Marianne Design Divas is giving away candy!

Marianne is so happy that they are nearly at 300 followers that she has given some great candy for one lucky follower.

Click the image above to visit the blog!

I will be busy until next week

Just to let you all know that if I don't post much this week, it is because I have a Christmas show to do on Saturday. I also do printing for some of the local artists here, and several of them have had a lot of things for me to print lately. Of course, there is also Thanksgiving in the US this week.

Anyway, I'm scrambling to get everything done for everyone, as well as finish up what I need to get done for the show and for the holiday. I hope those of you in the US have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Free Download 22

This was another free download which was up for two months.

I just found a wonderful new blog

Mel Stampz is the blog. She is also known as stampztoomuch on SCS. There are so many creative ideas on her blog that I will probably be reading it for months!

Cardinal Wreath Christmas Easel Card

I wish my cellphone took better pictures, there is too much reflection on this one, but my card making stuff is at my mom's, and my computer is at home, so I'm never sure what my pictures look like until I get ready to put them up.

This one was cut out on the Grand Calibur. The wreath is another of the die cuts on acetate from K and Co. I mounted it flat rather than dimensional because for some reason I liked it better. The outline stickers are from my dollar store stash and the pearls are Queen & Co.

The frame and saying are from my new Just Rite stamps. I think I need to order the nesties which are made for them, because it's kind of a pain to cut them out and try to keep them straight, even and centered. I embossed them with superfine gold detail embossing powder.

Merry Christmas with Red Flowers

The last time I got to AC Moore I bought a bunch of Prima flowers and a K and Co stack. I loved this paper and decided it would go nicely with my new Just Rite stamps. I mounted gold mirror card onto Core'dinations white pearl cs, then mounted the K and Co paper on that.

The stamps were done on the pearl cs, colored with my new Copics, and outlined with gold fine detail embossing powder, then mounted with dimensional tape. The card needed embellishments, so I added some of my gold outline stickers, then I decided to use some of the Prima flowers on the corners. I glued gold beads in the centers of them.

I probably would have used a brighter red on the berries, but so far, I only have six Copics, so I used what I had. I can't wait to get more!

Free Download 21

This was another free download which was up for two months.

Gold Snowflake Card

I wish the photograph had come out better, it really doesn't show the gold on this card.

Last weekend I finally got back to AC Moore and JoAnn's, and got some K and Co. "goody packs". I call the little packages they sell with so much in them "goody packs" because they have so much in them, and are such fun to open. One of them had gorgeous gold foil snowflakes on acetate. I decided that this snowflake needed to be on Core'dinations white pearl accented with gold mirror card. It was just a tiny bit larger than my largest scalloped circle nestie, but the nestie had just the perfect number of scallops for the snowflake, so I used it anyway. The snowflake was mounted on the circle with a gold brad because I was afraid any adhesive would show up under the acetate.

Then I just had to use my new Just Rite stamps to make the label. I used ultra fine detail gold for the embossing. All of the pearl paper is mounted on gold mirror card, and the motifs are mounted with dimensional tape. The Stickers are more from my stash that I got years ago at a dollar store.

Free Download Twenty

Blogger has changed things, and I can't remove the link or the post. This was an antique dye label or downloading. It was up for two months.

Hot Off the Press Christmas Card 2

This is another card I made from my old Hot Off the Press paper. The pearls on the front really are even, it's just that I didn't crease the door enough, so it was open a bit on top and it looks like they didn't line up in the photograph. The ornaments were down one side of the paper, so I cut them out and arranged them inside. The second time I finished this card, (More on that later), I decided it needed more embellishment on the balls, so I added a bit of gold Stickles to them. Originally the very inside only had the Spellbinders shape outlined with a Pen Touch pen. Then I added the pearls and gold stickers, and thought it was finished.

Then, my new Just Rite stamps arrived, and of course I had to use them. The middle of one of the Christmas stamps had the exact same outline as the Nestability I had used inside, so I stamped it with clear embossing fluid. Then, the bad thing happened. I've always wanted one of those anti-static embossing powder things, but I've never seen them in stores, and when I've ordered on line, I've never seen them in the places I ordered from. I wasn't too worried, I haven't had a real problem before, so I merrily added superfine detail gold, and it stuck everywhere! The card itself was fine, I just brushed the excess off with a paintbrush, but I couldn't get it off the label. It was a mess. I managed to get it all off with a paint brush, but the label was an ugly brown color.
Anyway, I stamped and embossed on a new sheet of card stock, then cut out the label again. The gold was so beautiful, I decided to add it to the edges. That worked pretty well, but I never got it filled in completely. Luckily, it doesn't show up in person, but it does show up in the photographs. I carefully glued it on top of the old ruined label, and you can't tell that I goofed at all. That's when I decided the Christmas balls needed a little glitz to match the label, so I added the Stickles.

I have no idea why the embossing powder stuck to everything when I embossed directly to the card, but luckily it didn't when I made the new label!

