Friday, February 28, 2014

The Klic N Kut comes through again

Today was the last day to post a card in my friend Jen's card sketch challenge on PAO.  Her sketches are always fun.  But I hadn't done a thing.  It has been raining steadily (finally) for several days here in the Valley and it hit me that I wanted to do something with umbrellas.  Well, amazingly, I don't have any umbrella stamps!  So off to SVG-internet world I went and within a minute I found just what I wanted.  A free SVG file of a very simple umbrella.  I cut it out multiple times on my KNK using patterned papers.  I was also able to then cut a shadow of the same shape to help show off the umbrellas.  The background stamp of giant raindrops just happened to be a gift from Jen.  I was so happy to have the perfect use for it.


Friday, February 21, 2014

Two birthdays and a thank you

These three cards are special ones.  I do have trouble making cards when I have someone special in mind for them.   I can tell you that the 3 cards below are nothing like what I had in my mind when I started them.  Nothing, LOL.

First card is for my Grandson who is turning 2 today!  He is one adorable little boy who is in that mode of learning, and absorbing everything.   One of his many fascinations is horses.  Since I didn't have a horse stamp of any kind this Little Buckaroo from MFT seemed just the ticket when I added little wood veneer horses to this card.   Making this card pleased me no end since I used so many different materials from my stash.   I used my KNK to cut the Buckaroo boy, die cuts for the panel and the words HB, horses from veneer "collection", ahem, patterned papers from stashes and finally a mix of Copics and Spectrum Noir markers to color the little cowboy.


A second special birthday is today also…my good friend Jen's husband Roy.  He is a sweetie and one thing we have in common are bird feeders.  As I mentioned I started out with a totally different themed idea but when it went bad I hit myself in the head and thought, "why didn't I think of this in the first place".  This bird feeder was a free svg file I found last Fall when I first got my KNK.  I hadn't used it but last night I cut out multiples and played with the pieces.  This is my end result.  Again I used up some of my veneer supplies and colored the birds up to try to make them look like American and Lesser Goldfinches which devour the seeds at Roy's feeder.



Finally a special thank you card was needed for a new acquaintance made in my Aquafit class I take 3 times a week.  She knows I am a birder because I am constantly pointing out birds from the pool each morning.  All the women in this class wear the same warm red fleece caps to keep warm on these very cold mornings.  Many of these hats have a word embroidered on them.  I've been wearing a black one that I use for kayaking.  Well last week she presented me with one that says "BIRDIE" on it!  I was so taken aback that she had made me my own red hat.  I now feel even more part of this already welcoming group.  I made a thank you card for her last night to take this morning to class.  And I better get moving so I'm not late.

Thanks for looking.


Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Altered Wood Bead Bracelet

I belong to a neighborhood beading group.  I am not really a "beader" but rather one who plays with beads.  I like to make jewelry when it involves some ink, paint, stamps…some kind of altering.

So I started with some basic nude wood beads and used Distress Paints, Jet Black Stazon Ink and a large WM background stamp.  I hope the ladies enjoy my version of beading Thursday.


Transformed wood beads…thanks for looking!


Monday, February 10, 2014

Cards from our Friday Night Squirrel Shoebox Project

The Shoebox Project was Nancy's brilliant idea.  You create a number of card samples…in our case two different ones…and place all necessary materials to creating these cards into a shoebox.  Then each person can take turns using these materials to create the cards.  We had 3 very different ideas of cards and they all turned out fantastic.

Nancy and Jen, thank your for your inspiring cards and of course the best crafting evening I've had in a looong time.

All of these cards are the cards that I made following Nancy and Jen's fabulous samples:

From Nancy's shoebox I made these two cards using Stampin' Up stamps and punches:



Jen's shoebox held the open heart template/cover plate from PTI.  I only made one version but Jen had a mountain of hearts and templates to make an endless variety of patterns and colors:




And finally my cards that Nancy and Jen worked from.  These are die cuts that I made from my KNK of Charley Harper's Cardinals:





Hold onto your hats...

…I made 2 more PL pages tonight and have 3 more in the works!  I. AM. ON. A. ROLL.


Sunday, February 9, 2014

Scrapping Again!

I'm trying to turn over an old leaf…scrapbooking!  I keep thinking about it but have done nothing in that department for nearly 2 years.  Shocking, yes?  But this past weekend was a particularly wonderful one with my dear friends Jen and Nancy.   We had two card making classes to attend together and what better way to begin scrapping than to start with this weekend.  I've only done one 12x12 page in Project Life style.  But I am so excited to have done one, I felt I must post it here and then get back to more.  I used Becky Higgin's Project Life "Honey" edition to make this page using a pocket page that I happened to have that is not a PL.  I cut down the smaller cards to fit into the narrow pockets and rounded the corners to keep the shape going.

More to come but here is my first page for sharing.  Thanks for looking:


Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Feel Better Cards

My brother, sister-in-law and niece were in an auto accident last week.  They are alright, thank goodness, but did have some injuries.  I recently received the newest Die Hard "spinners2stamp" set from The Stamps of Life and found it to be the perfect foundation for a feel-better card for my niece.  I made two similar ones plus the coffee triple flip it card also from TSOL for my SIL.  Still need to make one for my brother and get them mailed.


The triple circle flip-it base was already made weeks ago.  My good friend Nancy sent me those darling coffee cup stickers and it was a natural for my intended card to add them as the main attraction.  Love it when a card comes together so fast.  Having these flip-it bases ready and waiting for whatever occasion comes along is ideal.  Also, I was delighted to see how much fun and useful the spinner stamps and dies will be for a variety of cards.

Thanks for looking: