For Brother

Here's a card made with the For Father set, but it's for my brother...not my Dad. I'm such a rebel! hehehe Actually, when I first saw this set I thought of my brother and his favorite dog who was a chocolate lab. So I'm sure he will like this card I made him for his birthday.

I used a bit of Artichoke Prints paper, but the striped paper looked a little too new and perfect. So to age it a bit and make it blend better with the other colors used, I stamped it with the Sanded background inked in Chocolate Chip just like I did on the other layers. Then I sponged the edges with some Old Olive ink. With that little extra detail, the once perfect stripe now looks aged just like the rest of the paper. I did get the background a little heavier over the main image than I would have liked...even though I used Close To Cocoa for that part, but I still like the over all look.

I stamped the words "my brother" on the twill tape using Every Day Flexible Phrases. The Happy Birthday sentiments bordering the image came from Big Bold Birthday & Birthday Whimsy.

At this time tomorrow I will be on a plane heading to sunny Florida! I won't be doing any blogging while I'm gone, but I'm sure I'll have things to share when I return. Have a great week!

Bloomin' Birthday Bouquet

I haven't been too good about posting on my blog lately. I haven't had time to visit and post comments at other blogs either...sorry about that! I guess I've just been an all around bad blogger! What is my excuse, you ask? The weather here has been just perfect! Sunny and in the 70's! It's been so long since we've had such beautiful weather that I've really been enjoying it!!! I've been trying to get my flower beds all cleaned up, spring cleaning around the house also, so I haven't been doing a whole lot of stampin'. Besides that, we are leaving on vacation in a couple days! A week in Florida...woohoo! We'll be visiting all 4 Disney parks plus Universal while we are there...so we're gonna be busy! I doubt I'll be posting here at all while I'm gone either. Well, enough of my excuses, right?...on to today's card.

It was a good friends birthday this past Friday, so I certainly had to make time to create a special card for her. This was my first time using the vase of hydrangeas (many have also called them violets or pansies?) I think they could be either...but since I'm the one coloring them I decided to make them hydrangeas. I cut the flowers out and popped them up from the vase. I also added some sparkle to the center of each flower with my stardust gelly roll pen, but the photo doesn't really show those details well.

I grabbed some River Rock card stock since I haven't used it in a while and it looks so nice with the Porcelain Prints paper I wanted to use. For accent colors I used Artichoke & Blue Bayou. I'm going to be sad when this years In Colors are gone. I use them so often and love them all...I'm going to be lost without them! Hopefully I'll like the next batch of In Colors just as well.

I had fun with the background here...using River Rock ink, first I used the Sanded background stamp, then I added the blossom definition down the left side of the card and then on the right is the cute little bee. I finished off the card with some Antique Brass Hodge Podge Hardware and Blue Bayou double stitched ribbon.

I hope you had a fantastic day on your birthday Rach!

On Board Bucket of Blossoms

I've been thinking that I needed something cute and springy to decorate the window sill in my rubber room ever since I put up a new window treatment my Mom sewed for me. I still had the Flowers For You papers sitting out that we used at stamp club the other night and I noticed how well they matched the cute little tin buckets that I have hanging from my peg board for miscellaneous tools. Two of those colors - celery and rose, also matched the fabric used for the valance. (I also used a bit of So Saffron Designer prints since that color was also in the fabric.) I had quite a few pieces left from a set of On Board Blossoms & Basics chipboard, so I decided it was time to use some of them up. This is what I came up with.


I just love the way it turned out! The hardest part was trying to decide which sheets of patterned paper & which shapes to use. When I made my decisions I traced around the shapes and cut them out. The easiest way to do this is to trace the shape on the wrong side of the paper so you don't have to erase any pencil marks. I found it helpful to also make a mark on the top of the flower shape and on the same spot on the chipboard so it was easy to then line them back up. I adhered the paper to the chipboard using decoupage medium and a foam brush, but you could also use a glue stick or Tombow multi purpose adhesive. After I allow the shapes to dry a bit, I sanded off the excess paper around the edges.
The stems are made from lolly-pop sticks (found in the baking section at the craft store) brushed with Certainly Celery re-inker. I used my hot glue gun to attach the flowers and leaves to the stem. The metal bucket was purchased at Target in their Dollar Spot area a while back. (I noticed recently they have them again...just different colors) The bucket had 2 holes in the front where ribbon was threaded though and tied into a bow. I changed out the ribbon to better match my project and also added some rub-ons I had left from the Love & Happiness collection (SAB).

