Congratulations, Dan and Marie!

Hi Everyone!

I have some exciting news to share.  Marie and Dan are engaged!  Dan proposed to Marie on Saturday night and she said, "Yes!" 

As soon as I hung up the phone from their call, I decided to make them a card.  I looked through all of my paper and could not find anything engagement, but in my Valentine's Day drawer I found some textured heart paper that I love so I decided to use it. 

I used a champagne glasses stamp from a Hero Arts clear stamp set to create the image.  I colored the champagne with a gold Wink of Stella glitter brush marker pen and added some tiny gold gems for the bubbles.  The sentiment was created with a Lockhart  wooden stamp.  I added some tiny red heart jewels to the white tag.  The inside sentiment says, "Wishing you a lifetime of happiness and love."

We had all planned to get together for Paul's birthday before the engagement was announced so I got up early on Sunday morning and went looking for a small gift to give Dan and Marie to congratulate them.  I bought them a couple of engagement photo frames. 

I came home and looked through the stash of gift bags I have made recently and none of them said "Engagement" to me.  I grabbed a medium white dotted gift bag, a small blue honeycomb paper fan, and a couple of punches.  I cut the handle off of the fan, assembled it and put it on the front of the bag.  I used a Martha Stewart lacy heart paper punch to create 2 hearts for the center of the bag.  I used a Martha Stewart hearts border punch to cut the paper for the top of the bag.  I thought it looked a little plain, so I used a Martha Stewart ribbon edger punch to punch some holes in the paper and threaded some thin yellow ribbon through the holes.  I adhered it to the bag and I was done with just minutes to spare. 

We met them at 1 PM and they couldn't have looked happier.  Marie flashed her beautiful diamond in my face as she grinned from ear to ear. 

Congratulations, Dan and Marie!

Love,
the M.O.B.

Hello Card

Hi Everyone!

Today's card is simple, but took a while to make. 

  
First I ran a piece of pale blue tag through a Cuttlebug "Leafy Branch" embossing folder.  Then I stamped a tree trunk onto a piece of brown tag and sprinkled embossing powder on it.  I heat embossed it and adhered it to the blue tag. 

I used a Spellbinders "Labels One" die to cut a small blue shape.  I stamped and heat embossed the branch and the musical note.  The bird is a brad from Eyelet Outlet.  The sentiment was created with an Amuse Artstamp. 

I wish all of the details showed up better than they do.

And...because I am most definitely obsessed with pinwheels, I created a new pinwheel wreath.  I gave it to my hairdresser today.



 

The pinwheels are made from double sided tag that is pink and white on one side and striped blue, green and white on the other side.  I used pearl brads from Eyelet Outlet to hold each pinwheel together.  It is very pretty and very feminine.

That's all for today!

Just because...

Hi Everyone!

As you know I have been making cards for more than 10 years.  I have made them for pretty much every occasion.  Birthday and thank you cards have been the most requested ones over the years, but that is changing.  Now friends and family ask me to make them cards that can be used for any occasion.  They call them "thinking of you" cards. They want something on the front of the card and the inside to be blank.  Many of the cards I have created this summer have been designed to fulfill those requests. 

I made this clean and simple card today.

 
I used a stamp from PaperTrey Ink's "Turning A New Leaf" clear stamp set for the green leaves.  I sprinkled them with clear embossing powder and heat embossed them to make them shiny.  I used a stamp from The Stamps of Life's "flowers2share clear stamp set to create the vase.  I stamped the vase on some colored tag and then fussy cut it and adhered it to the layering paper.  The sentiment is stamped and heat embossed.  The flowers are from a package of paper flowers that I purchased at Michaels.  I added a tiny pearl to the center of each of them.

Have a great night.  I can feel the humid air coming back...

Home Sweet Home

Hi Everyone!

My daughter and her boyfriend bought their first home a couple of months ago.  They have both been having so much fun setting it up.  In a few weeks they are going to host their house warming party.

I made some utensil holders for the party.  I cannot believe how quickly they came together.  We just need to buy some plastic red cutlery for them.

I own a full size AccuCut machine and have a house die for it.  I folded sheets of 12" x 12" Bazzill "Candy Buttons" cardstock in half.  Then I cut 6 houses out of each sheet of paper.  Thanks to my machine I was able to cut out 50 houses very quickly.

Early in June I treated myself to a Mini Misti stamping tool.  I knew I'd be happy to own one when I was creating multiples of the same card.  Instead of a card, I placed one of the die cut houses in the tool.  I positioned a Lawn Fawn "home sweet home" clear sentiment stamp on the door of the tool.  Before I stamped a house, I ran a Powder Tool across the top of it so that stray embossing powder wouldn't cling to it.  Then I stamped the sentiment, sprinkled white embossing powder on it, and heat embossed it.   

