Vintage Christmas

I haven't posted in awhile due to the end of the school year activities and trip to the cottage.  It's been an amazingly hot week but I did find a bit of time to sneak away to my craft room.

I'm playing along with Jingle Belles Vintage Christmas challenge this week and here is my creation:

Papers - Graphic 45

Cricut - Joys of the Season for poinsettia 

Cricut - Accent Essentials for gold frame (welded with Gypsy)

Gold stickles, beads and gem embellishments

Vintage Photo distressed ink for edges and sentiment

I just love the Graphic 45 papers for this card.  The background paper is the classical "Night Before Christmas" story and such lovely images of old time Christmas.

Thanks for dropping by and hope you are enjoying the summer weather!

Challenge - Jingle Belles Have Yourself a Vintage Christmas JB-12-14

Card for Homemade Treats

Hello again!  I'm just on a roll with making cards and keeping my blog up to date.  Thanks for the lovely comments from those who drop by from other challenges.  It's always nice to get some feedback!

Today's card is for RAQ's Challenge on the Cricut forum and it is also part of the CPS Challenge for this week #264.  There were also ad colours suggested for RAQ's challenge.

So here is the sketch and the ad colours

 

I thought it would be really difficult to select papers in the ad colours that would coordinate nicely but I think it turned out fine.  With the warmer weather, I think I will need a card for a potluck BBQ dinner so I created this cute little card. 

I made the sunflower with my Cricut using the Stretch Your Imagination, Accent Essentials and Damask Decor carts.  I have a tutorial with photos on my blog that you can read here.  The corner diamond accents are leftovers from the argyle pattern cut.

Card Recipe

Coral and Yellow sparkle papers - DCWV Glitter

Coral checkered paper - K & Company Sweet Nectar

Blue with Birds - DCWV Green Stack

Skyblue base - Recollections

Ivory Base - Staples 110#

Cricut - Wild Card for Argyle cut

Cricut - Tags, Bags, Boxes and More for sentiment frames

I'm looking forward to the next BBQ dinner with friends!

Thanks for dropping by!

Merry Monday

It's a rainy day here and I'm still in the mood to create a Christmas card.  It's not always easy but I know that I will feel much better in September if I can keep making a few each month.

This week's sketch on Merry Monday looked like fun so I joined in.

I decided to use up mainly Christmas cardstock scraps as my folder is bulging and there are still some good pieces available.  I designed all the cuts on my Gypsy and then all I needed to do was ink, add a grommet and ribbon and glue down the shapes.   I modified the rounded rectangle a bit but that's part of the creativity and interpretation of the sketch!

Card Recipe

Papers - DCWV and Recollections

Cricut - Accent Essentials card base, Elegant Edges for green frame,

Ribbons & Rosettes for border with snowman and Winter Frolic for ornament

Ink - Antique Linen, Peeled Paint distressed for oval and Versafine for sentiment

Holly Leaves - Ranger Emerald

Ribbon - plaid from stash, stickles coloured with red marker, grommet and

acetate for oval frame

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Mojo Monday - A first for me!

I decided to join in on the Mojo Monday sketch after a great read of NanaDonna's blog.  She's a regular participant on the RAQ challenge on the Cricut forum that I have been following.

Here is the sketch for this week Mojo Monday # 238

I always find it a challenge to align the squares perfectly so I decided to take an image from Cricut Ornamental Iron 2 cartridge and weld the 12 squares together using my Gypsy.  It was so easy and within a few minutes, I was cutting out the design.  

For the first card, I made more of a mosaic/stained glass effect with the base paper that I chose.  The rosette was created from the Ribbons and Rosettes cartridge and the leaves are Accent essentials (inked with Peeled Paint distress in).  I added pearls and a few layers of ribbon.

For this second card, I decided on a black and white palette and flipped the image.

The frame was inked with Versamark and embossed with clear powder to give it a shiny look.  I made a few pearl stick pins, added a feather and created the small tag.  The "thanks" flower was from the Cricut Sweet Treats cartridge.

I always need "thank you" cards on hand to show my appreciation to my dear friends for their wonderful hospitality and generosity. 

Enjoy your weekend!

