Guesting at CropStop!

So sorry for the lack of content and cricket sounds emanating from this space as of late.  A wicked virus grabbed hold of me and shook me hard and didn't want to leave.  :(  I'm finally on the upswing, although seasonal allergies have arrived with the lovely weather we have had this last week.  Its always something, right?  I'm not complaining, just explaining.  :)  Life is good, as always. 

 

 

I have had the good fortune to be asked to be a Guest Designer at Crop Stop! What an amazing online store!  If you have a minute and might need some crafting goodies head over and take a look!

 

 

I went outside my normal comfort zone for this project.  I made a canvas.  I know, right? But don't worry, it is still simple in style and technique.  I was given this beautiful bird stencil from The Crafters Workshop to play with. 

 

 

Whenever I see stencil I think embossing paste.  I was worried that the birds had to much little detail that might get lost, but it worked better than I'd hoped!  Here is the completed canvas.

 

 

To see how I completed it, please visit the Crop Stop blog.  :) 

 

 

The embossing paste dries shiny so it is a nice contrast to the matte base of the canvas.

 

I found this nest at JoAnns last fall.  To adhere it to the canvas I cut it in half and liberally applied Crafters Pick The Ultimate glue and waited patiently for it to dry. 

 

 

 

And what project of mine would be complete without some SRM sticker sentiments?  They blend seamlessly onto the somewhat bumpy background!


Happy Friday friends!  Its great to be back.  :)



 



{april card} MSW

Ive been a part of the My Sketch World community for almost 3 years now and I just love it there.  :)  Lucy not only creates wonderful sketches for us to play with, but has created a warm friendly crafting environment for the MSW members.  If you have ever wondered about a message board or are looking to join like minded crafters, come check us out!

 

Here is this month's Card Sketch.  It's a beauty!

 

Lucy encourages us to make the sketch our own.

Here's my card.

 

Celebrate Today

 

 

Love these Teresa Collins papers so much.  :)

 

MSW has monthly card and layout challenges and we would love to see you come round and visit. 

 

Happy Tuesday, friends!



{srm-pencil frame}

SRM is now carrying pencils for special occasions! Currently Pencil Sentiments for Graduation, Birthdays and July 4th are available!  My project is up on the blog today!  I got to play with the Graduation pencils.  Lucky me, because I have a 2013 Grad in the house! 

 

I picked up an unfinished wood frame at Michaels.  I bought a couple boxes of #2 pencils at the dollar store.  I used Crafter's Pick The Ultimate glue to adhere them and not one pencil came off when my neighbor used his fancy saw to trim it for me! That stuff is awesome!  :)  I should have taken a before picture-it looked very hap-hazard!

 

 

*photo credit: Julie Laakso of JCL Portraits

 

I added a grosgrain ribbon around the outer edge of the frame and added the sentiments from the Graduation Stickers by the Dozen onto it.

 

 

A couple dollars and an hour and you have a great table topper for your grad!

 

Happy Monday, friends!

 



{round & round we go}

It's my turn on the Just Imagine Crafts blog today.  :)  All 3 boys are home from school this week for spring break and we have 2 birthdays in the next 3 days so I kept things very simple.  I found a terrific sketch and put my Circle Cutter to work!

 

(sketch by Becky Fleck of Pagemaps)

 

We love our cat, Lucky.  He is our first pet, he owns us. :)  He loves having his picture taken.  He loves to play fetch.  He might be part dog.  This is one of my favorite photos of him.

 

It took me longer to figure out which papers to use than it did to cut those 7 circles out with the Just Imagine Crafts Circle Cutter!  So easy.  So small.  Change the size up in a matter of seconds.  You can see it in use on this demo video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyKtfA9PMWY

 

 

It's Brian's birthday today! 

 



 

 Pizza, cake and cousins. Doesn't get much better than that! :) 

 



{strips}

Happy Easter. friends.  :)  The bunny hopped through our house and left some chocolate covered peeps that I couldn't get enough of.  :)

 

At the last minute I remembered Card in Envy had a challenge ending tonight!  The challenge was to use paper strips instead of ribbon.  I remembered a flower I had made out of ribbon and decided to make it out of paper for this challenge.  I made it somewhat on the fly and might have considered changing the wood grain paper if I had allowed myself more time.  Procrastination, anyone?  Yes please. ;)

 

Thank You

 

 

Can you believe it is April 1st tomorrow?  I cant.  My boys are home for spring break, let the tomfoolery begin!  :)



{punch happy}

It is feeling a lot more like spring here in Michigan!  Warmer temps and sun make me a happy gal!  The flip flops are already out.  :)  It's Friday and that means I'm up on the Just Imagine Crafts blog today.

 

I have for you a pretty spring thank you card.  Simple, as always.  I used the amazing and easy to use Circle Cutter and the Kreaxions 4in 1 Punch #916 to make it.

 

Additional product: McGill Mini Heart Punch, Martha Stewart Butterfly punch, MME papers, SRM Sticker sentiments, DMC floss, brad.

 

The "grass" is from the throwaway piece of the Kreaxions punch. I couldn't find a place for the sentiment to make me happy so I used the smallest sentiments I could find from the SRM We've got Your Borders Thank You set and added them to the leaves. 

 

 



 

I'm playing along with the Moxie Fab World blog Chevron Challenge.  Hope you get a chance to play along too!

Happy Friday, friends and happy punching!



{happy spring} and a winner!

**the winner for the MSW Card Blog Hop is:

toniMarch 15, 2013 at 9:56 AM

Your card is unique, as you are :) Beautifully done with your added creative twist. BTW, I'm lovin' your little definition of yourself...too cute.

Congrats Toni!



While I'm waiting for spring to arrive in Michigan (we have had snow every day since the official start of spring) I thought I would try to coax it along with a spring project!  :)

 

 

It is my day on the Just Imagine Crafts blog today.  I got to play with a beautiful butterfly die and got my Big Shot out for the first time ever.  :)

 

I used the Kreaxions 4 in1 punch #903 (flowers) to make an eyelet effect on my butterfly.

 

 

After die cutting the butterfly I folded it in half at the body wing to wing without making a severe crease.  I then punched as much as I could to get the lace effect.  I then unfolded it and folded it carefully at each wing and punched as much as I could.  When I was done I moved the punch around and got any un-punched areas. 

 

 

I then used that same punch for a border on a piece of card stock.  I sewed this to a piece of pattern paper to form the insert for my SRM tube. 

 

 

The finishing touches are the bling on both the butterfly middle and top, the SRM spring sentiment and the little flower on the top.

 

 

 



Happy Spring

 

Happy Friday, friends!