then added the top layer cut with a small size of the same die and embellished with a paper rosette mounted on a lacey circle of glittered cardstock. Last I cut the number using a PTI die and topped off the rosette with a small silk bow.

If you haven't seen this paper "in person", check it out. My photography really does not do the colors justice! Grrr! I wish I knew how to make better pictures. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Happy Friday tomorrow!

Shabby Tea Room Party Time

This is such a fun challenge. I guess because I've become "hooked" on the whole banner, rosette, shabby chic look of late. This is my second effort for this particular challenge (I do hope that's OK!). I'm loving the PTI number dies! They are really fun to work with and a great way to add a little personalization to a birthday card. I used Octber Afternoon's Duck in a Row paper collection for this card. Beautiful paper! It was really a snap to make. I've also reconnected with my PTI ticket die and stamp set. It's a fun set. I tried to leave some of the feminine aspects behind since I was thinking of a boy when I made this card. Instead of silk ribbon, I decided on a pretty yellow twill. I still did, of course, have to use some glittered paper. Just love that stuff! Thanks for looking! I'd love to hear (or should I say "see" your comments).

Spring Flowers

 

I believe Spring is finally in the air here in Tennessee!! Aren't these little spring flowers beautiful?! Spring's in the air, and a song in my heart! Happy Spring!

Shabby Tea Room Challenge Week #53 Birthday Girl Banner

This is quite a lengthy post. I hope you'll scroll down and see it in its entirety. Thanks in advance for looking, and thanks Shabby Tea Room for creating this Week #53 Challenge!! The pic above is the entire banner. Sort of tricky to photograph since it's quite long, and my photography leaves much to be desired.



In honor of my beautiful granddaughter's 3rd birthday, I wanted to make something special and "fru fru" for her room. She is such a girlie girl! I had been wanting to try my hand at a life-sized banner, using my Papertrey Ink Dies (LOVE those dies!), and this is what I came up with. I can't wait for her party to give it to her! My favorite component is the baby pic of her that I added at the beginning of the banner. It's my favorite baby picture. It always reminded me of a beautiful Madame Alexander doll I used to have. Isn't she gorgeous! (OK, I'll try to contain myself from "grandmotherdom"! LOL)

Below is a pic of her taken just last week. Isn't she still beautiful (Oh, I really didn't say that, did I?)



Finally, here's the rest of the banner. Some close ups of the individual letters. I'll have to say this was the most fun project I have EVER done! I really just got lost in it and loved every minute of it. It's a great way to use up little pieces and parts of things you've could never bear to discard.












I will attempt to give you an idea of the materials I used here, although many of them were just "scraps" and many other parts were from my stash. The papers are K&CO and Making Memories. I used the Banner Builder die from Papertrey Ink, some paper doilies, paper flowers, rolled fabric flower using my DieNamics Rolled Flower die, felt leaves cut freehand, vintage chandelier crystals, mercury glass ornament, Making Memories Tags, MS glitter, MS glittered letter stickers. I would love to hear your comments about this project, and if you have any questions regarding what I used, please email me, I'll be happy to share. Happy Hump Day!!

A Special Card for a Very Special Little Girl

This evening we are celebrating my granddaughter's third birthday! What a joyous occasion. It seems only yesterday that she entered this world. Where does time go? I made this card to give her at this evening's birthday party. Pink is her favorite color (mine, too!). All the papers, with the exception of the green glitter spellbinders medallion, are from October Afternoon. It is from their Ducks in a Row collection. Love those papers!! The ribbon is May Arts silk, the fringe is by Wright's. I picked it up on sale at Hancock Fabrics. I made the rosette. The number and ticket are both Papertrey Ink Dies. Love those dies! They are such fun. The stamp used on the ticket is also Papertrey Ink and coordinates with the Ticket die. If you've never shopped there, be sure and check them out. They really have gorgeous stuff!!! And their blog is just over the top. Such a talented DT!
The picture below is the inside of the card. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend and praying for the victims of the earthquake/tsunami in Japan and around the world!

Imagine the Possibilities

Happy Sunday everyone. Wow, did we have major snow here today! The absolute largest flakes I have EVER seen! Fortunately, the ground is just not cold enough for it to stay. Hopefully, more Spring weather soon!

I'm finding it hard to believe that I'm actually beginning to enjoy challenges. This one is for CardPatterns Sketch 105 Challenge. When I saw the sketch, I knew exactly what I wanted to make. Although it looks like a card in the first picture, please scroll down to the next pic to see what it actually is!



As you can see, it is actually an altered CD case containing a set of Nestabilities. I've accumulated some duplicates, one of which is this set of Scalloped Squares. I've been wanting to give a gift to a scrapping friend of mine, and this makes the perfect "package". The dies are held in by magnetic strips. I have found the Jewel cases make the best way for me to store dies. Although, that could be changing soon. I'm having two cabinets custom built. I'll be posting pics of them as soon as they are complete. Each cabinet has 16 drawers; each drawer is 13" x 25" and 2" deep, making them perfect for single layers of stamps, dies, small embellishments, etc. But enough about that. Back to the project at hand. Below is a list of all the materials I used in this project:
Avocado Cardstock from Papertrey Ink
Making Memories je t'adore paper collection (I am SO in love with this collection!)
Making Memories je t'adore glass vial (I added the glitter)
Martha Stewart Tourmaline Glitter
May Arts Silk Crinkle Ribbon
Making Memories "Rummage" Magnetic Alphabet Stamp Set
Rich Cocoa Ink Pad by Memento
Making Memories Rub on
Fabric Flower (this was made using fabric from my stash)
Green Felt (leaves)
Thanks for looking! I would love any comments!

