Back to School

Good morning!  This week's challenge at CropStop is to make a project using" Back To School" theme.  I had fun making this calendar page using this theme.  I remember when school used to start in September but now most schools start in August.  My son started school on August 2nd!  That's way too soon in my opinion.  But at any rate, school is well underway in our school district.

I used colored pencils to color the Little Schoolhouse to try to make it fade into the background but I'm afraid that in my efforts to do the shading, I didn't quite succeed in doing that.  Oh well, I still like the little schoolhouse.  The image of the girl, Moka Gwen, was colored with copics.  I paper pieced her dress with pattern paper that coordinates with the background paper. 

I made the sun by using a Spellbinder's circle and the sun's rays were from Spellbinders  

Nested Lacey Pennants.   

I downloaded and printed the 2013 calendar here.  I adjusted my printer so it printed smaller than the 6x6 so that I could have more space to decorate my 6x6 page.

Thank you for coming by!  I truly appreciate each visit and comment.  Don't forget to pop on over to CropStop's blog and see what the rest of the design team has made for you.  We'd love it if you would play along!

what's in it:

Honey Bee 5" Scissors, Tim Holtz Tonic Studio Scissors, Score-tape, Copics, Spellbinders standard circles, Spellbinders Lacy Nested Pennants Moka Gwen, Little Schoolhouse, 6x6 calendar download

Let's Go Fly a Kite

The theme today at CropStop to use a kite on your project.  I knew I just had to use my Tilda flying a kite stamp - which is so cute!  I also wanted to use the kite die that I have so I only stamped Tilda and left her kite un-inked and then fussy-cut Tilda out.  Somewhere I saw a kite-shaped card and thought I'd take it to the next level and turned this project into a wall-hanging.

(click on the images to enlarge)

I paper-pieced Tilda's blouse and then used a coordinating copic to shade on the patterned paper to give it depth.  I also pierced a hole on Tilda's right hand and threaded the twin through it so it gives a more realistic look of her holding it.  I glued the twine onto the backside of both her hands.

I know that when you fly a kite the line between the person and the kite is taunt but I thought it would be fun to put some loops in the twine.  I put a small dot of glue on the paper where the twine touches it to keep it in place.  You wouldn't want to smash it though.

Some decorative flowers on the bottom corner of the kite.

I love how this turned out.  I wanted the small kite to POP against the large one but I used coordinating papers so I made this sun to go behind it.  I love the striped yellow paper in the back and the circle in the front is embossed in a dot pattern.   

Here is a better photo to show you the 3-D areas of the project.  The small kite and Tilda are popped up with pop dots.

Thank you for stopping by today.  I'm sorry I've been MIA for awhile.  I took a break from crafting due to some health issues I'm having but I hope to be able to post more often.  I have a couple of projects that I made but haven't posted yet.  I appreciate each and every visit and comment.

Head on over to the CropStop blog and see what the other designers have made for you!  I hope today is bright and full of hope & happiness!

What's in it:

Honey Bee 5" Scissors,  Tim Holtz Tonic Studio Scissors,  Score-tape,  Spellbinders Blossom Two ,  Spellbinders Standard Circle  Large ,  Copic,

Die-namics Fly A Kite, Tilda with Kite

Happy Days

*If you are looking for MTME's Pretty Patterns Sketch post scroll down or click here.*

It's definitely Summer here in Southern Arizona!  We expect a high of 107 today.  *Whew!*  Lots of sun shining in my corner of the word, and that's what inspired my card for today's card for CropStop challenge.  This week we are to make a child's card and I made a Summer theme including a bright sun. 

When I think of Summer I think of children running and playing in the sunshine just like my card shows.  I enjoyed making this little rosette sun.  The clouds are made of vellum to resemble soft, wispy clouds.  

I really like the embossing folder Tall Trees.  I have quite a few stamps that will go really well with it! The little boy and his dog are from the cricut cartridge "A child's Year"and the sentiment "Happy Days" is from My Time Made Easy.

