Friday, December 30, 2011

More goodies, this time at Hobby Lobby

We don't have any Hobby Lobbys in Maine, but I finally got to one in Webster, NY. I got two more binding things for my Cinch. I finally found Spellbinders tags three, now I only need tags two. There was a Christmas letterpress set on clearance, so I got that as well.

Then, I have always wanted some Graphic 45 stuff, and they had one of the paper packs I wanted the most, so I got that. I got seven more Copics, and two Anna Griffin card packs that I really wanted.

I also got a three cube high wire rack thing to hold 12 x 12 scrapbook paper with a 40% off coupon. I really needed that!

I am having a wonderful scrapping Christmas vacation!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

still on vacation, but got more goodies!

I really wanted the Cinch Bindery for Christmas, but it wasn't anywhere in our area of Maine, and it was too late to order one on line. I managed to get one here in Rochester. They only had a couple of binding wire things, so I bought the four they had. Now I need to find some place to order 2:1 wires on line. I'm also wondering if the Cinch will punch mat board. I cut mats for my photography, and have tons of leftovers large enough for albums but not for my photography. Mat board is so much nicer than chipboard, and is acid free.

Today I got to Michael's. We don't have a Michaels any where near us, so it's always a treat to go. I finally got MS stamp around the page, a punch around the page, and a punch all over thing. I've looked for those for a long time, and this is the first time I've seen them.

Another thing I've wanted for a long time and never found were liquid pearls. I got three packages!

Then I found a ton of small flowers in bottles. I got seven bottles. In Maine, all I've been able to find are Prima, and there were more really large flowers than small. The two kinds of Primas I like are either really difficult to find or are discontinued, so I was really happy to find these.

I never found any of the Spellbinders I want the most, the Martha Stewart punch I want the most or some branch punches I've been looking for forever. Oh well, I'll be here for a few more days, so maybe I'll find them someplace, and I did get my Cinch!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Easel Card Sticky Note Holder


This isn't quite finished. I want to add matchbox drawers beneath it so who ever gets it will be able to store paper clips and things right in the same place. Unfortunately I don't have any match boxes, so I will add them and rephotograph this when I get back from the holidays.

I didn't use a pattern for this, I just made an easel card with a 1/2" fold to accommodate the pad and pen, (I haven't got the pen yet), and made a slit for the ribbon which will hold the pen. I sort of messed up though, because I put the ribbon too high. Oh well, it makes a good prototype and I will do better on the next one.

The patterned paper is from the Mariposa stack, I couldn't believe the bird image was exactly the right size for a 5x5 card! The white is Core'dinations pearl, and the green is ordinary green CS. The butterfly is Cheery Lynn, and I accented the card with diamond Stickles.

We're leaving in the morning to visit the kids and grandchildren for a couple of weeks, but I want to wish all of my blog friends a wonderful holiday season!

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

No card today, but I was productive anyway

Instead I was going through all my small green scraps and making leaves. I have a ridiculous amount of scraps, so sometimes I just sit down with punches and dies and make flowers, leaves, and small shapes.

It's quite boring, but saves time when making cards if I can just reach into a zip lock bag and take something I need out rather than hauling the dies and cutters out and making them. Now I have quite a few leaves, stems and vines in different shades of green and different sizes and shapes.

I also have fewer scraps.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Sticky Note Holders


This is the first time I've made these. I don't have the pens yet, but since I am going away to visit the kids and grandchildren for Christmas on Thursday, I probably won't have the pens until I get back after the new year.

I followed this tutorial. I made the blue one first, and made it fancy, then made a less fancy green one after that. They were really fun to make! Sorry the photos are so blurry, but we have compact flourescent bulbs, and it's really dark around here at night now, even though they are supposed to be equivalent to 100 watts. Can't read and do crafts using them except during the day, and photos don't come out very well with my phone and so little light.

For the blue one, I used floral paper from my stash, blue pearl cs from an art supply store and ordinary white card stock. I used Spellbinders for the center square, and Marianne Creatables for the flower.

I decided to add Stickles for sparkle, but then the outside corners looked blank. I always save some of the fancier punch outs from my Spellbinders dies in Altoid tins in case I need extra accents on a piece, so I looked in there and found these little ones which I added and put Stickle in the corners of them.

The green one was done using some card stock I bought quite a few years ago. It has dark green mulberry paper on one side and light green on the other. Since I'm planning on selling these, I wanted this one to be simpler, so I added a Spellbinders Sunflower die and the leaf from it. I used pebbles chalk creams to stencil the leaf and the sunflower. The leaf really isn't that shiny light green, it just reflected the flash from the camera. It is really a slightly darker shade of green and isn't shiny at all. The leaf and the sunflower were applied flat on the card, then I used a second cut out sunflower over the first, mounted on dimensional tape to make it look more like a real sunflower.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Sliding Easel Card



This is the first time I have made one of these cards. I have always liked them, but never found a tutorial for them except UTube videos, which I can't view because of my slow internet connection.

