Sympathy Card

Today I have a sympathy card to show you.

I used a very light purplish color of card stock

for the front panel.

I inked up an embossing folder with purple ink

and ran it through my Cuttlebug with the card stock.

The ink enhanced the embossing.

The flowers and leaves were made with a pretty old

layered stamp set from Stampin Up.

I hadn't used the set before as I didn't have a clue

how I would line the layers up and get it right.

With the MISTI stamping tool, it was much easier,

but I also have to say it would have been even easier 

if the stamps had been clear acrylic rather than red rubber.

I used only one color of ink on the flowers and the leaves.

Using multi layers of the same color just intensifies the color

and gives the look of having different colors.

I fussy cut the flowers and leaves and adhered them to the

embossed panel.  One flower is adhered directly to the panel

and one was adhered with foam tape.

Here is the final card.

The sentiment was printed from my computer and 

trimmed down, adhered to a piece of the same purplish 

card stock and trimmed with a very narrow mat.

Here is a close up of the embossing and the dimension

of the flower.

I sometimes struggle with sympathy cards, as many do.

I know the family receiving this card will appreciate it.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you'll come by again soon.

Until then, create something wonderful!

Homemade Cleaner Results

Hi all!

Remember when I made that homemade cleaner?
Here's the post about it.

Today I used it for the first time and I have to tell you,

I'm pretty impressed with how well it works.

A few days ago I asked my hubby for a small fan,

he brought one that has been sitting in our basement for years.

It was grosser than gross, so I didn't want to use it

until I cleaned it.

Below are some pictures of what it looked like before 

I cleaned it.

Pretty disgusting, eh?  What can I expect though, it had

been used for years, then put into the basement to 

just sit?

I put my cleaner in a spray bottle and sprayed the fan

parts with it.  Oh MY!  all that gunk just wiped right off

with a paper towel.

I did use an old toothbrush to get into the small spaces,

but it didn't take much effort to clean it up at all.
I'm really loving this cleaner

Below you'll see how it looks after cleaning.

Easy peasy!

Thanks for stopping by today.

I hope you'll be inspired to make some of this great 

cleaner.  Pop over to the post linked above and see how.

It's really simple and cheap as can be!

Come again soon,

you never know what you'll see on 

Kristie Kreates!

Wedding Gift and Card

Today I have a wedding gift and card to show you.

I like to give a handmade gift when I can and I hope

Esther and Thomas like this.
I used a floating frame, which is one with 2 pieces of glass

and no back.

I used the "M" design, added their names and established date,

then cut it from black vinyl, with my Silhouette Cameo,

and applied it to the glass.

This isn't a very good picture, but I wanted to show that

these frames have a "foot" so they can be stood on a 

mantel or table.

Here is what it looks like hanging on our wall.

I think it turned our great and I hope they like it too. 

This is the card we are giving them.

Inside I added a white piece of card stock with 

a sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by today,

hope you are having a wonderful day and 

that you will stop by again soon.

Until next time,

Happy Crafting!

Grandma's Boys Bag Book

Hello blog friends!

Do you remember when I made the 

bag book as an exchange gift at Christmas time?

Well, a friend saw it and loved it, she asked if I could

make one for her.

We chose to make one to feature her grandsons.

Here is the finished book.

I hope she likes it.

I thought stars were appropriate as I 

know they are the stars in her life.

Every page has a pocket with a 4" x 4.5" 

double sided mat to hold pictures.

There is also a larger 6" x 5.5" 

double sided mat that pulls out from the 

end of the page.

Each page has different papers and embellishments.

Every tag is also different,

You can see I used jute twine as 

pulls for the larger tags.

There is also space for pictures on the "flap"

at the left side of each page.

There are 24 spaces for picture.

I tried to incorporate the different sports 

that the boys are involved in

as well as some general "boy" things.

I'm sure she will have plenty of wonderful

pictures to fill her new book.

And she will enjoy it for years to come.

Thanks for stopping by today.

I hope you are inspired in some way and maybe

you'll give one of these 'bag books' a try.

I hope you'll stop by again soon,

you never know what you'll see on 

Kristie Kreates.

Freezing Strawberries

One of my favorite childhood summer memories is

when I'd hear the strawberry man coming down the street.

We're talking early to mid 60s here.
He'd have his truck and yell out

"Straaaaaawwwwberries, 3 quarts for a dollar!"

The women in the neighborhood would come out to buy 

his strawberries. That night we'd have strawberry shortcake

for dessert.

Can you imagine getting anything for that price these days?

