Creative Weekend Show & Tell

A week ago my sisters, Mom, BFF and I went on another "Creative Weekend", which means we all meet up (in this case metro Detroit) and hit all the crafty, artsy fartsy stores in the area.  We stay at a Residence Inn so we can hang out and check out each others finds, browse our crafty magazines, snack and insult (in a loving way) each other!  We also treat ourselves to massages.  It's really a great time.  And as we all live far away from each other, we exchange birthday presents as my sisters and I have birthdays in December, January & February.  Most of the time we bring little gifts or goodies for each other too.  So today I wanted to do a little "Show & Tell" of the great goodies I brought home from them.  In a future post I'll show some of my great finds from the trip and some shopping suggestions if you're ever in the area.
Of course I got beautiful handmade birthday cards from them all.  Here's the card from my sister Jenny:

It was done on brown linen cardstock that had a gold shimmer.  The patterned paper had florals stamped with bronze glitter.  Pretty lace, cord and gold threads across.  The picture was matted on gold paper that had gold Stickles swiped on.  Beautiful embellishments and pin finished it off.  Inside she ran a strip of Tim Holtz tissue tape across the width of the card and on that she stamped "Birthday Wishes" in gold.  There was also a faux charm inside and the card was signed with a gold pen.  Very elegant!  (Just like me--HA!)

Along with the card, I got some great Tim Holtz supplies from Jenny.  Now I know why she was watching what embossing folders I was buying at Archiver's!  In the plastic bags are some tags and ribbon she coffee dyed.

In addition she brought lots of goodies for us all.  Paper, ribbons, sticky notes, even metal turn hardware.  Plus she split up a box of Tim Holtz tissue paper with all of us!  Yippee...now I can finish my Tim Tag #12.

My other sister Vicki made me this beauty:

You may have seen it on her blog, Paper Squirrel.  She has all the details there, but let me tell you it is stunning in real life!  Lots of lovely layers.  She also gave me this Clip & Spin for my birthday.  I'm all about organizing so I was thrilled.  Vic got this at Hobby Lobby (which I had never seen there before) and it was the only one in the store.  She reminded me a few times about the great sacrifice she made for me by not keeping it for herself!

  Vicki also brought each of us these darling little hangers made from wood tags.  So many lovely details and even the packaging was awesome!  She took a little white paper bag banded it with cardstock and tied with a ribbon. Simple and elegant!

My BFF Sue presented me with the motherlode--Christmas, Birthday and "Just Because" gifts.  This was attached to my birthday gift:

I love the image on the card!  Sue says it came from a postcard she found while antiquing.  I think it looks just like us!  She glammed up the ladies hats with Stickles and added antique photo corners and the bird (the wording below the bird says "You're My Best Friend"---how cool!).  The base of the card is turquoise linen cardstock with a brown patterned paper, butterfly patterned paper and burlap layered on top.  The ribbon matches perfectly and a sweet heart charm hangs from the bow.  I don't know if she stamped or just cut out the butterfly but it goes beautifully with the picture.  The inside is just as pretty as the outside and the note she put in it made me choke up.  A very special card from my dearest friend!  And she SPOILED me with gifts.

Here's a picture of all the goodies she crammed into two gift boxes:

Where do I start?!  So many pads of paper:  Distress Core, K&Company and more!

Embellishments, stamps, tape, candle, a glass cloche, and more.  My sisters were green with envy as I unwrapped package after package.  And she wasn't done yet!  She gave each of us a bag with these goodies:

Antique buttons and lace from her massive stash (she buys and sells antiques).  Loved the vintage looking tag she made to put the lace on!  And a very cool folder that is 1/2 the size of a regular one.  It has the metal binding inside and I can't wait to alter it and use it to hold either tags or ATCs.  She also gave me this cool ornament she made using a reflector from a set of vintage Christmas lights:

My Mom sent me the card below.  She makes beautiful paper embroidery cards that she stamps sentiments on.  I have a nice collection of these beauties...all which I mean to get framed one day. 

