Blissful Banner

This cute little banner was inspired directly from my friend, Melis, on this post. Her photo's are better, but they are almost identical. I saw it, I loved it, I wanted it, so I made it! I used small squares of burlap for the center, and layered on a white felt star and then decorated each one with some sort of glitz. The banner itself is from Papertrey's banner dies, including the trim on the top -- it's a breeze to use!

I used cream seam binding to tie the bows, and topped eat bow with a button tied on using red twine. Such a cute little Christmas-y feel to it!

The word "bliss" is spelled out on the little hang-tags. A good word, don't you think? Good for more than just the holidays .... it should be good to hang during the entire winter season!

I can see myself enjoying making banners for many more occasions!

Hope you have a BLISSful kind of day!

Christmas "Microscope Glass" Necklaces

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (belated, of course, but genuine none-the-less)! I've been truly on-the-go since Thanksgiving but I didn't want to miss posting a few goodies that I was able to work on throughout the holidays. These adorable Christmas necklaces were the perfect gifts for my precious little granddaughter and niece. Simple too. 1x1 inch memory glass and frames (by Ranger), hanging on a fan-pull chain (purchased from local hardware store), and I added a cute little crystal jewelry heart.

I used some Christmas scrapbook paper, and specifically cut out the part that I wanted to frame, and then stamped the words on there separately.

Same technique with the 1x3 glass slides and frames. I gave these as gifts to all the girls in my family when we gathered together for Thanksgiving.

I've seen these necklaces for sale on Etsy for a pretty penny, but I think these are just as cute and believe me ... they are affordable!

Since the frame simply clicks open and shut, it would be fun to cut some "interchangeable" pieces of scrapbook paper that one could simply switch out the necklace after the holidays are over. Oh, I love it!

Glimmer Glam Envelopes with Ruffled Notecards

Our swap group, affectionately called Art & Soul, made a beautiful mess last night and ended up with these beautiful note cards. It was so much fun!

The scrunched paper flower is 4 layers of Spellbinders Circle Scallop Die cuts, glimmer misted, and embellished with fun stuff in the center. Making these flowers can become addicting - so fun!

Each flower was tied onto the gate fold envelope with scrunched seam binding, that had been glimmer misted as well. When I say we made a beautiful mess - believe me - it's true!

The scrunched paper flowers can be as thick/thin as you want, depending on how much you pull the layers apart. They dry kinda stiff after glimmer misting, so they hold their shape beautifully. Oh -- by the way, the envelopes and cards were first embossed with clear embossing powder, then glimmer misted. Which means, the embossed areas acted as a resist for the glimmer mist. Very pretty!

The note card itself pulls out from the bottom of the gate fold envelope. You pull on the little crepe paper (or scrunched up sheet music ruffle) and out comes the matching note card! Obviously, this card requires a bigger mailing envelope but it's a perfect card for including in a gift bag or with a wrapped present or with home-baked goodies, etc.

The crepe paper ruffle treatment at the bottom of the card is done by running a bead line of clear drying glue across the bottom of your note card, then lay down the top piece of your crepe paper and "push it into a ruffle" as you continue to lay it down. It gathers as you go, making it an easy way to ruffle (without sewing!). This particular ruffle was glued down, and then folded over to make a double ruffle.

The note cards were then stamped with a nice border above the crepe paper ruffles, and various designs and sentiments can be added at the top of the note card.

It was fun to mixxy and matchy colors, stamps, and glimmer mists. Did I mention we made a big beautiful mess?

I should have warned you that this was a long post with lots of pictures!

Are you getting a feel for the colorful fun? The great borders? The ruffled goodness on each and every one?

I hope you get a chance to get messy with glimmer mists. It's an instant gratification technique that makes the inner-artist in you feel free! When mixed with a little embossing, its extra special. And when you add stamping ... well ... be still my glimmer misty heart!

Grunge Paper Tags

I went grunge! Not exactly my style, but after playing around a bit, I think it could be my style - hah! Grunge paper is best described as a "discovery" ... so soft and felty and bendy. First, I set up my Distress Ink Pads in a row and went to town with sponge applicators as I inked up the background colors for the tags. Then I stamped various backgrounds and borders. The tag itself is NOT a true shipping tag (it's grunge paper)!! The reinforced hole at the top is a small circle punch of brown cardstock.

This blue and brown number uses original Sizzix Decorative Accent #2 die and Flower Layers #4. The background of the Decorative Accent was stamped with Queen Wendy Vecchi's background from Artfully Said. The gorgeous stamped lace at the bottom is from Queen Wendy Vecchi's set In Love With Art.

This background stamp is Unity Distressed Dots which is very cool look! The flower was made using Papertrey's Delightful Dahlia Die which I cut in half, then cut slits in toward the flower center, so that I could curl the petals upward. That's the bendy fun part of grunge paper! Saying is from Queen Wendy Vecchi's set Art By the Number.

This purple & green number is my fav! Background lines are from Queen Wendy Vecchi Dreams of Art. Leaves are a Sizzix die, as are the tulips. Both of these Sizzix dies are eon's old - which means they are Originals and these two particular dies are the yellow half size ones. Now aren't those purple flower centers to die for? Prima -- they KNOW flower centers! Get thee to Archivers and grab 'em up!

This yellow number has a YOUnique stamp and flower stem ... the saying is a Limited Edition wooden stamp by Stampendous and the leaves are from My Cute Stamps Nature set (stamped and cut out with scissors). Once again, I cut a flower in half so I could show off the bendy petals better!