I cut 3" x 2.75" pieces of Bazzill "Red Hots" cardstock and adhered them to the back of each house.  I used a Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher to staple the houses to some glassine bags I had in my stash.  

A luncheon napkin and a red fork, knife, and spoon will go into each bag.  As guests walk through the food line they will easily pick up their utensils.   

I'll be making other décor for the party and will share it with you.

Enjoy your day!

Just Flying By

Hi Everyone!

The inspiration for today's card came from a card I saw on Pinterest.  Thank you to Clair Matthews for sharing your card. 

I have some mini envelope templates by Judikins.  I used the smallest one to create the mini envelope on my card.  Toni, I think you'd like the templates.  You just trace around the edges of the template and score in all slots.  Then you cut out along the traced lines and fold along the score lines.  I used 1/8" wide Scor-tape to adhere the flaps. 

The small butterflies were created from a Memory Box border die.  I used a paper punch to cut out the larger butterflies.  The sentiment was created with a wooden Inky Antics stamp. 

It's been a cold rainy day here today.  I am actually wearing a sweater!

Have a good night.



 

Happy Summer

Hi Everyone!

I just read my blog posts for the past few weeks and realized I have been posting lots of gift bags, wreaths, and pinwheels, but not nearly enough cards.  So today I'll post a few of them.

This is one of my favorite cards that I created back in June.  I made it to celebrate summer.

The layering paper was some K & Company that I had for years.  I remember loving that collection and wish I had more of it.  The pitcher of lemonade is a Lawn Fawn stamp that I fussy cut after I embossed and colored it.  I added some Wink of Stellar to it to make it sparkle.  I backed the image with foam tape to make it really stand out.  Notice the shadow effect I created for the "happy" sentiment.

I've been using this technique a lot lately.  I use different Spellbinder label dies to create frames on my cards.  When I study this picture I wish I had run the white frame through an embossing folder to add texture to it.  Next time.  But I do still love the card.

I love this card.  I used a Sizzix die to create the popsicle.  The popsicle is backed with a piece of fun foam.  The white paper behind the popsicle was run through an embossing folder. 

I used cans of frozen juice to make popsicles with my preschool students.  They were always so excited to make them and eat them.  There are a couple of cans of juice in my freezer.  I realized last night that I should use them up to make some popsicles for us.  They'd be perfect in this humidity.  Hmm, if I make some right now they'll be frozen by the time Robbie gets home from work...

Have a great day!

Pineapple Pinwheel Wreath

Hi Everyone!

Marie is having so much fun decorating her new home.  Pineapples are one of the themes that she likes so last night I made her a pineapple pinwheel wreath.

The double sided patterned paper I used is so pretty.  There are pineapples and hearts on one side of it and white polka dots on a green background on the other side.  I added some dimensional pineapple stickers to the center of each pinwheel. 

After I cut the paper to make the pinwheels, I had some scraps leftover.  I used those scraps to create a small rosette wreath.

 

And a coordinating gift card.

 

 



Have a wonderful day and stay cool!



Ice Cream Cards

Hi Everyone!

Did you know that July is National Ice Cream Month?  Did you know that the 3rd Sunday in July each year is called National Ice Cream Day? 

On these hot summer days ice cream makes the perfect treat.  Even just opening the freezer to look for some ice cream, cools me off.  These days my favorite ice cream treats are Ben & Jerry's Pint Slices. 

You'll have to get your own ice cream, but I have some ice cream cards to inspire your creativity. 

I was happy to find some scraps of ice cream cone paper in my stash.  The cone was created with some Nestability dies.  I used an Amuse Artstamp to create the sentiment. 

 

I hope that you can see the glittery white paper I used to for the scoop of vanilla ice cream on this card.  The cone and ice cream scoop were created with some Nestablity dies.  I used some Lawn Fawn stamps to create the banner and the sentiment.  The cherry on tape is a brad from Eyelet Outlet. 

 

 

These ice cream cones were created from a paper punch.  I added some rhinestone cherries to the top of each scoop of ice cream.

 

 

Have a nice night!  It's a good night to have ice cream for dinner, right Marybeth?

 

 





Rosette gift cards

Hi Everyone!

I haven't posted for a few days, but I have been busy crafting.  I now have a nice collection of gift bags, cards, and pinwheels for all occasions. 

I decided to make some gift cards with rosettes on them.  I have a couple of Tim Holtz rosette dies and I have been using the smallest one.  I hadn't made any in a long time and when I started making them last night it was a bit challenging.  But happily I now have the hang of it and I can make one pretty quickly.  I plan to make a variety of them for different occasions. 

 

 

 

Hope you'll enjoy this beautiful day!

 





 



Birthday Gift Bags

Hi Everyone!

I've been busy organizing my paper punches today.  I store them in shoe pockets that hang on either side of the kitchen door.  I removed every punch, shook out the pockets and cut a sample of each punch.  Then I stapled the samples to the pockets and put the punches back in them.  Now I can easily find the punch that I need. 