I'm so blessed to have these amazing women in my life.  They are all so talented, each in their own way, and we never have to pretend to be anyone other than ourselves when we're together.  I always say that no one tells you like it is except your sisters and your best friend...whether it's how bad you're driving or how bad your hair looks!  lol

"I Must Be A Mermaid..." Tag

This week's Challenge over at The Cheerful Stamp Pad is "Land of Fantasy".  For my Design Team submission, I used "Tutti Fruitti" a great mermaid digi from our sponsor, Michele Perkett Digitals.  I LOVE the water--lake or ocean--so I had a great time coming up with how I wanted to use this stamp.  The first thing I did was cut a tag out of glossy cardstock.  I stamped the shells with Versamark and embossed with clear EP.  Then I pounced alcohol inks all over the tag (Denim, Sailboat Blue and Silver Mixative) and spritzed with Blending Solution.  I used a dry cloth to wipe the AI off of the embossed areas.

I sized and printed the complete digi onto cardstock, the tail portion onto designer paper and sprayed both lightly with Fixative.  Using Distress Inks and a waterpen I colored the mermaid then fussy cut her out.  I used Stickles and Liquid Pearls to embellish the mermaid. 

I found the sentiment online and printed it onto velum.  On the back of the velum I stamped a light swirl design in blue.  I attached the velum at the top and bottom to the tag with Glossy Accents (attached the mermaid the same way).  To hide the GA under the velum, I stamped two shells on white cardstock, cut out and attached with GA.

A tattered piece of an old lemon bag became the netting across the bottom (and tied around the ribbons at the top).  I attached a stamped starfish and a pearl over the net.  Using Distress Stains, I dyed two strips of seam binding and added them to the tag.  A jump ring through a ribbon holds a pearl and some blue and green beads.  Here's the sentiment I used:

"I must be a Mermaid...I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living"

This tag is entered into the following Challenges:

Craft Your Passion--#99 Paper Piecing

Make It Monday--Anything Goes

Paper Creations Ink--#19 Show Style/Favorite Technique

(which is alcohol inks!)

Craft Your Days Away--#39 Paper Piecing

Divas by Design--#23 Bling It Up

Digital Tuesday--#148 Make it Sparkle

Top Tip Tuesday--#70 Mystical, Magical, Fantasy

Sweet Stamps--#54 Bingo

(Heat Embossing--Bling (Stickles & Liquid Pearls, beads)--Paper Piecing)

FREE SVG Card: Wedding Cake

Welcome to the second day of Susan's First Anniversary Blog Hop.

We are helping Susan celebrate with a SVG Bloghop!

You should have arrived here from Shelly's Blog.  

If you just happened to stumble upon this Hop,

please be sure to go back to Susan's blog to start at the beginning.

 For today's project I did this card…

Wedding Cake Card
You can personalize this card to match the bride's colors--
either as a wedding or shower card.
For my card I cut the base and banner out of pink cardstock.  The heart was cut from a darker pink.  I cut the frosting from white cardstock and embossed it with the flower embossing folder.  I used sparkly Stickles on the piping and topped each swirl with Liquid Pearls.  I stamped the sentiment on the heart using white ink and added a Stickles border.  A few pieces of pearl spray and paper flowers were added by the banner which was stamped with pink ink.  I added some of the same Stickles to the centers of the flowers.  I think adding all the little details to "ice" the cake was the most fun!


This is the file I used:

You can get it FREE TODAY ONLY HERE.

I thank you for hopping by and I hope you enjoyed your visit.

Your next hop is over to http://annelsblog.blogspot.com/.

In case you get lost during your way, here is the line-up.

Susan's blog....http://sueinct.blogspot.com

Sher's blog...www.patternsbysher.blogspot.com

Shelly's blog...http://kccroppers.blogspot.com

Cindy's blog...http://www.creativepointe.blogspot.com/  <<You Are Here!>>

 Annel's blog...http://annelsblog.blogspot.com/

This card is entered into the following Challenges:
Crafting For All Seasons--#21 Shaped Cards
My Time To Craft--#173 Bring on the Cake
Sweet Stamps--#54 Bingo
(Dry Embossing--Die Cut--Flowers)
Crafty Calendar--February Love & Marriage

FREE SVG Card: Shamrock Hat

Welcome to day one of Susan's First Anniversary Blog Hop.

