Stamping for A Cure! Check this out!

I came across an amazing Stampin' Up! consultant whose name is Lynn Pratt who creates just amazing 3D items like purses, barns, pool tables, food.... you name it and I think she has either found or is trying to find a way to create a 3D item out of Stampin' Up! Cardstock. I wonder if she's found a way to make bacon yet? Hmmm, my husband would LOVE that one!!
I am a HUGE fan of the 3D items, they're so much fun and  I really admire her ability to create such cool designs.  In perusing Lynn's site I found that one of the really cool purses she has created was  created with a profound purpose.  She calls it "The Diabetes Purse" and her goal is to bring attention to Diabetes. Often Diabetes is dismissed as non-life threatening but any of us who have known people that have suffered the dibilitating affects Diabetes can have on a body know all too well that it is indeed "life-threatening."  Lynns daughter Ashley is only 5 years old and she has been diagnosed with Diabetes.  The purse was designed in her honor. Lynn is willing to trade you a copy of her purse tutorial for a donation to American Diabetes Association.
I hope you'll take a look, make a donation and then share the information you get from the American Diabetes Association with anyone who might read your blog or webpage by linking back to their site as I am doing. 
The Diabetes Purse by Lynn Pratt

American Diabetes Association


Thank you for reading and thank you for considering the cause!

Peg

Loving Autumn's Splendor

We live literally around the corner from the Alum Creek Resevoir in Delaware Ohio.  Its a beautiful area of central Ohio. Living here allows us to live slightly in the city by being on the fringe of Columbus, the capital of Ohio and the home of the Ohio State Buckeyes (GO BUCKS!) and also in the country where you can see all the colors against the open sky. By being able to see all these wonderful colors you really have a new appreciation for God's color pallette. He really was the ultimate Artist. His vision for our world was incredible and continues to amaze me.

When I saw the leaves in the Stampin' Up! Autumn Splendor stamp set I fell in love with each of the leaves. The detail is awesome. Each stamp has gentle curves and great vein detail which tell me they'll stamp beautiful images.  I imagined them each in warm mixtures of all the beautiful autumn shades that I love so much. I wanted to make a thank you card for friends and thought this would be perfect.

In thinking of bringing all those colors to life. I wanted to do something "different" than my tradtional coloring with Copics and my water coloring skills are still so new I didnt know if I could swing it. A light bulb came on and I remembered that a few weeks ago at my first techniques class with my upline Connie Babbert, she taught us to stamp with bleach on dark card stock. The bleach will draw the color from the stock. After it dries you can colorize with chalks as we did.

I tried to think of how else I might accomplish something as interesting but maybe with a different technique. A light bulb came on and I remembered that when I started making cards last year, I bought a set of colored embossing pens from Marvy. Had to have them but then they got stowed away, never to be used until these stamps came along.  Luckily they hadn't dried out and were good to go.

Like most things I do, I was flying by the seat of my pants. Instead of stamping in the traditional manner, I colored the stamp with yellow, orange, red and green. When done, I "huffed" on the stamp to make sure that the embossing ink was still moist(a little trick I learned from reading Tiffany Bauer's blog).  After stampin, I doused it with clear embossing powder, heated it up  and Voila .... I couldn't have loved it any more.. Each of the colors came through just enough. When I looked it, it was kinda like I'd picked up a leaf from the ground and placed it on the page. Well with a few exceptions - unlike picking up leaves, I didnt have to worry about dew, slugs or bugs! Another bright spot! : )   I tried next on a piece of white card stock and then a piece of black card stock.  I didn't like the look as well on the black and the white was too austere. The color of the off-white water color paper was warm enough that it blended well with the colors in the leaves and the texture of the paper made it a bit more interesting.

