Peace Collage

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us it's on to all things Christmas and winter and snow!!! 

For this card I created a background of cool colors to give the feeling of a chilly day.  I used my Twinkling H2O's on watercolor paper to create the background.  To start I misted water into my H2O pots of paint to get them juicy.  I then misted the watercolor paper with water and then splotched the colors all over the paper.  To get the colors to blend I then misted the paper again with water and then took a large paint brush and swept it back and forth over the paper until the colors were blended to my liking.  You can add more paint for more vibrancy or more water to mute the colors.

Once my background was dry (you can speed up the drying time by using  your heat gun) I stamped the Peace Collage (G1411) onto it with Versamark and then sprinkled it with silver embossing powder and then heat set it.

To add more dimension and interest to my card I added the Stick Tree (C1412) that I cut out after I stamped it with purple ink and glittered it using the matching tree from the In the Forest Design Adhesives package and translucent ultra fine glitter. The snowflake gems add the perfect amount of bling to finish off my Peace Collage card. 

I will be teaching this card as well as a few more winter wonder cards in my Think Snow class offered at the following stores:

Colorful Creations in Hyannis - Wednesday, December 29th from 10am - 12pm

Absolutely Everything in Topsfield, MA - Sunday, January 9th from 1pm - 4pm.  

Happy Crafting!

Twinkling Lights and Ornaments

In our family Thanksgiving weekend is always full of family, football, and decorations. (And for mom a little inky time in between decorations.) This card was inspired by all the decorating going on in the house.

 
Love the beautiful expressions on the Ornament Cheer Block.  It was fun getting inky and creating this wonderful background using the Crystal snowflake and a few other favorite MB stamps of mine.  

Recipe:

1. Cut white cardstock 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" score at 4 1/2" and 2 1/8".
2. Cut white cardstock 2 1/4" x 5", 3 3/4" x 5", 2 1/8" x 3", 2 2/8" x 3 1/8".
3. Punch Martha Stewart Edger along edge of Perched 12 x 12 paper. Cut a peice of the Perched border 2 3/8" x 5 1/4". Cut another 3 1/4" x 3 1/2". Punch other edge of the smaller Perched paper.
4. Cut Perched paper 5 1/4" x 4".
5. Stamp Ornament Cheer Block E1408 using Ranger Distress InkVintage Photo onto white cardstock, Perched, and Magnolia. 
6. Stamp Renaissance Tile Multiple times on background of pieces of white cardstock using Ranger Distress Ink Tumbled Glass, except the 2 2/8" x 3 1/8" piece of white cardstock.
7. Sponge edges of all stamped backgrounds using Memento Bahama Blue dye ink.
8. Stamp Crystal snowflake randomly over Panels using Vintage Photo Dye ink.
9. Stamp snowflakes form Snow Day B1378 randomly in background using Wild Honey dye ink.
10. Stamp Script Block lightly repeatedly on the background using Wild Honey dye ink.   
11. Cut out ornaments from pattern paper. Sponge edges of the blue pieces with blue dye ink. Paper piece onto image.
12. Assemble pieces and attach ribbon under main image and tie with bow.
13. Accent with Memory Box Sparkling Diamond Jewels.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Suzz 

A winter scene

I've been wanting to create a pop-up card for awhile and this Polar Bear Scene seemed like a good fit.  I started with a pop-up card template from Denami Designs and added the Crystalline paper background.  The Pine Border stamp (D1298) was perfect for creating a forest behind the bear and mimicing the tree in the scene. I stamped the trees with Adirondack Bottle ink.  Here's a little closer view:

The Polar Bear Scene (D1405) was colored with Copic Markers - Cool Gray 1 and Frost Blue; the tree was colored with Dark Green Prismacolor pencil; glitter was added for snow. The tree was decorated with a variety of Memory Box jewels.  I added some Design Adhesives from the Calm & Bright set to the background. The star was covered in silver glitter and a blue jewel was added to the middle. Peace was done with green glitter.  I just love using the Design Adhesives with glitter - so easy!

Thanks for stopping by the blog. Enjoy the weekend.

Polar Opposites Attract

Heh Heh, get it?-- Polar Opposites Attract?  Ok, maybe it's not so funny but humor like that comes to me as I recover from my turkey coma.  How was your Thanksgiving?  Lots of turkey?  Yep! same here....lots of everything--hence the turkey coma.  

Now we are headed straight into Christmas--full speed ahead!  Here's a fun little card with my all-time favorite holiday stamp...Fred P Bear.

 I thought Fred needed a little sweetie so I stamped him with a well inked Onyx Versafine pad onto a small piece of plain ol' rubber...

then immediately stamped that image onto white paper.  It helps to use coated paper and a fairly juicy ink pad because you're going to get a "second generation" image.  Carefully stamp Fred again directly on your card stock and very close to the first image so that their noses are almost touching....awww.  Now Fred has a Frieda!