Gorgeous Cards Using Marianne Creatables

I just found a blog with the most gorgeous cards and albums using Marianne Creatables. Most of them are very flowery with not too many grungy or cutesy designs. If this is your taste, check out Scrap Cafe.

The site is in Polish, but over on the right, scroll down until you see the labels, then scroll down until you see the three labels for Marianne. (Those will be in English). The links to older posts is at the bottom on the right on each page so you can see all the pages. It is really worth it if you like beautiful peaceful cards and albums with lots of flowers and layers. Don't forget to click all three tags.

Free Download Nineteen

This wa the nineteenth free download. It was up for one week. Keep checking back for more free downloads.

Spellbinders round red and white card

Last week I got a card almost finished and was planning on showing it here today, but yesterday I got my order from Just Rite Stamps, and I just had to use them. Unfortunately, it is never a good idea to stamp and emboss on an almost finished card in case something bad happens. :-(

Anyway, I remade part of the card, but then it needed more embellishments, so I can't photograph it until tomorrow when the Stickles dry, so I am putting an older card on here instead.

I made this card last summer. It would be good for either Valentines Day, or for Christmas. I used one of my Spellbinders dies to cut a card out of Core'dinations white pearl cs. Then I cut the design out of red cs and more pearl cs and layered them on top of the note card and added a Queen & Co. pearl. Very easy, but most people who see it think it took forever and are really impressed. I love having all of these dies and embossing folders. :-) I also love my new Just Rite stamps and the six Copic markers I got at the same time!

Free Downloads 16 17 and 18

These were three downloads which were up for over a week. Keep checking back for more free downloads.

My router died and I couldn't get online to update

Hopefully I can get a new one today, and will be able to post again tonight or tomorrow. At least I'm on the internet again.

I figured it was getting weak because I've had problems for a while.

Spellbinders and blue Santa Card

This is another piece of my German Scrap. It uses iridescent blue paper, gold mirror card, Core'dinations white pearl card stock, and Hot Off the Press snowflake paper which I bought years ago.

The blue outline was done with Jellyroll pens. The pearls are Queen & Co and the gold outline stickers were bought years ago at a dollar store. The top layers were mounted with dimensional tape.

Tryptic Christmas Tree Card with Marianne Creatables

When I started this card, I began with an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of card stock, then just kept playing with it until I got a shape I liked. After cutting and folding, I realized it wouldn't fit into any envelope I had, so I cut it down some more until it fit an 8 1/2" square envelope.

Then I cut the red cs to fit and applied that. I tried a bunch of Marianne Creatables dies, until I found something I liked, and cut and embossed those and applied them to the card. The sides where the card is folded looked bare, so I ran some ribbon through my little X shaped Xyron, and added that to the sides. Then I added some snowflake buttons I had, and decorated the tree with white sparkly Stickles.

I didn't think it came out too badly for all the experimenting I had to do to make it fit an envelope!

The Fifteenth Free Download

This was the fifteenth free download. It was up for a week. Be sure to check back for more free downloads.

Hot Off the Press Christmas Card

I bought this paper pack years ago from Hot Off the Press. They used to have a beautiful display of their products at our craft store. Unfortunately, most of the supplies I bought from them were for gifts for others. There were tons of things I wanted. Then, all of a sudden, the display was gone, and most of what I had wanted wasn't available anymore.

They still have beautiful things, but not the ones I wanted the most, and buying off their website isn't fun like it was when you could browse their products in the store.

I made this card by using a 12x12 piece of white linen textured card stock. I scored it in half horizontally, then at 3" and 9". I then cut out the top 3" sections, and cut diagonally down to 3" on the bottom 3" outside sections. I folded the top 6" square down, then folded the outside 3" sections in to the middle to make a gate fold.

The inside has the wisemen section of the paper mounted on gold mirror card, and more of the paper mounted on blue pearl paper for the side sections. I made the outer flaps to match the inner ones.

The rest of the paper was mounted under the top flap. When I folded the outside over the closed card, the two flaps didn't quite meet in the middle, so I added an Anna Griffin dimensional label to half of the front, which covers it up so you can't tell. If I make this card again, I will have to make the center about 5 and 7/8" rather than 6" so that won't happen again!

The front of the card needed something else, and the only thing I had that looked okay were the Queen & Co. pearls. I'm not really happy with them, but nothing else I tried worked. It really was a fun card to decorate in spite of not everything working out quite right.

German Scrap and Anna Griffin Christmas Tree Card

This is another card made from my German Scrap and Anna Griffin pine cone paper. The card also uses gold mirror card and Queen & Co. pearls. The holly leaves are from some stickers I bought at a dollar store years ago.

The Fourteenth Free Download

This was the fourteenth free download.It was up for a week. Check back for more free downloads.

The Thirteenth Free Download

This was the thirteenth free download. It was up for a week. Be sure to check back for more free downloads.

Suede Paper Botanical

I saw this card by Kathy Jones on the Just Rite site and loved it. All of her cards are gorgeous, so have a look around her blog and SCS Gallery!

I instantly thought the background would be gorgeous with pearl white and some red suede paper I had been hording for years. Since it was last summer, it was the perfect time to use a scan I had from and old botanical featuring red carnations.

