Bought My First Copic

So I've been struggling with my printer ink bleeding into the light colors even after I heat set it. So I bought a Copic. E11 Barley Beige. I really don't know anything about Copics. I don't have the special paper, I just used white cardstock and I heat set it the same way I always do. I didn't color over any black lines with it and it took me several 'coats' for lack of a better word to get it even (and there's still a little work that could be done there) but for the most part it worked....I think. I could have done another pass between the eyes, but as I said I was worried about smearing the printer ink. I used an image from Bugaboo Stamps and colored it with my Zig markers and glitter gel pens. I used red Stickles on the strawberries. The frame is a Silhouette image cut out of pink polka dotty patterned paper. I ran my Valentine through the printer to add my sentiment on the back.
My lessons learned: put your freshly Stickled images up high to dry, curious little 4 year-old fingers checking to see if they are dry will leave a perfectly sized little Stickle hole on your strawberry. Easy to fix and even harder to hide a little red finger, hehehe. She was more upset than I was, but lesson learned, by both of us ;o)
And now a Tip for Top Tip Tuesday's: This is one of the best things I have learned in awhile. Color your image the same color as your Stickles (in this case red) before applying the Stickles. That way if there are any spots that don't get perfectly even Stickles coverage, there is no white that shows through!

I would like to share my Valentine at:
Fussy and Fancy Challenge dots, closes Feb. 9,
Bugaboo Stamps Challenge anything goes, closes Feb. 11,
The Pink Elephant Challenge use pink, closes Feb. 12,
Craft Us Crazy anything goes, closes Feb. 15,
Charisma Cardz things with wings, closes Feb. 15,
Paper Crafting Journey fairies, closes Feb. 15,
Crafting for all Seasons love is in the air, closes Feb. 20

A Birthday Card Challenge

This was a hard one. This is for Reverend John's birthday (Feb. 6). I wanted a religious reference but with a sense of humor (because he and I both have one). One of the challenges was to make it masculine. This was harder because he doesn't hunt or fish or play sports and that's what you find when you are looking for images for a masculine birthday card. And this is one time Gus just wouldn't work. I liked the play on words with the shell/shall. I was surprised to learn that "this too shall pass" is not a quote from the Bible. I always just assumed it was. So I went looking for turtle images. Turned out I had one, this guy was a past freebie from Little Scraps of Heaven. I love their images because I can import them into my Silhouette as a cut file. I remember the days when I had to cut the pieces out by hand, this is soooo much easier. I followed the sketch from the Stella Says Sketch challenge at Bugaboo, I just flipped it.

I used seashell patterned paper cut a 1/4" smaller than my card as my base. I printed my own sentiment onto light blue cardstock that I had cut out using a scalloped frame image from my Silhouette. The waves ribbon is also a Silhouette image and I cut them out of my brightest blue cardstock. Sand patterned paper made the base for my turtle. I used a glittery green cardstock (the same glittery green cardstock as the impossible to get a good picture of glittery red cardstock in my earlier Valentine's) for my turtle. I traced around each piece with my green Zig marker to add a little definition. My printer added the Happy Birthday to the small heart. I added iRock gemstones to the sentiment 'shell' and turtle shell. Put some faux stitching around both.
My lessons learned: he's cute, but not very masculine. Thank goodness I have 2 little girls (Kaylee gets to decorate the inside, and Abby gets to do the envelope) so I think it still works.

Those 2 circles on either side of Abby's head are her ears.....so not an exact likeness ;o)

I would like to share my card at:
Dream Valley Challenges use an animal, closes Feb. 5,
Digistamps4Joy for the boys, closes Feb. 8,
Simon Says animal antics, closes Feb. 8

I Was Inspired By This Quote

There is a lady that sits in front of us at Church that always brings her Bible and will reference it at times during the service. When I read this quote I instantly thought of her and thought it would be perfect for a bookmark. I'm going to take it for her this Sunday and I'm kind of excited about it.
I take a piece of 4"x4" heavy cardstock. I mark the 2" point of the top and bottom and then use my ruler to fold in the 2 sides to make a triangle at the top. I cut 1 piece of seashell patterned paper 3 7/8" x 1 7/8" for the bottom. You could do 4" x 2" if you didn't want a border but the 1/8" off allows for wiggle room if any of your cuts are not quite square. For the top triangle I cut a piece of what I hope looks like sunset colored sky paper 2 3/4" x 2 3/4" and then cut that diagonally to get 2 triangle pieces. I put one on the front and the other on the back to cover the fold lines. You don't have to use the same patterned paper for the front and back, but in this case I did. I also distressed the edges using my Tim Holtz paper distresser. I used my Silhouette to cut the zig zag border from purple cardstock for the middle. The Silhouette also cut out my lace border from what I hope looks like a tea stained piece of patterned paper. I like the way the 'lace' looks a little bit like crosses. The sentiment is printed onto light blue cardstock and cut out in a frame shape Silhouette image. I added the faux stitching.
My lessons learned: I try to keep my bookmarks as 1 dimensional as possible because hopefully they will be kept inside of someone's book ;o)