I filled the bucket with Styrofoam and then inserted the flowers. I covered the foam with some Spanish moss, but felt it needed some more color, so I crimped some Certainly Celery cardstock and cut it into thin strips to put on top of the moss...and I was done! It looks so cute on my window sill!

Pretty soon I'll have flowers popping up outside my window as well. Especially if the weather reports I've heard are correct. Today is going to be a beautiful day...possibly hitting 70 degrees! We are going out to dinner later to celebrate my oldest sons birthday. He turns 20 today! I can hardly believe it! I don't feel old until I see how grown up my boys are...then it hits me! Oh well, I guess you're only as old as you act...and most of the time I don't act my age. (guess that can be good and bad...but at least I have fun!;^) Have a wonderful day!

It's All Good!

Last night was stamp club night, and like always we had fun visiting, eating & stampin'! Hostess of the month - Kim, brought a super yummy dessert called Lemon Berry Trifle Thanks Kim!

I prepared a scrapbook page and a pocket card for everyone to make. The scrapbook page used a combination of different sets to create a fun and happy page. I have been wanting to use It's All Good along with Pick A Petal for a scrapbook page so that was my inspiration. Normally I have photos I want to use and that's where I decide my color scheme, but since I wasn't sure which photos I was going to use I took my color cue from the designer paper I chose - the Flowers For You assortment. I figured these papers would work well with the bold images from the Pick A Petal set and the other assorted flower stamps I planned to use. See the striped "ribbon" down the side? This was created by scoring and folding over the double-sided paper.

Since Live Your Dreams is one of my favorite new stamps sets, of course I had to use the cute line stamp in that set to create a journaling block! First I stamped the Live, Laugh & Love stamp in the bottom corner, masked it with a post-it note and used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to add the lines so they didn't end up crooked. Then I used my markers to ink up the cute little line of flowers at the top - also from the Live Your Dream set.

I gave everyone a choice of which piece of patterned paper they would like to use for their page and what color they would like for the background. Each one picked a different patterned piece so the finished pages all looked unique. It was fun for me to see how each page turned out looking so different just with those little changes. They all did a great job, don't you think?!

This is Kim and her Sister-in-law Jill.

Here's Rachel & Miriam

Rachel, please note how nice I am...I used the good photo and not the one I threatened you with! (Don't worry, I didn't delete it...it may come in handy for future use! ;^) Both Cheri and Tami were absent - we missed you guys! and somehow Michelle managed to avoid the camera...watch out next time you three!


Stamps: Pick a Petal, It's All Good, Live Your Dream, Make It Count (hostess set), Always (I used just one flower...see if you can spot it) & the Spunky Spots jumbo wheel
Ink: Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise (stamped off once) Lavender Lace & White Craft
Card stock: Flowers For You DP, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Lavender Lace & Whisper White
Accessories: Mat Pack, White gel pen, various Circle punches, Photo Corner punch, Stamp-a-Ma-Jig

The pocket card was created using the Wild Wasabi pre-scored card stock from the Wild For Wasabi promotion. I had to trim it down a bit so that the finished card would fit in a standard envelope. I thought this would be a cute little card to give someone next time they ask for a recipe. Or maybe give as a little thank you card to someone who hosted a potluck type party...you could include the recipe for the dish you brought to pass.

Can you tell I'm just loving the Live Your Dream stamp set and the matching Afternoon Tea papers? I can't stop reaching for them every time I stamp lately. The pullout is a recipe card using From the Kitchen Of stamp set and the same color scheme I used for the cards in my recipe box set.


I had fun last night...I hope you all did as well.

Arte y Pico Award & a Bloomin' Boo-boo

I logged in here today to see I was given the Arte y Pico award by the very talented Carrie from Artistic Avenger . Her blog is new to me and she does beautiful work! So go check it out...she even has video tutorials. I certainly added her to my list of favorite blogs and will be checking back regularly.

Here are the rules for the award:

1. You pick five blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.
   
2. List the names of the people you chose to receive the award on your blog and link to their blogs. Then go comment on one of their posts to notify them that you have given them this award and link to the post on your blog.
   
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name of the person who gave them the award and link to their blog.
   
