Top Note Harvest Frame

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving day! We enjoyed a delicious dinner at my Mom's house yesterday. Both her and my Step Dad always put so much effort into creating such a wonderful meal for the family each year, so I always try to create a little something for my Mom as a little thank you. Last year I made her this Thanksgiving planner with place cards and napkin rings. This year when I was trying to think of what I could make I remembered this adorable project I had seen while blog hopping. Here is my version of Gretchen's awesome Top Note frame.

I covered a piece of the small On Board Book Basics with some Haiku paper, centered the Top Note die where I wanted it and then ran it through the Big Shot. I sanded the edges and then gave them a distressed look by adding ink along the edges. I added a pocket to the back by cutting a 6 1/4 x 4 1/4" piece of More Mustard card stock and then cut a half circle from the top using the 1 3/8" circle punch. I also created a little stand for my frame by cutting out a piece of chip board using a tag die and the Big Shot. I attached these pieces to the back using sticky strip. Here's a photo of the back so you can see what I'm trying to describe.
To embellish the frame I water colored the Indian corn image from Harvest Home and cut it out...boy, was it fun cutting out those curly little husks! I had to use my X-acto knife for that part. I also cut out a button using the Button Sizzlet and then embossed it with Glassy Glaze. I attached it to the stamped sentiment using Linen Thread. Along the left side of the frame I tied on a piece of More Mustard grosgrain ribbon. The oak leaves were cut out using a leaf die and the Big Shot...have I told you how much I {LOVE} my Big Shot???! I added veins to the leaves by laying them on my foam mat and "drawing" them on using the stylus. I attached them with glue dots and also added some hemp twine and a maple leaf brad I've had in my stash for a while, and I was done...until yesterday morning when I realized I didn't have a gift bag...So I whipped up a matching bag-a-lope using a catalog sized envelope rolled with the Harvest wheel. To decorate the front I added a little envelope cut with the Scallop Envelope Bigz die. On the front of the envelope is a punch out using the Cute & Curly punch bundle which is on sale right now at 30% off. The handles are made from Creative Twist paper ribbon...not sure if they even make it anymore...but I still have some hanging around my craft room.

My Mom loved her little gift and much to everyone's delight, I forced them to pose for a group photo around the dining room table so that my Mom will have a photo of everyone to slip into her new frame. Now, I'm thinking Christmas frames...

Lovely Tree Thanksgiving

I created this card a while ago when a new customer said she would love to learn the cracked glass technique. I remembered that I hadn't shared it here as I was getting it ready to mail off to my Dad. This card also works for this weeks challenge at Stamp Something.

The oak leaf image comes from one of my all time favorite stamp sets - Lovely As A Tree. I watercolored the image and then used Glassy Glaze embossing powder over the top to create the cracked glass technique. I describe how to do this fun technique in another post found here. After I cracked the image I also sponged on some Creamy Caramel ink using re-inker and a stampin' sponge so that it would really highlight the cracks. After I got the look I desired, I wiped the image with a paper towel to remove the extra ink.
Stamps: Lovely As A Tree, Sanded background, Holidays & Wishes
Card stock: Haiku DP, Creamy Caramel, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive & Very Vanilla
Ink:Black Stazon, VersaMark, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip & various to watercolor
Accessories: Glassy Glaze EP, Heat Tool, Vintage brads, Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, mat pack, Ticket Corner punch
If you're in the mood to shop...don't forget that Stampin' Up!'s Holiday Extravaganza Sale starts today! There are some awesome discounted bundles offered in this sale! Hop on over to my demo website to start your shopping now.
I probably won't be back to post tomorrow... so I want to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving Day! I hope you get to spend it with those you love most.

Snow Swirled Season of Joy

With the snow swirling outside my window this morning I thought this was the perfect card to share with you today. We've already got a couple inches, so it's starting to look a lot like Christmas...instead of Thanksgiving. Oh well...it sure looks pretty. I always like the first few snowfalls we get...just don't ask me how I feel about it come February or so! The Season of Joy tree just sparkles in real life and is so pretty...I wish that showed up better in this photo. I stamped it in Old Olive Craft ink and then embossed it with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. I cut the ovals using my Coluzzel and layered it over the Baja Blue background stamped with snowflakes from Snow Swirled and a print from the Ski Slope paper pack. The "merry & bright" was inked with markers from the word collage stamp in the Season of Joy set. The finishing touch was the little ruby jewels I added to the tree.

Hope your day is merry & bright!

It's a Holiday Extravaganza!

If you are you like me, and would rather shop from home for your gifts during Thanksgiving weekend rather than be out in the crowds, then this special sale is for you! Stampin' Up!'s Holiday Extravaganza Sale will begin on November 26th and run through December 1st. All of the details have not been released yet, but I can tell you that there will be products bundled together and available at a big discount!(while supplies last)!