Tags - à la Finnabair (Anna Dabrowska)

In July, I will have the great pleasure of taking part in a class offered by Anna Dabrowska (Finnabair).  It will be a mixed media class on an art journal where you'll make the cover and two inside pages.  Anna does some amazing work - journals, layouts, tags, etc. and I'm thrilled to have registered for one of the few classes that she'll be doing in Canada, and lucky me just a few minutes from my home . Finnabair blog

So today I was inspired to make a tag after browsing Anna's blog - and it is the perfect timing as I need one for friends that we will be visiting on Saturday. If you have taken a peek at Anna's work, you'll see that she does a ton of layering, inking and uses many of Tim Holtz' products on her wonderful creations.

Here is the finished tag that I made and I'm really happy with how it turned out!

I started by inking the ivory cardstock with distressed ink in Victorian Velvet, Broken China and Peeled Paint colours.  Then I placed a cut that I made from the Damask Decor cartridge (it's the green shape that you see peeking out).  I then added the victorian style heart (Cricut Everyday Paper Dolls cart), the gear is a chipboard shape that I had and I simply inked with Ranger Sienna ink. 

I then made the ticket using a Tim Holtz stamp and inked the ivory cardstock in Antique Linen, Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo distressed inks.  The ticket was attached using a Tim Holtz small hanger.  On the bottom right, I used the Cuttlebug Clockworks folder and inked the clock shape with Vintage Photo and cut it out by hand. 

In the center, I glued a piece of fabric border that had a string of sequins already attached. Next the flowers were made using cuts on the Cricut - Accent Essentials for both flowers. 

 For the small pinkish flower, I simply curled the petals of three layers in the same size and added a brad for the centre.  For the larger flower, I inked four layers (2 large, 1 medium and 1 small) and pinched/crunched the petals following Tim Holtz' grunge flower technique and added a pearl for the centre. 

Lastly you'll find a small flourish on the bottom left that I simply added a few brown pearl embellishments. 

I'd love to hear your comments on this tag!  Enjoy!

Back to blogging!

I've neglected my blog for far too long!  Time to get back to it!  I've been making lots of cards and following a challenge on the Cricut forum. 

I'll show a few cards today starting with my DS 18th birthday card.  I made this one back in February and I really loved how it turned out. 

  Papers are Graphic 45 A Proper Gentleman

18 border is aluminium duct tape - distressed, inked

Pocket Watch was cut with Cricut welding a key from Gypsy Wanderings with a circle

Embellishment - chipboard gears, chain, gold brad

I've been experimenting with Steampunk style and having lots of fun. Here's one and they'll be more in the coming days.

Gears border using Cricut and welding Accent Essentials images

Tim Holtz ticket stamp and small metal hanger

Flower made with Cricut

Old lace from my stash over 45 years old



Hope you're enjoying your day and have a great weekend!

Sunflower

The weather is getting milder, the snow is melting away and I’m looking forward to Spring!  I’ve been spending a lot of my free time in my craft room making cards for birthdays, special occasions and even Christmas.  Along the way, I’m trying different things and learning new techniques particularly with inks and glimmer mist. 

I thought I would walk you through the steps of my newest flower creation – an amazing sunflower. I want to thank Elizabeth from 217 Creations for her wonderful tutorial that I followed and adapted.  To view her tutorial 217 Creations



To begin, you’ll need a white cardstock – I used an ivory 110 lb cardstock from Staples.  Some Glimmer Mist in Jingle Bells and Distress Ink in Photo Vintage.  You can use a punch, Sizzix die or Cricut for the main petals.  I used Stretch Your Imagination cartridge cutting one at 2 1/2”, another at 2” and smallest at 1 1/2”.  Each petal is then sprayed liberally with glimmer mist on both sides.  Then dried with a heat gun, and inked the edges with distress ink.


Next, to make the center part, you’ll need a kraft colour cardstock which I sprayed with Heirloom Gold mist.  You can again use a die or Cricut for the star shape.  I used Accent Essentials.  Each flower will take about 18 to 20 of these small flowers.  You then need to squish the flower around the end of a stylus or pen, dip it in glue (I used Aileen Tacky) and then place on the outside of the center of your smallest petal. 


Then you simply assemble each layer putting some glue in between.

To use this sunflower on a card, I decided to add some greenery and feathers.  I cut the greenery from Damask Decor and at times not all pieces are attached (see the left corner piece below).  An easy trick to keep the shape intact is to use drywall mesh when removing the pieces from your mat.  You can easily flip it over to add glue before placing it on your card.

So here is the final image, assembled and embellished. 


I can’t show the card yet as it is for my sister’s birthday….in June! 

Hope you're enjoying your free time too!