Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See! This is so moving. Please watch and enjoy!

Twelve Days Of Christmas Tags

The Twelve Days Of Christmas
Thanks to Donna Salazar and her Artsy Fartsy
class I took over at My Creative Classroom, I was able to create these wonderful tags to showcase my twelve days of Christmas ornaments.
     We have had these for years and rotate them to different locations ever year. Some years they are on the tree, sometimes in a window , hanging from a light fixture (you get the idea!). This year I add them to the entrance way.

           
     After they were up I felt it was missing something and thought what about tags? I made the paper tags by using my Imagine machine and printed out the music paper. Next up I cut the tags using Very Merry tags@ 2 1/2". Then it was time to get inky! I used perfect pearls copper color and Tim Holtz rusty nail, spritzed, scrunched and finally inked with tea dye. The # were cut at 1" with Base Camp out of a gorgeous gold prism paper and then tied with red raffia to the appropriate ornament.

     Now its confession time. I actually had to look up the words to the song to make sure I had them in the right order. It's funny how you THINK the song goes, lol.

Believe

   What a simple word yet oh so powerful. When I set out to design this years Christmas cards, I wanted something eye catching yet meaningful. Now that they are all complete ( and mailed, lol) I thought I'd share these with you.

    My daughter Christine is an artist ( for real!) painted a canvas of this Santa several years ago for us. I always wanted to share this with others and I finally figured out how. First I scan the canvas and then imported it to my computer, played with it in Paint and then printed it out on business cards. I cut the frame out using my cricut Base Camp cartridge and finished up with some inking and a beautiful woven ribbon.
    The inside sentiment was heat embossed and layered on green card stock. I always love to finish the inside as well!
   Now I ask you, when you look at this Santa, Do you believe?

Christmas Gift Tags

This is the perfect way to use up scraps of paper! I also used some rub ons that were intended for ornaments but I used them on my gift tags instead. Super easy!!!

Christmas Mini Album

Just a quick post to share a few projects I've been up to. First up this cute little mini album. How cute is this lol. It's the perfect size for wallet photos and/or gift cards. They are so super quick to make that I guess I'll have to make a bunch!

I Love Bling

Ok so I haven't been hiding honest! I have been busy doing all kinds of things. Finishing up some on line classes. ( I still have techniques to finish learning). I also had to take a break in order to make some jewelry for Fran's customer appreciation day. (I felt the women were as tired of tools as I am. These are so much fun to make and way cheaper than the European style bracelets! I love adding crystal elements for that touch of glitz. I do have some listed on my Etsy store if you'd care to take a peak.

Bathing suit charm

Sea Shell charm

Little White Purse

High heels

Who loves you

Turtle and dolphin

Creativity Begins Here!

    This months challenge for the Circle members was to make something expressing your love of creating, this is what I came up with.
    I had wanted to make something for my craft room and like many of you, I have an abundance of supplies. Sometimes I forget all the neat products I own so I decided to make a wall plaque to use as a creative jumping off point.
    First I used some wall vinyl and made the word "Creativity" using gypsy font cut at 4". This is such a beautiful font with intricate detail in the fonts (so creative, lol). Then I used my gypsy to weld the words "begins here" using "Opposites Attract" @ height of 2.25.
   Now for my Creative Board. Where do I begin? First I used a 12"x12" piece of printed paper and adhered that to same size chipboard that was painted on the back side. I then made a glimmer mist using Distress Inks and Perfect Pearls. Once it was dry I distressed the edges with my Distrezz It All and inked the edges then punched the top edge with my Bind It All.
The creative ideas was cut also with Gypsy Font using both shadow and upright feature. I used both solid card stock and print and reversed them for top and bottom of board.
The dress form was cut @ 3.50" with the French Manor cartridge. For this cut I used Grunge Paper by Tim Holtz and used his black dabber paint . I finished the "dress" with a small prima flower and small rhinestone. It is adhered to a spellbinders oval that is embossed with one of the folders from the Asian bundle using my Cuttle bug, of course the edges were inked!
The small velum envelope with tag was a perfect way to showcase my brads. It was cut using Fabulous Findings@ 2.48x 2.32 for the insert. I know the lattice was cut using French Manor but I can"t remember the details of my butterfly. (I cut and stickled it a while ago and found it in my stash while doing this project, lol.
I have been taking classes at My Creative Classroom so I had to incorporate a few techniques. One was the memory frame that is stamped "Laugh" and uses alcohol inks for the background. I used Plantin School book in for my "vintage" flowers that were cut @ various sizes and has a rhinestone center.
The Just A Note was cut using Imagine More and then inked. I finished the whole project off with some Jolee embellishments (paint tubes, apron, palette etc.) and of course some beautiful ribbon.
Although this project was a lot of work, every time I look at it I smile so I guess it was worth the time and effort. I hope this has somewhat inspired you!
                                                               
                                                                     
                                                              

Blog Candy!!!

