Saturday, July 31, 2010

Simon Says Stamp Challenge--Dotty

This week's challenge at Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog was to create using dots--LOTS of dots, and some Prima flowers if you wanted. I bought some more of this yummy October Afternoon paper and couldn't pass up the chance to make a card for this challenge. I mean look at this paper! Dots galore!
The image is a Unity stamp that I won a few weeks ago on my friend Savannah's blog. Isn't it cute! If you like Unity or Ippity stamps you NEED to go visit her. Aw just go visit her anyway. She'll make you smile. :)

Supplies
Paper: Recollections cardstock, October Afternoon Fly a Kite, Bo Bunny
Stamps: Unity Stamp Company Berry Good Life, Papertrey Ink Mixed Messages
Inks+: Derwent watercolor pencils, Stazon Timber Brown
Tools: Nestabilities Standard Large Circles (S4-114) and Classic Scalloped Circles Large (S4-124)

Miscellaneous: Prima roses, Offray and Celebrate It ribbon, Recollections adhesive pearls

Don't forget to go vote at Papercraft Star!
Blessings,

Friday, July 30, 2010

Play Date Cafe Challenge PDCC40

Sarah Anderson challenged us to a color splash this week for Play Date Cafe Challenge #40.
Black and white with a touch of green. The black and white part was easy. I used this same paper to make Rina's paper shoe. It has a really cool linen texture to it. Finding a green I liked, well, I thought it would be hard, but I walked into Michaels and this gorgeous shiny green paper just lept out at me. It has this gold shimmer imbedded in it. Pretty !
The design is simple; layering and several touches of ribbon, and even a little machine stitching.

Supplies
Paper: Recollections black cardstock, Recollections green cardstock, GCD Studios Floral Garden from the Cosette Collection
Inks+: Pitch Black Ranger Alcohol Ink
Tools: Martha Stewart Floral Vine Deep Edge punch, sewing machine
Miscellaneous: Offray Ribbons, Recollections paper flowers, glass microbeads

If you're looking for my DT submission for Papercraft Star's #6 challenge you can find it here. It's green too! Don't forget to get your submissions in by noon tomorrow. After that voting starts
Have a fantastic day!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Papercraft Star Challenge #6

Challenge #6 at Papercraft Star Challenge Blog this week is a card sketch. I used some more of the beautiful October Afternoon paper I got recently. I was going to offer some of that for my Blog Hop candy last weekend, but my buddy Jen had packed up her store for a huge crop in Natchez and it all went with her. I also broke out a new Penny Black stamp I picked up on clearance at Hobby Lobby. I haven't made any of my dryer sheet butterflies in a long loonnnggg time so I created three of those for the bottom of the card. They're colored with Olive Vine Glimmer Mist, one of my favorite colors. You can find a tutorial for how to make them on my YouTube channel.
Once this idea took root, it all fell into place and I had a lot of fun making it.

Supplies
Paper: Recollections cardstock, October Afternoon Thriftshop
Stamps: Penny Black Lace Flower, Stampabilities Felt With the Heart
Ink: Versafine Vintage Sepia, Olive Vine Glimmer Mist
Miscellaneous: Offray Dark Brown Satin Ribbon

Hope you've decided to play along with us at Papercraft Star this week. There's still time to get your entry in before the noon Saturday deadline. Make sure you pop in there after noon and before Tuesday to cast a vote for your favorite project.

Hope you like the card. Have a great day!

A Nice Surprise! with a cherry on top

Today was errand day and when I got home and checked my e-mail I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me. One of my followers, a sweetheart named Grace, had sent me an e-mail saying that she had a surprise for me at her blog (gracenotes4today.blogspot.com). This totally cute little blog award was her surprise for me! Thanks so much Grace! Now I get to share it with five other people.

Here are the rules for the award:

1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
2. Copy the award and put it on your blog.
3. List three things which you love about yourself.
4. Post a picture you love.
5. Tag five people you wish to pass this award on to.

Okay 1 & 2 are taken care of. Number three--hhmmm--(1) I love that God helped me to be a good mother to my daughter, (2) I love that my husband considers me his best friend, and (3) I love the thimble full of creativity God blessed me with and the tub that He gave me to collect all the things I learn from other people in. :)

Number four--this is a terrible picture because I had to scan it off a 35mm print. This was taken waayyy before digital cameras. LOL Hubby was in the Air Force and did a TDY in Puerto Rico. I got lucky enough to visit for a week and this is one of the beautiful beaches near Aguadillia that we played on. Puerto Rico is a very special place for us. Wish the color was better because that water is gorgeous!


