Bling Bling......

Hello? (lol) I am still here...hehehe. I love participating in my friend Jami's (aka the swap nazi) card swaps! I send a few cards and get back a wonderful box of creativity! This id one of the cards I made for the swap.

I have really been liking the bling lately......love adding a few rhinestones to a card to make it pop! Well, in this case....more than a few! I use glue dots to attach the larger rhinestones, but I have found that I am LOVING Stampin' Up's liquid glue for the small ones!! Honestly, I have owned the stuff for three years and have never found a use for it until now!! It is thick so it stays where I put it. It does not dry right away so I can Slide a stone a bit if I need to. And when it does dry....it is rock solid baby!!

This card features the You Make Me Happy stamp set and the Petals and Paisleys designer paper from Stampin' Up's spring mini catalog. I stamped the tempting turquoise card base all over with the little stitiched like stamp from the set. I stamped it horizontally and diagonally all over. The flower is stamped in cranberry crisp. The side panel is layered with so saffron, cranberry crisp and the designer paper. I added tempting turquoise brads to the corners.

The sentiment is stamped in the bottom corner with basic black ink.

I like the way some bling can take a simple card and make is pop. My idea initially was to have the rhinestones look like a flower as well....................but to me it kind of looks like a star? Oh, well....I still liked it....and it was fun to make!!

Well, it's off to bed for me! Soon anyway;) My little guy is sick (again) and will probably be up before the birds!!

Address Tin

A friend of mine asked me to come up with an address holder for a bride to be. She wanted something that the bride could leave out and would match the colors of her home. I cane up with two different ideas, and this is one of them. All of the supplies used are from Stampin' up! unless otherwise noted:)

Using sticky strip as an adhesive, I attached the paper (from spring showers) to the outside and top of the tin. I found a template on Splitcoast stampers that helped me cutting the top paper to fit the handle. I sponged the white metal that showed with creamy carmel craft ink and then heat set. The ribbon around the center and lid was attached using glue dots. The metal hodgepodge accent that surrounds the word addresses was attached using sticky strip. THe alphabet letters for the dividers were printed on very vanilla card stock and punched with square punch. Then they were attached to the dividers in a staggered manner. I wanted to provide plenty of address cads, and these were printed on the computer. On the inside lid I created a pocket for stamps. I also included a pen that I inserted the decorative paper into to match. I tied some ribbon to the handle, but i did not want ot cover the entire handle so the box could easily be picked up and used. The tin is from Provo Craft. This was fun to make......I want to make one for myself one of these days!! I have my addresses on the computer...but everytime we get a new computer I seem to have a terrible time transferring the addresses....and really need to get them recorded the good ol' fashioned way!

Embossed roses

I love heat embossing! The look, the feel, the fun!! For this card. The bouquet was stamped with black craft ink and embossed with glassy glaze embossing powder. Then the image was colored in using real red and garden green markers. The roses on the corners were stamped, colored and cut out. Then I applied versamark all over the image and embossed with glasssy glaze 3x's. Gave them an epoxy look, don't you think? The bouquet was attached to the real red card base. I used a craft knife to cut the rectangle frame out of the basic black card stock. The tri rose border was stamped on the black using white craft ink. The images are from the "Life's Special Moments" stamp set. All products used to create this card are from Stampin' Up!.

The boy is home from school today....he woke up VERY early complaining of an extremely sore throat.....poor guy. He can't have the rapid strep test until tomorrow morning. At least advil provides a little relief!

I hope you enjoyed this card! Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!

Friday Night Slacker!

Well, I went to bed early last night and made nothing that I planned to. I did , however, play around with paintshop (which I know NOTHING about) and created a signature watermark. I don't know if I will keep this one........but I was excited that I actually could do it!! Do you think it's a keeper or should I go back to the drawing board?

This card was created for a swap I was in last year................hosted by the bestest swap hostess evah - Jami Sibley. She is an amazing artist as well!

All products that were used to make this are from Stampin up. Hard to see from this picture, but this card closes like a matchbook. The flowers along the bottom were done with the daisy punch, and the brads are from the pewter hodgepodge hardware kit. I decided to offset the focal piece. I used saran wrap to pounce pixie pink ink lightly on the shimmery white card stock. Other card stock colors used - chocolate chip, pixie pink and pretty in pink. The flower is from the all natural stamp set. First it was stamped in pixie pink and then the edges were stamped in chocolate chip. The edges were also sponged with chocolate chip. The flower was stamped in versa mark and embossed with glassy glaze enamel embossing powder. The inside has a layer of pretty in pink.

I have to get to bed early tonight - as I will be judging all day tomorrow. Have a wonderful weekend!

For a special girl!

I made this pail for my niece Erin! She just loved it!! The colors and flowers match her room decor. I bought the pail at Home Depot. I initially wanted to cover it with decorative paper, but that is challenging for me because the pail is wide at the top and narrower at the bottom. Has anyone ever covered a pail like this with paper? I would love to hear how you did it! The name was printed on my computer. There are rhinestones on every flower, they are from Wal Mart. The gross grain ribbon on the top and bottom of the pail was attached using sticky strip. I used Stampin' up's punches - daisy punch for the top row of flowers, and the bottom row is one of the flowers from the spring bouquet flower punch. Paper colors are pink passion, pixie pink and lovely lilac. Ribbon is from all over the place.............I am a ribbon collector of sorts! It did not take half of the time i thought it would to tie the ribbon on the pail. Buttons are Bold Brights from Stampin' Up! The large flower was stamped and cut out. It is from Stampin' Up! - but I borrowed the set and cannot remember the name*blushes*. If you know the name of the set, please let me know. All of the flowers, buttons and bling are attached using mini glue dots.

Hope you enjoyed this! I am off to the boy's school to do some volunteer work.....just as soon as my car defrosts! Happy Friday!!

One layer cards - a love/hate relationship!

I love the look of one layer cards - elegant without too much fuss. I, however, have a hard time getting mine to look nice.............and I have a hard time NOT adding more!! I was inspired by this card at splitcoast by Julie Buhler. Beautiful!! She inspired me to give one layer cards another go!

I used my creative memories cutting system to make an oval template for the shading and to make the oval opening in the one card. I shaded in positively pink using a stipple brush. The flower stamp is from clearly wordsworth and the sentiments are from Stampin' Up! I used the crayon resist method with my classic inks (perfectly plum and garden green) to color my flower and leave a little bit of lighter area in the colored image. On the one card I used my scalloped scissors (another love / hate relationship here!) on the bottom and dotted the scallopes with my perfectly plum marker. The card with the oval frame was pierced with the tools from my crafter's tool kit. I also used my color spritzer on the bottom of this card. And of course both cards have a small rhinestone (from WalMart) in the center of the flower for just a bit of bling! I think I like the card with the oval opening the best out of the two. What do you think? What would you have done differently? Leave a comment with your two cents:)

***added 1/26*** I did another variation of this using bashful blue. The flower is watercolored with so saffron and sage. I think this is now my fave of the group!

I have a nerve posting this right now.........as I have dirty dishes in the sink and the boy needs to be fed....hehehe. I am off to the kitchen! Have a wonderful day!