Holding on.

     I have 2 small things to show today, but I got so much less done than I'd hoped. In my studio today, I worked on making a holder for the note cards I made for my friend, Susan. Yes, I know I made those a long time ago, but we haven't connected since and tomorrow we are finally going to lunch together, so, just in time, I'm finally making the note card holder and envelopes. I used Cricut's Tags, Bags, Boxes and More to cut the shopping bag holder. I used the Gypsy set to weld, so that it wouldn't cut tick marks that show you where to score the bag. I figured I could handle that and not have the rough edges those cut marks leave. When I originally made the notecards, I made an extra set of the image and mats as well as an extra border to use on the holder, so that was all done. Below is also a photo of the set of note cards. Here is a direct link to the post if you missed it. The image is by Glitterbabe and was for CDAC's Progressive Challenge.

     See, nice and quick, but at this point the migraine beast won out and I surrendered. Earlier in the day however, I had gone to Archiver and did their Make and Take, which this week was featuring Tim Holtz products.  Yes, I'm still missing my camera. Sorry about the photo quality. It used stamps, embossing (lined up over the stamp), diecuts, distress inks, and distress stickles (which were still wet when I stuck my finger in the ooey, gooey eye socket of the skull - just trying to add some halloween ambience ;- )

     You'd of thought I'd have gotten a lot more accomplished this week, considering my husband's been out-of -town and I haven't been out lunching (until tomorrow - that is.) Thanks for stopping by today. Please leave a comment and I'll feel this is a more productive day, ha ha.  Have a inspired day!

Bowl full of Apples!

     For my project in Crafter's Digital Art Center's (CDAC) Progressive Challenge round 3, I used Glitterbabes's image "apple bowl." I colored the image digitally in PhotoShop Elements. I thought a friend of mine, who is a librarian, could use note cards with this image, for volunteers and teachers. I matted the image with peach and black Core'dinations cardstock. I didn't have a punch or Cricut cart with an apple border so I used the A Child's Year cart and took the apple icon and made it a border with my Gypsy by welding multiple apples, until I had enough to cover the 4 inches of my base. The note cards, BTW, are 4inches by 4 inches. I then highlighted the apples on the border with a white gel pen.

     On the inside, I used apple pattern paper, that I'd gotten at Hobby Lobby, but I'm afraid I forgot to write down whose it is, before  using it all >.< I then digitally made a place for her to write that is 3.5 inches by 3.5 inches. I used a free brush set called School Dayz Sketches Brushes by redheadstock which I found on devionArt Here.

     I still need to make envelopes and a box to hold them, but I needed to post this, because the project needed to be posted before the end of the month. Check out the other images and projects here and you can join us for the next round for only $1,which gets you the next set of images (they are free as long as you continue with the challenges.) You can find the info on how the Challenge works at the link above as well.

     Thanks for stopping by today. Please leave a comment or ask any questions you might have. The nice thing about coloring an image digitally is that you can easily make multiple copies quickly (and correct mistakes ;- ) Have a weekend filled with special moments.

Two quick cards

     Well, I was down to the wire on two cards. It was a busy week and then I hadn't been feeling well, causing me not to get these two cards done earlier. So, here I was needing to get them done, before the mail carrier got here. Fortunately, I had a few tricks up my sleeve. I had picked up some note cards from Studio g in the Dollar Bin at Michaels', that had pre-cut windows. I'd also had on hand an assortment of embellishments that I've picked up over time, when there have been sales at Michaels' and JoAnn's. These are from JoAnn's Craft Essential 's line.  The front is embossed with Divine Swirls. The stamp, showing through the window of the anniversary card, is from Stampabilities. It was stamped with Big and Bossy and embossed with gold metallic embossing powder. Hint: Use a dryer sheet to wipe the area where you are going to emboss before you stamp to reduce the amount of powder that clings to unwanted areas. I wish I would remember this the ahead of time, every time ;- ) I colored it with both yellow gel and yellow glitter pens to make a champaign look and went over the glasses with Diamond Glaze.  Used my heat tool to speed drying.

  
     The inside sentiment is from Inkadinkadoo.

     The birthday card follows the same formula, only the stamps are from Hero Arts, made for Archiver. I embossed it with Swiss Dots.  Hint: I had to run it through twice and doing this would cause a section of the dots to de-boss, so I lined it up, to be the area where I would put my sentiment/embellishment. Always plan ahead - an interesting concept for me ;- ) OK, it was a happy accident the first time, but my pickiness, made me do this one a second time and I did it intentionally that time, so there!

It's really more red and maroon than pink.

     For quickie cards, I think they turned out pretty good. Kind of like the less expensive line of cards, but still with that homemade touch. We all have those times when we are out of time. The anniversary couple's daughter has a birthday this week and I need to make a unicorn card for her. So, they will get the full custom treatment then ;- ) As it turned out, it was good they were fast. I didn't just have to beat the mail carrier, but get to the post office before it closed, because I was out of stamps and traffic was horrendous because of a parade. Some days nothing is easy ;- )

     Thanks for stopping by, during your busy summer (if your north of the equator, like me.) Please leave a comment because the fuel me. Have a Blessed Sunday!

Thank You Note Cards

     Hi everyone. Hope your weather is getting spring-like. Ours was warm today, but they are saying snow again. I guess that is early spring around here. The robins were checking our our birdbath and squirrels were climbing the bird feeder pole. I've got to get a new way to stop them from doing that ;- )

     Today's cards are made for the Elders at our Church to give to the volunteers who teach the confirmation classes, as well as the 2 teachers who teach a teen Bible class at the same time and the 2 people who provide the meals during those evenings. That make a total of 16 cards, 8 male and 8 female. I decided to make something quick and easy. On cards I made, for the same purpose, for the volunteers who teach Sunday School, I varied the paper colors (for the men and women) and used the same stamps. On these, I decided to basically, make my own paper with stamps, so these motifs would have to be varied for the men and women.  That was much easier for the women then men. I had seen a card on the Hero Arts blog a while ago that had sparked an idea. I've always liked making my own background paper anyway and that's what Dwita did, using a flower stamp and a multi color stamp pad. Instead I used 2 different Hero Arts  flower stamps and 2 colors, stamping them randomly around a Hero Arts Thank You sentiment. I lined the inside with cardstock which I embossed with a Sizzix flower border and stamped with  stamp from Clear Dollar Stamps Church Chatter set. Easy Peasy!

    As usual, men not so easy to come up with. I finally decided to use the Hero Arts wood grain stamp. I really like the realism of this stamp, but it can be hard to work with. I decided it was best to put the paper on the stamp rather than the other way around, to get it to line up. The paper was smaller than the stamp, so I had to be careful, because if my fingers touched it, I would get the ink on the back of the card. This really becomes a problem when you are doing so many in a row, so I would put a 81/2 x 11 piece of scrap piece of paper over the card before pushing it against it, so I wouldn't transfer any ink from my hands to the card back. I also found that my wedding rings were living funny ink marks on the front after I smoothed over the card back to transfer the ink from the stamp to the card. I'd never noticed having this problem before. I added a popped-up Thanks sentiment from Hero Arts, because I thought the front was boring. Inside I stamped the same sentiment and a Church.

     What would I do different. Well, actually the cards are a bit different. I moved the sentiments around a bit. If I was making this more elaborate, I would probably add a 3-d flower to the front of the female card and bling it up a bit with glitter, as well as add at least some stamping to the inside. In this case, 13 people have to write notes or at least sign the inside, so no room. The men's, I'm not sure, maybe some heavy twine. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonder-filled weekend. I love to see your comments!