 Selma's Stamping Corner is having a great giveaway. Just click on the link below to view all the neat products including gift certificates to Joan's Garden. Selma has some great projects and also several great tutorials. Be sure to check her out and become a follower.
http://selmasstampingcorner.blogspot.com/2010/10/blog-candy-to-celebrate-150000-blog.html

Fun Flock Lion

   I just love this card! The challenge for the week @ Cricut Circle Blog was to create something with rich fall colors. The palette was gray, orange, burgundy and brown. You also had to use at least 2 cuts and add texture. That's right at my alley!
   I started with my French Manor cartridge and cut the lion "door knocker" out of tan and chocolate brown card stock. Then I ran it through the xyron both side. After layering the pieces I added fun flock for the lions mane and chalk for his features, and a small piece of metallic gray card stock for the mouth and eyes.
   The medallion is also from French Manor. I used the negative pieces as well to accent the greeting.
   The base of the card is layered with tan, brown and orange card stock. I embossed the top piece with a folder from the Asian bundle and ran it through my CB. The greeting is from a M's stamp in the dollar bin and layered on burgundy card stock.

 

Read The Manual, Dummy!

   Okay I had a duh moment. I liked my Imagine but was having some trouble. The main thing was I could not seem to get a good shadow with my cuts ( rather no shadow) . It didn't seem to matter whether I used an Imagine cart or one of my older carts. I was going to call the company today but thought, hum, why don't I read the manual? What a great idea!!!
   Here's what I learned: true size is like real dial size so if you size with this everything does not cut to proportion in other words you have to use relative which sizes everything accordingly. What an amazing thing it is to READ how to do this, lol.
   A lot of people have asked can you use your older carts and color with the Imagine; the answer is YES.

 

French Manor

   What a wonderful cartridge French manor is! I finally got around to using this and boy does it help you get creative. First I started with my cricut Imagine and chose my background paper  using Imagine more cart and used Plantin Schoolbook for my card base. I love to use PS for cards because I love the dotted lines on the bottom. I also cut the frame from Imagine More but then added Tim Holtz crackle paint to the frame and distress it. The card base was distressed with the Distrezz It All for a nice grungy feel.
   Bet you can't guess where the curtains came from. Ok, it's from Paper Doll Dress Up. Yup, I used the headress layer with pig tails cut at 4" and cut them apart to make them look like curtains with a swag. Since I cut them out of glitter card stock I guess they don't look too much like hair huh?
   Next I got to use grunge paper for the first time. Oh do I love this stuff!!! The Imagine cuts it like butter and really makes the details stand out. I did the same with the "mirror". The dress form was painted gold with Ranger dabbers but the mirror was cut in black with the print and cut feature on the Imagine. For the mirror I covered it with foil tape.
   I finished it off with prima flowers, pearls for a necklace and of course a touch of ribbon and MS punch for the leaves. I know the person who is going to receive this is going to LOVE it!!!

Praying Hands

   Sometimes we just need to take a step back and take a moment for reflection. I had bought this stamp a while ago and finally got up the nerve to try my copic markers (they are alcohol based) so I needed to practice a bit. I really love the texture of this paper too. It's from a spring pad I got on sale at Walmart and it is awesome to work with. It has a really nice sheen to it as well. The gradient jewels came from creative charms and they were in the boy set but they went perfect with this project. I think with the holidays coming I might keep this card in front of me to remind me to breathe!

More Thanksgiving Day Cards

   This was the first time I used Celebrate With A Flourish + my Imagine. It did not go well!!! I couldn't get the shadow and layers to match up so I had to design to using CDS. Everything looked fine so I went back and entered them in the Imagine and the cuts were way off! I recalibrated my machine and the same thing happened. Since I have orders for this particular card I gave up and used my Expression. I think I will have to play with this cart some more. I truly wish they had the Gypsy and Imagine talking to each other, life would be so much easier.