We are helping Susan celebrate with a SVG Bloghop!

You should have arrived here from Shelly's Blog.  

If you just happened to stumble upon this Hop,

please be sure to go back to Susan's blog  to start at the beginning.

 For my project I did this card…

Shamrock Hat Card

I cut the card using three shades of green cardstock--darkest for the base, lighter for the top pieces and the lightest for the shamrock.  I cut the buckle from yellow cardstock.  Before gluing the top pieces to the base, I colored in the hat band area with black marker.  I added yellow Stickles to the buckle and shaded the card and shamrock with Distress Ink.  I created the sentiment on the computer and printed it onto the shamrock.  I attached the shamrock to the card with foam tape and ran some curled green wire from the shamrock to the buckle.  Inside the card says "...Because I Have You.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!"

This is the file I used :

You can get it FREE TODAY ONLY HERE

I thank you for hopping by and I hope you enjoyed your visit.

Don't forget to stop on back tomorrow to see another project and get another FREE SVG!

Your next hop is over to http://annelsblog.blogspot.com/.

In case you get lost during your way, here is the line-up.

Susan's blog....http://sueinct.blogspot.com

Sher's blog...www.patternsbysher.blogspot.com

Shelly's blog...http://kccroppers.blogspot.com

Cindy's blog...http://www.creativepointe.blogspot.com/  <<You Are Here!>>

 Annel's blog...http://annelsblog.blogspot.com/

This card is entered into the following Challenges:
Crafting For All Seasons--#21 Shaped Cards

This Weekend: Free SVG Card Files!

This weekend I'm participating in Sue's SVG Card Blog Hop.

Be sure to stop by both Saturday and Sunday as I will have two completely different card files for you...each FREE THAT DAY ONLY.  Plus you'll want to hop to all the sites and collect all the great SVG files.  Here's a hint of what I have for you:

FREE Saturday

You'll want to "tip your hat" to this card and send it out to a bonnie lad or lass.

FREE Sunday

The happy couple will love this card with of "tiers of joy" for their special day.

Can you guess what they are?  Be sure to stop in and see!!

Wedding Card

Today I'm the designer over at Card A Day Blog

and this week's theme is "Weddings".

Ah, weddings....who doesn't love going to a wedding?  Especially for the cake!

My sister has this great cake stamp set from Stampin Up and I borrow it from her every time she comes to craft.  For this card, I used one of the designs and stamped it on cream cardstock using pink ink.  Then I colored the cake with watercolor pencils, lightly blending with the waterpen.  For the background I chose papers that had roses printed all over them.  The base paper has cream roses and is a 1/2" shorter than the card base behind it in order to show the edge punch.  The smaller piece of designer paper has pink roses with a chocolate background.  The mat behind this piece and the "ribbon" strip is SU's Chocolate Chip cardstock.  The edge punch is from Martha Stewart.  Very simple, yet elegant.
This card is entered into the following Challenges:
Crafty Calender--Love & Marriage

My Time To Craft--#173 Bring on the Cake

Stamp N Doodle--Food & Drink

Coloring A Digi With Pencils and Gamsol

It's the second week of the "Birthday Card" Challenge over at The Cheerful Stamp Pad and once again I've used a cute digital stamp from our sponsor, Clear Dollar Stamps.  This image is from the "Biggest Wishes" set.  Like last week, I wanted to do something other than my usual watercolor pencil/water pen coloring.  So for this stamp I got out my Prismacolor colored pencils and the gamsol.

There are lots of places on the web for a tutorial on this technique.  Here are a couple of good ones:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/gamsol_magic/

http://www.inkyantics.com/pdfs/GamBlend.pdf

To use the gamsol, I took a Tim Holtz Blending Tool felt piece and placed it inside of a makeup jar.  I added about a tablespoon of gamsol and could then easily moisten the tip of the blending stump as I colored.  When done, just put the top back on the jar and stow it for another day. 

I printed the design on white cardstock and used the Coluzzle to cut it out in an oval shape.  I chose the background paper I wanted to use on the card ("Birthday Lingo" from Sandy Lion) and then matched the pencils to the paper.  I colored the image using the technique shown in the links above.  Once I was done coloring I added a thick coat of Rock Candy Distress Stickles to the cake to make it sparkle and shine.

