Something New

First, a picture of the sunset last Friday night from my front porch. I found out later my Dad, who lives a 1/4 mile away, also went out and took pictures that night. Beautiful!

I've never made a bookmark before, so when Pollycraft's Monday Challenge was for tags and bookmarks, I was really curious. Maria from the DT shared this tutorial on bookmarks. I was inspired by Sheri G. at The Pink Elephant Challenge to CASE one of their cards. Bugaboo Stamps Challenge was to use pink, green, and black. Sentimental Sundays asked us to step out of our comfort zone. And of course Flutterby Wednesday's love anything with wings!

I used a half of a card to make the bookmark as it was the heavier cardstock. Then I printed and colored my free reading fairy image from Elizabeth O. Dulemba's coloring pages. Perfect for a bookmark don't you think? I used my Zig markers and EK Success pencil crayons to color her. Carefully cut out around her leaving small white border, which I'm glad I did because it helps her to stand out on the dark background. I made a triangle on my Silhouette and used my 'newspaper grunge' fill pattern to fill it. But I had to print it in black and white because my color cartridge was broken, so I distressed the edges of my papers and used my Antique Linen distress inks to yellow both the top and bottom papers. I made the small letters again in the Silhouette Studio and printed them. I just used a light pink pencil crayon to shade them. I cut the border from my Silhouette. And placed a dark pink distressed triangle over the back fold. I have 2 nieces in high school so the colors will be perfect for either one of them. I see myself making another one in the near future, because I'm sure they'd both like one. Thanks for looking!

My lessons learned: Bookmarks should be kept as 1 dimensional as possible so as not to risk damaging the spine of the book. Wouldn't have thought of that (I think reading the book does that most of the time but who's to say).

A Little Bit of Everything

Because this card isn't for anyone yet, I took alot of chances that I wouldn't normally take. I really want to win some Bugaboo Stamps (I love them) and the Hero Arts September Challenge (they have pretty awesome prizes....and lots of entries for them, lol). Bugaboo Stamps asked for a scene and Hero Arts asked for Autumn, fall colors, and/or a window card. The mouse, mushroom (Hero Arts Silhouette shape), leaves and scallop are all seperate images. I tucked the little mouse under the mushroom and 'rained' some leaves down from above. I colored the images using the Silhouette fill color window and then printed them right onto the inside of my card. I then cut the scallop from the front of the card using the Silhouette. I picked 2 busy fall patterned papers and cut them to the size of the front of the card. Cut them in half, joined the 2 halves on my cutting mat and cut the scallop out of the patterned paper using my Silhouette. I don't usually use patterned papers but since the image was inside the card I wanted to really jazz up the front. Then I edited the scallop by deleting points until it was a half scallop. I was going to use this for my sentiment when I thought hmmm, looks like a cloud, so I printed my really cool sentiment onto my cloud and used Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Broken China around the edges. I used my ever trusy Bounty Paper Towel applicator to give it that nice swirly look. Then I found a big yellow button to represent the sun and used my Lemondrop Twinery Twine to attach it. I have been sooo intimadated about using my Twinery Twine (probably because it's so expensive), but I think I did well. I popped the cloud off the page and cut out 3 extra leaves for under the cloud. I used my Glossy Accents on the 3 leaves outside the card and on the 3 leaves and Mousie's nose inside the card. I pop dotted the 3 leaves on the front of the card. I LOVE that the little image is inside the card where the writing will be and yet it certainly doesn't feel as if anything is missing from the front!
My lessons learned: Sunlight is the very best way to take a picture. I feel sorry for actors and actresses that have to see their faces on the big screen in HD. By the time I'm done cropping out the cookie monster Q-tip holder from the bathroom counter (because that is the room with the most light) you can see every little wart and blemish on my poor card. I also learned it is best to do the most complicated image with your Glossy Accents first (in this case the Maple Leaf) because my hand was shaking by the time I went to do the last one (in this case the Maple Leaf). I will try retaking my photos tomorrow, in the sun.

Because so many card challenges this week have a fall theme, I would like to enter my card at:
Penny's Paper-Crafty Fall Challenge they have some great prize sponsers this week
Delightful Challenges by Louby Loo Happy Fall Y'All Challenge I love the 'cute' images and they have sooo many,
Crafting for All Seasons Fall Colors Challenge one of their sponsers this week carries Meljens Designs (love),
Crafty Purple Frog Fall Into Fall Challenge I have a mermaid crazy little girl right now and they have the most beautiful mermaid designs

In Sympathy

My brother-in-law's Mom passed away so I wanted to make this card for them. She was 67 and while she was sick, it was very sudden. How do you send and say everything you want to a grieving family in a card? I don't know, but for me the answer is to make one. At least I can send a little piece of homemade, handmade care (I hope). My SIL and BIL and niece and nephew all love my scrapbooks (course they're featured fairly prominently in them) so even though I've just started card making I thought they might like one.
I used a free digital image that I got from May Brit's blog. It was an image she created in memory of the victims in Norway and thought it made a beautiful image for a sympathy card. I printed it directly onto the card and then used my Coluzzle circle cutter and swivel knife to cut a partial circle around the image. I then used a craft knife to cut around the inside of the circle and image inside it. I colored the image using my EK Success Memory Pencils (pencil crayons). Blue was her favorite color, so I made the candle blue. She was also very allergic to flowers but pink was another of her favorite colors, so I made the roses pink. I used double sided tape to adhere the pearl ribbon and the lace. I punched 3 pink butterfliens and 1 blue from cardstock. She had 3 girls and 1 boy (my BIL). I also punched 4 butterflies from a shiny vellum I had and put that right on top of the cardstock to mute it a bit and add some softness. I used embroidery floss to sew them onto the lace. I handwrote the sentiments.
My lesson learned: I still don't know a good adhesive for ribbon and now lace. I tried the AC permanenent adhesive roller and that didn't work. The double sided tape works but only for awhile. The search continues....