I mounted a piece of the red suede paper onto a card I made with Core'dinations white pearl. Then I cut a strip of the white pearl and punched it with a Fiskars border punch, and applied another strip of the red suede in the center of that and mounted it on the card.

I cut the botanical with Spellbinders Labels Four, but it needed something, so I outlined it with a red Jellyroll pen. I wish the pen had been a little darker, but it matches better in person than in the photograph. The diecut is mounted with dimensional tape.

The Twelfth Free Download

This was the eleventh free download. It was up for over a week. Be sure to check back for more free downloads.

Free Download Poll

I have a ton of things I can share, but I'm not sure what my readers are looking for. I have been putting up Christmas things because I expect that most of you are making Christmas cards and items for Christmas festivals right now, and are looking for new graphics to use. I have hundreds of antique postcards, so this has been easy.

The other things I have which are listed in the poll are:

Old food labels, hundreds of them, everything from lobsters to vegetables to candy.

Old die labels, about fifty of them, these are really fancy and interesting fabric die labels with Indian, Oriental, Egyptian and other themes.

Old Perfume labels, about fifty fancy perfume and cosmetic labels.

Old drug labels, hundreds of them, most aren't fancy, but a few are.

Christmas teabag tiles which I made from the old Christmas cards. Quite elaborate with Santa showing in most of them, others with holly, greenery, etc. None are cartoonish.

I also have a ton of fancy tiles, borders, labels, etc. which I make from printers ornaments and things. Those aren't in the poll, I will probably just put them on here from time to time.

The Eleventh Free Download

This was the eleventh free download. It was up for over a week. Be sure to keep checking back for more free downloads.

Marianne Creatables Reindeer Card

This card uses the Creatables Reindeer, and one of the Anja Style corners by Marianne Designs. They are mounted on green Bazill linen textured paper and gold mirror card, which is mounted on a white 5x7 card. The pearls are Queen & Co.

New Just Rite and Copic Goodies Coming!

I am so excited, I have always loved the Just Rite stamp sets, and I just placed my first order!

I've got a ton of them coming. I have always wanted a bunch of the sets that are being discontinued, and they were on sale. Some of the sets I got also contained the stamp thing, so I didn't have to order as many of those, so I saved a lot of money and got some of the stamp things so it will be easier to order next time.

Some of the new sets I wanted the most also used the stamp things in the sets which were discontinued. I can't wait till my order gets here!

I also am getting my first Copic markers. I've got three greens and three roses coming. It's not many, but we all have to start somewhere!

What Disappoints me most when I visit blogs I love?

Sometimes I see really big blogs with tons of interesting things on them, but they are difficult to search because there are no labels or tags. The archived page index isn't all that easy to use.
It takes a very long time to go through some blogs, and look for the things I am most interested in. For instance, I may be looking at the blog to see how other people are using Spellbinders, or how they made their flowers. It's really easy if there are labels, but almost impossible if there aren't.
Frequently I see a label for something that sounds interesting, so I look at everything with that label on it. Labels make me look at many more pages of other people's blogs than blogs without them. Anyway, that's just my opinion, I was wondering if others search blogs by labels too.

The Tenth Free Download

This was the tenth free download. It was up for a week. Be sure to keep checking for more free downloads.

Marianne Creatables Christmas Scene 2

It's a good thing that my mother loves this card, because I didn't realize that Core'dinations pearl paper burns so easily when embossing. Anyway, it will probably be my card to her, since she can see nothing wrong with it, and wants it. I tried to cover up the burn with silver embossing powder in the front of the sleigh, but it still shows. Also, I used a lightweight iridescent paper for the background and that buckled on me. I have never had either of these things happen before, maybe it's because I did the embossing in so many different steps.

I did the snowflakes on the background first, using a Sakura glue pen and silver embossing powder. Since I didn't want to get my fingers in the embossing powder, I did quarters of the sky at a time, embossing each quarter bfore starting the next.

Then I used kaleidoscope embossing powder on the trees, roofs, and reindeer. After finishing those, I realized I forgot to add reins, so I embossed those in silver. Some of the silver got into the kaleidoscope ep in places, but I didn't really mind the look. It made the kaleidoscope show up better.

It is all mounted on more Core'dinations pearl paper and silver mirror card. I may try this one again, because I really would like the card if I hadn't messed it up.

Spellbinders Santa with Little Girl Card

This is another of my German scrap Santas. It is mounted on Bazill green linen textured card stock. The center was cut and embossed in my Grand Calibur using Spellbinders labels four. I don't remember what company made the poinsettia paper, the gold is gold mirror card, and everything is mounted on an off white note card. The central motif is mounted with dimensional tape. The pearls are Queen & Co.

The Ninth Free Download

This was the ninth free download.It was up for a week. Be sure to keep checking back for more free downloads.

What happened to my pictures???

No internet all day, and when I finally got it back I went to check my blog, and most of the photos are gone :-(

I guess I need to edit all of my posts again or something.