This blue tag sports a Sizzix Original Bird, Sparrow Die. Background is Unity Aged Sheet Music stamp ... with a Unity saying from an old Kit of the Month. It's fun to cut up any stamped sentiment, and apply it "collage" style! So ... all in all ... I'm hooked on grunge ... I'm in Love With Art ... and I'm still trying to clean the ink off my fingers! :)

Susan G. Komen Walk For the Cure

My bank teller was telling me how excited she was that this year, her and her mom were going to participate in the Susan G. Koman Walk For the Cure. Her mom is a breast cancer survivor and it means a lot to them to be able to do this!

So I thought it would be nice to let her know how special she is! The gemstone word CURE is from Michaels, and inside the notebook cover is a nice pretty pink note pad. I'm proud of my first ever Wendy Vecchi stamp set called "In Love With Art" (it's that fabulous lace stamp at the bottom, and the saying). The Take Note sentiment is from Papertrey's set "Take Note".

I slipped the notebook it into a large Papertrey Glassine bag and clipped a pretty silver pen to finish it off. I hope she likes it! Thoughts and prayers to all those who have been touched in some way by breast cancer.

Thankful For You

Papertrey's new stamp set, Wreath For All Seasons, is one I think I'll reach for again and again. It fit perfectly in the center of these small lace paper dolies (and inexpensive too!), which I clipped to bags of candy corn with embellished mini clothespins. I took these to a meeting at church, and everyone seemed to enjoy them! They were sure fun and easy to make.

All packed up, pretty in a Longaberger Pie Basket. I really am thankful for YOU!

C-R-E-A-T-E a Banner

Good day to you! I recently became enchanted with banners. Why? Mainly because I didn't get to take a Halloween Spooky Banner Class from my friend Cindy, so I decided to try my hand at one, and guess what ... I'm in luv with my banner that says one of my favorite words:
C-R-E-A-T-E .

First I started with corrogated box board cut to desired size. I swiped the grooves with an Adirondack Paint Dabber (color - Juniper) ... just enough to give it an aged or worn look. (An aged or worn look is a very good thing on crafts ... but not on me - hah!)
The bottom trim on each of my banner pieces was my attempt at NOT buying expensive fancy lace ... yet giving it a fancy lace look. First I cut the largest size of Spellbinders Labels 5, then embossed it with the Damask Cuttlebug Folder, then lightly inked the raised embossing with various ink colors (each one is different.) The tuffs are pleated crepe paper.

The banner is assembled with white jute at the top, and bows were tied with black tulle. Looks pretty cute as a window topper, don't ya think?!

The flowers were made from old sheet music. I used two of the largest spellbinder scallops, and sprayed one with glimmer mist. Then my favorite part ... scrunch it up like trash! Unfold and layer together, using clear-drying adhesive. These scrunchy flowers are SO FUN to make so be warned -- they are addictive!

I hope you have a chance to C-R-E-A-T-E something today!

Altered Art - Got Green Bean Cans?

Inspired by this tutorial, look what I came up with ... More altered cans ... more fun ...

It was so much fun to embellish each one in a different way, using all manner of goods from my stash ...

Chipboard pieces and buttons and flowers ... oh my!

Seam binding and pearls - be still my heart!

Notice the matching Little Book of Big Ideas for each altered tin can? $1 each from Hobby Lobby. I found them in the area with brown cardboard type items ready to be altered, such as big letters and cute sizes of boxes, etc. Next up, some fun with pleated crepe paper ...Some nifty flower topped pens to add to the mix ...

And now some close-up's of the little books ...

I used lots of modge podge on this project ... I even applied another layer on TOP of the embellishments (buttons, pearls, etc).

First I painted the books with acrylic paints and modge podged. Then stamped with staz-on inks. The words were computer generated and cut into pieces, glued, then outlined with black or gold Krylon Pen.

Do you know how much fun I had doing these? There are no words!

The Moments We Share

Do you have a bunch of rub-on's in your craft stash? I finally cleaned up my beautiful mess of a craft room and it inspired me to make these cards with rub-on's. I guess you could say I was in the moment! Moments are memories, am I telling you the truth?I confess ... I was cleaning up for the cleaning lady who is expected today! Does anyone else do that? What an oxymoron. But clean makes me happy, and happy makes me creative, and we all know that Creativity is Good! Maybe today's moral of the story is this: go clean?

I hope you have a beautiful moment today! Find it. Make it a memory. And come back here and share it with me. Or ... if you have a mess, then make your mess your message. Either way, we'll be enjoying life's journey together and that part is so fun!

Presto ... Card Sewing Made Easy

Recipe for cute sewing on cards: 1. Buy paper with sewing already on it. 2. Use that portion of the paper on your card. 3. Cut out the cute scallop border. 4. Enjoy! So fun and easy peasy! Someday, I'm going to learn to sew on paper for real, with my mom's sewing machine that I inherited (without a foot?!). So I really need to go foot shopping. Did that sound funny to anyone else but me?! Anyway, the moral of the story here is this - and yes, I have one. USE UP some of that beautiful, gorgeous, rock star paper you have in your stash and be happy!

I want to take a mushy minute here. My bloggy friend Mary wrote a beautiful post about sharing God's love through creativity ... my creativity! It would be worth a mushy minute of your day to read it because I SO want to share the blessing! To the crafty creative peoples in the bloggy world out there, be encouraged! I was. SO .... VERY ... MUCH!