I have shared this card at Pollycraft's, Flutterby's, and at Sugar Creek Hollow (if anyone knows how to best adhere lacy embellishments it should be someone there!).

For My MUCH Younger Friend

My friend Vicky was born exactly 3 weeks after I was. She plays that up, alot. This card is for her. I printed the black and white sunflower image out right on the card itself and then cut out the background to make a window card. I then used my parchment colored ink from ColorBox to ink the petals and then went over them with amber from ColorBox to highlight them. I love the way the ink muted the black lines and gave the sunflowers a vintage feel. I used Tim Holtz walnut distress stain to do the seeds. I then created the sentiment in Silhouette and printed it right onto the card as well. I'm most proud of the butterflies. I printed my image again and cut out the leaves of the sunflowers to make the butterfly wings. I used the same 2 ColorBox colors, but reversed them. I put the amber on first and then highlighted with parchment. I used my iRock to set the black metal glam rocks. I cut the frame out using my Silhouette. I'm going to enter this in a few weekly challenges too.
Flutter By Wednesday's open challenge (as long as you use fairies, angels or butterflies).
Sugar Creek Hollow's sunny sunflower challenge
Sentimental Sunday's autumn challenge (that includes a sentiment).
My lesson learned: the distress ink really does stain your fingers for a long time. And I really have to figure out a better way to take pictures when I can't use natural sunlight.
Now to keep Vicky from looking at my blog for the next 2 weeks.....

Football Card

I made this as a thank-you to friends that came to my birthday party. Saskatchewan is pretty fanatical about football and they are no exception. I found the vintage football player digital image at Create with TLC. I colored him in with my EK Success Memory Pencils and then used Versafine Majestic Blue on the sky and ColorBox Fresh Green on the grass. I printed the Friends digi from a free digi stamp I got at Netty's Cards. I printed it on brown cardstock, cut it out and used a brown safety pin to attach it to the card. I'm going to enter it at Challenge #75 at MelJen's Designs. My lesson learned: I applied the inks using a piece of paper towel and it gave it a really nice texture!

For My Teacher Friend

I made this as a thank-you for my birthday gift for a friend that is a teacher. Alot of my friends are teachers because the Husband is one and I worked in schools as an Educational Assistant before the kids. Every week Bugaboo Stamps releases a free digital stamp and 'Margaret' as a teacher was this week's release. Their weekly challenge was an anything goes challenge, so I thought I'd enter my card. Here is their link: Catch The Bug Challenge Blog
My friend has a great sense of humor, so I added the quote "If you promise not to believe everything your child says happens at school, I'll promise not to believe everything he says happens at home." She also has an eclectic fashion sense so I used my Zig markers to color her outfit with every color I could. I added the text in my Silhouette program and it allows you to wrap it around the circle shape. Then I just had to print and cut. Created the thank-you tag from a frame shape that I added a 3/4" ellipse on each side and then cut out the ellipses as well as the frame. I purposely added a 5/8" ribbon in a pattern and color that didn't match anything else, again because of her sense of style.
My lesson learned: that it is very hard to attach a circle where the writing will be on the edge to a piece of paper and run through a printer. I used my Zig 2 way glue and a very tiny piece of removable tape, but it took quite a few tries. Will have to work out a better plan next time.

Alot of Firsts Here

Well I just celebrated a birthday so I thought I would like to make some thank-you cards. I also just discovered digital stamps. I found a great site Free Digital Stamps which lists all the free digital stamps offered by different people each day. From there I found Meljen's Designs. She has some of the most beautiful, FREE designs I have seen. She really doesn't distinguish between what she offers in her store and what she gives away free each week and I really admire that. Her weekly blog challenge was to use only cardstock on your card and no patterned paper. I cut out a circle on white cardstock using my Silhouette then printed a sized down Happy Fall image on my printer. Taped the circle on top of my printed image and ran it through my printer again. That's how I got the image on my circle. Then I taped orange cardstock over the pumpkin and printed again, red over the leaf and printed again, and brown over the stem and printed again. I then cut out each piece. I wasn't able to color the image using Paint, so I chose to paper piece it instead. I also cut out the scalloped circle out of beige cardstock. Here's where I did something really new....I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Walnut Stain on the scallop and Pine Needles on the circle. I also have an ink blending tool, which happens to come with 2 starter blending foams, which works out perfectly since I only have 2 inks (so far). After rubbing the stain on the scallop I sprayed it with water and dried it with my hairdryer. I used quite a bit of water and it ran, which I think gives it a great 'stained' look. For the green on the circle I used less water because I didn't want my printer ink to run (and it didn't). I then glued each cut out piece of cardstock on to the image. I felt it needed something so I added the little punched oak leaves down the sides (which means I can also enter my card in Cute Card Thursday's challenge Cute Card Thursday I love them). I ran the cardstock through my xyron then punched the leaves out of the already adhesive backed paper, that way I didn't have to try to glue each little leaf.

My lessons learned: put a paper towel under your paper before spraying with water, the ink runs right through. Sometimes when drying my paper, the paper would curl up, so I flipped it over and applied heat to the backside of the paper and that seemed to flatten it out. Kind of worked like an iron. It was kind of scary fun trying all this new stuff. Thanks for looking!