Butterfly Wishes

I have a fun butterfly card to share today. When I look back at what I have created over the past two months, there has definitely been a recurring theme of sorts...butterflies, foiling, and florals.  Clearly, those are all things I love and I have enjoyed doing a lot of experimenting. Stay tuned for more!

First is just a simple foiled butterfly that I made for a dear friend.  The butterfly image is one of many from Crafty Vectors.  I printed it on a laser monoprinter, ran it through the FoilMaster with a variegated foil, and then cut it out using the SCAL software - it makes it so easy and is so exact.  The rest was just a matter of layering the card pieces together.  I love the simplicity of it.

Ready for the print and cut. 

A closeup of the cut lines before it was pulled off the mat.

Oh - before I forget to highlight it, the "Happy Birthday"  ribbon is printed with the Brother P-Touch Embellish new ribbon and tape printer.  I have not used it a lot, but it is definitely fun to be able to print on ribbon and I will be glad when they come out with more ribbon options.  And it doubles as a tape printer so I love that it is multipurpose.

Lots more to come soon!



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I Hate Cancer!

Yes,  I HATE cancer.  I hate that it has robbed two wonderful people of a long life with family and friends. I hate that it comes out of nowhere and turns life upside down.  I hate that I know so many others who are actively fighting it and I find hope in the fact that some/many of them will beat this disease.  I am reminded of the times when I watched my Mother bravely fight it three times.  Over a span of thirty+ years, she fought breast cancer, uterine cancer and colon cancer.  She was the winner of the first two battles and when it reappeared in her life, in her early 80s, she was also recovering from breaking a hip.  I believe it was all too much for her.  She was one of those who exercised almost religiously, watched what she ate (probably to a fault!), was never overweight, etc.  She lived such a healthy life. I lost her fifteen years ago and still wonder....why??? 

And sadly, I made these cards to memorialize two beautiful people who bravely fought and lost.  I hope these cards bring the families a little solace and remind them that they are loved....always.

The world, my world,  has lost two very special people in the past two weeks. First, it was the adult son of a dear friend of mine.  Her oldest son was diagnosed with brain cancer in April and he passed away the end of July - four short agonizing months..........

The second was for the husband of a special friend.  This dear womanwas diagnosed with ovarian cancer 3 1/2 years ago. I have never seen anyone fight like she did - from chemo to immunotherapy to radiation along with vision boards, experimental drugs, nutritional changes, herbal tinctures - you name it; she gave it her all and never believed the cancer would get her. Even in the face of horrible news, she would still say she believed she was in remission and the doctors were wrong.  It was an unbelievable journey, but so painful to watch, especially the past six months.  She lost her battle on Monday.

God bless these two remarkable people, and all of the warriors in our lives who are fighting this disease with all they have.  May they continue to be strong...... may they be victorious.


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Baptism Day for Carter -

This was a special weekend.  Not only was it a celebration of our country's independence, but in our family, it was also a celebration of Carter's baptism.  It was a very small intimate ceremony- just family and close friends of Scott and Megan -  it was truly a blessed day.

I had been trying to figure out the perfect gift, even though we were told "no gifts".  How can a Grammy not bring a gift??  Nope - not gonna happen! Besides, I had already made it when the "no gift" edict came down - so too late for me!

I found the coolest idea on Pinterest. (how did we come up with ideas before Pinterest?!?)  This is where I got my inspiration. I loved the idea of a printed plaque, but remembered that I had some mirrored plastic (from Darice and Tim Holtz).  I have been wanting to try engraving but I have been such a coward. :(  So I figured no time like the present.  And let me preface the rest of this by saying it's a good thing I had a surplus of mirrored plastic as there is definitely a learning curve with engraving. But I kept trying and finally ended up with a gift I am so proud of and happy to share with Carter.  I had it framed so it would be a little more "finished".  Here is how it turned out when all done. (as you can see in the pictures above, engraving on mirrored surfaces is really difficult to capture in a photo...)

This is mirrored plastic - hard to capture the sheen of the mirror

Can you see his name is spelled out in the verses? That was fun!

A closer look at the engraving - all done in SCAL with the new crosshatch fill

All framed and ready to reside in Carter's room.

Next up was his card.  Back to Pinterest I went.  It was not as much help this time. Tons of ideas for girls, but not so much for little boys!  So I kept it simple using blue and silver and white.  I found a decorative cross on the internet that became the central focus of the card and am happy with how it took shape.

Cut file printed on laser printer and foiled with FoilMaster.

Results of the print and cut...

The finished cross

It was fun to put the FoilMaster to work along with the Silver Bullet.  They are such good partners!!

Embossed background with Stained Glass folder .

To personalize the card and occasion :)

May God bless you always, Carter J...