I would like to share my bookmark at:
Craft Your Days Away distressing, closes Feb. 2,
Card Crafter's Circle friendship challenge, closes Feb. 2,
One Stop Craft Challenge stitching, closes Feb. 3,
Come and Get it Challenges anything but a card, closes Feb. 3,
Stampin' Sisters in Christ your style, closes Feb. 4,
Word Art Wednesday scripture or inspirational words, closes Feb. 7

A is for Abby

The downside of being the youngest is that Abby's was made second, so she had to wait longer for hers. The upside is that I was able to make hers better because I had learned from all of my mistakes on the first one. I used the font Headline News and made my letter size 600. I knew I would be using an 8"x10" frame so I then adjusted the dimensions of my letter to 7"x8.5" in my Silhouette program. Pick a font you like and then play around with the sizes to get one that fits with your frame. I cut out my letter using the Silhouette and then traced it using a pencil onto an 8"x10" piece of white foamcore board. I just traced it lightly this time and used a dashed pencil line. Less erasing that way. Another change was the foamcore board. This worked really, really well because my push pin embellishments went right in but not though it and it held them in tightly too. Buttons were a bag of brights from Wal-Mart. And I used the jewelled thumbtacks and half pearls from the dollar store as well as some rhinestone gems this time. And my flower brads too. I again used American Crafts adhesive runner for the bottom buttons, until I ran out. Then I used Elmer's Craft Bond Foam Glue for the rest of the bottom buttons and all of the top row. This worked SOOO much better than hot glue. You do have to wait longer for it to dry but it actually works and there is no burns trying to hot glue tiny buttons! And even if your button does shift a bit while drying, it dries clear so that's a plus too. This time I wasn't as picky about filling in all the spots on the bottom row because I knew one big button on top would fill in any bottom spaces. Another difference was that I used the little gemstones on both the bottom and the top row to fill in spaces this time. Erased my dashed lines as I went. Remove the glass from your frame and put your foam core letter right in. Put the back on, mine fit absolutely perfectly with the foamcore, and you are done.
My lessons learned: If you use a very thick button, it will be very hard to fill in around it because there is not a level surface on top to put another button on. This is where my brads and thumbtacks really came in handy. It is also a good idea to put two buttons of similar heights together so that you do have something level to glue the top row to.

I'm Supposed To Be AIS

All of us are going to the Teacher's Hockey Tournament (my husband is playing, thank goodness they keep the paddles right on the bench ~ clear, hehehe) this weekend. On Everybody Loves Raymond AIS stands for (Butt) In Seat, and if your A wasn't in the S on time you got left behind. My butt is supposed to be in the seat so this will be a short one. The final birthday week challenge at Bugaboo Stamps is to use 3 patterned papers and their freebie image of the week. I am NOT good with patterned papers. As you will see. This is a bit busy but oh well. I loved the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches and thought it was a perfect fit. Chose my papers from The Stack 5. I made a rosette using my Silhouette and striped paper as one of the circles for the challenge over at The Paper Variety. Awesome! Twinery twine adds the bows to the buttons. Popdots lift my little guinea pig off the page. I included a pic of the sentiment I made up for the inside.
My lessons learned: don't leave the lid off your glue pen, arrrrgh.

*UPDATE*

I just had to rework this one, it was just too bright for me. Here's the new one. Still used all the same elements and sketch, just toned the background paper down a bit. I also added blue marker and glossy accents to the balloon thanks to a great idea from Melissa!

 

For MY SIL

My sister-in-law's birthday if February 10th and we no longer buy presents for the adults anymore (boooo) so I made her a card. The cleaning fairy is her present. I think my brother should have to break out his feather duster, apron and wings since I'm only sending the one on the card and not a real one.
I used the sketch from Bugaboo Stamps Thursday challenge. I used the cleaning fairy digital stamp from Mo's Digital Pencil Too. I used an old 8 1/2" x 11" piece of patterned balloon paper left over from the old days when I used that size for my scrapbooks (I dreaded the move to 12" x 12", but I made the leap) as my background paper. I then placed a piece of black polka-dotty acetate paper on top of that. I printed out my image and colored her using my EK Success pencil crayons. Distressed and stamped the edges of my image with silver ColorBox ink. The X's and O's border is a Silhouette image cut out of light blue cardstock. The sentiment frame is also a Silhouette image. I really like the way it turned out and I hope she does too (once she gets over the disappointment of no present...or cleaning fairy, boooo).
My lessons learned: I don't think my acetate paper stands out enough, but I tried it on a solid background and it didn't stand out any better. Probably best used as a transparency, over something else, like a frame.

