Time Heals

        Even though I posted this a few days ago I thought I'd share this with the folks at Pink Cricut since I was so pleased with how it turned out. Please bear with me since there is a story behind this card (isn't there always,lol):
      I hope you are all having a wonderful start to the New Year. I know I am! Unfortunately some people start off with all the bad luck right in the beginning. What astounds me is the way people accept the circumstances. Either they look at the glass half empty or accept things for the way they are and look at it half full.

     By now you are probably thinking what the heck is she talking about, lol. Before I show you the card I made let me explain the reason behind it. I live in a very small town and, like most small towns, there is the go to coffee hangout. It is owned by a wonderful couple couple who have added a deli and ice cream shop. It is so friendly and everyone cares about each other (for the most part!). Anyways the store was closed New Years day and the owners were preparing to watch the Patriots football game. They were making fondue to nibble on when he took the cover off the pot and it burst into flames catching his shirt on fire. As if that wasn't bad enough he tried to rush the pot out the kitchen door when he dropped the pot of burning peanut oil and it splashed on the floor and the flames raced up his shirt and burnt his face and burnt his arms and chest again! He suffered second and third degree burns.
     Now I bet you are asking yourself what does the glass half full/half empty have to do with this? When I finally saw his wife I was obviously concerned particularly about his eyes. She said the eye appointment went extremely well and that there would be no permanent damage to his eyesight. When I asked about his arms she said it was too early to tell if he would need skin grafts but "you know Mary, we can deal with anything. we thank God it wasn't any worse and are so thankful his eyesight is going to be okay. It will be a long haul 'til he is back at work but that's ok. I have a new appreciation for the work he puts in, now that I have to help fill in his time slot as well. It's been an eye opener for me as well."

     I made this card as soon as I found out about the accident and left it for him before I had a chance to speak with his wife. So, under the circumstances, what can you say in a card? How about Time Heals?

Simply, Get well soon

The outside of the envelope.

      I am using a lot of different supplies lately with my Imagine projects and I am just loving the more sophisticated look I am getting! For example I love adding these metal embellishments particularly with masculine cards. I also love using Tim Holtz folders with my cuttlebug. It all came together so well with the Imagine clock paper from The Heirloom cartridge as well as the solid green paper. The litte tag also was cut with the cuttlebug from the tag dies.Except for the sentiment, this would be a great design for a male birthday card. Thanks for listening to my long winded post. Do you have a tendency to look at that glass half full or half empty?

Silhouette Cameo Giveaway

     Even though I am hooked on Cricut machines, this new machine offers so much more. The folks at Expressions vinyl.com are giving away this fabulous machine to one lucky winner on Jan. 25. For a chance to win this machine just click the image on the right hand side of my blog and tell them For The Love Of Art sent you! While you are at their site please be sure to check out their products on vinyl (also for outdoor use) and  their flocking material.Their prices are fabulous. Good luck and I hope you win!!!!

Happy New Year

     As we ring in the New Year I would like to thank all of you who have stopped by and left such wonderful comments. I hope your visit here has been inspiring, insightful and at times, left you with a smile on your face. With that said, I thought I would leave you with the December "kids" who sometimes feel lost in the spirit of the holidays around their birthday but who really warm our hearts with their presence. Before I share the pics of the birthday celebration I also want to let you know there were 2 more birthdays this December: our grandson Nicholas who turned 5 years and our oldest son Michael who turned 38. Although they live in Florida we think of them always. Here are the birthday honorees:

Ben hiding!

Just in time to blow out the candles. Ben turned 5!!!

Steve (my baby) turned 23 years

Ok, so it wasn't Sammy's birthday. His party was on the only day we have had snow; October Halloween Storm. What the heck, we can sing Happy Birthday again!

Cece turns 2 years December 28th.

Last but not least, Steve's girlfriend Renee whose birthday is today! Happy New Year and Birthday Renee.

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Year.

