Tiffany Blue Quilling Handmade Card for Mom

A card for mom:

Made following a sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches.

Hi guys! I'm glad to be back on the computer--my hard drive died and I had no laptop for a bit. I lost some of my pictures and unfortunately some of my card collection with it. :( On the other hand, I'm glad that I was doing a semi-good job uploading many of the card pictures on the blog. Let this be a lesson to you all as well...back up your information if it's important enough to you! I would like to just go on my way pretending I never took the pictures, but somehow I can't! I just can't! Such is life...

Hope you'll be out and about enjoying the nice weather--we're having sunny days in the upper 60s! I planted my tomato seeds and hopefully I'll be seeing some of them soon!

Entered in:
-Broken Box Stock #25 Mother's Day
-MIM #137 Anything Goes

Wet Embossed Snowflake Chipboard Tags

It's already Sept. and all paper crafters who are serious about relying solely on their own creations for the upcoming holidays in Dec. need to start getting on it! ...really! I've been doing major procrastination...I think that's just how I am! :T Not. Good. 

This is a minor push toward starting--and thanks to Tuesday Alchemy's Anything Goes challenge this week for contributing to that effort--stamped wet embossed snowflakes on chipboard to create tags. Not only do gifts add up to a lot, all of the packaging do as well so it's a good idea to help alleviate that "pain" in your wallet any way possible. We all know us crafty chicks can do it! 

A silver eyelet was set on the middle top of the tag for extra support (yes, I know chipboard is sturdy, but I think it adds to an overall cleaner look as well). The centered tag is double the width of the smaller one off to the side. Some of the smaller gifts look overwhelming with a larger tag and you also may not care to do too much writing, so the extra space is not necessary. 

Come join us to win prizes this week! It's a super exciting giveaway!

-Fabric.com--$50 Gift Certificate

-Broken Box Designs--Holiday Digi Stamp Toodle Set

Vintage Key to My Heart Card

Hello everyone! It has been busy all around--summer days fly by especially quickly don't they? All of the heat is making my cats very inactive during the day, but it has been quite the opposite for me. :D 

Each week there are free live concerts at the park near my home. I would like to attend one, but my boyfriend is working in Pennsylvania during the weekdays now so I feel like all the mood is gone when I come home from work. Do you ever feel that way?--you want to do something, but going alone is just not as fun as with your partner so you end up not going altogether. 

Anyway, on to more exciting things...!!!

This week, we're all kicking it old school at Tuesday Alchemy--vintage! You can see how amateur I am in this area through my card! xD This is my interpretation of "key to my heart."

 I'm normally more of a modern girl, so it was quite a challenge for me. I do apologize if you feel offended that I interpreted vintage crafting as inking the corners in brown and using other muted colors. :X My knowledge of crafting vintage is very limited.

 The words are rub ons and the heart was colored in yellow acrylic paint with bits of white here and there. The surface dried a bit crackled, so I took that as a cue to dab on brown Perfect Pearls to attempt a distressed look. 

It's an awesome prize this week as Flonz is giving away a cool $20 Store Voucher to one lucky winner! Enter your vintage crafts for a chance to win!

This card will be entered in:
-Make It Monday #99

Stamped Butterfly Chipboard Tags

For the butterflies challenge at Tuesday Alchemy this week I decided to keep it simple and make some tags out of chipboard. I've never made tags before, but I bought a bunch of chipboard sheets on impulse a few months ago and I figure it is time to put them to use. :D

I set an eyelet on each and used cream colored ribbon at the top. I have a large, ugly, but cheap green candle from IKEA and thought I'd dress it up a bit. :) Each tag measures 1.5"x2.5".

There are two sponsors this week  Floppy Latte's Digital Designs & The Doodle Garden, which means 2 prizes to be won, so find some time to stick in a butterfly or two into anything you make this week and share it with us! 

Have a 'FLY day!

Guys 25th Birthday Card with Quilled Candle

This is a new card that I am selling on Etsy. Here is the description from the listing:
"Isn't it hard to find a guy a card sometimes?! I made this card with the intentions of giving a special guy a thoughtful card without all of the girly colors that you usually see. This card is specifically for someone who is turning 25. I chose 25 because a quarter of a century is a pretty big year I feel (I am 25 too). :) 

What you see is 2 stars cut out of silver metallic cardstock with the smaller star popping out. The numbers are from the American Crafts Thickers collection. They are glitter-covered fabric chipboards and are high-quality and super durable. Finally, the candle was quilled with blue and orange quilling paper. The flame is dusted with glitter as well. 

This card is 5.5x4.25 in size and is designed and created by me on a blue shade of Bazzill cardstock. Card ships with an envelope."

http://www.etsy.com/listing/93222349/guys-blue-25th-birthday-card-with

If you are interested in buying this card, but need a card with a different age on it feel free to message me. I will duplicate it as closely as I can and change the numbers. I will create a private listing for you on Etsy.

Have a great day! :)

Flower Pot Cards

Digging up things sometimes makes you reminisce on how you have changed over time, whether it be over a short or long period. When I take a look back in time at what I have made, I right away see how my preference for techniques have changed or remained the same. Do you sometimes wonder how you've come to arrive at this point? I have to say that I love crafting for this reason--I never know where I'll end up next and it is never an unpleasant surprise like other aspects of our lives! Isn't this true for you as well? I can go aimlessly in any direction that I want and you can never say that I took the wrong turn for the worse. If anything, all you've invested was your time, a bit of money, and energy in exploring. I never have regrets. It is AWESOME...for lack of a better word. lol

So how have I changed or grown? I feel that instead of trying to copy someone else's work, I am more self reliant on creativity. Do I still look around for inspiration? OH YES! ALL of the time. I love appreciating other peoples' work whether they are a beginner or more seasoned in crafts. At times I learn and at other times, I am reminded of things that are worth revisiting.

Here is an example from a little over a year ago.

Both were given as birthday cards. It comes with my cat's seal of approval as well. lol

The above flower pot card was made with silk flowers. You pull up at the top to expose your writing area. Below is a card made from chipboard flowers.

I wet embossed the area of paper underneath the ribbon. Even though it is the dead middle of winter, I don't ever think it is inappropriate to give "flowers." So head over to Splitcoaststampers to follow their tutorial to make your own!

Sweetly,

Easy Chipboard Die-cut Card

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as it is coming to an end. =( My boyfriend and I baked this wonderful zucchini bread this afternoon. I'm extra happy because it came out so well and it was my first ever attempt at baking bread! =))))))

I have here for you an extremely quick and easy boys birthday card. It requires no patterned paper as you will be creating your own background with the cardstock. It's very tricky for many card makers to make "boy-themed" cards in general. You'll want to be careful with your colors--I'm sure that would've been one of the first things that came to mind. I chose darker colors--a forest-y green-colored cardstock to start things off.

I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder (which I pre-inked with silver) for the background and glittered select areas of the background to give it some sparkle.


Stars are a great unisex shape to use for guys, so that's what I went for. Finally, I topped it off with the numbers 21 that I purchased from a set of chipboard stickers (your choice).

*This is also a great card for your kids to make on their own!

 Stay cool and have fun,