Prickley Pear chose me!

I've been meaning to post this for a while now, but live's gotten in the way.  A couple of weeks ago, I was accepted into the Prickley Pear design team!!  I have been floating on air since I recieved their welcome email.  Since then, Nicole has sent me an AMAZING welcome packet full of goodies that I will be showcasing over the next few weeks.  One of the items she sent me was several sheets of ATC transparencies.  These sheets are so wonderful!  I just had to use one of the images right away.

I colored the transparency with copic markers on the back.  The colors you choose need to be fairly dark for them to show up well.  I anchored the image between two pieces of cardstock with a rectangle cut out to fit the image.  The front of the card was sponged with orange and brown inks.  I layered a rub-on over the front and embellished it with green rhinestones.  The chipboard butterfly on the corner was sponged with yellow and orange inks, jazzed up with a glitter pen and some clear rhinestones.

Be sure to check back as I plan on having more Prickley Pear eye candy for you in the next few weeks.

Thanks for stopping by.

In Loving Memory

I will be back later on to post some scrapbooking stuff, but first I want to dedicate this post to my wonderful uncle who passed away on Sunday, February 21, 2010.  That day, Sergio Hernandez went on a bike run to honor fallen bikers never expecting to lose his own life.  During the run, he hit some debris on the road, lost control of his bike, and sustained head injuries that claimed his life.  The helmet he had taken off at the previous pit stop was strapped to the back of his motorcyle.  A million if only's have passed through my mind.

Sergio always lived life with an amazing sense of humor.  Only five years older than me, we grew up as brother and sister more than uncle and niece.  I will always remember all the jokes we shared, the trouble we got into at my grandma's house, and the times we spent hanging out. 

Sergio, you will forever be 32 and full of life in our memories.  We will miss you so much.  Our lives and our family will never be the same.  You have left a huge hole in our hearts and my mind still can't process that you're gone. 

I ask that you please keep my uncle's wife and his two beautiful children in your prayers.  It just breaks my heart that they will never see their daddy come home.  I just pray that God gives his wife the strength to carry on and maintain his legacy through his children.

Valentine's Day Cards

I've had some extra time to play in my stamp room this week due to the snow we got.  It was beautiful and the doggies had a blast playing in it!

After we got back from our walk on Friday, I took some time to thaw out and make some Valentine's Day cards to mail to my family.  Of course I forgot to photograph half of them, but I did manage to capture a couple.  The first one's for my dad.  He and I are both dog lovers, so I thought this card was perfect for him.  And, since my dad is notorious for wearing striped shirts, I went ahead and paper pieced the little boy with a striped shirt.  This card is my dad, through and through.

Supplies: Friends Furever - MFT, Memento Ink, Chocolate Kiss ribbon - MFT, copics

I also made a card for my mom.  I used MFT's What a Girl Wants set and added a heart shaped chocolate box in the window since my mom and I are proud chocoholics.  Actually, everyone in my family is!  I was inspired by Mel's blog to add some beads to my card.  So, I used some seed beads on her jewelery.

Supplies: What a Girl Wants - MFT, Memento Ink, Basic Grey paper, Chocolate Kiss ribbon - MFT, glass seed beads, copics

I still need to finish Aldo's card, so I'll be back with at least one more Valentine's Day card.  Hope your Valentine's Day is filled with hugs and kisses and flowers and chocolates!

Byee.

Spring Time

It's time for MFT's monthly guest designer contest.  Details are posted here at SCS.  This month's challenge is to think Spring.  That's quite a challenge since is about 32 degrees here in the DFW area!  So, I sat at my desk and tried to think warmish thoughts and then it came to me.  Last week as Aldo and I browsed through Home Depot, he commented on the vast amount of gardening stuff they were putting out.  My response was, "Spring's around the corner".  For some reason, spring time conjures pictures of gardening in my mind.  Rich soil, shovels, spades, packets of seeds, wheel barrows.  I don't know why since I have NO green thumb and I've never gardened a day in my life.  But there you have it.  So, for this competition, I made a pull treat to hold a packet of sunflower seeds.  I used the oh so perfect Gardener Flopsey and added a rustic feel to the treat with distressed and brown sponged edges, plenty of twine, and some spring like paper covered with flowers and strawberries.  Flopsey is colored with colored pencils and there's plenty of green smudged all around him, but the camera didn't catch it to well.