I always have issues choosing background papers or stock for mounting. Do I use plain or printed? Flat or textured?  and the list continues...  I sometimes take hours trying to figure it out. I am ADD and very indecisive. In my desire to do "my" best, I sometimes end up not completing things because I can't decide. Personality flaw I know but I'm working on it.  I do find that all of the matching elements from Stampin' Up! make the process easier for me and I LOVE that! If you're also ADD you will love that Stampin' Up! makes it easier for you to complete a project by giving you a plentitude of matching papers, embellishments and inks.

I hope in looking at these close-ups you're able to see the colors and the textures in the embossing.

I finished the front with  a Stampin' Up! sentiment from "Warm Words" which unfortunately,  is now retired. 

I am big into ribbon, bows and flowers but I'm try to step outside my comfort zone and embellish with other things I have in my craft stashes. I had some raffia left over from a home decorating project and it was just enough to add to this card. Over all I'm happy with the end result.

Hope you all like it too.

Items used in this project: 

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Autumn Splendor

Cardstock : Stampin' Up! Cherry Cobbler and More Mustard 

Mat Stack: K & Co.

Embossing Pens: Marvy

Embossing Powder: Ranger

Punch: Stampin' Up! Scalloped Oval

 

 



Awesome Bundles on Sale @ Stampin' Up!!

Stampin' Up! has put together some awesome bundles for you for the holidays and they're giving you a discounted price on them to boot. The bundles are great products so I'm even more thrilled about the bundling and saving money. Check them out!

From October 19-December 16, choose from several different holiday bundles containing gorgeous Stampin’ Up!® products—perfect for creating cards, gift packaging, and gifts—
and all at 20% off!

Create Amazing cards, Beautiful packaging, and Cherished gifts this holiday season AND all at 20% off!

If you can't view the photos, click here for the flyer!
 Or if you prefer you can always contact me:
http://www.houseofcards.stampinup.net/

Hope you're all having a beautiful day!
Live, Love & Laugh,
Peg

Fall Stamping Festival With Stampin' Up!

I'm always kind of skiddish about signing up for classes and then going, especially by myself, where I wont know anyone.   I'm a real homebody and I hate leaving the house but by signing up to demo for Stampin' Up! I knew I'd have to come out of that and this was a good time to go for it.
The Stamping Festival was sponsored by my Stampin' Up! upline, Connie Babbert and her friend.
When Connie invited me to the festival she told me that we'd be making some really cool things with some techniques we hadn't used AND she said I'd be meeting some really great gals too.
The event was held in a township hall to accomodate the number of people expected and the space that would be needed for everyone to spread out and rotate around to each project.  We had a lot of space to spread out and really dig in. 
Connie was right, everyone was really nice and very helpful and the projects were a lot of fun to make and are things we can recreate and give as gifts.
There were a total of  six projects but I like to take my time and make sure I've got things right ( I still made mistakes and cut the wrong cardstock) so I didnt get but 4 projects completed. I didnt mind, it was still worth it and a lot of fun.
The first project I took on was a note pad and pen set that were self-contained in a vinyl pocket that had a flap with velcro so you could keep it all together. It was really cute.

This project is really cute and it was amazingly easy. Inside the vinyl pocket there was a piece of cardstock which was long enough that it was taller than the vinyl so it could flip over and form a pouch. The little piece of velcro on the inside secures it so all your goodies are kept in tact.   I love the flower we made and secured with the antique brad. The antique brads by Stampin' Up! are so awsome. They're just beautiful.   This project used my favorite papers and colors too. I am a big fan of the Baja Blue, it's such a soothing color that I just love it.

This is the little notepad and pen  that gussied up and added to the inside of  our notepad sets. So cute huh?

The next project I worked on was a snowflake mug.   We die cut snowflakes from the new Big Shot Decorative Strip which came out in the Holiday Mini Catalog.  The snowflakes were cut from Decor Element Sheets and then adhered onto the mug. We stuffed the mug with some shredded paper and  had a bag of hot cocoa for the inside. Also made some cute little snowman tags to go along with them. So cute and such a quick little gift idea.
When I got home I did coat the outside of my mug with all-purpose sealer so the snowflakes would be permanent. I dont have a picture of it because the daughter grabbed it up as her own and it's history.

