Quote of the Week

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

My Last Post of 2008


I'm back in the swing of things a bit. I decided to start off my "week" ( yes I know it's Wednesday) with a Kwerner Color Inspiration. I'm having a hard time getting the Mojo going. I think Christmas did me in this year. So today is just a quick post. I have several things to share but will probably not post too much more this week. I am trying to just enjoy my family and get caught up on some things. My craft room looks like a paper bomb went off. But I promise to do better next week. So here is what I have to share today. Several things really.

First off is my color inspiration card.

This card is really very simple. I had some Christina Cole 3D stickers by Provo Craft that I used for the flowers. They have their own dimensional on the back so they pop up a bit. This is just adhered to a piece of Whisper White that I stamped using a dollar spot clear stamp. All this is mounted on an Old Olive layer and tied with some twill ribbon that I got at Joann's. This is adhered to a folded Pink Pirouette 4"x 10 1/2" piece of cardstock. The pink is stamped with the Just Jeans background stamp in the same color ink. I did not have pretty in pink so that's the reason for the substitution. I then doodled along the edges using a Rose Red marker. A layer of Rose Red completes the card. This particular card is for my sister who just got a new job. I'm so happy for her. She doesn't usually read my blog very consistently so I hope she doesn't see this before it gets to her:)

Here is my WIGW card. While I made this over a week ago it still applies as a Work It Girl because I banged out 20 of these babies in about 2 hours. The picture really isn't that great. Still trying to figure out the best place/time to get my pics. This is a relatively easy card to mass produce. It could also be changed quite easily to something other than a Christmas card. I used Mellow Moss as the base and stamped with one of my favs....Weathered BG in Mellow Moss ink. I then inked up my tree (Lovely as a Tree...may it never retire) with Mellow Moss and went in with a Choc Chip marker to highlight the trunk area. I then dabbed on Stickles to several branches. It's hard to see in the picture. This is layered on Choc Chip. I stamped Christmas Blessings from Star Studded Season in Mellow Moss and punched out with my Large Oval Punch. Sponged the edges with Choc chip ink and popped up with dimensionals. So easy.
That's all for me today. Hope you all have a safe New Year's Eve. We are staying home. My husband works part of the day and so we are just going to hang out and play games/watch movies. Oh and we may "rock out" to our new Guitar Hero World Tour that Santa brought. I love the drums....they are sooo hard though. So hope you all have a "rockin" New Year:)

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas

Wow. I can't believe it is Christmas Eve. While I had hoped to post several projects yesterday and today I'm sorry to say I won't be able to do that. I have literally been working on the computer for 2 days. I'm having fits with a project I am doing for a Christmas present. It will be great if I can ever get it to load:) I just wanted everyone to know I will be out of town and unable to post til next week. Unless by some miracle I get a bit more time. I truly hope you all have the most wonderful, blessed Christmas ever! We are so happy to be able to go home and visit with our family. Here's wishing you JOY and lots of HOLIDAY CHEER!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Helping Hannah

This is such a heartbreaking story that brought me to tears. It's such a simple request really. A little girl loves to get cards. She is dying from a brain tumor and only has a few weeks to live. She is unable to do much because most of her motor skills aren't working. So instead of toys for Christmas she has asked for cards. I hope you can take a few moments out of your busy holiday schedule and help to bring some joy to her. It doesn't need to be hand made. Please go to this link for the details if you like. When I read about this on Splitcoaststampers I knew exactly what card I would send. The angel card I made in this post. I added glitter to the wings though. All little girls love glitter. My kids have also both made her a card. It will go in the mail today. It won't make it by Christmas but I don't think that matters. So I hope if you have an extra holiday card you can mail it to Hannah or any card at all. Here is her address in case you should have problems with the link:

Hannah Garman
704 Orchard Rd
Lititz, PA 17543

Thanks so much!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Teacher gifts and Gingerbread Makers

Boy am I glad the kids are on Christmas break finally. I really do enjoy having them home. The kids were very excited to give the teacher their gifts this year. Now I typically am not one to give much at Christmas to the teachers. I prefer to give them things on Teacher Appreciation Day and at the end of the school year. It isn't like I gave them all that much this year either. It's just that what I did was soooo time consuming. Well, not all of it. This little guy above really didn't take to long. It was a deal I found at Joann's. This is the backside. It is painted with chalkboard paint. The star is just something from Joann's as well that I glued on. Then I stamped the teacher's name in white paint with my Quirky Alphabet. The star that I stamped didn't turn out as well. TIP: When you stamp with paint make sure you clean your stamp off immediately. Also keep a wet paper towel on hand to wipe off mistakes quickly.