Be sure to stop by the MFT Lady's blog and get a sneak peek of all the goodies the design team cooked up for us.  Have a great weekend!

Supplies: hot fudge cardstock (MFT), flower paper (MME), strawberry paper (BG-Nook & Pantry), Distress Inks, Memento Inks, Gardener Flopsey stamp (MFT), twine, green ribbon, prismacolors, OMS

Whiff of Joy

Happy Saturday!  Aldo and I are neck deep in remodeling projects for our living room.  What started out as a goal to install new flooring has turned into a painting, lighting, flooring, and redecorating project.  But, boy, are we having fun doing it ourselves!!  Call me crazy, but we're really enjoying the entire process. 

Well, onto the Whiff of Joy.  Katharina is holding another design team call and this time she provided a sketch for as a guide.  Here's my entry:

Willow was colored with Copics during our vacation last December.  I used an oversized Heidi Swapp flower as the circle portion of the card.  The papers are Basic Grey and the grey cardstock has a very pretty shimmer to it.  I like using shimmery cardstock for matting, it gives the card just the right touch of sparkle.  The ribbon is from MFT's chocolate kiss ribbon nest and the glittered drops are also MFT.

Off to help with the remodeling.  Have a great weekend!

Prayer Box

Late last year I decided to make a prayer box for myself similar to the one Patter made on her blog.  Take a second to visit her site and admire her box, it's AWESOME!!  So on New Year's, I started making this box.  I finished it about a week later, but I've procrastinated on the pictures.  And here's why: I sewed on the panels!!  Although I'm really excited that I tried and for the most part accomplished a new technique, my skills are no where near as good as others!  So, I've built up my courage and I'm posting my prayer box today.  Here it is:

The box is a recipe box from the dollar section at Michael's.  I painted the box with pink acrylic paint and set it aside while I made the individual panels.  The panels are layers of Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey paper, and Bo Bunny cardstock.  The verses are from Verve and are stamped out in Tuxedo Black on white cardstock.  The letter's spelling out "Prayer Box" are made using MFT's bling bet and hot fix crystals.  I stamped the letters out in Brilliance Chocolate ink and embossed them with clear embossing powder.  Once I attached the crystals, I cut the individual letters out and attached them to the box with dimensionals.  I also made some dividers for the inside using postcard sized chipboard.  I covered the rectangles with colored paper, added the titles with stickers, and added a decorative sticker to each one.  These will help keep my box nice and organized.

I sewed the panels using my little Kenmore sewing machine that has been collecting dust since I purchased it several years ago.  Once I got the tension right, the process was fairly easy, but I had to go really slow to make sure that I was sewing in a straight line (which I didn't most of the time!).  I had a great time learing how to sew with paper and will continue to try some more.

Supplies: recipe box, bazzill cardstock - brown, Basic Grey paper - Eva, Bo Bunny Cardstock - swiss dots, nestabilities, Verve Stamps, paper piercer, sewing machine, white thread, silver brads (to hide uneven corners), MFT 'bling bet, hot fix crystals - pink

Thanks for stopping by!

Mojo Monday and TCP Tuesday

For today's card, I mixed up last week's TCP Tuesday color combo with this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I also made another TCP Tuesday card from two weeks ago, but my camera died mid-session. I was thrilled to use lots of my new goodies today including my Little Star Plain Jane, MS Border Punch and paper pack, and some hot fudge cardstock from MFT. Sigh, I am one happy girl! The stars around the saying are colored in with copics and jazzed up with a stardust pen. I finished out the inside using the same color scheme and used my border punch to continue the star theme on the inside.

Supplies:

Paper: kraft cardstock, hot fudge cs, baby blue cs, Martha Stewart travel multimedia pad

Stamps: Little Star - Verve

Tools: Nestablilites, MS - star border punch, sakura stardust pen, ribbon

So, what do you think? Do you like this card?

Thanks for stopping by!

Mojo Monday

Well it's not Monday, but I made the card on Monday using Verve's Mojo Monday sketch. I'm very pleased with the way the card turned out. I was trying to use gender neutral colors that leaned more towards the masculine side. Usually all my cards have pink in them, so these colors were a bit out of my comfort zone. No photoshop here at work, so I'll update the pics with better ones when I get home. Be sure and check out the Mojo Monday gallery, the are some AWESOME cards on the links. Card Info: Paper - Bazzil, My Mind's Eye; Color - Memento Ink: Tuxedo Black, Pear Tart; Embellishments - white baby braddies, green velvet ribbon; Tools - MS Arch Lattice Punch, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities

I've been using more sketches than ususal lately. I love how a sketch gives you starting point without limiting your creativity. One of my New Year's resolutions is to participate in some weekly sketches and try something a bit out of my comfort zone with each one. I think it's a great, safe way to expand my boundaries.

Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Christmas

Whew, it’s been a crazy month!! After Thanksgiving, Aldo & I went on a cruise for his birthday and I’ve been playing catch up ever since then. Thankfully, most of my Christmas shopping is done. I’m missing only one gift, and I’ll pick that up later today. Below are a couple of things I’ve done with my new Pure Innocence girls. I apologize for the terrible photos, but my camera is acting wonky! The first project is a card I made using Jen’s sketch from Saturday. I colored the image with Prismacolors and gamsol.

Project Supplies:

Stamps: Pure Innocence Flower Girl – My Favorite Things

Color: Memento, Prismacolor, gamsol

Tools: Nestabilities, brads, ribbon

Paper: Bazzil, Bo Bunny, My Mind’s Eye

My second project is a gift tag (a big one!) for my mom’s Christmas gift. Michael’s has several chipboard albums in their dollar bin in various shapes. I like to keep some on hand for making unique cards or tags. This tag is using the Presents For You PI girl and some My Mind’s Eye paper. The top of the tag on the front is covered with pink stickles and the back is covered with red microbeads. This PI girl is colored with Copics and accented with liquid appliqué to make her hat and collar fluffy and glaze pens to color her buttons and the heart on her pocket.

Project Supplies:

Stamps: Pure Innocence Presents For You – My Favorite Things

Color: Memento, Copics, Brilliance

Tools: chipboard ornament, Mod Podge, microbeads, stickles, ribbon, Nestabililities, Liquid Appliqué, Glaze Pens

Paper: My Mind’s Eye

Merry Christmas!!

SYTYCS Finals

Entries from the six finalists are due by midnight today for MFT’s SYTYCS challenge. Boy have these past few days been a major rollercoaster! You should check out all the entries, boy are these ladies some TOUGH competition. Not only are they super talented, but they definitely brought their A game to the challenge.

This week’s theme was freestyle and I was fortunate enough to be paired up with the super talented Amy Sheffer as my mentor!! Swoon, I just about fainted when I saw her name!! She’s the best and she’s been so super helpful. Thank you, Amy!!!!

Okay, ready to see my project? Warning: this post is super long and picture intensive (16 pics in all)!! After many hours of brainstorming and a consultation with Amy, I decided to base my project around ballet and make a gift set for a little girl (or a big girl!). The set includes: a ballet stage with several Isabelle dolls, a takeout box with more clothes for her to change into (this can later be stored in her closet), a wall hanging with a frame for a ballerina’s head shot, a luggage tag to identify her toy bag from other little girls’ toy bags, and, finally, a card.

So first off, the stage. This ended up looking different than what I had envisioned, but I’m still happy with it. The stage, a.k.a. closet, closes up thanks to some teeny hinges, some grommets, and ribbon. The base is made of Styrofoam covered up with pink satin and edged with pink tulle. I trimmed the base with crystal beaded trim. The sides are made of chipboard painted with acrylic paints and covered with embossed metal sheets from Ten Seconds Studio. The edges are blinged out with stickles and sparkly trim. Inside, there’s three dolls on white popsicle sticks in different ballerina outfits. Since the inside is metal, the clothes can be stored there when it’s time to put away our toys. I laid down cotton batting that I colored with alcohol inks and sprayed with gold glimmer spray. Here’s the pics:
Next, I made a wall hanging to showcase a prima dona. Okay, so the picture in there is me, but I don’t know any ballerinas! I took a canvas and painted it with acrylic paints and sprayed it several times with gold glimmer spray. It’s so sparkly and pretty in person. Then I stamped several Isabelle sayings in black ink, added a cute 3-D sticker, some black crystal swirls, and prima flowers that are held together with a designer grommet. The edge of the canvas is covered in pink ribbon to hide the staples and a thicker ribbon was attached to the back for hanging. The backside was removed from the frame and the frame was attached with glue dots. Here’s the pics:
Then, I embellished a tiny takeout box I had in my stash of alterables to hold Isabelle’s clothes collection. This was the easiest project!! I simply added a belly band, strung some primas on a brad, and presto! A tiny metal tag with sparkly stickers was also added on with some polka dot ribbon. Here’s the pics: I also decided that every little girl needs a tag to identify her stuff from all the other little girls stuff. The tag was made out of Bazzil cardstock and my nesties. Some bling was added to the corners on both sides. One side reads “My Play Things” in pink sparkly letters and the other side boasts an Isabelle with a blank space to write you name in. A grommet hole on top with pink ribbon finishes off the piece. Finally, you need a card of course. The front of the card is a sketch from Jen Del Muro, I think. A boho blossom, some pink and black bling, and a cute bow tie the concept together. The inside is a pop up card of an Isabelle at her dance studio. The silver cs is the “mirror”; a tiny barre is made up of a thin dowel colored with memento ink, and laquered with diamond glaze; and a shiny wooden floor for her to dance on. Some more sparkly pink letters complete the sentiment.
Here’s a few more details: The paper dolls were colored with copic markers, blinged out with a stardust pen and stickles, cut out, laminated with a xyron, and attached to magnets that were then attached to the wooden sticks. The clothes was also colored with copics and blinged out with stardust and stickles. The Isabelle on the luggage tag has clear glaze pen on the dots and heart on her dress. The metal was embossed with a cuttlebug folder and then sanded with a buffing block to remove the paint on the raised portions. Whew, I think that explains it all. Are you still there? Please be sure to stop by MFT’s SCS forum and show the finalists some love. They did an outstanding job!