To frame the design oval, I went back into the Clear Dollar Stamps site and grabbed the free SVG Scalloped Basics Set.  Using SCAL, I sized it to fit and cut it with the Cricut on purple cardstock.  I stamped with a dotted SU stamp and Dusty Concord Distress Ink.  I also used the DI on the edges of the scallops and the background paper.  I put the two pieces together and centered on the background paper.  Above and under the design I attached pink ribbon.  The top has a little bow in the center and the bottom ribbon has a thick clear epoxy (Cloud 9 Designs) "Time to Celebrate" sticker.

This card is entered into the following Challenges:

Paper Sundaes--#108 Birthdays

Card Making Mommas--#39 Happy Birthday

Crafty Anns--#59 Bold & Bright

Paper Play Challenges--#7 Critters

Truly Scrumptious--#74 All Creatures Great & Small

Sundays With Crissy--#26 Birthday

My Time To Craft--#173 Bring on the Cake

Stamp N Doodle--Food & Drink

Quick & Easy Charms

Well, I'm off on a great "Creative Weekend" with my Mom, Sisters and Best Peep Sue.  Of course I wanted to make a little something to give them so I made up these charms.  I have lots of beautiful double sided paper and what a great way to use it...as jewelry!  I simply took my round punch to an interesting part of the paper then adhered it to the flat back of the crystal drop (Darice's "Signed, Sealed & Remembered" altered art jewelry line) with a thin coat of Glossy Accents.  Once dry, I added another thin coat (with my finger) to the exposed paper on the back to seal it.  I let it dry well and then added the jump ring and lobster clasp.  Easy Peasy!

FYI...I found the great crystal drops from a fantastic local craft store-- Arnie's Arts & Crafts in Houghton Lake, Michigan.  If you're ever on your way "up north", be sure and stop in...but plan to be there a few hours as it is LOADED with all kinds of creative goodies!! 

Kilt Pin With Charms

About a year ago I bought a big batch of charms.  I knew I wanted to make something for my Mom (she's a quilter/sewer) so I made sure to get the cute little thimble, sewing machine, thread spool and scissors that actually open and close!  I got the brass (gold color) charms and socked them away.

Then I noticed you could get the cute little kilt pins people were adding charms to and calling them "Tschotske Pins" online.  Very cool but kept forgetting to order them!  Well, it wasn't until I spotted these pins at Hobby Lobby that I decided the time was right to make the piece for my Mom.  So I bought the silver pins home and went to find the charms.  DOH!  I forgot I bought bright "gold" charms and the pin was silver.  Back to HL.  Alas...no gold kilt pins. 

So I bought a set of bronze colored pins and broke out the alcohol inks!  I dabbed Copper Mixative, Gold Mixative and Pitch Black on the charms and the pin to pull it all together color wise.  I added some beads and it was done. 

A very vintage-y looking pin that she can wear or display.



Coloring A Digi With Alcohol Inks

This week starts the "Happy Birthday" challenge over at The Cheerful Stamp Pad and we designers were given our choice of some lovely digital stamp images from the sponsor, Clear Dollar Stamps.  For this week's submission, I selected the lovely "Tearrific" digi. 

I don't work that often with digis and when I do, I seem to alway use watercolor pencils.  So I wanted to change things up a bit and stretch myself creatively.  I had a coloring idea in my head and probably should have searched the web to see if any one else had done it...might have saved some time and effort!  There may be others out there who have done this technique but this is my version:

COLORING WITH ALCOHOL INKS

The first thing I did was take the digi elements I wanted to use and created the layout in Photoshop.  I added my own sentiment and sized it to fit a 7" x 5.5" card.  Next I printed the design on acetate using my ink jet printer.  To set the ink, I sprayed a fixative over the printing.  This will make a slight "pebbly" surface, but you won't notice it when you're done. 