Thank you for stopping by!  I appreciate every visit and comments - as do we all!   I hope you will join us in our challenge to make a child's card - or a card to give to a child.  To enter the challenge and see what other creations the rest of the design team have for you go here.

what's in it:

All Dressed Up Collection- Tall Trees, Honey Bee 5" Scissors,  Tim Holtz Tonic Studio Scissors,  Score-tape, cricut "A child's Year" , Core'dinations - Spotted Jillian Dot 

Banner for my husband

Welcome to CropStop's weekly challenge.  This week we are using Banners!  I thought it would be fun to make a banner for my husband, Karl, for father's day.  He is the best dad ever!  I couldn't have asked for a better father for my children.  I wanted the banner to be all about him, his hobbies and career.  

My husband enjoys grilling like many dads do so I just had to use Moka Bobby from Taylored Expressions.

Here's a close-up of the image.  You can't see it here but I used a Sakura starlite glitter pen on several areas on the grill and the spatula.  It gives it some shine in certain light.

Of course the center pennants of the banner spell "Dad".

My husband is a police officer for a department which uses star badges so I used a badge from the cricut cartridge A Child's Year.

Karl loves the United States and is very patriotic so I used a flag 

My dear, sweet husband is also quite the handyman.  He enclosed our carport and built me a craft room!  Isn't he spectacular?!

On the last pennant I used Moka Tim which is also from Taylored Expressions.  

Here is a close up of my handyman.

Here is another look at the whole banner.  Click to enlarge.

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you will go over to the CropStop blog and see what the rest of the design team has made!  I appreciate each and every visit and comment.  I hope you have a wonderful day!

Product used:

Nested Pennants,  Honey Bee 5" Scissors,  Tim Holtz Tonic Studio Scissors,  Score-tape, cricut "A child's Year" , Copics, blue ribbon,

 

Once You Choose Hope...

If you are looking for MTME's Pretty Patterns challenge please scroll down or click here.  

Once You Choose Hope - Anything is Possible! 

~ quote by Christopher Reeves

What a great attitude, don't you think?  My sweet daughter lived by those words.  She lived with hope and happiness in her heart even though she had so many severe health problems.  I want to grow up and be like her someday.  :)

This week at CropStop we have a monochromatic theme.  I was so excited to use my new embossing folder that I had to incorporate it in this challenge.  Of course I HAD to use my favorite color - pink!  

I used the new Spotted Flowers embossing folder on pink cardstock.  I then used a glitter pen on top of the embossed dots so they would stand out more and shine.  The sentiment is from JustRite Hope Set.  

I used Candi Dots for the centers of the flowers & Parisian Accents for the strip down the (almost) center and the frame for the sentiment.  

Please hop on over to CropStop's Blog and see what the rest of the team has created for you.  I hope you will play along with us!

Other Challenges:

Bellichallenge: Sentiments only

What's in it:

Scotch Foam Tape,  Score-tape, Honey Bee 5" Scissors,  Tim Holtz Tonic Studio Scissors,  Parisian Accents, Craft Concepts - Spotted Flowers, JustRite - Hope Set, Candi Dots, Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Princess Tilda in a Pink Dress

This is my 2nd post for today.  I made two projects for a tutorial for CropStop, I just posted the first one so either scroll down or click HERE.  The tutorial was published yesterday on CropStop's blog and can be found HERE.  I used Liquid Pearls on the other card and Star Dust Stickles on this one.  

I first colored Tilda with my copics, adding shading to her dress.

I then painted her dress and crown with Star Dust Stickles which made it shine.  Stickles and glitter glue are somewhat transparent so plan what color you want to show through before you do your painting.  Of course you can always paint on top of designer paper if you desire. 

Below is the card at an angle.  Lots of fun details!

As with the last project, I based my card on a sketch but alas that challenge just expired.  It's ok, I used a number of other challenges to base my card on.  

Here's the list:
Moxie Fab World: gingham challenge

Totally Tilda: Princess in Pink Dress

Simon Says Stamp and Show:  anything goes!

Creative Inspiration: Case it - I cased the colors pink, green & white 

Magnolia Down Under Challenge:  make your embellishments - metal corner - I embossed it with detail white embossing powder 

All That Scraps Blog:  Anything Goes

Die Cutting Divas: Flowers

Papertake Weekly: In the Garden

I Brake for Challenges: florals

Crafty Ribbons Challenge: flowers

Card Making Mamas: May Flowers

 Hotshot Craft Blog: use die cuts

Joyful Stamper: Anything Goes

Dies to Die for:  Anything Goes

Magnolia-licious Challenge: inspiration and color challenge-

Pink, Green and light yellow

 

Thank you for coming by!  Don't forget to hop on over to  CropStop and check out my little tutorial.  As always I appreciate each and every visit and comment.  Have a great week!