Thanksgiving Day Cards

   I recently received orders for some Thanksgiving Day cards and I really got kind of fancy.I just love this stamp so I used memento ink in cocoa and colored in with Spica copic markers. The glitzy leak is from some embellishments I picked up @ M's.
   I used some colored prism vellum for the leaf which I cut with my cuttlebug die cuts and then used a metallic permanent marker to add the vein details. Of course it wouldn't be complete without a wonderful satin ribbon.
   I finished the inside with a strip of matching card stock and the same leaf die cut out of a co-ordinating paper.

First Imagine Project

"

   I just love what the possibilities are with this awesome machine! For this first card I used Nursery Tails and found this image under the bonus section. This is like taking a canvas that has the picture already painted and you get to add the dimensions! I added stickles to the clouds and the sun as well as the flowers. The house was set so far in the distance that I really wanted it to stand out more soooo I added glossy accents to the image. The ink didn't even smudge and it dried perfectly, just like a little epoxy sticker.
    The sentiment is from  My Time Made Easy and stamped on a nestabilities and was finished with a felt flower from Creative Charms.
   This lower image was also from Nursery Tails. This cart gives you several versions of this house image so I just had to play some more! I used stickles again on the clouds but this time I chose the layer option and decided to raise the sun and house with pop dots as well as the white picket fence sections. The sun has the 3/8" pop dots whereas the rest have 1/8" pop dots to give a variation on the dimensions of the "landscape".The small flower embellishment is one I had left over from a previous project (I have lots of left overs, lol) Hope you like my first project there are more to come!!!!

My Creative Classroom!

    I've been lost in classes! I am absolutely in love with this site. I started taking classes here last spring and always find there are more I want to take!
   Right now I am taking 2 online classes with Donna Salazar. The first class is distrezz it 101. This class teaches you how to use the distrezz it all tool , its like a sander for paper, chipboard, cardboard etc.
   I'll post the final project after I finish the last class which ends with the tutorial and final techniques tomorrow.
   The other class I'm taking is also taught by Donna Salazar. Its called Artsy Fartsy. This class is way too much fun. I did purchase Donna's kit for this class. The papers are all designed by her and features wonderful watercolor paper.
   You'll notice on both of these pages there is a beautiful shimmer to the paper. This is a spritz technique that is just wonderful. I made my own spritz with reinkers, water and Ranger's perfect pearls

   One of the many things about Donna's classes is learning how to make these wonderful flowers She has made her own paper called Crafty Chronicles. I didn't want to cut the paper up because of the hilarious features she wrote including the ads.
   This page had a light lavender wash before I added the white braid and my rose bud flowers. Of course I added my own touches by using pearls, ribbon and a double heart charm.
   Even though I finish Distrezz It All 101 tomorrow, I have 3 more weeks of the fabulous Artsy Fartsy classes to go. I am also working on some projects with the Imagine and hope to complete some soon so I can share. (I had a lot of "homework" to do for my classes!)

Imagine This!

     This is an early birthday present from my husband! First I didn't realize how big this new machine is, yikes! I had to wait a full day before I took it out of the box so I could rearrange my craft room. I heard many new owners are having trouble with certain aspects of the machine but I seemed to have lucked out and calibrated mine without a problem. Now off to play with it!

Cracked Glass Technique

       
Hi all! Well I've been super busy and haven't had a chance to add to my blog lately, but, have no fear I'm back,lol. There are so many fabulous techniques out there to try but this one really peaked my interest.I really wanted to do this challenge at Just Us Girls 50. (I had intended to do the sketch challenge as well but ran out of time!!) At any rate This cracked glass technique was so much fun I'm glad I chose this one.

     First you stamp your image ( I love Christmas so this one is perfect). I used memento ink since I was going to use some copic markers to color the image in. The image is then cut using a nestabilities square scallop. Once that is done the real fun begins. I used an embossing pad and utee embossing powder and my trusty heat gun. You let it cool ever so slightly and then repeat adding the utee until you have your desired finish. Here comes the cool part: you put it in the freezer for a minute or two and then take it out and crack it! The designers at Splitcoast Stampers came up with this.When you have your desired effect you work some distress ink into the cracks.
     To complete the card I added some epoxy flowers to the lower corners ( of course I had to add extra bling for the centers) and also added some ribbon and rhinestones to the top corners as well. Since the image is so darn cute I mounted the square with pop dots. I love the vintage look of this card. Not bad for my first try. I'm sure I will perfect this with a little more practice.
     There are also new classes up at My Creative Classroom which of course I signed up for 2 so far. Off to do my home work for both of Donna Salazar's classes (I'm falling behind already, lol!)