This is the front view. It has three compartments on the top to which we added sticky notepads. That bottom area is for kleenex. I found a red box of kleenex with stars on it. How perfect...not that you can really see it. But I knew it matched. My mom would be so proud. This was painted in a gloss red. I let my kids painted the box...mostly.
This little guy is what took me forever. I got this over on Papertrey's website. It is a template by Lauren Meader. She does some amazing things. Anyways, as cute as it is, I do not recommend it for MASS production unless you start early. Yes, the key word there is EARLY. What was I thinking? My brain does not work that way. I am " last minute Lucy" remember? So, while I got them done. It took me ALL night. Literally, no sleep. I will not do this next year to myself. Because what I ended up having time to put inside was a real let down to me. It is the partial ingredients and recipe for Cake In A Mug. Fun idea, but there was more room to add some goodies. It doesn't look all that hard to make. And it truly isn't. But what you have to remember is that you must cut out 2 of everything for one stocking. And my dumb printer will NOT print on SU cardstock. So, I had to trace and cut out. But I probably would do that anyways to save on cardstock. Here is what I used: Baja Breeze cardstock, Whisper white cardstock and ski slope SU designer paper from the Holiday Mini catalog. I think what really took me a while was this:
Yes, that is REAL stitching. But it really did make them look sooo much better. I know that they still needed something. But, honestly, after making 10 of them, I wasn't adding one more thing. Besides, it was time to get the kids up for school. I hope someone put them up on their mantle. I think they are mantle worthy. But next year, I am just going to BUY the teachers something:)

Sorry this turned out to be so Scrooge-ish. I am off to make more gifts. I still have quite a few and one that is giving me fits. I think I need to do some Yoga....."I love Christmas "will be my mantra today:) We have a Christmas party at my husband's work so that will be fun.

BTW I have to show some pictures of my kids. We did a gingerbread house last night. I have never made one before. My son REALLY wanted to do this. So I looked online for recipes. Then we were at the store getting some things and he saw a kit for making them. Being in a hurry, I just grabbed the box and didn't really look to see that the "house" is already cooked and erected for you. Can you say "yuck". But we put it together last night. They failed to put in the bag and piping tip. So we just slathered icing all over and the kids went to town with the candy.
As soon as I took the completed pictured they said, " Can we eat it now?" So, I let them. They both did a count down of "1,2,3" and then the thing was so hard they couldn't even break it. So, I had to help them.
Look how hard they are trying to chew:D Kids will eat anything with icing and candy I swear. However, later my daughter said, " That really wasn't that good." I promised that next year we would make a REAL gingerbread house.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Kwerner and WIGW

Yes, I am aware that it is Thursday, not Wednesday, but I believe in wishful thinking. I truly am so far behind on everything household and Christmas related. I spent approximately 6 hours yesterday working on a computer related Christmas project. No wonder the world is so inactive. It takes FOREVER to do something on the computer. So that is why I did not post my project yesterday. Still, I took the time to make a card for Kristina Challenge this am. I am obsessed I tell you. I really like the subdued colors. Makes me feel a bit calm in this hectic time of the year. I may have to stick a few lavender sprigs up my nose to keep that feeling as I head into town though. EEEWWW! Sorry for that visual. Here is my card:
And because I have no time I will come back later to post all details.
UPDATED: Here are the details of my card: Close to Cocoa base was put through my cuttlebug to emboss. The polka dotted paper is a scrap I had leftover from another project. It is by My Mind's Eye. It is layered on top of So Saffron. I used my circle nestabilities for the Baja breeze scallop and then my Creative Memories Circle cutter to layer on the Very Vanilla. This is stamped with Baja Breeze ink using a sentiment from Best Yet. I stamped the bird from the stamp set Always using Close to Cocoa Craft Ink onto Vanilla and clear embossed. I then colored in the flowers with my blender pen and baja and saffron ink. This was cut out and mounted onto the scalloped circle with dimensionals. The two flowers are from the Pretties kit. I wet them with water and then colored with So Saffron ink. The centers are these fuzzy brads from The Paper Studio. They are perfect for all these flower centers. I just love them! I wrapped a section of SU ribbon around the entire thing...cutting a slit on the left side to slide it through and just tied in a knot.