Now to number five. Gosh this is hard. I have to be bad here and break the rules because I'm sending this to six awesomely crafty ladies!

Savannah--Savannahland2
Silvia--Crafty Sil

Enjoy your award ladies. It's well deserved by all of you!

Thanks again Grace!

Monday, July 26, 2010

City Crafter Challenge Blog Week #14

This week CCCB's Linda Robinson asked us to stir our creativity with a sketch challenge. I wish the photo showed the colors better and the great shimmer on the white elements that I got using some Perfect Pearls and water. Here's my list of materials.

Supplies
Paper: My Mind's Eye, white cardstock
Inks+: Ranger Pearl Perfect Pearls
Tools: Nestabilities Pendants Fleur De Lis (S4-204) and Classic Squares Large (S4-126), Provocraft Deco Edged Scissors
Miscellaneous: Michaels Celebrate It ribbon, Recollections adhesive pearls

This is my last post for today so if you're looking for the winner of my blog candy for the Papercraft Star Blog Hop go here.
If you're looking for my Tag Tuesday tag for Kard Krazy go here.
If you're looking for the paper shoes I made on YouTube go here.

Whew! I think I'll breathe now. :)
Blessings,

Paper Shoes


A few weeks ago I made a paper shoe for my friend Rina as a thank you for some goodies she sent me. I searched and searched for something unique to make for her because she is definitely a unique person. :) I lost the pictures I took of her shoe when my computer crashed, but you can see it if you're interested on her YT channel here. After she posted her video several comments were posted wanting me to do a tutorial. Wish I could take credit for this idea, but I'm not that talented. I got the idea from a blog called Artful Affirmations. She has a tutorial on her blog for the pattern and instructions for the shoes. I went ahead and made a tutorial too and created the shoe on the left (the one on the right was my practice shoe for the video). You can find my tute (parts 1 & 2)on my YouTube channel if you're interested.
I'm making several posts to my blog today so make sure you scroll down.
Have a great day!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Who Won My Blog Candy?

There will be more than one post for Sunday night/Monday so be sure to check them all out!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the first Papercraft Star Blog Hop! I hopped around to all of your blogs too and discovered some amazing talent out there, as well as some cool new products to check out, and some projects I'd love to scraplift. :)
I read and appreciated each and every comment that was left. A special thanks to all of you who chose to become a new follower of my blog. I hope that you find something inspiring or useful here in the projects that I share. I also hope you ALL come and play along with the Papercraft Star weekly challenges. The more the merrier!
My blog candy was offered to those who commented and became a follower (or were one already) so I put all those names into a bucket and my beautiful daughter drew out a name for me.

The blog candy winner is
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Ruth!
at inreallifefaith.blogspot.com
Congratulations Ruth!!!

Please send me a message at the gmail address listed here on my blog with your mailing info so I can get your new candy mailed out to you.

Blessings,

Tag Tuesday--Faces

This week's Tag Tuesday challenge at Louise's Kard Krazy blog was to create a tag using faces. I got this image from The Graphics Fairy about a week ago and I thought she was so pretty. Apparently she was an actress around the turn of the century in both silent and then speaking films named Maude Fealey.
For my tag I used a standard office tag which I stamped on with two Martha Stewart Stamps. I used two different embossing powders. The light brown is a regular Zing embossing powder and the pink is Tattered Rose Distress Embossing powder. After rubbing off the distress crystals, I then inked the whole tag with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I printed the image off my computer and then lightly went over it with the Vintage Photo to give it an aged look. The base for the picture is a piece of vellum that I stamped with a script stamp. This was glued onto the tag and then I added some random spots of Glossy Accents and sprinkled it with clear glass microbeads. I was trying to go for a vintage wall paper look and I was pleased with how it came out. I added a piece of pink ribbon at the top, sponged with Tattered Rose Distress Ink, and some white trim at the bottom, which I sponged with the Vintage Photo and added some pearl trim to.

Supplies
Paper: Office Depot shipping tag, clear vellum, Great White Photo Imaging Paper
Stamps: Martha Stewart Clear Camellias, Inkadinkado Script
Inks+: Vintage Photo and Tattered Rose Distress Inks, Stazon Timber Brown; Tattered Rose Distress Embossing powder, Zing Brown Sugar Embossing powder
Miscellaneous: Michaels Celebrate It pink ribbon, Wrights pearl trim, glass microbeads

Hope you like the tag!
Blessings,

Friday, July 23, 2010

It's a Papercraft Star Blog Hop!