I would like to share my card at:

Card Makin' Mamas something old (patterned paper), closes Feb. 3,

Sparkles Forum Challenges new crafty goodies (digistamp), closes Feb. 14

For Great-Grandma Kay

My Grandma is 97. She still lives in her own apartment and does the seniors visiting for the Church. She's an amazing lady and this Valentine is for her. I used Bugaboo Stamps Sunbonnet Love image. I made a 4"x4" frame from sparkly red cardstock with a white back (so I could add the sentiment there) using a Silhouette image. I was tired of fighting with my markers so I paper pieced her using bright primary colored cardstock which I ran through the printer and the cut out by hand. I even cut the little sliver of skin toned paper above her shoes. The red glam rocks were added with my iRock. The frame was run through my printer to put the sentiment on the back (I'll add our names later).
My lessons learned: it is almost impossible to take a good picture of this cardstock. It reflects the light and looks yellow or orange (it's red). Frustrating.

 

This is for Bugaboo Stamps primary colors and bling challenge.

Paint the Town Plaid

My cousins birthday is on Jan. 22nd. She has real red hair and plays the bagpipes. I knew when I saw this sketch from Bugaboo Stamps that the two panels behind Stella were going to be plaid! I used a little penguin image, his bells just worked perfectly for the sentiment I was thinking of. I used my Silhouette to cut out the penguin image and used the offset feature to create and cut the mat. I colored him with glitter markers and Zig markers. The 3 snowflakes are brads. I printed my sentiment on white cardstock, cut close and added that to the corners.

I would like to share my card at:
Crafting For All Seasons snowflakes, closes Jan. 25,
The Stamp Man use red, closes Jan. 27

A Wedding Card

Bugaboo Stamps offered a free bride and groom from their Tuesday new release and a mini challenge to use one or both of the images and a bow. I noticed that Christine Garner combined this mini challenge with the challenge at The Shabby Tearoom "Gorgeous Gateaux" (use gray or silver, lilac, peach, pink, lace and a metal embellishment ~ whew!). I thought that was a genius idea, until I tried it. I'm not a layers person, or even much of an embellishment person, so this was a bit tricky to fit all those things in, but I did it, eventually ;o) Using my Silhouette I placed the 2 images together, interlocking arms (insert awwww), and then placed the pink heart in behind them. I then used the trace feature and print and cut them all out as one image. Used silver glitter marker, Zig markers and EK Success pencil crayons to color them up. Used my iRock to add the bling and the glitter pink metal glamrocks to her dress and his tie. I used my Tim Holtz distress inks to stain/color the paper lace doily. I embossed some lilac cardstock with my new script embossing folder by Cuttlebug. I made a fork bow following this tutorial. I added the silver, metal, heart brad to the center of my bow.
My lessons learned: it takes a really long time to set the thick bling gems. The fork bow was strategically placed because as I was outlining the heart in pink marker, I slipped. Now you know where!

I would like to share my card at:
Sweet Stampin' Challenge glitter and bling, closes Jan. 21,
Stamptacular Sunday at least 2 different textures, closes Jan, 22,
Crafty Boots Challenge new beginnings, closes Jan. 23,
Divas by Design new beginnings, closes Jan. 25

It's -45 Degrees Celsius Here Today (-49 F)

It's a cold day here today, temperature around -30 C, -45 C with the wind chill. The school buses didn't run but the husband went to work. If your car starts, and if it's plugged in it starts, you go. I know, smart people would take one look at the temp. turn the alarm off and go back to bed! My 30-30 dog was in on the mat today. If it's above 30 or below 30 he gets to come in. The cats were cuddled up together in the cathouse. A good day to finish up some crafty projects!
This is a birthday card for my friend Amanda. Her birthday is Jan. 19th and I believe she is leaving her 20's behind with this one. We met when my husband was Vice-Principal and so he was only in the classroom half-time. She was his other half (we've made lots of jokes about that) and we've been friends ever since. I used a Silhouette image for the purse and cut it out of black cardstock. The 'fabulous' rhinestones were a sticker I bought a long time ago but always new it was for a card or layout for Amanda. We tease her about how many times she says "fabulous" (and she's usually saying it sarcastically). I used Lime Twist twine by MME in pink and threaded it through the holes. I tied 2 small knots on each side on the back to attach the twine. The sequin flower is from Imaginisce Cupcake Flowers brights. I attached it using double sided tape. A BoBunny brad made the flower center. A bow out of pink lace attached to the handle completes the front of the purse. I used the internal offset feature on my Silhouette to create the panels that I cut out of pink floral paper. Another frame image from the Silhouette made the 2 inside panels cut out of white cardstock. I used a sentiment from Birds Cards on the top panel. I'll write our sentiment on the other one. I used a pink and a yellow glitter marker for the faux stitching. Finished it off with a pop dot as my purse closure.
My lessons learned: I had to skip the middle hole on the purse flap so that the ends of my twine both finished on the inside. I covered that with my popdot. I will include a scratch and win lottery ticket (no purse should be empty) and who knows maybe she'll share if she wins the big one!

