st patricks day

ok, so i got carried away.....blame the horrid cold weather and too much time in my craft room.

i did have fun though

crepe paper flowers

amazingpapergrace (becca) had a tutorial using crepe paper streamers to make flowers.

took me back to the 60's and those large flowers we made !

i used 26 inches of the streamer which was cut down to an inch width.  gathered the paper using a long stitch on my janome machine (reserved just for paper sewing).  attached a button to the center....PTI tiny dots black paper lets the bright yellow flower pop ! i love the yellow and black combo

embossed card for a challenge

this week's challenge on southern breezes is to use different embossing techniques. this card has lots of embossing, both wet and dry......the background is embossed with a sizzix folder, and is covered in sparkle tulle.  the butterflies are stamped with SU stamps and cut either with the large butterfly punch (SU) or by hand.
the inside is embossed with a SU embossing folder.....

i also used wet embossing in gold and red for the butterflies on the front.

grunge board bird

i cut the bird from diamond patterned grunge board (tim holtz) with my nestie bird die......then embossed with red and gold....

patterned vellum, red button and the gold cord add a bit of interest.....

rainy day bee

another freebie digital stamp. colored with copics, popped up the umbrella and the boots.....

for a rainy effect, i embossed clear acetate with large dots....it even reflected the spots when i took a picture of the card.  nesties are great for mounting images.....

masculine valentine

another easel card.....this one has little gold sticker hearts....cardstock from the safari mat pack.....

more digi stamps

got these little digital mice from bugaboostamps......love them.  easy to download, print and color.  these are called "fat mice".  some of the flowers are popped up, all glittered....brads are added to some for additional dimension.

the weather better start getting better....i am in the craft room too much. i am now into little 4 inch square cards.....they are kind of cute and smile provoking.  or maybe it's just the dreadful cold weather making me loopy?

dont know what i will do with this little set of 4.......left the insides blank so far

interesting spiral

this card is made from a card that i got in a pack for 1$ at Michaels, cut the white scrolly part off and used the glitter window technique.....pink glitter really shines !  punched out many small hearts and haphazzardly attached to the front... inside i used the spiral technique....(cut a circle and then cut inside the circle to make a spiral)...then attached both ends so when the card is opened the other hearts are suspended.  the "happy anniversary" is from Amuse

(excuse the bandaid-ed thumb!)

digital stamps

this one (another freebie) has lady bugs flying around a trapped bug....the sentiment was already on the digi stamp.....

colored with copics, dusted with some glitter

digital stamps

free digital images are available online....just save them, resize, print and color.


the first one.....hummingbird....i sewed on some sparkled tulle for the background....

pretty cool and the price is right !

bits and pieces challenge

i used several papers from the Asia stack....punched out butterflies with a martha S punch for the inside and a 3-D butterfly with a SU punch for the outside tag.  that tag is made from grunge board (tim holtz).... clear acetate is used for the inside flutterbys....that technique is addictive...

sentiment was sent to me by a good friend.....the inside tag has embossing made from the asian CB bundle (love that set !!)....some crackle added with sepia versafine ink and a crackle background stamp

inked the tag and then applied clear embossing powder heated and then reinked.....a pretty satin ribbon ties it together....

southern breezes weekly challenge

this challenge was to use a non-valentine stamp to create a valentine card. this stamp is from gina k....i used little gold heart stickers for the "love" emanating from the owls....DH and I !! inside, sentiment reads "owl always love you". guess we are just two old birds after all !

popup with acetate

interesting technique....i used acetate strips to hold the butterflies....they flutter when the card is open. found the directions by doing a google search for popups with acetate
i punched the small butterflies with a Martha S punch and the larger ones with a SU punch.

fancy fold accordian card

i used cardstock from DCWV "all dressed up" glitter stack....one page did the card !

i cut a piece of light green cardstock (PTI) 4 1/4 x 11 in, scored at 2 and 5 1/2.
i used my SU butterfly punch and a SU stamp from "flight of the butterfly"
( love it !) for the butterfly. ribbon holds it closed. i'll put a sentiment on the inside left part of the larger piece when i need to send it

pretty nifty

teapot birthday with tea bag insert

tea themed birthday card:

stamps: inkadinkadoo, rubber stampede
paper: K & CO, PTI cardstock

after stamping images, i colored them with copics and added crystal effects to add some shine and dimension. I made a matchbook cover to put a tea bag inside the card....