I made a couple of birthday gift bags today too. 

I used a Nestability Ice Cream Cone die to cut the ice cream cone.  I put some foam under the scoop of ice cream to add dimension to the bag.  The cherry is a brad that was in my stash. 

This bag is a little more creative.  The cupcake wrapper was created from a Hero Arts tea cup cling stamp.  I cut off the handle of the tea cup.  I inked my stamp with VersaMark ink, stamped the tea cup, and then added green embossing powder to the image. 

The frosting on the cupcake was made with the top of a Sizzix ice cream sundae die.  I ran the die cut through a polka dots embossing folder.  Then I used Memento markers to add color to the dots.  The cherry is a honeycomb cupcake topper. 

Have a great night!

Fruity Gift Bags

Hi Everyone!

On Friday I had no gift bags in my stash.  Now it's Sunday and I have 11 of them completely finished and ready to grab and go. 

Sometimes I just add die cuts to my bags, but I prefer to add dimensional elements.  Not sure why, but I have always been fascinated by honeycomb tissue paper.  I am guessing that when I was a little girl some of the centerpieces at my birthday party had honeycomb paper.   Anyway, when I saw some fruit honeycomb pieces I knew they'd be perfect for gift bags.

I used 5" x 8" bags this time.  They are a little smaller than standard bags, but were the perfect size for the fruit accents.  I added a piece of layering paper to each bag to help the fruits pop out.  I found some papers that have been in my stash for years that were just perfect for my project.  Now I wish I had more of some of those papers, but others will work for sure.

Here are the bags.

 

 

Which bag do you like best?  I like the ones with the purple grapes and the red apple. 

 

Happy Sunday!

 

 









More Gift Bags

Hi Everyone!

I have 8 gift bags displayed on my desk right now.  It's safe to say that I am in gift bag mode.  I worked on some of them until after midnight and got up bright and early this morning to continue working on them. 

Sometimes I embellish store bought bags and other times I create and decorate gift bags from a template I saved on my computer.  The template is from PaperTrey Ink.   You will find it at this link.  Once you pay for the template they send you the download.  When you have downloaded it all you need to do is print 2 copies of the main template and one copy of the sides.  Then you cut everything out and assemble your bag.  I have to cut my patterned paper down to 8.5" x 11" to run it through my printer.  I use the leftover scraps to create the sides for my bags.

I wish I had a better photo of this bag, but you'll get the idea. 

I used some Memory Box stitched cloud dies to create the clouds.  Then I ran the clouds through an embossing folder to give them dimension.  I used a couple of different paper punches to cut the butterflies.  Each butterfly is actually 2 butterflies that are glued back to back.  I added some pearls to the butterflies and added additional pearls to create butterfly trails.  The butterflies are folded in the middle to give them dimension.

I used the same template to create this next bag.

I cut and created a pinwheel to add to the front of it. 

That's it for today!  Have a good one!

Pretty Poppies Gift Bag and Tag

Hi Everyone!

Happy Friday.  As a crafter I try to keep a stash of handmade cards, gift tags, gift bags, and little gifts on hand that I can grab and go.  I have quite a few cards right now, but I have wiped out everything else.  When I went to Michaels the other day their "Spring Collection" of plain gift bags were on clearance for 70% off so I purchased several packages of them. 

I decorated one bag and created a coordinating tag today. I used Lawn Fawn's Pretty Poppies dies to cut some leaves and flowers.  I used Distress Inks to add colors to them. 

 

 

I used a Sizzix tags die to cut the tag.

 

 

Have a great night!

 





 



Button Cards

Hi Everyone! 

Yesterday I shared the pinwheel wreath I made for my front door.  Today I'm going to showcase a couple of the cards that I created with the scraps from my pinwheel project. 

I use a similar sketch for my cards again and again.  I like to post my message on the front of my cards. 

I used a stamp from Lawn Fawn's "Sew Lovely" clear stamp set to create the sentiment on this first card.  The buttons were paper punched with a Martha Stewart punch. 

 



The sentiment on the second card was created with "A Country Welcome" wooden stamp.  You probably can't tell by the photos, but I ran the layering paper on both cards through a Darice Buttons embossing folder.

Have a great day!

Pinwheel Wreath

Hi Everyone!

It's time for a new wreath for the front door.  I looked around and decided to make a pinwheel one.  I chose some papers from Martha Stewart's 12" x 12"  Kids Double Sided Paper Pad.  I used my paper trimmer to cut sixteen 5" paper squares.  Then I used my We R Memory Keepers Pinwheel Punch Board to punch and cut the paper into pinwheels.  When the papers were ready I created 8 double pinwheels.
I used a hot glue gun to adhere the pinwheels to a wooden wreath form. 

Here's my new wreath.

Instead of tossing my leftover scraps into a drawer I think I'll use them to create some cards.

Have a great day!