New Coloring Cards Book

   Ok I am beyond excited right now. I was blog hopping and found out about this fabulous book that was just released and its all about techniques for card making. I am awe struck at how talented these ladies are. They all have one to multiple cards included in the book with instructions. Anyways, the book was just published so I left comments on each of these fabulous artists blogs and was chosen from Trudy's blog to receive  a copy. She has 5 cards included in the book!!! I've included the link to her blog and hope you have a chance to checkout some of the other designers as well, they truly are inspiring! http://truesgiftsfromtheheart.blogspot.com

Tinkerbell!!!

     Happy 4th Birthday Mia! This cutie grand daughter of mine is such a girlie girl! Of course she would want a fairy party. Cricut and Mema to the rescue, lol. I feel so proud of myself going green. I had saved some Yankee Candle containers so decided to turn them into vases. Tink is cut @ 2" from the Tinkerbell cart and I used a hot pink vinyl.
     My grandson pointed out to me that there are also boys at the party so I pulled out the new Nursery Rhymes cart and found a boy and girl fairy playing together. This image was also cut @ 2" out of lavender vinyl. The grass is cut @ 3/4" out of green

Shrinky Dinks Meets Cricut!

    
   Remember making Shrinky Dinks? I do! Thanks to Shirley at Okieladybugs Scrap N More she peaked my lost interest in this fun craft. I was able to find packs of shrinky dink material @ my local Michaels and just HAD to try it with my cricut. I used a variety of carts including Indie Art and Everyday Paper Dolls.
     I knew you could use colored pencils but this was a variety pack and the material I used allowed you to use Copic markers or any permanent marker. The pack also included black material which made making the spider web real easy.

   Since I have sooooo many craft items, I decided to turn these into charms using some crystals and beads I had hanging around. They are actually so light they would make awesome earrings or even necklaces.
    I decided to make a Halloween mini book while I was at it. (Guess I have my mojo working, lol). Anyways the following pics really don"t need much explanation except maybe the one with the tag. I really got my moneys worth out of the Alcohol ink class. You can make anything to match your project I love it. This album is for sale in my etsy store if anyone is interested. Oh and the black and silver paper? That was another goodie in the mystery box I bought from My Favorite Things back in March!!!

Mini Books for all occasions!

     Well, I haven't taken the summer off, on the contrary, I've been making mini books! This is a cute little one for a baby boy. Believe it or not its made from small envelopes that are covered with a heavy printed card stock. These are so easy to add pockets to hide journal tags and additional pictures.

     All pages are matted and this particular book is embellished with vehicles, boats, planes, cars, you get the idea!

     You can see one of these tags I was talking about: "Prince Charming".  I have decided to start selling these on my etsy store. It also motivates me to start making albums of my kids, grandkids etc.lol. I have more books to come!!!!

Sure Cuts A Lot 2

     Sorry its been so long since I posted but I had to help welcome our newest grandson Charles Francis Haskell. He was born July 20th and is the 3rd son for our daughter Joelle and her husband Mark. Charlie makes our 5th grandson out of now 8 grandchildren! I guess I better get going on some baby albums!!
     I love all the tools available for the paper crafters out there however, it can be intimidating to use all the products I have, lol, or should I say learn to use. I am so glad I found My Creative Classroom. Its an on line "school" for crafters and they offer some wonderful classes. So far I have taken both sessions on the Bind-It All for mini books and the alcohol inks classes.
     Several years ago a program came out that works with the Cricut (although it is not sponsored by Provo Craft that makes the Cricut).Since I am so computer savvy (LMAO) I don't know what I was thinking when I ordered the program. Well MCC is offering a summer program on the SCAL 2 so naturally I jumped on it.
     All the little quirks about the program are finally beginning to make sense, yeah! The above screen shot is from lesson 4. The bug is Cara's and we have to use markers (yes I have the cri-kits sparkle pens) and cut it out. However the image that is traced with the pens and the outline image did not quite match up so I learned how to fool with the measurements. It came out perfect, yeah!!!! Can't wait for the next class on Wednesday. I'm beginning to feel smart!!!!