Fairy Tilda in Purple

I am so excited to share this project with you.  CropStop posted a tutorial I made about Painting with Liquid Pearls, Stickles and Glitter Glue.  Hop on over there and see it!  You'll be adding shimmer and shine to your projects in a new and fun way too!


I painted Tilda's wings in Lilac Liquid Pearls.  I also added some purple glitter glue to the large flower to add some shine.

By moving the card in the light the liquid pearls on the wings shine!

I made the butterflies using Martha Stewart's butterfly punch on some designer paper and added some bling to them.  

I used this gorgeous lace on the bottom and stamped "Dream" onto the tag... I embossed it with detail white embossing powder.

I originally made this card using a sketch but I wasn't able to post this in time and that challenge ended.  It's ok because I also made this for a number of other challenges - unfortunately one of those ended ONE HOUR ago.  I guess I should have saved the dishes until tomorrow, right?  hehe!

These are the challenges I'm entering this card into:

Simon Says Stamp and Show:  anything goes!

Magnolia Down Under Challenge:  make your embellishments - butterflies

7 Kids Challenge:  color me purple

All That Scraps Blog:  Anything Goes

Die Cutting Divas: Flowers

Papertake Weekly: In the Garden

I Brake for Challenges: florals

Crafty Ribbons Challenge: flowers

Card Making Mamas: May Flowers

 Hotshot Craft Blog: use die cuts

Joyful Stamper: Anything Goes

Dies to Die for:  Anything Goes

Thank you for coming by!  Don't forget to hop on over to  CropStop and check out the tutorial.  As always I appreciate each and every visit and comment.  Have a great week!

National Scrapbooking Day

Happy NSD - National Scrapbooking Day!

In honor of National Scrapbook Day, we challenge you to a SCRAPLIFT!

This is a two week special challenge.

Today, May 5, 2012, is National Scrapbook Day. National Scrapbook Day was started in 1994 by Creative Memories and is celebrated on the first Saturday every May. Since 1994 paper crafters everywhere celebrate their passion for scrapbooking and other paper projects on this day. Who knows, maybe this will be a national holiday some day!
To celebrate this awesome day, the CropStop Creative Team challenges you to scraplift one of their posted projects below.  Choose your project, create your own version of it, and link it using the link tool at the bottom of this post at CropStop. The winner will be chosen by random draw on May 20th and posted in the blog on Monday, May 21, 2012.  Prize is a $20 Gift Certificate to the CropStop Store.

Follow these simple guidelines to qualify:

1. Enter a newly created project that scraplifts one of the pictured projects.

2. Label your project with your name and link it using the link tool at the bottom of this post.

3. Give the name of the person/project that you have scraplifted in your blog post.

Challenge deadline is Saturday, May 19, 2012 at midnight, U.S. East Coast Time. 


The card I'm sharing for the Scraplift is my cute butterfly Tilda that I made on March 15th.
  

To see all the detailed photos and a mini tutorial I made on how to get her wings so shiny, click here.


Thank you for coming by!  I love your comments and support.  Happy Crafting!!

Love is in Bloom

To see my post for My Time Made Easy please scroll down or click here.

Today's challenge at CropStop is to include a bird in your project.  I love this paper from Graphic 45 which has a bird in the lower corner.  I added another bird to my project and then added a birdcage and a ton of hand-made flowers & greenery!  (the dies are listed at the bottom of my post)

Here are some close-ups of my card and all the lovely details!

I used foam squares to pop up the birdcage and some of the ivy.  I used my Scissors to cut the foam squares down to size when needed.  You can see a few of them in the image below - underneath the bars of the birdcage.  

I used a craft molding mat and a flower making kit to give dimension and shape to my flowers and leaves.  

I used Stickles and/or liquid pearls in the centers of the flowers.

Some 3-D goodness:

Thank you for coming by today!  I appreciate each and every visit and I especially love receiving comments!  I hope you will join us this week at CropStop and show us your projects using birds.

