Graduation Card

Here is a graduation card that I just made from a workshop that my friend, Jennie and I are working on. It makes 10 different designs, 2 cards from each design for a total of 20 cards. If anyone is interested in participating in this workshop please leave a comment and I will give you more info on it. I will post all twenty cards once they are all done. It will be nice to have cards on hand so whenever I need a card and short on time to make a handmade one I can just go to my stash.

Thank you card and Green Gift Bag

For my first post of 2011 I am sharing a thank you card and how to reuse a paper bag about the size of a lunch bag but mine was a bit bigger. First the thank you card.
This was my first time using this technique. I cut white cardstock using a circle Spellbinder Die. Next I stamped an image using Versa Mark ink onto the white cardstock. Using Tim Holtz Distressing Inks, Wild Honey and Peeled Paint I inked the image using the ink blending tool and foam pad.(Tip: use light pressure with the blending tool and a circular motion works best) Next I mounted the stamped and inked circle onto a kraft piece of cardstock that was die cut with the Lacey Circle Spellbinders Die. Sorry the picture didn't pick up the white embossed paper very well.
Next up is the recycled brown paper bag I used as a gift bag.

I found this on someones blog. I wish I could remember where because they had a video you could watch. I just used scrap lace, rick rack and bias tape which I layered over a piece of zebra print cardstock that I cut to fit the front of the bag and rounded the top and bottom right corners. Next I decided how I was going to layer the lace, rick rack and bias tape then sewed them to the cardstock. Next I adhered the cardstock to the sack. Then I folded the sack in half and sewed each side of the sack with a zig zag stitch. Make sure you only sew the sides leaving the top open. I decided to make handles with ribbon. I punched holes about 1/2" in from each side of the sack and punched through both sides at once so the holes would be even. Then I threaded the ribbon through the holes and knotted each end of the ribbon on the inside of the sack to keep the ribbon in place. I wish I had made the ribbon an inch or so longer. It seemed a bit short but it worked. You don't need to add handles I just did since I had zebra print ribbon to match the paper. I gave this to my daughter who loves all things zebra print. She loved it so much that she didn't even mention the gifts that were inside the gift bag. I had to call her back to make sure she had gotten the gifts. She was so exited over the gift bag that she forgot to mention the gifts. I had no idea that the gift bag would be such a big hit.

Here is the matching card and envelope I made to go with the gift bag. I usually don't decorate envelopes but I had that little leftover scrap of paper and decided to use it on the envelope. For the glittered letters I used white letter stickers and while they were still on their original backing I used a glue pen on each letter, sprinkled some red glitter over them and pressed the glitter lightly with my finger to make sure it stuck, then let it dry before peeling them off and applying to the card. I find it fun to match the card to its recipient and even matching the wrapping paper or gift bag too.
I am hoping to post more things this year. We will see how that goes. Hope you enjoyed the cards and recycled gift bag.

Birthday Cards

I made 6 cards in 2 days. Here are 5 of them. I will share the other one which is an anniversary card a little later and I have another birthday card I made a week ago along with a bookmark.

I used Aleene's Paper glaze to adhere glitter to the Sizix Flourish die cut. You could also use Glossy Accent. For the sentiment I used Spellbinders Label Four die cuts and used Diamond Stickles on the stamped candles which I colored with markers. Glitter is Matha Stewart- Golden Beryl. The pattern paper is Blush Blooms from Creative Memories and the cardstock is also CM. I used Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink to ink the edge of the pattern paper backed with pink paper.

This butterfly card looks hard but was really simple and fun to make. Used Papertrey Ink butterfly die and stamp, Staz On sunflower ink, Tim Holtz Distress Ink- spiced marmalade and Color Box Pigment ink-Amber and sprayed butterfly with Perfect Pearls for a little shine.

This is a simple birthday card. Used Cuttlebug embossing folder,PTI butterfly stamp, Tim Holtz Distress Ink, fired brick, scalloped punch, ribbon and Creative Memory cardstock


The shimmer on the closeup of the butterfly is from Perfect Pearls mixed with water and lightly sparyed on.

Birthday Cards

Just wanted to share some cards I have made. I'll start with some birthday cards.
This is my most recent card. Such fun colors!

This was a super fun one to make.

Finished Wall Decor

Finally finished the St. Patricks page. Decided to use stickers for the title and the Irish blessing. I used 2 shades of green stickers on the title using the dark green on the bottom to give it a false shadow.

I also have my Mother's Day cards done. Was inspired by someones blog this morning that had a card using similar colors and thought they were the perfect colors for Mother's Day. I decided that this would be a good time as any to make them. I have always loved the pattern paper that I used on the strip. As soon as I saw the colors green and pink I thought of this paper. It has a spring feel to me. I even added ribbon and a bit of bling. I was going to use glitter on the green brad that is the center of the flower but I came across the golden colored crystals as I was looking for green ones for the butterflies body. It fit so nicely on the brad.

Vote for Your Favorite Dress for Prom

Amber and I went to Seattle to the SeaTac Marriot. NAU (Northern Arizona University) was going to be giving a presentation at 7:00 PM. Amber is very interested in NAU and the more we here about it the more she likes it. Tonight was no different. She came away even more excited about the college. Plus she has a $28,000 scholarship from them. We have already been to Oregon State last month and we head to Kansas University later this month. We have plans to visit NAU in April. After that Amber will have to make her decision which college she feels will be the best fit for her.