 

I would like to share my card at:

Card Crafter's Circle Happy Birthday, closes Jan. 19,
Bugaboo Stamps birthday, closes Jan. 21,
Sweet Stampin' Challenge sparkle, closes Jan. 21,
Sentimental Sundays ribbon and a sentiment, closes Jan. 22,
City Crafter Challenge pretty inside and out, closes Jan. 24,
Some Odd Girl bling it up, closes Jan. 24,
The ABC Challenge happy birthday, closes Jan. 31,
I Brake For Challenges fancy folds, closes Feb. 1

Drinks Well With Others

Not all teachers, just all the teachers I know (said completely with tongue planted firmly in cheek)! This is for my teacher friend Yaz who had her birthday on Dec. 20th, 2011. She was in Mexico for it. We usually go out for drinks on the last day of school to celebrate her birthday but she had a pretty poor excuse for missing that this year if you ask me ;o)  I used a Bugaboo Stamp, JJ Tequila. I wanted to make it look like a report card so I used some lined school paper as my patterned paper. I ran the background paper through my printer to add the black square and the sentiment. I printed the image out on white cardstock and used my new heat embosser that I got for Christmas to set it. Colored her with EK Success pencil crayons and a blue glitter marker for her dress. Then I colored her glasses light pink and then added glossy accents to them. I thought rose colored glasses went nicely with a stack of drinks. I also added glossy accents to the martini glasses. I outlined my cardstock with a light blue marker. I used a red Zig marker to add the check mark and the A+. Inside I added that I am one of those 'others'!
My lessons learned: my heat embosser works really well to dry my printer ink, but it can curl the paper up a bit. I also used my new Ott Lite that I got for Christmas to take the picture. With sunlight always a gamble in January and the fact that it's usually well after the children have gone to bed that I finish my projects, I can't tell you what a great investment that light was!

I would like to share my card at:

Fab'n'Funky Challenges something new (digistamp), closes Jan. 10,

Fussy and Fancy Challenge Happy Birthday, closes Jan. 13,

Catch the Bug Challenge anything goes, closes Jan. 14,

Sentimental Sundays sentiment, blue and glitter, closes Jan. 15,

Totally Stampalicious funny, closes Jan. 15,

Aud Sentiments sentiment and use scraps, closes Jan. 17,

Creative Craft Challenges what's your resolutions (to drink more...I mean less, or at least with other people), closes Jan. 17,

Southern Girls Challenge show us your sparkle, closes Jan. 19,

Card Makin Mamas something new(digistamp), closes Jan. 19.

K is for Kaylee

I had seen these button monogram letters all over Pinterest and thought they looked really sharp, and fairly easy to make, a good combination in a craft project ;o) I used the font Headline News and made my letter size 600. I knew I would be using an 8"x10" frame so I then adjusted the dimensions of my letter to 7"x8.5" in my Silhouette program. Pick a font you like and then play around with the sizes to get one that fits with your frame. I cut out my letter using the Silhouette and then traced it using a pencil onto an 8"x10" piece of white cardstock. I bought a bag of bright buttons at Wal-Mart but any and all buttons will work. I used my American Crafts adhesive runner to apply adhesive to the back of the buttons. I entirely filled the inside of the letter with buttons, starting with the largest ones. You may want to overlap your pencil marks to save yourself erasing later. I had bought some jeweled thumbtacks and some small, self-adhesive pearl gemstones at the Dollar Store. I already had the flower brads. I used all of these to fill in any and all spaces left on the bottom row. For my top row of buttons, brads and tacks I used a glue gun. I also added a layer of cardboard behind my cardstock to push my brads and tacks into. I erased my pencil lines as I went along on my top row. I removed the glass from my frame and added my cardstock/cardboard monogrammed button letter K. LOVE!
My lessons learned: My kingdom for an adhesive that works (my battle continues)! A glue gun is not ideal for sticking plastic buttons to plastic buttons, especially where they only overlap a very small amount. If you find something better that works for you, go for it! You should also just plan on making your project 2 layers of buttons. I tried to fill in all the small spaces on the bottom row with other small buttons when one big one on top was a much better idea. And trace your letter lightly, erasing in between small spaces is not easy. Another option to consider would be to cut your letter out of colored paper, adhere that to the cardstock, and then cover it with buttons. This would save you seeing any white spaces. I think foamcore would be a much better choice instead of cardstock and cardboard if you are planning on using brads or tacks as I did. I hope my ideas/suggestions help, and get yourself a frame or shadowbox and make your own personalized piece of artwork!