WELCOME! WELCOME!
You're at the very first stop of the very first Papercraft Star Blog Hop! If you came here from the blog site, then you already know that there is a list of ALL the participants in the hop, but if you didn't, then that's where the journey begins.

For this Blog Hop the members of the Papercraft Star Design Team were asked to create some Christmas in July projects. Christmas will be here before we know it, so we have to get those ideas flowing. Make sure you visit all the team member blogs so you can soak up all the holiday spirit AND because we all have some blog candy to give away! :)

All you have to do for a chance to win my blog candy is become a follower of my blog and leave a comment below this post. If you'd like an extra chance at winning, then grab the Blog Hop button on my sidebar and display it on your own blog. How simple is that! The winner will be announced on Monday, July 26, so don't forget to come back and see who it is. It just might be you!

Here's the project that I created for the hop.



I wanted to do something vintage (my fave) and this is what came together for me. Here's what I used to make it.


Supplies:
Paper: Bazzill Kraft cardstock, Cloud Nine Designs Christmas Joy paper kit, Recollections cardstock
Stamp: Inkadinkadoo
Inks: Versafine Vintage Sepia, Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Tools: Nestabilities Large Deckled Rectangles (S4-202), Heidi Swapp Edge Distresser
Miscellaneous: Diamond Dust, Prima Poinsettia flowers and leaf, Vintage Shabby Seam Binding, pearl headpin and assorted beads

And here's the blog candy I'm offering.

(20) 6 " x 6" sheets of Chatterbox Designer Paper
(1) package A7 (5 x 7) Recollections Flat Cards and Envelopes in Pearlized Gold
(1) package Recollections Boutique Fleur Floral Embellishments
(1) package Studio 18 Rhinestones
(1) spool Offray 1/8" Satin Ribbon

The next stop on this little journey is Regan so hop on over to her blog and see what she has in store.

Enjoy and Good Luck!


Thursday, July 22, 2010

Papercraft Star Challenge #5


Week #5's challenge at Papercraft Star was to use circles. I picked out some circle background DP and used my circle Nesties. This is my first attempt at an easel card and I found it to be pretty easy. I'm sure I'll make some more of these. You can find a wonderful written and video tutorial for how to make these by Beate Johns at Splitcoast Stampers.
I got the chance to play with one of my brand new Penny Black stamps. I just love this fat little cat. I "porcelainized" his bath tub with some Glossy Accents and gave he and mousy some sparkly Perfect Pearls bubbles. Got some more practice in with the watercolor pencils, but I still have a lot to learn about shading and mixing colors.
You can enter this challenge through Saturday, July 24 at 12:00 noon. Voting will then begin and run through Monday night, so come play along with us. Who knows, maybe your circle creation will win top spot at Papercraft Star Challenge Blog.
Supplies
Paper: Bazzill, Great Paper Company
Stamp: Penny Black Bubbly
Ink: Derwent Watercolor pencils
Tools: Martha Stewart punch, Nestabilities Standard Circles Large (S4-114) and Classic Scalloped Circles Large (S4-124)
Miscellaneous: Ranger Glossy Accents, Ranger Perfect Pearls, satin ribbon and butterfly from Dollar World, trim, Prima roses
Don't forget tomorrow is the start of Papercraft Star's very first Blog Hop. Come see what all the DT members have come up with.
Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

A Couple of Your Paper Pantry Swap Projects

I participated in two of the swaps at Your Paper Pantry for the month of July. The first one was an ATC swap with a patriotic theme. I found this cool little drum image on line and decided to cut it in fours for the card. The backing is Bristol paper that I sprayed with some Pearl Perfect Pearls mixed with water in a Mini Mister. I added a little gold star sequin for a little extra pizzazz. I love the brightness and shimmer of the background.


Supplies
Paper: Paper Cannon Drawing Bristol, Great White Imaging Photo Paper
Ink etc.: Pearl Perfect Pearls
Miscellaneous: Gold star sequin


The second swap was a card swap with the theme of hello/friend. It's a very simple card as far as design. We had to make six of them. The image is one I won from the Digi Doodle Shop. I used my Derwent watercolor pencils to color it. The image and sentiment were cut out with Nestabilities and the purple layer was cut with deco edged scissors (yes Jan, I broke them out again--LOL).
Supplies
Paper: Recollections, Cannon Drawing Bristol, Bazzill
Stamp: Papertrey Ink (sentiment)
Inks: Derwent Watercolor pencils
Tools: Nestabilities Large Deckled Rectangles (S4-202) and Classic Ovals Large (S4-110)
Miscellaneous: ribbon, Prima flower, acrylic gem
Normally my Design Team post for Papercraft Star would be on Friday, but since we're starting the Blog Hop that day my post will be tomorrow. Sure hope you're planning on coming to join us for the hop! You have through noon on Saturday to submit your project for the circles challenge this week.
Til tomorrow.

