Making Lists

Are you a list maker?  I am!  I like to cross off the things I've listed on my to-do list.  I like to make sure I get everything on my grocery list when I go shopping.  I  like to know what I've got stashed in my closet during those last few shopping days before Christmas.
I love lists!!  And I get tired of having to buy pretty little books to keep my lists in, so I made a few this week and wanted to show them off.

The first notebook I made uses a Queen Kat Designs April release from artist Sandra Caldwell.  It's called "Four-Eyed Flower.  I colored it with Copics and, after making the "cover" from patterned paper, I fussy-cut the image and popped it onto the front flap.

Here's the inside:

I didn't do much to the inside.  I just added a few stickers and some gold lace border.

The next notebook I made is for a challenge from my Yahoo group, Your Scrapbook Place.  Every day this month, we receive a new challenge and have 24 hours to finish and post a photo of our projects.

This challenge was to make a special notebook called Purse Papers.  There is a tutorial on Split Coast Stampers with instructions and a template, if you click on the link.



Anyway, I tweaked the instructions a bit.  Instead of stamping on white cardstock, I used double-sided patterned paper.  My booklet opens the opposite direction, too.  But I like what I created!

Please don't laugh at my Christmas theme!  I just happened to have the paper in front of me.  And the box of Christmas embellies was just an arm's length away.

The booklet stays closed with the help of the ribbon. tied into a nice neat bow.  I added some die-cut pine trees and the sentiment sticker.  To really get into the whole winter thing, I used white acrylic paint for some snow effects.

When opened, a pretty pocket holds some sheets of paper, decorated with a (of course) Christmas-themed stamp.  I inked the edges and added a few candy cane hearts.

So I am in notebook heaven, ready to make more lists, and cross items off of them.  I should save up all my old lists and place them in a time capsule.  It would certainly showcase how I have lived my life!!

Spring is All A-Flutter

Today I made some Springtime ATC's, using up my overabundant stash of papers and stickers.

It seems that every time I give away or use up some of my paper stash, I am "gifted" with more of the same  from my crafting friends!  Two weeks ago I was bragging about giving away and using up about 3 inches of 12x12 paper; the next day a dear friend gifted me with a goodie bag filled with crafting items, including two NIP paper stacks from DCWV!!
Last week I found a bag of 12x12 loose patterned papers in front of my office door, left to me from a fellow crafter who teaches at the school I work at!!  I love the gifts, but I swear I am never going to have to buy paper this whole year--ever again (secretly rubbing my hands together like Mr. Burns from The Simpsons and going mwa-ha-ha//or is it more like Gollum holding the "One Ring That Binds Them All" and whispering over and over "my Precious, precious")?
Either way I'm beginning to feel like a hoarder!!  I MUST get my crafting room to rights, and I will never do so if I keep adding to it!  Time to "gift" my own crafting friends (mwahaha, so there).  I wish paper weren't so heavy or I'd mail off a ton to every cardmaker I know!!

Perspective on Paradise

I never claimed to be a painter, but I sure am having fun with mixed media canvas!!  Today's canvas is a picture of paradise, but where do your eyes find it?  under the sea, floating along the waves or on the distant island?  It's all a matter of perspective!

The Little Mermaid gave up her voice in order to live on dry land.  Tom Hanks gave up his business and his brother to swim alongside Darryl Hannah in the movie Splash.  Where would you rather be?  What is your idea of paradise?

The canvas is a 12x12.  I painted it, covered it with patterned tissue papers, stamped and inked it, Stickled and Mod-Podged it.  It boasts jewels and seashells and fringe and feathers.  The color is a little off on my camera, but you can even catch a glimpse of a fast-fading sunset.

I've been so busy with a commission of Cotillion invitations and my DT responsibilities that I have had no time to paint, and thought I would take a break from my work (and my work) to let the muse ran away with me (or rather swim away with me).  Do you ever take your Muse out for a walk (or a run)?  You may be surprised where it leads you!!

Keep crafting, friends!

Pretty in Pink

April is quickly winding down, and before you know it, Mother's Day will be here!  So I made a Mom's Day card for my own mom, who turned 80 at the end of March.

I colored a QKD April release called "Just Breathe"  by artist   Nora Blansett.  I used my trusty Copics and a Sakura twinkle gel pen.  I then framed it in dark gray, popped it onto some leftover patterned paper, then framed that in grey again.

I had some leftover patterned paper with the word mom printed out in several variations, which worked perfectly with my image.  Do you color an image and then search for coordinating papers and embellishments?  Or do you find some paper and embellies and then color the image to coordinate with them?  I used to color a bunch of images, then hunt for an hour to match them up with papers, etc.  Now it's much easier to find my paper and then color the images.

I used a lovely handmade flower I received from my crafting friend, Shannon.  Other embellies include the lace, sequins, ribbon rose and jewel.  To finish off my card, I inked the edges.  I hope you like this look!

And if you like Nora's image, you can find it and many others in the SHOPPE.  Need some inspiration?  Check out the QKD Facebook page!!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Of course, in Chicago, we say April Snow brings happy utility companies!  That's right, here in the suburbs of Chicago, we have had massive flooding, impassable roads, school cancellations, and then, within 24 hours, SNOW!!  Not just snow, but Snow Thunder!!  Go figure!

So to be a polar opposite of our weird and wacky weather, I made a card to match the new Squigglefly Challenge this week, and offer up a flowery card.  The image, an April digi release called Have You Heard by artist Cheryl Alger, was colored with Copics and then fussy-cut and adhered to a piece of patterned paper.  Some pearls, sequins, a lace border and a K & Co sentiment sticker finish off my card.

And it is a very welcome sight in my craft room, much better than the one that was outside my window this a.m. when I woke up.  However, the snow has melted, as it is just above freezing, close to 40 degrees.  This day last year we were enjoying an early day in the low 80's.  Go figure!!

So whether you have rain or snow or are dry as a bone, decorate your life with a card that showcases April Showers or May Flowers and a Squigglefly image.  then join in the challenge fun for a chance to win free digis!!

Bloomin' Bookmark

Hello, crafters!  Today I have a pretty bookmark using a Queen Kat Design's April release called "Four-eyed Flower".  The image is designed by the talented artist Sandra Caldwell.

I thought this glasses-wearing posy would look great in a book.  I used a magnetic bookmark base from Stampin Up and created an ATC-sized card base that fits well on the magnet.  I kept my embellishments to a minimum so that it would lay flat in the books I read.

DO you like to read?  I love mysteries by Joann Fluke and Carol Higgins Clark, as well as biographies and the witty writings of Carl Hiasson.  But my all-time favorite books are The Stand by Stephen King, The Number of the Beast by Robert Heinlein, and The Crystal Singer trilogy by Anne McCaffrey.

Do you have a favorite book you like to read more than once?  Tell me what your favorite reads are and I'll choose a random commenter and send you my Bloomin' Bookmark.

Meanwhile, Four-Eyed Flower would look perfect on your own bookmark!!  Or you could make a card with Sandra's image and put it with a book to give to a friend!  For her image, and the rest of the new releases this month, check out the Shoppe.  There's nothing like some new images to make your day bloom!

Grateful to and for my Mom

Today I made a card for this week's challenge over at Squigglefly.  I used Diana Garrison's new April release digi, one called "Dove."  The image lends itself to so many different themes.  I made a couple Communion cards, a Birthday card and now a Mother's Day card, which is the theme of the challenge starting today!!
I rifled through my leftover pieces of paper, just so I could showcase how even the smallest pieces can be used on your projects.  After tearing strips of several shades of pink, i adhered them together and cut to fit my "mat".  All I had to do then was to adhere it onto my card base and give it a little embellishing love with the pearls and the sentiment "Grateful."  Inside, the sentiment reads "Happy Mother's Day from one very grateful daughter."
Not only am I grateful to my mom, but I am grateful for my mom.  She turned 80 last month and I'm glad she is still around for me.  then again, she has great genes.  HER mom is 102 years old and still kicking!  Hope I get some of those genes, too!
Do you like FREE?  Well, you can snag a couple FREE digis and enter the challenge at Squigglefly for your chance at free digis!!  It's a win-win situation, so go on over there and start crafting!!

Birthday Bunny

I made a card today, using another too-cute digi image from Sandra Caldwell.  This one is called  Easter Rabbit  .  I used two pieces of leftover patterned papers, dividing them with a piece of colored lace.  A blue diecut balloon is floating behind a metal charm that reads: birthday.  The image was colored with my trusty Copics, and a couple pearls finish off the embellishments.
There's still time to join in the challenge over at Your Scrapbook Place Blog, where the theme is anything goes using one of Sandra's free digi images available at her blog, BabycakesDoodleThis&That.  More than one winner will be drawn, so come on over for your chance to win some fabulous prizes!  Check them out:

Card Creations Using Digi's from Sandra Caldwell

Hello, crafters!  I created cards this week featuring freebie digi images from Sandra Caldwell over at Babycakes Doodle This & That. 

 I decided to play with paper piecing and so my first card features the digi called Love Conquers All.  My heart and the roses are printed on patterned paper and adhered to the printed image on white card stock.  I used a piece of Basic Grey patterned paper for the background and embellished with lace and a chain with a few tiny charms hanging on it.

 My second card features the digi image For You.  I printed it on the same patterned paper as on my first card, but first paper=pieced the bloom and the pot and then fussy-cut the entire image onto a patterned paper background.  After framing it with brown card stock and tearing the bottom, I adhered it onto Kraft patterned paper, adding a ribbon for embellishment.  So that's three different patterned papers!

Are you inspired to go get your freebies and play in the challenge?  One participant will be chosen at random and will get a prize (see the 3/28 posting below for pics of the goodies).  Each prize will have a wonderful stamp set and asst'd embellishments to go with it.  Woo Hoo!!  I hope we have enough participants to choose one card using each of the images and if we have even more, I have more prizes!!  You can submit up to FOUR projects.  Each project must use a different image so you will be entered into the drawing for all five prizes.  You can use additional stamps and embellishments as long as you include a Babycake Doodle on your card.

Link up your projects HERE. Be sure and check out everyone else's cards and leave them comments. 

And if you fall in love with Sandra's images like we have, you can check them all out at her blog.  For all her art, check out her Etsy Store (link located on the sidebar at right on Your Scrapbook Place blog).  So what are you waiting for?!  Go play!!  LOL  

Little Friends

Over on PaperCraftPlanet, the HouseMouse & Friends group has a new challenge: make a lattice card.  Since I received several diecut lattice card bases, this was surprisingly easy to do.  the hard part was trying to choose a HouseMouse image to color!

Instead of placing a solid colored or white piece of paper "behind" the lattice design, I chose a leftover piece of patterned paper from the DCWV Once Upon a Time Stack and adhered it directly to the back of the lattice.  When you open the card, there is a piece of white card stock on which to write a message.

A satin ribbon flower, some pearls and a bit of purple lace are enough to embellish my card and I'm done!  The group is giving away a prize package to one lucky challenge player.  Wish me luck!!

Just Breathe!

Queen Kat Designs has expanded their line to include digital images!  I am so happy because a crafter has a lot more options with digi's than with rubber (although rubber can never be replaced in my mind).

In order to show you one of the benefits from working with digi's, I made a stair step card using an April new release called "Just Breathe by artist Nora Blansett.  It is perfect for showcasing digital images!!

I printed the image several times in three different sizes.  After I made my step card base, I colored all the flowers with my trusty Copics.  On the back face of my card, I used one 3x5 sized image.  The middle "step"   uses two wallet sized prints, and the front of the card uses four of the smallest prints I can get using Microsoft Windows Picture Manager.

Once the flower images were in place, I embellished the dark blue background, first with inked edges in white, and then adhering some flourish diecuts and pearls for a fantastical "night sky in the garden" look.  I had a leftover metal charm from Tim Holtz Ideology which reads, "Reality has limits. Imagination is boundless."  It was the perfect sentiment to go with my use of Nora's flowers!  Using her digi's, in fact any digi's, erases any boundaries you might have with a stamped image, as you can see above!

A couple silk ribbon roses and a few more pearls and my card is complete.  It can be folded flat for mailing, and then stood up for presentation.  I love the look of this, and plan to give it to my neighbor, who is a Shakespeare fan and loves the play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream".  I like to think that my garden of flowers would fit right in with the fairies and flowers that Shakespeare dreamed up.

Go check out Nor'as newest release, Just Breathe, in the SHOPPE.  While you're there, look at all the wonderful stamps and digi's and tear down those crafting boundaries with some inspiration from Queen Kat Designs.  Once you do, show it to us on the QKD Facebook Page.  Happy crafting!!

A Recipe Challenge

That's what Squigglefly has in store for you this week on their challenge blog!!  Make a card using a Squigglefly image (FREEBIES HERE) and follow this simple recipe:
Use patterned paper, at least two brads, and a tag on your project.

That's it!  So easy this week!  So here's my card, using Diana Garrison's new April release digi, "Dove".
I used leftover pieces of patterned papers from my stash file, punched a tag on coordinating cardstock and stamped the sentiment, and found two pearl brads rolling around on the bottom of my embellishment box.
The Dove digi is colored with Copics in shades of teal and yellow.  I love Diana's image, as i can use it for many different types of cards, including birthday, religious, sympathy and "just Because", like this one!!
You can find "Dove" and other April releases at the Squigglefly Store.  Don't forget to check out the Squigglefly Facebook page, too!  You never know what to expect there as far as challenges and giveaways!!
Don't forget to post your card on the Challenge Blog for your chance to win!

Welcome Spring!

Welcome, Spring! And Welcome to the Spring Blossoms Blog Hop!  I don’t know where you are located, but in Chicago, Spring has stalled, and needs a mighty PUSH to get it rolling.

So hop along with us as we inspire Spring to get its butt in gear and to get your creativity going!  If you’ve come here from Robin’s Blog, you are hopping on the right trail.  If not, no worries, start at Lori's Blog so you don’t miss all the festive flowers and Spring projects along the way.

Today I was really missing my robins and crocuses and fat little squirrels scurrying about.  The robins are shivering in their nests, the crocuses are just clear of a thin layer of ice, and the squirrels, well, they’re sitting pretty in their tree holes, popping those nuts in their mouths and getting fatter.

So I really needed to push the Spring envelope and came up with a Spring Blossoms candle.  I used a combination of Prima flowers and some feathers.  It's easy to alter a candle.  You just need the items you want to embed into your candle, a heat gun and some wax paper.

Arrange your items (tissue paper, stamped images, flowers, sequins, etc) onto the face of your candle and place a sheet of wax paper much longer than the diameter of your candle (so you can grab the ends of the paper) tightly against it all.  Then use your heat gun to warm up the paper.  The side of the paper up against the candle will heat so much that the wax will melt and form a layer on top of the items you placed there.  You can do this several times to build up the layer, but once you're done you will have a personalized candle, either for yourself or as a gift.

Mine is going to my new daughter-in-law, who LOVES the color purple!!  Her birthday is later this month, she's a crafter, and she is going to flip when she sees this.  

Speaking of daughters, my own teen-aged daughter, Wendy, a crafter in her own right, helped me make the beautiful mirror you see below.  We pulled the blooms off a couple bushes of silk flowers, along with a few leaves.  We had an oval mirror that she was ready to give to Goodwill, but I rescued!  She hot glued the leaves, blooms and buds to the edges of the mirror, and she now has a beautiful Spring mirror to hang on her wall!  She loves it, and so do I!  The photo has a bit of lighting blur from the flash, but I think you get the idea.

I hope you like our Spring Projects.  Now it's time to hop along to Cicily's Blog.  Don't forget to leave a little love before you go!!  And for one lucky random commenter, I have a goody bag of prizes to send your way.

Here's the list of blogs if you get lost:

Lori  - http://www.scrappinmystressaway.blogspot.com/
Lucy  ~ http://love2createitall.com
Teresa ~http://freshandrenewed.blogspot.com/
Melissa -http://pinkpolkadotscrapping.blogspot.com
Robin - http://cutonedesignsbyrobin.blogspot.com/
ME   - http://patacakespages.blogspot.com
Cicily - http://pinkdalmationscrapper.blogspot.com
Sarah - http://itswhatkeepsmesane.blogspot.com
Christine ~ http://hotberrydesigns.blogspot.com/

Easter Thanks

My daughter's boyfriend, Justin, went on a 2 week tour of Europe with his mom over spring break.  Not only did he bring home some macaroons from France, a sweet treat my daughter loves, but he also thought of me and brought me a box of "biscuits and chocolates" from England.  That was really sweet of him to remember me, too, so I in turn made a sweet Thank You gift for him.

I used an ATC and some orange-colored raffia and filled a tin with Mint Chocolate-covered pretzels for him.  And I gave it to him at Easter dinner when he came by.

I love the versatility of ATC's, whose initials stand for Artist trading Cards.  they measure 2.5x3.5 inches, and are tiny card fronts.  You can trade them, use them as tags, on cards, on canvas and on altered art.  AND you can make them into tiny little cards for your friends or co-workers.  One year I made abunch of Christmas ATCs and made them into cards with matching envelopes.  They all loved theirs!

So, whatever you do, and however you do it, keep on crafting, friends!

Queen Kat Designs Has New Releases for April

...and I'm one of the lucky ones to get Sandra Caldwell's newest image, "Four-Eyed Flower" with which to play!  Here, I made a pretty birthday card for my neighbor, in shades of her favorite color, purple.

I colored my image with Copics, framing it with black card stock and popping it onto a die-cut card base.  I kept it simple, with just some inked edges, a couple flowers and some jewels to embellish it.  I received the beautiful sentiment from a crafting friend on my Yahoo group. I love swapping with other crafters--I get great ideas and inspiration, and often things I couldn't get any other way.

So, if you like what you see, be sure to visit the QKD Shoppe for some inspiration and all the new releases this month.  Sandra is one of many talented artists designing for Queen Kat Designs, and I do love to play with them all!! LOL  You will too!

Liquid Love

I love to embellish my cards with things that make it shiny, so what better challenge could I join but one that asks for the use of any type of "liquids" on your card..."make a card that uses liquid in some way - could be using an image that has water, using liquid alcohol inks for your backgrounds, or liquid crystal lacquer..."?!

After coloring my Squigglefly digi image, a sweet one from artist Cheryl Alger, called "Have You Heard", I used Liquid Glass from CTMH to give her shoes and the ladybug some shimmer. I also used Stickles on her hair bow.

The card base was diecut, and I added the violet pearls and adhesive stitches to finish off my card.  So, HAVE you heard?  Squigglefly has a new challenge, and they want you to play in it!!  grab a FREEBIE if you don't have any Squigglefly images yet for your chance to WIN!!