Also, here is my WIGW creation. Believe it or not I had it done on Monday. Then Tuesday had a water issue and it got wet. So if it appears wrinkly that is why. It's funny because after I made it I thought, " I'm never going to give this one away." Just because I liked it so much and knew I could not duplicate it. Well, now I'll never be able to give it away because it's somewhat ruined. That's what happens when you get selfish I guess. I'll be back for details on this as well.

Updated too: The base is Whisper White. I used a strip of Pink Pirouette and stamped using the background stamp Polka Dot with the same ink. I then used the Swiss Dots Embossing Folder in the cuttlebug with the Soft Sky. The scalloped circle is with my nestabilities in Sage Shadow. The images are all cloth-like stickers from EK Success. I got them on clearanced. I then used my Crop a dile to punch out all those coordinating circles and glued on every last one. Then I accidentally spilled water all over it. Don't you hate when that happens?! Ok...off and running. There truly is a God though because basketball practice got cancelled tonight (leaping with joy) THANK YOU! THANK YOU THANK YOU, GOD! You really should always be grateful...even for the little things:) Teacher Gifts...here I come.
Thanks for stopping by my little, crazy corner of the world today!

Monday, December 15, 2008

One, Two, Three

Just a very quick post today. I am so far behind and what did I just do....offered to work. UGH! Must learn to say "no". Anyways, I wanted to share a few cards that I whipped 1,2,3. The reason it was so quick is because I already had made one before. I swear when you already have the idea the cards come together so quickly. Remember my post here. Well these are the cards I made from those same supplies. It worked out so well. I loved being able to use up the rest of my stuff. I was able to make 4 cards from 2 12x12 sheets and approximately 2 sheets of standard sized cardstock. Here are a few pictures to show you:


Please excuse the quality of these photos. I didn't even take the time to edit them in any way. So sorry they aren't the greatest. I know that I really need a photo box. But, hmmm, let me see....$50 for a photo box or $50 in stamps. Well, obviously I know what I am picking at the moment. Ok, one more thing to share. When I was done with these cards I had one lonely stocking left. There was no way I was putting that back in my drawer and I couldn't possibly throw it out. So here is what I made for my daughter's lunchbox. Mind you, I will not always be making these elaborate things for lunchbox notes. Also, this picture is taken after being in her lunch box for the day. So, excuse the bits of things on the inside. If you look closely there is a riddle that I made for her. Remember that she doesn't eat her lunch much. But on that day she did. Here are a few pictures.
Ok, gotta get going. I think this is a record speed post for me. Hope you have a great Monday!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

GO GREEN!

Love the color green and I love trying to live by the code of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Well, that is the challenge issued by splitcoast this week for the Limited Supply Challenge . I was already planning on making the project I am going to show. But, I just love that it falls into this category as well. Do you ever have an idea and it just comes out fabulous? Well, that is how I feel about this project. I mean I literally GIGGLED as I was putting it together. Things just worked out so beautifully for it. My daughter is going to a Girl Scout function today and I wanted to make something for all the Girl Scouts for Christmas. I used to be a leader but now I just help out here and there. I realized the thing I liked most about Girl Scouts was doing crafts with the girls and making them things. This is something I wanted to do with my old troop a while ago and it just never happened. So that is where the idea originated. Are you dying to know what it is yet?:D.

We made them homemade CHOCOLATE LIP GLOSS! Yum! I can remember as a little girl LOVING flavored lip gloss. I still do:) I am still very much a child ok. So I googled a few recipes and the first one worked, but it used real cocoa butter and ended up being VERY hard. So then I did some more googling and found this perfect recipe that called for REAL Hershey Mini Chocolate chips. This recipe is soooo easy and uses all the ingredients you would normally have around the house. Chocolate Chips don't last long around here though. I only buy milk chocolate chips and when a "fix" hits those are always a great source to tide me over...my husband too. In fact I just had to go out and buy more because he was eating the ones I bought to make fudge! So anyways, here is the recipe. I wanted to just give you the link but I couldn't find it again. Luckily I saved it in my Google Documents. Here it is:

Hershey's Chocolate Lip Gloss


Chocolate! It doesn't get anymore luscious than this!

