Colored Chalkboard Effect

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I needed to make a door prize for this past weekends stamp camp. I've been itching to try this new (to me) technique of a colored chalkboard effect so I thought I'd make another one of my mini notebooks. I REALLY like how this turned out! Very dramatic and effective!

Concept to Card

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I find that drawing out my cards can give me a good place to start. Sometimes I keep my original plan all the way through! This card was designed for my second Stamp Camp. Think I will sponge the edges of the cream piece for the rest of the cards. Look for them in my Etsy shop soon!

Custom Order

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I received an order for 15 nature themed cards. This what I came up with. I'm so glad the gal was so excited about them! I included a couple extra samples for her to send to her upline (she does essential oils).

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A Few More Cards

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This card was designed by my upline, Rochelle. This was the card I "hosted" at my first ever Stamp Camp

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Love "Tape It" stamp set - but then I'm in love with washi tape right now!

Completed Project

Sorry for the delay in posting how the project for my mom-in-law turned out. It seems like we've just been running from one thing to the next. We have one more big "event" coming up and then I should be able to post all the things I've been up to. And there've been lots!

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So I took inspiration for these little notebooks from the plates my mom-in-law used for her table. The black binding was a perfect match for the black edge of the plate. For the rest of the notebooks I tried to pull colors and elements from the plate to get it to match and then, to keep with the theme of the ladies lunch, I made some gold apples using the Perfectly Preserved and Cannery stamp set and framelits. Everyone really seemed to enjoy the notebooks!

Sneak Peek

I'm helping my mom-in-law, or mom-in-love rather, with a project for Saturday.

Any ideas? I'll post pictures of the finished project in a couple days. Come back!

Greeting card update

I'm far better at keeping up with Instagram and so I make several cards and post them there but never write about them here. Sometime I'll go back and divide these up into posts, but for now here's several for your enjoyment.

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This cards technique featured inking an embossing folder

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This is the 30th wedding anniversary party invatation made for my in-laws. This is their wedding color!

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A bridal shower card made for Jon's cousin. This one was really fun!

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I love the way this baby blocks card turned out. A little labor intensive as I made four of these and had to adhere each of those small pieces with Stampin' Dimensionals.

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This was a quick card to make and so much fun choosing the colors.

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Jon's cousin and his wife have a son who is three days younger than Shane. He had a Curious George themed birthday party and this was the card I made to match his birthday theme. I LOVE making cards to match! And the pin-wheel even spinns!

I have a whole slew of cards and project on my computer to upload, so stay tuned!

A Barn Raisin' Wedding!

A little quiet around here, I know. But we've had a project going on - or should I say we've been helping our friends with a project.

My long-time friend, Brian, and his sweetheart, Jenny, started putting up a barn and decided to have an old-fashioned barn raisin' wedding! I so wish I had gotten pictures of the reception in the barn but I was having too much fun to think of taking pictures. But here are some pictures of the project I worked on to help them out with the wedding...

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I cut over a 100 leaves to make a signature tree instead of a guestbook. My Stampin' Trimmer and Big Shot made quick work of it!

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I wish I had gotten pictures of the finished tree - it was AMAZING! I'll ask Jenny for pictures and post them later.

And here's another one for kicks of the guys working on the barn.

Picture to be uploaded

Finding my style

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I think I finally found my style - a mix of vintage / victorian and grunge. A little odd, but I love the distressed look and I LOVE lace! Tone on tone is also a favorite. You'll be seeing a lot more of this style coming up.

Gift Bags

Our church is small. Very small. As in 6 family's small. Thankfully, I've been able to join the young ladies fellowship at my in-laws church. They are a wonderful group of ladies and I've enjoyed my time with them and made some good friends. This past months fellowship came with a request ~ bring 6 of any one item to include in a gift bag for the pastors wives. Even though I don't know these ladies, I still wanted to include something handmade. Here's what I came up with....

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Each gift bag includes a mini composition notebook that I covered in cardstock that I had stamped and two 3x3 note cards with envelopes. I had hoped to have several 3x3 note cards in each gift bag but ran out of time. I was tying up the packages at the last minute! All gift bags are the same, I just did one card in front in half and the other card in the second half.

Here are a few close ups of each item in the gift bag.

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For the most part I like how the notebooks turned out. Given more time I could have done better. Maybe a different color paper?

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I really like Stampin' Up's! new "In Color" for 2013 called Pistachio Pudding. Papillon Potpourri and the co-ordinating punch's, Elegant Butterfly and Bitty Butterfly, have become favorites also.

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This one, however, ended up with the most visual impact. I rather like it myself ;) I used Night of Navy cardstock and ink, white embossing powder with VersaMark and the Decorative Label punch (modified) for the tag. Sadly, the stamp sets (Winter Post and Snow Swirled) are retired.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions on these projects. I've included links to the products I used but make sure to order through me so you get the "Preferred Price" ~ save where you can!

Hexagon Love

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I think I'm in love with my new hexagon punch! These cards were so fast and fun to make - I just punched out several hexagons from random scraps of patterned paper, arranged them how I best thought the colors went together and adhesived the hexi's down. Stamp the greeting and take the card front (in Whisper white) to the sewing machine and stitch around the hexi's and then stitch again just inside the edge of the card. Pull the thread ends to the back, tie and cut off. Adhesive the card fronts to the card base and you're done!

Can't wait to start playing with the Six Sided Sampler stamp set that goes with this punch.

Contact me if you'd like to order the supplies to make this card for your prefered pricing. You can also get a discount for ordering the stamp set and punch together - a deal always helps ;)

Time has passed once again. Shane is 7 1/2 months old and I have yet to finish the thank you notes from his birth and the thank you notes for all the people who showed me kindness during the surgery. Maybe sending 'Thank You Notes' is considered outdated in this day and age, but I still like to let people know that I appreciate what they did for me, that it matters. And so I pick up my pen again and start to scribble. It may take me another 7 1/2 months to finish, but at least each and every person will know that I haven't forgotten the gift, the meal, the prayer, the time they took to write me a note.

The 'Thank You' notecards made for Carter's 2nd birthday - almost a year ago!