i think this would also make a nice get well card.....

baby shaker

for this one nana's nursery (boy) had the perfect cardstock....sweet little animals.

made a shaker and put some clear stars and tiny star buttons inside for the shaking ! "sweet one" is from SU .... the diamond cuttlebug embossing folder was used to texture the yellow cardstock behind the shaker

another bird, another easel.....cant stop

easel card

and yet another easel. i am in love with this technique (obviously)..... the bird was cut using 2 bird nestability dies...the smaller bird forms the wing...the beak is hidden by the cork circle.

the branch is a coffee stirer inked with brown chalk ink and some fabric ribbon leaves added for interest.
cork sheeting is easy to cut and that makes the first background....my fav background stamp with warm red chalk ink is used on the edges of the cream cardstock.

more easel cards

my new infatuation.....easy to make too

the flower card was made using gina k's many wishes set....
and the valentine heart is cut with a sixxiz heart die...sparkley fun foam and lace add some bling !!

easel card

the first challenge of 2010 on southernbreezes.com called for a new technique. pat showed her easel card and after googling the directions i came up with one of my own.

made this for a friend who will be travelling soon to Hawaii and the Panama Canal.

it is a simple technique but looks complicated. i used papers from a debbie mumm stack and stamps from a clear travel set i have had but never used. the cardstock is from PTI....love the heft of it. the "stop" is a brad with two slits for ribbon....hopefully it wont be too thick to mail with regular postage. a button would work well too

valentine

these were done with the PTI Everyday Button Bits set. i love that set !

instead of buttons, i punched out hearts using a variety of cuttlebug and sizzix dies, and the circles were made using a hand held 1/4 in hole punch !

i am hoping these will not require extra postage....buttons make the cards so thick and inflexible....foam may be the trick. and the glittery fun foam is self adhesive....that is a time saver for sure.

valentine cards

this is a matchbook type of card....a little slit on the right holds the front down. front of card is 1 inch smaller than the back. hearts were cut using my sizzix original die from different papers. background of card is embossed with a large dot sizzix embossing folder

the sparkley hearts are self adhesive fun foam that sparkles like crazy. how easy is this?

more NY cards

i am into the 4 inch square cards lately....i make my own envelopes for them too.

here are some made from the same cardstock 12x12 piece as the first NY card on my blog. that 12x12 surely goes a long way

i embossed champagne flutes (anna griffith) and stamped "happy newyear" with a SU sentiment stamp.

new year cards 2010

since i am card making withdrawal....i decided to pop out a few new year cards. this one is done for this week's challenge on southerbreezes.com.

using a calendar......our local insurance agency sends us a little desk calendar each year.....wish i had a ton of them. perhaps i can create my own .... will investigate further.

i used gold and silver cord, cardstock from PTI and a christmas stack purchased at Michaels this year.....a star button and a homemade envie with a belly band.

the 4 1/4 envies are very easy to make using my scorpal....lets me use some of the stack papers that just arent fancy enough for cards, but work fine as envies. when i mail the small square cards, i put them in a regular A2 envie to save postage costs....that way it is only a regular stamp, square cards cost a bit more....and tiny ones can get lost easily. this envie is made from same cardstock used on the card....but regular scrapbook paper works just fine too.

this one will be hand delivered, so the fat button wont cause problems.

cruise is over

we had a delightful time on the Crown Princess.....we went to Cozumel, Mexico....Roatan, Honduras....Grand Cayman.....and Princess's own island...Princess Cay. we snorkeled at each destination.....many pretty fish and beautiful blue water.

the weather was fabulous....but getting home on Saturday was tricky ! we flew into Raleigh and had no problem, but our daughter had a cancelled flight since they were to connect in Baltimore. no way...Baltimore got snowed in ! they were able to get a plane to Orlando and then on to NH....late, but at least they got home. some folks are still stuck in Fort Lauderdale. that's tough, right before Christmas.

laundry today and NO ONE making the bed, cooking the food or entertaining us.....takes getting used to for sure.

button tree

the PTI christmas button bits set is as much fun as their everyday button bits.

i love using buttons on cards.....hopefully these are slim enough to not need extra postage !!