Be sure to visit My Online Store on November 26 to take advantage of these great deals! If you would like to find SU! products under your tree, share my link, along with your wishlist. Don't forget...online shopping is available 24/7! Or, if you'd rather contact me directly to place your order, that's fine too. Just be sure you call or email me ASAP, as these bundled savings are available only while supplies last!

Four Season Tree

Hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was pretty busy and flew by...as usual! Today I have a card to share with you that I created for one of my best friends. I've had this design in my head for quite some time, so I took a break from my Christmas projects to make it. After several hours of stamping, lots of tedious cutting & rearranging, along with more stamping, tedious cutting & rearranging, I can't really say that it turned out like I imagined it. For sure it looked way better in my head! BUT since I went through all that work and I didn't have any more time...out in the mail it went. I'm sure you've had some cards like that as well! Anyways...here it is...

I love the winter and summer panels, but I think the spring panel is way too busy. I guess I should have chosen different patterned papers. There's just too much going on. I still like the concept of the four panels depicting each season, so I may try again. On a positive note, I love the little tire swing created from the jumbo eyelet, don't you? I saw that first on a card on SCS, I think.

Have a great day!

Christmas Album Class by Mail

I'm offering this beautiful Christmas Keepsake Album as a class by mail. It is created using the 8-1/2 x 8-1/2" On Board Album along with the I Wish Simply Scrappin' Kit & Holiday Treasures designer papers. Wouldn't it make the perfect gift or baby's 1st Christmas album? This photo shows only a few of the completed pages, but my instructions (included on CD) show all 20 pages you will complete with this kit. For all the details as to what is included in this kit and how you can order it, please visit my new LW Designs Classes page.

Have a great day!

Cute new stamps

My friend Denise has started her own stamp company call Whimsey Stamps. You can check out the first three adorable images she will be offering and read her complete story here. Congrats Denise!

Eastern Blooms Sketch

This is the card I created for this weeks Stamp Something Blog Challenge .
My Eastern Blooms stamp set has barely seen ink yet, so I was happy that the stamp with the three flowers was a good size to create the three images needed for this sketch challenge. It was also a nice change to use some other colors rather then the Fall & Christmas colors I've been busy using lately.

Stamps: Eastern Blooms & Lots of Thoughts
Card stock: Pink Pirouette, Baja Blue, Certainly Celery, Pretty In Pink & Green Tea designer paper
Ink:Baja Blue, Certainly Celery, Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose & VersaMark
Accessories: Certainly Celery grosgrain, White EP, Soft Subtle Eyelets, Scallop Edge & Square punches

If you get a chance...play along on this challenge - it's a fun sketch! Have a great day!

A Cardinal Christmas Challenge

A quick post to share a card I created for Beate's weekend sketch challenge.

Stamps: A Cardinal Christmas, Sanded background
Card stock: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Black Stazon & various for watercoloring
Accessories: Sizzlet Buttons die, Glassy Glaze EP, Aqua painter, Riding Hood Red striped grosgrain, Linen thread

Have a great day!

Two Fall Themed Pages

At stamp club on Friday the group got to choose between two different fall themed scrapbook pages. They both used the same layout and colors, just different stamp sets and embellishments. The first layout, shown below, used the beautiful set Harvest Home along with it's coordinating wheel Fall Harvest. This one is perfect for Thanksgiving photos.
My inspiration for this layout came from page 111 of the Idea Book & Catalog. The layout there used Bella Blossoms and totally different colors, but I was able to make it work with the stamps and accessories I wanted to use. Do you like the buttons on the bottom left? Here's a closer look:

I used my new Buttons Sizzlet die (available from SU!) and my Big Shot to make the buttons. To add extra dimension, each button was embossed with Glassy Glaze. I think this die is just the cutest and I know I'll be using it a lot - now I can have as many buttons as I need in whatever color I want!
The other layout they could choose was done with the Season of Friendship set. This one was a little simpler, in that there wasn't any watercoloring, but the trade off was that it did require some intricate cutting around the tree.
The oak leaf from Lovely As A Tree was stamped on the background of the Artichoke & Mustard panels instead of the Fall Harvest wheel. Three die cut oak leaves cut using the Big Shot replaced the buttons. (not sure of the name of the oak leaf die) The title was cut using a set of Sizzlets called Fruit Smoothie. The strip down the center was done using the same leaf stamp from Harvest Home used on the first layout, but the leaves were omitted by inking the vine only with the Chocolate Chip marker. Then the leaves that were used for the tree were added to the vine for a coordinating look.

So, which layout would you have chosen? My group was evenly divided - half chose the Harvest Home layout and the other half chose the Season of Friendship. Thanks for stopping by...enjoy your day!