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A Brusho Birthday Card

I think this may be my new favorite card ever - I mean EVER!!!  For those of you who make cards, you know how much fun it is when you start to put something together and it takes shape on paper even better than you had it in your head.  That is how this process played out.

What did I do before Pinterest?? When I am stuck for inspiration and ALL of the blogs I follow are not quite "directing"  me (don't get me wrong - I have a list of projects that I want to try because of all of them - but wanted something different for the birthday of this friend - just not sure what!)

And then I saw some fun ideas using Brushos and that was all I needed.  I had created some background sheets while playing with them  and wasn't sure what to do with them and this seemed like just the right project. I am still learning and am a bit heavy handed with the sprinkling of the Brushos, but working on that!

I still want to use them to cut out some shapes, but this time I just cut out a simple cylinder shaped background and let the white image on top pop - and I think it does!  This is so simple with just the white and red, but I love how it all came together and am eager to try similar  ideas again.

Love the way the Silver Bullet cuts the thin lines in this image. And look at the fun splashes of color that you get from the Brushos.  This is the Rose Red color.

So not only did the idea succeed (and look at the detail in that butterfly cut), but the stamped greeting was exactly what I wanted.  I know that seems like a no-brainer, but I have rarely had a stamping success like this one. No matter what I do, I either slip with the stamp, or the ink goes down too light in one area or - well you get the picture.  But not this time.  I used my new MISTI tool that everyone is talking about and loving and you can add me to that list.  I was able to position the greeting perfectly and stamp it. The first image was a little splotchy, so I re-inked it and did it again.  Perfection.  You don't have to worry about the positioning being off because nothing moves or shifts and you get a stamp in the exact same spot each time.  I know I will be stamping more now - and loving it!  If you don't already have this tool and you like to stamp -it is an investment worth making. LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!

The central image is a png I found on the internet that  I just traced in SCAL.

The greeting is  Hero Arts stamp.

The image has tiny foam squares behind it to give it dimension on the card.

So........Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Robbie. I hope she likes this card as much as I enjoyed making it.  Cannot wait to try some other ideas that have emerged from doing this...

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Happy Anniversary Scott and Megan!

Where does the time go?  It doesn't seem possible that my oldest son and his wife have now been married THREE years and are expecting their first baby in a few more months.  Life is just flying by too darn fast!

The card I decided to make them started out one way in my head and had quite a few adjustments along the way. The pattern is beautiful and intricate and is the work of Mary (Sophisticutz).  She has a variety of card patterns on the Thyme Graphics website.

I have never done a folded card like this so once it was made, I was not sure how to add a message.  So rather than create more work, I simply turned the card  into an embellishment and made a larger card!  I wasn't sure if it would lay correctly, but the right amount of foam tape made it all fit together!

The beautiful red cardstock used as the base is the incandescent line from Paper Temptress. The white lattice mini card is cut from the laser luster and then I just added a greeting at the bottom, all cut from the Silver Bullet Professional. The letters are very thin and the machine cut each of them out perfectly from text weight paper. I love being able to cut what I want and not have to rely on dies for whatever I need.

Hope the kids have a wonderful anniversary........  next year they will be sharing it with a precious little one!

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Family Birthday Cards.... Part Two - My Youngest Granddaughter!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HALEY!!!

I can hardly believe that my youngest granddaughter will be 8 in a few days. How could that be??  I love this age - she is still a little girl, but there are glimpses (thank goodness they are quick) of the young woman she is becoming.  Please let the time slow down!!

A special note about her May 5th, Cinco de Mayo, birthday.  She was born on my dear father's birthday, her "Papa", as my children fondly and adoringly called him. Unfortunately, they never had the pleasure of meeting each other, but I have no doubt there is a special place in their hearts for each other.

So....what kind of card do I make for an eight year old?? After talking to her Mom, my card choices were anything related to Frozen (what a great movie!!), Monster High (I was clueless!), One Direction or Wonder Woman!!

After doing some searching for inspiration , I settled on the Monster High logo.  I am not a big fan of skeleton skulls, but the little girl was just too cute!!  So I found the same font on Dafont.com and tried to imitate the color patterns.  It is called Runy Tunes Revisited!  What a name!  I traced the logo in SCAL and made the cupcake with a variety of papers from Paper Temptress.  The gradient paper is actually a pattern made in Inkscape and printed on to Luster canvas text weight paper from Paper Temptress too.  I love the way the letters still shimmer through the ink.

 Just placed the letters randomly on a dark background so you could see the gradient color

in each letter - I loved learning something new....

This card was so much fun and I hope she has as much fun receiving it as I had making it!

All of the papers used are from Paper Temptress - the mica, luster and sparkle lines.  There are more details below under the pictures.

The cut pieces - using Paper Temptress Black Sparkle (shadow of cupcake) Luster for the skull and cupcake frosting (frosting embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder) and Mica for the wrapper...