We arrived at the Marriot at 3:30 so we had a late lunch at Denny's then decided to do a little prom dress shopping at the Southcenter Mall which ended up being only 10 min. from the hotel. Here at 2 of the 3 dresses she likes. Sorry the photos were just quick ones but you get the idea. I like them both but for different reasons. The black and white one is really formal and sophisticated but is really similar to the pink and white she wore last June. But that was another school's dance so I don't think that really matters. The orange and pink I think is better for her skin tone, is sparkly like her personality and she really wants to wear her pink shoes to the prom. Therefore she is wanting a dress with pink.

We are going back on Saturday with her friend, Mandy to shop around some more. If we don't find anything she likes better then we will get one of these 2 dresses. The Prom is April 24th so we do have time.

If you have a favorite dress please leave a comment on which one you like the best.

I did manage to get a photo of the tag I made for my St. Patty's day wall hanging but I had to put it in the window to get enough light. Anyway you can see what it looks like.

St. Patrick's Day

Just sharing a little some thing that I am working on. I'm sorry the photo isn't very good. The lighting is not good where I took the picture especially during the winter days. It does look better in real life. This project is what inspired me to get out my green pattern and solid paper scraps and punch shamrocks. I used the leftover shamrocks for the St. Patrick cards. I made a tag which hangs on the ribbon but haven't been able to photograph it yet because it has been too cloudy. I want to add an Irish blessing in the upper left but our printer just went out two days ago so that will have to wait. I like to use this frame from Creative Memories to hold some of my scrapbook layouts before putting them away in an album, to hold memorbilia or something decorative for the current holiday. Will post a picture of the finished project when it's done.

St. Patrick Cards

I have been in the mood to make cards and decided to make some St. Patrick Day cards.
I brought out all of my scraps of green pattern and solid cardstock scraps and punched out lots of shamrocks. The solid ones I ran through my emobssing machine to add a little texture. Next I brought out my white scraps and punched white squares which I put a shamrock in the middle then backed the white square onto gold paper again using scraps. I then used a scalloped square punch in a pattern paper to back the gold square. I then mounted the finished square onto a larger white cardstock and used a gold pen to so some "stitching" around it. Next I used a border punch on gold paper to create the border on the bottom of the white cardstock. The last step was to mount it onto green paper 1/4 inch smaller than the finished card.
I used scraps for every shamrock and punched square. It makes me happy to use up my scrap stash. Making cards is a great way to use your scraps.

A New Year

Today I went with Amber to her court hearing for the speeding ticket she got the end of Nov. The judge was nice and unfortunately because it was in a school zone she could not reduce it or do community service. The only other option was to have it deferred. Meaning that she would not have to pay the $340.00 fine as long as she paid $210.00 and does not receive another ticket (the only exception would be a parking ticket) for a year. If she does get another ticket within the year she will then have to pay the new ticket along with the $340.00. Also with it deferred the ticket will not go on her record unless she gets another ticket within a year. Talk about an incentative to not speed. Afterwards since we were in Old Town Poulsbo we decided to check out the wonderful bakery and found the Poulsbo Book Stop. It sells used books. Amber was in heaven to find out that the prices are two to three times less then Barnes and Nobles prices. Of course I wanted to stop in at the Rubber Soul which is a wonderful small shop filled with lots of rubber stamps and other yummy and inspirational stamping supplies. It really gets my creative juices flowing.

Since it was a dry day I took Nanook for our 2 mile walk later in the afternoon. He loves the colder weather and has the energy of a puppy. Speaking of puppies, Amber's boyfriend, Randy brought one of his puppies over to play with Nanook. His name is Demon. He is mostly black except for the tip of his tail which is white and his feet and lower legs are cream mixed with black. His eyes are ice blue and stand out against his black fur. Sooo cute.

In the evening after starting a fire in the wood stove to take off the chill I sent out Amber's birthday invites. I made them on smilebox. It is a pretty cool site where you can make all kinds of cards and scrapbook pages using your photos. The basic version is free but there is advertisments with it. Or you can upgrade it for $3.99 and its you can print it as many times as you want, share it on email or facebook to as many people as you would like. It comes with music or you can provide your own. It's pretty cool to use, was quick and even cheaper then purchasing invites.

Last night we watched American Idol as we do every Tuesday and Wednesday night. There are only 8 contestants left. The guys are stronger than the girls this year so as of now there are 6 guys and 2 girls with someone leaving tonight. My predictions on who will be in the bottom 3 tonight are: Kris Allen, Scott MacIntyre and Lil Rounds. I am hoping it is Lil Rounds who leaves tonight. She has a good voice but has not done anything spectacular with any of her song choices like the rest have done. So she needs to go. I am afraid it could be Scott tonight if not tonight I think he will go next week. He just can't keep up with the rest of the guys.


In the end I think it will be between Adam Lament and Danny Gokey. Everyone else has been in the bottom three except for these two.Adam may not sing my style of songs but he has an amazing range and is an artist. I can see him writing music as well as a recording artist. It will be interesting to see how far Allison will go. She is pretty amazing and is only 16 years old. She has been in the bottom 3 twice. I don't think she belonged there. We will see how America voted tonight.





Well, the weather is back to cold and gloomy. Guess it is a good day to get groceries and plan menus for the week. I found some grocery lists online that you can print. I'm hoping it will make my shopping list more organized. It seems like I always have to go back for an item or two and/or forget something on my list no matter how carefully I read over it. We'll see how it goes today.

My First Post

After enjoying so many other blogs I have finally braved the blogging world and started my own. It wasn't so scary after all, in fact I'm pretty excited to have my own. Of course I still have things I want to change and add so don't be surprised if my blog changes each time you visit for a while.

There are several reasons I have started my own blog: 1) to keep a daily log of what happens in our life. 2)so family and friends can keep up with us 4)share and swap recipes and 3)to share my scrapbook pages, cards I create and any crafty ideas I come across.

Now I am off to enjoy another wonderful spring day!