4. The Award-winner and the one who has given the award have to show the link to the Arte y Pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

Choosing just five blogs to pass on this award is going to be tough since there are so many great blogs I visit. Stop by and visit these great blogs:

Stamps, Paper and Ink
Pat's Corner of the World
Stampin' With Denise
Stamping Ever After
Elaine's Creations



Here's my Bloomin' Boo-boo

This finished card isn't what I started out to create. Actually it is the result of several little boo-boos that I had to keep fixing so not to scrap the whole thing. I originally intended to watercolor my image...which I did - no problem there, mask off a square to sponge on the Bashful Blue background and then dry emboss a frame around it. All was going according to plan until I removed my paper mask after sponging. I guess I didn't let me "temporary" adhesive dry long enough and it tore away part of the white card stock. After spending the time water coloring and liking the result, I didn't want to throw this in my reject pile, so I had to cut off the nice white border and mat it on the Saffron.

No big deal...I could still dry emboss on this layer. So, I did that, along with my Purely Pomegranate base and then somehow I got Pomegranate ink smeared on the corner of the Saffron mat. That is when my corner punch came to the rescue! At least I was able to cover up my mistakes. Hope you still like it!

Framed Spring Song

What lovely weather we had over the weekend! The little spring peepers in the pond behind us were singing the song of spring, green foliage is poking up in my flower beds, and the best part...it was even warm and sunny! I'm sure it will be a while before I see any hummingbirds however. Until then I have one of my favorite stamp sets to look at instead.

At Christmastime I created a framed piece using the Season of Joy stamp set to hang in my bathroom. You can see that one here if you would like. Since then I've been meaning to make another one to hang in the same spot. I purchased the shadow box frame at the Dollar Tree. I ended up finding a few more since I posted the first one at Christmas. At the time I was kicking myself for just getting the one to try it out. I really had to pick through them to find a decent one - many are scratched up or broken. They are quite flimsy, but once they are put together (and re-enforced a bit) I think it looks pretty good for a buck! The reason I like these frames is because they are a shadowbox so I can decorate with bulky items, like in this case a flower from the Pretties Kit and a rhinestone brad.



The frame comes with a white mat, but this time I covered it with one of the pretty papers from the Porcelain Prints pack. I stamped my image on water color paper and used my re-inkers and aqua painter to color. When it was thoroughly dry I stamped the nice quote from the retired set Beautiful Beach. I used the smallest silk flower from the Pretties Kit and dyed it on my Perfect Plum ink pad using my aqua painter to distribute the ink evenly. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and already have it hanging in my bathroom. My teen aged son was even impressed and said it might be the coolest thing I've made with my stamps yet.



I received so many nice emails and comments about the recipe box I posted here last week. I'm glad you all liked it so much! I shipped out the first batch of kits on Friday and will be shipping the next batch out at the end of this week or early next week. I have emailed you if yours has been shipped. I had many people ask me where I purchased the boxes and what type of adhesive I used to adhere the paper. I have replied back to most everyone, but there was a few who did not have an email address associated with their comment for me to reply back. I purchased the boxes at Michael's and I adhered the paper using decoupage medium. If you would like complete instructions and the supplies to create the Afternoon Tea recipe box, please contact me...I still have some kits left.



Thanks for stopping by...have a great day!

What's Cookin'?

I mentioned in a previous post a few days ago that I was busy working on a project that I was really excited about. Here it is...an altered recipe box using the Afternoon Tea designer papers and the new Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, along with matching recipe cards and an adorable clip to hold the recipes while cooking.

The inside of the box has 6 dividers to organize my favorite recipes. You know what this means? I'm finally going to have all my favorite recipes organized! If you want to get your recipes organized, sign up for my class to create this set for yourself or to give as a gift!

The class includes everything you need to make the box, 12 recipe cards with protective sleeves, 6 dividers, recipe clip, plus 1/2 package of Afternoon Tea designer paper- which is more than enough to complete this project and still have leftover paper to use for future projects. (Six 12x12 double-sided sheets = 12 patterns to choose from) You can also pre-order the From the Kitchen Of stamp set and I'll have it mounted and ready for you to use at the class.

I'll be preparing a couple of my favorite recipes to snack on during the class and invite you to bring a dish to pass (along with the recipe) if you would like. This class will be a lot of fun! Hope you can join me on May 18th from 11:30 - 4:00. Please contact me for more info.

Wish you lived closer and could come to my class? I am working on offering this as a class by mail. Please contact me if you are interested in taking this class by mail.