The supermarket that I shop at, Tops, often has sales that are

buy 2 get 3 free and now and then they have

berries on that sale. 

When they were on sale this time I picked up 5 - 16 oz. packages.

Since there are only 2 of us, that's a lot of strawberries.

I gave a package to our daughter, and decided to do some freezing.

I cut the tops off and put them into a bowl of water to rinse.

I fill a bowl with cool water and don't over fill the bowl

with berries.

When you have enough to cover the top of the water

while floating, you've got enough.

I then swish them around a bit, the pick the out of the water

a couple at a time.
If you don't over crowd them, it gives space for the 

dirt particles and other "debris" to fall to the bottom of

the bowl.  You'll be surprised what comes off your berries.

I then place them onto paper toweling to dry.

Be sure they are not touching and that they can dry completely,

you don't want any water left on them at all,

as this will crystallize on the berries and we sure 

don't want that.  No freezer burn for me!

Drying completely can take an hour or two.

Once they are dry, place them onto a cookie sheet with a

dry piece of parchment paper lining the pan and place 

them in the freezer to freeze.

Freezing doesn't take long at all,

maybe an hour or so.

Once they are frozen you can put them into freezer

bags, remove as much air as possible.

Freezing them before putting them into the bags

will keep them from freezing together in a big clump.

This way you can take out only what you need.

I didn't freeze them all, I did eat some of them

and boy were they good.

In fact they were so good that when we had 

company come for dinner,

I picked up 5 more containers, made strawberry shortcake

with some and froze some more.

We're going to have some nice strawberries during the 

off season.

"Straaaaaawwwwwberries, 6 quarts in my freezer!"

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you've learned something and maybe

will try freezing some produce for your off season.

Come again soon,

you never know what you'll see on 

Kristie Kreates!

Sadly another sympathy card

We got word that a very special lady had

passed away.

She and her sister are very loyal customers of

my husbands and we have come to be friends with

these sisters.

Wendy was diagnosed with cancer only a matter

of a few weeks ago, it took over very quickly.

I wanted to make a card for Donna, the other sister,

and this is what I made.

I love how this card turned out.

I heat embossed the rose with silver embossing

powder, then covered it with a mask.

(Rose from QKR Stampede)

I made the mask by stamping the same image onto 

a piece of white card stock and fussy cutting it.

After covering the rose with the mask,

I used Peacock Feathers and Broken China

Distress Inks and blending tools to 

ink over the entire area.

Removing the mask revealed the rose image

that I think turned out beautifully.

The background is silver vellum.

Adding that bit of ribbon, finished the card off

nicely.

I know Donna will appreciate this card and

our thoughts and prayers are with her.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Come again soon.

Anniversary gift

A couple weeks ago, I showed you the

etching I did with my friend Danielle.

Danielle finished the gift and I thought I'd give you 

a look at what she did.

Now this isn't the best picture mind you,

but at least you can get the idea of how it turned out.

I think she did a great job and I bet 

Sue and Tom just love it.

Thanks for stopping by,

come again soon.

Now go create something beautiful!

I pick you

Recently there was a local story about a

young boy that has cancer, the Mom was asking

for birthday cards for him as he was supposed to have

a birthday party, but because of the cancer and treatment

it had to be cancelled.

She said the cornier the better.

Here is what I came up with for him.

The background paper is some I made with 

alcohol inks and THIS technique.

The stamp is "Picking" from 

QKR Stampede,

I colored it with colored pencils,

and fussy cut it.

Here is the inside of the card.

I think this is something that will make a 

young boy laugh,

I sure hope so.

Thanks for stopping by today,

hope you have a fabulous day!

Come again soon,

until then have some fun crafting!

Graduating Greats

Two of my great nieces graduated this year and are headed for 

high school.

When I saw the pictures of them on facebook, I couldn't

believe how grown up they are.

Just like everyone, I wonder where the time went. 

I still remember when their Dad's were this age and I 

couldn't believe it.

Here are Lexi and Dejah,

two wonderful, beautiful young ladies with so 

much to look forward to.

And here are the cards I made for them.

The color of the caps is actually a lot closer to the color

of their actual caps and gowns than it looks

in the picture.

The background paper is some that I made

using THIS method.

The cap and diploma were stamped onto white

card stock, colored with 

Recollections Watercolor Crayons

then fussy cut and adhered to the card base with

foam tape.

The Congratulations! sentiment was stamped

directly onto the card front with 

VersaFine onyx black ink.

Thanks for stopping by today,

come again soon.

Glad I could share my cards and a couple

of my Greats with you today.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!