The third project I worked on was such a cute Christmas/Holiday accordian style photo album. It was the most difficult of the projects but I do really love it and I think I will recreate these for gifts for family.

Isnt he the cutest? I just love this and I LOVE the striped ribbon from Stampin' Up! I have to admit that their colors are awesome but I am totally in LOVE with Cherry Cobbler.

I really loved it even more once we opened it up. Each of the little round tabs at the top pulls up a card about 6" long for you to put pictures on. Thus you have a small folded photo album which would be great for gift giving.

The last project I completed is made from one of the mini lunch sacks from the Holiday mini catalog. They're so adorable because they're just under 7 inches tall and have a pretty scalloped top that folds over and makes for such a cute border.   Our we decked out in fall leaves and gratitude sentiments. The colors were all so pretty and I Loved how the little bag which contained apple cider packet  came out.

We add a stamped note card to go along with it. The stamps and paper embellishing this project are so beautiful. They're called Day of Gratitude and in the Holiday Mini Catalog. The paper matches the stamps so beautifully!

Now that you've all seen all these great things you can make for the fall and winter season I know you're excited to host your own workshop.  If you'd like to have me over to show you some of these great new papers, stamps and projects, you can call me and I will definitely hook you up!

Peg Yruegas

http://www.inkystamper.stampinup.net/ or

peg@yruegas.com

Well I hope you all have a great day and always

Live, Love & Laugh!

Peg





Great Site to Check out

I came across a new site today which lists all the Stampin' Up! Demonstrators, techniques, ideas etc... I like her site and I'm sure you would too!
http://www.stampjourney.com/my_weblog/

Shapelies - Nestie type files For Cricut

I have to admit that in the past I haven't been great about keeping up with my blog or the comments that follow a post. I apologize for that and I promise that I will from now on, do a better a job.

I was going through the comments from a past post about Nestie type files for the Cricut and some people were asking about a corrected link for Penny Duncan who creates these great files.

The correct address to get to Penny is:
http://pennyduncancreations.blogspot.com/

On her site you'll see a link to "Shapelie" files and these are your nesties.
Penny also has a lot of other great files on her site and I use them quite frequently. I love to use her files for various cards like the center step and side step. She gives the cut file for the step card and also for the additional pieces to cut and mat. That is one of the best things since I hate to cut and I really stink at it. With the Cricut they come out beautifully!

Thanks again for visiting!

Card for My Airman - Courage from Stampin' Up!

As a mother of a US Air Force Airman  I found that one of the first stamp sets I HAD to have when I signed on to be a demonstrator for Stampin' Up! was the set called "Courage." 

The feature stamp is simple but powerful. I honestly wish I could make a card for every US military member with this stamp on it.

My son was coming home last weekend so I put together an easel card for him with the hope he'd like it enough to take it to work to display on his desk. After he read it the first thing he said is "I want to take this to work to set on my desk."  I have a hard time making cards for guys because I love frilly embellishments. Putting this card together I had to remember it was for my son and then try to keep it masculine without being too boring.

Of course I made this card with rubber stamp,  cardstock, ink, buttons, sticky strip and Stampin' Write Markers from Stampin' UP!. I also used Shapelie files by Penny Duncan(her version of Nesties) for the shapes and bubble stickers from my scrapbook stash.

Thank you for stopping by and if you'd like to leave a comment, I'd be glad to have them.

Take care!






 

Peek-a-Boo Tilda

Hello and Happy Wednesday to everyone! I hope everyone is having the same beautiful weather that we are having here in Central Ohio.

I dont know about you but when it starts cooling down my mind definitely starts turning towards all the little projects I'd like to get done before the holidays.  I am one of those people that starts thinking months before an event about a card I need to make and I am such a procrastinator that I will still wait til the last minute and then rush around trying to get things done. I am also one of those people who cannot make a decision on what paper to use, what shape to cut, what embellishments I want to use etc...so I spend hours and hours laying each choice down so I can make up my mind.

I did manage to complete a Peek-a-boo Tilda card for my son's girlfriend who had a birthday on September 18th. Jordan couldn't come home for a break from the Air Force until this past weekend so I even had extra time to finish her card but still had to run around.

I decided to make a slider card that had Tilda on the front and then Tilda popping up from behind the front embellishment. To get Tilda and the sentiment to pop-up you had to pull up on the ribbon, You kind of expect the sentiment but the front pop-up which is Longing Tilda is an unexpected surprise. The final pop-up was a water-colored sentiment from Stampin' Up! wishing her Happy Birthday.

This is the first card I'd made since I signed up to sell Stampin' Up! so I'm acclimating to their products and I'm really happy with everything I have used. The stamps are cut so well, nice and deep so I get a great impression without fighting for it and I love the inks and papers.

For Katie's card I used Stampin' Up! cardstock, ink and  Stampin' Write markers, Copic markers, Recollections mulberry roses, Martha Stewart border punches, Stickles glue on roses and leaves, Stampin' Up! classic ink to ink edges of cardstock, DCWV cardstock, and ribbon and lace from my stash. I also used my Cricut to cut the cardstock and slot for the slider. I had a great time putting it all together but figuring out the pop-up peek-a-boo part was time-consuming. I hope you like it and will leave constructive criticism to help me along. Thanks!




Thanks for stopping by Party On the Paper! Hope you'll come back again soon!

Adventures in Papermaking!

As always I've been on a quest for beautiful paper or stock for cardmaking and yeah, sometimes I find some pretty paper but its hard to find a lot of coordinating Victorian style papers with the soft, beautiful florals and lace. Its just not out there.

I love paper almost as much as I love fabric.  When I go into the sewing room and start looking through my fabric, I find some of the most beautiful prints. I always wish I could find those beautiful prints on paper.
Just seems that those of us who love those prints aren't as plentiful as those that love the more modern prints or those that are "theme based." Like the papers and stock used in scrapbooking.

The other day it hit me, like most things do, kind of out of no where.... why can't I make those prints myself? No, I have NO idea how to actually make printed paper like you'd use for cards or scrapping but then in thinking about "digital scrapbooking" it seemed pretty clear that somewhere a printer had to come into play. Hey on top of that,  I worked for the government for YEARS managing MILLIONS of digital images. Now, they weren't Victorian flowers or ribbons and lace but a digital image is a digital image.  Pixels, spots, dots etc... How much different could the manipulation of those spots, dots and etc be anyhow?

 I have no idea how to use any of those  great  programs like PhotoShop or Gimp etc... but I do have fabric and I do have a scanner and a printer.  I'm not that good at using either of those either but that'll come with practice I'm sure. One thing I am good with is a computer and a mouse and with as much beautiful fabric as I've stashed away in my quilting years, why can't "I" have all the beautiful paper I desire? The only limit to my supply has been the limitations to my imagination!

I got out some of my most cherished prints, ya know, the ones you buy in yards and yards to make that one, heirloom quilt. But then you love that fabric SO much you can never force yourself to run the scissors through it. Finally, I heated up the trusty Rowenta... after pressing for a little while I started scanning.

As with any project I dream up, I had some issues but most were due to my own ignorance in adjusting the scanner and then the printer but eventually I came up with some quality cardstock that I find I'm proud to use in my cardmaking.  Now, new problem.... I can't quit.... I'm a crazy woman on a mission and I am on the  perverbial roll. I cannot stop my ADD-OCD self from scanning and printing this wonderful fabric!

I've been burning up the printer making my own coordinating paper and stock. It is a brilliant idea.  Why don't the same people who make all this great fabric also sign themselves up to make stock and paper? Don't they realize there is a big market for this and they're completely missing the mark?  Someone needs ME on their PR team. I have so many ideas bouncing around in my nugget and no one to bounce them off of.

