Items For a Craft Fair- Altered Butterfly notebook

This is actually the first notebook I ever altered! I have the second one on my other blog! Along with a few more that will be posted soon. I can't believe how much I was over thinking this! I used the "Flight of the Butterfly" set. And finished it off with some (retired) Old Olive Striped ribbon. What a quick, easy, and not to mention perfect last minute stocking stuffer! Or perhaps a little gift for classmates? I am actually making a bunch of these for the Craft Fair I am doing.

Addicted To Cardmaking Swap - September

My theme for September was buttons, bows, fibers. I got two out of the three with this card! The vases were, are you ready for this, cut out using my....BUG! I know shocking right? I cut them from a beige piece of cardstock and then sponged some Pacific Point Classic Ink from Stampin' Up on them. Then I sponged the edges as well. The stems are from Stampin' Up's set "Greenhouse Garden". The sentiment is from the new Stampin' Up's hostess set "Because I Care". The flowers were a RAK from someone on my Favorite MB. Sorry that I dont remember who it was! The buttons were from my button jar!

Items for a Craft Fair - Small Reindeer Tags

I really had to dig stuff out to make these! I pulled out and dusted my original hand operated Die Cut machine for the reindeer on these! It's amazing how far Die cuts have come! Gone are the days where you ended up hurting your hand or bribing your hubby to squeeze the hand tool while he's sitting there watching TV. LOL. Ah but they still have some cute dies! The circle tags were actually cut out using a store's die machine. The store closed, oh 3 years ago maybe. I was wishing they were still around, because I could use more of those handy tags!
Anyway these are for an upcoming Craft Fair that I will be doing in Mid-September. I'm trying to get a bunch done before I go back to work! Also in a few days I will be heading out to Ohio for my brother's wedding. I'm scheduling out a few posts so that I don't slam with you a bunch all at once!

Second Annual Card Swap - Thinking of you

Ok so I made these also for TexasTam's swap. This was during my creativce slump, they are not at all what I pictured in my mind. I had to change it a few times because I ended up with too much white. These are much better then the second or third attempts! Hopefully they are okay. I wanted to show how if you are short on a piece of cardstock color, you can use the center of a piece and once it is put together, no one will know! I had this really cute pinkish-purple, but not enough to do all of my matting, So I cut the center out of the one piece and so I could still have enough to mat my sentiment. Since it was going onto a white piece to create the card, no one will be able to see that it is missing. That plus since I didn't use a whole piece behind the printed paper, it won't weigh as much when it comes time to send it! The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's "Three Little Words" set. I also used the Word Window punch and the Scalloped Trim border punches from Stampin Up. A little note about the purple ribbon. When I got married 8 years ago, I made the little favors (along with my mom, and friend). When we were buying supplies we didn't know how much ribbon we were going to need so I just bought a ton. Well this roll was leftover from the ton, and I thought it matched the darker purple flowers in the printed paper, so I thought it was perfect! I told you I have stuff from forever ago! LOL

Second Annual Card Swap - Get Well Soon

I like how these turned out. I did these for another theme for TexasTam's swap on my favorite MB. I love these girl stamps without the heads! They always have the best sentiments come with them! The sentiment I reserved for inside and it says "A hug to ease your Cough and sneeze" and since they are clear stamps I was also able to line up ""feel Better Soon" directly under that so it looks as though it was one stamp! LOVE IT! (said in a Wheezie-from Dragon Tails-voice.) The background I did with Stampin' Up's Texture plates, then I sanded them down a bit. A little note about the texture plates. If you want a more defined image, spritz the cardstock with rubbing alcohol before embossing it! I then used my handy piercing tool that slides into my new scoring tool. The images was stamped on watercolor paper, and I used my watercolor crayons from Stampin' Up to color it along with my blending pens.