For My Nephew

I made a third bookmark for my nephew for his birthday. That's all of them now, 2 nieces and his. I used this tutorial here to make a corner bookmark. Red is his favorite color. The striped paper came from Making Memories twinkle papers. The top paper came from the Stack 5, I wanted something that looked like ice and this did the trick. I distressed the edges of both papers and used red grosgrain ribbon to divide the 2. The hockey player was a Silhouette image. The letters Making Memories 7/16" Funky Black letter stickers. I used the word goal this time instead of read, but I think goal has an educational context as well as a hockey context, so it worked for me. For the back triangle I just used black cardstock.
My lessons learned: I was shocked at how little red and white patterned paper I had. I had more red, white and blue papers than red and white. And I really wanted to use Canadian colors. Going to have to fix that. I wanted to put the 'ice' colored paper on the bottom but I have found that it really looks better to have the darker color on the bottom. It just seems to anchor things better.

I would like to share my bookmark at:

Do You Stack Up stripes, closes Dec. 28,

MelJen's Designs no rectangle cards, closes Dec. 28,

Stampin' for the Weekend anything goes, closes Dec. 30,

Incy Wincy Designs winter wonderland, closes Jan. 1,

Crafty Sentiments bookmarks, closes Jan. 3,

Charisma Cardz anything goes, closes Jan. 4,

Digital Tuesday Challenge winter wonderland, closes Jan. 10

Abby's Christmas Ornaments, Part 2

I also made these marshmallow snowmen for the tree as part of Abby's birthday theme of Hot Chocolate. I started with 3 very old and slightly hard marshmallows. I cut about 1/3 off of one (and this became the middle). I cut about 1/2 off of another (and this became the head). I pushed a toothpick up through all of them and used a little hot glue between the layers as well. I cut a toothpick in half and colored it brown for the arms. Cut the end off of another toothpick and colored it orange for the nose. For the eyes and buttons I used black glamrocks and set them with my iRock. Used my hot glue gun to glue my ribbon onto the top of the marshmallow head. Then a half a mini Oreo, without frosting, gets glue gunned on top of that. Used the glue gun again to add a chocolate drop on top of the mini Oreo. Next glued the whole works onto 2/3s of a graham cracker and my snowman was complete.
My lessons learned: It would be best to use sprinkles or candies for the eyes and buttons but I didn't have any so I improvised. Probably also best to use frosting to attach the chocolate drop to the mini Oreo. I didn't have any of that either so I used hot glue. It melted the bottom of my chocolate of course so I put my ornaments in the fridge for awhile afterwards. I also think they need a smile, but I got outvoted that they were fine just the way they were. They should also probably be sprayed with a shellac but since I don't plan on keeping mine past this Christmas and that spray makes them smell very stinky I opted just to hang them on the tree as is.

I would like to share my ornaments at:

City Crafter Challenge winter white, closes Dec. 27

Abby's Christmas Ornaments

Every year for Abby's birthday, she turns 2 soon, I make some ornaments to match her birthday theme. We have to have the tree up, it's a live tree, so I try to incorporate it into the party decorations. This years theme is Hot Chocolate. I made these mugs as decorations. I saw the idea here. I bought some small mugs at Winners/HomeSense. I used watered down brown craft paint to coat the insides. I used kraft paper for the insides and painted the top of it with the same brown craft paint. I glue gunned some white pom poms to the top. I didn't want to completely cover the top in 'marshmallows' because I wanted you to be able to see the 'hot chocolate' inside. I added a small candy cane and some red grosgrain ribbon as ties.

My lessons learned: My mugs were still too heavy even though they were small. I think they would have to be plastic but I searched high and low and couldn't find plastic mugs. I even considered the plastic tea cups in little girls play sets but none of them were clear. Plastic punch bowl glasses would be ideal. Didn't find any of those either. The paint also softened the kraft paper so maybe a light cardboard or a brown cardstock would work better. They look really great, but they are hung so far back on the tree branch (because they are so heavy) that they are hard to see on the tree.

 

I would like to share my ornaments at:

The Sisterhood of Crafters Christmas challenge, closes Dec. 25,

Try it on Tuesday anything goes, closes Dec. 26,

Sparkles Forum Challenges anything but a Christmas card, closes Jan. 15

It's Official, I Have Completely Lost My Mind, Day 12

I DID IT! All 12 days! Day 12 at Bugaboo Stamps 12 days of Christmas challenge was to use a Christmas song as an inspiration. Think, think, think, which one will I chose? Oh, right.
I chose an image that represents the "true" meaning of Christmas for me and my faith. I embossed the white background cardstock. I added a cloud image from Silhouette around my stamp and then printed and cut. I did the same for the sentiment. For the 2 little clouds I offset the images, cut the offsets out, then printed the smaller images onto them using my printer. I edged the edges of all of my clouds with Tim Holtz distress ink in broken china. That worked really well. Used pop dots on the sentiment and little clouds. I wanted to keep this as clean and white as possible. And I like the way it turned out. Actually I wanted to ring it in Christmas lights and find the flashiest gold sparkle paper and a neon sign with an arrow saying "I did it!", but I went with clean and white ;o)
My lessons learned: for whatever reason I have to cut out my image using my Silhouette and then run it through the printer to print on it. I can not print then cut, it doesn't work. Don't know why but it doesn't.

