Let It Snow, Let It Snow Banner

Since things were so busy before the holidays and I had so many plans for the new year, I decided to make my holiday banner a winter banner, so I could leave it up on my tree all season. Of course, I still have the holiday stuff up, so this photo shows the banner with all of it’s holiday attire, but I assure you, the ornaments and Christmas cards will soon be packed away…

I started with a 6×6 paper pad from Michael’s and cut out tags using dies from Elizabeth Craft Designs to make the banner. I added a few cut outs from the paper pad, as well.

Then, I embellished with silver glitter paper using dies from Impression Obsession and a deer punch. I used the Sizzix Precision Base Plate to get the thin metal dies to cut through the glitter paper.

Then I added ribbon and buttons and strung it up with a bit of twine … since the tree is in my hallway where the lighting is poor, the photos on the tree never look great, but you get the idea!

Remembering: Sending snow to Guam

Today I am sharing an oldie, but goodie … this post is from 5 years ago, but I thought it would be fun to share again!My son, a corpsman in the U.S. Navy, is currently stationed in Guam. This will be our first Christmas apart.

He called last week and asked for me to send him his ornaments and I included a special gift from Mom.

It is a tradition I started when my children’s father and I were divorced. Each Christmas I give them a personalized, usually handmade, gift from me.  They open their special gifts on Christmas Eve and then I make them listen as I read “The Night Before Christmas.”

This year, since we will be apart, I thought I would send some of our traditions to him in the form of a mini wooden book.

It started with a mini album from KaiserCraft. I love their Beyond the Page line. You simply cut, sand lightly and cover with paper.

I wanted a winter theme, since he is living in the tropics, so I chose the new winter paper line from Bo Bunny.

I made a shaker box (super easy with Shake It from Impression Obsession)  for the cover and filled it with “snow,” in the form of Art Glitter and a Grungeboard Snowflake.

Inside, I shared some photos of him, along with the gifts of Christmas. I think he’ll enjoy showing his friends how cute he was when he was little!

In addition to snow, I sent him my love …Our tree (with Misty hiding underneath … she loves Christopher almost as much as I do!)And Santa … along with a photo that I know will make him laugh.On the last page, I made a stocking and filled it with a copy of “The Night Before Christmas.” I know as my kids got older, they only endured the reading to humor me (and because my husband told them that Santa wouldn’t fill their stockings if they didn’t make their mother happy), but traditions become important as you grow up, so I thought I would send it anyway.

Assuming he doesn’t read my blog, which I doubt he does, he should be surprised by his little book in another week or so … it takes a long time for mail to get to Guam!

Congratulations, Korie

My beautiful daughter recently graduated from Lansing Community College.

 

Naturally, I had to make a card to congratulate her on this momentous event.

I started with Color Bursts and watercolor paper to create this amazing background. Then I added the words cut from Elizabeth Craft Designs’ Congratulations die.Inside, I copied a movie reference (“Legally Blonde”) that I knew my daughter would get and appreciate using an alphabet die from ECD. And then I added a happy graduate and some flying hats from Impression Obsession.

I love the card and I got a big smile out of her when she opened it (although that may have been in part to the cash tucked inside.)

 

Decorative Christmas Candle & More

It’s been a busy few weeks and I have lots of news to share.

First, I was asked to be on the design team of Scrap It Girl! Scrap It Girl is a monthly challenge blog run by my online friend Kimberly Congdon … each month there is a theme and participants can create whatever we want based on the theme. The design team shows off what they did and then everyone is invited to submit their creations. At the end of the month, a winner is chosen to receive prizes!  I’ll join in the fun in December with a clock challenge.

Globecraft & Piccolo released some new products this week, so I have been busily updating the website. There are new colors of 3D Enamel Gels, snowflakes, leaves, a fireplace, a window and more. Follow the “shop now” link on the right of my page to check them out.

Then, I completed my Copic Intermediate training in Grand Rapids last week. So, in January, I’ll be offering advanced Copic classes including shading, hair and face tones, and more.

