Easter Wishes

Over the weekend, I finally made a few cards with the "God's Beauty" set which is a Level 1 Hostess set in the Spring Stampin' Up! catalog. We have two friends in far away cities (Seattle and London) who we don't connect with nearly often enough. They are both recent widows having lost their husbands of over 50 years. Since they are both avid gardeners and lovers of Spring, I think this is a nice time to touch base and send a little cheer their way. The inside message is "Beauty is God's handwriting."

I used Stampin' Pastels to color in the wings of the butterfly. We did a 3D butterfly like this in our last Stamp Club. It is easy and very effective.

Ingredients: Stamp Sets all by Stampin' Up! God's Beauty and All Holidays for the greeting.
Inks: Orchid Opulence, Green Galore, Black
Ribbon: Black gingham also from Stampin' Up!

The Joys of Do-it-Yourself

Last year, I decided I’d had enough of my pink bathroom. The pink wallpaper was chosen to match the fabrics my stepdaughters had selected for their bedroom. This decision was made in 1992 when the girls were teens and I had not yet overdosed on pink. Actually I always thought this bathroom was a little much but I dreaded working in such a tight space.

Finally late last summer, I started with one corner, just to see how easy or difficult it would be to remove. A word of warning: If you aren’t really ready to take down wallpaper, NEVER peal back that first corner. Good or bad, you just can’t stop. My pink paper was a coated paper meaning the top layer peels off quite easily; the second layer, not so much. I wet and scrapped strips of paper off the walls a section at a time for weeks. Finally, blank walls appeared – a ready canvas for something new.

I love color and I had purchased the floral fabric for the shade and shower curtain a couple of months earlier. A light, bright blue is enough of a change from the pink for me. I still wanted a happy room. I did make one – ah, mistake. I selected 3 potential blue paint chips and asked my husband to make the choice. I wanted him to be part of the process. He picked the one I liked the least (this is sort of how I got a pink bathroom to start with, but that is another story.) I bought a quart and did a test patch behind the mirror. Voila! Carolina Blue. Now, no offense to any sports fans, but that isn’t what I had in mind. So I mixed in grays and other shades of blue until I found a combo I liked. Back to the paint store and the perfect color (my favorite to begin with.)

I framed three old photos I scanned, enlarged and printed of my father, my grandparents with my cousin Donna, and my Mother with me in matted frames that I hand stamped.

I love our updated bathroom and I’m especially proud that I did it myself. Never will I say that I did as good a job as a professional painter, but it is my little project and I’m proud of it.

The next project is the downstairs bath and while I may strip the wallpaper myself (I have not tested a corner yet), I won’t be hanging the new paper. Some jobs definitely call for a professional. Oh, and I think I’ll be going with my own instinct on shades of color.

Color Challenge - Tangerine & Saffron

Kristina Werner's color challenge this week is to use Tangerine Tango, So Saffron, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White. This was particularly challenging to me since I'm not really an orange person. I was going for a a modern look but I think the brown gingham ribbon makes this a more traditional card than I expected.

Once again Petal Pizzazz creates interesting embossed flowers. Using the discontinued "Make it Count" stamp set (which was a hostess set last year) for the words creates a perfect sentiment for a good graduation card. A bonus is I finally used one of those little chipboard circles!

Ingredients: Stamp Sets: Make it Count and Petal Pizzazz from Stampin' Up!
Paper: Chocolate Chip, So Saffron and Tangerine Tango cardstock
Ribbon: from Paper Studio
Ink: Chocolate Chip and Whisper White craft ink
Other: Clear embossing powder.

Scrap Happy

There is a reason we call it "scrap" booking. And you can apply the same logic to cards. You will create lots of scraps and you can use scraps of almost anything in creating paper art.

This week I took a few of the scraps from one of the Sale-a-bration items - the paper pack and ribbon bundle- and created a couple of cards. I hadn't done much with "A Little Birdie Told Me"- a fun set that covers almost every occasion.

Also, I got back to my chipboard challenge trying to figure out what to do with some of the simple shapes. I took two different sizes of squares, cut them in half diagonally and then notched out a corner to create these "corners." The craft and rubber scissors are great for cutting chipboard. Now if I can just figure out a good use for all those little chipboard circles...

Ingredients: Stamp Sets: A Little Birdie Told Me, Define Your Live, Congrats

Paper: Sale-a-Bration designer paper, Bashful Blue cardstock. I think Beige cardstock is Creative Memories

Embellishments: Ribbon and Chipboard from Stampin' Up! except "C" which is from my stash and source unknown.

Button: Source unknown.

Happy Birthday, Mother!

Happy Birthday to my Mother today! When I saw a version of this pocketbook card on Splitcoaststampers.com, I knew I had to make one for my mother who has a passion for fashion. The original was from Tara Kieninger at http://www.firefliesandflutterbyes.com/. Her version had a strip of cardstock across the body of the card and featured the Kindred Spirits set.





For my version, I used black paper, gold embossing and added a silk flower and several clear rhinestones. My Mother loves black and gold. The red silk flower gives it a little punch. I glued some old velcro that wasn't too 'grabby' on for a closure and typed up her sentiment on vellum for the inside. The ribbon handle is secued through large grommets in the back.