Cracked Harvest Home

Last night my Hostess Club met for the month of November. Everyone had fun working on Fall themed projects. Our hostess Cheri brought some delicious food and was most generous in loaning me her Harvest Home set to design the club projects. Thanks Cheri! This is such a beautiful set...so much fun to watercolor, I'm going to have to add this one to my collection.
We used the cracked glass technique on this card. If you haven't tried it before, you should give it a try...it's a really fun technique. First, you'll want to color your image. This one was stamped with Black Stazon and colored using re-inkers and the aquapainter. After it is dry, cover the whole image in Versamark, then emboss with Glassy Glaze EP. Apply 2-3 layers of the Glassy Glaze by repeating the last 2 steps. Next, stick the embossed image in the freezer for approx 5 minutes. Then, take it out and quickly crack the glaze by gently bending the image. Once the heat from your hands warms the piece, it will be difficult to crack, so simply throw it back in the freezer and rework it after it gets cold. To emphasize the crackled effect even more, you can sponge on some ink to settle into the cracks. (I didn't do that on this particular piece)Here's a closer look:

The Really Rust background was done using the Fall Harvest wheel inked in Close To Cocoa. The little leaves were from the ivy image included in the Harvest Home set. They were water colored, cut out and then glassy glaze was applied to them just like we did for the cracked glass, only we just used one coat and didn't crack them. This gives them a hardened epoxy-like look.

Other supplies used on this card: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip & Very Vanilla card stock, Creamy Caramel & Chocolate Chip ink, Vintage brads and Taupe grosgrain ribbon (retired)

The group also had their choice of two different Fall themed scrapbook pages. One used the Harvest Home set and the other used Season of Friendship. Check back tomorrow to see the pages we did.

Have a great weekend!

Embossed Snowflakes

While working on simple one layer cards I also came up with this design. This one is really simple, but I think it has an elegant feel to it.
I punched out a couple circles from some chipboard using the 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" circle punches and used those as my templates for embossing the circles. The snowflake design is from the retired Classy Brass Snowflakes template.

I added the sentiment from Heard From the Heart in silver embossing powder. Then added some rhinestone bling to the center of each snowflake and tied some silver edged organdy ribbon around it and I was done. Super easy! Think I'll be making more one layer cards in the future.

Have a great day!

Stamp Something Simple

The challenge at Stamp Something was to "stamp something simple" using only one layer of card stock. Sounds simple enough, but it was actually quite difficult for me. Here's what I came up with.
I started with a base of Shimmery White card stock. (I love that stuff! Especially for Christmas cards) Using a piece of scrap paper just a bit larger than my base, I cut out an oval shape using my Coluzzle. I centered the piece with the oval cut out onto my Shimmery White base and used Baha Blue ink to sponge inside of it. Then I took it over to my light table and centered a larger oval (cut out of chipboard) around the sponged oval, and used that as my template to dry emboss a frame. The dry embossing and sponging gives the illusion of having layers, and takes up what otherwise would have been plain white space.

Next I inked the tree from Snow Swirled with my Artichoke and Real Red markers and stamped it inside my oval. I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig for help with placement. (After doing the above steps, I sure didn't want to end up messing it up!) Same goes with the sentiment...that stamp came from the new Cardinal Christmas set.

I finished it with Baha Blue striped ribbon and some red stick on rhinestones to embellish the tree. I'm glad I did this challenge...now I have other ideas for more one layer cards I want to try.

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy your day!

Mr. & Mrs. PP Penguin

This is the other card I made yesterday for Beate's Weekend Sketch challenge. I wonder if playing with these winter themed items caused us to receive our fist snow? Last night we got a light dusting of the white stuff, which I had expected would disappear before morning. Low and behold, it's still here...plus some. The beautiful Indian Summer weather we've had here in Michigan the past week is officially gone and I'm sure we won't be seeing any more days with those temps until Spring. YIKES...I'm depressing myself! Quick...I better show you this cute card to make snow and cold weather sound fun. Did you notice? Mr. PP Penguin stole Mr. Snow Man's top hat for his night out with Mrs. PP Penguin! (In case you're wondering, PP stands for Punch Pals) I using the masking technique along with my Stamp-a-ma-jig to create this scene.