I have a "swatch sheet" I've created for my alcohol inks.  I pulled that out to decide what colors I wanted to use.  (Make your own using glossy cardstock)

I turned the printed acetate over and using regular paint brushes I colored the back of the design with alcohol inks.  For this card I used Red Pepper, Meadow and Pearl Mixative.  If I went out of the lines, I just wet a Q-Tip with Alcohol Blending Solution and wipped it off.  When I was done, I cleaned the brushes using the blending solution.  I put a very heavy coat on the teapot and cup so just to be safe, I let it dry over night. 

Next I cut a piece of pink cardstock and trimmed both it and the acetate down to the size I wanted.  Using a thin border of tape adhesive, I attached the acetate to the cardstock.  I designed a frame using my SCAL software and cut it out of designer paper (MME--Pink Paisley) using the Cricut.  (The frame opening was smaller than the design acetate/cardstock layer).  I attached them together using tape and then added the stitching.

The rose element was stamped on glossy cardstock using a SU rubber stamp and Archival black ink.  I colored the image with the same AIs, fussy cut out and then attached with foam dots.  I added the strip of lace and string of pearls with Glossy Accents.

I love the rich glossy look of the design and the pearlized teapot and cup are very eye catching.  Now that I've gotten the technique down, I'm sure I'll be making more cards and projects this way!

This card is entered into the following Challenges:

Simon Says Stamp and Show--Anything Goes

Stamptacular Sunday--#151 Pearls and Lace

Craft Your Days Away--#38 Get Stitchy With It

Stamp, Scrap & Doodle Saturdays--Red, White & Pink

7 Kids College Fund--#40 Color Challenge: Red, Pink & White

Tim Holtz's "12 Tags of Christmas" Day 11

Almost there!  Here is my interpretation of Tim's 11th tag.

You can see his version HERE.

I think I followed his tag pretty closely using just a few "work arounds".

I didn't have clear shrink plastic but the white I did have worked well.  I hand cut the holly leaves and branch and shrunk with my heat gun (since I didn't have a Melting Pot).  I colored them with alcohol inks and then added a few layers of UTEE simply by pouncing on Distress Embossing Ink, dipping into UTEE and heating, building up a few layers.  I like how the leaves curled and warped.

Well, just one more to go and I know that Tag #12 is pretty detailed so it may be a couple of weeks until I can finish.  Stay tuned!!

Tim Holtz's "12 Tags of Christmas" Day 10

Wow, I'm finally in double digits in my "Tim Tag" quest!

You can see Tim's actual tag HERE.   I followed his original tag pretty closely. 

 I LOVE the transfer technique Tim demoed for the facets.  Another use for my big roll of aluminum duct tape!  Even if you're not making a tag, it's worth checking this technique out!  I can see these as awesome charms, ornaments, etc. and will definitely be making more of them.

I cut my letters from black cardstock using the Cricut and SCAL software.  I did two of each and glued them together to make them thicker.  I then added the gold paint and Glossy Accents.

I had a couple of old green bulb ornaments I had picked up at the thrift store.  I used sandpaper and turned them into silver bulbs!  I also used a bit of hot glue to hold them to the card.

Blog Candy Winner

The winner of my blog candy...the package of chipboard frames...is:
Cindy (of Paper Oasis) who left this comment:
Love the retro card! Wish I could cut SVG's!
Please send an email to creative@avci.net to claim your prize. 
You have until Tuesday, February 14th.

The winner of the Grand Prize package from Card a Day Blog is:
Susan K. from her comment on Ramblings of a Texas Craft Room Blog. 
Please send an email to support@paperthreads.com  to claim your prize.

Thanks to everyone who visited during this very fun Blog Hop.
We had a great time presenting our "masculine" cards and look forward to doing it again.

Valentine "Love" Hanging

It's week two over at the CHEERFUL STAMP PAD's

"Romance Is In The Air" Challenge.

For my newest submission, I created this little Valentine's Day hanging.

The base is a red metal sign that I picked up from Hobby Lobby when they had all their Christmas stuff marked 80% off ...I paid just 29 cents for it!  I took an old paper doily and attached it to the sign using matte medium and then distressed all over with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Inks.  The image is from Tim Holtz's Seasonal Stash Pad and I put it into a chipboard frame that I first painted with Fire Red Ceramcoat acrylic paint then added a coat of Distress Crackle to.  I sprinkled some Diamond Dust glitter into the Crackle coat and once it was dry, distressed with Walnut Stain.  I then added all the elements. 

