Mini Dance Album

     Finally, they are done! This is the first time I used the mini Your Story by ProvoCraft and I have to say I love the look! These did seem to take quite a bit of time since I played with all the embellishments but the outcome was well worth it.This post is rather pic heavy but thought I'd share the outcome

     This was a fabulous way to use up scraps! Don't forget to leave a comment, I'd  love to hear from you!

Thanks For Being You

      It always pays to clean your workspace! The challenge @ Just Us Girls (JUGS72) is to use aqua, melon and kraft for your colors. For those of you that follow me, the background paper is a piece I had leftover from the sympathy cards I made last week. Perfect for the challenge. I love when that happens!     All the papers except for the kraft color are scraps. I even used the small pieces of melon and solid blue to cut some dimensional butterflies. I painted a few stickles on the wings and used Creative Charms gradient gems for the body of the butterfly. The white border is a punch from Fiskars and blends so well with the background paper from DCWV. I also added some faux stitching on the Spellbinders label. The stamp is also from my stash.

     I also like to finish off the inside of my cards and I had enough leftover pieces to do just that! Don't be afraid to leave a comment, I won't bite!

Wild Thing

     I'm back with another challenge I decided to do. As a member of the Cricut Circle, we are giving the opportunity to enter into some weekly challenges. This weeks was to do something using animals. This put a fire under me since I have several baby cards to do to welcome 2 beautiful babies Cohen and Collin. No they are not twins but cousins born several weeks apart, lol.

     My niece has a wild animal thing going and she and her husband love raccoons. This was a no brainier to use for the challenge and get a card done! I really LOVE how this came out. The reason is I love this paper for the raccoon. Its from DCWV the Safari Chic stack. Sometimes the die cuts look too "cutesy". This paper actually looks like fur! I cut the image from Animal Kingdom @ 3" and the phrase "wild thing" is from Zooballo @ 3/4". The stamp is one I had but wanted to keep with the "woodsy" feel so I inked it with Tim Holtz distress ink in Vintage Photo and embossed with TH embossing powder. Just added a few white dots for the eyes and some imaginisce gold dots for a little bling!

 

I really am trying to use up my scraps so I just added some scrap strips to the inside. Oh I forgot to mention, the background paper was a sheet I had stashed away. It was perfect for this woodsy look. Don't forget to leave a comment and tell me what you think!

With Sympathy Card

     Unfortunately I have the need to make several sympathy cards this week. One co-worker lost her Dad and a friends daughter in law lost her mom. It's always difficult to know what to say as well as making a card that may be somewhat uplifting.
     The usual color scheme seems to be blue, lavender, cream or something serene. However in both the families I am sending these to, the passing of their loved one is a mixed blessing. Therefore I chose to go with something that is elegant, simple and use some brighter colors.
     The paper is somewhat of a damask looking pattern from DCVW "The Mango Frost" mat stack. It has an embossed texture with the hint of glitter. This is the standard 5.50" X 4.25" card that is layered with white card stock on a dark apricot card stock from Provo Craft. The border strip uses a Fiskar punch that mimics the background paper.
     Since this is a simple card with clean lines I used the Spellbinders Labels two and a rub on from My Favorite Things for the outside sentiment. I really love the embellishments from Creative Charms. The soft blue flower and the gradient gems are from this company. I also cut a small flower from one of my nestabilities by Spellbinders.The blue grosgrain ribbon was a left over scrap. (I love when this happens!).

Happy Valentines' Day!

     Just a quick post and a few thoughts on this Valentines' Day. This winter has been a rough one but also a devastating one for the local florists. All the recent snow storms have forced many shops to close in order to clear parking areas. Floral deliveries have been delayed by the wholesalers and shop owners have also endured rising costs on supplies not to mention additional costs on show/ice removal.
     One well known floral clearinghouse has been running ads saying "why use your local florist when we can ship directly from the growers to your home? We will even include a free vase!" Let's think about this for a minute. I live in New England, the land of snow, ice and below freezing temperatures. Who is my local grower? What the ad does not say is that many times these flowers are shipped directly to you from the fields located in South America!!! They are packaged and put on a plane, then a Fed Ex truck where they are delivered right to your door. However if you are at work and don't get home until 5-6pm and your flowers were delivered at 8-9a.m., That means your poor flowers have been sitting in a box, possibly on a snow bank, waiting for you to get home!
     I have been a floral designer for over 10 years now and I have a few insights I would like to share with you. First when we get our flowers in from the wholesaler they are immediately processed. What that means is that they are inspected, given a fresh cut and then placed in a floral food solution with lukewarm water. Once they are hydrated they are again inspected to make sure they are up to our freshness standards. We then begin to design our arrangements. Before the customer walks out of the door the item is again given a fresh cut and water if necessary.
     The drivers call the customer before they take the arrangement out of the cooler and arrange a delivery time. If customer cannot be reached or does not answer the phone the arrangement does not leave the shop. (You won't come home to a bouquet that is frozen!) Occasionally things happen that are beyond our control, ie, a particular variety of flower that does not last as long as it should. In that case all you have to do is call the florist to voice your dissatisfaction. Usually we will send a replacement but we also take back the one that was rejected. The reason a florist will do this is so we can monitor if there is a problem with the flower, the wholesaler that sold it to us or is it that particular grower. If you go through an online clearing house how will you get your replacement and when will that be? Do you really want to come home from work and arrange your own flowers?
     We all could use some bright flowers to cheer us up and get us through the rest of this winter whether it's Valentines' Day or not. I am just so fed up with this ad (ProFlowers, there I said it!) it appears so negative against the local florists that I felt a little prospective on what a florist job entails was in order.

     I sincerely hope you all have a wonderful Valentines' Day and spread the love out there!