First, I inked just the snowman's top hat using my Black Journaler (because it's waterproof and I planned to water color). I then stamped the top hat twice - once on my piece of Shimmery White card stock (positioned where I figured Mr. Penguin would be) and then again on a post it note. I cut out the top hat post it note and used that as a mask to cover the hat I had just stamped. Next, using my Stamp-a-ma-jig I decided on placement of my penguin. I also stamped him on a post it to create another mask. I covered Mr Penguin with the mask, and again using the Stamp-a-ma-jig I lined up Mrs. Penguin next to Mr. Penguin so it looks like they are holding hands, or fins or wings or what ever it is that penguins have! See...the Stamp-a-ma-jig can be your best bud when stamping a scene like this! No more wasted card stock or tantrums after attempting over & over to get it just right! (don't ask me how I know this!;-)

Now that the hard part was done, I got to the fun part...adding more details and water coloring! The little flower on Mrs. Penguin's head is one of the little trio of poinsettias that comes with this set. i just stamped one, cut it out, water colored and stuck it to her head with a glue dot. The sentiment at the bottom (from Season of Joy) and the small snowflake image in the center of the Felt Flurry were both embossed with Winter White EP.

Here's the recipe:

Stamps: Punch Pals & Season of Joy
Card stock: Riding Hood Red, Baha Blue, Shimmery White & Ski Slope paper
Ink: Black Stazon, VersaMark & various to watercolor
Accessories: Scallop Edge & 3/4" Circle punches, Felt Flurries, Mat pack

Enjoy your day!

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge

I'm happy that I was able to find some time to stamp today. I was so inspired by Beate's weekend sketch that I made two different cards with it. This first card is for the young daughter of Laurie - a very talented stamper whose blog I love to visit. I read about her at Beate's blog and then at SCS . Laurie's daughter has recently been hospitalized and has been undergoing tests. I can't even imagine what a nightmare it must be for the whole family. My heart goes out to them.Isn't this main image just adorable? My friend Denise sent me some of these images to play with. They are created by Whiff of Joy. I water colored the image and then added some glittery highlights to the wing and the swirls and hearts using a Stardust Jelly Roll Pen. It really shimmers in real life. Here's a close-up photo taken at an angle to capture a bit of the sparkle.

I stamped the Baha Blue layer with one of the stamps from Boho Backgrounds. The center of the Prima flower is a flower from that set punched out with the Boho Blossoms punch. Then I added an adhesive jewel to the center.

The patterned paper is from the retired Flowers For You pack of designer prints. Other colors used: Pretty in Pink & Passion Pink. As you can see, I flipped the sketch on it's side so it would work with the image I wanted to use.


I hope Ali likes my card. I'm sure she has received a lot of beautiful cards and hopefully it will bring her and her family some comfort to know that so many people are praying for her. Well, it's getting near dinner time, so I guess I'll share the other card I made using this sketch with you tomorrow. Have a good night!

Dan's a man!

Well, actually we call him Danny...but now that wouldn't rhyme, would it? Anyways..."our little guy" turned 18 yesterday, it's so hard to believe! He was excited to point out that he's "a man now", but I was quick to remind him that he'll always be our little guy, or my baby...even though he now towers over both of us at well over 6 feet tall! So, what kind of card do you make for an 18 year old man/boy? Since I don't have any guitar stamps, I opted for one of my favorite old (retired) birthday sets - Prehistoric Party and I combined it with my newest birthday set- Crazy for Cupcakes.
This partying dinosaur image always puts a smile on my face...they look like they're having so much fun. I like that you can make the big guy look like he's holding something...in this case a trio of balloons which I paper pieced using the balloon image from Crazy for Cupcakes. To make them look a little more dimensional, I water colored the edges and added a highlight with my white gel pen. I also had fun adding lots of texture. I used a Fiskers Confetti embossing plate and ran the Real Red piece of card stock through my Big Shot. In place of ribbon (since ribbon would be deemed unmanly) I used the paper crimper to crimp a strip of Pacific Point card stock.

On a side note to those with the Big Shot: I recently got the Sizzix embossing starter pack. It comes with a silicone rubber piece, a different cutting pad, and 3 texture plates with 6 patterns. I used the silicone rubber piece & pad along with the Fiskers plate and noticed a huge difference with the embossing - it's more uniform and deeper. I suppose you would have good results with Cuttlebug folders as well. I can't wait until SU! offers some embossing options to use with the Big Shot!

Since guys like metal things I also made sure to add plenty of brads to this - I used some retired Vintage diamond shaped brads I had in my stash. When Danny opened it he said, "Wow...this may be one of the best cards you ever made". He liked the texture, the different size and the "metal things". He's usually the one I go to when I need an honest critique of my work...he has a good eye for design and isn't afraid to say if he doesn't like something. As long as I'm bragging about my boy, er, I mean man...I want to share a few of his graduation portraits. So far, we've only got to view them online, but I'm really happy with the way they turned out. Only problem will be tyring to decide which ones to buy!

Can you guess which one he likes best? The photographer actually laid down a line of lighter fluid and lit it for the last photo. I had to remind Danny not to try that at home! ha!

Thanks for stopping by...hopefully I'll be back posting a little more regularly now. Things are getting kind of back to normal around here. Have a good day!