Implemented Approvals for ALL Comments

I've had an attack of the over zealous robot ad.  I have implemented approval of all comments, and a security check to eliminate this nuisance.  I apologize for the extra step, but it is necessary to save my sanity.

Namaste

Stripes 'n Flowers Valentine--Free Printable Paper

This is a card that I made for a Shabby Tea Room challenge I thought I would try.  It had to have stripes and flowers.  I discovered that I didn't have any striped paper, so I decided to make it myself.  While I was at it I make two other patterns that would match the stripes perfectly.  I used Photoshop for this, and a brush set called Meldir Script Set which you can get  here.  I altered the color of the Grey Mist Script paper for the leaves by using Tim Holtz Distress Ink Bundled Sage to keep with the tones.  I used white card stock to print the patterns.  The leaves and flowers I bought from Silhouette.  The heart comes (from Bird Cards), and I designed the scalloped border myself on the silhouette and you can get it here.

There is a tutorial here that shows how to use the patterned papers to fill in the scalloped shape, and you can make a 4" wide x 3.5" high rectangle in the print, and the stripe for the scallop.  This is for a standard A2 card.

I distressed everything with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Antique Lace, including those colored leaves.  I stamped the sentiments from Hot Off the Press Tiny Words & Images onto Sticky Backed Canvas. I punched the sentiments out with the Stampin' Up large oval punch and distressed them.  I used a GinaK Pure Luxury Heavy Base Weight white card stock for the card base.

I will have the paper available below.  Just right click on it, and save it on your computer.  There are several tutorials on how to use the papers with the silhouette.  It is really neat in the Print and Cut Feature.  The one I liked best is here.

I hope you enjoy.
Namaste

Too Tweet Sweet

These two cards were a revelation to me.  I have never cared too much for all cut out cards.  However, the Silhouette Cameo, and its software has changed my mind.  The Tweetys and the Sentiments are both print and cuts.  I own an Imagine, which NEVER worked right, and never cut with the picture aligned in the center no matter how often I calibrated it even after two years of trying.  Can you say boat anchor? Sure ya can!

Now to much pleasantness.  These two images were printed and cut with my Silhouette Cameo on GinaK Pure Luxury Layering Weight White Card Stock.  I find that to be a good quality paper for ALL of my needs in the studio.  It even takes watercolor nicely if you don't over wet it. I made the cards bases out of the GinaK Heavy Base Weight White card stock.

I got the images out of the Silhouette web store.  I also got the background and internal card elements there. I used Vintage Photo Distress inks on the edges of the images, sentiments, and card base.  I raised the Tweety images on thick foam squares, and raised the sentiments on thinner foam squares.  I forget where I got them, but will be looking for more of them soon.  If you don't have two different thicknesses, just stack two foam squares together for the image, and single layer for the sentiments.

The two images below the cards, are what is on the inside of each card.  They are centered on each side of the card with the centerfold in the middle of them.  However, the crease does not show up here.  I left plenty of room for the signature and a personal note.  If I could have found a good Tweety Poem or other such birdy stuff, I would have used that also, but alas, I didn't have one.

I enjoyed doing these cards, I hope you enjoy.

Namaste

Challenge(s):

Cut it Up Challenge 11

Butterfly in Yellow and Grey

This is another Study in Yellow and Grey from Elka Romero Designs, I printed the designs on cardstock and then cut it to the size that I needed.  I used white cardstock from my stash, and I know it is a cheapy brand, as the colors are more muted than on the other cards.  I did that on purpose, as I wanted a more muted color scheme for this card, as the butterfly is the feature of the card.  I used prima pearls colored with a N7 Copic Marker.  The butterfly is by SEI I think.  The tag punches are by Stampin' Up as is this ribbon and black ink.  The flowers are a Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die by Sizzix and the leaf is a Birch Leaf by McGill.

This was a quick card once the printing was complete.

