Longwood Gardens Special Moments

Frosted Designs - Fabulous Friday Challenge - April 27, 2012

I love the look of using rolled paper on layouts but had never tried it before.  This layout was created for both this challenge and the April color challenge at Club CK to use green, black and yellow as your main colors.  I had a lot of fun creating this layout.  The rolled paper in DCWV cardstock that I used Tattered Angels Mist in light shades of yellow and green.  This helped me get the paper more flexible for distressing and rolling.  Then I used my Stampin Up! roller to add some green ink on either side.  The patterned paper and quote are Quick Quotes - Damsel in Distress line.  The flourish was hand-sewn using a Bazill Basics Template.  The flower is Prima.  Definitely one of my favorite layouts!

Butterfly Tag Tutorial

I have a fascination with all kinds of techniques and I think that's why I like making cards and scrapbook pages so much!  I saw the May 2012 issue of CardMaker on the newsstand long before I ever got my subscription issue and I just couldn't wait to get my hands on it.  The front cover has a beautiful Tim Holtz distressed butterfly tag on it.  Fortunately for me, there were directions inside on how to make it!  Now, I have to tell you that I never follow directions!  So here's my version using some of my materials on hand.

1)  Cut out manilla tags from recycled file folder.  5" high and 3" wide.  I used "A Child's Year" Cricut Cartridge - tag feature.

2)  Grab some white acrylic paint and a paint dauber.  (I bought these foam pouncers in the acrylic paint section of Michael's.)

3)  Next select a large background stamp.  Since I didn't have one, I used these Inkadinkado Floral Damask stamps and covered a large block with them.

4)  Apply acrylic paint by using a light coat of paint so keep your dauber fairly dry and evenly coated.

5)  Stamp onto tag.  Do not press too hard and be sure to remove very carefully.

6)  I bought some Ink Potion #9 to help blend my inks.  I inked the fantastix with the ink pad and then swirled it into the Ink Potion # 9 on my plastic lid.  (A craft mat would be ideal!)  Also if you don't have any Ink Potion # 9 - the magazine article said to simply apply the inks with a blending tool and then take a damp paper towel and wipe across it to blend your inks.

7)  Apply the ink with light strokes to the tag in desired areas.  For this tag I used orange in the upper left and lower right and teal in the upper right and Antique Linen in the lower left.  Then I used the SU! celery to blend in areas since it is the lightest color. 

8)  I then inked the edges with the Antique Linen Distress Ink.

9)  I used Black Archival ink to stamp a butterfly (Recollections by Michaels) image.  I think Staz-On or Adirondack ink would have been better.

10)  Then for just a little more dazzle - I added some Versamark Dazzle in Champagne all over the top of the tag.  The embossing ink seemed to bring out more of the original painted stamped images.

11) Added a circle reinforcement sticker I've had forever in my stash.  Love to use my oldest supplies on a project!  And stamped a little $1 g-Studios image on the bottom of the tag.  Then I created a sentiment tag to add on top.

12)  Cut a small rectangle from brown cardstock with a height to fit my sentiment and the width at 3" like the tag.  Added a bit of the acrylic paint to the stamp and stamped it in place.  Goofed up a bit and had to remove a little paint from the inside of my "a's" with my paper piercer.  Then took a brown marker to cover up my goof - worked great!

13)  Got my Cuttlebug out and a small embossing border and embossed the sides of my cardstock tag.  Had to turn the embossing folder upside down to do the other side.

14)  Inserted a couple of brads, added a scrap piece of manilla folder to the back to secure the brads and added some pop dots to adhere it to the tag.

And once again, here's my completed tag!  I think I'll follow Tim's lead and attach it to a card and give it to my Mother-In-Law for Mother's Day!   Hope you enjoyed my tutorial!  Have a blessed day!

