Valentines!

EDITED:  I received a very sweet "heads up" to go over and check out the DIE CUT DIVA'S BLOG for today.  I saw that their challenge for this month are untraditional Valentines and so I am going to post the Friendship Tree card over there.  For any of you who aren't aware, DCD's is a great little group that has a Flickr photostream that one can link their creations to.  Obviously these are cards that feature some die cutting.  I have found some wonderful inspiration over there myself....ways to use die cuts differently and just to find ways of layering various dies.  Well, DCD's also have a blog and now they are going to pump up their blog a bit and I, for one, am pretty excited about that prospect!  The challenge over there now is untraditional Valentines....or Valentine's that a feature embossing. Please check out the details...and link up your creations!  Here is the DCD's link......

http://die-cut-divas.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/february-challenge-untraditional.html 

 I had a little bit of time today to play around in my crafting area and boy-was it fun to finally get inky again.  I did some copic coloring and couldn't figure out why the markers were so streaky on the paper until I realized that I was using the wrong paper.  I was using a paper that had a pretty high gloss to it but by then I was committed and of course didn't want to waste paper, ink and time so I just forged onward.  I am not a big Valentine's day person so I often have to push myself to make these particular cards.  I like the colors used....but find that by the time Valentines rolls around I am just sick of the constant pink, red and white palette.  I did find some neat stamp images the last few years and so today those are some of the images I worked with.  All dies are Spellbinder Dies. The tree image is the WhipperSnapper Designs Friendship Tree.  I love this little tree because it can be used for occasions other than Valentine's Day and it also has options like cutting out the flowers and hearts and popping random ones up.

As I have mentioned before I am getting into decorating the inside of the cards more and more lately.  To me it is fun, it looks nice and the bonus is it uses all those extra scraps that I have laying around.  The following picture isn't great.....I don't have the insides glued down yet...not till after I write the message!  Also, I wanted to point out another tip I tried that works when using very intricate dies such as the one I have on this card.  Before I have said that wax paper works to pop out those intricate cuts but sometimes your die, unless you take the time to fully tape everything down, will slide on the wax paper and mess up your cut. Somewhere out in the blogland I read that rubbing a dryer sheet over your die before placing your paper in it will also allow the paper to pretty much fall out of the die after cutting.  I tried it today and it actually did work pretty well.  I found that I still needed to use a stick pin to clean my dies before storing them but otherwise, the cut came out very quickly and cleanly!  

 For the next card I used a Northwoods Rubber Stamp Co. image and when I bought it I just thought it was different and really kinda fun for a Valentines card.  I did a lot of matting here.....I use my Perfect Ruler's rulers for straight matting and am always happy with how quick and even my mats turn out.  I then colored the image twice....popping up the three big hearts on foam dots.  I also found this rhinestone heart in the bridal section of JoAnn's.  I liked how many hearts I got for the price....there are 40 hearts in a pack for about $8.00. I colored  this one with copics to tie in with the colors of the balloon.

Again I finished the inside with some left over papers. I also use papers for the inside that I feel I will never use anywhere else....know what I mean?  In every pack of papers that I have ever bought there is a pattern or two that really doesn't appeal to me very much....a pattern that will simply never be used on the outside of  card.  But, I find that those paper patterns are often just the right punch of color for a card's inside and so once again I am able to use up some more of my stash. And, I know we all have more stash than we need!

Thank you for stopping by today.  It is currently 2 degrees below 0 here and the windchill will have us at negative 20 degrees soon.   I guess tomorrow it will be around 30 degrees below zero......brrrrrrrrr.  I hope it is warmer by you all ;-D

Be well,
Sheila

Wedding Shower....

Today I went to a wedding shower for a niece who loves pink.  I mean LOVES pink.  Pink and glitter and glam.....there is no such thing as too much pink when it comes to this girl.  So, I set about making her shower card in various hues of pink with lots of glitz and glam.  About as girly as it gets.  And she loved it so I'm happy ;-D   I used a Memory Box heart die along with a Memory Box "swirly vine" die that goes with the heart.  I put double sided adhesive sheet on a thin layer of white paper and cut out the swirly vine.  Then, when it was cut out, I pulled off the protective layer and sprinkled the sticky die with Glamour Dust.  I also used Spellbinder Dies for the rest of the cuts.  I forgot to photograph the inside but it is also decorated in layers of patterned paper.  I really love how this card turned out....the little metal charm in the lower right hand corner reads "To love and to cherish" which I thought was a perfect little bit of finishing bling. I also am going to enter this card into the Moxie Fab World Creative Card Challenges Ten Different Embellishments.  And City Crafter Challenge Blog also has a challenge going on to use hearts for their "Forever Mine" Challenge.

Thank you for stopping by today.....I always appreciate the visit!

Be well,

Sheila

Birthday!

Today is my lunch date with my little lunch buddy and she had a birthday this week.....7 years old.  Such a fun age.  I love to listen to her babble on about all the drama and fun that is her 1st grad life.  I completely biffed on her card however.....I thought I had this seriously adorable little girl birthday card until about 2 hours before I had to leave for lunch......then I realized (after much mad and panicky scrambling) that I did NOT have the card and in fact had given it to a friend who was in much the same situation a few months ago that I found myself in today.  So, really super fast and quick I made up a birthday card.  And it shows how fast I put it together.  Thank goodness my little lunch buddy is 7 and pretty agreeable because this card is not so great hahaha!  I wish I had embossed the blue panel....I feel like there is too much blue space and that a little texture would break that up.  Oh well!  Next time!

