Beautiful Peacocks

I'm sharing with you today another of Brandy's creations.  This time she was playing around with Heartfelt Creations Peacock Paisley stamp sets.  This first beauty was embossed with gold embossing powder using the Peacock Swirls stamp.  Ultimately, Brandy colored in this stamp using her Copic markers.  This card front went into the stash to be placed on a card when needed.  Stunning, yes?

The second card front was also gold embossed using the Feathery Peacock stamp.  Once again, colored with Copic markers, this image is also gorgeous.  The picture does not do it justice!

These stamps are so versatile, the stamps create a lovely image and the use of the gold embossing powder really amps the image up a notch.  I'm not sure whether I'll get an image of the final card produced, but if I do I'll be sure to share them with you here.

Thanks for checking us out.  We're always grateful for your kind words of encouragement!

Our Beautiful World - Two

Our Beautiful World is celebrating their 2nd Anniversary. They offer a word prompt every Sunday and are generally focused on photos.  However, I find their creative expressions very inspiring and would encourage you to check them out at the link below or join in the fun.  A cute and fun gift is being offered to participants this week.

This week's word prompt is Two.  I immediately thought of the two St. Bernard sisters that have been a part of our lives for the past decade.  We lost Jilly in June of 2014 and were fondly remembering her this month.  Abby is still with us.

Abby is in the forefront of each of these pictures.  Jilly was afraid of the camera and would often run away (see picture above- she's leaving folks!)  We still recall Jilly fondly, but find ourselves doting on Abby.

And this word prompt also reminds me that next month is a milestone for the Millers.  Where Two have always gone to school in the month of July, this year our Katie will go alone as my son Timothy has graduated and will be attending ASU in September.  Ahhh, time passes!


And now it is time for you to head on over to Our Beautiful World to check out what the other ladies have shared.

Baby Shower Favors

In and among my own planning to host a baby shower for a co-worker a friend asked if I could help make shower favors for a shower she was hosting.  These things do seem to cluster together!  My friend hosted a shower for someone at her church who had signed up to foster infants.  They have been told that they could receive 1-2 children of either gender at anytime.  Showering this family with used and new supplies just seemed like the right thing to do, but everything had to be gender neutral.  Also, since they are going to foster, the gender of their children could change and the supplies needed to be useful over time.  Enter my very favorite color, green!  Perfectly gender neutral.

I picked up this idea after a short search on Pinterest, my favorite place for inspiration.  I just love tealight candles and happened to have some along with some white tulle.  All I needed was some theme appropriate washi tape.  A short trip to Hobby Lobby yielded this cute owl and polka dot combination.  Perfect.  I simply applied the washi tape around the outside of the plastic tealight candle holder and pressed the excess down around the bottom of the plastic holder.  The user could simply remove the tape or leave as is for use.  I cut approximately 7in strips of the 6 inch wide tulle and laid them out in a cross pattern, placing the three tealights inside.  I gathered the tulle up in the center and tied with green twine.  The tiny tag was cut using Cricut's Accent Essentials cart at 1 1/2 inches and stamped with brown Archival ink.  After I tied the tulle, I slid the tag on and made a bow.  Simple process which was needed since I made about 28 of these for the shower.

My friend says everyone thought they were cute.  I just hope they all felt a huge sense of gratitude for helping this family to minister to the young, needy children in our area.

Another Father's Day Card

I'm lovin' the whole shaker card movement (pun intended)!  I put this together for my grandfather and sent it off.  The frame was cut with my Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles dies.  The sequins were picked up from Michaels' Recollections products.  The tie was fussy cut after I printed a tie clip art onto the back of the patterned paper.  

Get on up and make your own shaker cards.  They are super fun and easy.

Another Father's Day Card

I whipped this card up to give to my husband on Father's Day.   With the loss of his dad, this year was a mix of celebration and solemn recollection.

I used a scrap patterned paper.  The sentiment was Stamped with blue ink onto a piece of the reverse side of the patterned paper.   The stars were cut and embossed from a blue cardstock.  Three small stars were layered to give the embellishment some dimension.

I hope the fathers in your life were properly celebrated.  I've one more photo to edit and post of  my cards.  See you again soon.