Monday, July 19, 2010

CCCB Week 13


This weeks challenge at City Crafter Challenge Blog was to create a project with the theme of "English Rose" using the colors red, blue, white, and the optional color of rose. I'm just as crazy about all things English as I am about all things French. I would love to go tour the British Isles and see all the old castles and the beautiful countryside.
It's been a while since I've created any of my little paper roses but I knew that was what I was going to put on this card. Some stitching on some of the adorable October Afternoon paper I just got at my LSS, a little vintage seam binding and my little handmade roses are what I put together for this challenge. And look! I mixed patterned papers! LOL I'm going to defeat my phobia about that yet. ha ha
Supplies:
Paper: October Afternoon Thrift Shop, Bazzill and white cardstock
Tools: Nestabilities Labels Two (S4-162); EK Success Retro Flower punches, EK Success Daisy punch, Martha Stewart Rose Leaf punch and Frond punch, sewing machine
Miscellaneous: Oatmeal Cream Vintage Shabby Seam Binding

If you didn't see my earlier post today, you can scroll down and read it to learn about a Blog Hop that Papercraft Star will be starting this Friday. Don't miss out! There are goodies to be won!
Have a great day!

Catch Up Time

Just a short note here. On Friday my hard drive died so I have been without online access since then. I did not realize how addicted I was to the internet. LOL I feel like I'm so behind on everything. I lost everything so I have to reinstall all my software programs. My computer guy installed Windows, Office and Virus protection for me but I have to redo everything else. Everything on my screen looks different so I'm going to have a lot of tweaking to do to get it how I want it. Just wanted to warn you incase anything looks crazy on here.

A special thanks to my wonderful friend Ira who lives in the Netherlands. I'll be adding some cool new buttons to my sidebar courtesy of her. If you've never visited her website, check it out. She makes some of the coolest artwork! Make sure you find her Tussie Mussie. It's gorgeous!

Be sure to check back in here Friday. The Papercraft Star Design Team will be starting our first ever Blog Hop with some prizes to be had. It's our Christmas in July celebration!

Hope to be back today with a card for the CCCB challenge. AHHH! So much to do. :)

Blessings,

Friday, July 16, 2010

Papercraft Star Challenge #4

This weeks challenge #4 at Papercraft Star was to create a project inspired by our favorite sports team. Though I'm honestly not a big sports fan (although I enjoy watching any and all kinds), it was almost impossible not to get caught up in the Who Dat frenzy. New Orleans is only an hour away and when it came to the playoffs and Superbowl, you might as well say that the city extended itself to include most of southern Mississippi. Mississippians loved football even before Brett Favre. LOL Archie Manning, a Mississippi boy and dad to Peyton and Eli, was and is a favorite around here also. There's also a huge heritage of familial connections between southern Miss and the Big Easy.
When I saw this challenge I immediately knew I was going to make a banner and I knew exactly who was going to get it. We have a lady in our church in her eighties who is a HUGE Saints fan. She will be getting this banner as a little surprise for the upcoming season.
I cut everything with my Cricut and stacked the pieces together. This was a very simple project. The hardest part was melting the acrylic paint and UTEE with my heat gun on the letters.
If you haven't joined in yet for the challenges at Papercraft Star let me encourage you to give it a try. We'd love to see what you come up with and have you enter it for a chance to win. We've seen some great projects so far and who knows, yours might be the next winner. You can enter a project for this challenge through 12:00 noon Saturday July 17. Voting begins after that and runs through Monday night. Come play along with us!

