Egg Tree in a Frame

Hi Everyone!

It's just before 10 PM on Sunday night.  I am so excited about the project that I just created that I have to share it tonight even though many of you won't be reading this blog until sometime tomorrow.  The other day Brenda asked if I had any framed projects for Easter and I had to admit that I hadn't come up with any yet.  But when I was laying in bed last night I suddenly got a couple of ideas.  So today I purchased a 5" x 7" white frame for one of my ideas. 

I trimmed a piece of patterned paper to 4" x 5.5" and stamped the grass from Lawn Fawn's "Gnome Sweet Gnome" clear stamp set along the bottom edge.   Then I stamped the "Tree for all Seasons' by Judith and Heather.  I took out one of my scrap boxes and paper punched about 50 eggs from Martha Stewart's basket and eggs paper punch.  I paper punched a chick from Martha Stewart's chick punch and cut the handle off of one of the baskets I had punched.

I used dimensional foam to adhere the chick, eggs, and basket to the patterned paper.  I matted the patterned paper onto a sheet of 4.25" x 5.75" white tag.  Then I matted the white tag onto a sheet of 5" x 7" patterned paper and put my creation in the white 5" x 7" frame.

Here's the finished project.

Enjoy what's left of tonight!
Carol

Daffodil Candy Cups

Good Morning Everyone!

Spring is on its way!  The daffodils on the side of our house have sprouted and I can see tiny buds on them.  Daffodils are the flower symbol for March birthdays.  My friend Diane gave me a beautiful bunch of fresh cut ones more than a week ago to celebrate my birthday.  They are just starting to fade, but are still pretty. 

I found a template for a daffodil candy cup on Martha Stewart's web site at this link.

http://www.marthastewart.com/335059/daffodil-candy-cups?center=276968&gallery=274530&slide=333582

I printed 3 copies of the template, cut them out, and glued them to a sheet of copy paper.  You may want to glue them to a sheet of white tag to make your template stronger.

Then I put the template in the top of my printer so that I could copy it.  I copied the template onto the back of an 8.5" x 11' sheet of polka dotted tag from Memory Box.  I cut slightly inside the lines, flipped the daffodil over, glued a candy cup in the center of it, and have adorable, quick and easy to make decorations for each place setting.

Have a wonderful day!
Carol

Paper Lanterns

Hi Everyone!

I've been fascinated by paper lanterns for as long as I can remember.  I am pretty sure that I made my first one when I was in kindergarten and I know that over the years I made them with my kindergarten, first and second grade students.  I used a ruler and pencil to draw the lines that they cut along on a piece of folded construction paper. 

Paper lanterns became a staple at Robbie and Marie's birthday parties.  When they were younger we made them together using the same technique that I used with my students.  As they grew older and my passion for patterned paper began, we started to use it in place of construction paper. 

I had my eye on Martha Stewart's templates for 6" and 12" lanterns for a long time.  About 2 weeks ago I was shocked, surprsed, delighted...to find the templates marked down for clearance at Michaels.  I quickly purchased one of each and rushed home to try them out. 

Basically all you need to do is fold a 6" square of paper and place it inside the template for the 6" lantern or fold a 12" square of paper and place it in the template for a 12" lantern.  Then you use an X-acto knife that is included with the template to cut the lines on the lantern.  Easy Peasy!

I found a great video for lantern making on youtube that is presented by Linda Kaiser at this link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDt4GAAGEHQ
She also talks about the lanterns on her blog at this link
http://paperboutique.blogspot.com/2011/08/martha-stewart-crafts-lantern-and.html
She shows you how to add a tube to the inside of the lantern.  She also suggests that in place of the tube you can put a flameless tea light in the center of the lantern.  She shows you how to add ribbon to the handle and the upper and lower edges of the lantern. 

I especially love the 6" lanterns and plan to use them along with some egg cutouts to create some Easter garland.

The templates don't seem to be on clearance in every store yet, so keep your eyes open and hopefully you'll find them on clearance in the Martha Stewart papercrafting section of a store near you. 

Have a nice night!
Carol

Paper Flowers

Good Morning Everyone!