Aren't they cute??  Add some color with Copic markers, cut them out and use foam mounting squares to attach them to your card.  The forest was created with C1412 Stick Tree and the sentiment, another favorite of mine, is Peace, Love and Joy (B1114).  And last but not least...I added a sparkly snowflake made from the Flurries Design Adhesive pack and iridescent glitter.   That's all there is to it!  

  Wether you stay in or forage for sales and bargains today I hope you make time to start this card and you'll see that Polar Opposites DO Attract!

Happy Friday!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! (For our U.S. friends) We are looking forward to a day spent with family and lots of delicious food. I created this happy fall card to celebrate the transition into the holiday season.

 

Products:

• Memory Box - Blackbird
• Memory Box - Happy Fall B1420
• Memory Box - Small Bramble Wreath - C1418
• Memory Box - Script Block - E453
• Heaven Sings - B1385
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• Memento - Rich Cocoa
• Ranger Distress INks - Fired Brick, Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey

Hope your day is wonderful and that you are spending it with loved ones!

Suzz

Let Heaven and Nature Sing...

One last bit of scrappiness before gearing up for the Christmas season...

 

The 12" x 12" base page is "Double Fudge" - gotta love that name!!  The picture is backed by "Cranberry" with a white edge on two sides that were cut with decorative scissors - we all have them but how often do we actually USE them? With all the gorgeous border punches on the market nowadays, the lowly decorative scissors seem to have gotten lost in the shadows, but sometimes it's fun to go back to our crafting roots and use the tried and true tools of the trade. The final piece of cardstock used was a square of "Vanilla Bean" underneath the picture.

The sentiment needed to be larger for the way I wanted to use it, so I carefully copied it as close to the original as possible, only much larger, onto a 2" strip of white cardstock that was very lightly distressed with Ranger's Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Two polished silver brads were added to the corners on the left side of this strip.

What can be sweeter than a baby deer nuzzling it's momma in the snow, especially at this time of the year?? The Heaven Sings (B1385) sentiment stamp fits this page perfectly! 

Three Crystal Snowflakes (E1410) were stamped at different levels using Versamark ink and sprinkled with superfine white glitter.  For the ribbon "hangers" I cut tiny slits in the paper right above two of the snowflakes and threaded the ribbon through the slits and taped in place on the back of the page. A tiny red bow was placed over the end of the ribbon on the front.

 

Sure hope everyone is being super creative with all the cool 12" x 12" papers that Dave has created. They're so much fun to work with!

Thanks for visiting!

  

 

Paper Tree

Have you ever wondered what to do with left over pieces of paper from card making or other projects? I don't know about the rest of you but I can't bring myself to throw even the tiniest pieces away! You never know when you might need them <lol>

I've been working on a number of projects this week for my next Memory Box class at One Little Spark so there's been lots of left overs. As I was "picking up the pieces" last night  I decided this was the time to make a "tree" using all those scrap papers. This is something I've wanted to make for ages but never did.

 

Besides paper, all of which are from the Mistletoe and Tinsel collections, the only other supplies needed are a 24" styrofoam cone and a pack of straight pens (basic quilter's pins work great!)

The paper scraps were all cut to 1" x 6".  It took 80 strips to cover this size cone. Starting at the bottom of the cone, fold one strip in half and pin to the cone. Continue this until the first row of paper strips  completely circles the base of the cone.

Start the next row by placing the strip over the area where two pieces meet on the first row.  Each row also overlaps the previous row by about an inch. 

 

To add a little sparkle to the tree, I began inserting strips of silver and gold shiny ribbons, also cut to 1" x 6".  The wire edged ribbon worked best for this. Once the tree was completely covered, a bow was placed at the top with a few ribbon streamers curling down the sides.

I placed it in the foyer until a permanent home was located but I do believe I like it just where it is!

So how do you use your left over paper pieces??

 

Gifts Wrapped in Memory Box Style

On a recent trip to Portland (Maine) I took a detour to South Portland to the One Stop Party Shoppe.  I found some great white candy boxes in the perfect size (small) at $ .40 each that I thought I could use for holiday gifts. I seldom bake anything but I know where to buy the best holiday cookies, fudge and candies to tuck into these boxes!  My first thought was to stamp directly on the boxes, but I had done that in previous years. Could I paper the boxes?

I pulled out the 12X12 Memory Box papers I had left--Crystalline, Poinsettia Fields, and First Snowfall.  I found that I could easily trace the boxes onto the backs of the papers. Once I cut them out, I only needed some double-sided tape to attach the papers to the pre-scored boxes before folding them into shape. Three boxes done in no time!  The next step was to get out my Memory Box stamps and inks and choose coordinating images to stamp on plain white tissue paper for lining each box.