Thanks for stopping by!

Tea For Two

I had a couple of days off last week and used one of them to do some projects in my stamping room. One of my papercrafting goals is to use some of the tools, supplies, and stamps that I haven't used yet or have rarely used. Some of this stuff involves techniques that take me out of my comfort zone so I've kinda dragged my feet on using a lot of this stuff. I decided to take this on slowly so my first project is a simple card I made using primarily unused products: Tea for Two stamp set from MFT, Bloomin Dots CB folder, EK Success Swiss cheese border punch, homemade glimmer mist, and an unopened BG paperpad - Eva.

I colored the stamp using copics and then popped it on the card using dimensionals. I used diamond glaze on the teacup dots and liquid applique on the bunny tail for added texture. The black cardstock was first misted with glimmer spray and then run through the cuttlebug. I also finished out the inside for a complete look.

In total, I made 4 different projects on Friday and I'll be posting them throughout the week as I get a chance to edit the pics.

Supplies:

Stamps: MFT - Tea for Two (have I mentioned how much I {heart} MFT's stamp sets!!!)

Paper: Bazzil, Basic Grey - Eva

Inks: Memento, copics

Misc: Cuttlebug, Bloomin Dots CB folder, homemade glimmer mist, Swiss cheese border punch, ribbon, liquid applique, diamond glaze

Thanks for stopping by!

My First Bella Card

I LOVE the Stamping Bella lines but I only own one stamp and have never used it before today. I’m not sure why, since all their stamps are so cute! I used Curly Surpriseabella to make a birthday card for my aunt’s birthday this week (actually it was yesterday). Although it’s a pretty straightforward card, it took me over an hour to make! I was rather surprised when I looked at the clock and realized that so much time had passed by. Here’s the card I made for her:
I also added a gift card slot inside. When I make these flaps, I like to use my Tombo Mono Multi and stick an old gift card inside while the glues still wet to make sure I leave enough slack for my gift card.
Supplies:
Paper: Basic Grey – Gypsy; Bazill-Preppie
Inks: Memento – Tuxedo Black; Impress – Poppy Red, Lemon Yellow
Misc: prismacolors, OMS, ribbon, button, floss, pop dots, nestabilities

I’m taking a class tomorrow at Anthologies on how to make a decorative cover for candle holders using Ten Seconds products. I just discovered Ten Seconds and I’m loving all of their stuff. The videos on their website are hilarious. I still haven’t purchased any of their product since I don’t know how to use it, but hopefully that will change tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!

MFT's Guest Designer Challenge

My Favorite Things is gearing up for what promises to be an amazing release tomorrow at 10 pm EST on their SCS forum. They are releasing a new line of stamps called Pure Innocence that will just make you squeal! They are so darn cute! A new Flopsey and some other furry creatures are set to be released tomorrow as well. I'm so excited!! Be sure to stop by the MFT lady's blog to get a whoppin dose of eye candy from all of MFT's AMAZING design team. These ladies have outdone themselves this time.