I decided to join the  Raisin Boat Challenge: Challenge #35 USA.

Raisin Boat Challenge - I'm a winner!

Oh my, I'm so excited.  I was browsing though the challenge blogs I post to and saw that I was announced a winner on Raisin Boat's Challenge #34: Graduation.  I'm seriously jazzed because I was able to pick out a free stamp set.  Wow!  It was a difficult choice, but I did pick one and they shipped it out right away.

They have a wide selection and a subscription program that would be a great way to sample stamps.  Check them out!  Also, if you're making cards or projects for the 4th of July, consider entering their Challenge #35 : USA.

Just a note:  this is not a sponsored post as I have no affiliation with Raisin Boat.  I'm used a pleased user passing on a Contagiously Crafty thing,

Happy Father's Day

It is that wonderful day each year when we celebrate our dads.  This card was inspired by Jennifer Mcguire's No-Bulk Shaker Card video, a technique video I watched while on vacation.  I made this card for my dad.  Blue and crystal sequins are from Michael's Recollections brand.  The frame was cut using my Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles dies.

Enjoy your own celebrations and/or remembrances today.


I'm linking this card up on the following challenges :

Word Art Wednesday's Challenge#188 : Anything Goes Family

Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge:  Use Your Favorite Technique and V's Seet Ideas: Technique Challenge #35 because the shaker card has become one of my new favorite techniques.  More to come!

And a new challenge blog Card for Guy: Challenge#75 Father'sDay

Look What I Found!

I found these two photos when I was editing.  They come from an Easter tag project Brandy whipped up.  She used Cricut's Winter Wonderland Rabbit die cut.  She cut the image out of patterned paper and the layers out of the same patterned paper, just from the flip side which alternated the colors.  A grey cardstock shadow image sets the bunny tag off nicely and gives a flat, clean space to write on the back.  A grommet was punched  and set into the ears to hold the grey twine for attaching to her Easter treat.  She used a black marker to hand draw in the resting eye and nose rather than cutting the layers for the smaller bunny and die cut the same out of black cardstock for the bigger bunny..  The bigger bunny was cut at approximately 5 inches and the little bunny at 3 inches.

Adorable, don't you think?  and well worth sharing even at this late date.  I hope your weekend begins with a bunch of fun!

Baby Shower Invitations a la Peter Rabbit!

I had the great opportunity last month to organize a baby shower for a co-worker.  She was expecting a baby boy so I thought I would use my Peter Rabbit stamp.  I simply adore Peter because my kid's nursery was Beatrix Potter.  I have several of the Crafter's Companion stamps that are now retired.

Peter was stamped in brown Archival Ink onto Bristol paper.  This is Brandy's new find. She has been researching great stamping techniques and came up with this paper.  A fabulous (3 for 1) sale at Michael's and I have some in the stash.  The image is crisp since the paper has very little texture, just the weight and small amount of texture make watercoloring easy.  I layered Frayed Burlap, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Markers onto the image using a water brush.  The coat is Faded Jeans, again layered to create dimension.  A little Worn Lipstick Distress Marker in the inner ear and cheeks of Peter and I'm done.  I cut the brown cardstock and Peter out with my fabulous Simon Says Stamp stitched rectangles dies.

I ended up making about 30 of these invitations.  I used a paper pad to coordinate the background patterned paper and various twill ribbons.  The sentiment and information were all printed onto the Bristol paper using the computer and my printer. The paper doesn't like to run through the printer like other cardstock paper.  I may restrict it's use to stamping.  Still, a great add to the supplies.

I'm still working to get those photos of Brandy's work up on the blog. You'll enjoy it, so I'll just keep trying!

Aloha

 I couldn't come back to the office without a treat for my co-workers.  I also couldn't resist the chance to whip up something crafty.  I used clear treat bags and this simple image printed on the computer to create these small tastes of island life for them.  Inside is pineapple hard candies that remind me of the wind and waves during our trip.  I simply used a clip art image of the flower and colored it with my Distress Markers.  You can't color too much as the water in the marker will run the inkjet image.  However if I was quick and careful, these treats finished perfectly.

I'm wishing all of you out there a wonderful week.  Aloha!

A Very Colorful Happy Birthday!