For the Crystalline box (left), I used Ancient Page Aegean Blue to stamp both sizes of snowflakes from Sprinkles B1158 on the white tissue paper and on a plain white tag.  To the tag I added Fred P. Bear C1409 stamped with Jet Black Archival Ink.  I colored his scarf with a blue marker and added a lighter blue shadow on one side.  I then edged the tag with Ancient Page Pine Green and sponged on more of the Aegean Blue before using a glue pen and white glitter for snow under the bear and in the center of each snowflake.  I wrapped a white satin ribbon around the box and tied on the tag before making the bow. 

I then made three more designs on plain white tissue paper using Ancient Page Pine Green Ink and these stamps:  Holly Sprig B1416; Pine Branch D1417; and Cedar Sprig D1415.  Any of these coordinate well to line the boxes I covered with the other two Memory Box papers.  (And I made more than I needed for this project, so I have tissue paper for use in white handled bags I will stamp and embellish later.)

The Poinsettia Fields box (center) was tied with a piece of white velvet ribbon.  The stamped and watercolored image is Scripted Holly Bird D1406.  I mounted it on two scraps from the 6X6 holiday collections and pop-dotted it on top of the ribbon.

For the First Snowfall box (right) I used a wide white grosgrain ribbon.  The attached ATC features a watercolored Poinsettia Outline D1396, accented with three small gold beads and a red/white gingham bow, double-mounted on more of the First Snowfall and Double Fudge papers.

I can see how I could easily reuse/recycle other boxes and gift bags using Memory Box papers and stamps to create unique packaging for this holiday season.  You can do this, too!

Happy Stamping!

Oh, Christmas Tray!

After starting this project at the beginning of August, I thought I had better finish it so that I could show my last classes of the year on Friday and yesterday.  I knew the feel I wanted it to have, but accomplishing it was another story.  Have you ever had a project like that.  I did show it to the ladies in Toledo and Tiffin, but of course I couldn't leave well enough alone and had to tweak it a little more today.  Then trying to photograph it was another can of worms.  It's time to walk away from the tray. 

This tray uses one sheet of Mistletoe Evergreen Bough 12x12 paper.  I was going for a cohesive background with a nature theme.  The stamps used were D1152 Winter Cardinal, D1277 Tree Border, F1413 Birch Trees, B1385 Heaven Sings, G1421 Believe Poinsettia Collage, D1415 Cedar Sprig, and B1416 Holly Sprig.  Peace is from the Calm and Bright design adhesive.  The Glitter Ritz glitter works amazingly well with the Design Adhesives.  The little snowflake on the rosette is from one of the 6x6 Mistletoe papers.  Don't laugh too hard at the little bird.  He's sculpted from some Fimo clay.  This really was a fun project, you just need to know when to stop -- hard for me to do sometimes.  Thanks so much to the students at all of my classes this past year.  I appreciate every one of you.  Can't wait to start up classes again after the holidays in January.  The new space in Tiffin looks like it will be wonderful and spacious when it is finished.  Pick up one of these trays and show me what you come up with.  I'd love to see your samples in the Memory Box Flickr gallery.  Until next time....

Glittery Goodness

Hi, all!

Today I made a card that's a little "odd" - whoever heard of brown snowflakes, right? However, I love a good, rich brown against aqua, so I decided in Deborah World snow is brown. 

And glittery!

 
As usual when dealing with the sparklies of this world, the photo doesn't do them justice. But in person - man, this card glitters! 

As a bonus, this project is easy to make and requires very little time.

SUPPLIES:

Memory Box stamp B897, Memory Box PP: Crystalline, Moroccan in Vanilla Bean; card stock: cream, brown; Design Adhesives Flurries; foam snowflake; brown glitter; Copic marker E47; gems; generic ribbon; Making Memories tag frame; VersaFine ink; pop-dots

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Color foam snowflake with Copic marker and set aside to dry.
2. Adhere brown card stock to face of card.
3. Adhere 3.75" x 5" panel of Crystalline patterned paper to card.
4. Layer  brown card stock to Moroccan Vanilla Bean patterned paper and wrap ribbon around panel, securing on the back. 
5. Adhere layered panel to card.
6. Stamp sentiment on cream card stock, punch out and secure in tag frame.
7. Attach tag circle to card using pop-dots.
8. Coat face of snowflake with glue and apply glitter - set aside to set and dry.
9. Apply Design Adhesive snowflakes to card and apply glitter. (TIP: After I've liberally covered my shape with glitter, I cover it with the wax paper the shape just came off of and firmly press down to "pack" the glitter. This gives you better and more lasting glitter coverage, IMO.)
10. After shaking off the excess glitter, adhere gems in center of each Design Adhesive snowflake with Diamond Glaze.
11. Adhere snowflake to circle tag and adhere gem with Diamond Glaze.  

Have a great weekend!!!