Other challenges:

Waltzingmouse Sketch challenge

Joan's Garden: hand-made flowers

The Shabby Tea Room: inspiration photo

What's in it:,

Carousel Bird Cage, Fancy Blossoms, Primula Blooms, Fruit Punch Stickles, Buttercup Liquid Pearls, Ribbon - yellow with white sheer dots, Scotch Foam Tape, Honey Bee 5" Scissors,  Tim Holtz Tonic Studio Scissors,  Score-tape , Tool kit for flowers, Paper Blossoms molding mat, Ivy Vine, Bird & House, Love is in Bloom - MTME's Tending the Garden digi stamp, Waltzingmouse acrylic stamp Very Vintage Label 4,

Follow Your Dreams

First of all, I hope you will bear with me while I work on my blog design. I tried a new style but it wouldn't allow me to have any widgets or gadgets - therefore getting rid of my lovely design team information including my wonderful teammates blogs so I changed it again.  I'm not finished with it yet so hang in there!  

Today I combined both my creative design team positions from CropStop and My Time Made Easy's Pretty Patterns to show you one fantabulous card!  At CropStop we are making our own lace.  I have a mini tutorial on how I made my lace and layered it to give it depth. 

I absolutely LOVE the new digi paper set Berry Burst.  I digitally changed the background in the paper I used from dark brown to light blue to go with the color scheme I wanted to use.  That's one thing that I love about digi paper - I can change the color if I want to.  I also lightened up the light pink and dark pink bursts.   

I used the following digi stamps:  I used the frame from Fine Finish and the sentiment and oval from Round Off.  I digitally colored the frame and ovals with butterflies and printed them onto cardstock.  Below you can see the paper after I printed them up.  I printed several to use in future projects.  I left some room at the bottom of the paper so I could punch out the lace and not waste paper.

I then punched out the same lace out of pink cardstock.

I chose a pink that would coordinate with the printed paper.  You can see both strips of lace below.

I'm sure there are many glues that you can use when adhering the two lace strips together but one of my favorites is Quickie Glue pen pictured below.  You do have to work fast or the glue will dry but it's great for small spaces.  I also have a glue pen from Creative Memories.  That glue won't dry quite as fast and is also great for small areas.  As you can see in the picture below, I placed the white paper lace to the right and slightly above the pink paper lace giving it the impression that the pink lace is the shadow of the white lace.  I tried placing only the white paper lace on top of the printed designer paper but it just needed a little something to make it pop.  It seemed to fade into the background.  If I have a paper seems to blend into the background it makes a huge difference if I add another color behind it (that coordinates with the other colors that I'm using) that will help it stand out much better.  Sometimes even using a color a little darker will make it pop too.

Here's the lace after the card is done.  I added some little round "bling" to the centers of the flowers of the lace.  I love my "bling"!  I also love using hand-dyed seam binding for my bows.  A little button is adhered to the center.

I also added some little pearls to my focal image.  I layered the oval with foam tape and layered the frame with foam tape as well.  That really brought out the focal image... I love that butterfly and the sentiment!

I added a little shiny to the flowers too.  I made sure this picture was a little darker so you can see the shininess a little better.

Here's a view of the layers.  

And one more view of the finished card.

Thank you for coming by!  I truly appreciate each and every visit and comment!  

I hope you will join me in both challenges at CropStop and MTME's Pretty Pattern sketch challenges. And don't forget, there's still time to enter CropStop's April Becky Fleck's sketch challenge for a chance to win Becky's newest Spellbinder's set. 

Challenges I'm entering this card in:

CropStop (DT) - make your own lace

MTME's Pretty Pattern (DT) - sketch below

 The Shabby Tea Room - beautiful roses

  

DiecuttingDivas - garden
Craft Us Crazy - Mother's Day and/or Flowers
Paper Pretties - create a card for a girl
Bunny Zoe's Crafts - ribbon or twine
Stamp, Scrap and Doodle Saturdays - Pastels

What's in it:

Copics, Scotch Foam Tape, Honey Bee 5" Scissors,  Tim Holtz Tonic Studio Scissors,  Score-tape, Spellbinders Ovals , Round Off, Fine Finish, Berry Burst