Brandy has been at it again.  I also have several photos to edit and post of her recent card making endeavors.  This beauty was colored with a new set of watercolor markers.  The presents and candles die cut and accented with white marker.  Such a cute, fun birthday card, don't you think?

Graduation for a Girl!

When your children graduate high school it is a fair bet to say that you have friends that also have graduating seniors.  This card was made for the daughter of said friend. My son and her daughter went to elementary, junior high and high school together.

The papers came from a My Mind's Eye paper pad, Be Amazing, Follow Your Heart. I fussy cut the kites out and adhered with foam squares.  The floral pieces were cut from a scrap piece of grey cardstock using a couple different dies.  A sheet of pearl swirls were cut apart and laid in the background to accent the sentiment which was stamped in black Archival Ink using a Simon Says Stamp Friendship Messages stamp.  I left room on the inside for a simple Congratulations stamp and a heartfelt message.

This is a time of passages- these young people into adulthood and I stand on the precipice of an empty nest.  It is probably a few years away, but still the approach is unrelenting.  I didn't think I would be ready, but now that it is here, I'm finding myself more prepared than I thought.  May God bless them all with a full and happy life.

Graduation Son!

I had so much fun getting ready for the graduation party I didn't have a ton of time to make a handmade card.  I opted to purchase this Congratulations dimensional sticker at Hobby Lobby.  I did fancy the card up in a couple of ways: I used a black and white patterned paper as the backdrop.  I also added a die cut S-O-N and used Crystal Accents to create a dimension to the letters, adhering them to the pre-made sticker.  I think what really mattered was the heartfelt words on the inside.  My husband, Dan, wrote some touching words to encourage and strengthen Timothy on his graduation.  Here's some details on the party:

Timothy and his girlfriend, Jessica, as they prepared the photo booth.

We wanted to be sure to get photos of all the guests so we set up a photo booth with my new curtains as a backdrop.

We also played one game where I printed off pictures of Timothy at various ages.  Guests were to guess the month and year of the pictures.  Some were easy- a photo of the newborn Tim - and some were more difficult.  You'd be surprised how tough early elementary years are to discern from!  Guests were given party favors (sorry, no pics!) inspired by this pin.  Creating your own circles for the bottom of Hershey kisses is very easy.  I used internet available free clip art for the Class of 2015.   The following step by step presumes you know a few things about using Internet Explorer and Word.

Step 1 - Internet search for free clip art.

Step 2 - I added the clip art to the Word document as a picture (right click on the image in your internet browser and select copy as image (or just copy).  In an open Word document you can click the Paste button in the upper left corner of the Home ribbon.

Step 3 - Crop the image so that the edges of the image are very close to the edge of the picture.  Click the Crop button on the Picture Tools ribbon (upper right side of the Picture Tools ribbon highlighted in yellow in my image).

Step 4 - I resize the image to 0.75" (or 3/4 inch).  This is so that the image fits on the bottom of a Hershey's chocolate kiss. To do this I click into the height box in the upper right corner of the Picture Tools window.  In my picture below, I've already typed 0.75 in the box and hit the enter button on my keyboard.  The image is resized.  At this point, I click on the image and copy the image into the clipboard before moving on.

Step 5 - With the image copied into the clipboard, I insert a table.  I usually just randomly select a large quantity of rows/columns to fit the page.  Here I used 7 columns by 7 rows.  I then pasted the image into cells of the table leaving a blank row and column next to each image.

Step 6 - At this point is is simply a matter of filling in the table.  Ultimately, I used 240 images.  I selected 5 different images to create a bit of interest.  Once the page is full, print the page onto copy paper.  Really, there is no need for anything more fancy and the thinness of the copy paper made it lie flat to the Hershey's chocolate kiss nicely.

Step 7 - I punched the circles out using my 3/4 in. circle punch.  I turned the punch upside down to see where the image would be cut and fit it in nicely in.









Step 8 - I used a Glue Dot to adhere the punched circles on the bottom of the Hershey's chocolate kiss.  Since this was a boy's graduation party, I simply placed the kisses in a clear treat bag and used the silver foil twist tie to close.





I hope all your end of the school year plans were met with success. I know that Timothy thought his party was great and we finished with a fabulous graduation ceremony.  The young man is now officially graduated.