A day late and a dollar short-this is my life!!

Happy Thursday!! School is OUT and I am finally getting back into the groove of being home for the summer. I have been on vacation for four days and after doing some much needed cleaning and laundry, I finally had time to do things I wanted to do. I have been scrapping and making cards like crazy and I cannot be more excited. I have a TON of projects I want to do around the house this summer but the weather is not cooperating with me. I know rain is good but can I say that I am sick of it? It just brings the yucky humidity. Me and humidity DO NOT get along.

Today I am posting a card that I meant to post yesterday for a challenge that ended Wednesday on the Simon Says Stamp! Challenge Blog.

The contest was to create a card with fruit on it and use some type of American Craft product. I used the strawberry from the Lawn Fawn "Summertime Charm" stamp set as the focus for this card.

The first thing I did was to stamp a bunch of strawberries on a piece of white card stock. I then colored them in with the Copic Marker colors below. I am not an expert at coloring and as you can see, some of the colors bled out of some of the strawberries. I tried all the tricks to fix it but I couldn't.

I topped the strawberries with Glossy Accents and set them aside to dry. My next step was to make the berry basket. I didn't have a die cut or a pattern for it so I kind of winged it. I started out with a 2 1/4" square. I angled the sides and then weaved 1/4," inked strips of kraft card stock over the square to create the basket. I think the inking really helped the basket to look more realistic. I completed the container by rounding the corners on the bottom of the basket with a corner rounder.

I then die cut the strawberries out of the card stock using the matching Lawn Fawn dies.

My card was now ready to be put together. For the background, I used a few layered sheets of Studio Calico patterned paper. I stamped a sentiment using a Paper Trey Ink stamp and then started playing around with the basket, strawberries and punched leaves until I liked how they were arranged. I added a doily over the top of the basket as well. The last step was to add the acrylic dots. Here are a few more detailed shots.

You can see in the photo above that I used pop dots on a couple of the strawberries to give them a bit of dimension. I like the overall design of the card but am not so sure about the background. I think I should have used a different color.

I want to thank you for visiting my blog today. Have a great Thursday!! Stay Cool!!

Nora

Cheese!

Happy Thursday!! I decided to post a quick page I created that focuses on some prints from a photo booth. We went to our first Bar Mitzvah last year and this was one of the souvenirs that we came home with. It was so fun!!

I started this page by stenciling the brown circle design on the kraft background. I then used a toilet paper roll and ink to create the larger circles. The red paper was created by using different colored ink and some stamps. I tore the left edge, adhered it to the page and then used three kinds of tape and a white paper frill border. The camera, title and round sentiment sticker were adhered last.

I hesitated to even post this because I am actually in the photo. I am not a big fan of photos of myself!! However, I loved how this page came out and I think the design enhances the photos.

Thank you for stopping by!!

Nora

A Birthday Set!!!

Hello!! Just stopping by to show you a little set I created using some Avery Elle stamps.

I first created the card. I stamped background using a stamp from "All Squared Up" in orange on a 4" by 5 1/4" piece of white cardstock. I then stamped different colored hexagons using some matching stamps in the set. In some of the spaces that I didn't stamp, I put dots of Stickles glitter glue for a little shine.

I then adhered the background to an orange card. Next I adhered a yellow paper frill and a piece of patterned paper 1/3 of the way down from the top of the card. I stamped the circle in orange and the sentiment in pink using the same Avery Elle stamp set. I adhered it over the pink watercolored border. I added the punched heart because I thought the card "needed" an extra something.

Here is a close up of the details of the card.

After all the glitter glue was dry, I stamped the inside of the card.

I used a PTI sentiment stamp and stamped the hexagons from the Avery Elle "All Squared Up" set in different colored inks that matched the front of the card.

I really liked how the card came out so I decided to make a matching tag. I figured that the next birthday gift I give I will be ready for. I will have a card and a tag to embellish the gift!

I copied the design of the tag almost exactly from the card. The only difference was I stamped the PTI "make a wish" sentiment instead of the "just for you" sentiment. I added a bit of orange Stickles glitter glue to make the top of the i. Now all I need is someones birthday.

Thank you for stopping by!! Have a great Day!!

Nora

Birthdays!!

May has been a month of birthdays. It is too bad that I was not great at remembering everyone's special day. No matter how hard I try, I just cannot get my cards out on time. That does not mean that I don't try.

The first card I created was intended for my sister and is very simple. I actually copied the design from a pin but for the life of me, I cannot find it on my board.

I used layered a die cut piece of Kraft card stock over a piece of Basic Grey Paper. I then die cut a word window from white and stamped the celebrate using different color inks. I an pretty sure the celebrate is a PTI stamp but for the life of me, I don't know from which set. The finishing touch was to add some sequins.

I also stamped the inside using PTI's "Birthday Style" set but I forgot to take a photo of it.

The next card I created for my nephew who turned 14 on Saturday. It seems like yesterday that he was born!! Charlotte thought this and my last card were too "girly" but I over ruled her opinion!!

Again I totally lifted this card. The chevron stamps are from Avery Elle and I used Stickles glitter glue in red, green and orange to make the card pop. I think next time I would use glitter paper as I had a hard time staying in the lines. The sentiment is from PTI and I added the sequins for more pop. I like how this card came out for the most part and will be duplicating it in the future.

The last card was really simple. Again, I copied the original design from somewhere unknown. I need to go through my Pins on Pinterest because I have too many to shuffle through to find the posts to give credit to the original designer. I apologize if any of these were yours.

I created the present using Washi tape. I created the bow by die cutting pieces of felt using the smallest die from PTI's notched flower dies. I die cut three felt flowers. I folded the first one in half and adhered it together using a glue dot. I folded the next two flowers in quarters, adhering them together with glue dots and then cut the edges to "fluff" them out a bit. I then adhered each quarter on top of first. I like how it came out but think that I will try using an alternative adhesive as the glue dots did not hold the felt all that well. I stamped the sentiment from PTI's "Birthday Style" set and created the banner myself.

That is all for today. Thank you for stopping by!!

Nora

Dyeing Sequins Part 2!

I have been busy with projects over the last couple weeks. One of the things I have been trying to do is to dye sequins. In my first post about this process, I used alcohol and ink pad re-inkers to dye white and off white sequins with only moderate success. Two weeks ago I gave it another try with RIT fabric dye.

I decided to do it outside because I knew if I made a mess, I wouldn't ruin anything. I bought the liquid Rit dye because it was easier then mixing up powder. I followed the direction on the container and added some salt to the mix. I used two colors-a yellow and an orange. I also tried to dye transparent and white sequins this time. I figured that one of them had to work!!

I was totally wrong, though. This experiment was an EPIC fail. The sequins failed to take on any color after the first hour. I thought if I left them out longer, they might actually change color. I was wrong. All the dye did was become thicker and dry up. I wound up dumping the sequins out and rinsing them with water so I can use them in their original form.

Sometimes being cheap does not pay. I wound up finding a website-ccartwright.com-that sold sequins for a $1.25 a package. I stocked up!!

While I was shopping, I also ordered from Paper Trey Ink. Last Thursday was like Christmas with two packages in the mail!!

Shhh!! Don't tell my husband!!! Now all I have to do is find time to play with all my stuff!!

Thank you for stopping by. Have a great day!!

Nora