Cute Little Project for the Weekend!

I've seen these on several blogs including Becky Roberts at Inking Idaho. Must be a thing going around now so I jumped on the bandwagon. These are Butterfly Post It Notes. You could also use a flower die. You take a Post It that is 3 x 3. I understand the generic brand of post its fit the butterfly better than the 3M brand which I used. One tip of the wing is short on the name brand. You separate the post it pad into four sections and run each one through the machine with the die. Yes, it wil cut!!! Then I cut a similar or contrasting top and bottom cover from cardstock. On the purple butterfly I also used a vellum layer on top. Then cut a smaller butterfly in the same die. You can emboss the cs butterfly for more pizzaz. I like it embossed. Perhaps if you click on the picture you can see that. Then punch a hole in the wing. I used my Big Bite to do that and then insert the four layers through a small ring. Dress with a little bling or a sticker, you could even use a tag on it. I found the little "bling" butterflies in Michaels $1 bins. LOVE those $1 bins. These make quick and very inexpensive gift for the people in your life. Give it a try!

A Card......at last

You don't see anything from me in weeks and then 3 posts in one day! I can't take credit for this idea. The lovely Becca Feeken at Amazing Paper Grace inspired me to CASE a card of hers. This uses the MS Floral Tile Punch Anywhere Punch. Literally you can punch anywhere on a page. Becca has a wonderful tutorial on her blog about tips on using these great punches. This first try isn't perfectly lined up but it was good enough to show you. I used Cricut paper, would you believe, a pad I got with my machine. The sentiment is from PTI's set Sending You. I finished it off with some SU ribbon and a Recollections flower. Also added some pearl bling in the centers of the punched area. Give these punches a try. They're very versatile. You can do all over designs like this one, single punches, borders, random punches etc. And if you use a fifty per cent coupon to buy it at Mike's like I did, it makes the hefty price easier to bear! That's it for today, really.

A new front door piece.....

Just thought I'd share with you this new creation on my front door. It's a pattern! You can purchase it from Old Road Primitives. She has several patterns done on metal barn stars. It was very simple. You can do it!

A Fabulous Give Away!

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th. Ours was quiet until dark when the neighborhood exploded with fireworks. The dog nearly had a heart attack! I just wanted to let you all in on a fantastic give away at the following blog: http://gabriellepollacco.blogspot.com/. She is a marvelously creative person and is giving away a wonderful lot of goodies. See the picture and enlarge it to get a good look at everything. Her blog gives all the details. Good luck!

Happy Fourth of July Weekend!

Hope you are enjoying the long weekend with family and friends and celebrating our country! Hope to be back soon with SOMETHING creative to share.

Garden Peek

Sorry I've been away so long. Family things have just been crazy lately. Here's my little Sampson peeking out the studio window looking for squirrels or chipmunks. My hydrangeas are just knocking themselves out this year. Have you ever seen a lace cap hydrangea. They have tiny tiny little flowers in the center of the head surrounded my large flowers and this year the total bush is a lovely blue/lavender. Soooo beautiful. While Sampson looks out, you can have a peek at that! Hopefully, I'll get to something creative later in the week.

Father's Day Tribute

With Father's Day coming up I thought I'd like to pay tribute to the Dads in our armed forces, serving both here and abroad. I purchased this file and fiddled with it on the Cricut all week. There was no file for the Air Force (sorry you guys in the air). So here, left to right we have Army, Navy and Marines. The Navy card was the first one I did and I thought it was a little short for an A2 envelope so I enlarged the other two but they all fit perfectly in that size. All paper, no buttons or any other embellishment. Even the little Marine insignia. Semper Fi! Anyway, I hope you are enjoying your summer. Stinking hot here, but supposedly storms and a cooler front coming through. Enjoy!

Scrapping and Sewing

Did you have a nice weekend? The weather here was gorgeous both days, sunny breezy and relatively cool. But this week is supposed to be HOT. Yuck! I worked outside all yesterday afternoon getting a lot of shrubs trimmed. What a job!

Anyway, about this scrapbook page. This paper is gorgeous. The dressform is all glittered and the color of dark rusty tin. I'd been wanting to do a sewing related page for a long time. I used handmade and purchased flowoers, Recollections bling with the lace and the button frame is one I purchased just because I loved it, way back when I first started paper work. The little vintage sewing card inside the frame shows a Mother giving her young daughter her First Lesson. The tape measure was given to me with a lot of other sewing detritus from the estate of a neighbor who died at 96. This was such a fun page to do. Hope you like it!

Garden Trellis Punch and PTI Garden Variety

I have Becca Feeken to thanks for the technique on this card. Using the MS Garden Trellis Deep Punch I made the background for the seed packet. It's very EASY. Thank you Becca! The butterfly is a large MS punch and the rose is my version of the Tim Holtz rose which is floating around everywhere on the internet. Foliage is a Spellbinders die. Have a great weekend everyone!

Stamp Garden is Blooming!

Still playing with PTI's new Garden Variety and Year of Flowers stamp sets. These images are so much fun and with the coordinating dies, so easy too!

Stamp Garden Heaven

I think I am in love with the new PTI set Garden Variety. I love their stamps but this one is finding a special place in my heart. It's so versatile. This card was made with SU Mellow Moss cardstock and DP and the seed packet and sentiment medallion are made with SU Sahara Sand. I colored the flower image which is from PTI Year of Flowers in the mini size (how fun is that?) with Copic markers. The ink I used was TH Distress Forest Moss. I also purchased the dies to go with this set including the seed packet die and the frame and the Garden Variety set which has the garden gloves in it. I don't know if the picture conveys that but this is very soft and dreamy looking. I love this set and know it will get lots of use. Enjoy your day!

Steampunk Debutante

Some time ago I filled this 7 Gypsies tray with the Steampunk Debutante paper from Graphics 45. Today I finally finished it up, adding a lot more embellishments. Don't forget to click on it to see a closer view of all the "stuff." Enjoy, and if your weather is like ours, stay cool!

The Magic Number!!!!!!!!

Look at that number! Isn't that amazing? At exactly 10:07 this morning someone visited my blog and pushed that number to exactly 50,000. This is both an honor and a privilege that people thought enough of my blog to visit so many times. Thank you everyone!

Happy Memorial Weekend!

I hope everyone is enjoying this Memorial Day weekend with family and friends. I feel like the 4th of July is really a patriotic celebration but that we should keep this holiday as a true remembrance. I am married to a veteran of the Viet Nam war and I had three brothers who were all career military. It makes me so proud to be able to say that. Think of all the families who have lost a loved one while they served our country. And think of those serving currently around the world. Each man and woman deserves our respect, support and prayers. I love the stories in the media in recent years about people who pay for a soldier's meal when they see them in a restaurant or those folks you see stop and clap as servicemen and women arrive or depart at an airport. And think of all the wonderful organizations that have sprung up at the grass roots level to send cards, goody boxes, etc to our military overseas. Some of us can do these things but not all of us. BUT we can all take one minute each day to silently thank God for those who serve, protect, and defend. It's such a small simple thing to do, but wouldn't you feel good about it if you knew your little prayer was instrumental in saving the life of a soldier? It's something we can all do. Give it a try and make it a habit. You won't regret it!

Framed Fairies

Just thought I'd touch base here real quick and let you see how the fairy piece looks framed. I love the frame! It came from Michaels and I got it half price. I think it turned out very well. Just the right size. Hope you all have a very happy Memorial Day weekend and remember to pray for all those past and present who have kept this country safe.

The Bride's Shoe

Did anyone see the shoes which The Dutchess of Cambridge wore for her wedding? Stilletos with a damask type fabric! They were gorgeous. This little shoe was made for my neighbor to use at the upcoming wedding shower she is giving for her niece. (You may remember the favors I made a few posts back.) It looks like something Marie Antoinette would wear! Verrrry French! The pattern for the shoe is from Ellen Hutson, the flower is a Sizzix 3D rose with leaves from a MS punch.

Fairies in Springtime

Good morning to everyone! It's overcast and rainy here today but I have a wonderful project to share that I hope will brighten your day. First I have to thank Lynette Carroll of My Creative Affair for the inspiration. She recently won a spot on the Graphic 45 Design Team. Since they are one of my favorite companies I visited the blogs of all their new team members and was blown away by Lynette's style and creativity. My daughter had gifted me with the Once Upon a Springtime paper some time ago and I was motivated to try Lynette's project. I truly cannot thank her enough for her help on this. I hope you'll be inspired to try a similar project. Be sure to click on each photo to see it enlarged so you can study all the details.

You use the Spellbinders Nestabilites Large and Small Rectangles and Scalloped Rectangles for the main individual layers. Then using your chosen paper you tell a little story with each frame, cutting layer upon layer of figures and embellishments. As I said I used mainly the Once Upon A Springtime paper from G45 along with a few other minor papers. I used 3 of Kaisercraft's laser cut wood embellishments, lots of tiny pearls, mini wood spools, antique pearl pins, etc. But really it is your paper that is the main player. And I used foam mounting tape in strips (thanks Lynette!) between each layer to make it pop up and stand out. I had the most fun I've ever had doing this project and once it is framed it will hang proudly in my studio. Please give this a try......it is very rewarding and not at all hard to do. Graphic 45 makes many paper lines that would work with this technique and their newest line to come out very soon is Wizard of Oz themed. I feel another one of these coming on in that theme! If you have any questions, feel free to email me or comment. Have a great day!

Blog Candy Winner

Today is the day I pick a winner for my blog candy. I put everyones name on a slip of paper, including two slips for those who signed up to be a follower, tossed them all in a little yelloware bowl, stirred them around and chose......DIANE!!! of Diane Knott's Musings. Diane please send me your complete address so I can mail off your package of goodies. I want to thank all who participated and those of you especially who became followers. I wish I could send you all a package! Enjoy your Sunday!

Blog Candy Note and a New Card

First I want to address the blog candy issue. I said I would raffle the candy when I reached 50,000 hits.........which is taking entirely too long because I haven't been posting as much lately due to family issues. Soooo, I'm going to raffle the blog candy (see post below) on May 15, this Sunday. So if you haven't had a chance to comment on the POST BELOW, please do so to be sure and have a chance to win. I don't want all of you to have to wait forever for this.

Having said that, here's a new little card I did last evening. The card is very simple, just some DP on Whisper White cs with some SU ribbon. The flower, however, is the standout! There is a tutorial for how to make these on http://www.stampartic.blogspot.com/. Just click on Tutorials and click Marianne's Flowers. The leaves are from a fabulous new Spellbinders die called simply Foliage. It has quite a few styles of leaves which come in so handy. If you use flowers, you have to have leaves! The center of the flower is a little sticky spot thing from K&Co. I hope you have a wonderful day and go sign up for the blog candy.

Vintage Wedding

While cleaning out my MIL's house this week I found a box with dozens of old greeting cards, including wedding ones. I cut out the center image on this card from a vintage one and gussied it up a little more with some seam binding and cream flowers and leaves from a new Spellbinder's die called Foliage. A Recollections rose in the center of the bow topped it off. There were also a gazillion baby cards. She had six children and she saved each card she received. I hope to use more in future cards. Have a great weekend everyone!