My Other Pages

To make it easier to read about our trip to Ireland, I have made a page that is just for that. There is a tab above for Ireland Trip 2014 or click on the Home tab to read my other posts. I have also created a new page for My Weight Loss Journey if you are interested in that, click on the tab above.

Monday, July 28, 2014

Swimming Challenge

Hello!  I hope your summer is going great!
What says summer more than swimming?
And that is exactly what our theme is this week on 
For my swimming themed card, I have used
"Bubbles Background" (#58101) and
"Flying Girl Holder" (#21701) from
I stamped the Bubbles Background onto white card stock
and cut the top along one of the "waves"
I used the Flying Girl Holder to create a girl diving into the water.
Below is what the image actually looks like.
digi21701 Flying Girl Holder
As you can see, I modified it a bit.
I masked off the girls dress and stamped the rest onto white card stock.
I then used a black pen to draw in her bathing suit.
I colored and fussy cut the girl and posed her as a diver
on the card with foam tape.
I think this would be an adorable invitation to a pool party.
Too bad I don't have a pool, eh?
I love to find different ways to use my stamps, to stretch my supplies and
create something a little different than what was intended.
Thanks for coming by today,
I hope you have learned something and been inspired.
I also hope you'll join in the fun of our 
swimming challenge this week.
All the particulars about the challenge are on the 

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Cameo fun for a shower

My nephew is getting married
 and my sis in law and I had a shower for 
Vicki and him.
I had a lot of fun creating things for the shower.
The first thing I made was the favors.
I created a branch with love birds on it, 
cut them out of black vinyl and applied
them to little jars.
The jars were filled with kisses.

I also filled one jar with red M&M candies to use for a game.
Everyone guessed the number of candies in the jar.
The person who guessed the closest won that jar as well as 
a "door prize"
My niece, Lauren, guessed 291 and there were 287 
in the jar, pretty darn close.
I also applied a love birds on a branch to a very large glass 
and used it as a vase.
I cut up lemons and added them to the water in the "vase" 
for a little something different.
I thought it looked very pretty.
I got this idea from my friends blog
I decided to make prizes for the shower too.
Here they are below.
All of them were created with vinyl and my 
Silhouette Cameo
 
This is a cutting board/trivet


Tasty Treats jar filled with candy.

Another cutting board/trivet
and a 
"wine to go" tumbler.

This little bowl says Rings and things.
I need to make one for myself to put in my kitchen 
for when I take off my rings and watch to wash dishes.
This prize below was the "door prize"
please excuse the poor picture,
I forgot to take another when it was all fixed up nice for the shower.

And my favorite thing I made, was Vicki's gift.
I put the love birds as well as their names on a cake taker.
Vicki and Patrick are both amazing cooks and bakers
and I know it will get a lot of use.
They both loved it.
 


I had so much fun creating these things!
Everyone seemed to like them and that makes 
me happy!

Thanks for stopping by today to see what I've been creating.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!



Monday, July 21, 2014

Monochromatic Challenge

Today I have 2 cards to show you.
The challenge for this week on the 
"Monochromatic"
For my cards I used
"Sunflowers" (#35808) and
"Happy Birthday" (#36314) from 
sister company to Eureka! Stamps.
For both cards I used the same technique.
First I stamped the Sunflowers image onto water color paper
with VersaMark ink.
I then covered it with white embossing powder
and used my heat gun to melt the powder.
Using masking tape, I taped my paper down to a
cutting mat, this helps prevent warping from the water.
It also makes it easier to move the paper to different angles.
I wet the paper with a good amount of water
then used water color crayons and  a wet paint brush to 'drop' 
the color onto the card.
The embossed areas will resist the color.
I used the lightest of colors first and covered most of the image
with a light wash of color.
Then I went back with some darker colors to add more color
to the flowers.
I continued this until I was happy with the results.
For the sentiment on the purple card
I embossed the Happy Birthday with the same technique
on white card stock.
I used the water color crayons and a water brush once again to color the paper.
This was not water color paper and it takes the color much differently.
If the paper becomes too wet, it will begin to crumble, so you must be careful.
I just applied the color to the area around the sentiment, let it dry and cut it to size.

The sentiment for this 2nd card was stamped with 
a coordinating color of ink onto the same paper used for the card front.
Although I am usually more partial to purple than orange,
in this case I like the orange card better than the purple.
Which do you prefer?
I hope you have been inspired in some way, thanks for stopping by.
Please check out the particulars of our challenge on the 
and join in the fun.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Graduation Card for Emily

Hello all!
Today I have a graduation card to show you.
This is for a very special young lady 
who graduated from high school this year.
I have known Emily her whole life and am so proud of her.
In September she will be going away to college
that is why I made this particular card.
I started by stamping
"Ball Jar" (#23102) from 
onto an acrylic sheet with StazOn ink
and fussy cut it.
You can see in this picture how the jar looks like glass, 
since it is stamped onto acrylic.

I punched out the butterflies with a little punch from 
the studio where I work.
I glued 3 butterflies to the white card stock piece,
then used glue dots to adhere the jar over them.
I used glue dots to put butterflies directly over 
those dots adhering the jar so they wouldn't show.
I cut a small slit in the top of the jar so one butterfly is just 
coming out of the jar.
The rest of the butterflies are also adhered with glue dots.
I used a Zig Pen to make the 'flight trails'
The butterflies were all coated with a 
Wink of Stella pen, 
which gives them a shimmery/glittery look.
On the inside I used
"Congratulations" (#5507) from 
I didn't think to take a picture of the inside
 before I wrote a personal not and signed the card.
Part of what I wrote was
"It's your time to fly"

I'm very happy with how this card turned out
I hope it has inspired you in some way.
Thanks for stopping by today
I hope you will come again soon.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!




Monday, July 14, 2014

Sports Challenge


Hello all!
Today we have a new challenge on 
Our challenge this week is 
"Sports"
I chose to use
"Father and Son Bear" (#6104) from 
as well as 
"Field Grass Left" (#38901) from 
Biblical Impressions sister company to Eureka! Stamps.
This is a one layer card, so I used some masking 
to make it.
I stamped the Father and Son Bear image onto 
the card base as well as scrap paper.
I colored he image on the card with 
colored pencils and used Gamsol
to blend and smooth the colors.
I fussy cut the image on scrap paper and used it 
to mask the colored image.
I used a cloud mask and Distress Inks to color the sky
and Distress Inks and the Field Grass image to create the ground.
I hope you will check out the particulars for the challenge at the
and join in the fun of our challenge.
has lots of great images that would be work well for this challenge
so stop by and have a look.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Monday, July 7, 2014

Vacation Challenge

The Eureka! Stamps Challenge this week is
"Vacation"
what better to use than something 'beachy'?
I used 
"Shell Background" (#58102) from 
for my card.
I stamped the image onto white card stock and 
colored the sand part with water color crayons.
I stamped it again and colored the shells then fussy cut
many of them. 
I then adhered them onto the background with foam tape.
It's hard to see the dimension in the picture, sorry about that.
I cut and added a few of the little shells to the bottom corner for 
a little interest.
We seldom vacation at the beach, but I do love it.
Where do you like to vacation?
Why not join in this weeks challenge and create a project
that shows us something about your vacations.
Pop on over to the Eureka! Stamps Blog 
to get all the particulars about the challenge 
then check out the 
and see what great images they have to choose from.
There is something for everyone!

Thanks for stopping by today.
Until next time, Happy Crafting!