There is a tutorial at SCS, but it only shows measurements by using a Fiskars cutter. Unfortunately, my Fiskars cutter has never worked right, so I couldn't use it. After trying again to make the cutter work, I finally just made a template as best as I could figure out,and managed to come up with this. (I think the Fiskars one has a defect in the clear ruler thing, and it is too old to return). I'd hate to buy another cutter, even though it would make things so much easier, because I already have three cutters, and they are expensive.

I'm not terribly happy with the card, but at least I finally got one made. It is a lot of work when you aren't really sure what you are doing, and I'm not happy with how I decorated it. Maybe I will try another one sometime.

If anyone knows of a good tutorial for these cards that isn't a video and doesn't use Fiskars measurements, could you let me know, pretty please?

The card is made with Core'dinations light and dark gold pearl CS and Bazill pearl linen CS, Spellbinders, and K & Co die cuts. The pearls are Queen & Co., the little gold flowers are dresden paper and the stickers are from my stash. The saying is from Anna Griffin stamps, and stamped with peeled paint distress ink.

Friday, December 16, 2011

I just found a beautiful new blog to explore!

So far, I'm only on the first page, but everything I see is gorgeous!
 It's Elly's Card Corner . I think I'm going to be visiting her blog for quite a while.

Easel Card with Marianne Creatables and Cheery Lynn






This card was made using a 5" square of Core'dinations light gold pearl CS and applying Marianne Creatables Anja Style Corners around a tag by K & Co.

Surrounding the light gold pearl CS is gold mirror card, pink linen textured pearl CS by Core'dinations and white CS. The flowers are Prima, and the butterfly is cut from a Cheery Lynn die. The sparkly accents are stickles.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Iris Card with Spellbinders

I wish I had decided what I was going to put on this card before I made it in blue. The only things I had that looked right on the sides were these irises. My husband likes the contrast, so maybe it isn't that bad.

The middle section is raised up, and to close the card, you push the sides inward. About half of the side pieces show up when the card is closed, making a six inch square card.

To make it, I cut a 12" square piece of CS (Linen Stack) to 6"x9". I then scored the card at 3", 4 1/2", 7 1/2" and 9", and mountain folded the two inside scores, and valley folded the two on the outside.

Then I cut three strips of ordinary cream colored CS to 5 3/4" x 2 3/4". I used a Fiskars corner punch in each corner.

The light blue is very heavy CS I got at an art supply store. This was cut to 5 1/2" x 2 1/2", and the same corner punch was used.

The center was done with a Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Shapabilities die. I cut and embossed the light blue, then embossed only the cream and dark blue. The light blue was mounted on the cream and cut around with scissors leaving a margin, then I mounted them onto the dark blue, and cut around that, leaving a margin on that as well. I applied this diagonally to the raised center portion and used K & Co. die cuts to decorate the card.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Napkin Fold Card with Spellbinders and Marianne Creatables


I made this card from this Stampartic tutorial. I decided to put the napkin fold inside a card rather than using it alone. I made the napkin fold the same size as the tutorial, then cut the card out of a 6 1/2" square, and a 6 1/2" x 7" square. I scored the larger square at 6 1/2" and 6 3/4", and glued the larger piece to the smaller one, since I didn't have any paper large enough to make a 6 1/2" square card.

The white paper is a linen textured CS from my stash, the flowered paper is from Walmart, and the yellow paper is moire textured paper I bought at an art supply shop. So far, I have never seen an MS punch around the page in a local store, so I used one of her border punches to make the paper look like lace. The die cuts are Spellbinders and Marianne Creatables Anja Corners. The Butterfly and the diecut inside are K & Co.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Gatefold Card using Marianne Creatables



I feel really lucky to have been able to upload three photos today. The free download files were larger, and wouldn't upload.

This card uses a pearlescent blue CS from the linen closet stack and white pearl Core'dinations CS. All dies were Marianne Creatables except the leaves which were Spellbinders. I used stickles to outline the little roses I made from Creatables and attached the ones in the center with blue brads. The corner ones were attached with silicone glue. After I photographed this, I realized that I didn't add centers for the corner flowers, so I will add them now, either by placing a small pearl, or no holes beads, whichever I like better. The hydrangea inside is from K&Co.

Easel Card with Spellbinders and Prima Flowers


I still can't get any files to upload for the free graphics, but I managed to upload some smaller files of a couple of cards I've done recently.

For this one I used Core'dinations pink pearl card stock and ordinary white card stock. The labels were cut out with my Spellbinders dies and stenciled using the dies with Pebbles cream chalks. The saying was stamped with a pink Anna Griffin stamp pad and one of her stamps . The flowers are from Prima. I wish they still made the tiny roses. They were called mini roses and came with 24 per card for $2.99. They had green cloth covered florist wire stems, which could be coiled for extra dimension, and were tiny enough to use anywhere. I only bought two colors, expecting to be able to buy more later, but I didn't know that they had been discontinued. There were some in beautiful shades of yellow which I never got.