2 tsp. Petroleum Jelly

1/8 tsp. Honey

10 small Hershey's Milk Chocolate Chips

1/8 tsp. Shortening (Like Crisco)

Lip Balm/Gloss Pots (Or other container)

Carefully mix all ingredients into a microwave safe container. Clump all ingredients together and place uncovered in the microwave. Heat on high for 20 seconds, stir, and then repeat until melted. Stir well with a tooth pick or Popsicle stick. Pour into pots, and place them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes or until solid. Remove from freezer and enjoy!

Fruity Kool Lip Gloss

This sweet and fruity gloss will give your lips both the shine and color you want.

1 Tbs. Shortening

1 Tsp. Honey

1 Packet Unsweetened Kool-Aid (Strawberry, Cherry, Raspberry or Pink Lemonade are great flavors)

¼ Tsp. Hot Water

Lip Balm/Gloss Pots (Or other container

Two recipes for the price of one. Just to give you some options if you (GASP) don't like chocolate.
This recipe is very creamy and oh so good. Now I have to say that I used 10 mini Hershey Kisses as my chips. The more chocolatey the better I always say. Whatever you prefer, but I can only go by how mine turned out. GREAT BTW.

I told my daughter to tell all the girls not to EAT it even though it looks like you could. I just had this image of all these GREEN Girl Scouts on the ride home. That would not be so good. So I hope they heed my advice. So, are you dying to see it yet? Getting giddy all over again here. One reason I'm so happy is that I RECYCLED the little jars that SU embossing powder comes in. Yes, they have been thoroughly washed, dried and wiped out with alcohol....RUBBING alcohol that is. Whole other image of Girl Scouts on the ride home...teeheehee. See why it is good I am not in charge of a troop anymore. Ok...so I've stalled long enough. There will be many pictures to follow. All Supplies are from SU except the ribbon ( American Crafts) and the lipgloss...obviously. Ok, here are all 10 lipgloss containers. The top one is my daughter's. It was the trial and error piece. It is only bigger because I ran out of smaller containers.

Stamps: Scandinavian Season, Rough Edges Alphabet
paper: Cameo Coral, Old Olive, Choc. Chip. Address labels
Ink: Choc Chip Craft and Classic, Cameo Coral, Old Olive
Other: Clear EP with Cocoa Powder added, ribbon, Sticky Strip, Crystal Effects, Embossing Buddy, 1 3/4", 1 3/8", 1 1/4" Circle Punches

TIP: The largest SU circle punch fits the lids of these containers PERFECTLY. While I love my Nesties, the punches are so much faster is mass production.

Have to share that the packaging is something I got at GOODWILL in packages of 8 for 29cents! They are new so no worries there. Just a clearanced item that didn't sell at Target. Also I used my new curly label punch. Still waiting on the stamps but the punch is perfect for gift tags.

Also as a side note, I tried to make the snowflake on top a scratch and sniff. I have done this before using kool aid. However, the cocoa powder didn't seem to work so well. I may try it again but using sugar free hot cocoa mix. However, I don't have sugar free anything in my house so I'm not sure when that will happen. If you try it let me know ok. BTW, you MUST use sugar free whatever or the sugar carmelizes and ruins your project.

I must go shop now....I'm am starting to sweat at the thought. LOVE to shop but not on Saturday...at Christmas time....in the area of the mall....BLEK! Wish me luck!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

OCC Sketch Challenge

Well, I'm back for a second challenge today. You can view all the details at Our Creative Corner.
I absolutely LOVE this card. I just recently visited a store in my area for the first time. It had all kinds of country decor. I guess it kind of got the wheels turning in my head. My usual "style" is either elegant or cute. But I guess I'm a little bit country....little bit rock n roll too! I was going through my drawer of things when I came upon some old stickers I had leftover from a Christmas scrapbook page. Lightbulb! Just in case you couldn't tell the snowman is the sticker and he is from a sheet made by ME and MY BIG IDEAS. The cut out heart and border are from a company called Embossable Designs. I got this on QVC a LONG time ago so I don't even know if they still exist. I did do some stamping though. I have an angel and tree leftover from those stickers. I think I may triplicate this card:) Here it is:

Now for the deets: This card measures 5 1/2" square. I used a sheet of paper that is similar to SU's Kraft but a bit darker. I'm sorry. I have no idea when I even got it. This is the MO of a scrapper/stamper.....you BUY it THEN figure out what to do with it LATER...sometimes much later. I stamped this with the retired (boohoo) Weathered Background stamp and Choc chip ink. The bottom layer is More Mustard that I distressed on the top edge with my Cutter Kit. I layered that embossed border over the top portion. The Sticker is applied to Whisper white cardstock that is layered with Baroque Burgundy cardstock. I distressed the edges of both these as well. The SU black buttons at the top have hemp strung through them and are adhered with mini glue dots. I stamped the sentiment from Season of Joy onto the same cardstock as the base with Real Red Craft ink and cut out with the medium sized oval punch. I then added liquid applique for the snow. I sponged around the entire perimeter of the card with choc chip ink. The die cut heart and sentiment are popped up with dimensionals
Thanks for checking in twice today! Hope you have a great one!

Another Kwerner Addition for a Special Person

My post for Kristina's color inspiration today was made for a family in Canada. This is for a woman battling cancer. I first read about her on Julie Buhler's blog.( check the left side of my blog for the link) Please take a few moments to go to this post and read about her. It will touch your heart and make you so thankful for your blessings. I hope you can take a few minutes to make or even buy a card to send to her and her family. I understand that her family has an album of all the cards she has received so far. What a wonderful thing the internet and this art of papercrafting can be when we use it to lift the spirits of someone we would never even know about otherwise.

Here is my card for her:


I used the Top Note Die Cut to make my card by cutting through a folded piece of Certainly Celery cardstock. Remember to let the folded edge fall just shy of the end of the die cut. This will prevent you from cutting and having 2 pieces instead of the attached one piece you desire :) I ran this through my cuttlebug for some texture. I then stamped in Black Stazon on Watercolor paper an image from the retired set called Tag Time. I simply colored in the image with orchid opulence, brocade blue, and cert celery markers. I tried to stick to the pale plum and perfect plum but it looked like mud on the image. So, that is the reason I switched colors. This is cut out with the oval nestabilities by Spellbinders. LOVE these! I made my own Bordering Blue ribbon by coloring in the cream taffeta ribbon with my SU chalks. So easy and versatile. ( Check this post for a view of what I mean. I did the same thing for the ribbon on that card as well) I'm so mad that the bow looks twisted in the photo. I must have done that when moving the card. I worked forever to get that ribbon to look right. I will fix it before mailing. Yes, OCD comes out in me at times. My computer is acting up and won't let me add another image of the inside. So, I will just have to tell you that it is a sentiment from the retired set called Hope Is.. and it says " Hope is believing in a brighter tomorrow". I do have more to share but because it is for another challenge I will do it in another post. So happy to post twice in one day! Don't get used to it though. Holidays remember? My posting will be few and far between for the next few weeks so bear with me ok?

PS. My daughter LOVED my creation for her yesterday. AND she ate her lunch. WOOHOO! However, I can't make a box everyday so I am just going to try and be better about giving her little lunchbox notes. She will love those too.
Thanks for looking today!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

It's been a long time and this post is very long....


I am sorry that I haven't posted much in the last week. I have just been so busy with holiday preparation and extra work. I think everyone is like that though at this time of year. So, I hope you understand. It is most likely not going to get much better til after the first of the year. I am creating, that's for sure. I just can't share yet until my gifts have been received. But, I had to do Kristina's color inspiration. I can't seem to help myself. Even though I have no time. I don't really care for what I created but it comes out of love. I made this for my daughter. She is having some difficulties in a class at school and getting so stressed about it. So, I wanted to make something to stick in her lunch box in hopes that it would encourage her to eat. She hasn't been eating her lunch. So I stuck some food in this little box and will cross my fingers that it is gone when she comes home. She loves fairies and truly believes they come into her room at night. Who's to say otherwise? We should all believe in something magical I think. While this image isn't a true fairy that is what she will see. Anyways, this is for her. She loves purple so I really think it will make her grin from ear to ear. On the back it says "You Sparkle". I hand wrote it. That's why there is no picture.