Supplies
Paper: chipboard, Bazzill, white cardstock
Paint: Craft Smart and Delta Cream Coat acrylic paint, Triple Thick Gloss Glaze
Miscellaneous: Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel, Marvy Uchida Heat Gun, We R Memory Keepers eyelets, ribbon

It took the Saints 43 seasons to win a Superbowl. Persistence does pay off. :)
Have a blessed day!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Bloom Mini Album

Finally! My latest mini album is finished. This album has been one of the reasons that I haven't been playing all my usual card challenges lately. Minis take me a long, LOONNGG time. I'm really picky about how I put things together so i go through lots of ideas before I finally setlle on what each page is going to contain and look like.
I had decided that I was going to make a mini album as a giveaway prize once I reached 500 subscribers on YouTube. Well, 500 came and went and I still didn't have the album made. My friend Rina kind of summed up the way I feel about making minis. Basically she said she didn't want to just slap something together. She wanted it to have purpose and meaning. This mini had a purpose--a thank you to one lucky person who liked my work enough to subscribe to my channel so they could see more of it. I wasn't just going to throw something together willy nilly. Now I'm not trying to say I'm some spectacular crafter. I can name off quite a few ladies out there who are. Everything they make is just incredible. I just enjoy working with paper, I love to share ideas with other people, and I felt the need to make something to give back as thanks for all the encouragement and support I get. Don't get me wrong. Who doesn't love to get goodies like TH stuff, or cool papers. I just felt compelled to make something handmade to giveaway--something personal from me.
The album idea finally came together after I watched someone I subscribe to on YouTube make the flowers I used on the cover of this album. I absolutely adored the combination of Distress inks she used to make these daisies and lo and behold, when I went to Michaels (one of the numerous trips I make there each week LOL) I saw this We R Memory Keepers paper that matched perfectly. I also knew right away that I was going to use the brand new Cricut Lite Bloom cartridge that I had just bought at Wally World on this album. My Cricut has definitely been underutilized since it was bought, but I gave that little bug a work out on this album, even learned how to do some new stuff with it. :)
So here are a few of the pages. This is not the whole album. If you'd like to see the whole thing you can check out my video for it here. If you'd like a chance to win it, all you have to do is be a subscriber to my YT channel and leave a comment on the video.


For those of you who don't do YouTube and are more into card making, don't worry. I'm going to come up with a special giveaway in the future for you too. YouTubers aren't the only ladies I've learned from and been encouraged by. I follow some awesome cardmakers who are teaching me about art without even knowing it.
I'm ready to make some cards, but I also have an itch to make another mini so we'll see. At least this one won't have a time constraint on it. Whew! LOL
My new Sarah Kay and Penny Black stamps came yesterday and today I dropped by my LSS and my buddy Jen had gotten in some of those scrumptious October Afternoon Thrift Store and Fly a Kite papers. YEAH! I'm ready.
It's the start tomorrow of another challenge at Papercraft Star, so if you haven't already, check out the blog AND the Forum and give it a look see. This week's challenge is a sports theme. There's so much you can do with that theme so come on over and play along with us for this weeks challenge.
Have a blessed day!

Friday, July 9, 2010

Some Like It Hot at CCCB Week 12

Cheryl Nelson has offered up the challenge this week at City Crafter Challenge Blog to create a summer themed project using the color red. I'm dedicating this card to my sweet friend Silvia who sent me this adorable Sarah Kay stamp (my first) for my birthday last week. Check out her blog to see some gorgeous cards she's been making including the teapot easel card she made for me. It's even better in person!

I always thought the Sarah Kay stamp images were so cute but never bought any. After I got Silvia's gift I had to order some more. They shipped today and I can't wait to get them!

Summer to me is flowers. I LOVE flowers even though I'm a terrible gardener. Yes Jan, I did tell you I have a brown thumb, and the only reason I have those flowers on my layout growing in my yard is because they are self reliant. LOL Houseplants beware, unless you're a cactus!

I'm trying to grow in my card making (and my watercoloring). You know, get out of the same old same old rut and try stuff I usually cringe at--like mixing paper patterns. I did a LOT of layering on this card too.

I learned how to make the flower from one of the crafters I subscribe to on YT. Her YT name is diamondrose123 and if you click on this link it will take you to the first part of her tutorial for this flower.

Supplies:
Paper: Bazzill cardstock, white cardstock, Martha Stewart Floral Gingham Crafting paper
Stamp: Sarah Kay Spring Blossoms
Inks etc.: Derwent Watercolor Pencils, Fired Brick Distress Ink, Inkadinkado Blending Chalk, Red Sharpie Marker, Irridescent Gold Glimmer Mist
Tools: Nestabilities Large Deckled Rectangles (S4-202)
Miscellaneous; ribbon, lace, flower stamens

Don't forget to vote after 12:00 noon tomorrow over at Papercraft Star!
Thanks for popping in!

Papercraft Star Challenge #3

This week's challenge for Papercraft Star was the sketch above.