A closer look at the Azalea Mica in the bow and wrapper and mat with the embossed Luster frosting (D'Vine Swirl - Cuttlebug) and embossing on the Laser Luster )Dotted Chevron - Teresa Collins) for the background.  I love the layers of texture.  Glossy Accents make the skull eyes shine!

Here are the printed letters matted on Canvas Luster  and then again on the Black Sparkle 

similar to the actual logo

The cupcake is on pop dots to give it a little more dimension.

And finally... the finished product.  A birthday card for a 

very sweet eight year old girl.

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Teabag Folding Card - Learning Again!

It was time to go back to my roots again - well where I started making cards once I branched out from straight computer cards. I chuckle when I think about it now.  Remember when printing cards on the computer with all of those programs were all the rage and we were so proud of ourselves for "making cards"???  Don't get me wrong - those programs were great and I still use them on occasion for printing the inside of my cards.  But the transitions were interesting. I belonged to a cardmaking group in the mid 90s - and we shared things we were doing.  It started with using glitter glue on the cards and making bookmarks that were attached to the card with perforated scoring so it could be detached - so many fun things.  But when I tired of that, I turned to the Dutch papercrafting that still intrigues me. I loved learning different things and I still love returning to these very hands on crafts from years ago.

I haven't done any teabag folding in years - okay if the truth be known it it at least a DECADE!  So I had to
"re-teach" myself when I decided to try it again. I am not sure what got me thinking about it, but when I explored the internet I was amazed at how much was still out there. There is even a website that will take any image and turn it into a page of teabag tiles whatever size you want..  So there is no limit to what can be created.  For those who are not familiar with teabag folding, it is done by basically taking a square shape, folding it into a different configuration and then repeating that with other squares and interlocking them into a final shape, usually called a medallion.

One of the 2 1/2" squares  printed from the internet.

 Is that as confusing as it sounded??  If all of the squares have the same pattern then the design has a very defined look, like the image I used in the card below. But you can also use gift wrap, newspaper, random patterns and create an entirely different effect.  I plan to do more folding in the future and share some of the interesting options with you.

For this card, most of the papers used were from Paper Temptress.  The white backing and lacey leaf frame are from the luster canvas line - I love how textural it looks.  The frame is from Monica's lacey frames.  Most of her patterns are very detailed and they cut beautifully on the Silver Bullet Professional.  The teabag was printed from a jpg file I found and converted into a sheet of 12 tiles or squares. I only used 8 for this medallion.

This is the beginning of the folding.  The final pattern is determined

by how it is folded, so you want to be sure all are folded 

with the same pattern visible..

Spotlighting the center so you can see the intricacy of the lace frame and also 

some of the detail in the medallion.  If I flipped it over, it would have a different appearance.

It is really quite easy and fun to do.  I used a blue Spectrum Noir marker to color a clear crystal to complement the color of the card base and then put some Wink of Stella clear glitter over it for a bit of sparkle.  The purple striped iridescent ribbon is also from Paper Temptress.

I love the texture of the Luster paper...

I learned a lot while playing with this technique again and am eager to practice and share more.

This was made for a very special friend who has had quite a difficult month. I am hoping it will make her smile and bring a little cheer into her day.  She brings sunshine into all the lives of those she touches.

The final product. I hope it travels well!

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Cards for the Family!

My oldest son's wife is a fashion diva.  She looks like she just walked off the cover of Vogue most of the time.  And she is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.  My son is certainly blessed.

I tease her about her love for shoes.  She adores high heels, I mean REALLY high heels and she wears them well.  The funny thing is she is already six feet tall so she certainly doesn't need the height .  I don't blame her at all. If I could wear those 5 inch heels without destroying my body I would, because they just look so wonderful!!

So..... with that in mind..... I had no choice but to make her a card that embraced one of her loves.  I found the perfect cutting file at The Cutting Cafe. It was a shoe shaped card that I thought it would be fun to make and decorate. But then I had an idea to use the card as an embellishment and put a card on a card.  It was definitely something different for me but it was fun to play around with different ideas.

Where the shoe opens up I wrote "Happy Birthday" in a white gel pen.  You can see all of the dimension of the card in this photo.

The card base is a Coredinations paper - I like the "tweedy" look of it.  The dotted paper (on the shoe) is from Bo Bunny. I took the black Sakura glaze pen and went over each dot (who does that??) to give the dots dimension.  It really went fast and I have to say I really like the added texture!!  The heel is glittered paper from American Crafts and it is easy to cut on the Silver Bullet because the glitter is as smooth as silk, so no damage to the blades!  I think it might be fun to wear a pair of shoes that looked like these (for maybe 10 minutes or so!!)