Second Annual Multiple Theme Card Swap - Congrats

I seem to have hit a creative wall. I had a lot of trouble coming up with a card for this swap, hosted by TexasTam on my favorite MB. The theme for this group was congratulations. I was trying to go for a card that could be used for any Congrats occasion, but I am not sure I accomplished that. Maybe its the colors, which at the time I liked, but now I am unsure. Anyway, I did the sentiment on the computer as I didnt have any stamps large enough. The finsihed card is actually smaller then an
A2. It only measures 4 1/2 x 4 inches. I added the silver "stones" (not sure what you call them) to dress it up a little.

Card Front Swap-September

Can you believe it? I'm ahead and I'm posting early! WOW!
These are the fronts I made for the monthly swap on my fav MB. The theme for September is "Apples, Pumpkins, or Leaves". I went with an old set from Stampin' Up which I was sad to see retire. It's called "Give Thanks". I then used my Stampin' Up Classic ink pads and my blending pen to color the images once I stamped them on watercolor paper. The pattern on the grey pieces is from Stampin' Up's background stamp called "sanded". It is a nice addition to masculine cards too!

Christmas in July - Santa

I do believe this is the last set of fronts for the Christmas In July Swap on my favorite MB. The theme for this one is Santa. I love how happy Santa looks in this stamp! I colored the image with my alcohol markers. Then I matted him and embossed the white piece with Stampin' Up's "Perfect Polka Dots" embossing folder. I wanted the background to look sort of like Santa's suit. The stars were punched out with Stampin' Up's small star punch and then I stamped the "Ho" one letter at a time so it would fit. Thank goodness for mini alphabets!

Snowman

Here's another card I created for a swap hosted by Stephanie Drewa. I do believe her theme was snowmen or snow or something like that. I love how cute this snowman is! Simple. I colored the image in using my Marvelous Markers by Stampin' Up. The snowflakes are punched out using some punches that I have. Then I sprayed them with some glitter spray. The little circle piece is what we, on my fav. MB, refer to as "Skittles" not sure who came up with that name! They are actually sold in the flower section of a local (Big Box) crafting store. You can get a whole bag of them for like $5! Someone in the crafting world caught onto what we were doing and marketed them under a new name, in various colors for $3 for a tiny container! What a rip off! I actually had bought a bunch of them a couple of years ago when the craft store had them on Clearance for $2 a bag! I probably have about a Zillion of them! So I thought it was about time to start using them!!!! :)
The second picture is of the inside, where I stamped "let it snow" and added another snowflake.

Mice Card

I created these cards using this adorable mouse stamp and it's coordinating sentiment. In our house these are the ONLY mice welcomed! I made these for a swap for a group I belong to on Yahoo. It stemmed from a magazine site that chose to no longer hold swaps. So a few ladies went off on their own, and I do believe that Stephanie Drewa started this group. It's a small group, but sometimes that is nice!
The image is colored using my alcohol markers. (which I am still experimenting with)

I have been working hard today (Sat Aug 14th)at getting all of my recent pictures taken and posted. So far I have them scheduled out until August 23rd! Hopefully by then I will have lots more to share!!!!

Addicted to Cardmaking - July

The theme for the July Addicted to Cardmaking swap was Fall Colors. I saw this card in a magazine and new I had to try it! After making a couple of boo-boos when tracing the pattern, I finally got it right! I tweaked it a bit making the card smaller than the directions so it would fit into the envelope. I had a bunch of cards/envelopes that I bought as a set many moons ago, and thought the green was perfect for this card. I just had to trim the piece. So the envelope is bigger then the actual card, however, since it is still considered a standard envelope, no additional postage is required! (YEAH!!)Each piece was traced, cut and embossed. Then I put it all together like a puzzle, and did some faux stitching. I finished it off with some Raffia that I had (at least I think that is what it is called!) I couldn't decide if I liked the sentiment or not so I included one in each envelope so the receiver could decide.
I seem to be stuck on Sentiments in case you haven't noticed. I like to include one on cards, but I seem to be stuck in using the same ones each time. So to help me get unstuck, I am skipping the sentiments for a bit!

