Flowered Design Kimono

I hope you all had a good weekend. Unfortunately it looks like winter has finally arrived here. It has been snowing and cold all weekend. Yuck!!! Other than that things have been pretty quiet here this weekend and thankfully nothing broke except for a Piglet tea cup. A great thing happened yesterday though. We got really lucky and were able to fix Emilia's computer. It all happened because I decided to go to Dr. Google as I like to call it and see if I could find someone to help us figure out what was wrong with it. In my search I came across this website that had a chat feature and the people there were able to talk us through fixing it for free. I have a feeling it was a bunch of teenagers but I was super grateful to them for helping us get it working again. After that we took the vacuum to the repair shop to see if it could be fixed but unfortunately it was toast. We ended up getting a great deal on a new one at Best Buy after that. I just hope this one lasts for awhile. I was also able to find some some time to stamp some yesterday and this is one of the things I came up with. A few weeks ago I was given some wood veneer samples to work with from Denyse at Lasting Impressions with Panache that she had gotten from Pat The Wood Veneer Man. I finally got a chance to play with them this weekend and I have to say it is some really cool stuff. I am going to be sending some things I make with it down to him so he can sell them and then send the money to help an orphanage in Mexico. To make the card I started with SCS sketch 122. I stamped the flowered Design Kimono stamp from LIWP with Versamark onto a piece of the wood veneer cardstock. Then I heat embossed it with black embossing powder. When I was done with that I painted the embossed images with Wild Plum, Terracotta, Butterscotch, Lettuce, Stream. Bottle, Red Pepper and Cranberry Alcohol inks then I filled in the background with watered down silver pigment ink. After that I embossed a piece of PTI Silver Shimmer cardstock with the Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder and added it behind the Kimono image. The back layer is a piece of Bazzill Gecko cardstock. I also used an old SCS sketch for the layout. I started working on another project with the wood veneer samples today but have not finished it yet. I hope to work on it more tomorrow and share it with you soon. Until then I hope you have a great week and as always thanks for stopping by.

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all are having a good one. I just wanted to take a moment and say what I am most thankful for. Those things are: my family (that includes my fur babies), having a roof over my head and food to eat. I am also thankful for all of you that come by my blog to see my work. I hope you all have things to be thankful for today too. I also wanted to let you know I gave my niece Alexandra the notebook I made her for her birthday today and she loved it as you can see in the picture. As always thanks for stopping by and I hope to be back soon with more stamping stuff to share.

Papertrey Bloghop and a Birthday Present

Unfortunately the electronic gremlins invaded our house Friday afternoon. It started with our modem breaking. Thankfully Rich was able to get us a new one quickly and that problem was resolved. Saturday Emilia accidentally spilled water on her new laptop Rich bought her in August. We thought it was toast but thankfully Rich got it up and running again, the keyboard seems to be fried though. He ordered a new keyboard off eBay the other day so hopefully that will fix the problem. Then on Sunday my 6 month old vacuum burned up. I forgot to send in the warranty so now I have to buy a new one. Hopefully that is all that is going to break now since they say things happen in threes. Unfortunately Rich also found out Friday that his company is cutting back their hours at work the next few months so we really need things to stop breaking now.
Anyways on to some good things to share now. Today is the 25th of the month which means it is time for another Papertrey Bloghop. This month's challenge was to build your own floral embellishment for a card or 3D item. Friday was my niece Alexandra's 13th birthday. She loves to write so I knew I wanted to make a journal for her to write her story ideas in. When I saw the bloghop challenge I thought it would be a perfect way to incorporate the two