And now for the Big Reveal (and the reason I had to crop all of my pictures so closely)...
I made a mini album ~ well 2 actually. I put the first 6 days in/on one album and the last 6 days in/on the other. Now you know why I had to have so many common elements and so little dimension. My lessons learned: I wish I had not chosen a theme because I bought stamps to match my theme, not necessarily because they were my favorites. I was also limited by size. My album squares are 4" x 4". I really could have used the extra inches that a regular card would have given. And I did miss adding dimension. And the time of year...don't even get me started. But my friend Vicky said, "being creative is never a waste of time". I like that. I LOVED the challenge of having to come up with a new idea/technique everyday for 12 days. And what I loved most of all was that I think I did. It felt really good. I felt really creative. But now I'm putting away my scrapping supplies (we'll need the dining room table) and getting to work on the 2 big days coming up. My Abby turns 2 on Dec. 23rd and Jesus turns 2011ish on Dec. 25th. A BIG, BIG thank-you to my followers for indulging in this splurge of creativity with me!!! Merry Christmas to you all!

 

 

  

I May Have Lost My Mind, Days 10 and 11

Day 10 at Bugaboo Stamps 12 days of Christmas challenge was to make a masculine card. I chose Deacon the elf because that was the only one I thought looked like he was in motion, best for 10 lords a-leaping, or swinging in this case ;o) I used blue argyle background paper from the Stack 5. I cut out a tag using my Silhouette. I used Tim Holtz distress ink in broken china and my ColorBox silver ink to color the tag. Then I used the top of a plastic water bottle to make the rings. I like that coffee cup ring stained look but I knew I needed it on a smaller scale for my tag, so the water bottle worked perfectly. I attached my tag to turquoise ribbon and then used 2 snowflake brads to attach my ribbon to the background paper. Used print and cut on the Silhouette for Deacon, colored him in, ran him through my Xyron and added him to the card too.
My lessons learned: I'm getting much more comfortable using patterned papers on my cards. I wasn't sure whether Deacon should have some blue on him or not. I opted not because all the colors do go together, but still not 100% sure...

Day 11 at Bugaboo Stamps 12 days of Christmas challenge was to use plaid. I really like plaid. I know I said no more birds but this little penguin just sings to me ~ I'll be there with bells on! Really suited the 11 pipers piping. I printed and cut him out using my Silhouette. I used 2 plaid papers that I had, cut them both out into a square, cut the green in half and glued it onto the red. Then I made a snowflake border to run diagonally between the 2. I first used my silver sketch pen to draw the snowflake border using my Silhouette then used the cut edge feature to cut it out. I also used the offset feature on my Silhouette to create the white mat for my musical penguin. I just felt he needed it with such a dark, patterned background paper. I used my Silhouette to cut out the tag, ran it through the printer to put the sentiment on it, then used my gold glitter glue to add the accent.

My lessons learned: move your glitter glued tag further away to dry when coloring, otherwise you end up with glitter glue in your hair as you are leaned over your coloring.



I May Have Lost My Mind, Days 7, 8, and 9

I figured out how to do this without clogging up everyones newsfeed. Just do one post for all 3 cards. Learning! So, Day 7 at Bugaboo Stamps 12 days of Christmas challenge was a photo challenge.

Here's the little trick, Bugaboo doesn't have any swan images. I'm pretty literal when it comes to photo challenges so that threw me. Anyways I picked a penguin (both birds) and followed the color scheme. Also used my evergreen background paper, the same as Day 1, kind of a nice tie in. Printed my sentiment and birdies right onto the background paper. Printed out my image and colored and paper pieced him. Added some faux stitching around both to complete Day 7.

My lessons learned: I am so glad to see the end of these birds!!! Things were getting kind of squishy trying to fit everything on one page. I made a mistake trying to have some continuity amongst all 12 cards because by Day 7 that can be rather limiting...and squishy.

I would like to share my card at:

Creative Craft Challenges stitching, closes Dec. 20th



Day 8 at Bugaboo Stamps 12 days of Christmas challenge was milk and cookies. I picked the gingerbread man in the measuring cup because I figured he was a good match with my just add milk sentiment. Printed my sentiments out on the gingham background paper. I think gingham just has country kitchen written all over it. Well actually my gingham has the 8th day of Christmas verse written all over it, but I digress ;o) I used the print and cut feature on my Silhouette for my image. Then I paper pieced his hat and apron. Colored the rest with my Zig markers. I printed the measuring cup out on vellum, cut it out, ran it through my Xyron and placed that on top. Love the way it turned out!