Thank You

Wow I love how this turned out! The color inspiration comes from the color palette for C4C45
(Crazy 4 Challenges). It was to use  red, black and white. Considering I have been weeding thru scraps that are hanging around, I knew just what I was going to do when I came across this nice black and white print.
     The lovely medallion is from the new cricut lites cart "Lovely Florals". I actually cut this twice on the shadow feature in white and black card stock and then once at regular feature out of red card stock. I used some copic spica markers to highlight the details on the medallion and stamped the sentiment with versamark ink.
     I used red card stock as the base, then, added a solid black mat followed by the printed paper. It is finished off with a paisley black and white satin ribbon and, of course, red rhinestones around the center of the medallion and on the ribbon.

Our Own Food Network!

     Well, we had a lazy, rainy Saturday last weekend and there are only so many movies, and miniature golf to occupy your time. Both my son Steve and his girlfriend Renee love to cook. So, I suggested we make some homemade kielbasi and fresh pasta. While they went to the store to get some meats, I assembled the remaining ingredients and quickly made some plain macaroni.

     It didn't take long at all for her to learn to do the stuffing. ( I know she enjoyed this part better than the grinding of the meat, lol). Steve was busy loading the hopper while she guided the casing. It smelled unbelievably good! We made 10 lbs. now on to the pasta.

    Next up was making fresh sun dried tomato pasta. We finished it off with a wonderful pesto sauce. In just 4 hours we made the fresh sausage and pasta. Naturally we froze some and sent some back to school with them. Incidentally, the pasta attachment was a Mothers' Day gift  from Steve and my husband. Fran said "What does she want that for? She'll never use it". Wrong again dear!!!

Rainbows and Jugs 41

    

     It is so much fun to make your own paper, well, sort of. The challenge over at Jugs 41 for the technique this week was to use re inkers and do the drop, spray and smash technique. I wanted to do something to really show off how beautiful a simple strip of the right paper can be.
     Just a few tips about the re inkers. First there are 2 types that I am aware of. One is the water based ex. Inkabilities by Posh Impressions which uses water for spritzing and working with the inks. The other is alcohol inks and uses an alcohol blending solution to spread your inks. The ones I use are the Adirondack alcohol inks. Both produce great results when used on a glossy card stock, paper or velum. My Creative Classroom has some great on line classes to learn all sorts of techniques and fun projects. I highly recommend them.
     Now back to my card. I started with a 4.25 x 11" piece of card stock and then adhered my "designed" card stock. The fun part about using inked paper is you never know where it will take you. After looking at the patterns I created it reminded me of a beautiful sunrise so I decided to use it as a sympathy card. Since I used the smash technique, my other piece of card stock reminds me more of floating balloons so that one will more than likely become a birthday card. That's the real beauty of using this medium.
     The sentiment is from a wood stamp and I used a color box purple ink.The "books" were cut from a nestabilities label with a coordinating card stock and inked with chalks. I used a grass strip rub on to add some interest on the bottom.  For finishing touches I added a nice purple satin ribbon and a few rhinestones.
     Off to do some more creating, lol.

For The Love Of Art: All Dolled Up!

For The Love Of Art: All Dolled Up! http://colorthrowdown.blogspot.com/2010/07/color-throwdown-100_07.html

All Dolled Up!

Isn't she just adorable! Meet Vivienne the stamp set I won from a recent blog hop. I now have 3 grand daughters and the older 2 (6 yrs and almost 4 yrs) love to have Mema (up that's me, lol)  french braid their hair, so I thought I'd make a cute "purse" to hold the supplies.
     I have been wanting to try this stamp set so when Color Throw Down 100 had a challenge ( celebrating their 100th challenge let's hear a loud cheer!!!!) using blue, green, pink and real red I thought here comes Vivienne!
     The bag is from TBBM and is cut to fit page. I think the paper was from K&Company ( I went thru so many stacks I can't remember which one I used, lol)

Not Mess Any More!

     Without further a due here are my creations I made with my challenge to myself. I made 6 cards and have plenty of supplies to make more.
     If you would like to purchase some they are for sale in my etsy store .http://www.etsy.com/shop/CardsNMore0005?page=1
     Back to creating!!

What A Mess!!!

     I can't work under these conditions, yikes!! So today I am challenging myself to only use the supplies laid out all around  me. I will make whatever comes to mind, not over think my design,  just Do It! I also have several new cartridges so maybe its time to put these carts through the paces, wish me luck!