I share my ideas with Eric but he usually gets scared. When I say "oh I have an idea" he curls up into the fetal position and his face looks horrifed as he starts to cry. For some reason it appears that my ideas bring about fear in most normally sane human beings because I have do have some hairbrained ideas sometimes and I really do think WAY outside the box.... well I do think outside the box because I refuse to believe that there really is a box... I dont see anything wrong with that...I dont know why they're afraid... hmmmm... I'll ponder on that awhile.

In the meantime, see if you don't agree that these papers come out great and especially the batiks... I LOVE the batiks!!  I'm not even 10% trough my stash but I'll get there.... eventually....

W00t! Looking Forward to Taking Classes Again!

Years and Years ago I took Tole Painting Classes along with Ceramic Classes and I loved Tole Painting. Through the years I've always thought about the painting and wanted to get back to it but didnt have a clue how to find a teacher or class. I finally started looking harder and found The Heart of Ohio Tole Chapter (Hoot). As I read the website I was pleasantly surprised to find that my old teacher was now the president of Hoot. She was a wonderful teacher and an awesome painter so I'm not surprised that would hold this office.

I sent an email to the organization and a week later I had a teacher. I'm going to start classes in September. It'll be nice to go to class one day a week for 5 hours, paint and gab and meet some new folks.  I think that's the best part, is that I'll get to talk to people again. That's the thing I miss most about not working is that I'm so isolated and rarely have contact with people outside the house. Through the school year, it's me and the two dogs all day. This will be a nice break.

Luckily I stumbled upon the Hoot site just in time that my daughter and I can go to the convention here in Columbus next week and shop in the vendor mall...I love vendor malls... great place to get great new stuff!

Heres a linky to the convention:   http://www.heartofohiotole.org/

The organization is doing a fundraiser for  Breast Cancer Awareness and they've come up with these incredible painted bras. If nothing else you have to check out the way these artists have painted bras in support of this great cause!

http://www.heartofohiotole.org/paintedbras.html

Stickpins/Hatpins for Embellishing Cards Out on Ebay

I have added 7 auctions to Ebay for Stickpins. Auctions will be open for 5 days. I am working to get pins out to the first 20 who responded to my post yesterday and then I'll make more pins to post on ebay.
I'm hoping everyone likes thier pins and continues to want more, more, more!!

My Ebay name is MrsBigE so look for the auctions and tell me what you think
Thanks!
Peg

Stickpins/Hatpins for Embellishing Cards

Since I started making cards I have always loved going through the blogs of the members of the Yahoo Groups I belong to. It's amazing to see how each embellish their cards and how creative people can be and just how beautiful some of the cards are.
The "die-hard" cardmakers know where to find all the good stamps, papers, flowers and gems. They are stead-fast in finding just the right embellishment for each and every card they produce and it shows, you can really tell who takes the time to find the most beautiful accents.

One thing I noticed right-off were the stickpins that would be used to embellish the floral or accent areas of the cards. The stickpins are so pretty and simple, but just enough sparkle or glitz that they add to the beauty of the embellishment without taking away from the artistry used in the stamped image or the production of the actual card.

I tried finding these stickpins in local shops and on the web. I fancy myself at being really good at finding everything and anything on the web but these pins were stumping me. I could find beautiful pins but a lot were vintage and were too expensive to put on a card that I was sending away, they were pieces I would want to collect and keep to admire.  This in mind I did what I've always done and started making them.  

I wanted to make pins that I could add to my simple cards. I wanted them to add a hint of sparkle here or there and add to the look of my card without being too over stated. I found that by using crystals, semi-precious stones and charms. I wondered if others might be looking for pins as well and took my chance by listing some on ebay. Sure enough they sold and soon some others will be enjoying my creations.