I started by cutting 2 pieces of chipboard then covered them with some floral fabric I had gotten from Hobby Lobby awhile back. When I was done with that I cut some lined notebook paper to fit inside then I lined the front and back covers with some Papertrey Plum Pudding cardstock.
After that I used my new Bind It All to punch the holes and bind it together. To personalized the cover I cut out the letters from some white foamboard using the Cuttlebug Hippie Chick Alphabet then I covered the letters in Crystal Effects and sprinkled fairy dust on them to make them sparkle. I got the idea for the flower from this video on Julie Buhler's blog but I also incorporated some of this technique from this video for making lollipop flowers into it as well. I still made a few changes though. I cut the three circles with my small Nestabilities dies instead of drawing them. I also distressed the edges of the rose with some Tattered Rose distress ink and added 4 small pearls to the middle instead of just one. I drew the leaves on some PTI Spring Moss Cardstock and tore them out then I painted a small amount of gesso on the edges and sprayed them with water. When they were moistened enough I molded the paper to give them more dimension and left them to dry.
I finished the journal off by tying some PTI Plum Pudding saddle stitched ribbon, Spring Moss Twill ribbon and Sweet Blush Polka Dot ribbon around the wires. I added some hot pink gingham ribbon I had from Hobby Lobby too. The finished size of the journal is 51/4x51/4 and has 100 pages. I plan on giving the journal to Alexandra on Thursday when we have Thanksgiving dinner. We will also celebrate her birthday and my dad's birthday which was Saturday then too. I hope you have enjoyed my project and it has inspired you to make some floral embellishments like these. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a good night.

Peace

Sorry for the delay in posting again. I was hoping to get this card finished on Sunday to share with you but I was having problems with my sewing machine. I ended up calling Janome on Monday morning and thankfully they were able to help me get the bobbin threaded but I kept having problems getting it to sew through all the layers on the card though. I finally ended up changing the needle to a heavier one and the problem was solved. Unfortunately after that I kept messing up the sewing on the card so I had to keep remaking it. After my fourth attempt I finally decided this one will do even though there are still a few small sewing mistakes. Something I wish I could change about myself is not being such a perfectionist when it comes to what I make. I read something once that the Indians purposefully make a mistake in their work to remind themselves that nothing in life is perfect. I really need to start remembering that. I would definitely get a lot more done if I did. Anyways on to the details of the card. I used Mary Jo's weekly sketch #43 for the layout. I turned it around though. I started by stamping the polka dot Christmas tree from the Merry and Bright set with CTMH white craft ink on Papertrey Vellum Cardstock. After that I did the embossed vellum technique from the Technique Junkies CD 6 but I used a blender pen with Berry Sorbet and Avocado Ink to color on the top of the embossed tree. I stamped the Peace saying from the Merry and Bright Additions Set with Dark Chocolate ink above the tree. The other cardstock that was used is Ripe Avocado, Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush and Polka Dot Parade all from Papetrey Ink as well. I finished the card off with some buttons and sewed them on with waxy flax. Finished size is 41/4x 51/2. I was originally going to enter this card in last months Papertrey Guest Star Stamper contest but did not finish it in time. It also did not fit any of the categories after I got done making either. I may still enter it in this month contest though. Now I have to get busy making a writing journal for my nieces birthday Friday. Wish me luck I get it finished in time. I will be back to share that with you soon. Until then have a great night.

My other GSS Entry

First off I wanted to say thank you to those of you that left such nice comments on my last post about the cocoa and marshmallow set. I really appreciate all the comments and good luck you wished me for winning the GSS contest last night but unfortunately I was not a winner. I am still hoping to get an honorable mention for one of these projects though. Here is the other project I entered.

This card was made for the quick and simple holiday card category. This card layout may look familiar to those of you that follow my blog because there is another card that I made like it here which was inspired by a card Debbie Olson made last yr. Making simple cards is not easy for me to do but I think this one qualifies though. I started by embossing a Nestabilities square die in the center of a piece of Papertrey Stampers Select white cardstock. After that I cut out another square with the same die and stamped the Menorah from The Mazel Tov set with Versamark ink and embossed it with Silver Embossing Powder then I colored the candles with Copic Sketch Markers B39 and Y13 . When I was done with that I matted the stamped square on a piece of Night Sky Shimmer Cardstock and attached it to the middle of the embossed square. I stamped the Happy Hanukkah saying with CTMH Denim embossing powder underneath it. I finished the card off with a border of Night Sky Shimmer cardstock. Finished size 41/4x51/2. I am off to try and finish another card I was going to enter in the contest but did not finish in time now. I hope to share it tomorrow. Until than I hope you have a great Saturday and thanks again for stopping by.

Warm Happiness

Thankfully I made it through my dental appointment without any problems. Unfortunately it was not a cheap visit because I don't have dental insurance. Hopefully all the preventive care will pay off in the long run though.
Tonight Papertrey releases their new stamps for the month. This was one of the projects I made for the Guest Star Stamper Contest.