TIP (For Top Tip Tuesday):

I'd like to share a tip on the roses.  I've been picking up odds and ends of those white "bridal" flowers from thrift shops lately for next to nothing.  Probably because if someone's not going to use them for a wedding, why buy them, right?  Well, grab them!  With Distress Stains (or DIs), you can make them any color you like.  And the secret to a nice looking rose is color variation.

Here's how I made the ones on my hanging: 

 I got out my Fired Brick and Vintage Photo DS and a water pen.  The water pen makes it easy to get the color in just the right places but you could just add the stain right from the bottle.  If using the pen, press out a puddle of stain onto the craft mat and pick up from there.

Start by "hitting and missing" with the color all around the flower. 

Some spots are heavily inked and others are lighter.  Then go into the folds and crevices with Vintage Photo.  That adds more shading to the flower.  As you can see below, I added touches of Rock Candy Distress Stickles here and there to add some sparkle.  I also did the little leaf the same way using Forest Moss and Vintage Photo DS.

Another way to use your Distress Stains or Inks is on white Seam Binding.  Again, just color the binding to match your project and you have the perfect ribbon!

 

Some other elements I added:  a little flower doily (also distressed with DS), string of pearls that I colored with Gold and Copper Mixative alcohol inks.  I added red and gold beads to the heart headpin and dabbed on the same AIs to that and the heart button.  Finally I cut a strip of cream cardstock and lightly distressed with Vintage Photo.  I stamped the sentiment using Festive Berries Distress Ink.

This piece is entered into the following Challenges:
Dream Valley Challenges--#25 Valentine
My Sheri Crafts--#78 Love is in the Air
Crafty Ann's--#58 Love is In the Air
By the Cute and Girly--February Love is in the Air
Top Tip Tuesday--#69 Valentines

Blog Hop Day Two--Classic Car Card

Welcome to the second day of our Super Blog Hop!

The designers at CARD A DAY BLOG are joining together to do a blog hop this weekend! The theme is Masculine cards! Let's not let the guys have all the fun on Super Bowl Sunday....let's get a little of our own fun in!
To join in....visit all the participating designers by visiting their sites, some are having prize give aways...so make sure you pop in! Make sure you comment on all the blogs too, becaUSe at the end of the weekend, they are going to send a list of all who commented on their blog, and we are going to do a grand prize drawing of all comments on each blog!
So JOIN IN TODAY....comment on the main blog page, and visit the other hop pages and comment there too!

Now for another card idea....

The card for today is a birthday card for a guy who's "A True Classic"!

Once again I dipped into my scrapbox so I don't have paper names for you. 

Just use whatever coordinating scraps you have.

Directions:

1.  Stamp car and sentiment onto light yellow paper using black ink.  Mat with dark yellow paper.
2.  Using Distress Inks and water pen, color car.

3.  Distress edges of dark blue paper strips with Black Soot and attach to card.  Attach stamped piece as top layer.
4.  Punch hole where strips meet and attach hardware with brad.
5.  Punch six small dots from black cardstock and attach as shown.

Supplies

Paper: 

--5" x 11" white cardstock folded in half (for card base)

--5" x 5.5" designer paper (for first layer)

--1" x 5" and 1" x 5.5" (for second layer strips)

--3.25" x 2.25" (for stamp & sentiment layer)

--3.75" x 2.5" (for sentiment mat)
 Stamps:

Crafty Secrets "Car Classics" set

Inks:

Archival Black Ink
Distress Inks:  Broken China, Pumice Stone, Wild Honey and Black Soot

Misc:

Water pen
Glue Stick

Hardware
Brad
Ink Blending Tool
punch

New SVG Set now in the shop!

Rather cut than stamp your car elements?

Check out his brand new set HERE.

Don't forget to leave a comment

here and you might win this

pack of Chipboard Die-Cut Shapes. 

Winner will be announced tomorrow.  

Be sure to check the

 CARD A DAY BLOG 

site to see if you've won the Grand Prize there as well.