I have decided to try selling them in quantity to some local shops. Maybe if I keep the cost down and if the shops can get them at a reasonable price, people will be more apt to buy them. I posted a notice on a couple of my Yahoo boards offering pins to members in exchange for pictures of the cards they used them on. I plan to use the pictures of the cards to show shop owners the many ways the pins could be used and maybe gather some interest in carrying them. Hopefully the first of the sample pins will go out in the next day or so and I'll start getting some pictures back soon.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my posts and agreed to provide pics of your paper art. The pics below are of the pins that sold recently on ebay.

Thanks again to everyone for their encouragement and support!
Peg

Penny Duncan... My Crafting Fairy Godmother! : )

The past few weeks  I've been kicking around the idea of buying a Spellbinders Wizard. Although I have a Cuttlebug I've been disgruntled because although I could cut the Nestie shapes on my Cricut I couldn't do the embossing.  Somehow, by accident I came across Penny Duncan's blog and low and behold, there was a link for a tutorial she'd done on cutting the Nestie shapes on your Cricut and then emboss them on your Cuttlebug.  

I began rifling through Penny's offerings of free SVG;s (cut files for the Cricut) and I couldn't believe how many files she had created and was now offering to the public for free... I thought it couldn't be true because rarely do people do anything this enormous and then give all their hard work away freely, but its true.

Penny has laborously generated just hundreds of cut files, including a ton of Nestie type shapes she calls "Shaplies"  and then figured out a way to cut extras at a reduced size and push them thru the Cuttlebug so they are now embossed.   I've been so happy to think that maybe I wouldn't have to put out the money for a Wizard and all the templates afterall but I still needed to try out the tecnique on my own before I'd become a true believer. Just tried it, and sure enough they work and they're beautiful.

If you have a Cricut and you have a Cuttlebug or something like it, then you can also have these great Shaplies by going to Penny's website and downloading the free files.

Now my next issue was trying to figure out how to make paper roses and be able to color them in the colors I choose but after trying to find Mulberry paper I was starting to think it might be more costly than it was really worth until I went back to Penny's page and found that now she's added a tutorial and the cut files for paper roses just like th ones you buy at the craft stores but these are made from something you probably have in the house... coffee filters.

I'm starting to think that Penny Duncan is a crafting fairy godmother of some type... she reads the minds of those crafters who are budget minded and then she works to make our crafting desires possible. This week alone she's saved me a bunch of money. I figure the least I can do is donate thru her blog and then come here to tell you all about her and give you a link to her site so you all can see how gifted and generous she is. Hopefully you'll download some files of your own, maybe something you've been looking for and just couldn't find or something that you wanted but thought was too expensive. Whatever the reason, you really should take a stroll over to her site and check her out. She'll inspire you to rise to her level of kindness and generosity.

Good time for image coloring

Well we decided to bring El and a friend down to the Cincy area for some water activities at Great Wolf Lodge. Usually when we come down here its just me, Ellie and Eric and Eric and I can't relax a bit because someone has to be in the water playing with Ellie. We got smart this time and allowed her to bring a friend so we can actually just relax. Ahhhh, relaxation... We'll see how that works out... I've never been really good at relaxing...
For awhile I've been thinking about a project I wanted to do with a group of Tilda and Edwins and keeping in mind I'd have two days of "relaxation", I inked up a bunch of Maggies, packed up my Copics and brought them all with me so I could use my time constructively. As we're just unpacking our suits and other junk I'm already itching to get out my card stock and pens.
Hoping at least to get a few of my images colored and ready to mount.
I've been kicking around the idea of becoming a Stampin' up consultant. If anyone who reads this can offer advice on this and can relay experiences both good and bad, I'd be glad to hear them. If anyone reads this and thinks they might want to host a demo or whatever its called, let me know that too.
Oh well, off to color.. Check back with ya'll soon!
Live, Love and Laugh!
Hugs,
Peg
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Tiny Lil Tilda's - Havin' Fun with Shrinky Dinks.... again.....