The image is a little Whippersnapper Design and one that I turn to quite often for birthday cards.  I love to color up the packages and also to pop them up on dots.  The dies are Spellbinders. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Be well,

Sheila

Fun with paper....

I am absolutely craving some "me" time!  I always get this way when the holidays are finished and everyone has gone back to school.  I find that I need a bit of quiet and crafting in order to get centered again.  I was able to make two cards this past week and I cannot tell you how great it felt to be putzing around with inks and papers again.  Heavens!--one card even has some copic coloring on it.....something I haven't had the time to do in ages!

A friend of mine recently had surgery and so a get well card was made for her.  I love this particular Whippersnapper image and sentiment.

And here is the inside.....I thought that I would include an shot of it as the sentiment is so darn cute!

My second card is for a friend who is starting out on a new "path" in life...a different direction that she was not expecting and not prepared for but is really making the best out of.  I admire her fighting spirit and her ability to make positive goals out of the circumstances that life has handed her.  I wanted to give her a note of encouragement...as she is setting new and different goals to achieve her new and different dreams.  And, I admire that in her....well, in anyone really. (EDITED:  I see now in the photo below that there is a rebel bit of bling hitching a ride on one of my pearls.....please know that this errant gem was plucked before postage and safely returned to it's package for proper placement on another card!!!)

I did want to say that I completely understand if some of you think I am a terrible person!!!!  It has been next to impossible lately to get into my own crafting zone much less being able to visit and comment on all the beautiful pieces of work that my friends are crafting.  I do plan to visit and comment more....in the meantime I am THAT PERSON who is creeping on the blogs without having the time to comment!

Take care and,

Be well,

Sheila

Hey There!

Wow....life has been good.  Life has been full and ultimately life has been crazy.  Crazy and busy and full of family, activities and everything else that would take me away from crafting for such a long period of time.  And I have missed crafting!  I have missed visiting blogs and  I have so many people to respond to with letters and cards than I have fingers and toes to count them on! To all of you who have sent me cards, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!  I really appreciate it more than you can ever know!  I will very soon be responding to you and your lovely wishes with some of my own.  I find it amazing how turned upside down my home gets during the holidays or really whenever my all children come home.  Since my crafting takes me away from them....physically "removes" me from the rest of the family it ends up being an activity that I don't spend too (any?) time doing while they are here.  Also, my main computer is in my oldest daughter's old bedroom and while she is home I like to stay out of that room to respect her privacy so.....while I do have an Ipad I don't tend to do too much surfing or commenting.  Yesterday, however, I did have time to get to some crafting and I have to say it was so much fun and so rejuvenating to get back to playing.  I had a few thank you cards to whip up and I wanted to work some of my old scraps into the mix.  I also wanted to try to work some die cutting into the cards....to make the "edges" decorative.  That is a technique that has always eluded me.  I never end up being able to successfully edge out a card and make it look nice and finished.  But I am pleased with these four cards.  I think that is because I was feeling under the weather (the flu has hit HARD in my area) and I had to cancel all my day plans and just sit home.  That gave me the time and the no pressure window to experiment with my dies and papers....something that I haven't had time to do before.  And these cards, after I figured out how to die cut and assemble, really didn't take too long to make.  And the process was sooooo enjoyable.  What a great way to use scraps of paper or even "break into" those lovely papers that we all tend to hoard.  I also found these particular gem stones at JoAnn's.  They come in a larger sheet and are very "low" meaning that they don't stand out from your paper as much as other gems.  Even though they do have dimension it is definitely less and so much nicer for mailing!  Here is a pic of the gems....they come in lots of colors.

And here are pic's of  the cards.....I hope you enjoy!  All dies are from Spellbinders and the "thanks" sentiment is from Hero Arts Live and Laugh CL520 clear sheet. I can't remember what brand the "Thank you for" is.....sorry I don't have the wrapper anymore.  The inside of those cards say "everything" though.

As I mentioned above these are all Spellbinder dies.  And some are newer and some are from years ago.  I am not a big New Year's Resolution type person but this year I did make a a quiet promise to myself to really LEARN how to use the different products that I have.  In the beginning of my crafting I often bought supplies based upon someone else's fabulous creation.....but never took into mind that that particular person might have been crafting years longer than me....or had more time to learn various skills and techniques.  So I would use the product and my creation would look like doo-doo.  And then I would put that product away and it would collect dust.  End of story.  Until now.  So, the 'fleur d' lis" die above was one of the very first that I ever got.  And, I could never figure out how to use it.  I love the pattern and am so glad that I had a day to really work with it and understand how to make edge cuts that translate into cards.  I know it sounds simple to probably most of you but I actually have to watch video tutorials to figure that stuff out.  Which takes time.  Which I usually don't have. So, for all of you out there that have LOTS of stuff that has never been used.....take some time to shop your shelves for that product that you always wanted to use but weren't sure how to....take some time learn how to use it so you are a better crafter AND are able to get your money out of your supplies!  And, thank you all for stopping by.....and I hope that each and everyone of you had a wonderful holiday season.  I cannot believe that we are into 2013 already....remember when the turn of the century was such a big deal and here it is already 13 years later!  Wow.

Be well,
Sheila