Comin' up Roses

The idea for this card came from a magazine. It was a small square card - only the roses. I fell in love with the look and incorporated it into a card of encouragement for a dear friend who is going through some trying times at the moment. It was a very simple card to make and took very little time. I began with three sheets of cardstock in graduating shades of pink. I made 3 flowers from each shade using a Die-Namics Rolled Flower Die. This is an awesome die which I purchased here. After making the nine flowers, I placed a pearl in the center of each and mounted them on the lightest cardstock. That was matted using the mid tone and wrapped with a bow made of seam binding ribbon. The entire medallion was then placed on the lighter shade and again matted with the midtone. I placed the medallion toward the top of the card, leaving room for the matted sentiment. I really like the way it turned out and am looking forward to making more of the same, using different colors. The cardstock I used came from Papertrey Ink. Their cardstock is awesome to work with! Check out all their beautiful papers here
Thanks for looking and your comments would be greatly appreciated! I'll be posting another card soon, but I'm going to enjoy this gorgeous Saturday with my beautiful grandbabies!

Cupcake Craft Challenge

I'm not really a participant in challenges; however, I discovered this "Cupcake Craft Challenge" (Cupcake 130) quite by accident at the same time I was making these cupcakes! What a happy coincidence! They are actually gift card holders, and if you look very closely, you can see the edge of the gift card on the pic on the left. We recently had baby showers in our church for TWO babies on the way - one boy, one girl. I love making these cupcakes. I'll have to say, they're not my original idea, and I apologize to the originator, but I cannot remember where I found the website that gave the instructions for making these. They are super fun to make, and I will try to find that website and post at a later date. My blog is fairly new, and I would LOVE to hear your comments! Thank you for looking!
I have Christmas cupcakes posted in one of my older posts. Please scroll down to that post to see how the gift card is attached.

Valentine Card

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! I'm sharing with you today my favorite valentine card. It features a little "flying" Magnolia that is so adorable. I colored her up with copics, stickled her wings, and added a bow to her dress for detail. She is mounted on a large rolled flower that I made using some leftover drapery fabric I had. So the flower is quite large and heavy. The flower is mounted on a scalloped spellbinders circle and backed with tulle for some added interest. That entire element is backed by a die cut notecard page from dienamics that I embellished with some tiny little paper hearts tape. That was put atop a die cut heart shape that I purchased in a package from Michaels. I did distress is using a Rangers Tattered Rose inkpad. All this rests on multiple mats and is topped off with a Valentine "ticket". All the papers I used are from the new Making Memories Je t'adore collection. I'm SO in love with this paper!! I have to get more on order asap!!

XOXO Banner Valentine

Yeah, it's Friday!!!!! I don't know about you, but I'm certainly ready for another weekend. Please forgive the look of my blog. I've somehow messed it up and don't really know how to correct it. I'll be working on that over the weekend sometime between the banjo lessons, the church Valentine Banquet, church, working on my studio remodel, etc. etc. It's going to be a busy and wonderful weekend!!!! Anyway, enough of that - onto the card.
I love this little Magnolia stamp. She holds a dangling heart. So cute. I colored her up with Copics, "stickled" her wings, then cut her out with a small circle Spellbinders mounted on a larger scalloped circle. Finally, mounted on a dienamics doily die. The banner dies are also Dienamics. (Love this set!) The X's and O's are simply rub-ons. I've been pulling them out once again as of late. I find they are perfect for the banners! The card base is white with a layer of pink glitter paper and the little plaid is from the new Little Yellow Bicycle Cupcake Collection - a gorgeous collection. I just received another order of it yesterday. I love using it, and it's a good year round paper as well. Have a wonderful Valentine Day weekend!!!

Silouhette Birthday Card

I have always loved silhouettes and, in fact, scherenscnitte has been a hobby of mine for many years. Needless to say, when I saw this darling stamp, I HAD to have it. I stamped it using Tuxedo Black and embossed is with clear embossing powder. I can't recall the name of the paper pad I used, but it's a black and white "parisian-y" looking pad. Great paper! I used a Spellbinders label to cut her out, then stamped the sentiment onto shiny black paper and embossed in white. Some ribbon, a cute black bow, and voila, she's done. This card really went together very quickly and easily.

Lacey Valentine

It seems I've been on a Valentine kick lately. I just love this little Stampin' Up stamp. She's so fun to color - and fast! I colored her with Copics then cut her out using Spellbinders circle die. That was mounted on a Spellbinders Scalloped Circle. The paper is a darling new Little Yellow Bicycle paper from their new Cupcake Collection. The hearts border was cut using a MS border punch. Silk ribbon and a Little Yellow Bicycle stick pin complete the card.

Purr-fect

The music director at our church is starting a new music program/activity. We're going to have monthly sing-a-longs or "hootenannies" as she calls it, beginning in February. I loved the idea, so I made this card to send to her thanking her for her great ideas. I love this stamp. It is called "Cat Party" and is made by Crafty Secrets. The card does not open. It is a flat card, and I simply penned my message on the back side. I LOVE the new Spellbinders Grands!

JOY

I loved making this Christmas card. I actually made it after Christmas, so I have no one to send it to - this year! I used a cute Magnolia stamp and colored her with Copics. I cut her out and placed her over a combo of die cuts. For the diecuts, I used spellbinders circles and lacey circles. The bottom die cut is a Dienamics die. The banner was made using Dienamics as well. The letters "JOY" are actually rub-ons. I topped it all off with a beautiful red silk ribbon. I'll save her until next year. Guess I'm a little ahead of the game for next year's cards!

My Favorite 2010 Christmas Project

These cupcakes were, by far, my favorite Christmas projects this past year. I had such fun making them! The recepients LOVED them. I found these directions on the net. I apologize to the creator of them. I just can't remember where I found them!