Monthly Card Front Swap - July

These are cards I created for the Monthly Card Front swap that I host on my Favorite MB. The theme for July was NonTraditional Colors. I really like this theme. It's nice to step out of the box when making Christmas Cards (as long as you don't step too far out of it!)The reindeer is the FABULOUS Dasher Stamp from Stampin' Up. Then I did a lot of embossing, with lines and snowflakes.A simple and fun card, what could be better?

Christmas in July - Christmas tree

NOTE: Looks like I made a mistake when posting this earlier this week, so here it is again with the CORRECT picture! Sorry friends!
Here's another for the Christmas in July swap. The theme here was wreaths, trees, etc. I used my Stampin' Up Photo Corner punch to punch out the "branches" of the tree from paper that I have had...forever. Then I used these cute little buttons to make ornaments. Then a little star punch on top, and a trunk for the tree. EASY Peasy! The background was done using a music background punch (which you have probably seen before-see Vintage Christmas). I love how the punch makes trees so easy!

Christmas in July - Traditional Colors

Here's another Christmas in July swap, Non-Traditional Colors. I have a lot of cute simple, small stamps that I never know what to do with. With the help of the Faux Postage stamp and a coordinating Template, I took a very simple Christmas tree and made it into something even better. The color behind the trees was done with a stipple brush in two shades of green. Then I stamped the flourish on the background piece using the bleach method. I love this technique, and it works especailly well with dark colors.

Christmas In July - Angel

NOTE another incorrect picture, fixed it, sorry!
You guessed it, another Christmas In July swaps, this time the theme is Heavenly Hosts. It's no secret that I love Angels. And I knew I had to include an Angel theme in the swap this year. Although it wasn't as popular as some of the other themes, we did get a number of participants. I love this angel stamp! I stamped her in Versamark and then embossed with white embossing powder. The back ground stamp used was Stampin' Up's En Francois. Another of my favorites.

Addicted to Cardmaking - Monkeys

Okay can I tell you how much I love these monkeys???? They are so cute and always look like they are having a ball! I had to make cards for the ACM swap on my Favorite MB. The theme for August is Animals. I originally started this card with a different stamp in mind, but couldn't think of a sentiment so I changed it to these monkeys. I still couldn't think of a proper sentiment, so I opted to leave it blank! But wouldn't it be cute with a "Hope your Birthday is a SPLASH" or "Last one in the pool is a rotten banana"? LOL or something along those lines? All materials used were various stuff I had on hand. And I made two versions, because I was running out of cardstock and had to improvise. The images were colored using my Marvelous Markers from Stampin' Up. The layout from this card I am sure you have seen before, and was CASED from fellow PhillyInker Kristin Kortonick. (Thanks Kristin!!)

Christmas in July - Embossed Pooh

Here's another one for the Christmas In July swap. The theme for this one is "For the kid in all of us". It's no secret that I love Pooh and all of his friends! So I had to use this cute stamp that I have had...forever! I stamped Pooh and Piglet in StazOn and then used a glitter pen to go over the words, and colored the scene using my Marvelous Markers. Then I ran the white cardstock through my embossing machine with a snowflake folder. Quick easy, and dare I say cute???

If this posts correctly, I will be in New Jersey, crabbing with the family. Hopefully all of those little guys we threw back last month have gotten big and fat!!! :)

Christmas in July Swap - NonTraditional Colors

Another card for the Christmas In July swap, this theme is Non-Traditional Colors.
I CASED this card from a Fellow PhillyInker Julianna. She had made them for a make and take last year. I used Stampin' Up's Ornament punch to punch the ornaments, and then stamps from a couple of sets to emboss the designs on them. I do believe I used "Priceless" and "Snow Swirled" although I could be wrong about the flourish one. I stamped the image in Versamark and then embossed them with white embossing powder. The scallop edge is done with Stampin' Up's Scalloped edge punch. The cardstock and Patterened paper is all stuff I had on hand. The faux stitching is nice and straight due to my new favorite scoring tool and a handy little piercing tool that fits right into it's grooves.