ClubCK Weekly Card Challenge April 15 - 21, 2012

Every week I look forward to the Card Challenge that is posted on the ClubCK website.  We have such a wonderful and creative group of ladies and we take turns posting challenges.  This week, our hostess was Patti and she presented us with some beautiful cards she had made that move.  And her challenge to us was to make a card that had movement.  Well, I decided to make a card with a kite that would fly.  I used the Cricut Craft Room to cut out the die-cuts.  The Kite and the white cloud are found on the Nate's ABC's cartridge.  I used the Christmas Cheer Cartridge to cut out the banner from the cloud paper.  Then after cutting out the die-cuts and assembling them.  I put a small brad through the center of the kite.  Then through the negative image of the banner from the front of the cloud paper.  On the back side of the cloud paper, I attached the brad to a circle of cardstock.  This allows the kite to move back and forth through the banner cut-out.  Adding a piece of twine allows you to "fly" the kite.  Definitely an interesting challenge.  I had never done anything like that before!  The patterned paper is from the Summertime Collection by Echo Park Paper.  Below is a short video showing how the kite moves.  I have never made a video before so this was a challenge too!  If you are not familiar with ClubCk, then I would encourage you to check it out at www.clubcreatingkeepsakes.com.  Have a blessed day!

Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Challenge 3-9-2012

I was feeling inspired this week to start posting to my blog again!  Over on ClubCreatingKeepsakes we have an Issue Challenge and this week we were to scrap an everyday task, moment or event.  I asked my sweet husband to take this picture of me just sitting on my new reclining sofa relaxing with a cup of my favorite coffee.  I also saw an article in the CK magazine about using pigment inks.  I bought some pretty shades of Perfect Pearls and followed the article's idea of using embossing or watermark ink on a stamp.  I stamped the images on the right side of this page with Versamark ink.  Then applied the Perfect Pearls with the smaller round tip brush and then brushed it off with the flat tip brush.  This was an easy technique and I love the turquoise metallic. Then I saw the Fabulous Friday Challenge at Frosted Designs to use Kraft in your project so I thought it would look good against a two-tone background like my coffee mug has.  I think it all came together beautifully.  The kraft tag is a digital element from the Kraft Party Elements kit at http://www.designhousedigital.com/.  The paper is from my stash, the ribbon is Making Memories.  I used the Gypsy Wanderings font and my Cricut to cut the title and little blue bird die-cuts.  A fun project and I love how the colors match my Artistic Touch nails that I had done last Tuesday!  Guess I'm loving this color right now!  Thanks for visiting today!

 

Card using ScrapHappyCrafter Digital Images

I have been wanting to color stamps for so many years now.  I can remember going to a women's retreat about 12 years ago and there was a group of ladies there who were avid stampers.  They were having so much fun.  They decided to opt-out of the basket weaving craft that the retreat organizers had put together and just play and share their stamps instead.  I wish I could have joined them.  But ever since I have had a fascination with rubber stamps.  I'm definitely a perfectionist and up 'til now, was never satisfied with my stamp coloring.  But lately, it has been a lot more fun.  I tried my first Copic marker about five months ago and I love it!  Unfortunately, I can't afford to purchase a whole set of them but back in January I found a less expensive alternative and I could afford a good mix of colors.  These are the Spectrum Noir markers I bought.

The first thing I did was make myself a color chart based on how the colors were grouped together in the packages... that sure has come in handy!

I have been searching the internet for some free digital images especially since I use these for personal use and would rarely do the same image more than once.  And yesterday, I found this wonderful blog...http://www.scraphappypapercrafter.com/ where I found the little shamrock girl on the card below.  The very talented Julie has some really nice images just perfect for coloring on her site.  So SPECIAL THANKS to her for providing this digital stamp.  The other treats I colored on this card are Martha Stewart Valentine's clear stamps and the two larger cupcakes are a rubber stamp by Craft Smart for Michaels stores.  The sentiment is by Stampabilities. 

Here's my finished card for my niece Emily's Birthday (the shamrock girl kind of reminded me of a girl scout and little Ms. Emily loves being a scout!)

Thanks for stopping by today... And thanks to Julie for the inspiration and the image!