When I was younger I found it fun to make things with "Shrinky Dinks."  Funny how things could start out being six or so inches tall then go into an oven and come out about 1/2" tall....

Tonight after reading an article that described how to created a charm bracelet using Tilda stamps and Shrinky Dink plastic I decided to give it a try again... I had some time on my hands and curiosity was going to get the better of me...

The package of Shrinky Dinks I had purchased at Michaels awhile back ended up being a variety pack that included some frosty, rough sheets so I stamped some images on those and got out the Copics. Needless to say you can't really do any detail work on the Shrinky Dink images... pretty straight forward... you can make brown hair... brown and a pink dress.. pink but they came out kinda cute so what the heck.... instead of using the oven I used the heat gun and started shrinking all the Tildas. I freaked out at first because I didn't remember that the plastic shrinks all up, shrivels and gets curly, making it appear that your project is going south but after sticking it out they straightened up and flatened out and I'll be darned.... they looked just like they did when I started heating them up... just smaller... they're so cute... just miniature little Tilda's all colorful and ready for a new home on a bracelet. Tomorrow I'm going get them ready to be added to a charm bracelet for Ellie. I think she'll love having all those lil Tilda's with her all the time.
If ya get a hankerin to try something fun and different, try Shrinky Dinks... they're just so adorable.
Check out the pics!

Peg

Tilda Tiptoeing Through The Tulips

Good morning everyone!!
Hope this finds everyone doing well and enjoying yet another beautiful day in rainy, muggy and hot central Ohio....  I'm not going to complain about the weather because I'm feeling about 100 times better today than I was feeling a week ago. Don't know what hit me but I was sicker than a dog during the week of the 4th and that really made for a miserable holiday weekend. I felt bad that I couldn't get out and see the parade, fireworks or even cook a 4th of July meal for the family but luckily they're all understanding and just encouraged me to rest! Thanks guys, you're the best!!

Now that I'm feeling better I have been working on some cards and trying to learn some new things. I love working with my Cricut Expression but I'm really loving the new line of cartridges they've distributed exclusively through Walmart called "Cricut Lite." The cartridges are fun and have a lot of fun projects on them. 

This week I combined a new stamp that I'd received of Tilda holding tulips with a tulip shaped card from the Cricut Lite cartridge called "Bloom."  They're both fun and I enjoyed trying to make an easel card from the tulip shaped card. I thought it came out ok but after getting it together I look back and wish I had made her clothing with different colors than I did. The blue and yellow together remind me too much of Michigan colors... eep.... being an OSU fan, putting blue and yellow together gives me the eebie-jeebies.

I've also had some fun this weekend making some purses via the Cricut. I purchased some designs of small summer purses that are cut on the Cricut and assembled with glue. The designs are digital and were purchased from SVGCuts.com and were so reasonable. Just a lot of fun to assemble.  I think I'll make more later in Christmas colors. They'll be great when it comes time to pass out gift cards...

Well I'm off again to work on laundry and in between loads I can take some time to color even more great Magnolia stamps. This afternoon I'm working on stamps that'll be included on an exploding box for Ellie. I'll post pics when it's all done!

Have a great day
Hugs,

Peg

Tilda with Tulips on Tulip Shaped Card - Card base - Cricut Lite Bloom Cartridge

Summertime Purses - Really fun to make.

Today was an absolutely beautiful day in central Ohio. Today we had the type of weather I wish we could have every single day.. not too hot, not too cool, sun shining, light breeze and low humidity... I know... sounds like San Diego right? If I love the weather so muchy why don't I move to San Diego? Then I couldn't complain about the weather 11 months out of every year...

Ellie and I got spent the day together working on a few cards. Today I taught her to use sketches so she could put cards together in a way that's pleasing to the eye. We used sketches from Mojo Monday, you can see their sketches at  http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/. 