For a while now, I have seen tutorials suggesting the use of silicone glue for attaching things dimensionally. I decided to try it to attach flowers on all of my latest cards since since they don't always have flat bottoms. The silicone glue will actually form a little "cup" around the bottom of the flowers when you attach them providing more contact and dries clear. I am really happy with it.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Internet is still broken

I have done a bunch of really beautiful cards, and zipped up some files for you all to download, but I still can't get anything uploaded. I try and try for hours while I do other things, but they always fail not matter where I try to upload them to. Pages also still take forever to load, and frequently have no graphics on them unless I refresh them a bunch of times.

Lately I have been doing a lot of coloring with water color pencils and one of those paint brushes that holds water in the handle. It's quite fun! I tried my Copics on some of my Just Rite stamps, but I can't get fine enough detail with them. I think I should have gotten the original rather than the sketches, because I am trying to get really fine details. Does anyone know if you can put the fine nibs into the sketches?

Thursday, December 8, 2011

I still can't get anything uploaded

My telephone company did something to the box outside again today, and now my connection is so slow I can't get anything done. I wonder if it's a coincidence, but they keep calling me to see if I will upgrade to a much more expensive internet plan.

Even Google Mail keeps switching to the slow version because the regular pages won't load.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

I found another wonderful blog

If you go there, keep clicking on older posts. Marianne at Stampartic has posted some really gorgeous Christmas presents to make, along with all of her wonderful tutorials and beautiful cards.

I'm hoping that I will be able to upload to my blog again tomorrow. Today my phone Company was fixing something on the box on the telephone pole across the street from my house. Our phone has been really statically lately, enough so that it's difficult to have a conversation. It's probably also the reason I couldn't upload or get my internet connection to work. After they left, I picked up the phone and no more static. I also have internet again. I'm hoping that's where the problem was.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

I am still having internet problems

Fairpoint told me it was my router, so I bought a new one. Well, it must be a Fairpoint problem, because I am still not able to upload with either router, with either computer, and from other people's houses who are also on Fairpoint. Internet is still slow and intermittent.

I have tried for so long to add new cards and files for you, but it seems to be hopeless. :-(

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

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!

Monday, November 21, 2011

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!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Free Download 22

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

Saturday, November 19, 2011

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.

Friday, November 18, 2011

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!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

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.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

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.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

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!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Free Downloads 16 17 and 18






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

Sunday, November 13, 2011

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.

Friday, November 11, 2011

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.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

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.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

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.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

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.

Monday, November 7, 2011

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.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

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.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

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.

Friday, November 4, 2011

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!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

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.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

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.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

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.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Anna Griffin and Spellbinders Christmas Card 2


This is another card using Anna Griffin CS. I cut the saying from a sheet of Anna Griffin CS. Unfortunately it didn't fit the Spellbinders die, so I mounted it on a sheet of matching cs and then used my Grand Calibur to make the die cut. I mounted this on die cut gold mirror card and mounted the whole thing on the card using dimensional tape. The green paper is also Anna Griffin mounted on gold mirror card and put onto an off white note card. The pearls are Queen & Co.

The Eighth Free Download


This was the eighth free download. It is a smaller size of one of my antique postcards.
It was up for one week. Keep checking back for more free downloads, and remember to fill out the poll so I know which downloads you are most interested in!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

The Seventh Free Download


This was the seventh free download. It was up for over a week. Check my blog for more free downloads.

Train Christmas Card





This is another piece of my German Scrap. I still had the green Anna Griffin pine cone paper out, and decided the train looked nice on it, so I paired it with Anna Griffin gold pine cone paper, and gold mirror card. I layered them all and mounted them on a cream colored note card. I had a little package of die cut holly branches, I can't remember where it came from, but but cutting the last three leaves off of each branch made them fit the corners of this card perfectly. I wasn't really sure I liked the metallic berries on the card, but they sort of tied in with the gold mirror card, so I left them the way they were rather than playing with them and risking making them worse. The pearls in the corners are Queen & Co.

Friday, October 28, 2011

German Scrap Santa Card


This is another card made from my collection of German scrap. He is on Core'dinations white pearl cs which was embossed in my Big Kick using a Sizzix embossing folder. The pearl cs is mounted on gold mirror card, which is mounted on Anna Griffin red glittered paper. The pearls are Queen & Co. The red glittered paper is mounted with my Xyron onto more pearl paper which I cut to size for the card. I added gold glitter to the centers of the snowflakes.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Anna Griffin Merry Christmas Card


This card is similar to an example on last year's Calisto cardstock pack. I cut the label from one piece of AG paper, and mounted it on red and green AG pine cone paper. The green background paper is applied using my Xyron to cardstock cut to make a 5x5 card. The light tan paper behind the red is the back of a sheet of AG cardstock which matches the background of the label. (I didn't like the colors in the pattern on the front). I cut around it with patterned scissors. Then I added AG holly die cuts, and used Queen & Co. cranberry colored pearls for berries to add dimension and a richer color.