I have to say I struggled with this one. It's been a long--long time since I've done a 12 x 12 layout, and I don't think I have ever put this many photos on one page. LOL I chose to use photos of flowers from around my yard and a couple from my mom's too. Crepe myrtle, wisteria, pear, azalea, hydrangea, turks cap lily(we always call this a tiger lily which is silly since tigers have stripes not spots LOL), day lily, gardenia, and gerbera daisy flowers make up the page. The page is very simple with matted photos, a Cricut cut sentiment from one of the new Cricut Lite cartridges, and some fancy cuts from the Storybook cart that I painted with some Perfect pearls in jewel tones. I also painted the sentiment with some black puff paint for a little texture, and added a stamped butterfly.

Supplies
Paper: Bazzill, white cardstock
Stamp: Martha Stewart butterflies
Inks etc.: Perfect Pearls, Stazon Black, Scribbles Black 3-D paint
Tools: Cricut, Cricut Lite Bloom cartridge, Storybook cartridge

Submissions for this challenge will be taken until 12:00 p.m. (EST) Saturday, July 10, after which voting will be opened to the public through Monday July 12. This sketch lends itself to such a great opportunity to scrap a memory you've captured in a series of photos (wish I'd had that--LOL). So dig out those photos, scrap that layout, and come enter it in our challenge. We'd love to see what you can create from this sketch.

Have a great day!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Stitched Flowers on Vellum

The Play Date Cafe Challenge #36 for this week is pink, white and red. The focal point of my card is a panel of vellum with a floral pattern stitched into it. So my card also qualifies for the challenge at Papertake Weekly Challenge where they're looking for stitching on your card.

When I saw this color palette for PDCC, I thought "no problem!" NOT! My brain just refused to work with red, pink, and white. I'd almost decided not to try when this idea popped into my head. I just used this stitch pattern on another project and loved the look of it. It was a freebie I found on a UK online shop called Stitching Cards last year. It's still there if you'd like to grab it. Can you tell I love to try out new techniques? LOL
This is a large card. It measures 5 1/2" x 8". If I did it again I would probably shrink the stitch pattern down some, but after stitching for a couple of hours late last night, I was not about to start over again. Stitching is not hard just time consuming, but I have to tell you, that punched border was a headache. I'm not sure if that punch has a matching corner punch or not, but I don't have it. So I had to figure out how to get the sides to line up evenly. I think it took me about four tries to finally get it even on all sides. I'm happy with how it turned out. Hope you like it too.

Supplies
Paper: clear vellum, white cardstock, Bazzill Tutu Pink
Stamp: Stampendous Orchid Greetings
Ink: Fired Brick Distress Ink
Tools: Martha Stewart Modern Border Punch
Miscellaneous: DMC Embroidery Floss, Recollections Adhesive Pearls

Have a blessed day!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Go Vote! and a recent project

Just a little reminder that voting has started over at Papercraft Star. Hop on over there and cast a vote for your favorite between now and Monday night. You'll notice something a little different this week. The Design Team members were allowed to enter their projects for this week's challenge. We are NOT in running for the prize. That will go to one of our non-designer participants. You can vote for one of our projects if it's your favorite though.

Also wanted to let you know that I have added a gmail address (see top of my sidebar) here on my blog just in case you need to send me a personal message or have questions you don't want to post as a comment.

Besides cards, I've been making a few little projects lately that were sent to some friends as thank you's. Below is one I made for my friend Alee'. She is one of the sweetest people I know and best of all . . .she's my prayer warrior! Alee' and I met via our YouTube channels and just hit it off. She has two beautiful girls and a husband who is very supportive of her hobby. She just started her own etsy store (Jentaleigh's Shop) if you'd like to check it out. She has some yummy flower embellies and some absolutely gorgeous jeweled stick pins.

I decided to make a banner for her. She'll tell you straight off that she's blessed, so I knew exactly what the banner was going to spell out. I used some Basic Grey Bittersweet DP (love BG!). I did not have a single triangle shape on any of the Cricut carts I own so I had to make my own template. I added lace, ribbons, buttons, silk roses, pearls, bling, and punched paper flowers. The letters were covered with acrylic paint and sprinkled with embossing powder when still wet. It gives a cool effect when melted with a heat gun. You can see it in this photo.
My mini album is coming along well so I should have some pics and a video of it up fairly soon. I'm famously slow on my minis so be patient. I'm a bit OCD with them. LOL

Have a wonderful Fourth of July weekend and don't forget to go cast your vote!
Blessings,