I am pretty sure that I have previously mentioned how much I love Scrapbooks, etc. magazine.  I have also probably told you that I am not a scrapbooker, but I read the scrapbooking tips and apply many of them to my cardmaking.  In addition to scrapbooking ideas each issue of the magazine always has at least several craft and card ideas.  It is mainly the craft ideas that draw me to the magazine.  The April 2012 issue has adorable cupcakes on the cover that were created with baker's twine .  I haven't given them a try yet, but hope to sometime soon. 

Inside the magazine on page 40 there's a photograph of an arrangement of paper flowers.  They've used a pair of two toned pink rubber boots for the vase and tied a big yellow polka dotted bow around the boots.  Adorable.  Totally adorable.  Well, I don't have any cute boots to use as a vase, but I do have some pretty new vases that Diane gave me for my birthday. 

It took me less than half an hour to create five paper flowers.  I used floral cloth wire for my stems and a sizzix die to cut my daisies.  The buttons were in my stash.  I used glue dots to adhere the stems and buttons to the flowers and the layered flowers to each other.  Now I have a pretty bouquet of flowers sitting on the table.

Have a great day!

Carol

Denami Design's Birthday Blog Hop

Hi Everyone!

Happy Sunday! Welcome to the Denami Design Birthday Blog Hop.

Here are the details for this hop.

When: The blog hop starts on March 11 at 6 AM, PST. However, you have until March 12, 2012, 11:59 pm PST, to leave comments on all the blogs (to be eligible for a prize).
Why: To be inspired by fun DeNami Design creations and also the chance to win mini shopping sprees on the DeNami Design website!

Prizes: We are giving away THREE $20 gift certificates to our website! We'll be giving away one gift certificate to a random participant (DT members not eligible) and then we'll also be giving away TWO gift certificates to TWO people who comment along the hop!
 

If you have arrived here from the blog of the incredibly creative Michelle Gross you are on the right track. If you get lost along the way you can always start back at the beginning of the hop.

Denami Design has a wonderful variety of border and frame stamps in their collection. One of my favorites is their birthday circle stamp.   I like this stamp because I can stamp something that is dear to the recipient in the center of the circle. 

My sister asked me to create a birthday card for a friend who loves flower gardening. Here’s the card I created for her.

A friend requested a birthday card for her granddaughter whose favorite food is ice cream and favorite color is pink. I paper pieced the Denami Design ice cream cone for her “pink” card.

Before you hop along to view Pat Quinet’s beautiful creations please leave a comment on my blog. You may also want to become a follower of my blog so you’ll see my future creations.

Have a great day!

Carol

Birdhouse Card

Hi Everybody! 

Yesterday my copy of 100 Fresh and Fun Handmade Cards by Kimber McGray arrived in the mail.  I flipped through it when I first opened my package and after dinner sat down and read it from cover to cover. 

What an amazing book!  There are directions explaining how to create a basic card for times when you want to make something quick and directions explaining ways to make that same card a bit more complex.  The photographs throughout the book are so inspiring that I stayed up last night just so I could create a card. 

I decided to create the birdhouse card by Kim Hughes on page 130.  I used a classic and a scalloped square Nestability to create my window.  I cut 2 of them and ran them through my crimper.  Then I put some foam tape between the 2 of them to add dimension to the card. 

The bird is a chipboard embellishment from Maya Road that I had in my stash.  You could use a bird template that's in the back of the book to create your bird. 

Have a nice night! 
Carol

Easter Wall Hanging

Good Morning Everyone!


The project I am going to share with you today was inspired by Melissa Philips "Easter Greetings Wall Hanging" on page 74 in The Big Book of Holiday Paper Crafts.  As soon as I saw her adorable project I knew I had to create one of my own.

I wish that my photograph were a little clearer so that you could see how much detail is on this 8.34" x 12" paper crafted wall hanging.  The bright and perky background paper is from SEI's "Sunny Day" collection.  The other dotty papers were in my stash and are from K&Company, Papertrey Ink, and Memory Box. 

Each pocket is 4" wide and 3" high.  I used my trusty Scor-pal tape to adhere them to the background paper.  I chose 6 different Martha Stewart edger punches to decorate the top of each pocket.  Then I looked through my collection of dies and paper punches, pulled out what I wanted to use, and played.  I didn't plan each pocket.  They just happened. 

Have a great day!

Carol