This was originally going to be a card but when I cut it with my cuttlebug I overlapped the wrong edge of the card and there you have it....2 pieces of die cut cardstock. So, a box transformed instead. ( Also note that I did not use Perfect Plum but Orchid Opulence instead) The base is sage shadow and is cut out with my SU scalloped die cut. I colored this image with creamy caramel, orchid opulence, cert. celery, blush blossom, bordering blue markers and a sakura gelly roll pen. I then added glitter to EVERYTHING. I used the fine cosmo glitter and my MS glue pen. I like Martha's glue pen because you can get into those tiny areas better. I found that out by the uneven coverage I got on the purple glittered area that was glued with my 2 way glue pen. Rhinestones from the Paper Studio were added for extra sparkle. This is all cut out and mounted
with Spellbinders Circle Nestabilities. The scalloped layer is Pale Plum. I also used my Swiss Dots embossing folder for the Sage piece. That little sign that says "Believe" is one of hundreds of little die cuts I got in a clearanced tin.

Here is a closeup:
















I have more to share because it is Work It Girl Wednesday and I didn't forget. So, I created this next piece using some inspiration for Julee's MOJO MONDAY SKETCH. I just happened to come upon her blog and LOVE her designs, inspiration and overall creativity. Go check her blog out. I have to admit though that my sketch is reversed a bit. I was just having issues with how it was working for me and then did a switcheroo and oh, ah, so much better.

My "coloring" stinks. But I really had to do some searching because I didn't have the right colors. So I had to layer the colors a bit. Here is what I did:

I wanted to use my watercolor crayons and only have the Rich Regals set. So I layered several of the blues to get what appears to be Baja Breeze and then did the same with the greens and reds. But I also had to use my watercolor pencils to get the desired look. This tree is from the set Scandinavian Season. I stamped it on Whisper White and then layered on Kiwi Kiss. That is another rhinestone from "the stash" and I also added some stickles to the swirls. The strip of patterned paper is from the DP Ski Slope and that border is baja breeze that was created with a retired SU corner punch. I wrapped a piece of brown ribbon from HL around the whole card. These silver snowflakes are something I had laying around in my button assortment. I tied it on with some silver cording ( retired SU) The sentiment in the left hand corner is from Best Yet. It is inked with Choc Chip Craft and clear embossed. The base of this card is from a pack of ready made cards from DCWV. It was.....you guessed it...CLEARANCED. Have you figured out I am cheap yet?



The last thing I want to share is that I have such fun, fabulous and creative kids....Keep reading for a laugh or at least a smile.

Last Saturday we got some snow. Not a ton mind you but a small dusting. On Sunday, my husband decided it needed to be shoveled. He is a total freak about this and raking leaves. So he asks the kids if they wanted to do it. "YEAH!" was the exhuberant reply. So armed with a shovel and broom ( because that's how little there was to be shoveled) they set to work.












They moved it all into one pile and created a "fort". They set out to collect as much "stuff" as they could to play for almost 3 1/2 hours. They only came in a few times to warm up and get more "things"




They had a blast pretending to be "pioneers" in their words.









Personally, I kept waiting for someone to stop and ask if they were homeless. Don't you love the trash bag flag? Not sure who they are surrendering to...maybe Jack Frost? I love when they get along and play so well. The days are numbered I know. So I treasure these moments. And speaking of homeless people, I don't mean to poke fun. I know there are many who would be happy to have those warm coats and blankets. So, please think seriously of donating to your homeless shelters. Not JUST at this time of year but all year long. Thanks for reading through my proud mommy moments. Have a great day!

nikki

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Another ornament and Kwerner Color Inspiration

Here is my second and final card for the KWerner color inspiration. I used Chocolate chip CS for my base. The whisper white is sewn onto the pumpkin layer of cardstock with real thread. Yes, I'm a bit obsessive sometimes. Still having a hard time sewing those corners. I don't sew clothes. My daughter ruined me on that. When she was three I decided to make her some PJ's for Christmas. My grandma used to do that for me every Christmas and I always felt so special and loved when I wore them. So, thought I would pass on that tradition to my daughter. I let her pick out the fabric just like my grandma let me. Then I set to work. GRRRR was how I felt most of the time working on that pink flannel nightshirt with matching stocking cap. The fabric would bind and tear. I couldn't make a button hole for the life of me. So I just made a "Faux" buttonhole and finished in time for her to wear them on Christmas eve. When I asked her what she thought she responded in her tiny, squeaky 3 year old voice, "Well, they're not really beautiful or anything." AHHHHH...and THAT was the LAST time I sewed any clothing that is not Halloween related.
Oh yeah, back to the card. I also sewed the stems for the flowers. The Turquoise flower is the 5 petal flower punch from SU. I punched out the Tempting Turq. cardstock and then some chipboard. The orange flower is from a chipboard assortment that I found clearanced:D. I used a 3/4" cirlce punch for the Choc Chip centers. The buttons are from another clearanced assortment. I'm not sure what company made the ribbon but the sentiment is from SU rubons called CHIT CHAT. This has about a billion sentiments on it for every occasion. So cool! I like this one better than my other card from yesterday's post.