Christmas In July SWAP - Spirelli Snowflake

Here's another one for the Card Front Swap. The theme here - Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow! I saw Spirelli cards made before and always wanted to try my hand at them. So here was my chance! I had ordered two templates (metal ones that you trace and then cut out) a while back and just wasn't sure of a project to use them on. Then I came up with this one. I actually used three colors of string, although it is hard to tell in the pictures. There is a gold, bronze, and white metallic string. Although it took a little getting used to, it was pretty neat! And depending how many points you skip, it changes the size of the center space. Pretty cool! Then I used Stampin' Up's Simple snowflake, and another smaller snowflake punch I had and punched out the the flakes. Then I pulled out some glitter spray and sprayed the flakes and some of the blue backgrounds. Some of the Blue backgrounds I did were sanded for a different look. Hmm come to think of it didn't take pictures of those. I may have to pull the camera back out! The background pieces are embossed with a snowflake embossing folder. The sentiment is a new one for me from the Many Merry Messages set from Stampin' Up. Which I trimmed down, made it look like a tag and stapled a ribbon on. I wasn't sure of the sentiment though, so I didn't adhere them. I thought the receiver could decide what she liked.

LOL - A note about the pictures

I was updating the pictures on the side bar when I noticed that in the two pictures of my daughter, she has the same suit on. It really is a year difference! The suit is getting small, so it will be the last year she will be able to wear it!
Oh and PS as you can see, it's hard to get a good picture of my son where he isn't being silly!

Pop Top Pumpkins!

Funny story. I receive emails form different companies that have tutorials and such. One lazy morning I was watching a video and the woman says that you can use the pop tops to soda cans as embellies, and something along the lines of 'don;t throw anything out' and I start laughing.My hubby came in to see why I was laughing and I showed him the part of the video. And I tell him "I just heard a million husbands out there sigh!" LOL. Anyway, I used my alcohol markers to color the pop top then sat aside to dry. I stamped the image then ran it upside down through my adhesive machine, then sprinkled it with clear glitter. Then I colored the twill using a distress ink stamp pad, and then again with another color distress ink. I stamped the sentiment and added the embossed lines. By the way this was the card I was making when I decided I NEEDED the ScorBuddy!!!
These were made for another of Stephanie Drewa's swps.

Christmas In July SWAP-Snowmen

It's that time again! The Christmas In July Card Front Swap on my favorite MB! This year we had a few different themes to choose from. This one is for the Cold Twigs, Warm Heart (aka Snowmen) theme. I first stamped the snowman onto a plain piece of white cardstock, then created a mask. I also created a mask for the moon using a circle punch. I sponged on some of Stampin' Up's Basic Grey, then Bashful Blue all around. Then I colored the snowman in using various Stampin' Up's Marvelous Markers. The edges I embossed with my new favorite toy, the ScoreBuddy which I ordered at a recent Convention.
More Christmas cards to follow, I am spacing them out over the next couple of days! Oh and PS sorry for the angle of the photos. I need to get down lower next time, but on the upside you are able to see the embossing!

Family Invitations

I'm supposed to be getting ready for Cheyenne's 7th Birthday party with her friends, but I wanted to share this with you all first. These were the invitations we made for her family party. She wanted to do a theme party rather then a character party. Fine with me, we can make the decorations! So these are the invitations we came up with. We used my favorite bug to cut the cone and scoops of ice cream. As I sat there looking at them, they were lacking something. So I pulled out my sponges and ink pads and distressed the edges of the scoops. Then I ran the cones through my embossing machine using the Moasiacs folder. I distressed and inked the cones. Much better! It's true, it is all in the details!!!! Then I distressed the background piece, and typed the sentiment on the computer. Cute, and fun invitations! Oh and can we say cheap? All of the materials used were things I had on hand. Cheyenne picked out the colors she wanted to use. Oh and by the way, we found a cute Ice Cream cone pinata!! Perfect!
I have lots of cards to post, maybe I will get time when we get back from the party!
Hopefully Mr Sun will keep on shining!