Really happy with how this card came out.  She loves red and black so hopefully will love this too1

And a week later there is another celebration - their wedding anniversary. I think Scott planned it that way so it would be easier to remember (not that he would ever forget...!)  So once the birthday card was finished it was time to work on the anniversary card.  Am I the only one who struggles with those?  I was at a loss for ideas so I defaulted to their wedding colors which were maroon and navy blue - striking really.  It is so hard to believe that this is their second anniversary.

You can clearly see the positive and negative images of both the rose frame cut and the sentiment.  I rescued all of the extra cuts for a future project!

The design is elegant but simple - another one from Birds Cards.  And all of the papers are from Paper Temptress. That should come as no surprise by now!  I am clearly addicted to her papers!  And using the Silver Bullet Pro Cutter guaranteed that I would have a positive and negative image - again - so I have pieces set aside for another card in the future.  Love it!

A close up of the sentiment and detail of the cut.

I kept this card pretty basic with a popped up mix and match sentiment , again from Birds Cards, and just added some pearls and pre-made roses from Wild Orchid Crafts (they have some  beautiful flowers if you are not familiar with the site and need to add to your stash!)

And the final product. The bow was made with my new Bow It All tool.  It is my favorite bowmaker (and I have tried a lot of them!)

Hope you enjoyed these two celebratory cards.  I have one more family member that will need a card the end of the month, so stay tuned for more!  

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Dominic's Daisy - Tripled!

I have so needed to make quite a few birthday cards, but have been busy with some fundraising events and time was just not on my side.... until this past weekend.  I sat myself down and just said "knock it off!  You have things you need to do so focus!!"  Nope -  that was a great idea in theory but fell flat. I don't listen to my own lectures very well!  Sometimes the creative mojo is just NOT there and it has been doing an exceptional job of hiding lately.  I have searched through card sketches looking for inspiration - and found none.  I tried blog after blog after blog. I loved all of the wonderful creations out there, but none moved me enough to try to make one like it.  The more I looked the more discouraged I became.  And the more discouraged I became the less inclined I was to even try to think of something  to make.  Then it happened - the undeniable tick of the clock reminding me that the time was upon and the cards were needed NOW.

After a mild panic, I fell back on one of Dominic's designs - I love how they cut and they always make me look so clever - but it's really ALL him. I love his flower series and have used many time and time again.  I decided it was time to make the daisy again - so I not only made it once, I made it three times!  I know.... I never..... well almost never make the same card twice.  And even though I  used the main design three times with basically the same paper, each card has a character all its own. I really am happy with how these turned out and even happier that it has led me to work on other projects - to be revealed over the next few days  I hope.

I am hopeful that the creativity is returning, albeit s--l--o--w--l--y!!!  But it's okay - I can wait patiently and hope I can nurture it and keep it going.  My fingers are crossed!

So here is my trio of Dominic's daisies. And even though I cut the positive/negative image, I decided to just stick with the main file and play around with that.

I love showing the positive and negative images. 

This time I didn't make a card with the negative image...yet!

Paper Temptress Pop Tones Grape Jelly card base

Paper Temptress Parchment pink

Bow Easy for perfect bow making!

A simple and easy card.

Paper Temptress Sparkle Blanco card base

Coredinations background showing in the corners

Paper Temptress Luster Canvas behind the daisy

Seed pearls glued in the center of the flower.

A bit more detailed but still simple.

Paper Temptress Pop Tones Grapesicle with daisy cut out.

Back of Bo Bunny patterned paper showing through the daisy for contrast,

Star Dust Stickles in the openings of the flower center

All of the cards use Bo Bunny dotted patterned paper that has a solid color on the reverse side. It cut beautifully with the Silver Bullet Professional Cutter as did all of the papers, and it was fun to use something a little different.    Details are under each card. I hope you enjoy them!!

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Needing Sympathy Cards :(

Unfortunately I have had to make two sympathy cards of late.  Both were beloved long standing members of our area who helped make it a better place to live.  God bless them and their families.

I went for simple cards... used a stencil design that was turned into a cut file and even though not planned, the negative image from the cutout turned into the perfect second card.

I did learn a trick when transferring the pieces of the cross (on the right below) so I wouldn't have to move each individual part as I have always done.  I took some of my transfer tape and placed it over the image, brayered it and slowly pulled it off. I was  a bit worried that the paper would adhere to the tape and not release, but the tape held just enough to let me align it to the silver shadow after coating the back of the cross with glue, and then I adhered it to the shadow piece and very gently pulled the tape off.    I am so glad I learned this little trick. It will make piecing complicated designs so much easier!!

Positive and negative cut images.

The stenciled cross with a silver shadow under it to show the detail.

A damask embossing folder enhancing the Paper Temptress luster paper.

The negative (leftover) image after the cross pieces were removed

Finished card with the original image on pop dots.  I love the embossed background.

The second card -  love the simplicity of it

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