MFT is also hosting a November Guest Designer challenge on the SCS forum. The main theme of this challenge is to use white as your main color. This contest has produced some amazing entries so far. Several cards feature dry embossing, heat embossing, lots of sparkle and shine, and some very creative layouts! I had some time yesterday so I decided to play along. Here's my entry:

Supplies:

Paper: White cardstock, vellum

Stamps: MFT - Isabelle Paper Dolls

Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black, Paris Dusk

Misc: circle cutter, swiss dots cb folder, organza ribbon

Thanks for stopping by!

Matchbook Treat Tutorial

A nice lady on SCS asked me to provide her the directions for making the coffee packets I made on this post. Feeling brave, I decided to make a tutorial to post on my blog as well. It’s my first tutorial, so I’m quite nervous about posting it. Please feel free to leave me some nice constructive criticism in the comments. Okay (deep breath), here we go.

Materials Needed:
Cardstock
Designer paper
Stamped images
Strong taper runner adhesive (glue glider pro used here)
Glue dots (mini and craft used here)
Scoring tool
Paper trimmer
Stapler
Embellishments
Goodies for inside your matchbook (coffee packets, tea bag, and Ghirardelli chocolate used here)

Step 1: Cut your covers to the selected size. The measurements for the different types of treats are as follows:
Coffee sticks: 3” x 10 ¾“ (4 sets can be made from one 12x12 sheet)
Tea bag: 3” x 8” (3 sets can be made from one 8 ½ x 11 sheet)
Chocolate: 2 ½“ by 7 ¼“ (4 sets can be made from one 8 ½ x 11 sheet)
Step 2: Score your covers at the following measurements on the long side:
Coffee sticks: ¾“, 6”
Tea bag: 1”, 4 ¾“
Chocolate: ¾”, 4”
Tip: If you are making several of these, score your lines on your uncut sheet of paper first and then do your cutting. This will save you some time.

Step 3: Attach your stamped image to a panel of your designer paper and attach to the front of your book. Align the top of your image with the score line for an even border. For 1/8” borders the panel and images should be cut to the following sizes:
Coffee stick panel: 2 ¾” x 4 ¼”
Coffee stick image: 2 ½” x 4”
Tea bag panel: 2 ¾” x 2 ½”
Tea bag image: 2 ½” x 2 ¼”
Chocolate panel: 2 ¼” x 2 ¾”
Chocolate image: 2” x 2 ½”
Step 4: Attach your goodies to the inside of the matchbook. For the chocolate and the tea bag, I use a craft glue dot on the back side to hold the treat in place. Align the bottom of the packaging along the bottom score line. For the tea bag, make sure you scoot the bag up to the top of the packaging as much as possible to avoid stapling your tea bag. For the coffee sticks, attach your sticks to a 3” x ½” strip of paper with staples. Place a mini glue dot on the back of the packets and use your tape runner to apply adhesive to the back of the paper strip. Align your paper strip with the bottom score line and press down to ensure good adhesion.
Step 5: Embellish your matchbook as desired. Here I used flowers, brads, and ribbon. If you are using ribbon, make sure you do not glue it down the front as you will need to gently push your ribbon up to add the staple at the end.

Step 6: Fold all your score lines with a bone folder and add your staple to the bottom of the packet. Remember to push the tea bag up again to avoid stapling the bag.

Variations: You can substitute the inside packet with lots of things: creamer packets for a coffee and creamer set, fun size M&M’s, small gummy bear packets, etc.

Tips: A Scor-Pal won’t work for this since the score lines are fixed at set intervals. If you are making LOTS of these, I recommend using a solid image or stickers for efficiency. Also, set up your steps for an assembly style project: cut out all panels at once; score covers first, then cut; stamp all images at once; set up all your embellishments; etc.

Does this make sense? If you have any questions, please feel free to post them in the comments.

Materials Used:

Cardstock: Bazill

Paper: My Minds Eye, Basic Grey, K & Co

Inks: Memento - tuxedo black, angel pink; Brilliance - coffee bean; Distress Ink - Weathered Wood

Stamps: MFT - Hot Stuff; Whiff Of Joy - Lizzie with Muff; Stampin Up - Bundle of Joy

Embellishments: ribbon, glazed brad, flower brad, Prima flowers

Coloring Tools: prismacolor pencils, OMS, Copics, Sakura Glaze Pen

Thanks for stopping by!