Ellie and I were each successful at creating 1 card today so it was a banner day overall. I chose to use reds today... I dont know why because red just isn't my color. I love red to wear but I never use red in anything creative. I rarely used reds in cross stitch, quilting or in papercrafts. I dont know why, its just one of those colors I tend to avoid. I was happy with the outcome of my Peachy Tilda (done in red) and decided it would be come a birthday card for a friend.
What do you think?

The 2nd picture actually shows the hatpin I created for the card., I like the pins but have a hard time finding some that I like enough to buy so I'm making my own. I like them and the price is right! :)

Ellie is really excited today because I told her if she'd learn to use her sketches and complete her card today, I'd publish it on the blog. That alone was motivation for her.

She likes color and she uses a lot of them. For a 10 year old she's pretty good about using coordinating colors Ellie also loved her pin but she tried to dis-assemble it so she could see how I made it. I imagine tomorrow she'll ask to make her own.

I need to make a sympathy card for a man. That's always a hard one. It doesn't feel right using flowers but there just aren't a lot of choices I guess. Maybe I'll use some Edwins from Magnolia and just make sure the sentiment isn't too mushy.

Well, there are still daylight hours left and that means we can make more cards. Better get crackin! Have a great night!

Peg

Making Friends from Foreign Lands...

I feel that one of the best things about the internet (other than the ability to shop a million places at once) is that we have an opportunity to talk to and befriends people from all walks of life and we can specifically find people who share our interests. There we can gain inspiration and support for all the things we love to do...

I belong to a Yahoo group called Magnolia-Licious. This group is comprised of folks from all the world who all share a love for Magnolia rubber stamps and for the characters Tilda and Edwin.
Its a great group of folks who are all extremely talented and creative. You can log on every day and you'd be amazed at the many ways they find to use rubber stamped images. 

I ran across an image of Tilda playing the Violin. I scoured the internet trying to find a place to buy this stamp and finally found out that it was a limited distribution stamp and not publicly sold. I wanted this stamp so much because of Ellie playing the violin. I finally posted a note on the Yahoo group asking if anyone would be willing to share an image with me so I could make a card for her. Within minutes I had so many people offering me the image... After a week of coloring and re-coloring I have finally finished Ellies card. I am very critical of my own work but Ellie loves it and that's all that matters.

Today was an awesome day because I received a package from a new friend who lives in the Netherlands. I met her through the Magnolia-Licious group and I'm amazed at her talent and creativity. Everything she touches is absolutely beautiful. She was kind enough to send me many, many stamped images of Tilda, Edwin and their accessories. It would take me years to find and buy all these stamps so they are really appreciated. The best thing about the package I rec'd from Ellen is the beautiful Ballerina Tilda that she sent me. She is just beautiful and I will cherish that card forever. 

I want to thank Lauren, Andrea and Madge, 3 girls I met this week also via the Yahoo group who have also been kind enough to share images with me. We kinda had a small swap but it turned out great for everyone! Thanks!

Also, thanks to everyone who has stopped by and left supportive comments or ideas on how I could better show-off cards I make. I appreciate all the ideas and the support.

Long day here so I'm off to bed.. Nighty Night!

First Post

Hello!! Happy Sunday to you all! Well after a few weeks of trying to get this blog online I finally feel like it's "presentable."    There is still some work to be done but it'll get there.... I hope... I'll work on it when I have time... The main goal here is to have a place to post pictures of the cards I finish... guess that means I better be finishing some cards huh?

I do have one pic to post. It's a Happy Birthday card I made this weekend for Ellie's little BFF. These two girls are like peas & carrots, always together... Alex turned 10 this week so I thought she deserved her first Tilda card. 

I hope that those in my Magnolia-Licious group will stop by and take some time to offer some constructive criticism to method, looks etc. I know that I'm a new card maker and new to Copics but it's a learning process but one I really enjoy.

If you're here, taking a peek, please leave a note!
Live, Love and Laugh!

Peg