Thanks for coming by.
Namaste

Busy Bee

Here is another Create a Critter Cartridge card.  I used digital paper from Elka Romero Designs, and printed it on cardstock and cut it with the Cricut.  I use a Copic Glitter pen on his wings, hive heart and eyes, and a Singo white gel pen on this highlights.  The face is a Peachy Keen Stamp, and highlighted with gel pen.  This was a quick easy card, and I got the idea from the February 2013 Cricut Magazine published my Northridge Publishing.  The cardstock is ColorBok.

Challenges:

Fabulous Cricut Challenge

Birdy, Birdy in a Tree

This was made for a special birthday.  I used my Cricut Create a Critter cartridge.  The papers are scraps from past projects, and I just don't remember whose they are.  I'm thinking the green pattern is Hot Off the Press, but that is just about it.  I used the Cricut Craft Room to adjust the sizes, so I don't have a specific size that I used for this.  It is a card shaped like a tree, and it is really cute.  The bird wing and Happy Birthday are cut from cold glitter paper, but it doesn't show up very well.

I welded two trees to make the card, and then glued the patterned paper to it.  I used a white Singo Gel Pen to whiten the mouth a bit and highlight all the eyes.

I hope you like it.

Namaste

Mad for Monograms

I had a blast putting this on together.  I used my Silhouette Cameo for the shutters, books and shelf.  I used the Spellbiners Label for the frame, and the Cricut Heritage for the monogram.  I bought the Read monograms from Digital Paper  on Etsy.  The cardstock is from Staples, and works nicely for this kind of project.  The ink is Soft Suede from Stampin UP.  The angle on this photo didn't do much for the looks.  The proportions were somehow foreshortened. This shutters are much larger than they appear here.  The colors are also brighter and lighter.  Going to try for a better photo tomorrow.

Challenges that I entered:

Shabby Tearoom Challenge 147 Monogram Madness
Through the Craftroom Door Challenge

Uncaged Birdday Card

I know I have been gone for a while, and then all of a sudden I have a bunch of cards up. 2012 was not a great year for my family. It started right out in January with moving from the farm, and while in that process my mother passed away. She was 94, and ready to go, so she did.

My daughter, who is 41, did not take her death very well. She has epilepsy, and her seizures were pretty much under control prior to this event. During the funeral she started having lots of seizures, and nothing seemed to stop them anymore. She started out trying lots of medications, but nothing helped.  She finally went to the Cleveland Clinic for evaluation for the first time in September, and she underwent many tests, and many hospital visits and about 4 weeks of hospital stays to determine whether she would be a good candidate for surgery. She was a good candidate, and she had the surgery December 7, 2012. So far, she is seizure free. She is no longer in need of close watch, and she is in really good spirits. The surgery seemed to be a piece of cake for her, and we attribute this to her courage and her great surgeon Dr. Jorge Gonzalas-Martinez.  We had a wonderful and blessed Yuletide Season, with much celebration.

This year will be much different I'm sure.  It is already getting off to a nice smooth start.  The house is in order, and as organized as I every get when I'm creating.  At least I can put my hands on everything I want to use, and I'm finding things I thought were gone for good.  All the excitement made it impossible to get my stuff unpacked after the move, and by the time I got around to it I had forgotten where things had been placed:(.

 

Now to describe the card.  I made it with a view to putting it on the Color Throw Down site, and I intend to do that.  However, I've found several other places that I can use it in a challenge.

 

The papers are all from Stampin' Up, as are the inks.  I used McGill Punches Birch Leaves for the leaves, and I Am Roses roses.  I used Lindy Stamp Gang Mission Bells Brown Starburst Spray to highlight them after applying Soft Suede ink to the tips.  Unfortunately you can see the pretty shimmer on the roses in any picture that I have taken (I gave up.)  I used a Spellbinders die Fancy Labels One to cut out the sentiment.  The Bird Cage and Bird are from Tim Holtz for Sizzix called Caged Bird, however, I didn't cage mine.  I think that pretty much sums up the materials.

