Summer Kids Carnival

So I'm a little late getting my thank-you card off to the Co-op for having a Kid's Carnival, but better late than never, right?!? I used a MelJen's Designs thank-you bear, colored him with a combination of my Zig markers and EK Success pencil crayons. The challenge this week at Sentimental Sundays was to add sewing or stitching. I stitched some of the stitches on the image with red embroidery floss. I distressed the circle and inked the edges with orange. The challenge at Totally Stampalicious was to add embossing. I scored/embossed the green background paper and added some flower brads. I made a pinwheel from EP Country Drive paper with butterflys and ladybugs for the challenge at Flutterby Wednesdays. I printed the Kid's Club image on white cardstock, roughed up the edges, inked with red and used pop dots to lift it off the page a bit. Kaylee colored a picture on the inside, that's her driving above. I'm going to include the picture with the card.
Just a little pause here to insert a happy dance, I won the random draw for Flutterby Wednesdays Challenge #173. I won a prize from The Greeting Farm. Pretty darn excited I must say.
Lessons learned: finding your scoring blade for your cutter is much better than trying to use your dry emboss stylus and your cutter, that just rips the paper.

I'm also entering at Bugaboo Stamps Challenge anything goes. Thanks for looking!

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!

Cute Card Thursday

I found a neat site Cute Card Thursday that posts a card challenge every Thursday. The best part is that the winner is chosen using random.org, perfect for new cardmakers such as myself. This week was a sketch challenge. Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

I used my Silhouette to cut out the shapes. Distressed the flowers a little and used a popdot under the 'diamond' gemstone to give it a bit more dimension. Will have to save this for the right couple though, one with a sense of humor, but I just love this image and thought it was a perfect fit for an engagement card!

Hero Arts Challenge

I saw an August contest on the Hero Arts blog here and since they have shapes in the Silhouette store, I thought I might give it a try. Here are the rules:

August Challenge: Create a NEW stamped card, scrapbook page, or other project based on any of the following…

Cards for Kids - Any card you create for a child!

Creatures - Butterflies, owls, foxes, deer…you name it! All creatures great and small.

Making a Scene - Be sure to check out Shari Carroll’s August technique article for one idea!

Please use at least one Hero Arts stamp or Hero Arts digital element on each of your projects.

I decided to make a birthday card for Archie, he just turned two a couple of weeks ago and we are all getting together with them tomorrow. I chose the card, sunburst, maple leaf and rocket Silhouette shapes.

I turned the card, put the text on it and printed it. Then I cut out the card. I made the starburst a little larger than the cutout on the card, cut it out and glued it on. Then I offset the rocket and cut that out of red. I cut the rocket itself out of this cool mirror paper I have and then used crimped white cardstock for the accents on the wings and face. I also cut out a small maple leaf. I used my irock heat setter to set the black rhinestones. I used pop dots to lift the rocket off the page. The 2 is a Thicker. I really love how it turned out. My lesson learned: it is extremely difficult to take a picture of shiny metal paper. Almost all the pictures reflected something in the shiny paper and not the paper itself. I finally got one that (almost) worked by setting the card on an angle on a stand in the sunshine.

Ball Tournament

I made this hat for my ladies slo-pitch ball tournament this weekend. My first game is at 10pm tonight (I know, pretty crazy, but we play under the lights). Tomorrow at 1pm and 7:15pm. I used iron on heat transfer and then used my irock to attach a few rhinestones on the crowns. My lesson learned: it is extremely difficult to iron on heat transfer on a surface that is not flat. I ended up using a combination of the end of the ironing board and an oven mitt.

Twister!

I love how this turned out! And I didn't have to download anything! I used the square, circle, and exclamation point (without the point) as the spinner. I colored in each of the circles using the fill color window on my Silhouette. I just made half a circle and the used the mirror image button to make the other half. I added the text and then I sent it to my printer. I just cut out the square myself. I could have used the print and cut function, but it was a square, figured it was just as easy to cut it out myself. I added a brad to the spinner and used pop dots to attach it to my board, since I didn't actually need it to spin. I used Frances Meyer hands and feet stickers for the hands and feet and voila! My square is 6" x 6" and the circles are 1" circles. It's for a layout of my nieces playing......you guessed it, Twister!

MWM #36

For a person who doesn't use sketches I have now used 2 in a week but I really loved the graffiti design on this one. It is the Mid-Week Madness #36 sketch from Scrapbook Steals. I believe they are on #53. I have such a hard time with the whole mixing of papers and patterns but I like the way the page turned out. I am a chronological scrapbooker and I am trying really hard to stay ahead of today's date so that I don't fall another whole year behind ;o) My lesson learned: 32 feet of adhesive tape only sounds like alot. It actually doesn't go very far at all. I guess moderation is the key.

Christmas in July challenge

Here's a sketch from Crafty Steals Blog for a Christmas in July contest. You had to use a Winter/Christmas theme.

And here's my take on it. I used my Silhouette sketch pens in silver to draw the trees. The pennant and snowflakes are silhouette images. I used black letter stickers for the "let it snow".

My lesson learned: My white sketch pen that came with the set does not work. I tried to do the trees in white (several times) and it just wasn't working. I switched to silver and it worked the way it was supposed to. Guess I'll be contacting customer service about my white one. They have very good customer service I know. Hopefully I can do an exchange.

Birthday Card

Here's a birthday card I made for my SIL. I scraplifted the idea from a birthday card sent to one of the girls on Scrapbook Steals. I like the purple/yellow combination. My lesson learned: scrapping is a little like quilting in that it's ok to mix patterns/colors when you only use small amounts. (I'm not the quilter, my Mom is.)

Father's Day Card

I made my Dad's Father's Day card using my Silhouette (what else, lol). I used mirrored paper for the hubcaps, which I think gave it a nice bit of bling. My lesson learned: when re-sizing your card in silhouette's editing software, re-size all the parts of the card at the same time and then separate and cut. That way all your pieces will be to scale.

Mother's Day Card

I made cards for my Mom and Grandma for Mother's Day. Used my Silhouette to cut out the background pattern and the vellum butterflies. I swear cardmaking with the Silhouette feels like cheating. My lesson learned: I made the card from cardstock, using pre-made blank cards from Michael's gives a much more professional look.

My Foray into the Blogging World!

Well, I've officially entered the cyber blogging world. I really just wanted to post some of my scrapbooking/craft projects so here goes:
I made this shirt for my daughter Kaylee (she is almost 4). I used my Silhouette and heat transfer material in flocked white, flocked pink and smooth hot pink. I used my i-rock to set the rhinestones.
My lesson learned: be very careful when setting rhinestones on flocked material, it can singe the flocking and yellow it.



I really like the way it turned out!