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!

Cheerio!

Cheerio to you and you and you! Today's card is a mix of happy-go-lucky and warm romance all in one. I had a big fat happy blast in Archiver's the other day, with a gift card from my sister, for my big fat happy birthday. And I was smitten with this little Hero Arts banner stamp! Maybe you've seen it in their mini-card displays?

First, I used a SU Top Note Die cut for the background piece, which I embossed with a cuttlebug folder. Then I tried my hand with one of Tim Holtz's paint daubers - a super yummy color called Juniper that makes me happy. I want my entire dining room walls to be Juniper! I stamped the little flag pendants on various patterned paper and cut them out, adhering with pop dots.

The little flowers are handmade -- a tip I picked up while blog hopping one day (I'm sorry I can't find the tutorial!) but it is simply done by layering several tiny prima flowers together. I pinched together the petals and twisted the bottom, then snipped a tiny bit off the bottom and glued to another tiny prima flower. Repeating process until I was happy! It makes the banner look so darn cute!

The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse, Fancy Phrases, including the little flourish. Ruffled ribbon from the fabric store, with some bling added. And I'm getting A LOT OF USE out of my Diztresser tool -- buzz buzz buzzing around the edges and making me shabby happy! I hope you have a Cheerio! kind of day!

Crepe Paper Gift Bag

Tattered to perfection! Consider adding a feminine touch to your everyday brown paper gift bags! I wrapped it lovingly with a flower fashioned from crepe paper, and some old sheet music as a center bud in the flower. I gave this gift bag a boost with some beautiful delicate designer paper. On one side of the blue pindot paper, I used a Spellbinders Impressabilities plate as a mask and sprayed it with glimmer mist. I can't get enough glimmer mist these days ... I'd glimmer mist my underwear if I could!?

Some vintage buttons adorn the Happy Birthday sentiment (Papertrey Say It With Style). Every single time I stamp something with that set, I swoon!

Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day for me ... I'm meeting dear friend Debbie for a day trip to Brown County. We have some serious window shipping to do! We are celebrating our August birthdays in style! Hey -- Say It With Style ... Papertrey, get it?!

I'm already giddy! IF I come home with some goodies from the stamp store (IF?!), I'll be sure to share! Have a lovely day!

Mini Scripture Book

A month's worth of my heart & soul went into this little book ... I actually made two of them identical (my theory has always been if you're going to make one, might as well make two while you're at it!). It all started with inspiration from my bind-it-all, distrezz-it-all, and a compulsion to make my own papers using Glimmer Mist! After my Glimmer Misted papers were dry, I stamped various images (mostly with Tim Holz and Prima stamps) using Smokey Shadow Ink (Papertrey). Such a nice soft ink color, works so well with the imperfections of vintage style! A quick buzz on every edge with my Diztresser tool, then bound it with the bind-it-all, and the fun part of filling the pages began!
All scripture verses are from Our Daily Bread designs. It was fun to mix & match them with Spellbinders Dies! Note the lacey scallop punch from Stampin Up -- it melts me! And you will also note throughout a new double edge scallop punch from Stampin Up!

TRUST is my 2010 word! Last year my word was GRACE. Do you have words?

A close up of the scrunched flower ... the middle is made from sprayed and scrunched seam binding. I love how it turned out!

This might be my favorite page ...I love the curved detail on the stamped verse. I put a small paper bracket underneath so it would stay in place. (Shhhh - don't tell anyone that it was simply too wide for the page, and I had to come up with a Plan B! LOL) And I really love the lace and button treatment! Such love!

Okay, perhaps this next page might be my favorite! The tiny rosebuds are handmade, each one has 4 or 5 tiny prima flowers rolled into a bud and layered onto that new Stampin Up double edge scallop punch that I mentioned earlier. I simply hand-wrote the theme words "grow" and "grace" onto the big flower stem and leaves.

I centered the stamped verse in a Walzingmouse Stamp that coordinates with a Nestie Die -- many of their stamps coordinate with the Nesties. You should check 'em out!

Some vintage sheet music was the basis for building a layered focal image, and the pretty ruffled brown velvet ribbon was a find from the Michael's ribbon bin.

So much goodness here! A month's worth of love (yes, I was working at a snail's pace, enjoying every mili-second of detail and love! Isn't that what it's all about?! Enjoy what you love ... love what you enjoy!

At first, I thought that 6 pages was simply not going to be enough! But look at how plump and juicy the pages look after distrezzing, and loving them with so much goodness! My second nature is to second guess, I guess!

I hope my little project spread a little sunshine on your day! Thanks for dropping by!

All Things Are Possible

I gave the old blogaroonie a face lift ... and it was kinda fun to do! Then I got down to business and made this cute card. A very simple, but snazzy card Great colors! There are two fun new things on this card that tripped my trigger. 1) did you notice the nice lined border around the Spellbinders Labels 8 die? I simply taped my die to the paper and traced around the inside with a fine tip Martha Stewart brown pen before cutting. Neato! 2) did you notice the glittered filigree? That was a cool find that my sister and I stumbled across (and for the life of me I can't remember where or when?!) but it is actually a package of various small accent designs that are on two-sided double stick tape. All you do is place the desired design on your card and press, lifting off the clear overlay. Then it is ready for glitter, tap the excess, and you are left with the cute design! It's called Design Adhesives by ClearSnap.

And what's a cute card without a cute matching envelope? Well, let's just not go there! I enjoyed coloring with copics on this one. Haven't done that in a while. I even threaded a dang-blasted needle and tied cute pink Martha Stewart floss on my buttons. Awwww.

Bluebirds and Paris

Here are a few gift card sets for a wedding! The bride owns the Bluebird Candy Dish Company, so I thought a set of simple bluebird cards would be perfect. I love how simple and elegant they are ... just like the candy dishes she sells! This has become one of my favorite card designs lately. The focal point, in this case the bluebird, hangs slightly over the edge of the card allowing the pretty scallop edge inside to show. Simple technique ... adds so much flair!

I think they will also enjoy the next set of cards since they are honeymooning in Paris! Same card design with a new theme.

I did use a stipple brush very lightly over the stamped design while it was still in the spellbinders die. And I dyed my own scrunched seam binding to match each card set.

Weddings and honeymoons --- so fun!

Bird of Grace

I finally finally bought the Stampin' Up bird & branch punch, and I'm so glad I finally did! These cards were a snap, and turned out so cute. The DP is glittery, so it's almost a stand alone. But ohhhh noooo, I am the original add-on, doo-dad, embellisher person. Can you see the faint music notes on the peach strip of paper? A unity background stamp. And I had some more fun making hand-dyed crinkly seam binding. And how fun was it to mix and match the bird wings? Ohhh, how tweet is that! I did enjoy aging the little guy with tea-stained ink. He just needed it.

The will of God will not take you where the Grace of God cannot keep you. Beautiful sentiment we can all do well to remember! It's from Our Daily Bread, and I was able to score a few stamp sets earlier this year at the Heirloom Stamp Show.

Birdy full of grace. Ya never know, she might fly her way to your mailbox!