 

The leaves were quite flat when I cut them, and I didn't think they looked good with the flowers, so I did some bending and folding.  I folded the leaf in half, the hills are all on the front side.  I then just pinched some creases in the edges with my fingers.  They turned out far better than I would have thought.  I distressed them with the Soft Suede Ink I used on the flowers and other edges on this card.

 

Here is the recipe for this card from Color Throwdown.  Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.  I hope you enjoy.

 

Namaste

Zorana the Dancing Gypsy

Zoranna the Dancing Gypsy

I just fell in love with this stamp from Saturated Canary Digi's.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with her.  The image was colored with Copic Markers on Copic Express It Paper.  I found this paper at The Paper Shelter, and decided that if fit with my thoughts for the girl.  I just got some new shinys from Lindy Stamp Gang, and love that stuff.  No end of things I'm likely to do with that.  I also FINALLY got my Cheery Lynn big die to work, and used the inside of the die for the sentiment star.

The stamps are all from Stampin' Up.   The flowers I have forgotten where I got them, but I did stamp on them with a bit word stamp.  I used the McGill Flower Punch Birch Leaf with the flower.

I just found this card fun to put together. It was an experiment with new colors and combinations that I hadn't used before.  I hope you like it.

Hugz, Namaste

Challenge entries:

http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.com/  Ends 1/9/13
http://sparklesforumchallenges.blogspot.com/2012/12/challenge-39-anything-goes.html







 

Gus N Stella and Free Paper Download

This is a digital stamp that I got from Bugaboo Digi Stamps.  I just love these two characters, as their attitude reminds me a lot of my husband and I.  We pick on each other good naturedly, but their is always a grain of truth in our statements.  On Christmas day we were driving to the son's house, and we had a bit of difference about something which I can't even remember.  He just could not grasp what I was saying, because he was too busy formulating his next remark and not really listening to what I had to say.  For my part, I was just NOT going to drop the subject until he LISTENED to me.  LOL.  He said, "Why is it that you start this shyt when we are in the car?"  She said, "Because I know I have a captive audience, and I hope you will listen for once and get the real meaning instead of what you just think I was saying."  The bold, italics, underlined words were said with MUCH sacasm.

So the next day, as I was looking at the Bugaboo Digi Stamps site, I spoted Stella and Gus Marriage.  They were looking a lot like my hubby and I this morning over our coffee.  The caption originally said, "Husbands should come with a set of instructions. and Wives should come this mute buttons"  We would joke, while pointing the TV channel changer at each other and pressing the brightness button, that the brightness button just didn't work because the person in the line of the channel chager was not getting any brighter.  Does anyone really remember these channel changers?  Now all that stuff is just taken care of by the TV.  At any rate, this is where the captions come from.  I really would like to make him much brighter, and he would really like to mute me sometimes when we are in the car and he is my captive audience.  LOL 

So I made him this card to apologize for the uncomfortable ride. ROFL  I whited out the original captions, and used Photoshop to creat the captions that are now on the front, bottom of this card rather than in the captions that were on the original graphic.  I used Photoshop to color the digi stamps.  I created my own patterned cardstock using the colors that I used to color Stella, Gus and the cups.  I printed this all on Gina K Layering Weight Cardstock*. 

I used a Martha Stewart Punch called Double Loop Punch Around the Page to creat the border. The banner flags were hand cut.  I made my card base from Gina K Heavy base weight card stock*.  I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink to destress the white image of Gus and Stella.

I hope you enjoy the card.

*Just a note here about Gina K's cardstock; it is the nices stuff for printing on an ink jet and actually using Copic Markers to color the image.  I like the way it works.  The Heavy Base Weight makes a good sturdy card, that does not crack when folded and creased with a bone folder.

Here is the paper for the card.  Feel free to download the image for your own use.  Just right click and "Save Picture As".

Challenge List:

C.R.A.F.T Challenge
Crafty Creations Challenges