A few days ago, I was notified that I made the Mosaic Moments Design Team! It has not been publicly announced yet, so it should remain our little secret, but I am so excited I couldn’t wait any longer to share it! This is one design team I really wanted to be a part of. I have been making Mosaic Moments pages for years and I love how easy the system is to use and how amazing the results are. I have had the opportunity to interview Tami Potter, the owner of the company, and have met her husband and her daughter. They are wonderful people and I am so excited to be a part of their team! And, in January, I will start teaching classes using this system.

I am also participating in my very first blog hop Nov. 16-18. I’ll be posting my project on Nov. 17 — which I just finished at 10 p.m. last night! I hope you’ll stop by and check out all of the wonderful homemade creations for the holidays.

Finally, Friday and Saturday I will be helping Capture A Memory and Michigan Scrapbooker Magazine with their booths in Birch Run at the Deer Widows Weekend Scrapbooking and Stamping Show. There are lots of vendors participating in this show and it should be plenty of fun. Capture is selling Elizabeth Craft products. If you haven’t checked them out yet, you need to! They take minimal effort and provide maximum results. And, I believe we are the only store in Michigan to carry them. Stop by and say, “hi”.

On top of all of that, I am also working on holiday classes, including this decorative Christmas candle. The class is scheduled for Nov. 28 and is limited to 6, so sign-up quickly.

It uses the Copic Airbrush System, a stamp by Impression Obsession and a Piccolo key.

So you see, I have been working hard even though my blog has been a little quiet lately!  Good things are definitely happening!

 

Flower Cards

I love nature and find myself taking a plethora of pictures of flowers, clouds, leaves and trees. Close-up flowers are my greatest weakness. I can take dozens of photos every day in my yard alone. I cannot help myself — when I really look into the center of the flower, enlarged through the photo, I see amazingly captivating beauty. And, then the photo taking continues.

The only problem is that I end up with hundreds of photos of nature that I do not know what to do with. I have scrapped some of them and put others in a photo album, but that seems like such a waste to me.

So, I decided it was time to try to work them into a card. Here is my first attempt:

Hop on over to the Hobby Baby blog to read the directions on how to make it AND to get a coupon for 25% off your order from Globecraft Memories!

Birthday Wishes

I created this birthday card for a friend and tried out a few new techniques in the process, which I wanted to share …

First, I used a Dies Direct die to cut out the scalloped oval out of Cryogen paper. Then, I stamped the image (Impression Obsession) with Momenta Ink and colored the image with Copic markers.

Now for the cool part … I used Distress Ink to ink the paper around the image. It didn’t disturb the image at all! So, since this little discovery, I have a new way to color papers so I don’t have to always work with white — while still being able to use the papers that blend well with Copics.

Anyhow, once that was done, I added a bit of Sparkly Fluff in the centers of the flowers — to make them both fuzzy and sparkly.

Then, I used Art Glitter Designer Dries Clear Adhesive to adhere Art Glitter Clear Glass Beads to the vase. It reminds me of the glass marbles that people put in clear vases, don’t you agree? (Click on the image to see a larger version)

Here’s the inside:

The papers are from We R Memory Keepers, the ribbon is from Making Memories, the stamp on the cover is from Magenta and the one inside is a Wendy Vecchi stamp. I also used the Tiny Attacher and Distressing Tool by Tim Holtz.

What do you think?

Flying American

When this new stamp by Impression Obsession, Inc. came into the scrapbook store, I had to have it.

Not only is it a hot-air balloon, but it also has an American flag and an anchor, both of which remind me of my son who is serving in the U.S. Navy in Guam.

Capitalizing on the patriotic nature of the stamp, I created this card for Scrap Tales.

You can find step-by-step directions on Scrap Tales blog, here, but if you just need to know who made the products, the cardstock is American Crafts, the hot-air balloon stamp is from Impression Obsession, Inc., the saying from Hero Arts, the background is made using a Texture Fade by Tim Holtz for Sizzix and I colored it with Distress Ink, and the stamped images are colored in with Copic markers.