I made another version of this for the Red Hats using purple paper and a red flower. For the inside, I attached a cellophane bag filled with chocolates. I look forward to using it as a demo item at workshops.
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My Mother is a very creative and stylish woman. My parents started a retail business when I was 4 and as the business grew, Mother spent more of her time working with customers, handling bookkeeping not to mention taking care of a daughter and being chauffeur to her own Mother and Mother-in-law, neither of whom drove. I don't know how she did it.
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Before the business, she took some time to create projects for our home. A few months ago I found two large framed needlework pieces she did. But the most memorable object she made during my childhood had to be the book cover. When I started first grade after almost no association with other children, I was certainly an outsider. The teachers sent home our textbooks for us to create some sort of protective cover. Most parents opted for the brown paper bag cover. Not my Mother. One of the books had a red binding with a design printed on it - some flowers I think, plus the title of the text. She took some red polyester fabric and made a dust jacket for the book. She also embroidered the same designs and words as the real cover on the dust jacket. My teacher was so impressed she took the book down the hall to show all the other teachers what my creative, talented Mother had done. It was the first time I remember being proud of my Mom but it certainly wasn't the last.
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Today Mother's creativity is exercised in her beautiful home and gardens. We went to purchase more pansies in the pouring rain this morning. Tomorrow we are off to find all weather fabric for outdoor cushions. That's my mom, making everyday things beautiful.


Ingredients: Black cardstock and ribbon - source unknown. Gold paper from Stampin' Up!
Stamp set: Baroque Motifs for the flourish and One of a Kind for the sentiment.
Inks and Embossing powder from Stampin' Up!

Gift Card Holder

Spring brings with it new flowers, green grass, weddings and graduations. Often we don't know what to give or we know the recepient would appreciate picking out their own gift - thus the wonderful option of the gift card. (Be sure to pick companies you have faith in as gift cards are void if the company files for Chapter 11 even if they keep the doors open.)

We made this Spring inspired gift card holder at a workshop on Saturday. Use the slit punch on the inside as the perfect accessory to create the half circles that hold the gift card in place.

Ingredients: All from Stampin' Up! Stamps: Petal Pizzazz, Congrats

Designer paper and ribbon from the Sale-a-bration catalog

Bashful blue and So celery cardstock. Bashful blue and Close to Cocoa Ink.

Choices

I love having choices. One thing I learned early on in my design business is that not everyone is like me. Funny, I'd been preaching that for years as a corporate trainer that we should treat eveyone the way they want to be treated, not the way we want to be treated. So I've had to learn that some people want to see every possible choice of fabric, trim, etc and others want a more limited selection. Some people make really fast decisions and some, like me, need to think it over.

Since I like having choices and have trouble making up my mind, I can never seem to make too many of the same card. Even when I set out to make a dozen of one kind of card for my stash or for gifts, I start altering them a little, trying a different color combination, adding an embellishment, moving things around.

The card on the left above was my first try at this card. I used the Petal Pizzazz stamp set (yet, again!) for the flower because the other sets I wanted were on order. When those sets came in, did the card again as shown on the right. I altered the bottom edge too opting to try a stamped scallop at the very edge and then one offset some so the card could be made from 8 1/2" x 11" paper. Then when it came time to do the workshop using this card, I offered my attendees a choice - stamp a design for the center of the flower or use a button. Many chose to make one card with the button and their second with the stamped design. They also alternated their choices of scallops or not.

See, everyone likes choices after all!

Ingredients: All from Stampin' Up! Petal Pizzazz Stamps, All Holidays, Polka Dot Punches (SAB 2009)

Paper: Tangerine Tango, Pacific Point, Whisper White, a designer paper from about a year ago that looked really good with this

Inks: Baja Breeze, Pacific Point

Ribbon: Pacific Point striped

Welcome, Spring!!!

Finally! Spring has arrived on a beautiful day here in North Carolina. We planted the first 20 of our over gladiolus bulbs on St. Patrick's Day. Our cannas are already peeking out of the ground as well as some peonies Lenny transplated from my Mother's garden. (Lenny just warned me their is a frost warning for tonight so we better cover these little shoots up.) I love flowers I can cut and bring indoors.

With spring, not only do we get green grass and blossoms, we get many occasions to celebrate. Spring often brings weddings and graduations. I'm planning to demo this card at a workshop tomorrow. I borrowed the design from the Sale-a-bration catalog. Their version had an accordion flower but I wanted a stamped one. I've used the Petal Pizzazz set for the flower and stem. The graduated color is achieved with Stampin' Pastel. Quick and very effective.

To my dear friends, Karen and Jimmy, Happy Anniversary and a Happy Spring to all!

Ingredients: Stamps: Petal Pizzazz and Congrats from Stampin' Up!

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Bashful blue, Stampin Pastels

Button: Button Bouquet in Baja Breeze

Paper is from the Sale-a-bration paper pack and Kraft cardstock. Ribbon is Certainly Celery also from Sale-a-bration.