Now, I made another ornament because I was "in the groove" and wanted to participate in a challenge issued on Jen Del Muro blog. So this is what I came up with....

This is from that same Chipboard Ornament Assortment that I used yesterday. I covered it is a retired Designer paper by SU. I painted the center snowflake with white paint. Then I covered it with crystal effects and dumped on a ton of dazzling diamonds. When it was dry I glued on a pearl half from the Pretties kit that SU carries. All the pearls and gems that were added on this ornament are from that kit. They are glued on using CE. The edges are sparkly from a few different things. I have had this faux iridenscent snow for atleast 5 years in my drawer. I put liquid glue around the edges and then dumped that snow on and let it dry. I then edged again with the glue and dumped on dazzling diamonds. Soooo sparkly.




Here is a close up.









And here is the back of the ornament. I didn't put the snow on the back, just the dazzling diamonds. The center cirlce is chipboard that was painted and then stamped with Star Studded Season in craft Choc Chip. After it dried I covered with versamark and then embossed with iridescent ice EP. I may change the cord yet. Not totally happy with it. Ok, I must head off to work. Hope you all have a fabulous day! Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Color Inspiration and WIGW




Here is Kristina's Color Inspiration
for this week. I knew as soon as I saw this exactly what paper to use. I have had this in my supply for awhile now. It was really pretty perfect for this challenge. So here is my creation. I also have another one in the works. I will post that tomorrow.
But for now......



I used this paper by DCWV and cut a circle through both that and the top layer of my Whisper white card base with my CM cutting system. I then added a piece of Certainly Celery that was scalloped with my Scallop Edge punch. I used a set called So Many Scallops from last year's Salebration sets for the flower. I just stamped Tempting Turqouise craft ink onto the same color paper and punched out with the scallop punch. They go perfectly together. The center is a scrap piece of textured CS from DCWV that is punched out with my 1 1/4" circle punch. I then paper pierced it. The small center circle was made by stamping from the new set called Say It With Scallops. This is the featured stamp set for the Ronald Mc Donald House. With every purchase, $2 is donated to the RMH. It's a great set this year. I stamped with certainly celery onto certainly celery CS and then puched out with my 1/2" circle punch. This is mounted inside the card with dimensionals.
I then pierced a trail from the flower to the bee. The words and bee are from the set called JUST B. The little bee has dazzling diamonds on his wings and is mounted with dimensionals.

This is the inside of the card. I used the retired sets Quirky Alphabet and So Very to
complete my sentiment.

So now onto my WIGW project. I have to go to a meeting tomorrow and they are having an ornament exchange. So this is my contribution. I used some chipboard ornaments from SU that where available last year. You know, I always have such good intentions but never get around to it until much later. Yes, a year in this case.
But I did use the current Designer Paper called Ski Slope. This paper is sooo beautiful. I think I may have to order more. It is in the current Holiday mini. You should order some too:) Go check it out on the left side of my blog.


So I traced, cut and pasted the paper onto the chipboard and sponged the edges with Choc Chip and Baja Breeze ink. I then stamped in versamark onto the baja breeze a swirled stamp from Season of Joy. I stamped the sentiment with Choc Chip craft ink and clear embossed. Now the thing I learned is that it takes versamark a really long time to dry so some of the clear EP stuck to the swirls. The scalloped circle is also chipboard that was painted and then coverd in Versamark and embossed with Iridescent Ice EP. So sparkly....see.....










The sentiment is from the retired Star-Studded Season.




I did the same thing on the reverse side but the Chipboard Circle is covered with the Baja Breeze CS and lined with Liquid Glue and dazzling diamonds . I also used Choc Chip Taffetta Ribbon and a silver elastic cord. Kind of Blah on the ribbon but it will work. Ok that's all for me today. Check back tomorrow for another project and Color Inspiration card. See you soon:D