My lessons learned: I need to buy a light brown marker. The only one I had has poor gingerbread man looking a little overbaked.

 

I would like to share my card at:

digistamps4joy no animals, closes Dec. 27th.



Day 9 at Bugaboo Stamps was for a feminine card. I picked this little Christmas girl because her dress reminded me of the Irish step dance dresses, perfect for 9 ladies dancing. Used my Silhouette print and cut again. I colored her using my EK Success pencil crayons. I used the purple, pink, teal and lime green colors that are the "in" non-traditional Christmas colors right now, and they do look really sharp together. I added 2 Imaginisce flowers and a snowflake brad. Background paper from the Martha Stewart playful pink paper pad.

My lessons learned: I really need to put small(er) flowers on my Christmas list. I like using flowers on things but most of mine are too big, especially for card making. I have so many decorative brads just screaming to become flower centers, but I really need some smaller flowers.

I would like to share my card at:

For Your Inspiration photo, closes Dec. 14th,

The Stamping Boutique no tradtional Christmas colors, closes Dec. 18th

 



I May Have Lost My Mind, Day 6

Ok, I've been working like a busy little beaver this weekend, so I will apologise now to my lovely followers for the onslaught of posts. I promise I'll take a holiday break :o) Day 6 at Bugaboo Stamps 12 days of Christmas challenge and the theme was humor. Not hard to do with all the hilarious stamps they have but I've been kind of working on a theme with all my cards so I had to be original. I had some cool sandy, sea foamy type background paper on which I printed my sentiment, birdies, pop can and sun. Then I used my Silhouette to print and cut my sunbathing goose.She of course HAD to have a teeny, weeny, yellow polka dot bikini. Added some glossy accents to her shades.
My lessons learned: I really didn't know whether to put 6 birdies up top and my goose or 5 birdies + mine. Went with 5+. This image printed with grey lines instead of black and I kind of liked that better I think, at least for coloring.

I Told You I Know Several

And my brother-in-law Lawrence, his birthday is today, is another of the Gus' I know. He just bought a new, red, Dodge Ram truck with a Hemi engine and a dirt bike. And they live in the city. Can you say mid-life crisis?!? Don't tell him I told you that! So I used both background papers from the Stack 2, cut out the pieces using my Silhouette, and paper pieced the truck. Used glossy accents for his eyes and metal brads for the hubcaps. Shiny metal paper for the 'chrome' bumpers. Sorry for the rushed post but we're off to the husbands staff party tonight and I'd better not still be sitting at the computer when he's ready to go!

Ok, I'm back. For his staff party they all met at a pub at 4:30pm. No planned activities. So by 9pm everyone was basically ready to leave. Not much fun really. But, shouldn't complain, could always host...no thank-you. I would like to share my card at:

Divas by Design anything goes, closes Dec. 13th,
Totally Paper Crafts anything but Christmas, closes Dec. 15th.

I May Have Lost My Mind, Day 5

For Day 5 at Bugaboo Stamps 12 days of Christmas challenge we were to use gold. Considering my current glitter addiction I really, really had to restrain myself. I chose this dapper snowman holding 5 snowballs which I converted to rings by adding 5 very small circles inside the snowballs using my Silhouette. I cut out the gold frame, also using my Silhouette, and my girl Kaylee helped me thread it with green ribbon. I tied a pretty great bow in the corner too. Bows are not usually one of my strengths. I cut my white background paper out using my Silhouette the ran it through the printer adding both the image and text. I colored him using my Zig markers added some red Stickles to his cheeks and DecoArt snow to his cuffs and hat brim. I used Diamond Sparkles on the snow below. The 5 golden rings were blinged out using my iRock and some iRock gems. I couldn't resist adding some "ice" ;o)
My lessons learned: When you're feeling sick (I am feeling sick, but Mommies don't get sick) all those time saving tricks you've come up with in the past backfire because you forget details. I had been printing my rough copy with a colored background so I knew exactly where to place my cut out pieces before running through the printer. Really ingenious. However you have to turn your colored background back to white before printing the good copy. You know, details.

I would like to share my card at:

Pixie Dust Studio glitter and bling, closes Dec. 14

I May Have Lost My Mind, Day 4

This was the hardest yet, I even moved on I was so stumped on this one, not sure why. Anyways Day 4 at Bugaboo Stamps 12 days of Christmas challenge was to use a bird. Maybe because I'd already used so many penguins I had such a hard time with this one. I picked a marshmallow snowman with 2 birdie friends and added 2 more. I used a vines and berries patterned background from the Silhouette store. I used the pan pattern feature in the advanced options to best line up the patterned background with my image. Then I used the print and cut feature. I know a marshmallow snowman works because both are white but I just couldn't resist coloring him the colors of mini marshmallows. I like that it adds some non-traditional colors to the mix. His green and white scarf is in the same colors as our CFL football team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders. If you're from Saskatchewan you know that everyone owns something in those colors. I printed and cut the tag with sentiment and added a green glam rock with my iRock. Some DecoArt snow finished the job.
My lessons learned: I had not used a background pattern in the Silhouette before and I realized it only added pattern to the background and kept my image white. Before I was cutting a printed background paper and then had to cut out my image separately and put it on top. Or if I printed the whole image on patterned paper I then had to paper piece the images I needed colored. This was much, much easier. The only downside is that it doesn't add any dimension. But that did allow me to use a more graphic background.