I started by making the box using Beates tutorial for an A2 box. I used Silver Shimmer cardstock and stamped the snowflakes from the Rustic Snowflake set with CTMH white craft ink then I lined the box with waxed paper. I made the marshmallow snowflakes using this recipe from Martha Stewart. I packaged the cocoa powder in a 4oz square tin that I covered with a piece of Pure Poppy cardstock that I stamped dots on from the Polka Dots Basics Set with CTMH white craft ink. On the bottom of the tin I attached the directions for preparing the cocoa by cutting out a piece of a recipe card with a square nestabilities die.

The tag was made by cutting out an attached circle base of Dark Chocolate cardstock with one of my circle Nestabilities. I stamped the mug from the Warm Happiness set with Dark Chocolate ink then colored it in with Copic sketch marker R29. After that I used another dot stamp from the Polka Dots Basics set to stamp the polka dots on the mug. The sentiment on the inside of the tag is from the Warm Happiness set also. To finish the box off I tied it together with some Pure Poppy saddle stitched ribbon and attached the card tag. I think these would make great gifts for the holidays. What do you think? Hopefully one of these projects I entered will be a winner tonight because I could really use a free set after my dental bill. I will be back tomorrow with the other project. Until then thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day.

Friendship

I hope you all had a good weekend. Things have been pretty quiet here. I was able to get another card made yesterday though. The Flowered Kimono stamp is from Lasting Impressions With Panache. I stamped it with Versamark on patterned paper from The Angel Company (Amberly Grace Collection) then heat embossed it with fine detailed black embossing powder. After that I added another piece of the Kimono from a different sheet of paper that I had stamped and embossed as well. The saying on the left means Friendship and is from LIWP also. Finished size is 41/4x51/2. I hope you have a great week. I have to go to the dentist on Tuesday for my six month checkup, not looking forward to that. I hate going to the dentist. I had a bad experience with the dentist when I was a kid and did not go back for over 13 yrs. I finally started going again when Emilia turned 1. I ended up with 2 cavities which was actually not that bad considering I waited that long. I make sure I go at least twice a year now even though I still don't like going but I am doing it to try and prevent anymore problems in the long run. That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to back soon with more things to share.

Art

It has been an eventful week around here. On Wednesday I had a lady from the Rocky Mountain Quilt museum come over to do a class with my homeschooling group. She talked about the history of quilting and brought a lot of different quilts for us all to see. The quilts were really cool. After that she taught the girls how to make a 4 patch quilt block. When Emilia finishes hers I will share it with you. Unfortunately on Thursday night the sewer line backed up, $200.00 later the problem was resolved. That is the bad thing about living in an older house. The pipes are made of clay so we usually have to have this done once a yr. Coincidentally our neighbors had one of their sewer pipes break this week so we were actually lucky that ours just needed to be cleaned out because it cost them $5000.00 to repair theirs.
After all that I was finally able to finish this card last night for Julee Tilmans Mojo Madness Contest week 59. The hand was done with the embossed vellum technique that is on the Technique Junkies CD 6. Stamps are from Lasting Impressions With Panache. Colors used were SU Green Galore, Real Red, Lovely Lilac, Yoyo Yellow and tempting Turquoise. The hearts are from the Cuttlebug Babyface die. I was not sure what sentiment to put on a card like this so I decided to keep it simple and go with the word art. If you can think of another sentiment that would go better with it let me know. We are off to take Emilia to her ice skating lesson now. Hopefully next week will be less eventful and I will have more things to share with you. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great Saturday.

Water Lilies

This card
Was inspired by this painting that hangs in our bedroom.
Sorry the picture of the painting it isn't clearer but is was really hard to get a good picture of it with the lighting in there. I started by stamping the lilies and lily pads from Lasting Impressions with Panache on Papertrey Stampers Select white cardstock with Momento Tuxedo black ink. I colored the images in with Copic sketch markers G-99, G-40, Y-11, Y15 and R08. When I was done with that I colored over them with a versamarker and then heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. After that I sponged over the embossed images with Night Of Navy ink then brayered on a layer of Adirondack Denim ink. I matted the card on SU Old Olive, Barely Banana and Night of Navy cardstock. Finished size is 5.5x5.5. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great Sunday.