Merry Christmas, Tag #11

     I only wish this season I had more time to try out these awesome techniques Tim Holtz showed for the 12 Tags of Christmas...2011. Although I only had time to complete 4 I know I will continue to try some of the other tags and the great projects he shared.
     This tag by far is my favorite. I always loved this angel image yet for some reason I just hadn't found the right project. I started with Art Philosophy cartridge by ProvoCraft and cut the tag @ 6.25". The background is so easy to make. I used cream glossy card stock and some alcohol inks. The Salt Boat Blue and Stream alcohol inks go together perfectly.
     Next I used a piece of craft plastic and stamped this beautiful sentiment: The most precious Gift of Christmas arrived in a very small bundle with no bow." You have to use Stazon ink or one that can be used on slick surfaces.

     The stars are really cool to make. Unfortunately I only had Shrinky Dink material in white. Tim had used the clear one and the effects are so stunning. Don't worry, I will be getting some to try the other techniques.Any way I like how these stars turned out. First, when working with shrinky dink material you need to cut your images 3x the size you want the shrunken article to be. I cut my stars from "Tis The Season" cartridge @ 2.25", 2.50", 2.75" and 3". this yields finished stars at 1" or less. Here's the fun part. You need to heat UTEE, Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel in a melting pot. Ranger sells these and they are great. All you do is heat the utee, drop your shrinky dink material in the pot and watch it shrivel and squirm! Once it flattens out (in seconds really) gently remove from pot with tweezers and place on a craft mat or another non stick surface to cool. It really is that easy. I finished it off with some Creative Charms rhinestones and also used a gold detail heat embossing to the horn and halo. Add a bow and you are done. Whew, I can't wait to try some more tags.

Believe Tag With Tim Holtz

     I am so excited how this tag came out! This was tag #10 in Tim Holtz 12 Tags Of Christmas. The main technique for this one centered around making a transparency with packing tape! I'll explain more about this later. First I'll begin with the basics for this tag.
     I made my own tag using the  Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.The tag was cut @ 6.25" but, where did that beautiful sheet music come from you ask. Well the Imagine More cart and my Imagine. I have big plans for this machine in the new year. There is a beautiful gold sheen on this tag which the picture does not do it justice. This is accomplished with a mist of Tattered Angels Heirloom Gold. The corners also have a heat embossed filigree design using distressed ink in peeled paint and a gold embossing powder. To complete the tag I used Tim's paper distresser and then inked the sides with Antique Linen distress ink by Ranger.
     I am fortunate enough to have the Expression 2 by Provo Craft but must admit with the holidays I haven't had much of a chance to use it, that is, until now. The machine comes preloaded with the Cricut Alphabet so I decided this font was perfect for the letters in "Believe". I used a scrap piece of paper from DCWV because the colors were just perfect. I ran the letters through my Xyron "X" which made it so easy to attach the letters.

     Here is the best part of this tag, the acrylic charms! I used the seasonal stack from Tim Holtz for the images. This is by far the easiest transfer I have ever made. First, you cut out the image you are going to use and then place a piece of clear packing tape over the image.Next place the image in a bowl of luke warm water for about 30 sec or until the paper begins to separate from the back.You want to gently rub the back to remove the paper leaving the image affixed to the tape. Once it is dry you want to lay it down on the sticky side of a piece of foil tape. Just a word about this.I used foil tape I had on hand from Home Depot. This is not a good choice. The reason is that by removing the paper from the image, it should allow the metal to show thru for a wonderful vintage look. Be sure you purchase one that when you  remove the paper on the foil   it has a metal colored backing. The foil tape I have was white on the back once the paper was removed. This still looks good but would have been great had I used the right foil. Since I made this tag I have noticed the type Tim used where the Tim Holtz line is located in my Michaels. I think it is by Essentials.
     To adhere the image to the front of the charm you will need to apply a small amount of glossy accents to the charm and then burnish the image to the charm. After this dries you just trim it with either scissors or an Exacto knife. I finished the edges off with a gold foil pen.

     As you can see I attached these to the tag with small brads and some twine. In order to complete the look I used some small gold bells that I attached with some raffia. However it some how did not look complete. I rummaged through my supplies and found this twig of red berries and they just seemed to go perfect. Guess I will be doing a lot more transparencies this year, lol. You should really give this a try.