I May Have Lost My Mind, Day 3

The 3rd day of Christmas challenge at Bugaboo Stamps is to use an animal. I know penguins aren't technically an animal, but the design team used them on their example cards and this was another past freebie so I'm pretty sure these guys will work. Most of the work for this one came in arranging the image itself. I imported it into my Silhouette program then replicated it twice more (and then there were 3). I used the eraser tool to erase some of the snow between the 2 penguins before putting them next to each other. The 3rd one I flipped horizontally, made a little smaller, and set on top. I printed everything onto my background paper. I printed another copy on white cardstock and colored the hats, feet and noses. Then I cut out the pieces, this time by hand, and glued them onto the background paper. Added some DecoArt Snow Writer for the snow at their feet and we have 3 cutey penguins for the 3rd day of Christmas.
My lessons learned: that my markers, even the red, will not color over polka dotty paper. That's the reason for the paper piecing.

I would like to share my card at:

Creative Craft Challenges free for all, closes Dec. 6th,

Simon Says anything goes, closes Dec. 7th,

Charisma Cardz spots, closes Dec. 7th, 

Card Makin' Mamas sentiments, closes Dec. 8th,

Sweet Stampin' Challenge snow, closes Dec. 9th.

I May Have Lost My Mind, Day 2

So far so good, 2 down, 10 to go. Day 2 at the Bugaboo Stamps 12 days of Christmas challenge is love. Background paper from The Stack 5. I cut it out using my Silhouette and ran it through the printer for the sentiment. I colored my image using my Zig markers, glitter pens, and used diamond Sparkles on the snow. I used my chalks to add the glow around the star and to add the blue to the sky. Used a Silhouette frame for my image.
My lessons learned: that my chalk applicator can smear the printer ink if I press too hard. I thought I had heat set my printer ink but either that doesn't work or I forgot. And since I may have lost my mind, I'm going to go with forgot. I love the way the frame makes the image look like a family photo. I was very tempted to leave the image uncolored (like a black and white photo) it really stood out nicely but the husband said it need some color ~ which of course means glitter ;o)

I would also like to share my card at:

Creative Craft Challenges free for all, closes Dec. 7th,

Delightful Challenges let it snow, closes Dec. 7th,

Simon Says anything goes, closes Dec. 7th,

Card Makin Mamas sentiments, closes Dec. 8th,

Meljen's Designs holiday song, closes Dec. 8th,

Sweet Stampin' snow, closes Dec. 9th,

Designed 2 Delight snow, closes Dec. 10th,

Divas by Design anything goes, closes Dec. 14th.



I May Have Lost My Mind

Not really worried, it wasn't really there to begin with. So Bugaboo Stamps is having a 12 days of Christmas challenge on their blog. A new card everyday based on the song the 12 Days of Christmas with the new theme released each day. And you must use a Bugaboo stamp, makes sense. Really, it's not like I'm doing anything else for the next 2 weeks. Course the little one turns 2 on Dec. 23rd, and then there's that other big birthday celebration on the 25th. I may have lost my mind, but I so love Bugaboo Stamps. They have a new freebie every Friday and it is always a fantastic stamp just as cute as all the others in their store. Oh and they are having a 50% off sale for all of December, so the argument that I might have to buy stamps to participate kinda lost some steam with the sale on too. So here we go! (I may have lost my mind).
Today's challenge was to use a tree. I used my Silhouette to cut out the background frame and then ran it through the printer to put the sentiment on it. It was from Deja Views the Sharon Ann collection. I cut out the little frame for my Old World Santa (a past freebie) and ran it through the printer to put him on it. I colored him with a combination of my Zig markers, EK Success pencil crayons, Martha Stewart glitter markers and a white gel pen. I used Diamond Sparkles for his beard and DecoArt Snow Writer for his cape. I LOVE the snow writer, it adds such texture!
My lessons learned: the girls and I have all been sitting down at the dining room table after supper to color (Daddy too, he just doesn't color). It's great for all of us to "craft" together. The only downside? The table gets bumped A LOT. I save my really detailed coloring for when they go for snack ;o)

I would like to share my card at:

Digital Tuesday Challenge go green, closes Dec. 5th,

Aud Sentiments any Winter holiday sentiment, closes Dec. 6th,

Simon Says anything goes, closes Dec. 7th,

Cute Card Thursday a number, closes Dec. 8th.